The Substitution of the Shield Hero

The next morning, we were called by the king the moment we finished breakfast. It was still early, and because of that, fairly quiet.

When we arrived at the audience chamber, the doors swung open and a herald called out. “The honored heroes have arrived.”

Inside, twelve people clad in various adventurer outfits stood in the middle of the room, lined up to face us. There were also a few men people wearing armor standing off to the side.

It was definitely a show of power.

Stepping inside the room, I saw the other bow.

I simply nodded.

My action rankled a few knights, but the king didn’t react. He looked like he was already intending to ignore me, so my actions didn’t bother him.

“As promised yesterday,” the king said. “I have recruited companions who will accompany you on your journey. However, it appears that everyone here has already decided which hero they wish to follow.”

So it was just like how I remembered, huh?

We heroes lined up and then our supposed party members lined up in front of us.

Ren, 5 people.

Motoyasu, 4 people.

Itsuki, 3 people.

And me? 0.

“Dear me,” the king said. “I would never have thought such a situation could occur.”

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from scoffing.

Never thought? More like you were praying with all your might.

The minister stared in amazement and said, “There’s quite a difference in charisma amongst them, isn’t there?”

A robed man walked over to the king and whispered into his ear.

“Fumu, did such a rumor spread?” The king said.

Motoyasu put up a sympathetic face and said, “Did something happen?” He turned towards me and frowned. “Why isn’t anyone going towards Naofumi?”

Huh. So he was a nice guy… a shame that bitch would send him to the dumps. Though I suppose he got better after getting dumped… guess I’d just wait til then.

“Fumu,” the king said. “To be honest… a rumor seems to be spreading around the castle about the Shield Hero. According to the legends, heroes that come to this world must meet a certain condition. It appears that you alone didn’t fulfill this condition, such is the rumor.”

Condition? I didn’t remember anything about that…

Motoyasu elbowed me and whispered, “Did someone eavesdrop on us yesterday?”

Even if they did, what would that condition be? Was it that I didn’t play the game like them? Or was it just that the shield is weak?

In the end, it didn’t matter. I shrugged and said, “That’s fine. I can go at it alone.”

The king raised an eyebrow. “How admirable.”

Motoyasu frowned. “Hold on.” He turned to me and said, “Are you sure, Naofumi? The shield-“

I smiled. “It’s fine, Motoyasu.” I raised my shield and said, “I told you, didn’t I? This thing is stronger than it looks.”

“But…” Motoyasu trailed off.

Really, he was a good guy. A shame that bitch ruined him… but I suppose it couldn’t be helped.

And now-

“Ah, Yuusha-sama. I’d like to accompany the Shield Hero instead.”

One of the five women following Motoyasu raised her hand and glanced towards me.

A lovely girl with crimson hair that trailed to her shoulders, tied up in elaborate braids. Fairly beautiful, and a bit shorter than me as well. She was the one who tricked the original Naofumi with that naïve appearance… Mein, the bitch, slut, and whore princess.

Spoiler

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I knew all of that, but simply smiled in response. “Is that so?”

She smiled back and then walked over to my side.

The king looked around and said, “Is there anyone else that wishes to fall under Sir Naofumi’s protection?”

No one moved.

The king let out a long suffering sigh and said, “Then so be it.” He turned towards me and said, “Sir Naofumi. It appears that you will need to scout additional talent for yourself, but fret not. I will give you a bonus on your monthly war fund, which will soon be distributed.”

I nodded. Even if it was a farce, I appreciated the action. The king had that much sense at least.

“Now then,” the king said. “Here are your monthly war funds. Brave heroes, please use this with a clear goal in mind.”

Four pouches stuffed to the brim and clanking with money were handed to us.

I accepted mine and glanced inside. Judging from the weight, it was a sizable amount.

“Sir Naofumi will receive 800 silver coins while the others will receive 600 each. Please use this money to buy equipment for yourselves.”

The other heroes let out an exclamation of surprise.

I glanced at the king and nodded.

With that, the audience was over and we were left to our own devices.

In short, it was time for introductions.

My ‘ally’ turned towards me and smiled. “Um… Shield Hero, Mein Sophia is my name. Let us work together from now on.”

The face of an innocent and beautiful young woman stared back at me.

…A pity that it was just a mask.

I smiled back and said, “Yes. Please, take care of me, Miss Sophia. Then… let’s go.”

The other heroes were already setting off. Since I had to go through the motions of the beginning, I might as well follow.

I turned around and started walking.

“Okay~!”

Mein called out behind me and quickly followed.

Although I wasn’t familiar with the castle layout, it wasn’t too hard to make my way around since it was basically like other RPGs. I followed the hallways until I exited the castle, and then made my way across the stone bridge connecting it to the rest of the castle-town.

If this was a game, a rolling country-side ost would have started playing. Instead, the ambient noise of people talking, wheels turning, and other sounds filled the air.

Interestingly enough, the place was fairly clean. The streets were paved with stone and the buildings were similar to actual storefronts than wooden shacks.

The savory fragrances of cooking food drifted through the air, giving everything an overall peaceful atmosphere.

…A pity that such toxin lurked beneath its surface.

Since it would be suspicious if I knew where to go, I decided to let Mein play her hand. “So, Miss Sophia. What do you think we should do?”

She smiled at me. “Just Mein will be fine. And we should first go to some item shops and probably a weapon shop to gear ourselves up. This will consume most of our funds.”

I nodded.

It was reasonable… for normal players. I usually just headed off to grind, but there would be time for that later.

“I know of a good shop, so allow me to be your guide,” Mein said.

I swept my hand through the air and stepped back. “Lead the way, Mein.”

Her eyes flickered and then she smiled before skipping ahead of me.

After ten minutes of walking, Mein stopped in front of a store with an oversized sword printed on its sign. “Here it is.” Saying that, she stepped through the door into the shop.

I followed.

The store was… well, everything you would expect from an RPG weapon store.

Weapons hung from the walls and suits of armor were hung up on stands.

When we walked inside, the shop owner called out to us. “Welcome!”

I glanced over at him and nodded.

The shop owner was a bearded man with bulging muscles and a scar across his face. The typical appearance of a blacksmith that spent countless days making weapons.

He stood behind the store counter and raised a hand in greeting.

“Are you a first time customer?”

“Yeah.” I gestured towards Mein. “She recommended this place to me.”

“Oh?” The shop owner stared towards Mein and smiled. “I guess I have to thank the miss then.”

“No problem~!” Mein smiled back. “Oyaji’s shop is famous around here.”

“Hah! You’re flattering me. But isn’t the outfit of your boyfriend over there a bit strange?”

“Oyaji thinks so too?” Mein said.

After staring at me for a bit, Oyaji nodded. “So you’re a hero. You don’t seem very reliable…”

I shrugged. Appearances could be deceiving.

“You need better equipment,” Oyaji said.

“I guess. Anyway, I’m Naofumi, the Shield Hero.” I stepped forward and held out my hand. “Things will probably be troublesome from this point on, so I’ll be counting on you.”

Oyaji looked a bit impressed and shook my hand. “Haha! Then I’ll be counting on your patronage from now on as well, Naofumi!”

I smiled. Even if this place had a lot of bad guys, Oyaji wasn’t… though I never really got his name. (Elheart)

We ended our handshake. When we did, Mein stepped forward and said, “Well, Oyaji. Do you have any good equipment? Somewhere around the range of 250 silver coins.”

“Hm… if that’s what you’re looking for…” Oyaji left the counter and picked up some of the weapons on display before coming back. “How about these?”

A spear, dagger, and sword, along with other blades were on the counter.

“What do you recommend?” I asked.

“I would suggest swords since they’re good for beginners,” Oyaji said. He gestured towards the swords on the counter and said, “These are my recommendations since they all have blood-clean coating.”

“Anti-dulling?”

Oyaji looked a bit impressed and nodded. “Something like that. It prevents the blade from getting dull from gore.”

I nodded. That was a useful feature.

“From the left, we have: iron, magic iron, magic steel, and finally silver. Each of their performance is guaranteed to be top notch. There are better weapons around here, but these are the ones that fit your budget.”

Rather than a stand alone game that only had a limited weapon selection, the fact that there was a wide inventory reaffirmed the fact that this was reality and not a game.

Curious, I reached over to pick up the sword. It was… surprisingly light. But where was the repulsion effect from-

A surge of electricty erupted along the blade and it suddenly weighed a ton. I instinctively dropped the blade and it clattered against the wooden countertop.

“The heck?”

Oyaji and Mein alternated staring between me and the sword with wide eyes.

That was… different? It didn’t go flying like it should have.

I reached out to grab it again. Like before, I could hold it for a bit, but then crackles of energy erupted and surrounded both my arm and the sword. All of a sudden, it felt like a ton of weight and I had to let go.

That time, a window popped up.

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[Violation of Legendary Weapon’s Covenant: You touched another specialized weapon with the intent of possession.]

(Addendum: Legendary Weapon’s Covenant may be bypassed if capacity is increased. Required capacity: 1000)

Damn. So I had to be at least level 100 before I could use different weapons, huh?

I sighed. “Looks like I can’t use any other weapons as the Shield Hero. Figures.”

Oyaji glanced at my shield with interest. “Is that so? How does your shield work? Can I take a look?”

I held it over to him and he grabbed it. Muttering something under his breath, Oyaji sent a small ball of light towards the shield.

“Hm. Even though it looks like a small shield, there’s something mysterious about it…”

Hoh? So my changes didn’t show up. It seemed like the parallel system really was ‘parallel’. Possibly nobody except me could notice it.

“It’s probably this jewel engraved in the middle,” Oyaji said. “I can sense a strong source of power from there.” He frowned and let go of the shield. “I could somewhat identify it with my Appraisal magic, but I couldn’t fully grasp it. Still, it seems to be a type of curse.” Oyaji fiddled with his beard and then looked at me. “You’ve shown me something interesting, lad. But since you can’t use a sword, do you want to buy some armor instead?”

I nodded.

Oyaji went off and brought some armor back. A plate mail, chain mail, and a tunic.

Before I could say anything, Mein grabbed the chain mail and said, “How much is this worth?”

“At a discount, it’ll only be 120 silver coins,” Oyaji answered.

That Mein ran her fingers across the chain mail, seemingly lost in thought.

Probably thinking about how good Motoyasu would look in it and how to cheat me out of the armor.

Good thing I already stored 100 silver coins away in my inventory.

“You should buy it, Sir Shield Hero.” She turned towards me and said, “It should serve you long enough until we earn enough coins to upgrade it.”

“Whatever you say, Mein.”

I went along with it and paid Oyaji.

He thanked me, I became 120 silver coins poorer, and then got a chain mail set. After changing into it in the changing room, it was time to leave and really begin our adventure.

Leaving the shop with Mein walking beside me, we headed to the town gate.

There, the knight guarding it bowed. I returned it with a nod, but didn’t forget that glimmer of malice he showed in his eyes.

…Soon, they’ll be regretting snubbing the Shield Hero.