_________________________________________

Elaria

Elaria was walking down a dark hallway, her heart racing with fear and dread. She had failed yet again and knew the punishment, but the family just referred to it as training.

The hall seemed to stretch on forever as she walked, and familiar voices began to call out from the shadows.

"Pathetic"

"Get the healer, will you... She needs to go again."

"Weak"

"Ha, just think of them as pigs and swing!"

"Failure"

"She can't even finish a simple contract right!"

"Incompetent"

"You had one job! Signal the retreat!"

"Cowardly"

"You...flinched… Well that won't do…"

"A Waste"

"Why can't we just kill her?"

Panic set in like a lead weight at the last voice, and she started sprinting down the seemingly endless corridor.

“She's there. She's always there. She'll help. She'll protect me.” She repeated to herself with sheer terror coursing through her veins.

When she reached the end of the hall right before the fighting pit, no one was there. An icy chill seeped its way into her at the approaching voices, causing her to helplessly sink to the floor. Unable to continue into the pit, and unable to turn around to face the voices, she started to cry until they finally reached her.

A confined and crushing weight made her head throb and her heart crack, and as much as she tried to get a hold of herself, the source of her strength always pulled away, leaving her with nothing but a helpless fear.

One word brought the rest into silence.

"Alone…"

Elaria sat there on the ground, her sobbing being the only sound left to fill the dark space around her.

“Why, why wasn't she here? She's always here! I can't go in if she's not here!” She wailed, but that's when she felt a warmth begin to envelop her, much warmer than her sister's usual embrace.

“Shhh, it's okay. I'm here now.” The vaguely familiar voice calmed.

Elaria's breathing steadied and her trembling subsided, finding a new peace that promised to make everything alright.

“You don't have to go in anymore, and you don't have to listen to those other voices.” The voice reassured, and desperate for safety she clung to it with what little strength she could muster.

She tried to look up to the person speaking, but found it impossible to move her head, not that it mattered.

She was safe, not whole, but happy.

“You can just stay with me, Tessari.”

_________________________________________

Leo

Leo awoke to see Elaria watching him as they both lay next to each other, her face wearing a peaceful expression as they stared into one another's eyes.

He smiled softly with his own feelings of contentment, before lifting his hand to run his fingers across the cool leafy green scales on her face. “Have a good sleep?”

The selarin's smile grew wide at the affection. “It started out rocky, but…” She trailed before giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

The human raised an eyebrow with his smile still present. “I'll take that as a yes then, mind sharing?” He inquired curiously while drifting off a little in her light amber eyes.

The selarin wore a thoughtful expression. “Hmm, nope.” She answered playfully, right before springing out of bed and skipping off to the shower.

With a mirthful chuckle he decided to join her, though the shower was set a little colder than he was used to, and after a few intimate moments they both got dressed and headed up for breakfast.

The days ahead seemed bright.

...

Leo finished his food and was just about done with sketching out the rune layout for the shower when Allis entered the inn, slithering over to their table with a pleased expression.

After some initial greetings, Allis asked how the trade went, and he cast a sound barrier spell before recounting the events that took place.

The healer dropped into multiple levels of shock when he told the story, much to both his and Elaria's amusement.

“A hundred eighty gold, two thousand acres of land, and an order for constructing a mansion?” She stared disbelievingly at him while she recounted the gains and slid back a bit in her chair.

He wore a guilty expression while he rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. “Well technically it's three mansions, the other two will be for on-site staff and my workshop slash trade company headquarters.”

“Trade company?” Allis asked with a cocked head and a bit of confusion.

“I'm going to need one if I'm gonna replace the guild.” He responded casually while shrugging off the question.

Elaria's eyes widened a little as she turned to him. “You want to take over the trade in Telnar?” She sounded kind of impressed with him, but he couldn't help but smile maniacally, because that was way too small a goal for what he actually planned.

“No, I want to crush and replace the whole merchants guild.” He remarked assuredly, causing Allis and Elaria to wear expressions of utter disbelief.

Allis turned to Elaria, probably expecting some kind of support in explaining how insane that would be, but she simply let out a resigned sigh. “I've accepted the fact that summons are just that ambitious, and have the ability to back it up. I mean look at what he's done since arriving, he's learned magic on a leisurely stroll, became an arch mage without even knowing it, and now he's a wealthy lord with a large amount of land.”

The proud grin he wore at his list of accomplishments quickly warped into a frown. “Lord?”

Elaria stared emotionlessly at him with a critical gaze. “You own two thousand acres of land, and are going to live in a manor.” She pointed out a matter-of-factly.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The sudden elevation in status caused the unsuspecting summon to worry. “Wait, but don't I need to be, well, given the title?” He had serious doubts that simply buying land made him a-

‘Ah, landlord…The history of that somehow slipped my mind...’

Allis shrugged and went on to twist the dagger. “If we're being picky, then yes, but you have the wealth and land, so you basically get the title by default.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed exhaustedly at the new brightly colored target he obliviously placed on his own back. “Yet another title I've gained while completely unaware.” He was becoming a little troubled by the pattern that was starting to form.

Elaria smirked as she rested her head on a propped up arm. “Lord and arch mage Leo, dragon of the sheets, and summon from another world.” She playfully mocked.

Leo shut his eyes and let out an audible groan. ‘God. Fucking. Damn it.’ He hoped that this was the last one he would be receiving, because the last thing he would want is to be introduced with a title chain longer than Daenerys's.

Getting over the disturbing thought he turned to Allis, very much with the intent to shift the conversation. “Enough about me, how did your effort to mend bridges go?”

Allis looked a bit conflicted, and a little shy too. “Some good, some…not so good. I did manage to patch up things with the herbalist though, and she'll be taking up my post at the clinic tomorrow.” She started to fidget slightly.

He raised an eyebrow at her turn of mood, surprised again by how genuinely worried he was for the elevated noble. “That's great, but what's wrong? Were some of them that bad?”

The sandy scaled selarin started swaying with her fingers interlaced. “No it's just… I was going to invite you two to stay at my place, but since you're basically going to be living in a mansion…” She trailed off dejectedly.

A teasing smile crossed Leo's face, remembering how starved for proper interaction she was. “You're? So I take it you don't want to live with us when it's built then?” He openly teased the socially timid woman, who apparently had become very self conscious after her little apology trip.

The serpentine's eyes looked like perfect round circles with how wide they shot open. “No! I mean, yes I would love to move in with you… If you're offering, that is?” She finished somewhat nervously.

“Of course, how else are we going to plan out Taipa's new life as a street rat?” He joked with a sly grin, watching Allis beam with joy at the acceptance.

After a bit of light chatting, Leo told the two selarins that he wasn't going out today because he wanted to refit the inn's showers, enchant Kesl some new magical kitchen appliances, and show him a few more recipes from his world.

The generous summon was going to drop the cut from the pizza and give him the appliances, more recipes, and randomly add new improvements to the inn all for free, at least until he moved into his new home.

‘I got too much time and too much money, might as well fool around with enchanting, while helping a brother out.’

_________________________________________

Fel

Fel was at a genuine loss for words upon waking up this morning, recalling the events of yesterday's usually scheduled spy time, the setting taking place at the guild of all places. She had been eavesdropping in an alley, her naturally heightened hearing making it trivial to make out the entire conversation through the stone.

What she heard almost made her considere burning down the branch when they found out Leo was an arch mage, because she could already hear Yez screaming at her for not doing it, but that thankfully resolved itself, so for the most part she was speechless at the outcome.

He had somehow managed to trade in a bulk of enchanted items for a sizable bit of wealth, a manor, and a large swath of land, essentially making him a lord. That happening at all, much less in about a week and a half since his summoning, was not part of the plan.

It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility for him to use the knowledge from his world to make some coin, since it was expected that he would when he reached the small and unassuming town. What was though, was the instantaneous leap in magical ability.

Fel was laying in bed, in her tent, in the bustling selarin camp, staring blankly at nothing in particular. “Fffuuuuck.” She hissed out because she had to report on this today, opting to skip yesterday's due to being too mentally drained to deal with the overly controlling woman's reaction.

‘I think my grandfather missed the part where a summon didn't need a kingdom to support them. He might damn well take over Selaria before the end of the season if this rate of growth continues…’ She thought while staring at the communication orb on the bedside table with an overwhelming hesitation, then sat up from the bed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“No way around it then…” She let out a groan as she picked up the orb.

“Yez?” She called while bringing it up to her face, dreading the conversation that was about to happen.

The orb started to light up after a moment. “Hey Fel, how's the summon doing? He cast any more strange magic?” Yez asked a little bitterly.

“...”

The orb grew brighter. “What did he do now?” Yez questioned with utter exasperation.

Fel explained the situation in full, and the light of the orb seemed to dull the more she went on. When she was done, utter silence hung in the air for a few uncomfortably tense moments.

“Yez? Are you stil-”

The orb instantly grew so bright that she felt like it burned her eyes, causing her to drop it. Incoherent yelling mixed with random expletives came from the damn thing, all while Fel was still trying to rub the white spots out of her vision.

The onslaught of undirected rage went on for several minutes before it finally subsided, drawing another resigned sigh out of her as she picked the orb back up. “Yez, you need to bring him into the fold.” She stated coolly.

The orb grew dim. “But the plan was to do that after the academy's retaliation.” Yez complained with a seething rage still present in her voice.

Fel scowled at the woman's stubborn need to follow her own plans to the letter. “Yez! He won't be in Telnar when that happens!” She yelled at the orb, her own anger building from how dense her boss was being.

The orbs light spiked. “It will take at least a few dozen weeks until his home is constructed! And what if he doesn't join?! He has no motivation to, especially now that he's a lord!” Yez countered in a hard tone.

Fel was seconds from crushing the orb in a frustrated rage. “Ahhhg… Okay, listen, at this point if we don't do it, or at least try, he will fuck up your plans. Fuck! He's already fucked up your plans! It's now the difference between choosing whether you want to watch all of our effort get tossed into the void, or at least attempt to salvage the situation.” She pleaded with the stone wall of a woman.

The orb spiked in brightness. “Damn it! Fine! But do it when you move on Telnar. Oversee the takeover personally too, because I would also like at least the main part of the plan to not fall apart. And if it does, then I will not hesitate to cut our losses in that kingdom.” Yez ordered harshly.

Fel would be speechless at the move to simply abandon everything, if she wasn't party to it before. “Fine..” She answered through gritted teeth.

The orb's light was steady. “Also, continue to stay relatively out of sight. We may not interact with the other races all that much, but some of our features are dead giveaways.” Yez explained as if talking to a child.

Letting go of her own frustrations, Fel rolled her eyes at the comment. “I know, any one with half a mind could tell that from the scales around my face, even if I hide my horns and tail. I guess on the bright side I can stop skulking around town to spy on him, so that's something… Anyway, how's it going on your end?” She asked with not that much interest due to her own problems.

A sigh could be heard from the other end. “I'm done, though I can't say it was hard. I have all the partially falsified evidence ready, and the necklaces are still being snuck into both the kingdoms, so there's not much to do but wait. The worst thing that could happen is for a competent mage to look too closely at one, but…” Yez exaggeratedly trailed off.

Fel may not know exactly what Yez was doing, she was kept out of the loop most of the time, but that didn't stop her from chuckling. “As rare as a mage themselves.” She finished with an amused tone.

The orb's light was steady. “Well if that's all, then I recommend chugging any of your mana potions, should let you squeeze out an extra teleport or two. You look well past the worst of the mana depletion, so it should be safe for you to start drinking without any strain. The sooner we can get him under control the better.” Yez advised.

“Okay then, talk to you tomorrow.” She said right before the orb's light disappeared, then sighed loudly.

‘If I start drinking mana potions now, then I should be done in two more days. Ugh, we've only gotten to a quarter of the town's guard, so we gotta go with plan B for that one. It's still better than directly taking the town by force.’

“Gods I hope he doesn't do anything else…”

_________________________________________