Crash Course

The serpent, after fulfilling its last task, vanished with a poof, releasing thick fog everywhere. It took a couple of seconds (and a coughing fit for both) before it dissipated, returning the room to normal.

Once the illusion was lifted, it turned out that Jio was just hiding at the master's bedroom. Since the curtains were drawn, Angelo could only make out a couple of points of interest in the room, most notably the deer mount hung on the wall. As much as he wanted to pull the curtains to let the morning light in and start investigating, the existence of the strange young man and his colleague's condition were more important.

Their job is to exorcise, not trace. Ignoring everything else for now, he led themselves out of the room to check on his partner.

From the second-floor landing, Rusl's unconscious body lay, the fresh blood on his body mixing with the coagulated blood. Angelo rushed over to his side and checked his pulse. While faint, it's there. His skin was a bit cold to the touch, though.

He opened the man's mouth and rubbed some sugar on his tongue. Then, taking out a pill from his satchel, he administered its contents. Rusl groaned in response but he didn't regain consciousness.

Jio, whose watching from the sidelines, asked, "Mind explaining what just happened, Ange-san?"Angelo let the strange way Jio called him pass since it didn't seem to be an insult. "What this medicine does is it speeds up a body's recovery, with the only downside being so painfully bitter. Litanists, and that's the two of us here, use it since sugar keeps the mind calm."

"Uh, the way you just poured a load of sugar in the guy's mouth though… won't you Litanists get diabetes from that?"

Angelo smiled. "Perhaps. We're on the brink of a civil war, so it shouldn't matter."

Jio was surprised. "Civil what now!?"

"Civil war. How come you don't know about this, young man?"

Jio took a defensive step back. He's hesitant. "Well, uh… You wouldn't believe me if I told you.""Try me."

The man took an exaggeratedly deep breath, puffed his chest, shut his eyes, and declared, "I'm from a different world!"

The expected gasp didn't come. Angelo snickered. "That's it?"

"Yeah, you don't have to take it seriously…"

"You're mistaken. I'm just expecting something more terrible—I didn't mean your situation isn't, by the way."

Jio flashed a big grin. "You don't have to feel bad about it, Ange-san. You see, I was kinda hoping to get somewhere far away, you know? Just throw everything to the wind and escape, that kinda thing," He let the words hang in the air, his face reflecting the many things going on his mind as he reminisced about his former life.

Angelo furrowed his brows, thinking. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Jio, but did you die in your world, perhaps?"

The young man's shoulders relaxed as an adult took his words seriously. "Nope. Matter of fact, I'm kinda an expert in these. Without further ado, let me explain," He cleared his throat. "Ahem, so we have this strange phenomenon called 'being swept into another world'. A mouthful, yes, so let's shorten it by saying isekai."

"Ea..sy..?"

"I-SE-KAI," Jio mouthed the words for Angelo to follow.

"Isekai… what a strange word…"

"Strange is not a word you'd say if you're in my world, though. There are tons of stories based on that trope. Lots of anime, manga, games, it became more than a trope with how relatable and popular it is."

Angelo raised a hand, interrupting Jio, who was about to ramble on about a lot of foreign words. "I'm sure it's popular and you have a lot of stories with this isekai, but let's try to stay on topic for now. Do you recall how you got here?"

"I was… isekai-ed?"

Angelo ran a hand over his face. Children. No matter the era or, in this case, world they're in, they're always a pain to deal with. "I'm asking the specifics, young man. What happened? Did you just up and vanish? Were you unconscious for an indeterminate amount of time? Something along those lines."

"Oh!" He brought down his fist on his palm like a hammer. "Well, I was getting to that part. You see, we have a lot of methods, but the most prominent ones were through portals… Ah, think of it as a door, but unlike going somewhere near, you'd go, say, to another country. The next one is by death, and the last one is through rebirth."

"That makes you getting easy-kai—transported to this world by means of a portal, then. Also, for the record, I know what portals are, young man."

Jio nodded vigorously. "To be specific, I was summoned here."

That statement sparked Angelo's curiosity. Summoned? Were the ones performing the failed ritual summoning a person from a different world and not attempting to commune with the sovereign? Wasn't the goal to become saint and consequently become king of Odiar?

Jio's calm and ignorant exposition left Angelo sweating ice. Fortunately, the young man was too immersed in his explanation he didn't notice Angelo shudder. What could be the use of these people? An experiment? If so, were they greater than the sovereign? Jio did know some concepts beyond his comprehension.

In any case, he needed to bring this man to the company and see what the higher-ups would think. Repeating what Rusl said to him, it's not about finding the source. Their job this time was simply to exorcise, nothing more, nothing less.

After checking Rusl's pulse and finding it stable, Angelo decided to carry him and report back with Jio in tow. He must be extra careful with his words now that he knew the man wasn't ordinary.

As if the invention of the internal combustion engine wasn't nothing short of a miracle, now we also have to deal with otherworldly aliens.

Fortunately, Jio had been cooperative and helped him carry Rusl since he's 'still learning the ways of this world and would need an expert for battles'. Angelo was stuck with his satchel filled with medicine, salt, and sugar. Apart from a knife, he had no weapons. It's probably for the best if he kept it a secret.

Although he believed from the bottom of his heart that having the covenant now would be a tremendous advantage.

"Woah, was that some sort of spell, Ange-san?" Jio asked after Angelo whistled.

"Just a way of communicating to the office," Angelo said. As much as he wanted to withhold information, getting too secretive might raise suspicion. "We can use birds if a telephone's unavailable."

"What if both birds and telephones aren't available?"

"Let's not try to jinx our situation, yes?"

Unfortunately, he might've said that a little too late.

The furious clacking of hooves roared on the quiet street, heralding the arrival of new danger.

A blinding white carriage stopped in front, the four well-groomed horses neighing obediently at the driver's command.

Angelo stood in front of Jio and spoke in a low voice. "Jio, if you don't want to be sent back to your world so soon, please don't say nor think of anything."

A horse-drawn carriage was only used by important people. A display of authority, these animals were the price of a steam locomotive, if not more expensive than. If there are four of them here, this official might be quite important.

The door was opened by the masked chauffeur. A blank mask. This particular design was used by one and one agency only.

A blonde man wearing all-white from his suit down to his Oxford shoes emerged from the vehicle. He whipped out a cane, its tip adorned by a pink diamond, caressed by none other than his fingers under those white gloves. His stance was dignified and his face friendly; however, Angelo knew by this point that looks could be deceiving.

The man smiled once he saw Angelo.