Alright. Here we go. Here's a second chapter for you all to enjoy. Thanks again for all the support you're showing KidFumi here. We can't wait until this story gets to kick into high gear when KidTalia is introduced!
Chapter Two: The King's New Son
"Hey, are we going to do a pillow fight or something!?"
Motoyasu laughed at little Naofumi's suggestion. "You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea! Hey guys, are we feeling up for a pillow fight?!" He asked.
"Not… particularly." Ren muttered, calmly sitting in his chair and pretending he wouldn't be interested in such a youthful activity.
"It'd probably be better if we got some rest. We're going to have a long day tomorrow." Itsuki said disinterestedly.
"But we can't rest now! There's still a lot we have to go over!" Motoyasu complained to Itsuki.
"Oh yeah. Like what?" Itsuki asked.
"You know…" Motoyasu gestured with his head to Naofumi, who had made a pile of pillows by running around and grabbing every available pillow in the room. He'd already forgotten the idea for a pillow fight and was instead building a pillow fort by the couch...
"What about him?" Again, Itsuki asked after a moment, still looking disinterested.
Motoyasu sighed exaggeratedly. "Come on, we can't just leave the poor kid hanging like this. We have to make sure he knows how this world works and everything!"
Naofumi's pillow fort collapsed on top of him. Hiding him from view. "I'd rather be safe than sorry, in case, you know…"
Naofumi stuck his head out, looking amazed at how comfortable the pile of pillows surrounding him was.
"... I suppose I'd hate to have a kid die because we didn't help him." Ren said.
Itsuki sighed. "Fine. The Shielder class is screwed anyway, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure he knows how Dimension Wave works."
"... Hold up. Don't you mean Emerald Online?" Motoyasu asked.
"What are you two talking about? This is supposed to be Brave Star Online." Ren said.
All three of them looked to each other in confusion.
"What game is that?!" All of them yelled simultaneously.
Itsuki answered first. "It's a console game. Haven't you heard of it before? It's one of the most popular ones in Japan right now."
"Console games?! Those are like, so twenty years ago! Emerald Online is a popular computer MMO game! Everyone I know plays it!"
"You're still using computers? Where do you live, under a rock?" Ren said, crossing his arms. "Everyone plays VRMMOs nowadays."
"VRMMOs! What kind of technology is that?!" Itsuki asked incredulously. For once, he didn't look bored or disinterested.
"He's right! I thought VR was like, the kind of stuff you see in light novels and sci-fi movies." Motoyasu said.
…
The three looked to Naofumi. "Hey, Naofumi!" Motoyasu called.
Naofumi poked his head out of the pile of pillows he was now calling home again. "What?" He asked.
"What kind of game did you play before coming here?" He asked.
"Game?" Naofumi asked while scratching his head.
"You know. The game that we're in right now. What was the name of your game?" Motoyasu clarified for Naofumi.
"Well, I mean, I've played games before, but nothing like this. I think I read about this world in a book at my school library, but I don't remember much… and I somehow ended up here while reading it."
…
"WHAT?!" All three heroes yelled at the same time.
"What!? Why are you so surprised!? Is that bad?!" Naofumi asked in fright.
The three Heroes immediately formed a huddle. Whispering things to each other that Naofumi couldn't hear.
...
"Umm, did I do something wrong?" Naofumi asked, clutching one of the pillows tightly.
The three broke the huddle. Motoyasu had a strained smile on his face. "We just had a couple more questions we wanted to run by you quickly to check something."
"Uhh, sure."
"Who's the current Prime Minister?!" Motoyasu asked.
The three older heroes had different answers. Naofumi didn't know who the current prime minister was. It had probably been mentioned in History Class. Probably. As if he'd ever pay attention to something like that.
"Whose face is on the 100 yen bill?"
Again, the three of them had differing answers. 'Wait, the weird faces on money are actually people?' Naofumi thought. He hadn't paid attention to it before. His parents would just hand him money and he'd go spend it on something. Isn't that what money was meant for anyway? Who'd have time to learn about the faces on it?
"How about we ask something Naofumi would know?" Ren suggested after a couple more questions elicited nothing but confusion from the young boy.
Motoyasu thought about it some. "Wait, I've got it!... What's the name of Japan's current top idol?"
Naofumi looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Why would I know that of all things off the top of my head? Girls, blech!"
"Probably need to think with your upper brain and not your lower one Motoyasu." Ren whispered in Motoyasu's ear.
Motoyasu thought on it harder. Straining to think of something a little kid would know.
Finally, Itsuki spoke up. "What's a popular anime right now?"
"Oh, One Punch Dude." Naofumi answered.
"One Punch Dude?" Itsuki chimed in. "That doesn't sound very heroic or interesting."
"No way! He's like the best! He doesn't really fit the definition of a hero. But he ends up helping lots of random people while trying to make visits to the grocery store!"
...
"I'm sorry, what?" Ren asked with raised eyebrows. "What does the grocery store have anything to do with his character?"
"I'm not really sure. It's just he's always got a grocery bag with him. And whenever someone-"
"Well anyway, I think it's obvious that we're not from the same version of Japan," Motoyasu said with a shrug. He didn't want to admit he watched a similar anime in his world. But there it was called One Punch Woman. 'Saitamese would only be more perfect if she had angel wings.' Motoyasu thought with a happy sigh. "Either way, we're here now so we may as well compare notes. Emerald Online was pretty similar to this. But I'm more used to playing on a screen than real life." Motoyasu said, looking himself over.
"Same here," Itsuki said. "But Archer was my favorite class in my game. I'm sure picking up the basics will be pretty easy."
"I'm already used to this kind of environment," Ren said, hefting his sword one-handedly in a cool way. "So this shouldn't take much of an adjustment."
Naofumi looked despondent. "I… honestly have no idea what's going on. This is all crazy and I'm a little scared." He admitted. "I mean, what about my mom? What will she think when I don't come home tonight!?"
The three heroes looked at each other with wide eyes. 'Oh ****!' They thought at the same time. Naofumi looked on the verge of crying!
"Hey, hey! Don't cry, little buddy!" Motoyasu pleaded. "Everything's gonna be fine, I promise! We'll save the world and get you back to your mom in no time! She won't even know you were gone!"
Naofumi's eyes shined. "You really mean it!?" He asked excitedly.
"Of course! Right guys!" Motoyasu gave a sideways glare to both Itsuki and Ren. Promising hell in one gaze if they didn't do everything in their power to help save this world so Naofumi could go home.
"Uh, yeah," Ren said, crossing his arms. Hoping nobody saw the bead of nervous sweat traveling down his forehead. "Don't worry about it."
"We'll do our best." Itsuki chimed in.
"Alright, now let's get started with helping Naofumi understand this world!" Motoyasu said, leaning forward excitedly. "So here's the deal. You have a shield, so that means you're a shielder class." Motoyasu explained. "Now, normally, shielders are meant to defend against damage and protect their friends."
"Like a hero?" Naofumi asked, his mood brightening slightly.
"Yeah, exactly!" The blond man snapped his fingers with a smile. "Just like a hero!"
"In your party, they're going to rely on you a lot to tank damage and distract the enemy." Ren continued for Motoyasu. "Because of your high defense stat, you shouldn't have to worry about taking damage from lower-level monsters for a while."
Itsuki nodded. "He's right. Shield classes don't usually do much damage though, so you'll want to have plenty of high damage adventurers with you. Including a few mages who know AoE spells to make grinding more efficient."
"Wow, you know a lot about the shielder class!" Naofumi said in awe.
Motoyasu frowned. "Unfortunately, shielders aren't widely used since our offensive stats outscale your defensive stats once we get to the higher levels." Naofumi looked a little sad at hearing that. Motoyasu immediately forced a smile again. "But don't worry! You'll be fine, I promise! Since you're a hero, you'll probably have cool powers just like the rest of us!" He said optimistically.
"Motoyasu, are you sure you-" Ren was trying to say. He didn't want the kid to die, but he also didn't want to give him false hope that'd set him up to fail later on.
Motoyasu elbowed him in the side, shutting him up. "Yep, I'm positive that'll happen to you Naofumi! You're going to do great!" He gave him a thumbs up and a cheeky grin.
The boy gave the tall man a skeptical look but accepted it. After all, why would he have a reason to lie? Lying was bad. "O-okay! I'll be sure to do my best!"
"Now, let's make sure you know the game mechanics. Do you have your status menu up Naofumi?" Itsuki asked.
"Um… how do I pull it up again?" Naofumi asked uncertainly.
…
…
The three Heroes stared, before facepalming simultaneously. "Do you see the little icon in the bottom right corner of your vision?" Ren asked.
Naofumi turned his head down and to the right. "I can't see it," he said. "Where is it!?"
Ren sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Don't turn your head, just move your eyes."
"Oh...I think I found it."
A huge list of numbers of information popped up in front of the boy's face like before. Most of his numbers were fairly average, well within his capabilities to remember, but his defense stat was huge.
One number stuck out even more than before though. His attack… which was still one. "Okay, I brought it up," Naofumi said with a pout. 'I really hope I can improve that stat.' He thought grumpily. It'd be really hard to kill monsters like the cool people in anime if his attack stat was basically nothing.
"Alright, do you see a Shield Menu on your screen?" Itsuki asked.
"Shield menu… shield menu…" Naofumi muttered to himself as he searched for it like he had his homeroom class. "Found it!" He said excitedly as he opened it up. It showed only his Small Shield on the screen. There was a series of shields around it, but all of them were locked and had ?'s over them.
"Good. That'll keep track of the shields you unlock as you get stronger and absorb more materials into it." Ren said calmly.
"Uh… how do I absorb stuff into this?" Naofumi asked, holding up the small shield.
"Um… the kid actually brings up a good point," Motoyasu said, holding up his spear. Itsuki also held up his bow, looking confused. "How do we absorb stuff in this world?"
Ren looked at all three of them and sighed. "Of course. Only the VRMMO gamer would know how a VR world would work." He muttered. "You just drop things into the shield and it absorbs it automatically."
"Oh… so, like this?" Naofumi picked up a pillow and dropped it onto the shield. The pillow shined for a moment before it disappeared.
Itsuki and Ren stared in shock. "Are… pillows supposed to be absorbed-" Itsuki was asking Ren.
"Cool!" Naofumi started picking up all the pillows around him and dropped them into his shield.
"Wait, maybe you shouldn't go too hard there-" Motoyasu tried to intervene.
Within seconds, Naofumi had already crammed the majority of the room's pillows into his shield. Naofumi dropped the last pillow of the pile (and the last one in the room) into it. And it disappeared with a bright light.
Requirements met: Pillow Shield Unlocked.
"Whoa! Words just flashed in front of me!" Naofumi exclaimed.
...
"How did that even work?..." Ren asked with widened eyes. "A pillow isn't a shield, so it doesn't make any sense."
"What do you mean?" Naofumi asked. "We were gonna have a pillow fight, weren't we? A pillow is a weapon and a shield in a pillow fight!"
…
"I mean, the kid has a point," Motoyasu said.
"He's not wrong..." Itsuki sweatdropped.
Naofumi opened up the Shield Menu. And under the Small Shield was the Pillow Shield. "Hey, how do I select it?" He asked.
"I guess… you can either choose it using the menu, or you can say its name-"
"Pillow Shield!" Naofumi's shield transformed on his arm. It looked like a big, white, floofy pillow. The green gemstone was on the side. "Wow!" Naofumi looked really excited as he hugged the big pillow close. It was almost as big as his torso.
"So now you know how to unlock new shields… but you don't just have to absorb materials." Ren continued. "If you hold another shield in your free hand, you'll get the chance to copy it. Adding more unique shields to your arsenal."
"The weapon copy system, right?" Motoyasu leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head. "That's pretty normal for games like this. It saves you a lot of money in the long run since you don't have to buy new weapons for yourself."
"Wow!" Naofumi was amazed by that. 'In other words, I can get the best gear without having to lift a finger for it!'
"It doesn't work for armor though. So you're still going to have to buy that." Itsuki added.
Way to ruin the fun parade Mr. Party Pooper!
"Now that we have that out of the way, you need to make sure you know how to work together with your party. As a shielder, you'll need strong party members to do well." Itsuki said.
"Didn't we already cover that?" Motoyasu asked Itsuki.
"I know. I'm just making sure he gets it." Itsuki responded.
"You mean like a group project in school?" Naofumi cocked his head to the side with an innocent and curious look.
"Yeah, exactly!" Motoyasu said.
"But group projects were never fun. I always ended up doing most of the work because everyone else was lazy."
…
The three heroes facepalmed again.
"Yeah, me too kiddo." Motoyasu shivered at the memories. Ren and Itsuki looked to be suppressing similar memories. "But don't worry. I'm sure the adventurers of this world will be nothing like that!"
"Alright, next up. Do you see the inventory menu Naofumi?" Ren asked.
"Inventory menu… yeah, it's right next to my Shield Menu." Naofumi said. All the pillows he'd absorbed were actually there.
Weird.
"Good. Not only can you store normal items there. But when you absorb monsters, you can also use that menu to find out what drops they have." As Ren said that, a separate box appeared next to the inventory of pillows Naofumi was looking at. There was currently nothing in it.
"Coooool!"
"Also, if I remember correctly, your weapon can craft items automatically for you. As long as you have the required materials in your inventory." Itsuki explained. As he did so, a crafting tab appeared in the corner of Naofumi's vision.
'I take back what I thought about the Shield earlier! This thing is too cool!' He thought excitedly.
"Do you see a locked tab entitled portal shield?" Ren asked.
"Portal… shield?"
The dark-haired man nodded. "Basically, once you reach level 50, you can teleport between places you've been. It saves you a lot of time walking. But you need to unlock the appropriate Shield to use it. To do that, you'll need sand from the big hourglass at the local Church here."
"Oh, okay." Naofumi said. Again, as Ren talked, a locked tab appeared underneath his inventory tab in the bottom left. 'I hope I remember that.'
Teleportation sounded too cool to pass up! Even All Fight and One Punch Dude couldn't do that! Gopu from Dragon Ball P could kind of teleport with an ability called Instant Transmission, but it was so lame! He just appeared somewhere else! Hopefully this kind of teleportation looked a lot cooler.
"And then last of all, there's the number one way to become strong!" Motoyasu said excitedly.
Ren and Itsuki looked at Motoyasu. "Are you sure that's important right now?" Ren asked.
"We're barely starting out the game as it is." Itsuki said.
"And look at him, Motoyasu." Ren said, pointing to the boy whose head was funneling steam out of his ears. "I think he's at his limit for game mechanics already." If it wasn't for all the tabs appearing and for the help menu pinging with updates, Naofumi would likely forget most of the information.
"But tomorrow we'll be starting our adventures! Do you think we'll have another chance to give such important advice to Naofumi!?" Motoyasu asked.
"... You mean I won't see you guys anymore?" Naofumi asked sadly, clutching his pillow shield to his chest for comfort.
"No no no! That's totally not what I meant there!" Motoyasu quickly said to calm Naofumi down. "I'm just saying we're going to be really busy saving the world so you can go home. And that these sleepovers won't get to happen all too often while we're saving the world."
"Aww, but I think this is fun." Naofumi buried his face into his pillow. "I wish we could do this all the time. None of my friends back home liked sleepovers, but the girls always said they were fun."
Itsuki and Ren looked at Naofumi's pillow shield enviously. Since it was now the only pillow in the room. If only they knew that Naofumi's shield hadn't destroyed the pillows to unlock the new shield. "Well, if you promise to remember what I'm going to tell you now! I'll make sure we have another sleepover when we're all available!"
"Okay! I'm all ears, and face! And eyes! And nose! And everything else!"
Motoyasu laughed at the boy's eager expression. "Alright, now here's the secret to getting stronger!"
"First," Itsuki interrupted Motoyasu before he could say his method. "Being the best in this world all depends on how rare your weapon is." He explained simply. "So if you focus on developing weapons that are rare-" Itsuki was saying.
"Don't lie to him." Ren interrupted. "The key is weapon proficiency. The more you use a weapon, the more you master it-"
"No, you're all wrong!" Motoyasu stood up. "Refining your weapon and boosting its stats is what's important!" Motoyasu said.
"Are you crazy?!" Itsuki scolded. "Weapons that are rare are clearly much more valuable!"
"You're making that up. It has nothing to do with being strong." Ren countered.
"You're right! You have to refine a weapon to make it stronger!" Motoyasu interjected before Ren could continue. "I use a special kind of-"
"That has nothing to do with it!" Itsuki complained.
"Does too! Check the help screen!" Motoyasu griped.
"My help screen says nothing like that," Ren said, trying to keep calm, but failing
"Stop trying to lie to Naofumi! He's just a kid!" Itsuki chided. "If this is your idea of a prank, you guys are awful." He pointed accusingly at them both.
"I'm not the one pranking him! You are!" Motoyasu pointed at them both as well.
"That's rich, coming from the biggest idiot of us all!" Ren said, pointing a finger at Motoyasu and Itsuki. They now formed a Mexican standoff, pointing at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.
"What… did you just call me?" Motoyasu asked through gritted teeth.
"I'm sorry, are you too stupid to know what idiot means? Let me grab a dictionary so your lower brain can learn something useful." Ren said spitefully. "Or is it too small for that?"
"... That does it!" Motoyasu pounced on Ren.
"Stop being so childish! The actual child here is more mature than you two!-" Itsuki was saying, when the two rolled into his legs, tripping him onto both of them. It quickly turned into a three-way brawl.
Throughout the entire exchange, Naofumi's head swiveled from one man to the next. He was unsure of who to believe, especially when they started arguing and fighting.
He was never good at confrontation. His mom always said he was too nice and believed everyone too easily... On the plus side, his help menu had pinged a few more times, saying it had new information for him to look over again.
'Huh...none of them were lying?' He thought as all of their explanations appeared on his menu. That was another perk of the help menu. He wouldn't have to remember all the stuff they'd said after all. It was all noted in his help screen.
"Were any of you guys lying?" Naofumi asked.
"No!" All three responded, tangled together on the floor. "He's the liar!" They pointed at each other. Then they looked at each other again, growled, and started fighting anew.
Naofumi sighed. "I was gonna say you were all right but okay..." He mumbled, too tired to break up their fight.
He went off to one of the beds to sleep. 'Am I only able to hold this shield… or…' He grabbed the Pillow Shield, and, to his great delight. It moved along his body to behind his neck. 'Jackpot!' He had a free pillow he could use whenever he wanted!
He could have pulled the pillows out of his inventory too. But since he had no idea how to pull stuff out of the inventory yet. And since the Cardinal Heroes were too busy fighting with each other to help anymore, Naofumi decided the Pillow Shield was good enough.
With both hands free, Naofumi did his best to ignore his new roommates as they argued and fought over one thing or another, and eventually, they quieted down enough for him to fall asleep.
Tomorrow would be a great day! And the start of his great adventure!
The Next Day
The sun shone brightly through the windows. Outside, birds chirped in pretty voices to each other. Naofumi woke up, energetic and happy. 'Yes! Today is the day my adventure begins!'
It was perfect. The sun was shining! The birds were singing!
"Ugh…"
"Uhhh…"
"Urgh…"
And the bruised limp zombies were finally starting to move on their beds.
"So tired…" Itsuki complained.
"Did we really spend half the night fighting each other?" Ren groaned.
"I just want to go back to sleep…" Motoyasu tiredly said. "But there's no pillow for me to sleep with." His neck was so sore, and the main reason he'd woken up.
"Wheeeeee!" Naofumi was already up and running around the room. Like a little ball of energy with a dose of caffeination.
"I want to steal some of that energy." Itsuki darkly murmured.
"I want to steal that pillow off his arm," Ren said darkly. Cool or not, it wasn't fair that only Naofumi had a pillow since he'd absorbed them all to unlock his current shield.
"I just want to steal a few more Z's," Motoyasu said, his eyelids slowly closing. He'd popped his neck back into place, and the relief felt wayyyyy good! Now he could go back to sleep and-
A loud knocking sounded against the door. "Sir Heroes! The King sent me to inform you that your party members will be arriving soon! You are to prepare yourselves for breakfast before the meeting!"
"Ugh…" All three heroes groaned at the same time.
"Yayyyyy! I can't wait to meet my party members!" Naofumi said excitedly.
"Kill me now," Ren muttered.
"You already died to come here Ren." Motoyasu complained.
"Kill me again." Ren tiredly corrected.
The three heroes forced themselves out of their beds. Looking tired beyond belief. Only Motoyasu seemed to perk up when he saw how cheerful Naofumi was. "Hey, calm down Naofumi. You're going to make us look bad when we meet our party members." Motoyasu joked.
"Ugh…" Ren and Itsuki both groaned tiredly as they walked past Motoyasu.
"Okay! I'll try!" Naofumi still looked happy and energetic. Which caused Motoyasu to laugh and perk up.
About fifteen minutes later, the heroes were gathered around the same feast table as last night. Only, this time, no one else was there, not even the King. It was just the four of them, and the maids who brought out their food.
"Excuse me?" Naofumi stopped a maid carrying a dish. "Do you have any Coco Pebbles?" He asked.
The maid looked confused. "Um… what?"
"Coco Pebbles. You know, it's a really good cereal from my world. Most kids my age like it." Naofumi said.
"I'm sorry, um, what is cereal?" The maid asked.
"I think it's similar to this here!" Motoyasu came to the rescue, surprising another maid by grabbing the bowl from the silver platter she carried. In it was a slimy mixture that had a consistency similar to oatmeal. "Only more flaky, and you put milk in it!"
Naofumi took one look inside the bowl and almost barfed. 'YUCK!' It looked worse than the cafeteria food at his school.
Motoyasu sweatdropped. "Though part of me thinks Naofumi might not be into this kind of stuff." He said, chuckling as he absentmindedly threw the dish behind him.
"Ahhh!" A maid ran from the room, covered in the oatmeal-like substance that had splattered all over her.
"Ugh…" Itsuki and Ren groaned tiredly. "Idiot…"
Naofumi had to settle with eggs and bacon. It reminded him of what his parents would have in the morning. He preferred his eggs with hot sauce, but it didn't seem like they had anything like that here. That was too bad. But not enough to put a damper on his mood!
After a disappointing (but still delicious) breakfast, they were escorted back to the throne room. The king was sitting on his throne, just like the day before. This time, a large group of people stood in front of him. There were a dozen in total. Some wore robes like those weird guys yesterday, while others wore shiny armor or really dark clothes. Some of them even had wicked cool weapons!
'Oh man! That one guy looks so cool!' Naofumi thought as he looked excitedly at a large guy dressed in armor. He had a battle ax strapped to his back. And he stood with his arms crossed in front of him.
"Heroes! I trust that you all slept well last night?" Aultcray's delighted voice boomed throughout the room.
"Ugh…" Itsuki and Ren both groaned tiredly.
"I don't know about them, but I'm certainly awake!" Motoyasu said happily.
"Yeah, me too!" Naofumi said excitedly. Looking in awe at all the adventurers. He wondered which ones would be joining his party.
"Fantastic! Being well-rested is important for an adventure such as this." Aultcray said with a smile. Ren and Itsuki slapped themselves, finally realizing they were in the throne room and were about to receive their party members. They looked much more awake. "As I mentioned briefly yesterday, I requested the best and brightest adventurers to join you as party members. They have arrived here today to assist you in the coming battles, as well as help you adjust to life in our world."
Naofumi continued to look in awe. There were so many different adventurers to choose from. All of them had different-colored hair. From light blue to a cool shade of green! 'I don't know who to choose!' He thought excitedly. There was that large armor dude. There were a couple of awesome looking mages. A swordsman or two... There was, however, one woman in the line with red hair, smiling happily at the heroes that stuck out to Naofumi. And not in the good way.
He almost backpedaled in shock. 'Redhead! I better stay away from her!' His friends had told him rumors about people with red hair having no souls. He didn't know much about souls or how they avoid people with red hair, but he figured he'd better be safe than sorry. Besides, she looked kind of scary. Her smile was unnerving him.
Call it "child's intuition", but sometimes he had a good judge of character. And this woman was setting off all the creeper alarms possible inside his mind. Enough to make even the boogeyman more appealing to him.
"And now. The time has come for these adventurers to choose which heroes they will be traveling with!" King Aultcray's advisor said.
"Wait, they get to choose?" Ren raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "Isn't that backward?"
"That isn't how it went down in my game," Itsuki said with a sigh. At least he and Ren didn't look so brain dead anymore with the realization that they were about to get their party.
"Adventurers such as these work best with people they can trust. In addition, they've lived in this world their entire lives. Surely they would know how to form a coherent group better than yourselves?" Aultcray's advisor gladly explained. The King glanced at his advisor as if wondering if he was up to something. He didn't remember that being part of the process they'd decided on before summoning the Heroes.
"Alright, that works for me. As long as I get all the hot ladies." Motoyasu said, winking flirtatiously at the other adventurers. A few of the girls giggled into their hands, including the redhead.
'Blech!' Again, Naofumi wondered why Motoyasu wanted icky girls with him.
"I suppose... this will be up to them then," Aultcray said, going along with his advisor's advice. His advisor hadn't openly led him astray before. "Now adventurers, choose! Your! Hero!" The king announced, sounding not unlike a TV show host. An awesomely cool TV show host!
'This is it! I'm about to make new friends and form a party!' Naofumi thought excitedly as the adventurers approached. He wondered who he'd get. Would it be the tall guy in armor? Or would it be the two staff-wielding mages to the side? Would it be one of the swordsmen or perhaps one of the quieter adventurers? He was so antsy with anticipation!
…
Gasps came from around the room. Naofumi looked behind him. There was no one there. Motoyasu had four party members, one guy and three girls behind him. Itsuki had three party members. Two guys (including the armor dude) and a girl. Ren had five party members behind him.
"Umm, surely some of you wanted to join young Naofumi's party." The King said awkwardly on his throne. He knew the Shield Hero wasn't well-liked in his kingdom. But even he hadn't expected something like this.
"Umm, Mr. King? Does… does nobody want to travel with me..." Naofumi looked down, his face dejected. "Because I'm younger than them?"
Before the advisor could speak, Aultcray interjected. "No, it has nothing to do with that young Naofumi!" Aultcray said, a drop of sweat dripping from his brow from panic. "Surely some of you would want to help the Shield Hero out now? Wouldn't you?" Aultcray asked the adventurers.
"I have no need for losers. Any of you who lags behind will have to eat the dust." Ren said harshly back to his party. However, instead of leaving, they only huddled closer behind the Sword Hero. As if trusting him to be their greatest hope.
"I agree. If any of you have evil in your hearts, I have no need for you." Itsuki said dismissively. "Justice..." he whispered to himself.
Motoyasu turned to look at his group. "Any of you want to help the little guy out? C'mon, he's not bad once you get to know him a little! Plus, he's actually really smart!"
Naofumi stared at the adventurers. None of them made a move towards him. The red-haired girl standing behind Motoyasu now gave him a glance, but then she hmphed and looked away.
The king looked to his advisor, who smirked victoriously. "It appears the adventurers have made their decision. The hero's parties will be set as they are." The advisor said.
The King sighed. "Very well, then. I suppose it cannot be helped. If none of you will assist the Shield Hero due to his...unique circumstances, I will have to provide him with extra assistance myself."
The advisor looked to him in surprise. "But, my Lord-"
The other heroes nodded. "That sounds fair," Ren said coolly.
"I won't mind," Itsuki said. "If no one wants to join Naofumi, then it'd make sense for him to receive extra help from the King."
Motoyasu sent a concerned glance in Naofumi's direction but said nothing. He couldn't help if none of his party members, including the dude, wanted to stay in his party.
"Alright, as long as you agree. For Sir Motoyasu, you will receive 600 Silvers to start your adventure! Sir Ren and Sir Itsuki will each receive 600 Silvers as well!" Maids approached the three heroes, carrying large bags full of Silver coins.
"As for young Naofumi, I will have a word personally with him before I settle on his… allowance." The King decided on a word Naofumi would understand.
'An allowance! SWEET!' He wasn't feeling down about having any party members now. Allowance meant one thing, and that was money!
"Now, go! This world is waiting for your help Cardinal Heroes! Do not let them down!" Aultcray's voice boomed authoritatively to the three other heroes.
"Alright, let's go get some grinding done." Itsuki ran out of the doorway. His party followed close behind him.
"Let's go." Ren calmly left the room. His party followed.
"Hey, don't go doing anything too dangerous. You hear?" Motoyasu said to Naofumi. "If you need anything, just try to find me and I'll do what I can!" He flashed a bright smile at the boy. Some of the girls behind him swooned.
"Oh my. He's so caring." They all sighed happily.
"I will. Thanks, Motoyasu!" Naofumi said happily. "See you later!"
Motoyasu waved to Naofumi as he left the throne room. His harem of girls and one third-wheeling dude followed right behind him. The red-haired girl gave one more glance back at Naofumi, but besides that, she didn't make any moves to join him instead. She stayed with Motoyasu.
"You may leave now," Aultcray said, waving his advisor, maids, and guards off.
"But, my Lord, I am your chief advisor. Surely you wouldn't want me to leave you alone with-" The advisor tried to ask. At Aultcray's sharp glance though, the advisor stopped trying to protest. He could tell the King had seen right through what he'd just pulled. He was just one sentence away from being placed in a prison cell. "Right, as you wish."
After another moment, only Naofumi and the King were in the room.
"Sir… um…" Naofumi fidgeted in his spot.
"Relax. You may address me as Aultcray young Naofumi, now that is just the two of us." Aultcray said, relaxing into his throne.
"Alright… um…" Naofumi still looked nervous as he thought of how to word his question. "Do you… do you know why none of them wanted to join me, Mr. Aultcray?" Naofumi asked innocently.
The bearded man sighed, scratching his head. "I was afraid you'd ask that." He said. "Tell me, Naofumi. Do you know what prejudice is?"
"You mean like thinking someone is weird and making fun of them behind their back?" Naofumi asked, his head cocked to the side adorably. "A lot of kids did that back at school. It wasn't very nice."
Naofumi's answer surprised Aultcray somewhat. Mostly because it was the perfect way to address it without outright saying the people of Melromarc regarded Naofumi as nothing short of a devil. "Yes, exactly young Naofumi. And it makes me sad to say this, but my people hold a lot of prejudice against the Shield Hero. I fear what just happened here was a ploy by my advisor acting on that prejudice to keep you alone."
"But why?" Naofumi asked.
"Because the last Shield Hero did some things that a lot of people here didn't like. I've decided to look past that, but my chief advisor has not."
"But why?" He asked again.
"I'm not sure. I wasn't alive back when the last Shield Hero was summoned. All I know is that prejudice against the Shield has survived to this day." Aultcray answered.
"But why?" He asked a third time. His repetitive and vague questions were growing tiresome, and the king pinched the bridge of his nose with an aggravated sigh.
"I really wish I knew, young Naofumi. I may be King, but I cannot control why my people or my advisors love some heroes while they show prejudice to others." He said sadly. "However, rest assured, I will be punishing my chief advisor for his actions here today."
"Oh…" Naofumi thought it over.
"I do wish I could just snap my fingers and command my people to accept you… but while I may be an awesome king, I am afraid I do not command that kind of power. Nor would I want to force my subjects to obey. That would make me a terrible King indeed."
"... It's okay." Naofumi finally said.
The King's eyebrow raised. "I beg your pardon, young Naofumi?" He asked.
Naofumi looked up and smiled adorably. "I think what you're telling me is that I'll just have to convince everyone myself that I'm a good kid! Including that weird dude who just left! I think I can do something as simple as that!" He said, waves of excitement and innocence coming off him.
The King stared at Naofumi in stunned shock, and then he smirked. 'I'd believe it… you've already convinced me of the purity of your heart young Naofumi.' He'd been blessed with two daughters already, but a part of Aultcray couldn't help but wonder what it'd be like to have a son. And young Naofumi was slowly, but surely starting to weasel his way into that part of this old man's heart.
It really was a shame that he had his kingly duties to attend to. He would have loved to join the Shield Hero's party himself to help him out. Maybe show his hero what a real hero was like if his staff would let him. "So...what do I do now?" Naofumi asked.
"Since you will need extra money for finding your own party members as well as their equipment, you will be given an allowance of 900 silvers, young Naofumi," Aultcray said with a smile. "I will also escort you myself to a good friend of mine. Someone I feel I can trust to help you on your adventure."
"Does that mean I won't be able to stay here in the castle?" Naofumi asked curiously.
"Of course not. You will always have a room waiting for you here." Aultcray said, smiling brightly with honest sincerity. "No, this friend of mine is a retired adventurer. Someone who lives closer to the edge of the city, and someone who I can trust not to show you any prejudice."
"Really!?" Naofumi looked excited. "I can't wait to meet him then!"
"If you'd like, I can escort you to him right now," Aultcray said happily.
Naofumi happily nodded. "Okay!"
Aultcray was doing, what was probably, the weirdest thing his people had ever seen him do.
He walked the streets with Naofumi. His royal robes had been replaced with a version more suited for walking out in public. He still looked regal, but he didn't have five feet of robes dragging behind him either. 'I'll have to think of a proper punishment for my advisor during this trip… or maybe it'd just be better for me to exile him to Siltvelt. Yes, that sounds like a good way to deal with him and to appease the demi-humans. I'd rather not punish him once and risk him pulling something else to trip up young Naofumi. And I want the rest of those serving below me to realize what will happen to them if they try anything to young Naofumi.' The King thought to himself. Coming to a smart and tactical decision about what he'd do to his advisor.
It had been a long time since he'd really put some tact into his actions. And yet thinking of the smartest way to punish his chief advisor to stave off other possible ploys against the Shield Hero while also appeasing Siltvelt for summoning their God without permission was awakening something in his mind. Something familiar that hadn't had the chance to be used for a while.
Naofumi looked around in excitement at everything that was going on. The view from the castle last night had been cool. But this!
'Wow!' Naofumi gawked at something that looked like a small dragon. Pulling a carriage along down a road packed with stalls on the sides. Different kinds of people were in the stalls. One of them did something that looked like magic, and a flock of small birds appeared from beneath her hands. Getting innocent laughs from little kids watching the display. 'This world is so cool!' Naofumi thought happily.
"Mr. Aultcray? Do you think I'll be able to learn how to do that someday?" He asked, tugging on his robe in the direction of the stall lady who'd made the birds using magic.
Aultcray looked where Naofumi pointed and smiled. "As a Cardinal Hero, you'll be able to do things that lady could never dream of young Naofumi." He said. "When you're ready, and when I have the time, I'll see to it myself that you're able to learn the strongest forms of magic."
"Wow! That'd be so cool Mr. Aultcray!" Naofumi said happily.
The two of them attracted stares as they walked. Some of the people stopped and whispered to each other. As if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. The King was out walking the streets. And not only that, he had a kid with him!
Naofumi looked around curiously at the people whispering. He smiled and waved to a few, showcasing the small shield on his arm. At the sight, most of them paled and turned away. Some just looked even more confused at the sight. The whispering increased in intensity.
Naofumi wasn't sure why the people were reacting so weirdly. But he shrugged. It didn't matter since he was walking with the coolest guy in the world right now!
Eventually, they went down a less busy street. Approaching a shop with a symbol of two interlocked swords on a sign. It had been a good mile to a mile and a half from the castle. Naofumi was winded, but the King looked refreshed. Like walking around instead of focusing on some kingly duty or another had been more rejuvenating. "Are you ready to meet my friend, young Naofumi?" Aultcray asked.
Naofumi perked up and smiled. Looking regenerated again. "Yes!"
The bell above the door jingled as they entered. "Welcome. How can I help you-" The large man standing behind the counter stopped speaking in shock. "Your Majesty! I wasn't expecting you!" The large man immediately stepped from behind the counter and bowed respectively.
Aultcray laughed. "Now now Blacksmith Erhard. There's no need for such formalities. I am not here to reprimand you or anything. In fact, my knights look much better now thanks to all your hard work."
The large man stood back up. "Oh, it is my pleasure to do my best to keep our knights safe…" He leaned back on his counter, looking more relaxed. "So, what brings the great King of Melromarc to my humble shop?" Erhard asked curiously.
The King smiled. "It's simple my good friend. You see-"
"Wow! The others were right!"
Aultcray and Erhard turned in surprise. Naofumi had already disappeared over to another part of the shop. He was currently holding a large iron shield in his hands. The shield on his arm had changed to look just like it.
"Hey, what are you doing there kid-" Erhard started to yell.
"Wah!" Naofumi yelled in fright at being yelled at. The shield he'd been holding went flying through the air.
"Nooooooooo-" As if in slow motion, Erhard reached for the Shield. Trying in vain to stop the little missile the kid had unleashed.
The shield slammed into a weapon's rack. The weapons rack toppled over into another weapon's rack, which toppled into an armor rack. Erhard and the King both dived out of the way as the armor rack toppled over into a weapon's display table. Which toppled over into another weapon's display table. Which… you get the point. It was essentially a domino effect.
Within a few seconds, the whole shop was a mess. Armor was strewn in piles on the ground. Swords stuck out everywhere along with axes, war hammers, bows, spears, pikes, and other weapons. Making for one hell of a sharp minefield.
Erhard and the King stuck their heads out from behind the counter. They were stunned speechless. "My… my shop…" Erhard sputtered. The only part of the shop that hadn't been affected was the area where the shields were on display. Where Naofumi was still standing.
"Um… heh heh…" Both of them looked at Naofumi again. Who rubbed nervously at the back of his neck. "Oops?"
Aultcray nervously smiled as he looked back to Erhard again. "How about we clean up this mess, and then I'll explain." He offered.
Erhard looked grumpily at the King. "You better have one hell of an explanation."
Author's Notes:
So, you were wondering how much trouble one kid could possibly cause? So far we have an advisor who's losing his job. Three Heroes with a crick in their necks from not having pillows. Our favorite blacksmith's shop being turned into a warzone. And the biggest troublemaker of all, Bitch is remaining in Motoyasu's party! (And no, she isn't going to try and switch and accuse a ten-year-old of raping her. That's like, the stupidest thing ever. Having a princess accuse a ten-year-old of raping her and everyone else believing it)
Allen Blaster: As RLT said, there was a lot of screwing around this chapter. And I loved every moment of it. KidFumi is just adorable. And I can't wait to show how other characters react to KidFumi going forward. Including our wonderful Blacksmith Erhard here.
RLTygurr: Let me just say, WOW. I was absolutely not expecting this story to get the kind of reception it did, but it makes it much more fun to write when you guys are passionate about it. Half of this is just Allen and I screwing around, so the fact that we can make something you all like is very satisfying.
Stay tuned! (And yes, you can expect omakes, just like in Hope of the Shield Hero)
Hero Clips!
Ticket to Heaven
"Listen, kid, you're gonna be my ticket to heaven, ya hear!?"
"Uhh... what?" Naofumi asked Motoyasu. Not understanding what he meant.
"Chicks dig a guy who's good with kids, and look at my luck! You're a kid!"
"So… uh, what am I supposed to do exactly?" KidFumi asked.
Motoyasu threw his arm around the boy's shoulders and leaned in closely to whisper. "Just play along, got it? Stay cool." Naofumi barely had any time to think before Motoyasu clapped him on the back and laughed.
"Heyyyy girls how's it goin'?" He called out to his party members who walked up.
"What are you wasting time for, Lord Motoyasu? We really should get going so we can make you as powerful as possible." It was the redhead who spoke, the scary one with the smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"That's cool! I was just giving Naofumi here some last-minute tips before we go. Gotta lookout for the little guy, you know?" The tall blond man said. He rustled the boy's hair with his hand, much to his annoyance. The other girls in Motoyasu's party swooned over the action. "Now, compliment her for me." Motoyasu whispered only loud enough for Naofumi to hear.
"I see. Well if you're finished-" The redheaded woman started but was interrupted as the boy in question approached her.
"Umm…" Naofumi tried quickly to think of something to say to follow Motoyasu's instructions. "I'm sorry if I'm taking up too much of your time, but I just want you to know that you're really pretty. Your hair reminds me of ripe cherries from back home." Naofumi said bashfully. Scary as she was when she tried to smile, the woman did have a face that wasn't hard to look at.
Malty's eye twitched as she narrowed her eyes down at him. "As if I want to hear that from-"
"Awww he's so adorable!" The other girls swarmed around KidFumi, cutting her off.
Motoyasu sputtered as he witnessed Naofumi's face squished between their ample bosoms as they hugged him tightly. The boy didn't seem to be enjoying the experience, but Motoyasu envied him greatly. 'No fair, that's what they were supposed to do to me!'
"S-stop it! Let go!" Naofumi cried, trying (and failing) to free himself.
"H-hey ladies! Don't suffocate the kid, c'mon!" He tried to find a way to pry them off of the kid but to no avail. "Like ten minutes ago you didn't want to be in his party!"
"But he's cute and innocent and I want him!" One of the girls whined. "I can't help it!"
"Yeah! Just because I don't want to be in his party doesn't mean I can't think he's adorable!" Another said, crushing the boy against herself with a hug.
His face started to turn blue from lack of oxygen.
"Alright, alright! That's enough!" Motoyasu shouted, reaching in and snagging Naofumi out of their clutches before placing him atop his shoulders. "No more playtime with Naofumi, okay!? He's busy and has things he needs to do!"
Naofumi took a few ragged breaths as he bordered the line of unconsciousness. "WhudduIhavetodoneow?" He slurred.
"Stuff like, uhh..." Motoyasu thought for a moment before snapping his fingers in realization. "Exercise! Yeah, exercise! C'mon Naofumi! What better way to start the morning than with a quick jog, eh? Let's go!"
Without wasting a second, Motoyasu sprinted out of the room with Naofumi still on his shoulders.
"Wait! Lord Motoyasu!"
"Stop him!"
"Come back with the cute hero!"
Malty ground her teeth together in frustration. "I swear if that brat gets in my way I will ruin him myself."
It took her a moment to realize she was the only one left in the room. All the other girls had chased after the Spear Hero and his hostage. Looking around and seeing nobody in sight, she stomped her foot.
"Dammit! Stupid shield brat!"
Till Next Time
Allen and RLT