ISEKAI EXORCIST

I saw a swirl of colours in the man’s organic eye and he grinned at me, revealing pearl-white teeth that were clearly veneers. “You must be the young sprite that kicked the Owl in the dick!”

He laughed and clapped me on the back so hard I nearly fell face-first onto the wooden floor of the Hall.

“My name is Temaru Ryūta,” I told him. “You must be Ludwig Pawn.”

“That’s right. So, what’re y’all doing that’s got poor Samael in such a fuzz?”

Renji stepped forward, hand out to greet the Incarnate Exorcist. “I’m Renji, also known by the name ‘Skrald’. We just came from Helmstatter and found this young lady on the way here. She is an Otherworlder and she hasn’t had a Role Assignment done yet.”

Ludwig narrowed his left eye though his metallic one remained static, as he shook Renji’s hand. “Did she wander off from Lundia or something?” he asked, craning his neck around to take-in Emily. His gaze then shifted to Elye whose Spidersilk hood was drawn back, her ears and horns on display.

“We found her in a village called Troll Root,” I told him.

“Did you arrive there?” he asked Emily, who took a second to realise he was talking to her.

“I did… yeah.”

“Hmm,” hummed Ludwig. “Quite a Party you’ve got for yourself here, Temaru. An Elfin Scout, a famous Brawler, an Air Affinity Spellhand who landed way outside Lundia, and an Exorcist. Can’t say I’ve seen the like of it before, kudos.”

“Erm, thanks?” I answered. “Wait, how can you tell she has an Air Affinity?”

“Takes practice, sprite. What Rank is your Spirit Sight?”

“Three,” I answered, wondering why he kept calling me ‘sprite’.

“You’ve got some way yet then, but try to look closer when you observe people’s auras, you’ll begin to figure it out.”

“…Excuse me,” interrupted the Clerk called Samael, his voice very meek.

“Oh, right, the Role Assignment!” exclaimed Ludwig. He seemed a strong and boisterous type, though, from what Mortl and Mortimer had told me, he was a good guy I could learn a lot from, and apparently quite the tinkerer, even if he looked more like a brute.

The musclebound Exorcist got behind the counter with the Guild Clerk, then helped him find the correct soul-stone tablet to use, as well as a fresh soul-stone Card to transcribe Emily’s soul onto.

“I didn’t think Otherworlders were allowed to have anything to do with the Guild tablets,” remarked Renji.

Ludwig scoffed. “I help them fix these all the time, and no one has complained yet.”

“You work on the soul-stone tablets?” Renji and I asked in unison.

“Well duh,” he replied, as though we were morons. “How do you think they work? They’ve got little pernicious buggers trapped within them.”

“They’re possessed items?” I asked out loud as I realised what he meant.

Renji looked at me, visibly-confused, “Did you know??”

“Absolutely not,” I replied.

“Alright, that should do it,” Ludwig said and patted Samael on the head patronisingly.

The Clerk cleared his throat, then, in an attempt to regain his authority as an employee of the Guild, said to Emily, “Name please.”

She stepped forward, so only the counter and soul-stone device separated them. “Emily Smile,” she answered.

I blinked in surprise, but before I could ask her if she knew Oliver, Renji put a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. “Later,” he whispered.

I nodded. I suppose that it was not the right time to ask about it.

“Place your hand here,” the Clerk said, gesturing to the black stone slab.

Emily placed her left hand on it and immediately the sigils around its edge began throbbing and glowing, as the bizarre device worked its magic.

While the Role Assignment was underway, I turned to Ludwig and asked, “Where’s the entrance to the Necromancy Guild?”

“It’s on an island in the middle of Altar Lake.”

“Why’s it out there?”

“You’re seriously asking why the pious City of Priests didn’t want a Guild of Necromancers inside their city?”

“…You’re right, that was a pointless question.”

“If you want to go there, I’ve got my rowboat parked in the port.”

“Can I come with you!?” Renji asked eagerly.

Ludwig turned to look at him. “You got a membership pendant?”

“No?”

“Then sorry, pal, the door won’t let you in.”

“Can’t he just borrow my pendant?” I asked.

“Listen, Temaru—”

“My name’s Ryūta,” I corrected him.

“Alright, ‘Ryūta’, listen here: the Demon door is a temperamental bitch, so no shenanigans. No means no.”

“Spellhand,” announced the Clerk as the Assignment concluded. Then he handed Emily her new Guild Card, before starting to explain the Quest and Rank systems.

“Sure you don’t want to try to take the Role Assignment too, Elye?” Renji asked the Elfin, who was looking over Emily’s shoulder at her new Card, fascination on her face.

“No.”

Renji frowned. “But you get your own Card and everything!”

“I will not be swayed by trinkets!”

“Just give it up,” I advised him. “She clearly doesn’t want to join the Guild.”

Ludwig rested his chin on his knuckles, his arms planted on the counter, then said to her, “You’d be the first Elfin to join, y’know. Although I can’t say it’ll work, since your aura is right on the threshold.”

He is also unsure about her aura? I wondered internally. I was glad to know that my own uncertainty wasn’t just due to inexperience, since I also had been unable to determine if she could get Role Assigned.

“Even the honeyed words of an Andasangare will not change my mind on this!”

The man chuckled. “Been a while since anyone called me that.”

“How’d you know he’s an Exorcist?” I wanted to ask Elye, but she’d already stormed from the hall.

“Don’t bully her into joining!” Emily scolded us, unfairly including me in her judging gaze, before running after the Elfin, her Card left behind on the counter.

“Emily! Hold up!” I called after her, but she didn’t stop.

Karasumany, send a few of your clones after the two of them.

CAW! answered my familiar from the sky outside.

Renji went over and picked up her Guild Card, humming to himself. “I’ve never seen that before,” I overheard him say.

“Don’t worry ‘bout the girls,” said Ludwig, “Got my familiar covering all of Altar, so I won’t lose track of them.”

“I sent my Observer with them as well,” I replied.

“The crows, right?”

“Seems a not-so-inconspicuous choice, given how everyone knows they are mine almost immediately.”

“It’s not so bad,” he answered. “If people could see my Watcher familiar, it’d cause quite the stir.”

“What kind do you use? Mine is The Many.”

Ludwig nodded appreciatively. “A fine choice. Once used it in the past. Currently use one called the Obsessive Stalker.”

“I’ve heard about it.”

“She’s hardly a beauty, that one, but her ability to observe a large territory is preem.”

I remembered reading about the entity a lot when I was doing the Exorcism Quest for the Margrave, but the depiction was missing from the Encyclopaedia. “What does it look like?”

“They’re always a bit different, but mine is a lanky chick with pale-blue skin and eyeballs in her palms, as well as long grey hair covering her face and torso. The only issue with using an Obsessive Stalker as a Watcher, is that it requires a ‘target’. Currently, she is stalking a kind baker named Thomas. Thanks to her, he is often finding long grey hairs in his dough...”

“I didn’t realise that familiars could have such requirements.”

“You must’ve noticed how those you observe with your Many become very guarded and mistrustful. There’re all different types of issues with using various familiars, but for general reconnaissance, yours ain’t a bad choice. It becomes an issue when you stay in one place for too long, obviously.”

I wanted to pretend that I’d known this about Karasumany, but it would be a lie. Ludwig grinned when he must’ve picked up on this fact from my aura.

“Ey, kiddo, you live and learn. Insofar as mistakes go, that’s a minor one.”

“I’ll be more careful with how I use it from now on.”

I had known that the Many was an entity that could cause paranoia and anxiety in those it observed, but I had, ignorantly, assumed that this was only when it was a Haunter.

“Do either of you know what this unique ability does?” Renji asked, showing us Emily’s Card.

‘EMILY SMILE’

ROLE: Spellhand

RANK: Novitiate

GENDER: Female

AGE: 16

ACUMEN: A

DEXTERITY: C

INTELLIGENCE: A

LUCK: D

PACT: E

SOUL: B

STRENGTH: E

VITALITY: D

ABILITIES

‘Omniglot’

‘Spellhand I’

‘Tome Warden’s Erudition’

“Huh. Ain’t never seen that one before,” Ludwig answered. “But the Tome Warden is one of the Old Gods. His sphere is knowledge and crafting, if I recall.”

“It’s the same one that cursed Mortl with immortality,” I answered.

“If that old bag of bones was here, she’d correct you by saying ‘functionally immortal’. If not for that bodyglove of hers, then she’d be a gloopy pile of sentient ‘aromatic’ mush.”

I reached out and touched the Spellhand Skill Set on the Card to expand the abilities hidden within:

ABILITIES

‘Omniglot’

‘Spellhand I’:

- Absorb Knowledge I

- Affinity (Air) I

- Affinity Control I

- Affinity Trigger I

- Alchemy I

- Elemental Enchantment I

- Focus Wielder I

- Hymnal I

- Invocation I

- Magic Sense I

- Meditation I

- Offering I

- Soul Barrier I

- Spell Tome Wielder I

- Staff Wielder I

- Sword Wielder I

- Wand Wielder I

- Worship I

Just like Renji had said, she had an Affinity, Trigger, and Control listed on there. She also had the Hymnal, Offering, and Worship abilities like me, none of which I’d ever used. Owl had said that any Role with Worship and Offering could become an Adherent like him, and it already seemed like one of the Gods had its sights set on her, which made me supremely uncomfortable.

“Maybe this ‘Erudition’ is why she can see my incorporeal familiars,” I wondered.

Ludwig had a face like he’d just stepped in dogshit, then he said, “No wonder she was looking at me like that…”

“Do you have a creepy Protector or something?” I wondered.

“Mortl always makes the joke that I like to collect the creepiest familiars, and, uh… I s’pose she ain’t wrong.”

“What’s the Hymnal for?” Renji asked. “Ryūta has it too.”

I shrugged.

“Better to not investigate that one too deeply,” Ludwig advised. “Knowledge around Hymnal magic is prohibited from distribution by order of the Crown.”

“I didn’t realise it was a form of magic,” I said.

“I’ve already said too much I think,” the Incarnate replied and did a my-lips-are-sealed-and-I-threw-away-the-key gesture.

Renji and I shared a glance, then he grinned in the way he always did when faced with a puzzle.

I shook my head. “I think he’s serious,” I told him.

Ludwig clapped us both on the back, then said, “Let’s go find your friends. I’ll take you all with me to the island in Altar Lake. Even if they can’t come inside the Guild, the island itself is pretty.”

After about an hour, we found Elye and Emily in a fancy park near to the main cathedral, which was a towering edifice around which thronged Priests, Archpriests, Paladins, Crusaders, and other Otherworlders whose Roles I didn’t recognise by colour. A small army of guards swarmed the area, while robe-clad civilians and faithful moved around in groups.

Though Armen had told me that the Church wasn’t a religion as much as a Guild, it was pretty difficult to believe when there were guided prayers in open amphitheatre-like areas, sermons echoing from the halls within the cathedral and minor chapels, and other forms of holy rituals.

It took little convincing to get the two women to join us for a trip to an idyllic island, since the Elfin kept grumbling about the people of Altar and Emily seemed uncomfortable with the crowds, who she said kept staring at us. I wondered if I had just grown accustomed to being viewed with undisguised contempt or if she was misinterpreting things.

While we walked past the tall spires and towers of the cathedral, which in some way reminded me of the pictures I’d seen from the La Sagrada Familia Basilica in Spain but covered in a thick layer of candlewax, Renji asked Ludwig, “What world are you from?”

The Incarnate Exorcist, who was leading the way to the port, answered without turning, “Same as you two, I reckon.”

“You’re from Earth?”

“We called it Terra Nova, but yeah, same place, though I’m guessing you two are from the late nineteen-hundreds or something, given how you dress and carry yourselves.”

“You’re from the future!?” Renji asked, stars in his eyes.

“Is it really so far-fetched a thing? You’ve no doubt met people from the dark ages of Terra already, and, in terms of human lifespan on a world, Oblus has everyone beat, so they’re technically from the distant future even if their technology is odd. Their world has had humans for millions of years.”

“You know about my world?” Emily asked, joining the conversation.

“Sure do. I must say your culture perplexes me a bit, but it beats my world by a landslide.”

“But aren’t you from a highly-technological future of Earth?” Renji insisted. “You’ve got this crazy Cyberpunk look about you!”

“Cyber-what-now?” Ludwig asked, pausing to look at the Brawler.

“You know! Ghosts in the machine, cyborgs, flying cars, netrunners, cutting-edge technology!”

“I dunno what fantasy world you’re talking about, but trust me on this: the future of your world ain’t pretty. In my time, half of Terra was inhospitable after decades of nuclear war. The remaining hive cities were like glowing neon suns, where night-time darkness was something you only saw in dream dramas, while life was only worth living for those at the very top, with the ninety-nine percent languishing in despair and longing for a bygone age. Before I came to Mondus, I hadn’t ever been able to afford real meat. Maybe your era was better, but mine was shit.”

Renji looked taken aback by the honest dismantling of his fantasies of the future.

Upon noticing his dismay, the Incarnate added, “Eh, but who knows how this whole concept of time works? Maybe there are more than just one dimension. Maybe your world isn’t destined to be fucked by the dick of misfortune into becoming what mine was.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter either way,” I replied. “None of us will ever return to our real world, and, even if we did, we wouldn’t live long enough to see the future you lived in come to bear.”

“I don’t understand why you’re the only one who I’ve met from that time-period of Earth though,” Renji said.

“Beats me,” Ludwig replied as he pulled out a hand-rolled cigarette. “You guys mind if I smoke?”

“There’s tobacco in this world?” I wondered.

“Nah, this is just tea leaves. I just like the taste of the smoke.”

“Really?”

“What? No, I’m fucking with you.”

Renji laughed, while Ludwig pulled out a lighter, similar to the ‘Spark-Master’ thing I’d seen proudly displayed in Mortimer’s shop. As the flame took to the tip of his cigarette, an aroma of vanilla filled the air around us.

“Is that Gravebloom?” I asked.

“You got me,” he replied with a grin in his voice. “I wish there was tobacco in this world, been craving it for the last twenty-odd years.”

“Isn’t it a bad idea to light it up like this? You could attract apparitions to you.”

Elye sniffed the air and Emily mimicked her. “It smells nice,” she said.

“The way I see it,” Ludwig started, “If there are indeed monsters lurking, then it makes my job easier if they come my way, rather than me having to go look for them. And on the other hand, it’s excellent for keeping the more malicious bastards at bay.”

“Like what?”

“A lot of Demons, for starters. Most Phantasms too.”

I was about to ask why he was taking precautionary measures against the latter, when Renji blurted out, having apparently done the math in his head, “If you’ve only been here for about twenty years, then you must’ve arrived when you were in your forties or something!”

“Thanks for calling me old, you little shit.”

“Sorry,” Renji replied meekly, realising he’d let his excitement run away with him.

“But you’re not entirely wrong. I was thirty-one when I landed in Lundia. Was quite awkward too, ‘cause I was chasing after this fiend down a back-alley with my gun drawn, and then just suddenly bumped into a cabbage vendor’s stand, knocking it over.”

“I came here when I walked past an old tree,” Emily said.

“I was in the entrance of my home,” I added.

“Me too,” Renji said.

“Guess I’m the odd-one out then,” Ludwig remarked. “But you’re right Renji, I haven’t met anyone else from Terra Nova and I haven’t heard or read about anyone who was transported here in their thirties. That being said, coming here with my gun was a pretty easy way to make money from Extermination Quests in the beginning.”

“Do you still have your gun with you? I thought such technology usually disappeared when you were transported here,” I said.

“Nah, I lost it to a Blacksmith in a game of dice.”

I blinked in surprise. “Why would you play a game of Luck when you’ve got an F-tier in the attribute?”

Ludwig stopped again and turned to face me, his cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth, as he said, vanilla-scented smoke billowing through his veneers, “So what if I don’t make the best judgement calls when I’m shitfaced!?”

“What happened to it after that?” Renji wondered.

The musclebound man sighed deeply. “Cruel bastard melted it down and turned it into a hat. I’ve never been closer in my life to embracing the path of evil than at that moment…”

Renji and I shared a look, and then we both laughed. Eventually the brawny Incarnate joined in, while Elye and Emily both just looked very confused.