Guess who is alive?! Well, if you follow 4 heroes in a blocky world then you don't have to guess. Anyways, I'm alive. Sorta.
Also I had some things on the side. Like a fanfic where Naofumi is a Necromancer named SoloFumi. Tho I screw up mechanics from both worlds. It just got to Gaelions dragon fight, but not in the way you think.
Also I have a 100% original totally not cliche story of a 1 hero world. Also like 3 more guys are also working on their 1 hero worlds, so we might post 4 1 hero world fics, then 2 2 hero world fics, and then finally 1 4 hero world fic with all of our worlds slowly expanding and growing as time progresses. So fun stuff.
I have like 5 chapters of solofumi and 8 chapters of crafter hero, so if anyone wants, I can probably post those as I go. Anyways, enjoy the new blank slate chapter with our favorite Lyn.
"Ah, that was good." Lyn said, licking his lips. "Anyway." He said, pointing to the woman on the horse. "Who are you and what are you here for again?"
A pink haired woman immediately spoke up.
"We have arrived to assist you, sir Shield Hero. I am Eclair Seatto, and this is-"
"Ah, to assist us, huh? Well, sorry, the party's over. Everyone goes home. Shoo." He said, waving his hand. Eclair sputtered indignantly, her face turning red. She jabbed a finger into Lyn's chest.
"Show some respect! You are standing in front of the-" Eclair began, before a voice cut in.
"It is quite alright, Eclair. Anyway, you are Sir Lyn the Shield Hero, am I correct?" The woman on the horse spoke. Lyn immediately understood that she was a noble from the authoritative tone she carried.
"In the flesh. Who are you?"
"I am Mirelia Q Melromarc. Also known as the queen of Melromarc. I have heard about your exploits, and I believe we have much to discuss."
"Nice to meet you, your kingdom sucks. 0/10, won't recommend."
All the heroes, including Ren, turned to him in surprise and Mirellia recoiled a bit. Eclair was fuming from Lyn's bluntness and was about to retort before they heard another voice coming from behind.
"MOTHER!"
Mirellia relaxed at the voice while the heroes looked behind them. Lyn raised an eyebrow, and Motoyasu and Itsuki ran forward at the sight of the owner of the voice, who was no other than Melty. Motoyasu grasped her shoulders, making her stop her sudden approach and tense up.
"Second princess! Are you okay?! Did Lyn do anything to you?!" He shouted. Melty widened her eyes and the sudden action and Itsuki followed up.
"I don't know if he did anything to you, but we should che-"
"STOP PAINTING ME AS A PEDOPHILE, GOD DAMN IT! I DIDN'T DO SHIT TO HER! AND BACK OFF FROM HER ALREADY! STOP RUINING A MOTHER-CHILD REUNION!"
Motoyasu recoiled and backed away, stuttering apologies, while Itsuki recoiled at the same time and quietly walked to his team members, but not before glaring at Lyn. Melty ran up to Mirellia, who looked at her with a smile.
"I see you are as healthy as you used to be, Melty. Perhaps sending you off with him was a good idea after all, ignoring his 'attitude'." Mirellia said softly, before narrowing her eyes at Lyn at the last part. But she quickly hid her displeasure at the sight of Motoyasu looking at them in surprise.
"W-what do you mean send her with him? wasn't she kidnapped?"
Mirellia's face immediately darkened at the moment.
"Like I said, we have much to discuss, heroes. I would prefer if you came along too, Shield Hero."
Lyn was about to retort before Ren pinched his arm, making a loud clang. Ren then whispered in his ear.
'Shut up and roll with it already, I don't want the Queen coming down on our heads! We have enough on our plates already.''
'I just got my arms folded by a giant bird, fought a cult, and now I have to confront a family member of a moron who almost killed his own world like 20 times. I'm not in the best of moods. Besides, my head is made of indestructible material and my plate is a shield.'
'Stop acting childish and come! I'll slug Raphtalia on you if you don't!'
Lyn groaned at the thought, remembering the lecture he suffered at the hands of her.
'F*ck, fine! But I'm dipping the second I can. And I'm not gonna bother sucking up to a queen.'
'At Least listen to what she has to say! You can do whatever you want later!'
'Aight, cool, let's go speak politics.'
"Lyn said he'll come." Ren said, moving in front of him. Mirellia's shoulders sagged in relief for a second before she returned to a serious position.
"Very good. Then we shall proceed. Please follow us, heroes." She beckoned for the knights behind her to lead the way, before marching off.
"Ah- wait, what about our party members?" Ren piped.
Eclair was the one to respond this time.
"We shall take care of those, please follow the queen."
"Alright then." Ren shrugged.
'What the hell? Was she that desperate for me to come?' Lyn thought. He was interrupted by Ren tapping his shoulder.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go." Ren said, walking forward.
'*Sigh, I always dreaded this part of being a hero, but whatever, time to get it over with." Lyn sighed and walked forward.
The ride to the capital was pretty boring. The queen gave every hero and their parties rooms to stay in for the day. However the amount of rooms was limited, so some people had to share.
Lyn and Ren were stuck in one room while Itsuki and Motoyasu were in the one next to theirs. While Ren was trying to relax and check out the new filolial series in full detail, Lyn was constantly summoning and resummoning skills in the room and tapping on his shield.
"Can you please calm down for at least a few minutes."
"Nop, I have stats to get and stuff to do. Today is all about the grind with little time for relaxation. [Erst Shield X]!"
"Is this because Fitoria beat you?"
Lyn glared at Ren for a moment before returning to his status. After not receiving an answer Ren decided to try again.
"What do you think the queen wants to talk about?"
"Probably about all the shit you 3 did, the cult, her husband, my dick plant at the entrance… ah sh*t, I'll have to remove that later. Anyway, there is a lot."
"Yeah…"
"You'll be fine. If a legendary hero could be executed I would have been long dead.
A soft knock came from the door and Ren opened it. Melty entered the room with the pink haired knight from before following close behind.
"Shield Hero, I would like to ask you to remove the plant from the gates."
"20 Gold," Lyn said without a hint of hesitation. "Who is this knight by the way?"
"My name is Eclair. I am a knight o-"
"Strawberry eclairs, got it. I'll remove the plant for 20 gold," Lyn said, turning back to Melty.
"'Strawberry eclairs'...?" Eclair muttered in confusion and irritation.
"Don't try to fight him, physically or mentally. Trust me, many have tried and all have failed," Ren said, trying to defuse the situation.
Melty sighed as she looked at Lyn.
"10 Gold."
"20."
"15."
"25."
"What?! You can't just raise the price like that!"
"Just did."
"For the love of… YOU CAN'T JUST PLANT A GIANT OBSCENE PLANT IN THE CAPITALS GATES AND RUN OFF!"
"A… what plant?" Eclair asked, now more confused than ever."
Lyn laughed, and with a proud smirk he equipped the glass ball shield, projecting a picture of his plant onto the nearby wall.
"BEHOLD! MY MASTERPIECE!" he yelled, pointing to the picture. The plant itself stretched upwards and towered over the castle.
"Overcompensating much?" Ren asked. Lyn sighed and reached into his shield.
"I will pull a Maguire and put some dirt in your eye," he said, lifting up a clump of dirt from his shield. Ren took a step back, turning towards the window. Before Lyn could do good on his threat, Melty pulled out some gold and handed it to Lyn.
"Here, 25 gold. Now go remove the plant."
"*Sigh*, I guess I have to now. Such a shame to destroy such a beauty of architecture, but money is money," Lyn replied, opening the window and jumping out."
"Wait WAIT WHAT?! WHAT IS HE DOING?! SOMEBODY GET A HEALER! HE JUST JUMPED OUT A CASTLE WINDOW!" Eclair yelled in a panic. However when she walked up to the window, she saw Lyn walking towards the walls without a single scratch.
"It's fine, Eclair. He can survive great heights with ease. Now let's go check on the queen and help with any preparations that we can," Melty said, leaving the room.
"I'm too young for this," Ren muttered under his breath in the corner of the room, finally enjoying some peace and quiet.
"We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of the pp plant. It lived for like two weeks, maybe less, but in that time it did many great things, like block trades and annoy the king. With this bottle of herbicide, let it be put to eternal rest."
Lyn raised the glass vial and poured the purple mixture onto the roots of the plant. Almost immediately the plant began to shrivel up and collapse, as the bright green vines darkened and cracked.
After a few seconds the plant was no more, and Lyn absorbed the remains into his shield.
"Did you really just give a funeral speech to a dick plant?" Itsuki asked. Lyn Just shrugged.
"When you're as old as me, things like this are what keeps you somewhat sane."
The two stood in silence for a moment as Itsuki looked at the older hero.
"Ren said you're a 'veteran player' of sorts. What did he mean by that?"
"Simple. I got isekaid more than once. For better or worse."
Lyn smiled and looked at Itsuki.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"In years? Three centuries."
"Three what?!"
"Centuries. 300 years. 109575 days or so. A really long time man," Lyn answered, his smile fading and the fatigue showing. "People change and grow around me, but I remain the same. Always leaving people behind, traveling to a new world, and doing it all over again. I can't even catch a day of rest, always busy with preparations for the next day, wondering if I'm strong enough."
Lyn sighed and looked down at the ground for a moment. He said the last sentence with a bitter laugh.
"I had no ide-," Itsuki began, but Lyn cut him off.
"Eh whatever. You get used to it eventually. Now let's go inside. The trial is tomorrow and I still have skills to master," the shield hero walked past Itsuki, any hint of fatigue disappearing in an instant. Itsuki looked at him walking away with a pensive expression, wondering if he had the shield hero misunderstood this entire time.
"Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh," Lyn groaned, leaning onto a pillar of the throne room. The queen told all the heroes to gather here, and she was going to arrive any minute. For Lyn, every minute here is a stat he could have gotten through spamming skills or upgrading weapons. The nobles staring at him like he was a nuisance certainly wasn't helping.
"I just missed like 7 stat points…" Lyn said, horror and boredom written on his face.
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?! IT'S LITERALLY JUST STAT POINTS!" Motoyasu yelled in annoyance. The constant whining was slowly getting on his nerves, and he couldn't find Malty since yesterday, making him anxious.
"One day someone is gonna die cause you didn't have that 1 agility point, and you are going to cry and whine about it for weeks. All because you wanted to do a quickie in the morning instead of coming to training earlier," Lyn replied, glaring at Motoyasu.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Motoyasu replied, waving it off.
The double doors opened and the queen walked into the room.
"I suppose it is time to start the trial," she said. Several mages set up crystal balls to project the event to the whole country.
"Wait, what? Is this my trial? Am I going to be executed for the plant?" Lyn spoke, looking around frantically for any other possible guilty people, causing the queen's lips to twitch. The nobles quickly started murmuring amongst one another. Mirellia coughed, silencing them all.
"Now, bring the guilty in!" She commanded, causing the knights to open the doors, revealing Aultcray, Malty and the pope all in cuffs. The nobles immediately reacted, protesting.
"MALTY!" Motoyasu yelled in surprise, but several knights stood in front of him before he could make a move.
"WHY IS THE KING AND HER DAUGHTER IN THIS CUFFS?! AND THE POPE TOO! THIS IS BLASPHEMY!"
"HAS THE QUEEN GONE MAD?!"
Their accusations went on, and Mirellia exhaled a shaky breath before raising her voice.
"ANYONE WHO SPEAKS NOW, UNLESS ASKED TO, WILL HAVE THEIR HEADS CUT OFF!"
This silenced the crowd and Lyn raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, now, we shall start the trial of the fools of this nation, my husband, daughter and the pope."
As soon as the cloth was removed from the king's mouth, he started screaming.
"WHAT IS THE SHIELD DEVIL DOING HERE?! My dear wife, have you been brainwashed by this madman?! Somebody get him!"
However, before the king could get another word out, his entire body was frozen.
Lyn flipped off the king, causing many of the nobles to gasp.
The queen coughed into her hand again. She then pointed her fan at the Pope first. The pope was paled as the queen began to talk.
"We will first begin your trial, Former Pope of the three heroes church Balmus." She took out a paper and started reading it.
"Pope Balmus has been found guilty of the following crimes, but not limited to: corruption, bribery, attempted murder of the legendary heroes and the royal family. Do you have anything you would like to say in your defense?"
The pope was ungagged and he wasted no time thinking about his next words.
"I had done it all for the sake of our god that you have all abandoned. The current heroes are nothing but fakes and a demon and gods divine judgment will come for you one d-," the pope was cut off by a guard gagging him again by the queen's request.
"I guess not."
Lyn sighed and opened his status, occasionally tapping on his shield. Ren nudged him with his elbow.
"Can you just pay attention for a moment? The trial probably won't last too long and it will help you clear your name," the younger hero whispered to Lyn.
"I mean, I really don't care…" Lyn answered.
But I suppose it would be more profitable financially wise, and it would make life easier for my companions.
"...but alright."
"Thank you."
"Next, onto the crimes of these two," the queen turned to the king and Malty.
"It was all the shield!" the king screamed. Motoyasu stepped forward.
"True! He tried to rape Malty."
"So?" the queen replied, not even batting an eye. Motoyasu's eyes widened, followed by the king and the rest of the heroes.
"What?"
"Mama! He tried to take my virginity! Does that mean nothing to you?"
"Oh please, you really think I'm not aware of your activities? I know you lost your virginity years ago," the queen replied, glaring at her daughter.
"That's not true! Motoyasu was my first!" Malty declared.
"You may try to fool anyone else, but not me. Besides, you'd be way more useful if something was going on between you and the shield hero."
"Well, from a political standpoint this would better the relationship between Melromarc and the demihuman countries that see me as a god," Lyn muttered. The other three heroes stared at him with horrified expressions, to which he raised his hands defensively. "In theory! Obviously nothing could happen between us, she'd be way too miserable within the hour."
"Since that won't be happening our only hope is Melty. Perhaps they will have better luck."
"Huh?"
The three heroes stared in shock at the queen.
"She's way too young!" the king piped in. Even Malty voiced her concerns.
"Oh darling. Don't you see that this is an excellent chance to prevent a possible war from breaking out?" the queen replied to Aumtcray, ignoring her daughter.
"Ok sorry, but that won't happen in any way shape or form. First, she's way too young. Second, I can't stick around long enough to wait for her to grow up or whatever. As soon as the threat of the waves is gone, I am out!" Lyn explained.
"I'm sure that by then there will be plenty of ways to convince you to sta-."
"No, like, I literally cannot stay here after the waves are done. I will be thrown into the next world whether I want to or not. I don't get much of a choice in the matter."
"I see. Well, we'll just have to make do with the time we have."
"Mom!" Melty yelled, her face reddening.
"Ok, everyone here against the idea of me and Melty marrying, raise your hand," Lyn said. To no one's surprise, everyone except the queen raised their hand. Even Aultcray and Malty chimed in.
"Alright, that's a settled matter," Lyn mumbled.
"Of course no one would want to marry a rapist," Malty snickered, but recoiled when her mother, Lyn, and Lyn's party glared at her.
"Speaking of that, let's put your words to the test," the queen smiled cruelly and gestured for something. A few robed figures stepped forward with a bowl full of ink.
"Hey hey hey! What is that? What's going on?" Motoyasu asked, looking around at the heroes.
"Slave ink. Makes it impossible to lie, amongst other things!"
"Why is that necessary?! Malty wouldn't lie!"
"Everyone lies. EVERYONE! For their own benefit or to avoid hurting people. Like when you lie that you're smart. Or when people say that they enjoy your cooking. Seriously, you smell like burned fish."
"I do not!"
"Bet. Cookoff me and you 1v1. Winner gets replica weapons and boss weapon forms. And 10 gold cash," Lyn smirked and reached his hand out.
"Alright, I'll take you on," Motoyasu said with full confidence in his abilities.
"AAAAAAGH!" Malty screamed, interrupting the two heroes.
"Malty!" Motoyasu was about to charge in with his spear, but Lyn grabbed him by the collar of his armor.
"Let me go!"
"Nah."
The slave seal disappeared.
"Shall we get started?" the queen asked. The atmosphere in the room changed as she gave Malty a cold stare.