Hero Summoning

I took the opportunity to pass on information about Toy to Dolche-san.

"What a hassle…"

Dolche-san scratched her head and muttered.

"Ah… thank you for the information. Leave the rest to me, I can take it from here."

"Please do… You won't be killing people, right?"

"Of course not… on the condition that we achieve some results in their negotiations with the Empire, or by handing over the director of the Magical Research Institute… yeah…"

With that, I decided to leave the handling of the prince to Dolche-san.

It seemed like she would settle things more smoothly than I had anticipated.

Dolche-san is so capable, unlike Misha… well, Misha's also quite capable in her own way when it comes to combat.

The prince and his companions had finally given up on breaking through the puzzle room and left the village the next day with broad smiles on their faces.

Dolche-san is amazing! How capable is she…

 

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The prince and his companions also looked around for Uuma, but most people didn't know about him. The few who did know about Uuma told them [He's sensitive to trouble, so he just came to greet us and left], which made the prince look dejected.

Rokuko and I were relaxing in my room at the village chief's house, as usual.

"Man, that was a close call this time. What do you think would have happened if the puzzle room wasn't there?"

"Hmm… They might have infiltrated the Core Room just beyond the Boss Room."

The Iron Haniwa in the arena and the Dragon Golem in the Boss Room might have been defeated since they managed to break through the original Haniwa Golem, which Niku controlled, without a scratch.

"The Iron Haniwa Golem has the same attack pattern and the Dragon Golem isn't that strong… should we strengthen the dungeon more?"

"That's a tough question. But wasn't the plan to let them conquer it to some extent?"

"Oh yeah, it was."

The Dummy Core Room was created for that purpose. It was a showy Core Room.

"By the way, the village chief of Golen is supposed to have conquered up to that point, right?"

"That's right."

Without lying, what I'd told the Adventurer's Guild was [I went to the depths of the dungeon and confirmed the location of the core].

"In other words, you could say that you're the only person who's ever conquered me, right?"

"Ah… I guess so?"

"Kehma doesn't want anyone else to conquer me… Even if they reach the core and say they've conquered me, only Kehma has really gone to my deepest parts, right?"

Unable to deny her words, I patted the grinning Rokuko's head.

Was I being possessive? Well, yeah.

And I was completely off guard.

That's why I couldn't react in time to the magic circle that appeared at my feet.

"Huh?"

"Nn?"

My vision was enveloped in light.

 

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Before I knew it, Rokuko and I were in a stone-built room.

"Oh! The hero! We did it; the summoning was successful!"

In front of us stood a middle-aged man wearing a red cape and a crown. There were soldiers, maids, an old man, and a man wrapped in a robe.

What's going on? What just happened?

Rokuko was also wide-eyed with surprise, not understanding what was going on. Then, the crowned middle-aged man—the king—addressed us.

"Hero, we ask for your help!"

"… Huh? Hero?"

"Kehma, what's going on?"

Rokuko and I had been lying around in the room, so we weren't wearing shoes.

It seemed like we had been transported to this place… and there was talk of a hero.

"Could this be… a transfer to another world…!?"

"You are indeed a person from Japan; you catch on quickly! Welcome to our Kingdom of Daido. Please, could you save our country?"

Ah, Daido, huh? I get it.

I discreetly gave opening the the dungeon menu a shot… Ah, it worked. As expected. The map function showed… yep, it looked to be the map of Daido's royal capital.

Let's calm down for a moment. This must be Leona's doing. We'll fall right into Leona's trap if we panic here.

However, speaking of Daido, it was located south of the Empire and quite far from Golen. It should require an enormous amount of magical power to transport Rokuko and me here.

"What should we do, Kehma?"

"For now… let's just observe the situation."

I should probably play along as the hero who was summoned to Daido for now. Then, I might be able to bring back some evidence of Leona's scheming.

The man who appears to be the king of Daido is waiting for our response, so let's ask him about the situation.

"Um, could you tell me the circumstances?"

"Of course. Minister, explain."

"Yes. Well, this is what you would call another world compared to the world where you once resided, hero. We would like you to save our country from its crisis. In return, we promise to send you back to your original world with a generous reward."

The minister was twirling his mustache as he spoke.

"… What sort of crisis?"

"The invasion of the Demon King. Our world is currently on the brink of a crisis due to the Demon King."

The minister nonchalantly mentioned such a thing.

Does he think we knew nothing and planned to feed us convenient information?

"Also, taking advantage of the world crisis, a country called the Empire is invading, and some of our Daido's territory has been seized."

"Oh, that's quite serious."

"Yes, that's why we would like to borrow the power of a hero."

By the way, according to what I heard from Haku-san, the Raverio Empire was indeed invading everywhere, so it didn't seem to be a complete lie.

I glanced at Rokuko.

So Daido had laid hands on Rokuko… weren't they doomed? Damn.