Pebble, still wearing his stone armor, stared at the gaping hole in the floor. "Excuse me, Mister Bathroom, why isn't this hole fixing itself?"
"Oh yeah, just wait a few seconds and then, she'll be fine!" The butler replied sarcastically, "Why would you ever assume that you could destroy someone's bathroom and it would just fix itself, you dipstick?!"
Pebble felt awkward about the fact that the water was still showering down. He clapped his hands twice in an attempt to make it stop. "I dunno, the last ceiling I destroyed immediately fixed itself so, just kinda figured that to be the norm, I guess?" Pebble replied, "Also, I was told that this was my room, and, by extension, shouldn't this be my bathroom?"
"NO! It's not the norm! Furthermore, you might be the owner of this room, but once you leave, we rent this out to some of the richer members of this city. You get a cut of that profit, but I guess you just hate money! Also, this isn't a clap-on system you moron!" The bathroom made a mocking tone.
"Now don't get an attitude with me, it was an accident! And can you please stop the shower?" Pebble could not believe he was arguing with a bathroom.
"That's insane! That's like me stabbing a hole in your stomach and saying, oooops!" The butler was clearly pissed. "And what was that request, you want today's weather report?"
"Okay, fair, I can't change what I did. I'm sorry, and no, I don't want the weather, please just stop the shower." Pebble remembered his AI speakers back on Earth and how they never understood what he wanted.
"Fine." The butler voice took a deep sigh, which was an odd thing for something with no lungs to do, and the shower stopped. "I'm sure the King will get you out of this, just don't destroy anything else you freaking brute."
"Deal. Again, I'm sorry. I'll be sure to be safer moving forward." Pebble said as he took a step forward and created a tiny crater with his stone covered foot.
"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS DECENT, WOULD YOU PLEASE PUT YOUR DESTRUCTIVE STONE ARMOR AWAY, OH MIGHTY MASTER OF MINE?!" The anger and frustration in its voice was palpable.
Pebble willed the armor away. In response, the stone armor simply turned to sand and fell to the floor. Some of the sand started falling in the hole and landed on Phil's bathroom.
"Hey, is this some sort of joke? Are you pouring sand down here like your filling my terrarium? I know I'm a reptile, Alain! You don't need to rub it in." Phil said dejectedly.
Pebble flinched at "Alain" but simply apologized, "Sorry, total accident! No need to be so self conscious!
The butler cut in, "Why don't you just get dressed and get out of here, you whacker. You're supposed to meet the King."
Pebble pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes with his fingers, "Alright, I'll get dressed and meet the King, I'll get this fixed, you have my word."
—
Pebble got dressed and ended up jumping down into Phil's bathroom to meet up with him first. Phil was a little surprised, but he got over it quickly and the two of them left to gather Fred and Bard. Fred was happy to see he was still a wizard, but he was taking his age more seriously on day 2, complaining about how his back felt when he woke up.
When Bard woke up this morning, he felt more refreshed and rejuvenated than ever before. He was happier than ever considering he didn't create his ideal game character, but his ideal person. This was by far the best case scenario for him, as he used to joke about wishing to be "isekaied" into a better life.
The party was well dressed and Pebble felt a sense of pride for his friends. They seemed to be taking their new lives in stride thus far. He still didn't want them to see what he was capable of. After seeing them here today, he doubled down on his resolve to support his friends and to avoid rushing in for a while.
The team was seated at a large table located at the head of a banquet hall that had many other smaller tables. The tables were already packed with guests and the arrival of the party had sparked an uproar of excitement throughout the hall. Cheers and toast could be heard aplenty and several people were waving to see if they could get a Hero to glance in their direction. Anytime one of their party looked at another table, they'd applaud and wave as if it was an honor to be seen by them.
"Have you guys put any thoughts into what it means to be these peoples' Heroes? I don't know if we get rewarded with a trip home if we do a good job, but even if we do get to leave, this is their home." Pebble said after gauging the reactions from the other tables.
Bard looked puzzled, "Well, it's only day two, but I'm pretty sure this is it for me, man. Even if we have a way to get home, I think I'd rather stay here and be this version of Bard. As for what it means to be their Hero, no I haven't put much thought into that yet." Bard looked around the room with wide eyes.
Phil looked concerned, "Wait, you want to stay here even if we get a chance to go home?"
"Phil, I'm so sorry about your situation, but my life here is in an entire different league than my situation back home. I'm not some deadbeat failure here, I'm an actual Rockstar and a Hero. If we find a way to go home and you want out, I won't blame you, but we are all on board to make you human again. Maybe once you're a human you'd want to stay here too, who knows." Bard said with determination.
"That's all fine and dandy, but you guys are my friends. The only reason I'm really still around is because of you three, why would I go home if you are all here." Phil said with a dry tone as he attempted to keep the emotions from bleeding in. Fred put a hand on his shoulder.
"And what about you, Fred? Are you just a Tiamat resident now as well?" Phil asked.
"I… I don't know yet. If staying here means I stay an elderly man, then trading a future for a dead end doesn't sound too smart. This world has magic though. I have magic. There might be a way for me to be my real age again, or hell, maybe even younger!" Fred hoped.
Phil looked at Pebble, "Alain, what about you?"
Pebble flinched at his old name once again, "Ow. Well, considering I can't even be called by my old name without being hurt, I don't really think I have a choice. They actually made me sign a bunch of contracts as well and, if I'm being honest,I didn't get to read the contracts. I was just surrounded by gods, so what choice did I have?"
"I see." Phil looked like he zoned out, and the team decided to give him some space. They remained silent until the King arrived.
The King was a tall, burly man with black hair and gold eyes. He walked in with his white haired Queen and everyone stood up. The party followed suit and stood to greet his highness. The royal couple gave a few head nods as they scanned the crowd. They eventually locked eyes on Pebble and his crew and began their approach to the table.
"This is going to be so weird, we met him yesterday and we figured he was an NPC, so we weren't very attentive with his chat. I hope he doesn't hold that against us." Bard whispered to Pebble.
"I'm sure they must understand that we were just summoned to a whole new world. I wouldn't sweat it." Pebble whispered back in an effort to console his friend. Bard seemed to agree with his logic and dropped the subject.
The King and Queen were now directly in front of the party. "Good morning, thank you for joining us for brunch today. You are our honored guest today." The King smiled at each of them individually.
"Thank you, your highness." Bard replied with a bow and the team followed his lead.
"Please everyone, let's be seated." The Queen projected her voice and a flew claps could be heard amongst the sound of scooting chairs. After everyone took their seats, a dozen servants appeared with carts covered with appetizers and entrees. They made their rounds around the hall and provided every table with a generous number of options.
Once the food was served, the King rang his fork on his glass, "Good morning Aegis's elite. I'm very happy you all came out to join us today in officially welcoming and sending off our new Heroes." He paused and allowed the room ample time to applaud his opener, "Yes, thank you. I'm sure all of you could see that we've been truly blessed by the Divines this Day of Summoning, as we didn't pull one blue Hero, we pulled two. Furthermore, those blues were accompanied by one of the very few and enigmatic purple Heroes." Everyone applauded and cheered again, a few attendees whistled at the recap of yesterday's events.
The King paused again either for dramatic effect or for a genuine loss of words, Pebble was not sure. The King then looked right at Pebble before continuing, "That would normally be a legendary Day of Summoning in of itself. Three Heroes being summoned simultaneously, that were all blue and above, would be an event worthy of the history books. However, what happened next is something that could possibly rewrite history as we know it. A unique was summoned."
Even though the audience saw the events that occurred yesterday, not many people know the ramifications of Divine Thunder. The news that a unique was summoned resulted in many shocked gasps and a few people to stand up from their seats.
"How could this be?" Said a member of the crowd.
"Does this mean we are going to war?" Someone else chimed in.
"Should we shelter?" A woman asked.
The King raised his hand and the chatter was immediately met with silence. He continued, "This is also history's first ever double unique."
The room was silent as everyone stopped breathing at the same time.
The King maintained eye contact with Pebble and asked him one question, "Mister Pebble…" his face dropped any sort of mask and Pebble was now looking eye to eye with a desperate leader. "...are you a good man?"
The entire hall continued to hold their breath as they awaited Pebbles response.
"What do you mean? Of course he's a great…" Bard attempted to answer for him, but Pebble put his hand up.
"Your Majesty, I wish I could say yes, but I simply do not know. What I do know is that I'm willing to give you my all. I'd like to do my part to live up to your expectations." Pebble had not prepared any sort of speech or anything for this occasion, but he hoped his impromptu words would be enough to ease any nerves for now.
It sounded like the entire room took a breath as the King smiled, "That's all I can ask for at the end of the day! Mister Pebble, please come and kneel." Pebble looked at his friends and they shrugged. He got up and walked over to the king.
When he was in front of the King, he kneeled as requested. The King's attendant unsheathed his sword and passed the weapon to his Majesty. He took the blade and raised it above Pebble.
"I know this is sudden Pebble, but I'm going to put my cards on the table for you. Your appearance in this world ruffled some feathers…"
'Oh sh*t,' Pebble thought. His eyes went wide and he stared at the blade above him.
"…And a few people are now afraid of the power we wield here in Aegis. Within moments of your arrival, the Eastern nation of Draza declared war on Aegis." The attendees gasped again, but the King continued, "Since we are already going to war on your behalf, and you've informed us that you're a good man by offering us your all, I henceforth grant you the title of Knight!" He gently patted each of Pebble's shoulders with the sword.
"Oh, thank the gods," Pebble's whole body relaxed. "I thought you were just going to behead me." Pebble said as we wiped the sweat from his brow.
The King looked at him in bewilderment and the entire hall erupted into laughter.