History Awesome / TheRisingOfTheShieldHero

* Volume 1 : An often-overlooked one is the actions of Elhart (the Old Blacksmith) following Naofumi's accusation and resulting fall from grace. On his way out of the castle town, Elhart confronts the disgraced hero, apparently ready to deck him straight in the face for his presumed rape of Malty, to which the disgusted and resigned Noafumi, aware it won't actually hurt him, and too despondent to actually protest his innocence, just lets him go ahead. However, rather than actually attack, Elhart ends up staying his hand after looking in Naofumi's eyes- as the only one who actually had any meaningful interaction with Naofumi prior to his fall from grace, Elhart is able to see that Naofumi isn't the kind of person his reputation makes him out to be, and [[SecretTestOfCharacter merely came out to verify his suspicions with his own two eyes.]] Given the Matriarchal society Melromarc is, and how Naofumi’s exile is backed up by official royal decree, not to mention the bad reputation the Shield hero already has in the country, it took no small amount of personal courage for Elhart to disregard the rumours and opinions of everybody else and make up his own mind about what kind of person Naofumi actually is. As a Bonus, Elhart then ‘gifts’ Naofumi some second-hand clothing [[note]] though under agreement that he’ll pay for the clothes later [[/note]] to cover himself with rather than the tattered bedclothes he was left in after being removed from the Inn. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s precisely because of the cloak that comes with the clothes that Naofumi is later able to smuggle the Live Balloon monsters into the city underneath it, thus giving him a means to intimidate the various merchants he deals with into giving hm a fair price for his hard-earned scavenged resources in the wilds, allowing him to slowly build up his finances to the point that he can legally purchase Raptalia and outfit her with equipment to fight alongside him, and even purchase his own set of armour for the climax of the Novel. If Elhart hadn’t believed in Naofumi and given him a subtle helping hand when he needed it, he’d have still been struggling to earn enough to make ends meet by the time the wave came, and would have been in grave danger without either his trusty companion and improved defenses. He may even have lost his life, as many in the country hoped for at the time. Fittingly for the support-orientated hero who can’t fight on his own, It’s only when [[SpannerInTheWorks somebody offers him a genuine helping hand that Naofumi is actually able to make headway in becoming a hero ]].

* Volume 1 : An often-overlooked one is the actions of Elhart (the Old Blacksmith) following Naofumi's accusation and resulting fall from grace. On his way out of the castle town, Elhart confronts the disgraced hero, apparently ready to deck him straight in the face for his presumed rape of Malty, to which the disgusted and resigned Noafumi, aware it won't actually hurt him, and too despondent to actually protest his innocence, just lets him go ahead. However, rather than actually attack, Elhart ends up staying his hand after looking in Naofumi's eyes- as the only one who actually had any meaningful interaction with Naofumi prior to his fall from grace, Elhart is able to see that Naofumi isn't the kind of person his reputation makes him out to be, and [[SecretTestOfCharacter merely came out to verify his suspicions with his own two eyes.]] Given the Matriarchal society Melromarc is, and how Naofumi’s exile is back up by official royal decree, not to mention the bad reputation the Shield hero already has in the country, it took no small amount of personal courage for Elhart to disregard the rumours and opinions of everybody else and make up his own mind about what kind of person Naofumi actually is. As a Bonus, Elhart then ‘gifts’ Naofumi some second-hand clothing [[note]] though under agreement that he’ll pay for the clothes later [[/note]] to cover himself with rather than the tattered bedclothes he was left in after being removed from the Inn. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s precisely because of the cloak that comes with the clothes that Naofumi is later able to smuggle the Live Balloon monsters into the city underneath it, thus giving him a means to intimidate the various merchants he deals with into giving hm a fair price for his hard-earned scavenged resources in the wilds, allowing him to slowly build up his finances to the point that he can legally purchase Raptalia and outfit her with equipment to fight alongside him, and even purchase his own set of armour for the climax of the Novel. If Elhart hadn’t believed in Naofumi and given him a subtle helping hand when he needed it, he’d have still been struggling to earn enough to make ends meet by the time the wave came, and would have been in grave danger without either his trusty companion and improved defenses. He may even have lost his life, as many in the country hoped for at the time. Fittingly for the support-orientated hero who can’t fight on his own, It’s only when [[SpannerInTheWorks somebody offers him a genuine helping hand that Naofumi is actually able to make headway in becoming a hero ]].

* Episode 19: Naofumi's ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki about how their IdiotHero tendencies lead to the Three Heroes Church attempting to kill them, Malty and Melty, in addition to [[WhatTheHellHero other incidents their escapades have caused]], which spurred on the Church's decision. Motoyasu's [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter blind faith in]] [[ManipulativeBitch Malty]] and [[LethallyStupid near cosmic levels of stupidity]] lead him to being so easily manipulated by her, especially in regards to the [[SealedEvilInACan dangerous seed]] he planted nearly devouring an entire village, which was under her suggestion to help the people of that village with their food famine, despite the fact that it was sealed for a very good reason, and the villagers should have known better than to trust him because of his Hero status. Ren neglecting to dispose of the dragon's rotting corpse caused an epidemic in another village, thinking it would disappear after it was defeated. Itsuki believed acting like a vigilante and assassinating a supposedly corrupt king in the name of justice would free the oppressed people in that kingdom, but that only lead to it being overrun by monsters and the resistance force that took over had to raise the taxes much further than the previous king, and without funds to support themselves, they wound up in poverty. Had Naofumi not been around to fix everything, things would have been much worse. In short, [[NominalHero they allowed their hero status to go to their heads]], [[NeverMyFault never took responsibility for their actions]], [[TeethclenchedTeamWork never learned to work together as a team]], and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome failed to realize just how real this world is]], and now they have to deal with the consequences. It's of little wonder Naofumi initially refused to work with these loose cannons, and why the Church wants them all dead.