Ceremony

"Uh, hi. Uh, are you here about my extended car warranty?"

I chuckled, hoping this sudden death world had some respect for humor. Judging by the stern looks that entered their faces, no dice.

"You have been summoned here by the Shak' Ga kingdom. There is a dark, ancient evil that has befallen this land, and only you can stop it."

The king's voice boomed across the hall, flickering the candle flames and forcing all remaining chatter to come to a still. He demanded more of a spectacle than even the President. Which meant the spotlight was also on me. I wished I wasn't the center of attention right now, so I let my brain go on autopilot. Bad idea.

"With all due respect sir, I'm a teenager. What am I going to do against this evil, attitude it to death."

I could immediately feel the air itself chill. As I looked around, I could see many of the king's subjects looked at me with dead eyes, as if my words emptied their very soul. I helplessly looked up at the king for assistance.

None was found, as the king himself was glaring at me, his pointed eyes completely shadowed except for a glint of rage. Again, I tried to seek assistance, but as usual, my big mouth screwed me. After an apprehensible silence, the king spoke.

"You say the prophecy lied? Then we have no hope."

The hall was beginning to fill up with chatter again, but this time it was filled with fear. The king rose from his throne and trudged down the steps. As he came closer, I could feel an aura of authority beaming down on me, almost forcing me to accept him as my superior. The king smiled.

"You would have us die?"

No? But I don't even know what's going on! I'm sorry, I'm just not the guy for the job... I never am. But especially not in this occasion! I'm a weak kid who can't even help his family! I'm a nobody in my world, how the hell am I supposed to save you guys from anything!

"Sir?"

I couldn't tell at first, but I was trembling. From fear, doubt, or something else, I don't know, but my very core was shaken. Until I heard her voice. I turned around to see her. She was small. Yes, I'm tall at 6 feet (not 5' 11"), but she couldn't have been taller than 5 feet.

Still, she was stunning. She had fair, elegant skin adorned by a fair, elegant gown. Her hair was nice, wavy, and elegant. The very air surrounding her was regal. Unfortunately, I couldn't make out her face with how much she looked down at the ground.

How is she the shy one here?

After a few moments, she seemed to have steadied her resolve when she looked me in the eyes and said, "I think we may have startled you, allow me to apologize on behalf of my father and our people. If you may, please hear us out. I promise you it will be worth it, and I assure you that the prophecies never lie."

"O- ok," I responded meekly.

I was still stunned by the endless beauty she revealed after she showed her face. The moment that I saw her eyes, I was mesmerized by the endless, radiant beauty she was hiding. Those were eyes you could get lost in for hours, the life and brightness were almost unnerving. Then her smil-

"Come. Please forgive my- daughter- for her transgression over this sacred ceremony. I know you must be furious inside, but do not let the crowd see your anger."

As the king quickly swept me with one giant arm, I wondered why he paused almost in disgust when mentioning his daughter. Did he hate having his thunder stolen that much? If it wasn't for her, I'd be finding the nearest portal to home.

Does that make me sound bad?

At any rate, the king led me to a seat next to his throne. This kingdom doesn't have queens? As I approached it, the crowd gasped and began chattering amongst one another again. Must be a big ordeal.

As I sat down, the king leaned over to say, "Look, right now, we admit it. You are in no condition to wield the mighty demon sword. If you were to attempt to carry it, you would be- well, pulverized."

As he made grand gestures for the crowd, I gulped.

The king flashed a grin before continuing: "Have no fear brave soldier. The 3 kingdoms were able to work together at least this once, and have devised a system to grow your strength."

Like a video game?

"By using this system, you will eventually be able to wield the demon sword in all its glory and vanquish the demon lord himself. Now, it won't be easy mind you. The system was developed with your earthly tenacity at the forefront of our minds. If any of us were to obtain the system, it would very quickly kill us."

Yeah, I'm not interested at all. I'd love to help, but it sounds like I'm just going to die. I don't want to die. Please don't kill me.

The king looked out to the crowd as if scanning for a single person. He must have quickly found his victim, as a smile flashed across his face and he called out a name.

"ROAN!!!"

A middle-aged man clad in light chainmail stood up. You could see the countless battles won on his face, the hundreds of slain enemies in his scars, and the uncountable fallen allies in his eyes. Even if they were once filled with life, war has left them empty.

As he came toward us, he moved with the sole purpose of maintaining dignity. The king gave a fake smile and an even faker tap on the back then introduced Roan to me with the fakest of formalities.

"This is our hero, the one who will be receiving the system. You will be accompanying him. Do not fail him. "

The king reached out to grip his shoulder. To someone far in the crowd, it would seem as if they were friends. But up close, you could even feel the malice emanating from the king. Roan though... for some reason, there was guilt in his eyes. Roan kneeled on one knee, swearing his fealty to me.

"Great warrior, I ask that you accept my company."

Well. I still don't have a clue what is happening, but it would be nice to have someone like him help. Maybe I won't die!

"I uh, accept?"

"I'm going too." A voice called from aside.

The king and I turned to see where the voice came from. The princess? Even the king was surprised. To him, this must be akin to an open act of rebellion. For a moment, you could see immeasurable anger in the king's eyes, and if the crowd wasn't here he probably could've gotten God himself to smite me.

I guess he isn't too fond of his daughter being her person.

"What use would you be to him?" The king almost snarled.

"Diplomacy, sir. That is all. As you said, the 3 kingdoms came together to create this system. As a result, they all will have a hand in our hero's training as well. Someone of royalty needs to be there to keep them in check, but you are far too important to leave our kingdom. As an only child, that leaves one person suitable for the job. Me. I understand that this isn't an ideal situation, but I promise you. I won't fail you, father."

It was as hard for me to hide my smile as it was for the king to hide his anger. Her checkmate seemed almost effortless. I'm in trouble.

Stop! Stop thinking romantically about a girl you don't even know! With this setting, she might be a demon herself!

The king turned to me. "Hero, do you accept."

"Y- yes."

For a brief moment, my soul left my body. But as the crowd cheered, the king wrapped his arms around us in glee and declared the party made. As the crowd roared in approval, the king bellowed out, "I have graciously prepared the finest of foods in our land for this sacred triad. May you 3 face nothing but victory in your quest!"

With his sound of approval, the crowd again erupted in jovial cheer. Servants started billowing out in droves of hundreds, filling every table with seemingly every delicacy known to man.

When the food was laid out on all the tables, it was more than I've ever seen in my life. If every student in my school got a 5-course meal from a fancy restaurant, it wouldn't even begin to compare. Every delicacy, entree, desert, and everything in between known to man was sprawled across countless tables.

The princess, Roan, and I all sat at a table with the king. I thought it would be an awkward dinner, but those 3 seemed very familiar with putting on masks.

The food was mostly reminiscent of meals I'd eat back home: steak, ham, potatoes, etc. However, there were a few delicacies that were completely foreign to me, and I'm not talking about tacos.

The most notable was this sort of sweet cookie that is especially sacred to this kingdom. Saia. I looked at mine for a bit. It was honestly rather unremarkable. If I was on Earth, I could've mistaken it for some crazy grandma's new experiment. It wasn't until I bit into the cookie I realized what made it special. It tasted like heaven.

I didn't get to experience any other kingdom's delicacies.

Throughout the night, many people from all of the kingdoms came over to talk to us. Some wished us well on our journey; most wanted to learn about earth things.

Like celebrities, cars, sports, those kinds of things. I don't know where they even learned about half the stuff they talked about. Heck, one dude was a Browns fan somehow!

Unfortunately, no one would answer any of my questions. About their kingdoms, the demon lord, or this "system". You'd think if it was so important they'd find a cool name for it.

Like Leveling, or Solo. Well, I think that's a manwha I read, but what I mean is, I'm suspicious.

"We should retire early for tonight. Tomorrow, your training starts. If you want to wield the demon sword, we will all but kill you."

Roan did not look up from his food once while saying this. To me, it appeared as though he was almost prizing his food. I wondered what his deal was. All dark and gloomy, he needs some excitement.

"Actually, why don't we have some fun. We could, I don't know, share stories or something. " I offered.

"There are none to share," Roan said, before leading me to my room with the most forceful guiding hand ever.

As we left the hall, I looked back through the crowd of excited faces and saw the princess hiding her face in her food. Her courage from earlier was gone. She wouldn't dare to face the king.

I felt bad.

I couldn't sleep well that night due to my suspicions. This just didn't make any sense. I'm supposed to face some big bad demon lord, and yet I don't know the first thing about the system, except that it kills everyone else. Then there's the sword that kills me, and apparently, the other kingdoms want to use me or probably just kill me. Does anything not wanna kill me? The princess maybe.

I wish I had slept more because the morning training was definitely trying to kill me.