Isekai Hero Bartender

The three of us crowded around my spent approximation of an arcane rune. After seeing the pathetic result, its sketchy lines and weird embellishments struck me as silly. Embarrassing, even.

But I was still curious about what the resulting effect meant. I prodded the lifeless paper. Nothing happened. A smudgy, chalky outline of the rune still darkened the page, no longer crisp or clear like when I’d finished.

"I think the rune's dead," said Shivai.

"Yeah. That's what I figured." I tried to hide the frown twisting my mouth into the shape of disappointment. It was stupid to have gotten my hopes up. "I'm just a bartender. Earth doesn't even have magic."

Wynnie rested a comforting hand on my shoulder. "That's not exactly true, you know." She offered a conciliatory smile when I looked up. "You may just be a bartender from Earth, but you don't have zero magic at all."

"Are you sure about that? It looked like your powers died pretty quickly when they hit my shape there."

"Yeah, but my powers did hit it. You know what would happen if someone were to create another shape that wasn't a known glyph? Or a glyph with no capacity for magic?" She waited for me to answer. When I provided none, she continued, "Nothing. Nothing would happen. No power would transfer at all."

That got a raised eyebrow out of me. "So you're saying there was a little magic in it? Couldn't that just be from the glyph, though?"

"Nope. If you were to create a perfect glyph with a stamp, or brand one with a branding iron, or somehow manifest one without actually putting your heart into it, you know what would happen?"

This time, I hazarded a guess. "Nothing?"

"Exactly. Nothing. The magic isn't in the shape itself. It's in what goes into it."

It made me think about language, and the act of writing. I'd dabbled in writing in the past. Got a degree in it, actually. I'd even edited works and been published a few times. Yet when AI arrived on the scene, I grew increasingly hopeless when I realized it could simply re-create the same kinds of things I liked to make.

An algorithm could generate thousands of words in minutes. They took the form of whatever was prompted of them. And even though they had no soul, they often approximated such a close facsimile of a soul that many readers didn't care.

Yet here, in this world, things were different. There was no AI. There wasn’t even a printing press. Anything that got created was the product of honest, soul-filled passion.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter that I wasn’t on Earth anymore. That perspective was a balm. Meaning came from the spark of life. Maybe I didn't have what it took to store Wynnie's mana, but at least there was something within me that a machine couldn't replicate.

"So you're saying there is a bit of magic in me?"

"A bit, yes. There's a bit in everyone. Being able to wield it is a different story, but this is like the universe telling you that you have a heart, and that it matters," Wynnie assured me. Her eyes narrowed slightly, scrutinizing me. "What did you think about when you were channeling it, anyway?"

I wasn't sure how truthful I was supposed to be. My thoughts had gotten a little off the rails there.

Yet if I wanted to get to the bottom of this whole magic thing, then honesty was the best policy.

Probably.

"I was, uh, thinking about you." I watched her eyes sparkle with happiness. Then, I broke eye contact and looked down, lowering my voice to a mumble. "And a little bit at the end there, I thought about Shivai, too."

Silence punctuated that revelation. It wasn't even what I could hear that revealed their surprise so much as what I didn't hear—held breaths. Only the slight crackle of fire filled the room for several seconds.

Shivai cracked a grin, flashing those sharp canines. “Really?”

Wynnie hid her surprise behind a flustered, "Oh! That's… that's fine, of course. It makes sense." She nodded, apparently working through a few things in her head. "Yes, it makes sense."

Shivai's spaded tail swished over to me, wrapping itself around my calf. A shiver ran up to my loins as she tugged me slightly closer to her.

"How so, Wynnie?" the demonkin asked.

"Well, you know that feelings are the source of many powerful magics, especially in those who can't wield their mana in other ways."

"And?"

"And so strong emotions like love," she paused, flicking her gaze from herself to the succubus, then back to me, "or something closer to lust," she continued, "those kinds of emotions can give someone more mana to work with. Maybe even enough to do something with it, if they have enough and get some training."

A hope I never knew existed welled up within my chest. I couldn't even name it. It reminded me of when I was a child, reading superhero comics, just wishing that if I concentrated hard enough, I could manifest superpowers. Or that if I learned the right words and hand movements and channeled things just right, I could cast magic. Or if I concentrated hard enough on an object, I could move it with my mind.

Was Wynnie suggesting that with an overwhelming abundance of powerful emotions, I could use magic somehow?

"Wait. Wait." The world seemed to stop around me, frozen in time with a world of possibility just ahead. "Are you telling me…"

I let the question hang in the air, not wanting to voice it. If I did, she might say no, dashing all my hopes on the rocks for good.

I couldn't just ask, Could I turn mana into magic?

"I'm not sure. I think it's possible, though." Wynnie offered a shrug. "Shivai, what do you think?"

The demonkin’s grin had turned downright lascivious. A hungry, almost predatory look flashed in her eyes. Her bottom lip dimpled under under the pressure of her sharp fangs. The plump, juicy flesh yielded until a single drop of blood appeared.

Her forked tongue traced her lips, removing the red bead.

"Yes, I think it's entirely possible.” She turned to me. “I know exactly what you're thinking, Drew, and you're definitely onto something."

What did she think I was thinking? That I needed a training montage? That I needed to focus my chi hard in my body, and eat the weird kinds of things they ate in cultivation novels? That I—

"The more love you feel, the more mana you'll get. You're thinking about starting a harem."

"I… what?"

Hold on a second. Was I in one of those isekai novels? I'd read a few of them, and seen a few harem anime, but they never seemed realistic to me.

Then again, I had recently died in a tragic RPG accident and been reborn into a fantasy world where I defeated a small crew of pirates with quick thinking and bartending skills. Somehow, my mid-life experiences on Earth were enough to turn the fortunes around on a dilapidated inn that would've been more profitable as kindling than a business before I showed up.

Shivai was still staring deep into my soul, nodding encouragingly with that uncomfortably sexy smile.

Wynnie looked more wistfully hopeful than ever. The firelight bronzed her tan features in a perfect glow, capturing her innocent, girl-next-door vibe perfectly. A little shrug ticked up on her shoulders.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Definitely. Definitely serious," said Shivai.

"If what you felt was real—and thinking about Shivai shaped your rune—then I think she's onto something," added Wynnie. "The heart has an incredible capacity to love, and no bond is stronger than that of chosen family. Perhaps with enough love in your life, you could channel magic just like me and Shivai."

I felt like Morpheus had just told me I knew kung fu. My body tingled with energy that wasn’t my own, standing on the precipice of something foreign, exciting, and new. Here I was in a fantasy world, bringing a host of Earth experience with me. Maybe I didn’t have any skills, abilities, or spells, but maybe I could if I worked at it.

After reading a handful of LitRPG books before dying, I’d found myself wishing for a world where simply following the rules, training hard, and perhaps exploiting a loophole or two could turn me from average to superhuman.

The question echoed in my mind: Was this how it started for me? Could I practice hard, push myself daily, and become a Reborn of legend?

And… did it start with a harem!?

I tuned back in to hear Wynnie finishing an explanation.

“Of course, magic’s kind of weird and doesn’t have rules. Even if you trained super hard, the best you could do is probably a neat little effect or two.”

Welp. I tipped back an oyster, chewed lightly, and let it slide down. The cold, briny flavor brought me further back to reality. Nothing like the unflinching taste of an immutable, vast ocean to remind you how small you are.

Although, as I reflected, maybe the oysters were connected to my mana, somehow. If they made me amorous…

"Keep eating those oysters! Might fill your loins with lust. Couldn’t hurt!” Shivai swiped one of the last two oysters from the tray and offered it to me. “Ooh! And if you fuck a hot stranger, that might give you a bit of a boost, too!"

Wynnie and I shook our heads at the same time. That wasn't what I wanted. Power for the sake of power did nothing for me.

Power was a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. If it got you what you wanted, cool. But if it was the thing you wanted? That was just masturbatory.

"Nope. Nope, definitely not,” I said. “Lust is fine and all that, but I don't want anything but love in our relationship."

“I think pursuing lust would be… a different kind of conversation than the one we’ve been having,” Wynnie said, more for me than for the demonkin.

"Booo. Okay. Fine. So what do you think, Drew?" Shivai was practically draped over me like a pashmina scarf by this point. Her hot breath in my ear sent a tingle down the back of my neck. "Want to start a harem?"

I swallowed hard. Ever since I'd arrived in this world, I'd wanted to do right by Wynnie—and by my own heart. Too often in the past, I’d jumped into things because they were easy and fun. Dating two stunning women at once without complication had always been a dream of mine. It was all I could do not to jump on it now.

But I still wanted to make sure I was being a better person. As much as I’d love to say yes to starting a harem—especially with the tease of learning magic as a result—I needed to make sure I knew full well what I was getting myself into. And, more importantly, what it meant for both Wynnie and Shivai.

As I saw the two women waiting for my response, all I could think about was what each meant to me. Wynnie was the sweetest, most trusting, tender person I’d ever met. She was all heart and big, occasionally roguish ideas. Ad Shivai, though I was still getting to know her, was a tangled mess of hope and emotions. A scoundrel with a heart of gold.

I did want them both. And nobody said monogamy was the best arrangement—just the simplest.

"Let's give him some time to think about it," Wynnie said, rubbing my back.

"Sure. Time. How about we figure it out tomorrow night?" asked Shivai.

I’d been all ready to say, Fuck it, let’s give it a go, but my shoulders relaxed at the mere mention of extra time to think. I wasn’t making a decision solely for myself. There were three hearts on the line. And, if we were really talking about a harem, not a throuple, that meant at least one more.

Foundations for something of that magnitude needed to be built soundly. A knee-jerk fuck it response wouldn’t be appropriate.

"Don't worry, Drew. I won't let her rush you." Wynnie leaned in and gave me a kiss on my cheek. "I'm very proud of you for discovering a bit of magic tonight. Now, Shivai, let's see what happens with your rune."

The gorgeous elf reached across me to grab the succubus's rune. Wynnie's typical scent of rosemary and jasmine came off her generous chest, which grazed across my arm. My pants tightened with the two busty women pressed up on either side of me.

"Okay. One more time. Here we go."

Wynnie sent another shiver of translucent blue through her fingertips onto the glyph in front of her. Shivai and I held our breath, waiting to see what kind of power her work could hold.

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