Chapter Text
==
Day 0 - Japan
==
“I get it now. I really get it!”
The Spear Hero laughed and laughed and laughed.
But their laughs held no note of mirth or joy, for within them lied a bottomless pit of despair.
The bright red gem embedded on the Cardinal Spear, the legendary weapon that has been their companion since the start of their journey—perhaps their only loyal companion—grew dark and dull.
==
Iwatani Naofumi leaned back and blew out a sigh as he processed what he just read.
In front of him on the table was a worn book that he had been reading for the past few hours. The Records of the Four Cardinal Heroes had not been what he had been expecting to read when he went to the library to kill time, but he was glad he indulged in the sudden whim to actually sit down and read the book rather than just standing in the aisle to skim it.
The plot, of which had been a series of perspectives concerning three of the titular four heroes so far, had sucked him in with its blend of rosy isekai fantasy and grim political thriller. He hadn’t expected to find himself being so engaged with the stories of the Sword, Bow, and Spear Heroes, what with their stories starting out like so many other isekai, only to be sideswiped by the political machinations of the many, many, many factions in the world seeking to use the heroes to their own ends.
Worst, and best, of all the cunning manipulators had been the lovingly hateable “Red Witch”, the princess of the country that summoned all the heroes, and the chief cause of the three heroes’ downfalls. He thought little of her, at first, thinking of her as nothing but the typical slutty eye-candy shoved into the plot like most of the genre’s contemporaries, but her actions as the story went on proved him otherwise.
He had just finished reading about the Spear Hero’s downfall, one where the poor sap had been forced to relive his trauma of his girlfriends attempting to kill him out of misguided love from his previous life, only for him to snap and kill them instead. It was like watching a trainwreck in motion with how Naofumi saw how the Red Witch set everything up while leading the Spear Hero by the nose. Naofumi might’ve been green with envy over how the Spear Hero got to bed his entirely female party, but he was equally green around the gills at how all it took was the right words at the right time to turn that constant lustful passion into frothing murderous rage.
The Sword and Bow Heroes’ downfalls were tame, in comparison, even if the body count had been larger. He couldn’t fully relate to the youthful naivete and blind righteousness that led to those two’s downward spirals, but the Spear Hero’s constant fumbling and miscommunication resulting into an implosion on a relationship? That one definitely stung. He couldn’t even find it in himself to blame the Red Witch for that one since Naofumi felt that he couldn’t do any better in the Spear Hero’s shoes.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, pulling him out of his musings, so he took the time to check it, only for his eyes to bug out.
“Three hours!?” he blurted out on reflex, only to shrink back when several people around him looked at him.
He waved them off with a sheepish grin before properly looking at his notifications. His brother had messaged him.
lil jun: bro whr u at
rockvalley: sorry about that. at the library and got too into a book. you might like it
lil jun: ohhh
rockvalley: it’s an isekai political thriller, a bit of a downer but it hits really hard
lil jun: ill take ur word for it. on a break rn from the game but i might be done for today. any idea whats for dinner?
rockvalley: there’s still leftovers in the fridge, but I can use them to cook some fried rice.
lil jun: really?? awesome, ill wait for u to get back
rockvalley: I’ll be back soon. I’ll be checking out this book, then I’ll be home in 30 minutes.
Naofumi chuckled at his brother’s messages and stowed away his phone. Strictly speaking, he didn’t really need to cook up more food for him since there was enough leftovers for the both of them, but he’d suddenly gotten a craving for fried rice while thinking about dinner, so that was that. Also, Jun always loved his cooking even if the guy could cook decently enough as a result of Naofumi’s rehabilitation efforts, and Naofumi was always the type of indulge in his baby brother’s whims.
That said...
Naofumi’s eyes trailed back to the still open book on the table.
‘It’s about the “four” Cardinal Heroes, but I’ve only read about three of them so far. Did the author forget about the Shield Hero?’
He reached out and turned the page, his eyes lighting up when he saw the title of the next chapter in bold text.
HERO OF THE SHIELD
Unable to help himself, Naofumi leaned forward with alarming eagerness. It wasn’t that he was craving to read about the Shield Hero that much, but after hours of vague mentions and teasing hints about that person, he was more than a little bit curious on what their deal was.
‘Sorry Jun,’ he thought to himself as he traced a finger on the opening lines of the chapter, ‘I’ll only be taking a little peek, but I’ll probably be late. Forgive your helpless otaku brother.’
Guardian. Protector. Leader. They stand at the forefront with steely resolve in their back. Their unrelenting kindness pushes back the evil inherent in the world.
The opening line was a bit cheesy, but it was the same with the other heroes’ chapters. It seemed like the Shield Hero was about resolve and kindness, just like the Sword Hero was about diligence and strength, the Bow Hero was about justice and equity, and the Spear Hero was about loyalty and devotion.
Something twisted in his gut at how these themes would be twisted into the Shield Hero’s downfall, just like the rest of the heroes, but he was also morbidly curious on how the Red Witch would manipulate events to do that.
His finger moved to the next line... and he paused, staring at the line he just read.
Woe it is to be the Shield, for the World will be against them YOU.
Cold sweat broke out at the back of his neck as the characters that referred to the Hero was roughly scratched out and replaced with a bright red YOU over it.
YOU shall awaken in a frail and sickly body, near death and with no hope to live, but YOU shall persevere, IWATANI NAOFUMI...
He leapt back at suddenly seeing his name in the very text that he was reading, but he found himself unable to move, like his entire body turned into a statue. Without his volition, his eyes were forced to finish reading the line.
...for YOU are the SHIELD HERO.
His efforts to free himself from the book was rewarded as he wrenched himself free. The sudden force was enough to throw him off his chair, but rather than slamming onto the floor, he kept falling.
And falling.
And falling.
And falling.
Far above him, the book shone like a dying star.
==
??? - Day 0?
==
Consciousness returned to Naofumi in fits and spurts. He didn’t remember passing out at all and he struggled to get himself awake, only for his body to fail him and drag him back down to an uncomfortable slumber.
When he finally came to, he found himself lying on his side on a rock hard floor. His body was aching like no tomorrow and he felt something heavy clamped on his limbs and his neck. Breathing was hard, not just from the tightness he felt around his neck, but also from a burning pain that radiated from within his chest.
Even with his prone position, it felt like the room was swimming around him with odd murmurs pulling the focus of his hearing all over the place. It was beyond unpleasant, on top of everything he was feeling. He would’ve puked already if not for the gnawing emptiness in his stomach preventing him from doing so.
“The summoning is a success!” a distant voice said.
“What’s going on here?” another voice, much nearer, spoke up.
Someone’s hand, larger than Naofumi thought had any right to be, grabbed on his shoulder and jostled him.
“Hey, are you alright there?” a young boy’s voice called out to him in concern.
Naofumi cracked open an eye with a large amount of effort to see a boy with bright red hair and bright red eyes leaning over him. He definitely looked as young as he sounded, maybe somewhere around 14 or 15 with how babyfaced he looked, though there was a roguish charm to him that he couldn’t place that Naofumi felt would be a great lure for older women.
‘He looks like a protagonist of an OneeShota eroge...’, the thought came unbidden despite his current condition and his own surprise at it made him choke on his own spit, triggering a coughing fit.
“O-oi! You’re really not looking good there,” the boy’s panicked words reached Naofumi’s ears, though he couldn’t respond with how his body’s aches worsened with each cough, “Someone as cute as you shouldn’t be in this state.”
‘What the hell is he talking about, I’m not even close to being “cute” at all!’, Naofumi protested in his mind, not being able to form any words due to the coughs robbing him of any strength to speak.
Vaguely, he felt himself get pulled up into a sitting position with the same hand on his shoulder moving to his back. The warmth that came from it helped soothe his lungs enough that he could look back up to the boy.
“Th-thanks,” Naofumi mumbled, his voice hoarse, as he moved to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, only to be stopped as something cold and metallic bumped into his face.
“Huh?”
He looked down at his arm, ignoring how frighteningly tiny it looked, and stared at the block of metal seemingly attached to it. No, rather than a block of metal, its shape was something more distinctive in his mind.
‘A... shield?’
Naofumi remembered with a flash what he had been doing before he woke up. The Records of the Four Cardinal Heroes. Reading the stories of the Heroes of the Sword, Bow, and Spear. Starting the story of the Shield Hero. Seeing his own name in the book’s text. Not being able to move and suddenly falling endlessly. And now...
Not really believing his current situation, he looked towards the boy that helped him up and saw that the boy’s other hand held a short spear, one with a bright red gem right where the shaft met the head. The Spear Hero.
Straining himself, Naofumi saw that there were two other people just past the redhead boy, a dark haired man with deep eyebags and a haughty-looking blond boy. In their hands was a sword with a bright blue gem and a bow with a bright yellow gem. The Sword Hero. The Bow Hero.
Naofumi could only feel budding horror as he looked back to the shield on his arm, it’s bright green gem staring right back at him.
‘No way, I’m in—‘
“““Oh Heroes! Please save our world.”””
A chorus of voices interrupted his thoughts and he finally realized that he was surrounded by robed men, their forms lit up by multiple torches simultaneously lighting themselves.
His tail stiffened in abject fear, only to undercut it all by a confusing revelation.
‘Wait, why do I have a tail?’