*RIIIIING*

The school bell rang signaling the end of classes and the start of summer break. Some of my classmates bolted out of the room as soon as they heard the bell, while others decided to stay behind to avoid the crowded hallway packed with students.

As for me, I decided to wait in the room until there were no more crowds in the hallways. To pass the time, I looked around the room and spotted some of my friends and went to them, good thing they haven’t left yet.

“Hey Carlo, Kelvin where’re you guys going later?” I asked them.

“Sup Ian, we we’re planning on inviting you, want to join us for some lunch then play some billiards or something.” Carlo replied.

“Then we’ll go partying at night and hit on some hotties.” said Kelvin, damn bro, you never change.

“What is this ‘hitting some hotties’ that I am hearing?” said another voice, when we looked at we saw a girl glaring at Kelvin, her name is Princess, Cess for short, behind her is another friend of ours, Rika.

“Typical Kelvin.” Rika said jokingly.

“N-n-no, I was just kidding you guys.” Kelvin Retorted.

“Haha, yeah sure.” I replied with a laugh before asking, “Anyways, are you guys going to invite Cess and Rika?”

““Invite us where.”” Cess and Rika asked in sync.

“We were planning on having some lunch and just wander around the city or something.” Carlo answered.

“”So can we come?”” Cess and Rika asked, once again in sync.

“Sure, why not.” Carlo Replied, “Let’s just wait until the hallways aren’t crowded anymore.”

While my friends were talking, I heard Kelvin mutter ‘Damn, how can I hit on pretty girls when they’re around.’ I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that. Aside from the 5 of us, 8 more of our classmates decided to wait for the hallways to clear out.

Well, we just have to sit back and talk with each other until the hallways are clear. It’ll probably take a few minutes before we can leave.

A few minutes later, Carlo stood up and said, “I guess the hallway’s already clear. I can’t hear any noise anymore.”

“I think so too, hey Jose, can you check outside if it’s clear or not.” Kelvin called out to Jose who was nearest to the door.

“Aight.” Jose replied before going to the door, “Yeah, looks clear enough, heck I can’t see anybody.”

Kelvin and everyone else in the room turned to Jose with bewildered faces. Everyone went silent for a couple of seconds before Kelvin managed to speak, “Huh!? What do you mean you can’t see anybody? It’s not like we’ve been here for hours.”

Kelvin rushed outside and shouted, “HELLO!!”, but sadly no response came back, only the echo of his voice. He came back inside with a bewildered face, “What the heck!? Where is everybody?”.

In our confusion we failed to notice the glowing circle on the floor. It was only when Mia screamed that we noticed it. The whole room was enveloped by a bright light and a mystical sound. I covered my eyes using my hands, but the light was so bright I think I even saw my bones through my closed eyelids.

My body was enveloped by a warm sensation for a second before I felt I was falling. I opened my eyes and saw that we were indeed falling, and we are rapidly falling to what seems like a stone surface.

Preparing for the impact, I closed my arms and braced myself, but the impact that I was expecting didn’t come. A couple seconds passed before I decided to open my eyes. What greeted me was a room straight out of the Middle Ages; stone walls and floors, candles and oil lamps line the walls, a single candle chandelier hangs from the ceiling, and clerestory windows let in sunlight to illuminate the room.

My friends and I together with our classmates were standing in a circular stone platform with intricate designs carved in it. Everyone in the group was looking around restlessly, which was to be expected. I mean who can stay calm in this situation? One moment we were in our classroom then a glowing white circle suddenly appears and the next thing we know were inside some sort of Medieval structure.

I felt someone tugging my jacket, “H-hey, I-Ian?” I looked over and saw Princess clutching at the hem of my jacket, “What’s go-ing on?” she asked.

I shook my head and shrugged, “I don’t have a clue either, but it looks like we’re inside what looks like a Medieval castle or fortress or something else.”

She looked crestfallen after hearing my answer. Seeing her looking so dejected, I patted her head instinctively. She was surprised at first, but she let me continue patting her, I only stopped when she finally calmed down.

“Thanks Ian.” she said to me.

My other friends also came closer when they saw Cess looking so dejected. Rika hugged Cess and patted her back, “It’ll be okay.” while Rika was hugging Cess, Kelvin and Carlo stood there not knowing what to do.

“Hey, Carlo, Kelvin, come here for a second.” I called out to them.

“Ian, what the hell is going on!?” Kelvin asked, but sadly I also don’t know what’s going on.

“I don’t know.” I answered, “But, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“I did a head count and counted 13 of us, everyone who remained in the room.” Carlo said, he paused and looked around before continuing “The five of us, Jose, Richard, Marvin, Mark, Karina, Mia, Nicole, and Claire. That’s everyone.”

As we were talking, one of our classmates, Marvin, shouted, “GUUYS, WE’VE BEEN ISEKAI’D.” he looked so ecstatic, “WE’RE GONNA SAVE THIS WORLD AS HEROES.” he exclaimed.

‘Dude, control your emotions, I understand that you’re happy, but look around some aren’t as happy as you are.’

As we watched Marvin jump up and down, a door opened and several people entered; 6 Knights, 4 people wearing hooded robes, and an old man wearing a white robe with golden embroidery and holding a staff as tall as him.

The old man approached our group while the others stayed back, “Greetings young heroes, I am the Court Sorcerer of the Holy Kingdom of Bathal, Antonius de Palazio. Will you please follow me to the audience chamber? The King awaits.”

‘Wait, did I hear that right? Court Sorcerer? Damn, a world of swords and magic!? I’m more of a historical and sci-fi guy though.’

After introducing himself, the old man left the room, and the knights led us out and escorted us to the Audience Hall. We just followed the knights silently, we walked for a couple minutes before the knights stopped in front of a large double door. One of the knights knocked and whispered something to a person behind the doors.

The doors slowly opened, and the knights entered, and they beckoned us to enter too. As soon as we entered the room, someone announced “The summoned heroes have arrived.”  which was met with cheers,

The room was wide; the floor and walls are made of stone, ornate lamps line the walls and chandeliers hang from the ceiling, knights also stood in attention along the walls, a red carpet spread out until the base of the throne, and behind the throne is a massive mosaic window.

The knights led us until we reached the end of the carpet, they kneeled down, and we followed suit.

“Rise Young Heroes.” said a dignified voice, we stood up and saw whose voice that voice belongs to, it was the King’s voice.

The King stood up from his throne and looked at us, “I am Yoshua Paleña de Heraَña, King of the Holy Kingdom of Bathal. I have asked Antonius to conduct the summoning the ritual so that the heroes might help my country”

“You will ask us to defeat the Demon Lord or something, right? right?” Marvin said, not even caring to use polite speech since he’s talking to a King.

‘Dude seriously!? Wait, is it just my imagination or is the King looking irritated?”

“No, not a Demon Lord, but the countries surrounding us are getting aggressive.” The king paused before continuing his explanation, “Our Kingdom is a land bestowed to us, the chosen people, by the gods, but our greedy neighbors want to conquer us. Our country might be a blessing from the gods, but we are all alone and powerless, thus we performed the summoning ritual passed to us by the gods.”

‘Huh? I think there’s something more to this than the what the king has disclosed.”

“So, Young Heroes, will you lend us your strength?” the King asked.

Before I can even ask some more questions, Marvin answered confidently, “Yes Your Majesty, we will lend our power as heroes to your country in despair.”

The King smiled after hearing Marvin’s reply, “Very Well, we shall now check your status. Antonius, lead the heroes to the center of the hall and measure their stats for everyone to see.”

“Holy Crap, this is it, we’ll measure our stats and I’ll be super OP and then…...” I heard Marvin muttering.

The old man, Antonius, approached our group and he led us to the center of the Audience Hall, “Now, we shall measure your status.”