"Oh, Heroes who have been destined... Welcome to our world. I apologize for our rudeness earlier, but... please, I beg you, help us!"
After that strange transition, before us stood someone who might be a knight commander. He said that to us with respect.
Wait! Why can I understand the language that knight is using?
I need information! First of all, I will observe for now.
I looked around and noticed that besides the knights, there were at least five other people here with curious expressions. That consisted of two women and three men?
One person raised his hand and began to ask the knight a question.
The man had a thin body and was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a checkered pattern and dark blue trousers.
"Excuse me, is this really another world? Am I a hero? Will I defeat the demon king and get beautiful women as my wives?"
The man asked with such excitement that everyone frowned.
Even the knight frowned after hearing his question.
"Ah, before answering that, let me introduce myself, my name is Grif De Murte, a knight from one of the human kingdoms, JATUMHEIM."
After introducing himself, Grif said,
"As for the hero's question just now. Yes, this is a world different from your previous one, and you are the heroes whose arrival was foretold according to the words of the great witch... As for the other questions, I'm sorry, I also don't know the details. That is why the king himself will explain it, please follow us to the capital of Jatumheim. We have already prepared transportation to get there."
After hearing Grif's words, everyone agreed that it would be better to hear directly from the king.
With our agreement, Grif began leading us toward a luxurious horse-drawn carriage, the carriage bearing a flag embroidered with the image of crossed swords.
According to Grif's explanation, that was the crest of the Royal Family of Jatumheim.
The emblem depicted a symbol of the founder of the Kingdom of Jatumheim. Grif said that the founder of Jatumheim was a dual-sword user.
After entering the carriage, for some reason I suddenly felt something strange on my skin.
Looking around inside the carriage, I was quite surprised that it was much more spacious inside than it appeared from the outside.
Has the technology of this world reached the stage of space manipulation?
"What's with this carriage? Why does the size feel wrong?"
An adult man in a suit from our group entered the carriage and said that.
Hearing the suited man's puzzlement, Grif answered,
"This carriage has been enchanted with spatial magic by the court witch for the comfort of the Royal Family."
Hearing the word "Magic" from Grif made everyone show expressions of amazement.
"O-Oh, I see, so magic really exists in this world."
""Really?""
"YAHOO, MAGIC REALLY EXISTS!!"
"...."
Magic? What is that? Is it some kind of spatial technology device? It seems I'm the only one who doesn't understand.
"Excuse me!"
Hearing that, I snapped out of my thoughts.
I saw the person who, like me, had been silent all this time approach me and start talking.
She looked like she was only in her teens, with a short stature and innocent face, black hair, wearing plain white clothes with black trousers and black shoes.
Hmm, no matter how I look at it, she is a girl, but why is she wearing men's clothing? Is that the custom of their world?
"What is it?"
"Woah! That robotic voice effect is so cool! Oh, forgive me, my name is Chujitsuna Haru, as you can see from my uniform, I am a student."
With sparkling eyes, the child began to politely introduce herself.
Since she started introducing herself, I also introduced myself.
"Oh, nice to meet you, Chujitsuna Haru. My name is Fixl, you can call me that, is there anything I can help you with?"
"Ah, no, I was just curious about the costume you're wearing, Fixl-san. Don't you feel hot wearing a helmet all the time?"
It's not hot at all, but it's true that it's not good to wear it continuously. So, I began to take it off, of course with my own hands.
I know that the technological gap between us is different from this world and their previous world. I don't want to arouse suspicion.
For now, I'll let them assume that I'm from the same world as them.
"Fuuh, it is a bit hot indeed, thank you for your concern, Chujitsuna Haru."
"....."
After I removed my helmet, Haru fell silent and stared at me seriously.
"Hmm? What is it?"
"A-ah, it's nothing. By the way, Fixl-san, are you a foreigner? Is your real name Fixl? I thought it was just a stage name."
A foreigner, huh. I guess I'll use that as my cover story.
"Yes, something like that. As fellow people from another world, let's work well together."
I extended my hand to her as a gesture for a handshake.
Damn! That happened suddenly because it's a habit from my planet.
Seeing me extend my hand, Chujitsuna Haru grasped it—it seems her planet has this custom too.
"Yes, let's work well together."
We shook hands while smiling.
I asked Chujitsuna Haru about the strange feeling I experienced after entering this carriage.
"Chujitsuna Haru..."
"You can call me Haru."
Since it was her request, I followed it.
"Okay, Haru, do you feel anything strange in your body?"
"Strange? No, not at all, why, Fixl-san?"
Hmm, I see! So I'm the only one who felt it?
"No, it's nothing, I was just asking."
"O-okay."
She looked at me with a puzzled gaze but didn't ask further. Is she starting to see me as weird? Hopefully not.
At the same time, the carriage began to move toward the castle Grif had mentioned.
＜＞＜＞＜＞＜＞＜＞
After several hours of traveling through various natural sceneries.
We could see a large city. The city was surrounded by massive walls several meters high, and in the middle of the city stood a tall multi-story building, which was probably the castle we were heading to.
At the city gates, carriages and people were lined up waiting to enter, with several knight guards seemingly conducting inspections.
Upon seeing our carriage, the knights stopped their activities and ran toward us.
One of the guards spoke respectfully,
"We have received a report that royal guests will be visiting the city, please come this way."
After saying that, we were able to enter the city without having to queue.
Inside the city walls was bustling activity.
Stalls lined the streets, people interacted with one another, laughter could be heard everywhere, residents of various races were all around, and children ran with their parents scolding them.
Although it wasn't the same, the energy of life reminded me of old memories.
I smiled at the thought; it had been a long time since I had seen something like this.
"Is there something amusing?"
"Ah, I was just remembering old memories."
"Is that so?"
The one speaking to me was Fujita Kaito, an adult man with some gray hairs.
He was neatly dressed in a black suit. His face was stern, but his words felt gentle and friendly.
During the journey, the six of us had introduced ourselves to each other.
The blonde woman with large blue eyes was named Agatha.
Meanwhile, the mature woman with black hair and gentle eyes was named Kushida Mio.
And then, there was the man across from me...
"haa"
""...""
I smiled awkwardly at him.
His name was Renaldi. He was thin, with shoulder-length black hair and tanned skin.
The way he sighed while looking at me all started from my conversation with Haru.
We had been talking about my suit, which Haru thought was a costume.
Haru assumed I was a user of costumes from anime and games—what they call a cosplayer.
After Renaldi overheard our conversation, he joined in.
At first, Renaldi was enthusiastic about talking about the world they call "Otaku," but after a few of my responses, Renaldi realized I didn't understand a single thing they were saying.
That was when he started sulking and saying things like, "What kind of cosplayer doesn't understand any of this or that!" or "I thought I had found a kindred spirit."
And in the end, he looked at me like he does now.
"haa~"
Hearing Renaldi's frustrated sigh, I could only remain silent.
"...."
Well, I can understand; things like anime and games are his hobbies, of course, someone would be happy to meet someone with the same interests, but unfortunately, that person isn't me.
Even though my planet also has things like cartoons and games, I'm still a novice in such matters. Besides, the cartoons or games from their planet would definitely be different from mine.
More importantly, hearing Haru's comments about their names, unlike me, Agatha and Renaldi were actual foreigners.
＜＞＜＞＜＞＜＞＜＞
After walking through streets with the curious gazes of the locals, we finally arrived at the castle gates, where I saw Grif dismount from his carriage and invite us to step down.
"Please follow me to the reception room."
After saying that, Grif led us to a room, which must have been the reception room he mentioned.
Upon arriving at the door, Grif knocked and said,
knock... knock...
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, the guests have arrived."
"Let them in."
We could hear a deep voice from inside responding to Grif and telling us to enter.
"I can only accompany you this far. The king is waiting inside, please go in."
After hearing Grif's words, we exchanged glances, and with a nod, we opened the door and entered.
Inside the room were various furnishings, several luxurious sofas, and a wooden table carved with great craftsmanship.
On one of the sofas sat a muscular old man dressed in luxurious clothing. With that overwhelming aura, he must be the king of this kingdom.
Behind him stood two people who seemed to be his bodyguards.
A red-eyed woman with blazing red hair and a narrow-eyed man with black hair.
Both wore black armor with gold engravings on its surface.
"As a representative of the people of Jatumheim, I, Cyrus Bel Forgh, welcome you, heroes from another world."
The man who claimed to be the king began to introduce himself, and after his introduction, he spoke with a regretful expression.
"Forgive me for my selfishness; you must be tired from your journey here, but I wanted to see the faces of the destined heroes."
To see our faces, huh... Considering his guards were fully armed and the strange energy I felt in this room, hmm...
I had gotten information about magic from Haru during our journey to the city.
Magic was said to be a fantastical miracle usually only found in fictional stories. However, it seemed in this world, magic truly existed.
That's why people in this world could create that magical carriage, even though their technology was still backward.
And with all these preparations, the king must be wary of us, beings from another world. He wanted to judge whether we were enemies or allies.
"It's no problem, Your Majesty, we understand."
It was Fujita who responded to King Cyrus's apology on our behalf. Perhaps Fujita felt older than us, which is why he took the role of our representative.
"HAHAHA, that's good to hear, please, sit."
Hearing Fujita's words, Cyrus laughed in relief and invited us to sit.
"You must be wondering why you've come to this world; I will explain what I know, slowly."