Morning came, accompanied by the sounds of birds chirping. ‘Nice to see this place is so similar to home.’ A young man stretched as he sat up from his exquisite bed. Rubbing out some soreness on his upper back, he got up and walked to a window.

The young man was Leon, and that exquisite bed was his hay pile with a cloth.

From the smudged window, Leon could see a nice tree outside of the barracks. Upon one of the branches was a crimson bird, sitting atop its nest. It resembled a cardinal bird in color but was much larger. The sun was mixed into the background, still the same shade as he had remembered it.

“Enjoying the view,” a voice directed towards him.

Turning around, Leon saw Nick rubbing his eyes. With more natural lighting, he was able to fully see his face. Nick had a beard of stubble with short, combed-back black hair. With brown eyes and a tanned face… the man honestly looked younger than Leon had originally thought. He was still confident that he was probably in his forties, but the man looked good for his age, albeit allowing certain beverages to affect his abdominal region a bit.

“Just a bit,” Leon replied, resting his hand on the windowsill.

The sounds of others waking up filled the remaining void. They hadn’t been killed or shipped off anywhere during their sleep so that was a good thing in Leon’s mind. There wasn’t much to be done in the room. Some now woken individuals greeted each other while others stayed silent. There was just one big question on everyone’s mind. What now?

“Did they say any about the evaluation thing and the time? Sorry, I kind of spaced out during parts of the pope’s speech.” Leon inquired Nick.

“The pope said something about coming to get us, I don’t think he specified a time.”

It didn’t seem like anyone else had a better answer when looking around the room. Leon just shrugged and looked at Nick again. “Want to take a look around outside?”

Nick nodded as he slowly got up and grabbed the stick-lance that he’d placed next to his bed. With the new lighting, it did indeed look more like a pole than a stick. It was more of a polearm than a lance, but Leon wasn’t going to argue with the system.

The two walked outside, swiftly greeted by the warm rays of the sun. The two chatted minimally as they took in their surroundings. They were in the training yard of the barracks. Some soldiers were stationed about while some other ‘brave warriors’ were walking about, taking in the scene as well. How could he tell that they were also from his world? Well, they all… kind of looked like idiots from their own perspectives as they wore old-fashioned armors, cloths, or leathers atop their modern clothing.

One guy outside had a questionable anime girl t-shirt on beneath his short cloak. “Bad time to be summoned, I imagine.” Leon joked with Nick as he pointed the fellow out. If there was a truly indisputable reason to not go to sleep in your birthday suit, it was if you knew you could be summoned to another world at any given moment.

Besides the people, the training yard looked, well, like a training yard. With dirt and gravel beneath their feet, they checked out everything. Weapon racks with simple battered swords and maces stood beside fences that enclosed small areas, likely for dueling. There were some wooden benches and a cobble well for water with a bucket hanging from the top. Some barrels were placed near the weapons racks, holstering wooden sticks, and practice swords. It all felt odd but exciting to Leon. It resembled the medieval settings that he had read about in fiction, or even in history.

Neighing was heard in the distance, revealing some horse stables outside of the barracks. ‘At least, I hope they’re horses. They could be bigger like the bird I saw earlier.’ Not fully sure as they were too far for him to see clearly.

Leon and Nick decided to sit on a bench, soaking in the morning sun as they waited for their examination. The training yard slowly began to liven up as more people woke. Many flocked to the water well, after of course timidly looking to the guards awaiting permission. The guards made the place resemble a prison. Luckily, it lacked the very intimidating inmates and dropping the soap scenarios. ‘Wait, what if one of us is actually a prisoner?’ Leon quickly analyzed his surroundings, scanning for any extremely buff, intimidating individuals with tattoos. ‘No, no. I’m being too narrow in my view. They could be anyone.’ Leon was half-joking with his thought, but he did fear the concept a bit. Awkwardly, he turned to Nick.

“Soooo, what did you do before this?”

Nick stared at the uncomfortable guy asking the question. Relenting in his attempt to understand an underlying meaning behind it, he answered. “Nothing too special. I worked at a grocery store.”

Leon’s eyes widened slightly. He was happy with the normal answer, but it felt strange. Wasn’t he a bit old to be working there? As if reading his mind, Nick put his hands out front of him, shaking them profusely.

“Hey, I’m not that old. I’m still in my youth, yet to hit fifty.” Leon just stared at him.

Nick persisted. “Is it that strange to be working at a grocery store? Not everyone gets to have that amazing career that carries them into retirement.” A tinge of sadness leaking out toward the end.

Leon’s eyes dropped momentarily. “Hey, I’m sorry. That was kind of a dick thing for me to think.” He felt dumb for stepping on the man’s toes like that. Leon was aware that life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. ‘I mean, fuck man, I was supposed to be in college right now but look where I am… or where I was.’ Remembering being fired.

Feeling the young man’s sincerity, Nick returned the question. “So where did you work before this?”

Leon hung his head to the ground, with his hands clasped, supporting his forehead up. “I uh, I jumped around from job to job a lot. My last job was at a restaurant.” Refusing to add more.

Picking up on Leon’s word choice, Nick chose not to pry into his last job. He went on to talk about minorly inconvenient things he had to deal with while working at a grocery store. The conversation went on light-heartedly as Nick maniacally preached about how it was hilarious to put pressure on the children at the cash register line while their parents went to get last-minute items.

“’You gonna pay for that?’ I’d always ask them when it was their turn. They’d always freak out and say things like ‘My mom is coming back soon!’ and I’d just be like ‘Well she better hurry or you’ll have to pay!’” Talking animatedly as he laughed aloud.

Leon smiled as he laughed along. “You were the bane of my existence as a kid.”

“As was the grocery cashier to me as a kid,” returning the smile.

Most of the time, Leon listened and laughed along to Nick’s words. Their friendly display did much for the others in the training yard. Some of the more down individuals found solace in the comical experiences that Nick exclaimed, reminding them of relatable things they’ve all had to deal with. It created a modest sense of comradery, helping some realize that even though they might not be home, they weren’t alone.

“This demon lord is nothing compared to the demonic institute known as the D… M… V!” Nick shouted, noticing the listening ears. Subtle laughs were heard throughout the area.

A few hours had passed by at this point. Noon had likely just begun as the temperature started to warm up. Sounds of footsteps mixed in with the laughter. Small remarks about other ‘demonic’ problems they’d had to deal with were spoken of.

“I’d love to hear more about this demonic institution you’ve all faced in your world,” voiced a robed man approaching the group, specifically the bench where Nick and Leon resided.

“It’s not as serious as we make it, Pope Heathe,” Nick spoke carrying a friendly smile.

The pope and his entourage didn’t comment on the remark, just continuing to smile and look around at them. He probably wasn’t fond of their undermining of their demon lord’s threat level, at least that’s what Leon assumed.

“Well, I’m certain you all are very hungry so let us make our way to the banquet hall. Once you’re all full, we’ll proceed onto the examination.” Turning around, the pope began to walk off.

The otherworlders began to accumulate in the training yard, some exited their rooms while others placed their items back in the training racks. Leon and Nick looked at each other, proceeding to stand up and join the rest of the group.

It was almost time for the awaited examination. Excited to have a meal, Leon looked forward to it. He hadn’t eaten in a while… actually he hadn’t eaten in a very long while, he thought. He hadn’t eaten the night before due to caution but even before this, he hadn’t eaten in about two days. Leon was rather accustomed to fasting during the week to cut down on monthly expenses. He’d stolen a bite of the cornbread from Mia but that was all.

With this in mind, Leon hungrily imagined the mashed potatoes and such from the night before, savoring the mental image. Fighting back the food demon in his mind, Leon focused on the day as a whole. ‘Wait, what did the evaluation entail?’