Before the light from the summoning died down the king began his welcoming speech.

“Welcome mighty heroes to our holy kingdom!”

I could see what he was doing. He was making sure he looked like the most important person in the room and to be the first person the heroes looked at. In my opinion he was wasting his breath as he had already succeeded in this by just sitting on the royal throne.

With the bright light slowly dissipating the heroes who stood inside the circle were revealed to all. Not a single eye was focused on anything else.

Many gasps and shocked sounds came from the surrounding nobles. The first hero which stood out the most was a beautiful girl who was wearing an equally beautiful dress. One would think they were in the presence of royalty with her appearance. The next was a lady who gave off a warm, gentle and motherly vibe. This woman stood next to the princess holding her hand and supporting her. Stood next to the two of them was the last female hero. A woman who looked stern and strict and clearly took shit from nobody.

A small distance from the female heroes was the the group of male heroes. In the centre stood a chubby man who gave off an excited and childish aura. Surrounding him were two older men. One of them appeared to be old and wise while the other could only be described by the words ordinary.

Looking towards the king I could see some surprise in his expression. Was he expecting a knight in shining armour or a Prince Charming to show up? Honestly he probably expected a lot more heroes to be summoned. The king pulling himself together began to continue his speech. He stood up from his throne and started to introduce himself.

Once again I started zoning out. His introductions took way too long. I understand him introducing himself as king with his many titles but when he started to introducing others with just as many titles I could feel my eyelids growing heavy. When he finally got to introducing us I could see the heroes staring at us with shock. They were clearly showing more interest in the two of us than anyone else in the room. I kind of expected this of course not because they knew who we were, but because we are the first non-humans they had ever seen. Holding Angelica by the waist I ended up giving a smile and a little wave.

Seeing the chubby mans eyes sparkling I almost instantly destroyed him by reflex. Before he could bombard the two of us with questions the elderly woman started to introduce herself to the king. The king was again shocked by the heroes. I think he expected confusion and disorder. Lucky for him the heroes that were summoned actually wanted to be here.

“Greetings your majesty. My name is Linda. It’s an honour to meet you.”

With Linda starting off the wave of introductions the rest of the heroes started introducing themselves too.

Next to introduce herself was the girl who previously wore rags. I could see that the elderly woman was supporting her. She even gave the girl a friendly nudge trying to boost her confidence.

“Greetings My name is Lilly.” She spoke with a small bow. No one in the room missed hearing her voice tremble. When she finished her introduction she slipped behind Linda trying to avoid all the eyes that were staring at her. Luckily for her the chubby man was introducing himself next. This guy’s energy is over the top all the time so everyones attention was successfully diverted to him.

“Greetings your majesty. This heroes name is Edward. It’s truly an honour to meet you and every one in here.” He spoke with an enthusiastic tone and showed courtesy like he had been training for this moment.

One by one the rest of the heroes introduced themselves. The stern and strict looking woman was called Sarah. The wise looking man was called Martin while the ordinary looking man was called Henry.

Next the king started introducing the holy kingdom. He started talking about the history and the geography of the place he also spoke about the races and some of the laws in place here. Of course with Edward interrupting the king every few minutes I almost ended up falling asleep.

I should have mentioned this earlier but I gave the heroes a little cheat before they left the pocket dimension. I don’t know what this kingdom truly plans for the heroes and I don’t really care that much either. I don’t plan on baby sitting them in their new lives here either. However since I went through the effort of making sure those who were summoned wanted to be summoned I didn’t want to see them become slaves or tools of war. To prevent this I gave them the cheat of being resistant to any mental and physical statuses. This included things like mind control, charm and poison resistance. It wasn’t a game changing cheat but was definitely a life saving one.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

With the introductions finally complete the king tells the heroes to go and rest and that any further questions they may have would be answered the next day. I could see he was worn out with Edwards extensive questioning and just wanted a break. Seeing his exhausted expression a small part of me felt like I could relate.

Exiting the throne room we were guided outside to a line of carriages. The heroes were then told that they would be living on palace grounds until they were strong enough to survive by themselves. Angelica and I also got an invitation to live here as the king wanted the both of us to deepen our relationship with the heroes.

Accepting the offer the both of us followed the heroes to our new living quarters. Surprisingly the heroes wanted to take in the sights of the palace and decided to walk. Tagging along we followed the heroes who excitedly took in the surrounding sights. The palace was decorated well. There were fountains made of pure gold to statues of previous kings slaying dragons. There was nothing that was left out Mortal architecture was interesting to me. It couldn’t be compared to my own but seeing something new and different wasn’t too bad.

Angelica who was walking behind Skyler had no interest in the over the top monuments the humans had built. She was was closely following Skyler while feeling pretty bored. Seeing Skyler walking slightly ahead of her made her feel slightly empty. What she truly wanted was to walk by his side. Remembering what she had done this morning made her feel hesitant and embarrassed but then she remembered how Skyler had held her tight during the summoning ceremony. He was clearly giving out the message that she was taken and his. Giving herself a boost of confidence she walked by his side. Deep inside she promised herself that she would no longer be satisfied with just being his servant.

Walking to his side Angelica now was facing her next mini hurdle. No longer afraid and full of unwavering resolve she took a leap of faith and wrapped her arm around Skyler and held his waist. She had seen several mortals walking like this with their lovers on the journeys she had taken in the past. With a tinge of red on her cheeks she continued walking like everything was normal not daring to change her facial expression.

Skyler however was shocked inside. His first shock came from the kiss she stole this morning. But now she was doing it again. When was the last time someone had approached him like this? He knew his existence was a lonely one but he never blamed anyone for it. He was kind, caring and a nice person to be around but still the gods kept their distance. Why? He was a ticking time bomb. When he got angry even the ruler of hell trembles with fear. If he was truly pissed off forget about the heavens the whole multiverse would tremble with his rage. Who would want to get close to someone like that?

Of course the angels are different but could he call them his friends? The answer to that would be no. They were just servants who were made to make his boring job easier. He still loved them like a master loved his creations but that was all. Angelica however was changing. Not only had she stolen a kiss this morning she was getting more and more confident which led to her leaving her comfort zone more and more.

The angels I created were noble creatures full of justice and honour. Over the years they each gained their own personalities from the bubbly and kind ones to the ruthless and cold ones. They were all evolving at their own pace. Of course their loyalty was unquestioned. The angels would rather die than betray one another or myself.

As an angel Angelica was cold and ruthless to her enemies and her loyalty was way over 100% Thoughts like being my lover would never have appeared in her mind before. She would think that she was undeserving and just a servant, but she would always strive to show her usefulness. Right now however she was breaking out of her shell of just being my creation. This begged the question was she no longer satisfied with just being my servant? How much would she change? Answering her move with my own I put my arm around her waist and held her tight. I was truly excited to see how Angelica would grow.

Arriving at our new living quarters interrupted my deep thoughts. Looking in front of us I could see a newly built mansion which caused the heroes to become even more excited.

Entering the mansion I see two lines of people. One was a line of maids and the other a line of butlers both bowing towards us.

“Welcome home masters!” They all said in unison accompanied with a deep bow.

Since Angelica and I were used to this sort of thing we casually acknowledged them and continued on further into the mansion. The heroes however weren’t. The head butler and maid eventually broke them out of their shocked states by introducing themselves.

The butler was called Sebastian and the maid was called Siesta and they would be taking care of us for the foreseeable future. Sebastian gave off a professional vibe and never broke out of character, while Siesta was strict and would surely try and keep everyone in check.

We were next given a tour of the mansion by Sebastian. The mansion was pretty ordinary. It contained a lot of rooms which may have indicated that the king was expecting more heroes. The kitchens and dining hall were pretty ordinary too. I personally don’t see why the heroes were so engrossed with their new living space. Next we got to see the rooms everyone would receive. Siesta segregated the rooms into male and female. When she looked at us I simply told her that Angelica was my fiancé. Unable to separate us she sighed and gave us a bigger room. I have to say seeing Angelica turn bright red in just a few seconds was quiet hilarious. Her grip tightened a lot too. A mortal would have a broke spine you know.

Next it was time to eat. Since Sebastian gave us a tour Siesta was making the food with the other maids. By the time we were done with assigning the rooms the food was ready. Sebastian led us to the dining room in which there was a feast laid out on the dining table.

During our meal the heroes mainly Edward wanted to get to know everyone better. We were also asked many questions mainly related to our race. Angelica was questioned a lot about how she drinks blood and the rumours of her being weak to the sun. The questions they asked me were about elves themselves and if I could really use magic. The meal eventually ended up becoming a magic demonstration. I found myself showing a variety of magic from manipulating fire and water to using telekinesis and eating food with no hands. Seeing all this magic I had accidentally blown their minds.

After the meal was over the day was still young and it was too early to retreat to our rooms. The two older men decided to visit the library while the rest of the heroes wanted to explore the city. Since the palace didn’t want to send the heroes alone we ended up becoming their guards for the evening. Since we were barely familiar with the city ourselves I decided this might be a good opportunity to see how this city functions.