Naofumi snapped awake suddenly, back in his room. He was still getting used to this. After he had helped save the twisted world he had been summoned to, he had managed to get sent back home and was also able to return to his ideal otaku life. He didn't remember everything about his time as the Shield Hero, and he didn't even remember his final battle or being sent home. He even had days where he questioned if he had managed to save the world, but he could do nothing about it now.
Raphtalia… Filo…
He remembered them at least. He missed them so much, as the two who had made that hell of a world worth it. He'd even admit Melty had been good company too, though he knew she wouldn't let it go if he had admitted it out loud. He also remembered patching things up with Ren to the point that they had become the best of friends, another thing Naofumi would never admit out loud.
Still though, they were all back in that world where they could be heroes.
Naofumi on the other hand was getting his life together in a world that didn't function on videogame logic. He actually smiled a bit at his school text books. He was a culinary student of all things. He'd always been told he had a talent for cooking, and his younger brother had always told him not to waste that talent. He even had a paid scholarship after he had interned with the best chef in the region, and he also had a guaranteed job with said chef after he graduated. "It's for the best I didn't bring Filo home… She'd eat all my work…" He chuckled softly to himself.
Of course, some things about Naofumi's old life had changed with time.
Naofumi still couldn't trust as easily, but he had eased up a noticeable amount. He had certainly gotten better study habits as well, and he had been spending a lot more time with his younger brother.
His younger brother had skipped a number of years in highschool and was set to graduate even before Naofumi…which only made Naofumi a bit jealous. He would be graduating to become an expert surgeon.
Naofumi picked up the picture he kept of himself and his brother, having gotten a lot closer to him since he had returned. He returned the picture to his wallet before checking how much cash was in said wallet, finding no cash at all. "…my spending habits haven't improved any since I left…" he muttered to himself. He looked at his two most recent purchases, wondering if they had been creepy…
Two anime girl figurines that looked very similar to Raphtalia and Filo, and he had even repainted them to fully look the part.
"Yeah, that's creepy… Maybe I'm going crazy…" Naofumi grumbled to himself. He then turned to the SAO Kirito poster he had on his wall. "What do you think, Ren?"
Obviously there wasn't a response.
After a few moments of silence, Naofumi got his head back into his actual life. "Library it is," he told himself as he went out. He may have splurged a bit with his money from his paid internship, because instead of walking he had his own motorbike.
People tended to laugh about it being a light pink and white motorbike, but Naofumi had purchased it to remind him of riding Filo.
Naofumi hopped on and drove straight to the library. He also wasn't a fan of traffic either, making him remember that traffic definitely wasn't a problem in the other world.
It took him thirty minutes to get to the library, but eventually he got to settle with the light novels he loved so much.
He pulled a book off the shelf, grunting in pain when multiple books fell on his head. I miss the defense stat too… He thought to himself as he went to pick up the books. His hand froze when he saw a familiar red cover.
The Record of the Four Holy Weapons
Naofumi immediately felt his fists tighten as he remembered his time being tortured in that world. Sure, he had good times, but the bad tended to far outweigh the positive. For a moment, he felt like he would summon the Rage Shield out of nowhere, but he eventually calmed down when he thought this would be a good chance to see how things had turned out after he left. He might even be able to remember how the final battle had been won. He finally picked up the book and opened it.
So many memories…
He felt a strange sense of pride at how well the book caught his best moments. He would skip ahead every once in a while, but he thought it was all there.
At least until text started vanishing from the pages.
Naofumi widened his eyes as he watched the text vanish. He didn't know what it meant, but he could assume it meant the world had been wiped out in the worst case scenario. He then felt the world fall away around him, and when he woke up…he was in a familiar dark room.
Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki were all looking curiously at their weapons, like it was their first time seeing them.
Naofumi looked at the shield on his arm before focusing on the other heroes again.
The three of them were wearing the same clothes as when they were summoned to the world the first time.
Naofumi had enough logic in his head to make an assumption. Everything was reset! I need to endure all of this shit again!?
"Heroes of legend! Our world is in danger!" The man in front of them said.
That was when something else had clicked in Naofumi's head. He thought he remembered the man phrasing it differently last time.
Logically thinking, that meant the world wasn't just reset. The world had changed.
While Naofumi thought of this, the other three heroes got to speak to the man who had been in charge of summoning them. It had been decided that they would go see the king.
"Ren, be yourself," Naofumi said as he went to be taken to the king.
Ren paled a bit. "What are you talking about? Do I know you?"
"The solo shit will slow you down. Be yourself." Naofumi had returned to having his stone cold expression he had worn for most of his previous time in this world.
Ren was silent for a moment before starting again, "I can't just be-"
"You won't. We'll find another time to talk," Naofumi told him before whispering, "The other two heroes are idiots. Please don't make a fool out of yourself."
Ren just nodded slowly. He couldn't respond to any of that, but he could think about it. He had no reason to trust or be against Naofumi.
Naofumi looked out the window on the way up, confirming that the layout of the entire city below him had changed. So the world has changed, but I know what hasn't. Bitch and Trash are still Bitch and Trash. He had to make a plan to clear his name early. It would make his time a lot easier to begin with.
Meeting the king would be made easier with Naofumi now knowing how to properly participate in the conversation.
First of all, Naofumi named himself first so he wouldn't be skipped in the introduction, and second, Naofumi didn't participate in any of the rest of the introduction.
The king and the other three heroes just droned on about things Naofumi already knew. This left Naofumi to find out what he didn't know.
Naofumi looked through his status and shields. He was back to square one with only his default shield available, but he did find a new skill tree separate from the original skill tree.
Inspiration Weapons: You may combine abilities of multiple weapons together to create a new weapon, but only if the combination is stable.
Naofumi was genuinely interested in this new system. He assumed it was like a crafting system for his extra shields. Still, he had a lot more to read through to find out if there were more changes, but thankfully everything he knew was intact and even optimized a bit in places. I guess this is like new game plus.
Once the king was done talking with the heroes, they were all sent to rest up while their parties were gathered.
"I'm leaving as soon as I'm leveled. I will be leaving this kingdom entirely," Naofumi told them as soon as they were gathered in a room together.
Motoyasu blinked in surprise from the sudden statement. "I respect your courage, Naofumi, but that sounds like an awful idea. This is the starting town! It's our main social area!"
"Because you view it as a game, right?" Naofumi asked. He was leading this on. He had to make a true statement with this conversation.
"Because it is a game! This is exactly like-!"
Naofumi tuned them out to let them discuss how this world was like their games. He jumped back into the conversation when he needed to. "My previous world was like this. That's how I know about it."
The other three heroes just stared at him slack-jawed.
"Are…you messing with us?" Itsuki looked out the window. "Lucky you, getting to live the hero life from birth."
"It's not that easy. You three treat this world like a game, but it is not. It is a world. You play it like a game, and you will die." Naofumi clenched his fists in frustration. "And as the Shield Hero of both that world and this world, I can say with pure confidence that the Shield Hero is not welcome in the kingdom of Melromarc."
The other three heroes didn't ask why he wasn't welcome, but they looked at each other as if to ask if Naofumi was to be trusted.
"Well, I guess you've been through quite the bummer or a world then. I'm just from Japan," Ren commented.
Naofumi tuned them out again while the three of them compared their Japans to each other. He came back into the conversation when they started comparing their games. "In my world, the Shield Hero was incredibly important for the Waves."
"Really? It's the weakest class inside Emerald Online…" Motoyasu muttered.
"Weakest doesn't mean least important. In an actual world, you won't be as durable as in your games. You three will need a shield to keep you alive, because the Wave bosses will cause too much damage otherwise." Naofumi stood up. "Ren, I'd like to meet up tomorrow at 8:00 PM. We need to finish our conversation from earlier."
"Um…right," Ren replied, a little blown away as he ran what Naofumi said through his head.
Scraped by with a few lies. Motoyasu and Itsuki probably still see me the same way, but I know Ren actually has a brain to work with. I'll make sure he's straightened out first. Naofumi smirked as he returned to his room.
Ren just watched Naofumi leave. He could feel a stinging sensation in his side as he thought about how things will be if the pain in this world was truly real. He remembered being stabbed… After all, that was how he got here.
"Wow. Weird one, huh?" Motoyasu made a twirling motion with his index finger next to his head. "I'm gonna enjoy myself! I'm not sure about you guys!"
Itsuki chuckled a bit. "I'll be the strongest by the end though. I promise you."
The two turned to Ren to get some input from him.
Ren stood up and bowed his head politely. "Pardon me. I'm really tired." He then stepped out to return to his bedroom as well.
"Meeting over then." Itsuki made a sweeping motion with his hand. "Now get out of my room so I can sleep. We all have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah. Party poopers," Motoyasu grumbled.
Today was the day.
Naofumi would need to play all of his cards right. He started preparations the previous night with his plans to meet Ren at 8:00 PM. This would provide him an alibi, though in order to make things work properly he would need to sneak out of his room without Bitch noticing.
Speaking of Bitch, it was time for parties to be assembled.
For everything to work, Naofumi would need to bite the bullet. He needed to get Bitch in his party for the first day, so he spoke up when no one chose to join his party. "I am the Shield Hero. I can't attack on my own. I can only protect. Why is it I have no one in my party?"
"Well it is rather odd…" The king leaned his head over to listen to some whispers from one of the people close to him. "It would seem it is because of a rumor. Apparently it was overheard that you intended to leave Melromarc as soon as you were able. No one else feels like betraying the kingdom." He put on a smug grin.
Naofumi sighed softly. "I guess it can't be helped…but the other heroes do know that there are Waves in other kingdoms, right? We definitely weren't supposed to all be summoned to one place. I should be proceeding to another kingdom now to make sure Melromarc isn't consumed by war with another kingdom."
The king widened his eyes in shock. He didn't know how Naofumi would know this already.
"So really, I'm not betraying the kingdom. I'm saving it from its foolish king. If no one wishes to party up with me, maybe I will stay after all and let this all fall to ruin."
"Hey, Naofumi! Aren't you pressuring everyone with too big of an ultimatum!?" Motoyasu snapped.
"PEOPLE WILL DIE, MOTOYASU!" Naofumi snapped back at him.
The room went silent for a bit.
That was when Bitch raised her hand. "Spear Hero, I will switch to work with the Shield Hero. Is that ok?"
Motoyasu jumped a bit when she spoke up. "Yeah, sure. That's fine. You'll take care of her, won't you, Naofumi?"
"Protecting is what I am good at," Naofumi replied, pushing back his smirk. Just as planned. I look like the most responsible hero, and I'm on my way to clear my name before I am accused of anything. Also Trash looks much worse to everyone, which is always a plus. He now had to deal with the hard part, calling Bitch by her adventurer name. He didn't even listen to her introduction, waiting for her to finish before saying, "Please show me around, Myne."
Bitch nodded excitedly as they left the castle. "Where do you want to go first?"
"I need a place to buy armor," Naofumi stated blankly. He did need to figure out the new layout of the city after all. If it had changed too much, then he would take days navigating it. He could at least use Bitch while she was pretending to help him.
Bitch put on her best cute smile, still trying to put Naofumi in a false sense of trust. "I know just the place."
Naofumi could feel himself relax just a bit when he was led to a familiar weapon shop.
The weapon shop owner that Naofumi always referred to as Old Guy came out from the back to greet them. "Hello! What can I do for you?"
Naofumi held up his shield to show who he is. "I'd like some armor. Can I get a discount since I am here for the first time? Just to pad things out for a long business relationship." He gave Old Guy a grin.
Old Guy looked Naofumi up. "Already asking for discounts, huh? Well you do know how to sweet-talk a shop owner with the idea of a long business relationship. Let's let you look around, then I'll see what discount I can offer you."
Bitch immediately went to pick out armor for Naofumi, distracting herself with it. "Sir hero, I'll make sure to get you the best starting gear!"
Naofumi rolled his eyes as he went to the counter to talk to Old Guy. "I'd like some custom armor made," he whispered.
Old Guy noticed Naofumi's attempt at being secretive and leaned in to whisper back. "Surprise for the lady, huh?"
"You could say that, except that this armor is also for me. I won't be wearing what she picks for me for very long." Naofumi slid over enough money to get this armor started. He was going to start basic still, but he intended to work up to his original Barbarian Armor, even if he didn't like how it made him look quite like a bandit. He was used to that armor, so he would get it back as soon as he could. Still though, his armor wouldn't fit the proper look for a while, mainly because Naofumi would need to gather the right materials for it to evolve to the proper look.
Old Guy nodded as he listened to the specifics Naofumi gave him. "I'll see what I can do." He then took the money. "It should be ready tomorrow, the basic armor anyway."
"Perfect. I'll be here for it." Naofumi then turned to check on Bitch.
Bitch set down a set of chainmail for Naofumi. "This should be good armor to start with! Now what weapon would you like to use?"
Naofumi gave her the blankest stare possible. "My shield. I'm the Shield Hero. I can't hold any other weapon."
"Um…right…" Bitch grumbled, not liking how Naofumi looked down at her like she was an idiot.
Naofumi paid for the chainmail and went to go change into it. "Myne, I'm going to go ahead and put you into my party. That way we can both get experience from your kills, and I can focus on defending." He was out of the changing room in mere moments, and he enjoyed seeing how Bitch's face had the most forced smile possible.
"Yes… Of course, sir hero…" Bitch had wanted to hide how the party system worked so she could watch him flail about without being able to do enough damage, and then she would fight and gain experience purely for herself.
"Then it's time to grind." Naofumi gave her a fake smile, trying to look like he didn't know he was screwing with her.
"Perhaps we should pick me up some armor since I am going to be fighting immediately?" Bitch asked.
Naofumi raised an eyebrow. He remembered only picking her up armor after a day of grinding. His actions had changed the order of things again. "…yeah, go ahead and look. I'll start negotiating another discount."
Bitch smiled and went to look through armor in her size, coming back almost immediately with armor she wanted and dropping it on the counter.
"…how much is this set?" Naofumi asked Old Guy.
Old Guy started thinking, and with how long it was taking him to think, Naofumi knew it would be pricey.
"Myne, tone it down. I can't afford to pay so much money on the first day," Naofumi told her.
"With how much I will be fighting, it will be a great investment for the future!" Bitch insisted.
"Is there any armor of that quality but is cheaper? Like something experimental?" Naofumi did remember that Old Guy did experiment with a few things in his spare time. Usually he could score a discount by testing it for him.
Old Guy nodded. "I have some enchantment armor in the back. New stuff. It's a new method being tested in Faubrey, and I thought I'd give it a go. Really it's just an excuse to save on materials." He went to go get it.
Naofumi actually felt genuinely curious. I don't remember armor like that. If it's cheaper but still higher in quality, then maybe it would suit Raphtalia-
Old Guy returned with what was definitely female armor because it was quite-literally the stereotype for bikini armor. "Would you like to try it, ma'am?"
-BURN IT! BURN IT! Naofumi immediately felt a sense of disgust.
"I'd…rather not," Bitch replied.
Naofumi was still thinking to himself, and he had a very simple thought process. If he had to deal with a slut, then she should dress the part. Maybe he could distract the other heroes with this nonsense, or even better, the armor could fail and get Bitch killed on the first day! At that point, the thought of a convenient accident being his alibi was too sweet of a possibility to ignore. "This is the highest quality armor I'm willing to pay for, Myne. Take it or go lower."
Bitch grit her teeth a bit before nodding. "Yes… I'll try it."
Of course you will, slut. Naofumi put the money for the excuse for armor on the counter. "Now hurry and get changed. We don't want to fall behind the other heroes."
Bitch got changed in the nearby dressing room, blushing noticeably as she stepped out. She was literally just in a bikini made of metal with her sword hanging from the side of the bottom. "As long as it works."
A strange sound came from Naofumi, making Bitch and Old Guy focus on him.
"Are you ok, kid?" Old Guy asked.
Naofumi took a big swallow because he had puked all over the inside of his mouth. "I'm fine." He had to question his own logic now, not wanting to deal with Bitch like this for very long. Of course Faubrey would make this abomination… Kingdom of NEET spawn…
Bitch realized this was her chance to try to seduce Naofumi even more, so she ran up to him and hugged his arm. She intentionally let her barely-covered breasts wrap around Naofumi's arm. "Shall we get going, sir hero?"
Naofumi had the best poker face of his life as he threw up in his mouth a second time, swallowed, then threw up in his mouth a third time. He eventually got his breakfast to settle and forced on his best fake smile. "Yes. Let's go."
It was now nearing dusk, and Ren was wandering the city in search of Naofumi.
Ren knew Naofumi told him to meet at 8:00 PM, but he hadn't been told of where to meet. He stopped when he thought he saw a zombie, pulling his sword off his back. He then stopped when he recognized the figure. "Jesus, Naofumi… What the hell happened to you?"
Naofumi was completely green in the face. "Imagine creating the most horrifying, disgusting image of all time and having to spend the day with it…" He was immune to becoming drunk. He was immune to motion sickness, but he was not immune to psychological terror even if he had brought it upon himself.
Ren looked up Naofumi, realizing Naofumi was in street clothes and not armor. "Did you not buy armor?"
"I left my armor and most of my money in my inn room," Naofumi replied, shaking his head to try to cleanse it of the image of Bitch. "Ugh… I may never be able to eat again…" He had intentionally left his things behind and made a fake body under the blanket of his bed with his extra pillows. He was going to let Bitch steal his things, then he would have Ren as an alibi.
If things went perfectly tonight, Naofumi would be proven completely innocent, and Bitch would be proven guilty of theft and false rape accusations.
For now though, the Sword and Shield Heroes needed to talk.
"You died before coming to this world, correct? You died protecting a friend?" Naofumi gestured for Ren to follow him as they walked.
Ren ran a bit to catch up then walked alongside Naofumi. "Yes… How did you know?"
"Maybe you should have been the Shield," Naofumi chuckled a bit at his dark humor. "I just took notice of how you are rather protective of your right side. Like you took a knife to it."
"Naofumi, what did you really want to talk about?" Ren was firm with his question.
"…the heroes never get along, Ren. At least, not immediately. Usually the Shield is the first to be alienated, and…I just wanted to get you on my side. You do seem more logical than Motoyasu and Itsuki."
"So…you're covering your ass?" Ren raised an eyebrow at him.
"Not just that, but I wanted to explain a few things to you. This world really is different from your game. Some bosses you think you know how to fight will go down differently. There will be much bigger consequences for your actions, and being solo will get you killed. Your Kirito act won't work."
Ren actually blushed a bit. "I guess SAO is a constant no matter what world you end up in…"
"It is, for better or worse… How about you start with smiling?" Naofumi said jokingly.
Ren chuckled a bit. "As if you smile, Naofumi."
"That isn't me. Not anymore. But you have it in you, right?"
Ren pushed up the sides of his lips. "I've roleplayed too often in VRMMOs. This could take some getting used to."
"As long as we stay true to ourselves, we can grow from it. Speaking of that…" Naofumi had led them outside of the city, and he suddenly popped his defensive stance. "Let's see how you're doing, Sword Hero. Can you land a clean blow?"
Ren gave Naofumi a shocked look, gripping at the handle of his sword right as the last rays of sunlight vanished over the horizon. "Are…you sure about this?"
"You have five seconds, Ren. Let's see how fast you are." Naofumi suddenly blocked a slash from Ren. "Five."
Ren started a string of slashes, trying to make Naofumi stagger.
"Four." Naofumi blocked each slash with small shield movements.
Ren went for a high slash, clenching his teeth as he brought it down as fast as he could.
Naofumi couldn't block it, but he stopped it by slamming his shield into Ren's gut and knocking the wind out of him. He definitely did next to no damage, but that didn't mean Ren couldn't feel the impact. "Three."
Ren staggered back, coughing for breath. He then swung low at Naofumi's legs.
Naofumi jumped over the low slash. "Two." He then landed and brought his shield across Ren's face to knock him back. It was in this moment that he was happy strength and attack were two different stats, because as vicious as his attacks looked, they still did very low damage. "One."
"I get it…" Ren grunted as he pushed himself up to a sitting position.
I'm not too rusty. Thank goodness for that. Naofumi held his hand out to Ren to help him up. "You're strong as a hero, but you need to work on your sword technique. There's someone who can teach you, but…getting to her would not make you look great."
"What do you mean?" Ren asked as he took Naofumi's hand.
"She's in the castle dungeon."
"Oh that doesn't sound so-" Ren blinked as he ran the words through his head. "She's where!?"
"This kingdom is functioning under a stupid king. Melromarc is a matriarchy, and the queen is currently meeting with the other kingdoms to make sure no wars happen when the Waves are the true enemy. As such, the king is free to do whatever stupid things he wants, such as locking up knights for not matching his opinions. Eclair was a victim of this."
"Then…should I just take my party and break this knight out? That sounds like it could have a lot of consequences…"
"Exactly my thought. I know a lot, Ren, but I don't know everything. I was hoping you'd have a plan for that. You're pretty clever when you actually use your head."
"I'll…ask my party-"
"No." Naofumi interrupted him. "Your party members were picked by the king. Do you really think they'd help with this? Adding to that, you will eventually…outgrow your current party members."
"How-so-?"
"They will eat shit and die," Naofumi said without a hint of sensitivity. "They will be far too weak. I'd rather you ditch them and make a party of people you trust instead of being handed people by the king."
"Right…thank you, Naofumi. You are already helping so much, even if you're a little…rough around the edges." Ren looked back towards the city. "I guess it's time to head back to our parties?"
"Not yet. It turns out there are multiple leveling systems. Each hero uses a different levelling system, but if you believe in all of them, you can use all of them." Naofumi pulled out some extra silver he had saved under his shield. "How about we talk over a late night snack? I will need you to be as strong as you can be for the Waves."
"Already loose with your extra money? I know the king gave you extra, but…" Ren seemed a little hesitant to accept food from Naofumi.
"I won't have any money left tomorrow, but I'll be fine." Naofumi went to lead Ren to a place that was still open at that time.
"…Naofumi, you are weird." Ren just let out a sigh before following him.
Enjoy being around Naofumi while you can! He's not the main focus here!
It's been so long since I've written anything... We'll see if I can keep this up.