Nothing was going as it should have.
In isekai anime, the hero had the easy life. Everyone praised him for how cool he was, and he defeated all his enemies effortlessly. Even if he hadn't done well back home, he found new confidence and strength in the fantasy world, and thrived.
Ren Amaki was not thriving.
Right from the start, he felt none of that confidence that was supposed to accompany isekai heroes. He never knew what to say to his party, and it was easier to send them off to do their own thing than to have them around where he might be expected to converse. At the same time, spoken language was translated for him but not written. He needed a member from his party with him whenever it was necessary he read anything.
He raised his level and followed all the enhancement methods form Brave Star Online, yet the king kept telling him he wasn't strong enough. Even though he raced after the bosses of each wave, the second one hadn't appeared where he expected. They barely beat it when it did appear. Naofumi scolded him like a child after both waves for neglecting to protect the nearby villages too. If he cared so much, then he ought to protect them himself… was what Ren wanted to say, but Naofumi had already brought soldiers with him for that purpose, and even sent his demi-human party member to join in the fight on the ghost ship while he focused on the villages in harm's way. And it that non-hero whale-girl that fought back the fan-woman who then attacked them until she fled.
That wasn't easy victory or praise for cool heroics. That was struggling to survive.
Even their side adventures were a mess. Ren had been praised at first for slaying a dragon, only for the church to turn around and command him to slay it when it rose again as a zombie. The official story was that the zombification and the plague it unleashed on the nearby town was the work of agents from Siltvelt, but the glowing stone in its chest that Ren had to shatter to finally kill it for good was an item he recognized from the game as having that effect on dragons. His party seemed none the wiser, but he'd quietly absorbed all of the shards into his sword before anyone who recognized them could realize what happened.
He wasn't hiding signs of his own guilt. It wasn't his fault! The village said they would make use of that carcass! Besides, how was he supposed to know about the shards inside that dragon?
He didn't kill all those people.
It wasn't his fault.
He had nothing to hide, and only took the shards so he wouldn't have people like Naofumi scolding him and failing to realize he wasn't to blame.
The only thing that did come easy was financial backing. Although Ren budgeted poorly at first and spent too much on suitable gear, the king's blessings for top quests and the rewards they received for each wave allowed for a comfortable living standard.
And now he was giving up that one perk.
Ren packed his luggage quietly. With his level in the mid-70s, he could easily lift it down the stairs of the inn without alerting anyone. He carried his things out and set them on the small trolley that his dragon would pull. Although it was dark, he'd fumbled around in the barn himself until his dragon was out and saddled up.
"Ready?" he asked Ragnarok.
Ragnarok nodded, as if able to understand the words and their meaning literally. The AI of the dragon was better than what he remembered from when Brave Star Online was a game he could easily log out of.
Not that he spent much time raising monsters in the game. But he had a bunch of dragon shards. A rare, limited item like that didn't disappear when unlocking swords, and it would be a waste to not continue putting them to use. Once Ragnarok was fully grown, he could offer up a shard and see what stat boosts came from it.
"Heading out to raise your level?"
Ren flinched and whirled around. One of his party members stood at the inn door, watching him with an easy smile.
"Yes," Ren said. "Once your stats are high enough, I'll give you directions to this training area."
"I look forward to that. It must be an impressive monster, if you're going to head out in the dark to fight it. Do you need a light to bring with you?"
"I don't."
The words were too curt, but his party member kept smiling as he nodded and backed off.
When the inn door shut, Ren climbed atop Ragnarok and eased him forward. He'd only recently hatched the dragon's egg, having heard a rumor that dragons were more loyal if you carried their egg around until they hatched rather than buying one pre-trained. The dragon's level was still low, but he only needed it to carry his things far enough for no one to notice when he activated Teleport Sword.
The kings support was generous, and it let him be comfortable, but there were other ways to quickly make money.
Ren arrived on the streets of Zeltobe at a dangerous hour. In Brave Star Online's lure, after dark, there were rampant assassination attempts in a bid to tip the scales of the various competitions in the arenas. He wasn't yet registered in any such contests, so he shouldn't trigger that event yet. He only needed to avoid others who might have triggered it.
He didn't make it halfway past the first building before this failed.
"Amazing! You appeared out of nowhere!"
Ren glanced back at a woman in a maid's outfit, then turned ahead and resumed walking.
"Hey! Don't ignore me! Who do you think you are?"
"I don't need to involve myself in shady characters."
"Wait! Let me see that sword you're carrying!"
Ren ignored the cosplay freak and kept walking until he reached an inn.
Because that woman had called attention to his sword, he changed its form to the smallest blade he had, practically a dagger, and tucked it under his jacket before entering. Without any reason to believe he was a person of note, the innkeeper charged him what he was assured was a low price for his room, and he made it upstairs and locked his door behind himself without issue.
Once he was settled into Zeltobe, he could be less cautious. For the time being, he needed to make sure no one from Melromarc followed him.
Naofumi was a nag, but he'd also been onto something. Whether or not he was right about the Shield Hero being innocent, Melromarc was suspicious. They shed one of their heroes too readily, and the blatant favoritism they showed Itsuki was annoying, if not unreasonable. That the suspicious king had arranged for their parties did make him uneasy. What was more, the church reported too strangely on its heroes, downplaying missteps that Naofumi chided Ren and Itsuki for while vilifying the Spear Hero, even though being a nag was the worst thing Naofumi had done. Its denouncements of Motoyasu also seemed more to do with the basic fact that Motoyasu was the Shield Hero and fled the country rather than that he tried to rape someone.
All of that had made Ren uneasy about his benefactor, but the final straw was the war.
Whether or not Naofumi was right and Motoyasu was innocent, Motoyasu was still a terrible person for launching a war campaign out of a personal grudge against Melromarc. It was his problem and his alone. Failing that, it was at least not Ren's problem. He wasn't going to stick around a shady kingdom while it went up in flames.
Fleeing Melromarc as inconspicuously as he could, Ren hadn't slept yet that night. The sun was due to rise soon when he shed his armor and tucked it away inside his sword, then collapsed on the bed and was out in minutes.
-o-
Ren dragged himself out of bed late and ate lunch in the back corner of the inn's tavern. From there, he checked to make sure his sword was hidden before walking to a nearby stable.
Ragnarok his another growth spurt in the night. Already, the dragon was on the large side to ride over ground. Now, Ren could fit two people alongside him while riding in the air. The quick level grind to get the dragon to full size had been a success, even if it took a few more days past when he hit the minimum level for Ragnarok's growth to catch up. Now maybe the thing's terrifying appetite would slow down.
Well, when you actually lived in the world of a video game, sometimes it was like that. Brave Star Online used cutting edge tech that let you taste the food you ate, but it didn't have nutrition requirements. Ren would never admit it, but if that one guy in his party never fed Ragnarok, he might not have realized the dragon even required food in the first place.
A dragon that size would be a hassle to lead around the city. Not inconspicuous at all. Worse, it might make him look like he couldn't handle things by his strength alone.
Ren retrieved a bag of dried meat that weighed nearly his own weight and laid it out for Ragnarok.
"I'll take you hunting once I've settled in," he promised.
"What a lovely dragon," a girl who had been tending one of the stalls said. "It's a shame to keep a beauty like this cooped up. Mind if I move her to an outdoor pen for the day? I promise not to let and stadium scouts put her in the ring."
Ragnarok was a high enough level to be fine against most adventurers, so it didn't matter if she got in any fights while he was away so long as they brought her back after.
"You and the dragon both do whatever you want."
With that, Ren turned to leave, but hesitated when he heard someone call out to him.
"Come back soon!"
The girl's voice was higher than before. Almost babyish. Ren shot the stable hand an annoyed look for taking such a patronizing tone with him on his was out the door.
That encounter left him in a bad mood. Ren had planned to spend the day learning Zeltobe's attitude towards the war and how likely anyone might be to sell him out, but instead he decided to inspect the arenas. He hadn't paid them much attention before, but they had plenty of solo tournaments, and if he wasn't going to take guild quests while keeping a low profile, then he could fight under an alias.
Black Thunder?
No… A name like that… Itsuki and Naofumi would definitely make jokes about it, even if it sounded cool.
Ren spent the afternoon watching matches and taking note of possible opponents. Late in the day, when a white tiger demi-human entered the arena, Ren realized that was the first demi-human fighter he'd seen all day. In Brave Star Online, Zeltobe was a multicultural hub where all types were common, yet it was almost as human-centric that day as Melromarc.
"Where did all the other demi-humans go?" Ren asked the nearest spectator.
"Hm? Well, there's still a few, but most that didn't go back to fight for Siltvelt were called back to Shieldfreeden. Rumor has it they're planning to join in the war if things look favorable."
"I see. This city opposes Melromarc." He was smart to get out before—
The man burst out in laughter. "No. No, no, no. The fighters who have some loyalties to their home nations might chose to go back and support them, but most of the men here are mercenaries. If we're promised a good enough reward from one side or the other, well, that might influence things, but why would the merchants pick a side when they can profit off of both? Ah… But rumor has it the Axe Hero might be participating in the fight. No one's seen him around lately. If Melromarc takes the help of any Seven Star Heroes, they'll have the whole world attacking them. Must've been Siltvelt that bought him. Makes sense. Melromarc's got three Holy Heroes who can fight on their side. The Axe would even the numbers out a little. I'm sure Ryner could wallop any of those freshly summoned kids."
"I heard he wasn't allowed to enter Melromarc for any reason," another man piped up. "Something about ensuring no one offered aide on the down low."
"Ha! You know Ryner would do it if Melromarc offered enough."
"Well, he might not be able to invade Melromarc, but he can certainly help keep them from pushing fights past the border. Or maybe he was hired to ensure no one attacks Siltvelt."
"Sounds dull."
"Sounds like free money. What's the point of marching the Shield Hero out to the front lines if not to keep attacks from breaking through? I wouldn't mind getting paid to sit back and drink with some troops left on standby."
Ren let the men continue to banter, but gleaned nothing more of value from their conversation.
Seven Star Hero? Axe Hero? Brave Star Online had more weapons than the main four, but they weren't as strong or versatile as bows and swords and spears. The axes with longer range counted as pole arms that the spear could also use, and a lot of projectile weapons were accessible to the bow, save for things like throwing daggers that Ren could unlock. The staff might let you access more magic affinities, but there wasn't much difference in combat between magic types except that every now and then you encountered a monster with resistance to one element or another.
If there were heroes for every weapon category, then the fact that no one informed them when they were summoned was more evidence to Naofumi's claim that Melromarc wasn't trustworhty.
Ren spent the rest of the afternoon trying to casually ask about the Axe Hero and eventually gathered enough information to piece together that he was one of seven heroes that didn't require a summoning ritual, but was much weaker overall than the Holy Heroes.
Satisfied with that knowledge, he bought himself a cheap meal from a street vendor and ate as he headed back to his inn for the night.
Zeltobe mapped out perfectly like in Brave Star Online, and so Ren knew a number of shortcuts and alleys he could take to get back faster. As he turned off a main road onto one such shortcut, he caught a girl in a maid's outfit watching him,. When he hit his next turn, again he saw her at the corner of the street he'd come from. He ran through the next three turns and even changed paths, but each time he slowed to see if he lost his tail, he would see her run around the corner and then jump back out of sight when she realized he was watching.
What a terrible tail she was. Ren drew his sword and turned to confront her.
At first, he thought he might have to pursue, but then she stepped out from around the corner to face him. The weapon she'd drawn… A gun? There were no guns in Brave Star Online.
"Just who are you?" Ren demanded.
"That's the Holy Sword, isn't it? I thought so. You really were the Sword Hero. Imagine my luck. We came here hoping you might show up, and you appeared right in front of me. You're going to hand it over, right? It's wasted on a weakling like you anyway. As long as you agree that you're not the one true hero and give that sword away for a better cause, we'll let you go. You can even live under our protection. You can't let others see you until at least all of the Holy Weapons have been collected, but you'll be safe and comfortable. Apparently, at least one of the weaklings they summoned to make the Holy Weapons manifest has to live anyway."
The girl raised her gun and pointed it at Ren, mouth running a mile a minute as she practically spat her words.
"If not, then that's fine. One of the other heroes is already a candidate for survivor. If you don't submit, we'll crush you and take the sword by force."
"Over my dead body!"
"So be it!"
Ren was already on the move when she pulled the trigger. He darted to make aiming hard, but the bullet still grazed his arm. It shattered the armor, leaving a deep gouge that metal shards dug into, but he'd been Sword Hero long enough to be used to injuries. He reached the girl and swung, but she easily jumped away.
It all seemed fast to him, but her dodge was lax, as if he'd been moving like he was underwater.
The disparity made Ren hesitate. His level was in the high 60s already, and he knew from managing his party members' levels that his sword gave him better stats than the average person. He ought to be able to take on anyone in their 80s, and most people never bothered to level themselves, much less get past a class-up. Even in Zeltobe, most fighters couldn't afford the ceremony.
The maid, the girl who didn't at all dress like a serious fighter and had a cheat weapon that didn't belong in the game, pointed her gun at Ren again, and he raised his sword to hit her with a skill.
"Shooting Star—"
A twinkle from the corner of his vision was all the warning Ren had before his shoulder erupted in pain. Fiery ice shot from his shoulder all the way through his chest like needles while warmth ran down his side. He tried to grab his arm reflexively, but his left hand grasped air, then something soft, and came back coated in blood.
Ren staggered, thrown off balance in his attempt to turn and look at the injury. He slammed into a wall and barely felt it. Attempting to right himself, he tripped on something soft and slick. His chin slammed into the ground.
The stars flaring in his vision were the only things that weren't blurry. He felt again for the wound and found something that was wet and gaping and painful, but the location made no sense.
"That idiot made things too easy for us. The Sword Hero did exactly as he said."
Ren lifted his head as much as he had the strength to, but couldn't see past the knees of the people standing over him.
"Of course. I wouldn't have taken pity on that sad excuse for a hero of he weren't useful. Now let's see if he can draw the bow and spear out of a Melromarc too."
It hurt. It hurt. Why wasn't anyone helping him? Was the city so used to people fighting on the streets that they would ignore a person bleeding out?
"That old pig and that damn wolf made this such a hassle, getting you barred from entering the country, Takt-sama. We're lucky that two of the heroes decided to leave."
Ren couldn't process the words when they had no bearing on how he could survive. He poured his strength into turning his head to see the injury.
There was nothing past his pulverized shoulder.
No.
His sword arm was lying on the street, one foot hooked on it where he tripped. The hand that ought to hold the Holy Sword was empty.
"It's nothing a genius like myself can't work around. Taking advantage of that stupid shield holder was too easy. Like this, I'll have all four Holy Weapons in no time. I'll even let that guy live as a thank you. The loser will readily hand the shield over once he's done drawing the other heroes to me with it. This trash on the other hand…"
A foot slammed down between Ren's shoulder blades.
"He can burn in hell."
The pressure of that foot kicking off of him force more blood from his shoulder.
Ren screamed.
"Ren-rin!?"
"Crap! Is someone there?"
"Drifa Fire!"
Burning pain—no, actual burning—covered Ren's body.
"There. They won't even know whose corpse this is now."
That was the last thing Ren heard. Maybe his attackers left. Maybe they stayed to watch as he screamed and screamed. He only knew that in no time and an eternity, the world around him went black.
-x-
STA: Aaarg! I was so excited to put this chapter up yesterday, then I pulled up everything to post before signing out for the night and somehow didn't push the freaking post button OTL