Noah was never anyone much. Average personality, average looks, a bit of a physics geek, fairly studious, but not enough for his grades to break into the top 10%, he was just another guy you could find anywhere. If anything, he considered himself quite creative, but there wasn't much more to him than that. Like most people, he let himself get swept into the flow of everyday modern life, spending every week waiting for Friday.
And it wasn't as if Noah didn't know any of this. No, he was very well aware that there wasn't anything much more to him than what you saw. Which is why what was happening was so baffling. No matter how you looked at it, he had been summoned to another world with three of his classmates.
Noah rubbed his eyes, and looked at his classmates. Almost at the same time, Noah pinched Evan beside him, who pinched Noah.
'Fuck, ouch. Its fuckin real?'
Noah definitely felt it. Not just the pinch, but also the weight of the gaze from 7 grown men and women in ridiculous outfits surrounding the four of them, as well as that of the old man in an even more ridiculous outfit and also that of a very pretty woman beside him.
"ᛈᛚᚨᚲ, ᛖᚺᛟᛚᛞᛖᚱ ᛏᛖᚲᛊᛏ !"
"Woah, hey man, lets calm down here, Is that Greek? Uh, we english only?"
When the old man on the fancy chair that looked suspiciously like a throne threw himself to the ground while exclaiming a bunch of gibberish, Noah, with his omniscient genius, acted like a lost tourist looking for directions from a local, and attempted to communicate with the old man by dumbing down his grammar.
As soon as the words left Evan's mouth, all gazes in the room from the weird cosplay people redirected to him. Except Mia's.
"I've never heard of this language before but I understood him. I think I'm fluent in it as well."
"ᛈᛚᚨᚲᛖᚺ, ᛈᛚᚨᚲᛖᚺᛟᛚᛞᛖᚱ ᛏᛖᚲᛊᛏ"
When Mia spit out some gibberish as well, The three others looked at her intently, suspiciously.
"I just told him to repeat what he said."
"ᛈᛚᚨᛖᚲᛊᛏ,ᛈᛚᚨᚲᛖᚺᛟᛚᛞᛖᚱ ᛈᛚᚨᚲᛖᚺᛟᛚᛞᛖᚱ ᛏᛖᚲᛊᛏ ᛏᛖᚲᛊᛏ"
"ᛈᛚᚨᚲᛖᚺᛟᛚᛞᛖᚱ ᛏ…"
As Mia engaged in their strange conversation with the middle aged old man that had gotten back on his fancy chair, Noah noted that the looks of the others in the room turned increasingly horrified, while Mia's turned from confusion, to horror, then to…acceptance? Did she just speedrun the 5 stages of grief?
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"We've been brought over to this world from our world as heroes to save this world from the Demon Lord, and have skills that allow us to do so. These seven are archmages, that middle aged one's King Thorian, the cute one's Princess Elara"
Mia sighs, as she gestures to the natives in the room. Noah looks at her for a couple moments, steps forward, and flicks her forehead.
"Alright nice prank now, I'm sure it took a lot of effort to set up, time to go home now."
Mia looks at him with a complicated expression when Noah denies Mia, and as time ticks by in silence, Noah realizes it wasn't a prank.
"So we're just here now? What about our parents? Friends? We just never see them again?"
Mia responds to Noah's outburst by casting her gaze to the ground, clearly upset.
"Alright, It's not as if it's her fault is it? We can't do anything about it now, so let's cry about it later, while we figure out what we need to do now."
Emma hops to Mia's side and holds her hand, and gently rebukes Noah.
As Mia looked up again, she gestured at the nearby archmage, who waves his hand in the direction of the four as Mia explains,
"This archmage here will cast a simple appraisal spell that will reveal the skills we have and what they are."
When text in a weird language shows up above their heads, the natives in the room almost look horrified, while Mia translates what it says.
' Evan
Age:17
Skills: Absolute dexterity'
' Noah
Age:17
Skills: Mimicry'
'Mia
Age:17
Skills: Language mastery''
'Emma
Age:17
Skills: Illusion mastery'
"...Wow, Evan I reckon you could finally be popular with the ladies now. Nimble fingers y'know?"
"So is Mia a walking translator?"
Noah had been ignored. Though, Evan's joke went unanswered as well. It was clear that everyone was thinking of the results of the appraisal, even including Noah and Evan, both of whom had instinctively thrown out jokes.
But the king and the archmages had frowns on their faces. Especially two of them, who seemed pale for some reason. After a few minutes of silence, the king spoke up, followed by a wave of one of the archmages' hands. Mia followed up immediately after to translate.
"The king says he has to speak to the archmages, and that they'll be casting a soundproof barrier for a couple moments."
"Isn't that rude? Seems like awfully inconsiderate treatment of the people that's supposed to be their glorious heroes or whatever. Also, these lot have been frowning for a while now"
Evan noted, which was met by Emma's agreement.
"Something's definitely off here."
The same archmage then waved his hand, with smiles that had returned to the faces of those welcoming the four.
"Great heroes. I apologize if you felt uncomfortable. We will do anything within our capabilities to give you what you need."
The king suddenly used perfect english. Looking at the slightly surprised expression of the heroes, an archmage coughed into his fist, then interjected,
"I have used a first circle translation spell."
"I see, thank you for that, but can we get some time to think ?"
"Of course. My daughter, Princess Elara will guide you to a room. Please have a day to consider our words."