NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 6: - The Heroes
Summoned like discarded objects onto the marble floor, 34 high school students found themselves under the supervision of Princess Elmerda, dressed in cute yet luxurious gowns.
The summoned 34 students were immediately subjected to a record card inspection.
A record card contains a person’s life history. It’s famous for being emitted from a person’s chest upon death, but it can also be confirmed for living individuals through certain skills or magic.
“Why are these people all criminals?”
Out of the 34, 12 were criminals. Whether you call it “only 12” or “as many as 12” depends on the individual’s perspective, but Elmerda felt it was “as many as 12.”
This number accounted for 35% of the summoned 34. A criminal rate of 35% was high. If such a number existed at the national level, it would signify a lack of governance within the country.
“What’s fortunate is that there weren’t many serious criminals.”
Not that there were none. Ten had committed minor crimes such as assault, extortion, and theft, but two had committed serious crimes in this country, like arson and robbery.
Elmerda gazed at the record cards of the summoned heroes with a troubled expression.
“Why is the Fire Hero a criminal?”
Out of the 34, four were hero-class jobs, but of those, three were criminals. Particularly, Shinji Akaba, who was expected to have the highest attack power as the Fire Hero, was an arsonist.
Shinji didn’t become the Fire Hero because he was an arsonist. The fact that Shinji became an arsonist and the Fire Hero was a coincidence. There seemed to be no connection between the attributes of the other heroes and their criminal records.
The record card included details such as name, gender, age, job, skills, and criminal history. However, what mattered most to Princess Elmerda were the job and skills. Even if someone had a criminal history, it was in the past and, more importantly, in a different world. Laws of another world were not applicable in this country, of course. Well, in theory…
“Is it safe to allow those heroes to gain power?”
Summoning them was one thing, but it couldn’t be guaranteed that these heroes wouldn’t bring disaster to the country. Elmerda had believed that heroes equated to exemplary conduct, so she was plagued by great anxiety.
However, summoning the heroes had been widely publicized both domestically and abroad. It was too late to change that now. If even the heroes committed crimes, they had to be punished without mercy. To prevent the summoners from committing crimes, they needed to be educated. Elmerda had never thought she’d be wracking her brains over such matters before the summoning.
Elmerda summoned the Knight Commander and the Mage Commander.
“Teach the 34 people what constitutes a crime. Whether they’re heroes or not, we can’t allow any criminals.”
“We’ve heard about their criminal records. Can we expect rehabilitation for minor offenders?”
The words of the Knight Commander made Elmerda furrow her brow. In this world, criminals were not encouraged to rehabilitate. Criminals were regarded as such and not seen as candidates for rehabilitation. Criminals received punishment based on the crimes they committed. That was all there was to it. The punishment might be more severe than death, though.
“We have no choice but to rehabilitate them. Heroes must become role models for the people. If that doesn’t happen…”
Elmerda struggled to swallow the word “elimination.”
The reason the country had conducted the Hero summoning was due to the increasing number of monsters in several dungeons within the nation. When the number of monsters in dungeons increased, it was only a matter of time before they overflowed onto the surface. To prevent this, it was necessary to thin out the monsters within the dungeons.
Fortunately, there was still a few years before the monsters overflowed from the dungeons. However, once they started increasing, it was not easy to contain the situation. Based on past experiences, it was known that thinning out the monsters in the deeper layers of the dungeon would help calm the situation. That’s why they had summoned the powerful Heroes.
“―――So, any act of taking someone else’s property without permission is considered theft,” the civilian official conducting the lecture explained.
“Hey, what kind of class are we taking here? Even kids know that stuff!” Shinji, the Fire Hero, retorted, sounding annoyed.
“Adults can commit crimes that even children understand. Even if you don’t know these things, you’ll still be punished if you commit a crime, so this lecture is also for your own protection,” the instructor responded.
“Couldn’t the country just deal with all this?” Shinji argued.
From the perspective of the civilian official, it was only natural to abide by the law, but Shinji believed that being summoned gave them privileges. It wasn’t just Shinji; there were a certain number of other Heroes who thought the same way.
Elmerda and her team were aware that they had forcibly brought Shinji and the others into this world. Therefore, as a country, they were providing the Heroes with the best treatment they could offer. However, this was within the bounds of common sense, and they wouldn’t grant excessive privileges.
The civilian official observed the attitude of the Heroes during the class and reported back to Elmerda, “Many of them still have a bad attitude.”
Elmerda observed the situation for about a week and then separated those with bad inclinations from those without. As a result, the Heroes were divided into three groups: one with bad inclinations, including Shinji, which consisted of 14 people; another with good inclinations, comprising 14 people; and a group of six with production-based jobs.
Fortunately, they managed to balance the groups well.
After the sorting, the Knight Commander and the Mage Commander called the Heroes to the training ground.
“For one month, you’ll undergo combat training, and afterward, you’ll enter the dungeons for real. Even during training, if you let your guard down, you might get seriously injured. So give it your all,” the Knight Commander warned, to which the Heroes, especially Shinji’s group, didn’t respond positively.
“Hey, can’t you just let us go to this dungeon thing without all this training?”
“Entering the dungeon without training is dangerous.”
“Isn’t it the job of Heroes to overcome that?”
Shinji continued to insist, and the Knight Commander and the Mage Commander huddled together in consultation.
“Alright, let’s allow Shinji’s group to enter the dungeon.”
They believed that subjecting Shinji to a painful experience might make him reconsider.
“What about the other group?” the question was directed towards the group not including Shinji.
“We’ll go through training first,” replied the group that didn’t include Shinji.
So, the Heroes were divided into two groups: one that would engage in combat training with Shinji’s group, and another that would remain in the castle for training.
Not all the summoned Heroes had combat-oriented jobs. Among the 34 of them, there were 4 with Hero jobs, 8 with frontline combat jobs, 8 magic users, 4 scouts, 4 clerics, and 6 craftsmen and alchemists with production-oriented jobs. Therefore, not everyone was required to undergo combat training.
As evening fell, Sayaka Itsukushima, one of the Heroes with a production-oriented job, returned to her room with a gloomy expression.
“Why doesn’t anyone say anything about Fui-kun…” she mumbled to herself.
This time, their classmates were summoned as well. However, there should have been 35 of them, yet only 34 were summoned. The missing one was Fui.
Since no one knew that Fui was reincarnated in another location, almost all of their classmates believed that he hadn’t been summoned.
Sayaka was the only one who worried about the whereabouts of their missing classmate. She wondered why he was the only one missing, whether he had been sent to another part of this world and was struggling, or if he had suffered.
“For Fui-kun, it might be better that he’s not here…”
All the classmates who had bullied Fui were present. For Fui, being away from them might have been for the best. Especially since Shinji, the leader of the bullies, was here. Just that fact alone meant that Fui would avoid physical violence.
“If only I had more courage, I could have helped Fui-kun…”
She hadn’t had the courage to stop the bullying. Even now, she was afraid of Shinji, or rather, she was even more afraid of him. Sayaka was an alchemist, but Shinji was the Fire Hero, and the difference in their physical strength had become even more apparent.
Sitting on her bed, her reddish hair cascading down, Sayaka whispered in a barely audible voice, “I miss you, Fui-kun…”