I do not own or maintain any rights to Rising of The Shield Hero; they belong to One Piece Books and Aneko Yusagi. I am just playing in their sandbox for a minute.
Chapter 1: Blank Pages
Being transported to another world is not a good way to start your morning. The only way it could be worse is if the world I found myself in didn't have coffee. My name is Richard James Williamson, and I was on vacation in Japan. I expected my day to unfold like all the others I'd experienced here. I had planned to look for interesting novels to bring home to show my friends, but fate had other plans.
I had been browsing the used bookstore for a while when I realized just how out of my element I was. We have bookstores back home in America, but nothing quite like this. The shelves were filled to the brim with thousands of light novels, ranging from brand new to nearly falling apart from age. The atmosphere was something I couldn't quite capture. While perusing a shelf lined with older-looking books, I accidentally bumped into another person.
He hit the ground with a soft "Oof." "Sorry," I said quickly, doing my best to look contrite. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I was captivated by all the books they sell here." I explained, using my best Japanese while helping the young man I knocked over to his feet.
"It's okay; I can get lost looking at books myself," he replied, rubbing the back of his head with a gentle smile. "It's nice to run into another book fan. My name is Naofumi Iwatani, and you are?"
"Ah, my name is Richard Williamson. It's a pleasure to meet you, Iwatani-san," I said, bowing back to him.
"So, what brings you to Japan, Williamson-san?" Naofumi asked politely.
"I'm on vacation right now. I was hoping to bring back some light novels as souvenirs," I explained, gesturing to the books around us. "There seems to be quite a large selection here, and I got a little overwhelmed."
"It happened to me my first time here, but I enjoy that they have such a large selection. I can always find something I like when I come. In fact, I just found one of the older Isekai novels, but something strange about it caught my eye. It looks like it was misprinted," Naofumi explained, opening the book he was holding to a section near the middle and stepping beside me so we could look at it together.
"Huh, isn't that something?" I remarked, supporting the other side of the book with my right hand, rubbing elbows with Naofumi as we examined it. He was right; a section titled "The Shield Hero" appeared to be completely blank. 'That's very interesting. Misprints are extremely rare in books,' I thought, turning to look at Naofumi, only to see him wobbling on his feet. I dropped the book without thinking and shifted my arm around his back to support him. "You okay there, bud?" I asked, just as I realized I was starting to feel faint as well.
'Could the book be tainted with some kind of fast-acting virus?' I thought to myself as I entirely passed out, and the world went black.
Auther's Notes
Well, that's one chapter done! I know it's short, but I just wanted to get something finished and posted to get the ball rolling. I'll try to update as often as my schedule allows. I should have the second chapter up in a couple of days. Thanks for reading! -Sobe Out.
Edited 23-12-19: Spelling and grammar.
Edited 17-1-25 Spelling, Grammar, And removed incorrect honorific.