"Is there something wrong?"
"The hero circle is supposed to summon six people..."
"So, one of us clearly is not a hero then," Sol spoke up before anyone could point their fingers elsewhere, he already knew that the imposter was Ikaris, but nobody else needed to know that.
"Are you saying you know who the imposter is?" The queen glared at him.
"I am not a hero, I said that earlier, I was dragged here-"
"Death to the imposter!" The priest next to the queen raised his staff, and a ball of fire appeared over his head. "I will burn him to ashes!"
"Wait!" Queen Vermon shouted above the chaos in the throne room. "Nobody is to touch that man," She looked at Ikaris while she was speaking.
Sol did not show any kind of fear, but Ikaris was on the verge of attacking the priest after he had said that.
"That man is under the hero's protection, to kill him is to make an enemy of the heroes, I forbid anyone from touching him," She declared.
"The... six heroes, will now receive the blessing of the queen," the short old priest glared at Sol hatefully.
"What about Sol?" Ikaris asked.
"He is no hero, he has no standing here, or anywhere else on Arkadia, from today onwards, he is no more than an outcast, as long as Ikaris remains alive he will be welcomed here, but should the day come when his protector falls in battle, Sol Vestic will be cast out and abandoned, there is no place for weakness amongst the heroes.
"Ikaris, go receive your blessing, I'm still hungry," Sol slightly pushed her forward.
"Of course," She turned to the queen and walked past everyone else. "How does this work exactly?"
"I will grant you the blessing of heroes, your stats will improve, your levels will rise, and in an instant, you will be more powerful than my strongest warriors," the queen raised her sceptre. "Take a knee and prepare to receive it.
"If it's a blessing you can just to anyone that easily then why summon people from their peaceful lives like that?" Sol mumbled to himself, but just loud enough that everyone heard.
"The people of Arkadia are unable to receive the blessing of heroes, their bodies overflow with mana and they die instantaneous deaths, Arkadians cannot receive this blessing,"
"What happens if I don't receive the blessing of the hero?" Eris asked.
"There is no place for another regular human here, you would be killed and disposed of to save rations for the army," The priest answered seriously.
"I thought we had a choice in this!" Han slapped his fist against his palm, frustrated. But nobody said a thing after his outburst, instead he heard the sound of several swords being drawn as the guards stared at him.
"If the hero refuses to fight for the sake of humanity, the hero forfeits his life," The queen tapped the sceptre on Ikaris's shoulder and a bright white light filled the room.
"Please, step forward heroes, and accept your blessings, or remain where you are, and accept your deaths."
"This bitch is crazy!" Sol chuckled to himself, the conditions of this hero summoning were too cruel, but he only felt sorry for Eris, she seemed to be more scared than anyone else was.
"Do you feel any different?" Sol looked at Ikaris who now had a small shield crest on her neck beneath his slave tattoo.
"I was granted more power, so it seems my identity as a goddess will remain secret," She answered taking his hand and sighing. "It is insignificant though, but I can see the system you spoke of before, a strange little box of light with information on myself, as well as the levels of everyone,"
"Really?" Sol seemed excited. "What's my level?"
"The system says error when I try to look at your level, the numbers are three digits, so the maximum level will be 999, but if it has an error then your level must be far above that," Ikaris answered with a proud huff. "Naturally, my hero is far superior to anything this backwater dimension can produce.
"Your level raised from one to thirty after receiving the blessing," Sol nodded and then looked at everyone else. "Everyone else received ten, but you got twenty-nine levels,"
"I am superior, clearly," Ikaris laughed out with her nose pointed to the ceiling.
"So, who will lead this hero's party?" The queen asked, and everyone instinctively looked at Ikaris who was clearly stronger than they all were.
"I do not want to lead, I will fight whenever I have to, but I will spend all my time next to this man," She slapped Sol's ass causing gasps throughout the throne room. "I do not have time to discuss battle plans and strategies, I do not care for such things, just point me in the direction of the enemy and I will destroy everything-"
"He will remain by your side, hero," Queen Misty raised her brow.
"Huh?" Sol asked.
"Wherever the hero goes, so too will you, as a non-essential, your duty is to her, you will not be pampered by this kingdom. "She stared at him with visible disdain, clearly she hated the sight of the imposter.
"So... As long as I'm with Ikaris, I can do whatever I want?"
"... Yes,"
Sol groaned annoyed. This was going to hinder his lazy life even more, he was going to have to be in any fight Ikaris was in.
"I'm not a hero though-"
"Then pray your hero protects you,"
"That is not the agreement!" Ikaris looked across at everyone else who were all nodding in agreement to the queen's decision. "If he comes-"
"If your wish is to go home, Ikaris, then you only need to kill the demon lord and vanquish his allies to the depths of their world, if that is all you wish to say, then I have other matters to attend to, you will be directed to the baths, and then fed and shown your sleeping quarters in the southern wing of the castle grounds, excuse me," She turned her back and left.
"That woman, makes me want to commit crimes I have never thought of, I feel cheated," Sol sighed and looked across at the other five heroes who were all staring back at him.
"Looks like I won't have to raise a finger after all," Han snickered.
"Did you say something?" Ikaris turned to the much taller man and stared up at him. "Maybe you need to be taught a new lesson already?"
"You wanna throw down for real you pipsqueak?" Han stared down at her, but felt the air around him sting his face when Ikaris stepped closer and started grimacing, causing her stored-up divine magic to leak out and fill the room like a flood.
"You want a fight, huh, are you challenging me to a fight?" Ikaris watched Han's hand light up and a sword appear in his grasp out of thin air, and she reached for thin air and a ball of white fire appeared above her opened palm. "I'll reduce you to ashes before you even have a chance to swing that piece of iron, boy,"
"Boy?" Han raised his sword and swung it intent on cleaving her head clean off her neck.
"I'll kill you, you little rat!"
"Wait!"