Fanfic / Hope of the Shield Hero

Naofumi Iwatani was summoned to Melromarc as the Shield Hero. Everything looked great... until he overheard Itsuki and Motoyasu talking about parties sharing experience from kills outside his inn room. He then finds out some stuff from his help guide that Malty hadn't told him about.

Hope of the Shield Hero, "Diligence of the Shield Hero", and "Virtue of the Shield Hero is a trilogy of The Rising of the Shield Hero fanfics written by Allen Blaster, and can be read on Fanfiction Dot Net here or on Archive of Our Own here.

The story was put on Hiatus as of September 28th, 2022 after concerns from the author about their mental health. But after a while, he planned on ending the fic's hiatus after finishing his other fic "Shield Kid's Bizarre Adventure". This led to the story’s hiatus ending on August 7, 2023, and is now being updated biweekly on Mondays again.

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Hope/Diligence/Virtue of the Shield Hero provides examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: Lapis' gem golems can only act against living beings, whether man or monster. Kyo's mimics based on the Spirit Tortoise Familiars are like blobs of inert goo to them.
  • Kizuna also falls under this category, as she reveals that she is not only able to harm a human. But almost any human would be capable of one-shotting her if they landed an attack on her.
• Actually, That's My Assistant: Daitan attempts to flirt with Glass under the belief that she's the Hunting Tools Hero. He's dumbfounded when he learns that title belongs to Kizuna.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: There are a lot of these.
  • In canon, Raphtalia and Filo behave like sisters, often bickering for the attention of their father/mutual crush Naofumi. Here it's framed more like a mother-daughter relationship. Raphtalia even encourages Filo to identify her as "mommy" and Naofumi as "daddy." It is shown to go both ways as Naofumi often refers to Filo as "my daughter" at times instead of viewing her as just a Mon he bought. Naofumi also starts referring to Raphtalia as his 'wife friend' instead of his girlfriend later on in the Otherworld Arc.
  • At the start of canon, Naofumi is hated by his fellow heroes thanks to his false rape accusation, while he has disdain for them for their recklessness and treating the world like a fantasy. Here, Naofumi, Itsuki, and Ren start out with a stronger respect for each other following the first arc, with Ren and Itsuki knowing that Naofumi never raped Mein/Malty and even offering advice to him on upgrading his shield and reaching the Waves. Motoyasu later reaches this point as well.
  • The four heroes eventually reach the point of being like brothers to one another.
  • Ren's relationship with Eclair starts out better since he doesn't develop Savior's Syndrome from her saving him from his Cursed Series like in canon, and he ends up being more willing to learn from her.
    • Eclair isn't his first Love Interest in the series either, as he instead develops feelings for Wyndia earlier on. The dog girl and Sword Hero both end up having a healthy mentor-mentee relationship with the rose-haired knight.
  • Thanks to Itsuki being more heroic than in canon thanks to the loss of Mald and other bad influences from his party early on, he is much nicer to Rishia, and she doesn't suffer from as large of a Broken Pedestal because of it.
    • This also leads to Rishia becoming worthy of the Seven-Star Projectiles far sooner than her canon self.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The Shield, Bow, and Sword heroes all have elements of this added to their backstory. Naofumi's heart was shattered back in school, which is why he had a harder time trusting people even before Malty's betrayal. The Bow hero had a friend who was bullied to suicide, which is why he can't stand bullies making people suffer. And the Sword Hero knew someone who was almost raped, which is why he instantly starts seeing red flags when Malty jumps into the Spear Hero's bed after accusing Naofumi of raping her.
• Adaptational Heroism: The canon counterparts of Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu are all Idiot Heroes at best, The Poorly Chosen One at worst and only ever make things worse in their attempts at a short-sighted chance at living out a hero fantasy for the first ten light novels of the story, only being redeemed and becoming real heroes after that point. In this story, both Ren and Itsuki are far less gullible, far less of a dick to Naofumi, and each has a Break the Haughty moment that makes them more worthy of their titles. Ren is tricked into killing an innocent dragon by men who want to enslave its adoptive daughter, Wyndia. Itsuki starts a campaign against the Melromarc nobility's practice of slavery and cruelty to demi-humans, upgrading to the role of Unscrupulous Anti-Hero when he sees just how bad it really is when a noble kills a demi-human child. And lastly, Motoyasu later becomes a Hero as well after he learns just how bad Bitch truly was. Letting his kindness and other traits show for Naofumi and the other Heroes.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Naofumi unlocks the Raccoon Shield earlier than in canon.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In canon (which includes the light novel, manga, and anime), the other three Heroes are all idiots and more of a detriment to the people than they are saviors early on, willing to believe anything that anybody tells them without proof and, in Motoyasu's case, usually assume the worst of Naofumi. Here, Ren and Itsuki are not so gullible, even trying to help Naofumi avoid being captured by the church when they overhear what the knights intend to do. They also don't buy into Malty's False Rape Accusation, Ren having known a real victim of sexual assault in his old life and seeing right through her. Motoyasu, though late to the party, eventually joins their ranks.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Ren and Itsuki to a lesser extent are a lot nicer and more trusting towards Naofumi. Ren ends up giving Naofumi several tips he had previously and becomes an ally of sorts.
  • When they meet later, Itsuki openly acknowledges that Naofumi is not only doing a good job as a Hero, he may actually be doing a lot more than himself and the others.
  • During the fight with the Pope in Chapter Fifty-One, Naofumi tells Motoyasu he doesn't want an apology. He wants his help to defeat the Pope. Motoyasu finally sees Naofumi "isn't so bad" as he'd thought and joins him for the battle.
  • It takes till the end of the Spirit Tortoise Arc, but the Heroes are all as close as brothers.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. Because of the "What If?" nature of the story, many events have significantly changed that made Naofumi and his Party somewhat weaker than their Canon selves. However, in exchange for this, Naofumi's Party now has other means that his Canon self is lacking in.
  • Naofumi doesn't have Gaelion's crystal; which makes his Barbarian Armor slightly weaker, along with Naofumi not possessing the Blood Sacrifice Skill from the Cursed Series that was used to kill the Pope. However, having unlocked the Blessed Series much earlier, Naofumi has access to the Pandoras' Box Skill which he used to defeat the Pope and later on, Kyo.
  • Because of Itsuki learning early on that everything is real, he managed to bond with Rishia Ivyred: keeping her as an essential part of the Bow Heroes' Party. However, Naofumi now has both Eclair and Princess Melty as active members of his Party.
  • Played Straight with the two Interdimensional Soul Eater Bosses from Chapter 58: in Canon they were so difficult that Naofumi had to resort to using Iron Maiden to defeat one of them. Here, thanks to Naofumi, Ren, and Itsuki sharing their strengthening methods, along with incorporating Naofumi's own pseudo-methods to strengthen their Weapons and Parties, along with having taken part alongside Naofumi in an even tougher battle with the Tyrant Dragon Rex weeks earlier^note a Monster so powerful that it took Fitoria to kill it in Canon, and that a previous set of all Four Cardinal Heroes saw no other choice but to seal it away, the Sword and Bow Heroes were able to one-shot both Soul Eaters.
• Alternate Universe: The Heroes quickly determine that while they all come from Japan, they all originate from Japans in different universes. Their currency is slightly different, they have different politicians, and the world they happen to be summoned to is, to them, from very different games. In Naofumi's case it wasn't a game at all, but a book.
• The Antichrist: The Church of the Three Heroes believes that while the Sword, Spear and Bow Heroes are deities in human form, the Shield Hero is a devil sent to deceive the people.
• An Arm and a Leg: Ren manages to cut Kyo's arm so thoroughly that his soul also loses it, causing Kyo to have problems when he regrows a new hand.
  • Seya, a reincarnator from the Otherworld, also suffers from this when one of the Gem Golem Caretakers of Lazuli rips one of the leg parts of his soul clean off, leaving him with a missing leg when he respawns later on in Orokana's territory.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Kyo screams at Naofumi who's now wielding the Shield of Diligence that nothing they do matters, Naofumi drops a question that forces Kyo to stop.
  Naofumi: Then what are you fighting so hard for? If nothing matters, then why do you keep on struggling, instead of just rolling over and dying?
• Armor-Piercing Response: When Motoyasu asks why the people of Lute are rebelling, Albert's What the Hell, Hero? has such an impact that thinking it over causes Motoyasu to reach the Despair Event Horizon, unlocking his Curse Series.
• Asshole Victim: The Mirror Hero reveals to Kyo that he was the one that sent Kizuna into the Infinite Labyrinth and that he intends to do it again after mutilating and raping her. Kyo brutally tortures him.
• Beast Man: Various types appear, from typical reptile and werewolf races to the less standard mole race.
• Berserk Button:
  • Kizuna hates being called "lolibaba". Like, seriously hates it.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Just when Naofumi falls into a Heroic BSOD after using his Cursed Flames on Raphtalia while in an Unstoppable Rage moment, with only Filo, Eclair, and Melty able to protect him, Itsuki, Ren, and their parties crash the party right on time to save them from the Church's Knights and get them all away to a safe place.
  • Queen Mirelia arrives at Melromarc just in time to save Melty from a Church knight.
  • The Pope's minions manage to cast the Sanctuary ritual, making the Pope even stronger just when Naofumi and Motoyasu are starting to run out of power, starting to push Naofumi towards the Despair Event Horizon while he's using the Shield of Hope II... only for Itsuki and Ren to arrive just in time to distract the Pope and restore Naofumi's hope long enough to allow him to change his shield and begin the push back.
  • When Raphtalia gets cornered by Altara, Dou-Lon, the Hakuko arrives to aid her.
  • When the Spirit Tortoise is about to stomp them and the other Heroes have tried their best to hurt it, Naofumi brings out the Shield of Hope II and the Shield of Rage II (the latter via a skill), and not only stops the Tortoise's attack, but saves the lives of his fellow heroes in the process.
  • Just as Ren and Motoyasu are about to die in the crystal prisons they're being held in by Kyo, Wyndia smashes the crystal with a gem magic spell, and afterward, pulls the Sword Hero from his Despair Event Horizon with a hug and words from her heart.
  • When Naofumi is being overwhelmed against Trash and his allies, wondering how he'll escape his situation, Raphtalia appears as the Katana Hero, slicing Trash's magic attack to pieces, and ready to fight at Naofumi's side once more. Naofumi nearly has a breakdown, as he's so relieved to have her back at his side.
  • When the fleets and troops allied against Luvar start flagging from being attacked by both Luvar's forces and the Wave monsters, Lapis' Empress leads the forces that had been left stationed at home into the fight, allowing the allied forces to turn the tables and achieve victory.
  • Naofumi saving both Filo and Dou-Lon inside Kyo's Gravity Field after unlocking the Shield of Diligence.
• Break the Cutie: After all the hell she went through, Kizuna still manages to keep her optimism. Then Kyo, the person she considered a friend and that she was hoping to stop, revealed everything he had done as part of his Evil Plan. Kizuna, in response, equipped the Cursed Series and attempted to kill him.
• Brick Joke: Remember how Naofumi noted that he had to find someone who could give Raphtalia The Talk? Chapter 39, "He Forgot The Talk", has him realizing (after he and Raphtalia snogged for a while) that he forgot that, and now he might be forced to do it himself.
  • Naofumi thinks she's had the talk. Unfortunately, Raphtalia still hasn't had "The Talk" at Chapter Sixty. Which might set up for a return of the infamous Brick Joke down the road.
    • In Chapter 76, Raphtalia finally gets given "The Talk" by Therese, who makes a mental note to slap Naofumi for forgetting about it. She actually goes through with it.
• Brought Down to Badass: When a reincarnator steals the Hunting Tools Weapon from Kizuna, not only does it render him inoffensive, but it allows Kizuna to use lethal force without restriction and turn the thief into Ludicrous Gibs with one punch.
• Cain and Abel: Corrin, Lapis' Emperor, is forced to fight his brother Xander, who joined Luvar (and Kyo's faction) after he was passed over the position of Emperor. When Xander proves unwilling to surrender, Corrin is forced to kill him.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Several characters suffer from this.
  • It takes many chapters for Naofumi to finally tell Raphtalia he loves her.
  • Ren and Wyndia, and Itsuki and Rishia, also have a lot of trouble trying to convey their feelings. The former manage to get together, while the latter isn't looking too good at the moment.
• Casanova Wannabe: Daitan, Otherworld's Blunt Weapons Hero. Itsuki thinks he's like Motoyasu but without the latter's charm.
• Character Development: Most of the Heroes undergo this.
  • Naofumi slowly becomes nicer and more capable of interacting with others, thanks to Raphtalia encouraging his gentler nature.
  • The Bow Hero, the Sword Hero, and eventually the Spear Hero realize that where they are is not a video game and that the NPCs they were interacting with are real people who suffer real consequences for their actions.
    • Itsuki goes from having an Inferiority Superiority Complex to acting like an actual Robin Hood by fighting for Slave Liberation and stopping Melromarc's worst nobles. He also relies on his party, better relates with them all, and even does his best to encourage Rishia, doing his best to overcome his flaws and become a real hero... which makes his fall back into his Inferiority Complex at the end of the Otherworld Arc that much more tragic.
    • Ren begins to lose his Ineffectual Loner attitude as he realizes he needs other people if he is to survive and aid in stopping the Waves of Catastrophe. As he gets stronger, he cares more for his party, and eventually develops a deep love for his party member and friend Wyndia, one which she reciprocates. After being saved from the Spirit Tortoise, he is trying his best to recover from his trauma with the help of his friends and girlfriend.
    • Motoyasu takes the longest in starting to shed off his worst traits (which doesn't happen until Queen Mirellia returns to put a stop to the Church's coup), but when he gets to the other side of the tunnel, he proves to be reliable and capable of putting his charisma to good use.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The modified Miracle Seeds Naofumi kept in his inventory end up being useful when he and Rishia get trapped in the Infinite Labyrinth with Kizuna.
  • When in Kizuna's World, Filo learns a song that was said to be able to counter the Demon Dragon's power. She starts singing it just before Naofumi tries to use the Shield of Wrath III against Kyo, allowing him to clear his mind and reach the epiphany he needs to unlock the Shield of Diligence.
• Chekhov's Skill: Hope Asunder, the Armor-Piercing Attack Naofumi first used during the duel against Motoyasu, makes a return during his duel against Malty to destroy her armor, leaving her wide open for him to destroy in a fight. It is called such during the battle against Balamus.
• The Chosen One: The Four Legendary Heroes, who are summoned from different worlds to fight the Waves. Their Legendary Weapons grant them abilities and skills that allow them to surpass the abilities of an ordinary person, as well as unique functions like alerts about the Waves and automatic language translation. The four are also connected to each other, since if even a single Legendary Hero is killed, the Waves will grow stronger. Furthermore, another set of Legendary Heroes cannot be summoned until the rest of the current set has been killed.
• Clark Kenting: During the Chapter 42 omake, Naofumi, Ren, Itsuki, and their parties manage to infiltrate Rabier... while wearing glasses. Ren and Itsuki become convinced that the Church Knights are completely stupid. The only one that even comes close to sounding suspicious of them confounds Itsuki for his cousin.
• Clingy MacGuffin: The Legendary Weapons must always remain on the hero's person, though their size, appearance, and location can be adjusted to render them inconspicuous.
• Cluster Bleep-Bomb: The author, not being keen on writing expletives, replaces the worst words with either asterisks or symbols - which creates this effect whenever Naofumi gets going.
  • This was taken to the next level in an omake in Chapter 126 when Naofumi's (bleep) influence infected close friends like Itsuki, Kizuna, Filo, Melty, and even Raph-Chan.
• Color-Coded Elements: Motoyasu wears red and has an affinity for fire, Ren wears blue and has an affinity for water and Itsuki wears brown and has an affinity for earth magic.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The four Cardinal Heroes are designated by the colors of their armor, the gemstones on their Legendary Weapons, and even their eye colors. Ren is blue, Motoyasu is red, Itsuki is gold, and Naofumi is green.
• Combination Attack: Skills and magic can be combined to make more powerful attacks.
• Conflict Killer: Averted. Kyo proving how far he's willing to go for his Take Over the World plot is not enough to ensure the Conference delegates actually agree to work together against their common enemy.
• Contrived Coincidence: Naofumi and Raphtalia stop by a town whose Lord is the real father of one of Raphtalia's old friends.
• Cooldown Hug: When Trash confesses to killing Kenshiro, the former Hero of the Katana, and L'Arc's former childhood friend, the redhead nearly rushes forward to kill him, only for Glass to tenderly hug him from behind. As she understands exactly what L'Arc is feeling, and tells him not to give in to the feeling like she had so long ago.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The Order of the Spear Breakers is forced to flee from Lute because they launched a rebellion against Malty and the Spear Hero right before the original Lord of the Town comes back and tells the occupiers that they are to leave immediately. If they had waited just a little longer, they could have stayed in their homes. The Lord even grouses about this fact.
• Crapsack World: High-level monsters appear and kill indiscriminately until they are stopped by deadly force? Check. There is a giant magical hourglass showing when it will happen, each and every time? Check. Humans Are Bastards? Check. One of the most honest and upright merchants in the setting at the beginning is a slave trader? Check.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Naofumi comes up with a plan to infiltrate Melromarc that is, by his own description, crazy. Itsuki and Ren tell him that they could use a crazy plan to deal with the current situation.
  • This comes up again and again, as Naofumi continually uses crazy plans with success, especially while in the Otherworld. Itsuki complains about this as time goes on, but they still end up working anyway.
• Cruel Mercy: During his fight with Albert, Kyo pours a healing potion on him so he won't die too soon - and in such a way that the organs that have been ruptured don't return to their proper places, causing Albert even more agony.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The fight against Glass. Naofumi uses the Soul Eater Shield's power to drain her energy and block her attacks. He then buffs up Ren while Itsuki debuffs Glass and Ren unleashes his latest skill, One Thousand Swords, to defeat Glass.
  • This also happens when Raphtalia and L'Arc face down the midboss Trash. While he put up a decent fight against L'Arc, he only hurt him because the Scythe Hero wasn't focused on defense. And Raphtalia easily defeated him, in the end, thanks to Naofumi reading his attacks and summoning a skill shield in front of the bastard to hit him with his own spell.
  • Kyo versus Albert, the Mirror Hero. After a Sucker Punch, Kyo proceeds to brutally beat the crap out of Albert using his Book, who is unable to defend himself.
  • The whole reincarnator slaughter in Lazuli's palace could be described as one huge Curb Stomp.
• Cuteness Overload: Raph-chan induces this in Naofumi. After she is created, Naofumi fills an entire page with Pet. as he is so absorbed with petting Raph-Chan that the kanji words appear all around him.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Ren tries to comfort Itsuki (who is in a My God, What Have I Done? phase) by telling him that at least he's not as bad as Motoyasu. Itsuki points out that he's not very good at comforting others.
  • Itsuki tries to make a joke later on as Melromarc and Siltvelt are about to go to war. The results make him realize that maybe he isn't the best at counseling others either.
  • And later on, Itsuki realizes that he's still bad at counseling others... well, others that aren't Rishia at least. Naofumi and Motoyasu are leagues ahead of him and Ren.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
  • The Cursed Series is this. They greatly empower the user but at the risk of pushing them into a reflection of their worst selves. Naofumi's Shield of Wrath makes him capable of heavily damaging his enemies... at the cost of making him unable to distinguish friend from foe. Itsuki's Bow of Pride turns him into a Control Freak with brainwashing powers that, similar to Naofumi, puts him in danger of harming his allies. And then there's Ren's Sword of Gluttony, which grants him obscene amounts of attack power, as well as the ability to weaken his enemies and absorb health from them, allowing him to kill the Spirit Tortoise with basically zero effort... but for all this, it also makes him go on an indiscriminate rampage, attacking anything and everything nearby, seeking EXP. He is also inflicted with a curse that keeps him from gaining EXP after he comes out of his Cursed Series.
  • The Blessed Series runs on the Heroes' positive feelings (such as Hope, Bravery, etc.), but in their great strength lies their greatest weakness: if the Hero is unable to sustain such feelings, they run the risk of falling even worse into the problems the Cursed Series would cause. At least, that is the case early on. As revealed with the Shield of Diligence, once a Hero reaches the true Blessed Series that Hope or Bravery or whatever leads to, that weakness disappears entirely, and even allows the Hero to dual wield their Blessed Series and their Cursed Series for a time if they have both unlocked.
• Dark and Troubled Past: As noted by Therese, a fair number of the women in the heroes' parties have a connection to slavery.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Conference Arc is one for Itsuki, as Naofumi decides to take a step back and relax for a time.
• De-power: The Hourglass of the Dragon's Era can be used to reset a person's level to 1.
• Deader than Dead: Balamus has his soul eaten by a Soul Worm, shredding it from existence. Motoyasu even drops the trope name when describing what's about to happen.
  • Almost every reincarnator at the conference suffers this same fate.
• Death Glare: When Daitan makes the mistake of pressing Kizuna's Berserk Button, Kizuna and Glass sport one that makes them look like "demons that sought to rend the flesh from his bones".
• Death or Glory Attack: Realizing that they are toast if they do not do it, Itsuki, Naofumi, and Ren throw everything they have at the T-Rex in one last attack that leaves them completely exhausted. Fortunately for them, it works.
  • A similar scenario happens with the Spirit Tortoise, but while it didn't kill it, it bought them enough time to escape it so they could live to fight another day.
• Defiant Captive: Motoyasu keeps mouthing off to Kyo. While Kyo responds by shocking him and draining his life, Motoyasu considers it's Worth It, since keeping Kyo off balance gives a chance for the other Heroes to defeat him.
• Despair Event Horizon: After Bakta and Welt make a Heroic Sacrifice to save Ren from the Spirit Tortoise, Ren hits this so hard he not only triggers his Cursed Series, he also unlocks the third rank in it, the Sword of Gluttony. He is unreachable by that point, even by his Love Interest Wyndia, and had to be forcefully stopped by Fitoria before he killed Wyndia, Eclair, Itsuki, and everyone else he cared about.
• Didn't See That Coming: Naofumi becomes pleasantly surprised when he manages to have a full conversation with Itsuki without any accusations or insults being thrown around - and with both complimenting each other for everything they have been doing since the last Wave.
  • The Shield, Sword, and Bow heroes are all surprised when they find out that there are strengthening features to their weapons that they never figured out - but by sharing their own methods of strengthening them, each of them now knows how to do them, becoming stronger.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Naofumi and Raphtalia can barely keep themselves from leering at each other when they meet again in Otherworld.
• Empathic Healer: Ray of Hope, one of Shield of Hope II's abilities, allows Naofumi to heal people of their curses by taking their pain into himself and giving himself a temporary debuff in some cases.
  • Using this against Kyo in the Otherworld, Naofumi learned beyond a shadow of a doubt through the pain and despair he absorbed from the villain that Kizuna's friend needed to be saved instead of killed.
• Empathic Weapon: Deconstructed. What happens when your Legendary Weapon also reacts to your worst emotions? The result is the Cursed Series, the Superpowered Evil Side of the Legendary Heroes' weapons, which only become accessible when the wielder flies past the Despair Event Horizon. While they do grant powerful moves and are terrifyingly powerful, they also eat away at the user by intensifying the associated emotion (i.e. hatred or greed) until it is the user's only motivation — and that doesn't take into account the other detriments.
  • As one example, when Ren uses the skills from the Sword of Gluttony, he does considerable damage and can lower the level of the enemy he's fighting... by sacrificing his levels. On top of that, he is left with a curse that prevents him from gaining any experience for two months. Not days, not weeks, months.
  • Another example is provided in canon. Naofumi uses Blood Sacrifice and is left with 1/3 decreased stats for a month. Then, later on, he used a move called Sacrifice Aura, and it debuffs him, Raphtalia, and Filo for 2/3's of their stats for an astounding three months.
• Enemy Mine: Naofumi manages to convince Siltvelt's army to work with Melromarc's and the Four Heroes in defeating Melromarc's Third Wave.
• Engineered Public Confession:
  • Naofumi punches Bitch's Berserk Button like it was giving free candy to trick her into doing one in front of Motoyasu. In his own words, it worked better than he could have ever imagined. Possibly one of the best moments involving Bitch, as she finally did something useful.
  • Motoyasu unintentionally does this to the Pope during the last part of the Liberation of Melromarc after his awakening. Had the Pope just kept his mouth shut and didn't do a Villain Monologue, he would have used Cathedral's power to kill the Four Heroes and everyone else in the castle. But because he confessed his true thoughts in regards to Altara, the latter had a Heel–Face Turn moment in regards to his evil Excellency and ultimately brought about his downfall.
  • Trash spills the beans about how he murdered his uncle and father, kills all the soldiers under his command when they turn on him, and admits he did it all just because he wants the Vassal Katana. Unfortunately for him, Naofumi had a crystal ball on hand, courtesy of Motoyasu, and thus, he recorded the entire thing. Meaning he was able to clear Glass and co of murdering their fellow hero once and for all.
• Epic Fail: After they arrive at Cal Mira, Itsuki, Naofumi and Ren go to different parts of the first island, picking west, north, and east. Itsuki and Naofumi end up meeting mid-point in the northwest... and Ren ends up meeting them in the same place.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Kyo has them, low as they are, such as choosing to make Trash his guinea pig instead of working with him, after learning how he arranged to have Kenshiro killed. This is very much a Fate Worse than Death for the bastard.
• Everyone Has Standards: Itsuki and Ren intervene in the aftermath of the duel, disgusted by the way the King and Malty are acting towards Naofumi, outright telling the King that either he abides by the deal and lets Naofumi go, or they will refuse to aid Melromarc in the future Waves of Catastrophe.
  • One noble's nephew sells him out to Itsuki because of the man's cruelty. He promises to do his best to find someone for the King to appoint that will actually be decent to other people.
• Evil Counterpart: Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki have one when the Pope of the Church of the Three Heroes uses a weapon that allows him to mimic their Legendary Weapons. Naofumi would have had a similar counterpart but the Church views the Shield as a devil and so the Pope did not use it.
• Evil Hand: Kyo's replacement arm for the one Ren sliced off doesn't work as well as the original because Kyo's soul has also lost that arm.
• Evil Weapon: The Curse Series Weapons are still this.
• Evolving Weapon: The Legendary Weapons. Using different methods (such as letting the gem absorb materials, copying other weapons of the same type, applying the strengthening methods of the Heroes onto them, or just training with them) unlocks new weapon forms and skills and grants the wielders stat boosts. Some skills are only unlockable when the wielder reaches certain stat requirements. A reason why Naofumi never gets any attack skills with his shield, as his attack stat will never be high enough to unlock them.
• Exact Eavesdropping: The For Want Of A Nail. When Naofumi overhears Itsuki and Motoyasu speak about game mechanics he didn't know about (parties sharing EXP). In trying to find answers, he looks for Malty and discovers her plans.
  • This seems to be a weakness for villains - they can't resist telling someone about their evil plans without making sure no one is listening. Eclair, for example, gets dragged into the plot the same way when she overhears the Church's plans to discredit the Shield Hero.
• Fantastic Racism: Not only between humans and demi-humans but also amongst demi-humans.
  • A primary motivator for the racism against demi-humans in Melromarc (besides the Church) is the war with Siltvelt: its brutality, which spread for the eight years it lasted, made the nobles that worked as Aultcray's commanders gain a greater hatred for demi-humans than they might have had before.
  • When several Siltvelt agents attempt to find Naofumi to kidnap him and take him to their country, Naofumi overhears them planning to kill Raphtalia on the basis of her being a Tanuki.
  • The Raccoons do not have it so good, either, because when Siltvelt lost the war, their Grand Council turned them into scapegoats by claiming they used illusion magic to convince Claw King Tai-Lon to 'try and conquer the world'.
  • The Hakukos might also not be as favored as they appear in Siltvelt, since those that tried to speak out against the scapegoating were exiled along with all the Noble Raccoon families.
  • There is another example of this shown in the Otherworld, as Naofumi learns in the Katana's country that the people there "really" hate monsters with the ability to transform into humans, as the Demon Dragon's Army had a few that did this while at war with their country.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Just as Melromarc and Siltvelt's armies are going to battle, the Four Heroes vanish to meet the Third Wave... only for them to reappear in the no man's land between both armies. Cue the Third Wave opening right on top of the battlefield.
• Flirting Under Fire: After being reunited in the Otherworld, Naofumi and Raphtalia proceed to ignore the villain they're facing down as they're busy flirting with each other.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: Part of the reason why Naofumi and Raphtalia fall in love with each other is because of his taking care of her.
• Forced Level-Grinding: Malty forces Rino to fight monsters so she can get stronger without doing anything.
• For Want Of A Nail: Instead of Naofumi turning in to bed after leaving Malty at the Bar due to him not interested in a drink; only for while he's asleep for Malty to steal his armor; his clothes and all of his money and have him dragged back to the castle the following morning after frame him with a False Rape Accusation. Here, Naofumi overhears Motoyasu and Itsuki talking about the Party System and its benefits. Wondering why Myne didn't inform him of this, he goes downstairs and overhears her conversation with a Nun about her plan.
• The Fundamentalist: Almost every instance of Naofumi meeting a member of the Three Heroes Church has resulted in him either being termed the Shield Demon, the Three Church followers running away in terror, attacking him, or a mixture of all three. On the flip side, the first instance he had with Siltvelt was being termed their God, but that his current party companions, especially Raphtalia, were unworthy to travel with him. Later instances strengthened that in several regards, especially when Jaralis called Raphtalia a Raccoon/Tanuki whore.
  • The exceptions to this are a few members of Lute, who term him the Shield Demon... right up until Naofumi and his party save the village from the Wave, after which they start treating him with more respect, going as far as to call him a "Real Hero".
• Godzilla Threshold: When Ren unlocks the Sword of Gluttony, it takes Fitoria using the ability "Sanctuary" to forcefully drag him out of his Cursed State. Ren's overall mental health doesn't come out well on the other side, and it takes a long time for him to recover.
  • Itsuki resorts to a frankly risky method to force Otherworld's Cardinal Heroes to take a reality pill: put them in the middle of a fight they are too weak to survive and wait to see if they will acknowledge reality. And when that's not enough, he pits himself against them and puts them through a terrifying experience as he wields the Cursed Bow. Kizuna only manages to stop him by pulling out her own Cursed Series.
• Gold–Silver–Copper Standard: The coins are 100 coppers to 1 silver, and 100 silvers to a gold.
  • Otherworld has a similar system: 100 Doumons makes a Tamagin, and 100 Tamagins make a Kinhan.
• Good Princess, Evil Queen: Inverted. Queen Mirelia is a Reasonable Authority Figure in stark contrast to the sociopathic Princess Malty.
• Good Weapon, Evil Weapon: While the Cursed Series weapons still exist, the existence of the Blessed Series is also brought up.
  • Naofumi has the Shield of Diligence (formerly the Shield of Hope). The first level of Hope is unlocked when Raphtalia declares her complete trust and love in him even after her slave crest is removed. The second level is unlocked by him exploring his feelings of hope and love Raphtalia inspires in him. He unlocks the Shield of Diligence after coming to terms with his Wrath and accepting it as a part of him.
  • Ren has the Sword of Bravery, which unlocks the first level after he makes peace with the friends he lost fighting the Spirit Tortoise and resolves to make Wyndia happy, breaking off from his previous lone wolf attitude once and for all.
• Groin Attack: When their caravan is stopped by a group of bandits, Naofumi tells Raphtalia she can cut them down, specifically requesting her to go for the groin. Raphtalia doesn't understand why - until she does. Then, after the bandits fess up on why they attacked, Naofumi tells Filo to kick them as well, an attack she later gives to Motoyasu when he attacks them in chapter 29.
  • In chapter 34, Filo starts to deliver them wholesale to the knights trying to kill Naofumi, so much so that Naofumi wonders if he should teach her to attack other parts of the body. Hopefully, fighting with Fitoria will solve this issue.
  • It doesn't, as shown in chapter 52, where she hits a Church knight hard enough to "end his family lineage".
  • She's not the only one to resort to this, with Rishia stabbing the Book Hero in the groin with her rapier. Raphtalia also kicks the Male Bitch in the same spot early on in the fight with her steel-toed boot.
  • And during the Otherworld, Filo is still unleashing these on monsters and humans alike.
  • Even Glass and her son Chris join in on the fun during the reincarnator battle when Chris first headbutts a reincarnator in the spot, only for Glass to show her shikigami son how to do it properly as she kicks the man's groin hard enough to break through his pelvis and spine.
    • Raphtalia comments to Naofumi right after this about how he's been a bad influence on all their friends before she then proceeds to backkick another reincarnator in the groin, dropping him to the ground as well.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Discussed. Itsuki offers to temporarily add Naofumi and Raphtalia to his party as Naofumi hadn't had a chance to register at the Dragon Hourglass at that point. Naofumi turns him down, instead opting to break into the Church of the Three Heroes and force his way to the Hourglass with seconds to spare before the Wave started.
• Godzilla Threshold: In a bind on how to force the Otherworld's Cardinal Heroes to realize they are not in a game, Itsuki decides to resort to force them to confront reality by putting them through a traumatic event.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Raphtalia kills Trash by slicing him from groin to head. It takes him a while to realize he's dead.
• Hammerspace: The Legendary Weapons have this feature, which collects materials from all the monsters they kill - which Naofumi does not learn until the meeting with Itsuki and Ren after they escaped from Melromarc. Fortunately, all the meat from the monster corpses that made their way into his Shield remains good even months after the fact - which at least helps him cook the feast he promised to throw for Filo. Between feeding her and using Itsuki's strengthening methods, he ends up almost running out of carcasses.
  • This also leads to a funny moment of Naofumi realizing how many potential drops Filo could have eaten before he learned about the inventory box since Filo was well known for devouring almost every monster she killed.
• He Knows Too Much: When Ren and his party learn from the Church of Three Heroes' archives about the truth of the demi-humans and the Shield Hero, the Pope tries to have them killed.
  • Trash also tried to kill Naofumi and co when he learned Naofumi had recorded his entire confession about murdering the past Katana Hero, only to get brutally defeated.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: Several Otherworld leaders decide to ignore the fact that the Waves are getting stronger just because they stand to profit from the monster remains.
• Healing Factor: Kyo, the Book Hero, has one. Excellent to deal with stray attacks, not so much when his defenses get overwhelmed and the many people he's pissed off get the chance to brutalize him.
• The Heart: During the Otherworld Conference, Itsuki realizes that Queen Mirellia is this in Raphtalia's World, as her skills in diplomacy were fundamental to secure the alliance between the world's nations during the Spirit Tortoise's attack. Without such a figure there, the Conference never gets anywhere because few of the leaders are willing to see beyond their borders and/or their pockets.
  • Corrin finally becomes this later on after the battle against Luvar, and he manages to bring the world together to ally with Kizuna against the Waves and those behind the Waves.
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Dou-Lon, while recovering from his wounds, finds that the old lady who is caring for him used to be married to a half-Orca Demi-human. She's four-foot-nine, and the smaller examples of Orca demi-humans are around seven feet tall.
• Hufflepuff House: While the author did an outstanding job with the Sword and Bow Hero's parties, giving them names, personalities, and development, taking them out of this trope, sadly the trope still applies to the Spear Hero's party. Averted somewhat in more recent chapters that show off more of the party, but definitely made fun of in an omake in Chapter 64, the very first chapter of Diligence. And to be honest, a couple of Itsuki's party members are less fleshed out compared to the others.
• I Hate Past Me: When Itsuki meets Daitan, Hoshi, and Akane (Otherworld's Cardinal Heroes), he's dismayed when he realizes they are exactly the same as he was back when he thought everything was just a game - and now he wonders how he didn't get beaten into the ground for how stupid he was back then.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Wyndia tries to do this when Ren unlocks his Cursed Series, but he's gone so far that he can barely beg to be killed for a few seconds before the Curse reasserts itself and he attempts to kill her with the Cursed Skill Guillotine.
  • Naofumi and co when facing Kyo's Cursed Dragon form for the final time try to end the fight without killing him, realizing that Kizuna was right and her old friend was still in there. And after sealing Kyo's cursed form in "True Pandora's Box", his true soul comes out, and Kizuna is proven right about good still having been inside the demon lord.
• Ignored Epiphany: Averted when it comes to Itsuki. After he seems to accept that he's not in a game, he goes back to it... except that when Ren confronts him on it, Itsuki breaks down and reveals that he knows it's not a game, but he's trying to hold on to that delusion because he is feeling crushed due to the knowledge of all the people he's killed or failed to save and the wanton cruelty he's seen.
• I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: The lord of Lute allowing the members of the town's rebellion to escape after attacking Myne, Motoyasu, and the knights that served them, which is still treason no matter how poorly they had treated the town and villagers.
  Lord of Lute: There's nothing I can do, except turn away and pretend I didn't see all of Melromarc's traitors escape my town with some of the funds from the toll.
• Insane Troll Logic: Expect believers in the Three Heroes Church to engage in this regularly, making contradictory statements mere sentences apart and ignoring all signs to the contrary that they *might* be in the wrong.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Naofumi still winds up buying Raphtalia out of necessity.
  • Though his False Rape Accusation doesn't go the same way as in canon, Naofumi still suffers severe psychological trauma that leaves him unable to taste food or see Raphtalia for her actual physical age till after the Sacred Duel. This is because of Naofumi's 'depressive funk' after learning Malty planned to betray him.
  • Despite Naofumi being able to defeat Motoyasu in their duel for Raphtalia's freedom, he's still declared the loser when Bitch accuses Raphtalia of using magic to cheat, and her slave crest is still forcibly removed.
  • Naofumi still ends up taking Melty with him to keep the little Princess safe, and thus is framed for kidnapping the young Princess.
  • Rabier manages to set the T-Rex on the Heroes despite his almost mortal injuries, and gets crushed by the monster.
  • Itsuki still encounters the Noble he killed in canon but does better than before.
  • Naofumi eventually encounters the Miracle Seed and uses Plant Reform on it. Using it later on to help Kizuna, him, and Rishia escape the Infinite Labyrinth.
  • Welt and Bakta are still killed by the Spirit Tortoise and their deaths contribute to Ren unlocking the Gluttony Cursed Series.
  • Kyo still ended up waking up the Spirit Tortoise.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Inverted. A Church Shadow surrenders to Motoyasu, thinking he's made the foolish Spear Hero drop his guard. However, as he turns to launch a Drifa level spell, Motoyasu uses a skill to completely obliterate the foolish man.
• Ignored Expert: Itsuki's attempts to convince Otherworld's nations to stop the Waves, as well as convincing the Cardinal Heroes to share their strengthening methods with each other to become more powerful, are completely ignored.
• Instant Soprano: Following Filo's kick to Motoyasu's groin, Naofumi can't help but notice how the Spear Hero's voice has gone up a few octaves for the rest of the fight.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Ren walks in on Naofumi and Raphtalia as they heavily kiss each other after Naofumi tells her he loves her.
  • Itsuki later walks in on Naofumi and Raphtalia when they were making love in a Hot Spring.
  • Itsuki then walks in on his two friends Aksel and Maya only a few days after that when he thought no one was in the Hot Spring... only to find them 'celebrating' their victory over the Wave for that day.
• It's Personal: Kyo makes it personal for Corrin by attempting to have his family murdered.
  • And Corrin finally realizes how he needs to step up in the world when he learns that the people behind the Waves and their operatives were responsible for the deaths of his siblings.
• Killed Off for Real: Bakta and Welt are killed by the Tortoise, their bodies so thoroughly destroyed that there are not even ashes left.
  • It is then confirmed later on by Rifana that they had definitely died, as she protected their souls from being absorbed by the Spirit Tortoise.
• Legend Fades to Myth: The common concession of the Three Heroes Church and Melromarc as a whole is the belief that the Spear, Sword, and Bow Heroes are gods to be worshipped, the Shield Hero is a Devil out to lead humanity to ruin and demi-humans are the unholy union of humans and monsters. When Ren and his party do some investigating in the Church's archives, they discover the truth: The origins of Demi-Humans and Beastmen aren't because of Humans mating with Monsters, rather it's the result of a Merged Reality that caused the Shield's world to collide with the Bow's world and deposit not only those races into their world: but also The Legendary Shield and several Vassal Weapons including the Vassal Claw. A country of humans from the Bow's world known as Piensa saw the Demi-Human's sudden appearance and their natural ability to age quickly due to Leveling as an existential threat to humanity's claim and thus launched a campaign of genocide against them, allying with some of the stronger demi-humans to wipe out the numerous weaker breeds. While the Bow Hero native to their world was noted to help in this campaign according to the journal; The Shield Hero remained stalwart in protecting the now-displaced Demi natives of their former world and helped them escape and form an ancient country called Siltran. The place would later become Siltvelt, while the original launchers of that campaign would get destroyed. Some of the remnants would found the Three Heroes Church and later demonize the Shield Hero to the people of Melromarc, a country that formed later in opposition to Siltvelt. As of the journal, it is unknown when the Spear and Sword's world merged with the Shield and Bow's world, further addling with the shared histories of their worlds.
• Let's You and Him Fight:
  • One that works for Naofumi. When the Siltvelt agents begin to follow Naofumi and Raphtalia (planning to kidnap him and kill her), several Church agents also arrive - and promptly go after the Siltvelt agents, accusing them of hiding Naofumi away.
  • The Church of the Three Heroes gets in on this by arranging for Motoyatsu to try to kill Naofumi.
  • In the Otherworld Arc, Orokana and Miyaji let the coalition forces and Luvar fight against each other, planning to drop in right after to clean up whatever forces remain. Fortunately, reinforcements arrive from Lapis in time, preventing the two reincarnators from carrying out their plan.
• Level Cap: Like in canon, it's a problem that the Church won't let Naofumi use the hourglass to let Raphtalia and Filo go past level 40.
• Level Grinding: Naofumi starts off spending his days slowly grinding through balloon monsters to gain a few measly levels. Once Raphtalia gets better, they start gaining levels more quickly.
  • Cal Mira Island's awakening offers an efficient version of level grinding as the monsters provide extra XP until the adventurers reach lv 80.
  • Filo is able to powerlevel party members by having them on her back as she runs around, killing monsters by running them over with her size and speed.
  • In the Otherworld, Naofumi learns that he and his allies can use that world's Earth Crystals, their way of recharging their magic power, to gain EXP, and lots of it too.
• Level-Locked Loot: Most weapon forms are level-locked. The Portal Shield, which has the teleportation skill, and only unlocks at level 50 is particularly important given that the entire plot would have changed had the Heroes had access to it earlier.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Naofumi and Raphtalia, particularly as they discuss Filo behaving as if she were their daughter.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Elhart figures that if Naofumi isn't allowed to wield any other weapons than his legendary shield, then he can still make spiked gauntlets for him that give an attack boost because that's considered armor, right? Nope.
  • Played straight when it is revealed he can make a copy of the gloves using the Weapon Copy system. He gets one, but it has no attack stat just like every other one of his weapon forms.
  • When Itsuki, Aksel, and Maya enter Glass' World, they find themselves in the middle of the Ancient Library Labyrinth, a high-level dungeon, while they are level 1, making it pretty much impossible for them to get out. Then, when they try to make fire, they get warned that making fire is against the rules - so Itsuki deliberately triggers it, getting himself and his party kicked out of the Labyrinth.
  • After Naofumi and Rishia end up in the Infinite Labyrinth, they eventually learn from Kizuna that monsters that are too large or powerful are sucked out of the Labyrinth and sent into the normal world. Naofumi engineers one such monster using a Miracle Seed, which Kizuna can hold onto with her Legendary Weapon while Naofumi and Rishia grab Kizuna, allowing the monster to drag the three of them outside.
• Lured into a Trap: Itsuki and his party are lured into a trap set by the Church Shadows due to one noble in particular acting excessively cruel to draw out the vigilante. They end up surrounded by mercenaries, his Transport Bow skill is negated, and the Church Shadow has discovered the location of the freed slaves intending to kill them. One of his party members dies in the fight, causing Itsuki to trigger his Cursed Series Bow and brainwash several of the mercenaries. This allows the others to survive, though Rishia is caught in the crossfire and put in a coma for several days.
• Magically-Binding Contract: Slave Crests function this way. When applied to someone, they become physically incapable of disobeying their master's orders. If they do, the crest gives them a magical electric shock until they do what they were told to do.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Several of Emperor Corrin's siblings were murdered by some of the other heroes by making it look like they just disappeared or died in accidents.
• Mercy Kill: What the fight against the Spirit Tortoise ends up becoming - Ost, the spirit of the Tortoise, begs the Heroes to kill her before Kyo goes too far.
  • Naofumi does so and cries as he grants Ost her final wish.
• Moving the Goalposts: Played for Laughs when Daitan challenges Itsuki to an arm-wrestling match. When Itsuki quickly beats him, he claims The Battle Didn't Count. When Itsuki wins again, Daitan claims now it's a "Best out of 3". The number keeps increasing as Daitan keeps losing, until Itsuki gets fed up. Daitan then claims victory.
  • In the omake, Daitan keeps going even when Itsuki falls asleep and still wins the match - reaching "Best out of 9039" and beyond.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Itsuki is terrified of himself when he realizes he brainwashed the mercenaries attacking him and his party.
  • Naofumi suffers a Heroic BSoD when he realizes that he has killed many people under the influence of the Shield of Rage II and gravely injured Raphtalia.
  • Ren goes through the hardest one of them all when he thinks he's killed everyone he loves and cares about under the Cursed Series. And would have given up on life entirely if not for Wyndia rescuing him in the Spirit Tortoise.
  • Itsuki goes through the worst of all, as he once again uses his Cursed Series in the fight against Kyo. During which, he severely hurts all his party members, as well as Rishia, whom he'd loved at that point. Unable to overcome the guilt of his actions, he releases everyone from his party, including Rishia, and goes off on his own, not wanting to hurt those he cares about with his mistakes any longer.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Ren and Itsuki fight over which of their methods is better, it is a reference to when they (and Motoyasu) had a similar argument in canon.
  • Daitan's accusation that Itsuki must have cheated to be stronger than him, much like how Itsuki, Motoyasu, and Ren believed Naofumi had somehow cheated to become stronger than them in canon.
• Neutral No Longer: Corrin realizes that Lapis can't remain neutral in the aftermath of Kyo's attack.
• New Life in Another World Bonus: Four young men are summoned to a RPG Mechanics 'Verse by Legendary Weapons and dubbed Heroes. This weapon cannot be removed, and the heroes are not allowed to wield any other weapon, but the legendary weapons can absorb different materials (such as those obtained from defeated monsters) to unlock various transformations with different abilities. They can also craft things automatically, hold an infinite amount of inventory, and even make their Heroes meals as long as they have the ingredients stored in the weapon as well as the meal's recipe unlocked.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The moment Rishia manages to overwhelm Kyo's defenses, everyone that can do so joins in destroying the hell out of the SOB - and since he has a very powerful Healing Factor, they can unleash their wrath without fearing that the others won't get to do the same.
• Not a Game:
  • Naofumi warns Ren and Itsuki to take things seriously because even if it looks like it, the situation they are not in is not a game. Both of them learn the lesson in tragedy, Itsuki when a little girl is killed in front of him, Ren after he learns he was duped into killing a dragon who was not a threat to anyone.
  • Downplayed with Itsuki. He knows it is not a game, but he tries to convince himself that it is to be able to distance himself from the deaths he has caused and the people he has been unable to save. But in doing so, he dooms others to die - including one of his party members.
  • Motoyasu fails to learn this until Chapter Fifty of the story. Chapter Sixty-One showcases why he retains his upbeat mindset despite his shortcomings.
  • The Otherworld Cardinal Heroes are just the same as Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu were, causing Itsuki to realize how much of an asshole he was back then. By the end of the arc, he realizes that the three were doing the same thing as he did - claim it was all a game to distance themselves from the deaths they have witnessed.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • As noted by Naofumi himself, all four heroes tend to be dense or inexperienced when it comes to romance.
  • He later mentions that he initially also thought he was in a game.
• Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The Otherworld Conference organized by King Corrin. The only thing they manage to agree with is lifting sanctions against Sickle after they get irrefutable proof that Trash was the one who got Kenshiro killed - and, even then, it takes them a full day to approve the measure and there are still several delegates. When it comes to the serious matter of the Waves, it quickly splinters, as several of the leaders think they can profit from the Waves and don't care about other countries.
• Off the Rails: Because of the point of divergence, many events from both the Light Novel and Anime happen very differently in this story.
  • Because he managed to overhear Malty's False Rape Accusation plan, Naofumi manages to escape the Inn with both his purchased Armor and all of his money before going to Elhart for help and explains to him what Malty is planning to do, so Elhart never suspects him of the rape.
  • Because of the above; Raphtalia is purchased by Naofumi on that same night: several weeks earlier than in Canon, meaning that her sickness wasn't as severe when he later cured it.
  • Because he wasn't that jaded due to how soon it was, Naofumi and Raphtalia's interactions together were much more sympathetic; seeing the young Demi-Human not as a slave he had purchased but as the child she appeared as.
  • Because he ran from the capital before Malty could have him arrested, Naofumi is only seen as more guilty and declared a fugitive by the King, who intends to have him thrown in the dungeons and only let out to fight the Waves. Which made Naofumi have to sneak back into the capital in order to register at the Dragon Hourglass.
  • Because of his fugitive status, Naofumi and Raphtalia had to rough it out in the woods more often than before: where Naofumi in Canon was simply a Hero with Bad Publicity that used strong-arming and Aggressive Negotiations to get his way and find rooms at Inns for him and Raphtalia to stay at.
  • While Naofumi was able to learn about Demi-Humans' Rapid Aging, he was left conflicted by a now teenaged Raphtalia if she was still classified as a child despite her physical appearance.
  • Due to Ren having first-hand experience with a rape victim in his old life; Ren was completely suspicious of Malty's claim when on the same night after making the accusation: she decided to shack up and bed with Motoyasu. Information which Ren shares with Itsuki; allowing them to be more trusting towards Naofumi when they meet later.
  • Because of Naofumi's fugitive status within Melromarc; he had to be smuggled into the Capital to return to Elhart for new equipment.
    • Also, instead of being allowed in to register at the Dragon Hourglass, the Church Knights posted outside prevented Naofumi from registering, forcing Naofumi little other choice than to fight his way into the Three Heroes' Church and Register himself and Raphtalia: being teleported out of the Church and into Lute Village just as the Wave Timer hit 0.
  • Naofumi attends the celebration after the first Wave only because he was invited by some of the Royal Knights with a guarantee that he would not be arrested by King Aultcray. During the party, he thoroughly enjoyed making the King angry with his presence.
  • Due to Ren's trust in Naofumi and his innocence, he warns the latter that the Church is planning to attack him. Instead of being tricked into a duel with Motoyasu over Raphtalia's "freedom", he instead uses it as a diversion, taking advantage of the Sacred Duel to avoid being attacked.
  • Naofumi actually wins the duel against Motoyasu, having used his unlocked Blessed Series Shield of Hope to cast the Hope Asunder skill: which destroys Motoyasu's armor, forcing the Spear Hero to surrender and accept defeat. The only reason Naofumi is declared the loser this time is because Bitch throws a tantrum and states (with no proof whatsoever) that Raphtalia used magic (after Bitch herself blatantly used magic on Naofumi).
  • Queen Mirellia is already aware of the Pope's intentions to overthrow the royal family.
  • Itsuki decides to put his efforts into helping demi-humans and weed out corrupt nobles against them. Raphtalia suggests that he go to Van Reichnott as a potential ally.
    • Because of Itsuki's new goals, a large number of his Noble and Church Zealot Party Members (including Mauld) wind up leaving his Party, resulting in the Bow Hero recruiting a party that is more of a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits instead.
  • Naofumi learns about the Weapon Copy system from Ren after his duel with Motoyasu, so he takes advantage of his visit to Elhart's shop to upgrade Raphtalia's equipment so he can copy a few shields.
  • He is also made aware of Raphtalia's not-so-platonic feelings for him after she brings him out of the Cursed Series before he unlocks the Shield of Rage.
  • After Filo hatches, due to Naofumi not being able to enter the Capital to try and get a slave crest from Beloukas, Naofumi has to raise Filo by himself with Raphtalia's help. This leads to him and Filo becoming more of a Father/Daughter relationship.
  • Without Naofumi there to counter Motoyasu and challenge him over the latter's takeover of Lute, the townspeople are soon driven into outright rebellion due to his abysmal rulership. Eventually, the town's former adventurers form a group called the Order of the Spear Breakers, and rise up in arms against Motoyasu and Myne's knights, fighting until their former Lord is restored to his position. The Lord returns from the capital with a seal from the King, restoring him to his position, before he chews both Motoyasu and Myne out for everything that they did, expelling them, their party, and the knights following Myne and forbidding them from returning. Unfortunately, the Spear Breakers have to disappear, as they technically committed rebellion, and it could cause plenty of trouble. They have as of yet to reappear.
  • Because of the incident with Lute Village, Motoyasu has lost the King's favor, and the King separates him and Myne for some time. It's revealed several chapters later that Aultcray punished Malty by subjecting her to a Training from Hell that caused her level to be raised to 66.
  • Motoyasu and Itsuki trigger their Cursed Series a lot earlier than they did in the light novel: the former after pondering over the Armor-Piercing Response shown above, and the latter when he is unable to save a young slave girl from being murdered before his very eyes.
  • Ren still kills Gaelion, but this time he learns both that he was duped and that Gaelion had an adopted child (Wyndia) who was the real target of the man who hired him to return Wyndia to his owner: Pope Balamus. After being shown Gaelion's memories; the façade that Ren believed in for so long in thinking that this world was at all Brave Star Online finally cracks. To atone for his mistake, Ren fights the slavers off and takes Wyndia in as a party member. He also gives Gaelion a proper burial and properly disposes of the corpse, thus clearing the issue of a Dracolich terrorizing the town below. He does, however, have Gaelion's Dragon Emperor Fragment resting in his sword. He also unlocks his Cursed Series during this event, which is eventually revealed to be the Gluttony Series.
  • Ren takes up Naofumi's place when fighting the Bio-Plant monster Motoyasu unwittingly unleashed.
  • Because Itsuki decided to liberate the Demi-Human slaves being held by the Melromarc nobles instead of going after corrupt governments, and did it by killing a majority of the slave-owning nobles, not only is he deemed a false hero by the Church^note since the majority of these Nobles were part of the Three Heroes Church, making him the Church's priority target over Naofumi, but now he's also wanted by the Kingdom of Melromarc for more obvious reasons.
    • After seeing one of these Nobles simply kill a Demi-Human child slave, Itsuki triggers as he remembers his friend who was Driven to Suicide long ago and starts him down on the path to realizing that this was not at all like Dimension Web. While he still tries to deny it, telling himself it was just a very dark storyline, it eventuall leads to an ambush by members of the Church, that kills his party member Max in front of him, causing Itsuki to unlock the first two stages of his Cursed Series, the Bow of Justice.
  • Naofumi is captured by Motoyasu and brought to the Castle for trial. This means that the Pope Arc happens a lot sooner, and the Queen is forced to return to Melromarc before she can finish dealing with the other countries. Which also means that Siltvelt has little other choice but to launch a war on Melromarc in order to rescue their God.
  • Since Naofumi doesn't have the Dragon's Heart accessory (Gaelion's Dragon Emperor Fragment taken from the Necrodragon) with his Berserker Armor, he doesn't have access to the Eternal Torment Blutopher Shield Spell used to kill off the High Pope in Canon.
  • Eclair is introduced much earlier in the series than in canon as Naofumi's cellmate when he first wakes up in the Castle Dungeons. She eventually becomes a part of his Party.
    • Because of Eclair's presence, Naofumi was able to learn more about why exactly King Aultcray had it out for him since day one by detailing his Dark and Troubled Past which saw Aultcray go from the optimistic Staff Hero that pushed back the Demi-Human tide out of a sense of protecting his people, to hearing how his own sister was murdered which served as his Start of Darkness to become the ill-tempered Trash King that Naofumi had first met.
  • Malty's assassination attempt on Melty happens a lot earlier while she's visiting Naofumi in the castle's dungeon, intending to kill Naofumi as well while pinning the blame on him afterwards.
  • In the light novels, Motoyasu's Cursed Weapon was the Spear of Lust/Envy. Here, it's been changed to the Spear of Jealousy due to how Naofumi was able to beat him in the Sacred Duel and how the people of Lute Village saw Naofumi as more of a Hero than Motoyasu was.
  • Naofumi challenges Bitch to a duel once he saves Melty's life and escapes the Dungeons. He almost wins despite the Bitch Princess being now 24 Levels above him, but when Malty/Myne/Bitch promises to torture Raphtalia and Filo to death once he's dead, Naofumi ends up using his Cursed Series to utterly destroy Myne, unlocking Shield of Rage II in the process and his rampage ends up decimating the entire town area he fought in. Raphtalia suffers cursed burns from trying to snap Naofumi out of his Rage-induced rampage, almost dying in the process.
  • The Church of the Three Heroes brings down their Judgement spell on top of Naofumi, Ren, Itsuki, and their parties... while they are still in the city of Melromarc. They take advantage of the chaos to start their coup a lot sooner than expected, forcing the Queen to divert her attention from the war with Siltvelt in order to put down the coup.
  • King Aultcray is now front-and-center to the Coup instead of learning about it afterwards from Mirellia as he now fights against the traitorous Church Knights, showcasing that, even though he no longer possesses the Vassal Staff, he's still not going to go down easily. After the Judgement spell strikes his city and The Pope claims that Melty was caught in the blast, Aultcray falls into a Heroic BSoD as Pope Balamus now has free reign and takes control over Melromarc.
  • After arriving at Van Reichnott's territory and having unlocked Shield of Hope II to heal both Raphtalia and Rishia, Naofumi and the other two heroes hold their own version of the Heroes Meeting far sooner than in Canon, minus Motoyasu.
    • Due to the three Heroes being more connected and trusting of one-another here, Naofumi was able to convince them to share their individual power-up methods with each-other: and due to their shared experiences managed to easily believe one-another that they managed to unlock each-other's methods for their Legendary Weapons to gain more power much sooner than ever before.
  • The Church sends an army to support Idol Rabier's attack on Van Reichnott's lands after Itsuki had killed almost every other corrupt Noble in Melromarc that had a measure of authority and faith in the Three Heroes Church.
  • When Raphtalia was taken away from Rabier, the Shadow tried to give her medicine for her sickness: only for Raphtalia to ask it be given to Rifana instead. While Rifana still dies, because of the assault on Rabier's Estate happening just a week before the Second Wave, Raphtalia was at least able to give Rifana's corpse a proper burial in Luroluna instead of just burying her friend's skeletal remains like what happened in Canon.
    • Also, the Three Heroes are able to rescue far more Demi-Human Slaves that were kept imprisoned by Idol Rabier, delivering them to Van Reichnott's estate.
  • When Idol Rabier unleashes the Tyrant Dragon Rex from its prison, instead of chasing after Naofumi and Filo like in Canon, it instead chases after Ren due to him possessing Gaelion's Dragon Gemstone in his Sword.
    • Thanks to the three of them sharing their Strengthening Methods with one-another, Ren, Itsuki, and Naofumi were able to last longer against the Tyrant Dragon Rex, eventually managing to defeat the beast on their own through pure attrition instead of Fitoria soloing it like from Canon.
  • Speaking of Fitoria, Naofumi manages to convince the Filolial Queen to give him three additional cowlicks: one for each of the other three Heroes' Legendary Weapons in order to have them also unlock the Filolial Series.
  • When time comes for the Heroes to confront Pope Balamus and the Three Heroes Church; Naofumi manages to come up with a plan to finally break through to Motoyasu that he was being played for a fool, having egged on Myne one-time-too-many that she unknowingly spills the beans to a now shocked Motoyasu at how despicable she has been this whole time.
  • Because of the fight against the Three Heroes Church happens inside of the Capital as opposed to the boarder, Queen Mirellia and her forces have to launch their assault on the Capital; resulting in many more members loyal to the Three Heroes Church dying en-masse due to their "Shields Are Evil" beliefs preventing them from even touching any sort of normal shield to defend themselves with.
  • Instead of just the thousands of followers constantly supplying mana to Balamus like in the Anime, the Replica Weapon itself is also powered by centuries worth of past church followers storing their mana inside it like in the Light Novel. The author invokes Rule of Cool, with the overflow of mana from all the followers makes fighting Balamus much more dangerous than ever in either canon media. In addition, the Sanctuary/Cathedral Spell not only cancels out the effects of curses from Tier II and lower Curse Series Weapon forms, but it also cancels out many of the effects of Tier II Blessed Series Weapon forms. Somehow, Naofumi manages to overpower the barrier with the Blessed Series II Skill: Pandora's Box, like in canon where Naofumi used the Shield of Wrath and Blood Sacrifice.
  • Following the Pope's defeat, a large number of the Three Heroes Church and Myne managed to escape in the confusion and is still at large within Melromarc: meaning that Melty's life is still in danger and has become an official member of Naofumi's Party, instead of being a Guest-Star Party Member like in Canon.
    • While meeting with Motoyasu, Naofumi gives him Fitoria's cowlick to unlock the Filolial Series for his Spear.
  • Mirellia is now a lot softer with Aultcray than before in Canon; having seen her husband left a despondent mess since the Three Heroes Church's Coup had nearly broken his spirit.
  • The Ghost Ship Wave begins right on top of Melromarc's and Siltvelt's armies just as the battle is about to begin: meaning that there's now a larger force present to fight against the Third Wave.
    • Because of Itsuki and Ren sharing their Strengthening Methods with each other, the two of them were able to more quickly solo the two Interdimensional Soul Eaters, instead of having Naofumi use his Iron Maiden Skill on one, while Glass crushed the second one when it popped out like in the Anime.
  • Balamus is executed, physically and spiritually, by being burned at a stake, and having his soul eaten by a soul worm.
  • Because issues are resolved far sooner after the Ghost Ship Wave, Naofumi and co still have several weeks before Cal Mira to do things.
  • Since Motoyasu is the only one struggling to contribute to the Waves, he is currently the only hero training under Granny.
  • Because Malty escapes before Mirelia can make her confess her crimes, the rumors of Naofumi being a rapist are still around and L'Arc brings these up in conversation with him.
  • Due to the events that happen at Cal Mira, L'Arc and Therese don't end up fighting Naofumi or the other Heroes in the end, and Glass is put on the end of one hell of a Curb-Stomp Battle after she arrives.
  • After watching Glass, L'Arc, and Therese give up and go back to their world, the Heroes decide after Cal Mira to search for an answer that'd allow the three to save their world.
  • Instead of Leruno (the village of the seed in canon), the minions of the Spirit Tortoise attack Lurolona as, thanks to Motoyasu and Ren, Leruno's population is not as great as Lurolona's by the time they attack. The fact that Lurolona also had more people visiting because of a wedding didn't help matters either.
  • Motoyasu is the only Hero that charges after the Spirit Tortoise in the beginning instead of everyone besides Naofumi.
  • Naofumi, Itsuki, and Ren are soundly defeated by the Spirit Tortoise in the first battle and almost killed.
  • In the Light Novels, Ren's Cursed Sword is the Sword of Greed/Gluttony. When he unlocks it in round Two against the Spirit Tortoise, it is only the Sword of Gluttony. However, he still proceeds to go on a rampage after killing the Spirit Tortoise, almost killing Wyndia, Eclair, Itsuki, and others in his cursed-driven state.
  • Itsuki is not captured by Kyo to be used as a living battery for the Spirit Tortoise. Only Motoyasu and Ren are. And Ren is captured in a much worse state compared to canon, since he was captured believing he'd killed everyone he cared about.
  • Itsuki and several of his party members join Naofumi when he goes to the Otherworld.
  • Rishia progresses in character development much faster thanks to Itsuki's encouragement and her lack of a Broken Pedestal while in the Otherworld. Eventually becoming the Projectiles Hero far earlier on compared to canon.
  • In canon, Kyo was a SOB unworthy of redemption. Somebody who treated all people as tools and assets that could be exploited. Here, while staying much the same, he treated those he was close to with more respect. Even having the potential to be redeemed in the end, because unlike canon, Kizuna tried to befriend Kyo after her summoning. Having such an influence on him that when she disappeared, he unlocked the Cursed Series Wrath and Pride and dedicated his life to getting back at 'them' for wanting to ruin the world Kizuna loved.
  • Kyo lives on in Yomogi's shikigami, Kaoru.
  • At the end of the Otherworld Arc, almost every single reincarnator in Kizuna's world is killed off, including later LN 17 antagonist Miyaji. Only a few are left alive, and of those few; Ren II takes a knight girl and his dog girl daughter and flees to another world, Seya is left missing a leg and unable to run his restaurant, and Orokana is so deeply traumatized by Kizuna that he falls into insanity, eventually driving his harem members out of his mansion and leading them to betray the man who once showed them much love and kindness.
• Oh, Crap!: Played for Laughs when Naofumi realizes he hasn't found someone yet to give The Talk to Raphtalia - after he and Raphtalia get into a heavy kissing session and Raphtalia tells him she thinks kissing makes you pregnant.
  • More seriously when Maya and Raphtalia find out that not only is Rabier's army a day or two away, but he also has received reinforcements from the Church of the Three Heroes.
  • During the Cal Mira Arc, the moment where Naofumi touches the underwater Dragon Hourglass - and finds out that a Wave will hit the archipelago in twelve hours.
  • Everyone's reaction when Ren triggers his Cursed Series during the fight against the Spirit Tortoise.
  • And pretty much everyone's reaction when they realize that Kyo's magic transformation into a dragon was the equivalent of a nuke going off on them.
• Only Sane Man: Itsuki, Glass, Kizuna, and King Corrin during the Otherworld Conference.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Daitan attempts to break off a catfight between Kizuna and Akane over their A-Cup Angst by claiming he likes all breasts equally. Akane promptly smashes his head through a wall.
  • Getting smashed into the wall or the ground happens to Daitan quite a lot thanks to him putting his foot in his mouth over and over again around girls.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Kyo brutally beats the crap out of the Mirror Hero after the latter reveals that not only was he the one to send Kizuna to the Infinite Labyrinth, but also that he was planning to do it again after amputating her limbs, cutting off her tongue and raping her.
• Pet the Dog: After the Second Wave and Naofumi's duel with Motoyasu, the King denies Naofumi his fair reward, so Ren and Itsuki give him the reward out of their own pockets.
  • Ren takes Wyndia into the group in order to atone for his decision to kill her father, the dragon Gaelion, on falsified information.
  • When a young Raccoon slave girl thanks Itsuki for freeing her from her evil master, Itsuki tentatively rubs the girl's hair, much to her delight.
  • Ren also rubs Wyndia's head, after hearing about Itsuki's experience, to show his appreciation for the dog-girl. While she enjoys it, she has a Tsundere moment and slaps Ren for what he'd done.
• The Poorly Chosen One: The three non-Shield Heroes start off like this, but they slowly get better over time. A look back in the Church's records implies that this wasn't a unique phenomenon to this set of heroes; they tell of heroes fighting one another, declaring grudges, starting wars, and one who outright abandoned the job to form a harem of catgirls (who turned out to be yanderes that killed him for not committing to one girl, just like a certain somebody).
  • It's the same case for the Cardinal Heroes in Glass's world, minus Kizuna who is like Naofumi, except a lot kinder and a lot nicer.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Demi-humans grow up faster if their level increases quickly enough.
  • While in the Otherworld Arc, it's shown that while Rapid Aging still occurs in the case of Raphtalia and Maya, because of how quickly they leveled up, it was revealed that Rapid Aging still requires at least a week for demi-humans to hit their age-up growth-wise. So it is NOT an instantaneous feature that happens as one level up, but a process, a very quick process.
• Possession Equals Mastery: Averted. The Legendary Weapons grant the Heroes the best stats and some basic inherent skills. However, their lack of experience wielding actual weapons and different ideas on how to unlock said skills cause them to fall behind experienced fighters. Their reliance on their weapons as they are leads to them not being able to unlock their respective weapons' full potential.
• The Power of Friendship: The Sword of Bravery's special power is Nakama, which grants the Sword Hero greater strength when he fights next to close allies.
• Rapid Aging: A well-known feature of demi-human species. Those that undergo it age physically, mentally, and emotionally with levels. The rate of aging varies from species to species.
  • Raphtalia was a known canon example, much like other demi-humans.
  • Ren notices during the fight against the plant monster that Wyndia, while having hardly grown, is older than she looks. In interactions with Wyndia, she is shown to be calm and mature. But in more personal cases, she's also shown to care for others and worries for the Sword Hero. In short, she reads more like a teenage girl instead of a child.
  • When Maya (the Raccoon girl Itsuki takes into his group) asks to be allowed to help, Rachel (another of Itsuki's party members) explains about this issue, promising that in a week he will see how much she has grown. Sure enough, she looks like an eighteen-year-old the next time she's mentioned. One that obviously has a crush on her party member Aksel.
  • This is revealed to be the reason that the Church of Three Heroes hates Demi-humans, at least in the beginning - since a Demi-human can grow to teenage or full adult size in a fraction of the time a human can, they believe that it's only a matter of time until humanity is wiped out, and so they wanted to wipe out the Demi-humans first.
  • In the Otherworld Arc, Raphtalia and Maya return to their chronological ages due to their levels being reset to 1. Dou-Lon explains that demi-humans also grow older the normal way, which marks how they are at level 1: for example, he is actually in his twenties, so the level reset doesn't affect him like those two.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After being captured by the Church and taken to Melromarc's capital, Naofumi has quite a few words - combined with multiple Cluster Bleep Bombs for the King, Malty, and Motoyasu.
  • And of course, this lands him in trouble since, if he'd kept a cool head, he might have actually been able to tear apart the case against him with common sense and logic.
• Refuge in Audacity: When Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, Eclair, and Melty are unable to escape Melromarc before Motoyasu and Malty catch up to them, what does Naofumi do? Get one of Raphtalia's gloves, use it to challenge Malty to a duel... and when she balks at the idea, he taunts her and calls her a chicken, making fun of her until she accepts the duel out of a complete desire to make him suffer.
  • Naofumi's plan to deal with Rabier and his army: make an illusion of himself to distract them, and then sneak and free the slaves whilst Itsuki kills Rabier and the army commanders, putting the army into disarray.
• Relationship Upgrade:
  • Naofumi and Raphtalia finally kiss each other on Chapter 38 after Naofumi confesses his feelings. Their later interactions are tamer, but their love and care for each other is plain to see.
  • Ren has a Love Confession to Wyndia the night before the first fight against the Spirit Tortoise. She gives the other half of the Love Confession after she rescues him.
  • Rishia gives her pure heartfelt Love Confession to Itsuki at the end of the Otherworld Arc... one which Itsuki couldn't bring himself to accept, because he'd only bring her down like he had his best friend in his former life.
• RPG Mechanics 'Verse: Everyone in the world of the story explicitly speaks in RPG terms, such as levels, stats, hit points and so on.
  • It is the same in Glass's world. Though they use different terms like life force for HP, magic power for MP, soul power for SP, and so on.
• Running Gag:
  • Whenever they start selling things, Raphtalia always sells more than Naofumi.
  • Whenever Naofumi has any mean-spirited thoughts, Raphtalia will ask Naofumi if he's thinking something rude. Later, Filo starts doing it as well, much to his frustration. And then, others start to do it as well, and Naofumi has a breakdown because of it. Just when he might be clear of it, Kizuna does the same.
  • Is Naofumi a Hero, a cook, a Butler, or a mixture of the three?
  • Any time Naofumi is presented with an option to increase his attack stat, his Yandere Shield NOPES it to oblivion.
    • This is still true after 150 chapters.
  • Naofumi calling Melty "Second Princess". It is likely this will no longer come up in the future.
  • Every time somebody tries to say Trash's real name around Naofumi, it is drowned out by random noises. Most typically a breeze the author dubbed 'Breeze-Kun'.
  • The words "gods, he could use a vacation" appear randomly through different omakes.
  • The names of a lot of reincarnators who are unnamed in canon as of right now are typically either caricatures of other anime characters such as Gil and his cheat being based on Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night, or Japanese names like Orokana Ryoshi, the Harpoon Hero, which in English, translates into Dumb Fishman.
• Sadistic Choice: When Idol Rabier and the Church are preparing to send their army to attack Reichnott's lands, the Heroes know that, whether the people evacuate or they stay to fight, many will die, because the former is bringing many demi-humans, whether for slavery or for torture. Naofumi comes up with a third option: use an illusion of himself to distract the former, while he, Ren, and Itsuki infiltrate the camp, free the demi-humans and, if they have the chance, kill Rabier and the army commanders.
• Scare 'Em Straight: How Itsuki forces Otherworld's Cardinal Heroes to acknowledge that they aren't in a game: drop them in a village that was destroyed because they couldn't bother to help, and when that isn't enough, let his Cursed Bow loose for a moment and put them on the run.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • After the Church casts their Judgement spell on Melromarc, Elhart leaves town as fast as possible, warning his friends to do the same.
  • The Harpoon and Musical Instrument Heroes immediately leave the Conference as soon as Kyo's mimic is destroyed.
  • Ren II proves to be the smartest reincarnator to have ever lived besides Kyo, as after Corrin activates Order 66 and transforms Lapis's Gem Golems into soul-killing machines, and after the other Heroes and soldiers there reveal the soul-killing weapons they're going to use to finish the job with all the reincarnators there, he is the first one to kill himself and escape before anyone else.
    • Ren II then makes the smart choice of taking his closest friend and family member and fleeing to another world. Living a peaceful life and staying out of the public eye of that world for the rest of his life.
• Self-Deprecation: The author takes a piss on himself in Chapter 100's Omake by showing how terrible he would be as the Bow Hero in spite of (more like because of) his meta-knowledge.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: See Fantastic Racism above. Since the Shield Hero was revered by demi-humans and beastmen, humans at Melromarc Kingdom refused to give him proper capital and information, so they would turn to ask help from demi-humans, treating them fairly due to contact.
• Seven Deadly Sins: The Curse series of the Legendary Weapons align to the sins. Unless a trusted person can snap them out of it, the sin consumes the wielder's mind.
• Seven Heavenly Virtues: The Heroes can end up unlocking a Blessed Series weapon, which are the counterparts of the Cursed Series, based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Unlocking a Blessed Series requires overcoming a trial that would have unlocked a Cursed Series or regaining the purpose of fighting for the world. While powerful, the latter unlock option has a weakness in that the Hero must hold onto the virtue that unlocks the weapon, and they have a time limit of use. Naofumi unlocks the Shield of Hope early in the story, which grants him several very useful skills. In instances where it becomes something more, that timer is slowed down, or outright not mentioned entirely.
• Shout-Out:
  • The hero clips in chapter 9 are a reference to Star Wars.
  • Chapter Nineteen: SAO's town of Algade, along with Agil (Andrew), the blacksmith, are both mentioned.
  • In Chapter 26, Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo save a group of teens named Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Luck, Vanessa, and Magna from a cave.
  • A number of the main characters and various party members featured in "Hope Of The Shield Hero" make numerous references to various different pieces of Manga and media.
    • As an example: Rachel and her husband Gar are based on the characters "Beast Boy" and "Raven" from Teen Titans. While some pieces don't match up (Raven's Father being a good guy), other aspects more than match up (Gar's use of the word "dude", Rachel's proficiency in Shadow and Healing magic, Rachel's paler appearance, and other references).
  • The woman who married the Hero of the Sword that sealed the Spirit Tortoise in the past was named Nausicaa, the character that Wyndia in canon is based off of and, incidentally, Wyndia's own ancestor.
  • One of Rishia's Hengen Musou skills is called God Blow. It is a lot more effective than Aqua's version, at least.
  • The omake in Chapter 125 is a shoutout to Konosuba.
  • The chapter title for 126 is literally "Return of the King", a Lord of the Rings reference.
  • Chapter 148 features Daitan doing a Crayon Shin-chan reference.
  • Chapter 151's Massacre of the Reincarnators is prefaced by the command to execute Order 66.
  • Chapter 153's Ren II goes off to another world, where he marries a knight friend named 'Tiramasu' and raises an adoptive daughter named 'Wendy'.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: When Naofumi is about to kill Malty with the Iron Maiden, and knowing that if he does he will be completely lost, Raphtalia only sees one way to stop him. And she does it. This is downplayed, though, since Naofumi was on evil magical fire at the time and had nearly killed her, so once he comes to his senses, Naofumi starts panicking at the horrible state Raphtalia is in.
  • When Ren is deep in depression and thinks he doesn't deserve Wyndia's kindness, she kisses him on the lips to quiet him, and then reaffirms her love for him.
  • When Itsuki is depressed because of memories of his best friend invading his dreams, Rishia kisses him lightly on the lips, wanting to banish the memories away for the boy she loves. It almost works.
  • When Rishia is trying to convince Itsuki to let her help him, he kisses her on the lips to quiet her. And uses it as an oppurtunity to kick her and the others out of his party, before portaling away, unable or unwilling to want to accept her selflessness after making so many mistakes that hurt her and others.
• Signature Move: Like canon, the other heroes favor the "Meteor" attacks, powerful long-ranged abilities. "Meteor Slash", "Meteor Thrust", and "Meteor Shot" for Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki respectively. For Naofumi, "Meteor Shield".
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Played straight with Raphtalia.
  • Eclair developed a crush on the Shield Hero due to the stories her parents told her about him. However, when she meets Naofumi, she can tell that he is in love with someone else and lets go of it.
  • Wyndia acts like a Tsundere when she's around Ren at the start, but her care for him and her wish to help him are clearly seen. The fact that one of the few memories she has of her mother singing the song of the Sword Hero is one reason. Her unknowingly being a descendant of the past Sword Hero Keichi is another possibility. Either way, she falls in love with Ren, and they eventually end up together when she accepts her feelings for the Sword Hero.
• Situational Sword: The Royal Shield. Against most other targets, it's a waste of energy, being much weaker than other shields. But when he uses it against people of a royal bloodline or to protect them, it's extremely powerful - as Malty found out when her magic attacks were reflected back at her.
  • Kizuna's weapon. It is useless against people outside of Utility Skills like "Lure Needle" and "First Form: Pitfall". However, against monsters, she is a god amongst men.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Heroes and their parties share this opinion, but for most of them it isn't until they reach Idol Rabier's mansion that they realize how horribly demi-human slaves are treated within Melromarc, much to Melty's pain and shock.
  • This causes some trouble during Diligence, as the Heroes try to decide the status slavery will have in their village. All of them agree that it should be outlawed, but they also know that it would mean Naofumi would be breaking the law, even though Raphtalia is a slave in name only (as Naofumi's taken out all the restrictions and the seal only reacts when Raphtalia disobeys an order, and then it only gives a small shock) and he has the Slave Master Shield Series, which give any slave he has a massive boost in ability and growth. In the end, they Take a Third Option: slavery is outlawed, but seals like Raphtalia's are renamed "Hero Service Seals" and the Heroes using them are forbidden from actually using them as Slave crests.
  • Ever since this has been implemented, it hasn't come up as a problem once. It has even been referred to as an 'overglorified tattoo' by some of the individuals using them.
• Sleep Cute: Itsuki and Rishia cuddle as the latter consoles the former over what he did to the Otherworld heroes.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: This is how Motoyasu describes the Cursed Series weapons. You use them in a moment of despair, and then you slowly sink into the darkness until you become a twisted version of yourself.
• Stat-O-Vision: Status magic, an ability possessed by everyone that lets them view their levels and stats. Heroes can also use it to manage their weapon tree and item inventory.
• Status Buff: Plenty of magic users know how to empower others.
  • The knights use this to empower Malty during her fight with Naofumi.
  • Naofumi's 'Aura' spell can buff all the stats of whomever he casts it on.
  • Kyo's 'Green Buff Potion' grants a similar effect to Naofumi's Aura.
  • Wyndia, since one of her affinities is Support Magic, is capable of using Standard Support Magic, Earth Vein Magic, or Gem Magic to support her Hero and her allies.
• Super-Empowering: All the Legendary Weapons can enhance their allies, companions, monsters, slaves, and more. This allows for stat boosts and faster skill learning in most cases and in the case of Filolials allows them to gain enhanced intelligence, the ability to transform into a human form and using the Filolial series even gain incredible boosts to abilities
• Spanner in the Works: When the Gengar bats and rats attack Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo, using illusions of the others to attack them physically and mentally, it would have worked - if it weren't for Naofumi triggering Raphtalia's crest. This, combined with her realizing that 'Naofumi' is attacking her harder than he should be capable, lets her see through the illusion and kill the monsters.
  • During their duel, Raphtalia realizes that Altara is weaving illusions as she fights. Had it not been for her encounter with the bats, past experiences with her illusion magic being interrupted, and various other factors, Raphtalia would have never realized it. But because she does so, she's able to fight Altara on more even ground.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • Ren immediately becomes suspicious of Malty's accusations because, despite claiming that Naofumi tried to assault her, she immediately hopped into Motoyasu's bed the very same night Naofumi fled. Since he's been friends with people who were sexually assaulted in his old life, he knows that something is off - going against the normal Japanese cultural norm, being that people arrested for a crime are "Guilty until proven innocent".
  • Eclair finds her father's body in her hometown and is able to put together several pieces of information to deduce that he was assassinated, not killed by the Waves. This is because she sees that he died with a Three Heroes Church rosary in his hand... when he worshiped the church of the Four heroes.
  • Naofumi has a cold feeling in his gut when Trash is about to gloat about murdering the past Katana Heroes, and takes out the recording crystal stored in his shield to record Trash's entire confession as he gloats about his deeds, much like every other past villain they'd faced.
  • Raph-Chan and Ost work together to save Kyo's soul, putting his cleansed soul fragments inside the shikigami Kaoru, as without his soul contract binding him any longer, Kyo will be able to divulge information on their enemies later on. Time will tell if the two's insights and efforts in saving the former Book Hero from permadeath will save their worlds or not.
• The Stations of the Canon: While the fic has some original episodes, most of the events and story arcs that happened in canon are visited here as well, albeit much differently on some occasions (most notably, Naofumi and Motoyasu's duel being longer, Motoyasu and Malty still fail at being the leaders of Lute, even without Naofumi's interference, and the three incidents the other heroes cause (Ren killing Gaelion, Itsuki confronting the lord for overtaxing his people and Motoyasu unleashing the Miracle seed) still happen, albeit differently). Most notably is the Spirit Tortoise Arc and Otherworld Arcs, both of which go differently than in canon.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: What the four legendary weapons and presumably the vassal weapons are on paper, capable of theoretically anything as long as the user either puts in the right materials or utilizes weapon copy on weapons of the same type. Doing this also gives the user a minor but permanent boost in a certain stat or special abilities like poison resistance or fire resistance, meaning the user can become formidable by gradually stacking these benefits.
• Tailor-Made Prison: The fic features one that holds the Shield Hero and Eclair, not allowing them to access their magic or Naofumi's Hero inventory.
  • The fic also features a regression prison in the Otherworld that makes anyone inside it not carrying a special ofuda have the same power as a level one individual, regardless of their level beforehand.
  • This prison is particularly deadly to the Spirit Race of the world, as their energy gets restricted and drained because of the prison's effects.
• The Talk: When Naofumi realizes that Raphtalia is in serious need of learning about this, he tries to find a demi-human old enough to give her one. He has as of yet to find one. In the end, Raphtalia almost manages to convince Eclair to do it, only for the whole Idol Rabier scenario to happen, and now no one realizes the ticking time bomb they have on their hands.
  • Finally addressed in chapter 76 by Therese and Wyndia.
• Tennis Boss: The Pope's Replica Weapon is capable of shooting very powerful energy beams, and he's also using a barrier strong enough that not even Motoyasu's strongest attack can break it. The solution? Naofumi deflects one such beam so Ren can then use Reflect Sword to bat it straight at the barrier, shattering it.
  • Naofumi also reflects magic attacks like Trash's fireballs back at the loser, damaging the SOB with his own chantless magic.
• Teleporter's Visualization Clause: When a hero reaches level 50, they unlock the ability to transport to any location they have saved to their weapon. The condition being they can only have a few locations they can have registered at any given time. There is also a limit to how many people they can bring with them, and around a one-hour cooldown between each teleportation.
• Terror Hero: A Hero using their Cursed Series weapon can become this if not stopped quickly enough - and that's if they don't go beyond the Moral Event Horizon.
• There Is Only One Bed: After so long with getting inn rooms with two beds for them, at Cal Mira, Naofumi is finally met by this infamous trope, most likely due to Queen Mirellia wanting to help 'progress things along' between him and Raphtalia.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Several of the Otherworld leaders actually threaten to go to war with whoever attempts to stop the Waves forever, just because they allow them to get richer.
  • The Three Heroes Church codify this trope due to their adherence to Shields Are Evil, where even their own dedicated Knights choose to go into battle without carrying any shields. When Queen Mirellia and her Royal Knights launch their attack to retake Melromarc's Capital from The Three Heroes Church, the Church Knights wound up getting mowed down simply because they didn't try to carry any form of protection with them; while the Royal Knights took cover behind their own shields.
  • Most, if not all reincarnators anywhere when they appear.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Ren and Itsuki, particularly the latter. While it takes Itsuki a while to stop seeing people as videogame NPCs, he is acknowledging their feelings and helping the innocent as best as possible. This is downplayed in Itsuki's case as well - it's less of "He's ignorant of what's really going on" and more of "If it isn't a game, he's going to collapse from the guilt of killing and failing to save so many people".
• Trauma Button: Finding a noble threatening to kill his slave triggers Itsuki's trauma about being bullied in his old world – and when the noble follows through, he remembers seeing his best friend killing herself because of the intense bullying she suffered. This sends him to a Despair Event Horizon, unlocking his own Cursed Series.
  • Rabier is one for Raphtalia, as he had previously tortured not only her but countless other Demihumans as well. When Raphtalia finds her best friend Rifana dead and realizing she died less than an hour before, she enters into an Unstoppable Rage and runs straight to find and kill Rabier.
  • Itsuki's trauma is further deepened when he hurts Rishia a second time, after she went through Character Development and became like his former best friend in his world. In his despair, he decides it'd be best to distance himself from her so the past doesn't happen again.
• Unexpected Character: Jun Iwatani, Naofumi's brother, is summoned to become the Vassal Mirror Hero.
• Villain Has a Point: Kyo's rant on how Otherworld's leaders are unable to work together on anything unless forced, and how they had no problem in turning on Kizuna the moment it suited them, is quite on point.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot:
  • When the Soul Worm begins to rip into Balamus' soul, Ren vomits into his sword's gemstone.
  • Several people after Raphtalia kills Trash.
  • Almost all the Otherworlders when Albert's fate is revealed to them by a happy Kyo. Though it is notably less discrete here.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: The omake of chapter 59 has Naofumi using Hope Asunder (an ability that destroys the enemy's armor and greatly reduces their defense) on Glass, and since she was only wearing a kimono, she ends up almost naked. This prompts her to flee the battle, but the heroes realize that she will return the next Wave, and she'll be super pissed.
  • While this omake wasn't canon to what happened, Glass indeed did return in the next Wave super pissed off thanks to her friends not wanting to fight the other Heroes.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Albert verbally blasts Motoyasu, telling him that he's no hero because he never protected Lute during the Wave, he didn't clean up the messes he left behind, and he was ruining the village with his idiocy. King Aultcray would later do the same thing, adding on the devastation he brought with the ancient seed.
  • Wyndia to Ren after the Battle of Melromarc, calling him out for isolating himself from his party precisely when he knows he needs them to become stronger.
  • Fitoria does this to Naofumi when he becomes such a Jerkass after the mess with the Spirit Tortoise's familiars that Filo begs Fitoria to take her away.
  • To a lesser extent, Motoyasu to Fitoria when the former is comforting the latter over the pain of her losing her memories. Fitoria hadn't stop grieving after many centuries, having been too afraid to want to keep journals of her precious memories again in case a repeat of before happened again.
    • Motoyasu convinces her to try again.
• Would Hurt a Child: Kyo has no problem killing babies if it fulfills his objectives.
• Xenafication: Downplayed, but the women in Motoyasu's party become more powerful and capable after he abandons them. This is due to Aultcray forcing Malty to study and them using Rino to gain levels.
• You Remind Me of X: Wyndia reminds Ren of the best friend he saved when he was stabbed and isekaied.
  • Naofumi reminds Fitoria of the previous Cardinal Hero who raised her.
  • At times, the Author puts in Shields that are references to other fics in the fandom with brief descriptions that actually nod to them, whether for good or bad.
    • One such shield is the Savior Shield from "The Shielded Savior". Naofumi describes it as being useful, and one that could do something meaningful. This indicates that the author liked the direction and changes the author put in that story.
    • Another shield is the True Shield (Broken), in reference to "Rise of a True Shield Hero (Redux)". Naofumi describes it as being useless, without the capability to change any canon events down the road. This is a not-so-subtle nod to the Author's thoughts of reading a fic that, despite having a different Shield Hero that was given several 'broken' abilities, he still somehow ended up making the same choices as Naofumi despite 'being a true hero', and copied and pasted the anime for a story. It is this story that has made the Author loathe other copy-paste stories that appear too often in the fandom and turned him towards complete AU stories like the Coffee Shop AU when they're rarely posted.
  • When Itsuki meets Otherworld's Cardinal Heroes, he can't help but be reminded of other people he knows:
    • Hoshi Isao, the Ofuda Hero, reminds him of Ren, but even more antisocial.
    • Daitan Genki, the Blunt Weapons Hero, reminds him of Motoyasu, but without the latter's charm or charisma. Itsuki's also horrified when he realizes Daitan's attitude towards the new world is exactly like his own several months ago.
    • Akane Kaori, the Jewel Hero, reminds Itsuki of Myne/Bitch. He resolves to never let Naofumi meet her.
    • While Naofumi does eventually meet her, even making note of the similarity, he quickly concludes that the similarity is surface level at best. dropping any further comparisons.
  • Because of Rishia's Character Development, she now reminds Itsuki of the Best Friend he had growing up as a child. A girl who was driven to kill herself because of him.

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