Returning to the Silverflight kingdom, King Hildebrand held an emergency conference a day later with Prince Nicholas and his most loyal retainers. The room was filled with dead silence for a while. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of King Hildebrand running his hand through his beard. Everyone was still in deep shock from the event that had taken place a day earlier. The first to break the awkward room of silence was Prince Nicholas.

“Father, did the hero summoning fail and we somehow summoned someone of the demon race?” he asked with a stern look on his face. Looking up at his son, King Hildebrand could only let out a small sigh while shaking his head.

“That’s impossible, the hero summoning ritual could never fail when used only properly. Plus, the hero summoning ritual only summons people from another world and from ancient text and diaries left by past heroes. Only humans seem to exist in that world, so he can’t be that of the demon race.”

“If that’s not it, then what Father?’’ Nicholas asked earnestly.

“That is a good question, Nicholas.”

Thinking for a moment, King Hildebrand seemed to recall notes he found among a bunch of relics left behind by his ancestors which mentioned a race of humans from his world with darker skin. Since he only briefly looked at the notes, his memories of them were fuzzy. Trying to remember the records he hasn’t read in several decades, he became annoyed, and with a robust, irritated voice, he called for Nicholas.

“Nicholas!”

Jumping from his seat, Nicholas answered with a slight tremble, “Yes, Father?”

“Go to the royal library. If my memory is correct, there should be some information on that summoned individual that was left by our ancestors. Bring whatever you think is needed.”

He reached inside of his robe and threw a medallion towards Nicholas. Seeing the medallion caused Nicholas and all the knights to become wide-eyed. All of them knew that those who possessed the medallion represented the kings’ power and could do many things with it, whether it be good or evil.

“Use that to enter the library’s deepest parts, and search for information regarding that summoned individual. If I’m pleased by what you find, I will let you hold on to it for a day when you’re done.”

Holding the medallion in his hand and hearing his father’s words, an eagerness could be seen in his eyes. “Yes, Father!”

Nicholas quickly left to follow his father’s orders, leaving only King Hildebrand and his Knights in the room. King Hildebrand then proceeded to discuss what course of action to take with his Knights.

At the same time, in a room on the other side of the castle, two women and the royal doctor sat. Avelina and Rolla both had a look of uneasiness on their faces.

“Princesses Avelina, your physical health is all right from head to toe…” he hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and speaking again, “But, it seems that your mana level has been abolished. You are still able to use mana, but you will have to start all over. It’s not the worst price someone has paid to perform the hero summoning. On the contrary, it would be considered rather light compared to other cases, especially if the person was a woman.”

Hearing the last part caused made Avelina angry since she knew the royal doctor would have never had spoken those words in front of her before the hero summoning ritual. With nothing else to say, the royal doctor left the room, leaving Avelina and Rolla by themselves.

Within seconds of the doctor leaving a whimpering sound could be heard. Tears fell from Ave’s eyes, slowly rolling down the side of her tainted red cheeks. Rolla quickly hugged her, pulling her deep into her embrace and leaning forward so she could whisper into her ear, “Everything will be fine, Ave. It’s just a small setback. As long as you’re able to regain your strength, I’m sure everything will be fine. This might even be a blessing in disguise. You will be able to build a better foundation now, and it will be a lot easier since you know what kinds of hurdles you will face.”

With her face still buried in Rolla’s chest, she spoke in a very timed voice, only loud enough for Rolla to hear, “Rolla, I know it could have been a lot worse but…” she paused, trying to hold back her emotions. “But all the hard work I put into training is gone. All those years have been wasted. How am I going to protect the people now? What about the small town that father doesn’t care about? What about the nobles that I have offended because of their unjust action towards the other races? How am I going to protect you, Rolla?” More tears came as she thought about all the problems that would arise once word got out about her situation.

Rolla then placed her hand on Ave’s head and slowly begun patting it. “Everything will work itself out somehow. As long as you are here, I believe you will overcome anything; that’s just how much I believe in this little crying princess of mine. You may not believe me Ave, but your good deeds have earned you many allies from both sides of the war.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “There’s also the summoned hero. I have a hunch he will do many good things for the people of this world.”

Hearing those words caused a slight twitch in Ave. Noticing it, Rolla smile a little and continued to speak. “Did you see? His skin was such a lovely shade, wasn’t it?”

Rolla could feel Ave nod in agreement. “Also, his hair looked so soft.”

Pulling back from Rolla’s embrace and looking into her eyes, Avelina said, “It was like cotton, and it smelled nice, too.”

Having cheered up a bit, the conversation between Ave and Rolla went on like this for a while before they discussed the serious matter at hand and what course of action to take from then on.