Chapter 5 - Displacement

“We need to help Alina, she’s wounded,” Renji said with urgency.

Rovan looked at Renji with a puzzled expression.

Of course, he doesn’t understand me. Renji thought.

“I am wounded, an arrow hit me in the leg.” Alina clarified.

Rovan gestured them toward a long bench.

Renji gently lowered Alina onto the bench. Alina sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth from the pain as he raised her wounded leg onto the bench.

Renji placed his hand on her back. “Lie down.” Alina complied and he eased her down.

Conscious of her modesty, Renji used his cloak to cover Alina from the waist down, leaving only the wounded leg exposed.

“Thank you,” Alina said in a soft voice, caught off guard by his unexpected thoughtfulness.

Renji nodded as he carefully removed the blood-soaked bandages.

“This will hurt. Sorry.” Renji grabbed a wooden spoon from a nearby table and held it in front of Alina’s mouth.

Understanding what was about to happen, she bit down on the spoon.

Switching the multitool into pliers, he used it to pinch the stubbed arrow tightly before carefully pulling it out of the wound. Alina groaned in pain through the wooden spoon in her mouth.

Rovan then poured bright green liquid from a vial onto the wound. After about a couple of seconds, the wound started to close. A sigh of relief escaped Alina’s mouth.

“No way… Is that even possible?” Renji muttered, eyes wide.

Alina removed the spoon from her mouth. “Healing potion. Master’s an expert alchemist.” She sat up on the bench.

“Alina, he’s the summoned subject? He doesn’t understand our language?” Rovan asked, a look of concern on his face.

“Yeah, it seems that way. I had to link our minds to communicate.”

“That is strange, the summoning should allow for the subject to communicate as well. Did anything unusual happen during the summoning ritual?”

“Hmm.” Alina put a finger on her chin. “Two men appeared in the summoning circle.”

“Two men!?” Rovan’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, two.” Alina nodded.

“Where’s the other?”

“He’s dead. Renji threw him out of the summoning chamber, and he exploded.”

“He exploded?”

Alina nodded, “yeah, that’s why I was locked up. Vaerina pinned the botched summoning on me.”

“And you escaped with Renji’s help,” Rovan said, more a statement than a question.

Rovan folded his arms and paced the room.

“What is it, Master?” Alina asked, curious.

“Well, I cannot be entirely sure as the other man is dead. I believe that this man—Renji, was it? Was not the target of the summoning. The other man was.”

“What?” Alina asked.

Rovan gestured for her to wait as he left the room for a minute.

“How does your leg feel now?” Renji asked Alina.

“Much better. It still aches but healing potions are awesome.”

“That man is your magic teacher?”

“Yeah, Master Rovan. He can be a bit odd at times but he’s a good person.”

Rovan returned and gestured for Renji to take a seat at the bench.

“Here, take this.” Rovan handed Renji a flat stone, about two inches across and rounded at the edges. A single rune was etched in the centre.

The stone glowed for a second when Renji held it.

“Can you understand me now?” Rovan asked Renji.

“Yes… I can.” Renji stared at the stone in his hand.

A translator stone? More magic? This is insane.

Rovan showed Renji a similar stone in his hand. “I can understand you now too. If I didn’t have one, communication would only be one way.”

“I see,” Renji nodded.

“Renji, I know you have questions. Alina and I will answer as best we can. For now, I’d recommend you both get cleaned up and eat. Alina, your old room is as you left it.”

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were seated at the dining table. Rovan lent Renji a tunic and a pair of pants while Alina wore clean mage robes. She sat beside Rovan with Renji opposite her.

There were bowls of stew with a plate of bread and some cheese. Given how hungry they were, anything would have tasted divine. Alina and Renji greedily wolfed everything down.

“Thank you, Rovan,” Renji said, after he finished eating.

“Yeah, Master. I was famished,” Alina added, satisfied.

Rovan refilled their cups with water. “Don’t worry about it. Now, Renji, you must have questions. There is a lot of information, but I will give you the broad strokes for now. Brace yourself. Some of it will be hard to hear.” Rovan’s tone was sombre.

“I understand,” Renji replied.

“First, you’re no longer in your world. You’re in the Great Labyrinth—that’s what we call this place. Our world, so to speak. You were summoned here. The surface became uninhabitable about a thousand years ago. Everyone lives in this underground labyrinth now. How that happened is a story for another time.”

“How and why was I summoned?” Renji asked.

“Let’s start with why. The ruler of this floor—Floor Twenty—is Duke Thorval. He’s been exploiting the residents for years. Tensions are rising.”

Renji listened intently. I should let him continue, my questions can wait.

Rovan continued, “The Duke forced Alina to help summon a powerful warrior to crush the rebellion. Few truly understand summoning magic. Even Alina and I only grasp parts of it. Alina is known as a competent magic researcher. Both of us are allied with the rebels, so she plotted to sabotage the summoning.”

“Sabotage? How?” Renji asked.

Alina answered, “the summoner imbues the summoning circle with the traits desired in the summoned being. Traits like strength, magic, or wisdom. As many as a dozen traits can be imbued. The summoned being will possess these traits. In this case, the Duke asked for a warrior who didn’t fear death. That was the only trait that I imbued the circle with—no fear of death. Hoping for a being that wasn’t powerful just foolishly fearless.”

“‘Warrior who doesn’t fear death’ is a pretty wide net,” Renji said.

“Yes. A miscalculation on my part. But I couldn’t risk adding obviously sabotaged traits like ‘weak’ or ‘clumsy.’”

“Alina said you weren’t alone when you arrived. Tell me what happened,” Rovan said.

Renji explained that he was a soldier and that Jin Kuromori was a terrorist and criminal. He also explained the concept of bombs and suicide vests, which caused the explosion.

Rovan rubbed his chin. “From what you told me of this Jin fellow, together with the fact that you can’t understand our language… I believe that Jin was the target of the summon, not you. From my research, the summoning spell would have granted the ability to understand and speak our language.”

“So, I was just caught up in it. Wrong place at the wrong time then?”

Rovan exhaled slowly. “I’m afraid so.”

No way… talk about bad luck.

“Question. How do I get back?” Renji asked.

Rovan and Alina let out a sigh and looked at Renji, wearing sombre expressions. “There is no way that we know of, Renji. We’re sorry,” Rovan replied.

Alina attempted to speak, but no words came.

“You’re both kidding, right? There has to be a way!” Renji stood up, clearly agitated.

“I’m sorry, Renji. I was the one who did the summoning.” Alina looked down, fists tightening on her lap. “I’d understand if you’d blame me or hold me responsible.”

“I’m not looking to blame anyone. For all your research of summoning magic, there is no way to reverse it?” Renji pressed.

“You are messing with people’s lives!” Renji pressed harder. “How can you be so irresponsible!?”

Renji did not let up, becoming more agitated. “These are lives of other human beings! Real people! Have either of you thought about that!?”

Alina looked up, opened her mouth to say something but the words caught in her throat. Renji looked at her, their eyes met for a moment. Alina’s eyes were shimmering with tears. She looked down again at her clenched fists, knuckles whitening.

Renji caught himself. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before sitting back down.

Shouting wouldn’t do any good right now. I am still so pissed though. Argh!

He slumped forward, elbows on the table, head buried in his hands. Renji started taking long, deep breaths.

How is this even possible? How long have I been away? Probably about 2 days now.

Would I be classified as missing in action or even killed in action? Would the JSDF find a way here? Probably not. Stranded behind enemy lines with no evac, no exfil, and no support. Who even is the enemy here?

Damn it all to hell! Bloody freaking Isekai! This is messed up!

Alina reached out toward him… but stopped short. Her fingers curled back before touching his shoulder.