Disclaimer

The following is a fan-based Fiction.

Rising of the Shield Hero belongs to Aneko Yusagi

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Knowledge

Misato stands inside the old stone supply room. Now staring at the room carefully, staring at the long line of materials and resources. "There's enough iron and steel to equip a platoon with weapons and armor…"

The Gun Hero walks over to a wooden box that's half his height and opens the lid. Finding some metal bars stacked neatly, Misato grabs a piece and pulls, only to find some resistance from the bar.

"Huh?" He says, using a little more strength. Eventually, the bar is freed from the stack, and a pop-up message appears in Misato's eyes.

Magnet

No wonder why it was hard to pull this out, it's a magnet. Misato absorbs the magnet. The gun transforms, turning into a roundish gray gun, the shape reminds him of a cartoon alien gun.

Magnet Series Unlocked

Magnet Gun

Pull or push small metal objects toward the gun.

"Now that I think about it, it actually looks like the Magnet Gun that Ford and Dipper from Gravity Falls used, awesome." Misato thinks to himself as he grabs a few bars.

The Gun hero glances at another box, he opens it finding some familiar crystals, he picks one up and a pop-up appears.

Magic Gemstone

If he remembers correctly, this is the stuff used to make Filo's and Fitoria's clothing not be ripped apart when they transform. Forrest probably didn't want him to deal with a Royal Filolial running around butt-naked… Should probably grab a few for Ace, Filo, and maybe more Royal Filolials. Motoyasu might raise a few just to have angels by his side…

Misato sighs remembering how questionable the Spear Hero acted with Filo, especially when his mind broke down to crazy comedy relief. He shakes his head and walks out of the supply room.

He walks up the stairs, finding Ace nearby with similar colored filolial chicks, maybe his siblings? The little bird tweets and turns around seeing Misato, Ace smiles and- Oh god, Ace adorably waddles towards the Gun Hero with a smile. Misato smiles back from the cuteness in front of him.

"Hey Ace, how's it going little guy." Misato coos petting Ace.

"Pii pii~"

"Good to hear, you know where Fitoria is?" The Gun Hero asks, holding Ace up with one hand.

Ace closes his eyes and turns his body towards the building with the secret weapon locked inside.

"Thanks, Ace, want to come along?" Misato asks.

The filolial chick nods and Misato smiles and places the bird on his head.

He walks through the trees and finds Fitoria holding a large bottle, big as her head with blue light glowing inside.

"Hey Fitoria, what's that?" Misato asks, the light inside of the bottle seems familiar.

"These are some of the souls that the Spirit Tortoise has gathered for me." Fitoria answers, staring back at Misato.

Misato's eyes widen, no wonder why the blue stuff is familiar, it's soul sand from the Ost. "Why do you have it?"

"Follow me." She says, walking towards the secret weapon building.

The Filolial Queen walks up to the glowing mark and places the bottle next to it. "Forrest said that the weapon requires a great amount of power to be complete." Fitoria says as she places her hand against the wall, it opens up a small hole, and Fitoria opens the lid. "So he approached the Spirit Guardians and asked them each to give a small portion of the souls they collect."

Misato stares at the hole, is that why the next Gun Hero was summoned so many years later? Because the weapon needed to get enough power, but each portion is so small that Forrest would not live to see it complete?

Misato frowns, how powerful is the Ruler of the Waves that the weapon requires centuries' worth of souls?

"Misato" Fitoria says getting his attention.

"Yes?"

"My scouts have returned and told me that the four cardinal heroes' appearances match the description and drawings you provided." Fitoria says with a slight furrow in her brows.

"Oh, well that's good, which means my knowledge of this world is correct."

Fitoria bites the bottom of her lip "Yes… It is correct, maybe too correct."

"Is there something wrong Fitoria?" Misato asks, noticing Fitoria's discomfort with the news.

"I am a bit troubled by the accuracy of your knowledge." Fitoria admits.

"You didn't seem bothered by my knowledge before."

"Yes, because most heroes that are summoned have some knowledge of this world, but you seem to know a lot more than that." Fitoria says, her red eyes staring into Misato's amber eyes.

She elaborates "It was surprising that you knew of my status as the Ruler of Filolials, but you didn't know about my status as the Carriage hero, nor did you know anything about your predecessor, and you didn't know of Zeltoble's first wave."

"Which is why I didn't question you at first, but when you mentioned the Shield Hero's framing, the cruelty of Rabier, the weasel girl's appearance and name, the kindness of Reichnott towards Demi-Humans, and finally, the accurate appearance of the other cardinal heroes. They all match what you have predicted so far." Fitoria says, leaning her head down. She looks back up at Misato.

"Y-you mentioned that you know of a story similar to this world and you said that you know of the future, p-please tell me how accurate it is?" Fitoria says with a slight tremble on her lips.

They stare at each other, Misato was conflicted and afraid, while Fitoria was confused about his knowledge. Misato was afraid of bringing this topic up, hoping that Fitoria wouldn't question it but… she did so much for him and she's willing to go with him to Melromarc, risking her identity to the Shadow… She deserves to know.

The Asian American takes a breath, taking a seat on the stone stairs, Fitoria does the same taking a seat next to him. He rubs her head, hoping to calm her down a bit before telling her world-shattering information.

"As you are aware, every summoned hero does not come from the same exact world, they come from different worlds right?"

The Carriage Hero nods

"This means there are infinite possibilities, infinite hero candidates each with different information about this world. So what I am about to tell you… I want you to keep an open mind."

Fitoria nods eyebrow slightly raised. Staring directly into the Asian-Americans eyes.

Misato takes a deep breath and exhales. "Back in my world, there was a story called The Rising of the Shield Hero…"

The Gun Hero describes the story that he watched back at home, recalling Naofumi's journey, Fitoria's eyes slightly widened when he told of how her counterpart met the Shield Hero along with small details of how she behaves. He even describes how the other heroes acted throughout Seasons 1 and 2, and how they each fell to the curse series, all because of the selfishness of one red-headed girl who cares for no one but herself.

Fitoria faces the ground, processing information. She slowly looks back up. Her expression was stoic but it looked stiffer than usual. "You… Come from a world where there is a story about the Shield Hero, and I am a character in it…"

Misato nervously nods

"A-are you s-saying, that my life is f-fake?"

"NO! No!" Misato quickly says, shaking his head. "It's like what I said when we first met, you are not fictional."

"But the story matches recent events and your description of the other Fitoria… She acted like I would if I was in her position."

The Gun hero pokes the Filolial Queen's forehead as hard as he could "You are a living and breathing girl with feelings that are not created from words on paper. I mean sure, the Fitoria in the paper and drawings are created by the author, but here, You. Are. Real. And do you know why?"

Fitoria shakes her head.

"In the story, their wa- IS no Gun Hero, the Fitoria in the story didn't say anything about the weapon you are guarding, which means, Forrest and I, are living proof that this world is not bound by the fate of a writer."

Misato smiles "We also made changes too, remember? We stopped Idol Rabier and saved Rifana, the girl who dies in the story. Rabier is dead so he can't release that stupid dragon."

Fitoria's eyes widened at the statement. He was right, they already made changes within this world which means the following events will be nothing like the story that Misato told.

"So even if some events match the story, it can be changed and since my knowledge has been correct, that means…"

"We know of the future events that will come" Fitoria finishes, smiling at the Gun Hero. The Carriage Hero turns to face the building that Misato was summoned into.

"Perhaps this is why the Gun has chosen you..."

Fitoria asks about Misato's plan for the heroes to become united, but he tells her to wait as his plan relies a lot on the world being accurate to the anime. There is no certainty that the future he knows will be true, especially when it comes to the antagonists, for all he knows, these people could actually be competent and not stupid. Warning the Shadow earlier was just a precaution, he would rather be a fool than be right.

Thankfully Fitoria didn't seem bothered by that fact, maybe even relieved?

So they head back to Reichnott's village, hoping to help Rifana and Keel recover and become his party members. They will discuss the plan later when they confirm more of the accuracy of his knowledge.

Misato walks up to the clinic door, knocking on it. He leans his ear near it, hearing some children chatting, he hears a faint voice saying "Open".

Misato complies, opening the door, he sees the healer smiling but then it twitches when he looks at Misato's head.

"Hello sir, how may I help you?" The healer says, his smile seeming a bit strained now seeing the lack of traits on the human's head.

"My name is Misato, I am here to check if the children are okay?"

The healer scrutinizes the Gun Hero, probably suspicious of him because he is a human.

"Well-

"Hey look, it's him! The human who saved us!" A child says pointing at him.

All the children stop and stare at the lone human in the clinic. Misato sweat drops, crossing his arms out of habit.

"U-uh… Hi there" Misato says nervously, not used to the attention. He stares at the children covered in bandages.

"Is it t-true? Cough"

The lone human turns his attention towards the raspy voice, seeing Rifana in bed with Keel nearby staring at her.

"What is true?" Misato asks softly, slowly walking up to the girl and kneeling in front of her bed.

Rifana takes a cup of water and continues "That Idol cough Rabier won't hurt us ever again?" She asks, staring up at Misato with hope.

Misato smiles, reassuring the sick child. "Yes, he's gone for good" He answers.

Rifana pauses, staring at the Gun Hero with wide eyes.

Misato frowns "Was that the wrong answ-

Rifana moves, interrupting Misato's thoughts.

"Thank you…" Rifana says, hugging Misato. "Thank you, thank you, for saving me…"

Misato slowly rubs Rifana's head.

The girl looks back up at Misato with watery eyes "Before you came… I thought I was going to die cold and alone, until you and that girl with wings came, saved me and everyone else…" She says with a smile.

Another child hugs Misato from behind, followed by another clinging to the Gun Hero's arm.

"Thank you, Mister Misato." A child says

"Thank you!"

One by one, all the children hug the Gun Hero out of appreciation for their rescuer.

Even the healer who was suspicious of the human smiles at the sight.

"Cough cough"

The warm atmosphere was interrupted by Rifana's coughs.

"Rifana drinks some water!" Keel says lifting a cup towards the sick girl.

Rifana grabs the cup and drinks. The Healer walks over with a cup with green liquid inside.

"Here," The Healer says, handing the girl the cup, "Drink it all up and go to sleep, you need to rest."

Rifana looks at the green liquid with a disgusted look and sighs "Okay…" She gulps the medicine and washes it down with water. "Bleegh…" She groans.

Misato turns towards the healer "Is there any way I can help these children?"

The healer, no longer caring about Misato being a human, looks out of the window thoughtfully. "Well, I do need a few more health potions and some medicine for coughs. They all have to be at least good or higher quality, and if possible, please do provide holy water with the same level of quality, some of these wounds will leave a scar. With good holy water, the scars will fade."

Misato nods "Anything else?"

"No that is all." The healer says.

Misato smiles "Okay, I will be back soon everyone, so rest and take care." He says waving his hand.

"Bye Mister Misato" The children say waving back.

After some grinding, clearing out some monsters near Fitoria's territory, and unlocking new gun forms the Gun Hero's party went back to the Sanctuary to create some potions.

As for why they went back to the Sanctuary? Earlier, Misato went to the adventurer's guild in Reichnott's territory, they mentioned that most herbs here are grown in the village, which the healer is already using, and the wild ones ran out a long time ago. So Misato would have to get herbs farther out of the territory.

The Asian American figured it would be a waste of time trying to find some herbs in the wilds as he could use the ones in the Sanctuary. All were maintained thanks to Fitoria's diligence.

Misato started to make some potions with Fitoria and Ace watching him. He made one by hand using the tools left behind by Forrest.

Health Potion

Quality: Okay

"Kweh" Ace shakes his head.

"Ace is right, this is worse than the ones you made before we went Zeltoble" Fitoria nods

Misato ignores them and uses the gun to craft the potion straight from the herbs.

Health Potion

Quality: Good

"What are you trying to do?" Fitoria asks

"Trying to see how to make these potions better" Misato answers

Despite the level-ups with the Potion Gun, the potion is still about the same, is there a way to make it better? Does he get better at doing it by hand or… Wait what if he did this?

Misato carefully breaks down the herbs by hand and then pours the broken-down herbs and liquid into the gun. He crafts the herb into a potion.

Health Potion

Quality: Great

"Pii PII!" Ace cheers from the top of the Gun Hero's head.

So doing the first part by hand and then using the weapon to finish makes the quality better. With this method combined with the Herb Gun enhancing the potion effects and quality, eventually, his potions will be excellent.

The Asian-American begins the task of crafting the potions, while Ace and Fitoria watch him.

Misato glances, seeing Fitoria staring at him. "So while I am making potions, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," Fitoria asks, tilting her head. While Ace mimics the motion.

Misato places some finished potions in his inventory and returns his gaze to Fitoria. "If you are comfortable with answering, what did Forrest mean to you?"

Fitoria pauses, her lips slowly forming a nostalgic smile "He was like a second father to me. In fact, your parents reminded me of him"

"Really?" The Gun Hero asks, somewhat picturing a smaller Fitoria on his predecessor's shoulders.

Fitoria nods "He spent most of his days and nights working on the weapon or helping Mamoru-sama, and on the days that he was free, he would be with me, trying to keep me happy."

"Which reminds me… Forrest would teach me things that often made Mamoru-sama exasperated…" She says with a grin and a faint blush.

"Like what?"

"Well, he taught me to say this to Mamoru-sama." Fitoria clears her throat "Hello, master! It's a good fucking day isn't it?" She says with a straight face.

"PFF-HAHA!" Misato laughs, Fitoria, who was probably like Filo at the time, said that?! He can already picture Fitoria saying that with an innocent expression of a child!

"Mamoru-sama scolded Forrest for teaching me that."

"I can already imagine it." Misato chuckles, picturing the brunette yelling while the previous Gun Hero ignores him.

"I guess Forrest wasn't exactly known for his manners?"

"No…he wasn't." Fitoria smiles but it falters "But… When Mamoru died along with my friends, Forrest was all who remained, he did his best to take care of me with the time he had left. But as he grew, he became more focused on completing the weapon."

A memory appears inside Fitoria's mind with her younger self waving at Forrest, the man smiles and waves back and enters the building, shutting the door behind him. Another memory appears with Forrest, with wrinkly lines on his face, ignoring Fitoria waving her hands as he enters the building to work all day again.

"It was… unpleasant, seeing Forrest like that… There were some days when I tried to cheer him up, but he always gave me an empty smile and rubbed my head before going back to building the weapon. I sensed an incredible amount of guilt in his heart…"

"T-then when he-" Fitoria stops taking a breath. "I miss them… I miss them so much." She says.

The Gun hero rubs her head, and he frowns "What would my parents do?" He asks himself. Scrambling his mind to grab any memory to help the Carriage Hero. A metaphorical bulb lights up above his head.

"Hey Fitoria, once I'm done with this box of potions, let's go outside and have a run towards Reichnott's Village with the rest of the herd and no teleporting."

Fitoria slowly smiles "Ok."

Misato smiles "I'll be done in about ten minutes"

Going straight from outside of Fitoria's territory and to Reichnott's seemed to cheer Fitoria up, sometimes she would run with the herd but then they would slow down just to enjoy the environment they are in and rest. Along the way, Misato occasionally takes out a few monsters.

Misato sees the village in his line of sight, and he takes a breath.

"Hey Fitoria, you feeling better?" He asks

The Filolial Queen turns her head, facing Misato with a smile. "Yes, thank you."

The Asian-American smiles "Well, if you need any help or emotional support, just send me a message with our letter weapon forms. And uh, if you need help on other things than just emotions then I can do that too."

"Okay, Misato" Fitoria smiles, feeling warmth in her chest.

The herd disperses, Fitoria and Misato arrive at Reichnott's main village and are greeted with some tension and glares from the civilians.

Ignoring the glares, Misato knocks on the door. It opens with the healer on the other side.

"You're back, and you brought the potions." The healer says with a smile, staring at the two boxes filled with medicine.

"Yep, and I also got holy water for those scars" Misato nods while holding up a bottle.

The man gasps, grabbing the bottle. "This is good! How did you get the holy water at this quality? Buying from that damn church is expensive even on poor quality" He asks.

"A good man left some holy water behind for me to use, so I figured I could hand some to you." The Gun Hero answers, which is true, thanks to Forrest for the water.

"With this, these children will heal so well, it would seem like nothing happened." The healer states with confidence.

"That's good, can I come in?" Misato asks

The healer nods, stepping aside. The Asian American enters the clinic seeing the children, some standing out of their beds, and what seems to be a couple talking to their child that he rescued.

The child points at Misato and the couple turns around with a surprised looks on their face. The man stands up.

"Are you Misato?" The man asks.

"Uh, ya I'm Misato." He answers, tense, worried about a fight.

But instead, the man hugs him. "Thank you for saving our son."

The wife stands up bowing. "When we lost him when he and his friends played hide and seek tag, we thought we would never see our child again, thank you."

The husband releases Misato, staring directly at him. "I don't care if you are a human, you are nothing like those bastards out there!" He says

"I can't believe Amelia said those horrible words to you, next time she causes you trouble, I'll have a word with her." The wife says glaring towards the window.

"Thank you." Misato nods with a smile.

"Can we meet your friend?" The man asks

"Who?"

"Your friend, the girl about our son's age with wings? Some of the children here mentioned seeing a girl when you rescued them."

Misato's eyes widened. Nearly turning around towards Fitoria but stops himself quickly returning his eyes towards the husband "Oh, uh sorry she's busy somewhere else right now."

The man nodded, "I see, maybe next time, we would like to thank her too."

"Okay."

A few days have gone by.

Misato would occasionally visit the clinic with more medicine, playing games with the former slaves.

Keel took a bit of time to warm up to the disguised hero, thankfully it was quick compared to Canon Naofumi as she saw how Misato interacted with the other children kindly, even if the Gun hero was a bit awkward due to having no experience.

"Hey Misato, can you teach me to become stronger?" Keel asks hesitantly.

The Gun Hero's eyes widened "Sure, not that I'm complaining but why me?"

Keel leans her head down. "When the slavers captured us… I tried fighting back, I managed to hit a guy with a knife, but it did nothing, it didn't cut his skin… He laughed and called me weak before knocking me out."

"I heard that you took down that Rabier, who was really strong that he killed a prisoner with one blow! So could I become as strong as you?" She asks looking back up.

Misato smiles sadly, recalling a recent memory of his old home. "You cannot be as strong as me…"

Keel frowns ears down.

"Because it sounds like you are already stronger."

Keel looks back up with her mouth slightly agape "Huh?"

Misato's smile falters "Back at my home… My family, friends, and I were attacked by bandits… I didn't fight back, I just sat there frozen in fear, and now they are gone…"

The children gasp, some hugging the Gun Hero.

"So… I can help you on the levels and stats but strength lies within your heart and your will power to persevere against that fear and fight to protect those you care about." The Asian-American says, tapping a finger against Keel's chest.

Keel smiles, her eyes shining, feeling inspired. "Okay! I'll become the manliest girl ever!"

Misato stifles a chuckle, remembering how shocked everyone was when they realized that Keel is a girl. Including the girl herself.

The lone human raises his finger "Until the healer says you're good to go."

"Aw…" She deflates almost sounding like a puppy. Must resist the temptation to pet...

"Wait!" A familiar and more clearer voice cries out.

Misato and Keel turn, seeing Rifana still on her bed waving her hand.

"I might have not fought back when those slavers came but I want to become stronger too so that I can find Raphtalia."

Misato smiles "Then both of you rest and become healthy, once you are healthy we will train and level you up to adults."

"YA!" Rifana and Keel cheer.

"I shouldn't be surprised…" Misato sweat drops.

"Seeing Ace grow like this has been rather nostalgic…" Fitoria comments. "Perhaps Misato's reaction to Ace's growth was like Mammoru-sama when I grew?"

"Kweeh!" Ace chirps with a much deeper voice.

Misato sighs, seeing Filo's growth in the anime does not prepare him for how bizarre it was to see Ace grow from a chick into an adult in real life all in two days, and he's not done growing yet…

His main body was crimson, but his wings and tail were colored black. The Gun Hero thought he had black feathers because Ace was young, but it might be a genetic thing, one of Ace's parents have red feathers, while the other had black, which made Ace have both.

"We should check to see if Keel and Rifana are ready to fight with us this time. The healer said that Keel should be healthy." Misato says, changing his weapon to the musket.

"Actually, Misato I cannot come with you." Fitoria says.

"Why?"

"The secret weapon's boundary field must be re-adjusted to hide the new power it will gain from all four guardians."

"To prevent the ruler from sensing it?"

Fitoria nods

"You didn't do it when you got the souls from the tortoise."

"That was because the process to create a new boundary field to hide that much power is an exhausting process which is why I waited until I received the souls from all the guardians, I have just been told that my Courier has returned with the fourth bottle of souls."

"How long does it take?"

"Three days"

Misato's eyes widened. "Woah, um… Should I be there to guard it?"

Fitoria smiles, appreciating the Gun Hero's concern "Do not worry, my warriors are more than capable of protecting the Sanctuary and I will still be able to fight if someone were to invade."

"You and Ace must train with Keel and Rifana, the second wave will appear in about five days, with your enhancements and strengthening methods, they should be young adults by then."

Misato nods "Alright then." He says raising his arms up to hug Fitoria. He stops blinded by a blue light. Feeling two small arms around his waist, he looks down seeing Fitoria hugging him in her human form. He rubs her head and pats her back.

"Take care"

"You too Misato…" Fitoria says before teleporting in her carriage.

The Gun Hero glances at his HUD.

Fitoria has left the party.

Misato Morgan: Gun Hero Level 40

Ace: Adult Filolial Level 23

He glances at Ace who's staring at him, expecting something "You want me to hop on?" He asks

"GWEH!" Ace nods and nudges against the Gun Hero

"Okay!" Misato chuckles and hops onto Ace.

"To the villa-AHHHH!" The masculine Gun Hero screams holding onto Ace for dear life as the bird goes nearly Mach one. Actually, Ace doesn't but it sure felt like it for Misato.

I am finally back, to sort of make up for being slow about making chapters, I gave you a big one, sorry that it's a filler, the main goal of this chapter was to find a way to have Keel and Rifana become Misato's party members without it being awkward while skipping some of the boring parts. The early version was bad…

Although along the way of making this chapter I did some fixes and retcons for previous chapters to build on each other. Man, I am such a newbie at writing stories without it being dumb like why Misato started with 1 method of strength and not 3 or 4? It's explained in chapter 6. I also made Keel a girl because after some thinking I realized the ratio of boys and girls in the party will be unbalanced so I figured I might as well keep Keel's gender canon.

I am surprised by the number of followers and favorites I got despite not updating in a long time. Anyway, Fitoria now truly understands the extent of Misato's knowledge.

The reason why she seemed a chill at the beginning, like Fitoria mentioned, its because Heroes most of the time have some knowledge of the world but have no guarantee that their knowledge was completely accurate. For example, the Three Heroes had the knowledge but they were terribly wrong on how things would go for them.

So did Naofumi when he read the book, but he wasn't aware that 'Myne Sophia' was the princess who he thought was a bitch before it was too late. Huh, maybe the book was trying to warn him?

Plus considering the infinite possibility of each hero having different but similar knowledge it's not that much of a stretch to have a anime version of their story.

Also I want to clarify Misato's strengthening method,

Think of it as sort of like Last of Us where he can use materials to craft different parts for his guns giving him stat boosts or even new skills. Or create new guns, however the complexity of the weapon depends on Misato's current level overall, he can't make an assault rifle… Yet.

As for why it depends on his current level? Misato's knowledge of guns is bad, obviously he knows how guns work but how to make one without the help of the Legendary weapon? That is something else entirely, its more about Misato unlocking more blueprints that are sealed inside the gun and he gets more by leveling up.

As for why the gun needs Misato level up despite having previous Gun Heroes that most likely had advanced weapons many times before? The same reason why the Legendary Weapons seem to reset and forget all the strengthening methods they got from the last wielder and not tell the new hero about them for some odd reason. I guess it took too much power to get a new hero costing its previous methods? The damn thing is so confusing, is it based on perception of the wielder that much? If so, then that is so counterproductive when it comes to fighting the waves.

However, if Misato absorbs certain material for his weapon, he could unlock something more advanced than his current level to craft.

There is a reason why he can't have hybrid weapons yet like gun swords and he will learn why soon enough. And why Fitoria has a carriage with cannons which counts as a hybrid. Don't worry he will have a more semi-auto weapon soon enough.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!

Edit: I sent the wrong version of my notes earlier. Misato being level 62 was a mistake.