Light Novel Volume 22/Synopsis

Prologue: The Reticent Blacksmith
After the battle with the self-proclaimed gods, Naofumi and his allies prepare for the future. Ren Amaki has been making good progress in his blacksmithing while Naofumi and Imiya created accessories. All three work on their own projects however Ren is not happy with his products - comparing himself to his instructor.

Chapter One: The Progenitor
After working on making accessories, Naofumi travels to the Siltran castle in order to debrief with the Shield Hero of the ancient past Mamoru and queen on the modern era, Melty, who has been helping him. With Siltran's recent victory against Piensa, the surrounding nations have started to be wary of them. However, the country is still recovering from the Guardian Beast named Suzaku. Finally, Mamoru reveals that Filolia, his girlfriend and the Vassal Claw hero has recently regained consciousness after the resurrection process. Hearing this, Naofumi and Melty go down to meet her. On the way they meet Holn, the alchemist helping with the revival process, and Cian, a young girl in the care of Mamoru.

Releasing Filolia form her revival chamber, she gives herself a bold introduction. Naofumi is initially put off by Filolia's attitude but Mamoru asks him to just be patient.

Chapter Two: Claws and Hammer Power-Up Methods
Realizing that they now have access to the Vassal Claw hero, Naofumi asks Mamoru and Filolia about its power-up method. It is revealed to be "Skill Mastery" which improves a skill the more it is used. Naofumi then asks about the Vassal Hammer power-up method and determines that it is "Weapon Form Synthesis" which copies signature abilities from one shield onto another. They group then head out of the lab. In a rare serious moment, Filolia reprimands the children under Mamoru's care for letting Mamoru stray so far. She is then met by her sister R'yne. After an awkward meeting, Filolia is then introduced to S'yne and is asked to teach her how to deploy the signature ability of the skywings - optical wings.

Chapter Three: Holn's Research Weapon
Returning to the village, Naofumi finds the Pacifier of the ancient past Natalia training with Raph-chan II. Natalis is suspicious of the revived Filolia but lets her pass. After a quick discussion, Naofumi and Natalia decide to track down the Vassal Hammer. However, before they leave, Holn guides them to her lab where she had been working on an experiment. She presents to them a hammer which Naofumi recognizes as one Shildina had used in Q'ten Lo. Holn reveals that the hammer has the ability to copy the soul of a person. Natalia is initially furious but is eventually convinced to have her own soul copied for the sake of the world. Slightly disturbed by the process, Natalia and the Water Dragon leave to search by themselves for the Vassal Hammer.

Chapter Four: Quality Check of Heroes
The next day, the accessories that Ren, Imiya and Naofumi were working on were complete. Realizing that Ren is being held back by his past of trying to be cool, Naofumi encourages him. Upon Filolia's encouragement, Mamoru then shows Naofumi some of his experimental shields - a gun shield and a sword shield. After experimenting with the bizarre weapons, the group begins to discuss the possibility of exclusive equipment which can only be worn by a single person. With that, Naofumi begins to design an exclusive accessory for Raphtalia.

Chapter Five: Gathering the Power of the Raph Species
The next day, Naofumi decides to practice magic with Raphtalia. They decide to try to improve Raphtalia's use of magic by training in Demon Dragon magic. Using the Raph species as a source of power, the experiment is an incredible success. Raphtalia is able to cast incredibly powerful illusory spells with very little casting time. However, this type of magic can only be used a small number of time since it consumes a large amount of the Raph's power.

Chapter Six: Selecting the Hammer Hero
A few days later, the heroes hear back from Natalia that she had found the Vassal Hammer. They try to find a worthy wielder among their allies but the hammer rejects all of them. As the heroes prepare to leave, Natalia accidentally brushes against the Vassal Hammer which suddenly leaps into her hands. Frustrated, Natalia tries to reject the hammer but still she remains the new Vassal Hammer wielder.

Chapter Seven: Origin of the Past Heavenly Emperor
After Natalia is selected as the new hammer hero, the heroes then return to Lurolona Village. Natalia is upset that she has been chosen but realizes that she no longer has a choice in the matter. That night, Raph-chan and Raph-chan II meet Naofumi at his house. Raph-chan II then turns into her human form to discuss past events with Naofumi. She reveals that she is a copy of Natalia's soul which was formed within Holn's experimental hammer however she wants to change as little as possible in the ancient past. She also reveals that the ruins in Sanctuary were originally used to control time. She also mentioned that the Vassal Carriage might be able to help. However, she runs out of time and is forced into her Raph form before discussing more info. With this information, Naofumi decides to head to Sanctuary.

Chapter Eight: 0 Territory
The next day Naofumi wakes up with terrible new: Piensa has attacked all nations which were considering an alliance with Siltran. Even the Queen's Shadow was severely injured from their attack. Even worse, it seems like the wounds inflicted by Piensa's forces cannot be healed by traditional magic. Any attempts to heal these wounds only made them worse. As Naofumi realizes the terrible danger and thinks that he will do anything to save his allies, he suddenly hears a voice in his head. Confirming that he will do anything to save them, the voice responds and his 0 Series status gets upgraded. Trying this new skill on the shadow, he nearly passes out but is successful in healing the wound.

Later on, Naofumi and the other heroes have a meeting. They agree that the self-proclaimed gods are behind this new kind of attack. They also mention that Piensa had sent an elite force to Sanctuary to obtain powerful relics. Ren and Naofumi go to intercept the elite force while the village protects the Siltran area.

Chapter Nine: Heroic Presence
Arriving in the Santuary area, Naofumi and his group head to the village maintaining the ruins. Talking to the village elder, he gives them permission to enter the ruins. As they walk towards it, Naofumi discusses with his party how he apparently has a very strong, calming aura which identifies his as the Shield Hero. Reaching the ruins, they are guided to the hidden Vassal Carriage. Naofumi reveals that in the modern era, Fitoria wields the Vassal Carriage. Holn reveals that she created Fitoria from the Vassal Carriage's demands for a monster to pull itself. It seems that Fitoria is not currently fit to wield the carriage because she does not have a soul yet. Now that they've learned the secret within Sanctuary, Naofumi and the others return to their village.

Chapter Ten: Exclusive Equipment
After figuring our the patrols around Sanctuary to look out for the Piensa forces, Naofumi and Raphtalia discuss the future of their village. Naofumi also ponders about the God Hunters and what it means to be reincarnated. Finally, Naofumi and Raphtalia discuss the nature of their relationship. No longer is Naofumi above Raphtalia, but they are equals who rely on each other. As such, Naofumi asks Raphtalia to stop calling him "Mr. Naofumi" but to just call him by his name. He also ponders out loud what Raphtalia's name would be if they were married. Finally, he gifts her an accessory which is exclusively for her: the Shield Hero's Charm. Created from pieces which reminds them of their journey together, Raphtalia tearfully accepts it. They then finish their patrol and meet up with the rest of their party.

Chapter Eleven: Dinosaur Hunting
A few days after setting up the patrol around Sanctuary, Naofumi meets up with the Queen's shadow who has not yet recovered from her injuries. Despite her skills, Naofumi decides that she needs to focus on levelling up since her stats are relatively low. Going along their patrol route, they come across several dinosaurs. While they are relatively tough, Naofumi's party are able to defeat them and level-up significantly. During a break in levelling, Naofumi presents the Raph accompanying the shadow a teakettle armor that he had made. However, they soon discover that they were being surrounded by Piensa forces.

Chapter Twelve: Unexpected Visitors from Piensa
As Naofumi's party is surrounded by the Piensa elite forces, a cage-like device is deployed to prevent them from escaping. As the heroes are surrounded, the enemy offers them the opportunity to join Piensa and reveals that they intend to control all the heroes. Naofumi rejects the empty offer and the two groups begin to fight. However, the battle is difficult since the enemy possess the Vassal Projectile and Vassal Staff with skills which inflict incurable wounds. It seems that the self-proclaimed gods have held the enemies Legendary Heroes hostage to make them fight Mamoru's world.

Chapter Thirteen: Beast Transformation of Rage
As the difficult fight against the enemy heroes continue, Naofumi get struck multiple times with the weapons which cause incurable wounds. However, as Keel transforms into her beast form and Raphtalia casts powerful illusions, the enemy is pushed back. Eventually they are forced to flee. Naofumi cures the "incurable" wounds on himself and S'yne before nearly collapsing. Disheartened and exhausted from their near defeat, Naofumi's party head to Ren who was faced with a similar attack.

Chapter Fourteen: Known Vassal Weapon Heroes
Reaching Ren, Naofumi's party finds that they have been ambushed by another group of elite from Piensa - this time with the Vassal Axe and Vassal Gauntlet. With the two parties together, they are able to repel the enemy forces. In the aftermath, Naofumi and the others realize that the self-proclaimed gods must be forcing other worlds to fight on their behalf so they don't have to be at risk. Returning to the village, they find they it has also been attack by the enemy with weapons which can inflict incurable wounds, but thankfully Fohl, Mikey and the others were able to defend the place. Mamoru's investigation into Piensa was not able to reveal much information. Ren and Naofumi decide that they must infiltrate the Sword/Spear world during the next wave. Finally, Mamoru and Filolia have both decided to make Fitoria their daughter. The group then heads to Sanctuary to imbue Fitoria with a soul and to take the Vassal Carriage.

Chapter Fifteen: In the Sanctuary
As the Heroes head towards Sanctuary, an alarm goes off. As they rush towards the hidden chamber, they find the dog-masked self-proclaimed god there holding the Vassal Carriage. Dog-Face angrily states that the the Heroes should be punished for killing one of their kind. Aiding Piensa was apparently not enough, so he is there to steal the Vassal Weapon. Naofumi tries to threaten the self-proclaimed god but suddenly the enemy grabs Melty as hostage. After saying its final words, the enemy whisks both Melty and the Vassal Carriage to Piensa. Before they can head off to chase her, they are suddenly met by a massive dragon.

Epilogue: Dragon Slayer
The dragon, which Naofumi recognizes from Piensa, greet the Heroes and is introduces as the Dragon Emperor of the ancient Bow Hero. She comes, begging Naofumi and the others to save her master - the bow hero. It turns out that since Naofumi's party has slain a self-proclaimed god, a mysterious stranger came to the Piensa king with Vassal wielders from another world. Soon after, the bow hero was imprisoned. In return, the dragon will provide information and aid. With her help, Naofumi decided that he's going to invade Piensa - to save Melty and to retrieve the Vassal Carriage.