AI: Artificial Isekai

While Erysis and Khi are expressing their amusement due to the totally normal interaction they just had, my eyes are locked onto Nexen, boring into his soul. He doesn't flinch back from the confrontation, staring right at me and with the same intensity. I break eye contact first, sighing deeply. He just huffs in satisfaction of his victory.

I look at him again and silently mouth 'You are so grounded'.

Nexen shrugs and spins round, heading for Erysis. "Good spar," he says to Khi as they pass each other.

"You, too," she replies. When the princess gets closer to me, she whispers, "You have good friends. And I think they like me a bit more now."

I sigh, palming my face and shaking my head. The beastfolk quietly chuckles at my tiring tribulations.

The next few spars get increasingly more intense, everyone starting to truly give their all. After a few more, Nexen and I start winding down, only for Erysis and Khi to pick up our slack. Another few spars, and we let the two have their fun, throwing fire and lightning at each other.

A wisp splashes against Khi's thigh, her repositioning a touch slow. The beastfolk snarls, fight still glinting in her eyes. Another bout begins.

I ask Nexen, "How much longer do you think those two are going to go at it?"

"Hmm... Ery's pretty close to done," he says. And I feel like Khi's reaching a limit, too.

"Still tied? I stopped counting."

"Still tied."

Khi claws through Erysis' shield and lunges at her. The fire mage pulses in a soft light, her desperate final move. The enhancement spell lets her match Khi's speed for but a moment, dodging a strike and retaliating with a wisp. Electricity arcs from the princess to the flying spell, destroying it.

The two stare at one another, unable to usher forth another attack.

Khi asks, her voice tired, "Call it a tie?"

Erysis replies, equally as tired, "Sure."

As the spar ends, they flop to the ground, breathing deeply.

Khi regards her sparring partner. "You've provided an adequate workout, Erysis."

"Ain't half bad yourself, Princess."

Both wearily laugh, bashfulness creeping up to the surface, concealed by the signs of exertion.

After taking a few minutes to rest and get their breathing back under control, Erysis is the first one to stand. She offers a hand to Khi, and after the beastfolk accepts, pulls her to her feet.

Then Erysis turns in our general direction and loudly proclaims, "Let's go wake up the two quitters."

I fire back, "If we're quitters, then you can carry yourself this time."

Khi interjects, "No need for that, Lucius. I'm more than happy to assist." Her tail swishes playful as an equally playful smile tugs at her lips. "And I'd be more than happy to extend the same assistance to you." Then she adds, "For a price."

I chuckle. "Seems fair. Hungry?"

Erysis replies for them both, "Very."

"I'll show you a place, Khi."

When the same beastfolk that brought us here approaches, I relay the location. A teleport later, and we are deposited near a sandwich shop. The beastfolk synchronize their head turns, with Erysis being eerily in sync with them. After some time, every single person from our party is eating a tiger monster sandwich. Even Kor'To has forgone his reservations, enjoying one himself. But as Erysis consumes her first and goes for another, attention is subtly shifted from the sandwiches to her.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

With some energy regained, Erysis speaks up, "So, Khi, what did you think?"

The princess shakes off the shock of seeing Erysis in her element. "You and Nexen are formidable warriors, ones I would be honored to fight besides." Erysis hums happily, the emotion evident even with her full mouth. Then Khi turns to me. "And I guess Lucius is okay."

Erysis swallows her bite and adds, "He'll get there." I just continue eating my sandwich without reacting. "Tell me about the dinner you had. Lucius has been awfully cagey about it."

"Hmm? We had a wonderful time. Archmage Elisa is a delight. But why would he be cagey?" Khi's attempt to not draw any undue scrutiny uncovers something else instead, as Erysis' expression shifts. "Oh. Oh! Oh... Is that true, Lucius?" a concerned Khi asks my way.

...Right. 'Lucius' the plucky adventurer is still a teenager, and Elisa is much older than him. Even if my character's technically an adult, and even if the existence of people that live thousands of years does change things somewhat, the hypothetical situation could still be questionable.

"Please ignore Erysis. There is nothing untoward happening between me and Teacher."

Before any other questions are directed my way, Nexen comes to my rescue, "Is it true that there are monsters hiding in the Great Iamor Desert, Khi?"

"Indeed, there are," Khi answers. Well, there were. "Most dungeons and breaks inside the desert remain undiscovered. And as the monsters don't have any convenient targets, a fraction do remain beneath the sands. We send the occasional expeditions to draw out any stragglers, so we don't risk a large number accumulating and striking unexpectedly. Other principalities do the same. But as only a few dungeons ever coalesce that far away, we've rarely had problems."

Erysis asks with interest, "Have you ever been on one of these expeditions before?"

"Oh, no." Khi shakes her head, her long hair following the movement. "I'm not yet ready for such a challenge. I would only be dead weight. Just recently, our knights encountered a Yellow Champion— Um... I mean a B-grade boss. An Ant Queen at that. If they hadn't found it so early, we would have had a real issue on our hands." Good thing someone tipped them off.

Nexen forgets his sandwich, gaining genuine interest for the topic at hand. "Was it hard to beat?"

"Not as hard as it could have been," Khi replies. "It hadn't dug in too much, and it was a seven-person squad. Some big spells to draw it out, and they finished it off easily. By what Lucius has told me, with some more training, you two could beat a B-grade, too."

Erysis interjects, "A lot more training, maybe."

"Has Lucius been training you for long?" Khi asks.

Erysis answers, "Almost since we became adventurers together."

"He has done a good job," Khi says. "Where did you learn to fight like that, Lucius?"

"Hall Master Ren."

"And before that? I heard you were not a part of the trainee program."

"From a guard back where I was born."

"Must have been quite the warrior to raise another so strong." Khi directs an apologetic smile my way. "Oh, I'm sorry. He is still alive, no?"

"He is."

"I'm sure he was very proud of your accomplishments. How was he when you saw him? During your recent vacation."

"As strict as ever," I reply with a small smile. "Thank you for asking." Khi nods in response, returning to the previous topic, telling some more stories of past expeditions into the desert.

The odd exchange does not register for Erysis, but Nexen senses something is amiss. Regardless, he does not make an attempt to pry deeper, unsure of what Khi's intentions actually were.

Soon, we all say our goodbyes. The beastfolk teleport in a flare of mana, I head off to the dorms, and Erysis and Nexen go the other way.

But after only a short distance, Erysis calls out to me, "Hey, wait up."

I turn around. "Everything okay?" I ask. Nexen is slowly walking away, giving us our space.

"Yeah— I mean... Kinda? I apologize if my comments were inappropriate. Maybe I got carried away with the teasing..."

"No. It's fine. Really, there's nothing between me and Elisa. You could say I have small crush on her, but I know it's stupid. I don't even know if it's romantic." Is it? How do I even distinguish? Does she see me like that? Could she? Do I even want her to... An icy touch squirms its way from the deep recesses of my mind, but before it can reach out further, it melts away again. An outward sigh disperses the feeling fully. "You can laugh at me. I know I'm lame."

Instead of mockery, I receive a tight embrace. Erysis holds me for a few seconds and then lets go. She smiles at me. "You called her 'Elisa', not 'Teacher'." ...Ah. Oops. "That's a hard battle waiting for you, you know? But if you get your heart broken, Nexen and I will be there for you."

"Mmm. Thank you, Erysis."

"Anytime."

As I am walking home, I contemplate my own feelings. No matter how much I try, I cannot make them clear, a maelstrom of undecipherable colors.

I send some silly message to Elisa, not even carrying any meaning, just to see what she's up to. Her reply is almost instant. The maelstrom is blown away by a gentle breeze. I adjust my heading.

My feelings were undecipherable because I wanted them to be. Because I was afraid to find the answer. And now that I have, I see that my fear was fully justified.