Leon was puzzled for a moment until it hit him. How was this man speaking their language? Weren’t they in a different world? It would be quite a coincidence if they all spoke the same language.

The pope’s eyes met with Leon’s… or at least he believed they did. For a solid two seconds, they looked at each other, ending with the pope’s smile widening. ‘I really don’t like this guy,’ Leon reaffirmed.

With the pope’s smile, the gears in Leon’s brain clicked as he searched for the source of the pope’s confidence. Leon’s mouth opened in realization, taking a short breath in. ‘He knows we can’t take the way out…’ Losing himself in thought as the pope resumed spewing words of reassurance and enticement, Leon summarized his mind.

‘He gave us the option to leave and be given citizenship… but that’s it. Most of these people haven’t even realized this language barrier problem. Hell, I barely just figured it out. I could be overthinking this and everyone just happens to speak English… but what are the chances? It’s just too much of a coincidence. I know we didn’t learn his language because that’s not how the Adept Tongue skill said it worked. This pope guy is banking on the fact that most people will conform to joining them. Besides this, they will either realize like I have that we have to play along, or they’ll be sent to the streets of a foreign land with no food, money, and no way to communicate.’ It hurt to say it but the smile on the pope’s face just made Leon believe his assumptions even more.

‘The illusion of freedom,’ Leon thought. The pope wanted them to feel like they had a choice in the matter. Well, technically they did but those choices were very similar to just saying, do you want to live or die? For most people, there is only the live option with no room for negotiation of the death option. Leon stopped with his internal deduction as the pope finished up his salesman talk.

“If you would all kindly follow me to the banquet hall, we will get you all sorted out.” The pope began to walk out of the room with the people foremost in the front following suit immediately. The room flooded out slowly with Leon towards the back, keenly watching those who passed through the doorway in hopes to see a familiar face.

Unfortunately, Leon didn’t see either Julia or Drake. In fact, he didn’t see anyone that he was familiar with. Not his boss, that jackass Avalon guy and his goons, and his other coworkers… not even Mrs. Nora or his little sister, Mia. Honestly, part of him wanted to break down right there and then as he followed the herd to the hall.

Leon feared that his little sister was in a similar ‘guiding scenario’. Meaning that she too would have to fight a demon lord or something along those lines. Albeit, this was assuming that this was real as a part of him still didn’t want to acknowledge it. In times of stress, Leon tended to reflect on life lessons that his parents used to teach him. ‘Focus on what you can do now, don’t worry about the rest.’ He recited as his father used to say. Would his dad be mad that he applied this logic to not worrying about his little sister who was also likely in another world and being forced to fight a demon lord? Probably.

Leon shoved the thought to the back of his mind. ‘I’m sure dad wouldn’t have expected me to be sent to another world either’ was his justification. ‘… and Mia is strong. I’m sure others will help her; she’s always been charismatic.’ The pope was in the front of the herd alongside what seemed like his guards. ‘They look human… surely they wouldn’t force children to fight,’ hoping that their belief and the cultural system had similarities to their otherworldly counterparts. With these justifications and lines of thought organized, Leon finally decided to focus on what was in front of him. That being whatever they had in store for them, but more realistically… a giant dining hall was in front of him.

Large doors, at least ten meters in height, were opened as the head of the group approached. Within was a beautiful banquet hall, filled with long tables and decorum. Chandeliers hung overhead and carpets of various designs stretched the distance. ‘Reminds me of that one book series about a magic school and a kid with a scar.’

About ten people stood out at the end of the hall. They were all dressed in varying clothing, some in robes while others in armor. A man stood in the center of them. He wore a large silky red cloak with white fluffy edges. Leon could only assume that this person was the king. Similar to the pope, the king’s face was older with white-gray hair atop his head. He was cleanly shaven, clearly to show off his strong jaw.

He and the others were escorted and seated at tables where food was quickly served. Men and women of what seemed like maid and butler attire flooded into the room carrying silver trays with covers atop them. Carts of silver platters were shuffled in, surrounded by them as they distributed their contents. Lifting the silver veils restricting their vision, the food was now in full display. The food looked amazing. There was roasted turkey, hams, potatoes, the whole deal.

In contrast to the friendly food bearers, there were many armored men with pole-arm-type weapons along the walls of the banquet hall. It was mildly intimidating but was easily put off by the warm smiles and food given by the helmetless individuals.

Some people jumped at its contents as soon as the servers walked away from their tables. Either they hadn’t eaten before being forcefully brought here or they have no sense of caution. Leon withheld himself from eating immediately and looked to the assumed king and his people.

The king looked over all of them with a chalice in hand then spoke incoherent words before gleefully taking a gulp from the chalice. Soon after, the pope had appeared beside the king and spoke.

“King Ikan would like to thank you once more for agreeing to help us in this trying time.”

The king continued to communicate in their own language and the pope translated for the rest of the time.

“I’ll be straight to the point, if anyone wishes to leave and receive citizenship and nothing else, please stand up.”

Leon had to guess that around thirty or so people stood up. It seemed they preferred taking their chances out on their own. He respected their decisions, whether they made it fully knowing the language barrier problem’s extent or not. There was definitely a chance that they’d meet someone who knew their language. It was unlikely as it seemed that the pope probably had access to more resources, giving him access to knowledgeable books, or perhaps it was just magic. There was also the chance that they’d meet kind enough people to teach them their language. With the Adept Tongue skill, it was definitely feasible. But again, it was a chance… a risk. They could just as easily come across not so kind people. The ones that stood up were swiftly escorted out of the hall by a robed woman that had earlier been standing beside the king. Once gone and the hall doors were closed once more, the pope’s translations continued on.

“It is nice to see that 357 of you have decided to remain by our side. After you’ve all had your fill, we will escort you all to where you will be staying temporarily. Tomorrow, we will do evaluations for each of you. These evaluations will help us give you the best instructors, amongst other things.”

‘Did he just… count the exact number of people in this room?’ Leon questioned, honestly baffled. The rest of his pleasantries were in one ear and out another as Leon got hung up on the auspicious intellectual feat. After some thought, Leon guessed that he may have a really high intelligence stat, but time would tell as the stat categories didn’t have descriptions to actually confirm anything. Or he just threw out a random number to sound extraordinary.

Regardless, another thought hit him … there were fewer people than he had thought. Upon truly looking now, there weren’t nearly as many as he had seen in the valley-dimension-space-thingy. It made him wonder where the other half of the people went. If he were to guess, including the people who left, there were around 400 people brought to this kingdom. There were also around 800 people left after the path-finding experience as some hadn’t returned.

Leon ended up not eating at all, leaving the banquet hall empty stomached. The rest of the time was filled with eating, drinking, and simple formalities. The guards along the walls with their polearms ended up being their escorts as they broke the ‘brave warriors’ into different groups, kind of like a school field trip. They guided toward what looked like a medieval barracks, a bit far from the castle. Besides the relatively normal-looking castle wall interiors of various stones, the outside was genuinely beautiful.

The castle appeared to be on a small hill, allowing for a nice view of the outer city’s rooftops and some streets. The architecture resembled that of medieval Europe, but the town felt cozier. The noise of bustling streets could be heard from the castle’s courtyard. Numerous lights illuminated the street buildings, some from lamps and others from floating wisps. The sky added to the emotions as its clear purple hue touched where the land began. The pale crescent moon showing through with its kin of stars blanketing the horizon. It all greatly contrasted the polluted sky back home.