Mark was sitting on his throne with his elbows resting on the armrests, fingers interlaced in front of his face, and his gaze fixed on the large closed door at the far end of the hall.

Though he wasn’t really looking at it.

His eyes were focused on the door, yes, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

’...Was it really just a dream?’

The question had been going around in his head since he had gotten up.

Because while all the signs pointed to it having been nothing more than an image produced by his brain, fried from fever and exhaustion, there was something about that dream that didn’t quite add up.

’What if it wasn’t?...’

But just as that thought finished forming in his head, the sound of the large door opening pulled him out of his trance.

Ely was the first to enter, followed by Yuki, Aria, Rose, and finally, keeping her distance from the rest, Alice.

The five stopped in front of the throne and, without needing to coordinate, arranged themselves in a line that naturally separated those who had been there longer from those who had joined recently.

Ely was the first to speak.

"Master," she said with a small bow of her head. "As you ordered, the others are here."

"Thank you, Ely, I appreciate it."

"Oh, Master, there’s no need to thank me for something so simple!" Ely said, raising one hand slightly. "I would do anything for you, you already know that."

"I know, Ely."

"Anything you need, Master!"

Aria, who was two spots away from Ely, turned her head slightly toward her in a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by anyone.

"Well, I would also do anything for the Master," Aria said in a deliberately louder tone than necessary. "It’s not like that’s something special."

"I said it first."

"Saying it first doesn’t make it more true."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn’t."

"Hey," Mark cut in with a sigh. "We haven’t even started yet."

Ely and Aria went quiet at once, both looking straight ahead with an expression that tried to be serious but maintained a faint glow of mutual competition.

Then Mark settled in the throne, rested both hands on the armrests, and took one more second before speaking.

"I called you all here because I have something important to confess," Mark said finally, in a much more serious tone than he had used until then.

The four who knew nothing, Ely, Aria, Yuki, and Alice, looked at him with attention.

Only Rose remained somewhat indifferent, as she already had a sense of what Mark was about to say.

"It’s something about me," Mark continued. "Something I’ve never told you... something I’ve been keeping to myself since the very first day, but that it’s time you all knew."

With every word he said, Mark could see the four faces before him filling with anticipation.

"I... am not from this world."

The sentence fell on the hall like a heavy object.

"What do you mean by that, Master?" Ely asked with notable confusion in her voice.

"I mean exactly that," Mark replied, keeping his calm. "I wasn’t born in this world... I come from another one."

"From another world?" Aria repeated with wide eyes. "W-what do you mean another world?"

"A different world," Mark said. "With different people, different rules, different things that don’t exist here... In my original world there was no magic, no monsters, none of many other things that exist in this one."

"There was no magic?" Aria said, bringing a hand to her mouth.

"Absolutely none."

"And how did people protect themselves then?" Ely asked with a completely furrowed brow, as if the very idea seemed impossible to understand. "From predators, from other kingdoms, from any threat? How does a civilization survive without magic?"

"With technology, mainly," Mark replied. "But that’s not the point right now."

Alice, who until that moment had remained completely silent, spoke for the first time in a low, tense voice.

"If you come from another world, then... how?" she asked without taking her eyes off him. "How did you get here, my lord?"

"...I was murdered in my world and after dying I appeared here."

"You were murdered?" Aria said almost in a whisper.

"Yeah..."

The instant the women present heard that, the atmosphere in the hall tensed all at once.

Because one thing was saying "I come from another world," and quite another was adding "because I was murdered."

Aria still had her hand at her mouth, Ely had her lips pressed tight with an expression of anger that said everything, Yuki remained motionless but her eyes were wide open, and Alice had looked down again, this time with her fists clenched at her sides.

Seeing the reactions of all his subordinates, Mark realized he had screwed up by revealing the small detail that he had been murdered and tried to quickly walk it back.

"No, wait, everyone stay calm, it wasn’t exactly a murder, it was more like an accident... yes, that’s it, an accident."

Suddenly Rose walked over to him, then turned her back to him to face the others.

"Excuse me, but..." Rose said in a soft tone, looking at them one by one. "Since we’re on the subject... has any of you heard the stories about heroes who appeared out of nowhere throughout history?"

Hearing her, the others blinked in confusion at Rose’s sudden change of topic.

"The heroes...?" Aria said, lowering her hand from her mouth. "You mean...?"

"That’s right, I’m talking about the nameless warriors of legend," Rose continued. "Those who appeared in humanity’s darkest moments."

"Yes, I know those stories, what about them?" Ely said in a tone that had shifted from shock to curiosity.

"I know them too," Aria added, nodding.

Alice, for her part, finally spoke in a firmer voice than before.

"I do as well, in fact the entire clergy is built on those stories," she said, raising her eyes again. "Official doctrine holds that the Goddess sends her chosen ones from time to time to protect the world... they are the foundation of a large part of our theology."

Yuki was the only one who shook her head slightly.

"I don’t," she said in her usual calm tone. "I don’t know anything about that."

Rose nodded at the responses from the others.

"Good, so most of us are on the same page," Rose said, picking up the thread. "As I was saying, those heroes appeared throughout history at the most critical moments for humanity, always just when they were needed most... and no one knew where they came from."

"So the theory is..." Aria began.

"The theory," Rose continued, "is that all those heroes came from another world... that they were brought here somehow, and that was why no one could find any records of their previous life, their family, their origins... because there was nothing to find in this world."

"So..." Aria said slowly, turning toward Mark with wide eyes, "does that mean the Master is like them?"

Mark, who until that moment had been sitting in silence, grateful that Rose had calmed things down with her sudden change of topic, straightened slightly on the throne.

"Unfortunately, I’m not as impressive as Rose just made me sound."

The four looked at him.

"When I arrived in this world... I arrived with practically nothing."

"...Nothing?" Aria asked.

"Nothing," Mark confirmed. "All I had was this necromancer class and a single level-one ability."

"..."

"The point is," Mark continued, "I’m not a powerful warrior who fell from the sky to save the world, so if the heroes from the legends were really reincarnated people, they arrived much better equipped than I did."

"But that’s where I disagree with the Master," Rose interrupted, raising a finger. "Because if the previous reincarnated ones arrived with enormous power, and he arrived with nothing... that doesn’t necessarily mean he has no power."

Hearing that, everyone turned their full attention to Rose.

"My theory," the vampire continued, "is that the Master does have power comparable to the heroes of the past, but that for some reason that power is blocked, sealed, or simply hasn’t manifested yet."

"Do you think that’s possible, Master?" Aria said, turning to look at Mark.

"It’s Rose’s theory," Mark replied cautiously. "Personally I don’t think that’s the case, but she believes it is... and that’s why she insisted that we should start looking for a way to unlock my powers, if they really exist."

"Then we have to do it, Master!" Ely jumped in immediately. "If there’s any way to recover your power, we have to find it!"

"I’ll help with whatever it takes!" Aria added almost at the same time.

"Easy, easy," Mark said, raising both hands to calm them. "That’s exactly the other thing we need to talk about..."