Chapter 50: The Other Summoned Person

◆◆◆  

That morning, Admos Castle was in utter chaos, as though a hornet’s nest had been disturbed.  

At the center of this commotion was the King of the nation.  

After receiving a report during breakfast, the King abruptly left his meal and headed to a certain location: the room of the youngest princess, Evangeline.  

Upon entering the room, the King was greeted by what appeared to be the usual, orderly setting of Evangeline’s quarters.  

Nothing had been ransacked, and neither the door nor windows showed any signs of forced entry.  

And yet, the occupant of the room was nowhere to be found.  

“…Are you sure Evangeline is missing? Could she have gone for a bath?”  

“We’ve already checked the baths. There’s no sign of Princess Evangeline anywhere…”  

The royal guard tasked with protecting the royal family spoke with a downcast expression, staring at the floor.  

For the guards, the disappearance of a member of the royal family was a scenario that simply must never happen.  

And yet, it had.  

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘missing’? Is Evangeline playing a prank and hiding? Or has she been kidnapped?”  

The room looked so ordinary that the King struggled to decide what had happened.  

After hearing the King’s question, the guard remained silent for a moment before reluctantly answering.  

“…We do not know. Last night, not only was this room normal, but the entire castle showed no signs of anything unusual. We didn’t even catch a glimpse of anyone suspicious.”  

“So, could it be that Evangeline is hiding somewhere as a joke?”  

Just as the King was about to focus on searching the castle, a maid assigned to Evangeline let out a loud exclamation.  

“Ah!”  

“What is it?”  

The King approached the maid, who was pointing at the vanity table, trembling.  

“Her cosmetics… The ones Princess Evangeline always uses are missing…”  

The King looked at the vanity table where the maid was pointing but saw other cosmetics there. Being a man, he couldn’t tell what was missing.  

“They’re right there, aren’t they?”  

The maid momentarily looked at him in disbelief but quickly realized she was speaking to the King and began to explain.  

“The ones left are not her daily-use items. These are products she only used every few days or weeks. The ones missing are the cosmetics she used daily.”  

“…In other words, the fact that those are gone means Evangeline took them with her?”  

“That would appear to be the case…”  

From the maid’s explanation, the King came to a startling conclusion.  

“Could she have… run away from home?”  

Upon hearing that, the royal guard immediately objected.  

“Impossible! There’s no way Princess Evangeline could have left the castle without passing through one of the gates!”  

“That’s true…”  

The King glanced at the towering castle walls surrounding the premises. If Evangeline hadn’t used the official gates, she would have had to scale those walls—a feat the King couldn’t imagine her accomplishing. He agreed with the guard’s assessment.  

“But then, where has Evangeline gone? There’s no evidence of intruders, nor any sign she left the castle. Don’t tell me you’re suggesting she vanished into thin air from her room?”  

“…Honestly, that explanation makes the most sense right now.”  

The guard’s words made the King shout in frustration.  

“Don’t be ridiculous! That’s impossible! Anyway, we can’t rule out the possibility that this is just one of Evangeline’s pranks. Search the entire castle immediately!”  

“Y-yes, Your Majesty!”  

The royal guards responded swiftly to the King’s command and rushed out in a flurry.  

As he glared at their retreating figures, the King muttered with a grim expression.  

“If this is one of Evangeline’s pranks, so be it. But if she truly has disappeared… you’d best prepare to lose your heads.”  

The king muttered those words as he headed to his office.  

While the castle underwent a massive search, the only reports reaching the king in his office were of Evangeline’s continued absence.  

With each report, the king’s frustration grew, and his angry shouts echoed constantly through the office.  

Determined to calm the enraged king as quickly as possible, the castle staff expanded the search effort, eventually involving the entire castle in a massive commotion.  

However, there was one individual who wasn’t participating in the chaos.  

“Huh? No breakfast yet? Honestly, can’t they do their jobs properly?”  

Ota, waking up in a guest room within the castle, noticed that the usual breakfast spread on the table was missing and grumbled to himself.  

“Hmm… what’s wrong?”  

A woman, who had been Ota’s companion the previous night, stirred awake and called out to him from the bed.  

“Oh, breakfast hasn’t arrived yet. I was looking forward to sharing it with you.”  

Ota replied with clear annoyance and rang the bell on the table.  

Normally, a maid would appear promptly, but today, no one showed up for a while.  

Feeling increasingly dissatisfied, Ota rang the bell again, this time more forcefully.  

Eventually, the hurried sound of footsteps announced the arrival of a maid.  

“Huff, huff… y-you called?”  

The maid appeared out of breath, but instead of acknowledging her efforts, Ota sneered at her.  

“What do you mean, ‘You called?’ Breakfast isn’t ready! What’s the meaning of this?”  

The maid glanced briefly at the table. Indeed, breakfast was not prepared.  

While this was a failure on their part, today was no ordinary day. Couldn’t he sense something was amiss?  

The maid, already harboring some resentment toward Ota for his usual behavior, fought back the urge to snap at him. Instead, she bowed her head.  

“My apologies. There has been trouble in the castle since this morning, and it seems there were oversights.”  

Hearing this, Ota let out an exaggerated sigh.  

“That’s not my problem. Do you know who you’re talking to? You’re the kidnappers who brought us here, right? The only reason that’s tolerated is because you treat us well. This kind of failure? Big mistake. Huge problem. What if I decide to leave this country, huh?”  

The maid was furious at Ota’s audacity but reminded herself that the decision to treat this man well came from the king himself.  

If she jeopardized the king’s orders, she had no idea what punishment might await her.  

Swallowing the words burning in her throat, she bowed her head again.  

“My sincerest apologies. I’ll prepare it immediately.”  

“Be quick about it.”  

With that, Ota turned back toward the bed where the woman was waiting.  

The maid glared at him with disdain before spinning on her heel and leaving the room.  

“What’s with that guy? What’s with that guy? What’s with that guy!?”  

As she hurried through the unusually chaotic halls of the castle on her way to the kitchen, the maid couldn’t help but shout in frustration.  

Her voice was so loud that others, who were also rushing about, stopped in their tracks.  

“What’s wrong?”  

A man who appeared to be an official asked her.  

“Let me tell you!”  

The maid proceeded to vent about her earlier interaction with Ota.  

The official, after hearing her story, furrowed his brow and frowned deeply.

  The maid felt a chill run down her spine.  

The official she had just ranted to about Ota’s behavior appeared to be someone of considerable rank.  

In her anger, she had vented about Ota—an esteemed guest of the kingdom—to such an important figure.  

Normally, someone of his position wouldn’t even be present in this part of the castle, but today was different, with people from all corners of the castle rushing about.  

It wasn’t until it was too late that she realized who he was.  

Now, he was standing there, frowning at her account.  

It’s over, the maid thought immediately.  

But then…  

“I see… so Lord Ota behaves that way…”  

“Eh?”  

“Well, unlike Lord Nara, who diligently trained and delivered results, Lord Ota has shown nothing of value. The only things we’ve received from him are invoices for his visits to brothels.”  

The official gave the maid a wry smile before directing a sharp gaze toward Ota’s room.  

“Thank you for your report. Now, you seem to be in a hurry. Go on.”  

“Y-Yes!”  

Feeling a sense of relief, the maid hurried off to the kitchen.  

The official watched her leave before glancing back at Ota’s room.  

“I see… that’s his attitude… Well, no time for this now.”  

With that, he turned and resumed his part in the search for Evangeline.  

—

Despite a day-long search of the entire castle, Evangeline was nowhere to be found. The search extended beyond the castle walls, but there were no records of anyone passing through the main gates the previous night.  

They investigated possible secret passages, but none were found.  

It was as if Evangeline had vanished into thin air.  

“How could this be? Don’t tell me… she really disappeared like smoke…”  

Even the king had lost the will to punish the royal guards.  

How could anyone prevent such an inexplicable occurrence?  

The king was holding his head in frustration in his office when someone entered.  

“Your Majesty, I beg your pardon.”  

One of the kingdom’s senior officials had come in.  

“What is it? Have you found Evangeline?”  

“N-No, it’s not that. Actually…”  

The official hesitated, further irritating the king.  

“Enough! Speak clearly! What happened?”  

“Y-Yes! An envoy from Weimar has arrived…”  

“An envoy from Weimar?”  

The king was confused. What could they want now? But the next words left him stunned.  

“They’ve brought the remains of Mitsuhiko Nara and the six others who went to subdue the former summoner, Kenta Maya.”  

“…What!?”  

For a moment, the king couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing. Slowly, as the words sank in, he shouted.  

The remains of “Nara” delivered at this time were, in fact, decoys prepared by Weimar. The corpses, appearing to have been burned by fire magic, were so damaged that Admos could only take Weimar’s word for their identities.  

“They… failed?”  

“It appears so…”  

“This… this is unbelievable…”  

The king collapsed into his chair, completely drained. Then, realizing something, he stood up again.  

“What about Weimar? What were they doing? Don’t tell me they betrayed us and attacked Nara’s group!”  

The official shook his head.  

“No. Weimar has explicitly denied involvement. They stated, ‘We merely allowed their passage through our land. We had no involvement in subsequent events. We’re merely returning these remains we were entrusted with.’ They emphasized their neutrality in this matter.”  

“I see…”  

The king sat down once more, burying his head in his hands.  

“A failure… We moved to subdue Kenta Maya and failed… This is bad… very bad… Kenta Maya will retaliate…”  

Not only was the disappearance of Evangeline weighing heavily on his mind, but now they had provoked the most feared summoned person, Kenta Maya, without success.  

He had believed Nara would be enough, but this failure had never crossed his mind.  

“…Was it too soon? Should I have let him gain more experience?”  

The king began to regret sending Nara to Kenta’s side in his anger over Evangeline’s involvement.  

In the first place, if Evangeline had captured the heart of the summoned person, perhaps he should have celebrated it instead.  

By absorbing the blood of a summoner, the Admos royal family might have grown even stronger.  

If only he had handled the situation as a king, rather than as a father…  

The king now regretted such decisions.  

“…By the way, what is the other summoner doing?”  

Having lost Nara, who he had thought might be capable, the king finally remembered the other summoner, Ota, and asked the official about him.  

The official sighed softly and then shook his head.  

“He is useless. He certainly has higher physical abilities and more mana than us, but he only insists that it is our responsibility to take care of him since we abducted him. Unlike Lord Nara, he doesn’t even train. Though he does seem to take his night training seriously.”  

The official spoke of Ota with pure disdain.  

Upon hearing this report, the king, frustrated by the losses of Evangeline and Nara, turned all his anger toward Ota.  

“…Enough.”  

“Yes?”  

“Since we summoned him, we have provided more than enough care. And yet, he does nothing but laze around, without putting in any effort. Do we still need to continue caring for him? If he were to repay us like Nara did, it might be different. But he hasn’t done anything, right?”  

“That’s right. According to the reports, he hasn’t done anything. Furthermore, the maid was reportedly insulted by him today.”  

“Do you think we should continue offering him our care?”  

“No.”  

The official answered immediately.  

“We have provided more than enough, and Lord Nara repaid us even with his life. But this one, who lazily enjoys our charity without making any effort, deserves no more of it.”  

“Indeed!”  

“Expel Ota.”  

“Understood!”  

The official quickly left the room.  

After the official departed, the king realized just how important Nara had been.  

“If only I had simply blessed the two of them… What a waste…”  

His words were filled with regret, not for the loss of Nara or Evangeline, but because he had lost a valuable asset.  

Why?  

“Should I ask Lindor again? I must not fail this time.”  

He was already thinking about the next summoning.  

As for Ota…  

“Eh? Is that true!?”  

Ota’s face lit up with joy upon hearing the words from the official.  

The official informed Ota that the brothel he frequented had been reserved just for him, and he could enjoy it to his heart’s content.  

Ota, who usually invited women one at a time to his room, eagerly accepted the offer to have a lavish time at the brothel. He was filled with excitement as he made his way there.  

Ota was sent to the brothel by carriage. As he waved to the official with a smile, he soon disappeared inside the establishment.  

After sending Ota off, the official smiled warmly before releasing a deep sigh. His smile, no longer forced, reflected genuine relief.  

“Ahahaha! Finally, finally, the nuisance is gone! The castle’s discipline will return to normal. We won’t have to deal with being looked down upon by that good-for-nothing anymore! Ah, how refreshing!!”  

Indeed, on this day, Ota would indulge in lavish pleasures at the brothel.  

But it was also the equivalent of a severance payment from the kingdom of Admos.  

From this point on, Ota would never be allowed back in the castle.  

Why take such measures? Because, despite being useless, Ota was a summoned person, and therefore, his strength surpassed that of ordinary people.  

It would take significant time and effort to restrain and expel him by force.  

So, the best option was to create a situation where Ota would willingly leave the castle and, once outside, ensure he would never return.

Without training in swordsmanship and only being able to use minor magic, Ota was deemed unable to force his way through the gates.  

This decision proved to be correct when, after Ota had enjoyed his time at the brothel, he attempted to return to the castle only to find no carriage waiting for him. Suspicious, he decided to walk back to the castle, only to be turned away at the gate.  

“W-Why…?”  

The soldier at the gate laughed scornfully at Ota’s question.  

“Why? Lord Nara worked so hard, and what did you do? You just played with women and lazed around!”  

“Th-That’s… I was going to become a mage…”  

“And who do you think is going to teach you?”  

“Well… you didn’t introduce me to any teacher…”  

The soldiers were completely exasperated by Ota’s response.  

“How many times do we have to explain that there are no mages capable of teaching magic to humans? Do you really not understand that?”  

“Eh? But… in other worlds, there are always teachers like that…”  

Ota had been dreaming.  

He envisioned a cute, lawful, loli-like magic teacher, and imagined learning magic from her while happily laughing and saying, “Wow! I’ve never seen magic like this!” or, “Huh? Did I do something?”  

However, in reality, there was no such teacher among the humans in this world.  

Thus, Ota was expected to train in swordsmanship.  

Nara had understood this, but Ota, thinking “That can’t be true in another world,” had naively assumed that the kingdom of Admos was lying.  

“It’s His Majesty’s orders. ‘We’ve given you enough care and treatment. However, if you think that’s just something you deserve, and on top of that insult us, we can no longer continue walking this path with you.'”  

“W-What? That’s… that’s wrong! This country is responsible for kidnapping us, after all!”  

“And we’ve already repaid that responsibility plenty!”  

The soldier, finally fed up, shouted at Ota.  

The force of his words made Ota freeze.  

Ota noticed the soldier looking at him with disdain.  

“Lord Nara understood the reason why he was treated so well! Even so, he made efforts to live up to it! Lord Nara was in the battlefield! Crying, vomiting, and still fighting the demon race!! And yet!! And yet… why did Lord Nara, someone like him, die, and someone like you, a useless waste, survive?”  

“Eh?”  

Ota stared blankly, hearing the soldier shout through tears.  

“Lord Nara… is dead?”  

The soldier looked at Ota with even more contempt.  

“Heh, you didn’t even know that?”  

“No… no one told me…”  

“That alone shows what kind of impression you had in the castle.”  

“Th-That’s…”  

“Enough, just get lost. I’m getting frustrated just looking at your face.”  

After receiving the soldier’s disgust, Ota felt a surge of fear and quickly ran away from the gates of the castle.  

Once in the town below the castle, Ota began to wonder what to do next.  

“Hmm… I thought they’d teach me magic at the castle, but I guess there’s no system for that. Maybe I’ll become an adventurer and make my debut at the Adventurers’ Guild. Then I can… with the receptionist…”  

As Ota walked through the town, he continued to dream about such a future.  

It seemed that Ota was confusing this world with a game or a novel, and the soldier’s tearful words had not reached him at all.  

It would take Ota several days to realize that there was no Adventurers’ Guild in this world, and that the equivalent organization was the Explorer’s Association.  

Eventually, he did find a beautiful receptionist, but she only responded to him in a businesslike manner. Furthermore, there was no magic power check as Ota had expected, and he was simply registered as an explorer.  

“…Huh?”  

Ota tilted his head in confusion, realizing that things were not unfolding as he had imagined.

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter