It has been several days since the barriers protecting the Holy City have failed and faded into nothingness, now it was clear that something was definitely wrong.

Holy Maidens should have arrived after King ordered them to come to Merok by letter, which meant something must have happened to the Holy Maidens.

That was why, over the last few days, all the available Heroes were summoned to the Merok region of Holy City in order to lead squads to search and retrieve the Holy Maidens.

Considering the Heroes are usually busy outside the Holy City, fighting against demons, it took a few days for them to arrive.

In total, there were five heroes, each to lead one of the five squads, to search for Holy Maidens.

Heroes were very rare, within the entire kingdom of Kizilalem; there were less than thirty of them.

Summoning even one was a matter of grave importance.

For this endeavor, the king saw it fit to entrust five heroes to lead the search for the Holy Maidens.

It was clear this was an emergency.

Of course, in order to compensate their absence in the front lines, many Holy Knights were dispatched to take their place.

It was a general belief that a hero is worth at least ten Holy Knights, who themselves are worth a hundred normal knights.

But due to this, majority of the people in the squads led by heroes were ordinary knights, as most of the stronger Holy Knights were now sent to the frontlines to compensate for heroes coming to the Holy City by king’s orders.

All five squads were gathered here, near the royal palace, where the king himself, a fit man for his age, a full head of white hair and a medium length grey beard was in attendance.

He was wearing garbs befitting of royalty and traditional armor with a purple cape. Upon his head was a golden crown encrusted with jewels.

It was obvious he was a strong individual in his prime, but now he was reduced to an elderly looking man whose limbs resembled shriveled branches of a tree, cleverly hidden underneath his lavish garbs.

But his dignified face that aspired confidence within the hearts of many still remained, though it was steadily fading, with many wrinkles decorating his visage.

In his hands, he held a single jewel box.

“I am glad all of you have answered my summons so promptly.” He greeted the heroes and by extension the knights standing before him.

“You need only give an order, milord, and I shall come.”

Knight of Sword, Verita Welles, answered with a bow of her head. She was wearing silver colored armor that complimented well her silver blue hair.

Her right eye was permanently closed with a single long scar running over it.

From the marks on her armor and the sections where her skin was exposed around her stomach, it was obvious that her body was covered in countless battle scars.

It was obvious she was a veteran.

“Same here, your majesty”

Knight of Combat, Raina Nockser, replied with a cheerful smile.

Unlike the slimmer Knight of Sword, Knight of Combat’s body was extremely muscular, to the point that many men felt jealous of her physique.

However, her might did nothing to subtract from her beauty, in fact, it complimented it instead.

She was wearing dark red armor without a helmet, showing her shoulder length blonde hair.

“You can always count on me, your majesty” Knight of Earth, Boroi Daren answered with a confidence befitting of a man of his size.

He was a giant hulk of a man, standing at almost 4 meters tall, heavily muscular, with his large war hammer at his side.

His face was covered by a beard that reached his chest. His armor was the color of clay.

“The matter seemed to be crucial, so I am not surprised I was called here for this task. After all, it takes elite to be entrusted with such a mission, though I am not sure it was wise to call the others.”

Knight of Ice monotonously answered.

His armor was of darker color, and his hair was once black but it was growing greyish in some spots, apparently it was not a recent occurrence and was always like that ever since he was young.

“Psst, don’t be rude.” Knight of Mind whispered.

“Says the man who let a Demon Lord escape” Knight of Ice sharply retorted, making Cereb Belius sigh in silent indignation.

This Knight of Ice, he was a prideful prick, all right.

“I shall not give it any further response”

Now the five heroes were facing the king.

“Brave heroes, grave fate has befallen our Holy City and in order to keep it safe, Holy Maidens have to be returned at all cost. Which is why…” he opened the treasure box he was holding.

“…I shall entrust you with these.”

The contents of the treasure box were five stones, each glowing with a different color. Each hero was given a single stone.

“Let the Blessed Stones guide you on your mission to find the Holy Maidens. Unfortunately, these are all the troops I could gather at such a short notice, I apologize, but Holy Knights and other heroes currently have their hands full.”

“Worry not your majesty, these troops will be sufficient” Boroi Daren confidently answered.

“Thank you, brave heroes, may the gods bless you in your endeavors!”

Now they were set off. Each squad was guided by the Blessed Stone to look for the respective Holy Maiden.

Strangely, all the Blessed Stones pointed in different directions, so the squads did not go on the same paths.

* * *

Sipping on glass of wine, Dark Lord smiled.

“The game has begun”