I could swear that the damn emperor smirked as he slashed his blade of lightning at me. Had he decided to demonstrate his power by slaying the unnecessary extra Hero? No, that wouldn’t make any sense.

Before his attack could reach me and sever my head—or electrocute it, who knew how it worked with lightning for a weapon—something stood between us. Or someone.

With a loud clang, the blade of lighting clashed with a claymore of black stone. A person wearing a full-plate armor in violet and black was suddenly towering in front of me like an insurmountable mountain. Alas, Redion still couldn’t be underestimated. My protector was pushed back a few steps and then sent flying right over my head, all the way towards the center of the hall.

I half-expected that the emperor would finish what he’d started and finish me off, but he completely ignored us Heroes. Instead, like a supersonic jet, he glided towards the armored person who’d already recovered from his—yeah, I assumed that the one in the armor was a man, for the time being—landing.

The emperor and the fully-plated warrior violently clashed in combat, with everyone else serving as spectators. I wasn’t stupid. I’d already guessed that it was just a demonstration of power and that the fighters weren’t actually trying to kill each other. The two women by the throne weren’t alarmed in the slightest, which completely eliminated the possibility of an assassin sent to get rid of an evil monarch.

To prove that everything was going according to their plan, Derryx silently approached our group and, after mumbling something under his hood and waving his hands, made an invisible barrier that covered us Heroes from the aftermath of the battle.

The emperor’s opponent was completely covered by his armor, from the top of his head and to the bottom of his toes. More than this, the entire construction was seamless, which made me suspect that it wasn’t a real person but some sort of living armor or a golem, just like you could see in video games. That was just a baseless conjecture, though.

Each time their weapons clashed, violet sparks were sent flying all around. That was the most notable thing about this fight, as I couldn’t keep up with their actions at all. Soon enough, the two started to move too fast for me to see their figures, that was some Dragonball-tier shit.

“A-amazing. . .” the boy with the large headphones murmured, his jaw reaching the floor. Okay, not exactly, but close to that. He wasn’t the only one shocked by the display of overwhelming might, he was just the one who managed to still say something in a situation like that.

After a couple of minutes, the emperor probably decided that it was time to wrap up the show with a bang. “Behold my Imperial Manticore Form!” Redion shouted like some kind of anime character. Following those words, his shape started to change. He grew a foot taller and thin bluish fur covered his body like grass. His beard transformed into a lion mane as two curved horns extended at the top of his head. Two bat wings on his back gave him a demonic look, which was made even worse by his scorpion tail. Of course, every new appendage was azure, making him into one big blue monster. I found it kind of cool, though still not as cool as his opponent.

If before the armor was violet with black patterns, then now it was completely black. In fact, its surface was closer to a chitinous shell than metal. More than a living armor, the warrior now reminded me of a giant ant. His black claymore, which was at least eight-feet-long and two-feet-wide, had violet luster, as if it stole the color from the full-plate.

The last clash between the two opponents was incomparable to anything we’d seen before. The entire throne hall—and perhaps the castle itself—shook violently, like in the midst of an earthquake. At the point of their clash, what could only be described as a black hole appeared, even if only for a moment. Then, a blinding flash of violet light flared at us, forcing me to close my eyes. When I could open them again, the emperor and the warrior had already ended their fight. It was quite apparent that the former won.

Redion was already back in his human form. While his azure hair was disheveled, he had no obvious injuries. The full-plate warrior, on the other hand, had the right side of his armor that had covered his arm, shoulder and chest, completely torn out, exposing his body underneath.

A boob! I can see a boob!

There was no mistake. It turned out that this warrior, who was about 6’3’’ in height, was a woman. Her right boob was completely exposed to everyone’s sight—nipple and everything—but only for the briefest of moments. Then, as if the armor had a life on its own, it restored itself, as seamless as ever. I doubted that anyone other than me had noticed that little detail—after all, people had a very selective perception.

Look for the boob, and you’ll find it—an unsought boob will go undetected. I invented a new proverb that definitely would be quoted by future generations. The world wasn’t ready for my genius, though. Not yet. So I decided to keep my silence as the emperor and warrior approached our group.

Most of the Heroes had already turned their chairs one hundred eighty degrees so that they could observe the battle better. Some, like a certain bratty redhead, just changed their own position—she, for example, was arching her butt towards me as she was kneeling doggy-style on the pillow of the chair. Yeah, totally not intentional!

I completely ignored her lousy attempt at seduction—I had already lost any interest in her. It has always been easier to change a far from perfect body than cure a completely rotten personality, after all. You could read any number of body transformation stories online, but pretty much all abrupt personality changes were from bad to worse.

“And this, my dear guests, is the level of power each of you will achieve in a matter of years!” Redion declared as he stood side by side with the fully-plated female warrior. Now that I looked more carefully, the armor was kind of bigger at the chest, though not enough to expose the sex of its wearer.

“Really?!” the redhead exclaimed. “With a speed like that, I’ll never be caught shoplifting again!”

Did this girl really, seriously, consider using superhuman abilities for petty theft?! Just when I thought that my opinion of her couldn’t get any worse. . . Thankfully, judging from his lack of reaction, the emperor didn’t know what shoplifting was in the first place.

“I can see that you all are very excited, Chosen Heroes, but let me introduce my most trusted Paladin, first.” Redion pointed at the warrior. “Sir Noiren would be supervising your training at the Academy. Not only is he the highest ranked Paladin of our Empire—both in terms of title and power—but he is also one of the few descendants of the Heroes of past generations. The last Hero Summoning was completed one thousand seven hundred years ago, but as you can see from his strength, the blood of his ancestors is still strong in Sir Noiren.”

“Noiren De’Brando at your service.” The warrior made a curt but polite half-bow. Her voice was obviously distorted by the armor, making it rough and metallic. But, perhaps because I already knew about her secret, I still could discern a note of femininity hidden in her tone.

“He’s one of the two my most trusted subordinates,” Redion explained with a smile. “I believe that he will make you into fine Champions, powerful Paragons that know no equals. As Chosen Heroes, you’re very different from the humans of our world, after all.”

By that point, the unsaid second most trusted confidant had already reached the emperor’s side alongside the two girls. Now five people in total were standing before us, three female and two male, though the truth wasn’t obvious at a glance.

“Perhaps it’s a bit too late, but allow me to complete the introductions,” Redion said as he pointed at the two beautiful, in their own way, girls. “This is my beloved wife, Marthinia and our cute daughter, Christinia.”

His words shocked some of us more than his earlier display of power. The one he called his wife didn’t seem to be older than me. And yet, she already had a daughter so old?!

“I’m honored to meet you, Chosen Heroes,” Marthinia said—her voice soothing like a Spring stream—as she made an elegant curtsy. Both her eyes and hair were emerald green, her Victorian dress added to her gentle image with its cerulean undertones.

“I can’t wait to know all of you better!” said Christinia, her voice jubilant like a Summer breeze. Her hair and eyes were turquoise, indirectly proving the unbelievable fact that she was the daughter of her parents.

Realizing that this was as good a time as ever for our introduction—the damn emperor didn’t care about asking our names, me excluded—I stepped forward. “As I already said, my name is Jesse Roy, and I’m glad to meet you.”

Of course, I wasn’t really sincere. How I could be glad to be there instead of on a date with Jessica?! I still needed to figure out how to get out of this mess. I really didn’t want to fight those Dark Lords, and the emperor’s little performance did little to change my mind.

Getting the cue, the other Heroes, no matter how bad their social skills were, understood my intentions.

“I’m Greta Thunberg, nice to meet ya!” said the only redhead of our group as she waved her hand with a smile. Only awkward silence waited for her. “Hey, why no one is laughing?! It was a good joke! Like, don’t you get it? A beauty like me introduced herself as the goddamn. . . Okay, okay, don’t give me that look, guys. My name is Keira. No one cares for my second name, so I’ll skip it. It’s not Knightley, I swear! Damn, no reaction. . .You people are so lame.”

After this display of social awkwardness, I had a rather disturbing theory about that girl. Perhaps I’d been misunderstanding her thus far. Perhaps she wasn’t actually a bitchy sugar baby shoplifter, but something else altogether. But if I were right, then her existence would be even more pitiable than that of my big-bearded buddy to the left—now to the right, considering the change in my position—of her.

Probably thinking that it was his turn, the basement escapee said, “M-my name is Jesse Williams. . .”

“Hey, this name is already taken!” I gave him an exaggerated look. “Please choose another one!”

“B-but this is my real name,” he made a solid argument. “I-it was given to me by my parents.”

“Why not William, then?” I gave him a way out. “It’s a cool name. Almost as cool as Jesse.”

“That’s my second name, not first. . .”

“Hey, stop bullying Jesse, Jesse!” Keira, of all people, said to me. Only to start giggling at her own joke. Scary. She was freaking scary. And I was more and more reassured in the little theory I had formed about her.

“Okay, how about a compromise, then?” I really didn’t like the looks the other Heroes were giving me right now. What was their deal? I was only protecting my name’s sovereignty! What if someone decided to write a book about me? Wouldn’t it be too confusing to have someone with the same name as the protagonist? “You’ll be Jesse Junior!” I declared.

“H-how old are you?” he asked me.

“I’m twenty-three, why?”

“I-I’m twenty-four. . .” he muttered.

“It’s alright, Jesse Jr.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Every person has flaws. I firmly believe that one day you’ll overcome yours and become younger than me.”

Jesse Jr. had nothing else to add, so the other Heroes proceeded to introduce themselves. I didn’t really pay too much attention to them, though one was definitely full of shit.

“I am Merlinus Ambrosius!” proudly declared the edgy boy wearing large headphones. “But you can call me just Merlin.”

Unlike Keira, he was totally serious. What was wrong with this kid? I didn’t believe him, not even for a second. There was no way he was actually called Merlin, right?! Right?!

For better or worse, no one felt the need to challenge the delusional boy. I was too tired already after dealing with a name-stealer and a certain redhead. And I still needed mental power to spare for the potential mental battle with the emperor himself.

I noted that the office clerk girl was Anna, and the shy teen girl at the edge of the group was Lisa. Such ordinary, normal names! Other Heroes didn’t catch my attention, and so I ignored them for the time being. They mostly were gals and guys in their mid-to-late teens, without anything too out of the normal about them. Other than the fact that they hadn’t shown any desire to return to Earth, back when the emperor had asked for our opinions about the topic. Thankfully, there was no third Jesse. Or any Jessies, for that matter. Thanks, God. Or wasn’t that Goddess in our case? I wasn’t a believer, but perhaps I needed to readjust my views.

“Your names will be forged forever in the history of Aethelrend, oh brave Heroes!” Redion proclaimed as he clapped his hands. “I and my Empire are honored to host you as our dear guests!”

The emperor’s daughter and wife joined in his ovation. Noiren—if that was her real name—clapped as well, making the clanking noise of metal hitting metal. Derryx gestured to the cloaked figures at each corner of the hall to follow in with their applause before doing the same himself. Such a warm welcome! If only they hadn’t kidnapped us without our consent in hope that we’d fight a war for their sake. Otherwise, they were quite nice.

After a minute or so, the emperor stopped moving his hands, which was a signal for everyone else to do the same. As a supreme monarch of his country, he held absolute authority over everyone else, even his closest allies. Or at least that’s the image I got. I found it a bit strange that there were no lesser nobles to greet us in the hall. Was our summoning a secret Redion wanted to keep? Or were nobles of such a low position in this empire that he didn’t even bother with them?

“It would be unfair of me to show you the power you can achieve in this world without explaining to you the road you must take to earn it,” said the emperor. “Let me serve as your teacher for a moment and tell you about the Awakening and the Way!”

Oh shit, here we go. . .I thought. A lecture for who knows how long? Honestly, I’m already starting to get cold. My balls in particular don’t appreciate being so free.

I raised my hand, hoping that the emperor would act like a good teacher and ask me what I wanted. Surprisingly, he did!

“Do you have something to say, Hero?” He raised a brow, but his gaze had no hidden malice like the time I’d interrupted him.

“Yes, can I have a change of clothes?” I said with a sheepish smile. “As you can see, I was unlucky enough to be summoned in the middle of tidying myself.”

“Oh, sorry!” Redion exchanged surprised looks with his confidants. “Honestly, we just thought that your peculiar style is something unique to the culture of your world. You should have told me sooner! Chris, go and tell the servants to bring a set of clothes that will suit our brave Hero!”

“Y-yes, father!” the girl nodded and, after giving me a bashful look, trotted away towards one of the entrances.

Everyone waited in an awkward silence until the princess was back, three female servants in tow. Two of the young women stood at each side of me, holding a curtain to hide nakedness from the curious spectators, while the third took away my precious towel and started to dress me, all without asking a word!

Are you serious?! Couldn’t you’ve just allowed me to leave the hall and change my clothes in private, you damn emperor! And what the heck is with this servant girl’s hands, she’s too skillful! And why is the princess giving me not-so-innocent glances?

Perhaps that was Redion’s way of getting his revenge?! It sure was rather brutal. . .