“So, to summarize... Those three are our heroes, and you’re simply a layman who was swept up in the summoning?”
“Yeah, that would be my guess.”
The first person I spoke with was an old guy who was most likely the king. Meanwhile, said trio of heroes were still dumbfounded.
“Hm... This is the first I’ve heard of someone being unintentionally summoned. It’s hard to believe, especially without any precedent to reference. For now, would you mind touching this stone? It will reveal what Divine Blessing you’ve received.” At these words, he brought out a stone slab that had a magic circle drawn on it.
“Sure, I’ll go first. I just place my palm in the middle like this?”
“Place it wherever you’d like. Just be certain that your palm touches it.”
The stone began to glow dimly as my palm made contact with it, and writing appeared, forming the word “Detect.”
What a simple-sounding ability. “Detect. Hm... Detect.”
“It appears that you have been given a Divine Blessing. However...”
Since the ability seemed neither incredibly strong nor useful, it probably wasn’t enough for him to tell whether I was a hero or not. While the king and I racked our brains over my ability, it seemed that the other three had finally come to their senses.
“U-Um, would you mind explaining the situation to us?”
“Ah, my apologies. This fellow here was so comfortable with the situation that I simply began to follow his lead. Please allow my daughter, the first princess and the one who summoned you all, to answer your questions.” He pointed behind himself to where a small-framed girl with golden pigtails was standing.
“Heh! So you lot are the heroes I’ve summoned, are you? You should be grateful!”
Oh, the cheeky princess trope! Hell yeah!
“Hurry up and kneel before me!”
Just as we had been ordered, the four of us knelt before the bite-size princess. Notably, there were a good number of large-framed knights surrounding us. Scary. Is this one of those so-called stress interviews? A light novel protagonist might have objected to this, but...it seemed wiser to just play along and not make a fuss.
Now that I was down on my knees, though, I think it’s important to note that the princess was wearing a long skirt, so even kneeling, I couldn’t see beneath it. Damn. She might’ve been too small and young for my tastes, but I was positive that she’d become a beauty in the future—a super beauty, in fact. Her only flaw was her shitty personality, but then again, I was sure that there were people out there who actually liked that kind of thing.
“I’m gonna explain the situation you’re in now. You should be grateful!”
So how many times are we supposed to thank you, exactly?
“You are now in our country, the Rising Sun Kingdom.”
All at once, I pictured some good-looking guys in dazzling outfits—guys with sunglasses and beautiful voices, dancing a special kind of number on a stage. Wow, that’s a vivid image. The name of this country was so powerful that it made me imagine a certain “exiled” boy band. I never thought a country could have such a flashy name.
“We also go by the name ‘the Land of the Rising Sun.’”
Stop, stop! Don’t bring Japan into this too!
“In this world, there are humans, demi-humans, and demons. I’ll talk about them more later, but essentially, demons are the enemies of us humans. They want to invade our lands and make their king the supreme leader.”
Wait, what about the demi-humans?
“So, to put a stop to that, the Maccad Empire—the Suzerain of the Human Federation Alliance—has called upon other countries to summon heroes.”
Oh, thank god; there’s at least one country with a normal-sounding name.
“Only female members of royalty like myself can summon heroes. You should be grateful!”
Yeah, yeah. Thank you sooo very much.
“Each country will train the heroes they’ve summoned so we can make an army of them to take on the demon king and his forces. Amazing, right?!”
I honestly hadn’t expected a “quantity over quality” strategy. It struck me as being in the same vein as “spray and pray” in shooters.
“So that’s where you lot come in. You’re gonna become strong enough to represent our Rising Sun Kingdom and not embarrass us while you take down the demon king!”
Please stop saying the name of your kingdom. It’s causing me physical pain.
“E-Excuse me, First Princess, but may I ask a question?” said Ryuto, one of the three heroes. Judging by his sporty, manly-man physique, he must have been the protagonist.
“I’ll allow it. You should be grateful!”
“Are we able to go back to our original world?”
Yeesh, what a boilerplate question. Although maybe it was only logical that this was the question he asked. After being summoned so much, my common sense wasn’t so common anymore.
“Nope. You’re stuck here. But isn’t that great? You get to be proud heroes of the Rising Sun Kingdom. There’s no reason for you to go back. You should be grateful!”
We’re stuck here? You guys could stand to learn from Haigen Kingdom’s hospitality. Also, this princess was seriously selfish.
“Wha—” Ryuto reacted as if he were about to snap, but stopped himself from saying anything else after the knights behind him unsheathed their swords in unison.
Smart. There’s no reason for you to get angry right now.
“I’ll magnanimously ignore that little act of insolence. You should be grateful.”
How many more times is she gonna ask for our gratitude before she’s satisfied? What is this, a new religion? Gratefulism?
“I doubt it, but are there any other questions?”
“I got one. That okay?” I asked.