Chapter 1: Heroes (Part 2)

Returning to the present, four out of five of the potential Heroes had at least agreed to hear more of what the King had to say. Though really I didn't think we had any choice in that matter. The fifth candidate was still sniffling on the floor while rubbing her eyes.

The naïve one took a step closer but was held back by the sister.

"Let me handle this," she said reassuringly and kneeled next to the crying girl. "Hi, are you okay?"

The girl shook her head, "Of course I'm not," she snivelled "A sudden light takes me away from home, how can I be calm at all? Just send me back!"

She had a point. Me excluded, the rest of them looked like they were from a different world. She had every right to be shocked, and thinking about it the others were handling this marvellously well. For me and our world this kind of event happened on repeat every few decades summoning from both whatever world they came from and mine. It clearly wasn't the same for them.

The sister smiled softly, "My name's Alicia. I'm scared too. The only reason I'm this calm is because my brother is with me. If he wasn't here I might be like you right now."

"Liar, you'd go on a rampage," her brother mumbled but quickly turned away as he was glared at.

"Right now all we can do is listen. Can you do that?"

The crying girl nodded and slowly stood up with Alicia's help.

The King seeing that we were all more settled began to speak, "Then may I ask for the names of our Heroes?"

There was some awkward shuffling before the naïve first boy started, "My name is Carlton Smith. I'm from Earth… uh or America to be more specific." He had sandy brown hair and a solid build. With his light blue eyes he didn't differ much from the humans on this continent.

The other boy went next. "Name's Gary Stallworth." He walked closer to his sister, "This is my sister Alicia and we're from Earth as well or Australia to be more precise."

"Tch, you didn't need to introduce me as well, I can do that myself," Alicia complained.

"It was easier this way."

Alicia ignored him and coaxed the girl she was still holding, "Will you tell us your name as well?"

"Ah umm," the girl looked around shyly, or was it scared… I couldn't quite tell. "My name is Sayuri Shizuka, I'm from Japan."

The other three shifted in surprise. Was there something wrong about this place called Japan?

"Are you speaking English?" Carlton asked.

"No I'm speaking Japanese… oh, how can I understand you?"

A magician with a long beard stepped forward, "Allow me to explain. When you were summoned we also layered in a magic so that you could all understand us and each other."

"That's really convenient," Gary laughed lightly.

I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention. "My name is Davios Flint, I'm from this world." Of course that wasn't my real name. My real name was Davarious First Born Light of the Autumn Wind. It's okay if you don't understand the naming sense.

Their reactions however had me surprised. The King visibly flinched frowning. Damn it, did they have someone who could detect lies? Could they tell I used a false name? No, I would have at least sensed a magic on that scale.

"Is something wrong your highness?" I asked apprehensively.

"Nothing at all. I was just surprised that a Hero was summoned from this world as well," he answered.

"I was under the impression that this was not an uncommon occurrence. The people in my town were raised with stories of such Heroes."

"Of course it is perfectly fine but with four from another world, I expected you to be as well."

I raised my eyes slightly. No, if you look at it properly, my clothes were entirely different from theirs right? I let my own thoughts slide and continued, "Then if there is no problem, may we hear more of the situation at hand?"

"Certainly, allow me to continue." I was getting glares from the King's men surrounding us. They didn't seem to like how I was talking to the King.

Before the King could speak, Sayuri interrupted, "Please, if you could, can you send me home?"

The King looked visibly distraught and began apologetically, "Unfortunately it is not within our power to send you back to your own world."

"Excuse me!?" Alicia began aggressively, "So what you're saying is that you summoned us to fight your war with no way back home? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"A-Alicia is it?" Carlton tried to calm her, "He has his reasons right, you heard how desperate this country is."

"Yeah I did, but that's fine for people like us who can stay but Sayuri here has a family to return to."

The King held up his hand, "Please allow me to finish. While I said that we do not have the power to do so, the Demon Lord has the knowledge that we require. If the Heroes are able to end his dark reign we could easily send you home."

"So we have to risk our lives to kill the Demon Lord to return home, that's bull-,"

"Liar," I interrupted before Alicia could finish her rage. All eyes focused on me. Crap, I hadn't meant to say that out loud. After I had thought about it for a while, as one of the primary experts of demon related magic, I had come to one conclusion. The King was lying. I had no idea how to use summoning magic to summon Heroes, let alone send them back home. If I could summon some, I would have done so instead of coming here. Although right now, I wasn't meant to know any of that.

"Did you just call our King a liar?" The same knight as before drew his sword.

I immediately bowed in apology, "Excuse my rudeness your highness, it is just I was surprised that the Demon Lord had such knowledge. I may not look it but I am quite the accomplished magician or at least according to my Master." My master being my grandfather who already conceded that I had out classed him. "It is just that I have researched quite a bit into such magic and could not come to such a conclusion as that. That is not to say that the King's royal magicians do not hold more knowledge than I. Of course as this is the glorious Kingdom of Elsbeth, the information you hold is far greater than I could imagine." I started to ramble so I cut myself off, "I apologize for speaking out of turn."

Everyone was still staring at me when I looked up. The knight scoffed and sheathed his sword and I heard the other Heroes breathe a sigh of relief.

The King looked at me with sharp eyes, "You are forgiven. The knowledge itself is not widely spread. To be surprised is natural." His gaze shifted to encompass all of us, "Still for summoning you under such circumstances it would be natural for you to hate me, but for the sake of this land, no this world, please help us and become our Heroes." He bowed again.

Alicia looked away awkwardly, "It's not like I hate you." She sighed, "If you need help that badly we can try, but don't expect anything grand, right Garr?"

"Well I was ready to ride this to completion anyway," Gary replied.

Carlton had already agreed and I was up for anything. Now the only problem was….

"So I can't go home?" Sayuri said with a whimper.

"Not until the Demon Lord is defeated. If you do not wish to participate in his subjugation we can look after you here. We will spare no effort for your comfort." The King answered with a soft guilt.

"I just want to go home…."

Alicia held her closer as she began to cry fully now. Ugh… this was leaving a sick feeling in my stomach. To think that the Hero summoning was something like this. I had always thought that the Heroes were free to fight, but this… to forcefully have people not much older than children fight against the Demon Lord… against me. It was cruel. I could crush them like ants.

"It is late, let us retire for the night. Guide the Heroes to their chambers. We shall meet again in the morning." The King gestured and servants came into the room. They gently lead us out.

*

Each of us had separate rooms. They were all connected to a lounge where we could interact but as I was currently the only one in there, it felt kind of lonely. The space we were given was by no means held back upon. It was lavish to the point of exceeding my own home. Though my family was never fond of rich decorations.

With my magic I could easily see into the other Heroes rooms and hear them. It was an invasion of privacy but I was curious, mostly as to their mental health. The brother and sister pair, Alicia and Gary were talking in the same room. They were discussing how they should handle the situation. The two of them seemed to be on top of things and understood quickly what they had to do to survive. Carlton was alone pacing in his room, he seemed fine. In fact he looked more determined than anything else. Certainly a Hero archetype. I should be careful of him later if ends up trying to kill me. And finally there was Sayuri. She was… she was not doing fine at all. Alicia had tried to comfort her but she had asked to be alone and locked herself in her room. Since we arrived she had been crying non-stop. It was concerning.

I sighed and stood up. Even as the Demon Lord there was such a thing as demon decency… ah well, human decency. I knocked on her room door lightly.

"Sayuri, it's Davios. I know we just met, but maybe it'll help if we talk."

There was silence on the other side of the door.

I continued anyway, using my mind's eye I could tell she was staring at the door in apprehension. "As someone from this world, it may seem a little crass but I understand your pain. It's not easy to start somewhere new, knowing no one. So can we talk?"

The door opened and she stepped aside for me to come in. She shut the door after I entered. I felt slightly conscious about being in a room alone with her but as the Demon Lord such emotion did not befit me. Sayuri sat on her bed and stared at me silently.

"Umm, well, where should I start?" I coughed, "Unfortunately you heard what the King said, none of you can go home till the Demon Lord is defeated." Sayuri frowned. "Ah that is I mean, it's like umm… if you break an egg, you might as well make an omelette from it. No that's not the best thing to say. What I really mean is that, you should make the best of this no matter how crappy it is. If you want to talk there's the rest of us Heroes. Who knows maybe you'll enjoy yourself at least a little here."

Sayuri was still staring at me, although now it was less cold… maybe.

"If your family saw you now, what would they think?"

Her reaction was far fiercer than I expected as she stood up and yelled at me, "What do you know about my family?"

"Ah, sorry!" I jumped back, "It's just that I know that if my mother could see me, I would want her to know how well I'm doing and that I'm still going strong."

"Your Mother?" she calmed down.

"She's… gone, but I'd like to do her proud no matter the circumstance."

"Oh… sorry," her eyes softened considerably.

I continued with a gentle smile, "And about you helping to defeat the Demon Lord. Out of everyone here, to me it looks like you have the most potential." It was the truth. Seeing the Heroes, all of them had frightening potential. If I had my own best interests for survival, I should kill them all here before they become a threat. "So don't get so down on yourself, if everyone tries hard, the faster everyone can return home right?"

Her fist clenched. This girl may have had more spirit than I initially thought.

"You can go now, I'm fine."

"Okay, there's some food outside if you want some."

I left the room and once in the empty lounge I let out a single very long breath. Ugh, that was harder than I thought it would be. Thankfully however, for now it seemed everyone was fine…. Sigh, to think all I wanted was to play Hero and now I might end up babysitting them.