Chapter 69: Haruto (2)

And what was it she said we'd been summoned in? Roerdenville? The Castle? King's Hall? Too many questions flooded my mind, but I held it just fine. I wasn't to panic. It was fairly simple: to breathe in deeply, ever so slowly, and to breathe all the air out, in the same fashion.

I was never a fan of these. Of pranks. A prank could be fun to watch, maybe, but it wasn't so cool to laugh about when you were on the surprised party's team. So, in a way, I feel like this kind of joke is not right. It's wrong. That was even more true when it seemed so huge, real, and traumatic. People shouldn't go about playing these kinds of jokes on just anyone without their consent. The setting was that of a rich and refined European castle. Seen from the inside. We were inside of the castle, in a giant hall, with huge majestic columns in lines propping up a very high, carved-out ceiling where you would find all manners of royal paintings, chandeliers, and expensive golden decorations. To one end of the gigantic hall, there was an elevated throne, with a distant figure staring down at us all. Us all, yes. Not just me, my friend, and the girl who claimed to be a princess, and who also had just summoned 'heroes', but many people.

Forming a close circle around the protective doom, I could count six black-hooded and cloaked people. Frowning and squinting my eyes at one of them… they were obviously human. Right. What was I expecting? They were a human. Not an elf, or any of the usual fantasy-esque races, you know. People like my friends and I, obviously, since it's all just a bad joke.

Forming a circle around the heroes that had been summoned, they extended their hands to us, chanting and mumbling deaf words that I couldn't make out. Boy, that was spooky. Mingled with the unsettling formation—let's not say creepy ritual, but just formation—was the one who had referred to herself as a princess. Roerden's Princess, apparently. Sensing I glared daggers at her, the princess couldn't help but sweat, smile, and back away awkwardly.

Leaving aside Kimon, I, the summoned hero, shuffled to the Princess, and placed a hand on the doom. My hand couldn't reach beyond it. Also, to the touch, it felt warm and relaxing. "W-Whoever you might be, this isn't—"

"I-It shall be fine, Hero! Heh…heh-heh… There there, my boy. I-I'm absolutely not a… person you should be… suspicious of… R-Really!"

"Who are you?!"

Awkwardly producing a piece of crumpled paper, she mumbled that she, too, was nervous despite the fact that she was the third legitimate daughter of the king, a princess, and all. Cursing herself, she said that, even though she'd look like a fool and wouldn't make a proper, good first impression, she would just read her notes out loud, now. The clumsy girl couldn't mess up the eloquent introduction she had prepared for the heroes, after all.

"—I asked you who you are! Look here, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who the heck are you? Do you have any idea of what you're doing?! Th-This could be dangerous!"

"Eek! M-My hero is scolding me…! Aaah, enough! I can't even read my darn handwriting!" tossing her notes away, the princess person stomped her foot and pouted. "…Hear me out, heroes! Heroes from another world, I welcome you to our land and world! Indeed, you are correct! Otherworlders you are! Whatever thought process is going through your heads right now—ignore it! It shall be fine! W-What's more, chosen heroes like yourselves shouldn't panic!" Adorned with the finest robe of silk and gold, she was a most beautiful woman. I could already pin her down as an annoying brat, however. "I-It would be unbecoming of your status! Please, do not panic! You have the honor to have the Roerden Kingdom's support: your situation will be explained to you! And… aaah! Please, do not scold me, Hero! A-Also, you may have fallen silent, but… but please, do withdraw the intense glare at once!"

I ignored her, thinking I had other things to concentrate on. A prank. It may have been a prank. But I had to consider every possibility. Some part of me actually believed it. The palace was quite large, and Kimon finally broke away from his sitting position. The guy stopped staring so intently at his udon bowl, got up, and walked to me. "Haruto. Why don't you relax?"

"I'm relaxed. Totally."

"Dude, we're cool, aren't we?"

"We are. Definitely."

"Right. We are. This is it: our long-awaited romance, action, comedy, adventure, harem little world's opened to us. ...It's come true, man! We're gonna live it!"

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"We will."

"You'll be a side-character... and the great I shall be the protagonist!"

"...Sure."

Nonplussed, I hardly gave more than curt replies. Who wanted a harem anyway? That moron? Or any other moron? Don't make me laugh. Ignoring his speech, I scanned more of our surroundings. The King's Hall was pretty broad.

Going from beneath our feet to the two ends of the hall, the floor was paved with mighty grayish smooth tiles. How much money would these people have invested in their bad joke? The faraway throne, and the sharp not so aged man, leisurely yet rigidly resting on it, breathed of majesty and highness. At the opposite end of the room, two huge wooden doors closed the royal hall. The heroes were in the middle of the empty room. Or was it empty? As I earlier said, many people were present with the heroes. There was so much space to contain the attending people that you could say the hall was empty. Was, after all, a room filled with a handful of ants crowded? Certainly not. That was the image of this large, spacious hall. The same question seized me—how much money was invested in all of this? The King's Hall wasn't any place. Now, I doubted myself. Of course I did. Another world, huh? This was hardly believable, but…

The ants were numerous. The closest to the heroes, there was the group of black-hooded wizards, still chanting whatever spell at us, protecting the heroes with a faint light doom. Behind these summoners, some other layers of people either dubiously stared at us or nonchalantly discussed things among themselves.

"Romance, comedy, action, adventure, harem… and so much more, my Haru! Just loosen up, why don'tcha? Here, have some of my udon. Figured it'd help you relax a little. Hey. Here. Stop ignoring me. Dig in. Ain't a problem if you lost your share. Your boss'll share with you—"

"Quiet." I punched the boy's stomach when he cried "Ouch!" and got back to the matter at hand.

These people were dressed in amusing outfits. Compared to our era and age, they stood out a lot. At present, the heroes were the ones who stood out, however. Here, the medieval dress code was the norm. As these guys seemed to be nobles, their clothes and garbs were more or less all the same. In a few words, refined, neat, yet a little extravagant. A bit classy, too.

Pillars went up from the ground to the ceiling, supporting the beautiful arched structure from below. Neatly arranged and lined up, they were scattered all around the hall. Behind the pillars, up against the high walls, were guards. Lots and lots of them. Armored people cladded in black and iron. Or were those only decorative armors? Cordially decorating the walls in more than one fancy way, many paintings, scriptures, trophies, and stuff hinted to me our situation was maybe more than just a 'prank'. The numerous twinkling little flames and lights, issued from the many candles and chandeliers, accompanied by the eerie doom's white light, shone down on us.

Why so many candles and fires? Come to think of it, now that I got a glimpse of the outside from a large window, it was nighttime. Jeez. We, regular highschoolers, were just heading back home by noon, under the sun, though. How come it's nighttime? An actual prank, on our planet Earth, that involves some kind of teleportation? Was this really a joke? The night sky could be artificial, though... It's unlikely. But anyway, if it were a joke, who in the world would even pay for all that? This place simply didn't lack any of the European castle-like furniture or anything. It seemed legit through and through. When the realization that I had been transported to another world with friends was about to sink in, the so-called princess spoke again.

"Heroes. Please. Know that you have responded to our call. Our Roerden Kingdom's call." The charming lady now had all the solemnity and grace she lacked earlier. "Fear not: as such, you, your protection, and all that is incumbent on it, for the time being, is entirely placed under our care. No harm will befall you. We indeed know that you are from amongst the noblest of people, so please—"

But now, she had dared say that again. She already said it, when we were first teleported to this place, all of a sudden. Now, she said it again, and I really snapped this time. My face reddened with a glare. "No harm will be done to us, dare you say?!—

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