After the ruckus from the guards who came to inspect the marks on the ground died down, the captain of the guards came in and told them that it might be someone they know, so there was no need to worry.

That didn’t ease their mind though…

And so, the teachers and students began training once more. The trainers elected by the king soon came and their training session went on smoothly.

The students whose stats had grew to be that of a warrior, received training from the main captain of the castle. The students who were capable of using magic were trained by the kingdom’s greatest magicians.

The students able to use, or wanted to use, any type of ranged weapons came and trained at different personal areas around the kingdom.

There were also some students capable of using healing magic, and they trained with the kingdom’s field medics at every chance they have. As for the rest…No one knows.

“It’s finally done!”

A girl shouted happily as she slouched her head onto the table they were eating at. She sighed deeply and lazily took another bite from the food she ordered from the cooks of the castle. The taste was certainly godly, but the exhaustion from the training made it quite hard to focus on that factor.

“Charlotte…Are you really okay? You look really pale…”

From the other side of the table, another girl called out to her. Her voice was tinged heavily with worry as she stared at her friend who looked very closely like a dying fish on the surface. Wait, what?

“Agh…I’m fine! I’m fine, Marie!”

Charlotte shouted, before slouching back to the table.

In short, she was not fine.

But putting that aside, these two girls were obviously students who came from Earth, brought here to ‘Save’ the kingdom. Actually, they didn’t know what they were trying to take down, but whatever it is, it’s probably dangerous, right…?

Charlotte sighed as her mind reached that thought.

Taking the last bite from her food, she stood up from her chair and did some random stretches.

This ecstatic girl is Charlotte Francis. Before being sent to this world, she was a student in the second grade of senior high. Her hair was brown in colour and slightly wavy, and her eye colour was pure green. 165 cm in height and an alright body, she didn’t really stand out that much in her school life.

But because of that, her personality was what stood out most. She was always showing an optimistic smile, at any situation, and would always encourage her peers to do their best. She was also elected to be one of the school’s student counsellor.

Finally finishing her random stretches, she tidied her messy long her long black hair and let it flow down along her back. Her pure green eyes stared at her friend and called her with a smile.

“Come on Marie!”

Charlotte said as she stretched out her hand towards her. Looking up towards her, Marie sighed softly and took her hand and stood up.

Her full name was Marie Sylvia. Her eyes. Just like Charlotte, she was also in the second grade of senior high before getting caught up in this mess. She has short blond hair and was about 160 cm tall.

Unlike her, Marie didn’t have an astounding personality, or was even brave enough to stand in front of a crowd to say a short speech. Her body was slightly curvy, but being the shy girl she is, she didn’t have many long lasting friends in life and simply devoted her life into the studies given to her.

However, if there was one thing she liked, it was astrology!

She was very interested in physics, specifically the topic and subcategory of Astrology. As a kid, she would always be fascinated by the many stars and the occasional shooting star flying in the sky. Now, being able to understand physics, she was very devoted to the studies of astrology.

“Alright…Just wait…Geez…Where do you even get all this energy from?”

“Hehe…It’s a secret!”

Charlotte winked as she hopped along. Marie sighed softly and slowly followed her. She never understood how she was able to get up so fast right after the training session. Did she have a power-bank in her body or something?

She shook her head and cleared her thoughts. Trying to think it through will only waste energy…

But then, suddenly, Charlotte stopped hopping around. Being shocked, Marie accidentally bumped onto her.

“S-Sorry…”

“It’s fine!...But do you hear that?”

“Hmm? H-Hear wha…Huh?”

Just as she wanted to ask, she heard a subtle sound coming from the next floor. It wasn’t very clear, but she could faintly hear it from the second floor.

“Let’s go check it out!”

“H-Hey!”

Gripping her hand, Charlotte dashed off with Marie. She quickly stopped at the stairs and walked up.

“Ah…Where is it coming from?”

Charlotte opened her ears and listened carefully. Marie too followed her and tried to listen.

But then, something ringed in Marie’s ears, telling her to head…left?

“Left?”

“Left? It’s on the left? Alright! Let’s go!”

Charlotte quickly turned around and ran off to the left. “H-Hey! Wait for me…!” Marie turned around and ran as fast as she could. Her agility stat wasn’t as high as her, so she was beginning to slow down.

But the sound reached her ears once more, and she suddenly felt her exhaustion wash away.

“Huh?”

She wanted to think about it more, but her friend was already far away! Better run fast!

After running for a while, Marie stopped to see Charlotte, staring at…Something. She couldn’t see what it is because of the corner walls. Running past the turn, she stopped and turned around, to see something quite, extraordinary.

“Woah…”

Charlotte let out as she listened in, Marie doing the same next to her.

The sound they heard, was actually music! And that music, was being played by Jake as he fumbled around with the ocarina he got from Kelvin the shopkeeper!

His fingers moved gracefully from one hole to another as he blew in air to keep the song going. His face showed no exhaustion, and kept playing with his eyes closed. His mind entered full concentration.

It’s been about 2 hours since he received the ocarina, he wanted to try it out right away, so he ran to a spot in the castle that seemed empty and tried out the ocarina.

Just like any other instruments, he learned them all by himself, with no outside force helping him out. Just like the rest, he tried learning the ocarina by first blowing into it. Then, he tried closing some holes, and got a different sound.

He noted every different sound in his head and continued trying out the many different combinations of melodies he could make by simply changing the holes he covered. He also tried changing the amount of air he blew in, and that changed some sounds too.

And so, that leads him here, playing the ocarina with his eyes closed, purely relying on instinct to carry him on.

“That’s amazing…”

“I know right! How does he even do that with his eyes closed?!”

They both whispered to each other with the smallest noise they could make. They didn’t want to break his flow, and they wanted to hear more of this song too! It made them feel quite relaxed, and they began to feel their bodies revitalise from the song.

The song he tried out after noting down all the different chords was a song he heard while playing a game on his hand-held console.

From when he was little, he always enjoyed listening, and playing slow and relaxing songs. Doesn’t mean that he doesn’t play fast songs too though. Other than slow, ambient songs, he also enjoyed Electro music, which was odd.

And now, switching from one chord to another, he continued the song. He kept the amount of air he blew in as minimal as it could, so that it didn’t attract too much attention.

Seems like his plan didn’t work, am I right?

And so, with his song reaching the ending, he slowed down his song, and slowly softened the sound, until it was no more. Slowly, he withdrew the ocarina and sighed.

“That was amazing!”

Suddenly, his mind was brought back to the present as a voice complimented him. Didn’t he try and play the ocarina as soft as he could, then why was there someone else here?!

His eyes widened in shock as he saw the two girls happily watching him, Charlotte clapping excitedly, while Marie simply smiled.

“Uhh…Who’re you guys?”

“Us? I’m Charlotte, and this here, is Marie!” She said enthusiastically as she wrapped her arms around Marie, who displayed an obvious shocked expression at her sudden actions.

“M-My…na…Mar..ie…!”

“O-Ou.”

He nodded his head slowly, his eyes more focused on Marie who was struggling to breath. “Shouldn’t you let her go now?” Was what Jake wanted to say, but Charlotte continued laughing as she watched Marie suffocate.

“*Cough**Cough*…Charlotte…Don’t do…that please…”

“Hehe! Sorry, sorry!”

“You don’t seem sorry.”

Jake thought to himself as he put back his ocarina. Now that was done, he didn’t have anything to do…

“What should I do…?”

“So, what’s your name?”

“Huh? Oh, the name’s Jake Darryl! You can call me Jake!”

“Jake, is it? Nice to meet you!

“You too!”

They exchanged handshakes and explained about themselves. After hearing that there two girls were second grade senior students, he felt slightly more comfortable speaking with them. After all,

“Oh, you’re a second grader too?”

“Yeah, I’m from class E.”

“That’s odd…I have never heard about you…”

As their talk continued to move on to random topics, Marie sat there silently hearing their conversation.

Perhaps some dog ears would be fitting?

“He…So that’s why…”

“Yeah. I don’t really perform a lot.”

“But why? You’ve got such amazing skills!”

“Well…”

And then, their talk soon diverged into Jake’s reasons to not perform. And then it jumps back to their school life, and then about his hobbies, and her hobbies, and then Marie was brought in, and then it jumped back to the present day, and so on.

There were too many topics, okay?

“So, you’re something like a ninja?”

“Not…necessarily. But I am focused mainly on speed.”

“Then you are a ninja!”

“Nah, I would say I’m more of an assassin!”

“But assassins are more cunning then speedy!”

“Well…”

And then, it diverged once more into their stats and what their classes are! Or something. Remember, there was no classes in this game system.

“Well…Whatever, how about you?”

“Me? Hehe…I would say I’m a magician, but I’m a special case?”

“Special case?”

“That’s because…”

Status: Charlotte Francis Lv 06

Health: 43/100

Mana: 22/100

Strength: 32

Intelligence: 42

Resistance: 30

Agility: 33

Skills:

{Illusionist} Rank 1 (11%)

{Tarotology} Rank 1 (18%)

[Precision] Rank 1 (07%)

Titles:

(Summoned One)|(Illusionist)|(Card Magician)|

“…I’m also an Illusionist!”

“Illusionist?”

“Yeah, something like…”

Suddenly, her figure exploded into many cards. Jake stepped back by instinct, but behind him, he felt a hand pushing against his back.

“This!”

“W-What?”

To his surprise, Charlotte appeared behind him suddenly and placed her hand on his back. When did she get there?! He didn’t know for sure, but he knew,

“Her magic’s amazing…”

“So, what do you think?”

“Well…That’s great!”

“Thank yo…huh?”

Before she could thank him for the compliment, just like she did earlier, his figure disappeared. She began looking around, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Looking for me?”

And then, from behind her, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She shivered slightly, but she still looked behind her, and Jake’s figure creeped out of the shadow.

“T-That’s amazing…”

Charlotte said, still shivering from the sudden shock. After all, when would she ever expect to see a shadow put its hand on her shoulder? Never!

…Wait, shadow?

“Wait…Shadow?”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

She stayed silent for a moment, before turning around and putting both of her hands on his shoulders. This shocked Jake, as her face began drawing close.

“Could you be…The one who did that stunt at the training area?”

“…He?”

As his eyes locked onto hers, her eyes sparkled in the golden light his eyes gave off. Actually, was that just his imagination or are there really sparkles on her eyes?

Wait, what the hell?

“Stunt? What stunt?”

He could only tilt his head in confusion. It made sense, after all, he wasn’t there when the captain of the guards explained that it might be one of the heroes. He was having some time off to get the ocarina!

“Hmm…I guess not then!”

She giggled happily as she let go and stepped back. Jake could only stare with a ‘?’ over his head. Doesn’t matter on Earth or here, the scene of a girl getting really close to him will never be normal unless they’re in a relationship. That’s normal, right?

Well, except their brother and sister, but still…

“Ahem…So, what about Marie?”

“M-Me?”

Marie was drawing something on the floor before he asked her, so when she heard him say her name, her whole body stood upright and stiffened.

“W-Well…”

Status: Marie Sylvia Lv 05

Health: 23/85

Mana: 28/70

Strength: 35

Intelligence: 37

Resistance: 32

Agility: 33

Skills:

{Astrologist} Rank 1 (07%)

{[Asteroid Belt]} Rank 1 (11%)

Titles:

(Summoned One)|(The girl dreaming of stars)|

“I’m nothing too special…”

“Hey, don’t say that! Your magic’s amazing!”

Marie seems quite down after explaining, and Charlotte noticed that instantly and started to comfort her. Although, he didn’t get any explanations about her powers.

That’s fine though. Better not venture deeper if she didn’t want it!

He learnt that the tough way.

Anyways, now that Charlotte was doing her best to comfort her, Jake was left out. And so, his mind wandered back as he was reminded of something.

“Hey, I might be intruding, but…”

“Huh? What is it?”

Charlotte stopped comforting Marie for a moment, and Marie too looked at him.

“What’s with this sudden silence?”

“…I have a friend who might be willing to help.”

“H-Huh…?”

“Well, I’m not too sure, but you’re probably a magician, right? I can ask him to teach you!”

Marie’s eyes widened as his words made it into her ears.

Help her? Why should he go to such lengths? There was no need…After all, she’s just…

“Nice, that’ll help her a lot!”

Before Marie could answer herself, her friend had already accepted the invitation for her. She gave him a thumbs up, and he nodded, as if they exchanged a conversation without any words!

What a powerful magic!

“Don’t you want to join?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…I guess why not, right?”

Charlotte answered as she shrugged her shoulders, as if she didn’t mind if she missed the training session. Judging from her actions, the training doesn’t seem to be that fun. Jake was very glad to have met that prophet.

“Alright then! We’re leaving early tomorrow!”