As soon as I enter, my eyes are fixated on a man wearing a crown, the king.

He is sitting on a golden throne on an elevated platform.

On his left side sits the queen on another throne.

Her expression could only be called cold or indifferent.

Next to her stands a woman with long brown hair dressed in a white robe.

And on the king's right is an empty spot, which is quickly filled by Belion, who stands there as he faces me.

A little further away to the left on the side, I can see the two princes and also one other girl standing with them.

And standing by the walls, there are various people with either a considerable amount of mana or in heavy armor.

Blizzard quickly walks there and stands next to them.

Everyone seems a little nervous.

Especially those two princes.

The king, however, seems very composed despite what happened this morning.

And the queen still retains her cold aura.

As I walk forward, the door is shut behind me.

"Welcome to the royal castle in Granores."

"My name is Venedict Armundis."

"I am the king of this kingdom."

"And this is my wife, Cecilia Armundis."

He gestures at the queen sitting right next to him and then he looks back at me.

The queen's face is unchanged.

"I'm Reiza."

The king gives me a slight nod and then continues.

"First of all, I would like to apologize for what happened this morning."

"I should have educated my sons better."

"Please know, that their selfish actions were not the kingdom's intentions."

"And I'm also very grateful you spared both of their lives."

The king briefly glances at those two and they avert their eyes while gritting their teeth.

So they WERE both part of the scheme, huh?

"But don't worry, I will prepare a suitable punishment for both of them."

I really couldn't care less about what happens to them.

As long as they don't hinder me anymore, I'm fine.

"As a further apology, I would like to give you a gift."

After signaling the woman in the white robe, she and two other armored people take something covered in a sheet from behind the throne and come forward.

When they come close enough, the woman rolls the sheet to the side and reveals a silvery blue sword.

After the sword is presented to me I take a look at it.

Then, I extend my arm and grab it with my right hand.

Bringing it closer to me, I look at my reflection in the blade.

It's very polished and it doesn't seem like it has been used before.

Then, I hear a few silent gasps around the room.

When I look around, everyone is staring at me astonished.

What happened?

"Ehem..."

When the king clears his throat, the room calms down again.

The woman and the armored people then go back to their spots.

"That sword was forged out of a mixture of azure dragon's talons and skysand."

"It is one of the heaviest alloys and is also many times more enchantable than mithril."

"The sword's name is Azure judgment."

Oh?

So this is better than my mithril sword?

Hmm...

It's true that it feels a bit heavier than the mithril sword.

I raise it above my hand and give it a light swing.

At that moment, a wave of wind surges through the room and messes hair of most of the people.

Yep, I like it.

It's not as light as the mithril sword, but not too heavy to be a hindrance.

After the wind settles down, some of the armored people put their hands on their weapons.

But with the king's glance, they return to their neutral stance.

Then, he looks at me again as if asking what I think about it.

"...it's good."

"I'm glad you are pleased with it."

The king nods in satisfaction.

I put the sword in my storage for now.

That is followed by another round of silent gasps.

After it calms down the king looks at me with a serious expression once again.

"Now, I would like to talk about one more thing with you."

"There is a certain request I would like you to accept."

A request?

"Of course, should you accept and complete this request, you will be suitably rewarded."

"What is...this request?"

"That is..."

He closes his eyes briefly before continuing.

"Please, help our kingdom defeat the demon lord."

Defeat the demon lord?

"As you might know, there is a demon country to the south of this kingdom."

"It's a land full of evil demons, who constantly threaten us and wage war with us as well as all the other human kingdoms."

"And a few days ago, I have gotten a message, that a new demon lord has appeared."

A demon lord...

From what I heard, demon lords are kind of mysterious.

Nobody knows what decides the status of a demon lord.

Do the demons hold some sort of tournament and the winner becomes the demon lord?

Or perhaps a demon lord is a special race, into which normal demons can evolve?

There are many theories, but nothing is certain.

But what is known, is that they are always extremely powerful and only trained heroes can stand a chance when fighting them.

However...

Defeating one of them sounds like a bother and I probably can't make it in time.

Just a trip to the border between the Armundis kingdom and the demon country would take about 10 days.

Considering the time I need to return and the time I spend there looking for the demon lord...

I probably won't have enough time for this even if I wanted to do it.

"...I refuse."

With those words, all eyes in the room turn at me with either hostility or fear.

The only ones who didn't were Blizzard and Belion, who instead looked concerned.

The king furrows his brows and slightly lifts up his hand, signaling everyone to calm down.

"Maybe I know the reason?"

"...not enough time."

"Time...?"

"I need to return...in 40 days."

"This...would take too long."

"Return...is it?"

"Do you perhaps need to return to that dungeon you were trapped in because of god?"

How does he know all of this?

...

Well I guess Blizzard or Belion told him.

I nod to answer his question.

He briefly closes his eyes and lets out a sigh.

"In that case, I understand."

"Even if he might not be a real god, defying him wouldn't be smart."

Might not be a real god?

What do you mean by that?

"However..."

"Would it be possible for you to help us in another way?"

"You would still be rewarded and it wouldn't take as long."

"Another way?"

"Yes, you see...the usual way to fight a demon lord is to send a hero."

"And because there aren't currently any heroes, we would need to summon one from another world."

"However, the summoning ritual requires a tremendous amount of mana."

"And not too long ago, our biggest magical institution, the Ghora academy, was attacked."

"In the end, the assault was repelled, but unfortunately, the storage room for mana was completely demolished."

"That's why, I request of you to help us with the ritual by letting us borrow some of your mana."

Huh...?

You had a storage room for mana?

How does that work?

Perhaps storing enchanted objects?

Hmm...

Well anyway, I guess if it's just using a bit of my mana, it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

"How much mana?"

"The spell needs about hundred thousand."

"Would you be able to provide at least a third of that?"

Huh...a hundred thousand?

That's almost as much as armageddon.

Hmm...

I don't really want to waste time with that summoning, but I'm a little interested in the summoning magic itself.

If I were to master it, maybe I could somehow use it on myself and I would never be stuck in a dungeon again.

Hmm, I think it's worth it.

"Alright...I accept."

The king's lips curl upwards forming a light smile.

"Thank you."

"Then-"

"But."

"...I want to learn a bit about that summoning magic as a reward."

His smile drops down as he looks over at the white robed woman.

She stays silent for a few seconds seeming to be in thought and then looks at me.

"I don't think it would be a problem to teach you."

"But may I ask, what or who do you intend to summon if you learn it?"

"...nothing in particular."

"I just thought...it might be useful...for other things."

She looks at me suspiciously for a second and then turns her head toward the king.

As if communicating purely by eye contact, they gaze at each other for a few seconds before the king finally looks at me again.

"Very well, I accept your proposal."

"The summoning will happen in three days."

"Until then, my men will do the preparations and Sophia here will teach you some things about the ritual."

The woman takes a step forward and lightly bows.

"My name is Sophia Mezalodis, one of the two Court magicians along with Belion."

"I will be in your care."

And thus, I was introduced to Sophia, the mage who would teach me all kinds of summoning magic.

...or so I thought.

|= Three days later =|

If I said I wasn't disappointed, I would be lying.

As I expected, this summoning magic is a combination magic.

It's a combination magic of light, blood and...something else.

The truth is, the last type of magic it includes is unknown.

They don't even know what kind of magic they are using.

And in reality, they don't even know any other spell from this type of magic.

Just summoning a hero from another world.

How does that even happen?

Well, I asked.

And the reason is, just the instructions for this one spell have been passed down.

Nothing is explained on how it works.

Just a set of precise step by step instructions on how to make it work.

It's just like when I received the spell as a reward for beating the dungeon.

I only know that one specific spell and nothing similar.

Even if I tried experimenting by slightly changing up one of the steps, it just didn't do anything.

So in short, now I know how to summon a hero.

And that's it.

Why did they ask me who I intend to summon if it can only summon a hero?

...

I feel like I have been ripped off.

Oh well...

Maybe I will need to summon a hero of my own in the future?

Who knows.

Anyway, here we are.

In one of the castle's basement rooms.

On the floor there is a huge magic circle with eight magicians kneeling around it.

Me and Sophia are among them, on the opposite ends.

When the spell is about to be activated, I will need to pour the necessary mana into it.

"Are you ready?"

"...ready."

I close my eyes and start gathering the mana while touching the magic circle with my hands.

Even with my eyes shut, I can see the intense light all around me as I pour more and more mana into the formation.

Finally, after a few minutes, the light starts to fade.

And with it, I hear somebody's scream getting closer and closer, as if someone was falling from above.

I finally open my eyes.

And right after that, I lock eyes with a teenage boy, the hero we summoned.

38 days left to return.

Bonus:

Does mastering a type of magic grant you pseudo-immunity to it?

Are masters able to control the spells of others, let's say experts, during or after the conjuration of the spell?

Questions by catalinnr.

Controlling mana which isn't touching any part of your body is a technique of its own.

This technique has some very specific requirements and general public considers it impossible.

That's why when Reiza used fire missile against the dragon, she had to leave a trail of mana connecting it to her to control it.

In theory, it would be possible to wait for the enemy attack to make contact with your body so you could control it.

But as you might expect, you probably wouldn't come out unscathed.

However, master level magicians ARE able to enchant their own body with resistance to that particular element without any side effects.

So you could say they are immune to the element they master.

Now, if I say that using mana outside of your body is generally impossible, do you remember someone who could do that?

That's right...back in the dungeon, there was someone who fulfilled all the right conditions for this.

He used some of the mana inside Reiza's body against her and it made her quite confused in the process.

Huh?

Who are you?

Oh...right...

But why are you appearing now?

Isn't it like...way too early?

Oh yeah...

What a conincidence...

...

By the way, where is Gundar?

You know, the evil god guy.

...

Never mind.