I Was Summoned As A Hero, But I Became The Demon Lord Instead

(POV Rina)

Ten men stood around a complex magic circle depicted on the ground inside the king's throne room. The lines painted were both intricate and profound with an ancient feeling of mystery hidden within them. The ten men simultaneously chanted aloud with their hands moving rapidly making all sorts of gestures in sync with one another.

"We call upon the power of the gods to bless our lands with light to scatter the dark forces of the demonic lord. From the far off worlds we seek your aid, please answer our calls. Countless heroes from beyond the stars, please pick up your swords and heed our prayers to fight the great nemesis of our world. Great summoning magic initialization sequence begin!"

Slam.

Right as their chant came to an end, the sound of ten great sages slamming their palms onto the ground sounded out while they poured all their mana into the great summoning circle.

A bright flash of light entered our eyes momentarily blinding all the observers in the room. I was forced to close my eyes in pain, but the moment I reopened my eyes, inside the previously empty summoning circle contained a group of thirty individuals. Eighteen males along with twelve females all wearing all sorts of different attire. There were some that appeared to be from the same world while there were several of them that seemed to be from different worlds.

There were a few rather shady and sketchy looking characters, while others looked a bit scary. There were four in particular that really stood out, one female and three males.

One was a female with aquamarine hair and light blue eyes who appeared to be indifferent to the situation upon examining her surroundings. She was the only female with such unique hair colour so she stuck out like a sore thumb from the crowd of thirty people. If I were to say what really stuck out though, it was probably that she was n.a.k.e.d, but completely oblivious to it. Her hair was wet and it was clear she might have been bathing when she was summoned just now. What was really strange though was the fact that there were nine females around her that were prostrated before the aquamarine haired girl with their heads touching the ground. It seemed like she wouldn't be the easy type to manipulate and control with the way things looked.

As for the three males, they all had different appearances and airs about them, in all honesty it felt like they wouldn't mix at all.

For the time being I decided to forget about the peculiar female I thought would be more troublesome to deal with and I put my focus on these three males instead. The first male who caught my eye had a very bulky build. He looked like your typical muscle brained idiot. I figured he'd be the easiest type for me to deal with. He had a long scar running along the diagonal of his face from the top of his right eye to the left side of his face stretching down to his chin. For now I figured I'd call him scarface. He looked to be the hot blooded impulsive type who liked to get into fights. He was looking at his surroundings eagerly like he was raring to pick a fight. It appeared he had quite the fiery personality.

The second male who stood out to me was a skinny looking boy with glasses who appeared to be rather cool headed. He was looking about the surroundings like he was calculating or plotting something. His hair was a mix of black with dark blue highlight streaks mixed in. His eyes were a dark violet colour. It was certain, he was also definitely in my strike zone as well.

What can I say? My strike zone is pretty wide after all.

As for the last male, at first glance you wouldn't normally pick him out from the crowd with his plain scruffy black hair and eyes, however what I found completely bizarre was I could not sense an ounce of mana within him. All the others summoned were oozing mana like broken gushing fountains. All creatures in this world have at least an ounce of mana, yet this person appeared to have not one shred of it. If it wasn't for my abilities as an elf, being more attuned to mana and my unique ability I'd acquired as a former member of the hero party to observe the flow of mana directly with my eyes, I wouldn't have noticed anything unusual about him at all. I'd have just thought he was a complete incompetent and failure likely how everyone else would soon think of him to be. Upon closer inspection I could tell that the mana of the world was avoiding him and there was even a perfect sphere two meters in diameter around him in which no mana could approach him.

Did he have the forbidden ability to neutralize all magic that has only been spoken of in legends of the far off past? That ability was thought to have long been lost throughout the ages. Isn't this just too perfect? I doubt anyone here will notice the peculiarity to him except for me with the way the tests are designed, I'm sure he'll be thought of as a defective product and tossed to the side. In his lowest moment, isolated in this new world, won't I be able to easily capture him and make him my most loyal dog? Inspecting him closer, his appearance was far less than desirable. He was a bit too chubby for my liking at the moment, although, with training he might shape out to be fairly attractive. It was actually more convenient for me if he was the unpopular type when I really thought about it though.

When I compared him to the popular Seth and his disobedient playful nature along with his personality reminiscent to a breath of fresh air, this kid was definitely the faithful to one for life type who was far easier to reign in. I could probably put more trust in him compared to Seth if I groom him up from the start to suit my personal needs. After all, there have been several occasions where I've found it difficult to understand what Seth was really thinking.

As for Kurotsuki, he's definitely a hottie, but he's a bit shy and timid at times. He's also been rather distant since the event with the hero and although I've enslaved him, I feel like I can't let my guard down whenever I think about how he was born and raised as an assassin from birth. For all I know, the personality he displays on the surface may all just be an act, it wouldn't be a strange occurrence for an assassin to act out different personas.

Anyways, I must do everything in my power to capture these three targets if possible. I'll have to forget the females since their situation seems to be a bit hard to grasp with how they're acting right now.

"Where are we?"

"What's going on here?"

"Who are all these weirdos?"

"Is this another world?"

"What? You're crazy, right? Stuff like that only happens in fiction right?"

Among the crowd, ignoring the anomalies I'd personally picked out, there were more normal individuals reacting as one would expect them to. Some were completely confused and baffled while others were panicking and freaking out. Some were in denial while others showed excited and expectant eyes.

Since I was acting the part of a slave, I had no right to be the first to speak when in the presence of the king. Those from our world just maintained their silence and waited for the group to calm and quiet down. It was already discussed before the summoning that the king would wait for them to calm down before speaking out.

After ten minute passed the crowd finally quieted down. It was only then the king on the throne spoke out.

"Great heroes from another world, we have summoned you to slay the demon lord."

"Hahaha, I knew it! See! I told you guys it had to be that pattern!"

Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. We already get that it's a common trope in your world. I looked up records of past heroes and found recorded a bunch of worthless information about things like this. It looked like there were some summoned heroes from that place called Earth again. Really, why do we get so many clowns from that world? The king's whole speel has even been tailored based upon the assumption we get summoned heroes from that world. It's actually annoying witnessing it first hand in person.

Looking at that disgusting king, I could tell even he had grown tired of saying that same line on so many occasions. The reason he waited for silence was probably so he wouldn't have to repeat himself. I did find it a bit funny that the only variation to the king's line was that he tried to mix it up a bit sometimes with how he referred to the so called ruler of the demons. Sometimes it would be the demon lord, other times the demon king, demon overlord, demon progenitor, or even the demon emperor. That was probably the only way he could continue spouting the same line without frustrating himself to death from all the repetitions.

There were some people in the group that still looked confused, it was clear they weren't from Earth and didn't get it. This was also our way to test whether heroes were from that planet or not. Although it was a bit unreliable since some people from Earth didn't necessarily pick up on the insider joke.

The one who retorted earlier to the king stepped out from the group to try and make himself look more heroic. Ugh, I actually dislike his type the most. I could already tell what he was about to do.

"Your majesty, I, Kenji Yamato, hereby make an oath that I shall stake my life for the betterment for the human race and eradicate all the vile demons from this world. There will be no demon lord that will be left alive while I'm left alive in this world."

He got down on one knee, bent his head forward and placed one hand over his heart while making such a grand declaration. Yep, he's the useless type that if told something is evil he'll fight it like a brainless idiot. Simply put, he's the gamer type with blind righteousness. I don't like these types very much.

It was also that very moment when he lowered his head he sent a glance off to the side in my direction. Our eyes locked for a moment and I saw his eyes light up. I could also hear him when he mumbled under his breath, "jackpot! Hot elven babes in another world as well!"

"Ehem."

The king awkwardly cleared his throat seeming a bit thrown off by how readily the kid had offered up his services.

"Yes, it's good that you're eager to work for the betterment of humanity. It would be good if all the summoned heroes could follow a good example like you."

"You may raise your head fine hero. As a reward for your prime example, if you slay the demon lord I shall bequeath my daughter to you fine hero. Of course, a reward this good can only be given to the hero who personally slays the demon lord."

"Of course! It is only natural that I will be the one to personally slay that accursed demon lord!"

"Umu, all is good then, but hero please understand you are not the only hero. Everyone in the group behind you are summoned heroes as well."

"Of course! That is only natural!"

"W-w-well then, heroes I must ask that you introduce yourselves. The royal court must record your identities and provide you with appropriate doc.u.mentation to have you all become citizens of this kingdom belonging to I."

It was at that moment that the girl with aquamarine hair calmly interrupted by letting out a drawn out sigh.

"Haaaah. This again?"

Everyone's confused eyes in the room naturally fell upon the girl's beautifully indifferent, yet nonchalant face. What did she mean by again, was this not her first time?

"My name is Akua Marin. First of all, I'd like some clothes please."

There were of course quite a few males secretly gawking at her discreetly, but nobody had the courage to bring it up thinking she may have just been a nudist as she looked entirely comfortable standing nude in a large crowd like she had been the entire time. The nine females around her had also been blocking off the view like they were her personal guards for some time now as well.

"O-o-of course! Guards get the finest female garments prepared for this nudist… I mean hero immediately."

"Thank you."

She really was far too indifferent to the situation and I was slightly startled when I gazed at her pure, light blue tranquil eyes which showed she was completely unfazed by the people within the room. It was only now I tried to actually appraise her level and realized she appeared to be level 1, but somehow it didn't quite feel right. There was a strange sort of dissonance I couldn't quite explain and It felt like my eyes were somehow being deceived.

From this I could at the very least determine she definitely wasn't a simple character.

"Ah! Akua? That's you?!"

The hero who had first stuck his head out from the crowd to strut his stuff appeared as though he knew this mysterious girl.

"Eh?"

"You don't recognize me? Well, it's been ten years after all. It's me, Kenji Yamato from elementary school. You suddenly disappeared back in second grade when we were only eight years old. The a.d.u.l.ts said you'd moved overseas due to your parents work back then."

Akua just looked back at Kenji and showed for the first time a face of confusion with a look as though she were trying hard to recall if such a person existed in her memories.

"Sorry, are you sure you have the right person? I really don't remember anyone like you."

"How rude! For a male like you to speak and act so familiar with Miss Akua like this is unforgivable! To even be looking at her body so boldly and disrespectfully like this, you deserve the death sentence!"

One of the girls surrounding the mysterious girl Akua roared out and took up a stance as though she were about to launch an attack like a rabid guard dog in defense of her master.

"Bad girl. Sit. Down. Be a good girl, you're too overly s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e, he doesn't have any bad intentions."

The moment the words left her mouth the girl plopped her b.u.t.t on the ground like a docile little puppy in front of Akua.