Hey to all you cool cats and kittens out there. Its Zinmaster24 here and I have to say that I have been inspired to put pen to paper again. Or rather, in this case, fingers to keyboard and write out a new story that just would not leave me alone. It's going to be a Rising of the Shield Hero story and I will mostly be following along the web novel rather than the light novel or anime completely. I say this because that is what I have the most experience with the series from personally and I can look up more information on it readily unlike the light novel which I don't have access to. I also believe that the anime will be following the light novel as well as what the manga did too. So you'll need to bear with me as some things seem different or they may be scenes missing or added that you aren't used to.

Disclaimer: I, in no way shape or form, own anything involving Rising of the Shield Hero other than my own original characters. I'm broke as a joke and don't need to be sued ya know?

XxXx

From Soldier to Hero

Chapter 1: A Second Chance

Hazel brown eyes opened to the sight of multiple sets of feet in front of himself. Blinking a few times the man pushed himself up to look at the people in front of him. They were all wearing what he could gage to be mage or priest like robes as if they were part of a cosplay convention. The male was soon on his feet a moment later as he found himself looking around the room he found himself in. It looked to be of a stone walled room that was part of a castle.

The very next thing he noticed that clutched in his left hand was a bow. It was a very ornate looking bow which seemed to be made out of some sturdy material from the looks of it. Then soon, he noticed that besides himself, there were three other people standing next to himself. Though, the three other guys were far younger than him by at least a few years and they were each holding a weapon as well, a sword, shield, and spear. But, his observations would have to wait as one of the robed men started speaking.

"Oh, great heroes, please save our world!" The robed man spoke with some excitement and desperation in his voice. "You must have many questions, but time is short. You four are chosen heroes that have been summoned using an ancient ritual." The man bowed after speaking his peace to the four of them.

"Summoned? Are you joking? Don't you guys have any shame at all for dragging us here without our permission?" The youngest looking boy with the sword spoke up while pointing his sword at the group in front of them. He couldn't have been any older than 16 years old from his looks. He appeared to keep himself in decent enough shape, as he wore a blue tracksuit. His features could best be said as being androgynous, but he was a pretty boy nonetheless. He had black hair, blue eyes with a sharp gaze, but his body language spoke of a different tune now that the man with hazel eyes looked closer at him. He played off being cool and a lone wolf, but he was rather jumpy and excited to be there.

The one with the spear followed the sword wielders lead next by stepping forward with a smug look on his face. "It's like he said, even if we do save your world, how do we know that you won't just send us back home once we're done without anything. That's paramount to slave labor you know?" This guy was fairly tall, almost as tall as himself, with blonde hair that was kept in a single ponytail and orange eyes. He gave off a confident older brother vibe about himself, but was also a pretty boy and had the looks of a skirt chaser. He was wearing a red jacket and white t-shirt with beige pants. The man with hazel eyes could judge that he was the most laidback of the other three.

"Wait… What?" The last young man replied rather completely surprised at either the fact that he was summoned to another world or how nonchalant the others were being about their situation. The man with hazel eyes couldn't exactly tell, but he noticed the shield strapped to his arm. He was tall, but not as tall as himself, and he had black hair and green eyes that appeared to be innocently lost on the situation. He wore a green, black, and white tracksuit and looked to be like something of a shut-in, much like he used to be.

As they continued to talk, the man with hazel eyes remained silent through most of the interaction instead choosing to gather as much information about his surrounding as possible. He soon noticed something in his peripheral vision and focused on it for a moment. It appeared to be an icon box that flashed a light blue color. He focused on it further and soon was taken aback as a screen popped up into his view with all kinds of information. Though because of how startled he was by this action, he took a step back which caused his black combat boot to thud hard on the stone floor beneath him.

'What the fuck is this? Is this a status menu from a game or something? This looks extremely detailed, but a lot of it isn't something I haven't already seen before.' The man thought to himself with slightly wide eyes as he tried to process everything in front of him. However, he was kept from going any further into checking things out because of his previous action of having his combat boot thud on the floor as well as his dog tags jingling around his neck.

It caused a loud noise that broke up the flow of the conversation, and soon all eyes were on him. He gave a sheepish smile and had the good graces to nod his head in apology. With all eyes on himself now, everyone in the room all stared at him as if he had two heads. "What is it?" He asked with a slightly gruff and annoyed tone now as the stares were finally starting to annoy him along with the growing silence.

"Umm… Well we were wondering if you had anything to say, since you've been silent this entire time. Also, you look the most dangerous of us all here dressed as if you're in the military and have the guns and all." This came from the guy with the shield as he tried to speak, but his tone was uneasy just looking at the man next to himself.

The military man sighed and shook his head finally, dismissing the screen in front of him for the moment and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, whatever happened to us, we're here now and standing around trying to demand shit isn't going to change our situation. We need more information about what the hell is going on here." The man said turning to the robed men who took a step back in fear.

"D-Don't worry heroes! You all will meet with the king of our country, so he can tell you everything you need to know! Please follow us! You can discuss compensation with the king!" The main robed mage said with another bow as he started to walk out of the room with the others following behind.

The other three heroes looked between themselves and the tallest man of them all and shrugged their shoulders. The spear hero spoke up first with the same smug look on his face. "The person we talk to may change, but our demands won't no matter who we talk to." He spoke with a poorly hidden glee as he started following along with them.

The boy with the sword huffed with a mere nod of his head as he started to file out of the room followed by the young man with the shield. Soon after the military man followed along with the other three, but decided to give another look at the menu screen again as he walked behind everyone else to see the king.

[Status Magic Main Menu]

'Status Magic huh? This menu is really like a game huh?' The man thought to himself as he looked over the menu while walking with the others. He could see his name which was displayed as Tyrus Owens. 'There's my name and everything… Yeah, I don't really trust this place or the people so I'll be giving out a fake name. Hopefully nobody but me can see this menu right now.' Tyrus thought to himself as he continued pouring over everything in front of him. He could see stats under his name that read, Class: Bow Hero Lv. 1, attack, defense, speed, and magic. There were numbers next to each stat that varied in number gap.

[Weapon Tree]

That was the next option in the menu that stuck out to Tyrus as he tried to pour over the information quicker as he looked up seeing that they were nearing a set of large double doors. Focusing back on the menu in front of him, he could see that there were tons of grayed out boxes in front of him. The only one that was lit up was the Legendary Bow that was still in his left hand. Thinking about weapons now, he could feel an all too familiar weight on his back and thigh. The standard issue M16 rifle was strapped to his back, and a M9 Beretta was holstered on display on his right thigh.

Before Tyrus could go any further into the menus, he was forced to stop as the four young men had all come to the large set of double doors. They would be meeting with the king of the country in a matter of minutes and he would need to give this his full attention if he wanted to find out what the hell was going on.

XxXx

The four men were led into what appeared to be an audience chamber that just screamed out 'fit for a king' with four thrones at the other end of the room. They had an audience waiting for them already of what seemed to be nothing but the royal court or noblemen and noblewomen, servants, and the king sitting on the throne.

The king looked to be in his mid to late 50s or early 60s with a gray beard and hair combination that was well maintained. He wore a very ornate purple, white, and gold robe and cape with multiple rings on his fingers. On his head sat a crown with a purple gem in the center and green eyes that were cold and calculated as he gazed at the four young men in front of him. "Oh? So these are the heroes of old?" The others may have not noticed the way the elderly man was gazing at them with disinterest, but Tyrus was no fool. He could spot how the man was going to try and manipulate them all into doing his bidding from a mile away thanks to his years in the military.

"I am the king of this country, Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. Raise your heads, Heroes." Aultcray spoke with authority, but seemed to overlook the fact that none of the four men in front of him had bowed to him in the first place. "Now I shall explain the situation for you all. This country or rather this entire world is own a direct path for ruin and damnation."

The Aultcray told the four heroes of a prophesy that spoke of something called the Waves of Calamity that would assault their country. If nothing was done about it, their world would fall to ruin and be destroyed. According to him, the prophesy was finally coming true after hundreds of years due to the inactivity of the sands in the 'Hourglass of the Dragon's Era.' But once the sands flowed again the people merely wrote it off as superstition until the first wave actually hit their country.

The country's knights and adventurers fought against the first wave and successfully defended against it. However, they suffered heavy casualties in the process which ultimately led to the decision to be made to summon the four heroes. The waves were said to become stronger which each one that happens.

Tyrus could say he wanted to believe Aultcray, but he could feel that there was information being withheld from the four of them. His years in the military had taught him to never trust any information that hasn't been varied by multiple sources. He especially took the lesson to heart after his unit had been betrayed and led into a trap that ultimately got them all killed.

After waking up in this world, Tyrus found that his memories were still intact as well as the military fatigues and weapons he was wearing before his death. Never again would he take information at face value that he couldn't confirm himself. So it was with a very hard stare at the king that tall and muscular black soldier accepted the king's words. He may have accepted them, but that didn't mean that he trusted them in the slightest.

"I see. So you expect us to just work for free then? That's convenient enough for you and your kingdom huh?" The boy with the sword spoke up while crossing his arms with a cold gaze.

"Yeah, it's really selfish of you all dragging us into your world against our wills like this. This is your problem, not ours what's in it for us?" The spear wielder backed him up on his claim.

This in turn caused Tyrus to turn his cold gaze to the two next to him while clutching the bow harder in his hand. "Will you two brats shut the hell up and try to analyze the situation you're in for once? I've had it up to hear with you two shit stains and your ridiculous need to act as if you have to upper hand here. It's only common sense that we would be compensated for our services here. But if you keep this up, what's to say that Aultcray here would find us to be too much trouble to deal with and have all the guards in this room try to kill us off to simply summon up a new batch of heroes?"

The other two looked at him in surprise before really taking in the man's attire and physical appearance. Tyrus was an extremely well built soldier despite his gray military fatigues covering most of his body. But it was plain to see that he worked out a lot and kept himself in fighting shape. There was a wicked jagged scar that ran from top to bottom on his right eye, but because of his dark skin color, it wasn't noticeable at first glance. There were tattoos that could be almost seen running up his neck and arms, but due to his fatigues covering his body it wasn't fully visible. Among the other three he looked the most and carried himself like a warrior that had seen the depths of hell in combat multiple times over and survived it all.

The two others were about to speak up but after really taking in his appearance and his gruff way of speaking, they actually stopped and noticed how many guards were in the room surrounding them. This stopped them in their tracks instantly and they really considered his words fully at that point.

The boy with the shield visibly paled and tried to salvage the situation at this. "W-Well this guy may have point guys. Maybe we should listen to the king here and let him finish huh?"

This caused Tyrus to turn his attention to the shield wielding boy and give an approving nod with a small smile now before he turned back to the king once more. His smile dropped instantly once he saw the detached look in his eyes again.

"The heroes needn't worry about that. You will be richly compensated for your valiant efforts in repelling the waves to save our world. Also you will receive discretionary funds to aid you all in your journey." The king said with the same monotone voice of authority as before to ease their worries.

Hearing this, the other three heroes visibly brightened up at his words, while Tyrus merely kept his gaze locked on the king seated in his throne. There was still no way that Tyrus was going to trust him until he had visible proof of his words.

"Now heroes, state your names so that I can commit them to memory of the ones destined to save our lands." The king called out with authority in his voice as he looked them over again, having noticed the way Tyrus was looking at him the entire time.

The boy in the dark blue tracksuit stepped forward and spoke first. "I'm first huh? I'm Ren Amaki, 16 years old and a high school student. I'm the sword hero it seems." He spoke in a cool tone trying to sound tough despite having lost a lot of his previous bravado from Tyrus tearing into him.

The blond haired young man stepped forward next with a smile on his face. "Alright, I'm next. The name's Motoyasu Kitamura and it's a pleasure to meet ya! I'm 21 years old and I'm a college student. I'm the spear hero from the looks of it."

Next, the tallest man among the four continued to stare at the king with calculated gaze as he spoke. "Codename, Zen. 28. Occupation was previously a soldier and now I'm the Bow Hero." His tone of voice brooked no room for argument as the king tried to stare a hole into him now. But, Tyrus didn't back down for a second as he stared right back at the king.

The boy with the shield finally stepped forward and gave a slight bow which largely ignored by the king for the most part. But he spoke up anyway, "Um… I'm Naofumi Iwatani and I'm 20 years old. I was a college student, but it looks like I'm the Shield Hero now." He tried to smile to lift the cold atmosphere in the room.

"So, Ren, Motoyasu and… Zen?" He tested the names in his mouth as he finally gave up the staring contest with the much younger man as he could tell he wouldn't relent.

"Uh king, you forgot about me?" Naofumi said with a frown forming on his face now.

The king slightly glared at Naofumi and shook his head. "My apologies, Naofumi was it? I won't make that mistake again." This didn't go unnoticed by Tyrus as he kept quiet during this interaction. It wasn't smart to antagonize kingdom, but it was probably stupider for the kingdom to antagonize the heroes as well.

Next they were instructed to check their statues and from the looks on their faces it seemed that only Ren besides himself was on the ball about this. Though, Ren didn't seem to be one to pass up the chance to look cool unlike Tyrus was.

Ren looked at the nervous faces of Motoyasu and Naofumi and scoffed at them. "Seriously? You guys haven't figured it out this much yet? Even Zen here looks like he knows what he's doing." He sighed and shook his heads at them.

Motoyasu scowled at him and pointed at him. "Shut up man! Just tell me how to check my status already. I don't need you trying to cut me down like Zen did too!"

Ren shrugged his shoulders with a sigh and smirked at him. "Fine. You should see a flashing icon in your peripheral vision to your bottom right. That should let you see your statues."

The other two did as instructed and found their screens coming up in front of them and found that they were only level 1 as did Ren and Zen beforehand.

Soon after, the king finished up with his speech and instructed the heroes that they would be starting their journeys separately tomorrow as the legendary weapons worked against each other and hindered the progress if they were in close proximity of each other. Tyrus confirmed this much as he found a warning sign appear in his vision after the king said it.

But the king told them that he would prepare them with funds and companions to start with to help them along the way. Which, Tyrus was immediately not a fan of in the slightest, though he didn't voice his opinion on the matter right of the bat. Discretion was the better part of valor in this instance, as he would take the money but not the cherry picked companions to follow him around and be useless.

Well either way, Tyrus would figure things out and find a way home so he could put a bullet in the backstabbing son of a bitch that got his unit killed. He had nothing but time and this was his second chance at life. He wouldn't waste it.

XxXx

Ok and scene. Holy hell I was not expecting this chapter to run so long. I haven't written a fanfiction in forever, but I didn't know how to end this on a good enough note. I wanted to get through a little more, but I suppose stopping after the meeting with the king would be good enough for the moment. As you can tell, this will be an OC replacement of the Bow Hero. Also, I know what you may be thinking, "It's just a self-insert of the author."

To answer this question I would have to say no and yes if I were to be honest. I made the character up while only giving him a variation of my penname. Just think about it though, if you were in the military and found yourself suddenly being transported to another world after basically having your entire unit betrayed by one of your own, would you honestly trust anyone after that? I certainly wouldn't. But I hope you all will enjoy this.

So in conclusion, Ciao for now all you cool cats and kittens, Zinmaster24 out.