Chapter 1490: Proposal

"Welcome, Dear Heroes."

When Varian came to his senses, a soft and elegant voice reached his ears.

Opening his eyes, the visage of a pompous throne hall came into view.

"I am sure you must be surprised."

He and three others were standing on a large, intricate magical circle.

"Do not worry, I, Elizabeth Von Knight, first princess of the Leonal kingdom will explain everything."

In front of them was a woman in long blue princess dress with a cute tiara.

Varian rubbed his eyes and stared at the princess.

'Nope.'

He took a few steps forward, stopping only a foot before the princess and then stared at her again.

"H-Hero?"

The Princess bent back slightly, looking at him with an embarassed and awkward expression.

Varian sighed.

'Damn it!'

His vision undoubtedly dulled. It's like he went from 4K to 144p in a blink.

As he clenched his fists, there's no denying that his strength, enough to crush entire star systems, was curbed to a fraction of what it was.

"Hero?" Princess Elizabeth called again, her voice a bit colder this time.

"Ah?" Varian came to his senses and looked at her from head to toe.

Golden tiara. Long blonde hair. Large eyes, small nose and plump lips. A royal blue dress. Fragrance of roses. An elegant posture.

She's an out and out beauty. As they say, a woman so pretty she'd topple kingdoms.

But Varian rubbed his chin with a disappointed gaze.

"...Why are you not even as good as my maids?"

"What?"

Before even the princess could say another word, the three heroes who were summoned with him jumped forward.

"How dare you judge a woman based on her looks? You toxic masculine misogynist pig!"

A relatively handsome looking guy in white shirts and black jeans patted his chest and showed his support.

"Right! I've never seen a more beautiful woman in my entire life!"

A large guy, 5'10'' and over three hundred pounds, unshaven beard and unkempt hair stepped up.

A wave of smell blew across and the brave Varian, the unyielding Varian, the fearless Varian, stepped back and covered his nose.

"I refuse to believe she's a human. She must be an angel, am I right, my Angel?"

The most normal man of the group looked at her on his knees, the eyes behind his glasses brimming with worship.

The Princess sighed in exasperation.

"Elizabeth, have you performed the summoning magic properly?" An middle-aged man, clad in luxurious purple robes, stood up from the throne and asked in a serious voice.

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty." The Princess answered but her confused eyes showed she herself didn't believe them to be heroes.

Varian shrugged.

'How come these guys even got into Paradise anyway?'

To that question, a thought propped up almost instantly.

'Wait a minute...were these guys brought over from their world? Like in all those isekai novels?'

If it's the intention of a divine ranker, it's indeed possible.

Looking at how these three people, it's clear they're civilians with no battle experience to speak of.

Even the strongest person of the three, the fat man, was only a rank 1 celestial ranker. The rest were level 7 or 8.

'Come to think of it, what's my current strength?'

[Suppressed to rank 1. This is an enhanced world, so even if you use your full current strength, you will destroy a few mountains at most.]

Logos answered.

"Ahem, ahem." The King coughed and garnered their attention. "Young Heroes, the Demon King has risen from deep sleep. He vowed to vanquish all humanity. Only you can save the world from destruction. Please lend us your strength."

"Err," The glasses guy raised his hand.

"Yes, please."

"We can't do it alone, we need companions. A female magican, a saintess, angelic princess too!"

"Oh, add a powerful, genius female knight? It'd be best if she shows a disgusted expression...ahem, I mean, a cold expression like she wants to crush me." The fat man rubbed his hands with a greedy expression.

"How dare you two?!" The handsome man slapped his chest, creating a loud echo. "Do you think they need the likes of you to support them? They can easily kill the demon king themselves! They're strong and powerful! They don't need no heroes!"

The glasses and fat man looked at each other for a moment before jumping at the handsome man.

A battle ensued without any words and creative curses were spewed, blaspheming the throne hall.

With the Princess' signal, the guards separated the heroes.

"Heroes, please unite for my sake. I, Elizabeth, will fulfill whatever request you have after the Demon King is vanquished."

With those words, the three men turned utterly silent and nodded violently.

"Great!" The Princess clapped her hands with a smile. "Let's make your training plans."

As expected, a powerful female knight greeted them on the training grounds, took them to a nearby forest to hunt down some slimes and when they couldn't, she chided them for their weakness.

Then, the training began in earnest.

Physical training. Aura training. Battle training.

Two weeks later, they were able to hunt goblins.

Four weeks later, orcs fell under their attacks.

It was unbelievable progress.

She promised they'd be stronger in a few months to start an expedition against the demon king.

All in all, the famous female knight was very satisfied with the heroes. Due to the natural talents bestowed by the goddess, they were able to grow stronger very quickly.

Defeating the Demon King, something she previously thought impossible, now seemed within reach.

There's just one problem though.

"How come you still can't kill a slime? Are you kidding me?" She punched the sword blade and yelled.

Varian panted heavily, his clothes soaked in sweat as he moved around a slime, trying to kill it and failing, for the thirtieth time today.

The three heroes undergoing an aura training under the genius female magician snickered before focusing back on their work.

"..."

Varian didn't even bother to respond and continued to swing his sword, cutting through the slime but always missing its core.

He kept doing it again and again and failing every single time.

It was unbelievable for everyone. They thought he must be putting on an act. But repeated tests of his body proved that he really wasn't growing any stronger.

As a result, the Princess had finally run out of patience.

"...Kick him out. We can't have a weakling him like tarnishing the glorious image of the hero party. They're supposed to invoke hope, not ridicule."

"Kick or kill?"

"The other three might turn against us if they see us killing him openly."

"Understood."

The female knight bowed her head and left the room in steady steps.

There was a sustained silence for a minute before a chuckle sounded in the palace.

Varian sneaked out of the palace, bypassing the rank 1 guards with ease and left the city at twilight.

The next day, all hell broke loose as the rumors of 'hero' being killed by the imperial family spread across the capital.

"How? How did this happen?" The Princess slammed the table.

No one had an answer.

Due to the growing unfavorable public opinion and the distrust of the heroes, the expedition had to be advanced.

And Varian, having travelled across half the world, arrived in front of the Demon Lord's castle.

Hundrds of gargoyles, golems and minotaurs surrounded him.

Under the purple sky above the castle, killing intent was so condensed that the air itself turned red.

"My man, Demon Lord, I want to be your best friend!"

A peculiar proposal was thrown.