Chapter 3:
Hero Summoning
ON A PLANET FAR from Liam's own, a country found itself on the
verge of destruction. Erle Kingdom had once been a superpower with a
whole continent under its control. Now, it was a mere shadow of its former
self.
The ruler of this kingdom, Queen Enola Frau Fraulo, had taken the
throne at the young age of seventeen. Her beautiful, still-youthful face was
framed by shoulder-length blue hair that had formerly been long. She'd cut
it upon taking the throne as a show of maturity. Not long ago, she had been
a princess raised with care by her parents and their palace staff. When her
parents took ill, and her older brother lost his life in a war, it had fallen to
her to govern. Enola should have been far from the throne, but Erle
Kingdom was in such dire straits that she of all people ruled now.
The reason for all her country's woes was the birth of a demon lord.
Commanding an army of monsters, this demon lord had swept across the
planet, conquering countries left and right. At first, Erle Kingdom—a -
major power—had mounted a valiant counterattack, but all they had to
show for their efforts was a string of defeats. Their complete destruction
now loomed before their eyes.
Enola sat on her throne, clutching the staff that served as the symbol
of the royal family. "Just how many trials does God intend to put us
through?"
Her mumbled question echoed through the half-empty audience
chamber. No one answered her. Those assembled just hung their heads,
refusing to meet her gaze.
The only people in the audience chamber now were the elderly and
the very young. Everyone of fighting age had been sent out to battle, so
children, even those younger than fifteen, had been hastily appointed
knights. That was yet another sign of the kingdom's impending doom.
Everyone knew Erle Kingdom was at its absolute limit, but they just
couldn't bring themselves to voice that fact.
I need to do something... I need to!
Enola clutched her staff with both hands, startled, as a messenger
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burst into the audience chamber. None of the proper protocols were being
followed anymore, and the messenger made his announcement without any
respectful greeting.
"I have a report! The demon lord's army is advancing on the
capital!"
At this news, a tumult went through the audience chamber, all eyes
turning to the queen. Tensing under the pressure and fear that threatened to
crush her, Enola tried to project composure. I can't panic. Mother and
Father told me to always maintain calm.
Putting on a brave front wasn't going to stop enemies at their gate,
however. Erle Kingdom had next to no fighting power left; there were no
wise generals or powerful knights to rely on. Their army now comprised
retired generals, knights called back into service, and newly appointed
soldiers who were much too young. The situation was beyond desperate.
"Your Majesty, there is no longer anything we can do," an aged
minister counseled Enola. "I can only ask that you make the appropriate
decision."
He bowed his head, urging Enola to take action.
She nodded deeply in turn, agreeing that they had no other options.
"I understand what must be done. We will perform a hero summoning."
At Enola's proclamation, a buzz went through the audience
chamber. Faint hope began to bloom amid the despair that had filled the
room.
Hero summoning was a forbidden technique that had nonetheless
been passed down in the Erle Kingdom. To defeat the extraordinarily
powerful demon lord, they would have to use that forbidden magic to
summon a hero from another world.
The summoning magic would produce an entity capable of defeating
a demon lord. It would only bring someone to Erle Kingdom, however.
Once a hero appeared, the kingdom would be responsible for them,
becoming home to an individual strong enough to defeat a demon lord.
That was a double-edged sword. If the hero ultimately betrayed the
country, they would be just as capable as the demon lord of destroying it.
Entrusting their kingdom's safety to a hero presented a ruler with
another challenge. They would essentially be giving up the fight, placing
their country in the hands of a stranger who was not even from their world.
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Trust in the royal family's abilities would plummet.
All this was why the technique was forbidden, but Enola was left
with no other choice. She stood to order her vassals to take action. "There
is no time to waste. We will summon the hero immediately!"
"Yes, ma'am!" her vassals responded in unison. They headed
immediately toward the chamber where they would perform the
summoning ritual.
Oh God, please bring to us a kind hero who will save our kingdom.
***
The chamber beneath the castle was illuminated by torches, the
flames providing only a dim, flickering light. The mages who would
perform the summoning had arrived earlier and were busily preparing their
spell. They consisted of one old man garbed in tattered robes, and three
younger apprentices to support him.
The old man, whose name was Citasan, pulled down his hood to
reveal his wrinkled face.
"Welcome to the summoning chamber! We've been waiting for you
to arrive, Your Majesty... Heh heh heh."
Enola raised an eyebrow at Citasan's crude laughter. She was not
fond of this old man. His hair was unkempt, he was missing several teeth,
and his hoarse voice was repellent, but none of that was why she disliked
him. Rather, it was his disposition she found unpleasant. However, his
magic was the only option that remained to her.
"The time has come for us to rely on your magic, Citasan. Please
summon a great hero who will triumph against the demon lord."
Citasan kneeled, took Enola's hand in his own, and kissed it. As he
pressed his lips to the back of her hand, he ran his tongue over it
obscenely.
"Leave it all to me, Your Majesty. I will summon the greatest
possible hero with the magic passed down in my family for generations!
But before that..."
As Citasan lifted his head, naked greed showed in his face. With a
strained smile, Enola promised the mage the greatest reward she could.
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"I swear to reward your service if the demon lord is destroyed,
Citasan."
"I'll hold you to that, Your Majesty!" Citasan exclaimed with a
vulgar laugh.
"Of course." What a disgusting man.
Enola's hatred of Citasan also stemmed from the fact that, although
his summoning magic was utterly useless in peacetime, he still threw his
weight around, boasting about being the royal family's mage. As the battle
with the demon lord's army had intensified, he never once joined the fray;
he maintained that his summoning magic was too valuable to risk.
Enola understood his reasoning, but his behavior still repulsed her.
He used his forbidden knowledge to do whatever he wished. No one
wanted Citasan around in times of peace; this was not a time of peace,
though. The country's current crisis provided an opportunity for Citasan
and his apprentices to act more arrogant than ever, since they knew the
kingdom utterly relied on them.
"Her Majesty has promised to reward our efforts!" Citasan barked at
his apprentices. "Let us begin the summoning!"
The apprentices hurriedly took their positions around an altar upon
which they had drawn a summoning circle. Around the outside of the
circle were the words of the ritual, written in ancient script. Faint light
almost immediately emanated from the ring, and Enola gripped her staff in
both hands anxiously.
The light from the circle strengthened until Enola had to close her
eyes against its brightness. A short time later, that light faded to reveal a
girl standing in the circle's center.
***
Kanami suddenly found herself in a place she didn't recognize.
Before her stood a young woman in a lavishly decorated dress, a
crown upon her head and staff in her hands. Young people were gathered
around her, dressed incongruously in the armor of knights.
Kanami was hopelessly confused, unable to digest her situation.
"Huh? Wh-what?"
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I was just in the park, right? What am I doing here? What's going
on?!
While she stood frozen in shock, the young woman approached and
bowed reverently before her. Kanami was taken aback by the gesture, but
the woman paid that no mind.
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance, my lady hero. I am Enola
Frau Fraulo—queen of Erle Kingdom."
"Huh? Queen? Wait, did you say hero?" Kanami couldn't process
any of this information.
Enola looked up at her tearfully, and Kanami's heart skipped a beat,
though they were both women. The young queen's appearance was such
that Kanami found herself thinking she'd never seen a person so beautiful
up close like this.
"Hero from another world, please forgive us the great injustice we
have done you. In our current plight, we had no choice but to summon
you."
"Summon?" What was Enola talking about?
Glancing around, Kanami found that she was sitting atop an altar
that appeared to be intended for some kind of occult ritual. The other thing
that caught her eye was an old, robed man who looked exactly like a
wizard straight out of a fantasy story. Younger men in robes, who she
assumed were the old man's apprentices, raised their voices in joy.
"We did it! We did it!"
"Master Citasan, the great mage, successfully summoned the hero!"
"Wah ha ha! Our futures are secure now!"
Kanami thought the old man looked haggard, but his manner was
pompous. "My name will go down in history for this! You had all better
tell your descendants about my great accomplishment here today!"
Just then, Kanami noticed something strange. Though Citasan and
the other mages were rejoicing, Enola and the knights wore strained,
nervous looks. The mages actually seemed out of place; the others
appeared almost disgusted by them.
"Quiet, Citasan," Enola cautioned the rejoicing mage. "You're
disturbing the hero."
Instead of reining himself in, Citasan objected to her warning. "Is
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that any way to speak to me, Your Majesty?! Without our summoning
magic, you could not have called the hero here! Without us, this country
would be—"
Now they were arguing in front of Kanami, and despite the brief
explanation she'd received, Kanami still couldn't keep up with the
situation.
Will someone please just tell me what's going on? Wait...
Just then, she felt a strange sensation, and looked down at the center
of the magic circle. A crackling sound began as sparks like electrical
discharge spat forth. The phenomenon intensified, the sound growing
louder.
"What's going—"
Kanami scrambled away from the circle just as a man appeared
standing inside it. He looked about her age, with black hair and purple
eyes. Was this how she had been summoned too?
As soon as the man materialized within the circle, he glanced at his
surroundings calmly, his reaction the complete opposite of Kanami's.
Something was clearly different about him, though Kanami wasn't sure
what. Enola and the others in the room, meanwhile, looked as confused as
Kanami at this unexpected occurrence.
"What's the meaning of this, Citasan?" Enola exclaimed. "I thought
you would only summon one hero!"
The mage just sputtered in response to Enola's question.
Apparently, this development was unforeseen, even by him. "Th-there are
no records of anything like this occurring!" he replied. "I have no idea
what has happened!"
The mage seemed a lot less cocky than earlier. On the other hand,
now that everyone else was just as disoriented as she was, Kanami actually
felt calmer.
With newfound composure, she looked over at the young man.
While he was casually dressed, she noticed his white dress shirt, black
pants, and leather shoes appeared quite expensive. To her eye, each item
seemed to be of exceptionally high quality. The summoned man also wore
a gold bracelet on one wrist. Kanami could only imagine how rich he must
be.
The complete opposite of me. But... Somehow, something about him
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made her nostalgic, too.
The young man completely ignored her gaze and the consternation
around him, instead peering dubiously at the magic circle beneath him. He
knelt down. "What's with this crummy magic circle?" he complained
haughtily. "I was summoned by this? You make a guy feel pathetic."
Citasan's face turned crimson as the young man criticized the
summoning magic passed down by the mage's family.
"H-h-how outrageous!" he spluttered. "My ancestors created this
technique to summon heroes three hundred years ago! It's incredible
magic found nowhere else in this universe!"
Kanami had no frame of reference to judge a magic circle's quality,
but the summoned man scoffed at Citasan's words. "You've used the same
old magic circle for three hundred years? Did it never occur to you to
innovate a little?"
Even in this bizarre situation, the audacious young man was
confident. Unlike Kanami, who was still utterly confounded, he was
apparently familiar with summoning magic.
"Well, I suppose you get points for not using enslavement magic
immediately after the summoning," he added. "I'll hear you out, at least."
His eyes were directed straight at Enola. Even without the benefit of
what little explanation Kanami had received, he'd figured out who in this
room was in charge. However, his disrespectful attitude rankled the figures
grouped around the queen.
"How dare you speak that way to Her Majesty!" a young knight
cried, reaching for the hilt of his sword.
The summoned man's eyes narrowed, but Enola quickly held up her
hand to the knight.
"Stop that! I apologize for his behavior, sir. We were not expecting
two heroes, so we've all lost our composure a bit. Please forgive us."
The young man sighed and looked away. "You didn't mean to
summon me, then. Man, what a joke." He'd shifted his gaze to Citasan,
making it obvious to everyone just who he considered a "joke."
Citasan opened his mouth, frustrated, but Enola cut him off to
explain their circumstances. "There is a reason we summoned you two.
We beg of you... Please, save this kingdom."
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She kneeled before the newcomers as she pleaded with them.
Kanami was moved by the gesture, but the young man apparently wasn't.
In fact, he held his stomach and began to laugh.
"Save this kingdom? Ah ha ha! Are you serious?" Everyone in the
room waited, dumbfounded, as he finished laughing and finally introduced
himself. "You would ask Liam Sera Banfield to save you? You seek help
from me, of all people?!"
Kanami felt odd as the young man—Liam—introduced himself. She
realized she was trembling. Why am I shaking?
Even she didn't know. However, everyone else seemed just as
struck by Liam's introduction. At first, she thought that was because of
Liam's strange demeanor as he spoke, but apparently the others were
actually shocked that he had a middle name.
"U-um, would you happen to be a noble from another world?" Enola
asked him timidly.
Liam considered the question before answering. "You probably
wouldn't get it if I explained it to you, but something like that, yes.
Anyway... All right, I've got some time to kill. I'll save you folks. Now,
show me around, why don't you?"
The strange feeling Kanami had experienced passed as Liam agreed
to help with the most casual attitude imaginable. Armed knights loomed all
around them, but Liam just yawned as if he didn't have a care in the world.
As she watched Liam stroll off, Kanami found herself growing
angry that she was being left behind, the only person with no idea what
was going on. "Wh-what's his deal? He's acting like he just gets all of
this!"
***
Meanwhile, Liam's mansion was in chaos. People ran busily all over
the place; the lounge Liam had disappeared from was particularly hectic. A
whole squad of mages attached to House Banfield was investigating the
scene, their faces pale. In the Algrand Empire, people relied more on
technology than magic, but these individuals were specialists in the field.
Having mastered extremely sophisticated spells, they employed their
abilities in the service of their master. Liam had welcomed the mages with
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open arms, since they were some of the Empire's most powerful casters.
Overseeing the mages' investigation was a female knight who
seemed ready to throw a fit at any moment.
"What were you people even doing?!" Marie screeched, weapons
gripped in both hands.
The mages cowered. "W-we're so sorry!" one stammered. "B-but
this mansion has several protective layers of anti-summoning magic in
place. If someone got past them, they must have been—eep!"
Marie held a blade to the mage's neck, glaring at him with
bloodshot eyes. "Yet it's clear from the security camera footage that Lord
Liam was summoned right out of this room. In other words, this is all your
fault. Am I wrong?"
"N-no, ma'am!"
"I truly regret being unable to cut all your heads off right now. But I
cannot in good conscience punish you while Lord Liam is absent. Do not
forget the mercy I am showing you. You will find some clue as to his
whereabouts. Am I clear?"
In reality, Marie didn't consider House Banfield's mages to be a
completely useless bunch. Still, she didn't want to believe their magical
security had been circumvented so easily. That was supposed to be
impossible. The head of the person responsible would be on the chopping
block, as would the heads of everyone else involved in security measures.
If Marie doled out punishment now, however, it might render them unable
to investigate Liam's whereabouts. They would have to hire new mages to
do so, and they couldn't risk anyone outside the household finding out that
Liam had gone missing.
"Lord Liam went to so much trouble to put together Prince Cleo's
faction," Marie muttered. "What will happen to them now that he's gone?"
As Marie got more and more worked up, thinking of the damage
Liam's disappearance would cause, she was approached by a pale Rosetta.
The young woman had staggered into the room as if she might pass out at
any moment.
"Lady Rosetta?!"
Marie ran over and wrapped her arms around Rosetta to support her.
Rosetta had taken the news of Liam's disappearance hard, and Marie's
heart ached to see her like this.
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"Hold fast, Lady Rosetta! Someone take her back to her room! You
shouldn't be out like this, Lady Rosetta. You only just collapsed!"
Rosetta had indeed fainted once already, when she first heard the
news that Liam had been magically summoned away.
Marie began calling for a doctor, but Rosetta gripped her arm. "I'm
sorry, Marie... I insisted on coming here. Do you think you'll be able to
find Darling? You will, won't you?"
They still hadn't discovered any trace of the summoning magic, but
Marie lied to calm Rosetta. "Of course. Now, please, go rest in your
room."
Liam had vanished a full day ago, and they'd still found no evidence
that could help locate him. Upon reviewing the security video, all the
mages could say was, "We don't understand how such a primitive magic
circle made it through our security!" The enraged Tia had been in charge
of the video's analysis; she'd forced the investigators to go over it
repeatedly until they found something.
Once Rosetta had left, Marie stomped the floor in frustration. A
large man wearing a mask emerged from her shadow.
"What a violent summons," he said in a calm tone that only irritated
the furious Marie further.
The mages were startled by the appearance of the operative, whose
name was Kukuri. Their surprise was partly because of his sudden arrival,
but they also hadn't realized he'd been observing them all along.
"Stop working and I'll kill you," Marie cautioned the mages before
turning back to Kukuri. "I had the wrong idea about you, Kukuri. Do you
know no shame, drawing breath after Lord Liam was taken from us? Did it
not even occur to you to atone for this failure with your life?"
"That's rich, coming from you." A dangerous air hung between the
two of them. Kukuri backed off first. "Well, I will admit our failure in this
event. It seems one of my subordinates went missing along with Master
Liam."
"So you placed a useless operative with Lord Liam. You really are a
total waste, aren't you?"
Kukuri only laughed at Marie's provocation. "Hee hee hee... The
operative was one of my best. Still young, but plenty skilled. Which is
why..." Producing a piece of paper between his pointer and middle
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fingers, he flicked it at Marie. His subordinate had apparently left a note
upon disappearing.
Catching the note, Marie examined its contents. "A code?"
"She attempted to cancel the summoning, but failed, despite the
circle being so primitive. That's all we know."
It seemed the circle's design was so simple, there was no way to
determine the reason Liam had been summoned.
Marie crumpled the note and threw it back at Kukuri. "Have your
people look for Lord Liam as well. Find him, even if you have to die in the
process. Do you hear me?"
She fixed Kukuri with an icy look, and he returned it in kind.
"I assure you, your instructions are unnecessary," Kukuri's tone was
as serene as always, but his voice was growing scornful. "And let me
remind you... You have no authority to give us orders. Master Liam is the
only person we serve."
Kukuri sank back into the floor, wearing an uncanny, threatening
grin. Marie didn't rein in her hostility; she responded to his provocation
with her own cold smile.
"Do you seriously think you could kill me?" she hissed. "Once this
is taken care of, I'll carve your whole organization into pieces, along with
that ground meat woman."
Marie genuinely wanted to kill Kukuri for failing to protect Liam.
The pair had spent two thousand years together as prisoners, their bodies
turned to stone, before Liam rescued them. However, Kukuri's failure was
not something she could simply let go.
***
Within the vast House Banfield mansion was an area that essentially
served as the property's command center. It looked like a clock tower, and
was situated at the center of the estate. The AI system that supported the
mansion's staff was stationed there.
Bursting into the command center, Tia grabbed hold of the staff
member in charge of the AI system, grasping his head painfully between
both hands.
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"Pl-please—" the man begged.
Tia's response was ice-cold. "What do you mean, you couldn't find
anything out by analyzing the video footage of Lord Liam's lounge? Isn't
that what you're supposed to do?"
"We reviewed the footage, but we honestly didn't detect anything
sophisticated! It's a mystery how a summoning circle like that could get
past our security!"
"I don't want to hear your excuses! Just hurry up and get something
out of the footage! Lord Liam's life could be in danger as we speak!"
Tia threw the man to the floor and covered her face with her hands.
Her wide, bloodshot eyes were visible through her fingers, and the other
employees in the room cowered as they watched her.
"I'll put the people who took Lord Liam through a punishment so
hellish, they'll wish they'd died instead," Tia said fervently. "Only when
they fully realize what a heinous thing they've done will I finally slaughter
them."
"Er..." The supervisor spoke up hesitantly. "Who exactly is going to
serve as Lord Liam's replacement while he's gone?"
Who indeed would run House Banfield? Tia's only answer was to
angrily shout, "What kind of question is that to ask at a time like this?"
But before she even finished thinking Isn't that obvious?, the
problem's actual severity hit home. Right before Liam disappeared, he'd
refused to allow Rosetta to help manage his domain. On top of that, the
position of head knight was vacant. Since no one had been officially
appointed to that role after Tia and Marie's demotion, no one commanded
the entirety of House Banfield's knight forces.
"Just follow my orders," she directed.
Thus, Tia took it upon herself to assume command. It was all for
Liam's sake...for House Banfield's sake. Yet after hearing her statement,
the supervisor looked as if he wanted to cry.
"Lady Marie sent us a message to obey her orders," he said meekly.
"We also received orders from House Banfield's government offices. The
staff have no idea who to listen to."
Without Liam, House Banfield was rapidly losing cohesion.
Tia put a hand on the supervisor's shoulder, then tightened her grip,
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implying that she would not allow him to obey anyone but her. "Just shut
up and follow my orders. Got it?"
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
Watching the supervisor return to his post, Tia thought, House
Banfield will fall into chaos if I don't protect it while Lord Liam is gone.
That's right... As Lord Liam's right hand, I must take charge in this
emergency. Not that fossil woman, and not fresh-off-the-farm Claus. The
one Lord Liam needs is me.
***
House Banfield's government offices were located outside the
mansion, and many officials worked there, helping to run Liam's domain.
Three of those bureaucrats had now gathered in a small meeting room.
"You've heard about the lord's disappearance, I take it?" one began.
The other two shrugged.
"Whisked away by summoning magic, correct?" one said. "Worst-
case scenario, he never comes back."
The other official nodded gleefully, a hand on his chin. "Now that
House Banfield's head has been lopped off, this is our chance to take
control."
These three had lost to their peers in bitter contests to be promoted,
and now faced next to no possibility of advancement. With Liam missing,
however, they saw an opportunity to finally get ahead.
"We could actually take the reins here, with that little nuisance
gone."
These particular officials had no respect for their lord whatsoever.
On the whole, the people in his government tended to think of him more as
a military leader than a statesman. As a master of the Way of the Flash,
Liam personally commanded large-scale conflicts and fought on the front
lines with his troops. In light of that, more than a few bureaucrats thought
he had no business dictating government policies.
They acknowledged Liam's raw abilities, which had revived House
Banfield after its time on the brink of destruction, but they found his
forceful qualities to be a bother. Liam's political style made it extremely
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hard for anyone else in his government to obtain real power. House
Banfield had gained so much ground, its bureaucrats should have held a lot
more sway. Anywhere else, they would have enjoyed countless privileges
and reaped the fruits of other people's labor, but Liam didn't allow that to
happen.
Liam made ample use of artificial intelligence, minimizing many
officials' involvement, and was personally involved in the politics of his
domain where he needn't have been. He monitored all sectors of his
government carefully for wrongdoings such as embezzlement, which kept
the more unsavory bureaucrats working for him on edge. In short, they
considered Liam a killjoy.
"We'll need to install a new lord quickly," one bureaucrat said with
a smile. The other two nodded. They were greatly enjoying this
conversation.
"When Lord Cliff retired, I was involved in sending his allowance to
the Capital Planet, so I have a line of contact to him. If I get in touch, I'm
sure he can send us a new lord right away."
Cliff Sera Banfield was House Banfield's previous lord, and in fact,
Liam's father. Although he now led a comfortable life on the Capital
Planet, he didn't have a pleasant relationship with Liam by any means.
Under Cliff's governance, House Banfield's subjects had led terrible
lives. The fact that these officials planned to rely on him once again
proved that they prioritized their own profit above the lives of the people
they served.
"Inform him of the domain's predicament right away," said the first
official. "We will support the new lord as best we can, of course. House
Banfield will be as good as ours."
Another official brought up the name of a noble connected to House
Banfield. "Why not ask Baron Noden to serve as the new lord's guardian?
We may have influence within our domain, but we'll have no sway outside
it. Baron Noden is at least an official member of the Empire's aristocracy,
although he's only a frontier noble. He'd be a good asset."
Baron Noden, a noble with a domain on the Empire's outskirts,
received support from House Banfield. He was the very picture of a
destitute noble; as such, he would be easy for the bureaucrats to control.
He was a typical Imperial blueblood—and not in a good way—but as the
complete opposite of the moral and upstanding Liam, he would be perfect
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for these officials' purposes.
"Good idea. I'm sure he'd leap at the opportunity. He'd be happy to
do whatever we asked of him in return for a little funding."
The three officials snickered as they continued plotting.
Unbeknownst to them, a man watched from a corner of the small room.
This man—the Guide—pinched his hat's brim between his fingers
and lifted it. "As you do as you please, Liam's power will lessen," he
murmured. "Fulfill your basest desires, gentlemen. I'll lend my support as
you do."
Without the three officials noticing, black mist billowed from the
Guide and entered their bodies. The Guide watched as their ambitions
swelled. Then, with a satisfied smile, he slipped out through the wall.
"Even if Liam makes it back, House Banfield's domain will have all
sorts of new problems. I hope you enjoy my little present to you, Liam."
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