176 v4 Prologue

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Ever since there has been confirmed news that the art of hero summoning could once again be performed, the attention of the people of Edea have been focused on news from the Zweifel kingdom. The last hero; who was known to be the greatest mage had been responsible for centuries worth of peace between the races.

The hero Natsu, dubbed by the church as 'Uriel' had hidden the most important parts of the spell to summon heroes because he had judged that there shouldn't be any threat to the peace he had been responsible for as long as his deal with the Demon Lord had never been broken.

However, at present, the current heads of the Zweifel kingdom along with the upper echelons of the church of light had come to an agreement to perform the hero summoning ritual. They had spent several years researching and uncovering the parts that the hero Natsu had hidden.

Despite numerous opinions from other countries about once again performing the ritual, the church and the royal family of Zweifel kingdom had decided to perform the ritual and summon a hero to their kingdom.

With the biggest human kingdom and the most influential organization in Edea not listening to the opinion of the others, there wasn't much anything the others could do unless they wanted a hero turned against them if the Zweifel kingdom had succeeded in calling forth a hero.

A letter had just arrived at the stronghold of the most elite soldiers of Zweifel kingdom's Eberbach family. It had contained the Duke Eberbach's seal and was addressed to his daughter who had been training under the Steel Wolves unit.

"Sodina ojou-sama, a letter from the duke has arrived for you." The messenger handed over the letter to one of the members of the Steel Wolves that had prevented him from approaching any further.

He looked at the dazzling young girl with long golden hair that had been wearing a bright blue military uniform. She was currently sparring with one of the instructors with her trusty rapier and he couldn't help but admire the graceful skill she showed in her practice.

"I understand. You may get some rest and return to my father after a day." Sodina sheathed her rapier and turned to face the messenger.

"But… what should I tell the duke?" seeing that Sodina hadn't taken the letter right away, he was worried about what to tell the duke.

"It should be about calling me back to the kingdom because of the hero summoning, correct? My father has been pestering me about it when I came back to the estate the last time. Hasn't it been two weeks since they started doing the ritual? There should be no need for me to hurry back to the capital right away."

"But miss…" the messenger didn't know how to persuade her. The duke had ordered to get positive results since he wanted for his daughter to be one of the first people to meet the summoned hero. The duke would have gotten mad if he yielded no results but pissing of Sodina was the same as suffering from the duke in the future, so he was stuck in a bind.

Sodina was the one and only daughter of the Eberbach household who held one of the most powerful military might of the Zweifel kingdom. She is known to be a very stubborn advocate of chivalry and the duke himself protected and spoiled her.

She noticed the messenger's hesitation and began to misunderstand. Sodina had thought that since this had been the third messenger her father sent, her father must be losing his patience.

"You may inform my father that I will head for the kingdom myself in a few days." She sighed. "It is almost time for me to prepare to travel to the academy so if the hero summoning ends up failing, I will just use that time to set things in order."

"T-thank you very much!!" the messenger was overjoyed and immediately turned to excuse himself before Sodina changed her mind.

"Hey! Take a rest first!" she shouted to the messenger who showed no signs of going to the barracks to take a rest before setting off back to the capital.

"It's no use Ojou-sama. That man has closed his ears so that the fact that you had given your word about returning to the capital will reach the duke's ears." One of the members of the Steel Wolves unit wearing a dark blue military uniform that showed off her status as the vice commander commented.

"Laura-san…" Sodina slumped her shoulders and looked at Laura regretfully. "I don't understand what the big deal is about meeting this hero right now anyway. We would eventually meet at the Academy anyway." She pouted.

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"You don't understand." Laura shook her head. "Your father had been against the decision about summoning a hero since there has been no clear and decisive evidence that the demon king had broken his pact with the former hero."

"Then why is he making even me attend the ritual?" Sodina questioned. "I don't believe father has changed his mind about it because I too think that summoning a hero this early might just rouse the demons even more."

"It's because the Eberbach family holds military strength that is one of the most powerful forces of the kingdom." Laura turned to Sodina with a serious expression. "The nobles against us may use this opportunity to pull the hero towards their faction or use the opportunity that the hero doesn't know about anything in our kingdom to make him strike against us."

"Huh?" Sodina tilted her head looking confused. "Why would they do a thing like that?"

"Because humans are such creatures." Laura sighed after seeing Sodina's reaction and chose to explain it ambiguously. "Your father wants to give you a chance to establish relations with the hero so that we can prevent those with ulterior motives to take advantage of the visitor's innocence."

Laura didn't want to explain further since she believed it was not her place to ruin Sodina's innocence with the filth of the capital's nobles. The whole squad had been warned strictly by the head of the Steel Wolves to never discuss filthy politics to their young miss. They would be severely punished by that person if Sodina, who had been sheltered from such things started losing faith in the people that are supposed to be trusted by the people to govern their kingdom.

"I don't really get it but father has hardly ever been wrong, so I guess I really do have to go back to the capital and see this hero for myself soon enough." Sodina came to a conclusion and turned back to the trainer whilst holding her weapon's handle.

"Very well. I shall make the proper arrangements so we can leave for the capital anytime." Laura felt relieved that Sodina didn't press the issue further.

"No… the whole squad is on standby and is waiting in case Ritty-san calls for reinforcements, right? I'll be fine with one of the regular units or even the trainees." She quickly denied Laura's intent on accompanying her to the capital.

"That will not do! Even if the duke doesn't mind, the commander herself will punish us if we don't see you safely to the capital!"

There wasn't anyone in their unit that hadn't been aware how Sodina had been treated like a younger sister by their commander. It was even possible to say that the Steel Wolves' commander had been working together with the duke to spoil the Eberbach family's only daughter and fend away any man that tries to come near her.

This had been the reason why Sodina's presence at the hero summoning ritual played an important role. The stubborn and overprotective duke who treasured his daughter was going to let her meet the hero regardless of the fact that it could be a man or a woman.

This was to show that even if he had been against summoning a hero, he was willing to comply with the decision of the royal family and had no intention of going against the final decision. The Eberbach household did use the teachings from one of the former heroes' descriptions about some of the military practices of his world after all. The current uniform of the Steel Wolves had been designed from the old records depicting Natsu's description of how his world's soldiers had dressed.

"I've made up my mind Laura-san. Ritty-san had gone on an especially dangerous mission with only half of the unit because she wanted to leave people to train with me. I want everyone here to be ready to rush to her side if there are any signs that she is in danger." She had been worried about the extended period of Ritty's Mission because she only took half of her unit to do the mission. This had been the primary reason why she hadn't answered the continuous summons of her father who she usually obeyed without a complaint.

"But—"

"I'm going to be rushing towards the capital so prepare fast horses. You don't really need to worry about me that much Laura-san. You're aware of how much stronger I've gotten right?" Sodina raised her rapier and used her mana to perform a serious attack on the training dummy.

"HAAA!" multiple holes appeared on the training dummy before it inevitably broke down on the ground.

"…" Laura was immediately able to tell just how much their young miss had improved in just a few weeks of training. She was certain that there wouldn't have been many in her age in the Zweifel kingdom that could contend with Sodina.

"What do you think, Laura-san?" Sodina grinned confidently. "Even if criminals are able to catch our fastest steeds, they would still have to face my rapier, right?"

"Please give me a little time to think about it." Laura didn't want to give a definite answer and excused herself to find people that would be able to go with their young miss when she rushes towards the capital.

None of the people in the camp were aware that in just two days, a pillar of light that signified the success of the hero summoning ritual would appear. This would cause Sodina Eberbach to rush to the capital so that she wouldn't be too late to fulfill what her father had intended.

What they didn't know was that while Sodina was heading for the capital, the hero would make a bloody entrance that would shake the nobles and the Royal family of the Zweifel kingdom.