Chapter 01 part 4: The Night was Young

It's already been a few days since we arrived in another world. Here Toa-chan and Ojouchan teach us what we need to know about this world, the history of this world, what races live here, how their relationship with humanity and their stand on demon lord, for record there’s human, beastman, elves, merfolk, sky people, demon race, spirits, dragon race and magic race. Surprisingly there are some magic races that support demon lords due to their lineage and there's also some factions on dragon race, beastman, elves, even humans who support Demon Races based on merit. but for spirits,sky people and merfolks they have remained neutral since ancient times, they secluded themself in their respective domains as for spirit in kinda different story. Let's put it aside for now.

putting the neutral side aside. But to be honest it's also the same situation for the force who oppose the Demon lord. so it's quite complicated because it's not all white and black on both sides. It's like how politics work back in our world.

and there is about magic, Toa teaches us how magic works in this world. While at the start we think we cast the magic, it's more to we supply the mana (magic power) to the spirit and then the spirit will channel that power to the element they possess. After that magic was casted so it's kinda complicated because that means the magic we can cast really depends on the type of spirit that took liking to us and how much the spirit gathered when we cast the magic.

but how we control what magic that is being casted, it's really based on how much the caster grasps the concept of magic that they want to cast. then the spirit will automatically channel that image to the magic being casted. Maybe that's why Aria was included to help the caster to understand the magic property better without heavily relying on abstract images.

So to summarize, Kouji can master all elements with massive output of magic, Mia can master water, fire and wind magic just fine, with light being the element she has most affinity with. as for Rin water, wind, earth and darkness. While Wind is the one Rin has the most affinity of.

now for spirit, for the start darkness and light, while maybe darkness has a bad sound on it. Having darkness spirit liking you, doesn't always mean you are a bad person. because spirit, even great spirit and king of spirit themself remains neutral since ancient age. They have different moral compasses than demons, humanity and demi humans in general, more so if we are talking about low level spirits. There's also case demon having light spirit took liking on them and there also many demon that hated by darkness spirit.

In this case, because heroes have qualities that make them loved by all kinds of spirits, naturally Darkness spirits also took a liking to them. and what is surprising is Demon Lord is also hated by spirits. It's a certain quality of them since old times, its speculated demon lord is hated by the world itself that's why there's no record spirit ever taking liking on demon lord. but the twist is demon lord doesnt need spirit to cast magic, its have been recorded Demon lord magic has a different concept then what most this world inhabitant normally uses. but it's still a mystery ofcourse. But I am also hated by spirits, does that mean iam demon lord? Toa assure me that's not the case, because humans can't be demon lords, as the name suggests demon lords always come from demon races.

for now that is what we learned for a couple of days. The result? Of course, we are overwhelmed. Too much information we need to process in a few days, at least we got what this world is situated in.

For Kouji as expected on the magic side he mastered all elements without much effort on it, he already excels on sport so swordsmanship poses no real struggle on him. He just lacks the stamina but that could be handled with a regiment of training.

For Rin, the same could be applied to her. Also due to her handling everything perfectly, maybe due to her being student council president back in our world, her social skills are top notch.

As for Mia, she spent most of her time practicing magic and the result may be better than expected. Not only the light magic, most of the magic she has affinity for is mastered to the point that maybe the talent she possesses is above Kouji the hero. It's also revealed she can use healing and support magic that is rare to have by humans. so she has been focused to master that for now. so she has less martial art training, maybe a little self defence section but that was all. Mia is not athletic from the start so this is fine i guess. no need to force her to do physical labor..

As for training i skipped most of them, as i cant use magic so its useless for me and physical training mean i have to spar with the knight order i decide to skip it too as i know i can't get along with them. I let my guard down, maybe another Fier would after my head again. As expected Rin scolds me for that and i start swordman training with Ojouchan, Rin and Kouji.

and now here we are, after weeks come. We will be attending the parade to introduce heroes to the people of the kingdom. and at the end of the day there will be a party at the palace. I will skip the parade as it went smoothly with no meaningful event.

Now we are at the palace hall, It looked like a dance ball inside a fairy tale you know like the one on D*sney’s films. Kouji and I, wear dresses and suits now to match the mood of course without masks. I and Kouji wore tuxedo-like suits. Kouji’s is white while mine is gray. It is quite an expensive kind of clothes, the material is also quite comfortable. I gave it 9.8 of 10, if it was colored black I would give 10 though. Then, Rin and Mia enter our field of views.

Both me and Kouji wore the same kind of suit as we just let the maid handle the picking. On the contrary, Mia and Rin wore different kinds of dress. This proves that they put some effort into their look tonight. Well it's A party after all.

“You guys look sharp.” Rin said after taking a look at Kouji's and me.

Rin was like mine gray colored mermaid typed long dress, it reached just about barely her feet there minimal frill, area around her cleavage are quite open which express her adult like charm and high heel expand her height and make her who barely my height surpassed me. She also wore earrings and tied her hair in a reverse braid which made her nape visible. She’s really beautiful.

“I hope I don’t look weird.. I envy Rin-chan, You look so beautiful.” Mia said after looking at Rin’s dress.

While Mia wore a cape dress that covered part of her breast with few frills there. The dress also reached her just above her feet. Even with heels she is still shorter than me which makes her rather than an adult beauty but a cute teenager. Her twin tail also made her trait a factor of cuteness, and little amount of makeup makes it perfect. So cute, my Mia is cute, where is my phone?! DADDY NEEDS HIS PHONE!!!

“Don’t worry Mia, you look cute.” Rin Assured Mia and hugged her. Man, I really need my phone now.

“O Hero-sama, congratulations on the ceremony!” some noble suddenly cut his way to four of us. And then some nobles also follow his example. They even called out for Mia and Rin. They talked and had quite a fun conversation while Kouji, Rin and Mia tried to follow.

As expected no one approaches me, well it is kinda natural. Not only I don’t heed their pleas for help. I also hate this world spirit. It's a given that they don’t want anything to do with me.

“Youichi-sama, here are some drinks for you.” And then some voice entered my ear. When I look at the source of the voice. It is the first princess, Alicia Ojouchan. I took her offer and get the drink from her hand. And naturally she also wore a dress. She is beautiful, hmm 10 of 10?

“Isn't it lonely for you to be alone here, why don’t you speak to other people here.” Is that sarcasm ? you have some good personality there.

“that’s true, its pretty lonely here. But if I must be quite fortunate, because of it I can monopolize conversations with beautiful princess such as you.” then the ojouchan blushed, how about that. I mastered galge and eroge not over nothing. Some princess are no match for me.

“is-is that so, thank you for your compliments…” Ojouchan looked away. arere? What’s with this girl? dere? Are you in dere mode now?

“I know my daughter is cute But, I rather thankful to not seduce her any futher.” The king whispered to me from behind. Really this old man is scary, if I don’t realize I would jump out.

“your majesty!” The nobles bow to the king, Kouji, Mia and Rin follow the suit but only lower their head like Ojouchan. While I still stand like nothing happen. Some noble glare, But I don’t care. Then Kouji brought by some noble and dance with some of noble daughter. While Mia and Rin are with Ojouchan talking sometime after Toa join them.

“I offer you my apology for our subject behavior.” The King stood beside me while drinking something. Maybe wine? Rather he should be on the throne right? Is it okay for a king to walk around? But behind him there’s some knight so it is okay I guess. The King then stopped the waiter and took two glasses of drinks.

“It’s okay. I just reap what I sow.” The king offers me a drink, it's non-alcoholic. As Kouji informed the king, we can’t drink alcohol yet. I drank some, it tasted like apple juice.

“It's not my fault that you guys are so incompetent. hahaha” I laugh after saying a rather disturbing line to the king, the knight’s faces are stiff.

“Hahaha, you’re totally right, Youichi-dono.” Both of us laugh toward my sarcams. But of course there is someone that takes the joke straight. You know everyone favorite knight Fier-kun nano desu*.

“How dare yo-!!” Fier holds his sword in anger.

“Stop it, you're in front of the king and this is a happy occasion don’t ruin it.” But before Fier-kun can finish his cursing, suddenly an unknown ikemen appears! Fier bow to the ikemen and stand back. The king seemed happy to see him. The ikemen took a glance at me and bowed to the king.

“You already came back Richard, how on your end?” The king signaled the ikemen to stand. The ikemen followed suit and started to answer the king's question.

“Yes my majesty, thanks to goddess bless I am here today. My study over the academy are good and I achieve top in my peers both in magic and swordmanship.” Ooh high spec ikemen huh? He was the top of his class and master of sword. Don’t tell me you’re this world kendo prince?

“I see that is really good news. Oh right, this gentleman over here is my son Richard. ” fuck kendo prince, he is an actual prince!!!

“He took his study over to far away land, he is my proud son.” I see.. I see.. high spec ikemen, prince and master of sword and magic. This guy really has it all. Wanna trade life with me prince-kun?
“And is he the rumored Hero, father?” he smiled at me while throwing questions to the king.
“No, this is Youichi-dono. He is the Hero, Kouji-dono's friend.” The king answered the prince's question with a smile.

“I see.. you’re the one that arrogantly opposes us and an incompetence who is hated by spirits.” Richard-kun said some poisonous line with such an ikemen smile. Is he taunting me?

“Richard, watch your mouth. He is still a guest to us.” The king scolds the prince.
“Forgive me. But it’s just funny how he showed us some arrogance but in the end he was just another incompetence. How laughable hahaha” aaah, he's that side of people.

“Is that so, well to a prince that never exits his small sized world, I may looked ridiculous and arrogance. To bestow such word to me I really blessed. For such small human to show pity toward this humble me.” The prince stopped his laugh and the knights around us and the noble that heard us stiffed. The king was also surprised.

“Hoo for you to call me small human. Do you know who I am?” The Prince took the bait. He questioned me with a strong tone. Somehow we attracted some attention. Even Mia and Rin that are talking with Ojouchan are looking in my direction. Rin held her head and sigh, Mia looked flustered, Ojouchan looked at me in disbelief.

“For me, who will be the king of this country, to be called a small human.” The Prince continued his “humble” taunt to me. Looks like I really hit the landmine.

“Surely you're jest. haha” I threw some sarcasm at him.
“If you retake those word before, I will let it slide. You plebeian!" The prince’s eyes are not smiling like his mouth.
“Surely you’re jest. haha” I threw another sarcasm at him.
“That's it, you think you can mock me any further?!! Just because you're a hero's friend don’t get cocky you scum!! ” The Prince started yelling, oh.. you just called me scum.
“To not be able to stomach this much “appreciation”, it just shows how small you are as a vessel of the mighty king. my prince? I believe, even you can lead at least one person hahahaha” here the finisher, the prince’s face is red his eyes are looking at me as his nemesis.

“This Scum!!” Fier-kun fired up and pull his sword.

“Hold your sword Fier.” The prince signaled Fier to lower his sword. You can see glitter around him, is this handsome man privileged?

“Point that sword to protect our empire and its people. You're this Empire Knight and one of the people that I personally recruit. Do not waste your talent on this.” Richard began to take step and he stop in front of me. And wow he tall, maybe taller than Kouji.

“But you…” He removed one of his gloves from his hand. And threw it to my face, naturally I dodged it.

“I Richard Wilhem De Tortas, challenge you to duel! If you're a man, take it!!” The Prince shouted at me. Now it has become a pain in the back.

“no thank you” I answered swiftly.

“I see, the duel will be one on one. You can use any wea- WHY YOU REFUSED!?!” Why do you think I will accept it? Are you an idiot? By the way, nice comeback prince. I give you a thumbs up.

“accept it, you have no right to refuse.” So the prince claims. Mia, Kouji and Rin were already close to us before I knew it. There are also Toa-chan and Ojouchan too.

“eeeh, now you are pushing me to accept your demand. To use your status to push your desire. What a prince you are.” I held my head and went yare-yare. This guy is stupid, not really I just overly teased him. The prince's charming face is gone and only the berserker face remains.

“How about this?” The king suddenly said, he walked to the throne and sat on it.

“If this goes on it will never end, then how about rather than a personal duel. We make it to the tournament, with this Kouji-dono, Rin-dono and Mia-dono can participate. Of course it will not be an open tournament and not only to serve as a duel between you and Youichi-dono it will also be Hero’s training. How about it?” The King proposed the idea.

“I don’t mind it. With this not only I can teach this ruffian some lessons. It will also be training for our heroes. Such wise words from our king!”

“Unlike you…” While the prince overly praises the king’s offers I throw another sarcasm at him in a low voice. He glares at me, then leaves. What a busy kid he needs more calcium, drink some milk. but he is already tall, I guess milk can wait.

At mine and Kouji's room, Mia, Rin, Toa and Ojouchan gathered up. Kouji just stood, Mia being Mia still flustered, Rin shot glare at me. Toa and Ojouchan are just there while looking discontented at me. Where am I? on the floor kneeled with glasses of juice on my both hands..

“Youichi what are you doing!!!” Rin scolds me in front of our friends. In this situation I can only say those words.

“I-its not my fault…..” After I said that, Rin became more furious. Maybe this is the end for me. if this is how i ended, let me say this for the last time. I looked up and braced myself after taking a long breath now iam ready.

“Stay tuned after comme-GAHA!!” She kicked me.