"Haah... Haah... Your royal highness, we did it! The summoning went without a hitch!" A lesser demon fox declared proudly to her liege. The beads of sweat that broke out on her brows indicated the strenuous ritual that she and the royal mage council had performed. 

Failure was not an option for them as the entire fate of the principality was resting on them. The situation of the principality had been worsening by the minute, it was running on fumes currently, nearing the verge of collapsing. As subjects of the princess, they had to stand out in times of needs.

Having at their wit's end, they decided to summon a hero to aid them under the Princess’s order. They had thrown caution to the wind, and it was all or nothing now. 

The magic ritual wasn’t exactly forbidden but they would have to pay a hefty price; it would find the most suitable person for the job to save the principality, somewhat similar to a head-hunter company.

They had prepared and sacrificed too much for the hero summoning, thus, it was such a relief for the mages that the summoning was completed successfully.

"Let's hope that the hero is one capable of saving us." Princess Felix muttered under her breath, praying for the citizens in her principality while staring intensely at the summoning circle, waiting for the residual smoke to clear away.

********************************************

'Am I dreaming?' Shao Xuan thought as he rubbed his eyes desperately once he noticed that his surroundings had changed. He couldn't believe his eyes when he realised a group of young ladies had their gaze fixated on him once the encompassing smoke dissipated.

The group of young ladies were hooded in white with exquisite embroidery design sewn on their fabrics made of golden threads, forming a symbol of an eye at the front and the back of their hoods. The only peculiar aspect of the women were their animal ears attached to the top of their heads. 

Just a while earlier, Shao Xuan was just playing some generic Japanese money-grabbing mobile game, and topping up money for the gacha draw in a bid to summon the newly released SSS rank heroine to add to his squad. The little amount of play time on his mobile phone was the sole breather he could afford with his long hours, soul-crushing internship at the local accounting firm he was assigned to by his university.

So, imagine his surprise to find himself surrounded by a group of beautiful and alluring young women so suddenly, staring at him with eyes filled to the brim with curiosities.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

'Is this a prank? They are cosplayers, right?'

Shao Xuan thought to himself as he looked around trying to find the hidden cameras. It was impossible that pretty ladies would be interested in him, let alone so many of them. It would be terrible if his stupid reactions were to be televised on national TV. 

However, he subsequently threw the hypothesis out the window. No matter how good the television crew was, there was no way they could transport him into a room complete with a magnificent looking throne and other expensive ornaments in a blink of an eye.

'T—This is like those kinds of novels, right?' Shao Xuan mumbled while his mind went vacant. As an orphan that lived his whole life in a god-awful orphanage, Shao Xuan had an acute ability of observation skills as that could mean the difference between going hungry or having enough food to barely stay alive.

As such, as unbelievable as the scenario was to the extremely sceptical accountant intern, Shao Xuan was forced to acknowledge the fact that he'd indeed transmigrated to another world.

"O great hero that had hailed from the beyond. I implore you to hear my desperate pleas." Princess Felix walked forward to Shao Xuan, her face looking grim as the distance between them closes.

"Your highness!"

"Your royal highness!"

"Your highness, please stay back! We do not know if he's dangerous or not!" 

Cries from the attendants resounded throughout the throne room. They couldn't afford to allow the princess to suffer any harm to her. If misfortunate was to befall onto their princess, their heads would roll and their bodies would be hung up in the town square the first thing in the morning tomorrow.

"Silence!" Felix shouted at a deafening volume before apologising to her faithful retainers. "Please… let me do this… he is our last hope."

Under the blank stare of Shao Xuan, the princess approached him gradually before cupping his hands into hers. 

"O hero, I am princess Felix of the demon race. I know it's boisterous of me to ask this of you, but I beg of you! Please save this town from self-destruction!" 

The young princess choked with teary eyes. She was wearing a pinkish white lace dress with a big red ribbon tied around her just below her breasts. Her innocent and adorable look coupled with her long brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders could make anyone infuriated with her.

"The people of this land are suffering greatly! The conflicts between the demons and humans have escalated past the breaking point. Every day, there are deaths and looting. The royal guards have their hands full with them as well. Please… will you help us? As long as you're able to solve the conflict, I’ll grant you anything that you desire." The adolescent princess begged earnestly Shao Xuan whilst holding his hands.

"I don't wanna." replied Shao Xuan. An accountant is always prudent in nature; hence, he rejected her offer as he had no obligation to help, not when he had absolutely no information on the current situation.

What if she asks him to sacrifice himself for the greater good? As an orphan that had seen his fair share of humanity's cruelty and heartlessness, he had always believed in the phrase - 'it's a dog eat dog society'.

"Why?" Perplexed, the princess blurted out. She'd envisioned their meeting before the summoning. She rehearsed multiple times on what to say to the hero, purposely choosing the throne room to conduct the summoning, where she and her subordinates could present their best sides to him.

‘Just exactly what kind of world did the hero originate from? Isn’t a hero supposed to save a princess? Why aren't you following the script? Hey!’

Despite having mentally berating the hero internally several times, Felix did not show any kind of emotion on her face. Maintaining her calm, she tried to engage with Shao Xuan who was blanking out, but her tense and fake looking smile seems to have betrayed her inner thoughts. 

Before she could attempt to persuade Shao Xuan, the door to the throne room slammed opened.

"Princess Felix! How dare you!"