《Trapped in Another World With No Magic》
Chapter 1: Summoned to Another World
Chapter 1: Summoned to Another World
A sudden, cataclysmic p of thunder, followed by the cry of a withdrawn soul as a concentrated point of magic evaporates into the fabric of the world. Then, an uncontroble wave of terror grips the souls of many. A veritable titan of the world, the mightiest of living beings, has been struck down in a single terrifying blow. Behind this thunder lingers a fiend of dark hair and dark eyes and a demonic presence of pitch ck -the bringer of death-. The piercing gaze of the Couple of Death touches her¡
The old woman jolts out of her trance, her heart pounding in her ears. She can''t get her bearings right away, and it takes several moments before she can hear the voices calling to her; the people around her witnessing her premonition as the vision smoke fades. She clutches the arm touching her shoulder, trying to grip reality as she does everything she can to steady her breathing.
¡°...eer. Lady Dawnseer, what is it? What did you see?¡±
She continues panting, her old body feeling ready to give way and escape what is toe. She swallows hard as her assistant offers her water. She waves it off, still trying to catch her breath.
The King, the one who asked her to rify the prophetic dreams scattered through the kingdom, asks gently spreading, ¡°Lady Dawnseer?¡±
She waves her hand, nodding. She takes a breath and calms herself. Although terror still grips her soul, she is able to control her breathing, at least. ¡°I saw¡ Death¡ No¡ Two. A man¡ and a woman. With¡ thunder¡ they struck down a dragon.¡±
The ritual room falls eerily silent as the lords anddies whispering cease all discussion and spection of what the wisewoman saw. Magic has been a tool of the kingdom for many years, and with it,e many blessings. However, these same blessings, especially when peering into the future, can sometimes be akin to a curse.
It is the fourth month of the year 1841 of the Third Era -the Age of the Demon Tyrant-. The west has always been an unruly ce inhabited by the wild tribes; demons, orcs, goblins, vampires, feralkin, and of course, the dragons. Comprising over 50% of the known world, the territory loosely united under the Demon Tyrant is thergest territory on the continent, and the furthest west one can go before reaching the ocean, with too much sea to sail across to verify what lies on the other side.
King Greydald asks the elderly woman, who specializes in her rather difficult and fairly unique fortune telling -which has proven urate more times than not-, ¡°Tell me, Lady Dawnseer; what of the war? What of the Empire¡¯s demands? What did you see?¡±
She looks at him with fear in her eyes. ¡°I saw no war, your Majesty. I saw Death incarnate. Terror. Fear. Panic. Not the peak of a war, but an omen of destruction!¡± She begins coughing as her old body rebels against her fearful passion.
Her assistant hands her water once more, and she drinks it down quickly.
The nobles around the room begin to murmur, and Duke Alros asks urgently, ¡°What does this mean? Do we surrender to the Empire¡¯s demands, or do we resist their call for more troops?¡±
Princess Heralesse, the eldest and Crown Princess, rises from her seat on the right hand side of the throne, ¡°We don¡¯t have the resources or troops to spare. The dry season is setting in, and our canals and dikes are in serious need of repair.¡±
Soon, the room is in uproar as the nobles protest the priorities, pushing for their own respective territorial challenges with the threat of lessened manpower.
The King waves his hand, trying to settle the ruckus, and he calls out, ¡°Settle down, please. Settle down. Discord will serve us no better than ignorance.¡±
The room falls quiet again, and Princess Erimaya raises her hand from her seat on the opposite side of the King¡¯s left side across the Queen herself. Greydald states, ¡°What is it, Erimaya?¡±
She stands up eloquently, her petite and youthful formmanding the attention of the whole room. ¡°Please excuse me, but I¡¯ve read of something recently that has been used in the past by our kingdom for simr dire situations.¡±
The King nods at her, ¡°Speak, Princess.¡±
She clears her throat and nods in turn, ¡°Thank you, your Majesty. It was in an old tome in the library about ancient magic used by our kingdom. It spoke of a ritual that was used in the first era to fend off an invasion of spirit beasts that were destroying the kingdom.¡±
One of the Earls asks in disbelief, ¡°You mean a Divine Summons, your Highness?¡±
¡°A divine summons?¡± asks a Viscountess familiar with the upper houses. ¡°No King has sessfully performed a divine summons since that first era.¡±
Erimaya nods respectfully. ¡°Indeed. But, ording to a looser interpretation of the text, ounting for how ournguage has evolved, it seems the First Era peoples were far more spiritual than we are now. That is to say, they seem to have relied on the judgment of the gods to aid them in the summons.¡±
Duke Arlos remarks, ¡°If that is the case, then how are we to know if our situation is dire enough for the intervention of the gods?¡±
Erimaya bows in deference. ¡°A fair question, My Lord Arlos. It is merely something I read.¡±
The King hums in thought, murmuring, ¡°Regardless, the gods cannot pass judgment if we do not perform the ritual. Thank you, Erimaya. Does anyone have a more creative or sure suggestion?¡±
The room is quiet. It¡¯s clear that there is some doubt in the Princess¡¯s suggestion, but it has been held in historical writings of the Kingdom since those many long years ago for this exact reason; an attempt might lead to sess. And, sess could preserve the kingdom from even the most dire straits.
The king nods confidently. ¡°Very well, then. Perhaps if this threat the Dawnseer sees is worse than the escting war, the gods will look kindly upon us.¡±
*************
Daniel starts the zero point procedure to reset the CNC mill he¡¯s working on to its starting position; X:0.0, Y:0.0, Z:0.0. He just finished a lengthy calibration on the machine for its preventative maintenance schedule. Thepany he works for makes a lot of specialized parts for niche markets under contract, which makes the CNC one of the most versatile machines they could hope for. Its ability to drill, cut, shape, and weld, depending on which tool head is equipped, allows a wide range of possibilities in the creation of parts.
And, while he¡¯s working on them, Daniel is in his own little world, protecting his ears from the constant noise around him with ear muffs to dampen the sound and safety sses to protect his eyes. His focus is singrly on aplishing his task, and it can be satisfying work.
But, CNC mills can also be finicky machines, particrly if the operators are careless with operations and don¡¯t follow their standard operating procedures.
¡°Daniel?¡± The voice sounds like shouting, but it¡¯s the foreman of the CNC bay Daniel is currently in calling out over the constant noise of the machines running.
¡°Yeah?¡± calls back Daniel, even though they¡¯re only a few feet apart. He slides one of his earmuffs off of his ear enough to be able to hear James better.
¡°Can youe take a look at line fourteen? Mill keeps faulting out.¡±
Daniel sighs. ¡°Again?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡±
¡°I¡¯m on it. What¡¯s it doing?¡± Daniel doesn¡¯t express his frustration more than exasperation. He has a few theories already, and James, the current shift¡¯s CNC foreman, isn¡¯t the one who caused the issue.
¡°Failing part alignment. We tried zero point checks, but it failed those too.¡±
Daniel groans softly. The turret -the main moving part- is out of alignment. Whatever the cause, he¡¯ll likely have to do another full alignment. If the turret is damaged, he¡¯ll have to tear half the machine apart, which will take him and the other shifts more than a whole day. Assuming they can get recement parts.
Daniel puts his earmuffs back on normally and takes a look at the CNC central to line 14. He does his basic checks, checking power, checking settings and the form for the part they¡¯re supposed to be making. He then verifies the zero point, and then attaches the alignment tool, checking the turret¡¯s alignment.
Sure enough, it¡¯s an uneven spin and motion. He sighs.
He doesn¡¯t need to ask. If he asks, he¡¯ll get a deflective or dishonest answer. He doesn¡¯t need to ask, because there¡¯s only one cause for this case. The operator ¡®crashed¡¯ the machine; through careless or inattentive operation, they allowed it to run into another part of the greater structure of the machine, misaligning the servos and bending the turret¡¯s aperture.
Daniel leans his head back as he takes a long, slow, deep inhaling breath. He has the impulse to find the nearest sledgehammer, but of course, he suppresses it. His job is to fix it, and thoughpletely destroying the CNC would be a quick route to not having to work on it anymore, it¡¯s also a quick route out of a job.
And, all he can do now is start the process.
The rest of his shift is spent performing the alignment, proving that it¡¯s a bent turret aperture, and then starting in on disassembling the CNC. He¡¯s only just starting when his relief arrives, and he turns over the situation with them. It¡¯ll be their problem for the next eight hours, and he¡¯ll inherit it again eight hours after that. Most likely, he¡¯ll be working on it for most of his shift tomorrow, as well.
Exhausted and apathetic, Daniel heads home. There, he inspects his own, much smaller and simpler CNC mill, which he uses to machine individualponents and recement parts for rifles and pistols. There¡¯s a lot of discussion about the dubious nature of ¡®ghost guns¡¯, and the private CNCs that can make them, but Daniel just makes parts. He, of course, knows theponents and how to assemble them into a functional firearm, and he has a few disassembled on his work bench presently while he machines custom designs into the upper pieces. Daniel tinkers with hisponents for a couple hours, and he pulls up one of the technical documents he has on his cell phone for reference. He¡¯s never been a full ¡®prepper¡¯, but he does have documents that, if he can find a way to recharge his phone, should the worst happen, he¡¯ll be able to survive pretty well post-apocalypse.
He makes a simple dinner of pork chops and air-fried tater tots, sipping an aged spiced rum to cap off the night. He toils on his phone as the hours wane down. When he¡¯s feeling creative, he writes, but most of the time, he just watches anime or movies. Life is quiet. Once upon a time, it was depressing always being alone, with no prospects for a family of his own and friends that are always busy or distant. But, he discovered a new outlook that has braced him against the solitude, and he finds peace in the lonely quiet. It¡¯s not happiness, per se, but it is peace. He can sleep at night, and his heart doesn¡¯t hurt quite as often.
He¡¯s just fading off to sleep in hisputer chair, feeling rxed and exhausted. He meant to charge his phone, and he has the charging cableying on his belly next to his phone.
A strange light catches his eye, and he flutters his eyes open slowly. His brain is still a bit foggy, and while not incoherently drunk, he can tell he¡¯s still tipsy from his drink earlier. To his surprise, a strange, moving light is illuminating his otherwise-darkened room. He looks around, trying to find the source. Finding nothing around him or above him, he looks down, grunting in surprise, ¡°What the¡?¡±
Below him and hisputer chair is a circr symbol with foreign glyphs unlike anything he¡¯s ever seen.
He has just enough time to sit up, but nothing else. The light brightens and whitens out his vision. He can¡¯t help but yell, but there¡¯s no one to hear him. It feels like several minutes that he is trapped in a white void, unable to see anything. Panic starts to set in; fear that he¡¯ll never escape this strange white void.
And then suddenly, the light fades, and a simr circle of light on an unfamiliar floor fades, though this one is muchrger and moreplex. The floor is made of marbled stone, and Daniel falls out of his chair, scrambling to find his bearings. He¡¯s in apletely separate room; it¡¯s over five timesrger than his bedroom, where he was, and it¡¯s made with stone brick, like a room of a castle. And, coos of awe and surprise fill the room; he¡¯s surrounded by people.
However, one person is like him; a young man around 20 or so is next to him -and is the person closest to him near the center of the circle-.
Given his appearance, he looks to be of Japanese descent at the very least, and he¡¯s wearing ck jeans with a light blue tee shirt and a logo for a famous vtuber agency Daniel is familiar with.
The other man is the one to speak first, ¡°Koreha nandesuka? Koko wa doko?¡±
Daniel is not a highly educated man, but he¡¯s familiar enough to know the sound of thenguage; Japanese. So, he¡¯s not just Japanese, he¡¯s from Japan itself, apparently.
Daniel fumbles his way through a question, ¡°Eigo¡ Eigo o¡ ah¡ Igirisu?¡±
The young Japanese man looks at him, shaking his head. ¡°No. No Eengurishu.¡±
Daniel nods in affirmative. ¡°No Japanese. Sumimasen.¡±
The man nods, and they look together at the person approaching them. While Daniel and the Japanese man seem to be from Earth -and the same version at that-, this man looks like he came out of some portion of the middle ages, though from which region, Daniel would be unsure. The man speaks cautiously, but thenguage is nothing like anything Daniel is familiar with. He knows the sound of most Europeannguages, he¡¯s pretty sure, and the basic sound of at least a few of the Asiannguages, including Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. He can¡¯t say much more than a couple words of any givennguage other than English, but he¡¯s always had an ear for the sound.
Thisnguage is almostpletely alien to him, but reminds him a little of a cross between Japanese and French for some reason.
Daniel looks at his fellow Earthling, and they mutually shake their heads. The Japanese man speaks to the other man in Japanese, and this causes a ¡°Ahhh,... Coghaeedah. Eefen.¡± The man waves over a few of the many people in the room onlooking, and they jog in close with staves and string-bound tomes simr to books, but flimsier.
The book-holders seem to be either apprentices or assistants, and they hold the books for the man and woman possessing the staves, each with its own unique design. The man seems to be casting a spell on Daniel, while the woman performs the same on the Japanese man.
The staves begin to glow, and Daniel winces a little as he braces for the effect of the spell. He still feels the mild floating feeling in his brain and his heart racing from the shock, but nothing that he would assume is associated with the spell.
The glow brightens briefly, but dims just as quickly, and the mages smile as they back up a step. Still, Daniel doesn¡¯t feel any different.
The first man speaks proudly, but it still sounds like an aliennguage to Daniel.
The Japanese man, however, coos, ¡°Ohhh!¡± And, surprising Daniel further, he speaks in what sounds like it¡¯s the samenguage as the others.
Daniel winces. ¡°Uh¡ is-... is it just me that can¡¯t understand?¡±
The extremely pleased leader of the ritual speaks quickly and proudly once more, and the Japanese man replies. What Daniel can pick out is the clear pronunciation of a Japanese name, ¡°Tachibana Rikuto¡±, which he corrects quickly, rifying that Rikuto is his given name, given the repetition of Rikuto a momentter. Ecstatic, the leading man replies, ¡°Ahhh! Rikuto Tachibana!¡± He says a few other things, and then all attention turns to Daniel. Able to put context clues together, Daniel states, ¡°Daniel. But, I¡ don¡¯t understand anything you¡¯re saying.¡±
The leader speaks at him with his head cocked. Daniel shakes his head, ncing at Rikuto for assistance. He seems confused as well, but he cautiously speaks in theirnguage.
Surprised, the leader seems to object. They have a brief back and forth, with the leader speaking at Daniel with a lecturing tone. Daniel says to Rikuto, ¡°I don¡¯t know. No speak.¡± He¡¯s starting to worry. Do they think he¡¯s faking it?
Rikuto speaks again, and the frustrated leader waves the woman over, and she nods confidently. She and her assistant approach, performing the same spell once more on Daniel.
Oh man. Sorry, other dude. I wasn¡¯t trying to get you in trouble.
The woman finishes the same spell, having sessfully performed it on Rikuto a moment ago.
Unfortunately, when the leader speaks this time, Daniel feels his heart tighten. He shakes his head.
This seems to shock everyone in the room, including the woman, who objects more passionately. Rikuto gets their attention, making a cautious suggestion.
The leader nods his head, waving the woman over. She casts a simr spell, focused on Rikuto, but with different wording. This time, Rikuto looks at Daniel, saying, ¡°Eengirishu.¡±
Daniel replies, ¡°I seriously don¡¯t know what any of you are saying, other than that. Please tell them I¡¡± He sighs. ¡°I¡¯m kinda hoping this is a drunk dream¡¡±
In a turn of surprising events, speaking fluent English all of a sudden, Rikuto sighs, ¡°Good, it worked. Daniel, right?¡±
Daniel nods with surprise.
¡°Rikuto. Listen, faking ignorance isn¡¯t going to do you any favors. Just answer the questions. They don¡¯t seem hostile.¡±
Daniel replies, ¡°I¡¯m serious. I don¡¯t understand.¡±
¡°How? They usednguage magic on you.¡±
¡°How the hell should I know!? I was half asleep and drunk when I found myself here. I get the gist of what¡¯s going on from anime, but it¡¯s not like magic existed in my world.¡±
Confused, Rikuto replies, ¡°Mine either. And yet, it worked fine on me.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you. I¡¯d love to understand, truly. Please tell them I¡¯m not being indignant. I just don¡¯t understand at all.¡±
With a nod, Rikuto trantes, and this seems to stun therge group of people even more. The two mages discuss this with the leader. Daniel whispers, ¡°Rikuto-san, what are they saying?¡±
¡°That it should be impossible. Especially since it worked on me. Apparently, whatever spell they did to bring us here should have only brought one of us. Extenuating circumstances, gods¡¡±
Daniel can understand the shoddy trantion; after all, they¡¯re debating passionately, with a lot of simultaneous talking.
Rikuto adds, ¡°Someone mentioned a demon¡¡±
Daniel turns pale. ¡°Oh god¡ I¡¯m going to die, aren¡¯t I? I didn¡¯t even do anything.¡±
¡°Let me ask.¡±
¡°Sorry for burdening you¡¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We still don¡¯t know why we were pulled here.¡±
Rikuto switches to theirnguage, requesting their attention politely. He speaks to them for a long moment, and the leader speaks to him. He asks in English, ¡°Daniel, do you think you can learn thenguage?¡±
¡°I¡ Doesn¡¯t sound like I have a choice. I¡¯ll do it. Probably take a few months, though¡¡±
Rikuto nods, speaking on his behalf once more. This causes the leader to ponder, and then, a young girl -around twelve years old-, speaks up from the gathered group of people. She speaks softly and gently, but shemands the attention and respect of the entire room, indicating she¡¯s someone of high status. Whatever she says seems to satisfy the leader, who responds to her.
Rikuto whispers, ¡°Ooo¡ Princess and King, Daniel. I rmend respect.¡±
Daniel nods in agreement. ¡°Of course. Thank you.¡±
The apparent king, the one leading the ritual, speaks to Rikuto, mainly, but it seems meant for both of them. Rikuto trantes, ¡°They¡¯re going to analyze us with some magic tool in another room. The Princess made it sound like this was something they needed to do anyways. Yournguage issue was merely a surprise distraction.¡±
Daniel nods thankfully. ¡°Thank you for your trouble.¡±
¡°No worries. Whatever happens, I hope we can work together.¡±
¡°Same.¡±
Guards approach, speaking, and Rikuto nods in confirmation. ¡°They¡¯ll lead us. Follow the guard in front of you.¡±
As he nods, Daniel jokes, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I had a lot of other stuff to do today.¡± He and Rikuto stand up, and Daniel puts his phone and charger into his pocket, which seem to have transported with him. He notices while standing that he¡¯s the single tallest person in the room by a rather surprising margin. He was always average in America, and Rikuto seems to be around average for Japanese height, and even he is taller than almost everyone, including the soldiers.
That aside, Daniel asks, ¡°Should I do something about my chair?¡±
Rikuto shrugs. ¡°Dunno. I was in my car. Must be a size limit on what transports with us.¡±
Daniel nods in agreement, ¡°Makes sense.¡±
They are led down a long ways, as if descending a tower or heading deep underground -perhaps abination of both.
There, they find a woman in her mid tote twenties wearing sses and a long gray robe adorned with a metal brooch on herpel area. It resembles a fox-like creature with a crystal in one paw and a swirl in the other. The King, the princess who spoke, and what can be assumed to be the Queen, another princess, and a much smaller handful of nobles follow Daniel and Rikuto to the lower room. The woman notices them, and she has a small panic attack. The king greets the woman, speaking to her.
She looks at the two who were pulled from their own world, and her eyes go wide with excitement. She squeals excitedly, rushing to them to begin touching their clothes, their skin, their hair, and asking questions.
Rikuto nervously answers, and when he says something, she bes surprised, looking directly at Daniel. She tugs his shirt¡¯s chest to lower him so she can look deep into his eyes for a long time, adjusting her loose-hanging sses from the strange,-like hair piece that suspends them in front of her face. It¡¯s a strange way of suspending the lenses in front of her face, but maybe it¡¯s a decorative thing as much as functional.
Regardless, the jewels in the hair piece indicate she¡¯s rather high-status as well, even if the lenses for her sses were cheap.
She speaks loudly and slowly at Daniel, clearly trying to test hisprehension. Daniel tells Rikuto, ¡°I think I picked out the word they use for magic, given how many times I¡¯ve heard it today.¡±
Rikuto scoffs, and he exins Daniel¡¯s answer to the strange woman. She thinks for a moment, still holding Daniel¡¯s shirt. She prods his head a little with her fingers.
It starts to be annoying, and Daniel states, ¡°Please tell her I¡¯m notmitted to any prank. This is getting annoying.¡±
Rikuto exins, and she pauses, humming as she finally releases Daniel and turns away.
The King asks something, and she seems to deflect, waving Rikuto over to the device she has in the center of the room. It looks sort of like a religious altar, with various points of swirling artistic structure crowned with arge crystal of varying colors. Lenses in front of the crystals are aimed towards the center, where a polished orb is cradled by the structure.
She has Rikuto approach the orb in the center, and she exins it to him. He ces his hand on a smaller orb that¡¯s in front of therge central orb. The little orb begins to glow, and sparkles of light begin to appear and swirl around the device. From there, a few of the crystals on the arms begin to glow, and small beams of sparkling light colored like the crystals beams towards the main orb. A multi-colored cloud inside begins to form, and the mages and assistants seem to be taking notes. The magic-scientist woman pages through a book, ncing at the orb several times. She nods, reading the page and summarizing it to Rikuto. He takes his hand off the small orb, and Daniel remarks dryly, ¡°Let me guess. You got ¡®Divine Hero¡¯, and your magic affinity is fire, wind, and earth with massive boosts to your health and attack¡¡±
Rikuto scoffs. ¡°Nothing like that. It seems to be simr to cloud reading; a dubious science, but with reliable results. She says I have affinities for fire and void magic, I guess, and a specific innate skill¡ Healing magic, apparently? Or curative magic. It¡¯s not clear without seeing it in action what she means.¡±
¡°Nice. Either one of those sound good.¡±
Rikuto gives Daniel a nod, and he gestures for Daniel to step up to the orb, but the woman stops him. She smiles, pointing at one of the guards. She speaks at him, and Rikuto trantes with a little surprise, ¡°She¡¯s¡ asking him if he has any affinities or innate skills.¡±
The guard shakes his head, and she waves him over. She has him remove his glove and ce his hand on the small orb.
The small orb glows, and the magic sparkles appear in much fewer number with less glow than Rikuto. However, no matter how long he touches the device, none of the beams light up, and therge orb only reflects the light glow of the small orb and the torches in the room. This seems to satisfy the woman, and she shoos the guard away.
The King asks something, which Rikuto fills in, ¡°He¡¯s asking what the point of that disy was.¡±
The woman replies loudly and boisterously, so that everyone in the room hears, apparently. ¡°She¡¯s fascinated. Apparently, what we just saw means that the guard has no talent for magic, and there are no spells he can learn or innate skills granted by the gods for him to rely on. He¡¯s simply a soldier.¡± She finally waves Daniel over to the small crystal, and he obeys. She gestures for him to put his hand on the small orb.
He does as instructed, and everyone watches curiously.
Nothing happens.
She inspects his hand from multiple angles, ensuring he¡¯s touching the crystal. She seems intrigued, while the others begin gossiping. She grabs Daniel¡¯s wrist, lifting it for a moment and cing her own hand on the small orb. Instantly, it begins to glow, and she removes her hand. With it still fading, she ces Daniel¡¯s hand on the crystal, but the light fadespletely out, and the crystal doesn¡¯t have even a small amount of glow. She grins up at the nobles watching in surprise.
The King asks, ¡°What does this mean?¡±
She exins, ¡°This is why he can¡¯t use magic. Nor, can magic affect him, apparently. At least not directly.¡±
The nobles and guards gasp, and the woman looks up at Daniel with a smile. ¡°She says you¡¯re the first person in the worldpletely devoid of magic.¡±
Daniel looks at Rikuto, murmuring, ¡°Uhh¡ That doesn¡¯t sound like a good thing.¡±
The woman looks at Rikuto expectantly, and he exins what Daniel said. She immediately takes both of his hands, speaking passionately. ¡°She says it¡¯s fascinating. It¡¯s unprecedented.¡±
Daniel thinks for a moment, but he replies softly, ¡°I get that it¡¯s unprecedented, but I have to wonder¡¡± He looks more specifically at Rikuto again, ¡°What¡¯s the practical use of a person without magic in a world of magic? I imagine I¡¯m not immune to fireballs.¡±
When Rikuto exins the concern, the woman grins. She nods in agreement, and she immediately begins casting a spell with her finger, and a small puff of me bursts out, burning Daniel¡¯s skin like a match, and he yelps, pulling his hands free. ¡°Yeowch! That hurt!¡± She snatches his hands again, studying the burn. It¡¯s small, and it¡¯ll certainly heal, but it does cause her to frown. It seems she was hoping that he WAS immune to direct magic attacks. She ponders it for a moment, and her shoulders slump. She speaks softly and sincerely, and Rikuto trantes, ¡°She believes you¡¯re right. While she is fascinated, there isn¡¯t much practical use. Too much of their technology, including medicine and warfare, relies on magic.¡±
Daniel nods as he makes sense of what he¡¯s being told. ¡°I see. So¡ uh¡ what happens now? Do I¡ go home?¡±
Rikuto asks, and the scientist woman falls silent, looking to the nobles. Daniel and Rikuto look to the nobles as well, who also seem reluctant to speak.
After a moment, Daniel jokes uneasily, ¡°Haha¡ I guess the silence means we¡¯re both stuck here, huh? Even the useless one.¡±
Rikuto is silent, as well.
The second youngest woman present, the one Daniel believes is also a princess, steps forward. She speaks more maturely and sternly than the younger girl, and she appears to be around 18.
Rikuto whispers, ¡°Another Princess. She suggested you could still serve as a soldier. The King, however, just said that you wouldn¡¯t benefit from magic boosts or defensive magic, if what Lady Magic Artisan said is true, whereas¡ the demon army¡¯s offensive magic would still prove deadly.¡±
Daniel is quiet as he absorbs the information.
The younger princess is the one that speaks next, speaking softly and eloquently once more. ¡°She says they should take the me for your summoning, since you had no control over the gift the gods did or did not give you. At the very least, they want to give you money to survive in town. Apparently, they summoned us to this world for our modern knowledge and the expectation that we would inherit beneficial magic and skills from the gods. Or, whichever one of us was supposed to be summoned.¡±
With a nod, Daniel replies, ¡°I understand. Can you please tell them I¡¯ll live frugally in the castle town until I can learn thenguage, if they can spare that much. Whatever I can learn while I¡¯m there, I will use what I know to help.¡±
Rikuto confirms with a nod, tranting. This seems less than satisfactory, but the nobles seem to reluctantly agree, since they don¡¯t have much better ideas. Without knowing anything about Daniel, and without him having ess to any special abilities, he¡¯s more of a liability than an asset. The younger princess bows her head, speaking softly.
Rikuto whispers, ¡°The Princess apologizes.¡±
Daniel replies softly, ¡°Please tell her there¡¯s no need. I wish I could do more to help.¡±
Rikuto replies for him, and the Princess nods.
Daniel learns quickly that it¡¯s another world. As they escort him to the outside, giving him a pouch of coins and instructions to check in when he needs more money, he sees more of the maids, pce guard, and other people walking around in the daylight, rather than dim torchlight.
There are what appear to be humans -the royal family, many of the nobles, and a hefty portion of those he passes from all sses-. However, there are also peoples with animalistic features, ranging from human forms with dog or cat ears and tails, to full faces of rabbits, dogs, cats, birds, and even beings with feathery wings.
Additionally, there is a fair amount of technology, though somewhere squarely in the middle-ages,pared with Earth, and which relies on magic to perform functions Earth has to do mechanically.
Daniel crosses the drawbridge from the castle proper into the surrounding castle town, which is defended by arge wall surrounding the bulk of the ratherrge town -arguably a city-.
His first priority, of course, is to figure out how to learn thenguage. And, to do that, he¡¯ll have to also find a way tomunicate politely and work to at least try to earn his keep.
*****************
~Author''s Note: Hey Dear Readers! It''s been suggested to me to start posting on Scribblehub, so here I am! After today, I''ll be posting 1 chapter per day until I catch up to my posts on Royal Road, and then it''ll be 2 chapters per week (I''ll figure out the exact schedule when I''m caught up). Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 2: A Mechanic in a Fantasy World
Chapter 2: A Mechanic in a Fantasy World
It''s been about a month since Daniel was released from the castle to try to learn thenguage as quickly as possible and learn about the poption of the world he''s in, since such knowledge can''t be magically imnted into him due to his unique nature in this world.
His uniqueness, of course, is more of a curse. He can hold extremely basic conversations with people now, thanks mostly to children being eager to teach a rather dumb adult basic words, even if it''s so they canugh at him. He doesn''t care. Children are children, and he''s learning thenguage.
However, what he also learned is that his maintenance and repair knowledge -a practiced skill after over a decade in the field in his old world- granted him skills in troubleshooting that carry over well even to magical equipment in the new world. Magic water heaters are basically a big basin that people fill with well water and wait for magic crystals to heat the water. Like contact level sensors, the crystals can be dirty and seem to be broken, but with a little elbow grease, the function will be restored. Additionally, descaling chemicals are unknown, but Daniel is able to make some basic ones out of some ingredients he''s able to find; specifically what he''s pretty sure is this worlds equivalent to citric acid, though he has no idea of ??its full chemical structure. Regardless, the acid he''s able to extract from fruit and reduce down by boiling rather easily removes scale from the casing of the crystals, which appears to be unscathed by even the longest acid baths. As such, the businesses that can afford to have the magic water heaters have been hiring him to clean their systems as his name spreads for repairing them for much cheaper than recing the crystals or the units themselves.
There are wind-magic powered devices that circte air through buildings, which also get dirty and reduce the blowing effect. He''s able to set up some extremely basic filters with a coupleyers of old fabric, which he cleans with homemade soap. The ingredients for both; scrap fabric and fats and oils, are generally waste products from what he''s seen, so a basic request gets him the repulsive materials he needs to make his simple soap and fabric filters.
As such, he doesn''t really feel the need to trek back to the castle, since he''s been able to establish a footing and still had money left over by the time he became capable of working on equipment. Like his old life, the people using the devices generally have no idea how to exin what''s wrong, beyond what the machine or device isn''t doing that it''s supposed to do, and Daniel has been able to troubleshoot.
Ecstatic, most of the customers have paid him what they want, and it¡¯s been surprisingly generous amounts, considering how simple some of the fixes were, which allows him to buy any ingredients that aren¡¯t waste for making cleaning chemicals and other useful maintenance substances.
He notices as he¡¯s walking through a store that books are somewhat of amodity in this world, like ancient times of Earth, but the pages are clumsily bound by running a few loops of twine through holes meticulously made in each page. Thus, the pages don¡¯t line up very well, they tear out easily, and if the book is dropped or nearly-fumbled, many pages tend to rip out, no matter what efforts are made to prevent it.
Daniel speaks to the store owner about a book on disy. It¡¯s a semi-expensive grimoire on basic magic spells, from what the title reads, which Daniel can make out about half of.
¡°Excuse me. That book there. How much is it?¡±
The store owner, a cat-faced man named Yargaen, has been one of the friendlier faces Daniel has be familiar with. He replies, ¡°Got it listed for two hundred valden. Can¡¯t go much lower than that, so please don¡¯t ask.¡±
Daniel nods thoughtfully. ¡°If I bought it, could I resell it here?¡±
Surprised, Yargaen cocks his head. ¡°You think I have it too cheap?¡±
Daniel has to repeat the phrases in his head, making sure it makes sense. He replies, ¡°No, no. Certainly not if I¡¯m about to buy.¡±
They bothugh, and he exins, ¡°In my home, we had better of binding tomes. We called ¡®books¡¯.¡±
A little confused, Yargaen asks, ¡°What do you mean?¡±
¡°Better bind. Uh¡ Keep pages¡ from fall.¡±
This surprises the shopkeep. He replies, ¡°More holes and twine, right?¡±
Daniel shakes his head. ¡°It¡¯s a few steps. If I to start¡ doing, I like profit.¡±
Yargaen is a little confused, mainly by Daniel¡¯s poornguage skills still needing work, but heughs. ¡°Ahhh! Yes, I see, I see. You want to do it yourself. Very well. Regardless, you can buy the book here, and if you want to resell it, I¡¯ll take 15%.¡±
Daniel focuses on the words, tranting them in his head. He¡¯ll need to get past that, but for now, it takes him a while. He nods as he makes his decision. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll take it. Please to sell.¡±
They shake hands and exchange the amount for the book. It mostly cleans out Daniel¡¯s wallet, but he could potentially make that money back.
He buys the ingredients he needs to make a simple binding glue, which pretty much just needs flour and water. He has to splurge a little with his remaining money on the purest flour he can find, but he¡¯s able to find a suitable material.
He spends the rest of the night making glue in batches, drilling the pages with tools he¡¯s been able to make with simple materials, including a stone drill bit, which serves well enough on the paper.
He re-binds the pages from the side instead of the top with more holes aligned much better, and he glues the spine with the spine pieces he makes to attach to the hard cover that sits on top and bottom normally.
Satisfied with the end product; a proper hardcover book, Daniel cleans up and goes to sleep as the glue sets. The next day, he presents the book to Yargaen.
¡°Oooohhh¡ Interesting. A cover for the¡ Wait, you put the spine on wrong.¡±
Daniel shakes his head, demonstrating. ¡°Actually, binding it like this allows a singr user to hold the book like so;¡± Daniel holds the book by the spine, paging through pages while supporting the front and back cover with his fingers, and he can easily read the pages from left or right.
Yargaen watches with surprise. Normal tomes in this world are closer to flip books, where each page is flipped to the back, requiring an assistant to hold both halves, lest the bindings tear out. Because the pages share the load when glued together, Daniel¡¯s binding has a lot more resilience, as well as resistance to over-extending, which could pull the glue apart. It¡¯s not invincible, but he shows how much more durable the pages are with gentle tugs, which visibly cause Yargaen to wince.
Daniel also took the time to clean up the edges so that none of the pages hang out past the cover. Thankfully, this world has flimsy, cheap paper-like material for pages, and so they do leaverge margins -mainly because it¡¯s expected that the edges will be worn, wrinkled, and tattered fighting with the awkward tomes.
Yargaen allows Daniel to post the book for sale, demonstrating the new technique, and they list it for 300 valden, which will make a profit for both of them.
¡°Oh, by the way, Daniel; Marthie came by this morning asking for you.¡±
¡°Marthie¡ Oh! She runs adventurer guild pub, right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right.¡±
The adventurer¡¯s guild is, for all intents and purposes, a mercenary pany¡¯ of loosely organized civilians that can take on odd jobs and even dangerous retrieval or monster ying quests. They also provide fighters for militias during times of invasion, simr to a national guard or army reserves. While nowhere near as formal as the military of the Kingdom, the adventurers are generally well-respected if they belong to the guild, thanks to the guild¡¯s review processes and promotion requirements.
The pub, in this case, is exactly what it sounds like; a ce sharing space with the guild¡¯s front desk and where the adventurers can gather, celebrate sesses, n future missions, and recruit for quests. As such, it¡¯s a fairly busy ce with a lot of peopleing and going from all walks of life.
Daniel asks politely, ¡°Did she speak what she need? Might save me walk if I bring tools proper.¡±
Yargaen chuckles, indicating Daniel still has a long way to go for conversation. ¡°Sorry. Something about her oven, but no specifics. She asked if I¡¯d seen the magic artificer in town, and I told her you¡¯d being back today.¡±
Daniel nods affirmatively. ¡°Hahaha no Artificer. No. Repair. I¡¯ll walk right away. Thank you.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t mention it. Oh, and mine¡¯s lower priority, but if you get a chance today, I heard you can repair door locks. Is that true?¡±
With a nod, Daniel replies, ¡°Depends on what¡¯s wrong, but won¡¯t charge if can¡¯t fix.¡±
¡°Then, pleasee back as soon as you can. I¡¯ll show you which lock.¡±
Daniel nods politely once more. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m going. Good day.¡±
Yargaen waves as he leaves, and Daniel makes his way to the adventurer¡¯s guild. He¡¯s seen both kinds of ovens in this world; regr fire-powered ovens and magic ovens that use magic crystals to generate heat, and often have control functions associated with the temperature. Daniel¡¯s still learning how they work, but it seems to share principles with potentiometers back home, which are simplistic and often used for electric heaters. The other kind of oven is a basic me oven, which there¡¯s generally not much to be done beyond cleaning out the exhaust and recing bricks or doors, depending on the issue.
However, given that she¡¯s asking for a ¡®magic artificer¡¯, it¡¯s likely a magic-based oven. Because the principles of magic share traits with troubleshooting electricity and electricalponents, Daniel is able to often figure his way through some problems, and for those he can¡¯t, he¡¯s not afraid to admit when he can¡¯t help. Because he doesn¡¯t charge if he can¡¯t fix it, many of the citizens are ecstatic to ask him to take a look, since just a couple sessful jobs pay his rent for the month, which he squared up three months as soon as he had the money, meaning he only needs money for food to survive.
Compared to his world, there are ways that it¡¯s amazing, and ways that it¡¯s primitive. And, Daniel¡¯s rtively average talents, strength, and knowledge from his world actually serve him quite well in this world.
Daniel meets with Marthie, and she brightens, ¡°Oh! Are you the magic artificer Yargaen mentioned?¡±
Daniel clears his throat, replying politely, ¡°Yargaen send. No magic artificer. Repair man. My name is Daniel. Please to meet you.¡±
She processes his speech for a moment, realizing that Yargaen mentioned he¡¯s still learning thenguage. She smiles, ¡°Ah, but, you can work on magic devices, correct? I have a crystal stove in the back that¡¯s not cooking on one side.¡±
Daniel gives her a civil nod. ¡°I take a look. Please forgive bad speaking. Learning.¡±
She nods warmly, ¡°Of course! I¡¯d be happy to help you learn, as well. But, if you would, the lunch rush will being in soon.¡±
Daniel confirms, ¡°Please lead.¡±
She leads him into the kitchen, and he begins inspecting theponents of the oven. Were it an oven in his world, it would simply be an electric oven. There¡¯s no plug to disconnect, though, and the magic crystals are generally good for 5 years or so, though that¡¯s just the magic charge they¡¯re sold with. Daniel suspects they can be recharged with magic, but the sellers keep that to themselves.
Daniel asks, ¡°Miss Marthie, crystals old?¡±
¡°Noo. I was told they were good for five years. Had them about¡ mm¡ two now? Maybe a little more.¡±
¡°Thank you. Helpful information.¡±
She nods in understanding, showing him the oven in question. He asks, ¡°Can I use?¡±
¡°Please do. We¡¯ll make prep work on the other stations for now. I¡¯ll let you know when I need the working side.¡±
He trantes her words in his head, nodding. ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±
She nods happily, watching as he begins performing some basic checks. He turns all four stations -two to a side- on to midway, giving them a moment to heat up. He uses the back of his hand to check the temperatures. Sure enough, the two stations on the right side are heating up nicely, definitely warm enough to burn him if he touches the surface. The left side, however, remains cold, and he¡¯s even able to touch and theny his hand on it. It¡¯s not warm at all.
Daniel inspects the shell of the oven. It¡¯s fairly simplistic, with a lower heating chamber like a typical oven and range. He opens the chamber, and it¡¯s cool, so he peeks his head in to look up at any angle he can without tearing anything apart. He¡¯s able to find a simple panel he can open with slide locks, and he checks inside. He can see the various crystals; two primary crystals to a side, some connections that look like metal tubing, and four orange heat crystals; one under each of the distribution tes.
He ponders for a moment. He carefully reaches inside, and the radiant heat on the right side is obvious. Surprisingly, it also feels hot on the left side. Thinking about it, it¡¯s reasonably possible the crystals on the left side have detached from their distribution tes, but it¡¯s also possible the radiant heat is entirely from the right side. Either way, he¡¯ll have to turn it off for the moment. He waits, inspecting the distribution tes from the top. They¡¯re chunks of metal, and they¡¯re wider than the holes they sit in, which is pretty smart. Modern ovens use a single piece of ss to transmit the heat, but without any seams for crumbs and liquids to work down into. These ones have drip trays that serve the same purpose. And, he is able to take the te off with a careful turn. He inspects the bottom of the first one, finding a discolored spot on the bottom of the te with a slight warp to it. Daniel hums ponderously, and he pulls the second te off. Simrly, there¡¯s a discolored teardrop shape on the bottom. He uses his knife to poke the crystal gently, and he can feel the spring-action of the arms connecting them to the bigger crystal below them. He didn¡¯t see an actual spring underneath, but it¡¯s clearly using tension to try to press the crystals to the tes, which is pretty reasonable. To verify, Daniel touches his knife¡¯s de, finding heat simply from poking the crystals. He nods somewhat triumphantly, and Marthie asks from nearby, ¡°Did you figure it out?¡±
¡°I think so. Need oven?¡±
¡°Not yet. Though¡¡±
¡°Though?¡±
She reluctantly admits, ¡°If we could start prepping stew¡¡±
Daniel gestures at the right side. ¡°I work out of way. Try to.¡±
She smiles happily, ¡°Are you sure!?¡±
He nods agreeably. ¡°Chef careful of mess.¡±
¡°I understand. Thank you so much! This will be a big help alone!¡± She begins speaking to her chef, and Daniel reaches in through the holes. He burns his forearm on one of the crystals, which are still cooling down, but he¡¯s used to it. It¡¯s not scalding anymore, and he recoiled quickly and carefully. With more diligence, he¡¯s able to follow theponents until he can find the spring joint.
The chef begins setting tworge pots next to him on the right side, and he turns them on, asking cautiously, ¡°You sure?¡±
Daniel nods as he replies, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m alright. If chamber need, please use.¡± He gestures at the bottom.
¡°Ahhh! Yes, yes! Thank you! Will do!¡± The chef hurries to another meal he¡¯s prepping, and Daniel carefully disassembles the snap pieces and recoil spring that he can feel.
Marthie peeks over his arm as he¡¯s re-tensioning the spring, asking, ¡°That¡¯s what broke?¡±
¡°Sort of. Did oven need turn high when working?¡±
She ponders his words for a moment. Her face turns to surprise. ¡°Yes! We almost always had to run that side at maximum! How did you know that?¡±
He shows her the spring. ¡°One part. Will try to improve.¡± She nods eagerly.
Once he gets the tension of the spring set a little better, he pieces it back into ce. The crystals are already noticeably higher, at least for him, who was looking for it. He then gets into his tool-bag, opening his jar of contact paste. It¡¯s a heat transfer paste he was able to make, and though it wouldn¡¯t be good enough for aputer processor, it¡¯s serviceable for heatingponents, ensuring good heat transfer. He thers some on, and Marthie asks, ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±
¡°Hot transfer slime. It helps.¡±
She nods a little reluctantly. They both have to shift out of the way as the chef steps in to stir and add some seasoning to one of the stews. He also slides a roast into the lower part of the oven. He turns the chamber on, and then retreats out of the way. Daniel finishes coating and positioning the crystals with as smooth of a contact surface as possible with the te. He has to push down on the tes this time, which is a good sign, and he snaps them into ce. He turns the left side on, and Marthie watches nervously.
Daniel waves his hand over the left side, and it doesn¡¯t take long for heat to start rising from the tes. He smiles, gesturing for Marthie to check. She steps up, mimicking his hand gesture. Surprised, she quickly touches it, and she recoils instantly, waving her hand. ¡°It¡¯s working! It¡¯s working great! I can¡¯t believe it!¡± She waves the chef over, having him check it, too. Surprised as well, the chef exims, ¡°It feels hotter than ever!¡±
Daniel tries to exin, ¡°Not hotter¡ Better transfer.¡± He wishes he knew the word for ¡®efficient¡¯. He tries to fumble through some words to exin what he means.
¡°[Efficient?]¡± asks the chef.
Daniel asks, ¡°Less cost? Less¡ difficult?¡±
The chef nods in a nonmittal ¡®you could say that¡¯ way. He waves a finger, having an idea. He fills a small pot with water, and he puts it on the left side¡¯s front te, saying, ¡°Used to take ten minutes. We¡¯ll see.¡±
Within a minute, the pot is roiling and he quickly shifts it to the counter in surprise. He remarks, ¡°Even the right side isn¡¯t that fast¡¡± He turns the left down, and the heat noticeably lowers, but is still very much producing heat.
He pats Daniel¡¯s shoulders with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re amazing! I would never have figured that out! Thank you!¡±
Daniel smiles, ¡°You tter me. Thank you. I¡¯m d it worked.¡±
Marthie hugs him, ¡°Thank you so much, Daniel! You¡¯ve saved us!¡± She orders the chef, ¡°Get ready for the full rush! I¡¯ll open the rest of the tables!¡±
The chef nods confidently, but just as he¡¯s about to leave, she asks, ¡°Daniel?¡±
¡°Yes?¡±
¡°Would what you did help the right side, too?¡±
He rubs his chin, admitting, ¡°It could. I¡¯m still learning. But, if crystals aren¡¯t touching tes, heat lost.¡±
With a nod of understanding, Marthie asks. ¡°Would you mind checking while I have you here?¡±
Daniel and Marthie look at the chef, who overheard the discussion. The chef nods and replies, ¡°I¡¯ll switch to the left.¡± He swaps the big stew pots over, and he cautiously turns the heat up on the left side, turning off the right. Daniel allows the right side to cool before removing the tes. He carefully reaches inside, now that he knows where the spring is, and he extracts it to stretch and tension it like the first while the chef uses the left side and the chamber to prepare for the lunch rush. Diners have already filled the open tables, and the orders pour steadily in, requiring Marthie to help the chef and his assistant. Daniel performs the same for the right side, and he puts it back together, allowing the chef to test it. Sure enough, the crystals were put in rather casually, ignoring whether or not they were contacting very well with the tes. He hangs around out of the way to make sure that both sides are working well, and they make it through the lunch rush much easier thanks to the more efficient burners on all four positions.
Marthie hugs Daniel again, and she asks gratefully, ¡°How much do I owe you?¡±
Daniel chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°Uh¡ I¡¯m still working that out. How much would you normally have paid?¡±
She grimaces, and he waves her off, ¡°No! Forget I ask. Can you pay¡ Three valden? That cover more my costs.¡±
The three employees¡¯ jaws drop, and he asks nervously, ¡°Still too much?¡±
¡°NOT ENOUGH!¡± shouts Marthie. She points at the chef, shouting, ¡°Urlie! Don¡¯t let him leave! I¡¯ll be right back!¡± She jogs to the guild front desk, speaking with the receptionist there. After a moment, she trots towards a back room, returning after a few moments. She has a small tray with a modest pile of coins on it; a quick nce estimating around 50 valden worth. She says quickly, ¡°I can do 50 valden right now, but¡¡±