In the middle of Zack’s ruminations on his place in this new world, and just when he had come to the decision to fully commit to being part of Bradley’s—the [Hero’s Party], the Priestess from when he was summoned and the [Appraisal] Ceremony pounded on his door and threw it open, shouting.

  She stepped in and slammed the door behind her, fury on her face.

  Zack rapidly assessed the situation.

  He was still fully dressed, though he had found his pockets empty after being summoned to this world.

  The Priestess was young, and a head shorter than himself. Unlikely to be a physical threat, even if she pulled a knife.

  Magic remained an unknown.

  How the Goddess would react… Likely to take the Priestess’ side.

  Decision: de-escalate.

  Zack folded his arms across his chest and frowned slightly.

  “Yes? What is it?”

  “‘What is it?’ ‘What is it?!’” the Priestess half-shouted as she stormed closer in the tiny room. “That’s my line! What did you do? How did you piss off Goddess Arianna so badly?!”

  The eyes were back.

  Had they ever really left?

  *ding!* The skill [Paranoia] has been acquired!

  Zack Adder found himself momentarily distracted, wondering why on Earth paranoia would be considered a skill.

  The Priestess continued ranting. “Aha! So you do know what you did!” she declared triumphantly.

  Zack recovered and frowned a bit harder. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You! YOU! You have no place in Her divine plans! It’s unthinkable! Everyone has a place in Her divine plans! She told me you were to join the [Hero’s Party] and not to bother Her about you again. I can’t even imagine what you must have done to upset her so greatly! For you to have no role at all… It’s unthinkable! It’s unbelievable! It’s sacrilegious!”

  Zack Adder felt his heart sink.

  Oh no.

  A religious zealot.

  “Now, listen here, uh… Priestess Maria. That’s your name, right?” Zack held his hands up, palm out, in a placating gesture.

  Yet, the young woman frowned at him all the more.

  “It’s [Priestess] Maria!” she corrected.

  She was so angry her eyes were starting to fill with tears. On her it was very much not cute.

  Zack needed to be careful with how he handled this.

  If he told her what he’d seen of the Goddess, he was likely to be smited. And even if the Goddess herself didn’t smite him, the priestess probably would.

  “The truth is…” Zack said, preparing to lie, “I wasn’t really supposed to be summoned here in the first place. I sort of died… on accident.”

  The divine gaze remained fixed on him a thousand times over.

  “Oh, just spit it out, [Otherworlder]!” It sounded like a slur the way she said it.

  So Zack explained how he had been hit by a truck and died.

  “So you were run over by a carriage and died right as the [Hero] was summoned…”

  “Yeah, and I wound up getting summoned—or reincarnated? I’m not sure—along with the… [Hero].”

  He felt a small bit of pride as he managed to pronounce a key word the way the locals had been doing all this time, kind of like when he had first learned to roll his R’s consistently.

  “Transmigrated,” the Priestess corrected, before she glared at him with eyes full of suspicion.

  “And just how did you manage to append your soul to a divine summoning? The finesse and magical power required would be… unimaginable…”

  “I didn’t. It was an accident.”

  "That's even more unbelievable than you being some kind of high level sorcerer or lich in your world and taking advantage of a connection between realms."

  Zack winced. It would be so much easier if he could just tell her the truth…

  But the Goddess was clearly watching.

  “Huh? Wait, seriously? You really are a lich?”

  Zack Adder didn’t even know what that meant, but before he could say anything, she turned her palm towards him.

  “[Turn Undead]!”

  A bright light shot out of her palm, blinding him for a moment, and the shock of it nearly made him stumble back onto the bed.

  Then the training kicked in.

  That was an assault. Hostile action from a religious zealot after what was effectively an interrogation.

  Decision: Neutralize the threat.

  Still partially blinded, Zack rushed forward.

  Thud.

  With a loud knocking sound, the young woman weighing perhaps a hundred pounds if that, was slammed into the wall. With a hard blink, his vision was restored, and he quickly spun her around, pinned her arms behind her back, and kicked her legs apart to prevent retaliation.

  She shrieked momentarily before he pushed her harder into the wall, choking her off.

  “Maria,” he growled directly into her ear. “Setting aside the matter of what the Goddess does or does not think of me, I am not going to tolerate attacks of any physical, magical, spiritual, psychic, whatever nature.”

  She tried to respond, and not liking her tone, he shoved her again.

  “No, you had your say, now you’re going to listen. I didn’t choose to be summoned here. Your people did that. If you didn’t intend for me to be summoned, then you need to take another look at your summoning ritual.”

  The spectral eyes looking at him from all angles seemed content to observe, and there was no indication of imminent divine intervention.

  “If I even think that you’re about to attack me again,” he hissed, “I will take immediate action to defend myself.”

  Feeling he had made his point, he detached himself from the woman and took a step back with the hope that perhaps he had put some fear into her.

  He was wrong.

  Maria chuckled, and said in a low voice, “[Small Heal].”

  A faint glow enveloped her, and he witnessed a small bruise on her forehead from where her head had struck the wall disappear, leaving her in perfect health.

  With a sneer on her face, she continued as though nothing had happened, completely ignoring his threat.

  “You’re no match for me. That was merely a first-tier miracle. Nothing you can do can cause lasting harm.” She paused, and placed a finger on her chin and looked up at the ceiling, clearly disregarding him as she thought. “So, you’re not undead... Or maybe you acquired a body as part of the summoning ritual? Or maybe..." she started muttering, suddenly paying less attention. Then, she smacked her fist into the palm of her hand like she'd figured something out. "Nope, you must have been some kind of sorcerer in your world!"

  She smoothed out her robes from where they’d been rumpled and creased from being pressed into the wall. Then she resumed glaring at him.

  “Now listen here, sorcerer, I don't know what you're planning or what trick you pulled to join in the [Hero]'s summoning ritual, but you've been reset to level 1 and lost almost all your skills. You better do what we say and not try anything shady, understand? The Goddess Arianna might not care about your tricks and boorish behavior, but I'll be keeping my eye on you!"

  They glared furiously at one another, and then she turned on her heel and left, slamming the door behind her.

  The divine gaze also seemed to turn away… But this time, Zack noticed an eyeball still looking in his direction, before it faded from his awareness.

  He was certain he was still being observed, and not just by the Goddess.

  But nobody had intervened. It would have been nice if someone had intervened when he was assaulted, but he had expected someone to show up after getting physical with the Priestess.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  And yet, nobody had.

  Had she gone rogue?

  Or was she truly invulnerable, and therefore intervention was judged unnecessary?

  Ten minutes ago, he had been thinking that he could come to like being in the [Hero’s Party].

  But now?

  What to do was obvious.

  Observe. Orient. Decide. Act. The OODA Loop.

  He had just arrived in a new world and he was completely disoriented.

  He had no information about his new environment.

  Back on Earth, if a coworker assaulted him, he could report them to HR or his commander or his handler and the problem would be dealt with through official channels.

  And, perhaps sadly, she wasn’t even in the top five of most abusive or outrageous coworkers.

  Zack’s sense of scale was poorly calibrated.

  Effectively, she had shined a bright light in his eyes after bursting into his room and yelling.

  She hadn’t even pointed a gun at him.

  And in the end, neither of them had any lasting damage.

  Other than reporting the incident to higher authority, he could quit, and get away from her that way.

  But then what?

  Again, he had only the bare minimum of information about his new environment.

  As the adrenaline faded from his body, fatigue washed over him like an ocean wave—inexorable and irresistible.

  For the moment, he would sleep, and in the morning, he would report what happened. He pushed his desk and chair up against the lockless door and relaxed onto the bed.

  "Just what is up with this other world?" he said aloud.

  ***

  After the [Appraisal] ceremony, Zack and I were led away to our rooms within the Castle. The [Guide], Sir… uh, well, I forgot his name, was talking at me, but I couldn’t focus.

  Skills!

  Stats!

  A Quest!

  This was just like a video game!

  And I was the [Hero]!

  It had completely slipped my mind to ask Goddess Arianna for a cheat skill.

  She was too ho—I mean, I was too worried about the [Demon King] attacking the people!

  Yeah, definitely.

  Well, I guess it didn’t matter. Zack must have asked, and she turned him down.

  [The Learn].

  Bit of a bummer skill, not gonna lie.

  Yeah double experience sounds pretty good, but only to level 1?

  And, now that I think of it…

  All my skills are only level 1, huh?

  Rookie numbers.

  Gotta pump those numbers UP!

  I started paying attention to the [Guide] knight again.

  “And so, Sir Northcourt, we will be spending the next few weeks training your skills to improve their level before we set out on our journey.”

  I feel like I missed something, but that was okay!

  “That sounds great, thanks, sir [Guide]."

  Totally smooth!

  “Please, Sir Northcourt, you may call me Sir Rosimund. [Guide] is a title, not a name.”

  Aha!

  That was it!

  “You got it, Sir Rosimund!”

  We got to my room, and it was totally sick.

  Super awesome!

  It wasn’t just one room, either. It was like a full suite in a luxury hotel! There was a dining nook, and a lounge room, and a bedroom with its own door further back. They even had a full bath!

  Maids were waiting with a full dinner: some kind of roast bird, lots of side dishes, it smelled delicious!

  “The [Priestess] was supposed to join us, but I don’t know where she’s disappeared to...”

  Rosimund sat down on one side of the table, and a maid ushered me to a seat across from him.

  “We can discuss the [Demon King] at greater length tomorrow at breakfast. It is not suitable conversation so late at night. I wouldn’t want to hurt your sleep. For now, let’s discuss the training schedule…”

  Rosimund talked and talked, and I listened…

  But the food was so good it was distracting!

  The gist of it was what he’d already said. Training to improve my skill levels, then we’d set out from this starter town.

  After dinner Rosimund left, I took a bath, and the maids laid out some super soft pajamas, and I hopped into the larger-than-king sized bed.

  [Hero] size mattress, maybe?

  I fell asleep with a smile on my lips.

  It’s great to be the [Hero]!

  ***

  Early the next morning, Zack Adder woke with a jolt to more banging on his door.

  “Wake up, [Otherworlder]! We’re going to start training with the [Hero]!”

  Zack recognized the voice.

  “Barclay? That you?” he called out as he silently moved the desk away from where it was blocking the door.

  “Yeah!”

  Zack opened the door—fully dressed, as he had slept in his Earth clothes. Jeans, hiking boots, wool socks, undershirt, underarmor, collared shirt, and a jacket.

  Not underarmor, the brand.

  Surreptitious blade-and-bullet-proof armor, designed to be worn under regular clothes.

  Barclay looked at him with an expression of shock.

  “Oh! They didn’t give you any new clothes, last night?”

  “Er, no, they didn’t.” Zack replied with a crooked smile.

  “Wait right there, I’ll go get you some.” Barclay turned on his heel. Today he wasn’t wearing his knight’s metal plate armor, but rather a loose fitting tunic and soft leather shoes. “Maid? Maid!”

  A familiar woman scurried down the hall towards the knight, genuflecting once she was close enough.

  Emma. The spy from the next room over the previous evening.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Fetch this man several tunics, and some shoes!”

  “At once, sir.” She looked him up and down once, refusing to meet his eye. Her gaze lingered on his feet a moment, then she ran off again.

  “My apologies, my good man. We’ll get you dressed and ready to go in no time.”

  Barclay pressed a bread roll into Zack’s hand.

  “Eat up, we’re going to be late enough as it is.”

  Zack took the roll and made no move to eat.

  “Barclay, last night I had a disturbing interaction with Priestess Maria. Who do I report that to?”

  “Huh? Report? What happened?”

  Zack explained.

  “Oh…” Barclay’s face clouded over. “You can try reporting it to Captain Rosimund, but [Priestess] Maria occupies a special position within the Church and the [Hero’s Party].” He frowned and looked at Zack directly. “I’m afraid there’s not much that can be done. However, the miracle [Turn Undead] has no effect on the living or rightful dead, so you were in no danger. And while I understand your reaction, it won’t do you any good to admit to lashing out in retaliation.”

  “So you’re saying I should just keep it to myself,” Zack said bluntly.

  Barclay winced.

  “I don’t think the matter will escalate further if you let it lie,” he replied diplomatically.

  The maid returned, a bundle of clothes in hand, and they stopped talking. Despite his concerns with the [Priestess], Zack was impressed with Emma. The tunics and shoes fit perfectly. His trunk now contained several more tunics and a second pair of shoes, and a number of pairs of socks.

  “Thank, you, miss…”

  The maid flinched, and then a blush spread across her cheeks.

  “Oh, sir [Otherworlder], I’m no miss,” she said, pretending this was their first meeting.

  “Please, call me Zack. My name is Zack Adder.”

  Zack smiled gently, and the maid’s blush deepened slightly.

  “May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?”

  The woman’s eyes darted back and forth, and Barclay sighed.

  “Get on with it, maid. We’re going to be late.”

  “My name is Emma, Sir Zack.”

  “Emma. What a lovely name. Thank you again for preparing these clothes.”

  “Think nothing of it, Sir Zack. It is my duty…”

  Her blush deepened further still, reaching the tips of her ears.

  “Ahem, Zack, we really must be going.”

  “Right.” Zack straightened up and turned to the knight. “I’ll change, and then let’s go.”

  All his Earth clothes were left neatly folded in the trunk.

  They chatted as they walked through more halls and doors on their way to the training grounds, a courtyard within the building complex. The Knight Barclay, it turned out, was nineteen years old and had been a Knight for almost four years now, and a [Trainer] for three.

  “Don’t you worry, Zack,” the young man grinned, now in his element. “I’ll get you trained up in no time!”

  Zack smiled back warmly. “I’ll be counting on you, Sir Barclay.”

  “Oh, please, don’t call me ‘Sir.’ You outrank me, as a member of the [Hero’s Party].”

  “Sure, sure.” Zack winked, and the [Trainer]’s grin widened.

  They arrived at the training courtyard, an open space under the sky ringed with racks of armor and weapons lining the sides, from wooden swords and staves all the way up to sharp metal swords and glaives, and everything in between. Already present were Bradley—wearing a suit of shining plate metal armor; the Priestess Maria—wearing her usual robes; Knight Captain and Guide Rosimund—wearing a training tunic like Zack and Barclay’s; and another dozen young men also dressed in training tunics.

  Zack smiled, and immediately began studying and memorizing the faces of those present.

  “Finally. You’re here, Zack Adder.” Sir Rosimund’s voice perfectly level.

  “Yo, hey Zack! We missed you at breakfast!” Bradley smiled and waved.

  Zack cocked an eyebrow, and the Priestess huffed and looked away, avoiding his gaze.

  “Ahem,” Sir Rosimund cleared his throat pointedly. “Now that you’re here, we can discuss more important matters: our quest to defeat the [Demon King].”

  “No,” Zack said, interrupting. “There’s an important issue that needs to be dealt with first.” His tone was cold as ice.

  Bradley’s eyes widened.

  Maria glared at him.

  Rosimund made a complicated expression.

  Barclay facepalmed, and several among the gathered men and maids were clearly eavesdropping.

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