As Alex stepped out of the portal with the three girls following him, the first thing they saw was a lot of forestry around them. The girls started looking around curiously, before Rias asked,
"So where are we?" Alex sent Anne a message saying where he was, before leaning back against a tree, and explaining,
"This world is known as Tortus, a medieval world where monsters and magic is commonplace, and kings and lords rule the land. There's also the demon race and the Demi human race alongside the humans, that are always in an endless cycle of aggression against each other and humans." He then went on to explain the various things he knew about the world, but left out the story aspects that he knew; like how the world itself was part of a certain series he read, Arifureta.
While explaining Alex left out quite a few details of the world, as he would most likely have to repeat everything when Anne arrived and when he went to Asora next. But he did explain the state of the worlds politics, like how religion was one of the biggest factors in how the world ran, and was the primary reason for the wars between the races. The thing which made Kuroka especially frown was when he explained that slavery existed in this world, and the ones enslaved were mostly the Demi humans, also called beastmen. She then made her tails and ears disappear, preferring to hide them than be considered a slave, while Alex himself kept his tail wrapped around his waist so it looked like a belt. Soon Grayfia asked,
"So where exactly are we?" Alex double checked with Lauren about their current location, and said,
"We should be just outside the Capitol city of the Hairihi kingdom. We'll wait here for Anne, then head into the city to get our bearings. After a few stops to sell some items I prepared for funds, we'll head to another town away from here." As he already told them about Anne none of the girls questioned waiting for her, so they just asked a few more things about the world itself. A few minutes later, another portal opened a few feet away from them, all four of them watched as a woman stepped out it.
None of them knew what to think when they saw her. The woman was covered in painted golden symbols from head to foot, contrasting her dark skin tone and matching the paint that had been plastered onto her hair. All the clothing she wore was a single band around her impressive chest, and what seemed to be a long strip of cloth tied in a peculiar fashion around her waist. After a few seconds of thinking Alex recalled that it was called a fundoshi. Other than that it seemed she wore only accessories like necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, also made with or colored gold. Seeing them all gawking at her, the girl blushed despite her darker skin color, and asked,
"Alex right?" Alex nodded and said,
"That's right, you must be Anne. I have to say you look a lot different than I remembered." Anne smiled at his words, and said,
"I hope in a good way, and I could say the same of you." She then turned her gaze to the three girls with him, before frowning. Alex didn't tell her about them since he didn't quite know how to best explain the fact that he intended to build a harem to someone. He was saved(?) from having to do so when Kuroka stepped forward.
"Hi there, I'm Kuroka Nyan! Are you planning to join Alex's harem too?" At Kuroka's words Anne's eyes widened, and she looked at the other two as well as they all nodded in confirmation of being part of Alex's harem. She then turned a glare at Alex himself, but before she could say anything Grayfia stepped in and said,
"Before getting into all of that, there are a few errands that need to be ran." At her words everyone looked at her, but Grayfia didn't stop there and continued while looking directly at Anne, with her golden paint and distinct lack of attire.
"I will cut to the point, that appearance is unsuitable for public display, therefore we should stay and help miss Anne clean up while the master runs into the city ahead of us. Is that acceptable master?" Though Grayfia was wording it in a way like she was asking his opinion, Alex knew she was indirectly telling him to leave them alone. He put up his hands in defeat, figuring the girls wanted to spend some alone time with someone none of them knew.
"I'll be back in a bit, maybe a couple hours." Was all he said as he turned around and walked off. No sooner than when Alex disappeared, did the three girls pounce on Anne. While Rias held her down, Kuroka swiftly stripped her while Grayfia prepared a tub of hot water. Anne didn't know how to react to the tub of water magically appearing, until she realized she was suddenly naked in the middle of the woods. Both Rias and Kuroka then started dragging her towards the tub, causing Anne to fight back, not wanting these random women to do whatever they wanted to her body. As one of her hands touched the water however, she faltered, and they dumped her into the near scalding tub.
When her head popped out of the water she was sputtering in surprise, as she was surrounded by warm water for the first time in twenty years. As the world she was in until now was extremely primitive, she was forced to make do without any luxuries from the twenty-first century. This meant no real baths, soap, shampoo, conditioner, or razors, for twenty years. After being forcefully reintroduced to these commodities, Anne quickly forgot about the three women doing whatever they wanted with her body, and just enjoyed what she desperately missed for two decades.
***
Alex entered the Capitol city of the Hairihi kingdom, and followed directions to a couple of the local shops where he sold some weapons and tools to get start up funds in this world. Alex didn't need much, just enough for some maps, books, and a couple rooms for the night since he wanted to spend some time around Anne before showing her Asora. Alex was planning to enter one of the Great Labyrinths of Tortus, Orcus, as soon as possible for the first step of what he wanted to accomplish here.
Alex then turned towards his next destination, the castle, and started walking. Now he wanted to ensure he was in the time he wanted, since Lauren told him that if someone was already here he would not likely arrive at the time he wanted. Having Ddraig suppress his powers like when he was in hiding in the dxd world, Alex snuck into the castle grounds and headed to the training area. Dodging the training soldiers, he soon arrived and nearly jumped with joy at what he saw. Gathered around a knight in armor was a group of teenagers, who Alex could hear were talking about skills and stats.
***
Nagumo Hajime was a normal everyday high schooler, until the day he along with most of his class was summoned to another world to act as heroes. He wasn't too interested in doing as they wanted, but since most of the class was going to help, then he might as well help as well. They were now in the courtyard for their first official day of training.
Hajime looked at the small metal plate in his hands, as the commander of the Knights Meld finished explaining their purpose. According to him they displayed their statuses and skills like in a video game, and as summoned individuals they would all be cheat-like characters. His otaku nature was initially excited when he heard this, but then the cruel reality smacked him in the face. According to Meld the average persons stats are around ten when they start out, while as cheat-like characters they would already have a head start, yet Hajime's stats were all at ten. Then as the other people in his class listed off their classes and skills, he couldn't help but realize that he was lackluster in that as well; his class being the non-combat Transmutation Artist, and his only skill besides language comprehension was transmutation itself. After most of the other classmates read off their stats and skills, attention turned towards Hajime, who simply handed his plate to Meld. After he looked at Hajime's plate, Meld made an awkward face before handing it back to Hajime.
"Transmutation Artist, it's a synergistic class that's good for black smithing, but not for combat." Hearing this most of the guys in the class gave Hajime nasty looks, while the girls looked at him with disdain. The only ones who didn't look at him that way were Shirasaki Kaori, and Yaegashi Shozuku. Kaori was known for being the most desirable girl in their class, due to both her beautiful looks and caring personality, which was also the source of the negative feelings most of his class held for Hajime. For some reason Kaori seemed to favor him greatly, and would constantly bother him even though he wasn't interested. This led to those who had a crush on her treating him in a bad way, while some others even bullied him out of jealousy. Shizuku was Kaori's best friend, and was one of the only ones who didn't have a disdainful attitude towards him.
The only other ones that didn't have such an attitude towards Hajime, were his teacher Hatayama Aiko, someone who would do whatever it takes to help their students, and who looked more like she belonged in middle school. The other one was Amanogawa Kouki, a perfect superman who's dream was to be a hero and save people. This didn't mean Hajime had a good opinion of him however, as Kouki had the bad habit of interpreting things in a way completely convenient to him, and linked others treatment of Hajime to his own personality and attitude. At that moment someone who did have a bad attitude towards Hajime spoke up,
"Oy Hajime, don't tell me that you're gonna be useless in fights? What's even the point of you being here now?" Almost every other guy was smirking at the words of the speaker, Daisuke Hiyama, as they sneered at Hajime. He then continued,
"Hey let us see your stats, even if your skills are useless your stats can't be, right?" Hajime knew there wasn't much choice in the matter, as they would keep harassing him about it. He handed over his status plate, and listened to all the oncoming ridicule in silence. As the jeers and insults started, three people in particular started getting angry. Both Kaori and Shizuku were absolutely disgusted with the bullying directed at Hajime, while Aiko was also angry that her students would treat a classmate this way. Both Kaori and Aiko were about to say something, when something strange happened.
Hajime, Kaori, Shizuku, Aiko, and Kouki all turned around when they felt something touch them, but it was driven from their minds when there was suddenly a bloodcurdling scream. Everyone turned to find Hiyama on the ground with both of his hands between his legs, tears streaming down his face. The training was put on hold, and Hiyama was swiftly taken to see a doctor.
***
Alex was swiftly returning to the spot he left the girls in the forest after leaving the castle. He was glad he arrived in the world at the time he intended, right after Hajime and his class were summoned here. Hajime was one of the core people he was after in this world, being a master craftsman and once he goes through his ordeal in the Orcus great dungeon. One of the reasons he went to check on them, was to place tracking spells on him and several others of interest, he also decided to make Hiyama feel a little pain. Now he could keep track of Hajime, Kaori, Shizuku, Aiko, and Kouki. Alex wasn't too interested in Kouki, but felt it would be better to keep track of him just in case.
With this all his errands in the Capitol were finished, so it was time to head back to the girls then to his next destination, the Orcus great dungeon.