Chapter 5: The Year Before And Now

-Mormial Kingdom; Raphtal City; Royal Palace; King's office-

-One Year Ago-

In a very extravagant room with blue walls covered in patterns of gold, there is a big desk with mountains of paper that could easily hide most people. It was not something you would see every day, and most certainly not a situation the majority would like to find themselves in.

Sitting on the desk's chair there is a man with a canary-colored curly long beard, that reaches his chest. This man was stocky but not completely fat, as some muscle could be easily seen at first glance.

His hair was of the same color as his beard, while his eyes carried a deep maroon giving him an unusual and mystifying look. He's not too tall or short, his face is somewhat rough and wild but somehow still conveys the aura of a noble.

The clothes he was wearing consisted of a high-quality red cloak, a blue long undertunic embroidered with golden threads, beige trousers, and leather shoes.

*knock* *knock*

While he was focused on the masses of paper stained at his desk, he heard knocking on the door.

*sigh*

Letting a sigh out, the man with dark circles under his eyes, slowly lifted his head from looking at the papers to looking at the door.

"Who is it?! If not for matters of utmost importance, I'm busy." The man started working on the papers immediately after answering and didn't bother to pay any more attention to the door.

"Your Majesty, it is I Lavnik, and I have brought a request from your third daughter, princess Merilyn." The person on the other side of the door announced in a firm and composed tone.

"You may come in." The King said after having heard Lavnik's response, after all, he's one of his most trusted subordinates.

The door opened and a lanky man came in wearing a black long shirt and black trousers, his posture and overall air about are elegant. He slowly approached the King's desk.

"Your Majesty, your daughter princess Merilyn has requested an audience with your Highness." Lavnik announced while bowing to the king.

"... Tell her, I will not be available until after the Hero summoning ceremony. Now, if you don't have any more announcements to make, I have a kingdom to rule." The King waved his hand and once again focused on the papers on his desk.

"Hm... My King... The third princess insisted on having an audience with your Majesty, even after I told her the same. She then said that she intends to discuss matters related to the Hero summoning ceremony." Lavnik declared as with worry in his tone of voice.

"Call her, and tell her audience request has been accepted." The King narrowed his eyes and rubbed his forehead for a bit, before responding.

Lavnik nodded his head and left with his orders.

Not long after, a girl with vivid golden hair and emerald green eyes wearing a long pink dress came in a very elegant and calm manner, her steps very light and producing almost no sound.

"I Merilyn Ven Mormial, third Princess of the Mormial Kingdom, present myself before you, my King." She bowed and didn't move an inch waiting for the King's answer.

"Enough of your foolery my daughter, what exactly brings you here?" The King had his expression stale and serious, while his eyes seemed to look directly into Merilyn's soul.

Merilyn got up and answered. "I have been wondering, why I have to give myself to the hero from another world. Not only are they not residents of Mirth, but they could also be enemies for all we know." She said with an expression as serious as the king's, while her voice didn't seem to waver at all despite the pressure of his glare.

"First and foremost, as a princess and my daughter, you shouldn't worry about things such as those, you should smile and appear good for the kingdom, secondly, you should at least know that heroes are very powerful individuals, especially those that come from other worlds..." The King paused and sighed then continued.

"But I do understand your worries, so I will tell you that the Hero summoning ceremony makes those evoked's minds subconsciously unable to turn against their summoners unless some special conditions are met. They won't necessarily be under our control, but they won't be capable of turning against us." The King explained while looking at his daughter.

"I now know why you trust them, but why must I be close to the heroes then? If there is no risk, why must I be with them?" Merilyn asked now with her eyebrows narrowed and had a bit of a shaky voice.

"That is, because it only lasts for the first four years of their residence in this world, and during that time you the holy maiden will get close to them and reap the benefits of being part of the hero's party, together with a few selected knights.

"Since after those four years, we don't have any certainties, it is crucial, to form a good relationship with them, and aside from that, you naturally belong to the hero's party as the holy maiden." The King calmly said without loosening his glare on her.

"Now, you should go to your room and wait for the ceremony, after all, there's only one year left before it takes place." The king added.

Merilyn opened her mouth slightly, but then closed it and did as her father ordered, leaving his office and heading towards her room.

Soon she reached her room, entered it then closed the door.

She slowly walked towards her bed and let herself fall on it.

"It's so unfair how he never lets me even try to do what I want, everything is decided for me and I have to smile and be happy about it... Am I even living my life at this point?" Merilyn immediately started talking to herself and complaining about her life.

She turned herself around and was now looking at the roof of the room. "I can't even choose what I can and can't like, I must be that perfect little doll...

"I wish I could run away but this place is a better prison than a palace... All I want is my freedom!" She ranted to herself as she slowly went silent until she fell asleep.

-The next day-

Sleeping on her luxury bed, princess Merilyn was snorting and even had a single line of drool coming out her mouth, she looked nothing like a perfect princess at this moment.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Princess Merilyn, it's time to wake up, your Majesty and the Queen will be mad if you're late for breakfast again." A soft voice from outside her room could be heard.

"Hm! *yawn*" Merilyn yawned and felt really tired, despite the fact she had slept for quite a long time.

"Wait... What time is it?..." Merilyn said as she looked at an hourglass standing on a nightstand.

"It's only 8:00 o.m.! Breakfast is at 11 o.m.! How evil must you be to wake me up so early?" Merilyn had messy hair and a dissatisfied expression while her tone of voice carried happiness.

A maid with orange hair and eyes came in with her black long dress and a white apron, and her physique had nothing special or noticeable, she was quite average looking and wasn't too tall.

"Sorry young lady, but you know the rules." She smiled as she said.

"I know... Thank you for waking me up every day. I heard you've been punished for being late for your duties, you don't have to go through that because of me." Merilyn said while she twirled her hair.

"Don't worry, those matters have nothing to do with you. Now it's time for your bath, then your etiquette lessons, history of the Reyha Kingdom, geography, then breakfast followed by magic lessons, elegance, dance, arithmetic, art, administration, politics, and basic self-defense for the morning and then the lunch break followed by the noon classes and early night classes after dinner." She slowly enumerated the parts of Merilyn's schedule for today.

Merilyn reluctantly went out of her room with the woman and followed her schedule as said before.

-Later-

Once it was time for breakfast, Merilyn sat in her place right next to her older sister Lumière and the meal was going well.

Then a maid brought a tray with jelly spheres covered on what seems to be sugar and put it down next to the king.

"Your majesty, the royal chef finished the new dessert, just as ordered by you, and asks that your Majesty's approval to add it to the menu for the banquet after the Hero summoning ceremony." The maid explained with a wide smile.

The King didn't bother answering and just grabbed a fork and pulled a piece of the jelly sphere and ate it.

Having swallowed it, the king looked at the maid and said.

"It's too sweet, order Brito to make a less sugary version of this one, so that it can properly be appreciated by our guests." The King expressed his opinion on the dessert, before giving an order.

To his words, the maid nodded and left.

At that moment, just like a student in a classroom would, Merilyn raised her hand in the air slowly and shakily. She easily became the focus of the room, as everyone was now looking at her.

"Speak your mind, my daughter." The king said calmy.

"...."

Merilyn didn't say anything for a while after her father answered to her raising her hand. The silence made the atmosphere slightly awkward.

Taking a deep breath, Merilyn finally found the courage to speak.

"I… I… I…" She stuttered.

"I…would like to… to…. solicit permission to… hum… to…" She tried buy the words just wouldn't coms out.

"Merilyn Ven Reyha! Behave yourself! Your father gave you permission to speak! Use it!" As Merilyn was having trouble, her mother scolded her.

"I just want to try t-the... the… the…" As she continued to have trouble, her younger sister, Shiveria was about to interfere but was immediately cut.

"No! She has to say it! If she can't even speak to her father, what will the nobles and the Kingdom think of the royal family?! Let's not even mention the other kingdoms! Merilyn speak up!" Luciani, Merilyn's mother once again urged her to speak.

"The new dessert! I want to try it!" With an awful amount of effort, Merilyn was able to communicate.

Hearing this, the King looked at the Luciani.

"My love, you know the rules. A young princess like yourself can't eat those things, it will do you no good to eat like a peasant.

"Also, you have to deal with your speech impediment as fast as possible, it's unsightly and not adequate for someone of your status." Luciani answered instead of the King with a smile.

After that Merilyn was quiet and didn't say anymore.

The rest of the year continued in a similar manner with Merilyn following her schedule.

____________________________________________

-Mormial Kingdom; Raphtal City; Royal Palace; Throne Room-

-Back To The Present-

(I guess it's my turn now…) Alaric was tired of kneeling, waiting for his time to get this over with at once.

"Now that we have seen the potential of the heroes of another world, it is time to see that of a child of our own world and a citizen of this Kingdom.

"Coming from the territory of none other than Baron Regali himself, an auteurist man who built most of the orphanages not only in the capital but in the whole kingdom!

"So it seems the Divine Lords rewarded his acts of kindness by giving our Kingdom, the prodigy child, Alaric Nyx Lofn! Please set forward." The King announced with a smile, basking in the pride of this moment for the Kingdom.

Finally having permission, Alaric got up and walked to the sphere of status, and put his hand on it.

[Status Screen]

[Name: Alaric Nyx Lofn
Age: 14 years old
Sex: Male
Species: Human | Sub-Species: Earthling
Affinity: Neutral, Void, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, Mana, Water
Bloodline: Trexus Lineage, Nyx Lineage, Lofn Lineage
Physique: Blessed Human Body, Trexus Body, Nyx Lineage, Lofn Lineage
Level: 5(Rank I Cap)
Exp: 250/250
Titles: @$%#; @$%#; @$%#; @$%#; @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#
Job: Harem Collector, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, Hero
Class: Slayer
Stats:
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 36
Vitality: 34
Magic: 31
Willpower: 29
Agility: 32
Charisma: 91
Luck: 9

Unique ability/s: [Double Exp.Lv -], [1/2 Exp Requirement.Lv -],

Innate ability/s(Racial skills): [Adptability],

Active skills: Intermediate Meditation.Lv H, Mana Sense.Lv I, Mana Manipulation.Lv I, Mana Operation.Lv I, Lesser Asura Form.Lv I, Papinijuwari Form.Lv I,

Passive skills: Mortal Core(2).Lv I, Mana Circuit.Lv I, Strong Soul.Lv I,

Resistances: @$%#, @$%#,

Magic: Water Magic,

Unique Magic: None

Extras: @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, @$%#, Blessing Of The Divine Of Reincarnation ]

"... Impressive! Even our mithril sphere of status can't see through his status completely… that aside, every single one of his stats almost matches that of an apprentice rank or Bronze in guild rank!

"Such a thing should not be possible at level 5, he hasn't even broken the rank cap yet… Not to mention having a rank H skill as well… Your Majesty as it stands he's the strongest of the heroes by a large margin!

"Can such monstrous ability really be achieved by a child who just barely became an adult?! I don't think so, I believe young Alaric might be a Yovit or simply a Devil worshiper!" The royal adviser immediately concluded.

"Diego, I understand your worries, but the heroes were selected by the Gods themselves, and we can only accept. Unless you believe yourself to have better judgment than them." The King responded with a serious yet calm expression and a stern voice.

"No! Of course not! I would never dare... I just believe something like this is too reminiscent of cases like the Nifel War or even better the Lost Kingdoms incident and the people will most likely be worried rather than feel safe with a possible Devil worshiper in a position of power...

"All that considered, I bid you to rethink your decision, for the people of Reyha, your Majesty." Diego insisted with cold sweat on his forehead as he spoke each word in a dry tone with a shaky voice.

This time after the King spoke, none of the nobles dared to comment despite having strong opinions mostly in opposition, but none of them wanted to talk and land themselves as the fool who claimed to know better than the Gods, and something like that would be pure blasphemy, only a heretic would proudly commit. Even so, they silently hoped the King would listen to Diego.

"Enough! As I mentioned before, I see the basis for your concerns, but things are under control. As was promised we were given four otherwolder heroes, and in addition, a strong young hero of our own, all full of potential, if we aren't grateful to the Gods for their blessing now, then when?!

"How far in your pride have you drowned that you can't even be satisfied when presented with hope?! Today we receive and are here to welcome the future heroes of our Kingdom and even maybe the world!

"So instead of complaining as if you were spoiled children, cheer for the future we can now look forward to once! Glory to the Heroes, Glory to Mormial, Glory to Mirth!" The King declared as he yelled at the nobles for trying to bite more than they could chew.

Those words shut everyone up before they all began to cheer. It was their King speaking after all, not only did his words make sense to a lot of them, but who would dare actually get into an argument with the King?

Especially right after he got 5 Heroes under his wing? That's asking for trouble and nobody in the throne room wanted that right now.

That lasted until eventually, the King stopped it to speak once more.

"Now, Lavnik! Please accompany the heroes to their accommodations and answer any questions they might have." The King called out and then ordered.

From within the crowd to everyone's surprise a lanky man dressed in black come to the center of the room and stopped behind the heroes, before bowing to the King, then said.

"Greetings heroes from another world, I'm Lavnik, the headmaster butler of the palace... Though most tend to refer to me as the right-hand man, of your majesty." He was calm and somewhat indifferent in tone without losing a slight touch of friendliness due to the smile on his face at the moment.

"Did you see him among us before?" Some in the noble crowd asked.

"No, he just suddenly appeared." Another responded, but it was just them, even the knights in the room were confused about Lavnik's presence.

At that time, however, something happened, as the King spoke once more.

"Baron Regali, you were not more than a month ago promoted from a Baronet to a Baron, all due to your efforts in protecting the land, and now once again, you have proven to give this Kingdom prosperity, so from this moment on I grant you the tile of Viscount!

"The official ceremony will take place once possible but for now, all clap for a man of the people, our newest Viscount!" The King smiled as he declared.

"I could never express my gratitude enough Your Majesty, it truly is an honor like none other. I shall uphold the glory of our Kingdom and keep working to maintain its greatness!" Viscount Regali smiled as he basked in the moment.

The crowd of nobles cheered and congratulated him even though many envied his current position. It was typically not a simple task to rise in nobility rank but this man did it twice in the span of two months. Where most would take years or even lifetimes never raising even once.

(Damn it! So that's why the bastard wanted me here and well… This only makes getting rid of Luscious more complicated…) Alaric was conflicted, as the same act that saved him from being judged as a criminal just made his enemy more powerful.

After that, the heroes all left the room following Lavnik.

The trip to the castle allowed them to see a bit of the city around through the various windows, and it was a pretty good-looking place from an aesthetic point of view, but beyond that, it was clear that this place was not that advanced in technological terms, at least not in the way the earthlings are used to.

It didn't take all that long for them to reach the area where they would stay.

"This is the lady's quarters and we'll just have to walk a bit more in that way to reach the men's room. Worry not though, the shared rooms are temporary and you will each meet with a designer to work on the look of your own rooms." Lavnik explained.

(Just how long do they plan to have us here?) Alaric wondered.

"Hum... Lavnik... What are we going to be doing from now on? As heroes I mean..." Fritz asked the question on their minds.

"Oh, I don't know the specifics, but you'll be trained by some of the best in the royal army in terms of combat, exploration, etiquette, general knowledge, and magic.

"I'm sure tomorrow you will be informed in better detail about things. As for your job, it would be to take care of monsters, bandits, thieves, Devil worshipers... That kind of thing.

"Oh, and I can't forget that you'll have to make some political appearances here and there but don't worry about it. You'll only be sent to do things you've been prepared to handle, just do your best and you'll be fine. Is that all, or do you have any more questions?" Lavnik answered calmly.

Fritz seemed like he still wanted to ask something, but he refrained from doing so. While Heather narrowed her eyes from the side.

"Ok, I'll ask. So, that means we are going to have to kill people at some point?" Leopold sighed and then inquired.

"Yes, quite very so. It's unfortunate but many people live their lives taking from others, possessions, or even lives, the strong take whatever they can from the weak.

"I don't know what kind of world you lived in before, but I imagine that all kinds of people exist there too.

"So even if you've never had to kill or consider it morally wrong, remember that you have a life, and things you care about as well, and those individuals don't seem to mind taking that away from you, so I would advise returning the favor. Any more questions?" Lavnik expressed.

"... How do you know there's not another way? What about rehabilitating these people?" Leopold continued.

"The answer is simple. You don't. I've heard about heroes from my family before I inherited this position, and I just have to say, that the ability to turn one's enemies into allies is very powerful, but something I've noticed about very powerful abilities, it's that they are hard to use, and don't work on most enemies.

"If it works great, but I hope you don't put your faith or base your plans on something so fallible. Anyway, if there are no more questions, would you kindly follow me, dear heroes?" Lavnik replied with a serious expression before going back to smiling.

Not having much else to say right now, the boys left with Lavnik. Leaving Heather, Lavenica, and the black blob.

The girls then head into the room for themselves, where they found 4 beds and the room itself organized to be able to comfortably house 4 people.

"I'm so tired... Hugh... I feel dirty... Hey, Lavenica, do you want to go take a bath with me?" Heather let herself fall on a bed before she began to speak.

Lavenica did not answer instead seeming quite out of it and distracted as she got lost in thought simply holding onto the black blob in her arms.

After that, Lavenica noticed that Heather had left the room only to come back a while later with a basket of clothes.

"Since you were silent and looking at the blob thing I assumed it was something important, then I noticed we didn't have clothes to change into, so I went to look around.

"Luckily I found a maid who helped me. We can use these, she said they are ours now. Since I didn't know your current sizes, I just guessed from your figure. Tell me if the clothes don't fit." Heather explained.

This caused Lavenica to sigh as she looked at her daughter with a small smile, even though she said nothing and just nodded her head.

Following that, they went to take a bath in one of the hot springs in the castle.

"It's honestly kind of cute once you get used to it..." A naked Heather commented looking at the black blob.

"It's a he. Remember it's your brother." A naked Lavenica replied.

"That's creepy and would rather never think of that, thank you. So, I'll pretend I didn't hear that, and you'll let me touch it." Heather replied before asking.

"He says yes." Lavenica transmitted the message.

"Wait… he can talk?!… No, I won't think about it! La!la!la!la!la! Forget it. Yeah, forget." Heather closed her eyes and forced herself to not think about it.

Having permission Heather began touching the black blob and was surprised by how nice it felt to do so.

"It's pretty relaxing to this… Maybe it is slime…" Heather sighed as she spoke to Lavenica.

"Good to see you accept our reality. You all disappointed me with your harshness. Trying to abandon everything we build together as a family." Lavenica commented as she helped her daughter wash up.

"I'm not talking about that right… Can't we just enjoy this bath?" Heather looked away as she responded with the slime in her lap.

"Fine, but we'll have this conversation later." Lavenoca decided.

"Whatever, I'm just tired today… It was a lot." Heather submerged into the water, around just below her nose.

Saying no more, Lavevinca joined her both just enjoying the hot springs in silence. While the slime was just floating around them.

Chapter end