After we were brought into a retro fantasy story, summoned into a different world, I found a shield attached to my arm, and no matter what I tried, it wouldn't come off.

We were taken to the castle's audience chamber, where a white-haired king told us about the dangerour situation in this wiorld.

Well, to summariza the king's tale:

A prophecy of destruction was coming true. This world is being assaulted by Waves of Calamity, events where thousands of monsters break into this world and flood over the land bringing death and destruction to everyone they find. According to the prophecy, saving the world implies repelling these events until their fury is spent.

Even though the enormous magical hourglass in the capital's cathedral was said to be counting down until doomsday, it had done so endlessly for hundreds of years, the sands on the upper half of the hourglass never decreased, and the lower half never filling. Until roughly a month ago.

The sands in the upper half of the Hourglass of the Dragon's Age began decreasing, and when they were fully empty, the first Wave of Calamity struck the land.

A dimensional crack appeared in this country's skies, and terrible monsters fell upon the land in untold numbers. Adventurers and knights just barely managed to repel the monsters, and before they noticed, the hourglass had spun around and began to count again.

There is roughly one month left until the next wave, which will be even more powerful than the first.

Without summoning the Legendary Heroes, they could not repel the waves. That was the current situation.

Well, it was convenient that the Legendary Weapons on our arms automatically translated all languages for us. This was obviously convenient, or so I thought until the people that had been summoned with me began to talk.

"I understand your situation, but you didn't ask for our consent, and yet want us to risk our lives for you. Isn't this kidnapping and enslavement?"

"Your tale is incredibly suspicious."

"…I am sorry, but I am fairly sure you meant to summon my husband, not I."

Uh, even if they say that, the first two to speak sounded incredibly happy. And wait, the only girl in our group is already married!? B-but, she's around my age, isn't she? Just who was lucky enough to be the spouse of such a gentle-looking, beautiful young wife!? Please explode!

Ah, I doubt they'd send us home no matter what we say anyway, so I should try and negotiate for the best possible terms I can get.

"Indeed, we have no obligations towards you. After we are done risking our lives, we will have nothing to show for it. And once peace returns, will you just dismiss us as if nothing? I want to know which assurances you'll give us. You do plan to compensate our efforts, right?"

"Fumu~" The king looks towards one of his men.

"Indeed, we are prepared to compensate the heroes properly for their efforts!"

All of us except for [Beautiful Young Wife] made a gutsy pose.

"We have already prepared support in the form of money and safety. You will be protecting our world, after all." The [Minister?] explains.

"You seem to understand well."

"Just money and a place to sleep won't be nearly enough, though. We expect your continuous support in exchange for our work."

"E-excuse me... really, you want my husband, not I..."

"Uh-hu..." The king just huffs and nods.

What's wrong with him? He continues to look down on us.

Well, at least it looks like we can expect some support from the kingdom. Well, we need to keep reminding them how valuable we are if we want to be properly compensated for our effots.

"Well now heroes, let us hear your names."

The king straightens up and looks at us... wait, isn't this situation just like in the book I was reading? We even have four heroes, one each for the sword, spear, bow and shield. I mentally revised [Beautiful Young Wife] in my mind, and changed her label for [Bow Hero]. Well, it's just a placeholder, though, since we are about to introduce ourselves.

"My name is Ren Amaki, I am a sixteen years old student."

Hero of the Sword, Ren Amaki. First impressions: [Pretty Boy] is perfect for him. He seems to take great care of his personal appearance, about ~1.65m tall, and if he ever dressed like a woman, nobody would be able to tell he was a man. His short hair is light brown, his eyes are long and slated, and his skin is fair and white. He gave off a 'cool' vibe.

If he's going to be our party's swordsman, he will definitively be an agility-type.

"Then, next is yours truly. My name is Motoyasu Kitamura. Twenty-one years old this year, a university student."

Hero of the Spear, Motoyasu Kitamura. First impressions: he looks carefree yet manly.

I lost. He's beyond 'handsome'. You could tell he's a playboy with experience as a playboy. He has a ponytail, and made it work. The impression you'd get is 'kind older brother.'

"...then, I am Sakura Emiya. Twenty-two years old, and happily married."

Hero(ine?) of the Bow, Sakura Emiya. First impressions: her husband should go explode.

Her impression is that of the ideal, docile and understanding young wife that would welcome her husband at the door, blush when he hugs her, talk to her plants, and kill you with hnnng! if you happened to catch her wearing an apron while in the middle of housework.

A gorgeous young woman with violet eyes and hair. Also, I am pretty sure she's an F-cup. Really Emiya-san, please explode.

Like me, all of them looked japanese. It was quite surprising as we stood in the middle of a fantasy european-like country.

Oopsie, it's my turn already.

"Finally, I am Naofumi Iwatani, age twenty, university student."

The king looked through me as if I wasn't there. A cold shiver ran up my spine as I felt like part of the decoration.

"Fumu~ Ren, Motoyasu and Sakura, is it?"

"Your majesty, you forgot about me..."

"I apologize, Naofumi-dono."

Hm. Looks like the king's mind is going away in his old age. That just... made me feel out of place. Please at least remember my existence.

"And now, please heroes, let's check your stats. Actually, please do so by yourselves." The king nodded.

"Eh?"

"What do … stats?"

"Yes, I did so already."

Sakura was the only one that seemed to know what the king was talking about, while Motoyasu, Ren and myself could do nothing but be confused.

Well, of course she would. What do you mean, check your stats?!

"What the hell... you guys didn't even notice that much after being summoned to a fantasy world!? If it wasn't for Sakura-san, I'd think I'm the only one here with a working brain." Ren looked quite shocked by Motoyasu and me not knowing about this.

How were we supposed to know if you didn't tell us? We're not mind readers!

"Fine, whatever. You see the icon in the corner of your sight?"

"Eh?"

Now that he mentions it, there is indeed a weird symbol floating in the edge of my field of view.

"Just focus your mind on it, and it'll show you."

Pop! - A screen like that of a computer filled my field of view.

Naofumi Iwatani

Occupation: Hero of the Shield. Level: 1

Equipment: Small Shield (Legendary Weapon), Parallel World's Clothes.

Skills: None

Magic: None

There's also a bunch of numerical values, but that's besides the point, though if this was a webnovel, readers would rightfully complain that the author was just too lazy to deal with it.

So these are my 'Stats'.

The hell...? How's this fantasy, isn't this practically sci fi!?

"Level 1, is it... doesn't sound very safe."

"Right, forget saving the world, can we even fight like this?"

"Well, my magic is shown..."

Right, right. Obviously evryone is just as surpri- wait, what did you say, Sakura-san!?

"Looks like magic such as this is uncommon in the heroes' world, Sakura-sama? It is ubiquitous in this world, helping us improve ourselves."

"Is that so? Back home, magic is an incredibly well-guarded secret."

Wait, wut?

"Hold on, wait a minute. Sakura-san, are you saying that magic was real back home!?"

"...for finding out, you'd normally be killed, though. Along with your family, friends and neighbours, as well as whomever it was that told you about it."

Scary!

Well, looks like magic was a thing, then.

"So, what should we do now? Our current numbers are quite worrying."

"Fumu~ As of now, you heroes must venture forth to raise your levels, as well as the power of your Holy Weapons."

"Raise their power... does that means the Legendary Weapons are weak?"

"That is only true at the moment. Each weapon has different ways of strengthening, and as you do so, they grow mighty indeed."

"In that case, isn't it fine since our weapons will grow in the end?" Motoyasu commented while twirling his spear through the air.

Well, that may be true for you, but mine isn't even an actual weapon. Furthermore, it is something that will need to be upgraded along the way.

Well, I won't complain too much. After all, adventuring in a fantasy world, growing stronger along with your companions, these are things young men dream about! Ah, sorry Sakura-san. Wait... being in a party with the beautiful young wife!?

"So, all four of us will go fight together."

"Ah, heroes, please wait."

"Hm?"

Didn't you want us to get started right away?

"Each of you needs to gather your own party in order to grow with the best possible efficiency."

"What do you mean?"

"Fumu~ The legend explains that the world blesses the Holy Weapons, their users, and party members, and this blessing is shared equally between them. If you are too close together, the blessing is reduced by that many Holy Weapons."

"Are you saying that we can't group together?"

"No, his majesty is advising us to take full advantage of the World's Blessing, but it's not as if we 'can't' group together, either."

Sakura-san, you're an angel. Yes, adventuring with the beautiful young wife! But, isn't it weird? Usually you always hear about the heroes' power of friendship making them stronger when they fight together.

We all looked at each other, and then a pop up message appeared in our field of view.

Attention

If the wielders of the Holy Weapons work together as a united front, a rejection effect will occur. Therefore, please move separately whenever possible.

"It looks like that is indeed the way it is..."

What's with these game-like explanations? It really feels as if I was playing an MMORPG. Furthermore, I can access a [Help] section from my status screen, which described in great detail every use for the Holy Weapons. Well, right now we are talking to the king, so I'll read through it later.

"Recruiting comrades and improving ourselves. I wonder which is the highest priority?"

"Please allow us the honour of selecting capable companions for you. And besides, the She is beginning to set over the horizon. Heroes, please rest for today, so your journey can begin tomorrow. We shall make arrangements and scout for talented individuals that will walk with you towards a glorious fate!"

"""Thank you very much."""

"Thank you."

We had expressed our thanks, and the king ordered someone to prepare guest rooms for each of us.

~O~

All of the heroes are sitting within one of the luxurious guest rooms that had been prepared for us. Sakura-san had her own room, of course, but had come over to compare notes with us, and we had all been so busy reading through the information on our weapons that the She had long ago dissapeared behind the horizon. I could see hundreds of different shields listed, each with different prerequisites to unlock. Some asked for levels, some asked for materials, some asked for previous shields.

It was incredibly game-like.

"Yo~ doesn't this feels like a videogame?"

I think it would be a good idea to ask for ideas from my peers, but other than Sakura-san, neither of them said anything.

"I am just barely familiar with video games. Hubby installed some in our house's computer, but I am afraid they are completely unrelated to this. Magus are, in general, very bad with technology."

"I-is that so, Sakura-chan? This is really familiar to multiplayer online role playing games. I've seen quite a few with a similar system to this." Was Motoyasu's boast. Also, 'Sakura-chan'? Aren't you claiming too many liberties, you playboy!?

"Eh?" Sakura-san just looked at Motoyasu in confusion. Well, not to be sexist, but gentle girls probably don't play violent games, and from what I had understood so far, mage families are ultra-traditional on top of that.

"This world has the exact same system as my favoreite MMORPG."

"Eh?" Sakura-san looked at Motoyasu with ever increasing confusion.

Well, again, I can easily imagine such a gentle girl wouldn't play violent games.

"I can't imagine Sakura-san enjoying violent games, so that's fine, but I consider myself an splendid gamer and otaku, you know? I can't believe I never even heard of anything like this."

"Wait, hold on. What do you mean MMORPG? Don't you mean VRMMO?"

"What?"

Over the next few seconds, it became clearer and clearer that Motoyasu and Ren were familiar with this world's 'system' through different games. And while it made sense for Sakura-san, I had never heard of either of them, furthermore VRMMO? As in 'Virtual Reality'? Since we are in a fantasy world right now, I can accept Sakura-san's statement on magic being real all along, but what kind of sci fi setting are these two talking about!?

"Gentlemen, please." Sakura-san's gentle voice stopped the argument on the spot. "I am of the impression that we may actually be from different japans."

"""Uh?"""

It was an strange conversation, but basically, each of our japan had a different prime minister, and while it would be possible for us to missfire things about small countries and relatively obscure historical events, some of our worlds had wildly different histories or even extra continents, which was a dead give away.

According to Sakura-san, multiple timelines and parallel universes were a well-known fact for mage families. When we tried to argue, she simply pointed out that we, right now, were in a parallel universe, to which we had no counter argument, really.

Well, in the end, it looks like we were all exposed to the mechanics of this world in different ways. Some through videogames, some through books, and in Sakura's case, she was already familiar with magic to begin with, so it wasn't a big deal.

As if! I knew all of nothing about magic or game mechanics!

Anyway, up to a point, it seems that we were all magnificent otaku, since Sakura san was basically submerged in her own interests, same as us, even if her interests were different. Yes, that's fine, there's no need to feel uncomfortable around each other.

Well, since we came from different worlds, I guess it would make sense if we each had different reasons to be chosen."

"I... am bad at socializing, but I think we should exchange as much information as possible."

Ren awkwardly scratched at his nose as he began telling us a little about himself.

Basically, his childhood friend and he were going back home from school, when someobody attacked them. He protected his friend, and apparently got stabbed in the process. Well, its good that you managed to capture the perp, but there's no point if you get killed in the process.

With such a self-destructive display of chivalry, this hero was filed away in my [Untrustworthy] mental folder. Sakura-san moved over to sit by his side and gently rubbed at his back, though.

She looked like an older sister comforting her little brother, and if their age difference was any larger, I am pretty sure I would have seen a mother and child combo instead.

"There, there. You tried your best, you are a good boy." She said in a kind and soothing voice.

"I... was already here before I could feel a thing."

"I see, you protected your friend. Good work." Then she added. "But be more careful from now on. You need to realize, now you have a responsibility to save the entire world, so please think about keeping yourself alive no matter what, alright?"

Motoyasu pointed at himself and began to talk.

"For me, I was caught by my many girlfriends." This guy was definitively a playboy, wasn't he? "And after this and that happened..."

"You got stabbed for two-timing? Three-timing?"

Ren's voice was completely level. Surprisingly, Sakura-san didn't seem to react in a negative way, even as Motoyasu nodded.

"Man, girls are really scary, aren't they?"

Sakura-san giggled, and I exploded.

"GOD DAMMIT!" I held my finger at him, at a loss for words.

Seriously, that's how you died, and yet you got summoned to another world as a legendary hero!?

I shut up when I noticed Sakura-san had placed a hand over her bountiful chest and was already beginning her confession.

"My husband is a hero." She said. "So he is always getting dragged into situations like this. That is why, I think the summoning was flawed somehow. I mean, he's a good enough archer to snipe a fly from three or four miles away and have it die in a huge magical explosion." She nodded to herself. "Well, from experience, I can tell you that unless there is an important time difference between parallel worlds, I am fairly sure hubby will find his way here and pick me up in a couple of days. Ah! But he's likely to help you save the world first!"

Emiya-san, I regret wishing you to explode, I regret fantasising about your beautiful young wife, please don't snipe me from across dimensions or anything like that.

"But, this seems really interesting! This time, it will be his turn to say 'welcome home' with a smile!"

"Ah... Sakura-san... about your death...?" Ren looked up at her.

"Hm. All I remember is walking into hubby's magical workshop to clean it up a bit."

"""I... see."""

So that's two deaths and a most likely magical accident of some kind.

"Wait a minute, do I absolutely have to tell you about my origin story?"

"Well duh. We already told you ours."

"I guess you are right. Sorry to say, but I was just reading a [Suspicious Book] in the library."

""...""

"Uhm~ sounds like magical bait." Sakura-san nodded to herself, and seemingly remembered to finally lower her hands again.

Man, those things are large and firm enough she was using them as arm rests, wasn't she?

Motoyasu and Ren started talking to each other while looking at Sakura-san and I. Well, I can't blame them for the first bit, but I'm only a somwhat handsome guy, you know? Please don't tell me you swing that way.

"He has the shield, uh?"

"Do you think its the same as in our games?"

"Hmm~"

Oh, so they're whispering about our weapons and- oh I get it, we're being treated as noobs!

Sigh "Can't you guys give us a few tips? Come on guys."

And now Motoyasu is looking at me with pity-filled eyes.

"Well, leave it to big brother to teach you things."

"..."

"As a Shield Hero, you start with very high defense."

"Uh hu."

"But since none of us can use any other weapons, you will never be able to attack with a sword, so basically..."

"Basically?"

"After the first few levels, once monsters become stronger... you'll just take damage until you die."

"What the hell!? What kind of unbalanced shitty game is this!? Balance Patch! Update! Seriously, who designs a class with no attacks!?"

"Hm... I'm sorry but..." Sakura-san stops my rant just by raising her hand.

Well, remembering that there's such a beautiful girl around, a man can't help but to try and behave.

"I don't know about this four Holy Heroes system, but it looks somewhat similar to my world's Heroic Spirits, and..."

"Hh- Sakura-chan really comes from a magical Japan uh?"

Motoyasu, where did you get permission to call her -chan!? Aren't you worried you'll get sniped by magical arrows, you fool!?

"...as far as I know, plenty of heroes use shields to attack. I mean, right here we have [Lancer] (she gestures towards Motoyasu), [Saber] (she points at Ren), [Archer] (she places her hand back upon her chest), and [Shielder], so I don't really see the problem..."

"Eh?"

"What?"

"Is that so?"

She fidgets a bit under our oppressive male gaze. Emiya-san, you dog!

"Well, if possible, I'd like to trade."

"What?" I stare at her

"Can you hand me your shield and take the bow?"

"""WHAT?"""

"I told you, I am a magus. I can attack using magic. Why do I need a bow? Yes I was in the archery club, but doesn't having an indestructible shield sounds amazing when you already have magic to attack with? I mean, it's indestructible, you know!? What am I going to do with a bow, give up magic for pointy sticks?"

Uh. I guess that, in her position, it makes sense.

"Besides, is it really that bad? Isn't an indestructible object, by definition, the ultimate weapon anyway? We are still breathing, right? So can't you shove it down a dragon's throat and suffocate it to death? Why can't you just bash someone on the head with it? Between an indestructible shield and a very destructible skull, I think I know which one would win..."

She sure is earnest, isn't she? And a bit fixated on the indestructible bit.

"Well, you know, Sakura-san..."

"Ehr... well, you see..."

"..." Ren just looks away.

"""DPS is a man's romance!"""

"E-eh!?" She looks confused for a moment, then blushes as she shifts away uncomfortably. "Dipee is...?"

"N-no!" Motoyasu stands up, startled. "It isn't lewd, I swear! It stands of Damage Per Second, see? It means, how much damage you can dish out, the quicker, the better!"

"But isn't winning without letting anyone get hurt a hero's romance?" Her words impale us from front to back.

"""..."""

Sakura-san, you look so dazzling!

"That's why, I'd like to trade with you, Naofumi-san."

"Uh... I don't think we can?"

"Right, you cannot." Ren chirps in from the side.

"Is that so? I don't know much about how this world's magic system and [Mystic Code]s work."

"Mystic code?"

"Magical items."

"""Oh."""

As expected from actual specialists, mages have their own technical terms.

"Could you explain it to me?" Sakura-san looks at Ren

"Ah, sure."

And so, Ren explains things while keeping in mind that Sakura-san is an absolute noob at video games. We learn about the weapon copy and inventory functions, as well as methods to power up, which basically goes like this:

Level Link (core): As the Hero levels up, all weapon forms will grow stronger alongside them.

Mastery: Using the same weapon would improve its stats up until it is fully mastered.

Energy Transfer: When you have gained mastery in using a weapon, you could reset its mastery level and release the amount of energy you had invested in it. Finally, any items that you had absorbed into the weapon could also be turned into energy.

Rarity Up: By imbuing a weapon with energy gained from resetting mastery levels, you can increase its rarity level and the weapon's abilities. A weapon's rarity can be repeatedly increased starting at common (C), then uncommon (UC), and so on.[

Well, looking at our [Menu], those methods are indeed listed there, but...

"Uh, Ren-kun, what about these other things here?" Sakura tries to point at her screen before her, but obviously, we can't see it.

"What?"

"Well, the bow is showing me your methods and four more."

""Uh?"" Both Ren and Motoyasu are now staring at her.

"Its true, I can see more than just those four, too."

In short, Sakura-san's [Holy Bow] has the following strengthening methods:

Weapon Rarity (core): The rarer a weapon is, the stronger it is. A weapon made from rarer materials will be stronger than a weapon of equal quality but more common materials.

Ore Equip: The power of a weapon can be raised by equipping it with certain ores. This never fails.

Item Enchantment: Items that have been absorbed into a weapon can be turned into energy, and that can be used to raise the percentage of various stats. Success is based on probability, decreasing with each successive enchantment. Upon failure, the item enchantment level is reset to 0.

Job Level: You can increase specific stats by using the energy contained in absorbed monsters or items. Upon filling the level gauge for the desired stat, the stat is increased and the level gauge is reset with a cooldown timer.

"""Hm~"""

We are all looking at our [Menu] while thinking about it. I think... if it wasn't because I had Ren's methods appear on my window before, I would have a hard time believing on it. As it is, though, I can't think of any reason for Sakura-san to lie about this, and the new methods appear before my eyes, as if they were pushing against the surface of the screen through mist, or maybe coming up from underwater.

"Yup, I see them." I say as soon as they come up.

""Wut?"" Both Ren and Motoyasu are staring at me.

"Are you serious?" Motoyasu is lifting an eyebrow

"I don't see them."

"Maybe it needs more time to load? I don't know, why would Sakura-san lie to us? Also, it worked for me just fine."

"I-i guess you are right. If Sakura-nee says so, it is probably the truth."

Eh? Sakura-nee? Did you adopt an older sister, or did she adopt a little brother? Anyway, this strangely wholesome scene is making me feel itchy for some reason.

"Ah, I can see them now, yes, there they are." Ren nods after a moment.

"What!?" Motoyasu looks like he can't believe his ears. "How!?"

"Uhm."

Sakura-san crosses her arms. Sakura-san, please don't do that, it's downright criminal.

"A big part of magic is perception." She explains. "That is why complex spells are made easier, or even possible, through the use of [Aria]s."

"Like magic chants?" Ren is the first one to speak, but of course we're all interested.

"Exactly. But the purpose of an [Aria] is self-hypnosis. To place yourself in an state of mind where you are able to direct magical energy in the best possible way for the best possible effect, free of doubt and hesitation."

""So in short..."" Ren and I look at Motoyasu. ""You just have to trust.""

"Nakama power, uh?"

He rubs his head with both hands. Well, it is a bit corny and silly, but like the saying goes, if it is stupid, yet it works, it is not stupid at all.

"Well, we can't actually use any of those methods right now. We haven't killed a single mob, and we don't have money or materials, so that will have to wait until tom-o... hm." I start to talk, but then I stop as I notice something on my stat screen.

"What is it?"

Ren looks at me, catching on to the fact that I noticed something.

"Well, I think my basic shield's defence bonus went up a couple of points."

"Now that you mention it, I think my sword's atk and sped bonuses went up by 1 each."

"Is that so? Is it because we've already had our weapons for a while?" Sakura looks at her menu, and takes out her smartphone, then writes something on it.

Uh, well, if she had signal, I'd switch to her carrier in a heartbeat. I guess she's just using it to take some notes.

"Anyway, I can see the shield has two extra ways."

"Only two?" Motoyasu is giving me a pity look. Hey, save it. Even though we told you our strengthening methods, you can't use any of them, so aren't you way more pitiable than I am?

Trust: Trusting and being trusted leads to increased abilities.

Energy Boost: The heroes have energy called "EP" that they draw on automatically as power from the weapons, and this is always active. Assigning this energy to skills will allow more powerful skills to be used.

"Oh? That sounds really cheap." Says Ren.

"I think its wonderful." Sakura-san, your smile is the wonderful one here.

"That's why I'm saying it. In game lingua, it means its too strong for nearly no cost. A hero that grows stronger just because people trust him? We're heroes, you know, the people's hopes are going to be piled unto us. With such an easy, cost free, effortless power-up method, no wonder there's only two of them. If he had more, it'd be ridiculous!"

I look down at my stat screen, and... uh.

"Motoyasu-san~ " Sakura looks at him. "Please?"

"I can't find any of it on my own screen."

"Please~ "

"...alright."

So, the spear's strengthening methods:

Weapon Mastery (core): By growing more and more accustomed to one weapon form, you will find its strength starting to increase.

Smelting: The user can power up a piece of equipment using ores. While there is no limit to this method, there is a chance of failure which increases as it is used.

Spirit Enchantment: Pieces of monsters' souls that have been absorbed into a weapon can be used to imbue the weapon with special powers. This has no chance of failure-maybe.

Status Enchantment: Stats can also be increased by absorbing items dropped from monsters.

"""Got it.""" We chirp together.

"You are kiddin' me!?"

"Its nakama power, Motoyasu!"

"Just believe!"

"Motoyasu-san..."

"Ugh..."

He stands up while rubbing his hair into a mess, his ponytail coming undone, too.

"Argh! Fine! I'll step on it, damnit, feel free to laugh at me, but I believe yo...uh?"

His eyes are fixed on something only he can see.

"They showed up, didn't they?" Ren's grin is infectious.

"I am happy for you, Motoyasu-san."

"Good work, man."

And on that happy note, I look at my status screen for confirmation. Yup, it went up another point, so as dumb as it sounds, just sharing information already made us stronger as a whole.

Sharing (core): Share the power-up methods from other legendary weapons and vassal weapons. While this works without knowing the power-up method, knowing that this is the Shield's power-up method greatly magnifies the effect of shared power-up methods.

"Your shield is so fucking cheap." Ren complains. "Ow!"

Sakura-san just flicked at his ear. What a properly Sakura-san way to admonish someone.

"You shouldn't use such foul language." She says in a firm tone of voice.

"Ah... sorry."

Well, I know how he feels. I mean, my base shield's power is almost triple of what it started with, and we haven't done anything yet... ah, its Weapon Mastery bar is a little fuller, so it looks like just having it equipped is enough to help 'master' it, that sure is convenient.

Ren stands up and goes to open the door.

"Mister," He addresses the guard outside. "Would you mind loaning me your sword and shield for a moment? Also, could you please bring a spear and a bow?"

"Uh? Certainly, hero-sama!"

The guard sends a maid to fetch a bow and a spear, while Ren walks back and hands me the guard's kite shield. As soon as I hold it in my hands, a message pops into my view, announcing that I had unlocked the normal quality Kite Shield. Of course, its mastery and energy bars were completely empty, as was pretty much every single progress bar on its attributes, but it confirmed that, indeed, I could copy weapons and use their abilities, if they had any.

By the way, this shield form grants an small bonus against projectiles.

"Hm." Sakura-san is looking at something in front of her while hearing our conversation.

Obviously, she is focused on her [Menu]. Sakura-san, please don't cross your arms, it's basically poison for the eyes.

After a few minutes, there's knocking at the door. The maid brought along a female knight with an spear In one hand and a bow in the other. Sakura-san stands up and picks up the sword and shield, then gives them back to the knight outside before touching the bow briefly, copying it, and picking up the spear for Motoyasu to copy.

"As you can see, we can strengthen the Holy Weapons by copying existing weapons. Do you think you could take us to the armory later? We will not be taking anything with us, so the country shouldn't lose anything by it."

"Oh! Yes, hero-sama!" The female knight seems quite happy to do as Sakura-san tells her to.

Well, it only makes sense, and if the country has any high-spec magical gear, we can copy it without having the country lose anything in the process.

Motoyasu stands up and walks over to the door, quickly copying the spear and unlocking its form.

"We will talk for a bit longer still, so please make arrangements in the meantime." Sakura-san bows lightly to the female knight as she closes the door.

We talk for a but longer about Motoyasu and Ren's knowledge of hunting grounds while Sakura-san keeps fiddling with her [Menu], her cute face scrounging or lighting up as she frowns or smiles.

"Well, thankfully there's plenty of dungeons, so we can take over different ones to grind." Ren had been telling us about how the dungeon monsters will literally spawn through the walls once we leave, so we can just go right back in to continue grinding.

"Wait, what was that?" Ah, Sakura-sama is gracing us with her presence again, after descending from Menu-Heaven to smile at us otaku mortals.

I hate how Motoyasu seems so calm about it.

"Dungeons will refill with monsters after we leave them, that is how this world should work."

"I am sorry, could you please describe these dungeons to me?" For some reason, Sakura-san seems quite serious, and a little dangerous right now.

"Well, you know... caves, mines, maybe thick enough forests...?"

"O-oh! Alright then."

She leaks out a sigh of obvious relief and lowers her hands again, relaxing before she corrects her position on the chair.

"Have you noticed?" She asks. "How vague the [Menu] information is unless you probe it for details? The longbow form I copied from the knight outside only said it granted a (Small) bonus against humanoids until I mentally willed it to switch into a numerical value showing a 5% increase."

"But Sakura-nee, isn't (Small) pretty self-explanatory? It is an small bonus. Nothing special."

"And yet, the damage value of the bow is expressed in numbers. I'd rather have a clear-cut idea of what everything does." She pauses when she realizes we are lost. "I don't know about videogames, but my best magic is based around math and imaginary numbers. I just don't feel comfortable with vague terms such as (Small) when I could have a clear-cut '+5%' instead. It feels as if the system messages were designed by a lazy person, for a lazy person."

"Ah~ now that you mention it, it really is quite vague at some points." Motoyasu agrees, and seems to focus on his own [Menu] for a couple of moments. "There, changed all of those vague (Small) into +5%. I am surprised you noticed something like this, Sakura-chan."

"Are you looking down on me because I told you magus are typically bad with modern tech?"

We all look away. I don't think any of us was doing that, but neither does any of us have the courage to tell her its because she didn't go to college, or because we gamers feel naturally condescending towards non-gamers when it comes to this sort of stuff.

"I'll have you know, my grades were top of my class and I use hubby's computer to keep track of our household's budget. Plus, remember my magic is number-based. I would much rather have a clear number whenever possible."

"Ah, right, I am sorry, Sakura-nee."

""Please forgive us.""

"...alright."

"Sakura-nee, could you show us some magic?" Ren looks at her with hopeful eyes

Nice, Ren! Indeed, magic is a must in a fantasy world! No, wait, she comes from a parallel Japan, so I guess it would be magic from a modern world... modern fantasy world, I guess?

"That... alright, but please don't overreact, alright? I was going to do this soon enough, anyway."

Of course we all nod and look at her with expecting eyes.

"My will is absolute, my shadow shall become a door."

She ...is that german? Uh, the Holy Weapons really translate any language, don't they?

Two muffled cries can be heard for just a moment.

"There." She declares with an smile.

"Sakura-nee, what was that?"

"It was kind of..."

Well, I guess she did get a cry out of the air duct and the roof, but it was still a little underwhelming. Ah, she's raising her hand and reciting again.

"My will is absolute. My shadow shall become a blanket." Again, in german.

We don't have time to wander what is going to happen before the shadows under her stretch out with incredsible speed and insert themselves between the floor, walls, ceiling and whatever may be resting on them, basically painting the entirety of the room absolutely pitch black. Its a really strange sensation that reminds me of optical illusion rooms, though in this case its because it looks as if the furniture and us were all floating in an absolute void. The light of the oil lamps keep the furniture and ourselves just as visible as they did a momen ago, but the floor, walls and roof have been completely swallowed in darkness, throwing off our sense of distance and balance.

"Wha-?!"

"That's...!"

"Amazing!"

Indeed, this is magic. There is no way we can lie to ourselves about it.

"I just had to get rid of the two spies first. This blanket should keep out prying eyes, and keep sound from leaking outside the room." Sakura-san explains calmly.

"What spies?" Ren looks at her with surprised eyes.

"I don't know. We all just got here, so how would I know who sent them? I just moved them out into the hallway."

"That's what those two screams were!?"

"Yes?"

Eh~ Isn't Sakura-san downright amazing? Thought I have no idea what Imaginary Numbers have to do with shadow magic, but she's the magus, so muggles like myself have no choice but to believe her when she says they are related.

"Can you teach us magic, Sakura-chan!?"

"I could if we had six or seven years, and that is assuming you have magic circuits... Ren, give me your hand for a moment, please." She stretches her hand to him, palm up, and Ren places his on top. "Uhm... you do have a few high-quality magic circuits, so it wouldn't be impossible, but I'd need to teach you constantly in order to make sure you don't fry yourself in the process."

"W-what?!"

Ren pulls his hand away in surprise, but Sakura-san doesn't seems to mind him doing that. If anything, she just gives him a kind smile as she lifts a finger in front of her with a little smile. For some reason, she looks rather happy as she does so. Maybe she's the type that likes teaching?

"Magical circuits circulate magical energy through the body, which causes it to heat up. Back in my Japan, it was actually quite hard to use magic because the world hates anomalies, so magic is really weak and tends to get eaten by the world after a short while, but ever since arriving, I have been 'flexing my magical muscles' so to speak, so I can say with some certainty that is not the case in this world. Both the ease of use and quantity of magic in this world are amazing, so if I taught you the way I was taught, there's a good chance you'd cook yourself from the inside out. Instead, we should look into this world's magical traditions and methods of learning, since they have probably developed safe, or at least safer, ways to learn magic."

She smiles as she lowers her hands to her lap.

"Is that clear enough?"

"Ah, yes, Sakura-nee."

"You are a good boy."

I think Ren really wanted to argue that he wasn't a boy, but didn't want to antagonize the violet-themed magus.

"And going back to the topic of the spies..." She starts. "Like I said, I don't really know how things work here, but back home, if a magus had succeeded in summoning three young men with [Holy Weapons] attached to their arms, you can be sure you'd all be strapped to a vivisection table by now, and some of your organs would have already been extracted, cleaned, stored away and labeled for later study. If you were lucky, you would have been anaesthetised during the process, but since there's a near-certainty that would flood your organs with chemicals and make studying them harder, chances are you'd be entirely conscious the whole time... don't trust magus, and specially don't trust on magus that specialise in fleshcraft. Ah, I think you'd call them wizards in this world, though."

Alright, now we were all more than a little horrified, and I couldn't blame Ren as he slid a little further away from Sakura-san. Actually, now I am scared of Emiya-san and Sakura-san.

"The king offered to choose our companions, but I could tell he has quite a bit of magical energy, even if it is currently under a deep sleep. Therefore, I automatically must suspect his intentions. Does he want to study how the [Holy Weapons] work while we fight against the waves? If he could reproduce them, even in a weakened state, I am sure they'd be useful in the army, for example. I cannot stress this enough, but do not trust in magus or the people that work for them."

"What about you, Sakura-san?"

She looks at me and her expression wavers quite a bit between a smile, a twitch, and pain.

"I... was a magus experimental subject as a child... no, it would probably be correct to say I was something between a toy and an experimental subject, so I would never do something like that to someone else, but the right thing to do is to tell you 'I am a Magus, and you shouldn't trust me' Naofumi-san." She looks hurt, but it is obvious that she is trying to put up a brave front. "Whoever the king chooses to go with us, we should probably ditch them the first chance we get, and go on our own way to gather companions we can trust."

"That's a very pesimistic way of looking at things, Sakura-chan."

"Motoyasu-san. From what I gather, you and Ren-san are the two in the most danger."

""What, why!?""

"Because the magical bait that brought you here also conditioned you to think of this world as a game. It is not. My advice is this; as soon as you grow a little stronger, steal all of their equipment and money, then run away."

"Sakura-nee! That's horrible!"

Well, of course the kid that died trying to be a hero would think that way. I too want to think that way, but I am not a kid, and I do watch the news. The world is far from perfect. Motoyasu seems quite conflicted as well.

"Girls are scary." He mumbles softly.

"Well, we are still people." Explains Sakura. "Don't put us in a pedestal, because we are not idols to be worshipped, Motoyasu-san. Out of the three of you here, you specially should already be aware of this."

Motoyasu flinches. Right, this guy got stabbed to death by a jealous girlfriend, wasn't he?

"Honestly, if one of those girls had been a magus, you probably would have ended with some sort of amusing curse instead, and what a magus finds amusing tea-time conversation would probably turn your hair white, you know?"

We are just quiet for a minute, then Sakura-san sighs and tries to change the mood.

"Come on, let's go to the armoury and try to unlock new weapon forms. I wonder if they have composite bows in this world."

We follow after her in silence.