Isekai Mansion Arc 1 Part 3-6

The next day, I came downstairs to discover that everyone in the house was already awake before me. It would appear that the whirlwind of activity I’d gone through over the past three months was really starting to catch up with me despite the few days I took off before going to Murk. I was out for like eleven hours last night. But no matter, starting today I had to devise an actionable plan to take these devils out strategically. I would need Higgins to help me prepare in any way he could, and I’d study my father’s journal with a fine tooth comb to see if anything stuck out to me.

I heard Higgins in the kitchen making a late breakfast but when I went into the drawing room, I saw both Emily and Anabel sitting there in silence. You could cut the tension with a knife. The two of them could not possibly display a starker contrast from one another. Anabel was sitting in a chair, sewing. She wore her white colonial dress accented with peach and of course, her signature mini bonnet. Her demeanor was ostrich-like, ignoring Emily’s presence. On the other hand, there was Emily, sitting with her legs up on the couch, reading. She was dressed in full gothic regalia. A lolita goth skirt that cut off just below the knee, matching short sleeve blouse that went up to her neck, eye shadow, and black lipstick.

“Good morning! Are you two getting along well?” I feigned ignorance to their standoffishness.

“Good morning, Eric!” Anabel said, cheerily.

Emily just looked up from her book and smiled in acknowledgment.

“Hey, listen. After breakfast I have some important things to discuss with Higgins. I need to take a breather to figure some things out, so I won’t be able to spend any time with you guys today. So maybe you could just keep each other company until I’m all done.”

“Ke…keep each other company,” Anabel said, sounding distraught, “well, wh…what should we do?”

“I don’t know, maybe the two of you could just go outside and play for a while.”

Emily angrily closed her book and shouted, “Go outside and play! What are we, little kids?”

“I mean, Anabel is practically an infant when it comes to adjusting to the modern world. And with you, I just don’t know sometimes.”

“Errr,” she gritted spitefully.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. It was rude of me. But in all seriousness, can I count on you guys to just entertain yourselves for a while? Perhaps you could take up Higgins’ mantle and teach Anabel some more things about modernity?”

“Hmm, I suppose that would be alright,” she replied.

“And what about you, Anabel? Can I count on you to keep the same spirit you’ve had since you arrived here and just show it to Emily the way you have to me and Higgins?”

“Well, I guess I can do that,” she said, reluctantly.

“Good! Now let’s go eat some breakfast and I’ll leave you two to it!”

After breakfast, the girls went off to the study so Emily could answer any questions.

Anabel may still have about the way the world works now. Murk may be a fair bit different from Earth but there’s still a lot of shared similarities. Pop Culture, technology, and even the way politics and the law worked were quite the same even if the geography was different and the creep factor was on a high alert all the time. At least I could rely on a few distractions for a couple of days while I strategize against the Seven Devils.

“Higgins, we need to talk,” I said with a serious tone.

“Yes, Master Noble, how can I be of assistance?”

“I want to get serious about taking out the Seven Devils. I need you to show me everything you know.”

“Excellent resolve sir, but there’s no need to rush things. Bristol was the most immediate threat and with that out of the way, you are afforded some time before the next.”

“But I want to take action preemptively against these devils.”

“Your father did as well. Sometimes he would go whole years before making a move against one. He would use his time training and gathering intelligence.”

“That’s just it. I don’t wanna waste years on this! But I do, however, want to be prepared.

That’s why I need you to train me.”

“Hmm, very well, Master Eric. Let’s get to it shall we?”

I finally saw the purpose in the Mansion’s fitness center. My father and Higgins used it to keep themselves optimal between worlds. Before today, I had never stepped foot in a gym. I mean, I wasn’t some frail weakling. Like I mentioned before, I could at least pass as a normal dude. But get me close to something like a weight set and my inner nerd started showing.

The facility was very nice though! There was a smith machine, squat rack, stepmill, hand weights, curl bars, bench press, and so forth. There was even a little track that ran around the room. Higgins worked me solid! You could tell this man knew what he was doing, and I kept it in the back of my mind that this was the same type of routine he and my father had. That was my motivation.

* * *

After a hard day of breaking my body into the gym, I decided to go check on the girls and see how they were getting along. When I went into the study, I found Emily painting Anabel’s nails red. She sprung to her feet with vigor and said, “look, Eric!”

“Oh wow, looks like you two are getting along swimmingly.”

“I didn’t think Death Knell Black would really suit her,” Emily said, “but I had some Midnight Blue and Crimson Red, so I figured that would work okay. It actually looks pretty good on her.”

Anabel blushed a little and said, “truth be told, I had always thought an exhibition of vanity such as this was reserved for harlots. But I must admit, it’s kinda nice.”

Emily just smiled and held her hands up in confusion.

For the rest of the week, Higgins and I trained hard in the gym. At night, I would read my father’s journal to learn all I could about his past exploits. It eased my mind a little to know that the girls were actually getting along. It was one less thing for me to worry about in the scheme of things.

* * *

By the end of the week, Higgins decided we would change up our routine. He thought it best to enhance my swordsman skills, so we geared up in fencing attire and went out back to train. The girls sat out by the garden under a large umbrella to watch.

“Alright, Master Noble,” Higgins began, with a more serious tone than usual, “training your body is one thing, but using it effectively is entirely another. Fortunately, you learned the basics of combat from Captain Monreau, an elite swashbuckler. But it was your inexperience that cost you the fight with Washington.”

“I held my own against him, but I guess it was to be expected I’d lose against a master swordsman of his caliber,” I retorted.

“That’s just the thing, Eric. He was not a master swordsman. You only assume so because he was king. A role that was handed down to him. Did you really think that he was seasoned in frontline combat? A skilled opponent in his own right he may have been, but he lacked the experience to exert any real combat prowess. Much like you.”

I hadn’t considered that, but it’s true. Washington was born into royalty, and it was only his grandfather that likely had any real experience. And then there was that dignitary that tried to stop him from engaging me. Washington shut him up because he wanted to prove himself to that room full of people. That’s why he accepted my challenge. He was protecting his pride.

But this raised a bigger question. I was nothing when I got wrapped up into this mess.

The skills I had acquired were really the bare minimum. I couldn’t even ride a horse when I met Anabel. It was luck that I survived the assassination attempt on Emily back at the hotel. Could I really just be a small fish in a much larger tank than I realized?

“On guard, Master Noble,” Higgins said, as he lowered his face shield.

The two of us slowly entered combat as the girls watched on. Little by little, the two of us prodded and guarded against one another. After a while, the strikes got more intense. Up until now, it felt nostalgic to my training with Moreau. That is until…

We locked blades and then separated. I moved on to forward slash Higgins, but he leaned backwards and to his right with his sword level in front of his face. Then with some kinda move like out of The Matrix, he swerved his hips all the way to the left, still leaning backwards, dodging my attack. As I caught my balance, he raised up and stopped his sword right against my neck.

He taunted, “that move took the head clean off Lord Cornelius’ ally, Master Baldwin. And the foe that did it wasn’t even a Devil. My lord ingrained it in me to be able to dodge strikes like that and until I ingrain it in you, I cannot allow you to continue world walking.”

Huh? This was a surprise. Was he actually going to try and physically stop me from going down the well if I didn’t listen?

We soon returned to fighting. This time the intensity was turned up. It had gone far beyond what I had experienced with Moreau, or even King Washington for that matter. The girls looked on, almost in fear. This fight no longer felt like training, it felt real!

We locked blades again and Higgins leaned in to tell me, “come now, Master Noble. How do you expect to survive against the Seven Devils if you can’t even defeat a man in his late fifties?”

We broke away from each other, and I held my blade with both hands while separating us with a kick. As Higgins hopped backward to dodge it, I turned and jumped up on the ledge of the fountain and ran completely 360 degrees around it, using my momentum to leap off it and down strike Higgins midair. He blocked it, but the force of my attack knocked him to the ground. The girls audibly gasped and then clapped. We dropped weapons and I helped him up after removing my mask. “That’s a good start, Master Noble,” Higgins complimented, after removing his own.

* * *

I took a shower and came back downstairs to find Higgins asking the girls what they would like for dinner. I had been working so hard this week and I knew Higgins had as well, especially today! So, I thought maybe I’d make a suggestion that would be agreeable to everyone.

“How about we order a pizza?” “A pizza?” Anabel questioned.

“You have pizza in this world?” Emily piped up, as she rotated to all fours on the couch.

“We sure do! Oh, and it’s a special treat of a meal, Anabel. Italian in origin but perfected in America.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Master Noble!” said Higgins, “I’ll order one right away. Pepperoni and sausage, to keep it simple for Miss Townsend?”

“Perfect-o!” I quipped.

“Hmm, pizza, huh? What’s in it?” Anabel continued asking.

“The better question would be what’s on it actually. It’s kinda like a large cracker, with toppings. People put all sorts of things on it. Vegetables, fruit, meat… The one Higgins is ordering is pepperoni and sausage, but it’ll also have tomato sauce and cheese. Maybe even some seasonings, like oregano.”

“Interesting…dairy, grain, meat, and herbs.”

When the pizza arrived, Anabel was even more shocked that it came right to the door.

“It arrives by magic as well!”

“Ha! No. Higgins ordered it over the phone. Remember, we showed you how they work,” I explained.

“Oh, I see. It smells wonderful!”

Higgins sat the pizza box in the middle of the kitchen island bar. He opened it up and before Anabel could examine it closely, Emily snatched up a piece and started devouring it.

“It’s okay, Anabel. Take your time with it. I know it’s a totally new concept.”

She looked the pizza over as me and Higgins each took a piece. I slowly showed her how to pick a slice up and eat it without getting it everywhere. She followed suit and looked at it from all sides before taking a bite.

“Wow! It’s so good!!!” she exclaimed, before devouring it.

Emily grabbed another slice and started in before Anabel could take a second bite.

Looks like the house had a bright, friendly future. But I still had my goals in mind…