3RD PERSON POV
In a home somewhere in Japan, a 15-year-old boy named Ryuji Hashibira.
He is currently playing a game Monster Hunter Stories 2.
Ryuji: Finally! That last battle was rough. How long have I been playing?
He looked at the clock in his room, which said it's 7:00.
Ryuji: What the heck!? It's already seven!
He quickly rushed to get ready for school and left home with bread in his mouth.
Ryuji: (I can't believe I spent all night playing. I hope I'm not late)
As Ryuji is running down the street, a truck suddenly appears from the intersection.
Ryuji got hit by the truck and was sent flying.
Ryuji lay on the street, and his consciousness began slipping while staring at the clear blue sky.
As Ryuji's consciousness starts to fade, his life flashes before his eyes, and the last thing he sees before his mind goes black is a glowing Rathalos.
RYUJI POV
The first thing I felt was a cold floor.
???: fantastic! The summoning was a success
I opened my eyes at the sound of someone's voice.
I raised my head and saw a group of cloaked figures.
Ryuji: (What happened?)
I held my head in pain and recalled that I was hit by a truck.
Ryuji: (I got hit by a truck, and now I'm in another world!? Like those isekai anime I've watched!?)
???: brave heroes, please save our world from pure evil!
Ryuji: heroes?
??? 1/??? 2/??? 3/??? 4: What!?
I looked around and saw four other guys, each one wielding a weapon.
I then noticed something attached to my hand that looked like a kinship stone from the game I was playing before I died.
Shield guy: Where am I? Wait, what the hell is this!? A shield!?
???: Please, O' brave heroes, our kingdom is in dire need of saving
Bow guy: What do you mean it's in need of saving?
Ryuji: And how did we get here?
???: the story behind it all is long and complicated. To answer your question, you all were summoned here using an ancient ritual.
Ryuji: (sounds like a typical isekai scenario)
???: our world is in a fragile state, teetering at the brink of destruction. We beg of you, brave heroes, please lend us your aid
The hooded person bowed along with the other hooded people.
Before I could tell them, I'd help the guys with the sword spoke up first.
Sword guy: forget it
Ryuji/shield guy: Huh!?
Both me and the shield guy were surprised by the sword guy's response and were just as shocked by the other two's words.
Bow guy: I also refuse
Spear guy: You can send us back to our homeworld, right? Do that maybe we'll talk
The sword guy's stepped forward and pointed his sword at the hooded figures.
Sword guy: You brought the five of us here without our consent. Don't you feel the least bit guilty about it?
bow guy: not to mention. If you throw us out as soon as we restore peace, we'd have done all that work for nothing
Spear guy: How willing are you to accommodate our requests? Depending on your answer, we might end up as your enemies instead
Ryuji: (What the hell!? We got isekaied to another world, and the first thing you do is be assholes!?)
???: good sirs, I'm afraid that those questions are better suited to be answered by the king. You can negotiate your rewards with him directly, so please
The sword guy seemed satisfied with the person's response and lowered his sword.
Sword guy: Alright, fine
Bow guy: I suppose I suppose we'll consider their offer
Spear guy: Sure. It doesn't matter who we talk to, our demands won't change
The hooded man walked out of the room, and the three "heroes" followed.
Ryuji: What's with those three?
Shield guy: Tell me about it. Couldn't these guys get any more arrogant?
After following the hooded mage for a while, we entered the throne room.
King: So these four young men are the four cardinal heroes of ancient legend? I am Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. Welcome brave heroes
I raised my hand, and the king took notice.
Aultcray: Yes, what is it?
Ryuji: You said four cardinal heroes, but there are five of us
Aultcray: *nod* Yes, I am aware
The king glanced at the mages that summoned us.
Aultcray: Explain
The mage knelt down.
Mage: Of course, your majesty. While our plan to only summon the four heroes was a success, we did not know how we summoned this one
The king closed his eyes and then glanced back at me.
Aultcray: That thing on your hand doesn't resemble any of the vassal weapons that have been recorded in history, but in any case, we welcome you, Vassal Hero
I got curious about what the king meant about vassal weapons or vassal hero but decided to put a pin on it for now.
Aultcray: Now to the main topic. Heroes, please identify yourselves
The sword guy is the first to step forward.
Ren: Ren Amaki. I'm 16 years old, a high school student
The Spear guy followed.
Motoyasu: I'm Motoyasu Kitamura. 21 years old, a college student
I then stepped forward to introduce myself.
Ryuji: My name is Ryuji Hashibira. I'm 16 years old, a high school student
Bow guy: I suppose I'm up next
The bow guy came after me.
Itsuki: Itsuki Kawasumi. I'm still in high school, and I'm 17
Shield guy: I guess that leaves me
Just as the shield guy was about to introduce himself, the king cut him off.
Aultcray: Good. Ren, Motoyasu, Ryuji, and Itsuki.
Ryuji: yo king, you didn't let him finish
There was an unusually short pause before the king spoke.
Aultcray: Ah, yes. Forgive me
Itsuki: Hey, you can't say "yo king." You have to address him with a little more respect
Ryuji: says the guys who literally demanded respect from people who were begging for help earlier
Shield guy: he has a point. And calling him "his majesty" is a little too formal
Itsuki: but still-
Before we could continue bickering, the king coughed to get our attention.
Aultcray: King is fine
We looked around and noticed that the people in the room were giving us some concerning looks.
Naofumi: Sorry about that. I'm Naofumi Iwatani. I'm 20 years old, a college student
Aultcray: Now then. I suppose I need to explain why we brought you here
Naofumi: (Is he ignoring me!?)
King Aultcray began telling in detail about a prophecy of an event called the "waves of catastrophe", and that heroes are summoned to deal with them and the "dragon hourglass" which tells when a wave will strike.
He then informed us that the first wave struck the kingdom only recently with many casualties, and the next wave will begin in a month.
Ren: Okay, I think we got the gist of it. Anyway, I'm sure you didn't expect we'd save you for free
The person next to the king, who I assume is the prime minister or something, spoke up.
Minister: Of course not. Once you've repelled the waves, I can assure you we shall reward you handsomely
Motoyasu: Yeah? Well, it seems like we have no choice but to take you for your word
Ren: As long as you don't turn on us. But don't think for a second you can tame us
Itsuki: exactly. We won't put up with you looking down on us
Ryuji: Seriously, guys? Demanding respect again?
Naofumi: (good grief are they full of themselves)
Aultcray: I presume we've reached an agreement? If so, I would ask that you check your status
Ryuji/Naofumi/Itsuki: status!?
Ren: *sigh* Are you three serious? It should've been the first thing you'd notice when you got here
I got I little irritated at Ren's know-it-all-all attitude.
I then noticed that Motoyasu's eyes were shifting all over the place.
Ren: Don't you see the icon at the bottom right corner of your vision? Focus on that
I then noticed an icon at the exact spot where Ren had mentioned.
I focused on it and saw a lot of things that looked like it's from a video game.
[Note: i don't know how to do the stats so i won't include them]
Itsuki: only level one?
Ryuji: That makes sense since we just came to this world
Motoyasu: I see your point. But it would be hard to fight
Naofumi: What is all this?
Minister: it's called status magic. It's magic exclusive to heroes
Ren: So what's the first step?
Minister: You must go on an adventure to improve and upgrade these legendary weapons
Naofumi: You mean they weren't already maxed out when we got them? Also, mine isn't technically a weapon
Ryuji: What are you complaining about? I'm not even sure what mine is, even though it looks like something I've seen before
Ren: I suppose you can figure that out as we go
Ryuji: I guess you're right. Looks like we've got a lot of training to go
Itsuki: we have to level up hard and fast
Naofumi: And once the five of us we can form a party and--
Minister: One moment, brave heroes
Heroes: Huh?
Minister: I neglected to mention you must each recruit allies and adventure separately
Itsuki: Why is that?
Minister: it is said that the very nature of the four cardinal weapons repel one another. If you try to work together, it will hinder their development
We each double-checked our weapons, but I couldn't find any information about it in my "weapon" except for a verbal translator function, which I find to be really helpful.
Naofumi: it looks like he's telling the truth
Minister: However, since Sir Ryuji is a vassal weapon hero, he is free to party with any one of the cardinal heroes
Ryuji: Really!?
Aultcray: *nod* Yes. Since the sun is about to set, I suggest you all rest here for tonight and begin your quests tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll gather the best adventurers to form your party
A woman approached us and guided us to a room where we'd be staying while they prepared our bedrooms.
NAOFUMI POV
After we settled in our room, we decided to make ourselves comfortable.
As I rested on the sofa, I noticed Ryuji was checking his status again.
Naofumi: Hey Ryuji, why are you checking your status again?
He looked at me and showed me his weapon.
Ryuji: I'm just trying to make sense of my weapon. The kingdom doesn't know what kind of weapon this thing is, so I might as well figure it out myself
Naofumi: Yeah, also doesn't all this seem like a video game?
Motoyasu: That's cause it is a video game. it's exactly like Emerald Online
Ryuji: emerald online?
Naofumi: I've never heard of it
Motoyasu: Huh? Seriously? The game is huge
Itsuki: what are you talking about? This isn't some online game. It's a new console game I'm playing called Dimensional Wave
Ren: You're both wrong. Everything about this place is identical to a VRMMO called Brave Star Online
Ryuji: The name sounds like Sword Art Online
Motoyasu: I don't know what this Sword Art Online or whatever. But do you mean an actual VRMMO Ren?
Ren: Yeah
Motoyasu: Do you guys get what he means by that, too, right?
Ryuji: Sword Art Online was an anime I once watched that focused on a concept similar to it
Naofumi: I've read about them in light novels. Sword art online included
Itsuki: im familiar with it
Motoyasu: Okay, now to be sure, let's compare our general knowledge. Who's face is on the one thousand yen bill?
We all gave completely different answers, which surprised all of us.
After a couple more questions, we realized that each of us came from different earths. With the only exception being that both me and Ryuuji came from the same earth.
Naofumi: So there are parallel worlds with their own Japan
Motoyasu: I thought that we might just come from different eras, but it would seem not, huh
Ryuji: I can't believe you guys played video games that are so similar to this world
Naofumi: Tell me about it. By the way, how did you guys end up here?
Ryuji: got hit by a truck on my way to school
Itsuki: *surprised* you, too!?
Ren: I was stabbed trying to save a schoolmate from a criminal
Motoyasu: I was stabbed
I was really surprised that these four were killed.
Naofumi: No way... I was just at a library when I was surrounded by light. The next thing I knew, I woke up in this world
Ryuji: I guess you're the lucky one who didn't know what death is like
I then noticed Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki started staring at me.
Ryuji: What are you guys staring at Naofumi?
Itsuki: Oh, it's nothing. I just assume it's because Naofumi's the shield hero
Ren crossed his arms and nodded while Motoyasu looked at Itsuki and spoke with an agreeing tone.
Motoyasu: You too?
Ren: Yeah. I mean, it only makes sense
Naofumi: Is there something wrong!?
Motoyasu: Calm down. As the oldest one here, let me bring you up to speed on the basics
Motoyasu walked towards me and put his hand on my shoulder.
Motoyasu: As far as I've ever seen, the shielder class who specializes in shields are losers because no true gamer has ever played it
Naofumi: What!?
I started panicking and asked Ren and Itsuki if it was the same in their worlds, which they confirmed.
While the three started talking about the similarities in this world and their games, I began sulking in the corner.
Just then, Ryuji started patting my shoulder to comfort me.
Ryuji: Hey, cheer up, man. It's obvious they don't know what they're saying
Naofumi: How can you be so sure?
Ryuji: I'm sure you've heard of a comic book hero that also uses a shield, too
I tried to think of a shield-using hero, and immediately, Captain America popped into my head.
Ryuji: Plus, they didn't really give a good answer and just made their own assumptions. Besides, I still have no clue what my "weapon" does. Besides, we will have our own parties tomorrow
Naofumi: Yeah, you're right. I hope you figure out what your weapon does
I got up from the sofa and went to the balcony to get some fresh air.
Naofumi: (Even if I am weak, I'll just have to rely on my party and use my shield to protect them from enemy attacks. Heck, I might actually find a girlfriend)
Motoyasu: Okay, guys, let's head back to our rooms and get a good night's sleep
We then left and headed for our rooms to rest up for tomorrow.