They did it. After 5 years of extensive training, they had finally defeated the Demon King who encroached on the human side of the Earth. 

“Did we actually win?” A young girl, clinging to a wooden staff, broke the silence. Her hands were covered in blisters but she wasn’t alone. Among the six people in the desert, they all shared injuries and fatigue. “Haha… It’s over.” The tall man that was missing one arm expressed his relief. Another man, seemingly the oldest of the group, began crying, “I can finally see my family again!” His tears were contagious. The group huddled up together as they quietly celebrated the end.

However, for them, silence was a privilege.

A bird exclaimed his pains loudly, gaining the humans’ attention. When they looked at the large bird, it was picking off the needles from its feet. “He landed on the cactus…” “Don’t look at me like that!” A creaky voice emerged from the bird.

“Ahem!” After properly ridding himself of the needles, he stood tall, with his chest puffed out. “The Emperor has been made aware of your success and has planned a celebration for you.” The bird flew towards the plain looking man. “You are the captain, correct? Here are your passes so the knights recognize you.” The bird pulled out six shiny gold pieces of paper from his feathers and dropped it in the captain’s hands. 

As the papers dropped, they all looked at the bird in surprise. The man wondered, “How did it not fall when he was flying?” But it seemed the rest of the group was focused on something else. “What do you mean ‘recognize’ us? We’re the heroes who have been fighting off demons for 3 years now!” A woman in knight’s armor walked towards the bird, who seemed flustered. “W-well… you guys have been off fighting in distant lands so-” “Even so! We were basically thrown out of the empire because we were the ‘chosen ones’ destined to defeat the demons. Should we not have a reputation in the empire?” The other members held the knight back, but their faces were colored the same shade of disappointment as hers.

“I simply was told to hand you these invitations!  I’ll be leaving now!” The bird loudly flapped away, leaving tension in the air. “They might’ve just wanted to confirm our identities!” The young girl said cheerfully, trying to console the group. The boy, identical to the girl, seemed to understand. “R-right! Someone could’ve used magic to err, disguise themselves to look like us.” The knight remained quiet. The twins tugged at the plain man and whispered, “do something.” He pointed at himself in surprise and effort to push the blame elsewhere, but the twins did not allow him to escape. 

“Umm-” 

“It’s not just the invitations! We were abandoned by the empire with hardly any resources to defend ourselves! They sent children to face the same monsters their mothers would be telling bedtime stories about.”

The twins gripped harder at the plain man’s clothing. When he looked down, he saw that their faces were flushed and their eyes began tearing up.

“Rupert lost his arm. He almost lost his leg too if it weren’t for Abigail and Alexander’s magic. Albert missed out on seeing the birth of his grandchildren. Is my anger not justified?”

Everyone could only remain silent. Their long journey had left them with worn out souls. 

“You!” She pointed at the plain man, startling him. “You were summoned, no, kidnapped from another world. You lost everything coming here. Can your anger be quenched from a simple party?”

The man was not expecting to be called out. It was true that he had been transported to another world, but he did not miss his home as much as the group was imagining. In fact, even with the suffering, he enjoyed this fantasy realm more than his prior mundane life. Before he could speak, Albert questioned the knight.

“What are you suggesting? To revolt against the empire? Would destroying the place you fought to protect quench your thirst?”

“I was not implying that!”

“Then what! Yes, we were abandoned! But this journey has now ended, Lilith. Let the anger die with it.”

The plain man was confused on what to do. Despite being the captain, it was usually Lilith and Albert who encouraged the rapport within the team. From behind, he could feel the twins shaking as they cried. “I need to say something!” This courage was stomped by Rupert’s intervention. “What are you guys doing? The children are crying! Enough. Let's head home.” 

Upon Rupert’s signal, Abigail drew up a portal to the center of the empire. The group entered the portal without saying anything.

… 

The next day, the group met up together at the castle. “What?” Lilith asked. Everyone was staring at her with shock. “It’s so weird seeing you all dolled up in a dress.” Rupert The Brave spoke the thoughts of the collective. “Hahaha! Same could be said about you!” Lilith laughed while slapping Rupert’s back. “Is that blood coming out of his mouth?” “It can’t be helped. The Emperor sent us clothes to wear for the event. Guess he doesn’t want his honored guests embarrassing him?” The plain man said while tugging at his collar.“C’mon Captain! You look great so stop fidgeting with your clothes or else it’ll wrinkle.”

“Your invitation?” A deep voice stopped their chatter. The plain man handed the guard the gold papers and noticed the guard’s quick retraction of his hand, as if he didn’t want to be touched by the man.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The man couldn’t help but think, “I guess even with new clothes, we still look different from the upper class”

The knight stared intensely at the invitations and back at the group. Only after showing the invitation to a colleague, the group was let inside.

Once they were allowed in, they saw the large castle embellished with decorations, making it seem even more magnificent. The twins let go of Lilith’s hands and ran ahead.

“Woah, this place’s so big! Look, don’t I look like a princess?” Abigail spun around with Alexander. The adults couldn’t be as carefree as the children. The nobles that surrounded them seemed to know that they were outsiders. Whispers regarding their identity filled the ball room.

“How dare you!” A noblewoman suddenly yelled out. Both Abigail and the woman had juice spilt on them. Alexander, noticing his sister’s eyes well up, timidly apologized. “W-we’re so s-sorry, ma-am! Swear, we didn’t m-mean to do it on purpose!” Despite the child’s earnest apology, the noblewoman remained angry. “If apologies meant anything, then we wouldn’t need knights! What was that about you being a princess? A child like you couldn’t even dream of working in the palace!” 

The plain man couldn’t believe the woman’s viciousness. He walked towards the children with the others. As he helped Abigail clean herself, Lilith stood in front of the noblewoman. 

Right as she was about to say something, the guard’s announced the Emperor’s arrival. Everyone bowed down once the Emperor walked in and unanimously said “Glory to the Emperor!” 

“It seems you all are very tense. Is there a problem?”

“Not at all!” The noblewoman rushed to answer. There was no way she was going to bring up such a small issue to the Emperor.

The Emperor noticed the group and called them forward. “I would like to introduce to you the ‘chosen ones’ who fought off the Demon King.” Their introduction lit chatter from the nobles. 

“They’re the chosen ones?” “I expected something else.” “Why weren’t their identities revealed?” 

“This party is meant to celebrate them! But before we start, I’d like to award them for their difficult journey.” The Emperor gracefully silenced the crowd and drew attention back to himself.

“To the heroes and their victory!” The Emperor began announcing the awards he had lined up for the six victors. One of which stood out from the rest. “You, hero from another world, have blessed this empire. You managed to train and lead your team to victory despite your lack of knowledge of this world. To you, I have prepared something that will meet the scale of your contributions!” The declaration ended with the audiences’ cheers and the Emperor leading the hero elsewhere.

…

“I don’t really need anything.” The hero played with his hands while walking behind the Emperor. “Nonsense! Without you, this country would have died in the hands of those wicked beasts.” The chuckles from the Emperor did not reassure the hero’s doubts. “How far is it?” The hero wondered but he refused to express his curiosity aloud to avoid being rude. From the large windows of the castle, he could see the rest of his group mingling with guests from foreign nations. “Ahhh…it would’ve been better if I could just stay there. My ‘contribution’ is equal to the rest of the group, why'd I have to be singled out?” 

Thunk! The hero, busy staring at the view outside, had not realized they had arrived. “Are you alright there?” The Emperor had not expected the hero to be inattentive. The hero could only nod his head repeatedly to allay his embarrassment. After the Emperor gave the servant a signal, they opened the gigantic doors. In it, he saw many treasures ranging from gems to ancient scrolls. 

“What is all this?” The hero was thoroughly confused. How could the empire be holding such a large stash of treasures? The large room was filled leaving hardly any space to walk around. 

“This is your share” 

“All of this? Would this not hurt the country’s economy?”

“As to be expected from you, hero! Don’t worry. This amount would hardly scratch the country’s development.”

“There’s more? Where’d you get all of this from?” 

The Emperor’s usual friendly attitude changed, “Now hero, you may be our savior but many of the empire’s secrets will be hidden to even you. Yes?” Right. Who was he to worry about the empire when he was finally able to live a life full of leisure and luxury? “I understand. My apologies.” A laugh emerged from the Emperor’s belly that quickly changed the mood as if nothing had happened. “No need to be so serious! Anyways, an estate has been prepared for you as well. I hope your assistance would only be limited to overseeing the imperial knights.”

The Emperor once again signaled his servant as he exited the room. “This man will lead you to your new land. I shouldn’t leave the guests alone anymore or else I’ll be a terrible host!” 

“Like anyone would insult the Emperor’s hospitality” the hero thought as he watched the Emperor leave with a train of servants. “If you'd follow me.” A monotone voice came from the man that was left behind. A quick glance was shared between the two before the servant pushed up his glasses and began walking. 

As he walked behind, the hero couldn’t help but try to fill the silence. “How long have you been working here? You still seem young.” The hero wasn’t one for small talk but it was his only option for dealing with someone quieter than him. “Many servants start to work from an early age to ensure they’re trained well.” The curt response seemed to be attacking the hero’s lack of knowledge regarding the country’s customs. 

“Oh sor-” 

“But I have only recently started working here. My father was a [][][][][][][][][][][]

“Wait… can you repeat that? For some reason, your voice sounded muffled”

“My fath[][][][][]” 

The hero began to realize that everything was muffled, not just the man ahead of him. His vision had also started to blur.

“Sir hero? Are you-” 

Everything went black and a ringing noise was the only thing that could be heard. “Poison?” The hero couldn’t think of anything that he consumed that would cause him to act this way. The tugs from the servant grew lighter and his consciousness faded.

…

A beeping noise awoke the hero. As the noise continued, a voice spoke over it. 

“wa[][] []p”

“wake []p”

“Wake up!” 

The hero slowly opened his eyes and stared at the blurry face in front of him. 

“Are you awake now? You’re going to be late, so hurry and get ready!” The woman was looking down on him, running her fingers through his hair. 

“Mom?”