Faelyn took a deep breath as he stared at the building in front of him. Earlier that day, the Goddess of Hearth had contacted him and told him that the time to join the swarm would come later that day. She would provide a stealthy teleport to where he needed to go, and in return, he needed to not reveal this location or its inhabitants to anyone; there was some sort of treaty or something going on, and drawing attention to the building would ruin everything.
Everything after he was on the swarm’s planes was fair game, but she had warned him that there would be an hour where he was in suspended animation and his stream would be down, so she advised that, perhaps, making the lead-up to and immediate aftermath of conversion a video. She had also told him to tell his audience about their deal and World Saviors’ “twist”, to both reassure them that he would be safe and give them context, and he had gladly obliged.
His stream had yet to gain that much traction on other planes, but he was building up a following, and he suspected that this would be the trigger to catapult him into the limelight outside of Lim; after all, he would be the only one capable of showing them an entire plane, and that was something special.
So, he had told his audience earlier that day. The responses had ranged from curiosity to anger and even some hatred, and he had taken a small subscriber dip, but he had expected that. It was only a temporary thing; he was fully convinced that the future would bring with it many, many more subscribers once the initial shock wore off.
He stepped up to the front door and rang the doorbell. After some shuffling from within, a catkin man opened it, a catkin woman peeking around his shoulder. “Are you Faelyn?” He asked cautiously.
“That’s me.” Faelyn replied. “And no, I’m not streaming or recording anything right now.”
“Come on in.” The man replied. “She’s in her room right now. I’d ask you to take your shoes off, but I imagine you won’t want to leave them behind.”
“I have cleaning magic.” Faelyn replied, casting the magic on his shoes. “That should keep them from getting your home dirty.”
“Thank you.” The man said. “Follow me.”
The pair led Faelyn a short distance into the house, where they stopped in front of a door. “This is hi – her room.” The woman said. “We’ll leave you to it.”
“Thanks.” Faelyn said, then knocked on the door. Almost immediately, it opened to reveal a catkin teenager in a shrine maiden’s outfit, looking up at him with a sort of anticipation in her eyes.
“Hello!” Faelyn said brightly, flashing the girl his trademark winning smile and offering a handshake. “I’m Faelyn, I believe the Goddess of Hearth mentioned me?”
“Yamamoto Izumi.” Izumi replied, tentatively shaking his hand. “And she did. You’re some…streamer, right?”
“How much do you know about what’s happening here on Yasato?” Faelyn asked.
“Not much, but the Goddess of Hearth said I was allowed to know as long as I don’t tell anyone else about it or act on the knowledge, kinda like what I’m guessing she told you.”
“She did tell me something similar, yes.” Faelyn confirmed. “I’m sure your parents can fill you in better than I can, but suffice it to say that I am a streamer from yet another plane, and through the Goddess of Hearth’s help, I am currently able to stream to every plane involved in this whole thing, save Ratha, of course.
“And, no, I’m not streaming now; I’m making sure that your identity remains secret so that you won’t be bothered. I am hoping that, once I get over to Ratha, I can film my conversation with the Queen and her lovers so I can make it into a video. Would you help me explain what I’m doing to them?”
“I don’t see why not, as long as you let me look over the edit later so I know you’re not twisting their words.” Izumi said guardedly.
“I have no issues with that.” Faelyn said. “I’m not that kind of guy.”
Izumi snorted. “Well, you won’t be a guy much longer, that’s for sure. Follow me.” She turned, and a portal appeared in the air in front of her, the vision of a wooden house visible within. She took a moment, then stepped through the portal and turned around, clearly waiting for Faelyn.
He followed a moment later, then paused, shutting his eyes. “Is it alright if I film this place? I’ll be applying magical distortion to your face and voice so no one should be able to recognize you, too. That should be enough, since I don’t think anyone on Yasato knows what you look like right now.”
“You want to film my house?” Izumi asked, puzzled. “Why? And why are your eyes closed?”
“I just want to show people what it’s like here.” Faelyn replied. “And this helps capture my real first impression.”
Izumi sighed. “Oh brother.” She said, rolling her eyes. “Go ahead, I don’t care.”
Faelyn gave her a grateful nod, and began to record. “Alright, everyone, it’s your favorite elven explorer, Faelyn! And, as you might have guessed, I am on Ratha right now! At the moment, I’m in one of the houses in the swarm’s capital, with a guest, the Hero who was summoned to this plane.”
He mentally commanded his “camera” to pan to include Izumi. “If you feel comfortable telling us, what’s the given name you’ve picked for yourself? That shouldn’t be too identifying, right?”
“Izumi.” Izumi said curtly. “And, yes, this is my home on Ratha.”
“Care to tell us a little about your time as a Hero here, or is that too much?” Faelyn asked.
Izumi shrugged. “It’s not what people are going to want to hear.” She said. “Or, at least, people who are against the swarm won’t want to hear. I was summoned, trained up, and ended up in a conflict with the swarm. Despite, my estimation that I was more than a match for someone at max level here…is there a word for that? I’ll have to ask, but the point is that despite being incredibly strong, I lost in an overwhelming manner.
“When I was converted, Amelia took my Hero status and transferred it to Rose. No, that shouldn’t be possible. Get used to it, Amelia has, as my patron goddess put it, near godlike power. The only reason there is the remotest chance of the swarm failing is that the gods keep her and Rose bound most of the time. And, even when bound, she’s more than a match for the plane’s best and brightest. If you see her, your only hope is to run.”
Faelyn raised an eyebrow. “You’re exaggerating a little, don’t you think?”
Izumi gave him a deadpan stare. “That’s basically what I said when I was told the same thing right before we fought. You can see how that turned out for me. Anyway, let’s get this house tour or whatever over with, so I can take you to the Queen then get back to eating dinner with my family.”
“Oh, I hadn’t realized I was interrupting.” Faelyn said. “Yes, let’s be on our way, then. I’m just going to quickly wander from room to room, stop me if I’m going to stumble upon anything private, okay?”
“This is my bedroom, so it’s not gonna get more private than this. Not that I really have much to keep here, but you get the point. Anywhere should be fine, just don’t like…sort through my drawers or anything.”
“I won’t.” Faelyn promised, walking around the room curiously. “While I look around, the Goddess of Hearth said that you just helped defeat the Lord of Monsters a few hours ago, would you mind telling me more about that?”
Izumi sighed. “To be honest, it felt like I mostly just drew fire. I wanted to help because it was, in a sense, also my job to help with it, but I don’t think I was necessary. It was in a cave, Rose and Amelia parked in the entry with Miki, a shipgirl who was transporting us, and some people inside her buffed us, but other than that the Queen did most of the damage on her own.”
Faelyn paused in his investigation. “Did you say shipgirl?” He asked.
“Yes. It’s someone who’s been converted with a ship, they can take the form of a ship or a humanoid form, and while humanoid people can access an extradimensional copy of the ship within. It’s, well, we haven’t had a real naval battle yet, but it’s all but a given that the seas are, effectively, ours now.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Is that Scourge of the Skies thing one too?” Faelyn asked, moving towards the room’s exit.
“Not yet, but it’s in the works.” Izumi replied. “If you want more details about shipgirls, ask the Queen later. But, as I was saying, the fight was…quick. Like, a couple of minutes quick. It would split and detach its eyes whenever we hit it with attacks, so the Queen decided to stack Skills to beat it. She…I’m not quite sure what she did, but used some sort of psychokinetic blade to kill one segment, then cast this absurd spell that literally made a black hole for a little bit, and that obliterated the remnants of the Lord of Monsters, and most of the surrounding area.”
Faelyn raised an eyebrow. “Impressive. How’d you survive?”
“It only targeted things that aren’t part of the swarm, apparently. That’s not to say that I got out unscathed, though, the surrounding area compacting and the sudden lack of a foothold meant I got battered by the fall and bits of rock that hit me while being sucked into the black hole. Rose patched me up pretty quickly, though. We still have the ball of compressed…stuff, if you want to see it. I think it’s in the Queen’s storage, she’d probably show it to you.”
“I’ll definitely ask.” Faelyn replied. He began to quickly look through the rest of the house, and it was…more modern than he had expected. It didn’t have electricity, but there was running water and a sort of primitive fridge, as well as finely-made wooden furniture.
“Where’d this all come from?” Faelyn asked. “I thought that, by and large, Ratha was more medieval than this.”
“Uh, I’m not totally sure, to be honest.” Izumi replied. “Right now, we’re in the World Tree, which is Rose’s…other body? It’s not quite like that, we have a few people who actually have multiple bodies and it isn’t the same, but pretty much anything wooden is sculpted right out of the tree by her. This area used to be the inside of a dungeon, apparently, and that’s where stuff like the plumbing comes from.”
“Why would a dungeon have plumbing?” Faelyn replied, dumbfounded.
“Amelia made a one-to-one recreation of the…university that she and Lia used to attend for Lia to train in after she was reincarnated. Or, I think it’s a university? I’m not totally sure, to be honest; schooling isn’t quite as rigid here as it is elsewhere. The Glens, the country Lia and Amelia grew up in, is a lot more progressive than most, since the old king drew a lot from the ideology of summoned Heroes in his policies.
“You can talk with her later, she lives here too now. But, her aside, the eventual goal is for everyone to have living spaces at least as nice as this, but that’s not going to be feasible until the war on this plane is settled and we have time to focus on domestic affairs. Of course, the moment they get to Yasato they’re probably going to want to start modernizing things here on Ratha, so…it’s a work in progress, but it’s quite achievable.”
Faelyn nodded. “Well, I think I’ve seen all I need to from your house.” He said. “Will you lead me to the Queen?”
Izumi gave a nod in return, walking to the front door. “Stay with me.” She instructed. “Most people here would probably attempt to convert a man on sight, but if you’re with someone else then they’ll realize that you’re a guest and won’t try it. Of course, you’re coming to be converted anyway, but you really want the Queen to be the one doing it.”
“Why’s that? Both the aggressiveness and wanting the Queen to be doing my conversion, that is.”
Izumi shrugged. “Because, as things stand, being a man means you aren’t part of the swarm, and everyone who isn’t part of the swarm on this plane is a potential threat. We’re kind of at war with everyone at the moment, and if you can make it here, then you’re not a civilian. The capital is located deep within the most dangerous part of Ratha, so you can’t just stumble upon it by accident, you have to be looking.”
“Oh.” Faelyn replied. “And…you said we’re inside a tree right now? It feels…less claustrophobic than I thought it would.”
“We’re in the World Tree.” Izumi corrected. “It’s big. Like, I think it’s fifteen or sixteen kilometers tall, and a kilometer and a halfish in diameter? And, according to my patron goddess, it’ll only get bigger and bigger as time goes on, some World Trees could fit entire nations in them. We were planning on building out a city at the base, but that’s not happening now that we know the tree will eventually grow into that area. Instead, we’re focusing on building more inside.”
“What else is inside here, then?” Faelyn asked.
“Uh, let’s see…previously, it was just a work floor below us and the Queen’s residence above, as well as a dungeon in the roots, but we’ve recently added a lake, and other floors are in the works. We’re heading towards the Queen’s residence now, by the way; it’s accessible through a portal that only people living there have access to, so intruders can’t easily get inside. It’s got a doorbell of sorts, though, so it’s thankfully pretty easy to get a hold of them.”
“I have to see all this.” Faelyn replied. “I’ll save it for a stream, though, I want chat to see it with me.”
“You’ll have to give me your channel info, I might tune in from time to time.” Izumi replied. “I plan to stay with my family for most of time, and it’ll be nice to have a way to see how things are back here without needing to bother people.”
“I’m not sure what the most popular streaming sites are on Yasato, but look up Elvish Explorations and you’ll probably find it? If not, check the website for Hearth’s church, she’s helping market the channel, since she wants people to see this.”
“You have any idea what got her so riled up?” Izumi asked. “We only have vague details.”
“She has a video with the reasons posted. I won’t go into details while we’re on Ratha, since that might break that ceasefire thing, but it should be on her church’s website. It basically boils down to some of the other gods betraying her trust, but I’m guessing you know that already.”
“Yeah.” Izumi replied.
Izumi quieted down for a while, and Faelyn took the opportunity to quietly narrate his thoughts about the streets. They were…nice; wide, clean, and lacking in any obvious damage. The houses all looked more or less the same at a base level, but the residents had clearly taken effort to personalize their houses in whatever ways they could. It had a sort of…warm atmosphere to it. There was no obvious neglect anywhere, and the few people Faelyn did see seemed happy. It was apparently midday here, and most people were either out working or relaxing in the comfort of their homes or down at the lake.
After a bit, they reached three wooden portals, and Izumi stopped. “Rose has carved these portal’s destinations into their sides, you’ll want to remember that for later, to help keep you from getting lost. The one on the far-left leads to the Queen’s house, and putting your hand against the portal frame and putting some Mana into it will let them know someone wants them.” Izumi laid her hand on the frame, then withdrew it a moment later.
“And…anyone can do that?” Faelyn asked, raising an eyebrow. “Usually, leaders are harder to get a hold of.”
“People know not to bother them unless it’s important.” Izumi replied. “That’s the one sort of downside to the conditioning; it instils a pretty healthy respect for the Queen in you. If she ever really pushes you on something you won’t be able to say no, but you can still push back and offer alternative suggestions. She’s pretty reasonable, though, so it’s not a big deal.”
A moment later, the portal rippled and three people stepped out. Faelyn immediately recognized Amelia and Rose, but it took him a moment to realize that the kitsune in front of him was Lia; she now had nine immaculately-groomed tails, but what was more immediately obvious was the odd silver rainbow color her hair and fur had become. It seemed to glint with a different color each time the light caught it, and it was almost mesmerizing.
What was more, the videos hadn’t done the three of them justice. There was a certain…presence to them that just couldn’t be communicated in video form; Faelyn had a highly-tuned and system-augmented sense of danger and could often get a vague idea of the relative strength of something at a glance, and these three were right up there with the most dangerous things he had ever seen. Amelia and Rose in particular had strength that seemed nearly bottomless, and Faelyn couldn’t help but thank his lucky star that they weren’t meeting as enemies.
Or, he would have thanked his lucky star had Amelia not rushed up to him the moment she laid eyes on him, a stern expression on her face. “Why are you using my system?” She demanded. “That should not be used for anything but members of the swarm.”
Faelyn took an involuntary step back. “You can tell at a glance?” He asked.
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Of course I can. It’s my system, and someone’s messed with it.”
“Uh…I don’t know how much I can safely say, but the gods opposing you are responsible for that.” Faelyn said, trying to keep a quiver out of his voice. “I didn’t even know it was based on yours until the Goddess of Hearth told me some time ago, but I did think it felt different than it should.”
“No wonder.” Amelia snorted. “They’ve crudely patched over some of my work, didn’t even bother to properly remove parts of it. The fools were clearly rushing their work to some extent, but at least they knew that what I made is better than what they can.”
“Amelia,” Rose said gently, laying a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, “tone it down, please. You’re giving this poor guy a scare he doesn’t deserve.”
Amelia quieted, casting a guilty glance up at Faelyn. “Sorry, I lost track of things there. I’m still…in recovery, so to speak.”
“Izumi, you can head back home.” Lia said. “Let us know how much time you plan to spend there, whatever you need is fine.”
“I was hoping that I could spend most of my time there.” Izumi admitted. “Maybe like six days a week.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to just spend all your time there, then?” Lia asked. “That’s totally fine.”
“I’d get stir-crazy.” Izumi replied. “I’ll need to come here just to get exercise in and talk with people outside my family, you know?”
Lia nodded. “That’s fine.”
“Uh…do you have a way to contact me if you need me?” Izumi asked. “I know you have that Skill, but does it work between planes?”
“Yes.” Amelia said. “So long as you’re tied into the system, it should work.”
“Why don’t we test it next time you come back?” Lia suggested.
“We can do it as soon as I get back and finish dinner with my parents.” Izumi replied. “If it works without any hitches, it shouldn’t take more than a minute or two, just to confirm it works.”
“Tell you what, sometime in the next two hours from now I’ll attempt to give you a sort of ‘come back’ feeling, and if it works, you just stay put. If two hours are up and you haven’t felt anything, just head back and we’ll figure it out. Uh, provided your dinner has finished by that point.”
“I can’t see it taking too long.” Izumi replied. “We were already like halfway through.”
“Ah, good. Thanks for bringing him to us, you go catch up with your family, okay?”
“Thanks, my Queen.” Izumi replied, then opened a portal right there. “I’m putting the portal exit point here, just so I don’t have to do the walk back if something goes wrong.” She explained. “I’ll close it when I’m through so no one accidentally wanders in.”
She stepped through, the portal closing a moment later. After she was gone, Lia turned her gaze back to Faelyn. “Why don’t you come in with us?” She invited. “Let’s have a little chat before we get you converted.”