Chapter 2 - The Summoning

Chapter 2

My head felt like it was about to burst open, the headache I felt was nothing like I’ve ever experienced. Screaming in pain, I held my head with both of my hands, trying to relieve the pain even by a little. Slowly my headache starts to disappear and I glance around the room. My eyes were blurry and couldn’t focus them properly, probably due to sudden bright lights. I look at the floor made out of pure white marble and glance around my surroundings. Underneath me, a purple light in writings of an unknown language glowed but slowly faded as if it never existed.

Three other figures were lying and seems to be suffering to similar effects as I am, all cringing on the floor holding their heads as they roll around due to the pain. My vision starts to get better and have a better look, I see 6 people circling around us, dressed in an overly suspicious one piece robe with a hood. All of them seems to be gasping for air as they some gets on their knees and sweat dripping down from their face.

We were surrounded in what looks like a catholic cathedral, all made from pure white marble, extremely high ceiling with large artistic stained glass windows on the walls. As I tried to stand up, I hear a voice of a young female from behind me.

“I-i-it Worked! It worked!! It finally worked!”

I turn my head around to see the owner of this voice, she seems to be an age between 16 to 18, a westerner. She had baby blue hair running down all the way to her hips and golden yellow eyes. Wearing a light blue dress that reminded me of an old princess movie I watched as a child. It had a mix of white and blue frills covering the dress and the edges were fine gold threads making it look ridiculously expensive. From the muttering around me, I hear multiple voices, all generally sounding male and old.

“W-we did it!”

“The country is saved!”

I have a bad feeling about this situation… I look around at the three other figures that started to regain their senses.

“Hey guys, are you alright?”

“What the hell happened- ow ow ow”

Nakajou was the first to stand up.

“I feel like my head was hit by a large mullet, and my ears won’t stop ringing.”

Kurisu stood up slowly as he rubbed his temples with his fingers.

I helped them up one by one until they were all standing with their own legs.

The girl in blue walks towards us and from her complexion, she didn’t look very well either. She was sweating a lot with dark rings under her eyes, it looked like it took all her strength just to stand.

“W-welcome Heroes, I thank you with all my heart for answering our calls.”

Huh? Heroes? What calls? What’s this crazy person talking about?

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

Yeah, seems like Kurisu and I roughly have the same idea about this situation.

“My name is Viletta Vi Louttevirgun, I am the first princess of the Evas in this country; Furonacia. We have spent last whole month trying to summon you Heroes to help our people survive this crisis.”

Ahh… I had a hunch but I was right. This happens a lot in stories, the overused ‘hero summoning’ genre in anime and manga in Japan. Her eyes don’t seem that of a liar, and she seems to have earnestly tried her best to summon the Heroes, judging by her complexion. Suddenly a scream cries out from behind, it was Hina.

“EHH!? What is this!? Where am I!? I was just in my room before! Wait, is that Leader, Kurisu and Bakajou!?”

Our looks and voice are exactly the same as our in game characters; that was how the game was designed. Nobody could imitate being another character, your name, hair colour and even gender could never be changed within the game. People spent great deal of time and effort on their real life outer appearance, as they were portrayed into the game as they were.

“B-but h-how is this possible…?”

“Are we dreaming…?”

Kurisu placed his hand on Nakajou’s shoulder with a light tap.

“I don’t believe we are dreaming, from that insane headache before, there’s no way I would not wake up from such a pain.”

“What the hell has happened to us…?”

“Great Heroes, please come with me to greet the King, we shall supply you all with as much information as we can.”

I guess there doesn’t seem to be any choice in this matter, let’s just follow the flow here.

Hina is in the verge of tears but holds herself up and we ended up following the princess out of the cathedral.

Outside, not a single cloud could be seen in the blue skies, however what I saw made me breathless. Aside from the sun, there were two large moons, so closely together, along with an asteroid belt, looping around the two. While being amazed at the different world we are in, the princess calls out to us.

“Great Heroes, please head into the carriage and we shall head to the castle to have an audience with the King himself.”

Just outside the cathedral, a large white carriage made from perfectly crafted wood being pulled by 4 white horses were waiting for us. Along with multiple knight guards in full plate Armor with steel halberd were lined up in front of the carriage.

As the princess stated, two of the guards opened the carriage doors and bowed at us, pleading us to come inside. Awkwardly looking at my party members, we all nod and decided to head into the carriage along with the princess.

The princess still seemed to be feeling exhausted and forcing herself to hold up a smile at my stare.

“Great hero, is there anything wrong?”

“Ah, I just thought you looked pretty exhausted.”

The princess pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her sweat from her forehead.

“It is embarrassing, however, yes… It took great amount of magical power to summon the great heroes. All seven of us were left completely mana depleted after the summoning.”

Mana…? Wait a second…

“Might I ask a few questions Princess Louttevirgun?”

Kurisu held up his index finger in the air with a serious look on his face. 

“Great heroes, please call me Viletta or Vil for short, I will do my best to answer your questions.”

“Well, if that is okay with you, Princess Viletta, why have you summoned us?”

“A great calamity had befallen our kingdom, recently, a gate to the underworld had opened. It had been prophesied that the gate of the underworld would open in 1000 years and bring doom upon the world. It stated that; ‘only heroes summoned from a different world can resolve such calamity’.”

Despite the current serious conversation, Nakajou was strangely staring at Hina for a long time. With a creeped out facial expression, Hina looked back at Nakajou.

“… Why are you staring at me, it’s creeping me out, Baka-jou.”

“Oh, Chibi, I was just admiring your cute outfit.”

“…!? What the heck!”

Due to the sudden situation, I have not noticed at all, we were all wearing clothes from Japan. I was wearing a black and green tracksuit, while as Hina was wearing a cute pink pajamas with white rabbit face being printed all over it. Due to the sudden embarrassment, she squealed and shouted.

“Don’t look at me!”

Hina with tears in her eyes and blushing face, she slapped Nakajou in the face with all her might. On top of Nakajou’s head, a large sign popped up that stated [-3 Damage]. 

Nakajou rubbed his face and called out “What was that for!” along with a red horizontal bar with about 1% missing on it, it looked like a game’s health bar.

“Nakajou! What was that!? I think I just saw you take damage from your HP bar!”

“It seriously did look like you took damage from that slap now, how did you do that?”

“I don’t know… I also got this screen in front of me showing my HP and MP as well, see?”

Nakajou pointed at his lap but we saw nothing.

“Nope… We can’t see it, is it like your own status bar that only you can view?”

Hina joined into the conversation, still with a drop of tear in the corner of her eyes.

“Wow, is something like a game?”

“Oh, I can explain that to you Heroes, please say [Command – Status View] and you should be able to see your status in front of you. Of course, it can only be viewed by you unless you allow others to see manually.”

Listening to the princess, all of us repeated: “[Command – Status View]”

I saw a screen semi-transparent screen pop up in front of me. Starting from the top, my name was stated:

Soujiru Nakamura

Primary Job Class: Hero

Secondary Job Class: None

HP 200/200

MP 400/400

Level 1 – EXP (Experience) 0/15

Status – Skills – Equipment – Inventory

Money – 0 z.

I clicked on the Equipment button and it showed a puppet version of me wearing a tracksuit. Out of curiosity, I pressed my finger against the jacket and another window popped up.

“Tracksuit – a popular exercising uniform worn in a different world, also slightly protects from the cold. However, the owner wore this just because it was comfortable and has no sense in fashion whatsoever. Defence +1, Cold Resistance +1 and Luck -1”

What kind of description is that!? However, I do now have little more understanding of this system, it is quite similar to our game in ‘Di Inferi’.

“Wow, I really am a hero”

“Yeah, I’ve gotten status and equipment slots!”

“This system is very similar to our game, don’t you think so?”

Hmm… I’m starting to get excited. I wonder what else we can do with this system.

Just as we were talking amongst each other, the carriage comes to a stop and a knock is heard from other side of the door.

“Looks like we have arrived, please follow me to the throne room. More will be explained there.”

We all nod in understanding and open the door outwards. Similar guards from the Cathedral were standing upright in parallel to each other with red carpet being laid from the carriage, all the way to the gates of a large building. This was quite impressive, there seems to be at least 50 guards lining up all the way to the building that resembled a western medieval castle.

We follow the princess into the castle and as expected, it was an impressive place. The castle were made from large rectangular stone blocks and the floor tiles were all decorated with marble and stained clay. Ceilings were high, all lit up with chandeliers that glowed with some sort of orb of luminescent light, countless paintings and artefacts were all lined up against the wall to view. We were taken to the second floor down the passage to the east of the castle, and stood two guards in front of a large door made from metal and stone. Both guards bowed at the princess and one of them chanted something under his breath. Next thing we know, the doors started to open inwards by themselves without any effort.

“How did these doors open!? Nobody was pulling on the door!”

“We used magic to open and close these doors, and once shut, they are sealed so nothing from the throne room could be heard outside these doors.”

All of us were stunned at the explanation, magic, it really was real.

“Eh? Magic? Seriously, can we use magic here?”

“I guessed when I saw MP in the status, but this is quite impressive.”

“Great heroes, you all will be trained in the ways of magic soon enough, please head into the throne room to meet with the King.”

 We walked into the throne room, and again, impressed by its magnitude. The room was massive, there were 2 rows of 5 giant marble pillars connecting the tall ceiling to the floor near the walls of the room. Red flags and banners of unknown crests were held up high to see, all decorated to impress. Red carpet had been laid from the entrance leading up to small steps and a large throne. The throne was made with gold, silver and various types of gem stone. On top of the throne sat a large crystal, size of a watermelon in a shape of a star that glittered and shinned like nothing I’ve ever seen before. On the throne was a man with a golden crown on his head and an outfit that didn’t lose in awe. Wearing a red cape with gold threads that covered his upper body, he was wearing a golden necklace that hanged down to his chest, filled with large gem stones. Holding a golden cane in both hands also was embedded with various types of gems.

Now I understand why kings of the past from my world spent their riches in their castles, to impress their guests and show their power with one look. It certainly did its job, I have never seen such royalty in my life. We walked down towards the steps in front of the throne, following the princess. The king stood up from his throne and opened his arms up wide.

“Welcome Heroes, to my Kingdom of Furonacia, I thank you for answering to our call in this time of need.”

“Thank you for your welcome your majesty, we have heard a bit from the Princess on the way here, but we have more questions that requires answers.”

Wow, Kurisu is really brave, I guess he has more experience in these types of situation than any of us. I really don’t know what to say in these type of situations, but seriously, who would expect anyone from our world to react normally in front of a real royalty?

“Of course, of course, however great heroes, I would like to start with an introduction. My name is King Edgar Vi Louttevirgun, and you all have met my daughter Vilettta Vi Louttevirgun.”

As the king introduces his daughter, she bows her head deeply while performing a curtsy. Now I guess it’s our turn to introduce ourselves.

“Your majesty, my name is Soujiru Nakamura, please to meet your acquaintance. Following from my right is Kurisu Ichijo, Nakajou Hiiragi and Hina Misawa.”

The three all bow as I gave him our introduction.

With a small nod, his face shows of satisfaction, I was worried what would happen if we made a mistake, but all seems well.

“As Vil probably would have told you in advance, our country… no, our entire world is at risk while the gate of the underworld bares its fangs at us. Therefore we have summoned you four, as heroes to counter this calamity.”

Kurisu got up from his knees, while holding his fist in front of his heart, he spoke to the king.

“Yes, we have heard from the princess about this situation, however, I have also heard that this world had 1000 years to prepare for this calamity. Did you not prepare for such an extreme situation? Why did it come to summoning us without our approval?”

Ouch, his words must have hit a sore mark, the princess looked down and was in verge of years and the king showed a sorrowful expression as well.

“We have long foreseen this calamity, and have been preparing to counter it for the last 100 years. Our allied forces that have marched onto the gate on the day it opened, our entire forces were… massacred. 200,000 good men all died within the period of two weeks, no matter how much we struggled and fought, the monsters that spawned had spawned were far too strong. Therefore we had no choice but to rely on the summoning of you heroes.”

Raising her hand in the hair, Hina paused the king from his speech.

“Aside from the calamity, is there a way for us to be sent back to our own world?”

“We… do not have the knowledge on how to send the heroes back to their world.”

Sigh… I thought as much. We’re stuck in this world for good, well for me, I was doing nothing with my life before this summoning, aside from playing games. My life really had no meaning what so ever, I lived to support my hobby, and my hobby supported my living. However, these status… the way Nakajou took damage… this world is very interesting.

Hina looked in disbelief, switching her view between the King and the princess, both of them dropped their heads in shame.

“Hina, these people were in a desperate situation, I’m sure they were cornered so far back, and had no other choice.”

While sobbing, she embraced Kurisu and started crying.

“Hina, we can’t lose hope, these people do not know how to send us back, but it doesn’t mean it is impossible for us to go back.”

“That’s right, we can all search for a way back home together.”

I walked up to the two of them and put my hands on their shoulders in encouragement.

Next to us, Nakajou spoke up to the king.

“One last thing, why did you choose us to be your heroes?”

“The heroes had to have opened the gate to our world willingly. Did you not perform the summoning ceremony in your world?”

Huh…? Summoning ceremony… Oh wait…

“Nakajou, his talking about the event notification we had.”

“I knew it sounded shady…”

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“We don’t have much choice in this matter, in order to do anything else, we need more information. I suggest we should follow along and become heroes for this world.”

“I agree with Mr Leader, I also can not abandon these desperate people in need.”

Both Hina and Nakajou nod in agreement and we all fall to our knees in front of the King.

“We will swear to serve as the heroes to prevent this calamity to the best of our abilities.”

“”We swear””

“Thank you Heroes! The kingdom of Furonacia thanks you all from the bottom of our hearts. Please raise your heads.”

As we do so, he claps his hand twice, signalling a servant in the corner of the room and brings a blue cushion with golden threads holding four rings. The king stood in front of us and one by one, and gave us a golden ring each with a large gemstone in the centre. Inside each of the gemstones, a crest was engraved in white.

“These rings will become proof that you are the heroes of Furonacia and grant you extraordinary powers in the fights to come.”

“Tonight, we shall prepare a feast for you heroes, please enjoy yourselves today and rest, and tomorrow we will look into your training as heroes.”

Following the princess, we exited the throne room and was shown around the castle and into our rooms.