Arifureta: From Whelp to Dragonlord

Part 1: Another World

Hajime stood there with his hands protecting his face and had both eyes closed, but when he heard the rustling noise, he slowly opened his eyes

Keiji stood with an annoyed expression only this annoyance was targeted to their situation instead of Kouki.

Keiji surveyed his surroundings dumbfoundedly. The first thing that came into sight was the giant mural. The mural was about ten meters in width, depicting an androgynous person with long golden hair and a faint smile, in front of an aureole. The background portrayed the grassy plains, lakes, and mountains, and the person had both hands extended out as if embracing them all. It was a beautiful mural, an amazing mural. But, for some reason, Keiji felt a sense of cold uneasiness from the person in the drawing.

'Divinci eat your heart out.'

After carefully surveying his surrounding, he found that they seemed to be in a huge hall. He assumed the hall was made out of marble. The whole building was emitting a beautiful luster. The building that was constructed by laying glossy white stones on top of one another, was supported by huge pillars with delicate designs, and the ceiling was in a dome shape. The whole place naturally looked like a cathedral and had a very solemn atmosphere.

'I swear if this world has Catholics I'd rather it be Satan.' he thought to himself.

It seemed like Keiji and the others were located in the deepest part of the building, on top of a pedestal that was higher than the surrounding area. Keiji looked around, he could only see his classmates with dumbfounded expressions in contrast to his annoyance. Apparently, all the students that were present in the classroom at that time were caught in this situation.

Keiji turned around to watch, and as expected, Kaori's confused figure was there. She did not seem to be injured, and Haijime was also unharmed leaving him somewhat relieved.

After that, perhaps looking for an explanation, everyone gradually shifted their attention to the people around the pedestal. That's right, Keiji, Hajime and his classmates were not the only ones in this hall. There were at least thirty people that had both hands crossed in front of their chest, and kneeled as if they were praying. All of them wore white robes that were embroidered with gold, and they had staffs right next to them. The tip of the staves spread out like a fan, and in place of the ring, several pieces of circular disks hung on top of it.

'Oh dear god no.'

Among them, an old man around the age of 70 stepped forward, his attire was extremely luxurious even among the white-robed group. He wore a 30 cm tall and delicate thing that looked like an original wizard hat. However, that old man had a domineering aura around him, looking at the wrinkles on his face, as well as his sophisticated eyes, even if people say he was only 50 years old, none would doubt it Keiji was very unsettled by the elder's focus on him. 

At the same time the staff in his hand was making a "Shing! Shing!" sound, the old man spoke to them with a clear and calming voice that was fitting of his appearance.

"Welcome to Tortus, Hero-sama, and his companions. We were expecting you. I am the currently appointed Pope of the Saint's Church, you may address me as Ishtar Lombard. Let's get along from now on, no need to exchange conventional greetings."

'Have I been demoted to SIDEKICK?!' Keiji internally screamed. 

After he introduced himself, the old man called Ishtar revealed a smile that was often associated with nice elderly people but there was something more than meets the eye.

'He triggers my fight or flight and it's telling me to run.'

Hajime looks at Keiji actually seeing him sweat nervously was new to him