As far as we could tell, the basic equipment that the teens- along with Inasyah and I- was better than what we could afford with our new income. We were specifically thinking about upgrades for them, as the rest of us already had good equipment. The knight’s equipment was better, but none of them could use it well. Ultimately, we ended up getting a decent portion of our funds from selling their gear compared to the mission we went on.

  Malaliel wasn’t terribly happy about it, but she wasn’t going to say we couldn’t take things from people who kidnapped teenagers. We might have to give some kind of physical reparations in the future- once we got to the point of returning the people back to Zuresh- but I would have personally chosen to drop them in the middle of Zuresh’s castle in their underclothes. Once we were done of course. Before then, they could learn too much from them. It was better for their circumstances to be a mystery.

  We contacted Earth almost daily in one form or another- either Sending or Gate. The latter was far more magically expensive, but then again… this world had a lot of mana. It didn’t seem to make people on average stronger, though. That depended on talents… maybe. Martial Squad Management actually gave very little credence to that being important. Maybe that was just because they assumed you couldn’t get a whole group of people with talent.

  -----

  I was still tracking down the people who stole Yalith’s tomes. I’d found a lot of false positives, but I was able to discern that easily enough by just checking the style of the wards. I would say about half of what I encountered had some, but Yalith’s were distinctive. First of all, hers were only meant to destroy the books. A couple others seemed rigged with various sorts of energy to try to kill people who snagged them. No idea whether that was humans or what. I’d have to get my hands on or at least near them to delve deeper. Or spend unnecessary mana.

  The point was that I knew which ones were incorrect. People were allowed to have books.

  I was worried at how long it was taking me. I had to track down a whole handful of tomes. The perpetrators might already be out of the city at this point, which meant hunting them down. We could probably catch them after that, but it meant using abilities that would stand out. Even outside the city, it might be too suspicious how easily we found people.

  “Oh,” I surprised myself and spoke aloud. “I found them.”

  There they were. All five of them together, stacked up in the corner of what I could only call a basement. That explained why I hadn’t noticed them from further away. If they were underground… it couldn’t be guaranteed access came from the building above.

  I contacted Midnight and Inasyah. Malaliel could probably hear over the comms too, but they were the ones that needed to hear. “Found the location. North side, two blocks west and three inward. A basement of some sort. I’ll try to figure out the entrance before you show up.”

  After making sure nobody was snooping around, I pulled out my phone. Maybe I should carry a hand mirror, but on Earth the phone was the best option for a little divination.

  It was pretty easy to look down below. It was more the Arcane Eye spell than Scrying. I placed a sensor and moved it around, but it couldn’t go that far. Not that I needed it to.

  Going from the destination out made it pretty easy to find a route. It was a good thing, too, or I would have gotten the wrong building. The actual entrance was across the street. This was… probably an illegal basement. Some landowner was going to be so upset. These people were going to get their pants sued off.

  Or maybe their heads chopped off. They kinda did steal from important people. Not my problem, though.

  Once the others arrived- including the Extra agents- we planned our approach. It was pretty simple, really. We had official authorization to go in, and we had nonlethal methods. Also relevantly there had only been a handful of people around the area… including the shopkeep behind which the entrance to the secret basement lay.

  “So we just go in?” Inasyah said, tilting her head.

  “Yeah, I’m just gonna cast Sleep on people as we clock them on the head. Midnight can do it too.”

  Midnight nodded. “They’re not too strong, are they?”

  “There’s one I’m uncertain about,” I said. “I’ll juice it up a bit for him. But he should be the last target anyway.”

  “Okay. I’m ready,” Midnight declared.

  I was glad he trusted my assessment. It felt good to feel confidence from other people, even if I already had confidence of my own.

  We approached the shop. The shopkeeper stood to full alertness.

  “Welcome, customers!” she said. “What do you need today? We have furnishings of any sort you need!”

  I very much doubted that. This fort didn’t have a ton of luxuries.

  “Actually,” I said, “We won’t be needing any of this. We’re here on behalf of the Center of the Peace and Violence.”

  With the last half of that sentence being a single word, it sure flowed much more smoothly than it would have in English.

  The shopkeeper lunged for something. I was already swinging my staff, though the Sleep spell I had prepared was more important. She was already collapsing by the time my staff gently grazed her head. I kept some of the momentum of my staff as it spun around to catch her as she fell, so that she only hit the floor with a light thud.

  “Four more, I think.”

  I knew where the secret door was, beneath a rug. The key was on her person, though we could have managed if we had to break it apart. Though the best spells would have been loud, and I wasn’t sure this was the only exit.

  Two members of Extra stayed up top with Inasyah. Others followed Midnight and I down below. They had night vision gear prepared, given that we knew we were going underground. That had been one of the things they expected to want in another world anyway. It was a shame we couldn’t carry everything, but we had limited space even with Storage.

  Evija kept pace with me, Midnight running down the steps alone. People were more likely to be swinging at my torso and upper body, so it wasn’t great for him to be on his typical perch.

  The best thing about everyone having magic was that I could tell where they were. “Two up ahead,” I warned. It was worth risking them figuring out we spoke a different language. Well, I was going to hit one on the head so any confusion about that could be explained away. “I’ll get left.”

  That direction was for both Evija and Midnight.

  Two individuals with swords jumped out as we reached the bottom of the steps. My staff was already swinging towards the gut of one, and I wasn’t holding back much at all. I knocked aside the incoming weapon along the way, continuing my momentum to finish the strike. She doubled over, then collapsed.

  Evija wasn’t super familiar with fighting against swords, but if anyone from Extra was going to know how it would be the people sent on this mission. Even if she messed up she had Stoneskin on, so it would be fine. She had a bayonet on the end of her gun with which she caught the blade, then she kicked out bravely.

  Most likely her foe would have only staggered from that, but it wasn’t even the real attack. Just a distraction for Sleep.

  “These shackles are kinda rough to use,” Evija commented as we restrained the two.

  I nodded. “Handcuffs are easier to put on. Less durable, though.” Though, that was a close call. Anything meant to stop a super was extra durable even before power suppression was added. The shackles we got from city hall were probably also magically tough, but we hadn’t tested them. Obviously.

  Midnight slipped ahead, and I felt him perform one more spell. “Hurry!” he called out.

  Even if it would just seem like a meow to those ahead, I did indeed hurry. I used several times as much mana as Sleep needed, to make certain it was strong enough. Midnight couldn’t go over the natural limits in the same way, so it had to be me.

  There he was, the boss. Probably. As I rounded a pile of crates, I saw him point at a book and it disappeared. I hit him with the Sleep spell, ready to follow up with an electrified staff. Evija’s gun was Martian weaponry set to stun- but it still packed a real punch.

  The guy just collapsed.

  “... I guess he wasn’t that strong,” I commented.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I was pretty sure nobody else was present. I almost cast Sending to let people know we were done… but I didn’t know how to do that in the local limits. Yalith would probably have questions if they didn’t have anything that worked like that. We’d just send a couple people to report to them. It would be a pain if anyone showed up and tried to grab these guys, but we couldn’t just leave them.

  Also, I only counted three books where I knew there had been a pile. One of the tomes gave away the secret.

  Dimensional Smuggling. That would actually be very useful for Meter and me. He could actually learn more than just basic uses of his highest affinity. He probably would have if we ended up back in Zuresh, but people also might have gotten hurt. And I really hadn’t expected people being tied to this dimension.

  -----

  Midnight was with the people running off to get Yalith and the rest. He was almost back when we got attacked.

  “Villains! How dare you assault an innocent shop!”

  A crazy woman appeared. I managed almost a single word in response. “The Center of Peace and Violence-”

  The woman was pink with horns that turned out the side of her head and went straight down. I was pretty sure those weren’t practical for anything. Then again, I didn’t think any of the locals needed their horns.

  The woman threw a spear- with magic- straight into Evija, pinning the Extra agent to a wall. Through Stoneskin. I was shocked, in part because she had skipped most of the necessary steps to perform magic. Like Yalith, but instead of delivering books she delivered projectiles.

  I knew I needed to be faster. My first instinct in battle was often to use Haste, and this time I needed it. I wasn’t confident in Multicasting it in time, though. I had just enough for myself and Midnight at a distance.

  Shots rang out. Extra wasn’t the sort to shoot first, especially in these circumstances, but it was quite logical for them to retaliate when one of them was speared.

  That should have resolved things. One shot from a Martian weapon wouldn’t bring me down, even without my suit. But four? Maybe if I was dodging out of the way and was mostly grazed I could stagger around.

  The pink woman tanked them to the chest and maybe didn’t even notice. I was pretty sure that metal armor shouldn’t help much. It must be enchanted. She also happened to have another dozen spears floating around her which seemed quite dangerous, but hadn’t contributed to her defense.

  I was already gathering lightning. I didn’t have time to consider anything fancy. Somatic gestures weren’t that bad while Hasted, as it turned out, but I really skipped most of them anyway. Right before the woman finished her second spell, my lightning shot forward and… turned directly into one of the spears. I certainly didn’t tell it to take that path.

  I could tell precisely when she finished shaping her mana. That let me throw myself beneath the spear. I was glad she aimed for me. The others couldn’t have dodged. No Haste yet.

  Two more followed closely after, seeming to track my movements. My staff spun as I gathered mana without form, breaking all the rules of local magic. I deflected one of them completely, the second one grazing along my ribs- I felt it cut through Force Armor like it was nothing, and it probably would have gone through me if I hadn’t had Stoneskin still active from our quick little assault.

  Lightning Bolt wasn’t going to be enough. I knew what spell would work, though. My brain was stuck on Lightning, but I could tell it to go where I wanted. I had no idea if people here could do Chain Lightning and I didn’t care.

  As I expected, my spell was drawn into one of the guardian spears. Other ones were being withdrawn, flying over my head. The crazy telekinetic spear woman was one step from finishing another spell that might create an even bigger flurry of spears. If I wasn’t thinking and moving multiple times as fast, I would probably be dead.

  The lightning hit the spear, but I didn’t let it stop there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just one that attracted the lightning. I had to do a full half circle before I could wrestle it away from the defensive spears. I guess it helped that I hit the woman in the back.

  She staggered forward, losing the spell she was in the middle of casting. I was already planning on something new. Should we just leave? Midnight should be able to Teleport the others out, except he was already running towards me.

  I thought the woman lost her spell, but she wrestled control of the mana. Manual control. What a disaster. I’d underestimated the locals… though I hadn’t expected to just have spears chucked at me.

  One spear. It was so much faster that I acted on instinct. I was still thinking about Dimensional Smuggling and what it might include. I was so lucky that this woman’s telekinetic control didn’t stop my magic from working or I wouldn’t have had a ribcage.

  The tip didn’t even touch me. So I could put things in Storage at a distance. Well, I supposed that made sense with the local version creating a space slightly away from the body.

  I didn’t have time to waste on interesting thoughts. I needed more power. This woman barely staggered from Chain Lightning and a rain of stunning shots. I only had one spell more powerful, though it might hit me from this distance. I wasn’t sure if I would use it, but first I needed mana.

  In a way, I was lucky that gathering mana took the same amount of absolute time with or without Haste. I wasn’t done when I heard someone yelling. “Waaaaaaiiiiiiitttt!”

  A formation of six spears was hovering above the pink mage’s head. I was going to be impaled by all of those in a moment. Even if I cast Meteor Storm, it wouldn’t hit her before I was dead.

  Her hand was raised above her head, her fingers spread. She clenched into a fist, and the spears launched… but not at me. Instead, around me- hovering on all sides.

  “What are you doing y-” the word that Yalith was yelling was garbled.

  Velsolis also appeared on the scene, coming out of an alley between myself and the spear woman. Velsolis had her iron studded club held at the ready, capable of being used on either of us in an instant. I could probably dodge or deflect with Haste.

  The pink woman pointed at me. I thought that would be the spears stabbing into me, and I was thinking of trying to improvise a Stone-guts spell because my skin wasn’t going to make it. But she was only gesturing. Her words were quick, not drawn out much even for Haste. “This criminal-”

  “Is working for us!” Yalith yelled.

  The pink woman blinked. “Oh.”

  The spears were immediately falling. I didn’t know what to do with my gathered mana.

  My head spun. If I knew healing magic… I would have used it on Evija. The woman was impaled straight through but I still saw her straining to pick up her gun. Unfortunately, she wasn’t supernaturally tough so a spear to the guts was bad. And she was my favorite of the rank and file Extra agents!

  Maybe I could Gate her to Ceira. No, she wasn’t best for trauma response and wasn’t in a guaranteed spot. Power Brigade’s clinic wasn’t somewhere I could go directly.

  Oh right. Extra had medics.

  The spear suddenly jerked out of Evija with a spray of blood. Then the blood went in reverse, flowing back into her body.

  “Ah, sorry about that,” said the crazy pink woman. “It was a misunderstanding.” If I wasn’t misreading the flow of magic, she was holding lots of Evija’s bits in place. Including her blood. A bottle floated over. “Here, drink this.”

  Evija was still being held in place. I had the feeling she was thinking about maybe ripping out her guts to grab her gun, though she had also seen how little good that did her allies. Speaking of which, they were now huddled off to one side of her, looking for guidance.

  The red bottle was either healing, blood replacement, poison, or literally anything. I wasn’t an alchemist and I was barely an enchanter. Ugh, we were weeks behind on the Celmothian embassy weren’t we?

  “What is it, Yalith?” I trusted the librarian the most, especially with regards to this. Velsolis would be good to have on my side in a brawl, though. Keeping my words steady was difficult, but Haste was about to fade anyway. I hadn’t gotten a full length casting in my panic.

  “It should be a healing potion.” She turned to the pink woman. “Right?”

  “What else would it be?” she shrugged. “Go on, drink it. I swear it will work even if your stomach is… it’ll work.”

  I sighed. “You’d probably better do it.”

  Evija grabbed the potion and knocked it back like a shot. It didn’t take long to see it working. In a few moments, she was knitting back together.

  “Sorry about that,” said the pink woman. “I kind of expected you to be more durable. Like this guy,” she gestured vaguely to me.

  I wasn’t sure I was that much more durable. But… Evija was a normal human. Even a mage like me would be more durable than someone without levels. Combine that with Francois’ specialty clothing and the fact that Extra agents got mass produced gear- solid but not exceptional- and this was expected. Maybe.

  I wouldn’t have been that mad if she impaled me. But I didn’t like people stabbing my friends. “Who even are you, lady?”

  Yalith made a face. “She is-”

  “Riala,” the woman held out her hand. I wasn’t anywhere close enough to shake it, but I began to approach.

  “Turlough.” If I needed to, I could overload Shocking Grasp at my maximum power. It had to do something right?

  Riala grinned as I approached, as if I could do nothing to threaten her. Then when I was still two steps away she fell flat on her face. The back of her head had a nice scorch mark from Chain lightning, and her nervous system might be fried from so many stunning shots.

  Yalith was panicking, blabbering parts of words that didn’t translate. Xarrin, who hadn’t said anything yet, was just frozen. Velsolis had fallen to her knees even though she hadn’t been involved in the combat at all.

  “... Think she has more potions in there somewhere?” I asked.