King Melromarc sat upon his throne once more, dressed in royal robes similar to the ones he wore the day before.
He looked down upon the four Heroes that stood before him. Each and every one of them looked more comfortable than they had the day before including, to his surprise, the Shield Hero. "Good morning Heroes! As promised, I have taken the liberty of assembling the greatest warriors in our country."
He waved his hand in a wide arc, as if showcasing merchandise at a store. "Swordsmen, archers, mages, healers, and many more options are available to you."
Naofumi scanned the large group of over 20 adventurers standing in front of them. All of them appeared to be seasoned fighters and stood with confidence. Their equipment appeared to be decent, but without any other examples for comparison, he could only assume whether they were exceptional or not.
The swordsmen and swordswomen stood straight up. Some had their arms crossed and others had a hand on their hip. No matter how you looked at it, they all seemed to be ready to draw their swords at a moment's notice.
The archers and stealthy types stood lazily about, almost not paying attention to anything going on. But if you looked closely, all of them were searching the room for possible avenues of attack.
The mages were varied, with some mouthing chants to themselves silently and others simply standing there.
One woman in particular stood out to him due to her deep red hair color. It didn't hurt that she was beyond beautiful. She and Naofumi locked eyes and she winked at him, causing him to blush.
'Curse me and my lack of experience with women!' he quickly thought, looking away. 'I'm not used to seeing women like that. If she was back in Japan, she'd easily be one of the top models in no time!'
Refocusing his attention on the remainder of the companions, the King continued his speech.
"However, this may work a bit differently than you're expecting. You don't get to choose your own companions. They get to choose who they are willing to follow." The king waved his hand again, and the adventurers began to walk toward the Heroes.
After a moment, all of them had taken a place in a line behind their Hero of choice. Motoyasu's group consistently entirely of pretty women, Ren had a good variety of followers, and Itsuki had multiple for himself.
Naofumi sighed, knowing that none of them had chosen to stand by him. He turned around regardless just to affirm his suspicions and he was disappointed in the fact that he was correct.
Nobody wanted to help him. Not a single person.
'I guess that's part of being the Shield Hero. These adventurers are probably looking for someone who will make their lives easy.' he thought to himself forlornly. Facing back toward the King, he resolved that despite their qualifications to aid the Heroes, they were greedy people who would stab him in the back the instant they got the chance.
Instead of making a scene, Naofumi raised his voice. "Since it seems like nobody wants to help me, it appears I will have to search for companions on my own." The King hid a smirk; he had the Shield Hero right where he wanted him.
"I see. You are free to do so. As for the rest of you Heroes, are you satisfied with your companions?" They nodded, but Itsuki decided to interject.
"Surely you can't leave him all alone, your Majesty. He's the Shield Hero, he needs companions to succeed. Can't you compensate him in some way to make up for this? It's only fair." Naofumi looked at the younger blond with surprise. He wasn't expecting one of the other Heroes to stand up for him, but he appreciated it nonetheless.
"Hmm...Very well then. I had already planned on providing each of you with a sum of 500 silvers to cover many of your expenses for quite some time. Shield Hero, you will be provided a total of 800 silvers since you will need to not only find suitable companions for your journey, but also assist in providing them the equipment necessary to be of any use to you."
Naofumi was stunned. Based on his first impressions, he didn't expect the King to give him any sort of compensation whatsoever, let alone nearly doubling the money he was to receive. 'Guess I owe Itsuki a big one. I'll have to find a way to repay him later on.' vowed Naofumi.
"Actually, your Majesty, I would like to aid the Shield Hero!" A cheery voice rang throughout the throne room. Naofumi turned to his side to see the red haired woman smiling at him. He fought back the blush that tried to resurface. 'Too close! She's even hotter up close!'
"Is that so?" The King looked at the woman with a gleam in his eye that Naofumi couldn't understand. "If that is what you wish. Shield Hero, do you accept her as your companion?"
The King's choice of words did not go unnoticed by Naofumi, who narrowed his eyes slightly but his blush continued. "Sure. I'm sure you already know, but I'm Iwatani Naofumi. It's great to be working with you." He reached out his hand for a handshake. He was unsure if that was a custom in this world as well, but he decided to go for it.
She quickly grasped his hand in her own and shook it rather gently. 'She has soft hands for an adventurer.' Naofumi thought offhandedly. He would have thought it strange that a swordswoman like her would have such soft hands rather than calloused, rough ones, but his mind and heart were both racing.
"My name is Myne. I hope we get along!" she said cheerfully, releasing his hand and standing behind him.
The King stood. "Alright, now that everything is out of the way, you can begin your adventures! Best of luck to you Heroes! You will be summoned when the Wave reappears; I hope you will be ready to defend our world!"
As the parties began to depart the throne room, Naofumi ran up to Itsuki. The blond turned to his senior curiously. "Itsuki! Thanks for sticking up for me man. It might not be much, but I promise that I'll repay you someday." Naofumi reached his hand out.
Itsuki shook his hand gently, nodded, and began to walk away. "I'll remember that next time I need help. Stay safe out there Naofumi!" he said without turning back.
'Such a strange guy. He seems like a good person but he's either just as arrogant as the others or he's really good at acting like it.' Naofumi thought to himself.
"Shield Hero, we should go straight to the fields to start training so we can level up! There are lots of low level monsters there that should be easy for someone like me to take care of." Myne said excitedly. Naofumi nodded with a smile, assuming that he needed to fight weak monsters to both level up and learn how to actually defend himself in combat.
As they walked out of the throne room, Naofumi failed to notice that the King's smile had been replaced with a sinister smirk.
"Dammit, this is hard! These things don't hurt at all but they're too fast for me to punch them!" Naofumi grunted with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
He and Myne were standing in an open field near the town of Lute. It was home to balloons: small spherical monsters with sharp teeth and a nasty habit of latching on to something and refusing to let go.
Naofumi tried to catch his breath while several balloons decided to gnaw on his limbs. He didn't feel anything besides a small pressure on his body, so he completely ignored them. His HP wasn't decreasing either, so they were effectively harmless to him.
"Your defense stat is high enough to not take damage from their attacks, so they're perfect practice! You need to learn to anticipate their attacks and defend yourself from them. Focus less on killing them and more on not getting hit." Myne instructed. She stood under the shade of a large tree, mindlessly eating a fruit from its branches.
Nodding his head, Naofumi got back to work first by throwing the attached balloons off of himself.
After multiple hours of training, and only two balloons killed, the pair withdrew to the city to rest. Myne insisted they stop by a blacksmith to purchase themselves better gear, and Naofumi found himself unable to deny her since she looked so happy when she smiled.
A bell on the door rang as it was opened.
"Welcome to my shop! The name's Elhart, I'm the blacksmith here. What can do for ya?" A large, burly man stood behind the counter. Among him were all sorts of weapons of different sizes and shapes, and off to the side Naofumi spotted a variety of clothing and armors.
Not responding immediately, a soft hand landed on Naofumi's shoulder. "We should get you some armor to increase your Defense even higher! Since I'll be doing all of the damage, I'll also need a better weapon to make up for the fact that you can't do much right now. You can get a basic weapon to practice with, but you should focus on what you're meant for: defending."
Naofumi nodded dumbly, suddenly uncomfortable with her hand on his shoulder and her face so close to his own. Although he agreed that they needed to balance attacking and defending very well as a party of two, the way she spoke made it seem like she was the hero and he was just a supporter.
"Mr. Elhart, we're going to need some armor for both of us, and some weapons. He needs something that he can get used to, and I need an improvement on my current blade. It's not bad, but I'm sure someone with your expertise could do much better." Myne leaned slightly on the counter, pressing her assets together in an attempt to make herself seem even more attractive.
The man was barely fazed. If he was even slightly affected by her attempts at persuasion, he didn't show it. "Alright, let me take a look at your sword first. In the meantime, take a look around at the armor I have on display. You might find something that fits both your size and your budget." Disappointed that he didn't react the way she intended, Myne handed her blade to the blacksmith and proceeded to drag the still slack-jawed Naofumi to the armor.
Minutes later, the two of them had chosen their armor. Myne had opted for a battle chestplate and Naofumi had gone with a simple leather jerkin. Naofumi was still unsure of what weapon to choose. 'There's so many options, but if I'm going to have a shield, I may as well use something that I can hold in one hand.' he thought sagely.
Spotting a table with some basic looking swords on it, Naofumi reached down to grasp the hilt of one. As his hand wrapped around the handle, a large jolt of...something ran through his right arm, causing him to jump back and drop the weapon back on to the table.
"What was that!? You trying to rob my store kid!?" Elhart had come returned from the back of the shop in anger. Naofumi raised his hands in a placating manner. "N-no not at all! I tried to pick up one of your swords to see what it felt like, but it flew right out of my hand!"
Not buying the excuse, Elhart scoffed. "Well let's see you do it again. Then I'll know if you're lying to me boy." Not wanting to aggravate the large, scarred man any further, Naofumi reached for the blade again.
Only to have an even bigger shock run through his arm.
"Agh!" he cried out, grabbing his right arm with his left in an attempt to dull the pain. "Dammit! What's happening?" A message appeared in front of Naofumi, but only he could see it.
"WARNING: Heroes cannot wield any weapons other than their legendary weapon. The Shield Hero in particular cannot wield weapons of any kind."
'So that means I can't use any weapons? A shield hardly does much for offense.' he thought to himself before noticing that the gem in the middle of his shield was deep red. 'Just like last time...'
"So I guess you weren't lying after all. That's a unique looking shield you got there, so I kinda assumed you were the Shield Hero. Mind if I take a look at it for a moment?" Elhart asked.
After getting confirmation, he proceeded to take a very close look at the Legendary Shield with a magnifying glass. His eyes glowed a bright yellow for a few moments before receding back to their usual brown.
"It seems like you can't use any weapons while you have that shield of yours. Doesn't seem like you can take it off either. I never knew the Shield Hero couldn't wield weapons, I just assumed that they chose not to or didn't think they were good enough to use one." Elhart laughed.
Myne looked on with interest, but was more focused on the weapon that the blacksmith had laid on the counter before walking over. "Mr. Elhart, this weapon looks fantastic! How much will it cost?" She said, practically bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Hmm, for you guys I'll give you a package deal. Since you're buying that weapon along with some armor, I'll give it all to you for 400 silvers." He said with his hand against his chin, thinking.
Myne appeared disappointed and sighed. "Our budget was around 300 silvers. Could you go any lower?" She pleaded with the older man, but he stood firm.
"I'm afraid 400 silvers is already pushing it. That sword alone is probably worth somewhere around 250 silvers by itself, and that breastplate is about 150 silvers as well. I'm practically handing the jerkin over for free at this point. Take it or leave it." He stood his ground against the young woman, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
Myne barely looked at Naofumi before responding. "Fine, I guess we'll have to adjust our budget elsewhere. Come on Shield Hero! Let's get some dinner at the inn!" She practically dragged him out of the store with their new equipment.
Noticing that she barely paid attention to his lack of a weapon, and inability to wield one at all, Naofumi was growing suspicious. She didn't choose him immediately, yet was willing to help him. She taught him the basics on defending himself, but was more interested in using his allotted funds to shop for herself rather than the good of the party.
'Something about her doesn't seem right. I may not have much experience with women, but even I can tell that she seems to be calling the shots right now.' Naofumi thought warily. He kept his eyes on the red haired woman but found it difficult to stay mad at her for any period of time. She was just too beautiful to stay mad at.
Arriving at the inn, the pair sat down at an unoccupied table to grab a meal and relax.
"This was a great first day Shield Hero! We got some new equipment, defeated some monsters and learned some basics on fighting, and now we get to celebrate with a nice drink and some good food." Myne waved over a waitress, who brought a bottle of wine, glasses, and two menus to the table.
Not even thanking the worker, Myne poured a glass of wine for herself and one for Naofumi. He looked around, still amazed at the activity the inn was having. People bustled back and forth, bringing food and drinks to customers. Rowdy drunks stood in the corners and near the doorway, heckling passersby and especially the pretty women. Some shady individuals stood in the dark corners of the room, shrouded by dark clothing and hoods to conceal their identities.
He was brought out of his sightseeing when the glass of wine was pushed closer to his end of the table by Myne. He looked at the glass and back to the beautiful red haired woman. "Oh sorry, I'm a bit distracted. There's a lot going on here. But yeah, today wasn't too bad for a first day. I can see why it should be defended from the Waves, it's a beautiful town, and I can only imagine what the rest of the world looks like."
Myne giggled at his innocence. "The country of Melromarc is quite beautiful. What say you and I have a toast to a long lasting partnership?" She raised her glass, intending for him to clink it with his own.
"Sorry but...I don't drink." Naofumi slid the glass back toward the center of the table. Myne's face fell immediately and he regretted putting it so bluntly, but he had his reasons. 'Plus, she still seems a little suspicious. Can't be too careful.' he thought to himself. 'I need to stay on my toes. Getting drunk could be way more dangerous here than back home.'
"You know, most men in this world would never in their lifetime refuse a drink from a woman. Melromarc is a matriarchy, so women generally hold the power in both politics and relationships." Naofumi blushed at the word 'relationships' as his mind had been running rampant with thought of the red haired beauty all day, but kept to his morals.
"I understand, but I have personal reasons why I don't drink anymore. I'd personally appreciate it if you didn't ask about them, but I do want you to know that it isn't that I don't want to be with you, I mean you're really great and caring and -" he caught himself babbling, and Myne giggled again at his blush. "Nevermind. You get my point." he finished, red-faced.
After ordering food from the waitress, the two settled into a companionable silence, exchanging a few words about the world and people nearby. Soon enough, their food arrived and Naofumi placed his hands together with his silverware while saying "thank you for the food".
Myne looked at him with curiosity. 'Who is he saying thank you to?' He dove into his meal with gusto, his eyes lit up as he chewed. Swallowing his first bite, he exclaimed "This is incredible! Is all the food in this world this delicious!?" She laughed at his excitement. If nothing else, it was contagious.
"Not everything tastes this good, but this is pretty standard here. The inns in this country have a work union that helps keep the quality fairly high." She answered, slowly eating her own meal.
After several minutes, both of them had finished their meals and it was beginning to get dark.
"I just wanted to say thank you for joining me. I don't know what I would have done all by myself. I probably would have gotten lost getting out of the castle." Naofumi laughed while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. Myne giggled and placed her hand on his arm affectionately.
"It's no problem! I'll always be here for you, Shield Hero." Her eyes were practically closed from how much she was smiling, and Naofumi got that itch the back of his head again. 'Is she...lying to me? Nobody is this sincere and beautiful at the same time. She has to have flaws!'
Deciding it was time to think alone for a bit, Naofumi said he planned to retire to his room for the night a bit early, saying he wanted to be up fairly early to start his next day. He also said he would make it up to Myne for not having a drink with her on their first day.
As he walked away, he didn't notice her smile shift into an all-too-familiar smirk.
Naofumi shut the door to his room quietly. Despite the amount of noise coming from the tavern downstairs, he still didn't want to disturb any of the other guests.
He began to mutter to himself. "Alright, I understand a little about fighting but not much. I didn't even gain a level today because I was too busy trying to block balloons. Unless I kill one, I don't get any experience points." He said dejectedly. "How am I supposed to really get stronger if I can't fight? Especially without a weapon?"
A small jolt from his right arm was the only response.
"You really don't like me talking about that do you?" The gem glowed blue in affirmation. "Why don't you like weapons? There's got to be some kind of reason why. And don't give me that 'legendary weapon' crap." The gem faded from blue to a dull grey. Uncertain of what to make of that response, Naofumi asked another question.
"Did one of your old wielders do something wrong?" The gem pulsed a bright red, and it shined so bright that it outshined the evening sunset. He had to shield his eyes with his left arm to prevent himself from being blinded.
"Okay... that answers that question." The gem faded back to its usual green. 'Note to self, don't piss off legendary weapons.'
Deciding it was time for bed, Naofumi removed his leather jerkin and placed it on the chair beside his bed. He stripped down to his outerwear to sleep in, but not before folding his other clothes neatly into his pack, which he had purchased at a nearby general store.
Finally, he took the pouch which contained his coins and split the amount into many small groups. After totalling them up, he counted 380 silvers remaining. 'Less than half of my money gone in a single day. I better keep the rest of this a lot closer to me than it was today. I can't afford to go bankrupt in a few weeks of being in this world.'
He took the groups of silvers and stashed them in a variety of locations, but after attempting to hide a few coins beneath his Shield, they were absorbed into it instead, vanishing from sight.
Panicking, Naofumi tried to find a way to bring the money back from the shield. Upon opening his menu, he saw his that equipment titled 'Legendary Shield' had a yellow (!) next to it. Focusing his sight on the item, it brought up an extremely large web of circles, almost like a chart.
Each circle had a name for a shield and nearly all of them were colored grey with a lock on them, indicating that he had not unlocked them yet. Only two currently were another color. "Small Shield", the one he currently was using, and "Peddler's Shield", a new one he had never picked up before. 'How did I get a new shield without buying or finding it?' He wondered.
Focusing on the Pedder's Shield circle, nothing happened. However, he tried simply thinking the name of the shield and suddenly the shield on his arm glowed before being replaced with a metal vambrace. It looked less like a shield and more like a method of deflecting weapons with one's forearm. 'It's also a lot more subtle. That could come in handy later.' Naofumi realized.
Going back to his menu and taking another look at the Peddler's Shield, he saw a section under the name called Equip bonus, which said 'Bonus to persuasion for buying or selling goods'.
'Now THAT would have been useful earlier!' he thought, slightly peeved that he could have saved money, but happy that he was more prepared than he was before.
Searching more through his inventory, Naofumi found a section labeled Currency. Focusing on it, a screen appeared that showed the value of the money he had accidentally allow to be absorbed into the Shield: 5 silvers.
He soon learned that he could both store and withdraw money from the Shield at will, sort of like a bank account. Hiding the remainder of his money in his shield, and feeling comfortable in the knowledge that he had succeeded in learning more about both the world and the mysterious Shield on his arm, Naofumi drifted off to sleep.
Too exhausted to stay awake any longer, he failed to hear the voice whispering in his head.
The time of reckoning is coming...are you prepared?