[Side story: Summoned Hero]

Yeah... This is awkward.

I currently found myself in the middle of the room with wierd people wearing even wierder robes all around me, shouting things such as "We did it!" "It was a success!" "The demons will learn!"

Wait, hold on a second! Did I just hear that right?? Demons??? wait... 1+1=2... I've been summoned. Hurray!

Jokes aside, after the tipical~ introductions, i've been led into a room where apparently the king spends most of his days doing king's stuff... you know... paperwork and shit...

Ahem. I should probably tell you about myself and make you realize how awesome~ i am. Not. 

Huff, as if i was awesome. My name is Masaki and I'm your everyday average japanese shut-in. I'm somewhat fit as i run for an hour everyday, but I  still could be in a better shape. My hair is short and black, i'm about 170 cm high, which is kinda average. I like mangas, animes and light novels. They're my life.

Maybe i'll find myself a harem here? I shure hope so... hehehe... maybe there's catgirls in this world? [yes retard, do 1+1!]

Anyway, after the tipical "Please save us all hero!" stuff, which i pretty much ignored, while staring at the maids besides the king. They were real~ hot. Probably the most beutiful i had ever seen in real life. The king didn't seem too suprised by my lack of attention, they probably did something like this before. I'm also not stupid enough to realize that the king is probably sugarcoating himself and making the demons seem all evil and stuff. Read too many light novels to fall for that trick bro.

The king realised that I'm not exactly an idiot, and stopped with his act with a laugh. He said that he wanted to test my knowledge and intelligence, as he said that he read that heroes vary, some from being very informed and stupid, to uninformed but very smart and sometimes smart and informed. Apparently i was in the latter category. 

I mean, the king is a cool guy, he didn't treat me like a slave but rather as an equal, which is kinda big considering he's the king of the country. But at the same time i guess I'm the hero, the symbol of unity in this country.

He explained to me what exactly the situation is in a rather unpleasant for the intelligent races. There is a considerable amount of tension between the demon alliance and the holy union. The demon alliance consisted of several demonic tribes, some stronger then others, the dark elves and dark dwarves, the pixies (breed between demons and fairies) and finally vampires. Out of all of those races, one individual was nominate the Demon King. That person wouldn't necessarily be the strongest, however he would probably be pretty high up and would require an immense amount of wisdom to be able to keep all the demons togheter, which is problematic when you're trying to fight. 

The Holy Union consisted of fairies, elves, dwarves and humans. They didn't exactly elect a single leader but rather were led by a council who made all the major decisions, otherwise they were all independent and fractured amongst themselves. The elves were especially problematic as they often never cooperated, while the fairies were too nice to do anything warlike. 

Pretty cliche if you ask me, I've seen this situation on light novels so many times I almost want to vomit blood. It still holds it's charm though. It's unnecessary to kill the demon king, actually, it's not raccomended as the Demon Alliance would probably break apart, and war would explode everywhere, bringing chaos across the land. The human king himself knew the Demon King and stated that he was quite a pleasant guy, he didn't even wish for war but he knew he had to defend himself as the Holy Union's council was... problematic. They wanted gains, land is the biggest gain you can get, and the demons had land. Lots of it. 

Eh. What can i do about all of this? I'm just a meager 20 years old nerd~ Just lemme go find my catgirls... Wait, Why haven't i heard beastman even once all through this?

I immediatly question the king, who looks up at me with a blank stare, then laughs. He says that there really aren't beastmen as the heroes call them. He says that he had already summoned a hero before, 300 years ago (wow you're old dude...) and he asked the same question. Apparently, the closest thing one can find to what i call beastmen are a tribe of demons with tails. Otherwise the demons simply resemble humans, but sometimes have horns but most often then not just that and a bunch of wierd tatoos that get inherited. 

I was kinda~ disappointed. I really hoped to find catgirls... Oh well, too bad. I can still find myself a harem! Never give up Masaki! You can still accomplish your dreams!

Anyway, He told me that the average fighter wasn't that much stronger then your tipical knight back in Japan. Heroes could get very strong very quickly, however even they had a cap. There was a very limited amount of people who could become mages, as magic existed but was very rare. There were although some pretty nasty beasts like the Titan Turtle, a turtle the size of a castle that could easily destroy an army, or the Sand Cobra King, a cobra who lived in the desert, 100 meters long and 5 meters wide. There was also a very strong beast, although not on the level of those monsters, it was the King Panther, a black panther which could easily destroy up to 1000 men sent to kill it. Apparently, even damaging it took a lot of effort. It hadn't been seen in a while though, which was a good thing.

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Apparently, i would be sent out after two weeks of basic training in the forest for my first practice hunt where i would learn how to take lives, at which i slightly cringed at. I was a peaceful person. Taking lives is bad, but I know it's sometimes for the best. I'll just have to prepare my heart...

So here I am now, after having trained with the knights for two weeks. They praised my ability to adapt and to learn. I was honestly suprised with myself how easy it came to me. I could now hold my own against 10 of the best knights in the castle.

I also had a strong affinity for light magic (duh, I'm the hero. Where's my 'HOLY SLASH' thingie??' with which i trained a little. I could now cast a low heal that would accelerate the natural recovery of the body. Nothing big, but it helps in the long run. The mages were however amazed how quickly I picked it up, and praised me endlessly. ehehehehe~ I know i'm amazing, don't tell me. Not. I'm not becoming an arrogant little shit. That is the one thing i want to block myself from becoming. After all, no woman likes men who are too prideful~ Hey don't stare at me like that Yuune-Chan, I wasn't oogling you! I swear!

Jokes aside, I'm currently with my party of 4. It consists of me (leader-warrior-mage-hero), Yuune-chan (lovable MaidMage), Jack-san (Strong muscular warrior type) and our scout and assassin, a half elf called Elrik. 

We were inside the forest, which was suprisingly empty, to the point of being literally devoided of all life. We were chatting and discussing what was going on. After all it isn't normal that the forest is this empty. Usually we should've encountered at least a pack of wolves. 

Then we heard it, a laugh filled with malice. I could tell that this was my chance to shine. We rushed forward and what we saw was rather cliche. There was a bandit group surrounding a perhaps 14 year old loli with tails... WAIT! WHAT! 

She had an angel face with magma red eyes that seemed to want to devour your very soul, she was about 150cm tall, silver hair that reached down to her butt and two two meter long tails that were swishing behind her in a lazy matter. On  the other side were perhaps 8 bandit-looking people with the leader eyeing the little girl with lewd eyes. Very lewd eyes considering she was frekking NAKED~! Why the hell is a little girl naked, in a forest, in front of bandits, with tails (and ears), and is without a single scratch?

We immediatly rushed in, suprising the bandits. I took down 3 with my charge while Jack swung his hammer and hit 2, sending them flying. Yuune sent a fireball at a bandit, burning the life out of him (cringe). Elrik meanwhile was already behind a bandit, stabbing him in the stomach as not to kill him. This all took about 10 seconds to accomplish. 

After having tied up the bandits and receiving a slap to the face from Yuune-chan who wasn't approving of our gazes on the little catgirl (IT'S OFFICIAL, THAT'S A CATGIRL!" She gave the girl her coat, so as she wouldn't be completely naked. She looked at us strange for a second, still showing no signs of any significant reaction. She then took the coat and put it on herself. 

Honestly, she looked dangerously cute. I really wanted to pet those ears and the tails. They looked so cute.

After having given her the coat, Yuune-chan simply told her to follow us for a little, to which the girl visibly flinched, turning around behind her with a sad look. I assume something happened back there, however she doesn't seem injured. Could it be due to the low amount of monsters in the area...?

As we prepared a fireplace, she looked troubled at the flames. Could it be she had never seen them before? Just where did she grow up? I must teach her the ways of Japan!

"So, little girl, what is your name?" Yuune-chan asks while looking at her with adoring eyes

"... Don't... have..." the strange girl says while looking down with visibly sad eyes, almost tearing up.

"Now now, don't worry about it too much. Why don't you tell us what happened and why you were in the forest naked and what those men wanted from you?" Jack asks. Isn't it kinda obvious what they wanted, you meathead?? They wanted the pure flower of virginity... Ops, hehehe. I'm a pervert.

The girl wraps her tails around herself and hugs her knees while looking at us strange, and then asks

"... Not going to sell me?" She says this in a very sharp, interrogating voice. I could sense that if we were to tell her an even half-hearted answer something bad would happened. I don't know why, but i just felt it.

"Don't worry, slavery has been slowly eroded away thanks to the effort of the king. I stand here to prove that!" Elrik says while sticking out his chest in pride and showing his ears. 

The girl simply relaxes her eyes and gives a faint smile. She then tells us her story

"I found myself in this forest a week ago, without any clothes and not remembering anything. I saw some strange people but avoided them, as they looked strange" Is she referring to the fact they had no tails? "But then, those guys came, they kept saying stuff like "Come here little flower" I obviously wasn't going to fall for it, but had no way of defending myself, but then you guys came. Thank you for saving me." she says the last part while her tails twitch a bit. Was it a sign of happiness?

"Don't worry, well, first let's give you a name. We can't have you going around nameless. Are you fine with that?" Yuune-chan asks 

The girl simply nods, to which me, Jack, Elrik and Yuune began a meeting to decide the name. After countless thoughts we finally came up with a name.

We all say to her in synch "Alysha, would you like to come with us in the city? We could give you a home."

The girl looks suprised, then pleased as her tails visibly swisch behind her quickly. She then simply nods with an angelic smile.