"Oh..."
The murmur of awe pulled me back to my senses.
When I focused my scattered gaze, I saw robed men standing before me, mouths agape as they stared in my direction.
"What's going on?"
Looking toward the source of the voice, I spotted three other men who—just like me—seemed to have no idea what was happening.
I tilted my head in confusion.
Wait... I was in the library just a moment ago, so why...? More importantly, where even is this place?
I looked around and took in the stone walls.
Brick-like, maybe? Regardless, this was a building I'd never seen before. Definitely not the library.
Below my feet, I spotted what looked like geometric patterns painted in phosphorescent paint, along with an altar.
Something resembling the magic circles you'd see in a fantasy novel. That was the vibe.
The four of us were standing on that altar.
So, uh... why am I holding a shield?
It was oddly light and clung perfectly to my hand. I couldn't understand why I was holding it, so I tried to set it on the ground, but it wouldn't leave my grip.
"Where are we?"
The guy with the sword stepped forward and asked the robed man the question that was clearly on everyone's mind.
"Oh, Heroes! Please, save this world!"
"Huh?"
The four of us spoke in unison.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
This phrase... I felt like I'd read something like it in web novels before.
"Allow me to explain. There are... complicated circumstances involved, but in short, we have summoned you here through an ancient ritual."
"Summoned..."
Right. It was. The possibility of this being some kind of prank was extremely high, but it couldn't hurt to play along and hear them out.
"This world is currently on the brink of destruction. Heroes, please lend us your strength."
The robed man bowed deeply before us.
"Well... I'll at least hear you out—"
"No thanks."
"I agree."
"We can go back to our original world, right? We'll talk after that."
While I was trying to be reasonable, the other three cut me off with their dismissals.
Excuse me?
What kind of attitude was that toward someone who was desperately bowing to them?
At least hear the guy out before jumping to conclusions.
When I glared at them in silent reproach, all three turned to look at me.
...Why are you all half-smiling? I can tell you're weirdly excited about this.
You're secretly happy about this, aren't you?
Well, if this was real, it would mean fulfilling the dream of being transported to another world, but still...
Their attitude was such a cliché. But honestly, that was exactly why they should just listen.
"Do you even feel guilty about dragging us here without our consent?"
The sword guy—he looked about high school age—pointed his blade at the robed man.
"If the world gets all peaceful, you'll probably just send us back with a snap of your fingers, and we'll have worked for nothing."
The bow guy nodded in agreement, glaring at the robed men.
"How much are you even going to respect our wishes? Knowing that, you should be prepared for the possibility that we might end up becoming enemies of this world just by hearing you out."
Right. This was them—checking where they stood and staking their claim for future compensation.
How were these guys so thick-skinned? I was starting to feel like I was losing.
"Well then, we'd like you to meet with the king first. We can discuss rewards there."
The lead robed man had a heavy door opened for him and gestured for us to follow.
"...Fine."
"Indeed."
"Well, no matter who we're dealing with, the conversation's gonna be the same anyway."
The thick-skinned trio said this as they followed along. I hurried to keep up so I wouldn't be left behind.
After that, we passed through a dark room and walked down a stone corridor.
...How to put this. The only way I could describe it was that the air tasted good—but maybe that just showed how poor my vocabulary was.
The view through the windows took our breath away.
The sky stretched endlessly high above, and below it lay a town that looked like something straight out of medieval Europe.
But we didn't have time to linger on the scenery. We kept walking down the corridor until we reached the audience chamber.
"Oh, so these are the ancient Heroes?"
An imperious old man seated on a throne in the audience hall looked us over and muttered to himself.
Somehow, I got a bad impression of him...
I just couldn't bring myself to like someone who looked at people like they were beneath him.
"I am this kingdom's king—
I wanted to retort—"We didn't lower them!"—but I held back.
He was technically a superior, and he did look like a king, after all.
"Now then, I must explain the situation. This kingdom—and indeed, this entire world—is heading toward destruction."
Here was a summary of the king's explanation.
Currently, this world was beset by what was known as the Prophecy of the End. Multiple overlapping Waves, each capable of bringing ruin to the world, would soon arrive. If the disasters wrought by these Waves could not be repelled, the world would be destroyed.
The year of the prophecy was this very year, and as foretold, the sand in an ancient artifact known as the
The Dragon Hourglass could predict the Waves and issued a warning one month in advance. According to legend, each time one Wave ended, a one-month grace period followed.
Apparently, the people of this kingdom had initially dismissed the prophecy. However, when the Dragon Hourglass's sand fell completely for the first time, disaster struck.
Dimensional rifts appeared in this kingdom—
At that time, the kingdom's knights and adventurers had barely managed to defeat them, but the next Wave would be even more powerful.
As things stood, there would be no way to stop the catastrophe.
That was why the kingdom's leaders, following the ancient tradition, had performed the Hero Summoning.
That was the gist of it.
Incidentally, the reason we could understand the language was supposedly due to the legendary weapons we held.
"I understand the situation. So you summoned us and expect us to work for free?"
"How convenient for you."
"...Right. There's no other word for it—selfish. If the world's going to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. It's got nothing to do with us."
Despite their half-smiles from earlier suggesting they were secretly thrilled, they were saying all this with straight faces.
Well, I might as well pile on too.
"Agreed. We have no obligation to help. What if we do all the hard work and then get told 'goodbye' once peace is restored? Besides, I'd like to know if there's even a way for us to get back. What's the deal with that?"
"Guh..."
The king sent a glance toward his subordinates.
"Of course, we intend to provide the Heroes with ample compensation."
All four of us—including me—clenched our fists.
Yes! First step of the negotiation.
"We also have援助funds prepared. We would very much like the Heroes to protect the world, and we are prepared to provide whatever resources are needed for that purpose."
"Hm... well, if you're willing to promise that, I guess."
"Don't think you can tame us. We'll cooperate as long as you're not our enemies."
"...Right."
"Indeed."
Why were these guys always so condescending?
If the kingdom ended up becoming our enemy, we'd be the ones in the worst position.
Well, we had to stay on our toes here or it would all be for nothing, so I supposed this was necessary.
"Now then, Heroes—let us hear your names."
That was when I noticed something. The book I'd been reading just before all this—didn't it look a lot like The Four Holy Weapons Book?
Sword, spear, bow, and shield.
They were all Heroes, and if this matched the book, it was entirely possible we'd stumbled into the world of that very book.
The Sword Hero stepped forward and began his introduction.
"My name is Amaki Ren. I'm sixteen—a high school student."
The Sword Hero, Amaki Ren. Appearance-wise, "beautiful boy" was probably the most fitting description.
His features were refined, and his build was on the small side—about 165 centimeters, maybe.
He was so good-looking that if he dressed as a girl, people would genuinely mistake him for one. He had short hair with a slight brown tint.
Sharp eyes, fair skin—in a word, he gave off a thoroughly cool impression.
The slender-swordsman type.
"Next up would be me. My name is Kitamura Motoyasu. I'm twenty-one—a college student."
The Spear Hero, Kitamura Motoyasu. Appearance-wise, he gave off the impression of a laid-back older brother type.
No less handsome than Ren, he seemed like the kind of guy who'd had a girlfriend or two—someone experienced in socializing.
His hair was tied back in a ponytail. It looked weirdly good on a guy.
He had the air of a reliable big brother.
"My turn next. My name is Kawasumi Itsuki. I'm seventeen—a high school student."
The Bow Hero, Kawasumi Itsuki. Appearance-wise, he seemed like the quiet, bookish type who'd be found playing piano or something.
How to describe him? He had a fragile quality, yet at the same time possessed a firm strength. A kind of ethereal presence.
His hair was slightly permed into waves.
He had the look of a quiet little brother.
They all seemed to be Japanese. That was a relief—imagine if they'd been foreigners.
Oh wait, now it was my turn.
"Last one's me. My name is Iwatani Naofumi. I'm twenty—a college student."
The king looked me up and down.
My spine tingled unpleasantly.
"Hmm. So that's Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki."
"Your Majesty, you forgot about me."
"Oh, my apologies. Sir Naofumi."
Honestly, what a forgetful old man. I mean... I did get the feeling I was somewhat out of place among these three, but still—could you at least remember my name?
"Now then, all of you—please check your Statuses and take an objective look at yourselves."
"Huh?"
What Status?
"Um, how exactly do we do that?"
Itsuki tentatively asked the king.
What was this Status stuff? Since when?
"What's wrong with you guys? Did you not even notice it when you first arrived in this world?"
Ren spoke up, exasperated at how clueless the rest of us were.
How would we know? And what was with that "I'm-so-informed" expression?
"Do you not see an icon at the edge of your vision?"
"Huh?"
As instructed, I stared blankly into the distance, and sure enough, there was some kind of annoyingly self-important mark floating at the edge of my vision.
"Focus your consciousness on it."
With a light ping, an icon displayed itself prominently in my vision, like a web browser popping up.
Iwatani Naofumi Occupation: Shield Hero Lv: 1 Equipment: Small Shield (Legendary Weapon) Otherworldly Clothing Skills: None Magic: None
Just glancing at it revealed a ton of categories, but I'll spare the details.
So this was what they meant by Status.
And what was with this setup? It looked weirdly like a video game.
"Level 1... that's pretty concerning."
"Yeah, I don't even know if I could fight at this level."
"What even is this?"
"In your world, this doesn't exist? This is Status Magic—something everyone in this world can use."
"Seriously?"
So it was considered normal to have your real physical abilities quantified like this? That was genuinely surprising.
"So what are we supposed to do? This number is definitely worrying."
"Well, we'd like the Heroes to embark on an adventure, hone yourselves, and strengthen your legendary weapons."
"Strengthen? Isn't this weapon strong from the start?"
"According to the legend, the summoned Heroes are meant to nurture their legendary weapons and grow them stronger over time."
"The legend, the legend... If this weapon isn't useful as a weapon yet, couldn't we just use a different one in the meantime?"
Motoyasu twirled his spear as he offered his opinion.
Fair point. And I had a shield—not even a proper weapon. Of course I'd need something to actually fight with.
"We can sort that out later. For now, if we've been asked to do this, we should focus on improving ourselves, right?"
Being summoned as Heroes to another world—it was exactly the kind of burning, exciting scenario you'd dream about.
The desire to give it my all was welling up inside me.
I was so full of dreams that my excitement showed no signs of fading.
The others felt the same way—they were all fixated on their respective weapons.
"So are the four of us going to form a party?"
"Please wait, Heroes."
"Hmm?"
Just as we were about to set out on our adventure, a minister stepped forward.
"You Heroes will each recruit your own companions and venture out separately."
"Why is that?"
"According to the legend, the legendary weapons possess properties that cause them to repel each other. If the Heroes travel together, it will hinder their growth."
"I'm not sure if it's true, but you're saying we won't grow if we stick together?"
Hm? There seemed to be some kind of help text attached to the weapon's information.
Everyone seemed to have noticed it too—they were all following it with their eyes.
Caution: When bearers of legendary weapons fight together, a backlash may occur. Whenever possible, travel separately.
"It really does seem to be the case..."
What was with these game-like explanations?
It was like we'd been dropped into a video game world.
There was a ridiculously detailed and polite guide on how to use this weapon, but I clearly didn't have time to read all of it right now.
"In that case, should we recruit companions?"
"I shall prepare companions for each of you. The sun is already setting today, Heroes—rest well tonight, and set out tomorrow. By then, I will have gathered promising candidates to join your parties."
"Thank you very much."
"Thanks."
We each expressed our gratitude in our own way, and that night, we rested in the guest rooms the king had prepared.