The void...

Accept the void, Ishida Gojo.

The first thing I felt upon regaining consciousness was excruciating pain over my body. It felt like I had been squeezed into a hydraulic machine to be expelled like filthy waste.

But when I forced myself to open my eyes, I found myself sitting in a marble palace. There were pillars of the same material supporting flags with strange drawings and symbols. On the walls, there were works of art behind stone statues of apparently historical figures. However, the most striking thing fell on the stairs that led to the throne.

For starters, there were two guards in full body armor guarding the base of the steps with spears. Alongside, I could see two hooded figures in black robes.

“Y-your dearest majesty, we've done it! It really was a success!” said one of the hooded figures.

But before I could see the one they called "your majesty" I could feel something in the grip of my hand. When I lowered my head, there was a dagger. I tried to separate my fingers, loosening my grip to release the weapon I didn't remember picking up; however...

<Why can't I take it off?>

I couldn't take the dagger off my touch.

“This place evokes an old-fashioned air. I would be inclined to suggest the European Medieval Age.”

“Assumptions ahead of time? I don't even know you, but I can already tell what kind of guy you are.”

“I say that it is not sensible to jump to conclusions ahead of time. While doing so doesn't add or subtract, it would only confuse us more than we already are.”

“This... This can't be true. I-I, I have been transported to another world! This is an Isekai!!”

When I heard the voices behind me, I turned around to find four teenage guys already on their feet. Each of them seemed to have a distinctive weapon, but without even being able to analyze the reason for their carelessness and naturalness when speaking in such a situation, I was interrupted again.

“Blessed and Consecrated Holy Heroes! Please, help save our world!”

I stood up, carefully observing the owner of that comment. He was a guy of perhaps fifty years old, his attire was similar to that of the two hooded figures, only he was wearing a dark purple tunic, with gold embroidery and a chain with a silver star around his neck.

“I know that my sudden request is capable of confusing you even more, but even if my disrespect is excessive, I want you to understand that we are running out of time. The Kingdom of Avaloria is suffering a calamity at the hands of the Demon King Darkheart. Darkheart has opened a rift in our region, and a large number of demons have invaded our lands. Although our armies have managed to repel the first wave, I'm afraid that even with the help of the country's adventurers we won't be able to repel a second wave...”

But my ears did not hear the voice of a simple spokesman, so I raised my dagger and pointed at the man on the throne.

When I did, his face twisted in disgust.

“What do you have to tell us?” I asked, without lowering the tip of my dagger.

Suddenly, one of the guards lowered his spear in my direction and growled:

“Change your tune, commoner! To speak with such informality before your blessed master?! Do you want to die?!”

”You'd better watch your words, slave,” said the guy holding a sword with an emerald in the center of the handle. “If the murmurs of that common are true, it seems that we are a more than important piece in the scheme of his problems.”

I glanced at the Hero of the Sword, he gave me a knowing look back.

”Quiet, guard! My name is Xylothorius Caelumbrax VII, the hereditary ruler of Avaloria,” the self-proclaimed king said. “Do not think that the task assigned to you will not be paid. Save my kingdom and its people, and I assure you that your rewards will be more than fair.”

“I do not trust the promises of a man with a golden crown,” said the Hero who held a Bow. “It seems you like to flaunt your excesses, Caelumbrax VII. Why don't you tell us about the state of your beloved kingdom? Do you have a connection with them? They have been notified of the arrival of the "heroes"?”

<Why have you decided to display your power in our presence? Don't you know the disrespect that such an action represents?>

One could argue that the king was seeking to impose a display of the purchasing power he possessed, perhaps thus giving a good first impression to the invoked heroes by saying: "See? I have economic power to shine any of your greed."

Of course, this would only work with simple-minded and conformist peasants and commoners, men and women who, because they have lived in poverty for years and have never enjoyed the privilege and calm that money offers, would be blinded by their desires. Naturally, King Caelumbrax VII was used to dealing with that kind of people, because his people were destitute and since he was aware of this, it was thought that the Summoned Heroes would have the same needs.

However, the Hero of the Bow seemed to have deduced all of this just by looking at the king's golden crown…

What kind of teenagers surrounded me?

“I can't believe I've been summoned to another world! I can't contain my excitement, this is amazing! I have also been summoned as one of the heroes and we will have to fight the Demon King!” 

<Ah, yes... We also have him...>

I watched out of the corner of my eye as the guards' hands trembled and I could read the spokesman's eyes. They told me that this development of events was not what he expected...

The king spoke once more, but he seemed to be able to contain his fury and rejection.

“I am a partner in his insecurities, Heroes… However, I am afraid that unless you defeat the Darkheart Demon King and rid my lands of his threats, you will not be able to return to your world.”

“And why is that, dearest Caelumbrax VII?” I asked, asserting my full authority.

Caelumbrax VII smiled.

“Because only in the realm of darkness under Darkheart's control is the blueprint for the spell that will return all of you to your world.”

When he finished saying that, the five of us could see how the corners of the king's lips turned up with pleasure. And when he licked his lips, he seemed to savor the undisputed victory over us, the checkmate on the chessboard he had rigged before the game began. The king thought that in this way, we would be forced to defeat the Demon King, which would give him full control over our lives and which would ensure the safety of his territories and prolong his position as absolute ruler.

”Obviously, I have enough mercy to finance and cover the expenses of his travels. Because it is completely natural that you, young inexperienced people, know absolutely nothing about war, combat or death. Therefore, I considered that all of you need a journey through the lands of this world to improve your combat skills and acclimatize your innocent minds.”

I couldn't help but smile at the tone of the Hero's voice who was holding the Wand.

“Really. I can't help but feel a sense of selfishness and pettiness about all of this. I mean, to be able to observe with my mortal eyes and hear with my indisputable disbelief, the voice of absolute reason of a king in person? How can I be worthy?”

Caelumbrax VII narrowed his eyes at what he said. His lip tugged to the left and his brows furrowed. He looked disgusted at him.

“If you really want to demonstrate your dignity, serve your purpose with grace and vocation; just like you four. This is not a deal that benefits one party, it is a partnership that brings rewards to both sides. Not just one wins, we all win...”

“Yes... I don't like it when there are many winners. What do you say, Hero of the Bow?” I asked, stroking my chin.

“Meh, I feel that the game loses its fun. I can't taste the pleasure of my earnings if I know I must share it with others.” The Hero of the Bow replied, stretching out his arms.

“I think the same,” said the Hero of the Sword. “This is a task of danger and adversity, however, will I have to celebrate the victory of my battles to come and the achievements that I have achieved on my own and my effort with people who have done nothing to contribute to the cause other than give orders from a throne of a decaying kingdom? Yeah, I don't think it suits me... What do you think, Hero of the Wand?”

The Hero of the Wand yawned in boredom.

“The rudeness with which you have described the plight of these lands in charge of the heir ruler Caelumbrax VII seems inappropriate and disrespectful to me, considering that the vixens who follow his orders like used whores unpaid by their client are present. But yeah, I don't want this geezer with one foot in the grave ordering me around. That goes for all of you though...”

The Hero holding the Spear looked with anticipation, it seemed that he was looking for the owner of the voice who would ask him what he thought on the matter. But since the three heroes hadn't even noticed his presence, the obligation fell on me.

“And you, young Hero of the Spear? What are you going to do?”

The Spear Hero put his hands on his waist and a thoughtful expression, “I think I'll be a villain. Yeah. I mean, the idea of ​​being a hero and defeating the demon king is very cliché in isekai stories. So I will be a villain of darkness.”

Just by saying such a thing the young Hero of the Spear earned the gazes of the other heroes. A complicated look.

Although the naturalness of the situation was humorous to some extent, I could totally understand the swollen vein on the king's forehead.

“T-This… This… THIS IS CRAZY, MADNESS!!!! Why don't you simple trash revere and respect me as the authority that I am?!! Aren't you afraid of the punishment you will suffer?!! Yes... I know what to do. Each of you will be subjected to wearing control collars. You will never leave this world and your souls will be forever bound to the Great Kingdom of Avaloria. Their only purpose will be to serve the coming generations as weapons for wars, faulty tools!”

Sigh.

“You still don't get it, his Highness?” I said, tired. “This is a coup d'état.”

“What is this?” King Caelumbrax VII wondered. His tone of voice wasting uncertainty.

“I can't believe we've gone so far as to even need to explain to him what a coup is.” The tone in the Hero of the Sword's voice was wry, but his gaze regarded the finished man on the throne with cold disdain.

“Let's see, grandpa,” said the Hero of the Bow. “A coup is to take control of a country..."

The Hero of the Wand interrupted, “In this case, a kingdom.”

“Illegally or unconstitutionally, for the purpose of overthrowing the current government.” Finished the Hero of the Sword.

I started walking in the direction of the throne, measuring the guards and the two hooded men in the distance. As I did so, I said: “Coups often occur when the group seeking power considers the current government to be illegitimate, corrupt, authoritarian, or simply, inefficient.”

“Do you... doubt my inheritance?” asked the incredulous king.

When I reached the steps, I put one foot on the first one and dropped to my knee. So when I raised my head, I took a closer look at him. Penetrating into his eyes.

“We don't care about your heritage. We don't care about your family. We don't care about your lineage. Your physical, emotional and material value is so miserably low, I wouldn't hesitate to throw you among commoners, because your simplicity and similarity with them is so great that you are indistinguishable. Caelumbrax, you are the most incompetent king I have ever heard of. You are a complete fraud. It is an insult to the honorable title of ruler to consider you, a basofia personified, a king."

“But don't worry,” the Hero of the Sword said, stepping beside me, “we are here to restore glory to what was once surely a prosperous and perhaps even feared kingdom.”

“But to do so,” the Hero of the Wand muttered, “we first need you to remove that crown and kneel before us to beg for forgiveness and mercy. Maybe that's how I considered not enslaving you and handing over your putrid calamity of a body to some prisoner with urgent sexual needs.”

King Caelumbrax had lowered his head, touching his chest with his chin. A dark shadow was created under his gaze. So, he spoke to us.

“Never in my forty-five years ruling this kingdom have I been verbally insulted by anyone. For more than two hundred years, no one has sinned with an improper word in this sacred chamber occupied by my ancestors,” the king's hands resting on the sides of his throne trembled. “Yet today, those whom I have summoned through prophecy in the belief that they would save my lands and resurrect the legacy of my bloodline, have committed each and every one of those sins. I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll get rid of Darkheart somehow. For now, I want to see the heads of the five of you on a stake. I want your blood to drip down that stake and I want to drink that blood from a cup made from the skull of each one of you. I am going to tear your very bodies to pieces with these pure hands and I will give my dogs the heart of each one of you. Guards, kill them all.”

“Guards... No,” I corrected myself, “men, look at the scene before you with impartial eyes. See your lives as investments; Would you rather stay with Caelumbrax in a kingdom in decline, with people who hate you because you defend the man who keeps you miserable rather than side with the kingdom, or would you rather ally with young people with revolutionary minds who will create an economy malleable and prosperous?”

“Do you want to invest your lives in something bottomless, without solid foundations, without a future? Or do you prefer to take the path of good sense by our side and serve as free men?” asked the Hero of the Sword.

"Guards, don't listen to them, just kill them!” the king snarled, hitting the edges of his throne.

“You guard this, you guard that,” the Hero of the Bow muttered. “Aren't you tired of being treated like disposable tools? Don't you have ambitions, dreams, desires?”

"I-I... I want to open a vegetable store..." whispered the guard on the right, taking off his helmet.

“A smithy. I want to have a smithy, get married and have my son work with me…” said the guard on the left.

“Then, if we are enslaved, the king will only look after his selfish interests and that of the nobles who are useful to him. Just think of the lives of your families. What do you think will happen when the armies run out of resources due to Caelumbrax's strategic incompetence?”

“There will be a rebellion,” the Hero of the Wand said. “Soldiers filled with rage at feeling betrayed and used will take up arms and aim at the kingdom of Avaloria. But the action that the nobles will recommend to the ignorant Caelumbrax will be that he, through a martial order, mobilize every commoner and peasant from the villages in the territory of Avaloria. Do you think your families will be safe from being recruited by those orders? Worse yet, when they refuse, what do they think those sent to recruit them will do? There will be rapes, robberies, murders, torment… for their brothers, their sisters, their mothers and their fathers.”

“I said SILENCE! GUARDS, DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE SNAKES' TONGUES OF THESE SCAMLESS SCUM!!”

I ignored the angry king's voice and said once more, feeling that they still didn't look convinced:

“Just think of the soldiers who felt used. Think of the hate and anger within them.… Imagine the things those monsters wrought by the king's arrogance and pride will do to your families.”

“Choose with your hearts, not with your minds. Because the rational sense is sometimes evil and is poisoned by the customs of others..." said the Hero of the Sword, looking at Caelumbrax as he said that.

“My brothers,” I said, “you are free men before my presence, and therefore, you can choose freely; continue by the side of the decrepit old man or receive my warm embrace and walk towards a prosperous future hand in hand with the Heroes of the Prophecy.”

Even the king was looking forward to the response from the two guards. Something that by the way, came in a curious way.

“Ugh...”

The guard on the right had driven the point of his spear into the stomach of the hooded figure next to him.

“STOP!”

Hearing this shout, I turned to see the guard on the right stabbing the neck of the hooded figure next to him.

When the attack was over, both guards stared at me. Then, they took off their helmets and tore off the emblem of decoration on their hearts.

“They have chosen the path that their hearts have dictated. Although my promise has not yet been fulfilled..."

When my eyes fell on Caelumbrax, the old man jumped on his throne.

”You have no right!” he yelled, almost crying with rage, fear and anguish. “My ancestors have worked for me to be on this throne! This crown was placed on me thanks to my blood! I AM LORD CAELUMBRAX VII, RULER BY RIGHT OF THESE LANDS!”

“Brothers, bring him before us." Said the Hero of the Bow. It seemed that he too had already understood the farce that I had concocted, and he was following the role that I had given him.

”Let me go! Get away from me, you filthy beasts! Release me right now!”

As the old man yelled, my two new guards pushed him to our feet.

At that time, I bent down and patted the king's clothes. The fabric was exquisite, too well processed and woven to be said to have been made in the Middle Ages...

When I realized it, Caelumbrax was looking at me with hollow eyes and devoid of hope.

<He lost his sense of fighting so quickly? Or is he just pretending? Well, it doesn't matter at this point.>

“Hero of the Spear, come here,” I said, not taking my eyes off Caelumbrax. “Hmm?” But when I noticed that who I had called was not answering my call, I turned around and met his anxious eyes.

The other heroes also noticed this.

“What happened to that conviction from moments ago?” The Sword Hero asked.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be a villain, that being a hero was too cliché in your view?" said the Hero of the Bow.

“Oh, I see…” The Hero of the Wand approached him, at which point, it began to circle around him like a hungry hyena relishing a helpless cub. “That shit about being a villain, it was just stupid at the time, right? I already know why. You're one of those 'edgys', aren't you?”

”Edgy?" I asked, approaching them and leaving Caelumbrax behind.

“I guess it's normal that someone like you doesn't know that. An edgy is a type of person who believes he is rebellious, who defies pre-established norms. He is a transgressor who surrounds himself with black humor and misused sarcasm. He believes that seeing a person being mutilated is interesting and makes him 'cold' because it doesn't cause rejection, he believes that animal abuse is fun, because it doesn't evoke sad emotions.”

“Ah, I get it,” the Hero of the Bow said. “In this case, this boy said he wanted to be a villain because in his head the idea of ​​tormenting others is something that makes him different from the norm, right?”

“How disgusting,” the Sword Hero's disgust-filled eyes mirrored the Spear Hero's puzzled and dazed gaze. "Considering the death of others as something simple and believing that life is expendable... And to think that this 'thing' was summoned along with us...”

I could see that my main idea could be ruined by the rejection that the other heroes were causing towards the Hero of the Spear, thus, I was once again forced to side with him.

"Okay, everyone, calm down. He's probably a young guy, and while none of us have gone through a stage similar to him, we've all gone through some stage. Whoever has not committed sins in his life should cast the first stone, right?”

Instantly, the three heroes realized that I had a plan on my hands; otherwise, it was impossible to explain the change in attitude they had...

“Yes, it's correct. I think I was too rough and direct with you. I'm sorry, friend."

“Sometimes my love for animals makes my switch go on and say ridiculous and pathetic things. I am not going to lie to you saying that it was not my intention to tell you all that, but I really regret drawing conclusions ahead of time without knowing what you have been able to experience in your life. I'm sorry, really."

“I'm not the kind of person who apologizes after saying or doing something. So don't expect that from me. However, I am able to see my mistakes and admit my shortcomings. I have been too blind to my anger as a teenager, getting carried away and perhaps jumping to conclusions like everyone else. But as the Dagger Hero has said, we are human and we all make mistakes.”

After the loving reconciliation, I could see a hint of recognition in the eyes of the boy with the spear. So, I moved my pawn.

“To show that everyone regrets the things they said to you, I'm sure they'll agree to let you take the life of the tyrannical old man before us.”

At that moment, the three heroes smiled and even patted the Spear Hero with encouragement.

“I wanted to do it by my hand,” the Hero of the Wand said, apparently annoyed, “but I want to undo my only fault so far. I'll leave it all to you, friend.”

“From the moment I saw this old man's eyes, I could feel the contempt he had for our lives,” the Hero of the Bow clenched his fists and knitted his brows. “From that very moment, I have not stopped thinking about how I would kill him. But after treating you so badly and saying such inconsiderate things to you, I think the least I can do is give you this."

“It seems we all share the same emotion, that shows our natural union, Heroes,” the Hero of the Sword said. “I was also contemplating how I could satisfy my craving for the hatred that this thing called Caelumbrax had made me feel. But if I took his life, I would not be different from him, since I would fall into the miserable circle of selfishness. And I can't be selfish, not with you, Hero of the Spear……”

Apparently, each of the three of them had understood me perfectly.

It was obvious that I knew what an edgy was. But the Hero of the Spear was the very personification of human modernism. All that garbage that the internet induced to the poor minds of young people ended up affecting them in one way or another. The Hero of the Spear was nothing more than a useless introvert who had probably never talked to a girl and was afraid to ask for the order in the restaurant. He was probably an otaku who was locked in his room reading manga, web novels and watching anime.

In short, he was a coward.

And if you leave a coward with no choice but a path, he will look like a rat for a hole through which to escape.

That's why we treated him like crap first. We made him feel guilty, we showed him that he could be left out of our group if he was himself and showed us his true self; but when he saw the rejection he caused us, he deeply repented and began to look for a way to mend the bad image that had been formed about him before us.

But now we gave him a way to fix that image, we made him believe that killing the king was something we all wanted, killing the king was what would really get him out of that bottomless hole. Now, whether he killed someone in his life or not, the Hero of the Spear simply couldn't say no to our request.

Because above all the plan that I had devised along with the three heroes, he was simply a coward.