“Arden… psst! Arden, wake up!”

“Let me sleep more… the floor is nice and cold.” Just like my soul. I was happily sleeping within the covers of my fur coat until I was woken up by the former classmate. My fingers secretly ran passed unusual cracks and noticed its floor made entirely off of one boulder.

“Seriously, wake up!” His hand shook me.

“Fine, fine! I’m up! Give a dead man some room would ya?” I look around and all I see were aesthetics. Mighty fine chandeliers in the middle of the ceiling and beautiful paintings on the walls yell finesse. You've might have not known this but I have a passion with art with my special mix of paint being blood. “Don’t touch me. God, my head hurts.”

“Why are you covered in dirt?”

“Ah? I explained it once already you dimwit. A building collapsed on me. Where are we anyways?”

“You’re the smart one here. I waited for you to wake up while everyone else went ahead to greet the King.” The glare in my eyes subsided and revealed the person who waited on the side was Bastian. Bastard… you’re a goody two shoes from the bottom of your stinking heart.

“The king?” This headache is slowly fading but it’s making me unable to comprehend most things I’m seeing. Then again, the angels I met were something beyond unbelievable. I’m not in a sci-fi universe. Is this the summoning to another world cliché? The moment I saw the angel pulling a magical sword from thin air, I should’ve guessed.

“Follow me.”

I guess I have no choice, I decide to stick by Bastian and see what in the hell is going on. I was supposed to have killed myself and this doesn't seem like heaven or hell or the room I was in. Half of my former classmates are here, the other sent to a different country who we will be pit against. I don't plan on dying by any of their hands, that’d be boring.

Up ahead, I spotted two people standing by the gate.

"Ah heroes, this way please the king has already started his explanation."

It’s a fucking actual knight standing there. The comparison between male and female knights are… a bit off. The males wear an unbelievable amount of armor while the females are sexualized. They expose more skin then they try to cover up.

“Cosplay?” I scratched my head. “You two look ridiculous by the way. You look like a heap of useless scrap and she looks like she’s wearing a few metal plates covering her genitals. Are you a exhibitionist?”

“N-no!” The female knight covered her body.

“These are equipment our finest blacksmith crafted for us. There are many magical enchantments to protect us despite our appearance.”

“Arden, you’re bring rude!”

“I’m making my argument valid! You try wearing what she’s wearing! Tell me how protected you feel afterwards! If those are really magical, I can straight up walk in a birthday suit against a fucking nuke and survive!”

“I’m not from this world so I wouldn’t understand!” Bastian argued.

“I-I’ll head to the armory… If you’ll excuse me.” The female knight ran away. I wonder what the blacksmiths were thinking when they created those armors for her.

Sorry readers, I got reeled up for a second. To think I’m transported to a world of magic and swords, I might be in deeper trouble than I thought. I hope some certain magic from RPGs don’t exist, or everything I plan to do will surely become wasted. Hey, I played a few online games, read a few light novels. I know my general trope.

“Erm… are the two of you ready to greet his highness?”

““Yes.” “No.”” Bastian and I answered differently. The guard ignored my opinion and opened the doors anyways.

The first thing I noticed was the red carpet leading into a white marbled room. The columns were made of the same materials of the walls, the ground and the ceiling. The throne was painted gold and had the sculpture of a sun above where the king sat. It truly is beautiful, so beautiful I want to get my hands on explosives and bring it down.

If you didn’t get the memo from the last chapter, I’m crazy.

“Mmh? The last two heroes have finally arrived. Please, we’ve only began. I would ask you to please state your names, young ones.”

“Bastian Lartius. I was chosen to answer your call and serve this side of the kingdom.”

“…You can choose which side you wanted to be?” I asked Bastian but he gave me the silent treatment.

“And the boy in black?”

“Heh, feel worthless! For you have summoned the humanity’s worse scumbag at your disposal, your majesty.” I humbly bowed. The king's face is confused, his reaction is really hilarious and I wanted to laugh, wait I'll laugh. “Hahahahaha! And click. That’s a cute face~.” I snapped a photo of the king with my phone.

Now that I think about it, everything I had on me is brought into the world with me. I’ll have to inspect all my possessions when I have the chance.

My former 12th grade classmates eyed me with pity eyes and whispers amongst themselves. That's good, look at me with those eyes, look disgusted by the lowly scum from your world. Just remember, I’m the same species as you fools-. Urk! Noel is here too…

“How dare you disrespect the king!” A royal guard yelled at me. I stood firm with a taunting grin. I dare him to try to attack me. C’mon, c’mon~.

“Now, now. I believe this youngster wishes to play his trickery as he could not fathom the situation he currently is. Boy, you jest. May I ask for your name?”

"If I may, you're highness. He’ll waste your precious time. I will introduce him in his stead. His name is Arden Charles. I believe your highness should take extra caution around him at all times.”

“And why is that?”

“He is a criminal… in our previous world.”

"That's not all I'm also one of the worst trashes in existence~." I sang.

“I see… but he is now a hero of my kingdom. Arden Charles, you mustn’t lower yourself like that.”

“Hero? I have more of a villain vibe going on me.”

"If you look at the crest behind your left hand you are surely a hero.”

"Arden, like this one." Bastian shows me the crest on the back of his fist and I could see an cross-sign. I check mine and it was just visible veins and skin with some dust on it.

"I don't have one, so I guess I'm not a hero. I'm going to leave now, adios!"

"Wait, are you sure? Could you please present the back of your hand, so we may inspect it?"

Ugh, of all the troubles! I guess I can just leave after I showed them. I hold my arm towards one of the soldiers that came to inspect it. He wiped the dust off my hand and carefully tried to search for the crest which I don't have. Those angels may have studied my piece value into this world and gave me nothing. I want to shout into the sky and tell them they did a great job. I don’t have to be forced to do another person’s bidding and do what I want.

"Your majesty he doesn't have one." One guard even brought a warm towel to wipe my hand clean.

"Thank you! Now can I go now?"

"Surely this is a mistake, we summoned all of you and made sure you all are suitable to be heroes."

"I just don't have one, I'm just going to go explore."

"Please wait!"

Ugh! What now? Do you need help so bad that you need a scum like me to help? I'm sorry but I don't like to do charity work.

"I apologize for the inconvenience Arden Charles. This world is a dangerous place, so I wish for you to hear me before you leave."

"Information? I guess I can stay for a while. I'm all ears."

"Thank you. Before the interruption I have told the others why we summoned you here."

The angels didn’t send us off but we were summoned to one of the two kingdoms by chance?

Right, this is cliché as fuck. “Is it because of the opposing kingdom, or demon lord, or other catastrophic events that you need our power of friendship and love to conqueror blah, blah, blah, right?”

“U-uh… only of the two things you have mentioned. We are at war with the opposing kingdom and the demon lord’s faction. This is a three-way war at the moment.”

“Leave me out of it. I rather watch you people kill each other.”

“Arden! Do you not want to return to your world?” Noel marched onto the red carpet and seized my collar. I almost vomited being near her. She has this repulsive aura around her I can’t stand. Did she put on shit perfume?

“I hate it back there-.” She slapped me. That’s good. “You’re angry~. Put it to good use and try to kill me. Just so you know, you’re parent’s won’t miss you one bit. They’ll conceive another child, you were expendable to them. I know you better than anyone else here. You try your hardest in everything but in the end you fail. And you even caused a few deaths and ruined a life when you failed. Not just her, I know every little secrets you other heroes have.”

I’ll explain this at one point in the story. It’s inevitable that I’ll have to meet her many more times in near future.

“I-I didn’t! Be quiet! BE QUIET!” She threw punches at me which I received with open arms. I feel a slit on my lips and licked the blood dripping from it. The King had to order his guards to restrain her. “A rat like you can cower all you like, but we all want to return to our own worlds!”

“So I’ve been demoted from trash to rat. You’re letting up the insults~.”

“Sh-shut it. Leave you piece of shit! We don’t need you!”

“Will do mam! Before that, I have a question directed to his majesty.” A scheme came into play. A small one, nothing big but I need to set some groundwork if I’m going need to survive until my grand finale.

“H-how may I assist?”

“I demand a compensation for my arrival in this world.”

“A-Arden!” Bastian called out.

“He said so himself. He summoned us here without our approval and especially me. I don’t have a role to play in any kingdoms so I will be living in the shadows. You’re a king, all this wealth and power but you can’t even give away a teeny tiny fraction to someone unfamiliar to this place and wander your lands?”

“However, you have stated you will not participate in our march against the enemies.”

“And you, old geezer, ruined someone’s plan in their old world! I was about to witness something miraculous of my fruits of labour then you blew it!”

“A researcher? I’m intrigued. Will you tell me about your findings?”

“It is something to brag, but I can’t. You ruined everything, and it’s lost in my old world. If you provide me some funds, I may be able to work my way up again.” I’m bullshitting my way at this point. I think my words mislead him but I didn’t try to bother correcting the king. My former classmates also don’t know about my activities from my old world other than being a criminal. This is good for me.

See? Information drives the world round, if someone objected I would’ve had to cross another hurdle.

“In time, will you present your finding if I allow you to part away from my kingdom?”

“I plan to.” And to everyone is welcome to witness it when its time.

“Very well. Prepare a bag of coins for Arden Charles-.”

“You highness, he’s not a person you would want to let roam freely.” Bastian called on me. “I advise you to rethink your decision.”

You son of a bitch, bringing the difficulty up are you?

“You have claimed he is a criminal of your world. His personality is certainly interesting, but not trustworthy… I shall place restrictions of areas he may access and that will limit purchases he will be able to make within my kingdom. That is the best I can offer in return of granting some funds to him. Arden Charles, will that be sufficient?”

I’m smiling in the bottom of my bleeding heart. This is getting interesting. “I believe so. Let trash be trash. This rotten apple should stay away from the fresh bunch to avoid spoiling the rest.”

“Guards, if you will.” The king waved. “I apologize in advance, this may hurt a bit. It is a necessary precaution your comrades had warned me.”

“It’s just a small delay in my plans.” I snorted.

My left wrist was cuffed by an ornament. Something pinched me in the process but I couldn’t find the source of where it was from. It was a thin bracelet with red runic markings faintly glowing. Does this make me look like a prisoner? It matches my present fashion sense.

“Here, a bag of coins for your journey. I wish your peaceful life good luck.” The King waved to me.

So I’m in a fantasy world of swords and magic. Most people would restart their life from zero but as for me, I’ll continue my masterpiece of my old world from here on out. This unknown phenomenon I was granted, I expect so much of this world to be more exciting than the last world.

Now that I’m out of the castle, I wonder which side will pique my interest. Should I help the heroes? Maybe manipulate them? Oh! How about if I join the demon lord’s side? What do you think I should do?

HAHAHAHA! This is going to be fun as hell.