A light-filled room. With beautiful chandeliers and refined drawings all on the high walls. Many magicians stood around an engraving on the ground, a summoning circle. An old man looking as if he was close to the end of his days, sat on an elegant chair embroidered with beautiful red gems and an illustrious golden construction. Around him were adults and children who had a similar aura to him, many, many people with that distinct golden hair and red eyes. It was the gathering of a king’s family and his magicians.

The magicians’ chant started. It was of an ancient language, a language close to magic itself, with the ability to enhance a person’s magical spell. With the grand scale of this magic, the words were a must for success, not an option.

May the sky fall into ashes

He will hold it

May the ground rise up

He will level it

May the demons eat our hearts

He will give us his

May the gods loathe us

He will love us

From a dark corner away from the ritual, a young boy could only sigh and complain in his heart. 

What a disgusting chant. 

It was a chant filled with self-pity and a selfish desire for salvation. For someone like the boy, he could only have a desire to stop it. To go in right there and stop the ritual. But he was too late. The summoning had already begun.

If I were to stop it now, it could potentially blow the entire castle up.

It was a magic of that scale, of that caliber, where if one thing went wrong, the whole castle, and maybe the city could be wiped off from the map. And that’s why the details of the ritual were meant to be kept secret no matter what, especially away from people like this young boy who had every intention of stopping it. But due to the young boy’s mistake, he was late to the event causing it to become like this. There was nothing he could do but watch in silence with his eyes dyed in hue of blue.

The king could only look at the ritual in an unfazed state. He had that very little time left. At this point he could barely talk, the illness had progressed that far. His children on the other hand looked at the scene in awe, after all a once in a thousand years spectacle was occurring in front of them. The magicians’ chant was reaching the end. The magic spell was winding down. The glow of the magic circle’s light was changing.

White.

Red.

Blue.

Green.

Purple.

Orange. 

And then finally a rainbow colored came through signally ending the ritual. A flash of rainbow light shot into the sky signaling the start of a new era for the northern country of Liza. For the first time in a thousand years, a hero was brought into this world. 

In the center of the magic circle, there were three youths all wearing similar clothing. It was one boy, and two girls. Their clothes were well kept and much darker compared to Liza’s fashion. But the most surprising thing was that all of their hair was black as if they were from faraway countries in the East. Looking at the situation, the three were clearly in pure confusion.

It really worked… Ahh, what should I do?! Hey, are they really otherworlders? No this can’t be, right? But just look at them!  Those confused faces! It could be my imagination, right?

The young boy watching in the shadows could only try to face his inner turmoil with denial. Without anyone else aware of the young boy’s ordeal, a young man with beautifully long blonde hair greeted the three confused youths. 

“Welcome to our world! Please save us from the Demon Lord!”

Ahh, he really said it! Do you have no shame, Your Highness? Useless crown prince!

The three youths could only look at each other in confusion, not completely processing what the Prince had said. The three youths looked around as if they were trying to process the situation. They looked towards the magicians, who were all either laying on the ground fainted, or sitting up completely exhausted. And then the three looked towards the Prince finally trying to process his words. Finally, one of them spoke, a completely beautiful girl with long black hair.

“Is this what I think it is? An isekai?” Her question wasn’t particularly directed towards anyone, but the refreshingly black hair young boy beside her replied back with a playful smile.

“As expected of Shirane. Even in another world, an otaku at heart.” 

This time it was the other girl who spoke who had her hair in a side ponytail. Compared to Shirane’s elegance and beauty, she felt much more like a homely and cute type. 

“Yep, it’s Shirane-like. The other day when I went into her room, I found her playing an oto…”

“Shut up! You weren’t supposed to say anything Yuna-chan!” said the once elegant girl all red faced.

“Is it one of those? One of those dirty..,”

“Shut up! It’s not one of those. Don’t misunderstand, Haruki-kun!” She was really going to go over the edge at this point.

“Don’t worry, we’ll stop messing with you Shirane-senpai. But it can’t be helped, Shirane-senpai is too fun to play around with,” said the homely girl. And then the homely girl and the refreshing boy laughed together as if they forgot about the entire situation.

Hey what the hell is this? What’s with this rom-com development?

The young boy wasn’t the only one surprised at the scene. The tired magicians and the forgotten royal family could only look at the rom-com like scene in confusion as well.

“Umm, heroes?” said the prince.

“Sorry about that. What were you saying again?” This time it was the refreshing boy who spoke up. With a cough the prince spoke his lines once again.

“Welcome to our world. Please save our country from the Demon Lord. With your abilities, there is a way for our  country to be saved. I know it’s sudden, but please.” asked the prince, lowering his head. The silent king behind lowered his head as well signaling the royal family around him to lower their heads as well. Although some were clearly reluctant to, the three youths could not see that from their angle. 

“No, no, raise your heads.” quickly said the refreshing boy in confusion. The two others were of the same state of mind. 

“How are we supposed to defeat the demon lord? We are normal high school students.”

“With the hero summoning ritual, the status of “Hero” has been given to you three. Originally, there should have only one, but it looks like we accidentally summoned another two heroes as well causing a few of our magicians to faint from mana exhaustion.” said the prince while looking at the fainted magicians being taken care of the ones that could move. For the hero summoning, a minimum of ten highly skilled magicians were needed, however wanting to make sure it was a success the prince demanded that the amount be doubled. Twenty highly skilled magicians were gathered, but however since three heroes were summoned some of the magicians had completely fainted. 

“So, you guys do have power.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well a simple example would be that aren’t we talking right here understanding each other’s words, right now?”

“Could that mean?”  This time it was the elegant girl who spoke.

“Probably along the lines you are thinking of, the girl there. We can speak to each other, but I’m not hearing words in your language, I'm hearing it in Lizanian. And the same could be said for vice versa and for any language. That special language skill already shows that you three already have gained the status of a “Hero”. But it’s not just the language skill that the status of a “Hero” gives you…”

“Then…” 

“Yes, you are a smart one. As expected of a hero. With the status “Hero”, you gain magical and physical abilities beyond the realm of the average human. The ability to move mountains, bring rain, and even bring back the dead. Things along that line.”

What’s that strange shine in that elegant girl’s eyes? She reminds me of someone…

The young boy looking from afar could only look in worry at the no longer elegant girl’s gleam in her eyes.

“Shirane-senpai calm down. Let’s properly hear him out first before deciding anything.” said the homely girl.

Nice job! Reign her in. I remember! She’s like one of those weirdos! People who use magic, but don’t do anything remotely useful! 

“Yeah, I’m calm. Completely calm.”

Well that’s a lie. Just look at her hands. Magic is already building. Hey, somebody stop her! Hero class magic can’t be used lightly! If I knew this calamity was going to be brought into our world, I would have just taken the risk in the first place. At least only the castle would be gone, not the country!

“I see, then why can’t you guys do anything about this Demon Lord?”

Refreshing boy! Who cares about the Demon Lord! There’s one right next to you. Look! Hey, it’s really getting stronger! Am I the only one who sees this? Hey! Somebody stop this girl!

“You see, the demon lord and his army are simply too strong. Even if we outnumber them by a hundred times, the average demon is ten times stronger than the average human in physical and magical skill. They rampage through our lands taking our women and children hostage, and killing many of our men. Slowly, we have become unable to do anything. And when the demon lord finally revives in three years, it will be the end for us all. Only if Lord Regina could save us in these times of suffering and loss,”  said the prince with a sense of doom in his voice. 

“Then one more thing I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Is there a way for us to get home?”
“Yes…”

“Is there some kind of problem?” asked the girl with magic continuously building up in her hand.

There is a problem! Look, somebody look! Aren’t there some magicians here? Hey, hey, someone!

“You see there are some special requirements that need to be met for a reverse summoning ritual to be met.”

“What are the requirements?” asked the homely girl.

“One, you need a blessing from the Goddess Regina. However, that should be easy enough since you three are heroes. Two, you need the Demon Lord’s blood. Only with the Demon Lord’s blood spilled upon the magic circle acting as a catalyst, will the spell succeed. And then the final requirement would be the hardest one, one we still don’t completely understand, or that’s what at least we think and hope so.”

“What is it?” questioned the refreshing boy. The two girls beside him waited for the prince’s words.

“For the ritual, the help of a certain someone is needed, the Hero of Light.”

“Then shouldn’t we just be able to get their help then?” asked the homely girl with a questioning tone. The question made sense, it’s just that the Hero of Light…

“It’s impossible. After all… the Hero of Light, also known as the First Princess is long gone. She died a thousand years ago. So, it’s simply impossible,” stated the prince regretfully. He had searched for as many details and stories about the First Princess, but none of them led to the reverse summon ritual's actual fruition.

“Does that mean we can’t go back?” asked the homely girl with a slightly angry tone. The boy beside her was troubled, but he understood where she was coming from. And her friend, despite her happiness from earlier, calmed down from the previous conversation, finally seeing the reality in front of her. However, the boy in the shadows could only sigh in relief from a completely different matter.

Looks like we’re safe for today. Her magic is insane. Was she doing it unconsciously? As expected of a hero, what fearsome talent!

“Yes, it probably means that. We are really sorry.” The prince apologetically bowed his head again. 

As always a nice guy you are, useless prince. 

“How are we supposed to accept your apology like that!? How!? We have family too, you know! We aren’t heroes! We’re your everyday highschoolers! Why us… why….” The homely girl was crying, and the two beside her couldn’t decide if to support her position or to calm her down. Their only option was to attempt to comfort her. The no longer elegant girl held her friend’s body comforting her while the refreshing boy looked from afar worried. The two understood the feelings of the homely girl. They themselves had people who they cherished in their home world.

The prince, royal family, and the magicians could only watch the scene unfold. The prince was unable to say anything to comfort the girl, after all this mess was caused by his entire family’s incompetence. Even if they were the Liza royal family brimming with talent, it wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Demon Lord’s army. And with the other nations treating Liza as a sacrifice to weaken the Demon Lord’s army, they felt as if they had little choice left but to rely on “Heroes”. So, he did the only thing he could do as the crown prince.

“I’m sorry, can we postpone it here? Until your friend is able to talk with a calm mind, we’ll wait to talk to you again. We’ll also give you “Heroes” the best guest rooms available. I’m really sorry for everything.”

“Then we’ll do that,” said the refreshing boy. The no longer elegant girl gave a nod in agreement, and the homely girl didn’t say anything but with nothing but tears she couldn’t do much else but agree with a nod as well. 

Well that’s that.

And then the young boy disappeared into the moonlight.