Fanfic / Ambition of the Red Princess

There are so many players on this overcrowded chess board. What harm can it be to add one more?

"The Shield Hero... is completely innocent."

—Malty S Melromarc

Ambition of the Red Princess is a Rising of the Shield Hero Alternate Universe Fic co-written by Qinlongfei and Comrade Broseph, with edits and later additions by Angel Wraith and Ace-Triad.

In this story, Malty S Melromarc, First Princess of Melromarc, decides against framing Naofumi for attempting to rape her and stays by his side, figuring that staying in his good graces and turning him into a legendary hero and savior would give her a better shot at winning her nation's throne. The story is told from Malty's point-of-view, exploring her thoughts and feelings and seeking to flesh her out as a character.

Completed December 2023, at 132 story chapters, 23 interludes, and 2 epilogues for a total of 157 chapters. It has a sequel, Ascension of the Red Princess, located here.

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Ambition of the Red Princess provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • In his thoughts, Aldrecht considers it downright sadistic of Queen Mirellia to force Malty to kill her first monster on the same day her beloved pet died. He's proven correct in this assumption during Mirellia's interlude, where the Queen's thoughts show how little she cares for Malty.
  • Naofumi eventually learns that Mikage was allegedly abused by his mother and sister in his first life, and that his father was entirely absent.
  • Mikage was one to his children, whom he raped.
• Accidental Murder: When Malty was a child, she lost control of her magic and accidentally killed her nanny.
• Accidental Truth: While poisoning Eclair against Mirellia, Malty fabricates a story about Raphtalia potentially being used by the queen against Naofumi. Despite thinking it utterly ridiculous, she's actually very close to the truth.
• A-Cup Angst: Despite being fairly busty herself, Malty has a moment of envy at seeing Cattleya's massive bust.
• Action Bomb: The fishes of the third wave serve their purpose by falling out of the sky to blow themselves up into harming any nearby soldiers.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Eclair Seaetto, and Weiss Schnee, in their duel.
    • In canon, Eclair was a more conventional fencer. With her training as a knight, she's able to incorporate moves that would make Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Geralt of Rivia, the Brosnan version of James Bond, and even King Allant, her distant ancestor, proud — to say nothing of Soul of Cinder's swordsmanship and Yuuki's Mother Rosario seen here.
    • Weiss' home series merely had her cast simple crystal shards and glyphs. Here, she substitutes glyphs with elemental magic, taking cues from benders such as Zaheer, and ninjas such as Shojoji. She also buffs her blade like Eugeo. On top of all that, she utilizes no less than two dozen one-handed sword skills passed down from Kirito's teachings, and she's still considered a novice wannabe.
  • The Life Root is changed from a powerful case of When Trees Attack to an outright Botanical Abomination that threatens the entire kingdom at a minimum.
• Adaptational Dumbass: By the author's own admission in the Author's Notes, Mirellia won't be any more competent than her husband Aultcray. However, the author does clarify that they aren't making Mirellia dumb for the sake of the story; they really think that Mirellia is that incompetent in canon and that the only thing saving her from the consequences of her questionable decisions, such as outlawing a Kingdom-wide Religion that formed the basis of her country and not suffering a religious civil war, is the LN's writer saying that everything worked out alright.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Downplayed a lot with Malty. The story makes no attempts to hide the fact that she isn't a nice person in the slightest, and any acts of "kindness" she displays are motivated by pragmatism. The closest she gets to this is that, once Naofumi has helped her secure the throne, she intends to marry him rather than toss him aside. It's small, but at least she intends to reward him for his troubles.
  • Motoyasu is more friendly to Naofumi, as are the other Cardinal Heroes, again because Malty hasn't turned him into a pariah. Though, in Motoyasu's case, he becomes more in line with his canonical hostility due to his envy at Malty traveling with Naofumi, especially after she's scarred from a monster attack.
  • Beloukas views his underlings as his family and enslaved them to keep others from doing so, on top of enslaving himself to them.
  • Balmus is more than willing to work with all Heroes, and his goal is to save humanity from extinction by accidentally breeding themselves into extinction with the Demi-humans and their more desiderable characteristics. He only becomes hostile because after he was put into a coma by WN!Raphtalia one of his subordinates decided to try and take over Melromarc and made the confrontation inevitable by the time he wakes up, and even then he hopes for a better solution.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Malty is more of a high-functioning sociopath compared to her low-functioning canon version, given that her Stupid Evil nature is replaced with Pragmatic Villainy. To her credit, this version of Malty would be a far more competent ruler than her canon self could ever hope to be.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Firo had her occasionally jerkish moments in The Rising of the Shield Hero, but most of it came towards her enemies provoking her and while she does kick them, they are usually well-deserved. Here, Firo rarely gets along with her party members, since her spoiled, amoral attitude makes her a haughty bird that needs to be kept under watched at all times. At worst, she kicks anyone for no reason or for overreacting to minor insults, despite having enough power to cause serious injuries.
  • Itsuki is more obviously obsessed with his perception of justice, to the point of being noticeably unhinged. This was done to give Malty a clear motivation to ally herself with Naofumi over one of the other three Heroes. However, after Hob's death, he does change his perception of justice from judging those he deemed "evil" to protecting the innocent from genuinely evil threats.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Naofumi is a lot nicer here, largely due to the fact that Malty doesn't betray him. However, just because he's nice doesn't mean he's stupid.
• Adaptational Villainy: Mirellia is far more antagonistic than canon, proving to secretly be just as racist as her husband, positively loathing Malty due to her not meeting her high expectations when she was a kid instead of due to Malty's selfish short-sighted actions like in canon, and setting up Beloukas to sell Raphtalia to Naofumi as a Secret Test of Character so that he would remain tied to Melromarc, though she considers Raphtalia an "unsophisticated slave" of "the most pathetic variety" and "a pathetic life form" and thinks Naofumi will drop her in a heartbeat to marry Melty. When she discovers the attempted plot against Naofumi, she actually considered it an opportunity to secure her influence over a distraught Naofumi and make him loyal to her, and to marry him off to Melty to secure her position as royal heir. She is rather angry at Malty for actually stopping the false accusation and vilification of Naofumi because of this. She also contemplates discrediting and snubbing any influence and achievements Naofumi gains during and in-between the Waves(just like Aultcray and the Church do in Canon) just to make sure Malty doesn't become a Queen, whether it be to Melromarc or to Siltvelt, but doesn't since it would be a one-way ticket to having the World launch a crusade against the kingdom. When one of her Shadows suggests poisoning Malty to ensure she can never bear a child for Naofumi, the only thing keeping Mirellia from ordering it is her aide's outrage at the idea, which gives her the extra moment to realise that it will just lead to the Shield Hero and Siltvelt calling for her blood.
• Adaptation Expansion: A number of characters get their backstories expanded upon, most noticeably Malty, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Itsuki is more obviously obsessed with his perception of justice, to the point of being noticeably unhinged. This was done to give Malty a clear motivation to ally herself with Naofumi over one of the other three Heroes.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Naofumi and the other heroes get along much better than in canon, thanks to Malty deciding not to frame him for raping her. Motoyasu still has hostility towards him due to envy of him having Malty as a party member, but they still get along better than in canon.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Invoked and literally taken up to eleven during Weiss and Eclair's duel, as seen in the following line:
  "Simply shoving her sabaton to the Schnee's solar plexus, sending the snow-haired scion sprawling across the surface".
• Affably Evil: The slave-trader Beloukas is just as genial here as he is in canon. Then it's revealed that he's actually Necessarily Evil here, only enslaving his underlings to ensure that they wouldn't be enslaved by someone more malicious. He also reveals that he enslaved himself to his underlings, meaning her hardly counts as being evil in general.
• Almost Kiss:
  • Happens between Naofumi and Malty towards the end of Chapter 11. Raphtalia unintentionally interrupts them.
  • Also happens between Raphtalia and a Lute Village boy named Raki before Malty stopped them, though he tries to claim that he was teaching her an emergency method to use healing potions on someone unconscious. Keyword being "tries", as Malty is not impressed.
• Amplifier Artifact: Naofumi has a talk with Ren that makes him remember the Mobile Gacha game his little brother played that is his World's equivalent of the other Heroes' games that resemble "video game" world they're in. Remembering this allows him to unlock the Rarity Enhancement system, indicated by the ranks "N", "R", "SR", and "SSR", but more importantly an entirely new Enhancement Method called Limit Break. Limit Break gives each Shield Form 4 hollow-out stars in his display, which he can fill up by feeding identical copies of that form to the Shield, enhancing that specific weapon form and unlocking new abilities. This means that, to fully level up a Weapon Copied Shield Form, he need to feed four identical duplicates of the specific Shield he copied to unlock it. It's currently unknown how this works in regards to Weapon Form unlock through material, though it's likely he just need to feed the Shield four identical sets of the material he used to unlock a Form.
• Antagonist Abilities: A Hate Sink member or major Jerkass of the Three Heroes Church pose as the main antagonist of Ambition of the Red Princess, and they all have a massive amount of manpower that make them an almost unstoppable force for the heroes to defeat. Even when the Three Heroes Church encounter horrible losses from the members' own stupidity to think ahead, they can always brush them off, because of their political power surpassing the noble houses and major higher ups being given a Deus Exit Machina.
• Armor Is Useless: Averted. Everyone from Naofumi to Malty has to wear some form of armor, though how much depends on their role and fighting style. Naofumi wears the heaviest armor he can afford that won't hamper his mobility too much while Malty and the others stick to lighter leather armor or chain mail at the heaviest.
• Arson, Murder, and Admiration: Malty notes Beloukas doing his best to endear himself to Naofumi.
  What a dirty conniving opportunist. Malty's opinion of him just improved considerably!
• Bait-and-Switch: There's a scene where Malty is frequently glancing at a bulge under Naofumi's cloak and thinking that it's getting larger in response to her discomfort and "moving on its own in response to some bestial desire". Turns out he's got a few monster balloons gnawing on him that he's been ignoring.
• Batman Gambit: Two in the same fight. Against the highwaymen, Naofumi throws a potion while shouting "Fire in the hole", causing them to scatter even though it was a harmless health potion. Later, Raphtalia shouts the same thing, convincing Porter to ignore the potion, which is actually a Stink Bomb this time.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. After the fight against the Wave hound in the cave, Malty has significant scarring on her face and shoulder along with losing one of her ears.
• Becoming the Mask: After exonerating Naofumi, Malty thinks to herself that she'll have to become Myne the Adventurer for real now, as she won't be able to rely on her royal status anymore.
• Benevolent Boss: Marquis Noches, the spymaster of Melromarc, gives a street urchin who brings news of Siltvelt's overtures towards Naofumi a recommendation so he can become a squire as a reward, even though he acknowledges the boy is his best agent.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When Malty tries to warn Naofumi about the Pope, Naofumi responds that he already gathered the man shouldn't be trusted. He goes on to state that the Pope is more dangerous than Aultcray because he's much more subtle about his antagonism and even appears benevolent at times.
• Book Dumb:
  • Naofumi struggled academically throughout his school career but quickly shows an impressive understanding of people and their motivations, such as realizing that a barkeep offering everyone a free round of beer will make his customers eat and drink more along with their cheer drawing in more curious customers, earning him more money than the single lost barrel of beer would've earned him. Similarly, when Malty exonerates him of having allegedly raped her, Naofumi almost immediately puzzles out that she was expected to betray him as part of a plot by the king. It doesn't take him long before realizing she's lying about her identity and that she's actually a noble in disguise either, though he's wrong as to the level of said nobility.
  • On other occasions, Naofumi immediately dismisses the other heroes' claim that being the Shield Hero makes him useless, citing how important tanks are in multiplayer games. He also realizes that the two "envoys" sent by Siltvelt are low-level spies, given that their "plan" to smuggle him out of the country is to take him by carriage through the main road connecting the two countries, which is fortified by a heavy garrison. Naofumi takes a moment to explain why leaving Melomarc is a bad idea to begin with as it'd paint him as a deserter, and that's even if everyone at the garrison thinks rationally and lets him pass rather than killing him.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Porter, the leader of a group of highwaymen who mostly used improvised weapons is strong enough to rather easily overpower Farkas, who's level seventy. In the end, it's a combination of teamwork from Naofumi's entire party and a fair bit of luck that allow them to defeat the man.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Rishia keeping inventory for Itsuki's party is a great help for the boy, who admits all the micromanaging that comes from actually keeping a party supplied gives him a migraine.
  • Additionally, Eclair Seaetto's fighting style with longswords come her duel with Weiss Schnee. Forgoing the use of a rapier to hide her identity, she uses slower maneuvers when both defending and attacking, conserving her stamina and outfighting her opponent in the long run. Even when hit with a rush of adrenaline, going on the offense with her sword in one hand and the ability to keep up with Weiss' speed, her combo strings are far more simple and less sophisticated than the latter.
  • Gutter Beaks are well known for the majority of their meat being filled with a rather unhealthy grease that causes indigestion. Bertia designs a specialized cooking stone that's angled to collect all the grease in jugs. As such, all of the meat is edible (if not particularly tasty) and the grease can be used for lamps.
• Both Sides Have a Point: When it comes to Raphtalia, Lautrec insists they not baby her and make sure she's capable of fighting in the Waves without becoming a liability. Naofumi, on the other hand, declares it's cruel to force a child to kill an animal, especially a child who's clearly traumatized. Malty suggests they take a slower approach to acclimating Raphtalia to violence and leave her with Elhard if she's not ready to fight in the first wave.
• Bring It: When Naofumi is forced to duel one of the other heroes just to earn the pay and privileges he's owed, Naofumi boldly declares he'll face all three of them at once.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Itsuki always idolized heroes after the first esper hero, Shining Man, saved his life. By the time he died, he'd become disgusted with the current heroes who either used endorsement deals to become rich or actively caused more harm than the villains they fought.
  • Eclair suffers this twice over. First was seeing Emon, who she idolized as a paragon of virtue, turning out to be a vicious Knight Templar who tried to kill all of Lute due to their affiliation with Naofumi, and ignoring any and all arguments to talk him out of it. The second time to Queen Mirellia, which is invoked by Malty to bring her to her side. Specifically learning how she set up her previous aide Dan Ascott for vicious character assassination by setting him up as attempting to propagate Demi-Human equality in the Human Supremacist Melromarc. Then when his daughter is born with white hair, Mirellia claimed his wife had an affair with a White Tiger and him a Siltvelt collaborator and gave an ultimatum to divorce and disown them or stay away from the capitol. Then there's her attempting to name Eclair's father^note whose focus of honor and loyalty and advocacy of Demi-Human equality has made him the most unpopular lord in Melromarc as regent, which would paint a huge target on his back for assassination. Then her theory of Raphtalia being set up for Naofumi to find. All of this shatters the female knight's faith in the Queen she's idolized since childhood.
• Calling the Old Man Out: In the Balafon dungeon, Malty is entrapped in an illusion that includes, among other things, her mother verbally tearing into her for being such a horrible person despite all Mirellia's done for her. Malty fires back that Mirellia only did the bare minimum expected of her, such as Malty's father and nanny caring for her when she was sick but Mirellia never once came to see her. When the illusion brings up Malty killing her nanny, Malty retorts that Mirellia forced her to kill a monster with her magic on the same day her pet filorial died; of course her magic was going to go out of control.
• Came Back Wrong: According to the story told by Lord Malfoy's great-grandfather, Mikage was always cynical and hard to get along with, but it was only after dying and being resurrected that he began to become the King of Rape, implying this trope might have been at play.
• Career-Ending Injury: Gaston loses an eye in the Second Wave, meaning he can no longer aim his bow properly. He takes it surprisingly well, stating he can still serve as senior tracker, as well as boast about having saved Naofumi's life in the Wave.
• Cerebus Syndrome: When the series first started, Mein and Naofumi's journey had occasionally put them in comical situations or if a dangerous event happened, it would usually be resolved with no lasting consequences. Since chapter 95, the initial lighthearted tone vanished in exchange of more psychological trauma and political wars from the Three Heroes Church becoming the main antagonists for the heroic characters.
• Chainmail Bikini: Malty tries to get the skimpy two-piece armor she had in canon, only for the blacksmith to remark such armor is designed to look good and attract suitors on hunting trips. She ends up getting more practical leather armor instead at his insistence.
• The Chains of Commanding: King Aultcray admits to Pope Balmus that he'd be happier living in the mountain village where he grew up and looking after children than being king. During a post-Wave Banquet, Malty reflects that her father absolutely hates such gatherings.
• Character Check: Downplayed with Malty: after various chapters of her mostly acting nice, chapter 32 has a harsh reminder that she's a manipulative villain, if a rather pragmatic one, when she preys on Eclair's insecurities to poison her against Queen Mirellia.
• Character Development:
  • Malty starts the story as a high functioning sociopath only interested in gaining the throne. By the end of her first Wave, Malty finds herself wondering if the throne is worth dealing with the Decadent Court and if living with Naofumi in his duchy might be preferable.
  • Itsuki started out wanting to do justice. But after seeing Emon's actions, and being forced to kill him, has him learn that justice isn't about judgement but protecting people.
  • Motoyasu learns to start taking personal responsibility for his actions rather than blame others.
  • Ren initially pretty much ignored his party and focused on doing things by himself. His fight against Naofumi's party and encounter with Gaelion both teach him to start relying on his comrades more.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Chapter 16 ends with Malty falling off a cliff while trying to save Raphtalia.
  • Chapter 17 ends with Malty critically wounded from a monster attack.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Naofumi fights dirty to get around his nonexistent attack, such as using his pet Balloons to deal damage, throwing foul-smelling potions at enemies, and pretend to throw alchemist fire around.
  • When Malty fights someone, she'll quickly aim for their eyes or set them both on fire, and generally do anything to harm them as much as possible.
  • Unlike Weiss, who fights strictly with her rapier, Eclair happily uses punches, kicks, and even shoulder tackles to strike the other girl.
  • Weiss herself tries to be this, using spells to try and win her "sparring match" with Eclair... And only tires herself out, something Eclair promptly takes advantage of.
• Composite Character:
  • Believe it or not, Malty actually seems to possess a number of canon!Naofumi's traits, namely the ones he got after she framed him – a naturally distrustful and pragmatic outlook on life, though with reversed stats (high charisma, higher-than-average-but-lower-than-good intelligence).
  • Iris, Katarina, and Bertia are all explained by the author to be a combination of their "original" villainess personalities and their canon Isekai incarnations's personalities. They are more similar to their incarnations, but don't have the modern knowledge and cultural standards, so they still act somewhat in-line with the world's social norms, such as Iris playing to secure her betrothal status when her Isekai incarnation avoided such things.
• Consummate Professional:
  • Elhard insists on treating all customers the same (besides refusing to deal with slave traders), citing that letting customers die is bad for business. He also allows Naofumi to buy a high-quality suit of armor far below its actual value with the agreement that Naofumi would pay for it with his rewards from fighting the Waves.
  • Count Winchester may hate demihumans for what they did to his family, but he swore to uphold truth and honor and will do so even when it means supporting demihumans.
• Cool Big Sis: Malty unintentionally acts as one for Raphtalia, teaching the younger girl magic and generally looking out for her, such as preventing Raphtalia from drinking hard liquor at a party because it'd be far too strong for her.
• Cool Mask: Malty's formal outfit for the post-Wave banquet includes a cloth mask she can pull up to cover the lower half of her face.
• Crippling Overspecialization:
  • Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren are hampered by both having just enough knowledge of the world they're summoned to that they don't seek out more information but also how they gained said knowledge. They all dismiss the idea of a tank like Naofumi being useful because of the games they played in their own worlds^note Ren played an Action RPG that encourages stealth, Itsuki only played single-player games and thus doesn't understand group raids, and Motoyasu was a casual who used gaming to have online dates. That being said, the three realize that Naofumi will be useful as a Support Party Member due to his skills, making it easy to mass-produce potions and other items.
  • Weiss is an incredibly skilled fencer. She also is very much unused to fighting people who use weapons significantly different to rapiers or who throw in punches and kicks when fighting. Notably, Weiss executes an impressive combination of attacks, which is stopped by Eclair's crossguard. It shows further when Weiss uses magic to change her rapier into first an arming sword and then a lance. Because she only trained with a rapier, she has almost no ability with her stronger magical weapons and Eclair easily handles each.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Dying from a loyalty potion apparently feels like being eaten from the inside by thousands of bugs while a thousand knives flay your skin.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Weiss's duel against Eclair starts in her favor and she gets some licks in, but a good half or more of the fight is Eclair outright manhandling the merchant's daughter.
• Daddy's Girl: Malty has her father wrapped around her finger.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The Pope suggests Mikage was a very troubled young man when he arrived in their world, but not a monster, commenting how he would say things such as "A world where everyone lives happily, is a world where no one is happy." and "With great power comes greater evil, thus the most responsible thing one in power can do is be the least evil."
• Deadpan Snarker: Malty is this, though only in her internal monologues. When Mald berates her for not framing Naofumi as originally planned, she claims that her mother wants her to wait for the right time to frame Naofumi.
  Malty: (internally) The right time being never.
• Dead to Begin With: Ren in this fic, due to not considering Naofumi an enemy and after seeing the unfair treatment he receives from the King, doesn't believe that he and the other Heroes are in a video game where they can live out their fantasies. Instead he believes all four of them are dead, and that the world they're in is a shared afterlife created by their imaginations due to each Hero having a game similar to it in their original world. He also believes that, instead of being a paradise where they can partake in a power fantasy, each of them are like ghosts and have lingering regrets and problems that they need to overcome and make peace with before they can pass on.
• Decadent Court: Malty reflects on the vicious fighting between nobles vying for power, either through the gaining favor with the current ruler or trying to supplant them. After a month traveling with Naofumi, she wonders if balls and banquets were always as decadent as the one they're currently attending.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance:invoked The laws and traditions of Melromarc butt heads with Naofumi, who lives in 21st-century Japan.
  • Slavery is considered normal in Melromarc, whereas to Naofumi, Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil.
  • The Emperor of Japan is a constitutional monarch with little to no real power, whereas the queen of Melromarc is an autocrat. Compounding this is the fact that Melromarc is a matriarchy, something that no feudal country on Naofumi's world ever practiced.
  • Touching a demihuman's ears without permission is considered a show of dominance if done by anyone but a spouse/lover.
• Developer's Foresight: Well, more like Litigator's Foresight. When King Aultcray tries to have Naofumi's victory in the duel negated by pointing out the former's use of his Balloons, the Royal Guard Captain points out to the King that, per Zeltoble's dueling laws, if a participant can't reasonably deal damage in a timely manner then they are allowed to have either one animal companion or up to three familiars, the latter of which his Balloons qualify as for their perceived weakness. However, Naofumi partakes in a little Loophole Abuse in this, as while normal Balloons are weak enough that even a child can kill them, Naofumi's Balloons are of a higher level and have additional stat boosts due to the Monster Tamer and Slave User Shields. Not that anyone outside of his party knows that, of course.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • The plan the two spies from Siltvelt, Rosat and Cervell, have for smuggling Naofumi out of the kingdom amounts to riding in a carriage across the border, going through a well fortified garrison on the way.
  • Aldrecht, the Royal Battle Mage, thinks Queen Mirellia was rather foolish at best to make Malty kill a monster the same day her pet died. Combined with her general stress, Malty lost control of her magic and killed her nanny by accident.
  • Shortly before the story's start, Mirellia almost made Eclair's father her Regent while she was away in Faubley. As the man is already massively unpopular, doing so would have painted a target on his back, something she only realized when her own advisor pointed it out.
  • Ren realizes he didn't properly think things through once he's face to face with Gaelion, who's the size of a small keep. Malty privately notes there's a distinct difference between planning to kill a dragon you merely know of, and planning to kill the inn-sized dragon directly in front of you.
  • Years prior to the story start, Aultcray led his kingdom's Wyvern Corps (an elite branch of Melromarc's air cavalry) into Faubley to retrieve the cure to a deadly plague that had been ravaging the land. It takes his brother, King Egbert Faubley, viciously explaining that he could take such an act as a declaration of war for Aultcray to realize just how badly he messed up.
  • Melty stows away on Naofumi's cart because she wants to go on an adventure with him and because she likes his Filorial. It's not until Malty carries her away that it occurs to the younger princess that sneaking away from her bodyguards to join a group of strangers might be a bad idea.
  • While traveling alongside some Templars, Jaune considers to let Naofumi absorb his mace to improve his shield. Richard immediately puts a stop to it and calls him an idiot for it, pointing out that since he's already in hot water for allying with the Shield Hero demonized by their order, outright letting him absorb one of their most vaunted relics would result in ruination not just for him, but the rest of his family and beloved mentor.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Zylden is an arcane researcher who wants to study all the magic of the world to attain his life's goal: To learn to summon nubile young women directly to his bedroom. Malty is appalled by how perverse and ridiculous his dream is.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Rosat offers to kill Malty for "speaking to Naofumi as if she were his equal".
• Disqualification-Induced Victory: In his previous life, Ren was the second best player at Brave Star Online, only behind someone who abused the system constantly. Eventually, the other player was banned before Ren could beat him on his own merit, leaving him with a hollow victory.
• Doting Parent:
  • Mirellia is this to Melty, to the point of prejudice and racism. She constantly praises and thinks highly of her, and thinks that Naofumi will obviously pick "her well-educated and raised daughter" to marry instead of Raphtalia (who she considers an "unsophisticated, pathetic life-form"). She also coddles her and tries her hardest to give her as many advantages as possible so her ascent to the throne is the easiest it can be, while snubbing Malty for seeking the same. And when Malty's seduction of Naofumi plans to give Melty an unfair disadvantage, Mirellia briefly thinks about helping Melty by sabotaging and discrediting any and all influence the Shield Hero would get during the Waves.
  • She is also the opposite to her other daughter, Malty, to the point of extreme unfairness and hypocrisy, especially since this fic's Malty is smarter and somewhat kinder than canon!Malty. Where Mirellia is willing to forgive Melty for acting like a child, and even encouraging such behaviour to an extent, she was unwilling to do the same for Malty, such as expecting her to kill a monster the very same day she lost her pet when she was 10 years old and being so disappointed in the result that she immediately wrote her off and planned to have her be married to an ugly rapist that models himself after the infamous "King of Rape". And, keep in mind, Melty is currently even older (12) than Malty was at that time (10), so there is another level of bias to Mirellia's favoritism. She also dismisses or criticises pretty much all of Malty's moves on Naofumi, even though she admits that she would have done the same thing in Malty's position. And why does she do so? Because it gives Melty an unfair disadvantage.
• Dramatic Drop: Ren ends up dropping his sword in shock upon learning he was about to kill what was effectively an innocent dragon looking for his daughter. Considering how much of a Clingy MacGuffin the Heroes' weapons are, this clues everyone into his Heroic BSoD.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: The first Shield Hero proclaimed to their subjects of Siltvelt that differences are to be respected, as a way to foster cooperation. The nobility of Siltvelt, took this to mean that differences between social classes and victors and losers should also be enforced to justify their Fantastic Caste System, Social Darwanism in brutalizing defeated enemies, and practicing the right of taking.
• Droit du Seigneur: Sitvelt had previously established 'The Right of Taking' while they occupied Melromarc, giving their nobility carte blanche to have their way with any of the local women on their wedding nights. Just one of more reasons why the majority of Melromarc hates them, demihumans, and the Shield Hero.
• Dysfunction Junction: All four of the legendary heroes have significant mental issues. Of them, Naofumi isn't actually the most well-adjusted, so much as that his issues are the simply most easily managed.
• Easy Logistics: Averted.
  • One of the reasons why each kingdom is only supposed to summon a single hero is so that they can throw their full support behind them, rather than have to divide it between heroes and risk not having enough to fight the Waves.
  • The lack of money spiders means that adventurers need to keep careful track of their supplies, along with what sellable goods they've found on their journeys. Rishia, who's largely useless in a fight, earns her spot in Itsuki's party simply from being able to keep track of their inventory and money.
• Elective Monarchy: Melromarc: while the succession is normally hereditary with the monarch indicating their preferring successor, the kingdom being a feudal confederation of various duchies and principalities means the dukes and princes are technically the ones to elect each ruler. This is what could allow Malty to become queen against her mother's will, and almost results in Mirelia's being deposed in the aftermath of the Three Heroes' Church revolt.
• Entertainingly Wrong: A borderline Running Gag.
  • When Malty and Naofumi rent a room with only one bed and he offers to sleep on the floor, citing he's used to it, Malty assumes that Naofumi's parents must have abused him. In reality, sleeping on the floor is a common practice in Japan.
  • Naofumi makes a complex, extremely well-constructed hypothesis regarding Aultcray's decision to summon all four Cardinal Heroes, and assumes that the King (and perhaps even the Queen) has some sort of long-term plan that involves taking Naofumi down for political reasons – it's so well-made that Malty begins to think that she may have underestimated her father. Anyone familiar with the series' canon knows that Aultcray's real beef with the Shield Hero is far more personal (and petty).
  • When Malty discovers that Naofumi got his incomplete and often wrong info from a book about the Four Heroes, she starts thinking that the worlds of the Four Heroes donate Hero candidates to countless other worlds, and that there are great religious and ideological wars over which version of the Book is the truth to what awaits the Heroes in the summoned worlds. The idea of such crusades also makes her believe that Naofumi's dislike for religious fundamentalism is due to being traumatized by such wars.
  • Averted. When Malty is discrediting Mirellia to Eclair, she nails the point home by using Raphtalia as an example, and suggests that Raphtalia manages to survive the torture of her last, pedophile owner by order of the Queen in a plot to burden the would-have-been discredited Shield Hero. Malty internally thinks that the idea is really ridiculous, but goes along with it in order to ruin Eclair's perception of Mirellia. However, recalling back to Mirellia's Interlude reveals that, yes, that actually was her plan.
  • Naofumi regularly makes false assumptions regarding Zylden, due to the man being a dead ringer (in both looks and personality) for Tyrion Lannister.
• Equivalent Exchange: Naofumi brings up the idea when doing business with Beloukas. It's also what makes him wary of the Battle Formation skill as the idea of large groups of people being able to level up without breaching the 'six party members' limit sounds too good for it to not have some horrendous cost.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The first moment of genuine kindness we see from Malty is when she is shocked and horrified when she assumes that Naofumi's parents abused him.
    • The second is when she learns of Raphtalia's Survivor Guilt, though her Fantastic Racism prompts her to try and squash such feelings.
  • One of Beloukas' Demihuman guards is disgusted by the previous Shield Hero Mikage Mikami, also known as the King of Rape, citing that he hid away in the palace with his incestuous harem rather than protect his people on the front lines like he should have.
  • When Naofumi's party is ambushed by fanatics of the Church of Three, Malty is horrified at finding out she gets EXP from killing them, and people by extension, and not just from killing monsters.
  • Malty is appalled that Naofumi believes his parents genuinely won't care, or possibly even notice, that he simply disappeared one day.
  • As pointed out by a preacher from the Church of Three, Mikage, the infamous King of Rape, never harmed his companions even at the height of his madness.
  • Malty is genuinely disturbed by how emotionally damaged Raphtalia is that she equates slavery to trust and doesn't understand that Naofumi freeing her isn't abandoning her.
  • The highwaymen who attacked Naofumi's party genuinely were only interested in a toll and would've helped the merchant Walter Hickwaal repair his wagon.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • As Malty lampshades, even racists tend to have a soft spot for children, particularly one like Raphtalia who's clearly sick and malnourished.
  • Elhard the blacksmith doesn't deal with slave traders nor outfit child soldiers. He makes an exception for Naofumi since he has to have slaves to round out his party and treats them well, on top of intending to end the slave trade.
  • Despite strongly disliking her younger sister, Malty warns her to stay away from a noble who's a known pedophile.
  • Farkas is a cynical Jerkass who holds Fantastic Racism towards humans. Yet when Malty mentions how Siltvelt had freed Demi-Human Slaves only to use them as Cannon Fodder during the war 20 years ago, Malty notes that he seems ashamed when he confirms her story, and the reasoning behind it.
• Face Palm: Naofumi did this regularly while dealing with the pair of Siltvelt spies.
• Failed a Spot Check: Porter and his group didn't realize they were camped right next to several trees whose fruits are extremely valuable as alchemy ingredients and gourmet food. In Porter's defense, he specializes in zoology, not botany or alchemy.
• Family of Choice: Beloukas and his employees all consider each other family. One of them, Kristy, is extremely offended when Naofumi accuses Beloukas of lying about wanting to end the slave trade.
• Fantastic Arousal: Demihuman ears are particularly sensitive. Though for a non-lover to touch them without permission is a display of dominance.
• "Fawlty Towers" Plot: Malty's tale of being a simple adventurer from a small village forces her to tell more and more lies when asked things she'd know if she really was "Mein of Samphor". Inversely, she sometimes has to stop and ponder if "Mein of Samphor" would know a particular fact before answering Naofumi's question.
• Foil: Malty realizes that the Bitch Lord is far too close to her, as the latter is basically canon!Malty as a demihuman bandit.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • When Malty was a child, she overheard her mother declaring she was useless as an heir, insisting on having another child, suggesting Malty be married off to King Faubley. Given Malty's and Melty's respective ages, the princess was less than ten years old when her mother wrote her off. As a result, Malty becomes solely devoted to proving she's a better heir than her younger sister, with all of her actions geared towards becoming queen rather than engaging in petty sadism.
  • The people of Melromarc are suspicious of the Shield Hero on principle partially because the previous Shield Hero Mikage Mikami became king of Siltvelt and was such a monstrous tyrant that the world knew him as the "King of Rape".
    • Similarly, their hatred of Demi-humans is caused by an occupation of Melromarc by Siltvelt which included, among other things, the institution of "right of the first night" which allowed them to rape brides on their wedding day.
  • Aultcray's fanaticism against Naofumi stems from the fact his own actions in the past forced him to engage Malty to King Faubley to avoid a war, something that made Aultcray vow to never fail his daughter again.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Motoyasu gets on everyone's nerves but they put up with him because they'll need his help to fight the Waves.
• Fusion Fic: Ambition of the Red Princess has a huge cast of characters that extend way beyond the amount of characters The Rising of the Shield Hero had. To play the plotline of a political warfare and intrigue, lots of characters were borrowed from existing franchises. The most notable series being Game of Thrones, Fire Emblem, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne and types of open-world adventuring games, like The Elder Scrolls.
• Generation Xerox: It's hinted that one of the reasons Mirellia isn't so fond of Malty is because she reminds her of her own worse traits.
• Genre Savvy: The Cardinal Heroes discuss how they're all technically Isekai protagonists though there is some debate over who would be the main character. Motoyasu suggests Itsuki for having the most interesting backstory, while Itsuki says it'd go to the most bland character so readers can self-insert, which Motoyasu believes would be Ren due to his similarity to Kirito. Naofumi denies that he would be the protagonist, reasoning that no one would want to read a story about someone who only uses a piece of armor instead of a weapon, then suggests Motoyasu would be the main character since he fits the Harem Genre so well.
• Gone Horribly Right: When Malty purchases some clothes from the blacksmith in order to disguise herself, the disguise works so well that, whenever she tries to reveal her identity, it takes a few moments for the person she's conversing with to recognize her. She's both annoyed and pleased by this: on one hand, it forces her to make the annoying habit of going over-the-top in order to confirm her identity; on the other hand, it means that the blacksmith did a good job making her clothes, so at least she's getting her money's worth.
• Good Can Not Comprehend Evil: Mirellia's aide, Duke Luigi Claes, being such a Doting Parent cannot fathom why Mirellia favors her younger daughter so much over the first, to the point it seems she hates Malty.
• Good Is Not Dumb: Naofumi may be less cynical here than he is in canon, but he's no less intelligent for it.
• Good with Numbers: Raphtalia quickly calculates how much Alchemist Fire can be purchased with the meat of a single Porcupine, only getting a wrong answer because she didn't account for how the Waves would drive up the price of Alchemist Fire.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Aldrecht's own father ordered his assassination out of jealousy over his accomplishments.
• Groin Attack: Motoyasu casually remarks that Firo is only useful for her meat, causing said filorial to kick him full force in the crotch. The Spear Hero is sent flying over the village's pallisade from the force.
• Guns Are Worthless: Played with: their problem is that guns don't have stats modification, so a gun held by a level 1 user does just as much damage as one held by a level 100 user and at high levels they are less useful than swords or bows. On the other hand, a repeating gun is excellent to mow down groups of low-level opponents.
• Handicapped Badass:
  • Kyubei can't use his left arm at all due to a genetic defect but is still a skilled fencer.
  • Malty loses one of her ears to the Wave hound, but is no less dangerous despite it. Casting Supernova against the Life Root also damages her heart, giving her chronic chest pain and causing coughing fits when she gets too worked up.
  • Farkas's has crippled arms and has to fight with his legs and teeth, but since he's level 70, it hardly matters against the enemies he fights.
• Happiness in Slavery:
  • Rosat and Cervell offer to become Naofumi's slaves to prove their trustworthiness and insist that being slaves to the Shield Hero is a great honor.
  • Like canon, Raphtalia wishes to remain a slave when Naofumi offers to free her. Unlike canon, it's less a case of Undying Loyalty and more that she fears Naofumi will simply get rid of her if he does free her. Naofumi manages to explain that he isn't abandoning Raphtalia and frees her while keeping her in the party.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The author explains in a note after their What If? omake, that Queen Mirellia's scheme to marry Melty to Naofumi would have failed in this fic regardless of whether Malty allied herself with him or not. If she did, well, we get this fic, but if she didn't then Iris would have secured Naofumi for herself, meaning the Queen's plan fails before it even begins either way.
• Heal It With Fire: After the Second Wave, Malty has to use her fire magic to cauterize several injuries sustained by Lute's defenders.
• Heel Realization: Actually meeting Gaelion causes Ren to realize that even if everyone but the four heroes are just figments of their imaginations, they're still more than simple game NPCs.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Zigzagged.
  • Everyone in Naofumi's party wears a helmet, except for the insane Lautrec.
  • Ren however, doesn't. This comes back to bite him when Malty repeatedly punches him in the face.
• Hero's Evil Predecessor: A major reason for Naofumi's difficulties and the King and the rest of Melromarc's giving him, and demi-humans, so much grief is due to the fact that the previous Shield Hero was a monstrous tyrant known as The King of Rape who led to Siltvelt occupying Melromarc, and instituting brutal treatment such as The Right of Taking.
• Hidden Depths: Beloukas turns out to be a contact for Melromarc's spymaster.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Part of the Siltvelt spies' disguise includes feathers on their clothing to resemble members of the Raven Order. Naofumi realizes they're fakes thanks to this trope, since it would be counterproductive and stupid for members of an organization of professional spies to dress in a way that so blatantly exclaims where they're from and who they are.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: The Count of Las Noches, Melromarc's spymaster, is effectively one for the King. (Not that that's particularly hard, given that it's Aultcray we're talking about.)
• Hypocrite: Mirellia criticizes Malty's actions to get close to the Shield Hero despite admitting she'd do the same herself, simply because she hates Malty.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Played for Laughs. During the fight between Eclair and Weiss, the latter uses magic spells to have an advantage over Eclair. Malty calls out out Weiss for using magical projectiles in a duel of blades, but conveniently ignores herself committing the same dirty trick.
• Hypocritical Humor: Maty disses the engineering of Weiss' Myrtenaster, before she gushes over how she wants something like that.
  Narrator: She wants to have a sword like that!
• I Know Your True Name: Played for Laughs. When Naofumi names the Balloons he's enslaved, he gives them Japanese names which are bizarre enough to Malty that she imagines they're the true names of the eldritch abominations masquerading as low-level monsters.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: While dealing with Motoyasu's drunken boasting, two of his companions have obviously fixed smiles on their faces while the third is chugging her beer as fast as she can.
• Improperly Paranoid: Aultclay's paranoia against Naofumi is based on actual experience with a previous Shield Hero but it causes him to needlessly alienate one of the Four Cardinal Heroes. For example, there is a Brainwash spell, but it's so extremely high-level that Naofumi, who's not even level ten at the time, has no hope of having unlocked it yet.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Gaelion caused enough trouble for the town of Trumpet that they put out a quest to slay him. When confronted about this, Gaelion says that if he wanted the town destroyed, he'd fly down and burn it himself. He's actually been avoiding the town in an attempt to not cause them trouble; he's just so powerful that he does so anyway.
• I Know Mortal Kombat:
  • Deconstructed. Due to Ren's great skill experience in Brave Star Online, his body had become accustomed to reacting quickly against fighting opponents. Although Ren may be a master in fighting in a VR, he quickly finds himself to be unable to fight back against a man driving his knife onto his body. While Ren managed to use his gaming experience to react, his body lacks the physical experience to dodge the speeding knife.
  • Double Subverted. Motoyasu's suggestion to solve a famine problem in a village is by looking for a monster dungeon and reap a miracle seed it contains that can feed everyone. However, the idea only comes from his video game, Emerald Online, making the idea nonexistent as Mein thinks to herself. Surprisingly, the village elder ends up revealing that there is actually a monster dungeon nearby the village, causing Mein to be Instantly Proven Wrong.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Played for Laughs. Chapter 47 has Motoyasu suggest that the solution to solve the famine in the village is by finding a dungeon that contains a seed which can produce enough fruit to feed everyone. However, the only support he has for his solution is that it once existed from his game, Emerald Online. Mein believes Motoyasu to be an idiot for using his game knowledge on a life threatening famine, but the latter is proved to be correct, as the village elder mentions a nearby monster dungeon.
• Insult Friendly Fire: As Weiss slowly loses her cool over failing to keep up against Eclair, despite using magic, the latter insults her for having failed to properly train her fencing skills. The accusations Eclair delivers to Weiss are on the latter's lifestyle to live a lavish life over training her fencing skills to the very best. Eclair's insults also apply to Malty, as she has the best tutors available for her but never takes advantage over it.
• In the Hood: Malty's adventuring outfit includes a leather hood to protect her head. During the post-Wave celebratory banquet, she wears a much fancier hood as part of her formal outfit.
• Irony: Of Malty's various lies and carefully edited truths used to poison Eclair against Mirellia, it's the one she finds most absurd, that Mirellia is using Raphtalia as bait against Naofumi, that's actually true.
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • Aultcray accuses Naofumi of killing High Inquisitor Emon even though his attack stat barely exists. When Naofumi calls Aultcray out on it, Mald insists he must've used some special shield power to do it, despite Itsuki confessing to killing the man.
  • In chapter 34, Ren (the Sword Hero, not the bandit) declares Naofumi a "cheater who exploits loopholes" because the Shield Hero uses creativity to become strong enough to survive since he has no attack power of his own. Ren's interlude goes further into this, stating he decided to fight Naofumi because Ren thought that "proving skill overcomes cheating" would allow him to pass on from the current afterlife.
• It's All My Fault: Motoyasu's interlude shows that he blames himself for all the misfortune that's befallen him or those around him since being summoned.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Malty correctly points out that Naofumi wearing raider armor from Siltvelt is not only bad for his image, but could get possibly them in trouble during combat, because it might make someone mistake him for a bandit.
  • Lautrec insists Raphtalia has to get over her fear of blood if she's to be any use in the Waves.
  • In the sixth interlude, Malty is quite vicious in calling out Itsuki on his messes, such as wiping out the royal family and the higher ranks of the military of Stormwind to save Rishia, thus all but sentencing a kingdom to be wiped out in the Waves, and accidentally setting an inquisitor after Naofumi, nearly getting Lute destroyed, and causing an international incident with Faubley when he killed the inquisitor to stop him, by talking to the inquisitor without fully knowing the facts. The only reason Itsuki doesn't agree vocally is that he's mentally calling himself out over that and allowing Mald to bully Rishia.
  • Firo kicks Motoyasu in the crotch for insulting her, calling the filorial a "garden variety only good for slaughter". But Malty later notes that not only is Firo the most common breed of filorial, but that her attacking anyone who angers her will get Naofumi in trouble.
• Kangaroo Court: After the first Wave the heroes fought in, King Aultcray first tries give Naofumi a mere pittance, claiming he didn't show up to the battle, then tries to withhold his payment entirely. Even when Sir Winchester testifies that Naofumi was fighting to save a nearby village from a swarm of Wave spawn, one of Itsuki's party members speaks up that Naofumi's party is comprised of slaves, causing Aultcray to demand Naofumi's arrest.
• Lethally Stupid: Melromarc's queen and king:
  • Mirellia almost got one of her staunchest allies, Lord Seatto, whose staunch devotion to honor and honesty and advocacy for Demi-Human equality have already made him one of the most unpopular lords in the kingdom, assassinated by promoting him all the way to Regent before leaving for Faubley. She had to be told by one of her advisors that such a promotion would paint a massive target on the man's back. Malty uses this information, though not that Mirellia was talked out of it, to convince Eclair that Mirellia deliberately allowed for her father to be assassinated.
  • Back in the day, Aultclay procured the cure for the Wailing Death plague... By invading Faubley, the strongest country in the world, back when Melromarc was still in the middle of rebuilding after the Siltvelt invasion. The only reason Faubley did not conquer Melromarc then and there is that Egbert had just enough decency to not make Mirellia and her country pay for Aultclay's stupidity, though he demanded Malty's hand as reward for his leniency.
• Logical Weakness: Naofumi's Smart Phone Shield can display in either Japanese or Common Melromarc. But the shield runs off his own knowledge of both languages, causing several words to be blurred out and some sentences to be grammatically incorrect due to his rather limited knowledge of Common Melromarc.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Naofumi has a pathetic Attack rating, but counter moves like Parry utilize his massive Defense rating, giving him a way to deal damage himself directly.
  • Normal Balloons are considered weak enough that even a child can kill them, allowing them to classify as familiars that legitimise their usage in Naofumi's duel with Motoyasu. However, Naofumi's Balloons are of a higher level and have additional stat boosts due to the Monster Tamer and Slave User Shields, making them stronger, though the spectators don't know that.
• Lord Country: In Melromarc a ruler shares the name with their fief, with the House of Melromarc sharing it with the entire kingdom... And having renamed it from Kingdom of Gallia after they took over, with the lands they control directly being instead referred to as Crownland. When Mirelia is almost deposed in favor of Prince Joseph De Gallia Malty admits that if it happened the country would instantly revert to Kingdom of Gallia.
• Made of Explodium: The fish monsters of the third wave threaten several soldiers and have temporarily knocked out Mein from battle, because of their explosive bodies.
• Magikarp Power: Naofumi enslaves a trio of Balloon monsters in an attempt to level them up and use them as attack dogs. According to Beloukas, no one has tried this before as it's too inefficient for anyone but a Cardinal Hero. Instead, people who want to enslave a monster go for a high-level one like a Griffon.
• invokedMoe: In Malty's opinion, Naofumi's greatest strength is how adorable he is.
• Master Swordsman: Eclair, as shown by her "sparring match" with Weiss, in which her opponent first found herself outskilled, then started using all sorts of spells to gain the upper hand... And Eclair utterly mopped the floor with her through sheer skill.
• Mirror Universe: Discussed in Interlude Eight, where Naofumi and Motoyasu recall how the members of the Justice League and the Crime Syndicate (the Mirror Universe version of the League) are switched between their worlds^note For example, Batman and Superman are heroes in Naofumi's world, while Owlman and Ultraman are heroes in Motoyasu's, making Naofumi briefly wonder if their worlds are opposites.
• Moment Killer: Malty is in the middle of seducing Naofumi when a balloon monster that he'd forgotten about bites her hand.
• Money Spider: Averted. Itsuki lampshades that the only way to get money or useful ingredients from killing monsters is to either complete a quest regarding said monsters or to harvest them for sellable parts.
• Moral Myopia:
  • Aultcray tries to have Naofumi arrested for owning demi-human slaves, something that's perfectly legal in Melromarc.
  • Mirellia decries Malty manipulating a Cardinal Hero for her benefit but plans on having Melty do the exact same thing.
• Morton's Fork: After barely defeating the highwaymen who attacked his party in chapter 31, Naofumi is told they can either sell them into slavery or kill them. If his group instead turns them in to the authorities, they'll still be sold into slavery, but his party won't benefit from it.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Naofumi uses low level lightning magic to charge his smartphone.
  • While Ice Fruit is rare, the demand isn't exceedingly high so one of the best uses for the naturally ice cold fruit is to use it to preserve goods. Simply keeping it next to other food will massively increase how long it will take said food to spoil and Ice Fruit lasts much longer than regular ice.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: After a fully grown Firo kicks Malty (who is unarmored at the time) into a food cart, multiple people suggest Naofumi put the bird down. While Malty's desire to kill Firo is due to anger, others note how dangerous such an uncontrollable filorial is.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ren has this reaction upon learning that Gaelion had only been searching for his daughter, realizing he was about to leave an innocent girl an orphan for no reason other than experience points. He even compares himself to his own killer in grief.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Isekai world where the Four Legendary Heroes were transported into, lacked a name and was only called "Raphtalia's World". The fanfic officially names the Isekai world known as Medea.
• Necessarily Evil: Beloukas does take part in the slave trade, but he does so in order to make sure that those he enslaves don't wind up in abusive hands. He also enslaved himself to his underlings, meaning he can't abuse them either.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • The reason for Malty's unofficial engagement to the Pig King of Faubley: back when Melromarc was being ravaged by the Wailing Death plague, Aultclay procured the cure by invading Faubley, and his adopted brother Egbert, the Pig King, demanded Malty's hand in marriage as reward for his leniency in not declaring war.
  • When the web novel version of Raphtalia enters the world she just wants to help... Without knowing how the people of this world actually are. As a direct consequence, Naofumi and Malty end up on the run while the rest of their party are killed or captured by the extremist faction of the Three Heroes' Church.
• Noodle Incident: Malty took the name "Mein" from a childhood pet. While the details of Mein's death remain unknown, but it seems to have played a part in the Queen's opinion of Malty, who remembers her fondly enough to take her name.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: For a time, the status quo of the series was that Malty and all of Naofumi's party go around villages to support them in their time of need, fight criminals that get in their way, and fulfill their duties to fight off the waves. Ever since chapter 94 and 95, the Church of the Three Heroes becomes a major threat to the Shield Hero's party, as two of their members being Kyubei and Farkas are killed in the conflict. To make the situation even worse, Naofumi and Malty are back to square one as duos of their adventure and the remaining members of their party are near the clutches of the Three Heroes Church.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging:
  • To each time Naofumi and his companions give praise for Malty's heroism, they serve as a reminder to her lies and the guilt she is holding over hiding her status as a princess.
  • In the perspective of Raphtalia she believes Mein to have run away to distract the Wave Hound from attacking her. However, Mein ran away out of fear for her own life and wanted Raphtalia to act as a decoy. After having escaped the Wave Hound, Mein discusses the situation with Raphtalia to ease whatever anger the latter may be holding onto her. To Mein's surprise, Raphtalia blames herself how having gotten her injured, causing Mein to struggle comprehending Raphtalia's lack of anger.
• Oh, Crap!: During their duel, Naofumi tries to get Ren to stop, citing their inability to damage each other. But then Ren comments that chaining certain skills in the correct order massively enhances their power. Naofumi has just enough time to realize how screwed he is before Ren's combo takes out over half his health at once.
• Omake: There's several included, all of which are canon unless specified otherwise.
• One-Person Birthday Party: Motoyasu's parents left him to spend his sixteenth birthday alone. Subverted when his friends take him to a surprise birthday party.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Aultcray's first daughter died during the war against Siltvelt.
• Papa Wolf:
  • When King Aultcray hears rumors of Naofumi allegedly threatening Malty with Balloons, his men have to hold him down as he rants and raves about killing Naofumi's entire family.
  • It's deconstructed as the entire reason why Malty is being married off to the lecherous King of Faubley is because his search for a cure for a disease, led to him invading all but the entire country, forcing Queen Mirellia to agree to the deal to avoid military retaliation.
• Paper Tiger: Rosat and Cervell deliberately dress in such a way they'll be mistaken for members of the Raven Order, Siltvelt elite spies who are level 40 at a minimum. In reality, they're only level 5 and are very low ranked agents of Siltvelt.
• Parental Favoritism: The reason Malty changed to how she is in this story? She overheard her mother wanting a new daughter to replace her as heir and marry her off to Faubley. When she wasn't even 10. And to this day still prefers Melty over her.
• Parental Incest: Mikage Mikami used his Battle Formation to quickly age up any children born from his concubines. Men were sent to war while the women were added to his harem.
• Parental Neglect: The eight interlude shows that Motoyasu functionally lived alone for several years before being summoned as a hero. His parents were gone for so long and so often that he didn't think much of having to spend his sixteenth birthday alone.
• Patchwork Map: The South Chapoor Forest is located smack dab in the middle of the Mara Gobi desert.
• Patriotic Fervor: Mirellia is rather biased towards her country of "glorious Melromarc", and seeks not cooperation and peace between the nations, but instead to increase the prestige and political power of her own country over everyone else. She's even willing to use the Heroes as tools for this goal, either to use as a political marriage to Melty to increase her power, or as scapegoats like in Naofumi's case.
• Pet Monstrosity: Naofumi's enslaved Balloons which act like affectionate dogs outside of combat.
• Pet the Dog: From time to time, Malty shows some form of kindness towards Raphtalia, including comforting her that she saved her friend Rifana from a much worse fate than dying of sickness.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis: Sometimes one of Naofumi's references will be understood by one of the other heroes or, more rarely, Malty herself, such as recognizing the story of Cinderella.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Since each of them come from different Earths, the Cardinal Heroes often get confused by specific references. When Motoyasu brings up the Justice League, he compares Naofumi to Owlman rather than Batman. Ren hasn't heard of either but says they remind him of Nighthawk of the Squadron Supreme. Meanwhile, Superhero comics stopped being made in Itsuki's world after Espers started appearing.
• The Power of Trust: In chapter 34, Naofumi states his greatest strength is trust. Without a way to attack, all he can do is protect his party and trust them to have his back.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Malty decides against her father's plan to frame Naofumi for rape because it won't advance her ambition of becoming Queen of Melromarc. There's also the fact that because her father summoned all of the heroes rather than just one, Malty wants to make sure she attaches herself to the right one, especially if her sister attaches herself to a hero as well. Malty also disapproves of her father's initial shunning of the Shield Hero because it's based solely on his sister being killed by a demihuman and alienating one of the Legendary Heroes is too dangerous to be done frivolously. She eventually decides against her own original plan of betraying Naofumi for one of the other heroes when she realize he's the most useful/stable of the bunch^note Motoyasu is regarded as too stupid/brash to be useful except in the short term, Ren is too condescending to be helpful, and Itsuki's obsession with justice has left him noticeably unhinged.
  • Beloukas the slave trader is willing to sell his services to Naofumi at a loss because his specific request^note branding some Balloon monsters in the hopes of leveling them up and using them as attack dogs could open an avenue for Beloukas to earn mountains of gold by enslaving low-level monsters for cheap then leveling them up and selling them for considerable profit. If Naofumi's plan succeeds, Beloukas will corner the market before it even forms. If it fails, he's only out a little money, far less than if he tried to do it himself.
  • Mirellia realises that she can't discredit the Shield Hero's achievements in order to spite Malty as it will lead Siltvelt to invade Melromarc due to the abuse.
  • Malty's friend Iris admits she's not interested in trying to gain the throne because she's fully aware it would lead to civil war. Besides, hers is already the most powerful family besides the royal family anyway.
• The Promised Land: Discussed by Uranus, Naofumi, and Mein about the religious fate relating to the Chief God in chapter 116, they bring up a land called "Flangey". Legends say that the missionaries who originated from Flangey are messengers of the Chief God, and while the people of Medea attempted to find the land, Flangey was never found anywhere in the world.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Eclair succeeds in defeating Weiss during their duel in Chapter 38, but while Eclair won honorably, her family gets accused by Weiss for putting Honor Before Reason. Mein attempts to rebuttal Weiss and the rest of the latter's family for only caring about coins, but it falls flat from Cute explaining that the Seatto never brought protection against the villagers raided by the Bitch Lord's bandits. Just from the accusation, Eclair is stung into a Heroic BSoD and requests for time alone to comprehend what she had heard.
• Psycho Supporter: Itsuki tends to act as one to Naofumi. While he supports Naofumi fairly often, it's due to his own psychotic obsession with justice which makes him fight anything he perceives as unjust.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Naofumi's Balloons pull this off when Raphtalia contemplates getting a ball, which is made from Balloon skin.
• Pushover Parents: Naofumi is this to Filo after the latter gains sentience where he shows to be extremely reluctant to discipline her despite everyone pointing out how her nigh Enfante Terrible tendencies will only spell more trouble down the line for him if they aren't addressed.
• Readings Blew Up the Scale: Zylden's attempt to measure the Life Root's mana concentration results in his measuring device exploding. Going by his comments, this is partially because the device he was using trades power for portability and the one in his lab could get a better reading.
• The Real Remington Steele: Turns out that Mein of Samphor actually exists, and she's even a green-eyed redhead.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Preacher Logarius is one, as he leads a sect of the Three Heroes Church that doesn't believe that the Shield Hero is a Demon, as a Demon wouldn't save people from monsters. Instead he realises that the Heroes are just men and that some Heroes succeed at people's expectations and others fall short and fail. He treats previous "Shield Demons" and other failed Heroes more as cautionary tales to better oneself than something to vilify. Likewise, when Naofumi comes to get Holy Water, he doesn't try to overcharge him or lie about not being a sellback service trading possessions to cover costs like Sister Amelia does to spite Naofumi. Instead, when he sees Naofumi is short on money, he offers the deal of Naofumi covering the rest by making some good-quality potions for the Church, much to Sister Amelia's anger.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • During their duel, Naofumi gives one to Motoyasu about how he's a total scrub who likes to pretend he's a pro-gamer but doesn't understand the first thing about how to truly excel.
  • Egbet Faubley rips into Aultcray about how he is a complete and utter failure on every level for his actions, from failing as a son for not honoring his adoptive father's wishes to failing as a husband in letting his first wife die.
  • Gaston gives one to Farkas in Chapter 57 for how much of a Jerkass and Ungrateful Bastard he is.
• Resolved Noodle Incident: Chapter 41 reveals that Malty took Mein, her pet filorial, out into the woods and ran into a pack of bone dogs. Mein threw Malty into the bushes and led the bone dogs away, where all of them fell off a cliff and died.
• Retired Badass: Elhard the blacksmith used to be an adventurer himself once.
• Revenge by Proxy: Fear of Gaelion doing this is why Naofumi tries to stop Ren from attacking the dragon. Dragons are at least as smart as people so it could very well decide to simply leave and burn down the nearby village in revenge.
• Rules Lawyer: After Naofumi beats Motoyasu in a duel, Aultcray tries to claim Naofumi is disqualified for using his Balloons in the match. The Royal Guard Captain Lothrigen, countermands it by pointing out that it is perfectly legal to use familiars under official dueling laws which, along with Ren and Itsuki's complaints, force Aultcray to eat crow and declare Naofumi the victor.
• Running Gag:
  • The frequent examples of Entertainingly Wrong due to Culture Clash and Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure.
  • Malty's belief that the Balloon monsters are secretly Eldritch Abominations.
• Sanity Has Advantages: Part of why Naofumi does so well learning about and adjusting to the new world he was summoned to compared to the others is because he's the most mentally stable of the four.
• Scars Are Forever: Downplayed. Because sleeping for eight hours normally heals all injuries, any adventurer with scars is rather unusual. Pope Balmus has numerous scars from the war against Siltvelt where getting eight hours of sleep was a rarity. Similarly, scars from Wave spawn are nearly impossible to cure with only extremely rare magical items able to remove them.
• Scoundrel Code: There's an unwritten rule that no two bandit groups occupy the same general area, seemingly to avoid competition with each other.
• Secret Test of Character: Mirellia ordered Beloukas to sell Naofumi the "most pathetic" female slave he had to test the Shield Hero's compassion and to keep him in Melromarc, before sending Melty to marry him.
• Selective Obliviousness: Played for Laughs. Malty has at times ignored events or her actions from past moments during her interaction with her companions.
  • Malty interpreting Naofumi's sleeping habits on the floor causes her to sympathize towards how abusive his life must have been in his original world. While feeling sorry for him, Malty conveniently ignores how she almost got him framed for rape.
  • She calls out Weiss for using magic spells in a duel between blades against Eclair, but ignores herself being willing to do the same deed if placed on the same situation.
• Self-Made Man: Baron Elric is a farmer who was made nobility by the queen but is still very down to earth and apparently has a habit of showing up to formal banquets in his work clothes despite being able to afford proper formal wear.
• Share the Male Pain: Firo's Groin Attack on Motoyasu sees Naofumi doubled over in sympathetic pain.
• Shout-Out: Has its own page.
• Side Bet: Beloukas' underlings have a betting pool going on how often Kristy, another of his underlings, will lose her temper.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: The more Malty hears about Eclair's father, Lord Seatto, the more she finds the main painfully naive. She declares his belief that "Army is the shield that defends our people, not a sword to strike down others", to be the dumbest thing she's ever heard, including her father summoning all four heroes and needlessly antagonizing the Shield Hero.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Nora. She has pretty much no dialogue without at least one or two curse words.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Naofumi abhors slavery and makes a point of freeing the slaves he does own, remarking it'd make him a hypocrite if he kept slaves while denouncing the practice.
• Sleep-Mode Size: Gaelion first appears before the party as a tiny dragon, barely larger than Malty's hand.
• Small Name, Big Ego: As a fighter, Weiss is described as a "novice wannabe" by the author. Doesn't stop her from boasting how "a mere hedge knight" such as Eclair has no chance against her. Eclair spends a good deal of their duel manhandling Weiss.
• The Sociopath: Malty. She's a chronic liar and focused on becoming queen while also being confused by acts of generosity or even not taking advantage of others. However, she's still capable of growing close to others.
• Sore Loser: Weiss responds to losing her duel against Eclair by shouting insults about the Seatto House. When Eclair refuses to rise to her bait, Weiss insists that "the hedge knight at least knows when to admit defeat to her betters".
• Spit Take: Naofumi spits out his drink when he learns the local equivalent of Cersei Lannister is married to James Potter.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • Naofumi realizes that Rosat and Cervell are very low ranking due to how short-sighted their plan to "smuggle" him out of the country is, along with the fact their clothing basically announces that they're high ranking spies.
  • While in Balafon, Naofumi determines the village isn't suffering a drought, despite the dry cracked earth, because they're still casually using water to clean things, including a building. Once he confirms the village used to have a sizable herd of livestock, he realizes they must've let their heard overgraze. Without enough grass, the ground couldn't retain any moisture.
• Stating the Simple Solution:
  • Naofumi suggests Zylden use the money he makes from his arcane research to simply hire prostitutes rather than focus all his efforts on learning to summon women to his bedroom. The following chapter shows Zylden misunderstood and thought Naofumi meant buying slave women as it's more practical than paying for prostitutes every night.
  • When it's suggested the people of Balafon ease their famine with hunting, it's explained that the local monsters are too powerful for non-adventurers to fight. Even if the villagers could reliably kill one or two of them at a time, said monsters are also carnivorous and would be attracted by the meat.
• Stout Strength: The Monarch Filorials all appear to be extremely fat, but checking under their feathers reveals it's actually solid muscle.
• Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: Malty has this reaction to hearing Eclair mention something her father used to say.
  Eclair: "Army is the shield that defends our people, not a sword to strike down others."
  Malty: With All Due Respect, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And my father summoned all four heroes a month ago, while he antagonized the Shield Hero like an idiot.
• Suffer the Slings: In Whiterun, Raphtalia is equipped with a sling, with Kyubei citing that it'd work well with her current potion throwing and wouldn't have to be replaced as she grew like a bow would.
• Support Party Member: Both Naofumi and Raphtalia. While the former functions as a tank for the party, Raphtalia (as of the Second Wave) helps primarily by supplying potions to anyone who needs them. Outside of battle, Naofumi is a skilled cook and potion maker while Raphtalia keeps track of inventory.
• Supreme Chef: Naofumi is an excellent cook, much to Malty's relief. A stew he throws together without a recipe proves to be so delicious that the smell of it has an entire inn clamoring for a bowl and the inn's head chef doing his best to memorize how it was made.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  • Malty does not like Filorials, no matter how soft and huggable they are or how lying against one makes you fell all warm and fuzzy inside.
  • Malty isn't bitter at all that her sister is considered a prodigy or that everyone murmurs how Melty got "all the good sides of her parents that her sister lacks", not at all.
• Take That!:
  • In the author's notes, Qinlongfei is quick to lambast many of the plotpoints from canon that annoyed him. Such as how Naofumi was made to look competent due to most of the other characters being idiots, Naofumi still using slaves with almost no comment on how immoral the practice is and should be, Raphtalia getting over her trauma too fast, etc.
  • When he gets the opportunity, Naofumi frees his slaves, stating he'd be a massive hypocrite if he denounced slavery while owning slaves himself. Contrast canon where Naofumi didn't approve of slavery but had no problems owning several of his own.
  • Chapter 31 sees Naofumi refuse to rob the highwaymen who attacked him, something he did in canon, citing that it would only make them more desperate and cause them to attack more people. Instead, as they're clearly good people driven by desperation, Naofumi does his best to solve their money troubles.
  • Filo's more unflattering attitude is also meant to be this on 'xhild experts' who advocate against discipline, as its shown that Naofumi's reluctance to to take lasting steps to reprimand or fix her behaviour with matters such as the Obedience Crest even when its unacceptable has resulted in her turning into a Spoiled Brat and borderline Enfant Terrible who noone wants to deal with.
  • The so-called "Bitch Lord", leader of the bandits who was executed? It was Abby from The Last of Us Part II, who brutally killed Joel in revenge for him killing her father.
  • The author admits to hate Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs, as shown with a character based on the protagonist Leon Bartfort, who is a Hate Sink with none of his canon counterpart's redeeming qualities who only exist to insult and swear at everyone around him before receiving a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Consevatie who lists everything the author hates about him along with other similar series and characters, while beating him to a pulp:
    Consevatie: What do you think this is!? A Wish-Fulfillment story written for your narcissistic fantasy?! Where the world is all fucked up for you to fix to justify acting like a smug little shit!? Where all your opponents are incompetent idiot clowns, to make you look smart by comparison!? Where all the pretty women open their legs for you, and let you pick and choose at your leisure!?
• Taught by Experience: Kyubei knows a fair bit about pricing on goods in times of hardship due to having been a shopkeeper once.
• Technician vs. Performer:
  • Weiss and Eclair's duel. Weiss is much faster and well trained with her rapier, but still loses to Eclair who uses punches, kicks, shoulder tackles and more. Eclair criticizes Weiss for dancing around so much, not only wasting energy, but also frequently exposing her back to her enemy. Eclair's style isn't as well suited for duels, being meant for fighting on the battlefield, but she has far better defenses.
  • It's even a case of Irony, considering Weiss' home series has her be the Technician as opposed to her canonical partner, Ruby Rose.
• Technology Uplift: Naofumi occasionally does this on a small scale, such as inventing shampoo or popsicles. The former was unique enough that despite his initial attempts smelling awful, Malty noted that Raphtalia had better hair than most nobility despite weeks of travel through the wilderness.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Naofumi suggests Zylden use money made from his research to simply buy women, he meant hiring prostitutes but Zylden took it to mean purchasing sex slaves.
• These Hands Have Killed: While he didn't directly kill anyone, Naofumi is still troubled by the ambush in the slums, at one point confessing he wishes he could take an innkeeper up on his offer of working for him, if only so he wouldn't have to kill another person again.
• This Is Reality:
  • While checking out the dungeon outside Balafon, Naofumi comments that something must be wrong as they've been walking for an hour without reaching the end. Though Motoyasu comments how dungeons always do that to pad playtime, Naofumi refutes that they're not playing a videogame. The dungeon was supposed to be someone's laboratory and such a long trip would be impractical.
  • It comes up again when Naofumi refuses to simply accept "magic" as an answer for how the alleged miracle seed grew so fast. Naofumi claims "This is the real world, not some shitty fanfiction written by a no-name talentless hack!"
• Took a Level in Badass: Naofumi's Balloon monsters originally were weak enough for even children to kill with ease but after a month are strong enough to be dangerous to a Cardinal Hero.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • By the time their party reaches Balafon, Malty admits to herself that she can't think of commoners as "lazy, ungrateful rabble" anymore, having spent so much time with them. Notably, the villagers of Balafon start praying for their Jarl to be blessed when he sends them relief supplies.
  • Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki all mellow out and become generally friendlier, partially due to understanding they're not in a videogame and partially due to their specific Character Development.
• Trauma Button: Wave hounds become one for Malty after one badly scars her. A reminder of the event nearly causes her to fall into a panic attack.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Invoked by Malty who pretends her sloppy fireballs were the result of awakening her magic during an ambush rather than not having time for proper casting.
• Try Everything: Since Naofumi has almost zero knowledge of the world he's in or how things work, he's more open to trying random ideas than the other three Cardinal Heroes. Notably, Naofumi unlocks far more forms for his weapon than the others because he tries to have his shield absorb everything he comes across, including leaves and rocks, whereas the other three largely stick to monster parts and magical items.
• The Unfavorite: Unlike canon, Mirellia hates Malty, at times barely even thinking of her as human and considers her an animal like demi-humans (in her own racist view), and decided to engage her to a known sadist and rapist before the girl was even ten years old.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Gaston calls Farkas this, pointing out that despite all Naofumi has done for him, he's acted as a complete Jerkass who constantly sinsults and belittles him.
• Unknown Rival: Downplayed. While Naofumi certainly knows who Motoyasu is, he sees the Spear Hero as completely beneath him and refuses to acknowledge the other's attempts to declare them rivals. After some Character Development on the Spear Hero's part, Naofumi agrees to Motoyasu's declaration of their Friendly Rivalry.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Naofumi versus Ren. Naofumi has no attack but sky high defense. Ren has low defense but powerful attack. At a break in their duel, Naofumi lampshades that neither of them can harm each other.
• Verbal Backspace: A mental variation for Malty in chapter 45. When Kyubey explains that if Naofumi wants to keep "Mein" safe, he should remove her from his party and return her to Samphor, Malty furiously tries to avoid such a fate. Immediately after, Kyubey then points out that a Wave of Calamity could very well form at Samphor so the safest possible place for her would be at Naofumi's side, causing Malty to insist she could kiss him for that.
• Villain Protagonist: Malty is still a sociopathic liar with penchant for manipulation and is also the main character of the story.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: When Gaston calls out Farkas for being a Jerkass and Ungrateful Bastard in chapter 57, the latter claims he's paid his debt to Naofumi in full already simply by choosing to fight despite his crippled condition. Gaston isn't moved, both because there are other members in the party who are scarred and disfigured who manage to pull their weight without being complete assholes, and that Farkas' contributions mostly consist of recklessly charging headlong into danger without consideration for himself or the others in the party like The Berserker Leeroy Jenkins, makes him cause more harm than good by dragging everyone else into danger.
• Weak, but Skilled: When she interrupts Ren's and Naofumi's duel, Malty manages to manhandle the Sword Hero despite him vastly outclassing her, because she's more skilled at fighting other swordsmen.
• Wealthy Ever After: Despite having the strongest claim to the throne of Melromarc after Melty and Malty, Iris realises that her becoming Queen will just lead to a Civil War and which the other Kingdoms will take advantage of, ultimately leading to the destruction of her House Amelia and Melromarc. Instead Iris simply wishes to secure her House's wealth, and to become so rich that she can basically control whatever she wants.
  Iris: "Coins, coins. We aren't born with you, we can't take you with us when we die. Philosophers call you the root of all evil, yet there's no mistake the world turns at your beck and call, and on your whims and wishes."
  [...]
  "That is why those who control the coin control the world, even without a crown or throne."
• We ARE Struggling Together: The nobles strategizing to find a way to combat the undead Thunder Lizard spend more of their time bickering their personal grudge with each other or against the Three Legendary Heroes, rather than focus on the undead Thunder Lizard threatening everyone.
• Wham Episode: Chapters 82 and 83 have Lautrec come back and summon his goddess, the web novel version of Raphtalia, who has the goal of killing Malty, and in the attempt to get to her she steals Naofumi's shield, knocks out the other Heroes and their parties, and mortally wounds Pope Balmus, and to try and stop her Aultclay uses forbidden and potentially deadly blood magic and then passes to Malty the Vassal Wand, still nerfed by the curse that Aultclay was hit with for summoning all four Heroes... And the incapacitation of so many important people allows the more extremist members of the Church to turn on Naofumi and his party, forcing him and Malty on the run while the others are killed or captured.
• What If?:
  • Malty's goal is changed from satisfying petty sadism to proving her mother wrong about her and becoming queen, which snowballs into the current story.
  • Iris explains that she would have gone and secured Naofumi's allegiance if Malty had gone through with the King's plan to frame the Shield Hero. This is briefly shown in an Omake, where Itsuki didn't have his Justice-rant outburst and thus cause Malty to throw her allegiance with him. Iris approaches Naofumi's party after he was betrayed, with her, Katarina and Bertia joining his party, and plotting to turn Malty into a Puppet King, a Fate Worse than Death for someone like canon!Malty, while Iris and Naofumi hold all the power and rule the country from the shadows. Meanwhile, Raphtalia ends up in Motoyasu's party.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Naofumi calls out Aultcray in particular and Melromarc in general for constantly demonizing him for things past Shield Heroes did and for actions that are perfectly legal (such as owning demi-human slaves).
  • Malty later on does the same to Itsuki for sending the Knight Templar Lothric on Naofumi's way, who nearly kills the population of Lute.
• What You Are in the Dark: When they get lost together in a cave, Malty does consider getting rid of Raphtalia and blaming it on monsters... But every time goes and helps her.
• Who Would Want to Watch Us?: Brought up by the Cardinal Heroes with Naofumi using it as the reason why he wouldn't be the main character as no one would want to read about a protagonist who can't even fight.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: After the Moment Killer instance mentioned above, Malty was left convinced the Orange Balloons are actually well-disguised Eldritch Abominations.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist:
  • Lord Reichnott cares deeply for his people, but his naive trust in others allowed the Schnee family to rope him deeply into debt until he was forced to sell them the mining rights to his lands, at which point they kicked out everyone living there and started mining the entire valley.
  • Melty automatically assumes Naofumi and his party are good people just because he's a hero, even though the previous Shield Hero was the King of Rape. She also doesn't have any idea just how dangerous adventuring is until Malty shows off her scar and tells her she got it from a single Wave monster. And each Wave consists of thousands of such creatures.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Goddess!Raphtalia from the web novel means well... But she also assumes Malty and Balmus are the monodimensional villains they were in their world, and her attempt to help Naofumi ends up causing a giant mess.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • While Naofumi is beating himself up over a child getting injured fighting a pair of Porcupine monsters, Gaston informs him that it took every hunter in the village to take one down while Naofumi and some children who shouldn't be hunting anything stronger than Balloons took down two with only a single minor injury among them.
  • Gaston cheers up Naofumi again after the Wave. While several people got hurt and the village is damaged, almost no one died and most injuries aren't permanent. Furthermore, Port Harp, the scene of the First Wave was much more heavily defended, having a stone wall as tall as the capital's and a full garrison of soldiers with quality steel weapons and armor. Yet it's nothing more than a ruin now. By contrast, Lute had a wooden fence and untrained villagers in whatever armor or weapons they could scrape together.
  • When Motoyasu is contemplating abandoning his party, believing they deserve better than him, Bertia shouts at him about what a good person he is. At the same time, Naofumi reassures him that a hero's job isn't to save everyone and never make mistakes, but to save everyone they can and learn from their mistakes.
  • Zylden reassures Malty that Naofumi won't hate her and that she's far more than the spoiled, pampered princess she thinks herself. He specifically brings up that his sister would flee from a bonedog puppy if it weren't on a leash, while Malty nearly killed herself multiple times fighting a newborn Outer God.
  • In the aftermath of the Third Wave, Goddess!Raphtalia manhandling the entire Melromarc host and stealing the Legendary Shield in the attempt of killing Malty, and most of the party getting killed or captured by the extremists of the Three Heroes' Church, Malty has to remind Naofumi that it's not his fault for everything that happened but of the Church, and that he did a lot of good before this happened.
• You No Take Candle: Naofumi's Smart Phone Shield can switch between Japanese and Common Melromarc but since it runs off his knowledge of both languages, the latter is described as reading like it was written by a four year old.