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Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 1




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Chapter One: The Seven Star Heroes 

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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