"Any other questions?"

A booming voice sounded in the room, reverberating a few times before losing its imposing volume. A loud gulping sound was heard from my left as the person from my right lifted his head from his bowing position.

"Yeah, excuse me?"

"Oi, be respectfully his majesty Michael!"

"No need to be so formal Gabriel, his answer is actually quite expected. Now now, I understand that the mission for you today is quite a big one, isn't it? but don't worry about it, today it was only an announcement for you to know what will be coming in the coming years"

The king of the country said to us, In reassurance that the monumental task that even I couldn't take without flinching. Who would have thought that we would need to go to the front line of a war with the demons on no man's land? absolutely madness! I obviously maintained my mouth shut, unlike Michael who's currently wide-eyed, one can see even the pupils of his eyes shiver from place to place.

' Geez, even a mere Baron like me can keep his manners! '

"M-May I ask a questi-o-on"

The timid girl at my side raised her voice while completely faltering, the order would shake her to the core, that was obvious from a glance but she's actually already shivering since I came into the castle. It is understandable since I'm the [Hero] but even then I still haven't proven my worth in any real battle so I have no idea why she was faltering.

"Ask way Reina"

"Why I'm I here?"

The King stared at Reina as if she was an interesting critter on the side of the road, certainly being called onto the king's castle and being asked to go to war with the enemies of the Country did come out of nowhere. Yet she is here so my guess is that...

"Well of course to go with the Hero's party, we need a good stronghold for humanity to rely on! it is a tradition that only the strongest and the elite would make it there"

"Yeah I know from the children's book that is how we repelled the enemy but... but why I thought?"

"Well of course the best mage of the country should be included in the hero's party, your incredible abilities, and skills in both Battle and Intrapersonal Magic you are an obvious candidate"

The king said with a smile while Reina started blushing hard and looked onto the floor, she obviously was getting embarrassed from being praised by the king himself. I knew that she must be something else if she is here but she... wait don't tell me.

"Are you perhaps [The Windshaper] ?"

"yes! th-t-that ... just CALL me reina please!!! I beg you!!!!!!"

"uhh okay?"

Reina sighed in relief at my response while Michael keeps staring at her with suspicion, Reina of course is trying to calm down but the gaze of Michael narrowing his eyes is her is making her restless. Is not like I don't get Michael since [The Windshaper] is supposed to be a genius of a generation on Intrapersonal magic pertinent to air substances so seeing an extremely shy girl does raise suspicion about her.

' Well whatever I'll protect her if worse comes to worst '

I really doubt it will come to that if she really is the real thing, she has a custom unique title which is one of the most difficult things to actually do in the world and she accomplished it at the age of 18, even if she is acting like a teenager.

"Alright, what is our current mission then?"

Michael said while eyeing the mage, I looked at the king while he ponders something and continues with his speech.

"Well the Hero's party requires at least 2 more official members to keep with tradition, generally these would be people who excel in the military..."

It is true that the Hero's party in all its iterations was made of at least 2 people in the direst of situations, but it is more common that 5 people would be the tradition. Because of the sporadic nature of the apparition of the [Demon Lord] or god forbid [Demon King] it is the norm to pull people who excel from the military.

 "...We decided to follow in The first hero's footsteps and let you decide who would join the party"

"..."

Well, that was unexpected. The legend does say that the first hero's party was not planned at all and that it was more a series of fortunate coincidences that led the first hero to defeat the Demon King of his time.

'But that's a bit too...'

"Are you sure your majesty? I don't thin-"

"I'm sure that you can judge a person's strength very well"

"I- I understand your majesty! I will do my best"

"That's good to hear"

The king laughed as he ushered us to remain an extra day to relax from our journey here, as we are led to the guest rooms I start thinking about the problem at hand. Michael is still trying to burn Reina with his stare as Reina is looking at the guest room as if it was the most luxurious room she has ever seen. 

' I'm the Hero, so I should be capable of judging a person's strength pretty reliably no matter the situation, but the question remains on who to add to this quest. The only person that comes to mind is the Princess since she is really good at Extrapersonal magic ' 

After consulting with the king I got the permission to go and add her to the party but I should go to the city where she is instead of her getting back to the castle. Made sense since we are going to be departing anyway so it could be a possibility to encounter someone worthy on the way there.

The princess is in the city of worms, apparently, they had problems between the local nobles and some of the population so he is going herself to solve the problem.

' Very reckless and thoughtful '

It is true that her presence alone will solve the issue, but it is also extremely dangerous since she is the princess, that's never a great title to have at any rate.

After having a bad night's sleep where I had to keep the maids from coming into my room at night for ' nightly activities ', this is exactly the reason why I had to try to distract myself from being in this castle with those books I always carry with me.

' Worse of all Michael is somehow jealous of that? what the hell? '

It is pretty annoying to have those women on me. they do go away every time I turn them down but they come back literally the next day. Not very useful especially when I already have someone I care about.

"Anyways we are going to pick up Princess Zero and help her in her endeavors, she will be our new party member  so we will depart to the city of worms to-"

"OH, the city of worms?"

"...yes"

Michael immediately interrupted me in the middle of my orders, anyways the city of Worms is not really that far from the capital, it was known for being the center of trade since the fall of Tempestad a few centuries ago. Now I don't remember why would Michael would be interested in... wait.

"Then we should recruit Big sister!"

"No we are not, we already are stretching it in having 2 sword users in the party you should know that"

Although Michael's sister is indeed an incredible swordsman? swordswoman? that could beat us on equal terms it would be overkill to have 3 sword users on the team, if you add that having two noble's from the same house it would be a sure way to make a political disaster after the war even if we won.

' Also she is like 9 years older than us, so it's no wonder she can beat Micheal that easily '

The last time we fought Michael got to taste the dirt and I barely managed to not get beaten black and blue, so there's progress there, it does make me a bit sad that she will not be in our party.

"WHAT? what do you mean she is the perfect fit on t-"

"She is going to be in the army anyway, and even though we are recruiting official members the army will be literally behind us when the war breaks out"

"Hmpf! fine I'll let you go for this one"

' Yeah you do you big siscon '

"Yeah okay, AS I WAS SAYING we will depart to the city of worms instead of waiting for the princess since the city was known to host powerful individuals at one point, so if we find one by chance it should be good to try and recruit them, you two got that?"

"Yeah..."

"Y-YES"

Michael sounded a bit dejected for not seeing his big sister at the hero's party and Reina is still a bit flustered at the mere mention of her. I guess I could try to talk to her to get her to be a little more sociable.

"By the way how are we going to level up? it's not that I do not trust this girl or the princess but their levels are below us... probably"

"Assuming is bad Michael, as for the thing about leveling up we will go to a dungeon in the nearby city"

"Wouldn't be easier to go to Techne or Nerodia?"

"..."

"..."

Both I and Reina stared at Michael as if he is a dumbass because he definitely make himself to be. I simply decide to flick his forehead.

"Ah! what was that for?"

"For being a dumbass, don't try to be a tough guy"

' Like really Techne? what the hell does he think he is '

Only suicidal people go to those types of people, Nerodia is a ruined kingdom known for driving people insane with an impossible prophecy, Techne has weird magical golems that somehow got better projectiles than everything we ever know

' This will be a long trip '

I sigh as we get the carriage ready to depart from here.