The headquarters of the White King's Knights.
　It was located inside the royal castle of Razhuisen, in one of its sections.
　And this is a conference room.
　Surrounding the vertical table, people dressed in white were taking their seats.

''I apologize for the delay,''

　Sierra, who ranked seventh in the pecking order, took the seat closest to the door as soon as she entered the room.

'Don't worry about it. I'm starting to include that Sierra will be late.

　To her right was the sixth in the pecking order, Emily Anderson.
　She wouldn't be much taller than Sierra.
　Her brown twin-tailed hair seemed to act as a charm to those around her, but there was a huge, contrasting mace propped up on the wall behind her.

'Thank you for your service. But if you want to keep an eye on the boy, why don't you go directly to Sierra? Concealment is a despicable act.

　And across from Emily was Edward Scotch, fifth in the pecking order.
　The white coat and white silk hat that matched his tall stature, and the single-glass gaze peeking out from his brim, caught Reinhardt sitting on the top seat at the north side of the table, farthest from the door.

'Sierra, how's that bastard doing?　Apparently he's staying at your house, but he was with you on a request, wasn't he?

　To Edward's right was the fourth in the pecking order, Lade Black.
　When Sierra asked him if he was still rooted to that sarcastic tone, Lade looked away with a cluck of his tongue.
　Sierra let out a light sigh as she couldn't ignore him when they were across the table but their seats were facing each other.

'How was your week, did you have a good time?'

　Sierra and I were seated slightly apart, and third in the pecking order to Edward's left, Hilda Eckarlert was there.

'How are you getting along with Masamune and Toa?　Edward told me you've made a friend of the white cat tribe.
'Sister, you can talk about that when you get home. More importantly, Edward, what do you mean by surveillance? I have not been told of such a thing, sir.
'Sierra, wait until Reinhardt speaks. Apparently this is His Majesty's decision.

　Across from Hilda was the second in the pecking order, Daniel King.
　Right next to Emily.

'He's a subject of interest. "We sent you and Weeks to see what you thought, to start with. Your Majesty had heard from Lord Boreas about the state of the barn and the merchants that are stalking the land. Well, now that's all I have to say, I guess Reinhardt has nothing to explain. So, what is this meeting about this time?
'We'll talk about that adventurer later. This time we have other requirements.

　First in the pecking order, Reinhard Rickman.
　He took a sip of water from the glass at hand and began to speak.

'First of all, it seems that a dragon's heart has appeared in Greberg.

　Heart of the Dragon - As soon as those words were uttered, everyone's eyes changed.
　Even Raid, who seemed unmotivated, was grinning as if he was interested in the conversation.
　But that was probably not the case for Sierra.
　I'm not a good liar, Sierra looks down at the table and hides her expression to avoid being noticed.

'Sierra, what's wrong?' And Hilda.
'What, does it hurt in your gut? And without missing a beat, Raid's voice teased.
'Raid, stop messing around.

　When Sierra heard of the dragon's heart, she immediately thought of Masamune's face.
　She was troubled by the conflict in her heart that as a White King Knight she should speak, but as a friend she shouldn't.

'No, it's nothing,'
Let's keep going, but here's the thing.

　Preamble, Reinhardt cuts to the chase.

'--Grayberg has summoned the heroes.
'Ha-ha-ha!　They finally did it, didn't they?

　Lade laughed with his stomach at the story.
　But this left everyone in a state of astonishment.

'Silly me...' said Daniel, holding his head up.
'It's from solid sources, first of all, I'm sure of it.
Which means they know that's what they're doing in Graysberg.

　Lade asked with enthusiasm, looking awfully happy.

'Perhaps that's what he meant. There have already been some deaths. I'm Albert Morlowe, the forest wizard.
''Speaking of the Wizard of the Forest, is it that wizard who wielded the magic that ruled the earth in the war against the old empire long ago and most threatened the enemy army? It may raise some eyebrows, but I know the name.

　Edward spoke up to analyze.
　'Apparently Albert has an anecdote to tell.

'Yeah, apparently there was a funeral,'
So that means this isn't the end of the story.

　The Raid smiled wickedly.

'Even that Albert Morlot was no match for you...'

　Hilda, for one, took the fact that the forest wizard had been defeated very seriously.

'Um, what exactly are you talking about summoning a hero?'

　So it was Sierra who asked him that question.

"What, Sierra, don't you know anything about that?
I'm sorry...
But it's not unreasonable. That's because it's a magic used by outsiders, not the general public.
Hmm, what?　Would it be funny if I called someone else an outsider?
No, I don't think so...
'I hope you're not going to be intimidated by Sierra,' said Hilda.
'I'm not intimidating you,'

　Lade disguised his irritation with a tongue-lashing. But the smile returned immediately.

I'm sure you'll be able to find it. I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not going to be able to do that.

　Then, as if exchanging remarks, Raid explains to Sierra.

'I see, it's summoning magic?'
But it's a completely different kind of summoning magic than the one you know.
Because...
I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work. I'm not going to be able to get it right. You don't know what a hero is, do you?
Are you talking about the heroes in the fairy tales?
There's no wrong answer, but there's no right answer either. That's a generic term for those who are called up. It was also called "Heroic Summoning" at certain times. It means that we don't know if it's a hero or a hero, or what will come out. In the past, there were some beasts that didn't understand the language of the summoned ones. But now they know what to summon. Something that is rational and can understand words. Most of them are basically humans.
Well, what are you going to do about it?
It's a good thing that the person summoned is endowed with a blessing called a boon. I don't know much about it either, but the initial status is abnormally high, a low level can use advanced magic, and an excellent profession and unique skills?

　Raid's own understanding of the summoning of the heroes was vague. But there was no objection to the explanation.

'I understand, but why is it a forbidden art?　It seems like very good magic to me...
Because they sacrifice people.

　It was Reinhardt who answered that.

'Sacrifice? .....
'This magic requires an enormous amount of magic at once. In other words, it's the core inside a human being.
'But if it's a core of magic, it doesn't have to be human, does it?
'The raid spoke, but there was a case of summoning a beast in the past. At that time, he said there was a beast among the sacrifices. He said that the beast that was summoned had no reasoning and could not communicate, it just attacked those around it. Based on that event, they started using only humans for the sacrifice.

　Sierra was upset by the situation as she understood.

'But that's not what's scary about this magic. No, it's the humans who are scared?
'Lade, no more talking. That should have gotten the message across.
"How can a White King's Knight know exactly what's going on right now?
Reinhardt gives Lade a sharp look as he tries to continue talking.
'Reinhardt, I'm fine. Reid, please tell me.
Yeah, I'll tell you.

　The Lade smiled a showy smile at Reinhardt.

'Sacrifice isn't just a matter of offering up. This is not faith, it's magic. As I said before, what you need is a core of magic, in other words, a huge amount of magic. But the core is usually very quiet. It controls the supply of magic power while setting a limit to prevent the host body from breaking. However, you can't get a huge amount of magic power under these restrictions. So we can't use the summoning of heroes.
You mean you need to remove the restrictions?
'Yes. Which leads to what I said.

　An outcast.
　Sierra pondered the meaning of the words Lade had just uttered.

'Despair and fear!

　At that moment, Sierra's eyes widened in surprise.

'What do you think is the quickest way to inflict despair and fear on a human being?'

　It was then that Sierra understood why Reid had called it an outcast.

'-- torture!
....
"You terrorize them with pain and drive them to cripple themselves. If they kill you, they'll kill you. Because killing them will kill the core. And when the mind is broken, the restrictions are released from the human core. Then the human body will glow and an enormous amount of magic will be released. And then the magic goes into effect - this is the summoning of the heroes!
How many sacrifices...?
I don't know exactly what happened.
...Oh, I see.

　Sierra didn't try to ask any more questions.

　Afterwards, Reinhardt raised the report that the body of Nutkerene, which had been recovered recently, had been stolen by someone.
　It was a serious matter, and each of the White King's knights had their heads in the sand, but nothing was heard by Sierra's ears.

　When the meeting was over, Hilda approached Sierra, but Sierra only replied quietly, "I'm fine," and left the royal castle without further ado.