The next morning, like any perfectly sensible person who had just been incinerated by the woman she loved, I woke up with one hand slowly massaging my vagina and the other pinching one of my nipples.
Still half asleep, I kept a lazy rhythm while thinking about Morgause. About how completely red her face had been the night before, how her breathing had changed, and the way she had pressed her legs together beneath the table while desperately trying to maintain her composure.
After thirty-four attempts, I had finally accomplished something new.
I had turned her on.
Just remembering that made me pinch my nipple a little harder while my other fingers continued moving over my vagina.
I closed my eyes.
At first, I simply imagined Morgause naked beside me on the bed. Her red hair spilling over her shoulders, her eyes fixed on mine, and that serious expression she would undoubtedly try to maintain even while completely naked.
Then I imagined her moving closer.
Kissing my neck first.
Then making her way down my chest.
Over my stomach.
Until she was between my legs.
My breathing began to quicken as I imagined her tongue moving over my vagina, slowly at first, her eyes never leaving mine. My own fingers started moving with more insistence, and I felt myself growing wetter as the fantasy became more intense.
“Mmm... Morgause...”
Her name escaped my lips almost like a sigh.
And then the Morgause in my imagination decided to go even lower.
I felt her tongue against my anus.
“No, Your Majesty, wait... that place is dirty...”
The protest came out considerably less convincing than I would have liked.
I could clearly feel her tongue pushing inside and pulling back out again and again, starting with a slow rhythm before gradually becoming more insistent. Every movement made my body react all over again, tensing and relaxing almost on instinct.
At the same time, my other hand kept moving over my vagina, following the fantasy as my arousal made every sensation more intense. My breathing grew faster, tiny beads of sweat began gathering across my skin, and before long I was clutching the sheets, completely lost in what I was imagining.
My fantasy continued without even giving me enough time to question what any of this said about my subconscious.
A moment later, Morgause was in front of me again.
Both of us naked.
Holding each other.
Kissing.
Our bodies pressed together as our vaginas began rubbing slowly against each other. At first, the motion was gentle, almost as though we were testing each other, but little by little our hips started moving with greater urgency.
I imagined her arms wrapped around me, my hands running over her back, and our eyes meeting between kisses as we continued moving together. The wetness between us increased with every motion. Our vaginal fluids mixed as we kept rubbing against one another, making every bit of friction feel even more intense.
My breathing became faster.
So did my hand.
In my imagination, Morgause began moving harder against me. There was nothing slow or hesitant about it anymore. Our bodies remained completely pressed together, wet and hot, while we continued kissing without leaving practically any space between us.
Sweat began running down my neck, between my breasts, and over my stomach. I could feel the sheets sticking slightly to my back as my body grew hotter and hotter.
“Ah... Your Majesty...”
I was beginning to lose myself completely in the fantasy.
Just a little more.
A little more and—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
I nearly jumped out of bed.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”
I froze, breathing heavily as I stared at the door like the person standing on the other side had just committed a crime against humanity.
Right now.
It had to be right now.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“I’M COMING!”
I threw the sheets aside with considerably more violence than necessary and jumped out of bed.
Or tried to.
One of my legs got tangled in the blankets, and I had to grab the mattress to keep myself from falling face-first onto the floor.
“I’m fine!”
Nobody had asked.
BANG! BANG!
“I SAID I’M COMING! GIVE ME A MINUTE!”
I got to my feet and started looking for my clothes while trying to ignore two rather obvious problems.
The first was that I was still turned on.
The second was that I was angry precisely because I was still turned on.
I found my underwear beside the bed, my shirt on top of a chair, and one of my socks under the table.
The other was on a lamp.
I stared at it.
I couldn’t remember doing anything the night before that would justify a sock ending up there.
I decided that was a mystery for another day.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“FOR THE LOVE OF EVERY GOD, THE DOOR ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE!”
I tried putting my shirt on too quickly, shoved one arm through the wrong opening, and somehow ended up trapped inside my own clothes.
“I HEARD YOU!”
I struggled.
“ONE MINUTE!”
I struggled again.
“AND STOP KNOCKING OR WHEN I OPEN THIS DOOR, YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A RESPAWN POINT!”
Silence.
Finally.
I managed to get my head through the correct opening and stood still for several seconds, breathing deeply.
I was a heroine.
The Heroine of the Staff.
One of five legendary people summoned from another world.
I could open a door without murdering whoever was standing behind it.
Probably.
I fixed my hair just enough that it no longer looked like I had been fighting some kind of monster beneath the sheets, checked that I was wearing all the necessary pieces of clothing, and opened the door.
“What...?”
I stopped.
I had expected a huge guard, some Guild employee, or, in the worst possible case, Blazer arriving to ruin my morning for entirely different reasons.
Instead, there was a girl.
A very pretty girl.
She was small, though clearly a young adult, considerably shorter than me, with a slender body and such soft features that my anger dropped by approximately forty percent the moment I saw her. Ash-blond hair was carefully arranged around her face, framing long eyelashes, large pale eyes, and an appearance so feminine that it never even occurred to me to question my first impression.
She wore the dark blue uniform of an official messenger. The sleeves were just a little too long for her arms, and she held a leather satchel against her chest with both hands.
She was also breathing like she had sprinted up every staircase in the building.
The moment she saw me, her eyes lit up.
“H-Heroine Nellie?”
That eliminated another ten percent of my anger.
It was difficult to remain properly furious when an adorable girl was staring at you as if you had just descended from the heavens.
“That depends a lot on why you were trying to knock my door down.”
Her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry!”
She bowed so quickly that the messenger bag slipped off her shoulder.
She tried to catch it.
Missed.
The bag hit one knee.
She hopped.
Tried again.
This time she caught it a few inches before it hit the floor.
She froze there, clutching it against her chest.
“...I’m sorry again.”
I stared at her.
My anger had now dropped to dangerously low levels.
“It’s fine. The door survived.”
That seemed to reassure her.
Then she sniffed lightly.
“Although...”
My entire body tensed.
“Although what?”
She sniffed again and glanced vaguely into my room.
“There’s a strange smell.”
My soul left my body.
Only for a second.
But it definitely left.
The girl inhaled through her nose once more with an expression of absolute innocence.
“Is it some kind of magical oil?”
I stared at her.
There was no teasing.
No understanding.
Nothing.
Just genuine curiosity.
Thank every god in this world.
And all the ones on Earth.
And anyone else who was still accepting gratitude.
“Yes.”
I answered much too quickly.
“Magical oil.”
“Oh.”
She nodded, fascinated.
“I’ve never smelled one like that.”
“It’s very specialized.”
“For mana recovery?”
“Among other things.”
Perfect.
Flawless.
The most convincing conversation of my life.
The girl accepted the explanation without suspecting a thing, and judging from the innocent expression she still wore, I doubted she even had enough context to reach a different conclusion.
Then she suddenly seemed to remember that she had come here for something more important than analyzing the smell of my bedroom.
She straightened up, adjusted her bag, took a deep breath, and tried to adopt a professional expression.
“Sorry. I’m William Hart, Second-Class Assistant Messenger of the Central Summoning Hall.”
I smiled.
“Nice to meet you, Willi—”
My brain stopped.
William.
I blinked.
I looked at him again.
Carefully arranged hair.
Long eyelashes.
Small, delicate face.
Narrow waist.
Slim legs.
I looked back at his face.
William.
I waited a second.
Maybe I had heard wrong.
“Did you say William?”
He frowned slightly.
“Yes.”
“William... William?”
“I’m not aware of another kind of William.”
I stared at him for another two seconds.
And finally, the pieces clicked into place.
“Oh.”
William closed his eyes.
His expression belonged to someone who had already lived through this exact moment far too many times.
“Yes.”
“You’re a boy.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him again.
Now armed with that information.
It changed absolutely nothing about my next conclusion.
“A very pretty boy.”
His eyes flew open.
“W-What?!”
Ah.
That reaction was adorable too.
“Sorry. That last part was supposed to stay inside my head.”
“You were thinking it?!”
“Well, now you know I was thinking it.”
William turned red all the way to his ears.
A femboy.
There it was.
The Earth term my brain had been searching for.
And an extremely convincing one.
“Don’t worry. Back on Earth, we had a word for men like you.”
William went pale.
“Was it offensive?”
“No.”
He relaxed.
I paused.
“I think.”
He tensed again.
“Better not ask.”
“I think I’d rather not.”
Smart.
And pretty.
William cleared his throat and tried to recover his professionalism, although his ears remained completely red.
“In any case... Heroine Nellie, I have something very important to deliver to you.”
That was when I remembered he probably hadn’t assaulted my door first thing in the morning just to have a minor identity crisis with me.
“Go ahead.”
William opened his bag.
He pulled out an envelope.
Looked at it.
Frowned.
“Not this one.”
He put it back.
Pulled out another.
“Not this one either.”
He reached inside again.
The bag slipped off his shoulder.
He caught it with his elbow.
The first envelope almost fell.
He caught that with his other hand.
A small metal cylinder shot out of one of the pockets.
He caught it between two fingers.
I stared at him.
William stared at all the objects he had somehow managed to catch.
“I had it under control.”
“Naturally.”
He carefully put everything away, shoved practically half his arm inside the bag, and finally pulled out a black envelope.
The instant he saw it, he changed.
The clumsiness disappeared.
His back straightened, and that adorably nervous expression gave way to an unexpectedly professional focus.
“This one.”
He handed it to me with both hands.
Five symbols surrounded the central seal.
A sword.
A shield.
A spear.
A bow.
And a staff.
That wiped the smile from my face.
“That looks rather official.”
“It is.”
William swallowed.
“Very.”
I took the envelope.
“What happened?”
“I wasn’t allowed to read the full report. My instructions were to find you, personally deliver the summons, and confirm that you understood you were required to report immediately.”
“Just me?”
“No. All five heroes.”
That got my full attention.
William nodded.
“Different messengers were sent to the Hero of the Sword, the Hero of the Shield, the Heroine of the Spear, and the Hero of the Bow. We all received the same orders at dawn.”
He paused.
Then lowered his eyes slightly.
“I asked to deliver yours.”
I blinked.
“You specifically asked to come see me?”
The red immediately returned to his ears.
“Well...”
“William.”
“Yes?”
“Are you a fan of mine?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way!”
I smiled.
“That sounds very much like something a fan would say.”
“I just... know quite a bit about your work.”
That made me raise an eyebrow.
“My work?”
His eyes began to brighten.
“I’ve read your mission reports. The troll incident, your use of light magic during combat to minimize collateral damage, your training records, and how quickly you mastered Instant Movement. I also read that you developed fire resistance in an extraordinarily short period. According to the instructors, your magical adaptation rate is well above average even among the other summoned heroes.”
He became increasingly animated as he spoke.
“And, of course, there are all your expeditions into demon territory.”
Ah.
Those.
“According to the reports, you’ve reached the Demon Queen’s castle more times than any other hero. Even after being defeated, you keep going back again and again. Some instructors say you’ve practically built your entire fighting style around finding a way to confront her.”
Technically...
He wasn’t wrong.
Fire resistance so I could stay close to Morgause longer.
Barriers so I could finish my marriage proposals.
Instant Movement so I could appear in front of her whenever she tried to walk away.
It was, without question, a fighting style built around the Demon Queen.
Just probably not in the way William imagined.
“They say you’ve even died several times trying to reach her,” he continued, watching me with an admiration that was beginning to make me feel slightly guilty. “And you still keep going back.”
He clasped his hands around the strap of his bag.
“I think that’s incredible.”
I smiled with all the heroic dignity I could gather.
“Well... I’m pretty persistent.”
That was probably the most honest answer I could give him without shattering all his dreams.
“Exactly! You never give up.”
Especially when there’s an extremely attractive red-haired Demon Queen waiting at the end.
That part stayed wisely inside my head.
“You are definitely a fan.”
William turned red again.
“I just have a great deal of respect for your dedication!”
“That’s being a fan with extra steps.”
“Miss Nellie...”
He was far too easy.
And I was starting to understand perfectly why Blazer enjoyed teasing me so much.
Karma.
Terrible concept.
I broke the seal.
The letter was short.
That was never a good sign.
EMERGENCY SUMMONS
TO THE FIVE SUMMONED HEROES
During the early hours of the morning, a dimensional anomaly was detected within the Central Summoning Hall.
My smile vanished.
I kept reading.
All five circles used in the original summoning rituals reactivated simultaneously without any ritual being performed.
Shortly afterward, a spatial fracture appeared within the Central Chamber.
Initial measurements have confirmed a concomitant resonance with the five dimensional signatures corresponding to the summoned heroes.
The immediate presence of all five heroes is required.
Until all five have assembled, direct interaction with the anomaly is strictly prohibited.
I finished reading.
I remained completely still.
So did William.
The mood changed.
An unknown dimensional fracture.
All five circles activating on their own.
A possible connection to all five summonings.
Slowly, I raised my head.
“William.”
My voice came out so serious that he immediately straightened his back.
“Yes, Miss Nellie.”
He gripped the strap of his bag with both hands.
His eyes locked onto mine.
He looked ready to hear a question whose answer might determine the fate of all five heroes.
I narrowed my eyes.
Then stuck my tongue slightly out of one corner of my mouth.
“What does concomitant mean?”
William froze.
Completely.
His expression died.
I think he even stopped breathing for a second.
“...What?”
I pointed at the letter.
“Concomitant. That word. I don’t know what it means.”
William looked at the letter.
Then at me.
Then back at the letter.
All the dramatic tension he had built up over the past ten seconds left his body at once.
“It means... something happening at the same time as something else. Or alongside it.”
“Oh.”
I nodded very seriously.
“Then why didn’t they just write ‘at the same time’?”
William opened his mouth.
Closed it.
“I don’t know.”
“Mages make everything too complicated.”
“It’s an official report.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
William watched me for a moment.
Something in his expression told me that the mental image he had of the legendary Heroine of the Staff had just developed its first crack.
And we hadn’t even seen the dimensional one yet.
I looked back at the letter.
“Okay. Now seriously. What exactly is a ‘spatial fracture’?”
His expression became serious again.
“That... they don’t completely know either.”
“Who doesn’t know?”
“The dimensional mages.”
Worse.
“The specialists?”
“Yes.”
Much worse.
I folded the letter slightly.
“What does it look like?”
William moved his hands, trying to find the right explanation.
“Like... a crack.”
I stared at him.
“Very informative.”
“Sorry. It’s difficult to describe. It’s a line suspended in midair. It isn’t on a wall or the floor. It’s simply there. The edges change color, and the space around it seems to distort.”
That sounded considerably less pleasant than an ordinary crack.
“How big is it?”
William held two fingers close together.
“When it appeared, about this big.”
Then he spread both hands much farther apart.
“When I left the Hall... about this big.”
My mood dropped another little bit.
“It’s growing?”
“Yes.”
“Of course it is.”
Why would an unknown dimensional fracture have the courtesy to remain small?
“Did they try closing it?”
William grimaced.
“That face means it didn’t work.”
“The first attempt produced no change.”
“Well. It could be worse.”
“The second made it grow.”
I went silent.
“I take that back.”
“After that, the archmage prohibited any further intervention until all five heroes were present.”
I looked again at the symbols around the seal.
“Why us?”
William seemed relieved to finally have a question with an actual answer.
“Every summoning leaves behind a dimensional signature. It’s a kind of magical imprint connected both to the summoned person’s point of origin and their arrival point. All five of your signatures were recorded within the original circles.”
“And this thing is reacting to all five.”
“Exactly.”
That made my stomach feel slightly strange.
“Is that normal?”
William looked at me.
“There is a fracture floating in the middle of the Summoning Hall.”
“Good point.”
“None of this is normal.”
I definitely liked him.
“Do they know where it leads?”
William slowly shook his head.
“No. But the archmage believes the five summonings may have left some kind of residual connection between both worlds.”
I stopped moving.
Both worlds.
Earth.
I hadn’t thought about it very much lately.
Not because I had forgotten it.
How did you forget an entire world?
But every day here made that life feel a little more distant.
Arthur.
My old home.
The streets I knew.
Technology I had once considered boring.
People who probably never learned what had happened to me.
And now there was a possibility that something was connecting those two places again.
“Could it become a portal?”
“They don’t know.”
“Could things come through?”
“They don’t know.”
“People?”
“They don’t know.”
“Could it explode and turn us into some particularly unpleasant piece of multidimensional decoration?”
William opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Thought for a moment.
“I didn’t ask that.”
“Add it to the list.”
He immediately pulled a tiny notebook from his bag.
“Really?”
I stared at him.
He already had his pen ready.
“That was a joke.”
“Oh.”
He slowly put the notebook away.
“Although you could ask.”
He pulled it back out.
I smiled.
Clumsy, adorable, and dangerously committed to his job.
“Have the others already received their summons?”
“They should have. All five messengers left at almost the same time.”
“So Blazer is having a terrible morning too.”
That improved my mood slightly.
William looked confused.
“Do you have a problem with the Hero of the Sword?”
“He’s my friend.”
“Oh.”
“That’s exactly why I hope he’s having a terrible morning.”
William took several seconds to process that.
“Friendship between heroes is more complicated than I imagined.”
“You have no idea.”
I read the summons again.
A dimensional fracture.
Five signatures.
A possible connection to Earth.
And I had started that morning thinking exclusively about Morgause’s imaginary tongue.
Life had an extraordinary talent for changing the subject.
“When do I need to report?”
William looked at me with complete seriousness.
“Immediately.”
I looked at my hair.
Then at my shirt, which was still slightly crooked.
Then at my bed.
Scientific research would have to wait.
Tragic.
“All right. I just need to get ready.”
William nodded quickly.
“The other heroes are being summoned as well. We were told all five of you are to report directly to the Central Hall.”
“Then I’ll see you there.”
“Yes, Miss Nellie.”
He turned around so quickly that his shoulder slammed into the doorframe.
“Ow!”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
William immediately straightened as if nothing had happened.
“I’m fine.”
“I didn’t even ask.”
He froze.
“Oh.”
Then he started walking down the hallway with as much dignity as he could gather.
It lasted approximately four steps.
He stumbled over his own feet, somehow recovered his balance, and kept walking as though nothing had happened.
I leaned slightly out of the doorway.
“I saw that!”
William sped up without turning around.
I smiled.
Yes.
I definitely liked him.
I closed the door, and for the first time since waking up, my room became completely silent.
I looked at the letter again.
A fracture between worlds.
The five heroes.
Earth.
I sighed.
“Well... at least it isn’t another troll.”
I started getting ready.
First, I needed clothes more appropriate for a potential dimensional catastrophe. Then came the potion belt: two mana potions, two healing potions, and one for magical resistance.
I reconsidered.
Added another mana potion.
I had absolutely no frame of reference for how many potions were considered appropriate when reality itself started breaking apart.
I picked up my staff and carefully checked that the crystal was intact. Then I secured the bag at my waist and checked a second time that I hadn’t forgotten anything.
Finally, I stood in front of the mirror.
Hair.
Acceptable.
Clothes.
Correct.
Staff.
Ready.
Potions.
Ready.
Dignity.
My eyes slowly drifted toward the tangled sheets.
I decided to remove that category from the inspection.
As I finished adjusting my cloak, my gaze returned to the summons on the table.
If that thing truly was connected to Earth, the five of us would have questions.
A lot of them.
And for the first time since we had arrived in this world, maybe some of them would have answers.
Arthur.
My old life.
The place all five of us had been torn away from.
And now, somehow, something was trying to connect the two worlds again.
I tightened my grip around my staff.
I didn’t know what we would find at the Central Hall.
I didn’t know whether that fracture could lead us back to Earth.
And after everything that had happened since I arrived here, I wasn’t even sure how I would feel if it actually could.
But that was a problem for when the rift was right in front of me.
For now, I had to meet up with the other four.
I took a deep breath, picked up the letter, and walked toward the door.
My morning had started with Morgause occupying absolutely every corner of my thoughts.
Now reality itself seemed to be coming apart.
A fairly normal morning for me.
I opened the door, stepped into the hallway, and adjusted my grip on my staff.
“All right... let’s see what the hell we broke this time.”