"Um, so if you aren't holding Miyata hostage, who are you?" Tatsuki asked as Elder Thrikrondromm got lost in grumbling about the foolishness of the gods. This prompted Miyata to begin a whirlwind of an explanation.
"This is Kvalinn, he's the leader of the Yankee Party, and a dwarf. This is his dad, Ekgor, he can make really good weapons, and he's also a dwarf. This is Elder Thrikrondromm, he's cranky, and a dwarf. This is Del, she's an elf, and also cranky. Finally, the cutest member of the party, this is Gerde, she's a beastkin. Did I mention she's really cute?"
"And I'm Marcus." Marcus interjected. "If this kid isn't hostile, can we get back on the road? The emperor made it clear that I was supposed to get you to the mountains as fast as possible."
"Hmm." Elder Thrikrondromm glared at Marcus for a minute before turning to Miyata. "Boltun, is this summoned hero safe to bring along? I'd rather not wake to a dagger in my back."
"Tatsuki would never do anything like that! He's way too heroic for that." She then told a bit about their time in school. According to her, Tatsuki was the sole beacon of hope in the school. He'd often defend other students and teachers from Takamori, even though his actions caused him to often get beaten up when the bullies ganged up on him.
As Miyata described Tatsuki's personality, I looked over his physical features. He had black hair that was shaggy and unkempt, but that was probably from spending time in the forest. He looked to be strong and muscular, with a form that looked to be well practiced in judo. The most unusual part of him though was his eyes, they were bright blue, a very rare trait in a Japanese person.
After listening closely to Miyata's tale, and scrutinizing Tatsuki like he was one of my runes, Elder Thrikrondromm grunted. "Gerde. Does this human smell safe to you?"
Miyata's face lit up as she remembered that Gerde could somehow detect personality through smell. "That's right! Gerde! What does Tatsuki smell like to you? Does he smell dreamy? Handsome? Strong? Wait, what would those even smell like?" She pushed Gerde forward while babbling, and Gerde took several cautious sniffs.
"Gah." Gerde gagged on the smell. "He smells like he hasn't taken a bath in weeks!" She took a deep breath or two to compose herself. "But beneath that, he smells like papa's fire sword when he tried to cook bacon on it. I think he's alright, just a bit funny."
"Huh, that's what I smell like? Sorry about the stink. I've been wandering these woods ever since I got summoned here, which was like a month ago."
"We'll worry about cleanliness when we reach the mountains." Marcus said, tapping his foot impatiently. "Elder Thrikrondromm, this summoned hero is coming with us. The emperor will need his power in the coming fight."
"And if he decides to go rogue and kill us all in our sleep? Or becomes a demon lord after becoming overwhelmed with the gods magic? What then?" Elder Thrikrondromm had been on the fence with Miyata, but after hearing my report on her inability in combat, and seeing that she couldn't fight firsthand, he had accepted that she was harmless. But Tatsuki was different, he clearly knew how to fight, and could even do so bare handed. So he was much more wary of the new summoned hero.
"Then we're screwed." Macus answered simply.
"Tatsuki would never do anything like that!" Miyata rose up in his defense. "He only fights for good, and is too nice to become a demon lord."
"Yeah, stabbing in the back is Takamori's style, not mine. I'd rather fight you head on. But what's this about becoming a demon lord? Is that something that could happen to me?"
Not wanting to rehash old news, I took over the conversation. "Yes. But it's unlikely. Elder Thrikrondromm, I think that this hero might have been sent as a counterbalance to Takamori. Maybe they realized they messed up with him and sent Tatsuki. I think we should take him with us, perhaps even make weapons for him when we reach the mountains."
"Hmmm." Elder Thrikrondromm was still undecided. So I lightly shrugged, and held out my hand to Tatsuki.
"Let's go, we'll explain on the way why you got summoned to this world."
Tatsuki looked between my hand, and Elder Thrikrondromm's readied weapon, and then grabbed my hand in a strong grip. Swinging himself to be out of range of the heavy ax.
"Sounds good to me. You mentioned a demon lord, am I going to have to fight one? Is that why Miyata and I got called here?" He followed me into the wagon and took a seat. Everyone else followed behind us except Elder Thrikrondromm. He stood chewing his beard for a few minutes before getting in, but he kept a tense hand near his ax until we reached the mountains.
As the wagon trundled along, Miyata chatted away in her normal manner. Telling Tatsuki all the little things, including her time with Sir Richard, the march with his men, meeting me and getting the translator device, meeting the emperor. As well as the important details of why the heroes were summoned by the empire, and the goblin horde approaching the Tharkuldohr Mountains.
"So I really was summoned to another world." Tatsuki said in awe as he mentally chewed the information. "When I saw the glowing circle appear under the class, I thought it was just some stunt show by the tourism board. I kept thinking that for an embarrassingly long time, but I had my suspicions when I saw a couple goblins."
In a daze, he reached out to touch one of Delimira's ears as a way to prove to himself that she was an elf. She caught his wrist and glared at him.
"Don't touch my ears, Tatsuki." She said in a cold voice.
"Sorry, Del. It's just weird seeing ears so pointy on someone who looks to me like a very pretty human."
Despite his attempts to placate Delimira, she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "First, my name is Delimira, not Del. Only Gerde gets to call me that. Second, never compare an elf to a human. A normal elf would've incinerated you by now for saying that. You're lucky I'm weird enough to want to work with dwarves."
"Sorry, Delimira." Tatsuki withdrew his hand hastily. The possibility of magical incineration causing him no small amount of worry. "I didn't mean to offend you. But you are very pretty."
Delimira's lips twitched, and her cheeks slightly reddened at the compliment. I remembered that she was nearly seventeen, an age where romantic compliments are especially touching. I wonder if she's falling for him?
Tatsuki moved on from his unintentional gaffes by clearing his throat. "So let me get this straight. I got summoned here by the Empire to fight a goblin horde that's attacking the dwarven mountains."
"That's right, young human." Elder Thrikrondromm nodded, glad that this human wasn't as talkative as Miyata. "The Tharkuldohr Mountains requested aid from the Empire, and they called you here from your world. Their armies are following close behind us, and should be at the mountains in the next few weeks."
"Ok, I'll do it." Tatsuki bluntly said. "I'll save everyone and fight the goblin horde. I'll fight for everyone so that no one else has to."
Tatsuki's statement caught Elder Thrikrondromm by surprise. He looked at Tatsuki for a few seconds before chuckling. "You are quite honorable, for a human. But that will not be allowed to happen. Dwarven honor demands that we defend our own mountains from the green scum, but if you decide to help us, then we will appreciate your assistance."
"Yeah, Tatsuki's always been like this." Miyata chimed in. "He's always been a meathead who always tried to fight alone to protect everyone. Even though he always got beat up for it by Takamori and his stupid goons."
"That's only because they ganged up on me." Tatsuki said in his defense. "Besides, my sacrifice helped you escape from them more than once, and now that I have these new powers from the gods, I'm sure I'll be able to defend everyone this time. Even if there are ten thousand goblins."
"There's over a hundred thousand," Delimira said. "And no god's help will be enough against that many. Not even the ancient magic of my ancestors would be enough. Or at least not if you wanted to keep the mountain standing after using the magic. Your only hope of making it through the battle alive, is to fight with us. You cannot fight alone"
"But I'm the summoned hero! Isn't it my job to fight so that others don't have to?"
"No." I answered. "The gods of this world send a hero when the combined efforts of those around the disaster are insufficient, and just need a little extra help. If we let the summoned heroes do all the fighting, then the gods would probably stop sending heroes. Probably. The gods here are very fickle."
"Also, you big dummy, I'm gonna be fighting too!" Miyata picked up her bow in excitement. "I'll finally get to fight like Robin Hood! Shooting the bad guys with a bow and arrow, and fighting for justice."
"..." Tatsuki looked at Miyata with a puzzled look on his face as he watched her mime shooting the Sheriff of Nottingham. "You're really gonna fight, Miyata? I guess we were both summoned for a reason. I wonder if the rest of us are going to be there too.
"Rest of you?" I asked.
"Yeah, the glowing circle appeared under our entire group. There must have been forty or fifty of us on that field trip."
"Ancestor's beard!" Elder Thrikrondromm roared. "You're saying that there could be over forty potential demon lords roaming this world?" He heaved an exhausted sigh, and seemed to age a decade in ten seconds, he then turned to me and spoke in Dwarven. "Kvalinn. I'll train you for five years, and then I'm finding the deepest, darkest, most secluded hole in the world, and hiding there for at least a century, or until the world ends. The world was nearly destroyed by one demon lord, I shudder to think what could happen if multiple emerge."
I nodded in acknowledgement, and agreement. The history tomes I had read did not paint a pretty picture of the terror inspired by the first demon lord. I just hoped that none of the group ever became a demon lord.
The wagon trundled along in near total silence. The only sound being Miyata's idle chatter as she cheerfully engaged in one sided conversation with everyone.