"I am Pope Ceptio of the Central Church. To help you, we will give you the strongest weapons, the best army, and financial support, and you could do whatever you want as long as the Demon Lord's army is defeated!"
The Pope just made an introduction and clarify things that are still quite confusing and worrying to the summoned. Hikari, the class's star and one of the brightest students, however, swiftly understood the situation and knew what he needed to do.
"I have a question."
He then began gathering as much information as he could.
"Yes?"
"Um, I understand that we were reincarnated into another world like in Anime, but just one thing confused me, why did you choose us?
Why are we the ones getting teleported not others? What is so special about us? And why are able to understand what you say?"
The Pope halted for a moment and clear anxiety appeared on his face.
"Umm, to be honest, we also have no idea."
"What?!"
"We only follow the magic ritual that was written in the holy book, which I am holding right now, it said that the spell will teleport the ones who had the quality of a hero, who have the potential to save us from another world.
And the summoned will also be given the ability to understand the native's language, based on the Holy prophecy. I guess that's why."
"Prophecy?"
"Yes! The Prophecy of the Gods! The prophecy says when devils are rising, engulfing the world in darkness and blood, the heroes shall be brought upon this world, to bring order and peace."
"Ok, so when could we get back to our world?"
"That actually depends on you, if you kill the demon lord a portal to your world will open I suppose."
"Suppose?"
"Yes, we are not so sure about it, the last time the Demon Lord was defeated was 150 years ago, back then no one have time to record everything because the demon lord's army was about to win when they killed nearly 300 million people."
"Oh my god..."
"Yes, and the Legendary Hero killed him with the holy sword, but then after that, no one sees the Hero again. And right now, the Demon Lord seems to be reviving in the West of the Continent and we need the Legendary Hero to save us from him again. That's why we summoned you, by the way, you seem to be the leader."
"Me? Oh no no, my name is Hikari Yokoyama, you can call me Hikari, I'm not the leader and we are not warriors, just normal high school students from another world."
"Students?! How old are you?"
"Umm... All of us are 17, I guess..."
"Seventeen?!"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
The Pope and the King had a brief conversation about this in private.
"Nevermind. So, let me continue, all of you will get a room in the castle..."
While the Pope continues his introduction about the services provided to the Heroes, the King himself was looking somewhere else. He notices a black-haired Hero who is still sitting on the ground, and he was very disturbed about the unfriendly aura he's giving off.
"Hey, you! The guy with a gloomy face!"
The King points his finger at Shuku.
"What are you trying to do? Guards! Surround him!"
All the guards who had been resting suddenly surrounded Shuku in a circle and aimed their swords at him while everyone is still confused about what is going on, Shuku himself is the most perplexed.
"Wait what?! What did I do?"
"Wait! He's one of us!" Nozomi exclaimed.
"I sensed the strong murderous smell emanating from you, do you intend to attack me? Guards! Take him to the prison and lock him up for a while."
Following the King's command, two guards approached Shuku and each took hold of his shoulder and his hand to arrest him.
"Is this how you treat your heroes? I'm innocent! I swear!!"
"Yeah! This must be a misunderstanding!"
Despite Nozomi's best efforts, the King insisted on his decision.
"If you could prove that he's innocent, I will let him out, but before that, he will spend some time in the dark prison."
With everyone still in complete disbelief, the guards could now start escorting him to the awaiting prison beneath the Castle.
"Hah! That's what you deserve!"
Before exiting the room, he heard Kubo's laughing.
To Shuku, this is undoubtedly the worst day of his life.
Enduring endless bullying on a daily basis was already too much, but now, on his very first day after being teleported to a new world, he is distrusted by the king and falsely accused of murder in front of his friends.
What had he done to deserve all of this? He thought in total despair. What bad deeds has he done to deserve a life worse than a caged animal?
While the Guards lead him down the steps to the dungeon, he continues to reflect on his own life as the lights begin to fade and the darkness starts to rise.
The only thing he could see now, away from the dazzling and opulent interior of the Castle above, was a depressing medieval cellar, built of bricks and lit by wooden torches, filled with the rotting corpses of dead animals and wetty floors.
Finally, far at the end of the basement, he could see, "his room".
...
About twenty minutes after being left alone in the dank, dark cell, the door above the steps opened again and a guard was coming down from it.
"Hey, gloomy! The King just set you free."
The guard said, and Shuku clicked his tongue in response.
"If it was this fast why did you bother to put me in the first place?"
The guard then unlock Shuku's jail room and bring him with their swords drawn back to the King's palace. Upon their return, everyone had already resolved their issues with the King and the Pope.
Among those who were teleported with Shuku, only one openly cheered for his release.
"Shuku-kun!"
And also running in his direction was none other than Nozomi.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks."
During Shuku's time in prison, a long discussion between his classmates and the Pope and the King took place. They exchanged a ton of new information about the world they are currently in, the obligations and benefits of their upcoming "hero" careers, and what they will be doing today, the first day.
Nozomi was the only one who attempted to persuade the King of Shuku's innocence at that time. She told him about Shuku's capabilities and his circumstances, and how the fight he had with his bully Kubo at the time the teleportation took place was the cause of his frightening aura.
And after 20 minutes, she finally gets the King to let Shuku out. But even after being shown to be innocent, the King continues to harbor suspicions and remains cautious of him.
"Eh, hem... Now, as we discussed before, while the servants prepare the equipment to examine your magical skills, we will take a horse wagon ride around the city, to get a good view of our fantastic and glamourous capital!"
The Pope urged everyone to move to the front gate of the Castle, where a three-horse carriage was waiting for them.
Right when the gate is opened, they were immediately stunned by the breathtaking beauty of the city. This city they found themselves in contradicted their expectations of a medieval-level civilization because it was genuinely gorgeous and emanated an incredible sparkle and glamour.
"This is the grand Karnes City, the capital of the main Apomis Kingdom! Now, shall we get in?"
Houses are built out of a unique type of material that makes them glitter like diamonds. The big ocean around is sparkling like sapphire while the majestic mountains, along with the sky and clouds, form a wonderful landscape, unlike anything they have ever witnessed before.
But they don't have all day to admire the view, so they quickly followed instructions and climbed into the horse wagons.
A total of nine people with the Pope following them, and there were three wagons available, so three people in each wagon. Each person chooses their own wagon, and Shuku chose to get in the same one as Nozomi, Hikari, and Pope Ceptio.
As soon as he placed his foot on the wagon, Ceptio gave him a concerned face.
"Fine. If you don't want me to go with you then I won't."
"No no I'm sorry, you are one of them so you can do whatever you want, I just thought that maybe, not all heroes are... you know... someone like him."
He tilts his head at Hikari.
"Whatever."
Despite having some difficulties at first, things gradually settled into normal as everyone found their seats and the wagons set off towards the capital city of Karnes.
As they traveled through the city streets, Shuku had the opportunity to observe this magnificent city up close.
All the citizens are in elegant attire, with women often in vibrant and intricate dresses, while men wore sophisticated suits embellished more with shiny jewelry, even from a distance, they gave out a sense of opulence and luxury.
Additionally, horse wagons similar to the ones they are currently in are a common means of transportation in this city and although not as luxurious as theirs, the wagons on the streets are shown to be pricey enough to scare away poor people like Shuku.
Overall, the city appears to be quite wealthy and splendid, and the way of life of the locals can be described in some way as noble. However, one thing makes Shuku wonder.
There is no trading, working, or any kind of commercial activities that generate money, everyone seems to be having fun and enjoying their carefree life.
Even in his world, places like this are practically nonexistent, yet someway this "society from the Middle Ages" managed to create a place that could be compared to paradise.
As he was considering this, the Pope, who rides in the same wagon as him, started explaining to him and the other two about the history and geography of this planet.
The speech was very long but the main points were this:
The continent where the Apomis Kingdom is located is a giant landmass surrounded by water and divided into two fairly equal parts, the West and the East based on territory.
The West part where the Demon Lord resided 150 years ago is now a dead wasteland with nothing more than a hundred miles of deserts and dangerous wild animals.
The East part is greener, lifer and it is where all the humans live, and is divided into two Kingdoms.
The Apomis Kingdom occupies 30% of the territory and is located in the North of the East part while the South Apomis Kingdom which occupies the rest 70%.
"Why the identical names?" One of them asked.
It turns out that the Apomis Kingdom is the sole kingdom that exists on this continent.
But the King split it into two separate ruling areas and his main justification was to keep any unwanted "secondary residents" such as criminals, slaves, "uncivilized," uneducated, unemployed, "un noble," and "financially unsound" people in the South Apomis Kingdom away from the gorgeous main Apomis Kingdom.
Although two kingdoms coexist, the main Apomis Kingdom is the only one with political and military power; the ruler of the South Apomis Kingdom is merely a puppet.
Despite the controversy around this form of government, it actually works really well because the South Apomis Kingdom lacks the resources or military strength to rebel against the main Apomis Kingdom, allowing the King to live in safety and peace with the wealthy citizens who back him.
Hearing this, three of them could only sigh wearily, as expected from a medieval-level civilization.
"How about the rest of the world?"
Hikari questioned. However, Ceptio, the Pope, only smiled.
"For now, that information is unnecessary, but you will soon know, all you need to focus on is defeating the Demon Lord."
------Author's Note------
For anyone who read the synopsis and came expecting the girls, the fanservice, the show-offs, or the cheat stuff.
I'm sorry to say that there won't be any of those. This is just gonna be a very brutal revenge story.