"W-what?" Emma managed to utter in response. She was rather slow to realize that Michael, as a bird was messing around with her, considering his tone of voice.
He was also insulting her intelligence to an extent.
The reason was simple. She had wandered away from the safety and comfort of others when she was just a defenseless teenager in a world completely alien to her. Or had she forgotten that she could not use magic anymore?
Emma was no longer a Cleric. Not in this world unless Michael had allowed it.
Michael wasn't going to allow a bunch of teenagers access to magic within his world. At least, not right now and not with his current form of unrestricted magic.
Furthermore, the Cleric class was actually locked. All the classes available on the list were locked, and Michael needed to unlock them. One by one.
It would take a while, but the benefits of doing so would be incredible rewarding.
Michael continued to stare down at Emma for a moment longer. He wanted to tell her that there were birds that could talk back on Earth let alone within this fantasy world. Parrot for example. As such, she should not be surprised at the fact that he could talk as a bird.
But then Michael decided not to. There was no point in correcting her misassumption. Doing so would be a complete waste of time, and he had wasted enough time in observing her and her friends.
"Dalton," Michael said simply.
Emma blinked. "Dalton… The Great Wizard Dalton? Did he send you?"
Michael got his confirmation. "Yes. But I need to confirm that you are in fact the same Emma that his Greatness from C… C…"
"Celestia?" Emma corrected.
"Ah yes, Celestia. The Holy City Celestia," Michael accepted the confirmation. "As I was saying, I need to confirm that you are indeed who you say you are. You must relay to me exactly what had happened before and after you were summoned by his Greatness."
Emma nodded and quickly relayed all she knew. She did so without hesitation, as she was a teenager after all. A few betrayals here and there would make her cautious against stranger, but Michael really had no time to do something like that.
"I see. Alright. You should return to the others, as I want to talk to all of you together," Michael spoke up after he acquired all he needed. He then flapped his wings, readying to take off into the sky. "It will save me the trouble of repeating myself."
With that, Michael took flight and headed towards Jake and Bruce in the opposite direction, but they were already returning to the shelter together, so Michael decided to let them be. There was no need to inform them of anything, as they were already smart enough to forage the area together.
Michael encircled the shelter for a little bit, taking in the breathtaking sights of his world while thinking to himself. He wondered whether he should break the truth to the five teenagers, but that would not be the best course of action.
The best course of action would be maintaining the lie that Dalton had started.
Michael realized that if there was actually a way to return these teenagers back to Earth, Dalton would have taken it a long time ago. In fact, all the other heroes would have taken it instead of staying behind for whatever reason.
In recorded history, none of the summoned heroes had ever chosen to return home. None at all. That did not make sense unless there was no reverse summoning.
Being summoned was a one-way trip, and once they had saved the world from certain doom from the demons and heralded as heroes, they would have to stay and live the rest of their lives in a world that no longer needed them.
As a matter of fact, most heroes became an eyesore to those in powers afterwards. Some heroes had even died the most tragic of deaths after becoming puppets or scapegoats to political machinations.
Luckily, most heroes were smart enough to retreat from the political scenes after their task was done, finding a secluded place to live out the rest of their lives in peace. Maybe raising children as well.
Once Jake and Bruce made it back to the shelter, Michael descended from the sky and landed on one of the wooden poles, readying to speak to all of them together.
Sadly, no one paid any attention to Michael when he did so since he was just a bird. One of many birds that were flying around the area. Not even Emma had recognized him.
She had made it back to the shelter before Jake and Bruce did, and she had tried to tell both Anna and Lance of what happened with Michael, but Lance was too busy with his task to actually hear her out.
Anna, on the other hand, did not want to talk to Emma at the moment. This was because Emma didn't believe Anna when the latter had insisted that everyone had died in spite of being very much alive at the moment.
Since Emma was a Cleric, she knew that resurrection was simply not possible. If they died, they would remain dead.
"Greeting heroes," Michael spoke up loudly, getting their attention immediately. "I see that you're all here. I am –
"See! See! I wasn't hallucinating," Emma interrupted.
Michael eyed her and let out a sigh. "Yes. Yes. You weren't hallucinating. I am very much real. Will you allow me to speak now? Or shall I come back another time?"
"Just ignore her… you have a name, right? I am Jake. He's Bruce. That's Lance. Anna is that girl next to him, and from what I heard, you should already know Emma," Jake advised.
Bruce and Lance nodded while Anna remained silence.
"Sorry," Emma apologized.
"I will take your advice to heart," Michael continued. "You can call me Micro, heroes. I have been sent by Dalton to keep an eye on you, but sadly, I was too late. By the time I have reached you, you all have been killed."
Michael allowed the fact to sink into their brain. It was the truth, as they were dead. Killed by Window a few days earlier. Even if they were resurrected, they were not the same as they were before.
Emma was correct. There was no such thing as resurrection, at least not True Resurrection. That was because bringing back the dead went against the natural law. There was still a way to emulate what a person once was with their original body, soul and memory.
Michael had their original soul and memory but not their body. The system recreated their body from scratch, thus it could not really be considered as their original body.
"We… are dead?" Bruce was the first to break the silence.
"Technically yes. This place can be considered a stopping place for spirits. As long as you remain here, there is a chance that you might get resurrected," Michael pointed out. It was somewhat the truth. If he had mana, he could theoretically bring them back into the real world, thus a form of resurrection.
He then took another moment for that information to sink into their head.
"If possible, right now, which of you want to return to Earth?" Michael added. It was within his power, considering that they actually came from his Earth. Emma had confirmed it.