Chapter 2: Low Budget
Theo tried to calmly analyze the situation he was currently in. He was dead before. That part, he was absolutely certain of. And yet, here he was.
Standing inside what looked like a stone castle hall. A throne at the far end. Guards in full medieval armor lining the sides. A chubby man wearing a crown—very obviously the king—and right beside him, a thin, almost fragile-looking noble who was probably the advisor.
All of that, Theo could process. What he couldn’t make sense of… was the grandmother in priestess robes standing in front of him, who had been delivering what felt like an endless sermon for the past thirty minutes.
He remembered parts of it. He was apparently in a new world called Civara. The goddess ruling it was named Lumia. This place was the Mirecrest Kingdom. Which, for some reason, the priestess had taken great care to emphasize was small, poor, and generally miserable.
There was magic. Monsters. The usual.
Unfortunately, about seventy percent of the sermon had been dedicated to praising how graceful Goddess Lumia was, how magnificent her Church was, and how Theo—as a summoned hero—owed them deeply for granting him a second life. Theo swore he saw the king yawning at one point with his mouth closed. Impressive.
As for Theo himself… he didn’t like the idea. Owing something massive to someone who couldn’t even be bothered to show up in person? That didn’t sit right with him. He knew what this was. He’d seen this before, over and over again while scamming amateur writers. Isekai.
New world. Summoned hero. Goddess. The template was obvious. But then where was the beautiful goddess? Where was the cute saintess? Where was even a single moment of basic fanservice? Nothing.
At this point, he was getting tired of listening.
“Excuse me.”
Theo raised his hand, cutting straight through the priestess’s ongoing sermon.
“Do you think you have something that I can wear?” he asked, glancing down at himself. “You know, since my clothes are…”
He didn’t need to finish that sentence. His outfit was in terrible shape. Torn in multiple places, clearly reflecting the less-than-graceful way he had died back on Earth. On the bright side, it was still covering everything important. Also, no bloodstains. Family-friendly isekai, maybe.
“Ah, yes!” King Godric quickly stepped forward. “We have prepared suitable clothing for you, O summoned hero.”
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Castle Courtyard
Moments later, Theo found himself dressed in a set of dark robes, complete with a cape flowing behind him. It looked like something a priest might wear if that priest happened to worship a demon god. Still, it was warm. That alone made it a significant upgrade.
Now he stood in the castle courtyard alongside Priestess Rowena, King Godric, and Duke Lyrion. In front of Theo was a pedestal, and on top of it—a crystal ball. A short distance away, the three of them stood behind another identical setup, clearly keeping some space between themselves and him.
“You said I had power,” Theo said. “What is my power?”
He asked partly out of curiosity. Mostly so the priestess wouldn’t start lecturing again.
“Hmph. That is what we would like to know as well,” Rowena replied. “Try saying ‘status window.’”
“Status window.” Theo repeated it casually.
Tring!
“Whoa—!”
A screen suddenly appeared in front of him, floating in midair. It had a very… familiar look. Clean layout. Organized sections. Surprisingly intuitive. Very game-like.
“Now, since we can only view your status window through this crystal,” Rowena said, “place your hand on it so we can—”
“Hold on. I need to do something first.” Theo raised a hand, stopping her.
He stared at the screen for a moment. Thinking. Then, he started tapping fast. Menus opened. Closed. Scrolled. Adjusted. Swiped.
The priestess, the king, and the advisor could only exchange confused glances as the summoned hero spent several minutes aggressively interacting with what looked like empty air.
“…Is he casting something?” Duke Lyrion whispered.
“…I don’t think so,” King Godric whispered back.
Finally—
“And done,” Theo declared, sounding quietly satisfied.
Now, Theo’s magical screen had changed dramatically. It was no longer positioned directly in front of his face like before, blocking everything behind it. That alone was unacceptable. What if there was an enemy standing right there?
Now, the screen sat slightly off to the side of his vision. Accessible, but never intrusive. Much better. The color scheme had also changed. From a bright, almost aggressive blue into a much more comfortable dark mode. The words stood out clearly without burning his eyes.
Opacity reduced. Just enough to make it semi-transparent, but still perfectly readable. Font size adjusted, magnification tuned, spacing optimized. Everything, refined.
Truly, he was the type of man who would spend thirty minutes adjusting settings before ever pressing “Start Game.” It was probably a good thing this world didn’t let him customize his own appearance.
“Now… what were you asking again?” Theo said, his expression faintly satisfied.
“Place your hand on the crystal,” Rowena repeated, her irritation no longer subtle.
Theo finally opened his Status Window main page.
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[ GENERAL INFORMATION ]
Name : Theo Poliznev
Title : None
Class : Necromancer
Level : 1
EXP : 0 / 1000
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[ CORE STATS ]
HP : 100 / 100
MP : 70 / 70
Stamina : 40 / 40
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[ ATTRIBUTES ]
Strength : 1
Agility : 2
Intelligence: 5
Charisma : 4
Luck : 2
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[ SKILL AND SPELLS ]
(See detailed page)
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[ UNIQUE SKILL ]
N/A
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[ PASSIVE TRAITS ]
→ Fragmented Taxation
Effect :
- EXP gained from kills reduced to 25%
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[ CONTRACTS STATUS ]
Souls : 0 / 13
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“Damn…” Theo muttered. “This really is like a game…”
He stared at it, genuinely impressed. Then immediately got absorbed into it. Reading, scanning, processing. Completely ignoring everything else.
Meanwhile on the other side, no one shared his enthusiasm.
“W-W-Why is it so low?!” King Godric stammered, staring at the crystal in disbelief.
“Oh no…” Duke Lyrion’s face fell just as quickly. “His stats are even lower than a novice mage…”
“Well, what exactly did you expect from the lowest summoning package?” Priestess Rowena scoffed. “As you can see, he doesn’t even have a Unique Skill.”
Duke Lyrion leaned closer to the crystal, squinting.
“And this Fragmented Taxation…” he said slowly. “Does this mean he can only gain twenty-five percent of normal experience?”
“It means exactly what it says,” Rowena replied flatly. “And as you can see, his summoning capacity is limited to thirteen. I can hardly call that an army.”
“N-No… not yet,” King Godric said quickly, clinging to what little hope remained. “We haven’t seen his skills and spells yet.”
He turned toward Theo who was still very much busy studying his own screen.
“Hero!” King Godric called out. “Open your Skill and Spells! And touch the crystal again!”
“Hm? This one?” Theo muttered, tapping the menu.
A new page opened.
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[ SKILL AND SPELLS ]
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[ MAGIC AFFINITY ]
Fire : 2
Ice : 2
Wind : 2
Earth : 2
Dark : 10
Light : 0
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[ SKILL LIST ]
N/A
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[ SPELL LIST ]
→ Fireball Lv 1
Cost : 10 MP
Effect : Launches a small sphere of fire
→ Mana Pulse Lv 1
Cost : 5 MP
Effect : Releases a short-range burst of force
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The moment King Godric saw the second page, whatever remained of his hope collapsed.
“W-W-Where’s his summoning spell?!” he shouted. “Where is his reanimation spell?! What kind of necromancer is this?!”
Beside him, Priestess Rowena visibly struggled—then failed—to hide her amusement. A small burp escaped her as she covered her mouth, shoulders shaking slightly.
“Oooh… and he doesn’t even have a single skill,” she said, chuckling. “This man is basically trash.”
She turned her smirk toward the king.
“And I blame your stinginess for this.”
King Godric dropped to his knees. Just like that, all of his hope evaporated.
But suddenly Theo shouted.
“Heeey, can I try using these spells??” he called out cheerfully.
There was genuine excitement in his face and voice. Because its magic. Actual magic. The kind he had only ever seen in movies.
“Yeees,” Rowena shouted back, equally cheerful for entirely different reasons. “You can use that straw target over there.”
She pointed toward a row of straw dummies lined up neatly across the courtyard, clearly meant for soldier training. Theo didn’t hesitate. He walked over, raised his hand, and aimed.
“Fireball!”
He thrust his open palm forward.
Fwoooosh—
A small fireball popped into existence and shot forward. It hit the target.
…And did absolutely nothing. No burn, no smoke, not even a satisfying crackle.
Just a sad little impact.
“Did you see that?!” Theo shouted, turning back toward them, eyes wide. “I really cast magic?! HAHAHAHA!”
Despite the result, he looked genuinely thrilled. Which, to be fair, made sense. Any modern person from Earth would probably react the same way.
Meanwhile King Godric had reached a very different conclusion. He stood there, staring at the crystal, his expression hollow.
Then slowly... he sagged.
“P-Priestess…” he muttered, his voice trembling slightly. “What should I do…? How can my kingdom survive now…?”
And for the first time since they had met her, Priestess Rowena smiled.
Not her usual smug smile, not her mocking smile. A warm, gentle, grandmotherly smile.
“Oh, don’t worry, Your Majesty,” she said kindly, using honorifics for the first time. “The Church is always prepared to help those in need.”
She reached into her robes and pulled out a scroll.
“That’s why I already prepared this.”
She unfurled it in front of King Godric and Duke Lyrion. It displayed multiple categories of summoned heroes. Each neatly organized, each labeled, each priced. Basically a catalogue.
“Our selected premium package heroes,” Rowena continued smoothly. “Available with installment plans. For only a modest interest.”
Her smile grew softer. Kinder. Radiant.
“…I really have no choice, do I?” King Godric muttered weakly.
“Well, you can always give up your throne and hand your kingdom to a neighboring nation,” Rowena replied sweetly.
King Godric’s hand trembled slightly. But in the end, he still reached out and took the scroll.
“I… I will choose a new hero from here…” he said quietly. Defeated.
“Please don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything you need to know,” Rowena added, her smile unwavering.
“Uh… Priestess,” Duke Lyrion spoke up carefully, “I do have a question.”
Rowena glanced at him.
“If we summon a new hero… does that mean we should let go of this one?”
All three of them turned. Their eyes landed on Theo who was still busy and completely absorbed in his new abilities.
“Mana Pulse!” he shouted confidently.
A small burst of energy shot out from his palm. It traveled forward, and fizzled into what looked more like a weak gust of wind than anything else.
“HAAHAHAHAHA!” Theo laughed anyway. Fully satisfied.
“No,” Rowena said firmly.
Her smile was gone completely now.
“No, you cannot simply let him roam free like that.” Her tone had turned cold. “Regardless of how weak he is… he is still a necromancer.”
She let out a quiet sigh.
“When he loses his hero status, he will become nothing more than a normal necromancer,” she continued. “And the Church’s doctrine is very clear. Practitioners of unholy magic are not allowed to wander freely.”
“T-That means…” Duke Lyrion said slowly.
Rowena looked at him with steady expression.
“That’s right.”
A brief pause.
“Either you send him to prison, or…”
Another pause.
“…you execute him.”