The highlander was carried away in a stretcher.

Onlookers peered over at his unconscious body, still unsure if he had actually lost, or if the fight was somehow staged. His beastman friend was at the forefront of these people, following the Guild’s medical staff as they disappeared upstairs to the second floor, where the infirmary was located. Shortly after, Claire funneled the rest of the crowd out of the Guild’s double doors, red-faced and short-fused. It seemed that she was done dealing with crowds.

"We are not having another incident like this! For special event purposes, the Guild is now CLOSED!"

And with a heavy slam of its oaken door, the Guild was no longer open to the masses.

…

Except for me.

I was pulled aside, now sitting on a wooden bench perpendicular to the counter wall. Hunched over, chin in hand, I waited for Claire to show me where the hero was.

I took yet another quick scan around the room, still looking for anyone that might look the part. I had done this a few times already, but it was an effort much akin to checking your food stores a few times within the hour. Nothing new was going to turn up.

Nobody was here except for the bartender, a few cleaning staff, and the girl in the sundress.

The girl was still sitting in her little wooden chair, but had moved places, now occupying a spot next to Claire’s counter. Once again, she was staring off into space. It seemed like she was completely over the novelty of my fight, as she didn't care to spare me a second glance.

After a few more agonizing minutes of awkward silence, Claire brightened, finally done sifting through her papers and helping staff to clean up the Guild.

"Ok, finally," she said, wiping some sweat from her brow. "Now we can get down to business. Sorry Sun, you must’ve been pretty confused."

I answered her honestly.

"I was, yeah. But I get it now, so no worries."

I raised my head from my chin, swiveling it back and forth one more time for good measure.

"So where are they? There’s no way they’re still at the church’s summoning circle, right? The hero, I mean."

Claire’s formerly brightened expression immediately melted like butter on a pan. She looked at the girl next to her, then at me, then back at the girl. Her frown set in more deep with each turn of the neck.

"Seriously?" Claire coughed.

"No no, she’s right here! She is the hero! The new hope of our world, the savior of Prithvi and its fair people, Hana of the Southern Californias!"

She gestured at the near-lifeless girl next to her. The girl didn’t move, almost showing no indication that she had been addressed at all. Her eyes were slightly tinged with annoyance, betraying her stoic demeanor.

My eyes widened in disbelief. I looked her over carefully, searching for any signs of the powerful warrior that I had imagined. But there was nothing in her appearance that suggested she was anything out of the ordinary. She wore simple clothing and carried no weapons, wearing sandals clearly cobbled from Alicia’s Footwear down the road. The sandals weren't even hers, they were just spares that Claire had lent her moments ago.

I couldn't help but wonder if something had gone wrong in the summoning process. In the history books, the heroes were always depicted as armored warriors with shining swords, ready to fight foes of titanic power and legendary repertoire. But this girl looked nothing like that. In fact, she looked like a ghost.

Had the Church made a mistake? Well, I might not trust them in particular, but Claire was hardly ever wrong about anything. I don’t think she would introduce me to a ‘hero’ if they weren’t the genuine article, so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Well, you certainly don’t look the part," I start. "But I’d be hard pressed to convince myself that Claire was lying. It’s a pleasure to be your guide, hero Hana."

Hearing those words, Hana’s shoulders drooped a little.

"Yeah, whatever," she said weakly, her gaze falling to the floor. "It’s like you said. I’m no hero."

…

I bit my lip.

Damn, I actually am really stupid, aren’t I? Who starts a conversation like that? C’mon, Sun.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Scratching the back of my head, I let out a nervous laugh, trying to remedy the situation.

"No, I’m sure you’ll do just fine. I’m looking forward to working with you."

I reach out my hand, hoping for some form of reconciliation with the girl. A good amount of guilt had gripped me, so I earnestly hoped she would take my apology.

To my dismay, but not my surprise, she didn’t reciprocate, leaving my hand extended for an uncomfortable amount of time.

I let my arm fall back to my side.

Claire, who could not bear to watch this any longer, spoke up.

"Okay! Now that we’re all acquainted, go on out there and learn some stuff! Sun, I chose you to escort her because… you were a good scapegoat in the moment."

I frowned. Claire responded with the most fake ‘innocent smile’ I’d ever seen.

"But other than that, I trust you the most not to scare her. Just show her around town and we’re good! That's all the church asked us to do this time around. Easy peasy."

Trailing the last few words in her sentence, Claire brought her face closer to mine.

"You got this, right?" she said, pushing the words through her teeth, pressuring me with as much of her manic aura as she could.

"Yeah, of course! Anything for you, ma’am!" I said half-sarcastically. Claire backed away with this answer, still not entirely pleased.

"Alright... then you guys better get going. There's a lot to see in the next… ten or so hours. The church wants her back tomorrow at dawn, so you have the full day to get her acquainted with Alonzia, then your assignment will be done. This work will be unpaid, your reward is getting to meet the hero."

She clapped her hands together, giving a sense of finality to the conversation.

"Alright, chop chop! Get to it! The Demon King won’t be banishing himself!"

----------------------------------------

I showed Hana around Alonzia as quickly as I could, which is to say that it was a decently slow process. Hana’s legs didn’t move very fast, her feet dragging at every other step.

Her enthusiasm was already low, but now that she had to exert physical effort, it seemed to have gotten a lot worse. I hoped that once she saw some of the nicer places in our small town, she would brighten up a bit.

So I decided we'd visit the town center, the market, the blacksmith, the alchemist’s, ye olde magicke shop, and the church.

I was actually excited to see the church, since the holy building had undergone renovations about a week ago and I still hadn’t checked it out. I thought it might be a good idea to take a detour and look it over, even if the hero had obviously already seen it. They finished construction pretty quick, assumedly for the express purpose of preparing the summoning.

"There’s no way that moldy old box has gotten that much nicer, right?" I said to myself, since addressing Hana would probably not result in an answer anyway.

The church used to be pretty run-down, not necessarily due to negligence, but rather because it had gone without a makeover since the last hero’s summoning about two hundred years ago. It may have been well-maintained, but nothing stopped the hands of time, so the church supposedly gets renovations every couple centuries.

Not that I was there for it.

It was documented that the church had been erected thousands of years ago for the intent of summoning the first hero, as the area around here was rich in mana and remote in location. The mana being helpful was an obvious boon, but the obscurity of the area really helped with keeping it hidden from the Demon King's forces. The town of Alonzia was said to have actually been built around the church only a century ago.

Now, it looked like the building was a brand new construction. In comparison to its previous iteration, it was absolutely massive.

As we approached the towering stone structure, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. The church, with its intricate carvings and soaring spires, seemed to rise up to meet the heavens. Its previously barren and clifflike walls were now adorned with dozens of stone gargoyles. The air was thick with the scent of burning incense.

Stepping through the gigantic wooden doors, we were greeted by a cavernous space that seemed to stretch on forever. Shafts of light filtered in through stained glass windows, casting a rainbow of colors across the marble floor. The walls were lined with tapestries, depicting scenes from ancient religious texts and stories of saints and heroes of past ages.

The altar stood at the far end of the church, bathed in the warm glow of dozens of flickering candles. A group of priests gathered around it, deep in prayer, their voices a soothing hum that filled the space with a sense of peace. They nodded at us, cleaning up the chalk from the summoning circle of the previous day.

A few of them peered at Hana, seeming a little… afraid. Their gazes flicked to and away from her, like fingers to a hot stove.

I wrote the thought off immediately, as it was probably just my imagination. If anything, they were probably just showing a bit of reverence.

Down the aisle, I noticed small alcoves set into the walls, each containing a candle and a statue of a hero with their name etched into its base. I couldn’t help but feel as though we were surrounded by a host of heavenly protectors.

In a way, I was already acquainted with one. I glanced over at Hana, my thoughts drifting to her.

Yawning, the hero did not speak a word. Her eyes had glazed over in disinterest, giving even the most sugared of pastries a run for their money. In the face of the most beautiful building in town, she looked like she had just been made to watch paint dry.

I frowned. Next area.

We visited the tailor’s, the residential district, the farmlands, and the outer walls too.

None of these places elicited a reaction from the hero, and honestly, I began to grow a bit worried.

To quote the stories of olden heroes once again, ‘even the slightest change in their social norm would send the hero’s eyes into a sparkle.’ There were many documented reactions of heroes crying tears of joy upon strolling through their first town. To the people of our world, it seemed as though they had been waiting their whole life to be summoned here. Yet, there was no sign that anything of the sort was the case with this disinterested girl.

Frankly, I was running out of ideas to incite her interest. The only place left that I could think of was the local tea and coffee parlor that I loved to frequent; and I couldn’t imagine the hero going crazy over some warm drinks. Even the thought of it seemed bizarre. But it was the only thing I had left to show her, and it was a personal happy place for myself, so against my better judgment, I decided to lead her there.

"It’s worth a shot."