—Cole POV—
"STOP IT!!!", one of the assassins screamed I forced myself into his mind, "I BEG YOU MAKE IT STOP!!"
"All you had to do was tell me what I wanted to know, and I would have given you a quick death. You brought this on yourself.", I replied with a sadistic grin.
Digging around his brain for information regarding the plot to assassinate Malty, I wasn't that surprised to see he knew very little. The man I saw in his memory wore a hood over his face so I couldn't see who he was. His voice was also unfamiliar to me, but there was no doubt that the Church was the one who ordered the hit. Based on what he was told, Malty was branded a heretic and now had a bounty on her head within the Church.
Taking everything I could from him, I incinerated the man with Pyrokinesis and looked over at his comrades. Watching them wriggle around like caterpillars trying to escape, it was rather amusing to watch them injure themselves just to flee from me. Moving in front of them instantly, I looked down at them with a blank expression and told them I would torture them far worse if they didn't start talking.
"You should know that I am a Master of Ressurection and Necromancy magics, I can kill you and then revive you repeatedly till you crack.", I informed them as a cruel smile crept over my face
"Please wait, I will tell you whatever you want to know!", the younger of the two pleaded, "All I ask is that you spare me, I…I have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way. I only took this job because I needed the money for them."
"Alright, I will spare you so long as you answer my questions completely.", I said crushing his comrade's head under my boot, "Now then, your other comrade didn't get a look at the one who ordered the hit on Malty. Did you see their face or do you know who ordered it?"
"The Upper Echelon of the Church did, I don't know their names but I know for certain they ordered the hit. I…I help clean the Church for money, and I overheard them discuss it a while back.", he proclaimed, "The Church feels Malty knows too much about something and wants to remove her before she causes them problems. They were going to pin it on the Shield Hero, but since the Royal Family is treating him better now they gave up on that part."
Lining up with the story I recalled, the timeline for things had changed a lot due to my interference. Staring at him for a few moments to see if he'd say anything else, he must have taken it as me not believing him as he started giving me more information on other things he overheard.
"The Church intends to kill Princess Melty while she is enroute to Castle Town. One of the Queen's handmaids is a devoted follower of the Three Heroes Church, they have been using her to spy on the Royal Family!", he shrieked, "Not only that, they desecrated the grave of a Fallen Hero to steal an Ancient Weapon. I don't know the details, but they intend to use it on you and the Shield Hero."
Asking him a few more questions, I wanted to know about the inner workings of the church. Telling me about all the rituals and illegal things the supposed holy men were doing, it was clear they were nothing but a cult at this point. The public facade they wore hid a truly grotesque monster, and soon I'd make sure it disappeared.
"Now was that so hard?", I chuckled, "As promised, I won't kill you or cause you any further harm."
Glancing up to see a scowl on the King's face, I knew he'd be none too happy hearing about attempts on his daughter's lives. Looking back at the assassin as he let out a sigh, I asked him why he was so relieved.
"I wouldn't get too comfortable, our deal was only in regards to us…the King was never a part of the agreement.", I stated as I motioned to him, "You should enjoy the Sun while you can, this is probably the last time you will ever see it."
Handing him over to the Royal Guard, the King told them to take him to the Interrogation Room in the dungeon. Ordering them to get every piece of information they could out of him, he said to make his death slow and painful. Dragging the two traitorous Guards away with him as well, the Throne Room cleared up pretty quickly after that.
"So Malty, how's that curse I put on you doing? Have you told any lies?", I asked looking over at her with an amused smile.
Glaring at me in response, she let out a huff and looked away. Knowing that meant she lost a few of them, I knew that she at least still had her hearing and vision at this point. Pushing away Malty away from her, Sapphire told Malty to answer the question. Looking back at my wife, she snapped at her and said that a Royal didn't need to answer questions for a commoner.
"...you really are a bitch, aren't you…", Vivian hissed in anger, "Our husband is no commoner, wench, he is a Demigod, a Hero, and a King! Show some respect before I snap your neck!"
"A…a Demigod..?", the King gulped, "That explains quite a lot of things now. You have my sincerest apologies, Kessler, I didn't realize you were-"
"It's fine, I don't go around telling everyone about what I am.", I said cutting him off, "As for you Malty, I would be very careful addressing my wives that way. Each of them has more than enough strength to kill you with their pinky fingers. All of them would be more than happy to snap your neck after trying to force me to marry you."
Gripping her shoulders tightly, Ventrice and Sapphire told her to keep going. Taking the hint that she needed to shut up, she didn't utter a word after that. Changing the subject after that the King had a more pressing matter that he wanted to address with me.
"I know I have no right to ask this of you, but please find my daughter Melty and bring her home. She is a day's ride from the conference now and I fear the small group of knights with her will be insufficient to protect her.", he requested, "Also…I know you don't get along with my daughter, but clearly, this castle has traitors lurking about. Until I can be certain I have gotten rid of all of them, can you please take charge of her? If you chose to, I don't care if you lock her up in a cell somewhere far from here…I just don't want another one of my children dying unexpectedly."
Looking at my wives for their input, I saw mischievous smiles creep over their faces. Turning to the King, Sapphire made a suggestion to him.
"Would you be opposed to us putting her to work? We could certainly use a maid to clean our home.", she inquired.
"By all means, I have no qualms about having her do manual labor. In fact, please give her as much work as you can. Maybe you will be able to undo all the damage I caused her.", the King agreed hoping he could still get the little girl he once knew and loved back.
"Well since my wives have no issue with it, I have no reason to say no. I will make sure she gets three square meals a day, a private room, and a bed to sleep on.", I responded, "As for your daughter Melty, I can certainly help find her as well. While we are locating her, I want the Four Heroes to start looking for party members to balance their teams. Things are going to get a lot tougher from here on out, in a few months three Heroes from a Parallel World will arrive to try and kill them."
Looking at one another and then at the King, they asked him if he knew anything about this. Shaking his head, he told them that it was the first time he was hearing about other worlds and heroes besides the Vassal Heroes. Remembering that it had been centuries since the last merger, most people alive today probably didn't realize how worlds ended up getting fused together anymore.
"There are a total of three worlds that are all tied to the Waves. The world I am referring to has been merged together four times like this world. They will be coming here to kill all four of you to save their own world.", I informed them, "Their plan is to ensure that this world loses all four of its Legendary Heroes, and is left vulnerable to the Waves. Without the Legendary Heroes or me here, there is no one left to stop the endless hordes of monsters. Eventually, this world would be left in ruins and merged into their world. Anyone left alive at that point would be hunted down and killed by the people of their world."
Giving me a concerned look, they asked how strong the other Legendary Heroes were. Being brutally honest with them, I said the four of them would get their butts handed to them very quickly. Their teamwork was head and shoulders above what these four were capable of now, but they had time to close the gap…if they really worked hard.
Asking where to start their search for allies, I told them to check out Guild Halls and then the Slave Market. Giving me the same expression that Naofumi did originally, I told them the same thing I told Naofumi.
"Don't think of it as enslaving someone, you will give them a better life than anyone else in this world would. They will be worked to death by anyone else that would buy them.", I remarked, "If you feel so inclined, you can release them once we stop the Waves. Nothing says you have to keep them as Slaves forever."
"So we are sort of buying their freedom, and they are working to pay us back…I get it.", Motoyusa said rationalizing that way, "We just treat them like coworkers/employees, that isn't too bad."
Still not completely sold on the idea, they still wanted to check out the Guild Halls first. Turning to leave with my wives and Malty, Naofumi remembered something important.
"Oh I almost forgot, I might need your help getting into the Church again.", Naofumi said remembering he still needed to Class Up his party.
"They give you shit again, didn't they?", I asked knowing full well they did.
"Yes, I received reports that the Church decided to bar him from entry.", the King stated, "The City Guard arrested the Church's men, but they have already been replaced."
"Let's go do the Class Up, then we will head out to find Melty.", I yawned.
Agreeing to my plan, Naofumi's group and mine headed over to the Church immediately. As we drew closer to the building, the locals started eyeing my wives like they were animals. Making my distaste for their behavior known, I sent out a wave of Killing Intent causing several of them to faint while others retreated into their homes.
"Stop gawking and go about your lives! No one asked for your damn opinions about my wives. If you got a problem with them, speak up or leave us alone.", I berated them.
Quickly changing to ignoring our presence, the atmosphere went back to how it was around the rest of the city. Noticing the sudden change, Senko was amazed that it was so easy to make them tolerate Demihumans.
"I have dealt with many Human Supremacists before, most of them are all bark and no bite unless they feel confident they can win. Usually, all I had to do was kill the strongest person there, and they would scatter.", I chuckled.
Walking up the steps to the Church, two Paladins lowered their halberds when we approached the door.
"This what happened last time?", I inquired.
"Pretty much.", Naofumi replied.
Looking back at Sapphire, I asked if she wanted to handle them.
"Of course I would, I haven't done anything but stand around so far.", she giggled as she walked to the front, "Can we please enter the Church without any bloodshed?"
"No animals allowed.", they refused.
"I figured you'd say something like that, but I didn't want to be told I didn't ask nicely.", she replied as her scales started to glow brightly.
Knowing what she was about to do, I positioned myself in front of my group in case there was any blowback.
"You might want to put up a few Air Shields.", I warned Naofumi, "Things are about to get toasty."
Hearing the air start to crackle as it became superheated, Senko and Raphtalia hid behind Naofumi. Doing as I recommended, he got them up just as Sapphire let loose with a torrent of azure blue flame. Melting the armor the men wore, their bodies were reduced to mere ashes in moments. Destroying the side of the building, the wall facing us fell into the building with a loud crashing sound.
"Oops…', Sapphire burped, "I apologize, that was unladylike of me."
Waiting for the dust to settle, we saw a contingent of Knights inside the Church huddled in a corner. Stepping forward, Ventrice and Vivian asked if they were going to stop us from entering the Church. Violently shaking their heads, the Knights scrambled into the back of the Church trying to get far away from us.
"Well I think we are welcome to come and go as we please now.", I replied playfully smacking them on the butt, "Way to go ladies, I'd expect nothing less of my beautiful wives."
Laughing at the compliment, they walked inside and began looking around out of curiosity.