Brian groaned as he woke up, his mouth feeling like it was full of cotton as his head pounded. Trying to sit up in his bed, he blinked as he felt the warm weight pressing against his side. Lifting the covers, he stared at the sleeping Amelia, a happy smile on her face as she cuddled up to his side. A moment of panic flashed through his mind before he realised that they were both still clothed, the Valkyrie’s armour set neatly on the table in the far corner.
“Amelia,” he said softly, shaking the woman awake, her eyes blinking blearily as she looked up at him, “You need to wake up and tell me what happened last night.”
“You were drunk,” the woman yawned as she sat up, stretching out her body, Brian making a point to look away as her thin underclothes clung to her, “I helped you into your room, and then went to sleep in mine.”
“This is my room, though,” Brian sighed as the woman seemed to wake up a bit more, blinking at him in confusion for a moment before her head went scarlet.
“I am so sorry, Sir Mage!” she gasped as she leapt out of his bed, scrambling to gather her armour, dropping several pieces on the floor as she did so, “I…I was also a little drunk. I didn’t realise and-!”
“It’s fine,” Brian groaned as she tried to open the door with her arms full of metal, “I don’t think anything happened between us, so there’s nothing to be worried about.”
“T-there isn’t?” the girl blinked, Brian noticing the slight tears in her eyes.
“No,” he shook his head, “If necessary, I’ll also say I forgive you for falling asleep beside me.”
“But…but my actions were still wrong!” she gasped, “To forgive me so easily…”
“It’s my choice, right?” Brian asked as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, realising he too was in his underclothes, “And you said that if I asked something of the Valkyries, they would do it, correct?”
“Yes, Sir Mage,” Amelia nodded.
“Well, I am asking you to forgive yourself for this small mistake,” Brian smiled kindly at her, “Also, just call me Brian. No Sir Mage, no Sir Brian. Just Brian.”
“I…thank you, Sir-, I mean, Brian,” the young woman nodded, “I am going to go to my actual room to dress now, if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” Brian nodded as he stood and walked over to the door, opening it for her.
“Thank you,” she murmured, Brian able to see the bright blush still on her cheeks as she left.
“Shit,” he muttered as he closed the door behind her, leaning against the wall, “She is really pretty.”
------
The rest of the journey thankfully passed without incident, the carriage drawing closer and closer to Astera on the final day. They arrived at the gates in the afternoon, Brian blinking as he looked out the windows at the crowds gathered on either side of the street as they passed, some people throwing confetti as a few confused cheers went out. Shaking his head, he asked Amelia what was happening.
“Oh, it would seem that today is when the Heroes are meant to return from an expedition,” she said, “Lucky you, you may be able to catch them as they arrive.”
“The Heroes?” Brian hummed, “I wonder how those kids are doing, anyway?”
“Kids?” Amelia blinked, looking at Brian in confusion, “You know the Heroes, Brian?”
“I met them once,” he nodded, “Just for a bit, right befo-, I mean right around when they appeared in Astera.”
“Oh? Then how did you end up outside the city?” the Valkyrie captain asked, an inquisitive look on her face, “I heard you were all the way on the northern border before we met you?”
“Teleportation accident,” he replied quickly, “Nothing too big, I was just sent there by accident.”
“Oh? I see,” Amelia nodded, turning back to look up the street, “We are almost at the Mage’s Academy, where we will bid our farewells and part ways.”
“It’s been a joy to travel with you, Amelia,” Brian nodded as they pulled up outside the massive structure, Brian unable to suppress an impressed whistle as he looked up at it, “Thank you.”
“The honour has been mine, Sir Mage,” she said as the rest of the Valkyries chuckled in the background, whispering to each other as they had been since the first day whenever the pair talked, “Goodbye, Brian. I hope to see you again someday.”
“Same to you,” he chuckled, nodding as she walked over to the other women and started ordering them around, the Valkyries grinning as they followed her instructions.
“Sir Brian?” the creaky voice asked, Brian looking down at the small hunched over figure of an ancient looking woman, “I am Brenda Longrave, Principal of the Mage’s Academy, a pleasure to meet you.”
“Not the Arch Mage?” Brian blinked as he bowed to her, the old woman smiling.
“No, not the Arch Mage, as I am sure you are used to meeting,” she chuckled, the sound dry and hoarse, “The Arch Mage of Astera is one of the king’s Advisors, and so could not be here to meet you directly, as the Heroes are meant to return today.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“I heard about that,” Brian nodded, “Thing is, I was kind of pulled into your world with them, would it be possible for me to meet with them? I just want to check that they’re okay.”
“Oh? Another traveller from the other worlds?” she croaked, “How interesting. Of course, I’ll see if I can organize an audience for you.”
“Thank you so much,” Brian smiled, “I only really met them once, and it’s been a little over a month since then, but I’d still like to check up on them. To ease my own mind, you know?”
“Of course,” the woman winked, “It is the job of adults to protect and guide the children, after all.”
------
Dylan sighed as they got out of the carriage at the gates, walking through to the sounds of excited cheers and thrown confetti. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he could see some confetti still stuck to the streets from the last time they’d left, or maybe another party had gone out while they were away. Shaking his head to clear the thoughts whizzing around it, he looked straight ahead, marching as confidently as he could towards the castle in the centre of the capital. It took them over an hour to reach it, the party slightly tired by the time they had, but in high spirits at the thought of seeing their other classmates once again.
They made their way through the halls of the palace, eventually arriving at the waiting room that had been converted into a hangout space for all the Heroes. Opening the door, the five of them were immediately hit by the sombre atmosphere, looking around in confusion at the rest of their class, many of whom were staring blankly ahead or crying.
“What…what happened?” Samantha asked, the other students all jumping as they turned to look at the party that had just arrived.
“Tyler,” someone said, their voice cracking as they spoke, “He…he died. Got killed. By a Greater Bear.”
“What?” Dylan blinked, staring into the room in shock. While he hadn’t known Tyler very well in their old world, he’d become close enough to the Knight Classed teen to consider him a friend in this one.
“It was my fault,” a boy sobbed, one of the Rogues if Dylan remembered correctly, “I…I fell over, and he protected me. If I hadn’t…If I hadn’t messed up…”
“It’s okay, Richy,” some of the girls tried to comfort him, the boy still sobbing into his hands, “It’s okay.”
The room remained silent but for the sound of Richy’s sobs and some of the others still crying, the party that had just arrived standing in shock. After several minutes, one of the girls, tall and thin with long black hair stood up and spoke.
“It’s sad that someone died, yes,” she said softly, her voice strong none-the-less, “But we all kind of knew that this was a possibility. People die in war, and we are at war, even if we’re only fighting monsters right now.”
“That’s bullshit!” another girl, short and round with freckles and messy brown hair, shouted, “I don’t want to die! I don’t care if I’m a really strong Shield Mage, that just means that the Demons are going to come after me first! I want to go home!”
The room quickly filled with the sound of arguing as the others began shouting at each other, some defending the kingdom and their duty, while others screamed about wanting to go home as well. Dylan watched them for a while, still in mild shock at what he’d heard before he felt something well up inside him.
“ENOUGH!” he roared, silencing the room, blinking slightly as he realised that everyone was looking at him now, “I…If you don’t want to fight, then that’s fine.”
“What?” several of the class said as they stared.
“If you don’t want to fight, then that’s fine,” Dylan repeated, “I for one am not going to force you to. But we just came back from our first bandit hunt, and we had to kill humans. It wasn’t nice. It was…it was horrible, actually. But they had captives, men and women who they were going to sell as slaves to the Demons.”
“The Demons?” several of the teens muttered.
“Yes, to the Demons,” Dylan continued, “And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that would have ended well for any of them. We were able to save them, to do some good in this…this fucked up world. So, while I won’t blame you if you don’t want to fight, then at least find something else you can do to help.”
The class remained silent as they stared at Dylan some more, before the Rogue, Richy, stood up.
“I…I’m going to keep fighting,” he said as he sniffed loudly, “I…I don’t like it, but…but I’ll do it in Tyler’s memory.”
“Right,” Dylan nodded as he smiled at the short boy, “In Tyler’s memory.”
“You guys must be tired,” the tall thin girl suddenly said, Dylan vaguely remembering her name being Amanda, “Go get washed and rested for now, you can tell us about your bandit hunt over dinner.”
“Right, good idea,” Dylan nodded back at the class, most of whom now had looks of determination on their faces, the rest looking worried or conflicted.
“Nice speech,” Miles hummed as the party headed towards their rooms, “Real inspirational.”
“It applies to you guys as well,” Dylan nodded, “I’m not going to force you to keep fighting.”
“What about you?” Mary asked, stepping up beside him, “Do you want to keep fighting?”
“Honestly?” Dylan sighed, “No. But I will. I mean, my Class is supposed to be really rare and powerful, right? If I can use it protect people, then I will.”
“Sounds like something a Paladin should say,” Samantha chuckled, shoving Dylan’s shoulder lightly as the group parted ways.
------
“Tomorrow? Really?”
“Yes, the last group of Heroes arrived shortly after you did this afternoon,” the principal of the Mage’s Academy said as they sat in her office, once again similar to the others he had seen, but this time the shelves were full of a mixture of books and items, “I made a request directly to the Arch Mage, telling him you were brought through with the Heroes, and he allowed a short meeting. I will warn you though, they recently lost a member of their group.”
“They did?” Brian groaned, “Shit, they’re probably taking it really hard, then. Maybe we should postpone the meeting for a while?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Brenda chuckled, “They have a strong leader type with them, I’m sure most of them are fine.”
“If you say so,” Brian sighed, before sitting up in his chair, “Right, so we were talking about how to use the mana sense from Mana Manipulation more accurately before. What else can you tell me about it?”
“Mana sense,” the old woman hummed, “Yes, I like that name, perhaps that is what we’ll call it from now on. But as you asked, mana sense is not simply the ability to feel mana, but also the ability to manipulate it within yourself and others…”
------
The shadowy figure growled under their breath as they moved through the city, searching for their prey. The signs were subtle, his scent mixed in with a week’s worth of odours from the vile mortals that infested this hive they called a city, but it was there.
They knew the direction he had headed now, south, straight towards the largest and most vile of the human cities, Astera, the thought of having to enter that place making the figure feel sick to their stomach. But they wouldn’t let that stop them. No, they had to know how the Mage in the black robes had managed to remove the protections from the book, and more importantly, how he’d managed to read it.
Glancing up at the sounds of marching boots, the figure vanished in a cloud of darkness, appearing again on top of a roof of a nearby building, watching the city guards as they marched in formation down the street. Their stomach growled, reminding them that they hadn’t eaten anything truly filling in many days. Perhaps some mortal flesh would ease that craving?
A cruel, sharp toothed smile formed on their face as they watched the guards march down the street, following silently behind them through the shadows.