"…unfortunately I'll have to decline, bring me to the king". Regal demanded.
"…what?" Rosel stood in surprise.
"T-the king!?" The blonde hero blurted out, shocked for a much different reason.
The other heroes also started to become nervous again. They knew this wasn't their country, so they weren't going to meet their own leader. However, meeting someone like a king… they knew they had to watch their actions. They didn't want to anger a whole country.
Ignoring the heroes, Rosel simply stared at Regal for a moment.
"..."
"Hurry it up, we don't have all day, we got demon kings to defeat and whatnot!" Regal hurried Rosel as if they were low on time when they both knew that the heroes obviously couldn't defeat the demon king immediately.
"...Don't speak to his majesty the same way. The same goes for you lot too, mind your manners in front of his majesty, all will be explained to you soon." Rosel decided to go along with the situation.
She had expected Regal to leave as soon as he could, but he defied her expectations. And that was fine, this just made things easier.
Regal turned to the heroes with a blank face and said "You heard her, don't be flapping your lips with random nonsense, and especially don't be rude to the king.
He is an idiot, HOWEVER! You should not call idiots for what they are. Only raise your head if the king or myself says so, but since he is an idiot, he might forget to tell you."
The heroes were shocked once again, they didn't understand who this man was, but he was blatantly offending the king of his country. Couldn't he be sent to prison for this?
"Shut it! Don't listen to this man's nonsense, he has no right to give any orders in the royal audience chamber.
Just bow your head and await further instruction, it's in your best interest." Rosel made her final statement clear before turning around and walking toward the large door further ahead.
Regal was standing while making motions with his hand as if to mimic a mouth, clearly attempting to disrespect the mage in front of him. The heroes however, didn't notice this.
They were uncomfortable. What if they did something wrong and offended the king? They also didn't know who to listen to or who to trust in this situation, they weren't even sure if they could trust each other. The only comfort they had, was that they were all in this situation together.
The one most uncomfortable was the large hero, his aggressive attitude earlier showed that he wasn't the most polite or submissive person. He knew this situation was special, of course it was. But he was being given nothing but orders since he had arrived, and it pissed him off.
He continued to give off this vibe as they were walking, and standing at 7 feet tall, it was very noticeable to the heroes next to him as he towered above.
Regal also noticed this, but as he looked back at the large hero, he could only think 'Tall bastard' and continue forward.
As they reached the door, the heroes noticed the woman from earlier talking to the guards, it made them unnecessarily nervous towards the men holding spears.
They were essentially kidnapped and have passed multiple people they don't know who possess weapons. It was also because of the guards in the ceremony chamber underground, that the 7-foot-tall hero didn't act out any further.
"Enter the royal court mage Rosel Tempest! The Archmage Regal Riverwood and the Heroes from another world!", the sudden shout alerted the heroes, it was now clear that they were in another world. They had no choice but to believe these words considering their unique situation.
Rosel and Regal stepped through the doors and the heroes followed, a moment later they arrived in front of the king sitting on his throne.
Rosel bowed and the heroes quickly copied this action. Regal however, remained standing.
The king, and everyone else in the audience chamber looked at Regal. They weren't surprised at his lack of manners, rather they were surprised he was even present in the first place.
Regal was a man whose father was from this kingdom, however he was born and raised in another country and race entirely. His loyalty was split, and it was acceptable to the kingdom that the great Archmage was an ally in the first place, so his actions for many years were... overlooked.
"Welcome heroes!
My name is Augustus Gaius Everreign, the King of the Kingdom of Prevalis.
As it stands, the kingdom is in a crisis. A race known as 'demons' has been terrorizing our world in many ways, we have lost much of our land, resources, and most importantly, our people. To make matters worse, they are led by an extremely powerful being known as the Demon King.
The reason I tell you this story as we first meet... is because we need your help to defeat the demon king and his army!"
The king's voice filled the room, the heroes nervously listening to his words with their heads still down. Even the large hero and his aggressive nature were reigned in under this pressure.
It took a moment, but the heroes finally processed what was said and couldn't help but look at each other. No matter how they thought about it, this sounded ridiculous. However they could also tell that this was serious, this wasn't some game or prank being pulled on them.
The blonde hero slowly raised his head.
"If... if I may..." He requested to speak his part. He didn't understand the situation well yet and realised that this was more or less an introduction, but he did understand that they were asking them for help.
As he spoke, others in the chamber couldn't help but whisper about his acts in front of the king.
"All of you, raise your heads." The king ordered, causing all of them to gaze upon him.
They were too nervous before, but now that they were this close, they couldn't help but notice the noble figure of the king.
A large bearded man with sun-like blonde hair, seemingly in his 40's sat on a large gold throne with red padding. His clothes radiated wealth and reflected the sunlight beaming through the small but well-placed windows around the chamber.
Atop his head was the signature ornament of royalty, the signature ornament of the whole country, a crown that oozed the pressure of the accessory to the most powerful person in the kingdom.
They were all struck in awe for a moment before the king broke their trance with more words.
"You there, young man with the blonde hair, what is your name?"
The hero froze for a moment, he decided not overthink it and just speak his mind while he had his chance, and that opportunity starts with his name.
"My name... is William Relish"
The nobles in the chamber began whispering to each other.
"A last name... could he be a noble?"
"That's excellent, I'd rather have nobility as our hope rather than a commoner!"
"Uh...", William wanted to correct them, but he also figured that it was beside the point.
"He's not a noble idiot, they're from another world. I asked them a similar question earlier and they were just confused.", Regal began speaking out loud as if it was natural. No one else would dare do the same in this specific room.
"They may not all be from the same world", a noble argued.
"That's a simple matter", Regal said before turning to the heroes.
"What's the name of the world you lot are from?".
The heroes collectively looked at each other, analysing each other's clothes, and nodded as if they collectively agreed on something.
At the same time, at noticeably different volumes, they stated, "Earth".
Regal smirked, happy that he was indeed correct, and turned back around to show that very smirk to the noble who asked the question. In response the noble simply scoffed as he turned his head, he could've argued more, he just... didn't want to.
The nobles around the audience chamber were nothing but noise to Regal, usually his disrespect extended to simply ignoring the noise, but it was times like this when he was in a good mood that he felt like humouring people.
It wasn't anything special, hardly any sentences were said from both sides, but something extremely small can hurt a nobles pride. The nobles knew not to speak much to Regal, despite not liking him, since he could realistically do whatever he wanted to them.
He would often ignore them, but the moment he decided he would humour one of the nobles, they all collectively decided to stay silent.
The king cleared his throat, loud enough for the nobles nearby to hear, allowing them to recognise that the king was about to speak.
"Then, William Relish from Earth, please speak your mind. All your questions will no doubt be answered in due time, however if it pleases you then I can alleviate whatever is currently on your mind."
"Thank you... your... majesty?", William was unsure of what to call the king, but he decided to go along with his first choice, no one seemed to react, perhaps understanding his situation.
"Then I would like to say... although we were summoned to defeat the demon king, or lord? I don't think we are capable of that... I for one am just a regular student who hasn't fought a single day of my life.", speaking honestly, William was hoping that there might be a way to return to Earth, and he wanted to change the direction of the conversation by suggesting that they are not suitable.
However, instead of the King, the one who answered was Regal.
"You lot don't understand... I didn't understand at first either, but now that I've taken a look at you brats I get it.
You are no doubt destined to be heroes, you have been selected specifically from your world as people who 'could' become the strongest.", he said while looking at the girl who had interested him earlier.
"Tch! If you have this power to 'summon' us or whatever here, why can't you just do it with people from this world!?", As if holding it in all this time, the large hero decided to finally speak, his voice almost shouting.
Regal stared at him blankly, "...your name?".
Seemingly satisfied he finally gets his turn to speak, the man steps forward and says, "My name is Eric-!".
"Wait wait, I changed my mind, don't tell me your name. I don't really care and I won't remember it anyway", Regal said with nonchalance.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the room was surprised that Regal was willing to explain anything to them in the first place, they decided to just let it play out- no, they wanted it to play out. If it turned out that the Archmage was interested in the heroes, things could go much easier than expected.
Eric, the large hero with short brown hair, scrunched up his face, clearly annoyed. However, before he could speak again, Regal continued.
"I'll give you a freebie and explain this to you.
We may be a kingdom, but a kingdom is just a kingdom in the eyes of the entire world. We have all sorts of individuals who want to make it big here, but they haven't, and that's the problem. If we can't find talent even when it's trying to be revealed, then a spell won't make it any better.
But, we aren't limited by such a factor when summoning from another world.
Your world seems pretty peaceful too. You said you were a student, blondie? And one who has never fought before? In this world, that would usually mean you're either a mage or a noble, but even they learn how to fight from a young age, especially in school.
If a talent can't be found naturally from our daily lives in this world... then we must search elsewhere..."
'I sound ridiculous... it makes sense, but it's also pathetic. Seeking help from another world... what is this King thinking...'
Rather than angry, Eric now just seemed confused. He could follow the explanation to some extent, but he had no choice but to disregard spells and such, which was half of what he needed to hear.
The room stayed silent for a moment. The heroes didn't know what to ask, it could just be that Regal is bad at explaining, but they didn't understand what was going on at all. In fact, why was this man constantly speaking instead of the king, he was fully stood up no less, not a single knee bent.
Regal looked at the king, "Let's just get this over with, these dullards can't even follow the idea of magic even if they pretend it was a hypothetical or imaginary answer. Just save it for later."
He turned around once again towards the heroes, "I want that one".