And (N)one Shall Remain

“So that’s why you summon heroes from another world? Cause we all got a head start compared to your own local folks?” Ethan asked just after the priest appointed to teach them about the history of the world and matters pertaining to the hero summoning finished his lecture.

“Indeed so, Chosen One,” replied the priest with a humble bow. All the bowing and scraping that the clergy did in their presence honestly bugged Alissa quite a bit, but she chalked it up to their literally calling down what was probably their equivalent of angels from heaven, so she had let it pass so far. After all, her attempts to get them to stop all the bowing and scraping had only fallen to deaf ears. “From our recorded history, a Chosen One would be the equivalent of at least a middle second tier despite being at level one, with some actually capable of matching third tier warriors of their persuasion.”

“And where do we fall under that comparison?” he asked once more, with more obvious curiosity and enthusiasm in his voice this time. Ethan had taken their being summoned to another world the best out of the three of them. Joshua still vehemently denied everything and kept muttering that it was all a dream he would wake up from.

“If I were to compare that statistics you had shown with the past heroes, Chosen One, then it would be on the lower end. Please do not take that negatively however. History has shown a definite leaning for Chosen Ones who started weaker to grow at a greater pace when compared to those who started stronger,” said the priest in a persuasive tone of voice.

“Ah, so late bloomer archetypes then,” said Ethan as if it explained everything. Alissa sort of understood what the priest meant, but not to the extent Ethan had. He seemed to shift from disappointed - no doubt from being one of the weaker heroes, as the guy was always a competitive one - to mollified in a single moment. “I could live with that.”

“Care to put it in plain-people words, Greene? You know I don’t spend entire weekends in front of the screen like you do,” asked Alissa with a slight touch of annoyance in her voice. Ethan was far more of a nerd and a geek than anyone who wasn’t close to him ever suspected, and while she did partake in his passions at times, she was nowhere near as well-versed with them as he was.

“Ah. Right. Pretty much like what the priest-dude here said. We start off weaker, but as long as we keep leveling we’ll end up stronger than others at higher levels,” said Ethan quickly in answer. He talked animatedly while gesturing with his hands, something Alissa knew he only did when he was excited. Then again, all this mess might well be a dream come true for him. “Oh right, sorry man, I don’t think I’ve caught your name?”

“This lowly servant is named Karius, Chosen One. You may call me however you prefer,” replied the priest with the humble bow that grated on Alissa’s nerves. Ethan seemed less bothered about it and just took it in stride, though.

“Right, then, Karius. In your explanation you mentioned that hero summoning is a relatively common thing, something like twice or thrice every century, right?” Ethan asked, to which the priest nodded in response. “So what I’m wondering is… do you have some sorta training program set up for newbie heroes like us? Fresh off the summoning and needing to level and all? I don’t think you’d summon some second or at best third tier equivalents to then toss them straight into battle, no?”

“There is such a training indeed, Chosen One. This lowly servant believes that the King and Bishops will arrange for it once some time for acclimatization had been given and deemed satisfactory,” replied the priest with another low bow. His words reminded Alissa of their meeting with said king and probably several of the bishops not a day ago.

Much like Ethan had told her to expect on their way to the throne room, they were brought before a gathering of what could only be the Kingdom’s higher-ups before the King himself - an old, if healthy-looking man who sat comfortably on his throne of what seemed to be unpadded solid wood - launched into a spiel welcoming the “Chosen Ones” who arrived at their “Time of Need” that will lead the battle to defeat the “Great Evil” as the prophecy had foretold.

That was also the point when the little prick Joshua had to have a public breakdown and go raving about how everything must’ve been a dream he’d soon wake up from and had to be sedated by one of the priests. At least the priests had been gentle about it, and Ethan had helped subdue him although it was probably unnecessary - Alissa doubted that the armored knights in the throne room were less than third tier in power - so that likely helped give them some more favorable looks.

“Good to see that you folks already got some experience with this, I guess,” said Ethan with a nod at the priest, who seemed to light up at the praise. “At least it’s much better than being given some random sword or whatnot and told to go off and kill the demon king like so many others did,” he continued, which caused a confused look of consternation on the young priest’s face. “Oh, nevermind that, just some stories I’ve read before.”

After a bit more time spent to assure the young priest’s worry about Ethan’s accidental blurting of other stories he read about, he and Alissa finally left the room they had taken the lecture in. Outside the room they found Cerilla waiting by the side, apparently having waited for them for a good while from the looks of things, though the priestly woman showed no signs of annoyance in her face as she greeted them beatifically.

“Hi, Cerilla,” said Alissa as she greeted the priest. Cerilla had insisted that they call her by her name, and they had obliged. Despite the “accident” they encountered at the temple, it seemed that no blame was placed on her, as such incidents were not rare in their records. In fact, Cerilla had been assigned to the Chosen Ones as their guide of sorts, to help take care of their needs whatever it might be.

Neither Alissa nor Ethan missed the way the King seemed to emphasize the term “Whatever” when he said it, and the implications thereof. Alissa was just glad that the prick Joshua had already been taken away by then as he would have probably abused such a privilege right off the bat, knowing him and his history at school.

“Is everything… fine with Joshua throwing a tantrum and whatnot?” asked Alissa just in case. While Joshua Smith was a prick and a bully who relied on his parent’s generous donations to the school - and their position on the head of the parent-teacher association - to get away with his being an asshole to others when nobody was looking, but whether she liked it or not, the three of them were stuck in this other world together, and it was only logical for them to help each other out.

“Ah, Chosen Smith is in good hands, so please be at ease,” said the priestly woman with a voice that reminded Alicia of her mother. It also caused a pang of worry in her heart about what her family would think if she just disappeared like that, although the King had assured them that defeating the Great Evil would allow them to funnel enough energy to conduct a ritual that would then send them back, exactly at the moment they left, so as to make it as if they had never left at all.

Neither Alissa nor Ethan asked about the obvious problem with how the King worded it, namely what would happen if one of them failed to make it to the end somehow, or worse, if the other side won the whole thing.

“Rest assured that this is not the first time a Chosen One denied the reality of what happened around them, as the transition and summoning might well be very jarring to some. We had been taught on how to best handle such cases, and we believe that at the moment, to give Chosen Smith some time on his own to come to terms with what happened would be best for everyone involved,” continued Cerilla with a nod. “Please have faith that we are giving him our finest hospitality in the meantime.”

“We believe you,” said Alissa with a somewhat relieved sigh. It was a good thing that the Kingdom was willing to take such a gentle approach in handling Joshua, the prick that he was irrelevant to the matter. If they tried to force things down on the brat’s throat he might well have a meltdown instead and that would probably go ugly and might even affect Alissa and Ethan negatively. “Thanks for taking care of that jerk so well, even if he might not deserve it.”

“So, what’s up next on the schedule?” Ethan asked. Their day after the meeting had been mostly crammed with lessons of all sorts, from history to local culture and other things considered likely to be relevant to the chosen ones, with breaks mostly for eating and sleeping. There was some sense of urgency in the matter, but not one that seemed particularly strong yet. “Honestly I’m surprised you all took the time to teach us all the stuff that mattered and eased our way into things. I thought these sorts of summons meant that things were dire, usually.”

“On the contrary, Chosen one. We summoned you when we received the portent of an upheaval that was about to arrive. As such, naturally it would also be to our mutual benefit to have you all prepared and as powerful as we could get you to before the actual upheaval happened, would you not agree?” asked the priestly woman with a kind voice. “There were records in our history books of summons done far too haphazardly, without time for the Chosen Ones to prepare themselves properly. That had ended in one of the worst debacles in the Kingdom’s history and almost caused its downfall even.”

“As for the next thing on the schedule, the Royal Armorer wished to take your measurements so he could begin the work on crafting armor for your usage,” said Cerilla with a nod after she thought for a moment, as Ethan’s question had taken her mind of the reason of her presence to fetch them. “If you have any wishes to convey regarding said armor, the Royal Armorer also pledged that he would do the best he could to fulfill them.”

“Armor, huh… So I guess we’re going to be fighting things soon after all…” muttered Alissa as she and Ethan followed behind Cerilla through the corridors of the Royal Castle, where they were currently located. “I guess I never imagined this sort of thing even in my wildest dreams.”

“For what it’s worth, Allie, it could’ve been far worse,” said Ethan in an equally low voice as he walked alongside her. “We could’ve been called to a place that’d slap up with some random sword from the warehouse and then just send us out to go kill things or die trying. These people at least seem to have an idea of what they’re doing.”

“A little too well maybe, don’t you think?” asked Alissa. She had some doubts in her mind about how things sometimes seemed too good to be true considering the situation they were in. Everybody just seemed too nice, too understanding. If the world was so nice and understanding there wouldn’t have been a need for “heroes” like them, so she felt that her doubts might have something to it.

“Maybe. Could also be that they’re just used to this sort of thing, which they are if their history books aren’t lying,” admitted Ethan with a shrug of his shoulders. “That said, it’d be good for one of us to keep our eyes open for possible foul play as well, so do keep that doubt you have for the time being, unless they prove it to be just paranoia someday.”