Fain had been with the last shield hero. Two shield heroes from different time lines actually. He had alluded to there possibly being more. But it was difficult to explain due to a paradox. The one he remembered was a man named Naofumi. And Fain had remembered quite a few things from him.

First and foremost Fain told Sonya about the 'battle formation' setting and how she could arrange for a group of people to be apart of her party and organized in such a way that she would have her own 'army.' He then used a rod that he had summoned from his 'inventory' that transported her and Uta-san's party to Melromark's Dragon Hourglass. From there they summoned the other two heroes. The spear hero Ishiku-san was not happy to see her. Arashi-San simply waved in greeting as he made it over to them.

"I see you have a new addition to your party Birinte-san." The sword hero said with a smile.

Fain simply looked them over and sighed. "After this wave is fended off, I will insist that we have a sit down and share information. Power up methods to strengthen your weapons, materials, hunting ground. No non-sense, 'I don't want tah.' Because you four will quickly die if you don't."

Silence. Glares.

"The three of you have terrible defense. Your armor will only go so far." Fain explained looking between Uta-san, Arashi-san, and Ishiku-san.

"And who the hell are you to be bossing us around and calling us weak?!" Ishiku-san snapped.

Fain narrowed his eyes at him.

"I am Fain. I am a warrior that fought with the previous shield hero the last time this world had waves. I watched the last events unfold. And I am here to help. Or rather, help This One specifically." Fain replied and pointed to Sonya. "However, by helping you three become stronger... I am helping her. The faster you are able to kill things, the faster the waves die. The less burden she has in keeping you lot and your parties alive. Or unfortunate bi-standards like near by villages. "

"I see... Does this mean she will be the one put in charge? Or you?" Uta-san asked. Her expression was hard to read.

"I'm an informant. The information I have is from the last set of heroes. Anything else that might be useful I can only leave to this generation of Heroes to know and make decisions on." Fain said. "I have no authority until you four start rolling down a path of self-destruction. I seen it happen. I don't want to see it happen again. It was bothersome at best and at worst, the heroes were trying to kill each other."

"Could you specify?" Arashi-san asked politely.

"Well. The three offensive heroes of the past were turned against the shield hero. They also were convinced this world was a video game. This caused them to disregard the consequences of their actions. And to varying degrees amongst the heroes, mistrust or even be outright antagonistic towards the Shield Hero. It didn't help that the local cult of this country was anti-shield hero nor that the first born princess at the time was a tool by an evil goddess that wanted to toy with this world." Fain explained.

"I remember hearing about that. It was hundreds of years ago but my mother told me this. If you see the shield hero in your time, please be kind to them. Our family had not been so in the beginning for the last shield hero. The ill blood between us and Rock Valley however was short lived thankfully..." The princess said.

"I see that's why I felt suspicious of you at the beginning." Sonya said.

"Not 'You'... Please, call me Marla. Anyways, I wasn't going to back stab you! But the last shield hero was..." She trailed off and cringed.

"Meeting multiple shield heroes makes things complicated. The ones I remember were rough and not particularity upstanding-take-the-high-road characters. They gave back what others dished out. When you were kind to them, they were in return. When you were cruel to them, they were not very kind in return. They did spare people's lives. But it did cost the offenders dearly. And they were wicked when they punished people who attacked those they cared about." Fain said.

"Wait... So how did you know so many other shield heroes?Are you saying they all had a common theme?" Sonya asked.

Fain considered her. He then sighed. He nodded. "It is difficult to tell you what is what in its entirety. My memories on the issue is rather mixed due to a paradox. I might have known three or four... Possibly more. But alas, things become foggy when I try to straighten out the issue. That said... I am also a world hopper. An inter-dimensional traveler. But ending up traveling to two or more different time lines was unintentional." Fain replied. "As for the last part... I think the shield, no matter the dimension, chooses a specific type of person."

"What were the other heroes like exactly. The ones before us?" Uta-san asked.

"That one I remember more clearly. The spear hero was a womanizing pervert, but he was very loyal to his friends. He protected them and believed in them. When he was betrayed by the women he thought had his back he saw every female as a pig unless they were filolials. He was the strongest of all the attacking type heroes damage output wise and a trustworthy ally when he rose back up to his senses. He was still a pervert through and through. And a lolicon."

A few people stared at the current spear hero. He simply crossed his arms and muttered something about not being to blame for another guy's kinks. A few eyes rolled.

"The bow hero had a unshakable sense of justice to a fault. And pride. It blinded him and made him easy to manipulate. When he regained his senses he was a humbled person that and believed in his allies. He still had a bit of a hero complex. Unfortunately, his allies at the start of his journey were apart of the Three Hero Cult..."

"The sword hero was more reasonable of the three at the time. His fault lied in his self reliance and short sightedness. He was young and naive. It got people hurt and even killed. He believed he didn't need anyone to be strong. The first princess betrayed him and stole all of his things and just left him high and dry. He was the first to come back to his senses and made it a point to make right his failings."

"The Shield Hero, although I was not asked of him, but felt it best to include anyways... Was an understandably angry individual. He was thrown into a pretty low and desperate situation. An underdog. He was a calculating devil. While the other heroes at the time were being manipulated to be fools and tools, he cleaned up after them. When they fell behind, he towed the line for as long as he could. Where they couldn't believe in each other, he believed in them and became stronger because of it. He bought slaves in his desperate times and treated them like his family. He turned out to be a good leader." Fain said. " He wasn't the type to spoil people... Much... He... Didn't particularly like me. Nor hate me. I was a comrade. I was help. I was just... There at times."

He looked away as he remembered his time with either Naofumi. Sometimes he felt like he had some curse that people would treat him like a house plant.. It wasn't always the case but... He sighed.

"Each hero was also cursed at some point. Or rather, they obtained a 'Curse Series' weapon. The Spear hero with the two Curse Series weapons, they were 'Lust and Envy.' The Bow Hero 'Pride'. The Sword Hero had 'Greed and Gluttony'. The Shield Hero, 'Wrath'. This series was a double edge sword. Powerful. But the cost of using it was not worth the benefits. They were a series used by the desperate and broken. And they had long lasting side effects so long as they were unlocked." Fain concluded. "Each hero could also unlock a version of the others cursed series."

And so he told them about what he knew. About the goddess that was the cause of the waves, about how the worlds would merge if the waves were not subdued. About the heroes and vassal heroes who came from other words... About those who lost their worlds. About the countries. He was corrected on several occasions. ShieldFreeden was now equal parts human and demi-human. Zeltoble was no longer hosting battles to the death in their arenas. Sports was the new big thing... Faubley was still in existence. It was a very industrial place. However it had leveled off and became more agricultural as of recent.

Siltvelt changed the least. They still had human slaves. They still were more demihuman supremacists. They were stuck in the past.

He returned to warning them again about the cursed series before finishing up with the importance of the Dragon Hourglass.

"I actually learned several abilities concerning the dragon hour glasses. Sand from them unlocks teleporting abilities. For heroes anyways. For me... Well. I can run simulations. It is good for training and no one gets hurt. In fact. I think we should run one now since we are here. A mock battle. Hopefully to add team cohesion and get some experience in battles.." Fain said.

"Do we really have time for that #$%?" Ishiku-san asked.

"As a matter of fact? Yes. Yes we do. I can run countless simulations without eating up our time in the real world." Fain said. He sent each hero invites.

"Wait... Umm... If we are all going to be in one big party... Then who or what are we fighting?" Uta-san asked.

Fain walked up to the Dragon Hour Glass and touched it. A wave of air pulsed from it and the scene around them became that of a courtyard.

" Oh. That's simple." Fain said with a bright smile. "Me."