Disclaimer: The Rising of the Shield hero belongs to Aneko Yusagi. This fic was made non-profit, I just wanted to write something about this series.
English it is not my first language, if you see something with a poor grammatical structure, mistake verb tenses, wrong conjugations, etc. please tell me to correct it. For me it is a language development experience.
B/N: Well, here comes chapter 1! Let's see what I have to deal with...
The Shield Hero who came from another world
Chapter 1
To say that he was irritated was an understatement.
Naofumi was ready to start piledriving people into the ground.
He set his sight into the guy that seemed to be in charge and stood up, walked up to him, and grabbed him by the collar.
"What the hell are you saying about 'save your world'?! Where am I? Is this Earth? Because if it isn't, you better have a way to return me home!"
"Please, don't kill me! I can't answer those questions, only the King can do it! Please, don't kill me, Shield Hero!" the elder man cried out, shocked by Naofumi's roughness – not knowing what Naofumi's reaction would be to hearing him speak that name.
"How the hell do you know that name?! Are you working with the Chiltik nobles that escaped or those fucking traitors who avoided getting their date with the headsman?!"
Around him, all the people that had to be behind the summoning were completely petrified. The three others that had been summoned along with Naofumi realized this and quickly moved in to calm their counterpart.
"Easy there, man," the blond spearman said, gently grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away. "We won't get any answers if you get aggressive with them."
"He's right! Just calm down and let them talk! We need to know what just happened to us, and getting angry won't solve our problem," the bowman stated, trying to make Naofumi see reason while trying to interpose himself between Naofumi and the priest.
The last stranger, the black-haired swordsman, said nothing, but put his hand on Naofumi's shoulder and silently showed him support while attempting to convince him to move away.
"Please, calm down, Shield Hero!" another priest stated, panicking. "We don't know of this Chiltik you speak of; we are Priests of Melromarc!"
As much as he wanted to throttle the priest, Naofumi realized the other people were right, and let go of the priest, who quickly stepped away from him and tried to fix up his robes.
"Explain, now!"
The sharp tone in Naofumi's voice snapped the priests into attention, and their leader – yet another High Priest, much to Naofumi's chagrin – began to tell their side of the story.
Their world was regularly by a massive phenomenon called the Waves of Calamity, which created large amounts of monsters that prowled land, sea, and sky, and which normal people were powerless to fight without help. The only way to stop the Waves was to summon four people that could become the Four Cardinal Heroes by means of an ancient ritual, which they had carried out as soon as the people of Melromarc realized the Waves were coming again. Further questions would be answered by the King himself, however.
Naofumi was concerned about this being just a repeat of what had happened to him five years before, but nonetheless followed the others – the three weapon holders clearly angry, although Naofumi was not sure if it was because they would have to wait for answers or just on behalf of the people.
The contingent of priests and otherworlders left the ritual room and began to climb up the stairs that, according to the priests, led to the door and the city of Melromarc – which was soon laid in front of them, as they came into the light. While the other three were amazed at the sight, Naofumi just sighed and hoped his ill-feeling was unwarranted.
Said ill-feeling did not go away as they were led to the nearby Royal Palace, never mind when the doors to the throne room were opened. At the end of the opulent chamber sat an older man that wore royal purple robes and a crown with violet jewels on his head, waiting for them: clearly, this man was either the King or someone close to the realm's monarch (Naofumi knew better than to assume it was always a man in charge) and he was proven right in the next moment.
"So, these young men are the Four Cardinal Heroes? My name is Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, and I am King of this land!"
As much as Naofumi wanted to shout at the King, he knew that his earlier outburst had not earned him any brownie points, so he needed to proceed with caution if he did not want to get in trouble. Also, he needed time to make sure he could still use his abilities in this world: even if Saito had said they would remain with him no matter what, he could not be certain until he checked.
Meanwhile, the High Priest walked up to the King and whispered something in his ear. Given the King's hard look, Naofumi did not need much effort to guess what was being talked about.
"Shield Hero," and there he noted a touch of disgust. "The High Priest tells me you assaulted him after you were summoned. While we can understand your state of confusion, since you were brought from elsewhere, your actions were nonetheless deplorable. Do you have anything to say to this?"
Oh, great. Not even five minutes in here and I'm already on this country's ruler's wrong side. Yay, Naofumi thought as he looked around. The Throne room had several balconies on both sides, all full of people that he presumed were part of the Royal Court... and all of them were looking at him with contempt. And time to brush up on politics. Sheesh, I just shouted at that guy, who the hell pissed on your breakfast?
"It was a misunderstanding, Your Majesty. Before being summoned here, I was working with a group of mages working on a teleportation circle, and I got the shorter straw when they asked for a volunteer. The test would have transported me to a clearing in a nearby forest, but it seems like your priests' summoning interfered with it and brought me to their temple. Needless to say, I reacted like most people would, although I acknowledge I may have gone too far."
His statement had had enough truth in it to satisfy anyone. He had been transported by a teleportation circle, he was the one to use it because no one else would, and it was meant to transport him to a clearing near Mount Fuji. Still, there was no way he was going to share the truth of all he had gone through the past five years, much less some King that had just forced him away from going back home.
Nevertheless, the King's obvious distrust did not waver. Naofumi just kept himself from going over him and shaking him down.
"Understandable. But why did you react like you did when he called you Shield Hero?"
Alright. If this guy thinks I'm a danger to his interests, he will have me killed on the spot. The time for half-truths is past. It's the time for outright BS.
"When I was a child, my playmates and I would play to be heroes, like other children, but the only weapon I was good with was the shield. They would then called me the Shield Hero, which they kept up doing even as we parted ways, and many of them stopped being friendly when we met again, yet kept using that moniker. That's why I reacted that way."
"Very well. I shall overlook this action, but be warned, that doing any harm to my subjects will not be so easily forgiven."
"Noted, Your Majesty. Allow me to offer my apologies to the High Priest for my previous behavior." Naofumi bowed, knowing that this time he was at fault. The priest inclined his head, accepting his apology, before leaving the stand. "One question, before we continue. Am I correct in believing that he called me 'Shield Hero' after this shield?"
"That is correct," the man standing beside the King, some sort of advisor if Naofumi had to guess. "There is a prophecy that states that, when the time comes, the world would be devastated by the Waves of Calamity, and that only the Four Cardinal Heroes would be able to stop the Waves. When the Hourglass of the Dragon's Era began to fall down, we knew the first Wave would come soon, but we did not take this warning as seriously as we should. We learned of our mistake too late, and I'm ashamed to say this, we lost the entire region of Seaetto when the Wave struck there. Our brave soldiers and mages managed to contain the attack in the area, but they were unable to prevent the devastation. As it is said that the following Waves will become worse in intensity, our best chance of survival relied on your summoning."
"And for that, as a King, I wish to request your help, Heroes of legend," the King finished, looking at the four of them at once.
"I think I understand what you want, but... you are basically forcing us to help you?" the black-haired swordsman asked.
"I agree," said the brunet bowman. "All of this works in your favor, what do we get out of it?"
"It does seem kind of lopsided," the blond spearman said. "You get our help, we stop these waves, but what do we get at the end? Will you just return us to our world without nothing?"
"If you don't kill us before because you don't have the resources to pay us."
The entire room went silent as Naofumi's words surged through everyone like lightning. Even the other heroes were frozen in their spots, clearly shocked about an idea none of them had considered. The advisor, seeing what was about to happen, quickly interrupted.
"What you are saying is impossible for us to do. You are basically saints for the people in this kingdom. Why would you think we would do that?"
"In our world, there is a legend about a spearman and his band of misfits who went to rescue a city that was being attacked by bandits. The king and his nobles accepted the band's help and promised to pay them well if they managed to stop the bandits, but only because they thought the spearman and his band would die fighting, while they themselves prepared to leave the city to the bandits' mercies. But the spearman and his men were victorious, and when they returned to collect their reward, it turned out the king and the nobles did not have the reward they had promised to give, and they feared what their saviors would do to get it – so the nobles had them killed and then built a legend about them becoming the holy protectors of the land."
From the looks of it, it seemed like the locals were outraged by the mere idea of someone killing their protectors just because they did not have the money to pay. There was a time for subterfuge, but that was not one.
"I can guarantee you that won't happen here, due to your importance," the King stated. "You have my word on that. But fret not, you shall receive monetary help and aid to support your fight against the Waves. The only situation in which we may stop helping you is if you commit a crime that cannot be ignored."
"Well, if you promise to help us, then I will help you guys," the spearman said.
"As long as we are allies, I will help you, but don't think I'll follow your orders like a war dog," the swordsman stated.
"You better not underestimate us just because we come from another world," the bowman said.
"Thank you for your kind words, Your Majesty," Naofumi finished.
"Now, present yourselves, heroes, to me and the nobles of this great Kingdom."
"I am Amaki Ren, sixteen years old," the swordsman simply stated.
"My name is Kawasumi Itsuki. I am seventeen and I am quite good at using thrown weapons," the bowman said.
"I am Kitamura Motoyasu, twenty-one, college student, and everyone loves me when they meet me!" the spearman exclaimed with a grin.
"I am-"
"Be welcome, brave heroes, to Melromarc" the King spoke up, interrupting Naofumi, who looked at the man with an incredulous gaze. The King noticed and just looked back. "My apologies, I spoke ahead of time."
Naofumi did not believe the man. After everything he had seen in Aztlan, he knew a slight when it happened, and the interruption was clearly one. He still decided to act as if it had not happened.
"I am Iwatani Naofumi, twenty years old. I am a merchant and have done several part-time jobs in the past." Back to half-truths, it is.
"As I said earlier, be welcome, heroes, to Melromarc. Now, please check your status screens and observe your abilities."
"Our what?" Itsuki asked, confused, much like Naofumi and Motoyasu were, but Ren quickly looked around.
"Look at the lower right corner of your sight, you will see an icon. Just think about pressing it," Ren instructed the others. Soon enough, Naofumi had done as suggested, and he became both impressed and concerned with what he was seeing.
Iwatani Naofumi
Class: Legendary Shield Hero Lv. 1
Equipment: Small Shield (Legendary weapon), otherworldly clothes.
Skills: Null Sickness, Astral Teleport, Hedron Shield, Storage.
Magic: Runic magic.
What the hell? Is this some kind of video game? I'd likely end up doing something stupid if I acted like it was a game when it actually wasn't, he thought, and as he checked his skills, he noticed there were missing things. I lost Animal Whisperer. Man, after all the effort I took to know how to use it! At least I still have all the other skills and my magic! Saito, you are a genius. I take back what I said about your weird kemonomimi fetish.
"I am worried," Motoyasu said. Ren and Itsuki nodded, clearly sharing the former's opinion, but Naofumi did not understand the problem. Itsuki noticed.
"It's going to be difficult, fighting with this," he pointed out. Naofumi just shrugged, still not seeing their point, before turning to another point.
"Where did this come from?" Naofumi asked.
"It is common magic in this world that allows people to track their abilities, but I am told that Heroes have a different Status Screen. As for your skills, you will have to improve and become stronger with your Legendary Weapons – and to do so, you must go on adventures and quests."
"You mean... we have to form a party?" Naofumi concluded. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Itsuki and Motoyasu nod, while Ren did not seem to be enthusiastic about the idea.
"I am afraid not," the King replied. "The legends state that the Heroes must remain far from each other's reach, as the Legendary Weapons interfere with each other and prevent the Heroes from acquiring the experience they need to grow."
Just then, a blue rectangle popped up in front of Naofumi, pretty much telling him that the King was right: their experience gains were lower the closer the Heroes were to each other, to the point that they fell to zero if they were within a mile of each other. Given how he was carrying a shield, Naofumi wondered how he would find people that would help him in a fight.
"The sun is setting, and you must rest," the King stated, bringing Naofumi out of his musings. "My servants have prepared rooms in this castle of mine for you, along with dinner. Tomorrow, the best adventurers in our Kingdom will come and join you in your journey to defeat the Waves of Calamity."
One of the attendants stepped forward and made a hand sign, inviting the heroes to follow him. While the nobles retired from the balconies – likely to return to their homes – the heroes were taken to what amounted to be a four-bedroom suite with a common room, where a small feast had been laid out. Not feeling hungry, Naofumi had decided to lie on his bed, checking his status screen for clues on what he could do with it when Motoyasu knocked on his door.
"We are going to eat. Wanna join us?"
"Sure," he replied, closing the screen and standing up. As he sat, Motoyasu decided to speak up.
"Hey, Naofumi, there's something nagging me about what you said."
"What is it?" he asked, eating a grape. Tasty, different from what he had tasted in his past adventure.
"You mentioned you were brought to this world when you were testing a magic circle, right?"
"Yeah. A teleportation circle. I was helping that group of mages work out a circle that could let people travel between dimensions because it was my chance to return home. As you can imagine, it didn't work."
Even though he was alone with the other heroes, he was going to keep the full truth in secret for several reasons. The first, that he was certain there was someone spying on them, and he really did not want anyone to learn the truth and potentially use it against him. The second, that he really did not want anyone to know that he had the means to return home at any time: during his work with the Kostik mages, he had made the effort of memorizing the magic circle and how to build it. It just required materials he did not have access to yet, but when he did and the time was right, he would use it.
"Return home? What do you mean?" Itsuki asked, surprised.
"Ok... when I was fifteen, a bunch of mages decided to summon me, my uncle, aunt, and cousin and other sixteen people because their world was in danger."
"Sheesh, you got the Isekai adventure already? I'm so jealous of you, Naofumi," the bowman said, but Naofumi shook his head.
"You shouldn't be. It was bad. Sure, there were some high points, but everything was a mess. Fights, fearing for your life, betrayals – my aunt, my uncle, and several people dear to me died a couple of years after because a bunch of nobles that liked to turn people into sex slaves betrayed their country. To them, it didn't matter that my uncle and aunt were two of the heroes that had been summoned to save their sorry asses."
Itsuki winced at his faux pas.
"Ah! Sorry about that. And for your loss. Were you a hero before coming here?"
"No. I started as a Royal Knight, but I became bored of that profession and of having to fight all the time, so I switched to becoming a Merchant."
"Profession?"
"In that world, professions are a way to grant people the ability to develop their skills and find where their strengths lied. It was my uncle and aunt that got the Hero profession. My cousin was some kind of mage but switched to a Merchant as well."
"So... if I tell you this world seems like a videogame... you wouldn't know which one I'm talking about?" Motoyasu asked.
"No idea."
"You are talking about Dimension Web, Motoyasu?"
"No, I was talking about Emerald Online. How is it possible you don't know about it? It's pretty famous!"
"You guys are wrong," Ren intervened. "This is like Brave Star Online."
The three heroes promptly got stuck in a debate to try to point out which game they were in, only for the debate to turn into a comparison of what their local history and culture were. Much to their surprise, most of their answers were different. The final answer was obvious.
"You know, I remember my cousin talking about the multiverse. Said that he once met a dimensional traveler from a destroyed world who died several hours later. I thought he was high then, but... now it turns out there are different versions of Earth?" Naofumi told them.
"This is going to give me a headache," Itsuki declared, his eyes closed and head leaning on the table.
"Naofumi. Can you tell us about the world you were in?" Ren asked.
"Why?"
"A matter of curiosity. You never told the King that you were actually in another world when you were summoned. Why?"
"As absurd as it sounds right now because it's too farfetched. You guys know about this kind of thing from manga, video games or Light Novels, but I'm not sure about how they would deal with it. That magic circle was just another step to make a reverse summon so I could return home."
"Why didn't you want to live there? I would do that if it had been me."
"Believe me, Motoyasu. I considered it several times, but that world took too much away from me. My aunt and my first and third girlfriend were murdered, my uncle and my second girlfriend died protecting me, my cousin almost went to the other side at least three times. I lost many friends and loved ones there. And I also missed my family, the friends I had at home."
"Did anyone else try to do the same?"
"I was the only one that tried, but likely because by the end of the war, we were only seven survivors out of the original twenty-one."
"Shit," Itsuki whispered. "What happened to them?"
"Half of them died because of those backstabbing bastards. A few of them of sickness. Most of the others because of pure bad luck. One girl actually went out of her way to get eaten by a dragon." The others looked at Naofumi, hoping it was a joke, but he disabused them. "She had a severe case of codependency with her boyfriend, who was not summoned with us and couldn't deal with it. We all did our best to help her, but it was not enough."
"That's an awful way to die. Poor girl," Motoyasu said.
"Believe me, we tried, but not even a twenty-four-seven watch was able to keep her safe from herself. And then there was the Sagaras. They were both poisoned and fell into a coma, but they survived because Sousuke was a paranoid one. He woke up a couple of months ago, but as far as I know his wife was still in coma. The kings from there granted him a good home and paid for the healer's bill because he would never stay too far away from his wife."
As he spoke, Naofumi stood up and walked up to the wall. With the help of a quill and an ink bottle – and the others did not even know how Naofumi got his hands on either – he began to write runes on the walls, the door, and even the window frames. Just as he finished, he pushed in a bit of magic, and suddenly the room was covered in green light.
"Alright, I used some magic to put up a barrier to keep spies from listening. That means we're free to talk about whatever."
Motoyasu and Itsuki were clearly surprised, and even Ren was showing emotions. They could not confirm whether someone was actually listening in on them, but it was certainly a possibility.
"You know magic, too," Ren stated. "Why now, and not earlier?"
"Look, right now all they have is stuff that they can't use against us, even what I told you before. But I have some knowledge to share. First, don't fully trust anyone, especially the adventurers that will join us tomorrow. For all we know, they will be spies for the King, for other nobles, or, worse, for the Church."
"Why the Church?" Itsuki asked.
"In my world, the European countries were under the thumb of the church, and we were brought to this world through the church building," Ren pointed out. "Do you think that the local Church has a similar hold in this world?"
"Something like that. My mother was a historian, and I grew up hearing history lessons as bedtime stories. That legend I mentioned earlier? It really happened in my world. And I'd rather not be the same. I'm not saying that we need to be paranoid, just that we have to keep an eye on them."
"I don't think it's necessary to be too concerned about that. They trust us with their defense, and we need to trust that they will fight the Waves along with us."
"I believe the same. I doubt the King will let someone that doesn't pass their confidence test to join us. That would make it harder for us to deliver justice."
The others turned to look at Itsuki with a weird gaze but chose not to comment before turning back to their own conversation.
"Anyway, my mother also said there were commoners that could be capable of anything just to win the favor of a noble, and for the aristocracy, it was the same towards the royalty," Naofumi continued. "And many nobles got hammered because they weren't careful enough when dealing with their kings. For example, Louis XIV's first and last Superintendent of Finances was sent to prison for life after giving a big party where he overshadowed the King. Ok, and because he was corrupt and the King wanted to make him an example, but still."
"Seriously?" Itsuki asked, surprised.
"I... remember some of that. Louis XIV had self-esteem issues or something like that, or that's what I found when I was doing a research assignment in high school. Hey, we have a common point between our worlds, Naofumi," Motoyasu said.
"Maybe our worlds share the same historical roots, it is to be expected," Ren supplied.
"But, still, what you are trying to say may be too much. I don't believe the nobles or the King will act like that," Motoyasu continued.
"Look, just think about it. Also, I know it looks like a game, and that this status screen thing makes it look like your games, but do not treat it like them. This world is all too real, and if you don't think of it like that, then you're going to regret it in the future."
"Don't worry, man, this is the best that could happen to us. By the way, we already know what you were doing before being summoned, but what about you two?"
Naofumi began to erase the runes he had used, not caring that the people outside could now hear what they were saying: whatever was going to be discussed now, it was not that important. He decided to go to sleep, leaving the other three to discuss other topics related to the games they had played and that were similar to what they had seen.
"Going to bed already, Naofumi?"
"Yeah, I'm tired and done for the day. You can keep talking, but you should go to sleep as well soon. Good night."
Elsewhere in the castle, King Aultcray worked in his study office... and he was uneasy.
Just a few moments before, his eldest daughter had come to him with a good plan that could be useful to verify the credibility of the Shield Devil, and if necessary to completely discredit him. The plan called for her to stay close to him for a time, and he did not want that disrespectful brat to be near his precious daughter, but Malty was right: he needed to know if all the heroes were trustworthy or not.
The Cardinal Weapons may choose the Heroes, but history was full of times where a Holy Weapon had clearly made a mistake: the latest had been but a few decades before when the last Claw hero allied with Tyran Ga Fayon in his plans to make Siltvelt conquer the world. But he had put a stop to those maniacs during the war, and he would do it again if needed.
Just then, one of his Shadows entered his study through a secret passageway and delivered a roll of parchment, which contained the conversation the four heroes had been involved in. Aultcray had mixed feelings about what he read, and most importantly what he did not read.
"This strange sound that blocked your listening mid-conversation. Do you know who or what caused it?"
"No, Your Majesty, but I believe it was the Shield Hero. I saw him painting something on the windows with ink before the noise began, and the noise disappeared shortly before he started to erase the ink. He then went back to sleep after he was done."
"That Shield Devil! Not only does he have the balls to mistreat one of my priests, but he also lies and hides things from me! Maybe my daughter's plan has merit. Shadow, you better keep a tight eye on her. If anything happens, I want her out of the way immediately!"
"As you command, Your Majesty," the Shadow replied before leaving Aultcray alone again.
The King re-read the conversation between the Heroes, and something unsettled in him. The way he claimed he and his family had been betrayed by nobility felt suspicious. What kind of world it was, that treated its heroes like that?
To him, a descendant of heroes and a hero himself, it sounded completely wrong. His past self, the one that had proven worthy of wielding the Vassal Staff to use it against the invading Siltvelt hordes, cried out against the injustice.
"Maybe the Shield Devil was right about something. We need to be careful with nefarious nobles. My knights claimed no one survived in all of Seaetto, but I'm sure someone should have. Like that fishing town, people could have survived by going out into the sea, and they had that orca demi protecting them, yet no one has seen her since the attack. "
The King remained pensive for several minutes, looking to the ceiling, wondering if he should give it more attention or not, before returning to the other tasks he had to attend to... like paperwork. He would never understand how she could deal with it.