I was led up the
spiral staircase just like in Melromarc tower and into a high room with an impressive
view over the country.
The other heroes
were already there, sitting around a table and waiting for my arrival.
“So you finally
showed up, eh?” the Sword Hero, Ren Amaki, blurted out.
He was a
16-year-old swordsman that liked to dress in black.
His hair was
cropped short, and his face—or actually his whole aura—gave off an intelligent,
cool, and collected sort of vibe.
If you ask me, he
faked it all. He just wanted people to think he was cool.
For example, I’d
just recently found out that he didn’t know how to swim and was terrified of
the water. So my guess was that he just tried to keep his pathetic side hidden.
He had been
summoned from an alternate version of Japan, just like me.
In Ren’s Japan,
they had a type of game called “VRMMO,” which apparently was a combination of
virtual reality and internet gaming. He’d explained that the players could
completely immerse themselves in an online world. I sort of thought that maybe
he had just come from my Japan, only in the future.
From the interactions
we’d had, I gathered that he was able to exercise some degree of common sense.
Still, I only say that in comparison to the other heroes.
“Where have you
been?” demanded Itsuki Kawasumi, the Bow Hero.
He had naturally
curly hair and looked like a sensitive, artistic type of guy.
In reality he had
an overactive sense of justice and was pretty hot-tempered.
His favorite thing
to do was to travel around the country in disguise, hunting down bad guys and
making sure they were properly punished.
He liked to
exercise his authority as a hero to right the wrongs of the world.
He was like a
famous general commander character from a period drama.
From where I stood,
he just looked like an arrogant prick—but I couldn’t deny that some unfortunate
people had benefited from his self-righteousness.
The problem was
that his party members worshiped him with religious fervor, which naturally
only fueled his arrogance more.
Knowing that they
basically worshiped the ground he walked on, Itsuki himself made no effort to
change their behavior. That’s another thing about him that rubbed me the wrong
way.
“I bet you were out
picking up chicks, weren’t you? They probably threw themselves at you after
that last battle,” chimed in Motoyasu Kitamura, the Spear Hero.
“Is that all you
think about?”
“Motoyasu, let it
go this time.”
“Yeah, we’re all
tired of your shtick.”
Motoyasu was the
most handsome of us four heroes. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail. I
guess you called it a ponytail?
I’m a guy, but I
can admit that he was pretty good-looking. He looked pretty easy-going, not
uptight at all.
If you were just
going to hang out normally, then I guess he was fine. I mean you probably
wouldn’t hate him or anything.
He sure was
stubborn though. Once he decided what he believed, nothing would change his
mind.
Apparently he was
supposed to be the most loyal of the heroes. That was true in a way, but he was
also an idiot that never doubted his “friends.”
He was also a
full-time womanizer. Whenever he had a second to spare, you could bet he’d use
it to hit on a girl.
He’d hit on both
Raphtalia and Filo the first time he met them.
I’d heard that he
was walking around Cal Mira hitting on girls too. I didn’t doubt it for a
second.
The bitch that
framed me was one of his party members, so of course he believed her
completely. To this day, he still thought that I tried to rape her. But lately
the queen had forced Bitch to show her true colors time and time again, and it
seemed like even Motoyasu was starting to take notice.
All three of the
other heroes had been summoned from alternate versions of Japan, and all three
of them had played games that very closely resembled the world we now found
ourselves in.
Ren had played a
game called Brave Star Online, through the VRMMO system that was used in his
world.
Itsuki had played a
game called Dimension Wave, which he has said was a console game.
Motoyasu’s game had
been called Emerald Online, and it was an MMO.
But I had never
played a game resembling this world; I had read about it in a book called The Records of the Four Holy Weapons. We’d all learned about
this world in different ways, but what that meant was still a complete mystery.
“I was just
watching the ocean from the beach.”
I took a seat.
“Yeah, well. The
storm is still raging out there, so we can’t leave yet.”
“I guess we could
use the time to level up and collect drop items? Any other ideas?”
“Not really.”
At least they
seemed to understand that we were stuck on the island for the time being.
“So? What’s the
meeting for?”
“Don’t you know?”
The reason we’d all
been called to the meeting was obvious.
I’ll just be blunt
about it: the other heroes were too weak to be of any use.
When the battle
with L’Arc and the others began, L’Arc had used a single restraining move against
them to keep them from interfering. He’d only had to use it once. The three of
them all fell instantly and stayed out for the remainder of the fight.
It had been some
kind of lightning-themed combo skill, I think.
They were hit by
the attack once and were instantly paralyzed for the whole battle.
Luckily, L’Arc had
never intended to kill them. It had been the sort of attack that you often see
in anime or manga—the sort intended to knock someone out without causing any
permanent damage or threatening their lives.
If they were so
weak that they were knocked out of battle by a single hit, then they were never
going to stand a chance of victory.
L’Arc and Therese
were both very powerful. I had spent a long time leveling and powering up, and
I really thought that the attacks they were using were strong enough to kill
me.
I had used a shield
with a very high defense rating in the battle. It had skills that had enabled
me to keep L’Arc in place. I blocked his attacks and prevented him from dodging
ours while Raphtalia and Filo kept up the offensive.
But L’Arc and
Therese had plenty of cards up their sleeves.
For example, just
when I thought that I had him cornered, L’Arc’s scythe started to glow. He
brushed my shoulder with the tip.
I had a really high
defense rating, and I’d been able to withstand L’Arc’s attacks up until that
point, but not that attack. That one had really hurt.
Luckily, it hadn’t
been enough to knock me out of the battle, but he’d found an attack that was
extremely effective against me. You might say he’d found my weak point and gone
straight for it.
It was the type of
attack that turned my defense rating into a liability—a defense rating attack.
It worked by
dealing damage based on your defense rating. The higher your defense, the more
damage you would take. It was a very rare sort of attack, but I’d seen it
before in a game.
This whole world
seemed to operate just like a game, so I’d realized that it was a possibility
that such an attack might exist. Still, I certainly hadn’t expected to get hit
with it right in the middle of a life-or-death battle.
For a shielder like
myself, whose greatest strength is their defense rating, an attack like that
can be fatal.
There was another
problem. I could have switched to a shield with a lower defense rating as a way
to get around the defense rating attack, but then I wouldn’t have had a strong
enough defense rating to survive their normal attacks.
He really had found
the most effective means of fighting against us. For a moment, I thought we
were done for.
Then I realized
that I could use skills that I had, like air strike shield and shooting star
shield, to prevent their attacks from reaching me. That would make their
attacks completely ineffective. Still, the existence of their defense rating
attacks turned the tide of the battle, and we were put on the defensive.
For the most part,
I could use my skills to defend myself. But then I was left with no way to deal
any damage to them.
Even if I teamed up
with Raphtalia and Filo to get some attacks in, L’Arc still had Therese on his
side. I couldn’t figure out what to do, but then things got even worse.
Glass showed up
right in the middle of the battle.
Glass also had an
attack that was very effective against me, though for the opposite reason. She
had a defense rating ignoring attack.
Both L’Arc’s
defense rating attack and Glass’s defense ignoring attack were very effective
against me. With both of them there, it felt like there was no need for the
Shield Hero to participate in the battle at all.
Just when things
were looking their worst, we put up an impressive fight and were able to beat
the three of them back.
Glass was exhausted
and depleted of energy, and it looked like we might win. But then L’Arc pulled
out a bottle of soul-healing water and dumped it all over Glass, immediately
restoring all of her SP.
I don’t even want
to remember what happened after that.
I’d been able to
withstand all attacks aside from the defense rating and defense ignoring
attacks, but the newly-restored Glass came flying at me with new attacks that
were now much more powerful than I was capable of defending against.
Her attacks were
unbelievably fast and strong.
They were so quick
that Raphtalia and Filo, despite all the leveling up we’d done, weren’t able to
follow them at all.
And then, for
whatever reason, Glass and the others just retreated. The battle was put on
hold.
I’d like to call it
a draw, but it wasn’t really like that. We weren’t going to be able to defeat
them, and they ran away for some other reason.
If we ran into them
again, we would probably lose.
Which brings me to
the main problem. If the other heroes were so weak that L’Arc had been able to
defeat them in one fell swoop, what would have happened if they’d been
challenged by Glass?
The answer was as
clear as day. They’d all be dead in a second.
I’d heard that if
the heroes died, the waves of destruction would grow stronger. If I could do
anything to avoid that outcome, I had to do it.
Besides, if the
other heroes could start to manage for themselves, then the burden of fighting
Glass and the others wouldn’t fall solely on my shoulders.
I looked over at
the queen and she nodded in response.
“Very well, let us
begin the second meeting of the heroes. I, Milleria Q. Melromarc, will moderate
the discussion.”
All three of them
reclined dramatically.
“Discussion, eh?”
“What’s left to
discuss?”
“Naofumi’s the only
one here who hasn’t been forthcoming.”
I was already
getting irritated with them.
“I’ve already told
you this, haven’t I? You were all correct about the power-up methods. All I did
was what you three taught me to do. That was how I became strong enough to
battle through the last wave.”
We’d already had a
meeting like this once, before we’d all come to the islands. We’d talked about
the various ways to power-up our stats and weapons.
Our weapons had
special abilities and power-up methods that weren’t available to other
adventurers. That was why the heroes could become stronger than other people.
But when they all
started talking about the power-up systems they used, it turned out there was
very little overlap. Each one of them had a completely different idea about how
it worked. The “meeting” devolved into name-calling and stubborn insistence on
their own methods and ended up being called off before we came to any sort of
consensus.
But afterwards I
tried each of the methods they’d detailed using my shield, and it turned out
that they had all been correct.
Melromarc used
shadows to deliver messages, so I sent them all what I’d discovered. They
refused to believe me. In the end none of them were powerful enough to be of
any use during the wave of destruction.
There was a catch
though. The power-up methods I discovered only worked if you truly believed
that they were going to work.
If you held on to
any lingering doubts when you tried them, the weapon wouldn’t respond.
Our weapons, it
seemed, were able to turn our emotions into power. If you didn’t believe in the
power-up method that another hero explained, the icon that enabled it wouldn’t
even appear in your menu.
“There you go—lying
again! Isn’t it obvious that Naofumi just found a way to cheat the system? Just
fess up already!”
“Yeah! You cheater!
You better stop lying to us!”
“You haven’t even
told us about the power-up methods that you use! What a coward! Did you do all
this just to ruin Whore’s life?”
They were so
ridiculous it was hard to stay mad at them. They were too stupid to merit any
real anger.
“So you decided not
to believe all the things I’ve already told you, and you keep insisting that I
cheated to get ahead? Is that it?”
All three of them
nodded in unison.
“And besides! Your
party members have also powered-up! It’s unbelievable! You expect us to believe
that all that is because of your shield?!”
“I already told you
how that works. Raphtalia and Filo both level up faster than normal because of
maturation adjustment skills that I unlocked. I also told you that when we
finally participated in the class up ceremony, Filo’s cowlick responded and
some kind of special class up occurred.”
“It’s true. I was
there to witness it,” the queen explained. “From what I saw, that is exactly
what happened. Something unique occurred when Filo and Raphtalia underwent the
ceremony, and it seems to have affected the extent to which their abilities
improved.”
The queen had just
confirmed by story, but the three heroes continued to glare at me suspiciously.
Why did I have to be interrogated?
“Look, guys. Have
you ever thought about this from my perspective?”
“What?”
“Why would I want
to do that?”
“I have. I wanted
to figure out how you discovered this cheating method. We need to know that.”
They were
impossible to talk to, but that didn’t change the fact that I needed them to be
stronger than they were.
It wasn’t
necessarily that I thought I was the best, but during the last battle I’d
realized—painfully—just how serious of a predicament we were really in.
“Just think about
this. I can’t attack. All I can do is defend, right? So how do I benefit from
cheating to get more powerful than the rest of you?”
“Well.”
The three of them
looked around the room and at each other. They appeared to be at a loss for
words. They must have been desperately trying to think of something that would
sound reasonable.
“But you DO have a
way to attack!”
Itsuki leapt to his
feet and jabbed his finger at me.
Was that his
burning sense of justice coming to the rescue? Nothing was more irritating than
a self-righteous idiot.
“Are you talking
about iron maiden and blood sacrifice?”
“Yes! You have
those two powerful attacks, so that should give you a reason to want to pull
ahead of the rest of us!”
I really didn’t
have very many ways to go on the offensive.
One of them was a
counter effect that my shield had. It could respond to an attack from an enemy
with a counter attack of its own.
So I could use a
shield with spikes all over it and that would hurt an enemy if they punched it.
But did that really count as an offensive attack?
It was strictly a
passive way to do damage.
Then there were the
two skills that Itsuki had mentioned: iron maiden and blood sacrifice. Those
skills were only accessible when I was using a cursed shield, the Shield of
Wrath.
But both of those
skills came with problems of their own.
I sighed heavily
and turned to answer Itsuki’s accusation.
“Iron maiden works
by first using shield prison to enclose the enemy, then using change shield
(attack) to activate iron maiden. Doing so uses all of my SP. You have broken
through that attack once yourself, so you should realize there is a serious
flaw in the attack.”
“Is there?”
I was so irritated
with them I could hardly think straight.
Ren tapped his chin
with a fingertip, apparently deep in thought. Motoyasu just went on glaring at
me.
Finally, reaching a
conclusion, Ren opened his mouth.
“The preparations
for the attack take too long.”
“Exactly. If the
enemy breaks through the shield prison, then I can’t continue with the
sequence. Of course I could just try to use the skills as quickly as possible,
but that doesn’t do away with this fundamental flaw.”
So using iron
maiden required a long and elaborate set up on my end of things, which made it
easy enough for an attentive enemy to break the sequence.
“You’ve broken that
skill sequence yourselves. You should know this.”
Even if I were able
to run the whole skill sequence, it wouldn’t work if the enemy were able to
break the shield prison and escape—or worse, if the enemy just broke the iron
maiden itself.
The iron maiden
didn’t move very quickly, so if another enemy scored a direct hit against it,
it was always possible to break the attack.
“Then what about
blood sacrifice?!”
“Have you already
forgotten? When I use that I have to bear the brunt of an essentially fatal
attack. If I survive it, then I end up with a curse
that drops my stats by a full 30 percent.”
By the time the
wave of destruction was actually bearing down on Cal Mira, I’d managed to
recover most of my stats, but it wasn’t like I could just push myself to the
brink of death every time I got in a fight. The recovery was taxing and took a
long time.
“Those are the only
methods of attack available I’ve got, both of which are burdensome and ask way
too much of me in payment. Even the Shield of Wrath comes with its issues. I
can’t just use it whenever I want, you know?”
The shield was
cursed. Using it eroded my very soul.
“But there were
others, too! What about that attack that throws black flames everywhere?!”
“That’s only a
counter attack. And that skill is tied to the Shield of Wrath, so I can’t just
use it whenever I feel like it.”
Every time I used
the shield it had an effect on me. It felt like I was going to be swallowed by
rage and misery.
So every attack I
was capable of using on my own was tied to the cursed shield series. There was
no proper method of attack open to me.
If they wanted to
call that cheating, fine. They could call it whatever they liked.
But they were
missing the point. The actual problem had yet to be addressed.
It was like they
bought a game but skipped the tutorial and didn’t read the instruction manual.
Then when they realized that a method they knew from another game worked, they
stuck with it and never bothered to check to see if there was a better way.
They were the worst kind of gamers.
They weren’t using
the right power-up method, so it only made sense that their progress would
bottom out halfway through.
“Besides, the
Shield of Wrath seems to have its own power-up method that I don’t understand.
None of your methods work on it, and I can’t get it to unlock any other
skills.”
As for the Shield
of Wrath, whether it’s iron maiden or blood sacrifice, it seemed like nothing I
did would unlock any additional abilities.
“Do you get it yet?
I really don’t have any proper attack abilities of my own.”
“Liar!”
Motoyasu screamed
at me. I didn’t see any other way to make them understand, so I stood up,
walked over to him, and punched him in the face.
I slowly pulled my
fist back and then returned to my seat.
Motoyasu looked
like he couldn’t believe what just happened. He was holding his cheek.
It hadn’t hurt him
at all, I could tell. That was exactly what I was trying to tell them.
“Do you get it now?
It seems like you all think I’ve somehow weaseled my way into an enormous
amount of power, but don’t you see? No matter how high my defense stat grows,
my attack stays the same. I’m never going to be able to attack.”
Motoyasu hadn’t
taken any damage.
“Now, if you wanted to try attacking me
yourselves, I might be able to make you regret that. Want to try?”
Finally, I got what
I’d longed for all this time: all three of them shut up.
Still, they were
looking at me as though they couldn’t process what had just happened.
“It doesn’t matter
how far ahead of you three I get. It doesn’t help me at all. If only one of you
had managed to power-up the way that I have, don’t you think that battle on the
sea would have turned out differently?”
I already explained
this, but the three of them were knocked out right along with the other
adventurers and knights by L’Arc and Therese’s combo skill at the start of our
battle. They just stayed unconscious for the entire fight.
“You all like to
call this sort of thing a losing event, like we were never supposed to win it.
How many losing events do you think happen in a row?”
“Dammit ...”
Ren murmured to
himself, annoyed.
Itsuki and
Motoyasu’s hands were curled into fists.
“You all need to
get it through your heads. L’Arc . . . L’Arc Berg, Therese, and Glass came here
specifically to kill the heroes. Luckily for you, they thought I was the only
real hero, so they focused on trying to kill me. If they figure out who you
really are, they’ll come after you next.”
And then what would
happen? I actually already knew the answer.
Fitoria, the queen
of the filolials, had told me.
“I heard that the
waves get stronger if a hero dies.”
If one of them died
in battle, it would only make my life harder.
I couldn’t afford
to let that happen.
“If that’s the
situation that we are in, how do I stand to benefit from overpowering you
three?”
“Obviously, you
want to be stronger than us so that you can claim to be a real
hero! You want all the glory for yourself!”
“Give me a break.”
Itsuki was getting
dumber and dumber.
“I cannot believe
the words of a man who strives for nothing other than his own
self-satisfaction!”
“Stop making stuff
up and then believing it!”
I could have said
the same thing to myself, but it was still true. Deciding things in haste will
only make your life harder in the long run.
That’s why I
decided to believe in my friends as much as I could.
If I didn’t, then
I’d never make it out of this alive.
Of course, I still
have a healthy amount of skepticism, but I’ve realized that if you doubt
everything, you’ll never get anywhere.
“‘You aren’t the
protagonist of this story.’ That’s what you said when Bitch framed me. Isn’t
that right, Motoyasu?”
Motoyasu had been
agreeing with Itsuki, so I addressed him.
“Think about where
we find ourselves and tell me, who’s the protagonist here? Ren, you think about
it too. One of us is trying to get everyone together to fight against the waves
of destruction while the other heroes just sit around and call him a cheater.
Who do you think is the protagonist of this story?”
It looked like I
finally struck a nerve. All three of them cast their eyes down at the table.
I don’t think I
ever said that I wanted to compete for protagonist status. All I wanted to say
was that we needed to be realistic about how to deal with the problems we were
facing.
“If you think I’m
cheating, fine. I’ll tell you how I did it. I actually used the power-up
methods that you taught me. There! That’s all!”
“...”
They all continued
to sit there in silence.
“You know what I
really want? I’d like to be able to fight for myself a little. Sure, Raphtalia
and Filo are both really strong, but at the end of the day that’s still only
two people. If I want to have some more offensive power, isn’t it ideal to team
up with you three? You are the heroes, after all.”
It felt wrong just
saying it. I could hardly imagine having to team up with them.
“You know, it kind
of seems like you are condescending to us, even though we’re doing all we can
to become as powerful as we can.”
I sighed.
I really couldn’t
stand listening to them talk.
“Ren, you just said
that I wouldn’t be forgiven. Whose forgiveness did you think I needed?”
“...”
Well, he clearly thought
highly of himself.
He was acting like
a server administrator or something.
“You idiot. Who do
you think needs to be doing the forgiving here?”
He cast his eyes
noncommittally at the tabletop.
Had he just
realized how ridiculous he sounded? Had he just let himself get emotional for a
second?
“Just how powerful
do you think you are? Give me a reason to listen to the dribble you speak.
Should I assume that you still have some secrets you haven’t shared?”
He sighed and
looked away.
I guess he hadn’t been
serious. He’d just let his emotion slip for a second.
I’d met people like
him before.
It was like you
were playing an online game and came across someone with a rare, powerful
weapon. Because they had the weapon they were able to fight monsters and bosses
that would normally be inaccessible to someone of their level. People would see
that and think they were cheating, so they would run to tell the
administrators.
I knew about it
because I used to be the manager of a pretty big guild. We had a stash of rare
items reserved for anyone that aligned with us.
“It’s time to open
your eyes. I’ve been telling you the truth this whole time. I know it sounds
sentimental, but it’s true—you have to believe in the system to make it work.
Belief is our power.”
“You like this? Do
you like sitting there and lecturing us?”
They never let up,
did they?
I glared at them.
“You’re weak enough
to warrant a lecture or two. Stop acting like weaklings. Playtime is over.”
I figured they
would respond to the taunt, so I tried to push them into considering the
conversation more seriously.
“What?!”
“I refuse to speak
with you further!”
“You coward!”
They all jumped to
their feet and started shouting in unison.
Then the queen used
her magic to form a massive ball of ice and dropped in on the center of the
table. It was very loud and heavy.
“Control
yourselves! Is this any time for infighting?”
“Whatever. Why
should we listen to someone who would team up with a cheater?”
Ren glared angrily
and the floor, and the queen seemed to have had enough.
“My country will do
all it can to help you heroes become as powerful as necessary to battle the
waves. Please regain your senses.”
It was really
unbelievable. How long were they going keep this temper tantrum up?
I sympathized with
the queen.
“Let’s set your
various power-up methods aside for the moment. I’d like to discuss the enemies
we encountered during the last wave.”
“Good idea. Maybe
one of you encountered characters like them in the games you’d played back in
your own worlds.”
The book I’d
started reading at the library, the Records of the Four Holy
Weapons , hadn’t contained any information regarding the true nature of
the waves—which rendered it pretty much useless in this situation.
But the other
heroes might have known something that I didn’t.
“So tell us. Have
you ever run into anything like those three in one of your games?”
“No.”
“Me neither. That
man fought with a giant scythe. I’ve never met a character that fought with a
weapon like that.”
“Yeah. I’ve heard
of them before but never seen one. They’re pretty minor as far as weapons go.”
L’Arc had used a
scythe. I couldn’t argue with how strange that had seemed at first.
“Why don’t you tell
us about them? It seemed like you got to know them pretty well before the wave
came.”
“After you three
took over all the rooms on the ship to Cal Mira, we got stuck with the bill and
had to share a room with those two. We got to talking and agreed to spend one
day on the islands leveling together.”
“So you didn’t know
them very well?”
“No.”
“When you were
leveling with them, did anything seem . . . strange?”
“Actually, yes.
L’Arc’s giant scythe acted like our legendary weapons do. He was able to absorb
monsters and items into it.”
“Didn’t you think
that was odd at the time?”
How was I supposed
to know what was normal in this world?
The other three
were supposed to understand how everything worked, and yet little things
surprised them all the time.
Had they been in my
position, I’m sure they would have done the same thing I did, which was to ignore
the mystery until it became a problem.
“I don’t know much
about how things work in this world. I thought it was weird though, so I asked
him about it. He acted like it was a relatively normal thing, so I didn’t press
the issue.”
“Is that true?”
Itsuki asked the queen.
“No. Only the
heroes wield weapons with those properties.”
“Is there any other
type of weapon that might mimic the actions of the legendary weapons?”
“No. I’ve never
heard of weapons that can appear to absorb monsters and produce their dropped
items.”
Hmm. So apparently
L’Arc and the others had thought it was normal, but they were using weapons of
a sort that don’t exist in this world.
“Their weapons
sound very strange indeed.”
“I agree. There are
only supposed to be four holy weapons, so where would they have gotten a scythe
like that?”
“You mean you
haven’t heard of the other seven legendary weapons?”
“What?” the three
heroes all shouted in surprise.
“There are other
weapons? Does that mean that there are other heroes too?”
Why were there
constantly new, and potential major, bits of information being dropped on us
like this? It was exhausting to keep up with it all.
I’d never heard of
anything like that!
“Allow me to
explain.”
The queen’s eyes
sparkled. Based on the way her eyes lit up when I told her about the filolial
queen, I figured she was probably excited by legends. Melty had once told me
that the queen used to travel around the country looking for ancient relics.
“The most famous
legend in these lands involves the four holy heroes, but there is another
famous legend about the seven star heroes.”
“Seven star
heroes?”
“Yes. Just like the
four holy heroes, there are seven other heroes that each carry a special
legendary weapon.”
There were seven of them?
If all of these
weapons were different types of weapons, then this world was even more like a
game than I’d come to expect.
In RPGs you’d often
meet characters in the latter half of the game that would use different
weapons, weapons you would eventually have a need for.
But judging by the
other heroes I’d met since I arrived here, I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet any
more.
I’d yet to meet a
single decent one.
“Trash and the
church made a real mess out of my country. But Melromarc abandoned any attempt
to claim partial ownership over the seven star heroes long ago. We may have
shut our eyes and ears to some of the particulars since then.”
“Whoa ...”
“The seven star
heroes and the four holy heroes are intimately connected, as they are both
known as legendary heroes ...”
They went on explaining
the legend for a while.
“So there are seven
other heroes that were summoned here just like we were?”
“There are that
many people from other worlds here?”
“Sounds like a
better deal than only having four people in charge of saving the whole world.”
The other heroes
looked away when I said that.
“Not exactly.”
“No?”
“The seven star
heroes are often looked upon with admiration by normal adventurers. There are
seven star heroes that are summoned to this world, but it is also possible for
a normal adventurer to become one.”
So you didn’t have
to be summoned to become a seven star hero. People from this world had become
heroes in the past?
I guess there were
some reasonable people to choose from. Maybe.
If they were
choosing new heroes, I’m sure they would try to pick people who were actually
heroic, right?
“The weapons are
used in a summoning ceremony. But in the event that the summoning fails, the
weapon itself will be available for use by anyone until a chosen hero appears.”
“Something like the
sword in the stone?”
“Not exactly,
because the sword is one of the four holy heroes’ weapons. But in concept,
yes—the weapon is there for whoever can claim it.”
I was starting to
understand what she was getting at. Anyone with the ability to wield the weapon
had the opportunity to try and do so.
Then, if they were
chosen as a hero, they would become physically more powerful, and the
politicians would rally behind them too. Any adventurer in their right mind
would love the idea.
“Additionally,
there are more of these heroes than there are holy heroes. Whenever conflict
breaks out, there is a chance that they will appear.”
“Oh ...”
“When the waves
came, the majority of the seven star heroes were appointed.”
“That just proves
how dangerous the waves really are, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
She was saying that
the upper class was considering the global problems that everyone faced.
“So? Does one of
the seven star heroes use a scythe?”
“Unfortunately
not.”
“Oh ...”
“As you may have
surmised, those three individuals have only introduced more mysteries into the
mix.”
So it sounded like,
as far as this world was concerned, only heroes could use weapons in the way
that L’Arc had been able to use his scythe.
But he’d acted as
though it was just an everyday kind of thing.
“That reminds me.
L’Arc said that ‘I needed to die for the sake of our world.’ It sounds to me
like they might be from another world too.”
“What could it
mean?”
“I have one idea.
What if their world is on the other side of those rifts that appear during the
waves? Could they be trying to invade this world for some reason?”
“I supposed that
would make sense.”
“And you know what
else? Glass’s weapons had gemstones set in them, just like our weapons do.
Isn’t that strange?”
“You mean her fans?
Weapons like that do not exist in our world.”
“What sort of
weapons do the other heroes use?”
“Allow me to
explain.”
The queen stood up
and began to explain the particulars of the seven star heroes’ weapons.
“The first is the
staff.”
A staff? If it was
a legendary weapon, then I guess it was intended for a magic-user.
Or maybe it was an
ornate magical rod—the sort used by a certain magical young girl on TV.
“Mr. Iwatani?”
“Oh, sorry. Go on.”
“The others are the
hammer, projectile weapons, gauntlets, claws, axe, and the whip.”
“Um ...”
“The ‘projectile
weapons’ one sounds a little vague,” Itsuki said, raising his hand.
“Is it?”
“Do you know what
sort of weapon it actually is?”
“Yes. In the
legends it is a throwing knife, a small sword, a kunai, a small axe, etc. The
weapon can turn into any small, throwable weapon.”
That sounded like
it might come in handy, but it sounded like it could only turn into small
things.
Projectile weapons
would overlap with Itsuki’s specialty: bows.
If they were ranged
weapons, then there was a chance they couldn’t be used for close-quarters,
hand-to-hand combat. Considering that I was the shield hero and I couldn’t
attack at all, that much limitation seemed likely.
“What’s the
difference between the gauntlet and the claws? Aren’t those kind of the same
thing?”
“Yeah, I was just
thinking that too.”
Ren and Motoyasu
asked the question.
It sounded like
nitpicking, but I could understand the confusion.
“I honestly don’t
understand it very well myself.”
That was fair. We
couldn’t expect the queen to know the answer to every question that we could
think of.
Regardless, it was
a strange selection of weapons, no matter how you looked at it.
I guess the four
holy heroes had already gotten the main fantasy-type weapons. There were only
so many weapons they could choose from.
The last one, in
particular, stood out to me.
“The whip ...”
That was an odd
choice for a weapon.
Where would they
set the gemstone? In the handle?
I realize that, as
the Shield Hero, offense wasn’t really my specialty, but a whip sounded like a
weak weapon.
Well actually, I
guess I had played a game once where one of the strongest pieces of equipment
was a whip.
“According to
legend, the whip could transform into a chain at any time. I’ve also heard that
the weapon could turn into a flail.”
“That’s not much
improvement on the whip.”
I just meant that
it was a blunt weapon either way.
The seven star
heroes’ weapon categories seemed very broad. I was stuck with only a shield, so
I was a little jealous of the variety.
“Well, a spear and
a pike are basically the same weapon. There must be some overlap.”
“Yeah, I had a
throwing knife once before,” said Ren.
A small sword would
definitely fit under the sword category. So in certain situations, it looked
like the seven star heroes could use the same weapons as the four holy heroes.
And yet there had
been no mention of anything like a shield.
“According to
legend, the whip has a special ability that the other weapons do not possess.
I’ve heard that it is capable of controlling the power of monsters.”
“You mean like
those special monster growth shields Naofumi was talking about?”
“Maybe it’s a more
specialized ability. I bet it’s more powerful than the abilities I have.”
I suddenly couldn’t
stop picturing the queen cracking a whip at a group of monsters.
I wonder if that
was how it would work? The queen was sitting right in front of me . . . but
maybe that was how she controlled Trash?
I couldn’t care
less. What was I thinking about that for?
“The hammer and the
axe also seem like similar weapons.”
They might be
similar, but they certainly weren’t the same thing.
“You think so?”
So the queen didn’t
agree. I guess if you had always known about the seven star heroes’ weapons, it
wouldn’t strike you as odd.
I wanted to think
about the gauntlets and the claws first of all. What if one of my teammates
could equip one of those weapons? What would happen then?
That made me think
of Filo, which made me realize something.
That’s
right—gauntlets would require the user to have hands, but you could technically
use claws on feet if you needed to.
If Filo became a
hero, I could hardly imagine how annoying she’d be. But when I thought about it
more, it kind of made sense.
As for the hammer
and the axe, they were similar in the sense that they were large and heavy and
were swung overhead. But they weren’t the same—they had different effects.
“I’ve never met one
of these seven star heroes.”
“They have been
fighting in a place far removed from where you four heroes have been.
Furthermore, a number of the weapons have yet to be assigned to a hero.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Why don’t we just
let them deal with the waves?”
If we left
everything up to the seven star heroes, then the queen of the filolials would
come and kill us! Idiots!
“The world is too
large for the seven star heroes to protect all of it.”
Of course it was.
Did they really just want to sit back and pray that someone else would take
care of our problems for us?
“Anyway, I think we
got distracted for a little bit there. What about the weapons that L’Arc and
Glass were carrying? Have you ever heard of anything that might fit their
description?”
“No. Never.”
If that were so,
then there was only one simple explanation that came to mind. There must have
also been legendary weapons in whatever world they came from.
But there was a big
problem with that theory.
“Here’s what I
don’t get. When I asked L’Arc about his weapon, he acted as though it were the
most normal thing in the world.”
“So what?”
“Well, their
weapons seem to be similar to our legendary weapons, right? But if he thought
that they were normal, does that mean that legendary weapons are normal back in
their world?”
The queen and the
other three heroes all fell silent at the thought.
What if everyone on
the other side of the rifts had weapons like our legendary weapons? If that
were true, we would never stand a chance against them if they came to attack
our world in earnest.
After all the
leveling and powering up I’d done, I had only just managed to hold my own
against them in battle. If everyone from their world was as powerful as Glass,
then we didn’t have a hope of winning.
“I see what you
mean. If the enemy we face is truly that powerful, then we have to put an end
to this as soon as possible.”
“I agree.”
“Then perhaps it
would be best if you heroes underwent some formal battle training.”
The other three
heroes didn’t look too excited by the prospect of formal training.
Of course they
would hate that. They just wanted to hang out and have fun and have the
citizenry praise them for their deeds. They didn’t want to do anything as dry
and boring as training .
“The next wave will
be upon us before long. We must do all that we can to prepare for its arrival.
Mr. Iwatani, I trust that you will assist the other heroes in their
preparations?”
“...”
I wasn’t confident
that I’d be able to make much progress with them, but at the very least we
could get some practice sessions in.
If I just kept
telling them the same things over and over, maybe they would eventually be able
to wrap their little minds around it all. Maybe.
Regardless, my life
would be harder if they died, so it was in my own self-interest to see that
they were as strong as possible going into the next wave.
“In the meantime, I
will gather as many knights and powerful adventurers as I can. Hopefully they
will be able to assist in your efforts.”
“Thank you. You
were a big help in the last battle against Glass and the others. If you hadn’t
stepped in when you did, who knows what might have happened.”
In the middle of
the battle, when Glass and the others were staring us down and planning their
next move, the queen threw an exploding barrel of rucolu fruit at them. Rucolu
were like very concentrated blobs of alcohol, and it really threw their game
off, giving us the advantage we needed to survive.
“It was an
excellent idea, but it wasn’t mine. It was one of Mr. Kawasumi’s party member’s
ideas. Her name was Rishia. If it weren’t for Rishia, who knows where we’d all
be now? We owe her a debt of gratitude.”
“Really?”
Itsuki nodded to
himself. He seemed concerned.
“Rishia? Hm.”
“Mr. Kawasumi,
please give her my thanks. We were only able to survive the wave because of her
efforts.”
“Very well. I’ll
tell her.”
Itsuki’s party
members were forced to adhere to a hierarchy, and Rishia fit in right at the
very bottom.
But she’d proven
herself in the last battle. The bottom of the party meant that she was mostly
treated like a slave. I hoped that this would help get her out of that
situation.
“Excellent. Now
then, until we are able to return to Melromarc, you are all free to do as you
wish. Thank you for meeting with me today.”
We had a lot of
problems, but at least we had been able to organize our thoughts a little.
As for the other
heroes, they weren’t going to get much stronger unless they learned to level up
their maturity first.
We would deal with
their experience and leveling later. We had all probably leveled up
sufficiently during our time on the islands.
“Mr. Iwatani? I
have something I’d like to discuss. Do you mind staying for a little while?”
“Huh? Sure, what is
it?”
The queen caught me
on the way out of the room, just after the other heroes had filed out.
Was it something
that she didn’t want to discuss in front of them?
“What is it?”
“I didn’t want to
discuss this with the other heroes present. Honestly, I was planning on sending
the other three heroes to another country to deal with the waves there.”
“Aren’t they too
weak to entrust an important mission like that to them?”
“Indeed. That is
why I was hoping to gain the assistance of the seven star heroes we were just
talking about.”
“Well, I guess that
would depend on how powerful these other heroes actually are.”
If they weren’t any
more powerful than the other three heroes, then they wouldn’t be much help.
“But if I were to
send you instead of them, you would have very little time to recuperate.”
“True.”
She was right. I
could have gone by myself, but that was likely going to push me over the edge.
My stats were still low from the last time I used blood sacrifice, and it
cursed me. I didn’t like the idea of entrusting the other heroes with anything
remotely important, but there probably wasn’t a better option.
“If the holy heroes
are truly weaker than the seven star heroes, they will lose the respect of the
people. Regardless, I cannot allow Melromarc to look like it sent fake heroes
to assist another country.”
“Of course not.”
“And as for the
seven star heroes, I have seen them before. And after what I witnessed during
the last wave battle, I think it is safe to say that they are definitely more
powerful than the other three holy heroes.”
“You’re sure about
that?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t really
care about Melromarc’s political problems, but I would end up in trouble myself
if the other three heroes died in battle. That made me nervous about sending
them off on their own.
I could have gone
myself, I guess. But it wouldn’t be easy.
But I was very
curious about what was on the other side of those dimensional rifts.
“When is the next
one coming?”
“It will arrive in
a week. It will occur over here.”
She unrolled a map
of the world that had the locations of the dragon hourglasses indicated on it.
Judging from the
history of my own world, it looked like the sort of map that people made of the
world when they thought it was flat.
The far edges of
the map were obscured with ornate pictures—a way to indicate they didn’t have
any information past the depicted areas.
“It will depend on
the storm conditions, but if we were to travel by boat, I don’t think it would
take very long to get there.”
“If we could
teleport there then there won’t be a problem.”
“Yes, but when I
think about the training that will be done in Melromarc . . . Besides, things
need to take place in different places at once; it will split up everyone that
we need.”
What was the matter?
Originally the
waves probably could have been dealt with by sending one of the heroes to each
of the places where the waves occurred. That should have been enough to handle
it, but then again, we were facing different enemies now.
“I do have some
other optimistic news about the waves. It turns out that if you don’t take any
action during the waves at all, the dimensional rifts will eventually close all
on their own.”
“Really?”
“Yes. A great
number of monsters will still come out of the rifts, and those monsters will
have to be dealt with. But eventually the rifts will close on their own, so the
waves can be ignored for a time.”
What did that mean?
“That’s an awful
lot to put on my shoulders. The only plan that I can think of is to teleport
while everyone is asleep and have Filo run us to the country where the wave is
taking place. Then when morning comes we return to Melromarc to work on
training.”
It was sounding
like a pretty tough schedule.
All of this was
happening because the other three heroes wouldn’t listen to me when I told them
how to power-up. Just thinking about it made me irritated.
“I suppose we have
no other choice.”
The queen agreed
with me.
I guess she was
right. It would be really tough, but if we wanted to survive—if we wanted the
world to survive—then we had no choice but to fight the waves.
Fitoria’s words of
warning were turning into a real headache for me.
“Thank you, Mr.
Iwatani. Why don’t you get some rest until the storm passes?”
“I will. Call for
me if you need me. Later.”
I finished my talk
with the queen and left the room.
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