Chapter 27 I'm sick of this...

"Greetings, the four Cardinal heroes, please save our world!" Said a man in front of them wearing a weird priest's robe.

"Where are we?" Asked a man with long blond hair that is held back in a ponytail with bangs hanging on the left side of his forehead and bright orange eyes, he had a spear. He seemed arrogant to issei.

"We summoned you heroes to our world because without you our world will be destroyed by the catastrophe waves"

"Catastrophe Waves?" Asked a guy with a sword, he has short black hair that falls flat on his head and blue cold and distant eyes.

"Everything will be explained to you so please follow me to meet our king" Said the priest.

"Why should we? you summoned us here yes, but what makes you think we will listen to you?" Asked the third guy with a bow, he has short light brown curly hair and golden eyes.

"W-well.." The priest couldn't answer.

"You better pay us good, otherwise we won't do anything" Said the arrogant guy.

'Geez, are these pricks really are this greedy?' thought Issei to himself.

"But of course, you'll get paid for the work!" Said the priest.

"Alright then, lead the way" Said the arrogant prick.

"Alright, right this way" Said the priest as he went ahead up the stairs.

Everyone followed the priest. Issei was behind them all.

'Why is this shield not coming off?' Thought Issei irritated.

'Ddraig you here?' Asked Issei mentally.

'Fortunately or unfortunately I'm here, I somehow was forced back into the gear but this time with my original body' Answered Ddraig.

Issei felt relieved and frustrated at the same time. Ddraig just regained his freedom and now he's back in his prison.

At least Issei wasn't alone here.

'Ddraig, is this the world Ophis was talking about?' Asked Issei mentally.

"Brother, I don't know but I don't think it is the world, because I wouldn't be in the gear and plus I felt interference in the portal as we stepped through' Answered Ddraig.

'Have any idea how to get back?' Asked Issei.

'No, I have no idea how to return back without Ophis, but maybe if they could summon us they probably can return us back' Said Ddraig.

'Alright then, let's see what their king has to say' Said Issei as he cut the mental link.

They walked for five minutes through what looked like a castle.They reached some big doors which were opened by the guards.

They walked in and stood in the middle of the throne room. In front of them the king was sitting and a group of people not too far from him.

"Hello Cardinal heroes. I'm the king of Melromarc and me and my people ask for your help!" Said the king.

"Alright, but it won't be cheap" Said arrogant prick again. He was getting onto issei's nerves.

"Of course we will pay you for your work" Said the king.

"Now introductions are in order" Said The king.

"I'll go first then. My name is Motoyasu Kitamura and I'm twenty one years old" Introduced himself Motoyasu.

"My name is Ren Amaki, and I'm sixteen years old" Introduced Ren.

"My name is Itsuki Kawasumi and I'm seventeen years old" Introduced Itsuki.

"My name is-" Issei tried to introduce but got cut off in the middle of the sentence.

"Alright now that introductions are done let's discuss the waves" Said the king.

Normally Issei would've looked past this but because of his dragon pride he couldn't back down just like that. No one dares to look down on a dragon.

"I haven't introduced old man" Said Issei as he crossed his arms.

Everyone looked at issei wide eyes.

"Hey man, it's the king you should be respectful" Said Itsuki.

'respectful my ass you were the ones who kept talking about the rewards' Thought Issei.

"He's not my king, I bow down to no one" Said Issei confidently while Ddraig snorted in agreement.

No dragon bows to anyone only to their leaders/kings such as Issei or who are extremely powerful to be a king of dragons which is Issei again.

So to bow or even respect this wannabe king won't work for Issei, you have to earn dragon's respect which isn't easy.

"Alright, what's your name then?" Asked the king a little pissed off.

"My name is Issei Y Ddraig Goch I'm Twenty two years old" Introduced Issei with a smirk.

(Don't forget Issei spent three years In the time barrier)

"Alright, now that introductions are truly done let's get to business" Said Ren.

"And don't think that you can tame us" Said Itsuki.

"And don't you look down on us" Said Motoyasu.

'Geez they are really full of themselves' Thought Issei.

"You are the summoned four Cardinal heroes who carry legendary weapons each. We have Spear hero, Sword hero, Bow hero and shield hero. You carry these weapons for the purpose to protect our world from waves which appear once a month after the time reaches zero monsters start coming.

You have to defeat all monsters and the boss for the wave to end. There is a dragon hour glass in the church not too far from here which shows when the time reaches zero. You will get teleported when the wave begins" Explained the king.

"Once we experienced the waves ourselves the damage and casualties were big and we followed the legend that said only the Cardinal heroes could counter the waves" Explained king's subordinate.

"Alright, we will work with you as long as you pay handsomely" Said Motoyasu.

"Great now if we reached the agreement please check your statuses" Said the king.

"Wait statuses?" Asked Issei.

"Yeah I don't get it" Said Itsuki.

"Are you really this dense? You should've noticed the icon on the right corner of your vision when you got here. Try focusing on the icon" Said Ren.

'We have a smartass here' Thought Issei as he focused his vision on the icon.

Suddenly a screen popped up with the stats.

'Wow it's like a video game' Thought Issei.

"Only level one? Well that's concerning" Said Itsuki.

"Yeah no kidding" Said Motoyasu.

"What is this anyways?" Asked Issei.

"It's called status magic exclusive only to the heroes" Said the king.

"Great, so what's our next step?" Asked Itsuki.

"You will have to go on an adventure and upgrade your weapons" Said the king.

"Guess we have a lot of training ahead of us" Said Ren while the others nodded.

"Okay then, we will train and later form a party together-" Said Itsuki but got interrupted by the king.

"As you will go on your adventures you will have to gather allies separately because by the nature of the legendary weapons repel each other and hinder their development" Explained the same subordinate again.

"Right now each of you will be given six hundred of silver coins to spend on your necessary needs, we will fund each hero every month and these brave souls will join your parties" Explained the king as the guards gave a pouch of silver coins to each hero.

"Now go and choose a hero" Said the king.

The group of people walked over to each hero but Issei. He looked confused but it didn't bother him much because he didn't care about it.

"King, I don't think it's fair that Issei didn't get any party members" Said Itsuki.

"Yeah you're right, you should go to his party instead as I'm loner I like to be solo more" Said Ren to his party but no one left.

"It's fine I'll be fine on my own" Sad Issei not really caring about getting a party.

"I'll join sir shield hero" Said a lovely girl with wavy semi-long crimson hair that is tied up in a ponytail with chest-length hair strands hanging on either side, emerald-green eyes, a pretty cute and youthful facial features, yet slightly shorter than Issei.

"You sure you want to join his party? I mean the shield is the weakest here" Said Motoyasu.

His comment pissed issei off a bit.

Issei was about to refuse her joining but realized that he knows nothing about this world so at least she could give out some pointers.

"Yes I'm sure" Said the girl.

The king looked at her and let out a sigh as he narrowed his eyes.

"Is there anyone else that is willing to join the shield hero in his quest?" Asked the king.

No one moved nor spoke.

"No need for anyone else to join me it's fine" Said Issei as he waved his hand dismissively.

"Alright, only this once shield hero will get extra two hundred silver coins and you will have to recruit your party on your own" Said the king as the guard gave another bag of coins to Issei.

"Now go and get ready for the next wave" Said the king as the guards led the heroes and their parties outside.

"Well good luck everyone especially you Issei and cya in a month" Said Itsuki as he left with his party.

"Yeah cya" Said Ren as he left too.

"Good luck Issei" Said Motoyasu as he left too.

"Sir hero, let me introduce, my name is Myne" Introduce herself Myne.

"My name is Issei" Reintroduced Issei.

"You know this world better than me so can you show me around?" Asked Issei.

"Sure firstly we will go buy some equipment. I know a shop I trust we will find everything we need there" Said Myne as she grabbed issei's wrist and led him to the town.

They arrived at their destination.

They entered a weaponry shop.

"Welcome to my weapon shop my name is Agil, what can I get ya?" Asked a tall muscular man behind the counter.

"Is it your shop?" Asked Issei.

"Course it is the best one there is" Said Agil with pride.

"Well she brought me here" Said Issei as he looked at Myne.

"Hmm you do look familiar, have you been here already?" Asked Agil.

"Of course I've been here" Answered Myne.

"Great so what do you need?" Asked Agil.

"We need some armour for the lady and a weapon" Answered Issei.

"And for you?" Asked Agil.

"Maybe a protective cloak" Answered Issei.

"Alright I'll bring everything in a moment" Said Agil as he went into another room to get the stuff.

As he came back he gave Myne a silver armour and a sword with red gems and Issei got a brown cloak.

"How much for all of this?" Asked Issei.

"It will be a hundred and fifty silver" Answered Agil.

"Cool here ya go old man" Said Issei as he handed the money.

The man chuckled at issei's words.

"Come again if ya need anything else" Said Agil.

"Will do" Answered Issei as he and Myne left.

"Where to now?" Asked Issei.

"Now let's go and find some monsters to kill and level up" Said Myne.

"Sure" Said Issei as they both went to some kind of an open field.

As they arrived they saw some kind of orange ball monsters.

"We have to kill these?" Asked Issei.

"Yep it's really easy" Said Myne.

They both walked closer and the monsters started to attack, Issei blocked with his shield and Myne sliced the monster to pieces.

Later while she wasn't looking, Issei used his boosted gear's sharp claws to try and slice the monsters and it worked perfectly.

Suddenly a screen for Issei popped up in the left corner of his vision and saw that he gained experience points.

'Alright it's working' Thought Issei to himself.

They continued like this for an hour before it got dark.

"Let's finish for the day and let's find a place to have our meal and a sleeping place" Said Myne as Issei nodded in agreement.

They found a tavern where they had dinner.

"This food is really good" Said Issei.

"I agree want a drink?" Asked Myne as she lifted her glass of wine.

"Nah I'm good I don't drink" Said Issei, of course he drinks sometimes but the alcohol won't affect him since he is a dragon.

The alcohol burns away as it enters issei's body because his body is hotter than anyone else's.

"Alright then I'll go to sleep" Said Issei as he stood up and left for his room.

As he entered his room he took off his cloak and put it on the chair with his money too and laid down on the bed.

"What a day" Said Issei out loud.

"I agree, what a day" Said Ddraig.

"I hope I won't stay here for too long I need to get back" Said Issei.

"I know my brother. By the way, I have a bad feeling about that Myne girl" Said Ddraig.

"It's fine Ddraig, don't worry I had the very same feeling, it reminds me of someone particular too" Said Issei.

"You mean the red head devil" Said Ddraig.

"Yep her aura gives me uneasiness and I think she is planning something so I think I should leave" Said Issei.

"And where are we going?" Asked Ddraig.

"Back to the balloon monsters I think I should level up more" Said Issei.

"I think so too but before that how about you do some light experience, take a jog towards the area" Said Ddraig.

Issei agreed with Ddraig and put his cloak back on and put all of the money into his pocket dimension and snuck out through the window and took a jog towards the balloon monster spawn.

As he reached the spot he spent the whole night popping them using the boosted gear's sharp claws again, and they popped as soon as the claw touched them.

"It's way faster like this than with Myne, she was slow and clumsy" Said Issei.

"That is true brother but later you'll need to get at least one partner to help you through these waves of catastrophe because alone will be too dangerous and hard, plus you could always help them train and improve their skills" Said the wise dragon.

"Alright I understand Ddraig" Said Issei as he continued through the night.

Morning came the sun started to shine and Issei decided that it was enough of leveling up so he decided to explore the town a little more and find something to eat.

Issei found a simple inn where he ate his breakfast but something was wrong.

'Why the hell I can't taste my food?' Asked Issei.

'Its so bland ugh' Thought Issei again.

Suddenly king's personal royal knights barged into the inn.

"Shield hero! the king has ordered your immediate presence!" Shouted the guards.

Issei just nodded and followed the guards back to the castle.

He already expected this and was prepared.

They entered the throne room Issei got surrounded by more guards. Next to the king stood the three heroes with their parties.

"Alright what's going on here?" Asked Issei.

"Silence you filth!" Shouted the king.

"Filth? wow you got some nerve" Said Issei as he clenched his fists.

"Don't you dare to talk back to the king!" Shouted Motoyasu.

"I can't believe that you Shield hero could do something like this" Said the king.

"Myne please explain what happened again" Said the king.

Suddenly Myne came from behind of Motoyasu.

She looked scared.

"S-sir shield hero last night got filthy drunk and he pinned me to his bed, he said something that the night is still young and he started to rip off my clothes.

Somehow I managed to get away and knocked on the door of another room which happens to be Sir Spear heroes room. He opened the door and helped me" Explained Myne.

Issei's eyes widened. Now he was boiling with rage.

"I didn't-" Issei tried to deny her claim but didn't get the chance.

"I didn't expect this from you Issei" Said Ren.

"You really messed up" Said Itsuki.

Suddenly Issei saw Myne smirk but Issei smirked back at her and that act of his confused her.

"I didn't do anything of sort, how could I-" Issei tried to explain but the king acted as he didn't hear a thing.

"The people shall know-" This time issei interrupted.

"Listen here old frat I won't tolerate being ignored and interrupted all the time you hear me? one more time and this castle is going down" Warned Issei with a cold voice and slightly leaked his aura to scare everyone.

Everyone became silent and waited for Issei to speak.

"As I was saying I didn't do anything to her last night because there are two reasons why" Said Issei.

"Which are?" Asked Motoyasu.

"I'm getting there don't worry. As I was saying two reasons, first reason is that I can't possibly get drunk because I don't fucking drink, and second is that I was leveling up the whole night" Explained Issei.

"Wh-what leveling up alone? with a shield? don't make me laugh! you really think that we will believe you!" Shouted the king.

"Well explain this to me, why am I level four" Asked Issei.

"You are already level four!?" Asked impressed Itsuki.

"That's right" Answered issei.

"So you have another partner?" Asked Ren.

"Yes I do" Replied Issei refering to Ddraig.

"I still don't believe you" Said the king.

"Same here" Said Motoyasu.

"Me too" Said Ren as Itsuki stayed silent.

"Then how about this" Said Issei as his boosted gear appeared and a hologram like magic appeared from the gem and showed that Issei was killing the monster balloons all night as an evidence.

"That's obviously a fake anyone could've staged it" Said the king and everyone agreed to him.

"Plus what is this gauntlet?" Asked the king.

"None of your business" Answered Issei coldly.

"You insolent filth I declare you guilty and from now on the kingdom's people will know of this heinous act and we won't fund you anymore!" Said the king angered.

"Haaah such a pain in the ass" Said Issei  with a sigh.

"Here take this Motoyasu I don't need this anyways" Said Issei as he took off his coat and threw it at Motoyasu before leaving.