The guards separated us into two groups, to the left where I was, and to the right of the court. I was separated from the other three and I was in a different group. It was then that the king walked down through the middle on the carpet and approached me, he whispered “How unfortunate. To think you’re one of the ‘duds’.”

Out of the twenty-five of us or so, ten of us were on the side of ‘duds’, while the remaining fifteen were on the right. The king then shouted to everyone “Those of you to my left are from now on ‘carriers’! Those of you to my right are the real heroes who will save us!”

Amy then asked, “What’s the difference between them and us?” 

The king took a moment and then answered, “They have [Skills] that are worthless.”

Amy quickly asked, “What’s your criteria for that judgment?” The king looked a bit infuriated at the fact that she’d question him, but nonetheless he answered, “The skills that they have were determined to be worthless within our world due to their applications either being outdated or not being in line with our needs.”

Amy stopped asking questions. The king then annoyedly asked, “Any other questions?” But everyone understood that he wasn’t actually asking. Anyone could see how pissed he looked. I guess he hates his authority being undermined. 

I decided that it’s time to earn his favor, “Your majesty, I apologize, however I must know, what are my duties as a carrier?” I could already tell that he was satisfied with me being formal with him. He then patted my shoulders and answered, “You just have to carry things for the heroes, I doubt that it’d be a hard task for you! Hahaha!”

‘Doubt it’, my ass. Though the people in my group looked visibly relieved, they seemed to be stressed out thinking about what we the ‘Duds’ have to do. I know full well he’s letting on less than what the real situation is. Being a carrier is probably synonymous with being a slave here, seeing as how we’re in a medieval period. If I’m even a quarter-right with my assumptions, then we, the ‘Duds’, will have a fucking hard time. It’s not going to be easy here, is it?

The king then went back to his seat, while the man in the robe shouted, “The maids will guide you to your rooms! You’re all dismissed!”

They’re already treating us as soldiers, huh? I know how badly some people would want something like this: ‘A Level Up System’, ‘Another World’, ‘Fantasy Creatures’, etc. etc.

But I know that this world isn’t going to be any easier. So what if you have a level-up system? You’re still going to have to put in the work. So what if you’re in a fantasy world? You’re still the same person you were before. So what if there are fantasy creatures? You’ll probably brutally die at their hands.

People take for granted the inventions made in our era. For example:

• Medicine: Without developments in healthcare, child mortality would still be an issue, and no doubt it’s most likely an issue in this underdeveloped world.
• Communication: Due to our immense advancements in information and information transfer, we can do things that were taught to be impossible.

Just simple things such as that are now gone. What in our world was considered common is considered a miracle here. Poverty and Starvation are most likely common here. The core underlying issues of society won’t disappear just because we’re in a different world. It’s probably worse. Nonetheless, we’ll have to live here for the foreseeable future. If I’m being honest, I don’t really care about anyone else other than those three. Hell, if the others die, I couldn’t care less. 

Anyway, after we left the court, still separated, we were guided to our rooms. Our names were noted on a register with which room we were in, along with the pages we wrote that were attached to our profiles. They probably want to keep track of what we’re doing at all times. Afterall even if we’re supposed to be ‘Heroes’, we’re still people who they don’t trust.

After what felt like a long day, I slept immediately upon the bed in our room. It was a shared room between four people. I shared my room with three other people, but they didn’t seem to talk at all. They seemed like they still couldn’t understand what was going on, there was another person though who constantly kept mumbling about how it was like he was in one of the stories he’d read. 

I calmly closed my eyes and just thought about everything. I was curious if I was still calm because of the skill I had, so I slowly whispered ‘[Status].’ And I looked at the ‘[Skill Stats]’, specifically the stress: It was at 50/100. It seemed to have increased by five points.

And then I looked at the roof wondering if this was just a long nightmare, but it seemed that this was indeed reality. I wondered what would happen tomorrow and then closed my eyes.