Chapter 2

The next day, all 4 woke up tired, as they had been planning what to do in this world, while Egon had been making provisional proton packs with the material he had, enough to damage creatures, and some communicators for now. When they were in front of the King, he introduced them to those who could be their companions, being 16 adventurers including archers, mages, priests, rogues, warriors. Everyone chose their heroes to follow, everyone except Egon, who, seeing that there was no one in his team, his companions began to tell the King that it wasn't possible for him to be alone, since they had rule number 1 of NOT GOING ALONE ON A MISSION, and that if there was no companion for Egon, they would go with him. Before continuing the conversation, a hand was raised, being a person with red hair who was with Peter. She cheerfully said, "I would gladly be with the shield hero, I have no problem with that." Upon saying this, the situation calmed down, although they asked for more people, to which the King informed them that during their journey, they might have more companions. This made them calm down, but there was still something that made them stay on the defensive.

Everyone left the castle, but they had been instructed to leave their equipment in their castle rooms while they were in the city. This was ordered by the king, who didn't want those strange artifacts exposed while they were in the kingdom. The team, although angry, complied with the order and left their equipment in their rooms, where some maids informed them that they would protect their objects with their lives. This seemed strange to them, but they thought it was a way of speaking in that world, although they didn't know that before them were the shadows, the queen's "secret service," and they knew that what they had brought from their world in wrong hands would cause chaos. More relaxed, they only asked their names since they were pleased to see such kind people. "I am Utena, the maid in charge of this side of the castle, my heroes. Beside me are the twins Naomi and Clara, and Agata, and we will be delighted to protect your objects, my heroes," after which they bowed and went to do their errands. Seeing how they left, they were left watching how such beautiful people could be working as maids; in their world, they would be models. Ray was the one who kept staring, as he remembered the one who was a provisional ghostbuster but went to Chicago, and the last thing he knew was that she got married. His companions brought him back to reality, and they started their way out of the castle.

Author's note: the maids' names are based on something, if you know what it is, I hope it made you smile. The ghostbuster I'm referring to is the one who appeared in a comic that is for me a continuation of the movies, maybe it would be part of the ghostbusters multiverse; and I'm not sure whether to make the one who looks like her be something for Ray or just leave it as a cameo, I'll leave that up to you

End of note*

Upon leaving the room, everyone went to see the Kingdom of Melromarc. Ray, with his enthusiasm for the unknown, showed particular interest in the magic that governed this world. Due to his curious nature, he couldn't help but wonder about how the laws that governed this kingdom worked. He decided that the first thing he should do was investigate, and he headed to the church, convinced that he would find answers there. After entering, he was greeted by a monk who looked at him with a kind smile, having endless questions from the bow hero who responded upon seeing someone interested in their ancient teachings. He explained how the clock works, and using his bow, as he informed him that apart from attack as a means to carry objects, and as the monk explained the history of how that clock gave the time of the "waves of destruction," Ray realized that, although magic here seemed more like artifacts and rituals than science, not everything was so far from his field. He set out to investigate further to understand how the energy that the clock generated could be related to the dimensional fluctuations he had been studying.

Meanwhile, Peter had found a much more "earthly" corner to explore: a blacksmith's workshop. The man's shop was full of metal tools and fragments of what appeared to be ancient weapons. With his typical relaxed attitude and ability to connect with people, Peter approached the blacksmith and began to chat about all sorts of topics, from the quality of swords to the customs of the kingdom.

"You know what's most interesting about your job?" said Peter while watching the blacksmith hammer a sword. "It's like being a scientist, but with more fire and fewer equations." The blacksmith laughed at the comment. "A scientist? What's that? I don't know if I am one, but there's nothing like forging a sword that saves lives. What do you do, stranger?" Peter, with a mocking smile, began to talk about who he is, where they come from, and some of their stories. The blacksmith, captivated by his stories, showed willingness to provide materials that could be useful for their equipment at a modest discount. Despite the initial joke, friendship began to emerge between them, and Peter felt more comfortable in that environment, knowing he had an ally within the kingdom. He asked his companions to leave them alone, and once they were alone, Peter began to express his doubts about the royalty and the environment they were in. He distrusted the situation, knowing that if something went wrong, their equipment could be confiscated or manipulated by the nobles of the kingdom, as he thought to himself that 4 maids wouldn't be a big problem for the castle soldiers.

"Look," he said to his new friend the blacksmith, "I'm not completely sure that all of this is as safe as they make it out to be. So I was thinking... How would you feel about keeping all our equipment in your workshop? I don't trust the castle rooms much, and I don't want us to be missing something if things get ugly." The blacksmith nodded without hesitation, understanding the need to take precautions. "Of course, I understand. Here they'll be more protected than in that place, and don't worry, I'll help you with whatever you need." Thus, Peter, trusting his new friend, went to the castle telling his team that he had to go get something he forgot in his room. They accepted that and each went to their residence as it was getting late. He finds one of the 4 maids and explained what he was going to do. She goes for her companions and they moved everything stealthily to the blacksmith's workshop, while in his thoughts Peter felt somewhat guilty about making them do all the hard work, not knowing that for them, they were happy to help the heroes who for the first time in generations got along well and gave them hope. Peter returned to the blacksmith to learn more about the place. After a conversation with the blacksmith and learning about the clock, the waves, the demi-humans, slavery, the church that belittles the shield hero and more, the maids finished storing everything and when asked if he needed anything, Peter from the bottom of his heart apologized for making them do that, and they, with a smile, replied that it wasn't necessary, that's what they're there for and they will gladly serve the heroes to save the world. That moved him and he invited all 4 of them to dinner in gratitude, but they couldn't today as they were on duty for 1 week, and they would gladly do that later, and as a final request, he asked them to tell his friends that they moved their objects to a safe place, that tonight at dinner he would tell them everything. They gave him a bow and left, as for them, serving heroes who were different from other generations gave them something they hadn't felt since they were part of the shadows, and that was hope.

On the other hand, Winston showed himself to be much more observant than the rest, maintaining a cautious and analytical attitude. During his tour of the kingdom, he began to notice something strange: some of the inhabitants didn't seem human. There were creatures with animal features, and many of them worked as servants or in conditions that didn't seem to be those of voluntary employees. Winston couldn't help but suspect that many of these "demi-humans" might be slaves, although he wasn't completely sure. The situation didn't go unnoticed by him, but he decided to wait to be with his friends before jumping to conclusions, only that he had begun to see patterns that indicated these beings might be under much darker control than it seemed. He remained prudent, without making immediate comments, and stayed alert, and although he didn't say it out loud, he was determined to investigate more about the origin of these demi-humans and their treatment. He also went to the church and ran into Ray who was still talking with the monk sharing ideas from each of their worlds, that brightened his day as his friend always made him smile, to later go see the blacksmith and buy armor for him and his companions. They were looking at various places and when he wanted to go to other sites, his companions told him those places would be for another occasion, that for now he should focus on knowing where to buy objects, and he intuited that they did it to avoid seeing the dark side of the kingdom, making it a somewhat bittersweet journey for him.

Meanwhile, Egon requested something unusual from the King: access to the personal library. Although the King disagreed, he found it amusing that a foreigner could read their books, so he gave authorization for the library. While doing this, Princess Malty tried to get him to leave there, but seeing that she couldn't do anything, she decided to better plan her scheme for another day, as seeing that he was a person focused on knowledge, her main plan wouldn't work. While in Egon's mind, he was able to translate the books after 8 hours, since some were familiar to him from reading ancient manuscripts of extinct civilizations. He discovered what he suspected: that his companion was the King's daughter, that there is another daughter, and that the one who has authority is the Queen, not him. This made him think that for her not to be present would be either that she was dead or it was due to a diplomatic situation, and seeing that there was no information about her death, the second was more plausible. And seeing that there was no information about the shield hero but there was about the other 3, he could deduce that it's not just one kingdom, there are several, possibly 3 others, and each one is for each hero, that the King summoned them to have military power against the other factions and therefore the queen went to diminish this which could be a war between all. This only made them see that they must leave that place as soon as possible and finish what they are there for.

That night when the whole group met in the main room for them, everyone talked about their anecdotes, some ending up sad, others perplexed, and others angry, thinking if this is how this place is, what to expect in other kingdoms. Finally, Peter explained more deeply that he had moved everything to a safer place. "Guys, you know how I am... I don't like depending on the castle rooms. It's best that everything is in a place where we can access quickly if we need it. So I left our stuff in the blacksmith's workshop. I don't think it's prudent to trust completely in the place where they lodge us." To which Egon said assertively but in Morse code began to say, "You did well in doing it, this place is not safe, there are people who are watching and surely now they are watching us and listening, I suggest we all start speaking another language and see if they can understand us, if not, we should use Morse code." To which Peter responded, "Well friends, I'm going to test our experiment." Upon getting up, Winston also did, responding, "Well, let's finish quickly, I hope everyone's French isn't rusty," to which everyone smiled, leaving Ray and Egon alone talking in Morse code between them. "We must see if what they said about the weapons is true, there must be a range limit for them not to cancel out and thus gain experience being all 4 together, from what everyone has said, it's possible that among those in the team the king gave us there are infiltrators or maybe they all are, what guarantees us that when everything is finished they won't want to eliminate us," Egon saying this to which Ray answered, "That thinking saddens me friend, but after all we are strangers, we must have faith in people as we did when we fought against Vigo." "Alright friend, we'll have faith, well, do you want to make royalty angry?"

End of chapter

Author's note: all rights to Ghostbusters belong to Columbia Pictures and Ghost Corps and The Rising of the Shield Hero to Aneko Yusagi

Well, second chapter, I hope to publish what I have already done in these days, I hope you like it and I accept suggestions, opinions and who is your favorite ghostbuster? For me Egon, and remember, if you want one of the maids to be Ray's partner or not, as I said originally I put it as a cameo