Lyn walked out of the throne room of his shattered world. No one was in there, or anywhere. He continued to walk, ignoring the silence pressing in his eardrums. The only sounds he heard were his footsteps. He arrived at the summoning room, where it all began. The four weapons of his world lay there. Still as always. He spit on the hammer and walked away.

Outside the castle walls, he found a tree with a gravestone.

"3 more worlds are saved. I wish you could see it. How have you been?" he asked. No answer followed. A round piece of metal on his arm started to glow again. "Well, gotta go. A world to save."

A bright light enveloped him as he was sucked into the floor. A few seconds later he landed on the floor of the summoning room. It wasn't much different from his own.

"Oh, honorable Heroes! Please, save our world!"

"...Huh?"

This came from 3 guys summoned next to Lyn.

"What do you mean by that?" The sword hero asked.

"You must have many questions, but time is short. You are the chosen Heroes, summoned here by an ancient ritual."

"Summoned...?" The spear hero asked.

"Currently, this world is teetering on the edge of destruction. We pray of you, please, lend us your power!"

The robed man bowed.

"Man, so much talking." (Sword)

"This sucks." (Bow)

"Right?" (Sword)

"Can we go now?" (Spear)

Lyn sighed, putting his shield onto his back.

(Brats.)

The three of them smirked in unison.

"Don't you guys have any shame at all, suddenly dragging us here without our permission?"

The guy with the sword - he looked to be in his late teens - brandished his weapon.

"Even if you send us home when the job is done, that's basically just using us as slave labor, you know?"

The guy with the bow voiced his agreement with a glare. Until now, Lyn thought that he looked like a tomboy.

"You get where we're coming from, right? Keep in mind that depending on your answer we might have to become your enemies."

"Shut up brats! We are all level 1. So any of these people could slap us to death. Now show some respect," Lyn said to the three guys which startled them.

"P-Please, at least have an audience with the king before you do anything rash. You can discuss the details of your compensation there."

One of the robed men opened a heavy-looking door and gestured us inside.

"Well, I guess that's that."

"Seems like it."

"Though, talk is talk, even if it's a king."

With that, the other three guys headed toward the exit. Lyn looked over his status

[Lyn Reith

Class: Shield Hero Lv. 1

Equipment: Small Shield (Legendary Weapon), Otherworldly Clothing

Skill(s): None

Magic: None

Lyn looked at his status and waited for it to update.

STATUS

NAME: Lyn Reith

WEAPON: Small Shield (Legendary Weapon)

LEVEL: 1

AFFINITY: Lightning /support, healing

EXP: 0 / 100]

Lyn noticed out of the corner of his eye that one single shield was already unlocked.

[Bark Shield] {Constant}Lv. 1 0/2 C N

Abilities Un...]

Lyn didn't bother opening the upgrade methods, and instead looked at the image of the shield in his status. It's stats showed that it was a really weak shield, but what caught Lyn's eye was the small signature on the bottom.

[BS[TT[2/4]

(F*ck. [Blank Slate] [Time Travel] [2 out of 4 weapons. Guess this world has a lot of sh*t in store for me.)

They were led into a large audience chamber.

"Oh? So these are the Heroes of old?"

A self-important old man was looking down at us with an appraising gaze. But his eyes unnerved Lyn. The same damn eyes as almost every other king that f*cked Lyn over.

"I am the king of this country, Aultcray Melromarc the 32nd. Raise your heads, Heroes."

On to the long explanation again.

"Now, I shall explain the current situation. This country - nay, the very world - is on the path to ruin."

Summary:

Prophecy of the end, Dragons hourglass began to move, a wave spawned, killed people, summoned heroes.

"Uh-huh. So, you expect us to just work for free, then?"

"That's sure convenient for you."

"...It really is selfish, you know. Dragging us into a problem that doesn't have anything to do with us."

"Hey brats, you haven't done sh*t yet and you already expect rewards? Stop acting like hot sh*t at level one. Check your status at the bottom right corner of your vision," Lyn said. "Also we are stuck in this world until the waves end so none of us have a choice. And if one of us dies then all of us die. And the people here will just summon new heroes so just deal with it.

The king shot a confused glance toward Lyn.

"I see one of you is aware of the situation. Of course, it goes without saying that we were planning to richly compensate you for your efforts."

The three heroes clenched their fists excitedly.

"Besides that, we could also prepare discretionary funds to support you on your journey. It's a small price to pay to ensure your cooperation in saving our world."

"Oh? Well, as long as you make it a promise..."

"Don't think that means you own us, though. We're just cooperating for as long as you stay on our good side."

"...That's right."

The three heroes completely ignored his words.

Lyn sighed.

(This world is screwed.)

"Now then, Heroes. Tell me your names."

"My name is Amaki Ren, age 16. I'm a high-schooler."

"I'll go next, then. The name's Kitamura Motoyasu, college student, 21."

"Oh, me now? My name is Kawasumi Itsuki. I'm a 17-year-old high-school student."

"Lyn Reith, a resu..."

"Hmm. Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, eh?" The king said, completely ignoring Lyn.

(Yep, it's gonna be one of those worlds. Wonder how senile this king is.)

"Now, if everybody could please confirm their statuses?"

"What, you guys didn't notice it the moment you got here?"

Ren seemed genuinely shocked that we could be so ignorant. The smug, know-it-all look on his face was irritating.

"Icon bottom right of your vision. Focus on that," Lyn said. Ren nodded.

"I'm only level one? ...What a pain in the ass."

"Yeah, can we really fight like this?"

"Uh... more importantly, what the heck is this?"

"Do you not have status magic in your world, Heroes? Here, it is something that anybody can use."

"..."

Lyn didn't bother participating in the conversation. It wouldn't lead him anywhere even if he did.

"Anyway, what should we do from here on out? Being such a low level is making me uneasy."

"Ah, about that. We would like you to go on a journey to polish your skills and strengthen your legendary weapons."

"Strengthen our weapons? They're legendary, right? Shouldn't they be strong from the start?"

"I am simply relating the contents of the legend. It is written that 'the summoned Heroes will grow and strengthen their legendary weapons.'"

"Again with the legends. So can we at least use something else until these things are strong enough to be useful?"

Motoyasu spoke up, twirling his spear absentmindedly.

"We can worry about that later. For now, we should just focus on getting stronger like they asked," Lyn sighed.

"Well then, should the four of us party up?"

Lyn wondered if this world also repelled weapons like in every other one.

"Wait just a moment, Heroes."

"Hmm?"

The minister stopped us as we were preparing to head out on our journey.

"The four of you are to gather companions individually, then set off on your own separate journeys."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"It's quite simple. According to legend, the weapons you carry naturally repel each other. Should you operate together as a group, you will do nothing but impede each other's growth."

"I'm not sure I get it, but basically you're saying we can't get strong unless we work alone?"

"Looks like it's the real deal..."

"So then, we need to gather companions, I guess?"

"On the contrary, we will gather companions for you - the best of the best, have no worries. However, the day grows late. For now, rest yourselves and gather your strength. Your journey begins tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks."

Lyn stayed silent since the king ignored him anyways. Instead, he followed the other heroes. He had to get acquainted with the idiots on his team after all.