One Punch Man belongs to One.
Rising of The Shield Hero belongs to Aneko Yusagi.
I own neither of them.

| Palace Shenanigans |

The sun had risen into the sky, shifting from the soft purple-black hues to reddish-gold color. As morning rays had broken through the open window, the new shield hero rose from his bed without a single issue to note. Suiryu never had any sleeping problems, even with intense training that would cause a lesser man to cringe at the thought of the following morning aches from such endeavors. Despite giving some lecturing for Motoyasu about weapon ethic until late night, he didn't feel any drowsiness, thanks to his own strict training regimen he followed.

Truly, he admitted that the chamber he was in looked like a five-star hotel room. Even the living quarter for S-Class heroes in the new association compound was not as fancy as this. Was it because he was a summoned hero that he deserved such luxury? Perhaps he would choose that answer. However, that thing was nothing to be concerned about since this day would be his first day of his journey.

He came out from the bed, made it neat a little bit, put on his shirt and so on until he was ready to go out from that room. He wanted to take a stroll around the palace until breakfast time and find a nice training place.

After he became a hero, he didn't skip his training anymore, even for a day. He did that routine because he was afraid that one day, he might find a very strong opponent that might break him. His trauma of being toyed by Gouketsu and Bakuzan pushed him to keep on doing his regimens.

Early that morning, some maidservants had been working around the palace. Mopping the floor, doing the laundry, cleaning the furniture, and all sorts of domestic chores were done by these ladies.

The moment Suiryu came out from his chamber, he saw these ladies were working diligently. While he walked, he took some glances at them. It was surprising that in their young age, the girls were working like professionals.

The martial artist for a moment thought about how life was in his world. Most of the girls he dated were just people who really liked to hangout, absolutely different from the girls before him who did more productive activity. If he got the chance to get married, perhaps he would take one of these maids. It made him smile as he imagined what kind of pleasures this world could offer. As Suiryu passed, the maids started to talk about him.

"Hey, did you see him?"

"Yes. Such a handsome man. Who's he?" her friend asked as she smiled.

"Uh… Don't know. But he used the special guest chamber. Must be an important person. I hope that I can see him around…"

"Mehehe… Me too. Hope that he will take me as his– "

"Meh! Only in your dreams!"

Their work was halted as they were quarreling about who would win Suiryu. Perhaps his face was more mesmerizing than the fact that he was the summoned shield hero, one among four persons who supposedly would end the disaster on their land. Suddenly, their senior came to find they were slacking.

"What are you doing! Stop fooling around!" The senior hissed at them.

"Yes, ma'am…" The young maids replied in unison as they came back to work.

Suiryu really enjoyed his stroll that morning since that was his first time to see a real palace. The splendor of the building made him wonder about how people built them. As he scrutinized about it, he thought that Metal Knight probably could build something like this. He quickly dismissed the thoughts since such man who always tinkering machines would never have taste in art.

The corridors and staircases finally led him to a small yard. It connected the main building of the palace and the royal kitchen. There, he saw two maids were pulling a wooden cart for carrying flour bags. They were obviously having trouble in doing their task. As a hero, no matter if he was C-class or S-class, helping people in need is a must. Suiryu quickly came to aid the ladies.

"Good morning. Need some, help?" asked the champion as he smiled.

The ladies were staggered when they looked at the man. They thought that he was a warrior-prince from far away land since they never saw his attire. Even they forgot that they were still pulling the cart. Their mind was like being hypnotized as they gazed at the man.

"Uh… pardon me, good Sir. D-do you need any help?" One of the maid asked while her friend beside her nodded violently.

"Oh, well…" Suiryu sighed in his mind since that should be his line of question. "I saw you were having trouble. Please, let me help you."

The girls didn't have the chance to respond as the martial artist took the handle and pulled the cart effortlessly. They could only walk behind the cart as it was pulled into the kitchen in no time. When they entered the cooking place, the men who were cooking stopped what they were doing as they saw a foreigner pull a cart into their working space. Among them, a burly man who appeared to be the head chef widened his eyes in horror when he saw Suiryu.

"Where should I place this cart?" The martial artist asked as he slowed down his pace.

"Over there, Sir. Near the bag of potatoes." The maid replied as she perked her head up.

Suiryu put the cart in the right place and dusted his hands. When he looked around, most of the cooks were staring at him in shock. And the head cook who delivered the dishes last night looked really pale.

"Sh-sh-shield H-h-hero… Milord…" The burly cook quivered out of fear. "D-did the-y order y-ou around?"

"Huh? What do you mean, Sir?" Suiryu was utterly confused by the cook's behavior.

The cook recomposed himself as he cleared his throat. "I-I mean. Those two ordered you to haul the flour cart. Am I right?"

"Yeah, but–"

"W-we didn't mean to…" "We don't know…" The two said with teary eyes.

"The nerve of you!" The chef glared dangerously as he ran towards the maids. "How dare you disrespect a Saint Hero!"

The cooks could only stare at the unfolding event as the hand of their boss balled into a fist. But before he could punch the girls, Suiryu had moved behind him to grab his hand.

"Please, calm down, Sir." Suiryu placed his other hand on the chef's shoulder to ease him. "I just want to help them. That's not a big deal."

"…But, Milord Shield Hero. It's really an impudence to order you like you are a servant."

"Oh, come on. Shouldn't we care about the people around us? They clearly couldn't pull that cart. I cannot leave them that way."

The head chef dropped on his knees and sobbed. The hero before him was kind beyond words. A true resemblance of a Saint! The cooks in that room as well as the maids also dropped down and bowed reverently at Suiryu.

"Oh… Please, stand up." Suiryu helped the head chef to stand as he felt the air become awkward in some sense. "I'm also a human. Just like you. Oh, yeah… And I really like your cuisine! It's very tasty."

"Th-thank you Milord Shield Hero." The two maids thanked and bowed again.

"Mi-lord Shield Hero… huwaaaaah… I -don't deserve such praise…" the head cook cried became louder.

"Oi, please. Don't cry…"

'Aw man… I just want to help them, but why do they see me like I'm their savior? I haven't done anything yet. This world is really weird…' The martial artist mused as he was patting the man's back while becoming the center of attention in that kitchen. His training would surely be delayed for some moments.

As the sun rose higher, some people from adventurer guilds were entering the castle's gate. They brought their own weapons and headed towards the designated waiting spot. These people were the adventurers who would party up with the four Saint Heroes.

Upon arrival near an arena for training, the adventurers saw a bare-chested man was doing some exercise. He did some stretching, hopping, kicking, punching, and all sort of warming up. Some of these adventurers only smirked. They thought that the man was just putting a show. A show of masculinity since the most attractive thing from him was his chiseled body, making the ladies among these adventurers decide to watch, just for a moment.

"Oh wow! What a nice looking guy!" A blonde girl who wielded a spear said as she looked in awe at the man.

"Yeah. Who's he? I've never seen him in the guild." A pink-haired girl in red and pink, rather revealing martial-artist attire exclaimed.

At this point, the men also ceased their steps to watch at what the girls were talking about. The male adventurers only gave an uninterested look as the man continued his regimen with some moves which looked… all kinda cool.

"Hey ladies, until how long will you stare at that bloke?" Asked a burly man who carried a double-axe. "The knights will get really mad if we come late."

"Right. After all, we've got a payment in advance." A blonde boy in thief's cloths agreed. "Remember, we shouldn't upset our client."

"I think we shouldn't miss this one." A witch-girl stated in a very flat tone. "Look! He's the Shield Hero."

Proceeding into his basic attacks of [Void Fist] he could unleash, the said shield hero noticed something odd. Every time he kicked or punched, thin black streaks followed his movements. It was so surreal that he stopped his regimen for a moment. As he stared at his hands in befuddlement, a notification window popped up.

Whenever you use [Void Fist] skill, you will get a stat boost. It also adds Dark element to your attack. You will unlock more skill as you level up. Check out your Skill Tree for more information about your skills.

He opened the menu and tapped the skill tree. It displayed some icons, just like the tree for his shield ability. There were already four icons. The main icon was a logo of a fist which indicated the main skill, [Void Fist]. It branched into three icons of dragon, tiger and phoenix which represented his three signature attacks.

'So, it was this dark element which gives black-ribbon visual effect? This thing really looks like a game.' Suiryu nodded as he opened each of the icon to see the descriptions and the effects. 'Okay. Let's try… [Void Sky Dragon Fist].'

The martial artist made a stance and started to punch, on and on. As his blows got faster, the force turned him around and lifted him in the air while producing a tornado. Unlike what happened in his old world, this tornado was followed by silhouettes of black oriental-dragons whirling around the air current. To add his surprise, every time he punched, his fist was engulfed by aura in the form of a dragon head. A minute later, he stopped his test and found his SP bar had decreased around 15 percent.

'Wow…! For a game, this is too real! I don't feel tired, but this thing had consumed a good chunk of my energy. Hope that I can taste a breakfast from that good cook…' mused Suiryu as he made a cooling down moves.

The adventurers and the knights around that place could only drop their jaw at the display of the shield hero's feat. The spreading rumor which said that he was the weakest among the Saint Heroes seemed wrong. It was an impossible thing for a weakling to unleash such flawless technique which appeared to combine martial art and magic. This fact only gave insurance for the adventurers to join the shield hero.

"Ugh… I think I'll return the payment and join that man." Uttered the spear-lady.

"Hmm… Same as me." A green-haired martial-arts girl tapped her chin, gaining a nod from her pink-haired fellow. "He seems to be a reliable guy. Oh… And I think he can teach me that moves! Sounds great!"

"You're right." The thief-boy also agreed. "Maybe… I'll join him.

"Okay, I'll just see later," spoke the double-axe guy.

However, among these adventurers, there was a person who seemed to be a bounty hunter. A bounty hunter who could only think about short outcome.

"Guys, are you nuts!?" Another burly man in full armor gave a sour face. "They've paid us. Three gold coins each! That's worth a quest for exploring a dangerous ruin or killing Rock Eater in a cave! There's no way we can refuse this. Not to mention we'll get 200 silver later."

"Gold coin? I suppose this Shield Hero can produce thousands if we can force him to win some fights in coliseum." The witch-girl deadpanned. "We'll be rich in no time."

The adventurers started to debate among them until they forgot their initial objective. Their rambling was so loud that Suiryu now became the one who watched them. And all of a sudden, the noisy aimless talk was cut when the incoming sound of stomping hooves of horses struck people's ears.

When they looked at the gate, there were some cavalrymen chasing a black horse toward the training area. The black horse looked abnormally big and had jagged teeth. This was the first time Suiryu encountered a monsterized domestic animal in this world. However, the adventurers knew who was the owner of the damned stallion.

"Ah… That horse again," muttered the thief-boy.

"Whose horse is that?" asked the spear-lady.

"Whose horse? It's the horse of the mad warlock." The double-axe guy replied as he rubbed his nape.

"And the owner always used it for some horrible rituals." The witch-girl added with an uninterested look.

"Ugh… You shouldn't mention that part!" A guy in a scholar robe whined.

The horse kept charging towards the training area. As it passed the gate, the knights chasing it couldn't reach it and shouted for help from their fellow around the fort.

"HELP! HELP!" One of the speeding knight roared. "THAT HORSE HAD KILLED ITS OWNER! BESTIALITY! BESTIALITY…!

The adventurers could only grimace when they heard the knight's scream. It couldn't be helped since the owner of the horse was a notoriously eccentric magus. The said magus always engaged in freak experiments. Almost everyone in Melromarc knew who he was. And that day, he met his untimely demise due to his pet's retaliation. Soon enough, his pet would also follow its owner.

The captain in charge of the fort widened his eyes due to the shout. Still early in this morning, how on earth that kind of thing entered his area of duty? Perhaps he should punish those cavalrymen later for herding the mad horse into the fort.

"What…! Bestiality!?" The captain uttered in complete shock. "Kill it! KILL IT!"

Meanwhile, hearing the cry for help, Suiryu tensed in response. This was a hero job he could handle. The command from the captain only left him zero hesitation to do his usual activity: killing monsters.

'My first kill!' Suiryu smirked out of excitement. 'Don't let it slide! Shivering Tiger, I choose you!'

The moment the captain screamed his order, his subordinates on the vicinity grabbed halberds and any pole weapons in their reach in an attempt to stop the charging mad horse. However, before they even could point their weapon, the shield hero had sprinted towards the stallion. Some seconds before impact, Suiryu stomped the ground to steady his footing and cocked back his right arm to unleash one of his move. Black streaks whirled around his fist, then formed a tiger's head, ready to pound its prey.

冥躰震虎拳
[Void Shivering Tiger Fist]

And a very loud boom echoed throughout the castle of Melromarc that morning. The sound was so loud that the other three heroes who were still snoring on their bed shot up, out of shock.

The news about the mad horse accident that morning spread like a wild fire, although the details remained obscured. In society where mass media was non-existent, mouth-melting was how the news between truth and hoax circulated around. And it was quite fast.

However, the champion didn't care much about that. He killed the horse, merely because he saw it as a hero's job. And he was more than happy to see the boon he got. He earned 357 EXP from that kill, making him rose to level 2 and gave him bountiful stat additions. Such victory added the flavor to his breakfast.

The time to attend the audience with the king had come, right after the heroes had their breakfast. As they walked toward the throne room, the other three heroes asked around about the accident and only got some unclear info. Some maids only said that the horse was exploded by mages, while some knights said that a man who seemed to be a monk saved the day. Knowing about that, Suiryu kept silent, merely because these kids wouldn't believe him. However other than Suiryu, there were also the adventurers who witnessed the event.

Right at the moment, the adventurers were waiting silently in the throne room. Their minds were still clouded by the scene when the champion pulverized the black stallion into smithereens with a single punch. It shuddered them to their core. But most of them also realized that Suiryu was the most ideal hero to party up with.

After the long wait, the double door finally opened to reveal the Saint Heroes. Some of the adventurer ladies fidgeted on their place as the heroes stepped closer toward them. King Aultcray and his ministers were also present. This time, Suiryu hadn't felt the usual contemptuous stare from the king. It seemed that the king was preoccupied by something more important than glaring at him. Truth be told, Aultcray was still waiting for any news regarding the one who was responsible for the explosion.

"Heroes. In front of you are the best people we can offer. They come from Adventurer Guild of Melromarc." Aultcray spoke calmly. "Now, let them choose with whom they will join!"

The adventurers took their steps toward the heroes. Suiryu closed his eyes in response while hearing the steps of these adventurers. The martial artist actually wanted to go solo and really hoped that there would be no one who joined him. But if there was, it would be okay. Perhaps a friend for traveling would be fun.

Suiryu turned around as the last step ceased, opened his eyes and to his shock, there were ten people. Meanwhile, Motoyasu got a red-haired girl in leather armor, the armored-guy joined Itsuki and Ren was alone.

"What the hell is this!? NOT FAIR!" Ren burst out his wrath as he shifted his gaze from Suiryu to the king.

"Why I only get one!?" Itsuki blurted out. "Why you get ten!?" There must be something wrong!"

"Senpai!? What do you mean by this!?" Motoyasu complained as the girl behind him also widened her eyes in shock.

The king also shared their shock and anger. The thing that happened before him was out of his calculation. His scheme was messed up. The adventurers he paid to party up with other than the Shield Hero broke their contract. It was horribly wrong.

'SHIELD! What happened!? Did you cast a spell upon them!?' Aultcray thought as he clenched his hand. 'Unforgivable... Unforgivable!'

The martial artist who looked at the ten people was confused and almost speechless. He didn't think that his action this morning had so much impact towards these adventurers. The situation got tense as seconds passed. Suddenly, the witch-girl in Suiryu's row came to the front while holding a pouch of gold coins.

"Your Highness, please punish me for defying your order. But we, adventurers, have made our choice. We will return this…" The girl stated nonchalantly without any hint of fear. "Because we will join the Shield Hero."

The king gritted his teeth as the noblemen murmured. The other heroes were clearly pissed off. The situation didn't get any better. This girl was only making things worse. However, Suiryu hadn't asked the reason for these adventurers to join him.

"Well… Firstly, let me ask you. Why do you want to join me?" Suiryu asked as he showed a bland expression towards the people.

"Isn't that obvious? Of course because you are strong!" The spear-girl answered bluntly as her cheeks reddened.

"Yeah. You exploded a horse with a single punch." The thief-boy added.

The other adventurers also nodded in agreement as murmuring of the noblemen in that room became louder. They just came to realize that the explosion sound was Suiryu's handy work. The other three heroes could only drop their jaws while Aultcray facepalmed.

'How can this big news slipped from me this easily? Damn you Shield… You're just a cursed beast after all.' Aultcray mused as he tapped his finger on the armrest of his throne.

"Tell me the details…!" Aultcray whispered as he leaned his head slightly to the right.

"Please forgive us, Your Highness. From the information we gathered, the knights who were guarding the fort didn't know the identity of the man who slew the mad horse. They don't have any idea that he was the Shield Hero." A tall minister with a bowl-head cut explained as he whispered, close to Aultcray's ear.

'I see… So you put a stunt to impress these vermin, huh? What a cunning fox!' The king mused as he nodded.

The other three heroes were also stunned to hear the reason. The realization was unbearably shocking.

"Exploded?" Ren was nearly choked.

"With a single punch?" Itsuki hung his jaw.

"H-h-horse? So the explosion this morning…?" Motoyasu was freaked out as he looked at Suiryu who gave an inattentive stare.

"HHEEEEEHH!?"

The martial artist facepalmed. Today was not any better than yesterday. Annoying thing always found its way to bug him. Perhaps he should be blunt to end this gonna be national turmoil before it was too late. Moreover, the amount of companions he should take at this point would become a hindrance. Back in his world, the only person he could call a companion in duty was only Metal Bat when they worked together to slay a dragon-level serpent monster. The rest of lower-classes heroes would just move aside and gawked at them. Suiryu didn't want these ten people went wasted to become bystanders like those lower class heroes.

"Your Highness… Actually, I am also in shock to see this. But if it is possible, may I go alone? When I was a mercenary, I always did my mission without any companion in tow." Suiryu bowed as he put his right hand on his chest, just to show that he was not an impolite guy.

'Perfect. Now you're trying to play dumb and ditch your responsibility? I wish you the most painful death, soon…!' Aultcray cursed internally.

"It's up to the adventurer. Why don't you ask them?" Aultcray said as he rolled his eyes.

Suiryu smiled which garnered horrified looks from the adventurers as confusion induced a headache for the other heroes. It seemed that the shield hero was a hardcore solo adventurer. A one-man-army. Allying with this strong guy proved difficult.

"But, Shield Hero, we want to join you because we believe that you can make us strong." The thief-boy retorted.

Suiryu sighed. "Make you strong? If I were you, I would train by myself."

The king gritted his teeth. Acting high and mighty in front of him, this shield hero was really an impudent.

"And remember. We are not going for a trip." Suiryu warned the adventurers as his face turned serious. "We are dealing with monsters. We can die anytime."

The adventurers and the other three heroes gulped in response. Suiryu's piece of advice seemed to hit its mark.

As an upper-rank member of Neo Hero Association, he had just read some statistics about heroes who got killed in action. A week before he got summoned, the number of KIA reached 34 and it was just in a span of a month. He could not imagine how many more would fall victim if monsters kept ravaging his planet. Based on that grim reality from his world, a general notion could be applied in seeing the phenomenon of Wave of Calamity. Being a hero means courting the death.

However, Aultcray didn't care in the slightest about Suiryu's statement. Instead, he was intrigued by the adventurers' blabbering. Based on the legend, Saint Heroes were always weak from the start. They would gain strength and abilities as they fought the monsters. He should prove the truth of the witness using the simplest way.

"Hero of Shield. In actuality, we still doubt about your strength. Going alone is a foolhardy decision." Aultcray only gave a fake concerned look towards the martial artist. "That is why, we demand a proof that you can manage to face the monstrosities."

'Oh… You need proof? Nice!' Suiryu thought as his smile widened. 'Maybe I can vent out with this…'

"In that case, I want you to fight the elite knights in our disposal." Aultcray requested as he gave a sign to his minister to summon the elite troopers. "They are the best soldiers who managed to repel the last wave."

"Very well. I'll prove that I am no liar." Suiryu replied while giving a confident smile to the king which of course infuriated him.

While the noblemen murmured again, the other heroes gave horrified looks since they couldn't believe that this shield hero took the crazy challenge. Most of the adventurers on the other hand put curious faces. All of them were wondering about the show.

A moment later, the door opened to let four people enter the room. The first was a blonde middle-aged man in leather armor who wielded a giant battle axe and had the posture of Tanktop Master. A typical berserker. The second one was a red-haired knight in full armor who was slightly shorter and brought a standard broadsword. He seemed to be in the same age as the axe-giant. The third was a black-haired man with lighter armor who looked roughly around Suiryu's age. His spiky hair and stature reminded Suiryu of Stinger. Coincidentally, this guy also carried a spear. And the last one was a dame in black gown who held a metal staff. Suiryu swore that this lady bore too much resemblance to Madam Shibuya's successor who lately gained popularity, Psykos. Her physique, wavy long hair – minus its color– and even her glasses, all of them made her look like Fubuki's sidekick. As they walked on the red carpet, the four Saint Heroes and the adventurers moved to the side to let the quartet face their king.

"Your Majesty…" The redhead greeted as he and his comrades knelt.

"My valiant vassals, stand up!" As Aultcray commanded, the four stood. "In front of you, is a challenger. We would like to see whether he is eligible enough to deal with monsters by himself or not."

The redhead knight widened his eyes as Suiryu walked to face his group. He never thought that the challenger was the Shield Hero. And this time, the said hero looked more like a golden-plate adventurer who had at least killed dragons, more than once. It was a true honor for him to fight one the Saint Heroes. Meanwhile, the axe-giant cold-sweated because he felt that Suiryu was not a small fry. The spearman grinned in excitement to find a worthy opponent. And the mage-lady blushed to find a handsome guy who would be in her mercy.

"Milord Shield Hero…" The red-haired knight knelt in front of Suiryu, out of respect. "It is an honor that I have the chance to have a duel with you."

Suiryu's smile turned into an awkward one. This redhead folk seemed to be close pal with the head chef. They were too serious and too formal toward him. Perhaps he should act more like a commander if he dealt with this kind of folk. If he ordered them to be less formal, they must be obey him, right?

Suiryu cleared his throat. "Drop the formalities, knight of Melromarc! It's also a pleasure to meet you. Before we start, let me introduce myself…"

As the champion started to introduce himself, some noblemen asked the other three heroes and the adventurers to go to the balcony where the noblemen would watch the fight. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu only gave a horrified look when they walked. There was no way a sane person would challenge a team of two paladins, a berserker, and a mage in a row. They thought that Suiryu's lack in gaming would bring him to his demise. They couldn't imagine how this team would crush him into pulp. And the fact that they would do the fight in that room was utterly insane.

"… My name's Suiryu." The martial artist introduced himself as he showed the sincerest smile he could muster.

In return, the quartet were surprised to see how knightly this hero was, despite his rather roguish outfit. They hung their jaw a little bit. That only made them respect Suiryu even more.

"Lord Suiryu." The redhead bowed. "I am Ivan, commander of Melromarc heavy-cavalry unit."

"Well met, Lord Suiryu." The blonde berserker also bowed. "The name is Wagner. I am commander of Melromarc foot-soldier."

"Nice to meet you, Suiryu." The spearman gave an informal introduction, gaining a glare from Wagner and Ivan. "I am Mario from the light-cavalry unit."

The martial artist thought that Wagner and Ivan were knights from the start while Mario was a former pro adventurer who just recently joined the army. Judging by their looks, the three could roughly be placed around middle to upper B-class. And finally, the chic's turn came.

"And my name is Genevieve, Milord Suiryu." The mage put her hand on her chest in a very ladyly manner while bowing gracefully. "It is an honor for this humble librarian and magic militia unit to meet you."

Motoyasu bit his lip out of envy upon knowing how the charm of the mercenary worked. Back in his world, it was always him who hit the girl first. Was it also related to luck? That was also possible since the martial artist could reach almost everything he wanted, as it was stated by Bakuzan.

Meanwhile, Itsuki and Ren gulped at the possibility of defeating such magic-caster. Based on their experience as gamer, this kind of witch would be at least level 30s. It was nigh impossible for a newbie to keep up with her, let alone defeat her. Not to mention that the challenger should also face the three knights. They thought that Suiryu was taking a one way ticket to his grave.

Suiryu nodded as he straightened himself. "Then, shall we start?"

Aultcray gave a sign to his minister to start the fight. The sly-smiled minister came forward and took out a coin from his pocket.

"I will toss this coin. The moment this coin hit the floor, you can start," announced the minister.

"Umm, pardon me…" Wagner put his weapon down as he raised his hand. "Are we going to fight one by one or…?"

The minister tilted his head to see Aultcray who gave a slight nod. He knew that it was a code for total annihilation.

"It is all of you against Shield Hero, simultaneously."

The minister's words struck like a thunder for the audiences. The three heroes paled while the adventurers and the noblemen gasped. This duel must be intended to eliminate the shield hero who were rumored to be the weakest among them.

However, the said shield hero didn't falter at all upon realizing that he should fight four opponents at the same time. Instead, he wanted to see how people from this world could put up a struggle. The champion's smile sent chills towards the elite four before the fight even started.

"Any objection?" The minister asked as he put the coin in his hand while the quartet readied their weapons. "No? Then, let me throw the coin."

As the coin launched from the minister's hand, all the audiences stopped their breath. In those seconds, all the elite four tensed in anticipation at how Suiryu would open his move. They tightened their grip on their weapons as the martial artist himself didn't show any stance and only stood still.

Suiryu wanted to give a surprise element and end the fight as quickly as he could. But if there was one among them who could give him a good fight, he would be more than happy to continue.

When the coin hit the stone floor and its clinking sound filled the room, the martial artist moved forward into a blur and landed weak kicks to Wagner's joints. His targets were ankles, back of the knees, elbows, and wrists. The kicks only took a second and he continued his strike to Ivan who was still standing while holding his sword. Using a stronger kick to the wrist, Suiryu forced the knight to throw his sword. As Ivan's sword flew in the air, the martial artist sidestepped and shot his leg up to stomp Mario's spear, breaking it in the process. In that span of two and half seconds, all the three hadn't realized what was happening. After breaking the spear, Suiryu made a sweeping move with his leg to tumble Genevieve before she could cast a spell. Yet before she fell, the champion caught her, bridal style.

The moment Ivan's blade fell onto the floor, everyone was knocked back to their senses. Wagner fell on his knees as numbness overcame his joints, Ivan looked at his hand to find his sword was nowhere, Mario blinked as he looked at his broken spear while Genevieve gasped to find herself was held by Suiryu.

"I-I… I cannot feel my joints…" Wagner muttered as his axe fell from his grip.

"Where's my sword?" The redhead blinked as he looked around in confusion. "H-how can this even be possible…?"

"Huh…?" Mario raised the remaining shaft as his face made a grimace. "My spear…?"

"What happened…?" Genevieve uttered weakly. "Oh… Milord Shield Hero…"

The martial artist gave a triumphant smile as he faced totally flustered Aultcray. The audiences also couldn't believe how the fight ended in a blink of an eye. And the three heroes could only put a terrified look on how Suiryu ended the fight just before everyone could see what was happening. It was unbelievably illogical. In MMORPG, even a level 100 player or whatever character who had maxed out their speed would never be able to do that. That only left one possibility about Suiryu's true background. He was the developer of this ultimate-virtual reality game.

"A-amaki-san… Do you think what I'm thinking?" Itsuki asked between gulp.

"Y-yeah… He must be the developer of this virtual-reality environment." Ren replied.

"Do you mean he's a hacker?" Motoyasu rubbed his cheek.

"Perhaps…" Ren replied with uncertainty.

As the people stared in awe and confusion, Suiryu put down red-cheeked Genevieve while the other three knights knelt before him. The royal librarian followed her comrade. They realized that they were no match against the shield hero. And the fact that the shield hero didn't kill them like in most duels of knights only proved that the hero was a merciful saint.

"Mi-Milord Shield Hero…" Ivan stuttered as he put his hand on his chest. "W-we surrender. I-if not because of your mercy, w-we…"

Suiryu felt the urge to ease these men who were utterly terrified. He didn't want everyone to view him like how the head cook saw him. Being popular was enough. But becoming an object of worship out of terror was the worst.

"Sir Ivan, right?" Suiryu put a friendly smile as he strode towards the heavy-cavalry commander. "Take it easy. I'm glad that I can have a duel against the best of Melromarc. It was… fun."

In fact, it was more saddening than fun. The champion wanted to cry at how pathetic these best of Melromarc could perform. No wonder that they resorted to pick random people from other worlds, just to deal with monsters. But he still hoped that these potential human resources could grow stronger. At least to maintain order around their place.

Next, what was left for the martial artist was how he should get out from Aultcray's dominion as fast as possible. He wanted to see what he could do to prepare for the Wave and get familiar with the terrains.

"So, what do you think, Your Highness?" Suiryu turned his attention from the elite four to the King as his smile was still plastered on his face.

"Your Majesty… Your order?" Ivan added as he and his friends were still kneeling.

The king showed a very thoughtful look. Suiryu's show of feats had wrecked his plot. He didn't know that the situation would become this hairy. After seeing this, people wouldn't believe that the shield hero was the weakest. And the mysteriously very powerful charm Suiryu possessed was the biggest problem. The champion was indeed an abomination.

"My vassals, you may leave." Aultcray ordered the elite four to leave the place as audiences waited with pounding hearts.

The king didn't want this elite knights to know about his decision, out of fear that they would band up with Suiryu. His display of ability had convinced everyone in that room that he was a real warrior. Thinking about it made him furious. Aultcray racked his brain about how he should make this hero suffer. But he couldn't find one. His only hope was that the weapon he had prepared could act on its own. For a moment, he glanced at the red-haired girl who stood beside Motoyasu. She felt his gaze and nodded in response.

As the elite four bowed and left the scene, the heroes and the adventurers came down from the balcony and assembled in front of the throne like Suiryu was doing. The champion in that moment knew that Aultcray didn't want to admit his ability. The long pause was a clear sign of his denial. Yet, Suiryu could only pretend to let it slide since he didn't want to harm his image as a hero.

Aultcray recomposed himself. He finally decided to give his permission to the shield hero, with a very special condition.

"Shield Hero. We are aware that you can handle the monstrosities on your own. But as a foreigner, shouldn't you take a guide?" A fake concerned look adorned Aultcray's face once again.

Suiryu turned around to see people were staring at him. Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu were eyeing him with odd horrified expressions while the adventurers bore the mix of awe and hopeful faces. The martial artist wasn't sure about what kind of situation he was in. But the most obvious thing was the condition didn't change. He was still in a slimy situation.

"Milord Shield Hero, I am the best silver plate adventurer and I am master of some spear-wielding technique." The spear-lady spoke with pride. "Please, let me accompany you in your quest."

"Milord, I can open locks and I can sneak around without people noticing me," said the thief-boy.

'Girl, it's better to become a maid than an adventurer. And boy, I don't want to be dragged into the court for larceny.' Suiryu commented on the first two internally as he saw the other adventurers starting to fume.

"With my axe, I can slay a horse!" The double-axe guy didn't want to lose.

"I'm well versed in offensive magic!" The scholar-boy also took his part.

"I can explode a house…" The witch-girl exclaimed.

"I can punch a boulder–"

"I can burn a large slime…"

Suiryu sighed as the adventurers were quarreling like earlier that morning. If there was an audition for heroes held by Neo Hero Association to see who would become the best companion for him, perhaps the situation wouldn't be different.

Aultcray grumbled as the mouth-war went on. These adventurers after all were useless. It was a waste to spend 30 gold coins just to pay this bunch. He knew that time was very precious. He should stop the bickering.

"SILENCE!" Aultcray's shout ceased the dispute, right at that moment.

The sword, spear and bow heroes straightened up out of shock. Meanwhile, Suiryu wasn't fazed since that was what he needed from the grumpy ruler.

"If you cannot decide who you will take, then let me choose." Aultcray suggested with lot of anger in his tone.

Suiryu thought that it was a very bad idea. The probability for the king to present him a trap became bigger. On the contrary, he wanted to see the nasty tricks from Aultcray up his sleeve. If everything went wrong, he could use brute force to render these thugs silent, just like what he did to the lesser martial artists who ingested the monster cells.

"I don't have any objection." Suiryu crossed his arms.

"Then, young lady who stand behind the Spear Hero… Would you mind accompanying the Shield Hero?" Aultcray inquired as he looked at the red-haired lady in leather armor.

"Do you mean, me?" She pointed at herself.

"Yes, you." The ruler nodded.

"Y-your Highness, then what about me?" Motoyasu panicked.

"Since the Shield Hero doesn't need any companion, let the adventurers party up with the other Heroes."

Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu lit up when they heard about that. At this point, Suiryu started to smell the plot was making its way. As the red-haired girl was still talking with Motoyasu, he eyed her and found out that she was the real trap. He switched his gaze from her to Aultcray and saw some resemblances. Indeed she was his spawn.

The moment the redhead came towards Suiryu, he looked into her eyes and found something more terrible than a dragon-level threat monster. Her eyes were the eyes of a pathological liar. She was a deceiver to her core. He knew so many types of girls and this was not the first time he encountered this kind of person. Behind her very sweet facade, she concealed a vast amount of tricks which could even bring down Neo Hero Association into oblivion. Yet as a highly experienced playboy, he had tons of skill under his belt to counter her tricks.

"Shield Hero, it is a pleasure to meet you." The redhead smiled at Suiryu.

"The same goes to me." Suiryu replied as he covered his disgust with a very perfect smile.

The moment they shook their hands, a battle of wits and trickery had started. Only time could tell who would come out as the winner, if there was any.

Author's Note

Firstly, a special thanks to Mister redskin122004 who had spent his precious time to proofread my work. Please at least give him some kudos. ;-)

Into the story, let's just assume that Suiryu is "something" like a legendary Pokemon. What I mean is, compared to Naofumi who only needs 28 EXP to rise to level 3, the champion will need 10 times of those amount and it will rise exponentially. Bujutsu no Yuusha no Noriagari (Rising of The Martial Arts Hero)? Probably… Because I love OP characters XD…

And about that black streak thingy, it's because I think I should come up with visual effect since Melromarc is a fantasy land where integrated HUD always sticks to the player (the 4 heroes). Perhaps if the one who got transferred was Garou, the effect would be blue and red streaks like in the anime. I choose black because Suiryu's art was also called Dark Body Art or Dark Corporal Fist.

What about those OCs?
Well… I think I should put them because, a country like those in Fire Emblem which doesn't possess any general or strong men in their military line of command would be totally odd. I don't know whether they will appear in the following chapters, but… I hope they will.

Any suggestion or constructive ideas are welcomed. Please PM me if you find any inconsistencies in my writing.

Thank you very much for all you supports, my dear readers. I do hope you enjoy this thing as I enjoy to write it.

See you in the next strory. ;-)