“‘I’ll be back.’”
“That’s not how you use that line,” the goddess snapped at me.
Who cares? No need to be so nitpicky.
“I feel bad for the person you just left.”
“Can’t she just resummon me?”
“Summoning someone from a different world isn’t as simple as you think. She traded her remaining life for the magic power required to summon you. She couldn’t resummon you now even if she gave her life in the process.”
“Oh, jeez.”
“All that’s left for her now is to lament the summoning and spend the rest of her life alone and unable to fulfill her wish.”
“Oh...”
Hearing that explanation, I realized that I’d done something kinda bad.
“Plus, the world that she lives in is one that I preside over, so I know her a little. Ah...that poor girl.”
“Uh...” I could tell that she was looking at me with disapproval. “Look, it’s not my fault! It’s their fault for summoning me.”
“Oh, now you’re getting defensive?”
Of course I was! In the first place, I was the victim here.
“How unfortunate for her. She may have been able to avoid this tragedy if she’d merely waited one day before performing the summoning ritual.”
Yeah, it’s funny how fate works.
The entire time that I was talking with the goddess, I remained lying down because I couldn’t be bothered to stand up. So when the orange light shone from beneath me to summon me to a different world, I simply stayed like that.
“The time has come! The demon king is revived!”
“Our king has returned from hell!”
It was immediately obvious that I’d been summoned to a world with a demon king.
“Behold our king in all his glory!”
“Oh, what a dignified stance. That’s our king!”
I had no clue why they thought lying down was a good thing. Sorry to burst your bubble, guys, but I’m only lying down ’cause standing’s a pain.
“What kind of weapons will our king create for us?”
Hm? “Weapons”? The demon king can create weapons?
“How do you feel, my liege?” a beautiful woman asked...or at least, I wish it had been a beautiful woman, instead of this old fart with hollow cheeks. Judging by the horn growing out of his head, he was most likely a demon or something.
“Not bad. More importantly, what is the status of this world?” If they thought that I was the demon king, I at least needed to act like one.
“Oh, how tragic. It seems that your memories were lost during the summoning.”
Technically, no, because I wasn’t revived or anything. I’m afraid your demon king is in another summon.
“Yes, that would appear to be the case,” I said, playing along.
“Allow me to explain your duties, my liege. We would like you to help create weapons for us—demon swords! Then, we of your army will slaughter the weak humans of this world! With the whole world falling into our grasp, we will build a paradise for demons!”
The demon king makes their swords? I hadn’t expected the king to be a weaponsmith.
“Hm...” I paused for a moment’s thought before answering. “Sorry, guys, but I’m not the demon king. I’m not even a demon. I’m just a human from a different world. Also, I’m about to be summoned to another world, so pretty much everything you’ve just done has been a complete waste of time! Sorry!”
I would have loved to see their shocked faces, but I had to settle for their roars of confusion as I was enveloped in a purple light and summoned away.
“Hello world.”
“That’s really not how you use that line.”
What, couldn’t think of a better retort, dear goddess?
“I must say, you’re quite the devil.”
“Since I was summoned as the demon king, I figured I’d just play my cards straight and then laugh at their reactions.” And I got so close too. “Do you know why I was summoned instead of their dead king?”
“The soul of their king has already been reincarnated. He was actually a peaceful individual and only made weapons. Since it was his subordinates that acted on their own to commit atrocities, his time in hell was shortened.”
“And that’s why I was summoned instead? What a mess.”
“Fun fact: the demon king has been doing his best as the child of that world’s hero.”
“Seriously...what a mess.”
At the very least, he probably didn’t have any memories of his past life... But wouldn’t it be fun if he did?
“Well, the next summoning will be your last one. I’ll put all your ‘cheats’ in order for you.” The goddess placed both of her hands over my head, closed her eyes, and began to focus.
Oh, wow, her eyelashes are so long.
“Stop thinking about stupid things.”
Crap, she read my mind.
“I’d recommend checking your status as soon as you’re summoned. If you look at it with your Eye of True Sight, you should be able to understand your Skills down to their finest detail.”
I had to say, I was very grateful for her thorough concern.
A purple light glowed underneath me. This time, I decided that I’d at least stand up, since it’d be my last summoning. My last summoning, huh? I started to feel a little sentimental...or not, actually. I wanna hurry up and sleep in a bed.
“Well, good luck. It’s been a while since I got to talk to someone for so long. It was fun.”
“Yeah, for me too. Later.”
“I hope we meet again.”
But truth be told, I didn’t want to be dragged through this again. I was done with being summoned. As I disappeared from the goddess’s world, I hoped that this would be the last time.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Welcome, heroes!”
This phrase deserved an award for being the phrase I’d heard the most recently.
“Wh-Where are we?”
“Ryuto? Aoi?”
“Tamaki!”
Hm? I hear other voices. I looked to either side of me, and there they were—three other people around my age, freaking out.
“Huh? The legend was for three heroes...”
Okay. So there are three of them, and they seem to know each other...and then there’s me, the outsider. Huh.
“I was roped into someone else’s summon again?!”