The Isekai Police [Books 1 + 2 Complete!]

The next morning came without fanfare. The sun was already high into the sky by the time Tommy emerged from his tent, by which point the rest of camp had finished getting ready for the day.

While the hero went off to brush his teeth, the rest of the party quickly took down and stowed away his tent, while pouring the last of the milky oatmeal into a bowl for him.

That was something Artyom could appreciate about this group; even if they were by all means roughing it in the great outdoors, they still had an eye for luxury. Or rather, Artyom was pretty sure Tommy was just being coddled.

In almost any other world that would be a big red flag, but this was technically a Fairytale world, the most peaceful kind of them all. A summoned hero's quest to fight evil was closer to a fun camping trip than a bloody war. At least, from what Artyom could remember hearing from others. His missions never brought him to places like these.

Sure there was more than enough evil on the Dark Lord's side to classify this world as much worse on the scale, somewhere around Gilded, but the average civilian was more than innocent enough to earn them their "official" rating. It was something he'd have to talk to the techies who'd assigned it back at headquarters about.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Tommy returned and began eating.

Rotte was staring right at him, but the hero didn't seem to notice. The boy's glare was cold, but far away.

But then only a few seconds later, as if he'd also snapped out of it, Rotte turned around and continued helping Neitra put away the rest of their supplies.

"Well, at least they aren't actively fighting," thought Artyom with a sigh. "We just need to drop him off and finish up our business, and it won't be an issue any longer."

Soon enough, everything was packed away and the group hit the road.

Conversation was relatively sparse. Tommy was still half asleep and didn't bother starting any smalltalk with his posse, preferring to enjoy the fresh air and silence as the closest thing to sleeping in.

Artyom's little trio didn't have much else to say either. Rotte still made occasional glances towards Tommy, but they didn't pack the heat or vitriol of the day before or even this morning. Neitra looked like something was on the tip of her tongue, but Artyom knew the two topics she would've been most interested in risked starting up the argument again or involved some very big secrets.

Everyone became a little more talkative after they stopped for a late lunch, the extra bit of food telling everyone's bodies the day had truly begun. At least in the case of Tommy.

After enjoying a rich stew with day-old bread that still retained most of its freshness, the party was back to the same vim and vigor of the evening before, making the final leg of their trek all the faster.

Three more hours passed. The sun was beginning to touch the distant treeline, casting elongated shadows that dared touch the trail.

Artyom was worried they'd have to camp out another day. The others had said it would be a two day trip, so he was worried whether they were properly prepared for an extra stop, especially because it might make it harder to provide the luxury Tommy was used to. But one look at Neitra's calm demeanor put him at ease. She was the one who'd prepared for the trip after all, and she was by far the second most competent person here besides him.

"Hold on, is that it?" asked Tommy, staring off into the distance.

Some kind of stone spire stood out from the treeline, its shape reminiscent of something between a European castle and old abbey, but the roof was a series of squares that became smaller the higher it went, forming a sort of jagged pyramid, ending in a metal rod.

"Tommy, wait!" shouted Xerica, but the hero had already run off. She quickened her pace along with the others.

It didn't take long for them all to catch up to him, only because he stopped not too far away.

Tommy's eyes were wide as he took in the massive structure in front of him.

It was definitely the size of a castle, gray stone edifices staring down on the party, mysterious and cracked with age. The central structure had to be four, five stories tall, with the four square-shaped towers it was surrounded by on each corner seemingly twice as tall. The few windows at the front of the building only began on what had to be the third story, doing well to hide away the secrets within while only giving the barest tantalizing peek to anyone not welcome.

And judging by the scoffing figure standing outside, the party was most certainly not welcome.

"Are you done gawking at our academy?" he asked from the pillar he was leaning on. "Unless you're a student, you need to leave."

Everyone looked at him, some like Artyom and Xerica with annoyance, but everyone else was still too captivated by the castle for his words to register.

The figure standing guard was a teenager like Rotte, but a little older. He wore long, red robes with a gray sweater vest underneath. His face held a pair of glasses and was pocked with remnants of acne that he'd recently grown out of, which took away from the sheer self-absorbed arrogance in his gaze.

When Tommy finally put what the older teen said together, he looked offended for a moment, but then inspiration struck. He lightly nudged Xerica with a wry grin, and she quickly picked up on what he was thinking.

The red haired woman walked up to the guard with a confident smile. "I think you need to get your glasses checked if your eyesight is so bad."

"What are you talking about?" he shot back. "I can see just fine."

"Then why don't you recognize me?" she asked, whipping her hair back as she struck a sultry pose.

"Am… I supposed to?"

Xerica blinked. She opened her mouth to reply, but only an angry huff came out.

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"I mean, if you're a powerful mage, I guess I could let you in too," the guard said with a shrug. "But I'm pretty sure I'd recognize you then. I'm at the top of my History of Magic class."

Somehow, Xerica's face was beginning to turn even more red than her hair. Before she could throw a fireball at him, Artyom walked up to the guard.

"If you're such a great mage, maybe you could show us what one is capable of?" he asked with an innocent smile.

"You want a demonstration?" he asked with another scoff. But despite how he somehow looked down on Artyom despite being half a foot shorter than the man, a smile began to creep across his lips. "I suppose I could show off for someone who respects the arcane arts. Observe!"

The older teen lifted his hand to head-height and began to channel magic into it. Within a moment, a bright light appeared within his palm, and his expression somehow became even more smug.

A second later, it went out.

"Huh?" he said, giving his hand a look-over and trying to cast the spell again.

This time it only sparked, and immediately went out again.

"What gives?" he asked, frustrated at first, before growing concerned. "What's happening to my magic?"

"Null Magic Field," said Artyom. "Didn't you feel the disturbance in the flow of ambient magic around you?"

"Flow? I don't feel… a… thing," said the guard, taking deep breaths between words.

Artyom snapped a finger and cancelled the spell.

The older teen took one more big gasp of breath and stared at him. "What was that?!"

"I told you, Null Magic Field. It turns the ambient magic in an area into a vacuum, sucking the power out of spells and people if they're not careful. Any great mage would have noticed it and switched to spells that don't rely on ambient magic to sustain themselves."

"W-woah, I didn't even know that was a thing!" said the older teen, his smug attitude quickly dropping for wide-eyed excitement. "You're like, really strong!"

"Thanks," said Artyom with a sincere smile.

He could have sworn the temperature behind him went up several degrees, and the sound of heavy breathing between clenched teeth clued him into why. Artyom decided that testing how far he could push the redhead's buttons wasn't worth it.

"Oh yeah, and that's Xerica over there, she's supposed to be an alum or something."

"Wait, Xerica?" asked the guard, giving the woman a more thorough look. "No way, you're the Xerica! You're like, the most famous student from here! And if you're here, then that means you must be with the hero!"

Tommy's eyes lit up. He walked over to him with an outstretched hand to shake.

"It's an honor to meet you!" the guard said to Artyom, who awkwardly took his hand to shake.

"Actually, that's the hero over there. I'm just travelling with him."

"Oh wow," said the older teen, turning to face Tommy and shaking his hand. "I bet you're a really great mage too!"

Tommy returned the shake, with a little less vigor than when he first offered his hand. "Uh, not really. I use a sword. I was hoping to learn some magic here if I have some free time, though."

"But he's here to find the goddess' armor piece first," said Rotte, butting in.

Tommy glared at him, and the younger teen returned it, but their focus was diverted when the guard spoke up.

"Well come on in! I'll grab the headmistress, she's going to want to speak to all of you."

The older teen led the party through the towering wooden doors, each one easily over three times as tall as any of them, into a richly decorated foyer. A bright scarlet rug sat in the center of a room large enough to contain an entire house from Earth inside.

Light brown stone flooring clacked as the party entered and made their way to the cushioned benches lining the walls. Sconces holding white candles that didn't drip a single bit of wax hung high above them, illuminating the room better than any candle or even natural sunlight could. Lifelike portraits of robed mages and picturesque scenery covered much of the open space without crowding too closely together.

In other words, it was the spitting image anyone from Earth would have in their head of what a magic school should look like.

"Take a seat and relax, I'll be right back," said the older teen, running through one of the side doors and further into the academy.

Everyone did so, with Tommy and the three ladies taking a seat by the main door while the others picked the benches lining the left wall.

"Hey, why didn't he recognize us?" asked Tommy once the teen was out of earshot.

"The school is way out in the boonies, I'm not surprised they don't get the news out here," replied Daisy, the coarse blonde who'd properly spoken up for the first time today. "I'm surprised the kid knew there even is a hero."

"Do you think they even get newspapers all the way here?" asked Ecole, the green haired woman who usually remained quiet and aloof.

They began to quietly chuckle, but a piercing glare from Xerica made their mouths shut.

"That isolation allows the students to focus better on their studies," she said after a moment. She looked at Tommy with a bright smile and winked at him. "If you leave a good enough impression while we're here, I'm sure they'll remember us even more."

The hero brightened up at that. "But first, I'm excited to explore this place!"

Rotte looked over with a frown, and Tommy caught on to him quickly.

"But we should search for the armor piece first," he added.

"We can start our search once you all have a better idea of the layout of the academy," said Xerica. "Without Lensa, I'm the one getting the location of the armor piece from the goddess. And since I'm not a priestess like her… the feeling is pretty vague. I think I'll get a more accurate location if I walk around the castle first."

Rotte flinched when the redhead looked at him, but he nodded and turned away with a content look.

"You know," whispered Artyom to Neitra. "I'm starting to get a weird feeling about this place. I can't put my finger on it, but something isn't quite right for a magic school."

"For a magic school?" the rogue asked. "You know what one is supposed to feel like? Tommy once talked about a magic school he knew about, is it the same one?"

"I think I know which one he's talking about, and it's just from a story. But besides that, yeah, I've been to an actual one before too."

Even Rotte couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. He didn't pick up on the reference to Earth, but his eyes widened at the mention of another magic school.

"Really? What was it like?"

Before he could reply, a series of heavy footfalls echoed out from where the guard exited. They grew louder, and soon, somebody new walked through the doorway.

"Welcome to the academy," she said, a middle-aged woman with slightly graying hair that shined a little too brightly in the light with grease. She wore robes colored a deep purple faded over many years, but still gave off a deep thrum of magic. Her eyes went over each of the party members, quickly evaluating them, and resting on Xerica, Artyom, and Rotte for longer than the others. "I'm the headmistress, Sava Fairweather, and I'm honored to have you all here."

She turned towards the redhead and gave her a warm smile. "Especially my old student. Don't think I didn't know it was you, Xerica!"

She returned the expression, getting up from her seat and walking over to give the woman a big hug.

"It's nice to see you again too, Professor Sava."

"I told you, it's headmistress now! I took over for the previous one some time after you left. Now come along, you and everyone else, I'd like to give you all the grand tour!"

The rest of the party rose and followed the headmistress into the academy proper.