A Special Kind Of Magic
Chapter 1
Walls of large old books stretched down the room, some of them kept on metal racks to display the unmarked covers held in chains. Dim lights across the ceiling hung in boxy chandeliers, keeping the area visible for all who entered. In the center of the room was a desk, a man with a shaved head reading one of the many writings. He was dressed in a simple crimson robe with asian inspiration that allowed comfort and mobility.
The man also was listening to the spice girls.
"Wong."
He paid no mind to the skinny lad in front of him.
"Hey, Wong."
Or the lack of patience, discipline.
"Woooong."
No respect.
Taking out his headphones, 'Wong' finally acknowledge the annoyance in his library. It was a young Japanese man with dark hair and green eyes wearing a dark brown robe with multiple layers. He smirked when he met Wong's gaze.
"Hey, I finished those books." The boy said placing a stack on the desk.
"You may have read them but have you fully comprehended them Iwatani?" Wong asked, opening the top one and flipping through the pages.
"Come on, I've been here for four years." Iwatani held his hands to his chest in fake emotional pain. "You can call me Naofumi."
"No." Wong stated, holding up the book he was currently looking at but not letting Naofumi see. "Mistro's illusions focus on what to keep the illusion cast?"
Naofumi rolled his eyes, playing along. "A strong steady mind to allow the conjured image to stay present in the physical world no matter what the caster is doing."
Wong rose an eyebrow at Naofumi. "A seal, you need to create a seal writing first so that your illusion does not create a new consciousness from your own."
"Oh come on! The first thing to prepare is your mind in order to actually be capable of casting the illusion." The young man argued.
"Strange may have allowed you to prioritize your own studies." Wong closed the book, pointing it at Naofumi. "Yet you neglect to spend time learning all the preparations to prevent your spells from going out of hand."
"Look." Holding his hands to his chest, Naofumi tried to defend himself. "Yes I don't focus on the different things to prevent the spell blowing up but I spend enough time on the foundation to know how to keep things under control."
"You shattered a mirror dimension."
"And when I did I learned how to create pocket copies of our own!"
The two stared at one another, unmoving on their own stances of the issues. Naofumi then grabbed a small slip of paper on the desk and a pencil, scribbling a shape with sharp curves intertwining with one another. He then held it up to Wong, raising both eyebrows. "See, I know how to do the seal."
"Paper burns, you need to be able to create seals from-"
"From magic yes to let illusions be immune to physical harm. Tell you what." Naofumi grabbed the book from Wong's hand. "I'll practice the spell boundries, seals, and limitation flow but I want to get started on the small scale summary of Cagliostro's studies."
"You are not ready for Cagliostro's works." Wong grabbed the other books, putting them back on their shelves.
"That's what everyone who has studied them was told." The young man whined. "You even told the Sorcerer Supreme that and he fought off Dormammu with everything he learned from Cagliostro."
"Are you comparing yourself to Doctor Strange?"
"Woah, woah, I never said that." Naofumi held his hands back up, not wanting to sully the great Sorcerer's name with his own.
"If you're so eager to ignore the potential dangers an ill prepared spell can cause, then perhaps you should revisit the history archives and this time study them, not just read." Walking further down one of the sections of less mystical normal books, Wong pulled one off the shelf and handed it to Naofumi without looking.
After standing in silence with the denial from Wong, the boy huffed. Not like he could challenge Wong's authority on the matter. Whatever, not like it would take long to read these anyways.
Looking over the cover, it held no runes on it, no glyphs, it was just plain english.
"The Legend of the Four Heroes." He read aloud. What was this, some rogue Eternals? Looking at the basic cover image it displayed four fancy medieval European warriors, each with their own weapon.
Was Wong playing a joke on him?
Flipping through the pages, he skimmed over it. Wow those were a lot of pictures, way too many for him to take this thing seriously. They weren't even diagrams or designs, one of them was a map but that's it. It looked like some dungeons and dragons character guide. The main focus was that there was four weapons, a spear, bow, sword, and shield for some reason.
Untold power, chooses the bearer, save the world yada yada. And waves of enemies with a boss? Seriously this looked like it was some video game pitch by some lazy designers that settled for tabletop RPG.
Oh, a summoning ritual, that was interesting. Reading further on it, there was hardly any details for it. But a glimpse at a picture with the four heroes under it showed it actually had some structure, not some random drawing. Naofumi giggled, imagining the possibility that Wong wrote this book.
Alright, now let's see how a shield counts as a weapon…..it's blank? Guess Wong couldn't figure it out.
A bright light came from under Naofumi. At first he thought someone was making a portal under him against sanctum rules, but it wasn't yellow and full of sparks.
It was the same structure as the one in the book.
"Shitshitshit!" Naofumi tucked the book in his robe, snapping his hands together as orange lines started to shape themselves according to his finger motions. He did his best to conjure a magical cancelation ward in time, but unfortunately, he might have skipped a few steps compromising its integrity.
"Wah!" He fell through, the books he had coming with him.
The library was silent now, no Naofumi, no weird book, and one of Wong's now missing. Footsteps echoed across the floor as Wong came back with another book, only to see noone there.
"Iwatani?" He asked to the air, double checking his surroundings. Seeing no one around, he grabbed his headphones that dangled from his pocket and plugged them back into his ear.
"All the single ladies, all the single ladies~"
Naofumi landed on his feet, blinking away the burning sensation in his eyes. He rubbed them, feeling something hard brush against his shoulder. Once his eyes finally readjusted, he saw what was on his arm. A shield, a very stupid looking shield with a green orb at the center.
"Oh please heroes! Save our world!" An older voice spoke ahead of him.
There were some old guys in long robes that brushed against the floor and hung from their arms like drapes. Really impractical kind, or the ones you use as pajamas when you don't have a blanket. They had hoods over their heads, as he looked closer some of them weren't that old, but all obviously adults. One of them was actually a pretty cute girl.
"What the hell?" Someone spoke to his left, a tall blond guy with really wild hair pulled back in a ponytail. His outfit was a basic white shirt with a red jacket that matched his eyes. He held a long silver spear that...oh no.
Naofumi leaned forward, seeing two others. Another blond that was much shorter with a bow and in a nice green blazer that went with his school uniform. Finally, a incredibly serious looking one with dark hair and a blue jacket held a sword in front of himself.
Damn it.
"What do you mean by that?" The bow one asked.
"Let me guess." Naofumi stepped forward crossing his arms. "There are waves of monsters coming out of the sky so you summoned us to help take care of it?"
"T-that's exactly right!" One man is a very well groomed mustache sputtered. "It was said that the heroes have some knowledge of our world already."
"Is this some kind of LARP thing?" Spear dude asked looking between the robed individuals.
"Our world teeters on the brink of destruction, we beg of you o heroes, save us!" One of the summoners came forward, addressing the four 'heroes.'
"I refuse." Spear spat.
"Likewise." Bowman, no kid agreed.
"You took us from our homes without our consent, don't you feel guilty." Sword pointed his, you guessed it sword at them. "And what happens if we finish? You just dump us back with no reward?"
"How are you willing to accommodate us? Depending on your answer we might end up your enemies." Spear said in a threatening manner.
"Maybe-" Naofumi walked between the very selfish 'heroes' and the scared group of magic nerds. "-we can listen to their plea and offer before jumping to conclusions? Probably sit down and talk with the person in charge?"
"Yes!" The woman came forward. "We can take you to our King, he can explain things in full and has prepared much to offer you all!"
"See." Naofumi pointed to the woman. "Talking, it works."
"Watch the attitude smartass." Sword boy, nah bitch said approaching Naofumi. "You're even dressed like them. Are you behind this?"
"No." Naofumi said calmly. "I just want to find out what's going on, and then we can decide what we want to do."
"Ok then." Spear tapped his weapon on the ground like a staff. "But if you try pulling anything, that shield isn't going to help you."
"Great! Progress, let's go." Naofumi clapped his hands, looking over to the summoners. "Lead the way."
"O-of course."
Walking through the castle, the sorcerer in training glanced around the place, seeing the many lands that stretched out into the distance. Really selling it on the whole fantasy vibe. Though when he saw a portrait, it only depicted what he assumed was the King. Did the guy not have family?
Taking out the failed D&D book that brought him here, Naofumi checked for the basics on royalty here to maybe get a heads up on the ruler. There was a Queen at the head instead, with the King apparently not the true ruler of the kingdom alongside the two daughters. The youngest was next in line for the throne because apparently the older daughter was a frequent liar and very manipulative.
"Watcha reading?" Bow kid asked.
"Just one of the books that I came here with." He shut it, not sure how accurate this thing was since it seemed so vague. "I don't think it will help us too much."
"Can I borrow it sometime?"
"Sorry, I'm going to try performing some composition spells on it to try figuring out what magical properties it has. Plus, the library I got it from has a 'no sharing' policy."
"Magic? Oh, now I get it. It's like that game I played."
Game? Geez he had to figure out what was going on here and get back before Wong came to kick his ass for taking his books to another dimension. Finally they reached two large doors leading to the throne room. It took some muscular guards to open it, letting them see the King sit upon his throne alone. Above them to the right was a section for nobles to sit in and witness the proceedings, the left wall covered with beautiful stained glass art.
"So these are the heroes. I am the King of Melromarc, Aultcray Melromarc the thirty second. Heroes, name yourselves." He demanded. The guy was old, long white hair, full beard, purple cloak with a fancy gold crown and other jewelry. He didn't seem like a very happy guy.
Sword bitch came forward first, like he was the most important of them all. "Amaki Ren, sixteen years old, highschooler."
He looked young but damn a highschooler summoned?
Next was spear guy. "The name is Kitamura Motoyasu. Twenty one, and a college student."
Ok, older but that cocky smirk wasn't doing any good.
"I guess I'm next." Bow kid stepped forward, pretty cheerful about this whole thing. "Kawasumi Itsuki, seventeen years old, and a high schooler."
He looked like he was twelve, damn. Well it was his turn anyways.
"I'm-"
"Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki huh?" The king acknowledged all of them except him. Which was off seeing how he was dressed very differently than the others. Maybe it was just because he already fit in with this world. He tried looking over to one of the guards, but he just scowled at him. The hell?
Well whatever, the king was about to explain things anyways. Honestly, his explanation was just like the book. Waves, monsters, legendary heroes so on and so forth. Same thing that happened earlier with the other three happened again. They demanded money, the advisor with weird eyebrows promised a 'handsome reward' that somehow satisfied them. How that worked, he wasn't sure because Naofumi was positive these guys didn't know the currency or value of anything here. Not that he knew but he wasn't pretending to.
"Then, heroes, you should all check your statuses." The king announced.
...Status, like a game? Ren pointed it out in a rather condescending way to them. A small dot in their vision. Focusing on it brought up some kind of display, just like a video game.
What kind of bullshit magic worked like video game rules?
He had stats, strong defense, ok agility, and piss poor attack. All at level one. To make things worse, apparently they weren't being trained, or taught about how to use them. All on the lines that they should already know how to get stronger. Worse, they couldn't even work together until the battle of the wave happened. The only thing they were told that they would do to help them was a starting sum of money, and some volunteer adventurers.
Honestly, Naofumi was very frustrated by the lack of help they were getting if they were really supposed to be the front line of defense. Hell this country's basic infantry got training, food, armor, everything provided by the government.
"You know what." Naofumi clapped his hands together, getting everyone's attention. "While I understand this is a grave situation, I don't think I have a good enough grasp of why things are happening the way they are right now. Is there a library I can visit to read up on the history of the waves and why it seems you're giving us the bare minimum to defend your lives?"
The king gave him an odd look, granted it was the first time the man actually looked at him.
"Who are you?"
"Oh glad you asked." Naofumi replied sarcastically, holding up the shield. "I'm one of the guys you summoned, shield hero to be exact."
"Hey, no need to be rude to royalty." Itsuki tried to chastise him.
"You were literally just threatening them a moment ago."
The King held up his hand, silently asking for them to cease talking. "While we do have libraries for you to visit, I hardly think it would be a wise way to spend your time. Now, we have prepared food and rooms for the four of you. Get some rest, for tomorrow you will form your parties and begin your journey."
….
The young sorcerer sighed, rubbing his hand over his forehead. Seriously, instead of letting him get more knowledge the guy in charge just told them to eat and sleep like it was much more productive. You know what, if he wasn't getting answers from here he was going to get them elsewhere. "Ok, I'll go home and start trying to make sense of this. Maybe I'll even play a game to refresh myself on all these stats and level sort of things."
"Weren't you listening?" Motoyasu shook his head and chuckled. "We can't go home until we beat the waves."
"Maybe you can't." Naofumi grabbed his sling ring, waving his hand in a circle to summon a portal back to Kamar-Taj. His action elicited gasps from everybody in the room, almost rising into an uproar.
"STOP!" The King demanded as loud as he could. "Are you truly attempting to abandon your role as one of the cardinal heroes?!"
"I never asked for it." Naofumi mentioned before looking back to the other heroes. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, and maybe I can figure out how to get these weapons off us and give them to more willing volunteers."
With those last words, he didn't bother listening to the chorus of voices screaming at him. Stepping through the dimensional gateway, it closed behind him, leaving a stunned audience in the throne room.
"Can we do that? Just go home whenever and come back?" Itsuki asked aloud.
"I think he just logged out." Ren stated in some shock.
"Hey!" Motoyasu pointed his spear at the king. "You said we were stuck here!"
The royal guard finally saw something they should be doing and rushed to protect their ruler. King Aultcray blinked at what just happened, until scowling heavily into the spot the shield hero was just at. Standing up, he swung his hand outwards. "It is impossible to return the heroes home until the waves are defeated! The shield hero could not have gone far!"
"Aren't we all level one?" Itsuki asked again. "How can he already fast travel?"
"He must have cheats!" Motoyasu reasoned, furious that he didn't have any of his own.
"He might have started a new game with his old stats." Ren tried to guess, scratching his head. "But, if this really is a video game. Does that mean our real bodies are still alive in our own worlds? I thought this was an isekai?"
"Whatever it is he knows how to rig the system!" Motoyasu yelled. "If he is around, we're going to figure out what else he knows and get on even footing with him."
"Right." Itsuki agreed, following the spear hero alongside the sword hero.
"So, you're saying this book brought you to another dimension that follows the story written in here but acts like a video game?" Wong asked, not fully believing the boy.
"Yes!" Naofumi said, after explaining things for the third time. "And this shield is from there, and I can still access all the weird mechanics. Watch."
Naofumi was a fast reader, and already went through all the help options earlier in his weird HUD view as the King went on and on about things he already read. He grabbed another blank paper from Wong's desk, putting it in the shield.
Paper Shield Unlocked
The silver shield glew green, transforming into a large piece of paper with the green gem in the center. "I can absorb materials in it, make new shields with their own stats, have an inventory, and all sorts of weird shit that doesn't follow any magic I know."
"Hmmm, this book was not in our collections." Wong hummed, examining the book again. "We should discuss this with Strange."
"Hold on." Naofumi smiled, excitement bubbling within himself. "You mean the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Steven Strange?!"
Instead of replying, Wong carried the book with him and motioned for the boy to follow. The older man summoned a portal, leading to the center of one of the sanctuaries. Both of them stepped through, Naofumi looking around in slight awe. He had only read about these places, but never visited. There was a large starcase in the center leading up to higher floors and splitting off to different areas. Books, relics, and all sorts of enchanted items were placed like pieces of historical art around the building. A large glass window built into the ceiling was their only source of light, beams of metal around it in the shape of a high grabe protection sigil.
"Wong." A man spoke from above, descending down towards them with a fluttering red cloak. He wore blue robes, had a well groomed dark beard, and greying marks along his sideburns. A necklace wrapped around his neck, displaying a golden eye at the center.
"I assume you aren't here for some idle chat."
Holy shit it was him!
"One of the trainees of Kamar-Taj was summoned to another dimension by this book, and placed a relic on him." Wong held out the book to Doctor Strange as he gently landed on his tiptoes.
"This is it." Naofumi held up the shield, trying not to freak out over the guy who was someone the Avengers themselves relied on from multiple occasions.
"Hm, yes. I was wondering when you were finally going to pick up that book." Doctor Strange said almost dismissively.
"You knew this would happen?" Wong asked, offended that this was kept secret.
Skimming over the pages, Doctor Strange hovered over the blank pages of the shield hero. "When I found this book in the libraries during my early days, I thought it was some joke. But there was some fundamental truths to some of the magic in here, like the summoning mentioned."
"Knew it." Naofumi pumped his fist silently to himself.
"After further analyzing, I found the book itself had magical properties but was dormant. So, taking a little peek in the future I saw it was waiting for someone who matched it's requirements for completing the summoning." Doctor Strange handed the book back to Naofumi, who was now giving the book a little more respect.
"So, what about the waves? And the world that is apparently facing doom?" The young man asked the wise and oh so awesome sorcerer.
"You were summoned, you tell me what you want to do."
"O-oh, well. I don't think I should abandon them, even if they aren't very helpful in saving themselves."
"As most are." Doctor Strange agreed.
"But, the magic used in this-" He held up the shield "-and how magic operates in their world. It needs to be studied. There's probably an easier way to stop the waves than to just smack things around with the relics."
"Good." Doctor Strange began walking up the stairs, leaving the two.
"Wait!" Naofumi called out. "That's it? That's what I need to do?"
The Sorcerer Supreme paused, looking back down to Naofumi. "While I've met a lot of individuals who can solve problems by 'smacking' them around, there's often times an easier solution if one studies the situation well enough."
"Are you sure it's wise to let him go back?" Wong asked, still unsure about all of this.
"They already have magic, not like he needs to keep his ability in the mystic arts a secret." Doctor Strange reasoned. "Naofumi."
"Yeah?"
"You can do whatever you think is best, coming and going as you please, but the only thing I ask is that you study their form of magic, find out how it works and if it's compatible with our own. You've read enough books, time to make your own."
With those last words, Doctor Strange went back to do whatever he was doing. Wong turned and sighed, giving one last glare to Naofumi. "Do not lose my books."
"Yes sir!" He felt the other book that he still carried in his robe. He shouldn't be keeping it there if he really is going to face monsters and things. Glancing at the shield, he briefly pondered something. Pulling out his books, he placed them against the shield's gem.
Illusion Shield unlocked
Guide Shield unlocked
Oh shit wait! Naofumi pulled up his inventory, sighing in relief when he saw the books were waiting there for him. Well, the world he was helping worked on gaming logic right? He should brush up on some similar things to find out what else he's missing. Also probably find that library in the other dimension.
Wow, he had a lot of research to do huh.
A woman was dashing through the castle in an absolute panic, double checking every small crack that existed. She made sure to be unseen as she moved, her dark cloak and face mask hiding her features. It was supposed to be a simple job, spy on the shield hero, remain undetected, and report her findings to the queen. There wasn't even supposed to be a shield hero, or any heroes yet! The queen was off figuring out which countries should summon what heroes, and the bloody king decided to summon all of them behind her back!
It was already sunrise, and twelve hours of searching were yielding no results. None of the shadows had any hint or found anything relating to that sparkly yellow portal the hero went through. Did he abandon them? Or is he really coming back like he said he was? Wait, he asked about a library before. Perhaps she should check there again.
Rushing through the halls, avoiding detection by another group of knights racing to report their lack of results, she approached the doors to the royal library. She whispered an incantation to herself, allowing her presence and noise to be nullified. Opening the door, she entered the library. There was no one here, of course, he was gone. Left them for-
He was there, he just...appeared out of nowhere! Looking at the air around him, it looked like there was fractured glass all around him. It dissipated, leaving without a trace. In her stunned state she forgot that she was supposed to remain unseen, but right now she was in the open, the shield hero noticing her as he was about to walk to the exit. "Oh, hi there."
"...hello."
WHY WAS SHE TALKING TO HIM?!
"Sorry if I startled you, just wanted some privacy so when I found your library I went into a mirror dimension of it to read to my hearts content."
"...how much did you read?" She asked hesitantly, some of the books here were locked away, and held heavy bias against the shield hero. If he saw what their current church system was that alone could drive him away for good.
"Not as much as I'd like." He stretched, looking a little tired. "Just the basics on the history, political structure, international relations, oh and as many magic books as I could find. Though there aren't many that actually go into as much detail as I'd like."
They still might be on his good side, depending on what he read...She really shouldn't be interacting with him but maybe she can try steering him away from wanting to spend time here and instead gaining experience fighting monsters.
"Eh, I'll get to it all eventually. I just grabbed a copy of all the books and stuffed them in my shield." He shrugged, walking up to the doors.
He...has a copy of all the books. Glancing around, she saw some of the dust still on some of them. How, how was that possible?
"You staying here or are you heading out?" He asked, holding the door open for her.
"I think I'll be taking my leave now." She said, stepping out of the library.
"Ok, well. Maybe I'll see ya around again."
Hopefully not.
Naofumi used his minimap to navigate through the castle, his environment being continually mapped the more he had explored. It even highlighted people that were rushing around, and if he met them before or they were in similar positions as others, it labeled them along with their levels. Damn that was useful. This shield was weird, after going back and playing a couple rpgs he tried when he was younger whenever he questioned a new function he saw in the game it suddenly appeared on his shield's abilities.
What sort of enchantments were running through this thing? It was like someone put a mind into this thing to continually restructure the magical pathways and responses. Well, he should let the other heroes know about it so they can get a heads up.
"HALT!"
Ah, he zoned out again. There was a knight pointing a spear at him, a couple more running up to join him. "Shield hero, you will come with us and stand before the King!"
Naofumi shrugged, following along with the Knights. Well he would have to talk to the guy again eventually. Pretty soon he was back where he left, the throne room with everybody in their places once again. Talk about deja vu. Well, all the angry faces and whispering was new.
"Shield hero." King Aultcray growled. "Where have you been?!"
"Reading in the library." He answered truthfully.
"Bullshit!" Motoyasu pointed the spear at him. "That's the first place we checked!"
"Well I was after I visited home first. I need to let my masters know about all of this." Naofumi waved his shield in front of him, gesturing to the whole area.
"Who are your masters?" The King demanded, being rather rude.
"The Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange." Naofumi stated with pride. "He's the one who has final word about mystical things."
The King gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I have never heard of this man, either you tell us-"
"You're seriously using a comic book character?" Itsuka asked. "That's supid, especially in front of us."
"Hold on, a comic character like superman?" Naofumi asked the boy.
"Yes! He's made up!"
Ren held his sword in front of the bow boy. "We did figure out we're all from different worlds, and I don't know either of those characters."
Itsuka then reexamined Naofumi's outfit, really taking it in. "You're really not cosplaying?"
"If I was, I certainly wouldn't dress like a monk."
"Silence!" Aultcray demanded, slamming his fist on his chair. "Shield hero, you realize we have been searching for you tirelessly after you vanished. You hold one of the weapons that will save our world. You cannot leave or waste time when the waves are about to wreak havoc on our world!"
"Um, I did say I was coming back in the morning. And here I am." Naofumi looked around, seeing there were still plenty of angry faces.
"Do you really plan of taking the waves seriously?" The King asked with some doubt in his voice.
"Yep."
The simple response did not please him, but they needed to move on. "Very well, next you will tell us what kind of magic you used to exit so quickly."
"You'd have to be accepted to study the mystic arts first at Kamar-Taj." Naofumi explained. "That's in my world, so unless you wanted to take away time from preparing for the waves and leaving your country then it would be a waste."
"Just tell us the cheat code, or whatever mod you used." Motoyasu tapped his spear against the ground in some weak display of strength.
"It's mystic arts, a very different style of magic used here. No mp, no required intelligence stat, just three months of study and practice."
"T-three months?!"
The King raised his hand, the crowd going silent once again. "If what you are saying is true, then we can't waste that much time for a teleportation spell. There are written moments saying that the cardinal weapons can take their heroes great distances."
"Oh, like fast travel." Itsuka noted, the vocabulary making sense to the other heroes.
"Now then, while you're all here we can finally move along. We have gathered many adventurers who wish to join you on your quest to save our world." The King announced, the doors in the back opening. Several individuals stepped inside, wearing armor, carrying weapons, and overall looked much more prepared than they did.
"Now then adventurers, choose your heroes!" The King ordered.
"Wait, we don't get to pick?" Motoyasu questioned with a little whining.
"It's their choice, besides. Those who can't keep up will be left behind." Ren stated, probably trying to sound cool.
Naofumi watched as all sorts of different characters came in, a group of three joining Itsuka, a large group of five joining Ren, and a group of four joining Motoyasu. None of them lined up behind him.
"This is an unexpected development." King Aultcray said, rubbing his beard. A man came up to whisper in his ear, the king nodding along. "It appears rumors of the Shield hero's ignorance of our world have spread. The heroes summoned usually have a firm grasp of-"
"Hold on, that doesn't sound right at all." Itsuka interrupted. "When we first came here, he guessed right away the basics of what was going on."
"That's right!" The spear hero agreed.
"Rumors are rumors, you can't trust them." Ren stated, glaring at the floor while letting his hair cover his eyes. Was he doing the act on purpose?
"Either way, the rumors whether true or false, alongside the Shield hero disappearing soon after his summoning have affected their decision." The King informed them, appearing sympathetic to the situation.
"That and the fact that the state religion believes me to be the devil." Naofumi nodded along, just tossing it out there.
Murmurs were shared in the audience, many eyes now locking onto the shield user with intrigue and some worry. The King himself began to sweat, now realizing how much Naofumi knew. The only saving grace was that he hardly seemed to care.
"What no way people believe you're a devil, the king himself said you're a hero!" Motoyasu looked around, seeing if others were agreeing with him. They did not.
"Eh, as long as they don't try to burn me at the stake I'll let them think whatever." Naofumi shrugged before taking one last look around. "Alright, so if that's it then I'm going to start checking out the capital. Get my bearings and all of that. I'll find my own companions."
He started making a portal, everyone erupting once again.
"Shield hero, don't you dare!"
And he was gone, everyone staring at the now empty spot in the room. The King leaned back in his throne, hitting his head against the back of it.
"What shall we do with his funds?" One of the advisors asked, holding up a bag of coins. A glowing orange portal opened up next to him, Naofumi poking his head through.
"Hey, quick question, do we get any starting money or-oh. Guess that's it right there. Thanks!"
"No wait don't-GAH!"
Naofumi walked down the streets, tossing the bag of coins up in the air and catching it. "Alright, eight hundred silver. That's a good amount of money to get started with enough for basic armor and a good few weeks of basic traveling fees. Though I don't know if I'll actually use it or not. Don't really need armor...or do I?"
Looking over his stats, his defense was still rather high. Apparently if something had enough attack power only then would it injure the area targeted. As is, a simple dagger against his skin wouldn't cause him harm. There was the annoying part of not being able to attack them back either. Well that was if he used this world's magic.
He was a sorcerer, a user of the mystic arts that channel the dimensional energy that creates the multiverse.
Looking around the town, everything felt like Nepal mixed with a renaissance festival. Food stands, trinkets, clothing, everything one needed was around for purchase. Not for him though, conjuration for everyday necessities was a pretty easy task. Though the smell of those sweet rolls was something he could hardly replicate.
"One of these please." Naofumi asked pointing to the treat.
"Of course! That will be seven copper."
Pulling out a silver coin, Naofumi gave it to the woman. "If you don't have change I understand."
"I-I should have enough. One moment."
As she was digging through her chest, Naofumi licked his lips as he brought the delicacy to his mouth. He wasn't a good cook, and tended to be picky. But man when something smells this good your stomach just suddenly decides it has to have it.
"Here's your change!" The woman held a small flimsy bag with the copper coins within, but Naofumi was holding his own coins in one hand and the treat in the other.
"Just put it in the shield." He said, moving his arm closer for the woman.
"S-sure." She pressed it against the gem, the money vanishing.
Copper Shield unlocked
Currency Shield unlocked
He briefly read over the stats, but he didn't care too much about them. Taking a bite of the sweet roll he felt the still moist bread melt in his mouth. Damn this stuff was good. Now for some reason he really wanted Taco Bell.
Looking around, he smiled once again at the bustling life that was taking place. Sure you could read about a place and its people, but to be there was something else. If he wanted to truly know the world he was placed in, he wanted to interact with the people who lived in it.
"Hey! Sneaky lady!"
The shadow on the rooftop froze as Naofumi waved to her.
"I wanna ask a few questions, is that alright?"
She double checked her magic status, everything still active. How could he tell she was there?! Not getting any answers from her spot, she vanished from her place and reappeared in an alleyway near the Shield hero. It wasn't teleportation, just a few speed boosting skills on top of a mirage ability her cloak gave her.
"Hey there!" He greeted happily. "Didn't think we would see one another again so soon."
"How do you keep seeing me, finding me?"
"Well you keep channeling all that magic into yourself. The local ley lines are constantly pooling energy into you to keep up whatever magic you're using."
He could see past her stealth magic...because she was using stealth magic?
"Anyways." Naofumi took another bite of his sweet roll. "I'm new to town, and even if I can find my way around I want to get to know what this country is all about."
Her sweat began to build up, in the throne room he already announced he knew of the hate towards him from the religion. Was he testing her? Seeing if she would reveal the truth to him? How much can she tell him and how much does he already know?! Her only options were to run and report immediately to another shadow lest he follow her, or comply with his wishes.
"Very well, I'll accompany you." She agreed.
"Sweet."
"But I cannot be seen, with or without my uniform." The shadow quickly corrected.
Naofumi tilted his head slightly, looking at her up and down. "Why's that? I think you fit in pretty well. But that is from an outsider's view."
The shadow removed her mask, letting down her cloak. She had pale skin, her jet black hair running straight down past her shoulders. On her back were four long spider legs that folded out to be an impressive length. Her eyes were large and round, no color around her pupil as dark freckles ran from one cheek to the other. She wore a black silky tank top that fit her frame and exposed her back so she could use her appendages. Her pants were slightly baggy, stuffed into her boots that were made of the same material as her clothes. If it wasn't for a red pendant around her neck Naofumi could have sworn she was just black and white.
"My name is Petra, and I'm a demi-human."
"Huh, guess that explains that." Naofumi glanced around, seeing if anyone was watching them.
"So you know about the discrimination?"
"Caused by a war with Siltvelt, yes." Naofumi crossed his hands over one another, sparking orange lines beginning to cover them. "But I think I can help us be a little more discreet."
Before she could fully question the man, he threw his hands forward, a disc with symbols she didn't recognize materializing in front of him. It came forward, crashing into her frame but she didn't feel a thing. "What was that supposed to-"
She looked at her hands, her less pale hands that looked like it held human blood in them. Naofumi rubbed his robe against his shield holding the backside in front of himself. "Take a look and let me know if there's anything you want me to change."
Petra didn't see a spiderling, but a human girl. Wavy strawberry blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and her freckles were more faded with her new tone of skin but still noticeable. She looked at her back, not seeing her other limbs but still feeling them. When she tried picking up her cloak with one, it passed right through it.
"Your extra legs are just in an illusionary plane." Naofumi explained with a proud smirk. "So long as the illusion holds, they won't be able to interact with the physical plane. They're still there though."
"Is this, transmutation magic?" Petra stretched her face with one hand, feeling everything different down to the last detail. "How did you do that without any kind of incantation?"
"Incantation is just to help memorize when first casting a spell." The shield hero began to explain. "These illusions alter the viewers perception and senses, so not true transmutation but as close as you can get to it without changing the original target."
Petra, wasn't sure how to feel about this new hero. He just showed up, disappeared, showed up again and now made her look, normal. Looking out to the street, she began to question how people would behave around her now. Would the scowls vanish? Would they still look down on her, treat her more of an object than a person?
Naofumi noticed her hesitation, bringing down the shield to rest against his arm. "Sorry if it seems rude, I can undo the spell if you wa-"
"No, I...I want to try this." Petra took a step out, letting the light highlight her features. Dropping her spells, and now with her cloak and mask equipped there was nothing keeping her hidden from the world. Some people passed by, acknowledging her with a smile, or just a glance.
"My what a pretty young woman." The woman from the sweet roll shop said to herself, but to a trained shadow's ears she heard it. Petra was pretty.
"So, Petra." Naofumi came up next to her. "What exactly is with the sneaky get up? You some sort of secret service for Royalty?"
"...something like that."
"Cool, so that must mean you know the ins and outs of this place."
Petra nodded, still a little stupefied about her just casually being able to walk around the place with the shield hero.
"Tell me then." He stopped in front of her, giving her his full attention. "Where can I find the best information about magic around here?"
This is something that has been going through my head for a little bit. Yeah Naofumi isn't acting like canon but I have enough seriousness in other writings. Honestly I write really dark stuff in my other stories and constantly throw the main character through shit. I have four stories, each with over a hundred thousand words. I got a little tired working on them, and am in a big Doctor Strange phase right now. So, here's this. I don't have any intricate plots for this planned and I'm making it up as I go based on what scenes I wanna see. This is literally just my mess around fanfic whenever I need a change of pace.
Amy grammar mistakes please point out and I will fix them ASAP.
Let me know how well you like it and if you want to see more.
