A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners. Such as Neopeople for Dungeon Fighter Online(Also known as Dungeon & Fighter) and Aneko Yusga for The Rising Of The Shield Hero

Note 2:

("Human/Speech")

("Thoughts")

(Attacks/Weapon names)

(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)

(Actions/POV)

(Titles/Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)

(Narration & Everything else)

('Demonic Speech')

("Demonic Thoughts")

Hero And Fighter Chapter 5

Aegis Inn: Castle Town

5/18/0000: 1800

Third Person: Omni

"This is great! The castle's food was great but the pub is where you experience another world's cuisine." Naofumi remarked with a smile, the dish looked and felt like a potato-based dish, the flavoring and nuances were different than he was used to.

"Sure is." Melina agreed, she did enjoy quality over quantity, though to a much lesser degree when compared to her counterparts. So is the reality of being a physical fighter.

"I hope you relish the meal," Myne remarked with a smile while looking at the two. After a few more bights of the food, Naofumi brought out a map of the region.

"The field we fought in was here right?" Naofumi pointed at a spot on the southwestern sector of the map after unfurling it onto an unoccupied place on the table.

"Yes. And tomorrow we will be heading for Lafan Village here." She points to a place due northeast of castle town.

"It has a low-level dungeon for beginner adventures, it would be good to level you up. Even if it doesn't give many funds." Naofumi thought a bit differently in that regard after remembering the balloons that the Shield Absorbed.

"Do we have any other monsters here besides the Yellow Ballons?" Naofumi asked what was on his mind, it is good to get as much genuine information as possible before the plot tries to trap him.

"There are also Orange and Red Balloons, Red being the strongest. They only give an experience point though." Myne remarks with a smile.

"Besides, with the new equipment, it would be a breeze with you defending me." Myne pointedly ignored Melina and the implications of his question. She didn't know how the shield grew just yet, and why it was absorbing materials.

"Besides, are you not going to drink the wine," Myne asked while raising her own glass, she was the one who ordered all the food considering the other two didn't know how to read the language. Though Melina didn't show it to have the illusion of being a native.

"Don't really enjoy the taste of alcohol," Naofumi remarks, even if he drank it, it was not like he could get drunk on it. Melina ordered for herself, making sure to have water… even if she wanted to use the chance to drink wine.

"Really? But it is quite nice." She remarks as the wine swirled in the glass, the light making the action look absolutely entrancing. She quickly drinks the entire glass in a refined manner.

"I want to drink with you." The light blush from alcohol as she presses the glass towards his own untouched glass, clinking them together. It would be a lie to that the action was not enticing, but he held through.

"Sorry, but wine isn't my thing really." He waves his hand to dismiss the thought.

"Is that so, too bad." Myne remarks with a giggle, a sing-song voice, and a graceful smile in the candle lighting of the tavern.

"That is a hero for you." She remarks with a giggle, it went over Naofumi's head sadly.

"What do you mean?" He asked as she gestured around them.

"This country is a Matriarchy, no man would ever dare turn down a woman." She gestures to the young women at the bar, having a conversation with one another as a waiter brings them all wine.

"I see, it is not often that I notice these things." If it hadn't been for his friend Des, he wouldn't have known the dark elves were in a matriarchy in DFO either. Though he would have figured it, albeit out later than the rest.

"Don't worry about it," replied the redhead.

Melina observed the situation around her, she at least had the excuse of being young and never seeing the queen of the country. She was in the castle a majority of the time, and nobles don't really go in there and disturb Mages' work.

"On that note, you two are rooming together?" Nowfumi knew the value of money now, rooms were 30 copper a night and the meal was 5 copper a person.

"That is what we decided on in the field yes," Melina remarked while leaning back in her chair, they knew that they needed to talk tonight.

"Alright then, I am going up to take the record of what we spent today," Naofumi remarks while standing up, stretching while doing so. He would come down a bit later to converse with adventurers when they came.

"I'll head up while drinking some more. Although it is quite lonely to drink alone." Myne remarked while resting her chin on her hands. And she completely ignores Melina in the regard to drinking alone.

"Thank you both for accompanying me, the shield hero who can't fight," Naofumi states while walking up the door, making sure to tell the manager which room that he would be staying in and the room the girls will be staying in before paying for the night and food. The worker immediately put a note on the pages before nodding to Naofumi.

_(DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE)_

Naofumi looked at the coins spread out on the table, innerwear from the blacksmith now on his frame. His spikey black hair cleaned up with a bit of water earlier… sadly there weren't any onsen style baths in the city. Though he did hear that more tourist areas did have them. It was hard to make hot water, and enough of it for a bath without magicians and modern marvels huh.

"So we are around 349 silver pieces," Naofumi stated as he finished counting the currency. He thought to himself about the traveling tips the Des told him… remembering to hide some coins on your person was generally a good idea.

"I feel like a Japanese tourist," Naofumi remarked while putting some silver coins in his shield, the backside and not the gem of course. His armor was packed away in the rucksack, he had everything that the party had, he was the leader after all.

"They are here huh." Naofumi smiled lightly at the commotion downstairs. He could make out the voices well despite everything between the two places.

"Yo! Back so late?" Naofumi remarked while walking down the stairs, making sure to hide everything in his room in spots that were hard to notice.

"Naofumi, good to see you." Itsuki was the first to arrive it seemed, she was talking to Melina when he finally got into the lobby.

"Good evening Itsuki." Naofumi greeted with a smile on his face, it would seem that her teammates were already looking through the food options. He noticed that Myne was not in the room, nor was Motoyasu.

"So you came in early?" Itsuki asked after he got a bit closer to her.

"Well, I left the meadows around the same time you all did. I just have fewer people to equip, remember?" Naofumi remarked with a smile, yes, the reason why they arrived at different times was due to party equipment, they also probably bought all their equipment besides the hero's after the day was done.

"Yeah, how is that going for you?" Naofumi just gave an exhausted grin, while he knew that Myne was up to something… it was still quite hard.

"Yeah, she is up to something… I think tonight she will spring a trap." Naofumi explained the strange actions that Myne took during the day.

"Ho… I get the same feeling from my teammates." Itsuki also sighed, it would seem that they both got bad party mates, though Itsuki's was not out to betray her, and Naofumi had an actual good member.

"But what do you expect from the starting AI…" Naofumi looked at her deeply when she says that, extremely serious.

"You know, our death is permanent it is not a game." Naofumi looked straight into her brown eyes. Itsuki could tell he was dead serious, remembering all of his warnings.

"Right… you would be more than knowledgeable on that," Itsuki said with a sigh. It was far better to take his word for it… even if she was originally stubborn in the regard that this world is a game.

"But how did you come to that conclusion?" Itsuki asked directly, still slightly on the fence despite her saying that she agreed.

"Wording of the people, context clues. Despite the old heroes also being summoned. They are not in this world anymore, and the waves are unresolved. Party members won't respawn if my guess is correct. Otherwise, they would also be protecting the nations."

"Right, but the way the world works is so much like Dimension Wave…" Itsuki looked at her stats, Naofumi thought of something strange, they all had contradicting nuances in their games. He quickly pulled out a pen and paper from his bag.

"Could you draw what your Stats look like?" Naofumi asked her with a gentle tone, trying to keep the bullied lass comfortable.

"Sure, but why though?" Itsuki accepted the items and started drawing what she saw infront of her.

"Well, due to how you're used to Dimension Wave, I get the feeling that you are seeing a different status than me." Naofumi started to draw what he himself saw, trying to be accurate.

"It is exactly Dimension Wave's UI though." Itsuki was quite a good artist, it was fairly realistic despite being only a short time from starting. Naofumi picked up her and tried comparing it to his own status. It was completely different, but the main elements were still there, just in a different format to fit.

"Here is my own basic screen." Naofumi passed the page over to Itsuki, immediately noticing the difference. Thankfully it had only been a day since they had the status magic, otherwise, she would have thought what he was doing was a joke.

"Strange, they are completely different." She mumbled while looking at what he labeled each symbol as… she quickly grabbed back her paper and did the same before returning the page for Naofumi to see. It was like the tutorial look at the main screen with the lines and general titles.

"Itsuki-sama, you haven't eaten yet, lets get you some grub as a reward for killing those ballons." Before they could talk any more, one of Itsuki's party members quickly noticed the Bow and Shield heroes talking, the man in armor.

"Had a nice talk Naofumi!" Itsuki was quickly dragged away, she knew something was wrong with the situation. Melina just leans back in her chair, never interrupting the conversation between heroes… mostly due to all of it flying over her head.

"Alright then… do you want to talk in my room with fewer ears to listen in?" Naofumi said with a sigh, he has the persistent feeling that something will go wrong soon.

"Sure." Melina nods with a calm expression.

_(RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO)_

"Can you silence the room?" Naofumi asked after closing the door. She sits on the bed, watching him close the curtains before nodding in assent. She grabbed her glass rod and taps it on the floor.

"Oh, world, let the winds not carry our voices outside of this room. Silence!" Naofumi looked on as the magic light that originated from the point of contact spread over the indoors of the room.

"You can dispel your Teana Transformation," Nofumi remarked as he sat on the chair provided, making sure to face her on the bed. She looked a bit surprised for a second before returning to a serious calm. Lights surrounded her for a second before shattering into shards. Revealing the form that he knew intimately.

"How did you know… wait, not you will explain it right?" The female mage kicked on the bed, her habits in this form already kicking in. She did not feel any hostility from the young man and felt that she could at least trust him a bit.

"Right… To put it simply I am your father… or at least a version of you." He remarks in a completely serious manner, she looked amused for a second before thinking back to all his actions before… such as his commands to her back in the meadow or the familiarity of equipment.

"Alright, show me proof." She states while glaring at him. He quickly brought out the backpack containing his stuff, showing her the unpowered laptop as he booted it up. Making sure to take out the solar battery to see how much charge he could use before waiting till a clear day.

"I don't know why Pandemonium Tech would be…" She trailed off as he brought up the screenshots he had of her. The new consume that she wore now, the equipment that was now sealed in her own inventory, it was practically everything about her.

"Very much the same as the other heroes I had a game that I enjoyed quite a bit. Mine was called Dungeon Fighter Online, or Dungeon and Fighter in the Korean servers. And now that I look at you in real life… I don't honestly know how to feel that I lead your life around."

She staired in entrancement as a video popped up, one that he had sent to his group in good fun, of doing a combo that she just barely got the hang of herself… She closed her eyes for a few seconds, feeling violated and angry at first… but then remembering his words, originally it was all a game to him…

"I won't be calling you daddy, especially when I remember mine quite clearly. But I can trust you… especially when you didn't have to show me this."

She already knew that if he wanted to, he could have explained that she was just some character in a game he was familiar with… and not one that he crafted painstakingly for years. Her pointed ears, signaled her being a Pandemonium, twitched. He was that secret keeper that no one else knew about, he was the one who knew all of her experiences.

"Man this is a lot to take in… and we don't have much time at all." She sprawls herself on the bed. It is nice to be cheerful but it never prepared you for feeling stressed after upturning revelations like this.

"Yeah, I think we should go to bed and digest everything, my information from Itsuki and your information from me. Though I suggest you transforming into Teana for now." She nodded as several chasers appeared and circled around her, revealing her grown-up form.

"Take this with you for now, and keep it hidden and or close to you… she is doing something tonight and it is a horrid idea to keep it here where she expects it." Naofumi quickly stated while pressing the bag of coins and his backpack into her arms, the armor still on the chair was not included.

"Right." She took the items and returned to her room. Naofumi looked at the armor and the innerwear before hiding them under the dresser. Deciding it was safe enough, he put a chair by the door and rested on the bed. After closing his eyes for a few seconds, he noticed the other two hero's voices along with Ituski's.

Aegis Inn: Castle Town

5/18/0000: 1800

Naofumi looked out the window of the room, just barely waking up. He hoped that everything would go well today but had a feeling that things would get harder from here on.

"Let's see if they stole it." Naofumi left a bag with some balloon pieces tied into coin-like disks in the drawer last night to see if they would steal it. Low and behold, the bag was gone. He hoped that the other items were safe as he looked under the dresser.

Both items were safe it seemed. He quickly folded up the other set of clothes and put on the armor. Waiting in apprehension on the third-day event. He walks out the door and over to Myne and Melina's room.

"Guys, it seems like we got robbed." He knocked on the door before listening to if anyone was there. He heard nothing inside, and he knew that Melina would definitely hear it, especially in her alert state at the moment.

"Seems like it is in motion." He mumbles as he walks downstairs and conversed with the manager from last night about the missing stuff. The clanking of armor alerted him to the king's hand in the conspiracy.

"You are the Shield Hero, right?" The guard in front of the group spoke, having Naofumi turn and observe the large number of royal guards standing there.

"Yes, It would seem that the coins that my team had are missing, and I can't find my teammates right now." Naofumi kept calm while conversing with them, trying to keep his nervous shaking to a minimum.

"The king has issued a summon for you." The main guard spoke while stepping forward to the young man. If it were two days ago, or even yesterday he would be quite scared.

"Miss Athena, could you accompany me so that your testimony last night can be heard?" Naofumi asked the young woman behind the counter, despite the guards infront of her, she nodded in consent as this is an issue that happened in the inn, and her mother who owned it would be in trouble if rumors were to start.

Word Count: ~2900 Words

Date Completed: 12/13/2020

Note: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

Review Corner:

FFN:

Dcraus: Okay I understand I looking forward to see The Shield Hero interact with Female characters in Dungeon Fighters Online has well they devolp romance feelings towards him

Response: Well, all the DFO protags will end up showing up in one form or another as I work with their lore and stuff.

(Review on chapter 3)

Dcraus: I get the feeling Melina has suspect Myne true intentions reglaress what she still will go by Naofumi side true and through

Response: Yeah, Melina will be staying inside Naofumi's party. She already smelled a plot for a long while now, though only really decided to help Naofumi in the summoning room.

darkstel: is the Foundation of the harem going to be from the world of Dungeon Fighter Online? This is not very good. In any case, until the author decides what the story is about (lol, what nonsense), it is difficult to assess this.

Response: I honestly got a bit confused by the format of your review when I first read it. The DFO characters will be part of the party, but so will familiar faces coming from Shield Hero. Sides, it is not surprising when all that I write is chapter by chapter with a precedent set by all my other fics… especially when I sometimes go on binges without writing due to IRL stuff. And a majority of authors I know have no idea where they are heading besides the faintest outline, but that is fine with an ongoing fic like this anyway.

AO3:

Sadly nothing here this time.