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Today was not a good day for Piccolo.
It all started when he found a strange book on the Lookout. He was confused by it, since he didn't recognize the book at all. He assumed that perhaps it belonged to Gohan who somehow forgot about it when he visited the place.
That idea however, was quickly abandoned when he opened the book only for it to brightly glow before finding himself on the floor. When he stood up, he noticed that he had a shield on his right arm with a green gem on it. Not only that, but he was also in a different room. A room he knew for sure wasn't on the lookout.
That was not all though, there were a bunch of humans in the room. Three of which also possessed weapons with similar looking gems on them.
They were rather surprised and on guard when they saw him due to his appearance, before calming down after he assured them that he wasn't a threat to them. One of the cloaked humans asked for their help to save their world, calling them the Four Cardinal Heroes, and how their king would explain everything to them.
Piccolo, along with the other Cardinal Heroes, were brought to the country's king. Aultcray Melromarc XXXII. He explained to them about the Waves of Calamity that threaten to destroy the world, the summoning ritual to bring forth heroes to stop the waves and the Legendary weapons that they possessed to aid them in the battle.
While annoyed that he had been taken from his world and brought to another without notice, he could see the desperation of its inhabitants and agreed to help them. And then be sent back to his planet after all was said and done.
A few things quickly became apparent.
One, they were all summoned from different universes. While the other heroes' Earth's seemed rather similar, if with a few notable differences, his was the most distinct. They were surprised to hear that there were still some dinosaurs that roamed the Earth and about aliens having "visited" the planet and how he himself is an alien.
Two, he could not wield any other weapons besides the Legendary Shield. This fortunately wouldn't be a major problem, as it appears that using his Ki attacks didn't violate the "no other weapons" rule.
Something that is a problem though are the other Cardinal heroes. They are... a bunch of arrogant fools.
Not only are they more interested in the riches and glory that being a hero would get them, they were even treating everything as a game, not realizing the fact that the fate of this world and its inhabitants rested on their shoulders. He wonders why the weapons chose them instead of any actual warriors from their universes. He hopes that they soon realize the seriousness of the situation they are all in.
Something else that he has noticed that struck him as odd is that there seems to be bias against him. He could sense the hostility towards him from a majority of people at the castle, the king being a surprisingly notable one. Not only that, but thanks to his enhanced hearing he could even hear whispers about him in revulsion, calling him the Shield Devil. He's not entirely sure where this is coming from. Is it because of his appearance or is it something else? That's something he still needs to look further into.
The day after the summoning, they were to have adventurers join them as companions. This held true for the other Cardinal heroes, but the same could not be said for himself. None of the adventurers chose to join him and so he was left on his own. That was until a red-haired woman named Myne Sophia from the Spear Hero's, Motoyasu, group asked to join him.
While he would have been alright on his own, it was better to have a guide to know about any crucial information or to avoid any potential dangers he wouldn't be aware of without one.
After a long day of killing monsters to level up and selling their remains, they rested for the night. Piccolo was looking for Myne at the inn she was staying at, until he was apprehended by the town guards and brought to the castle.
There he was met with a sobbing Myne being held by Motoyasu. Along with them were the other heroes, Ren and Itsuki, the king and several other people all shooting hateful glares at him.
He opened his mouth to ask what the problem was-
"He-he raped me!"
-which is where we find ourselves now, with Piccolo looking floored, staring at Myne at a loss for words because of what he just heard.
She continued. "He b-barged into my room drunk and pinned me down saying "The night is still young. Let's have some fun." before tearing my c-clothes off. I eventually managed to escape before running into Sir Motoyasu, who happened to be staying at the same inn, and begged for his help."
Motoyasu growled in anger. "If she hadn't asked me to wait till dawn and call the knights, I would have killed you myself!"
Piccolo, still speechless at the turn of events, simply stared at Myne and Motoyasu. Aultcray snarled at Piccolo. "I knew it! I knew, since I first laid my eyes on you, that you were not to be trusted. I still gave you a chance to prove yourself, but now I see I should have cast you to the prison chambers from the very start, you scumbag!"
Piccolo, finally recovering from his shock, replied. "What are you talking about? I never even entered the inn you were staying at." He had informed Myne that he would sleep in a nearby forest just outside the town, both to save costs of having to rent two rooms and also due to prefering an isolated place rather than a noisy inn.
Aultcray's face grew redder as he yelled out. "Don't you dare lie in my court! You have commited the gravest crime in our country! If you were not a Cardinal Hero I would have your head cut off for even attempting to assault one of my countryman!"
Piccolo narrowed his eyes at the king. "Do you have any proof? If you're so convinced of my guilt, then where is the proof to back it up?"
"Proof?! We surely have proof, you vile demon!" The king snapped his fingers, signaling a knight to come forward.
Said knight bowed towards Aultcray. "Sire, when we investigated the Shield Hero's room, we found this on his bed." As he held up a torn nightdress.
People let out gasps of horror at the sight. Myne cried out and turned away. Aultcray yelled out in anger. "There you have it! Evidence of your crime!"
Piccolo closed his eyes and gritted his teeth in frustration. He felt the animosity towards him increase. He could mention how he didn't set a foot at the inn she was staying at and how he slept elsewhere. That the so called "evidence" had been planted, but he had a feeling no one would listen. Instead, he had another idea in mind. One to prove his innocence or to atleast make people more willing to listen to him.
He had never been more glad for his Namekian anatomy.
"As I said before, I never entered the inn Myne was at, I didn't even see her all night." He opened his eyes. "Besides, even if I wanted to, it's impossible for me to have assaulted her." His words clearly angered everyone more, as their hatred for the Shield Devil increased tenfold.
Aultcray stood up from his throne, face growing even redder in fury, before roaring. "YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU! After what you have done, you DARE to continue to feign innoce-"
"I have no genitalia."
Silence filled the room after those words were uttered. Angry and disgusted glares were replaced with suprise and shock.
Motoyasu broke the silence. "Wh-what are you talking about, you fiend?"
Piccolo answered firmly. "My species reproduces asexually. We spit out eggs to produce our young, so we never had a need for genitalia. That's why it's impossible for me to have committed the crime you're accusing me of. I lack the "tool" for it."
Meanwhile Myne's eyes widened. If that's true, then her plan to frame the Shield Devil was ruined! Not only that, but if her lies were exposed now, in front of everyone, then it would make it much harder, if not impossible, for her to manipulate anyone anymore.
King Aultcray stammered out. "Y-you're lying, you demon! Spouting lies to trick us into letting you go unpunished for your crimes! "
Having had enough of this farce of a "trial" Piccolo said with finality in his voice. "If you don't believe me, you can just check for yourself. I guarantee you won't find anything down there. Either that or let me go."
For a few moments nobody spoke or moved. Ren looked around and seeing nobody else was going to, he sighed and walked up to Piccolo, before searching his crotch.
His eyes widened slightly as he blurts out. "He's right, there's nothing there!" This caused whispers to break out as people now started to question Myne's accusation.
Motoyasu still believed in Myne. "T-that can't be right. There has to be something there."
Ren replied back to him. "Well I just checked myself. Nothing."
"Well maybe he's hiding it?!"
Piccolo continued. "Like I said, I don't have anything down there. Besides, I still have an alibi, remember? I wasn't at the inn. I prefer to be away from society, so I went to a forest just outside the town and stayed there for the night. The only time I was even near the inn was to know where Myne would be staying, so I could meet up with her in the morning. You can ask the innkeeper yourselves if I was there."
Ren and Itsuki nodded in contemplation, they were going to investigate his claim themselves and see if he was lying or speaking the truth. Motoyasu didn't say anything, but it was obvious he still didn't believe Piccolo.
He was not alone. Aultcray, refusing to believe the fact that the Shield Devil could be innocent or that his precious daughter could be lying to him, blurts out. "Tricks! He must be using magic to hide it! He is lying to us in order to get away! He is guilty!"
Piccolo, finally reaching the end of his patience, let loose a bit of energy. The increased pressure from it caused everyone to freeze and cut off the king's rambling.
"I see nothing I say or do can convince you of my innocence. Clearly I'm not welcomed here, but that doesn't matter. These waves are threatening to destroy your world, and I'm one of the people needed to stop it. I'm willing to help you, however..." His narrowed eyes met king Aultcray's fearful ones. "If you know what is good for you, you better not try to get in my way."
He turned and walked away, ignoring any protest that would, but were not raised. Determined to stop the waves and return home, he planned out his next course of action.
He had a world to save.