《Skillless: Mentor of Heroes》


 Chapter 1 - The Dream

    The whole world was set ablaze. The only things remaining around us were fire, carnage, gore and overwhelming hopelessness. Our ranks? Decimated. Commanders? Killed or fleeing. The Heroes? Broken apart and barely surviving in a brutal melee to the death. Meanwhile, the demons, our adversary? Having an absolute feast. These bloodthirsty, twisted monstrosities, fearless on the battlefield, warped and mutated for optimal combat performance. Even observing them from afar was enough to strike fear into any soldier¡¯s heart. Seeing those abominations shred through the ranks of our most elite units made even those less religious thankful to all the gods they knew that they¡¯re standing up here, guarding the command point, instead of fighting down there, on the field. But if things were to go on like this, they would soon turn into the next meal for those horrors. Unless something is done about it.


    Looking down at the battlefield from the top of the hill, I could clearly see just how tragic our situation was. Not just our front line, all of our formations were completely broken. People were scattered everywhere, trying to fend against the demons by themselves or in small groups, only to be gradually overrun or outmanoeuvred and torn to shreds before being devoured on the spot, in front of their comrades. Still, I was able to spot eight groups of concentrated human forces that still held some semblance of a formation. That¡¯s where the eight great Heroes tried to hold the demons off, hoping some form of reinforcements reaches them before it is too late. To think that just a few years ago none of them would ever expect that destiny would put them in such a scenario. Just two months ago they were all living life to the fullest, unaware that their potential end was so close¡­ and so gruesome. They were all powerful, they knew their way around their weapons, they had powerful magic and Skills at their disposal and their presence alone was enough to boost the morale of soldiers around them to help them stay and fight. But none of them were strategists, none were born leaders or great commanders. They were suddenly put in charge of whole armies and were expected to win a war with odds stacked greatly against them, against an enemy that they had, at most, heard stories about and were not prepared for the danger they really posed.


    -It¡¯s all over. We lost. Humanity¡¯s over¡­


    I grit my teeth hearing the Head Priestess lament as she started crying and praying to the gods, asking for guidance and pleading to be saved. But the gods remained silent, like they always did. They helped humanity once already. If we failed due to some stubbornness and stupidity of certain people, I guess they simply felt fit for us to die.


    -Your gods won¡¯t help you now. You might as well prepare yourself to die with whatever humility you have left.


    I smirked saying that. I was in plenty of near-death experiences by now, breaking my limits time and time again to escape them. But right now, however I looked at the situation, all I could see in the near future was us meeting our doom.


    -You¡­ It¡¯s all your fault, heathen! You coming here caused the gods to turn their favour away from us! It¡¯s because of y-


    -That is enough, Priestess. Getting angry and starting meaningless fights between ourselves will not help our situation. Edward¡­


    I turned around, surprised to hear my liege speak against the head of the Holy Alliance and, de facto, his superior. Yet he passed right by the fuming girl without even sparing her a glance and walked up to me with a stern expression. He had the look of a person who knew what they wanted and wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. One that I have seen way too many times already at this point.


    -My king¡­


    -Clearly, the gods have abandoned us. So we must leave this matter in the hands of the capable humans instead. Can you do it?


    I turned to look at the battlefield. At that time, the Demon King, a massive, almost fifty metre tall fiery giant clad in armour looking like flowing magma, roared in the distance. The sound pierced our ears even here, a few clicks away from him, loud, clear and no less terrifying. Somehow, I could feel his gaze upon our camp. He was toying with us, with the lives of our soldiers. He knew all we could do was to continue watching from afar and await our turn. He knew he won. But I wondered if he knew about a particular human quality. We¡¯re like cockroaches, impossible to annihilate and always trying to find a way to survive. And I would guess it was my turn to figure that out now.


    -Killing that bastard will be a tall order. But if I can gather my students, we might be able to do something. But that will require me to go in there first. Second, I will have to approach each and every one of them without being torn to pieces by a maniacal, bloodthirsty, hound-looking demonic beasts. And then I will still have to figure out how to take that massive thing down.


    -You have always managed to persevere, even when faced against impossible odds, Edward. And I believe that even if you do not know what to do at this moment, you will still find a way when it matters. The fate of the human race is upon you, you are the only one we can trust in right now.


    -You¡¯re really asking for a lot, huh¡­ Alright. Soldiers!


    I turned around to face a group of knights who stood at attention as soon as I hailed them. I fought a couple battles with them already. I could trust them to be able to hold the line and not give in to fear or desperation. They gained experience on the Frontier, a place that, until recently, was called the actual Hell of this world. They were used to facing powerful monsters and unfavourable odds.


    -I want you all to stay here and hold this ground. The lives of everyone in this camp are in your hands. Don¡¯t disappoint me!


    The knights all saluted me by extending their fists and striking them against their chests. Next moment, they all repositioned to create a spearwall against the charging demons. I glanced around until I spotted a girl in a black dress and a pointy hat. Her black hair was flowing around her head unnaturally.


    -Next, we might need spell support. I want you to stay here and aid us on the battlefield. Don¡¯t overexert yourself, though. We might need some powerful magic later on.


    -You got it, boss!


    The girl saluted me somewhat playfully. Her always cheerful personality was one of the last things I needed right now. I knew she was reliable, though, so I just decided to ignore it this time. I let out a sigh as I turned to look at the battlefield as well. The situation didn¡¯t change much but somehow looked a lot worse. Was it because of the grim perspective that I had to go in there soon. I looked at my other two companions. One of them was full combat armour with religious insignia, a memento of her days as a Paladin in the Holy Alliance. The other was a beastfolk girl with wolf features, dressed in light armour. Thanks to her hood, which was supposed to help conceal her appearance, and the daggers on her hips, she looked like some shady rouge.


    -We¡¯re going in. We have to break through to every Hero. I trust you to deal with the demons that surround them.


    -You can count on me.


    -Sure thing.


    I nodded, took a deep breath and started running down the hill. It was funny, really. Me, an outcast, with no magical power or special abilities, was now supposed to save the best and most revered people in this world and find a way to kill the Demon King. If it wasn¡¯t for the magical equipment I was wearing, I wouldn¡¯t even be able to keep up with the two companions of mine. They both possessed magic and Skills making them much more agile. Meanwhile, even with the specialised gear, I was barely able to run just slightly faster than an average human would. I couldn¡¯t just leave those guys out there to die like that, though. Not because that would mean the end of the world, but because they were my precious students. We were together long before this stupid destiny of saving the world was forced upon us. We came to this world together when the gods called upon them to serve their divine duty and we never broke our bond. Since originally I wasn¡¯t supposed to be a part of it, I was simply helping them from the sidelines as much as I could, as their teacher and their friend. Now, they needed me. They needed someone to help them guide them, to show them the new path to victory. Whether I liked it or not, it was my job to do it, even if it would cost me my life.


    As we entered the battlefield, the first of the demons spotted us and jumped at us from the right. It looked oddly similar to a big hound, except for the oily, smooth skin and long, disjointed legs. Despite that, it still galloped at us at an insane speed, clearly lusting for fresh blood. The beastgirl by my side swiftly dismembered the creature as soon as it jumped to tackle me, causing the monster to explode in a pool of its own gore. The second demon, distinctly different yet basically identical in appearance, and just as horrific-looking, attacked from the left just moments later. This time the paladin moved in. She blocked the abomination with her shield and threw it down on the ground. She then proceeded to cut its head off in a single strike before resuming to run and catching up with us. More monsters were still actively attacking. The two girls at my side seemed to have no problems defeating them, however. This let me conserve my energy for later. And I greatly appreciated that. They were both far more powerful than I was. Even with my enhanced gear, I wasn¡¯t sure if I would be able to stand up against more than one of those demons at a time. I saw those monsters rip through steel battle gear like it was nothing or sending soldiers flying several metres up from a hit. If possible, I would rather avoid direct confrontations for as long as I could.


    As we approached the struggling groups of soldiers, the two girls dispersed and helped annihilate the demons, while I broke through to the defenders and explained the situation to each of the respective commanding Heroes. Gradually, I confirmed the status of seven of my students. I sent two of them, who specialised more in the roles of a medic and a mage, and who weren¡¯t even that good at melee combat in the first place, towards the back lines. I don¡¯t know what absolute idiot thought it was a good idea to send them here to fight but if we somehow survive this, I¡¯ll personally give them a taste of the hell they made my students go through. Now, there was only one left.


    -He was fighting closest to the Demon King. Last we heard a General attacked him.


    -A General?


    I turned to one of my students, when they shared their info with me. Another jumped in with a reply instead.


    -We called him that. He¡¯s different from those monsters. Humanoid and wields a weapon. He¡¯s extremely powerful.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.-Bloody hell¡­ Everyone, keep formation. Position yourselves on that hill, it should make it harder for the demons to charge you up there. Once we¡¯re all together we¡¯ll have to figure out how to deal with that big guy over there.


    As if hearing me, the Demon King, still far away from us but somehow even more impressive now, laughed, his voice resonating and reverberating in our ears. This also seemed like a command, or a stimulus, for the demons, as they started attacking with even more ferocity. And most of them seemed to be focused around the last isolated group of soldiers. Could it be it was afraid of us uniting together or was it simply playing with us?


    I immediately started running in their direction. It was just a couple hundred metres but it still seemed so far away as I saw the soldiers getting basically eaten alive by the demons. Occasionally I saw the golden shine of the decorative elements on my friend¡¯s armour. My last student, my close and only friend from back then, was still fighting strong, cutting two or three demonic dogs with each slash of his zweihander. There was no finesse to his movements, no style, just sheer power. He was tired, breathing heavily, fighting with everything he got just to take out as many of those foul creatures as he could, even though there was seemingly no end to them. The whole Holy Alliance combined have killed thousands, if not tens of thousands, of these bloody things, yet they just kept coming, more ferocious than before. One hellish hound jumped at me from my left. I managed to bring my shield up and duck under it, allowing it to soar over me. I struck its back as soon as I regained my footing. I wasn¡¯t as good at killing those demonic abominations like my companions but three precise strikes were all it took to bring the beast down. I turned on my heel to start running towards my student once again but then another demon attacked me out of the blue. Since this one wasn''t jumping at me but simply charging, defending against him proved more difficult. By stepping back I was able to just barely clear the range of its first attack and counter-slash at its head. I only managed to give it a surface cut though, which ended up enraging the beast even more. After some dancing around, the demon stood up on its hind legs and tried to crush me with both of its front ones. I shielded myself from above and started thrusting my sword again and again into the hound¡¯s surprisingly tough underbelly. I didn¡¯t manage to critically hurt it but the wounds were enough to prompt the demon to turn around and run away a little and wait for its regenerative capabilities to kick in.


    -Edward! Watch out!


    I turned around when I suddenly heard the panicked voice of my friend. I barely noticed some movement in the corner of my eye when a three metre tall, clad in black thorny armour demon appeared in front of me. I immediately knew what I¡¯m facing again. It was one of the Demon Generals, the elite, humanoid monsters of the Demon King¡¯s army. Just looking at it would cause my legs to shake and my resolve to break, if only I had the time for that. I was only given a split second between the time he appeared and the time he single-handedly swung an absolutely massive onyx sword trying to cut me in half horizontally. My shield caught the impact of the sword which was so powerful that the strike sent me flying. I could feel the pain in my left arm and side, my bones likely pulverised from the power of the impact. I didn¡¯t even have time to scream in pain before I felt my back impact against something extremely hard and the whole world and all sensations of it disappeared.


    I found myself in a completely empty space, however, it wasn¡¯t completely black or white like I was used to seeing in pop-culture after the main character would get killed. The endless dimension around was purple in colour, fairly bright and vibrant around me, gradually gradienting into a much darker and somehow more sinister looking shade deeper into the fog. This colour¡­ it felt familiar. It was somehow stirring up various conflicting emotions inside of me. Fear, feeling of safety, anxiety, anger, relief, piety, annoyance, content, sense of urgency¡­ They all flooded me at once, making it hard for me to think about anything. I couldn¡¯t feel any pain but I somehow knew I¡¯m having a really strong migraine from all of this conundrum. And then it all disappeared, all at once, replaced by one single feeling.


    Someone was watching me.


    I could feel their gaze on my back. Penetrating deep into my soul. Whoever was watching me, knew everything about me. I could feel that. There was nothing I could hide against them even if I tried. Once again, I felt this gaze to be somewhat menacing but also familiar and comforting. Could it be that whatever watched me had mixed feelings about me as well?


    I tried to turn around, even though I knew I couldn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t have any control over my own body ever since I found myself in this place. But then, suddenly, like if I broke free from a binding spell, I spun around and stared directly at the thing. I couldn¡¯t see it. I couldn¡¯t see anything in the endless sea of purple. But I knew I was staring directly at it, directly into it. And I felt it staring into me. I opened my mouth to say something but at that point, it all went to black. And in a sudden motion and in a lot of sweat, I woke up.


    I looked around my room. It was still dark. I picked up my phone from the end table to check the time, completely forgetting about how bright the screen was and blinding myself for a few seconds. 4:01AM. I reached to my head and wiped some sweat off my forehead. That¡¯s when I noticed my hand trembling. I couldn¡¯t recall any details of the dream. Something about a different world, some fantasy crap, me dying at the end. And, for some reason, it involved the students of my HEMA classes as well. What I could remember didn¡¯t seem terrifying enough to bring me into a state like this but hey, I guess that¡¯s nightmares for you. Was I just in a lot of stress or something? I didn¡¯t feel like I was overburdened by anything but I didn¡¯t have a better explanation for a dream like this otherwise. Strange, to say the least.


    I got out of bed and headed to take a shower. I needed to wipe that sweat off, there¡¯s no way I could fall asleep again in such a state again. Well, I didn¡¯t have much planned for today other than the afternoon classes so I should be able to catch some rest before them if I decide to stay up now.


    After a quick shower, feeling significantly refreshed, I decided to try and not think about that dream too much. I wasn¡¯t exactly a superstitious person. I knew there is some unexplainable stuff around but the fact that every dream always carries a meaning? Not really. I probably spent too much time watching or reading a few too many fantasy stories lately and my brain just crafted a story to occupy itself instead of resting when it¡¯s supposed to.


    I sat down at my PC and booted it up. I opened one of the files on my desktop and scrolled through the list that popped up. I was planning a trip for my class to one of the mediaeval tournaments. My top student, Lucas, insisted I register for the 1v1 fights and, once the others found out about it, there was no escaping the pressure. The list was regarding which of my students have already confirmed or are yet to confirm they¡¯ll go and what they¡¯ll be most interested in seeing during the event. Lucas, of course, was the first to announce his participation. For throwing this responsibility on me, I had designated him as my personal squire so that I wouldn¡¯t have to drag all of my gear behind me myself. Kira and Ikaze already said they¡¯d be coming too. Both of them wanted to see a weaponry exhibition, especially that there was supposed to be an eastern-inspired one as well, which should be particularly appealing to the second youngster. He was absolutely in love with Japanese culture, even though he swings his katana more like a scythe¡­ somehow. Even I had a difficult time figuring out how he can even do that. Shin couldn¡¯t yet confirm his participation but he was extremely enthusiastic to see the siege equipment display and demonstrations. I couldn¡¯t blame the kid, I also absolutely loved that stuff when I was around his age too. Lidia was also undecided, given she doesn¡¯t particularly like fighting in the first place. The only reason she was in my class was because she¡¯s working in a fairly dangerous environment and having some self-defence skills just made her feel better about herself. Although I was pretty sure that Lana, who would never pass up an opportunity to learn more about fashion in any shape or form, will end up dragging her along anyway. That left us with the only two underaged kids in our group, Stach and Sethana. They¡¯re both pretty timid and scared of fighting, especially against bigger and stronger adults than them. They¡¯re also not really socialising inside of the class, so I wouldn¡¯t be surprised that they decided to skip on the event. They needed their parents¡¯ permission to go and it was also a lot more responsibility and paperwork for me while the event also didn¡¯t offer much in line with their interests. Stach was mostly interested in Polish culture, especially in the period of Szlachta, Polish Nobility in XV to XVIII century, which was a few centuries outside of the event¡¯s scope. Sethana wasn¡¯t at all interested in warfare stuff, only attending classes because of her parents wanting her to gain more confidence in herself and being able to stand up to bullies at school. She liked to study a lot and would probably find something she would be fancy towards eventually, like learning about history of crafts or something, but that wasn¡¯t the main focus of the event either, so she¡¯d likely find the whole event uninteresting as well. Not that I didn¡¯t want either of them two to go, there just wouldn¡¯t be much sense in them coming to just be bored to hell and back. Especially since that¡¯s also just more trouble for me as well. I won¡¯t lie, them staying behind would likely be a win-win.


    I looked at the calendar. The event was in two weeks, meaning we still had three classes planned before that, including today. Well, they still had time to think this through. On that note, I realised that I should probably start preparing myself for my fights as well. I don¡¯t know anything about my opponents yet. Since I have spare time today, I¡¯ll probably have to get started on that. You can learn a lot from an opponent by just watching their fights. Of course, you can never be sure they will use the same tactics or even gear against you that they did in any other fights they had but some things in a person¡¯s style never change. Footwork is one of those things, for example, and it can dictate a lot about what types of attacks I can expect, like whether someone prefers to be on the offensive or would rather wait for counterplays. Also, how often are they willing to tackle enemies, how long they stay in tackles, do they try to throw the opponent or rather just score points with blade hits. Or maybe they are always on the back foot and avoid getting in tackle range at all? That¡¯s also valuable intel to have.


    Well, there was a lot of research to be done, this was supposed to be a fairly big tournament after all. The entry fee wasn¡¯t cheap either but at least thanks to my renown as a martial trainer and some of my achievements in my younger years in other tournaments, I was permitted entry without having to go through elimination rounds.


    I checked the time again. 5:07AM. Still way too early to even get breakfast going. Well, if I have to prepare, I might as well ramp up my personal training a little more. As much as I hate it, I guess I¡¯m gonna get ready to run a few clicks. It might still be dark but it doesn¡¯t seem to be raining, at least, so I might as well get it done before it ultimately starts to rain later. With a heavy sigh I turned my PC off and got ready to leave.

 Chapter 2 - The Summoning

    I yawned. It was already getting pretty late, the sun was slowly setting behind the high-rises, its warm light gradually replaced by the cold artificial illumination coming off the street gradually lit up the outside. Despite that, the room I was sitting in was still filled with eager shouts and rhythmic sounds of training swords hitting one another with vigour and determination.


    I glanced from one side of the room to the other, watching the other eight people that were here with me, all sparring in twos, lively swinging their practice swords despite their heavy breaths. Their skins were shining in the dim light from all the sweat, yet they all looked either determined or happy as they continued their one-on-one spars.


    I couldn''t help but smile at myself as I watched them. I would lie if I was to say I did not take pride in my students. Remembering when they all started, barely able to hold a stance, now all capable of chaining strikes and keeping each other on their toes at all times despite knowing one another so well too. I knew just how much progress they''ve made and how happy it made them, and that fact was the source of my own joy and pride as their mentor.


    I checked the watch. It was just a few minutes away from nine in the evening, the planned ending of the lesson. However, I knew everyone gave their all today and that they were all exhausted. As so, I clapped my hands twice. Nearly immediately, all the fights stopped and everyone turned their attention to me. Once again, I allowed myself a soft smile.


    -You all did great today. You''ve all progressed a lot since last month. If you keep at it, in a month or two you may even have a good shot at some HEMA tournaments.


    I stopped speaking for a short moment, happy to see the big smiles my students gave me upon this well-deserved praise, especially the ever-proud Kira. I knew some of them were not interested in competitive sparring, like Sethana, Shin or Lidia, which I honestly considered a shame given their talents. I wasn¡¯t planning on forcing anyone. It¡¯s ultimately their own choice.


    -There''s not much for me to say to you today, I''ll go over everyone individually on what you can still improve on during the next class. For now, put the gear back and go change, that¡¯s it for today¡¯s class.


    With those words, the students all stood at attention and tapped their chests with their fists in a form of a salute. It was their way of thanking me for the lesson. Although I''m not exactly sure who and why started this tradition, although I can almost bet my money on Lucas, it caught on and became almost natural for them pretty quickly. I like this little gesture of theirs, though. It shows unity and cooperation between them and that they do make a good team together.


    I looked up from watching the students put the swords and protective gear away as I heard footsteps heading my direction. One of my students, the tallest, most muscular and the oldest one, was approaching me with a grin on his face. His face was the only one that wasn¡¯t shining with sweat, even though I knew he was putting his all into training as well.


    -What is it, Lucas?


    -You free tomorrow?


    -What have you thought of this time?


    I let out a heavy sigh as I turned my attention back to the other students. Lucas took a seat next to me as he loosened his long, brown hair and started tying it up into a ponytail again.


    -Got a new game, highly reviewed.


    -Co-op?


    -Yep. We haven''t had many opportunities to play together lately.


    -True, and you do love kicking my ass in games.


    -Can''t do it here so I have to do it somewhere.


    He laughed. I let out a smirk too. While all of my students held a special place in my heart, Lucas was the only one I would call an actual friend. He was with me from the beginning and helped me a lot along the way. He never asked for any form of compensation either, although I wasn¡¯t charging him for taking part in my classes either. He was also the most determined to best me one day and had a pretty good shot at it too. Fights with him were always demanding and he seemed to be able to read most of my feints before I even started setting them up. I never lost to him, although some of our fights would have ended in draws if we were fighting to the first hit. And so, he enjoyed every little victory he had over me in other fields, especially in video games.


    -Sure, why not. I should find some ti-


    I was interrupted by a sudden sound of a bell. I immediately rose up to my feet, sensing danger. I looked around, clutching my practice sword and cursing at myself that I didn¡¯t have my regular one closer at hand. This sound really stirred me up. I knew there were no bells in the area. The sound was also way too loud and clear, almost as if it was coming directly from within my head. I could also tell it wasn¡¯t just me hearing it either. Not only Lucas was also looking around confused, but my other students also returned from the changing room. I tried to move closer to the entrance to the building. Perhaps it was just something outside and we were all worrying for nothing. The moment I turned, however, I suddenly felt oddly light. It¡¯s almost as if my body lost all its weight and the air all of its resistance. I felt like I¡¯m stuck in a void, unable to move at all. At that point, the room started filling in with smoke and a very faint light. It was gradually becoming stronger, shining a sinister shade of purple on the walls of the building. It was impossible to tell where the light originated from but I knew one thing: I knew that shade. It was the exact same hue of purple I saw in my dream tonight.


    Then, suddenly, a second bell rang. With it, everyone around suddenly got illuminated by an almost blinding bright light with small purple orbs flying through the space around us. At this point the fear of the unexplainable situation hit my students and scared screams erupted all around me. Some of them seemed to try to fight against the weird force holding us in place. Others simply stood there, trying to think of a solution or an explanation. Some other people simply broke down and started crying and pleading for help and for this to end but, due to the light, I couldn¡¯t tell who¡¯s who or where. I tried to stay calm and approach what was happening rationally but nothing sensible was coming to my head. That''s when I was suddenly pulled back. I turned to face Lucas, barely able to see his face despite it being just a few centimetres away from mine. He was not shocked like the rest of us but was looking at me with a determined expression. He nodded at me, which helped me calm down a little too. I already knew what I had to do. I had to protect my students. But just how on Earth was I supposed to do that if I didn¡¯t even know what was happening here myself?


    But then, the third bell rang, and the light suddenly intensified even more, blinding me completely. For a while, all I could see was this accursed shade of purple, even with my eyes closed. My head hurt and my ears were filled with an irritating high pitch noise. I could still faintly hear my students, muffled, as if they were far away or if something was covering my ears. I felt like I''m floating, completely weightless and still without any control over my own body. Even trying to move my hands or head around proved to be in vain. When I tried to open my eyes, I couldn¡¯t see anything. However, I did feel pressure against my wrist, at the same spot Lucas was holding onto me just before the third bell. This calmed me down a little. The fact I could still feel it meant we likely didn¡¯t die, as I was originally afraid. We were all here, wherever ¡°here¡± was. As such, my role as a guardian of my students continued on.


    After calming myself a bit more and trying to figure out our position in all this, I think I can get a pretty good idea of what was going on. Lucas shared enough of his favourite mangas with me for me not to be familiar with reincarnation tropes. And this smelled like one. Still, this just felt all too weird, especially in conjunction with that weird dream I had. But if this was a correct assumption, we''ll be finding ourselves in an unfamiliar place, with no telling if we''ll be alone or not or what will be expected from us. I never asked for this but I doubt my students did either. But since I''m coming along, I''ll have to support my students to the best of my abilities to ensure their safety. They might need me now more than ever and I had to rise up to the task.After a moment, I started feeling cold. As more of my senses started coming back, I realised I was laying face-down on a hard, cold floor. I had no idea what happened or how I was knocked unconscious, however my head was killing me, my vision was blurry and my ears were still ringing. For a few seconds, I was completely disoriented. I couldn¡¯t tell at all what was going on around me. Only after some time has passed I began to recognise blurred smudges as people surrounding us, various pitches as words that didn''t want to form a cohesive whole, different tones jumping between anger, confusion and rational tact.


    I propped myself up on my elbow, cursing under my nose that I couldn''t even control my own body properly. In the corner of my vision I saw the other students, all laying on the ground, not moving. In my current state, I couldn''t tell if they were unconscious or dead but I chose to believe the former. After all, I was still alive, why wouldn¡¯t they be?


    Someone suddenly grabbed my arms and pulled me up. My legs immediately gave in, however whoever picked me up, was holding me steady, as if anticipating I won¡¯t be able to support myself yet. At that time, some other person appeared in front of me. I still couldn''t see clearly or pick up whatever they were saying, however from how much they gesticulated, they either had something very important to say or were extremely furious about something.


    I tried to focus on what was happening in front of me but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn''t. Instead, I started overexerting myself and started passing out again. That''s when I suddenly felt strong pain in my side. The sudden rush of adrenaline caused me to immediately come to all of my senses and the instinct to fight back kicked in. I was still firmly restricted, however. Someone was holding my arms back and pressing against my neck to force me to look down. It seemed like there were at least two people apprehending me, however I couldn¡¯t see either of them. I really wanted to kick them where it hurts most but without knowing their exact position and angle, at which they were facing me, my attempt would most likely prove futile.


    I glared up as much as I could, gritting my teeth, hoping to catch a glimpse of whoever was responsible for this whole ordeal. I was ready to give them a piece of my mind and a lecture about hospitality. However, the sight before me completely took me aback. Any words I had prepared died out in the back of my throat, unable to come forward.


    In front of me was a girl who looked no more than sixteen. She was way shorter than me, with long, curly blonde hair. She wore a white robe with blue accents that looked very much like some religious attire, although it also seemed a bit too revealing for that purpose. Luckily, it didn¡¯t expose anything it shouldn¡¯t but looking at it still felt wrong on so many levels. Atop her head sat a silver tiara with diamonds and sapphires, likely a symbol of her status. Behind her I noticed a crowd of people showing a wide range of emotions, from surprise, through disappointment, to concern and sheer curiosity. Many of them wore expensive-looking robes. Some people in the back wore various types of armour, likely knights of some sort. In front of the crowd, several men stood out, whispering something to one another. They all wore different crowns atop their heads, which distinguished them from the other noble-looking lot around them. There were some other nobles with tiaras and similar headpieces among the crowd too, though none were coming even close in the grandeur to them.


    -What do you think you''re doing? Unhand him right now!


    The girl was clearly pissed but, luckily, it didn''t seem like she was directing her anger towards me. At least for now. To my surprise, from behind me came a voice which sounded like it belonged to a dignified young lady, probably just a bit older than the girl in front of me was.


    -But, milady, he has shown disrespect to y-


    -Unhand. Him. Right. Now!


    The woman behind me let out a defeated sigh and a moment later, the pressure on my arms and neck disappeared. I straightened up, stretching my arms and neck a little to get rid of the pain and stiffness that accumulated within them. While most of the adrenaline has disappeared already, it seemed it woke me up enough to allow my body at least to support my own weight. I wanted to look back at the people who apprehended me but before I could, the kid in front of me coughed and started speaking, drawing my attention to her. She put her hands to the side in a welcoming gesture, however her face still showed the fact she¡¯s annoyed at, I would assume, her subordinates.


    -I apologise on behalf of everyone, oh great Hero. We were just surprised for you to come to your senses before the ritual was fully completed and didn''t know how to react properly. I hope we did not cause you any disrespect.


    -No, you very much did by pulling all of us here so suddenly in the first place. Shouldn¡¯t you at least ask us for our consent first or something?


    The girl looked up at me, her kind expression changing to a much darker one, as if she suddenly became extremely angry at what I just said. But when I just crossed my arms, withstanding the pressure she put me under, she gave in and tried her best to collect herself, or at least look the part.


    -Of course, I understand. However, it was not our will but the will of the Gods that you were chosen. We only seek assistance with the calamity hanging over our realm.


    -Figured as much.


    The girl looked at me with a surprised expression. She clearly disliked me already thanks to my previous response but also seemed interested in me to some degree. I was clearly not someone she expected to receive. Maybe she wanted someone who would just happily agree to whatever she came up with or who would fall for her enough not to stop and think logically for a minute. Sadly, keeping calm under pressure and approaching problems logically was my forte, as long as what was happening wasn¡¯t a result of magic and wasn¡¯t causing completely abnormal scenarios, like the whole teleportation ordeal earlier. Also, I hated having a decision forced onto me, and this was something I very much did not agree to. As such, I wasn¡¯t planning on making it any easier for her than I could. She brought me here against my will, she has to now live with the consequences of her own actions.


    -I will explain everything once the other Heroes wake up. It shouldn''t take too long. If you could please wait until they all come to...


    She was doing her best to sound polite, although it was clear she was angry and very much didn¡¯t want to bother talking with me anymore. Whatever their problem was, it was enough of an issue that even such a prideful person as her would force a smile and play along to minimise tensions. This could potentially be useful. Either way, I had to wait for my students to all come back to their senses as well, so we can all make a decision together. I was not planning on forcing anything onto them, they had the right to choose their own paths.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.-Fine. I don''t think I have much say in this matter anyway, right?


    -Correct. So please, just hold yourself until we can explain everything. Once you know the whole story, I hope you can see us in a better light.


    I had my doubts that this would ever happen, but I decided to bite my tongue this time. She was right in one thing, there was no need for pointless hostilities and I was already pushing my luck with them. While I could make things difficult for them, and very much planned to do so, making enemies could only put more risk on my students in the future. I should try and avoid that as much as possible.


    As I was taking a look around, I noticed that a lot of the noble bunch tried their best to not only avoid my gaze, but also the girl''s. I didn''t know if they were reserved to her from the beginning or if our exchange ruined some of her reputation with them. The thought that I managed to spark at least some tensions between all those people seemed oddly comforting for me, though. I might be making my own life more difficult but those kidnappers sure deserve some hell themselves and I wouldn¡¯t mind giving them just that, in ample moderation.


    While I was observing the people around, I also took a moment to admire the building we were in. It was a grand, cathedral-like structure. The white walls almost seemed to emit light on their own, rather than reflect what was coming off the few huge, silver and crystal chandeliers. The huge, glass-stained windows flooded the floor of the cathedral in a mish-mash of colours. This entire surreal scene left some sort of an exalted feeling in me but I didn''t really have much time to properly stop and admire it either.


    After the girl walked some way away and engaged in a quiet discussion with a few of the apparent kings, I turned around, hoping to find whoever was holding me down a moment ago. All I saw, however, was just an empty way down to a massive, and firmly closed, wooden door, likely the entrance to this building. Somewhat surprisingly, there wasn''t a living soul standing between it and me.


    I turned my head when I heard some movement next to me. It turned out to be Lucas, finally coming to his senses. He seemed much more composed than I was, as if he was just waking up from a nap. I walked up to him and helped him up.


    -Edward? Wha- Where are we?


    -God knows. Some different world, I guess.


    -Come on, stop joking...


    Lucas sighed as he sat down and scratched his neck but that was when he noticed the people gathered at the back of the building. He froze and stared at them for a moment before glancing around the cathedral, finally resting his eyes on me.


    -You aren''t joking now, are you, Ed?


    All I could do was to give him a sorry smile. I honestly wished it was all a joke but at this point I was fairly confident that whatever was happening to us was, indeed, real.


    -They said they''ll explain more once everyone is up.


    -How did the first contact go?


    -Not too great. That young girl seems to be their envoy, a head of religion maybe? Either way, she seems to hate me for not being thankful for being summoned and forced on some likely suicidal mission.


    -You''re being too hard on her, aren''t you? But I get where you''re coming from too. I wouldn''t mind an isekai adventure myself, nothing is really tying me to our world, but others may think differently.


    We both looked toward the students. Some of them started to slowly wake up, although their activity was limited to small movements and groans for now. It seems there''s still some time before they''re all up and sober. I turned back to Lucas, however I darted my eyes to the side so that I could see whatever was going on in the crowd, just to be more aware of my surroundings.


    -Yeah. And knowing those tropes, there''s likely no way back either. I just hope that, if we can''t go back, they''ll at least allow those, who don''t want to risk their necks, to lead a somewhat normal life.


    -Wishful thinking. We¡¯re all likely some super-gifted people they cannot afford to lose, or something like that. But we''ll see.


    -This is all so surreal.


    I let out a sigh and, seeing that most of my students were getting up now, I walked over to them, checking on them and making sure they''re all holding up just fine and aren''t panicking too much. Some, like Lidia or Lana, were understandably nervous, some didn''t seem to grasp what had happened to them just yet. The two youngest, Sethana and Stach, seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack but with some encouragement and a pat on their back they seemed to calm down a little.


    A few minutes later, when everyone finally woke up and was sitting on the ground in a circle, relatively calm, the girl from earlier seemed to notice us and started walking in our direction once again. She made sure none of the detest she felt towards me was showing on her face, however her eyes made sure to avoid me as much as possible. She kept giving me a distrusting glance every now and again as if checking up if I¡¯m not doing anything weird or suspicious.


    I leaned back a bit, closer to my students, using this last chance I had to talk to them without being overheard.


    -Don''t worry, Lucas and I will handle it. I''ll make sure no definite decision is made before we can all discuss it calmly and in private. Just bear with this for a while, okay?


    The students all nodded in agreement, although they still looked confused and scared but also a little intrigued at the same time. I stood up and turned around, standing between them and the girl. Lucas took his spot next to me, hands in his pockets, towering over the approaching girl. I crossed my arms, not hiding my displeasure at this situation but still trying to not look completely detested either.


    -I see all of you are awake now, dear Heroes. Let me welcome you on behalf of the Holy Alliance. My name is Alleya and I''m the Head Priestess within the Seventh Pantheon, the religion resolving around the seven Gods of this realm. You all have been chosen, each individually by a God, to come and aid us in-


    -Wait a second, please.


    I stopped her mid-sentence. I considered waiting with my questions until the end but the way she over-gesticulated everything, as if it was all some sort of a scene play, was really getting on my nerves. Besides, this discrepancy was just too big to casually overlook it. Being stopped mid-act, the girl glared at me as if she wanted to skin me alive but still managed to keep a relatively calm and welcoming tone of voice.


    -What is it, oh Hero?


    -You mentioned seven gods, each choosing a champion, right? Then why are there nine of us here?


    -That is something we would love to know ourselves too, actually.


    She sighed, giving in surprisingly easily, and continued on without giving me another moment to butt in again.


    -As far as we know, only seven people should have been summoned. It might be possible there was some interference or that some of the Gods have chosen more than one champion. Or anything else, really. We promise to investigate this, however once we move to check your magic levels, I''m sure we''ll receive at least some answers.


    -So there''s magic in this world. Is it a common thing or a Hero-only thing?


    -Every living being possesses mana within them with monsters and various intelligent races possessing considerably more of it than more regular animals.


    -Monsters, huh? And... Intelligent races? Plural? So there are other races here besides just us, humans?


    -Demons, elves, dwarves, all having their own subspecies too, yes. Can we get back on track, though?


    I pondered a little on what I''ve heard just now. So far it seems like we''ve entered a more or less typical high-fantasy setting of the blade and sorcery subgenre. Although, I''m not sure if I was more surprised to learn all this or from the fact she so willingly answered my questions. I guess she figured complying will be the best course of action to win over our cooperation and teaching us the world they summoned us to should only be beneficial for both parties and aid their side of the potential negotiations by presenting this realm as both interesting to us and in dire need of our aid. Clever, if so.


    -Of course. What do you need our help with?


    -Yes, according to an ancient prophecy, a great evil being is supposed to be born soon: a Demon King.


    -Clich¨¦.


    -This being is said to be powerful enough to devastate cities by itself, and that is why we need Heroes from outside of this world to defeat it, together with its demon horde.


    -Super clich¨¦. Couldn''t it be anything more original?


    -Come on, Ed, there are multiple ways you can make the same trope unique and interesting! You¡¯d know it if you¡¯ve read more of the manga I recommended to you.


    I glanced over at Lucas, who let out a hearty laugh. The girl, who was about to explode on me, looked over at him as well, surprised at his reaction and likely not understanding half of what he meant. This seemed to cause her to forget the anger she felt just a moment ago, so I guess he helped us both with this remark.


    -I guess, but they could at least be original and give him some unique name or something.


    -Most true.


    -Zaroxt.


    We both turned to face the girl, who was now looking at her feet. She was clutching her fists and her voice trembled a little. After a second of pause, she repeated herself:


    -His name is Zaroxt. But could you two, please, take this seriously? Our whole realm really is in danger, it¡¯s not some stupid story in a book we¡¯re talking about here but our very lives, and yours too!


    -Geez, sorry, we''re all so stressed out by the whole ordeal you¡¯ve put us in and I''m looking for a way to not explode on you all too.


    I put a hand on Lucas''s shoulder as he said that. His words came out a lot more aggressive than he likely intended and, while I wasn¡¯t against picking on this girl, I didn¡¯t want to start a full-on fight. At least not now. I was also surprised at how the girl acted, much more like her age now. This time it wasn¡¯t her ego or position speaking but it felt like she really meant it. I guess we did push it just a little too far this time. Still, a point had to be made and Lucas provided me with a good segway for it.


    -I understand your point of view but I think you do not take into consideration our position here either. You kidnapped us, brought us to an unfamiliar place, came out with those wild claims about some heroes and gods and then you asked us to do something that just sounds absurd at best and like a death wish at worst. And now you expect us to happily accept this and not question it, as if logic or common sense were abstract concepts in this world of yours.


    I stopped myself, realising I started to raise my voice the more I spoke and now it was Lucas placing his hand on my shoulder to stop me from going overboard. I let out a heavy sigh and continued more calmly, although loud enough that my voice could be easily heard across the whole cathedral:


    -I understand you people are in some sort of a calamity scenario and are desperate. But kidnapping people and just hoping they''ll be on board with that is just plain stupid. Now, let''s drop this glorified scene, it''s clear you''re doing it all either for attention or to persuade the people here to view you in a better light. I want to talk specifics, otherwise you''re just wasting your time. Every hour we spend arguing here is an hour less we could potentially spend on preparing for this Demon King if only you gave us cold facts and presented the situation as it is instead of trying to flatter us into pitying you.


    As I said that, the cathedral went completely silent. Some of the nobles and even kings exchanged confused glances. It was clear they didn¡¯t expect me to be this blunt or, perhaps, for my words to make this much sense. It¡¯s almost as if there was some procedure that needed to be followed with this ritual and now that I went ahead and broke it they didn¡¯t know how to react. Plus, I was clearly putting in question methods and perhaps even the authority of their envoy, who seemed to be a much more important person here than I originally gave her credit for. The priestess in question backed away a few steps, visibly shaking in anger and likely from embarrassment. She did not say a word, instead raising her hand and snapping her fingers, as if to summon someone. A few seconds later, an old looking soldier wearing some sort of a dark metal plate armour and a red cape emerged from the crowd and walked up straight to me. He seemed relaxed and confident on the surface, however I could clearly see the way he was sizing me up. He considered me a potential threat. In a way, this felt like a compliment.


    -I''m Tserkit, a commander of the Holy City of Sevondrea. I believe I can answer all of the questions about the current state and the situation in the realm but... given the atmosphere, I suggest we talk somewhere more private.


    I glanced over his shoulder. The nobles were whispering to one another, the whole group seemingly somewhat concerned about the current state of affairs and the future of the negotiations between the Holy Alliance and us, the summoned ones, the so-called Heroes. The priestess was busy talking to one of the groups of kings, trying to persuade them to something, but it was impossible for me to hear what exactly they were talking about. The way she vividly gesticulated made her look somewhat comical from a distance and I barely managed to hold in a chuckle.


    I looked back at the commander and nodded. He turned and headed towards a side entrance. I motioned to my students to follow me.


    -I know you''re all confused as to all that is happening. Just bear with this a little longer. Once we learn a bit more, we can discuss what to do next.


    The more energetic and enthusiastic students were eager to nod and follow me. Kira, Ikaze and Shin seemed particularly excited about the prospect of adventuring in a new world like this. Others were slightly more reluctant. I completely understood why. They were scared and confused by the situation and I clearly wasn¡¯t making it much easier for us. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if some of those kids started to doubt if I¡¯m as capable of an adult as they viewed me as.


    Lucas kept up with me as we left through the side door and now walked down a long open corridor adjacent to a garden. It had a small fountain in the middle and some flowery hedges, nothing grand compared to the cathedral itself but, somehow, it served as a much more pleasant and relaxing sight.


    -Don''t you think we went a little overboard there, Ed?


    -I thought that we both were holding back quite a bit back there.


    -Still, they seem to really be in distress¡­


    -We''ll learn more soon. We will discuss it once we do.

 Chapter 3 - The Evaluation

    We sat in a relatively large room which housed a few couches and armchairs. All of them had some very comfortable cushions of surprisingly high quality. Additional furnishing included coffee tables, dressers, two double beds in the back of the room and even a harp. This was clearly some high-class guestroom, normally likely used by high-ranking nobles and other distinct quests of honour. Putting us here was certainly flattering but at the same time put us under more pressure. Since they¡¯re so nice and welcoming to us, we are likely expected to return the favour and agree to their demands more easily. Well, we will see about that, cheeky bastards.


    The students, after being served some tea and various sweets to snack on, seem to have mostly calmed down, now chatting between one another. It was mostly Kira trying to show off in front of the ladies but the rest of the students, for once, welcomed his antiques as a form of comedy. This left Lucas, the commander and me basically to ourselves, although I knew the others were still intently listening to every piece of information shared. With the exception of the two times when a maid came in to refill the snacks and tea and check on our status, we talked without a break for over three hours. Gradually, the students started to lose their focus a little, which I couldn¡¯t blame them for. At times even Lucas seemed to be disinterested in a lot of the details we have talked through. I could still tell they were all trying their best, though. And now that we ran out of questions, we just sat there in silence. Lucas and I were going over this whole thing again in our heads, while Tserkit simply sat there, with his arms crossed, waiting for any new questions we may still come up with.


    The short version of the whole situation plaguing this realm isn''t too complicated. It''s quite the average story you could expect from a set of circumstances like these. There was a prophecy about a great, evil Demon King being revived in some unforeseen future. The few kingdoms in the region thus decided to form a Holy Alliance to try and fight back against the fiends. They managed to hold off fairly fine for a pretty long time but can¡¯t make any gains against the demons and now their attacks are gradually becoming more and more ferocious. This likely means the big bad guy is likely close to being reborn and demons are gaining more strength as a result. However, the threat isn''t imminent, yet it isn''t a far off one either, giving us both time to take it at our own pace and the pressure to not be distracted too much from preparing. The Demon King could revive anytime between a few weeks from now up to a couple of years into the future though, according to mystics. At that point the demons would still need some extra time to launch their full offensive. The general consensus is it will take no fewer than three years and not more than seven but it¡¯s pure speculation. Either way, the Holy Alliance came to an understanding that they barely stand a chance against the hordes of demons, who were far superior in strength and resilience to even the most dangerous monsters they have thus far encountered. The demons, who were already a thorn in the side of humanity for a couple of decades, were way more powerful than humans, likely outnumbered them too, morale wasn''t a factor for them and now there was also a much bigger threat looming over the horizon. Because of that, they engaged in a Hero summoning ritual, hoping to summon seven beings of great power who were bound by gods to help this realm. Yet something clearly went wrong, as seen by the fact there are nine of us and that we aren''t as keen on helping the Holy Alliance as they expected us to be. Or at least I am not, the other Heroes all confirmed to have a feeling like they should offer their help to the various countries of this realm, although most of them can¡¯t seem to be fully confident if they really want to do that or if they just feel some sort of an obligation towards their heavenly duty. A few, like the ever hot-headed Kira, but also Shin and Ikaze, even stated that they will help this world no matter the decision I made. After a bit of pressure, Tserkit caved in and admitted to an additional fact that the summoning ritual is supposed to ensure that the Heroes will agree to provide their support. It was some sort of a magical enchantment that was also meant to keep them calmer after the summoning took place. This was most likely why everyone was confused as to how quickly I woke up. I recalled the priestess girl saying something about the ritual not being fully complete yet. Could this be what she was referring to back then? This would also explain why my students were much more composed compared to how they behaved during the summoning and why they all seem just a little out of place now. For some reason, however, the spell appeared to have mostly failed and the commander suggested it might be related to me also being summoned, as I was the first one to wake up and the most rebellious one at that, although it was simply a wild speculation on his part.


    In the meantime we also talked a lot about the geopolitics of this realm. Tserkit mentioned a lot of names of countries and towns that I had no chance of remembering anyway, so I simply didn''t bother to. I will learn about everything in due time if it''s important enough. What I did remember was the name of the city we were in, Sevondrea. It could come in useful at some point, after all, we still had no idea what the future might hold for us.


    There was just one more thing I had to ask the commander. I felt like I already knew the answer but I just wanted to confirm it:


    -Is there a way for us to get back to our world?


    Tserkit remained silent for a couple of seconds, his expression already telling me everything I needed to know. Finally, he found the words he was looking for:


    -We currently know of no such ways.


    -Will researching it take priority?


    I immediately followed up and the old commander looked me up in the eyes, replying with barely any hint of reservation:


    -I highly doubt it. The longer you stay here, the more likely you are to cooperate with us. They will likely mention working on it but it will almost definitely be just a facade. They may even use the pretext of defeating the Demon King as a condition for your successful return.


    -And why are you telling us all this?


    Again, the commander stopped for a second. He looked to the side, as if checking how my students were enjoying the cake. Some seemed to be completely lost in the sweet pleasure however a few eyes and ears were still directed towards us.


    -I just don''t want to live with regret or bad consciousness. I believe it is better for you to know the truth now than to discover the lies later and resent us for it. If you guys can become as powerful as the legends paint you, I don¡¯t want to be anywhere near your bad side, that¡¯s all.


    -Wise choice.


    I leaned back, thinking about it for a moment. Lucas didn''t say anything but I could feel his gaze on me. He left the final decision to me. Eventually, I let out a heavy sigh.


    -Could you leave us alone for a few minutes?


    Tserkit nodded and stood up, turning to the door and leaving without an additional word. He didn''t even look behind himself at us. Once the door shut and the room remained in complete silence for a few seconds, I glanced over my students.


    -So, some of you have already made your choices but still¡­ What''s your take on all of this, guys?


    My pupils glanced around at each other, as if confirming that the others felt the same way they did. Lidia was the first one to break the silence:


    -I think we should help them.


    Lana didn¡¯t seem like she enjoyed the idea but she still made a valid point:


    -It''s not like we can go back home anyway, is it?


    Shin, Ikaze and Kira were practically jumping on the hills from excitement.


    -This is kinna exciting, isn''t it?


    -Yeah, they seem to be in need.


    -Heck yeah! I mean, come on, there¡¯s even magic here!


    The rest quietly nodded, unsurprisingly, all in agreement. They quickly started talking about how exciting living as revered heroes could be and what interesting things they could find in a magical world like this one. Seeing them, a smile forced itself on my face. Somehow, even I seemed somewhat excited to see what those guys can achieve with seemingly limitless possibilities they have here. I turned to Lucas with a defeated sigh.


    -And you?


    -Personally, I am against it. I''m not sure they will be able to handle it, especially if we¡¯re supposed to be separated from now on. It will take a huge toll on them for sure. But it doesn''t look like we have much of a choice either and I don''t want to think what they will do if we go against them. Even if we''re powerful beings capable of defeating armies, we''re unarmed, untrained in ways of magic and in an unfamiliar place. It''s better to cooperate, at least for now, and think of future possibilities once we are in a better spot. Who knows, maybe we¡¯ll even grow to like it here.


    -Same reasoning as mine then, huh? Alright, let''s agree to help them and go from there. Who knows how it will turn out anyway.


    I stood up, which caused my student to stop chit-chatting and look over in my direction. I walked up to the door and opened it. Tserkit was standing right in front of me, leaning against a pillar supporting the roof above the hallway that we were walking down earlier. He glanced at me expectantly.


    -We decided to provide you with our support, for now.


    -Thank you, I¡¯m confident we will work out our differences in the future and start trusting one another once you live here for a bit. Now, please, follow me, all of you.


    -Where to?


    -To check your magic attributes.


    I nodded and looked over my shoulder, motioning everyone to get up and join us. We walked there in complete silence, both worried and excited about what''s to come. It didn''t take too long before we came to a massive, reinforced door under a huge tower made from a dark stone, a stark contrast to all the white this whole place was built in. I noticed it and its red roof earlier from a distance and was mildly curious about it and I guess I will get my answers soon enough.


    We entered the tower, coming into a huge, nearly empty room illuminated by nothing more than a few torches on the walls. There was no ceiling, the underside of the red roof clearly visible with an ominous glow that I couldn¡¯t quite locate the source of. The only piece of furniture inside was a slate altar with a book on it and some sort of a white, convoluted circle on the ground in front of it. There were three people wearing dark robes and hoods standing around the altar, all spreading their hands wide and up as if praying or in some trance.


    -What kind of cultist play is this?


    I asked, stopping in my tracks. Tserkit sighed, likely offended by the way I phrased the question, and turned towards me to answer it.


    -The are many ways of measuring one''s magic however most can only measure the general compatibility and only a very rough ability level. This circle can estimate all compatibilities as well as give a much better estimate of the overall magic power. It was also adapted to help identify the God that has chosen each Hero as their champion. It¡¯s the only such circle in existence and it requires very specific steps, ceremonies and incantations to work properly. Now, if one of you could enter the magic circle¡­


    -I''ll go first.


    I shifted my gaze to Lucas, who gave me a reassuring smile. He had to pick up on it too and that¡¯s why he volunteered first, before I could. Something about this whole situation didn¡¯t add up. This circle was specifically adapted for us, Heroes. This meant they knew more about this whole summoning ritual or Heroes alone than even Tsarkit is letting us in on. Could it be that we¡¯re not the first ones here, by any chance? Could they already summon someone or could some Heroes have been summoned to this world long before? I will have to study some legends about that when I get a chance to. The stories of old could hold some valuable information for us. But for now, we were already at the circle, so pulling back now wasn¡¯t exactly an option. I nodded my head and stepped aside to let Lucas pass. I knew there was no talking him out of this and if I cannot go first to check on things, I¡¯d rather have him do it in my place. I knew he had much better chances of surviving anything that might be thrown at him than the other students, and likely even me. While I did care for all of my students, he was the only one I could put my trust in to do things right.


    Once he received my go-ahead, my friend turned on his hill and started heading towards the centre of the circle with a theatrically confident step. As soon as he approached it, the hooded figures started chanting something in a weird and agglomerated language. After a short while, the magic circle erupted in a rainbow of bright colours. I heard some of my students gap in surprise, a few taking a step back. I frowned, having a feeling this wasn''t supposed to happen. As soon as the light died down, the mages converged behind the altar and started to enthusiastically discuss something in hushed but excited voices. This only confirmed my speculations. I figured things won¡¯t go that smoothly for us here.


    -So... What does all that mean?


    Lucas was the one to break the awkward silence that befallen the tower. The cultist-looking mages suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and all together turned towards him. They stared at him for a moment in a fairly creepy fashion but then, all at once, suddenly, they all straightened up. One of them coughed in an awkward manner and extended his hands to his sides in a welcoming manner.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.-Dear Hero, it appears that you have been favoured by all of the seven Gods of our realm. You seem to possess great physical power and high aptitude for magic, including rare arts. You truly are a Hero among Heroes and worthy of leading our Holy Alliance in the fight against the Demon King! And your fellow Heroes too, obviously.


    -Nah, mate. There''s already someone serving as our parent, I don''t need to take up his role. Hey, Ed! If I was chosen like this, I''m afraid to think what your level will be at!


    -Please, don''t put me in such a spotlight. What if I don¡¯t end up being some near-god existence and will instead turn out to be just ordinary at best?


    I stared down at the laughing Lucas and turned towards my students to check up on them. Seeing that as an apparent sign from me, they all formed a line to the circle, surprisingly not really pushing for spots. Everyone just kind of found their place and took it.


    The next seven students¡¯ evaluations weren''t anything as flashy as Lucas¡¯s was. Each of them received a blessing of a different god and various levels of magic, from above average to rather powerful but not particularly exceeding the expectations of the mages. All of my pupils looked rather excited after having their aptitudes checked. At this point I couldn''t really say if they were indeed enjoying themselves or if it was that horrid spell that was cast on them during the summoning ritual taking its toll. Still, I decided against saying anything to them in case they were truly excited. It was good for them to have gained decent strength. That should make surviving a lot easier for them and mean they¡¯re treated with a decent level of respect. Or so I had hoped. Still, having suddenly gained all this power and status, I was afraid some of them may get lost in it and step down on a wrong path. I¡¯ll lecture them later, they¡¯ve heard enough of this for today already. I¡¯ll let them enjoy the moment for now.


    -Edward, now''s your turn.


    -Go show them, teacher!


    -I''m sure you will have the best abilities of us all!


    I put my hand up to calm down my students. I didn''t like how they were raising expectations of me again. I could see the commander''s and the mages'' curious gazes fixed on me. After all, all gods have already chosen their champions and there was even Lucas who was chosen by all of them at once. Could they have chosen two champions to fulfil the role of being that radiant knight in the shining armour? Or will my magic aptitude just be off the chart since I''m technically their teacher and the strongest fighter in the group? So far it seemed to rank people''s strength similarly to our internal ranking system at my fencing school. If we go with that as a guiding point, I should be at least as powerful as Lucas was with his magical aptitude. Well, there was only one way to find out and it wasn¡¯t by idly standing around.


    I stepped into the circle and the mages started their incantation yet again. Once they finished, however¡­ absolutely nothing had happened. There were no lights, no weird sounds and everyone around looked utterly surprised.


    -What, did we mess something up?


    -Should we perform it again?


    -Let''s try again, slower now. Maybe we were too excited.


    And so, coming to a quick agreement, the mages performed the rite once more. And once more, absolutely nothing had happened. Somehow, despite that, the second try seemed even less spectacular than the first one.


    After staring at me in disbelief for at least a whole minute, they, quite literally, jumped over the altar and started investigating the magic circle for any damages, signs of mana depletion or any other possible irregularities or abnormalities. They ended up running around the tower looking like headless chickens as they checked, double-checked and sometimes even triple-checked various things, investigated the walls for any oddities and cross-referenced a series of parchments and books to ensure the absolute perfect condition for performing the ritual were actually achieved. Quite a few long minutes later, they returned to the altar and whispered to one another for a bit longer before they turned to face me, all at once, which was more than slightly disturbing. Even though I couldn''t see their faces under their hoods, I could feel their piercing gazes on me, curious and suspicious at the same time.


    -Edward, was it? It appears there are two possible outcomes: you either possess more magical power than we can measure or you don''t possess any at all. We would like to run a small test to confirm that.


    -Of course, what is it?


    I agreed instantly, at this point kind of just wanting to be done with this. The test couldn¡¯t hurt much either, right? Seemingly content with my eager cooperation, the mage nodded and turned his side to me. He extended his hand and muttered something. Suddenly, a ball of fire appeared at the end of his fingers, which then burst forward and splashed against the wall of the tower. With that, he turned towards me again.


    -That was a very basic spell called Seidr. It causes your magic to spontaneously release and take the form of your strongest element. It is actually another commonly used method of testing the aptitude and magical power, although it can only detect a single element. I would like you to perform that spell.


    -How do I do it?


    -Pick your target, focus on it, imagine the magical power surging through your body like a wild force and, with an extended hand, speak out the name of the spell.


    I nodded and extended my hand towards the wall, mimicking the moves presented by the mage. I wasn¡¯t paying that much attention to him when he first performed the spell but, luckily for me, he presented everything once again when he was explaining it to me. I took a deep breath and tried to imagine what he had told me. I was having some tough time going by that description but, with a little focus, I finally managed to imagine the magical power within me. It took the form of a river flowing chaotically throughout my whole body. That¡¯s how I always imagined magical power would accumulate in a person if it was real and so I just decided to go with it. I held my breath for a moment, trying to imagine redirecting that river towards my outstretched arm. As I exhaled, I opened my eyes to confirm I was pointing towards a wall and not another person and shouted:


    -Seidr!


    And yet, likely to no one¡¯s surprise, absolutely nothing happened. The mage who instructed me turned around to his colleagues but those simply shrugged and shook their heads. The guy then returned his gaze to me, his voice betraying his disappointment but also hinting at the fact he was fairly perplexed by what he just saw.


    -We were unable to detect any mana fluctuations. Usually even a failed spell generates some. Hence, we have to conclude that you possess no magic whatsoever. This makes you the weakest of all the people here, if not in the whole realm, as the precedent of someone having absolutely no magical power has never been recorded before. In fact, so far it was only speculated to potentially be true. You¡¯re the first person to be confirmed to have no magical power. If possible, we would like to run some tests later on, if you¡¯re willing to assist us. I promise it won¡¯t hurt¡­ too much.


    -I understand. Those tests will have to be put on hold for now, however.


    I made my reply and turned away before any of my students had a chance to jump in and defend me. I already had a feeling that''s how it will turn out. I''m an anomaly in this summoning, I''ve already figured that out. But usually, in stories like this, it''s the odd guy who ends up the strongest, right? Maybe there''s still a chance for me yet. However, not having any magic or other blessings sure does sound rough. This world seems to depend strongly on them and even if I were to unlock my abilities later, it''s likely still going to be rather tough until I get there.


    The mage nodded, seemingly thankful that I didn''t make it difficult for him. He gathered some papers off the altar and handed them over to the commander. Tsarkit looked over them briefly, stopping for a bit longer at one in particular. I assumed it¡¯s either mine or Lucas¡¯s. We were the only two real anomalies in this lineup.


    -So you really do not have any magic, huh. That''s indeed the first time I''ve ever heard about something like that. I do feel sorry for you, kid. Truly.


    -I managed just fine until now without it, I can cope.


    I shrugged and started walking back to the group. My students were all confused, they didn''t know how to react or how to face me. They were sure I''m going to be the greatest one among them all but it proved otherwise. Some of them probably now felt guilty for putting me in the spotlight earlier and hyping up the others that I will surely receive the greatest blessings of them all. I couldn¡¯t really blame them for that, though. I let out a sigh, not sure how to cheer them up either. That''s when I felt a strong pat on the back. I turned around to face Lucas and his usual wide smile.


    -I guess that means we''re stronger than you now? I call it bullshit. I''m not giving up until I beat you fair and square, no magic used, you hear? That''s what my goal in life was and I''m not changing it. So don''t forget to keep training yourself, you old dog. I anticipate a good fight with you in the future!


    I stared at him, somewhat dumbfounded, but when it hit me what he was trying to play off, I couldn¡¯t help but burst out laughing. I let out another heavy sigh, this time reprimanding myself for getting lost in my thoughts and not acting when I should. I put a smug smirk on my face as I crossed my arms.


    -Come at me with all the magic you have. I''ll still beat you up into a pulp. A student cannot best their master and I''ll work my ass off to prove that. So don''t slack off yourself either. You too, guys. As your teacher, I have great expectations of all of you, both for when the time comes for us to face off again and while you perform your duties as Heroes. I want the people here to sing ballads about your merits, you hear me!


    My students didn''t immediately pick up on what was going on as they shared confused glances with one another. But then, it seemed to hit them all at once and they all gave us big smiles, laughing and proudly boasting their chests. Even the more shy ones joined in this time.


    -You bet, teacher!


    -We''ll grow strong enough to beat both of you!


    -Just you wait and see.


    I smiled seeing them invigorated once again. At the very least, they now had a more feasible goal to work towards. Saving the world was a nice target and all but for us, used to living lives in a world where the sudden end of it was nothing more than a running meme in the Internet, we had a fairly hard time sympathising with the locals. Beating me up in swordplay hit way closer to home and should resonate better with them. I kind of hated myself for not thinking about using that idea myself.


    -Just remember: utilise the newfound strength, learn how to control it and how to use it to grow stronger. But do not rely on that power. You all were branded as highly adept, so I''m sure your magic is indeed really powerful, but that might also be a curse in disguise. Our bodies weren''t used to having magic, so approach it step by step, learn and adapt. Again, it should only be a tool to help you grow, not to elevate you to new levels without effort. You''ll only end up destroying yourselves that way.


    My students listened to me calmly and, at the end of the lecture, they all did their little salute thing. That''s when Tserkit, already standing by the door to the tower, called out to us. I nodded and the students all ran towards him, now more excited about learning more about their new strength that may finally help them beat me. Of course, I was also curious about how they will grow and what tricks they will use to best me one day.


    -A fairly grim perspective, fighting that weird magic.


    I laughed to myself but stopped as soon as I saw Lucas, who looked at me with a dead serious expression in his eyes.


    -Don''t lose yourself, Edward. You''re still our leader. If you lose heart, we all will.


    -You don''t really have to put any more pressure on me, you know? I¡¯m already crumbling as it is.


    I let out a sigh and scratched my head, taking a deep breath before continuing on:


    -I know that, Lucas. You''re all counting and depending on me. But I''m only a human too. And, contrary to you, I have no one to rely on but myself. You''re a great help, but you''re also following me the same way they do. But don''t worry about it, I''ve already made up my mind. Whatever happens, wherever we all end up, I''ll continue to be a teacher to all of you and I''ll keep acting in your best interest, even if it kills me.


    -...don''t forget to enjoy your time here as well.


    -I plan to, me going crazy won¡¯t help anyone here, will it? Now, they''re all waiting for us, shall we get going then?


    -Yeah. We still have to go back to that cathedral, right?


    Lucas asked that question to the commander, who was waiting by the door to the tower, frowning as the two of us took our sweet time getting out.


    -Correct, Sir Lucas. Now that your introduction to our realm and the evaluation of your abilities are all completed, we will meet up with Alleya and the kings of this realm. They will decide which regions need your assistance the most and will assign you to those kingdoms accordingly.


    I was feeling nervous. At this point, whatever that Holy Alliance decides on is likely going to be the final decision. Well, my students agreed to this, so even if I wanted to, I can''t do anything about it now anymore. I''m just in for the ride at this point.

 Chapter 4 - The Selection

    The walk back to the cathedral felt like it was taking ages. No one was really in much of a mood for conversations. I could tell that all of my students, even those previously super excited about it, were now feeling anxious about what was going to happen to them next. Things were now almost completely out of our control. Our futures will now depend on choices made by people we absolutely do not know and who absolutely do not know us, based on events and parameters we had no influence over. Well, what¡¯s supposed to happen will happen. If we can¡¯t influence that, there shouldn¡¯t be any point in worrying about it so much either. And yet, I just couldn¡¯t calm down my nerves at all. I know my students will do their best to survive in this world and will strive to better themselves while making the most of their situation, and yet¡­


    We approached the familiar side entrance to the great hall of the main cathedral building. Tsarkit, leading the group, stopped in front of it and turned around to face us.


    -Before we head in, I better remind you all what comes next. Once we¡¯re inside, I humbly request that you all refrain from speaking too much. If possible, we want to avoid any other problems that may arise.


    Saying that, the old captain threw me a tired gaze. I nodded, promising to hold off on any comments going forward. I made things difficult enough as they are already. Tsarkit seemed to let out a sigh of relief before continuing:


    -Once all of you are inside, I will give a short presentation of who you are and what abilities you possess so that all the respectful nobles have an idea on who might help their situation most. Like I¡¯ve explained earlier, they¡¯re all in their own perils so getting a Hero with appropriate Skills and magic might be life-changing for them.


    I seemed to recall something about this from when we had our hours long talk back in that guest room. I couldn¡¯t remember any names of any places but Tsarkit did mention some country-specific situations. One country seemed to be commonly plagued by illnesses, for example. One had serious food shortages, one was a literal breeding ground for monsters, while some other was considered to be filthy rich while also having the highest percentage of its population living in complete poverty. There were dozens of countries but many of them seemed to be nothing more than dukedoms, even though they were all still led by kings and queens. Only about five could actually be considered proper kingdoms and they held pretty much all the influence within the Holy Alliance.


    -The High Priestess Alleya will carry out the duty of ensuring every one of you, dear Heroes, lands where your abilities will be most useful. You are all permitted to decline serving a particular monarch, of course, but I advise against it. Please trust us that we have the best interest of humanity in mind. And if it turns out you do not like working with that particular monarch, you can always request a transfer later. So, at the beginning, please, bear with it.


    The captain stopped and glanced around the group. At this point we all understood that our opinions don¡¯t really matter here and yet my face wasn¡¯t the only one showing discontent about this arrangement. Still, we likely wouldn¡¯t be able to make a better call ourselves without going through several, likely hour-long interviews with each monarch and then probably ending up fighting between ourselves about where we want to go. It was simpler to have them decide and do the fighting instead.


    -After everyone¡¯s selected, you will be given a chance to talk with the monarchs you were chosen to assist. This should help ensure there are no immediate clashes of character or other problems that could potentially arise. Now, please, if you may all head inside, and leave the unnecessary comments here.


    The old soldier gave me one more sharp glance and pushed the door open, stepping aside to let us through. As we entered the great hall of the cathedral, the discussions inside of it immediately ceased. Everyone turned towards us, not a single friendly gaze among them. Some showed annoyance, most impatience, a few distaste and anger. Well, we just wasted a couple hours of their life, so I wasn¡¯t too surprised about this reaction but since I made a promise, I tried my best to look as neutral as I could.


    -Took you long enough! Are you ready to cooperate yet?


    The priestess from earlier stormed towards us. It seemed like she was done playing games and decided to openly show her anger and dissatisfaction with us, or with me in particular. The commander held his hand up to motion her to calm down. I found this  rather surprising but I did manage to keep my mouth shut about it, at least for now.


    -The Heroes have agreed to help after I addressed all of their questions and concerns. We have also already taken the liberty to test their magic aptitude, too. Those seven Heroes are all strong magic users with a blessing of a different God each. The interesting thing is these two people but let me introduce everyone one by one.


    Hearing the captain''s statement, the expressions on the nobles¡¯ faces turned towards intrigued. This caused them to become more impatient too, subtly letting that know through their body language. The old soldier had to pick up on that too as he quickly made way to the first of my students, gesturing him to step out of the line while the captain gave a short introduction, already moving towards the next person in line.


    -First is Sir Kira, this here well-built young man with dark hair, the champion of Santith, with a strong aptitude for enchanting fire magic. Then Sir Shin, tall youngster with red hair, the champion of Gearthe, with admirable aptitude for defensive earth magic. Lady Sethana, the short girl with black hair, champion of Untrathak, adept in the art of necromancy. Lady Lana, the tall blonde beauty, the champion of Cryt, with strong supportive ice magic. Lady Lidia, the tall, brown-haired lady, the champion of Serius, with powerful supportive abilities. Sir Ikaze, the tall, muscular young man, the champion of Kourito, possessing strong offensive wind magic. And Sir Stach, the short blonde kid, the champion of Zyroe, with powerful enchanting abilities of multiple attributes. Those seven Heroes all possess strong magic power and adequate blessings truly deserving of the Hero title.


    When he presented each of the students, the corresponding person took a step forward and bowed to show some respect. Except for Kira, who just proudly bolstered his chest instead, proud of himself as he has always been. I didn¡¯t know why the captain decided to mention their appearance. Looking at the crowd, it seemed that most of the taller people were up front, blocking the view for many in the back. Perhaps it was so that those people can still recognise who was who later on? Once he introduced all of the seven younger students, Tserkit stopped for a moment and looked around, clearly nervous. Was he scared of what sensation Lucas will be? Or what disappointment for them I will end up being?


    -Next one is Sir Lucas, the tall, muscular one with a brown ponytail, who... has an extraordinary level of magic even among the Heroes and a blessing from all the seven Gods simultaneously.


    This information caused an immediate uproar among the gathered nobles. Even the priestess turned pale hearing it. Of course, everyone was sceptical of it until the commander passed on the paper from the cultist-mages, which apparently confirmed everything for them. This caused them all to turn even more pale in turn, for some reason, and quiet down immediately after reading it. Could it be that they were so happy they turned speechless or did they realise that one of the two people most opposed to them is this powerful and they caused a great deal of disrespect for him and his close friend just a few hours ago? Or were they simply scared to hear what type of power I might be hiding, which made them feel even more uneasy?


    -So it''s true... And the other one?


    -This tall young adult with short black hair is Sir Edward¡­ who, according to the testing and the disbelief of the prominent mages¡­ does not possess any magic whatsoever¡­ nor is he blessed by any of the Gods.


    The entire room went silent for a moment as nearly all the gazes landed on me. I felt a drop of sweat run down my temple but I did my best to keep my posture and look somewhere off into the distance, behind everyone and not at anyone specific. I heard a few people start to whisper things like ¡°Is this a joke?¡± and ¡°How is it possible?¡±. Clearly, everyone was completely taken aback by the sheer possibility of a magicless person even existing in this world, let alone them being a summon who¡¯s supposed to excel in magic. After a long pause, when no one dared to openly say a word, Tserkit continued:


    -However, the young Heroes believe that Sir Edward still possesses great skill with a sword and that he is a formidable opponent even without magic. He might also possess other great abilities we might not have been made aware of through the magical evaluation. He is a Hero, after all, even if we cannot establish which Gods favoured him, if any; or why, for that matter. There is still, however, a good chance of him being of great assistance to the Holy Alliance if his abilities are properly put to the test and utilised. As long as we figure out what they are.


    The last sentence was more muttered than outspoken. In the meantime, the nobility could no longer contain themselves and everyone was clearly agitated.


    -No magic? That''s a scam!


    -How can he be called a Hero?


    -He''s useless!


    -We don''t need someone who failed to receive the Gods¡¯ blessing!


    -Out with him!


    I simply stood there, facing the comments and critiques thrown at me. I was surprised no one started throwing rotten tomatoes yet, or whatever their equivalent in this world was. Well, all of that was to be expected, of course. I was already informed how much magic means in this world. Still, being told all of this straight into my face still hurt quite a bit. To be treated like this without even being given a chance to prove myself and my true skill simply felt unfair to me. Especially that I didn¡¯t even ask to come here in the first place.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.I glanced over at my students, who, at first being startled by the sudden uproar, were now starting to fume over how I¡¯m being treated. Even Sethana and Lidia, the two more timid duo in the group, were starting to clench their fists. I raised my hand to try and stop them from doing anything rash but it seemed to not be enough. In a surprising turn of events, the person I least expected came to my rescue, the Head Priestess Alleya, was the one to step in front and gather the attention of the rowdy crowd and my students, stopping both in their tracks and likely preventing a full-scale bloodshed.


    -Enough, everyone! Gods must have had a reason to send him here without a blessing. They often do work in ways strange and mysterious to us, regular humans. In our ignorance, we simply fail to understand their grand plan. I do not know what skills and traits Sir Edward here may possess but if the Gods did not believe him to be useful in our crusade against the Demon King, they would not have sent him here. Therefore, he will retain his title as a Hero and be treated with the same privileges and respect as the rest of the group. At least for the time being. Now, we have already established the order, dear kings of the Alliance, so let¡¯s begin with the selection!


    Her stepping in and ¡°openly¡± supporting me did seem to calm down the nobility. On my side, most students let out a sigh of relief, glad that further hostilities were prevented and that I was still being officially recognised and won¡¯t be simply kicked out the door. Only Kira, hotheaded as always, seemed disappointed that he wouldn¡¯t get a chance to punch anyone in the face yet. Now, the Head Priestess turned towards us, or towards Lucas in particular, extending her arms to the side in a sign of a warm welcome¡­ which seemed pretty comical given her small stature in comparison to that of my friend¡¯s.


    -First, as the head of the church and the representative of the whole Holy Alliance, I would like to request Sir Lucas to stay in the Holy City and support us directly. Given your abilities and general blessings, you would prove a great asset on the front lines and as a figurehead for our crusade. With the favour of all the Gods, you must have been chosen for this spot specifically and I trust no one sees it fit to oppose this.


    A lot of the distinguished nobles sheepishly looked away. It was clear they very much wanted Lucas for themselves but it seemed they understood they already overstepped their boundaries and were too afraid to do so again. I guess this little girl did have much more power and influence in this Holy Alliance of hers than I gave her credit for originally if she could order the heads of other countries around like that. This didn¡¯t bode too well for me either, though. She clearly hated my guts and only helped me out of a sense of duty, or to simply keep the order and get rid of me as soon as possible. Or she simply saw it as a chance to solidify her position again, as it looked like I did undermine it a little before. All these options seemed equally feasible.


    Lucas looked down at her, then glanced around the room. When he rested his eyes on me, I simply shrugged. This was not my call to make, we already knew we would end up separated. Having him here, in the center of all this circus, would suit my interests best but I wasn¡¯t about to make decisions for anyone anymore. At this point, my students had to choose for themselves what path they¡¯ll follow. I could only help them travel alongside it and give some advice but the choice should be ultimately theirs.


    -...alright, I will pledge my allegiance to you.


    -Splendid. Now then, the next one is¡­


    With the High Priestess scolding the nobles and putting them back in line, the few figureheads that stood out from the crowd started to select the Heroes that seemed most suitable for their countries, one each. The order in which they were choosing seemed to depend on the size and wealth of their kingdom and the amount of forces it could contribute to this crusade, with some debate happening on one occasion when a lesser kingdom pleaded to be allowed to take a selected Hero instead. My students looked a little uneasy at the prospect that they would have to separate going forward but they started promising one another that they will meet up and fight in the near future to test their strength and the whole incident went pretty much without a hitch. While they clearly still had some reservations and doubts, which were only to be expected from suddenly finding yourself in a completely unfamiliar space and separated from the only few people you know and trust there, they all seem rather enthusiastic about the prospect of learning new knowledge, exploring a vibrant fantasy world and training up their new-found powers. The only one seemingly panicked about the whole thing was Stach, the youngest and least confident of them all. I hope I¡¯ll be able to meet up with him soon to make sure he¡¯s doing okay and to reassure him if needed. Perhaps sending letters will be an option? Or perhaps was there some magic tool that allowed for conversing at long distances? I forgot to inquire how good the communications systems are in this world back when we talked with Tserkit.


    Finally, I found myself being the only one left unchosen by any of the kings. After all the important people refused to take me under their wing, even the ones who have already chosen their Heroes were given a chance to pick me as well, and yet, despite pleas from my students, they also refused, including Alleya. It was honestly surprising how much of a prejudice there was against non-magic welding beings. Could racism be a huge issue in this world as well?


    -My holy ladiness, if I may?


    Suddenly, a voice of an old man sounded from the back of the crowd. The priestess rolled her eyes as if she was just forced to deal with someone she found very annoying but made sure her voice was still soft and kind.


    -What is it, King Gurthan?


    -If no one is interested in taking this boy, may I take him in as my vassal?


    -Personally, I don¡¯t really see how you can benefit from it¡­ but if what the other Heroes claim is true, he might end up being helpful in developing the Frontier. So sure, please take him, if you want. It¡¯s a problem off my back anyway.


    -Thank you kindly, oh the most holy lady.


    Getting the response he wanted, the old man immediately started walking in my direction. For someone branded as a king, he looked rather poor, his robe looked old and weathered, his hair was dark grey, his posture thin and weak, almost sickly. Yet, for some reason, coming my direction, he seemed full of life and vigour.


    -Young Hero, I am Gurthan, a king of a small vassal country in the Frontier. I cannot offer you much for your assistance but I assure you that you will be treated most kindly. I will not allow anyone to discriminate against you because of your lack of magic.


    -As long as I can get a roof over my head and some warm meal onto my plate, I don''t need much more compensation for assisting you, your highness.


    -No, you will be compensated properly for your efforts, I will make sure of it.


    -It''s alright. We can work out the details at a later date.


    -My kingdom is a couple of days away by carriage, so we will have plenty of time to come to terms, I am sure of it. May we, however, leave as soon as possible? This old man is feeling rather anxious staying so far away from his home for so long.


    -Of course. Just, please, give me one moment.


    Without waiting for a response, I quickly turned around to once again face the crowd at large. I took a deep breath and shouted out, making sure every one of my students had a chance to hear me:


    -My fellow Heroes! We might be separating today but the next time we meet, I expect to hear about the great deeds you all did! And as your teacher, I have the last assignment for you: keep on training yourselves and strive to control that new power you were all given. You¡¯ll all have to pass a test next time we meet. I expect you all to give me a truly hard time!


    -Yes, teacher!


    I smiled when all the students gave me a loud reply and performed their silly salute, tapping their chests with their fits, to the general surprise and annoyance of the crowd. The few that happened to be standing at the edges of the gathering waved at me as I turned around. I rarely got sentimental but I could feel my eyes starting to tear up a little. I had to make sure my students see none of that, however.


    -I''m ready, we can move out.


    The old man nodded and we headed towards the main gate of the cathedral. Moving out of the crowd, two guards tagged alongside, pacing up to push the massive door open for us. As I walked out, I made sure to look extra cool for my students, even though personally I didn''t care whatsoever about stuff like this. However, since I won''t be seeing them for a while, I wanted to remain a confident figure in their memory, one to keep inspiring them to push forward and better themselves.


    The smile I put on my lips was not a fake one, however. I had to admit, despite all the things I did not approve of and the unjust way I¡¯ve been treated, the perspective of living in a world of swords and magic was still a thrilling one, albeit a slightly terrifying one too. And since there was no way for us to return anyway, at least for now, I might as well live my life here to my fullest. After all, even if I didn¡¯t have any magic, there are sure ways which could help me become stronger too, so not all hope is lost.


    An adventure awaits me, one full of hardships and obstacles, that''s for sure. But I''m up to the challenge. I''ll emerge victorious by my skill and cunning alone and prove to everyone that magic isn¡¯t everything! I might be separating from my students today but I¡¯m not giving up on my duty to protect them, which means I have to strive to become better myself, understand this world and adapt to it. And most importantly, I have to show that smug priestess and all of those foolish nobles how mistaken and blind they all are. Henceforth, I pledge here, on my own honour, to work my hardest and help this king, Gurthan, turn his country into the greatest one in the whole realm. Now, isn¡¯t that something for a revenge?

 Chapter 4.5 - Sidestory, After the Summoning

    Once the main door of the cathedral closed, the crowd inside fell silent. The mood was an awkward one and no one really knew how to break it. Nearly all of the nobles let out sighs of relief when Edward left but most realised that such actions are unlikely to help curry favours with the other Heroes, so they quickly tried to hide it. This weird atmosphere only hung around for several seconds, though. The monarchs, in an attempt to have everyone forget about this whole situation and all the associated unpleasantries, started taking their assigned Heroes to the side for discussions. This left the oldest of Edward¡¯s students, Lucas, standing alone in the middle of the cathedral. Soon, he was approached by the High Priestess, Alleya. Despite the fact that Lucas was supposed to be acting under her, the young girl seemed fairly shy in his presence, as if scared of him. The only guess the Hero had to explain this was that she was afraid he would try to retaliate for all the unfair treatment his friend and mentor received. And he thought about it already, quite a bit, too, but he wasn¡¯t quite sure yet if Edward would approve of this. He finally gave up on that idea, deciding to wait until the two met up again. He will ask his friend then if he wants to get back at those church folks or not. Perhaps that small king that took him in will prove hospitable enough to him and he will abandon the idea of revenge. He knew his friend could be quite a bit spiteful when someone forces things onto him, though. After all, he himself learnt this first-hand.


    -Sir Lucas¡­?


    His train of thoughts was interrupted by the young girl. Her voice sounded oddly high-pitched and she seemed to be cowering a little. This took away any and all dignity she had, making him even more mad that someone like this was responsible for potentially ruining his friend¡¯s life. Despite that, he tried his best to sound at least neutral.


    -Your lady. I have a question.


    -What is it, Sir Hero?


    -Where was he sent out to?


    Alleya didn¡¯t seem to immediately understand what Lucas was referring to but once she followed his gaze towards the cathedral¡¯s door, she seemed to get it.


    -To the Frontier. It¡¯s a developing region to the far East.


    -Is it dangerous?


    -Relatively but Gunthar is pretty good at handling his kingdom. I also doubt he will just send this guy off to be eaten by monsters. Sir Edward is an asset for king Gurthan, after all, and a pretty valuable one.


    -An asset? Please explain.


    The girl looked up at Lucas, clearly not wanting to talk anymore about Edward. Seeing the Hero¡¯s determined gaze on her, however, made her reconsider if it was worth angering him over just a short explanation. She still let out a tired sigh before speaking:


    -I officially announced that he will retain his title as a Hero, with everything it entitles. This means that Gurthan¡¯s kingdom now holds a lot more influence within the Holy Alliance. He can use that to potentially secure funds and general help with developing the region, strengthening his position even more in the coming years. This king might be old but that¡¯s what makes him a dangerous player on the political scene. He¡¯s wise and cunning. He will know how to use Edward best and won¡¯t risk losing him.


    -That¡¯s reassuring, at least. But wouldn¡¯t spreading out the information that there is a magicless Hero stir up the public?


    -About that¡­ Before your summoning, the Holy Alliance agreed to withhold the information that you, Heroes, have been summoned from another world. This also includes the fact you all have been blessed by the Seventh Pantheon. We will share this information when you already make a name for yourselves. You will all still be branded Heroes and given many privileges of course¡­ but him having no magic is indeed an issue we were not prepared for. We will have to think of something.


    -Hm, there might be a solution but you will have to run it by Edward and that old man first.


    -Let¡¯s hear it.


    -Hide his status as a Hero from the public. Simply mention he¡¯s one of your men sent to this Frontier region to help develop it. Officially, it serves the same role. Publicly, him not doing any hero-related stuff and avoiding using magic will make much more sense. Behind the closed door, his status as a Hero will remain, with everything it entitles.


    Alleya thought about this idea for a moment. Lucas wasn¡¯t too sure Edward would sign up for something like this, especially if he was out for revenge. Still, this could potentially open some doors for him, or so Lucas thought. After all, he always let his friend handle all the strategies and other complicated stuff. He was clearly the brains of the duo, while Julian liked to keep to the muscle-related stuff. Even if he kept losing against his teacher in actual combat since the first spar they had all those years back, he was still much more physically fit and stronger than Edward. That, his skill at gaming and looks were all Lucas had going for him over his friend, after all.


    -I will consider it. The information about you all will not go public immediately anyway. I¡¯ll be reaching out to all the monarchs to ensure things are fine some time after they all arrive back in their countries. I will discuss it with Gurthan then.


    -Sounds good to me.


    Alleya let out a sigh of relief. She seemed satisfied that Lucas seems to be less confrontational than his friend. However, he didn''t seem as much of a musclehead as she initially thought. The Summoning spell clearly didn''t work properly either. According to the scripts, the Heroes should be practically dancing to her whim. What could have caused this disturbance, though? The fact that two more people were summoned? But one clearly got the favour of all the Gods. It would seem odd if the other extra got here by complete accident. The Gods should be able to stop this if they didn¡¯t want it to happen, shouldn''t They? They must have let him through to be transported into this world, nothing else would make sense. So, was the failure of the Summoning spell also part of Their will?


    She kept staring at Lucas¡¯s back as the Hero walked away to chat a bit more with his friends before they all went their own ways. This was understandable, many monarchs had a long way back to their kingdoms, so most wanted to leave early, like that old fool Gurthan. Speaking of which, what was he planning? A magicless Hero won''t do him that much good. Sure, he''s a bargaining chip for requesting help from the Holy Alliance but this influence could also make him a target. If his country starts to flourish, the neighbouring small kingdoms might want to invade it and seize this wealth and influence for themselves. Did that old man see something in this rebellious excuse of a man that she couldn''t?


    -Odyilla.


    -At your service, your holiness.


    A tall woman in her late twenties, with pale expression, empty gaze and medium, straight pitch black hair, stepped in from behind the girl. It was impossible to tell where she came from, almost as if she was there this whole time, just outside of view. She was wearing a dress suggesting she''s a maid but a trained eye could potentially notice a set of leather and chainmail inserts that provided armour in all the most vital spots.


    -Make sure you send your best spies to the Frontier. Update me on anything regarding this¡­ Hero that went with Gurthan.


    -Shall I intervene if anything happens?


    -No. Inform me first, as soon as you learn something. Take action only if I authorise it. He''s still formally a Hero, we can''t do anything rash. And if the word somehow gets out and the other Heroes learn about it, we¡¯ll be in much greater trouble.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.-Understood. I''ll send my men to the Frontier immediately.


    The maid bowed and took a step back, right into the shadow, disappearing as mysteriously as she appeared. To most people in the cathedral, she was never there. The others would probably just assume she was a regular maid that they failed to notice before or ever after. Lucas, however, was keeping Alleya in the corner of his view all this time. He knew he didn''t see that woman enter and he couldn''t spot her moving in the crowd attempting to leave. That meant she was either still inside the cathedral or used some type of magic he didn''t know about. He couldn''t hear what the two were talking about but it confirmed his suspicions. Something wasn''t right with this church and the whole Alliance, or at least with the people leading it. He couldn''t take anything he hears for granted anymore. He should probably find people who he could use to get information for him and verify what the church ends up telling him. But he didn''t know who he could trust here either. He knew he had to find a way, though. Edward wouldn''t just give up in a situation like this. Lucas knew he wasn''t as cunning as his friend but he had to face up to the challenge. For his friend and all the other students. He was put at the centre of this whole gig. He had the best chances of influencing things. Even if he wasn''t the most suited for this whole ordeal, he had to give it his all.


    Seeing the girl walk over to some of the monarchs to have a last chance to talk to them, Lucas decided to seek out the old captain. He found him standing away from the general crowd, near the side entrance they used earlier. The soldier was leaning against the wall, holding his arms crossed, observing others. Noticing the Hero walking over to him, he didn¡¯t seem particularly thrilled but didn¡¯t show any obvious discontent either.


    -Sir Lucas¡­


    -Captain Tserkit. I have a few questions. I was hoping you could provide me with some answers.


    -That all depends on the questions. But ask away.


    -What exactly will I be doing as a Hero of the Holy Alliance? The High Priestess wasn¡¯t particularly explicit about it.


    -At first? You will spend a lot of time training, understanding magic and your Skills. The most important thing is making sure you won¡¯t die out there.


    -How long will that take?


    -That depends on your progress. If you¡¯re a quick learner, I expect you to have a good grasp at it in maybe a month. If not, Alleya will make sure you¡¯re ready within the next three months.


    -I think you all might be underestimating me. I trained under one of the best swords-


    -Sorry, kid, but save the crap. I know you all hold your mention in high regard but you¡¯re all in a new world now. Old knowledge might not apply and old habits might be your quickest road to death here.


    -...Point stands.


    -Whatever. We¡¯ll see about that tomorrow. You¡¯ll be sparring against me first thing in the morning and I won¡¯t go easy on you for that smug talk.


    -Sure, bring it. Anyway, after I learn to use this magic, what then?


    -Then, you will need to start getting some practical experience. Go out there, kill some monsters, clear out some bandits, support the church troops. Easy jobs. That will also give you some merit which will be useful later.


    -Why is that?


    -At some point, people will learn about you. Even if Alleya wants to keep your existence hidden for as long as she can, for whatever reason she has, people will find a way to learn about someone new and important in our ranks. Sooner or later you will need to make a formal public appearance and at that point, it is better that you already have some achievements to your name.


    -Fair. Not everyone would trust in a hero that only now arrived in town and that no one ever saw wield a sword before.


    -Exactly. And after that? Who knows, really. You¡¯ll probably have to help Alleya with some errands, keep her reputation up and such. But don¡¯t think of it as such a bad thing, you¡¯ll benefit from this too.


    -In what way?


    -You might be required to travel to different countries. Normally, that¡¯s pretty difficult, even more so for someone like you, who should stay inside our borders at all times, not dilly-dally outside of them. This will give you a chance to explore foreign lands and learn new things. You might even get to meet your friends over there too. Not too bad of a deal now, eh?


    -I guess it does sound reasonable. What can you tell me about the Frontier?


    -Didn¡¯t I mention it already at our long talk earlier today?


    -You skimmed over that it¡¯s a dangerous land but that¡¯s about it.


    -Well, I¡¯m not in a mood for geography lessons, so I won¡¯t go into too much detail. But what interests you the most about it?


    -What kinds of dangers are out there?


    -Mostly? Bandits and monsters. There¡¯s just a lot of them and the deeper you go, the crazier the former and more ferocious the latter. There¡¯s also the weather. It doesn¡¯t happen often but sometimes it can really mess someone up. It can change suddenly and some conditions are fairly unnatural and dangerous. Nothing to worry about in the city but out there in the wild? That¡¯s a different story.


    -Why are people even settling there, then?


    -Mining and monster hunting, mostly. Most deposits of ore in the Holy Alliance are depleted, while the mountains in the Frontier are rich with minerals of pretty high grade. Also, monster pelts. They fetch a fair price themselves but leather made out of them is usually much sturdier than regular one. This makes it popular with armourers and adventurers but also with some rich folks who like to dress up.


    -I see.


    -Please, Sir Hero, you do not need to bother yourself with this subject. The people living in the Frontier are all capable and the Holy Alliance is also supporting their endeavours. Your attention is much more needed here.


    Lucas let out a heavy sigh. He didn¡¯t like what he just heard but he also knew that this would be the correct course of action. He was not in any position to influence things just yet and Edward definitely will be able to handle himself out there. What he just learned only confirmed that. As such, he simply nodded to the captain and walked off to exchange some last words with his other fellow students. Most of them were already getting ready to depart. He couldn¡¯t know when he would get a chance to meet with any of them again but he knew that all of them will keep giving their best even without his or Edward¡¯s supervision. That didn¡¯t change the fact he didn¡¯t like the idea of separation one bit. But then again, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.


    As such, Sevondrea, the Holy City, was slowly being covered by the darkness of the night, one much thicker than anything Lucas has ever seen in his world. This marked the first day the Heroes spent in this new world, their adventure only just starting. With that perspective, that everything was now done and his new life finally began, Lucas started feeling the excitement. It will take some time before he can enjoy the thrill of true adventure and properly explore what this world has to offer, though. Just the fact he will be taught how to wield magic tomorrow was enough to have him forget his hitherto worries and be optimistic about the prospects of the future. Whether those were his true feelings, or merely the effects of the Summoning ritual, he never stopped to consider.

 Chapter 5 - A Heros Beginning

    The setting sun was painting the town beneath us in a golden light, which greatly helped elevate the beauty of the architecture and the white marble used as the main building block. The city was insanely large, especially by mediaeval metrics from my world. Judging by the sprawl, it was safe to evaluate the population at around two hundred thousand people minimum. At first I would say there was no way this would even be possible but after a quick thought - they do have magic which should help tremendously. Thanks to arts like healing, disease outbreaks could easily be avoided and most illnesses that were lethal in mediaeval Europe might be even less of a problem than they would be in our modern world. Additionally, different types of magic could have applications in everyday life, mainly in heavy industry, construction and, most important of all, in agriculture and food preservation. This should greatly help to support larger populations and allow procuring enough consumer goods even with an overall smaller industrial base. That is to say, I didn¡¯t even know much about their actual industrial level either, so all that was simply a speculation based on late medieval European standards. I will have to ask and confirm those things later, not just so that I can blend in with the populace of this world easier, but also out of sheer curiosity of mine. It might be possible to recreate technologies and solutions of our world with magic and magical items, if they haven''t been implemented already, that is. This idea has endless possibilities!


    -Are you enjoying the view this much, Sir Hero?


    I blinked and looked down at the king, caught off guard by his remark. Only then did I realise I was smiling to myself this whole time. I burst out in an awkward laughter.


    -Ah, no. I was just thinking about something, my apologies. But I have to say, the view is quite something. It¡¯s for sure better than what I would expect.


    -Do not get used to this feeling, dear Hero. Most places cannot afford to so easily display such splendor as here. We are, after all, in the Holy City, a city-state run by religious folks responsible for the Holy Alliance. Technically speaking, this is the capital city of the whole realm.


    -A theocratic state, huh? I can certainly see that.


    I let out a short laugh looking back at the cathedral. So that little girl was the head of a whole country and not just the religion? That would explain a few things. My reactions could end up greatly damaging their diplomatic relations. Well, frankly speaking, I don''t feel sorry for her at all.


    -Indeed. People here are very religious but it also comes with its downsides.


    -Let me take a wild guess: prosecutions and racism?


    -Among many others, yes. The fanatical believers act heavily upon human purity.


    -I''m kinna surprised they decided to summon people from a whole other world then. After all, you couldn''t have expected that whatever comes through the summoning will even be human to begin with, let alone friendly towards humanity. Even with the special effect of the summoning spell, it was still a risky endeavour.


    -It was a collective decision by the whole Holy Alliance. The Holy City was actually against it for the most part. They did not have any other ideas, however, and were eventually forced to relent.


    -That would also help explain why that bitch of a priestess didn¡¯t go to any great lengths to make up with me. I assume you''re not much of a religious man yourself, my king?


    -I believe in the Gods like any other human but I am not interested in them any more than that. What about you, dear Hero? Were you a religious man in your world, and how does being here change that?


    -I was in a similar position to you, I believed in God and some teachings of the Church I belonged to but kept my own opinions about most matters, as well as being confident that religion and politics should not mix. And being here... I guess it doesn''t change anything. It''s not like I was graced by the gods of this realm so I have no incentive to believe in them or put them before my own God, even if He doesn¡¯t exist in this reality. Hell, there was no telling if He did in my world too. I''ll simply continue to live by the morals I did until now.


    -That seems like a healthy approach, indeed. I am trying to create a country that is free from oppression, be it religious, racial or any other kind. A place where people can live freely despite any and all differences.


    -A noble cause for sure, and one I can easily get behind.


    -Not an easy one, though. Racial discrimination is still a huge issue, however it is rooted in centuries of history and will not be weeded out so easily.


    -The change will come, gradually. If not from the kind heart, then from necessity to adapt in the future.


    -Perhaps. Perhaps.


    -Can you tell me anything more about your country, my king?


    -Frankly speaking, it is not much more than a duchy. I am a king in title only. My territory consists of a single city of about twenty thousand and a few small outpost villages around it. We are situated in the Frontier, a dangerous land that has been left to nature for centuries. Our duty is to gradually expand our influence into the region but due to the Demon invasion almost all funding has been cut a few years ago.


    -You mentioned you''re a duchy. Does that mean you''re a vassal kingdom?


    -To a degree. We have been sponsored by the bigger kingdoms, one in particular. They would invest money and resources into us to have some influence over our expansions and get a portion of goods we extracted. The Frontier is where the more valuable ores are located, you see. The main realm is nearly entirely mined out at this point.


    As we were talking, we walked down the hill the cathedral was built upon and eventually approached the gatehouse of the inner wall. After the two knights that accompanied us talked to the guards, the gate was opened and we were let outside. There, right next to the entrance, a large stable was located, with a great number of carriages and wagons parked nearby. The king headed towards one of them, a small and old-looking one, while the guards started preparing two of the horses. Not knowing what else to do, I continued to walk alongside the old man. He procured a small key from one of his pockets and opened the door to the carriage. He rummaged through the things inside for a moment before finding a small pouch with what sounded like coins inside.


    -The journey will take a couple of days, so we should find you some spare clothing. And at least a basic weapon and some armour in case we run into any dangers. The roads are not that safe, even within the realm. What do you prefer to fight with?


    -I can handle pretty much anything, honestly. But I guess I¡¯m most comfortable with a longsword or a regular arming sword with a shield.


    -A sword and a shield, huh? Just give me a moment.


    The old man took off his crown and robe, revealing a much simpler tunic underneath, and put them away in the carriage. He then closed and locked the door again. Seeing my slightly confused look, he chuckled a little.


    -If the shopkeepers cannot tell I am a noble, there is a better chance I will get a fair price, instead of an artificially inflated one. Our country is not exactly rich and most of my money goes to my citizens too, so I apologise but I would like to save whenever I can. Especially here, where prices are already high compared to other cities.


    -It''s entirely understandable. I wouldn''t dare to go for any of the expensive garments either. Something simple but practical is completely fine for me. It doesn¡¯t even need to be particularly comfortable. They¡¯re supposed to be travel clothes anyway, no need for them to be super fancy or something.


    -Thank you for understanding. Now, there is a pretty good clothing shop nearby. If you would follow me.


    I nodded and let myself be led by the old man. He took me down the main road, skillfully manoeuvring between the surprising amount of people still being out at this hour. We didn¡¯t stick to the main street for long, though, quite quickly turning into an unassuming side alley. There, in the corner of a small plaza at the end of it, we found a small shop. Despite the limited space, it still offered a fairly decent selection of various clothing sets, from regular tunics to stuff that looked like they would fit misfit adventurers in some fantasy game. The king engaged in a conversation with the clerk while I browsed the stock. After several minutes of browsing I managed to find some much simpler looking tunics and trousers. After trying them on, they weren''t the most comfortable thing I have ever worn, but they weren''t causing me any issues either. They also allowed for a full range of motion, which was a lot more important to me than comfort or looks. White and brown weren''t my favourite colours either but they will have to do for now. I can get some custom-made clothes once I get some money for myself and don¡¯t have to depend on the kindness of others. I can only assume dyes are fairly expensive in this world too, just like they were in ours in the period, so this surely will not be a cheap endeavour. I guess I will have to wait for a while before I can wear something I will really feel fine in. I was already starting to miss the comfort of cargo pants and jackets.


    I approached the clerk with the set I was most comfortable with and the king immediately ordered three of them. I guess it will be a long road, so it made sense to have some spares. I wonder, though, if he was just this kind or if he saw this as an investment, trying to get me indebted to him. I shrugged it off, either way I already agreed to assist him, at least for now. Whether I have a debt to work off or not, that won¡¯t change anything, really.


    After finalising the purchase, and having me carry a crate with my new garbs, we headed straight for the weapon shop. This time we headed to a place located on the main street and yet, somewhat surprisingly, there were no customers inside. What''s more, the petite, young girl behind the counter seemed to be sleeping, instead of managing the shop. For some reason I still felt some pity towards her. With her small posture, managing all that stock surely couldn¡¯t be easy. Unless she was just a clerk and didn¡¯t have anything to do with cargo distribution.


    -Don''t mind her and just look for a weapon you like.


    I decided to do exactly that, placed the crate next to where the king decided to wait and started browsing the stock. I noticed a lot of fancy looking weapons, most of which seemed completely impractical and were ridiculously expensive in comparison to the more regular-looking pieces, so I just ignored them. Even if they were magical swords or something like that, I didn¡¯t have any magic power, so there was no telling if I could even utilise their power or not in the first place.


    After a couple minutes of browsing, I ended up finding a sturdy looking, completely ordinary, steel arming sword. Despite how interested I was in HEMA and medieval history, types of swords always eluded me. I was always getting lost in what different types were supposed to represent or what changed between them. This one featured a straight, double-edged blade with much less visible taper than what I was used to, suggesting it was based on designs from earlier periods, probably X to XII century. The blade also felt a little long and tip-heavy, likely a cavalry design. Maining both longswords and arming swords, I was leaning more into heavier one-handers, so that worked out perfectly for me. Additionally I found myself a regular wooden heater shield with some hardened leather on the edges, as well as a helmet and a gambeson for some basic protection. There were a couple examples of plated or chained armour but it all looked impractical in many regards, and expensive as hell on top of that, so I had to settle for the base minimum for now. I¡¯ll finalise my set with some mail, greaves and gauntlets next time I have a chance and some more money to spare. The king didn''t seem to have any complaints about my choices and woke up the clerk girl to complete the purchase. She gave me a long, curious stare while the old man was counting the coins but she didn''t say a word to me. And with that, we took my things and left. Returning to the carriage, one of the horses was already harnessed and one of the knights was sitting behind the reins. The other soldier saddled up on the second horse. The king opened the carriage door and climbed inside. I secured the two crates to the back of the stagecoach with some leather straps and entered the cabin as well. After a couple seconds, the carriage started moving and we found ourselves going at a slow pace towards the outer gates of the city.


    The carriage had a single window with a curtain over it, however there was a narrow gap which allowed me to still look outside. The closer to the outskirts of the city we were, the more people were appearing on the streets, all busy with their own problems. The rich architecture was ever-present, the white marble reminding everyone about, I would assume, the purity of this city and its residents. It is the Holy City, there should be no place for sin here, right? Some propaganda like this, probably.


    The king seemed to have noticed me staring outside with a frown and coughed slightly to catch my attention.


    -What do you think of the Holy City so far, Sir Hero?


    I glanced over at the old man, who was sitting opposite to me. He was looking at me with half-closed eyes. It all looked like he just wanted to kill some time, but I could tell he was really curious about how I''ll reply. I pondered over my answer for a little bit while I returned to staring outside.


    -First impression? It just looks too pure. Everything here is white, religious items are displayed literally everywhere... It''s almost like they are trying to distract us from something evil happening behind the scenes, of all the dirt hidden behind the corners. I don''t know why but... maybe it''s the way that girl treated us, maybe it''s what I heard about racial discrimination, but I don''t like this place one bit.


    The king nodded slightly, giving me the time to say what I wanted. As I finished, he smiled a little, his tone suggesting he was content with how I replied.


    -Neither do I, mainly because of the issues you accurately identified. Racial discrimination, especially towards beastfolks, is present everywhere. However here, in the city of religion meant to serve as a beacon of unification, it is the worst. Demi-humans usually cannot even enter the city unless they are slaves under constant surveillance of their owner. In any other case, they have to be locked up inside, away from public eyes. If one is caught on the streets without their owner, they are usually beaten nearly to death and imprisoned. Their owner has to then pay a high fine to reclaim them so, instead, most are left to rot away in the prison cells.


    I gritted my teeth. The king must have noticed it because he quickly shifted the subject a little, seemingly trying to appease me.


    -It''s not like that everywhere, though. In most countries, even if humans despite demi-humans, there are laws in place prohibiting and penalising harsh treatment.


    -The fact that slavery based solely on a race is allowed in the first place is what bothers me here.


    -I am interested how this topic was viewed back in your world, if I may know?


    -There''s only one, quote on quote, intelligent race, where I came from. At ancient times, slavery was almost exclusive to war prisoners and people in debt. It later turned into serfdom, although the more ¡°cultured¡± people already had a knack for slaves from other continents, one primitive one in particular. That was until we discovered a new continent and found ourselves in need of cheap labour to cultivate its many resources and ship them back to the mainland. That''s when racism started to pop off and, while slavery as a rule has been banned for a long time now, a surprising amount of people cannot stop being hateful bitches disliking anyone that is just slightly different from them.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.-It seems humans are scumbags no matter in which world they exist.


    -Mhm. I''m not much of a pacifist, let alone a hippy, but people should really pull a few sticks out their arses and start being kinder to one another. It''s generally free and gets us a lot further as a society.


    The king nodded, being in agreement with me there. The topic then drifted to discussing various forms of government, some history lessons and a lot of other political aspects of both worlds. It seemed that the old man had a good grasp of what I was saying even if he couldn''t understand a lot of the vocabulary I used. We often exchanged questions back and forth asking for explanations and details, however he seemed to be asking a lot less than I would expect from him. He was excited to hear about solutions present in our world and I really wanted to learn more about the world I will now be forced to live in, as it could make my life a whole lot easier for me, so we ended up talking quite a lot.


    Those everyday discussions took us most of the time during the trip. Every morning and evening I was also spending a couple minutes each time on practice, gradually getting used to the sword and shield I now wielded. The two knights looked at me intrigued each time I did it. When I asked them about it, they said they''re surprised to see me being this defensive, and even cowardly, in how I was hiding behind my shield at nearly all times. When I replied that this is how a shield was supposed to be used, the soldiers laughed. One of them pulled out his own and presented to me how it was supposed to be done, in his humble opinion. To say the least, it felt like watching some cheap action movie crap instead of an actual combat performance. He was constantly wide open to feints, his sword swings were overdone and easy to read, his footwork was greatly lacking... And then he started to talk about Skills, a way to infuse magic into the attacks to get the most out of the wide swing or how to have your shield protect more than just your left arm because you''re holding it half a metre away from your body.


    Hearing all that, I simply shook my head in disbelief, but if this was any indication of the average level of competency among this world''s swordsmen, I might have a fairly decent chance at winning a lot of one-on-one duels as I stand now. Magic was still an issue, however, as I didn''t know how much of a factor it could be in an actual fight yet.


    Most of the time it was just the same boring routine. At some point, after the king and I ran out of topics to discuss, I even started switching with the knights to have a chance to ride on the horse. This way I could at least do something fun instead of just uncomfortably sitting in one spot and staring out the window due to a lack of any other form of entertainment. However, as soon as we crossed the fabled Frontier border, the air suddenly changed. It became noticeably heavier and was irritating my nose and mouth quite a bit. At the same time the visibility dropped, although not by a large margin, but the horizon line seemed to be a bit closer and fogged up.


    -Welcome to the Frontier, young Hero. Just don''t shit your pants too quickly!


    I glanced over at the knight driving the carriage with a disappointed expression. At the time, I had a chance to ride the horse, so I sped up a little to ride alongside him.


    -Is it always like this here?


    -No. This is just one of many abnormal weather conditions of the Frontier. One of the safer ones, too.


    -Hm, sounds like a lovely vacation spot.


    -You''ll stop laughing once you see some of the monsters in this region. I bet that even some of the weaker ones will have you tremble in fear and cower even more behind that shield of yours.


    Well, I could definitely pass on that. While I might have a chance fighting overconfident humans, bloodthirsty beasts are a whole different can of worms. Especially if those beasts were also magical in nature and potentially possessed some unexplainable by logic abilities. For now, I''ve decided to return to observing our surroundings. Since this region is significantly more dangerous than the part of the realm we travelled through so far, we had to exercise extreme caution. In most countries being attacked on the main roads was very much a rare occurrence. The wilderness was still highly dangerous in the whole realm but the roads, even the ones going through woods, were usually pretty safe due to frequent patrols. Here, in the Frontier, anything could happen. Monsters were supposed to be more common, more fearless and, not to mention, much more dangerous. Despite that, the first few kilometres into the Frontier, as I understood, were basically a breeding ground for lawless groups such as bandits, smugglers and other outlaws, usually making their hideouts here to avoid being chased by the militaries of other countries. Convoys heading for and from the Frontier were usually rich in cargo and rarely ever sufficiently protected past the border. This made them prime targets too. And since the kingdoms handling those territories rarely had the manpower to spare on raiding those bandits, they really thrived in here.


    A bit over an hour later, just when I was about to switch places with the knight in the carriage, I noticed something up ahead of us, just to the side of the road. The knight driving the carriage did not seem to react to it yet.


    -Movement, front.


    -You saw something?


    -Yeah, left side, by that rock over there.


    The knight nodded and knocked on the seat three times, a sign to the people inside that there''s a possible danger. I loosened up the reins a little, moving my right hand up to the saddle and allowing it to rest closer to the hilt of my sword. Just a few seconds later, something suddenly came flying at the carriage from in front of us. An arrow lodged itself in the wall of the carriage, right next to the head of the guard. I immediately pulled out my sword and raised my shield, holding the reins in my off-hand. My horse shook its head nervously, sensing danger as well. I spent a few years learning horse riding with the intention to fight in knight tournaments but that never came to fruition before. At least the skills I learned then will come in useful now, it seems. Too bad I never actually learned how to properly melee on horseback.


    From behind the rock, six crudely armed men came out. One was keeping to the back, holding a drawn bow, oddly at a forty five degree angle. Others were armed mainly with clubs and hatchets, excluding one huge guy up front with a zweihander that had the tip broken off. Their armour was mostly regular clothing and gambesons, two of the grunts were wearing leather caps for helmets. The leader also had some metal bracelets and what looked like extra padding on the chest with a leather patch over it. While leather itself made for terrible armour material, I couldn''t fully exclude its usability given the magical nature of this world. It was possible it was leather from some magical creatures that had different properties or that the material was in some way enchanted to strengthen it. Although, I had a hard time believing these goons could really be in possession of such artefacts, it was possible they robbed a few pieces of a quality gear from a poor merchant at some point in time.


    The muscular guy up front took a step forward and announced loudly with a deep voice:


    -You are being robbed by the Generous Hand, the greatest thief group in this part of the Frontier! Hand over all your valuables and we may consider letting you live. You have one minute to start unloading your goods!


    The knight in the coach seat of the carriage looked at me nervously. As I glanced back over my shoulder, I noticed that Gurthan had pulled over the cover on the window and was also looking at me expectantly. Luckily, it just so happened I had an idea I wanted to test out that could potentially give us a pretty easy resolution.


    -My king, may I ask for permission to taunt this guy a little and try to force him to a duel?


    The old man thought about it for a few seconds.


    -There is no way they will let us live with how little wealth we have on hand or if they learn my identity. If you have an idea how to resolve it, go ahead.


    I nodded and looked back at the bandit leader. He was getting impatient and was about to start shouting at us again when I prompted my horse to go a few steps forward and exclaimed myself:


    -You call yourself the greatest bandit group out here and yet you can''t even ambush us properly?


    -What did you say!?


    -First, you shouldn''t be shooting at the driver. Getting him would cause the horse to panic and it could gallop away with your loot. Second, you should surround us and not appear only in front, especially at that distance. It wouldn''t be too hard to turn around and escape. Same for breaking our way through, you haven''t blocked the road at all to prevent us from doing that either.


    -You have the gut to mock us? Guys...!


    -Wait, I have a suggestion. How about a duel, to prove you''re as good as you claim to be. After all, strategy and planning is pointless if you have enough physical prowess, right? You beat me one-on-one and you can take anything you want. I beat you and you guys leave, saving your lives, as long as you never appear in front of me again.


    The bandit leader likely suspected it to be a trap of some sorts by how he hesitated to answer. Seems he wasn''t as proud and stupid as he originally appeared to be. But his goons clearly were and their lively cheering finally forced him to make a decision whether he favoured it or not.


    -Alright. One-on-one, on the ground.


    I jumped off my horse and passed the reins to the knight at the driver seat. I then started walking, somewhat nonchalantly, towards the enemy. I wanted them to believe it would not be a hard fight for them by appearing incompetent... but then I realised it could be taken exactly the other way around, that I''m so confident in my skill that I don''t have to worry. Luckily for me, it seemed that it was the former, as the bandit leader lowered his guard a little as he started approaching me. When he got within a few steps away from me, he bolstered his chest out and loudly proclaimed:


    -The duel starts now!


    I immediately raised my shield in response. I held it close to myself, allowing myself a full range of motions, and looked over it at the enemy. The bandit, seeing I was going defensive, started to slowly raise his weapon up as he murmured something. Magic? If that was the case, I had to strike now. There was no telling if I could withstand a hit from anything magical yet.


    I sprinted forward, still holding my shield up. I kept my sword to the side, its point towards the ground for now. I really wanted this whole gig to look like I was still playing defensive and was just closing the distance. The bandit leader likely expected me to stop in front of him and raise my shield higher to block his strike, however I just simply rammed him at full speed with my shield, catching him completely off-guard and with his strike only half-delivered. When I pushed him back, I attacked with my sword, cutting upwards at an angle. It managed to cut clean through the clothes of the opponent, however it only barely grazed his skin. I didn''t stop there, immediately bringing the sword back on the same arc as I continued to push forward. The blade struck my opponent''s armpit and got stuck on a bone. Not able to drive the sword any deeper, I pulled it towards myself and dashed to the side to gain some distance and avoid the zweihander falling down. This freed the blade, while at the same time dealt a gaping wound to the opponent that almost completely neutralised his right arm. All this time I kept my shield closely in front of my torso for protection. My sword was now raised up and pointing towards the enemy, the flat side of the blade resting against the top ridge of the shield. I was ready to either defend and retaliate or to renew my attack at a moment''s notice. However, it seemed like it would not be necessary.


    The bandit leader just stood there, shocked, before his adrenaline levels dropped a little and he felt the pain. He immediately dropped his sword and fell to his knees, wrapping his left arm around the other one and screaming in agony. I honestly did not expect the cut to be this deep or dangerous but here was, this huge guy, trashing on the ground in a pool of his own blood, losing more every second thanks to the fact he couldn¡¯t just sit still for a moment and receive treatment.


    -If you don''t help him, he''ll die within a minute. Duel¡¯s over, now per our oral contract, you''re obligated to leave us be. Grab this guy and get out of our sight.


    I said that as I relaxed my stance and swung my sword in the air to clean the blade from the blood. The bandits didn''t react immediately but with the next loud whine from their injured commander, they quickly threw their weapons away and rushed in to rescue him. It took them some time to stabilise him and drag him away from the road. In that time, I ensured my blade was clean and sheathed it before jumping back on the horse.


    -That''s a weird fighting style, Sir Hero.


    I glanced over at the soldier driving the carriage. He was still staring at the place of the duel, as if mesmerised. His shocked face and the clear amazement in his voice betrayed that he felt at least a little stupid about criticising me so much earlier.


    -That''s not a style, I just used my head. I saw an opening and used it. I don''t know what he wanted to unleash on me but I won''t be just standing there and waiting for it to hit me if I can attack him and stop the cast before that happens.


    The soldier just nodded and focused on driving the carriage instead, unable to formulate a reply. I started riding alongside it, when the old king looked out of the window again.


    -I had a good feeling about you from the beginning, Sir Edward. But it was truly impressive how swiftly you dispatched that bandit.


    -It was way too easy. Magic should be used to supplement your fighting style and strength, not replace it. If this bandit''s skill is any indication of the general level of the swordsmanship in this world, I apologise for being so blunt about it, my liege, but us, Heroes, as we stand, are currently almost unbeatable. Potentially even when fighting a few opponents at once, we should still hold high chances. Once those kids master their magic and Skills, they''ll basically become one-man-armies. I''m honestly not surprised you needed our help, someone has to clearly redefine the way of the sword and magic for all of you and teach you all the basics of combat.


    -Ho, ho. I see, I see. Taking you in will definitely be greatly beneficial to us then, if that is the case. I will be glad to listen to any and all advice you have for us regarding the military matters then.


    -So there was still some ambition in that old head of yours, and not just empty ideals, huh? That''s good, it means my fight alongside you will have some meaning.


    -Then let us change this world for the better, shall we?


    -Ha! That''s a long order. But we''ll see the fruit the sooner we start working on the root.


    -I like your spirit, young Sir. It fills me with confidence that, together, we truly can achieve something amazing within this country. I am truly looking forward to working with you, Sir Edward.


    -Likewise, my king. Anything to help your people. And if you throw in damaging that little church girl¡¯s reputation, I¡¯ll put in double effort.


    The king laughed at my reply and moved back to the carriage. The journey continued without any additional mishaps along the way. By the evening of the next day, the capital city of this frontier kingdom, Katerial, finally appeared in sight.

 Chapter 6 - First Day, First Trials

    Katerial was indeed a small and underdeveloped town in comparison to the Holy City. Houses here looked crude and simple but their construction seemed solid, with stone being used as the primary material. There weren''t many buildings taller than a single storey and the few that were, were almost exclusively shops, inns or some other service providers. This made finding them relatively easy. There was a single chapel, placed more-or-less in the middle of the town, between the market square in the south-east and a decently sized fortified manor that doubled as the king¡¯s castle to the north of it. What impressed me the most was the sturdiness of the thick stone walls, which bore scars from, what I could only assume to be, various monster attacks. Second somewhat surprising thing for me was that nearly everyone in the town had a weapon on them and most wore, if not proper armour, then at least some more protective clothing. Children, too young to bear weapons and the elderly, too sickly to fight, were the only exceptions, although many youngsters still carried slings and bags of rocks with them. When I asked the king about it, he simply shrugged, as if it was something completely normal. And it probably was, given how much everyone emphasised on how dangerous this region is. Even I myself felt more reassured by having a sword at my hip and I don¡¯t even know a portion of what this world has in store for me yet. Here, not paying attention to your surroundings or skimping on equipment could be, and probably is, the difference between life and death. I guess this is why Gurthan, despite his situation, was so willing to invest a considerable amount of money into my gear when we met.


    Despite all the rough and tough appearances, the people here seemed to be generally kind and they respected their king, moving away from the front of the carriage and waving at us as we passed by. The king often looked out the small window and responded in kind. Whenever he did, there would be someone who spotted me sitting inside the carriage with him and immediately started asking others around them if they had any idea who I might be. The news will probably spread pretty quickly in such a small and tight community. I wonder what their reactions will be once they hear I possess no magic, though. Being a literal godsent without a gift from the aforementioned gods just seems like a cruel joke that I wish I was not playing on them. But that whole thing will be an issue for another time.


    As we entered through the gate of the fortified manor, we ended up on a big courtyard. There were a couple of soldiers training by the walls who now rushed up and formed a line to salute the king. One person, a girl looking slightly younger than me, stood out among them. Instead of standing at attention like the rest, she was approaching us rather casually. She had long, blonde hair and a cold stare. She was about my height but her posture was hard to gauge due to the armour she was wearing. It had some fantasy-style decorative elements that added to the appeal of it, and to the person inside of it, as it was likely originally intended, more than to its functionality but it was still surprisingly practical and protected everything it was supposed to protect. She was carrying quite a large shield on her back and had a sword with a richly decorated hilt at her side. I squinted a little, looking at it, but ended up suppressing my thoughts. It was a world with magic in it, there might be a practical implication to any and all of this that my narrow old-world mind simply couldn¡¯t dare to comprehend. I can''t jump to conclusions.


    -Welcome back, my king!


    She clenched her fist and tapped her chest in a form of a greeting but then stopped in her tracks as she spotted me exiting the carriage behind Gurthan. I could feel her gaze pierce through me, as if she was trying to analyze everything she could about me. I found the way she stared at me fairly unpleasant but when I looked up to meet her eyes, she quickly turned to look at Gurthan.


    -Ah, Liyanne, my dear. It is good to see you again.


    -You too, father. But who is that man riding with you?


    -This is Sir Edward, one of the summoned Heroes that I told you about earlier. He was allowed to come here to help develop the Frontier as my aide.


    A surprised murmur erupted among the soldiers when they heard it. I didn¡¯t know how much they knew about the whole ¡°Hero¡± ordeal but I assumed they knew that Gurthan was on delegation to the Holy City. This alone was probably enough to brand me as a VIP. The girl did not accept the king''s words this eagerly, however, as she sized me up and down once again, this time with a very critical look on her face. I could feel her judgemental stare ripping me apart, however after what I endured at the cathedral, this wasn¡¯t much at all. Yet it still made me feel strangely uncomfortable.


    -A Hero? Him? I thought they would look more strong and noble.


    -You are being disrespectful, my dear daughter...


    -You''re likely talking about my friend here, Lucas. He does fit that description quite well. He¡¯s the musclebrain kind all the ladies fall for, after all. I¡¯m more of the brainy one in the group. But nice to meet you too, princess.


    I shrugged as I interrupted the king, taking a step forward. I took no offence in Liyanne¡¯s stance towards me. I knew I didn''t look much like a great man on the surface, having a rather weak posture and usually relying more on my speed and technique, rather than brute force of my attacks. Between Lucas and me, I''d likely be more of the scumbag mastermind while he''s the good-looking hero persona, so... She wasn''t quite wrong in being suspicious of me there, frankly speaking. I would also probably doubt myself too if I was in her shoes.


    -If you''re a Hero, which God''s blessing did you receive?


    I glanced over at her, dropping the carefree act and taking on a serious expression. This was the one question I hoped she would not ask. I quickly glanced over at the king and other soldiers nearby but I couldn¡¯t read Gurthan¡¯s expression at all. Well, since this girl seems to be his daughter, I¡¯m assuming she¡¯s already in on a lot of things, and the soldiers¡­ I¡¯d probably end up working with them a lot, so it might be better to come clean now. I highly doubted if this was how the king wanted things to go but at this point I needed to act fast and nothing else was coming to my mind.


    -That''s the funny part, I didn''t. But let me explain first, please. Apparently, something went wrong with the ritual and more people than originally intended were summoned. I just happened to draw the short end of the stick here. But before you''ll start filing complaints about it and accuse me of anything, why don''t we have a sparring match? You seem like you¡¯re versed in the way of the sword, so I¡¯d like to show you that I don''t need magic to be a formidable opponent for you.


    I added that suggestion seeing how the girl was about to explode. She clearly took some offence in me saying I wasn''t blessed, or perhaps it was my smug attitude again. Maybe she was even thinking that I tricked the king in some way and sees this as an opportunity to expose me and my supposed evil scheme? Either way, I saw the corners of her lips go up a little when I made my suggestion.


    -And if I don¡¯t accept the duel?


    -Then you¡¯ll just have to acknowledge my ability and status as a Hero as it stands. If you win, however, you¡¯re free to do whatever you want with me. The rules are simple. First to get knocked out or surrender loses. Anything goes as long as it doesn¡¯t kill or inflict permanent or lasting damage. You¡¯re free to use any magic or Skills you want as long as you keep that in mind.


    -Alright. Ready your weapon. I will not go easy on you.


    She turned away and took a few steps back, pulling her sword out on the way. All the soldiers immediately scattered to give us space, a lot more than I would expect to get for a duel like this. Should I expect some wide-range attacks from her? Or was it just a common practice ¡°just-in-case¡± something massive and destructive was to come down during the fight? I was just scaring myself even thinking about the terrifying possibilities, so I decided to ignore my own brain screaming at me how bad of an idea that was and focus on what¡¯s in front of me: a shieldmaiden who, despite agreed on the rules, is likely ready to kill me on the spot if only I were to let her. I drew my sword and raised my shield, taking up the same stance I did when fighting that bandit leader earlier. I noticed the king staring at me with some concern, so I gave him a nod that I knew what I was getting myself into, even though I didn¡¯t. The old man, acknowledging that there was no way to prevent this confrontation now, let out a heavy sigh.


    -If you are set, so be it. But let me warn you, she is significantly stronger than that bandit you won against earlier.


    I figured as much myself but I still took the king''s words to heart. I wasn''t convinced I would be able to finish this quickly and a drawn-out battle could be working against me as well. I will have to stay on my toes and look for any opening I could use. This fight likely won''t be easy to win and any mistake could lead to a swift defeat.


    -You think he''s gonna do the thing?


    -Ha, no way it''s gonna work against her.


    I smirked at the comments of two guards that accompanied us on the journey. Seems like my shield rush attack will become my signature move whether I want it or not.


    I redirected my attention back to my opponent. She turned towards me, her shield hanging unnaturally low, as if it was there only to cover her legs. Her sword arm was extended, the tip of the sword pointing to the ground to the side of her. It wouldn''t be a completely wrong stance if she used the shield properly but it still wouldn''t be optimal as it quite heavily limits your range of attacks. Her footing wasn''t half bad, she had her knees bent slightly, her feet were apart and her weight was shifted towards the leg up front, so at least she got that part down mostly right. I had no idea, however, how much that would help her with the other errors of her stance still at play. It seemed to me that she wanted to play it aggressively, likely willing to quickly and decisively prove me to be just a phoney and not worthy of the title of the Hero.


    I smirked, hoping it would cause her to lose some more of her composure, and dashed forward as soon as we got the signal that the fight officially started. This time, however, I had a different plan. Getting into her striking range, I suddenly stopped and jumped back. As expected, the girl cut with her sword right in front of me. The speed at which she delivered that strike, however, caught me off-guard. The strike was so fast I barely noticed it. What I did notice was the impact on my shield. The princess leaned in during the slash, far more than I would expect. This gave her just enough range to have the tip of her sword scrape my shield. Yet, the power was enough to knock it off to the side slightly. I didn¡¯t have time to contemplate her inhuman abilities, though. I thrusted my sword forward, under my shield. The strike bounced off the low-hanging shield of my opponent, however. I stepped to the side, just narrowly avoiding a top-down slash at my left shoulder. The next two attacks luckily stopped on my shield. The speed and strength of those attacks was far beyond me. I could hardly keep up with monitoring where her sword was. At this point, I just let my body act on its own. Thinking about each step clearly will not work here. I twisted my wrist, delivering an overhead slash. This was not a duel anymore. At this point, I was fighting for survival. A single mistake was all it would take for me to lose my head, literally. If I wanted to have a chance at victory, I had to adapt. I had to have the same mentality. I couldn¡¯t be afraid of potentially hurting my opponent just because it¡¯s a friendly duel. I just had to assume there was a good enough healer here to patch us up in case of an accident. I had to take this seriously.


    We continued exchanging swings. All were either dodged or blocked with shields. It slowly started to turn into a chaotic melee. Both of us started to get tired, and likely bored too, of the same exchanges that yielded no clear victor. Eventually, I jumped back to get some distance, catch a quick breath and analyse the situation once more.


    The girl was standing in the same position as she was before. She didn''t look as winded as I expected her to, despite delivering quite a few fast and strong attacks against me and tanking a lot of mine. However, when looking at her, something felt wrong. It took me a second to realise - her lips were moving ever so slightly. She was constantly murmuring something under her nose. I was almost sure she was chanting something, but what...


    Without giving me any more time for thought, the girl jumped at me again. The distance between us wasn''t great but she still covered it way too fast. I managed to block the slash of her sword with my shield as I took a step back. Second and then third strike came in almost instantaneously after the first, giving me no time to readjust or recover. She was way too fast for a human, especially with how strong she was hitting. Somehow, I managed to bring my sword arm up, behind the shield. I raised my blade as if I was about to perform a downward slash from the left. However, I knew this attack would be easily blocked, like any other. I had to stop her from chanting and to do that...


    ...instead of performing the slash, I stepped forward and simply punched forward with the hilt. Thanks to the unexpected angle, the attack went over the lowered shield and next to the sword she intended to block the attack with. The blades did clash, however I simply pushed forward with my fist until it connected with the girl''s face. I felt a little bad for it but it was a serious fight and she was the one actively trying to kill me here.


    The punch was enough to knock Liyanne down to the ground, however not for long. She almost immediately started standing up but it was easy to observe that her movement seemed more sluggish now. She opened her mouth only to spit out some blood, likely from the bitten tongue. She was still bent on fighting, so I brought my sword down on her almost immediately, giving her as little time to recover as possible. She raised her shield just in time but the force of the attack, in combination with her still shaky balance, was enough to make her trip and fall to the ground once again. I kept on the offensive, smashing my blade into her shield whenever she tried to get up and actively working on breaking through or around her defence. After a minute of trying to resist, in a weak, barely audible voice, she yielded.


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    I took a step back and one of the soldiers immediately rushed to the girl''s side, putting his hands over her and chanting something. Soon, Liyanne stopped spitting blood and started to move her shield arm around, checking her range of motion. Could it be that I broke her arm with my relentless attacks? Her shield didn¡¯t look like it was any good with redistributing the shock force, the whole shield was basically a single sheet of metal with her arm strapped directly onto it, without even any padding, so it wasn¡¯t unlikely. Once the healer was done with her, he stood up and walked up to me, giving me a quick once-over before speaking.


    -Are you injured anywhere, Sir?


    -Not that I can tell.


    -I''m sorry, I only know limited healing magic and I need to be aware of an injury in order to heal it. Are you sure that everything is in order?


    -I''m a bit sore but that will pass, don''t worry about it.


    -Please let me or another healer know as soon as you discover any injuries or start feeling any discomfort.


    -Will do.


    The soldier saluted and went back to quickly check on the girl again but she motioned him to leave her be. Instead, she pulled herself up and started to walk in my direction, sheathing her sword. I did the same, straightened up and opened my mouth, however she beat me to being the first one to speak.


    -Splendid fight. I guess you managed to figure out I was using magic?


    -You can''t really fight without observing your opponent. There were a few giveaways.


    -Like?


    -You were acting extremely defensively, even when you held a clear advantage that you should have pushed. Plus, this speed and strength isn¡¯t exactly normal for a human being, no matter how well-trained you are, there had to be something else at play. Finally, I could see your mouth opening and closing in a manner that didn¡¯t mimic your breaths. So, what type of magic were you using, some sort of enhancement?


    -Strengthening. It boosts my speed and strength, just like you mentioned, but is also difficult to maintain as it requires constant chanting and mana supply. Charging at an enemy sometimes results in the spell breaking, rendering my blows basically powerless.


    -That feels off. Have you not trained your strength and constitution?


    -Strengthening usually took care of that. I never felt the need to train like that.


    -Big mistake. What if you need to fight in an environment that blocks or weakens your magic? How do you intend to fight stronger opponents then?


    -Maybe you''re right. I guess not having magic can change your way of thinking a bit. And that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s necessarily wrong. You do seem to know your stuff, at least when it comes to swordplay, so how about we train together? We could learn a lot from each other, I reckon.


    She extended her hand to me, a kind smile on her face. All of the malice and bloodlust from earlier disappeared completely, replaced by compassion and what looked like a newfound respect towards me. I shook her hand without hesitation, giving her a warm smile in response.


    -Of course, it would be an honour. But I already had enough fighting for one day, so I would rather take the rest of today off and start in a day or two.


    -That¡¯s understandable. My father will likely want you to meet the people and learn the layout of this place too, so I''m going to stop holding you up now.


    -You father... king Gurthan, right?


    -Ah, right, I never formally introduced myself, did I? My name''s Liyanne, I''m the second princess of this kingdom and a Paladin of the Holy Alliance. It¡¯s a pleasure to make your acquaintance and an honour to have crossed swords with you.


    -Edward, a magic-less Hero and, going forward, an aide to his majesty, king Gurthan. Also, likewise.


    I mimicked her slightly overdone bow. She gave me an amused smile, said a simple ¡°until next time¡± and turned around on her hill, walking away. A couple of soldiers saluted me and followed suit after her. I watched her go for a few seconds before I walked back to the king.


    -So, Edward, what do you think of my daughter?


    -If she can use her magic, she''s a formidable opponent. But she''s still lacking a lot of fundamentals. She has a lot of potential to become stronger. Far stronger.


    -Do you truly think she can still improve?


    -Everyone can. It might just be more difficult for someone who already got used to making all of those mistakes. Habits are usually hard to overcome but not impossible.


    -She always wished to achieve something grand as a warrior. Fighting against the demons was what she always wanted to do. When I told her about the Holy Alliance¡¯s plan to summon Heroes for that purpose, she was ecstatic. She dreamed of joining forces with one of them and standing against the Demon King ever since. That is likely why, having finally met one who, not only, and no offence, Edward, does not look the part of a Hero but also failed to receive a godly blessing, it must have been hard on her.


    -It''s understandable, no harm done. If I saw myself claiming to be some sort of an all-powerful being and not even have basic magic, I wouldn¡¯t trust myself either. Well, I guess to achieve that dream, she''s aiming to rise in the ranks of their Paladin Order?


    -More or less, yes. If you could help her improve, while it would surely mean a lot to her, and me personally, it would potentially help our whole country as well.


    -Prestige and all that, huh? Well, she said it herself, there''s a lot we can learn from one another, so I will definitely be willing to give her a few lessons. I am the teacher of the other Heroes, after all, I should have no trouble handling a king''s daughter too.


    I let out a short laugh. The old man smiled at me, more in a polite way than an amused one. I guess I should refrain from such humour in the future then.


    -You are confident in your ability. That is a good thing. Anyway, I will leave you now in care of one of the maids, she will show you around and get you a room. I have some matters to attend to. I will let you have tomorrow off to get used to living around here but after that, I will have a task for you. Magically gifted or not, you are still the Hero of this country, so you still have some obligations to perform.


    -As long as it isn''t something outside my scope of ability, I''m happy to help.


    -Thank you.


    The king turned around and motioned to a young woman standing to the side. She was wearing an outfit very similar in appearance to a Victorian maid outfit, although slightly simpler in design. I thought this world was set closer to the 14th or 15th century from our world but I guess some aspects may come from the future or be stuck in the past in relation to that date. This excited me slightly. It means this world has a prospect of being a lot more interesting, combining tropes from our history and, thanks to magic, perhaps even expanding into alternative histories we could only write stories about. Perhaps alchemy was a thing here, and not just in relation to making potions or creating metal alloys but in its true essence, transmuting one element into another? All in due time, however, as the maid walked up and bowed down deeply in front of us.


    -Mearyl, please show Sir Edward around and find him a bedroom. I believe some proper food should also be in order.


    -Of course, my king.


    I gave a respectful nod to Gurthan as he turned and walked away. The girl glanced at me and gave me a warm smile. Her brown hair contrasted nicely with her pale skin and deep, green eyes. She had a small posture, barely reaching my shoulders, but showed a lot of confidence in herself and seemed like a rather cheerful person through her mannerism.


    -I am Mearyl, one of the castle maids. If you ever require anything, Sir, please just let one of the maids know and we will see to it immediately.


    -Thank you, I¡¯ll be sure to rely on you.


    -Do you feel up for a walk or would you want to rest a bit first? That fight against the princess must have been tiring.


    -It didn''t last that long, so I''m not that tired. I would be thankful if you could show me around the castle first.


    -Of course, Sir. Right now, we''re in the courtyard of the castle, this is where our soldiers usually train, since, for the time being, we''re still lacking a formal training field and barracks. However, once we secure the funds and materials for them, the king is planning on turning this place into a nice garden, just like the one over there, behind that short wall. And over there, you can find the stables...


    Mearyl turned out to be quite talkative and was more than happy to mention everything she knew about every place she was showing me. She also gave extensive answers to any question I had. I learned a lot of useful information and after just one tour, I felt like I knew my way around the castle a lot better than around my own block back in my world. Which could actually be true since I usually just used my own paths to wherever I needed to go and didn''t explore the area that much.


    Despite the castle not being that big, it still took us a few hours to walk around it, mostly due to all the stops and explanations Mearyl made. Once we reached one of the castle towers, she spent well over an hour pointing at various interesting places around the town beneath us, as well as some of the landscape and landmarks around us. I started to regret not having a notebook with me, remembering all of this might prove difficult. I almost felt like a student back at the university, when I was still eager to learn and was struck with a wall of information I won''t ever need again until the day of the exam and not once after. I was still extremely grateful to her for all of her insights, however.


    Once the sun came down, the maid showed me to a room, which the other maids prepared in the meantime, so that I could finally drop my shield which I was forced to carry around this entire time. After that I was invited to join the royal family for dinner, which, despite being relatively simple for modern standards, was a godsend in comparison to the chewy meat we had as our travel rations for the past fortnight. Now I was able to enjoy a proper roast and a selection of vegetables that could leave even the grandest of mediaeval feasts looking like pleb houses, and it wasn''t even a big feast. This made me really curious about what other types of foods I still have to experience. So far, there were a number of them that resembled those on Earth, like carrots, leaks or potatoes, the latter of which were actually unknown in medieval Europe. This once again showed that I should not be drawing any parallel comparisons and assume things based on what I knew about the history of our world. Yet, there were quite a few vegetables that I couldn''t quite compare to anything I knew from my world.


    After the feast, Mearyl led me to a bathhouse, so that I could properly wash off the sweat and dust of the road. As I was soaking in hot water, I realised that, despite certain conveniences clearly existing, like the fact that I was sitting in a pool which clearly had heated up water for comfort, I can only expect stuff like this when I''m in the towns, and likely only the bigger ones. As a Hero, it sounded like I will be mostly travelling, so many comforts will just not exist for me. This is something I''ll really have to prepare mentally for. It''s not like I can''t do it, the journey here took over two weeks after all. I guess I can take having no comfort and amenities as a given and just treat any I come across as a rare chance to use them. This should greatly boost the comfort I''ll be getting from them. Still, I''m definitely going to be missing a lot of conveniences of the modern world. I wonder how difficult recreating some of them with magic might be. After all, most innovative designs come not necessarily from developments in technologies but a better understanding and ideas for application of already existing ones. For that, I will have to learn a lot about the technological state of this world and the principles of magic and its utility. This castle does have a small library, so I may browse through it at some point. Or I could ask the princess for a lecture, she ought to know a few things, being royalty and a Paladin and all that. The other question is: do I really want to push this world into a potential spiral of technological development? Or, more precisely, if I even can do it in the first place? Still, the concept definitely got me excited. After all, while I might be strong as I am, magic''s still a huge factor and without it I doubt I can stand up to the Demon King, let alone help defeat it. This means I have to look for alternative solutions to be of help to my students and the people around me. I might be magicless, but I was still given the title of a Hero and a chance to prove myself. I have to at least try and make a name for myself so that I''m not being skipped out in history books when the other Heroes are mentioned.


    Realising that I''ve been soaking in the bath for quite a while now, and that I almost fell asleep in it, I quickly got out and dried myself. After changing into some cleaner clothes, I left the dirty bundle with Mearyl, who took it to wash it, while I headed towards my room. It was already fairly late and I had plans for tomorrow, so I headed straight for the bed. It would be a real shame to sleep in, after all.

 Chapter 7 - Companionship

    I totally slept in.


    I was awoken by the sound of a group of soldiers training in the courtyard. I sat up on my bed and listened to them for a while before quickly throwing on my clothes, taking my sword and leaving the room. It seemed to be fairly warm today, so I gave up on wearing the gambeson and the helmet. It''s not like I expected to get into any trouble anyway, so I shouldn¡¯t be needing them. I also left my shield behind, since I wasn¡¯t planning on any duels either, but I still wanted to have at least my sword with me, just in case. I wanted to grow used to carrying it around and form a habit of having it always at hand as soon as possible. Plus, this way, I won¡¯t be looking this out of place among the soldiers and civilians of this city too.


    On my way, I stopped by the kitchen to get a drink and something to chew on for breakfast. Armed with some nutritions to silence my stomach, I walked out into the courtyard to observe the soldiers¡¯ training. A few of them just seemed to be wildly swinging their swords like clubs, others looked more like they were practising ballet with all those spins and pirouettes, while a different group kept swinging so wide that someone could casually walk up to them, slap them in the face, return to their post and still have time to defend before they can bring that sword back for another attack. And I wasn¡¯t even exaggerating it all that much. It really pained me to see them butcher the delicate art of swordfighting to this degree but I managed to swallow my comments together with a piece of stale bread as I slumped down on a bench standing against the castle wall. My expression must have sold me out, however, as Liyanne walked over to me once she saw me.


    -Good morning, Hero. Are you displeased with the training of our troops?


    -Hello, princess.


    I quickly swallowed another bite of the bread as I gave her a short wave. She wasn¡¯t looking in my direction, though. She instead seemed to be also inspecting the troops¡¯ training. Her face seemed to show a certain level of pride as she watched them, however. After making sure I wasn¡¯t speaking with my mouth full, I continued:


    -I would rather refrain from commenting on it for the time being. I¡¯d like to ask about it, however. Or, more specifically, about the magic used in combat in general.


    -Ah, of course. I can''t promise I will be able to give the best answers for all of your questions, however.


    She glanced over at me and gave me a sorry smile. Walking up closer, she sat down next to me and returned to watching the troops train. I somehow got a feeling she was prepared for quite a long conversation with me.


    -It''s okay, it¡¯s just some general questions anyway. First, how do you categorise magic?


    -There are three main categories: offensive, defensive and supportive. Let''s start with the last one as it''s the simplest to explain. Supportive magic relates to any sort of magic that passively helps you in a fight, like enhancing your speed and strength, setting your blade on fire or healing wounds. Defensive magic, in contrast, consists of all spells that actively help you, like various elemental shields, ways of dispelling or chant-breaking your opponent¡¯s magic and some other refined techniques. Sadly, it''s by far the most underdeveloped field of magic due to its fairly limited usability outside of the shields. Then there is offensive magic, which has the vastest range of spells but can only be effectively used by extremely skillful magicians. They range from throwing rocks, to fireballs, to freezing the enemy, to controlling them with gravity. The more skilled and aspect-attuned the magician, the more powerful spells they could use. Alas, cases of people able to use more than only the fundamental spells are fairly rare.


    -What about magic like summoning?


    -This would be considered a very rare and difficult magic, hence it is not categorised like this. Another example would be necromancy, which is quite similar to summoning in a way but also offers other versibility. The basic summoning similarly has more spells than just plain summoning. It can include enhancement magic to strengthen your summons or defensive magic to protect them.


    -I understand. And those soldiers, are they using supportive magic to help with those powerful attacks?


    -No, those are their Skills.


    -So Skills are imperatively separate from magic?


    -They''re magical in nature and still use some of your mana to perform and maintain but they work a bit different to spells. Spells need to be cast with a special formula and can be performed as long as you have the mana for them, while skills need to be activated by performing a certain series of actions, usually while also meeting certain predefined criteria.


    -So that''s why they''re leaving themselves wide open to enemy attacks every few seconds, they''re charging up their Skills?


    -That¡¯s a correct assumption, Sir Hero.


    -I kind of still don''t understand why they just don''t cut the enemy down when they''re preparing that powerful attack. They''re doing regular mock battles, right?


    -Yes, and they''re likely afraid of taking that attack head on in case their strike fails to finish the fight or the enemy can somehow perform it faster than they anticipated.


    -Stupid, but understandable. To a degree. So, how does one acquire spells or Skills?


    -There are a few techniques. Most cases, it comes down to learning the proper incantations or stances, studying the flow of magic required to activate them and practising until you''re able to do it. Not everyone can learn everything, though. Someone with an aptitude for fire magic will not be able to learn an intermediate ice spell, for example. Not easily, at least.


    -Even though, I guess, both of those spells ultimately resolve around manipulating the temperature?


    Liyanne glanced at me, frowning deeply. After a few seconds, she let out a sigh.


    -Not exactly, but... Okay, here''s an example. You have an axe, a metaphor for your fire magic, okay? You can hit a log with it, casting a spell, and split it into two, resulting in you casting a fire-based spell. Wanting to cast an ice-based spell using fire magic would be like using the same axe to hit the same log and expect it to take roots and turn into a healthy tree instead.


    -Okay, okay, quite a wild way to put it but I think I get it. Essentially, they''re just two sides of the same coin, correct?


    -...yes.


    -Actually, I''m curious now. How does all this magic come into play on a battlefield? I can imagine small skirmishes resulting mostly in one-on-one duels and ending up in a showcase of individual might but how do the grand battles look like?


    -You''re not too wrong on the skirmish side of things. And for the large army-on-army combat tactics, spells and powerful Skills are even more impactful there. A great mage can annihilate a whole battalion with a single cast. A powerful swordsman can cut down numerous foes in a single slash. Their overwhelming power is even more profound on a larger scale, especially when you happen to have more of those types of prodigies.


    -So, how organised is the battlefield, then? Once the two sides collide, does it turn into an all-out melee or are formations still maintained?


    -Once the front lines merge, it usually becomes complete chaos. People pick their opponents and essentially duel them. That¡¯s the most logical way of doing it, is it not?


    -No, it isn¡¯t. Perhaps to someone who is used to relying too heavily on magic and not individual skill it is but to an expert, who wasn''t bestowed any ungodly powers, this is just plain stupid. Still, that means that my knowledge of mediaeval battlefield tactics is essentially useless here. Gosh, I wished I watched more of those shitty pseudo-historical drama shows, their comedically horrendous battle scenes would be of practical use in this case, actually.


    -...I have no idea what you''re talking about.


    -Of course you don''t, you''ve been born at least 500 years too early to understand it. Unless us Heroes being here will somehow accelerate this process but even then it should take quite a long while to become widely adopted.


    I glanced over at the princess and almost burst out laughing at her expression. Somehow she managed to look surprised, offended, concerned and as if she was dealing with a lunatic all at the same time. Well, I couldn''t exactly blame her, so I decided to give her a little context instead:


    -I assume you know where we, the Heroes, come from, right?


    -Father did mention to me in private that you aren¡¯t from this world, if that¡¯s what you mean.


    -Indeed. Our home world is one you would consider to be in a distant future from yours. Your society is comparable to ours from around a thousand to something like five hundred years ago, more or less. There are some slightly modern, yet still vastly obsolete, designs here and there, however. Those seem to be limited mainly to clothing and architecture, though, from what I have seen so far. It is quite a unique blend, to be fair. Anyway, people in our modern times were often interested in history, but not from the perspective of factual accuracy. They just wanted to see the regular dramaturgy, just with historical characters and an occasional factual event or two. So, in most cases, things like outfits were greatly inaccurate and stylised, since the majority of the target audience wouldn''t be able to tell otherwise anyway. Same goes for battles, sadly. They lack the strategy that truly made them fascinating and so grand and instead are replaced with just wide swings of swords to fulfil the action demand of the couch potatoes.


    -The¡­ couch potatoes?


    -People who just sit and do absolutely nothing productive, essentially. Half of the target audience of those bloody shows. But that''s unimportant. What I wanted to say is that I can''t just apply my knowledge to this world and expect it to work. The fights I won until now I won basically by pure chance, it seems. I was just lucky that the strategy I chose happened to work against the opponent I was facing at the time but I can''t rely on that quality forever. I can¡¯t just hope they won¡¯t have actual skill or some magical Skills to counter me. I still believe there''s merit in introducing what I know about HEMA, the fighting style I use, to this world, however. A proper integration of magic and Skills into it should create more potent combos and lower the reliance on magic, at least to a degree, allowing for a greater versatility in a fight. Still, this will take a lot of time and trial-and-error until we can figure out how to blend the best of the two worlds together. Battlefield tactics, however, is something else entirely and so far... I would either have to study your warfare theory more or experience a battlefield myself. Otherwise, it''s going to be extremely difficult to figure out proper strategies that could utilise magic and Skills to their full potential while also not making them too far off from what you people are already familiar with¡­ although I¡¯d rather have you relearn battle tactics from scratch than overly rely on magic but that can¡¯t be helped, can it?


    -Why do you want to change our way of fighting so much anyway?


    -Progress is essential. Eventually you need to adjust your doctrines and battle tactics to stay ahead of your enemies. Besides, your country''s not exactly the richest one, is it? That means you cannot field a large army nor equip the units in expensive equipment. As a result, you have to rely on the power of individual soldiers... or the tactics that give you an edge over the opponent and are better suited for smaller units. Otherwise you will not be able to stand against your adversaries when the time for war comes.


    -But even so, next time we go to war, it¡¯s going to be against the demons. Human-on-human tactics won¡¯t apply there anyway.


    -You''re essentially a vassal state, right? You hold a lot of influence in the Frontier despite, frankly, being in quite a miserable state in comparison to other Lords in the region, based on what your father, the king, told me. We talked quite a bit about the geopolitics of the region during our travel here. Now that I am here, things are going to change quite a bit. Until now, waging a war against you simply wasn''t profitable. The Frontier states do not have the wealth and manpower to utilise the resources that can be found here anyway, so spending both to acquire more deposits that cannot even be properly extracted just doesn¡¯t make sense. But now that I am here, Gurthan will hold a lot more political leverage with the Holy Alliance and might be entitled to receive greater support, perhaps even be granted independence from his overlord. And once all of that happens, prosperity will flow into this region, people will come flocking, things will start drastically expanding and the situation will gradually improve. Suddenly, there will be a need to increase the number of workplaces, and, by extension, search for new goods and mineral deposits. And where are the closest and most accessible ones? Ones that do not require much investment in the infrastructure and can start bringing revenue almost immediately?


    -...my father would never...


    -He is a wise and a kind king, that is true. However, he is still a king. Wellbeing of the country and its citizens must take priority for him. Still, whatever he does is ultimately his choice. But do you know where the fundamental issue lies?


    Liyanne shook her head. She looked afraid, as if she didn''t know if she could truly believe in what I was about to tell her, even if she knew it was likely the truth. One thing was certain, though - she wasn''t as oblivious to the position this country is in as I thought at the start of this conversation. Still, she was surprisingly innocent, almost na?ve, in how she handled it. Well, she was a Paladin, a devoted warrior of a religion, so expecting everyone to just shake hands and live in peace ever after isn''t too surprising of a mentality for her to have. She''s a warrior and a princess first and foremost, though, so she should know about how greedy people really are and that they don¡¯t care for the suffering of others if it brings them benefits. I took a deep breath before speaking:


    -Other rulers do not care if your king is kind or wise. They will see him as a threat wielding enough authority to do as he pleases and one that can get rid of them at his whim. If anything, him being this nice would work against him. He''d be seen as weak and not worthy of the privilege he¡¯s been bestowed. If he was cruel, they would be willing to stay in line more, afraid of gruesome consequences if things went badly for them. They do not have this incentive now. "If we lose, he will likely set us free with just some war reparations to pay, he''s this kind of king. We lost once, we''ll be good sheep now and follow in line. As if." and boom, they''re off to another rebellion, this time better organised and prepared as they already know our capabilities and strategies.


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    The girl looked away from me. She accepted everything I said, which I honestly did not expect from her. While I was speaking, she looked like she could explode at any moment and I was sure she would, sooner or later. However now, once I was finished, she was simply sitting there, looking off into the distance, still clearly agitated but it didn¡¯t look like I was the target of her anger. I felt a little bad for saying everything as frankly as I did but that''s water under the bridge now. It was probably better this way anyway. Sometimes the truth just has to be said by someone else for people to finally accept it. I had to figure out a way to get her to cheer up, though, so that she doesn''t lose her spirit now. I did paint the picture in a very grim light, after all, so I felt responsible. It¡¯s not like this state is doomed, it was one of the worst case scenarios, which I feel I should do a better job explaining next time.


    -Still, I owe our king a great favour, and, by extension, I owe it to this country and its people as well. I''ll do whatever I can to support and protect them. As such, can I count on your assistance in that matter?


    She glanced at me, her eyes piercing right through me. She stared like that for a moment before shifting to look at the soldiers training. She seemed like she started to understand a little bit about where my perspective was coming from because her frown deepened a bit. I couldn''t blame her, for me those soldiers looked like kids pretending to be some fantasy characters from a TV cartoon. Well, they literally are characters in a high-fantasy world, so that picture wasn¡¯t far off¡­


    -Fine.


    -Huh?


    I was completely caught off-guard by Liyanne''s sudden response and even more when I realised she agreed to my request, just like that.


    -I said I''ll support you. You seem to have good intentions even if you''re a bit odd. But you don''t strike me as stupid or ignorant¡­ Well, not too much, at least¡­


    -Okay, that was uncalled for.


    -Perhaps, but you¡¯ve got a sharp tongue too.


    -That is fair, diplomacy and public speeches were never my strong suits.


    -Clearly.


    The girls chuckled. I opened my mouth to reply but decided that if there¡¯s ever an opportune moment to take a diplomatic retreat by swallowing my pride, it was now. As such, I let out a scoff but ended up still putting just a slightly forced smile on my lips. I shook my head, doing that, and exhaled heavily. Liyanne put on a smug smirk enjoying her little victory and continued speaking:


    -Still, like I said, you seem to be kind in your own way and it seems like you genuinely want to help the people here. And, as I mentioned yesterday, I believe I can still learn a lot from you and the world you came from. It¡¯s true that this knowledge likely can be applied here as well to help us improve in our ways but it probably cannot be done as straightforwardly as you would hope. So I¡¯ll help you out and maybe, if we understand each other better, we will have an easier time coming to agreements on what needs to be changed, and how to approach it. As such, I hope we continue getting along and working our differences out without fighting.


    -Likewise. If possible, I''d like to learn how to blend in more with the people of this world. I know that the king is planning on sharing the news about me soon but still, I don''t want to be alienated and a complete stranger to them.


    -Actually, father mentioned something about having concerns regarding releasing the information about you.


    -How so?


    -You''ll have to talk to him first thing tomorrow morning, before the public announcement. Just don''t sleep in again.


    -You little...


    I bit my tongue while Liyanne laughed at the little remark, satisfied that she managed to successfully pull one over me. I couldn''t help but smile myself too, although for a completely different reason. She might have her quirks, and she may still harbour some aversions towards me, but it seems like she won''t be as distant to me as I was afraid she would be after this whole display. Admittedly, we did start off on not the best footing, both of us doing things we shouldn''t, but perhaps this is the reason why we''re able to see past them and have a pleasant chat now nonetheless.


    -I guess I''ll have Mearyl wake me up then. I can''t miss that now, can I?


    -No, you cannot. Now, how about a training session? Teach me like magic doesn''t exist and let''s see if I can figure out how to improve my Skill-based tactics.


    -Weren''t we supposed to start this tomorrow, though? Oh well, let''s see your stance first, then.


    Liyanne nodded and grabbed her shield and sword. She raised the shield to about her waist and held her sword loosely behind her, tip towards the ground. She had her legs slightly bent at the knees but her feet were too close and at a weird angle. I have no idea how she planned on keeping her balance without her physical enhancements.


    -Alright. You''re not using magic, are you?


    -No, I just told you-


    -Just making sure. I''m going to show you now why the stance you took sucks, alright?


    Before the princess could give me a response, I already walked over in front of her and completely unceremoniously kicked at her shield. To no one''s but hers surprise, the shield gave in and twisted, hitting Liyanne in the shin with its rim. This caused a sudden pull on her arm, which she could not counterbalance due to her terrible stance and the sudden pain, resulting in her tripping over and landing face first in the mud.


    -Not gonna lie, this was an even more spectacular flop than I expected.


    Despite my amused comment, I extended my hand to help her back on her feet. And despite her shooting me an angry stare that could almost kill, she accepted the help. Once she was standing in front of me again, I started pointing out the glaring issues I noticed. I was also showing her myself what I meant so she could more easily follow.


    -So, first thing, your stance. You keep your feet too close together. Move them a little further apart. This will let you have more control over the weight distribution of your body, either moving it to the back leg to dodge or front for some extra reach when attacking. Also, your feet. By having them both face the same direction you have close to no control over your balance. Having your back foot at an angle, preferably perpendicular to your front foot, and placing it just slightly off to the side, will make it a lot easier for you to maintain and regain control over your body. It will also help with both pushing and retreating, allowing for smoother and more secure steps. Next, you''re holding your shield way too low. It''s understandable, to a degree, but wrong. I think you unconsciously know that your stance leaves much to be desired and that you aren''t that quick on your feet either. Still, it leaves you mostly unprotected and is a dead giveaway where your biggest weakness is. Hold it up, at the chest level. Bend your arm and keep the shield closer, so that it covers more of you and that you have more time to react to an attack. But don¡¯t press it against your body. Leave some space, otherwise the shield will not be able to absorb and disperse the force of the hit properly. Exactly, just like that. Then, your sword... Eh, it''s not that bad but you might want to bring it closer, less distance for it to travel once you need to use it.


    As I corrected the princess, I was walking around her and constantly correcting her stance and pointing out what she needed to pay close attention to. Soon enough, the other soldiers, having done their usual rounds of training or simply being more interested in what we''re up to, gathered around and started to listen to me ranting about literally everything. Some of them even started trying out various stances and postures that I presented for themselves, although when I saw some of them absolutely bodging them, I found myself somewhere between bursting with laughter and throwing up from disgust. Honestly, I was surprised that these guys were a standing army with how difficult for some of them even a basic stance seems to be... but at the same time, they did join mid-way and had barely any clue what we were doing here, so I should cut them some slack. I''ll get them all sorted later.


    Returning my attention to Liyanne, I examined her stance and, while it was still far from decent, at least it wasn''t abysmal anymore. With this, I asked her to do a few swings at an imaginary enemy in front of her and... whatever good opinion I had starting to form about her fighting style quickly fell apart. She seemed to try to mimic the attack I did in our duel, at least to a degree, doing something between a dash and a lunge forward, but as she tried to attack, she completely cast the shield away, leaving herself wide open. To make matters worse, the attack didn¡¯t come in for two solid seconds later, giving a skilled swordsman more than enough time to perform a killing strike on her.


    -Keep your shield in front at all times, don''t open yourself to an enemy attack this easily. Focus on the footwork, you''re attacking with weight on your back foot. You can do that when you''re being pushed back but now you''re on the offensive. Attack from the front leg, use the extra range and speed. What the hell was that wobbly-ass strike? Cut cleanly, in a straight line, don''t change directions once you commit to an attack! Again, legs! You''re losing focus!


    This continued for a few minutes until Liyanne collapsed onto her knees, breathing heavily. I knew she was pushing herself for a while already but she seemed adamant on showing how far she can take it. The soldiers, who gathered around, all stopped their individual circus shows and were now looking at us. I gave the princess a few seconds to catch a breath and collect herself before speaking:


    -That''s gonna be enough for today.


    -No¡­! I can still...


    -You can''t. You can barely breathe, your arms and legs are shaking, you can''t even push yourself off the ground. Knowing when to stop training is also important, otherwise you''ll just injure yourself and not learn anything.


    Liyanne clicked her tongue. She tried to push herself up but her arms wobbled and she completely collapsed into the mud once again. I sighed and approached her, scooping her off the ground and carrying towards a bench. She didn¡¯t resist, she probably couldn¡¯t even if she wanted to, given how exhausted she was. Somewhat surprisingly, she was rather light, despite all the mud she was covered with. I guess I was too focused on her postures and stances to realise she wasn¡¯t as muscular as I imagined her originally to be. Looking at her now, without all the armour pieces, she did indeed seem to be far more on the slim side.


    -You did pretty good today. I''m honestly impressed.


    Liyanne didn''t answer, facing away from me. I seated her on the bench and then shot an angry stare at all the soldiers, some of which were giggling between one another.


    -Break''s over! Form up and run twenty rounds around the castle! NOW!


    While at first the soldiers were confused at my reaction, once I shouted the last word, they all sprung into action and started running... And at least eight different people collided because they started running in the opposite directions, right into one another. Two of them fell to the group and then started throwing curses at one another that the cultural barrier couldn¡¯t let me properly appreciate, probably for my own good too. After a few exchanges, both of them started running in opposite directions, clearly peeved at each other. I let out a sigh seeing all this chaos unfold before me and sat down on the bench as well. I leaned back, stretched my legs, closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. There was still so much to do with those idiots before they could even start to resemble a respectful army, but all in due time.


    Now that I think about it, there''s about what, twenty something, under thirty people here? With security on the walls and around the city... Some are probably delegated to defending the structures outside the town, too. I also believe I''ve heard the two knights that escorted Gurthan and me to Katerial mention that they''re using a three shift system, with the night shift being a tad smaller in numbers... That would mean there''s roughly around five hundred soldiers in this country, maybe a couple dozen less. Not that many but also not completely unreasonable for a city state that would probably rely a lot more on levies or mercenaries than a standing force. Given the fact that nearly everyone in this town carries a weapon, it''s probably the former. Plus women also carry swords here, so it''s not unreasonable to assume they will join the levy as well, effectively adding probably about an extra thirty percent of people able to pick up arms when needed. Still, even with a decently sized mob, this country could probably benefit from some bigger, regularly trained army, even if not in active duty. Seems like there are quite a few things I''ll have to talk about with the king during our next meeting.


    For now, I had to monitor the soldiers and make sure they have one hell of a training for treating my lesson with Liyanne as some sort of a show. Luckily for them, they only had about two more hours before being relieved by the second shift. By that time, the princess came to and requested I lead the training of them as well and that she will join in as a trainee too. Since they were supposed to do more strength and endurance based training from the start already, compared to sword training the previous group was doing, I obliged and explained some exercises for warm up and actual practice.


    I couldn''t even tell how quickly time had passed. At one point one of the castle maids came over and reminded Liyanne and me that the food had been served a while ago already and is now getting cold waiting for us. Only then did I realise that the sun was already starting to set. I missed my chance to talk to the king today, so I quickly ate my cold share of the meal and asked Mearyl if she could wake me up early tomorrow. With that, I headed straight for bed, feeling oddly tired despite not doing that much training myself. Tomorrow seemed like a stressful day, so I wanted to get some decent sleep in.


    -A Hero of this country, eh?


    I thought to myself as I laid down on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, I tried to collect myself so I could fall asleep more easily. My eyes were already starting to shut by themselves as a yawn forced itself out of my mouth.


    -I can teach people and come up with ideas just fine but... Will I really be able to become the Hero they may expect me to be?

 Chapter 8 - Public Appeal

    I woke up to the knocking on the door. I pulled myself up and, through the closed door, thanked Mearyl for waking me up. I quickly washed myself with a washcloth and changed into a tunic that looked a little more elegant than my usual wear, prepared for me the other day specifically for this occasion. I also had a set of clothes of a much more noble appearance prepared but I felt uncomfortable just imagining myself in those, so I decided to stick to something more mundane. This should also help my image among the people since I¡¯ll be looking more like one of them. Or so I thought, at least.


    After desperately trying to do something about my hair in the polished silver mirror, I gave up and just let them stay in a semi-organised chaos that was just good enough to not be considered too bad. I''ll really need to have my beard shaved, though. While I felt comfortable with any blade, it was only when it was facing an opponent and not my own neck. Since I also didn''t have that much experience with shivs and razors, I''d rather leave it to an expert. It would likely have to wait for a while, though, since I didn¡¯t yet know if there even is a barber in town and where to find them or, if there isn¡¯t one, then who could I ask to help me out with it. Asking Mearyl for it didn¡¯t feel exactly appealing to me, although I couldn¡¯t quite place the reason for this odd conviction.


    Coming to the dining room, Liyanne was already sitting at the table, enjoying her meal. She gave me a polite nod as I entered and scoffed when she looked at me.


    -You''re looking oddly proper in those clothes. They don''t suit you.


    -Trust me, I''d rather have my cargo pants and a jumper too. Comfortable and practical clothing from my world, but we won¡¯t see them for a few hundred years at least, sadly.


    -You''ll have to tell me more about this world of yours. It seems like an interesting and comfortable world to live in so far.


    -With its own share of problems too, don¡¯t worry. Ah, thank you.


    I gave a nod to one of the maids who just placed a plate with some food in front of me, a tall, blonde girl, whose name, if I recall correctly, was Heiryl, an older sister of Mearyl. For some reason, opposite to her younger sister, she was treating me cold and with distance. Well, she only knows me for two days, so I cannot blame her for being reserved either. I turned my gaze to the princess and asked between bites of my food:


    -Will the king be joining us?


    -No, he is likely eating in his office.


    -This can''t be healthy.


    -The kingdom takes priority for him. Once you''re done, Mearyl will lead you to him.


    -And you?


    -I have my own duties I have to attend to, like making sure our soldiers are all well organised for the occasion as well. Anyway, better keep eating, you don''t want to keep father waiting for too long. I''ll see you after the whole ordeal.


    With that, the princess stood up and left the room, leaving her plate and cup for Heiryl to clean after. I nodded at her as she was getting up, letting out a sigh of relief as she went. I was a little nervous about how she''ll be reacting to and around me but it seems that despite yesterday''s less than optimal chain of events, she didn''t seem to harbour any resentment towards me. In fact, she acted a lot friendlier than I would have expected her to. I was glad, I really didn''t want to make an enemy out of her. Being both a princess and a Paladin, and hence having a lot of influence in a lot of places that I could use aside, she also seemed like a nice, caring and generally interesting person, so I wanted to get to know her on a more personal level and get closer just for those reasons. Knowing her well should also make teaching her a lot easier and more effective, too. The former set was a nice bonus I didn¡¯t plan on passing on, though.


    I turned my attention to my plate. A small piece of meat and cheese have already long vanished, leaving only a piece of half-stale bread. Without much enthusiasm, I started chewing on it. Soon after, when I was about done with the torture, Mearyl came in with her usual bright atmosphere and a spring in her step. Standing next to her older sister, the two of them really were near complete opposites of one another. They were discussing their chores for the day and Mearyl was shifting from the toes to her heels, rocking slightly back and forth as she was standing, holding her hands behind her, while Heiryl was standing still and upright, looking all serious and professional. Like fire and ice, I would have never dared to guess they were related.


    Once they were done, the young maid walked up to me and gave me a warm smile as she was scooping up my plate.


    -Would you like seconds, Sir?


    -No, thanks. Actually, wait, do you, by any chance, have any...


    I stopped before I used the word "apples". I need to get used to the fact that flora in this world have some unique names in match with their appearance. Actually, I''m a bit scared of what fauna here is called too, or, more precisely, what it looks like and how dangerous it can be, but I¡¯ll just have to live and learn all that.


    -... sweet fruit I could quickly snack on to supplement my diet?


    -Um... Yeah, we bought a crate of adeterrals yesterday, they''re still very fresh and juicy. I''ll bring you one in just a second.


    -Please, and thank you.


    Mearyl disappeared into the kitchen and came back just a few seconds later holding a pear-shaped, red fruit. She passed it on to me.


    -I have to request that you eat on the way, Sir, the king has been quite adamant you meet with him as soon as possible.


    -And yet you asked me if I wanted seconds, hm? Please, lead the way.


    Mearyl nodded and paced off. I followed her, taking a bite of the fruit. The skin was a little tough but the fruit itself had a very similar texture and taste to an apple, just a little sweeter. It tasted great but I started to wonder what sort of nutritional properties that fruit could have. I don''t expect anyone in this world to have a good answer to that, so I guess I''ll have to be mainly eyeballing my diet for now. It won''t be the end of the world if I miss on some vitamins or overdo a bit on the calories. I was never much into full control over my sustenance intake anyway, but I guess I''ll have to be more actively monitoring my body and how I feel now. After all, I can¡¯t easily get a doctor¡¯s diagnosis or just read up what exactly I¡¯m consuming thanks to the labels on the packaging. That might turn out to be a pain in the future, especially once I¡¯ll need to supplement what I¡¯m missing or if I happen to gain or lose too much weight. I''m a little ashamed I didn''t realise how comfortable the life I lived in my world was until I came here, where all the amenities and conveniences are gone. On that note, I wonder how people reacted to nine people just suddenly disappearing in the middle of the city in a flash of some weird light. Unless we didn¡¯t just disappear but ended up in some sort of an accident, like a building exploding spontaneously, our bodies never to be found again, for example. Not like I''ll ever know, though.


    We arrived at an unassuming door in the far end of a corridor. Mearyl knocked and after getting a barely audible response from the inside, she pulled the door and entered. I followed inside shortly after.


    The room wasn''t small per se but with the amount of clutter, it looked a lot smaller than it really was. At the far back, by the only window, stood a simple writing desk with an oddly regular looking chair. The king was sitting there, writing something on a piece of rough parchment. Mearyl walked up to the desk and picked up an empty plate and some utensils, then quickly made her way out, giving me a quick bow on the way. Once the door closed, the king got up and let out a heavy sigh.


    -Come over here, Edward.


    I did as I was asked. Walking closer and looking out the window I could see the town beneath, more lively than ever, with a small crowd already occupying the central square. Combined with the great pastures and fields outside the wall, the dark forest in the distance and the morning sky with a still slightly visible pink hue, the view was absolutely breathtaking.


    -How are you enjoying your time here?


    -It¡¯s still a bit early to say I enjoy it, but I certainly do not dislike it.


    -I am glad to hear that. And how are you feeling about your role as a Hero of this place?


    -A bit late to have second thoughts about it now, isn''t it? If I decided to leave now, your whole reputation would go up in flames. You showed me kindness and provided for me. The least I can do is make sure I don''t turn out to be a disappointment and a waste of time, money and good, honest faith.


    -That is a convoluted way to say you feel thankful and want to help, is it not?


    -I stand by what I said.


    The king chuckled at my reply, turning towards me.


    -There are some things I would like to discuss with you before we announce to the townspeople that you have joined us. After all, for the most part, they do not know what my business within the Holy Alliance was.


    -You want to keep the fact I''m an otherworlder a secret, correct?


    -That and the fact that you do not possess magic. I have a suggestion: how about, instead of becoming a Hero, at least officially, you will become one of my retainers, an envoy from the Holy Alliance that joined to help improve the state of our military and further the expansion of our domain?


    -I won''t lie that I haven''t thought if keeping my case a secret wouldn¡¯t be a better option. However, I''m not confident how long we can keep this lie going.


    -Besides the couple soldiers from the past two days, my daughter and the maids, no one currently should know the truth, and they are unlikely to spread any rumours either.


    -That''s not the issue here... If I''m an envoy from those church guys, won''t people start believing that new supplies and such should start flowing soon too? How are you going to meet their expectations?


    -You might be magicless and generally disliked by the church¡¯s nobility, but you are still recognised as a Hero within the Alliance. Alleya said so herself and it will not be easy for her to go back on that word. This gives me some leverage to create new supply routes for Katerial and, once we improve the safety of the region, we should encourage immigration or even get a colonial movement going. I know this is a very optimistic outlook but this is something I believe can happen.


    -And what about the Alliance itself? Won''t that cause any tensions?


    -I cannot honestly say. I know that the Alliance is considering keeping a lot of the information about the ritual and the origin of the Heroes a secret. Although, most of the spread of this information depends on the Heroes themselves and the countries they were assigned to more than the Holy Alliance itself. And you, while still being a Hero, are an issue they could have never accounted for and likely are not prepared to deal with either. If the word comes out that you are one of the Heroes and not only cannot use magic but that you do not have the blessing of a god either comes out too early, it can cause an uproar among people and throw the whole realm into chaos.


    -That¡¯s obviously the absolute worst case scenario but I guess I can see that happening¡­


    I bit my tongue here, before I could say that this would actually be pretty nice. While I was still very much angry at the summoning and the way we¡¯ve been treated, the Holy Alliance is what is currently holding the whole continent together. If it was to go up in flames, all other countries would soon follow suit. While I still want to get back at those guys, a lot of preparations needed to be done and with my current knowledge and understanding, or, more accurately, the lack of therefore, I couldn¡¯t really predict or prepare for anything. Despite all the discussions with Tserkit and Gurthan, I still knew close to nothing about the world, its logic, the political and geopolitical situation and all the other neat bits influencing the fragile balance and relationship between the regions. With my current level of intel and understanding, there is quite literally nothing I can effectively do besides just causing pure chaos and hoping it will work out somehow. So, for now, I¡¯ll have to play nice and help them out here and there as I learn more myself.


    Putting my thoughts of revenge aside, I continued prying into the case:


    -So wait, let me get this straight. The public, in general, will not know that us, Heroes, are otherworlders? Only that we¡¯re a selected group of people blessed by gods?


    -Basically, yes.


    -So to prevent questions and tensions, I will be listed out as a regular affiliate, so people do not question me about magic? And if the information that I don¡¯t possess magical abilities somehow happens to come out, we can simply state that the amount of mana I possess is fairly low and I simply cannot support most spells, or some other lame excuse like this? If I was branded as a Hero, spilling this info would undermine the whole agenda of the Holy Alliance, so all in all, they might even be grateful for us hiding some things under the rag and helping them save their skin¡­ That¡¯s what you¡¯re counting on, right?


    -You are very quick in the uptake, are you not? I feel like you will really be able to fill that role perfectly. You are a natural.


    -You can stop flattering me, thank you. Eh, well, if that''s the best way we''ve got out of this situation, I don''t see why we shouldn''t choose it. I have nothing better anyway.


    The king nodded at me before turning to look at the town beneath us once again.


    -You remember that bandit attack during our travel, right?


    -Yeah, why? Are they running amok on the roads again?


    -I will officially assign you this duty at the ceremony, but I want you to have some time to prepare for it already. Your first duty as my retainer will be to eliminate their base of operations. We have been tracking them for a while now and have a good idea where they might be hiding. Of course, you will have a squadron of soldiers at your disposal and Liyanne to aid you, as well as any and all resources we can spare that you might require to accomplish this mission. It is extremely important that we deal with this menace soon as it will only grow into a bigger hindrance once we start pushing new economic agendas and start requesting assistance from the Holy Alliance.


    -Understood. I will need more intel than that, though, to carry out such an operation.


    -Yes, I have the whole report ready for you here but we are already running short on time and should head for the ceremony soon.


    -Of course. This isn''t something I would like to rush either, especially when lives are on the line. I do promise to give my best to defeat those bastards.


    -Good. Now, shall we?


    I nodded and moved to open and hold the door for the king. He left the study with a dignified step and headed towards the exit of the castle. I followed suit, letting my left hand naturally rest on the hilt of my sword. The rough texture felt comforting, in its own, unique way. Now that the ceremony was drawing near, I started to feel the effects of stress weighing down on me. I might have been a mentor for a couple people and have some leader qualities but, all in all, I still hated public gatherings.


    Once on the courtyard, we were joined by a detachment of six soldiers to provide escort and security, although I believe it was mostly for show as Gurthan seemed just too popular among the people for anyone to want to get rid of him. I guess it was still better to be safe than sorry, though. As we were walking, the king explained what exactly is expected from me during the ceremony, where I am supposed to be standing, when to come out, basically the whole choreography of it. Next he summed up that I''ll be expected to say a few words too and what I should and shouldn''t mention, what sort of a greeting I''m expected to use, all the fancy stuff. I was honestly surprised as, personally, I wouldn''t have planned out a short announcement like this to this extent. On the other hand, I understood how important it was, getting some outside help was what those people needed and wanted for a long time. And from our perspective, there was an additional weight of all the secrets and little lies to make everyone''s life hopefully just a little simpler and easier.


    When we approached the central square, a separate detachment of soldiers had already prepared a small stage for us to enter. They also formed a path through the crowd for us to use to get to the stage. Some were keeping people in check from getting too close to it, although their job was more of just setting a line, as no one in the crowd was really pushing. It seemed like all the civilians understood their position very well and knew what they could and couldn¡¯t do. Liyanne stood inside the cleared area, looking quite radiant and commanding in a full suit of polished battle armour, except for the helmet which was hanging at her side, attached to the belt.


    As we were moving through the crowd, there were a lot of people excitedly calling out the king¡¯s name. I knew he was liked and respected but this showed better than anything just how much support among his people he had. And just how much he was, in fact, risking by betting on me. Now I really felt the pressure on my shoulders. I couldn''t disappoint him and his people and had to do my absolute best to help them.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    There were also many people asking each other just who I may be. Some seemed to have recognised me from the other day. It seems news about the arrival of a mysterious young man accompanying the king has already spread throughout the city.


    Once we arrived at the stage, as instructed, I stepped to the side, letting the king walk up onto the stage by himself. Seeing all the soldiers around standing at attention made me unconsciously assert a similar pose, with my chest puffed out slightly, hands behind my back and legs just slightly apart, even though such a position was not expected of me. I tried my best to look relatively neutral as I scanned the crowd. Most of it went silent by now, looking towards the king and waiting for what he had to announce. A few were still occasionally glancing over at me with curiosity. A decent share of the younger male population was also sneaking glances towards Liyanne. It seemed the princess was just as popular as her father was.


    -Dear people, my esteemed subjects. For the longest time our kingdom has been left to its own fate here, in the Frontier. We have been neglected and exploited by our overlord but all we could do was to focus on providing for and defending ourselves. For the longest time now, I have been trying to get support from the Holy Alliance but under the threat of the Demon King, they were turning a blind eye to our suffering. However, all of that ends now. The Holy Alliance found a way to ensure greater safety for many of its members and to provide a great deal of new strength in the inevitable conflict with the demons. There is a new hope for humans. And for us as well. Given this breakthrough, the Holy Alliance agreed to send us a representative who will help prepare our country for a brighter future. His main duty is to help our military by introducing new doctrines and battlefield tactics, ensuring greater military strength and safety of our little state. This will allow other great minds, in due time, to safely arrive in our region, for trade to prosper and to bring our region to a new high. With that, the Holy Alliance requested us to eradicate the bandits that had loomed over us for way too long already. Once that threat is exterminated and the Frontier border properly secured, further help will be sent to our country as soon as most major preparations are completed.


    The crowd, rallied and depressed by the start of the speech, now became vigorous and excited. People started cheering and even laughing and hugging one another from happiness. Earlier, you could tell that people here did not have it easy but just how miserable and difficult their lives have been was beyond my grasp until now. I couldn''t help but smile a little seeing all of them now, full of new hope. But at the same time I felt the pressure on my shoulders get heavier and heavier with each passing moment and a new smile on the faces of the people gathered here.


    -Now, now, my dear subjects. This is still too early to celebrate, the preparations and actions will still take time, however the future is indeed looking bright. Soon we will be able to import new varieties of food, clothing and many other luxurious items we stopped dreaming about long ago, all the while profiting from the trade of magic ores and beast leather and bones that fill our storehouses. While the path is still long and winding, it will lead us to prosperity and tranquillity.


    The king waited for the second wave of cheers to die down a little before extending his hand and pointing it towards me. I suddenly felt the heavy gaze of over a hundred pairs of eyes stop on me, judging me and my ability, if I¡¯m really worth their trust.


    -Now, let me introduce Sir Edward to you, our new military advisor, a young and brilliant mind assigned to us by the High Priestess of the Holy Alliance herself.


    With a new wave of cheers and applause, clearly more forced than honest, I walked onto the stage, quickly going over what to say in my head. I know what the king suggested I say but I decided to go off the script, add a little bit extra flair to it and sympathise with the people more, hoping this will warm their hearts to me a little more.


    -Let the light of the blessing of all of the seven gods be with you all, noble people. As an envoy of the Holy Alliance... and now one of you all, I greet all of you. My name''s Edward and I have been instructed to assist your dear king, his highness Gurthan, as his personal advisor to help modernise and expand this nation. I hereby declare to dedicate myself to this task of bringing all of you a higher standard of life and the security and prosperity you all wanted and deserve. I know I am still quite young and some of you may be sceptical about my ability but I assure you that I have the knowledge and the ability to help develop the military of this country, to expand the grip on the region and secure the roads for future trade routes and expansion. All that I ask is that you continue to trust in your king and keep working hard for a brighter future, together!


    During my whole speech, I was sure to gesticulate widely, to show energy and confidence. What those people seem to need most is the reason to believe that someone really can make a change. They seem to be trusting their king but trusting me, a complete outsider, will prove more difficult for them, which is completely understandable. That''s why a confident and commanding aura helped the scales tip in my favour even if just a little bit. As I spoke, I could see the expressions on people''s faces shift, from excitement and hope to doubt and concern to hope once again. As I finished, the king took a step forward.


    -I had seen Sir Edward''s capabilities myself a number of times over the past few days but for you, who have not had the chance, we decided to have Sir Edward duel off against our Paladin, the second princess Liyanne, in front of all of you, as proof of his outstanding ability.


    A mix of surprised and excited gasps went through the crowd as people started murmuring to one another and even placing bets, most, I assume, against me. Myself, I turned towards the king and hissed in an angry whisper.


    -That wasn''t part of the plan...


    -You went off the script and so did I. To be frank with you, Liyanne suggested it herself. Do not worry, you do not have to win. Just put up a good fight.


    I cursed and cussed under my breath as the amused king moved away and Liyanne entered the stage. She put her helmet on and drew her sword as one of the soldiers handed her her shield. All I had was just my sword, I didn''t ever have my...


    -Your shield, Sir.


    I turned to the sound of the voice with a surprised expression. Under the stage, with her hands extended up and a shield in them, stood Mearyl. Her being here meant that that bloody king definitely planned ahead for this and didn¡¯t decide on doing this on the spot.


    -I know you''re in on this but still, you''re a lifesaver, Mearyl.


    The girl let out an embarrassed giggle, as if she was just caught doing something naughty and didn''t have an excuse ready. I kneeled down and picked the shield up, equipping it onto my left arm. Turning towards Liyanne, I unsheathed my sword. I swung it around my wrist to get a quick feeling for the weight of the blade and warm up my muscles a little. I exhaled heavily as I got myself mentally ready for the fight. I started focusing on the princess. She purposely used mostly the same stance to the one she usually did, as this is likely something people of this country were more used to seeing. Acting according to my instruction would make the fight seem rigged, even if we explained the whole situation and the fact that she already lost to me once before. This was definitely the better approach here. Still, my influence was already showing. She was slightly lower on her legs, her feet were better aligned and her shield was raised just a little, enough to cover for her waist and not just her legs. Though she still held the sword quite far back, the tip, however, while still pointing down, was directed towards me, and not to the side or the back like it was before. I also saw her recite her magic when putting on the helmet, so she¡¯s likely maintaining her enhancements too. This fight will be all but an easy one for me because of this for sure.


    The crowd was getting a little rowdy with excitement. From what I could hear in the cacophony of voices was that indeed barely anyone placed any bets on me. Sure, I did look like a noob, with only a tunic as my armour, while my opponent was basically wearing a full plate, but I was also completely unknown to them. It was only natural to place your trust in the local person in that case. By extension, they probably hoped that if Liyanne comes out victorious in this duel, this will prove that they¡¯re better than the Holy Alliance believes them to be. And then, suddenly, the voices completely cut off, silenced by the king raising his hand into the air. And next, a single command rang out:


    -Begin!


    I didn''t wait and made a dash towards Liyanne, hiding behind my shield, readying my sword for a thrust. The princess raised her shield a little and shifted her weight onto the front foot, hoping to stop my attack rather than to lean into it and counterattack from it. I can only imagine her surprise when I didn''t perform the thrust but instead simply rammed her, punching up at her with my shield, pushing her back and nearly causing her to lose her balance. With a quick sidestep I regained my own footing and, still keeping the shield mostly between the two of us, I brought my sword in with a bit too wide of a swing. Liyanne just barely managed to block it with the rim of her shield. I grit my teeth a little at that, not from the impact force, but from imagining what this could have done to the blade. It was definitely chipped now, which was a real shame. I was starting to like that blade. Meanwhile, Liyanne pushed the shield out a bit too much, leaving herself relatively open. There was nothing I could do at this point, however. With my sword up and off to the side, it was difficult to bring it back in time for a proper strike. I didn''t have to repeat an attack, however, since my opponent followed up with their own thrust towards my abdomen. I waited until the sword almost connected with my shield and then twisted my arm to position the shield parallel to the sword and pushed it out, away from me. With that, we were both in the same position, with our arms outstretched and poorly defended by our shields. Normally, I''d now go for a hook and a headbutt, trying to cause the enemy to stumble and potentially fall, however since I didn''t have any protection and she was wearing a steel-plated helmet, that didn''t seem like a wise move. So instead I opted for a wide kick to the shin, trying to push her leg from under her. It worked and Liyanne stumbled a bit. Using the momentum, I repositioned myself on my back leg and kicked at her again, this time aiming for her chest. The attack connected, causing my opponent to stagger backwards. I used the little time I had to move my sword to the left and deliver a powerful strike from above as I was regaining my own footing. Since Liyanne was wide open and wearing a full plate, instead of slashing at her with the blade, I used the pommel to attack her head. I managed to deliver a much more powerful strike than I anticipated and the steel rang as she collapsed onto the ground, disoriented by the attack and sure to have a nasty headache afterwards. Seeing her on the ground, I simply swung my sword around my hand and sheathed it nonchalantly before extending my hand to Liyanne to help her on her feet. She needed a few seconds to fully come to but once she was standing and somewhat stable, she immediately bowed her head, admitting defeat.


    Until that point, the crowd had a bit of a tough time processing what exactly happened. I wasn''t surprised, honestly. Or rather, I shared their surprise. Liyanne''s body strengthening is fairly strong, so I wasn''t expecting to move through her this easily and to know her down with just one strike. Has she lost to me on purpose? Or did one of the attacks break her concentration and stop her from chanting and I was just lucky to push the advantage at the right time? I was honestly at a loss and so was the crowd but once the princess bowed to me nearly everyone erupted in applause and cheers. I could see quite a few people glare at me angrily, all of them likely folks who bet a decent amount of money on the princess, who have now lost all of their bets.


    I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to look at the king. He remained his composure but his eyes betrayed he was satisfied with the outcome. He also had something more in store, I was sure of it. And I wouldn''t have to wait long to hear it as he raised both of his hands up to silence the crowd.


    -As you have witnessed, Sir Edward had no issues defeating Liyanne, despite her using her strengthening magic to the fullest. He did not even leave time for Liyanne to use her Skills, and all that without using a single Skill or spell himself. For those who doubted him until now, I hope this duel provided enough merit to his name for all of you to trust in him now. I strongly believe that Sir Edward here can help improve our military so we can finally reclaim our kingdom from all the misfortune that befell it. And the bandits on the main roads will be the first victims. Soon a road to the Holy Alliance will be opened and, after all these years, trade shall resume once more! Soon, my dear subjects, our country shall rise to the glory it was always destined to have!


    The amount of aggressive propaganda coming off from the king started to slowly get on my nerves but the people were clearly in support, cheering and applauding once more, so I couldn''t complain about it. I noticed movement in the corner of the eye and glanced over at Liyanne, who, with a short nod, motioned me to follow her off the stage. Once I started walking off, the crowd got even more excited. Seems like now they''re putting about as much trust into me as they do into the king. I would have never imagined that such a short display of strength would convince all of them so easily but then again, they¡¯ve all likely seen their share of battles in the Frontier and those bandits must really be a nuisance to all of them too. I gave a short wave of my hand as I stepped down from the stage and joined the princess and Mearyl, and a number of soldiers who were to act as security, and headed for the castle. Somewhat surprisingly, the crowd had not followed us. A lot of people did watch us walk away, though. I could feel their gazes on my back the entire way to the castle.


    -Those people sometimes get a bit excited but they know their boundaries.


    I turned to Liyanne, who stopped and looked back for a short moment. I haven''t replied, waiting for her to continue her train of thoughts.


    -There''s little entertainment here, so speeches like this one are a welcome thing among them, especially since they love the king. And that duel only added to the value.


    -You don''t have to come up with excuses for them, you know?


    -I''m not trying to. I just want to tell you that they''re really passionate about this country.


    -No wonder. They''re out here, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, completely abandoned by both other people and gods, able to depend only on themselves and one another. Having a figure like Gurthan is essential for keeping a community like that together. And now that they''re given hope...


    -... they just couldn''t really believe it and didn''t know how to act properly, correct. I can assure you that by tomorrow, most of them should be back to their usual selves. Still, if you decide to wander around the town, many of them will probably still jump you to express how grateful they are to you for providing them with support.


    -Let me do something first and thank me after. Everyone''s building up expectations of me. If this keeps up, I might ace the assignment and still come off as a disappointment.


    Liyanne glanced at me and laughed.


    -That''s certainly possible. I guess you''ll just have to do better than to simply ace it.


    -Don''t tease me. I''m in charge of your training regime now so don''t forget who you''re messing with, or crawling through mud will be the least of your worries.


    -Mearyl, you''re still on my side, right?


    -Of course, my lady.


    The two girls started giggling to one another and I immediately realised what the princess meant. At this point, my laundry, meals and, most likely, morning wake up calls all depend on Mearyl. If she''s on Liyanne''s side, my whole lifestyle is in jeopardy.


    -God damn it... Okay, you win, no crawling through mud. For now.


    The two girls smiled happily at one another, enjoying their small victory over me, while I let out a heavy sigh. That''s when I heard a short, muted chuckle. I turned and stared down one of the soldiers, who immediately stood at attention with a straight face. I thought about scolding him but ended up just shaking my head and walking off. I didn''t have time for pointless disciplinary actions now, I got a bandit problem on my hands and had to learn more about the state of the military, their strengths, the terrain and all the other bits needed to formulate a plan of action. Today''s going to be a long one, I fear.

 Chapter 9 - First Assignment

    The last couple of days were full of me locking myself in the library whenever I was not busy training the troops and reading up on magic, this world''s tactics and studying the geography of this region. Yesterday evening we received some fascinating news - a brigand camp has been spotted in a cave system someway North of the main tract. We don''t yet have confirmation but it seems to be the most active group, the very same one that attacked us on the road when Gurthan was leading me to this country, which, coincidentally, is designated as the biggest threat to the region. Liyanne listened to an early stage of a plan I came up with and admitted it might be worth a try, so the soldiers were mostly busy gathering supplies, which cut training sessions a little short and finally gave me a moment of much needed respite. The whole gig was just too much for me. Liyanne insisted I train with each soldier personally but I managed to create a census by which I can judge their abilities and way of fighting, creating several smaller groups to streamline the process a little. This way I can train five or six soldiers with roughly the same fighting style and individual skill at once, which is more manageable since I''m used to teaching eight people at once already. What proved harder was keeping track of everything. That, however, was easily solved by me running a registry of everyone''s skills, regime, progress and everything else I might need. The first few days were hectic but now it''s all going fairly smoothly. That doesn''t make it any less tiring, though.


    As such, as soon as I could get a moment for myself, I found a hidden spot in the gardens by the castle walls and hid there, laying on the grass in the shade of a big tree. I tried clearing my head but doubts and concerns were flooding in any chance they got. I know I came up with the strategy we''re gonna use but I''m still not confident in my knowledge of this world''s combat sense and magic''s ability in a fight like that. Additionally, I''m to join the troops at the front line. Liyanne was strongly opposed to that but I''m a rather proud person, so fighting alongside my troops fits me much more than cowering in the back. I know that me dying out there won''t do anyone any good but there''s still a lot I had to learn and that was the quickest and best way to do it. And the main thing I had to learn...


    ... was to kill.


    I moved my offhand to the hilt of the sword on my hip, brushing it with my fingers and hesitating to take hold of it. I can fight but I''ve never killed anyone nor did I ever expect to need to kill someone at any point in my life. I understand that this is something I will eventually have to do. This is just what this world is. But understanding something and coming to terms with it are two completely different things. Of course, I could swap my weapon to something like a mace and aim to immobilise or knock the opponent out cold instead. This way, if they die, I can just blame it on poor luck. But still, I know I''ll have to learn how to kill sooner or later, I already accepted that... it''s just the matter of pulling the trigger.


    -Are you having second thoughts?


    The sound of Mearyl''s voice startled me but nowhere near the point to cause me to bolt upwards in shock or panic, as she might have been hoping I would. I turned my head towards her and, seeing her slightly troubled expression, I gave my best attempt at giving her a reassuring smile. Encouraged, she walked up closer and eventually sat down besides me, looking in the distance but keeping me in the corner of her eye.


    -Where did you get the idea from, Mearyl?


    -I just figured. Whenever you were talking about your world, it always sounded peaceful, so I thought that this whole bandit fighting business is probably a completely new experience for you.


    I let out a sigh. We started talking about our respective worlds over breakfasts, which I usually ate slightly later than the rest of the castle occupants. Mearyl, who generally had no duties at that time, kept me company. It is true that I usually portrayed my world as this ideal place with close to no worries because, frankly, that''s the life I had. But...


    -My world hasn''t been such a paradise, though.


    -Huh? What do you mean?


    Mearyl tilted her head, her face betraying a mix of surprise and curiosity at my sudden declamation. I shifted my gaze towards the sky, leaning back a bit as I supported myself on my elbows, thinking how to phrase it best.


    -Well, in short, our history was not just stained by wars and bloodshed, it was basically written by it. Even at the time when I was alive, there were constant conflicts fuelled by nothing but monetary greed, ambitions of one man or some other messed up reason like that. I just happened to live a life in a country that was on the side-line of all that, although if I had joined the military... Still, it is correct that even walking down the street I never feared for my life, health or even my possessions. Robberies and such were so uncommon that they might have as well not existed for me. I know life wasn''t like that for many in my world, though, just like it isn''t here. Yet still, even if I know that it is something relatively normal here, that I''m doing it to protect myself and those around me... killing someone still scares me somewhat.


    -Then why are you pushing yourself to do it?


    I sat up and looked at her. I opened my mouth but closed it immediately. Second attempt at speaking turned out to be more successful.


    -So that I won''t hesitate when it truly matters. Like I said, I''m aware of the reality I''m living in now. I can''t be so casual and nonchalant with my style of life, I have to face the risks and challenges. For that reason, for myself and all those I am to protect, I need to learn how to kill. I have to get accustomed to this feeling so that it won''t deter me when someone''s life may really depend on whether I¡¯m able to do it or not.


    We sat like this for a moment while Mearyl was going through what I said over in her head. I gave her the time she needed, somewhat curious about her response, but I could have never prepared for the warm smile she gave me a few seconds later.


    -You''re a kind person, Edward. You''re even willing to go against the morals and norms you were used to until just recently so that you can protect us. With that kind of resolve and determination, I have no fear of putting my life in your hands. While your heart might still weaver now, when it matters, I know you''ll be able to make the right choices.


    I haven''t replied immediately, completely caught off-guard by her response. After a moment of awkward silence, I just burst into laughter.


    -Aye. I''ve got an obligation to fulfil, if anything else. Still, I''d expect a speech like that from Liyanne but it''s a bit strange coming from you.


    -The princess and I have been close friends for years now, it''s only natural we share some qualities. Besides, I might not be as religious as her but I am at least as much as anyone else, so I think I can still preach a little here or there.


    -Alright, alright, I get it, you can stop now, or I''ll never hear the end of it. Still, thanks. Talking to you and hearing you encourage me helped me gather some more resolve.


    -That''s the least I can do for our Hero. But if there''s anything more...


    -Okay, that''s enough, I should be getting back to work. The next group of soldiers should be ready for their training soon.


    I stood up and stretched, deciding not to fall for her teases. She didn''t seem amused but let out a short sigh and stood up as well. With a short bow, she turned around and started walking towards the castle. I followed her shortly after. Still, talking to her really did boost my confidence quite a bit. Well, there was nothing to worry about, it was still at least a couple of days before we will attack the bandits. I still had plenty of time to come to terms with myself. For now, I had more important matters to attend to, like the training of the soldiers. They''ll be doing most of the fighting anyway, so they need to be in top form. Training them up is also a way of protecting them, after all.


    Returning to the courtyard, I found the five soldiers already gathered. I pulled out my notes and confirmed which group it was and what their role in the upcoming battle was. Seeing they belonged to the archer squadron made me want to reconsider and go back to the park. I wasn''t great with a bow and knew even less about the theory of it but they still insisted I supervised them in their training. I consulted my notes again after exchanging a short greeting with my ¡°students".


    -Last time we were focusing on posture and on a proper draw, is that correct?


    -Yes, Sir!


    -One of you mentioned something about a certain bow Skill, do I remember it right?


    -Yes, I did.


    I took a look at the somewhat small and feeble soldier in front of me. He was younger than me, seemingly barely an adult in terms of my world''s common sense, a rare exception in this region''s military. Most soldiers were at least a few years older than me. That was because the majority of them came from a civilian organisation with a pretty ordinary name, the Town Watch, after serving in it for a few years and getting a good reputation. This young man, apparently, was helping his father, who was a Town Watcher and an adventurer, since he was just a kid. He used to assist in general preparations and was getting a lot of training in the meantime. That¡¯s why he was accepted into the official military so quickly and without many issues.


    -Okay, show it to me.


    The youngster nodded and took a stance. He drew the bow at about half strength and tilted it sideways. The tip of the arrow started glowing a little with an unnatural, grey light. He held it like that for a moment before pulling the string back a little more and suddenly releasing it. The arrow shot towards the target and pierced into it to a similar depth as one shot from a fully drawn bow would. I walked up and investigated it up close for a few moments, scratching my chin as I analysed what I just saw.


    -Greater punching power at the cost of speed and, consequently, the range of the projectile. I understand that the waiting time is mandatory as well? In that case it isn''t even very viable in close quarters either.


    -I''m not the best at it but I saw some archers who could get a lot more power into it.


    -Sheer magical power? Or were they using special bows or arrows for it?


    -No, Sir, just sheer Skill strength.


    -So it''s not uniform either, huh?


    I thought about the potential methods of increasing the draw power while maintaining all of the elements of the Skill. One was to use compact bows instead of longbows but since magic was so prominent in this world, straight bows replaced most projectile weapons and specialised equipment was rare if not completely unheard of. The only ones I''ve seen so far were shortbows used for hunting and longbows used by auxiliary troops in case the spellcasters ran dry on mana or if the enemy had some anti-magic defences. Those guys were even raising eyebrows at the idea of throwing axes or javelins at the enemy.


    -So, the activation condition is that your bow is placed horizontally, not vertically, is that correct?


    -Yes, Sir. I cannot activate it if the bow is held straight up. It also has to be at around half of the maximum draw.


    -Do you have to shoot it in that position as well?


    -Well¡­ I¡¯ve never tried doing it differently and haven¡¯t seen or heard about it¡­


    -There. Try activating it again but just before releasing, push the bow up straight and try to get a full draw.


    The soldier looked at me a little unsure but nodded and drew the next arrow. From what I understood about Skills, the activation mechanisms are supposed to just pop into your head when you acquire the Skill. It''s not like magic that requires specific formulas and activations that can be passed down or even written down and used by basically whoever has the magic capacity to do so. The affinity for certain types of magic only boosts the effect of the spell or lowers its required mana consumption. Skills, on the other hand, while often also utilising mana, are more similar to special moves I''ve seen in many action movies and beat-them-up games. It is possible to learn them by harsh training and guidance from someone who has mastered the Skill but it''s a fairly rare occurrence. Some Skills also "unlock" themselves after certain conditions are met. It''s a whole weird game-esk system that even the residents of this world don''t fully understand, which makes it extremely difficult for me to work with. Properly understanding it should be my priority right alongside figuring out magic, as soon as I have some time to do research about it. Figuring this stuff out should greatly help my actual students as well, after all¡­ once we figure out how to keep in touch more easily.


    The archer activated his Skill and with a deep breath, straightened the bow and pulled the string back. The glow on the tip of the arrow started to quickly fade away and was completely gone by the time he released.


    -No, it doesn''t work.


    -I''m not so sure myself.


    The kid and all the other soldiers looked at me surprised as I continued to scratch my chin thinking about what I just saw. Noticing their glances, I figured I owed them an explanation on what has intrigued me and what they, apparently, failed to notice.


    -You see, the glow on the arrow didn''t disappear instantly. This might mean that the Skill is only pouring a certain amount of mana into the arrow that slowly fades away after the Skill deactivates. I would like you to shoot once or twice more, I need to confirm something. If I''m right, it should still be possible to fire at full draw, just perhaps with not as much power to the Skill. Using different arrows could, potentially, also boost the effectiveness of it, although that would require further experimentation. The former alone would still prove greatly beneficial and, if correct, could even be implemented into... Ah, sorry, I¡¯m getting slightly ahead of myself here. Please, if you could use that Skill normally once again? I just need to confirm something.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Seeing my enthusiasm about some apparent finding he likely couldn''t figure out for himself, the young soldier agreed to show the Skill one more time. And then again. And another time, this time taking longer to release the arrow. From all those tests, I managed to observe that the glow of the arrow was fading away as it was airborne, although on such a short distance, it was difficult to observe it properly and I couldn''t just have him shoot over the wall and risk hitting someone on the other side. Still, this confirmed what I was looking for.


    -It''s far from a scientific conduct but I''m starting to be positive about one thing - you''re storing mana into the arrow which then starts dissipating, or is already doing so from the start. This means there''s both a limited amount of time for the full draw and the flight time, both of which would extend if we could somehow limit how much mana is sipping out or increase the amount that can be stored into the arrow, or by some other way... Do you guys have a crossbow?


    The sudden, excited question startled the soldiers who zoned out while I was rumbling under my breath. Now, they were looking at one another confused. This has already given me all the answers I needed but I still waited to hear the inevitable question:


    -What is a¡­ crossbow?


    -A bow, usually a metal one, attached horizontally to a perpendicular plank with a trigger mechanism which, as a whole, allows to hold the bolt, a specially made, short arrow, at draw without any strain on the user and to launch it at great speed and power.


    Once again, the soldiers exchanged confused glances. I sighed and didn''t wait to hear that they never heard about a device like this. It was written all over their faces.


    -Is there some sort of a weaponsmith or inventor in this town that could be up for a little engineering challenge?


    -You should probably ask one of the maids, Sir, they know the ins and outs of various shops better than us.


    -Or maybe the princess or even the king himself will know? I certainly never heard of anyone who would want to invent weird things.


    -I don''t want to bother the royal family like this, although I''m sure the king would be ecstatic about this nifty little weapon design. I guess I''ll ask Mearyl about it later. Well, that''s enough special training for now, we''ll pick it up once I have something to run more tests on. For now, back to quick draw training.


    The soldiers, who were getting a little lax from the casual conversation and likely hoped to hook me up on a topic I found particularly interesting and skip class time this way, suddenly sprung at attention and quickly got into their respective firing positions, hoping I¡¯ll cut them some slack in punishment tasks later if they are on good behaviour now. I knew those tricks about distracting the teacher all too well myself. I was a student too, and a curious one at that, so I also did it plenty of times, although for a different reason. Stories people can tell sometimes are just wiser and more interesting than what the textbooks have to offer. Because of that, I was a little more harsh with them than usual.


    After the training had concluded, I managed to seek out Mearyl relatively quickly, as I knew she would be helping around the kitchen preparing lunch for the royal family around this time of day. She was in the middle of setting the table so, fortunately, she had some time to answer my question.


    -Someone willing to craft an unorthodox weapon for you? That''s an odd request, should we be worried or rather excited?


    -It''s to enhance the effectiveness of our troops and help me test some theories about the Skills and how to better utilise them.


    -Hm, there was this one old dwarf... He should be living in the outskirts of the town.


    -Could you lead me there? I still don''t know the town too well, I might have a hard time finding his workshop solely on instructions.


    -I would love to but, sadly, I have my duties to attend to.


    -Yeah, figured. Guess I''m gonna ask the king to assign me a guard to escort me there. I might ask for some patronage for the project too, so I don''t have to pay from my own pocket. It¡¯s for his army, after all. And my pockets are fairly empty, too.


    -The king should currently be in his study. I assume you will not be joining us for dinner then, correct?


    -If the king agrees, I''d like the project to be under way as soon as it can be. So I might be eating it cold today.


    Mearyl let out a dissatisfied sigh but nodded, bowed gently and returned to the kitchen while I made my way upstairs, to meet with the king. I explained to him the general concept of crossbows, together with the various advantages they pose over regular bows, and he seemed thrilled by the idea. It wasn''t particularly surprising, for the old man he was, he seemed extremely interested in the technologies and solutions from my world. He clearly believed that this is what this country needed most to prosper and I kind of agreed with him. With limited manpower, technological advances and automation just seem as natural next steps towards prosperity and expanding influence. Too bad that the most I could do for them is to present a simple concept of the idea. I couldn''t explain all the complicated processes behind them to the people here because not only they would likely have a hard time understanding it, I did so too. And that''s when I actually knew how something worked. For most stuff, I had absolutely no idea what intricate processes were required to make them work. That''s why I also wanted to learn as much as I could about magic and various ways to shape it. With things like runes, stones capable of capturing a specific spell or element and releasing them once mana is being poured into them, some mechanisms might be modified or even constructed from scratch to replace the complicated mechanisms and systems with something those people might be more familiar with, or at least have an easier time understanding the logic behind them and pushing them towards figuring it all out themselves. At least the crossbow doesn''t require any fancy magic manipulation, the blacksmiths here should even be able to do the basic trigger mechanism for it. And if not, I know I can make a rudimentary system for concept demonstration and we can move from there.


    So when I explained, as simply as possible, what needed to be explained, while adding a short mention that it might be possible to upscale crossbows to create ballistas for both defensive and offensive use on fortifications, the king handed me a pouch full of money to use as payment for the development and construction of a prototype. When I asked about the dwarf, the king nodded his head for a moment, thinking.


    -There was one like that. A bit of an odd fellow but a good person at heart. I am sure you will find a way to talk to him, though.


    -I''ll try to manage. Where can I find him? Mearyl said he lives somewhere in the suburbs but I am not yet familiar with that region.


    -I think he recently moved closer to the main square and opened a small shop there. I remember giving him a trading permit some time ago. It should be on the road leading off the south-east corner of the main square.


    -Well, I should be able to find him with that. Thank you, my liege.


    -No, no, Edward. Get us that crossbow thing and we all might be thanking you instead.


    I decided to not argue and simply bowed my head and left the room. With directions, I headed out into town. I visited it a few times over the past couple days, mostly while forcing the soldiers to do endurance runs, so most people got used to me being here already. Those who spotted me, usually moved aside with a certain degree of respect, almost as if I was part of the royalty myself. Well, "officially" being an envoy and staying at the castle manor probably put me on a similar standing, so it was understandable, to a degree. It still felt a bit odd and it made it difficult to approach anyone. Not like I was looking for friends but most of the soldiers, while they enjoyed fooling around like anyone else, were still treating me with respect you can only show someone distant, someone standing way above you. They drew a line between themselves and me, so I was stuck with Mearyl and Liyanna as the only people who approached me relatively casually. One more so than the other, which could be annoying at times as well, but I won''t complain. I¡¯m just glad to have some company at all.


    I stopped and looked up at the blue sky, which was gradually hiding behind grey clouds. Seems like it will be raining soon. I''ve been told that the storms in the Frontier can be really rough. So far the weather has been fairly pleasant and unoriginal, unlike what I¡¯ve been told, but I fully believe the stories I¡¯ve heard. Let''s hope it doesn''t escalate too much in the coming days either, I wouldn¡¯t want to conduct military operations in conditions completely unfamiliar to me.


    For a moment I wondered how things were going for the other Heroes. If I were to guess, they''re probably not stuck training troops but are experiencing various adventures and are leading a fun and exciting life. Not like I''m complaining about my stay here but I hope that once this region stabilises a bit more, I''ll be able to travel the world and meet up with them. Sadly, there was no form of fast communication in this world and the mail service here, in the Frontier, was terrible at best, so I couldn¡¯t keep in touch with any of them. The only exception has been Lucas, as Gurthan had to send a message to the Holy Alliance, he proposed to include a letter from me as well. I¡¯m still waiting for a response, though.


    I continued on, exiting the market square through the road the king mentioned. The shop in question turned up relatively quickly. If it wasn''t for the sign with a hammer striking a gear, I''d probably not even notice it in a row of the dense housing. I stopped by and looked through the window. The shop seemed oddly dark inside. Was it closed? And how was it this dark in there if it was still only afternoon now?


    With a deep breath I knocked on the door. As I did that, they swayed ajar a little. Seems like they weren''t properly closed. After a short moment to think this over, I pushed them open and stepped inside, making sure they don''t shut close behind me but stay in the same position I found them in. The inside of the room was extremely gloomy. The low light made it difficult to see but it still wasn''t hard to distinguish that all tables and displays had drapes over them. Seems like the dwarf was closing the shop.


    -Hello? I''m looking for an inventor!


    -If ya want another bloody quick-assembly cart, I''m out. Bugger off!


    The clearly annoyed voice came from the back of the shop, preceded by the sound of several metal objects hitting the ground and a barrage of what seemed like curses in a language I couldn''t understand.


    -No, I have a project I would like designed and built. And money to back it up.


    -No, I''m not developing a new rake or whatever.


    -It''s a weapon, a crossbow. A bow tha-


    -Wait!


    As I was cut off, the sounds of even more metallic objects being thrown around erupted from the back room. Soon after that, heavy footsteps drew gradually nearer, until a bulky man with a long and thick beard came out the back door. He was taller than most dwarf depictions from common high-fantasy stories but was still relatively shorter than an average man. He hit some panel on the wall and suddenly the room lit up with several wall-mounted candles, a sight at which my jaw dropped.


    -No way in hell...


    -Yes way in hell. Now, what was that ya wanted, a weapon?


    -Just one second. That switch on the wall, could it be some magic rune stone set to ignite the candles?


    -Aye. Yar not that stupid, eh? It might be complicated to set up, tho.


    -I can imagine, from what I read, magic runes are difficult enough to create, it''s probably even tougher to work with them. I''m impressed. Was that your design?


    -Aye, t''was. But I ain''t buldin'' one fer ya.


    -Shame. Anyway, the crossbow. I want a very specific weapon designed, one that will increase the strength of our archer battalions.


    -Ah, yar that kid from the Alliance, aye? I''d love to help the king but I want nothin'' doing with you, bloody purists. So bugger off.


    -Can you keep a secret?


    -Eh? What''s that about?


    -Can you or not?


    -Depends on the secret.


    -You can ask the king for confirmation later but I''m not actually with the Holy Alliance. I probably wouldn¡¯t be speaking with you if I were, right? I won''t go into detail now but those guys did me, and a number of my friends, wrong. So I have no respect nor loyalty for them. Quite the opposite, really. I¡¯m working with Gurthan to repay him for his help while I prepare to take my revenge on those church bastards.


    The dwarf sized me up. He sure didn''t seem convinced. I let out a sigh.


    -Hear out my idea, at least? If you''re an inventor at heart, and I can see you are one indeed, you might like it. And if we strike a deal, that won''t be the only thing I''ll come to you with. I''ve got a couple interesting things that ought to bring this country into a new industrial age and just imagine all those machines having your name on them.


    The dwarf sized me up one again, frowning. He seemed like he¡¯s about to spit but then realised he¡¯s inside his own shop and reconsidered, letting out a sigh in turn.


    -Okay, you caught my interest, kid. But I¡¯m only doing it for the king and his army, not for ya, gotcha? So let''s hear about that weapon of yours then, shall we?


    I smiled to myself. The toughest part was behind me. Given how quickly that dwarf changed his tone when he heard about designing a weapon, there is no way he will not be interested in the challenge I have for him.

 Chapter 10 - Engineering Advances

    -Okay, so it be looking like this, aye?


    I nodded. It took us about three hours to work out the kinks of the design for the crossbow. The main reason for it was that Krewly, the dwarf, was overly excited and wanted to turn the project into something you could see in a Hollywood zombie movie. I quickly shot down all of the ideas regarding any sort of extra stabbing or slashing types of attachments to the base weapon, pointing out all the different reasons for why they were basically never done historically, like throwing off the point of balance, creating hazard for the user, increasing difficulty of wielding the weapon, lowering overall accuracy or, the most basic and most impactful one, increasing the weight of the crossbow, as well as its manufacturing time and cost. One of the main disadvantages of crossbows over regular bows was their weight and creating an even bigger gap wasn''t doing us any good. In the end, we agreed on a design that was, more or less, looking like a normal crossbow should.


    -Yes, that''s the thing I wanted. Thank you.


    -Ah still think mah ideas were better.


    -Sure, but not for the prototype. Let''s first make sure this thing works, then we can pimp it up. Although, before that, I''d still rather have a stockpile of the regular variants prepared for the army, obviously.


    -Yar gonna use that thing against them bandits, right?


    -Yes, that¡¯s the plan. I want to have something simple to use in case we encounter shields and heavily armoured targets or find lookouts in spots they would be hard to take down with regular bows. I have a few things to test out with them too.


    -Like?


    -Bow Skills compatibility.


    Krewly glanced at me and ran his fingers through his beard. He was silently thinking about something for a moment.


    -Ah wonder... Wouldn''t that weapon have its own Skills, ha?


    -Possible. That''s what I want to test, too. After all, you can use some sword Skills with different sword types, or even knives. So it might apply here too.


    -Ya wouldn''t happen to have any archer Skills, would ya?


    I shook my head. If only I had any sort of a Skill it would be nice but I couldn''t just tell him that. The dwarf looked back at the parchment full of crossed out drawings and notes that were the result of our long discussion, if you can even call it that. He remained silent for a moment longer, clearly focusing hard on something. A drop of sweat started to drip down his temple as he did that, eventually disappearing somewhere between the hairs of his beard.


    -Alright. It doesn''t seem that complicated to meh. Ah can probably whip it out in two to three days if I manage to get the materials quickly enough.


    -Mind if I swing by tomorrow to check on the progress? In case there''s anything we have to revise or troubleshoot.


    -Ah hate people watching me do mah work but¡­ Ah, suit yarself, lad.


    -Great. Regarding payment...


    -Ah¡¯ll take a Servet and forty Frags for the design... Materials will probably cost about three to four Servets, since it be rather small. It needs that custom metal bow, tho. Work and assembly... Ah¡¯ll take eight Servets from ya for it all. And ah¡¯m not gonna lower the price because yar on king''s court or somethin¡¯.


    -Of course, I wouldn''t agree to pay you any less for something like that either.


    I pulled out the coin pouch and procured eight golden coins. The dwarf happily took them off of me and stashed them in his own pocket. The coinage system in this world is relatively simple - one gold coin is called a Servet and is equal to hundred Frags, the silver coins. It''s difficult to get a good scale for how much each of them is really worth, though, as different things have vastly different price standards compared to my world and, despite everything, I''m not too familiar with the coinage system and market prices for the mediaeval period of Europe, so I can¡¯t use it as a point of comparison either. Still, I know I''m currently carrying a lot of King¡¯s money on me and I don¡¯t like that fact one bit, so making sure at least some of it was well spent and is no longer on my person helped put my mind at ease, even if just a little.


    After all that, I¡¯ve returned to the castle to get my cold dinner. Mearyl wasn''t around to keep me company this time, so I finished eating faster than normal. Having located the king on his evening walk through the gardens, I informed him of the progress and tried to give him back his money but he insisted I keep it in case any future costs arise. Reluctantly, I agreed, even though I felt uncomfortable walking with this much money on me. Well, it''s not like anyone will try to rob me but the perspective of losing it was still a haunting perspective.


    The rest of the evening and the first half of the next day went by as usual. I did have to cancel a few training sessions to find the time to visit Krewly, though. This time, his shop was brightly lit and curses were flying through the air as soon as I entered. I called out to the dwarf and, in response, I was instructed to go through the door in the back and into the workshop behind them.


    The space I entered was completely cluttered with chests, boxes and loose piles of materials, tools, equipment and generally piles of scrap that I couldn''t even dare to try and recognise. Despite that, in the middle of it, there was an almost perfectly circular clearing with a workbench where the dwarf was operating from, standing atop a wobbly wooden stool that seemed like it¡¯s barely holding under him. Within the lathe was locked a wooden mock-up of the crossbow. I guess the metal bow hasn''t been made yet but it was understandable. It wasn¡¯t even a whole day-cycle yet since we came to an understanding on the design. Did the dwarf ask some blacksmith to procure it for him while he''s fiddling with the finer mechanisms of the weapon? Or was Krewly planning to forge it out later? Looking at all the small gears at the table, and the fact I didn¡¯t see a proper forge anywhere, it sure looked like the former was the case. Personally, I couldn¡¯t even figure out what all those bits and pieces were, what function they were meant to play or where they were supposed to fit into the crossbow. They weren¡¯t on the design schematic either.


    -What''s the problem?


    -That... trigger mechanism, was it? It''s too complicated, even for meh.


    -...is it?


    -Ye. It''s hard to work on such a small scale too.


    -But it should be just a piece of solid material that''s locked in place to hold the string that can be moved in and out of the position by a lever¡­


    -Are ya perhaps suggesting ah don''t know what ah''m doin''?


    I sighed. I could already see the exact issue this dwarf was facing.


    -No, you sure do. But I also think you''re trying to overcomplicate things a bit too.


    -If it''s working, it ain''t complicated enough!


    -It clearly isn''t working though... Eh, this will get us nowhere. Show me what you have there and let¡¯s figure something out.


    -Take a look yarself. It''s all on the desk.


    I walked up and noticed that the design was, unsurprisingly, severely overcomplicated. It involved a number of gears, connectors and other useless mechanisms that I couldn''t even tell the use of. It''s true that we didn''t discuss the details of the trigger mechanism too much because I believed such a simple job cannot be screwed up this badly¡­ Turns out I was wrong. I probably should have expected that to happen, people have a fascinating ability to just mess stuff up the more, the simpler the job seems to be. And it only seems to be amplified in this magical world.


    -But the whole trigger can be as simple as just a single block that cannot fall out on its own that the soldier will push up while loading to catch the string and release it to fire.


    -...wha?


    -Ugh, just give me some parchment.


    As I said that, I grabbed a blank piece of paper and a block of charcoal and started drawing a simple schematic for the release system. In short, the system would be in ''safe'' mode, retracted into the body of the crossbow and not able to catch the string by itself. By pushing on the block at the bottom of the crossbow, it would extend out and allow for catching the string and placing the bolt. To fire, all the soldier had to do was to stop pushing on the block so that it could fall down and release the string. The one improvement I immediately made was to add a lever that would run alongside the tiller in save mode and could be pulled back to ¡°cock¡± the crossbow and allow stringing it without the need to constantly hold onto the block. It was not the best solution by any means, and from what little I recalled, the actual crossbow triggers were more complicated than that, but it was simple and all I wanted was a working prototype. This shouldn''t affect the power of the crossbow or its utility in testing conditions, so I didn''t care all that much about it either. Final design for manufacturing purposes will need that mechanism reworked from ground up, though, but that¡¯s neither here nor now.


    -That''s... That''s too simple!


    -Engineering isn''t always about making things complicated and flashy. Sometimes it''s about finding a simple and reliable solution or improving existing ones to be more effective and streamlined. Trust me, you''ll still have a chance to show off. Your understanding of gears and similar systems gives me a few ideas as well. And one of those just happened to be including a bigger crossbow that could actually house an automated mechanism like that.


    -Ya can''t insult me and then try to make me feel better like that, kid.


    -Imagine this but five to ten times bigger, including the ammunition it fires, mounted on towers and walls, using gears and levers and other mechanisms to allow just a single person to rotate it however they see fit, or even move it along the wall to adjust the firing arc, while the big crossbow strings and loads itself after each shot, requiring only periodical reloads.


    As I explained the vision of an automated ballista to the dwarf, his eyes started to shine a little. He nodded, at first really slowly, then faster, probably visualising some fantastical monstrosity. Well, I''ll ruin his dreams later, for now all I need is his full cooperation. I felt a little bad for the arguably underhanded method I resorted to but I''d rather pull something like this than go the "I pay hence I demand" route. Having him be actually interested in the project and its prospects can help us move along it much more smoothly and will help build a better partnership. And since he was apparently the only person in Katerial with some decent engineering knowledge, this relationship was quite important to me. I had to make sure he is interested in working with me in the future.


    -None of this will be possible, though, unless we first make a regular crossbow that the army will be satisfied with. For now, we need something working as a proof of concept, so it needs to be simple and show everyone it¡¯s worth investing into.


    -Fine, fine. Well, if ya want it this simple, all ah need is to wait for the blacksmith to finish making that metal bow. Actually, wanna go see¡¯em with meh?


    -Sure, I''ll accompany you. Getting to know a few more faces can be beneficial to me as well. Who knows whose help I might need in the future.


    -My thinkin'' exactly. Come then.


    Krewly took off his goggles and gloves and threw them into a corner of the room. Without further ado, he simply walked out of his workshop. I followed him, having a surprisingly hard time keeping pace with him. His legs were shorter than mine and I myself am also quite a fast walker, so the speed of the dwarf really caught me off-guard. To my additional surprise, we didn''t head towards the main square, where I knew a couple decently good smiths had set up shop. We went the exact opposite direction, towards the suburbs. We didn¡¯t talk or anything, and Krewly was constantly looking around and over his shoulder, clearly anxious about something. Then, he suddenly stopped right in front of a completely unassuming house with no signs or other giveaways there could be a shop there. However, once we entered the building, after Krewly didn''t even think about knocking or announcing his presence in any other way and simply pushed the door open with enough force to dislocate the simple bolt serving as a lock, it became apparent that there was either a blacksmith living here, a whole garrison of soldiers or a psychopath.


    -Take a look around, kid. If ya know yar stuff, ya''ll know.


    I didn''t even need to take a look around. At first glance, from the distance and despite the dim interior, I could tell just how fine the swords displayed literally everywhere are. Most were still in their scabbards but a couple had their blades exposed. The edges were sharp and the steel had this dark, sinister shine to it. The sword I carried right now was supposingly from a renown blacksmith and cost fifteen Servets, a relatively steep price, and it still looked like a cheap toy compared to those exhibits.


    -Who''s the smith? It''s hard to imagine finding someone this talented in this backwater country, let alone without a proper shop.


    -Aye. That''s because their kind is not welcomed anywhere. Even here they come off as freaks. So don¡¯t get scared seeing them.


    -As long as they''re not a serial killer or someone like that...


    The dwarf glanced over at me and suddenly burst out laughing. He leaned on a table and wheezed, finding it difficult to catch a breath. After a moment he looked at me, still finding it hard to control himself.


    -If that''s what yar worried about, ah have no more doubts about bringin'' ya here.


    -So, what''s the deal?


    -They don''t seem to be home yet, so ah guess we''ll have to wait. Feel free to browse, though. They don''t usually sell but ah can cut ya a deal if one strikes yar fancy.


    I took him up on his offer, not sure how I''ll be able to afford such masterpieces in the first place. Compared to the weapons I owned, those had to cost a small fortune each, and I didn¡¯t want to spend the king''s money like that either, even if he probably wouldn¡¯t mind it that much. Each sword had the signs of being carefully crafted. There were no visible defects or chips on the blades and they all looked perfectly balanced, but I couldn¡¯t be sure since I didn''t want to pick any of them up. Many of them also emanated this weird feeling I couldn''t quite place or describe. It all felt surreal, to a degree.


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    Then the door suddenly opened and two tall, fully cloaked and hooded figures walked in. The door closed behind them as suddenly as it opened. Krewly turned to them and opened his arms as if he wanted to hug them.


    -Ah, yar here. Howdy.


    -Who''s that?


    The slightly taller figure spoke with a deep, male voice as it nodded in my direction, clearly agitated. Before I could reply, however, the dwarf already stood between us.


    -The kid ah talked to ya about yesterday.


    -Why did you bring him here?


    -He''s different. He talks to meh like ah''m a normal human. Ya guys will be fine too.


    -I''m Edward, aide to his majesty the king. It''s a pleasure to meet you.


    The two figures shifted towards me when I spoke up. I knew better than to be over-friendly in a situation like this but I still decided to play my cards.


    -A rat from the Holy Alliance, huh?


    -I''m not with them, that''s just a ruse set up by the king to get people to ask less questions about me. Actually, I have quite a bit of a problem with the Head Princess, and the Holy Alliance as a whole, and don¡¯t like them one bit myself.


    -What problem?


    -...kidnapping me and a couple of my friends and forcing us to work on their behalf but then tossing me aside when they suddenly deemed me not qualified enough to their unrealistically high standards. You¡¯ll have to trust my word on that, but I don¡¯t want to deal with that group unless it¡¯s related to causing them trouble.


    The hooded figure thought about something for a second, standing completely silent. It was impossible for me to figure out what he was thinking about me but he clearly didn¡¯t drop his guard just yet.


    -I guess we''ll see.


    With those words, he reached to the edges of the hood and pulled it back. Before me now stood a man, likely a few years older than me, with dark, unkempt hair and a short, although very messy, beard. His thick neck suggested that he was hiding quite a bulky body under that cloak. What was fairly surprising to see was a pair of black, cat-like ears at the top of his head, with the left one seemingly slashed off at the half-point.


    -See what?


    I said in a curious voice, trying my best not to show any surprise on my face. I already learned from Mearyl that beastfolk do exist in this world and that they even separate into several races, but she wasn''t aware of any living in this country. Given the way they were acting, it was also obvious that they were hiding something and their race seemed to be the most obvious thing. Even here, where people were rather tolerant to others, as long as they pulled their weight around the town, the inequality was rather substantial, especially since the general populace was still rather religious and the church did push some weird human supremacy agendas. The beastfolk man stared at me for a few seconds, sizing me up. The atmosphere was getting really thick but then he finally sighed and spoke.


    -If you bring us any form of trouble, I don''t care how I''ll end up, you will pay for it.


    I opened my mouth to protest that I''d never bring any trouble to them but that''s likely not the response he would like to hear. Instead, I opted for something more diplomatic.


    -Understood. I have no intention of such but if I ever inconvenience you, I''m going to do everything to right my wrong. I''m not going to treat you any differently than I would any other citizen of this kingdom.


    -You''re going to play nice until you get what you need and never look back at us again now, will you?


    -If you continue to be this rude towards me, likely. But I wouldn''t mind becoming more acquainted or perhaps even friends. This will require mutual trust, though, and you¡¯re not helping the situation right now.


    -Friends? A human like you wants to be friends with us? Don''t make me laugh, you scumbag!


    I let out a heavy sigh. This is going to be harder than I thought. With the corner of my eye I saw Krewly taking a step back. I had to figure something out before it came to blows. I wasn¡¯t as confident in my hand-to-hand techniques as much as in my swordplay, and the beastman looked like he was used to beating people up, not to mention he likely weighed almost twice what I did.


    -You''re just as human, tough, aren''t you? So what that your ears are slightly different from mine? You''re still, what, 98% the same as me? I''d have to be pretty messed up in the head to discriminate against you based solely on that 2% difference. If you don''t feel I should treat you as my equal, if you consider yourself some inferior being, then all I can say is that I''m sorry for you. The same if you consider yourself better than those around you. I won''t comply, though. In my eyes, you''re as human as Krewly, me or anyone else I''ve met so far. Deal with it, buddy.


    I said all of it in the most nonchalant way I could, though I couldn''t hide a slight frown and a hint of a defiant spirit by the end of my speech. The catfolk guy looked at me intently, both surprised and agitated by what I had said. Both his hands were clenched into fists, suggesting he''s likely more willing to remain in his hostile attitude than try to come to terms with me. What caught us both by surprise was the sudden hearty laugh belonging to a young woman. We both looked towards the other hooded figure, who was now bent forward and holding her stomach. It took her a moment to compose herself enough to straighten up and catch a breath. She brought her finger up to her eye and wiped off a tear. While there, she simply threw the hood off, exposing her pale face, piercing green eyes and long, wavy blonde hair. There was a pair of golden cat ears at the top of her head that were twitching slightly with each giggle she let out.


    -Fillyan!


    -It''s alright, Markus. Enough with the hostilities.


    When the other catfolk made a move to protest her exposing herself, she raised a hand to stop him and turned to look at me. Her expression changed completely, replaced by sheer curiosity. You couldn''t tell she was laughing herself to tears just a moment ago. After a second or two, she spoke with a weird sweetness in her voice.


    -Edward, was it? You must forgive my brother, he''s just very overprotective of me. There really aren''t many people like you among humans who treat us, beastfolk, on equal terms like you seem to do, so it is hard for him to trust strangers.


    -It''s completely understandable, I''ve taken no offence.


    -I''m glad to hear that.


    She gave me a heartwarming smile. She seemed younger than her brother, likely somewhere around my age, but at the same time she gave off a feeling she was more mature than me, Markus and Krewly all together. Markus probably didn''t contribute much to our combined score, though. I gave the bulky catfolk a side eye and noticed him approaching the dwarf.


    -I have your order ready. I have to say, a shortbow made out of metal, that''s a first.


    -It''s the lad''s idea. Ah''m just curious how it will work, is all.


    Seeing those two start discussing business, I had to butt into the conversation:


    -Excuse me, are you the one who forged all those swords?


    -Ain''t selling them to you, human.


    With that, Markus disappeared in the back of the house, refusing to elaborate on my question or to let me ask a follow-up one. Krewly came to my rescue here, though.


    -Aye, it was him. He''s a great blacksmith, although¡­ Nevermind, ya¡¯ll learn soon enough for yarself.


    -Does he have some Skills or something to help him get this level of quality?


    -Aye. Don''t worry, he''ll warm up to ya in time, as long as ya do nothing to piss him off any further.


    -Seems like me existing is already pissing him off enough.


    My comment made Fillyan giggle, although I didn¡¯t know if she really found it amusing or if she just tried to appease me there a little in an attempt to defuse the situation a bit more.


    -He really isn''t a bad person and just needs time. But is it true that you''re going to fight off the bandits plaguing the region?


    -Correct. That''s what those crossbows should help with. We''re still gathering intelligence on their exact numbers and location, though.


    This was when Markus came back and handed Krewly a package. Unceremoniously, he ordered us to get lost and shut the door behind us. I barely managed to catch a glimpse of Fillyan giving us a farewell wave but I had no time to return it myself before being shoved out. The dwarf, meanwhile, casually continued on towards his own workshop, not minding the manners of the catfolk one bit.


    -Quite some friend you got there.


    -Don''t mind him. He has his reasons.


    -I don''t mind him but next time you''re about to introduce me to someone, please, let me know beforehand what type of psychopath they are.


    The dwarf laughed and stopped, turning towards me. His expression turned serious, almost angry, in the blink of an eye.


    -Honestly, ah expected ya to handle it differently. But he didn''t make it easy for ya either. Still, it didn''t come to blows, did it? So that¡¯s still a good outcome. But be more careful in the future, ya hear? All types of folks out there.


    -It did not come to blows only thanks to that girl. I can see that bulkhead attacking me if she didn''t intervene, and probably not stopping until I¡¯m at least unconscious.


    -Yeah, Fillyan seems to be taking a likin¡¯ to ya. Good for ya. Anyway, I''ll have yar prototype ready for tomorrow but dunno how quickly. I''ll bring it over to the castle for ya. I wanna see it tested too.


    -Sure thing, I''ll let the guards know to not cause you any trouble.


    -Aye.


    With that, Krewly simply turned and disappeared in a side alley. I stayed put on the main road for a little bit before finally heading straight for the castle. Once there, I let the guards know about Krewly''s visit the next day and went to the kitchen to grab some food. When I was eating, lost in my own thoughts about this whole bandit ordeal, Liyanne joined me at the table, startling me a little when she tapped on the wood to get my attention.


    -All good, Edward? You seem oddly distracted.


    -Yeah, I was just thinking about our little dilemma.


    -Speaking of them, we¡¯ve got some new intel on them. They seem to be preparing for something big.


    -Big? What do you mean?


    -They might have spotted us or learned about our plan to eradicate them and are preparing defences. Or they''re just moving bases. Or preparing for some big score, we honestly don''t know yet but we have noticed them move a lot more supplies recently.


    -They have to peddle their stolen goods somewhere, so let''s hope it''s just that.


    -If it is just that, we might be able to trace back or even catch the associated merchants too. This should give us plenty of intel on other potential groups and dealings as well.


    -That would sure be nice. Starting new investigations without any leads is always a pain¡­ Still, how are the preparations going?


    -Potentially, we could set off as soon as in three days, but we won¡¯t be able to deploy the full force. In a week, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems. I wouldn¡¯t want to wait longer than that, however.


    -Well... Let''s see what they''re up to first. If there''s someone else we can associate with them, it''s information worth waiting for. If they did spot us and are preparing for the attack, striking now would be better, though... Eh, tough choices.


    -You''re the commander in charge here, so I''ll follow orders but I''d rather not wait around for too much longer.


    -Mhm. A dwarf will come by tomorrow with a prototype of a new weapon. I''d like to at least have it tested and see if it works like I hope it does. And if so, how many he can have manufactured within the next couple days. By then, we should have some more intel from the scouts, so we''ll go over the plan again with all the information we''ve been provided and choose the best course of action accordingly.


    -Sounds reasonable. I¡¯m curious about that new weapon too, so I have no objections.


    We continued to chit-chat for a while longer before we both retreated back to our rooms for the night. The showdown is drawing near and I could start feeling more of the pressure again. My first battle, not just as a soldier, but as a commander on top of that. Not only will I likely have to kill another human being, potentially dozens of enemies and allies alike may fall due to my orders. I didn¡¯t know if I was ready for this just yet.


    I glanced out the window of my room, watching over the city hidden away under the cover of the night. The night was still fairly young so many of the streets and windows were still lit up with numerous shadowy figures walking through them. The whole view had an oddly calming atmosphere to it.


    -It''s my duty to protect these people, though. It has to be done.


    I sighed and closed the window. There''s no point in worrying about it. Living in this world, I''ll have to kill sooner or later, better get used to it now. It''s all for a higher purpose, too. For now, I have more pressing matters to worry about, though. There''s so much work to be done tomorrow that I¡¯ll probably won¡¯t even have time to worry about it all. Well, at least I can¡¯t complain about being bored here, and that was already something. I kept wondering, though¡­


    ¡­do my students also have it tough, or are they living more leisurely lives thanks to their Hero statuses? Guess I won¡¯t know the answer for that for a while still.