Arc I – Beautiful World
Chapter 1 – A Gift for the Countess
Day 1 Since the Summoning
For almost five minutes, Alan stared out the window.
His brain was literally drawing a blank.
Eyes wide, mouth open.
He felt a light pat on his shoulder.
“H-hero?”
Alan quickly turned around; the old man behind him pulled his hand back.
His breathing quickened, goosebumps broke out on his skin, and he just looked at it all with wide eyes.
“My God…
what the hell is going on?!”
The nobility began to whisper quietly.
“And this is a hero?”
“The others were better…”
“Countess Kamelia is quite unlucky…”
Alan didn’t hear them; he just looked around with almost crazed eyes, trying to digest even a little of what was happening, but his brain kept throwing an error.
“Can I…
go…
back?” he squeezed out in a hoarse voice between breaths.
The old man simply shook his head, then opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly a woman in her twenties stepped out from the front rows.
She wore a blue medieval uniform, tall boots, had red eyes, and long black hair tied in a ponytail.
Kamelia.
She walked up to Alan in silence; he didn’t even look at her, continuing to frantically look around.
“Check his magic,” Kamelia said in a voice that was lower than usual for women.
The old man in robes nodded and then waved his hand at a young man in a similar robe.
The young man approached with a round, purple stone and offered it to Alan.
“Touch it…
please.”
Alan glanced at the stone with wide eyes, and then slowly, very slowly, placed his hand on it.
The stone glowed purple.
The old man looked closely.
“Well…
overall, not bad.
An average result, but far too little for a hero.”
Kamelia pressed her lips together, said nothing, and then turned to the old man.
“I presume the Svyatol Summoning is concluded?”
The old man nodded.
“Yes, milady Kamelia.
The traditional feast will take place now.”
“I decline,” she said, then shifted her gaze to Alan, who had stopped looking around and was just staring out the window with empty eyes.
“Hey, you.”
Alan did not react.
Kamelia raised an eyebrow, and then slapped him on the back.
Alan jumped in surprise and winced slightly from the sting.
“We are departing for the Armenas domain, my domain, just so you know.
You do not have much of a choice.”
Alan rubbed his back, and then simply gave a reluctant nod and followed Kamelia.
Five minutes later, Alan was already riding in a carriage rolling along the capital’s paved road.
Kamelia sat across from him, inspecting him from head to toe.
“What is your name?”
He was silent for a few seconds.
“Alan,” he replied without turning away from the window.
“Alan,” Kamelia repeated.
“Very well, call me simply Lady Armenas.
You have been summoned by Svyatol as a hero and assigned to my service.
Formally, you are now my property, Alan.”
Alan snorted, then snorted again, until it turned into a quiet laugh.
“Your property…
haha, fuck, am I some purchase on a marketplace to you?” he laughed louder, clutching his head with one hand.
“Are you guys completely fucking out of your minds?!”
Kamelia frowned.
“I…
did not understand half of those words, but I grasped the meaning.
You understand nothing, but it is fine, you will get used to it.
Furthermore, you use foul language excessively.”
Alan looked at her with wide eyes; his laughter slowly died down.
“Alright…
alright…
then tell me, why the hell was I ‘summoned’ here?”
The carriage hit another pothole, making Alan wince.
Kamelia crossed her legs.
“I will explain it briefly.
Every five years, heroes are summoned at different times over the course of the final year.
By the tradition of the Groliria Kingdom, each noble receives a hero at random to assist their domain.
And this year, that opportunity fell to me.” She sighed.
“And I am not very lucky, it seems.
There are already so many problems…” she cut herself off.
“That is the situation, Alan.”
Alan was silent for another few seconds, then slowly grabbed his head.
“Where.
Did.
I.
End up.”
“The Kingdom of Gro…”
“Yeah, I got that!” Alan interrupted.
He opened his mouth to say something else but waved his hand.
“Whatever, drop it.”
Kamelia raised an eyebrow again.
“Drop what?”
Alan waved his hand.
“Don’t pay attention to it, I said.” Then he pressed his forehead against the window.
‘Oh.
My.
God.
I’m in another world.
I’ve been summoned.
I’m going crazy.
This can’t be happening.
It’s…
it’s physically impossible!’
He began to massage the bridge of his nose.
‘Alright, calm down Alan, let’s look at this rationally.
I’m in another world.
One.
I’ve been summoned as a hero.
Two.
I…
I don’t even know what to do!
How can anyone think under these conditions?!’
Meanwhile, the carriage left the city and rolled onto dirt roads; it immediately began to shake.
Alan barely held on; Kamelia sat with a stone face.
“Very well,” she began.
“You possess no strong magic.
What else can you do?
Read?
Write?
Fight?”
Alan turned toward her.
“Well…
I can read, but probably not in your language.
I can count, too.”
“Seven multiplied by nine?”
Alan froze for a second.
“Sixty-three.”
“And four by five?”
“Twenty.”
Kamelia nodded.
“Good.
So you are not entirely useless.
I believe I can find a use for you; you will manage the treasury.”
Alan chuckled nervously.
“You’re pragmatic, I see.”
Kamelia frowned.
“Listen…
could you express yourself more clearly?”
Alan blinked.
‘Alright, this is definitely the Middle Ages by our standards, maybe even the Early Middle Ages, if they don’t understand abstract concepts here.’
He took a breath.
“I’m saying you do what brings benefit.”
Kamelia nodded.
“Ah, yes.
I do what brings benefit to my lands, I am a countess after all.”
Alan leaned back.
“How long is the ride?”
“Three days.”
Alan whistled.
“Wow…
that’s a lot, yeah…
oh right, of course.
It’s a carriage.
Alright then…
at least tell me what kind of lands you’ve got over there?”
Kamelia sat up straighter.
“Then listen to the situation.
In the County of Armenas, there is one main fortress city, which is where we are heading, five minor towns, and about sixty villages.”
Alan stayed silent, tilting his head.
“And?”
Kamelia raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean, ‘and’?”
“Population?”
“As I said, a main city, five mi—”
“No, that’s not it,” Alan interrupted.
“The population, people, human beings, how many in total?”
Kamelia blinked.
“Why?
No one counts that.
There are villages.”
“Listen,” Kamelia interrupted his thoughts.
“What are windmills and crossbows?
Are those some things from your world?”
Alan waved his hand.
“Never mind.”
Kamelia frowned, and then leaned in closer.
“No, it is important.
You ask about some incomprehensible words, and then think about something for a long time.” She narrowed her eyes.
“Be so kind as to tell me what you are plotting.”
Alan took a deep breath.
“Alright, I’ll explain it simpler.
The world I come from, it’s more…
developed than yours.”
Kamelia blinked.
“Developed in what sense?”
Alan pressed his lips together.
‘I need to test something.’
“Do you know what a crossbow is?”
“A what?”
“And a windmill?”
Kamelia didn’t answer; she just blinked helplessly, looking at Alan.
“What are these words anyway?”
Alan’s head dropped.
‘No crossbows, no windmills, this shit can be classified as…
the Early Middle Ages.’
He rested his elbows on his knees.
“Simply put, we have things that you don’t.
The windmill I was talking about is a mill that grinds grain using the wind; a crossbow is a powerful weapon that…”
‘Uh-oh, looks like she’s going to think I’m crazy now.’
Kamelia was silent, and then reached her hand toward his chest.
Alan flinched, but Kamelia grabbed the collar of his suit jacket and rubbed it between her fingers, then squinted.
“Your clothes…
they are very smooth.
The seams are barely visible.
I only just noticed…” Then she shifted her gaze to the bag on his hip.
“And what is that?
A travel bag?”
Alan nodded slowly.
“Well…
kind of.
Listen, what were…
the other heroes like?”
Kamelia let go of his collar and sat back.
“They were strange too, just like you.
I saw many during the summoning ceremonies; most of them wore clothes similar to yours.
But they were all gifted with powerful magic.”
Alan tilted his head to the side.
“And where are the other four?”
Kamelia crossed her arms over her chest.
“Scattered somewhere across the kingdom, to different nobles.
The last one, who possessed healing magic, went to Duke Renabo, one of the most powerful dukes in Groliria.”
Alan nodded.
‘Clothes similar to mine…
which means I’m not alone in this world.
It’s worth…
finding the others someday.
But…’
“Kamelia, how long has this tradition existed?”
She narrowed her eyes; he had called her by her first name instead of her last, but she said nothing.
“Approximately three hundred years.”
He closed his eyes.
“And has anything changed globally since then?
…
I mean, has the kingdom changed very much since then?”
Kamelia shook her head.
“Of course it has changed.
Thanks to heroes with strong magic, the nobles become stronger.”
Alan leaned back in his seat, looking out the window.
‘Yeah…
so globally, nothing has changed.
I meant whether new technologies had arrived…
but it seems not.
But why?
If these heroes are from my world, that means they possess modern knowledge too.
Three hundred years, five heroes summoned every five years, that’s…’
He scratched his chin.
‘That’s exactly three hundred heroes.
Did none of them really change the world with advanced knowledge?
That’s…
alright.
I’ll think about this later…
wait, I’m thinking too much, she’s going to turn on Sherlock Holmes again and start interrogating me, say something!’
Alan sighed.
“And you ended up with me, all handsome and without any magical abilities.”
Kamelia nodded immediately.
“Exactly.”
Alan raised an eyebrow.
‘Wow, she doesn’t hold back at all.
So, alright, she seems to see a use for me, but…
who the hell knows what’s in this aristocrat’s head.
I need to make sure she doesn’t scrap me prematurely, because I doubt they have the UN and human rights protections here, and only then will I figure out what to do next.’
The carriage hit another bump, and a dense forest appeared outside the window instead of fields.
Alan leaned in closer.
“Listen, since I’m going to be managing the treasury, tell me, what’s the currency here?
Money?
What do people pay with?
What’s the exchange rate?”
Kamelia blinked.
“What do people pay with?
Usually livestock, grain, or metal; aristocrats pay with silver coins.
Sometimes, I have heard, foreign merchants from the Arumelian Empire bring in gold coins.”
Alan nodded.
‘The Arumelian Empire?
Now that’s interesting.
Merchants bring gold coins, and if it’s rare…
it means it’s highly developed and very far away.
I’ll keep that in mind.
As for the kingdom…
it’s basically the classics.
Barter and occasionally silver coins for the upper classes; in short, chaos.
It won’t be easy for me…
handling these calculations.
Okay, I need to pull more info out of her.’
Alan leaned forward.
“What’s the current state of your lands?”
Kamelia froze for a second, then pressed her lips together.
“Poor.”
“Can you be more specific?”
Kamelia was silent for a few seconds, then closed her eyes.
“My father died half a year ago, and as his only daughter, I inherited the county.
Currently, disease, famine, and bandit raids run rampant there.” She clenched her fists.
“My advisors are telling me to marry a neighboring count to save my domain from extinction.”
Alan froze for a second.
“So you don’t know how to rule?”
Kamelia exhaled heavily, closed her eyes, and then opened them.
“No.
I do not.
I am a warrior, not a ruler.”
Alan looked at her with his mouth slightly open.
‘So that’s who you are…
just a scared girl who got handed a massive burden.
We’re alike.
I can work with this.’
“I’ll try to help you.”
Kamelia gave him a sidelong glance.
“And how exactly will you help?
Drive away the sickness?
Feed the people?
What can you do?”
Alan closed his eyes.
“Let’s not get emotional.
I’m in deep shit, and you’re in deep shit too.
I want to somehow survive, and you want to hold onto your lands.” He held up a finger.
“Think about it yourself, what do you have to lose if I try to help?”
The girl narrowed her eyes.
“People, for instance.
What if this ‘help’ of yours only harms my lands?
How would you know how to rule?”
Alan froze for a second, and then sat up straight.
“First, when we get there, we’ll see what we have to work with, and we’ll figure it out from there.”