Chapter 34 - Meanwhile, in Another World
In a relatively quiet household, the television screen flashed with a change of scenes.
[UPDATE! Mysterious Disappearance of ▬▬ Students! Results after 50 days?]
On the T.V., an eye-catching headline popped up as a pair of news presenters started conversing about the infamous case of an entire class of students that had abruptly vanished.
Of course, despite the wishes of many, there were no new updates regarding the mysterious mass disappearance. 50 days had passed since the event was first reported and yet nothing had changed―the only reason it still received consistent updates was because the public cared, and for the news stations, that meant increased viewer attention.
More curious members of the public, more bereaved family members, more attention, more impressions, more viewers; it all only amounted to more publicity for those covering the incident, and even for those majorly unrelated to any of it, more income was earned through viewership.
Clench-!
“Damn it...”
Curled up into a half-ball on the sofa was a girl. Her identity, as someone quite close to a few of those who had vanished, was none other than Amelia Rannuel.
“...Bastards...”
Uttering profanities as she glared at a wide-shot scene of familiar, empty hallways and classrooms, it would’ve been hard for others to recognise; the footage currently being shown alongside the reporter’s voiceover was the exact same footage they used a month ago when covering the incident.
At that time, it was more so to showcase the interior of the school that had subsequently been shut down following the disappearance, but the fact they were recycling footage couldn’t really be blamed. After all, despite constant questioning and unending searching for those who had gone missing, not one out of thirty students had been found, not even the teacher of the class. What footage could they show?
Nevertheless, Amelia was frustrated, and perhaps rightfully so.
Immediately following the disappearance of some of her friends and, more importantly, the one she was closest to, three days of ‘nothing’ passed before reality hit her like a bullet train. And then, almost two months went by in a blink.
Eyes glued to the screen, she mechanically watched the reporters shaking their heads whilst reviewing some extreme opinions and absurd theories that online internet sleuths held about the matter.
[A magic summoning ritual? Haha, how ridiculous!]
[Yes, that’s right. But, maybe a bad joke and a hearty chuckle are something we all need right now. Ahem. Once again, for anyone in the audience who has any updates about the disaster, including information about any survivors, please contact...]
“......”
Still, Amelia’s deadpan face was hard-pressed for a laugh.
As this “update” section of the news was swiftly coming to an end, anything at all had yet to change regarding the incident. A substantially lighter-weighted voice called from another room.
“Amelia~! Can you put the bags outside? Please and thank you...!”
The first instinct was naturally to resist and dig further into the sofa, burying herself away for the rest of time, but after a short spiritual battle, Amelia’s mental fortitude was eventually able to win against her rampant emotions.
“...Coming.”
Her low voice was not at all loud enough to be heard even by someone sitting beside her, but she felt no need to repeat herself with a raised tone anyhow, and neither did the other person need to wait for confirmation that she had heard; as if it were already known.
Fighting the extraordinarily burdensome weight of her own body, Amelia gradually forced herself up to take the bins outside.
After all, despite probably being able to kill for some more time spent not moving, Amelia knew she was only being asked to do it for that very reason, and to get her body some much-needed fresh air.
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With both of her parents at work during the day, Amber was the only one left at home able to take care of her devastated younger sister.
Three days of silence, six weeks of blubbering depression, and now, a period of all that mixed with constant anger―without a doubt, the girl was troubled. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot anyone could do for Amelia during this time other than treat her well and 'be there for her', but...
No matter the degree of support or the careful treatment, recovery was understandably sluggish.
Clack-!
“Here. So, how is it? Still nothing?” Setting a bowl and a plate on each side of the table, one for each of the two sisters, Amber took her seat and dug into her cereal.
“...Why ask if you already know.”
Facing Amelia’s blank stare unflinchingly, who said so with sarcastic irritation, Amber shrugged. “I didn’t know; that’s why I asked, dummy. Anyway, none of your friends have heard anything either? That’s strange...”
“......”
She gave no response, but well, it was a touchy subject. After a while of Amber eating in silence as Amelia sat absent-mindedly, she finally opened her mouth.
“Hey. You know I’m a renowned artisan, right? Those are two pieces of toast I poured all my heart and soul into crafting with meticulous care, so you’d better eat them before they get cold.”
“...You only go to art school.”
A sharp response was better than no response, and Amber quickly brushed off the younger’s meaningless remark as despite being thorny on the surface, she still listened; picking up the buttered toast at a snail’s pace, Amelia bit down for a mouse’s mouthful. The two continued for a short while, Amber talking to herself in the meantime as she finished her presumably tasty cereal quite a bit sooner than Amelia’s toast.
“―So, at that point, I was like, “What the hell are you talking about?”, but it turned out...”
Amelia had no choice but to mindlessly listen to her sister’s monologic rambling as she ate, her rapidly fading attention soon forgetting about the world around her; for a while, her perception of the world dulled completely, and it was as if nothing existed.
Then, as if forcibly dragging her back into reality, her fragmented focus converged on something new in the centre of her vision.
You have received a message (1)
“...?”
Out of nowhere, a hallucinatory notification appeared.
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According to human records, dimensional summoning was not the same as ordinary summoning magic.
In fact, despite sharing similar qualities, and appearing to resemble the other quite closely at a surface level, the two actually weren’t related at all... At least, as far as anyone knew.
The only thing most people knew was that summoning magic was related to Spirits, and dimensional magic was a myth―and even though they knew it existed, not even the majority of Saint or Natura-class magicians could accurately explain what summoning magic was or how it worked.
Needless to say, it is difficult to gain a deeper understanding of the distinction without having an expert-level comprehension of both dimensional and summoning magic, as well as having a grasp on how magic functions in general, but the main takeaway was that the two belong to completely separate schools of magic, never to be compared.
“Hm. But, how can we be sure that’s absolutely true?“
“Huh? Kait, what’re you talking about? What Ryan said has gotta be true since he’s the Sage’s Disciple, right?”
“No. This info ain’t from the old man; s’just stuff I picked up from the library.”
Ultimately, however, humans only reasoned this through using their crude and severely limited understanding of magic as it is, and by inferring the pieces of information through that.
“What, really?”
“Oh! In that case, could I be right?”
Kaitlyn, Nicholas, and Ryan were all gathered in a secluded room as usual, discussing the very important topic they have spent the most time contemplating recently.
“Eh. You prolly got a point at least.”
“I thought so. But even then, it’s difficult...”
“Um. Can you explain? I don’t understand.”
...Well, Nicholas was indeed there, but to include him in the conversation would only slow things down. Still, they had no choice.
“Gosh, just think about it. This is all information acquired from a ‘human library’, right? So, what would a Spirit say if we were to ask them about it? Of course they’re going to know more. I thought we already went over this?”
“Ohhh...! Well, maybe, but I don’t really get magic, so I forget quickly.”
Letting out such an exclamation, things finally clicked for Nicholas. Of course, nothing changed just because of that, so they were still a bit clueless about what to do next.
Since Ryan acquired the Dimensional Contact skill, the three had begun to establish contact with Amelia, their chosen person from Earth to try and bring over to the new world. Using Kaitlyn as Amelia’s close friend to formulate messages that would be the most likely to gain her support, they could only use the skill to send a single message at the moment, and for now, had to wait for a response from the other side.
The problem was what would come after that.
“Nick. The main issue is that, even if Amelia decides she wants to come here, we don’t know how to bring her over. You were the one who infiltrated the library, so you’re already aware that all records of magic related to the hero summoning have been discarded or moved somewhere, and you said there’s nothing even in Albert’s personal quarters, right?”
“Well, yeah? I never expected them to keep that kinda stuff in those places anyway. If I were the king and I wanted to keep the details of the hero summoning magic in a safe place, I’d hide them in my room since it’s something I’d never want anyone else to see or think about.”
However, previously, the three had already agreed to not risk sneaking into the royal quarters since they didn't know what kind of detection measures there were, as well as the simple fact that the measure of risk was far too high.
“So, we can’t do that. What’s your point? Do you have a plan?”
“Sort of; I think we should try contacting the Spirits for help. They would know more about magic than anyone else, and especially when it comes to summoning magic.”
“Huh? I thought summoning magic and the hero ritual magic weren’t related?”
“What? What’s wrong with you? We literally just explained that that’s what humans think―but thanks to Ryan's knowledge from the Sage, we know that humans are wrong most of the time when it comes to magic.”
“Oh... But wasn’t the Sage a human too?”
“Maybe, but it doesn't matter since he was the Great Sage. Whether he was or wasn’t human, his accomplishments are obviously real; just look at Ryan.”
“Right. Well, you explained it so weirdly for no reason. Anyway, I get it now.”
“Hey, I explained it just fine... Whatever. At least you understand.”
It took a while, but everyone was finally on the same page. Kaitlyn finally understood why Ryan only had Nicholas take word-for-word notes of everything he found―it was only by writing everything down verbatim that Ryan could trust the validity of the information Nicholas brought, to reduce human error as much as possible.
Everyone sighed in relief, thankful that Nicholas wouldn’t ask any more unnecessary questions, but one moment later, he raised his hand like a kid yet again.
“Excuse me~! Ryan got the messaging skill from levelling up, right? You already said that you’ll get the transportation or summoning or whatever one next, so why is there even a problem? Can't we just wait until you level up and acquire it?”
“???”
“Ah?”
The two stared at him as if he were an idiot, but he continued unperturbed. “I just don't understand what the problem is... Am I wrong?”
It was a simple misunderstanding. After explaining to him that they didn’t know for sure if Ryan would get such a skill―they only speculated as such but wouldn’t know unless it happened―it was claimed that they needed a separate primary plan even if the skill turned out to be real.
After all, since they didn’t know when or even if the skill existed, to rely on it would be foolish.
“Ahah! I see now. So, we’re gonna get some Spirits to help us, huh? But how do we do that? You said a while ago that Lucas might get in contact with them because of his title, so should we go talk to him?”
As Nicholas asked, he, as well as Kaitlyn, both watched the expression on Ryan’s face slowly change from an impenetrable blank look to something even more unknowable. His eyes glancing between the two, the corners of his lips curled upwards ever-so-slightly.
“Nico, Kait. How you guys feel ‘bout horse ridin’ these days?”
It was a question obviously irrelevant to the current topic, but they knew it wasn’t because Ryan was being ignorant. Knowing that something was up, but acting as if it wasn’t so, they answered honestly.
“I'm total ass.”
“I’ve gotten to Level 4, so I’ve been feeling quite confident recently―Wait, you're still lacking? How??”
"Hey, why'd you say it like that?! Even with the World Traveller title, I'm just not talented, okay!? Don't make fun of me, jerk."
"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I was just surprised since it's not a very hard skill to level up... Oh. My apologies..."
"You... How were you ever considered a kind girl?"
"Hey!"
The time since the Summoned Heroes were first admitted to the royal academy was closing in on 2 months now, and ever since then, which was around the same time they signed up as adventurers, they frequently rented some horses to hasten the time it took to travel to and from the public hunting fields outside the city. They all agreed it would be good to establish a firm level of Equestrianism, or horsemanship, as there were no modern-day vehicles like they were used to on Earth, and since it was a skill they could level up, they were bound to make progress with enough practice.
But, why was Ryan bringing it up now?
Interrupting their minor feud, he nodded. “Good. That means you can ride together.”
“Ugh.”
“...Do we have to?”
There was no resisting Ryan’s order, but since they were now much closer than they were on Earth, it wasn’t such a big deal anyway, even if they joked about hating it.
“‘Course you 'ave to. Anyway, make sure you’re ready for it, ‘cause I sure ain’t carryin’ you on mine.”
Ryan stood up. The time was currently just past noon, and everyone had already finished their lunch, so it was about time to get a move on.
"Where are you going now? I thought it was supposed to be a rest day.”
“Yeah, what was that about? Are you not gonna explain anything? Also, don’t ignore me.”
They both asked, but Ryan had always been selective in his answering since the very beginning.
“Ngh? Ah.”
Staring at the two clueless lackeys for a moment, he bluntly gave a response.
“Spirits? Yeah, maybe, but I can’t be arsed.”
Not only did they have no clue where or how to find a Spirit, but they didn’t even know if a Spirit could help them, let alone the matter of if it actually would help. All that uncertainty, in addition to the fact that they didn’t even have an idea of how much time it would take, was plain disastrous. Moreover, that they should do so whilst staying inconspicuous to the eye of the kingdom watching over them?
Not to mention the end goal of receiving the support of a Spirit, they weren’t even at the stage of having an estimate for how long it would take to locate one.
One month? Three months? A year? Seronia was on the brink of war, you know?
It was simply absurd.
“Like, fuck, you kidding? Besides, I ain’t waitin’ allat long.”
It wasn’t smart nor viable to rely on the plan of getting the help of a Spirit for the summoning, at least not whilst they were still living in the palace. No, plans of fleeing the country had to move forward―far forward―and there was no way Ryan was willing to even slightly bear the risk of not making it out in time.
So, what was the solution?
Even the old man never heard of dimensional magic before he invented it―there ain't no way they don't have a summonin' scroll.
“Kait; prepare. And Nico...”
Their expressions hardened as they realised that Ryan’s characteristic smirk of mischief couldn’t mean anything positive.
“―Go take what’s precious from the royal swine; we’re bookin’ it on the night of the school expedition.”
And sure enough, hearing his words, they knew he was more serious than ever.