Don't have much to say for foreword. I finally feel like I have a sense of direction for next few chapters, despite (for now) lacking connecting tissue between the events I want to present.
"OH BRIMIR IT REALLY IS A WALKING TALKING SKELETON!"
Louise couldn't hold herself back, despite Emilia's warning about the appearances of Ainz and his group. Saito instinctively shielded his wife, even if he felt no malice from the Mage and only slight tension from his companion. She was unnerving, all the while being a girl of Louise's age or younger, perhaps due to her skin's color and red, predatory eyes. The skeleton pinched her shoulder, putting stop to her staring contest with Saito, who himself looked away immediately after.
"So... Yes. I look like a skeleton. I am what many would qualify as 'undead'. I lead Tomb of Nazarick, in this world only part of our group was transported and we all agreed to cooperate in solving various problems, within reason, of course. I was told you asked for presence of the experienced mages, for consultation. I shall provide my expertise, unless, improbably, it involves some sensetive Nazarick secret."
"I would be greatly pleased to receive your help. I hope I can return the favor one day." Because of Ainz's long-winded speech Louise habitually switched to her 'noble affairs mode'. "We encountered a problem with spellmaking. Until sharing details with Beatrice I foolishly assumed magic is operated in the same way that I was taught in Academy back home, thus established, experienced mages could help me."
"It was a reasonable assumption to make. This World supports all kinds of magic simultaneously, so far barring only long range personal transportation – of what we tried..."
"This! We just can't get back. I thought none of you knew the Void magic, the one that got us two here, and therefore were unable to teleport to your respective worlds." Louise interjected, all worked up, though slowly regaining her composure while talking. "In the meantime I tried to conjure simpler Void Spells and I had troubles with quite a few of them. I assumed something in this place interferes with all my magic, whether its source is physical or not. Founder's book mentions that Void magic in certain places is partially inhibited.
He – Brimir – theorised, that most of the times it was natural 'aura' of the place, but admitted it could relate to minerals deep underground and therefore relocation or construction of anything from such minerals could create another 'anti-Void' zone. Is it possible, that the same mineral would disrupt your magic as well?"
"Hmm. Back in our world we had ways to deny use of magic through several means, but all of them had certain... recognisable feedback, clearly different from what we encounter here. Now, mages from other worlds describe the present interference differently, with only one characteristic shared in most, but not all accounts. It was increased drain of mana or its equivalent, estimated to be infinite – as in 'impossible to conjure' – when aiming at the point in other world."
Ainz paused, looking at Beatrice, who continued in his stead.
"I would be the sole exception, I suppose. My Door Crossing doesn't consume mana, in fact. It always connects a door in my home to some other door in vicinity. If I concentrate a little, I can connect any two dors in buildings I have a spiritual connection to. Also, In case of extreme danger, I can use accumulated or my own mana to directly teleport myself and... and Subaru far from danger, in fact."
Louise waved her hand up, in a gesture reminiscent of both school and court etiquettes.
"So, you aren't a complete exception, is that correct? You must be also restricted to... whatever this place is. By the way, how far from this magic school of yours you have managed to get? Oh, oh, and have your 'home door' switched when you got here? It still works, but connects your current staying place with whatever door in the building?"
Beatrice answered more melancholic, in contrast with nervous pinkette. She has already discussed pretty much everything with anyone interested, and no use had ever come from it.
"It's more complicated than that and I am not very comfortable sharing all of it, I suppose. But you are right, since we arrived here, I was unable to establish a door to Lugnica, despite feeling connection to several places there. The more important aspect is that we were, in fact, transported back and forth to Lugnica without any issues, besides weird time displacement and the fact that we temporarily forgot everything happened here. And there is disappearence of Roswaal, I suppose..."
Louise felt uneasiness in Beatrice's tone, she was slowly settling into the mindset that there won't be a good way out of this one. All those amazing people with different backgrounds and abilities couldn't do anything, some of them even given up and just enjoying the break from their lives they've had...
She haven't had much time to know these people. They all mentioned wanting to go back and some were willing to even risk their safety for it, but in the end, the best choice was to just go with the flow and perform the weird school routine. It seems, at least some of them were able to treat this as a vacation – Emilia seemed very upbeat, eager to talk about her experiences, unlike poor Mohawk vendor. Having noticed Louise's creeping anguish, Emilia spoke up, hoping to prevent the breakdown Subaru had.
"I know it looks scary at first, but it's not that bad around here. The time when we were here time in Lugnica stopped. We couldn't remember what was here either-"
"This makes it worse! I can't even..." Louise blurted out, before inhaling deeply, pondering if to say anything. "I don't know how long and doing what you spent time here. I am sure, it's not all gloom and loathing, but right here and right now it looks like we are doomed. Doomed by some nigh-omnipotent puppeteer, who forced all of you here to perform school routine! I would have laughed, if I wasn't scared..."
Louise leaned onto Saito, staring upwards exhaustedly, as nobody said anything in return. Only Emilia whispered, explaining the situation to the newcomer in back row. Finally, nodding confidently, that newcomer, Tanya, spoke up.
"We understand your feelings. I, personally, greatly suffered from 'god' in my life, and while I resent my powerlessness against the supposed 'puppeteer', there are advantages to enjoy. If our disposition isn't permanent and the time flow waits on us, we should exploit the off-time to the fullest."
Pinkette was a bit startled by sharp intonation of a blonde young girl, who came to sit nearby with her food on a plate. Before she could retort, Tanya continued.
"That, of course, doesn't mean you should give up on trying to get back. We haven't given up, though, some of us are less eager to return. We gather and exchange knowledge, socialise and help each other, instead of having shut ourselves in when each of us exhausted our options.
Of course, not everyone had it easy, some were extremely distraught, trying their hardest at getting back or, at least, explaining our situation. You will go through the same path, I see it now. And If the solution to this puzzle escapes you, if you don't manage to find a way out, if you feel aimless and stuck, then we sincerely welcome you to spend time with us."
Louise didn't quite understand why the blonde girl was that upfront about not believing in Louise's success. While the malice was absent in the smaller girl's words, it was quite unnerving for Louise, who still wasn't completely over 'Louise The Zero-In-A-Bad-Sense' bullying in Academy few years ago. Catching older girl's wondering look, Tanya mused whether being far away from authority made her too tactless.
"I apologise, I haven't introduced myself. I am Second Lieutenant Tanya Von Degurechaff, Wing commander of the Imperial 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion. Of course, you can simply call me Tanya."
"It's fine. My name is Louise... Louise Hiraga de La Valiere."
"And I am Saito Hiraga. We got here together, and as far as we know we were the only ones from our world."
Tanya looked inquisitively at the young boy, crossing eyes with Ainz briefly, before talking again.
"Saito... Are you from Japan?"
"Yes, I was transported from Japan around 4 years ago. I was summoned by this fine lady to help and protect her, though, summoning a human is a special case. In the end, despite everything, we persevered and... well, I decided to stay there, with Louise. Eventually, she discovered a way to get to Earth and back to Tristain, which we used a lot, recently. Until she decided to change the-"
"It wasn't just a whim! In short, I experimented with trying to alter the endpoint of teleportation spell, since we only could teleport somewhere Saito has been and remembers. I ended up opening a portal to here, it looked like another place on Earth so I grabbed Saito and we got to this place."
Tanya nodded, having confirmed what Emilia told her in brief. She wasn't sold on Subaru's idea of bringing forth to everyone their secret origins, since it wasn't guaranteed that they would lose their memories upon going back. Since Louise knew about Saito's Japanese upbringing and would probably be indifferent towards the secret others maintained within their groups, she could be included in their little 'isekai club'. This small exception wouldn't hurt, in return avoiding potential conflict with trying to keep out Louise. For now, they needed a place to stay and nighttime was closing in.
"Understood. Is it right that you don't have anywhere to stay the night? I'll try to arrange something for you. I don't think there would be any troubles with that in general, but we could be late for today, so you might have to squat in someone's quarters until tomorrow."
"Thanks! We truly appreciate your kindness. Tell us if we could help you anyhow. And, emm... If possible, we'd like to stay together. Just so there are no misunderstandings, we are married."
Tanya nodded again, musing whether the couple's marriage was looked down upon in their home world. Regardless, they would probably be impatiently interrogated on their affairs by 'starved-for-entertanment' public. She could already see Visha hopping on the gossip train, the young adjutant getting even more social in this lax environment. Before she could say anything in return, Aqua barged into the diner with Megumin following right after.
"Where are the newcomers?!"
Megumin held Aqua's hand, stopping her from rudely worming through the small crowd, before exhaustedly greeting people.
"Good evening, everyone."
Tanya, unlike others, tried to ignore the interruption, now especially adamant to finish giving instructions before the conversation inevitably derails.
"Alright then. Right now, I advise you to stay here, until I come back with news. Kazuma is very late today and Subaru is running errands somewhere, which means we'll have to gather again tomorrow to discuss things more in depth."
"Naofumi. For the sake of integrity, we should invite him too." Ainz quietly added. "I assume he doesn't know about our guests yet, unless Subaru was told to invite him. So, tomorrow it is, our 'Round Table'."
"Oi, why are you ignoring me? We rushed to help, where are our poor arrivals?"
Aqua already made her way to Louise and Saito, guessing they were the aforementioned 'guests in need'. Saito faintly felt powerful aura of the girl, despite the lightheaded and lighthearted air she exuded, while Louise couldn't help but remark how all-around beautiful she was. Following Aqua, red-eyed smaller girl made her way beside her.
She appeared smaller than Louise, perhaps because of the boots pinkette wore. Black hair, red eyes, staff and other attire – she was a wizard, fitting the much stereotyped image of Tristain's noble-blooded mages. Despite being very young, she handled herself confidently, looking intensely at Louise. Then, immediately tainting that dignified image, Explosion Mage introduced herself.
"I am the greatest archwizard, the pinnacle of evolution of Crimson Demons, the ultimate practitioner and commander of Explosion Magic, Megumin! I walk my path towards mastery of the greatest spell, protecting my allies and disintegrating my enemies! I extend my welcome to you, fellow explosion mage!"
The couple was baffled, although Saito was slightly amused. That was relatably close to how he himself mocked Tristanian nobles behind their backs. Not that he would let mocking of Louise herself slide, well, by anyone but him.
"Oh, come on! Now they'll think all people in my party are freaks! Could you please never introduce yourself first?"
"As if pretending to be goddess is better. At least, even if I look nuts, I do it in a cool way."
"So you know about-"
Saito made a small step forward, raising his hand in greeting, interrupting the two.
"Khm. Hello, my name is Saito Hiraga. We ended up here together with Louise. Besides the fact that we are stuck here for the time being, everything is alright, we appreciate your concern."
Aqua straightened up, appeased by the boy's politeness. Megumin backed off a little, now carefully examining Saito.
"He reminds me of Kazuma a bit..."
"A better Kazuma, yeah." Aqua snickered quietly. "Well, you are of Japanese descent, right? Strangely, while I feel you had died, you weren't reincarnated by a fellow goddess. Perhaps, you were summoned by locals to deal with some sort of calamity?"
"Calamity? No. Not at the beginning. He was a Familiar, my Familiar I personally summoned."
Louise finally gathered herself once again. Yunyun had told some things about Kazuma's party, including how they looked and what roles they performed. She clearly withheld from telling about their weirdness, though... Now she could probe them about Kazuma. They would help her, voluntarily or not.
"By the way, who is Kazuma everyone's mentioning? Will he come here?"
"He should. Kazuma is our party leader, regardless of what Aqua claims. Might not look as cool as me, but he has his moments. We would all be dead if it wasn't for his wit. Though, he is insufferable, sometimes..."
"Apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. I am pristine goddess of water, Aqua. I granted a chance for new life for pathetic shut-in-neet and bestowed him with my presence on his request- Ouch!"
Megumin lightly slapped back of Aqua's head, not paying attention to her teary glare.
"Don't listen to her 'goddess bullshit'. She is a priest, albeit a very powerful one. If you ever need medical attention, she is the one to ask for."
"Unless you are a demon or undead, which you two are not." Aqua added. Having looked around, confirming Tanya had left, she continued in mischievous tone. "Did you ever hear about the Axis Church? I thought not. It's not a- Ouch!"
"Leave your cult out of their first impressions, please. They called us for our magic expertise, right? So let's stick to it."
Louise felt dizzy, massaging her temples briefly, bracing herself for another, one last (hopefully; for today) explanation of their conundrum.
"Hold on! Initially, we kind of misunderstood our problem... You see, unlike everyone else, we got here using our own transportation spell, but now we can't get back. So, I panicked and had thought nothing better than call for someone supposedly more knowledgeable, only to discover that there are all different kinds of mages, working in their own, different ways."
Content with how effectively she summed up the situation, Louise looked pensively at the mage, deliberating if referring further questions to Saito was a good option.
"I see. Then, perhaps, the demonstration of my mighty magic would reassure you and make for a good spectacle, especially since Yunyun told me you are a fellow Explosion connoisseur."
"What?.." Louise gasped when Megumin grabbed her by the elbow to drag her outside. "No! No! Tomorrow! Please, in the name of Brimir..."
Saito moved up and put his hand on Crimson Demon's shoulder, trying to avoid seeming too stern.
"Wait. We were told to wait for Tanya here. We are also very, very tired. Respectfully, whatever magic you want to show us, if it's not related to getting back home, it can wait until tomorrow."
"Oh, come on. I held it for the whole day just for you! It's quick. We'll walk for 10 minutes, I'll cast Explosion, boom and we are back here." Saito raised a brow, not moving otherwise. "It's worth it, I promise. Tanya won't be back for a while and you have nothing better to do."
"I am sick of explosions." Louise murmured musingly, too exhausted to put up any fight or watch out for her tongue. She herself could only blow things up before properly learning Void Magic. "It's the stupidest thing, if that's the only thing you do."
Megumin worldlessly let go of pinkette, making a step back. Standing in silence for a few seconds, she whispered "This means war" before storming off outside, followed by Aqua, trying to calm the mage down. Saito turned towards Emilia, who just made it from her table, a bit late to react to the scene.
"Oh, I am so sorry... It's such a misunderstanding! Megumin, she specialises in her only spell, Explosion! There were so many people to introduce, I forgot to mention that... She'll come around, she is smart, just tell her that you meant it about your own spells, not looking down on her."
Emilia spoke very quickly, but without mumbling. Yunyun came by, nodding to half-elf's points, thinking of how to bring this up to Megumin next time they'll meet. Saito quickly checked if Louise had fever by palming her forehead, who rested on small bench. He turned around, intent on keeping people from bothering her any more for today. He also wanted to ask some questions.
"It's fine. We'll all meet again tomorrow, right? By the way, what would happen if someone would spend their night outside of their bunks, on the streets?"
"Don't worry, we'll get you a place to stay. On the topic, we have camped outside several times already, as well as staying up all night, it's not outright forbidden."
"Sure, what about other commodities? Food, bath, clothes? I heard people worked here."
"Oh, yes, of course. But basic meals are free! Well, sort of. People who work instead of being students, they get salary and use it. I haven't asked about rent and stuff, but surely, nobody is homeless or hungry here, right?"
"As far as I could tell, people don't have much of a choice, whether to work or be a student. You probably have some kind of student ID as well, which I am not sure we can acquire."
Saito crossed his hands, pausing to think of a good way to spell out his worries.
"What I mean is, surely we can't completely avoid being involved. I would certainly like to stay low, but we haven't discussed that with Louise nor really considered the consequences. What would you recommend, should we discreetly work here or try to apply as students?"
"Ah, such decisions are not really my cup of tea... You know, Tanya already took upon getting a place for you two, since she knows things better here..."
Before Emilia thought of a good reconciliation for her refusal to give any advice, she saw Subaru and Darkness making their way to them. She remembered Subaru's words about getting ready to take full control of her life, and decided to give it a go, with, of course, a proper warning.
"I myself would have tried to get to school. It's not all dull and boring, and time to time it's a lot of fun. Don't get hung up on age, a lot of us would be too old for most of what we are taught, but it's better to hang out all together doing something, than shell in alone. Well, that's what I think, no offense if you don't feel comfortable about it."
Saito sighed, knowing that Louise would never prefer isolation, unless it's about safety. It wasn't clear which way was safer, his own desire to keep away from the school more of a hunch, as well as a result of unpleasant encounter with Kazuma. In the end, if they don't know what to do...
"Hello, my fellow isekaied! Have your questions been answered?" Subaru deepened his voice, speaking in slow, grandiose manner. He had to tone down, when Emilia's gaze pointed him to resting Louise. "I missed everything. Haven't found Kazuma either, walked several blocks and checked all the places he frequented. I thought, perhaps he had a falling-out with someone and tries to avoid them? Darkness knows nothing, and other girls from his party had no hints of being angry at or concerned for him."
"We are probably done for today. They are ve-ery tired and not everyone showed up..."
"I am alright, I can answer few questions. I also have a few of my own."
"You got it." Subaru smiled, inviting to Saito to sit at nearby table, just far enough to not disturb Louise. He tried to conceal his exhaustion from going all over the small town for nothing. It was a good exercise, but it would be much better if it wasn't fruitless.
"Yeah... Emm, you know, is it okay to talk here, where anyone can hear it?" Saito paused, not sure if his inference was correct.
The way Emilia was talking about Subaru, how he 'appeared out of nowhere' and was 'strange, but charming and resourceful', she did not ever hint of knowing Subaru's true origins, despite hearing of Japan and recognising commonalities in looks of Kazuma, Subaru and Saito. He wasn't sure he got it right, so he made sure he wouldn't ruin everything. Especially since they were, unlike Kazuma, open and sincerely friendly.
"Why not? We are all equally stuck here. I mean, if you think it's necessary, we can do that... Not a fan of secrets between friends, though."
"I wasn't concerned about myself." Saito lowered his voice, despite both Emilia and Darkness sitting far enough. "I just had an impression Emilia doesn't know you got summoned from another world."
"Yeah, she doesn't. Back in Lugnica I told everyone I am from country far away. Nobody really questioned it, though I am not sure everyone believed that I am not some con, a runaway from nearby Kararagi. It might look a bit dishonest on my part, but further questions about my... summoning?"
Subaru stopped abruptly for few seconds, as if listening or waiting for signal. He continued immediately after, a bit more relaxed.
"Yes, some information about my summoning must be kept secret, I am bound to it. Which I don't like. Otherwise, I am an open book."
Saito had a myriad of worries, most of which Subaru should not have been able to soothe. He liked most people here, only Tanya and Shalltear looking like possible trouble, and even that more or less because their essence did not match their appearances. Kazuma, of course, hiding somewhere, which was stupid – they'll cross each other eventually. While Louise was much less vindictive than most nobles in her realm, there was no way Kazuma gets away with what he's done. Saito would personally see to it.
A loud BOOM, startling Louise in her slumber, forced him to rush to her bench to calm her down. This horrible day just couldn't end...
Next chapter from Kazuma's POV.