Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! Didn't this get way more serious or something? Like, the tone of the room just completely shifted! Come on, Ashin, why'd you have to go all serious on us?
"Oh? Your Grandfather... ah, so you're the one. It makes sense, you are the grandson of Eathin Dest, the former general. What a coincidence meeting you here. I owe great gratitude to your grandfather... it was truly a shame what happened to the man." The king replied.
Eh? Wait, so, Ashin's grandfather was the general of Draila? Seriously? Wouldn't the role of general be super important or something? Going by what I know, he would have been the military leader and everything... and, then Ashin is the grandson of this guy? This is getting super convoluted.
"Yeah... ten years ago, his body was sent back to my village. We never got an explanation of how he died, only that it was in battle." Ashin went on.
"Hm, yes. Perhaps it is my fault you didn't receive a better explanation. The former general... how do I put it, was assassinated."
"What?! But, we were told that he was killed in battle! Please tell me who did it!" Ashin seemed especially surprised by this, taking a step forward towards the king.
In response to this, the knights took out their weapons. In an instant, two halberd-type weapons were in front of Ashin, stopping him from proceeding forward.
"Do not take one more step, you insolent--" The one probably named Fierce or something spoke again.
The king held up his hand a bit, "As I said before, do not treat them in this harsh way. They deserve my and all of your respects."
The knights and such lowered their weapons, retreating back to their former locations without missing a beat.
Oh geez, so the former general was assassinated then? That's some pretty intense stuff... dang, I'm sorta curious about this all now. Makes me wonder.
"Ah-- I'm sorry." Ashin gulped, apologizing as you can see.
"No, no, do not worry. Now, the current topic... as of now, even with the information gathering methods I have at my disposal, I have yet to figure out exactly who it was that killed Sir Eathin, it seems the culprit or culprits have extensive connections, ones which make them almost impossible to track down. I've expended numerous resources, but to no avail." The king thought to himself for a moment, "If it is revenge that you desire, I cannot blame you. However, I warn you, treading down this path of vengeance will only lead you to pain. And once you have finally fulfilled your self-imposed duty, you will only feel emptiness."
Whoa, wise words... I guess getting to be that old leaves you with some wisdom or two to hand down.
Okay, so, Ashin has this want to fulfil vengeance for his grandfather. That's why he wanted to win? To get more information on how to find the one who killed him...
"Huh...? oh--" Ashin seemed to not fully understand all of his words, I'm not exactly surprised... "Right, thank you!"
Ashin's smile returned, even if he hadn't gained any more information.
"Hm. That is all of you, then? Well, that means it is time..." The king looked to the left, the location of a peculiar door, "Let them in."
One of the knights opened the door... and there came out the three we fought in the battle before. Then, this taller-looking guy with somewhat short black hair and a small scar under his extremely dark blue eyes... oh, hey, I think I've seen that guy before! Yeah, he was the guy who gave me the gold for that bandit guy I captured! Eh... I don't think I know his name. Oh, wait, I can just use appraisal on him! I should do that on the king, too...
{Appraisal Failure.}
{Apprisal Blocked}
Huh? Wait, Appraisal didn't work. That's a first...
"Oh, hey! It's you guys! Who would have thought we would see each other again here! I saw how you guys won from the waiting room, it was amazing!" One of the three we fought immediately went up to Ashin and Theca... he's the one they fought, huh? Damn, he's super buff... I'm not jealous or anything, I mean, I'm perfectly content in my amazing body! I mean, I can change it and stuff! With Body Manipulation, I could look like that too... totally.
"Hm? Ah, not all of them came... what a shame. I invited two others to come, yet they're not here. Strange, however, this will have to do." The king took in a deep breath, "I implore you all to listen. This is a matter of fundamental significance."
Oh, this really must be important if he's using those big words... the three we fought stood by us, while the tall knight guy was on the other side.
"Now, these three are heroes."
... what?
Wait, what?! Hey, hey! Isn't that some super cliche trope stuff? Like, you can't just spring that on me all of a sudden! Well, yeah, I guess that guy had the hero class, but he referred to all of them as heroes! So, we beat three heroes? Damn... I'm pretty strong. I mean, we, we are pretty strong, as a group.
"Heroes, seriously? I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but they don't look anything like heroes! I mean, in the old fairy tales my mom would read me when I was a little kid, the Hero of Light, you know, the first hero, wore this amazing armour full clad in white! With this super cool white hair, too! These guys... uh, well, don't really look the part..." Ashin indeed did interrupt, blurting out all this stuff... what even is a hero of light.
The tall muscular one looked sorta ticked off, but the others didn't seem to care.
"Oh, fairy tales are just that, tales. 'Hero' is a broad term, young Ashin, and these three fit under the definition... moving on, I'll get to the point. My kingdom is in danger.
"Danger...?" Quenilla muttered to herself, confused. I gotta say, I'm just as confused as her.
"The Demon Nation of Halega... the demon prince is planning to usurp the throne from his father, and then plans to attack us first, as we are the closest nation to them. However, we are separated by ranges of mountains as you should know, which will buy us some time..."
Oh.
Okay.
What.
No, wait, seriously, what? This is getting really serious! I haven't even been in this world for that long, and now all this stuff is going down? Come on! This is insane!
"No... impossible..." Exactly what I was thinking, Theca! I mean, of course, they would be surprised by this, they're a demon.
The five of us seemed to be the only ones really phased by this, I guess everyone else already knew...
"I understand it is a lot to take in, but do believe me. It may have been selfish for me to have done, but this is why I summoned the heroes you see now." The king went silent for a moment before continuing, "this tournament... its true purpose is to find strong people to help defend this kingdom, you all."
The king stood up... geez, he's sorta imposing when not sitting down, "Now, I ask you all, are you willing to fight for this nation when the time comes? You of vast talent, victors of one category of the tournament, are you willing to defend this kingdom? Please, do not feel pressured to say yes... indeed, I'll give you all three days to come up with an answer."
Okay... what? Now we're supposed to help defend Draila from this demon prince guy? This is super complicated... and sort of scary. I mean, perhaps it's a good chance to get stronger...
Hm... ugh, this is weird. Honestly, I haven't even fully adapted to this world. Mentally, I mean... with that, my mentality is sorta changing, and seeing myself act in ways I wouldn't before is really... weird.
"Ah, yes, Royce, my Knight Commander," The king looked over at the guy with the scar, smiling, "you might still be confused on why you're here... well, you seem to have an interest in looking into things you aren't supposed to, so why don't you help me? As in... by training these heroes?"
The guy I guess is called Royce flinched, swallowed, and then responded, "yes, your majesty."
"Fantastic. I'm sure this will be a good learning experience for all of you. Now, you victors of the tournament, you are free to go. Please, do think about what I asked of you... heroes, I implore you to stay, I need to have a word with all of you."
Damn it... I can tell. From now on, things are going to start to become way more stressful.
[Chapter 47, end.]