Toshiro awakened as the golden rays of the sun peeked through the gaps in the bed canopy. He couldn't help but still feel that this entire situation was bizarre. I mean he and his classmates were actually isekai'd. He looked up at the ceiling and remembered the faces of his family, his tough mother, who always pushed him to succeed, his easy-going father, who always told him to take it easy, and his cute yet annoying little sister, always bugging him. Toshiro let out a deep sigh, renewing his resolve to return home.
They had spent 4 days recovering from their shock and conversing about the details of their plan. On the second day, it was finally decided that they would ask Queen Lidia herself to handle their magic training. She was initially only here to greet them as the leader of Aphoeria and to solidify her country's alliance with the Holy Rylous Empire, but she had taken a liking to the ever-inquisitive group of students. She decided to stay in Rylous for the next 3 months to assist them in their magic training. Queen Lidia had spent the last week teaching them about the ins and outs of magic. Seeing this, King Isaac decided to remain in order to help them with their practical combat training. For some reason, he looked filled with fighting spirit, saying stuff like, "I won't let that woman steal a march on me."
"Is it okay for them to stick around here? Are those two really heads of state?" Toshiro muttered to himself, picturing the snickering and fired-up expressions of the two movie star look-alikes.
Toshiro walked up to the ornately decorated wardrobe and picked out the clothing the Queen told them to wear for training. It was one of those black body gloves that all the knights wore under their armor, apparently, it had the property of slowly absorbing mana from the air and storing a small amount of mana for the wearer's use, it was called Mana Skin. Li Chang asked for several samples of the soft, durable fabric, after being baffled by its unique properties. Toshiro finished slipping on the bodysuit then slipped on a set of well-fitted leather armor, including a breastplate, bracers, leggings, and sturdy leather boots. It was apparently made from Wyvern leather. He had been studying its properties over the last month as well as dissecting the corpses of any monsters the Rylous knights, the templars, could get their hands on. It had the unique property of deflecting most of the damage from fire, lightning, and light spells lower than the Adept Rank.
According to Queen Lidia, there are 6 ranks of spells. There are Civilian Rank spells. This includes spells that anyone with just a little mana can learn. It includes spells like Light, Manifest Flame, and Create Water. There are Novice Ranked spells. This rank includes basic battle magic like Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Water Bullet. There are Adept Rank spells that get into the territory of stuff like Chain Lightning, Inferno, and Cyclone. Spells like these can affect groups of about 10 to 20 targets at once. There's Advanced Rank which has crazy spells like Tsunami, Fissure, Shining Sol, and Dominion, that could kill hundreds of people at a time. The most devastating is Strategic Rank, these spells can only be used by 50 mages ritual casting with a magic circle for a few hours. Strategic Rank Magic can take out an entire region if used. According to the Queen, these are more like natural disasters than spells. She also snickered and said that if she squeezed out all of her mana at once, she might be able to produce something similar.
"Just what is that woman?"
They've only been used 5 times in the history of the Holy Rylous Empire, and only four spells were used. They were Pandemonium, Hoarfrost, Holocaust, and Sacred Sun. Apparently, only Rylous and the Demonic Empire Uthal can cast Strategic rank magic reliably.
The last rank is Special Rank. All of Healing, Material, and Barrier Magic fall under this category. It also includes lost spells like Control Weather, Living Flame, Living Lightning, Living Water, and Create Undead. It's pretty much a category for magic even the people of this world don't understand.
About 2 minutes after Toshiro finished dressing he heard a light knock on the door.
"It's open," he said with a slight sigh. A petite girl in an authentic maid uniform entered the room. She looked about 16 years old and had shoulder-length brown hair. She had soft facial features, clear green eyes, and a well-balanced body. Any high school guy from earth would think she was a model. It was Erica, a personal maid assigned to Toshiro by Rylous. All of the students had been assigned a personal maid or butler to take care of their needs by the Rylous Empire. However, Toshiro, Li Chang, and Leon, the 3 bachelors of the group, were the only guys assigned maids. Everyone else's caretaker was of the same gender. Toshiro glanced at Erica, remembering the first time he met this girl, her face was burning red with anxiety and anticipation as she sat in seiza on his bed. Of course, he refused to touch her, he had a modern person's sense of morality, not to mention it would be playing right into the empire's hands if he ended up getting her pregnant and got tied down here.
"Master, breakfast is ready. Will you be taking it in the conference room with the other heroes, or in your room?" Erica asked with slightly reddened cheeks, remembering the first time they met.
"Sigh. I'll eat with everyone else, we have a lot to talk about after all. As usual, you aren't allowed to disturb us," Toshiro said while trying his best to ignore her blushing face. He was disgusted by the vulgar actions of the Rylous Empire, but he couldn't help but feel guilty after looking at her innocent expression. From this girl's naive demeanor and gentle disposition, he could definitely tell she had no ill intentions; she probably thought she would be like the heroine in a fairytale, the lover of a hero.
Toshiro walked behind Erica as they traversed the beautifully decorated white marble halls of the Grand Cathedral. In truth, this cathedral was more of a palace. It was filled to the brim with extravagant paintings, sculptures and furniture. Also, all of the priests and nuns that passed by wore beautifully decorated vestments. Nevertheless, he paid absolutely no mind to his surroundings and remained deep in thought. He ran through the basics of mana manipulation inside his head. Mana manipulation is a series of techniques that allows a person to utilize the mana in their body to use powers separate from magic. Anyone can use mana manipulation with a bit of talent and training, but only mages are capable of using magic. Basic mana manipulation is the key to all magic.
From what Toshiro has read, he remembers that mana manipulation is separated into two types, sense, and control. The most basic level of both types allows a mage to sense their flow of mana and control the flow of it within their body, however, there are also several more advanced mana manipulation techniques that require more innate talent. Sense includes techniques like Presence Detection, which allows you to sense the presence of living creatures by detecting the appearance of a new aggregation of mana, and Magic Detection, which allows you to detect the arrangement and transformation of mana, allowing you to sense when magic is being cast.
Control includes Mana & Magic Transfer, Physical Enhancement, and Mana Obfuscation. According to Queen Lidia Mana & Magic Transfer is a technique rediscovered by a court mage from Aphoeria. It involves imbuing high-quality materials or magic circles with mana or granting them a magical effect of the mage's choice, it's apparently the basis for all Enchantment. Physical enhancement is a technique that strengthens a person's physical abilities using mana, anything from upper body strength to eyesight can be strengthened; it is used by all soldiers and knights but its effectiveness is highly reliant on innate talent. Just like with magic, humans don't have a very strong inclination towards this technique compared to the other races. Last is Mana Obfuscation, another talent-dependent technique. Humans with this technique are even rarer than mages themselves. This ability allows an individual to completely evade the Presence Detection of others without much issue. Even the most sensitive of individuals could be caught unaware if someone with this ability decides to attack them.
"Hmm. I wonder how it actually works, maybe the mana—"
"Umm. Master? We are here," said Erica as she tugged on Toshiro's sleeve.
"Oh, my bad. Sorry, I was just muttering to myself," Toshiro said while scratching the back of his head.
"No no, master, I am sorry. I apologize for distracting you from your musings," Erica said, looking down at the ground while fidgeting.
At that moment, Li Chang's head popped out of the door.
He was greeted by the sight of a blushing Erica and Toshiro scratching his head.
"Tsk. Hey dumbass, get in here, we were about to start without you," hissed Li Chang as he pulled Toshiro into the room by the wrist.
"Hey. Tell me you didn't put your paws on that girl," Li Chang said while massaging his temples.
"Tch. Of course I didn't, she's like 14. I'm not into that stuff," Toshiro said with a fed up expression.
"Hey, are you guys done with your lover's quarrel or should we give you some time," Choon Hee teased with a smirk.
"Quiet!" they both yelled in unison.
The two then looked at eachother and shivered.
"Both of you, please sit down," Fumiko asked with a gentle yet chilling smile.
The two shivered again for a different reason and sat down in their chairs.
"Now then, we've delayed this topic for far too long. It's time to discuss some of the things we've learned about this world over the past month. Let's start with the information we've collected on the Church of Septumis.
Leni, who was kicking her legs back and forth, spoke up, "Gotcha. The Church of Septumis is a monotheistic religion that worships Septumis, the God of the 7 Virtues of Heaven,"
"Strangely, Septumian Orthodoxy is the only organized religion of this world," Leon said with his usual bored expression.
"That's extremely strange. Where there are people there are myths and myths bring belief. How can there only be one religious group?" Irina said suspiciously.
"That's not all. Apparently, it arose at the start of this era. The leaders of the religion soon established the Rylous Holy Empire when they acquired enough believers and territory later on," Leni explained.
"The 7 Virtues of Septumis are Kindness, Humility, Purity, Hope, Justice, Patience, and Diligence. In order to represent those virtues 7 of the most powerful bishops are selected to advise the pope. These are the 7 Virtues of God," Leni said monotonously.
"And," Toshiro said expectantly.
"Other than the stuff we already know, that's pretty much all Leni and Brother Leon could figure out," Leni said cutely while sticking out her tongue.
Everyone had a peculiar look on their faces, as if saying, 'that's it.'
"There was no other information on the 7 Heavenly Virtues. Plus, there wasn't much to glean from the church's history. They pretty much believe in the 7 Virtues, with the nonhuman races being an exception," Leon shrugged.
"That's just too strange. A large religious sect like this not keeping records of their most prominent members is insane," Li Chang shouted in disbelief.
"That's what Leni thought too. The only thing recorded is the seats shifting every 70 to 80 years or so. According to the archives, apparently, the names of the 7 Virtues are wiped from the records as a way of releasing them from all mortal fetters," Leni said lazily.
"That pope seems WAY TOO incompetent. There's no way he has the chops to run this whole empire," Alex said with a suspicious grin.
"That's what we were thinking. He's probably just a puppet. The 7 Virtues probably control the empire in the shadows, as well as the pope,"
"Hmm, we can't let our guards down around those damn suspicious guys," Toshiro said in a low voice.
Everyone discussed the church as well as their speculations before moving on.
"Now then, Alex, please report on what you discovered about this world's countries and global situation," Fumiko asked with a serene expression.
"Gotcha babe," Alex said with a smile.
"First of all, everyone take a look at this map," Alex said as he unfurled a large piece of parchment on the round table.
Link to map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17WWMkQ66u3TTLes-0gg2OqOOYYhBuqw9JTRKaRhbmIA/edit
"As you can see, this world is a supercontinent with 7 countries. There's the Great Forest of Efrar where the elves live, the Bestril Wildes ruled by the Therianthrope clans, the Holy Rylous Empire, the most powerful human country on the continent, the Doek Dwarven Kingdom, the Sword Kingdom of Crowyth, the Aphoeria Kingdom, and the Demonic Empire of Uthal," Alex said.
"Only 7 countries, that number seems too small, considering the amount of land," Irina said while narrowing her eyes.
"That's what I thought too, apparently the motto, might is right, is extra true in this world. They have a history of conflict and war WAY longer than earth. About 14,000 years were recorded in the Rylous archives. This country has been around since the start of recorded history in this world," Alex said with a troubled face.
"And they're still stuck in the Medieval era!" Oliver shouted in surprise.
"Yup, Magic seems to have totally stunted their progress. Plus, most groups seem to be focusing on rediscovering lost techniques instead of improving their own stuff. But let's get back on track. The Holy Rylous Empire has taken up an aggressive stance against any country ruled by the heretical races, non-humans who don't believe in Septumis. They're calling their war against the Demonic Empire the 10th Great Holy War. They've had 9 other Holy Wars against the Demonic Empire over the past 5,000 years. To sum it up, Rylous has been the aggressor in 7 out of the 9 conflicts and the fight has remained in a stalemate. The demons have only seemed to strike as a means of retaliation," Alex said with a helpless expression.
"Sigh. So we're basically fighting against a group of people trying to defend their land as a part of a country of hegemonic racists?" Toshiro said with a sigh.
"It gets worse. Rylous has started to invade the territory of the elves. They're trying to close in on the elves' home country located in the Great Forest of Efrar. They're invading from two directions, south and east of the Efrar Swamps. This map outlines the progress of the invasion or 'missionary effort' as they're calling it. However, apparently there hasn't been much of any progress in the last year. The slaves they have around the Grand Cathedral probably came from the Efrar Swamps."
"I'm surprised that they're willing to hold two conflicts at the same time, considering their track record over the last 5,000 years," Li Chang scoffed.
"That's the thing. It's different this time. The Holy Rylous Empire has formed an alliance with the nations of Crowyth and Apheoria for this Holy War, both sides are still in the mobilization phase,"
"Why are they siding with the empire now? Wouldn't they want to maintain the status quo," Daksha asked in a confused voice.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that Isaac and Lidia would rather not be involved, but I'm not sure they have a choice," Alex said while scratching his head.
"Crowyth shares their western border with Rylous, so I bet a lot of priests come and go, spreading Septumian Orthodoxy. Plus, the Demonic Empire has attempted to invade Rylous through Crowyth on more than one occasion. His people definitely hate the demons even if he doesn't. He probably doesn't want an uprising on his hands, so he can't refuse taking part in the Holy War,"
"He'd be lighting a fire under his own ass. Hah. It's almost funny how bad the situation is," Choon Hee snickered.
"Hmm. Lady Lidia filled me in a bit on her reasons as well. It has to do with Dwarven Kingdom Doek," Fumiko said while rubbing her chin.
"Doek and Apheoria have extremely strong ties when it comes to the development of Magic items using Rune Arts and Enchantment. Apheoria is a magic kingdom, so the development of new Magic techniques is their national policy. Apheoria really values the dwarves as business partners. Rylous is threatening to expedite they're eradication of the dwarves in the case that Apheoria doesn't cooperate," Fumiko said bitterly.
"Despicable," Leon grunted out.
"The dwarves are boxed in by Rylous. Plus, Doek is tiny compared to them. There would be almost no chance of winning if Rylous decided to seriously destroy them," Leni mumbled.
"I think the elves might be in a worse situation. Now let's talk about Bestril. They're separated from Rylous by the Drekkon Mt. Range to the northwest and the Pegasus Crags to the southwest. For some reason they've also started to invade the territory of the elves, starting on the west side of the Drekkon Mt. Range. They've also started to have skirmishes with the invading Rylous crusader soldiers. It's overall looking pretty bad," Alex said with a nervous smile.
"If I could choose, I'd definitely rather not side with Rylous. I'd rather us relocate to Aphoeria, but the Pope definitely won't let us go," Fumiko said with a sigh.
"Dakky, what about the geography and climate of this place," Choon Hee asked in order to shift away from the gloomy topic.
"Well, umm, about that…" Daksha mumbled nervously.
Everyone raised an eyebrow and had a confused expression.
"It's better if you just look first. Here," Daksha said as she unrolled a large piece of parchment across the table.
Link to Biome Map: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ueB1XdY8A6O-yrPgwaqvhVrhzg-CivYG2hSoEbAKRzQ/edit
Everyone had a bizarre expression when they looked at the parchment. No one could believe what they were seeing. As a weather analyst and climate expert, Fumiko was the one with the most shocked expression.
"Umm, what exactly are we looking at?" Toshiro muttered, completely baffled by the unexplainable sight before him.
"You see. I cross referenced the map that Alex provided with the scouting reports from the templars over the last few hundred years. As you can see, the climate of this world is nonsensical. The Efrar Forest seems to have a temperate climate but it's in the far north. The Bestril Wildes are mostly desert but the Demonic Empire's taiga and tundra are just to the east. The Holy Empire's and Crowyth's territory seems to have the normal 4 seasons, but it doesn't track that there can be a tundra in Doek when it shares a similar longitude to Efrar," Daksha said while shaking her head.
"This kind of irregular climate is only possible in the event of a large-scale disaster, something on the level of what killed the dinosaurs. This isn't normal by any stretch of the imagination, especially for a planet able to sustain life," Fumiko explained with a dark expression.
Everyone had the same question in their mind, 'what on earth could have done this?'
After a few minutes of silence, Irina stood up trying to quickly move on to the next topic.
"The refining process of this world is actually quite advanced since they have Magic. They can produce metal with our world's level of purity, according to Oliver and Chang. Additionally, according to Daksha, the properties of some of the minerals of this world are even better than our world's gunpowder. The smaller parts will definitely present a large hurdle, but creating a rifle sized rail gun or two shouldn't be a huge problem. Basic repeating rifles won't be a problem at all," Irina said with a cool look.
Almost everyone sighed with relief at this. With guns, self defense should present a lot less of a problem.
Toshiro was the only one with a pensive look on his face. He raised his hand and hesitantly said, "Actually I don't think anything less than a railgun would be of much help against monsters. Lots of the monsters I dissected had huge bodies filled to the brim with muscle and highly protective hides and carrabases. Chang took a look at some of the samples and compared them to the strength of some of earth's stuff through a series of tests and—,"
"Most of the stronger monsters could definitely completely shrug off a gunshot," Li Chang spat out bluntly.
"Dire bears and dire wolves along with most of the other larger monsters have such huge bodies that anything but a headshot would be nothing but a slight flesh wound," Toshiro elaborated.
"Plus, their bones are so dense that even a headshot would probably only give them a skull fracture. These things are definitely worth being called monsters," Toshiro said with a slightly frightened look.
"So nothing less than a railgun, huh…" Fumiko muttered.
"Eh, then magic must be pretty potent. I know we've been studying it lately but if Magic and physical enhancement is strong enough to kill creatures like that, it must be pretty crazy. I don't know, it kind of makes me a little excited," Alex said exaggeratedly.
"Oh yeah, we're gonna be irl OP anime protagonists. This isn't the type of experience you ever get in real life!" Choon Hee shouted in excitement.
Everyone's expressions brightened a little, remembering that their training starts today. They quickly conversed about a few more topics regarding the church and their next steps.
Soon, everyone started to joke and talk amongst themselves remembering that they were in an honest to goodness fantasy world. Alex's expression was brighter than the sun during the first rays of dawn. He was able to completely distract everyone from their bleak situation. Fumiko gave a genuine loving smile to Alex, remembering the reason she decided to date this goofy idiot.
At that moment, there was a strong knock against the door. A knight walked in and saluted the group. He had a purple emblem of a crow holding a book on his armor; he was a member of Queen Lidia's personal guard. Everyone quieted down, listening to what the knight had to say.
"Honored heroes, Her Majesty Queen Lidia Aphoeria and His Majesty Isaac Crowyth have called for you all. Training is to commence shortly. Please come to the cathedral training grounds as soon as possible," the knight declared in a dignified manner.
Everyone swiftly got out of their chairs, leaving the conference room. They all had excited expressions as they moved towards the training grounds.