Inside the swaying carriage, Kiriko and Naofumi, still clad in his underwear, stared blankly at each other.
Aside from them, four fully-armored knights sat in silence, hands gripping their swords tightly.
"Hey, what's going on here? Why did the King suddenly summon us? And where are Motoyasu and the others?"
Kiriko turned to one of the knights sitting next to her.
"I have nothing to say to criminals," the knight responded disdainfully, turning his head away.
Huh?
Kiriko blinked. She felt as if her unlimited monthly IQ subscription was suddenly insufficient.
She glanced toward the other knights, but all of them similarly avoided eye contact, turning their heads away without responding.
Seriously, what's happening here?
"Hey, Naofumi, just what exactly did you do to Myne last night?"
With no choice left, Kiriko turned directly to the person in question. Surely Naofumi himself would know something about this.
"Do? What do you mean, 'what did I do'?" Naofumi looked just as confused as Kiriko. "I went to bed pretty early last night."
"Really? Because around midnight your companion—Myne—ran into my room claiming you tried to 'heh-heh-heh' and 'pa-pa-pa' her. So I let her stay in my room, then got myself a new room... Oh right, I almost forgot. You owe me money for the extra room."
Naofumi's face instantly flushed red, veins popping on his forehead as he jumped to his feet.
"That's impossible! There's no way I'd ever do something like that to Myne!"
The knights immediately grew tense, nervously reaching for their weapons when Naofumi stood.
"Sit down, or else..."
The knights' strange behavior made Kiriko even more suspicious. Their current treatment clearly wasn't what heroes summoned to save the world should receive.
Just yesterday, everything had seemed normal—so why was it like this today?
Kiriko observed not just the knights, but also Naofumi's reaction closely.
In this world, only three types of people could perfectly control their facial expressions:
First, professionally trained spies;
Second, professional actors who cried or laughed on command;
Third, politicians.
Naofumi was just a college student—definitely not a spy, an actor, or a politician.
Sure, one could consider extreme cases, like maybe Naofumi was just naturally talented at lying... but that seemed very unlikely.
"After dinner with Myne yesterday, I went straight to sleep. When I woke up, all my silver coins were gone, along with the chainmail armor I bought yesterday at the weapon shop. Instead of catching the thief, these guys dragged me here to see the King! I didn't do anything wrong—"
Before Naofumi could finish his complaint, the carriage stopped and the door swung open.
A nobleman stood outside, backed by a large group of heavily-armed soldiers holding halberds, treating them as though they were extremely dangerous criminals.
"Zero Hero, Shield Hero, please step down. His Majesty and the other three Heroes await you."
...
Though only a day had passed, the throne room looked exactly the same. Yet the atmosphere had completely changed.
Yesterday, they had stood here as respected heroes, receiving aid money and specially selected followers from the King.
Today, however...
The King and his ministers were present. Motoyasu Kitamura, Ren Amaki, and Itsuki Kawasumi were there too, accompanied by their respective adventurers—whom Kiriko hadn't seen since yesterday.
But what slightly surprised Kiriko—well, she had kind of guessed it—was that Myne was now clinging tightly to Motoyasu.
"Myne, are you okay?!"
Naofumi initially looked relieved upon seeing Myne, but his expression froze instantly when he realized she was leaning intimately against the Spear Hero.
Maybe it was Kiriko's imagination, but the green gem on Naofumi's shield seemed even greener than before.
Everyone present looked at them with obvious disgust.
But no one spoke.
Still completely confused, Naofumi continued speaking:
"Your Majesty, everything I owned except my shield—"
"Silence, you villain! You have no right to speak here!" The King harshly cut Naofumi off.
Kiriko narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Myne, my poor adventurer, forgive me—but please, once more, testify what happened."
At the King's urging, Myne burst into tears again, sobbing pitifully in Motoyasu's embrace.
"The Shield Hero-sama got drunk, barged into my room, pinned me onto the bed and, while babbling drunken nonsense about how 'the night was still young,' violently tore at my clothes…"
"I barely managed to escape to find the Zero Hero-sama. I thought, as a fellow woman, she'd understand my plight and help me. But I never imagined…"
"I never imagined that she would force me back into the Shield Hero-sama's room, saying 'since you chose to serve him, killing chickens or eating chicken is part of your job!'"
"Thankfully, the Shield Hero-sama was too drunk to stay conscious, so I finally managed to flee and seek help from the Spear Hero-sama…"
Myne broke down completely, unable to continue.
"If Myne hadn't suggested waiting until morning to summon the knights for His Majesty to pass fair judgment, I would have killed both of you adulterous scum myself!"
After hearing Myne's tearful account again, the three heroes stared at Kiriko and Naofumi with eyes full of contempt and betrayal.
Motoyasu's gaze at Kiriko was especially complicated—a mix of pity, disappointment, and the sorrow of realizing such a beautiful and charming girl was secretly a manipulative schemer.
Yet despite Myne's accusations, Kiriko appeared oddly calm.
If there was one lesson she'd learned from her previous life on the argumentative internet, it was to never openly display anger.
She didn't even spare the bitch a glance, instead turning directly to Motoyasu.
"Oh, I see. Now I finally understand why you got the 'Nice Boat' ending in your previous life."
Motoyasu blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Motoyasu, why exactly are you wearing my chainmail armor?!"
Naofumi, who had been dumbstruck until this moment, suddenly pointed angrily at the chainmail armor Motoyasu wore.
"So you're the thief who stole my belongings last night!"
If Naofumi hadn't pointed it out, Kiriko wouldn't have noticed.
Indeed, Motoyasu was currently wearing armor identical to the chainmail she'd seen Naofumi wearing last night.
Of course, there was still the possibility Motoyasu had simply bought the exact same armor.
However, Motoyasu himself quickly ruled that out:
"Oh, this armor? Myne gave it to me last night."
The armor fit Motoyasu perfectly, and he was clearly pleased about it.
"Shield Hero, you shameless scum! You tried to assault one of my citizens—and you, Zero Hero, acted as his accomplice! Do you have anything left to say for yourself?"
The King rose angrily from his throne, glaring coldly at Kiriko.
Faced with this questioning, Kiriko raised two fingers calmly.
"One: Completely fabricated. Two: I've already handed it over to my lawyer."
Of course, the people of this world wouldn't know what a "lawyer" was, but the three heroes from modern society understood perfectly. Although Ren and Itsuki hadn't spoken at first, both wore expressions of clear disgust.
But now Kiriko firmly believed that Naofumi genuinely hadn't done anything last night.
"Kiriko-san… Kiriko-san, doesn't your conscience hurt even a little?"
Motoyasu's face twisted with heartbreak, like someone discovering the girl he loved secretly worked in a questionable line of business.
Kiriko smiled coldly, staring at the three Heroes as if looking at a bunch of idiots.
"Listen. If it were someone else, fine—but you three at least came from modern society. Don't you have any critical thinking at all? To arrest someone, you need evidence. To accuse someone, even more so. And even evidence itself requires scrutiny. Blindly accepting baseless accusations without proper verification makes you equally responsible, understand?"
"You want evidence, Zero Hero?"
The King raised his hand.
"Bring forth the evidence!"
Just what would this evidence be? Did the Shield Hero truly commit such beastly acts, or was this all a cruel setup?
To find out, tune in next time.