《The Rising of the Shield Hero - Rewrite》 Prologue Prologue My name is Naofumi Iwatani, I''m 20-years-old, I¡¯m currently attending college, though I don¡¯t really put much effort into it. I''m a bit more of a nerd than others since I usually spend my time watching anime and occasionally playing games. Eventually, I just stopped being as good at school once I got into these, my parents got mad at me, but eventually gave up and just placed all of their hopes on my younger brother. Though of course this caused my brother to start being extremely stressed all the time with no way to get rid of it. So I decided to introduce him to the otaku world, and¡­ well, let¡¯s just say he hasn¡¯t been anywhere near as stressed as before. Ever since then, he started getting incredible scores in school, and thus, my parents have let me do as I please as long as my brother continues like this. "Won again, huh?" I sigh as I see the victory screen pop up on my computer monitor. This is from my favorite types of games, the guild-managing type of game. These basically consist of the player forming and managing their own guilds and engaging against other players in grand scale fights involving dozens of different units you have to give orders to. I''ve always had a knack for these types of games, and since I started playing this game I''ve gotten my guild to one of the top places in the entire Japanese server. "It does get boring if it''s just a one-sided win, though" The one flaw about it is that sometimes the game matched me with people that were very inexperienced, and after a while winning matches like those just gets boring.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s something interesting in the library.¡± I decided to go to the library, since I don¡¯t really have anything to do right now. I figured I could kill some time if I found something interesting there. Once I get there, I go ahead and quickly make my way over to the light novel section. As I start looking through the bookshelves, I spot a book that seems very out of place in this section, it seems pretty old, almost ancient. "What even is this?" I couldn¡¯t even read the title so I decided to pull it out, and once I do it falls on my head along with a couple more books. "Damn, that hurt" I curse under my breath while I pick up the book. Its title reads "The Records of the Four Holy Weapons" Inside it read: There were once four holy heroes, the Spear Hero, The Sword Hero, The Bow Hero, and the Shield Hero. "Shield? But wasn''t this about weapons? A shield doesn''t even have any offensive power!" I laugh, figuring it''s just an error or something from the author who was naive and thought a shield counted as a weapon. The book continued on about its world and seemed to be talking about some sort of fantasy world. It went on about how at some point in time there was a phenomenon, called the "Waves of Calamity" This seemingly unexplained phenomena having caused great amounts of destruction and death all around the world. And so, to prevent life from being eradicated in their world, the people summoned four heroes, each one with a different weapon. Spear, Sword, Bow, and Shield. Each of them went their own way in order to get stronger and fight off these waves. Along the way they met different characters, though none of them were interesting enough, and the only girl was this princess, and she was horrible, she manipulated each of the heroes and made them go against each other for her own amusement instead of saving the world. "*Yawn...*" I was almost falling asleep when I got to the part describing the Shield Hero¡¯s journey. What I saw, or rather what I didn¡¯t see caught my eye. "Wait, am I missing something?" Oddly enough, the shield hero was nowhere to be found in the book''s section dedicated to him. Instead it was just a bunch of blank pages. "Huh... What the hell...?" That''s when I started feeling dizzy, and before I knew it I lost consciousness. Volume 1: Chapter 1 - Royal Summoning Chapter 1 ¨C Royal Summoning "Oh, Heroes! Please save our world!" As I regained consciousness I heard a man''s voice, begging for his world to be saved. I got up and looked around, the room looked like an altar, some kind of place you''d see in a fantasy flick, glowing patterns on the floor and all. Beside me were three others, each holding a different weapon in their hands. Sword, Spear, Bow... Isn''t this the same as that book!? Indeed, each of them was holding one of the weapons described in the book I was reading before I woke up here. Wait a second... does that mean that I... I looked at my arms and sure enough, there was a shield stuck to my right arm. "Where are we?" Asked the man holding the sword beside me. He looked very young, about 16 or so, looked to be fairly short, and looked to be the type that could crossdress easily, he had black hair cut short and sharp, blue eyes with very light skin. He looked like the silent and cool swordsman, befitting of the weapon he wields. "The situation is dire, but we would like you all to come with us in order to explain everything." Replied the man that seemed to be in charge of getting us here. He was clearly avoiding a true answer. "What''s that supposed to mean!?" Shouted the man at the farthest end of the altar. He was the one holding the bow, he looked to be around the same age as the sword guy, he had wavy, light-colored hair, with gentle, light green eyes, and while he was the shortest among us four, he seemed to have some sort of mysterious air to him. If I had to describe him in one sentence, he would be the soft-spoken younger brother with a thing for art and music "Answer our questions, depending on your answers we may or may not be on your side" Said the guy with the spear, lifting it and pointing it at the men in robes. He seemed to be about my age, he had a very attractive face and long-ish light-colored hair in a ponytail, his eyes seemed like those of the reliable older brother type, he had an air of confidence about him and looked like the type of guy that always had a girl or two by his side. "Well, maybe it would be best to follow them..." I try to say but they don''t seem to take me into account. "Please, our world is on the brink of destruction, without your help we could never hope to save it!" The man in the robes exclaimed, trying to convince us to believe his story. "I don''t think so" "We''ll gain something from it right?" "Will we be able to go back to our world after all that? If not, then what''s the point?" These three! What were they thinking!? Surely they can''t act like that right after hearing what that guy said! And they were smiling too! They''re actually enjoying this, I bet they think they''re some kind of anime main character or something and that they''re going to defeat the demon lord or whatever! "Please! Come with us, we have prepared an audience with the king in order to negotiate your rewards. "The king, huh." "Well..." "I guess if we''re going with the king then..." They all fell into thought, considering their options. "All right, we''ll go with you and meet this king of yours" The guy with the spear spoke first, perhaps thinking that he could swindle more out of the king than these guys. The other two followed suit, and ultimately decided to go with the king, with no other choice, I decided to go with them. "These four are the heroes?" Asked an old, royal looking man sitting on a throne. After receiving confirmation from his vassal, he proceeded to welcome us. "Welcome to our world, Heroes! I am Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, I am the ruler of these lands." He sounded very condescending, like he was looking down at us like some sort of insect. I found myself wanting to shut him up but decided against it.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. "Now, I shall begin explaining our situation." He proceded to explain the situation almost exactly like in the book I read before being summoned here. He went on about the Waves of Calamity, and how they would come over and over until no life was left on the planet, and unless the waves were successfully repelled, they would experience more and more losses, thus they decided to summon us, the four holy heroes in an attempt to repel the incoming waves. He also mentioned that the waves came in intervals of 20 to 40 days, which were determined by an artifact called a "Dragon Hourglass" located in a church in this country, and that the sands began to fall about a month ago, with the first wave having finished a couple of days before today. For the first wave, the knight army and adventurers were just barely able to repel the wave, and since it was said that each wave was more and more powerful, they decided to summon help from the prophecy of the four heroes. That''s just about the complete story he told us. "Alright" Spoke up one of my companions. "I kind of get where you''re coming from, but don''t you think it''s inconsiderate to basically force us to help you?" "Seems really convenient, for you and your people that is." "I agree, this sounds pretty self-centered to me. If your world is going to be destroyed, then why not just find and train strong enough people here?" It was my turn to speak. "I agree as well. Why do we have to put out our time and possibly our lives for you, without a guarantee that we''ll get something in return? What about getting us back home?" "Hmmm..." The king turned to look at his vassal, then turned back to us. "Of course, all your efforts won''t be without compensation" All four of us turned to look at each other and had a satisfied look on our faces. "Of course, arrangements have been made to accommodate rewards for all of your efforts, as well as anything you require in order to fight off the waves." "Really? Cool, as long as that''s true we should be fine." I reply thankful that we''re not doing this for free. "Don''t think you''ve bought us off, though. As long as you don''t turn on us, we''re good" "Agreed" "Me too" Why couldn''t they ever stay quiet!? Are they trying to make an enemy of the king!? I don''t get why they have to act so high and mighty all the time. "Very well then, Heroes. Tell us your names." The first one to step up was the Sword Hero. "I''ll go first. My name is Ren Amaki. I am 16 years old and a high school student." Next up stepped forward the Bow Hero. "Okay I''ll go next. My name is Itsuki Kawasumi. I am 17 years old and still in high school." Second to last was the Spear Hero. "My turn now. My name is Motoyasu Kitamura. I''m 21 years old and a college student." "Now, Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu, correct?" The king spoke, completely ignoring my turn to introduce myself. All the Heroes seemed to be Japanese, oddly enough. "Your grace, you''ve forgotten me." "Ah, yes, go on and say your name" He replied in a condescending tone. "My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I''m 20 years old and a college student." I already felt like I was somehow out of place compared to the other three, but now he just straight-up skips me? There''s got to be a reason for that. "Now then heroes, check your status and evaluate your abilities." "Huh?" What did he mean by checking our status? "I''m sorry, but how evaluate ourselves?" Asked Itsuki Ren sighed and said "You mean you haven''t figured it out yet? You mean you didn''t realize the moment we got here?" Come on, he sounded like some pretentious know-it-all brat. "Haven''t you noticed any weird icons in your field of view?" "Huh?" Since he said that, I looked towards the corner of my vision and focused on it and sure enough, there was a little icon there. "Try to focus your mind on it" As I did, I heard a soft beep, just like an old school type game menu, and the icon expanded into a menu, kind of like an internet browser. Naofumi Iwatani Class: Shield Hero LV 1 Equipment: Legendary Small Shield Other-World Clothes Skills: - Barrier Magic: None There was more to the menu, but these were the most important things for now. So was this what the king meant by status? This felt oddly similar to a game. "Level 1... That''s worrying." "Agreed. At this level, who knows if we''re going to be able to fight these waves." "What even is all this?" "Do these things not exist in your world, heroes? That is called "Status Magic" everyone can use it, but the hero''s status is said to have more functions than a normal person''s." This seemed to be true, as no one batted an eye at what the king was saying. "And what are we supposed to do about these stats? They seem awfully low." "You will need to go on a journey in order to enhance your Legendary Weapons." "So, you mean these things aren''t strong from the get-go?" "Indeed. The heroes must learn to harness the power of their weapons themselves. That is how you will become strong." Motoyasu was idling by whilst spinning his spear when he spoke up "Why don''t we just use other, more powerful weapons while we work on getting our levels up? Seems good to me." That did seem like a good idea. After all, I wasn''t even able to attack, so I really needed to get an offensive weapon as soon as possible. Ren spoke up next. "We should leave that for later. For now let''s focus on improving ourselves like the king said." This was actually kind of exciting, I was starting to understand why the others were smiling so much a little bit ago. Just the thought of adventuring in another world makes my heart race! "Are we going to form a party? All of us together?" "Wait, Heroes." Just as we were preparing to set off, the king interrupted us. "The four of you should set off separately, and recruit your own companions." "And why would we have to do that?" "According to the legends," He began "The Legendary Weapons cannot grow stronger when in proximity with each other. They can only grow when apart from each other." "I don''t really get it, but if we stay together we can''t level up right?" "Yes, that''s right." "Is there any way we can make sure you''re not lying to us?" I was wondering the same thing since it seems kind of weird that the weapons would act like that, especially since we were summoned all at once. "Yes there is. There are monsters in the plains a couple of minutes from here, if you would like test it out." Itsuki spoke up "I''ll take you up on that, I want to confirm this with my own eyes." "I agree." "Same here." "I''ll go too." I replied. Thus we set off to test out whether these legends were accurate or not. Volume 1: Chapter 2 – A Heroes’ Meeting We were escorted by a group of about a dozen guards or so to the outskirts of the town. Around this area I spotted these small, round balloons with an angry looking face and glowing eyes. Each of them was a different color, though the orange ones seemed to be more common. "Hah!" The sound of my breath was accompanied by a loud popping noise from these balloon type monsters we encountered on the outskirts of the city. I finally managed to destroy one of these balloons with just my shield, though it did take quite a while compared to the others. The defeat of the balloon monster was accompanied by a glowing +0 EXP in the corner of my field of view "That sure took a while. Eh, Naofumi?" Said Motoyasu, making fun of how long it took to kill the balloons. What was I supposed to do? I only had a shield after all. Ren and Itsuki decided not to say anything and changed the subject. "So it''s true after all." Ren said, although he didn''t seem as bothered by it as the others. "Seems like it. We''re going to need to find enough people for all of our parties." Agreed Itsuki, sighing in disappointment. "Yeah, unfortunately." Replied Motoyasu, although his small grin made it seem like he didn''t care that much about it. That +0 EXP was what popped up whenever we defeated a moster near each other, each one of us tried killing a balloon and was met with this message. "It seems we''re going to have to go in different directions after all." I added after proving what the prophecy said. "We should head back then, it''s getting dark already." Ren called out to us. "Yeah." Itsuki replied in agreement. "Let''s head back for now." Motoyasu said while going ahead of us. And so, we were on our way back to the castle. After coming back the king told us he would find us some companions and said we should go to our rooms and get some rest, but we decided to share what we knew about this world with each other beforehand. First of all, what I had discovered from the time I had spent looking through the menus, is that we all had stats, they were things such as health, defense, attack, magical defense, agility, etc. But on top of that there was also a sort of map of forms that each of our weapons could transform into, though obviously all of them were locked currently. I assumed that these different forms had different stats, and were part of the reason we needed to go on a journey to get stronger. On top of this, it seemed like we all started off with one beginner skill, basic things we could do with our weapons depending on the type of weapon we had. In my case I got a skill called "Barrier", which as the name implies, creates a barrier around me that blocks incoming attacks.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The other heroes also each got a skill for their corresponding weapons. As far as I knew; Ren''s sword got the skill "Sharpness", which makes his sword do more damage; Motoyasu''s spear has "Javelin", which allows him to materialize and throw a javelin from his spear; and Itsuki''s bow has "Haste", which makes him able to shoot arrows faster and makes the arrows travel quicker. After we finished talking about that, we decided to find out whether or not we were all from the same world; and as it turns out, we all came from different worlds. Ren came from a world in which VRMMO''s were commonplace, explaining the reason why he was the first to notice the menu icon. Both Itsuki and Motoyasu came from worlds closer to mine than Ren, but they still had a lot of differences, things like who was president of x country, what games were most popular, etc. And it also seemed like they all had played a game that was very similar to this world, thus explaining their previous attitudes towards everyone that wasn''t me. They probably thought this was a game world and everyone else was just an NPC. "So we''re all from different worlds huh?" I concluded. They all agreed. "Though it might not have been a random summoning." Ren added. Motoyasu and Itsuki both seemed to agree with his suggestion. "It just seems odd that we all seemed to have played a game that is basically the same as this world, don''t you think?" Itsuki voiced his suspicions. Motoyasu seemed to be onboard with this theory as well. "So, what? Do you think we were hand-picked by those guys in robes that summoned us?" I asked, already recognizing the main problem with these suspicions. They all nodded, confirming their agreement with what each other was saying. I decided to tell them. "But there''s one key problem with that theory; I''ve never played any sort of game like this. Hell, I barely even played games at all back in Japan!" After saying this they all looked like they wanted to tell me something, something bad to be specific, they looked like parents trying to tell their kid Santa wasn''t real. Motoyasu spoke up first. "Look, I''m gonna make this as clear as I can, just try not to take it too personally." He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eye. "You see, the shield is by far the weakest of the four weapons. It''s basically useless in the late game!" When he said this it took a while to process it, it was quite a thing to say to someone that possessed said weapon. "Nooooo!" I yelled out of disappointment. This had to be some sort of mistake, right? After all, why would they summon the shield in the first place if they knew it wasn''t anywhere near as powerful as the others? But then again, I didn''t even have any prior knowledge of this world, so maybe this was the truth!? I looked to Ren and Itsuki, only to find them avoiding eye contact with me. "Well, don''t worry about it too much." Said Ren, confirming Motoyasu''s statement and trying his best to comfort me. "Yeah, I wouldn''t worry about it if I was you." Added Itsuki, trying to sympathize with my situation. "Just leave it all to us! You just do what you can to help." Said Motoyasu, trying to soften the blow of the statement he made earlier. "But why is the shield so much worse than the others!?" I asked desperate for an answer. Ren decided to answer my question. "Well, the game I played clearly had some favoritism towards DPS characters, so they end up doing a lot of damage once they''re fully leveled and upgraded. Meaning that there''s no need for a tank if you can just focus on doing damage faster than the enemy." Seriously!? What kind of developer forgets to balance all the classes around each other!? I looked to the others, and saw they were agreeing with what Ren said. "Damn it!" I get put in such a cool fantasy setting, only to end up with the worst weapon!? It really pissed me off! I decided to go over to the balcony and try and forget about it. I looked up at the sky, it looked so much more beautiful than back at home, I just couldn''t help but be mesmerized. Alright, I''ve decided! Even if I have the weakest weapon, I''ll make the most of this opportunity! After all, you don''t get summoned to a fantasy world every day! After deciding this, I went back in and we all decided to get some sleep and get started on our adventures tomorrow. Volume 1: Chapter 3 – Party Members At last, the morning arrived. After getting out of bed, all four of us were called over to have breakfast. Once we finished eating, we were told to go to the audience room we had been in yesterday after being summoned. It was probably around a couple of hours before midday when the king called for us to come into the room. The huge doors swung open and we went in, only to find that there were already a bunch of people waiting there, probably around a dozen or so. Once we went in we bowed to the king and waited for him to begin speaking. "Heroes, I have obtained the help of all of these adventurers who wish to join you all in your journeys." The king said while waving his hands, demonstrating the people he got. "Now, adventurers! Choose the Hero you wish to travel with!" Wait, THEY were the ones choosing!? As the king ordered them, they all flocked towards us and stood behind their chosen hero. Once the crowd dispersed, I turned to look behind me, only to notice that there was no one behind me. Meanwhile, Ren had five people with him, Itsuki had three, and Motoyasu had four "Wait, what''s the meaning of this!?" I shouted, questioning the adventurers who had all gone with the other heroes. "Hmm, this is quite unexpected. It seems that no one wanted to side with you, Shield Hero." Responded the king, stating his surprise while making an annoyed face. The people dressed in black robes next to him whispered to him. "It seems that rumors have spread that the Hero of the Shield is not very knowledgeable about our world." Revealed the king. What!? So someone was eavesdropping on our talk last night? "The prophecy of the Four Holy Heroes said that all four of them would understand this world''s systems. It seems like the people are doubting your usefulness because of your lack of knowledge." The king finished explaining to me. So someone heard what we were talking about last night and decided to spread that information around!? Damn it! How the hell am I supposed to fight against the waves!? "What am I supposed to do? I can''t even attack effectively on my own!" I complained, trying to see if anyone would come to my side. Sadly, it truly seemed like no one wanted to be on my side. On top of that the other heroes were telling me I had the most useless class! There has to be a way to solve this! "Ren, come on, you can give me some of your party members right? You have the most here!" I tried to persuade Ren, but to no avail. He responded "If they want to follow me, they have to match my expectations. Although I''m more of a solo player, so if anyone isn''t of use I won''t hesitate to leave them behind." In response, all of his party members scooted closer to him, showing they were determined to go with Ren. I turned to Motoyasu and Itsuki, but they said more or less the same thing. "As much as it would be fair to split them into groups of three, we can''t just leave out their own choices." Said Itsuki, providing a perfectly rational statement. "Then just what can I do!?" I yelled, frustrated that I would end up having to travel alone. "I wish to join the Shield Hero''s party!" A woman from Motoyasu''s party raised her hand and stepped up beside me. "Are you sure?" Asked Motoyasu, looking concerned for her. It seems that despite only meeting her right now, he cared way more about her than about the rest of us. "Yes I am." She replied, determined to come with me. She was pretty attractive, she had short, shoulder length, curly, bright red hair. She was almost as tall as me too. "Does anyone else here want to join the Shield Hero on his travels?" The king asked the adventurers with the other three heroes. No one moved an inch. The king sighed and turned back to me. "It seems this is it. You will have to recruit people whilst traveling. To compensate for this, you will receive a higher payment for the first month compared to the others who have more companions." The king compromised, clearly tired of dealing with this. Not that I''m complaining though, I am getting more money to spend because of it. "Yes, your Majesty." We all said as we bowed to him. "Now Heroes, please accept your funds for this first month." As he said this, the men in robes presented us with one bag each. From it I could hear the rattling of metal moving around as the bag shook. Looking inside, I found my bag to have a bunch of coins, made of some material akin to silver. "The Shield Hero will receive 900 silver coins, the rest will get 600 each. Please, accept these funds and set out on your journey!" The king exclaimed. "Understood, your Majesty." We all replied in unison as we bowed once more.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. We then walked out of the castle. Once outside, the girl that had decided to join me introduced herself. "Um, it''s an honor to meet you, Sir Shield Hero. My name is Myne Suphia." She said to me with a light bow to signal respect. "Likewise. My name''s Naofumi Iwatani, pleasure." I introduced myself to her. This was lucky indeed, I got someone like her, who seems to be very open and friendly. Her protection would end up resting on my shoulders. I''d have to take care of whatever companions I can get. Especially since I''d drawn a bad hand compared to everyone else. "Alright, let''s go into town, shall we? Ms. Myne" She smiled and nodded before walking towards the town. Once we left the castle''s surroundings, we crossed a small bridge and officially entered the town. Once we entered, I was once again made aware that this world was nothing like my original world, on top of that the smell of the freshly baked bread from the local bakery, along with the kids running around town really made me realize that this world is the real world, not just some kind of simulation. Of all of the shops around town one of them caught my attention. It was fairly close to the bridge we just crossed, and the sign atop it read "Earl''s Weapon and Armor Shop" Of course it would, since I''m only equipped with a shield it''s in my best interest to find some way to attack so I can stand a better chance of beating monsters, and since the other heroes were equipped with offensive weapons I was sure to get left behind if I wasn''t able to match their level. "Oh, Sir Shield Hero, do you want to check out that weapon shop? It''s the very best this town has to offer, hence why it''s so close to the castle." Myne, probably noticing me staring at the shop from afar, asked me "Yeah, I was wondering if I could buy a weapon so I can level up easier." We were now standing outside of the weapon shop, there was a sign on the door, it read "Open" "Let''s head inside, shall we?" Said Myne I followed after her and headed into the shop. "Welcome!" Once we went in we were greeted by a well built, middle-aged man, he was probably in his late 40''s, and had an air of confidence about him. He seemed just like the type of guy you''d imagine running a shop like this. "So this is what a weapon shop looks like¡­" As I looked around the room I spotted many different kinds of gear, anything from swords and bows to shields and armor, all made of a different material, some clearly more expensive than others. "Oh, I take it it''s your first time in a store like this. Well, you just walked into the very best weapon shop in this town." He said, proudly proclaiming that his shop was the best there is. "I can tell this shop has very good equipment for sale. I don''t imagine it to be cheap though." I responded to the shop owner. "Well, you pay for what you get. Nothing more, nothing less." Once he finished talking to me he turned to Myne. "Hey miss, have we met somewhere before?" He asked, making a face that showed he was trying his best to remember where he had seen her before now. "I''ve been here before, there is no better weapon shop after all!" She responded while putting on a smile. "Well thank you! By the way, who''s your friend in the weird clothes?" He turned to look at me. I responded. "I''m Naofumi Iwatani, I''m the Shield Hero." He looked at me, seemingly coming to a conclusion. "He doesn''t really look strong at all." He said, seemingly disappointed that he met such a weak hero. Honestly, I kind of liked him, he didn''t hesitate to voice his opinion despite knowing that I''m one of the heroes. "It''s only natural, I''ve only just arrived here." I responded and moved on. "We''re here looking for some equipment to get us started on our journey." "Oh, of course. Well, how big is your budget, Hero-Boy?" He asked me. It was true that I needed to know how much of my money I could use on equipment, but since I didn''t know how much the 900 silvers the king gave me were worth I wasn''t quite sure about it. Probably guessing that, Myne spoke up. "We can probably afford to spend about 500 silver pieces." I''m not sure how much that would be in modern currency, and if we''d have enough for our living expenses, but I decided to trust Myne for now. "500 huh? Alright, wait here for a bit." He said as he moved away from the counter and over towards the right side of the shop. "Hey kid, do you have any preference for a specific weapon?" He asked picking up several swords from their spots on the wall. "No, I haven''t tried any of them out." I responded. "I see, then you''d do well to take one of these." He said, laying down four different swords on the counter. "These are all very good choices for novices like yourself. They''re all imbued with a blood repellant spell, so you don''t have to worry about it eroding or anything." Wow, so I guess the magic in this world could be used for practical things like these. "From left to right they''re: Iron, Magic Iron, Titanium, and Magic Steel." He talked about each of the weapons'' advantages and disadvantages. Apart from the price, the only real difference was the durability and sharpness. They all seemed about the same size, so that wasn''t a deciding factor. "Huh, interesting. Let me tr-" As I was taking the Magic Iron sword some kind of spark sent the weapon flying through the air and into the wall. "What the hell just happened!?" "I''ve never seen anything like that, but why did that happen?" Asked the shopkeeper, naturally confused as to why the sword just flew when I picked it up. "Let me try again." This time I tried to grab the Iron sword, but to no avail. Once again there was a spark of light, and the sword was sent flying, this time into the floor. "Why does this happen!?" I was pissed, I couldn''t even pick up a different weapon! "Hey kid, I think that shield of yours is what''s making the swords react like that." Concluded the shopkeeper. "Why do you think it''s the shield''s fault?" "From what I saw, the sparks were coming from the shield, not from the swords or anywhere else." Explained the shop owner. Damn it! Apparently I couldn''t even use any weapons because the shield prevented it! This has to be some sort of joke, how the hell am I supposed to level up without attacking!? "That''s unfortunate Sir Shield Hero, but if you really can''t use any other weapons then how about we focus on getting you more defense? Then you can focus on defending me while I attack." Myne spoke up and gave her two cents on the matter. It''s true, if I really can''t attack with other weapons then I''m better off just going for more defense and protect my party instead of trying to find a way to deal a little damage myself. "You alright with that kid?" Asked the shop owner. I nodded, and we made our way to the opposite side of the store, where the armor was. "Try this one, kid. I think it''s just enough for your current level." The shop owner handed me a set of leather armor, it seemed very beginner-like. "I''ll go look for a weapon for myself while you try that on, Sir Shield Hero." Said Myne. "Alright, I''ll put this on." I said and walked into the changing room. This armor fit me pretty well, and once I checked my stats my Physical Defense had gone up a decent amount. I couldn''t really expect much from beginner armor, but this''ll have to do for now. Once I walked out the shopkeeper and Myne were waiting for me at the counter. I noticed Myne had picked up a Magic Iron sword. "Lookin'' good kid!" Said the shop owner. "It suits you really well, Sir Shield Hero!" Said Myne. "That''ll be 150 silver for the armor and 300 for the young lady''s sword." I walked up to the counter and gave the shop owner the 450 silver pieces he requested. "Come back if you ever need to upgrade!" We waved goodbye to the shop owner. "That seemed like a nice shop, all the equipment was very well made." I commented on the shop. It really did live up to what the shop owner said. "Of course it is, it''s the best in town!" Responded Myne. "So, where do we go from here?" I asked Myne for her opinion on what to do next. "How about we go level up for a bit out in the wild?" Suggested Myne. True, we needed to get our levels up for now. I nodded, and we headed to the outskirts of the town. Volume 1: Chapter 4 – Bad Beginnings We exited the town and headed over to the plains on the outskirts. There was nothing but green, it definitely looked extremely beautiful from here, the grassy plains seemed to extend for a long distance, so much so that they were all you could see from here. There were only a few trees scattered about, most of them in a forest farther away. Once we got farther away from the town we started running into those angry balloons me and the other heroes fought yesterday. Enemy: Angry Orange Balloon LV. 1 "Sir Shield Hero, could you demonstrate your offensive abilities to begin with? I''d like to know how much damage you''re capable of doing." Asked Myne. "Huh, you''re not fighting with me?" I asked confused. "The enemies here are very weak, so I think it''d make good practice for later battles." She replied. "I see, you''re right, I don''t have any battle experience at all." I replied. "You must already have some experience as an adventurer, right?" I asked her, and she nodded back. "Here comes one, Sir Shield Hero. This is called an Orange Balloon, they''re the most common type of balloon monster and is known to be very weak." She summarized all the info she could before the balloon got here. Once it did I raised my shield and blocked its attack, and it bounced off my shield, I tried to counterattack by hitting it with the pointy tip of my shield, but it seemed like it only did about a fifth of the balloon''s health. As I hit it, it bounced back to me and bit me in the arm. I expected some kind of pain, but oddly enough there was none, and along with that my arm was covered in some sort of green barrier. I''m fairly certain this is an ability unique to the Legendary Shield. After a relatively long struggle I managed to pop the balloon that had clung to my arm. It took a while but it finally happened. EXP +1 What?! All of that for just 1 experience point?! That had to be a joke, how was I supposed to level up if monsters like these gave me so little experience?! On top of that, if this was anything like a game then as I got to a higher level surely it would need more experience. It all seemed like it was going to be impossible to level up, much less catch up to the other heroes. After checking my status it seemed like I needed 20 experience to level up. Damn it! It really seemed like everything was going wrong for me. After destroying the balloon I picked up its remains, and when I did my shield''s gem started lighting up slightly, and it got brighter and brighter as I brought the loot closer to it. Once the loot made contact with the gem it was absorbed by the gem, and once I let it absorb all of the remains it gave me a pop-up. Orange Balloon Shield: Conditions Met Orange Balloon Shield: Upgrade: 0/50 Phys. Def. ¨C +50 Magic Def. ¨C +40 Ability: None This pop-up told me that I had unlocked a new shield from the orange balloons. Though the stats it gave did seem good, comparing it to my base shield it was more or less the same. Legendary Small Shield: Upgrade: N/A Phys. Def. - +45 Phys. Def. - +45 Ability: Damage Mitigation +5%, Language Translation It seemed like the balloon shield had better physical defense but lower magical defense. And it was lacking the damage mitigation bonus from the base shield. The base shield also came with the ability to translate different languages, though I didn''t know the specifics, I assumed that it meant the shield could translate spoken language to my native language, and since I could read the shop names earlier, I assumed that it''d translate written language as well. After all, with this being a different world it''d be strange if everyone here spoke Japanese. Though the balloon shield wasn''t very good, it said it could be upgraded, whereas the base shield couldn''t. I guess it could be upgraded by killing monsters and absorbing their remains, so in that regard it made sense that the base shield wouldn''t have a way to upgrade it. For context, my base stats looked like this: Naofumi IwataniStolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Class: Shield Hero ??????Magic Affinity: Max. HP ¨C 200 ??????? Fire ¨C 0 Max. SP ¨C 50 ??????? Water ¨C 0 Phys. ATK ¨C 5 ??????? Wind ¨C 0 Magic Power ¨C 15 ????? Earth ¨C 0 Phys. Def. ¨C 50 ??????? Lightning ¨C 0 Magic Def. ¨C 50 ?????? Light ¨C 0 Agility ¨C 20 ?????????Dark ¨C 0 "Oh, is that the way the Legendary Weapons work?" Asked Myne, seemingly marveling at the sight of the weapon absorbing monster remains. "Yeah, it seems like they need to absorb certain items in order to grow stronger." I wonder if it could absorb other items, and not just monster drops. I turned to Myne "Alright, it''s your turn now Myne." She nodded and drew her sword. As she did this two orange balloons appeared from the grass and jumped at her. In response she slashed each balloon once, and both of them went "POP" and burst. It seemed like I was extremely weak compared to just about everyone else. It was clear that I wasn''t going to win any battles by myself. "Hey, Myne. Let''s try fighting with me on the defense and you on the offense, I''ll block any attacks so you can go ahead and attack the balloons without worry." It seemed like we would be better off if we had designated roles in a battle, with Myne on the offensive I shouldn''t have the need to attack since I deal so little damage. So we would benefit greatly if she focused on attacking and I focused on defending It also seemed like the enemies around here were very low level, the highest level I spotted was a level 3 balloon that Myne took down, so this was the perfect opportunity to try and get accustomed to fighting as a team. We stuck around the fields fighting balloons for a while. Eventually we saw the sun was starting to go down. "If we went ahead into the forest we''d encounter some stronger opponents, but since it''s getting dark we should head back for now and continue in the morning." Said Myne, proposing we wait until tomorrow to explore further. "I wanted to fight some more though¡­" Since defending against the balloons was so easy I felt like I could keep going for a while longer. I absorbed the remains from the balloons Myne took down, which made the Orange Balloon shield''s upgrade meter go from 0/50 to 5/50 and both of its defense stats seemed to raise by 1% of its base stats every time the upgrade meter went up by 1. The sun was already setting, so we decided to get back to town and find an inn to stay at. Once we got back to town we got to an inn and decided to rent two rooms and buy some food. Each room costed 50 copper a night and each meal costed 10 bronze each. By the way, it seems 100 copper equals 1 silver judging from the 80 copper I got as change for paying with 2 silver coins. Myne and I sat down to eat, and once we were done I pulled out a map I bought on the way back. I figured I''d need something like this, since unlike the other heroes I don''t know anything about this world, much less where to go and what places to avoid. "So this is where we were fighting the balloons right?" I asked while pointing to a certain part of the map. I analyzed the map and tried to take mental notes of all of the places that were marked as having higher level monsters. After all, it would be unfortunate if I died because I accidentally entered an area with monsters double my level. She nodded, confirming that it was indeed where we were. The map was as follows: The castle was in the center of the town, the town''s shape being more or less an oval. Outside of the town there were fields all around, along with mountains to the north and multiple roads in all directions, presumably leading to other towns, although they weren''t visible on this map. "So tomorrow we''re going to the forest near the last area?" I asked, since there seemed to be some low level monsters in the forest nearby. I couldn''t see what was on the other side of the forest, but I doubt we''d be going that far for now anyway. "Well, it''s not visible from this map, but there''s a village on the other side of the forest. The village is called Lafan, It has a dungeon on the outskirts that is frequented by beginner adventurers and the like. I think it''d be best to go there to try and raise your level." She explained whilst pointing at the location of the village on the map. "A dungeon¡­" Just hearing the word dungeon made my heart race. It felt so surreal that I get to fight and experience a world of fantasy like this one. "We won''t make much money there, but we will raise our level a lot in a short amount of time, so it''s definitely worth it." Myne clarified. "While we will depend on your defense, we should be just fine as we are." "I see, I''ll highly consider going there." "That''s fine. By the way, would you like to have a drink with me?" She asked while holding up her wine glass. While I had gotten one as well, I hadn''t even taken a sip from it. "No, thanks. I don''t drink alcohol." To be clear, it''s not like I can''t drink it, I just can''t get drunk or feel any sort of side effects from consuming alcohol. Whenever I went to college parties in Japan everyone would get drunk except me, so I''d always get to be the one that drove everyone back to their house. In the end, I ended up disliking it completely. "Is that so? Couldn''t you make an exception for now?" She said, a bit annoyed that I wouldn''t follow her lead. "No thanks." I replied firmly. "Oh¡­ All right then." She looked a bit dejected as she said this and put her glass of wine back on the table. "You know, it''s very rare for men to refuse a woman''s offer, since Melromarc is a matriarchal country." She explained. Huh? So apparently here in Melromarc women had more power than men in society. Still, that didn''t really matter to me right now. "Sorry for refusing your offer, but thank you for sticking with me until now, despite me being unable to fight." I apologized and thanked her for her help. "And I''m sure I''ll make it up to you someday." I smiled at her. "It''s fine, Sir Shield Hero. Good night." She said smiling back at me. "Good night, Myne." I said as I stood up from my seat. "Sure, let''s head out early tomorrow." She replied. I waved goodbye at her and left the loud restaurant to head for my room. Once I got to my room I went ahead and took off my armor, since it''s too bulky to sleep in, and put it on the back of a chair. I then went ahead and counted all the money I had left. After counting all of the money I had 447 silvers and 80 copper, which seemed like a lot, but I didn''t quite have a good grasp on how much it''s actually worth. I still tried to save as much money as possible. After counting it I decided to store 50 silver in my pants'' pockets, since I had no wallet or anything I''d have to keep the money in my pocket, I''d just keep this in case something happens. It had been a very busy day, we had gone to fight the balloons for a while, and we already had plans for where we were going to tomorrow. And while I might be a bit behind the others, since I was one of the heroes I could rely on help from the king and the royals in general. Thinking back on today made me so excited for tomorrow that I couldn''t calm down. But I decided to force myself to sleep for now. I sat down on the bed and heard Motoyasu and Itsuki talking in the hallway, I guess they were staying here as well. I decided to turn off the lamp and went to sleep, despite it being kind of early. Tomorrow was going to be a good day! ¡­ ... ... Unfortunately, this never came true.