26 – Heroes in the face of reality

Melromarc's royal palace.

There, the Three Legendary Heroes, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu were gathered for a discussion.

Not one organized by the Queen, the King, or anyone else.

But by themselves.

And specifically, by Ren.

Within a private meeting room in the royal palace, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu sat around a circular table, looking at each other.

Silence filled the room.

But then, Ren broke it. "You two saw the message as well, right?"

Itsuki frowned. "...It can't be true, right? Justice-"

"Screw justice." Motoyasu spat out. "You guys saw it too, right? Even if Naofumi is a bastard, those knights tried to kill him. And..." He pursed his lips. "...I hate to say it, but I know women. The way those two beauties rushed to defend him... and the fact that this kingdom is ruled by a Queen and that the King lied to all of us..." He kicked the table and said, "What's to say they won't try to kill us next?"

As if to reinforce that sentiment, and as a warning, a glowing crimson window popped up in front of each of the heroes. The same one that had appeared in front of their eyes when the knights had tried attacking Naofumi.

===

[The Covenant was shattered.]

[The Hero was betrayed.]

[The World has been judged.]

[From this point forward, the Legendary Shield will no longer exist in this world.]

===

Ren glanced at it and clicked his tongue. "...I don't know about you guys. But in Brave Star Online, the moment that a legendary weapon is lost-"

"The waves get harder," Itsuki finished. "I know. It's the same in Dimension Wave."

Motoyasu groaned. "Yeah. Same in Emerald Online. Dammit." He ran his hand through his hair. "...What do we do now? That Naofumi isn't a hero anymore, right?"

Silence filled the air. Because the truth was clear to them all.

They were still bound as heroes. When the Waves of Calamity came, they would be forced to fight against them.

But the same wasn't true for Naofumi.

Although the circumstances weren't clear, what WAS clear was that Melromarc had done something so egregious the world itself removed a player.

The system had judged Naofumi to be without fault and compensated him by letting him do whatever he wanted now since it couldn't just send him home.

But they were still stuck here.

Stuck in a world and a country who had gone out of its way to try and kill a legendary hero in front of them. Granted, if the rumors were true, it was deserved. But considering the Queen's Shadows had emerged and explicitly said otherwise...

Motoyasu slammed his fist on the table and said, "That's not fair! How come he gets to just run off with those beauties and enjoy life when we have to fight for our lives, huh?!"

"...Because we didn't believe him." Ren pursed his lips. "...It's regrettable. But we DID have a chance."

Itsuki lowered his gaze. "...Yes. I talked to the waitress of that tavern where Naofumi and Mein had been staying. Naofumi hadn't even touched alcohol all night. And he was studying all through the night as well, only going to sleep in the late hours of the morning."

Motoyasu froze. "Then... Mein...?"

"Set him up, yeah." Ren nodded. "...I'm surprised you didn't see it. Weren't you killed because you were tricked by women, Motoyasu?"

Motoyasu tensed. "That's... It's..." He ran a hand through his hair. "...It's complicated."

Itsuki was quiet. Then he looked up at Ren and said, "What do we do now?"

Ren tilted his head, thinking. Then he sighed and said, "...We wait for the Queen to return. It's clear that the King set us up too." He let out a wry smile. "I should have realized it. The beta had the King be a traitor, but I didn't think that carried through since the final release fixed it..."

Motoyasu crossed his arms and legs, leaning against his spear. "...Do we just keep going with the main quest then?"

Ren nodded. "That's why I wanted to talk with you two. Let's compare data. It might be different for all of us, but there should be similarities. The next main event is the Tortoise, right?"

Itsuki's eyes sparkled. "Yes! Xuanwu, the Dark Warrior! It was super hard to beat, but it dropped a powerful upgrade material!"

Motoyasu narrowed his eyes, as if thinking. "...Yeah, I think they called it the Black Turtle in Emerald Online? It was a hundred man raid boss though. And although we didn't fail it, rumors were that it would have aborted the main quest if the players didn't manage to stop it."

Itsuki tensed. "...A hundred man raid boss?"

Ren hummed. "That's the same here. The Spirit Tortoise in Brave Star Online was a World Raid Boss. Basically everyone online had to cut it down before it changed the entire world." He paused. "...What about you then, Itsuki?"

"U-Um. Xuanwu was just a secret overpowered boss in Dimension Wave..." Itsuki rubbed the back of his neck. "...It was meant to be a mandatory loss. You COULD win, if you prepared right. But the story was supposed to flow after your player character lost and then you came back later with allies to properly beat it."

Motoyasu blinked. Then he said, "Right... you said this world was a stand alone retro game in your world, Itsuki." He paused. "...Wait. What did Naofumi say this world was for him again?"

Ren paused. Then he slowly said, "...Naofumi mentioned that this world was more like a story he read once. A story. Not a game, but a story."

Itsuki froze. "...That means...?"

Motoyasu slowly stood up, his eyes wide. "...It has an ending. For Naofumi. He knows how this world 'ends.'"

Ren ran his hand through his hair and said, "Brave Star Online was still in service when I was summoned."

Motoyasu nodded. "Emerald Online was too. The main quest was far from over and there were more patches coming..." He looked over at Itsuki.

Itsuki flinched under the sharp gaze, but then he said, "U-Um... Dimension Wave was the first of a series... I-It ends just after Zhuque awakens..."

Ren sighed. "...Great. So this means... One." He held up a finger. "Naofumi knew what was coming. That's why he let all of this unfold and moved like he did. Two..."

Motoyasu frowned. "...It's not a game for him. No, he said it, right? That he died from overworking as a programmer. So..."

Itsuki's eyes widened. "...He knows how to exploit things. Like a cheater."

"Not a cheater," Ren said. "If this world is a 'story' to him, then his systems are probably different from the start. Right?" He crossed his arms and said, "...That's probably why he wasn't bothered about having the shield. He knows the 'plot events' that are coming up next."

Motoyasu gnashed his teeth. "Then why didn't he tell us?!"

Itsuki shifted in his seat and said, "...We wouldn't have believed him. Right? Since he's American, we probably would have brushed it off as him being weird."

Silence filled the room.

Motoyasu sank back in his chair. "...So what then? You saw how Naofumi reacted back then. He's fed up. If those Shadows didn't show up to stop him..."

Ren tapped his finger on his arm and said, "...He IS American, like Itsuki said. From the start, all of this probably rubbed him the wrong way. We should be thankful he didn't try to kill the king from the start. No, we should probably be thankful this world wasn't a game to him. Americans have a habit of trying to kill every NPC they come across, after all..." He trailed off, clearly remembering bad memories.

Motoyasu chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it..." He sighed, clearly remembering things as well.

Itsuki slowly raised his hand. "Um... so then... what should we do? I wanted to be an ally of justice... but if the King was lying the whole time..."

Motoyasu frowned. "...Should we try to find Naofumi? Maybe apologize?"

Ren shook his head. "It won't matter. No, it's probably better if we don't. If this world really is a 'story' for Naofumi, then he's fed up with the 'plot' and already wrote himself out of it. That's how the shield vanished. Maybe it was intentional, maybe it wasn't. But the 'main quest' doesn't apply to him anymore. For us, he's like an unkillable guest NPC-"

Itsuki gasped.

Ren blinked. "What did I say?"

Motoyasu jumped to his feet, excitement clear on his face. "If he's a Guest NPC, that means he can fight with us without leeching XP!"

Ren narrowed his eyes in thought. "...That's right. And if he sees this world as a story..."

Itsuki's eyes lit up and he said, "Then we're the main characters! And he probably wants us to win too!"

Ren nodded. "That's right... probably. We don't know the ending to this world. But Naofumi does." He paused. "...We should confirm it with him." He tapped his fingers on his sword hilt and said, "We probably get to go home if we clear this world. So it's best if we find out for sure."

Motoyasu spun his spear around and said, "Then what are we waiting for? That guy's still back in Riyute village, right? So we just have to-"

A sudden shadow lashed out at Motoyasu.

Ren's eyes widened and he reflexively stepped forward to swing his blade and intercept.

Sparks flew and then a man wielding a shamshir jumped away from Ren, laughing. "Ehehehe... I guess this world's heroes aren't that bad."

Motoyasu quickly moved to Ren's side, brandishing his spear. "What the heck?! Do you know what's going on, Ren?"

"...No." Ren pointed his blade at the unknown assailant. "...This is new to me."

Itsuki ducked to the floor and fired a flurry of shots at the man. His arrows swerved through the air with unerring accuracy at the man's eyes and neck... only to be stopped by a wall shooting out from the ground.

The unknown assailant laughed, brandishing his shamshir. "Oh, you're special. What is that, <Perfect Accuracy>?"

Itsuki rolled to his feet, but his eyes trembled. "...How do you know?"

"Well~" The man laughed. "Let's just say you aren't that-"

A trick.

The man pretended to monologue, but before he finished, he immediately flung up his free hand, shooting out a ball of magic.

Ren's eyes widened and he jumped forward, swinging his sword. "GET BACK! <Parry>!"

Motoyasu dove behind Ren.

Itsuki flipped the table over as cover and hid behind Ren as well.

The Sword Hero deflected the ball of magic back at the shamshir wielder.

At least, he tried to.

But...

"Ehehehe... <Boom>."

...An explosion erupted in the room.

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