I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero

Biggest thanks goes to Ace-Triad for SPAG editing this chapter. Also, special thanks for Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide some feedbacks.

More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.

The scent of burning wood and roasted meat enters his nose. Thankfully, it's not from the village on fire, or Mein cauterizing another bleeding wound with her fire magic, while he's busy saving the lives of those with the most dire wounds.

Naofumi leans back into the grassy patch and a bundle of hay as he watches the Lute villagers dance around the giant bonfire in front of their village hall, to the song of the blonde bard as she plucks at her harp.

"Queen's road, take me home~

To the place, I belong~

Hibernia, mountain momma~

Take me home, queen's road!"

Naofumi tries to recall the short introduction they had back in the throne room. The stage name of this former companion of Kitamura was Ms. Croissant, a bard from Faubley's Tristan City.

Besides the blonde, Sir Rathos raises a tankard together with Sir Crepe, Sir Aki and Éclair. Macaroon 'Maroon' Rathos, the wizard and self-proclaimed 'battlefield kitchen' is roasting the meat of preserved porcupines with the innkeepers Lud and Shena.

Raki, Raphtalia and the older children who stayed behind in Lute are busy running food and drinks to the adults. The children occasionally steal a bite or even a sip of alcohol for themselves. Nobody deems it worth the time or effort to stop them from a little fun and mischief.

Well, nobody but Mein, it seems. She is snatching away a wine skin from Raphtalia while talking to the girl. Raphtalia has her fluffy ears and tail drooped down, likely knowing that she did something wrong and got caught red-handed.

The Shield Hero leans slightly back to the bundle of hay and looks further away from the bonfire.

Much of the village is destroyed back in the Second Wave. Roofs toppled over, and walls were smashed down by the Giant Skeletons. Thankfully the village hall still stands, and the pelts of the monsters they hunted before the Wave and stored safely in the underground shelter make for passable tents.

Before the banquet, Mein told him that he should walk with confidence. To show the people of Melromarc he did nothing wrong to defend the common people instead of seeking glory in the Wave.

Judging from how the king and his court acted back in the banquet, the (presumed) aristocrat in disguise was right.

But now, there is no outsider for Naofumi to project a sense of security to. Only the ruined buildings that can still be rebuilt, and the people who will carry their lives with their scars. Naofumi feels like he could have done much more for those people. He closes his eyes and sighs.

"Hey, why the long face, kid? You are the man of the hour - you should act like one."

Interlude 5: Suspicion of the Shield Hero

Gaston's voice draws Naofumi's attention. The hunter is walking together with one of his fellow militia members and his dark filorial. Both men have their right arms in a sling, with Gaston also having a bandage over the left side of his head.

Hob will never be able to hold his newborn son with both hands.

As for the head hunter, his arm can still heal, but not his eye. Gaston would not be Lute's best hunter anymore with an eye missing.

"Why aren't you enjoying yourself, kid? You are the hero, after all." Gaston walks closer to Naofumi. The hunter reaches down and slaps Naofumi on the back of his head. "You should go out there, share a drink, dance with your girl. Enjoy your life while you are young."

"I don't feel like a hero. Your home is destroyed, so many of you are injured for your lives. I should have done more." Naofumi looks down at his feet. He feels both Gaston and Hob sitting down on both sides rather than seeing them.

The hunter's filorial trots in front of him, having bent down its neck and nozzles his fluffy head against Naofumi's chest. The hero smiles at the big bird as he scratches Wolfgang's feathers.

"Should have, could have. All of us have those thoughts. What's important, is you chosen to do something for us, when none of the other heroes did." Gaston pats Naofumi in the back, slightly harder than the slap on his head. Naofumi is jerked to look back up at the people of Lute, happy and celebrating despite their ruined home.

For a while, none of them speak. Simply drawing in the sight of people living in the moment, happy to be alive.

Gaston takes a water skin from his waist, pulls the wooden stopper out with his teeth and spit it out. A strong smell of alcohol tells Naofumi it's not water inside the repurposed Porcupine stomach. "Been to Port Harp yet, kid? I guess not, with how much time you spent helping us. Nothing but broken stone walls and collapsed building now, so I heard. I've been there once a year ago, when I accompanied Elder Lute for a business trip as his tracker. The road to Port Harp wasn't safe after the Great War, you see. Thanks to the Bitchlord and her bandits."

The hunter takes a deep drink and continues his tale. "Anyways, Port Harp had stone walls, as tall as the walls of the capital city. And a garrison of real soldiers, with the best quality castle forged steel swords, shields and armor. We had a wooden fence around our little village. A bunch of village folks too stubborn to abandon our homes to go beg on the streets of the capital, wearing hand me downs from the army. Who do you think stood a better chance in a Wave? Well, most people in Port Harp are gone, but all of us survived thanks to you."

Naofumi looks around, trying to catch the sight of his two companions from Port Harp. Kyubei is sharing a drink with Elder Lute, Georg, the leader of the militia, Filorial Bill and a dour looking Farkas.

Raphtalia no longer looks down after getting her presumed dress down from Mein. The two of them are practicing magic together as the kids look on with wonder. Mein easily juggles five little incandescent fire balls between her hands, while the tanuki girl is having trouble with a single light orb not fizzling out between her hands.

"I'm still good enough to lead the hunters as their senior tracker with my one good eye. Plus, I got some more to boast about fighting and living through an actual Wave." Gaston stands up and flexes his two massive arms to show off his biceps. The hunter looks back down at Naofumi with a smirk on his face. "Didn't I pull you out from a bunch of goblins on top of Wolfgang, kid? Not any 'best hunter in the village' can proudly say they saved the life of a real Legendary Hero once."

"Yeah, you did. Thanks for saving my life, Gaston." Naofumi chuckles at the hunter. Wolfgang lets out a quack of protest, likely for not receiving the same gratitude as his master. "You too, Wolfgang. Here, have a piece of roast."

"Guah!" The black filorial happily gobbles down the piece of offerings from Naofumi.

Naofumi runs his hand through Wolfgang's fluffy feathers. They feel even softer than the fur on Raphtalia's ears. "Is it just me, or did Wolfgang get a lot fatter since I first saw him? Think we fed him too much?"

Both Gaston and Hob stills at Naofumi's question. They turn around to look at the hunter's filorial and inspect the big bird for a moment. "Now that you mention it, yeah. Wolf is getting a little on the weighty side."

Gaston turns around to look for Filorial Bill. "Hey, Big Bill! We need your expertise- oh."

Filorial Bills is already shoulder to shoulder with Farkas, as the two sing along Queen's Road with Miss Croissant, completely butchering the song in the process.

"Well, to hell with him. I'm Wolf's master, anyways." Gaston shakes his head as he fuddles the head of his bird. The big bird coos happily. "I'll take Wolf out to ride tomorrow. Filorials can eat a lot, you just have to burn the fat down with exercise till they become muscles."

"As for me, Eclea talked to some smith from the capital about getting me a metal hook prosthetic, when she went to get herself a new sword." Hob joins in on their conversation. It takes Naofumi a moment to realize Hob means Éclair. "When little Jack grows a bit older, I'm going to tell him I used to be a pirate in my younger days. Kids love high sea adventure stories, no matter how ridiculous they are."

"I might have some ideas to give you. Watched some pretty good Pirate movies back in my world. They had a character named Jack, like your son." Naofumi laughs at the older man's humor.

"Well, I have no idea what a Move-E is, Master Shield Hero. But I'll hold you to the promise."

"Ah, now you are finally starting to enjoy yourself, kid." Gaston sits back down beside Naofumi. He hands the water skin to Naofumi with a smirk. "Here, have some liquor."

"No, I don't drink- MMRPH!" Naofumi is about to hold his hand up in protest when Gaston shoves the water skin right into his open mouth. Strong, spicy alcohol pours down Naofumi's throat, making him unable to breathe.

"Nonsense, kid. You have to learn to drink to be a real man." Naofumi falls down backwards as he hears laughter from the hunter. His head impacts the rock he was sitting against.

"You shouldn't have done that, Gaston."

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't. He's a hero, but he's still a boy. Hey! Bevil! Get your fat ass over here, and help Shield Hero to his tent!"

"No worries, I got him. Mister Gaston. Hmm... he's pretty heavy. Probably from the armor, want to give me a hand? Raki?"

"You got it, Mister Bevil."

"Don't call me mister, you damn kid. I'm only twenty!"

Naofumi can feel himself being rocked and carried, till he's eventually shoved into a fur sleeping bag.

"That should do it, let's go back to the celebration, Raki."

The Shield Hero waits a few more minutes until he finally opens his eyes. He scans around the opening of his tent cover for a little, making sure there's no one around before sitting back up and nudges out of his sleeping bag. Naofumi takes out the big fur bag filled with his unused wares out of his shield, and slowly shoves the bag back into the sleeping bag in his place, hoping it'll be enough to fool the people who are drunk and tired to tell the difference.

The Shield Hero quietly slips out of Lute Village, taking extra care not to step on a twig even if the boisterous villagers likely won't hear him from all the noise of their celebration. He finds a big rock to sit on when he makes his way out of the village.

The King's Forest is serene when bathed under the sunlight, but the foliage and rows of trees go on and on in the darkness. It makes Naofumi feel on edge, even if he knows no monster living in there can hurt him with his high defense.

Amaki has not yet arrived, so he decides to recollect what happened in the past week. Specifically what happened in the celebration banquet. The king was out for his blood, much more forcibly than he did it the first time. With much more flimsy excuses no less, to the point both Amaki and Kawasumi were openly revolting at the king's decisions.

Could there be a deeper reason for it? Or is it simply more hatred towards beastmen and the King of Rape with him by association? If Mein's real identity is a possible political enemy of the king, it certainly explains why the king was so adamant in depriving him of all resources and allies.

His native language is still not passable to decipher history books, which are often written with the most complex and hard to understand phrases if this world is anything like his own.

Mein also seems to catch onto the King's attempt, when she suggested a contingency to run away into another country. It's strange she'd be willing to leave her family behind, but considering the Ascart family's holdings are fairly close to the border... is it possible that's something the whole family already planned ahead?

How much is she hiding from him? Does she truly care for him, or does she only stay with him thanks to his prestige as a hero? And even if Mein isn't using him as a political tool, does she only care about the Shield Hero, or does she care about Naofumi Iwatani?

She thought I went to some hero school, and had to win some trials to be summoned into this world. Like my life was some kind of shounen manga. What would Mein think, when she learns I'm just some random schmuck who picked up a book?

Yuugo's face appears in Naofumi's head as soon as he starts to have more treacherous thoughts again. The young man realizes he can no longer clearly recall the face of his best … well, only real friend back in his world.

"I won't be the unfaithful one this time, even if I'm betrayed in the end."

"Talking to yourself now?"

"GAH!" Naofumi ends up falling off the rock he sits on. The Shield Hero slowly climbs back up to his feet, taking off his helmet to rub his head in the process. "Don't creep up on me like that!"

"Well, you should have paid more attention. What if I was an assassin? I wasn't even trying to be sneaky." Amaki crosses his arms in front of his chest and frowns at Naofumi. "You wanted to talk in private. Let's talk now. But first ... why didn't you use a proper shield in your duel against Kitamura?"

"What?" Naofumi turns his head and stares at the younger boy. Does Amaki honestly think he knows how to use shields better than the Shield Hero? "What do you mean, a proper shield?"

"You were using something that looks like a bunch of stones smashed together when you were parrying Kitamura's spear strike. It's another thing if you were using your new Chimera shield with its better stats. But why a stone shield and not a proper one sold in the smithy?" Amaki walks around the cobblestone road in front of Naofumi. The older hero realizes there's a small round buckler on the Sword Hero's back. A part of his disguise, or some other things? "People make shields out of metal instead of stone, because it's easier to use, you know."

"You mean my Geo Shield." Naofumi changes his default shield into one of his stronger Shields before he unlocked the Chimera Viper Shield. "It's my heaviest shield, and I found parry effectiveness scales with both DEF rating and weight. So it's actually better for parrying than the Chimera Viper Shield, if I can pull the timing off. And why would I even buy a 'proper' shield from the smithy when I can't use it?"

"So you didn't know, just as I thought." Amaki scoffs at Naofumi's reaction, he takes off the buckler from his back and tosses it to Naofumi. "Catch this."

Naofumi reaches out to the metal buckler Amaki tossed out, he fumbles a couple times before managing to clap it against his stomach. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Easier to show you than explain to you. Just hold it in your hand while we talk." Amaki simply nods at him in an almost dismissive manner.

"Alright..." Naofumi looks down at the steel buckler in his left hand. He shakes his head and looks back up at Ren again. "Before we continue, you ever know a guy named 'Mikage Mikami' from some kind of novel, manga, or video games?"

"No, I don't. What kind of question is that?" A brow of Amaki starts to rise up.

"I learned the identity of the last set of heroes from my companions. They are Mikami Mikage the Shield Hero, Makoto Ito the Spear Hero, Shirou Emiya the Bow Hero, and..." Naofumi stares intently at the young Sword Hero, noticing how his brows start rising to the hairline each name after Mikage. "Kirito was the last Sword Hero."

Amaki's stare is turning into a full glare by the end. "That joke wasn't funny the first time."

"No, I'm serious. Go to a tavern and ask a bard to sing you their tale, if you don't believe me." Naofumi shrugs his shoulder, he almost falls on his behind and tossed the iron buckler when a notification pops into his sight. "What the~!"

[Attention]

[Would you like to copy the weapon?]

"I see the [Weapon Copy] prompt kicked in for you. We discovered on the first day in the smithy, that if you hold the same type of weapon in your hand, you can copy it with your Legendary Weapon." As if trying to support his own argument, the legendary sword in Amaki's hand switches into a standard steel sword used by the Melromarc common foot soldier.

"That's useful." Naofumi nods his head as he copies the Iron Buckler. The stats are nothing to write home about, compared to the Chimera Viper Shield. But unlocking a new shield form always helps with every bit of mastery bonuses adding to his overall status.

"Indeed, weapons and armor are the most costly in games. Not having to pay for the high tier magical weapons saves us a bunch of money for other things." The Sword Hero nods his head.

Naofumi doesn't like the implication of ripping off Uncle Elhard, not after the stern but friendly smith was one of the most genuinely helpful natives he encountered.

Although Uncle Elhard did say something about he's willing to let things slide, as long as the heroes aren't causing him monetary harm. Since the world needs strong heroes to beat back the Waves.

"Are you going to teach me how to recharge the phones? I'm not sure we can call each other without a service provider, but even getting the basic app functions will be useful." Amaki's impatient voice brings Naofumi back to the present again.

"Alright, hand me over your phone. I'll demonstrate." The Sword Hero hesitates for a moment before taking his dark smart phone out of his sword, and hands it into Naofumi's hand. "Have you learned how to do magic yet?"

"Not yet. We all were busy taking quests from the guild, and rising our levels before the Wave. The king did appoint his mages to teach us magic after you stormed out of the castle. We'll start learning magic casting tomorrow." Amaki looks up from Naofumi's hand to his face again. "I'm guessing you had a head start?"

"Yeah, a preacher in the church taught me how to cast Miracles, because he wants me to be able to properly heal my companions if they are hurt by a Wavespawn again. And when we stayed in the capital waiting for Mein's wound to get better, the magic shop owner taught me how to cast Wizardry magic."

"Two different schools of magic?"

"Yes. Miracles require less mana, but demand stronger focus and are easier to be disrupted. Wizardry is easier to cast, as long as you have the mana." Naofumi holds the phone in his hand and closes his eyes. Focusing his mana, he wills the light into the contraption in his hand. The previously dark and dead phone almost instantly lights up into life. "Anyways, the first step is feeling your mana. This is hard for me to explain. It's kind of like ... when you are trying to fall asleep. And you feel like your body has shut down and turned into cotton, but your mind can still think like when you are fully awake."

"...I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." The corner of Amaki's mouth is flinching, he quickly snatches his phone back. "Thanks for charging my phone, anyways."

"Yeah, I should probably let the expert explain it to you." Naofumi looks away while scratching his hair, feeling a bit embarrassed for his failure to properly explain things. "But anyways, once when you can feel your mana, the rest is easy. Especially if you already practiced how to cast spells. You just will your mana into your phone and it gets charged. You might feel a bit light- headed at the start, when you aren't used to losing a lot of mana instantly. Mein almost fell head over heels the first time she did it."

"Charge my phone while sitting down at first, got it." Amaki puts his phone back into his sword and nods his head. "You said something before your duel with Kitamura. Something about past Shield Heroes siding with demi-humans, and the last Shield Hero was a tyrant? Is that why you were asking if I know his name from fiction? Because the other three heroes are fictional characters?"

"That's part of the reason. Back in the first week, Mein and I met a pair of spies from Siltvelt. Their argument made me realize they are both trying to hide information from me. That's why I decided to gather as much information about this world I can, from as many people I can. Easier to find inconsistent information when I have as many sources as possible. I've also been learning how to read this world's language, so I can read some books to double check all the information."

"Guess Mein wasn't as good and pure as Kitamura thought, huh? What you did is sensible, even if you should have focused more on the mechanical side of information gathering." Amaki nods his head along, even as the younger boy sprouts more rude remarks. "What good is knowing more about the world, if you got killed in the Wave because you were too weak?"

Naofumi tries not to focus on Amaki's more condescending words. Being a loner himself for a long time, the Shield Hero gets the impression that the younger boy is more socially awkward rather than intentionally rude. Amaki's action so far has been mostly helpful. "That makes sense. Although I did learn a good number of the people from this country believe in a religion that sees the Shield Hero as some kind of devil figure, because he always sides with demi-humans."

"Is that so? That's why the King was rude to you since day one. I thought he was just being impatient when he interrupted your introduction." Amaki's left hand rises up from his chest to his face as he walks around while scratching his nose. "So he (I) WAS (I) being intentionally malicious than simply incompetent. Hmm..."

Naofumi feels like there is something wrong with the younger man's reaction. He can't quite put his fingers on, but shouldn't Amaki be a bit more concerned, rather than seemingly brush this new information off? "What about you? Have you learned more about this world, or did you only focus on gaming knowledge?"

"Well, I didn't go around asking people about different countries and history like you. But I think I learned the truth of this..." Amaki unlocks his crossed arms and extends them to the sides, like he's trying to encompass the entire world. "Everything."

"Really? That's... incredible." Naofumi tries to hide the sarcasm he's feeling from his voice. He wonders how Amaki can think he has everything figured out, if he didn't even bother to ask the inhabitants. But it should at least be good for a laugh?

He just hopes he doesn't end up offending the uptight boy.

Amaki does not seem to notice Naofumi's comprehension. "Nothing about this world is real. Because we are all dead."

Naofumi manages to stay quiet for about a minute after that line. "What? WHAT!?"

"Think about it, I was stabbed. Kitamura was stabbed, over and over. Itsuki got run over by a truck." The Sword Hero starts to slowly count the fingers on his left hand, till he turns to look at Naofumi again. "And you..."

"Yeah, I wasn't dead! All I did was pick up a book!"

"Correction, all you remember was picking up a book. Think about it, why would you be the only one who did not encounter a... huh, 'near death experience' as the three of us? Wouldn't it make more sense that you also died like the rest of us, but you simply had short term memory loss because your brain can't handle it?" There seems to be something much more passionate in the eyes of the normally reserved boy. "Maybe there was an earthquake, and you got crushed in the library. Or maybe there was some kind of gas explosion."

Naofumi has a hard time processing this hypothesis. He would like to think his memory was perfectly fine, and he isn't in some kind of video game afterlife hell. But the truth is, when he starts to read over the book and turns over to the blank pages for the Shield Hero, all he remembers is a brilliant light and then he's in the summoning room.

It certainly makes Ren's hypothesis sound plausible.

"Okay, let's say I believe your theory that we are all dead, and are in some kind of... video game afterlife? Didn't we already conclude we all come from a different version of Japan? Why does the afterlife grab four random schmuck from four different worlds, and dump them into one afterlife?"

"I admit. That's the part of my theory I can't figure out yet." Ren huffs with annoyance at Naofumi's objection, he crosses his arms once again. "But who knows what will happen after we die, really? Who says souls from different worlds can't enter a shared afterlife, maybe based on some kind of shared attribute? Now we brought this up, I did want to test another part of my theory."

"Really." Naofumi can't help but sits down on the boulder again. He stabs the edge of the iron buckler into the ground, and rests his arms on top for support. "Humor me, ask away."

"I believe the four of us were tossed into this ... world together, because we all have a very famous video game in each of our worlds that shares a lot of similarities. And our minds ended up mingled together to create this afterlife for the four of us."

"But I didn't play a video game! I just picked up a book."

"Let me finish first." Amaki throws Naofumi an annoyed look again, he goes back to counting his fingers. "I played a VR game that's focused on stealth and fast reaction time. Itsuki played a console single player RPG that emphasized player choices and storytelling. Kitamura's world has a MMORPG on PC that's about status grinding."

Naofumi isn't sure where Amaki is going with this frankly ludicrous theory, but the boy does not even seem to pay attention to him. The older hero wonders if he should simply slip away and sleep in his nice cozy monster fur tent.

"Three different worlds, three different kinds of games, on three different platforms. Three different kinds of mechanic to focus on. What do you think is missing?" Amaki finally finishes his ramble and looks at Naofumi once again.

The Shield Hero feels like pulling his hair out now, if he's not too tired to even do that. With all the different kinds of video game genres, who knows what Amaki is thinking about? The sky's the limit here!

Some kind of visual novel based on his damn book?

A first person co-op shooter or hack and slash? Maybe with some literal wave survival mechanic? Didn't that Call of Duty made by something hammer studio even have a sword, and a shield as the wonder weapon for two maps of their zombie mode?

Oh, how about some kind of tournament fighters, with unlockable cosmetics to bleed your wallet dry!?

And speaking of a bleeding wallet, maybe some kind of free to play phone app...

Naofumi's eyes blink, as he is suddenly reminded of an interaction with his younger brother.

Naofumi knew his parents were going on a weekend trip to a hot spring hotel. That's why he picked this day to come back and pick up some of his things. When he entered the door, he did not expect to hear some jingly music blaring in the room - good, energetic music that made one want to shake around and tap their feet on the floor.

He's very familiar with what kind of situation demands this kind of music.

The university student turned his head toward the folding door, seeing his younger brother sprawled on all fours while playing with his smartphone. "Takeru."

His younger brother looked up, the boy no longer dyed his hair blonde now he grew out of his tough punk wannabe phase. "Naofumi."

The brothers simply stared at each other without saying anything else. The two of them weren't exactly who described as 'touchy-feely', even after they made up.

"I thought you went with Kazuma and Megumin. Well, don't mind me. I'm just here picking up some of my old things, and I'll be out of your hair soon." Naofumi shrugged his shoulders, he turned around towards his old room. Ready to disappear out of Takeru's life again.

"Ah." Takeru nodded his head with understanding as he dipped his head to the screen again. "You are here to pick up your trashy time wasters."

"My novels are not trashy." Naofumi whipped his head right back and hissed at his younger brother. "Who are you calling someone's hobby time wasters anyway? You spend all your allowance on smartphone gacha! You do realize that once the server goes offline, all your precious waifus go with it?"

"I spend all my allowance on my waifus in the physical world, thank you very much. Go check my new collection of figures, if you don't believe me." Takeru scowled right back at Naofumi.

Naofumi wasn't sure what his younger brother was so proud of.

"Well, to hell with you plebs. Eiyuu Hime Project is awesome! It rewards you plenty of premium currency, and it has a lot of rewarding seasonal events. You don't have to spend a single yen to get a good team together." The prodigy of the family looked back down at his phone, presumably to spend some more of his premium currency on gacha. "You know, the SSR rank Defender Heroine Izumi reminds me of you... if you aren't an ugly idiot... and you are a girl with big knockers."

"Piss off, wannabe punk ass." Naofumi flipped his younger brother the finger, although there's no real heat behind either of their exchanges. Despite his words, Naofumi entered into the living room and snatched the phone away from Takeru's hand. He was kind of curious on what kind of fictional female character reminds Takeru of him.

"HEY! Why did you do that!? What if you jinxed my chance to get the limited edition SSR character!?" Takeru's voice was loud, but he didn't do much to protest at Naofumi's action. In fact, all the young boy did was lazily roll onto his back.

"Well, tough luck. You shouldn't tell me about this 'Izumi'." Naofumi clicked at the touch screen of his younger brother. He never played this 'Eiyuu Hime Project', but he used to play some gacha game before he was turned off at how psychologically predatory their mechanics were. It's not hard to figure out how to open up the menu to check his brother's team set up. "All of your teams had this Heroine called 'Rena'."

"Well, I never said Izumi was my main. Your face ruined her appeal for me." Takeru poked his tongue out and blew a raspberry at Naofumi. The older Iwatani flipped his younger brother off again. "Okay, more seriously. Defender Heroine is only good when you are doing a group raid with other players against a major boss. The game plays better and faster if you have an all offense team to burst down the boss before you get a party wiped."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I used to play those myself." Naofumi waved his hand dismissively at his younger brother, before Takeru got a chance to launch into a full speech.

"Say, you have my phone anyways. Want to spin the gacha for me? They are doing a Japanese themed special character event for the upcoming Ghost Festival. I blew most of my gems, and I still haven't got SSR Talia."

"Is that so?" Naofumi glanced at his brother for another second. He sat down besides Takeru, set the phone in front of them both and rubbed his hands together. "Well, here goes nothing."

The university student could feel the gaze of his usually distant younger brother gazing between him and the smart phone in anticipation, as Takeru crawled back up to sit on his legs. Naofumi isn't sure what his brother is so excited for, since spinning a gacha has nothing to do with a person's skill and everything to do with the RNG of the developer. He still decided to hold his finger in the air for a moment longer to drown out the moment, till he pressed down on the gacha.

The previously energetic music somehow became even more upbeat. After a wild display of pretty rainbow color, some kind of wooden mallet spews out of the gacha well. The hammer explodes into light again, and a girl emerges out from the light. She has a typical cute anime face, long brown hair, and a pair of fluffy animal ears. The shrine priestess outfit and wooden mallet gave her a Japanese style.

[Gyoubou Danuki of Spirit Hammer, Talia]

"ALRIGHT! I got Talia-Sama!" Takeru pumps his fist up for a second, before he quickly covers his mouth.

Well, too little too late.

"She's totally your waifu, isn't she?"

"...You want me to smash your Tomoe figure?"

"Hey! You leave Tomoe-Chan out of this!"

Naofumi ended up spending more time at home on that day. Takeru ended up going into a full speech from Eiyuu Hime Project's setting to how it mechanically worked while Naofumi cooked them lunch. It was just plain Omurice, but Takeru commented it tasted heavenly as he inhaled his food.

"Now that you mentioned it... yeah. There was this game my brother played called 'Heroine Princess Project'. It was a free to play gacha phone app that's focused on loot grinding." Naofumi bobs his head along, trying to recall all the details his brother told him. "It's also about a fantasy setting where portals open up to different other worlds, and monsters come out of them. And the seasonal events are called 'Waves'. You play the role of a summoner, who holds rituals to summon and leads heroines from other worlds to fight back at the waves."

The Shield Hero looks up at the sky for a moment. "There were even four archetypes of the 'Heroine' character for your team, which seems to fit the four of us. Attackers who have strong damage abilities use swords and axes, Defenders who use party buffs use shields and hammers, Hexers who debuff enemies use bows and guns, and finally Healers who restore character's health use spears and staves."

"Ah. There you go. Although the idea of Kitamura being the supposed healer is... very worrisome." Amaki nods his head, looking obviously satisfied despite his face largely remaining frozen. "Smartphone app games were missing from the three games we already talked about, so this makes sense. I don't like them, since there's no skill involved. But they can be wildly popular with casual people."

"Isn't it a big jump in logic to assume we are all dead, and we are living in some kind of afterlife? Just because all four of us have a game in our world that's similar to this world?"

"Is it more unbelievable than this fantasy alternate world happens to summon all four of us, just as we are about to die, and the ritual healed us back to perfect health?" The Sword Hero crosses his arms again as he looks down at Naofumi.

Naofumi has to admit Amaki does raise a good point. Although he doesn't want to believe this theory. Not because he doesn't want to face the possible fact he is dead, but to think everyone he met in this world so far is some kind of... his own figment of imagination?

That would dismiss the people of Lute, fighting hard for their survival in the Waves. His former slave companions, who helped him fight monsters despite their own trauma and problems. Uncle Elhard, the smithy from the capital who let him wear the set of armor in the Wave without payment. And of course ... his first companion, his partner Mein. Who is obviously hiding a lot of things from him, yet stuck him through thick and thin so far even after her injury.

More than the possibility of facing his own death, Naofumi doesn't want to believe those people are imaginary. They all feel like real people to him.

Amaki rambles on some more 'evidence' that supports his theory. Naofumi on the other hand opened up his status menu to check the development tree for his Legendary Shield. He's gotten quite good at pretending to listen to other people while doing his own things over the years.

If Amaki was right, that this world IS some kind of afterlife powered by his own imagination, maybe he should have some kind of control over it. Perhaps his Legendary Shield would work just like the weapons from Heroine Princess Project's weapon loot?

Obviously the party systems work differently, since Heroine Princess Project uses base five instead of base six. And this world doesn't have summoned eidolons in addition to weapons. But Heroine Princess Project's weapon rarity system and limit break system should translate right into his Legendary Shield system.

The Shield Hero ends up letting out a gasp. Right in his eyes, every Shield he unlocked has a big icon with giant letters such as 'N', 'R', 'SR' in the corner. He is missing an 'SSR' grade, and so far his only 'SR' ranked shield is the Chimera Viper Shield, but it's clear they are the rarity system from a gacha game. And if that's only a coincidence to gacha games in general, the four hollowed out stars under each Shield indicating they can be further enhanced through limit breaks are taken straight out of the Heroine Princess Project.

Naofumi starts to lose his peripheral vision as he focuses on his menu. His breath becomes ragged. Could Amaki actually be right? Maybe he (I) IS (I) dead, and this world is all in his imagination!

"Will you stop gasping!" Amaki's more than annoyed yell brings Naofumi back to the real world again. "So I cut myself a couple of times to test the rest healing system. It's not that big a deal. It's not like I do it for no reason, like those chronically self-harmers."

"You cut yourself." Naofumi repeats back after the much younger hero.

He feels more incredulous than the level of his voice or tone implies. But after facing the fact he might be already dead, Naofumi no longer has the energy to make a big deal over discovering the Sword Hero's self harm actions.

"Well, yes. Sleep heals HP back to full is a common video game trope, right? But how does that mechanic work even if we are summoned into a fantasy world? I can accept there's healing spells, or potions to magically heal your wounds. But can anyone heal their wound through sleep?"

A gust of wind blows through them, making Naofumi's stiff shoulders jump up.

Amaki throws his arms up over his head, completely unaware he looks like a lunatic. "The only way for me to test this theory is if of course, have someone with a fresh wound before they go to sleep. It's not like I can go up to one of my companions and cut them up, imagined or not. So, causing damage to myself before sleep is the only logical solution, and obviously I'm not going to run my sword through my body. I don't want to test if we can also die for good in the afterlife."

What unnerves Naofumi most is about this situation, is how nonchalantly Amaki talks about the action of self-harm. Like he's chatting weather with someone he met on the street. "No, no. That's... that's not what I call a 'logical' solution. But I can see where you are coming from."

Naofumi hasn't paid much attention to his fellow heroes with all the political machination, and hidden religious doctrines going on around him. Now, he thinks back on Kitamura's childish naivety. Kawasumi flies into a temper tantrum spontaneously. And now Amaki shows his stunted emotional reaction to something that would scare most people.

There's something deeply wrong with all three of them.

Because they remind Naofumi of himself, back when he decided to stay in Tokyo instead of going to Hokkaido with his only friend Yuugo.

Naofumi slowly edges away from his makeshift rock seat. "Say, if I do believe you. We are all dead, and we are stuck in this ... some kind of afterlife. What are we going to do?"

"Well, I don't know about you guys. But I'm going to see it through. Isn't there some kind of theory that super supernatural things like ghosts are caused by people's lingering regret? What if the reason we are stuck in this afterlife is because we all have some kind of regret when we live? I don't know about you, but Kitamura got stabbed to death by his girlfriends, Itsuki was bullied throughout his life. And I... well, I have my own regrets."

Amaki's eyes start to twinkle, not entirely unlike Kawasumi when he's riding on one of his more psychotic moments. "At first, I thought this is some kind of video game paradise for saving my friend's life. But after what happened to you, I know this world is no paradise. I'm still going to see it through."

"I see... that makes sense. I guess." Naofumi looks away, not wanting to think about the implication of Amaki's word. Could Mein's existence truly be some kind of psychological manifestation of his regret in not following Yuugo to the Agriculture school? He moves the iron buckler to his Shield. If the mechanic is the same as the Heroine Princess Project, feeding an identical piece of equipment should unlock an additional rank for the weapon, indicated by the star.

And just as the game, his Legendary Shield absorbs the iron buckler. The N ranked form suddenly has one golden star and three hollowed out stars, instead of all four being hollowed out.

"What are you doing with my iron buckler?"

"AH! Sorry!" Naofumi jumps up from his rocky seat. In his haste trying to take his mind off the heavier subject, he forgot the piece of equipment didn't belong to him. "I was testing the mechanic. I'll pay you back."

"Forget it." Amaki waves his hand at the older hero. "It's not like anyone in my party was using it. I was carrying it around because I thought it'll make a good demonstration for you. With the king's attitude... you are going to be the one most hurt for money."

"Well, I don't plan to get more funds from him, if that's what you are worried about. I'm going to get a carriage, and start to make my own money selling potions and whatever else I can."

"Right, your skill tree was focused on item manufacturing. That's fortunate." Amaki cocks his head sideways, probably the most human reaction he had so far this night. He looks up at the sky after a short pause. "Well, I better go back to the castle. The king expects me to wake up early tomorrow to learn how to cast magic. Doesn't want him to know I'm onto him and the church."

"That's for the best. I'll have to go back to Lute too. Stay safe out there." Naofumi nods back to the younger hero. They split up again, leaving only the shadow under the pale moonlight as the sole witness of their meeting.

End Note:

So, Naofumi gets his own Legendary Weapon fortification method in this story. And for anyone in the know, yes, Eiyuu Hime Project is roughly based on real life smartphone/browser gacha game Kamihime Project which I been playing almost since its launch.

And this chapter reveals all three legendary stooges are psychologically troubled, if not flat out damaged even before their summon in my story. I don't think that's the author's original intention, but with how insistent they are at rejecting what's been happening around them to fit into their video game narrative, it comes off to me as they are more psychologically troubled than simply incompetent. Because there's only so far a character can act like an idiot before it becomes flat out ridiculous.

For Ren's case especially, since without spoiling too much of the side story, there is one part in Reprisal of the Spear Hero where Ren is portrayed as perceptive and intelligent as Naofumi at his finest moment. That makes him insisting he's in a video game for the main story comes off very eyebrow rising.

Onto the guest reviews.

To Night:

I'm glad you enjoyed the different perspective from the Interlude/Omake! Although for a Melty POV chapter... I have to admit I'm not really planning one for her. Mostly because she's not exactly a very complex character on account of her being both young, and kind of grow up sheltered. I'll see what happens as the story continues. While I planned out most of the arcs all the way to the end of the Three Heroes Church saga, there's always possibility where I shift some plot around or add a few mini-arcs when I think they help flesh out the world or character.

To Redeemer:

Well... I think my response to Night unintentionally answers your question about Melty.

:P

Of course, you'll have to wait and see what would actually happen when the sisters do meet together.

To Gunsword:

Glad you enjoyed the story so far, and my alternate take on the Queen's character. On the Easter Egg's character... I try my best to not have too much of them when it's Naofumi's POV, although there are times where he DOES make 4th wall commentaries about the franchise we would know.

And for the Easter Egg OCs, they do have another reason to exist in this story aside from my pop culture reference fetish. I am cheating a bit on those otherwise would-be original character by making them Easter Egg reference to other franchise, and inviting the readers to bring their prior knowledge of those characters into this story. The reference essentially serves as a narrative shorthand to tell the readers in the know what kind of role they are supposed to serve in this story, before I either play it straight or subvert it. It's something I can only get away with as non-profit fanfictions.

:P

To Gorbad Ironclaw:

Well, I wouldn't say Malty foiled the Queen's scheme backfiring. It's more of a case she foiled her father's scheme, and cuckolded her mother's scheme before it even got off the ground.

As for the Mountain that Rides... well, I'd say Charles Dance wouldn't send him, considering the Mountain's skill set does not really suit the possible goal. Probably some Unspeakables (if you remember, that's the Faubley's equivalent to the Melromarc Shadow for my story) who are in his pocket.

To Giuseppe:

Thank you very much for your kind words! GoT is definitely a major source of inspiration for my story, if Malty's constant mention of the Game of Throne isn't a clear enough message.

:P

I honestly think RotSH's extremely cynical and jaded world is better suited for a complex political drama, than the generic Isekai adventure story canon told. A world that went through so many calamities and hero summoning, the world leaders start to see the summoned heroes more as a bragging right/war resource to exploit than their saviors? Now, that's an interesting concept.

Granted, I'm nowhere near as talented as GRR Martin. Pretty sure D&D has more talent than me. But I still like to take a crack at the idea of a GoT Rising of the Shield Hero. Who knows? Maybe my story would indirectly prompt someone with better talent to write a similar but better story set in this world?

To Astawrath:

I can definitely understand your sense of trepidation! Especially since I don't stop myself from running my mouth in my author's note on my opinions about canon Rising (and they are very unflattering). It's very easy to associate my personal distaste towards the queen's canonical portrayal to me intentionally go out my way to bash her as a character for my story. I mean... technically it's not wrong to categorize what I did with the Queen's character as 'character bashing'.

Another reviewer from before did point out on how the Queen's action in canon was somewhat inconsistent, which makes her comes off as less than competent than the narration. And they were curious if I would make her action be more in line with the author's narration. I obviously went the opposite way, where I intentionally kept her inconsistent action for my story, and use this to push a narrative where she's not as smart as canon author wanted to portray. I don't dispute the reason I went down this direction is due to my distaste towards her canon portrayal.

That being said... I did intentionally hide both her motivation for disliking her elder daughter, and her own past aside from some clues I left in the chapter. Which yes, will play a bigger role in later reveals. Of course, while I think I am giving her more character depth, ultimately it's up to individual readers to determine if this is done successfully, or just made her character even worse.

The Faubley King is human, the 'pig king' moniker is just a derogatory used by others similar to Mikage known as the 'King of Rape'. Sorry about the confusion, I should have made that clear in a story where beast human is canonical.

To Guest(s):

Well, considering I'm definitely taking more inspiration from GoT than RotSH when it comes down to portraying the native nobles... Iris Amelia is definitely going to play a fairly big role for an Easter Egg OC. And yeah, birdy is Firo in my story. Since I'm one of the few people in this fandom who actually hold WN on a (slightly) higher regard than LN, or rather, than manga.

Trying to re-imagine Malty as a real person, instead of the comically one-note mustache twirling villain without completely change her into a different character is definitely one of my major goal for this story. Glad you liked my attempt, and I hope you had a good time with this story.