I do not own or maintain any rights to Rising of The Shield Hero they belong to One Piece Books and Aneko Yusagi. I am just playing in their sandbox for a minute.
Chapter 3: The Good, The Bad, And the Unlucky
The guard was kind enough to escort me down the halls in the direction that the others had gone, I noticed that one of the doors appeared to be larger than the others and standing open on the way to our destination. Being the inquisitive type that I am I decided to peak through the door as we walked past. 'It's the castle library!' I thought excitedly.
"Excuse me Sir Knight, but is the room we just past the library?"
The guard stopped his brisk walk and turned to me before speaking. "Yes, it is Sir Hero, is there something that you need?"
"I was hoping that you might be able to help me acquire some books on the history and culture of Melromarc."
The guard seemed to ponder my request for a moment before responding. "That should not be a problem, Sir Hero, so long as the books are returned before you set out on your journey. If you will allow me a moment sir." The guard replied before walking through the open door and into the room.
I could hear what sounded like the guard looking through the shelves for a minute before returning to the corridor.
"I have acquired two books for you, Sir Hero," He said handing them to me "They were written in your tongue using manuscripts from past heroes so you should be able to read them without issue."
'Interesting, so even though we can speak to the residents of this world via magic from being summoned we would not be able to normally read their language. That is good to know, if we can't read in this world, we would be wholly dependent on the people around us to learn about it.
"Sir, you said that the heroes of olde left manuscripts that were used to translate these books, do you know where I could acquire a copy of one?"
"I thought you might ask that, if you open the second book to the back one of the translation tables is there." He explained gesturing to the book in question.
I purposefully opened the book to examine the table he mentioned, he was right it was a good starting point. To begin translating books that were written in the language of this world, there was one catch however the tables were written in kanji.
"Hmm" I hummed looking over the table 'This is intriguing, the heroes of olde were Japanese . . . So are the current heroes!' I came to realize suddenly. 'I need to read through a book about the past heroes and gather more evidence but I'm sure that being Japanese has something to do with being a hero!'
I looked up from my musing to see the guard patiently waiting on me to continue walking.
"My apologies Sir Knight, I became a little enthralled at the books you have provided me, they are a great boon to me."
"It is my duty to serve Sir Hero, I am glad I can be of such service to you. Now shall we resume?"
"Yes. Please lead the way."
We walked on for a few more minutes before we arrived at a solidly built wooden door. I could hear the other chattering inside. I turned to thank the guard only to see him give a polite nod and start to walk away. I swiftly turned the handle and went inside.
"Huh?!" I heard Ren shout as they saw me walk in.
"Well hello to you all too," I said scratching at my ringing ear.
"Sorry, Williamson-san," Ren responded.
"So, what did the king want with you?" Motoyasu asked cheekily rising from the bed he was sprawled out on and putting an arm around my shoulders.
"He just wanted to know if I knew why I was summoned alongside you all, we didn't have much to talk about. This is a first in all of their history." I replied to the room giving Motoyasu my best side-eye. "What did I miss? It sounded like you had made a discovery." I inquired of the others has Motoyasu finally got the hint.
"We were talking about how much this seemed like a game Williamson-sama, Ren had just told us it felt like a VRMMO he had be playing." Naofumi offered.
I let out an audible huff at the idea of them thinking this is a game still. "Listen up, I know this place seems magical and fantastic right now, but I can assure you this is no game. Look around you this place is far too real to be fake," I paused a moment to take a deep breath before resuming "I can understand why you may want to believe that this is nothing more than a great game, but you have to understand no matter how fantastical it seems. For the time being this is our reality. Your actions are going to have real consequences."
"Hahaha, That's funny Williamson! This place is exactly like Emerald Online." Motoyasu laughed out. "And just like Emerald Online, I'm going to be the best and get all the cuties!" He said continuing to chuckle and spinning around to be in front of me.
SLAP! The others quickly jumped back from their positions and winced as my hand connected Motoyasu's face.
"Ahhh! Ouch! What was that for!" Motoyasu yelled at me while holding his face and rolling around on the floor.
"That is what we in the military refer to has a wake-up call! Jesus Motoyasu are you that stupid?! Tell me all of you, did any of the videogames you play ever hurt you like that?" I said pointing down at Motoyasu who was now sitting upright holding his reddening cheek.
"No, but wasn't that a little uncalled for?" Itsuki said nervously fiddling with his bowstring.
"I don't believe Dimension Wave ever caused real pain," Ren said with his hand on the pommel of his sword.
"If you think getting slapped in the face is painful just wait until you slip up and get stabbed. That is what I want you to understand," I said while helping Motoyasu to his feet again, "If you don't treat the threats in this world has one-hundred percent genuine you will get hurt or worse." I finished looking at each of the others, in turn, to make sure they got the message.
"Williamson-sama is right," Naofumi said to the group "We need to be careful here, the people out there are counting on us to save them."
I saw the others nod in agreement with Naofumi.
"Okay then the first thing of importance is information, do any of you feel like sharing?" I asked the group taking a seat at the table in the room.
Ren raised his hand. I nodded at him to go ahead "I don't think we all come from the same Japan."
"What makes you think this?" I asked him.
"Well each of us sans Naofumi has played a game that shares a close resemblance to this world, however, none of us have heard of the other's games." He said.
"Okay then let's test that theory. Call out your prime ministers on one. Three, Two, One!" I said counting down.
"Masato Yuda."
"Gotaro Yawahara."
"Enichi Kodaka."
"Shigeno Ichifuji."
The whole room fell silent.
"It does seem that you all came from different Japans," I said after letting it sink in.
"I guess that means that there is a Japan in all our parallel worlds?" Naofumi asked.
"I thought at first that we could just be from different time periods. But none of our experiences match up, so that can't be it." Ren added.
'Still four different otakus for parallel Japans? That has to be important somehow.'
"If that's the case, it seems like we were brought here for different reasons and in different ways."
"I'm not really into having useless conversations. Do we really need to have these things in common anyway?" Ren said trying to act like the coolest person in the room.
"Absolutely, good teamwork has kept more of my comrades alive than our armor. So why don't you start us off on how we all got here." I said involuntelling Ren.
Ren looked nervous for a moment before he quietly began speaking.
"I was on my way home from school when I hit a spot of bad luck and got caught up in a murder case. It was the talk of the town at the time."
"Uh-huh."
"I was with a good friend. I remember saving him, and I remember the criminal getting arrested . . ." Ren was rubbing his side softly as he spoke. "Anyway, so then, before I knew it, I woke up here."
'So, Ren was murdered trying to save a friend. That's so sad but it does happen.'
"Makes sense. Pretty cool of you, though, isn't it? Saving your best friend and all?" Naofumi said praising Ren.
"Indeed, it shows true compassion and loyalty to die for a friend, I'm sure your friend will remember you for the rest of their life. You have my respect Ren" I said standing up and saluting Ren before sitting back down.
"Okay, I guess I'm next," said Motoyasu pointing at himself "I have . . . Well, to put it simply . . . I have quite a few girlfriends."
"I'm sure you do."
'Ah, so he was a horndog.'
"And well . . ."
"You had too many at once, and they stabbed you or something?" Ren said, laughing to himself.
Motoyasu snapped his eyes open in surprise, then nodded. "Yeah, well . . . Women are terrifying."
"Goddammit!" Naofumi shouted at Motoyasu while flipping him the one-finger salute.
"So you were a playboy who broke the wrong heart?" I said judgmentally.
"Well, what can I say!" Motoyasu said smiling "I'm a fan of the horizontal tango." He added wiggling his eyebrows.
"Fucking degenerate," I muttered under my breath. While Itsuki and Ren shared a disgusted look with one another.
Itsuki stepped forward and placed a hand over his heart and began to speak. "Now it's my turn. I was on my home from perp school. I went to cross the road, but a dump truck came screaming around the corner at full speed. And then . . ."
The room fell silent once more.
'Ouch, that had to have hurt.'
"Uh . . . do we really all have to talk about how we got here?" Naofumi asked looking nervous.
"Yes," I said.
"Well. We already have."
"I guess. Well . . . Sorry, everyone. I was at the bookstore, flipping through a book I'd never seen before when, well…" He gestured at me to step in.
"When I bumped into Naofumi and caused him to fall over. I helped him up and he wanted to show me something about the book he had picked up. Next thing you know I was waking up in the ritual room with the rest of you." I finished for Naofumi.
Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu all huddled into a group and started whispering. "Yeah . . . but he . . . he has a shield . . . and Williamson . . . not even a hero."
"I knew it . . . Motoyasu, you too?
"Yeah . . ."
'What are they up to?'
"All right, so is it fair to assume that we all have a pretty good idea about how the system in this world works?" Motoyasu said.
"Sure." Rem said.
"Done it a thousand times," Itsuki confirmed.
"I think I get it well enough," I said having gathered more information on the way here. I noticed that Naofumi seemed unsure about himself.
"W . . . Well . . . Maybe you guys could teach me what I need to know to fight in this world? There were no games like this where I'm from."
Ren seemed to slightly narrow his eyes at Naofumi, whilst Motoyasu and Ren looked at him with a small amount of kindness.
"All right then, your big brother Motoyasu will, as best he can teach you the basics." Said with a smile so fake it would make the Cheshire cat frown. He proceeded to put his hand on Naofumi's shoulder and started talking away. "First of all, and I'm only talking about the game I know, Emerald Online . . . but you're a 'shielder'. Basically, your job is to use the shield and protect people."
"Uh-huh . . ."
"There are no high-level shielders. At higher levels, it's a useless class."
"Nooooooooooooooo! What about updates? Were there no updates?"
"Nope. Because of the game's system and because of the game's population, the class was abandoned pretty early on. It's really not good for much. I think they had even planned to delete the class altogether . . ."
"And I guess I can't change jobs?!"
"Well, the associated jobs are all . . . How do I put it? Dead."
"And I can't change?"
"Nah, the game never let you switch to another job tree."
At that last remark, Naofumi seemed to cave in onto himself.
"What do you guys think?" He asked turning to both Ren and Itsuki only for them both to look away from him.
"Sorry . . ."
"I feel the same . . ."
"What about the geography?" Naofumi asked looking for hope.
"The names are different, but the map seems to be the same. If the map is the same, there's a high probability that the division of efficient monster is the same also."
"The best hunting grounds will be different for each weapon. Probably best to make sure we go to different places."
"True. We need to focus on efficiency."
"Hmm . . . Well, it will be fine. I mean, we are in a whole new world! Even if I'm not the strongest character, I'm sure something will work out."
All of the others turned to look at Naofumi as if he were some pitiful animal on the side of the road.
"All right, let's do this!" Naofumi said pumping himself up.
"Atta boy Naofumi," I said trying to be supportive of him "I never once wasn't grateful when the heavy armor showed up." I continued, patting him on the shoulder causing him to smile meekly up at me.
"Heroes, we have prepared a meal for you.
'Oh yeah, I forgot I haven't eaten today. I wonder if they have coffee.'
"Nice."
We all made a beeline for the door at the mention of food. I opened it and allowed the other to go through first before bringing up the rear. The dining room looked very elegant and like it came straight out of the Harry Potter castle. The was a large buffet-style table set up in the center of the open room cover in a vast variety of foodstuffs.
"Everyone, please eat whatever you like."
"What? I guess we are eating with the castle knights?" Ren muttered to himself.
I lightly slapped the back of Ren's head with my right hand.
"Ouch!"
"Be nice Ren, we are guests in their home. They didn't have to feed us at all." I scolded him for being rude to the attendant.
"You misunderstand. This food has been prepared for you. The knights will not be permitted to eat until you have had your fill," said the attendant.
He was right, looking around the room I found it to be full of cooks and chefs ready to answer to our every beck and call. I guess that the king wanted to be a little flashy for his newly arrived heroes and their unexpected tag along.
"Thank you. Let's eat then."
"Yeah."
"Right on."
And so, we began to feast with the hunger that only those pulled from another dimension could eat with. I dined on some of the finest roast meats I have ever had in my life, but it just seemed like there was one thing missing.
"Excuse me," I said as I walked up to one of the cooks "Do you happen to have any coffee?" I asked him politely.
"I sorry Sir Hero but I have never heard of this . . . Kooffee." He said trying out the word on his tongue.
"Oh . . . Well then. . . I'm doomed."
Ha! Another chapter is done! I got quite a bit of time after I finished working today so I decided to knock out this one. I know that the story is having a slow start right now, but it will be picking up here soon. I should have the next chapter ready on Saturday if I don't catch another break like I did today. Thank you for your continued support. -Sobe Out
Edited 23-12-19: Spelling and grammar