The Isekai Police [Books 1 + 2 Complete!]

"First things first," said the headmistress, leading the group through a corridor and up a spiral staircase. "I'm sure you're all exhausted from your trip, so let's find you a place to rest and freshen up."

Their first stop was a long hallway on the third floor with plenty of doors on either side. One of them opened to a girl about Rotte's age who took one look at the group and ran back in.

"The girl's dorms!" exclaimed Xerica. "I remember the one I stayed at, all the way over there," she said pointing to a door further down the hall towards the left.

"Sadly that one is occupied," replied the headmistress. "But there are enough empty rooms for each of you, including the boy's dorm on the other side of the floor."

She led the group to the first of such rooms.

"Each room can host one to three people, who would you like to arrange yourself?"

"I suppose us ladies could pair up for two rooms," said Xerica. "And Tommy could join one of us as well."

"I know you've graduated, but I regretfully have to put my foot down," said the headmistress with a light shake of her head and an apologetic smile. "No co-ed dorms, the students will start getting ideas."

"Yeah, I'd prefer to have my own room in that case," said Neitra.

"Huh?" asked Xerica as she turned around with a scowl. "I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about Lensa-"

The redhead froze, and Daisy, Ecole, and Tommy looked down sadly.

"N-never mind," said Xerica with a violent shake of her head. "Daisy, Ecole, you're with me."

They silently nodded in reply.

"Very well," said the headmistress with a hint of concern, but brushed it off. After getting all the women in the party situated in their own rooms, she took the men to their dorms.

"So how would you three like to organize yourselves? How about a triple for all of you?" asked the headmistress.

Artyom's eyes lit up. This was the perfect opportunity to get some more time to talk to Tommy without interruptions. "Tommy and I could share a-"

"Tommy ought to have his own room, he deserves that little luxury at least since he's the hero," said Xerica, running up to the group.

"Of course, I should have thought about that," said the headmistress with a shake of her head. "I do hope you'll forgive me, hero-"

"On the other hand," interrupted Artyom. "Having a roommate would give him the perfect magic school experience."

"The term we prefer here is actually 'Arcane Academy'," said the headmistress with a sharp look that Artyom completely ignored.

"The joy of the academy experience is having independence," Xerica shot back. "And he won't have any if he's stuck with you."

"When you're the one constantly doting on him?" asked Artyom with a sneer. "I'd actually give him some room to breathe!"

"The last time you did that, we lost Lensa!"

The room went silent.

Artyom swore to himself at how the argument was going. What even was his strategy here? Put on the pressure to get Xerica to back down was what he was trying. But what was his angle here? Pushing her buttons about Lensa until she got so pissed or sad she couldn't speak was an option. But there could have been a risk of going too far and making her try to kill him on the spot. That wouldn't end well, whether or not he survived the attack.

But what if attacking Xerica was the wrong move? This whole thing felt like some kind of petty high school drama to him, but with more on the line. He hated playing politics when he could just start shooting, but that was the thing; he couldn't just start shooting. If Xerica was the same thing as Lensa, then nothing in his arsenal would be enough to hurt her. And his whole goal of still sticking around with them was to figure out how Tommy was brought to this world in the first place so he could stop them from doing a repeat performance once he brought Tommy somewhere safe.

Artyom considered asking Gus to teach him some dirtier tricks when he got back from this mission-

"I'll room with Rotte," said Tommy suddenly, snapping everyone out of their funk. "Artyom, you can room yourself if that's fine."

"W-well, if that's what you want, Tommy," said Xerica.

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"Are you sure? He'll be around longer and might need to find another room once you leave-"

"I'm rooming with Rotte," the hero replied, looking up at Artyom determinedly.

And of course, Artyom completely forgot about what Tommy wanted in all of this! He was trying to convince Tommy at the very beginning, but got carried away arguing with Xerica when she showed up. Could he blame himself when someone, especially when someone who actively wanted him dead, started to argue with him?

Yes. Yes he could. He verbally sparred with people who wanted him dead and worse all the time in missions. People much more petty, more evil, than Xerica or the others. The true, actual worst of humanity.

And Artyom could easily take a dozen verbal slaps from them if he got what he wanted out of a conversation. Whereabouts of Earthers, the strength of their forces, the nature of their summoning rituals; he'd gotten all of them by essentially kissing his enemies' feet in talks. Of course, he'd completely ruin the taste of their victories soon after by rescuing Earthers, tearing through their forces, and destroying their summoning rituals right after.

And things were exactly the same here! So why wasn't he putting his mission before his own ego?

"If you're sure, then alright," said Artyom with a sigh.

What he didn't understand was why he'd want to room with a kid who seemingly hated him? Tommy wasn't the sort of kid who'd try to beat Rotte up over their argument. For someone so spoiled for his position, he kind of had the heart for his job.

"I guess I'll be staying on my own, then."

"Very well then," said the headmistress with another questioning look. "Here are the keys for your rooms. Get freshened up and we can continue the tour."

Everyone nodded and headed to their lodgings.

Upon entering his, Artyom felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him twice over. He'd attended a magical academy before, a while after TOAL had been established so he could fill in the gaps with his self-education. And before that, he'd been attending university back on Earth before he got summoned to fight in the War of Seven Kingdoms.

Seeing a dorm room again made those memories rise up once more.

"No, I'm not going to magic school," said Artyom in a huff.

He was seated at a round table alongside six others. Once they were enemies on opposing sides of a world war. Today, they were friends dedicated to a singular goal.

They were ripped from their homes and forced to fight for causes they didn't support, for people who saw them as pawns in their own petty quests for power, and subjected to horrors nobody deserved to experience.

They were each the chosen hero of the respective kingdoms who summoned them as part of the War of the Seven Kingdoms.

They discovered they weren't the only chosen hero, nor the only one from Earth on that world.

They rebelled, joined forces, and destroyed each kingdom's means of summoning more of them.

And now, they were united to stopping what happened to them from happening to anyone else, ever again.

"You're strong, but your knowledge has too many holes in it," said Khethiwe. She had dark skin and hair cut close to her head. One of the other seven made a joke about her reminding them of the character Amanda Waller, which was especially fitting as she took over the role of spymaster in the kingdom that summoned her. And now she was putting that expertise to use at the Isekai Police, official (and less-cringey) name pending. "You're going back to school, no questions about it. Besides, you got summoned early on in your college life, you'll get the chance to catch up on that experience this way!"

"She's got a point, Artyom," said Obadiah, a Texan dressed in rich white somewhere between a suit and priestly robes. Khethiwe joked about him looking like a wannabe televangelist, which he took in good humor. Everyone in the room knew he had more true faith and moral backbone than any of them. "If we're gonna be startin' this so-called police force, we'd better be as strong as we can."

"And I'm plenty strong, stronger than any of you," replied Artyom. "Yi, I took down an entire army of zombies you summoned single handedly! And Adithya, you built a freaking mech for your side, and who destroyed it?"

The woman and man he called out grumbled before letting out a quiet "you" in unison.

"But you could be stronger," said Iori from her seat on the other side of the table. "You're no doubt going to be the spearhead for most of our missions until we can find more members, and there's no telling what we'll be encountering in other worlds. For all who knows, the one we were summoned to is on the weak side of things and we're all in way over our heads."

Everyone stared at her with wide eyes.

"Oh dear heavens, don't go and jinx it like that!" shouted Obadiah.

"Sorry," said Iori with an apologetic wince. "But my point is that even when I knew I was in way over my head back in the war, I didn't settle for 'good enough'. I kept improving my potions until they were as good as I could make them. Why don't you do the same?"

Artyom was quiet this time, not sure how to respond.

The last member of the table, Belicia, spoke up for the first time during their meeting. "You're planning to stay with us for five years, correct?"

"Five?!" shouted Artyom indignantly. "I'm going to be here my whole life! I made a promise!"

"At least five, then," she said, punching numbers into the calculator she'd been summoned with. "In that time, even if you spend the next two years in magic school, if you gain at least a twenty percent improvement in ability, you'll be overall more efficient in your missions."

"Twenty percent is a big assumption," said Artyom in a huff, but he looked down at the table thoughtfully. "Still, if that'll let me save more people in only a couple of years… fine, I'll go."

"Glad we could get you to see reason," said Khethiwe with a smile. "We still have a lot of setting up to do here, so two years should be plenty to make everything ready for when you get back."

"But the goal is twenty percent?" asked Artyom. "I'll make it thirty- no, fifty percent by the time I get back! I expect you to work similar miracles here."

"We already are," said Obadiah with a chuckle.

"Analyzing the worlds we've been able to access with the runes we've stolen from all of our kingdoms, we've finalized a shortlist of magical academies for you to choose from," said Belicia, sliding over a sheet of paper to Artyom. "Select the one you think fits your needs the most."

Artyom gave the list a thorough look, and after several minutes, made his decision. "How about this one?"