"Did you hear? The heroes are retiring! and they decided to live in the kingdom of Raja." The bar was filled with voices, off to the side, for a mysterious person who wore a black cloak, this piece of information was the one that stood out the most.
The person went in front of the bald man, who was talking with his friends. "Excuse me?" Hearing the melodious voice, the people at the table turned their heads to the owner of the said voice.
They saw a young girl with luscious black hair and cold light purple eyes. They couldn't help but shiver once they saw her eyes; they were like a trained hunter's eyes, stalking their prey before they killed it, seeing that she has all their attention, she began to speak once more.
"You said something about some heroes, right? Could I possibly know more about them?" The question surprised them quite a bit, as they believed that there were no human beings who didn't know the Heroes.
"You must be new; I'll tell you. The Heroes we speak about are Lord Karna and his wife, Lady Shizue; they are great heroes who have saved many countries from monsters, they also helped lots of people with their kindness."
The words from the adventurer were true because she couldn't find any lies at all, so she asked for a way to meet them, and they gave her a map to the Kingdom of Raja, where the heroes reside now.
She traveled for two weeks from Ingrassia to Raja. She heard a lot of people express their gratitude towards the heroes, and she decided to see them for herself because their names seemed familiar.
As she was walking through the gates of the Raja kingdom, she could feel an enormous amount of energy coming from somewhere, so she dashed through the roads and through the never-ending people until she finally reached what looked like a training ground.
Two people were clashing their swords constantly; she could tell they were not serious, but even then their clash had the force to shake the training grounds.
She used her unique skill, "Mathematician," to analyze their movement, but the result of her analysis shocked her to the core, as this had never happened before.
"BLOCKED"
She was blocked from analyzing someone for the first time in her life. She was shaken, but before she even had the time to process, a sword was placed against her neck.
The owner of the sword, a young man with striking white hair and blue eyes, and they are now boring into her soul. "Trying to analyze people without their permission is quite rude, don't you think?"
But before she could say anything, he withdrew his sword and sheathed it as she saw the lady who was clashing with him walking towards them with a small smile.
She had luscious black hair and warm black eyes, clear skin, and a warm smile on her face as she reached them.
"What is happening? And you, young lady, trying to analyze people you first met is quite suspicious, don't you think so?" She was a bit surprised that they found out and even blocked her analysis; as far as she knew, her unique skill, "mathematician," could never be stopped—until now, that is.
"I'm sorry, I heard that the heroes were residing in this kingdom. My name is Hinata Sakaguchi, and I'm not from this world."
"So, how did you get here then?" Karna asked her as Shizue offered them to go to their home. They began walking towards their house with Hinata in tow.
"I arrived in this world one day after my first day of high school, and I've been here for three months. My unique skill has helped me understand the languages and speak them. One day after I heard your name, Shizue-san, and it just seemed like a Japanese name, so I decided to check it out and see if you guys were from other worlds too." She told Karna and Shizue, but she seemed to be less talkative.
──*Hinata pov*──
They invited me to their home; it's better to call it a mansion or castle; it seems their name has more power to it. Their living in this small kingdom is itself a blessing to the Kingdom.
The interior could be compared to even the richest person's house back in our world; even the candle holder would get millions for it.
They seem pretty kind too; I saw the maids greet them with such a genuine smile that it could never be faked. Shizue-san turned to me as Karna-san went to the kitchen.
"You know, Hinata, you are the first person like us we met other than each other, and that too after 30 or so years." She put her palms on her chin as she smiled at me, and once again she asked. "So, what do you say about you staying here? We can tutor you and take you in."
The question was a slight shock to me, and honestly, all I wanted was to find some kind of closure about the fact that there is indeed someone like me in this world.
I was about to talk, but before I could even open my mouth, Karna-san returned with tea and three cups, and a tray filled with cookies.
He put the tray on the table, put the cups in front of us, and poured the hot tea inside it. It smelled delicious.
They took one each and reckoned I should take one. I took the cup that was in front of me and placed it in front of my mouth, sniffed it to savor the aroma, and took a sip.
"The tea is so good, thank you." This was very out of character for me, but I'm thankful for experiencing such magnificent taste, the tea and also the cookies.
"Hinata, I can see it. You seem to shut out people and want to be alone the most. But you still came here in search of us; was it because of our name?" Staring at the people in front of me, I averted my eyes to the side as I sipped my tea.
"It seems his observations are spot on, like always. Anyway, Hinata, like I asked you earlier, why don't you become our student? After you complete your training, if you want to go out and explore the world, you can. We won't stop you from doing anything. But in this strong-eat-weak world, you will die quickly, and yes, I'm calling you weak."
First time Someone called me 'weak' straight to my face and went Scott free; this had never happened in these three months of life in this world. But they seem extremely powerful and also kind, not like the trash of human waste in the Adventurer Association.
I quickly finished the tea and cookies and stood up to my feet, bowed 90 degrees, and asked, "Please take me as your student, sensei."
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So, how was this chapter? If you liked this, put some reviews in there. We don't have enough ratings currently, so let's hopefully change that!
Don't forget to drop some stones; there is no need to be shy about it.
And we are quite close to the canon timeline right about now; the next 40 years will be a blur, and the canon will start.
Do you want the Freedom Academy on-screen or off-screen? And Hinata Sakaguchi has entered the stage, as our volume 1 will end in one or two chapters.
If you want the Freedom Academy on-screen, I will do some flashback chapters when I eventually have to recharge my imagination a bit, so what do you say? my dear readers? Also, I will try my best to stack some chapters ahead of time from now on.
Good luck, and God bless you.
~ Author