The fall of the Halberd Hero

[Authors note: This series is based on „The rising of the shield hero", during which I will be disregarding the later parts of the show and in return, delving more into how else the concept could be explored through the use of a cast of purely original characters and an entirely new world, while keeping the base left by the original work.

I always thought the concept was incredibly fun and even years after watching the anime, I still kept theorizing about how it could be explored further, so please enjoy reading my fan fiction. That's all~]

'I always thought that the isekai trope in mangas and anime was an anomaly.'

'Do you think it is because of our messed up world, that people want to leave it, or is it because of our unrelenting greed? Nowadays, it's really hard to find someone, who is actually content with the way they live and I wonder if it's always been like that or if-'

Before falling too deep into thought to return, I get interrupted by a seemingly stray flyer, flying about in this uncleaned and monotonous school campus.

I would've simply ignored it or maybe even thrown it in the bin if it weren't for its conveniently eye-catching nature that made it impossible for me to look away.

Inevitably, my eyes explored its contents and its weirdly thorough text, that seemed to tell a story of sorts, rather than actually advertising some run-of-the-mill school event as I was used to from these sorts of flyers.

By then, I had already sensed the peculiarity of the situation when the people around me started shooting stares in my direction. Still, I decided to read the neatly written words on the paper, ignoring how others might be perceiving me for just the moment.

The flyer told a story about a world, where four valiant heroes were praised for defending the people with grit and unparalleled strength.

'Weird, this seems kind of familiar', was what I thought upon reading it and, who would've guessed, I was right.

As the story neared its climax, it came to an abrupt halt, after which I was left with little time to react before it seemingly pulled me into it, going unnoticed to the ignorant bystanders, that dared to call themselves my classmates.

'Help me!', yet it bore no sound and I was left in an ominously dim room.

Still filled with a rush of emotions from the incident, I look around in a daze, unable to make sense of what I was seeing.

I looked down to see a long metal pole in my hand… no, it resembled a halberd more than anything. The distinctly blue shine of the jewel embedded into the top of the halberd was stunningly beautiful, making it hard for me to look away.

Interrupting my daze, a man spoke, „I welcome the great four heroes to this continent. We are aware of the shameless nature of our request, yet we desperately need your help, valiant heroes…"

I was more than familiar with this exact predicament, so it didn't take me long to get the gist of what was going on. What I was surprised by, though, was the mentioning of `heroes', implying that I'm not the only unfortunate soul kidnapped into this fantasy world.

After looking around, my thoughts were easily verified, seeing as there were only three other people in this room dressed in distinctly modern clothes, rather than the tattered cloths the magicians wore, who presumably summoned us to this world.

The first of my fellow prisoners to speak, was a tall man, who protruded a stern atmosphere.

„I assume you're all from Japan too? And can I assume, that I'm not the only one terribly familiar with this course of events?"

Seeing as our chance of ever seeing our family again just flew out of the window, he's keeping pretty calm.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, I couldn't help but speak up.

„How about we introduce ourselves first? Of course, we must all be shocked by the sudden course of events.", I said, trying to hide my, honestly, indifferent feelings.

While the other two still insisted on staying quiet, the stern man was seemingly joyed by my involvement.

He shot me a genuine smile and said, „Ah, yes. My name is Shinichi Tanaka, I'm 20 years old and my weapon is a mace."

Though his mentioning of a mace threw me off, I can't deny his good looks, standing at almost 190cm tall with a broad build. His short brown hair and yellow eyes complemented the yellow jewel, that was also embedded in his mace, similar to the blue jewel that was stuck on my halberd.

Seeing as the other two were still hesitant, I followed on introductions.

„My name is Yukiko Takamura and I am 17 years old. And you?", following up on my question, I locked eyes with the only other girl in the room.

Seemingly startled by my question, she forced a smile and answered, „Uh, my name is Shiori Sakamoto and I- I am 18 years old."

Her voice was uncertain but I could sense that she was genuine, which gave a favorable impression at first. She was a bit taller than me and had hazel eyes paired with long brown hair, that reached to her waist. The weapon in her hand was a crossbow with a round green jewel where the arrow would shoot out of.

Suddenly, the last person, a boy that seemed to be about my age, shot up from his previously closed off attitude.

He exclaimed, „Wait, this doesn't make any sense. In the original story, the weapons were completely different! I don't even know the name of the weapon I'm wielding right now!"

Tanaka joined in, „You're right. Still, the knowledge we have of the story should still help us in getting through these upcoming waves."

Hearing them talk, I realised that I had no idea what they were talking about. It seems that they are talking about the story on the flyer maybe?

„By the way, you still haven't introduced yourself. We should stick together if this is anything similar to what we know from the anime.", Tanaka continued.

The boy calmed his expression and replied swiftly, „My name is Takeshi Kuroda and I am also 17 years old."

Ah, I think I get it. We were probably reincarnated into some series that I didn't watch? Should I ask them?

However, before I could say a thing, the king interrupted by offering us to dine while he prepared some `gifts` for us.

Arriving in the tall dining hall after a walk, that could best be described as awkward,

the food didn't really help with the damp mood, that had by then reached a new high, leaving a highly sensitive feeling in the air.