It was the early morning when I was forced out of bed by my mother. Having finished packing last night, I brought my bag with clothes along with my training sword and went towards the village entrance. Sam, Old Ben, and Lizzy were already waiting.

As we walked on the road for a bit Sam had asked Old Ben. "How will we be getting to the capital?"

I was also wondering that. I presumed that we would be travelling by carriage since this world seemed pretty similar to medieval Europe.

"Considering the extremely long distance, we will be using teleportation." Said Old Ben.

"Teleportation? How exactly will we do that?" Sam said.

"I've prepared beforehand. This here is a spatial badge." Old Ben took a small circle from out of his pocket and showed it to us. It wasn't anything too special. Just a blue badge with a cross on it as if representing the Holy Church.

"We will be walking to the nearest teleportation site which is in the city."

Sam and I had been brought to the city once by my father so we had a rough idea where it was. It was only a couple hours walk from the village.

When we reached the city, we went to the nearby branch of the Holy Church and went down the basement. There didn't seem to be any guards or anyone who stopped us for some reason. Upon entering the basement, there was an empty hole on the right side of the wall. Old Ben took out the badge and inserted it into the hole. After a couple seconds, I heard some machinery, similar to gears cranking in the background. The badge popped out onto Old Ben's hand and the wall opened up. In its place was a massive formation on the ground that looked like an occult ritual.

Old Ben went and stood directly in the middle of the formation and said, "come."

The three of us did as he said and gathered in the middle of the formation.

Old Ben chanted something while touching the ground and the formation started to glow.

"Try not to throw up." Said Lizzy.

After a couple more seconds of Old Ben's chanting, the glow from the formation wrapped around us in a dome and blinded my eyes.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a completely different room, specifically a chamber of some sort. Old Ben led us up a couple flights of stairs and judging by how many stairs there were, the main branch of the Holy Church was probably massive. After a while, we had reached the top. Old Ben opened the two doors and brought us to the nave; there was a surprising amount of people there. One of those people was dressed pretty fashionably. He looked to be pretty old with grey hair and wrinkles on his face. Could he be the pope of the Holy Church?

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Old Ben walked towards the man who was currently preaching. He signaled to us to take a seat somewhere.

—30 minutes later—

After half an hour of waiting, the guy finally finished and led us to a private room. Everyone took a seat; I took the one at the far corner of the table.

The man spoke. "Greetings. I am the pope of the Holy Church of the Kingdom of Arts. You may call me Pope John."

Following up, Old Ben introduced us one by one. "This blonde kid here is Sam, the hero we were informed about. The other one is Daniel, his childhood friend. After watching them spar, I have decided to bring them both to the capital."

"Old Ben...as the knight captain of the Holy Church I trust your judgement but do you know what this means? If anything were to happen to this Daniel, you will be held responsible." Said the guy.

"Holy Father, I know very well about my responsibilities. I have seen Daniel's potential with my own eyes. Even if his worth may not amount to that of a hero, he will definitely be able to accomplish great things."

"Very well then. So you are Sam. May I request you to show me your hand."

"Of course Pope John." Sam pulled his sleeve slightly and presented his right hand.

The pope took a cursory glance and turned his gaze over to me. After a couple seconds he turned his attention back to Sam.

"I expect great things from you hero. Do not disappoint humanity."

With that, he let go of his hand and left the room.

Old Ben brought us outside after that confrontation with the pope. When Sam and I turned around to look at the Holy Church, we were astounded. It was an enormous cathedral, if anything, this was akin to a massive palace. Even in my past life, I had never seen anything this grand.

'The world was truly vast.' Was my only thought.

"Let's get some lunch and I'll inform you guys about the academy." Old Ben brought Sam, Lizzy, and I to a rather nice restaurant. Sam had never been in a restaurant before since there weren't any in the village while I had experience from my past life on restaurant etiquette.

Sam and Old Ben had ordered a Horned Boar Steak, Lizzy ordered sponge cake, and I had gotten a Creamy Shrimp Risotto. While I was contemplating on how risotto was a thing here, Old Ben started talking.

"The Entrance Examination for the Magic Knight Academy will start tomorrow. With your capabilities though, there isn't much to worry about. As for living expenses and such, once you move into the dorms, you will be provided a sufficient allowance, food, and housing." Saying that, Old Ben handed the both of us 20 silvers.

"You guys can stay at an inn for now. They cost around 40 coppers a night excluding food."

Now that I think of it, I had never thought too deep about money since my family seemed alright on the economical side. To sum it up: 100 coppers = 1 silver, 100 silvers = 1 gold, 100 gold = 1 platinum. A normal peasant family could live a year of luxury with ten gold coins. My current meal cost roughly 19 coppers.

We stopped talking when the food came. As expected, restaurant food could not compare with home food. It was on a completely different level. Once we finished up the food, Old Ben guided us around the South-East Sector of the capital so we could familiarize ourselves. The Magic Knight Academy and the inn were both in this sector.