Chapter 118

The place where I was summoned was the living room of Amida Trading.

Along with Lady Clara, familiar faces like Ria, Zotto, and Noel were lined up.

“Mr. Hinoharu!!”

Ria rushed over and took my hands, looking a bit more mature than before.

It had been four months since we last met, but sixteen is a time when girls undergo dramatic changes.

“Welcome, Ria. I’m really happy to see you again.”

I also called out to Zotto and Noel who were nearby, but perhaps because it had been a while, they didn’t act spoiled like they used to.

Back when we were in Ebba-berg, they used to stick to me so much it was almost a hindrance, but now they seemed to be holding back.

I stepped closer and scooped both of them up at the same time.

As usual, they were quite light for a nine and seven-year-old.

“Have you guys been well?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Un.”

Noel smiled, remaining as relaxed and unbothered as ever, but Zotto looked a bit embarrassed.

While I needed to discuss future plans with Lady Clara and Ria, I decided to prioritize the kids for now.

“When did you arrive in Dresden?”

“The day before yesterday.”

“Have you already looked around all over the place?”

“Lady Clara took us to lots of places!” Zotto replied with an excited look.

Apparently, Lady Clara had taken Ria and the others out to do some sightseeing in the royal capital.

Lady Clara herself must have been happy to interact with the residents of Ebba-berg Village after such a long time.

That place was her hometown.

Furthermore, Ria and the others shared the blood of the minority people, just like Lady Clara.

“I have nothing but free time until the investiture ceremony, after all. Going around the royal capital for reasons other than patrols felt quite fresh.”

As he was being held, Zotto softly whispered into my ear.

“The feudal lord is surprisingly kind. Though she’s incredibly scary when she’s mad.”

I knew that very well.

And on top of that, she could occasionally be a massive crybaby who craved affection.

Though I was the only one who knew that.

Ria and the others were living in a room at Amida Trading, exactly as planned.

They had already become fast friends with Bianca, who also lived and worked on the premises.

The children had taken a strong liking to the kind-hearted Bianca, and Bianca, too, couldn’t help but find the two absolutely adorable.

After handing over the souvenirs from Earth and playing with Zotto and the other for a while, I left the children in Bianca’s care and contacted Gary.

The means of communication was the black slate Gary had given me.

It was about the size of a hanafuda card, and gripping it allowed for telepathic communication with Gary.

“Gary, it’s Kota. I’ve just returned to this side.”

“Welcome back, Kota. Were my mom and the others doing well?”

Recalling how Cindy had pointed a gun at me, I couldn’t help but crack a wry smile.

“Yeah, everyone was doing great. I’m carrying a video letter for you. Also, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

“You mean Ria, right? I already received an oracle from the angel.”

It seemed he had already heard about the situation from Mr. Handsome.

If that was the case, this would go quickly.

We decided to hold a meeting at Amida Trading, with Gary joining us as well.

From next time onward, Yoshioka would become Ria’s summoned beast.

“I received an oracle from Lord Seraphim and heard about you, Akito. Even though I’m inexperienced, will you lend me your strength?”

“Leave it to me, Ria. I’ve been wanting to test out my own power anyway, so the timing is absolutely perfect.”

It seemed Ria had also received various lectures from Mr. Handsome.

She mentioned that Mr. Handsome had appeared by her pillow in her dreams.

I suppose that’s what you call a heavenly oracle.

Gary hadn’t arrived yet, but we decided to try out the summoning for the time being.

Since both of us were currently summoned through Lady Clara’s power, we would first have her send both of us back.

After that, Lady Clara would summon me first, and then, after some time had passed, Ria would summon Yoshioka.

We wanted to make sure we could be summoned separately, and we also wanted to check how the flow of time would behave.

Until now, whenever I was summoned, time back in Japan would stop.

However, Yoshioka was with me now.

We needed to verify what would happen to Yoshioka in Japan while I was summoned.

While it would place a burden on Lady Clara’s magical power, I wanted to properly grasp the situation at an early stage.

Less than a minute after being sent back to my apartment in Yotsuya, I was summoned once again.

As usual, I pulled a skill card.

It would be amazing if I could get skills like this every day, but doing so would completely drain Lady Clara’s magical power.

Since we never knew when an unforeseen emergency might strike, it was actually something we had to avoid.

Having summoned me twice in a single day, I figured Lady Clara would find it difficult to engage in prolonged combat.

Since the entrance to the new dungeon was opening in three days, she needed to recover her magical power by then.

I decided I would give her a special-course massage tonight!

An attack-type skill is here!!

Because I was rushing to get back to Lady Clara’s side, I had pulled it without thinking about anything in particular.

This was truly the victory of selflessness!

Furthermore, it seemed I could employ other shikigami once the level went up.

Since an ox came after a rat, I wondered if a tiger would be next.

If it followed the order of the Chinese zodiac, it should turn out that way.

A shikigami like a dragon would probably be incredibly strong.

This skill really expanded my dreams.

I immediately called forth the Fire Rat.

It was a palm-sized rodent, with orange flames flickering along its shoulders and tail.

The small room in the gap between worlds instantly grew bright.

With this, it could easily serve as a substitute for a lantern inside labyrinths.

“I’ll be counting on you from now on.”

In response to my words, the Fire Rat lowered its head slightly in a manner that wasn’t very rat-like.

When I returned to the living room of Amida Trading, Yoshioka was nowhere to be seen.

It appeared that I alone had been properly summoned.

Thirty minutes later, Ria summoned Yoshioka.

She was chanting a long summoning incantation.

It took about forty seconds until he was summoned.

“Lady Clara, does it always take this much time even when you call me out?”

“No. It takes less than five seconds after activating the summoning art.”

It seemed the style of summoning differed between me and Yoshioka.

Before long, Yoshioka emerged from the magic circle Ria had created.

“Did the summoning work properly? Akito, do you feel any pain or nausea anywhere?”

“I’m perfectly fine, Ria. More importantly, this sensation is incredible! It feels like the magical power inside me has turned into a torrent, coursing through my entire body. I’ve never experienced a state like this before! Right now, I feel like I could even use high-output magic that I usually can’t manage!”

Ria had looked worried, but Yoshioka seemed completely ecstatic about his own power.

“Welcome back. How was it over on the other side?”

“It was completely different from any summoning up until now.”

Summarizing Yoshioka’s story, there were two crucial points.

The first point concerned the flow of time; even though I had come to Saxens, it seemed time back on Earth didn’t stop.

Unlike before, it might have been because there were now two separate individuals traveling back and forth between Earth and this world.

Even after I was summoned, Yoshioka apparently felt the progression of time normally.

From now on, even if I was over here, time would flow on Earth regardless.

However, the small room in the gap between worlds was the sole exception; while I was in there, time on both sides seemed to stand still.

The second point was that Ria’s summoning operated a bit differently from the usual ones.

He mentioned experiencing a sensation as though information about this side slid directly into his brain right before being summoned.

Details regarding what kind of place it was or who was present were sent into his mind, making it feel as if half of his consciousness arrived at the summoning point ahead of time.

That might be why the summoning magic performed by Ria took so long.

Furthermore, Yoshioka had apparently been summoned without passing through the small room in the gap between worlds.

Truthfully, I wanted to have Yoshioka go to the next room and have Ria experiment with the summoning magic just one more time.

I wanted to see what it felt like when a summons occurred while staying within the same Saxens borders.

However, Ria’s magical power was already running low.

For the time being, it looked like one summoning per day was her absolute limit.

According to Lady Clara’s explanation, a person’s total mana pool grew with age-related development and by increasing the frequency of use, so we could look forward to the future.

As we were all discussing various things about the summoning, Gary’s slate vibrated.

So it came with a vibration feature too.

“What’s wrong, Gary?”

“Kota, I’m sorry, but could you come over for a bit?”

“Come over… to the royal palace?” Gary lived in a room within the royal palace.

“Yeah. Because all the relevant parties are gathered here.”

The royal palace, huh? I had gone there a few times while disguised as Shonai.

“Who do you mean by relevant parties?”

“The Chancellor, the Ministers, the Archbishop, people from the Knights Templar… there are a ton of people here.”

The entire civil and military leadership was assembled?

“Make sure to bring Lady Ansbach and Ria along too.”

This was turning into quite a major ordeal, but I suppose that was only natural if a dungeon was going to appear right beneath the royal capital.

We began our preparations in a great hurry.