Shepherd accepted his situation and agreed to talk with them and make sense of everything. Shepherd was then led towards an empty room. He was told to wait there for a moment while they attended to the king. He was told that the king had been harmed and needed attending to.


    The room that Shepherd was told to wait in looked like an office of some kind. On one end of the room beside the window, there was a large wooden mahogany table. It was littered with papers. There was a well-decorated chair at the helm of the table. Which made it look like it belonged to someone important. As he was in the castle of a king he thought that this might either be the office of the king or of his prime minister.


    Just next to the table there was a set of four sofas placed next to each other. Two sofas on one side and two on the other with another small mahogany wooden table between them. This was most likely a place of discussion. Which would soon be used by them.


    Shepherd did not sit down but was observing the room and how it was decorated. Now he knew that this might not be a shooting set. Because what shooting set is made so detailed as this one. Where the walls are actually made of stone and have such expensive furniture. The clothes are just out of this world. Even the armor worn by the guards looked real enough.


    Shepherd while observing his surrounding found a few flaws in the design. He was someone that had done a few missions as a personnel bodyguard. He had provided protection to some of the great minds of his world. According to him the main desk and chair should not be placed right next to the window.


    ‘The chair is placed in clear view of the window. If this is the office of either the king or of his prime minister then it designed very poorly. A sniper could take out the king in one shot as it provides a clean line of sight. He would drop dead before the guards have any idea of what happened. Maybe the windows are made up of Ballistic Glass.’


    The blinds of the windows were closed right now. Shepherd wanted to check if there was Ballistic glass or not. He also did not know what the time was. There was not a single clock in this room. Even on the way, he had seen a single clock. It was not surprising if this was a shooting set, based on medieval times. He walked over to the window to draw the blinds and see if it was night or day at the moment. He stopped before his hand could touch the blinds. The doors to the office opened and the king arrived with his entourage.


    "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir Shepherd. Casting that magic took more out of me than I expected. But I can walk on my own for now so I guess it''s not that bad." Albert took a seat on the sofa and directed Shepherd to sit opposite him.


    Shepherd took a seat but was confused, to say the least. ''Magic? He said it again. These guys are really messing with me now. Crying about magic and whatnot. Let''s just hear them out and get out of here quickly.''


    "Before we begin I would say that introductions are in order. Let me begin, As I said before I am Albert Winsdor, The King of Eldia kingdom. This here on my right is my partner, my wife, the queen Elena Winsdor." Albert introduced his wife.


    Elena gently gave Shepherd a bow while sitting and greeted him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir Shepherd." Shepherd also did a light bow back as to greet her, but still suspicious of them as they were still sticking to their act. Albert then continued to introduce the others present in the room.


    "These are my children, Prince Lance and Princess Liliana." Liliana got up from the sofa and faced him. She pulled the sides of her long skirt up a little, a huge grin on her face, and bowed.


    "It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hero."


    ‘Hero?’If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Shepherd with a gentle smile greeted her with the same enthusiasm that the girl had shown him. While he was smiling at the moment, he was getting more and more impatient at the situation and their bullshit. Lance, on the other hand, looked him up and down once at him and with a scoff turned his face away from him. He did not bother to greet him. Shepherd was not in the mood for his cocky attitude right now and just ignored him.


    Albert waited for a moment for Lance to say something but he didn''t so he moved on while staring daggers at Lance.


    "You met him in the hall earlier, this is Ryu Kanata, my Prime Minister." The old man also greeted him with a smile and gave a slight bow. The only one left in the room was a burly muscular man.


    Albert introduced this man as Yamamoto Daiki, the general of the royal army. Daiki did not bow to him but rather gave him a salute. Daiki was a prideful man and was not going to bow to a commoner whom he did not know. Their salute was a little different from Earth''s military, as he put one hand by his side and the other on his chest with a slight nod.


    Shepherd had not seen this salute before but being a soldier who had done a salute his whole life and had seen countless people salute him recognized this as a genuine salute of a soldier. It might have been the intense situation that he was in or might it be the unfamiliar place.


    He had been out of his comfort zone, not knowing where he was or what had happened to him. But when he saw someone salute him, his instincts as a soldier awoke, and without even thinking his body moved first and he stood up and performed a salute. Even Shepherd was surprised as to why did he suddenly perform a salute but quickly sat down with the tip of his ears a little red.


    Albert and Daiki were surprised to see Shepherd imitate his salute with some difference. Then they put two and two together that he might be a soldier too.


    "That was a little different from us but that was definitely a salute, wasn''t it? Is it from your world? Are you a soldier too?"


    ''Again with this nonsense? your world? is this a different one then?''


    Everyone had introduced themselves and no matter how pissed he was at the situation right now, he had to endure. Find out what they know and understand his situation. Now it was his turn to introduce himself.


    "My name is Colonel Shepherd Price. United Nations Joint Security Operations, Company Commander of Task Force 141." Shepherd Introduced himself and his rank to them. He thought that after hearing how high his rank was they would stop bullshitting him and answer his questions.


    "I do not understand half of what you just said but you are a commander, right? Then you must be like Daiki, a General." Shepherd was dumbfounded that they were still going on with their act. Were they not afraid of him or did they not care about his status as a military commander.


    "We have done the common courtesy and introduced ourselves. Now let’s start from the top. The reason that you are here right now is that you were summoned by me to this world of Eldinoir. I used ancient magic to summon you..." Shepherd had enough of this now and cut him off before he could go any further.


    "I have had enough of your bullshit Albert. I do not mind your act of pretending to be a king. This might be an act or something that you all believe in wholeheartedly but there is no need to pull me into your fantasy. There is no such thing as magic, if there is something even remotely associated with magic then it is only a sleight of hand. I gave you a chance to come clean but you are still stuck in that fantasy. I have had enough of you people." Shepherd stood up wanting to leave the place.


    They were all stunned by his outburst. Why was he saying that there is no magic? Magic is an everyday occurrence and is used by everyone. It is as true as there are a sun and moon in the sky. No one can deny its existence as it is the truth of life. So why is this stranger rejecting it? Before Albert could say something or try to stop him. Shepherd was stopped by Lance.


    "How dare you talk to my father like that you filthy commoner. He is a King. It is already a grace on his part to let a bug like you sit here with us, in our presence and you dare mock him? You want to die!!"


    Lance had grabbed Shepherd by his collar and was shouting at him. Albert was furious at his son for treating their guest this way. Albert got up to stop his son and before Albert had even said anything or done something, Lance had started shouting. Shepherd had grabbed Lance by his wrists while his hands were on his collar. He had secured his hands properly and was twisting them by applying pressure at just the right place.


    "Stop fucking with me kid, you people have been lying to me the moment I stepped in this place. Magic? Another World? Oh, you poor sods, living in your little fantasy. I don''t care for your antics right now. I don’t know where I am or who you people are. I am worried for those I left behind and I don’t have the time or the patience to deal with a brat like you. Now let go of my collar before I break your wrists, or can your magic stop me before I break them?"