Welcome to the Quartet School
Hello everyone and welcome back, sort of, to the world of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! As you've all no doubt heard, the latest season of the Rising of the Shield Hero has begun and you know what that means: it's time for Darius and his party to take the stage once again! But before we officially get into it, I thought I'd do something I've been meaning to do forever and introduce everyone to the cast of Isekai Quartet! That's right, our heroes are dropping into the Isekai school with several other displaced heroes. As for those waiting for the actual story to resume, fear not. I shall resume the main story within the next few weeks so that the anime can get a little ahead. So for now, enjoy this fun little side story!
Daytime: What Might Be Japan
For Darius Saxon, crossing into another world was not a new phenomenon at this point. In fact, he, his party, and his friend, Naofumi's, party had recently returned from chasing down a rogue vassal weapon wielder in another world. That's why, instead of panicking, the Armory Hero had a more subdued reaction to his current predicament. Two words that summed the whole thing up quite nicely.
"Well shit," he breathed out while looking up at the structure before him, "what world are we in now?" At least he assumed it was another world. The buildings, signs, and architecture all pointed to him being in Japan or at least some version of Japan. Further adding to this theory was the large, white multi-story building in front of him that screamed 'school'.
The main giveaway was the presence of a ballfield and what appeared to be lockers on the inside of the bottom floor. Though for some reason Darius felt that he would've known this was a school even without giving it a once over. 'Alright, let's think back to what happened right before I got here,' the Armory Hero mused with his arms crossed, 'we were back-to-back with Naofumi's party holding off monsters from both sides. Rifana, Johann and I had just finished up on our end and turned around when something weird happened.'
And it was weird, even for their group. For whatever reason, Naofumi's shield had transformed into a big red button which wound up being pressed by the attacking monster's claws. One bright flash of light later and here he was. 'The good news is I can see Rifana and Johann's stats this time, so they're probably on campus somewhere,' Darius realized upon checking his HUD, 'and my level hasn't gone down either which makes one less pain in the ass to deal with.' The last time he'd hopped worlds his Armory Bands had changed and he, along with all of his friends, had been reset to level one.
It meant that wherever he was now, it either had far fewer restrictions on power usage, or they hadn't actually left their world. 'The good news is everything seems to be in working order,' he mused while testing a couple of weapon and replica summons, 'guess the only thing to do now is find everyone else and get a handle on the situation.' With that thought in mind, he pushed open the door and entered the school building. He kept his eyes peeled and a couple of abilities at the ready, just in case something decided to leap out at him.
As anticipated, the interior looked like a stereotypical Japanese high school with both regular and sliding doors on one side of the hallway along with windows on both sides for looking into the classrooms and for looking outside. Unlike a typical Japanese school, the place seemed practically deserted. 'Wonder if we dropped in during the summer,' the Armory Hero thought to himself. It was a question whose answer came soon enough when he noticed a pair of shadows approaching from a side hallway.
Stopping a few feet from the turn, Darius readied to summon a weapon as two figures emerged. One was a short girl with blue, bob cut hair, an admittedly attractive figure, and the black dress and white apron of a French maid. But it was the other figure that really caught Darius's attention. The main reason being the fact that he was dressed in what appeared to be the teutonic armor of a Crusader, complete with a large blue cross on the front, and a sword at his hip that Darius's weapon analysis identified as possessing some type of mystic metal.
"Oh," the blue-haired maid spoke as they both turned his way, "are you a new student?"
"Uh, you got me," Darius shrugged, deciding to keep things civil for the moment, "I just popped in here ten minutes ago. What about you guys? Is it school Halloween or something?"
"Halloween?" The pair repeated while giving him a confused look.
"Ya know," the Armory Hero tried to explain, "put on costumes, go trick-or-treating for candy? It's a very popular holiday." He knew even as he was saying all of this that it most probably wasn't Halloween right now. Thanks to his appraisal skill he'd also been able to discern that whatever armor the knight guy was wearing had some type of basic mystical protection on it.
"I'm afraid I know not of such a holiday," the knight answered, "but this does confirm that you likely suffered a similar fate to us."
"You guys got transported here too," Darius asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We along with many others," he confirmed, "if that's the case I believe introductions are in order. I am Ulric Arkwright, knight of Lady Emilia and the Mathers domain." He gave a slight bow at the waist while introducing himself.
"And I am Rem," the maid curtsied, "a servant of Lord Roswaal Al Mathers. Who might you be, traveler?"
"Darius Saxon," he introduced while holding up his right arm to show one of his bands, "in my world I'm known as the Armory Hero."
"A fascinating title," Ulric observed, "were you a quartermaster in a previous life?"
"Nah, just a student and a weeb," the cardinal hero shrugged, "when I got summoned to my current world these bands were clapped onto me and I was declared the Armory Hero. It's been a pretty big adjustment, but I've managed to survive so far thanks to all my friend's help, and also," he summoned a monk's staff to his hand, "a couple of convenient abilities that come with the job."
"Oh, you can store weapons," Rem observed, producing a chained flail from seemingly out of nowhere and holding it up, "I can do something similar."
"Hey, that's some good quality material right there," the Cardinal Hero complimented, examining the weapon while making note that this petite little maid was apparently much stronger than her size would suggest.
"She also possesses more than enough skill in using it," Ulric confirmed, "you yourself have seen more than a few battles, haven't you?"
"Guess the title is a bit of a dead giveaway," Darius dismissed his staff and rubbed the back of his head.
"Your posture and your eyes speak the most about your experiences," the knight informed, "you've seen a lot."
"We both have by the looks of it," the Armory Hero observed, "but why don't we save those stories for later. Right now, I'm more curious about what in the world's going on here. You guys know why we're here?"
"Regretfully, we have not been able to determine the culprit responsible for our current circumstances," Rem answered, "Ulric and I are still trying to grasp many of the intricacies that characterize what the others call 'school life'."
"So these others have some idea what this is all about?" Darius questioned.
"They appear to have more experience in these kinds of settings," the knight answered before turning, "come, we can introduce you. The majority of them are getting ready to engage in a game known as 'baseball'."
"Wow you two really are from a medieval fantasy land," the cardinal hero commented, "speaking of which, either of you two happen to see a blond girl with weasel ears, a tail and a mace, or a loud kid with dragon wings?"
Another Floor of the School
"Naofumi! Darius!" Raphtalia and Rifana called, looking around somewhat worriedly before the raccoon girl spoke again, "where do you think they've gone?"
"I'd like to think they're close by," the weasel girl answered, "but the last time this happened we got dropped into completely different kingdoms."
"But we found each other quickly enough," Raphtalia reminded. They'd both materialized in separate locations on the top floor of whatever kind of building they were in, so it hadn't taken long for them to run into each other. "I'm sure the others are just around the corner." A statement which proved true, to a degree.
As they were reaching a turn in the hallway two strangers emerged. The first one looked plain enough, wearing a short green cape, brown pants, and a white tunic. The other stranger, however, was a tall skeleton dressed in a giant black robe with gold trimming, and two red orbs on either side of his head from which two giant, curved horns protruded. 'A monster,' the two warrior women immediately drew their weapons.
In the response, the monster, and the boy…raised their hands and took a step back? "Whoa, okay, slow your roll," the boy pleaded, "just take it easy. You've been transported into another world; things are a bit different here."
"Yeah, we figured that part out," Rifana commented, "what we don't know is who to trust yet."
"You can relax, fellow the travelers," the skeleton spoke in a deep but surprisingly civil voice, "we mean you no harm." The duo glanced at each other before lowering their weapons, though they didn't sheathe them.
"Were you two sent here from your world as well," Raphtalia questioned.
"Yeah, we all got sent here because of some bogus red button," the boy explained, "believe it or not, this isn't the first time some of us have hopped worlds."
"Same here," Rifana revealed, "we're actually looking for our friends right now. Do either of you know a guy named Darius or a dude called Naofumi?"
"Darius? Naofumi?" The skeleton hummed, "I'm afraid I'm unaware of anyone who possess such names."
"Perhaps you know them by their titles," Raphtalia sheathed her katana, keeping a hand on it as she began her explanation, "Naofumi is known as the Shield Hero, and Darius is the Armory Hero."
"What, are these a couple of 'I'm so OP' guys?" The boy in the green cape commented.
"Darius told me what that means once," Rifana responded, "people who are not only stupid powerful but instantly loved by everyone, I think he said. Definitely not them. Naofumi got betrayed by the very people who summoned him and framed for a crime he didn't commit. Darius got torn up rescuing me and then we all had to put up with persecution for a while when we started working together."
"Definitely not OP," the boy stated, "you guys got hard mode in your world."
"It's not all bad," Raphtalia assured, "Brave Naofumi and Darius have never given up and they do what they can to protect others. Though Naofumi can be a little difficult to get along with and has difficulty expressing himself sometimes. But he's working on that and he's actually really nice once you get to know him better."
'So hard mode for everyone else, too,' the Adventurer Boy thought. "So he's what one would call a Tsundere," the Skeleton asked, getting a laugh out of his friend.
"It sounds so weird when you say it out loud," he chuckled.
"It sounds weird for me to say it out loud," the skeleton commented.
"We need to find our friends right now and this conversation isn't helping us do that!" Raphtalia raised her voice.
"Trust me, now's not a good time to be joking about things," Rifana added.
"Oh, well uh, maybe we can help you," the boy offered.
"Really," Raphtalia's tail began wagging at the notion. More people helping meant the less time it would take to find their friends.
"Before we do that, who exactly are you guys?" Rifana asked.
"Heh, I'm Satou Kazuma," he declared with his fingers pressed against his forehead before holding his hand out in front of him, "I'm a world class adventurer back in my world!"
"More like world class bullshitter," the weasel girl deadpanned, "you have no idea how many morons we've run into making that false claim."
"Hey! Is that any way to talk to someone trying to help?!" Kazuma exclaimed while waving his arms.
"Forgive him, his adventuring life hasn't been a bed of roses either," the skeleton informed, "as for me, I am Ainz Oal Gown, ruler of the Tomb of Nazarick."
"So you are an undead," Raphtalia put a hand to her chin, "I didn't know any friendly undead existed."
"You'll find I hail from a world that's somewhat different to yours," Ainz declared, "but for now let's make haste. Your friends are no doubt looking for you as well." Raphtalia and Rifana nodded in agreement before proceeding with the two otherworlders.
Outside: The School Animal Pen
"Hey guys," a silver-haired girl in a white outfit spoke up as they stood in the animal pen which seemed a bit wider than before, "we only had two pets here, right?" Said two pets being an undead knight in black armor while the other was a giant hamster of sorts. But now there appeared to be a giant, white-feathered bird and a small, by mythical standards, blue-scaled dragon. "Because I'm counting four today."
"I thought so," a short, blond, tan-skinned girl wearing a white shirt, white vest and white pants noted. If one looked closely, they'd also notice the girl's pointed ears.
"Then we'll just get rid of one of them," a girl with long blue hair wearing a blue outfit and short skirt stated before walking forward and holding out her hand. The knight yelled in surprise as a bright light reduced him to nothing more than a floating orb.
"Oh no, Death Knight disappeared he did!" The giant hamster declared.
"You talk funny," the dragon spoke up in a surprisingly childlike voice, sounding like a young boy.
"Oh, you can talk," the blond girl noted, "can you tell us your name, dragon?"
"I'm Johann," he declared proudly, "and this feather brain is Filo."
"Johann," the bird chirped in the annoyed voice of a little girl, "remember what master and Darius said, we need to be nice when meeting new people." The dragon simply shrugged while the bird continued. "But yes, my name is Filo, it's nice to meet you all. Have any of you seen our masters?"
"And who would they be," the short girl questioned.
"Their names are Naofumi and Darius," the bird explained, "and they're both really great guys."
"Really, I've never heard of either of them," the pointy-eared youth stated truthfully. At about this time the floating soul rematerialized into the creature from before.
"Ah, come back to join us, Death Knight has!" The giant hamster declared in relief.
"You sound like the boss when he does this 'Yoda speak' thing," Johann commented, "anyway, I'm gonna go look for 'em. You comin' Filo?"
"Yep, let's go find master!" Filo cheered before moving to the door.
"W-Wait," the white-haired girl stuttered while blocking the door, "we can't just let the animals out of here!"
"Actually, there are a couple cases where we can," the blond girl corrected with a smirk, "I know just the one."
A Few Minutes Later: The Back of the School
Ainz and Kazuma absorbed as much information as they could about the people they were looking for. Neither one of them had seen a person in studded white armor with mystical bands on his wrists, but they had seen the one known as the Shield Hero. He'd shown up earlier, sliding open the door to their classroom and apparently figuring out he was at the wrong destination. He'd taken one look at all of them and promptly closed the door once again.
'At least we can identify one of those guys,' the adventurer mused as the group of four stepped out into the sunlight. Everyone else was outside either doing school chores or at the baseball game, so they figured it was a good place to start. But before they got there, an odd sight greeted them. "What in the world's going on here," Kazuma questioned as they approached the steps.
The reason for his confusion was the sight of a giant bird running around on the school grounds with two passengers on its back. One was a white-haired girl he'd come to know as Emilia, while the other was the blue-haired pain in the ass, for him, called Aqua. And they appeared to be having a good time as the strange and giant bird kept running back and forth…...laughing? Stranger still, there seemed to be more laughing coming from above them.
"Is that a dragon?!" Kazuma exclaimed, seeing a large flying blue reptile circling above them with a blond-haired girl on its back, "and why is Aura riding on it?!"
"Filo! Johann!" Raphtalia and Rifana suddenly called before rushing down the stairs.
"It appears they know those creatures," Ainz surmised while watching the scene unfold. As the duo got closer, the bird and dragon stopped. The bird then suddenly let out a blast of smoke. The dragon came low to the ground and did the same.
"Raphtalia! Rifana!" a boy and a girl with wings emerged from the smoke and flew over to hug the two warrior women.
"Oh I want a giant transforming bird and dragon too!" Aura, having landed safely, declared happily with practical sparkles dancing before her eyes. Emilia was currently tending to Aqua who'd been let off of Filo a bit too roughly when she transformed.
"These girls are searching for heroes by the name of Naofumi and Darius," Ainz explained to the others while Rifana and Raphtalia checked to make sure their friends were okay.
"I wonder if one of them was that transfer student from earlier," Emilia put a hand to her chin in thought.
"I'd imagine," the ruler of Nazarick agreed, "have you seen him or anyone else unfamiliar recently?" Emilia was about to answer but as she did Kazuma called from atop the stairs.
"HEY LOOK OUT!" he yelled. The reason for this sudden warning was a baseball had been knocked from the field at ridiculous speed and was flying right towards them. Rifana and Raphtalia made to draw for their weapons but quickly found there was no need.
"Airstrike Shield!" The familiar voice of Naofumi called out as he appeared at the top of the stairs. A giant, green spectral kite shield formed in midair and blocked the ball, though its momentum kept it spinning and digging into the temporary defense.
"What's this," Ainz questioned in mild surprise as a black and white blur flew past him and Emilia.
"Second Shield!" The cardinal hero declared just as the current shield broke under the force of the still spinning baseball. He rushed down the stairs then as even this reinforcement was cracking underneath the driving pressure of the projectile. The group made to move just as it broke, but once again there was no need.
The Armory Hero appeared with the cardinal sword in his hand and swung a powerful two-handed blow downwards just as the shield broke. The baseball was split in half by the technique, flying past all of them in two separate directions and impacting the ground a short distance away. "Whew, I remember baseball being less dangerous," Darius commented as he dismissed his mask and weapon, "everyone okay back here?"
"DARIUS! NAOFUMI!" The now party of four exclaimed as they leapt forward and hugged their respective party leaders. Rifana, of course, made sure to give Darius a quick peck on the lips.
"It's good to see you're all okay," Naofumi actually smiled a bit while embracing his own party members.
"Did you happen to learn anything about this place," Darius asked, turning to his friend, "from what I've heard nearly everyone here is from a different kind of fantasy world. It's an Isekai zoo."
"I did learn a couple things," the shield hero responded, "it looks like we're the only cardinal heroes here. There's also some rule that we all have to go to school."
"School," the Armory Hero repeated, "with a colorful cast like this? The whole thing sounds like an Omake setup."
"I don't understand it either," Naofumi admitted as he looked over to the ball field at the gathering of maids, knights, soldiers and other odd creatures, "but for now we should probably stick with the rules and see if we can't find a way out of here."
"Works for me, whatever you say, guess we got no choice right now, I'll do it if they got good food," their party members answered.
"Guess that settles it," Darius smiled in determination and raised his fist in the air, "let's kick this Omake world's ass!" Everyone else happily agreed as Ulric and Rem watched from afar.
"It appears they're new students after all," Rem observed, "Do you think they'll get along with everyone?"
"If nothing else they look like they'll make it interesting for whatever class they wind up in," Ulric responded, "this 'school year' just keeps getting stranger and stranger." And so, the cardinal heroes found themselves in another strange world facing their newest enemy: school life. What hilarities shall ensue? Only time will tell.
And there we have it! Hope you all liked this little side story and possible setup for other omakes in the future. As always feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And of course, be the first to get updates on what I'm up to by becoming a patron! Last bit, stop in next time as the main story resumes and our heroes find themselves in the underground arena of Zeltoble!' Til then.