This sucks…

I sighed heavily as I gingerly balanced my laboratory notebook atop the styrofoam box, taking extra care not to accidentally drop what lay within. Inside that box, buried within a generous amount of ice to preserve the tissue sample were several tumour explants from an experiment now several months in the making, the final capstone that would determine whether or not the past year of research had been a waste.

Carefully, I stripped away the thick gloves, lab coat, mask, hair net, and cover-shoes that formed the personal protective equipment mandated for all personnel engaging in animal-based research. With a low mood, I carried the box that contained samples more valuable than the entirety of my life, taking heavy steps up the staircase leading to the laboratory for further sample processing.

All that was left now was to digest the tissue with the protocol that had taken a long and arduous six months to perfect, stain the cells for flow cytometry with the antibody panels developed for analysis of the different cellular compartments of interest, and obtain the final readout that would determine whether or not the entirety of my PhD had even a modicum of scientific value.

Given the trend from experiments past, though, I didn’t have high hopes. So far, all I had were negative results, the second most dreaded term in the hearts and minds of everyone working in my field. Taking first place was the term ‘p>0.05’, or no statistically significant difference, of which I had seen enough times over the past years to plague my nightmares.

For, you see – I am a scientist.

To be precise: the exact field I work in is tumour immunology, and after so, so long, I am in the final year of my PhD.

This seriously, seriously sucks.

I had been attracted to the life sciences ever since I was a kid. My entire family was: my parents were doctors, and even my three siblings had all eventually entered academia in the clinical or experimental circles, in fields as diverse and specific as ribosome biogenesis to tau protein aggregates. They enjoyed their work, and received accolades for them. Frequent publications in high-impact scientific journals were par for the course for them.

As for me, though… even though no one knew it, I was slowly but surely growing tired of all this.

Don’t get me wrong – my passion for science would never die. There was just something so undeniably intoxicating to think about the possibilities out there, that still defied humanity’s collective thirst for knowledge despite our best efforts in uncovering the universe’s secrets for thousands of years. The more we discover, the more we find that there is still an endless amount of knowledge out there waiting to be seized – and wow, the thought of that just gave me a thrill of excitement even now.

I always loved the stories of the old scientist-philosophers of history. Even though many of their findings and theories were now proven to be entirely inaccurate, their tenacity and ingenuity had inspired a sense of awe as I read about their deeds growing up.

My favourite was Galen of the Roman Empire, who, in the second century, had influenced scientific fields ranging the whole span of anatomy, physiology, pathology and neurology, and left his mark in history through his grandiose works on philosophy. His theory of the ‘humours’ were completely off the mark, but so much of his contributions to physiology had stemmed from sheer observation and inference, advancing the science far more than anyone before him in past centuries. Even today, anatomy texts still revere him as the father of the subject field.

Inspired, bright-eyed and naïve-hearted, I diligently pursued the biological sciences as I furthered my education. By a sheer stroke of luck, I managed to obtain a place in a prestigious university of my choice, studying medicine with the aim of eventually becoming a clinician-scientist.

The preclinical years were fine: I was exposed to the necessary background in a variety of subjects, ranging from anatomy to pharmacology. Even though most of the content was irrelevant to actual clinical practice, being taught on cutting-edge research ongoing in the field left me feeling inspired and amazed.

It all went downhill from there.

Early on in my years of clinical education, I came to a sudden realisation: I disliked clinical practice. Contrary to popular belief, much of the work that a junior clinician does boils down to identifying symptoms displayed by the patient, ordering tests, interpreting them, and then following guidelines set by the local medical council. For a student, we didn’t even have that, and it was intellectually stifling going from an environment where the horizon seemed as broad as could be, to one that adhered to a strict set of rules.

Added on to that, I was never a ‘people-person’. While others around me could converse with patients with ease, I struggled to build rapport with patients despite trying my best. People told me that I was doing fine, that I ultimately managed to obtain a clear clinical history – but deep down, I felt discouraged and empty.

And so, I made my second mistake – in the final year of my clinical training, I switched to do a PhD.

I loved science, but hated scientific administration. With the way the world worked and the oversaturation of trained scientists being produced annually, the system had naturally turned into one where research groups competed for research grants, that all had certain criteria and conditions worded into them.

Suddenly, my avenues of research had become narrowed. Unlike the philosopher-scientists of old, I couldn’t simply perform an experiment ‘just to see what happened’ – funds were precious, and conditions were put in place of exactly what they could be used for. And so, I focused into tumour immunology, the hot topic of the last decade, looking into the ways that the immune system both contributed to cancer, and how it could be modulated against it. At the time, naïve little me thought that I could make a difference.

Then, after a year, I had no fruitful results. Then two years, and then three. Each time I thought there was something promising, another group somewhere just happened to have reported on similar findings in a journal somewhere, only their data was so much more convincing.

Compounding that, because of the publish-or-die mentality that pervaded the academic sector, there was an almost unhealthy pressure to generate results. Science became restricted and stifling.

I groaned in annoyance, as I manually processed the tumour tissues, chopping them up with dissection scissors as my thoughts wandered. There were still another fifteen to go. How did I ever end up like this?

Sometimes, I had the fickle thought of escaping away from it all, to try and find another related job, or go back into education. Those thoughts never held – despite how much frustration I felt with the scientific system of the present day, I still enjoyed the concept of science. That would never leave me till the day I died.

Even then, though – there were times when I did wonder just what else I would want to do, given the chance. Perhaps that was why during the Coronavirus pandemic earlier in the year, when everyone had been quarantined away from their workplaces, I had engrossed myself in catching up with my favourite guilty pleasure… Isekai.

Yes, I freely admit it – I, Eric Zhang, am isekai trash.

There was just something so enticing about the idea of being brought to another world. There were so many forms of media in that genre, too – the whole reincarnation schtick, the summoned to another world cliché, the hit by Truck-kun trope that spawned hundreds of memes, hero fantasies, antihero counterpoints, demon lords, revenge stories, useless gods and goddesses, the oh-shit-this-is-a-game-and-I-die-at-the-end variant, having life become a game filled with stats and skills… there were just so many possibilities.

I loved them all. Those few months of quarantine had to be the best in recent memory, even though all I did was stay in my room all day. For a time, it was escapism.

Then quarantine ended, and my life returned to how it had always been… and that brought me to where I currently was, placing Falcon tubes into the centrifuge, about to remove the supernatant and begin enzymatic digestion to obtain single-cell suspensions.

At times like these, I really did wish that isekai was real.

With my thoughts running idly as they were, I did the unthinkable.

I tripped.

Tubes clattered.

My life flashed before my eyes, as the fruits of my research, my precious babies, the embodiment of results-or-die that would determine the rest of my life sailed through the air. In a panic, with eyes wide, I reached out, glasses almost falling off my face as I leaned forward –

– only to feel a sudden lurching sensation, as a bright flash of light surrounded me.

I gasped, my heart rate spiking – more from the thought of losing research than whatever bizarre phenomenon was currently affecting me – flailing around with panic as my vision flared and whitened.

Then, it cleared, but my panic didn’t stop. This –

Why…

Why am I in a throne room?!

“Greetings, O’ Hero!” A sagely, yet thunderous voice boomed. “The Kingdom of Everach humbly requests for your – wait, why are there two of you?”

The unknown speaker’s voice shifted into confusion at the end. I tried calming myself, taking an objective look at my surroundings, rationalising what had happened.

…it didn’t help much. Suddenly thrust into a completely different environment, I couldn’t even find it in myself to speak.

It couldn’t be… right?

I was in an audience chamber. In front of me, standing in front of a golden throne, was an elderly man in his sixties, dressed in what was undeniably the robes of a king, a crown placed atop his head. By his side, two wizened advisors stood there, holding staves with coloured orbs at the end. The king, who had initially been stern and stoic at the beginning of his greeting, now look thoroughly shocked and bewildered.

And beside me, there was another person who looked to be in his late teens, dressed in casual clothes, just as confused as I was. He was a fair bit taller than myself, somewhere in the range of 180 to 190 centimetres, probably. His physique was lean, and with that chiselled look on his face, I felt embarrassed just standing next to him despite probably being at least a good five years older, utterly average in every way.

In other words, he was like the embodiment of ‘isekai protagonist’. Heck, he was probably even Japanese. If this was an isekai, he’d get a harem by the second volume of the light novel.

Unlike myself, he calmed himself down quickly enough.

“What is the meaning of this?” the king asked one of his astonished advisors. “Why… why are there two heroes?”

“There has to be a mistake, my lord!” one of them hurriedly said. “There has never been a recorded summoning like this before!”

“What is it?”

“Excuse me,” the person next to me spoke up, his voice entirely level. Abruptly, their frantic discussion ceased.

“My name is Shinya Haruto,” he said, bowing slightly, then glanced toward me fractionally, giving a slight smile. He turned back to face the king. “May I ask how we came to be brought here?”

Oh, God. He’s actually an isekai protagonist.

“M – my apologies, great hero! Err, Heroes!” he hastily corrected himself mid-sentence, clearing his throat, before speaking regally, as though having practiced his speech before. “I am King Theorin Everach, 25th ruler of the Kingdom of Everach! These are dire times, Sir Shinya! The prophecies foretell of the Demon Lord’s return –“

Subtly, I pinched myself, a spike of pain my sole reward for that foolhardy move. Ouch!

…not a dream. Right.

“– and brave heroes are needed to defend our lands! With no one to turn to, we have no choice but to summon a hero to drive back the darkness, just as had been inscribed in legends and history alike over countless millennia! H-Hero – err, Heroes – will you not lend us your aid?”

There was an air of expectation on his face, although I could see a faint sheen of sweat on his mildly-balding forehead. He was trying to project an air of authority, but it was obvious that their so-called ‘prophecies’ and ‘legends’ had never made mention of two heroes.

…was this actually an isekai? One of those ‘summoned to defeat the Demon Lord’ type?

Status, I thought mentally, crossing my fingers. System! Menu! Character sheet!

Of course, nothing happened.

I’m not prepared for this! I take it back! Throw me back in the lab, there’s no way I can duke it out against a Demon Lord!

“Hey.” Abruptly, I stiffened, as Shinya placed a hand on my shoulder. Ah… since when had it begun trembling? “Calm down, okay? What’s your name?”

“Eric,” I managed to say. “Eric Zhang. This… is this actually happening?”

“Unfortunately.” The corner of his lip lifted marginally. “Have you heard of isekai before?”

I nodded mutely. “Then… this is real? But how –”

At that moment, something caught my attention. Panicked as I was before, it had completely slipped my notice, but as I addressed Shinya, it was made completely apparent.

“Your hand!” I exclaimed, stepping back, eyes wide. On the dorsal surface of the hand that he had placed supportively on my shoulder to try and get me to regain my wits, there was a glowing symbol inscribed at its centre. It looked almost like an omega sign, with an arrow extending out from the concave side of the arc, shimmering a faint yellow. Smaller but no less elaborate sigils surrounded the symbol.

It was probably a mark of how much of a life I didn’t have that I immediately drew comparison to the mark of the Luminary from Dragon Quest XI, a game that had consumed far too many hours of my life. If there was any doubt that this was the king’s ‘hero of legend’ before, despite his obvious isekai protagonist looks, they were now thoroughly erased.

“Huh.” He examined it coolly, as though this was normal everyday circumstances to him, and standing beside him, I felt like utter trash.

On that matter…

I sneaked a look at my own hand.

There was nothing inscribed there. Just plain, boring old hand of mine.

“That – that is the mark of the hero!” the king made a choked sound. He stepped closer, his attendants moving alongside him. “This… Sir Shinya! You are undeniably the hero who will save this country!”

Hastily, he gestured at one of his advisors. He stepped forward, clutching an orb almost reverently in his hand. “Please, Sir Hero,” he breathed, anticipation apparent in his voice. “Place your hand upon the orb. It shall reveal your class.”

Oh no… one of those isekais. A staple of the genre was that whenever someone was summoned to another world, there would somehow be something from his or her past life that gave them an edge in this foreign world.

Ergo: if my prior reading was worth anything here, I would proooobably find myself having a useless class in comparison to the hero’s, subject as the target of an elaborate scheme that would see me locked in the palace’s dungeons, abandoned out in the wilderness to be monster-food, or –

“S – [Sword Saint]!” the advisor gasped, his hands shaking, as the previously lifeless orb swirled with a multitude of colours. “And your level… already Level 12!”

“Is that high?” Shinya intoned curiously. “For that matter… how do you tell your own level?”

“Every city and village has an orb like this, Sir Shinya! Its purpose is merely to awaken the latent powers dwelling within. From here on out, you will have an instinctive understanding of your skills and level!” The advisor’s head bobbed rapidly up and down. “As for your level… Level 12 is average among soldiers and adventurers, but the fables speak of heroes who rapidly gain strength as they face danger head-on! Within a month, your level shall shoot to the heavens!”

In other words: typical isekai protagonist experience cheat.

…none of this was making any sense. How was any of this even happening?

“I see…”

“Hero!” King Everach implored. “Please, our kingdom begs you for aid! The Demon Lord’s forces gain strength from within his domain to the north, and the sages predict that he will descend upon us within the year! Already, he has devoured the territories of Yhorm and Eltheim, and Tennall will fall any day now! To the east, Narn still stands strong, but the Demon Lord will surely soon make his move. You are the only hope we have left! Should you save us, we will be eternally in your debt!”

“I’ll do it.” Shinya didn’t even hesitate, nodding resolutely.

“Wait,” I suddenly said, surprising even myself, as a thought gnawed in my mind. I froze momentarily at the sudden attention, but forced myself to continue. “Umm… you say that there’s these other territories or something, right? Can’t they summon heroes too?”

The king exchanged worried glances with his advisors, before finally speaking.

“Those who have the resources to do so already have,” the king said grimly. “The elf El-thanak, the [Windranger] summoned by Yhorm from the world of Ahn, perished in battle two years ago. The fearsome Lizardman, Rakash the [Crimson Reaper], went missing following his confrontation with the Demon Lord six months past. All that is left is Elise Swiftwind, the [Amazon] brought by Tennall!”

“Up until your arrival, of course,” one advisor hastily added.

That… huh. Didn’t really expect that.

“Elf? Lizardman?” Shinya asked. “Do you mean that heroes are summoned from beyond just Earth?”

“Is that the land that you two hail from?” Shinya nodded at the king’s question. “Yes… in ages past, heroes have been brought to our lands from every realm in existence! Where the legends say that there once there were only humans in these lands, there are now people with the blood of Wolverines, Lizardmen, Kitsune, Elves, Merfolk and more, as the great heroes of old started families with our undeserving kind!”

…huh. Interesting. How much would they differ from regular humans? Would a Lizardman be cold or warm-blooded? What else differed here? Magic was obviously something that existed, going by the orb that determined a person’s class. I wasn’t so deeply rooted into science that I would exclude the existence of magic, even when evidence was presented before myself that it clearly existed.

Wait, why am I even so invested in this? I’m not even a hero! Come to think of it –

“Umm, question?” I spoke up hesitantly. “Am I able to go back to Earth at all?”

Shinya’s head snapped toward me, his eyes widening in realisation of my current predicament, before he frowned accusingly at the King. Ah, such a kind isekai protagonist.

Wait, no. There was that event in several isekai works whereby the hero who appeared kind and nice to the general populace had been a monster who mistreated his fellow summoned hero. Oh, God, is that what’s happening here?

“I – I’m afraid not,” Unaware of my inner rising panic, the king exchanged quick glances with his advisors, sending a worried look at Shinya, as though afraid of displeasing him. He continued speaking quickly. “But do not worry! The legends say that after the Demon Lord is defeated, the hero is given the chance to return to his or her world should it be their desire! I am certain that once this is all over, you can return to your world as well!”

I expected that, since that was a staple of the genre. If my extensive experience with the variety of isekai works was accurate, the King would next attempt to play nice to the hero, while plotting to dispose of me by any means necessary. There were at least three series at the top of my head I could think of where that had been a thing.

I couldn’t allow that to happen. To prevent that…

My best option was hinging my bets on Shinya: if he really was genuinely a decent person, then I had to pre-empt the king’s move, and make Shinya aware of what might happen. If he wasn’t, then I would be dead either way.

“Is this the part where you throw me out of the castle into the wilderness?” I somehow found the strength in me to accuse. “If my presence here is due to something going wrong with the summoning… are you going to kill me once Shinya and I are separated? Or are you going to throw me into your dungeons, dismember me for fun, before –“

“Good heavens, no!” King Theorin Everach interrupted my tirade, aghast. “Gods above… is this something that happens in your world?!”

I blinked. Shinya, whose eyes had been increasingly narrowing, likewise startled.

“To confirm… you’re not going to do that?”

“By the Five Deities, w-what kind of world do you two live in?” one pale-faced advisor stuttered. “The Kingdom of Everach has never seen such barbarity in its glorious history! Perhaps the foul Demon Lord may fall to such depravity, but this – this – even the thought –“

Not that kind of isekai then? I furrowed my brows. What type is this, then? There always has to be something that happens to the secondary non-hero character in a case like this.

“Ah… what happens to me, then?”

“That is up to you, Sir Eric,” the king said immediately, holding his arms out in a non-threatening gesture. “To our shame, your presence here is due to our negligence, even if we do not understand what went wrong with the summoning. We can provide you with lodging, finances and food if you so wish. If you desire to leave the castle, perhaps to become an adventurer or explore our world, we will make sure that you are necessarily prepared as well.”

I stared unblinkingly at the king. That sounded… well, too reasonable to be something that happened in an isekai. Just what was going on here?

“Sir Eric?”

“Oh… sorry,” I apologised weakly, embarrassed. “Can I try looking at my class?”

“Right, of course!” the king hastily motioned for the advisor to step forward. “Again, I apologise for this mess!”

“Ah… it’s alright?” I half-said, half-asked. To be honest, I was still finding it hard to believe that any of this was actually happening, considering how it had coincidentally happened just minutes after my mind had wandered to the subject of isekai.

I placed my hand on top of the orb. Immediately, warmth began to emanate from it. Phew. For a moment, I had thought this would be one of those anti-trend isekai, being transported to this world without possessing the powers that denizens of this world held, or have a Re:Zero-esque situation where all that awaited me was suffering.

What would my class be? I always did wonder what it would be like to fight as a Warrior, something so out-of-place of my regular self. Perhaps an Archer, Ranger, Hunter, or whatever passed as that archetype in this world, too. Hmm… then again, being a mage and learning about the intricacies of magic sounded awesome as well, especially if it could be deconstructed as a science…

Then, the wisps of colour within the orb began to coalesce, and I heard a distinct voice echo in my mind.

[Biologist]. Level 1. Skills: [Bio-analysis].

I blinked.

“B… [Biologist]?” The advisor furrowed his brows, the word sounding foreign to his lips. “I… I’m afraid I do not know of the term. Is this a variant of the [Mage] archetype, I wonder?”

Even in this world, I’m a biologist. I smiled bitterly. Guess there’s no escaping that. Research in real life was draining enough, but here, without equipment and funds –

Abruptly, I came to a sudden realisation.

I was free.

I could do any research I desired. No limitations on the topic area, and better yet –

“Do you have dragons here?” I asked quickly. “Wyverns? Slimes? Magical potions? Herbs?”

Confusion grew on his face, more than a little startled by my sudden excitement. “I… yes? Yes to all?”

Holy shit. Holy SHIT!

I could perform research here. They didn’t seem to know what Biology was, going by the confusion over my class. Perhaps even the physical sciences were lacking, too, since the presence of magic could have bypassed the normal requirement for scientific progression in a step-by-step basis, as was the case in many works of fiction. Why understand the composition of matter, when magic could conjure any object of the mage’s desire? Why bother to learn about anatomy and physiology, when a healing spell could cure wounds incurred in battle? Why devise steam engines, when mythical beasts of burden could rival them in speed? And –

“Dragons breathe fire? They’re magical?”

“Yes?”

Magical biology. Did the fire truly originate from some interaction of magic with their biological bodies, or was it a chemical reaction within a gland of theirs? And that skill of mine… the advisor hadn’t lied – instinctively, I knew how to use it.

[Bio-analysis] allowed for an inspection of a certain characteristic of my choice, at the cost of expenditure of… some kind of energy, that I was now acutely aware of. The more complex the task, the less information could be gathered. It was limited to me being explicit in what exactly I wanted analysed, but that was in no way different from what I was already used to back in the lab.

It was amazing – with but a thought, I knew I could analyse a sample as though peering at it down a confocal microscope. With greater expenditure of mana, I could perhaps even analyse its proteome or transcriptome. Things that might require days of experiments at the best assuming protocol was fully optimised, up till months at the worst if everything went wrong, now took but a thought and expenditure of mana that recovered over time.

It seemed to require at least some prior understanding on my part. I couldn’t, for example, ask to [Bio-Analyse] a protein’s cryo-EM structure, since I had no prior experience with that technique or its workings. What I could do was [Bio-Analyse] two related proteins, and compare them and see if they were receptor-ligand pairs.

I couldn’t, unlike a certain other isekai, ask the Skill exactly what was wrong with someone and the necessary treatment to cure them. What I could do was pave the way forward as a proper researcher should: make observations, devise hypotheses, and test them out.

“Amazing…” I couldn’t keep myself from voicing out my awe. Unconsciously, a wide grin spread on my face.

Shinya chuckled. “You’re a scientist, then, I’m guessing?”

“Ah… yeah,” I said sheepishly, temporarily stopping myself from going down that rabbit hole. “Immunology is my specialty.”

“Immunology, huh?” He tilted his head slightly. “Ah… I was about to start studying in university next year. Political sciences. Never did that good in the hard sciences back in high school.”

Yet another strike for isekai criteria.

“What happens now?” I asked. Already, I was excited to perform my research. Where do I even begin? I thought back to the scientists of old, who worked with what they had at their disposal, revolutionising their respective fields despite their lack of resources.

The flame that had burned out in me abruptly rekindled itself. This was a world of possibilities to explore. I needed to know more about this world and research every oddity there was. This whole Demon Lord mess… I didn’t need to care about that. I wasn’t the hero.

“You – um…” The king look mildly disturbed by whatever expression I had been showing, and I struggled to restrain myself. Beside me, Shinya chuckled. King Everach coughed politely. “Very well, then! The Kingdom of Everach thanks you for your magnanimity in accepting our plea for aid in this trying time, Sir Shinya Haruto! Sir Eric – I apologise for the circumstances that led to you being here –“

I waved him aside. I took back everything I said before about wanting to return home to Earth. This was everything I ever wanted.

“Err… alright, then. The arrangements will be made for whatever you decide to do next.” He recovered quickly, returning to address Shinya. “Hero! These brave adventurers, some of the finest in the land, have answered our kingdom’s call in our time of need, and offer their blades, bows, and magic to you, that together your might may triumph over the Demon Lord in time to come!”

Oooh, they even had that going on here. Very isekai; very classy, I thought appreciatively. Hopefully, there won’t be a Rising of the Shield Hero chapter one betrayal twist going on.

He nodded to one of his attendants, who left the throne room, returning moments later to usher in a group of three individuals. They all seemed to be around their late teens, perhaps early twenties at the most.

“Celeste Grynas, [White Mage] of the Noble House of Grynas!” the attendant announced, and a woman stepped forward shyly, dressed in white robes not unlike those of a mage from… just about every fantasy world, really. In her hands, she held an ornate staff, with a sapphire necklace around her neck.

Intriguingly, her ears were slightly pointed – perhaps some elf blood, given that heroes were summoned from other worlds as well? It wasn’t too far-fetched to think that there was a greater likelihood of genetic intermingling with the nobility, since it seemed that royal courts were the ones in charge of summoning heroes to defend their realms.

“I… I’ll do my best, Sir Hero!”

The typical shy character in the hero’s party, it seems. Still, my expectations had been thoroughly reversed several times already – perhaps assuming her personality that early was a mistake. It wasn’t like I was the most sociable person, either.

Come to think of it, why was I even still here? I had nothing to do with this!

Regardless, the next person was called forward. “Finn Deyland, [Pathfinder]!”

The second in the line stepped forward, and the only other male in Shinya’s party. They were both about the same height, his expression utterly calm, as he raised a hand in greeting. His eyes snapped around the room for a fraction of a second, occasionally staring at something that caught his interest for a few moments, before gazing back at Shinya. Strapped across his back was a longbow made of fine oak, along with a quiver filled with arrows.

“Pleased to meet you. I hope we’ll work well together.”

“Likewise,” Shinya said.

…again, I had absolutely no idea why I was still here.

“And finally – Alicia Everach, [Ice Knight], Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Everach!”

Jackpot! Wouldn’t be an isekai without a Princess Knight joining the hero’s party!

She stepped forward, glancing at me for an instant with slight curiosity in her eyes, before turning her attention fully onto Shinya. She wore plate armour that would probably leave me struggling to walk, moving around in it like it was nothing. Her hair was blonde, much like the King’s, standing a full head shorter than Shinya. A sword was strapped by her waist, along with a large tower shield on her back.

Did Levels here affect a person’s strength? Was that how she could move around that easily? I couldn’t see much of her build underneath the armour, but surely there was no way her musculature could support that much weight without her spine breaking?

“Sir Hero,” she said respectfully. “My sword and shield are yours.”

“Ah… there’s no need for such formality,” Shinya said quickly. “The honour is mine, princess.”

I quirked a smile. Love interest senses are tingling, I thought. If this were the isekai of a light novel, the first volume would be a training-slash-introduction arc, perhaps putting down bandits somewhere, while the crew got to know each other. The second would be the start of something tangentially related to the Demon Lord, alongside a few hints of possible romance.

It wouldn’t come to fruition that quickly, of course: the author had to tease his readers. More than likely, it’d be sometime around, say, the seventh volume, before any actual romance took hold, right when the first signs of the Demon Lord actually appearing became apparent. Their love would kindle a spark in the darkness, rallying their clansmen to them in a world fallen to ruin, and they would –

“Very well then!” The king said, his voice slightly raised, interrupting my whimsical fancies. “Sir Shinya! Please, if you and your party will remain here, we shall brief you on the situation the kingdom is facing. Sir Eric, please, if you would follow Tycelius here, he will make the necessary arrangements for you to settle in our Kingdom.”

I nodded, walking over to the assigned advisor. “Thank you, King Everach,” I said courteously, all notion of ill-thought having faded ever since my class was made known to me. “Shinya – good luck!”

“Thank you!” he said, smiling, excitement visible on his face. “I’ll see you around, okay?”

Ah, youth. He was probably eighteen or so, in the prime of his life, thrust into this new adventure. Not at all jaded like little old me at the age of twenty-five. To think that I had wanted to be part of a grand quest, when I could do exactly what I’ve wanted for ages and research for the fun of it!

I couldn’t wait to listen to their little isekai adventures, all while investigating this world’s many mysteries in my new/old role as a [Biologist]. As tempting as it was, I didn’t want to be tied to the court and palace, even if they were willing to offer a place here. I wanted to do this the right way – as soon as I could, I would accept whatever the king was willing to offer me to start a life somewhere out in this world, and set up my own research lab right at home like the ancient scientists and philosophers.

Mysteries of this world, beware!