A Tale of the Secrets Sorcerer

Getting to know the world (1)

“…”

The girl’s warm welcome was met with utter silence. Neither me nor the other five spoke anything.

It was quite awkward, but it couldn’t be helped. The situation was too flabbergasting. While I was busy lamenting, the others were probably confused out of their wits and unable to think.

Thankfully, the lull didn’t last for long as the girl opened her mouth again.

“You all must be very confused. Worry not, The King is waiting for you. He will explain everything.”

Honestly, I still had hopes for it all to be revealed as a prank, but all such hopes were shattered when we walked through the medieval style stone corridor and finally entered the great hall.

I don’t know what it’s called but It exactly looked like a vet big hall, with exquisite decorations and torches lighting everything. In the middle was a high platform on which a throne was placed. A man with a beard and hair that was losing its color due to old age sat on it, but no wrinkles were apparent on his face. He exuded an aura of dominance just by sitting quietly — that’s a king for you.

On its side was another smaller empty throne, probably for the Queen? I don’t really know.

On both sides were, I suppose, ministers or nobles gathered to see us. We were probably more amusing that even monkeys in the zoo right now.

As we entered into the corridor, all the eyes turned to us. The girl that has greeted us walked at the forefront while I took the rear position. I didn’t need to garner any attention in this unknown place.

When we reached the King, he first looked us up and down, an evaluating gaze, as though he was measuring our worth. Everyone in this place was, but the king’s was especially unpleasant for some reason.

The girl walked upto the king and bowed, “Father, I have brought them.”

Of course, I already expected her to be the Princess, either the princess or some Saint or maybe even both — that was how this trope usually worked.

The rest of the people that came with me to this world on the other hand though…they were quite surprised. Or It’d be more accurate to say that they were surprised by almost everything and anything. Well, I could sympathize with them in this regard.

Being suddenly transported into another world, being called as heroes and then even meeting the princess and king of a nation most likely — it wasn’t something you would be facing every day.

The king stroked his beard in thought and stoically replied, “Well done Agnes, my daughter.”

Then he addressed us, “Heroes from the other world, you must certainly be quite confused because this is all so sudden to you. Allow me to clear your confusion.”

Yep, his tone was still as stoic as ever. I guess that is the type of character he is to begin with.

After that, the King continued after seeing nobody raise any questions.

“You must have realized by now that you are not in your former world. Take a look outside the window.”

We did as we were told and took a look outside the large window. What I saw was mind blowing, Large city walls at the border, different types of buildings and a stretching horizon — I have to say we were quite high into the sky because the buildings looked small. Looking down, I realized the castle was built on a small hill overlooking the whole place.

Behind me, the king’s voice resounded.

“This is the capital city of the Kingdom of Arendelle — Arran!”

The fact that I have really been transported to another world was finally settling in my heart now. I couldn’t escape the truth much longer.

The King stood up, “I am Arathorn III, the ruler of this kingdom.” Bowing his head, he continued, “We face great danger and I must ask for your help in saving the people of this kingdom — no, rather the whole humanity, o heroes from other world.”

“Your majesty! You shouldn’t bow your head!”

The reactions of the people around him was exaggerated, though I understand where they were coming from ’a King bowing to a commoner?’, but King Arathorn remained firm in his attitude.

“It would be utterly shameless to seek help from outsiders without showing basic civility. Bowing my head for the people of this country is but an honor for me.”

“Your majesty…”

He did not raise his voice or anything but instead utilize his high charisma. Everyone fell silent, in awe and admiration.

Me on the other hand had a different opinion.

What a showoff.

I could already imagine his next words, either a dragon threatening peace or a demon king waging war.

In both cases, all he would do is use some flowery words and send us to fight on a life and death battlefield. What part of that made sense, huh? Not that I’m saying he is evil, maybe his intentions are pure but where do I stand in

Unfortunately, I was the only one who thought so among the summoned group. Soon, I heard Hayato speak.

“Your majesty, we will try our very best to help you.”

Was he really that much gullible? Or was it being referred to as hero that inflated him?

Tobe echoed, “Yes, don’ worry.” If Hayato said something, he would do it without any questions too.

Miura grumbled but ended up agreeing anyways. “Why do I have to…but if Hayato says so…”

Saki on the other hand, “Geez…guess we don’t have a choice…”

Oi, oi, what do you mean “we”? I never agreed to any of this!

What about my opinion, huh?

Besides, what do you even think you can do as mere high schoolers to help save humanity?

Though I guess we are obviously maybe getting cheats because we are the so called ‘heroes’ but still…it’d be a life and death battle, you know?

Most of all, aren’t you guys forgetting something important? Do you not have families waiting at home for you all?  

Unfortunately, there was no use crying over spilt milk. All my inward complaints remained in my thoughts and never left my mouth. It was difficult to speak up because of the loud cheers from the bystanders…wouldn’t I become the bad guy for speaking anything in this occasion? Oh god, save me.

Maybe if all those complaints actually left my mouth, things would have turned different, but it was already too late.

After calming the people, Arathorn was already speaking, “What brave warriors, heavens have not forsaken us yet. I suppose an elaboration is required.”

He then continued to explain a little about this world.

There are the Five Great Kingdoms.

The Kingdom of Elves — Mithlond.

The Kingdom of Dwarves — Domhnall.

The Kingdom of Beastfolk — Gilead.

The Kingdom of Merfolk — Themyscira.

And lastly the place we were in:

The Kingdom of Humans — Arendelle.

There are also other races like Gnomes, Fairies or Elementals that live in the Florin Forest or the Hobbits living in small settlements.

Yes, there is a diverse variety of races that exist in this world. I kind of expected it already but it’s still really interesting listening to it in person and getting confirmation.

Even though they are called the “Five Great Kingdoms”, they don’t have good relations with each other.

Quoting the words of King Arathorn:

“The elves are too prideful, the dwarves are too greedy, the merfolk care only for the waters, and the beastfolk are too savage.”

I wonder what the human kingdom is then, most likely, in my opinion, it would be similar to “The humans are too ignorant.”

After the King was done recounting the glorious history of the human kingdom, which I honestly did not care about but my ‘companions’ seemed to be listening with much attention, he finally got to the matter at hand.

“Now then, as to the reason for your summoning here, that shall be explained by my daughter.”

He pointed towards Agnes who stood beside him the whole time, quietly watching everything. Upon being called out, she stepped forward and began to speak.

“Class — in this world, every person has a class assigned to him by birth, whether it be something as small as a “Farmer” or something as grand as a “King”. It is a form of fate, a definite path laid before you to follow for the rest of your life and impossible for anyone to break through it. Not only this class determined your path in life, it also provides you with obtaining the necessary skills related to that class.”

That was certainly interesting but…why was she explaining this now?

Thankfully, my confusion didn’t last long as she began to explain.

“The reason I’m telling all this is because I have a special class — Prophet.”

The king or the other nobles didn’t show any reaction, of course they already knew about it, but I was really surprised (though I think I managed to hide the surprise pretty well). Just the name itself was self-explanatory and seemed overpowered.

Though I had an idea where this was headed now…

While I was busy amusing, the princess, Agnes, continued.

“While I am still young and unable to properly control my powers, I saw a prophecy.

“A Great Evil is going to wake up soon, and all the forces of evil will gather behind it. The flames will engulf the whole planet, to the very last being.”

That is the content of the prophecy. Our interpretation is that the Great Evil is the “Dark Lord” that was defeated 1400 years ago.”

…And I was right on mark, at least the general idea of it. Really, for such a reason did u call me here away from my games and mangas?

Though I guess it really is a big deal for them, huh…Come to think of it again, it really is a very big deal, and now im part of the world that is soon destined to destruction.

“We sought help from the neighboring kingdoms, but none were willing to believe such a prophecy. They all believed The Dark Lord to have perished in the War of the Great 1400 years ago.”

On the side, I could see the King’s grip on the throne tightening slightly. He was obviously angry, but he didn’t interrupt Agnes.

Well, I do understand why they wouldn’t believe the prophecy. It’s feels too far stretched, more like rumblings of an old man that had gone senile. Or sometimes, people just don’t want to accept things that they are afraid of. It may give them a temporary false sense of security.

“Any prophecies before this has never been wrong so we were feeling pretty desperate. It was at that time we turned to the old records of the kingdom and found the ritual for hero summoning.

We tried many times, but ultimately faced failure with no hopes of success in sight.

Afterall, in the long history of this kingdom, there have been two cases of the hero summoning being successful, and the last one was nearly 500 years ago.

Fortunately, the heavens didn’t abandon us, and today, after many tries, the two instances of hero summoning being successful in the long history of this kingdom increased to three. The hero summoning finally succeeded.”