Volume 1 - CH 1

Chapter 1 – Summoned to Another World

A warm spring breeze was blowing in the classroom. It was almost time for the morning homeroom.

The teacher in charge of our class, Usami Sayaka, made her customary greeting and I — Yuki Haruto — replied, together with my 39 classmates.

Ms. Usami wrote on the blackboard while talking about today’s schedule with her usual clear, easy to understand tone. Basically a model teacher…yet, unfortunately for her, she had to stand on a platform to reach the upper part of the blackboard.

At 23 years old, Ms. Usami was in her second year of teaching, but her height was slightly short of 150 cm —  pretty much on the same level as a junior high school student. Her features were rather childish too, so she looked younger than us high school sophomores.

She had a complex about her looks and height, but her friendly personality made her very popular in school.

“Everyone, today we’re going to decide the two committee members for the upcoming cultural festival.”

Ms. Usami’s words made the whole class buzz for a moment.

Becoming committee members for the cultural festival was a huge workload, after all. It also meant having little to no free time, so most people loathed the idea.

I was one of them, of course, so I looked outside the window, doing my best to show my lack of interest.

Most of the other classmates were acting in the same way, so Ms. Usami was rather vexed.

“Is anyone up to the task?”

Following her words, three students raised their hands.

“I recommend Haruto for the position!”

“Me too, I think Haruto would be a great choice!”

“Me too, me too!”

The trio turned towards me, grinning.

Their names were Mitsurugi Kento, Suruga Hayato, and Matsuba Ryo.

Three classmates who used every opportunity they had to pull nasty pranks, bordering bullying, on me.

The “class leader” Tendo Koji and some of his childhood friends, however, came up to talk to me and helped me out whenever something happened.

Because of that, Mitsurugi and his lackeys ended up being kind of isolated in class…but continued pestering me all the same.

“…so they say, but what do you think, Yuki?”

Ms. Usami probably suspected I was being bullied, so she looked at me with a concerned expression.

Before replying to her, however, I turned towards Mitsurugi and the others.

“Why me? Two of you three could do it instead, no?”

My question was beaten back arrogantly by Mitsurugi.

“Huh? Why do we have to do something like that??”

From his reaction, I concluded that saying anything to them would be pointless, so I turned again towards Ms. Usami.

“Sigh…okay, I will do it.”

“Are you really okay with that? If you don’t want to, someone else can…”

Ms. Usami looked at me with genuine concern. Not wishing to worry her even more, I smiled and shook my head.

“It’s all right.”

I glanced at Mitsurugi and his lackeys: they were probably rather satisfied with pushing that troublesome duty on me, as they were openly grinning.

Before Tendo and the others could say anything — as they often did — another classmate raised her hand: Ichinomiya Suzuno.

“Ms. Usami, I would like to become a committee member too.”

Ms. Usami nodded with approval for her proposal.

It was natural for her to do so: Ichinomiya was not only beautiful but she was also an excellent student who always behaved properly and was well trusted by all teachers. She was one of Tendo’s childhood friends and one of the most prominent members of our class. This made her the most popular student in our class…or even the whole school.

Mitsurugi and his lackeys probably never expected Ichinomiya to say that, so their grins turned into glares. It looked like they wanted to shout at me to switch places with them…but they were the ones to push this thing on me in the first place, weren’t they?

Ms. Usami did not notice their hostile looks and asked Ichinomiya for confirmation.

“I’m really happy you will take on this task, Ichinomiya, but are you sure?”

“Yes, I always wanted to do it at least once.”

So replied Ichinomiya, a gentle smile on her lips.

“Okay then, it’s decided.”

Ms. Usami then wrote my and Ichinomiya’s names on the blackboard.

I started feeling the eyes not only of Mitsurugi and his group but also the other boys gazing at me…

I sighed, thinking that this new task might become a pain to deal with.

It was a rare opportunity though, and together with Ichinomiya, I believed it would work out somehow.

You should try everything at least once, as they say.

That’s what I was thinking when the classroom’s floor suddenly started glowing.

It all happened too fast for me to even move.

“W-what’s going on!?”

I heard someone shout. Geometrical patterns, just like a magic circle you’d see in anime, formed on the floor.

Then, in the following instant, the space around us changed — turning into a large room I’d never seen before.

“….eh?”

I didn’t know who said it, but the confusion in the general tone well represented the whole class’ feelings.

One moment we were sitting at our desks, like every other day, and the next we were in a completely unknown place.

Stone walls and a stone floor, like you’d see in a textbook about medieval Europe. Simple furniture here and there.

The same magic circle that appeared in class was visible on the floor.

In front of us, there was a large stone door about three meters tall.

It looked like Ms. Usami and the whole class were the only people present in the room.

Unable to tell what happened, no one even uttered a word. Then the stone door opened.

A beautiful girl, about the same age as us, appeared from beyond the door. She wore a gorgeous white dress. Six men clad in armor followed her: textbook knights, basically. They stood in formation to defend her, so she had to be of a rather high rank.

The girl and her entourage proceeded to the center of the room and stopped in front of us.

She then stepped forward, elegantly bowed to us, and spoke.

“My utmost gratitude to you for accepting our summoning, noble heroes.”

The girl raised her head and produced a sweet smile, causing some classmates to blush.

As for me, based on the girl’s usage of the word “heroes”, the men’s armor, and the environment we were in, an idea formed in my mind.

— could we really have been summoned to another world…?

We were suddenly enveloped in light and transported to a completely different place and addressed as heroes…it’s a classic situation in the “other world” kind of anime and manga you see so often recently.

I would have never thought to really experience something like that, of course.

I observed my surroundings, reflecting on what to do next, when the girl in the white dress cleared her throat.

She slowly looked at our faces, then started talking.

“Pleased to meet you. I am the first princess of this kingdom of Glicente, Mariana Forla Glicente. This is a different world from the one you come from, noble heroes, a world we call Ar Silat. Now I shall lead you to an audience with my father…no, his excellency the king.”

After Mariana said all that, some classmates who finally realized we had been brought to a different world started clamoring.

“What the hell is this!?”

“Send us back, now!!”

These and other shouts and insults were hurled at Mariana, until Tendo raised his voice to quiet them down.

“Let’s calm down for a second, everybody! This isn’t the time to say that. We should make sense of this situation first. We’ll talk about it afterwards!”

Everyone turned silent, waiting for Tendo’s next words.

“If what the princess said is true, we are no longer on earth, but in ‘another world.’ For now, we should meet with the king and hear what he has to say, shouldn’t we?”

After Tendo finished talking, the other classmates looked at each other, silently.

After a few seconds, however, voices of approval rose among them.

“I agree with that proposal.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s do it!”

“I agree too.”

Soon enough, more than half of the class was on Tendo’s side.

Ms. Usami, unable to grasp the situation, was fretting and fussing, confused, but after some of the girls explained the situation, she decided to agree with Tendo’s proposal too.

“Are we settled, everyone…? Please follow me, then. I shall lead you to the audience chambers.”

Mariana waited for us to reach an agreement, then left the room.

The knights followed and we did after them, with Tendo in the lead.