Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 136:  Looking for Staff

Daniel collapses into a seat in the airship lounge to rest. It’s been a taxing day. Of course, he is quickly piled on by Hekate, Ryuogriar, Reignleif, and Geirahoel, who all zealously try to cling to him every chance they get, as if he’ll vanish into thin air before their eyes. The others find seats around the lounge, and shortly after, Grand Duchess Aramellianna enters the lounge.

“Your Imperial Majesty, I, the Grand Duchess Aramellianna kos Stalvaltan warmly greet the great Empress of the Fievegal and her husband…”

“Mother…” states Daniel dryly, and she smirks. 

“Let her do it,” whines Hekate. “I kind of like it!”

“Isn’t it exhausting, though? I’d rather be accomplishing something than having my ego stroked for accomplishments already… accomplished.”

Aramellianna giggles as she approaches and takes her usual seat, which is near Daniel’s lounge sofa. “That is one of your most endearing traits, Daniel, though I must insist that you respect at least some traditions of nobility. You may hope and believe that you can communicate with your subjects on their level until the end of your days, but relaxing the etiquette and expectations can cause dissent and the rise of schemers and traitors.”

“I do understand, Mother, but that very same coin has a second face. And, that face is resentment because of the elitism. Many of my country’s most effective leaders were absolutely hated by the united machine of propaganda, and instead, loved by the people because they actually walked the same streets as the people, went to the same churches and schools to see with their own eyes. In a perfect world, there is no ‘us versus them’.” He laughs lightly at himself. “And, no matter what, I don’t want to forget where I come from. I was no one special on Earth. Anyone could be here, doing these things instead of me.”

“Thankfully,” starts Aramellianna as she relaxes in her chair. “We got you instead.” She then returns to business, “Now, if you don’t mind, as promised, I have gathered a great deal of candidates for servants and ladies-in-waiting that I hope you will be pleased with. You may regard them with suspicion, but most of them are not directly from my household.”

Daniel nods in understanding, and Hekate states, “Even if they were, you already have a high-ranking spy among us.”

“I’m not a spy!” complains Wenlianna passionately. Hekate and the others snicker playfully at her, while the Grand Duchess simply smiles. “I am confident that the secrets that I would truly want, I would simply need to ask for. Everything else, I can live without.” She then smiles. “Now, may I have your permission to introduce you to the candidates? I’ll not speak for your Graces, but I do hope you will consider each and every one of them.”

Hekate looks at Daniel, and he nods. She says, “Please do bring them in, your Grace.”

“As you wish, your Imperial Greatness.” Aramellianna waves her hand, and her own lady-in-waiting nods, opening the door to invite the candidates in.

Daniel watches, but something immediately strikes him as unnerving as the candidates walk in, starting with female candidates, and then males.

Most of the servants, as evidenced by little more than rags for clothes, are children under the age of fifteen.

Aramellianna adds softly, “I can spare some of my staff for training, but many of them do not wish to reside in the Fievegal, so far away from home. These are the most promising candidates that are willing to move, your Greatness, your Graces.”

“Th-They’re… children…” murmurs Geirahoel, being the first to state the obvious.

Daniel looks at Aramellianna, and she gives him an apologetic look. He realizes at once what he’s looking at.

Most of these children have nothing to lose and absolutely need a way to survive.

They’re orphans.

Every person in the world is an individual at the end of the day, but orphans this young have some moldability, as well as a hole where their parents should be, and thus, trust is difficult to earn, but loyalty once accomplished can be some of the greatest known to all living beings.

The girls, as young as four or five years old, manage to perform unstable curtsies as they meekly present themselves, while the boys bow respectfully to greet Hekate, and then Daniel.

Daniel is torn. He can’t just say ‘yes’ to all of them because they’re orphans, so he still needs to do the interviews. But, he is not apathetic to their plight. Aramellianna is presenting the individuals that she believes can be trained and will be loyal, even if some of them will likely be unable to speak their native tongue well, let alone learn a new language on top of it.

Daniel smiles, greeting them gently. “Hello there. I’m Daniel, and these are my family members. We don’t have to bombard you with our names just yet, since it’ll be a lot, but how about you introduce yourselves for us?”

The children fidget and glance around nervously. The two eldest, a woman who appears to be in her thirties, and a teen, each step forward, and the senior woman bows her head. “Your Imperial Greatness Hekate and your Royal Majesty Daniel of the Fievegal, I am humbled and honored to meet you. My name is Haelastarr. I am a Baroness whose husband recently passed away, and our lands and assets were seized by the royalty of Bromlund before the revolution. I hope to be of service to you.”

Before the teen can speak, Vaergraes asks gently, “You didn’t return to your territory after Bromlund’s territories were restored?”

Haelastarr shakes her head. “No, your Grace. Our territory was… difficult to manage. The King of Mornistae felt that it should go to a more stable family, since our house was unable to provide support in preserving Bromlund. I’d someday like to reclaim our lands, but as the widow with no children, I have a very weak claim to begin with.”

“I see, thank you. I hope you someday succeed.”

“Thank you, your Grace.” Haelastarr bows again and steps back.

The teen steps forward, and she bows. “I-I a-a-am B-B-Bellph-phine, y-y-your Gr-Greatn-ness. It is an ho-honor to m-m-meet you.”

“You don’t have to be so nervous, child,” urges Ryuogriar gently.

Bellphine gives a complicated expression, and Wenlianna, who is surprised to see her, glances at Aramellianna and Daniel a couple of times each. 

Aramellianna explains, “She has a stammer, your Grace, due to an immense shock she undertook performing her duties.” Bellphine nods in agreement. “I do assure you, her talents and learning are well-rooted, and she will perform her duties well.” Again, Bellphine bobs her head vigorously in confirmation.

“What did you do before applying for this position?” asks Treia. “I’ve only ever seen one other kind of job take an injury like that, and it was an oneiromancer.”

“Ahhh, you mean Lord Yuinblock, right? My elder brother talked about him,” replies Gwenesphia.

Treia nods, looking to Bellphine for her answer.

Bellphine hesitates, glancing at the Grand Duchess. Aramellianna states, “If you’d permit me, I can…”

“She was the court Dawnseer after the one that foresaw… the Calamity passed away.” Wenlianna speaks, and she looks at Daniel to hope he understands what she means. “She was performing a Dawnseeing the day magic dipped across the world.”

Daniel’s stomach twists. The ‘Calamity’ is the vision the Dawnseer saw that prompted Mornistae to perform a summoning ritual, which transported Daniel and Rikuto to Zenkon. 

‘The day magic dipped’ is just one of the ways people refer to the day a horrifying power was unleashed upon Zenkon.

It was the day the Devourer was destroyed with Earth’s most devastating weapons.

Vaergraes asks, “A Dawnseer? Are you still capable of performing Dawnsights?”

Bellphine confirms with a nod. The former demon queen is ecstatic. “Fascinating! I’ve witnessed the art before, but it’ll be interesting to compare visions.” She glances at the others, clearing her throat. “A-Assuming you are selected.”

Daniel can’t let pity or guilt guide his choices. He’s choosing people who will be close to his friends and family, as well as the children. He’ll need to stew on it longer to hopefully give his gut a chance to really decide whether or not Bellphine -and for that matter, any of these people- are acceptable. He’s optimistic, but he doesn’t want to be reckless.

So, he keeps it moving for now. “Thank you both.” He then smiles gently. “See? That’s not so scary. Who wants to go next?”

***

Zuzia stretches and yawns as she embraces the morning sun. Thankfully, the weather was fairly temperate, so she didn’t set up her tent in case she needed to flee in a hurry. She was hoping it would all be a dream, but she had a different one instead. She dreamed that she was in some sort of story. She was to be sent to a whole other world to fight monsters and demons.

And, in her dream, it sounded like fun, so she agreed.

In exchange for her agreeable-ness, the angel or whoever gave her immense magic powers and strength.

But, of course, all of that would be absolutely ludicrous. While she still feels unsure about everything, the young Polish woman is more confident that she was somehow kidnapped and brought somewhere she doesn’t recognize by people who don’t speak Polish.

It’s strange though. She didn’t recognize the language at all. Usually, it seems fairly easy to at least guess somewhat, but the language didn’t really match any of Zuzia’s expectations. Especially because she should still be in Europe, even if she’s not in Poland anymore.

Then again, perhaps she is in Poland, but the castle was controlled by foreigners. Not that such a scenario is much more believable than her being transported to another world by magic, meeting an angel or something, and receiving magic powers, but still…

Zuzia cleans up her camp and continues on her way. The GPS for ‘Daniel’ is guiding her towards the west, as far as she can tell, and without any other real sense of what to do, she has no choice but to at least head that direction. She’ll try to talk to people in town if she judges it to be safe enough, but she has to be careful. 

She’s still close to the cultist castle, and her only real means of defense are a camping knife and her bear-deterrent OC spray. Because she backpacks around Europe, some areas of which contain a large number of wild bears, she always carries the bear-rated OC spray, rather than regular mace, just to be safe. Her grandfather and uncle both warned her that she shouldn’t use bear spray on people, since it’s illegal due to the much higher concentration of the irritants.

But, Grandpa, I’m pretty sure kidnapping is more illegal. I’ll beg for forgiveness later. Oh! Which, if I can, I suppose I should try to buy some more OC spray once I’m in town, just to be safe.

Though, again, she’ll be cautious of the first few towns she passes until she’s confident she has evaded her captors.

As she walks through the forest, listening to the sounds of nature, she can’t help but be in awe and feel a little at ease. She’s hearing sounds she never heard before; warbles similar to a wilga (PL: Golden Oriole), maybe, but definitely not the same. There is a rolling call that could be a głuszec (PL: black grouse). But, none of the sounds are quite right for the birds, insects, and other normal calls the young backpacker recognizes. Her grandfather would almost certainly know what they are, since he seemed to know every bird, bug, and any other creature in Europe, if not the world, simply from a glimpse or a single sound.

Zuzia smiles fondly at the memories of her Grandfather. She silently makes a note to toast to him the next time she can. He taught her a lot about survival in the wilderness, and she feels perfectly at home in these alien woods. 

The blonde is fully aware that it won’t last, of course. She does want to go home, but she avoided permanent imprisonment thanks to her equipment and preparation, and her drive to escape carried her to relative safety. She doesn’t know the intentions of a castle full of creepy weirdos. She knows that animals are either hungry, territorial, or scared, and more often than not, will avoid her.

That’s what she was thinking, anyway.

Without warning, Zuzia is snatched off of the ground by forceful arms that slam into her like tree branches, and claws dig partially into her skin, causing her to cry out and scream in surprise and fear. Not that she knows personally, but it feels like what she imagines being grabbed by a tiger would feel like. Her only chance is to protect her neck and try to escape. But, she’s already in its grasp as she is tumbled around by the grip shifting on her.

No animal in the world behaves like this, not in Europe. Not as far as she knows.

She manages to feel teeth, gums and lip, and does her best to grip before she is bitten, pushing the head away from her neck as the beast tries to line her up for a bite. She’s still screaming and grunting in pain, but she has to escape. 

She doesn’t want to die. 

Once she has a good read on its head, even with the daze the dizzying movements are causing, she swings her right fist as hard as she can, trying to batter it. She hits it once somewhere above its jaw, and it makes an eerie and sharp bark that sounds strange.

Regardless, just a single hit is enough to cause it to drop her, and she hits the ground on her stomach, scrambling away as hot liquid drips on her head and into her hair. She hears the panther or tiger land on the ground behind her, and she picks up the pace, sprinting as fast as her legs will carry her. 

Zuzia never did track and field or any other running sports, but she’s getting her exercise now. She actively makes an effort to weave through trees to try to make it more difficult for the beast to pounce her. Given the claws and the fact that it was in the tree, it had to have been some kind of big cat, but unless it escaped from a zoo, there’s no way something so big should be roaming free in Poland.

Zuzia runs until she has no more forest to flee through, coming to an open plain that rolls rather far into the distance. She grips the finger ring of her remaining bear spray and draws it, finding a spot to put her back against safety and tries to whirl to find the attacking zoo animal.

To her surprise, she doesn’t hear it, she doesn’t see it, and nothing else seems to be pursuing her at the moment. She pants heavily.

Now that I think about it, was I running faster than before?

She shakes her head.

No, if I was, it was only because of the adrenaline. I need to get to safety.

She remains alert, but she takes a moment to check her phone. She still doesn’t have service, including emergency services, and her battery is about 50%. She’ll have to charge it with her battery backup when she gets a chance.

For now, she needs to keep moving.

Her legs wobble, and she collapses into a kneel against the tree she braced against. She sighs. “Alright. I guess I’ll rest for a moment. Not like I can outrun a tiger in a field.”

But, what is a tiger doing here? I really must not be in Poland, right? This has to be another country… right?

She looks up at the sky.

That dream… was just a dream, right? I mean, that young woman said she was a goddess, but there’s only one God. 

She sighs.

Next, you’ll tell me Falkor is going to come pick me up and fly me to the Princess.

Zuzia laughs at herself. Geez. How ridiculous would that be? Me, a fantasy world heroine.

The blonde looks around the forest, which she knows at least one large predator resides in. “Or, more like I’m stuck in a jungle game…”

The backpacker finally climbs to her feet and keeps walking, watching for any other predators or aggressive creatures. This countryside is beautiful, but she doesn’t recognize any of the horizon landmarks. Not that she knows every inch of every country, but she should be able to at least make some sense of her surroundings.

The field she’s walking through seems to be cultivated, which makes sense, given that she’s only a day or so away from the castle. The towns and villages need farms, and thankfully, it’s not too tall right now.

She can see the smoke rising from what she would guess is a town, and she navigates in that direction. She’ll make her decisions once she’s closer whether or not to enter the town. But, for now, it's potentially civilization.

Even still, though, she can’t get a signal on her cellphone. She pays for international service on her phone, so it’s not a roaming issue. As much as she doesn’t want to accept it because it’s bonkers, ‘another world’ is becoming a more rational answer by the hour.

If it is ‘another world’, and her GPS won’t let her clear the marker for ‘Daniel’, then it’s the only sense of direction she has. As a backpacker, exploring and wandering are part of the fun. But, at the end of the trip, there needs to be a destination. 

Since Zuzia has no idea where she is, she can’t rightly plan where that destination will be.

***

Tembly trembles as she stands in line with the other girls waiting to introduce themselves to the Emperor and Empresses of the Fievegal. Everyone keeps showing the most deference to Empress Hekate, but she looks only a little older than Tembly, who is twelve. 

She’s terribly nervous. A woman offered Tembly a job at the dilapidated old shack where she and a large handful of other children with no parents live. Her younger brother is all she has in the world from her family, and he’s extremely sick. He’s not alone, but that is Tembly’s reason for doing anything she can to try to earn enough money to buy medicine.

And now, she’s standing before Empresses and an Emperor and the Grand Duchess of the Stalvaltan Grand Duchy. 

Even as an orphan, the young scraggly girl has heard rumors about a powerful woman in the southeast who commands the respect of kings. She’s the kind of woman little girls dream of growing into, but it seemed like it was rumors and stories, which Tembly never had time for.

Her face isn’t especially cute, nor is her body as well developed as some of the other girls present. That was another rumor going around about the Emperor, Daniel; he favors beautiful women and will do anything for them.

That’ll never be Tembly, but some part of her wishes she could compete. She and her brother would be safe and healthy for the rest of their lives if she could become an Empress…

“Your turn,” urges a woman with platinum blonde hair and faintly-gold horns growing out of her head. “Please introduce yourself.”

The Empresses have been taking turns talking to the people applying for the positions, and this woman is looking directly at Tembly. For some reason, the young orphan girl’s tongue feels like it has left her mouth.

She stammers a little, and she takes a step forward, but her clumsiness swoops in to claim another chance to help her brother.

She trips over her own feet and screams as she falls, hitting the coffee-table in front of her and the Empresses and knocking a tray off of it, shattering pots and cups with terrible noise, while tea that Tembly could never dream of having the luxury of drinking spills all over the floor.

Many people stand up suddenly, including the Emperor, and Tembly curls into a ball as she cries out, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!” She begins sobbing, unable to control herself.

However, a body swoops in and scoops her up. She is being man-handled, even as she waits passively for her punishment.

Instead, the woman handling her is somewhat forcibly inspecting her hands. “My goodness, child! Are you hurt? Let me see? Do you feel any pain?”

Tembly can’t stop sobbing, and she wants to tell the woman to spare her life at least, but she can’t form words.

To her surprise, though, through her tears, she sees that the woman holding her is the same platinum blonde, while the blue-haired woman with blue horns has also approached, along with Hekate, the black-haired girl with big, gatonine-like ears, but bigger, and a much bigger tail.

All three of them fuss over her, even as she makes an unsightly display of sobbing in front of them after making such a horrifying blunder.

“You’re going to suffocate her if you squeeze her that hard, Ryuo!” complains Hekate.

“I have to reassure her. Shh, child, we all make mistakes…”

“Does she have any broken bones?” asks Reignleif, studying the girl.

“No. She seems to be unharmed.”

Tembly is finally able to whimper out the words, “I’m sorry…”

Ryuogriar continues petting her head, saying gently, “It’s alright. I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”

Hekate puts her hands on her hips. “Yeah! You should have just relaxed. You’re almost as old as me, so I hope we can be friendly.”

Tembly’s eyes water again, and Hekate panics.

Emperor Daniel steps closer, placing his hand on the young Empress’s shoulder. “This is all my fault.” He kneels down and offers his hand to Tembly. She hesitates, and Ryuogriar gently takes her hand, placing it on Daniel’s. He says gently, “I know you’re stressed because you think this is your last chance. Why don’t you start with your name, and we’ll go from there. As I’m sure the Grand Duchess promised you, we’ll pay you well for your time, no matter the outcome today, right?”

He looks over his shoulder at Aramellianna, who nods in agreement. “Of course, your Imperial Majesty. This is an auspicious day, so no one will walk away worse for the experience.”

Daniel smiles at Tembly, and her heart finally starts to feel a little at ease. He adds gently, “If you really do want to work for us, you’ll have to get used to being around all of us, right? So take a few breaths, puff your chest up, and introduce yourself. Then, we’ll interview you properly.”

Tembly finally manages an affirmative bob of her head, and she sniffles as she tries to wipe her face. Ryuogriar lets her stand up, but the Empresses remain kneeling with Daniel, and Tembly feels immensely awkward.

Ryuogriar adds, “Please tell us your name at least.”

“T-T-Tembly, your… um… Majesty.”

The voluptuous blonde woman nods. “Tembly. An interesting name. Can you tell us a little about yourself?”

The young orphan hesitates. She nods, telling a brief version of her story. “I-I live with the other children. A-And, I am applying for this job because I’ll work hard and dedicate myself to any task. P-P-Please forgive my mistakes.”

“Already forgiven,” states Hekate confidently. “I only ask you to be more careful and to relax.”

Tembly nods quickly, while the red-haired woman with horns finally speaks, “You are a weak human child. You should avoid making us worry about you by appearing to be strong.” Her tone is more harsh than the others, but there’s a strange sense of sincerity behind her words, and it reassures Tembly a little.

“I-I’ll try, your Majesty… Th-Thank you…”

Tembly steps back into line, and her mind swirls as she feels dizzy after what happened. One of the maids already working for Aramellianna swiftly cleans up the glass while the rest of the introductions are being done, and the room smells like tea for a long time. Tembly feels embarrassed, but she wasn’t chased out.

Rather, she notices a woman with caramel-skin, framed glasses on her face, and elongated ears like an elf approach Daniel. She whispers into his ear, and he listens to her, while the others seem to scowl at her with distaste.

Then, Daniel’s gaze and the woman’s fall upon Tembly, causing her to flinch.

“You’re sure?” asks Daniel.

The woman nods. “Of course, my Beloved. Did you forget? My body is covered in them.”

Covered in what? thinks Tembly to herself. I don’t have warts do I? Moles? Oh no! Is it my freckles?

Daniel sighs. “You there, Veuthene, was it?”

“Y-Your Grace?” asks the young woman next to Tembly on her left.

Tembly notices a presence appear behind her, and she glances over her shoulder to see a man with grey hair, a dark grey mantle, and broken horns peeking out of his hair. He also has a silvery reptilian tail under his cloak. Veuthene hasn’t noticed him yet, as she is remaining calm under the inspection of Daniel and the elf-like woman.

Daniel asks, “Care to explain what a young lady like you needs with a psychic defense tattoo?”

This causes Hekate to flinch like she’s going to stand, but Daniel’s hand lands on her lap, causing her to halt. 

Tembly glances between them and Veuthene, as well as the horned man standing behind her. She feels terrified.

The young woman replies, “I don’t know what you mean, your Grace. I have no tattoos to my knowledge.”

“I see. How about the offensive mana boost?”

This causes Veuthene to twitch, but she replies again, “Offensive… mana boost? I’m not familiar with…”

“I’m glad you played dumb, actually. If you had tried to sell them to me as advantages that would belong to me and my family, I might have believed you. What you just told me is that you have hidden abilities you intended to use as contingencies. Tell me, what is normally done with spies?”

Veuthene doesn’t answer, and Tembly feels fear gripping her.

Is something going to happen? Is… Are we going to be accused as well? I-I’m not a spy!

Aramellianna is the one to finally reply, “Forgive me, your Imperial Majesty. This oversight is mine. I shall dispose of this spy myself.”

“That won’t be necessary,” replies Daniel. “Six dragons now have your scent, Veuthene, if that is your name. You may walk out now and report two things to your masters; your failure to get inside of the Citadel, and our ability to detect your tricks.”

“Daniel,” warns Aramellianna. “I would urge you to reconsider…”

“Capturing her, torturing her, and trying to extract information from her is a minimal-loss endeavor, but not necessary. The person she’ll lead us to is a middle man, and he’s likely already dead. So, you can walk out right now with your life, or you can gamble on successfully taking out one or two of us right now. But, you’re in the casino now, and the House always wins.”

The suspect maid candidate replies a little defensively, “Your Grace, I was personally selected by her Grace, the Grand Duchess of…”

“That you have fooled the intelligence officers of the woman who has accepted me as her son has no bearing on whether or not you are an enemy. Mind your words and think very carefully about the very next thing you say or do. I have no incentive to grant you additional chances.”

Veuthene hesitates for a long time, and she finally glances over her shoulder to see the grey man.

After a long time contemplating, she curtsies. “It would seem I’m not suitable for this job after all. Thank you for your time, your Grace, your Greatness. Please be well.” She then departs, leaving the group of applicants one fewer.

Daniel replies with a scoff, “I thought there would be more trouble than this, so I’ll take it. Neith, thank you.”

He gestures the grey man over, and the latter obliges. The Emperor hands Neith something, and the man bows before returning to his post.

Daniel stands up, and Hekate joins him. He explains, “I expected spies to work their way into our borders, so me and my companions were looking for it. I apologize for the scare. Now then, let’s conduct the interviews and go from there.”

While Tembly is still confused, when her turn comes to interview, Daniel brings only Hekate and Ryuogriar to interview her.

In spite of her shaking, in spite of the mess she caused, the answer she receives nearly stops her heart.

She is accepted to be an apprentice maid for the Fievegal.

And, along with that, her brother will receive treatment from the Fievegal.

***