A room was brightened by the light seeping through the white curtain swaying slightly by the soft wind. The strong light coming from the window of this room indicates the current time was noon. Even though weakened, the brightness was enough to bring out the colours of the objects in this room.
There were many bookshelves but there weren’t many books in them, instead some of the bookshelves are filled with objects of various forms. The books that were supposed to be in the shelves were in stacks on a large table while some stranded ones were lying all over the room. Along with the books on the floor, there were pieces of paper with drawings on them and many other objects like tools and materials littered around the room. One wouldn’t think that this messy room is one of the royal chambers of the human kingdom, Yuvian.
“...”
Surrounded by the mess a small girl laid her head, wrapped around her arms, on top of the table. Her name is Nia, the fourth princess of Yuvian, and the light blue colour of her shoulder length hair shows the trait of her being a direct descendant of the King of this kingdom.
*Kon kon kon*
“...Mn?”
Slowly awakened by the soft knocks on the door, Nia stares blankly at the small device in front of her trying to grasp the current situation she’s in. She recalled the device she made was used as a substitute for a candle and it was used while she was doing her research.
Looks like the magic orb was depleted while I was asleep...
Nia slowly stretched her arms out as she yawned and turned her view to the window. She narrowed her eyes at the curtain and sighed after grasping the time of the day. She was prepared to do an all-nighter again last night but didn’t think that she would accidently fell asleep until noon. She scratched her head to clear the hazy feeling she has and she looked around the room lazily until another set of soft knocks came from the door again.
“Mn... Ah! You may enter, Ul.”
The door immediately opens at Nia’s response and a black haired man in black suit enters the room along with a tea set on a trolley.
“Good afternoon, Your Highness.”
The man lowered his head with his right hand, in white glove, placed on the left side of his chest.
The man was called Ul and he was the only person serving Nia as a butler. This is the reason why Nia immediately knew who was behind the door as he was the only person who would knock on it.
“I hope you had an enjoyable dream last night.”
It has always been a mystery among the servants about how this monocle man was able to see through his squinty eyes. But it was a normal thing to Nia as it’s something she’s gotten used to.
“Dream, huh... Nope, I can’t recall it...”
Nia placed her palm in front of her face and shook her head slowly.
Ul smiled upon the sight and gently poured a cup of tea for Nia. The fragrance of the tea put a smile of satisfaction on Nia’s face and she took a sip before she placed the cup on the table.
“Well, more importantly, I have managed to complete it.”
She gave a glance, with a satisfying look, at the circular object on the table.
“Your Highness... Don’t tell me...”
“Yep, the development of the Hero Summoning Device was a success!”
“Congratulation, Your Highness. No, more like, as expected of Your Highness.”
“Of course! You are talking to the person who could turn anything into great development!”
Nia emphasised her words by puffing up her chest.
“Huhuhu, even though it seems to be something that’s still underdeveloped.”
“Ahn, did you say something?”
“No, I didn’t say anything.”
Having noticed the displeased expression Nia made, Ul tries to change the topic.
“But isn’t it great that Your Highness will be able to summon a Hero?”
“Ah, of course! With my perfect calculations and skills this device will successfully summon a Hero... ...maybe...”
“How wonderful.”
Ul nodded in delight but after giving some thoughts about Nia’s words a confused expression was shown on his face.
“But did I perhaps hear something contradicting to your words?”
“It’s just your imagination...”
“Huhuhu, that’s very unthinkable. As a professional butler, I cannot miss any words Your Highness has said so that last part-”
“Like~ I~ said~, it’s just your imagination.”
“Of course, just as Your Highness has said, it’s definitely my imagination.”
Ul corrected himself the moment he saw the most beautiful smile yet made by Nia... or rather the dark aura emitted behind her.
“Haa... Thanks to you I’m quite exhausted now, even though I’ve just woken up.”
Nia sighed as she picked up the cup and took a sip of the tea.
Even though she may have said that but the tea was able to bring a smile across her face. Seeing that gave Ul a feeling of satisfaction and he did a slight bow before responding to Nia’s statement.
“There’s no need to thank me, besides I’m only doing my job as Your Highness’ butler.”
“No, I’m not exactly thanking you for that.”
“Hm, you are not?”
“Of course not. Why would I thank someone who’s causing trouble for me?”
“How complicated...”
“*Ahem* Anyway, the key component to summon the Hero is done but what about the other preparations?”
Scared that their conversation will go off tangent again, Nia decided to bring the main topic up and the reason for the circular device she made.
The Summoning of the Hero.
In the history of Yuvian, only the direct descendants of the King can perform the ritual to summon the Hero and the said ritual can only be done once in their lifetime after reaching adulthood. Nia’s elder sisters have already summoned their Heroes which makes her the last of the royal family to be without one.
Nia has reached 14 this year and is qualified to summon her own Hero.
But before a Hero can be summoned, preparations for the ritual must first be made and the said preparations were handled by Ul.
When questioned by Nia about the matter, Ul smiled and slightly bowed before answering her.
“As of now, the palace is ready for Your Highness to perform the ritual. And because the preparations were easily done so this allowed me to pour more effort into additional preparations such as this.”
Ul, with a satisfied look, neatly pulled out 2 objects.
“That’s good to hear, as expect of my personal butl- PFFT!”
When Nia was about to praise Ul while taking a sip of her tea, she suddenly spat them all over Ul when she saw the 2 objects in his hands.
Nia didn’t bother asking about why he thanked her but instead she was more concerned about the objects.
“J-J-J-Just why would you bring those out?”
“It’s not those, they are undergarments.”
“No, I can totally s-s-see that! I’m asking why would you put your effort on worthless things like un-un-underGarments!”
“They are not worthless; I prepared these so Your Highness will use it to make a move on the Hero tonight and held his heart captive.”
“You mean...”
Ul smiled the moment he noticed Nia taking interest in the topic.
“Yes, Your Highness will make him yours tonight.”
Even though I have no proof but I have a gut feeling that it’s going to be a he, Ul thought.
“To-To-Tonight?! I-I don’t think my h-h-heart is ready for this sort of thi-thing...”
“The early succubus gets a man, Your Highness. I’ve even chose black so it will make Your Highness feel more mature and enhance your appeal as a woman.”
“B-Black... *Gulp* ...That’s so bold...”
“Huhuhu, with this no man will be able to direct their eyes off Your Highness!”
Hearing that, Nia’s face begins to flush red.
“I-I-I see! Then I...”
“Furthermore, to fit your chest perfectly I chose size A-”
“I don’t need it.”
“Eh?! Wait, Your Highness. What happened?! What made you changed your mind?”
“Changed my mind? Heh, there’s no ways I would need something like undergarments.”
Until a moment ago, Ul was able to catch Nia’s interest in seducing the Hero-to-be-summoned but he was confused at the sudden change in her heart.
Clearly Nia is in a bad mood and after giving some thought Ul was able to come up with a conclusion.
“Your Highness, don’t tell me that...”
“Hm, what’s gotten into you?”
Nia didn’t know what to do when Ul suddenly grabbed onto her shoulders and showed her a surprised face.
“Your Highness wanted a size B!”
“Just how did you even come up with that conclusion?! And why are you so surprised about it?!”
Ul took a step back and regain his majestic composure as a butler.
He placed his hand below chin and a grin formed on his face.
“Huhuhu, ‘why’ you ask...”
His eyes suddenly opened up as he declares...
“Because until yesterday Your Highness’ size was still A so there’s no ways it could become B today!”
“That’s definitely the worst line to say even with that serious face! And wait, how do you even know about my size?!”
“I’m a butler, that’s why.”
“No, you are just a pervert.”
“By the way, I prefer size A.”
“Nobody asked for your opinion!”
“I’m sure the Hero-to-be-summoned prefers size A as well.”
“You can’t just go and decide his preference on your own! And how would you know what he likes?!”
Ul, once again, opened his eyes.
“Size A is the way of LIFE!”
“Shut up, you pervert!”
*Bam*
Ul flew out of the door from the impact between his face and Nia’s fist.
For a second, Nia thought she heard Ul thanking her but she didn’t pay much attention to that. That’s because she picked up an important point in their conversation.
“In the first place, why do I have to seduce the Hero I’ve summoned? Can’t I just acquire his loyalty through the normal method?”
“Huhuhu. You are too na?ve, Your Highness. That’s not the main point of these black undergarments.”
“There’s another purpose for those?”
“Yes, precisely.”
Ul stood up, after dusting his black suit, and bowed slightly in order to properly respond to Nia.
“My real intention was to use ‘Seduce the Hero’ plan to get Your Highness interested in the undergarments which will lead her to try them on first thus I can burn the erotic image of Your Highness deep into my memor-”
The door was violently shut.
***********
According to the recorded history of Yuvian, the summoning of Hero has always been a sacred ritual and the summoner must dress up appropriately to show respect to the Hero summoned.
Nia has changed her attire into a white dress even though she would prefer the clothes she normally wears when she busied herself in making magic devices.
Unlike enchanted magic items, a magic device requires the use of embedded magic orb to perform a specific function, and is aimed to be used by people who can’t use magic.
Nia approached the table and stretched her arm towards the latest magic device she has made.
The Hero Summoning Device.
But instead of taking it, she allowed the tip of her fingers to gently slide around the smooth surface of this circular object.
There was a sign of sadness in her expression.
“... Sorry...”
----------------------------------------
The capital city of human kingdom Yuvian is called Miastary.
The people of Miastary have always been protected by the walls surrounding the city and they live within the three out of the five sectors of the city without any threat from the monsters.
The sectors are market area, residential area and adventurers area in which are, respectively, located south, east and west of Miastary.
The city can only be entered through the south gate and following the road will lead people towards the middle sector, the town hall area.
The town hall is a large building standing in the middle of the sector.
On top of the building, one can see a bell within its own tower. The purpose of the bell is to inform the residents the time of the day.
This sector serves as the gathering area and will inform the residents if there are any notices from the King who stays in the castle located in the north sector.
The castle is surrounded by walls that are shorter than the ones surrounding the city and the area can only be accessed through the gate by the middle sector.
Upon entering the entrance to the castle, there will be a foyer which is big enough to fit more than 500 people without any trouble with movement space.
And now, Nia is standing in the foyer with an unpleasant face.
Nia was on her way to the Sacred Palace, for the Ritual of Hero Summoning, which can only be accessed by going through the corridor in the foyer of the castle. But there happened to be a group of people she didn’t want to meet in the foyer.
“Oh my, isn’t it Nia?!”
“What is it, Sherri? I believe that we are not that close to even start a conversation.”
Sherri separated herself from her group and came to talk to Nia.
“Oh, please. What’s wrong with talking with my little sister?”
“I have not considered you to be my sister. After-all, we are born from a different mother.”
“Aw, but it’s such a rare occasion to see you out of your room.”
Sherri, the second princess of Yuvian, asked with a smirk as she brushed her long blue hair over her shoulders.
Nia sighed when she noticed the sign of mockery in Sherri’s tone.
It’s been like this since eight years ago when she first returned to the castle.
Nia has always been looked down upon by other people, especially the royal families and other nobles, because she was so much different from them. This leads to her disliking them and she decided to shut herself in her room.
“Yes, yes. I, the shut-in, can’t be like you who are constantly out completing quests with your beloved Hero.”
“Ahaha, you can tell? Oh my, oh my! I pity you on missing out the heroic act of Shinji in clearing out a nest of goblins! Did you know that it was an S-ranked quest? An S-ranked! And he-”
Just like always, huh.
Nia realized that she just stepped on a landmine.
Whenever the topic was about Kazehaya Shinji, the Hero summoned by Sherri three years ago, Sherri will not stop bragging about his achievement as if it was her own.
Nia looked around the place trying to find anything to interrupt Sherri’s boring talk and that’s when Nia saw Shinji smiling in her direction.
“Hey, Sherri. Is it alright for that said Hero flirting with the other women in your party?”
“-at that cave, Shinji also... Wait, did you just say flirting? Ahaha, there’s no ways Shinji would...”
“But look at him. He’s making that weird smile when surrounded by the women in your group.”
“What? KAZEHAYA SHINJI!”
Nia sighed in relief after Sherri went back to scold Shinji while pushing away the women gathering around him.
“Woah, no wonder Princess Sherri was ranked second in ‘Miastary Woman Not To Marry’ ranking among the servants.”
Ul, who was accompanying Nia, made a remark.
“Now I understand why Mr. Kazehaya would prefer flirtin- I mean, talking with other women.”
“Second, huh... I was expecting her to rank first.”
It seemed like the topic perked Nia’s interest.
“I wonder who is ranked first.”
“...”
“Hm? Why the sudden silence? Is there something wrong, Ul?”
“Err... Ah! I just remembered something.”
“Remembered... what? Anyway, I’m still interested in who ranked firs-”
“The Hero! Your Highness still needs to summon the Hero in the Sacred Palace!”
“Oh, oh! I totally forgot the reason why we are here. But still, about the woman who ranke-”
“Alright, let’s move to the Sacred Palace.”
After Ul has successfully changed Nia’s mind, they proceeded to the corridor to the Sacred Palace and then-
“Wait, you two! Stop where you are!”
They were called out by Sherri behind them.
“I heard what you two talked about just now! What do you mean you are going to summon a Hero? Explain yourself, Nia!”
“It means what it means.”
“Huh?!”
“Haa... In simple words, I am going to summon a Hero.”
Hearing that, Sherri showed a surprised face.
“You, summoning a Hero?!”
“Yes, of course. And what’s up with that idiotic expression?”
“I-idiotic?! How dare you insult me?!”
“I’m only calling you that because you couldn’t even understand simple words.”
“But that’s impossible! There’s no ways you can do something like summoning a hero!”
“What, have you forgotten the fact that I’m also a princess of Yuvian? You should know that as long as I am a direct descendent of the King then I can summon a Hero.”
“Hoh, it seems like you are the one who has forgotten something.”
Sherri smirked.
The sudden change in her attitude surprised Nia
“Eh?”
Nia’s voice escaped her mouth when she felt cold sweat sliding down her back.
She has a bad feeling about what’s about to come next.
“Haha, look at what face you are making. Do you want me to remind you, that badly? Did you seriously forget why you are forbidden from leaving the castle?”
Of course Nia didn’t forget.
No, she cannot forget.
They were the words which has implanted themselves deep into Nia’s heart since 8 years ago.
The words which she didn’t want to hear...
“You are a Magic Zero, remember? How are you supposed to call out an magic circle?”
Sherri declared in a loud voice.
Even though the voice was not loud enough for everyone in the foyer to hear, but it was enough to make Nia’s legs shake.
The words, Magic Zero, are a label bestowed upon her because her affiliation with magic is none.
In other words, she cannot use magic.
Because Yuvian is a human kingdom which highly values magic abilities, so Nia was seen as a disgrace to the royal family.
Every time she hears the words, she was reminded of her painful childhood when she was found unable to use magic.
The disgusted looks from the nobles.
The mockery words for her peers.
And low expectation from the King.
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Nia was forbidden from leaving the castle as the king had thought it would be too shameful to let her, a princess who can’t use magic, to roam freely in public.
In the end, Nia decided to stay in her room and lock herself away from any contact with the nobles.
But that’s not the only reason she kept herself in her room all this time...
“Hm? What is this?”
Sherri asked when Nia held a round object in front of her.
“Thi- This is...”
NIa took a small breath.
She placed her left hand on her chest to stop her trembling heart.
Then, as if to take a step away from the past, she declared loudly.
“This is the Hero Summoning Device! And I, 4th Princess of Yuvian, will be using this to summon a Hero today!”
“Summon a Hero...? With that?!”
“Of course!”
This was another reason why Nia had spent most of her days in her room.
She has been researching on ways to use magic even if a person’s affiliation with magic is none.
And the result was magic devices.
Just like how a person use magic, the magic device will pour mana, from the embedded magic orb, into the inscribed magic circle and magic will be outputted depending on the magic circle used.
“Even though the power level may be subpar compared to magic done by a person but it’s still does its part!”
“Rejected!”
“Huh, why?”
Nia was surprised when Sherri denied the use of the device but after calming herself down she noticed that there’s no need for her to panic.
“And why should I even bother getting your permission to let me use the device to summon the Hero?”
“Don’t you forget that summoning a Hero is a sacred ritual. You think the Archbishop will permit the use of such untraditional method in the Sacred Palace?”
“Aha, about that... I’ve already got Ul to do all the preparations, right?”
Nia, with one eye closed, gave Ul a signal to speak.
Ul gave a slight bow and gave a response to Sherri.
“Just as Her Highness has said, I have performed all the necessary preparation for this ritual.”
“Even the Archbishop’s permission...?”
“Yes, including the permission from the Archbishop.”
“Hee hee. There you have it.”
Satisfied with Ul’s work, Nia gave Sherri a grin with her arms crossed.
“There’s no ways that’s possible! The Archbishop! Let me speak to the Archbishop!”
“Please wait, Princess Sherri.”
“What is it? And you should know that a servant like you is not in position to step in my way.”
Sherri showed an irritated expression when Ul blocked her way to the corridor leading to the Sacred Palace.
“I understand my position as a butler, but I’m doing this because I don’t want Princess Sherri to waste her energy.”
Ul slight lowered his head with his right hand on his chest.
“After-all, the Archbishop is not in the Sacred Palace.”
“”He’s not here?!””
Both Sherri and Nia shouted at the same time in surprise.
“Hey, Nia! The Archbishop should always be in standby in the Sacred Palace for the ritual. So where is he if he’s not in the Sacred Palace?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Ah, yes. The Archbishop is currently sleeping.”
Ul politely answered Sherri’s question when Nia sent him a ‘what’s going on’ glance.
“Sleeping?! Hey, Nia. What is the Archbishop thinking sleeping on a day when you are going to summon a Hero?”
“Like I know! Do I look like the Archbishop to you?”
“Please don’t misunderstand the Archbishop. It was me who put him to sleep.”
“”?!””
Wait, what did this idiot just say?
“Hey, Nia. What is going on?”
“Wait, I...”
“Allow me to answer this for Her Highness.”
This time Ul volunteered to do the answering.
“I was told by Her Highness about the requirements for the summoning of a Hero and it can be concluded that the supervision of the Archbishop is not necessary for the ritual.”
Nia’s face turned blue.
And without realizing this, Ul continued.
“Because the Old Far- my apologies... I meant the Archbishop refused to give permission the permission therefore I forced him to agree to allow Her Highness to summon the Hero and to prevent him from interrupting the ritual I made him sleep in a place which makes it apparent when he wakes up.”
“Wait! Is- Isn’t this...”
Sherri showed an expression as if something unbelievable happened.
She was astonished.
“An abduction? What you two thinkin-”
*Gong Go~ng G-Gong Gon-gggg*
“WHAT NOW?!”
Sherri shouted on top of her lungs as her mental state was being challenged when experiencing one unexpected event after another.
This time it was the sound of the large bell from the town hall which interrupted her.
But it’s strange for the bell to be ringed at this time.
Shinji, his group of female followers and everyone else in the foyer turned their attention towards to the town hall sector because they noticed the irregular pattern the bell was being ringed.
Everyone was puzzled...
“*Tsk*”
Except for Ul who clicked his tongue.
“I didn’t expect the Old Fart would wake up this early...”
“?!”
“Please don’t glare at me like that, Princess Sherri. Don’t worry, I didn’t tie the Archbishop directly on the bell but on its rope instead so there’s no chance he will become deaf.”
“The Archbishop! You ladies, go save the Archbishop!”
All the members, and also the guards, in Sherri’s ran out of the entrance in panic leaving only her and Shinji in the foyer.
“Nia! What’s the meaning of thi- Hey?! Wait! Stop where you are!”
Before Sherri has noticed, Nia was already running down the corridor to the Sacred Palace.
“Shinji, stop her! She’s going to try to summon a Hero during this chaos! We need to stop her from defiling the Sacred Palace!”
“Alright, as a Hero I also need to stop Nia-chan from making any more mistakes!”
“Please watch your steps.”
“”?!””
Suddenly, spikes came out from the tiles in front of Sherri and Shinji when they were about to enter the corridor after Nia.
“What’s the meaning of this, you lowly servant?”
“Even if you are Nia-chan’s butler, I won’t spare you if you planned to get in our way.”
Both Sherri and Shinji glared angrily at Ul who was standing in the corridor.
“Getting in your way? That’s unthinkable. I am merely doing my job as a butler and as instructed by Her Highness I made all sort preparations for the ritual.”
Ul bowed with his right hand on his chest.
“Including the traps set in this corridor.”
“What?!”
“Nia! Just what sort of preparation did you tell your servant to do?”
Sherri shouted into the corridor and it seems like Nia shouted back 'I also liked to know' from the other end.
“That’s the same thing as getting in our way!”
“Huhuhu, that’s wrong.”
Shinji shouted with his katana drawn out in his hand but he only got a calm reply from Ul.
“The traps were prepared to prevent anyone who tries to enter the corridor and interrupt Her Highness. So unless...”
Ul opened his right eye.
“You are going to interrupt Her Highness, the traps won’t activate at all.”
Sherri stepped forward.
“Fool! Who do you think you are standing in the way of a princess?”
“My apologies, Princess Sherri, I cannot stand down from here because the interest of Her Highness has the priority.”
“Wh- What did you just say?!”
“Sherri, it’s no use talking to him.”
Shinji pointed his katana at Ul.
“We are going to breakthrough!”
“I see... Huhuhu.”
Ul returned to his usual expression and smiled at Shinji’s challenge.
He stretched out both his arms wide.
“Then get ready to feast your eyes upon Her Highness’ creation!”
Mechanical sounds resonated throughout the corridor.
And traps of all sorts began appearing behind Ul.
----------------------------------------
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Nia placed the Hero Summoning Device on the centre of the circular platform in the Sacred Palace.
“There’s no ways I’m going to miss this chance!”
Nia realized that this was the last time she can try summoning a Hero due to the mess caused by Ul. If she was stopped by Sherri and Shinji, she won’t get another chance because the Archbishop would never allow it.
“Huu, huu... I need to calm down first.”
Nia took some small breath.
“I need to make sure I don’t mess up now.”
She knows that she could make a mistake if she tried to hurry the process so she decided to do the ritual carefully.
But she can’t be too slow as she doesn’t know how much time Ul can buy for her.
“Huu, huu.”
Nia placed her palm on her chest and took another set of breaths to calm her racing heart.
Then she clenched her fist.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
With a determined resolve, Nia reached out towards the device and tapped the part with the inscribed royal crest.
Blue light was emitted from the device.
Then a magic circle of the same colour expanded from the slits of the device.
The illumination of the magic circle made the surrounding of the room darker.
“The pattern is...”
Nia began observing the pattern of the rotating, in anti-clockwise direction, magic circle.
She may have checked in her room but she still needs to be cautious.
The pattern was drawn by her after studying the previous samples of the magic circles used to summon the Heroes.
From the results of her research, she found out that there are at least five important points to a Hero summoning magic circle.
The points were occupation, age, location, blessing and the contractor.
And out of all the points only the location can be changed by Nia.
The occupation in the pattern stated that it’s the Hero being summoned from a different world and the gender is at random but the age of the Heroes ranged from 16 to 25.
The Heroes summoned are from a country called Japan in their world and their distinctive trait was their black hair. Nia learnt the magic pattern for 3 cities of Japan and she decided to call the Hero from a city called Tokyo.
Upon arrival, the Hero will receive the Hero’s Blessing which will boost their stats and makes them much stronger than the knights of the same level.
And finally, to summon a Hero a contractor is needed which in this case it’s Nia.
“Good, looks like there’s no mistake in the pattern.”
Satisfied with the magic circle Nia continued by making a small cut at the tip of her index finger with a knife.
“Then, forming a contract with the Hero.”
Nia stretched her hand over the device and she waits for the blood to accumulate.
She needs to take her time to transfer her thought to the summoning magic circle.
One of the conclusions from her research stated that a stronger thought will increase the chance of success as it is the desire of the summoner that calls forth the Hero.
Normally, such desire is transferred the moment the summoner activated the magic circle.
But Nia had used the device to conjure up the magic circle so she needs to transfer her thought differently.
The idea of transferring her thought through her blood came from a set of black and white picture books she read which have people biting their thumbs to summon up beasts from a different realm.
“Please come...”
The Hero summoning magic was the only conjuring magic Nia knows that requires the summoner’s thought.
Therefore, this method has never been mentioned before in any other books she had read.
An uncertainty is present to this method...
“This can’t fail... I can’t let my only chance fail like this!”
Her voice was shaking.
She panicked the moment she began to imagine herself when the summon fails.
Nia will have to live like she always has the past 8 years.
Being laughed at and being looked down upon,
Being pointed at and being called a Magic Zero,
And being kept in this castle until her life’s end...
A life of being treated less than a beast.
“That’s too cruel...”
It was a dry voice.
“Even I wanted to be like them...”
That was her feeling.
The jealousy builds up every time she sees her sisters and their Heroes walked out of the castle to do quests.
“I also want to leave this place...”
If she is able to summon a Hero then she can also be like them.
“So please...”
She grabbed onto her chest.
“Please come forth...”
It was a plea from the bottom of her heart.
“Please free me from this bird cage!”
*Drip*
The moment when Nia’s blood dropped on the inscribed royal crest, the light from the Hero Summoning Device brightens.
The light of the magic circle became stronger and the rotation became faster.
Energy was overflowing from the magic circle and they were in the form of electric sparks.
A portal was formed above the magic circle.
“This is...”
Nia was surprised.
“It... It’s a success?!”
She wasn’t able to hide how delighted she was at that moment.
“The ritual succeeded!”
But that happiness did not last...
“This is as far as your prank can go, Nia!”
“Wha- Aah!”
Before Nia noticed, Sherri came up from behind and pinned her down onto the floor.
“Shinji, go stop that weird object!”
“Leave it to me!”
Shinji ran towards the middle of the platform.
“Wait, what are you planning to do with my device?”
“Watch me, Nia-chan. I’m going to destroy this thing for your own good.”
“Wait, stop!”
“Ha!”
“Noooooo!”
*Baki*
The Hero summoning device was split in half by Shinji’s katana.
The portal collapsed.
Both the magic circle and the light from it disappeared.
The Sacred Palace returned original state as if everything that happened just now was a lie.
“Alright, mission complete!”
“Kyaa! Just as expected from Shinji.”
Sherri clasped her as she praised her Hero.
“*Hic* Why…? *Hic* Why are you two doing this?”
Nia lay weakly on the ground even after she was released.
“Ahn? Don’t you know we did this so you don’t make any mistake?”
“It’s fine, Sherri. Nia-chan will understand us one day.”
“But Shinji...”
Shinji interrupted her by giving her a smile and shook his head gently.
It’s was an indication to her not to continue with this matter.
Ah... Shinji, just how kind are you...
Sherri’s face flushed red and she placed both her hands on her chest to try to suppress her violently beating heart.
Then...
“Understand...? You two are the ones who don’t understand anything at all!”
Her time for admiration was interrupted by Nia.
“Do you know how important that device was to me?”
“Haa... Alright, alright. Let’s get up and clean up your junk so we can...?”
“It’s not jun...!”
Both Sherri and Nia suddenly became quiet.
Shinji noticed their strange behaviour and followed their gaze to the remains of the Hero Summoning Device on the ground.
It was emitting red light.
“What the... Wah?!”
Suddenly, an invisible force knocked Shinji away as a blood red magic circle expanded rapidly.
The air within the room moved violently towards the centre of the magic circle and a large amount of energy started to accumulate right above the broken device in a form of a dark red orb.
Then, the concentrated energy was released.
A red pillar of magical energy shot its way through the ceiling.
The ground shakes each time the pillar breaks through another ceiling of the room above.
*Crack Crack Crack*
““Kyaaa!””
The princesses lowered and covered their head when the pieces of the cracked ceiling began to fall.
But the trembling only lasted until the pillar of red light completely disappeared.
When they looked back up again, they saw the same dark silent room but this time it seems like it’s a ruin after receiving some terrible magic attacks.
The rubbles from the ceiling were scattered around the room and the dust floating in the room made the visibility worse.
“Err...”
“Shinji!”
Sherri quickly got up and ran to Shinji who laid his back against the wall he crashed into when there was that magic explosion.
“Is this... for real...?”
Unlike Sherri, Nia stayed in the same position and her lips trembled.
Rather she couldn’t move because she was too surprised by the thing in front of her.
There was a figure among the cloud of dust standing on the middle of the cracked platform...
It was a figure of a person.
“Awawaw... What’s this? While I was sitting on a bench in a local park and considering my future, and then I was teleported here?”
It was a voice of a young man.
“No, if I think about this then isn’t it that? Those popular settings in light novels which normal people like me are summoned to a fantasy world as a Hero?”
After walking out of the dust, Nia was able to see a man, in his 17, wearing a black coat.
“So I assume you are the princess who summoned me?”
The white-haired man stared down at Nia with his red right eye while the other was covered by a white square eye patch.
“Ahaha! Just what crap am I sprouting out? There’s no ways something this amazing can happen to me. Well, anyway, before a supposed Hero I am a gentleman.”
He then knelt down and held out his right hand, which was covered in white bandages, to Nia.
“So first, do you need a hand to get up?”
There was no doubt that Nia’s Hero was summoned to this world.
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