Friday, 24 March 2017

Chapter 5 - Big decisions.

Author Note: 
Woaaaah, I haven't written in a long long time. Well, I was wondering how I should continue this story. So I sat on it, left it for a while and reread it over and over again. Although there are so many 'isekai' other worldly light novels that have sprouted out like weeds, I still really enjoy writing them. 
So I decided, I don't give a rat's butt about what others think and wrote what I was happy to write about. 

Well, here it is! Chapter 5!

P.S
Chapter 4 is still under works, lol wtf i know right? dw about it.


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Chapter 5

[Kurisu’s point of view]

Our training was finished for the day and the sun began to set. Yuki passed out from exhaustion of the training and is currently being carried like a sack of potatoes by Nakajou.

Heading out to the middle district, we entered an old establishment called the “Shield bar”. People of all different age, race and gender gathered here, drinking, singing, laughing and chatting. The bar was almost entirely made from wood and timber, smell of alcohol and food drifted into my nose. Almost as if my nose were communicating with my stomach, it growled demanding food.

A waitress dressed in cute frill apron came to greet us in a gentle yet excited smile.

“Welcome to the Shield bar! We haven’t seen you around before, are you new to the town nya?”

... Nya?

What stood out the most about this person was not her unusual way of speech, but her small black and white animal ears. The ears were flickering above her head, and her two tails, one white and one black that was swinging left to right.

“…nya?”

I was lost for a moment there, and made an awkward silence between the two of us.

“Hi, we are looking for-“

“YES! Make that a table for four, and why don’t you join us? Actually make that a table for two, it can be just you and-“

“BAKA-JOU!”

Yuki who was passed out just now, awoke, swinging her left leg above her head, she round house kicked his head down to the floor. His face splendidly crashed under her feet. The now, unconscious body of Nakajou is being dragged out of the bar by his neck by Yuki.

“… My apologies for my comrades, we are looking for a man with black hair and about my height, have you seen him?”

“Ah! The hero! Yes yes, are you friends of the Hero nya? Right this way nyaa~”

Being lead to the corner furthest of the room, directly next to the bar table, Soujiru was sitting there and waved energetically towards me.

“would you like anything to drink nya?”

“just give us 4 house brews and one large serving of cactus fries please.”

“right away nya!”

The waitress happily skipped towards the bar table and made the order to the kitchen.

“oi, where is the other two?”

“they’re outside at the moment, having a heated argument as always.”

“Ah, good, I’d like to talk to you about something first.”

Soujiru clasped his hands together and leaned his elbows against the table.

“Kurisu, from memory, you have done a bachelors in economics and law right? The prime minister of this country actually came to the magic guild when I was there, and I happened to overhear his conversation.”

Our drinks arrived along with a large bowl of what looked like fried potatoes you can get from a fast food store. Taking a sip from the ale, Soujiru continued his talk.

“Apparently the country is going through a famine.”

The street markets and the bar had plenty of customers and supplied their food at pretty reasonable costs. It surprised me that they would be anywhere near a famine…

“Ah… I see, they’re importing food from other nations and supplying at their usual lowered costs to the public.”

The country would be taking a huge financial debt from doing this method, however it saves it from another whole deal of problems.

“That’s right, actually, I invited him over to the bar to talk about this, ah here he is.”

A man looked like who have lived 5 times my age was dressed in a simple yet elegant clothing, bowed and introduced himself.

“Great Heroes, I am this country’s acting prime minister Galleon Gi Gallows, it is my most honor to get a chance to meet you both.”

“Ah, Galleon, please do not mind formalities, we are not very good at those either.”

“Well then, please allow me to be frank.”

He took a seat and took a large breath in and let it out before continuing.

“I will get straight to the point. This country is in the verge of a famine, our crops haven’t been supplying enough to feed our nations completely. Our hands are bound because if we suddenly raise tax and or costs of food, the citizens will not only be unable to purchase food, it will lead more citizens to become jobless. This might force citizens to sell off their daughters to slavery to have less mouths to feed. Public order will be in chaos and might even lead to a civil war.”

Looking down grimly to the floor for a moment, and continued.

“Our country had no choice but to purchase food from neighboring countries and resell them to the general public at their usual costs. Of course because of this, our nation is heading straight to bankruptcy. This has become a huge problem for our country.”

According to the prime minister, majority of the crops that are planted are wheat, cabbages and tomatoes. Not all crops were edible, there were crops called “Cash Crops” where they were grown and traded to neighboring nations for food or money. Since the Demon Lord’s arrival, war supplies were in demand. Iron ores, leather, wool and cotton were especially extremely high in demand by frontier countries.

“Just out of curiosity, how much food crops are planted compared to the cash crops?”

“I believe it would be around half. Half of our crops are cash crops, half of those crops are cotton and the other are medicinal plants.”

“Let me guess, the crops are turning bad due to some disease and majority of the crops are inedible?”

“H-how did you know?”

“Do you rotate crops on different seasons and/or year?”

“Rotate you say…? No, I don’t believe so, most farms stick with one type of crop for years and years, however… a lot of farmers are drawn to the profitable cash crops like cotton, so they began to switch over from food crops.”

This was their problem.

“Sir that is where your problem lies. I will tell you what to do, if you wish to solve this problem, please listen to me and do exactly as I say. You must implement them to this country as soon as you can before it gets any worse.”

“Y-yes! If we can solve this problem, we shall do all you heroes command!”

“Good, now, cut and uproot all cash crop farms aside from medicinal crop farms. Make a King’s decree that: ‘for all those who plants these cash crops without authorization are punishable by death.”

The prime minister jumped out of his seat and sweat began to drop down from his forehead.

“W-wait! Please wait! Cotton exports are what runs this country! It is one of our biggest exported national incomes! We still require cotton farms for the economy of our kingdom! Without it, we will be flat broke!”

“would you rather be broke or have a civil war over food?”

“That is… Of course feed our people…”

“Good, cash crops are good when a country’s financial and agriculture status are stable, however, right now, you are in a verge of famine. This country must focus on being self-sufficient regarding food. To do that, we shall split the country’s crops into four, make sure that each type of crops are nowhere near each other and never repeat the same crop for next four years in the same place.
We will begin rotation crops of the following: Beans, Cabbages, Onions and Potatoes. No farmers will be allowed to plant anything else in their farms unless said otherwise for the next 4 years.”

The prime minister became speechless, with his eyes and mouth wide open, he just stared blankly at me. As if an epiphany struck him, he quickly pulled out white clean pages, quill and ink and wrote everything down in detail.

“Also, you must import as much food as you can for the next 6 months while the newly planted crops bears fruit. Set up contracts with neighboring countries to supply steady amounts for next 6 months and work all your country’s financials around this project.”

“We will be needing a huge amount of money to supply the whole country with such expensive imported food! How will we ever do such a thing? We cannot afford it!”

“Gather all rich merchants and rich nobles and borrow money from them. If we do not pay back within 2 year from now, give them this country’s portion of the land as collateral.”

The prime minister spat out his drink and his eyeballs were about to pop out of his sockets.

“H-h-how can we do such a thing! A King who freely gives away land without a fight will be labelled as a pathetic king and will be laughed at throughout history! We can do no such thing!”

From what I have seen of the current king, he genuinely loves his people and cares for them. Only such rulers would be willing to import food and sell them without even raising taxes. I see him as an ideological ruler, a ruler who actually believes that this country’s citizens are his children. He will be able to understand.  

“Would your king still be a king without his citizens? Citizens are what makes a country, not the king nor the land. Also, calm down a bit, there is a good reason for this: this country has too large of land to be controlled by the current government. Large portion of this country is still covered with monsters and beasts because the military is still too short staffed to hunt them all down. I am not telling you to sell the land with people but land without people and no economical or historic value.”

“Also, I am not saying you have to definitely sell your land, as long as we can pay it back within one year or two years, we won’t lose anything.”

“How do you expect to pay something back like that when we don’t have any cash flowing into our country?”

“There are more ways for a country to gain money without selling cash crops. For one, cash crops are one of the worst ways for a country to make money, let alone depend their entire country budget on. I could go through with the details with you right now, however, we will be here all night.”

“Bahahahaha! Admit it Galleon, you lost to this youngster. A King without citizens is no king at all. I love the way you speak! A worthless king! Bahahahaha!”

A man covered in a dark hooded mantle started laughing from the bar table that was overhearing our conversations. He lifted his hood and revealed his face.

It was the king himself.

“Your majest-“

Holding out his hand, he stopped the prime minister from continuing.

“I am being incognito today, do not treat me like a king here in public.”

“Y-yes sire, understood.”

The king sat next to the prime minister and stared deep into my eyes for a while, then opened his mouth.

“As you said, a King without his citizen isn’t a king at all. Selling his land and be called a worthless king? Fine by me! I’d rather be remembered as a worthless king than a king who killed his people from starvation. Bahahahaha! I approve all of this. Prime minister.”

“Yes sire!”

“Go gather my subjects and work with our hero here and implement all his ideas to this country’s policies.”

“Yes sire! Right away!”

Prime minister bolted out the door and ran towards the castle.

“It is such a shame and also great pleasure that Kurisu is our hero. You would make a great politician. How about it? How would you like to become minister of finance? No, what about next prime minister! Bahahaha!”

“I am honored by your evaluation of me, however, I must respectfully decline. My place is here with Soujiru and my comrades.”

“Ah, it is a shame indeed, but what can we do. However, do you mind being in charge over these plans as they are implemented? I am afraid none of my subjects could compete to your vast knowledge.”

“I will do what I can, however, as I have said earlier, my place is with my comrades, they will come first before this duty. Is that fine with you sire?”

“Umu, that will do.”

The king nodded his head in approval with a smile on his face.

“Soujiru!! Sorry about my lateness! I had to take care of an annoying mosquito.”

Yuki who was dusting her clothes in one hand, and dragging an unconscious Nakajou in another.

“THE KING!? WHY IS HE HERE!?”

Yuki screamed so loud everyone in the bar had heard her speak. Every single person in the bar dropped to their knees and bowed before the king.

“Oh dear, I believe I stayed here for too long. Well, I have heard from the Captain that your training are going well. We shall talk more in depth about this topic in the near future. Guards, let’s head back.”

Four shadows came out from underneath the tables and appeared in human form in front of the king.

“Yes sire.”

As the king and his guards left the bar and the crowd all ran out of the bar, sprinting more likely, throwing their sacks of money on the table without counting and bolted out of the restaurant.

*growl*


I still haven’t eaten yet.

Monday, 6 June 2016

アトランティスの世界 - World of Atlantis - Atorantisu No Sekai. - Prologue

Prologue



Year 2018, middle of the Pacific Ocean, an island had risen from the sea and onto the surface. China, America and United Kingdoms, the three superpower countries in the world tried to claim the island as their own. With constant dispute over the ownership of the land, diplomacy had failed and resulted to their military powers.

The pilot of the F-16 jet fighter of the United States Air Force checked in with the radio to their Forward Operating Base (FOB).

“F.O.B, this is F16-01, 20 clicks to two six zero.”

“Copy that F16-01.”

Their mission were to survey the island’s airspace, to maintain control by taking out anyone within range. Two F16 jets were flying side by side in the sky, circling around the island, they could see a land vast with green and a large volcanic mountain in the middle. One could see strange large birds flying, along with wondering animals that no other human had ever seen before.

“This is F16-01, we’re going to fly in low altitude on the island and commence surveying.”

“Roger that F16-01, F16-02 your orders are to continue surveying from high altitude.”

“Copy that F.O.B.”

Ending the transmission, the jet dove nose down towards the island, however next thing his partner saw was a perfectly good jet being crushed from the head. Like a car ramming into a steel wall, the jet rammed into something, causing it to be crushed and to explode.

“Shit! God damn it! F.O.B this is F16-02! F16-01 is down, I repeat, F16-01 is down!”

After the smoke disappeared, he could see a force field of some kind, like the printing of a turtle’s shell. Semi-transparent, with a hint of pink and blue electrical current running in the area where the jet fighter exploded. After a few seconds, the barrier disappeared and became completely invisible, leaving no trance behind.


“This is the fourth expedition to the Island, we have lost 6 jet fighters, two submarines and 15 UAVs! What more, we have lost contact with two platoons of Marines!”

Screaming at his generals, the president of United States slammed his angered fists onto his desk, knocking the pile of paperwork to fall onto the ground. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his hands.

“The barrier of this island is nothing like what we have seen before. One could get into these barriers fine, however, their electrical equipment and even their weapons rusted as soon as they entered. Worst thing is, the men who have entered the island, could not get out, no matter what they tried to do.”

The generals were panicking, America has never faced such a loss before. Their scanners were not working, no radio transmission could be made.

Only thing they were sure of was:
  •              Humans were allowed to go through, once through, there was no coming back.
  •       No electrical or metal equipment would survive past the barriers.
  •       The barriers were indestructible.


Knock knock knock

A knock could be heard from the door, however, with no passcodes. The bodyguards tensed up and drew their pistols from their holsters.

“Who goes there!?”

“Protect the president!”

Without opening the door, a man dressed in purple robe walked through the door like a ghost.
While screaming, the bodyguards emptied their entire clip to the figure, however, all the bullets were just going through this person, not injuring him at all.

Click click click

The camber was empty, they had ran out of bullets. The mysterious man in the robe lifted his hand and the four bodyguards suddenly dropped lifelessly like a puppet with its strings cut off.

“W-who are you!?”

The president pointed his finger at the figure and screamed out.

The man in the robe took off his hood, complete white hair and his copper skin had blue markings that shined light across his face. Then he spoke:

“I am from the Island.”

“Who are you people? Why have you come here?”

“We were the owners of this world… once. The largest and most technological advanced society in the world! To think the outside world has only progressed this far… I am very disappointed.”

“What kind of rubbish are you spewing?”

The robbed man put his palm on his face and shook his head.

Tisk tisk tisk

“Do you still don’t get it?”

Opening his eyes wide and while laughing he whispered:

“We are Atlantians.”


Thursday, 26 May 2016

Chapter 3 - Tr’och

Chapter 3.


AUTHOR NOTE: 
[THESE STORIES HAVE YET TO BE EDITED, NOR PROOFREAD BY ANYBODY. YOU'LL NOTICE THIS CHAPTER IS WRITTEN IN A WEIRD FASHION, I HAVE YET TO CHANGE THE SETTING, THAT'S WHY. THEY WILL BE DONE SOON, I PROMISE. BUT I'M WORKING ON 4 DIFFERENT NOVELS AND IT'S REALLY TOUGH GETTING ALL OF THEM EDITED. I WILL GET IT DONE SOON THOUGH.  THANK YOU.]


It’s been three days since we arrived into Furonacia. All of us were busy training ourselves to become stronger to fight against this calamity. We were introduced to the King’s guard captain who supervised our physical and combat abilities.

Captain: “Hina-sama, you must raise your shield higher! Nakajou-sama, pull on your bow harder!”

Hina: *puff puff puff* “But this shield is so heavy… How do people carry around such a giant shield and wield a sword at the same time!?”

Nakajou: “The wind is too strong today! That’s why I couldn’t hit my mark!”

Hey… Weren’t you guys one of the best players back in the game?

I am currently sparing with Kurisu-san, both of us were wielding a metal short sword and a small shield. Of course, the blade has been blunted by some magic, so it will not kill us, however it hurts like hell when you do get hit by it.

Kurisu: “Here I come Leader-san!”

Kurisu holds up his sword up high as he shouts and leaps. Is he really trying to kill me? Slashing three times in a row, I parry his sword with mine. I push the tip of my sword towards him only for it to be blocked by his shield. He then jumps up high, holding his sword above his head, bringing down the sword in a straight vertical line. I dodged by side stepping to the left and rammed his right arm with my shield. His sword falls out of his grip and is knocked over to the floor, I quickly close the gaps and aim my sword against his chest. With a face of defeat, Kurisu raises both of his hands and admits defeat.

From behind, a person was clapping at our performance, it was the Captain.

Captain: “That was impressive sparing Soujiru-sama, Kurisu-sama. There were some problems with foot work and openings but both of you did well. You have indeed improved so much in such short amount of time.”

Both Hina and Nakajou seems to be glares at both of us, receiving such compliments while they get a scolding, I did kind of feel bad for them. Offering a hand to Kurisu, I pull him up to his feet as he begin to dust the dirt off his clothing.

Oh, we are still stuck in level 1 by the way, no one has yet to level or gain any form of EXP. We haven’t gotten a chance to go out hunting for monsters due to lacking in combat experiences. Captain was in charge of teaching the heroes basic combat abilities and evasive mauvers. He is actually a good person, but his way of teaching is very strict.

Captain: “Now, Soujiru-sama, you requested to become a mage, is this correct?”

Soujiru: “Yes, close combat is not really my type.”

Captain: “That is indeed unfortunate, you do have talent in the ways of the sword, but having a magician within the party is indeed very beneficial.”

That’s right, we decided to remake our original team composition from the game. Hina is training to become a guardian using a shield and sword, while Nakajou is to become a ranger and Kurisu is training in be a warrior. The job system in this world is very similar to the game and it is very straight forward. At level 1, you are available to choose between certain classes: Guardian, Warrior, Rogue, Ranger and Mage. After levelling up to the requirement, you are able to take on an Advanced Job. For a Mage, some advanced jobs would be Cleric, Oracle, Summoner, Druid, Sorcerer, Enchanter, and much more.

Captain: “Yes, so I believe Soujiru-sama is ready to get his first job advancement.”

Hina: “Ehh? Already? What about us?”

Nakajou: “That’s right! What about us?”

Captain: “Both of you will require a few days more training and I will allow you to take on the job advancement. Kurisu-sama only requires about a day more till he is completely ready.”

Hina: “Boo- No fair.”

Kurisu: “Now, now, Hina-san, let’s work together to get better.”

Captain: “Please take this letter of introduction to the Magician’s guild, they will help you to get your job advancement.”

With a nod, I look at the other three and Hina is still sulking.

Soujiru: “I’ll meet you guys at the Shield Bar tonight, we’ll have more to chat then. Captain, thank you for your training.”

Captain replied with a smile and a nod and returned to face the other three. I began making my way towards the Magician’s guild.

The training with the Captain was done just outside the castle within the most inner walls. Furonacia’s city is made up of three sections; Inner city, Middle City and Outer City, all of them being separated by a massive wall. The castle and the knight’s training ground is located in the inner city, while as the magician’s guild is located in the middle city.

I walk towards the inner city’s gates being guarded by 6 knights. As I approached, they took a quick glance at the ring the King has given us, and quickly saluted.

Guards in union: “Hero-sama!”

I can’t get used to this… I avoided all form of attention back in my real world. Even throughout my middle school and high school years, I always skipped class and went up onto the roof to read. I even waited to leave school until I was sure most of the students were gone first.

Soujiru: “Umm… thanks for the hard work.”

Guard: “Not at all Hero-sama! Please go through the gate.”

Again, being saluted, I give them an uncomfortable smile as I begin to walk through the gate. The King said that this ring was proof that I am a Hero and it would grant me extraordinary powers to help against the calamity. We have yet to see what these powers are, but the proof of being a hero was indeed real.

In a distance, I hear the guards muttering with each other. “We got to meet one of the Heroes! I got to go tell my family about this!” “Let me go brag to the other guards!”

I put my hand on my forehead and give a deep sigh. Nope, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.

In front of the gates, was a busy main street, countless people were walking around, chatting and some screaming. This was the Common Marketplace, there were stalls made from wood all lined up in the centre of the market, while large buildings were surrounding them. The atmosphere to this place was happy and lively, people in the stalls were shouting to attract their customers, while others were bargaining for the best deals.

I walked into the line of stalls while making sure to hide my right hand with the ring in my pocket. People were selling things from equipment, jewelry, food, different type of live animals and clothing.

Soujiru: “[Command – View Money]”

*Ding*

A small semi-transparent screen popped up in front of me.

“Money – 5,000 z"

We were given money from the support of the country, and as we help the country, more rewards will be given to us. Apparently 5,000 zins were a decent amount of money, a person working full time in a store was earning only 500 zins a week. Now, what should I do with this pocket money?

*Growl*

Ah, I’m pretty hungry from all that training, maybe I’ll grab a bite before I head to the guild. I look over at one of the stalls and a man in their late 50’s were selling chunks of meat on a stick. Smell of the food was divine, a mix of spices and meat juice aroma floated into my nose.

Yup. I’m going to try one of those. I walked up to the stall and met the man behind the counter.

Old man: “Welcome young lad! What can I get ya?”

Soujiru: “What are you cooking over here?”

Old man: “Ohya? This is called Tr’och, you’ve never seen one before lad? The meat is from the Mountain Bulls, they’re one tough monster to beat, but their meat is so tender and delicious!”

They sure do look delicious, I can see the juices squeezing themselves out of the meat, like it was begging me to eat them.

Soujiru: “I’ll take one, how much?”

Old man: “Attaboy! That’ll be 10zins lad.”

Soujiru: “[Command – Withdraw Money: 10 zins]”

*Ding*

10 copper coins appear in my hand and I pass the money to the shop owner.

Old man: “Here you are lad, come again!”

I accept the freshly made Tr’och and look at it once more. Red bite sized meat pieces with a hint of golden brown were skewered into a long, thin wooden stick. The meat had been sprinkled with some herbs and spices, reminded me of rosemary and chilly from my world. The smell was getting irresistible, so I took a large bite out of the meat and paused.


… What is this?

*NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM*

I couldn’t stop stuffing my face with the meat, man, I had some good food in the castle on the day of the summoning. However, this meat… how tender is this meat!?  It felt like a hot knife cutting through butter, there were hardly any resistance when I bit onto it. The meat was silky smooth and juicy as I chowed through it. It only took a few seconds to finish the skewer. This quality of meat for 10 zins… I look back at the store and the old man was looking back and smiling while gesturing if I wanted more.



God damn it. Eh. Why not. 

Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Short Message ヽ(〃・ω・)ノ

Hi everyone,


Thank you all for coming to read my novel.

Currently I am looking for a artist/graphics designer to produce a couple of images for this novel.

I plan to have at least two volumes made by next year August, just in time for SMASH and SUPERNOVA in both Sydney and Melbourne in 2017.

If you know anyone who is willing to do so, please forward them this blogspot and get them in contact with me. 

Again, thanks for reading, don't forget to comment below on what you think about it! 

Honest comments are the best comments.


Thank you ヾ(〃^∇^)ノ♪

- Hyun

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.