“Ah yes, I haven’t explained that yet, have I? Alright, listen up heroes, I shall now explain what exactly you were called here for. Our world is under an unprecedented threat. As I said before, the sentient races are being attacked by a great evil. This evil is the demon hordes under the command of the Demon Emperor.”

“Wait, what do you mean by sentient races? And does that mean the demons aren’t sentient?” Orochi asked.

“The sentient races are those who have banned together to fight this threat. It consists of us, the humans, the beastmen to the west, the elves to the south, and the dwarves to the east. As for if the demons are sentient or not, well, yes and no. The basic lesser and normal demons have no sentience, they only do as they desire, which is to seek pleasure. And they take pleasure in only the most inhumane acts. However, the greater and archdemons both have sentience to some degree. They are able to curb their desires and they can control the lesser and normal demons. Unfortunately, they use this sentience to try to take over the world. Above the archdemons is the Demon Lords, these are archdemons appointed by the Demon Emperor to lead his seven armies, however there are eight of them. The last is assigned to guard the Demon Emperor himself at all times. Then, finally, above the Demon Lords is the Demon Emperor himself. He controls the entire demon hordes from his palace in the center of the demon lands to the north. He uses his seven armies to war against us, the humans, the dwarves, and the beastmen all at the same time. The only reason he is not fighting the elves is because the demon land does not border the elven land. I assume that, should they win against any of us, they will begin their assault on the elves.”

Gorou spoke up after the Cardinal finished speaking. “There’s just one problem with that, we don’t know how to fight. I mean besides Noboru over there, we all grew up without any experience in fights. Japan’s pretty peaceful afterall.” James nodded his head. “Yes, of course. That too was revealed to me in my vision from the goddess, worry not for we shall teach you to fight. In fact, after we talk for a bit longer, I shall introduce you to the one who will be in charge of your training. But first, you all must be hungry, so I’ve had some people prepare a meal for you all, please accept it.” As he said so, the doors opened, and three mains pushing carts rolled into the room. The maids were not like the maids on earth, not like those sham maids in cosplay, nor those plump maids in eastern Europe, they were genuine maids, the type that any teenage boy couldn’t help but admire.

In fact, three of the boys did turn to oogle the maids, earning them some disapproving stares from the women in the group. The only boy who didn’t, Noboru, was too cautious of James to even acknowledge the maids, let alone oogle them. For some reason, both Yuriko and Akane seemed quite pleased by that. Surprisingly, the food was very similar to that on earth, a steak with steamed vegetables and rice was served to each student, as well as the Cardinal and his entourage. “Well then, shall we eat?” The Cardinal picked up his fork and knife before quickly digging into his food. “Delicious, after we eat I’ll be taking you into the kingdom, we’ll head straight to the King’s chambers to introduce you to him as well as any other important personnel. I know you’ve never learned proper noble etiquette before so I’ll give you a quick rundown as we eat. First, you should pick a representative to speak for you while in the King’s chamber, all of you speaking at once in there would be deemed disrespectful. For those of you not speaking, simply walk up when told and kneel at the base of his throne, stay kneeled with your head down unless specifically spoken to, or you are told to raise your head. For the chosen representative, do not speak unless you are spoken to, use polite language, and do not interrupt anyone. Follow these rules and you will be perfectly capable when you speak to the King.” Noboru quickly began thinking. Polite language means that Akane is out, Orochi and Yuriko probably wouldn’t be good candidates either. I don’t think Naoko or Kei would be good, just based on appearances, so that leaves Emiko, Mika, Minori, and Gorou. “Hmmm, which of the four?” Noboru absentmindedly voiced his thoughts out loud. Everyone turned towards him, since they were eating it was rather quiet, so they all heard his outburst. Yuriko pulled on his sleeve, “Four?” she asked.

“Oh, ummm, yeah. I was narrowing the list of people down. Since polite speak is needed that rules out Akane,”

“Hey! I can be polite!” She protested.

“I figured you and Orochi wouldn’t be comfortable speaking to him, and if we wanted to have the best appearance we’d want to go with someone less flashy and more serious looking, so that rules out Naoko and Kei, so the four we are left with is Gorou, Minori, Emiko, and Mika.” Noboru finished explaining his reasoning. The four he listed looked at each other, but Orochi suddenly spoke up. “Wait, you're missing one. Yourself.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’re right. Umm, well should we put it to a vote?”

Gorou decided to speak up next. “Umm, I don’t think we’ll need to.”

“Hmm?” Noboru was confused. “Why’s that?”

“Well, you’ve been the de facto leader since the start, it’d make me more comfortable if you were the one to speak, and I’m sure the rest feel the same way.”

Noboru opened his mouth to protest, but when he saw everyone else nod he stopped. “Ah, alright fine. I’ll do it.”

In the time it took the Cardinal to make his explanation, everyone had finished their food, and now that a representative was chosen the Cardinal decided to set off to the King along with the students. “Let us go then, Kale go ahead of us and let them know we are coming.” With a quick bow, Kale once again rushed out of the room. Cardinal James stood up and began moving towards the door. “Come then, brave heroes, follow me please.” Noboru was the first to stand, he quickly began following the Cardinal. Seeing Noboru move, the others also stood and followed, not wanting to be left behind. After a few moments, they came to the front door of the building they were summoned in. On the other side would be the students' first glimpse of the outside of another world. A few were excited, some scared, and some indifferent as the doors began to open. The sight that greeted them was… incredible. The building they were in, later explained to be the head church of the Goddess of Life, sat on the top of a fairly tall hill, which allowed a perfect sightline on all the surrounding area. The city stretched out below them, the sound of blacksmith’s hammering away and drunkards making poor decisions echoed up to the students' ears. They were awed at the beauty of the world before them, and at the same time, any doubts of where they were really in another world or not were blown away. There was no sight like this in Japan, there probably wasn’t anything even close. The Cardinal smiled at their awestruck faces, “It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it. I am rather proud of this town myself. We call it Arx, the center of the human kingdom. Now, we mustn’t keep the King waiting, come come.”

The students were quickly ushered around the side of the church, where they saw a sight almost more shocking than the city.

On the center of the hill, nearly twice the size of the church, sat a castle. An honest to god, real castle. It had two towers on opposite corners that would be able to overlook anything in the surrounding area. It’s walls seemed to stretch forever upwards, and the gate was needlessly large, to the point where Noboru questioned the practicality of it. In reality, the castle was actually on the smaller end, the reason being that the hill was not big enough for an excessively large castle. The students followed Cardinal James through the gate and towards the castle's main building. They were headed to the King’s audience chamber. A contingent of knights had joined them at some point, acting as security, whether it was for or from the students was a mystery. They quickly arrived at the door to the audience chamber. The students began straightening their backs and lowering their heads, nervousness clear on their faces. Only Noboru seemed calm, but in reality he was anxious, he was just good at hiding it. The knights at the door announced their presence. “The Grand Cardinal and the heroes have arrived!” They began to pull the door open, and gestured for them to enter.

The Cardinal entered first, followed by Noboru then the rest of the students. Inside the chamber there were six people taking the spotlight. On the largest throne sat a middle aged man with a golden crown, his eyes weary and his brow furrowed, his pudgy appearance fit exactly what the students thought of when they pictured a King. Next to him sat a beautiful girl in her early thirties, the Queen. She had deep purple hair that contrasted the silver crown on her head, her purple eyes and friendly smile turned students’ heads. Next to her was another girl, this one in her mid teens, who was also a carbon copy of the other girl. It was clear that they were mother and daughter, but the daughter seemed a bit more nervous than the mother. She still had a bright smile, but a bashful blush had spread across her face. On the other side, next to the King sat a boy in his late teens, he had brown hair like the king, but his body was well-built and his eyes sparkled in mischief. He locked his eyes on Akane and smiled, a greedy, confident smile. Standing on either side of the thrones were two men. One was decked out in chainmail and plate armor, missing only the helmet. His face was rugged and his gaze as sharp as a hawk’s. The man on the other side was the opposite. He had an uninterested gaze, and his clothes were sloppy. He had a black robe over everything and a dull expression on his face.

Aside from these six, there were knights lining the walls, presumably to guard the King. After taking all this in, Noboru quickly dropped his gaze and began following the Cardinal in. Once he got to the base of the thrones he dropped to one knee in a bow. The rest of the students followed his lead. The Cardinal smiled, content with their manners, before addressing the King. “Your Majesty, I have brought the heroes.” He said with a small bow, pressing his right hand over his chest.

“Very good, you may raise your heads, heroes, I wish to see your faces.” The students raised their faces. For all but Noboru, it was the first glimpse they got of the King. They were shocked at the beauty of the women sitting by him. “I thank you for your manners, heroes, I am King John Lucidium,” he introduced himself before pointing to the woman beside him. “This is my wife, Julianne.”

Julianne spoke up, “I am Queen Julianne Lucidium, but you can just call me Julianne, it’s a pleasure.” The King then pointed to the boy sitting next to him. “This is my son Harold.” Harold kept his eyes on Akane as he spoke, “I am First Prince Harold Lucidium, I look forward to getting to know all of you better.” The King nodded at his introduction before turning and gesturing to the girl next to the Queen. “This is my daughter, Elizabeth, she’s a bit shy but I hope you will treat her well.” Elizabeth’s already blushing face became a deep crimson as she introduced herself. “H-hello, I’m Second Princess Elizabeth. U-umm, if you’d like you can just call me Eliza. It’s nice to meet you all.” Despite her stuttering, Elizabeth managed to squeak out a proper greeting. The King spoke up once more. “Aiden, Gaharad, introduce yourselves.”

The two men to either side both bowed their heads before turning to the students. The one in full armor spoke first. “I am Gaharad, Knight Commander and military advisor to His Majesty. I will be the one in charge of training you guys in combat. It’s nice to meet you.” The lazy looking one spoke up next. “Ah, yeah. I’m Aiden, court arch manipulator. I guess I’m gonna be teaching you kids manipulation. Good luck.” The King sighed at Aiden’s introduction. “As you can see, they might be a little rough around the edges, but when it comes to combat and manipulation there’s none better. Now, I’d like you to introduce yourselves as well.” Each student called out their first name, ending with Noboru. “I am Noboru, Your Majesty. I have had the pleasure of being selected to speak for the heroes, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Indeed, it is quite a pleasure. Now, I must ask, will you lend your help to our Kingdom in it’s time of need?” The King quickly asked the most important question, preferring not to waste time.

“I cannot leave others to die a gruesome death for no reason, so I have decided to help as much as I can. However, I ask, after this war, should we even be able to settle it, for your assistance in returning to our own world.” Noboru agreed to cooperate but not for free. He seamlessly attached a condition on it as a way to secure a path home afterwards.

The King’s eyebrows raised, he was not used to people attaching conditions when they speak to him. He was a King after all. “Hah, you are quite brave Noboru, attaching conditions when speaking with a King.”

“I humbly beg your forgiveness, I am merely speaking with the other heroes best interests in mind.”

“Hm. Alright, you shall have my help, but only after the demon menace is gone.”

“I ask for nothing more. I am most thankful, Your Majesty.”

“Aiden, Gaharad, show them around the castle. I must speak with the Cardinal.” The King dismissed the students with a wave. Aiden and Gaharad bowed before ushering the students out. Once the students left, the King turned towards James. “So, which is the tenth?” The Cardinal turned to the King before answering. “Noboru, however, I have a plan for him. We can use this to our advantage.” The King hummed in interest. “Hmm? Well, I trust your judgment, however, have the utmost care. If we mess up and the prophecy comes true, it will be over for all of us.” James bowed, “Yes, Your Majesty.”