Heron had been born and raised as a proud citizen of his country.

  He did everything he was supposed to; he never littered, always recycled, was mindful about the environment, was a good and loyal worker to a company that probably didn’t deserve it, and overall was an exemplary example of what a citizen ought to be. Granted, his world view had always remained small, and he had often felt like a frog-in-a-well. He’d never flown out of his country or even had a chance to visit all the major tourist attractions of the place he called home.

  Let alone fly into outer space while being carried by a dragon like a sack of potatoes. And travel intergalactically and enter the atmosphere of a whole separate planet.

  “Heron.”

  Alice’s voice snapped Heron out of his thoughts and the feeling of his life flashing before his eyes. He was a good cookie—a good man. He was still experiencing the whiplash of being a so-called criminal. And now he needed—

  “Your papers, sir?” The guard frowned as he reached out with his hand.

  Heron stared at the hand as he had nothing to give to the hand.

  What papers?

  Oh dear. Serafina sighed in his mind.

  Now that was uncalled for. What was Heron supposed to do!? He didn’t have any paperwork, he had literally been thrusted into this universe without giving his consent to the isekai god that had clearly done it for the laughs–to watch a salary-man not in his element of spreadsheets and caffeine.

  He didn’t exactly fit the bill of someone who should have been isekai’d in the first place; he was no edge-lord youngin’ who was destined to become the strongest combatant across the land. Heron had one title and it was ‘old-man-who-really-missed-having-a-beer-after-work’.

  “I-I uh, forgot them at home?” Heron swallowed the lump in his throat. He named that lump, ‘A Big Fat Lie’.

  Alice stared at him, her expression unamused. Her hand rested at the hilt of her sword, which Heron noticed because that thing looked pretty darn real. And he did not want to say hello to it.

  “What do you mean you forgot? All citizens know to carry their paperwork before they leave so they can reenter the city.” Her eyes narrowed, staring him down.

  Heron opened his mouth again to drop another fat one but this time Serafina interjected.

  Alice, Sir Heron seems to be… not from this kingdom. In fact, he seems to be convinced that… he is from another world.

  “What?” Alice’s voice dropped to a whisper as her eyes flicked to the guard who crossed his arms, who appeared to be getting more impatient by the second.

  “Please give us a moment.” Alice spoke to the guard, who nodded before exchanging a look with the other guard who stood by the wall to the entrance to the city.

  She grabbed Heron’s arm before dragging him away like a toddler that was about to be scolded. When they were far enough from Serafina and the two guards, Alice released his arm before whipping around with a serious expression on her face.

  “Could you please explain what is going on? And don’t you dare lie to me.” Alice hissed as she crossed her arms. “Serafina will tell me if you do.”

  Indeed, which is why I’m telling you, Alice, that he has not lied. Sir Heron genuinely believes he is from another world.

  Alice shot Serafina a look before glaring at Heron once more.

  You’re right, Alice. He could absolutely be controlling his mind to project his thoughts as the truth. I am skeptical though, have you seen him?

  Hey, what was that supposed to mean!?

  See Alice, you cannot hear him like I do. All he has been doing the past hour while we brought him here was him lamenting about his potatoes and comfortable life on Planet-C5. This is not a man that would—

  “Doesn’t matter. He could still be an enemy of this kingdom.” Alice interrupted as her eyes remained narrowed at Heron.

  Her eyes flicked to Lucifer who was still being carried like a football in Heron’s arm. “Besides, that doesn’t explain why he would have a dragon. A weird one, but still.”

  Excuse you, miss. I’m not weird, you’re weird. I chose him.

  Alice snorted, “That’s not how it works. A familiar bond is issued by the caster, in which case, it is done by the human. Dragons are typically issued to nobles—“

  “Uh, how did you know we were bonded?” Heron asked, his voice coming out smaller than he would’ve liked.

  “Your auras are linked.” Alice gestured simply to the both of them, as if that did all the explaining she needed to do. “And as I was saying, I had assumed you were some lowly noble that was mistaken about Planet-C5 belonging to you. Or that you might have been pathetic enough to run away from warring times.”

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  Familiar bond cast by humans? Dragons issued to nobles? Auras? Warring times? Heron could feel his head spin from all the new information that was firing at him like a machine gun.

  “Hold on, hold on.” He raised his free hand as if to surrender. “Let’s get this straight right now. I don’t belong here, like you said.”

  “When I said you didn’t belong here, I meant that you were trespassing on a territory that wasn’t issued to you. And abandoning your duties even as a lowly ranked noble is still treason.” Alice crossed her arms, her jaw clenched. “Are you expecting me to believe that you’re actually not from around here?”

  “Yes.” Heron nodded before pausing, “I mean, no, I don’t expect you to believe me. But I swear, I’m telling the truth. One day, I was just… dropped into this world.”

  Silence.

  Alice blinked once, then twice. Then she turned to Serafina, giving her companion a concerned look. Serafina snorted, the sound of it ringing more as amused than annoyance.

  He does not appear like a lunatic to me. And if he is, we could have him examined by a healer before holding him up to the court of law.

  “I’m not crazy.” Heron insisted as Alice looked at him again. She raised a brow, as if to challenge his statement.

  Sighing, Heron ran his hand through his hair. “Look, does it really matter where I came from? Either way, I don’t belong to this kingdom.” He sharply inhaled. “So instead of focusing on that, how about we consider the problem at hand, hm?”

  Gesturing to himself, Heron gave a sheepish grin. “I’m illegal!”

  That is not something to be proud of, Sir Heron. Serafina’s voice mused in his mind.

  Of course he wasn’t proud of it, he was just coping and seething. He’d never been illegal before, including never knowingly or willingly committing a crime. But there was no point in wallowing in his grief of being an accidental criminal, so the least he could do was search for a solution.

  Alice stared at Heron before sighing. “Assuming that you’re telling the truth, then I’ll have to assume that we need to get you examined by a healer. But that can wait.” She eyed him up then down then up again. “So… you’re not a citizen of the kingdom. But you’ve committed a crime.”

  Her breath hitched as she bit her lip. “That is so much worse if you committed a crime and aren’t a citizen.”

  What?

  Because we would have to hold you to the standards that fall under the laws of the intergalactic bureaucracy and our jurisdiction only holds power if you belong as a citizen to this kingdom.

  Serafina responded to Heron’s thoughts. Lucifer twitched in Heron’s arm before speaking up in his mind.

  I have no idea what the hells is going on, but I’m hungry.

  Great, Heron was now an intergalactic criminal and he had a hungry dragon-rabbit. This day just kept getting better and better. Summoning a carrot, he stuck it in Lucifer’s mouth like a pacifier.

  Crunch, munch.

  “So… is there a way we can, I don’t know, make me a citizen?” Heron suggested, grimacing slightly. “I know it probably isn’t that simple but it sounds like things would turn out better for me if I belonged to the kingdom in comparison to whatever galactic empire is out there.”

  Alice thought for a moment before speaking up, slowly and carefully. “There is a way we can make this work. It’s not a workaround per se, but it makes the most sense considering your… unique situation.” To which she gestured to the entirety of Heron.

  Heron chuckled nervously—that ‘unique’ gesture was either ‘wow, he’s so special’ or ‘oh my gods he’s a nut case’.

  “Alright, tell me what I need to do.”

  “First,” Alice raised a finger. “We’ll enter the city. Tell the guards that you’re here for a working permit.” She raised another finger. “Second, we’ll head to the city hall to declare your profession. If you can prove that you’re capable and that you can serve the kingdom, you’ll be granted provisional citizenship.”

  Well, that sounded easy enough. Heron nodded enthusiastically as he summoned another carrot for Lucifer to munch on.

  Placing her hands on her hips, Alice nodded in return, her expression neutral. “Let’s get going then.”

  With Alice leading the way back to the guards, Heron trailed behind her like a lost puppy. Serafina watched them with amusement as she stepped to the side to make way for them.

  One of the guards was still reading the newspaper and glanced up while the original guard they had spoken to stepped forward to greet them once more.

  “Ready to enter the city?” The guard reached out and opened his palm once more, indicating for Heron to provide paperwork.

  “Yes,” Alice stepped forward, smiling politely at the guard. “He’s here to apply for a working permit in order to obtain a provisional license.”

  The guard lowered his hand as his eyes narrowed, before snorting. “The fellow, he’s not from the kingdom of Everlight, is he?”

  Everlight?

  The other kingdom on this planet. Serafina’s voice reverberated in his mind.

  “No,” Alice responded briskly. “He’s from… a land far, far away.”

  The guard’s expression remained stern as he glanced from Heron then back at Alice again. “Is that so?” Stepping back, he gave them a watchful gaze. “You may pass. Ensure you escort him properly, Lady Alice.”

  From the corner of his eye, Heron noticed Alice stiffen before she responded curtly with a thank you to the guard. As she led the way past the front entrance of the kingdom walls, the miniature Serafina and Heron carrying Lucifer followed Alice into the city. As Alice walked, her metal armor shifted and Heron watched her backside. Even with the clang of each step, he heard her mutter under her breath.

  “It’ll be Dame Alice.”

  While Heron had mostly played farming games and seldom touched RPGs in his first life, he was able to recognize certain terminology. When he had first met Alice, he had assumed that she was a paladin or warrior of some sort. Knight would make sense. And after being called ‘Lady Alice’ by the guard, Heron was no longer certain what her role was. Was she not a knight?

  She will be. Serafina’s voice was firm in Heron’s head.

  The four of them—well, except Lucifer since he was being carried like a rolled up blanket—entered the main square of the kingdom. As soon as they passed the front entrance, they were greeted by a large central fountain. In the main square, the streets were busy and Heron noticed the general demographic of the folks walking nearby consisted of elves, humans, and half-elves. The laughter of children echoed in the air as a small group ran past them, almost knocking Heron over.

  My carrot!

  Lucifer complained as it had dropped the final bite of one. Heron grinned, summoning another. As he continued to follow Alice and Serafina, he cocked his head to one side before speaking up.

  “To the city hall?”

  “To the city hall.” Alice echoed without looking back as she strode forward, past the fountain.

  Heron had now infiltrated the kingdom of Morningstar. Still technically labeled as an intergalactic criminal, he prayed that once he declared his profession, he could be promoted to just a kingdom criminal.

  Wait a second.

  What profession could he even declare? His spreadsheet days were over, right? There was no way he wanted to go back to the corporate life of working for a small shady company. Besides, did this kingdom even have office work?

  Perhaps he would request the title, ‘Potato Lord’ and be a potato farmer.

  To celebrate making it to Rising Stars and staying on for hopefully a little longer, I'm dropping a bonus chapter tomorrow!