I awoke with my head stuck between two pillows, anticipating the morning alarm that was probably about to ring.

I’m still sleepy, can’t I stay in bed just a little longer? Tell my pupils I’ll be late for school.

Then I realized the bed was far wider than it should be, and my situation came back to me. I sat up, holding back a scream: that life was over. My pupils had probably learned about my death by now. Ms Lebel was run over by a van and passed away. What a shock for these young kids! I could only hope the event would encourage them to watch for traffic when they stood in the middle of a street, instead of carelessly staring at their house like I had.

It seemed my teaching days were past me. I had a new life to adjust to, and two missions. One, understand why the Senior Magi had summoned me if the country wasn’t at war. Two, handle the situation better than Alberto.

That one shouldn’t be difficult: he’d rush ahead to fight the dragon and get himself killed without having solved anything.

I got up, walked to the window, and opened the curtains.

Two seconds later, a servant opened the door and asked if I needed anything. She was neither Olga nor Vera, but a completely different person, with a slender figure and a tight dark red bun. When I asked her why the personnel had changed, she answered in a shy voice that I hadn’t been assigned a personal maid. My room would be cared for by whoever worked in the west wing on that day.

“Is it a problem, Great Hero Al?”

“Not at all. It’s fine.”

It’s good news. It means I won’t be pampered like a spoiled kid.

Her name was Maya. She cleaned the room while I got ready, then showed me down the stairs to the small dining room. As we walked to the first floor, she talked in a low voice.

“This is where you will have most of your meals, Great Hero Al. The main dining room is only used for important events.”

“Like the banquet that got canceled?”

She nodded. “Exactly. There will be other ones, so you’ll get to see the place eventually. By the way, you have an appointment with King Esthar after breakfast.”

“Oh, yes, I remember he said we’d talk in the morning. Thank you, Maya.”

I let her resume her activities and asked a cook for his name. He awkwardly looked at his feet.

“I’m Arwan, my lady.”

Do I look so impressive?

“It’s okay, Arwan, I’m just new to this place and I wanted to know what hot beverages I could have for breakfast.”

To my great horror, they had no coffee, or anything that tasted remotely like it.

“Really?” I protested. “It’s made by brewing roasted beans, it’s dark, slightly bitter… There must be some equivalent here!”

Arwan, who had dark brown skin and what looked like cat ears covered by a wide headband with geometric patterns, apologized profusely. Over the next half hour, he made me taste every hot drink he could find, until I chose some kind of black tea. I needed something to properly start my day, and if this cup was the best thing a cook could find in a royal palace, it’d have to do.

There wasn’t any puff pastry, either, but I had very decent biscuits.

After breakfast, a valet led me to King Esthar’s personal office. The place was adorned with gorgeous maps, and it smelled of old wood and balsam. I loved it as soon as I entered. The king sat at his desk, both hands resting on a large leather pad. No crown, no ample robes. Over his white shirt, he wore a collarless yellow vest embroidered with a floral pattern. He gave me permission to sit down.

“How was your night, Great Hero Al?”

“Complicated, Your Majesty. Please call me Al.”

I spent half the night dreaming I’d grown big muscles like Alberto, and I was wrestling in the sky with a dragon who looked more like a gargoyle than like Kossi.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

King Esthar nodded.

“I wish I could allow you more time to set foot in your new life, but the circumstances are pressing. Let me roughly explain Brealia’s current situation. You will learn the details with time. Right now, you need to know where you are standing while we deal with the current situation.”

Standing… or sitting.

I repressed a smile as the king showed me one of the maps on the wall.

The Brealian kingdom was smaller than the average American state or Western European country. Its shape looked like a warped square on the map, and with a good horse, one could ride from one end of the territory to the other in about a week. The northern border followed a ridge in the local mountain range, while the southern border was a coast. On the eastern and western sides, the natural boundaries where less obvious.

At first glance, it looked to me like the heart of the kingdom was the river Rekario. It flowed southeast from Lake Mera, at the foot of the mountains, gathered several tributaries, passed through Carastra, and then it went straighter to the south, flowing into the Kiro sea at the port city of Zerta.

Brealia had a varying number of neighboring countries, depending on the current state of the alliances. Our closest ally was Alam, east of Brealia if one followed the coast.

We weren’t at war with any of these countries, even though diplomatic relations were tense with some of them.

Then what am I doing here?

After a while, I raised my hand.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I don’t get it. Where does Demon Lord Faur fit in this picture?”

“He does not. His empire is right there.”

King Esthar walked to another map, behind his desk, and pointed to an area which I recognized as the northern edge of the mountain range.

“This is Elkodunar, also known as the demon empire. This map is not exactly up to date, and you will understand why in a moment.”

There was no direct border between Elkodunar and Brealia. A buffer zone of sorts separated the two countries. It was made up of a handful of smaller mountain lordships, the main ones being Inabar and Bamir.

Faur would have to walk through these places if he wanted to invade Brealia. What would he want it for, anyway?

“You may wonder why I decided to summon you,” the king said.

I nodded.

“Indeed, Your Majesty, I do.”

He looked at the map again.

“You may think there is no direct threat to the Brealian kingdom, but it would be wrong of you to assume that. We both saw what happened yesterday.”

“Kossi’s attack? Do you think Faur caused it?”

“Quite probably. He conquered his throne ten years ago. Conquered, not inherited.”

Esthar sighed.

“Elkodunar’s barbaric rules of succession state that pretenders to the throne must fight for it. They gather alliances and fight a civil war, usually for years.”

He stopped for a second, his blue eyes looking into mine. What was he waiting for? I just wanted him to get to the point. He eventually resumed his speech.

“Faur’s victory, however, was quite swift. In a matter of three months, he rallied most of his opponents under his banner and got rid of the others. I don’t think a succession war was ever won so fast in the history of the empire. Faur’s first decision as Demon Lord consisted in expanding his territory, at the expense of his neighbors. His armies conquered whole regions, here, and there, incorporating them into the empire as protectorates. To this day, I am not sure of the exact extent of Elkodunar.”

He pointed to areas east and west of the original country.

“This is all on the other side of the mountains,” I observed. “What makes you think he could want to conquer Brealia, too?”

“Many disturbances over the past years. A fire destroyed half of Potions’ Corner, the alchemist district in Carastra. In the mountains over Sanajec, near the border with Inabar, herds were decimated by a mysterious disease. Some expeditions never returned.”

Not to mention the queen and crown prince’s death, but they said it was an accident. So was the rest, perhaps. None of it sounds like a good reason to summon a hero from another world. Either Esthar is assuming a lot just because Elkodunar is known as the “demon empire”, or there’s something else he won’t tell me.

However, a dragon, who was also a friend of the family, had showed up at my summoning celebration and attacked the palace. I’d overheard a conversation between cooks, while I was having breakfast. The tragedy had claimed no less than thirty victims.

I should have saved them all. This is what they summoned me for, and I failed.

“Yesterday’s attack proves that I was right to be worried,” said the king.

Is he reading my mind?

I looked at the desk with its beautiful leather pad. “You think Faur is behind Kossi’s attack.”

Esthar nodded.

“It takes a Demon Lord to either seduce or overpower a Gold Dragon.”

I could check that. I closed my eyes.

“Cherub, my friend, is Kossi under the domination of Demon Lord Faur, or of someone else?”

“Someone else.”

“Then who…” but there was no angel left to answer.

I clenched my teeth. Why hadn’t I asked for the enemy’s name straight away? One question a day was a tricky gift. I needed to be more careful what I asked, or I’d keep losing days, and maybe lives.

“Your Majesty, you’ll have to take my word for it, but I think there’s something else to this attack. Someone else might be involved.”

He frowned.

“Really? You arrived yesterday. How can you possibly know such a thing?”

“I don’t know, Your Majesty. It’s more of a gut feeling so far. Let me investigate. I’m the Great Hero Al. I may not know how to fight, let alone how to hunt a dragon, but I have other assets and I intend to use them for the greater good of Brealia. Will you trust me?”

I reached out over the desk, offering the king a handshake. He gave me a puzzled look for a second, then he ignored my arm and looked at my face again.

“I am the one who summoned you, so I will trust you, for now.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

I grabbed his hand and pressed it for half a second before remembering who he was. If the Brealian royal family was anything like the British one, my gesture was extremely improper. I let go of his hand and blushed.

“Sorry, this is a sign of agreement in my culture.”

King Esthar pulled his hand against his chest as if it hurt.

“No matter what world you were born in, you now live in ours, Great Hero Al. Try not to forget it.”