After a period of floating in the strange place and situation – floating in a place full of darkness that he couldn’t even see his hands in while at the same time seeing things that were impossible to comprehend or much less, describe – Dexter dropped into the hard stone floor.
There were a whump and clatter of various small things dropping to the floor somewhere around him.
He saw something weird, a fantastical sight that usually could only be seen on animes. Magic circles.
There was a big glowing magical circle – that consisted of tens of other smaller circles and geometric shapes – floating half a meter above a similarly shaped circle carved on the cold floor. At least that was what Dexter could glean from a cursory look around him.
He concluded that it was definitely a magical thing since it was different from what the latest technology – shown on TV – could accomplish.
That, and because it gave off a strange noticeable pressure whenever Dexter focused his attention on them.
I've seen this kind of situation before... this circle would be something of a budget sink if it was reproduced faithfully on an anime... Dexter observed lazily from where he laid supine in the center of the circle.
He had attempted to sit up promptly regardless of the heavyweight and weakness that he felt in his limb when he moved them, but he gave up and lied back down after feeling strong vertigo that he couldn't just push through.
So Dexter gave up trying to wholeheartedly examine where he was and what exactly happened and resignedly satisfy his curiosity by glancing around without moving too much.
He was lying on a very smooth – outside the carved part – stone floor, and beyond the magic circle - both floating and engraved - stood three people. One standing by themselves with head hidden by a hood, but judging by their posture they were looking closely at Dexter, while the other two were locked in a heated argument.
One of them arguing strongly with an agitated tone while the other calmly answered with precise argument. That was how it looked like from casual observation, Dexter didn't actually know or even understand what they were talking about since his thought was still sluggish and hard to concentrate.
Sudden forceful relocation, magic circle, fantasy clothing...
This place doesn't look like a royal throne or audience room... At the very least those three don't look like a court magician or nobles, so It's not summoning people somewhere inside a castle before dragging the summoning victim to meet the king.
There is a high chance that I was not summoned as a hero.
Why am I summoned anyway? To do the task the native population can't?
Am I in a familiar summoning scenario? Wasn't this type of genre already stale?
Why do I experience something like this when I was busy convalescing... Dexter resignedly lay on the floor, catching his breath.
From his experience, he needed to wait before moving his torso carefully if he wanted to get up or at least sitting up without experiencing vertigo again.
I was summoned to be a decoration on the floor, lying carelessly like a salted fish, hehe. Maybe I was just a prop in a fantasy detective story murder case... Dexter joked around inwardly, criticizing how he was neglected by whoever summoned him in favor of whatever they were doing. He didn't forget to keep checking whether it was time for him to get up or not yet.
After a couple of minutes, he successfully sat up and look around, examining the situation carefully. It looked like the two individuals had finished arguing, the one who agitatedly reason whatever he was insisting on doing - a young man with long hair styled in a 'Motherly Side Plait' had already moved aside, standing stiffly while focusing his attention on Dexter.
The calm one – a white-haired old man - was walking calmly around the magic circle together with the hooded one, sometimes examining and probing the circle, talking about it and gesturing until they reach some consensus while the other times looking around toward whichever direction that happened to catch their attention. They looked like they were trying to find errors and flaws, or wait for something to happen.
The platform where the summoning circle was carved in was surrounded by a big body of water. It looked like a lake judging by the color – and the depth that was shown by it, but the water was roiling like a rapid. Beyond the water was another platform where many people gather around like a spectator watching a play.
That platform and the one where the summoning circle placed was connected by a long walkway. Dexter estimated that it was somewhere around one hundred meters in length. Thankfully it looked sturdy and bordered with guardrails, otherwise, no one would be able to force him to cross the water using it.
He was dizzy and weak, he wouldn't be able to balance himself. He was sure that forcing him to use the walkway when there were no guardrails would be the same as forcing him to swim.
That water body looks dangerous. I don't think I could swim safely in it... Dexter contemplated quietly.
He moved his sight toward the various object scattered inside the summoning circle. Those were the object that he accidentally dragged together in his summoning.
There was a bunched up heavy thick cloth with rips and tears at its edge. It was his blanket, and by a cursory look, he was only left with two-third of its original size. And there were broken up pieces of wood and metal of various sizes. It looked like it was his chair's debris.
Both didn't survive intact, but Dexter didn't feel as much pain in their destruction, since they were not as valuable as the one he held in his right hand.
His Tablet, full of every file he owned – the files he felt he couldn't live with if they ever got destroyed together with the tablet. Of course, he had its back up – along with other files that he collected but didn't actually care enough whether he had a copy of it or not – inside the pc, but they were literally a world away instead of here with him.
There's no charger, but he could definitely make a new one using the “how-to” files he saved.
Hey, even if I got ripped away from my home, at least I still got my tablet... If I can jury rig a charger, then I could re-read ALL my CBZ files whenever I felt bored... Dexter smiled foolishly, imagination unbound, mind thinking of various scenarios that having knowledge at the fingertips would make everything easier.
This will gonna be “In another world with my Tablet!” but better since it was featuring me as the MC...
Fantasy world Uplift! Guns for everybody! Liberty and freedom for all uncivilized savages! 300 liberty shots per second!
Ahem... it's no fun meme-ing by all by myself. I am not even American, and the only gun I ever held is a game gun, ...and bb gun once upon a time... Dexter sighed, trying to restrain himself from visibly clowning around.
After all, he could see from the corner of his eyes that the young man impatiently tapped the floor repeatedly with his boots while the two people circling around had slowed down from whatever they were doing. The white-haired old man casually stood while the hooded person looked like they were examining Dexter with extra scrutiny.
Dexter ignored them in favor of doing self-assessment.
I should start to gather all my things that survived summoning and maybe bundling it up using the blanket as my container... who knows that all of that debris would be useful one day.
But first, let's check how many percent batteries left... umm? Mm?
The tablet is intact, even unscratched, but it's not quite my tablet anymore! I can't find out where is the power button and charging port!
What's the use of having a fragile product of modern technology if it can't be used? Dexter tremblingly lifted his free hand toward his face and curled it halfway, taking a deep breath to center himself. He felt that there was something wrong, somehow.
And it wasn't about his tablet.
He looked at the body of water and gazed at it calmly.
Watching how the water churned and seethed, he came across something concerning. It was actually about his reaction. The current reaction he had toward outside stimuli was very lacking in vigor.
Why was I so calm though? I feel as if everything is just a normal everyday occurrence... Even if not panicking or being drowned in fear or apprehension toward the future was good...
Even if I could avoid the sadness and depression of information age kids who got kidnapped and dragged along by their parents to spend a month in the boonies, somewhere without technology and the internet...
I want to feel at least a little bit happier in this situation. I want to have an uplifting mood, a joyful heart, or whatever.
This is a summoning, Isekai! A different world adventure with magic!
Why does my happiness level is only as high as randomly finding a mediocre 6/10 new RPG with passable art and an okay story and characterization?
Dexter shook his head and sighed, he put his hand to the ground and pushed it to stand up. But he aborted it halfway to crawl forward when he felt that his limb wasn't strong enough to be used to stand.
He gathered the chair's debris and put it together with the tablet inside the spread up blanket. When he was going to tie it up into a makeshift cloth bag, he heard the sound of someone walking closer.
It was the impatient guy. He was talking about something in a language that he couldn't quite understand. It was something way different than any language he ever came across on the internet.
But he knew somehow that the guy was asking a question.
When the guy was talking seriously and seemed like reiterating the same question in a longer sentence, Dexter's mind wandered.
Wasn't this something related to the research about language that I read on the internet before?
Something about the fact that the human brain was wired to understand any language even if it doesn't know the verbiage or even the structure of the grammar...
The guy looked more impatient, so Dexter did what he usually did when he had a conversation with someone he found annoying.
He nodded distractedly while muttering “uh-huh?”.
Dexter finished tying the blanket tightly when the guy kneeled and put himself at eye level with Dexter. He kept his gaze on Dexter while saying some long sentence in an 'announcing something' tone.
The magic circle suddenly circling faster and converging onto Dexter. He felt unwell, the tighter the circle converge, the heavier and slower his thought becomes.
He saw from the corner of his eyes that the white-haired old man stood stiffly while the hooded one twitched in surprise and jogged closer.
One step, two, three... they looked like they were sprinting closer instead of jogging, but Dexter saw it all happened in slow motion.
The magic circle's outer boundary had reached an arm's length away and Dexter felt his mind become more sluggish.
And then something suddenly came out of a crack in space and the magic circle ruptured violently, throwing an air explosion between Dexter and the impatient guy. The explosion was strong enough to force them into tumbling away from each other.
As Dexter rolled uncontrollably he saw the old guy started to jog closer while the hooded one braced themselves against the airflow. They succeeded in standing their ground but their hood had been thrown back, showing an anxious face of a young woman in their early 20s.
She centered herself, converging the anxiety she showed, and made a stance before waving both of her hands in a strange pattern. After a moment, she succeeded in making the wind died down, the remnant magic circle disintegrate, and the crack in the space shrunk and flatten.
She stayed in place and vigilantly looked around while the old man stopped near the long-haired guy and asked them in a stern tone and severe facial expression.
“What kind of contract did you use?”
While the two have another confrontation but with a reversed momentum, Dexter blankly gazed toward the place where the crack in space was.
Was that a humongous finger poking out of the spatial distortion?
Wait, now I can understand their language! Dexter exclaimed inwardly.
...[]
