Chapter 20

"Please save our kingdom!"

Behind the beautiful girl, all of the people present in the hall except the King and Queen fell down on one knee with their heads lowered.

"... Please, oh our long-awaited Heroes from another world, I beseech you to protect our people, from the cruel demons and monsters who seek our very demise."

Serena would never have imagined that she would experience something like this. An experience straight out from fairytales and light novels.

Although Serena had been rather composed so far, a part of her was still anxious. Usually, in a situation like this, people who were summoned would never be able to return to their world. At least, 8 out of 10 scenario does. Most enslaved by their very own summoners, deprived of their rights and freedom.

If that's the case that would be bad… Serena thought. Worry and Anxiety filled her mind. Did she close the gas stove when she left? How about the tv? Damn, did Ronald return my DVDs? I still haven’t even seen ‘Kimi No Ana’ which I just borrowed from the shop. And here I was looking forward to it!

… No, that’s not the time for that--what would happen to her mother?

Serena was panicking inside.

The others besides her seemed to feel the same from being suddenly summoned as their faces showed that they couldn't keep up with what was happening to them. Then one of them finally spoke.

"H-Heroes? Wh-What do you mean? Can you explain?"

One of the guys in the group asked. He had bleach hair like some sort of a delinquent, but he was exuding an earnest expression and gentle aura. Or probably his hair was not truly bleached intentionally, rather it’s natural? Was he a half-American or something?

The girl lowered her head flustered at the guy's question.

"Ah! My apologies! We will explain this matter immediately."

She looked rather apologetic as she said that. On closer inspection, she appeared rather pale. It was hard to tell from her smile earlier, but like the surrounding people who looked like a priest and magicians, she was sweating from the face as well, probably exhausted from the summoning.

"… I'm Delouria’s kingdom's, Princess Alice. This world is called 'Fantasia' and as you can see this is different from your world. All of you were summoned here by the hero summoning ceremony we conducted desperately, answering our desperate call."

She is really a princess. Serena thought.

She picks up the hem of her skirt and bows elegantly while she gives a self-introduction. The boys blushed, fascinated and even the other girls were captivated too.

—Of course, except Leona and Serena who was just looking at her with indifferent eyes.

--- ---

After the princess introduced herself, it was followed by the prime minister-looking man who was actually a duke and was acting as an adviser as well as a prime minister for the royalty because the former prime minister was caught embezzling the kingdom's budget and was imprisoned.

What a scumbag… even corrupt officials are quite popular here too? Serena thought that people don't change even in other worlds.

The duke's name was Alejandro Libran.

And the king was called Jeril Persil Louridia while the Queen was Pevina Austril Louridia .

After the introduction, Princess Alice and the duke started telling their stories.

Unlike the other summoned people, Serena didn't listen to it that much. She had only listened to the beginning of it because she's not really that interested.

It was the typical story out of a fantasy novel, anyway.

She only picked some information from the princess.

First, the world is divided by several continents and the continent they were in was called [Lividia Continent] and was one of the biggest.

Second, aside from the three continents including this one, most of the continents were called [The Unexplored Desolate Continents] for they were still unexplored and fraught with danger.

Third, in the [Lividia Continent], there were several races aside from humans such as; Beastmen, Fairies, Demons and etc...

Fourth, the demons were defeated in the war several hundreds of years ago and had remained silent not until three years ago which they suddenly began appearing and rampaging around the continent. There were some rumors that a demon king appeared and was now leading them.

Most of the human and other races kingdoms were slowly defeated and conquered. Although the Louridia Kingdom had several strong people, however, the demon commanders and generals were too many--which resulted in a Quality Vs Quantity kind of situation. And worst was that their strength seemed to be extremely high as well. Hence, pushing them in a desperate corner, leading the Kingdom to have no other option than summoning heroes from another world and ask for help.

Listening to their explanation, Serena couldn't help but scowl at their selfishness.

This was their own world… so how could they selfishly kidnap people from other worlds to protect it for them?

Only idiots would agree to it.

“I, I will do it!” as soon as Serena thought about that, someone raised their voice.

Oh my God, here are the idiots… Serena rolled her eyes as if disgusted by their pea-sized brains.

“I, I think I will do it too…”

“Being Hero seems interesting, right? Like those from novels and anime… I never thought it would happen to me!”

“I know right! Oh my God, I wish I could post this on FB…”

Like a wildfire, the cheer spreads through other people. But Serena didn’t voice out her real opinion, despite wanting to let out a retort or two, and refused with a straight face. However, she held herself back. After all, this is a big kingdom and she was standing in front of the King. Their power encompassed this place… who knows what they will do if she complained. Although it might look like they were asking if one looks at a different view, they were actually being threatened.

Of course, Serena might be overthinking things… but nothing goes wrong in being cautious!

“Tha, thank you very much!!” The Princess seems overjoyed. “First of all, please follow me…”

As the princess started walking, Serena and the others began to follow. Although some were startled about Leona’s existence, since she was following one of the heroes, they just tried pretending as if they didn’t see anything… that same goes with the King and Queen.

It might be that it was also one of the Heroes!

A wild thought appeared.

The princess led the group in front of the several statues standing beside the Audience Hall. They were all female with different appearances.

“They are the Gods we revered.” The beautiful princess started. “We will ask for their blessings to help you all in your endeavor.”

She kneeled in front of them. She urged the others to the same, not really understanding but still they obeyed.

“…Goddess Thalia was the goddess of reason and wisdom.

Goddess Saliyon was the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

Goddess Brid, the Goddess of wild animals and hunt.

Goddess Hurd, the Goddess of bloodlust, Fire, and war.

Goddess Prim, the ruler the world of the dead.

Goddess Thion, the Goddess of Order and Magic.

And lastly, Goddess Siam, the Goddess of Light and Healing.”

“These were the 7 Goddess we Louridia worshipped…” Then, after introducing all the Gods and Goddess, Princess Alice kneeled in front of the statues; “Please bestow a blessing for these courageous warriors and may the hope of the future be lies with them.”

She muttered. Seconds later, the six people’s body even including the Lion started lighting up, displaying her own position among the Hero Circle.

Truthfully, they were still many Gods they know but only these seven Gods the Louridia worshipped and revered. Some were not popular, some also quite troublesome especially the likes of Atria who are known to be a dark Goddess who loves chaos and war. Much more troublesome than the eerie Goddess of Death. One of the worst tricksters they called her. Although she was not detested by the Louridia Kingdom, they tend to avoid having any connection with that particular Goddess due to her problematic reputation.

The princess stood up, followed by the others.

They felt something had changed within themselves but they don’t know what.

As they were wondering what it was, the princess spoke:

“You might have felt something strange but it’s normal…” The Princess reassured. “It means that you have been properly claimed.”

“Claimed?”

“Yes, that’s right… please look above you…” The princess said respectfully. As they did, the group finally noticed something floating above them.

Symbols?

At the top of their heads, an image of something was floating.

A Battle Axe, a Scale, an image of a woman’s face looking sideways with a long hair, book and a pen, and lastly a Bow crossed with a tree.

Serena noticed the image floating above her head was that of a Bow crossed with a tree.

“… Those were the symbols of the Goddess of your respective Patrons.” the Princess happily explained. Then, she gestured towards a group of people in servant uniforms waiting at the side.

“Now, please hold this and say [Status Open] With this, you can check your status…”

Several servants immediately walk forward and gave everyone a small fist-sized blue orb.

Hm? Status? What?! Do they have a status system? This is truly Game-like, huh… Serena was quite adept in games since one of her friends was into online games so she knows quite a bit after learning her talk about it with much enviable enthusiasm, which she just couldn't understand. Everything she says seems egyptian to her.

“Status Open…”

Almost simultaneously, the Hero group called out, including Serena, though of course, with the exception of Leona, who seemed to have a hard time understanding what was going on.

[ Rick Simonth Lv1

Strength: H13 Endurance: H12 Dexterity: H12 Agility: H13 Mana: H40

Title: Hero

Patron: Goddess Hurd, the Goddess of bloodlust, Fire, and war.

Unique Skill: [ Warcry ], [ Heroic Soul ] ]

[ Janice Simonth Lv1

Strength: H13 Endurance: H10 Dexterity: H10 Agility: H12 Mana: H35

Title: Hero

Patron: Goddess Saliyon was the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

Unique Skill: [ Charm Speak ], [ Charm Aura ] ]

[ Marc Trent Lv1

Strength: H11 Endurance:H12 Dexterity:H12 Agility:H15 Mana: H32

Title: Priest

Patron: Goddess Siam, the Goddess of Light and Healing.

Unique Skill: [ Healing Stream ], [ Light Blast ] ]

[ Marjorie Grey Lv1

Strength: H12 Endurance: H10 Dexterity:H12 Agility:H11 Mana: H28

Title: Sorcerer

Patron: Goddess Thion, the Goddess of Order and Magic.

Unique Skill: [ All Elemental Affinity ], [ Basic Elemental Magic ] ]

[ Serena Hail Lv1

Strength: H18 Endurance:H15 Dexterity:H17 Agility:H19 Mana: H22

Title: Huntress

Patron: Goddess Brid, the Goddess of wild animals and hunt.

Unique Skill: [ Beast Language ], [ Beast Tamer ], [ Bow Mastery ( Beginner ) ] ]

Guardian/Partner: Leona the Infernal Lion ]