A month passed and Mrs. Wallenstein visited her own home exactly twice, just to get some things packed and moved to a NY apartment the foundation rented for her. She came only when Cat was away and left before she could return, avoiding her own daughter completely. Distraught, She sought help against the powers of the occult. The only person she could ask for help was, obviously, Alice. She called the girl from another world and found herself invited to detective Martinez’s apartment.
“Welcome, Catherine!” Martinez answered the door. “Please, make yourself at home.”
“Thank you, Martha. I brought Jack with me, I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Welcome. The more the merrier.”
They entered and saw Alice sitting along with her four wolves. For space reasons, Aura was in her smaller (meaning not pony-sized) form.
“Hello, guys!” Cat said to the wolves. “Let me see… Chase, Nova, Dash, and Aura,” she petted each of them. “Did I get it right?”
Alice giggled, “You mixed Nova and Dash. Dash asked how could you mistake a girl for him.”
She scratched both behind the ears, “Trust me, guys. Nowadays it isn’t as easy to tell a bloke from a lass.”
The wolves licked her hands.
“Well, let’s get down to business,” Cat said absentmindedly.
“To de-feat, De-mons!” Alice sang with a smirk.
“You’re insufferable,” Cat snickered, then straightened her face. “Here’s the reason for this meeting. As Alice said, Mr. Roger Marthan is a demon.”
Jack did a double-take, but Martinez already knew it. “Demon?”
Cat nodded “Yes. As in a bloated blob of pus that smells like brimstone with two horns and a spade tail that’s probably poisonous and able to use some magic who’s currently corrupting my mother and everyone in that too-on-the-nose church of his.”
She explained how Catherine was supposed to go to Hell but was granted another shot at life, apparently breaking the rules and allowing the demon to come to Earth to collect Hell’s due. Were it not for the previous demonstration of Alice’s supernatural powers and the strange events surrounding the charismatic “evangelist”, Jack wouldn’t believe her.
“How do we fight a demon?” The former ranger asked.
“We don’t,” was Martinez's forlorn reply. “Alice assessed his strength, it is beyond anything we ordinary people and even her can muster.”
“Who can help, then? The government?”
“Does the government even know the supernatural is real?” Cat asked.
“They suspect, but with no evidence so far,” Martinez stated. “None of the returners or the occult organizations wish to expose themselves. Maybe key individuals in the government know but we aren’t sure. If there are any, they’re related to these organizations.”
“If we can’t fight him, can we send him back to hell?” Jack suggested.
Alice took her phone and started texting while the other three bounced ideas off of one another. “I know a guy that might be able to answer that,” she offered after Jack’s question. “But his services are expensive and we need to bring him from Tokio.”
Everyone stared at Miss Moneybags. “Just money?” Alice nodded. Cat snapped her finger and exaggerated, “Damn, if I only hadn’t made five million off of that TV station. Get your guy on the next flight. Please, I need any help I can get.”
Alice laughed, "Okay."
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A day later, they went to the JFK to pick up their guest. A nondescript Japanese guy immediately waved when he saw Alice and her wolves.
“Arisu-sama. It is a pleasure to meet you again,” he said with a heavy Japanese accent.
“Welcome to America, Shinji. And thank you for coming at a moment’s notice. We are desperate for help here,” the girl greeted her fellow returner.
He smiled and set his eyes on Cat as if he was using x-ray vision on her. “It is my job to help. And you made… how do you say? An offer I can not refute.”
“It’s ‘you can’t refuse,” Alice corrected him with a giggle. “Let me introduce you to my friends here. They’re Martha, Jack, and Catherine.”
“今日は,” Shinji bowed slightly to them. “I’m Shinji. Since we’re in America, it’s fine to use first names.”
Cat could sense divine power from him, similar to what she felt from Alice. It wasn’t the same type but close enough.
“Thank you for coming, Shinji-sama,” Cat replied, then bowed to him. “よろしくお願いします!” She raised her head with a face that screamed, ‘did I get it right?’
Shinji beamed with joy. “Hai! Perfectly pronunciation. よろしく,” he bowed again. [1]
With the introductions finished, Martha ushered the group of people and wolves away from prying eyes. “This way, guys. Let’s talk elsewhere.”
They took a van from Grendel Security and took Shinji to a hotel. After the Japanese man freshened up, they conveyed in one of the hotel’s conference rooms to explain their predicament to him.
“Let me properly introduce everyone, Shinji,” Alice said. “You already know Martha Martinez from our video calls, she’s a police detective. The big guy is Jack Murphy, a former army ranger now working in the private security sector,” she stuttered a bit and glanced at Jack, getting a reassuring nod from him. “And finally, Catherine Wallenstein. She’s the reason we called you over.”
Shinji greeted each of them. “I’m Shinji, and I’m a returner. I was kidnapped into another world by a princess, and died shortly after. I was lucky enough the goddess I served there took pity on me and sent my soul back to Earth. I kept some of my powers as a [Paladin].”
[Not now,] Cat hissed.
“I hope you don’t mind, Catherine-sama, but I searched online about you. I’m sorry for the misfortune that surrounded you,” Shinji continued, pretending he didn’t notice her hissing to herself.
“No, not at all. It’s publicly available information anyway,” Cat replied with a hand wave. “Well, here’s the story. I tried to kill myself and ended up killing another guy along with myself. Some entity came for my soul, and it ended up granting me a chance to escape Hell.”
“It was a divine emissary, I’m certain,” Shinji affirmed. “I can sense divine power around you. It protects you from けがれ.”
“Sorry? Keg-air?” Cat asked.
“ けがれ,” Shinji corrected her pronunciation. “It means… unclean powers. Corruption. Demonic influence.”
Jack was about to say something but Martinez held his arm and shook her head. “It’s real,” she whispered to him. “And way above our pay grade, ranger.”
She smiled bashfully, “Thanks.” Silence followed, prompting her to continue her story, “Not it seems a demon came from Hell to drag me there. He created a cult, a church, and is doing God-knows-what to these people.”
Shinji’s face hardened. He closed his eyes and mumbled something. “I can sense their evil power, the けがれ in the air. It is a very powerful demon but that was expected. Hell has little… very few opportunities to send one of their agents here. It is obvious they would send their strongest whenever they can.”
Clinging to a sliver of hope, Cat asked, “Can you help us defeat him?”
Shinji’s eyes displayed sorrow and compassion, “I’m sorry, but no. Maybe if I had my full powers but I left those in the other world after I died. Most returners don’t come with full power. And I, unfortunately, bear an even greater shame.”
Shinji stopped talking and lowered his head. What Cat knew of Japanese culture was that they had high standards of morality and personal responsibility. Something horrible must’ve happened to him.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I’m sorry,” Cat withdrew. “Look, you don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to. I’ll tell you what I heard dozens of times after I was raped,” she said outright. “Whatever happened to you, you were the victim. You were kidnapped into another world. I know what it feels to not be in control and still think you could’ve done better.”
The Japanese man nodded. “Hai.”
“Tell me, did you do your best?” He nodded, silently this time. “I’ll let you in a little secret. I died too. But in this world. It sucks so much you sometimes wish you remained dead.”
“Yes, it does. Would you hear this unlucky [Paladin]’s story?”
“Of course.”
“I wasn’t kidnapped alone. I had a friend with me, Kazuya. We were summoned by Pearl, a princess of a mountain kingdom. Can you believe the princesses of that world have lessons on the Japanese language and culture so they can more easily interact with us? Worse, she summoned us out of boredom, not because her kingdom was threatened or something. After some basic training, we set out on our first mission, to hunt some slavers on the border of her kingdom. There we met a princess from a neighboring kingdom and her retinue, and we joined forces to hunt the slavers. We had reported they were hiding in some ancient catacombs deep under the mountain, and we set out to explore it.
“On our first fight with the slavers, they proved stronger than we expected. They had these slave collars that were indestructible and one of them managed to collar me. He immediately ordered me to fight my friends, and I resisted… The collar, it… punishes the slave who resists orders. It choked me to death. This is my shame. A hero that died on the first mission. Kazuya never returned. I don’t think the Goddess helped him the same way he helped me. I fear what fate awaited him in that world.”
“Did you do your best?” Cat asked. “I believe you replayed the fight over and over in your head. I know I’ve had nightmares about what happened to me.”
“はい、頑張りました,” he answered.
“He said he did his utmost,” Alice translated.
“What a bunch of shitty princesses,” Cat remarked ruefully.
“It was their way of life, what they knew. Actually, princesses Pearl and Lumina were among the best in that world,” Shinji laughed remorsefully. “The kingdoms there treat summoned heroes like nuclear weapons. She was forced by her family to accept that role. She felt trapped as a glorified nuclear launch code. Summoning us was her final act of rebellion because each princess can only do it once.”
“That doesn’t exempt her from her guilt,” Cat remarked firmly. “And anyway, they can always breed more princesses. Why don’t they fight their own battles?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” the [Paladin] placated. “But she wasn’t aware of our circumstances. They taught her we heroes ‘accepted’ the summons.”
“I’m sure princess Pearl mourned you,” Cat changed her stance. “And Kazuya might have lived a happy life, though he too definitely missed you for a long time.”
Alice had explained in one of their conversations that time passes differently in other worlds. Earth (our stretch of the universe) was in a cosmological place that moved with a very fast relative speed and thus time passed slower for us. Centuries or millennia could pass in another world for a single day on Earth. If someone kidnapped into another world was able to return, chances were they’d return shortly after they left. What was worse in Shinji’s case is that if Kazuya would return, he’d return shortly after Shinji, which guaranteed that he died in that world.
“I’m thankful for your kind words,” he bowed then chuckled, dispelling the gloomy mood. “It seems there’s always a princess involved, isn’t it so, Arisu-sama?”
Both stared at Cat. She reeled back. “I’m no princess!” She protested, drawing laughter from both of them.
“Let’s see. Rich, check,” Alice started to count on her fingers.
Shinji continued, “Targeted by the forces of evil?”
“Helpless? Check,” The wolf whisperer snickered.
“From an esteemed and traditional ruling family? Che-Ku.”
Cat felt her cheeks burn. “Stop it!” She protested.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Alice stood up and curtsied.
“With her personal knight,” Jack tried.
Everyone stared at him and snickered. Cat could swear the wolves were laughing. At least the tension and gloomy mood were gone.
“Good. Now that the introductions and sad stories are done,” Martinez tried to put the youngsters meeting back on track. “What do you think we can do to help Catherine, Shinji?”
“This demon seems powerful. Hell would not send a weakling, given the opportunity to cross into our world is very rare. They can’t send someone too powerful either, or they would anger the gods. But he’s too strong for us mortals. Catherine-sama, don’t take what I’m going to say personally. I don’t intend to go through with it, but the best alternative for the world would be to give the demon what he came for so he would be forced to go back.”
“What?” Cat almost jumped out of her chair at the implication. “But he came for me! My soul.”
“That’s not happening,” Jack affirmed sternly and put a protective hand on Cat’s shoulder to reassure her.
“Yes. I’m not suggesting we give him that. But we are facing the train dilemma,” Shinji explained. “Sorry. There are five people on the train track and the conductor will kill that person if he does nothing. If he shifts into another track, he’ll kill one person only, but he has between either do nothing or act and kill a person.”
Wary, Cat glanced between the [Paladin] and the door. “What does it have to do with me?”
“While the demon remains in this world, the けがれ is corrupting people. By not giving you to him, we’re damning these people.”
That earnest sacrifice sent a shiver down Cat's very soul. She would never let go of Catherine. [Don't ever mention that again. You're staying with me to the day I die. Screw the greater good. We're fighting and we're winning this fight.]
While the two soul-mates had their little chat, they failed to notice the rest of the table shared the same sentiment. Giving up to the demon's wishes was the same as giving a interdimensional terrorist organization what they wanted.
“Look, they aren’t being forced to follow the demon, are they? They’re being tricked,” Jack stepped in and shook his shoulders. “Nobody is telling them to attend that stupidly-named church.”
“You’re correct, Jack,” Martinez reassured. “People are flocking to that demon of their own volition, regardless if they know what they’re dealing with or not. Catherine is not liable.”
“Can’t we fight him? We can’t let a foreign entity promote terrorism and corrupt American citizens,” An angered Jack said. “I have friends in the military. We can convince them to attack this alien.”
“The government will laugh in our faces. And the FBI investigated the guy regarding terrorism. He came out looking like a saint,” Martinez bemoaned.
“We can try to attack him. Test the waters. If he proves to be too strong, we withdraw,” Alice suggested.
“That may end really worst,” Shinji warned, fumbling the language. “The demon is under several rules and taboos imposed upon these entities by the heavens. It affects every immortal above a certain power. Gods, demigods, and demons all have to follow them. That is why you do not see deities walking the land, even though their presence is everywhere. The demon cannot initiate violence against mortals. It would be too easy for him to just kill a lot of people. The hells do not send their violent war demons to Earth, they send the corruptors. But even those are above our powers.”
“Do we have any stronger returner?” Cat asked.
“Maybe Richter,” Alice mused. “He’s an [Archmage], but his services are expensive. Of the we-don’t-take-cash kind.”
“I heard of this Richter. He’s not someone we can rely on. He steals magic from others,” Shinji frowned.
“What does he accepts as payment? Souls? Magic?”
“Potions,” Alice admitted, a bit ashamed for some reason. “A lot of potions.”
Shinji whistled.
“Let me guess,” Cat pinched the bridge of her nose. “Potions are really hard to make here on Earth.”
“Almost impossible. Can you do it, Arisu-sama?”
“I’m an [Apothecary]. I can but I need to grow the plants on a node and there’s a huge chance of failure. Not to mention it’ll take a long time. Years until I can grow the plants and brew the first batch.”
“Can’t we kill the demon? Isn’t there a holy sword or something that can banish it back? Some church, Tibetan monks, sutras, something?” Cat asked, feeling the desperation sink in.
“Something like that can work. But ordinary weapons will only anger the entity,” Shinji answered. “Holy water, blessed silver, exorcist amulets, these can banish the demon, but at great risk. And they’re not easy to obtain. At least not the real thing.”
"Can we get them, given enough time and money?" Cat insisted.
"I can make holy water, but it is a long process," Alice offered.
"It will hurt the entity, but we msut be careful about the retaliation. Unless we dump in in a pond of holy water, he won't die immediately," Shinji said and looked at Alice, who shook her head.
"We're talking months to make less than a gallon of holy water," the [Apothecary/Tamer/Priestess] replied.
And in the meanwhile her mother would stay in the demon's clutches. "What about blessed silver?"
"It needs to be mined using a very specific method," Shinji explianed. "Again it takes a lot of time. And we need to find a silver mine with the right properties."
She let dismay sink in. Cat shrunk in her chair and felt like crying.
“We would go and fight the demon right now if we thought we had even a slight chance of winning, Catherine. We’re not cowards,” Alice said, mostly to herself.
“I know, guys. I’m grateful just for the opportunity to even talk about it. I won’t ask anyone to put their lives on the line for me.”
“It is bigger than just you,” Shinji stated. “The demon might be avoiding you so it can stay longer in this world and corrupt more people. We need to work.”
Alice, who took her phone to check something, screamed. “Richter is dead. Damn.”
“How?” Shinji asked. “Even if magic is hard to come by, he was an [Archmage], wasn’t he?”
“There’s a forum post where one of the guys who had more contact with him said he was bragging he found some way to get a lot of mana. Maybe he found a node or something, Richter was an asshole and didn’t share his method. Well, it seems he bit way more than he could chew.”
“Where is this node? Can’t we use it?” Cat asked, hopeful.
“No. If it killed Richter even with the mana he managed to steal, it is bigger than our demon problem,” Alice shook her head. “I’m sorry we’re so weak, Catherine.”
“Says the girl who breaks wrenches for sport. Can you break a wrench, Shinji?”
Alice produced one of the tools. The Japanese took it and snapped it like a twig.
“I can’t help but think these wrenches are fake. Is there a trick to that?” Jack gasped in disbelief.
“No,” Alice rebutted. “It’s all real. Do you want to see my wolves use a calculator? Here,” she took the calculator and a notepad from her magic bag. “Write any math problem in here, I won’t even look. Then pick a wolf, they’ll solve the problem on the calculator.”
“The first time Alice told me they were intelligent, I instead gave these wolves an IQ test,” Martinez sighed. “They all scored over a hundred-fifteen. On the first try.”
“They’re smarter than us,” the cop whispered theatrically.
“Okay, guys,” Cat said. “We’re not even thinking straight anymore. This meeting is adjourned. Shinji, what about we go somewhere to eat? I’m buying. We can later talk about how to obtain holy water and that blessed silver.”
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[1] The Japanese text:
a) 今日は or こんにちは: Konnichiwa – A greeting roughly meaning “good day” or “hello”.
b) よろしくお願いします: yoroshiku onegaishimasu – This one has a deep meaning. In this case, it meant “nice to meet you” as it was their first meeting, but also conveys the idea of gratitude for coming to their aid, of wishing to work together, and even her request for aid. Shinji replies with the same word, meaning in this case “I’ll be in your care”.
c) けがれ – kegare. Corruption, impurity, evil influence. It has the concept of something evil entities emanate and can stick to a person.
d) はい、頑張りました。 : hay, ganbarimashita. “Yes, I did my best.”