When Ichirou and the others arrived at the Imperial Palace, they were immediately guided to the throne room by Lambard in front. The Heroes walked through the halls and admired the beauty of the decorations used in them.
Ichirou even lamented that he was apparently unable to use his appreciation skill to know its market price, but based on his experience, he estimated that many of the decorations made of gold would be expensive enough to buy ten mansions on the continent Midas.
This human country is quite rich, right? Still, it's annoying that I can't use my abilities because of that Relative Reality Latency thing... Although, since I don't feel tired after walking so much, my body must reflect the stats I had in the game.
I may be a merchant, but my high level guarantees stats comparable to that of a level 90 warrior, more or less, so I shouldn't be helpless since I can kill monsters capable of annihilating villages with pure physical power....That is if my power is true to the game...
...The others should be better off, since they are players (and an NPC) with combat classes from the start. Although mages like NeetShunDefinitive are physically weaker than even merchants like me….but they should be stronger than a mere level 77 Orc, at least.
It would be great if these strange particles that I can't see didn't block the system....When will I be able to connect to that 'Yggdrasil Server' to be able to use my abilities?
No...Should I even...? Although I'm not that attached to my original reality, honestly...
While thinking about those things, Ichirou and the others passed by Knights and maids who were looking at them subtly. Their clothing styles did not differ much from what was seen on NPCs and LSO players with similar professions.
Although, for some reason, most of them were more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than many NPCs in the game.
Ichirou felt taken aback by that, but in the end he just figured that the humans of this world must be more inclined to develop their charm stats more, or something.
Those people looked at the group of players with respectful eyes as if they already knew their 'summoned heroes' identities or recognized them as such by whoever guides them.
Well....being guided by a high-ranking religious figure is certainly an obvious sign of our identity as their "saviors"...If we were really summoned to save this world or something.
Some maids whispered among themselves as they looked at them as if they were watching celebrities, although Ichirou could smell them with surprising ease.
“Are those the Heroes? They're so beautiful!"
"True!? Especially the one with brown hair, they are handsome and have such a good body, it's incredible!”
“No way, the lethargic looking one is more handsome!”
“What nonsense are you talking!?”
"You want to fight!?"
Two maids looked at each other as if they were going to have a death match as the group walked away from them.
“But… Why is it that most of them clothes bathing suits?” A pretty maid with slightly pointed ears (Half-Elf, perhaps?) who accompanied them asked with her head tilted and a finger on her lip.
“He asked me….Although I didn't complain, I love the sight of beautiful men and beautiful women weakly showing off their delicious assets…” Another maid in the group blurted out with a perverted expression.
“……”
Ichirou, and most likely all the other players disguised as ancient Greeks with perception stats higher than his, broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing that. No one would have expected that Greek clothing would be confused with the clothes for the bathroom of this other world.
Not…. I have no reason to be ashamed….It's just cultural differences, mere culture!
While Ichirou was comforting himself like this, everyone arrived in front of a set of huge double doors.
Standing over five meters tall, this masterful double door was meticulously engraved with a goddess, angels and heroes on the left panel, and a great demon and his dark army on the right panel.
The engraving was so vivid that Ichirou thought it wouldn't be strange if they came out of it like monsters and attacked them. Considering that something similar happened several times in the game... Some heroes became more cautious.
The two soldiers at the door stood at attention as Lambard and the group of heroes arrived. Without waiting for a response, they opened the door.
Lambard entered calmly, quite naturally. The others also entered the door with an aura of unease, except for a few who really didn't care if the door had such monsters.
There was a red carpet leading from the entrance to the luxurious throne, but the Holy Emperor was not on the throne, and Cardinal Lampard remained silent near it.
An old man of about the same age as Lampard, who wore clothes similar to those of nobility in fantasy novels, approached them and suddenly bowed.
"Heroes, I deeply apologize for His Imperial Majesty's absence at this time! Please wait a bit while he arrives, as he will personally explain the situation to you."
Ha?
All the heroes raised an eyebrow at that statement.
It's a joke, right? Are they supposed to summon us without permission and then we have to wait for their all-powerful leader to come and explain things to us whenever he feels like it?
I can't accept that!
"We don't want to wait any longer! Couldn't you tell us everything you know now, Lampard-san?" Ichirou exclaimed with a frown as he looked at the old man who led them here.
While everyone was silent, some of the heroes nodded after Ichirou spoke. The brown-haired merchant always spoke for them when he dealt with nobles in the game, so this didn't feel any different to them.
Just as Lampard seemed to want to respond, The elderly nobleman with a relatively impressive height spoke with an apologetic tone as he bowed, "I understand that you wish to obtain more information, but it would be better if we introduce ourselves first. My name is Ishtal, I am Your Majesty's advisor. In On behalf of Your Majesty, once again, I apologize for involving you in this situation."
Ichirou and the old man, Ishtal, looked at each other in silence for a few seconds before the young man sighed at the end. He knew that the other party would not abide by his stance, nor could anyone among them force them to speak when all of his abilities were practically sealed thanks to the void particles, so he just played along.
"Well, I am...Nagasaki Ichiro, but they call me Ichirou among my acquaintances"
After his very short self-introduction, others also decided to follow along with an even shorter presentation.
“I'm Kouta!” The messy black-haired boy with a rather attractive appearance and Otaku vibe was the next to introduce himself. Ichirou recognized him in the game with the identification 'OtakuPrince', and he was a Tank with the advanced class of {Heavy Knight}.
“Baccara” The sexy woman of the demon race [Succubus] kept telling him nothing more than her name. Her game ID was 'GoldenQueen', and she was a {Castrophe Summoner}, a unique class; her being one of the main DDs of the group.
Her golden hair and eyes along with her demonic features were certainly striking, but nothing was more striking than her ample breasts that seemed to want to spill out of her toga.
You can certainly see that this person had fun with character creation.
I always wondered if there is a man behind that beautiful face....and if so, how will this nekama feel about this situation? Will he be happy to be a woman? Or will she hate becoming a real succubus?
Come to think of it, doesn't anyone here care that he's a demon?
“H-humm…m-my name is Rose” After 'GoldenQueen' Baccara was followed by a small and shy fairy, whose in-game ID was 'Lunaria' and her class was literally {Saint of the Sun and Moon}, a unique class of Healer.
She looked like a girl with long, curly, beautiful and quite colorful hair, with cute red glasses and cherry-colored lips.
Her character was quite cute, and her personality seemed to fit her...although Ichirou couldn't really tell if it was an act of some fat man behind a PC or something.
Anyway, these three were the main representatives of the "Holy Trinity" of this group of heroes. He couldn't say if it was a coincidence that the three of them decided to talk after him.
After those three, the others hesitated to introduce themselves or treated him as a nuisance, but in the end, they also briefly introduced themselves; either because doing so would make them feel like time was passing or just because they didn't have anything better to do.
Overall, Ichirou learned a little about the real names (Possibly) of his group of heroes online (He wasn't the one who called him that). They went like this: Akai Mito, a Draconian; Dreg, a tall dwarf; Mana, a human Tall; Shun, a tall human; Shouko and Shouta, the High Elf twins ¹ ; Susanoo, a human Alta, Ruri, the cat girl and finally, Priscilla, a human tall and the only NPC of the group.
Her online credentials: Kingdragon Absolute, Natural Channel, Manna, NeetShunDefinitive, Koko and Shoko, Killer, Lemon juice, and well… Priscilla.
The classes of each one would be the following: {Dragon Knight} (Draconians cannot fly), {Warrior Monk}, {Magic Swordswoman}, {Primordial Chaos Wizard}, {Priestesses of Nature}, {Twilight Assassin} , {Warrior of the Night} and finally, {Supreme Combat Maiden}…
There were many hidden or advanced classes like these that had equally simple, strange, or sincerely sad names in LSO, no matter how you look at it...by the way, Ichirou's class, {Golden King}, was again an ultimate class. That put her on a higher level than the others despite being only a higher version of a merchant.
Although the class itself had no combat power without meeting certain very specific conditions…
While I was thinking about those things after Priscilla's polite introduction, Councilman Ishtal spoke hurriedly.
"Oh! It seems that your majesty has arrived! Heroes, thank you for your patience."
Hearing those words, Ichirou immediately sharpened his senses as he prepared for what was to come, and felt the tension in the air increase as some of them became even more anxious and alert.
Some of the players like Dreg and Kouta grip their knuckles as if they were ready to jump into combat, but Ichirou also sensed that there are still some who remain calm or don't even care too much.
As far as Ichirou is concerned, the first ones are the ones who would be considering the possibility that something bad could be plotted against them, the ones who force them to be prepared for anything. As for the latter, he had no idea.
He wondered what kind of life they had to be so calm in this situation. Weren't they players?
Or are they like those novels I read where the new bodies affect the mentalities of the protagonists after going to another world? Now that I think about it, I'm too calm for someone who was transported to another world…
Suddenly, voices came from somewhere that interrupted Ichirou's thoughts and made everyone pay attention to what they were saying. For players with superior stats, those voices rang clearly in their ears. Ichirou in particular even discovered that he could control his perception of sound, possibly by manipulating his auditory receptors…
"That's what you get from overwork and stress, Your Stupid Majesty." A girl's voice launched an insult without hesitation at whom everyone assumed to be the holy emperor himself.
"You reap what you sow, you basically handled a 4 months worth of documents in one night... Are you an idiot?" Another treated him like a crazy person, showing total disrespect to his boss.
"Take care of your health, okay? I have a hard time taking care of you every time..." The last voice sounded annoyed and tired, like it was sick of him.
Their voices were dignified and refined…but two of them even sounded like women complaining about a troublesome boyfriend or something like that.
Is this how the highest authority of the nation in this world is treated….? The cultural differences sure are amazing.
The tension he felt eased slightly as Ichirou thought about such irrelevant things and those who seemed ready for combat relaxed their stiffness.
Finally, the person everyone was waiting for elegantly entered the Throne Room along with three women of exceptional beauty.
The Holy Emperor who has just sat on his throne, unlike what anyone would expect, is a young man in his twenties.
She had beautiful, slightly curly, bright white hair that was tied up in a braid across her chest. Her piercing eyes were blue like the sky and he had a body that; Although thin, he appears to be quite well trained and was adorned in a military uniform.
He looked about 185cm tall, and had a dignified atmosphere that didn't seem to have been affected by the negative comments they heard earlier.
He is young compared to those Emperors and Kings of the Midas Continent, but without a doubt he is a man who gives the air of being a ruler, like one of those novels and mangas that I saw with my grandfather...
The girls at the side of the Holy Emperor were also notable not only in appearance, but also in bearing and equipment.
There was a blonde girl wearing white armor and a pleated skirt with front and back protectors. She had a beautiful black ribbon on the back of her head, and a spectacular body that she looked like she wouldn't lose to Baccara.
The other girl wears chest armor with runes. She had short blonde hair and her slim hips are visible, making her quite attractive.
He wore tight black leather shorts on the lower part of his body, which was only 14 cm long. It was enough to envelop her round buttocks and slender legs. He also had silver metal boots that reached below the knee.
The features of her face are contrary to her dignified voice, she is like a doll. She has fairly long eyelashes, large round eyes with sky blue pupils.
What a pretty girl...
Ichirou stopped himself from staring at her so as not to be rude, but it definitely caught her attention.
The last one seemed to be a magician. She was wearing a purple shawl which was quite erotic as it defined the outline of her sexy hourglass figure. Her hair was purple, and she was tied in two low tails sticking out of the shawl.
She is taller than the other two girls. The characteristic of her face is what is called sharp and cold beauty, making Ichirou guess that she was the refined voice that complained about the Holy Emperor.
If only he could use the power of the system to obtain information from them… The heroic merchant lamented.
I hope there's a way to undo those void particles here.
Lampard, who had remained silent until now, abruptly spoke again, interrupting Ichirou's thoughts.
"Your Imperial Majesty, these are the thirteen summoned heroes! They are now seeking knowledge, so if you want..."
"Thirteen? Lampard-sama, are you that unintelligent or did you just forget how to count correctly due to old age?"
Ichirou blinked in surprise upon hearing the magician's words. Including him, there were only 13 players who were invited into this world, just as Lampard said.
Is that mage intentionally messing with him? Are there conflicts between Wizards and Priests? That's quite common in LSO...
He remembered the continuing conflicts between religions and magician guilds on the Midas Continent and grimaced. Those things already caused him enough problems when it was a game...
"There are fourteen presences, you know?" The magician continued with her words that caught everyone's attention for their content and Lampard blinked in bewilderment.
Hey? 14? Was there another player and I didn't notice? Who is it?
Ichirou resisted the urge to look back and kept his eyes fixed on the natives of this world.
"Eh...? I apologize for this mistake, Violetta-sama. But who is the remaining hero? I don't see anyone else..."
"At the back, heroes, please lead the way"
Upon hearing it, everyone looked at each other for a few seconds and quickly parted like the sea of Moses and as a result...they saw the stunned and amazed face of a girl.
She was a little girl with divine beauty, beyond human understanding. Not even players and natives could compare to her in terms of sheer beauty.
––Since her beauty seemed incapable of being conceived by a human.
Ichirou and the heroes' mouths opened wide as they saw the small existence behind them. How could they not be surprised?
Isn't she like a girl of about 10 or 11 years old!?
Like....How can she be so beautiful!?
And since when was the size limit set for avatar heights removed!?
No...more importantly, how come I didn't feel it with my perception!?
Is she even... a player?
