(Arc-1 begins: Who are the Anarchists?)
"Welcome, O summoned hero! Welcome to our world! I, King Grathazor of Humaria have summoned thee here, to request thy help to save my nation from great peril!"
Martin found himself in the middle of what seemed to be a royal receiving room. It was huge with marble pillars, and seemed to be illuminated with-hmm floating crystals?
'Is that magic' 'Is this a thing here?' 'Where is here anyways'
There were 20-some soldiers surrounding him, there was the king and someone in long robes who seemed to be their high priest.
No matter which world you go to religion never changes, huh! The anarchists were of course all atheists. They always loved things that started with the letter 'A' except perhaps the hero named Adam or apocalypses. No Vincent would love apocalypses.
"We apologize for the discourtesy but desperate circumstances call for desperate measures"
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Who knew that better than Martin himself.
The King was adorned in a elegant but not too flashy of a garb. He seemed to be extremley uneasy on the surface. He seemed like a middle aged man, that could be easily mistaken for the uncle Jack living next door.
'Judging from the tired face of the king, he didn't seem to be lying.'
His prejudice against monarchy and the tell-tale presence of supernatural powers aside, the most pressing problem was that
.
.
He seemed to have been summoned to another world.
It's not that Martin was slow on the uptake, mind you he had one of the best observational skills in the world.
Moreover after interacting with the Prince of shadows who ate deception for breakfast for so long, he had grown quite immune to it.
So he knew, better than anyone else in his situation could ever have, that what he was experiencing was 100% real.
'
'
'
It was just that he couldn't help but find his situation -
ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS
Just a few moments ago he seemed to be lamenting about how the world had rejected him, and now he found himself in ANOTHER F*CKING WORLD. He bloody got kicked out of the damned world, no joke.
That aside what did the king just call him in terribly outdated English.
A Hero.
Yes, Martin knew that compared to the rest of the anarchists he did follow a code of only killing those he deemed worthy of eating his bullet.
But, under no circumstances, was he delusional enough to think of himself as a hero.
Martin often liked to identify himself with idea of vengeance. Yes, justice and vengeance are often two sides of the same coin. Martin had leaned towards the latter for the most of his life. Heroes who liked to insert their meddlesome sense of justice up people's asses were some of the people that disgusted him the most.
And to be actually called a hero
.
.
.
It seemed like one big practical joke thrown at him by the universe.
And so folks, the first thing that Martin did after coming to this new world was to laugh.
He laughed crazily and incessantly. He laughed cynically and self-mockingly. He laughed at his sorrows-things that his previous world had taken from him and at his current situation-that the current world had thrown at him.
He laughed till tears started streamed out of his eyes.
Damn he needed that!
Clearly panicking now, the king went on
"We kid you not great hero. Our nation is indeed in great peril. We need thy assistance in defeating the evil demon lord and ridding this world of his menace.
Thou art our last hope. Please assist us in these desperate times."
Martin paused, not because of the kings words, but because he could see something familiar in the king's eyes. It was the flames of vengeance. He had lost someone close to him. That Martin could tell. He wasn't as good at judging people as Lucas, but he could always spot the flames of vengeance. he had after all been consumed in it once after all, before he learnt to use it as a weapon.
He decided to respond by pulling a page out of Lucas' book by acting like a smug son-of-a -b*tch.
"Well, well. What do we have here. First let me get things straight. Hero ain't on my resume."
Martin paused for dramatic effect, Lucas would surely have his eyes popping out if he were to see Martin imitating him in such a poor-ahem great fashion.
"However, I am an expert assassin. They used to call me the Blue Phantom. So killing off this demon king of yours shouldn't be a problem. Its just..."
"Of course we will not let your efforts go unrewarded. What do you need? We can give you money, power, territory.... anything." The king with a hint of desperation in his voice. Slowly throwing away his flowery accent.
Martin frowned, the king really reminded him of his past. Desperate and vengeful, even a little helpless. ... hmm.
"Now, now no need to get so worked up, I am not some villain who lusts for power" (Sorry Lucas!) Damn if only I had a chair to lean on and a smoke, it would make this so much cooler. I am starting to get why Lucas enjoyed this so much.
"It's just that I have a few conditions.
One - I must know all the details about the situation. I only kill those whom I deem worthy of eating my bullet.
Two- There seems to be the presence of some supernatural elements, magic or something in this world that was absent in mine. I will need someone to show me the ropes."
"Yep, that's all for now."
The king seemed relieved now. "Yes, your observations are indeed correct. This world does have the presence of magic. Currently we don't really rank people's ability on a proper scale, as there are too many different variables involved in a fight and any ranking system slowly becomes rendunant when people easily defeat those of higher levels.
Magic is thus mostly a supplementary vocation. Those who can use magic effectively in combat, on the other hand are unstoppable forces on the battlefield.
''Hmm seems interesting."
"Yes, currently the knight Captain Marcus and Head mage Freya will help you learn the basic skills. They will also accompany you on a few field missions till you are able to adjust to the power levels, and fighting styles of this world."
"You can rest today, and visit the library. They will come to meet you tomorrow morning. We hope you will be able to adjust quickly, as the final battle is only 45 days away."
"Very well then, King, I will cooperate with you for the time being. Just a reminder before I leave,
My final condition is that you show me sincerity. I will always reciprocate in kind. If you try to double cross me or use me like a pawn just remember that I was once lauded as the incarnation of vengeance." flashing one of the most warmest and kindest smiles that he ever had, Martin followed the soldiers out of the room to his living quarters.