Isekai Family Robinson: A slow-burn Isekai

vol 2.34 - A Bit More Mundanity Before Things Start Popping


The conversations around Alejandra Albright were many and varied, all focusing on strange aspects of their new home and the vagaries of its rules as they packed the sleds full of equipment, food, and random junk that might be useful. And, as her husband discussed the rudimentaries of solar power with an elf, as her son bragged about being able to lift as much as a professional bodybuilder back on earth, and as her eldest daughter fell deep into conversation with Dinah about hunting techniques and how to avoid magical predators, she was struck by a strange thought.

It felt mundane.

"So you're saying you've had solar equipment for almost a hundred years?" Matty asked Seeker Tempest, incredulity in his voice and expression. "How?"

"Sojourners are not the only thing to wash up on the soil and shores of Seroco," the elf said in that strange brogue of hersd. "I do not know how long it has been going on, our histories are incomplete and only go back so far, but Tech from other worlds lands here often. It is usually small pieces, bits and bobs, but occasionally something truly noteworthy comes through. And we seek to make use of it all. That is the way of–"

She stopped suddenly, and did not resume speaking. Matty nodded as if not even noticing, even though the silence between them was practically deafening. "Okay that kind of makes sense… But the panels you've seen, they're a lot clunkier than the ones I showed you?"

"Your Tech is almost immeasurable compared to what I have seen! The sigils on your solar collectors–"

"Circuitry, you mean?" Matty asked kindly.

"Is that your word for them? Yes, they are so small and so obviously efficient! And the runes of power that generate the mana–"

"That would be the solar cells, and the 'electrcicity'," Matty said, grinning.

"Yes! If what you say is true, then it is much more powerful than the ones we–I have seen, even though they are barely a tenth of the size!"

"Sounds similar to the stuff we were using back in the nineties," Matty said thoughtfully. "Big, clunky, some of them even had to be water-cooled or else they'd overheat. Depended on the application, of course, but…"

The two continued to chatter, and Alejandra tuned them out. The girl had come out of her shell the instant Matty had offered to let her help disassemble the Dilligaf's solar system, and now… Well, truth be told, it was becoming difficult to stem the torrent of words gushing forth from the Elf. It was rather cute, admittedly, how hard she was having to work to try and omit any salient details of her own people and town. She was failing miserably, of course. Alejandra already knew that the elves had a community of some kind on the eastern shores of the island, and that it was at least a week's journey on foot to get there.

Admittedly, the journey would be fraught with peril, since apparently it also crossed some of the most dangerous terrain on the island. Alejandra looked on the elf with new respect, hearing a few of the more harrowing misadventures she'd had simply getting to this side of the island.

What the elf hadn't said, however, was the reason she had left her community. And Alejandra did not see a way of prising that information from her without being obvious about it.

Still. It seemed obvious enough that she was not some sort of spy or enemy agent. No one could be that bad at keeping secrets.

"Well of course we've been getting stronger," Isabel's voice caught Alejandra's attention next. Her eldest daughter was walking along beside the sled tethered to Harry, occasionally reaching out to steady the load when something looked to be tipping. "I mean, the evidence is kinda right in front of us now that we're looking for it."

"What do you mean Bel?" Luc asked from where he was riding in his now-customary spot just behind Harry's head.

"Luc, what was the last sport you played?" Bel asked instead of answering.

Luc's face scrunched up. "I dunno… Probably little league? Dad took me to try out, and I made the team, but after a couple games I just kinda gave it up."

"Right. And Liv had Soccer for a couple years. And I did some ballroom dancing, but dropped out because it was too hard. Heck, Dinah's probably the fittest out of all of us just because she's got the whole 'hunting' thing going for her."

"Okay, but so what?" Liv asked, moving up next to Bel. "So none of us are really sporty. How's that make it obvious that we've been getting stronger?"

Isabel gave her siblings a Look. "Guys. We're three white teenagers from the suburbs with rich parents. The hardest things we've ever done in our lives has been hunting down the tri-tip at Albertsons. And a week after we get here, we're facing off in pitched battle against predators more deadly than anything Earth has ever dreamed up… And we're winning?"

Even Alejandra had to blink at that. She hadn't considered it at the time, especially not with how close they all had come to dying in that fight. But now, looking back on it and in light of recent developments…

"I mean, I ripped a beak off of a mosquito's face while it was trying to eat me. Can you imagine, back on earth, even with rage and magic and stuff, reaching into a lion's mouth and breaking off its teeth with your bare hands while it's trying to chow down on you?" Isabel snorted. "I thought it was all the magic and stuff. But that was before I took on the Berserker class. Whatever we've been doing, whatever's happening to us, it's been going on since we got here I think."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Really?" Luc said, grinning his best Little Brother grin. "I just figured it was trying to ask you for a date and you overreacted again."

Bel kept walking, but got very still. She turned her head slowly to pierce her little brother with her gaze. "Again?" she asked in a soft, sweet voice.

"Yeah, remember Jack Newton? I heard he was in traction for a week when–Ack!"

A clump of something organic splatted right into Luc's face, knocking him backwards onto the curve of Harry's spine. Lucas spluttered and gagged, trying to wipe whatever it was his sister had thrown at him off of his face.

"I was-thppt–trying to be nice!"

"Try harder," Liv deadpanned.

"Dad!" Luc appealed to a higher power.

"Sorry kiddo," Matty said with a laugh. "You brought that one on yourself."

"I could have used a rock, little brother," Bel said in that same sweet tone. "Count yourself lucky."

"No rocks," Matty said, switching instantly into his Dad voice.

A strange kind of warmth started to suffuse Alejandra, starting from somewhere in her belly and radiating outward. She smiled as she realized its source.

They were acting like a normal family, as if they were just walking home from church or a day at the park. The siblings chattered and bickered, the parents stepped in where necessary, and looked the other way when not. It was normal.

In the middle of a monster-infested fantasy world, it was normal.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Matty asked, moving up to walk beside her.

Alejandra smiled. "Just enjoying the walk," she said. "It is nice."

"Yeah, it is." Her husband nodded, then glanced over at her. "You okay with touching right now?"

In answer, she slipped an arm around his waist. A second later she felt his arm slide around her shoulders and pull her close. It felt nice. And her body did not react with violence or fear like it had so many times in the past.

They continued walking, like a family, like the family she had always wanted them to be. It was… Nice.

"Do you want to know something strange?" she said after a moment.

"Always," Matty said, his voice rumbling in his chest and tickling her side where they were pressed together.

"I am glad we ended up here."

Matty blinked and looked down at her like she had gone mad. Then his face scrunched up in thought. He down at her arm around his waist, then back over his shoulder at the children. And slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"I think I am too," he said finally. "There are downsides–"

"Lots of them," she said with a smirk.

"Lots of them," he agreed. "But, well…"

His arm squeezed her close, and she responded with a squeeze of her own.

"This," he concintuned with that goofy grin of his, "pretty much blows them all out of the water."

"Whoop! Heads up guys! Forest Manta at three o-clock!"

Lucas's call brought everyone to alert. Alejandra let go of Matty and swung to where Luc was pointing, grabbing her rifle and bringing it up in one smooth motion. The manta was about fifty yards away, slowly sweeping across the forest floor, leaving a trail of steam in its wake where its acid ate into the vegetation. Its scorpion tale bobbed and wove in the air as it trundled along.

"Do we kill it?" Liv asked, her own shotgun up and pointing.

"Not unless it gets closer," Alejandra decided, watching the creature carefully. "It is not a threat at this range, and it is probably a very important part of the ecosystem around here."

They watched the creature float along for a few moments. It did not draw near, and in fact seemed to be giving them a wide berth. Perhaps it was the fact that there were so many of them all together. The first time Alejandra had seen one of them, the manta had attacked her. But she had been alone and much closer to it than she was now. Perhaps the thing, for all that it looked like a gray-green blob in the shape of a flying wing, had a sense of self-preservation.

Harry trumped softly, and the manta fluttered and increased the distance between them by several yards.

Make that 'definitely' had a sense of self preservation.

The creature vanished into the underbrush after a few more moments, and the family continued walking back towards the clearing. Occasionally there would be a rustle from nearby, and Alejandra would turn to see Billy's eye-stalks tracking their progress. She gave the tree a friendly wave, and the eye-stalk wobbled in response. She chuckled. For all that this place was dangerous, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of peace here as well.

Like this was exactly where she wanted to be.

"Hey mom?" Luc's voice broke into her reverie. She looked up to see her son looking very serious.

"Yes Mijo?"

"Can I come hunting with you guys tomorrow?"

Alejandra felt her eyebrows rise, and she glanced at Matty, who looked similarly surprised. She couldn't see a reason against it, but…

"Matty?" she asked her husband.

"I don't see why not," he said after a second. "You'd need to leave Harry at the camp though," he added. "Big ol' elephant probably isn't going to be the best choice of hunting companion. I understand it takes some degree of stealth to pull it off properly. And Bel and Liv can help me around the campsite just as easy as you can I guess."

"Why do you want to come with?" Alejandra asked. Her son had never shown an interest in hunting before, not truly.

"Well," Lucas shifted and fidgeted. "I just kinda wanna learn, is all. Y'know? I wanna help put some food on the table."

Alejandra didn't miss the way his eyes, at the end of his very bland statement, shifted almost imperceptibly towards Dinah and back.

Oh boy.

She supposed she really should have seen that coming, but had been too preoccupied with… Well, everything else. She glanced up to see Matty studying his son with a strange look on his face, one that suddenly gave way to comprehension. He looked down and met her eyes, and then gave a sigh of resignation. He saw it too.

"You may come, Mijo," Alejandra said finally, making the decision. "But you will have to listen to what we tell you and not go off half-cocked, comprende?"

"Si mama," Luc said with a big grin. "I promise!"

Alejandra looked at her husband again, and saw the same thought in her mind mirrored in his own eyes.

They were going to have to have a talk with Lucas in the very near future, it seemed.

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