"How would we meet?"

"I am the king of Iwatani. Hainley Iwatani XXXII. Heroes. Name yourselves." A grown man who sat on a throne said sternly. The man almost had more grey hair than black. Malty assumed he was in his forties.

They were currently in a throne room that had a chilly atmosphere. She felt a bit under pressure as well. Why are there so many judging gazes going her way?

"Amaki Ren," The guy holding the sword started. "Sixteen-year-old, high schooler."

"I'm Kimura Motoyasu," The blonde guy said as he stepped forward. "Twenty-one and a college student."

"I suppose I'm up next." The bow guy smiled. "Kawasumi Itsuki. Seventeen years old, and a high schooler."

"I see. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki."

Malty gave a bitter look. 'Did he just- How dare he ignore me!' She stepped forward and forced a smile. "Sir? I think you're forgetting someone."

"Oh," the King gave her a cold look. "Forgive me. Please state your introduction."

"My name is Malty Melromarc." She stated proudly. "I'm a twenty-year-old-"

"I suppose I owe you an explanation."

The redhead scowled. 'Did that old hag just cut me off?!'

The king began to explain what was going on in great detail. It was honestly boring for Malty. She spaced out halfway through but from what she can gather, everything is exactly like the novel she read.

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Something unexpectedly landed on top of Malty's head. "OW. Just when I thought this day couldn't get any fucking worse!" She scowled as she looked at the book that had fallen to the floor. 'The weapons of the Four Saints'

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"-We realized once we actually experienced one, only the four cardinal heroes could counter them."

"We get the gist of it now," Ren hummed. "Anyways. Surely you didn't summon us expecting that we save you for free."

"I never intended to be here in the first place. It's only appropriate if you make things advantageous and worth it." Malty spoke with a harmless smile as the others nodded in agreement, but she sensed more people trying to murder her with their gazes. The king didn't appear to be pleased with her statement either. But she was Malty Melromarc. Who was she to care?

"Of course. We will lavishly reward you once you have successfully repelled all of the waves."

Motoyasu smirked, "Will you now? Well. As long as you have your word."

"We'll work with you provided you don't turn on us." Said Ren.

"Exactly. We can't have you looking down on us."

"R-Right." The King cleared his voice. "I trust we have an agreement. Then, heroes, you should all check your statuses."

Malty looked at him confused. "What now?"

"Don't you see an icon in the corner of your field of vision?" Itsuki asked.

Malty soon caught a glance of a small box in the corner of her sight. "Oh."

"Try focusing on it."

And that's what she did. Soon, an information box appeared in front of her.

Malty S Melromarc

Occupation: Shield Heroine

Level: 1

Equipment: Small Shield (Legendary Armament)

Armor: Parallel World's Clothes

Skill: None

Magic: None

"Level one?"

"That's worrying."

"Yeah no telling if we could fight like this," Motoyasu said as he rubbed his chin.

Ren looked back at the King. "What even is this?"

"Status magic. An ability exclusive to the heroes." The King stated.

'What is this? A game?' Malty pondered. This isn't going to be easy for her since she's never played anything like this before. "And what are we supposed to do now?" She asked.

"You must leave on an adventure to develop and upgrade the legendary weapons that you have equipped."

Malty nodded in understanding before her headshot back up, "Wait a minute. Mine isn't even a weapon!"

Motoyasu gave her a side hug "No worries Sweatheart. We'll be here when you need us!"

"Mhm. The four of us can form a party." Itsuki smiled.

Malty sighed in relief but a voice called, "One moment heroes. You will each recruit and adventure separately."

"And why is that?" Ren asked, looking skeptical

"It is said that the legendary weapons repel each other by nature. If you work together, it apparently hinders their development. You shall begin your adventure tomorrow. For now, you must rest up tonight. In the meantime, we'll gather the best of the best to form your parties."

–|[~~✡~~]|-

'So the weapon will be able to absorb different raw materials depending on the owner's level, and the Weapon Manual will fill up as we defeat monsters?' Malty thought. She groaned and rubbed her temples in frustration. She doesn't usually do these things so it's very unexplored to her.

She had to be held in a separate chamber because she was the only female among the heroes. She was aware that the room was supposed to be luxurious and possibly one of the best in the kingdom, but they could have given her a larger one. 'In my world, this is literally the size of my wardrobe.'

She shrugged and stood up to stretch. She was bored as hell. There was nothing to do. For hours now she had been going over the description of her weapon. 'Can it even be considered as one?'

Malty lowered his gaze to the Shield and studied it. She had no idea what she was anticipating. She fixed her gaze on the green orb attached to the shield and glared at it like it would rise into the air and start chanting ancient Latin.

She was then reminded of the conversation she had with the other heroes when she had visited them a moment ago.

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Malty sighed. "Why am I the only one unfamiliar with these things? I do not know of any of this."

The other heroes give her a pitiful look.

"What?"

"I assume it has something to do with you being the shield hero."

"Yeah, I thought the same."

"Likewise."

"Excuse you! Is there anything wrong with being the shield?" Malty questioned as she crossed her arms.

"Hm. As far as I know, the Shielder or the class that specializes in the shield is…"

Malty raised a brow at Motoyasu. "Is?"

"Well, to say the least, is the weakest one."

"It's useless in other words," Ren stated.

"Oh… I'm going to die." Malty sat down in defeat.

"No worries! I'll help you in any way I can!" Motoyasu said proudly.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to die."

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'Will I really be able to survive? I wanna go home. Even I miss Melty, and that's saying a lot!' Malty walked out to the balcony. The cool breeze brushed past her hair as she gazed at the stars. 'At least night seems the same in both worlds,'

She instinctively looked to her side and saw a pair of emerald eyes staring back at her. She flinched in surprise, then gave a disdainful grimace. "You want something?"

The guy on the other balcony, just next to hers, furrowed his brow, glaring at her like she was gum stuck on his shoe.

"Malty!" Motoyasu exclaimed as he peered through the balcony's doorway, where the man with green eyes stood. "Ah. I see you've already met Naofumi."

"We're... Using first names now?" Naofumi frowned at the blonde.

"Motoyasu." Itsuki remarked, "You should be more respectful." Since he was in the room, Malty couldn't see him.

"Oh, yeah. Forgive me, your highness," Motoyasu joked.

Naofumi looked back at Malty before bowing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Shield hero," he said as he stood up straight. "My name is Naofumi Iwatani. The first prince of this land."

Malty faked a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, your highness. Now if you would excuse me, it's time for me to retire for the night."

"Hu? So soon?" Motoyasu looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Goodnight idiot." And with that, she went back in and closed the doors. 'Tomorrow is going to be a long day.'

~'~

To everyone, I would want to thank you for your feedback. As you said, this project is too much of a stretch for my level and I would probably receive some hate because of it. For you and the story, I will try to find the time and energy to read the novel.

As you can see, Naofumi and Malty have different features in their personality compared to the original plot. I know that because this is fanfiction, it's normal, but I try my best to work with logic. They would retain some of their original features in this narrative, but it would be vastly different.

In the original plot. Malty grew into a sadistic, manipulative, malevolent, psychopathic bitch. In this story, she is still a bitch. However, because her world (our world) is very racial and ethnically diverse, she has been shaped into someone who cares for others just a little bit more than herself. Another reason I want to make her less of a jerk is because of her status. Instead of ruling an entire nation, her mother is the head of a powerful corporation. Malty dislikes working, therefore she doesn't mind if her sister takes over the job in her stead. However, she may or may not have forced Melty to promise her an unlimited income once she takes over the business. (Yes I will give them a better relationship)

Naofumi began as a very trusting and positive guy in the initial plot but soon deteriorated into a distrustful, pessimistic person that despises the world. What I want for this story is to have Naofumi already be that distrustful, pessimistic person because he was born and raised in the place that made him that way in the first place. However, I made him more polite because I believe he would be raised in that manner as a prince. Naofumi may be the country's first prince, but he willingly handed over the throne to his younger brother. His family in this story are OCs by the way.

Yup, I said too much. If you have a problem with these please send feedback.