The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Curse of the Shield

Chapter 1

My World

The sun started to set on the village which overlooked the sea. She stood there, dark green cape flowing behind her in the wind as she watched the water sparkle with the reflection of the red and orange sky. Gloved hands lightly rested on her shoulders, causing her to close her eyes as she smiled. She opened her eyes as she turned her head, looking at the man behind her. Her mouth opened to say a name.

Her eyes shot open, finding herself laying in her bed. She frowned as she slowly sat up, rubbing her head. Her head was a slight wavey mess of brown hair which stopped at her waist. Her eyes are light blue.

My name is Kioka Tadashi, I'm a college student who is also a singer, for games mainly. Not that I have ever been able to find enough time to play said games. When I do have some spare time, I just read Manga or Light Novels or head over to my local bookstore.

She walked out of the door and onto the street, wearing a short green dress, black three-quarter leggings and white trainers. She pulled a black hoodie over her head as she walked down the street, once she got her arms through the sleeves, she pulled her hair out from the hoodie, letting it flow freely behind her. She smiled slightly as she walked, looking up at cherry blossoms in the trees dancing in the breeze, humming a tune to herself happily.

Just an almost average girl, living the life my Grandparents fought for.

She stopped outside of the local bookstore, smiling to herself. She gasped slightly when a group of boys stumbled past her. She looked at them as they turned to look at her.

"Man, she is really cute!"

"Dude, you would never have a chance."

"Don't you think she looks a bit like that singer?"

She sighed softly and turned back towards the store, walking towards the door and opening it. She scanned the shop and smiled when her eyes stopped on the guy at the cashier's desk. "Hey, Obi!"

The guy lifted his head, a huge smile on his face as he saw her, "Ah, Kioka! I saw that an order had arrived for you, I just wondering when you were going to come in, got the day off?" Obi sported spikey red hair and eyes to match, he seemed to be a few years older than her.

She walked over to the desk, bowing her head in defeat, "I wish, I have classes in a few hours' time..."

He chuckled, looking down at the manga which was open in front of him, "The life of a college student is a busy one, especially with you being so famous as well."

She shot a glare in his direction as she browsed the 'New in this week!' shelf next to the deck, "I am not famous! I just sing songs in different genres of games, no big deal..."

He gasped, looking at her as if she had just kicked his puppy, "No big deal!? Those songs make those games so much more intense and immersive to the situations that you get thrown into! I would never be able to play without such a great range of soundtracks. You seriously need to play them at some point!"

She sighed, taking hold of a light novel from the shelf, looking at the synopsis on the back of it, "If only I have the time to... You know that they take up a lot of time and I just don't have that much freedom to play them for the time that I would need to actually get full enjoyment out of them."

He nodded, "Yeah, I guess you are right. Speaking of no freedom..." He blinked nonchalantly, ignoring the glare she shot at him, "When is your next concert?"

She looked back at the book, "In a week's time and yes I have a ticket with your name on it waiting for you at home."

He raised his hands in the air, "Oh yeah!"

She raised her hand to her mouth as she giggled, "So anyway, I came for that order that you mentioned?"

He gasped, "Oh yeah... Sorry, got carried away, one moment." He walked into the back room.

She placed the book back as he left, tapping her hands on the deck to a beat in her head, nodding her head in time and singing quietly to herself. She smiled when he brought the box, "Thanks, Obi!" She took hold of the box.

He smiled, "No problem, I hope you enjoy your books!" He walked around the desk, leading the way to the door where he opened it for her.

She bowed her head slightly in thanks as she left, glancing at the poster in the window, a girl with long brown hair plaited and resting on her right shoulder, her eyes sparkling light blue and looking like she was looking up at the starry sky. Kioka sighed, walking back up the street.

Just a somewhat normal girl on a normal day, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I opened that box...

Once she was back at home, Kioka set the box down on the table in the middle of her living room, bobbing her head and singing to herself. She walked into the kitchen, grabbing a small pair of scissors. She returned to the box, cutting the tape and placing the scissors down on the table next to the box. Lifting the lid of the box, the contents revealed to be a pile of books and a piece of paper. As she kept on singing, she picked up the paper, checking the list of books printed on it. Her other hand removed the books one by one, placing them on the table.

Once she had gotten to the bottom of the list, she smiled, "Well that looks to be all here-" She stopped dead in her tracks as her hand touched a book in the bottom of the box. She frowned, the list had said four books, however, this was the fifth book. She placed the list down and picked up the book.

At first glance, this book looked rather old, unlike the brand new light novels which she had ordered. The hardback book was deep red in colour with golden lettering. "I wonder if this book was put here by mistake. Or maybe Obi decided to add it because he thought I would like it..." She shook her head, "I guess the only way to find out is to head back over to the store..." She held the book close to her chest as she stepped out of the living room and stopped at the front door, she placed the book down on the side and pulled her trainers on. Tapping her toes on the floor, she picked up the book and walked out of the door.

Once the door was locked, she looked at the book in her hands, something inside her told her to open the book, but she shook her head, "I need to get this back to Obi before he closes up for the day." She took off running, but it felt like a hand grabbed her ankle, tripping her. Her eyes widened as she fell forward, the book falling out of her hand. She held her hand out to grab it, grabbing hold of the now open book in front of her but landed on the floor. She flinched, standing up and brushing off her newly scuffed-up knees. She looked around to see if anyone was around, but the street was empty.

She looked down at the book, flicking through it. "This seems kinda interesting actually, an isekai light novel about four heroes who wield different weapons, Spear, Bow, Sword and..." She trailed off as the blank pages started to glow, "Shield?" The sound of music could be heard around her. Her eyes widened and found everything around her disappeared in a golden glow, it felt like a hand took hold of her shoulder pulling her back as the floor faded beneath her, causing her to fall into the golden light.

She closed her eyes tightly but then hit the ground hard. She flinched slightly, feeling pain for a moment. The floor was cold. She opened her eyes to look at the marble ground below her. She looked around to see the room was pretty dark but had bright spotlights all around, "Owww... What the hell..."

"Thank goodness! It worked! Please help our world from the brink of destruction!"

Her eyes widened as she jumped up to stand, "What!?" She looked around, seeing cloaked figures gathered all around her. She lowered her gaze and gasped, looking at the silver shield on her arm, "A Shield!?"

One of the cloaked figures stepped forward, "Brave Hero of Legend, please help us."

Kioka eyed him with a puzzled expression, "Brave Hero? I think you have me mistaken for someone else."

He shook his head, "There is no mistaking who you are, that shield on your arm is the proof that you have been chosen to save our world."

She looked at the shield, placing her hand on it, "Are you sure? I am just one girl."

"Well, you are one of four Cardinal Heroes to be summoned on this day, you will meet the others later on your journey." He stepped out of the way, revealing a door that had been behind him, "Please allow me to escort you to our leaders, I know that they are very eager to meet you. They will be able to explain everything in better detail than I can."

She nodded slowly, "Alright, I will meet them." She followed him out of the room and into the large bright courtyard, she flinched from the light but once her eyes finally adjusted, her eyes widened when she saw the man pull his hood down, revealing greying hair and cat ears on his head.

He turned and looked at her with a smile, "I am going to assume from your reaction that you have never seen a demi-human before, is that correct?"

She nodded slowly, following him up a spiral set of stairs, "Demi-human...?"

He nodded, "We are just like humans, but we have animal characteristics. This whole country is mostly inhabited by demi-humans. You may wish to not stare too much, it will make people uncomfortable and sometimes act in ways you don't want them to."

She nodded once more, "Alright, I apologise for staring. May I ask your name?"

He smiled, "I don't think I expected you to ask for my name, but then again the legends do say that the Shield Hero is kind to the Demi-humans so I guess I can understand it. My name is Tio. It is an honour to be able to meet you... Er... Lady Shield Hero." He stopped and bowed his head slightly.

She smiled slightly, "Kioka, you may call me Kioka. Please don't bow your head to me."

Tio smiled and started walking up the stairs once more, "Well, Kioka, welcome to Siltvelt!"

Her eyes widened as she took the last few steps, seeing the view from where they stood.

"Siltvelt..."

I fell in love with that view, and I forgot all about my life in Japan at that moment. If only the bad feelings I had in those coming days would have stopped me from leaving.

But if they had, would we have met?

You know I wouldn't change anything. Everything happened for a reason in those days and I just went through the motions.