47 – Worst possible outcome

“What are you doing?” Melina asked.

She was talking to Lisette, but she actually referred to the sight of Lisette’s swords floating in the air, trailing behind her and bobbing up and down according to her gait.

“I am training my mental resilience to increase the maximum floating time of my swords. It is a basic exercise Ishrin and I have come up with.”

Melina’s mouth made a little ‘o’ of surprise. That was a long sentence, she thought, as far as Lisette was concerned.

“That’s smart!” she said, and she was curious now about all the kind of exercises the two might have come up with. “What else have you devised?”

“Control exercises. Fine-movements exercises. Maximum distance exercises. Non-sync exercises. Plasticity.”

“You really have thought of everything, haven’t you?”

Lisette nodded proudly. “I think so. I was very glad to see that Ishrin was very adamant about helping me, perhaps more than I required.”

Melina giggled. Ishrin was not being ‘adamant’ per se, she was sure, more like he was trying to get back at her for being a smartass and pointing out all the flaws in everything he did. Too bad it backfired on him, because it turns out Lisette actually enjoyed it and was happier than she’s ever been ever since entering the ruins. Speaking of Ishrin, Melina didn’t know where he was and decided to look for him and see what he was up to. He had disappeared into another room when they stopped to rest before the last stretch of ruins, and she didn’t know what he was there for. Surely a ritual, she thought, but which one? Suddenly Ishrin’s enraged voice boomed through the corridor, and she felt his irritation in her aura.

***

Ritual failed: the forces of magic are already open to you.

“Ritual failed? What?” he kicked a small toolbox on the ground, scattering the things inside and creating an immense amount of noise as they all hit other metal things in the room.

Heyyy :/

Ishrin waved off Liù’s protest.

“I’m a dumbass!” he said, holding his face. The sudden realization hit him. “I wasted all my mana for nothing!” By now the girls had come to see what was up, and he felt like he owed them an explanation for making them worry. “Ah, you see,” he began. “I wanted to do a ritual to unlock magic, right? To increase my offensive arsenal in battle. But I forgot that the Keeper already gave me access to all magic!”

“What?” Melina asked, as if what Ishrin just said was blasphemy.

“Yeah. Access to all magic.” he said.

Melina couldn’t believe it. As if he wasn’t overpowered enough, he also had access to all magic. At least this explained why he was taking Runesmithing classes from Dwymer, using an innovative method where the two basically talked through a glass farcaster orb instead of meeting face to face. It was because he could learn the language of runes without issue thanks to his ability! But… all magic? That was crazy. And dangerously powerful. She really needed to find a mentor that could teach him magic.

She shook her head. Lately she had been thinking about him more as a normal guy than an anomaly like she did when she first met him. He didn’t do any more particularly flashy new things that surprised her, and the things that did surprise her at the beginning had grown to become mundane after she saw them enough times. And even then, with how many opponents they met who could not only withstand the power of him and the rest of the team combined but even outmatch them, she had fallen back into the old mentality of thinking that they were actually not that powerful. That was obviously biased, and she realized that very well during the return trip out of the Chasm.

Power creep was a thing. Adventurers always struggled in life because they either couldn’t or didn’t stop and be content with what they had. They always went in search of new challenges, or they were forced into facing new dangers that were increasingly more and more powerful. It was also a matter of trouble itself finding them. Nobody cared about a low tier adventurer, so all the trouble they were going to get was very close to their tier, where there was fierce competition and danger even when on a normal mission. As they progress in Tiers, adventurers become targets of the more powerful, who see them as dangers or who want to use them as pawns. Even those who manage to retire often times are forced right back into their old life, making adventuring the promise of a life of peace that never really arrives.

Sometimes she wished she knew that when she started out. Although, she doubted that would have changed her mind. She was young, and emotional, and wanted to change the world. Heck, she still did want to change the world, no matter how much Ishrin complained. One Sir Westys at a time.

The return trip was swift. The team was not holding back anymore, and all the many monsters who attacked the party were dealt with quickly and mercilessly. Other than proving what Melina was thinking - that they were actually pretty powerful for this region of the world - this also gave Sir Westys and his team a measure of how powerful higher tier adventurers actually were. It showed how their magic was not always flashy and spectacular but was always precise and deadly, making it all the more dangerous. In fact, Sir Westys came to realize the error of his ways, and although he didn’t apologize his demeanor was more and more submissive and harmless the more he witnessed just how close he came to dying when he turned against Ishrin, and how lucky he was that Melina was there to calm the man down.

“Is it me or it’s deeply unsatisfying seeing the boy whimpering over there, sending us death glares when we think we aren’t looking, just to cower in fear when we look at him? Like, where’s the defiant young man who always talked back? And why does putting him in his place make me feel like I am the jerk? Zero satisfaction, only guilt. And he was the one who stabbed me!” Ishrin complained.

You are reading story Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist at novel35.com

“You done?” Melina asked, rolling her eyes.

“I’m done, yeah.”

“Feel better?”

“Actually, yes.”

She smiled. “Good then. We can go now!”

They shared a little laugh together. She was not being mean for the sake of it, of course, and felt that the very fact that Ishrin let her talk back to him like that meant that they were finally growing comfortable together as a team. Even Lisette shared the laugh with them, cementing the idea that they were a package deal together, an unbreakable team of misfits who for some reason happened to fit so well together.

On the way out, the miners they encountered were very surprised to see a team of adventurers emerge from the ruins of Tiamat Azur, with all its monsters and dangers. Not only that, but they were also unscathed even after all the tremors and earthquakes that had shaken this part of the chasm, and that told the story of just how powerful the forces sleeping in those ruins were. Some of the miners stopped Ishrin and his team to ask them questions, and it was there that they learned with great surprise and interest that the ruins were finally open.

The message spread quickly through word of mouth and soon all miners began to rush to the ruins in search of artifacts or riches left behind by the adventurers. Even though the real items of value were sitting comfortably in Ishrin’s inventory, the miners still found a great mountain of loot in the ruins, stripping the very walls of the metals and the pipes made of exotic metals until the rooms were bare. This would change the shape of this place forever, catapulting Semiluminal from being a flourishing but relatively small city into an important trade outpost to where all kinds of merchants, adventurers and miners alike converged in hopes to get a piece of the infinite treasure that was the Chasm. Tiamat Azur’s ruins were completely looted and destroyed in mere months, leaving almost no trace of their existence much to the dismay of the archeologists and the researchers interested in the story of the great engineer who built them. But, for the city as a whole, it didn’t matter. This kickstart was all the city needed to make the wider world, and the guild, realize the potential profits of the Chasm.

Word also spread that Ishrin’s team was responsible for it all, for the tremors and for opening the ruins to the rest of the world, and when the news of the widespread destruction that happened inside the ruins also spread, quickly the collective fantasy was filled with stories of great heroics and noble fighters, roughly molded in what could be remembered of the shapes of the adventurers. The names were the first to fade, for Ishrin barely had revealed his identity to some of the miners who stopped him to ask what had happened, and then the story changed to one of rescue, of noble sacrifice to save the boys – actually captives and betrayers – from the ghost of Tiamat Azur who still dwelled in the ruins and was vanquished by the valiant Ishrin and his sidekicks.

There were other rumors in Semiluminal, however, far from the dark depths of the Chasm. Rumors about terrifying news coming from the far East, there was talk about a city razed to the ground, devastated by a fire. Especially in the low part of the city, where the workers of the mines mingled with the farmers and the surface-dwellers, the stories began to tell a grand tale of change. Change fostered by a single individual, or at least catalyzed by him. Among the drunks and the regulars at the pubs, a few of the older folk remembered the stories of old, about heralds of change hunted and shunned from society and wondered what was going to be of their peaceful city. Of this region of the world so full of opportunities, yet relatively calm and tranquil.

The last time it was a hero, brought to avoid a great catastrophe. Willow, who sealed the great all-consuming evil away. This time, the old folk warned, it seemed to be the opposite. For it was the man, Ishrin, who was the harbinger of catastrophe and he needed to be stopped by the powers that be before he could do more damage.

The subject of these stories and rumors never got to learn any of this, taken as he was with other more pressing business.

He arrived at the city gates with the rest of his team and the duke son’s team a little after noon. The town was bustling with activity, with miners coming in from their night digs and new ones streaming out of the city to replace them. Some of them they had met on their way out of the chasm, and they walked together, but they quickly parted ways when Ishrin told them he was making a beeline straight for the duke’s palace. The miners said their goodbyes and wished him good luck before they went their merry ways.

***

Duke Elstrom woke up around 9:30 am, when his personal butler brought him breakfast in bed. He straightened his night gown and mired at his own image reflected in the great mirror at the foot of the bed. After checking his body, immaculate and perfect thanks to all the medicinal baths that had kept him young end healthy, he let himself be dressed and prepared for the day.

His servants recounted the events of the day so far, told him about his many properties both in the city and around it, and made a tally of his grander affairs. Then he was delivered the latest mail, sorted in order of importance going from the trivial invitations to this and that dinner by this and that useless noble, all the way to the official letters coming from the guild in Noctis. These, delivered immediately via special magical means, were always of utmost priority and king of all was the private letter from Syrma, guild master of Noctis, requesting updates on their joint venture.

There were none, the duke ordered his butler to write in the letter to be sent back to the master. But he would be the first to know, of course, he also added.

With that out of the way, and other less important errands done, it was finally time to have lunch. He was joined by the eldest of his latest batch of sons, and was delighted to learn about all the adventures his son went on, of how he proudly vanquished evil in the name of the Elstrom family, and of how he was on his way to becoming a royal knight, a position that would favor him and his family a great deal in the coming years. Of course, this was only the eldest of this current generation of sons he had, but even then he was proud of him like he was the firstborn. All of his achievements, all of his accomplishments. Good investments, or rather good returns on the investment that was educating and training this particular son. He was going to die of old age eventually, like the others did, and the duke could once again increase his power by reclaiming all that was done in his name under his direct control. Just a few decades.

Then suddenly, the illusion of yet another peaceful day shattered like the mirror it was. The duke’s butler entered the dining room, barging through the doors with a panicked expression on his face, sweat trailing down his temples. The duke’s smile froze in his face. There was one single thing that could go wrong in his life as of now, only one thing that could threaten the continuation of his centuries long rule.

And this was it. His other son, that useless failure.

Ishrin had been spotted at the city gates, barging into Semiluminal and bypassing the guards with the threat of physical violence that, with him and party being thousands of times stronger than the average guard, could not be ignored. The duke’s idiot of a son had been spotted too, and he was not being kept prisoner, leaving the duke perplexed and worried. Something was not right. Did his son disappoint him once again? Did he not do as he was asked? Because if he had done as he was told, he wouldn’t be here anymore. He would be dead. And Ishrin would be wounded or pissed off. Instead, he was alive and Ishrin was pissed off. Did the boy talk?

Ishrin was making a beeline for his mansion, which meant that indeed Sir Westys not only had failed his task but failed it in the worst way possible. Instead of being killed in a bout of rage, he talked. How did that happen? Syrma had ensured the duke that Ishrin was an unstable individual, that he had set a whole city on fire just because someone had dared disrespect his women. And yet, why was Sir Westys alive?

You can find story with these keywords: Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist, Read Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist, Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist novel, Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist book, Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist story, Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist full, Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist Latest Chapter