Chapter 55: Hero Summoning (1)

Looks like today was the day they will summon the heroes.

"What does that got to do with me? I'm a hero and my job is to defeat the demons, not summon some heroes."

"I know that it is not your job to summon heroes but we are in desperate need of assistance! One of the bishops who specializes in mana have passed out but we don't know what the cause of it."

"What's in it for me?"

"One of the heroes will be at your disposal."

"Deal!"

I agreed with the pope so both of us entered the holy church.

Pedonar, we're you the one who made one of the bishops pass out?

{I did not do it. If you were going to ask me to then I would have gladly done so.}

So, it's not Pedonar? Then who did it?

It's impossible that one of the criminals who I had enslaved had done it since they are at Eldion.

I guess it's Aerin. Maybe she used some sort of plant that could drain mana or inflict sleep debuff on someone.

"Pope, when will the hero summoning ritual be performed?"

"Six hours from now. I suggest you saved up and recover some of your mana since you will be the one who will be in charge of supplying mana into the summoning circle."

If it wasn't for the reward then I would not have accepted such a request.

"I will take a break so I'll enter the Holy Church an hour before the hero summoning ritual."

The pope nodded in agreement and since I already received his permission, I went outside the Holy Church.

I went to the small house where Aerin had resided in.

I knocked on the door and waited for Aerin to open the door.

Aerin opened the door and so I asked her about the incident where the bishop suddenly passed out.

"I only summoned a lily that can walk. I don't know if it can make someone passed out but I lost it a while ago."

"Looks like that lily you had summoned caused today's incident. Well, I don't care anyway and I'm glad that it had happened or my goal wouldn't have been completed."

"I'm glad that I could help. Do you want me to summon another lily? Maybe all of us heroes can participate in the hero summoning ritual."

"That's a great idea! Summon only one or it would be found out if you summoned many of it."

"Ok, darling~"

Aerin gathered her mana and took out a seed from her [Item Box].

She imbued mana into the seed which made it grew into a lily with vines as its mode of transportation.

The Lily crawled outside of the house and went inside the third floor of the Holy Church via a window.

The Lily shrank into the size of a bug and crawled into one of the bishops and bit him.

After it bit the bishop, it crawled into other bishops and priests until it had bitten a total of 3 bishops and 2 priests.

It was enough for Aerin, Zale, Sophie, Mathew, and Aileen to fulfill the role of the 3 bishops and priests that had passed out.

As soon as the lily fulfilled its job, it self-destructs as it served its purpose.

Since no one competent enough to fulfill the role of the bishops and priests in the hero summoning ritual except for the heroes, the pope went to Aerin and asked her to fulfill one of the vacant roles.

The pope told Aerin that Mathew, Zale, and Sophie agreed to participate in the hero summoning ritual and they were being taught by the other bishops and priests how to summon the heroes.

Aerin agreed to the pope's request. The pope told Aerin that her reward will be the same as mine.

"Thank you for agreeing, elven hero. But, we still lack another summoner to participate in the hero summoning ritual."

"I know someone who can fulfill that role and don't worry because she is someone I know so you can trust her."

"Can you introduce her to me, goblin hero?"

"Certainly."

Aileen, where are you?

{I am having tea with Pedonar while the two of us are sharing our insights about magic and mana.}

Can you fulfill the role in the hero summoning ritual?

{Let me guess, you were the one who caused the other heroes to participate in the hero summoning ritual including me.]

Well, yes and it is a part of my plan.

{I will be in there. Wait for a moment.}

*Knock* *Knock*

Aerin opened the door as she heard that someone was knocking at the door.

Aileen was outside the house and I introduced her as the person who will be participating in the hero summoning ritual.

The pope agreed and he told Aileen about the reward for participating.

Aileen was dissatisfied with the reward but she still thanked the pope for letting her participate in the hero summoning ritual.

The pope left and so Aerin, Aileen, and I, Axel was left inside the house. I wanted to introduce ourselves as the triple A but I cast away such thought.

"Remember that I still had not forgiven you for what you had done to my darling."

The first one to start the conversation was Aerin.

"Your 'darling' had made my father, the dragon king his pet so I revenge against him."

"Your father should be honored that he was picked by my darling as his contracted pet or my darling would have wiped out all of the dragons in the Dragon Mountain."

"Now, now. Let's not start a pointless quarrel but instead start our plan on manipulating the heroes that will be summoned later."

I intervened before the quarrel between Aerin and Aileen got heated up.

"What are we going to do after we manipulate all of the summoned heroes, darling?"

"We will use them as fodder to deal with the demon lords and test the demon lords' strength. If some of the heroes are still alive after that then we will use them to deal with the demon lords' minion."

"Will that plan even work?" (Aerin)

"Of course, it will. And even if it will not work out, I still have plan B."

"What's plan B?" (Aileen)