Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Summoned to a New World
Naofumi Iwatani was having a regular day strolling down the streets of tokyo heading to his favorite library to have some entertainment for no pay. I’ve already spent too much on MMO’s this month. I can't afford to use any more money. When I walked in I greeted the library receptionist whilst handing back the collection of books I had previously. Some fantasy novels and a few old gaming strategy guides from my childhood for some fond memories. After I returned said books I strolled into the fantasy section hoping to find anything new and interesting.
Instead all I found was the same nonsense industries in Japan have been churning out like clockwork the past few years, just a bunch of isekai light novels. Granted it was a guilty pleasure, but a guy needs some variety. That’s when my eyes landed on a book that looked well worn and was strictly out of place in a bookshelf full of latest titles. I gingerly grabbed it from the shelf, careful to not drop it or rip it as it looked ready to fall apart at the seams. “The Record of the Four Holy Weapons, huh” I muttered to myself looking at the cover that had a sword, a spear, a bow, and a shield all interlinked with each other. Doesn’t look terribly impressive. Also could a shield even count as a weapon truly? Thinking that I carefully opened the book and started skim reading it to see if it was worth my while.
The book went on about this crisis called “The Waves” that threatened all of the world and humanity itself possibly going extinct. And that the only way for The Waves to be beaten would be for the Holy Hero’s to join together to fight off the wave. The descriptions for the heroes were quite in depth listing their strong suits. The Spear was a fiercely loyal hero that would fight anyone in their way to protect those close to them and for the people they would put trust in. The Bow was justice said to save countless lives in the face of adversity so those who were suffering could lead good lives. The Sword was the strongest and was capable of rallying spirit around themselves and others as a shining beacon of one who would never quit and never surrender. As I went to look at the shield I thought to myself. These archetypes are pretty standard in a genre like this but this seems like it will be a good change of pace for my rea- My thoughts interrupted as I looked at the empty description of the shield a bright light enveloped my vision. Seconds later, Naofumi Iwatani was no more.
Fret not Young Hero. Your trials will be turbulous. But, I have no doubt you are up to the task. For you will be the greatest Hero of them all.
Slowly but surely sense seemed to come back to me as I felt the cold floor below me and my eyes opened slightly to see lots of red and to hear lots of whispering. Where the hell am I? “The summoning worked, it worked!” I heard a scratchy male voice say. “Oh the Gods haven’t forsaken us” I heard another say as I opened my eyes fully I saw many men draped in robes from medieval times around me. Looking around I saw three others near me that look like they were from Japan, presumably. In front of me I saw a dark haired teenager no older than 17 with a sword in his hand. As I looked to my left I saw a light brown curly haired teenager holding a bow and looking a little frazzled. Lastly, I turned right and saw someone who looked about my age, with the full pretty boy get up holding a spear outwards. Lucky son of a bitch, probably gets along real well with the… Wait. If I’ve seen the bow sword and spear then. I looked down regretfully, knowing what I would see. Of course I would get isekai’d and get the shit weapon. Noticeably, I still had the book so I tucked it away beneath my shirt into my pants. I hope this thing has useful info. I'm gonna need a lot of it. I let out a sigh as I focused back in on the people around me and it seems the other people who were summoned with me have also collected their bearings.
“Oh Holy Heroes, today is a fortunate day” a fortyish looking man said proudly. “Please, I beg of you, help save our world!” Bit of a cliche coming out the gate like that for this. I’ll just observe what happens for now. “Why were we even summoned here?” the curly haired boy asked in a soothing but stern voice. “Answers should be fast and explanatory. We have already been dragged here against our will. Depending on your answers this situation will change drastically.” the black haired boy spat out. “Indeed I say, please out with it already” the pretty boy chimed in. These guys are jumping the gun pretty hard. I should probably step in here.
“Woah guys let's take a second to get the situation a bit more in line. We're all pretty upset about getting taken from our world here but there is probably something bigger at play and someone more important to talk to here am I right” I looked at the head summoner. He quirked an eyebrow after looking at my left arm that had the shield on it but his face returned to being neutral quite quickly after. “You would be right Sir Shield. Our king will be of much greater help than one such as I. If you heroes would accompany me, all your questions will be answered.” The other heroes gave me and then the summoner a look and begrudgingly nodded along. “Good now, please follow me!” He said his voice was getting much more chipper as he led us away from the altar.
The walk through the castle was quiet, minus the whispers of the people around us as we traversed through the great halls. “ I can’t believe they're here!” “We’ll be saved and hopefully what happened in Lurolana doesn’t happen in the rest of our kingdom.” “It seems that they have summoned ALL of the heroes including the devil of the shield.” As I picked up on that whisper I went to ask the other heroes if they knew anything about what was being said when I was interrupted with a “We are here! The King is just through this door.”
The summoner who was with us pushed open the door as it led to what appeared to be a Throne room with a gallery presumably filled with nobles and others of high status. Directly ahead however, were two thrones one huge and unoccupied and another next to it, slightly smaller in stature hosting and older man holding a staff and dressed in fine silk robes. Despite his appearance looking a little portly, his eyes held those of a veteran and of a ruler.
“Heroes, Welcome to my nation of Melromarc. I am King Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. I thank you for joining me here. As you have heard, we have summoned you to save our world from destruction against The Waves. The longer the waves go on the worse they will get and the more havoc they will cause. We will need your help to beat them.” The sword hero chimed in along with the other two as he said that.
“And do you believe us to be altruists to do a job without pay?” Pretty boy questioned.
“None of us yet have any reason to support you currently” Said the curly haired teenager.
“You should be careful. If not justly compensated or helped you might not even have our support”
As this was said from the first three the king, although his straight face still holding up well, seemed to hold a bit of worry. “If you are worried about payment and rest assured you will be financed handsomely.” Saying this he looked over to his advisor who nodded his head in agreement.
“And it is foretold that heroes that brave The Waves until the end get a wish.” The heroes beside me were grinning at each other including me. Now that there was an incentive perhaps they felt more inclined to help this world? “May I know the names of our new heroes?” he asked with an authoritative tone. It seems that the others are eager to go first. I guess that’s fine. I’ll ask questions when they are all done hopefully.
“I’ll go first then. My name is Ren Amaki. I’m 16 years old and in highschool.” said the black haired teen. Looking at him now, he seemed like the cool aloof type that gave the “Don't get in my way” vibes.
“Looks like I’m up, name’s Motoyasu Kitamura, I’m 21 years old and in college. Oh also all the ladies adore me” He said with an easygoing attitude and a playful grin attached to his face. Oh yeah he’s definitely the older brother type figure with a playboy attitude.
“My name is Itsuki Kawasumi, I’m 17 years old and I am also a highschool student” he said back straight and with a calm tone.
Well looks like it is my turn to intro-
“Welcome brave heroes, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu. Now if you will be sure to check your status” the king said calmly, seemingly not even realizing I was there. I looked over to the others to see if they also noticed. Motoyasu and Itsuki looked as though they were trying to check their status and Ren looked at me genuinely confused on what was going on. “Um, Your Majesty, it seems as though you have skipped the last of us?” he said in a voice that seemed a bit more shaken than before. The King then gave us all a once over and his eyes locked on to me or more specifically, my shield. It seemed like he was about to burn a hole through it when his eyes began to match his face in complete neutrality. “Ah I apologize, introduce yourself Shield.”
…This seems to be getting weirder by the moment. It seems as though the King has some sort of issue with me. Whatever it is it seems as though I’ll have to work around it. However, killing with kindness is key from all of my experience. However I should also gain a little intel while I am at it. “Ah, I understand, it happens to the best of us, Your Majesty. My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I am 20 years old and am The Shield Hero.” Murmuring soon followed as soon as I added the shield hero part. So it seems I am different in comparison to the other heroes. And I’m sure it’s not in a good way. Fantastic. “Now that Sir Shield has been introduced, may the heroes check their status?” he said in a very dismissive tone. I overheard Ren muttering something about it “being easy” and to just focus on the icon in your vision. It took me a second but I was able to see it and saw my status.
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero Lv. 1
Equipment: Small Shield(Legendary Weapon) Otherworldly Clothes
Skills: None
Magic: None
As I took a look at my status I heard the other heroes complaining about being level 1. Not too surprising to start out like this though. “Although you start out weak heroes, you will become strong fast and will become stronger than most anything in this world. This all the legends guarantee.” The king interjects into the other heroes talking to each other. I turn to them “Well it looks like it’s time to level up. If we form a party together and get strong we will be undefeatable” I say to them getting a little worked up. I mean come on every kid has had a fantasy of going on an adventure once in their life I can indulge now. “I am afraid heroes cannot party together as you cannot grow within a certain distance from each other whilst holding Cardinal Weapons. However, tomorrow we will have adventurers coming to join your parties tomorrow. The day grows old young heroes and there will be much ahead of you. I recommend turning in early.” The king explains and talking to one of the maid staff sends a portly old woman over. “Hello Heroes, I will show you where the guest quarters are in the castle. Follow me” She ends off as she walks away with two other maids joining her.
Guest Quarters
Right before we got to the guest quarters, the maid asked us if we wanted food. As much as food from a new world seemed intriguing to me, I had just eaten before I was teleported. So I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry at the moment. The others complained about having to eat where knights ate which seemed ridiculously petty but I paid it no mind. When we all got into the Guest Quarters we all began trying to untangle the situation before us. As I took a look around I noticed our quarters were more than lavish and I took a seat on one of the random beds. Whilst the other heroes were talking I took a second to go through my menu and to learn all I could about this world. Through the help function I was able to gleam that my weapon had constant upkeep and would never rust. I also learned that there were multiple shields I could unlock by infusing materials into it and having said shield out for a period of time. In the menu it also clearly stated I could not use anything else beside my shield for combat scenarios. Welp this is getting harder by the second. Maybe I’ll get some info by talking to the others. They were mindlessly chatting in the room together arguing how each one of them had played a game exactly like this but none of the names were the same. As I was about to interject they all looked at me and asked “Which one of our games did you play” in an unnerving unison. “Well to be frank, I haven't played a game like this at all actually. But I am starting to gather that we may be from different versions of our Japan. From what it seems, you all have this game in common but it's named differently. I’d be willing to guess it’s like that for other things like anime and popular brands” I finished with a smirk. “Which means technically all of you are right. But what weirds me out is that I didn’t have a game like this in my version of Japan.”
Ren looked at me a little funny but then said “So do you not know anything about this world at all?” “Well I mean I know a bit but it’s not from a game but from a book I was reading before I got transported here.”
All three looked at me incredulously. “What, what's the issue?” I said a little taken aback. Motoyasu jumped in then “Are you telling me you weren’t dead when you were summoned?” “HUH” I exclaimed. “You all died before coming here then. How, why even?” I started to rapidly fire out. “Well I died protecting a girl from a mugger. Unfortunately, I died from blood loss on the way to the hospital.” Ren said with a tinge of regret in his voice. “Oh man I’m sorry, to die that early in life must be rough” I said consolingly as Ren looked at me a little distraught. “It’s whatever that’s in the past now we have more important things to worry about.”
“I had the classic isekai story happen to me. Just a truck outta nowhere and boom lights out” Itsuki chimed in a little more chipper than the subject would suggest. “Well a freak truck accident also falls into the pretty unlucky category” I said looking him in the eyes. But for some reason he looked… relieved?
“Ah I guess I should say how I went then huh” Motoyasu said sheepishly. “Well ya know I’m a pretty popular and attractive guy. And well I have had a lot of ex’s and well I guess a few of my old flames decided that they would have their revenge on me” Motoyasu finished shuddering a little. Itsuki, Ren, And I all looked at each other and nodded. “You were cheating weren’t you” we all said in unison. “Well it’s not my fault so many ladies love me!” he yelled but actually held a bit of a smile on his face. I put a hand on Motoyasu’s shoulder “Well, hopefully polygamy is more accepted so you don’t end up having too bad of a time” I joked around with him. He smiled, beaming brightly at me “I say, that would be amazing!” he exclaimed. “That was a joke dumbass” as I karate chopped him on the head obviously not hurting him but he played the bit out rubbing the top of his head, apologizing profusely.
“I can’t wait to get out and start facing monsters already. I wished I could do it solo but I have a feeling the king would not appreciate that considering he has other adventurers coming to aid us specifically.” Ren said, looking a little antsy to get out of here. “Same there’s probably a lot of bad things that aren’t The Waves of Catastrophe that need to be dealt with” Itsuki chimed in with a wicked glint in his eye. “Hey I know I am probably the person you would want to take the least advice from here but I would recommend not treating this as a game guys.” I said seriously. The others unsurprisingly, seemed to brush my comment off minus Ren who seemed conflicted after hearing what I said. I then directed my next comment to Ren specifically much to the ire of the others. “So how did the shield work in your game?” Ren thought for a moment before replying “To be frank Naofumi, shielders tend to be good early for tanking damage but they get outscaled by every other class later in the game.” “Damn, this sucks” As I said that Motoyasu slung his hand around my shoulder and said that he would give me a few of his favored spots to train at. I gave him a smile and a thank you. “Well we should be off to bed, so we’re rested for what the king has prepared for us in the morning.” Itsuki yawned out walking into a side room and closing the door behind him.
“I agree with Itsuki. Night Motoyasu and Naofumi” Ren said as he walked off to another of the empty rooms. Motoyasu gave me a pat on the back. “Don’t worry about a thing Naofumi. If you fail to pull your weight the rest of us will just work extra hard!” he said, giving me a thousand megawatt grin while walking to the other room. Oh well I guess I’m already dead weight. Shit. I looked around to find the last room meant for me and saw nothing around. Ah I see this treatment will be a reoccurring issue. Well I’m not tired yet and I wasn’t given any rules to not wander.
I walked over to the door and swung it open hearing the pitter patter of light feet. I almost didn’t think that was what it was until I heard a small click from a door about 50 feet down the hall. Ah so they have spies trying to figure out what’s going on with the cardinal heroes and to presumably take tabs. To not arouse suspicion I walked in the other direction. After going down a flight of marbled stone stairs I saw what looked to be a giant mess hall. Hundreds of soldiers seemed to be sitting down and eating. I wouldn’t mind seeing how the food tastes here. I am quite hungry. As I thought that I heard the yelling from chefs about 20 feet away from me.
“What do you mean 3 of our cooks aren’t here where the hell are they!” I heard an old woman yelling at the top of her lungs. “Well the soldiers that were supposed to be on shift today had a little too much to drink earlier and to say they won’t be waking up soon would be an understatement to how much they drank'' said what I presumed to be a soldier wearing an apron no older than 16 years old. “Well I don’t have the manpower for this and everyone is up in arms about the heroes coming so no one is willing to take on the extra work! I’m getting up there in years, it's like you all want me to croak early.” The old woman said, letting out a defeated sigh. Looks like they could use some help. Slowly I walked over and gave the old woman a wave and politely asked “What are you guys making and where would you want me to help out at?” The woman looked me up and down, glancing at my shield for a moment and said “I’m making beef stew but I don’t have enough people to do the prep while I keep everything cooking on the stove without burning. If you can go over and cut that meat down into cubes and cut up the veggies” she finished looking at me expectantly. “Helena, are you sure you should be allowing a hero to help even if it’s the shield hero” the young knight who brought her the news looked at me distrustfully. “Positive now scram you runt unless you're going to be beside the shield hero helping me” The old woman Helena bit back with venom in her voice.
Before she had a chance to start chewing me out I hopped over and immediately started helping her out. One of the things I used to enjoy doing in my world was cooking as I loved seeing the people around me happy and it was one of the few times my parents actually enjoyed my presence around them. Unfortunately, I ended up becoming more bitter because that was all they ever wanted from me unlike my brother, probably the only person I held close in my world. I hope he’s doing alright. But cooking still gives me a bit of peace when I do it and when helping someone else cook can be pretty fun. “Oi granny I’ve chopped up everything over here what else do you need?” Her head whipped around giving my prep work a once over before giving me a small smirk. “Fill up some pots for me cooking hero” she laughed as she took the prepped up ingredients and tossed them into multiple pots. For some reason my eye twitched slightly when she called me the cooking hero. Regardless, after about an hour and a half of cooking it finally slowed down enough for Helena and I to relax along with some of the junior cooks who washed dishes and kept everything cleaned up. “Who would have guessed the Shield Hero would have an affinity for cooking?” Helena let out a breath, chuckling slightly.
“Well I cooked a lot back home is all. And I’ve worked in places that didn’t have enough people to make the food so I felt like this kitchen was a bit like home” I said to her wearing a small smile while eating the beef stew that was made for the soldiers. Helena cast a glance at me. “You are quite different then the legends I have been led to believe Shield Hero” she stated. “Well I’ll take that as a compliment for the good. Also stop with the Shield Hero business and just call me Naofumi. We’re a kitchen family in arms after all” I responded back with a grin on my face. Helena smiled a bit before frowning. “Well Naofumi it was? Do you know much about the history of Melromarc and the Shield Hero?” she tentatively asked. “Not really no, but it seems that people have quite loose tongues or presume I am deaf cause I have already heard unsavory things about me, and I have been in this world for less than a few hours.” I responded back a little despondently. Whilst speaking to Helena I remembered that I should read more of that book that came with me. Maybe I’ll get a bunch of game knowledge like the other heroes from that book. It was then that Helena looked me in the eye and said “I would be careful Naofumi. The national religion of Melromarc is the three heroes church. And I presume you would understand which hero is left and criticized.” she said with a tinge of what sounded like regret in her voice.
“Well it looks like I have a lot of work cut out for me but I’ll do my best to help the people of this world. Also, I noticed that there are two thrones in the throne room and one of them is vacant. Why is that?” I asked to see if I could dig for a little information. “Well, Melromarc is a Matriarchal society. And our queen Mirellia Q. Melromarc, is the nation's ruler. Unfortunately she is at a summons for the leaders of many different nations in the country of Faubley currently.” “So she’s the one normally in charge here. I noticed that from the way the king acts around me that he either wants nothing to do with me or hates me passionately for whatever reason. I’m hoping it’s not shared by both rulers” I said jokingly to raise the mood a bit. Helena looked around for a second I presume to see if there was anyone spying on us and then whispered “Do not speak too much about the king. He has hated the shield hero since what had happened in the last war between Siltvelt and Melromarc. I imagine he has held on to his bitterness which will not hold well for you.” I sighed exasperatedly “Will the Queen be coming back anytime soon?” I asked hoping that the situation would be rectified by her arrival. “I doubt that. World meetings tend to drag on for a month or two from the start of them and are only held once a year. She just arrived a few days ago according to what has been said around the castle.”
I looked over to Helena and smiled “Well thanks for the information. I’ll try to put it to good use. If I’m not busy one of these days in the future I’ll happily look forward to cooking with you again Helena.” “It’s not everyday you get to meet and talk to one of the heroes of legend. I wish you luck, Naofumi the Shield Hero. Also before I forget.” She took a quill and wrote down something onto it. “Directions to my friend Erhard. He’s a blacksmith and will be able to help you out with gearing up” As I looked onto the paper I realized I couldn’t read it. Looks like the weapon translates speech but not the written language. Another thing piling on top of other things I must learn to do. “If it’s possible can you tell me the address and I can write it down? It seems my shield allows for spoken language to be translated but not written” I said exasperated by the chore it was going to be to learn how to read and write a different language.
After writing down the address I walked back to the room and posted up on the couch and brought out the book that brought me here and began to skim through for more details but there was not much. There were two passages that were important. One about a red haired princess that aimed to trick and deceive all of the other heroes. And another just showed how to check how your party is in your menu along with ways to devise your party. It’s nice to be able to have the ability to have subdivisions in my party along with a main party that totals to six. The first passage though… considering the king seems to have issues with me already I want to stay super clear of whoever this is. Red hair is now dangerous. Avoid at all costs. After reading what seemed to be the rest of the book before its blank I went to put it away and my shield began to glow. Tentatively, I put the book near the glowing green gem and it was sucked away to seemingly nothingness.
Book Shield Unlocked:
Abilities locked. Equip bonus: Magic up(Small)
Map Shield Unlocked:
Abilities locked: Equip bonus: +1 Defense. Skill: Map
These shields seem pretty good to start out with. I’ll probably try to unlock the map shield as soon as possible because having a map of the area seems very convenient. I switched to the map shield to hopefully unlock it overnight so I am able to maneuver the city more efficiently. Slowly, my eyelids started to fall over and I sprawled out onto the couch. A new world huh. I wonder what lies ahead. I thought to myself as I drifted to sleep.