I was surprised. I was at home one day only to be surrounded by a flash of light. When I opened my eyes I was in an unfamiliar location. Surrounded by people, most of them looked like they had fainted while one of them looked barely able to keep his consciousness but was still ready to fall at any moment. The only person who looked fine was a man, looking in his thirties with a golden hair color. But what surprised me were his ears. Pointy. Unlike anything I’d ever seen before. But I had read about them. After all at this point you could say that reading fantasy novels and anything similar ran in the family.

I couldn’t understand what they were saying at first. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t scared. In a lot of the novels I read the summoned people were made into slaves or forced to fight for something they don’t even care about… but that never happened. The man gave me a necklace which helped me understand him and vice versa. He apologized to me. Saying he didn’t mean to summon someone like me. That he thought someone more accustomed to battle would be summoned and not a child like myself. I was relieved to hear all of this… but I couldn’t help feeling a bit frustrated as well.

I had always wanted to fight for what was right. I was raised to believe that someday I would have to do so. That’s why I thought that the day had come. But the king didn’t want me to fight for him. He promised to take care of me until they found a way to send me back. That he would treat me like family. But I stubbornly insisted that they teach me to fight. Left with no choice, he agreed.

I wanted to get stronger, to help, but when my lessons began I could tell that my teachers were reluctant in their instructions. That just like the king they didn’t want to make me fight. I was a bit angry. I wanted to become strong. I wanted protect this place. If a king as kind as this is on the throne then the country must be good as well. That wasn’t the only reason for me to believe that though.

It wasn’t like I was locked in the palace the whole time. I was allowed to leave when I liked. The king didn’t want to keep me there. The only thing he wanted was for me to inform him when I left. He always sent me off with a smile and asked me to be careful. It had only been a week but I felt how much he cared about me. I also cared about him. It was as if he was a second father to me and I a second daughter to him. I couldn’t explain it. Only a week… I wanted… to stay here longer…

The streets were always filled with people. Most of them were smiling and laughing. The colorful town was a bright place. I was also happy when I looked at it. I really did want to stay here longer. It’s not as if I didn’t miss my world. My father and my uncles were always kind to me… but they were also very busy. I didn’t blame them for that. They were incredibly important people .More important than even the king. So I couldn’t blame them for it. I would one day probably become the same when I inherited their position. But now… I didn’t have to. I was free to choose for myself what I could do… And this place… I definitely wanted to protect this place.

Today again I was running back to the palace after I had spent all morning outside. I needed to return for my lessons but I had gotten carried away with wandering around town and had lost track of the time. While I was running though I saw something unfamiliar in this bright town. The streets were filled with colors. Blue, green, yellow, orange. All kinds of colors were gathered in the streets, either worn by people, or on the buildings themselves. But there was one person who defied them. One who stood out. Black and white. A monochromatic existence in a world of colors. I ran past him. Since I was in a hurry I only glanced at him from the corner of my eyes but that was all I needed to understand that he was not normal. My instincts were screaming something but I couldn’t tell exactly what so I ignored them and kept running. I was still in a hurry.

It was two days after that that the king offered to introduce a new teacher to me. Though he wasn’t sure whether he would accept. I myself accepted instantly. I hoped that this new teacher would instruct me better than the ones who did not want me to fight. If he agreed to it then it would be tomorrow that we would meet. So I waited while thinking about what kind of person would reject a request from the king of the country.

When I heard a knock on the door the next day I was quite nervous. It was probably the king. But would he bring good news or bad news. While keeping such thoughts in mind I walked over to the door and opened it expecting to see the face of my second father. Yet who I saw was completely different. He stood out. A monochrome person in a colorful world. The man I had seen the other day. I couldn’t think of what to say. He spoke first.

“Hello. My name is End and I will be your new teacher. May I ask your name as well?”

He asked me with a gentle smile. Though I had lost my words I felt compelled to answer.

“… Airi…. my name’s Airi.” (Airi)

*End’s POV*

After we introduced ourselves Terion compelled us to go to his study where we could discuss things further. Things like what exactly I would need to teach her and some things regarding my requests. While heading there we separated from Elrond. Airi herself didn’t say anything but she seemed to be a person of few words anyway. As we reached the study Terion urged us to make ourselves at home so we sat down at the table in the room after he cleared away the board which was on it. The board itself was quite interesting. It looked like chess but with differently shaped figures. I would have to ask him about it later. I had often played chess with James, one of my three sons. Seeing that I looked interested in the game the king spoke.

“That is something me and Elrond often play. Would you like to try it later? I can explain the rules to you.” (Terion)

“Ah. Yes that would be nice. It looked like a game I knew myself though the figures were different.” I had planned to leave it at that but I suddenly got the urge to ask something else. “What about you Airi? Would you happen to know of a similar game?”

The king was ready to speak thinking that Airi wouldn’t know it since she was from another world but unexpectedly to him she nodded. Interesting. I wonder what world she’s from. It would be too much of a coincidence for us to be from the same world but if she is I wonder how that world is doing. Maybe I should visit at some point. It shouldn’t be too hard to travel between worlds. Not with my power.

“Interesting. So you had this kind of game in your world as well? Maybe you would like to play as well then?” (Terion)

Airi shook her head while keeping her natural poker face which would come off as cold to a large amount of people. To me it just looked cute. Because I knew what not being able to show your emotions is like. She was sort of like me. Or rather one of my fragments. To be specific. She was like the guy that doesn’t like his own name. And everything that’s happened in this world has only given him more of a reason to hate it.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I’ve never been fond of it… my uncle was.” (Airi)

“Ah, I see. Well in any case let us talk about the matter at hand. We can converse about the game more at a later date.” (Terion)

I nodded. I also wanted to get to business.

“Then for starters I need to know what you are able to teach her.” (Terion)

“I am able to teach her anything from any of the God’s Races’ languages to mathematics. Of course with magic and the sword included. The only thing I can’t teach her is... well… basic common sense.”

“Hah! I see you are not going to try and fool us on that part. I can tell that you are quite different from all other people I know. A normal person would not just stand when six other people are bowing in front of a king. Even if they are reluctant to do so.”

I could only shrug my shoulders with a smirk. The whole time we were speaking Airi was observing me but she didn’t change her expression. She was just looking at me as if trying to find out what makes me tick.

“I understand. I am impressed that you know so many languages but I will only ask you to teach her the elven one. At least for now. The rest of the normal subjects I’ll leave to you.  As for magic and the sword teach her… in moderation.” (Terion)

“No!” (Airi)

I was surprised when the quiet girl suddenly protested in a loud voice. I would also be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed by her determination to protect this place. If I had been summoned instead of brought here after my death I would have probably flipped out pretty badly. Then again… I still flipped out pretty badly anyway.

“She seems to want me to teach her seriously though?”

“We are not going to ask her to fight. You said it yourself didn’t you? “As long as I’m here she won’t need to”.” (Terion)

I shook my head.

“Asking her to fight and teaching her to do it is a whole different thing Terion. If she wishes to learn it so much then why not let her?”

Airi turned to look at me. her face didn’t change but her eyes were screaming with gratitude and appreciation. Geez. How determined can you get girl?

“But still…” (Terion)

“Look Terion. I’ll teach her and she will decide what to do with it. You can’t force her to just do nothing.”

He looked at me for a second and then nodded reluctantly.

“In the first place. You guys keep talking about fighting and everything but I still haven’t quite been told what it is you are supposed to be fighting.”

Terion looked down, as if unable to face me while talking. It must be pretty serious if he used something as risky as Hero summoning. If it failed it would have been disastrous for his forces. High class mages are powerful… and not easily found. They aren’t as rare as Archmages but they are still definitely powerful. Most of them can do chantless incantations too. I think that Elrond was going easy on me when he didn’t.

“The demons have been showing signs of gathering recently. I speculate that they will be attacking within less than a year from now.” (Terion)

“Why do you think they will be attacking the elves in particular?”

“They are gathering their forces on the east end of their continent. We are just the closest to them. I don’t know if they will be attacking us for sure but the demons are known to annihilate everyone in their way. We are just the first ones in it.” (Terion)

Wow. Demons sound pretty bloodthirsty. I wouldn’t want to encounter one of them In a dark alley at night… or would I? In any case the situation doesn’t sound too good for sure. The demons are a race which is equal in power to the elves while they have as high a population as humans. That’s about all I know about them but it’s enough for me to know that they are quite a force to be reckoned with. The only reason they had been dormant until now from what I can guess is the war they caused a hundred years ago. In the end they were defeated so they were probably recovering from it.

“*Sigh* Enough about that. All we can do is prepare for the worst. When can you start teaching her?” (Terion)

True enough. There was no use thinking about it too much. If push comes to shove I might have to involve myself personally but I will protect this country. Why couldn’t they have started with the human frontier countries? Wait no… the people there are suffering enough as it is. It sounds to me like the demons aren’t a welcome race in the world I plan to create. I might have to make them into the second coming and going of the dinosaurs if you know what I mean. *Sigh* I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to display an overwhelming force in order to make this world a better place this time but if the demons truly are as battle hungry as Terion claims them to be... Nevermind I can think about this more later. I’ll look up more about demons in the library. But teaching huh? I noticed Airi looking at me with hopeful eyes.

“Uh… sorry. I’ll only be able to start the day after tomorrow.”

That seems to have depressed her a bit. This girl. *Sigh* Well. I guess it’s not bad to have something you want to protect. It could be that she didn’t like her life before coming to this world. In any case I would not be able to teach her anything tomorrow as I had something to do.

The rest of our conversation was largely irrelevant. As we were almost done I decided to have the rest of the conversation while walking towards the outer gate. We told Airi that she didn’t really need to come along since it would only be discussing things about my compensation but she still showed off at the exit. Thus I exited the palace which would become my home from tomorrow on. I was sort of looking forward to teaching Airi. The girl seemed to be incredibly enthusiastic. Almost as enthusiastic as Lily and Cel were when we started.

But before that I would have to progress my relationship with Cel. Things really weren’t going to work if they remained as they are. As I left the palace I walked towards the inn while thinking about tomorrow.

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Welp. There it is. This date with Cel thing… is gonna take me so much effort to figure out. I seriously have no idea what to write for that. Also I should really stop being as predictable with my writing. God. I mean I knew I gave you guys a really obvious hint as to who Airi was but come ON (I love you). Anyway. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.