I later found myself kneeling in the throne room, having followed the lead of Mernel and the woman. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had a single idea of what to do, where to stand, or where to kneel.
But there was something weird about the room.
I raised my head up just enough to peek at the throne and saw a red veil hung across it, separating the throne from the rest of the room. Was the king too ugly to show himself? Perhaps he had a sickness and didn't want to be seen in a vulnerable state? Or maybe he simply wanted to seem cool by acting mysterious?
Whatever the reason, it made it easier to converse now that I had one less pair of (visible) eyes to worry about.
Mernel spoke up next to me, my earlier view of him vanishing as he addressed the king formally. Who could've guessed that the old man wasn't just a dork?
"Your Majesty, the summoning was a success. The hero is at your attention."
There was a tense silence for a moment before the sound of a woman was heard behind the veil.
"Welcome to the Kingdom of Elysandria, 12th Hero of Aleria! I am Queen of Elysandria, Elisabeth Bernt Ravenshield III. First, I would like to apologize for abruptly summoning you to our realm. It is understandable if you are furious about that, but we are in dire need of your help."
Huh? It's a Queen? Is this country a… what was it called, matriman… fuck it. I don't remember. But it was certainly not a typical monarchy.
I was about to tell her it's fine, but only managed to trail into mumbles as I wondered what an appropriate response would be, or if I was even meant to respond. No one seemed to hear my meek mumblings though, and she continued.
"Once every few centuries, a powerful creature descends upon our world. While they are inherently not a threat, the destruction they cause is often on a whim, and more than often catastrophic. The last time we turned a blind eye to one, it resulted in the complete annihilation of four kingdoms in under a day. These beings are known as Lumenari."
Huh? Several kingdoms… in a day? And they wanted me to fight a monster like that!? These Lumenari sure as hell weren't playing around.
I was curious about what she meant by "on a whim", but wasn't brave enough to risk speaking out of turn yet. And that was a good choice, as she spoke up once again. "Now, you might be wondering how you would be able to defeat a mighty being like that, correct?"
"Y-yes…" I stuttered out an answer after realizing that the silence that stretched after her question was my cue to actually answer. "Do I get some kind of ability?" I added almost quietly, which was met by yet another silence.
"Forgive me, I did not get what you said. Could you speak up louder?"
Before I could shrink down in embarrassment, Mernel tapped on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring nod, before speaking up. "Lord Falkner was curious about whether he was to receive an ability to aid him in his quest to protect our world?"
Thank you for the save, Mernel! Maybe you aren't such a bad guy after all!
"Correct. As a summoned hero of our world, you were already imparted abilities bestowed upon you by Ucliat, the creator of our world. You'll be shown to the testing chamber for an assessment of your abilities."
Ucliat,huh? I was expecting them to have several goddesses, but I guess they're more realistic and only believe in one, omniscient being. I hope he gave me something that would require little effort in life…
I could see the faint movements of someone receiving something from the queen behind the veil, before stepping out of it and walking towards me with some sort of book.
She walked over and then handed the book over to me, which I took hesitantly after receiving a reassuring nod from the woman next to me.
"This is a guidebook for heroes, made by the previous heroes throughout history. It was the idea of the 7th hero, Light Yagami. After that, the heroes who came after have continued to add their own knowledge into these books. I hope you will find them useful on your journey."
Alright, what the hell…? Which weeb was it that decided to name himself Light Yagami? Let me guess, they had an ability similar to Death Note too? And wow was the book thick. Probably around 400 pages (which, to someone who barely reads, is a lot).
I looked down at the book, running my hand over the intricate golden letters across the red cover. It was titled "A Guide For Heroes."Simple enough, I thought—until I opened the book.
I recognized the letters, sure, but I sure as hell couldn't read them. Why? Because it was in Japanese! Why?? Were all the heroes summoned here only Japanese??
"U-uhm… I can't understand this…" I muttered to Mernel next to me, still not wanting to raise my voice much.
He turned to me in confusion. "You can't read it? How come? Isn't it the language of the heroes?"
This man was either stupid or loved to generalize. And here I thought he was supposed to be some kind of smart man.
"Well… In my world, there are different languages in most countries. This one is very different from the one I grew up with…"
The queen seemed to have caught wind of my words and spoke up.
"Do not fret, Hero Arden. If you do not understand the context, one of the heroes has also imparted a translated version of it. Although it is in a language called… Ingleesh, if I'm correct."
As she spoke, the same servant walked over and handed me a second book, taking the Japanese one. As I opened the one I was given, I could finally understand the context. But perhaps receiving the Japanese version had been a sign to stay ignorant, because the first line I read made me second-guess if this truly was a helpful guide:
'Great hero! Have you been destined to save the world, but find yourself clueless about where to begin? Don't worry, because I, Light Yagami, will impart my veteran knowledge onto you. Be grateful, peasant! AHAHAHAHA!'
'PS: There is no video-game-like interface, so give up on that idea.'
Uh huh… doesn't exactly sound like something Light Yagami would write. Even I, who haven't watched a single episode of Death Note, knew that much at least. But at least that last bit was helpful. Now I knew not to chant 'Open System' and hope it would work.
I quickly flipped through all the pages, hoping to get a general clue about what the book was about. Surprisingly, it contained actual information on different monsters and spells. Other pages were more unserious, talking about romantic advice or what races he recommended adding into a potential future harem.
I flipped to the last page and checked the number too, wanting to know how many pages the book had. Oh, 600… I was definitely not going to finish this. Maybe if I was bored. The book didn't even have a proper 'table of contents' section, so I'd also need to spend precious time finding relevant information.
"Well? Did you understand the context now, hero?" Elisabeth's voice rang out. I quickly closed my book and looked up. "Huh? Yeah! I–I mean, yeah, it did. Thanks for the book," I paused before adding, "Your Majesty."
That was okay, right? I didn't speak too casually, did I?
I saw her silhouette give a small nod of acknowledgement, letting out a sigh of relief at her acceptance.
"Now, do you have any questions to ask, hero Falkner?" she then asked.
"N-no, not at the moment…your majesty." I responded, louder than before this time to avoid having to repeat myself. "Or actually…"
I hesitated, before continuing, "Will I… be able to return home after I finish my mission?"
There was silence for a moment before she spoke up. "…Yes, it is possible. Some heroes have found ways to return to their home using the remains from the Lumenari they managed to defeat. Others have remained here, serving our kingdom and improving our livelihood." She then paused before continuing. "I will not prevent you from returning to your homeland once you complete your mission, but if you choose to stay here, know that you are more than welcome to reside in our kingdom."
"Alright… thanks for answering…"
So I had to defeat a god-like being in order to return home? That sounded like a huge pain! Though I also felt conflicted. Did I truly want to return home? I lived a decent life there and had a loving family. The only regret I had was vanishing without being able to tell them I wasn't kidnapped or dead in a random ditch somewhere.
"If you have no further questions," Queen Elisabeth then continued, "Mernel and Kina will accompany you to the testing chamber. I will meet you later in the evening for a private chat."
A private chat with the queen? I see, I see. Probably to get more details on my mission. After all, she couldn't just info-dump on me in this kind of setting, and doing it somewhere more comfortable would make sense.
After the queen dismissed us, I noticed Mernel and the woman, Kina, standing up and quickly following suit as they bowed and walked out of the room.
Long story short, I was led to a room where I had to stick my hand into some ancient construct, and my brain was then force-fed a bunch of information about abilities I possessed—along with how to use them.
The abilities were split into two parts: Skills and Spells.
Everyone knows what a spell is. A spell needs mana to be cast, and an incantation to more easily visualize it. Having watched a lot of isekais, I tried using what little knowledge of science I had for the visualization instead of an incantation—and succeeded in creating fire.
A Skill is quite different from a spell. It doesn't necessarily require mana, although there are some exceptions. Certain Skills require incantations, while others do not, and there's no way to bypass that. Each Skill has different requirements that need to be met in order to be gained.
The Skills I currently possessed were bestowed upon me by Ucliat at random, as well as some I had apparently already met the requirements for back in my original world. One of them allowed me to dismantle anything I touched at will, which I could already use without training.
Though the requirement for that Skill was... well: "Having destroyed 100 items by accident when trying to fix them."
Excuse me for being a bit clumsy!
Anyway, the main difference between Skills and Spells is difficult to explain in simple terms.
Cooking is a Skill. Summoning a familiar is a Spell.
If fireball is a Spell, then regulating heat is a Skill.
"Sword Master" is a Skill, while sword enchantment is a Spell.
As someone with a slow brain, I needed the explanation written down. And even with it written down, I had to reread it several times before actually understanding the words. It seems coming to another world did nothing to help with my brain fog.
I also received an… interesting gift. Something the latest hero had left for the next hero. Considering the previous hero was summoned over a century ago, I wondered what it was that could last so long and still be considered a gift.
And then I saw the last thing I expected to see: a person.
So now, I stood awkwardly at the entrance of the grand room I was given, unable to focus on anything other than coming up with a way to greet my new… roommate. Who was, by the way, locked in a small cage, barely clad in anything.
You see, the previous hero, Yosuke Minato, had thought it was a good idea to enslave someone, treat them like cattle, and then abandon them for a century while he returned to his homeland. At least according to Mernel, who clearly didn't have a high opinion of him when he told me about a few of the previous heroes.
It was disgusting that this kind of thing was allowed, but I had already expected to see similar things considering that the medieval era was anything but peaceful. My opinion of people was also never that high either.
I set down my stuff on a nearby desk—items I'd received from Mernel and Kina, along with other things passed down from older heroes, and a few 'welcome gifts' from the Queen herself. I felt like a younger brother inheriting hand-me-downs from my siblings, which wasn't exactly far from the truth.
I glanced over at the cage once more, opening my mouth to say something, then closing it again. How am I supposed to react in this situation? This person had probably gone through a lot, so being too familiar or kind might have the opposite effect. I took a deep breath, gathering what little courage I had.
I walked over and knelt in front of the cage, doing my best not to make direct eye contact with the pair of dark, lifeless eyes staring straight into my soul.
After a bit of fumbling around and quick glances at the cage, my hands finally found the lock. Then, using my Dismantle Skill, I managed to break it, letting the pieces clatter to the ground. I then opened the cage and took a few steps back to give her some space to get out.
She remained there for a few moments before slowly crawling out and then standing up on shaky legs. My eyes widened slightly at her full appearance, but I quickly glanced away as I noticed that all she wore was a slightly oversized shirt that barely covered enough.
As much as I'd love to take in the sight, more paranoid part of me thought it would be safer to not ogle at her like some pervert.
She was pretty short, in a petite way, but she was clearly malnourished with how thin she looked. She had small, black horns that peeked out of her short silver hair, one of them being broken. And most surprisingly... she was black too! A bit lighter than I was, but still!
That meant I had a fellow sister, as African American people tend to say.
Yes, yes, I'm stereotypical towards my own. What about it?
There was a long silence before she finally spoke up in a low, hoarse voice, as if she wasn't used to speaking. "Are you… are you my new Master…?"
"I guess so…?" I said, not quite sure myself. I didn't exactly want to own a person, but it wasn't exactly that bad if she herself didn't mind it.
"There are… uh, clothes in the closet. At least that's what Mernel told me…" I then mumbled, quickly glancing around the room before averting my gaze and pointing at the corner of the room, not wanting to accidentally look at her barely clothed figure. "You can take it… if you want. I-I mean, pick out an outfit…"
I felt her gaze on me for a bit longer before I could hear her starting to walk toward the closet I'd pointed out. She was probably surprised at my sudden generosity. Maybe she was distrustful. Maybe she thought I was trying to gain her trust just to use her for my own gain.
I've seen enough to foresee any of these possible concerns she might have, and I would try my best to gain her trust.
Alright, maybe I wouldn't try my best.
I never really put much effort into things, including relationships. Others tended to maintain them instead, so I never really saw any reason to do much on my end. I've only recently realized how my way of thinking was flawed, and how others may have expected more than just friendliness from me.
And now, in this new world, it was the perfect chance for me to finally start anew and live life correcting the errors of my past… or something grand like that.