Wow,. I managed to get this chapter out pretty quick! I hope to continue this pace, barring any other issues that could arise in my personal life. But so far so good! I did have a slight change of plan with this chapter but unlike the previous chapter. This was a one-version chapter with no real holdouts, which makes me very happy.
So all I have to say is I hope you enjoy the chapter.
In Another World With My Smartphone: The Lost Hero
Chapter Fourteen: An urgent request
"Some are afraid of being a mess, feared by the unknown, and are horrified by an unplanned future; then, there are some of us who thrive through discovery."
– Nikki Rowe
"Are you sure about this?" Celsior questioned as he reviewed the reports his leading scout had brought in from the others. Dawn was beginning to break over the forest of Belfast that had served as their home away from home for the last two months in this long-term assignment.
"Yes, Captain," said Aravire, his leading scout, with an enthusiastic nod. He hoped this would mean the end of their assignment so they could all go back home. "Our spies have all concluded that the Princess is currently hiding under an alias in the capital.
"Are they certain that it is the Princess?" Celsior questioned with a stern face. They couldn't afford the chance to grab the wrong person; they were already risking a lot with their plans, but they had their orders, and Celsior would obey as best as he could. The problem was that the Beastmen faction from Mismede led the treaty. While he abhorred the idea of allying with humans, the Elven Faction of Mismede did not have the political capital to contest it, and getting caught in the capital before the negotiations formally began could spell a massive disaster.
"Keina, our human contact, has personally spoken to her," said Aravire as he tried to reassure his leader. "The Princess is using an alias, but Keina assured me it was the Princess without question as she still carried the royal family charm embedded in one of her bracers. She believes that the Princess has been acting far more low-key due to the massive influx of Mismede citizens. Because of her status, it is unlikely she will not attempt to make her presence known to the envoy unless she feels like she is on to us."
"Who is the envoy?"
"If our intelligence is correct, is the noblewoman Olga heir to the Strand Beastman clan."
"Do we know her current position?"
"Yes, sir," The scout continued as he pulled out a large map of the city, rolled it out on the table, and pointed at different sections.
"At the moment, Strand has been confirmed to be renting a room in the noble district with her younger sister and two of her most trusted bodyguards. Meanwhile, the remainder of the envoy team has split up at key points throughout the city's central road. Seldor believes the King's spy network may already know about Strand's arrival in the city. But since Strand has not publicly declared herself as the envoy, the Princess likely doesn't know she's even in the city."
"I see...and the Princess herself?" Celsior questioned as he carefully reviewed all of the information he had. "We were hoping that she would have rented a room at one of the countless inns," Aravive answered with a frown. "Unfortunately, the Princess is either paranoid or simply has some kind of arrangement with the city's Adventurer's Guildhall. We have confirmed that she stays in the central guild hall when not working. In addition, Keina has confirmed that the Princess has only been working group jobs. Until recently, she had only been a solo Adventurer specializing in scouting and hunting jobs."
"Since the droves of Mismede citizens began arriving," Celsior observed as his mind formed different possible plans to extract the princess. "Likely on high alert of any possible plans to take her in the city would be difficult if not impossible without complications."
"It appears so," Aravire responded with a frown before pointing at new spots on the map. "All of the scouts have all agreed and recommend to make a move the next time she has a job outside of the city. Even with a group, we should have the numbers to overwhelm them once they're far enough away from the city. We have scouts at every entrance of the city. When we spot the Princess, we can signal the others to converge, track, and follow them until we find the right time to strike."
"Yes...this is an excellent plan," Celsior realized with wide eyes that this could be their prime chance to get the Princess relatively isolated while minimizing the chance of causing an international incident. While he didn't care about the treaty, he did care that he could put his kingdom under scrutiny with the Beastmen. "The only other factor might be the group she would likely travel with. In the worst-case scenario, we may have to kill them all."
"Who cares about the stupid humans?" Aravire responded with an annoyed huff. "Sir, we might not get another chance. The Princess hid her tracks well for the past two years; it was a miracle we even got this far! If the humans get in our way, then so be it. Hell, it might even be better since dead men tell no tales."
"Very well," Celsior responded with a sigh. "We go forward with your recommendation. However, depending on how the Princess moves around with these adventurers who would likely accompany her, we'll decide on how to proceed, so make sure that Cemimore and Soldore are in tip-top shape. We're going to need them."
"We're not going to kill them, sir?"
"Only as a last resort," Celsior concluded, he might not give a damn about the humans. But having the whole guild on their tail before they reached the Mismede border would only complicate matters. So, it was better to start by throwing them off track instead.
"If the party is gone for too long, the guild will dispatch teams to find them, regardless of whether their bodies were or were not found. The guild would likely go on high alert, suspecting foul play, considering that some guild scouts tend to have magic to find even the small trace of us covering our tracks. Cemimore can put them all to sleep when the time is right, and Soldore can tamper their memories. Keeping them alive but confused will likely make the guild waste their time investigating the Princess's disappearance on them. Buying us valuable time to return to Mismede before anyone is none the wiser. What happens to the stupid humans we leave behind is of no consequence to us. All that matters is that we get the Princess back home."
"Ah!" Aravire exclaimed as he realized why his leader would go that route. "Yes...I understand completely, sir!"
"Good, go give the order and have everyone break camp. If fortune smiles on us today, the princess will take a job today, and we can finally make our move."
"Yes, sir!"
Celsior watched as his subordinate left his tent to give the order for his squad to be ready to break camp at a moment's notice for what was hopefully for the last time.
"Soon, my Prince," Celsior said to himself as he knelt down in prayer. "By the spirits of the forest and the Great Mother. We will return the Princess home. The future of the Greenwood depends on our success."
"Wow! The capital has gone way more festive since the last time we were here!"
"Indeed! There are even new stalls open with goods from other lands!"
"Now, if only everything wasn't so expensive!"
Alex suppressed a chuckle as he watched the girls chatter with each other as they arrived in the crowded guild hall of the capital.
Upon arriving in the city, the party had found new merchants from all parts of the kingdom and beyond where to hawk their wares. People, both human and demi-human alike, were busy with shopping or working their stalls. Alex expressly noted the increased number of city guards on patrol, likely to try to deter potential thieves. Unfortunately, between inflated prices and the fact that they were here for work, Alex was starting to feel a slight pinch in his wallet as his profit shares were only paid out once a month. The nonrenewable resources for his guns were still expensive. So, some guild work to pay and justify his growing arsenal was sorely needed to avoid going into the financial red before next month's payout.
"Well, maybe we can still go shopping after a few jobs today," Alex suggested with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
"Doubt it," Elze followed up with a dismissive wave. "Not until whatever crazy thing is happening is over, and prices return to normal."
"Fair," Alex nodded along as they all managed to make their way through the crowd.
The capital guild hall was massive, easily four times the size of the one in Reflet. It was four stories tall and spacious enough to feature a lounge and a whole tavern! Thankfully, whoever was in charge of the layout was smart enough to place the job board on the opposite side, next to the receptionist deck.
'No wonder Elze wanted to come here. There's real money to made in a place like this!' Alex observed as he watched his other guildmates go about their business. Eating, drinking, playing games, gambling, chatting, or checking out the job board, which was more in line with what he had expected, given his experience playing video games and watching fantasy anime.
"Look at all these jobs!" Linze exclaimed in amazement as the girls began looking over the available quests.
"They have all sorts of quests!" Yae observed as she grabbed two completely different jobs that she had ever seen offered at Reflet.
"The best part is the pay," Elze noted as her eyes focused on the rewards as some of these jobs paid with gold, a rarity in their home base.
"Elze, that's a Red Rank quest," Alex smirked. "Last I checked, we're all still Green Rank."
"Damn it," Elze said with a groan as she was forced to turn away from such lucrative work simply due to a lack of rank.
"Well, if we start doing jobs here, we should make it to Red Rank in no time!" said Linze in her best effort to reassure her elder sister.
"Besides, there are still plenty of quests that still pay back than those in Reflet that we can take!" Yae interjected as she presented a job to them. "Here's an extermination quest that is paying two gold! That's five silvers for each of us!"
"Hey, that's pretty good," Alex said with an impressed nod. "What are we hunting?"
"Goblins," Linze answered as she reviewed the posting. "Looks like there's been an increasing number of attacks due to the increasing amount of road traffic."
'Sounds like a job for a good old shotgun,' Alex mentally noted with a smirk. "I'm game. Sounds good to you, Elze?"
"Alright, that does sound good," Elze answered with significantly less enthusiasm but still managed a smile.
"Excellent, let's get this registered," said Linze as the group approached the receptionist's desk.
Alex felt a chill run down his spine as they walked and began checking his surroundings.
It wasn't long until he spotted the wandering eyes of several men looking at him and members of his party. The looks ranged from annoyance from the elders to jealousy from the younger lads, who seemed more focused on the girls than strictly on him. On the one hand, he didn't like the glances, especially towards the girls, as he could see they were far from innocent stares.
On the other hand, Alex could help but return their stares with a grin.
To him, it was pretty damn obvious why many of his colleagues, who were likely either around the same age or slightly older than him, stared at him in jealously. Given that he had been in a similar boat in his previous life, while never glaring at couples like these guys, Alex had at different points felt jealousy at several of his former classmates who had girlfriends during his tenure at UA. And while his relationship with the girls was more professional and platonic, Alex had been getting an inkling that Linze, at the very least, might harbor feelings for him that go beyond friendship. But given the circumstances and her shy nature, bringing it up would be a challenge without some serious proof...and an overprotective sister hanging over them. That being said, none of these bastards knew that, and Alex would play it up for everything it was worth just to make himself feel like a boss.
"Hello," the receptionist greeted them upon arriving at the desk. "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you from outside the capital?"
"Yes," Linze answered, speaking on their behalf. "We've come from Reflet."
"That's quite the journey!" The receptionist responded as she took the posting and their guild cards.
"Yes...it was," Linze followed as the group shared a laugh, given that their trip took literal seconds thanks to the Gate spell.
As the receptionist continued to do her job, she paused momentarily and returned her attention to them.
"Pardon me for a moment, but do any of you happen to have a location or tracking spell?"
The group quickly turned to Alex, who nodded, having used his Search spell frequently during his day with Yae.
"I do."
"Interesting," The receptionist nodded as she took a moment to check her surroundings. "We may actually have a more urgent job for you that only pays better, but depending on the results, it should instantly get you all promoted to Blue Rank."
"We'll take it!" Elze was quick to interject with renewed enthusiasm.
"Sis!"
"Shh!" The receptionist quickly put a finger to her mouth and ensured no one else was listening. Thankfully, the tavern section of the guild was noisy enough to keep any possible eavesdroppers from listening in. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she motioned for another receptionist to take over her spot. "Follow me, and I'll have the Master of our Guild Hall speak to you shortly."
"It looks like so much fun," Shera L. Greenwood sighed as she looked over the festivities of the capital that she would have typically welcomed if not for the fact that it was due to a delegation from Mismede, from her homeland. The elvish princess had fled her kingdom within the confederacy after the death of her eldest brother. While she didn't have proof, she was almost sure that it was at the hands of their second brother, Keera. Even worse, the new Crown Prince's first move to secure the Greenwood throne was to arrange a marriage with her, his own sister, all to sire a pure-bred heir!
Shera wasn't going to have any of that nonsense.
Fortunately, the delegation was made up mainly of High King Jamukha's court, which primarily consisted of members of the Beastmen tribe. However, there were a minor number of the other tribes in tow. Unfortunately, this included a few elves, and she couldn't risk being recognized so that word could get back to her brother of her possible whereabouts. She had wanted to go further away from Mismede. Still, between the cost and common discrimination in other human nations, Shera settled for the life of an adventurer here in Belfast. Where most of the people were friendly, demi-human discrimination was minor the more north she went and could make a comfortable living for herself.
Now, she was forced to sequester herself in the guild hall, leaving only when there were group quests to not leave herself isolated and vulnerable to any possible elvish agents hidden in the Mismede delegation. It didn't help that she had foolishly almost exposed herself to the leader of the delegation, Olga Strand, after finding her younger sister, Arma, who had been lost in the big city before the festivities began. Thankfully, either Olga didn't recognize her or had simply turned a blind eye; regardless, Shera didn't want to risk it.
"Hopefully, the delegation will leave soon, and then things could return to normal," Shera wished as she sat on her bed with a bored frown. She was fully equipped and ready to go if the Chapter Master could get her a group quest outside the city at a moment's notice. Thankfully, fate seemed to be on her side as there was a knock on the door.
"Shera, we have a job for you!"
The elvish girl leaped to her feet with a broad smile as she grabbed her weapons: a long bow, quiver, a pair of daggers, and a magical cloak that was enchanted to make her appear more like a human. Once her gear was secured, Shera stepped out to meet with the Guild Hall's Chapter Master, standing next to the receptionist, Maryellen. The Chapter Master Celestine Baudelaire, or Celes as she preferred to be called, is a beautiful, middle-aged woman with long blue hair that has dribbled to the front side of her chest. Wearing a soft-looking light-blue form-fitting robe that goes from her shoulders to her ankles and that was complemented by a red mantle with golden embroidery trim, had been Shera's confidant since her arrival to Alephis a little over a year ago, shortly after her appointment as leader of the guild hall.
"Ready to go?" Celes asked with a smile.
"Always," Shera answered with a bright smile as she put on her hood and assumed her human alias, Mia. "Where am I going?"
"I'll go into more detail once you meet your new temporary team, but you will be going back to the old capital ruins," Celes responded with a nod as she motioned Maryellen to return to her post in the lobby. "Follow me."
Alex and his party waited patiently in a cozy sitting room that, according to Linze, was enchanted to always be comfortable regardless of the weather outside, with everyone seated on a long couch while enjoying a tray of tea and snacks provided by the receptionist while she collected the Chapter Master. Everyone wondered what kind of quest they were about to embark on.
"So what you think this quest is about?" Elze asked excitedly, her mood having done a complete one-eighty from before.
"It must be urgent if the receptionist was being secretive and requires us to speak with the Chapter Master," Yae noted with a concerned tone.
"Then it's likely dangerous..."Linze followed up with a hand to her chin. "Alex, it's been awhile since you've done an more dangerous quest. Are you sure you're up for it?"
'The fuck?' Alex leaned forward to give Linze a stare with a raised eyebrow. "Yes. But look, I'm not about to bite off more than we can chew. We're here just to heard what the quest is about and depending on the information we get will determine how we will proceed."
"So that makes you in charge this time," Elze quickly followed up, making Alex turn his attention to her with the same stare. "Hey, this quest is based on your Null magic abilities. The means you're charge of the quest today."
"I can agree on that," Yae followed up with a smile and nod.
"I guess..." said Linze as she returned to her tea.
"Alright, alright," Alex agreed with a suppressed sigh. "I suppose we're just going back to taking turns right?"
"Like we agreed during our last big quest," Elze responded with a hint of sass after biting a cookie. Unfortunately, before Alex could return the sassy answer with one of his own. There was a sudden yet gentle knock on the door; not a half-second later, it opened, revealing two individuals.
A middle-aged woman with purple hair and to Alex's surprise, an elf.
Alex knew that Elves existed in this world after learning more about Mismede. Still, he had never seen one up to this point, even with the recent surge of Demi-Humans in the capital. Given that Elves were one of the most famous of the high-fantasy races that inspired thousands if not millions of stories in his original world, it was kind of a trip to see a real life flesh and blood elf that seemed to have popped right out of a fantasy anime. The Elf was taller than the twins but still an inch or two shorter than him; she had a beautiful rounded face and long ears that seemed to slump slightly, but what really stood out that made Alex was how buxom the lass was, as her breasts protruded from her cloak leaving very little to the imagination.
'Focus on her, the Master's face; don't let your eyes wander,' Alex had to mentally recite to himself as he focused on looking away from the elf.
"Thank you for hearing out my request," Celes started out once the door was closed. "My name is Celestine Baudelaire, Chapter Master for the Alephis Adventurer's Guildhall. I believe in order; you are Alexander Springfield, Yae Kokonoe, Linze Silhoueska, and Elze Silhoueska, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," Alex responded with a smile. "But please, call me Alex."
"Then please call me Celes," The chapter master followed up before motioning to her elven companion. "This is Mia, and she'll be joining us for this meeting for reasons that will be explained soon."
Alex saw that the elf was quick to politely courtesy upon being addressed but otherwise remained silent.
"Very well," Alex responded with a nod after glancing at the girls behind him. "A believe you have a special job for us?"
"Indeed," Celes continued as she moved to the center of the room. "I was relieved to hear that Maryellen was able to find someone with the skill set we are looking for...incidentally, who is the one with the spell?"
"That would be me, ma'am," Alex answered again.
"Are you the leader of the party?"
"He is." The three girls answered in unison, making Alex double-take in response.
"I see," Celestine responded with a chuckle while the Elf did her best not to laugh, but that didn't stop her shoulders from shaking. Finally, the old woman cleared her throat, and her expression became more severe. Grateful for the change of tone, Alex could tell it was time to get down to business.
"Very well, now for the details of this job," Celes continued with a firm voice.
"For approximately the last two months, we've had several unusual things happening from the ruins of the old capital. Creatures that typically inhabit the area have been moving eastward toward the capital at an alarming rate. Initially, it was thought that a large group of bandits had taken up residence there; this wouldn't be without precedent. Our initial response was to offer more extermination work. At the same time, the King dispatched a detachment of the army towards the old capital. Only nothing was found there."
'Makes sense; Uncle Barry did teach me about animal behavior when we went hunting every now and then,' Alex reminisced with a hand to his chin. "So, if that's the case, was there anything else that could have caused this strange phenomenon with the animals?"
"There is; it took a few days, but we eventually discovered a strange magical pulse that is currently stemming from the old ruins," Celes answered with a deep frown. "It was detected by a guild scout patrolling the forest after finding evidence of a large group of people camping in the woods. It led him to the old ruins, but the scout had decided to return to the guild to report his findings."
"So there hasn't been any luck finding the possible magical source?" Linze questioned with a raised hand.
"That's just the thing," Celestine responded with a slight pout. "We have plenty of tracking specialists and those with abilities to detect magic. We dispatched four different teams to investigate in the intervening weeks. And the same thing kept happening; they would detect the magical pulses and track them to the ruins; however, as they got closer...the pulses simply disappeared."
"Maybe the pulses only activate at certain times of the day?" Elze suggested as she seemed deep in thought.
"I'm afraid not," Celestine answered with a shake of her head. "The last two teams had tried camping out, and double-backing where they last detected the pulses. It seems whatever is out there might be waiting for something or someone to arrive at the site. Regardless, we believe in action rather than just waiting around."
'Two months...about the same time I arrived here,' Alex realized as he had subconsciously flexed out of anxiousness about Celes' theory. 'Could it be waiting for me?'
"Did they try digging around the site?" Yae questioned with a hand to her chin.
"Unfortunately, we can't," Celestine retorted with a sigh. "Any kind of organized excavation, which, even if we were granted permission, would likely have to be done by the Kingdom's forces. Due to some kind of old laws regarding how the lands are governed by the royal family, regardless, the teams we had dispatched were all ill-equipped for such an endeavor. We're adventurers, not archaeologists."
"So our job is to try our hand at finding out what is causing these pulses," Alex summarized after thinking the details over. "And hopefully a stop it."
"Ideally, Alex, yes," Celestine answered with a smile and a nod. "However, we will also settle for just finding the source. Better to play it safe than putting yourselves into any unnecessary danger."
"What if we don't ultimately find the source?" Elze questioned with concern.
"You'll be given a fraction of the reward for your efforts," Celestine answered with a frown. "Which is still quite generous for a simple road trip that may include an occasional monster encounter. Five Gold each; fifteen if you can complete the mission and find the source of the strange phenomenon."
"However," Celestine continued in a more firm voice. "There are three conditions before you can accept this job. The first is that you leave immediately upon accepting; this job has been haunting the guild for the last two months, and the pressure is on to get this done urgently."
"We might have to swing by a few shops to get supplies we'll need for a possible overnight trip," Alex quickly responded with a nod. They hadn't really expected this type of quest. Thankfully, they didn't really need to buy anything, just a quick pop back and forth to Reflet to get the supplies they already had set to go.
"That is acceptable," Celestine retorted with approval. "Second, aside from the receptionists, you are to speak of this quest to no one else. The King is the official contractor for this quest and has requested our discretion to prevent a possible panic. As professionals, we are obliged to follow our client's wishes."
The team collectively nodded in agreement there wasn't much to be said about this.
"Finally," Celestine motioned back to the elf, who had been silent from the beginning. "Due to the circumstances, the quest is technically a Blue Rank quest. Which makes you unqualified; however, I have arranged for Mia, who is not only a Blue Rank adventurer but was part of one of the previous groups that had investigated the ruins. She will be your guide and has a natural gift for detecting the pulses."
Alex quickly turned to look at the rest of his party. While he personally didn't have an issue with condition; he couldn't be sure about the rest of the girls. Considering that the party was becoming painfully one-sided regarding the male-to-female ratio. Alex was starting to feel pressure at possibly having nothing but girls in the party. Hell to almost prove his point, the three girls had their own mini-conference that completely excluded him...their supposed leader for this quest! Finally, after a few vital seconds of their apparently urgent conference; the girls rose up and nodded their collective approval with Elze apparently acting as their representative.
"We'll head out right away," Alex responded firmly with a determined smile.
"Excellent," said Celes with a voice full of relief. "Head down to the lobby, speak with Maryellen to register yourselves for the quest, and then head out. Mia can answer any other questions on the way there."
"Understood, ma'am," said Alex as he and his team hopped to his feet. "Let's head out, team."
Author's Commentary
First thing's first. Sorry to everyone who had read the previous version of this chapter. It wasn't up to my usual quality and I had indeed rushed that final scene. I initially thought that Shera/Mia's POV would have been more important. Still, when it came to writing the first scene of the next chapter, I realized I had royally fucked up.
So, I had a quick revision that is more up to snuff with my usual work and makes working on the next chapter much easier. (Thanks to this revision, the next chapter should be done much quicker.)
For those who don't recognize the characters, Shera, Celestine, and Celsior all come from the anime How Not to Summon a Demon Lord and follow a similar track compared to their in-universe canon counterparts. However, this time, Celestine is looking out for Shera instead of Rem, like in the canon version of the story.
In canon, Mismede is said to comprise several Demi-Human tribes (Beastmen, Fae, Elves, Dwarves, etc.) Consider familiar anime fantasy tropes (Along with certain Western ones) regarding how these races tend to act with one another. I found it odd how Patora just decided to have one nation with all of the Demi-humans instead of having their own countries that were more evenly spread worldwide.
So I decided to have fun with this and made Mismede a confederacy (Which, for those needing a refresher, is defined in government terms as a political union of sovereign states united for common action). Basically, states that are united under a common cause but still maintain a solid amount of personal autonomy/sovereignty. Hence why, I re-titled Jamukha to be King of the Beastmen and High-King of Mismede, while other tribes still maintain their own monarchies within their perspective lands.
Shera is the new girl in the harem that I wanted to add in the last chapter. Still, I ultimately decided to wait until now to formally introduce her (Though she will not be joining the team permanently just yet.) I managed to use a lot of material from the last chapter here with a slight mix of what will be the next canon event in the story. (WITH A HUGE TWIST)
Ultimately, I am happy with the chapter and am pleased to report that the next chapter should be a pretty short wait.
On that note, for those who read the Fafnir Knight, keep an eye out for an update because I am basically done with everything. I'm just running all of the new chapters with Grammarly for one last polish and adding my new notes and commentary. It's been a long time coming, but I sure hope it was worth the wait!
And since the next chapter is planned to a Tee. I can reveal the title.
Chapter fifteen will be titled Invasion.
Until next time!
-ZX
