The hero who was blessed by the goddess of snakes

Chapter 1: Summoned Heroes

„Welcome, oh heroes, to the kingdom of Griphonia. We have summoned you all because our kingdom, no, our world is in a dire situation. I know that we have ripped you out of your world, but please, help us.”, said an old man that was wearing a white robe, his face was mostly hidden beneath a white hood.

He continued to speak about the threat and how only we were able to save them from it.

I didn´t pay any attention to his speech after the first part, I don´t think that many were paying attention to him, which was mostly thanks to the death glares that the people around the old priest were giving us.

On both sides, beside the priest stood multiple armored knights, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

That alone would probably scare the shit out of most people, but the glares that these people were giving us were just on a completely different level.

It was to the point that I didn´t even dare to move an inch, nor look around to see how the others were reacting to this, but I was sure that the others were in a similar state to mine.

The priest continued to speak for another 30 minutes or so.

“With all of that, before we can begin with your training, we need to identify the blessing that you have received from the gods. Please follow me to the altar where the other priests are waiting, they will help you with identifying your blessing.”

The old priest turned around and walked out of the room, most of the knights followed him.

The remaining knights sheathed their swords, and their glares became warmer as well.

My body finally relaxed, and I swept away the sweat that was on my forehead.

I started to look around and saw that the other classmates had mixed reactions.

Some were scared and or confused, they weren´t able to fully understand what was happening.

Honestly, I could understand them, only less than an hour ago, I and the others were sitting in the classroom and we’re going through a normal school day, when a giant red magic circle appeared beneath our feet and sucked in everyone in the room, including the two teachers.

The second teacher, a young woman in her late twenties with long black hair, called Sophia Priston, had just recently gotten her teaching license, and was struggling with a few things, like the old computers that the school had.

She had come to ask our teacher, a woman in her early thirties with long brown hair and tanned skin, called, Mirabel Sanchos, for help because her computer was having problems again.

Then suddenly the circle appeared and the next thing everyone knows, we are in a giant stone room with the priest and the knights standing before the exit.

Others could be seen shouting excitedly and being happy about the situation, which for some reason included both teachers.

As for me?

I was more worried because I have read way too many isekai novels to know that the summoning of heroes can backfire quite easily.

A good example of that would be ‘Rising of the Shield Hero’, where the mc was set up and framed for a crime he didn´t commit and had to prove it.

But then again, only time will tell what it will be.

While I was thinking about such things, most of my classmates and the two teachers followed after the priest, while the remaining knights prepared to force the remaining people to follow.

Luckily, I snapped out of my thought fast enough and followed as well.

When I exited the room in which we had been summoned, I got into a large hall, that was decorated with paintings and sculptures everywhere.

They seemed to depict different gods and goddesses, some had humanoid appearances, while others were straight-up monsters.

Two, in particular, stood out the most, the first one was a multi-headed dragon, each head seemed different in its horns and facial structure.

The name that was carved beneath the statue was ‘Tiamat, mother of all dragons’.

The second one was the statue of a beautiful woman with four arms and a long snake tail instead of legs, she held different weapons in each hand, but her expression seemed warm and compassionate.

Her name was ‘Echidna, the snake goddess’.

I didn´t know why these two in particular seemed to stand out to me.

But before I could lose myself in thoughts again, I stopped looking at the two statues and followed the others to the end of the hall, where the old priest and a few other priests were waiting.

Behind the priests stood a large statue of a woman with wings, which was holding a book in her left hand and a sword in her right.

The statue was made out of gold and was much bigger than the other statues in the room.

“These statues represent the gods of this world, every one of you has been blessed by one of these gods. Through their blessing, their mark appeared somewhere on your body, through it we can identify the blessing that you have received. Sister Blare and Sister Maria will help the female heroes to identify their blessing, while the rest of us will help the male heroes.”

The two female priests bowed as their names had been mentioned and stepped forward.

But before the female class members and the two teachers could walk toward the two priests one asked, “Can you please introduce yourself first? And explain who you and your church are?”

Silence, no one said a word and either stared at the person that had asked the question or at the old priest.

The old priest on the other hand was surprised for a moment before starting to laugh loudly.

“You are right my friend; it seems that I had forgotten my manners in the head of the moment. My name is Father Alexander, the head priest of this church. I and the other priests here are the followers of the goddess Athena, goddess of knowledge and justice. Other churches follow the teachings of Athena, but this church is the largest in the kingdom, and our mission is to document everything that happens in the world, we also function as judges in the court of the kingdom. And it is exactly because of the knowledge that we have been gathered over so many years that we were able to summon you all here today.” Alexander explained.

“You probably have many more questions, but those have to wait after we have identified your blessings and you have gotten the keys to your chambers.”

Everyone agreed and the female class members and the teachers followed the two female priests out of the hall into another room.

The rest of us lined up before the other priests, who inspected our bodies to find the marks.

Slowly but surely, the marks were being found one after the other and the priests quickly identified them and explained them to the person.

I was at the end of one of the lines and watched the whole procedure.

I quickly noticed that the marks were always on the upper half of the body but could be anywhere on the upper half of the body.

One unlucky soul had his mark on the top of his head, meaning that the priest and two knights had to shave his head to see the mark and identify it.

The people that had their marks identified would be led out of the hall by a priest, to show them to their rooms.

After what felt like an eternity, it was finally my turn, the priest that stood before me was Father Alexander.

I took off my shirt and let the old priest do his work, but luckily enough he didn´t need long to find the mark, it was right in the middle of my back.

“My, I have never seen such a mark before. Brother Orion, could you please hand me the book?”, asked Father Alexander as he looked at the mark.

The priest handed him the book that showed the designs of the different symbols of the gods.

He quickly scrolled through the pages of the book, trying to find the one that was on my back.

“There it is. Now, which god does it belong to…”, Alexander said but suddenly went silent.

Father Alexander suddenly patted me on the shoulder and said, “You can put your clothes on again. Your blessing is a bit special, and I would like to talk with you about it. Please follow me into my office, where we can speak more in peace. Brother Orion, you, and the others can go back to your normal duties, I will bring him to his chambers afterward.”

“As you wish, Father Alexander.”, Orion said and bowed before the head priest.

Father Alexander brought me into a large office with a large wooden desk in the middle, some comfy-looking chairs before it, and a large shelf that was as big as one of the walls stood behind the desk at one of the walls.

To the right was another desk with some cups and a pot.

Multiple paintings of different landscapes and a colorful carpet gave the office a rather warm and relaxing feeling.

Father Alexander pointed toward one of the shares that stood before the desk, “Please, take a seat. Can I offer you a cup of tea? The church had just recently received some new variants.”

“Thank you and yes, I think I could use a cup.”, I said while sitting down on one of the chairs, which were even comfier than they looked.

“Phil? Morris? What about you two?”, he asked the two knights that had accompanied us.

“I am sorry Father Alexander, but we are still on duty, maybe in the afternoon, after our shift has ended.”, said one of the knights apologetically.

“I understand, but I hope that you can bring some snacks with you.”, Alexander said and took two of the cups and put two bags into them.

He then placed the pot onto a cylindric device, afterwards he touched the device, and it began to faintly glow.

“While we wait for the water to get hot, let´s talk about your blessing.”

Far to the west of the kingdom, beyond a devastating piece of land that had seen countless battles over the last 1000 years lay the kingdom of the demons, the children of the devils.

And in the center of their land stood the mighty black city.

The entire city was made out of black stone and black steel.

Shining like a black pearl, it reached into the sky.

Inside the royal palace, the queen of the demons sat on her throne.

She had pale purple skin, short dark purple hair, and a pair of horns that grew out of the side of her head and grew along with her head, making her horns look like a crown.

“Your majesty, I have brought news from our mages.”, said an armored demon that entered the throne room.

“*sigh* Forcas, I know what the news is, I have felt it as well. Those idiots have summoned the heroes. How idiotic.” Lilith said and opened her golden eyes.

“What should we do, your majesty?”, Forcas asked while bowing before his queen.

“What is there to do? I knew that they would sooner or later summon them, it was only a matter of time. But even so, it took them longer than I had thought, but that is good for us. With those 100 years of peace, those idiots that have been rebelling against me are nearly finished. Giving me enough room, to let the soldiers go back to their original posts. It is no longer a question of force, but of politics.”, Lilith said while holding her head.

The demon empire had been in a civil war-like state ever since she had ascended on the throne.

Half of the lords had rebelled against her, forcing her to pull back forces from the border with the surrounding nations.

“To think that it took more than 200 years to finally quell those uprisings down.”

“All of them have forgotten what our duty is. They think that it is wrong. We should show them, no mercy.”

“That I will Forcas, that I will.”

“What about the heroes?”

“Let them be, they are underestimating our might. You and I will show them the error of their ways. As for the heroes, it is difficult, their predecessors have freed us from our creators, putting us into a debt that we can never pay back. And yet, we have fought against generation after generation of heroes.”

Lilith closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

“I know how you feel your majesty.”

“I know, Farcas. Leave the heroes to me, I will deal with them when the time comes.”

“As you wish.”