2 Welcome To Babylon

After a few seconds of being blinded, my senses started to return to me. I started to hear the signs of life around me, as my vision returns completely I see my (what I assume to be) my entire class, uniform and all, curiously looking around seemingly completely unaware of the situation they're in.

I look down to my own body to check if everything was there...

Black Sailor uniform, check.

Stockings, check.

Loafers, check.

Yep, all there. Flat chest and all...

As I was busy checking for all my body parts, my ponytail was tugged on. A vein probably popped up on my forehead showing how stressed out I am just because of that simple action. It's not really the hair pulling that makes me mad but the person doing it. Only one person is brave enough to pull my hair like that and its the Class douchebag Dean.

I turn around to face the blond haired idiot while folding my arms at the same time

"What?"

Dean pointed to the side, an uncharacteristically worried look on his face as he urged me to look. I simply roll my eyes at him before turning around, seeing what looks like a priest standing next to royalty. I guess this is the typical novel beginning where they ask for our help right..?

As this thought crossed my mind, I turned to look at my fellow classmates. I wonder how they'd react if they knew that they were originally killed by their (The people of this world) mistakes... For now, I'll keep quiet to avoid conflict with the other party.

Speaking of the other party, the priest and the eldest of the royals (I'm assuming its the king himself) start to whisper with each other, a baffled look on their face as they often send glances towards our confused group.

Seeing everyone eye me as if to say 'go ahead, talk to them' I bravely take a step forward, hoping to communicate with the otherworlders properly. I clear my throat before speaking, try as I may some of my nervousness still shows.

"Where are we, and who are you?"

Haaaahh. Thank god I didn't stutter... that would've been embarrassing...

The faces of the priest and king quickly change into a more neutral look. The old man wearing a crown stepped forward as well as two fully armored knights behind him, I guess with all this security it means that he really might be the King...

"Greetings heroes! Welcome to the mage kingdom Hearth, I am it's current ruling king Leonidas"

As the king spoke he adjusted his posture, standing straight up he revealed a tall stature, a relatively well-built body could be seen hiding under all the layers of clothing the king was wearing. Although his hair was now white, he had clear sky blue eyes and a well-trimmed beard.

He extended his arms sidewards as if giving us all a warm welcome as he put on a cheerful smile.

"Heroes...!? Like in the novels and stuff!?"

An excited voice shouted out behind me, turning around I see that it's one of the class' anime fanatics. He had both hands raised in excitement as if he's been waiting for this to happen his entire life.

In response to this, Dean simply elbowed the boy in the gut to quickly silence him. Seeing that everyone else is silent, I guess I'll continue asking questions.

"Why're you calling us heroes?" I pause as I point to the anime geek "Is what he said correct? Are you going to tell us that you forcibly took us from our own world just to beat some big bad demon king?"

I stress on the term 'forcibly' so that the situation we were in was made clear. This was pretty much kidnapping a bunch of teenagers to work for you for free.

A frown appears on the cheerful king's face at my mention of the kidnapping, he then clears his throat once to catch everyone's attention.

"For centuries our kingdom has had the honorable task of summoning heroes using the worlds excess mana, you see the more mana that accumulates out in the open, the bigger the chance of monsters being born, there is even a possibility of creating a monster so strong that it would have the ability to rally all other creatures of darkness under it and pose a threat to Babylon itself!"

This... is new. This isn't at all what I expected...

"So what you're saying is, kidnapping children from another word is the only way to use up the mana in your atmosphere? There's no other way? Like maybe I don't know, use all that mana to help the people already in your world? Like, grow crops and stuff?"

I have an impatient tone in my voice as I ask this

"And let me guess. There's no way for us to get back to our original world is there? We just have to live our lives here forever, till we die. Is that it?"

The room falls silent, the realization that they might not be able to go back to their own world finally sets in for my other classmates.

"I wish we could use the mana for other means as well. Trust me my lady, but the mana naturally generated by Babylon works in mysterious ways. The summoning ritual itself was given to us through an oracle... Ever since the first summoning we've been researching for ways to bring the summoned back to their original world."

I pause for a moment to process what he says and suddenly come to a startling realization

"How long has it been since the first summoned?"

The room falls silent due to my inquery, king Leonidas turned to the priest once as if to ask him a question, which the priest responds with a simple nod.

"From our kingdom alone...It has been exactly eight-hundred and twenty-four years since the first ever summoned."