Zenit, did you overwork yourself again?
You should relax from time to time, you know? Always being on edge and attentive to your surroundings can be quite damaging to your mental health.
"Huh~ I know, I know," answered Zenit.
His coworker always annoyed him with his advice. He knew that he meant to help him, but he was just so incredibly annoying. As soon as he would heed his advice and see how helpful it was, he would begin to tease him about why he took so long to go through with it.
Truly annoying.
But maybe I should relax for some time.
While I was preoccupied with whether I should relax or not, I arrived at my apartment.
Now that I was behind his four private walls, I decided to test it out.
"So how should I relax?"
"Maybe close my eyes, take a deep breath, and so on? Wait, wasn't that more like meditation? Hmmm... I guess that's close enough."
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and began to concentrate on my body, ignoring every single sensory input from the outside world.
As a consequence, I failed to notice the magic circle that formed under me.
...
When I opened my eyes again, I noticed something rather strange. I was no longer in my four cozy walls but in a completely unknown room. A room that was way bigger than my apartment. The architectural style was completely different too, something from ancient times I guessed. Similar to the medieval fantasy novels I read.
Also, the air composition was different. Nothing too great, but the mana density and purity were notably weaker here.
I didn't know any planets that would fit these descriptions. Although I wasn't a geologist either...
Before my mind could wander off more, some lady spoke to me. She appeared to be young and was wearing some white garments clearly intended for some ceremony.
"Hero, you were summoned from another world to help us win against the Demon Lord," the lady spoke in a gentle tone.
'She seems to be a Sacred Maiden. Was she the one who performed the ritual?'
I turned my eyes to the magic circle below me.
I have never seen a magic circle like that. The components it was constructed upon were fundamentally different from any magic I knew. Although I couldn't understand it, my instincts told me that it was roughly similar to teleportation magic.
'Did they kidnap me?'
No, that shouldn't be possible. Even if it were possible, the people around don't seem to be the kidnapping type. The probability that they were just acting is also unlikely. If they intended to kidnap me, they would have transported me into a cage or something. At least prepared some measures to ensure that I wouldn't retaliate with force to my abduction.
"Eeehm..." The lady spoke. She seemed to be uncomfortable with the silence that dominated the room.
"I must compliment your ability to remain calm in such a situation. I heard that most heroes act rather... whimsical in such situations. Ah! That wasn't supposed to badmouth them. Most people would be shocked if they suddenly appeared here."
She clearly spoke for the sake of only speaking, also known as small talk. A rather crude and inefficient form of communication.
At least the small talk brought me some information. She said that I was a hero. And not the first one on top of that. It really seems to be some antiquated medieval fantasy novel.
"How far away is the next planet that the demons are invading?"
The princess seemed shocked and confused at the same time by my statement.
"Th-the demon frontier is near the forest of unholy light. Ehem... around seven days of travel," the young sacred maiden spoke. Her face was lightly flushed red as if she were embarrassed about the statement.
"The forest of unholy light?" I had never heard about it. Also, the seven days of travel were rather unhelpful because she didn't mention the form of transportation they used.
But more importantly, she didn't mention the planet's name.
Wait.
Could it be?
Could it be that the demons have already reached this planet? She also used a landmark to describe the position of the frontier...
"You seem to be in a dire state if you summon me on the same planet where the demon's incursion occurs," I spoke to the Sacred Maiden.
The maiden seemed shocked again, questioning if she misheard me.
'Was what I said really so strange?'
She formed some courage and spoke up.
"Ahem, Hero," her hands curled up as she held her dress to seemingly alleviate her unease.
Consequently, the front part of her dress lifted up slightly. Her dress was already strangely skimpy, barely reaching her thighs. Now that it was lifted up, even if it was only by one or two centimeters, my eyes automatically focused on it.
Not that I had any mischievous thoughts. It was only the interest if she were to accidentally flash her panties. Just curiosity.
"I-If I am not wrong and haven't misheard you, Ms. Hero. Did you speak about different planets? Like... like in the sense that from where you are from... there are multiple planets? O-or even that kingdoms have, like, multiple planets under their control?"
I missed the first part of her question as my mind was occupied by... something. But going by the latter part, could it be that they aren't a space-faring civilization?
I suddenly had an ominous feeling.
The different composition of the air.
The strange and completely unknown magic.
The medieval fantasy-like architecture.
I cast a location spell.
The location spell would tell me in what part of the galaxy I would be.
Error.
The spell couldn't tell me where I was.
Could it be...
Could it be that I wasn't just on some unknown planet, but in an entirely different dimension?