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Chapter Text

Noufumi didn't know when, but she could still remember those time before she died. A world where some people had Mana and Magic. She was one of those people. But not everyone could do Magic. Now, she's in a world where Magic only exist in Fairytales. Oh Kami, please save her from this.

When Iwatani Noufumi was first born, she couldn't remember almost anything about her previous life. The only thing she could remember was the fact that she had Magic. She couldn't remember what her magic was, but it didn't mean she couldn't try learning how to use them. The first 4 years were difficult. She had to learn from scratch how to do basic baby things like how to walk, and talk, and hold things properly.

'I knew being a baby was hard, but this really takes the cake.'

 By the time she could do those without making a mistake, her parents had boasted to every single one of their friends about her. So proud that they boasted at their friends about every little accomplishments.

When Noufumi managed to be alone for the night, she would practice building up Mana. By the time she was 6, she was somehow knew how to do a lot of things. Granted, it started out small like cooking, cleaning, laundry, and sewing. 

But then, it started to get physical, like learning Basic Martial Arts, Karate, Taekwondo,Tai Chi, and more. But that's not the only reason why she's so busy. She didn't know when, but she now has a younger Brother by the name of Iwatani Akiara.

 Unlike her parents, who are always busy working all day, Noufumi made sure that between her schedule-full classes, she still has time to take care of her younger brother. It became easy whenever she didn't have any extra classes to take. It also took her awhile, but now, she's allowed to go out despite being 6 and a half.

She'd usually either go to the library, to borrow books she needed to study for, or the grocery store. At first, the librarians and the store clerks were keeping a very careful eye on her, but after a few times, they let it go. but of course, they would still make sure she's not getting anything dangerous.

 As for school, Noufumi never really found it necessary to make friends. In fact, she thought that all the other kids were either to childish to befriend, or sees them as people who were going to judge her.(I know, a bit much for a six year old. But hey, she probably has the mental brain of teen by now.)

 Middle school's the same during her elementary. The big difference is the fact that she has so many club activities going around (courtesy of her parents), and that she somehow managed to befriend some friendly but dangerous delinquent girls. Surprisingly though, she realize that not all of them are bad, and now she sometimes join their fights.

 But she'd always made sure that she wore a disguise. Fortunately, her delinquent-ish friends also wear disguises, and those disguises are actually what you can call crossdressing. It took awhile, but soon, she got used to it.(Along with managing her always busy schedule.)

 As for her Magic, she realized that she can do anything as long as she had the imagination and enough mana to do it. Though, gathering mana isn't a problem for her anymore. And when she entered High school, not only had her Akiara helped her with her powers, but she herself is surprised at the fact that she managed to keep up her grades and her clubs and her magic.(That's been growing alongside her mana.)

 When she graduated High school, she wasn't in the Top 10, and that had been considered failure to her parents. They stopped looking at her properly, they still give Noufumi her allowance, but it became less. Not that she minded, she had been doing part time job in the clubs her parents had made her join. Turns out, in some of those clubs, you can earn your own money, as long as it doesn't effect your grades that is. And since she graduated with a lot of club certificate she managed to get herself some part -time jobs.

 Although she's currently applying into a college, she had found out that her parents had forced her younger brother to attend a famous prep school, along with a cram school that she heard from her friends, students that pass are usually smart ones that manages to become CEO and all those shit.

Right after getting back from a part-time job though, she got a call from her mom saying that her younger brother is turning into a delinquent. Needless to say, she went to her brothers cram school to see him, and oh, the way he looked.

 Blond hair that's obviously been dyed, piercings at both his ears, the clothes he's wearing. Noufumi can exactly see why her mom decided to went as far as to ask her for help. So the first thing she did id grab her brother by the collar and drag him to a nearby arcade she often goes with her friends. Although Noufumi is an Otaku, she isn't however a shut in or a NEET.

The main reason she became an Otaku of both Anime and Light Novels is because she realized that Fantasy Anime and LN ACTUALLY help with the imagination and stuff.

 The  two siblings proceeded with Noufumi teaching her brother some cheats while playing, and after some time, Akiara broke down. he told his sister how they're parents are putting so much pressure on him, how he overheard him saying that they had wished they aborted his precious sister, how they told him not to be like her when all this time, the one that has been taking care of him is her. The two stayed at Noufumi's rented apartment, and after having a heart to heart talk with each other, they went to bed.

 When Akiara went back the very next day, Noufumi's parents were so happy they decided to cover her rent expenses and increase her allowance, in which she accepted it and didn't mind at all. Akiara was able to continue his studies, and whenever he has something to stress over, he would go to Noufumi.

The two siblings also sometimes go to hang together from time to time, and it's either when Akiara has something he's stressing about or when Noufumi's college classes gave the students some holidays. Just like today.

The two of them decided to go to a hot spring a friend of Noufumi owned. Packing some of her clothes and shoving them in a duffel bag, along with her Phone and wallet that has the right amount of money to go to a hot springs, Noufumi left her apartment, not forgetting to lock the door and such and went to the library, as that is where the siblings had agreed to meet up. 

"Onee-san! Over here!"

Seeing her brother, the older Iwatani went to her younger brother.

"How long have you've been waiting? You could've just waited inside and texted me you know?" 

"I know but Nee-san has always waited for me, so as a responsible Otouto, I decided to wait for you outside of the Library."

"Who was the responsible little brother that decided to become a thug again?"

Akiara could feel an arrow piercing his heart. Noufumi might be kind, but she can have the sharpest tongue whenever she either insults others. And not to mention that that tongue of hers can help her win any debate competition when needed. But if the big sister has a sharp tongue, then the little brother would have this as a weapon as well. The only difference is that Noufumi's insult's has more power than Akiara.

"Do you wanna go inside? We can pick a book to read in the train."

"Sure, why not?"

The two Iwatani's went inside the library. A while searching the Fantasy section, and Noufumi finally found a book that caught her attention.

'The Four Cardinal Heroes, huh?'

"Did you find anything?" Akiara asked.

"I found an interesting book. Guess what, a shield is a weapon now."

'I see, this book is about how every weapon can be a weapon if tried... But a shield? Really?

"How is shield, a weapon made for defense, became a weapon for offense again?"

"I dunno. This book right here says that a shield can be a weapon."

Noufumi and Akiara skimmed through the pages of the book together. It was when Noufumi got to the Shield Hero part did something happen. White light appeared from the ground. Akiara who left a while ago, had disappeared, along with the tall bookcases that were lined up. Noufumi suddenly felt like she was falling, which it was then the moment came for her to fell on her butt. When she opened her eyes, she was in a weird place.

"O great heroes, Please save our world!"

'What the fuck?'

Chapter Text

 Arriving in a room with weird people who are saying weird things, the first thing you'd think of doing would be panicking. But for someone who had been living in world where you got reincarnated as a baby and live a weird but comfortable life isn't as scary at all. Nope. So instead of panicking and ask where she is like how her counter-part reacted, this Noufumi reacted like this is an everyday thing -which it isn't- and proceed to make sure she still had her duffel bag with her. It was then she noticed a shield with an emerald green orb stuck onto her hand.

The people who summoned our Heroine here were people dressed like priests and such. She looked at the other three boys next to her. Luckily, she was cross-dressing, and that meant she's wearing a wig that was bought whenever she decided to go street fighting.Three other boys each had a weapon of they're own. The furthest one from Noufumi had the bow, the one next to him who looked like he's wearing all blue had a sword, and the one directly next to Noufumi, who obviously had the aura playboy!! screaming around him, was holding a spear.

'I see, each one of us had a weapon just like the book.'  Noufumi looked at each of the three people beside her. 'The sword, the bow, the spear and...' 

Noufumi looked at the shield in her hand. 'The shield.' 

"Where are we?" The boy holding the Sword asked calmly.

One of the priest looking guy came up and bowed politely, but Noufumi could tell, that bow was for the other three. Not for her.

"Please great Heroes, we have summoned you here to our world in time of need. Our kingdom is being attacked by Demons from the sky! And so, we have no choice but to summon for you."

'Just like that book, those "Demons coming from the sky" are probably what the people in this world would call "Waves".’ 

 The other three heroes gave out reactions that really piss Noufumi off. Who the hell demands for their paycheck before getting the job done?! Not to mention they're even threatening those priest people, saying bullshitting stuff like how they'll be the enemy instead of the ally if they don't get an excellent amount of rewards. It would've been convincing but Noufumi knew better.

She had been doing street fighting since middle school, and she can already tell that what they're saying are nothing more than a bluff. Though she doesn't always go around beating the shit out of others.

'Guess they're not so calm as they seem. None of them are holding their weapons correctly either. And the fact that they're literally asking for guarantees without doing anything is just...' 

The people in the room believed the other three -which actually shocks Noufumi- and told them that their King would deal with the rewards. They were bought out of the room, that had no windows so it's actually a bit suffocating. As it turns out, they were all underground, and that's suspicious. If you wanted to summon heroes so that they can help you, why would you summon them underground, why not summon them in front of the King so that we can immediately make a compromise.

It was the most logical thing running in the adult girls mind. And just thinking this fact is suspicious in her eyes. Passing a window, Noufumi looked outside and saw some part of the town.She hasn't had this type of air in a while and it's a bit refreshing for her.

"I really am in another world. Even the air is different." Noufumi whispered to herself but the other three heard it.

"Have you never went outside of Japan before?" The Bow Hero ask the girl. His face, along with the Spear Hero, held a look akin to mockery. Not to mention he sounded a bit judge mental. And Noufumi didn't like that at all.

"The breeze gives out a Mediterranean climate, just so you'd all like to know." The Sword Hero said. Although he isn't facing Noufumi completely, she could tell that his words didn't held any malice or judging tone that could start pushing her buttons. But it looks like none of them had realize that Noufumi is a girl. Maybe it's because she 's currently crossdressing, and because of that, they might think she's a guy, alongside them.

"Right, forgive me and my lack of knowledge." Noufumi said in a bored tone.

They then arrived in a room, which looked like the throne room, and where a person, who looks like the king, is currently sitting on his, god Noufumi wants to kill him for that mocking gaze she saw, throne. The king gave out his name which was Aultcray Melromarc XXXII. King Aultcray asked for their names, in which The Sword Hero decided to answer first.

"Ren Amaki, 16 years old, second year High School student." The Bow Hero went next.

"So it's my turn right? My name is Itsuki Kawasumi. I'm 17 and also a second year High School Student. Please to make you acquaintance." The Bow Hero, or Kawasumi-san, said with a smile. Noufumi doesn't trust that smile. The Spear Hero next.

"I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, and I'm 21. Nice to meet you." He winked at the girls, or ladies, in the room. And boy, Noufumi wants nothing more than to barf. 

 The young woman was about to introduce herself when she was cut off from the King, who nodded.

"Right then, Sir Ren, Sir Itsuki, and Sir Motoyasu. The kingdom of Melromarc greets you."

Noufumi internally glared at the king who had just literally ignored her in front of the so many people in the room. Most of the ladies covered their giggles by using they're fan, but Men just openly snickered. They didn't even tried to pretend it was a cough or anything! Stupid jerks.

"I apologize if you see this as a rude interruption, Your Highness, but you forgot about the final person over there." Ren, bless his kind soul who's Noufumi is starting to appreciate, called out to the King before he could continue while pointing out at Noufumi who's silently standing next to Motoyasu. The King visibly frowned.

"Ah, right. Forgive me, dear Shield Hero. Please, let us know your name." The King's voice held such obvious hate and disdain, Noufumi wondered what the previous Shield Hero did while he was here.

'Now you want to know my name, what was I a few moments ago, air? And at least look a little bit sorry if you're apologizing.'  Noufumi thinks.

"My name is Nagaharu Iwatani. I'm a 20 years old college student." That was close. She almost give out her real name. Never give out your real name in front of people who cannot be trusted. 

The King then ask them about their 'statuses' , In which Ren replied by asking whether or not they see a small Icon on the corner of their vision. Noufumi, after noticing the said Icon, aimed for it, at a screen popped up.

Noufumi Iwatani

Shield Hero

Level:38

Ability: E̵̫̻̿̔͜͝r̵͓̼͎̓͝R̴͕̙͍͑̕͝o̵͕̞̠̔͌R̸̢͚̾̐ [Not Fixed]

[Special Ability: Has many uncountable talents]

{Possessions: Duffel bag, Phone, Wallet, Money....}

Huh... So all those Magic training and Extracurricular activities she had to participate because of her parents came out useful after all. She knows that the other three Heroes are currently at Level 1, thanks to the complaint of Itsuki that is. King Aultcray ordered a maid to show them four to the dining area, though he mostly made it seem as if Noufumi didn't exist. Right after dinner, the four Heroes were showed to their respective rooms, but since all four of them are still unfamiliar with the world they're currently in, they decided to group at Motoyasu's room. 

Noufumi made sure to hid her bag in the most unexpected place in the parts of her room. When she arrived, Motoyasu was sitting on the bed, his spear was leaning onto his left shoulder, Itsuki was sitting on a chair, holding his bow, and Ren was standing up, leaning onto a wall while his sword was strapped onto his belt. Since no one was sitting on the sofa, Noufumi decided to sit there herself.

"This feels like RPG... Been awhile since I've done that." Noufumi muttered as she was reading the Help and Setting in her status menu.

She heard someone laugh and looked at that said person, which was the playboy, Motoyasu.

"'Feels like RPG'?. It is like one you know. I've played 'em before, cause there's that one game I played called 'Emerald Online'."

Noufumi frowned. "Never heard of it. Usually play single-player though."

"No, no. It's like 'Dimensional Web, y' know." This time, Itsuki chimed in.

"The hell is that?" Motoyasu ask.

"You're both wrong. This is a VRMMO. It's just like Brave Star Online." Ren spoke up, causing all three to look at him. It was silent for a few seconds before Motoyasu ask.

"VR? As in the Virtual Reality VR? How do you play that using keyboard?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Why would use those old toys?"

"Old- What about you, didn't you know that VR exist only in Sci-fi novels and movies?" 

"What?" Ren ask, his face a bit worried.

"Motoyasu's got a point. This ain't the future, y' know." Itsuki says as he sides with Motoyasu.

Having enough, Noufumi clapped her hands together, gaining the attention of the three males in the room. 

"Stop it. Yelling at each other won't solve it."

"Solve what?" Ituski asked, causing Noufumi to sigh. It seems that these normal people still haven't noticed.... It's so stupid that it's so sad...

"If any of you had actually decided to pay attention to each other's conversation, you'd find that any games you've talked about, or type of games, none of them match what's in our own world."

"...So, you're trying to tell us that we each may come from different worlds?" Ren asked.

"Different worlds, different time, different universes. Didn't you know that if you to travel years to the past before you were born, the slightest change can change the future, to the point where your parents didn't even met and causing you not to be born."

"What does time-traveling has to do with this exactly?"

"Just how I explained different people took over and cause different reality's." The three still had looks that told her that they didn't believe her.

"If you still don't believe me, how  about we say the name of our current prime minister." Noufumi suggested.

They did, and as Noufumi expected, none of them managed to get a same name. The name giving continued for awhile until the other three decided to give up and believe Noufumi. Although they still couldn't believe it, they asked Noufumi how she knew. Noufumi explained that not only that none of them were talking about different games that was supposedly suppose to be popular, but it's also because she decided that summoning four people from four different worlds was actually a smart way to do so.

"Why?" Motoyasu, the typical idiot, ask.

"Because, if you looked at it in a another way, four people from the same world were to suddenly disappear, it would seem to weird." Noufumi started to explained.

"He has a point, if we were all from the same world, the police and government would think it's some kind of serial killers kidnapping or something." Ren helped by giving his understanding opinion, in which Noufumi nodded in agreement.

"How did you guys get here anyways?" Motoyasu ask, after they all sat in a comfortable silence.

"Well, let's see... Ah, I was walking home from Cram School with my friend, we noticed a person following us but since our houses were nearby, we decided to ignore it. Then, that stalker showed themselves and attacked my friend, but I stepped in and took the hit instead..." Is what Ren had answered.

Well it's either he seemed more caring and heroic than he seemed, or the said friend he saved was actually a girl whom he has a crush on... Probably the first one.

"I'll go next. I usually would go hang with some friends after school, and when I was walking home, I didn't notice that the traffic light was red, so I didn't noticed a truck comin' until it honked." Itsuki explained.

'So he got hit by typical Truck-kun, huh? What luck.' 

"Welp, I'm next. So you see-"

Itsuki cut Motoyasu off, "Let me guess, you're one of those popular guys in school."

Ren continued, "And you had a habit of dating multiple girls at once."

And Noufumi ended it, "And one of the girls you were dating with just so happen to be a Yandere, so when she found out you're also with someone else she decided to kill you?"

Motoyasu scratched his cheek playfully. "Well...."

"Knew it."

"So pathetic."

"How insanely idiotic."

"Hey! What's with those reactions?!"

After a few minutes of playing with Motoyasu's cause of death, Noufumi told them how she arrived in Melromarc.

"I went to the library to get a book to read, found a book, open it, and poof...I'm here."

Noufumi decided to keep it simple.

"The heck, that's so simple." Was what Noufumi heard from Motoyasu, and since he insulted her, she might as well make a comeback.

"At least I didn't do suicidal dates,"

"Hey, the guy's got a point."

"Well, he's not wrong."

Both Ren and Itsuki sounded like they agreed with Noufumi, making Motoyasu fight back. Noufumi watch in silence, before deciding that their bickering is useless to watch. Walking out of the room without much thought, Noufumi went back to her own room. Opening her Menu, Noufumi scanned it before going to Help  and Setting. 

'Welp,' Noufumi said as she sat on her bed, 'this is going to be a long night.' 

Chapter Text

Noufumi’s POV

The first thing I noticed after I finished reading Help, was that I'm not allowed to touch any other weapon that's not a shield. The next thing is that it said that if I want to earn more different types of shield, I need to put an object or a piece of the said object into the emerald orb in the center of my shield. And that's what I did.

Taking out my duffel bag that I had hidden for safety reasons (It's definitely not because I didn't trust the King), I tore a small part of the bag and put it into the shield. I watched as that small piece of cloth dissolve so quickly like putting sugar in black coffee. Then, a screen popped up.

[New Shield Unlocked]

[Inventory Shield]

[Can be used to store items into the Shield]

'Huh, does that mean I can store it like how you store things in inventory games?' I asked myself, not expecting the Shield would answer.

[Affirmative]

[User wishes to open Inventory Shield?]

{Yes}                          {No}

I pressed on the Yes, and empty boxes appeared in front of me like a screen. looking at those boxes, they're probably the Inventory, just like how the Shield mentioned. But, how do I put my stuff in there? Luckily the Shield answered my question and said that I can just put my stuff by touching them and thinking about putting them inside an empty Inventory box will be enough.

 And I did exactly that. From my duffel bag, to my probably won't use phone, to my now useless money, everything is now inside my inventory.

 Suddenly, I had a thought. If I can't touch other weapons because of the weapon restrictions, then what would happen if I touch another Shield? 

 Wouldn't that shield be part of this Legendary Shield's memory? A Ting! made me snap out of my personal thinking. 

[New: Copy Shield]

[No current Shield Copied]

No current Shield...

Does that mean that I can now just, copy a shield by touching it? Well, only one way to find out, that's for sure. Got up and walked to the door, I went out of my room and started looking for a maid or guard that can help me walk to the training grounds. Since this is a castle, filled with knights and such, then there's gotta be a training ground where they train the knights. right?

 It took me awhile, but I then saw three maids talking at a room, which I had concluded as the kitchen.

"Um, excuse me? Can one of you help take me to the knights training ground, please?" I asked nicely, but the maids all made a distasteful face, as if I was the most disgusting thing they have ever seen.

"I can take you there, Sir Shield Hero." Another maid, whom had dark blue hair tied to the side of her shoulder, came up behind the other three maids.

I had to admit, I didn't notice her behind them, at all. I agreed without any trouble and asked her to lead the way. While she was taking me there, I decided to try and memorize the way as well as gather my thoughts. When I thought about it, I had noticed something else, where was the Queen? There are some portraits of her here and there, but I haven't properly seen her face before.

"Say, may I ask you a question, Miss?" I might as well ask this maid for some clues.

"Of course. What it is you might want to know , Shield Hero?"

"Where's the Queen?" Silence...

The maid fell into complete silence for a while. But she spoke again.

"The Queen is currently out of country for some Political and Diplomatic relations with the other Kingdoms."

"Why is the Queen doing the relations and not the King?" 'Cause usually, King is suppose to hold higher authority over the Queen.’

"Because Melromarc is a matriarchal country under a monarchy system, where the current Queen holds the true authority of the country. This means the Queen holds higher power than the King himself, this also implies to the work the Queen and King had been divided to do." The maid explained.

'That, makes a lot of sense. But, there are still some mysteries that haven't been solved...'  

"Do you know when the Queen will return?"

"It still hasn't been confirmed." 

'I see...’ 

After a little while of silence, we arrived at the Knights Training Ground. The maid told me that one of the knights can always show me the way back and excuse herself, saying that she has something else to do. A knight came over to Naofumi while she was still thinking.

"May I help you, Sir Shield Hero?" A man, Naofumi couldn't tell whether he was the Commander or the Vice-Commander, but she could tell he was a high ranked Knight.

"I need to check something. It's about my shield, and I would really appreciate it if you can take me to where all the shield's are held." Naofumi asked politely.

After all, in a world she barely knows of, anybody here can either be an enemy, or an ally, including the other three heroes.

"Of course. Come with me." The Knight in front of her nodded his head a bit, and turned around to take her across the training ground.

And Naofumi must admit, she did expected to see a lot of shields, but she didn't think that it would be THAT many.

"If there is anything else you need, please don't hesitate to call upon any knight here."

"Of course." Naofumi stared at the shields for a few more minutes, before going up to one of them and proceed to grab hold of one.

PING!

[New Copy Shield Acquired]

[Metal Shield]

[Defense: +25]

[Strength: +20]

[Would User Like To Try and Equip Shield?]

{Yes}                     {No}

'I see. So if I add something in the shield, it would turn into a shield. And if I touch another shield, the shield would make a copy so that I wouldn't be burdened.'

It’s useful, not to mention Naofumi won’t have to be worried about the shield’s that had been made. And with an inventory, she can hide stuff and not get robbed. Well, it’s not like there are robbers in this current world that can match up to her. 

“Thank you for taking me to the shield’s.” Naofumi bowed slightly after she was done copying the shield’s. It seems that just copying those shield’s had given her enough XP’s to level up.

I went back to my room plop myself on my bed. Testing my magic a bit, and after realizing that I can still use magic like I usually do, I went straight asleep. Hopefully, Tomorrow won't be annoying.

Chapter Text

The next day, during breakfast, Ren asked the three if they had attempted to explore their respective weapons. Motoyasu and Itsuki replied to him and they started discussing what they had found out. At one point within the conversation, Motoyasu had looked at Noufumi pityfully. 

When asked why he does so, the blond womanizer explains that Shields are essentially useless in any type of team in RPGs. The dumbass has obviously never watched Captain America. And he probably thinks that way because he never had to use a tanker in a game before.

"People who uses shields are known as 'Tankers' dumbass. It's usually the Tankers who would draw aggro and take the damage from enemies and bosses. And it's thanks to Tankers that people like you can defeat a raid or dungeon boss with ease."

"I have to agree with Nagaharu-senpai. Every single raid teams need at least one tanker to draw aggro. This is to make sure that the enemies won't suddenly attack the healers and supports whom stays in the back." Surprisingly, Ren backed Noufumi up. The kid is really starting to worm his way in her heart.

After breakfast, King Aultcray called for the Heroes to go to the Throne room. He explained how before summoning them, he had put up some 'Party' requests in nearby guilds, saying that the four Heroes would be summoned and would need to have some party members to help them in their quests.

Once he had done so, 12 different people came out from behind at the same time. The King mentioned that  the party members will be the ones choosing, not the heroes. He didn't have to say it, but Naofumi could already tell that nobody was going to join her and be member for her party.

And sure enough, once every single person had gone towards the heroes, Naofumi found herself alone, without any companion. The King mentioned how nobody wanted to join Naofumi's party (Yeah no shit sherlock), in which he gave out a comment on how someone had overheard the heroes talking, and how the Shield Hero had no idea about their world. Motoyasu gave a silent comment that someone must have eavesdropped on they're conversation.(Must you state the obvious Jackass).

Although that's what Motoyasu had said, she knew that nobody had eavesdropped one their conversation the night before. Not only had she felt no presence, breath and a pair of watching gaze (But she did felt it through a window, and she could tell that whoever it is watching them most likely had a higher authority than the King himself), she also knew that the whole Kingdom court hated her. Whatever it is that the previous Shield-Wielder did to have an entire continent harbour such hatred towards them, they did a good job.

Noufumi tuned out a bit on the King's slight speech. Then he mentioned that going on this adventure, they would need money. Because Noufumi had no party members and would need to level up on her own, she would get the most amount of money, which is approximately 800 silver coins... 

Suspicious...

Everything was fine until a girl who openly looks like a thot said that the Shield Hero should have atleast one companion instead on none. Noufumi wanted to rebutt, saying that it's fine (She had magic with her after all), but damn, the girl is persistent. Noufumi always disliked those types, because if you're so persistent on to doing something, then it obviously means you have some kind of ulterior motives.

The way she smiles doesn't help either, it reminded Noufumi of her mother, (And an old bitchy accquaintace that Noufumi wanted to do more than just rip her heart out) whom would always give out that smile when she had something to plan against Noufumi.

But as much as the Shield-Wielder wanted to reject and be alone, the pressure the King, nobles and the other two heroes (Ren looked like he just wanted to go out and start levelling up) are rather annoying than scary. She could just show of her magic, as an indication that she's technically of higher level  and  power compared to them, but she doesn't want to show out all her cards yet.

She had a little conversation with them during breakfast, and it's easy for the girl to found out that they had no idea regarding the part where, when the orb consumes, it changes. She knew that a Spear, or Bow, or Sword would make a different set, but if either of the three knew, then one of them would complain about it not part of the 'Help'  manual. 

Back to the tasks at hand, Noufumi didn't want to be cooped up in the castle much longer, so she decided to just accept the girl, but to not trust her until her motives have been found out. Noufumi had never felt so annoyed and relief with such great extend.

The girl, whom'st name had been introduced as Main Sophia, was so talkative that it's like she wanted to exploit all of Noufumi's most deepest, darkest secret ever known to man, and  Jesus,  the girl doesn't even stop talking.

Not to mention that she obviously dislike the Shield Hero as well, if calling Noufumi  "Shield Hero-sama!!"  was anything to go by. The only reason why Noufumi decided to keep Main Sophia was that she knew her way around the town.

Noufumi didn't want to get lost and not achieve anything on the first day, so the first thing she did with Main Sophia when they left the castle was explore the town. Main showed Noufumi around, where the town inn was, where most of the stalls were, and where to get the weapon's, which is the last thing she showed.

 Main asked to buy something inside, Noufumi agreed since she needed some protective gear. Inside the shop, the owner who goes by the name Erhard, helped Noufumi get herself some Protective Gear. Because Noufumi wasn’t paying attention, Main Sophia had gotten herself some fancy and expensive gears on her own.

”You can’t buy those Main Sophia-san.” Noufumi said, trying to reason with the girl.

”And why not? You are getting yourself some Protective wears yourself, why must I not let myself have some as well?”

Sigh. ”That’s because what I’m getting are nothing put protective gears, you already have your own armor right? Then there’s no need to get yourself new ones, should something happen to them, only then we should get you some new armor wears.”

 Main Sophia looked like she wanted to protest, but knowing that what Noufumi has said is correct, she gave in and changed back towards her old outfit. While she was changing, Noufumi took the chance and touch every single shield in the shop, all while putting her clothes and other parts inside her inventory.

After Main Sophia came out, they both  ventured to an open field that has been inhabitant by orange, balloon-ish monsters with sharp canine-like teeth. There were plenty of those said monsters. Main Sophia commented saying that the balloon inhabitants are the easy ones, seeing as the are the weakest monsters of all.

 Said monster balloons were appearing to attack Noufumi the most when Main Sophia started to pop them. However, Noufumi noticed that she hasn't gotten any Exp  from Main Sophia's counter towards the monsters. Even a blind man can tell something is wrong if your fellow adventurers doesn't share any Exp  which specifically means that Main Sophia had never decided to fully join her team, which means that she plans on betraying her soon...

 That's not a problem. Noufumi can handle betrayal, and she can handle being alone since she has powers, but what she can't handle is the blacklash after Main Sophia carries out whatever her devious plan is.

"Shield Hero-Sama, are you okay? Worry not! I will help you defeat-"

 Before Main Sophia could finish her goddamn  annoying talking, Noufumi tooked one of the monster balloons from her arm and crushed it in an instant, gaining 1 Exp  in the process. Main Sophia looked at her in shocked, surprise at how easily a Shield Hero could destroy a balloon. Though, she thought, the balloons are rather easy, so Main Sophia isn't that surprise.

And so, Noufumi held as many of the balloon monsters as she could, and crushed them instantly with her bare arms, while Main Sophia stood by the side, watching. This is continued until sundown. The two walked to an inn nearby and sat down in the eating area and Noufumi started to ask Main Sophia about the forests they were at, as well as about nearby villages and such.

"So the plains we were at today..." Noufumi trailed off.

"They're right here," Main Sophia pointed at a location in a map she had brought with her. "This is a small map, so it isn't recorded down. But further on past this forest, there is also a village. After the village lies a dungeon towards where most rookie adventurers make their way."

Main Sophia said and explained as she showed the locations of said dungeons and villages. "I don't expect we will harvest anything of value, but we will raise our levels." She said with such fake enthusiasm Noufumi wants to barf and die at the moment. "Our equipment are brand new, so for the two of us, they should be easy battles!" Bold words from the lady who wanted to buy high quality of protective armor.

 After the talk about that, Main Sophia tried to convinced Noufumi to drink some wine, in which the young woman ignored the request, saying she does not like such stuff. Seems like drinking alcohol is suppose to be part of Main Sophia's plan, if her upset and disappointed facial expression anything to go by.

Noufumi told Main Sophia that she would head up to bed first. After settling herself in her room, Noufumi made sure to check and re-check her inventory, along with her new shields that she had gotten after touching them at Erhard's store. After making sure that all her money and other items are safely stored, she went bed and fell asleep quickly.

Unbeknown to Noufumi, someone had sneakily went inside her room, to do something that even Lucifer would hate...