History Fanfic / FamilyOfTheShield

While Naofumi still ends up transported into Melomnarc and becomes Shield Hero, holding still the book he read back from his world let him learn of the Shield's skill to create new shields by absorbing items and of Malty's true nature. But he still ended up branded as rapist anyway.

A fanfic of ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' written by creator Javetts.

* MoralEventHorizon: One of the Greater Lords that sided with the Church, [[spoiler:Lord Veramir]], was able to empower his EvilWeapon (which grows stronger by killing humans and demihumans) even though he hasn't actually fought anyone in years. [[spoiler:He has been raping female demihuman slaves to get them pregnant and then murdering the babies.]] Everyone who hears this considers him having gone beyond any morality that could exist.

** Take a good look at the ForWantOfANail and OffTheRails sections, this began to pay dividends for Naofumi and his Family ''long'' before the Three Heroes Church Coup even began...

* ForWantOfANail:
** The moment that Naofumi was about to be brought over into Melromarc; he held onto ''The Four Cardinal Weapons'' book tightly; bringing it with him into the other world, and with it he learnt more about the sociopolitical situations of Melromarc and its neighbors. After feeding the Book to his Shield Naofumi unlocked the '''[[SpiderSense Prophecy Shield]]''', allowing him to detect incoming threats or hidden dangers. Along with minutes later feeding his Cellphone to the Shield and unlocking even more Shield Forms such as '''[[StatOVision Glass Lens Shield]]''', '''[[FirstPersonSnapShooter Camera Shield]]''', '''[[CaughtOnTape Camera Shield II]]''', and '''[[LevelMapDisplay Map Shield]]'''.
** Due to Naofumi having a shield that warns him of potential threats and another shield that can inspect people and reveal their abilities and name: Naofumi never comes to trust Malty and, thus, doesn't lose his ability to trust others.
** Due to never trusting Malty, Naofumi ends up searching for other methods to get a party and [[AdaptationalEarlyAppearance meets Belokas early]]. Because he's still not desperate enough to take a slave yet, he initially refuses to get one, but after the trial immediately takes up the offer; giving him and Raphtalia an extra month of training as a result.
** Princess Melty is never told who the Shield Hero is, so when they run into one another and Naofumi offers to take her back home, she simply believes she's talking to "the Savior of the Heavenly Fowl" and not "the Shield Hero", and due to how well-behaved his kids are thanks to Melty's influence; he thinks she's just the daughter of some other noble he hadn't met yet. This causes Naofumi to slowly build more trust with her and Melty to become more willing to listen to his criticisms of her father. Even after the reveal of her being the Princess and, thus, related to King Aultcray and Malty, Naofumi still places his trust in her and lets her help with a strategy meeting for the second wave, resulting in the next wave having no casualties.
** Thanks to having three teammates with power similar to Filo, Naofumi didn't have to use the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Curse Series]] against the Soul Eater.
** When King Aultcray threatens Naofumi's party after the third wave, Naofumi's reaction is much stronger due to them being his family. He outright quits and leaves Melromarc for Siltvelt. This shatters all illusions Princess Melty has of her father's ability to rule and she orders his arrest before taking the throne herself.
** Due to the manipulation of the Three Heroes Church and Malty, the three heroes end up staying on the side of the church once the civil war starts.
** Because of knowing what it's like to be a father, Naofumi actually comes to find a modicum of respect for King Aultcray's reasoning for his hatred and gives the man a lighter punishment. This act of kindness, as well as realizing how similar the two are as fathers, makes Aultcray realize he misjudged Naofumi far earlier than in canon.
** The Three Heroes are all confronted with their unheroic actions far earlier, also resulting in them improving themselves earlier as well.
** Because Malty was given a punishment that forced her to leave Motoyasu’s party, she is no longer there to lie to and manipulate him, allowing him to think for himself.

** Also applies to Naofumi's [[spoiler:first]] Wagon. Instead of it being [[TheAllegedCar a damaged hand-me-down]] he would fix up, Naofumi would use ItemCrafting Shield abilities alongside help from the residents of Lute Village to create the Wagon entirely from scratch that is both stronger and more durable than it's canon counterpart, along with being larger to allow for Naofumis' entire family to ride comfortably in; even when in full monster form.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Fitoria's dislike of wave monsters and dragons causes her to treat Naofumis' sons very [[FantasticRacism disrespectfully]].

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: In the case of the Cardinal Heroes, all that they should be focusing on is getting stronger and fighting against The Waves of Catastrophe. However, due to politics, conspiracies, and manipulations; Naofumi is having to face a much higher uphill battle fighting against the machinations of ''Human'' groups such as King Aultcray, Malty, Melromarcs' Greater Lords, and The Three Heroes Church [[WeAreStrugglingTogether that ALL want to keep him from doing the damn job that they had summoned him for]].

** Monti is quiet and reserved, based on his fathers' sense of self-doubt and mothers' self-worth. Also, he tends to wag his tail much like Raphtalia does with [[AffectionateGestureToTheHead headrubs]].
** Filo is introspective and is able to read others emotions as a LivingLieDetector similar to how Raphtalias' able to tell when Naofumi is thinking of something rude or evil.
** Teal is calculative and uses her intelligence to work through problems that the family faces, similar to how Naofumi often uses similar methods and misdirection. To her chagrin later, Teal laments that she also inherited [[GiverOfLameNames Naofumis' own naming conventions]] whenever she creates [[MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop new Bioplant-derived plants]].

** After absorbing both the Book and his Cellphone into his Shield, Naofumi unlocks '''8''' different shields that offered [[UtilityMagic utilitarian abilities for him]]: such as [[EnemyScan inspecting targets]], [[FirstPersonSnapshooter taking pictures]], [[CaughtOnTape recording video and audio]], a LevelMapDisplay, [[MissionControl being able to communicate with people in his party even across vast distances]], and a SpiderSense ability. [[AdaptationalBadass Abilities that Naofumis' canon self doesn't possess.]]

** The ChainOfDeals that Naofumi needed to go through in order to get transforming clothes never happens [[CuttingTheKnot as the Shop Witch leads them to the cave herself to get the replacement gem for her spindle]]; having once considered putting in a commission for the Merchants' Guild until she first met Filo and Monti in her shop. Beyond this, the Nue that they end up fighting against in the cave isn't defeated using the '''[[VoiceChangeling Gengar Shields]]''' and is instead beaten by the family all working together. This results in two more tiers of the new Shield Series being unlocked.

*** During his stay in [[MerchantCity Opaltown]] where he was harassed by Lord Wagner who wanted to steal Filo Iwatani by any means necessary, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Naofumi vows to never return:]] and that because of his status as "The Savior", this causes Opaltown's economy to collapse as The Merchants' Guild and several villages throughout Melromarc who had benefitted from the Savior's actions followed suit in denying Opaltown economic opportunities. On top of this, Kurtis and five other City Guards also left Opaltown in disgust at what Lord Wagner tried doing to Naofumi [[UpperClassTwit out of petty entitlement.]]

** Having heard of the three Nobles who were said to have been assassinated, Naofumi meets Fitts in Opaltown and learns that he was [[FrameUp framed]] for the Lords' deaths by The Three Heroes Church; which causes Naofumi to learn about the possible threat that the Church poses for him and his family, since The Three Heroes Church views The Shield Hero as TheAntiChrist.
** Having heard of stories of Skeletons attacking Monsters but avoiding Humans all across Melromarc throughout their journey, Naofumi and his party encounters Liviccic Blackcrown; the young Adventurer whom Naofumi briefly met on his first day within the Guild Hall who was a Necromancer and the son of one of the three Nobles who was assassinated, along with his partner Sophia a [[SeductiveSpider Royal White Widow]] whom was raised a century ago by the Vassal Whip Hero. This allows Naofumi to learn more about the nature of Vassal Weapons along with the fact that King Aultcray was actually a Vassal Hero himself: The Vassal Staff Hero. Afterwards, the two would informally join with Naofumi's Party hoping to finally gain enough levels so Liviccic could eventually reclaim his families' position as the Greater Lord of Briarhaven. Along the way, Naofumi also absorbs a cursed Door which upgrades '''Door Shield''' and unlocks a new ability for the '''Cursed Series'''.

** As a result of the trials the name changes never happen however: Malty is made to be a permanent indentured servant, Aultcray is stripped of his Vassal Weapon, Motoyasu is a shell of himself, Ren receives HumblePie, and Itsuki nearly crosses the DespairEventHorizon to trigger his '''[[OhCrap Cursed Series]]'''. The latter narrowly avoids this thanks to Rishia calming him down; allowing him to realize that [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre she was earnest in her Heroes' conviction to do good.]]

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: While a number of the lords that side with the Three Heroes Church are known for this, the one who is considered the most evil is [[spoiler:Lord Veramir, who repeatedly raped slaves in order to make them give birth, and then would kill every child they gave birth to in order to power a cursed sword he wielded.]]

** Most of this stems from Naofumi being aware of the potential danger that Malty would have given him were he to Party with her, and having unlocked several shields that stored away his [[BagOfHolding clothes, armor]], and [[WalletOfHolding money]]. So while the [[FalseRapeAccusation accusation]] happened to Naofumi; he wasn't ''[[CynicismCatalyst directly]]'' betrayed.

* MoralEventHorizon: One of the Greater Lords that sided with the Church was able to empower his EvilWeapon (which grows stronger by killing humans and demihumans) even though he hasn't actually fought anyone in years. [[spoiler:He has been raping female demihuman slaves to get them pregnant and then murdering the babies.]] Everyone who hears this considers him having gone beyond any morality that could exist.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Monti is desperate to gain the approval of his parents. This was especially prevalent when he was first born and Raphtalia was more hostile and uneasy around him, but still lingers later on as he still feels a need to be a good son and is hard on himself when something goes wrong.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: All of the three heroes have this reaction at some point. Motoyasu has his when he starts thinking for himself and realizes how despicable his actions against Naofumi and his family have been. Itsuki has it when he is told of the disastrous effects his assassination of an overtaxing ruler had on the city. Ren has it upon realizing the world really isn’t a game after having killed a sentient dragon and allowed his adopted daughter to be enslaved.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In canon, Naofumi meets Belokas at the slave tent a month after the trial, at which point he's so broken down barely hesitates to take a slave. In the fanfic, he meets him the day BEFORE his trial and is quickly driven away as his moral compass is still sturdy. Raphtalia then is met a month early as well, as he buys her as a slave directly after the trial.

** Due to both their crimes against Naofumi and his family as well as their roles in the attempted coup against Queen Mirellia, the other three heroes are given a trial to answer for what they’d done. Downplayed as Queen Mirellia can’t afford to FULLY punish them, but their crimes ARE told to the public.

** Lord Liviccic is a necromancer who powers dead bodies (namely the bodies of monsters from the waves) to fight for him. Despite this, he is loyal, empathetic, and does his best to only kill when absolutely necessary. His powers actually get the other three heroes incredibly suspicious of him from their first meeting, [[WrongGenreSavvy fueling their belief that he’s a villain because of **course** the guy who wears bones and makes corpses fight for him is evil]].

* CovertPervert: Played with for Teal. While, at first, they **seem** like a shy and graceful flower, turns out they have quite a raunchy sense of humor, not helped by their ability to sense pheromones.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Lord Liviccic looks exactly how one would expect an evil necromancer to look, with clothing covered in bones and a giant spider/spider-like woman at his beck and call. Despite this, he is truly a kind ruler and a loyal friend. Partly justified due to him actually using the strength **of** the bones in his magic.

* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Monti has a LOT of insecurities, namely stemming from him being a chimera (specifically a manticore) hatched from a wave boss. His biggest fear is that he'll hurt innocent people or, worse, his own family, causing him to hold back his strength.

** Lord Liviccic is a necromancer who powers dead bodies (namely the bodies of monsters from the waves) to fight for him. Despite this, he is loyal, empathetic, and does his best to only kill when absolutely necessary. His powers actually get the other three heroes incredibly suspicious of him from their first meeting, [[WrongGenreSavvy fueling their belief that he’s a villain because of COURSE the guy who wears bones and makes corpses fight for him is evil]].

* CovertPervert: Played with for Teal. While, at first, they SEEM like a shy and graceful flower, turns out they have quite a raunchy sense of humor, not helped by their ability to sense pheromones.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Lord Liviccic looks exactly how one would expect an evil necromancer to look, with clothing covered in bones and a giant spider/spider-like woman at his beck and call. Despite this, he is truly a kind ruler and a loyal friend. Partly justified due to him actually using the strength OF the bones in his magic.
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the original story, Pope Balmus was killed by Naofumi’s Blood Sacrifice magic. Here, he is NEARLY killed due to Naofumi’s “Eventual Victory” ability, but after it’s forcibly stopped, he’s left barely alive, allowing them to stab him with a cursed sword that finally kills him, allowing his body to later be used by Lord Liviccic.

* LikesClarkKentHatesSuperman: King Aultcray is this when it came to "The Savior"; wanting to award him with a Title and a Lordship in Melromarc for all the hard work he did during the month in-between the first and second Waves, along with granting a bag of gold when hearing the possibility that he might have slighted "The Savior" in the past as compensation. Largely unaware at the time that "The Savior" was actually Naofumi Iwatani, ''The Shield Hero''.