Considering that she doesn’t have all her tools in this medieval world, it turned out pretty well.

“So? How was it, Tatsuya Nagata-kun?” The person responsible for my meal asked me for my opinion. Respecting my mealtime, she kept to herself while I was eating, but now, her glittering eyes are demanding me to answer, pressuring me as the one who fed me.

“Well, to be honest, it was pretty good. But I still need to ask something, Tsuji-san.”

I was currently eating in a private dining hall, reserved for us heroes only. It was currently empty, as it was a bit past lunchtime, except for the people I was sitting at a table with.

To my side, my ever-faithful best friend, Kyouya Ishigami. Sitting on the opposite side to me, was Aiko Hasebe, and next to her sat the girl that made me this meal, Tamae Tsuji. Also known as “Miss Rep.”, as she was our former female class representative.

“The food from the church’s chefs was already pretty good, so why are you doing it?" I continued after Tsuji-san gave a nod to my request.

“Well, doesn’t it bring back memories? Nostalgia?” Tsuji-san further added. “I also wanted to work with the ingredients in this world. Despite looking the same, all their equivalents have different tastes, methods to prepare, and just, in general, they spark my inner chef~”

Tsuji-san is the daughter of a couple who owns a high-end restaurant, so it's not surprising that their daughter also shows interest in cooking. I never had the chance to try her cooking, but she frequently brought cupcakes and other pastries to class, so I knew that she had talent.

Now I know she’s fucking legit.

“Ah, your cooking is good, Tama-chan, but I really wish you'd go back to baking. Nothing beats your sponge cakes!” Hasebe-san began talking after I was done giving my opinion.

“Urgh, Ai-chan, saying it like that actually hurts my chef’s pride. I’ll forgive you, but only because you helped me get the chance to cook in the first place.” She made an over-dramatic stab to the heart pose, trying to make her friend feel bad.

However, Hasebe-san just gave a cutesy apology and giggled, before resuming speaking. “Ahh, don’t worry about that. It feels good to be able to use my authority as a saint candidate to help you. I just wish I could have done it a bit earlier.”

What Hasebe-san meant with this is that she requested, using her status as a saint candidate, the upper echelon of the church to allow Tsuji-san in the kitchen.

We were initially only served cooking from the church’s chefs, as they wanted us to have meals fitting for heroes. More like, from what I heard it was cooking meant for nobles, wealthy nobles. No wonder it tasted pretty decent, completely going against my expectations that medieval food would be bland and boring.

“Tsuji-san.” I called out Miss Rep.’s name to attract her attention away from the bantering between the girls. “Thanks for the food. Sorry for having you make more just for me.”

Both girls looked at each other and chuckled. Thinking that this was her chance to speak to me, Hasebe spoke. “Well, if you’d only come a bit earlier, we wouldn’t have to serve you in the first place, Mister Training Addict.”

I could only moan at my own incompetence.

It has been three months now since my whole class was summoned into this medieval, fantasy world. Two months, if you only count the time when I started training properly. Hasebe-san giving me a taste of those coffee-tasting leaves reinvigorated me, giving me the motivation to finally train properly, only so I can earn enough money to buy those leaves from the church.

I was actually so filled with energy that I couldn’t do anything but train. It seems my addiction for coffee was temporarily replaced with training my stats and skills, to the point that I sometimes lose time and forget about food.

This world doesn't have any clocks, so we're reliant on the ringing of bells to determine the time of day. The third bell of a day would signify that it's 12pm, lunchtime, and the fifth bell would be 6pm, dinner time. Those are the bells that I miss hearing the most, due to being too concentrated on training.

Our meals are scheduled by the church, which means that if you came late, you would get the cold leftovers or nothing at all.

Hasebe-san, as a saint candidate, would have probably received something warm, even if she came late, but me? I had to sleep hungry a couple times.

Trying my best not to look at Hasebe’s smirking face, I tried to change the subject. “A-Anyways, Hasebe-san, I…” However, before I could continue speaking, she pushed her open palm into my face, forcing me to stop talking.

“No, no. We already went through this, Tatsuya-kun. Drop the formality and just call me Aiko.” She pulled back her hand and then crossed her arms, looking a bit displeased that I called her by her family name. “Just like Kyouya-kun, we’ve been riding the same train for three years now, and you have not called me by my first name once. I think it’s time you do that, with how you’re making me help you with training. You should be happy and proud that a girl allows you to use her first name, hmph!” With her eyes closed, she smirked, proudly waiting for me to obey her wish.

“…Aiko.” She cackled when I caved in.

Very saint-like…

Watching us pull this comedic stunt, Tsuji-san could only give out a sigh, before explaining the real reason why there was still something warm for me.

To explain this, I had to understand the church’s hierarchy.

The culture of this world has been influenced by the availability of magic and mana, and only those that have studied and gained skills like [Mana Control] and [Arcane Mind] can cast spells and control mana. The whole foundation of this church is based on their deity, the Goddess of Light Aurena, and the usage of her elemental affinity, the holy element.

The clergy is, therefore, divided into two separate categories: the pure white-robed priests and shrine maidens that can cast spells, and the gray-robed priests and shrine maidens that attended them like servants.

The upper echelon, the white robes, are further divided into those that are nobles by birth and commoners with magical talent. While they, fundamentally, have the same privileges, duties, and respect; it seems that the official church decisions were being made by the noble-born priests.

The difference in influence and power is even apparent in their robes. The noble’s robes were detailed and extravagant like Aiko’s saint candidate robe. Whereas, the robes of the commoner-born priest are by default plain white, only having fancy embroidery or other fine details if they were rich.

Remember how I mentioned food specifically made to suit the taste of nobles? Well, those chefs were the employees of the white-robed priests. They hire chefs and they cook meals for them.

Now here comes the role of the gray-robed priests and shrine maidens. They are, essentially, servants and attendants of the white-robed priests and shine maidens. They work and assist them in their duties that can range from personal to church work. For their servitude, these gray robes are granted food and a personal quarter.

I’m being told that not all gray-robed priests have a master. Some are master-less and are required to live and sleep in the orphanage, the place where all the gray robes came from. Yup, all gray robes are orphans that have been raised into priests and shrine maidens by the church.

Now, where do these gray robes get their food? This is where the reason for the warm food comes from. “Master-less” gray robes are given alms in the form of the leftover from the meals of white-robed priests and their entourage.

I asked the two girls how they knew this, as nobody told me about it. They plainly said, “That’s because you never pay attention.”, injuring my ego, before telling me that they just asked a white-robed shrine maiden about it.

Aiko has been growing well, reaching [Holy Magic Lv. 3], at a speed that stunned most of the trained mages and clergymen. The mentioned white-robed shrine maiden is a devout believer, enough to become enamored by Aiko’s magical growth that she literally became Aiko’s lady-in-waiting. She would follow her anywhere possible; she’s even waiting outside our dining room right now, sitting on a chair and sipping tea, being attended by her gray-robed priests and shrine maidens.

That woman is even waving at us, now!

Aiko is used to having people attend to her, naturally as the daughter of a conglomerate owner, so she felt it normal to just ask that woman about most of the inner working and culture of the church. We were barely told any of this information officially, so our whole class knew these facts only from Aiko…well, besides me.

It really goes to show how different this world’s culture is. The gods rule the different magic elements, so everybody in this world is a believer of some god, especially the mages and clergy. You show some talent in magic and you’re instantly respected.

Tch, if only I had learned that earlier

After Aiko finished acting as a lecturer, Tsuji-san clapped her hands together to signify a change in topics. “Anyways, you’re finished, right, Nagata-kun?” I looked down at my plate, confirming everything was empty, raised my head and said yes.

"Cool. Well, if you boys would excuse us, I and Ai-chan need to deliver the remaining food to the orphanage."

“Wait, Tama-chan.” Tsuji-san stood up, ready to leave, but was halted by Aiko. “Did you forget what we wanted to ask him?”

“Oh, yeah!” Sitting back down, Tsuji-san looked at me and spoke. “Nagata-kun, which party did you join?”

Party?

“Wait, there was a party?! Oh, come on! I may not be attentive lately, but you guys could at least invite me. I seriously wouldn’t have minded going wild to unwind a bit.” I felt a bit betrayed by my own classmates. I might not get along with everybody but having fun with the few I was spending time with would have been awesome.

The girls looked at me confused, tilting their heads at my answer, before simultaneously facepalming themselves. They briefly exchanged stares, and then directed their gaze at Kyouya, who has been silent the whole time.

As if it was peer pressure, I promptly turned my head to the side to see that Kyouya was giving a wry smile while averting his eyes from the combined gazes of three people.

Covering their faces with their hands, the girls shook their heads in exasperation.

“Kyouya-kun, you imbecile!”

“Ishigami-kun, what the hell have you been doing!”

Kyouya was visibly flustered when both girls shouted in unison. He was waving his hands in front of himself, stalling for time to figure out what to say. “W-Wait, you two. I was planning to tell him, eventually. Honest!”

Tell me? Tell me what?

“Tell me what?” I raised my hand to stop the girls from grilling Kyouya.

Massaging her forehead, Aiko was the first one to speak up. “We’re talking about the parties that we’re supposed to join. The teams.”

“The church wanted us to form parties of five because they are planning to bring us to a place to, uh, level up. Nearly everybody is in a team already, and Ishigami-kun was supposed to tell you before it came to this point.”

My head snapped back to the side. My eyes were wide opened, glaring at my supposed “friend”, denying me from what I fucking wanted! I wanted a party so I can finally level up, but this asshole just ditches me for another group?!

“You bastard.” I spoke in a low, growling voice. “Are you trying to sabotage me again, huh? Like that time you literally stole all my kills in that one game?! Better cough up, otherwise I’ll make sure to beat your ass up with my spear!”

"He he, eh?" Just a moment ago, Kyouya was looking like he was about to apologize but his personality just did a 180. His previously awkward looking smile transformed into a smirk, showing his annoying competitive side. "Ha ha, how about you try gaining some muscles first, twig. The last time you hit me with that stick of yours, you barely did any damage."

“Psh, you should be thankful that I held back, you backstabber! I should turn you into swiss cheese for ditching me for another team.”

“Ha! As if anybody wanted to be with you in the first place. You were so bad; I just wasn’t in the mood to stomp your fragile ego after you just got yourself back up. Come on, aim that spear of yours at me and my shield will block it all. I can already hear the ding, ding, ding; the sound of “gg ez”.”

Invisible flames rose up from our body, clashing against each other as we continued exchanging verbal threats and abuses, fully unleashing our competitive spirits to one-up each other. Sparks began to flicker as the intensity of our toxic quarrel grew to the point that none of us had the composure to remember why we started this argument in the first place, eventually culminating into our loss of self-control.

We couldn’t restrain ourselves anymore, our willingness to settle this on the battlefield emerged.

“Put on your armor and get your gear. We’re settling this grudge at the training field!”

“Fine by me, you trash. I can’t wait to pierce your heart with my spear!”

At that moment, as we were about to leave the dining room, two high-pitched voices stopped us at our tracks. ““Will you guys stop this already!””

We visibly shrunk down when we heard both Tsuji-san and Aiko shout at us.

“Nagata-kun, you misunderstood. Ishigami-kun only forgot to tell you about the parties, but he hasn’t joined one yet.” Tsuji-san gave a sigh in resignation after saying that.

“Yeah, in fact, my party wanted him to join but he declined because my party leader didn’t want you.” She pointed her finger at me, suggesting that I was the reason for Kyouya’s team-less situation.

Hearing the girls say those things cleared up most of my anger towards Kyouya. My wrath-filled eyes vanished, replaced by a sense of admiration and respect.

Both of us dropped our grudges and exchanged high-fives and then transitioned them into a handshake, the clap sound caused by this gesture echoed throughout the hall.

“You scumbag.” I jokingly said while a small tear rolled down my eye, as I was overwhelmed by the loyalty shown by my best friend.

“I’ll always have your back, man.” He gave off a smile that was radiant enough to blind me.

"Ohh, geez." On the sidelines, the girls looked like they were in pain as they massaged their temples. I could also hear Tsuji-san mumble, "That's a friendship between dudes, I guess.".

“Ok, before we derail this whole thing again.” Aiko was wavering her hand to catch our attention. “You guys do know that out of the five possible five-man parties, four have already been registered. You boys are telling me that you aren’t part of any of these four?!”

Reminded why we even had that quarrel in the first place, I glared at Kyouya, forcing him to speak. “I-I didn’t think everything would have gone by that fast. They only announced it last week, so I thought we still had enough time.”

We all looked visibly annoyed at Kyouya’s idiotic mistake. I even released my hand from his, ending our “bro” moment. I scratched my head and sat back down, asking for Aiko to explain everything to me.

Aiko raised one finger up, showing the number one. “In one month, the knights will bring us to a dungeon filled with low-ranked monsters. They want us to gain some levels to improve our strength and also have us gain skill points, so we can spend them in the skill shop.”

As we haven’t killed a single monster yet, we’re all only level 0 without any SP. Being an [Otherworldly Visitor], I had access to buying and upgrading skills using a resource called skill points.

I was curious about the skill shop, and I found a few skills that I wanted but without SP, this function was useless to me.

“As I am a saint candidate, and also the person with the highest magical skill level, I was automatically assigned to the party belonging to the person with the [Hero] title.”

“…Tch, that asshole Akanishi, huh? Yeah, we wouldn’t have gotten along.” Aiko nodded to my statement.

Takuma Akanishi, the current holder of the [Hero] title and 100% certified arrogant asshole. He is the stereotypical kid who acts all pretentious as hell, just because his father is earning enough money. His ego is so over-inflated, that he actually tried to become the “leader” of our whole class group, just because he learned he had that title.

I feel bad for Aiko but even I can see the reason for why this would be the best choice. Fantasy stories always paired the Saint with the Hero, and Aiko is only one among us with a level three magic skill.

I heard from Tsuji-san that she hasn’t been able to learn an elemental magic skill yet, despite her affinity for it. Her unique skill was made for it.

Enchanter’s Oath A skill that promotes supportive actions. Improves the effectiveness of stat-boosting spells and enchanted items. Reduces the mana costs of all actions and arcane corruption accumulation

“Akanishi-san really wanted Kyouya-kun to join us, as he has the best defensive unique skill among our classmates. However, he outright declined after he learned that you two were a package deal.”

"You're the fucking man, Kyouya." I fist-bumped him, thanking him for standing up for me. Kyouya just gave a proud, “I know.”.

“Tama-chan founded a party with Kudo-kun, so we knew you two weren’t in theirs.” Nishio Kudo was our male class representative.

Aiko then continued speaking. “The third party was also formed, as I learned that from their leader, but I didn’t know their members. Which leaves us with the party made by Akabane-san. I don’t think it’s presumptuous of me to believe that you weren’t even interested in joining his party in the first place, right?”

“Daisy? That fucker can go to hell.” I clicked my tongue and turned my head away, now biting my nails in annoyance.

“Daisy” wasn’t this guy’s real name. Daisy is literally a nickname I gave him just so I could trash talk him without trying. Ironically, I had to learn the kanji of his name before I could do it. One of his kanji was “Orchid” so I thought, “Daisy”, the name of a weak flower would be the best way to insult that piece of shit.

If Akanishi is a spoiled asshole, then Daisy is the true definition of a piece of shit. Due to his father’s reputation as a jerk and the most influential prosecutor in the whole of japan, Daisy seems to have develop a superiority complex. He's literally one of the few students in our school that our homeroom teacher Segawa-sensei wouldn't even dare scold, as his father could ruin her career and the school.

That says a lot, in a school where nearly every student comes from a wealthy or influential background.

“You really shouldn’t say that when he’s around, Tatsuya-kun.” Aiko said in exasperation while holding her head in one hand.

“Ai-chan is right, Nagata-kun. You should have realized even before our “one-way trip” to this world that his mood has been terrible for a month already. I don’t know what caused it, but the stress has even turned most of his hair white.”

“Yeah, Tatsuya.” Even Kyouya pitched in to dissuade me from looking for a fight with Daisy. “Just avoid him completely. Now that his party is formed, he’ll be able to power-up his already strong posse. My old man told me that his father would backstab you in a heartbeat if it meant he could win a case. His son looks like he could do that too.”

I don’t care if his mood has gotten worse or not. It really doesn’t matter to me. To me, this person is an enemy, somebody that I could never get along with, even if it meant our lives.

“I’ll avoid him just because I can’t stand his face.”

Everybody gave a collected sigh of relief when I said that. As a way to change the subject, Aiko made an exaggerated “surprise” face as if she just remembered something.

“That’s right. You two! Considering you aren’t in a party yet, must mean that you two will form a party with the three remaining “free” classmates. Haruka-chan doesn’t have a party yet!”

Haruka Sakamoto, the youngest girl in our class with an age of 16. I don’t know much about her as she seems to be quite reserved besides when she talks with the other girls in our class. The only thing I do know is that her father does business with mine and Kyouya’s.

Tsuji-san further added. “You guys will have to protect her, ok? You two seem “normal” enough so don’t let anything happen to her, especially with your two remaining members.”

“Uhh, alright.” I agreed to Aiko’s and Tsuji-san’s requests. “Who are our remaining party members though?”

The two girls looked displeased when I wanted them to tell me who my other teammates were.

“The first is that perverted creep, Daichi Mikami. He was able to learn [Fire Magic Lv. 1] and has been a literal pyromaniac, ever since.” Tsuji-san said it with a tint of envy.

“The other is Asaka Hanazawa” Aiko’s frown deepened as her displeasure grew more and more. “The other holder of the [Saint Candidate] title and a fucking delinquent.”