Bog Standard Isekai

“Be we sure this is a good idea?” asked Sancha, not for the first time. She’d been happy with their color choices when it was still in the planning stages, but now that they were near to entering the great hall, she was suddenly getting stage fright.

Brin had arrived early to set up all the targets for Vitor under the cover of Invisibility. They were glass plates with a archery target drawn on them, but he was allowed to put them anywhere.

Sancha arrived after he'd finished, entering from the gardens in the front with her maid, who had left the other direction heading towards the Servants’ Tea where Tonin would also be spending his evening. Sancha had anxiously rubbed the surface of the gemstones on her rings before she knew anyone was around to see her.

She wore a red ballgown in the style that was popular this year. Tight on top, with the flare starting surprisingly low on the waist. Long sleeves, with a diamond-shaped window on the chest that showed a black blouse underneath, which in turn made for a perfect background for her new piece of jewelry: a necklace made with his ruby cylinder.

The overall effect was stunning, and when Ares had arrived shortly after her, he’d been struck completely speechless, a rarity for him. Though he was quickly starting to rally.

“What better idea could there be, than to bless this humble garden with Steamshield’s finest rose?”

It was a testament to how nervous Sancha was that she didn’t even have any insults to throw Ares way, and just responded with a slight smile.

She’d shown up nervous, but he thought it was Jeeves that had really set her on edge. Hogg had given him the personality of a total sweetheart, but he sure didn’t look that way on first glance. Once they were all together in their blacks and reds with a creature made of living shadows looming behind them, it really drove home how out of place they were going to stand out.

Jeeves’ black servants attire made the blacks on Brin’s and Ares clothes look like sunbeams by comparison, and Brin had actually been impressed by the quality of Ares’ suit when he normally wore pretty cheap stuff.

They waited by the front door, giving Sancha time to gather her nerves. Or was this just making it worse? He couldn’t tell. There was another group of students waiting behind them, these ones wearing the pastels that were more typical for the Summer Solstice Ball, but they hung back and pretended they were distracted by the flowers rather than pressure Brin by moving up behind him.

“Well? Any last minute warnings? News? Messages from Hogg?” Brin asked Jeeves, just to give Sancha some space.

“Nothing as such. Although, I perhaps might ask the young master’s companion if he has the [Poison Resistance] Skill, with my humblest apologies for the intrusive question,” said Jeeves.

“What? No. No body Skills. I’m a [Mage],” said Ares.

Sancha was surprised out of her anxiety, replacing those worries with a new one. “Gracious! Of course thou wouldst not have it–that should have occurred to me. Someone doth always bring poison to these revels.”

“That can’t be right. These are high society-types, aren’t they? Dainty and delicate, these dapper dancers,” said Ares.

“Would you mind being on taste-tester duty? I’ll do what I can, but I’ll be busy with my own stuff,” said Brin.

Ares held up his hands in denial. “I hardly think the lady wants to–”

“I will oblige,” said Sancha.

“Make sure you try a bit of everything before he eats it. I’ve heard they like to poison the toppings, like the cherries or the frosting,” said Brin.

“Yes, naturally. Now, are ye both at length complete? We have a ball to attend,” said Sancha, stepping forward.

Jeeves hustled to get the door, smoothly sliding ahead of them and opening the door so that Sancha could walk through without breaking her stride.

The great hall was utterly transformed from the way it normally looked. Instead of dark and oppressive, it felt like they were walking from a cave into the sunlight rather than the other way around. The ceiling, painted in the images of the gods in their various ranks, now looked like it was the real, actual heavens above, with them all looking down with benign disinterest at the revelry below.

[Know What’s Real] and his other magical senses told Brin that there was some serious illusion work to get the great hall to look and feel like this. The girls in their cheerful dresses were spread all throughout the hall, which now had green flooring and was spotted with vases and pots full of pleasant flowers and fragrant grasses, looking like they really were flowers in a grassy field. The men in their reserved suits could be the stems, Brin supposed.

A few [Illusionists] openly plied their trade, summoning up flowering trees or dancing lights in the air. Other entertainers were scattered among them as well. [Acrobats], [Flame Dancers], and [Jugglers], though Brin was pretty disappointed that anyone would waste their Class on that last.

A few murmurs led to more, then whispers, and then pointing, and then all pointing stopped because everyone had turned to look in Brin's direction.

A chamber group of musicians led by a [Bard] stopped playing, and there was a painful silence.

This wasn't a formal ball, so they weren't actually supposed to stand right in the doorway and wait for someone to announce them, but that's how it felt anyway. All eyes were on them, but with no one to announce their names it just turned into a painful silence.

Brin's friends rallied admirably. Sancha, who’d been so nervous before, suddenly displayed no sign of that. She struck a pose on his left, cocking out her hip while raising one hand, frowning at it as if she were inspecting the quality of her rings, or maybe disappointed that the hand wasn’t already holding a glass of champagne. Brin knew he was glaring, so he drew himself up and tried to look proper, one hand in his coat pocket, but he knew he now looked like he was looking down on everyone. He spotted Vitor in the crowd, looking agog, and Brin shifted his glare to him. Ares cocked his head to the side and grinned, eyes wide. Then Jeeves loomed behind them, six and a half feet of shadowy menace.

While they all watched them, he got a chance to look back. Sion was here, with Rhun, both of them wearing the proper Steamshield suits rather than Prinnashian [Merchant] clothes or armor. He'd offered to have them arrive with him, but Sion wanted to get to work on his own with the list of possibly lucrative acquaintences Brin had given him. They'd reveal they knew each other later on in the night if Sion decided there was an advantage in it. Princess Gracia hadn't arrived yet, which was too bad since that was the main person he wanted to introduce Sion to. Sion was trying to suppress his smile, but it was clear he thought Brin's dramatic entrance was hilarious. Rhun just looked exasperated.

Vitor was here, Guoncal, and everyone else he knew from first year intake. Lumina was present, and seemed lost in thought and probably completely oblivious to the tone shift in the room, though she smiled when she saw him looking her way. A few other teachers acted as chaperones, including the strangely youthful Ian of Avion who looked like he could've been one of the students. Servants walked this way and that, some with appetizers or drinks, but the buffet tables hadn't been set out yet.

Another second of silence. Two. Three. Then finally the [Bard] came to their rescue.

“Is that… is that really you?” asked the [Bard].

Brin tried to remember how he knew this guy. He [Inspected] as Chico, and Brin really didn’t recognize him at all. He summoned a conscious thread.

Main: Search my memories. How do we know this guy?

Support creative writers by reading their stories on NovelFire, not stolen versions.

Brin 2: I’ll try, but I seriously don’t recognize him at all. I don’t know where to start.

“Reggy? It is you!” said Chico. “That’s Jeeves! Big Reggy Jeeves! You’re in for a treat, ladies and gentlement. This is the man who has been simply reinventing Steamshield’s nightlife with his flugelhorn. I promise you've never heard anything like it! Come on up here, Jeeves!”

“No. No, I couldn’t possibly,” said Jeeves.

Brin turned to the Shadow Construct and said with his stage voice, “You dog! I didn’t know you played.”

“I dabble,” said Jeeves, but he was already summoning a pure black instrument from the Shadow Realm. It was a bit like a trumpet, but shorter with a wider bore.

The band played a jaunty little tune, and then Jeeves mimicked it back. The audience clapped, Brin loudest of all.

They played a call back and forth a couple more times, with Jeeves swaying a bit and stepping to the beat like a professional stage musician. Then the song combined and Jeeves took the lead while pushing off and crossing the remaining distance to the stage in one long slide.

He let the flugelhorn away from his lips, bowed, and then did a backflip to land up on the stage, and resumed the song right where he’d left off, exactly on beat.

They finished their song, and retrieved a round of applause from all present. The next song was more background music–they were playing something that obviously wasn’t meant for dancing, instead more focused on showcasing Jeeves' skill. He was really good, and had a loose, jazzy style that Hogg had probably picked up from some of the stuff Brin played.

This fit, since it wasn't for dancing it would give everyone time to pick their first partners.

Brin felt the unwanted attention finally leave him. Well, no, people were still paying him too much attention, but at least they were mostly being subtle about it now, rather than the open staring he’d gotten at the beginning.

He grabbed a glass from a passing servant, just lemonade, and chugged it in one go and then chucked it at Vitor, using his magic to propel it at high speed.

“Alright! Let’s party!”

Vitor caught the glass easily and returned and placed it on the tray of a different passing waiter, looking both self-satisfied and slightly confused. Then he seemed to realize what it meant. Their duel was started. He turned and started walking towards Gyromia, noticeably not bumping into anyone. The first of Brin's targets, one he'd set up on the wall near the stage, seemed to explode on its own, struck by a sneaky bit of hardened sand.

Brin split of a mind to start harassing him with glass needles, and to defend the remaining targets if he could.

“Not so fast,” said a voice Brin had come to really dislike. Fear wasn’t even the wrong word, because he was afraid of how hard it was to not accidentally bully this kid when he really didn’t want to play it that way.

Guoncal, the [Mage of Creeping Things] gave a dramatic pose of his own, wearing a light lavender suit, and dramatically holding up a jar with brightly-colored grasshoppers inside.

“Nay. Prithee, nay,” said Sancha.

Guoncal cleared his throat. “Lady Sancha, please hearken unto me, as I intend to ask thee for the first dance of the night, and I will do so most properly with all respect that is due to a lady of a reputable family. Thou mayest not wish for respect, seeing the company you keep, yet I shall bestow it upon thee nonetheless, for so beseemeth the duty of any gentleman worth the name. Thou seest, I hold that a lady is meant for more than to be a bauble upon the arm of some wealthy churl.”

“Lord Guoncal. I do beseech thee. Turn from this,” said Sancha, pained.

Brin glanced at her and then held out his arm. She saw it and wrapped her elbow around his. Brin nodded. “He’s right. My arm really does look better this way. Thanks, bauble.”

"It is my immediate pleasure, my lord," Sancha replied.

That brought a wave of delighted chitters from the watching students, and a couple of girls nearby fell into fits as the urge to laugh out loud warred with their upbringing and left them choking.

Guoncal didn’t seem to notice, and couldn’t look away from their crossed arms. “A lady is… is more than… I will have thee–”

“Nay. Thou wilt not,” said Sancha.

“Thou didst not let me finish. I will have thee judge between me and Mr. Mistaken. For this is the role of woman, to be the final arbiter on what is admirable and what is not. For what could be a better vote of confidence than that struck by a fine and discerning lady upon the matter of who she chooses for a mate. Once thou seest the worthiness of my splendid crickets, thou wilt have no choice but to accept me… for a dance, or even more.”

Brin was afraid that if he rolled his eyes as hard as he wanted to, he’d lose them completely. Sancha winced in embarrassment.

Ares stepped up on her other side, and she crooked her other arm around his. “Hey, Sancha. Can I have the next dance?"

She nodded simply. "Very well."

"Great," said Ares, trying to suppress how elated her quick reply made him. "See? It's that easy. And you’ve gotta stop saying ‘mate’, mate!”

A girl nearby shrieked a laugh then covered her mouth with alarm, but it was already spreading. The laughter started, and then ribbing. The background music couldn’t really be danced to, but it had enough tune to make a song, and the students began made a few up on the spot.

“Slap me in a toga and call me Lady Judge! No one wants to see your ugly bug!”

Guoncal turned to flee, but a few of the men “accidentally” jostled him and he tripped. Brin grabbed the jar with his glass magic so it wouldn’t crash against the ground, but he misjudged how far Guoncal was going to stumble and accidentally ripped it out of his hands. Guoncal just kept walking, leaving the jar behind.

"Hey..." Brin floated it towards himself rather than leaving it hanging in the air. “Now what am I supposed to do with this?”

The crickets inside were actually pretty cool, now that he saw them up close. They had a metallic sheen that sparkled in the light.

The onlookers shouted advice. "Destroy it!"

“Open it! Open it and see if it would earn yon Sancha’s love!”

“Nay, use it for thyself! Impress the lady for whom thy heart yearns! Who e’er she may be...ya.”

Brin frowned at the advice-giving ladies, who apologized and backed away with heads bowed, though still smiling.

He looked around for someone that might give him real advice, and noticed Bia was nearby. She was in a gown, pink and white, that complemented his colors without matching them in a way that made him wonder if she’d had advance notice on what he was going to wear tonight.

He suddenly felt sympathy with Ares, because his mouth was dry and didn't seem to want to move. “You… you’re in a dress!”

She shrugged. “Well, I had to wear something.”

It was quite the dress. The same diamond-shaped window as Sancha’s, only hers went to bare skin, and the flare at her waist was at least six inches lower. The only thing that reminded him of her usual outfit was the headscarf, also pink to match her dress.

“You never wear dresses. I thought it was a religious thing,” said Brin.

Bia snorted. “Oh? And which of the gods teach women not to wear dresses?”

Brin gave the obvious answer. “The godlings Alethrise and Piperita, and arguably the goddess Nocta.” Then he felt embarrassed that he’d known that and added, “And you can’t prove that I’m not making that up.”

“Uh huh,” Bia said. “So are you going to open it? We all want to see if Sancha has to mate with Guoncal.”

Sancha groaned again, and Brin noticed that she hadn’t let go of Ares’ arm yet.

Brin looked for Guoncal again, but the [Mage of Creeping Things] was trying to hide back behind a group of gentlemen.

“Do I get your first dance if I do?” asked Brin.

“I’m not really one for dancing,” said Bia. Then she paused and reconsidered. “But sure. One dance.”

He shrugged and opened the jar.

The crickets immediately jumped out. They fanned out their buzzing wings and took to the air, and a few of the ladies gave small yips of alarm, but the bugs didn’t draw near. Instead, they flew in a coordinated pattern, leaving trails of colored dust in the air.

The motion of flight seemed to rob them of their essence and they faded until there was nothing left but the streams of colored dust in the air that made a tunnel in the shape of a heart to where Sancha was standing. Brin was impressed. [Know What’s Real] was saying that there were no tricks here, he’d really managed to get his bugs to do that with his Skills.

The students around them let out a begrudging round of clapping.

Sancha said, “I... had not expected that to be so grand. I fear that I have no choice but to oblige him.” She scowled at Bia's suggestive grin. “For the dance.”

The last of the floating crickets disappeared in a poof of glitter, but instead of being harmless colorful dust, it sparked and ignited into real flame.

Then all at once, the rest of the hanging dust in the air ignited into flame of the same color as their dust. Rather than a big flash, the burning dust acted more like napalm and rained down on four watching ladies, igniting their dresses and hair.

They screamed, and more women screamed as they rushed away, while gentlemen shoved forward, wanting to help but not knowing how. Brin immediately suspected foul play, but Guoncal, who’d been rallying at the pleased reaction from everyone, now looked completely horrified, and Brin didn’t think it was fake.

"<Freeze>," said Lumina, appearing from nowhere, and as quickly as it started, the commotion stopped. The flame was out, smoke and all, and those moving around in a panic stopped as well. Lumina released them once she was sure there wasn't going to be a stampede, and then turned to the ladies, whose fear and pain was now turning to tears as they took in the ruined state of their hair and dresses.

"We have [Seamstresses] and [Hairdressers] on staff. Come now. We'll get you fixed up and you'll be back here and better than ever for the first dance," said Lumina, and guided the poor girls away from the dancefloor. They cast dirty looks in Guoncal's direction as they went. Lumina spared him one glance, not angry, more like faint disgust, the way you would look at a bug.

Ian of Avion stepped up onto the stage with Jeeves and the band, and once again the music stopped in favor of drama. "I think it best if we began with the dancing! Spend some of that pent up energy that way, instead of... this. Agreed? A group dance, I think, instead of with partners. Maybe the first three should be like that."

Brin felt his second target shatter. He had eight more, but that wasn't great since this was one of the ones he'd hidden under a table that had been set out for the buffet later. The evening had barely started.

He was going to join the group dance, sure, but most of all it was time to focus on beating Vitor.