Virtue of the Shield Hero

by Allen Blaster

According to Newton's Third Law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately, Naofumi and co will find this to be especially true after returning from their Otherworld trip. Rest of Summary inside. The third installment is here. Multiple pairings. Covers Season Three Territory and beyond. Arc 10: Chapters Thirteen: Part One: Death Match

114. Arc 8: 51: The Naofumi Start

Alright. This will be the start of the Otherworld Arc. Because of that, I've taken the liberty of updating the summary of the story to the second half of what I wrote way back when.

I'll also add this. Here is when you can start drawing inspiration from the manga again for the most part. As I said before, the manga butchered the Spirit Tortoise Arc beyond belief in its rush to get through it. Ost's character development in particular was butchered quite a bit. Fortunately, the manga has been doing a much better job in the Otherworld Arc. Especially with the introduction of my favorite character. I can't wait to reach that point!

But before we start, please take a moment to pray for those suffering from the Ukraine Russian War. I've got some good friends over there. And I'd rather they stayed alive/don't become destitute/weren't thrown in prison. You know, the worst case scenarios for good people on both sides. If you could start doing that if you haven't been doing that already, I'd greatly appreciate it. And if you are in a position to help or have been helping those suffering from this conflict, then may God and his angels bless you and the good you've done thus far.

---

Start of Arc 8

---

Chapter Fifty-One: The Naofumi Start

---

…

"... urgh…"

Naofumi groaned loudly before opening his eyes and rubbing the back of his head.

He was lying on something soft but it wasn't helping much since he felt very tired. It was like he'd run for miles upon miles. His head was pounding, and on top of that, there was somebody above him yelling his name.

"Sir Naofumi! Sir Naofumi!"

"Ugh… What?" Naofumi managed to grunt out as he pushed back whoever it was that was making his headache worse.

"F-Fueh!" The person fell back onto their butt.

Huh…?

The dizziness he'd been feeling began to abate. His eyes focused enough to recognize that the person standing back up in front of him was none other than Rishia.

"Y-You're finally awake." The green-haired girl sighed in relief.

"Oi… what's going on?" Naofumi rubbed his forehead. Everything felt so hazy. Why couldn't he remember what'd happened?

Maybe he should start from the beginning and try to retrace his steps?

Right, his name was Naofumi Iwatani and he was an otaku that'd been summoned to Melromarc as the Shield Hero…

Okay, maybe not from the beginning. It wasn't like he needed to share his whole life story since being summoned to Raphtalia's world or whatever to try and convince some schmuck who can't be bothered to read a long running series from the start to give him a try.

Awfully specific thoughts aside, what had happened to them?

"You've been unconscious for a while Sir Naofumi. I've been trying to wake you for the last few minutes. I'm glad it worked this time. I was starting to get scared." Rishia explained worriedly.

That probably explained his headache. Naofumi sat up and rubbed at his forehead again. Leave it to Itsuki's girlfriend to do the sensible things, even if he would have rather slept for a few more hours.

"Where are we?" Naofumi asked, trying to let his eyes adjust to the dim light of the room that they were in.

"I-I don't know, actually." The small girl whimpered. "I haven't seen Itsuki or anyone else here either. I have no idea what's going on."

Huh?

Looking around, Naofumi finally noticed a set of bars in front of them.

He immediately deduced that they were in a prison cell.

…

No.

No!

NO!

NOT THIS %&$# AGAIN!

"You're not locking me up in here you bastards!" Naofumi rushed straight to the cell door next to the bars.

"Fueeeee!" Rishia barely dove out of the way in time since Naofumi wasn't paying any attention to where he was going.

He was hyper-focused on rushing toward the door, fully intent on breaking it down and escaping this hellhole. He'd been locked up once before. And it was an experience he did not care to repeat. He raised his shield to help him charge through the door, and-

He fell straight through it onto the ground down on his face.

"Ugh…"

…

That hadn't gone as he'd expected.

Cell doors were supposed to be locked. The door had swung open with barely any resistance and had even bent out of its frame because of his reckless tackle. Naofumi groaned on the floor in pain.

Actually, that was a surprise. Normally, he wouldn't feel pain from something like this.

"S-Sir Naofumi, are you ok?" Rishia whimpered worriedly.

"It's… nothing my healing magic won't fix." Naofumi slowly sat up. The pain of his fall had finally made him start taking note of what was around them.

The room they'd been in looked like a simple cell. However, the hay bedding in it looked just a step above what he'd had in that dungeon. There were no chains or any sort of constraints in sight. Besides the room aesthetics… there was nothing that made it look like a prison cell.

Looking up and down the corridor he'd landed in, Naofumi found similar cells lining both sides of the hall. Most of them were completely empty.

The one opposite them, however, was not.

There was furniture, including couches, a table with stumps for chairs, and a bed. There was also a furnace in the corner with firewood stacked next to it and pots for cooking food. Several bags and boxes containing fruits and smoked meats lay next to the furnace. The room looked roomy and well lived in.

Naofumi put a hand to his head. This was all so mind-boggling. What the hell had happened for them to get there? Where was the person in charge of this prison? And why did he get the feeling that it wasn't really a prison?

He really needed to try and recall what'd happened to them.

Let's see… the last few weeks had seen him and his allies dealing with the Spirit Tortoise. A threat to their world that'd been far more powerful than any of the Waves they'd had to face as of yet.

A lot had happened during that time, some of which Naofumi wasn't very proud of. He'd lost his temper after a slaughter at their village and burned bridges with all of his close friends, even Raphtalia. And then, he almost died to the Spirit Tortoise several times. He even almost ruined the relationships his allies had been building with their companions.

But he and the other Heroes had managed to work through it. After repairing his bonds with everyone as best he could, and after enlisting the help of a woman named Ost, they managed to defeat not only the Spirit Tortoise, but they also managed to save their Hero comrades from the individual who'd woken the Guardian Beast up and taken control of it.

Kyo, or as Naofumi liked to call him, Male Bitch.

At the end of their fight, Male Bitch had escaped through a portal he'd made. Naofumi, however, hadn't been content with the thought of the bitch escaping with his life. Not after everything their friend Ost had sacrificed for them. So he and Itsuki had volunteered along with some of their friends to go into the portal after Kyo, leaving Ren and Motoyasu behind to protect Lurolona and recover from their injuries.

Damn. Naofumi couldn't remember what had happened after that. They'd stepped into the portal and… Had they managed to get to Glass's world?

As Naofumi tried to think deeply about it, he finally noticed the shield on his arm. It wasn't in its Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield form anymore and was instead in a form that he was unfamiliar with.

Beginner's Small Shield

"What the hell?" It actually looked like one of those basic shields you'd find at the start of a game. But why did he have this equipped? He pulled up his HUD.

Naofumi Iwatani

Job class: Otherworld Shield Hero: LV: 1

Equipment: Beginner's Small Shield (Legendary Weapon) Type 2

…

Naofumi breathed in deeply.

Alright. He'd been warned beforehand that individuals traveling to worlds they'd never been to before entered them at level 1. He should have seen this coming.

In a nutshell, it was like switching from one game to a new game, like moving from Ragnarok Online to starting Final Fantasy. He was still going to be level 85 or whatever his level had been in his world when he went back there. But since he was just starting out here, he had to start at level 1, just like everyone else that entered a new world for the first time.

There was no way to get around that. And that was probably for the best.

It'd been bad enough when they had to face Glass during a Wave when she had all the levels from her world. He couldn't imagine what'd happen if she kept her levels after the Wave closed. Or if she kept her levels from every world she visited. Or, even worse, if another individual like Fitoria existed in another world, capable of living for thousands of years, who then took all the power they'd accumulated to go into other worlds to…

You know. The day of Naofumi's summoning could have gone down very differently if not for this particular rule he'd only recently learned about. Would he have even been summoned? Who knows what would happen if you removed a limiting barrier like that?

"Fue?" What was with the strange look on Naofumi's face? And why wasn't he reacting to anything that Rishia was doing to try and grab his attention?!

"Well, if I'm level 1…" Naofumi braved a look at his armor's stats on his HUD screen.

Yep. It was completely bugged out. Like, as soon as he pulled up his HUD and looked down, his armor began glitching in his vision. Not even the name Siderite Armor was readable.

When he took it off, his stats didn't change at all. It was made completely ineffective in this world.

His consumables like health potions weren't bugged out though. He popped one out and took a sip, and it worked. After checking his status some more, his magic power was too low for him to cast any of his spells at the moment.

Almost all of his shields were also grayed out and unusable because of his level reset. The only other one he could equip at level one was the True Shield (Broken), and its stats were still worse than the starting shield he had equipped.

Figures, it was still as useless as the day he'd unlocked it. Surely, there was no way it'd change events going forward from here either, right?

"Fueh!" Rishia tried waving her arms around. Naofumi still didn't acknowledge her though.

There was something else he noted when looking at his HUD. The title for MP had been changed to magic power and other stats had seen similar subtle name changes. His defense stat, while not having a name change, was a lot lower than he would have thought despite being reset to level one and having a beginning shield equipped.

He still had the equip bonuses he'd unlocked from other shields as well as the boosts he'd gotten from using power-up methods like Itsuki's job method. But still, he would have thought his defense stat would be higher than this…

Or perhaps, he'd gotten so used to seeing the number so high that he was shocked to see it so low.

It wasn't like he remembered the exact number when he started out or anything. That was months ago. And keeping track of numbers became crazy difficult with everything they'd had to face recently…

"F-Fueh!" Naofumi was brought out of his thoughts by Rishia, who was flailing her arms wildly. "Will you please respond to me Sir Naofumi!"

"You were saying something?" Naofumi asked. Had he been that deep in thought?

"What happened to us?! Where did Itsuki and Maya and Aksel and the others go?!" Rishia asked desperately.

"..." Naofumi looked at the other cells again. He didn't see anybody else… no guards or anyone.

He felt something pricking at his memory, but couldn't recall it. "I don't know. I'll pull up my party HUD and… … …"

"F… Fueh?" Rishia looked concerned at the Shield Hero's long silence.

Naofumi's hand was hovering over his party members. Or rather… his lack of them.

There was no one in his party.

"S-Sir Naofumi?" Rishia hesitantly asked.

The Shield Hero breathed in deeply. Alright, he wasn't going to panic as he had a moment ago. He was going to keep his composure this time.

Perhaps, something had happened on their way from their world to here. And the others weren't close by. That was ok. He still had his backup way of tracking down Raphtalia, Filo, and Dou-Lon.

The two demi-humans had slave crests on them, and while it didn't work on Filo, she still had her old monster crest, even if it was just a fancy glorified tattoo at this point that couldn't be used to hurt her even if he tried. He just had to pull up the menus and select the tracking option, and then he'd know how far away from him they were. He'd know which direction they were in, and they could reunite with one another easily and everything would be just fine-

Out of Slave Spell Observation Range

Out of Monster Spell Observation Range

…

…

Slowly, Naofumi selected the options again.

Out of Slave Spell Observation Range

Out of Monster Spell Observation Range

But… how?

Checking their icons more closely, he realized they were grayed out.

…

"Maybe… they're outside…" Naofumi looked down the long hallway.

"I-I really hope so," Rishia added timidly.

Naofumi would have questioned what'd happened to the girl that kicked Kyo's butt after seeing her become so meek again. But right now, he was beyond worried about where Raphtalia and the others had gone.

The two walked down the hall past countless cells. All of them were empty. The bars of some of them were covered in rust. Almost all of them looked like they hadn't been used in years.

What was this place? It couldn't be a prison, there was nobody to guard and no one to guard with.

The two were silent as they approached the end of the hall. There was a glimmering door under a strange arch. The door shone with a colorful, rainbow-like light. All the colors swirled in strange patterns over its surface.

"Strange…" It oddly reminded him of something from an MMO he'd played before…

"W-What is this, Sir Naofumi?" Rishia timidly asked.

"I think this door is a portal to somewhere." Naofumi told Rishia.

"F-feh?" Rishia looked caught off guard by that statement.

If Naofumi had learned anything from video games, it was that strange objects like this normally portaled a player to a new location. Still, this wasn't actually a game. And he hadn't seen anything like this in Raphtalia's world thus far. So Naofumi didn't think he'd actually be right as he walked through the doorway and-

'Holy!'

Naofumi was stunned to find himself at the foot of a beach. Waves lapped at the white sand in front of him, the sun blazed down from a clear blue sky up above, and the water seemed to stretch out forever in front of him.

He had a strange feeling from it though. Almost like it didn't go on for forever, and-

"Fuehhhhhh!"

Rishia ruined the thought with her surprised yell. "H-How are we outside now?!"

"Like I said, this thing portaled us here," Naofumi muttered, looking back at the arch and the shimmering doorway resting on the sand behind them. "That'll take us back to that prison if we step through it again, I bet."

He tried it just to make sure, and yep, he stepped foot into the prison once again. He then stepped out and appeared on the sand next to Rishia.

Amazing. He hadn't known Glass's world had this kind of technology in it. He wished he could find a way to have this implemented in their village. It'd be so much easier to move around if that was the case.

"Fueeee!" Though Rishia really didn't look like she'd enjoy something like that right now.

"Is it really that surprising?" It reminded Naofumi of what he'd seen in games. Only it didn't have a pause or a loading screen in between uses.

Man, if only every video game could have that feature.

He looked away from the ocean and the portal to the nearby grasslands and forest. Distantly, he saw rustling grass as monsters moved around.

Out of Slave Spell Observation Range

Out of Monster Spell Observation Range

Despite their change in scenery, selecting the options gave the same thing as before. Somehow, Raphtalia, Dou-Lon, and Filo weren't in range of the slave or monster crest spells. Did that mean…

No, he wasn't going to think that. Their icons were greyed out, but they were still on his Slave and Monster menu HUDs. If they were dead, then…

"Rishia, you were reset to level 1 too, right?" Naofumi suddenly asked.

"Fueh!" The girl looked at Naofumi in surprise.

The Shield Hero groaned. Alright, seriously, what the hell happened to that girl that kicked Kyo's butt? "Okay, regardless of whatever the hell's going on, we should still stick together. Join my party for now and let's take a gander at the local monsters over there. We're not going to get anywhere if we don't increase our levels."

"I, I um…" Rishia looked down at her hands.

Itsuki wasn't there. None of her friends were there. She was in an unfamiliar world with the Shield Hero, whose companions were also missing. And she wasn't confident about working with a Hero besides Itsuki.

The girl gulped. She was beyond worried about what had happened to her Bow Hero. About what'd happened to all her other friends… But standing around crying wouldn't bring her any closer to finding them! They could possibly wait for someone to appear and help, but who knew how long that'd take!?

The girl slapped her cheeks as hard as she could. "Alright, I-I'll try to help as best I can."

Naofumi sent her a party invitation, which she accepted. Ok, at least she was willing to fight. He pulled up her stats on his HUD to get a sense of what he was working with and-

WHAT THE HELL!? HOW WERE HER STATS SO FREAKING LOW?! EVEN RAPHTALIA HAD BETTER STATS AT LEVEL ONE, AND SHE'D BEEN A MALNOURISHED SICK CHILD BACK THEN!

"F-Feh…"

Naofumi's shock must have shown on his face. He breathed in deeply and gave her the equivalent of a forced smile. "It's ok. We can work with this. I've had worse odds before."

The girl slowly nodded and followed behind Naofumi as they headed towards the grasslands and the monsters contained within.

---

Thankfully, they appeared to be in a starting area of some sort. The monsters were weak enough that Naofumi was able to easily hold them in his hands so Rishia could stab them with ease.

White Box, Lv. 1

There wasn't much to say with a name like that. It was about the size of his head, and the open end had eyes and a mouth with cardboard-shaped teeth. It was a simple matter for Naofumi to grab it before allowing Rishia to stab it with her rapier.

"Grr…" When the monster died, x's appeared over its eyes. Just like in those games he'd played…

It was, by far, the strangest monster encounter Naofumi had ever had since being summoned.

+15 Experience

But damn. That was way more experience than what the LV 1 Orange Balloon Monsters in his world had given. Absorbing it into his shield, it unlocked the Beginner's Small White Shield.

Its stats were very much the same as the Orange Balloon Shield. Even the equip bonus was the same. A +2 increase to his defense stat.

"Alright. That wasn't so bad. Let's head on to the next one." Naofumi continued forward.

"R-Right!" Rishia followed behind a bit more confidently.

They came across more cardboard box monsters. They ranged in color just like balloon monsters. The brown ones were a bit more powerful, and the green ones were the most powerful.

Still, they were easy enough to deal with, and each one gave ludicrous amounts of exp.

Granted, he was able to tell that these monsters were stronger than the balloons of his world. He didn't dare let one bite the green-haired girl accompanying him. Perhaps their strength was the reason why they were worth more exp?

Like, it was ridiculous. How were the monsters of Glass's world so rich in exp despite their lower levels?

He'd never really questioned why some monsters were worth more exp than others before. He'd just assumed it was a level thing. Perhaps there was a bit more to it than that?

As for Rishia, the girl killed the monsters they came across with her rapier with relative ease. This surprised Naofumi since their armor was useless. Were their weapons not useless?

After checking the weapon with his HUD, he found that a lot of its stats were glitched out, just like his armor. The rapier still had some attack though, just not as much as before. And the enchantments it'd had were glitched out too.

It was basically the equivalent of a large metal stick.

At least she could still fight with it.

"Still keeping up?" Naofumi asked.

"F- yes, I'm doing fine," Rishia replied. "I've just never read about monsters like this before."

"Of course you haven't." Naofumi rolled his eyes. What were the odds some library in their world would ever have books about monsters living in other worlds?

It was a bit weird for Naofumi to be fighting with only his normal clothes and a cloak instead of armor. It'd been a long time since he'd last done this.

He found himself having flashbacks of starting out in the previous world with Raphtalia. When he'd fought in nothing but chainmail and her with a small sword and an outfit that provided little to no defense whatsoever.

He remembered the stress of being on the run back then. But he couldn't help but feel nostalgic for those simpler times. When it was just the two of them, and… and…

Gods, he really hoped they found her soon. He activated the function again, but the same message repeated on his HUD.

Out of Slave Spell Observation Range

Just how far was the limit on this thing?! He hadn't even known there was a limit! Was that something Beloukas had failed to tell him about?!

He was going to throttle the little bastard when he got back!

"Is something wrong?" Rishia asked him.

Naofumi shook his head. "The monsters here are too weak. Let's check out the forest over there next." Naofumi urged Rishia. Perhaps if they went a little deeper in…

"O-Ok." The girl nodded, and they left the grasslands and cardboard box monsters behind for the tall trees and bushes.

They continued fighting for a while after that. The monsters here were higher leveled and more dangerous. But there was still nothing Naofumi's defense stat couldn't handle. And Rishia was still managing to kill them.

Though, since Rishia had gained over ten levels at this point, Naofumi noticed something very concerning.

"Rishia, why are your stats not much higher than when you were level one?" He asked.

"F-Feh…" She whimpered and didn't give an answer.

After they killed another monster and subsequently leveled up, Naofumi checked her stats again and his eyes almost boggled out of their sockets.

Her stat increase was like the equivalent of a margin in error. Some of them hadn't even gone up at all! And those that had likely did so because of simple rounding!

And her stats were still worse than Raphtalia's at level one! How the hell was this possible?! He'd never seen such horrid stat growth in his entire life! Not even from the hardest video games!

"D-Don't look at me like that! I'm strong in other ways, you know!" Rishia stuttered but managed to stand up for herself.

"How are you even managing to kill these monsters?" Naofumi asked in disbelief.

"I-I'm using life force to strengthen my attacks, of course!" Rishia responded heatedly. "You'd be able to do the same thing if you'd bothered learning about it from Granny, Sir Naofumi!"

"Your… life force, must be really something. You do realize that, right?" He asked. Seriously, just how much of a boost did her life force give? It had to have a limit, right?

"F… Fue…"

Naofumi sighed at her whimper. Well, whatever.

Outside of Observation Slave Spell Range

"I still can't find them. Let's keep going."

So they continued going deeper into the forest, with Naofumi protecting Rishia as she killed everything that came their way.

It'd been several hours by this point. Naofumi had unlocked several different shields, whether from absorbing monsters or from absorbing herbs he picked off the ground. They hadn't come across anyone else in that time. There'd been plenty of monsters and herbs though.

Was it weird that absorbing herbs in this world had given him the Tree Leaf Shield? He didn't think any of the herb leaves he'd picked up between fights had been from a tree.

And no, it definitely was like his normal Leaf Shield. Its equip bonus was the exact same. An increase in the quality of herbs he gathered.

There was another thing Naofumi noticed when they came across some small rabbit monsters that he hadn't noted before now.

In Raphtalia's world, the monster's names were written in katakana on his HUD. But here, "rabbit" was written over their heads in kanji text.

They were both Japanese writing languages, but they had distinguishable differences from each other that made Naofumi note yet another difference between Raphtalia and Glass's worlds.

It really did make it feel like he'd jumped into another game entirely.

"S-Sir Naofumi, I'm really thirsty," Rishia said.

At this point, he'd reached level 11, and Rishia was level 20. He'd regained access to a few shields thanks to his leveling up.

The green haired girl certainly gained levels quickly, but… would it even be useful when her stat growth was so bad?

The girl could have really benefited from Fitoria's power-up method. Hopefully, her stat growth would improve at later levels. Otherwise, they were in for a rough time.

"F-Fueeee!" Rishia whimpered loudly when the Shield Hero ignored her again.

"Sorry." Naofumi looked around. He was feeling pretty thirsty himself.

He was really starting to wish Raphtalia was around. She always knew how to keep him focused on whatever task they were dealing with. He'd lost track of the amount of times he'd gotten distracted so far. And-

He shook his head. Focus!

There, he could hear running water up ahead. Was that so hard to do? "This way." Naofumi gestured.

Rishia followed behind him, and the trees in front of them opened up into a small clearing with a river running through the center of it. Rishia sighed in relief as she walked up to the water's edge and cupped water in her hands before drinking it.

"Ahhhh…" She started to smile again.

Naofumi drank some water himself after his HUD alerted him that it was safe to drink. The water was cool and clean. Just what he needed to clear his head. Thank goodness there was clean water here. He continued to drink.

"We should prepare to head back," Rishia said after she drank her fill and looked up towards the evening sky. "It could be dangerous if we stayed outside after dark."

"Hmmm…" Naofumi selected the option on his HUD again.

Outside of Slave Spell Observation Range

A frown etched itself onto his face. "Let's keep going. Just a little deeper."

"Feh, S-Sir Naofumi. Would that really be a wise idea? We've gone pretty deep already. I don't want us to get lost." Rishia interjected. "And… I've expended a lot of life force today. I'm not sure how much longer I can go on for."

"You want to find Itsuki, right?" Naofumi's frown turned to a scowl. "We're not going to find our partners by going back to square one."

Rishia opened her mouth to interject, but then shut it as worry lines appeared on her face. For a moment, she actually considered it. But then, she shook her head again. "The last thing we want to do is get ourselves in even worse trouble, Sir Naofumi. Being reckless won't help us to find them."

Naofumi's scowl deepened. Did she care for Itsuki that little?! He and Raphtalia and the others could be out there somewhere, waiting for them to show up, and she wanted-

…

The Shield Hero sighed. He shouldn't get mad at her for being rational. He'd learned that much after the events of the Spirit Tortoise. "I'm sorry, you're right." Naofumi said. "Let's head back and figure out what to do after dinner."

Rishia weakly fuehed. At least they'd be heading back to the beach-

"Gwah!" Suddenly, from the water of the river, a monster burst out.

"Fueee!" Rishia immediately tried to scramble back in terror, only to slip on the sand and fall forward into the shallow end of the river.

The monster tried to strike at her, but Naofumi was in the water in an instant, blocking its attack with his shield. He gritted his teeth at the amount of power behind the strike. The monster looked like an aquatic demi-human, like a green-skinned person with gills, but with claws on its hands, a tortoise shell on its back, and a saucer filled with water balancing on its head. Most notably, there was no intelligence in its red eyes whatsoever.

Kappa, LV. ?

With a screech, it extended its clawed hand out to strike at Rishia again, however, Naofumi grabbed its arm this time and put it into a hold. "I've got it!"

Rishia, after she stood up in the water, thrust her rapier forward into the kappa's chest.

But it bounced off, not even scratching it. Her eyes briefly widened before flaring with determination. "Hah!" She thrust forward again, but this time, with a defense piercing attack.

"Gwah!" The kappa let out a cry of pain, but the strike didn't kill it. Actually, its HP bar hardly dropped in Naofumi's field of vision.

What the hell?! Had they already come across a monster that they couldn't beat!?

Things became worse as it writhed in Naofumi's grip. Then, a powerful stream of water burst from its mouth. Rishia jumped back as the surprise attack almost hit her and Naofumi forced the beast down into the water with a grimace.

This monster was definitely strong. He could hardly hold it in place.

"Air Strike Shield!" He summoned the skill directly over it. Trapping it under the water.

"Come on! Run!" Naofumi then grabbed Rishia's hand as they ran back onto shore.

However, after only a couple of seconds, the kappa broke the skill and got back up. Worse yet, two more kappas popped out of the water. One came out almost right next to Naofumi and Rishia.

"Hah!" Naofumi immediately moved to protect Rishia, blocking one of the clawed hands on his shield. The other went under his guard though, slicing along his chest. "Gah!" Naofumi reeled back as blood stained his shirt. Then, the kappa released a stream of water that sent Naofumi stumbling back.

"S-Sir Naofumi!" Rishia cried out in worry.

"Second Shield!" Naofumi summoned the skill between himself and the kappa whilst gritting his teeth. That hurt! He clutched an arm to his chest as he and Rishia escaped the rivershore.

But the kappas followed them.

"Dritte Shield!" Using the last of his SP, he summoned the third skill to try and halt them. But the two kappas leading upfront smashed the barrier in a combined hit.

No! This was bad!

The third kappa jumped out of the forest in front of them. How the hell had it already gotten ahead of them?! Were they actually more intelligent than he'd given them credit for?!

The group of two was already surrounded. Naofumi looked, but there wasn't anywhere for them to run off to.

"F-Feh! Wh-What do we do Sir Naofumi!?" Rishia asked fearfully.

Naofumi grit his teeth. He couldn't die here! He needed to find Filo, Dou-Lon, Raphtalia! He needed to make Kyo pay with his life! He needed to… to…

The memory of what'd happened on their way here finally came rushing into Naofumi's mind.

---

Naofumi and those with him found themselves traveling along a ferocious current bathed in light. Outside it, a dark void loomed, lit only by the light of Raphtalia's world behind them as well as the light of stars floating around in the void.

Wait, looking back at Raphtalia's world, it was starting to look like a star too-

'Those aren't stars!'

The balls of light in this void were other worlds. It was astounding just how many there were. Some were far apart, but others were close together.

"A-Amazing. There's so many of them." Itsuki said in awe.

"Incredible…" Rishia looked similarly stunned.

It didn't feel like it'd been that long, but a bright source of light appeared in front of them. The current they were on led to it.

"That's our world up ahead!" L'Arc pointed in front of everyone. "Hang on to each other! I have no idea where we'll come out, but a delay of even a few seconds could place us miles apart!" The Scythe Hero warned.

Naofumi nodded, gripping tightly to Raphtalia and Filo's hands. Raphtalia also kept a firm grip on Dou-Lon, who was staring at everything in wide-eyed wonder.

There was so much going on in this empty void that they couldn't hope to understand. Distantly, he could make out two large balls of light that collided with each other, sending ripples through space-time around them.

Was that the Waves occurring in those two worlds? The ripples spreading out from their impact almost looked like waves to Naofumi. Was that the reason why they'd gotten that nickname?

The light of the current around them started to grow brighter. It looked like they were about to enter Glass's world.

And then, an explosion of lightning happened, shaking the current they were on.

"Ack!" Naofumi raised a hand to his face at the sudden blindness. As his eyesight recovered, a silhouette appeared in the air in front of them all.

"Hmhmhmhm! Boy, you people really are idiots, aren't you? Blindly charging into a portal that you knew was made by me! Goodness, this is almost insulting!" Kyo's voice boomed out at them amidst the sudden turbulence. "Did you really think that I'd just let you follow me into my world? Allow me to quote your blonde manlet friend and inform you that you've just activated my trap card this time!"

"Aksel!" Itsuki cried out. "Hang on!"

"I-I'm trying!" The large tank responded.

More thunder and lightning boomed in the space around Naofumi, drowning out the voices of everyone.

"What's going on L'Arc!" Naofumi held his shield up protectively to protect himself and Raphtalia. However, a crashing sound filled his ears, and more pale lightning crackled in the darkness, throwing him around.

Damn it, what the hell was going on?! He couldn't protect against this at all!

"Kiddos!"

"Daddy!"

"Naofumi!"

At their screams, Naofumi finally realized something.

Raphtalia and Filo were no longer gripping his hands.

Looking to the sides, he was able to glimpse through the darkness. Their large group of people had been separated and were going down separate currents into the world below. Raphtalia was on one of those currents with Dou-Lon and L'Arc. Filo was going down another.

"Raphtalia! Filo!" Naofumi screamed as he reached out to them both.

"Daddy-" Filo dipped sharply down into the world and disappeared.

"No, Filo!" Naofumi screamed.

"Naofumi!" "Sir Naofumi!" Dou-Lon and Raphtalia reached out to him, but the distance between them was growing.

"No! Air Strike-" Naofumi tried to summon the skill, but a bolt of lightning blasted him. By the time he'd recovered and was able to look their way again, Raphtalia and Dou-Lon were already out of range of any of his skills.

"Hope this welcome was warm enough for you degenerates! Now go ahead and take one last look at your 'pwecious fwiends', before I send all of you mother%^$&ers to the shadow realm! You'll never see each other ever again, mark my words!" Kyo laughed diabolically as his afterimage disappeared.

"NAOFUMI!" The half-tanuki girl was still reaching out to the Shield Hero even as her group dipped into the world.

"RAPHTALIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Naofumi reached out to her.

'No, not again! Please, no!' He couldn't lose someone as precious as her. He had to save her!

But there was nothing he could do.

Naofumi fell into the world, screaming Raphtalia's name into the void between worlds.

---

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Oh.

Naofumi fell to his knees, in the middle of the group of kappa.

"F-Feh?" Rishia looked even more concerned. What was the Shield Hero doing? Did he figure out some way to save them?

But before she could say anything, Naofumi raised his head to the sky and let out a heart-rending scream.

"RAPHTALIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"FEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

No, he did not.

The Shield Hero was absorbed in his grief.

Almost as if they were laughing, the monsters charged in for the kill.

Rishia hastily turned in terror. Her rapier shaking in her hands as she faced the nearest kappa.

Their laughter sounded familiar. It was like… like when Kyo laughed.

As her life flashed before her eyes, the memories of their trip there finally came to her.'

Rishia's grip on the hilt of her nearly defunct weapon tightened. Whatever happened next, she had to get them out of this alive! She had to reunite with Itsuki and bring justice upon Kyo! She couldn't allow herself to die before that happened!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Screaming she prepared to meet the kappa's lunge with her own suicidal charge.

Ksch!

But, before she could get close enough to attack, the kappa's head was severed from its body.

The other two kappa stopped dead in their tracks and let out fearful shrieks while backing away and looking around the branches of the trees above. In the golden rays of the setting sun, a nearly invisible thread shimmered in the air where the first kappa had been. Rishia's eyes barely had time to widen before an unfamiliar high pitched voice shouted out an incantation.

"Blood Flower Strike!"

The other two kappas screeched in fear again and tried to dive into the water of the nearby river, but it was too late. There was a flash of light, and the two monsters collapsed into twin bloody piles on the river bank.

Just like that, the threat Naofumi and Rishia had been facing was dead.

…

Rishia breathed in and out heavily. She sagged on the ground in relief, and tears slowly leaked from her eyes. To think, they'd almost just… just…

"THERE YOU TWO ARE! WHY DID YOU RUN OFF LIKE THAT?!"

Rishia looked up frantically.

A girl around her height was standing on a branch in a nearby tree. Her hands were firmly placed on her hips, which spoke wonders about their rescuer's ability to maintain her balance. "Don't you know this place is suuuper dangerous? You're lucky I just came back from my hunting trip, otherwise, I wouldn't have found you two in time!"

"H… Huh?" Rishia managed to speak out weakly.

The girl jumped down from the tree. Appearance wise, she had the same color of skin as Naofumi. A healthy bright white tinged with pink here and there. She also had deep brown eyes set in a pretty round face. Despite her youthful look, she carried herself with an air of confidence and dignity that somehow made Rishia feel at ease. She was almost as tall as Rishia.

The girl's long hair was pulled into twin pigtails on either side of her head not unlike Princess Melty's, only it was tied in freestyle. She wore a very feminine gothic dress covered with a threadbare haori that contradicted her powerful and confident demeanor… and even accounting for the extra frills and folds of her dress, her chest was as flat as a board.

Rishia had the odd thought that Wyndia could finally rest easy if she ever met this girl.

The girl, and even with her stature Rishia could easily tell that this person was a girl, had a fishing rod attached to her waist. And besides her skin… there was something else about her that made Rishia compare her to Naofumi and Itsuki.

"Hey, is anyone there?" The girl waved her hand in front of Rishia's face.

"F-Fueh!" Rishia backpedaled in surprise. She'd been so stunned by the girl's appearance that she'd stopped paying any attention to her surroundings.

"I'm just verifying. You two are people, right?" The girl asked lightly.

"F… Fue…" Rishia whimpered. She… she honestly had no idea how to respond to that. "Y-Yes?"

"Oh boy! This is so cool! It's been forever since anyone else came down here! At least, it's felt that way. Kind of hard to keep track of time when the only things you have available for entertainment are fishing and hunting. Oh, and walking along the labyrinth maze on the ocean floor! The coral down there is awesome!" The girl continued in an upbeat tone. "Hey, did you know there isn't a single other person besides me in this labyrinth? Granted, the last few that were here tried to kill me, but ever since then, I haven't met anyone else no matter where I've explored! I'm guessing it's probably because monsters killed them, just like how you and your boyfriend were almost killed here!" The girl continued, smiling widely without a care in the world.

Rishia looked beyond lost. This strange girl was weirding her out in more ways than one at the moment.

"Oh, you weren't sent here to check if I was dead or not, right? I have to ask since, you know, it'd kind of be a bummer if that was the case." The girl asked awkwardly.

"N-N-No! We weren't!" Rishia managed to stutter out. They didn't even know who she was for that matter!

"That's great!" The girl proceeded to hug Rishia tightly. "We'll be the best of friends then! What's your name?"

"Fueeeeeeeeeee!" Rishia screamed in terror. Had this girl never heard of stranger danger?! "I-It's R-Rishia?!"

The girl then let her go and her smile turned into a frown. "Whoa, your boyfriend isn't looking so hot down there, Rishia!"

Turning, Rishia looked at the Shield Hero.

Naofumi was bleeding from several gashes on his chest, and bruises were forming on his body where streams of water had hit him. But more worrying than that, he'd curled up into a ball and was sobbing. He hadn't even acknowledged the new girl's arrival. Nor had he attempted to heal his wounds.

However, that'd been the second time this girl had said boyfriend. Rishia finally understood whom she was referring to. "S-Sir Naofumi's not my boyfriend." Rishia managed to murmur out.

"You sure? You two were holding hands earlier." The girl pointed out.

"He was pulling me out of danger!" Rishia yelled.

"Isn't that what couples do?" The girl asked quizzically.

"F-F-F-" Rishia looked on the verge of a meltdown, but surprisingly, she reeled herself in so she could speak somewhat coherently. "There's someone else who I'm in love with and it's not Sir Naofumi!" She said while stamping her foot down.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I just assumed that since you two fell from the sky together... Is the person you love a girl, by any chance?" The twin-tailed girl suddenly shifted the conversation in a weird direction.

Rishia's face reddened tenfold. "FUEH?! NO! ITSUKI IS TOTALLY A GUY! I'M SURE OF IT!" If the Bow Hero turned out to be a girl…

Rishia fuehed inside her mind at the thought.

The girl shrugged. "Sorry, sorry, I just know that some people swing that way. Just verifying." Her face still looked serious as she looked at Naofumi's injuries.

"Ra… Raphtalia…" Naofumi quietly sobbed to himself.

"I don't like the look of those wounds. We should get him back to the prison and treat him as soon as possible. No monsters spawn there, so it'll be safe for us." Then, despite her petite size, the girl easily picked Naofumi up off the ground and slung him over one of her shoulders.

She must have been really strong. "W-Who are you?" Rishia finally asked, since Naofumi wasn't capable of doing so at the moment.

"Oh, sorry I didn't introduce myself. The name's Kizuna." The girl looked over her other shoulder at Rishia with a beaming smile and a thumbs up. "I'm the Hunting Tools Hero!"

"F… Feh… Kizuna?" A memory of a debriefing the day before the Spirit Tortoise woke up again came to the girl's mind. "Isn't that…" However, the smaller girl was already walking off. And… Rishia was afraid of more powerful monsters showing up if she stayed put.

So with no other choice, she followed Kizuna back through the forest as the Otherworld Hero carried Naofumi back to the cell they'd woken up in that morning.

---

"Urgh…"

Raphtalia rubbed her head. What was going on?

One moment, she'd been traveling on a strange pathway with Naofumi, and then the next…

Her eyes widened in realization. "Naofumi!"

A loud sound rattled the bars behind her, almost making Raphtalia jump up in surprise. A man then yelled something at them, but Raphtalia couldn't understand it.

Looking behind her, Raphtalia was surprised to see two men dressed in armor standing in front of the bars of a cell. Their cell.

"H-Huh?" Raphtalia looked confused.

What was going on?

"Do you people seriously think that it's a good idea to hold two heroes from other countries here?" L'Arc asked in a commanding tone. He and everyone else was in the same cell Raphtalia was in. Only, unlike her, Glass, Therese, and L'Arc were tied up.

"Shut it, Scythe Hero! Our superiors are still discussing what to do with you." One of the men spat out at him. He then turned back around and faced away from the cell again.

Raphtalia hadn't understood any of what the guards had said though. What language were they speaking in? She had no idea whatsoever.

"At least let Glass out! This place is killing her!" L'Arc demanded.

"She shouldn't have threatened our men after you appeared here then." The other guard shrugged. "A spirit person would have known better than to make threats in our prison, even if she is a hero." He smirked as he pointed an accusatory finger at the Fan Hero.

Raphtalia was still confused. However, looking at Glass, she saw the spirit woman looked very ill. Her already pale skin looked almost see through.

"It… it is fine. I'll manage." She managed to utter to her friends.

"No, it's not." Therese told her gently. "Just move around as little as possible. I'm sure we'll think of a way out of this mess somehow."

"Um…" Raphtalia raised her hand, and the otherworlders focused on her. "Can someone tell me what's going on? I don't understand a single word they just said."

…

"Raphtalia… is that really you?" Therese asked in surprise.

"Huh?" The girl tilted her head to the side. Why did they look so surprised?... and why did they look taller than she remembered them being?

"Urgh…" Another groan sounded nearby. Looking to the side, Raphtalia found it'd come from Dou-Lon. Like her, he was also unbound.

"Dou-Lon?" Raphtalia asked. "What happened to us?"

"Give me a moment to collect my bearings, Miss Raphtalia. I feel worse than the morning after I got accepted into the royal guard." The hakuko man sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then, when he looked in her direction, his golden irises widened, and he nearly stopped breathing.

"What?" Raphtalia asked.

"Y-Y-You, Y-Y-You're a, a, a-a-a-a-" The hakuko began to stutter.

"What is it! Spit it out already." Raphtalia demanded, clearly annoyed with the situation.

"You're a child?!" Dou-Lon finally exclaimed.

…

…

Huh?

Looking down, Raphtalia saw her hands, just barely poking out of the sleeves of her shirt. And her armor was sagging on her, and…

She felt a hand to her chest. No, her armor wasn't sagging. It was hanging off her. There was nothing to hold it up any longer!

What… what the…

"M-Miss Raphtalia?" Dou-Lon asked worriedly.

…

Raphtalia wanted to scream. She'd woken up in another world. Naofumi and Filo were missing. She was a child. They were locked up in a cell. She had no idea what was going on and couldn't understand what their captors were saying. And worst of all:

Naofumi and Filo were missing.

She had no idea where her family was.

"It… it really is you." Glass weakly said. "How strange."

The half-Tanuki girl forced herself to take a deep breath, and let it out.

What would Naofumi do in her situation?... He'd keep a level head. He'd work to figure out what had happened. And then, he'd plan his next move and carry it out.

Alright. She could do this. She just had to work through things one step at a time. First off, what had happened to them?

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Are we really going to just ignore the fact that you suddenly turned into a ten-year-old on us?" L'Arc blanched.

"I don't understand why that happened either." Raphtalia said. "So I'd rather know what happened to us first. Why are we in a cell?"

…

The redhead's face turned serious. "On our way over, Kyo forcibly separated us into smaller groups, dropping us in different places around the world. I saw Naofumi go one way, and Itsuki went another."

"And Filo?" Raphtalia asked worriedly.

"I think she was sent off somewhere on her own." L'Arc shook his head. "As for us, it seems Kyo dropped us in the middle of another country's prison… damn it. I should have seen this coming."

"We weren't even aware that portals between worlds could be created with gravity magic." Therese comforted him. "We couldn't have guessed he'd also lay a trap for us."

"But I didn't even think to suggest waiting for a Wave to travel over, or…" The redhead sighed. "You're right. Contemplating this won't do us any good. And who knows how long it would have taken for a Wave between our worlds to happen where we'd be able to reach before it closed?" In all honesty, they were lucky back then that the Cal Mira wave had been connected to their world. Who knew how long it would have taken for a Wave between their worlds to happen in an area Naofumi and the others were registered to.

He looked up at Raphtalia and Dou-Lon again. "Long story short, we're in a prison."

"To be specific. Kyo dropped us in a regression prison." Therese supplied.

"Regression… prison?" Dou-Lon asked.

"There are few places like it in our world." Therese explained. "In your world, you reset the levels of your prisoners at Dragon Hourglasses to make them harmless. In our world, naturally occurring magic can be found in some places that makes it so the individual levels of people hardly matter. Even a level 100+ Hero would be made as if they're level 1 inside these areas. Countries build their largest prisons to handle most of their criminals in places like this."

"Not to mention, there's the extra magic they have mages continually casting over the area to further decrease the abilities of any prisoners kept inside." L'Arc grimaced. "It doesn't matter how powerful you are or what abilities you have. You walk into a place like this, and you're completely and utterly boned.

"It's bad enough that we're caught in this mess. But Glassy here is a spirit person. Spirit people don't have levels and instead rely on energy for stats and magic and everything else. So while these spells make us unable to fight back, they're continually dropping her energy to near lethal levels. If she remains here for a long period of time, this place will kill her."

Raphtalia looked worriedly at the spirit woman. Glass tried to struggle against her constraints, but then her head drooped in exhaustion. "Please, save your strength." Therese again urged.

"I… I must get my hands on him…" Glass groaned. "I must kill Kyo if it's the last thing I do."

"You keep on struggling and the last thing you'll do is die pathetically." L'Arc said sternly before sighing and continuing in a more gentle tone. "Please, just stay put. I promise we'll figure something out."

…

Glass looked down at the floor in embarrassment and nodded stoically.

Raphtalia looked worried. As far as she was aware, a place like this didn't exist in her world. "Are the guards also affected by the magic here?" She decided to press on. If they were all level one, then maybe-

"No." L'Arc huffed. "The guards here are all wearing ward ofudas. While we're affected by the place's regression magic, they're not. Otherwise, we would have been able to fight them off instead of being captured like this." He muttered.

"Ha, you actually think you could have fought back?" One of the guards leered.

"Give me one of those ofuda and we'll find out." L'Arc growled back.

The two guards outside laughed, and went back to patrolling the area in front of their cell out of boredom.

"What… did they just say?" Dou-Lon asked.

"Oh, yeah. You two aren't Heroes, are you? Therese, want to give them the auto translation feature from my weapon with your magic?" L'Arc looked at the gem girl.

She tried, and fortunately, she was still able to do that even with her magic restrained, likely because it wasn't offensive in nature. Raphtalia and Dou-Lon would now understand what the guards said and vice versa. L'Arc then told Dou-Lon what had been said to them earlier, and the tiger man's fists clenched at his sides.

"How… how can they do this to you?" Dou-Lon was shaking in anger. "Aren't you supposed to be Heroes in this world?"

"Ha, I wish it was that simple my tiger friend." L'Arc chuckled, but there wasn't any amusement behind it. "To be honest, our world has a lot of nastiness in it. This isn't even the worst of it, believe it or not."

"They say their superiors are discussing what to do with us. My guess is that they're discussing how they'll kill off the Scythe Hero and the Fan Hero without letting our countries learn about it." Therese sighed sadly.

"B… Blasphemous! Why would they do that?" Dou-Lon nearly shouted.

"Simple. So they can give someone loyal to their country a chance at being chosen by our weapons." L'Arc shook his head. "It's the sad truth. Unlike your world where weapons are religiously worshipped, our world treats them as political tools. The more you have, the stronger you are. Plain and simple."

"Even though the Waves of Catastrophe are going on?" Raphtalia asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Even when we were still kind of fresh off our victory against the Demon Dragon, this kind of stuff was already happening. Though it's gotten worse in recent months." L'Arc's hand clenched into a fist. "Things would be so much easier if we'd all cooperate with each other again instead of fighting over petty land squabbles all the time.

"That's the thing I'm most envious about regarding your world, actually. I saw so many of your countries band together to face the first Guardian Beast. If we could just have that kind of unity here…" The Scythe Hero sighed. "Well, maybe one day it'll happen. Though I doubt I'll live to see it at this rate, since the Cardinal Heroes are too busy sitting on their &^ to help out."

Therese's hand rubbed L'Arc's thigh in an effort to comfort him. It wasn't often, but his downcast expression right now didn't suit him.

"Um… you mentioned ofudas? What are those?" Dou-Lon wasn't sure if that was the right time to ask.

"It's one of the magic systems that exist in our world." Therese began to reply. "It's a versatile system of magic involving complex calligraphy techniques and paper seals."

…

Raphtalia and Dou-Lon stared at her. Not having understood any of what Therese had just said. "It's what those guards are wearing on their belts."

Raphtalia looked at the two men patrolling in front of their cell. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary at first. Then, her eyes caught a piece of rectangular paper attached to a string connected to the guard's belts. A symbol was drawn on it. And it seemed to be emanating magic power over the guards as they walked.

…

"Ok…" Raphtalia sat in her spot. Thinking over the things that L'Arc and Therese had said. Dou-Lon looked conflicted, but guessed now wouldn't be a good time to press further on the subject of ofudas.

He never was one that'd been good in the field of magic anyway.

"Anyway, on a different note." L'Arc looked up at her. "Are you sure you don't know why you're a child right now?"

Raphtalia opened her mouth to speak. But Dou-Lon beat her to it. "Actually, I might have an idea. Miss Raphtalia, could you check your status for me?"

Raphtalia did so.

Raphtalia LV 1

Job Class: Otherworld Half-Tanuki Half-Raccoon Swordswoman

Strange. The status magic here was different from what she was used to. She definitely wasn't used to seeing Job Class on her HUD. "What did you need me to do this for?"

"Are you level 1?" Dou-Lon asked.

"Yes, I am," Raphtalia answered quickly.

"Alright, I have one more question, and I need you to be honest," Dou-Lon asked seriously. "How long ago were you born?"

…

"Around 10 years ago," Raphtalia answered, confused at the hakuko's question.

…

Looking at her, a look of understanding crossed his features. "I can't believe this. I should have inquired about your age before we left for a place that'd restart us at level one."

"What are you talking about now, man?" L'Arc asked in confusion. "What does her level have to do with anything?" He pressed on, however, it looked like Therese was starting to get an idea already judging by the gem girl's expression.

"I'm sorry Miss Raphtalia, with the way you acted before, I'd assumed you were the same age as Sir Naofumi." Dou-Lon sighed.

"Well, I… it feels like it's been forever since I was a child." Raphtalia admitted, shifting uncomfortably in her spot.

"Come on man, don't stall! What does Raphtalia being level one have to do with her being a child?" L'Arc asked, sounding annoyed.

"You know us demi-humans are capable of maturing with levels, correct?" Dou-Lon replied.

"Yes, I learned about that," Therese suddenly nodded in affirmation.

"Wha- and you never told me?!" L'Arc asked, sounding surprised.

"I mean, it was just an interesting bit of trivia unrelated to our…" Therese suddenly grimaced. "... task. And I'm pretty sure you were more interested in the demi-waitresses looks than gathering info about them." She then told him in a deadpan tone. "Actually, I bet if I'd told you back then, you would have leveled up some demi-girls just so you could flirt with them."

"Um… hehe, come on Therese, I'd never do that." L'Arc chuckled awkwardly.

"Anyway, go on," Therese told Dou-Lon.

"Some demi-human races reach higher ages of maturity than others. Normal races like Dogs and Raccoons can reach age sixteen. Elite races such as myself and the Shuzaku can reach around eighteen to twenty. Other races exist in between that can achieve varying degrees in aging via leveling. If you're descended from places like Q'Ten Lo, you'll age higher than normal even if you're a Dog, a Raccoon, or another lesser demi-human race."

"You seem quite knowledgeable on this subject. But I still fail to see what any of this has to do with what's happened to the little miss here?" L'Arc asked. "Also, if she deaged, shouldn't the same thing have happened to you?"

"The thing is, the rate at which demi-humans mature in our world varies due to various factors. But there is one constant for all of them, and that constant is the major difference between me and Miss Raphtalia." Dou-Lon continued.

"When a demi-human matures via leveling, they stop aging for a time depending on how much the leveling process aged them up. Miss Raphtalia was born 10 years ago, but aged up to around 19 years. Understandable since she's part Tanuki. Though her Raccoon ancestry could also play a factor if those descendants came from Q'Ten Lo."

Dou-Lon looked at Raphtalia, but she shook her head. "I'm pretty sure my parents came from Siltvelt. At least, I think that's what they told me when I asked where we were from."

"Okay, regardless, under normal circumstances, Miss Raphtalia shouldn't have aged for another 9 years. After that, she would start aging normally again and not even a level reset would bring her back down to her chronological age."

"However, because she dropped to level 1, she has been deaged back to her chronological age, that right now being 10," The hakuko pointed at Raphtalia for emphasis. "Whereas me, I am 23 years old. I am well past the point of being deaged by losing my levels."

"Interesting. So it's not that a demi-human's lifespan becomes shorter when they're aged up. More like their body is frozen in time." Therese looked intrigued.

"That is one way to put it, yes." Dou-Lon agreed. "If anything, this gives us an advantage over humans since we're able to stay in our prime far longer than they are… which is yet another reason why some of them hate us so much."

"How do you know about all this though? Or is that just common knowledge for demi-humans?" Therese then asked.

"I'm the grandnephew of the former King of Siltvelt. I was given an education on some of these matters, even though I was born after Tai-Lon..." Dou-Lon trailed off. "Anyway, I learned that in the old days, there were nobles that, after leveling their child to adulthood, they had a change of heart about stealing their child's childhood away from them. So they had their child's level reset at a dragon hourglass so they'd deage and have their childhood back.

"However, the issue with that is while the physical body of a demi-human deages, the mental and emotional maturity they attained does not. Could you imagine that? As an adult, being thrust back into the body of a child?" Dou-Lon frowned while looking at the otherworlders.

"I don't know. That sounds like L'Arc to me." Glass dryly commented.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" The redhead complained.

"Joking aside, for that reason, and because of the problems and suffering it caused for those who went through it, the practice of resetting a child's level after they matured was outlawed. Nowadays, it can only be done as punishment to underage criminals. During my years in the Siltvelt Royal Guard, I only saw that punishment used by the Council once. And it required every member to agree on it."

That… was actually really serious. Raphtalia felt herself growing worried again.

"Do not fear, Miss Raphtalia. All we'll have to do is increase your levels quickly again, and you should grow back to being a normal adult within a few weeks or so." Dou-Lon reassured her to allay the fear he saw on her face.

"Yeah, like we'll be able to do that from here." L'Arc rolled his eyes.

"No, Dou-Lon. It's… it's not me that I'm worried about." Raphtalia admitted.

…

"Huh?" Dou-Lon and the others looked very confused upon hearing that.

"I… I'm not the only young demi-human that came to this world." Raphtalia said.

…

…

It took a moment, but then it clicked.

"Maya… oh no." Dou-Lon pinched the bridge of his nose.

---

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Aksel, what happened to me?!"

"Get away! This has to be a nightmare!" The large knight screamed in terror. He was backing away from Maya, whose outfit was sagging on her small body.

"Aksel, please, I don't understand what's going on!" Maya looked on the verge of crying. "Please, stop running away from me!"

Aksel, however, didn't allow her to get close. He was breathing in and out frantically, and he was on the edge of going insane.

He… he had to be dreaming, right? There was no way. They'd only had sex almost a week ago.

There was no way. His girlfriend, was a freaking child again!

"Aksel!"

He wasn't a lolicon! The knight refused to be dubbed under that stupid joke ever again! "Stay back! Get away from me!"

"Wahhhhhhhhh!" The young raccoon girl began crying.

What was going on? Nothing made sense anymore.

Aksel was crying too because the girl he loved was crying. But he couldn't hug her to try and comfort her! Because she might try to kiss him! And then, he'd have to force her away from him again and hurt her feelings and-

Why the hell did this have to get so complicated again?! Wahhhhhhhhhhh!

As for Itsuki…

He looked like he had absolutely no clue about anything anymore.

All he knew was that they were surrounded by bookshelves. And that outside the door to the room they were in, there were some extremely powerful book monsters he stood no chance of killing at level one, even with his increased stats from the various equip bonuses he'd unlocked and the power-up methods he'd used.

"And as for you! For making a fool out of me and ruining my ambitions with your bull%^&* cheat bow skills I'll ensure that you'll die before anyone else in your pathetic group! Drown in fear and despair, loser! It'll be the last thing you'll ever experience! Aha! Ahahahahaha!"

Those had been Kyo's last words to Itsuki before they'd appeared here. And without Rishia or Naofumi or anyone else there, Itsuki felt very much afraid.

Was this what it'd been like for Naofumi after being summoned? Itsuki never thought he'd get to experience the same treatment.

What a way to start out in the world.

---

Author's Notes:

Yep. I think I'll end this chapter here. Honestly, the above scene could have been used as an omake. But I at least wanted to note what was going on with Itsuki and his group. Which, outside of the comedy, is an overall terrible situation. Actually, all three groups are in terrible situations, and that's not including Filo.

And this is how the arc starts. With not only a fresh start at level one, but cruddy situations all around. Now everyone gets the Naofumi treatment courtesy of Kyo.

Hope you all enjoy the two omakes.

---

Hero Clips!

---

Skyrim: It Just Works

---

"Oh, good, you're finally awake."

"W-What the hell?" Naofumi slowly blinked. Why were his hands bound, and were they in the back of a wagon?

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that horse thief over there." A gruff man sat opposite Naofumi, and he pointed to a very familiar girl sitting next to the Shield Hero.

"FUEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rishia screamed in protest. "I am not a thief! I just wanted to feed it a carrot!"

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." The man replied to her loud whimpering.

"Shut up back there!" An imperial guard yelled back at them.

Naofumi blinked. "Okay, what the hell is going on?" Naofumi asked.

"Watch your tongue! You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!" The man yelled at Naofumi. Granted, there was a bound man sitting next to him dressed in fancier clothing than them. But Naofumi hadn't mentioned him or anything!

"I don't give a damn about your High King! Where the hell are we! Where's Raphtalia?! And why the hell are you-" But before Naofumi could finish speaking, the wagon ran over a rabbit.

Before anyone could even let out a breath, the wagon suddenly shot out into the sky and began to violently spin and flail around like a stuffed toy tumbling around in a drier. "Oh Gods! Why is this happening to us?!" Naofumi screamed as his bound hands gripped the bench beneath him in terror.

"FUEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHERE ARE WE GOING?!" Rishia continued to scream as she gripped the bucking wagon for dear life as the scenery around them spun out of control and the sky and ground began to merge together in a blur.

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." The blonde man in blue spoke, undeterred by the physic-defying motions going on around him.

This was just a normal Monday for the NPC.

---

"Uh… I don't think that this is our world, Glassy." L'Arc said as they were running through the midst of a large, dwarven city cut into the mountains.

"Halt, you are under arrest for crimes against Skyrim!" A Markarth guard yelled as he chased them.

"You really had to go and steal something, didn't you Therese?" The Spirit woman frowned.

"I didn't steal anything!" Therese protested frantically with tears in the corners of her eyes. "One of the apples from the stand fell off and I just wanted to put it back, but everyone started to freak out when I picked it up for some reason!"

Glass paused to stab her fans into the guard, but he seemed unperturbed by the deadly weapons sticking into his chest as a health bar indicated in the top center of the spirit woman's HUD dropped by a fraction of a millimeter. "You lot shall rot in Cidna Mines!" The guard said angrily. More guards began to run out of buildings and up the street towards them.

Was it odd that they just appeared out of thin air from a door slightly opening a bit? It seemed odd to Raphtalia and Dou-Lon at least.

"Quick, let's get out of here! I don't want to learn what these Cidna Mines are!" Dou-Lon yelled.

The group ran for the large gates of the city.

"You'll make a fine rug, cat!" A guard shouted at Dou-Lon.

"Skyrim belongs to the nords!" Another shouted at Glass.

"You are a disgrace to your own kind!" A third shouted at L'Arc.

A barrage of arrows rained down on Raphtalia just as they reached the gates, and the others in the group froze in horror at the sight.

However, the arrows passed right through the half-tanuki harmlessly since she was a child at the moment and as such, immortal and invincible by the laws of this world. And the guards that tried stabbing her weren't able to hit her either because of that.

It was definitely a strange phenomenon for sure. But at least she didn't have to worry about dying here.

---

"A-A-Aksel, w-why is i-i-it s-so c-c-c-cold?" Maya shivered.

"I-I d-d-don't k-k-know." The large man shivered in return. The two were huddling together in an ice cave. Outside, frost astronachs patrolled an icy tundra. Preventing them from being able to escape at level one.

Itsuki rubbed his hands together. He wasn't cold like the other two. Actually, even though he was dressed only in peasant garments, he found it rather pleasant.

What was up with that? Could he walk out there naked and not get frostbite at all? Did that mean Aksel and Maya were faking being cold so they'd have an excuse to cuddle with each other right now?

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "FUEHHHHHHHHHHHH!" To make things even weirder, a horse-drawn wagon blazed sideways across the sky up above like a rocket. Was that Naofumi and Rishia he'd heard?

"Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this!" Ralof's voice was somehow loud enough for Itsuki to hear even from down below.

Weird. Was that the introduction script? Had they landed in Skyrim? How the hell had those two gotten from Helgen to Winterhold so quickly?

Overall… it definitely looked like the group had landed in a strange world.

But maybe this was Itsuki's chance to finally use the bucket glitch to fly over the college of winterhold! Or go to that one stone and forge an aetherium crown so he could spawn an army of the dead whenever he wanted without the one day cooldown! Gasp, maybe he could accomplish his dream and complete the College of Winterhold questline and become the archmage without ever casting a single spell!

The bucket glitch would surely come in handy for that!

"Wow! I gotta say, Todd was right!' Kyo chuckled as he observed the unfolding insanity through a crystal ball from the top of the throat of the world that he climbed up on using a gravity defying horse.

"It really does just work!"

---

Hero Clips!

---

Jumping Between Worlds

---

"Huh, this teacher's uniform actually suits me pretty well." Allen pointed out.

The Bow and Shield Heroes were seated at desks in front of the author, along with L'Arc, Glass, and Therese. Naofumi still looked a little nauseous after the events of the previous omake. "Though Glass looked pretty hot in it too. Maybe I should have found a way for her to teach this class again. Also, have I ever said that Skyrim is one of my favorite games? It was about time I made an omake for it."

"Oh, no, the meta here is killing me again." Itsuki groaned. "Ever heard of putting exposition into the main story?"

"I mean, half of the chapter was exposition already." Naofumi remarked dryly. "What's ten more pages?"

"Hey, this is important! And besides, I've actually been inserted into the main story outside of these omakes for quite a while now, thank you very much." Allen said in an offended tone. "And you can't deny that teacher Glass looks crazy hot."

"Not as hot as teacher Therese." L'Arc winked.

Itsuki blinked his eyes. Allen had inserted himself into the main story?! WHEN!? HOW?!

FOR HOW LONG!?

Glass narrowed her eyes. "Be careful what you say next. You should know-"

"That you're into girls and not guys. Yes, yes, I know. We all know that by now. I'm just giving you advice. Dress as a teacher in front of that girl you like and maybe, just maybe, you might get her to focus on something besides that fishing rod she carries around everywhere." Allen drawled.

Glass began heavily blushing at that and didn't comment.

"So, is there a reason why you're here specifically?" Naofumi asked in a bored tone.

"Of course." Allen smirked. "This is something I'd need to teach instead of you guys since your story selves aren't entirely aware of how it works. Some of this isn't even knowledge you get till LNs 20-22 due to plot reasons I'm not at liberty to explain."

"Not even we know all about it?" Therese asked curiously.

"Yes." Allen nodded. "So is it alright if I do this?"

…

"Alright." Therese nodded. "Let's give the author here our full attention."

"Thank you." Allen looked directly at the fourth wall. "You guys know me. I don't sugarcoat it when it comes to canon rules. I am a bitch in that regard, and I will proudly own up to it. This set of rules though is very important. Breaking said rules will have your stories make no freaking sense whatsoever to people like me."

"I know this is fanfiction. I know we're all here to improve on the original story based on our subjective tastes or to have fun. You should know that I stick to the rules the best I can simply so that I can write this far with everything still making sense. It's just like engineering a building. Depending on the severity of the mistake you make, you can weaken the building's foundation, or even worse, bring the whole skyscraper crumbling down. It's the same for writing a story. Especially one that's this long. 1.2 million words now, right? There's no way I could have written this much or this far without staying compliant to how the setting works. At least, not without increasing my masochism for writing to even more ridiculous extremes."

"If there's anything I have to say. The rules in regards to jumping worlds specifically are rules you must absolutely never break no matter what… Ever." Allen stated seriously. "You wouldn't even have a story to write if it wasn't for them making it all possible in the first place."

With his tone, the heroes were all on the edge of their seats.

…

…

Allen remained quiet though.

…

The tension was slowly building up.

…

…

"What is he going to say?" Itsuki whispered.

What was so important that he was making them all wait for it?!

"Errrr…" Allen shifted uncomfortably in his teacher's uniform. "On second thought, I don't think it needs any explanation." Allen said out loud.

"What- what are you talking about?! We came here to learn from you!" Naofumi said angrily.

"Hehe, sorry." Allen chuckled nervously. "I'd just rather go back to hiding behind my character's anonymity. Besides, I already put a lot of the rules down in this chapter! I'm sure the readers are smart enough by this point to get it. There's no need for me to say it a second time here, right?"

"Are you sure they're actually that smart?!" Naofumi screamed angrily.

Allen shrugged. "If they're not, it's not like they'd care about the rules anyway."

The others glared at him.

"Fine, whatever, I'll give a summary of the rant I had prepared instead for those that care." Allen rolled his eyes. "I just didn't think it'd be funny to give a six page rant. Guess this will have to suffice though."

"Overall rules for world jumping introduced this chapter: 1. You always start in a new world at level 1, no matter who or what you are in the Shield Hero multiverse. Do what you want if it's a crossover with Marvel or Overlord or whatever. Just know if it's purely from a Shield Hero perspective and you look at it only from the world build that Aneko has put together, which oddly reminds me of Brandon Sanderson's worldbuild for his "Way of Kings" series with how extensive and well-constructed it is, no one in or out of the universe is exempt from this rule in the setting. Not one individual or monster. Even the 'gods' aren't exempt. Good thing too, as they'd be capable of Thanos snapping any world they came across if they were allowed to retain all the power they'd accumulated on their home world over the course of many millenniums. Breaking this rule alone would make me and others question why the hell the 'gods' didn't obliterate Raphtalia's world a thousand years ago."

"2. You don't lose your levels in whatever world(s) you've been to when you travel to other worlds. Just like when you come back to a game you've played before, you become that level again when you go back to a world you've been in before. So know this isn't a level reset situation for the parties involved. When Naofumi and co back to their world, they'll come back as the same level they were at before they left it. Not any higher, and not any lower. The same. The levels they'll gain in Glass's world will have absolutely no bearing on their levels in Raphtalia's world, or any other world for that matter."

"3. Unless you're wearing equipment made from materials in the world that you're visiting, your equipment (besides the Legendary/Vassal Weapon) will be glitched out and made useless. And no, there are no mods between worlds that exist to fix this like there are between games in real life. Your only choice is to adapt and use equipment in that world, or use equipment that has something common to the world you're visiting, like Rishia's rapier. Otherwise, like Naofumi's armor, it will be made completely ineffective and give you no stat benefits whatsoever. It will just be decoration, and that's it."

"4. Consumables like health potions work across all worlds. At least, that's how it's worked in the canon story thus far. This is something that world jumpers don't have to worry about. And there's actually hidden benefits to this that'll be revealed later on."

"Last but not least, my favorite of them all, 5. Don't be stupid looking for loopholes with the rules. I think it's pretty clear at this point that the rules of the setting are rich and hardcoded for the multiverse of worlds that they govern over for very good reasons. The best fanfiction ideas, in my opinion, are ones that either change up the storyline, or ones that realistically show what'd happen if you changed how a setting rule worked.

"Please, do not waste my time or the time of others with loopholes Naofumi has already tried to explore over the course of twenty-two light novels. Or that these 'gods' I've mentioned have tried for literally thousands of years to find. It gets tiring seeing those same ideas again and again from the fandom outside the confines of reddit. I'm not here to please wish fulfillment or power fantasy enthusiasts. I'm here to write a canon compliant story. Please respect that."

"... You had 5 in your original rant?" L'Arc asked, seeing that Allen had finally finished.

"Duh. Why wouldn't I?" Allen asked. "I've had to deal with this problem plenty of times before."

"Glad to know your Spring Break didn't pull that stick out of your &^% in the slightest," Naofumi said in a bored tone.

"What can I say? I'm a well known canon bitch. And nothing ticks me off more than people recommending for me to ignore setting rules so they can live out their wish fulfillment and power fantasy escapades in my writing." Allen bowed.

Because indeed, internet anonymity and a bad temper were the banes of Allen's existence online. And they probably would be for the rest of his life.

Yet ultimately, Allen wasn't in charge of the fandom. And if people wanted to break stuff, he wasn't going to be a gatekeeper and stop them. He'd just advise that doing so would make writing things past the start of the story very hard on the author. It's almost always easier to write something when you know how and why everything works the way it does. And it can be extremely difficult to understand how changing a few things can have ramifications on the rest of the plot (which, for some reason, people think the plot remains the same despite changing stuff).

Though, if Allen was being honest, he'd be genuinely surprised and enjoy it if authors threw away the setting and its rules and stopped with the power fantasy and wish fulfillment ideas entirely to settle on a simple High School or College romance plot or something similar for some of his favorite pairings. There was so much potential in that vein for the fandom that it wasn't even funny.

That thought definitely made Allen nostalgic for the Teen Titans fandom. Seriously, why couldn't authors from the Shield Hero fandom have more ideas than fifth heroes or self-inserts like the authors in the Teen Titans fandom? Allen would love it if an actual alternate universe story like that became more popular than the crap he dished out week after week.

"Oh well. Enjoy the Otherworld Arc. Ladies and gentlemen. I know I'm going to enjoy it when my favorite character is introduced." Allen rubbed his hands together evilly.

That character would truly take over everything after she was introduced. The Author would ensure it.

Buwahahahahahaha...

---

Till Next Time

Allen