Chapter 4: 3 – The Beginning

I wake up quite early. Due to the constant nightmares, I feel like shit. Seems like I barely slept tonight. This weird white light gives me an ominous and bad feeling, even though I know those were just nightmares. Nothing unusual in the long term. Might be related to something from my past. Even though I try to justify them with that, I can’t shake off all the uneasiness surrounding me.

With a grumpy face, I force myself out of the bed while yawning widely. I pick up my phone from the cupboard near the bed to check the time. It’s half past six, at least two hours before my first alarm sets off.

「Looks like it’s gonna be a great day…」

I sluggishly move to the kitchen to prepare something for breakfast and to brew a coffee. You gotta keep the healthy diet going. After finishing preparing and eating, I do the dishes and stroll to my PC room.

I boot my baby up and start the usual morning routine of checking the news and social media. Doesn’t look like much happened last night. Although, I see that there was a full moon yesterday.

「I’ve always had hard nights during the full moon. I really should check the phases more often.」

I spend most of my free time checking game releases lists for the current month and then browsing through some art channels I tend to follow. Marvelling over beautiful artwork of cute anime beastgirls is a sure way to help fix the mood.

「Oh. Looks like Shino finished another project. Let’s see… Nice! A wolfkin priestess! Wait… doesn’t she look kinda like her but with animal ears and tail? Goddammit… Now I can’t unsee it…」

I open the comment section, and as per usual, I leave my words of admiration as an quite anonymous fan.

“Your art is top tier as usual! The outfit looks great on her and I love how it accentuates the perfectly shaped body. You never fail to amaze me with your pose designs Miko-sensei! I bet some cosplayer will pick it up someday like with your previous samurai art!”

With that, I also hit the highest priced paid option to distinguish my comment, because why fucking not if I can. You gotta show your support to the artist. Even if that artist is most likely a hundred times richer than you.

After a few hours of a good time, I prepare to leave for the class. Turning off all the stuff, I get to my car and drive to the school building without an issue. Arriving earlier than usual, I still have half an hour left before I have to prepare the classroom. I randomly stumble on my colleague, Mr Frederic, and we begin chatting about our recent experiences with students.

When the time comes, I proceed to my usual classroom and start prepping everything around. This weird feeling from the morning still keeps bothering me, but it’s not like I can do anything about it.

Paul arrives in the classroom first. Similar to me, he likes to show up shortly before the designated time, in case of unforeseen circumstances. Slowly, everyone starts to gather, and in twenty minutes, we start today’s topic.

Few hours pass and we are moving at a decent pace. Guess I’m worrying my ass over nothing. It’s not like some random cataclysm is going to suddenly happen.

While checking some of my notes, I hear Kamil’s bewildered voice.

“What the fuck is this?! They installed neons on our floor now?”

Confused, I stand up and question him. “What are you talking about? There were no changes overnight. And I definitely didn’t notice anything when I came here.”

I step down from the platform where my desk is located and move to the back row. When my gaze falls on the floor under his desk, I notice some weird, geometrical patterns shining with white light, arranged in what seems like part of a path.

“What the...” I involuntarily let out a gasp.

Everyone gets up and rushes to our position to check the scene. Marcia is the first to comment on the weird phenomenon.

“Cool. Can we switch colours? Having disco lights would be lit!”

“The fuck are you talking about? What next? Make it shine like a fucking rainbow? Miss me with that gay shit!”

“Oh, come on Kamil, I’m just saying that with some smoke and this, we could have our own small dancefloor!”

While they bicker amongst each other, I can’t stop staring at the light and getting flashbacks from the previous night. 

“Ummmm… Sensei? I know it might sound weird, but… isn’t this thing… growing?”

Shino’s quiet voice brings me back from my stupor. I lean over Kamil’s desk to see where she is pointing at. The patterns that were supposedly located under the boy’s desk, continue even in front of it, and I can swear there were none when I was walking up here. Right now, these eerie symbols have already reached the length of a quarter of a circle and are increasing while we look at them. Suddenly, an image of a circle that I’ve seen countless times in many works of fiction flashes through my mind.

「No, no, no, no... There’s no way this is....」

“Shino is right. Look. It’s even speeding up. It looks like… half a circle now? Teacher, is this some kind of a test or puzzle?” Paul joins the conversation.

With a hand on his chin, he assumes a pose as if deeply thinking about something or trying to figure out some hints. Meanwhile, my uneasiness grows to insane levels. My whole body starts sweating profusely.

「I’m not taking any chances! I don’t fucking care if it’s real or some shitty prank!」

Without any warning, I jump over Kamil’s desk and land between the two rows. Immediately, I turn to the gathered students and start shouting. I can only imagine the panic in my eyes.

“EVERYONE OUT! NOW!”

They all look at me startled and confused. For a split second, I lock my gaze with Shino’s. Seeing my emotional face, her eyes widen. She glances at the patterns, which are almost reaching three-fourths of a circle, then back to me, then again at the symbols, and finally returns to me, with realization written all over her face.

“NO TIME! JUST FUCKING RUN!”

There’s no more time to waste. I grab the hand of the closest person to me, which is Natalie, and frantically start running with her in tow. I take a quick glance back. Knocking down all the things along her way and stumbling, Shino tries to dash to the door. Paul, with all his fanaticism with the military's way of not questioning the superiors, starts rolling over the desks and almost catches up with us. The other two stand together, looking at each other totally bewildered.

「Fuck! At least I’ll save thre—」

*THUMP*

“Ugh?!”

Unexpectedly, I hit an invisible wall and bounce back, bumping into Natalie, who powerfully slams into me. While falling, I notice similar symbols in the air, at the height where my head supposedly was. Shino worriedly stutters over to us to help Natalie stand up. Paul also reaches the invisible wall and is now knocking his fists at it, which results in quick flashes of white light at the points of impact.

I roll over and focus my sight on the other end of the classroom. The markings reach a full circle and a blinding, white gleam fills the whole place. I cover my eyes with my left hand and pray in my heart for this to be some weird-ass prank, or better, one of the nightmares.

※ ※ ※

After an unrecognizable amount of time in a blindingly white space, I begin feeling my weight again. The light slowly subsides and I find myself on my knees, facing the ground. With my vision still hazy and not accustomed to the room we are in, I try to peek around to check if the others are here too. And fortunately, I’m able to spot everyone to my right.

Paul is slowly rising up to his knees from lying flat on the ground on his stomach. Just behind him, Natalie and Shino are sitting close to each other and still covering their eyes from the disappearing whiteness. At the very back of the whole group, Kamil lies on his back with Marcia on top of him. Both groaning loudly from the discomfort.

「Good. At least everyone seems fine. Now, what the hell was that and where the fuck are we?」

With the safety of others confirmed, I bring myself up to a sitting position and glance at the surroundings. Firstly, we are located in a quite spacious hall, built out of white and greyish minerals, with rows of pillars on both our sides. And that’s not the only thing surrounding us from left and right. Standing approximately two or three meters further from the centre are two rows of soldiers, or rather knights, gazing intently our way.

They wear a combination of grey padded leather pants and dark blue chest armours, reinforced with silvery chainmail or plates of metal, and they all don longswords. Now that I noticed, we are sitting on a long carpet of the same blue colour with silvery flower patterns. I follow it with my eyes and end up locking gazes with a young man—if I had to guess somewhere mid-twenties or thirties—dressed in pompous robes of the same style as everything around, and with a slim, silver crown on top of his shoulder-length blond hair, sitting on what most likely is a throne.

At his sides are two other people. On his right, a woman clad in less eye-catching, purplish robes, with a long metallic staff in her right hand. She appears to also be on the younger side, although wearing rectangular glasses and having her hazelnut hair combed to the back of the head ending in a bun, raises a slight aura of maturity around her. 

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On his left, to my surprise, another young lad. With very long white hair and robes of the same colour, giving priestly vibes. He also holds a staff but his is much more detailed and decorated with various gems.

「Well, this doesn’t look like a staged prank to me. It feels kinda surreal, but all the evidence points out that we got—」

“Greetings Otherworlders!”

The man in the middle stands up and announces in a sound and confident tone. He glances at each of us for a moment, seemingly judging our reactions to his words. Everyone is still too dazed and confused with the unexpected change to fully grasp their meaning. Well, perhaps everyone but me.

「Great. I hate being right in situations like these. What’s next. Is he gonna tell us we are some godsend heroes to vanquish a rogue Demon Lord terrorizing the Human race?」

“My name is Rossberg Ruminas and I’m the current King of the Human kingdom Evalitia. I’m aware of the fact that you still might be experiencing the aftereffects of your transmigration, but I would be really pleased to know if you can understand the words I am speaking to you.”

I get all that he is saying, and looking at others, I guess they do too. I glance over all of their faces to figure out what they are thinking. Kamil and Marcia still seem to be catching up on what is happening. Paul is nervously eyeing the knights around us with an uneasy and confused expression. Natalie and Shino have huddled closer together, and while the former frantically looks around, the latter keeps staring curiously at the King.

He turns to the man on his left and speaks again. “Is it possible that something didn’t go right? Did they not receive the blessing?”

“I have no idea, Your Majesty.”

「This will lead to nowhere and their patience is most likely not endless. Well then. I just really hope he’s not the one from all those revenge stories. Let’s try it the polite way.」

Without any sudden movements, I rise to my feet. Confirming that the trio in front of us has noticed it, I slowly walk in front of Paul, so that everyone is behind me. Taking the last glance over my shoulder, I then steel my resolve and kneel on my right knee, slightly bowing my head and beginning to speak.

“Your Majesty. I humbly request permission to speak as the representative of the group behind me.”

“Oho? That’s unexpected. Rise. What is your name and why do you wish to do so?”

“My name is Alastair Carter and that’s for a few reasons, Your Majesty. Firstly, the people behind me are my students and I am their mentor, thus naturally I’m obliged to protect their wellbeing and interests. Secondly, I’m not sure about this place, but considering our homeworld laws, at least two of them are still not fully considered adults and it’s my responsibility to represent them in any interaction with governmental bodies, such as this kingdom. And finally, it seems that I’m the one most familiar with the situation we are in right now.”

“Interesting. I assume there are no language issues then and the System works correctly. I’ll acknowledge you as the representative for now. You seem pretty knowledgeable about the royal etiquette.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I’ve studied various handy manuscripts. Then, I’d like to confirm our situation. Am I right to assume that we are no longer on Earth, but in another realm, and the weird, glowing symbols were part of something akin to a summoning spell cast by either one of your aides?”

“You are quite a perceptive one, and yes, this is no longer the world you’ve called Earth, but one called Naharren. Although you are right about the summoning, we are not exactly the ones who called you here.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see, while the Archpriest on my left has functioned as a medium and a pillar upholding the connection between the worlds, the summoning came from the Goddess watching over our realm herself. We received a revelation about valiant Heroes coming to our aid, alongside instructions on how and when to prepare ourselves for it. Our world is facing a crisis right now and this was the only way she could have lent us a hand after she intervened a bit too much in the past…”

「And now we are adding an almighty goddess who can’t overstep her boundaries to the basket... Perfect...」

I take a deep breath and quickly check on the others. While we were talking, they must have stood up, because they are now gathered behind me. It’s time to get to the most important part.

“Since you were able to summon us from another world, I guess you also have prepared a way for us to get back, am I right?”

The King and his attendants look at each other and do not answer for a few moments. The aforementioned priest joins the conversation.

“We believe that after everything is resolved, we’ll somehow receive anothe—”

My brows twitch at his words and I reply in a slightly raised voice, making all the knights flinch nervously.

“You believe?! So what you are saying is that you’ve forcefully kidnapped random people from another realm, with some of them basically being kids, to fight in what I assume is some kind of war, your war, without even securing a way back for them?”

I slam my forehead with a loud sigh escaping my mouth. I decide to ignore this conversation, for better or worse, and turn around to face my students. Rubbing my temples, I begin speaking.

“I deem all of you smart enough to have already realized what we have gotten ourselves into, just from this previous conversation, even though not everyone has been an avid reader of any kind of fantasy stories. Anything to clear up?”

I glance at each one of them. Everyone shakes their heads. Even Kamil follows suit, although he’s certainly getting a more lively look in his eyes.

“Great. I might have spoken on your behalf, but what do you think about all this?”

To my surprise, it is Natalie who answers first.

“Well… It’s not like we have any other alternatives besides at least listening to the whole thing now.”

“Natalie-san is right, there’s not much to do. And besides, at least Sensei is here, so everything will be fine somehow,” Shino chimes in.

“I don’t know if I should feel happy or worried that you place so much trust in me. I’m just one guy in the end.”

Paul and Marcia just shrug. There’s not much more to add here.

“And besides! Didn’t you hear what they said? We are basically heroes! Hey! Are we super powerful or get some dope abilities?”

Kamil excitedly joins and then leans over me, throwing his question towards the King. Fortunately, it seems like he’s one of those who don’t really mind. Or he just places us pretty high and is forgiving a lot.

“Naturally. It would be pointless if people summoned were to be weak. You all have been chosen by the Goddess and your potential reaches unimaginable heights. Although… you won’t be able to manifest all this power right at this moment. But! Let’s not waste any more time here! We shall speak in a more comfortable environment, more suited for friendly conversations. Follow Cornelia, my Court Magician, to the prepared room and refresh yourselves a bit. I will join you in a moment and begin the explanation.”

He then gestures to the woman who was standing on his right and watching the whole show quietly. She bows lightly, nods her head towards us, and starts slowly heading into one of the corridors, leading out of what I assume is an audience or throne room. I check if everyone is on board and we enter the corridor behind her. Feeling less pressured, they start discussing this whole ordeal amongst themselves, in their usual groups. Paul with Kamil and Marcia while Natalie with Shino. Those are not set in stone since Paul pretty much interacted with anyone who spoke first in the past, but the other duos got close together pretty quickly in the class.

I catch up to the woman and can’t help but notice a fragrant tinge of lavender in the air around her. It further adds to her charm. I don’t know why, but I feel like this smell matches her perfectly, alongside the flower itself. Although I don’t recall what exactly was the symbolism behind it, just that it definitely fits. Now I wonder if they have the same flowers here, with the same meaning. It wouldn’t be unexpected if they are named differently due to cultural differences, right?

After a few minutes of walking, we reach a chamber with decorated double doors. We are led inside and find a beautifully furnished, spacious room with an open balcony on the opposite side to the entrance. There is lots of furniture you’d expect to find in a medieval fantasy world.

In the middle, a low table is placed and filled with various snacks and drinks, mostly fruits and pastries. Around it, there are two large sofas and one beautifully crafted chair, undoubtedly belonging to the King. Sounds of gasping and amazement accompany us as we move further inside.

“This small treat was prepared for you, so don’t worry about anything and pick whatever you like. You might feel like you haven’t eaten in ages after you arrived here.”

As expected, her soft and calm voice feels reassuring. They instantly sit down and start stuffing themselves with food. I just pick an apple and move to the balcony. 

「Let’s see this Naharren and the Human Kingdom. I have a feeling we’ll be staying here for a while.」

Saileri

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