Author's Note:

As always reviews,ratings,Recommendations,Corrections,Questions and comments are greatly appreciated

Volume 2-1: Dinner party

He yawned as Terra shook him. Groggily his eyes landed on the tray that Liandra held. Breakfast in bed. Now that was something he had never experienced. Truly from zero to hero. It’s not like he didn’t like the extra attention. In fact he loved the feeling of being rich but he wasn’t really rich. He had revealed himself. That was probably not good.

Chewing as he ate the breakfast, he thought of how things had changed. First of all the royal family seemed to want to curry favor. This was good and bad. This meant better food, clothes,service but at the cost of more responsibility being placed on himself. His father always said that even when you were strong, there was always someone stronger. There was also the fact that he would gain more enemies if he became the face of the heroes.

Isn’t this what I wanted though?

Money and power were things he had always strived to achieve. It’s the reason he studied and put his all into school. The reason why he went to another school without his friends. He had cut off his friends for this.

He shook his head to dispel such thoughts. He finished his breakfast and with assistance from Liandra he equipped the new armor after the last one had been crushed in.

He walked through the halls of the castle towards the training yard, encountering the second princess Christina, who was followed by young ladies in waiting. She was still in the process of puberty but was nonetheless A sprouting young flower.

He nodded at her and was planning on walking on around.

"Good day, Mr.Mitchell ." It seemed she planned on talking to him.

Weird. She's been the only one who hasn't tired improving our relationship.

"Mr. Mitchell is my father. Please call me Elden." He smiled

"Then uhm Elden," She looked down as she called him by his first name" Your father must be a great man."

Elden scratched his head "Well, I don't know about a great man but he's a hell of a fighter."

She seemed surprised."Oh, I see."

A moment of silence followed afterward. Elden broke the silence.

"Ah well it was good seeing you but I really must get to training."

He started to walk forward.

"Ah uhm!"

He stopped and looked back at her.

"The thing is, I've been meaning to tell you."

He tilted his head to the left as she bowed."Thank you! I know this isn't your fight and we took you from your homes but regardless well thank you for still fighting. "

"Your welcome." He said as he turned and waved goodbye while continuing his way to the training yard.

∆

The training yard he arrived to was different from before. It was nearly empty compared to before.

After the whole situation with Hnev. They held a funeral for the classmates they had left. The only ones who truly mourned had been close friends and classmates.

Kaleb was there swinging with only his left arm after he had lost his right dominant arm and his sister. He wasn't the only classmate with a grudge as Keaton— one of the two boys whose chest had been pierced— laid in the infirmary cursing the death of his best friend Tom.

There were also a few more boys—John, Zachary, and Jacob— the rest of the boys sat in their rooms refusing to continue this adventure.

Paul was there swinging just as hard as Kaleb. Which was surprising after his own clique had given up on helping or training.

“Yo! Guys.” Elden called out to them while he jogged over to them.

Zachary nodded in salutation

“Hey, so you woke up Eld?” John asked

Elden scratched his head.

“AHAHAHA isn’t that obvious!? A man gets tired after giving such an asskicking!” yelled out Jakob as he put his arm around Elden.

“Yeah, I was a bit tired.”

“See! see!” Jakob asked the two other boys. Zachary and John both nodded.

“Anywho ,what were we talking about?” asked Elden

“Mnm, well we were talking about Paul.” said Zachary

“Yep, It’s liked the demons killed his entire family.” John added

“I’m sure he’s just working hard.” added Jakob.

“Or he’s pissed someone stole his spotlight.” quipped Zach.

They all smiled or laugh.

“Hmm, anywho the main topic is what the hell we’re doing?” said John in an attempt to change the topic of conversation.

“Well there’s no reason to sit in our rooms doing nothing.” said Jakob

“There’s also no reason to help the people of this world out either.” countered Zachary

“What if we did nothing?” asked Elden

“Well we’d be nothing more than annoyances so.” Zachary said.

“What are you saying?” asked Jakob

“I’m saying they might get rid of parasites like any other normal human being.” All four understood Zachary’s words.

“So then for now we keep moving forward ,huh?” said John to no one in particular.

They kept silent.

“Anyways, Eden where the hell did you learn to fight like that!?” asked Jakob.

“erm, from my dad.” he answered without conviction.

“Your dad must be awesome!”

“Wish my dad was that cooled.”

They continued to shower his father with praise. Elden never thought of praising his father. If he had one word to describe his feelings about his father it could be answered with hate. Constantly training. Elden worked hard to be praised by his father. Anything for a hug or a pat on the back. After years of receiving none, Elden realized that no matter how hard he tried his father would never deliver. He was nothing but a drunk but for once Elden thanked his father in his heart. Things would have been different if his father had never taught him how to use a sword.

∆

It took more than an hour of preparation even though the clothes had already been chosen for him.

“Uhm...I’m not wearing this.” He spread out the tight pants and showed it to the maids. Such tight pants were in fashion with aristocratic men.

“You have to. It’s part of the complete outfit.” said Terra.Recently the maids spoke to him in a more casual tone. Sometimes completely dropping the ‘My lord’ at the end of their sentences. He realized this was his fault as he had asked them to treat him as a close friend when he was asking for information.

Maybe I’m too nice

He shook his head.

“Yeah...No I’ll wear my jeans instead.” He picked up the folded jeans which he hadn’t worn since the first day they were summoned. Since most days were spent training he often wore loose training clothes.

“At Least wear the top part, please My Lord.” Said Leandra as she pleaded with her eyes. Elden scratched his head.

“I guess.” He seemed unsure as Liandra’s eyes didn’t change their expression. He sighed” Fine.”

So he wore his jeans while wearing clothes a noble would wear to dinner.

∆

The jeans he wore were black so it didn’t look half bad with the blue coat and other clothes he was wearing. The royal family had invited him to dinner which is why he wore such clothes. This was something he had kept from his classmates. He realized he was the only one eating exquisite food while his classmates ate with the knights. He was going to complain to the royal family about this and was willing to negotiate to at least give good food to those who still trained.

The butler he was following stopped at the door and stepped out of his way while bowing and pointing towards the door with his hands. Elden took a large breath. His job now was to act as the groups Representative but he was more confident of negotiating while holding a sword.

He pushed the door in and entered.

The king and his wife were seated on a lavish table that was smaller than the last one. It had a capacity of 8 seats. The king sat at the head of the table with his wife and his youngest daughter—Christina—seated sitting on his left and right, respectively.

“Ah, welcome Elden. Please have a seat.” the king gestured to the chair opposite of him. Elden nodded and walked over to the seat on the table.

“Aren't we ah missing one person?” asked Elden as he took a seat.

The king and his wife laughed while Christina just sighed.

“You know how girls are.” said the king

But I don't really know how they are

He had wanted to say as pressed his lips together to stop himself.

“Right...anyways I wanted to talk to you about something.” He stopped himself from saying 'Milord' as Ganesh had reminded him. This was not their country, kingdom or king. They had no obligation to this man.

“Oh~what about?”

Elden sat up straight. “Well it's about the food being fed to my classmates.”

“Hmm what about it?.” asked the Queen as another door behind and slightly to his right opened.

“There she is!” The king raised his voice.

Yletta who was usually dressed up was now dressed up to the nines. The dress was more provocative than usual as it emphasized her well endowed chest,which she most likely inherited from her mother. Her steps were fluid and straight, like a model on a runway. As she approached ever closer to the table—as a teenage boy—He couldn't keep his eyes of her bosom.

“As expected of my daughter! She's gorgeous isn't she?” asked the king.

With his eyes still glued to her chest he answered. “Yeah they're big.” he shook his head. “Ah um, I mean she's beautiful.”

Ylleta smiled as her cheeks blushed red. She sat down next to Elden rather than sitting closer to her family.

The butler brought in carts with trays. Each filled with different foods. This was just the first course. It seemed daunting to Eden as he realized it was probably more than enough to feed most of his classmates. However whenever he tried to bring up the topic he was directed to something else.

The king and Queen had years of experience in negotiations and talking. Compared to someone like Elden who had never negotiated with anyone, they were professionals. Elden was easily swept into their pace and had all but forgotten his original intention. He was brought into the party mood. A pretty girl on his right. Extravagant food in front.

He spent the evening enjoying himself. When dinner was finished he was invited by yletta to take a walk in their garden.

Despite being called heroes, the palace was not free access. They were limited in which areas to approach so Elden had never seen the garden.

Yletta placed her arm in between Elden's and led the way through the hallways. The Garden was situated in the middle of what was the royal family living quarters. It was an open-roofed courtyard larger than an acre of land.

This isn't a garden. It's a bloody forest!

He entered together with Ylleta into the 'garden'. There were trees along the pathway that obstructed the view. The pathway was aligned with bushes and flowers he had never seen. Some flowers smaller while others were gigantic compared to any flowers he had seen on earth.

There were small little light around the garden. The sun had already gone down so it made the garden quite bright. He stuck his hand out to one of the lights. The closest one landed on his finger. It gave him quite the shock.

“Aren't these little people!?”

“Have you never seen these? “ asked Yletta. Elden shook his head in denial.

“They are the sprites of nature. They tend to gather in beautiful nature filled places such as here. They are rather harmless.”

Elden looked at the little flying little person. It had a child-like attractiveness. Its gentle glow pleasant to the eyes. The sprite then flew off with the rest of them.

As if his vision started clearing the lights began to take form. He could see all the sprites clearly now. The sprites followed the duo until the lights started to gather on Ylleta. Elden turned to stare at her as the strap that held up her dress ripped off. The top part of the dress fell to her waist revealing her bosom in all it's glory.

Elden's eyes widened.

They got bigger!?

Her breast that had been constricted by the dress popped out. If Eden was Japanese he would have surely bled from his nose

She screamed and ran way as she held up the dress. The small sprites laughed. Elden smiled as he had noticed it was their little prank.

“What was the scream!?”

Elden turned around to see who asked him that. It was the second princess Christina. Unlike her sister’s brown hair her hair was blond.

“Hmm? oh princess Christina. Uhm the sprites pranked your older sister.” he explained.

She tilted her head with a questioning gaze. Christina was a head shorter than Elden and although she appeared to be in middle school she had a certain maturity that made one treat her differently.

Elden scratched his head and looked away. “The uhm sprites tore her clothes.”

“Eh? ah, I see.” She felt embarrassed for her sister. A awkward silence filled the area. They just stood there unable to find another topic of conversation.

“I’m gonna go.” “Would you like to?” They both spoke at the same time. They smiled awkwardly

“Ye you can go first.” offered Elden.

He felt awkward with this girl more than when he was with her older sister. It’s not like he had a fear of girls but rather when speaking with an individual it was hard to find a topic of conversation. Yletta usually led the conversation right around this point but when you have 2 people who aren’t great at conversations;awkward moments tend to ensue.

She looked slightly down. “Would you like to take a walk with me?”

I am kinda lost anyways

He thought as he smiled and nodded. “Yeah sure lead the way.”

They walked down the path. Their steps as stilly afternoon in oak woods by a lake. They continued without a word until they reached a small courtyard. In the middle was a fountain. A bit forward away was a gazebo. The lights from the sprites and the starry night lit their late evening walk.

“This is beautiful.” Elden said.

“Thank you.” She blushed.

I’m talking about the garden

He nearly said those words but felt it prudent to withhold his tongue.

“I come here to relax and think.” she said as she sat down on the ledge of the fountain pool.

“I’d imagine it must be exhausting being royalty.”

She released a small simper as she looked at the statue that stood atop the fountain. Elden followed her gaze. The statue was of a young man with short cropped hair holding a claymore with a single arm extended towards the stars. Elden stared at it perplexed. Their was something with this statue; a sense of familiarity.

“This a statue of a hero from before I was even born.” she began to explain.

“A hero from this world?” He asked.

“Huh? ah, um yeah…” she turned away from him.

“He was the perfect Hero from another kingdom.” she turned to look at Elden. “ He was obedient and easy to manipulate. Whatever was asked of him, he accomplished. Truly a modern hero, a shining example of a patriot.”

Elden felt as if she wasn’t speaking about this hero. It was strange. If they had their own heroes then what was the purpose of bringing them here?

“What happened to him?” he asked storing away his questions for another time.

“He was killed by his enemies.” Christina answered

Killed by enemies? Not by demons

Elden felt curious at the princess’ choice of words.

“Well it’s getting late. I should go.” the Princess abruptly stood up

“Ah, I guess you're right.”

“I’ll talk to my father about the food situation with your classmates.”

“eh? oh yeah thanks.”

He remembered his original objective in attending this dinner. He felt very thankful to this girl and admonished himself.

She nodded. “Good night then, Elden.” she walked away

“ Yeah, have a good night.” He looked at her as she left and then turned around to stare at the statue.

How do I get back to my room?