In ‘Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari’ or ‘The Rising of the Shield Hero‘ season 3 episode 1 titled ‘The Dark Coliseum,’ Naofumi and his comrades continue their journey and eventually reach the kingdom of Melromarc. There the titular protagonist learns about the other heroes and the present crisis that worries Mirellia Q Melromarc. Later that evening, he goes to the market and is enlightened about the cruel fate of Lurolona villagers. Since they are captured and are sold as slaves now, Naofumi decides to free all of them. However, he soon finds out that demi-humans from Lurolona face the same fate in Zeltoble, so Naofumi along with his company decides to visit the country of mercenaries to rescue the innocent.
Naofumi Meets Queen of Melromarc
Noafumi recalls how he arrived in the fantasy world as the shield hero to protect innocent people from waves of calamities that leave death and destruction in their wake. Luckily, he feels that these waves have stopped for a while since the arrival of one of the four guardian beasts, the Spirit Tortoise, whom he and his comrades defeated. Since the guardian beasts use the soul energy gathered from killing people, they end up stopping the Waves as mentioned earlier. But this is not a permanent solution to the problems since the guardian beast the Pheonix will revive in just three and a half months from now.
Actually, the guardian beast was supposed to revive soon after the death of Spirit Tortoise, but luckily the energy Naofumi took from Kyo helped in creating a barrier that gave everyone a chance to prepare for the coming crisis. The Shield hero is very serious about strengthening the defenses, especially in his lands to ensure there are no casualties. In order to discuss the present world order and other issues, he meets Queen Mirellia Q Melromarc. Naofumi is shocked to learn from her that the other three heroes have gone missing ever since they dealt with the previous Wave and saved many lives.
It appears that the heroes blamed themselves for everything, which explains the strange situation. The queen of Melromac is concerned because of the approaching revival of the Phoenix and feels sorry for the common people who are obviously going to suffer the most. Since the other heroes are missing, she asks Naofumi’s help to help her with the present-day crisis. Meanwhile, Melty informs Iwatari’s comrades that the national religion has changed from worshipping just three heroes to four heroes. The queen then takes Naofumi to the dungeon where he learns that Malty has also gone missing.
Although the national religion has changed, when Naofumi and his comrades go outside, he realizes that people’s attitude in general has not changed much towards him to this day. That evening, the Shield Hero learns about the cruel fate of demi-humans hailing from Lurolana village, who are enslaved and captured to be sold. In order to give them a respectful life, Naofumi decides to buy all of them so that they can be free. Interestingly, he learns that there are more demi-humans from the same village suffering a similar fate in Zeltoble as well.
The Shield Hero Visits Zeltoble to Free Slaves
Naofumi leaves the demi-humans in the care of Melty and decides to go on a long journey. Eventually, he arrives at Zeltoble where he meets a family member of the slave trader from Melromac. This person takes the Shield Hero and his comrades to an underground slave auction where the latter watch with astonishment as demi-humans are sold for large amounts of gold. It soon becomes obvious to Naofumi that he needs to do something urgently to help the oppressed people and give them their freedom.
That’s when he ends up at the Zeltoble’s dark Coliseum, where warriors fight against each other for prize money. This gives the Shield Hero the right opportunity he has been looking for. He then informs his friends that they will be protecting their identity using masks and entering the underground arena to compete so that they can win the betting and prize money. They will then use all the money to free the demi-humans who are enslaved in Zeltoble.
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