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It was recess time at school. My classmates were making noise as they pleased, while I sat in my seat, finishing preparations for my next class and reading a book I was about to delve into.

I was often told by my classmates that I was serious, but what I read were fantasy stories.

I also liked anime and video games, and if I could, I would have lived my life playing all day long. I was tall, but I wasn’t good at sports, and although I wasn’t fat, I didn’t have a particularly good-looking face. I was an ordinary high school student.

As I was fighting with the feelings in my heart, I once again turned my gaze to the words on the pages.

It was then that the floor began to glow with a pale blue light.

My classmates suddenly started making noise.

(This situation… It can’t be!)

As unreal thoughts filled my mind, my vision was covered in pure white.

◇◇◇

When I woke up, I was sleeping in my uniform in a place I had never seen before.

I was lying on my back when I slowly opened my eyes to realize that I was surrounded by my classmates, and we were huddled together and sleeping.

(Men and women mingling together like this feels kind of morbid… Just what in the world is going on?)

It was then that I suddenly remembered that we had been teleported to another world.

Some of my classmates were yet to wake up, and I was certain that the one that had summoned us was still here, so I decided to think while keeping my current position.

I wasn’t convinced that we were actually summoned to another world, but I couldn’t imagine any other way for such a mass abduction.

(Who would’ve thought that of all things I’d end up in a mass teleportation… I’ll pretend to wake up when most of my classmates have already woken up, but what can I do until then? There are many developments for otherworlders, and in some cases, we would be welcomed with open arms, but what if we aren’t?)

I tried to stay calm, but if I didn’t keep my head moving, panic would surely set in.

(What can I do now? I don’t know why they summoned us, but bringing in 25 mere high school students doesn’t seem that useful. They can dump us into labor or hospitality, however that will kill the point of going through the whole trouble of summoning us. Unless, we have some kind of special powers.)

While trying to pretend I was twisting and turning in my sleep, I curled up my body.

(Status. Status Open.)

Just as I was beginning to regret the foolishness of my actions, my eyes suddenly went wide as a semi-transparent window appeared in front of me.

I was in a specific position, in which I saw that no one would be able to see me.

(Just what is this?)

Age and gender seemed to fit fine, but I had no idea if the 7 stats were low or high, because I didn’t have anything to compare them to.

Especially the Mana stat.

(Just what does 30 (300) mean? Then again, according to my title it’s safe to assume that this is definitely another world. Though, I should’ve been convinced the moment the status window popped up.)

Finally, the skills. In most stories the people from other worlds summoned otherwolders because of their cheat skills.

And my skills seemed quite easy to figure out.

«Translation» was a wonderful Skill that would allow me to translate any language and eliminate the language barriers that appeared with otherworldly summons.

(If I had this back in the modern world I wouldn’t have trouble finding a good job.)

However, I could assume that this Skill was not a special one that only I had, but rather something that all otherworlders possessed.

If that weren’t the case, then all of the negotiating would be left entirely to me.

The other one was «Contract». It was a skill that enforced a contract or a promise, and if violated, even by force, would result in the death of one of the parties. In other words it was Divine Punishment.

Furthermore, the skill could be activated even on verbal promises. Regarding the requirement for activation, the skill would be deemed active if it was established that a promise had been made.

In other words, even conversations such as: “If you break this promise, you’ll have to give me $5000,” “Sure thing.” could trigger the skill. And excuses like: “I didn’t mean to promise that.” would be non-negotiable.

Additionally, contracts could be formed not just on a one-on-one basis, but one-on-many, or many-to-many basis as well. However, only the group’s leader or a delegated person had the rights to accept a contract.

In other words, gathering a random group of people and asking them to sign a contract on behalf of the kingdom was not possible.

Additionally, if I were to make a contract between two groups, one side would inevitably be me; if I were not the head of one of those groups, the contract would immediately shift to me-to-many.

Depending on how I used it, it could turn out to be quite the ridiculous skill.

However, regardless of the skill’s usefulness, what mattered was that most of my Mana was occupied by it.

My Mana was only displayed as 30 (300), since my skill was using up most of my initial 300 Mana, bringing me down to just 30.

(This leaves me in quite the tricky position, no? If I look at my stats my Mana is the highest, with an original number of 300, after Intelligence with 53. Are these particularly high, or is 10 just too low? If this were a story I can definitely see myself failing even the first floors of a dungeon.)

I was planning to spend my time quietly in this world, but was sure that my «Contract» skill wouldn’t allow me to.

But it was also the thing that could make it possible for me to sign up for an easy life in this world where I had no support and had no idea what was right or wrong.

Though it could also send me down a slave’s path if I didn’t use it properly.

Therefore, there was only one opportune moment to use it.

That was when I could confirm that the other party was the head of the kingdom. It would be risky, though, as if the leader proved to be capable, I would have to bind them with a pledge before they could validate my status.

(After all, we are just ordinary high school students. We can’t possibly come out on top when it comes to gut feeling. If that’s the case, I just need to decide the outcome before they can realize my intentions.)

As I sat still, contemplating the situation, I noticed a lot of commotion around me, and saw that most of my classmates had awakened.

While I would have wished to wake them up if possible, I lacked friends who would do the same for me in a situation like this. Moreover, each of them was likely too confused to spare any attention for others.

I stood up tall, as if showing that I had just woken up and scanned my surroundings.

“Huh? What is this place?”

I said, feign ignorance and assessed the current situation.

The floor beneath was a comfortable carpet laid on a marble-like surface, with ornate decorations adorning the walls and pillars. The ambiance resembled that of a room in a castle.

While I had encountered such settings in video games, seeing it in real-life was a first. We were gathered at the room’s center, encircled by about 10 individuals in armor, which I could only assume to be knights.

Another unfamiliar presence were the ten wizard-like figures holding staves as tall as themselves, concealing their faces with robes.

The wizards appeared fatigued, their shoulders heaving, and they seemed on the verge of collapse.

(They’re probably suffering the aftermath of summoning us here. Are they out of Mana? It certainly appears so.)

◇◇◇

As I observed the surroundings, all of my classmates appeared to wake up, and shortly after, the only door to the room swung open.

Stepping into the room was a beautiful blonde woman, accompanied by about five knight-like figures whose armor matched those of the ten individuals surrounding us.

The woman wore a stunning black and white dress that complemented her well, exuding a dignified aura with a slightly furtive glint in her eyes. She had well-proportioned features and seemed to be around our age or slightly older.

Western-style beauties were a rare sight in Japan, and she embodied the essence of a princess.

Her beauty captivated not only me but also the attention of boys and girls alike.
Perhaps most noteworthy was the way Takatoshi Ichinari, our class mediator and leader, gazed at her as if enthralled.

He was accustomed to being surrounded by beautiful women in our supposedly beauty-filled class, and was quite used to dealing with women, but this reaction seemed to be beyond his usual composure.

(Could he have fallen in love at first glance?)

The beautiful woman spoke, bowing to us as she apologized, “I apologize for having suddenly summoned you to my kingdom.”

Some students in the class voiced their protest, expressing sentiments like,
“Then don’t summon us in the first place!”
“If you’re going to apologize then bring us back!”

As they did, the knights around the blonde beauty glared at them.

Ichinari looked at the protesters with dismay, but it wasn’t like the protesters weren’t making valid points. In fact, those who were happy about the situation seemed to be out of touch with the reality of the predicament.

For me, it was more of a, go with the flow, kind of situation.

My mental health wouldn’t last if I didn’t let go of my anxieties and consider the future.

The beautiful woman restrained the knights with her hand, lowering it behind her back. She then bowed again with an apologetic look on her face.

One of the knights addressed her as, “Princess!” confirming her identity.

“I’ve called you here because I want you to fight against the Demon Lord who threatens our kingdom. As some of you may have noticed, this is a different world than the one you were in. It takes a great deal of power to travel between different worlds. Also, this kingdom has a summoning magic circle, but not a return one. However, it is said that the Demon Lord’s castle has a magic circle to let you go home.”
“So if we defeat this Demon Lord we can go back to Earth?” Ichinari asked.
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been told.”

The princess said, answering Ichinari’s question.

(Quite a cliché story… But at least, I guess there aren’t any of our generation that have not been exposed to games and stories about defeating the Demon Lord. It’s a very straightforward goal, but at the same time I can’t help but be vexed at the kingdom’s ability to present it. After all, the mere mention of the Demon Lord makes it feel like we are already invested.)

More and more of my classmates, who had protested earlier, now appeared perplexed at the prospect of being the hero of the story.

We high school students yearned to be the protagonist, regardless of whether we pretended to be good or evil.

It was a self-aggrandizement thing.

Moreover, Statuses existed in this world. There was no way that would hype people up.

(Though my stats seem quite weak so instead of increasing, my tension decreased…)

“Can I ask you to follow me so we can discuss the details in another room?”

Although her proposition was questionable, we didn’t have the option of saying no.

After all, if we were left here, there would be nothing we could do.

◇◇◇

1. TL/N: Stamina is a strange stat for me, as the word in Japanese can be translated both as Strength, Stamina, Endurance and so on. It basically includes 3 of the other stats, which is why I picked Stamina for now, but keep in mind that it might change as we get more explanation to the stats.