The fact that there were not one but four summoned warriors caused great confusion not only in the Demon King’s camp but also in the human camp. It could be said to be an irregular situation whose origin has never been found.

The Empire’s wizards conducted a type of physical examination on children summoned as warriors to investigate this abnormality. The test contents included aptitude for each class, magical power capacity, personality, and qualifications as a warrior.

Soon, the empire’s wizards found a satisfactory answer.

The conclusion was that they were all warriors, but at the same time, they were imperfect warriors.

To be exact, the four children each possessed one of the qualities that a warrior should have.

Ares embodies justice.

Marie embodies wisdom.

Luna embodies bravery.

Serah embodies charity.

They were all warriors, and only when they were united as one did they become complete warriors.

The empire eventually decided to nominate all of them as warriors and give them training suited to their aptitude.

Ares is trained as a knight.

A knight serves as a shield that protects the empire and is also a strong pillar of the party. The knight uses his iron wall-like defense to block enemy attacks at the forefront of the party. The well-trained knight's attack power couldn't be ignored, often resulting in a mountain of monster corpses.

It was a class well-suited to Ares, who was kind but couldn't tolerate injustice.

Marie is trained as a mage.

Mages specialize in attack magic. Although their physical abilities are inferior, their powerful attack magic overturns everything. In particular, powerful ranged attack magic that annihilates numerous monsters at once is the exclusive domain of mages.

For Marie, who was called a genius girl even in the previous world, becoming a mage was nothing short of destiny.

Luna is trained as a martial artist.

The martial artist, a fairly rare class, specializes in close-quarters combat. A martial artist doesn't use weapons but instead relies on their naturally trained body, unique agility, and attack power to ravage enemies.

Despite being a rare class, it was the perfect fit for Luna, who was originally a master of martial arts.

Serah is trained as a saint.

Among priest classes, saints are the highest class recognized for their innate divine power. The saint is skilled in all healing magic and proficient in many useful auxiliary magics. Additionally, they possess attack magic that works powerfully against monsters and undead.

This versatile, saintly woman was a perfect match for Serah, who grumbled but took good care of those around her.

Although they were not all perfect warriors, with proper training and harmony, they had the potential to wield more power than a single Hero.

However, on the other hand, there was also the problem that if the harmony within the party was broken, it could easily collapse like a sandcastle.

Of course, judging by their current state, Minwoo didn’t think their harmony would easily be broken.

“Ares! Marie!”

As Ares and Marie, who had finished training for the day, were walking side by side in the hallway of the royal palace, a familiar voice was heard from across the room. Ares greeted the two with a smile.

“Serah. You worked hard today too. Luna too.”

“Uh, yes. Ares and Marie did a great job too.”

“Serah is still full of energy despite everything.”

“Really… Marie always has a lot to say…”

“…”

The four exchanged greetings and pleasantries. After finishing their work, all that was left was to return and rest.

When they were first summoned here, everything was unfamiliar and awkward, but time gradually calmed them down.

It had already been a week since they arrived in this world, and the four of them were becoming more accustomed to life here.

This was partly due to their ability to adapt, but more than anything, it was thanks to the empire's passionate support.

The empire had summoned heroes sixteen times over the past thousand years. It was an important ritual that occurred once or twice in a generation, necessary to defeat the devil. There was no way an empire that knew this would neglect its treatment of its warriors.

The empire did its best to support them both materially and spiritually so they could adjust to life in another world. They weren't forced to do anything. The heroes cooperated naturally due to their nature, so there was no need for coercion.

In fact, the only time the four were confused was on the first day they were summoned. After that, they were naturally eased by the empire and smoothly trained to become warriors according to their program.

“Sigh… Anyway, I think the most disappointing thing is that we all have to train separately except during joint classes.”

Serah said, sighing. As she said, the four had different aptitudes for different classes, so it was common for them to take classes from different teachers in different places. They could be together when learning about the history of the continent or general knowledge, but they were mostly separated.

“That's true. It's not bad if you think of it as experiencing college life in advance.”

“Ah, if you think about it that way, definitely… Ares is really positive. That's amazing.”

“It's not that amazing.”When Ares sympathized with Serah's words and comforted her, Serah smiled and praised Ares, feeling better.

Perhaps finding the scene a bit odd, Marie spoke up with a mischievous look.

“Isn't Serah just sad that she can't see her brother, Ares?”

“What? Oh, no…! I don’t really like that!”

Serah's face instantly turned red at Marie’s words. Looking at Serah, who didn't know what to do, Ares just scratched his cheek.

“I-It’s not really true…! Huh, Luna…!”

“Calm down, Serah. Marie is just teasing you.”

Luna, who never lost her composure, comforted Serah with her characteristic calm voice.

“Mari, you shouldn't tease Serah like that.”

“Yes, brother. I apologize, Sister Serah.”

“Ugh… I always feel this, but she never feels like she’s getting an apology.”

But Serah couldn't just get angry at the younger sister of the man she had a crush on. Serah just vented her anger inwardly. Of course, that meant all their expressions were lost on the outside, so the other three just smiled bitterly.

One way or another, Serah was loved by her friends.

“But you still haven’t found Luna's teacher?”

Luna nodded in response to Serah’s question, then changed the subject.

“Yeah. From what I heard, they’re not humans, but beastmen…? They say they’re like that, but I guess they’re wanderers, so it’s hard to get in touch with them. It seems like there’s some discrimination.”

“Ah… I think I definitely heard it from the princess in common sense class.” 

Unlike the world they lived in, there are intelligent beings other than humans in this world. There are elves, orcs, and beastmen, and high-ranking demons such as the Demon King also have intelligence.

The empire that summoned the four people was, after all, a human country, and other races were basically not treated equally as humans. Of course, since more than a thousand years had passed since the end of the racial war, slaves of other races were not treated as aggressively as back then, but on the other hand, the relationship between superiors and subordinates could be seen as having been fixed for a long time.

However, the beastman who is scheduled to become Luna’s teacher seems to be quite a special being, and does not seem to be discriminated against as openly as ordinary beastmen…

“..I don’t care if it’s like this now. I just keep doing what I’ve trained since I was young.”

“Well, Luna was strong from the beginning… She became even more so after coming to this world…”

The four people who came to this world all gained powers that ordinary humans cannot possess. Not only has basic physical ability improved, but the parameters of abilities related to each aptitude have increased significantly.

Above all, the biggest thing was that the vessel of magical power, which can be said to be the greatest characteristic of a hero, was growing at a rate that exceeded common sense.

The biggest difference between the normal inhabitants of this world and the warriors was the size of the vessel that accepted magical power.

Unlike the people of this world, who are born with an innate size of a vessel containing magical power, warriors can continuously grow their vessel. A warrior who has completed his growth will have magical power that is literally hundreds of times that of an ordinary person and can manifest it in all kinds of forms to fight against monsters.

The biggest reason why the humans of this world alone could not deal with the Demon King in the first place was the infinite amount of magical power of the Demon King. The Demon King was able to exercise nearly infinite magical power through the core, a storehouse of magical energy accumulated through repeated reincarnations over a long period of time.

“Anyway, how strong is the Demon King?”

Ares responded to Serah’s inadvertently thrown words.

“Well… But it’s probably an opponent we can’t defeat as of now. According to the princess, the people here had a hard time just dealing with the Demon King’s minions.”

“Ugh, can we really win against something like that? I don’t know anything about fighting…”

When Sarah looked anxious, Marie sighed and

She said.

“Serah, you’re really worried. The Demon King hasn’t been resurrected yet, and by the time he does, we’ll have become much stronger. In fact, they say that all of the previous heroes have succeeded in defeating the Demon King.”

“But… I think there are four of us for some reason…”

Despite Marie’s words, Sarah’s anxiety did not seem to go away.

“It’s okay, Sarah. I will definitely protect you.”

“Luna…”

Sarah looked thrilled at the words of Luna, who was more trustworthy than most men. Then, the mischievousness returned to Marie’s expression as she watched.

“Heh… You two are always on good terms. Well, I guess I should ask my brother to protect me.”

“Of course, I will definitely protect Marie.”

“Hehe. Thank you, brother.”

Crossing Ares’ arms proudly, Marie slightly stuck out her tongue at Sarah. Since she was Marie who already knew Sarah’s love, that action had only one meaning.

Of course, Sarah showed a reaction that did not betray her expectations, causing the three people to smile bitterly.