The man...

The moment Kevin got up from his position, one of the two guards present ran away.

'They were to look after me, and probably report my rise'

While he watched uninterested, the remaining guard came close to him.

"Hello, Hero-sama, I'm Meristel and I'm a lowly soldier that accepted the duty to look after you and bring you around"

"Hello, Meristel. I'm Kevin but you should know already my name. So, where are we going?" (A/N: Where we droppin' boys?)

"Wherever you want Hero Kevin. My duty is to accompany you wherever you want to go and help you travel around"

"...That's so. Then, let's walk a bit I don't have anywhere to go. I need to stretch my legs after all the time I spent on the bed"

They walked briefly, with Kevin asking for information about the unusual things around.

"Yes, I am fully human and so are the royals. There are countless other races on this world, like dwarves or even the elves that live for more than ten times than humans, or the beastkins. Strictly speaking, there are many variations of beastkins, like lizardkins and dogkins, so we usually call them simply demi-humans"

"Huh, so there are really different fantasy creatures o this world..."

"Yes, everyone knows that every hero summoned got excited about elves... Almost everyone working here is human, but I know an elf that works in the library, would you like to see her?"

Kevin, with an almost imperceptible smile on his face and a distant look, moved his gaze up.

"No, it's not necessary... after all, I already know an elf..."

Meristel felt a great amount of sadness from only that look, so after a bit, he tried to distract him.

"By the way Hero-sama, I didn't thank you properly, after all, you saved my wife and my two children"

Those words were the right ones that made Kevin stop reminiscing, and raise an eyelash. "Meristel, I didn't think your wife was a knight..."

"No, Hero-sama, my wife wasn't in the courtyard, but in our house near the castle. You saved her because from what she told me, a low-rank demon was destroying the city, but when he was almost ready to kill her, he was recalled hurriedly. So, thank you, Hero-sama"

Meristel bowed ninety degrees, and Kevin stopped.

"Well, it was my duty, even if I didn't really have your family in my head at that time..."

"Hahaha, it's not a problem. You saved them, and that's what really matters"

"Well, let's continue our walk... I noticed that you bowed..."

"Yes, apparently one hero more than a thousand years ago, a hero appeared and told his party that to truly express gratitude to you.."

And so, they continued their walk talking around about the 'policies' introduced by the summoned heroes.

---

Princess Menea was walking around at a fast pace because one of the guards told her about the hero waking up, and so in less than five minutes, she was ready to find him. The reason?

She loved her aunt Yumiko, after all, almost every noble child got cared for by someone else other than the real family. The royal family is by any means an exception, no it's more correct to say that because they are royals, they get even less time together than others.

But, different from others, Menea, and her brother and sister got cared for by Yumiko and that was something that really brought them together.

All of them could say they liked Yumiko more than their true parents, their bond is that strong. So, while the king forced her sister to use her power, she was by her side... she knew about her aunt's guilt... a guilt that rose more with time...

So, after the lashing made by the only successful hero her aunt summoned, she took it upon herself to stay by her side, physically and emotionally.

But, as the hero woke, she would make sure that at least no more conflict would arise... her aunt didn't need any more of that... and she had something to exchange for at least a peaceful reunion between them, she was a princess after all.

And so while she was organizing her thoughts, she didn't notice that she was walking toward someone.

*Thud*

And she made contact, face first...

"Princess!"

A guard helped her get up, but she didn't notice who she collided with, as she crashed face-first and was occupied rubbing her face.

"...good morning, Princess"

And she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she noticed who she collided with just after he started to speak.

The princess stood still for five seconds... and the soldier noted that the atmosphere was awkward... until she sprung and stood perfectly up.

"G-G-G-G-GOOD AFTERNOON HERO-SWaH!!!"

She was so tense after that surprise that she bit her tongue during her greetings... she also bit hard and caused some tears to gather in her eyes.

"..."

All the while Kevin stood perfectly still, like his usual mask of apathy.

*Cough*

By the time she recovered, she tried to regain control of herself and talk a bit...

"Good afternoon, Hero-sama. Could you please spare some time for me? I need to talk with you for a bit"

---

After sending off the soldier, they made their way toward a balcony where she usually made small talk with other noble women...

Taking a sip of the tea prepared by a maid, she reminded herself of the importance of this discussion...

If she was with another noble, she would start by asking about life in her house and how were their children, and so the words would flow by themselves.

But, she was in front of a hero, someone that came from Japan, another world. She was even a bit excited, to be in front of a hero, like a princess from fairy tales.

'Calm down Menea, think about Aunt Yuriko. Yes, you can't be excited now! You have to resolve the situation between them!'

Kevin observed the princess taking deep breaths, like calming down, and through that she was nervous because he was the one to express their dislike towards them.

*Cough* "Then Hero Kevin-sama, two of my best friends are Japanese and from what I know is that they don't like much talking pleasantries, so I will be direct. I want to mediate between you and my aunt and establish a partnership"

"...How old are you?"

"Pardon...? I'm 16"

"...You are young, but you sure resemble a princess... why do you want that?"

Menea was a bit surprised about this question, but she didn't wait time and responded. "First of all, Yumiko is my aunt and I love her, in fact, while she isn't much liked by the general populace, in the royal family she is the one most loved by all. And second, I am a princess, so I have a responsibility toward my kingdom. I'm not a hero and neither an attendant, but there are things I can do. So, this answers your question?"

Kevin composed as ever closed his eyes, and the next moment he opened them, Menea noted a light glow on them.

"Yes, I'm satisfied. Now, I have to say that I may have gone a bit too far with my rant before. I won't say that those words weren't true, but my situation and emotion were all over the place because of a few things... So, I don't like the fact that I was summoned, but I won't reprimand you or anyone else anymore. Desperate problems call for desperate solutions. Now, while it's strange, I also have moved into the political field, so before using a simple yes to your second request, I have to say that I won't be a hidden weapon only at your kingdom's convenience"

"That's perfect for me. My request for partnership is not for the kingdom only but... I will use an example. The heroes summoned by the Saga Empire aren't chained to the empire, but they wander across the world in search of useful resources, and hidden dungeons and to discover and kill demons. Basically, they are summoned to that place but they roam around to fulfill their duties, although in the case of many demons appearing their first priority would be the empire... well, there are other complications, but this is the gist of it"

"...I understand. Basically, you would grant freedom and help to me in exchange for a promise to help your kingdom..."

No one talked for a bit, Kevin thinking about what to do and his final objective, and Menea sipping her tea while internally screaming hoping he would accept.

"Few details would need to be discussed more, but I accept as long as you promise that you won't interfere If I find a way to my world"

Kevin extended his hand, sure that there won't be any problems because since he came here, he didn't express the cold that was engraved since his operation.

"Perfect! I promise that no one will stop you on your way back. I hope for a fruitful partnership between us... and now that you accepted there's just one thing you need to know..."

Menea got up and moved toward Kevin's ear. She made sure that no maid could listen or discover what she was about to tell him by lip covering her mouth while whispering.

"No matter what, don't trust the King and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, they will try to control you"

Finishing that, she stood straight and smiled at him.

"Now that the boring stuff is finished, we have something to do! You killed a demon, so we have to control how many Level Up you got!"

Those words were much more strange and surprising to him that even Mr. Calm and Composed got a reaction. He BLINKED!

"...Level?"