Note from the author:
I'm a relatively new writer doing this both as a hobby and looking to get better.
I'm kind of writing this because I was tired of stories where characters got what they wanted all the time in the isekai genre and it was almost all wish fulfillment. I'm going to try and find a balance between the dangers of an isekai life and the wish fulfillment that others might come to expect from the genre. That said, this story may not always be happy, but I'll try not to make it soul crushingly sad either.
Please give honest and constructive feedback as I will likely be rewriting or otherwise altering the story based off of that.
“Big damage on the healer,” He called out as he channeled drain soul.
“Blue Balls incoming,” Shouted another over coms.
“Necrotic active,” a third chimed in.
The character on the screen sublimated as his health went from one hundred to zero in an instant. He smirked. They just used a strategy where they spread the damage to pressure the healer and then performed a hard switch to kill the healer while his attention was elsewhere. The taka taka of the keyboard rang out in the room as characters on the screen started dropping left and right. Without support from their healers, the players on the other team lost momentum and dropped out.
“Death buuuuuuuussssss!” He sung as one of his friends summoned his mammoth: a 3 person mount that the players could ride around together on. They called it the death bus because It carried 3 high damage players that would coordinate to gank (kill) players in the bg’s (Battle Grounds).
His friend started moving but he didn’t see that. His vision blurred and he felt a falling sensation as he lost support from under him. Pain shot up his backside as it came crashing down on a hard cobblestone floor.
“Oww, god dammit!” He cursed as he slowly stood up rubbing his butt.
He slowly surveyed his surroundings. It was a dingy basement illuminated by candle light. There were a few indiscernible banners or tapestries on the walls and the center was covered in chalk in what looked like a pentagram or a magic circle. In front of him was like a party of startled cosplayers.
“What the hell?”
When the ‘cosplayers’ were pulled out of their stupor a few men on either side pointed their short spears at him.
“Greetings!” a woman in the middle said with a wry smile. “May this lady ask who she is dealing with?”
“You’re not dealing with anybody! What the fuck is going on?” He cursed at her.
Her smile did a 180. “My apologies if you were in the middle of something, however there is little the summoner can know about the summoned. May this lady ask what she has taken you away from?” Her brows furrowed as she inquired.
“I was in the middle of BG,” He stammered “Did you say summoned? Seriously, what’s going on?”
A man started talking to the lady in an unknown language. She turned her head to him “No, the link works fine.” she said in perfect English. She looked back up at him, “Yes, this lady has summoned you. May this lady know what a Bee Gee is?”
“A battle ground,” he said in confusion. His mind started working through all of the books he read and games he played for situations people had been summoned. “So, do you need me to kill the demon lords?” He didn’t know whether there was one or multiple so he just pluralized it.
The lady cackled maniacally and gasped for air as she continued to giggle. “It hurts!” she complained between fits of laughter. The guards frantically held out their spears but she waved them away. “Heavens no!”
“You don’t plan on enslaving or torturing me right?” he said with an incredulous look.
“What kind of slander is that!?” She exclaimed in an amused tone. “This lady would never participate in such a barbaric act! This lady is merely looking for a husband.”
“You’re literally surrounded by men. What’s wrong with them?”
“Ah the men of this realm will not do! Very few have an ancient bloodline and of the ones that still do only a handful of them match. The ones that match this lady’s nobility do not meet this lady’s standards for a bond. They would either usurp this lady’s power or abuse it. This lady summoned your esteemed self in order to secure a husband who won’t interfere in this lady’s politics.”
“So you summoned me to marry because I won’t usurp your power or abuse my position … do you even understand human nature?”
“Then does your esteemed-self wish to be a ruler?”
“Absolutely not. So what do I need to do?” This setup is too peculiar.
“Your duties will be the creation of the line of succession as well as suitable branch houses. Your actual position will be prince consort thus you must conduct yourself in a way that doesn’t harm the royal house. These are to be your only duties.” She said dryly.
“A job where I do nothing but have kids? Sign me up!” Great! Now I know I’m dreaming. I bet I’ll wake up hunched over my keyboard thirty minutes late for work. “My name is Zeno Cicala. What’s yours?”
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Her lips curled up into a smile. “This lady is Queen of Ani, Helba Morganna of Ixia Hyalina. Please wait while we form a contract. May we have your full name for the contract?”
“That is my full name. We don’t have long names like yours”.
He took the time to observe them while they were busy drafting a contract. Most of them were wearing chain hauberks under a blue tabard with gold runic language. They had long ears like elves and an eye structure that was typical of Asians. Their skin seemed to be in dark shades but he couldn’t tell much else in the dim candlelight. Others were in gambeson or silky robes. They all had slender builds.
Helba herself was dressed in a bleached white glossy robe. She wore what seemed like wooden sandals that had a brass floral design going up her calf. Her arms were relatively bare but her left wrist sported a series of 3 bangles in a pattern of gold/silver/gold. She wore a gold and white coif that couldn’t hide her long, wavy hair that dropped down from underneath. It was a mix of red and blond that that contrasted with her darker skin tone.
Once they had done inscribing parchment a man dressed in green robes handed it to Zeno along with a quill that was still covered in ink. Zeno handed the quill back with a smirk and began marching over to a nearby guard.
“W- What, is it not to your liking? Do you perhaps distrust us?”
The guard pointed her spear at him menacingly.
“No, rather trust in irrelevant. If the contract is fraudulent then you will have bargained for the most uncooperative husband that can exist within the bounds of the contract itself. I could interpret the written words differently than how they were originally meant and still be within the bounds of the contract.” He then grabbed the tip of the guard’s spear.
The guard started frantically asking for directions while clutching a dagger at her belt.
“Tell this idiot to calm down. The contracts with summoned creatures are typically signed in blood.”
“Don’t move,” Helba calmly mouthed to the guards.
Zeno pricked his thumb moved his fingers around it to spread the blood over the full volume of his thumb before pressing it against the parchment. The red imprint of this thumb sank into the parchment. He then walked up to Helba holding the parchment at arm’s length so as not to alarm the guards. “Your turn,” he said with a smile.
“What’s the meaning of this?” she asked hurriedly.
“This is a blood pact. The pattern on the thumb is unique to every person much like how each soul is unique. It goes beyond the bounds of law. To go against a blood pact is to curse your own bloodline.”
Helba’s skin paled. The guards took note of her composure and adopted another threatening stance. “Yamiel jah brega Helba,” a man asked hurriedly, “casca hel yith?”
“He wants me to sign the contract in blood,” she responded “It appears that it will be more than legally binding. If I fail to uphold the contract it will curse the bloodline.”
Cold sweat dripped down the backs of all the people in the room. To ask the queen to bleed is indeed high treason and such a contract method is more than barbaric.
“You have nothing to fear if your words are true. After all, you wrote the contract yourself. The blood pact is only used so you must also uphold your end of the bargain. If you seek to rewrite the contract now, I won’t trust you. A marriage is an alliance. Signing means we’re on the same team.”
Helba’s eyes turned fierce as they pierced through Zeno. “Vinca!” she hissed. A guard next to her trembled with a start as her name was called but quickly responded with “Sa!” “Hand me your dagger.” She said in a stern tone. The guard hesitated before unsheathing her dagger and handing it to Helba.
“Nef dankiel pav upsalla ka?” a man hurriedly questioned.
Helba quickly pricked her thumb and pressed it against the parchment.
“Brega Helba!” the man shouted.
Helba smiled and proclaimed, “It’s done!”
“Good, when’s the wedding?”
“The wedding will be held three months from now however you must be back here within a month. This Lady will send you back to your homelands to collect your personal effects as well as give you some time to put your affairs in order.”
“I have a lot of stuff. Can you handle repeated summons?”
“Yes, this lady can assuredly re-summon your esteemed self as long as the stars are in alignment. After that, the passage between our realms will close until they realign.”
“How long is that?”
“One month and a fortnight however preparations are needed on your end so this lady wouldn’t be able to send you back after the initial month. You will begin to study the language and ceremony to prepare for the wedding as well as learn about the more influential people in society.”
“Understood. How would we coordinate summons?”
“This lady will summon and dismiss you every night that you may bring your possessions over. This lady would advise that your esteemed self not bring too many items of little consequence such as silverware or clothes as you will not want for such things here.”
“You want me without clothes, eh, I like the sound of that.”
Helba rolled her eyes at him. “Please bring the items that you are attached to and that you feel would help you live comfortably.”
“And how will that work with the summoning method? Will it be anything I’m wearing and touching? Or will it be anything within a certain distance from me? Are there any size or weight restrictions?”
She smiled, “Your esteemed self is certainly taking this seriously. It will be anything that you are touching or wearing. There are no weight restrictions but it must be something that can fit in this basement. If it is too big it may displace the walls and ceiling causing your esteemed self to be buried here.”
“Makes sense. If I have a lot of things, how many summons can we do in a single night?”
She winced. “If this lady may ask, how many items does your esteemed-self intend to bring? Summoning is a taxing experience so this lady would be loath to perform it more than once a night.”
“I own countless personal items. Most of them are small and can fit in packages but some of them may be large and impossible to carry alone and would likely take one summon each. Some items aren’t readily available and I will need to buy them. A month should be enough time if I pack the items before being summoned.”
Her worries dissolved as well as her crumpled face. “Is there anything else that needs to be done before this lady sends your esteemed-self back?”
“A kiss.” He responded.
“May this lady ask what a kiss is?”
“A display of affection between two people. All we need to do is touch our lips together.”
“This lady is unsure of this procedure, but will comply. It will be important to learn each other’s way.”
As Zeno stepped closer towards her Helba motioned for the guards to stand down. He wrapped his arm around her waist and reached behind her head and pulled her into a kiss. He had to slightly look up at her because of her height. He was also able to confirm her proportions. Helba may be on the heavier side as far as elves were concerned but by human standards, she was a goddess.
The guards became less tense as they separated.
“It feels weird,” She complained.
He smiled. “It’s just a mundane romantic gesture. I’m ready.”
“This Lady will now send your esteemed-self back.” She said as she pressed the contract into his hands. She then started chanting in elvish while making complex motions with her arms. The chalk circle started glowing then floating. It began spinning one way and then it started flipping around haphazardly while staying centered.
“Beam me up scotty,” Zeno joked as the wobbling green light turned white and then everything faded away. He was back in his room. The light was on and the computer showed a screensaver. It was 1 am. He turned everything off, placed the parchment on his desk, and went to bed.
The alarm clock sang the song of its people as it roused him from his sleep. With a start, he slammed the snooze button and proceeded to turn off the alarm. Groaning, he rolled out of bed and turned his computer on before heading to the shower. His dream was still vivid in his mind – an extreme rarity for him. He pressed his thumb and index finger together and felt a twinge of pain. He hesitated for a moment before deciding it was just a coincidence and stepped into the shower.
When he got out he went to the fridge and grabbed a bowl of shredded chicken and started putting some into another bowl along with giardiniera, tomato, and avocado before mixing it together and putting it in the microwave. Afterwards he made tea and brought them to his desk. That’s where he saw the parchment from his dream that was not really a dream.
“FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—“