Chapter 03: An Absurd Request like Expected
“No way. Are you serious…”
“Yeah. The possibility exists.”
After Reiji caught Mizuki, she was filled in about the current situation. At first she was rather confused too, but not being alone here surely worked in favour. With the encouragement of her two friends, she accepted it before long. Still, one had to praise her for having nerves of steel as she didn’t ran away from reality.
“Okay, I get it.”
“You sure are quick on the uptake.”
“You two are quite calm too. It would be embarra.s.sing to fall in a panic by myself. Besides, now that we’re here, we can only take things as they come.”
Mizuki adopted a clear-cut att.i.tude. She had long, black hair and a gentle look with an appearance that made her look like some frail, secluded young lady. Furthermore, she possessed a gentle, yet surprisingly strong and unperturbed heart. Reiji smiled at her.
“You’re strong, Mizuki.”
“O- Okay.”
She ended up turning bright red from his smile. That was nothing new, but neither was Reiji’s unconscious enticer skill.
A totally inappropriate steamy mood filled the room and Suimei asked Mizuki as if to splash water on it.
“So, Mizuki, there’s something I want to ask.”
“Eh? Sure.”
“If this is like the novel, then next comes…”
“Y- Yeah, some important people of the different world show up. Otherwise…”
The first part was like expected the same from the novel, but she added an otherwise, so there must be a different development possible too.
Reiji asked about that after a short pause.
“Is there something else?”
“In some other novel, the destination, in other words this place, happened to be the castle of the Devil King.”
“…Uwah. Now that’s harsh.”
Yes, in most novels, the summoned MC would only face off against the Devil King at the end of the story after many twists and turns. However. When this was an unexpected plot like Mizuki had mentioned, then this would be the focal point of the climax, the last battle.
That wasn’t all too funny. Only a peril for their lives. Such a distress was really redundant.
Then Reiji asked Mizuki with a calm tone.
“If I remember correctly, that novel was the type, where the MC defeated the Devil King at once and triumphantly returned to the county of the different world as a hero, right?”
“Yeah. Then another strong foe appeared and later the MC was dragged into a civil war…”
Mizuki started to explain, when Suimei, enhancing his hearing with magic, heard some noise from outside the room.
“Listen, you two.”
“Mh?”
“I know already. Mizuki, someone is coming and a lot of them at that.”
Apparently Reiji had heard them too. His own enhancement wasn’t for show. Right after giving a simple explanation to her, he shifted his gaze towards the origin of the noise, the pa.s.sage behind the door, and stood protecting in front of Mizuki.
She cowered anxiously. And Suimei took a stance like Reiji as well.
“Now let’s see what shows up…”
“I just hope it will be these important people that summoned us.”
“Don’t be stupid. If anything, hope for our cla.s.smates saying ‘fooled ya’.”
“…”
Reiji didn’t respond to Suimei’s little joke. Whether that was because the footsteps drew closer to the door or he simply believed it was actually better when some important people from the different world showed up, was not apparent. Anyway— Who exactly was it that came over and was about to enter the room?
Suimei glanced to the side, where Reiji stood all tensed up, ready to leap forward at any moment, and Mizuki backed off as to not be a hindrance to him.
As for Suimei, instead of growing stiff in an unfamiliar situation, he was excited with his heart was racing over this unpredictable situation. His heart as a magician of course.
Then he quietly checked his belongings. He got here without any preparations, so he carried nothing but mundane things on him. It were—
(I got my altered bag and the stuff inside. A chain accessory, a vial with mercury, a card, a jacket, the discrepancy gloves and a bit of the eight key nostrum… To be honest, that’s all not very useful. But—)
If something happened, he had to act. They all had lived in j.a.pan, so Suimei was most likely the only one with combat experience, as he belonged to the underworld. He would like to keep the fact that he was a magician hidden, but not in the exchange for his friends’ lives. In the worst case, he could just erase their memories, if even he felt sorry about it.
The three of them tensed up from their respective worries. Then the footsteps finally stopped in front of the door.
A short pause that felt like an eternity and cramped their stomachs ensued. Before long, the door was opened with a noise of something heavy being dragged along.
“—!”
“Firmus—”
(My Perdurability—)
While Reiji was distracted, Suimei readied a defence magic. It couldn’t be ruled out that they would attack right away. And there was no harm in being prepared.
—And then, a group clad in armour appeared in the entry. They looked like armed humans. A first relief that they weren’t monster, devils or demons.
The soldiers warily approached them in an orderly formation.
What will happen? Suimei still kept his magic ready, but the group split up, making way for a little girl with long, blue hair, wearing an elegant white dress, and a woman, wearing a robe as white as a polished pearl.
And then—
“Eh…?”
“Mh—?”
Both females made a bewildered expression as if they met an unexpected development. They huddled together and whispered in secret.
“White Flame, oughtn’t there be one summoned Hero?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“But I see three people here…”
“My guess would be that two of them were swallowed up in the heroic summoning.”
“Oho…”
They were whispering, but with his enhanced ears, Suimei could hear them and while he did understand their language, he was surprised. It was a strangely rhyming language that wasn’t j.a.panese, nor any other language from earth. Although he didn’t know the language, he understood it.
A possible explanation for that was that a language spell was cast on him during the summoning. How convenient.
Hearing the words hero and summoned, Suimei decided it wasn’t necessary anymore to be alerted and secretly cancelled his magic. Reiji too relaxed his posture.
Then Suimei leaned close to them and asked Mizuki.
“…They seem surprised… Say, Mizuki, know of any plot like this?”
“Yeah. There are stories, where the friends of the summoned hero get dragged along, but…”
Suddenly Mizuki stopped talking and tilted her head to the side. What was up with this hesitation?
“…?”
“Mizuki, something bothering you?”
“Uhm, in said plot, the friend of the summoned hero, in our case either Suimei-kun or me, will make a contract with an evil G.o.d and turn against the hero.”
“What the? Why an evil G.o.d of all things?”
“I’m not sure either…”
Mizuki was flurried in anxiety. To be honest, even Suimei felt like loosing his cool. Contracting an evil G.o.d, what kind of bulls.h.i.t was that?
He could only imagine a tragic fate, where the summoning killed thousands of people and even if you survived it, a dangerous evil avatar that uses up all of your life’s luck, awaited you and forced you to pay a compensation.
Suimei felt a cold sweat running down his back, whereas Reiji asked Mizuki.
“Turns against the hero… Why suddenly fight me?”
“Because either Suimei-kun or I will come to hate you in this plot, make a contract and fight the hero.”
“Eh…?”
Reiji turned remarkably pale on her words and was befuddled, so Mizuki quickly denied it.
“…O- Of course I’ll never hate you, Reiji-kun. I- If anything, I l- l- lo- love…”
As she was embarra.s.sed to say it to his face, her words gradually became quieter and the end couldn’t be heard anymore, but Reiji’s face colour took a turn for the better and he awkwardly faced Suimei.
“A- And you, Suimei?”
“Nah. I wouldn’t have stayed with you for six years if I hated you. Just think about it.”
“G- Good…”
Hearing their answers, Reiji made a sigh of relief now. To be honest, there was no way Suimei could come to hate such a nice guy.
While the three had such an exchange, the girl with the long, blue hair called out to them.
“Excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but do you have a moment?”
“Ah, yes.”
When Reiji give his okay, the blue-haired girl elegantly corrected her posture and dropped a curtsey, then she spoke.
“Forgive me for bringing you here so suddenly. I am the second child of Almadias Root Astel, the King of Astel Kingdom: t.i.tania Root Astel. And this is the person that made efforts to summon you here…”
When Princess t.i.tania turned a bit to the side to introduce and beckon her, the person in question, the woman in the white robe stepped forward.
“My name is Felmenia Stingray, a court mage. Nice to make your acquaintance.”
The woman was called White Flame by the Princess earlier. She had named herself a mage and her body was indeed surrounded fluently by mana. She seemed to be a long practiser of magic.
After their introductions, Reiji stepped forward now and started to name himself politely.
“Thank you for your polite introduction. My name is Shana Reiji. If you are more familiar with family names last, then please call me Reiji Shana. These two are my friends. Mizuki Anou to my right and Suimei Yakagi to my left.”
Reiji introduced them like that, whereupon the guards made a ruckus and the princess t.i.tania, as well as the mage Felmenia made an impressed expression. Reiji’s dignified behaviour and well-mannered greeting must have been impressed them.
Next up, Mizuki came to the front and introduced herself to them.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Mizuki Anou…”
And lastly, Suimei too stepped forward, imitating Mizuki.
“I’m…Suimei Yakagi.”
His introduction ended by simply stating his name. He had nothing more to say, nor was this any situation to run his mouth carelessly.
Then t.i.tania let her gaze wander over these three and closed her eyes like thinking about something.
“Reiji-sama, Mizuki-sama, Suimei-sama it is then. The reason we called you here is because we have to ask a favour from… one of you at all costs.”
“And that is?”
“Yes, at present the leader of the devils, Devil King Nakshatra threatens the peace of our world and I would like you to exterminate him.”
…At the very moment Princess t.i.tania uttered this, Suimei, Reiji and Mizuki had all the same reaction in their hearts: That figures!
Only Suimei additionally placed his hand on his chin and looked up at the ceiling.