With a flash of light, 100 sleeping people suddenly appeared within the now crowded room. The King, who had ordered the summoning with the help of several present nobles and some guards, furthered the number of present individuals. The King smiled as his eyes greedily looked at the people who had been summoned.

Unlike the others, Martel was already awake. However, he was playing possum so that he would not stand out. He took a second to get his bearings and realized something was different from his previous life. The shield should have been on his arm, but it was not. When he checked his body with his mind, he found that his wedding band now had a small shield. He was momentarily surprised as he knew one of the shield's abilities was to absorb and assimilate different items to evolve, but he had to do so consciously. The fact that the shield appeared to have absorbed his wedding band without his consent was something he did not expect. However, now was not the time to worry about such things. The shield could be controlled with his will, so Martel willed the shield to move to his arm, hidden from view. To his relief, his wedding band remained.

Although Martel was not completely certain what talent the Dagger Goddess had given him, he knew that it could hide his Status information. According to his prior knowledge, the King would check the Talents of those bestowed with weapons. However, there was a big difference between that time and now.

Martel now had two Talents, whereas he did not have any in his previous life. He willed for all of his Talents to be hidden, and he felt a small change within his body, which he hoped meant that he had succeeded. He could only check by looking up his Status, but he was worried that it might be noticed, and it wasn't a big deal if he wasn't successful. He was trying to recreate the first set of circumstances for the day to end up like his previous life, but it was not of the utmost importance.

At this point, all those who were summoned had begun to stir. There was a little panic and confusion once they began to register where they were. Yutsuki and Kuromi were relatively calm as Yutsuki was already expecting to be summoned while Kuromi also knew about it. Amanda, Carl, and Helen were calmed when Martel sent his thoughts toward them. He instructed them to pretend to not know each other, which he had previously told Yutsuki and Kuromi. The reason was due to the animosity Martel knew the King would have towards him. In his previous life, this had extended to Yutsuki, who had immediately recognized him before.

"Everyone, please be calm." The older man with the crown said. Although he attempted to hide it with his clothing, his body appeared to be originally muscular but became weak and plump. His red hair also stood out. "I am the King of Sussex, Osmund, and I apologize for so rudely bringing you here." He said with a slight bow.

Everyone was slightly calmed by the fact that the King was showing humility. Martel couldn't help but sneer in his heart as he knew the King's true personality.

"You see, our world is currently in danger. I will explain from the beginning." The King said as he cleared his throat. "In the beginning, there was nothing. From within nothing, this world was born. This world has a single continent split into three between the beasts, reptiles, and humanoids born soon after. Veins of magical power created giant mountain ranges separating the three lands. In contrast, the veins created turbulent and treacherous oceans making travel between the three realms extremely difficult.

"Along with each of the races were many powerful beings that stood at their respective races' apex. These include the nine-tailed fox of the beasts and the dragons of the reptiles." The King continued as Martel noticed a strange and fleeting expression from his face when he mentioned the nine-tailed fox. "Our land had 12 goddesses and, some would say, one god. When the world was created, the 13 of them appeared together. However, some call him the god of demons or the evil god, who wished to possess the 12 goddesses. The goddesses fought the evil god but could not defeat him even with their combined strength. They sent him away to another parallel world as an act of desperation, one which was near death and decay. Unfortunately, it would not be the end.

"The evil god quickly took control of the other world and bent the twisted creatures there to his will. Once in a while, the two worlds come into alignment, and creatures will spill into our world. We call this occurrence The Invasion. During The Invasion, cracks appear connecting the ground to the sky, and creatures spill out from them. This occurs eight times throughout our land, which we call The Waves. This is the reason why you were summoned.

"Unfortunately, the First Wave has already occurred and in my kingdom. Although this Wave was the weakest of the nine, it occurred directly within the Ducal City of Hastings in the north. The battle that ensued was a disaster, and the entire area is being considered a forbidden zone. Because of this, we are building up the army and summoning the heroes. You see, in response to the First Invasion, the 12 goddesses sacrificed their mortal bodies. In doing so, they gave us the magic that can help strengthen all the races to fight as well as 12 weapons that they would bestow to their chosen heroes. Twelve of you here should have a weapon which you did not have previously, could those who do step forward?"

Soon, 12 people stepped forward. The King overlooked them with a smile on his face, which only slightly cramped up when his eyes swept Martel. Martel pretended not to notice, but couldn't help but sneer in his heart. The previous Shield Hero was well-liked by the Queen and had beaten the King in the past for continuously harassing him and demihumans. It eventually ended the King's military career, leaving him broken of mind and uncared of body.

"Those who do not have the Hero Weapons, do not worry. All of you should have been blessed with useful Talents, and your growth will be higher than those born in this world. Your strength will be very strong. This crystal is capable of checking a person's talent, and I will use it now." The King said as the entire area was suddenly lit up.

All of the summoned humans suddenly had a holographic light screen in front of them, which displayed their talent. Martel had a breath of relief when he saw that the pop up was:

Talent: None.

His relief was because, besides himself, the King could also see everyone’s talents. The crystal was meant for that purpose as, with a little know-how, everyone summoned could know their Talents. The King was getting information about who would be useful and who may be a threat. From his talk with the goddesses, Martel knew that his Talents were unique and powerful, although they seemed to want him to discover that on his own.

Given that the King had transferred the hate of the previous Shield Hero to him, the more of a threat the King perceived him to be, the more the King would impede him. It wasn’t much more than slightly annoying but still wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

“Martel? It is you, you bastard!” Freed shouted when he recognized him. Freed was put in prison after attacking Martel’s home. Martel had been insistent on blocking any information going to him, which left him entirely out of touch from most of society. This was another reason why he did not wish for the others to acknowledge they knew him if Freed decided to target them. Out of all the girls here, Freed had only met Helen, but Helen was strong enough to protect herself.

“Do you two know each other?” The King asked, happy that one of the other heroes seemed to have some enmity with Martel.

“Sure I do, this guy’s nothing more than a fake hero. We both got summoned into the same world, but he was way weaker than me.” Free continued, which garnered the attention of some of the other summoned people.

“Hey, isn’t he The Strongest F?”

“So does that make him the strongest weakling?”

“Interesting.” The King said as he overhead the murmurs and looked at the crystal. Then, his eyes went wide with shock before he laughed. “You must be a fake! You don’t have a Talent! No one has been summoned before has not had a Talent! Such a waste of a hero.”

Martel internally sneered. The King was trying to slander him to justify lessening the amount of help he would receive. “I received the shield, does that not mean I am one of the chosen? Are you saying your goddesses would choose a waste?”

The King’s face turned dark. “Everyone knows that the Shield Hero is the weakest among them all. The Shield Goddess is not one to fight, so she probably was desperate and picked you because none of the other goddesses wanted you.” The King replied.

“Is that so?” Martel said with a smile. Perhaps the King himself did not realize, but he had just insulted all of the other people who were not chosen by the goddesses.

The King made a slight cough. “Are there any other questions?”

“How do we get back home?”

“After The Invasion is finished, all of you will be able to leave anytime you wish within ten years. If you do not leave after ten years, you will become a permanent member of this world. If you decide to leave, you will not be able to come back. You may recognize some of these individuals, as some should have returned to your world. My kingdom is one of the few who has portraits of every hero from the past seven generations.”

Everyone looked at the pictures on the wall, including Martel. However, when he saw some of the faces, he was surprised. He had met the First Generation Sword Hero at a boardwalk when treating his family out for the day. He knew the first generation Wand Hero as the creator behind the Utopia Project, the first virtual reality game on Earth currently still in production. However, what surprised him most was that he recognized the First Generation Chain Hero. Her name was Chloe, and he knew her from the time he took karate lessons when he was young. Looking back, he remembered that she was an extremely introverted and shy person who apologized for everything. Somehow, she became courageous in a fight to the point she seemed to be a different person. He also remembered that she seemed to have feelings for him as he always showed her kindness, but he had dismissed it because he was only 14 while she was 18 at the time. He continued to look among the paintings and recognized a couple of other people from the records on SUPERs. It wasn’t until he reached the seventh generation Shield Hero that he was startled because he recognized this person as Jonathan. Someone else who was in his karate class with Chloe and Carl. He couldn’t help but wonder why 1/10 of the classes ended up summoned to the same world.

“Look, that’s Adam, the creator of the Utopia Project.”

“So that means we can go back after all.”

“Do we have to fight?” Someone asked after everyone was relieved to find that they could go back.

“The heroes and their party members will be teleported to every Wave’s location just before it begins and must fight. In other words, besides them, no one else will be forced to fight. However, because this is a time of crisis, we do not have the funds to support you, so we will only be giving our aid to those who decide to fight. As for the rest, they will be forced to leave the castle without support.”

Martel narrowed his eyes. The King was spouting lies as providing for 100 people, including basic room and board, would hardly cost a thing compared to their treasury. It was apparent that the King was trying to force them into a small elite force that would probably end up being loyal to him. Martel couldn’t help but want to throw a monkey wrench in the King’s plan. “Given that there are only 12 weapons, for what reason were 100 people summoned?”

The King had an annoyed look on his face when he saw Martel had asked, but could only answer when he noticed the expected gaze of all the people who had the same question. “While the summoning is not completely random, the more people are summoned, the more likely a stronger person will be summoned and thus chosen.”

“If that’s true, why did you only summon 100? Why didn’t you summon a thousand?”

The King gave another look of annoyance. “Because it takes a large number of precious resources to summon those from another world which at most is 100 people.”

“So no more than 100 may be summoned per Invasion?”

“That is correct.”

“Oh, doesn’t this mean you’ve made your country a target?”

“What do you mean?” The King asked, angered.

“Well, earlier, when talking about the paintings, you mentioned that there were other kingdoms. I’m sure none of these kingdoms will be thrilled when they find that you summoned everyone possible for the invasion and have monopolized a high potential elite force all for yourself. Of course, they would be quite pleased if you force any out of the castle, which is why those who leave will probably be killed.”

“Do you dare slander me!” the King shouted, angered that he had fallen from Martel’s trap.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Martel replied with a slight smile, content by the fact that the others would be far more suspicious of the King, which would hinder his plans.

“If that is all, then we will-”

“I still have a question.” Martel interrupted, which prompted a glare from the King. “Who holds the most power in this country?”

Several people got confused looks and snickered as they felt this question was obvious. However, the King did not look amused. “I… I currently hold the most power.”

“Your Majesty, perhaps you should clarify that in the absence of the Queen, you hold the most power.”

“You… How do you know this?”

“Oh, I didn’t think I would guess correctly. I just figured that this kingdom wouldn’t last long for someone who can only consider their military strength and ignore diplomatic implications. You seem more like a soldier than a king.”

“You… You…” The King muttered as he pointed angrily at Martel.

“Also, if you say or think ‘Status,’ a menu will appear just like a game that will give you all the information you need. The only reason why he used the crystal was all right to find out what your Talents were without your consent.” Martel had already known that the kingdom was a matriarchy. The King himself was a former general who had married the Queen. He couldn’t lie about being in power as it were too many people around, and it would be treated as a coup. That, plus his snooping of their Talents without permission, meant that he lost the trust of those summoned. He had previously planned a fake ceremony to allow him to hide this fact. His anger was all focused on Martel, but this is what Martel wanted. The King wouldn’t dare directly harm him for fear of divine retribution, which would help cause the same events as his previous experience.

The King cleared his throat as he tried to calm himself down. “If there are no more questions, follow me.” He said as he quickly turned around and left. After walking a short way, they entered a much larger area where many armed people were. Unlike the guards, the armor of these people varied. “These are some young adventurers who have been picked to join the heroes. I would like for all of the adventurers and for the summoned to pick a hero to follow. Heroes can not party together as they will not gain XP near each other except during The Waves. This is to encourage each hero to grow their forces as they will be unable to take it alone.”

“I want her.”

Everyone was suddenly surprised when Kuromi suddenly spoke and pointed towards a young girl around 14. The reason she had made such a statement was that Martel had told her to do so as the girl was the original Dagger Hero, but that changed with Kuromi’s presence.

The girl looked at Kuromi with disdain. “You? You don’t qualify.”

“I’m not asking.”

“It’s not like you can force me.” The girl said with a smile as her body began to disappear into the shadows.

The girl’s ability was why Martel wanted Kuromi to have this girl follow her because they had the same ability. It had recently been revealed that there were secret societies that had quietly been living on Earth for hundreds of years. The conglomeration of the societies was called Underside because it was hidden from normal society due to its negative nature. Underside was a place where people with unique abilities existed. The reason why they had stayed so hidden was that several organizations within it ensured they would not affect normal society. Simultaneously, the invention of firearms also lessened their ability to exert control as the level of SUPERs that naturally appeared on Earth typically never exceeded A rank. However, The Convergence allowed the organizations of Underside to act more openly and initiate new people into their ranks. Additionally, those on Earth began to become stronger more easily. As a result, mercenaries, assassin organizations, the rich families that often controlled them, and others were beginning to pop up on Earth.

The little girl belonged to one of those assassination organizations. She was raised as a tool and took that methodology when she was the Dagger Hero. She would accept any assassination on someone she felt she could kill. This led to several nobles’ deaths, which caused quite a bit of panic and negatively affected the campaign against The Invasion. She committed suicide when she was captured by Martel, whom she had accepted a contract against.

Having been told by Martel, Kuromi knew what her abilities were and about her situation. Kuromi immediately entered shadow form and rushed towards the girl. The girl screamed, and Kuromi slashed across her body in shadow form and thus became revealed. She glared at Kuromi as blood dripped down her shoulder.

“You are too weak. From now on, listen to me. Am I understood?” Kuromi asked coldly.

The girl was about to retort but suddenly froze along with everyone else when Kuromi suddenly released a strong Killing Intent.

After learning Ki, Martel, Miyuki, and Kuromi, who had all killed many people before, quickly learned how to express their will to kill, referred to as Killing Intent. This could be sensed by others, causing them to flinch from fear, although it caused no physical damage.

“Yes.” The girl finally acquiesced.

The King cleared his throat again, and soon, everyone began to congregate around a hero, with one exception. Martel was completely alone. He didn’t mind as he had expected it. The King had shown animosity against him, so the other summoned Unchosen stayed away. These adventurers were also part of the King’s plan. He had hired all of them because they were reasonably loyal to the kingdom due to their backgrounds, and they were young, which meant they had more room for growth as those who would join the heroes would gain increased growth. Furthermore, he instructed them not to join Martel.

Several minutes passed by as Martel waited. It was then he was approached by a young lady who wore light armor. She seemed to be around the age of 18 and had orange hair and was pretty enough.

“Hello Shield Hero, I am Caroline.” She said as she introduced herself politely.

“Hello Caroline, I am Martel.”

“Would it be all right if I join your party? I’ve always admired the Shield Hero. Your predecessor was our Duke before he passed away. Unfortunately, his territory was the one hit by the first Wave.” She said with a sigh.

“If you don’t mind being my only current companion.”

“Oh, that’s all right. I’m sure we’ll get more companions,” Caroline said with a smile. “In a few minutes, the King should give some financial aid, and then we will have dinner before we are shown to our rooms for the evening,” Caroline added as it was getting dark.

“That sounds fine by me.”

The King eventually did give out financial help, but it was based upon the number of people who joined the party. Each hero could have up to one main party, and two sub-parties made up of ten people. This meant that there could be up to 29 people partied with a single hero. Thanks to the insistence of Kuromi and Yutsuki, most of the summoned girls joined the female heroes. They especially warned those who attempted to go with Freed, so he had ended up without any female companions.

Martel, who only had one companion, naturally obtained very little money. He made sure to complain about it and ensure that everyone knew just how much money he had received.

After dinner, with Martel and Caroline went to the place that would be their quarters. As he followed behind her, Martel couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Caroline was quite the actress as he could not tell that she was an absolute bitch based upon the amicable meal they had just shared. However, he knew her personality and status very well.

“Here are our rooms,” she said as she turned around and smiled at him. “I have a bottle of wine here; we can drink to celebrate.”

“Sounds good, I could go for a good drink,” Martel replied.

Caroline smiled before a maid ran up to her and whispered something in her ear.

“I’m sorry, something personal has come up,” Caroline said as she handed him the bottle of wine. “I’m not sure when I’ll be back, and I might be somewhat late, so no need to wait for me.”

“Then I’ll be rude,” Martel said with a smile.

Caroline left, and Martel went to the room. He smiled as he looked at the wine bottle before he disappeared into his wedding band’s internal space. Then, he produced another identical and empty wine bottle. “Well, let’s see if I can be as good of an actor as you.”

Martel knew that the wine had been spiked with something that made it slightly addictive and more potent and a poison to help make him more drowsy. So, he would make it appear as if he drank the entire bottle of wine in her absence.

Martel sat down and closed his eyes as he focused on the SRIN he had previously released within the castle. At this point, they successfully infiltrated every room and could now spy on anyone there. Martel gave it a moment of thought, and then he willed his shield to absorb one of the SRIN still on him.

[Now then, I have some time on my hands, should I check my Status?]

Caroline entered a room within the castle. There were only two people besides her, the King and his advisor. Caroline unceremoniously sat down on a nearby chair and kicked up her feet. “It seems to have gone well, and he accepted the wine. He was so easy to play with. Make him worry that he will not have any companions. He suddenly became extremely nice compared to how he treated you, Royal Father.”

The King sneered. “Good, I hope he drinks it.”

“Your Majesty, I do not believe this to be a wise course of action simply because you do not like his predecessor,” The advisor replied nervously.

“I don’t like him either, and there is nothing to be worried about. I won’t harm him, I’ll lock him away for a little while. The Shield Hero has a hard time growing compared to the other heroes as he does not tend to contribute as much in battle, thus won’t get as much XP. Locking him up will slow him even further, so he will fall behind and more likely die during the Waves, which will have nothing to do with me. The amount of assistance I’ll provide the other 11 and their companions will make them more than capable of stopping the Waves. Additionally, based on previous Invasions, the likelihood of us being invaded again is low. Even if it does occur, it will only be the next Wave at most.”

“I can’t wait to see the fool’s face, but how will we publicly explain the reason why he is locked up?” Caroline asked.

“It is very simple, given his soon-to-be conduct, and the fact that he does not possess a Talent, we will simply explain we are holding him due to our concern that the Shield Hero is a fake.”