4 The Heroes' Decision.

As the entire class fell into a panic, Rob watched the chaos silently.

Finally, Kouki stood up amidst the hysterical group of students and slammed his fist down onto the table with a loud *bang!* that managed to get the attention of most of the students.

After Kouki had confirmed that everyone's eyes were on him, he began to speak, "Everyone, there's no point in complaining to Ishtar. There's nothing he can do about it now. And..."

Kouki paused for a moment to find his following words before continuing, "And I, at least, have decided to stand and fight. These people are about to be annihilated. Knowing that, how can I possibly leave them to such a tragic fate? And besides, if we got summoned here to save humanity, we may be allowed to go back once we have saved them..."

Kouki turned to Ishtar as he asked the old priest, "Well, Ishtar-san? Do you think that is possible?"

"It is as you say. Lord Ehit is not so unkind that he would ignore a request from his chosen heroes," said Ishtar with a serene face.

"And we have all gained some amazing powers, haven't we? Ever since I arrived here, it felt like I have somehow grown way stronger," Kouki said in wonder.

"Yes, that is correct." Ishtar nodded as if to confirm Kouki's question. "It would be safe to assume that each of you has the equivalent strength of anywhere from a few to several dozen regular men."

"Alright, then we should be fine. I am going to fight. If we save everyone, then we can go home. So, watch! I am going to save everyone, including us!"

Kouki clenched his fists tightly as he proclaimed his noble intentions, flashing an almost sickeningly dazzling smile at the end.

At the same time, Kouki's overwhelming charisma started taking effect. Students who were despairing mere moments ago began to regain their sense of composure.

Almost everyone looked at Kouki with wonder as if they looked at the incarnation of hope and salvation.

On top of that, most of the female students had adoration mixed into their heated gaze as well.

However, Rob's reaction to Kouki's speech was different from theirs. His hands covered his face as he felt embarrassed to witness that.

Rob couldn't believe someone could do that without any shame at all!

Rob wanted to squirm in embarrassment after witnessing Kouki's speech. It was too cringey!

"Heh, knew you'd say that. Still, I'd be worried about letting you go off on your own, which is why I'm coming with you!"

"Ryutarou..." Kouki turned to his best friend after hearing Ryutarou's support in his typical musclehead way.

At that moment, Kousuke raised his face to see what was going on. He immediately regretted it because his curiosity made him see such a sappy scene.

However, Kousuke couldn't tear his gaze away. As such, he had to watch it till the end while enduring the cringe.

"Looks like that's the only choice we have right now. It pisses me off that we don't get any real say in the matter, but- I'll help too."

"Shizuku..." Kouki called out the name of his childhood friend happily.

Of course, Kouki ignored that Shizuku had a somewhat annoyed edge in her tone.

"I-If Shizuku is going to fight, I will too, then!"

"Kaori..." Kouki called out the name of his group's last member. He also ignored that Kaori had only tagged along because of Shizuku, not due to him.

After that, the rest of the students naturally agreed to fight. The flow and momentum of Kouki and his group swept them along like a tsunami sweeping the seaside town.

Meanwhile, Aiko was in tears as she ran between her students, imploring them to stop. However, she couldn't contend against Kouki's charisma, which was already at the level of minor brainwashing, from infecting the rest of the class.

Even though everyone agreed to help fight in this world's war, most students probably had no idea what war was really like, nor did they want to fathom it. They might have just been trying to escape from reality to preserve their sanity.

Nevertheless, since the students had chosen to join the war, they must learn to fight for real. No matter how astounding their newfound powers were, they were still high school students that had been living in a peaceful country.

It would have been impossible for the students to fight against demons and monsters without any training. Kousuke realized that he needed the training too.

Though Rob noticed the power dwelling in his body, it wasn't enough to survive and thrive in this dangerous world. However, it seemed Ishtar also had prepared for that eventuality.

Ishtar explained to the summoned heroes that people were ready to receive them in the Heiligh Kingdom. Said kingdom was apparently at the foot of the Divine Mountain. On the other hand, the temple they were currently in was the headquarter of the Holy Church that stood at its summit.

The Heiligh Kingdom had very close ties with the Holy Church. According to the legend told by Ishtar, one of Ehit's progeny, Sharam Barn, had founded the kingdom.

Of all the human kingdoms in Tortus, the Heiligh Kingdom had the richest history. The fact that the headquarter of the Holy Church was in the kingdom's backyard spoke about how deep their connection ran.

After that, Ishtar led the 'summoned heroes' plus one body snatcher out of the banquet hall.

---

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-

On the way to the exit, Rob was considering whether he should take over the role of the main character or not. However, it was not an easy decision to make.

If Rob chooses to do so, he will have to prepare himself to suffer beyond the tolerance of a common weeb like him. He might have convinced himself, but conviction alone wasn't enough to face and thrive against that insanity.

Though he knew what was coming, Rob didn't underestimate it. If he underestimated it, he would have no chance to regret his carelessness later.

By the way, the original protagonist was walking right in front of Rob. But, it seemed the original protagonist was unaware of his presence.

Rob couldn't help but show a wry smile.

Back to the original protagonist, Hajime Nagumo had black hair, brown eyes, a slim body, and a somewhat good look. He was weak-willed and shy but humble with a kind and gentle heart.

Though mild-mannered and pushover, Hajime had a unique type of bravery and strength of heart that allowed him to sacrifice his dignity and well-being to protect people from harm. He was like that because he'd prepared himself for the harsh life of adults he'd face in the future.

Other than that, Hajime would put his hobbies over everything else even though his peers ridiculed him since he was an Otaku with a motto of 'Hobbies First.' He became an Otaku because his parents were Otaku as well.

His father, Shu, was an avid gamer who built a game company because of his hobby. His mother, Sumire, was a famous Shoujo Mangaka.

However, Hajime would change after he fell into the Great Orcus Labyrinth in two weeks if nothing changed. After he fell, he would suffer there and descend into madness.

The fear of dying, the pain from losing his left arm, and starving and thirsty for days, combined with his undying desire to return home and see his family again, would push Hajime over the edge.

From that, Hajime would gain a newfound will to survive. As a result, he would become ruthless and uncaring. He would become capable of killing anyone or anything that wanted to cause him harm or get in his way.

In the original story, Hajime had even stated that he would murder all the Humans and the Demons, even destroy Tortus itself, if he had to. Hajime, who had changed, would show no mercy if anyone dared to cross him, not even towards his classmates!

Considering what Hajime went through in the original story, Rob couldn't help but hesitate to take over Hajime's role as the main character. After all, he didn't want to suffer unimaginable suffering.

However, Rob didn't want to remain as a side character, whose most important value was to be a source of comedy!

Rob wanted to become powerful like Hajime at the end of the original story! He also wanted to get the Seven Ancient Magic and the Concept Magic!

However, Rob was reluctant to experience Hajime's hardship and suffering in the original story. But, thinking about what he would gain if he took that path, he couldn't help but face a dilemma!

By the way, some interesting words came out. For instance: 'Labyrinth,' 'Ancient Magic,' and 'Concept Magic.'

However, explaining each term in detail would take too much time. Therefore, let's focus on the necessary parts.

There are seven Ancient Magic skills in total. Originated and developed in Ehit's original world, Ehit and other survivors of their destroyed world brought them over to the world of Tortus.

By the way, excessive physical and magical developments destroyed Ehit's original world.

Back to the topic, each Ancient Magic can interfere with one conceptual aspect of the universe. Thus, you can consider them so powerful that it isn't wrong to call them overpowered!

Meanwhile, Concept Magic is more of a technique to impose a new concept on the universe using one or more Ancient Magic skills. However, someone can only get this technique once one has obtained all Ancient Magic skills.

To obtain those powerful magical skills, one has to clear the challenges of the Seven Great Labyrinths created by the members of Liberators over 2,000 years ago. The natives of the world of Tortus have only discovered a few of their scattered locations.

Meanwhile, 'Liberators' was an organization that wanted to slay Ehit and stop his nefarious influence on the world of Tortus. However, they lost against Ehit and his pawns.

As a result, the 'Liberators' became the villain in the history of the world of Tortus. When the summoning of the 'heroes' from Earth happened, history called them 'Mavericks,' an evil organization that rebelled against God and wanted to destroy the world.