Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chaos is erupting around him as Serrentuk emerges into his own body for the first time in decades. He feels weaker than he remembers, his body is sore from being beaten and punished. His vision isn’t great. His ears have a mild burn to them from where one was nearly clipped entirely off, but more importantly, a super-human heroine from another world just clapped her hands powerfully enough to deafen and disrupt anyone and everything around them.
Inside of Gate, Serrentuk can ‘see’ everything within, but it’s not the same as actually laying eyes on it. He has a basic concept of who the person in front of him is not least of which because he put her there. But, inside of gate, it was more like ‘seeing’ her with his hands, where his eyes don’t do her justice now that she is in front of his true self. He can tell her hair is a brown color, and her skin fair. She has strangely brightly colored clothing, and if his eyes aren’t deceiving him, her legs are exposed well beyond what is considered decent and proper for human women in the Empire.
But, his eyes don’t do her justice, since they are blurred and distort her appearance. He wasn’t always this functionally blind, but it seems the Contarro family’s usage was harder on his neglected body than he expected.
He feels the blow as planned. It happens quickly enough that pain doesn’t really sink in right away. It certainly doesn’t drown out everything crushing his heart over the centuries.
She moves quickly, but even before he can process being placed into the void bag as planned, his vision fades as his strength leaves him.
And then, he coughs, feeling his eyes filling with light again. He is able to open his eyes, but his surroundings have completely changed.
Something is strange, though. He feels… empty. Weak. He is completely exhausted in both energy and mana.
“Do you know your name?” asks a male voice, and Serrentuk looks in that direction. Four individuals are standing there, though his eyes can’t make sense of their appearance. Judging by the varying colors, though, they aren’t imperial soldiers, nor are they Commander Nesparu, given the question regarding whether or not he can remember his own name. Because of the slave contract, it would be able to compel him regardless of the state of the elf’s mind or memories.
“I am Serrentuk, elven mage born in the village of Laeruskhen.”
“Is it fair to say your true name is Calliodel Venjurun Serrentuk?”
The elven mage twitches, doing his best to sit up. “So long as one of you is Amalaskae.”
Two different women twitch, from the gasps that he can hear; one next to the male, and the other with a pinkish-orange looking hair color. The latter says, “I-I’m Amalaskae. Zuzia sent you to me.”
Serrentuk feels relief fill his body, in spite of his vulnerable position. Without magic, he can’t fight or escape. And, assuming he is in the Fievegal’s care now, he won’t be able to do much of anything to test whether or not they are…
“Father…” whispers the other woman who gasped.
“Father?” repeats the male voice, looking towards the only person who can still utter that word.
It shocks Serrentuk to his core, and his eyes widen, trying to clarify his field of view, but it’s no good. He can only tell that she is a person among a total of four who are present, and she has dark black hair.
The voice is soft, but it squeezes tightly to his heart, as if to force it to start beating again after what feels like, and actually may have been, a millenium.
“Senn…”
Her voice cracks, and she stumbles towards him, quickly shifting into a run as she hugs him. Both of them are speechless as Serrentuk embraces someone he thought he would never see again.
“Senn… is it really you?” asks Serrentuk after a long time.
“Y-Yes. I… I’ve… I’ve been using… different forms, s-so no one…” The usually-composed elf can barely speak. She’s not sobbing quite like Daniel would expect, since tears are fighting their way out of his own eyes. He always liked military reunion videos, though his own return home was far from that level of emotional, since it was missing a crucial component.
That said, he feels genuinely relieved and happy after everything of the last few days has piled on.
Serrentuk admits the truth, since there’s no use hiding it. “I have much to explain, but before anything else, I can’t seem to see very well. I assume the male who spoke is Daniel of Earth?”
“That’s right, sir,” replies Daniel politely. It seems to come out habitually, but respectfully, and it makes the ancient elven father chuckle a little.
“Thank you. Forgive me, your Grace, if I have neglected to greet you properly.”
Daniel scoffs and chuckles, wiping his own face. “Don’t worry about it. I hope for mutual respect, but I prefer results, not titles and powerplays of words.” He adds seriously, “You’re not free of the contract yet. We tranquilized you to use the revival and healing potations on you, as well as healing magic from Senn, and now you’re surrounded by anti-magic materials to prevent the contract from taking hold and forcing you back, which I suspect is the case. Senn wasn’t sure if the full name I used a moment ago is what you are contracted by, or if they only knew your given name.”
Serrentuk smiles, petting Senn’s head as she rests her head on his lap. “I’ve looked for you everywhere, Father. Even in the Empire. There were no clues. You and… Sayrdarralouche just disappeared.”
“Until very recently, he was my prisoner within Gate,” replies the elder sorcerer. “And, I released him with the expectation that Lady Zuzia would ensure he did not leave that place.” He looks at Daniel and the two whom he believes are both goddesses. “What… of Zuzia?”
Amalaskae shakes her head. “I wasn’t able to rescue her. I tried, but a monster that was powerful enough to drain my energy managed to capture me. I’d be a slave or destroyed as well,...”
The other remaining woman answers, “I am Ryukana, Amalaskae’s colleague. My observers have reported that Grand Prince Yaulander and Zuzia have crossed into the Grand Principality. They’re hiding out at a noble’s estate for the night with the majority of his remaining retinue continuing on.” She then faces Daniel. “Yaulwembor’s void attack annihilated one of the void artilleries, as well as a portion of Yaulander’s forces. I would expect sanctions and a possible declaration of war.”
“I’ll let Neith and Sundenelle know,” replies Daniel. “She may not be able to stall them forever, but she may be able to convince enough people that Yaulander has already picked a fight with us more than once, and that we are too much of a threat. Hopefully.”
Serrentuk wearily climbs off of the small bed to kneel before Daniel. “Daniel, as one man to another, I make this humble request. I owe my life and my impending freedom to Lady Zuzia. I forcibly convinced her to strike me down so that I could not act against her, even against her nobly held beliefs, and she sacrificed her own ability to escape to save myself and her comrades.”
Daniel replies, “That explains the other three men, then. Do you personally know them?”
“I do not, and I will explain all that I know. But please… I know you must enslave me with my true name, which thankfully, is not what the Contarro family had for this collar. But, I beg of you your mercy; please allow this old man to return the favor to Zuzia and save her from the tragedies that befell me.”
“I refuse,” replies Daniel bluntly. Serrentuk looks up, dumbfounded and horrified.
But, the human kneels before him, placing a shoulder on his elder’s hand. “I can’t accept your pleas or begging for something I already intended to do. I have the firepower at my back to fight our way to the heart of the Grand Principality, but I am afraid of making the world our enemies in the process. I’ve already asked Amalaskae and Ryukana to observe Zuzia, and if she’s in any danger of being killed or…
against her will, world be damned, I’ll kill them all. But, while she is his weapon, everything she does falls on Yaulander, and we have a lot of allies aware of this. My goal is to bait him into sending her after us, so she’ll be isolated, and we’ll figure out a way to capture her. But, given she has Saitama-power, it seems, we have to move with caution. In the meantime, our defense is to deny our involvement in the area, since we are currently holding off an attack, and whittle away confidence in the Grand Prince. Sundenelle is on our side for now, but it’s going to be a long road.”
Serrentuk nods reluctantly. “I understand… I don’t know what this ‘Saitama-power’ is, but her magic resistance is untenable. Spells will not be enough to restrain her.”
“I’ll brief everyone,” states Amalaskae a little nervously. “It’s my fault after all.”
“Father?” asks a soft female voice from behind Serrentuk, and he looks.
“M-Me?” asks the elf. So far as he knows, he only has one living child.
“No, this one’s for me,” replies Daniel. “I’m here Arachne. I’ll be with you in just a minute. Senn, do what you can to catch Serrentuk up on everything. But, please don’t go to find Sayrdarralouche without me. There was some dark energy present there between Fal and the Lurker, and I suspect we may be looking at another Kernuules.”
Senn laughs softly. “Daniel… The thing, or rather person, that I was looking for… It was my father.”
“Fair enough.” The human stands up, offering his hand to both elves, who are kneeling together. He helps Senn up first, and then both of them help Serrentuk to his feet. “We should move fairly swiftly. If you’re willing, Serrentuk, Sir, I’ll need you to resist compulsions of the contract as long as possible once we leave the anti-magic cell until we can have Senn contract you again. I assume this will be the most ideal scenario.”
“Daniel,” interjects Senn.
“Yes, Senn?”
“I would like you to do it.”
“What?”
“I would like you to contract my father.”
Daniel is surprised, and he glances at the dark shape that he called Arachne. “G-Give it more thought. Because I think… Uh… Just… Let me get back to you.”
The human jogs over to the large black creature, and he asks, “Arachne, are you alright?”
“Yes, Father… What happened? Is Sir Magnir alright?”
“He’s already headed to Roeta, and Moelka and Levvikami are sleeping in the quarters we’ve assigned to the kobolds, being looked after by the other three.”
“That’s good. Father?”
“Yes, Arachne?”
“Will… you hug me?”
This catches Daniel off guard, but he doesn’t hesitate, and he immediately hugs the giant. “You did great, Arachne. And, you saved my life. I am so thankful, and… I love you, my Princess.”
Senn whispers to Serrentuk as they both return to their own reunion, “Father… I trust Daniel. I hope that’s alright.”
“And, I trust you, my daughter. Though… I must admit… I thought the choice was because we will outlive him.”
Senn shakes her head. “No. I don’t know that I can be impartial, and Daniel has virtually all of the dragons under contract, and he doesn’t force them to do anything. If you can never be freed for any reason, I would rather you be bound to him than to me.”
“Hmm… It seems I should kill him, then.”
“F-Father!?”
The elder mage chuckles, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I have waited thousands of years to threaten a man for trying to take your heart. And…” Serrentuk closes his eyes, but he can do nothing to stop the overwhelming emotions breaking through his long-hardened soul. “I… have waited hundreds of years to see you again…”
“Me too, Father,” replies Senn tenderly. “Me too.”
***
Heralesse knocks on the door to her younger sister’s room. It’s evening time, and Erimaya has been confined to her quarters at all times under guard with the only exception being supervised walks in the garden and meal times with the rest of the royal family. It’s the only thing Rikuto could think of to appease the King-father, Greydald, and Heralesse had to agree, because Erimaya remains adamant that she’ll return to the Fievegal.
“You may enter,” comes Erimaya’s voice, and Heralesse opens the door.
“Thank you, Eri. The rest of you can excuse us.”
“As you wish, your Majesty,” reply the guards and maids that are present. They file out, leaving only Erimaya and Heralesse.
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For her part, the young blonde princess has remained at her tea table near the balcony, working on yet another handkerchief pattern.
The teenage queen can only sigh. “Are you
trying to come up with a family crest for Daniel?”
Erimaya doesn’t look up from her current work, threading the needle through to continue the design, which currently appears to be some sort of deep red flower. “It is to be the
family crest, specifically, Heralesse. That means it’ll be mine someday as well.”
The elder sister sighs in exasperation. If Daniel had simply been adopted by the Stalvaltan Grand Duchy and made into a noble, it might have been easier to accept. But, given the course of everything, the young Queen can’t help but wish Erimaya would give up. The ‘he’s already married’ argument won’t work, because Erimaya reminds Heralesse of how everything spiralled out of control the way it has.
Erimaya is seen as ‘damaged goods’ by many, while Daniel never once treated her any differently, ignoring the fact that he saved her life.
“And, what is it this time? Is that… a lotus?”
“Not quite. It’s a laugur.”
“Laugur? Aren’t those plants poisonous?”
“Yes, but their beauty is undeniable. And, untouchable beauty is the epitome of the Fievegal’s Empresses.” The Princess smiles as she keeps sewing, and Heralesse sits down across from her. There are already several handkerchiefs on the table, with a pile of finished ones, including a black bird with swords and a wreath, and unfinished, apparently abandoned ones with a fox-like creature’s ears noticeable, a partially-completed dragon, and what looks to be one of the Dragonslayer rifles, were it to be detailed.
“You are getting quite good at sewing.
, your real fiance will admire your handiwork.”
Erimaya looks up from under brow to give Heralesse a skeptical look. She retorts, “He already does. I’m just working on some ideas that are better than his military crest.”
“Ugh… Fine. It’s not worth discussing right now. I was told you asked to speak to me.”
“Hmm? Oh! Yes. Behind you on the desk there.”
Heralesse follows Erimaya’s directions, and she finds an unfolded letter. She approaches the desk to take it, asking, “This one?”
“Mm-hmm.” The younger sister continues her sewing, and Heralesse brings the letter back to the tea table to read it.
“[
“I don’t understand this letter,” remarks Heralesse after reading it. “It sounds like she’s asking me to tell Rikuto something extremely important, but she’s talking about an Imperial Dance and that children’s story about Lady Gold.”
“May I?” asks Erimaya.
“You didn’t already read it?”
“I read the first line to see that it was for you,” replies the Princess.
Heralesse hands it over, and Erimaya studies the writing for a moment. The blonde pre-teen lets out a slightly exasperated sigh. “It is in code, but it obviously has something to do with a mutual enemy.”
“What!?” snaps Heralesse in surprise. “How did you get that, of all things, out of dances and golden feathers?”
“What did Lady Gold tell us about that story?”
“That it was about her?” repeats Heralesse, not understanding.
“True, but that it was also a true story. And, she did it to antagonize the man who became king through mildly nefarious means.” She hands the letter over, saying, “If I had to guess, Ryuo wants to lure a mutual enemy out and destroy them, and Rikuto has a role to play, which he’ll hopefully understand. I don’t know what ‘Manhattan’ is supposed to mean, since I think it’s a phonetic spelling of an English word in our language. Daniel must believe it’s a word that Rikuto will know regardless of his own mother tongue being different.”
Heralesse takes a breath and sighs. She studies the letter for a moment longer while Erimaya contentedly resumes her stitching. Satisfied that her younger sister is at least talking to her now, since the young Queen can no longer hold any true resentment for the Fievegal or its seemingly roguish leaders, she walks around the tea table and leans down to pull Erimaya’s head close. The irritated princess starts to groan, but Heralesse isn’t trying to be disruptive.
She simply plants a kiss on her beloved younger sister’s forehead and says tenderly, “Thank you, Eri. I love you, my dear, sweet, irritating, lovable little sister.”
“What brought this on?” asks the princess skeptically.
“I will continue to vehemently disagree with your… marriage goals, but… I just wanted to remind you that you will always be my beloved sister.”
While Erimaya doesn’t like that Heralesse is standing in her way of, by all appearances, shedding her responsibilities as a princess of Mornistae in order to join a group of eccentrics who couldn’t care much less about the title of rulership as long as they can live as they want. By modern Mornistae or Imperial standards, and even by the more lax Mattarglossian standards, the Fievegal would appear to be run by a bunch of hedonists. Yet, they are highly honorable, and the ruling family work tirelessly to continuously improve the livelihoods of their people.
Erimaya’s cheeks have turned a nice shade of pink, and she adds softly, “O-... Of course I love you, too, Heralesse. Always. But, I always do everything I’m supposed to, and yet, I can’t help but feel like…” She shakes her head. “No, nevermind. Just know that I may have lost the battle, but the war is far from over. I
be Erimaya kos Lawson.”
Heralesse stares at her younger sister for a moment. The young princess is right. She would be a fool if she believed she could just screech at Erimaya until she changed her mind and dropped her wanderlust. The ‘war’ is far from over, but even if she does lose, Heralesse is more confident now that Erimaya would be treated well, at least.
“I’m going to go find Rikuto,” states Heralesse. “If you don’t mind, I would greatly appreciate a Mornistae-Tachibana crest handkerchief as well.”
“There isn’t a crest for our families, yet.”
Heralesse smiles pointedly, and Erimaya gives it thought.
“If I have time, I’ll consider it.”
The young Queen can only chuckle in reply to her sister. She starts for the door, but suddenly stops just as she’s about to exit. “Eri?”
“Yes?” asks the Princess.
“How did you get this letter?” When Heralesse turns to look at the blonde preteen, she freezes for a moment.
It’s not that Erimaya is particularly terrifying, but a devious, cryptic smile has spread across her lips. She has no intention of answering, and more importantly, it means that she’s somehow in direct contact with the Fievegal, even now.
“Eri?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to, Heralesse. So long as I don’t try to escape again, I’m entitled to a few secrets, am I not?”
The elder sister is stuck for a moment. She has a lot to say, but she also knows that it’s a warning as much as an explanation. However she received a letter, which was likely written this very day, if Heralesse presses the issue, Erimaya will resist. She may even publicly declare her intentions or fake her own death to escape and never return.
Rather than blow up and say something she regrets, Heralesse decides to leave the room and think about it before questioning Erimaya further. She could have driven her precious sister away forever if Erimaya wasn’t as forgiving as she is, but she’s also more cunning than Heralesse gave her credit for.
The young Queen makes her way to Rikuto’s quarters, which is connected to the shared bedroom intended for the King and Queen to ‘work on making heirs’, among other things. Both Rikuto and Heralesse have been too bashful to make use of it, so they’ve continued using their private quarters, which allows them to relax after their daily work.
In this case, though, Rikuto is leaning against the wall in his room. He is wearing strange red-painted armor with white gloves and boots. It looks rather ostentatious, and the paint job was done in a hurry. It causes Heralesse to pause for a moment to make sure she isn’t seeing an assassin or some sort of true demon.
Vaergraes has partially convinced Heralesse that the reason the east refers to the non-human-kin of the west as ‘demons’ and ‘demon kin’ is because of much older stories, exacerbated by the fact that the Uhl’tall are very powerful mages capable of mind control, curses, and teleportation, which can frighten and overwhelm strong human-kin mages. True demons are the mythical monstrous creatures, though the Uhl’tall and others often simply refer to themselves as demons and demon-kin as well, since it can unsettle and distract their demon-fearing enemies.
Rikuto’s armor looks somewhat demon-like, though his face is easily recognizable without a helmet obscuring it.
“Rikuto?”
He flinches in a start, recoiling away from the wall to face her. “Heralesse! Oh god!” I… Uh… This isn’t… I can explain this, but… I’d rather you not ask questions!”
She takes a moment to take it all in, including his panic. Strangely enough, it’s not the worst thing she has heard in the last hour or so.
The young Queen relaxes and says gently, “If you say so, though it’s probably for the best that I spoke to Eri first. This isn’t the strangest thing about my day.”
“R-Really? What… did Eri do?”
“Don’t worry about that. Here.” She walks the letter over to Rikuto.
Rikuto receives it, asking as he studies the words, “Who’s it from? Oh…”
Heralesse smirks. While few in number, Ryuogriar writes in a fairly distinct manner which is easy to hear her voice behind. And ‘Mukori’ is a pretty quick giveaway.
“Manhattan…” murmurs Rikuto. “Does he mean nukes? He plans to nuke a fire?”
This gives more gravity to the dire situation that seems to have distressed Rikuto so much.
“Nukes…? Is that… the Alamogordo specials the peace treaty talks about?”
Rikuto nods grimly, glancing briefly at her and then studying the message further. “It’s the name for the American project that built them. How did you receive this letter?”
“It came into Eri’s hands somehow. Given what I saw, I think Xyreko gave her some teleporter or other means of exchanging messages with the Fievegal. We’ll… have to be cautious about what we tell her or say around her.”
Rikuto nods, though his mind seems to be elsewhere.
“If… I understood the letter as well... as possible, Rikuto, he wants the… ‘Manhattan’ to be a last resort. Though, I don’t know what fire…”
“Yaulander tried to use the void artillery against us.”
“Wait… I… What?” asks the young Queen, now surprised for the second time this day. Given the suddenness, though, and everything else she has observed, it must be related to the colorful armor he’s wearing.
Rikuto takes a breath and sighs. He walks over to the simple sofa for guests, and he takes a seat. Heralesse follows him to sit alongside her young husband.
“What does this thing about golden feathers mean?” asks Rikuto softly, still studying the message for any clues indicating a secret code or some other cipher. Given everything else he knows about his American counterpart, something edgy like using an old World War Two cipher or German words would be suitably edgy, while also moderately likely to be known by American and Japanese alike.
Heralesse explains, “It’s from a story that’s popular in the kingdom, and maybe the Empire, about a golden bird. Eri thinks that the point of Ryuogriar mentioning it is because it’s about Lady Gold, who is the dragon that is now the golden bird in the story, and she lured the man off of a cliff.”
The young Japanese man sighs. “I see. So, he wants me to help lure Yaulander out… And isolate him. Not many know about the fire yet…”
“Grand Prince Yaulander is the second most powerful person in the Empire,” cautions Heralesse. “To speak this way…”
“There’s a saying on Earth… ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’. I thought this of Yaulander when I tried to cooperate with him against Daniel, and it resulted in firearms AND a magic superweapon falling into the hands of people who will use them even more recklessly than I have already done. “
Heralesse is quiet. The void artillery was a marvel of combining magic with technological ideas from Earth, but they are the culmination of a powerful and deadly spell with a scope capable of annihilating a fortress. The usage of such a weapon could easily lead to a global conquest, yet for all the fear around Daniel’s ‘nukes’, the Fievegal has expanded rather slowly and not used one.
Rikuto’s usage of the void artillery against Fort Twilight was rash and spawned of unchecked fear. Heralesse cautioned against it as much as possible, but when she tried to find advice from the wisest and most honorable woman of power she knew, she discovered one of the Fievegal’s machinations on the Grand Duchy and was swiftly captured for it.
In the same way Rikuto went to battle in haste, the young Queen’s own lack of foresight and caution got her captured.
That said, it could be considered fortunate that they were halted in their tracks both times, and that the Fievegal, particularly Daniel, still manages to find it in his heart to have no ill will such that he might have refused to negotiate. Instead, he and his allies simply plan to use Mornistae against their apparent shared enemy, whether Rikuto and Heralesse choose to cooperate or not.
thinks the young Queen to herself.
She studies Rikuto’s face for a moment while he deliberates on the letter he still clasps urgently.
The young Queen ponders her options as well. She’s not entirely sure what all is happening, but she needs to try to make the most rational decision with a clear head.
“I think we should help,” states Heralesse finally. Rikuto looks at her, and she places her hands on his forearm. “If Daniel intends to use his Alamogordo weapons, but doesn’t want to, we need to help him, right? If they are a last resort after dragon fire and Hekate and Vaergraes… If there is something Daniel would employ weapons greater than the concentrated might of the most powerful, then shouldn’t we be on their side? I know… It’s a delicate situation, but…”
“It’s not that I am torn between Daniel and Yaulander,” replies Rikuto. “I could have been friends with Daniel. I wouldn’t object to it now. But, when I saw him just a few… days ago, he was saying he wasn’t going to help. And… his
took his side.”
Heralesse notices a twinge of envy in Rikuto’s voice when he mentions the harem. True, it’s less common in the east, but the Emperor before Sundenelle had multiple consorts, and the Empire thrived that way for many years. While Heralesse wouldn’t want to be a part of such a thing, she is fully aware her younger sister is much more tolerant. If anything, she’s excited to be some sort of ‘sister-wife’ to her friend Hekate, and has an unending admiration for the likes of Ryuogriar, Reignleif, and Gold.
More importantly, she does also notice the hesitation before he said ‘days’.
Heralesse smiles and pets Rikuto’s cheek. They haven’t been intimate yet, but they are husband and wife, and Heralesse is thankful that Rikuto is as kind as he is. While he has made mistakes, he truly does care about Mornistae and is trying to protect all of the Kingdom’s people.
“I believe, if Aramellianna were still giving us council, she would advise measured caution, necessary deception, and, if truly necessary… something worse than dragon fire.”
Rikuto looks at her, hearing her words and connecting with her for a moment.
“I think, my dear husband, it’s time you tell me about this armor, and when and how you met Daniel more recently than the peace conference. I suspect… they are somewhat directly related.”
Rikuto slumps a little, apparently realizing only now that he’s still dressed in his own peculiar armor.
“I hoped… to not involve the Kingdom of Mornistae itself…” starts the young King before explaining the story of the last couple of days.
***