This is a Beast Tamer and Rising Of The Shield Hero Crossover Fanfiction Only.
Other franchises will be included.
AN: Hero100100 wanted to mention this story was made as a birthday present for Hector Flores.
As the people finished their summoning ritual, four young men appeared, they had no clue where they were and why they were there but one of them had the notion that they had been summoned to this place against their will. The fact he could feel the magical energy present in the area told him they were summoned by several mages doing a complicated and elaborate ritual, the way the energy felt almost like they were nothing more than bugs that got caught in a spider's web.
They actually looked pretty much younger than he was and was wondering what was the reason for them being summoned, whoever did this it could cost vast resources and preparation to do a magical ritual this elaborate. The only thing he knew was that he had a small shield strapped to his arm, and the other three held weapons, a bow, a sword, and a spear. He was not worried however if these people decided to attack him, not having a weapon did not hinder him one bit. He was blessed with the benefits of the contracts his father formed with his mothers.
If these people attacked them they would soon know why attacking him was not a good idea, but as far as he could tell they were in what seemed to be the chamber of a castle, something that reminded him very much of his home actually, the stone floor was a bit shabby but finding people who were expert masons was not exactly easy. The brickwork was quite basic and the arrangement of the room made him think they were in a cellar or a vacant storage room.
As the four men finally got up to their feet a man dressed in some sort of religious garb came to them and smiled, "Greetings, we are sorry to have to tell you that you four have been summoned to be our four cardinal heroes and you have been summoned due to the fact our very nation if not the world is in grave danger. I apologize that we did this without asking if you wished to come, but we were quite desperate. We had to perform the hero summoning ritual as it was given to us by our gods, and even if this could result in the deaths of those doing the ritual should they fail we had to do this. I hope this shows you how urgent and how desperate we are."
He decided to stand up and speak as the others were still processing what he said, "I understand that you required aid and you were desperate enough to risk the lives of half a dozen mages, but to even begin to be able to help you, we need a complete understanding of the situation, to be able to provide you with the aid your nation or your world requires. So can you tell us the finer details or I am going to guess you have a war with some demons and you want the four of us to kill the demon king." Upon hearing this the other three began to laugh like they heard the best joke these three had heard in their entire lives, the one holding the spear was using it as a support to not drop on the ground from how hard he was laughing, the other guy was on the floor and was hysterically laughing, the guy with the sword was merely trying very hard to contain his laughter as he smiled.
"I honestly do not find the humor in what I said, having to fight a demon king and his entire demon army is no joking matter. So I must assume you are a high priest, so your holiness will you be the one to tell us the reason and circumstances we were summoned to your world, or is the Royal family that live in this castle and rule the nation going to do that?" The man tried very hard to be nice and cordial and told them that indeed, the King of this nation who ordered them to do the summoning ritual would explain everything, as for himself, he was actually the head of the national fate, and thus his rank among the church was that of pope. To get them to understand why they were summoned they would go and attend an audience with the king as soon as they were able to walk and go to the throne room where the king and others were waiting for them.
The other three began to calm down and realized that at least one of them was taking this situation extremely seriously, almost as if the things he mentioned about the demon king and the demon army were not a joke at all. The pope smiled as he saw them calm down and offered to take them to the throne room they could not keep the king waiting after all it would be bad manners. The one that appeared to be the youngest of the group began to follow him as the others but not before grumbling about it was also pretty rude of them to basically kidnap them as they did.
The spear guy was amazed at the castle, the bow marveled at the way the place looked and the guy with the sword had a look like he was tasting something particularly sour from the way he was scowling. The eldest of the four looked at the castle like it was nothing major, it was a quaint little castle that reminded him of his family's summer vacation home. The guards had some armor, but not nearly as much or as equal quality compared to the knights and soldiers that served him and his family.
As they entered he saw it was a particularly dull-looking audience chamber, the throne was basic and there were no flags, decorations, or anything that could impart to those who entered the supposed majesty, power, and prestige of both the royal family and prosperity of the nation, the audience chamber was in all terms there to show those that enter that the king and the nation were not people that they could mess with, the first impression could be critical for potential negotiations and to prevent future problems, such as armed revolts and people losing faith over the ability of the royal family to rule and do their duties to the nation.
The king was nothing that unexpected a smug man who thought and felt like he was the single most powerful man that had ever lived, nothing knew, in truth he had no idea the sort of trouble he caused himself when he summoned the much-vilified hero that his own national faith called the devil. The fact is he only planned to use him as a means to achieve his own goals, much like he would do to anyone in his world. "Greetings young heroes, I am Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, King of my beloved nation of Melromarc I had you four summoned because we are in dire need of the four cardinal heroes to save our world, and more importantly my beloved nation and people. But by all means, introduce yourself so that we can know what to call the valiant heroes who have come to save us from the very threat that would destroy everything we hold dear including our very lives."
The other three decided to introduce themselves in a manner that they thought they were speaking with just anyone, Motoyasu introduced himself as a college student, and that he was nineteen years old, Ren was a high school student and was seventeen years old, and Ren said he was also in high school but he was sixteen years old, Naofumi could not stand this lack of decorum and manners. So he decided to do things right by first standing in front of the throne and bowing down to the king before he introduced himself. "I am sorry for my fellow heroes' lack of court manners so first I must apologize for this breach of royal decorum. As for me, my name is Naofumi Iwatami Shroud, I am the crown prince of my beloved nation of Horizon, I understand the desire to protect your citizens well, and my father and I both feel the same about our own kingdom's citizens." Naofumi waited to be allowed to stand up once again.
The other three heroes never heard of a kingdom called Horizon, much less expect that the fourth hero was the crown prince, but after hearing his introduction some felt he was just bragging and some others thought he was an idiot putting on airs to make himself more important that he actually was. The one that was shocked the most had actually been the king himself, he was beside himself, the three heroes whom their faith called practically goes were rude little punks, and the one that the same faith called the devil, was actually the only one to show proper manners and behaved as someone who knew how to address and greet monarch. This was not even the worst part the manner of his speech and manners showed refinement that made it quite clear he was educated in court manners and decorum, which as much as he wanted to deny it, only validated his statement that he was a nation's crown prince.
This was not what he was expecting at all, by doing this he could end up angering an unknown nation into causing an international incident if not outright war that could hamper or interfere with his own plans, hearing Naofumi's introduction made the King realize that his initial plans were if anything to reckless and impulsive, he needed to make the first plan worked well even if he had to defend it against the accusations of its validity. Then there was no telling how powerful his nation was, there was no way to tell the might of the nation called Horizon from the way Naofumi dressed.
"Please, stand young prince, but I must ask you how old are you? I do believe you did not mention that." Naofumi apologized for his lapse in thought and for not mentioning this, he was twenty-one years old, and he was also an adult member of the royal family and next in line to ascend to the throne, he was the head of the Horizon military. So unlike his fellow heroes, he has been working for a few months as a military general. "Good, having you among the other heroes will be a great aid, since you have knowledge of troop movements and deployment tactics. As I was going to tell you my beloved nation of Melromac and our very world are under the constant assault of monsters that appear to come from other dimensions or worlds, we call the situation where they appear a wave of calamity, and we have to endure quite a few of them in the past."
He allowed the heroes to process and understand what he told them before he decided to continue, "We do realize that we might have summoned you in desperation of the threat our world faces but rest assured we will not expect you to risk your lives without due compensation or aid, we shall reward you quite well for defeating each wave, and the monsters that you slaughter are quite valuable resources, so you may use them to grow stronger, or sell them to make some extra money. Since we summoned you four and it is close to being evening, we shall arrange for you to stay in our very best inn, drink and eat as much as you wish, as this is the way we apologize for causing your four such trouble."
Naofumi understood what he was doing it was as much as his mentors had taught him, and that little to remark about it, instead, the other three apparently became very happy at the possibility that would gain a lot of money either from selling the remains of the monsters they kill or the fact that the King would reward them for defeating each wave they face. To Naofumi that was both greedy and insane, greedy because they clearly were thinking about how they could use this situation to profit from it, and insane because they didn't seem to realize one of the important lessons of life, no matter how much money you make, you can't take it with you after you die.
This was insane to Naofumi, they should be focused on wanting to learn as much as possible about the land they found themselves in, the very mention of a nation that was not Horizon told Naofumi that he really was in another world, and that made him extra cautious on how he deals with things, the others might want to talk to him about his background but he would be a complete fool to do that right in the middle of the throne room. "Your Majesty, are we done? With your approval, I would like to borrow a couple of books that might be necessary to our endeavors against the monsters we are to face." The pope stepped up and told him if he wanted a book about monsters he should also include a reading of the church's scriptures, they could provide him with much insight. The king did not like this and told him that the people would come and join them tomorrow.
The guards seemed to be glaring more at Naofumi than anyone else, and given what his mentors taught him and explained this was hardly a surprise at all. "Before we go, please send my regards to your wife and family, I would like to maintain the peace as much as possible, but make no mistake, if I or any of my parents decided to come here, they can, and do so with the force of our entire military." Altray wanted to ask him just how big was their domain, till he saw the cold look in his eyes, this was not some naive young man at all, he had seen more combat than the other heroes combined.
"I need books about your geography, political alliances, rules, laws and I will take that holy book from the pope, it might be insightful reading at best, useful at worst. As for payment, I will simply say my world has only one kingdom and my family rules it. As for our military we stood up against a demon emperor and defeated him, half the population of our kingdom has been in our military, and make no mistake these guards would be no better than children."
Alcray was very interested in his world but yes, he will send him a copy of every book he might need as a thank you for being so open with him. The nearest guard tried to get fresh and tried to punch him until Naofumi caught his strike and immediately slammed him on the ground with something the other heroes recognized as a Judo or Aikido throw, he helped the guard stand up and looked at him shocked look on his face, "Sorry, when someone attacks me my body sometimes reacts without me thinking."
He said that it was alright, he wasn't hurt that badly, but he did need to tell them their rooms were now ready at the inn and he was about to escort them there personally, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren asked if he could tell them about Melromac and the capital on the way there. Naofumi could only think that those three-act and sounded more like students on a summer vacation trip rather than heroes getting ready to face dangers that could very well cause them to die if they were unprepared. Melromarc was nothing special to Naofumi but the other three were amazed and would not stop asking questions on this particularly unpleasant guided tour.
As they came to the Inn which ironically was called the Siren's Ballad, Naofumi could not help but feel it was sort of funny that the name of the place reminded him of the place his mother owned and even used to sing at back in his world, making him almost miss his mothers and friends as he stepped in, the name was the only similarity between the place he knew and this place.
The stage was small, so no live music except for a mistral playing in the corner at best, the bar looked more like a place you find in a seedy part of town, and the tables were made apparently from cartwheels that had been converted, the seats were modified barrels, that been cut and made to work as seats. The staff was friendly but not overly so, or maybe that was simply because Naofumi would be staying in this inn, the restaurant and lobby of the inn were in the same location, so people would go in either for a meal or to get a room for the night. The way people were glaring at him was making him realize that simply having this shield on him, made him persona non grata when it came to the patrons and even most of the waiting staff present.
As he sat down at one of the tables one of the waiting staff came by and began to give Motoyasu and the others a menu but when Naofumi asked for one he got a very nasty glare from the lady and basically threw the menu close to where he was seated catching the other three by surprise. "I don't see why you are so surprised, I finished reading those five books the king gave me and even the holy scriptures book for the national faith the pope gave to me while you three were enjoying your little guided tour of the capital. These people worship the three heroes, not the four, in fact, I am basically the equivalent of Satan, and yes that concept is also known in my world. So Ren what would do you think in this menu looks good?"
Ren mentioned that the pasta dishes seemed nice, Motoyasu was leaning towards the steaks and potatoes dish, and Itsuki actually just flat out said that he would want to have that thing that looked like a hamburger, and for drinking, they would have something that looked like sweet tea since they should not drink anything alcoholic drinks since that needed to focus. They each apparently liked the suggestions so they ordered some of the dishes that other people suggested, and they began to talk among themselves and began to realize that all three of them actually came from different versions of Japan until they got to ask Naofumi and he immediately told them he actually is not from any place called Japan at all, actually that nation never existed at all in his world.
This made all the other heroes realize that unlike them Naofumi actually came from a different world, but that only made them want to ask about his world, his family, and even events in his world since it is new to them at the very least would make for some entertaining discussions, and so far they were in a private dining area, so they had plenty of privacy Naofumi had no reason to be shy about telling him more of his life in greater detail. The only problem is that they did not have as much privacy as they thought and some people were actually paying close attention to what was being discussed.
"I don't think I need to introduce myself, my name you know it already, but my father was a man by the name of Rein Shroud, he was from a village that was known to train and have some of the world's best beast tamers, the profession of these people is to make contracts with different beasts and be able to get these beasts to work with them to do things normal humans could not do, my father wanted to master every form type of contract there was, so he learned over a hundred of them in his life. Later he learned that he could mix these contracts and form even more rare and special contracts with even more special and rare beasts, in this place I think these would be classified as demi-humans." The three were very intrigued by this but wondered if the person who was the beast tamer only gained the beast's cooperation only.
Naofumi clarified that a beast tamer would also gain the strengths and physical power of those they make a permanent contract with, and even gain some of the special skills only available to beasts, "My father was training in the woods when from out of nowhere his village was attacked by a demon general, one that served the demon lord. Dad rushed home to try to help his friends and family and that is when he first met his mentors who later became my mentors, these two men appeared almost like they were sent by heaven and began to slaughter the demon troops and together they fought the demon general till apparent to dad he thought they fought them till the dropped dead from wounds they suffered fighting against such a powerful and menacing foe."
Ren asked how menacing this demon general was giving these two men so much trouble, Naofumi told him that the demon general could summon an infinite number of troops and beasts to do this bidding, so as long as the General was alive the enemy numbers would never decrease enough to end the threat to the village. That is why they used such weird tactics that Naofumi's father was seeing things as he could swear he saw hundreds of copies of these two men fight and keep the people in the village safe, while the two who appeared first were focused on trying to kill the Demon General. It was something nobody had ever seen before and in the village, people could literally make contracts with ghosts, so it must have been quite weird to Naofumi's father because he could not even understand it.
"In the end, these two were not dead, they simply collapsed out of pure exhaustion and hunger, they joked that many of their talents consumed much of their energy so the only drawback of using the skills and talents like that is they become hungry, one man was named Hiro Uzumaki, and the other was called Hector Uchiha, they were sent to save my father's village by a goddess they both serve. So they stayed in the village and trained my father in their skills, seeing they would have to go to another world to continue the missions given to them by their goddess."
Naofumi told them stories of the many things his father told him he went through and the way he met the women that would later become his wives and later the women Naofumi would call his mothers, all twenty-nine of them, and that is when the other three heroes nearly choked on what they were eating when they heard this. "You have got to be frigging kidding, your dad married twenty-nine of these women and many of them demi-humans, what is the deal with that, in our world no matter what version of our country any of us came from polygamy was illegal."
Naofumi told Motoyasu that maybe it was in their world but it was quite normal for high nobles and expected members of the Royal family to actually form a harem. His mother was named Sarya, and her maiden name was in fact Iwatami, so that is how his name became Naofumi Iwatami Shroud, his mother was the crown princess of the nation that thanks to his father's influence unified the entire world to form a single kingdom. "Father defeated the demon lord and brought danger to our world to an end, so other neighboring kingdoms eventually sent their daughters to marry him, and through the formation of the harem, the nations would be unified into one kingdom. So when I say my family rules an entire world I am not kidding, and I am the crown prince of that kingdom. Hiro and Hector actually returned by the time when I was a kid and taught me many things, even giving me some items they said would be useful to me. In fact, I spent so much time learning from the two of them that I got in the habit of thinking of them as my uncles."