Homecoming

"Ugh… where am I…?"

A ceiling stared back at me—familiar, yet somehow strange. It was the same ceiling I had looked up at every single day, twenty years ago.

When I sat up, I found myself in the bed of the house I had lived in on Earth.

"I'm back."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Outside, the evening had already gone dark. As I slowly took in my surroundings, everything I had poured myself into all those years suddenly felt hollow. A bitter feeling washed over me.

I really had given it everything I had.

"Hah. What's the point of sitting around feeling like this? Better just forget it."

I forced the emotion aside and quickly checked over my body. The senses and abilities I had honed during my time as a Hero were still intact.

Wait. Intact?

That… shouldn't be possible, right? This was Earth. If I still had a Hero's power, there was no way anyone would treat me like a normal person…

My superhuman physical abilities were unchanged. Even magic and holy power seemed fully usable.

On the desk sat the computer I used to use. I turned it on.

Whirrr—

A soft mechanical hum, then a bright screen. It booted up without a hitch, which meant the point I'd returned to Earth wasn't far off from when I'd been summoned away.

Without much thought, I opened the news.

Hunters? Rifts?

Familiar words—the kind I'd seen in novels. This didn't feel like the world I knew.

I dug into more articles to get a handle on the situation. The picture that emerged looked like this:

The moment I had been summoned away, people across the entire world had begun to "Awaken." The powers they gained were wildly different—magic, swordsmanship, the ability to tame monsters, healing, archery, hand-to-hand combat, and more. Every last one of them was combat-related.

Awakened individuals also received something called a Status Window, which came packaged with an Ability and matching Skills. A person could Awaken only a single Ability, while Skills ranged from one to as many as five. Skills had to be trained consistently to raise their level, and as those levels climbed, so did a Hunter's rank.

The first wave of Awakened made up about 0.1% of the population—roughly six hundred thousand people—and that number kept growing, little by little, every month. The United States had founded a Hunter Association, required Awakened to register, and started calling registered Awakened "Hunters." The Association ranked Hunters from F-class to S-class and provided national-level support according to rank.

At the same time the Awakened appeared, "Rifts" began opening all over the world. Hunters crossed into them, killed monsters, and used the materials they brought back to craft equipment—or sold them for money.

Hunters and monsters, huh…

The monsters looked identical to the ones I'd fought in the other world. Thankfully, nothing on the level of the Demon King or his subordinates—the Seven Deadly Sins—seemed to exist here.

"If those things showed up, Earth wouldn't last long."

Around here, monsters like wyverns and gargoyles were treated as S-class threats. Demons used creatures like that as doormen. They were vastly stronger, and their intelligence was extremely high—roughly on par with a human's.

The strongest monster to appear on Earth so far had been a Sea Dragon. It had taken thirty S-class Hunters gathered from multiple countries just to bring it down. A Sea Dragon—the so-called Tyrant of the Seas back in the other world. I'd had a rough time killing one myself.

And they took one down with thirty S-class Hunters…

"So an S-class Hunter is about mid-tier demon level. Then… do I have a Status Window too?"

The instant the words left my mouth, a blue window appeared before my eyes.

Uh… a Status Window?

The stats caught my eye first. Mid-to-high nineties across the board. I'd heard the average for an S-class Hunter sat in the mid-to-high seventies… so my physical stats were pretty high.

Strength, Agility, and Stamina did exactly what they sounded like—boosted raw power, speed, and endurance. Intelligence raised accuracy with weapons like guns and bows. Mana was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a stat that appeared for those who Awakened as mages, and Holy Power for those who Awakened as healers—yet I had both.

I'd learned magic from Fiora and holy power from Ariel, hoping to be more useful to my party. I'd had almost no talent for magic, and holy power had been hard to pick up. You were supposed to believe in a goddess—believe in the same goddess who'd dragged me into that world?

Not a chance.

Next were the skills.

Light Sword - Teo Style was the name of the swordsmanship I'd created. Heroes had always taken the traditional Light Sword style passed down through the generations and reshaped it to suit themselves. I'd done the same.

Magic and Heal were techniques I'd trained hard at even if I wasn't any good with them. But Summon—that was a skill I'd never seen before. The level was marked with question marks, and the description was absurdly bare.

Summons, huh…

What kind of skill was it?

Only one way to find out.

"Summon."

The cooldown kicked in. Light bloomed in front of me, and within it, a human shape began to form. I waited with my heart full of anticipation for the light to fade—

"—whatdoIdonowbecauseofmetheheroleftIhavetoapologizeIhavetosayI'msorrywhatdoIdowhatdoIdoI'msuchaworthlesstrashbecauseofmetrashlikemedoesn'tdeservetolive—"

A familiar shade of hair, and a voice so frantic it made my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head spin.

— Silvia's POV —

After Teo left, after I heard what the goddess had to say, I couldn't think at all. Self-loathing, shame, and guilt crashed over me until my mind went hazy. I kept muttering—apologies to Teo, blame heaped on myself, over and over.

I couldn't see anything around me. Maybe that was why I never noticed the light closing in.

"—whatdoIdonowbecauseofmetheheroleftIhavetoapologizeIhavetosayI'msorrywhatdoIdowhatdoIdoI'msuchaworthlesstrashbecauseofmetrashlikemedoesn'tdeservetolive—"

I was still rambling when a familiar voice came from behind me.

"Silvia?"

Teo's voice. The one I thought I'd never hear again.

I lifted my head just a little. Teo was looking at me.

"Teo! Hic— I—I'm so sor— sob— I—I— WAAAAAH!"

— Tae-o's POV —

I watched Silvia babble at me in a complete mess.

"Silvia?"

Why was she here? Had my Summon brought her? Did that mean every time I used it, one of them would appear?

More importantly—why is she like this?

She'd been trying to explain something to herself, then crumpled to the floor and started crying. This wasn't like her at all.

"Hey, Silvia? Just calm down for a second—"

"I— hic— I was wrong. I attacked you— sob—"

"It's okay. Just breathe. Take it slow and tell me."

"Sniff— the truth is…"

I listened as she laid it all out. The Demon King had hit them with a mental attack—forced them to turn on me. From the sound of it, the rest of the party had been the same.

Worry for the others hit me all at once. They hadn't wanted to attack me. By now, they were probably drowning in despair.

I wasn't a fool. I knew how my companions had felt about me. Every one of them had seemed to carry something more than simple fondness. The girl beside me included.

"Then I'll just use Summon every time the cooldown's up. The others are probably hurting just as bad."

"…Yeah. I— I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It shook me up a little, sure—but you didn't do it on purpose."

I shrugged as I said it.

"Thank you…"

Silvia leaned against my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her and gave her a gentle pat. She stayed like that for a long while, then drifted off to sleep. I laid her down on the bed and quietly stood.

I hoped this, at least, had eased her heart a little.

What came next worried me. I still had to summon the others. All I could hope was that they hadn't torn themselves apart with guilt.

I lay down on the bed as well. In the quiet, only Silvia's soft breathing filled the room. I closed my eyes and let that sound become my lullaby.

It was the sweetest sleep I'd had in a very long time.