After the middle aged American was kicked out, the teenage heroes had been somewhat depressed. They barely knew the man, but he’d been from the same world as them, and had been a kind, yet determined person. He was eager to learn, and that spurred the teens into following his example.
That he had been kicked out merely because he didn’t have the stats of a hero angered them. It also made them more wary, especially Yuuki. He hadn’t been close to the others beyond being classmates. Part of the reason was that the others had been friends for years and the other was that Yuuki was a very shy, and quiet person. He was also an otaku, so was somewhat looked down upon by his classmates.
Kunio’s group was not among those who dismissed or looked down on Yuuki. They were kind when their paths crossed, but didn’t seek him out.
Yuuki, being an otaku, loved games, anime, and other similar entertainment. He’d been the most excited, and scared, of the group that was summoned, having read many different light and web novels about such things.
This is also why his alertness was raised when the ‘useless’ member of the summoned peoples was removed from training. Their trainers and the castle staff had told them he’d just been given sufficient funds to make his way until he found a job, but Yuuki was suspicious.
He had enjoyed stories where the protagonist was thrown out, since it was more fun then them being controlled, but usually they were thrown into some place dangerous, or were secretly attacked and barely escaped with their life. Therefore, Yuuki thought that there was a possibility that the king might be evil, or at least not have their best interests at heart.
He warned his companions, but they didn’t believe him...until they were given the bracelets. He was almost punched when he grabbed Tsukiko’s hand to prevent her from putting it on.
“Stop, it’s a trap. Appraise it. These might have the stat boosts that they said, but they will also force us to obey them. We can’t trust them.”
Kunio had already put his on, but the others hadn’t. They thought Yuuki was overreacting, until they did as he asked. Finding that they were indeed slavery bracelets, they attempted to remove the one from Kunio’s wrist, but to no avail. They’d have to try and figure something out to remove it. The others were able to break the bracelets, which dispelled the enchantments, then repaired them enough to wear.
At this point they had been training in the palace for over two weeks. They learned with Count Gregory in the mornings, and Simon and David in the afternoons. They got one day off a week to use as they wished, but could not leave their wing of the castle. The last few days, Simon had been busy, darting out and only just making it back in time to teach them.
Then one day, midway through the week, Simon gave them some things. A book, and a letter. The book was one that they had heard of, but only Yuuki and Tsukiko had read. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Simon raised privacy barriers and told them that the items were from Ben, the sixth summoned person, and that he had left the city. He left the barriers active, but left them to read the letter in privacy.
The letter was written in Japanese, their native language, though the penmanship was atrocious. If it hadn’t been in Japanese, they’d have thought that it coming from Ben was a lie, but as they read it, they came to believe.
It started off with greetings, and saying he was fine and had become an adventurer. That there was an Adventurer’s Guild got Yuuki a little excited, but they made him calm down. It advised them to take full advantage of their trainers, learning everything they possibly could, as fast as they could.
It also said that at least one should learn enchanting, so that undesirable enchantments could be removed from gear, while beneficial ones added. With that, they knew that somehow Ben had been made aware of their problem.
What stunned them was that they had been summoned for selfish reasons, not because of an actual crisis. The demons were attacking the kingdom, but that was because the kingdom had stolen their land and forced them into a land that was nearly uninhabitable. There were all sorts of different races, but the Avenci kingdom’s leadership thought they were all trash, good for nothing but serving their betters. They viewed the heroes as the same, only good to be their slaves and win their war for them.
This information enraged them. They had been torn from their homes and families to be made into slaves. They also were unable to ever return to their homes. They wanted to force their way out of the quarters and make their kidnappers pay, but Yuuki was the one to stop them, advising that they should finish the letter and take some time to think before they acted.
The letter advised them to be very careful what they did, and to never make an oath to the gods that they could not escape from. Oaths were binding. Simon was a good person, but was bound by oaths keeping him from escaping himself. They could trust him to train them, but he was under oath to serve the kingdom’s leaders, so they should never trust him with secrets. David and Gregory’s trustworthiness was unknown, so they should learn what they could, and be cautious with them.
There was more advice and information, but it wasn’t as important as the earlier stuff. Now they had to decide what to do. The letter advised they take advantage of the kingdom, while not trusting them, so that’s what they did.
They trained.
Every day, they trained, raising levels, learning more skills, and raising those levels. They might have only been level ones, but two months after arrival, they were forces to be reckoned with. They’d been lucky that Simon was able and willing to train them in any magic they desired, because they were able to learn how to break the slavery spell on the bracelet.
The heroes and Simon did become close friends, or at least as close as they could without giving up any secrets that could hurt them. Simon quite enjoyed the book Ben had given them, and wanted to learn more about the stories of their world. Yuuki was glad to talk with another of his kind.
Their training came to a plateau that could not be overcome with their current regimen, so they were taken to a dungeon. Avenci Kingdom had three dungeons. One was in the northwest and was a pain to reach in the winter. One was to the south, where Ben had gone. The third was known by only a few outside the military. It was at a fort three days east of the capital, and was nearly entirely managed by the military.
This is where the heroes were taken for their live combat training. They had high skills, thanks to their teachers and the boosts from their title, so they learned quickly how to kill. Having come from a very peaceful world, they did have some issues with killing at first, but overcame it. As a side note, Ben might have been from the same world, but he was from a different culture, and had much less aversion to killing, being unbothered by the act, at least as far as monsters were concerned. Even humanoid ones. His trouble was the dismantling, but he overcame that.
They trained and raised their levels. They stayed and trained at the dungeon for a month. They were given reward money for the loot dropped, but had they taken it to a merchant or the adventurer’s guild, they’d have made three or more times as much, but they didn’t know that. Before the month was finished, they had reached strength surpassing most in the kingdom’s military. The only people stronger were high class adventurers and a the commanders of the army.
Three months after they came to this world, they were summoned back to the palace. Called before the king, he inspected them, then gave them the order to obey one of his generals and wipe out the demons. They acted like they would obey, and left the audience chamber.
That night, they planned their escape.
The next day, the Heroes were announced to the world, and they were given a parade as they left the city with an army, headed east, to destroy the demons. They would never arrive.
The first night outside the city, they memorized the guard patterns. They were very thorough, but there were always flaws. The second evening, Tsukiko poisoned the army’s food. They’d acquired the poison in the dungeon, but only turned in a portion of it. That night the camp was plagued by moans and calls for medicine and help.
Sadly for them, the healers were also poisoned, and with a worse type. They barely managed to keep themselves alive, so they could only heal a few. With so many out of commission, the heroes made a mess of their tent, spilling bottles of blood to make it seem they had been killed in their sleep, disguised themselves as soldiers, and fled into the night.
The next morning, the army was unable to move. At first, they thought nothing of the heroes not leaving their tent, but as the sun rose, they were checked on. Finding the blood-soaked bedding, the army morale plummeted, as all hope for victory was lost. They believed the poisoning to be the work of demons so they could assassinate the heroes.
The fact that the bodies of the heroes went missing led to confusion, but most believed they were no longer alive. A few thought otherwise. When Simon heard the news, he made sure to express his grief for his lost friends, but inside, he believed they had escaped, and would be able to live freely. He wished them well.
The heroes did as Ben had, fleeing south. They went wide of any city, as their appearance was very different from the people of the country, and their likenesses as the heroes had been spread wide since their departure.
Fortunately, they had stockpiled food and necessities in their item boxes, so they had no need to stop. Eventually, they came to a great river, the river that was the border between Avenci and Edyria. The river was deep in a ravine, and very wide, so it took them days to find a way across. All the while, they had to evade border patrols.
Four days after reaching the river, they found what they were looking for, and something they had not. They found a rope bridge across the river, it was accessed by a path down the side of the ravine. The problem was how they found it.
They’d read what the letter said about how this country viewed non-humans as good only to serve, but were still surprised when they came upon the camp of a group of slavers smuggling non-human slaves into Avenci.
The teens quickly subdued the slavers, leaving them alive due to still having an aversion to taking sentient lives. Tsukiko was the least against killing, having seen much more of the darker side of humanity during her training. She’d used her skills to gather information, and had found things she had refused to share with the others.
Using her skills, Tsukiko interrogated the slavers, finding out where the crossing was, and why they had to smuggle the slaves instead of crossing legally. They were illegal slaves, so the slavers could not pass through a legal checkpoint without being arrested. They were hired by the nobles of the kingdom to kidnap and bring them slaves.
Tsukiko sent the others ahead to the crossing, telling them to make their way across with the former prisoners. She followed behind a minute later, wiping her blades clean of the blood of those who got far cleaner deaths than they deserved. Had they lived, they might have told of meeting the heroes, as well as continued committing the same evil deeds. So she ended their lives.
The others knew what she had done, but other than Yuuki, they could not look her in the eye. Yuuki stayed with her, supporting her. They had grown closer during their time in this world. While they had not crossed the line to becoming lovers, they had become a couple, leaving Masato as the odd man out as far as romance went, which had led to some teasing from his friends.
Tsukiko was grateful for Yuuki’s support, giving him a hug, which left him beet red. They might be a couple, but they were from a culture where it was considered embarrassing to express feelings for those you cared for. Also, Yuuki was an otaku, and so was very new to relationships.
With their new companions, the heroes made their way into Edyria, finally coming to a city three days after the crossing. The people they’d freed had been delivered to safety, and the illegal border crossing location was revealed. Guards were dispatched to stake out the site, hoping to catch someone who could be ‘persuaded’ to help them break up the criminal organization behind the kidnappings.
However, there was still the matter of the heroes having crossed into the country illegally. Some of the guards wanted to let them go, and were begged to do so by the rescued people, but the captain was someone who followed the law. Without a good reason, they would be tried and sentenced for their crime.
Tsukiko asked that they be allowed to give their testimony only to the captain, saying that it was a delicate situation. The captain knew they could likely kill them all and escape if they wanted, so decided to allow it. In his office, their tale was told. The captain refused to believe it, until they showed their ID cards, and the title that they all carried.
Given that they had been kidnapped and were almost enslaved by the Avenci Kingdom, the captain let them go, removing their status as criminals for entering the country illegally (Which he had added to begin with when he’d arrested them). He warned them that he’d have to pass the information onto his nation’s leaders, but he would not hold them there. He knew his own king and the nobles would seek to try and control the heroes, so advised them to hide themselves among the adventurers, change their looks and hair color, and to pretend to be far less powerful than they actually were.
They thanked him, and left. Following his advice, they sought out dyes and clothing and weapons that would not be out of place on beginning adventurers, then signed up as the guild in a small town. The town was barely big enough to be called a town, but it was away from the main roads, an unlikely place to find anyone powerful.
They settled in, waiting for the heat to die down and getting used to their new world. They’d been very sheltered while under the ‘care’ of the Avenci Kingdom, and hadn’t been taught many things they’d need to know in order to survive on their own.
