HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

Chapter 4 - Sudden Departure

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Honestly? I have to admit that it’s highly unusual for you to awaken a Sacred Gear. I’ve never heard of one of your People possessing one before. And I’ve definitely never heard of a Sacred Gear taking the form of a Multiversal Chat Group. ]

That’s new.

Why wouldn’t witches and wizards be able to possess Sacred Gears? Couldn't all Humans do so? I know that even half-human half-devil hybrids can awaken Sacred Gears.

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Why shouldn’t I be able to have a Sacred Gear? If it helps, it’s apparently a so-called Sub-Type called Dimension Lost: Multiversal Chat Group. ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: You awakened a Longinus? Seriously? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): If Dimension Lost: Multiversal Chat Group is a Longinus, then yes. But I still have no idea what you’re talking about. ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Sacred Gears are gifts bestowed upon Humanity by the... God of the Bible. Please don’t make me say his name again. It hurts. They were created so Humans could defend themselves against Supernatural Forces, and they come in all kinds of forms with different abilities. Longinus are the strongest among them, the ones with the greatest potential. A Longinus has enough potential to kill a god. ]

[ ‘Kozuki Oden’: Sounds complicated. So it’s like a weapon you’re born with? ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Pretty much. Imagine each Sacred Gear as a completely different Devil Fruit. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): So gods are real? Or is it only the God from the Bible? And why can’t you say his name? ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Keep an open mind, please. I’m a Devil. My name is Rias Gremory, and I’m the heiress of House Gremory, one of the 72 Pillars. And Big G isn’t particularly fond of us, so his name and anything holy are weaknesses for Devils. ]

[ Queen of Dragons: I see nothing wrong with Devils. I know several myself. And I am a Dragon and former Human. ]

[ ‘Kozuki Oden’: I’m an Oni, and I ate a Devil Fruit! ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: That warning was mostly meant for the Admin. Devils are still a sensitive subject among many Humans in our World. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): I don’t have a problem with Devils as long as you leave my Soul alone. I’m a little disappointed, though. I got the impression you were around my age, not some ancient Devil Princess. ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Huh!? Who said I’m ancient? How old are you? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Eighteen! ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: I’m actually a year younger than you! And don’t worry about your Soul. That sort of thing has been forbidden for a long time and is against the law. If you ever encounter a Devil trying to take your Soul, please tell me. ]

Hmm.

She’s older than I expected her to be at this point in time.

More importantly, she knows about events in One Piece that should still be over twenty-five years away.

Hell, One Piece shouldn’t even exist yet!

It’s only 1993.

Maybe the timeline is more twisted than I thought, and the different Hogwarts admission age isn’t the only change.

Admittedly, I haven’t paid much attention to the non-magical World since I’ve spent most of my life in the magical one.

Good thing I never tried using my future knowledge to get rich through the stock market. With an altered timeline like this, that could have gone very badly.

I really should check the current state of technology and the wider non-magical World sometime soon.

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Good to know. So Devils are real, Big G is real, and I’m guessing Angels are real too? ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Yes. Both normal Angels and Fallen Angels exist, and the Fallen are a separate faction. By the way, you’ll need to be careful. Fallen Angels are known to hunt Sacred Gear users down and either recruit them or extract their Sacred Gears. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Would Wards hide my presence? ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: If they’re powerful enough, they should. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Looks like I’ll be staying inside Diagon Alley and Hogwarts for a while. You also mentioned that I shouldn’t have been able to awaken a Sacred Gear at all. Why is that? ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Oh, I was fairly certain about that. But apparently everyone was wrong. You know about the Witch Hunts, right? Who was behind most of them? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): The Church. ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Exactly. It was always believed that Big G disliked your kind for some reason and excluded witches and wizards from the System responsible for Sacred Gears. Apparently, that assumption was wrong. Still, it’s strange. I’ve never heard of a single Witch or Wizard awakening a Sacred Gear before. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Neither have I. So, you’re a Devil. What exactly does a Devil do? ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Do you mean whether we make Deals? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Yes. ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: We do! Why? Are you interested in making a Deal? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Maybe in the future. What did the Chat Group promise you to bait you into joining? @‘Kozuki Oden’, the same question goes for you. ]

[ ‘Kozuki Oden’: It said I could experience an Adventure even greater than that of the great Kozuki Oden. ]

[ Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess: Considering this Chat Group connects to the Multiverse, I suppose that is technically true. It promised me a way out of my arranged Marriage. Maybe you’d like to join my Peerage, Admin? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): What’s a Peerage? ]

Here we go.

That was exactly the question I had been waiting for. She had finally mentioned the Peerage System.

I couldn’t exactly bring it up myself. I had no reasonable explanation for knowing about it without revealing the knowledge from my past life.

Now, however, I had the perfect excuse to ask her for as much information about it as I wanted.

———

Once Rias mentioned the Peerage System, I spent quite a while questioning her about it and Devils in general before finally heading to bed.

She had to go to sleep as well since Japan was several hours ahead of Britain, meaning it was already extremely late for her.

Irene and Yamato remained mostly passive during our discussion. They had probably gone back to whatever they had been doing after a while.

My birthday had turned out to be far busier and more exciting than I could ever have expected that morning.

I deserved some proper rest before beginning my self-study to prepare for Hogwarts. There was still a massive amount of work ahead of me.

At least I wouldn’t have to spend much time catching up on Potions and Herbology.

Since they were the only magical disciplines a Squib could properly study and practice, I had naturally dedicated quite a lot of time to both of them over the years.

I had studied as far as I possibly could without being able to use magic. Unfortunately, there were certain potions and magical plants that required magic to handle properly.

Fortunately, those were advanced topics and weren’t part of the class material I needed to prepare before the start of the school year.

It was a good thing I had actually gone to bed instead of spending the entire night chatting. Otherwise, I would have regretted it when, shortly after five in the morning, a sound suddenly tore me out of my sleep.

Groggily opening my eyes, I saw a new notification floating in front of me.

[ Ding! “Musclebrain” has joined the Group Chat! ]

Right, I almost forgot there was still an open Chat invitation that hadn’t been accepted.

Who could Musclebrain be?

Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess and ‘Kozuki Oden’ had been obvious to me almost immediately. They were Rias Gremory from High School DxD and Yamato from One Piece.

Queen of Dragons had been a little more ambiguous, but the moment she started chatting, I recognized her as Irene Belserion from Fairy Tail.

Musclebrain, on the other hand, was much harder to identify.

There were plenty of characters I could describe as a musclebrain, yet at the same time, the name didn’t perfectly fit most of them. Thor or Drax from Marvel could certainly qualify, and pretty much any Saiyan from Dragon Ball could be described that way, but there were other nicknames that would fit them far better.

I honestly had no idea who it could be.

Then a message appeared.

[ Musclebrain: Where is the food? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Hello, and welcome to the Chat Group. I’m the Admin, so I’m more or less the person in charge here. What do you mean by ‘Where is the food?’ ]

[ Musclebrain: This glowing magic said it would give me food if I stopped cutting it. I stopped. It did not matter much anyway. Every time I cut it, it came back. ...Did it lie to me? Were you the one who made that promise? And explain this. How are you making me read? I do not know these letters. I should not understand them, but somehow I do. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): You can’t read...? Wait, forget that for a moment. Are you actually starving? ]

[ Musclebrain: I was cheated out of my money because I cannot count. It has been several days since I last ate. I tried hunting, but there is nothing here. Only empty wasteland. Please give me food. I will work hard to repay you. ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Give me a moment! I don’t know if I can send anything to you, but I’ll figure something out. ]

[ Musclebrain: ...Is Monster shit edible? ]

[ Hogwarts Student (Admin): Please don’t eat that! It’ll make you sick. I’m trying to find a way to send you food right now! ]

System, or Dimension Lost, or whatever you want to be called!

Can you hear my thoughts?

How can I send them something to eat?

[ Negative. The Multiverse Chat Group does not possess a function permitting cost-free item transfers between members. ]

Cost-free?

That was an awfully specific way to phrase it.

Does that mean there’s a paid option?

[ The Market function has been unlocked following activation of the Chat Group.

The Market enables members of the Chat Group to exchange Goods with one another. All transactions require a designated form of Currency, with the transaction Cost being determined automatically by the System. Alternatively, Goods of equivalent value may be exchanged directly.

Note: The Market also provides Currency exchange functionality. Currency conversions are subject to a processing Fee. This Fee does not apply to Currency conversions performed as part of a transaction. The Seller may freely designate the Currency in which Payment is to be received. The exchange will be processed automatically through the System. ]

So that’s how it works.

It seems like the Market isn’t a traditional System shop, but rather a trading platform between members of the Chat Group.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t help me right now. ‘Musclebrain’ has no money, so that option is out. And if they don’t even have money to buy food, I doubt they have anything valuable enough to trade for it either.

Are there any other ways for me to get some food to them?

[ You may personally deliver food to them using the Travel Functionality. ]

Right, I forgot about that.

After everything that happened yesterday, I haven’t had a chance to take a proper look at the other functions my Sacred Gear offers.

Besides the Gacha, all of them had been locked until I activated the Chat Group.

But travelling to another World right now?

I should at least see how it works first.

[ Multiversal Travel Function selected.

Available Travel Modes: 2

MODE 01 — Random Universe:

Destination Selection: Randomized

Travel Cooldown: 1 Month

Return Cooldown: 1 Month

MODE 02 — Chat Group Member Universe:

Destination Selection: Registered Member Universe

Travel Cooldown: 3 Months

Return Cooldown: 6 Months ]

Uh...

So no matter which option I choose, I’ll be gone for at least an entire month.

That’s troublesome.

Even worse is the six-month Return Cooldown for travelling to the World of a Chat Group member.

Are these Cooldowns going to stay this long forever?

[ Sacred Gear performance is directly correlated with User mastery.

Increasing mastery will improve utilization efficiency and may grant access to previously unavailable functions. ]

You’re basically a System that I interact with, so how exactly am I supposed to master you?

Okay, I’ve had this thing for less than a day, so maybe I’m expecting too much. Still, it doesn’t seem to work anything like the traditional Dimension Lost.

I have no idea whether I can even use those purple mist barriers or the normal teleportation abilities of that Longinus.

Anyway, it looks like I don’t have much of a choice except to travel to another World.

It’s not like I’m willing to let another person starve to death simply because helping them is inconvenient.

Still, I am so getting grounded when I come back...

And I’m going to miss my little sister coming home for the Christmas holidays.

That really sucks.

My family is going to panic when I suddenly disappear for six months...

But I don’t see another option.

It’s shortly after five in the morning, and both of my parents are still asleep. I have about an hour before they wake up and start preparing for work, so it would be better to leave quickly.

In this case, asking for forgiveness afterward is definitely easier than asking for permission beforehand.

Not that I would ever have a chance of getting permission anyway.

‘Hey, Mom, Dad, would you mind if I disappeared for six months to some secret place I can’t tell you anything about, including where it is, using some mysterious method I also can’t explain to you?’

Yeah, that conversation would go wonderfully.

Grabbing my new wand from the nightstand, I point it at myself and cast, “Silencio.”

It’s a fifth-year Charm, but I manage to make it work once I figure out the proper wand movement. Admittedly, it still takes me a few attempts.

I cast the Charm on every door I pass through as well as on my parents’ bedroom door so I don’t accidentally wake them.

I really don’t want to explain myself right now.

Next, I head into the kitchen to gather some food.

Since ‘Musclebrain’ said they haven’t eaten in several days, I grab some soup stock Mom keeps preserved under a Stasis Charm. It would probably be better to ease them back into eating rather than immediately stuffing them with solid food.

I also grab enough rations for several days, along with a few bottles of water, and pack everything into my travel backpack.

An Extension Charm would be incredibly useful right now, but we don’t have a book in the study containing that spell. It’s highly regulated magic, after all, and legally you’re only allowed to use it with permission from the Ministry.

Legally, at least.

Besides, I doubt I could figure out something that complicated this quickly.

Even the Silencing Charm, which admittedly is a fifth-year spell, took me several attempts to get right.

Next, I headed into the study to grab a few books.

First was ‘The Spellbook for the Traveling Wizard’, which, as the title suggested, contained useful spells for surviving while travelling. Then there was ‘Practical Self-Defense Guide’, which contained instructions for several combat spells, along with my new book on the Mind Arts.

I also took ‘The Standard Book of Spells’ Grades 1 through 5, ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration’, and finally ‘Intermediate Transfiguration’ from my parents’ old schoolbooks. Together, they covered most of the essential material for Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration from the first four or five years at Hogwarts.

That should allow me to cover as much of the curriculum as possible while I’m gone. I’ll have to cram whatever remains during the summer before the Hogwarts school year begins.

Normally, that many books would weigh me down considerably, but I quickly figured out the Shrinking Charm. Since it was only a second-year spell, it didn’t take me too long, and shrinking the books kept my backpack from becoming unbearably cramped.

It also helped that I had my meta knowledge and could remember the incantations for a ridiculous number of spells after spending years as a Potterhead. Figuring out the proper wand movements might take some time, but so far, everything I remembered had worked.

I also packed the book I had received from the Gacha. Magic from Mushoku Tensei should allow me to create drinking water wherever I ended up. Sure, the Wizarding World had the Water-Making Spell, but that involved more advanced magic, and I had no idea how quickly I would be able to learn it.

Besides the books, I added several sets of clothes to my pack while choosing something weatherproof and reasonably protective to wear for the journey.

I also snatched three Wiggenweld Potions, a bottle of Essence of Dittany for healing, two bottles of Maxima Potion to strengthen my spells in an emergency, two Memory Potions, and two Wit-Sharpening Potions from our household supply.

Finally, I retrieved our family tent from the attic.

Then I grabbed the pouch containing my savings. The System should be able to convert the money into whatever currency was used in the World I was travelling to.

I had saved more than two hundred Galleons over the years.

I had always been frugal because, as a Squib, I knew I would eventually turn eighteen and might need to build an entirely new life in the non-magical World.

My original plan had actually been to melt the Galleons down for their gold and exchange that for pounds in the Muggle World. The value of the gold itself should have been higher than Gringotts’ exchange rate of five pounds per Galleon, which would have given me a comfortable financial head start before investing some of it into stocks.

Good thing I have magic now.

Still, I really hope I don’t have to spend all my savings in this other World. I’d hate myself if that happened.

Preferably, I’ll come back with more money than I left with.

I would have loved to make more thorough preparations before jumping into another Universe, especially by finding some kind of secondary weapon besides my wand, but I didn’t have enough time.

We didn’t exactly keep weapons lying around the house either.

Less than an hour after waking up, I was ready to travel to another World.

I left a note on the kitchen table along with the Christmas presents I had prepared for my family, but I already knew I would be in an unbelievable amount of trouble once I returned.

Even with a note, there was simply no reasonable explanation I could give them.

Still, I was legally an adult now.

If necessary, I could always hide behind that argument.

With my heavy backpack secured over my shoulders, I focused on the Multiversal Travel function.

So much for learning magic first...

A moment later, purple mist burst from my body and surrounded me completely.

Then my room vanished.

— Central Continent, Asura Kingdom, Wilderness, K406 —

— Ghislaine Dedoldia POV —

I couldn’t bear it any longer.

That pile of Monster shit was the only thing in this desolate wasteland that looked even remotely edible.

Maybe the strange floating box had only been a hallucination brought on by starvation. As I stared at the disgusting pile in front of me, it somehow began looking more appetizing with every passing second.

Just as I was about to rush toward it, purple mist suddenly appeared beside me.

Before I could react, a hand landed on my shoulder and firmly pulled me away.

“I told you not to eat that. It’s unhealthy,” a male voice said in a language I had never heard before.

For some strange reason, I could still understand every word.

The speaker sounded slightly exhausted.

“Who...?” I rasped as I turned toward him.

My eyes met a pair of crystal-blue ones belonging to a tall, handsome, dark-haired young man who appeared to be around my age.

However, what caught my attention most wasn’t his appearance.

It was his Magic Power.

Unlike everyone else I had ever seen, most of his Magic was gathered into a dense point near the center of his body instead of being spread evenly throughout him.

It wasn’t as though the rest of his body contained no Magic Power at all, but compared to the amount concentrated in that single point, it was almost insignificant.

I had never seen anything like it before.

“My name is Alistair Davis, but you probably know me better as ‘Hogwarts Student’,” he introduced himself as he removed the heavy backpack from his shoulders and placed it on the ground beside me. “Like I promised, I brought you some food.”

He opened the backpack, and the moment the smell reached me, my stomach growled painfully.

[-- End of Chapter --]