To say that I was surprised would be an understatement.
"Wait, are you sure that was what people heard?!"
"Y-yes, but there's no official register anywhere and even the closest villages were half a day away. It wouldn't have made sense for them to have heard Hero Carlos's voice." Said the Princess.
"How long ago was that?" I asked.
"185 years ago"
Now I am sure of it, the summon messes with time as well, there's no way some guy 185 years ago would even know about an atomic bomb nor use those exact words, that damn Carlos was a fucking weeb.
"... Alright, so after that things happened and this Kingdom was created, was it something like that?"
The King seemed miffed that I cut short his long proud story. But I already got the point so I wanted to continue.
"Indeed... Do you understand why our kingdom would abhor the usage of such a device, right?"
"Yeah, ignoring just the historical aspect, the simple fact that you don't know what my powers would be makes using it a risk. But what if I don't get any skills?"
"Let us dispel such a notion. A century ago, a neighboring kingdom performed a similar rite of otherworldly summoning. The individual they called forth displayed no discernible mana, nor any sign of divine protection. Deeming him without value, their royal house saw fit to cast him out.
Yet, some years later, a band of adventurers chanced upon him deep within the Dracul Sea of Trees, on the very edge of the continent. There, in that most perilous of monster-haunted realms, he had not only survived but established an entire settlement, and was found to command dragons as his servants. It is believed he leisurely resides there to this day."
Dayum, so this world already did the cliché a few times to know not to fuck around with otherworlders. That's relieving, I do not want to deal with bullshit.
I take a deep breath and ponder a bit about this entire situation. It's not a bad deal for me, I hate to say this but the Princess is so into my strike zone that it isn't even funny.
"So correct me if I'm wrong... I was summoned because I would benefit from the 'Hero Summoning' and having the bloodline of a first-generation hero would be a big boost for the royal family, and clear the condition for the hero and princess marriage. As I also am not from this world there won't be fears of me having ties to the nobility, not only that If I'm into your camp you have a second hero as a hidden joker in case anything goes wrong."
The king's expression had an almost perfect poker face, but probably because of how accurate I was, his eyes squinted just a little but returned to normal as quickly, he seemed surprised. I only noticed because of all those business meetings I went through all those damn executives full of double meanings in their words... Argh, just remembering that makes my stomach hurt.
"Lord Daniel, we are profoundly gratified to find in you a peer of such eminent intellect and discernment. Your understanding of the situation is indeed correct: you shall have the full and unwavering support of the Crown, while the matter of your origins shall remain a secret. Furthermore, it is our wish that you take up residence within the palace, maintaining a necessary discretion in your associations beyond this court."
"To live a total sponger life, you mean? Also, is there a way to send me back? I know about a few people who got back from other worlds, one even had to kill a god that was using the summoned as chess pieces in a sick wargame between races to be able to go back..."
Heh, they gulped when I mentioned the white-haired Edgelord. I'm not lying though, I truly read that. Lol.
"...T-that wasn't a lie..." The Princess Anastasia muttered in shock.
The mutter didn't escape me, taking a more attentive look into her eyes, there was a low glimmer in her pupils, is it lie detection? I knew it, magic is bullshit. Well, at least I didn't say any lie.
"Regrettably, the art of reversing a summoning is a mystery to us. The ritual manipulates the very fabric of space and time, and to unravel such forces is beyond our current wisdom. Compounding this frustration, our own attempts to invoke the summoning anew have yielded no success for the past three months, until now." The King told me.
Well, whether that's true or not doesn't matter, I'm excited about being in this world and even dying to a monster is better than continuing the life of a living dead that I had before. Also, there's MAGIC in this world, c'mon how cool is that?! I feel like a little kid again.
I stay silent and keep my expression serious to let the mood settle a bit before continuing.
"Alright, I will do it. But there's been at least a decade since I was with a woman and I don't even know if I'm actually fertile." While I'm a bit ashamed, I needed to be truthful here.
The one who answered me was the princess.
"Leave it to me. I will enchant ourselves with several abilities using the Saint's power."
Princess Anastasia's power seemed to be specialized in healing and bestowing several buffs. With it, she could add special effects to the sword the hero used to defeat monsters or even buff his entire body.
"W-wow, it's possible to buff in that kinda way?" I was a bit baffled, it seems she could bestow sexual-related abilities as well.
What I'm about to do... Is this called NTR? I'm not sure. After agreeing with a complicated feeling, the faces of the hero and the king brightened.
"Thank you, Mr. Daniel!"
"Lord Daniel, you are the unsung savior of this country…!"
The two of them were overjoyed, but I was worried about Princess Anastasia. As I shifted my gaze, she was also smiling faintly.
That's right. Now the princess can marry the hero she loves. As long as a child can be born, there shouldn't be any problems.
While feeling the conflict between my ethics and the ethics of this other world, I drained the tea in my cup with a sigh.
"In that case, starting tonight… I will prepare a room deep in the palace, where you two will be living for the time being."
"Huh? Starting tonight? And we will be living together?" I asked.
"We'd rather get things done quickly in such matters…"
Princess Anastasia, with her cheeks slightly flushed, mumbled like that. It made sense that she'd want to finish this as quickly as possible from her point of view.
"Uh… okay, I understand. Starting today…"
Ahem, I coughed to try to divert my thoughts, but the nature of a man led my thoughts to wander towards that soft-looking body. Although I tried not to think about it… the princess figure is quite impressive.
In a regal and bold, red dress, her ample bosom stretched the fabric. Due to the princess's slender figure, her ample bosoms stood out even more.
"Finally, with this, the concerns of this country will be dispelled. And, I'll also be able to marry Princess Anastasia. Mr. Daniel, truly… truly, thank you!"
As the hero, with a bright expression, grasped my hand and spoke, I could do nothing more than smile sheepishy. In my head, weakened by desire more than anyone else present, I could think of nothing other than fondling Anastasia's soft bosom.
...
In the evening of that day, a banquet was held in the royal palace, calling many nobles and dignitaries of the kingdom.
The story for the public is that I was supposed to be a powerful magician from another continent that the Hero party met during their travels. Many nobles were curious because I was hailed as a private hire for the King himself, and as they didn't know my capabilities there was a little sense of unease in them, fear of the unknown is a classic.
Being in the limelight like this made my skin crawl. In my job, while I did many things I just stayed on the background, the face of the projects where another department. How did those people manage? I shouldn't have been that antisocial.
In the cover story, my job was to study to lift the curse that had befallen the hero with the help of Princess Anastasia. Only a small select few knew what that especifically entailed.
The curse that even the saint couldn't solve and couldn't be lifted even with the power of all the country's priesthood put together.
Therefore, the story goes that I was someone with the Arcane Sage divine protection, a divine protection never seen before in this continent who had great arcane proficiencies and understanding that could help. Still, honestly, I didn't even know how to use mana yet, but after a few hours here I started to see some kinda transparent steam-like thing around everyone. Is that steam, or better saying 'aura'... mana?
The Hero Alex had a golden aura, like a super sayan but in a calm state, Princess Anastasia had pink-ish red aura and the others had many colors but compared with both of them theirs were almost colorless. If I had to number it, I would say that the hero had a 70% opacity on while the Princess had 80% and everyone else had between 10% to 40%. So is everyone kinda like on 'Ten' all the time? Does mana in this world work similarly to the aura in Hunter x Hunter?
Thinking about those things helped me take my mind off the stares and the nervousness that was getting to me. While I was escaping in my mind and eating, people got close to me before I knew it.
"Master Sage, would you like some wine?"
"Ah, thank you…"
I wasn't fond of wine, nor did I like alcohol at all, but I couldn't afford to be picky at this point.
...
"Lord Daniel… isn't it about time?"
As the banquet began to heat up, His Majesty the King coughed.
As planned in advance, I stood up with a pretentious gesture and nodded.
"…Understood. I will start the procedures for the curse-lifting analysis. As it relates to certain secrets of my divine protection, no one should approach the area where I and the Saint are going to be." I said with a sharp gaze to the audience.
Then Princess Anastasia also stood up and bowed politely.
"I, too, will do my best as a saint to lift the curse of the hero. For the further development of this country… I may not be able to meet everyone as I concentrate on the ritual."
Struck by the sight of the princess bowing her slender waist, sighs of admiration could be heard from all around.
"I pray that the combined might of the Arcane Sage and the Saint is enough to finally free the Hero without failure." Said the King
"I… I am the Saint who defeated the demons with the hero. This time, without doubt, I will not fail."
Her tone was soft yet firm.
The words, filled with strong determination, elicited applause from the audience — but my mind knowing of the circumstances...
That I would have sex with her.
That voluptuous body pressed into the red dress.
I couldn't help but wonder if it was right for someone like me to enjoy a woman like her, but at the same time, my desires whispered 'That's why you were summoned, let go and DO IT'.
Inside of me, a fire started to burn...
I will fulfill my purpose.
I will impregnate the Princess!
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