"It's basically an isekai, y'know?" Anathasia continued. "There's dragons, magic, mages… kingdoms, knights—it's basically your ideal fantasy world to self-insert into."
She shrugged.
"Now we only need an overpowered, overly righteous guy with multiple women swarming him like flies…" Her gaze drifted over all of us, then flattened in disappointment.
"…All of you failed."
"No, you're asking for an oblivious and emotionally stupid guy," I shot back dryly. "And I don't think guys like those exist in the first place."
"In the first place, why are you even talking about random genres when you just… brought us to a world that's not Earth?"
She stopped briefly, looked at plate, popped a piece of meat on her mouth before looking back at me.
"Because Rania and the others suggested it…? Time here isn't parallel to our reality anyway. A few days here is just an hour or two back home," she replied, swallowing.
"Also, aren't you interested in—"
"No, I'm not interested in magic or swordsmanship," I cut in, my expression flattening.
"I didn't even finish my sentence yet…"
"Knowing you, I kinda guessed you were going to say something like that," I casually buried my hands on my pockets, watching as she frowned slightly before looking back at the plains behind us.
"If I'm not wrong," she started, shifting the subject. "This shoreline should be Ishtar territory," she glanced at Rania, who was taking off her apron.
"No?"
Rania simply turned to her after giving the apron and tongs to Roselia without another word.
"Yes, we're far west of Ishtar. There should be a port over ten kilometers north from here," Rania said, closing her eyes.
"Or not…"
"Looks like they moved to another location… after a devastating tsunami, apparently," Anathasia chimed in, holding a piece of meat and popping it on her mouth.
"There's also earthquakes here? So it's not exactly any different from Earth, huh?" I squinted into the distance, spotting a faint dust cloud rolling across the plains.
"Plateau Tremors, to be exact," Rania corrected, casually turning toward it.
Anathasia continued watching as silhouettes on horseback slowly came into view.
"Plateau Tremors and earthquakes function the same way if simplified to ground movement," Rania added.
"However, unlike earthquakes, they are not caused by energy released beneath the planet's surface. Aegea is rock solid, unlike Earth's crust, which floats above molten rock and metals."
The group drew closer, the steady thunder of hooves filling the air.
"Aegea's Tremors…"
"Are caused by mortal gods with dominion over nature,"
"Or, more accurately," Rania continued, "what Aegeans call Transcendents."
The riders stopped a few hundred meters away. A bulky man stepped forward, steel clinking softly as he approached.
"Good day, fine strangers," he called, hand pressed to his chest as his gaze swept over us. "What brings you to—"
He froze.
His eyes locked onto Rania.
Without another word, he dropped to one knee, bowing his head.
"I offer my greetings to the Divine Restorer of Aegea," he declared.
The rest of the group reacted instantly, dismounting, advancing, and kneeling as one.
"We offer our greetings to our Great Lord and Restorer," they chanted,
"Divine Outer God of Equilibrium—"
"Great Rania Eon Augthorth!"
Silence fell.
Only the rustling of leaves and distant waves broke the stillness as the armored men or knights, I guess, remained kneeling before her.
Near the portable grill, Roselia and Kagariel exchanged glances before walking over.
"What's going on?" Roselia asked.
At the sound of her voice, the man lifted his head. His eyes gleamed.
"Duchess Nutriscu…?"
I shot Roselia a glance, then looked back at Rania, who was simply smiling.
Anathasia, meanwhile, was entirely preoccupied.
Back hunched over, she poured sand into plastic cups, carefully shaping small towers like nothing of note was happening at all.
—
A few minutes passed
"It is our greatest honor to stand before Great Rania and Duchess Roselia," the man said.
Arieonos, Third Sword of Ishtar, turned toward Roselia first, then let his gaze shift to me and the others as he and his men removed their helmets.
"But Great Rania," he continued, lowering his head slightly, "please forgive my impertinence."
"No, it's alright," Rania replied with a gentle smile, waving a hand dismissively. "What is it?"
Arieonos nodded, clutching his helmet against his chest.
"May I ask," he said carefully, "who your companions are…?"
Rania paused, briefly exchanging a glance with Roselia, who immediately shook her head and took a step back.
She sighed, her gaze drifting to Anathasia building a sandcastle behind her, to Kagariel casually eating a kebab, and finally to me standing beside him.
"This lady," Rania began, gesturing toward Anathasia, "is the First Outer God… and my mentor."
"Anathasia Veridielle Augthoria."
At her words, the men fell silent. Eyes widened. A few jaws slackened without realizing it.
"This person," she continued, gesturing toward Kagariel, who was in the middle of handing me another kebab."is the Second Outer God. The Finality."
"And the one standing beside him…"
Her gaze shifted to me.
"…is the Stillness. The foundation of all of us."
For a moment, the knights stared at me. Then at Rania. Then at Anathasia, who was still crouched behind us, calmly building sandcastles, before their gazes slowly returned to Rania.
Arieonos' face paled as he forced a strained smile.
"I… I see…"
The rest of the knights looked me up and down, their eyes eventually drifting toward Anathasia, who had just finished decorating her sandcastle with seashells she'd materialized out of thin air.
I offered them a smile.
They returned it. Stiff and uncertain.
So it really is that shocking for everyone else, huh… I murmured dryly to myself.
My gaze shifted to Anathasia, now standing proudly beside her sandcastle, utterly indifferent to the line of armored knights in front of us.
Turning back to them, I grabbed a plate and filled it with kebabs from the portable grill. Then I walked over.
"Everyone looks tired," I said lightly. "Would you like some meat skewers?"
Arieonos and the knights behind him exchanged looks, then stared at the kebabs as though they were sacred relics. Arieonos was the first to reluctantly reach out.
"T-then… I will not turn down your graciousness, oh Founder…"
"I'm no founder, you know?" I replied gently as he took a kebab. Confusion immediately crossed his face.
"I'm only human," I clarified. "Like everyone else."
Gesturing toward those behind me. At Anathasia, Kagariel, Rania, and Roselia—I shrugged.
"They're the Outer Gods. I'm just… a young man."
"A young… man?" Arieonos echoed, incredulity creeping into his voice.
He stared at the kebab, then took a bite.
Tears slid slowly down his cheeks.
"It is truly… scrumptious, Your Grace…"
The other knights hesitated, eyeing the plate in my hands. But when their gazes met mine, something in them seemed to ease, and they reached out as well.
Arieonos, on the other hand…
"A man… a boy… not a woman… nor a lady…" he muttered to himself as he ate nearby.
I get you, mister… I thought dryly. Everyone's like that the first time they meet me.
By the time I looked down again, the plate in my hands was already empty.
—
Around an hour later, the knights offered to escort us back to the nearest city. We declined, so they left without another word…
…bringing a few kebabs with them on the way back, though.
Once they were gone—
"This world," I murmured, folding my arms as I glanced at the sandcastle Anathasia had made earlier. "Is it set in some kind of… Victorian or medieval setting? Like, Western-style fantasy worldbuilding?"
"No?" Anathasia replied casually as she walked over to stand beside me.
"Like I said earlier, it's your typical isekai setting. Those knights were only a fraction of what exists here."
"Such as the things heading here right now."
As she said that, multiple bright lights tore through the sky and slammed into the sand over a kilometer away.
"Are you kidding me…?" My face flattened as silhouettes emerged from the craters their landings had created.
Behind us, Rania, back at the portable grill, spoke while flipping meat.
"They're the Transcendents I mentioned earlier, Sir Kyle."
I glanced over to see her flipping a literal burger patty.
"They're not necessarily hostile… but with Miss Anathasia here…"
I turned back toward the approaching figures. Two women in flowing, elaborate garments, reminiscent of Greek goddesses and three heavily built men.
Though… why are they half-naked? I get that they're powerful fighters and basically gods here, but… basic decency, where?
Meanwhile, Anathasia just stood there. In her long, flowy skirt, my sleeveless shirt, and a sunhat, looking like a completely innocent girl.
But they weren't fooled.
"State your purpose, nomads."
The deep voice of one of the men reverberated through the air, vibrating inside my ear like music with an absurdly heavy bass.
One of the women, the green-haired one with plants sprouting from her feet focused on Anathasia.
Then she stumbled back.
She fell onto the sand, eyes wide, face draining of color.
"That… what is that…" she breathed, turning away as two of the others rushed to her side.
The bulkiest man stepped forward, placing himself between us and the fallen woman.
"What did you just do…?"
His voice was tight. Angry.
But Anathasia—
"Holy cliché… now this is feeling like a real isekai!"
She turned to me, eyes practically sparkling.
"So, who'll be the protagonist between the five of us?"
"No," I said flatly. "You're about to pick a fight with a god from another world. Is that really what you should be worried about right now…?"
I glanced back at the man.
The air around him began to crackle.
His eyes locked onto Anathasia.
Meanwhile, she just held my hand excitedly.
Before we could react, a spherical mass of lightning was already hurtling toward us.
With the faint voice of the fallen woman from earlier shouting—
"Don't attack her—! She's not someone you should fight—!"
The ground distorted as the attack connected.