Where are we ?

[ Stranton POV ]

As he awoke, he realized he was not in his room. Heck, was he even in a room?

'What room had ceilings so tall that would be a pain in the ass to clean every weekday !'

He notices that the ceiling is not the only anomaly-

'Wait, what? Am I not in my room? Was I kidnapped? Drugged? '

As he tried to get up, he realized he was sprawled on a cold, hard marble floor with intricate repeating patterns overlapping with some non-repeating designs.

'Wow, this is so beautiful. It must have cost a fortune.

Switching between being awed at the room's decor and afraid of his circumstance, he slowly took in everything. He was not alone in this room, not by a long shot.

There were a lot of people gathered around them in the big room.

'Why do they look so hazy, though ?'

'Right, where are my glasses?'

He groped at his pant pocket, took out his glasses, and wore them, and now he could more or less take in everything.

Massive pillars were marring the way to short stairs which led to A large Throne made of ... Obsidian? That was the only glassy dark material Stranton remembered that could match the throne here.

'I wonder if it's like the GOT throne on the back.

Stranton could not see the throne in its entirety, only the armrests, which were made from purple Obsidian, on top of which there were some cushions placed, of golden color. Why could Stranton not see the throne entirely?

Because a blonde man was sitting on the throne and looking at them.

Being surrounded by these many people and in a place that he did not have any memory of, Stranton couldn't help but feel fear, the fear of the unknown situation and these unknown people. A thought suddenly came up in his mind, and although he tried to suppress it, his intuition honed through countless web novels refused to let that idea go.

'Isekai ! God Dammit! '

'This happened when I mustered the courage to ask my crush out. I got isekai'd? I didn't even see an effing truck ! Hey God if you are going to do Isekai, then do it right! What kind of trash isekai does not have Truck kun?! The last thing I remember was sleeping peacefully'. Stranton wept internally.

He also noticed that four others were already standing beside him. Two girls, two boys.

One was wearing a black and blue jacket with jeans. He had red hair and brown eyes.

Even though he wore a loose-fitting jacket, Stranton could infer that this man was athletic and very confident. His posture was commanding.Or had some semblance of it. In this unknown and oppressive environment, only a hint of it remained. He did not look young, but he was not yet old to be called middle-aged. Stranton guessed they were in the same window for 25 to 30 years.

He looked at the other guy, whose gaze was onto some unknown location far out of this grand room. 'Yup, This guy is probably stoned.'

He was a tall guy, he could only see a part of his face, but he could gleam that this guy was instead plain looking.

He was wearing a black windbreaker, a pair of black gloves, and ... had a walking cane?

'Damn, this guy walked straight out of a mafia gang or a historical drama. Or is he an actor ? But what are the chances that he was filming ?'

He looked at the girls and saw one of them observing him and the guy beside him.

'Well...'

He only glanced at them and noted that one of them was a woman, probably in her... well, she looked young, with black hair. She had a white apron with carrots on, under which was jeans and a cyan shirt.

The other was wearing a student uniform and was glancing at everything with written enthusiasm on her face. She had Black hair but with a slight blue tinge at the end. She had blue eyes and a radiant personality, most probably.

"Heroes."

Suddenly a booming voice thundered in the room that Stranton had promptly named Throne Room.

Stranton had to cover his ears.

Stranton focused on the man on the throne. He looked a few years younger than himself, about 18 to 23. He was rather handsome and exuded an air of authority. Now that he was looking directly at the King, Stranton thought of looking down and kneeling in front of him. He did not, however, give in to this thought.

"I, The King of the Kingdom of Baquentarso, Lucien Heldgrid, welcome you to my humble abode."

The voice had mellowed out a bit this time, but it still was understandable.

Stranton wondered how it was so clear even though there was so much distance and the voice was not loud.

"This is the land of Sury. A land that is much different from your land. You have been summoned here by the blessings of our goddess of Light. This land is in danger, and although I have no right to ask this of you, I hope you can help this land. I am not asking you to put your life in danger. Any help would be very precious to us at this point. The Danger comes from the reawakened Demon Lord. who has awakened exactly 28 days ago."

The young lady in their group took a hesitating step forward and raised her hand.

"M-May I ask a question, uh-your majesty ?"

The King motioned his hands, and a man with shining silver armor came forward to face them. His face was hidden behind his visor, and he looked like someone plucked him straight from a fantasy romance novels having fights between the noble families. He opened his visor and handed it to the shifty girl standing beside him. She was glaring daggers at them.

'What? Are we already under their bad graces ?'

He came forward and replied

"Hello, I am Landor, The White Hawk Knight's Captain. Ask away, and I will answer what I can."

"Where are we ? " the student promptly asked.

" and can we go back ?" The red-haired man added.

The Knight Captain Landor quietly observed the red-haired man for a few seconds, then nodded his head and replied

"Before I answer you, can you guys introduce yourselves ?"

The student girl was slightly embarrassed and hurriedly replied

"I am Ji-Ming, and... uh, I guess I was the student council president?"

The other woman took one step forward and said

"Hi, everyone. My name is Stephanie Matilda. I am a lawyer."

The red-haired man took a step forward and introduced himself

"Rudwell Dikes. CEO of Rudwell Security Company."

Stranton was taking the names of his fellow travelers in when he realized everyone was looking at him. So he stuttered and spoke.

"H-Hello, everyone. I am Stranton. I suppose you don't have video games here? I am an e-sports player."

He breathed a sigh and then stepped back and joined everyone in, staring at the last member of the travelers.

The man dressed in black gloves showed a tinge of nervousness but finally smiled and said

"Hello, I am Sherlock Moriarty. I used to be a Detective."

Stranton immediately frowned when he realized how poor of a fake name that man was using, but he also realized he should have used one.

"Now I will answer your question about where you are and if you can go back."

" It is your honor to be in the Majestic halls of the Baquentarso Main Palace. Baquentarso is one of the Kingdoms in this world. We are in the world known as 'Sury.' You are the chosen ones, the heroes brought by our goddess. And yes, you can go back. Although we do not have that power, the goddess has it. Many past heroes have wished for a goddess after defeating the Demon King and have returned to their homes. "

Stranton was baffled by the huge amount of information which was delivered so succintly in one breath, and it seemed he was not alone

"Wh-what do you mean? We are not on Emyrphus ?" said the Red Haired man

"Can you not send us back to Ernestrum" ? said Stephanie.

Stranton was just about to ask if he could be sent back to earth, but he was more baffled when he heard the other two say names he couldn't make a sense out of

'Emyrphus? Ernestrum? Are those some city names ?'

" The summoning spell is or rather was made by the gods. It is a spell that draws in people from other worlds. Sometimes the heroes come here from the same world. Sometimes, they can be from different worlds. And as I said, there is indeed a way back home."

As Landor the Knight Captain was replying, a woman with a veil and white clock came behind him. She was carrying a round plate with five glass balls on top of stands carved with beautiful runes.

Stranton noticed these runes were similar to the weird ones he had seen on the floor. He glanced now and saw the five summoned heroes standing inside a circle of the strange runes on the floor, and the runes were slowly vanishing.

'I-Is this something related to the summoning spell ?'

It finally hit Stranton how fucked up all this was. He was kidnapped from his house and taken somewhere that wasn't even in his world.

He also made a point to himself that probably the windbreaker guy was from earth, since he named himself after Sherlock. But then again the other three have similar fashion to our Earth, could they have similar stories ? Wouldn't that be too much coincidental then ? Are The other Planets from where these guys came are simply different Timelines of the Earth ?

Stranton was barely able to keep standing as his mind spiralled down these questionable thoughts.

How petty can the kidnappers get? And now, as he surmised, these people would force him to labor and defeat this so-called Demon King?

He quickly realized that he needed to be alert. This world has magic, but he doesn't know what the hell is possible with this magic. Can it be used to control their minds? Hypnotise? Remove Memories?

These thoughts sent a shiver down his spine. He once again felt like a lone man stranded on an island. Only the red-haired man seemed to be sharing his despair and fear.

Noticing the looks on their faces, Landor motioned his hand and took one of the glass balls with the base in his hands, and said to Stranton, "In this world, there exists Mana in the environment. There are general spells that everyone can learn with a bit of difficulty, and then some people have talent in some particular fields. Magic in that field is easier for them to learn and invent.

"These Orbs will show you your affinities in magic. Now please, Sir Stranton, can you place your hand on it ?"

Stranton glanced at the sword sheathed at the Knight's waist once and quickly did as he was told. As soon as he placed his hand on the glass, there was a blinding yellow light for a few seconds. Stranton thought he saw gears turning and levers moving in that white light. Then he heard a shrill cracking sound, and the white light went away as soon as it had come.

The hall suddenly went abuzz as people started whispering.

"Excellent Mana Well, High Earth Affinity, and a talent in building machines, or so it seems. The exact details will be provided to you shortly after a divination expert looks at these."

Stranton took away his hand and observed that there was a crack on the orb.

'We have cheat powers? But why machinery ?' Stranton did not know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, he thought he had great potential since the mage said, Excellent Mana. On the other hand, he hoped to get something to aid him in combat. He supposed this world would not be as peaceful as his old world.

He had a preliminary idea that his talent would be outside the combat area. Still, expecting the worse, Stranton had already decided to use machinery not purely as a utility but also for combat.

'Does a gun or missile come under machinery? They should, right ?'

'But how do I even build them, forget the missile; I need to know the principle on which a gun works'

While Stranton was busy convincing himself that he could use his talent in combat, the fully black-haired woman, Stephanie had already placed her hand on another glass orb. The result was a blinding Black Light. Unlike Stranton, there was no vision within the black light.

'Wait, how can there be a black light ?'

*crack*

This orb, too, like Stanton's, got slightly cracked.

The Knight Captain said something, but Stranton got lost in his thoughts again.

'Also, is it just me, or did she get her talent based on her hair color? Don't tell me that red-haired dude will get some fire-type talent. If that happens, then that is a different level of cliche. Wait, my hair is black, right ?'

Stranton thought of something absurd. His hair color back on earth was black. According to his hypothesis, someone with talent with the earth should have green or blonde hair, right ?'

Suddenly a thought took place in his mind : 'Wait , 'Earth' ? These people call their planet 'Earth' ??

Before his mind got overwhelmed, he changed his line of thought and saved this crisis for a later date.

Abruptly He plucked his hair, brought his palm near his face, and slowly opened it. Inside was a single strand of brown hair...

'Huh.. so brown works too? Wait no! How is my hair color different? Did they dye my hair to make us fit our talents? Or ... Or is this... s-someone else's body ?'

This thought sent a chill down his spine. He wanted to look at his reflection on the marble floor or use his hands to feel his face for any difference, but he also was unsure if it would be wise to do so in front of all the 'apparent' royalty.

He chose not to do anything, so he observed the other people's results through the orb.

The red-haired guy got Two visions, blood, and fire. His orb, too, was cracked.

The student got a blue light with an ice flake in her vision. Her orb was cracked as well.

The Knight captain congratulated everyone on their overwhelming mana capacity.

This orb generally helped measure the starting mana capacity of someone ( This orb was modified to gauge their talents and give them a divination of their future ). Cracking it was almost impossible unless someone had the mana capacity at the level of a dragon.

To say people like these were rare would be an understatement. It would be lucky to have one or two in one generation, and that too all over the world of Sury.

When the fifth guy, decked out in a fashionable all-black windbreaker, gloves, and walking cane, put his hand on the glass orb, it did not emit light, instead there was a vision being shown inside the glass ball, it was ... an expanse of grey white fog extending to the infinity.

The hall went silent.

A slight frown had appeared on the Knight Captain's face. If the person handing the glass orbs was disappointed, she at least did not show any. The Knight Captain stared at Sherlock for a good few seconds and then stepped back.

With a renewed smile on his face Landor said :

"My friends, although the summoning doesn't take a toll on your physical health, you might feel dizzy and weak, but nothing to worry about. A little bit of rest will do you just fine."

He made a gesture, and five maids came forward.

"These five will be your first subordinates. You can ask anything them anything you want to know. Now they will show you to your quarters outside the palace."

Landor suddenly said something as the maids were guiding their new hosts out of the throne.

"Oh- one more thing, be sure to be ready for some legwork tomorrow. You will be tested with different types of weapons and probably be assigned, mentors."

And Just like that, Stranton found himself in a lavish room that could easily fit a dozen elephants.

--- break ---