A beautiful swordsmanship I witness in our first meeting.

Strong girl full of kindness that’s warm my heart.

A dazzling smile you gave to him when he said ‘I will protect you’ made me hurt for some reason.

Yet, he never protect you, he can’t protect you from malice of his admirer.

Yet, you stood proudly. Never asking for help nor crying.

But I know deep down, your heart hurt.

That why I will be the one who protect you, Shizuku.

=================================================================================

Yuuya open his eye as he felt a different presence he not familiar with. He hugs Shizuku when the magic circles become bigger so Shizuku was the first one he checked before he looked at surrounding. The most catching was a massive mural. The mural, which stretched ten meters long, depicted a faintly smiling figure, whose gender seemed indeterminable, wreathed in a halo, their blond hair flowing freely behind them. Behind them in the background were plains, lakes, and mountains. The figure had both arms spread wide as if trying to grab hold of all of it. It was a truly beautiful, awe-inspiring work of art. But for some reason, Yuuya has bad feeling about it and his feeling rarely wrong. Massive pillar with sculptures carved into them rose up to the towering domed ceiling and the entire room was constructed with a gleaming white stone that seemed smooth to touch similar to marble. The room resembled some sort of grand cathedral.

Yuuya and the others were standing atop a type of plinth located in the deepest recesses of the room. They were raised above their immediate surroundings. All students were all looking around dumbfounded. It looks like whatever happened had affected the entire class. At least no one crying or panicking in this situation.

Yuuya turned around, it seemed Hajime also look around them. Behind Hajime, Kaori was slumped on the ground. Hajime give sign that she was okay to Yuuya as there weren’t visible injuries on her. There were crowd surrounding them. Yuuya assumed they would provide an explanation for their current situation.

Indeed, Yuuya and his classmate + their teacher Aiko were not the only occupant of the room. Around fifty or so people were standing before the plinth they were on. It looked as if they were all praying, their hand crossed about their chests.

They were all clad in whites robes decorated with excessive gold embroidery. At their sides were something resembling bishop’s stave. The tip of their stave opened up into a fan shape, and instead rings, several flat discs hung from the end.

Eventually, one of the priests stepped forward. He was an old man in his eighty; if others priest could be called excessive then this man was decorated with extreme gold embroidery, with richly decorated monk’s cap that stood about forty centimeters tall. If not for his deeply wrinkled face and aged eyes, people probably mistaking him as a man in his early fifties.

His staff jingled as he walked, clear soothing notes reverberating throughout the hall all the while. Yuuya felt suspicious with how this man walked. If not because his robe, Yuuya probably mistaking him as old martial artist. Finally, the old man opened his mouth and said,

“Welcome to Tortus, brave heroes. It is our pleasure to welcome you here. I am the pope of holy church, Ishtar Langbard. It is an honor to make your acquaintances,” the old man who introduced himself Ishtar, broke out into a so called good-natured smile. He then led the still confused group of the students into another room that was furnished with numerous chairs and long tables, saying it would be easier to speak calmly there.

The new room Ishtar had guided the student to was just as lavishly built as the first. The exemplary craftsmanship of the furniture and tapestries hanging in the walls was evident event to the student’s untrained eyes. The layout of the room implied that it was some manner of banquet hall. Aiko, Kouki, Ryutarou, Yuuya and one other student claimed seats at the head of their respectable tables. Shizuku and Yuuya sat together. Hajime sat beside Yuuya and Kaori sat beside Shizuku, and the rest of student all arranged themselves around them.

The reason no one had made a fuss so far was because everyone was still too busy processing what had just happened. Besides, Ishtar had just said he would explain what had happened and Kouki, with his max-level charisma, had managed to calm everyone down. Aiko-sensei had tears in her eyes as she watched a student do what should have been the teacher’s job.

The moment everyone had finished seating themselves, a number of carts entered the room, pushed along by a retinue of maids. Actual maids, to boot! Not those sham maids found in a certain electronics holy land, nor those old, plump maids that could still be found in various European countries. They were bona-fide maids, the kind every man dreamed of meeting!

 

Even in such an incomprehensible situation, their insatiable curiosity and libido drove most of the boys to gaze longingly at the beautiful maids. When the girls saw how they melted over the maids, they glared at the boys in a manner cold enough to freeze hell itself.          

Hajime was also just about ready to ogle the maid who’d started serving him a drink, but he felt a glacial stare piercing his side and decided to keep his gaze fixed straight ahead. After a moment, he risked a glance back in the direction he’d felt the stare from, only to see Kaori beaming happily at him. He decided to pretend he’d never felt anything odd.

Yuuya was also seeing the maid with intriguing face. It’s reminded him Hajime’s mother who wear maids outfit when she sells her manga or certain boy who forced to wear one. Yuuya felt his foot gets stepped on as he looks to Shizuku who did it. She was pouting because Yuuya look at maid with intrigue eye despite they just announce their engagement. It made other girls look at Yuuya with disappointed feeling. But he only shrugs while whispering to Shizuku ear.

“I imagine Shizu-chan will really cute with the maid outfit.”

Hearing what Yuuya said she become really red, hiding her face with both of her hand. Hajime felt amazed with his friend way to diffuse that situation. Other girls also felt that Shizuku and Yuuya were currently flirting with each other. If the girls were hear what Yuuya said, they probably goes “kya kya,” meanwhile Kaori felt sad. After all, she wants to flirt with Hajime like Shizuku and Yuuya. Looked at Kaori, Yuuya decide to give her an important information.

“Ah right, Hajime. You love maid outfits right,”

Kaori ear perk up while Hajime had cold sweet and looked at Yuuya like saying “Why you talk about it now? Looks everyone looked at me like I am a criminal,” which made Yuuya chuckle a bit. Remember Hajime’s parent antic always bring smile to Yuuya.

“Well your mother looked cute in maid outfit so I wonder if you like to have girlfriend who wear maid outfit for you,”

“Yuuya, can you stop saying my mother cute?”

“Why? She really looks cute in her maid outfit,”

“Because of you, mother always said ‘Ara~ Ara~ what a sinful woman, I am,’ and father screaming ‘I will get NTRed’, you know, “

Hajime’s father who rarely in home at weekend suddenly escort Hajime’s mother to anywhere she wanted. It’s feels like second honeymoon for them. In fact, Hajime wouldn’t surprise if he has younger sibling next years. Everyone watched their conversation with intrigue. After all, while Yuuya always dispel Hajime’s bully group, they rarely talked in school due Hajime’s napper habit.

Ishtar finally began talking once everyone had been served their refreshments.

“Now then, I am certain you all must be feeling very confused about the situation you’ve found yourselves in. I shall explain everything, starting from the beginning. All I ask is that you hear me out until the end.” Ishtar’s explanation was so generic and unreasonable that it seemed as if it’d come out of a fantasy book template.

In short, this was what he said— first, that this world was called Tortus. Within Tortus lived three different races: Humans, Demons, and Demi-humans. Humans resided in the northern half of the continent, Demons on the southern half, and Demi-humans far to the east within a massive forest.

Humans and demons had a strained relationship, having been at war for hundreds of years. Though demons lacked the sheer numbers humans possessed, their individual strength far surpassed that of most humans, balancing out the difference nicely. Both sides were currently locked in a stalemate, and a major battle hadn’t broken out in decades. However, there had been disturbing movements among the demons as of late. Namely the fact, they had managed to tame monsters.

Monsters were supposedly wild animals that had undergone a magical metamorphosis after having mana poured into them. Though it seemed that humans had yet to fully understand the biology of monsters, so they weren’t quite sure. They were apparently very powerful and even capable of using magic, which made them an extremely dangerous threat.

Up until that point, very few people had been able to tame such ferocious beasts. And even those who could were unable to handle more than one or two at a time. However, the situation had changed. This meant that the only advantage the humans had over the demons, numbers, had been eliminated. As such, humans faced an unprecedented crisis that threatened the existence of their very race.

“The one who summoned you all here was the blessed lord, Ehit. He is the guardian deity of us humans, and the one true god of the Holy Church. The supreme ruler who created the world itself. I suspect Lord Ehit grew aware of our plight. He realized that humanity was doomed to annihilation, so he summoned you here in order to prevent such a disaster. You heroes are humans from a world greater than ours, and therefore carry within you strength that surpasses the humans of this world.”

Ishtar paused for a moment before continuing hesitantly. “Or at least, that is what was shown to me in a divine revelation.”

“Regardless, I implore you all to do as Lord Ehit has willed you. Please, defeat the demons and save the human race from destruction.” He seemed almost in a trance as he said that. He had to have been remembering the time he received that divine revelation.

 

According to Ishtar, over 90% of humans revered the creator god Ehit, and those who received his divine visions were without exception given high-ranking positions in the Holy Church. As Hajime was mulling over how twisted a world must be for people to happily believe in “the will of god” without question, and how dangerous such a belief was, in Yuuya case, he more believe that human was the corrupted factor on it, no matter how good the religion was, there always twisted person who change the religion in course of time to suit their agenda. After all, he never met God or Goddess but he had been meeting all kind human; he was future head of Yaegashi Family after all.  Someone stood up and began hotly protesting Ishtar’s words. That someone was the teacher Aiko.

“You can’t possibly be serious! You’re telling these children to go fight in a war!? That’s absolutely unacceptable! As a teacher, I cannot allow it! Send us back right this instant! These kids all have families back home who must be worried sick! You can’t just kidnap them like this!”

Each of her words dripped with rather evident anger. Aiko, the mid-twenties social studies teacher, was very popular with the kids. Her childlike appearance, and her tendency to run around doing everything she could for the sake of her students, though most of her efforts were for naught, had endeared her to many. The gap between how hard she tried and how helpful she actually ended up being had made most of the students see her as a kid that needed to be protected more than an adult to be respected.

 

Many of them had taken to calling her by the nickname Ai-chan, though she always grew angry when they did. Since she was aiming to be a respected teacher, she disliked being called by familiar nicknames.

This time too, she flared up at Ishtar to protest the unreasonable forced summoning in order to look like a proper teacher. Unfortunately, the students regarded her same as always, thinking something to the effect of “Look, Ai-chan’s at it again, Always trying so hard,” as she tore into Ishtar. However, Ishtar’s next words froze everyone’s blood cold.

“I understand your feelings, however... I am unable to return you to your world at present.”

Silence filled the room. The oppressive atmosphere was felt by everyone present. They all stared at Ishtar blankly, unable to properly process what he had just said.

“Wh-What do you mean... you’re unable!? If you called us here, you should be able to send us back, shouldn’t you!?” Aiko-sensei screamed loudly.

“As I stated earlier, it is Lord Ehit who summoned you here. The only reason we were in that room at all was to greet you heroes, and to offer up our prayers to Lord Ehit. We humans do not possess the power to interfere with other worlds, so whether or not you can return also depends on His will.”

“N-No way...”

Aiko slumped back into her chair, all the strength drained out of her. The other students all started yelling as the truth of Ishtar’s words sank in.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me? What do you mean we can’t go back!?”

“You can’t do this! Please, just send us back somehow!”

“A war!? You can’t be serious! Take us the fuck back right now!”

“This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening...”

The entire class fell into a panic. Everyone was shaken by this development, except few persons, someone even muttered “I will become hero” Hajime as he was an otaku and Yuuya also quite relieved, they had at least seen countless books and games that had the same premise. Which was why they were able to determine that it was not the worst possible scenario, For reference, the worst case scenario he was imagining was the one in which they all got summoned as slaves.

Ishtar said nothing and silently watched on as all of the students panicked. Though Ishtar was silent, Hajime thought he could see contempt hidden within the depths of the old man’s eyes. Hajime presumed he was thinking “These people were chosen by god, why are they not rejoicing?” or something along those lines. While, Yuuya think renewal his mind set at least until he know if this world religion was same like in earth.

 

Kouki stood up amidst the hysterical group of students and slammed his fist down onto the table with a bang. That managed to get the attention of most of the kids. Once he had confirmed that everyone’s eyes were on him, Kouki began speaking.

“Everyone, there’s no point in complaining to Ishtar. There’s nothing he can do about it now. And... And I, at least, have decided to stand and fight. These people are about to be annihilated. Knowing that, how can I possibly leave them to such a tragic fate? And besides, if we’ve been summoned here to save humanity, it’s possible we’ll be allowed to go back once we’ve saved them... Well, Ishtar-san? Do you think that’s possible?”

“It is as you say. Lord Ehit is not so unkind that he would ignore a request from his chosen heroes.”

“And we’ve all gained some amazing powers, right? Ever since I arrived here, it’s felt like I’ve somehow grown way stronger.”

“Yes, that is correct. It would be safe to assume that each of you have the equivalent strength of anywhere from a few to few dozen regular men.”

“Alright, then we should be fine. I’m going to fight. If we save everyone, then we can go home. So just you watch! I’m going to save everyone, including us! And I will prove I can protect you better than Yuuya, Shizuku” Kouki clenches his fists tightly as he proclaimed his noble intentions, flashing an almost sickeningly dazzling smile at the end to Shizuku.

At the same time, his overwhelming charisma started taking effect. Students who were despairing mere moments ago began to regain their sense of composure. They all looked at Kouki with wonder, as if they were staring at hope itself. Most of the female students had adoration mixed into their gaze as well. Not mention, he sound like giving proclamation of love war to Yuuya. Love triangle was gossip fond by female student.  

“Heh knew you’d say that. Still, I’d be worried letting you go off on your own... Which is why I’m coming with you?”

“Ryutarou...”

 Kouki looked at Shizuku, confident she would support what he said. But, Shizuku only looked at Yuuya, waiting for Yuuya’s decision as family head, she ready to support or reprimand him for his decision. Shizuku remember when her mother made her father sleep on couch when Yuuya training to become future head was too cruel for his age.

 “Shizuku...”

“Looks like that’s the only choice we have right now. Let’s increase our chance to survive. But, Shizuku, you stay behind”

“No, I will fight too”

“Shizu-chan… alright, let’s survive this together”  

“I-If Shizuku-chan’s going to fight, then I will too!”

“Kaori...”

The usual group of friends all chimed in their support for Kouki. Swept along by the flow, the rest of the students naturally all agreed to fight as well. Aiko-sensei was in tears as she ran between her students, imploring them to stop. However, she was ultimately powerless, completely unable to keep Kouki’s charisma from infecting the rest of the class.

In the end, everyone agreed to help fight in the world’s war. However, most students probably had no idea what war was really like, nor did they even want to fathom it. In a sense, they might have just been trying to escape from reality to preserve their own sanity, except few students Yuuya, Shizuku, Hajime, and certain person with dead fish-eyes.  

Despite joking around Yuuya was considering all of those factors as he observed Ishtar out of the corner of his eye. Ishtar had a rather satisfied smile on his face, something which Yuuya, Hajime, and person with dead fish-eyes took note of.

 

Ishtar had been discreetly monitoring Kouki as he had given his speech, mentally jotting down how he reacted to which words. Kouki, who had always had a strong sense of justice, had reacted quickly when Ishtar spoke of the tragedy that had befallen the human race. And Ishtar had made sure to emphasize the cruelty and brutality of the demons when he saw Kouki’s reaction to his words.

After all, it was obvious that Ishtar had seen right through Kouki’s personality. He had realized who among their group held the most influence.

 

Hajime supposed that as the top leader of a global religious institution, it stood to reason that Ishtar would be so discerning, but he still mentally filed him away as someone to watch out for.

Regardless, since they had chosen to assist the humans in their war, they now needed to learn how to fight. No matter how amazing their newfound powers were, they were still high school students that had been living in the peaceful country of Japan. It would’ve been impossible for them to just start fighting against demons and monsters without any training.

 

However, it seemed Ishtar had prepared for that eventuality as well, since he explained to the students that there were people ready to receive them in the Heiligh Kingdom. Said kingdom was apparently at the foot of the divine mountain, and the temple they were currently in was the head temple of the Holy Church that stood at its summit.

The kingdom had very close ties with the Holy Church—according to legend, one of Ehit’s progeny, Sharam Vaan, had founded the kingdom. Of all the human kingdoms, it was apparently the one with the richest history. The fact that the Church’s most sacred temple was in the kingdom’s backyard spoke volumes about how deep their connection ran.

 

Everyone headed for the temple’s front gate. They were about to embark on their journey to the kingdom below. As they walked through the grand triumphal arcs that comprised the main gate of the temple, they were greeted by an endless sea of clouds. Because no one had suffered from altitude sickness, they hadn’t realized they’d been up so high up. Few person especially those that hide the fact that they otaku assumed that magic had something to do with making the environment around the temple habitable. They all stood in wonder as they stared at the clear blue sky and the waves of clouds sparkling in the sunlight.

Ishtar looked on proudly as everyone gawked, before urging them onward. As they made their way forward, they came upon a massive white circular pedestal that was surrounded by a fence. They walked through a lavish hallway made of the same white stone as the cathedral and stepped up onto the pedestal.

Engraved within the stone of the pedestal was a large magic circle. On the other side of the fence lay a steep drop to the clouds below, so most students huddled as close to the center of the pedestal as they could. But they were unable to restrain their curiosity, and timidly glanced around their surroundings despite their fear. As they were looking around, Ishtar began to chant,

“Faith is the key that opens the road to heaven—Celestial Path.”

The magic circle began emitting a blinding light as he finished chanting. The entire pedestal began gliding down toward the ground, as if attached to some invisible cable. It appeared that Ishtar’s chant had been an activation signal of sorts. It functioned exactly like a fantasy cable car. The students all started clamoring excitedly as they saw their first display of magic. There was quite the ruckus when they passed through the sea of clouds too.

Once on the other side, the students could finally make out the ground below. Directly below them was a huge city, or rather a small kingdom. A huge castle that looked as if it were jutting out of the mountainside lay at its center, with the rest of the city spreading outward in a circle. The capital city of Heiligh, the magical cable car seemingly ran from the Holy Church down to the roof of one of the castle’s towers via some aerial pathway.

As Yuuya watched the town and castle, he swore in his heart that he would protect Shizuku and reunite with his family-in-law.