Chapter 1 - The Summoning

"Wait, what the f*ck?!"

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by four robed men standing before me.

"Sir, I think the summoning was a success!"

"So third times the charm, huh?"

I had no idea what was going on. Suddenly one of them spoke.

"So this is our new Mirror Hero, huh?"

Wait, hero? Me? And why'd they say mirror hero? That's when I felt something light on my arm.

I looked over to it, and sure enough, there was a mirror attached to my arm! I tried pulling it, but it just wouldn't budge. I decided to ask them.

"U-Umm, can anyone explain to me what is going on here?"

"Oh sorry, forgive our rudeness, we had multiple failures in our summoning ritual, so we were surprised to see it actually work."

"U-Uh, summoning ritual?, what's that?"

"Do you not have magic in your world, hero?"

"Nope. not that I know of."

"I see. Well, to sum it up, you were summoned from another world to act as our country's hero. Specifically, the Mirror Hero. Please, come this way so you can meet our emperor. He will tell you all that you want to know."

So I was going to meet this country's emperor?! And I was a hero at that! An actual hero! Any otaku like me would be pumped up! Although, what kind of a weapon is a mirror? Is it even a weapon?

While I was thinking and following them, I decided to look out the window, and what I saw made everything even more bizarre. I was greeted by a scene of old-school Japanese buildings, with dirt roads and tons of different (people?) going through them. The people were all different races. It looked like a scene in a edo-period movie of somesort.

"Wow, so I really am in another world!"

"Um, sir?"

"O-Oh sorry about that, I got lost in thought for a sec. I haven't seen anything like this in my world, so I was just surprised."

"... I see. Well please, follow along, you will meet our emperor soon."

I was led through the hallways and eventually reached a big room with multiple people in it, wearing kimonos and other various types of Japanese clothes. There was a big throne at the end of it, with a person sitting in it, he looked a bit aged, judging from his attire, he must be the emperor of these parts.

The moment I entered some of the people started whispering to each other.

"So that's our hero?"

"He's quite young."

"Not what I expected from other worlds, but okay."

"He looks kinda cute."

Then the emperor spoke.

"So I heard the summoning succeeded this time?"

"Yes sir!"

His voice seemed to exhibit authority and control. Anyone could see that he was an emperor.

"...So this is our hero, eh?"

He started to look at me, inspecting me. starting to feel awkward, I shuffled a bit under his gaze, then he finally spoke to me.

"Will you please introduce yourself, hero?"

I decided to speak in the most cheerful and respectful way I could, in order to put in a good first impression. I also made a mental note to not piss him off anytime soon.

"I'm Naofumi Iwatani, 20, University student."

I showed him the mirror on my arm, and he nodded at that.

"I see. I'm the emperor of these lands, Suizei. Please refer to me as that. As for why you were summoned here, I'm sure you have heard the gist, but you have been summoned here to act as our country's hero. Normally we would summon only holy heroes from other worlds, but the mirror hasn't picked anyone from our country, so even though summoning requires quite a lot of resources, we decided to summon people from other worlds."

Wait, holy heroes? Come to think of it, the book which I decided not to read had the name 'holy' in it. Does that mean I was a different kind of hero which wasn't meant to be summoned from other worlds?

"Um, Your highness, I have a question, What are holy heroes? Is that different from the hero I am?"

"Yes, The four holy heroes are the top-most heroes, who are essentially the heroes of this world, summoned while the world is in danger , while the vassal heroes are the country's heroes, vassal heroes are typically selected through ceremonies, but like I said, we had to make an exception this time. "

"...I see."

Well, that's a bummer, so I'm second place at the top of the world. Then again, not every otaku gets a chance to be able to fulfill his dream of being summoned to another world as a hero, so I'll just make do with what I have.

"That aside, we won't exactly be working you for nothing, we will of course reward you as long as you do your job as a hero, be it money, land or women."

Great! So I'll be rewarded for what I do- wait, women?! DoesthatmeanI'llgettohaveaharemlikein thosedatingsimulatorsthatIusedtoplayandamstillafanof- Wait, my otaku brain is going offtopic again, I need to put in a good first impression first and foremost.

"I see, so what am I supposed to do?"

"You will start out weak at lv1, as you can see in your status magic, you will go on a journey and get stronger gradually, along with your weapon."

"Wait, status magic, what's that?"

"...Did you not have status magic in your world, hero?"

"Uuuhh, No?"

"I see. Do you see an icon in the corner of your vision?"

Eh, Where?, hmm…. now that they mention it, there is a faint icon there.

"Seems like you have seen it, try to focus on that icon."

"I see."

I focused on the translucent icon, and soon enough a whole menu popped up in front of me.

"Woah!"

[Naofumi Iwatani]

[Class] : Mirror Hero LV1

[Equipment] : Small Mirror (Legendary Weapon), OtherWorldly Clothes

[Skills] : None

[Magic] : None

A large menu popped in front of me, showing various things like stats and stuff.

"..Man, this really is starting to look like a game."

A menu that looked like a game, getting summoned to another world…. What would be next?

"Hero?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Is there anything bothering you?"

"Well like I said, I haven't seen anything like this, so I was surprised."

"... I see. So do you have any other questions?"

"So will I be able to team up with these other heroes?"

I asked. I mean, if heroes were OP, then I could team up with other heroes and we would become super OP.

"Unfortunately, no."

"W-Wait, why?!"

"Our studies have been reporting that the weapons tend to repel each other. So it is advised to-"

"Woah!"

A notification popped in front of me, showing,

[Attention : Vassal Weapon Holders are allowed to team up and be in the radius of one holy hero and one other vassal hero at maximum. Any more than that, EXP gain and growth will be reduced.]

"*Ahem."

"U-Um, sorry! a notification popped up in front of me. It says that I'm allowed to team up with one holy hero and one vassal hero."

Great! So I could still team up with other heroes. Being the casual player I am, I could focus on other things like trading and stuff, and since I only have a mirror, I could let the guys with the better weapons do the battle-heavy stuff.

"W-Well I am afraid that's not possible. We do not know the status of the other heroes yet, and we are in bad relations with the other countries. So it would be better if you worked on your own."

He stuttered at replying to me, which confused me a bit, but I'm sure he was just surprised at knowing this.

"In any case you are dismissed, we will hold a banquet soon as a welcome for you, so please attend that."

Sweet! I'd have a banquet for me! This really was a new adventure for an otaku like me. I might even be able to get back on track with my love-life.

I was led by a maid to my so-called room. I couldn't help but notice she was cute, but she had this weird gem on her head. It was a different world though, so I decided to ignore that. I was led to my room soon enough.

The moment I opened it, my jaw fell to the floor. Back in Japan, my room was small and packed to the brim with games and such. This room was the biggest I've ever seen. It Looked like the ones that were handed out to the royals.

"Do you need anything else, sir hero?"

"..."

"Sir hero?"

"A-Ah Sorry! U-Umm, what were you saying?"

"We were asking if you needed anything else."

"Umm, this is more than enough. In fact, don't you think this is a bit too much for someone like me?"

"Eh? No? You are our to-be hero, so it's only fair we would give you a warm welcome."

"Ah, I see. Well I don't really need anything else."

"Okay. Well, prepare for the banquet, sir hero. I'll be going now."

"Thank you."

I immediately went over to one of the chairs and sat down. And the feeling was heavenly compared to my own chairs back at japan. This was the comfiest ever.

"Hmmm, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure they have a different language than me. Yet they are able to understand me and I'm also able to. I wonder why is that?"

As if responding to my question, another notification popped up in front of me

[Attention : Legendary weapons translate the words spoken between the wielder and others]

Nice! So I could understand any words spoken. This was starting to look even more like a game, though. I decided to browse my help menu, to see if there was anything useful. After that, I managed to bring up my stats. My attack was decent, but not too high specced. I could probably just gain more by levelling up though. Although my magic defense and attack was the highest out of all. I guess I would be considered a mage as well as a tank in game terms?. I came back to my help menu and continued to browse over it. I found out that you could strengthen your weapon through methods. I decided to check what method I had.

[Legendary Mirror Power Up Method: Culinary boost]

Eh? Culinary boost? What kind of strengthening method is that? I decided to read about it. The more I read, it started to sound like a strengthening method. Apparently, there were two parts to the method. Cooking food with that method active gives you food EXP, which was different to EXP. The food EXP could then be used to gain bonuses, just like normal levels. Sweet! so I could level up in two ways. And apparently, I could use this to boost my allies too! Eating food made by this method also apparently gave me food EXP.

I continued to browse through the help menu, until I heard a knocking on the door.

"Who is it?"

"The preparations for the banquet have been completed. Please allow me to guide you to your destination."

"A-Ah, I'll open the door and come right away."

I had to admit, I was a bit nervous. I mean, it would be a banquet with lots of people, and since apparently I was the main guest, I had to put on a good first impression. Good thing I atleast know table manners. I opened the door and found the maid from before standing in front of me.

"Are you ready, sir hero?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Please, come this way."

I was led to the banquet hall by the maid, and it got even more mind-blowing. It looked like something straight out of an Edo movie. There was a whole buffet on one side of the hall and tables with Japanese style tableware and lanterns hanging from the ceiling. All of it looked very expensive. I noticed that I was being led to a particular seat, set apart from the other. It must have been the seat of the guest of honor, which was right now, me. Instead of going off by myself, various foods were brought for me, and I could take the ones I wanted. Most of the food was Japanese, so there wasn't much of a problem, and I wasn't really a picky eater to begin with. There was a crowd observing me from afar, so I kept up my impression until I had my fill.

I then went back to my room after asking a maid and being guided out. I promptly laid down on my bed, which was so comfortable I could already see myself falling asleep. But I remembered I had one more thing I'd like to test. The 'culinary boost' thing or whatever. I got up from my comfy bed with some hesitation but got up eventually. I decided to wait a bit for the banquet to end and spent some time looking at my status and help screen. After I thought the banquet ended, I headed to the kitchen. I walked around a bit not knowing where it was before seeing the chef.

"Um, do you know where the kitchen is?"

"Oh, Go to the left and then take a straight. There should be a door there."

"Thank you."

"No worries."

I walked in the direction he gave me and came in front of a door. It opened with a big sound. I was soon presented with a medieval japanese-style kitchen. There were a variety of different dishes and chefs there. The dishes were possibly the leftovers from the banquet, I guess?

One of the chefs looked up and saw me.

"O-Oh sir hero, we weren't expecting to see you here. Do you need anything?"

"Um, I just thought I'd cook for mysel-"

"Sir Hero can cook?"

"Eh, just a little bit. It has something to do with my mirror's power up method, so I'd thought I'd test it."

"Well then, we can just make you whatever you want if you just ask."

"Apparently, I have to cook it myself."

"Ah, I see. Well, feel free to use the ingredients here. Ask me if you need anything."

"Thank you very much."

I used to cook back at home for my little brother. He always said I was good at it, but I didn't really see much of it myself. I wondered if it was a coincidence I got a cooking-style method, but whatever. I decided to cook some sashimi since there was some fish leftover and it was easy to make. The weird thing was that after I finished gutting and started cutting the fish, all the cooks started staring at me, which made me uncomfortable.

"U-Um, Is there a problem?"

"Oh, we were just surprised. We weren't expecting you to cook this well."

"Well, I used to cook back at home, though I'm not that good."

I finished cutting the fish and went to cook it. After ignoring the gazes of the chefs and finishing it, I decided to eat it and see if the method actually worked. The moment I ate it, a food EXP stat appeared and a notification popped up on my screen, showing me the gained experience. Once I finished the plate, I managed to level up to LV 2 in food levels. I decided to go back to my room.

"Well I have to go, have a nice day."

"Goodbye. It was a shame we couldn't learn anything, but oh well."

I decided to ignore that last comment and went back to my room. After checking my stats once more, I went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be an exciting day for sure. My adventure would finally begin!