*Gulp*

“Haaaah” I drink a bottle of tea I brought from a convenient store quite some time ago as I sat down on one of the chairs just out here, no doubt for people to rest once they’ve done their training. 

The training ground is full of people on the ground groaning in pain while another group still keeps to themselves, training as intended. I was expecting these guys to be slightly disrespectful but this is barbaric in mannerism. I guess I just have to expect something like that in older times.

*Gulp*

“That was just absurd” The swordsman muttered as he and his group sat not too far from me, taking a break as well, not on the ground of course.

Did I hit them too hard? I was letting myself go a little bit I’d admit but… Let’s just cast a healing spell to get this over with.

*Shine* *Groan*

Many groaned, as if just waking up or in a lot of pain. Hopefully they’ll manage to get themselves together before that man comes back, I don’t want any trouble just yet.

They all stood up and turned to see me still just sitting there casually, waiting for them to finish cleaning themselves up. 

“Oi. Clean yourself up already, you all look like alleyway crooks” I commanded in a harsh tone seeing them just standing around like a deer in a headlight. They all flinched a bit but very much not complying. This is getting extremely annoying.

I stand up to face them, time to show them a little trick I have.

*Stomp* *Crack*

I made a loud stomp, cracking the ground beneath me, making everyone jump around, looking very intimidated. These defiant soldiers immediately began dusting themselves off and picking up the weapons on the ground, cleaning everything up quickly, so they can be organized after all.

Anyway this kinda is a training session already, and everyone is clearly getting a lot of moving and fighting already, so I think this is enough for them, not like anyone gave us any specific instruction anyway. Now the thing that needs to be considered is that we probably have to wait for that knight to come back before we can continue so… Well before all of that I should wait for these soldiers to finish cleaning up their mess.

“Alright, now all of you line up! You all over there as well!” I instructed them, needing them to hear the little I came up with. The soldiers all gathered in front of me, all the while the group of four are behind me looking at the spectacle.

Everyone lined up nicely, probably anticipating what I have to say or do. Now let’s talk a bit with them, seeing as that man hasn't come back just yet.

“Now then, most of you have been rather disrespectful to us, who answer the call to help you all against the Demon Lord. Your commander did not put us with you to quarrel yet you do, and if he were to see this… Well the consequence on your end will be quite severe” I began my speech, but before I said anything further I looked around to make sure no one was trying anything funny, or that that man came back just as I said this. Neither happened so I should continue.

“You all better behave! Or I will make sure you who dared start conflicts are punished, one way or another!” I shouted out as if I’m their commander myself. I need to be assertive if I were to do this after all.

*Swing* *Swirl*

I pick up a training sword and swing it in their direction and cause a shockwave, one that causes the wind to blast in their direction. While I would like to say this is all due to my natural and physical strength, most of these feats are assisted somewhat by mana and manipulation of elements to amplify the phenomenon. Not as if doing this just with pure strength is impossible, but at least for me it’s hard to do with that alone.

“Understand!?” I shouted out. Damn doing this is really embarrassing, being put in the spotlight, but since doing it is kinda necessary, I have to go through with it.

“Yes Sir!” Some of them said, and others the variations thereof. Good thing they all listen so well. 

“Now go back to your usual training! These adventurers and I need a rest as well!” A lie on my part, but these adventurers do need a break, and I might as well give myself one as well, being a bit of a headache dealing with this.

“Yes Sir!” They all shouted in recognition, of course with variations considering my gender and all. A bit odd they’ll call me a sir, but I get that they probably haven’t dealt with female authority figures much if at all in comparison, this is the past after all, things are a bit different and less diverse, people aren’t all that smart.

They all scattered about no longer harassing us. The things that led to that in the first place were so simultaneous it’s ridiculous, and now everything is all fine. All so sudden but at least it works out in the end.

I walked back to where I was sitting and sat back down. Just taking a small break from the chaos that happened not too long ago.

“That was kinda scary” The mage bluntly commented within my earshot. I couldn’t really deny that, I was intimidating them a little bit. Now if this is adequate enough for that knight and the quest as a whole is another question entirely, but for now I’ll take the brief respite. I should go ask that knight about the possible expeditions as well, considering what Maova said.

“Can’t deny that” I chimed in casually as I continued to drink the tea and just wait. I could go for another run away and training but it’ll probably get extremely on the nose if I were to do that here. Maybe if I use more advanced time and space manipulation then no one would suspect anything, but even so, it’s not really worth the effort, I could merely wait for a better time and place.

“What even is that strange bottle anyway?” Gina asked as she was eying at the bottle. There should only be bulky, rigid, and heavy bottles about in this kind of time, while this one is light and somewhat elastic.

“Didn’t you hear from that knight? Something about a different world?” I said while asking her something else first.

“Yeah of course I do, sounds crazy” She answered.

“This is one of the things from a different world. Now if there’s one thing that needs to be understood is this, for you and everyone else who are interested in the topic of other worlds. Time and space do not match when it comes to picking people from a different world” I began my explanation. I don’t think I have told anyone about this before now but I could be wrong… Well I guess I did tell my friends about it, but in a different manner.

“Sounds complicated” She commented before I said any further. It is a bit complicated, especially if not enough understanding of their own world is there just yet, making explaining even harder.

“Of course it is. Anyway essentially since time and space of one world does not correlate with the next, them not moving together, then breaching into a different world the result can be quite random, start getting it a bit?” Going to be hard for her to understand no doubt 

“I guess? Like time doesn’t matter or something” She replied sounding confused. Well time is what I’ll be talking about anyway so it’s not a problem.

“Indeed. Since time doesn’t matter when taking someone from a different world. It means that you could take someone from that world’s equivalent of this world’s future” I concluded, at least hoping to do so despite the convoluted language.

“What?” Yeah she doesn’t get it just yet. I’ll just have to simplify it even more.

“Basically the otherworlders might give you a glimpse into your possible future, since you can really only pick those from a parallel world, and possibly their future, and therefore yours… Let’s just say that this is something that your future might hold” Explaining this is really tiresome, especially with parallel worlds put into the mix. I think I need a few moments of deep breaths.

“So it’s like something from the future?” She asked, simplifying it well enough.

“Yeah… since both ours and your side are humans, it’s possible you will have something like this at some point” I said while holding the bottle for her to see. If that doesn’t get the point across I don’t know what will.

“...Yeah I think I got it… So it’s something from a different world we might end up having?” She said, still sounding slightly confused.

“Yep, that’s essentially what I’m trying to get across” I said while feeling a bit relieved.

“Okay but… I mean I only asked what that thing is” She said, sounding slightly exasperated… I really just explained something that is difficult just to tell her it’s another world thing… Well that was embarrassing…

“Sorry. I guess I was overcomplicating it a bit” I said while scratching my face, sounding a bit silly. She gigged a bit in response.

“Yeah I can see that, well nice talking to you I guess” She replied while walking back to the group and their chatter, one that I have no business being in.

Time to just laze about a bit as these people get themselves properly sorted out before that knight came back. He really doesn’t give us much to work with now that I think about it, probably busy with other things maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see for that.

 

#####

 

“Soldiers! Gather!” The knight finally came back as us five are still chilling about. He came back rather suddenly as the voice was heard and the soldiers all rushed over to him in a formation. As the lineup is completed he turns to look at us and back at his squad.

“My apologies, can you five please go wait in the waiting room first. I have something to discuss with these soldiers here” The knight said politely. All of us stood up and walked over to him, passed him and into the building.

 

#####

 

All of us are back in the waiting room that we were in initially. Just waiting and waiting. Those four are still talking among themselves, while I simply sit down and stay quiet.

“Apologies for the wait” The knight said as he opened the door and approached us.

“No need for that” I replied casually as I stood up, with the same being the case for everyone else.

“Please follow me back to my room” He said as he walked out the room first, leading us into the room we first converse in. All of us went in and the same position was taken as the first.

“What do you have to say?” I bluntly asked first before anyone could say anything. Just getting to the point of this already.

“I would like to say that, from what I’ve heard from my troops, your training with them has been quite satisfactory. I would like to thank you on that matter” That’s really not the truth at all but I’ll take it.

“Okay… Thanks for the compliment, but that doesn’t sound like that’s all there is to it” I said, feeling like there’s more he wants to say.

“Indeed. It’s not about any problematic happening right now I can assure you of that. Now there’s a possible plan in the future that might take you the time of you all, possibly away from this place, not that I believe you can’t do it of course” He began saying and ended the first part with a bit of a provocation, was that even intentional or was his wording just a bit too trusting.

I turn to look at the swordsman, Elrick, seeing as he has some agency in this as well, along with his teammates.

“A-Ah. So some sort of expedition? We have done something of that nature before” Elrick said to the knight. He sounds a bit surprised that I look for him to respond. I guess I was taking the initiative a bit too much there.

“I see. Well what you said is indeed true, but there’s also something else that needs to be considered here” The knight began explaining further. If the intel is accurate then it should be the consideration of putting the force of adventurers and soldiers together. Both Maova and I know it’ll be risky at best and guaranteed disaster at worst.

“The higher ups were thinking of recruiting more and more adventurers like yourself, and putting you and our military together to explore the outskirts and forests, and very likely the battle against the Demon Lord as well when it time comes” He confirmed my suspicion. So it is indeed true, and there are sweats forming on Elrick’s head as those words are said, even he knows how big of a risk that is.

“That sounds…” He was no doubt about to criticize the idea but held his tongue.

“Sounds what exactly?” The knight asked, leaving Elrick in a bind.

“...Risky. Sir knight it’s rather clear that there is ideological conflict between both sides, even if both sides are fighting for the same cause. When you left there was a… bit of a problem adjusting for both sides” Elrick explained surprisingly into depth, and giving his side of the story about the training.

“I see. That was what I was a bit concerned about as well. Seems they’re trying to persuade them with money but… I myself am not certain in how well that’ll go” Oh it won’t go well at all, it’ll barely be any better. There’s no other possibility outside of that.

“So… why bring this up to us now?” I asked, chiming in on their conversation.

“Because you five are those who managed to get acquainted with my troops. That is commendable, and I want to see that ability of diplomacy to be used well when the time is needed” He said, sounding somewhat hopeful, just how optimistic can this guy be? What did those soldiers say to him exactly?

“That’s… Ahem. To be honest, I do not see myself as good enough in diplomacy to help with that, I need to use a bit of force for adventurers and soldiers in that training ground to be somewhat civil, it’s not all that easy unfortunately” I said before he gets any more ideas. There really is no way to persuade the two sides, especially since I’m from a different world entirely, I don’t know the full context of their differences than those that are immediately obvious.

“I see… Perhaps it was too early to hope. In spite of that I hope you all could at least spread the words around so any possible cooperation may be at least… foresaw” He requested. I don’t know how he stacked up to those within this world, but he certainly doesn’t really eluded the attitude one would expect, cold and dismissively, overly professional with extremely flowery language. While nothing that exaggerated was seen by me just yet, at the very least it feels somewhat familiar, but with this guy it’s way toned down.

I turned to look at Elrick again, much to his chagrin as shown on his face.

“Of course. We’ll honor that” He said while subtly shaking his head, guess he’s not too enthusiastic about entertaining that idea. 

“Thank you. Please come back tomorrow as well… we’ll prepare a form of transportation if needed…” He said while glancing in my direction.

“Is there anything you need to ask me specifically?” I asked, seeing his demeanor changing.

“From what the higher ups have said… it’s that your contribution isn’t needed if you were needed elsewhere” He said, now actually sounding vague. Others look a bit irritated at what is heard, probably sound like I’ll get the rewards without doing anything.

“Clarify that” I demanded.

“If you choose not to you don’t need to come here, of course the rewards will be deducted as see fit” He clarified. A bit of a special treatment there isn’t it? I’m pretty certain there’s a requirement in terms of work days or something.

“Odd, why am I giving a small leeway?” I asked him, so these people can also look less angry. 

“Due to your prior association with the kingdom and His Majesty already. We see to it that your circumstance is different than intended for adventurers here in this kingdom” He explained. Where did he even hear and talk about this? Doesn’t sound like it’s before today at least.

“I see. Where is that said exactly?” I asked, feeling like it’s a bit of a sudden established exception.

“I have reported your presence as I left you and your companion to deal with our troops, and the discussion regarding you occured” He answered. Well that makes sense, guess that’s why he hasn't been around for a while during the training hours.

“Alright. I get it…” I replied, seeing no need to question any further for now. 

“Before I forgot…” He suddenly said as he stood up and walked to get something. Returning to his desk with a bag of something. I think I can guess.

“Is this...?” Gina asked, sounding a bit excited. 

“Indeed, your initial payments for today” The knight answered. The four immediately walked over and opened the bag full of silver coins.

“I’ll take one” I said while yoinking a single silver coin, putting it away into my storage like some sort of magic trick.

“Only that?” The spearman asked, sounding rather bewildered.

“Don’t worry about it. Anyhow is there anything else needed to be said?” I replied and turned to ask the knight.

“No. The meeting is over, all of you may go back, or you can discuss with me regarding transportation” He answered. I guess I’ll leave them, go back to those girls thinking of how worried they might be, at least I hope they’re not that worried, that’ll be bad for my heart.

“I see. See you all later then, I don’t need any transportation” I said while waving them goodbye, out of the room and out of the building. Time to go back to Floria and Rumel, be with them, and ponder on all that happened today.

Soon I get away enough that no one should see me. Off the road and no one in sight. Okay then…

*Zoom*