Chapter 1

First Post: As the title suggests, a situation explanation.

Hello, I'm Kanna Kamijo. I'm a seventeen-year-old second-year high school student. I'm currently on the hunt for a girlfriend, a healthy and vigorous young man in the throes of adolescence.

Suddenly, I find myself swimming in the air on the back of a 'Dragon.'

...I mean, it's written as 'dragon' and not a plane named Dragon. It has a long neck, sharp fangs, hard scales, and a pair of wings on its back. Strangely enough, it has large, charming eyes.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

The one who pulled me back from my escapism, which had become too tedious to count, was the girl sitting in front of me. Her silver hair, reflecting the sun, reminded me of beautiful craftsmanship, and her large eyes were like embedded jewels, a striking shade of blue. Her well-defined features and otherworldly beauty were a sight to behold.

—Correction, she wasn't human to begin with. The proof was the long, pointed ears extending from her long hair. They weren't fake, as they occasionally twitched.

"Ah, no. I was just zoning out for a bit."

"Again? Well, given your situation, it's not surprising."

Scratching my head, I chuckled, and she smiled wryly.

"Anyway, how's the ride?"

"Fine, except my butt hurts. The view is great, though."

"Sorry about that. I guess we didn't have time to prepare a saddle, as we summoned you in a hurry. Normally, we have proper equipment."

"Well, just being able to escape that situation is a blessing. My sore butt is nothing. The texture is actually quite nice."

I stroked the dragon's back. It was hard, but the texture was smooth and irresistible, like a reptile. Contrary to the common misconception that snakes feel slimy, they actually have a very pleasant touch.

The dragon let out a cute "Kyui kyui" in response to my touch. What a soothing creature. Too adorable.

"She's a bit shy around people. She doesn't usually trust anyone but me, but it seems she likes you."

"I've always had a way with animals."

"That's a good trait."

"I once had a bunch of cats swarm me like a tidal wave."

"That... sounds... envious."

She sent me an envious look. She seems to be a cat lover. But no, no.

"When they cling to me, it gets hot from their body heat and fur."

In winter, it would be like having a heater, but in summer, it's stifling.

"By the way, are the cats here about thirty centimeters long...? Oh, that might not make sense. About this size, covered in fur, with these ears, and they walk on all fours. Is that right?"

I used my hands to show the average size of a cat and then made cat ears on my head. It might look like a silly gesture, but she nodded seriously.

"Yes, basically. But I think I'd need to see one to make an accurate judgment. They are generally cute, small animals."

The reason I asked such a strange question and made that gesture was to confirm whether the 'cats' in my mind and the 'cats' she recognized were the same.

You probably already figured it out. I'm sure you had an idea from the first mention of the dragon. Or, more likely, from the moment I described the long-eared, silver-haired, blue-eyed beauty.

Yes, I'm currently in another world.

In another world! I'll say it twice because it's important.

Yes, I'm Kanna Kamijo, summoned to another world.

Middle school syndrome? No, no, if this were just a hallucination from middle school syndrome, how nice it would be. Sure, I can't deny that I've always been drawn to middle school syndrome-like scenarios. I've definitely dreamed of being summoned to another world as a hero and embarking on a heroic fantasy adventure with companions I meet along the way. I still think about it from time to time.

But, reality is a different story. Fiction is entertaining precisely because it's fiction. If it spills over into the real world, it's no longer a joke.

And that's exactly the situation I find myself in now.

...Well, reality and fantasy are different, and up until the point where I was summoned as a hero, it was a pretty standard setup. But what followed was a complete disaster.

It was so bad that I'll skip the details, but eventually, I met the long-eared, silver-haired, blue-eyed beauty in front of me. Her name is Real Falber. As you can see, she's not human. However, she is undoubtedly the warmest and most human-like person I've met since being summoned to this world. The beginning was just too bad. It was the worst start I've ever had in my life.

Let me at least explain the basic sequence of events.

First, I was in class at school.

Then, I was suddenly enveloped in light and summoned to another world.

No warning. I was in the middle of a boring class, wondering what to have for dinner. It was brutal.

When I was summoned to this other world, I was in a state of utter confusion. In front of me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.

And, of course, the plea, "Hero, please save this world." Any normal man would have immediately responded, "Leave it to me!" when asked by such a beautiful woman with tears in her eyes. I almost shouted, "I'll save the world or anything!"

But strangely, the shout that was about to come out of my throat was suppressed the moment I looked at her again. Before any sound could escape, a chill ran down my spine, as if I had been doused in liquid nitrogen. Cold sweat poured down my back.

I looked at her again, more carefully.

And I noticed it.

The overwhelming 'darkness' in her eyes.

What followed was a series of events.

After much deliberation, I decided to escape from the castle where I was summoned. In the dungeon, I met Real, who was a captive, and rescued her. We managed to escape together. Once outside the castle, Real summoned a dragon, and we rode it to safety.

I've always been told that I have good instincts. I'm good at poker and mahjong. I might be perceptive to subtle human emotions. But this time, it was extreme. I've never sweated so much.

According to Real, she was captured because of the actions of that beautiful woman, who is apparently quite devious despite her innocent appearance.

Perhaps she pretends to be innocent because she is devious. If so, her level of darkness is unparalleled. She uses her beauty to her advantage. She's too dark in every sense.

"So, what are you going to do, Kanna? Do you have any plans?"

"Actually, I have a question. What should I do from here?"

"Well, I'm the one asking... My immediate goal is to return to my hometown."

I was only thinking about escaping from that extremely devious princess (apparently, she was a princess). I hadn't thought about what to do after escaping. But if I had stayed in that castle, I would have been in serious trouble. I'm a hero, after all. A hero is summoned to create a tumultuous life.

"You're a man of deep thought or a man of impulse, I can't tell which."

"I get that a lot."

"You really do?"

I really do.

By the way, Real's masculine tone isn't because she's trying to act like a man; it's because she's a 'knight.' She grew up in a male-dominated environment, so it came naturally to her.

When she was first captured, she was restrained with her hands bound in a thin undergarment. The moment I saw her, she became the top of my beauty ranking. That devious princess? She's only beautiful on the outside. When you consider her personality, she's definitely the worst.

I digress. She is now wearing light armor that prioritizes agility and protects vital areas, and she carries a massive sword as tall as she is. Both were taken from her when she was captured but were fortunately recovered from within the castle. When I held the sword, it was as heavy as it looked.

"At least, we won't be openly pursued. Both of us are considered undesirable in this country. We won't want to draw attention to our existence."

"Oh, right. Why is that?"

"In these 'peaceful' times, if other countries learn that this country has summoned a 'hero,' the most powerful force from another world, it would be like declaring war. They probably summoned you in secret and planned to send you somewhere to take the initiative. They might have lied to you, saying the enemy was an invader."

"Scary. I'm a pretty peaceful guy, you know!"

"Is a man who kicks guards without hesitation really a pacifist?"

"Pacifism and non-violence are different things."

One must fight to protect one's peace. That's my motto.

"I have my own issues. They probably intended to use me as a 'trump card' in diplomacy. I don't like to admit it, but I have that much value. However, it was all supposed to be done in secret. If they used me openly, it would definitely cause resentment from neighboring countries."

"Sounds like a very ambitious country. Too ambitious?"

I realized again how fortunate it was that we managed to escape.

My name is Ayano Nakamura. I hope you can bear with my clumsy writing.

The use of quotation marks might seem odd, but this is written using a different text creation tool, and I can't use the bold quotation marks like ' ' easily. I hope you can understand.

The battle scenes will come later.

On January 20, 2016, I started correcting some of the quotation marks from " " to ' ' in the first chapter.