I placed my hands into my slack pockets as Amaki, Kawasumi, Iwatani and I were lead to the sleeping quarters that was given to us by the king for the night, which I think is a nice gesture for us.

Props to the chef, I say, considering that what the kitchen staff were willing to give to us was nothing short of amazement. The fact they denied my help in the kitchen was amusing to watch, but I do appreciate the gesture.

As we entered the room, I took off my blazer and hung it on the hooks, took off my steel-tipped dress-boots, rolled my dress-shirt sleeves up to my elbows and headed towards the massive bed, then collapsed onto the soft mattress.

As I got comfortable, I opened up my menu and began reading the help menu, mainly on the context for how the weapons worked and what to do.

Hmm, from what the help menu is showing me, each weapon had numerous forms that could be unlocked by fusing materials with the gems embedded in each weapon, in my case, the spear's red gem.

Another fact I've read is that this world operates on a system that reminds me of typical JRPGs that I've played when I wasn't hanging out with friends, family or doing any kind of work.

Although, the 'fusing materials with weapons' mechanic reminds me of Final Fantasy Explorers.

Such a good game.

"Yo, Iwatani. Can you pass me something from the bowl?" I asked the shield-bearer, who nodded his head and grabbed a purple pear-shaped fruit, and tossed to me, which I caught in my left hand.

When I took a bite out of the purple fruit, there was a sweetness followed by a bitter aftertaste, while I did find that odd, it was a nice piece of fruit.

I'd give it an 8.5/10.

"You know, this world reminds me of a game," Iwatani mentioned as he laid into the red couch, arms spread across the head of the couch, earning looks from Amaki and Kawasumi.

"Ya know what? It does, especially with the JRPG mechanics like exp and classes." I said, getting a nod from the shield-bearer.

"Excuse me, Thomas." I heard someone speak up, and when I looked towards the voice, it was Amaki and his blue eyes where looking into my crimson orbs, a curious look in them.

"Ya need something, Amaki?" I asked, the Sword Hero nodding his head.

"Tell me, do you believe that this world is like the VRMMO Brave-Star Online?" Huh? That's odd, I haven't heard a game called Brave-Star Online back in Ireland or Japan for that matter. And what the hell is a 'VRMMO'?

But I have a feeling it's a Virtual Reality game.

"Ren, your wrong! It's a console game I'm playing; called Dimension Wave." Kawasumi spat out, making me even more confused.

Brave-Star Online, Dimension Wave? Those games I haven't heard of, and I consider myself to be a bit of a nerd when it comes to games.

"Huh, I haven't heard of those games, but this game is similar to Fantasy Moon Online." Iwatani chimed in, causing me to massage my temples, feeling a headache coming up as the two youngest heroes spiralled into a petty shouting match.

'Fucking Christ.' I thought as I pulled a silver zippo with an eastern dragon engraved on it and began doing tricks with it in an attempt to calm my nerves.

In the end, I stood up to my full height, and slammed the butt of my weapon into the ground, gaining the attention of the other heroes.

"For fuck sakes, you two need to shut up for a minute and think about this." I chastised to Amaki and Kawasumi, both who muttered 'sorry' before huffing.

You know what, I think it's time to settle this once and for all.

"Alright folks, I think it's time to settle this argument," I announced, with Kawasumi staring into my crimson orbs.

"Do you have any ideas on how to solve this, Thomas? After all, you are the oldest out of us." The bow wielder asked me.

I cupped my chin, thinking of a question that could work for this clusterfuck mess before an idea struck me.

"Alright, let's start with an easy one. As of today, what year is it?" I asked, with Amaki, Kawasumi, and Iwatani nodding their heads as I counted to three.

"2032!"

"2176!"

""2019!""

…Hmm, all of us had different years, with Iwatani sharing 2019 with me, but that doesn't prove anything yet, but it's a good start.

"Alright, we're off to a good start. But I feel like this is inconclusive, so I'll ask a few more questions to see where each of us are." I said, getting nods from the other heroes.

Alright, time for business.

The questions I asked out included 'Top MMO game?', 'who won WW2?' and 'the best anime of their year?' amongst other questions.

With each answer, I concluded that we are from different universes, as we couldn't agree with anything in recent history.

Fun times, am I right?

"Anyways, who knew that each of us was from different realities, but that's that mystery solved." I mused, earning a quiet scoff from the black-haired swordsman.

"Hmm, that does bring up a point I would like to talk about," Amaki stated. "If our worlds are different, it must mean that how we were summoned was different." Amaki does bring up a good point. Hopefully, they weren't as painful as mine.

I nodded as we each took a seat, I was on the foot of the bed, Iwatani on the red couch, Kawasumi in a chair while Amaki was leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

Cheeky bastard, that's for sure.

"Alright then, Amaki. Since you're the one to bring it up, how 'bout you start us off." I offered, getting a grunt from the boy in question.

"Yeah, sure," Amaki said, as he began his story. "I was on my way home from school when I stumbled onto a murder in progress. I remember up to the point I tackled the murderer to help my childhood friend, but after that..."

He then rubbing his left side, mainly around his upper torso, so I'm guessing that he got stabbed by a knife during the scuffle, and possibly bled to death at the scene of the crime.

A painful and somewhat clichéd way of dying, but a noble death as he saved someone close to him.

I simply nodded my head and gave a brief clap, which caused the younger boy to blush.

"So, you saved your childhood friend, huh? That's pretty awesome." Iwatani chimed in after Amaki finished his story. Amaki laughed off the compliment.

Kawasumi then gestured to himself. "I was crossing the street on the way home from cram school when a garbage truck came barrelling around the curve at full speed. After that..."

…Jesus Christ, that has to hurt like a bitch and a half, and to be hit by Truck-kun? I kept my tongue, so I won't make a snarky comment to Kawasumi's death.

"Oi, Iwatani, you're up now," I called out to the shield hero who looked startled, he then took a deep breath and told his story.

"I was at the library when I noticed a strange book I had never seen before. Naturally, I picked it up and started reading it, and before I knew it, I was here." The shield-bearer explained, with a sheepish expression on his face.

…Well, that was anticlimactic, I was expecting something…different, but I like to believe that Iwatani got the better deal for coming here.

Alright then, Thomas, get your game face on.

"Alright, I'm up next," I said, causing Amaki and Kawasumi to snap their attention to me, like how I would do when my grandfather told me stories about Japan whenever I visited Kyoto.

"So, I was walking the streets of Galway after having dinner with my girlfriend and her parents, when I heard a commotion in an alleyway, which was my friend Sam who was being harassed by a white skinhead and a big black dude. And when I walked down the alleyway to confront those dumbasses, the skinhead immediately grabbed a crowbar and smashed the left side of my temple, sending myself to the floor, which was followed up by both a heavy beating to my chest and a few more hits to my left temple. I died pretty much after that final hit." I spoke out.

Once I concluded how I died, the other three heroes had horrified looks on their faces, with Kawasumi looking a bit green in the face, and Iwatani getting up and giving me a look of sympathy.

I then got up from the bed, rolled down my dress-shirt sleeves and grabbed my steel-tipped dress-boots and put them on, and placed my spar onto my back, which stuck on like magnets.

"Anyways, I'm heading out to have a better understanding of how Melromarc laws work. I'll see ya in a bit." I said, with the others saying something among the lines of 'Yeah'.

I took in a breath before exiting the door.

-time Skip-

When I walked around, asking both the maids and knights of the best place to learn the laws of Melromarc, they all pointed to the library, which I gave my thanks before being lead there by a brown-haired young clad in armour.

"here's the library, sir Spear Hero. I pray that you find what you're looking for." The youth said, before walking down the hall.

I headed into the library, hands in my slack pockets, wondering throughout the walls of books before bumping into someone's shoulder, causing the person to fall down.

"Ah shit, sorry 'bout that." I apologised as I offered a hand to the person I accidentally knocked down, with the help being accepted by a smaller hand.

I then had a better look at the person I knocked down, which was a woman who was probably near my age or younger, with shoulder-length auburn hair, blue eyes that were concealed by a pair of simplistic glasses.

She was good-looking and had a somewhat androgynous build, but it somehow fitted with the young woman.

"I-It's alright, sir Spear Hero." She spoke out as she dusted herself off, before looking at me.

I noticed that she is quite short compared to me, roughly 165 cm, that is my estimate.

"I was wondering if you can help me with something," I asked as the young woman nodded.

"Ya see, I've been summoned to this world with no knowledge on how this kingdom is ran, and I'd like to know how things work here," I explained my predicament, with the auburn-haired woman nodding her head.

She beckoned me to follow her and collected a few books as I trailed after her, holding the books she passed to me before we headed to a table.

"I think you already know this, but my name is Thomas Anders, but call me either Thomas or Mr. Anders if formality is your thing," I stated, getting a nod from the auburn-haired woman.

"I think I should do the same. My name is Ciela, and I'm a librarian for the royal family of Melromarc." She said, getting a nod from me.

Ciela then went on to describe the way Melromarc worked.

She started off by saying that the kingdom is a matriarchal society with the true ruler being out at the moment dealing with diplomatic relations with the other countries.

And considering the fact that this kingdom isn't a smouldering wreck, being overruled by monsters/people that believe in social Darwinism or some being proclaiming itself YHVH, the queen is doing a good job keeping the country in check.

I shook my head as I wrote down what Ciela was saying as references just in case some bullshit happens to me.

"Wait, slavery is legal?" I asked in alarm as I stared at the auburn-haired woman in front of me, who slowly nodded her head.

"Slavery for demi-humans has always been legal in Melromarc ever since I was born, and vice versa for the demi-human countries with humans," Ciela explained to me as I rubbed my left temple again.

Good lord, this is like the middle ages from history, except add animal features and behavioural traits.

Definitely a fantasy world, indeed.

We then moved onto religion, which is a no-brainer considering the fact that this world is based on medieval times, so religion was very prominent.

And considering that I was baptised as a Roman Catholic by my mother's family, I wasn't too surprised.

From what Ciela had said about the religion, there was two main ones, one called "The Church of The Three Heroes", and the other one called "Church of the Four Heroes."

So, it looks like I've been branded as a fucking messiah, alongside Amaki, Kawasumi, and Iwatani.

I wonder if I can add that to my resume.

"Thomas Anders! University student and part-time Messiah!"

…Yeah, better not. I'd rather not pick a fight with my parents and the Kyoto church in the afterlife.

I yawn escaped my throat as Ciela looked at me with concern as I used my thumb and index finger to wipe some goop from my eyes and flicked them somewhere.

"Sorry to cut this session short, Ciela, but I'm getting rather tired," I admitted to the auburn-haired woman, who nodded her head before packing away the books and leading me back to my quarters.

As we walked towards my quarters, I noticed that Ciela was constantly looking around with her eyes, as if she were on guard.

Oh, Christ, I'm fucking tired. And don't stare at her ass, Thomas!

I let out another yawn as we finally reached the door to my sleeping quarters for the night. I then turned to face Ciela and outstretched my arm.

"Thank you for helping me with that predicament I had, Ciela," I said as the auburn-haired woman grasped my hand and firmly shook it.

Wow, nice grip.

We then went out separate ways, with her returning to the library, and me going back into my room, in which I said goodnight to Amaki, Kawasumi, and Iwatani.

I took off my steel-tipped dress-boots, my red dress-shirt, my socks, my snakeskin belt, and my slacks, all neatly folded on top of each over.

When I crawled into the soft bed, I undid my ponytail, allowing my brown hair to fall freely to my shoulders before resting my head against the pillow as I grasped my golden cross around my neck.

'Mother, father, Kiera, Ashley. I hope you guys can live on without me,' I silently prayed as I felt my eyelids grow heavy from drowsiness as I retired for the night.

Authors Note: there goes the second chapter of the dragoon hero, hopefully, you guys enjoyed the story so far. and of course, the rising of the shield hero doesn't belong to me, only Thomas Anders belongs to me.

And for Thomas' party as I'm going to introduce two of them next chapter and it's going to consist of five people including himself, and three of them are going to be monsters and demons.

And for those who are interested in why I'd choose dragoon? Well, let's say that dragons are going to be involved in the plot after the 2nd wave.

Anyways, see ya when I next update.

Edit, this chapter has been edited.