In the Central kingdom of Vitos, in the Royal Castle. In one of the meeting rooms of the castle were assembled by the orders of the king all the nobles that hold influence in Vitos.

Among the nobles were military higher-ups, presidents of the largest companies, intelligence gathering officers, and lastly all the present time heroes, which numbered 44. On top of all those people, there were a lot of soldiers and servants bringing in piles of papers and handing them to the king, Ladorus Nor Vitos, and his single daughter, Sacre Nor Vitos. Ladorus, Sacre, and all the nobles watched as the number of papers increased with grim faces as all the heroes - excluding two particular girls - were confused not understanding why everyone had a grim face. And before long the soldiers and servants stopped bringing any more papers and left the room, closing the door behind them.

“… All of these papers you see in front of you are reports of missing slaves, missing commoners, assassinated nobles, and finally disappearing Red Storages. And all of those cases have something very important and unforgettable for all of you. Ash, piles of Ash, were found at the locations where those cases happened. And all of those piles were of exactly the same size and color, and as indicated by those papers, the number of those cases has exceeded the hundreds. I’m sure you know… no, I’m sure you remember the one behind all of this”(Ladorus)

“… The Ash Assassin Ashen, the Dark Elf who plunged our kingdom into unending chaos thousands of years ago. The only enemy in all of our history that had to be stopped by our goddess herself, and even then he killed himself preventing her from extracting information from him, preventing her from using him in her “Creation” ritual, and preventing her the satisfaction of killing her enemy as he writhes in despair”(Jude Cris)

“That’s right. As it was thousands of years ago, we don’t have any eyewitnesses nor any evidence other than the ash piles. And that’s what led us to believe that no one but Ashen is capable of all of this”(Sacre)

“And as all of you are aware. The Red Storages is where the magic circles connect to the various countries and dungeons where we are able to obtain many resources. Yes, we can just build a new storage building and place a magic circle inside it, but the lost resources will not come back, and there is no guarantee that the new storages will not be targeted again”(Company President)

“Moreover, the fact that no one is able to catch a glimpse of him is enough to prove that fighting him is not an option. Even when we placed an excessive number of guards around and inside the Red Storages, it all happened in less than a second. The building and everything and everyone inside it disappeared, leaving a shallow crater behind with a pile of ash at the center. All the guards stationed outside were able to perceive the building disappearing in an instant, but nothing more than that”(Military Officer)

“And with the absence of our goddess, we can’t use even 1% percent of our ability to oppose him, since for that we would need her permission. Until her return, there is a little over half a year, and the reason for assembling you all here is to ask if you have any idea on how to reduce our losses until our goddess’s return”(Ladorus)

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“So what? All of you are making this fuss just because one lowlife was causing minor troubles? All you have to do is send “competent” people to catch him. I’m fully aware that this world lacks the “competent” people to solve your problems and that’s why we were summoned, right? Then why not ask us to handle this problem for you?”(Kusanagi Hayato)

“HA HA HA! Well said, Hayato-sama! These people are seriously lacking the brain since they need the brilliant you to point it out for them”(Ochida Dai)

“That’s our prince for you!”(Yada Yui)

“Those people are seriously stupid”(Yada Yue)

“What a waste of time. Your highness, Hayato-sama, staying here would be a waste of your precious time. Why not leave them to play by themselves and go”(Toda Hisa)

“You are certainly right. If our power was needed then you know where to find us, all of you follow me!”(Kusanagi Hayato)

As he ordered, 41 students + one teacher stood up and started walking after him. Hayato saw that and was about to go on his way, but he noticed that two of the students… two girls remained seated and were sipping their tea. Aiko and Yume completely ignored him and were behaving as if he didn’t exist.

“You two!! Didn’t you hear me?! I said, follow me!”(Kusanagi Hayato)

“I remember telling you to not talk to us, didn’t I?”(Aiko)

“And who do you think you are to order us around?”(Yume)

“SHUT UP!! Don’t you dare talk back to me, and do as I say! Know-!”(Kusanagi Hayato)

*SMACK!*

Before he was able to complete his sentence, a sheathed sword landed squarely on his face, sending him crashing through the door and into the corridor. And there stood Aiko as she returned her sword to her waist as she walked back to her seat beside Yume.

“The next time you try to talk to us, my sword will be unsheathed as I slash your head in half”(Aiko)

“You two are going to attend the meeting till the end?”(Ladorus)

The King asked the girls, completely ignoring the knocked-out hero and all the summonees that were checking on him. Looking closely, not one of the nobles nor the king or his daughter cared about what happened to Hayato. In fact, all of them were looking at him with cold eyes.

This is not their first time dealing with foolish and arrogant “Heroes” summoned by the goddess, and such heroes are disposed of after some time, leaving only the competent ones. And after Hayato failed miserably to deal with Genbu before-which he himself volunteered to do- it was decided that he is useless to leave around along with all the heroes excluding Aiko and Yume as those two were considered “Competent”.

“Yes, since we are interested in this Ashen guy”(Aiko)

“…You are going to go after him?”(Ladorus)

“Yes, we have some business with him”(Yume)

The response Ladorus received from the two “competent” heroes, made him feel restless and anxious instead.