Eldritch

 

As soon as the thought sets I'm back in my own dreamworld.
Promptly, I check up on everyone, to make sure they're alright.
If mum was assaulted, any of them could be the next.
Well, in this case Chiaki is, as usual, my greatest concern.
Fortunately, my scan tells me that everyone is still alive and coming from the feedback of their pings in good health.
This is soothing.

Chiaki is in her impromptu dojo while Makoto and his mother are in their private quarters.
Now I should meet up with them and get them back out before they might get a bad impression of me.
However, something else happens before I can act.
I’m maintaining my weird realm awareness to keep track of everyone, so I notice when Makoto's mother abruptly leaves her quarters and moves straight to her son.

Well, since I wanted to meet up with them I could just show up there.
Naturally, not directly in their room but in the hallway.
Before I even get to knock on the door Makoto's mother has already opened it, confirming that she is indeed somehow able to keep track of where I am.

 

"Ah, Iori, how nice that you finally made it. I almost didn't notice your arrival. Just good that I set up some wards." (H)

 

Wards?
Okay, I don't know how I feel about being surveilled.
Yes, okay, technically I'm doing the same, but that's only because this here is my world and I'm responsible for the guests.
And I doubt that she has equally good intentions as I have.
Yet on the other side, that sounds like the justification of some supervillain.

 

"You set up wards to track me?" (I)

"You wouldn't know how difficult it was to set the right filter since in fact your presence is omnipresent here and I only wanted your wake consciousness. Differentiating between those is purely arbitrary but eventually, I managed to set them apart. Well, I mean, I had more than enough time to figure it out." (H)

 

Good grief, I don't really want to be her research project.

 

"Uhh, I thought it's about time now to bring you out again. It's about time, right?" (I)

 

Suddenly Makoto jumps up and storms in my direction.

 

"About time?!! Iori, are you fucking serious?!" (M)

 

Just why is he so aggressive?

 

"Just what is wrong with you? Since we arrived here you've been nothing but hostile!" (I)

 

I understand that this dissonance of being in a foreign realm might make him moody, but that's no excuse to be so harsh to me.

 

"What is wrong? Iori, you left us stranded here for four days!" (M)

 

What!?

 

"F-four days? No. I mean we were only here for two, right?" (I)

"I'm not talking about those! I'm talking about the time we had to spend here after you suddenly vanished without a trace!" (M)

"Makoto, I already told you that this was likely an accident." (H)

"Accident? Four days? What are you talking about? I was only gone for a minute to bring mum out before they punish her." (I)

"Well, that's simple math. First, we consider that, according to you, there were no people during your last visit, which was, given my intel, a week ago. But now there is already the sixth generation. So we should set around hundred-fifty years as a base. However, we're talking about medieval people without any advanced education. Those don't have as many other means to keep themselves entertained and tend to die young. So a reduction to a bit over hundred years seems appropriate. Knowing this we only have to reduce the correlation of one week to one-hundred years back to around the one or two minutes till you either come back by yourself or realize that time in our world barely progresses, then you panic, and come running." (H)

 

Shit, shit, shit, shit!!!
I forgot about the time dilation!

 

"I-I am so sorry. I really am!" (I)

"Naturally we could've been really unlucky and you might've been distracted by something, but it would've been unlikely for that to last longer than a month, in which case I would've had more than enough time to get something going to remind you that we're still here. Even if you would've ignored the first few times, you would certainly come looking if I fire the signal for you in rapid succession, and even if the rituals require days of preparation on my side, the time dilation would've worked out in my favor. So the situation wasn't too dire." (H)

 

Makoto certainly sees this differently and I can't blame him.
Not only did I abandon him, but there's also this dissonance he had to fight the whole time.
Must at least be like severe travel sickness.
Thus spending now five days like this can make someone slightly irritated.

 

"Look, I'm extremely sorry. I messed up big time and this was wholly unintended." (I)

"No biggy. Well, it took a while, but I was more than able to indulge myself here. There are certainly ways to entertain oneself in this realm. Your library for example is still good for some interesting snippets. Though, I was distracted several times because I had to deal with some very straightforward advances of the natives here who wouldn't take no for an answer. But I have my ways to deal with those without causing an uproar as some others did." (H)

 

Damn, just what is wrong with this world?
Are all the men here thinking solely with their lower region?!

 

"And I had to deal with real beasts. Did you know that the knights make one go to the forest and fight a monster by yourself after just three days of training?" (M)

"What? But I told them to move away!" (I)

"Well, maybe not all of them got the message." (M)

"I'm sorry." (I)

"Yes, you keep repeating yourself. Not that it helps. Especially with the uproar you caused. It wasn't exactly easy here after we were suspected of being responsible for every strange thing that happened since our arrival." (M)

 

Did this incident with my mum really get so out of hand?

 

"Was it so bad? I thought I could wrap things up by leaving as quickly as possible." (I)

"Wrap things up? You basically broke a captive out of prison and then just disappeared into thin air. That was ought to ripple some waves. Especially since nobody could explain how it was even possible. Not to speak of what you did to that young man." (H)

"Young man? What young man?" (I)

 

For a moment she stares at me, lost in her thoughts, before quickly adjusting her stance and readdressing me.

 

"Oh... Sorry, I misjudged. Not important. However, it got quite wild here after this incident." (H)

"Did any of you get into trouble?" (I)

"Fortunately, we all had our alibis for the time when it happened. I was in the library with more than enough scholars to attest to this, Makoto was training with the knights, who nobody would even try to question, and Chiaki's status is basically untouchable." (H)

 

Okay, that means everyone's still alright.
I think I should now start to get the others out.

 

"That's a relief." (I)

"But not everyone got out of this so easily." (M)

"What do you mean?" (I)

"That one maid you were with. She got convicted for her negligence. More precisely because she didn't sufficiently watch you. She couldn't tell where you went or give any reason why you were allowed to leave your assignments while foregoing to report a thing about you." (M)

 

Eryna?
I guess she didn't want to rat me out.
Or rather, not incur my divine wrath.
Even though I would've understood her, given the circumstances.
That's something I'm sorry for.
I never planned to make someone else's life miserable.

 

"Right. I'll look after her." (I)

"Before you vanish, since the respective reactions are currently spiking up, didn't you forget about something?" (H)

"Huh, what do you mean?" (I)

"It starts with  'time' and ends with '-ilation'." (H)

 

Damn, now I get what people mean when they say that it's a problem that I wield these powers.
I almost left the underlying problem unfixed.

 

"Sorry. I'll do something about it. Stop the time dilation! You hear me? I want that time is running normally!" (I)

 

• Normal!
   
• Normal!
   
• Normal!

 

This sensation is by now well-known to me.
While I can't directly evaluate it, as I don't know how time exactly feels, I know that something switched in my world.
It simply comes known to me that something sets into place.
And as I only gave that one order it must be this.

 

"And? Did it work?" (I)

"How could I tell? Time is relative and I can only focus on my own perception of it without other dimensions as comparatives. And if I could reach them just like this there'd never have been an issue in the first place to get out of here. I only know that there was a power spike from you." (H)

"Okay... Then let's hope it worked." (I)

"Wait! Do you seriously intend to keep us here any longer?" (M)

 

Damn, I forgot that I could send them out immediately.

 

"Oh, no problem. We'll stay here in the meantime. I'd like to see how this unfolds." (H)

"Mum!" (M)

"What? It would be irresponsible not to wait here and observe how everything blows up." (H)

 

Blows up!?

 

"You know what? No! No, you won't stay here any longer! I have more than proved that I'm no evil deity! The mere fact that I'm now sending you out, completely unharmed, is evidence enough! I'm okay as I am and you're no longer welcome to treat me like a science subject! This is still my inner sanctuary!" (I)

"But I still wanted to test..." (H)

 

Before Haruna can say much else the ground opens and rises around them.
It barely takes a moment before they're gone.

Then I blink myself back into our living room on earth.

 

"Iori, you..." (S)

"Sorry, mum. Don't have much time." (I)

 

Without wasting another moment I create a bulge to my side and make Makoto and his mother settle in this cocoon.
When I'm sure they're properly assembled I retract the layer and there they are.
Like before, their bodies completely unaltered.

 

"Hm, I have to analyze these clothes later." (H)

 

Sigh.
As I said, I don't have time for that.
Anyway, now I have to look after Eryna.