Chapter 3 / Parting Ways


Motoyasu's first day out from the castle went about as he planned. There were fields and forests around the main city that were thriving in weak monsters. Every time he got more experience points, he was getting a better grasp of his spear's movements.

All while he kept the ladies behind him safe and sound. None of them seemed to be complaining, so he was the only one working up a sweat.

Or at least, that was what he thought.

"Mister Motoyasu?" One of his party members called out for him once they were back in the city. She was a bit shorter than the others, hiding underneath her mage's hat. "Is this really acceptable?"

"Acceptable? I'm not sure what you're referring to."

"We're standing around and doing nothing. I know you're the one to suggest it, but this doesn't appear to be ideal." She nervously held onto her magic staff. "We've been adventurers for a while, so we can help out, right? We're not in the way?"

"You're not doing nothing. You're cheering me on and makes me want to try even harder. And it's not as if I'm stealing all of the experience points. Everyone here is inside of my party, so that means everything that I kill will get split up with everyone else."

"That's not exactly the problem…"

"Lighten up, Rino," another party member came by, chuckling at her ally's confusion. Dressed somewhat proactively in a dancer's outfit, she gently came to the mage's side. "If this is what Mister Motoyasu was to do, then I don't see much of a problem in it. It's nice to not have to fight too much like this after a while."

"I know that, but this just feels wrong, Lesty," she replied, casting her hat to tilt downwards. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to get used to this."

"Here's my logic to it," Motoyasu explained. "You three are experienced adventurers, so it wouldn't make sense if I forced you to be fighting weak monsters. The fact that I refuse to overwork such lovely ladies is another benefit, but while things are starting out, I should work to improve my own personal skills."

"I guess if Mister Motoyasu ever finds himself in a bind," Lesty continued, "we'll be right there to bail him out. He may be quite the hero, a cute one at that, but he still needs people to help him in order to save the world."

Motoyasu nodded, smiling. "That's exactly my point."

"O-oh, I'm sorry for not realizing that…"

The afternoon was starting to settle into the evening. It was probably for the best that they take their minds off of this and talk about it a bit more when Rino's mood was better.

Motoyasu knew he wasn't going to make such a simple, yet devastating mistake in communicating again. He knew personally that something as little as that could always end up snowballing into chaos if he chose to willingly ignore it.

"Hey, Elena?" He turned to the remaining party member, wearing a black attire alongside her stern expression. "Do you know any good places to eat?"

"But I didn't do anything work up an—"

A grumbling stomach interrupted Rino's remark, causing her to hold it back as if that would have been able to muffle its sound. A red blush covered her face, unable to say anything to oppose that unexpected timing. She even stopped in her tracks in embarrassment.

"Elena? Any restaurants?" Motoyasu asked, laughing a bit.

"There's one further down a few streets. It's rather expensive, but the food is one of the best in the capital. I've been there a few times with my parents when I was younger, and I've only heard good things coming out from there. It would certainly suit your tastes."

"Then we'll head there. Payments on me."

"Really? Wow, thanks, Mister Motoyasu!"

Following Elena's direction, they headed down the streets, but along the way, they crossed with a decently-sized crowd. Motoyasu was about to walk right through it with the girls, but a voice from the center caught his attention.

"To hold their words in our thoughts, we must remind ourselves and practice what the Cardinal Heroes have shown to us, especially now in a time where they have come to grant us their protection; we must respond likewise and respect their teachings!"

Rino and Lesty stepped over, being just as curious. Motoyasu decided to listen in for a bit, especially considering how the voice had been talking about the Cardinal Heroes.

Between the heads of the people, Motoyasu could see that there was a girl in a nun's attire. She stood up on a study platform, seemingly able to be moved around if needed, and despite looking young, she held herself in an elegant atmosphere.

"From the Sword Hero, we must learn to be strong against the darkness and sins that may lurk in our hearts. A weak heart is what contemplates us humans to turn their backs against the light in search for a simpler answer, where all you must have is the strength to walk forever onwards to the light."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Motoyasu asked.

"It's one of the public sermons that the Church of Three Heroes put out for the people of the capital," Lesty responded, walking over with Elena. "They usually have some of their nuns go out and spread their faith. People sometimes stop by and listen to what they have to say."

"If nothing else, it can be seen as some decent life advice," Elena added in.

"These are common occurrences?"

"I wouldn't know," Rino wryly answered. "I'm usually too focused on getting the day's quota done before worrying about everything else that happens around me. This is honestly my first time paying attention to things like this and I've been in the capital for a year now."

"From the Bow Hero," the nun continued, "we must learn to have good judgment of our decisions. What may appear good may be unwise and what may appear malicious may be unfoolish. Let his teachings remain in our thoughts as we go about our lives, always remain fair and honest while never betraying our own code of justice."

The nun cleared up her throat as she was reading the next line. "And from the Spear Hero, we keep our loyalty and entrust ourselves to others, but from others to ourselves. To each other, we must give loyalty because together, our souls are unbreakable. The bonds that they showed us overcame all adversaries and if we are to overcome difficult obstacles that would otherwise cast us into despair, we must be together."

Her dialogue for this one in particular caught Motoyasu's attention, primarily because it was talking about him. If he remembered correctly from before their summoning, Naofumi said that each of the heroes in the book had a personality trait and so far, they were matching up with what the young nun had been saying.

Sword Hero was strength, Bow Hero was justice and Spear Hero was loyalty.

There was still one more person she hadn't mentioned.

"These three heroes stand as the pinnacle of what we humans can become. If we follow their teachings, we as well will have a place in heaven with them."

Motoyasu's eyes widened as Naofumi's position as the Shield Hero was blatantly skipped. No one in the crowd mentioned a single comment towards it, despite the obvious error in the nun's counting.

"H-hey, something's wrong here."

"Huh? What is it?" Lesty asked.

"Wait, you don't see anything wrong with her sermon?"

"It's just a normal sermon for the Church of Three Heroes."

"Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary here," Elena shrugged. "It's actually pretty basic. It's probably because she's new to the whole congregation.. She looks young enough."

"But there are four Cardinal Heroes, aren't there?"

What was this about a Church of Three Heroes? Was there really a religion that followed the legacy of the heroes? If so, that meant that Motoyasu had some big shoes to fill to have it so that he was up to their standards, but that hadn't been the trembling problem here. If they believed in the guidance of the Sword Hero, the Bow Hero, and the Spear Hero—

—where does that put the Shield Hero?

"What are you doing here?"

Another voice came out of the crowd. Another nun, one that was much older than the speaker, had come out to confront the younger girl. Pushing up her glasses, she appeared more strict than the free-spirited first impressions that he got from the young nun.

"A-ah, Miss! I was just doing a sermon! Like everyone else does!"

She stepped out with excitement, not noticing the tempered mood of her senior. Her excitement was cut short with a chop to the head. Little force was used in the movement, but it was enough for the girl to understand the severity of her actions.

"That doesn't give you the right to conduct a sermon for yourself. There are procedures that must be kept, especially for things such as these. A lot of trouble could be stirred up if this is not regulated. You will come back with me immediately and be punished accordingly."

"B-but I—"

"I won't have any arguments for that."

The older nun glanced at the crowd and gave a respectful bow. She apologized to the people as the crowd started to disperse, leaving the girl to be grabbed by the wrist and dragged back to the church.

However, Motoyasu instinctively stepped in.

"I don't think she had any ill intentions," he said, coming to the innocent girl's defense. "Couldn't you let her off this one time? I'm sure she'll promise not to do it again, mostly because she didn't understand what she was doing was bad."

"And who are you to speak on the affairs of the Church?"

"Oh, I'm no one too important. I'm merely the Spear Hero."

Silence came from the two nuns, staring at him in disbelief. Something told him that he was probably too casual with how he responded. Maybe it was because he didn't act as proper as he could have that they didn't believe him. Making it sound like a casual joke might not have been a good idea?

He then pointed over to his resting spear on his back, letting the red gem inside his holy weapon to help do the talking. Their eyes moved over, but silence still persisted. He was starting to worry if the joke backfired until the older nun broke the silence.

"M-my sincerest apologies, Lord Spear Hero." She bowed her head. "I didn't expect to have met you so soon like this. Especially not in these circumstances."

The younger nun was still stunned and frozen in place, so her senior had to push down her head for a forced bow. A bit of whimpering came out from her, but she didn't resist, knowing the reason as to why it was done. It might have been harder than she would have liked it though.

"You don't have to bow your heads. Besides from my title, I'm just a person working hard to do what he needs to do. Everyone's got a job, so I've got mine."

"That is a very humble way of saying that you're here to save our world," the older nun responded, a bit softer in her voice. "However, I would like you to leave this matter to me. If she does not receive due punishment, she won't learn properly."

"I think she already has the idea of it. It's bad to be heading off by oneself, after all." Motoyasu leaned down to the junior, rubbing her head softly. "A cute girl might find herself in danger if she's not careful, so don't run off without permission."

"C-cute…? T-the Spear Hero just called me cute…!"

"If it's a direct order from the Spear Hero," Motoyasu chuckled, "she wouldn't forget such a thing. So I'll ask once again. Would it be alright if you dropped the punishment for her?"

"We are graced by your kindness, Lord Spear Hero," the older nun replied. "If it's by your words, I'll look over her mistakes done for the day." She turned to the girl. "Show your appreciation."

"Y-yes!" She quickly bowed several times in succession. "T-thank you, Lord Spear Hero! I'll make sure I'll provide a hundred prayers for you tonight!"

"One hundred seems a little—"

"Not enough!? Then I'll give you five hundred! No, but even that might be an understatement for the gratitude I have for you!"

He felt a bit uneasy when someone dedicated their time to something like that. He wasn't religious, so he didn't grasp the importance of prayers as much as others may have.

"Maybe you don't have to give me that many prayers. Let it be ten, a hundred or a thousand, I'm satisfied with any amount. It's just all about the feeling said behind it, so I would rather have ten prayers said with quality than be received with a thousand for quantity."

"Then a thousand dedicated prayers it is!

Motoyasu couldn't win. He smiled in defeat.

"Don't tire yourself out too much, alright?"

"Lord Spear Hero." The older nun called him out of his little conversation with the little girl; bless her soul, because Motoyasu didn't know what to do there. "I was planning on meeting the heroes in a few days when the Church wasn't busy anymore, but now that you're here, I might as well move up what I wanted to do. Do you have some time on your hands to head to the Church with me?"

He told the girls that they were going to go eat, but when he turned around, they were nudging him to go along with the nun. They would follow him along to the Church, but he didn't want the delay to be too devastating on Rino's grumbling stomach.

"As long as it doesn't take too long."

"Of course. Thank you for your time."

She led the way with the younger nun's hand in her own, but she turned her head before she made any serious distance. She smiled slightly at the Spear Hero.

"Oh, where are my manners? I should properly introduce myself."

"Don't worry, I haven't introduced myself either. My name is Motoyasu Kitamura. I'm happy to be serving as this world's Spear Hero."

"It's a great pleasure, Lord Motoyasu. My name is Sister Altara. I do hope that you live up to our expectations, but from what I've seen so far, you'll have no difficulty in doing so."

-/IV/-

The cathedral was in a dome on top with a symbol of the church's emblem. Its interior led them immediately into one of the places of worship where all the pews were. The ceilings were tall, giving space to statues of nondescript heroes holding swords, spears, and bows. And yet, no matter where he looked, there were no signs of a shield. He wasn't really liking the assumption he was making here.

There were a few people praying and about the same amount of religious workers ranging from the nuns that were tending the environment and performing their jobs to the knights with a different armor set to the ones from the castle, standing around and being on guard.

However, there had been one person that he noticed which had been seemingly familiar to him.

"Is that really him? Hey! Over here!"

Motoyasu's voice echoed down the main lobby, slightly disrupting the other people of the Church. Sister Altara quietly told Motoyasu to keep his voice down as he realized what he had just done. A bit of nervousness came wryly away from him, but he was able to get the other person's attention.

After they finished talking with one of the Church's staff, they headed right over.

"I didn't think I'd see you here."

"Neither did I, Itsuki!" Motoyasu smiled, happy to see his friend so soon. "What are you doing here? Oh, let me guess. You got curious about this large church in the middle of the city?"

"I guess you can say that. What about you?"

"I was helping out some of the nuns here. I can't just leave girls alone if they need some help."

"Unfortunately, that's a truth I already know about," Itsuki sighed.

"Is this person a friend of yours, Lord Motoyasu?" Sister Altara asked.

"Yeah! He's actually—!"

"I'm just an adventurer he met earlier this morning," Itsuki said, cutting off Motoyasu before he had a chance to introduce him. "Just as he helped you two out, he helped me as well. Quite the Spear Hero we have. We're quite lucky to have him."

Itsuki gazed over to Motoyasu, silently telling him to roll with it. He wasn't sure why Itsuki lied like that, but considering what happened when he casually revealed he was the Spear Hero to the two nuns, he realized that hiding a hero's identity would have been a good idea.

"Indeed. That is proof of his trait as a hero. If he has already helped people out on his first day here, then I believe we can expect great things from him."

"Yeah, I think so too. We'll be safe from the waves of destruction if the other heroes are like this," Itsuki chuckled. "I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave here. I still have other business to attend to."

"What? Leaving already?" Motoyasu asked, a bit dejected.

"Sorry. I got things to do."

"Alright, I got you." Motoyasu was going to ask if Itsuki would have liked to accompany him, but if he was busy, then there wasn't much Motoyasu could do. "I'll see you later, Itsuki."

"Until next time."

Itsuki left the building.

Motoyasu didn't think that their reunion would have been so short, but if he had to say something about it, it felt like Itsuki was in a rush to leave. It wasn't something he should worry about, right?

Sister Altara told the young nun to leave and return to her duties, while she herself escorted Motoyasu and his party to where she wanted to bring him.

Down the hall, there were a set of holy knights guarding a specific entrance. On the mere sight of the nun, they moved out of the way and allowed everyone to enter. She must have been quite high-ranking if she could get them to move without even disclosing the reasons that she was there.

As they made their way through a darker corridor, the light at the end shined through and showed them what was waiting here. He widened his eyes, a little surprised at what was here. Even the girls seemed to have been surprised, but he didn't know if that was because they didn't know this existed or if they had never seen it before. Whatever it was, it didn't detract from it.

It was a giant hourglass with sand dripping down like a fountain. It was amazing to see as the columns and supports that held the figure together only added to the amazing sight. The columns had been white, standing tall with all types of shapes and figures as it went up. The supports around the hourglass itself had been golden in color, detailed with two dragons at the top of the patterned waves.

"What exactly is this?"

Sister Altara stepped up the little staircase and stood by the hourglass. There was a nun cleaning it up carefully, but at the word of the senior, she went away to fetch something.

"Lord Motoyasu. This is the Dragon's Hourglass."

He didn't think it would look so majestic, but for something that helps in warning its people about incoming waves, he didn't doubt that the nun was telling the truth.

"As the Spear Hero, I take it that the king has already explained what it is used for."

"It's for checking the time in which the next wave will arrive."

"There's also one more feature to the Dragon's Hourglass that may prove to be helpful to your journey. It is the reason why I brought you here instead of simply speaking with you. If you would so please, I would like to ask you to head up to the podium here."

Motoyasu took one glance behind him to his party members, who had found a seat along the outer wall, before walking up the same stairs to see the hourglass close up.

His spear suddenly started to react with one of the gems along the rims. A light shot outwards from his spear, causing him to hold it just in case before it dimmed to nothingness. After a short delay, a new menu screen popped up in front of him with a high-pitched beeping noise paired with it.

[Attention]

[The registration to Dragon's Hourglass has been successful.]

Once it removed itself from his sight, a new part of the interface showed up. Along the corner of his vision, a clock had showed up. If he was reading it correctly, there were more than three weeks remaining on the clock. He suspected that this matched with the upcoming wave of destruction.

"A registration…" He lowered his spear, gazing back at the falling sand.

"From what ancient text that we still have in our possession, it reveals to us that the registration of the Dragon's Hourglass for a Cardinal Hero would greatly help in allowing them to assist in fighting the waves quickly instead of spending time in heading to the site by foot."

"Something like teleportation? Oh, that's definitely going to be helpful. And here I thought that was to be taken for granted, so I guess I'm lucky to have gotten here first. It would definitely be a problem if I didn't register here before the wave started."

He wondered if Itsuki managed to register himself here already, but considering that this room was guarded by holy knights, his best guess would be an astounding no. He was hiding his identity, so no one would know that he's the Bow Hero and therefore, no one would casually let him into this room.

It would be for the best if he came across Ren, Itsuki, and Naofumi to tell them about this important feature that could have been overlooked.

"Do you mind if I tell the other heroes?"

"If you can, that would be greatly appreciated."

"Even the Shield Hero?"

At this point, Motoyasu couldn't exactly dance around the problem. He didn't exist through the young nun's sermon, there's no indications of shields in the building, and even the name of the religion seemed like a red flag. "The Shield Hero," the nun answered, "is welcome to come register for the wave of destruction. He is still a Cardinal Hero as the other three are. He would simply need to come by and ask one of the nuns to bring him over here. There will be no difficulty in that."

"Alright, then allow me to change the way I worded my question since I don't think I got my real question across." Motoyasu glanced at Sister Altara. "Where is the presence of the Shield Hero in this place? I've seen nothing that suggests that the Church of Three Heroes acknowledges him."

"And what does that matter to the affairs of the Spear Hero?"

"Curiosity," he responded immediately.

Sister Altara remained silent before sighing. "It is merely based on our teachings. The Shield Hero does not fit into any of our original scriptures, but to say that we omitted him is a mistake. In our teachings, the presence of the Shield Hero is still there, but our focus is primarily on the Three Heroes. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

She simply talked around in a circle, not actually addressing the real question Motoyasu was trying to ask. However, Sister Altara made it clear that she wasn't going to budge much on giving him a proper response, so Motoyasu didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Just in time. Your present has arrived."

"My present?" He glanced over to see that the nun from before was bringing over a pouch on a tray. She walked over and extended it for him to take. "You're giving me money? I don't really need it and I'd feel bad about taking some from a Church and all, even if they do worship me."

"It is not money. Think of it as a souvenir."

Motoyasu reached out and grabbed it, realizing that there were no coins here.

"Is this sand?"

"Indeed. It is the same red sands that you see inside the Dragon's Hourglass. We provide these sands to people for a cost as part of our gratitude for a large donation, but you are the Spear Hero. We would lack manners for us to ask payment from you. You will be able to find a use for it in the future, but until then, please take this as a memory of the Church of Three Heroes."

"I guess I'll hold onto that." He tucked the pouch away, letting the other nun remove herself from the podium. "Thanks for this. I'll take care of it."

"We should be the ones to thank you instead, Lord Motoyasu. As for this meeting, that is all I wished to talk about. Thank you for your precious time."

Motoyasu waved his salutations to the senior nun as he caught up with the three party members. He even sped up to a light jog before stopping before them.

"Sorry about that. I didn't take too long, did I?"

"No, this was perfectly fine," Rino replied. "There wasn't any problems at—"

Once again, her stomach growled to interrupt her. Her face turned red and she tilted her head down, hiding from her embarrassment. Motoyasu giggled, as did Lesty and Elena.

"How about we head to the restaurant? No more stops along the way, I promise."

"T-That… would be great…"

-/IV/-

Naofumi didn't realize fighting would be so simple. He was under the impression that combat would take precise, knowledge and reflexes in order to effectively be of any use in a fight. He had been mentally preparing himself to fight tooth-and-nail everyday to get any form of progress.

Wrong. All he did was literally stand there and let the monsters bite him.

They did no damage to him, even at LV1. The balloon monsters that roamed the field outside of the capital leapt into him with their demonic jaws opening wide open to bite down on whatever flesh it could take. He described it like that at first, but once he realized the truth, it actually felt like they were nibbling without their dentures as Myne went to kill them.

His health bar didn't move in any way that he noticed. The only difficult part would have been that he needed to somehow stand in the way of the monsters before they swapped their aggression over to Myne, but these balloon monsters weren't exactly the brightest creatures.

They simply kept latching onto him, as if they thought if they bit down for long enough, he would die. In their defense, they were knocking off slivers of health as they stayed on him, so if they were there for about… a few years, they could probably do it?

"How has the first day been so far, Mister Shield Hero?"

"It's been great! I mean, besides the fact I didn't level-up..."

No matter how much monster Myne was killing, he never received a level-up notification. By the time the sun was starting to go down, he was still at LV1. It was a bit unfortunate, but Myne reassured him that he was doing the best he could and that tomorrow, she was certain that he would hit a level-up. Just imagining it made him excited for the next morning.

He didn't know how to track his experience points. He assumed it was the meter underneath all of his resources, that being his MP and SP, but it didn't move a single time during the day.

Myne was an adventurer, so she probably knew best. It was more likely that people just didn't know when they leveled up, it just happens naturally, so adventurers have better judgment at these types of things compared to a newcomer like him.

"Hey, Myne? I know we went to buy some quick supplies before heading out, but do you know any spots where we can buy some equipment? There has to be a good place that you know about."

"Equipment? I suppose it would be wise to buy some better quality stuff, especially with the extra money that the king provided for you."

Naofumi didn't want to lavishly spend the money he had, still not getting a good grasp of how money is valued from item to item. It's easy to say that he had more than eight hundred silver coins, but that doesn't really mean much by itself. The value of coins is decided by the market, as he learned the hard way when starting out on Odin Spirit.

He had confidence he'll get the basics down in a relatively fast time. If there was anything he could say he was better at in games compared to his friends, it was definitely the marketplace interactions. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to see what they had in stock, even if he wasn't going to commit to buying anything. He had a feeling that some of the best items aren't going to be mere drops from monsters.

"I know of a good store right down the street if you want to see it."

"That would be great, Myne. Please lead the way."

As Myne left, Naofumi felt a strange sensation over his shoulder. It was like someone had been watching him, but when he looked over his shoulder, there wasn't anyone that had been obviously looking his way. Was it his imagination again?

"Mister Shield Hero?"

"Coming!"

Myne looked as if she was skipping down the streets. It didn't take long for Naofumi and Myne to travel down the cobblestone roads and stop before a certain blacksmith store. A large sign of a sword and an ax crossing could be seen above the door and by looking right into the display window, he could grab a little glimpse of what was inside.

He walked in with Myne to the sound of chiming bells.

"Welcome." A man behind the counter greeted them, crossing his arms to emphasize his large body-type and dark skin. "What can I do for you today?"

"Wow, so this is a weapon shop…"

Naofumi had seen places like this from the computer monitor, but if he had played Brave Star Online like Ren, he figured that he wouldn't have been as surprised. He couldn't help himself in looking around, seeing all the different weapons displayed against the walls and armor being hung up by stands.

"Ah, so it's your first time in a place like this?" the man chuckled as he crossed his arms. "My name is Erhart. I'm the owner and the blacksmith of this establishment. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Myne turned over to Naofumi. "Do you think we need anything here of importance? I personally believe that it would be great to focus on your strengths and push them even further forwards. How would some armor sound for you?"

"If it would be fine, I would like to try using a sword."

If he couldn't attack with his shield, it might have been a good idea to wield a sword in his other hand. It feels like he was forgetting something, but what? If it was important, he'd remember it soon.

"A sword? I suppose that would be fine." Myne glanced over to Erhart. "Do you have any starter swords that you can recommend, Mister Erhart? As for myself, I'd like one that would be better than my current blade. I'd say a good budget for that would be upwards to three hundred to four hundred silver."

"Alright, let me see what I can do. Wait here for a moment."

He left to search through some of the display weapons. It took him about a minute to return with two swords. "This one is for the gentleman, and this one is for the lady. Why don't you try them out before buying them? They both come with the [Blood Clean] effect as well."

"[Blood Clean]? What's that?" Naofumi asked.

"Monster blood erodes the blade, but these ones don't have that problem. It'll automatically clean the blade, as the name suggests, making its upkeep much easier for beginners."

Myne unsheathed her new sword and spun the blade around for a bit. Although the moves were limited and basic, Naofumi wanted to try that out too. His blade was much more simpler in its design, but when he started pulling it out with the intention to slash it forwards, something tingled his palm.

In a split second, that tingle exploded into an electric shock.

"Gah! Damn it, that hurts!"

Both Myne and Erhart looked over to see Naofumi drop the sword onto the ground, falling backwards from the effect. His hand felt like it was burned inside out, but nothing was left to indicate such an occurrence.

"Are you alright?" Myne said, quickly coming to Naofumi's side.

"Y-Yeah." Naofumi glanced over to the fallen sword. "I don't know what happened. I tried to use the sword like you did, but…" His eyes then leered downwards to his hands. He wanted to grab it to try again, but Erhart managed to snag up the sword before he had the chance to move.

"That doesn't look like a natural reaction." Erhart walked over to place the basic sword on a counter. "Does it have to do with that shield of yours? The one with the glowing gem in its center?"

"I'm not sure."

Naofumi got back up with Myne helping him. He walked over to grab the sword once more, but the mere touch of it sent a static shock through his fingers. However, through the second instance, a menu from his Status Magic appeared.

[Attention]
[The Cardinal Heroes cannot use weapons other than their assigned Holy Weapon with the intention to fight.]

Chimes rang by the door as Erhart was trying to check up on his shield using his appraisal magic. Naofumi and Erhart didn't notice it because they were too busy with this mystery.

"Say, kid. You wouldn't happen to be the Shield Hero, right?"

"Ah, sorry. I wasn't trying to hide it, but you would be right. My name is Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero summoned to this world to fight the waves of destruction."

"You don't seem strong, so I see why you wanted to grab a sword with you." Erhart leaned away from the shield, finishing his inspection of it. "It certainly looks like your normal shield. However, there's an incredible amount of energy being emitted from it. If it was cursed to make you drop any swords, then I would have seen it immediately." He sighed, stroking his beard as if he was defeated as well. "I suppose you'll only grab some armor for yourself."

"Maybe I could use another sword?"

"That's not going to work."

A familiar voice came from the side and he was glad to see a familiar face, even if they were apart for not even a full day yet.

"Oh, Ren! When did you come in!?"

"When you were blatantly forgetting about what I said back in the castle." He approached Naofumi, rolling his eyes over the shield. "Didn't I tell you that we can't change weapons? You're stuck with that weapon and the only way for you to get stronger is through the strengthening methods."

"Ah, so that was what the shock was. It's punishment for not listening to its rules and all."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Sword Hero. My name is Myne Sophia."

"... Hmph."

All Myne received from Ren was a simple eye-panning and a grunt before he returned to Naofumi. Other than that, it was like he was trying to ignore the adventurer. Naofumi didn't like the sudden tense atmosphere between them, as Myne narrowed her eyes onto his friend.

"Oh, uh, where's your party members, Ren?"

"Off by themselves," he responded. "We went to hunt some monsters and came back. I asked for a place to get some equipment and they pointed in this direction."

"Then in that case, let's get you some armor."

"I'm not here for armor. I'm here for swords."

Naofumi frowned. "Wait, you just told me I can't use other weapons other than the shield here. Why are you looking for other weapons then?"

"Just give me a minute to show you what I discovered."

"You're looking for a sword?" Erhart butted in, keeping an ear out on the conversation. "If that's the case, I could show you some good ones. You look rather experienced, so I know you'll have a good eye for them. What's your bud—"

"I don't need help. I'll look through the weapons by myself."

Ren walked over to the wall with the swords there and started to pick them up, one by one. Erhart was a bit speechless at how cold Ren was to him, but Naofumi already knew that might happen.

"Your friend is a bit rude, and while I did say that he looks like someone that knows what he's doing, he could have declined in a nicer way."

"I-I'm sure he just doesn't want to waste your time with him. He is actually very thoughtful of others! You could mention a problem and Ren would take some of his time to fix it if it's something he cared about!"

"This is literally my job, so it's not exactly a waste of my time."

"R-right…"

It took Ren a few minutes to look through all the swords. He never actually swung a single one though, perhaps knowing that it might shock him. Even so, he gave each other a few seconds to inspect it, only to put it back moments later. Erhart looked rather concerned as time passed before he got to the last one along the edge. He spent a little bit more time holding the sword, only to glance back at Naofumi.

"Naofumi, hold onto this one. Don't think about attacking, even for a moment. The weapons can read your intentions, so you can't trick it."

"Huh? What are you—"

Ren suddenly threw the sword over to Naofumi, causing him to panic and catch it along the handle. Somehow, he managed to react fast enough to not let it plummet to the ground, but as he recovered, a steel surface struck right next to his head.

His friend thrusted his sword right up next to him, but Naofumi was calm about it. He didn't make any type of reaction since he didn't think he was in danger. He was simply so trusting that Ren wouldn't randomly attack him like this, much less try to kill him for no reason, so his mind automatically moved to what other explanations he would do this.

However, Naofumi noticed that Ren's sword had been different than before. It looked exactly like the sword that he was holding.

"Wait, so you're able to use that?"

"It's just my holy sword. Why shouldn't I be able to use it?"

On a closer inspection, there was a blue gem embedded in the hilt. Ren pulled back his sword and it changed forms in front of their eyes. It returned back to the form that Naofumi was already familiar with, but his eyes remained widened through surprise.

"How did you do that?"

"It was something I wanted to test out." Ren sheathed his sword and relieved Naofumi of the one he was holding as well. "It's another method in which we could get stronger called [Weapon Copy]. You can hold a weapon of a similar type; in your case, it would be shields and you'll be able to copy them into your arsenal."

Ren placed the extra sword back on the shelf. "From there, you can switch between different forms for different utility and stats to each one."

"Whoa. How did you figure that out?"

"It has to do with my strengthening method. I assumed there was another way to gather weapons underneath our usage, so I searched the help menus for a way. This was one of them, and luckily, I didn't need to sweep the city to make sure that you knew about it as well."

"H-how about we try it out, Mister Shield Hero?" Myne, being a bit dazed by Ren's revelation, grabbed the nearest shield she could find and handed it over to Naofumi. "This one appears to be of high quality. Will this work?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Holding the shield, he thought about the instance of copying it and to his surprise, it immediately showed up without any problems. It asked if he wanted to copy it and to his agreement, the shield took in its data and a new screen showed up for him.

[Iron Buckler + 0] 0/20 - C
(Equip Bonus) : Defense 1
(Mastery Level) : 0
(Item Enhancement) : 0
(Spirit Enhancement) : 0
(Status Enhancement) : 0

He swapped over to the shield, letting it transform in the same thing he was holding seconds before handing it back to Myne. This type of knowledge was incredible, giving him a new layer to grow stronger on top of what his friends already told him about.

"Looks like you got the idea already."

"And I'll be able to switch shields whenever I want?"

Ren nodded. "Just make sure you're using the strengthening methods properly to make those shields stronger. Some weapons grant additional effects that aren't present in their base forms."

"I got it," he nodded, swapping back to his default shield as practice. "I do have to say that this is going to take a while to get all of this down. Maybe even a month could pass and I'll still be struggling."

"Just take your time. When the waves of destruction come, the others will cover for what you're lacking. It's as simple as that, but it's always good to have new things kept at the back of your mind rather than discovering it later on."

Ren turned his back, making an intention to leave. Naofumi was a little surprised that he came in, just to do that. Copy some of Erhart's swords, teach Naofumi about [Weapon Copy] and depart just like that. It wasn't out of his image of Ren to act along those lines.

Though, speaking of Erhart—

"Hold on a moment." Erhart's voice came from behind the counter as he glared at Naofumi and Ren. "I don't get a damn thing on what just happened, but if I did manage to somehow understand things correctly, doesn't this mean you're stealing my stuff?"

He was sure that Erhart, being the amiable guy that he was, would understand if Naofumi took the time to explain to him properly about what was happening. However, Naofumi could hear Ren gulping down as he shuffled quickly to the door.

"I-I'll see you later, Naofumi."

Naofumi ran out to his friend and grabbed his collar before he could dash right out.

"Ohoho, you're not leaving until I clear this misunderstanding up."

-/IV/-

After clearing things up with Erhart, Naofumi felt a bit tired.

Ren being himself didn't serve to make his job any easier in explaining, but they managed to pull through somehow. It served as a reminder to never get Erhart angry under any circumstances. He was sure that Ren certainly learned his lesson after that, but if only he would work a bit more on his social skills, that would have never happened.

Naofumi sighed, knowing that would likely never happen in the near future. On the bright side, he became on good terms in Erhart's eyes in trying to cover Ren's mistakes and make sure no one left the conversation cheated on anything. Negotiation skills were a big part of playing the ingame market of Odin Spirit, so he simply applied what he knew to that and it worked like a charm.

He ended up buying some chainmail armor for himself and used some funds to provide Myne with a new sword along with some defensive accessories. The amount totalled was rather steep for what he intended to buy, but Myne was pretty happy at the end of it.

Ren didn't buy anything, claiming that he didn't take anything of value from the store to begin with. Naofumi had to toss a few more silvers to Erhart's direction for dealing with Ren.

Afterwards, they splitted up with Ren and went their separate ways. Apparently, Ren was still intending to head out to fight more monsters. He said that in Brave Star Online, night monsters averaged at a higher rate of experience gain compared to the day, but as tempted as Naofumi was to head out, Myne suggested that they take it slow for the first few days.

Myne probably knew what she was talking about and to be frank, he could see the reasoning behind her idea. If all she had to go off from was the rumors from the castle, she would have to make sure that the Shield Hero has adapted to their new world correctly.

"How about we call it a night for today?" Myne suggested. "Does that seem fine to you?"

"Do you know any good places to rest?"

"Of course I do," she responded, smiling gently.

She led them to a place near the center of the city. It was at a place where he could see part of the castle from the entrance standing just over the building in the distance. With the money he had left, Myne claimed it was enough for a month. At 30 bronze pieces for a room per night, Naofumi thought his wallet was good enough for two months and a bit more.

"I'll need a separate room."

"Isn't one room enough though?"

"A lady does need her privacy. That doesn't bother you, right?"

"O-oh, right. Sorry, I wasn't thinking in those terms."

Myne winked rather mischievously. "I'm happy that you understand without me needing to go into too much detail. Thank you, Mister Shield Hero."

Meals weren't included in the inn's stay, but they were relatively cheap being at 5 bronze pieces to 10 bronze pieces for anything on the menu. They decided to eat first before going to their rooms, ordering at the tables of the inn's restaurant. He munched down on the meat and mashed potatoes without hesitation, feeling very hungry after today.

"Mister Shield Hero?" Myne held up a glass of wine. "It's been quite the pleasant day, I must say. From what I heard about the rumors, you're truly not the person I initially thought you were. I'm glad that I made the decision to help you out."

"I'm just as thankful to have you by my side like this."

"How about a toast?" She raised the wine towards Naofumi. "A toast to mark the start of our partnership? It's going to be a long journey to protect Melromarc from the waves of destruction, so I believe we should enjoy ourselves while we still can."

"Oh, no." Naofumi raised both of his hands. "I don't drink."

"Huh?" Myne widened her eyes. "Surely one glass would be fine. You wouldn't refuse a toast from a beautiful lady like me, right?"

"No, it's just for personal reasons. I have nothing against you, Myne. If I didn't have those reasons, I would gladly drink with you."

After all, Naofumi had a high tolerance to alcohol. Despite how much he could drink, he could never actually get as drunk as some of his peers. He didn't realize it until Motoyasu started bringing him over to some of the university parties which typically resulted in Naofumi dragging his friend home despite probably drinking the same amount. Motoyasu was probably the only person that could get him to drink along, but he was the exception, not the rule.

"That's a shame." Myne sighed, lowering his glass. She looked rather upset. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Sorry, Myne."

They finished their meal in peace, letting the atmosphere of the other patrons of the restaurant serve as a backdrop to their banal banter. When Naofumi finished up first, he felt tired as the whole day finally crashed down on his shoulders. He stretched out his arms, even though he knew it was bad manners to do so at the table, and stood up from the empty plate.

"I'll be heading up first," he yawned. "It felt like quite a long day to me, so I need some rest for tomorrow. I'll see you then. Good night, Myne."

"Yes, indeed. Good night, Mister Shield Hero."

As Myne quietly finished up the rest of her meal, Naofumi retired to his room. Taking off his armor and placing his coins out from his pocket, he placed both of them on a table nearby. With a few more stretches on his arms, he rolled into bed and sunk into its mattress. Getting to sleep after a tiring day like this felt great, but he was still as excited to wake up the next morning to make some more progress.

He wondered if this is how Ren felt while playing Brave Star Online.

"Oh, right. I forgot to ask about the experience gauge from him. Well, I guess it isn't too important now. Right now, the important thing—" He interrupted himself with a big yawn. "—is to get some sleep. Maybe we'll start off first thing in the morning."

The skies were the limit while Myne was by his side. With Itsuki, Ren, and Motoyasu helping him out along the way, he'll be able to go even further beyond. If he thought about it, being a hero was a lot of work and came with some pressure, but if he had his friends every step of the way, he was sure that everything would work out.

Then what was with this ominous feeling that was still hanging over his shoulder?

Ignoring it for now, he drifted off to sleep, waiting to be woken up by a collapsing reality.

-/IV/-

Motoyasu brought the girls to an inn once they spent a bit more time out grinding some more experience points. The girls all shared a room, leaving Motoyasu to a room by himself. They all retired to their rooms first, leaving him at the inn's restaurant by himself.

It was a bit lonely, even with all the people around, but sometimes it was good to take things slowly for himself. He ordered some wine and started drinking by himself, celebrating the day's completion. Maybe he'll go around to see if there were any cute girls nearby.

"Oh? Is that you, Mister Spear Hero?

A familiar voice came from the side. He turned his head over, noticing a beautiful red-haired woman walking over to him. "Well, what do you know? You were also here, Myne? I swear, we might have split up merely this morning, but I'm certainly still excited to see familiar faces."

"Might I take you up on that offer from earlier?"

"I'm not sure if this would be the date that I would bring a beautiful lady as yourself, but you insist, I won't stop you," Motoyasu chuckled. "I was imagining something more extravagant than being at a bar inside of an inn."

"This is quite fine." Myne found a seat right next to Motoyasu, almost as if she was trying to cuddle up with him. "As long as you're there, a place like this is good enough."

"How was the Shield Hero so far?"

"It's been fine. He's as you say, a great person to be around." Despite saying that, Myne shrinked as she spoke a bit softer. "Though, I do feel like he's been lustfully staring at me when I'm not looking at him. It's like something is trying to entrap me through his lens."

"Ha! That's probably your imagination," Motoyasu said so dismissively that even Myne had been surprised. "Naofumi isn't that type of person! He would rather look at a book than look at some beautiful girls, but maybe you hit a soft spot in him. He's not much of a guy when it comes to relationships like that, so maybe if you talk it out with him, you'll be able to figure the truth out."

"... I've been wondering about something, Mister Spear Hero."

"Please. Call me Motoyasu."

Myne giggled. "Then, Mister Motoyasu. I was wondering about your relationship between the other heroes. Back at the throne room, you spoke to your fellow heroes rather intimately. And even just now, it certainly sounds like you knew the Shield Hero on a personal level. Surely, the Spear Hero couldn't have been great enough to have already known the other heroes in simply a single day?"

"Oh, that would be impossible. If I had known Naofumi, Itsuki, and Ren from the summoning onwards, I'd be acting totally different towards them. They would be strangers to me and as such, it would be difficult to grasp their true nature."

"Then how do you claim to speak like that about them?"

"That's simple. It's because I've been friends with them for a while now. We've known each other even before the summoning ritual and we actually got pulled into this mess while we were together."

"... Is that so?"

Motoyasu took a quick drink of his wine, not noticing the slight smirk the second he took his eyes away from Myne. It was filled with deviousness for a mere moment and when he looked back, she returned to normal with her bright and gorgeous smile.

"Could you tell me more about this over a glass of wine? A toast, as it would."

"Of course. What type of idiot would deny a toast with a beautiful lady like yourself?"

For Motoyasu, this was an opportunity for a date, but for Myne, it was a change of plans.

"Yes," Myne smiled emotionlessly. "I do wonder that."

-/IV/-

As Myne and Motoyasu drank together and spoke with one another, Ren stood right behind the entrance to the restaurant from the inn's interior. With arms crossed, he kept his ears open, trying to listen in to what they were saying, but the static noise from the other customers made it difficult to phase it out.

If he had to be honest, he felt like he was wasting his time.

He escaped from his party members early on to claim he wanted to scout the area of the monsters without any influence from other people and quickly left their side. However, he was lying. He did get some experience points off of some of the monsters he encountered, but it was nowhere near the amount he was intending to get on his first day. It was just enough to push him over LV2.

Even so, Itsuki's voice echoed in his head.

"I don't trust Myne. If you can, could you keep track of her whenever you can? It's just in case she tries to do anything to Naofumi. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but based on the conversation I heard last night, I'm inclined to believe the opposite of my optimism."

"It doesn't look like Myne's up to anything just yet," he said, talking more to himself. "If anything, it looks like she's another girl who had fallen for Motoyasu's looks and attitude."

Ever since Naofumi came back to the city, Ren had been lucky enough to cross paths, but it wasn't at the blacksmithing place. In reality, Ren noticed Naofumi and Myne back when they were entering the city again and from there, he followed them. Even after he seemingly departed from the blacksmith, he looped right back around to follow them again.

And while Naofumi looked as if he went back up to his room, Myne was still active in the night. He thought that Myne would have retired as well, but it seemed like that wasn't the case. Although he wanted to honor Itsuki's suspicions and try to see if Myne is up to no good, he felt like this was enough.

He knew where they were sleeping, so he knew where she would be returning to. In that regard, Itsuki was also checking in on something else relevant to the conversation he heard last night. Something about a Church being mentioned?

He was tempted to leave Myne in Motoyasu's care for now, all so that he could at least reach LV3 by midnight's embrace, but everytime he looked over at the suspect in question, he would get a bad feeling about her. Even the way she introduced herself to him felt so fake back at the blacksmith, but perhaps that was Itsuki's warning getting to his head.

"On the chance that Myne does end up doing something bad to Naofumi though…"

His hand instinctively twitched towards his sword. Naofumi was a good friend of his and if there was some bitch that tried to swindle her way to get to his neck, she would be the one in danger.

"Sir Ren! There you are!"

His body loosened up. Ren widened his eyes, seeing that one of his party members ended up crossing paths with him. This wasn't exactly his luckiest moment here, but he coughed and stood up straight, trying to play it off as naturally as he can.

"Oh, it's just you. What do you want?"

"You just split off from us earlier today. We actually spent some of the day looking for you because we were worried, but it looks like we got flustered over nothing. As the adventurers that the king chose to serve you, we're responsible for you until you're strong enough to fend for yourself."

"All I'm doing is what I think is good. And everyone else should go train by themselves if they have the time to meaninglessly waste their time looking for me."

"We already know some of the good spots though! We could have simply told you that!"

"And if I received a guide from you, I wouldn't know how to scout out the environment for myself, would I? I'm not fond of shortcuts here and I'm not fond of depending on other people to do my own work. I'll get it done in my own way."

"O-oh, is that right? Sorry if I offended you, Sir Ren."

Ren scratched his head. "Whatever. I'll be off."

"This late into the night?"

"Monsters drop a higher average experience rate at night, so it would be a waste to not take this as part of my advantage. Especially since I couldn't do much today."

With the moon being unable to be seen by the dark clouds above, Ren looked up to see that not even the stars were out today. He was hoping for some more time in order to come to his conclusions, seeing if Myne was a friend or a foe.

Unfortunately for the four heroes and the four friends, time was not on their side.

The next morning, everything would change.


[SKIT 010 : Cheer]

[Motoyasu] : "And take this! You're as good as done!"
[Lesty] : "Go get them, Mister Motoyasu! Wooo!"
[Rino] : "... This doesn't feel right. We're supposed to fighting with him, no?"
[Elena] : "I actually prefer this method."
[Rino] : "Isn't it because you're lazy?"
[Elena] : "I prefer it to be said that I'm reserving my energy."
[Rino] : "You didn't even bother to refute it."
[Lesty] : "And where's the problem in not helping? I don't want to work up a sweat if Mister Motoyasu can handle it back himself. Elena does have a point where we shouldn't be spending our energy on things we don't need to do!"
[Rino] : "... I think I'll just talk with Mister Motoyasu later."

[SKIT 011 : Expensive Tastes]

[Rino] : "Wait, hold on. Is this really the restaurant we're going to?"
[Elena] : "It looks like the one I've been going to."
[Lesty] : "Oh, amazing! It looks so fancy!"
[Rino] : "You meant to say expensive! I can barely afford anything here!"
[Motoyasu] : "Don't worry about it. I said I'd be paying, right?"
[Rino] : "Oh, I'm going to feel guilty after this one. W-what's the cheapest menu item, Elena?"
[Elena] : "I don't know. I don't care enough to check."
[Rino] : "Who exactly are you!?"
[Elena] : "A daughter of a merchant and a noble."
[Rino] : "Why are you an adventurer!?"
[Lesty] : "Maybe she has a heart for the adventure!"
[Elena] : "Oh, please. Spare me."
[Motoyasu] : "Hahaha! Glad to see that everyone's getting along!"

[SKIT 012 : Trade For Defense]

[Naofumi] : "These battles... aren't going the way I expected them to go."
[Myne] : "Is there a problem, Mister Shield Hero?"
[Naofumi] : "I don't want to come off sounding like a battle junkie, but maybe I want things to be more interesting? All I'm doing is standing there, taking attacks like nobody's business. It's not a very sound strategy on paper, but in execution, having high defense does apparently let me do weird things like that."
[Myne] : "Isn't this good? We spend less effort on battling monsters this way."
[Naofumi] : "I know, I know."
[Naofumi] : (But if Ren was in my position, he would probably hate the way battles go for the Shield Hero.)
[Naofumi] : (It's good for me, but maybe trading attack for absolute defense isn't everyone's dream.)
[Naofumi] : (I'm just going to have to be careful that I don't fall asleep in the middle of battle.)

[SKIT 013 : Cold Shoulder]

[Myne] : "The Sword Hero is very rude. He didn't even bother to returns salutations to me."
[Naofumi] : "I'm sure there might be a misunderstanding."
[Naofumi] : (Knowing Ren, it definitely wasn't, but I don't want him to already be someone's enemy here...)
[Naofumi] : "Maybe he's not used to the warm reception? I'm sure he was simply shy."
[Myne] : "For someone shy, he was sure speaking to you a bunch."
[Naofumi] : "That's your imagination."
[Naofumi] : (Great, now how do I tell her that Ren usually just gives every stranger the cold shoulder?)
[Naofumi] : (Ugh, I'll just leave it alone...)

[SKIT 014 : Melromarc Castletown]

[Naofumi] : "Man, I really am in a fantasy world. This city is incredible and its atmosphere is far better than I could ever imagine."
[Naofumi] : "There are so many things I want to go check out! I feel like some foreign tourist! So many unique markets, buildings and attractions all into this medieval fantasy city! Even the food from the outside stalls smells really good from afar!"
[Naofumi] : "Even so, I still need keep in mind the reason why I'm here. I can enjoy the capital at any given moment, but I need to grow stronger first, so that places like the capital be be protected."

[SKIT 015 : Difference]

[Ren] : "Motoyasu could at least serve to be a little wary of others..."
[Ren] : "As long as the person's a girl, he's already considering her to be a close friend."
[Ren] : "I guess he's the type to get along with mostly everyone, after all."
[Ren] : "I wouldn't expect anything else from Motoyasu. He can just interact with people like a natural."
[Ren] : "..."
[Ren] : "Lucky bastard..."