I still don’t get why we’re here. We didn’t agree to anything yet!

We had been ushered into a hidden meeting room like space in the adventuring guild. We fit in perfectly with our hooded cloaks. Everyone’s wearing one. There’s a dozen people excluding us three. The room’s big enough to not feel crowded even with all us here.

You know, it seems like a bit of a cliché to use the adventuring guild’s building for clandestine stuff, doesn’t it? I guess it makes more sense than making all this in the magic shop. Would anyone really even wonder why the adventuring guild has these rooms if they found them? But if a small looking magic shop had them, now that’d be noteworthy.

“I apologize for calling you all together on such short notice.”

Flore came back after some time into our conversation, telling Karine that the guests were starting to arrive, right on schedule.

“It’s nothing,” says one of the cloaked figures, pulling back his hood, revealing the face of a middle aged man. “What’d happen to bring you, of all people, around? I thought you wanted to ‘bide your time’ and just help us financially.”

No introductions. That’s what Karine said.

Flore’s words lead to Karine interrupting our conversation and inviting us to follow her. Which we did. Mostly out of curiosity, I’d say.

“What you expected,” Karine responds to the man, “Someone in the royal faction trying to stir up trouble right after our family heirloom was returned.”

When we got there, she met her Aunt, who gave her an earful. But she cut that confrontation short and continued to the back room of the guild with us in tow. Nothing looked out of the ordinary there. Just a table, chairs, a bookshelf and the like.

“Heh. Told you. It’s no secret that there are people who despise the success of your family.”

Imagine my mild surprise when Karine approached a small statue in the room, did something to it and a passage opened to a hidden corridor. Apparently it’s a space her family built into the structure when it was first constructed. Just in case if they needed to conduct actual business in the village for whatever reason.

“Oh, I knew. I just didn’t think they’d move this fast or take an action this brazen. Thankfully it doesn’t seem they expected any resistance here, so they just sent some royal guards to subjugate the village rather than an army.”

The first room that we passed was apparently the teleportation room. That would be where all these people came through. Now, I’ve known for a while that there are transporters for instantaneous travel in this world. Not really a secret. What that means is instantaneous travel is a thing, just like back home. Unlike back home, these use magic instead of technology. That’s not really surprising, either. There’s teleportation magic, but they require a lot of mana and a caster with a fair bit of ability. It’s a lot easier to use these dedicated transporters.

“Oh, they couldn’t have even if they wanted.” Another hooded individual lowers his hood. A man in his twenties, I’d say? “We have their war against the beastfolk to thank for that. According to our own reports and information from the beastfolk, the royal army has gotten bogged down trying to invade their forest enclaves. They’re spread very thin, and sending more than some guards would’ve left the capital nearly unprotected.”

According to Avilia, normally, villages the size of Polur don’t have a transporter. But Polur isn’t exactly normal. Turns out, it had its own, secret transporter, courtesy of the Strophie family. Karine said it’s not left in an active state very often or else its existence could become public knowledge. Makes sense, I guess.

“And as you know,” the first man interjects, “The tacit support of the Strophie family hasn’t been enough to get a lot of magic users to take up our cause. But with you siding with us openly, that should change.“

Huh. I didn’t realize the Strophies had that much leverage with the country’s mages. I guess that shows they really are one of the preeminent mage families, not just a bunch of merchants and crafters.

“This war can’t come to a close soon enough.” A third voice. Another hooded figure lowers his hood, and… It looks like a teen-aged boy. Unlike the two earlier people, he doesn’t look like a commoner, however. The air of nobility. Even his cloak looks to be of better make. “We’ve been given an opening. We should consider laying siege to the capital.”

A noble in this meeting? Can’t say I expected that. I guess that means some of them are sympathetic towards the plight of the common man and the beastfolk?

Avilia leans towards me. “Irene,” she whispers. “I know that boy.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” she continues, “He is one of the people I observed. He is one of the five. Or six, if we count you.”

What? He is an outworlder?

“Are you sure?”

“I am positive.”

It doesn’t seem the others know. Surely they wouldn’t act so casual around him if they did. What’s going on?

“He is a reincarnation. He was not summoned. He probably has kept it a secret from everyone.”

It’s almost like she read my mind!

“Bold,” says a fourth voice. It’s a woman’s voice. She lowers her hood. She looks to be in her thirties, I’d say. “It presents its own risks, but I agree. We haven’t had a better chance to end this war short than this. If we can bolster our numbers with enough magic users, it should be perfectly doable.”

The teenager nods and then turns to look at me and Avilia.

“So,” the boy continues, “Would you please explain who these two are? I don’t think I’ve seen them before.”

No introductions, I thought?

“They’re people I trust,” Karine says, “You know the rule. If you want to talk about private matters, it has to happen someplace else.”

Karine turns to us.

“Could you two lower your hoods?”

Avilia looks at me with a bit of apprehension in her eyes. I understand it. But I doubt it’ll hurt to show our faces, given that three of them already have shown theirs.

I nod and lower my hood. Avilia, still looking apprehensive, does the same.

The others don’t really react, but I can see the surprise in the teenager’s eyes. He looks stunned. I can tell. He knows what our “strange” hair colors mean.

“Elves?”

“Not just any elves,” Karine says with what sounds like pride in her voice, “They are the ones who brought back our family heirloom. So yes, I trust them.”

“I’d like to talk to them after this meeting, if possible.”

Karine looks at us apologetically and turns to smile at the boy. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Hey, we didn’t even agree to take part in this meeting, now you’re giving up our time for us? I want to get back to the inn to talk with Avilia sooner rather than later!

“There’s another thing I’d like to bring to your attention,” Karine continues. “It’s true that these two have been of great help to me already. But what you don’t know is that this one,” she theatrically points at me.

Oh no. No. No. You can’t do this. I shake my head. Please, don’t do this.

“This one, is an outworlder. A summoned hero!”

I’M NOT. We’ve already determined I’m not a summoned hero! I don’t have the mana, the “innate skill,” nor the cheaty abilities! I’ve had to learn magic from a teacher. I even had to learn the language myself instead of just knowing it like summoned heroes. I just got lucky with the location I appeared at!

You could’ve at least told me you were going to do this, Karine! I can’t believe you brought us here just to thrust me in the limelight like this! Not that I would’ve ever agreed to come with you if you had… Dammit. I bet she was planning to do this from the beginning!

The four look stunned. I can only assume the still hooded ones are as well.

After a short silence, they start to talk among themselves.

A common thread is the surprise about an “elf” being a summoned hero since they’ve always been human. Not that they haven’t heard that there’s been a summoning that would’ve lead to them having one on their side. How can they just kind of accept it?

A fifth person lowers their hood. An older man in his sixties, it seems. An elderly priest, maybe? What he's wearing under his cloak looks similar to that of the priest at the church. “Which god has she been blessed by?”

None that I know of! But I stay silent. I don’t agree with her methods, but I can’t just undermine Karine right now.

“That’s between her and the god,” Karine responds with a diplomatic tone. As good a save as any, I guess. I haven’t had any contact with any gods!

“Ah.” The priest places his hands on the table. “Nonetheless, with a summoned hero of our own on our side, we can’t lose. Even the doubters will see the rightfulness of our cause now.”

But isn’t it based on a lie?