Hey guys. This is only the third chapter and I already realised that I totally suck at describing things.

It's incredibly hard to find the right words sometimes. I hope you can forgive me for that.

Anyways, here's the third chapter!

Please do point out any mistakes you find! I will try to fix them, if possible.

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Shortly after our conversation, we arrived at yet another double door. Only this time it was about 3 meters high. On each side of the door stood a guard in a shining metal armor.

The old mage gave one of the guards a nod. The guard saluted and went through a small door he hid behind his body.

“We have arrived. Behind this door is the throne room,” the old mage said as he turned to us.

“Let me tell you something first. You are only allowed to speak when the king permits you to.

Moreover, you are to address him as 'Your Majesty' and nothing else.

Has everybody understood?”

A few people were nodding.

“Very well. When the guard comes back, we will enter. Just follow my instructions.”

A few moments later the guard appeared again.

“You may enter.”

He and his colleague opened the big door and we entered the throne room.

It was a spacious hall with huge and colorful windows on each side. The ceiling was supported by two rows of pillars, which stood along the two sides of the room. A broad red carpet was laid out from the entrance to the throne. Knights were lined along the carpet and presenting their weapons.

I gulped. There was at least about twenty of them on each side. We should probably behave ourselves.

The old mage lead us before the king, who was sitting on the throne and watching us with expectant eyes. Six men in expensive-looking clothing, probably his ministers or something, were with him.

“Kneel before the king!” the old mage exclaimed, before he knelt down himself.

I exchanged looks with my new friends. Lily made a grumpy face but we went on our knees.

“Arndet.”

The king raised his voice. It was a deep and powerful voice. You could literally hear his authority.

“I assume the summoning was a success?”

“Yes, my king. As you can see, these young people here are the heroes.”

So the mage's name was Arndet, huh? Didn't sound like any name I would know.

A smile spread across the face of the king.

“Splendid! You and your mages have done well. I will take it from here. You may go.”

The mage named Arndet bowed deeply and then retreated to the side.

“Heroes!” Now the king was looking to us.

“Once again let me welcome you to the Kingdom of Asgare!

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My name is Ludwig von Asgare and as you can see, I am the king.

I am sure Arndet already told you about our situation, so I will not bother you with that anymore.

As you know, we want you to subjugate the demon lord. However, as you are now, the chances of you defeating him are slim.

That is why I want you to gather experience and knowledge for now. You will be staying here at the castle for about a month and train.

Once you have grown stronger, you will be able to set out and gather allies to fight along your side and finally be able to challenge the demon lord himself.”

It was the typical speech of a king you'd find in any RPG or RPG-related novel.

He even offered us to stay here and train before starting our adventure.

But something was bugging. It made perfect sense what he said. We didn't have any fighting experience and just going like this would be suicide.

But why did I have this strange feeling? Like it was some kind of routine business?

I mean, I have read hundreds of novels, so I was used to this scenario. But it even seemed as if the schedule was already planned out. Were they that confident that everything would work as planned?

Could it be…?

I raised my hand.

“Yes, do you have a question?”

The room got quiet. Everybody's attention was focused on me.

I gulped.

“Um, I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I was wondering.

Did you- I mean, have you, by any chance, already performed a summoning before?”

The king gave me a mildly surprised look.

“We have indeed performed a summoning before. In fact, you are the third generation of heroes we have summoned. But how did you know?”

“Oh, it was just… a hunch?”

“I see. That brings me to another topic.”

The king seemed to be remembering something else.

“Over the course of the last three hundred years our mages have managed to make remarkable progress in our knowledge of magic. Quite a few of your predecessors have also introduced us to what your world would call 'science'.

That is why we are now able to create gates to other worlds at will. If you wish, we can help you send a message back to your world so that your relatives will not unnecessarily worry. It still costs a lot of mana, so we will not be able to do that often.”

They could even do that?

“But for now, if there are no further questions, my servants will lead you to your rooms.

I expect great results from everyone.”

With that, we were led to our rooms. Our training would begin the next day.