Author Notes #1:

Omni Creator: Spoilers (if you have no LN Canon knowledge), but not spoilers (if you have LN Canon knowledge).

You have been warned.

I haven't thought that far yet. And also, if I'm following the [Flaws of the Trial] by Allen Blaster (which I am… probably), I need the 3/4 of the other world heroes to be a douchebag and die to the vanguards.

To put it in perspective, World 1 (aka Ivaran's World) has Four Holy Heroes that aren't douchebags. Meanwhile, World 2 (aka Shina's World) have one Holy Hero fighting the wave, one Holy Hero MIA, and two Holy Heroes doing absolutely jack sh*t.

There's two routes I can use, the Allen Route or the Aneko Route.

Allen Route makes a sad backstory as to why the other two heroes didn't fight the wave, so that they don't died because they're too fudging weak.

Aneko Route, on the other hand, is just to make them some unbearable *sshole who still think that they are living in the game even though they lived there for almost freaking 5 years.

As to heroes having more than one weapon, I said that 8/10 won't happen. Why? Because if I follow the Canon mechanic (which I don't follow much TBF), I need to kill off 3 other world Holy Heroes. I don't like unnecessary death (that's funny coming from me). BUT, if it DID happen, I might spoof it from killing 3 heroes to killing 2 heroes.

And for the weapon selection, for Tomori, I wanted him to share weapons with a Vassal Hero. And you might know who they are.

Wink* Wink*

As for the other one (if you can't guess, then I can't blame you), they will get a Vassal Weapon.

But why is Tomori sharing a weapon with someone else and the other hero gets to have a Vassal Weapon?

The short would be "Because I can, bruh", the long answer would be "Because I'm trying to break the Canon and turned this fic into a hot mess, bruh".

Anywho, I hope I have answered your questions, Omni Creator. If any of the readers want further details (or spoilers, if you are that desperate), consider PM me.


Chapter 15: Juice of Lemonade


Around a month before the waves…

Tomori can't believe that it's that long before the waves hit. A lot has happened in the past two weeks since the last wave. But even more so, there's a small talk that he and Tadashi had with the Queen of Welle, Matilda.


Yesterday…


Tomori asked Tadashi to teleport him, himself and the queen to the guest room inside the castle. The Blade Hero is baffled to know that the queen is okay without having any guards protecting her, or there's a Shadows hidden around the queen, ready to strike their dagger to protect their mistress.

"I really hope that she visited Miya first. She's her daughter after all… But I really need to have this conversation right now." Tomori thought to himself as he pleased himself by sitting on the couch inside the guest room. "First of all, I'm going to apologise as I'm too tired to be formal with you, queen."

"It's understandable, Sir Blade Hero, or should I say Sir Tanaka?" The queen said to him.

"You can call me as you like." Tomori replied. "But there's the elephant in the room that we need to discuss. About my crimes, especially the rape one… Can you dismiss it?"

When Tomori said that, the queen grimaced.

"I'm sorry to said that the rape charges would be difficult to dismiss, unless there's a official confession from my daughter. As for your other crimes, it can be easily interpreted as you helped the kingdom by eradicating the strong figures of the church. Rape charges in this country is punishable by death. Sir Tanaka, you're lucky to have the status of a hero, or not, you will be immediately executed without any trial."

Tomori himself knew that this country is matriarchal. Of course the punishment of rape should be death. But on the other hand, it seems like his rape charges would be publicly speak of, until the red haired princess is confessing the truth to the people worldwide. Not that she would do it out of free will, as she's currently disappeared right now.

"Can't I vouch for him?" Tadashi spoke up. "I think that I'm involved with this as your daughter used to be a part of my party…"

"Sir Kaneshiro, I don't plan to punish Sir Tanaka for the deeds that he didn't do. However, I'm more worried about how my people would see him. A certain degree of people in this had trust in Sir Tanaka, but considering the cases on Cunningfield and Bradforde, even though we sugarcoat it, the people would still see him in a bad way. But rest assured as I'm going to use every way possible to repair Sir Tanaka's reputation in my country." The queen told them.

"It's so that I won't run off to Klinge, right?" Tomori bluntly said.

Matilda's tenses as she hears what Tomori says. Of course, it's so that he won't go there to start a war against her country. After she just lost more than half of her knights, Welle can't fully take on the strong advances from Klinge. But unbeknownst to her, Tomori isn't a person that would gladly start a war.

"Don't worry about it. I don't plan to go there either way to start a war. It would endanger the people I care about in this country…"

That's true. Even though the people of this country despise him, they's some people who cared about him like Vadge and Ivaran. Those are the two of the people that he can't betray over such small matters as this.

"But… If you really wanted me to stay here… Then I wanted some things for you to do for me. Can you accept that?" Tomori asked the queen.

"If it's within my power, then I can do it."

Tomori started smiling widely.


Present Time…


"Ugh… Where am I…" Akira woke up, feeling sluggish all over her body as bandages cover her body. "This doesn't seem like the afterlife… Did someone already defeat the pope… Tomori is probably the one doing it…"

Snore*

She heard someone snoring next to her. Akira turned around and saw Emil sitting on a rocking chair, peacefully sleeping.

"Emil…?" Akira then looked around the room that she's in, noticing that both of them are the only ones inside the room. She then picked up her staff that's on her left and poke Emil with it.

"Hmm… Huh…?" He slowly opened his eyes, seeing the staff being poke at his shoulder by Akira, who's still in bed. "Akira-san?! You already woken up?!"

"Yeah… My whole body felt stiff…" The last thing she remembers is that she got smashed to the chamber's walls, along with Reika. "Am I really weak in terms of physical attack? Well… I'm the only one who stays in the back while Emil, Rylon and Mizune stay in front, keeping monsters away from reaching me. Sigh* Maybe I need to learn some martial arts to keep me safe or whatnot…"

She really needed some staff with high DEF. RSS is good, but not good enough to protect herself.

"I see… Do you need any tending?" Emil asked her.

"No, but I'm feeling hungry right now…"

"Well, Tomori-san has cooked some porridge during the morning with the castle's cook. And it seems like they didn't even survive his wrath." Emil tells her. He even remembered seeing the princess trying to stop him from getting into the kitchen.

"He really gets tense when it involves food, huh? Before I forget, how long has it been since the battle between the pope? And what about the others?" She asked.

"It's been around a day actually. As for the others, Rylon,Mizune,Lowri and Thea are helping out with the repairs around the town, Reika-san have just woken up a few hours ago, Riri is still sleeping, Tomori is strolling around the town, the Shaft Hero and his companion is being negotiated by the shadows to find clues about the First Princess location and Ivaran is training with his new weapon." The blue haired man explained.

"I see… And what do you mean by 'Ivaran is training with his new weapon'?"

"Oh, apparently, he had been chosen to become one of the Six Progression Heroes, the Shield Hero."

"...What?" Akira is confused.

"The queen ordered him to stay low profile, as the Six Progression Shield haven't chosen any new wielder since two decades ago. If Klinge finds out about it, then it would spark some trouble."

"I see…" Akira wanted to ask more about it, but she could ask Tomori later when she found him. "Um… The porridge?"

"Oh, yeah! Wait just a moment. I'm going to heat it up first." Emil takes the wooden bowl and heats it up with his magic.

Since Emil doesn't possess any specific Magic Affinity, he can use every type of magic, with the only downside being that he needs to learn about the magic first, which is also hard since he didn't have any compatible Magic Affinity.

The blue haired man handed over the warm bowl to her, but then Akira just realised something.

She's not strong enough to take the bowl of his hands, and not even able to pick up the wooden spoon on the bowl. She's kind of hungry, so the only option right now is too…

"Um… My hands are not not strong enough to pick up the bowl. So… Um… Can you feed me, Emil?"

Did his ears fooled him, or he really just heard that now.

"O-Oh, yeah! S-Sure!" Emil shakily lifted up the spoon, scoop up some of the porridge inside it and got the spoon closer to her mouth.

"Ah…" Akira opened her mouth.

Somehow, this even makes Emil more nervous than before. But he persisted and fed her the porridge.

"Mmm…" After tasting the porridge, Akira felt confused as the porridge tasted better than before. She had tasted the porridge that Tomori made back in Rheat's Territory, but it tastes different. Maybe because he had used different ingredients, or maybe there's another factor… In any case, it still tastes good.

Emil continued feeding Akira until the porridge in the bowl had finished.

"Thank you, Emil." She thanked him.

"Y-Y-Yeah! No problem at all!" He nervously replied.

"Hmm? Is there anything wrong?"

"N-Nothing at all!"

There's probably something wrong with Emil, but Akira can't get it through… Oh yeah, she really needs to meet with Reika to see how she's doing. But since she probably can't walk, she really needs someone's help.

Then, the Magic Hero gazes towards the blue haired man next to her.

"Can you help me walk to the room that Reika's staying in?" She asked Emil, who's still shaking nervously.

"...EEEEEEEHHHHHH?!!!"


And with that, Emil lifted Akira's left arm and helped her move to the room that Reika rested at. But every step that he took, Emil felt even more nervous, as usually he would be with Rylon and Mizune, but instead, he's now with Akira. He wouldn't say that it's a bad thing, but his heart definitely can't handle it.

"Calm yourself down!" Emil said to himself, but it clearly didn't work.

Rustle* Rustle* Rustle*

Akira then heard some rustling through the door that leads to the room that Reika is staying in right now.

"Um… What was that?" Akira asked Emil.

"Oh yeah, about that… I think it's better for you to see it yourself." Emil said with a worried face.

From the sounds of it, it seems really bad. Emil then slowly opened the door, unveiling what the cause of the sounds.

"Mmm…! Mmm! MMM!"

Upon entering the room and observing it, Akira found four things to point out. Firstly, there's three people in this room, which are Riri, Reika and Flan. Secondly, Riri is sleeping peacefully, considering the noises are quite loud. Thirdly, Reika, who has bandages wrapped around her head and knees, looks pretty tired and fed up with life. And lastly, as for Flan, he was tied up, wrapped with chains, and gagged on his bed.

"Uh… What's happening right now?" The Magic Hero asked the obvious.

"Well, this royal knight over here wanted to train, but he's too injured to do it. Nevertheless, he really wanted to do it, despite getting some warning from Tomori and the Second Princess. In the end, Tomori himself is the one who made him like this." Reika answered. "But there's one problem…"

Thud*

She then picks up the pillow behind her back and throws it at Flan, who's trying to break off from the rope and chains.

"Someone here doesn't know how to shut up! My heads are messed up because of your squirming, you know?! And the fact that Riri can just sleep all through it without any problem isn't helping me either! Can you just quiet down?! It's just a few days without training! It's not going to kill you or anything!" Reika yelled at him.

"Mmm! MMM!" The royal knight wanted to argue back, but he couldn't due to the cloth gagging his mouth.

"Okay…" Akira then turned back to Emil, giving him a look that she doesn't want to be here anymore.

Seeing that, the blue haired man then slowly lifted Akira backwards and closed the door.

" Sigh* Didn't know that they could be that rough with each other…" Akira muttered.

"Is there anywhere else you want to go?" Emil asked her.

"How about the queen?"

"She's currently busy right now. And she wanted an audience with the heroes once all of them are in full health."

"I see… Well then, let's go to the canteen! I wonder if there's still leftovers…"

"The only way to find out is to go there."

"Then let's do it!"

With that, both of them head towards the castle canteen.


" Sigh*" Tadashi sighed in exhaustion as he cracked his back. "Man, that interrogation took so long…"

"Well, I hope they get to find May quickly, as they dry every squeeze of information from us." Tadashi's only companion as of now, Nena, said she stretched her body.

"Yeah…" Tadashi said as he observed the scenery next to the window.

It has just been a day and a few buildings that were destroyed yesterday were already fixed with Earth Magic. He really needs to improve his magic, as he hasn't even touched a grimoire since he was summoned here.

"Maybe I can ask Akira to give me a tip or two. She's the Magic Hero after all…" It's weird that Tadashi thinks like this. Maybe this is the after effect of trusting the red haired princess blindly. "Damn, I really need to worry about the girls I met next…"

Even if he was stabbed by two of his girlfriends, being lied by a person he trusted, Tadashi still want some of that *.

"Tadashi-sama?" His companion called him.

"Oh, yeah? What is it?" The Shaft Hero asked.

"I wanted to return back to my parents' house. I remember that you marked a teleport location that's nearby my town. Would you mind teleporting me there?"

"Oh, sure can! May I accompany you?"

"Hmm… Yeah, sure."

"Great! Shaft Gate!"

Both of them then disappeared from the castle's hallway.


Vroom*

Tomori is riding Xceed through the road. Some knights who were cleaning through the rubbles that comes from the broken are confused as to what Tomori is riding right now.

"At least it's better than being chased by them. I guess I could give the queen some thumbs up, as not a single fly has touched my body since."

He continued to ride through the buildings, until he arrived at his destination.

"...The church's people really make a mess at his shop, huh?"

Tomori mutters as he gets off from Xceed and walks towards the messed up building in front of him. All kinds of weapons were scattered throughout the interior of the building. Yes, his destination is indeed…

Vadge's Shop.

"Well, better salvage what is useful. I hope he doesn't mind me looting his place."

The reason Tomori was here in the first place is that he wanted to search for some shield so that Ivaran could copy it. Along the way, he also searched for some materials for his shield to unlock a new weapon.

"Let's see what shield you have…"

Tomori entered the broken down building and started searching for anything that resembles a shield.


"Hmm… If I did like this, then perhaps the stats will be increased. I never thought a hero's weapon would be this difficult to manage. How are the other heroes able to do it easily?"

Ivaran, who's sitting on the bench in the Castle's Garden, surfing through the Status Magic of his newly acquired Vassal Shield. Thanks to Tomori, the Blade Hero himself, Ivaran had learned every power method and applied them to his weapon.

Rising Protector Shield (Awakened)(3)(IV)(Great): Ability Locked:

Equip Bonus: Absorver Union

Skill: Reflect Shield, Switchguard, Hover Shield

Special Effect: Element Transmission, Phase Shift, All Magic Element Resist, Nullify SP Drain, Vitality Boost, Defense Up (Extra Strong) Magic Defense Up (Extra Strong), MP Recovery (Strong), HP Recovery (Medium), SP Recovery (Low), All Skill Power Up (Small), All Skill Effect Up (Small)

Mastery Level: 75

Item Enchantment Level 5: DEF 13% Up

Status Enchantment: MDEF 100

Though, he still has problems with it since he isn't accustomed to the game-like system.

"Ugh… Why did I have to become a hero… Darn it, Liyana…"

Still, it isn't his "ghostly" friend's fault that he became a hero all of the sudden. Now he had become a hero, he had a lot of expectations that he needed to fulfil.

"I'm sorry, Sir Ivaran. But due to internal complications with the Six Progression Heroes as of now, I wanted to stay low profile, as Klinge will probably be enraged at their own Progression Hero staying in their enemy's territory." That is what the queen said to him yesterday.

"I thought everything would have ended peacefully after this, but I never thought the aftermath would be a pain in the butt…"

He then looks at the blue sky, wondering what insanity is going to happen next.

"I have a hunch that Tomori-san is planning something crazy…"

He sighed. Ivaran had known for more than a month, so he definitely knows that Tomori is up to something. Tomori is kind, but he's also crazy, in a good way.

"Oh, Ivaran."

The half-elf heard someone call his name. He turned to the left and saw a blond haired girl with purple eyes approach him.

"Princess Miya. What are you doing here?"

"Is it wrong for me to take a walk around the castle?" She asked.

"No, but I thought you're still counselling the castle's cook."

"I had just finished it a while ago. Tomori is really harsh on them. The fact that he's brave enough to do that. Are the heroes really that weird?"

"Well, he wouldn't be Tomori-san if he didn't act like that."

"I suppose you are right. In any case… May I sit next to you?"

"Oh, sure."

Ivaran moves to the right to make some space for Miya to sit down. The princess then slowly walked to the bench and took a seat. Few seconds passed as both of them didn't speak up.

"So… How's the king?" Ivaran asked, wondering about the king's conditions.

"About that…"

Miya told Ivaran about how she tried to make her father speak up, but it didn't work. Then, her mother, the queen, told Miya to leave him alone with her. But the princess doesn't technically leave them alone as she placed her ears onto the door of the royalty master bedroom.

What she heard is her mother screaming at her father. Several slaps of noise can be heard across the room. They're lucky that no one passed through the room. After that, Miya can hear her mother broken down into tears. From that, the princess speculated that even the queen herself can't bring her husband back to normal.

"I see… You had it hard, didn't you?" Ivaran said to her.

"Well…" Miya herself doesn't know what to say. Her family's situation is pretty busted right now. Her mother is stressed AF, her father is mentally broken, and her elder sister is a GOD DAMN *! She wondered what she could do to fix all of this…

"There you are, Ivaran. I've been wondering where you are." Suddenly, our boi Tomori approached him. "Oh, you're here too, Princess."

Miya wanted to snarl back, but didn't have the energy to do so.

"BTW, he's the shield I promise to find for you and also some stuff for your shield to absorb." Tomori pointed his sword to the ground. Lot's of shields and materials then appear from the red gemstone.

"That's a lot of shields. Where did you find those-"

"Don't ask questions, Ivaran. Just copy and absorb. That's the only thing that you need to focus on."

"Okay…"

Hearing that, Ivaran absorbs all of the materials onto his shield grey gemstone and copies the shields laying on the ground one by one.

Tomori then took a seat on the bench next to the princess.

"So, princess. Why are you looking so sad right now? The king still hasn't spoken up, huh?"

"..." But Miya didn't say anything. Maybe she's mad at Tomori for calling her "princess".

"I see, I see… I guess that's what the Wisest Mage of Them All are, huh?"

Miya turned her face towards Tomori, who's smirking like crazy.

"I mean, it's just a few days of whipping and he's already like that? Unbelievable! When I heard he's a hero, I thought he was someone amazing, but look at him now. He even needs to be ordered to eat. How embarrassing-"

Suddenly, Miya grabbed Tomori by his shirt collar.

"You take that back!" She yelled at him.

Ivaran stopped copying the shields and turned around.

"Should I? There's no lie in what I said, right? But the one who's the most embarrassing one… Is you." Tomori said to Miya's face.

"Grr…" She tightens her grip on Tomori's shirt. No wonder the king hates the Blade Hero. He's an *sshole!

"Tomori-san, what are you doing right now?" Ivaran is prepared to intervene if something bad is going to happen.

"Let me ask you something." Tomori spoke up. "Who are you?"

"...I'm Miya Q. Welle, the next in line to the throne of this country." She answered while still being angry.

"Really? No wonder the king is still like that. To think all this time the ones who are visiting him are some princess that is going to succeed the throne." Tomori said to her.

"...What?" Miya is now confused by what Tomori is saying right now.

"That's why you're an embarrassment. Even you couldn't make him talk."

"Then what should I do?! I tried everything! I tried to feed him some food, even set up a game of chess that he liked so much! But all he does is stare at the damn walls!" Tears started leaking out from her eyes. "I just want my papa back… To the way he used to be…"

"Then do it." Tomori said to her, but this time, his expression and tone changed to a serious one. "The king probably felt guilty that he had caused this to happen. I thought the queen, his own wife, could do it. But I guess that's a bummer. Then it falls down to you.

"Your father doesn't need a princess to talk to him. You need to be a little blunt, or simply speak what comes to your mind. You don't have to be so dignified and regal just because you're the princess that's next in line to the throne. What your father needs is you, Miya. To tell him that it is not his fault that all of this had happened."

From his serious expression, Tomori turned to a softer one. What he is trying to convey to her is that "Just act like a spoiled daughter and tell your father that everything is not his fault".

"..." Miya releases her grips from Tomori's shirt and wipes off her tears. Then, she stood up from the bench and quickly walked towards the castle.

"Tomori-san…" Ivaran said to Tomori. "Can't you just get to the point without doing all of that?"

"It won't have any dramatic effect if I didn't do all of that. And besides that, she really needed to chill out about being a princess and the next line to the throne. She's still a kid. It's not like she's going to succeed the throne tomorrow or anything." He said as he fixed his shirt collar.

" Sigh* I can't believe you…" The half elf facepalm. Yep, Tomori is crazy, but in a good way. "I hope you apologise to her after this."

"Yeah, yeah. I would do that if I met her next time."


Miya slowly walked through the sideways of the castle. Thanks to the heroes and their companions, the castle's building isn't quite as damaged as the town.

She took a turn and stopped at the room with double doors.

" Gulp*" She gulped as she opened the doors.

"..."

As the doors are opened, what Miya can see is his father, Alexander, staring ahead of the walls like he did this morning. The game of chess that she set up in front of him is still untouched.

Miya took a deep breath and took a seat facing the king, who's eyes looked like a dead fish.

"Father, how are you feeling…?"

"..."

He didn't respond to her. His soulless eyes look through her as if she isn't there in the first place.

Miya started clenching her fist. She doesn't know if she can do it. Seeing her own father like this is torn apart inside. What could she do… Then, he remembered what a certain person said to her.

"You don't have to be so dignified and regal just because you're the princess that's next in line to the throne. What your father needs is you, Miya."

Even though Tomori is an *sshole who likes to pick on her, he's right… The person in front of her right now doesn't need the princess. He needs his daughter.

And so, the second princess of Welle and the heir to its throne, Miya Q. Welle dropped the princess act and started acting more like a daughter that her father needs.

She got off from the seat and rushed towards her father.

"P-Papa…!" Miya clenched her hands onto his clothes and burrows her face onto the king's chest. "Please… I miss you so much… I don't know what's going on inside your mind… If you're blaming yourself because of what happened, then I'm not mad at you whatsoever! Mama is not mad at you either! We won't and never will!

"She said to never worry about you, but I can't help it! I don't like seeing you like this! I hate it so much! I want you back! Me and mama want you back!"

Stream started leaking out from her eyes and fell down to the king's clothes.

"So, please… Come back… Come back to us…"

"Huh?" Miya feels someone's hand is gently stroking her hair.

She looked up and was surprised. It was her father's right hand! He's started to cry, but there's a smile on his face. His dead and soulless eyes also had some gleam on it.

"Papa…!" Miya continued to hug him tightly.

Alexander, who's hesitant, decided to throw it out of the windows and slowly hugged her daughter back. He did feel guilty, but hearing that her daughter didn't think about it, he felt happy, joy and many positive emotions that can't be said through words.

Outside the doors, Matilda herself is sighing in relief. One of the shadows informed that the Blade Hero is saying bad things about her husband to her daughter. Then, Miya started running off to the bedroom. So, she just sneakily went without anyone noticing. She, too, has tears running down through her face. Seeing her husband responding to their daughter.

Then, with a smile, she walked in and hugged both of her husband and daughter. It's been too long since they haven't had a family moment together. Even if this isn't a proper one, she didn't care. As long as everyone is happy, then she doesn't care at all.


The sun is setting down. After Tomori re-explained everything about how the methods work to Ivaran, the half-elf brain is frying due to processing such complex information. Now Tomori now understands why the weapons choose humans from another world to become their wielders.

The Blade Hero, who's heading to the castle's kitchen, saw a familiar face standing next to the entrance.

It was the second princess, Miya, herself. Of course, she is there to stop him from hurting the fragile feelings of those castle's cooks. But seeing her here gave a chance for him to apologise to her.

"Uh… So, Miya… About that time during the evening…"

"You wanted to apologise, right?" She said to him. "About that… I already forgive you. And also…

"Thank you…"

Miya said in a low voice.

"Huh? What's that?" Tomori pretends to not hear that.

"N-Nothing!" Miya turned back to her Tsundere mode.

"I see…" Tomori went closer to the princess. And surprisingly, pat her head. "Glad everything went well."

He said as he cheekyly smiled at her.

"Huh?" Miya is confused as to why Tomori did that. However… It didn't feel bad at all. It felt different compared to the one her father did.

She wondered what she was feeling right now. It's definitely not love as she doesn't look at Tomori as a love interest. It's a new feeling that she had discovered.

"And also… You let your guard down, princess." Tomori said to her smugly.

"Oh no!" Miya had realised that Tomori is now in front of the entrance of the kitchen.

The Blade Hero went inside the kitchen while the second princess chased him inside. And at that time, all of the cooks turned to fear as the Cooking Demon appeared again.


2 Days Later…


Two days have passed since then. All of the heroes and their companions are healed up. The castle repairs are finished and the buildings in the town are almost finished, including Vadge's shop which Tomori is hype about.

And now, the four heroes, plus Ivaran, themselves are facing the queen and the king, whose hands are chained together by shackles at the Royal Chamber. Alexander is not resisting, nor glaring at Tomori. Is this a win in Tomori's book? He doesn't feel like he earned it though…

"Now then, I suppose I should introduce myself once again." The queen said as she flipped her fan open. "I am Matilda Q. Welle, the Queen of Welle." She gave a bow of respect to the heroes.

"Likewise. I'm Reika Ishikawa, the Projectile Hero."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Akira Sato, the Magic Hero."

"I'm Tadashi Kaneshiro, the Shaft Hero. At your service, milady."

"My name is Ivaran, the Shield Hero."

"Tomori Tanaka, the Blade Hero."

The four of them gave their introduction.

"Is there a reason why we are called here?" Reika asked.

"Yes, but first of all, even though I'm a few days late, I wanted to congratulate you all and your party for helping my kingdom against the Church of Transpierce. Thanks to that, many lives of my citizens throughout this country have been saved. I am grateful for that." The queen said to them.

"Is there anything other than that?" Tomori asked.

"Yes." The queen turned to the king. And with that, he walked to the front. "Due to my husband's actions, I am now tasked to find a suitable punishment for him. However, I'm unable to come up with one that suits it. And then, Sir Tanaka comes to my mind, as he's the one who suffers because of it."

The others look at Tomori, who stoically looks at the king.

"Any punishment?" Tomori asked the queen.

"...Within reasons." The queen replied.

"Works with me."

Tomori then pulled his Small Sword from his scabbard.

"Tomori-san, what are you doing?" Ivaran asked him.

"Just watched." He responded.

Tomori walked closer to the king, who didn't flinch at his presence. With a swing, he pointed his sword at the king. The others are kind of worried about what Tomori is about to do to the king. The Blade Hero himself is not crazy enough for a terrible punishment.

To their surprise, Tomori just closed his eyes and tightly gripped his sword handle.

Glow*

His sword gemstone started glowing, along with the king's body. However, the king's body is glowing in purple color. The others are surprised by this phenomenon.

Later, a purple light comes out from the king's body and circles around Tomori's body. He let down his sword and let the small purple orb rest onto his left palm.

The others wonder what was that while Ivaran knows what the light is, including the king.

It's the Vassal Spirit. And in the King's case, it's the Wand Spirit.

"..." After a few seconds of staring at it, Tomori let go of the small purple orb and it returned back into the king's body. And with that, Tomori returns back to the place he was standing before.

"As for the king's punishment… Just stripped him out from his royalty authorities. As the king is still the Wand Hero, I don't want anything bad to happen to him. And also, my problems are with the church and your daughter. I don't have anything against the king himself." Tomori said.

"Is… That all?" The queen asked while hiding her expression with her fan.

"Yeah."

Matilda sighed in relief. She's grateful that the Blade Hero isn't as crazy as those story books that she read when she's around Miya's age. Well, considering what he requested for her, craziness is far from what Tomori is capable of.

"Moving on." The queen continued. "About Sir Tanaka's crimes, the rape charges on him couldn't be relinquish, as it needs my daughter confession about the charges. As for his other crimes, all of it will immediately be dismissed in the name of helping me eliminate the church's strong figures."

Well, that's official. Tomori isn't a criminal anymore. Yay!

"Regarding my daughter, she will be an international felony. News regarding her escape will scour around the world and will immediately put on trial the moment she was caught. Are you fine with this, Sir Tanaka?"

"Yeah." Tomori needs to talk more.

"Well then, and lastly…" The queen turns to the right and a shadow appears. She handed the queen a parchment of paper. Matilda then rolled open the paper. "Due to the heroes and their companions' success, I decided to grant them a reward. Since the idea was proposed by Sir Tanaka, he, without any objection, will be given the Bassett Territory as a reward."

"Huh, what?" Does Ivaran hear that right?

"Thus, due to it, Sir Tomori needs an appropriate title for it." The shadow next to the queen then handed her a sheathed ceremonial sword. "I now hereby commence the conferment of the title on the Blade Hero, Tomori Tanaka!"

Tomori moved and kneel in front of the queen. She gives him the sword. Tomori unsheathed it, and put down the scabbard to the ground on his right side. He returned the sword back to the queen. The queen then tapped the sword blade onto both Tomori's shoulders from left to right.

"In accordance with the country's customs, I hereby granted you the rank of Baron."

The queen then returned the sword to him and Tomori sheathed it back. He then stood up and returned back to stand besides the heroes.

"T-T-Tomori-san, what's happening right now?" Ivaran asked him.

"I have a lot of questions…" Akira said to him.

"Yeah, you didn't say anything about this." Reika said to him as well.

Tadashi didn't say anything because he already knows about it.

"Well, I told you guys after we finished with this." Tomori said to them.

"Due to Baron Tanaka's request, combat advisors will arrive tomorrow so that they can train the heroes and their comrades to improve their skills to fight the waves. And lastly, the main religion of Welle will be changed to the Church of Cardinal Heroes." The queen then closed her fan. "Well then, thank you for your time, heroes. If you ever need anything, please let me know."

With that, the queen and the former king then moved to the sides and exited the chamber.

"Yo, Tomori, care to explain everything now?" Reika asked him.

"Yeah, yeah. The reason for it is so that I don't have to holed myself up in here. I felt like I don't have any freedom to do anything I want. Then, the thought of having my own territory is kind of a great idea. And the territory that comes to mind is Bassett Territory. Since it's all rabble due to the waves, I thought I could develop it in my own way.

"And don't worry about my title. I'll make sure that the people there will respect you as well."

"Wait, people there?" Ivaran muttered.

"Alright, Transport Blade!"

With that, Tomori teleports them to somewhere else.


Bassett Territory, Faible Village…


The five of them are teleported to the location that Tomori selected.

" Sniff* Sniff*" Ivaran then started smelling something familiar. "Salt… Don't tell me…!"

After the glows from the teleportation disappeared, the half elf saw a scenery that he hadn't seen for many days.

It was his village that was destroyed by the waves. But compared to the last time he saw it, there's no rabble or brick laying around the ground. It looks far cleaner than before, considering there's a few buildings that don't even have a wall or a rooftop. But not only that, he also saw a few familiar faces.

"Yo, Ivaran!" A girl with dog ears and tail shouted at him. "Why are you so late?! I'm starving while waiting for you, you know?!"

He also saw some of his demi-human friends besides her, carrying brinks and putting it into large piles.

"Tomori-san, what's going on here?" Ivaran asked as he's still confused.

"Well, ever since I decided to make this place into the heroes' territory, I sneakily teleported to Rheat's territory and teleported all the kids here with Tadashi's help. You should have seen their faces when I said that I'm going to be their new lord." Tomori said to him.

"But what about Flan? Is he okay with this?"

"Oh, I don't mind it." Flan, the royal knight, suddenly appeared next to the half-elf. "Since I myself know that I'm not capable of managing a territory, I thought that Sir Tomori is far more capable than me."

"But how will your father think about it?"

"He's definitely mad at me, but there's nothing that he can do now. I preferred honing my sword skills rather than doing all of this tedious stuff." The royal knight bluntly said.

This is the first time Ivaran had heard a nobleman basically saying "I'd rather be a peasant swordmaster than a boring nobleman". He then turned to the Blade Hero back.

"But Tomori-san, I know for a fact that you didn't know how to manage a territory."

"About that, I know simple stuff like how to keep the economy of this territory running smoothly. And besides that, I have a certain princess to help me."

Then, Miya shows up next to him.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to call me a PRINCESS!" She snarks at Tomori.

"Princess Miya? What are you doing here?" Ivaran asked.

"Well, she's here to manage all of the paperwork." Tomori answered him. "She's going to be the next queen, so she needs to at least learn about how to manage a territory. Isn't that right, princess?" He said while giving a smugly smile.

"Grrr…" Miya is mad because she's basically forced to be Tomori's office girl. Miya is mad because she doesn't have time to spend with her father. And Miya is mad because Tomori didn't stop calling her PRINCESS!

"Well then, since everyone is here, we can start the feast." Tomori said as he moved towards a direction.

"What do you mean by that?" Akira asked.

"Don't tell me you even got our companions here?" Reika said to him.

"Well, it's your fault for not checking them during the morning. I have them teleported here to help set up a feast before the queen calls us." Tomori said to them. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on!"

Both of the female heroes look at each other. Even though a lot had happened, they decided to shrug it off. This is a while since they had a feast. Might as well enjoy it.

After arriving at the middle of the village, the heroes saw their companions managing several pots at once.

"Oh, Tomori! You are here!" Riri, who's in her maid outfit, called him. "Can you take a look at these foods to see if they're edible?"

"Huh? I only left you guys for an hour. Surely you guys wouldn't mess anything up."

"Just to be safe, you know. We don't want all of these people to get food poisoning, right?"

"Alright, alright…"

Tomori then checked the pots one by one to see if they're okay.

"Uhh… They smell so good…" Rylon said as he stirred a pot of soup.

"Hey, don't start drooling over the soup." Mizune, who's not helping with cooking the feast, said to him.

"Oh yeah? How about you join in, then?"

"Oh, I can't… I must be aware so that the church shadows would suddenly attack us." She replied.

"That's the worst excuse from someone that can't cook. Like, I remembered that Sir Tomori said that he had applied a magic trap that would instantly reveal any shadows that used Hiding Magic."

"I-I can cook as well! And also, we can't only rely on magic traps. The shadows are tricky. They could probably be behind you right now, waiting for the perfect moment to strike."

"Yeah, yeah. Can you believe her, Emil? Out of the three of us, she was probably the one who would screw up a simple dish." Rylon turned to the blue haired man.

"Well, she always trained when we were little. She probably doesn't have any time to practise cooking." He replied as he watched over the drizzling pan.

"I SAID THAT I CAN COOK!" The kunoichi retorted.

Thud*

Lowri and Thea put down a pile of plates and a set of utensils onto the table.

"Why did we choose to carry all of this heavy stuff?" The mage asked the armored girl, who isn't wearing the armor right now.

"Well, cooking is tiring, you know? Especially when you cook for a lot of people. Not only that, but Sir Tomori also ordered them to cook a different kind of dish, even the ones I didn't know existed." Lowri replied.

"Maybe it's a dish from his world. And everything that he makes is delicious. Though, it feels like I'm lost as a girl."

"What do you mean by that?"

Thea then pointed at the makeshift kitchen.

"Like, there's three guys cooking while there's only one girl cooking. And I don't think Riri counted as a girl since she's a Spirit Beast."

"You think too much about it, Thea." Lowri assured her.


While all of the ruckus is all over the village, Ivaran ventures through the forest next to his village. Some smile comes out from the bushes and tries to attack him.

But due to his high DEF stats, the slimes didn't even leave any scratch on him. Eventually, they ran off due to being unable to damage him. After few minutes of walking through the forest, Ivaran stopped at a certain tree.

A tree that has two stone slabs standing next to each other under it. The half-elf kneels down and clasps his hands together.

"Mom, dad… I have returned. It's been more than a month since then. I hope both of you aren't mad at me for not occasionally visiting. Ever since the wave destroyed our village, I had lost a lot of things. However, because of that, I also gained a lot of new things. And I even became a hero. It's ironic, considering that I don't see myself as the heroic kind of person.

"But even so, since I have this power, I will use it to its fullest. So that I can protect our village from any harm whatsoever. And I'm also going to use it to protect the ones who I cared about. Tomori-san, Riri, Kyrie, everyone. I may be a single shield, but this shield here is determined to protect everyone."

As he said that, the gemstone on the shield that's hanging on his back started to shine brightly.

"You think the same too, huh?"

Apparently, Ivaran can communicate with his shield, unlike the Holy Heroes with their weapons.

"Well then, I think it's time to rejoin the others. Don't want them to worry about me."

Ivaran stood up and walked away from the tree.

"..."

He stopped and turned his head back to glance at the stone slabs.

"Wish me luck."

Ivaran turned his head back and walked away from the tree.


"Alright, Ivaran can stay at his parents' house since the building is still intact. However, as for us, we need to share rooms. The house over the right is my house and Tadashi's, while the house over the left is both of your house for the time being until the rest of the houses have been finished reconstructed." Tomori explained to the rest of the Holy Heroes.

"Well, I have no problems with Akira being my housemate." Reika said as she sipped her drink.

"Me either!" Akira replied.

"Great! And also…" Tomori turned to the Shaft Hero and snatched his mug.

"Hey, what gives?!" He retorted.

"Do you really think that you can drink alcohol when you are still under age?" Tomori asked him. He doesn't forget that he's the oldest among the Four Holy Heroes. And the three of them are still under age to be drinking alcohol anyway.

"Come on, man. Let me take a sip, will ya? It's not like age matters here, right?"

"Your reasoning has valid points since we're not in Japan. However, drinking alcohol just for fun isn't a good thing either. Didn't your world have those videos showing a drunk up salaryman passed out in a ditch or something?"

"Don't worry. I'm sure my alcohol tolerance is high."

"Well… Suit yourself." Tomori handed the mug back to him.

Tadashi then took a sip of it.

"Ugh…! It stings my throat! Even so… I won't give up!" He continued to take a sip of the mug.

"Anyways." Tomori said, ignoring the Shaft Hero. "I think the flag raising ceremony is going to start soon. So I really need to go now."

"Well then, good luck with that, Baron!"

"Yeah, make sure your face isn't tense and whatnot, Baron."

Both of the female heroes teased him.

"Whatever." Tomori stood up from the seat and walked towards the building which used to be a church. He then turned to the second princess, who's standing next to Ivaran. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes." She replied. Miya then turned her head towards the person responsible for raising the flag. "Kyrie, you can do it now."

"Really? Alright then! Here I go!" The dog girl quickly raised the flag up.

It has a singular color on it, which is red. However, the Four Holy Heroes weapons are inscribed onto the flag, along with a shield, symbolising that there's five heroes, Four Holy and One Vassal, staying in the village. The flag might need a makeover if another hero decided to stay here.

The other started admiring the flag's design. Of course they were! Tomori is the one who made it after all. But in reality, the original design is so terrible that Miya had to redesign it. But hey, it's Tomori's idea in the first place. So he probably should get a bigger credit than the second princess!

Seeing the flag makes Tomori's heart race. After all this time, he had finally seen it. All these people here accepted him as one of their own. Even if it's just the demi-humans, he didn't give a crap about it. All four heroes are united, in a land where the first wave had happened.

Surely, if this territory is developed, then it would serve as a symbol of hope. Those who broke and tore down piece by piece, could still rise up and become better than they were yesterday. All they need is just patience and discipline.

"Tomori-san, are you okay?" Ivaran asked him as he didn't budge a bit since the red flags were raised.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Tomori said as he glanced at the flag once more.

"I felt like this was just the beginning…" Ivaran muttered.

"You're right. The waves still aren't over, and your friends are still on the slave market. As for that, I have set up a meeting with a slave trader through the queen herself in two days. Let's hope that they're safe."

"Yeah…"

This is not the end. The story has just begun. The heroes haven't even shown what they truly are capable of yet. And the power of the next phase of Spirit Union hasn't even fully touched yet.


The Other World…


"What do you mean that Lars and Theresa isn't available right now?" A tall brown haired girl with red eyes asked a knight wearing Japanese style armor. "That's the fourth time this week. Are they really that busy?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Selena. But I don't have that kind of information. Maybe you can ask the commander himself." The knight replied.

"Very well…" She turned around and walked away from the castle. "Kuro."

Selena called the purple panther Shikigami that's laying on her shoulders.

"Yes, Lena?" He asked.

"Can you sneak into the castle and find out if Lars and Theresa are really that busy?"

"But there's a lot of traps inside there. It's going to be a pain to avoid it all."

"Kuro…" Selena gave him a menacing stare.

"Yes, yes…"

Instantly, the purple cat disappeared, as if it casted an invisibility magic on himself.

"To think of it, I haven't seen Shina much too…" Selena then put her right hand onto her katana on her waist. "If you guys really resort to that, then I have to stop all of you."

The brown haired women then stare at the castle behind her, waiting for her Shikigami to return.


Author Notes #2:

I just watched the Shield Hero S3 Ep 1 last night. And it was beautiful. After waiting for so long for the anime to release, I'm finally happy that it followed the LN (I hope, it's been a while since I read LN 10). And another week to wait for Ep 2. Might binge on Gotchar*d or KingOhg*r while waiting for it to release. Or maybe speedrunning Ga*m, because I haven't watched the entire series yet.

Oh yeah, I have a mock test at the end of October.

That's sad…

In any case, omake.


Omake:

Didn't I tell you yesterday!


"Ugh…" Tomori is stretching his body after he wakes up from his sleep. "Man, yesterday's feast was a blast. We should really do it again."

He then walked out from his room and went downstairs.

"Is Tadashi sleeping? He drank a lot yesterday. I hope his hangover isn't that bad."

After Tomori prepared his morning coffee, he picked up the mug and walked to the door of his house to get some fresh air.

" Sigh* A great start for a new Baron of this country is to have a morning coffee…" Tomori muttered as he took a sip. "And there's nothing to ruin it-"

As he glanced to the side, he saw a trash bin. And inside of the bin is a person upside down.

"Wait a minute…" Tomori recognised those pants. "Tadashi?!"

How the hell does he get in there? Didn't he carry him to his bed yesterday?

"Man, didn't I say yesterday that if you drink alcohol, you're going to pass out in a ditch or something. But in your case, you passed out inside a trash bin. Like bruh…"

"Ugh…" The Shaft Hero groaned as he's still hungover.

Tomori then decided to ignore him, and focused on the sunrise. It's more beautiful than that.

Yep, there's probably no underage blondie next to him that intoxicated himself in the trash bin.