¹
"Let me do this one last thing…"
Arthur extended his hand forward…
"Des… troy" He said in his mind. With this he lost all thoughts in his mind, his heart stopped pumping any more blood and he stopped breathing. He had finally gone to sleep for eternity.
Immediately!! Askovow's right hand, the one which got vulnerable due to his attack, started burning. It looked like the flames wanted to devour it as whole and leave nothing.
He couldn't comprehend what was going on and immediately cut off his hand. He then tried to control the overflowing blood from what was left over of his arm. He had a mastery over it and got the work done within a minute. But the damage was already done.
He then immediately launched a strong punch on Robert's face.
Robert, who was sitting nearby. Still mourning over his friend's death was given an unexpected blow on his face.
"Ah!!" Robert spat out blood as he was thrown a few metres away.
He immediately got up, thinking that Askovow aimed for Arthur's dead body to avoid the summoning. But, Askovow was nowhere to be seen.
It was just Arthur's lifeless body, peacefully lying on the ground, unharmed. Askovow was gone.
²
"Askovow was gone, I couldn't believe my eyes, he had left Arthur's body unharmed. He also left all of us alive." Robert's eyes itself showed the disbelief. He knew that something was off
Edward could never have imagined that so much was happening in this world when he was relaxing in the ocean back in his home.
'Robert must be putting all the blame for everything that happened on himself. He must have been feeling that he should have fought side by side with Arthur.' Edward thought to himself.
As they were conversing, they both suddenly heard a voice.
"Hey you dumb idiots, what are you still doing here, elder won't wait forever."
Robert and Edward did not notice anyone coming, so they both were surprised.
In front of them stood a young girl, she looked like she was nearly 17 years old. She had red hair, a relatively fairer skin, a decent height which was more than average and black eyes.
She stood there, her hands folded, her face showing anger as she questioned in a taunting way, "Robert… weren't you told to directly report to the elder with this summoned idiot?"
"Ye.. Yes" Robert replied hesitatingly, scratching his cheek. "Sorry? I guess?"
"Whatever… Just get up already. I will be waiting at the front door of her office." She replied.
Edward looked at Robert, as he asked about her.
"She? She was my teammate before the war. Her name's Chloe. I would suggest you stay away from her, she's scary." Robert replied as we began to move.
"That explains his hesitation. Also reminds me of a typical someone…" Edward laughed in his mind.
They both then stood up and headed towards the centre of the city, where the office was situated.
²
"So Edward?... We have met before, but to remind you again, I am Vera, also known as the elder of this city and one of the main overseers of the human kingdom as whole. Let's directly jump to the main topic. What is your current experience in combat?"
They were inside a room where everything was wooden, including the furniture and the walls. The room was small, and was situated in the ground floor of a four storey building. The elder, Vera, was sitting on a grey cushioned chair, keeping both her hands on a rectangular shaped table in front of her. The walls were brown and were dimly lit by lanterns.
Behind her, were some bookshelves, filled with various books, making it look similar to some high ranking offier's room.
Edward, Robert and Chloe, all three stood silently in front of her.
"To be totally honest, I was a normal man in my world living a typically normal life and was working for a transportation company which was responsible for transporting goods overseas. As for my skills… The only skill that I properly learned was swimming…"
"Sigh… that was expected." She was quite disappointed with the reply, but she had somewhat expected it.
Edward hesitated, seemingly wanting to ask something. He then just decided to speak it up, not wanting to regret anything later.
"So… Is there a possible way for me to return to my world?"
She sighed, "It's a bit complicated... First we need to make sure that you were alive in your previous world. Then we need you to work with us to defeat our enemy. Then only we can generate the reverse summoning. Until then, we can't do anything."
"What!!" Robert seemed to be offended by this but was stopped by Chloe. Edward assumed it to be something related to Arthur.
"Okay, Robert must have told you about some basic details about our enemy. I will now assign him to give you proper training." She continued with a serious expression.
Meanwhile, instead of focusing on the discussion, Edward delved into his own thoughts, "Kill a person!! I haven't even lifted a knife properly in my life!! Are you mad? I can't even kill a mosquito properly."
"After completing your basics, we will have you join an adventure team, designed by us, where you will get some small missions in order to gain some nice experience in real combat. After that we will start your actual training, which will be observed by me. Also, it is important for you to hide your identity until you complete your adventure training. We will announce your arrival after the completion of missions." The elder answered.
"Would you wait for me outside, I am coming, we will go and get you a temporary weapon." Robert asked, facing towards Edward.
"Alright " Without asking for reasons, Edward opened the door and went outside.
³
"Why did you lie!!!?" Immediately after Edward closed the door, Robert shouted in rage, banging his palm on the table.
"About what?" The elder asked emotionlessly. Not paying serious attention towards him.
"About him being able to return… I know it clearly that you can just send him back directly. Why lie?" Robert muttered, trying to control his anger. He did not want Edward to find out about it until he himself got to understanding of the whole situation himself.
"Please trust the elder's decision, she must have a proper reason for doing so." Chloe defended.
"Don't interfere in our talk!!"
Noticing this, Vera stood up from her chair, releasing her aura. Both Robert and Chloe stiffened up.
"Kids these days..." She muttered... "You know me well Robert, I am one of the damn leader of our kingdom! You should atleast have enough faith in me that I won't make a wrong decision. Not telling Edward... at least not right now, is a better decision for both us and him. I will tell him when the time comes. Keep your mouth shut till then." It could be judged from her tone that she was furious.
"Ye.. yes mam..." Robert replied. Still stiffened due to the immense aura. Sweat was dripping from his face.
"Now get lost!" Elder Vera ordered as she sat down back on her chair. The moment she did so, the aura was released.
Without even taking a breath, Robert and Chloe rushed out of the room.
The elder spoke with a light smile on her face, breaking the silence, "You are a nice boy, Robert… but you constantly make things difficult for me…"