At the end of the first week, as the custom of this school, there would be a ball.

I was dressed in a fancy red tuxedo, standing in the corner of the ballroom. I wasn’t used to such formal gatherings, so I stayed there, taking a sip of my grape juice. We were already allowed to drink wine, but I didn't want to risk getting drunk. At least most of the students here seemed to have some level of self-control when it comes to alcohol.

Maya, meanwhile, was off with Solicea and their other friends, leaving me all alone. I had gotten quite the number of secret admirers myself. Not everyday you saw someone level one hundred casually destroying the prince. But that was the same reason no one, other than Maya, Solicea, and Emori approached me in the days after that.

They were too scared to mess with royalty. Maya never cared in the first place, Solicea followed Maya around, while Emori was the princess. They couldn’t do anything to her.

Probably not, as least.

On the other side of the ballroom, Prilus- I mean His Highness Prilus, was chatting with some of his peers. I need to remember to call him his highness now that the duel had ended. What a pain.

Despite the embarrassment he made of himself, Prilus had no problem chatting with others. If anything, he was surrounded by people, acting all high and mighty. His sister, on the other hand…

Emori simply stood in the other corner, looking overwhelmed. Only a couple of girls tried talking with her, and the conversation ended quickly.

Is she not good in these kinds of situations?

After a few more seconds of watching her just standing there, I felt bad and made my way across the room. I passed the prince. He glanced my way, but said nothing. I figured he didn’t want to shame himself even further.

“Emori.”

“Eep!” Emori shrieked, taking a step back, looking up toward me.

“Ah, sorry! I don’t know it was you.”

“It’s alright. Can I ask for a dance?” I extended my hand. To be honest, my dancing was terrible. I never could see its charm, either. But this was a social event. It would help her social standing if people saw her dancing.

“... Sure.” She hesitated for a moment but took my hand. We entered the center and began our dance, moving along to the music. People turned their eyes toward us as we spun around in the large hallway. They were probably judging how terrible I was at it.

Sorry, baron!

The baron tasked himself in teaching me and Maya proper etique before attending school. That was how I learned dancing in the first place. But I soon realized that my performance was pretty poor.

Emori, on the other hand, performed outstandingly. She matched my movements and supported me. After a while, the music stopped. I let go of her hand.

“Thank you, Princess.” I bowed and took my leave. After I left, proper aristocrats approached and began asking her for a dance. With my mission in the clear, I made my way out of the hall.

* ••

It was a cold night. I stood on the railings of the balcony. I wasn’t sure what this part was used for, but it was next to the main hall, at the rear of the school building. Below us were classrooms, and the balcony was high enough to look past the walls surrounding the school complex, far into the city beyond.

There was no one else there, making it a great place to cool down for a bit.

“Hey.” A voice came from right beside me. I turned to my right, thinking it was Emori or Maya, but there was no one there. I thought I was hearing things, so I gaze back out at the city, but another call happened.

“Can you hear me, Fortisbel?”

“Huh…”

This voice sounded familiar, and then I realized that it was Asytelar’s voice. The voice seemed to appear directly inside my mind. It had a weird feeling to it, as if a hallucination. It was similar to the use of the spell Connect. I replied by speaking through my mind.

“You’re here?”

“I’m in your mind. I’m using magic to connect directly to your brain. But, apparently, it’s a bad time. Let us meet again later.”

“Huh, what do you-” Before I could ask my question, the voice disappeared. The door to the balcony moved open, and from it, came Emori. Her lips curled into a smile as she began running toward me.

“Fortisbel, you're here.”

“Feel free to call me just Fortis.”

“Okay.”

“So, how was the dance?”

She beamed at my question. “It was so fun! Thank you for helping me.”

“It was nothing. If anything, you're the one helping me.”

“How come?”

“I can't dance.” I scratched my cheeks. “The baron where I lived tried teaching me, but I'm still terrible at it.”

Emori shook her head. “I think you did wonderful.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Please be more confident of yourself!”

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

“You're the last person I want to hear that from.” I stifled a laugh. “You need to be confident yourself.”

“You think I'm not confident enough?”

“For one, you kept apologizing even when it's not your fault.”

“Well…” She averted her gaze. She wasn't apologizing as often as when we first met, but she still did it occasionally.

“... Please forget about it.”

“Is something going on?”

She shook her head. “No, there is nothing.”

“If you say so.”

We stood side by side for a moment.

“... Sorry for what my brother did to you.”

“It's been four days. There's no need to worry.”

After being utterly defeated, Prilus only looked at me from a distance. He refused to say a single word to me, and would go out of his way to avoid me. The crow that I saw that day was still lurking around, though. I could feel its glare on me.

Nothing happened, not yet at least. I had caught the eyes of someone powerful, and it wouldn't be long until that person made their move.

… it's here.

I had noticed it before, but its presence had only become clearer. Seemed like it had approached me when Emori came out. I looked toward a nearby building, and sure enough, there it stood.

“What are you looking at?” Emori asked.

“Above that building.”

The lone crow stood at the rooftops. The building was outside the school grounds.

“Ah… it's Arnold’s.”

“Arnold?”

“Arnold is our castle mage. He has a pet crow that helps him with various tasks.”

“I see… am I supposed to know this, though?”

“I’m not sure… are you uncomfortable with it?”

“So I'm the target?”

“I'm sorry…”

I shook my head. “It's not your fault. You don't have to apologize for every little thing. Actually, let me say something.”

“What is it?” Emori tilted her head.

“If you apologize too much, people will look down on you. They'll start pushing mistakes onto you. Not just that, they'll start using you.”

“Is… is that so?”

“And your apology weigh less when you apologize all the time.”

“... You're not the first one to say that, actually.”

I tilted my head. “Your brother said something like that?”

Emori shook her head. “No, it's a friend from Nanawak.”

“Nanawak… I think I've heard about it in my past life…”

If I wasn't mistaken, the Eastern Wolves originated from the Nanawak Empire. The nation itself was located east from Syla, across the ocean. The game’s map didn't reach that far, though.

“Past life?”

Oh, shoot. I missed that.

“I mean, like in my village and that.” I hastily explained.

“I see… anyway, thank you for reminding me.” Emori bowed her head. She was an one eighty from her brother. I couldn't imagine her brother doing this.

“No problem. Keep at it!”

“I will.”

We coversed some more on the balcony. The next time I looked toward the building, the crow was no longer there.

* ••

After the ball, I returned to my room. I took a bath then went to bed. I closed my eyes, but then I heard a voice.

“Are you going to sleep, Fortisbel?”

“Asytelar?”

I got out of bed and looked out the window. To my surprise, I could see the crow resting on a tree.

“There is no need to worry, Fortisbel. That crow is me, or rather, a part of my consciousness.”

“Wait, so you're not Arnold’s?”

“Arnold is my apprentice. He helped me when my old body was still alive.”

Considering how long it had been since the demon king's defeat, it made sense that the old party would all be dead by now.

“But, if your body is no longer alive…”

“Haha, it's quite a complicated process. Don't worry, I'm not going to hang around forever. I'm here simply to help guide you until you defeat the demon king. Once that happens, I shall go to the afterlife.”

The way she talked about it so casually was a bit creepy.

“What would happen to Al1cea, though?”

“Not long after your death, I handed the company off to my subordinates and used magic to return my soul here. That body is in a coma right now. If you succeed, she would never wake up again.”

“I feel bad for your colleagues…”

“Such is simply the truth of life. Now, Fortisbel, I shall not bore you with these philosophical questions. I am here to ask for your help. Do you know about the prophecy?”

“Prophecy…”

I never heard such a thing in this world.

Or wait… actually…

In the game, the character was given a prophecy, stating that in a few years, the seal on the demon king will break, and that a band of heroes must gather to protect this world.

But no such prophecy existed here.

“You mean the one in the game?”

“Yes. This world doesn’t know about that prophecy.”

“Why? I thought that game is based on this world?”

“I made some adjustments to help me find the correct player.”

“I see… so what do you need my help with?”

“Back then, we weren't strong enough to kill the demon king, so we sealed him in the depths of his lair. It is only a matter of time before that seal will be destroyed.”

“So you went to Earth and made the game, to call for help?”

“Correct.”

“But… Why me?”

“You were the number one player in Mimosa, are you not? You have a wide knowledge of the game, and you are the only person that can cast four elements at the same time.”

In the game, casting multiple elements was extremely difficult. The time window for activating multiple spells was incredibly tight, and you need to make precise movements. I only mastered it after playing for so long, and after that, people always called me a cheater. But that was using a controller, not directly with my body. Using magic was much harder here.

“There's also the thing about how you died. I could say that I’m lucky. You turn away from that world with no regrets, and you have no problem with fitting into this world. You even get yourself a dragon friend, although it’s unfortunate dragons can’t feel romantic love to humans.”

“Can you not tease me?”

“I apologize.” I could hear her voice giggling.

“So my mission is to defeat the demon king?” I reiterated. I kept it in the back of my mind all these years, but I still found it hard to believe. As to why I kept grinding despite that…

As a gamer, the grind never stops.

“Yes. It is not something you will be able to do alone. You have many friends. Please prepare them all for the battle.”

I could do that, I think? I tried leading a clan in my past life, and it didn’t go well, but that was with strangers. It did blessed me with some experience with leading a group, and now I have Maya, Solicea, and Emori.

… Did I have no male friends? I should start getting close to the prince, huh?

Being close to the princess did give me some advantages. With her power, forming an army shouldn’t be a hard task.

“I shall do my best.”

“Thank you. I am sorry I cannot do much for you.”

“Don’t worry. Leave this world to me.”

“We shall part ways here. I shall come check on you some other time.”

Her voice disappeared. I checked the tree outside the window, the crow was no longer there.

The hero, huh? I guess my journey starts here.