Regal, the heroes and 3 other individuals are all sitting in a lounge within the Riverwood estate.
"Who just randomly taps a person's shoulder while they're meditating?", Regal was staring menacingly at William who was nervously sitting down.
Sorry… I didn't expect anything to happen, I just wanted to let her know I was there", William said with genuine regret.
"Once again, I said she was meditating, does this concept not exist within your world?", Regal was not going to simply let this go.
"No… it exists…", Williams's head almost seemed as though it was getting lower and lower.
"Don't worry Regal, I've got the perfect way to punish my new disciple!", Kendrick spoke loudly from an adjacent seat.
"I'll leave it to you", Regal said while still eyeing down William.
Anne, who was sitting on the couch with the other heroes, looked extremely fatigued.
Regal saw this and thought, 'Yeah… I know exactly how that feels. She couldn't hold it in as I could though, how unfortunate for her'
"Haha! I didn't expect to hear such a scream as we were waiting though!", Kendrick just laughed it off, but it made William look like he was shrinking into a miserable insect.
"S…sorry…", Anne apologised for her scream, even though she couldn't really control it.
"Don't even worry about it girlie! It's the fault of my disciple!", Kendrick responded.
"Haah… that aside…", Regal turned his attention the the one sitting next to Kendrick.
"Ruk", Regal's face didn't become any less annoyed than it started, he has memories of this man.
"That is right Lord Riverwood, it is me, Ruk", the man named Ruk spoke politely as he reintroduced himself.
Regal stared at him. 'I only met him once, but I've never met a more 'by-the-book' person in my life.
If I ever did anything I typically shouldn't, he would genuinely call for guards to try and detain me. I obviously fought them off, but that led to more trouble.
If I ever spoke rudely, he would correct my language. If I ever showed disrespect, he would point out my behaviour out loud. He never seemed to understand his position compared to mine, he only ever saw a person's actions, which is something I can relate to, but he is too stupid for such a mindset.
A man who is stupid but serious, Ruk.'
Regal then turned his gaze to one more person who annoyed him, "Pamel".
Pamel had the kind smile of a butler as he responded to Regal as if everything was natural, "Yes, Sir Regal?".
His demeanor made Regal even more pissed off, "I'll forgive your actions until now if you teleport that man back to the palace", he said while pointing at Ruk.
Eric and Ruk both looked shocked.
"Lord Riverwood! I have been sent here to be the teacher for the young hero Eric! It would be beyond disrespectful for you to send me back to the palace at this time!", Ruk shouted, evidently displeased.
Regal made mocking hand signs in the shape of a mouth moving. This time everyone in the room noticed, Ruk included.
"Lord Riverwood, I can not take such disrespect simply because you are-!"
"Pamel you have 5 seconds, you can bring him back here later if you are so worried, just make sure it's out of my sight", Regal interrupted.
Regal wouldn't simply teleport someone away because he didn't like them, but he was in a particularly bad mood and it was legally within his power since they were in his estate.
Pamel began forming the circle above Ruk, to which Ruk immediately moved out of the way.
'Right… he isn't your average idiot', Regal remembered that this man is a well-known shield bearer, a man who must stake their life in battle by accepting the attacks of monsters, whether it is blocking or dodging. As a result, Ruk has good senses when it comes to incoming danger. 'What an idiotic occupation'
"Lord Riverwood-!", Ruk was about to start shouting again but was cut off.
"Don't you think that's enough~?", a beautiful and mature woman who was wearing the clothes of the temple decided to speak up, playfully.
Regal wanted to avoid conversation with this woman because mature women are… his weakness.
"...maybe so", Regal looked away from the woman as he answered. Despite being 54 years old, his mental maturity is closer to an adolescent, perhaps the mix of his age and maturity led to this preference.
The others in the room were surprised he gave in so easily, but at this point in time no one was certain about why. Regal publicly avoids women like this as well, so it isn't a well-known fact, especially since it could be used against him.
"Oh my~ You are much more compliant than I expected Lord Riverwood.", the lady said.
"...", Regal said nothing, he just kept looking away.
"In that case, how about we all introduce ourselves as the teachers of the heroes?
My name is Ellis Cecil, I used to be a noble before the temple kindly accepted me.", Ellis' introduction eased the mood of the room, Ruk decided to sit back down and Pamel stood worried that he might get chased later on, by Regal.
Ellis then looked toward Kendrick, in response Kendrick stood and introduced himself, "Heya! The name's Kendrick! I'm from a family known for their genius swordsman, me included of course!"
'The idiot didn't mention his last name so what's the point of talking about his family?', Regal thought.
Ruk then decided to follow by standing up himself, "Greetings young heroes, my name is Ruk a shield bearer.", and ended his introduction just like that as he sat back down.
They then all looked at Regal.
'They already know me- no... I never formally introduced myself, huh...', Regal then stood up and cleared his throat.
"My name is Regal Riverwood, head of the Count Riverwood family and the one and only Archmage of the kingdom. Don't get too comfortable here in my estate, because you'll be kicked out before you know it.", Regal said before sitting down again.
"Count!? With a place like this I thought you were a Duke, or a Marquis at least!", Kendrick shouted in shock.
"Yeah well, everyone knows me as the Archmage, which is probably the more accurate description of my title and authority. Think of it as the residence of the Archmage rather than the residence of Count Riverwood", Regal explained.
Back at the royal castle, every noble is referred to as 'Lord'. It's an implication that your noble title doesn't matter in front of the king and in his palace. It has a different meaning in your own residence however, it is how one who is your servant refers to you. Any other outside party would call Regal 'Archmage' or 'Count'.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way, we should talk about the heroes' training~", Ellis brought up the next topic.
This made Regal turn his head, "What's there to talk about? We should just train our individual heroes however we want", he said before turning his head away again.
"Perhaps~ but the important part is the resources we need to train them, you received a budget from the king, did you not?", Ellis asked.
This made Regal freeze up. 'They want to use my money?'.
"Sir Regal did indeed receive a budget, it had been delivered to this estate yesterday according to the servants", Pamel answered from the side.
'Pamel!!! You traitor, no, you double traitor!", Regal began making another face toward Pamel, which in turn made Pamel look away.
"That's excellent! Why don't you give the heroes a tour of the mansion as we talk about what is needed, yes?", Ellis suggested to Pamel.
"Very well, Lady Cecil", Pamel bowed before taking the heroes with him.
'...no loyalty, bastard', Regal thought as Pamel left by someone else's order.
"Now then, let's get to business", Ellis said with a smile on her face.
***
"Sir Pamel?", William asked in an attempt to get his attention.
"Please, just call me Pamel, I am just a servant", Pamel answered, but this remark made the others suspicious of how true that really was, he seemed closer to Regal than just a butler.
"Right, Pamel. I wanted to ask, is Regal really 54 years old?", William asked a question which also drew the attention of the other heroes.
"What brought this on?", Pamel questioned, even though it was fairly obvious that Regal didn't look his age.
"Well, my teacher mentioned that they were similar in age, but it just seemed so strange to me", William brought up a prior topic mentioned by Kendrick.
"Well, it's because he is a half-elf", Pamel said casually as he continued walking. However, the other heroes all collectively stopped.
Pamel noticed and turned around to see what they were doing.
"E-E-Elves?!"
"They exist in this world!?"
"Wait!? Those pointy-eared things?"
All of the heroes were talking aloud about their surprise related to the existence of elves. Anne didn't speak but just listened with sparkling eyes. Of course, Eric was the one who called them 'pointy-eared things'.
It then finally clicked to Pamel, "Ah, you don't have elves in your world?".
"Of course not!", they said together, excluding Anne who was shaking her head instead.
"But you seem to know what they are?", he wondered.
This question put a puzzled look on their faces, of course they knew what elves were, it was in all sorts of stories from their world. But why did their world know about elves, or on the other hand, why does this world have elves that they know?
"We know what they are I guess...? We had assumed that they were, well... fictional", William responded.
"I see, perhaps you do have elves in your world but you simply never met one, it's similar for many in this world too, you don't see elves very often.", Pamel gave reasoning that made the heroes question many things.
They didn't think this was the case considering the coverage humans had in their previous world, but maybe it wasn't impossible.
"That aside, this is the library, it has most of the general knowledge you would need about this world, but it's your choice whether you wish to research it", Pamel moved the conversation back on track as he gave his tour.
They then began moving again, but now thoughts about elves and other fantasy races filled their minds. It seemed to be a common interest among them.
***
*CLAP*
"I think that about covers it", Ellis said after clapping her hands together.
After a while of discussion, they seemed to have reached a conclusion on the resources needed.
Regal was troublesome as he tried to decline most things that the others wanted, but Ellis seemed to make it go smoothly. It made Kendrick suspicious but Ruk was none the wiser.
A tear could almost be seen going down Regal's face, 'These bastards… my pocket money…'
Regal stood up quickly and walked off.
"Where are you going?", Kendrick asked.
"I have preparations to make for my precious disciple!", Regal claimed, but he also wanted to leave as soon as possible before Ellis squeezed anything else from him.
"Precious disciple…?", Kendrick felt weirded out by Regal's choice of words, but it didn't seem like a bad thing.
Regal then began walking through his estate.
'Hmm… I wonder how many know that the heroes are at my estate?', Regal thought as he walked. He had detected multiple people around his estate.
The fact that the heroes were summoned wasn't particularly secret, it just hadn't been publicly announced.
'Idiot King, like I said. You should seal the lips of your servants', Regal thought to himself.
He then walked outside his estate, to the courtyard out front. The plentiful vegetation made for many hiding spots, but hiding from an Archmage isn't very simple.