ã€ŠHavenbound, A guilded journeyã€‹


 Chapter 0 - Stone Cold

    Stone can get very cold.

    It was a simple little fact, and something I¡¯ve always known, but you never remember how cold it feels till you feel it.

    One moment I felt nothing, so terribly numb that everything was just a haze that might not have even existed. And then I felt the cold stone pressed against my back.

    Opening my tired eyes, I saw nothing.

    At first I thought I was dead, I barely remembered being rushed into the ER¡­ and everything before that was a haze. I knew my name, Armin Fischer, I remembered being a doctor, I remembered most of my life¡­ I think? But the last few days were a shaky haze that hurt my head to think.

    Okay, assessing my situation¡­ I felt lethargic, but not just sleep deprived. I¡¯ve pulled too many all-nighters to not know how that feels, so it¡¯s possibly Anaemia?

    I was sitting on a cold stone floor, with my back against a cold stone wall, and I could barely make out the outlines of a room¡­ It was dark, and damp. And there was a thick smell of the sea that seemed to overwhelm everything else.

    Letting out a sigh, I reached a hand up to feel around my body. It was heavy, but I could feel, and I wasn¡¯t in pain. I didn¡¯t recognise the clothes I was wearing, they felt tough, like thick leather, but I didn¡¯t own anything like it¡­ and there was a sticky feeling around my side, a familiar feeling. Reaching my hand up and bringing my fingers to my nose, the smell of iron was a bit easier to make out. Blood, dried and sticky.

    It was honestly a terrifying situation to find myself in, possibilities came rushing in. Was I kidnapped? Who would even do that and why? Maybe there was just a power cut in the hospital¡­ but why would it be so quiet then? Why would I be on the floor and not a table or a bed or even a chair?

    Dammit, none of this made sense!

    But I had enough emergency training to work in this situation. First, identify the wound, treat it, then check if it¡¯s safe to move.

    And so I fumbled in the dark to remove my shirt¡­ or rather, my armour? I wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with wearing armour, as I served in the army, though it wasn¡¯t for a very long time. However, this was some old-time leather armour, it wouldn¡¯t really help much against a bullet¡­

    After a bit of struggling with the unfamiliar ¡®equipment¡¯, I managed to take it off and inspect my body a bit better. I could even see a bit better, so I wasn¡¯t completely blind and¡­ there was no wound.

    To be clear, there was no open wound, but I could still feel some dried blood, and instead of a cut (I expected it to be clothed and maybe infected with how dried the blood was), there was a scar. That was¡­ impossible with how fresh the blood was, but it was the truth.

    Now, I wouldn¡¯t claim to be the best doctor out there. Hell, I was only 34, so I didn¡¯t have a very long career yet, but even I knew there was something very weird about this.

    While my body still felt heavy, I could stand up. There were some aches, but not much pain, at least nothing that led me to think ¡°Oh no! I¡¯ve been stabbed!¡±

    I could feel other little splatters of blood on me, but no wounds¡­ more anomalies on anomalies.

    And picking up the leather armour, I must have unhooked something off it as I heard something like a marble clatter on the stone floor, before suddenly lighting up, assaulting my poor eyes with bright light that I wished I wasn¡¯t being flashbanged with!

    I took a step back because of that light, my boot stepping on some metal chunks that slid under me, making me stumble back into the stone wall, hitting my head on it, damn!

    Recovering from being double teamed by a ball of light and a stone wall, I eventually readjusted to the light, glancing around the room I was in. It was indeed a stone room, a small square room, with a small door to one side that acted as an entrance, and not much else. On the floor¡­ was a considerable amount of dried blood, a concerning amount. If that much came out of me, then I¡¯m absolutely dead. And there are even some broken and bloody arrows on the ground in that blood puddle. I knew what that blood puddle could smell like and I was glad I couldn¡¯t smell it.

    So¡­ I definitely wasn¡¯t in a hospital anymore. There were no lights in the ceiling, so it wasn¡¯t dark because of a power cut. I saw¡­ basically nothing of note anywhere. No furniture, no toilet hole (assuming it was a prison or something), just nothing.

    So, that begs the question, and pardon my french, but ¡°What the fuck!?¡±

    I don¡¯t swear much, but I think I can be forgiven here. I mean¡­ arrows!? Also, the light is coming from what looks like a small crystal ball and yes, I was wearing leather armour, and oddly, there¡¯s a sheathed sword (probably) on the ground next to me¡­ now, as a doctor I don¡¯t really have a lot of free time, so I definitely didn¡¯t play enough video games that I¡¯d be fantasising something like this, right? Right!? I¡¯m not the weird one, right!? It¡¯s this situation that¡¯s weird, right!?!?

    ¡°Okay, calm down Armin, think! Think! Use your head and work out what¡¯s happening!¡± I had to berate myself, shaking my head and taking a deep breath¡­ of this horrid sea smell, which I really regretted.

    First, I reached down to pick up the bright crystal¡­ I¡¯ll just call it a flashlight, okay? But the moment I touched it, it just turned off, leaving me in the dark.

    Understandably confused, I just froze for a few moments, before slowly taking my finger off the flashlight. It didn¡¯t turn on.

    I pulled my hand back a bit more, and it finally turned on again, and I had to question who would make such a stupid flashlight that it would only turn on when it was on the ground?

    Deciding to leave that for now, I assessed my body and gear. Maybe I was in a dream, like a dungeon crawler game¡­ hopefully not Darksouls, I know that started like this and I don¡¯t want to be there!

    Looking down at my bare torso, I was taken aback a bit. I liked to keep myself in shape, but I was in a much better state than I remembered. There were a few small scars I didn¡¯t have before¡­ and my most prominent scar, a large stitching near my gut, was nowhere to be seen. So I dreamt up a different set of wounds¡­ interesting.

    I had¡­ leather armour that had taken quite a beating. There were a few holes and tears in it and plenty of blood. A tunic, which had matching holes and bloodstains, pants, a sword (it actually was a sword, yes), a flashlight, a small pouch with two shattered vials (So I died cause I was exploring a dungeon with potions in fragile glass vials? What a sadly realistic dream¡­), and there are a few coins! Some silver and bronze ones, that''s a nice, but pretty useless, detail in a dungeon diving dream?

    And¡­ that was it.

    No bag, no rope, no tools, no food, not even a map or a journal or anything¡­ dream me just¡­ What''s the slang? ¡®Rawdogged¡¯ a dungeon.

    Or they hopefully just lost all of that stuff? Surely? Else why would I dream myself into such a stupid character?

    Letting out a sigh, I put on the tunic, looking around the room to see if there was anything else of note around¡­ and other than the blood, I noticed a hole in the wall facing the door¡­ probably an arrow trap, judging from everything.

    And there¡¯s that weird scrap of metal I slipped on earlier. Picking it up, it looked like the broken parts of a weird metal disk, like a very small compact mirror, made of some exotic metal with very detailed etching I haven¡¯t seen before.

    If this were a game, this screamed ¡°Important lore item¡±, so I decided to pocket it, after dropping all the broken glass from my ¡®potion pouch¡¯ in a corner, that was no good to me.

    So, a big problem was that I couldn¡¯t hold the flashlight, but I also had no other source of light or any tools to work with¡­

    I didn¡¯t understand the situation, but this was either a dream, or it wasn¡¯t. If it was a dream, maybe getting to the end would be how I ¡®won¡¯, or woke up. If it wasn¡¯t a dream, then I didn¡¯t want to get hurt or die and I wanted out. (And I really didn¡¯t want to put any more thought on what this not being a dream could mean.)

    And to get out, I needed to avoid ending up like the¡­ ¡®backstory me¡¯, let¡¯s say.

    I kicked the flashlight, and sure enough it turned off when I got close. What a stupid item. Why would I even dream up something like this?

    The leather armour¡­ was probably pretty rubbish since it couldn¡¯t even stop an arrow, so I didn¡¯t want to rely on it. It was basically a leather cuirass with a bunch of straps holding it together¡­ and looking closer at it, I didn¡¯t even think it was all properly treated tough leather. The guy who bought this was probably scammed.

    The sword was quite well made. It looked to be as good as any modern blade, which was surprising given the fantasy-theme so far. Looking at it closer, I could see some fancy symbols etched into the blade that shone when the light bounced off it. It looked pretty expensive compared to the stuff I was wearing, and clearly well cared for.

    I had no idea what the symbols said, and it didn¡¯t have a special feeling or shine to it, so it was probably just a fancy sword and not some kind of special item. Honestly, I¡¯d prefer a polearm, I¡¯m actually trained in those¡­ or a shovel, a modern shovel is incredibly versatile.

    The leather armour, on the other hand¡­ given the technology that¡¯d be needed to make a sword like this, the armour was definitely subpar. I¡¯d say it¡¯d be worthy of a product recall if they paid anything more than a few euro for this.

    So I felt no great loss when I started cutting apart the straps of the armour and tying them together in a rather makeshift leather rope. It was terrible, but I didn¡¯t really care about how good my crafting was at the moment.

    I picked up the flashlight, turning it off, and fumbled in the dark for a good few minutes as I fought to have it locked into the makeshift leather rope, using one of the buckles to hold it in place.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    The flashlight was still off, but when I let it hang it turned on for a brief moment. Moving the rope further away from me, the flashlight turned on!

    I had no idea why, but it only turned off when it was within a certain distance from my body. It really was a horrible light, but goal 1 achieved, light!

    Que rpg victory music, but at low volume. This doesn¡¯t really feel like an accomplishment.

    Sighing, I started moving, taking my sheathed sword to poke the ground I had bled on. I needed to know if the arrow trap was a pressure trap or something to do with the door.

    Tap tap tap, there was nothing where the big puddle was. Tap tap tap, just a stone floor beyond that, and tap tap think. There was indeed a pressure trap¡­ an entire fairly large panel right in front of the door¡­ that was mean! Even if you knew it was there, it¡¯d be pretty hard to avoid it!

    A little press, and right on cue, an arrow shoots forth out of a hole I didn¡¯t even see and hits the door. Looking closer, there are actually three holes in this room, so you can¡¯t tell where you¡¯ll be shot from¡­ and the door, looking at the hinges, opens on the other side, so there¡¯s no chance of even using it as some cover.

    Taking a deep breath, I stood next to the pressure plate and leaned over and pushed at the door with my sheathed sword¡­ and it didn¡¯t budge. I didn¡¯t see a handle or a latch, so how was it closed? Was it barred on the other side?

    No, if there were people here, then the body of ¡®backstory me¡¯ would¡¯ve been disposed of by now. So¡­ magic? What a nasty trap¡­ lure someone into a room, shoot them with arrows and lock the door, so they either bleed to death or starve to death¡­

    But¡­ there was nothing in the room, at all, so I don¡¯t see why anyone would even enter this room in the first place? Normally they¡¯d just peek in then leave, unless they were really thorough I suppose? I might be thinking too deeply into this if it¡¯s just a dream, it could just be a ¡®convenient setting¡¯ for a start.

    Figuring out that it would be a smart idea to feel around for a hidden button or something, I put the sword down and leaned over more, pressing my hand against the door.

    To my surprise, and possible almost death, the door actually pushed open with no resistance, making me stumble forward, stepping onto a pressure plate.

    Now, I immediately pulled back, and thanks to my odd positioning and some luck, another arrow that came flying out passed right past my stomach and hit the opening door harmlessly. Well, it was opening, but when I stepped back it slammed shut again!

    ¡°That was terrifying, who designed this place like this? To suddenly open when you least expect it!? No, why would it open in the first place?¡± I asked myself, and didn¡¯t get an answer, because I didn¡¯t know. I guess it might have been me, since it¡¯s a dream, right? I didn¡¯t know I was that scary.

    There was something fishy going on¡­ first off, the flashlight turned off when I touched it. Now, I thought it was just broken, and that makes sense¡­ somewhat? Except it only turns off when it¡¯s close to me. And then this door, which is clearly supposed to be locked and I can¡¯t open it with my sword no matter how hard I push¡­ it opens without the slightest resistance when I touch it.

    The pressure plate¡­ is a normal pressure plate, probably, and it works like you¡¯d expect, so the dungeon isn¡¯t just broken down.

    Am I¡­ do I have the ability to stop magic?

    Huh¡­ so I¡¯m in a fantasy world, there¡¯s magic, and I have the overpowered ability to stop magic. I didn¡¯t know I wanted to be in an isekai so much that I¡¯d dream something like this up. I wondered what was next, would I unlock some kind of status menu or little guy/girl in my head that could tell me things?

    Maybe I¡¯d meet a powerful and strange and oddly attractive ally who¡¯d join my party and adventure with me throughout the world on a mission to save it?

    Honestly, I hoped not, I had a lot of work to get to in the morning, so I didn¡¯t want this dream to drag on too much, especially if I were the one writing it. It¡¯d probably just end abruptly because I do not have the time to write stories, I spend enough time writing reports, thank you very much.

    Still, thinking about it being an isekai dream, and having nothing to lose, I held out my hand and took a pose (because why not?) and spoke out my command!

    ¡°Status¡± Nothing. ¡°Menu¡± Nothing. ¡°Open¡± Nothing. ¡°Inventory¡± Nothing. ¡°Help¡± Nothing.

    ¡­ huh, so it wasn¡¯t that kind of dream.

    Oh well, those stories get weird anyway, so maybe it¡¯s better this way? God, given what I¡¯ve seen on the operating table, it¡¯d probably end up something like that isekai where the MC had all those monster-like body morphing abilities. What was that one called? Flesh, Fury and Freedom?

    Leaning over more carefully, I pushed the door open, and sure enough, it worked. When I pulled away, it didn¡¯t close, so maybe closing it was a part of the pressure plate¡¯s mechanic?

    So it¡¯s confirmed, probably. I make magic things stop working, that¡¯s my power, that¡¯s the rule of this dungeon diving dream/thing.

    Oh, maybe I can do it from a distance? Like ¡®feeling my energy and shooting it out¡¯, or something?

    ¡­Nope. Can¡¯t feel anything special, guess I just gotta touch things and hope for the best. That can only go well. God, I hope there aren¡¯t any horrid diseases milling about here, or rusty metal. Tetanus is terrifying¡­ I had my shots, but I¡¯m still scared.

    Carefully stepping out through the doorway, I found myself in a corridor, just as dark as the room I was in, but oddly, it was carpeted¡­ with a disgusting squishy sound that made me cringe, I confirmed the carpets were waterlogged.

    And the smell. It hit me as soon as my nose passed through the doorway, it smelt rancid in the corridor¡­ to the point I had to pull back a bit and take another breath of the sea water air of the room to brace myself. It seemed that there was some magical barrier that kept the air different. That was very odd.

    Muttering a brief prayer for my senses, I soldiered forth, enduring the smell that was so bad it made my head spin. It was so much more humid here, the smell just hit so hard I didn¡¯t notice at first, and there were a lot of decorations all over. Paintings¡­ that were cracked, covered with mould, and barely viewable. These definitely weren¡¯t prepared for all the humidity they were in¡­ maybe this place was abandoned and then it got flooded somewhere?

    Ah, colours, I never described colours yet. That¡¯s because the room I was in was just a boring grey stone. But here¡­ It was oddly¡­ blue. I could see lots of faded deep blue banners and the carpet was a light blue¡­ once? It was a bit yellowy now with mould and god knows what else. And the walls were grey stone, what I could see of them, at least, but there wasn¡¯t a single stone that didn¡¯t have something carved on it, either runes or some text?

    When I moved to read it, I could make out a few words, something about¡°And the deep lord blessed us with knowledge¡±, ¡°The watchful protector offers us salvation¡±, and ¡°Pay respects before the tall guardian.¡±

    The text¡­ wasn¡¯t a language I knew. It wasn¡¯t German or English, though the letters looked quite close, but oddly¡­ I could read it. I could read it and I knew that it was called Merydian. I was looking at characters I didn¡¯t recognise, but I could read it as well as I could German, my mother tongue¡­ Well, when a person dreams they don¡¯t create proper text that they can read, so that makes sense.

    Wait¡­ people can¡¯t read in dreams, at all, though? The Broca¡¯s and Wernicke¡¯s areas of the brain weren¡¯t active, so there shouldn¡¯t be any clear comprehension of language¡­ While you may ¡®see¡¯ text, it¡¯s unlikely to even be a language that exists, and ¡®reading¡¯ in a dream is just thinking to yourself.

    But¡­ this wasn¡¯t that, I could see the letters clear as day, I could pronounce each one, even though I never saw them before in my life, and I knew how they could be rearranged to make other words. With a feeling of dread creeping in my gut, I turned and went back into the room avoiding the pressure plate, then grabbed an arrow, the only thing I could safely write with, and scraped it along the ground where the dried up blood was.

    The sound of metal on stone was grating, but it certainly cut a line in the blood, and I wrote out the alphabet. It was very readable, clearly words that appeared exactly as I drew them.

    I tried writing more. Actual words this time like ¡®help¡¯, my name, ¡®Armin¡¯, and the text I had read on the bricks, but in both German and the other language, Meridian.

    I could read all of it. All of it was as clear as day. They were real words, real text that I could write, read, and clearly see. To be this lucid, it should be obvious that everything was a dream, but it wasn¡¯t¡­

    I stumbled out of the room, over the pressure plate and into the corridor again, fumbling for the damp and decaying banners, tugging at them and pulling them down. There were more featureless grey stone walls beneath them, with more and more text carved on them as if scribbles.

    Words I couldn¡¯t read, words that had faded, words in Merydian, and words that were just squiggles. Each line of text was slightly different, as if written by a different person, or from a different angle. Some were deeper, some weren¡¯t, some had good handwriting, some were barely legible¡­ but it was all text, text I could comprehend, text I could read, text that was actually there and not just mind-babble.

    ¡°Tread lightly on the path of the sea.¡±was another sentence I found that I could read.

    That meant that¡­ this was all real? This disgusting carpet under my boots, the horrific decayed paintings and mould covered banners, the drops of liquid I can only hope is water that fell from the ceiling¡­ all of it?!

    No, that can¡¯t be¡­ maybe I couldn¡¯t read the text after all? Maybe I was just imagining what it said, because it¡¯s a dream, right?

    Jesus, if it isn¡¯t a dream¡­ What could this be? A joke? Some kind of prank show?

    No, those arrows were real, they could¡¯ve killed me. And this hallway here would be a nightmare of a set to get approved by any safety standard¡­ Then was it one of those¡­ those horrid streams I heard of, the ones on the dark web? Some kind of elaborate game where they have the light and some doors connected to wifi or something and someone¡¯s watching all of this on a camera and triggering things!?

    I wasn¡¯t proud of it, but I started panicking. Dropping the flashlight I clutched my sword tight as my eyes darted around, taking in everything. There were some cracks in the wall, possible cameras to watch me? Speakers to insult or threaten me? Maybe guns, to end me if I got boring to watch? There was a creak that echoed up and down the corridor. Was that the crew watching, trying to be hidden? The horrid stench, was it to hide the smell of drugs?

    Memories flashed before my eyes¡­ I remembered that day in the field hospital, and clutched at my old wound near my gut. I swear I could feel it burn again.

    No no no, why would they make something so elaborate!? And why kidnap some random doctor from the hospital? I forced myself to calm down, shaking my head to clear those kinds of thoughts.

    My priority was finding my way out of this mess. I had to make sure I had all the tools I could possibly use, and figure out a way to survive.

    Picking up the leather rope bound flashlight again, I trudged forward, muttering a quiet prayer to myself as I kept glancing around looking for any signs of other people being around, or traps.

    That alertness was for naught, as I stepped onto a patch of carpet that, in hindsight, was a bit off colour, and my leg sank right through it.

    Somehow, I managed to pull myself free, but it was too late. A glowing blue ball shot out of nowhere and crashed into me¡­ and harmlessly evaporating into nothing?

    There was still a decent amount of force that hit me, and I was knocked into a patch of bare stone wall as I recoiled from the impact, the flashlight falling onto the floor nearby.

    ¡­ Stone can get very cold.

    It was a simple little fact, and something I¡¯ve always known, but you never remember how cold it feels till you feel it.

    But, I was sure now, this wasn¡¯t a dream. And this wasn¡¯t any kind of show.

    ¡°Is this my punishment for failing so many people?¡±

 Chapter 1 - Stone Walled

    Before I ended up here¡­ wherever here was, I was just a regular doctor in Frankfurt.

    My last memories were a blur, a hectic, awful blur.

    I remembered an earthquake, I had only felt one earthquake before it, when I visited the Swabian Alb. But that was nothing compared to what hit the town.

    My head hurt thinking about it, the ringing was overwhelming, I think I remember something bursting, or a metal beam crashing¡­ it¡¯s hard to remember, maybe I suffered a concussion?

    My head could also hurt because of how I hit the slimy, cold stone wall.

    I was pushed into the wall by that blue ball that came flying at me, I am almost certain that was magic of some kind. Unless someone figured out how to make special effects in real space¡­ but that wouldn¡¯t be able to push me like that.

    From what I know about fantasy games, tabletop or otherwise, that was a small bolt of magical force, a magic missile? It evaporated into nothing before it hit me, but there was enough momentum to push me.

    That again cements the idea that there¡¯s ¡®magic¡¯ or something like it, and it stops working when it gets close enough to me.

    Standing up, my brain kept thinking about my situation, but I couldn¡¯t afford to do that any longer. I didn¡¯t know if it was day or night outside, but I was gradually feeling colder and colder, hypothermia might get me if I stayed still too long. That, or that might not be an escape anywhere nearby, and I could end up starving if I didn¡¯t move faster. Or, most likely, I¡¯d be unlucky with the next trap and it could maim or kill me, like the ¡®backstory me¡¯...

    ¡­ the ¡®backstory me¡¯...

    Quickly swallowing my straying thoughts, I started pushing ¡®forward¡¯. This time, I focused like I was in a surgery, only focusing on my surroundings and pushing everything else to the back of my head.

    There were two directions I could go, left and right. Looking to the right, I didn¡¯t have to look far to see that the corridor led to stairs heading downwards. Given what I could see, with the absolute lack of light and flooding, it was likely we were already underground, so I wasn¡¯t keen on heading deeper in. And so I went left, ¡®forward¡¯, as it were.

    There were other spots in the carpet where the colouring was different, likely because of the water damage making it more clear where there were holes underneath.

    And that¡¯s when I saw it. A body sprawled on the floor before me, leg stuck in a hole like I almost was, skin grey and skin flaky¡­ their chest caved in and wooden armour shattered and rotten.

    I had seen corpses before. We studied using cadavers in medical school, I had seen dead soldiers during my service, the earthquake¡­ but not like this. A person just left there to rot, not even maggots to grace their corpse. Truly left to be forgotten.

    They wore rags that may have once been clothes, covered by wooden armour that had long failed its purpose, the only items near it being a club and a useless waterlogged torch. It too had no bag, nothing that could identify it, as if someone had come by later and taken what they found interesting, having no regard for the corpse afterwards.

    I almost wanted to throw up, but I held it in. This could¡¯ve been me if I wasn¡¯t lucky enough that that magic missile didn¡¯t hit me¡­ I had to move.

    Giving the corpse a last glance, I muttered a silent prayer for them, regretting that I couldn¡¯t at least find anything to identify them.

    Beyond that, there were a few doors that looked similar to the one I came out of. Glancing inside, there were similar rooms, some with several corpses, and some empty. Each corpse had varying levels of decay, but they were all in the same state, having no other gear other than their weapon and some light source.

    There were lanterns, torches, and I found another two crystal balls¡­ but one was cracked, and neither produced any light.

    I didn¡¯t understand how multiple people could end up in the same trap given what it looked like. Maybe they were charmed by something? Or maybe I just didn¡¯t have the imagination to understand how it happened.

    One especially odd thing though, was the complete lack of insects.

    There were no flies, maggots, ants, roaches, whatever bizarre magical bug there¡¯d be wherever we were¡­ nothing. There weren¡¯t even rats.

    I didn¡¯t understand it¡­ it was probably some weird magical effect or whatever.

    I just kept moving on, taking nothing from any of the corpses, as I didn¡¯t find anything identifiable on them.

    There were a few other corpses stuck in the ground, having been decimated by magic missiles¡­ one or two of which were far from any broken holes, likely having broken a leg or two and bled to death.

    And finally, I came across something new, a change to the bleak blue scenery.

    There was a room of bare stone, with red and brown splatters on the floor. I could see bone fragments in the rotten and stale mixture, and there stood four statues in a semicircle, a closed door beyond them.

    These four green copper-like statues were of humanoid shapes¡­ barely.

    -One had tentacles that grew from their forearms and shoulders, and their empty hands held out as if beckoning me.

    -The second had large eyes bursting out of their head, holding what looked like a shield menacingly, seemingly staring at me.

    -The third had teeth that sprouted from various parts of their bodies, holding a staff that looked like it was made of bloated wood.

    -The last looked the most normal, if a bit too eerily thin, holding a key.

    Well, I needed to open a door, and there was a key¡­

    No, that was too obvious, so many people wouldn¡¯t have died if it was that easy!

    Did I need to present an item to each statue in order? There were no items, though¡­ Was that why everyone was looted!? To make sure no one could solve these but the people who had the items?

    From everything I¡¯ve seen so far, this place makes me think of a temple to some extent. The carved messages in the walls, the banners, the paintings, all clearly in reverence to something¡­ if the people who owned this place were followers of some kind of god, then it would make sense that they¡¯d have traps that they could get around by doing certain things or holding certain items.

    The only hint to those ¡®certain things¡¯ I could think of were those writings on the stone walls¡­ at least, what bit of it I could actually read.

    The last one I read was ¡°Tread lightly on the path of the sea.¡± And if that meant the blue carpet, that would make sense as a warning, or a reminder. Unfortunately I didn¡¯t put that together in time¡­The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Then, the other messages; ¡°And the deep lord blessed us with knowledge¡±, ¡°The watchful protector offers us salvation¡±, and ¡°Pay respects before the tall guardian.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t anything here tied to knowledge, and the statues were all roughly the same height. So that second message must have been the hint for this.

    ¡°The watchful protector offers us salvation¡± The second statue, with the large eyes and the shield was the answer. The only issue was¡­ what was I supposed to do with that? Just approach it? Interact with it?

    I really didn¡¯t like what all the dried blood, and bone fragments on the ground meant¡­ and the lack of body parts or items meant that someone cleared away these, maybe even spread some viscera to make it so you can¡¯t just see which one has no blood in front of it.

    Taking a deep breath, I considered what the danger was¡­ the statues looked quite well made, a lot of definition¡­ they were probably animated, or golems, or whatever the term was, at least from all the fantasy stories I¡¯ve read.

    Magic didn¡¯t work properly on me, so I would probably be safe¡­ unless they were mechanical constructs? But no, I haven¡¯t seen anything that hints at that much technology being around!

    Also, even if they¡¯re magic, that magic missile from earlier still pushed me back even when it didn¡¯t hit me, because of the air pressure alone¡­ if one of these statues tried to hit me, even if they stopped working, wouldn¡¯t I still be hit by a big chunk of metal speeding at me!?

    I took a moment to look around and assess the area.

    There was a small amount of blood past the statues towards where the door was, but most of it was on this side¡­ and seemed to stop at a certain line, unnaturally so.

    Thinking about the possibilities in my head, there was something that stopped the blood, and likely whoever spilt it too. So, some kind of wall¡­ the question was, was it magical or mundane?

    I couldn¡¯t see any signs of the walls, floor, or ceiling having a section that moved, so it might have been magical. In that case, I might be able to run past it? Though I didn¡¯t know if I could.

    Not trusting the statues quite yet, I took what I thought was a smaller risk and walked around them, moving towards the door. The air shifted again, feeling completely different when I crossed some invisible line, with this new side lacking a lot of the horrid fumes of rot and filth behind me.

    Looking down, I saw that bit of blood on this side end at said invisible line as well.

    Putting two and two together¡­ Was this a magical wall? So I could just walk past! Nice!

    But it was also just like the feeling when I left that room I woke up in¡­ so they had invisible walls too. Wow, that trap was extra brutal!

    While it was a breath of fresher (still smelling like the sea) air, my focus was on the door, which I could now see was stone.

    I reached out and pushed it¡­ and once again remembered that stone can get very cold.

    It was the only thing I could really feel, because no matter how hard I pushed, it didn¡¯t budge.

    At first, I thought there was a lock, but there was no key hole. Then I thought it might have been barred on the other side, but then what was the point of the statue puzzle, how would people cross through, when I¡¯m sure there¡¯s someone around looting the corpses at least. It couldn¡¯t have been magic because that was the one thing I knew I could deal with!

    Bringing my face to the crack of the door as I strained against it, I could peek through, and I was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t even because it was being held in place by anything.

    It was¡­ just an incredibly heavy stone door. With no handles, so I couldn¡¯t even pull it.

    Whatever the statue puzzle was, it was probably supposed to open the door with some magic mechanism.

    So I had to interact with the statues to open the door, there was no way without that.

    Steeling my nerves, I finally moved towards the statues, taking a deep (but not too deep) breath of the rotting air, muttering to myself that I was safe because I could run through the invisible walls if there was danger.

    And I stepped forward, towards the ¡®watchful protector¡¯ eyes watching it, looking for any movement, any danger, just looking into those large bloated oxidised copper eyes staring at me.

    And¡­ nothing happened. It just stood there, staring forward, above my head now.

    Moving closer, holding my sword at the ready, I looked for any kind of this statue moving to strike, or danger from the other statues, or maybe even the ceiling collapsing (never discount the ceiling)¡­ but still nothing.

    I even reached out and touched the statue, but it was just cold, moist, slimy metal. Was it broken!? Can magic things just break? They¡¯re always nearly indestructible and infallible when you see them in a book, aren¡¯t they?

    And then I realised¡­ I make magic things stop working. That power might have just made this impossible¡­

    Starting to panic, I quickly moved past the statue to the door. The air shifted again, feeling completely different when I crossed some invisible line, with this new side lacking a lot of the horrid fumes of rot and filth behind me.

    There was nothing different about the door, it still didn¡¯t budge in the slightest.

    So I was stuck. I knew the answer, but couldn¡¯t even use it.

    I was safe from being attacked if I got it wrong, thanks to my ability, but I was also screwed from being rewarded if I got it right, thanks to my ability!

    The only other way I could go was deeper into this nonsense.

    I just wanted to cry.

    ¡­

    Looking around at this strange place I¡¯ve found myself for some more time, I¡¯d like to try and paint a picture of it with my words.

    It¡¯s like I¡¯m in a large stone tomb, one luxuriously decorated, now waterlogged and filth ridden.

    So far, the ceiling has been 3 metres tall (about 10 feet), and the walls and floor are completely made of these nearly exactly sized grey stone bricks. The ceiling¡­ is painted black, and I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s made of beyond that. Likely more grey stone bricks, with harsh corners and abrupt doorways, it feels hostile and made for efficiency above all.

    On top of this naked layer of stone, are faded deep blue banners, ruined with mould, but depicting symbols I simply can¡¯t make out for the life of me. The ground on the corridors is covered by a once-rich light blue carpet that seemed to fit perfectly along the structure¡­ though now it lies waterlogged and hiding god knows what rot, as well as many pit traps.

    Carved words in the stone appear as a wave pattern when observed properly, and those words are often hidden by many many paintings, faded, cracked and forgotten depictions¡­ likely of objects of this place¡¯s worship.

    I¡¯ve stared long and hard into them, I have found several that weren¡¯t too badly ruined, but only found a few within those that I could see something I understood.

    A grand light emanating from the sea, giant basalt towers sprouting from the sea as if the ribs of an enormous monster, happy villagers holding a festival that seemed to celebrate a large spire.

    If I were to draw a map of where I¡¯d been so far, it would likely look like a boxy ¡®U¡¯, with me starting on one end, a staircase leading lower to a side, and then the corridor of wet blue carpet, leading to the circular room with statues on the other end, with a few side rooms dotted along the path.

    Honestly, there wasn¡¯t a thing about this place I liked.

    But I couldn¡¯t afford to just ignore things, not at this point. I needed any hint I could find, and I didn¡¯t find many.

    Long story short, no matter what I did with the statues or the door, nothing happened.

    I couldn¡¯t interact with any of them, likely because of my anti-magic, and I couldn¡¯t test anything either. I did find out that the key the skinny statue was holding was an actual item and not a part of the statue¡­ and no, there was no keyhole on the door so it didn¡¯t work.

    Yes, I¡¯ve also thrown the key at the door from a distance wondering if that would help, and it didn¡¯t.

    Warily stomping along the soaked carpet, disgusting squishy sounds accompanying even my lightest steps, I moved towards the staircase near the end of this ¡®U¡¯ shaped path, dreading what could be there, and getting annoyed with having to hold my arm out so that the flashlight didn¡¯t get too close to me and turn off, which it did every now and then.

    Trudging back through the path I so carefully advanced to reach the statues, it was laughable how quickly I reached the end of it, as if all the progress I made so far was nothing but insignificant.

    Before long, I was standing before the staircase. A coarse naked grey stone structure that seemed to lead down to the depths of hell itself for all I knew, the air already so frigid I could see my breath mist before my eyes, and feel it start to seep through my body.

    And after a few moments of staring into the abyss, I started descending, placing a hand on a wall to keep my balance on the aged and slippery steps.

    The stone was as cold as a crypt.

 Chapter 2 - Stone Crypt

    When I was in college, I worked part time at a butcher¡¯s place.

    The moment I remember the most from that time was when I locked myself in the meat freezer.

    We had a fancy electronic lock on the door, and there were supposed to be a bunch of sensors¡­ a power cut was all it took to make all of that useless.

    It was cold, and dark, and I felt so horribly trapped. I thought I was going to die there, surrounded by butchered corpses and with the smell of raw meat being the last thing I ever experienced. It was that raw smell where some of the meat had been in there a little too long and was about to go spoiled¡­ at some point we had meat that went rotten, too. We got rid of it, but the smell always lingered.

    I remembered that day felt like a hell that I deserved back then. I was in a rush to get to work that day, I needed to move something in the fridge and quickly close up before working on a paper, things were so hectic.

    On the way there, I saw this old man collapse¡­ I can¡¯t even remember what he looked like or if he was in pain. I just¡­ left him, ran right past like I didn¡¯t see, I don¡¯t even know why.

    So when I was there, trapped in that metal crypt, slowly freezing, I thought I must have deserved it.

    It took nearly thirty minutes for someone to open the door for me¡­ It felt like hours.

    I had to be treated for minor hypothermia at the ER after that, a little longer and I might have not survived, or at least I would have gotten permanent damages.

    While I was recovering, I remember asking for news about that old man I ignored, but there was no news of any old man dying or being taken to the hospital that day, so I was relieved that he wasn¡¯t hurt because I didn¡¯t do anything. I saw that day as a warning, more than anything, to never forget to be a good person.

    However, as I trudged forward, down the slippery stone steps, in the cold and the dark, so horribly trapped, with nothing by the smell of rotten meat, moss, and waste¡­ I felt like this was a hell I deserved. But this time, I knew that this was no warning, there would be no easy forgiveness, I was trapped in this stone crypt.

    The only minor grace was that I likely wouldn¡¯t freeze to death, it wasn¡¯t quite that cold. No, it¡¯d probably be starvation or dehydration that would get me down here. Or some lethal trap I didn¡¯t see coming.

    Shaking these ¡®pleasant thoughts¡¯ from my head, I continued downwards, finally reaching the bottom of the staircase, stepping into water that reached up past my ankles.

    It would seem that this part really was flooded a bit¡­

    Looking up, I couldn¡¯t see the end of it through the darkness, but from my guesstimation, I must have descended about 9-ish metres (roughly 30 feet). It was quite a height, considering the ceiling was only a third of that height.

    Looking forward, I was met with a wall adorned with a stone shrine of a vaguely human figure carved into what looked like a basalt pillar, covered by what must have once been a beautiful cloth, but was little more than a mould covered rag now.

    The figure held water in their hand that had long turned foul, and it was honestly a sad sight.

    I didn¡¯t know what god this thing was dedicated to, but I felt a little bad for them¡­ only a little, though, the traps they set up have been fairly merciless so far.

    Looking down at the shrine, I noticed some splotches of blood on the side of it. Looking closer, while the blood was dried, it hadn¡¯t turned completely brown yet. I wasn¡¯t a forensic scientist by any means, but I knew a few things about how blood worked, and from my estimates, this blood was a few days old rather than months. I had no way of being more precise than that without any instruments

    Thinking about it, the blood around me when I woke up looked quite similar, so the timeframe must have been quite similar¡­ Remembering the blood around me when I woke up, that was the blood from ¡®backstory me¡¯ bleeding to death¡­ but was he just a ¡®backstory¡¯, a convenient way for me to appear in this place, or was it actually a completely separate person whose body I was taking over?

    No! This wasn¡¯t the time! Pushing those thoughts aside, I looked down at the floor, wondering if there were any clues, but it was difficult to see anything other than the dirty cold water that obscured the floor, and made me upset that I was wearing boots a bit too short to stop the water from pouring in and covering my feet in freezing cold dirty water.

    Flinching with disgust, I looked to either side. The hallway I stepped into seemed to stretch out in both directions, well beyond the range of my flashlight. Both sides were flooded and so horribly dark, so it was impossible for me to tell which side led deeper into this place and which side might possibly lead outside.

    Sight was no good in helping me decide. Everything stunk, so Smell was no help either. I wasn¡¯t planning on touching or tasting, so that just left hearing¡­ and I could indeed hear something. The sounds of something clanking against metal.

    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t tell where the sound was coming from because of the horrid acoustics (of all the things I could complain about in this situation¡­)

    Deciding to trust my gut, I went with the saying that right is always right!

    And so, I started mucking through, enduring the cold water and carefully looking for anything that could be a trap¡­ for as much help as that would do.

    I wouldn¡¯t be able to see any traps under the water, and I didn¡¯t know if they would even work at this point. If this place was meant to always have water here, then maybe there¡¯d be some nasty traps that I couldn¡¯t see¡­ but the chances were pretty high that this flooded afterwards, so the traps likely wouldn¡¯t work right (or at all, if I was lucky).

    I also made sure to look for any useful scribbles on the brick walls, but it was impossible to see here, as the bricks were so eroded or covered with mould or other filth, with what little I could see being the symbols and scribbles that I couldn¡¯t read.

    The corridor then broke into a 4-way intersection, and I had three more choices on what turn to make. Pausing for a moment, I listened and heard the clanging sounds again, but followed by what sounded like muttering or something. It was a little louder, so I had likely picked the right direction, but that only makes sense. I did pick right after all.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    This time, there was a visible difference between the three paths.

    The path straight ahead had completely collapsed, the tunnel buried under dirt and stone.

    The path to the left was covered in wooden panels¡­ now long rotting and peeling apart, with dirt seeping through the many cracks. This one quickly turned to the left and I could see a door set in the rotting wood.

    The path to the right was bare brick like the one I had walked, but quickly ended in a wall¡­ a flat wall with a very clear impression of where a door was, though looking at it, I had no idea how to open it.

    Approaching the path to the right, I brought out the key I took from the statue, tapping the door as I looked around, trying to find a keyhole. There was none, and the key wasn¡¯t a magic item that just opened the door¡­ or if it was, then it probably wasn¡¯t able to work because I was holding it?

    I considered taking a few steps back and throwing the key at the door to see if that would help, but looking at the murky water that flooded the floor, I doubted if I could find the key if it fell in¡­ especially if there was a crack in the stone.

    Deciding not to take the risk, I turned and went down the left path, the only one I could take this time.

    To my right, there was a door in the rotting wooden panelled wall, and then the path sharply turned to the left like a U turn.

    The door¡­ was stuck, but also horribly rotten and decayed.

    I remember trying to kick in an old door once back when we were changing my grandparent¡¯s door that was rotted because of flood damage¡­ It didn''t end well for my foot. Being wooden doesn¡¯t mean that a door¡¯s weak, especially when it¡¯s got a strong core.

    I had no plans on risking injury on a door I didn¡¯t even think was important, so I drew my sword instead and jammed it through the small gap between the door and the door frame, using it like a crowbar to open the damn thing, after placing my flashlight in a crack in the wall to make sure I didn¡¯t have to keep holding it.

    I was worried that either the sword would warp or I would somehow hurt myself, and after an attempt or two and a bit of readjustment, I managed to pry the door apart from the frame enough that a chunk of it broke off with a somewhat muffled crack, enough to look inside at least. I did slip once and gave myself a small cut on my forearm, but the bleeding was minor and stopped in less than a minute.

    Looking inside, I saw that the door was barred from the inside, and I easily managed to reach in and lift the bar up and drop it on the ground, where it splashed into the water that flooded this room too.

    My official review of my sword as a crowbar:

    Stronger than expected, not a very helpful shape, but sharp enough to be dangerous. Good crowbar, helped me do a home invasion, but I got cut. 3 stars.

    Picking up the flashlight again and making sure it was properly secured on the leather ¡®belt¡¯, I kept my sword drawn and shone the light into the room, revealing a once very well decorated hallway.

    I say once, because the wooden furniture that was present to either side was all rotten and falling apart, with soggy cloth banners that seemed to have once depicted beautiful fields and peaceful villages¡­ now appearing so desolate because of the years of neglect and harsh conditions. My flashlight flickered, causing me to squint for a bit before I noticed my vision was half obscured by the dust I could see in my eyes.

    Pausing for a moment, I put my sword back in its sheath, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand as I tried to look closer at what I first thought were Miodesopsias (those germ-shaped things you see in the float over your vision sometimes?). While seeing one or two every now and then would be normal, it was a far too unusual amount.

    At first, I barely saw it and had to question if I was even seeing anything.

    But after moving the flashlight behind me, half hiding it behind the broken door, the room dimmed significantly.

    I had to squint but I could see it. There were these shadowy little particles of dust that looked like tiny inky squiggles¡­ and there were a lot of them.

    A feeling of dread welled up in my gut as I watched it, and I wondered what it could possibly be? A poison? A parasite? But as I raised a hand to my nose to cover it just in case, I noticed that the particles close to my hand simply disappeared.

    Uncovering my nose, I raised my hand and held it out, watching as the ¡®shadow dust¡¯ simply disappeared as it got close to me¡­ and the range seemed to match that of the flashlight turning off when it got too close to me.

    Putting two and two together, this was some kind of magical effect, and I was immune. Perhaps it was a trap specific to this room, or it was everywhere in the temple but I wasn¡¯t able to tell because it needed a specific brightness to be noticeable, but either way I might have been in a world of trouble if I didn¡¯t have the weird ability to just make magic not work.

    And considering how many traps this ability had helped me bypass, I was sure that being antimagic wasn¡¯t something common here¡­ wherever ¡®here¡¯ was.

    Putting that discovery aside, I uncovered the light and observed the hallway more.

    Wooden furniture like chairs and collapsed shelves with ruined books and other mundane looking trinkets, faded banners, and the walls were polished, though they were still made of stone bricks. The ceiling was the same painted black sky, though it was especially cracked here and there were drops of dirty water falling from them to the flooded floor constantly¡­ and the floor was still flooded here. I couldn¡¯t see the ground, or if there were any steps anywhere.

    I wanted to assess the situation more, look at all of the shelves for anything useful, but I realised something troublesome. For all of the time I spent mucking about trying to notice the shadow dust, I hadn¡¯t heard any of the clanging sounds.

    That worried me. I still didn¡¯t know what those sounds were, though it sounded very unlikely to be machinery as it was very inconsistent, but they were my only clue as to where I could find something.

    What if it was a person, and something happened to them!? Maybe they were trying to call for help and it was the only thing they could do? Maybe they passed out from starvation? Maybe they were hurt and bleeding out?

    Holding back my anxiety as best as I could, I decided to move forward and see if I could find them. Worried about the possibility of tripping over a step I couldn¡¯t see, I stuck by one of the walls and kept a hand on it for support as I walked forward, shifting every now and then to avoid knocking over a shelf or a chair.

    I must have walked about fourteen steps or so, glancing over at the broken shelves as I passed them looking for anything useful. I mostly found ruined books, things that looked like little idols and pendants, maybe holy symbols? There were cups, flasks and bottles, as well some kettles (If I could get a fire going that would be very useful to filter some drinkable water), as well as some candles and torches (which I had no way to light as of yet)

    I made a note to grab them on the way back¡­ and as I made that mental note, the floor cracked under my foot.

    For all my luck so far, there wasn¡¯t much I could do against a mundane pitfall trap.

    I immediately started falling as soon as I felt the floor give in. I flailed about, trying to grab anything I could as all the water around me started being pulled into the hole that just opened up.

    The flashlight turned off as it got too close to me, leaving me in darkness as the cold water engulfed me as I fought for my life to hold onto something¡­ but it was useless, and I found myself fully submerged in the freezing water.

    It was cold, and dark, and I felt so horribly trapped. I thought I was going to die, surrounded by filthy water and with the smell of rot and waste being the last thing I ever experienced.

    I was trapped in a flooded crypt¡­ It felt like a hell that I deserved.

 Chapter 3 - A Stone in Water

    I¡¯d like to consider myself a fairly grounded man.

    While I have a few moments where I let myself daydream, I mostly always know that I¡¯m in the ¡®real world¡¯. I don¡¯t do drugs and I don¡¯t drink, some people call that boring, but I¡¯m a doctor, I¡¯ve seen what that stuff does to people.

    I didn¡¯t realise just how delusional I could be till reality hit me like a bucket of cold water.

    It wasn¡¯t till I was fully submerged in frigid water, pulling me down like I was being flushed down a drain, that I finally understood that all of this was ¡®absolute reality¡¯.

    My body moved while my brain was uselessly spinning. I couldn¡¯t see anything, and only god knew if that was because the flashlight was too close to me, or if it had been washed away in the current. I fought against the current that seemed to push me down, using every ounce of training I had, I felt like I was nothing more than a stone in water, like I could only fall deeper.

    I was a good swimmer, and I had my own share of risky adventures when I was younger, but I swear I could feel every muscle of my body strain to make even the slightest bit of progress towards ¡®safety¡¯ as I swam like hell itself was on my heels.

    From everything I could put together in the brief seconds after I fell, I had fallen into a large room, it was probably a trap with spikes or something else at the bottom, and the only exit I knew of was the hole I fell through.

    I couldn¡¯t see, so I wouldn¡¯t even be able to look for another opening. I didn¡¯t have too much breath to spare either, so I put all of my effort into swimming upwards! There was no telling if the room would fill up or the water would just flow and flow, so everything hinged on my body holding out.

    Everything felt so alien in those few moments of sheer panic.

    It wasn¡¯t till I exerted myself to the fullest that I realised how wrong everything felt. My muscles, the pain from my scars, just how well I could move¡­ everything was different.

    I was going to die, I could feel it creeping in as surely as the cold seeping into my bones, and the only thing I could think of as I desperately tried to escape it was that these bones didn¡¯t feel like mine.

    And then a miracle happened, I hit something solid! I managed to reach the hole in the floor and grab onto the edge of it as I tried to pull myself up through the current.

    I swear I felt my muscles rip as I struggled for dear life, surfacing just long enough to take a breath before being pulled under again, my hands shooting out to try and grab something before I was pulled back by the current.

    I was so close! But as the cold water kept hitting me in the face, I held on tight to whatever I could. I was lucky enough to have grabbed a sturdy chunk of wood that was too long to get pulled through the hole!

    With something firm I could actually hold onto, I pulled and pulled, eventually managing to wrench my body out from the flooded hole and collapse onto the slightly less flooded floor as I gasped for breath.

    The water was maybe a finger deep at this point, and it was still flowing into the hole in the floor. I could only thank god there wasn¡¯t enough water to pull me back in¡­ I didn¡¯t have the strength in me to fight that uphill battle a third time.

    As I lay there gasping for breath, feeling my freezing body scream in pain, I could only stare at the ceiling as I slowly got my strength back, now completely in the dark.

    Patting down my body, I had lost my flashlight, which made sense since I was only holding onto it with a belt¡­ I still had my sword, though, which was decent news¡­ probably.

    And as I lay there staring up at the murky and cracked black, I finally noticed something about the ceiling that I didn¡¯t see before. The stars in the ¡®painted sky¡¯ glowed in the dark, ever so slightly.

    And it seemed to glow a bit brighter and in a different colour in certain spots.

    Rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn¡¯t seeing things, the stars stopped glowing.

    I started to wonder if I was just seeing things, but as I kept staring at the ceiling I could see the glow again. It was still quite faint, but I was certain that it was glowing, and there seemed to be special ¡®stars¡¯ painted onto that cracked black sky that were a bit of a brighter blue than the rest¡­ and one of those just so happened to be over the spot in the ground that I fell through.

    Did they have hints all along? If this was a temple, that would make sense because not everyone can be expected to remember where every single trap was, and they couldn¡¯t just mark them out too obviously¡­ Jesus Christ.

    Other than the regret of not paying enough attention to my surroundings, my mind was filled with unease. A lot of it.

    Questions that I should¡¯ve been asking myself if I was thinking rationally and accepted all of this as reality:

    Why don¡¯t I have the same scars? Why does my body feel so different? Who did this body belong to before I woke up in it? Am I dead?

    I¡¯ve been rationalising it by using the stupid name ¡®backstory me¡¯. When I thought this was a dream, that might have been okay, but I accepted that this was reality¡­ about an hour ago now? And I never thought about the issue since.

    My muscles were better defined and there wasn''t as much hair on my chest. When it came to scars, I was missing the one from when I was shot and instead had some scars on other areas.¡­ I didn¡¯t look at a reflection yet, so I don¡¯t know what I look like, but I had to accept that I was probably in a stranger¡¯s body.

    This didn¡¯t feel like one of those stories where I suddenly remember a past life, because the original guy didn¡¯t have my ability to negate magic. He wouldn¡¯t be stuck in that room otherwise, or even be able to use the flashlight with it strapped to his belt.

    And that begs the other big question¡­ Did I die?

    When I close my eyes to think about it, my head hurts. It hurts so bad that I can¡¯t concentrate. I only remember tiny pieces of the last thing before I died. There was an earthquake, I volunteered as a field doctor, and the next thing I remember is being rushed to the ER, then everything went white. I probably died on the table, if I made it that far.

    And yet, I¡¯m filled with so much guilt about failing¡­ there must be more, but I didn¡¯t have the luxury of thinking about it too much longer.

    I was cold, wet and tired. Hypothermia would quickly set in if I just lay there in the dirty water and did nothing.

    So I focused whatever energy I could gather again and pushed myself to sit up.

    At first, I thought that there was no light at all, but there was a small amount of ethereal light spilling into the hallway from the ground. It was coming from the hole I fell through, and it was a lot larger than I thought now that I could actually see it.

    At first I thought it was from my flashlight, but that was a mostly colourless light, not this strange blue. I didn¡¯t know what this light was coming from, and I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to know.

    Gulping, I shakily crawled towards the hole, making sure I wasn¡¯t getting too close to the edge, and peeked in.

    What I saw was a large floaty glowing blue mass. I wasn¡¯t sure how to describe its shape, it seemed oddly formless, and I couldn¡¯t see most of it, but it made me think of a large jellyfish¡­ I could only gape as I wondered what kind of creature or thing that was and where it must have come from. As I looked closer through the murky water, I could see a large crack in the wall of this surprisingly small pit for what it felt like I was falling through.

    The water must have broken through a crumbling wall when it all spilt in, which connected to another flooded area or an underwater cavern, where that creature must have slipped in from. Gulping, I realised I could have been swept away down a cavern god knows how far if I didn¡¯t fight against the current with every fibre of my being.

    The flashlight was nowhere to be seen, so it was likely swept away god knows where.

    Shaking my head, I decided to ignore¡­ whatever that was. There was some light, and I needed to make the most of that as long as it lasted!

    Getting to my feet I immediately turned to look around at the various shelves, keeping in mind what I remember seeing earlier and being mindful of checking the ceiling for hints.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    I quickly gathered a kettle and a few candles, they would be invaluable. Dried wood was an impossibility, but there was cloth upstairs that wasn¡¯t completely waterlogged and I could use a candle at least for some reliable light.

    Over the course of the next few minutes, as the light became brighter and brighter, before starting to fade away as the glowing thing passed by underneath, I managed to find the following things after searching high and low:

    A tinderbox (VERY IMPORTANT), 5 candles, a waterskin (need better light to check), 3 glass bottles (contents don¡¯t matter), 4 daggers (3 are horribly rusted), 3 empty sacks, and a lantern!

    There were other things, but they were broken, useless (like rotten brooms and buckets), and there was a chest I couldn¡¯t get into yet.

    To note, all of this was in one half of the hallway, because the other half had no light.

    But with a lantern, candles and if god was on my side, a working tinderbox, I¡¯d no longer have that problem!

    With the last traces of the ethereal blue light from the hole, I fumbled with the tinderbox, very carefully¡­ If I dropped it in the water, it¡¯d become useless junk.

    If this was a normal tinderbox, then there¡¯d be no hope of it staying dry and useful after all these years in a flooded room, but I was banking on the hope that whatever magical bastards made this place also treated this with magic so it¡¯d be preserved.

    It was a very simple kit, just a few pieces of metal you could strike against each other (simple and reliable), and some cloth (the tinder) and wooden sticks to act like matches, AND IT WAS DRY, THANK GOD!!!

    Muttering my prayers that this would work, I set the tinderbox down on one of the standing shelves and hit the strikers together, looking to get a spark, so thankful that I learnt all this when I went camping with my dad instead of using matches or a lighter.

    And giving me another minor miracle, the cloth readily lit, and it was just a matter of a few seconds to use one of the sticks to transfer the flame like a match and light a candle, giving me wonderful wonderful light, bathing the environment around me in orange.

    Smothering the cloth in the tinderbox. I took my precious source of light and a bit of heat, holding it close, happy that it didn¡¯t turn off just from getting too close.

    The lantern, now that I could see it better, was an oil lantern, which meant that there might be kerosene nearby, and that stuff never expires as long as it¡¯s stored well¡­ maybe in that chest?

    Now that I had breathing space, I remembered the sounds I heard before I fell through the floor. I still didn¡¯t know if it was a person or not, but I could hear some odd scratching sounds coming from the far end of the hallway¡­ I desperately wanted to rush over, in case it was someone in trouble, but I couldn¡¯t afford to be careless anymore. My life was on the line too, and if I died then there¡¯d be zero chance of being able to help unless necromancy was real and a friendly necromancer happened to pop by.

    Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I carefully searched the hallway first. I needed to find anything useful that I could.

    Over the course of the next twenty minutes:

    I inspected the chest and found out that it had multiple latches to open but no other security. It was dry inside and I found a few tins of ¡®lantern oil¡¯, aka kerosene, as well as dry clothes, long expired rations, some kind of repair kit (not a mechanic or tinkerer, just a doctor), children¡¯s dolls (a bit spooky), and A MEDICAL KIT! It even had a potion inside (that looked like the potions I might have had when I woke up). There was even a (very thin) book about the basics of potions inside!

    A little fiddling later, and I had a lit lantern, giving me a lot more light with a lot less chance of it suddenly going out. The windows of the lantern were filthy and dimmed the light a bit and cast weird shadows, but it was still an upgrade.

    There was more ¡®junk¡¯ or vaguely religious items scattered about, and there¡­ was a corpse.

    Long decayed and forgotten, what was unique here was that the skeleton didn¡¯t look like a normal human skeleton, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that was because it wasn¡¯t human, or if it was mixed with other bones by someone. They also had more than just rags, a weapon and a light source, they actually had a bag, some rope, and a tag on them!

    The bag¡­ was pretty small and empty. There was some strange cloth blocking the opening so I couldn¡¯t look deeper.. It seemed useless, but it might have had sentimental value, so I took it to check later. Then I looked at the weapon¡­ It was a metal staff, with a bit of ornate designing. I took that too to help identify the body and hopefully return to their family.

    And finally, the tag¡­ It looked like an American soldier¡¯s dog tag, made of what looked like iron with a ruby border, yet not rusted in the least despite being half submerged in dirty water for years.

    It had the name ¡°Oromar Witechere¡± etched onto it, as well as ¡°of Dolomer¡¯s Wand Guild¡± on a separate line.

    Looking over at the other side, it simply said ¡°Attacker¡± and ¡°Support¡±.

    Seeing this, I had too many questions. Like what country was this person from and why would he have such a strange dog tag? Were the magical bastards who ran this place so into the fantasy setting that they actually made guild tags for whatever stupid lore they had going on?

    Bottling yet more questions aside for now, I decided I had spent long enough looking around and approached the end of the hallway, which was a door sitting on a ledge four steps above the ground, well above the water level.

    I wanted to change out of my wet clothes before I suffered from any hypothermia, but making sure that there wasn¡¯t someone here who I could help was a more immediate concern.

    And so I climbed the handful of steps and reached out with a trembling hand and placed it on the door. It was a very firm wooden door in surprisingly decent condition. It had a simple handle, but no lock, so it simply opened as I pushed it, revealing a dark room that lit up as I pushed my lantern inside.

    The first thing I could see as I stepped in were bars, like a prison cell that-

    And an ethereal purple dagger suddenly flew out at me with a screech, almost faster than I could react!

    I quickly ducked into the room, the dagger barely whizzing past me as I drew my sword, making sure that I didn¡¯t let the lantern fall.

    Another dagger flew out as if it were tracking me, and I couldn¡¯t dodge this one. The purple blade shot straight at me with this horrid screech, and I was sure I was going to die, before it dissipated inches away from hitting me. So it was a purely magical attack! I was completely safe!

    ¡°YOU FILTHY FUCKING TRAITOR, FINALLY SHOW YOURSELF!?¡± There was that screech again, but I could actually make our words this time, and ¡°What are you-¡± I replied, turning to look at the source of the screeches, ¡°I¡¯LL EAT YOUR INNARDS RAW LIKE A FISH, YOU WALKING MONKEY!¡± It sounded somewhat feminine, but it was hard to tell.

    More shocking than the magical daggers that attacked me, or the screeching, was the person¡­ or the ¡®creature¡¯ screeching at me. How could something like this actually exist on earth?

    When I was younger and visited the zoo with my family, my favourite animals were these spiky lizards who look like they¡¯re staring at the sun when they sunbathe. ¡°Sungazers¡±, they were called, or ¡°giant girdled lizards¡±.

    That was what was staring at me.

    A short humanoid body, maybe 80cm tall (2¡¯6¡±), wearing leather armour on a dirty grey tracksuit, and with the head of a girdled lizard.

    Bathed in the light and dancing shadows of my lantern, I saw the cracked greenish brown scales on its face shift as it snared at me, its various spine scales flaring and large black eyes mired in cracking red energy narrowing in rage.

    This wasn¡¯t a mask, it was a living breathing lizard person¡­ a small one too. God, were those conspiracy nutjobs right?

    With an incomprehensible screech, purple energy gathered and twisted around their hand, turning into a strange bent shape, something between a dagger and a boomerang. ¡°YOU WON¡¯T TAKE ME!!¡± it screamed as the dagger flew out.

    I was prepared for it to come flying at me and disappear like last time, but instead it whizzed past me to the side, and before I could regard it, it suddenly turned around and shot back at me, dissolving away just before hitting my back.

    So they were smart enough to immediately try to hit my back, thinking that I could only disable the daggers if I was facing them¡­ that was dangerous, and if I gave them any more time they might come up with some way to attack me without just using magic.

    ¡°Wait! I¡¯m not your enemy!¡± I called out to this¡­ lizard person, as I slowly stepped forward, shifting towards a pillar in the room that might be able to act as cover if she did something non-magic.

    As I approached, I eyed the room we were in. The half I was in looked fairly mundane, like a common area, while the side she was in was completely bare. There was nothing but bare stone and metal bars. It was a cage, and it looked like it was some kind of trap that sprung on her, because the bars just came out of the ground or the walls.¡­ and I noticed several levers in a corner of the room on my side, possible mechanisms to open the cage?

    ¡°LIES! MILVARR SEES, MILVARR HEARS, MILVARR KNOWS OF YOUR DECEIT!¡± She yelled (I was confident it was a woman now), and at least I knew her name was Milvarr now. I had to calm her down somehow, and fast. ¡°Now, now, Milvarr, we can put the weapons down and talk for a bit first, okay?¡±

    ¡°HOW YOU KNOW MILVARR¡¯S NAME!?¡± she screeched, snarling as she conjured up another blade as she started desperately digging through her bag. ¡°You just said it¡­¡± I retorted, before shaking my head, still trying to approach slowly, now reaching the pillar and ready to take cover.

    ¡°I can help you out of that cage, but I need you to not attack me first.¡± I say, taking a moment to calm myself and try to reason with this lizard person, hoping that they¡¯d have the same basic thoughts as a person and that I wasn¡¯t talking to a brick wall.

    ¡°I¡¯ve not even met you before, I only recently found myself here. I haven¡¯t yet and I have no intention to hurt anyone.¡±

    ¡°MORE LIES! DO YOU THINK MILVARR HAS NO EYES! YOU KILLED THAT MONKEY AND TOOK HIS BODY!¡± She screeched, stunning me. ¡°AND NOW YOU SPEAK LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED!? USING HIS LIPS AS CASUALLY AS YOUR OWN TO POUR POISON!¡±

    Three times.

    Once when I realised this wasn¡¯t a dream.

    Again when I remembered how I woke up in this place.

    And then when I was an inch from dying.

    Three times I had run away from that question.

    Three times I gave myself the excuse that I couldn¡¯t afford to think about it¡­

    But those words hit me like a bucket of cold water. They made me feel like I was drowning again, like I was nothing more than a stone in water, like I could only fall deeper.

    Those words made me have to answer that question: Why am I in a dead man¡¯s body?

 Chapter 4 - Armin Fischer

    Before I ended up here¡­ wherever here was, I was just a regular doctor in Frankfurt.

    My last memories were a blur, a hectic, awful blur.

    I remembered an earthquake, I had only felt one earthquake before it, when I visited the Swabian Alb. But that was nothing compared to what hit the town.

    My head hurt thinking about it, the ringing was overwhelming, I think I remember something bursting, or a metal beam crashing¡­ it¡¯s hard to remember, maybe I suffered a concussion?

    At first I thought I was dead, I barely remembered being rushed into the ER¡­ and everything before that was a haze. I knew my name, Armin Fischer, I remembered being a doctor, I remembered most of my life¡­

    I remembered my family, my mom, my dad, my elder sister and younger sister.

    I remembered working part time at a butchers while I went to college.

    I remembered graduating and joining the army, I went on service as a medic.

    I remembered being medically discharged after our field camp was attacked that day¡­

    I remembered working at the local hospital.

    I remembered meeting the love of my life during that downpour.

    I remembered the earthquake.

    And I remember¡­ dying.

    After that earthquake, I was helping people in the field hospital¡­ so many people died¡­ Jesus¡­

    And when I was heading back to my apartment to rest for the next operation, I passed the new hospital in construction. The site was abandoned at the first signs of the quake, I was amazed it was still standing¡­ and that¡¯s when something fell, it hit me and I blacked out.

    Everything was just a daze after that, but¡­ I died. I died right there on the table. The same table where I worked to try and save as many lives as I could, where I had lost so many people barely an hour before.

    And now I was here, wherever the hell ¡®here¡¯ was, so casually occupying the body of a man who died, just days before!

    How did this happen? I don¡¯t know! How the hell would I know!?

    I have no answers, only questions! And I¡¯m standing in front of a frenzied lizard person who knows the man whose body I¡¯m possessing and I have no answers for them!

    I nearly died three times in the past few hours, and now I have to calm down a rabid sentient creature I didn¡¯t even know existed while questioning my own existence!

    What the fuck!? WHY!?

    I had zero idea what to do in this situation, it was just too out of this world. I probably couldn¡¯t even process everything emotionally!

    So I tried to take a step back, mentally. This was all like some fantasy story, like some cosmic horror dungeons and dragons stuff¡­ so I needed to adapt, and adapt fast.

    My first goal was to calm the lizard, however I could, even if I had to make up nonsense.

    I don¡¯t know where on earth we are, so I didn¡¯t want to reference any specific place in case this lizard-kin knows more about it than I do, or is so alien to everything I know that they¡¯d only see it as me speaking nonsense.

    There¡¯s magic of various types that exist, like magic missile, barriers, conjuration or creation stuff like those daggers.

    Soul manipulation is real, possibly the full range of necromancy too.

    I am in the body of her friend, who I know died a few days ago, and she probably does too, because she¡¯s deeper in than he was.

    Assuming that she¡¯s not some kind of demonic creature, which she might be, the red flashes in her eyes could mean that she¡¯s under an effect, or her magic is running wild.

    She¡¯s been here a few days, and she¡¯s probably been trapped in that cage for as long, considering that I was able to find so many useful things that she didn¡¯t.

    I didn¡¯t know the anatomy of whatever she was¡­ but she¡¯s clearly injured or likely malnourished. This is also a horrible place for cold-blooded creatures considering the temperature.

    Okay, that¡¯s about what I can get without any extra information¡­ ah, and the more ¡®lore important¡¯ looking item I have are the pieces of that weird eldritch metal disk.

    Honestly, it might just be nothing. Or it could be some necromancy tool that explains why I¡¯m in this body.

    I just have to bullshit whatever I can think of and if we find out the truth later, then ¡®Oops, guess I got it wrong.¡¯

    ¡°Wait!¡± I said, raising my hands, still holding the sword and the lantern. ¡°My name is Armin, Armin Fischer. I need you to understand, I don¡¯t know what happened to me or your friend either, the last thing I remember is being captured by a necromancer!¡±

    Mivarr snarled at that, crouching slightly as she stared at me, pulling a shoddy looking wand from her bag. It felt like something I should absolutely worry about. I was anti-magic, but was I absolutely anti-magic? I had no idea what that wand could do and that scared me.

    ¡°A NECROMANCER!? YOU ROTTEN PRIEST, I KNEW YOU WERE NOTHING BUT A TALKING PILE OF SHIT WHEN YOU LED US HERE! YOU WERE ALWAYS EYEING THAT MONKEY¡¯S SWORD! YOU TRICKED US, KILLED HIM, AND EVEN TOOK HIS BODY AND YOU STILL LIE!? WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    As she screamed that out, her voice horribly echoing, she aimed the wand at me. I instinctually ducked behind the pillar as it exploded with this orange lightning, or fire! It hit the pillar and it EXPLODED!! Chunks of rock went flying, and I felt my left arm go numb for a moment as I got pushed back a few steps.

    Even though the magic didn¡¯t hit me, the rubble ripped a small chunk from my upper arm and forced me to drop my sword from the numbing shock. Then the pain quickly started to follow.

    DAMN! That might have killed me if I took it head on, anti-magic be damned! If the rubble hit my head that could¡¯ve been lethal too! Luckily it seemed to be a one use item as the wand itself had burst apart, possibly burning the lizard-person¡¯s hands too.

    For a moment, I considered running away. Why do I have to help someone who was actively trying to kill me!? But given everything, she was just scared and confused, she might have even been under some horrible magical effect¡­ Maybe that¡¯s what the shadow dust did to people? Unlike me, she wasn¡¯t immune to magic, so it had fully affected her for the days she¡¯s been trapped in here¡­

    Okay Armin, you can¡¯t give up now!

    [POV - Milvarr Prantif]

    That PRIEST!!! A curse on this land, DEVIL in holy garbs!

    Priest and monk making party, want to dive into ruins, know secrets of traps and treasures THEY SAID!

    They needed a good swordsman and a nimble one, approached Milvarr and Monkey, ALL SMILES! Pretty words, evil eyes, Monkey too trusting ¡°It¡¯ll all be fine, he¡¯s a priest of Permissian, the god of law! They¡¯d never let a liar in their number.¡±

    Milvarr no trust, Milvarr no like, but Monkey urged, and Milvarr followed¡­ THEN THEY ATTACKED US!

    THEY BLOCK ENTRANCE, THEY TAKE MILVARR¡¯S WEAPON, MAKE IT BURN!

    We ran, Monkey ran into room, Milvarr shot, PAIN, blood dripping, RUN RUN RUN.

    And now Milvarr in cage, and Monkey standing there, MONKEY¡¯S BODY, DIFFERENT PERSON! MILVARR ISN¡¯T BLIND OR STUPID!

    Something wrong with them, magic doesn¡¯t work! THE WORK OF A DEVIL!?

    Dagger form from doesn¡¯t work, Dagger from the back doesn¡¯t work, HOW!? Anti-magic is magic, need to be able to flow from body or it breaks, common sense! HOW DOES THIS TRAITOR HAVE ANTI-MAGIC ALL AROUND HIM!? IMPOSSIBLE! EVEN FOR LICH!

    He looked just like the Monkey, but his hair went from brown to white! One of his blue eyes was GREEN now! SIGN OF SOME EVIL SPIRIT! MAYBE A PUTRID GREEN DRAGON¡¯S TRICKERY!?

    ¡°Wait! I¡¯m not your enemy!¡± He said in Monkey¡¯s voice! Casually waving MONKEY¡¯S FAMILY SWORD LIKE SOME STICK!!

    LIES! MILVARR SEES, MILVARR HEARS, MILVARR KNOWS OF YOUR DECEIT

    ¡°Now, now, Milvarr, we can put the weapons down and talk for a bit first, okay?¡±

    HOW YOU KNOW MILVARR¡¯S NAME!? The only one was the priest or the monk. The monk was mute, but the priest was hobbled and feeble, They wanted a new body AND THEY TOOK MONKEY¡¯S!? PAIN, ANGER! I wanted them to suffer, I wanted to take away everything they took! I dug through my bag, I needed something strong to MAKE THEM SUFFER!

    ¡°I can help you out of that cage, but I need you to not attack me first.¡± The LIAR spoke, giving Milvarr a twisted smile, LIKE HE THOUGHT THIS WAS FUNNY!

    ¡°I¡¯ve not even met you before, I only recently found myself here. I haven¡¯t yet and I have no intention to hurt anyone.¡±

    Milvarr couldn¡¯t believe it. The nerve. To just say that to Milvarr¡¯s face so carefreely!?

    MORE LIES! DO YOU THINK MILVARR HAS NO EYES! YOU KILLED THAT MONKEY AND TOOK HIS BODY! This rotten fish of a man!! A fraud who lies as easily as they breathe! AND NOW YOU SPEAK LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED!? USING HIS LIPS AS CASUALLY AS YOUR OWN TO POUR POISON!

    ¡°Wait!¡± the BODY SNATCHER waved around Monkey¡¯s sword in one hand and a filthy lantern with the other. ¡°My name is Armin, Armin Fischer. I need you to understand, I don¡¯t know what happened to me or your friend either, the last thing I remember is being captured by a necromancer!¡±

    A necromancer? Was this someone else who the priest forced into Monkey¡¯s body as a sick joke!? NO NO NO NO! LIES, LIES AND TREACHERY! It was the priest, spilling poison and lying to Milvarr! They wanted me to drop my guard, they wanted SOMETHING! BUT WHAT!?

    Milvarr couldn¡¯t hesitate, Milvarr found the wand, Father¡¯s wand, Milvarr would end the ROTTEN PRIEST!!!

    A NECROMANCER!? YOU ROTTEN PRIEST, I KNEW YOU WERE NOTHING BUT A TALKING PILE OF SHIT WHEN YOU LED US HERE! YOU WERE ALWAYS EYEING THAT MONKEY¡¯S SWORD! YOU TRICKED US, KILLED HIM, AND EVEN TOOK HIS BODY AND YOU STILL LIE!? WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT!

    I pointed father¡¯s wand, and it exploded! A beam of fire flew out at the rotten priest, But he hid behind a pillar! WASTED! No wait, it hurt his arm! THE FIRE GOT THROUGH! He dropped Monkey¡¯s sword.

    World twists a bit, the shadow devils whisper more, but Milvarr ignores. Milvarr forgot they were there till now¡­ father¡¯s wand broke, it¡¯s gone, another thing taken by the priest of the devil! Milvarr dug through bag again, knows potion of acid is somewhere!

    ¡°Listen, I am NOT this priest, whoever the bastard was who hurt you!¡± the fake Monkey said, stepping out in the open. MILVARR WILL NOT BE TRICKED BY LIES, Wait till Milvarr finds potion, he he he.

    ¡°I¡¯m not lying. I have no interest in taking your friend¡¯s body or sword! I just want to go home!¡± He lied! But, he picked up Monkey¡¯s sword and TOSSED IT!?

    Sword clattered across the ground through the bars, stopping at Milvarr¡¯s feet.

    But why? Priest have no staff, cannot cast magic with so much anti-magic¡­ did Priest have anti-magic before? Unarmed? Why? Milvarr can just kill with single potion???

    WHAT TRICKERY ARE YOU PLAYING AT, ROTTEN PRIEST!?

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to play at anything!¡± Fake Monkey said, bleeding arm shaking. ¡°I¡¯m serious! I¡¯m a doctor, I was attacked by a necromancer, and then I woke up in this body. I¡¯m as lost as you are! I¡¯m not a fighter, I just want to leave, but I can¡¯t get out!¡±

    No no no, but how!? NO NO NO NO, YOU¡¯RE LYING! A NATURAL LIAR! WHERE¡¯S YOUR PROOF!? After throwing aside some junk, Milvarr found the potion of acid, ready to throw it!

    ¡°Proof!? How would I even do that?¡± He said, HA! I KNEW YOU WERE LYING- ¡°But I do have this device! The necromancer was holding it when they attacked me!¡± the fake Monkey held up the scraps of a devilish-looking metal disk¡­ a large hollow coin¡­ A SOUL COIN!?

    T-THAT THAT THAT! ARE YOU LYING!? IS THAT REALLY HOW YOU WERE PUT IN MONKEY¡¯S BODY!? ¡°Yes! I¡¯m not lying! Do you know what it is!?¡±

    Milvarr hesitated, hand went weak, no, couldn¡¯t be tricked, not again! Holding the potion-

    When did the fake Monkey get so close!?

    Fake Monkey¡¯s hand grasped my shoulder, THEY TRICKED MILVARR, THEY WERE LIARS LIKE - They were-

    What was¡­ As Milvarr looked closely, they were just holding Milvarr¡¯s shoulder, a look of fear and worry on their face. Why did Milvarr think they were so scary before? Their hand was trembling from the pain of his arm. It was bleeding and a small chunk of it was missing. The world was so much clearer, the shadows stopped talking¡­

    Milvarr still couldn¡¯t accept that this was someone else in Monkey¡¯s body, but it was¡­ it wasn¡¯t the priest, they couldn¡¯t be so warm¡­ ¡°Who are you?¡± Milvarr asked, voice croaking from not having any water to drink, rusty from not talking for days.

    ¡°Like I said, My name is Armin Fischer. I¡¯m just a doctor¡­ are you feeling better now?¡± He asked, with a worried smile. Milvarr couldn¡¯t help but feel fear over the stranger in Monkey¡¯s body. If he wasn¡¯t the priest, who was he? Would the priest really put a random person in Monkey¡¯s body when they could use it themselves if they had that power?

    But this person, this doctor has a soul coin. Devils use soul coins to trade souls, a necromancer using a soul coin to move one made sense¡­

    But that meant¡­ that Monkey was really dead. Monkey¡­ no, ¡®Millar¡¯ was really dead. Milvarr never even called Millar by their name properly before they died¡­ and now it was too late.

    Why? Why did any of this have to happen!?

 Chapter 5 - Questions

    Queue RPG victory music, because that was a battle won!

    It nearly cost me an arm though, shit!

    To be honest, it was incredibly lucky that that weird ¡°lore item¡± looking disk was actually something that moved souls around¡­ thought that did lead to the question of who the hell moved my soul into this body!?

    Regardless, it was a bit of a gamble, but I somehow managed to grab the lizard person and that was enough to break whatever was affecting them. The red sparks in their eyes were gone, and they were a lot quieter now.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but magic doesn¡¯t work around me¡­ and I think that you were being affected by the weird shadow dust that¡¯s floating around.¡± I tried to explain, gritting my teeth as pain throbbed through my arm.

    The lizard was quiet¡­ too quiet. They narrowed their eyes as they stared at me, and I could see it as clear as day that they had little trust for me. But at least they slowly put away the bottle of whatever scary bubbling green liquid they were holding. Possibly poison or maybe even acid, god forbid. (How acid wouldn¡¯t eat through a glass bottle was anyone¡¯s guess though)

    ¡°Back away ¡®doctor¡¯, three steps.¡± she said with a low voice. I could tell from how she fought even ¡®maddened¡¯ (I¡¯m pretty certain now) that she was frighteningly intelligent. She saw my antimagic in action and immediately switched up her attacks to find a weakness¡­ I only fear what she could do even a few more seconds or a clearer mind.

    I stepped away as she asked, clutching at my right arm, quickly assessing the damage as something that needed urgent treatment.

    She seemed busy assessing her own situation, possibly double checking if her perception of the world was altered now, but I couldn¡¯t afford to worry too much about her at the moment.

    Seeing that the room was dry enough (it was very moist, but not flooded), I stepped to the side and took off my wet clothes, setting my lantern on the ground. The lizard person didn¡¯t care and I very much didn¡¯t care if she did either, since my survival was far more important.

    With the wet tunic and pants off, I was left in my soaked underwear, as I assessed myself in the glow of the lantern. I didn¡¯t even notice it but I had gotten a few cuts and scrapes from when I fell into the water, there was a real risk of infection there from the dirty water, but my upper right arm was the most pressing issue!

    The wound was larger than I thought, but the bleeding wasn¡¯t as harsh as I expected. Loss of blood was the greatest danger of an injury like this, but it was surprisingly controlled here. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was another quirk of my ¡®anti-magic¡¯ or just how this body worked, but I at least had some more breathing room. I pulled the medical kit out and checked the contents again.

    It had a few medical tools (scalpel, tweezers, needles) that were very well preserved and sealed in what looked like airtight cases, hopefully well sterilised. It also had some herbs, ointments and alcohol¡­ all very very expired. And there were bandages!

    Cleaning the wound would be ideal, but that wasn¡¯t an option here, especially with how bad the water was and how long it would take to get clean water with a candle and an old kettle.

    I could try the healing potion¡­ but did I want to take a risk on this thing I had never seen before? No. I decided to just leave it in the kit for now.

    With that settled, I quickly wrapped up my upper arm with the bandages I had, as well as covering as many of the other wounds I could find, before donning the dry clothes I found earlier. I was blessed enough to have a few different sets, so I wore a light green shirt with a grey jacket on top, and black pants.

    Finally done with that, I glanced back at the lizard, more than a little nervous about if she would go mad again, or if she had something planned, but to my relief she seemed relatively calm (if extremely cautious) and was looking around at the room again as she held her head before gesturing for me to approach again.

    When I did so and placed a hand on her shoulder, she seemed to get calmer.

    ¡°Why did you not use the healing potion?¡± she asked, narrowing her eyes as she maintained eye contact with me, immediately catching me out on that. ¡°Alchemy is very uncommon where I am from, so I can''t identify if a potion is good or not on my own. I¡¯m not willing to trust a random potion in a place like this.¡± I said, technically not lying? Her response was to just stare silently for a few seconds before grunting, likely agreeing with my answer.

    She then crouched down and picked up my- the sword I was carrying. It was roughly the length of a sabre, and was much too large for her to wield even with two hands.

    ¡°Milvarr holds onto this sword, it¡¯s not yours to wield.¡± she practically hissed at me, before grabbing a more reasonably sized sword that was tied to her backpack and tossing it onto the ground through the bars. It was roughly the size of a shortsword for me, and considering I had little sword training, it was basically the same.

    ¡°You say you can open this cage trap? How?¡± she asked, eyes darting around the room looking for anything she could find as a hint. She must have been under the madness effect ever since she came into this room, or even before.

    ¡°There are several levels in that corner, behind that shelf.¡± I explained, nodding in the direction, making sure to have a hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°How many?¡± she asked. ¡°Five.¡± I replied, remembering the brief glance I had.

    ¡°Move the shelf, ¡®doctor¡¯.¡± It was a bit unnerving just how much more intimidating she was when she was quite like this. She still had no trust for me and I could see from the twitch in her eye that she was constantly thinking about how to attack¡­ but it wasn¡¯t till I was this close that I could properly assess her.

    I didn¡¯t know how her body normally was, as I¡¯ve never seen a lizard person before, but I could at least tell that her scales shouldn¡¯t be so cracked¡­ if it was the same as a regular lizard, then it could be ¡®scale rot¡¯? (It must be quite painful for her) I wasn¡¯t certain about their anatomy. Her hands were bloodied though, and I could see various scratches and dents on the metal bars¡­ she had spent a great deal of time trying to escape.

    There were also scorch marks on the stone floor, she must have used that fire wand multiple times to try and regulate her body temperature somehow¡­ would explain why that wand was so close to breaking.

    Staying wary of possible attacks from the lizard person, I moved over to the corner and grabbed the shelf (I¡¯d call it a cupboard but it was a very barebones one). It was oddly easy to drag, despite my injured arm, which was surprising with it being made of solid wood and holding quite a bit of preserved food (all horribly expired I¡¯m sure).

    With the shelfs moved, Milvarr could see the levers, though I wasn¡¯t sure what good that would do. Was she planning on throwing magic daggers at it?

    As I thought that, I noticed a pair of barely noticeable ethereal purple hands appear at the levers¡­ What couldn¡¯t this lizard do? Next I¡¯ll find out she can go invisible and teleport!

    From the fantasy tropes and games I know, it was like she was a spellcaster thief. That was basically the ¡®mage hand¡¯ spell.

    But as the hands fiddled with the levers, they barely moved, drawing a hiss from her.

    ¡°They are too heavy, Milvarr does not have enough magic to spare¡­ ¡®Doctor¡¯, pull the second lever!¡± she barked. It seemed that cantrips with zero cost weren¡¯t a thing, which made sense. The energy had to come from somewhere. ¡°How can you tell it¡¯s the second one?¡± I asked, even as I reached over and grabbed it, ready to pull it down.

    ¡°The symbol etched onto it¡­¡± she replied, making me look for it, and certainly there was a symbol engraved onto the wall next to the second lever, it looked like a tic tac toe board and a down arrow. Likely meant the bars of the trap. Seeing nothing else to argue about, I pulled down on the lever, which was surprisingly heavy! It took a lot of effort to pull it down with only one arm able to contribute! Perhaps it was a safeguard against similar magic?Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    And, despite the decades of neglect, the bars smoothly slid back down, hiding away as if they were never there.

    ¡°You have very perceptive eyes there,¡± I stated, looking to see what the other levers were, seeing one that raised the bars, the one that lowered the bars, and two that I didn¡¯t recognize. One symbol was a small horizontal line and a large horizontal line under it, the other was the same without the bigger line. And the last lever was a bell, clearly an alarm¡­ I¡¯m glad we didn¡¯t pull that one.

    ¡°Most kobolds have great eyes.¡± she curtly replied, staring at me as she carefully stepped out of her cage, pausing to grab a few of the items she had thrown aside in her scramble to get the potion earlier. So she was called a kobold, eh? Like in d&d? ¡°Not many where ¡®doctor¡¯ comes from?¡± she asks, narrowing her eyes at me. She¡¯s a tricky one.

    ¡°Most kobolds I¡¯ve seen like to keep to themselves. They didn¡¯t strike me as the people-loving types.¡± I bullshitted, having zero idea how actual kobolds worked. But that answer didn¡¯t get much more than a grunt from her, which made me think I was right on the money with that one too.

    ¡°First priority, leave this place.¡± She spat out, having already tied the sword to her backpack. ¡°Lead the way, warn of any traps.¡± she added, stepping within a few steps of me, but staying in the back.

    While I understood she needed to be close to avoid the shadow dust, I didn¡¯t appreciate her hiding behind me like some kind of meat shield¡­ nor the fact that I wasn¡¯t sure what she was thinking. If she was this close, a mundane dagger could kill me!

    ¡°I¡¯m not trusting my back to you.¡± I bluntly stated, turning to face the kobold and staring her down. I wasn¡¯t going to deal with this BS like some spineless people-pleaser, I had  a vested interest in not being stabbed in the back, she was already on thin ice after what she pulled earlier, and she didn¡¯t have my sympathy for being under an affliction she couldn¡¯t control at this point!

    She said nothing and quietly stared me down for a solid few seconds, but I wasn¡¯t budging on this. And without saying a word, she moved to walk by my side instead, slightly ahead of me so I could see her and she could still see me with her lizard eyes.

    ¡°Warn of any traps.¡± she repeated, to which I nodded.

    Walking side by side, the trip back to the exit (I¡¯m hoping) was laughably fast.

    The water level had dropped considerably, making it easier to move around, and I pointed out the stars on the ceiling to her as we moved on, noticing several more traps that I was lucky enough didn¡¯t trigger, likely because of my anti-magic.

    It seemed she had gotten past the hole in the floor because she was too light to trigger it¡­ it was great to hear that I nearly drowned because of my weight.

    The ¡®door¡¯ I found earlier embedded in that weird wall, turned out to be a secret door hidden by an illusion, surprisingly enough! But while Milvarr was able to open it with my key (it was a magic item, wow), the path beyond that was blocked by a collapsed statue that we couldn¡¯t move. While she might have been able to squeeze through on her own¡­ no.

    And a few minutes later we were at the four statues! It really felt like the two or three hours I spent in this horrid place were being laughed at with how fast it was to walk through it when you knew where everything that was dangerous was. Milvarr did stop to look into the room where I woke up, and as far as I could tell she was silently paying her respects to him, but we continued before long.

    ¡°If I¡¯m right, then you simply need to stand in front of the right statue to open the door, which is the one with the big eye.¡± I said, mentioning the hint about ¡°The watchful protector offers us salvation.

    ¡°Milvarr knows the way to exit, there¡¯s a secret phrase.¡± she said, which was a bit of a bombshell to me. ¡°A secret phrase!? What do you mean, how do you know that?¡±

    At that, she went silent for a moment, glancing back down the dark hall, before pulling a dirty scrap of paper from under her leather armour. ¡°When Monkey and Milvarr came here¡­ a priest and monk led us here. They wanted Monkey¡¯s sword¡­ the monk attacked Milvarr and Milvarr ran. Monkey hid somewhere¡­ and died in that trap. Milvarr kept running and running, running endlessly then woke up in cage¡­¡± she shuddered, remembering details she didn¡¯t want to talk about yet, which was fair. ¡°When Milvarr was attacked, stole this paper. Has phrase to exit.¡±

    I had more or less put together that she was betrayed by the things she was screaming at me while insane, but to think she and the previous owner of this body were lured into this ruin to kill them and loot their corpses¡­ What a horrid place. It did make me wonder what was outside these ruins? Would there be an entire civilization of lizard people out there? Or maybe it was just some place hidden in one of Europe¡¯s many abandoned castles?

    Another thought I had¡­ ¡°What was his name? The man whose body this used to be?¡± I could see Milvarr wince as she heard that question, a reminder that her friend was dead and a stranger was in his body¡­ I hated that I had to remind her of all of that, but I at least owed this man the courtesy of remembering his name.

    After some more silence, she finally opened her mouth. ¡°Funeral.¡± What? ¡°Milvarr will tell you at the funeral. You owe him that much.¡± That was true.

    ¡°Fair, once we¡¯re out of here, I¡¯ll help you hold a funeral for your friend.¡± I replied, with a half chuckle, looking at the paper to read it.

    There was a single phrase written down: The true followers wish to retrieve his blessings from the sea.

    Short and simple, with notes scribbled down about traps resetting every two weeks and something else about ¡®guards¡¯. The paper was too wrinkled and covered in filth to read those parts clearly. Maybe there was a settlement nearby.

    ¡°You should go first, ¡®doctor¡¯.¡± the lizard snapped, and it did only make sense for me to try if I would be safe from bad things happening. And so, I stepped towards the statue with the bulging eye and repeated the phrase ¡°The true followers wish to retrieve his blessings from the sea.¡±

    But nothing happened¡­ that was unfortunate, I really had no hope of escaping on my own didn¡¯t I? I was even more glad that I saved Milvarr instead of abandoning her.

    Letting out a sigh, my saviour Milvarr stepped forward as well. I had to take a step or two back just to make sure that my anti-magic didn¡¯t break the puzzle again, already excited about what awaited me when the door opened!

    I knew there wasn¡¯t much light, so it was probably a cave, but that would soon lead outside, to freedom! But that led to so many other questions, namely what happened to my family? Where was I? Could I ever get back to them, to see my parents, my two sisters, and Anneliese again? I didn¡¯t want to think about it, but¡­ I was in another world, wasn¡¯t I? There were too many inconsistencies to possibly believe I was just in a secret part of Earth. There were lizard people, enough for them to be all over the place and it was weird for me to not know more about them, healing potions are common, apparently. Alchemy too¡­ priests and monks who are capable of venturing into a dangerous place like this..

    Would it even be possible to return to my old life? It was unlikely, maybe impossible, especially given that I was in someone else''s body, something that should have been impossible on so many levels¡­ but¡­ this situation was impossible to begin with, and it still happened, so maybe there was a way?

    I was sure I could try to figure something out¡­ or at least be able to see how they¡¯re doing.

    I just needed the door to open, and Milvarr repeated the phrase to open said door. ¡°The true followers wish to retrieve his blessings from-

    From? Did she forget the ending of the phrase? It¡¯s ¡°from the sea.¡±

    Why wasn¡¯t she continuing? Why was she so quiet? She just had to finish the phrase and-

    When I turned to look at Milvarr¡­ her head was gone.

    It was gone, why? How? What?

    And there¡­ was this¡­ large¡­ a large shadowy figure, standing over her, a long blade in their hand, just staring down at Milvarr¡­. Milvarr¡¯s corpse, which just fell over, like a puppet with her strings cut.

    I had seen people die, I had seen corpses¡­ but when I see people die, it¡¯s from an overdose, slowly in their hospital bed, quietly on the operating table. I had never seen¡­ someone so easily murdered before my eyes.

    It was like I was watching a horror movie. This¡­ monster¡­ killed her so easily, and without even uttering a sound or even looking at me, it simply waved its hand and everything Milvarr was carrying aside from the sword simply disappeared. Then the large figure picked up something from the ground¡­ it took the key, and walked- floated right up to me.

    I couldn¡¯t even think, I just drew my sword even though I couldn¡¯t see anything I could cut. Damn it, my arms were shaking, everything felt wrong! I had been in combat only two times in my service, but that was against humans, not some unknowable monster dammit! And then I was on the ground, I don¡¯t even know why. My legs must have given out on me. Not just my legs, my whole body was shaking, I was paralyzed with fear, was this how I was going to die!?

    And then the figure just¡­ floated past me, like I didn¡¯t exist. Like I wasn¡¯t even worth looking at, let alone killing, like my life was worth less than nothing¡­

    Then, the figure placed the key in the hand of the last statue, the one I took it from¡­ it was the key that I took from that statue¡­

    Then it just disappeared, its form dissipated without a sound, like it was never there, the only proof of its existence being the bleeding headless corpse on the floor, Milvarr¡¯s head staring up at me in shock from the ground.

    Why?

    That was all I could ask as I stared at her, a life cut short so¡­ meaninglessly. Someone I had so much to learn about, so much to learn from, just¡­ ended.

    Why? Why why why why why why why why why why?

    Why? Why did any of this have to happen!?

 Chapter 6 - A reason to fantasy

    I don¡¯t know when the shaking stopped.

    I don¡¯t know when I could move again.

    I don¡¯t know when I finally checked on Milvarr¡¯s corpse, but she was unmistakably dead.

    There was no hope of her being able to regrow a head through some weird magic.

    I don¡¯t know why she had to die.

    Why?

    It should have worked, she just had to say the phrase, she knew that, she told me that, I knew that, it should have worked!

    ¡°The true followers wish to retrieve his blessings from the sea. That was all she had to say-¡± as I said that, the ground shook, Milvarr¡¯s head rolled to the side, and following its eyes I saw the stone door finally open.

    It opened. Just like that, even though I was the one who said it?

    What was different? Why?

    And then I slowly realised, with a sinking pit in my stomach¡­ There was only one difference between the statues as she came and when we tried to leave¡­ the key the last statue was holding.

    I took that key, and Milvarr died. Now the key was back in the statue¡¯s hands and the door worked¡­

    My actions changed that. My actions¡­ lead to this.

    Why did this happen to Milvarr? Those actions are the reason.

    I am the reason. I killed Milvarr¡­

    ¡­

    I don¡¯t know how long I wallowed in those murky emotions, the disgust of knowing my slip up led to the loss of a life.

    With every surgery I¡¯ve performed, it was my greatest fear, and here in my carefreeness, I actually thought that everything was going well! I didn¡¯t think that the MAIN ITEM of one of the four statues of the puzzle should have been in place for it to work!

    It felt like it had been both hours and just seconds that I mourned for the loss of the kobold I had only gotten to know for a few minutes.

    I didn¡¯t even know if Milvarr was her full name, or the name of her friend whose body I was living in, nor who the priest and monk who betrayed them were. There were too many questions I thought I could take my time and learn¡­ and a funeral I promised to attend. It was two now¡­

    But at some point, I started moving forward.

    I don¡¯t know if it was some kind of survival instinct, the heart of this body taking control, or just my fragile mind compartmentalising everything for the sake of maintaining my sanity.

    I vaguely remember a cave, I don¡¯t know if I walked for a few minutes or hours, but I eventually saw light. I didn¡¯t need the lantern anymore, but I didn¡¯t remember where I even put it, I must have lost it somewhere.

    As I stepped out from the cave¡¯s entrance, I found myself in a forest bathed in moonlight, a light fog hugging the ground. And overhead, I saw a vibrant purple sky with three moons staring down at me¡­ judging me.

    Looking down, I was holding Milvarr¡¯s corpse. I don¡¯t know when I picked her up, but at least she wasn¡¯t destined to rot away in that horrid dungeon.

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    My mother was a strong believer in ¡®destined fate¡¯. Astrology, palm reading, crystal balls, the whole deal. I never really cared for most of it, but I always had a strong draw to one thing she showed me, tarot cards.

    She had a whole spiel about them, and was all fancy about them, playing fast and loose with what they meant to fit the story she wanted to tell rather than what the cards said¡­ I don¡¯t even remember what future she read for me, probably something like ¡®living a good life, but be careful of careless mistakes¡¯ or something.

    But I¡¯ll never forget that one night when I thought it¡¯d be interesting to draw a card for myself, just to see what it would be: The world, reversed.

    It meant nothing back then, but¡­

    ¡®Lack of closure, lack of achievement, feeling incomplete, emptiness¡¯¡­ those were all the meanings, and if I were honest, ¡®lack of closure¡¯ described everything about my life.

    I never got closure on the old man I didn¡¯t help.

    I never got closure on my career in the Bundeswehr.

    I never got closure on the people I helped during the earthquake.

    I never got closure on my own life.

    I never got closure on Milvarr.

    Looking back, I couldn¡¯t even see a hint of the dungeon, just a regular hard to spot break in the rock that led to a cave.

    I didn¡¯t know what to do.

    My survival training told me that I needed to move fast. I needed a place to sleep through the night. As soon as the first light hits, I¡¯d need to scout the surroundings and look for a source of water.

    If I could find a river or the sea, then I could follow the coast if I couldn¡¯t see a settlement or smoke.

    I could survive weeks without food, but I¡¯d die in less than 3 days without water. So I needed to move, and fast.

    But I didn¡¯t care about ¡®survival¡¯.

    I already died, and everything- EVERYTHING I cared about was taken from me.

    At this point, I wanted closure. I knew it was stupid, but I wanted closure.

    Milvarr deserved a burial at least.

    I had no tools on me other than the shortsword Milvarr gave me and the fancy sword the original me had¡­ but that was enough, I had the training for this.

    The trees I saw looked quite similar to kapok trees and were surrounded by dense vegetation, which made me think I was at the edge of a jungle and not a forest, meaning it would be more difficult to travel, especially on my own.

    I gathered several fallen branches and sticks, comparing them to find one nearly 90 cm (3 ft) long and 5cm (2 inches) in diameter. I used the fancy sword to carve a flat head point (it cut the wood far easier than I expected), making a digging stick.

    With this, I dug the earth, loosening it, before shovelling it out of the way with my hands.

    Repeating this over and over for around an hour, I finally had a grave for the kobold.

    It wasn¡¯t fancy, it was a lonely desolate grave in the middle of nowhere, right in front of the horrid place she was trapped for days and then killed. But it was better than leaving her corpse to get eaten by any passing animal.

    I placed her body in the grave and took a moment to just stare at it.

    She was beaten up, her scales were rotting, she must have been malnourished, and her head wasn¡¯t even connected to her body¡­ It was honestly a gruesome sight, but the shock wasn¡¯t hitting me as hard as it would if I saw a  more human-like creature in the same position¡­ a small comfort afforded by ignorance.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    This was the closest to closure I could get right now. I didn¡¯t know what this new world I was in was like, but I wanted to at least find someone to give her proper rites¡­ no, I would find someone. This was now my sworn mission.

    And for that mission, I needed so much information. I needed to find out about why she was in the temple in the first place, the people who tricked her, the name of the person whose body I was in, the dangers I would face in town, how to earn the money needed for said rites if they cost money¡­ and that was just scratching the surface of what I needed to know. My overall goal was to return home, one way or the other, and I knew nothing at all about this new world.

    That was dangerous.

    ¡°I swear I¡¯ll find someone to give you proper rites¡­ I hope you end up in a better place than this, Milvarr.¡± I prayed, countless stupid possibilities going through my mind. ¡®What about resurrection? Maybe that¡¯s a thing in this world?¡¯, ¡®Maybe I could carry her to a town?¡¯ ¡®, ¡®Build a cart for the corpse, a bag, anything?¡¯

    I suppose I was always a dreamer. Maybe resurrection magic does exist in this world, but I had no chance of finding a town aimlessly wandering a jungle carrying a corpse that many dangerous creatures might find to be a tasty meal. If one was truly that close by, then great! I could just come back for Milvarr¡¯s body.

    Letting out a final sigh, I covered the grave again, using a flat stone and the shortsword as a makeshift headstone to mark the grave.

    Standing there in this pathetic excuse of a funeral, I felt awful. I felt so numb, I don¡¯t even know how long it was before I realised I was starting to shiver. It was so humid, and cold. Even if the air was fresher than the temple, it still stank like the sea¡­ I had never really been to the sea, I had no good memories with it, and now the only memories I have with this disgusting salty air is nearly drowning and burying the only person I knew in this world.

    After that, I started walking. I had no perspective of directions in this world. The constellations were all different, and there were several especially shiny stars, maybe two of which could have been the north star, but which one?

    I had nothing to orient myself with, so I instead focused on the terrain.

    The ground was oddly divided into hexagon, with several hexagonal columns of the ground popping out and forming a tiny hill.

    It very much reminded me of basalt, in the structure, but it was closer to regular soil since I was able to dig through it, and given that trees were growing out of it.

    Either way, it was a hill, and one I could climb to get a peek of what was visible above the canopy.

    It was a bit tedious with my injured arm, but I managed to climb up fairly well¡­ and I saw the sea. It must have been ten minutes away, but there it was, the vast ocean.

    And in every other direction I saw trees, trees, and more trees.

    If there was something else notable, I couldn¡¯t see it in the moonlight, just the seemingly endless expanse of jungle.

    After everything I went through, being so close to the sea was a god-send. If I used my tools right, I could have purified water, and navigation-wise, I just needed to follow the coast till I found a river or a settlement. I would eventually find myself somewhere inhabited, all the people in the temple needed to have come from somewhere, after all.

    ¡­

    A kettle, a fire under said kettle, a container, and a ¡®cooling tube¡¯ to catch the steam from the kettle and condense it into the container.

    To distil water and make it drinkable, these are essential. And I was lucky enough that I had everything I needed.

    A kettle, a tinderbox to set a fire, a waterskin, and sheet metal from the repair kit. With a bit of bending, the metal became a decent enough tube.

    I got some water from the sea and set up this makeshift distiller in the cave (with a small fire, for safety), using leaves as a blanket and to cover the cave entrance. I¡¯ve never been more thankful for my survival training¡­ but with everything I needed to survive the night (food was not as urgent a concern), I needed to worry about the wound on my right arm¡­ it was fine for now, but would soon get infected if not treated properly¡­

    I didn¡¯t know how long it would take to find a settlement, and even then I¡¯d have to hope they had proper medicine or an adequate doctor. If they only relied on magic, then I would be shit out of luck if it didn¡¯t work on me¡­

    My mind drifted to the ¡®healing potion¡¯ I found in the medical kit. If potions counted as magic, then I would be out of luck and it wouldn¡¯t do anything, but there was also a chance that potions worked fine on me. Milvarr seemed to think that a potion of acid would get through anti-magic at least, so it was likely. I just worried what the repercussions would be if it wasn¡¯t a potion of healing but something more malicious¡­ or just old enough to be expired? I didn¡¯t know if that was a possibility, but it was a worry I could think of.

    ¡°No wait, calm down.¡± I had to tell myself, remembering that modern medicine and alchemy weren¡¯t the only things that existed!

    The wound was a deep gash on my right upper arm. Horizontally, I could barely cover it with my hand, and vertically it was nearly a finger wide. There was flesh missing, but it wasn¡¯t too severe an injury. It hurt like hell, but for an injury like this, properly cleaning the wound and dressing it would be enough to kickstart the healing process. After that, it would just need time. Medicine would definitely help, a healing potion that worked would also be quite nice, but as long as I kept cleaning the wound and changing bandages, there wasn¡¯t too much risk of infection. I just needed time, and to avoid putting strain on it.

    What was suspicious was how little I was bleeding, as that would be the main danger for a wound like this¡­ I didn¡¯t know what to think of it, so I pushed that matter aside for now.

    Something was wrong with me for me to forget something so simple¡­ no, many things were wrong with me right now¡­ Too many things¡­

    I was just so tired¡­

    ¡­

    The morning sun was a long welcome sight.

    How long had it been since I had seen it? I had been in the dark dungeon and then the cave for so long that time felt meaningless¡­ though it must have only been a few hours at most.

    Then again, I suppose I had never seen this morning sun before. It looked like the sun I was familiar with back home on Earth, this wasn¡¯t Earth¡­ This was a completely new world to me, with a completely new night sky and moons, but it was nice to know the sun still rose here and looked the same. It felt soothing, though the heavy humidity did put a damper on that joy.

    With the light, I could see a lot more than I could only imagine in the darkness. The trees I vaguely recognised had strange spiralling patterns and markings. They were surrounded by bushes and plants that all seemed incredibly foreign to me. It could be that they were plants that existed on earth in places I haven¡¯t been to, or they could have been completely foreign flora and I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the difference.

    I saw several colourful looking fruits that had shapes and colours varying from papaya to grapes, red to yellow¡­ Following the universal edibility test, I might have been able to figure out which was edible, but it felt incredibly dangerous to attempt that in a different world that might have different rules for everything.

    No, I¡¯d survive several days without food, but I¡¯d die rather quickly if I ate poison. I needed to get to a town, village, or any settlement. I had some money, which was a boon. I¡¯d at least be able to buy safe food with it, and if I could meet other people I could find out what was edible and what wasn¡¯t if I didn¡¯t have enough money to stay in a town just yet.

    It was sad how quickly I could think about these things, but I had read enough fantasy books to know that the biggest hurdles were language, money, and information.

    I could speak to the people here, so language wasn¡¯t an issue. I had some money, even if it wasn¡¯t a lot. But I had zero information. Nothing at all.

    I had ideas, I knew various cliches and common tropes in stories, I had survival training for earth¡­ but how much of that applied here? In this world? I had no idea¡­ I wish I could have talked to Milvarr more¡­

    As I thought through everything, I double checked that my waterskin was full as I approached the ¡®shore¡¯. I say it like that because I had never seen a shore of basalt before¡­ or at least that¡¯s what I believed it was. The hexagonal stone formations sloping downwards and under the crashing waves to make some kind of stone beach. An uncomfortable one where everything was a tripping hazard.

    If the water was less turbulent, I¡¯d have loved to have finally gotten a look at myself, but that wasn¡¯t possible yet. I¡¯d have liked to know what I was starting ¡®my new life¡¯ as, but I suppose it wasn¡¯t very important. I¡¯d find out eventually as long as I didn¡¯t die.

    What a cheery thought.

    Keeping myself somewhat positive, I considered myself lucky that I wasn¡¯t feeling hungry yet, which was convenient! And with that thought I followed the shore as I started walking to the right. As long as I had a guiding path, such as the shore or a river, I was bound to come across some kind of settlement¡­ or at least it would be harder for me to lose track of where I was.

    Such thoughts quickly came to a stop as I saw a large fish-like creature with spindly looking legs crawl out of the ocean in front of me.

    It was long like an eel, easily as wide as a wolf, with the head and scales of a fish, large bulbous eyes staring in every direction. Like a spider or some kind of centipede, it had long needle-like legs that bent in every which way and skittered it along the ground.

    With my heart racing, I drew my sword, the reclaimed sword of the original me, watching the fishipede in silence. It seemed to flop for a few seconds, before regaining its footing and turning towards me, sending a shiver down my spine.

    Then, it simply started walking away, as if it didn¡¯t even notice me¡­ whatever that creature was, maybe its sight was based on movement? Either that, or magic, of which I had none.

    I had no idea what that creature was, and I had no idea how it would even attack. That terrified me, but as long as I didn¡¯t have to deal with it, I was willing to ignore it for now and keep walking, filing it away in my ¡®I don¡¯t even know¡¯ cabinet of this world¡¯s creatures.

    On a¡­ lighter note, I had a creature in my ¡®I do know¡¯ cabinet, as I looked over to the jungle where this thing skittered off to and saw a fairly large squirrel sitting on a tree just staring at me like I was an idiot.

    At least this world had squirrels that looked like the ones I knew. I was sure red squirrels weren¡¯t as big as a coconut, it was adorable, so it was fine. A small comfort after everything.

    And then the squirrel lifted up a hand and flipped me off¡­

    I take it all back.

    Why? Just why?

 Chapter 7 - Encountering fantasy

    In most isekai stories I¡¯ve read, there¡¯s usually a meeting with a god or some greater entity, maybe a princess or a wizard. Even when the main character is just dropped into a random forest they usually have¡­ something. Even more western stories fantasy stories I¡¯ve read usually involve something more than ¡®this guy woke up here¡¯...

    Unbalanced and overpowered abilities, notes written by the gods or the wisest scholars, a status menu to know what they can do and how to get stronger? Or the all powerful ¡°Appraisal skill¡± that just lets you know things for free!

    To be fair, I do have an ability that could be very powerful¡­ anti-magic. I¡¯ve encountered various magical traps in that rotten temple, the first person I met used magic, the first¡­ monster(?) I came across couldn¡¯t see me, likely because it sees with magic?

    It¡¯s not all powerful, I doubt it could help me if someone shot me with a gun or a bow, or if I was attacked by a guy with a stick stronger than me, but there were six times so far where I only survived because of this anti-magic power. It was probably greedy to think this, but I wanted more. I wanted ¡®information¡¯ so much more. That would have kept Milvarr alive, at least¡­ If only I wasn¡¯t an idiot with that key, why didn¡¯t I think it would affect the puzzle!?

    DAMMIT ARMIN!

    I walked forward as I stewed in my regret and thoughts, the buzzing of insects tickling my ears, muddling my thinking. The ¡®shore¡¯ was uneven, jagged, and dense grass was growing- practically bursting from between the cracks in the stone-like ground. I didn¡¯t understand how this made sense, but it did make it hard to walk on without paying attention.

    Brushing past a twisted and oddly smooth ¡®tree¡¯, I was entranced by all of this¡­ this completely foreign geology, the vibrant plants that sprouted from the ground here and there (that only made me think of poison), including the smooth tree that seemed almost polished but otherwise just looked like a tree, the complete lack of sand on what was clearly a stone shore, the fishipede¡­ and the humanoid fish sitting on a rock, fishing with a bone-like fishing rod from the sea. How had I not seen this thing earlier!? It might have been obscured by the tree, but it had the presence of a rock! Even when I looked right at it I didn¡¯t notice it despite it being a weird blue on a brown and green backdrop!?

    The naked scaly blue-grey figure slowly turned to regard me as I got close enough to see it. Two large bulbous yellow eyes rotated in their sockets to look at me as it nonchalantly threw a line into the water. It creeped me out the way those yellow eyes stared at me with large void-like pupils that seemed to constantly dilate and contract, like it was measuring me on some unknowable level¡­

    For half a second there, I thought it might be someone in a fish suit, but that was immediately impossible. Looking at this fish fisherman, while their overall body structure looked ¡®humanoid¡¯, it twisted and bent in ways that seemed to mock the idea of joints and the human body. This was a completely different creature, a fish in vaguely human form¡­ maybe a merman, or a mermaid?

    This definitely wasn¡¯t the mermaid Lorelei¡­ or the stories vastly exaggerated her beauty.

    If I were to liken this creature to a merman or mermaids folklore I knew of, it would be the japanese variant. ¡®Hideous harbingers of calamity¡¯.

    First lizard people, and now mermaids. Would I be bombarded with every folklore from earth in this strange world!? I found myself wondering if the myth of eating the flesh of a mermaid to gain immortality was real in this world too?

    I quickly shook the thought from my head, I was losing track of reality with every fantastical thing I had seen in the past day, I needed to focus or I could actually die!

    I was about 6 or 7 steps away from this person and considered backing away and running, but its lack of hostility and the fact that I already met a lizard person numbed my fear. My mind ran through several trains of thought, and I won¡¯t lie, in the end it came down to ¡®why not?¡¯ and I decided to talk to this person. (They were probably a person)

    ¡°H-hello there.¡± I stuttered as I greeted the fish¡­ man(?), raising my right hand limply, feeling the pain of the wound, while my left one hovered close to the sword handle. The response I got back was beyond my comprehension. It sounded like three people gurgling and gasping for breath at the same time. I heard at least three distinct pitches and if there were words, I couldn¡¯t recognise them as words¡­

    Their gills flared as their mouth opened and closed, there was the musk of raw fish pouring out of this creature reaching even as far away as I was, overpowering the ocean¡¯s stench.

    I had no idea how to respond to whatever the fish person said to me with such a blank look on their unchanging fish face. ¡°I-I don¡¯t know that language. Sorry about that.¡± I replied with a weak chuckle, and I didn¡¯t know if they understood me or not, but they seemed to lose interest as their eyes rotated in their sockets unblinkingly and then they turned back to the ocean.

    With the overall shape of a flabby human male, maybe around 160cm (5¡¯4¡±) tall, they had moist blue-grey skin, gills, glistening scales, and the fish head attached to the neck.

    From my knowledge of fish this person likely had an endoskeleton with most of their internal structure built around that, which would explain the weird way they could bend in some places.

    They had flippers for their feet, so it was safe to assume they were good swimmers, they seemed docile, which was great,

    Remember those 3 main hurdles to living in a foreign place? Money, language and knowledge? I couldn¡¯t understand the fish person, which made me realise that every race had a different language, and that would be a hurdle to think about. Maybe they could understand me?

    I took a moment to think about this situation. This person could have useful information for me if they can understand me, but it could also just be a waste of time and possibly lead to aggression if I kept prodding.

    I thought about asking them what fruits were edible, but how sure could I be that we ever had similar digestive systems and could eat the same things? At least I could ask him if there was a settlement nearby?

    ¡°Hey, do you know where I can find a town or village?¡± I asked, making the fish person look back at me for a few seconds, before raising a hand towards me, palm up¡­ the universal ¡°gimme¡± gesture. Of course, *sigh*¡­

    Assessing my inventory, aside from my sword (it wasn¡¯t even mine to give away), my waterskin (I need clean water to live), and the clothes I was wearing (not a chance in hell), I had:

    1 silver, 2 bronze, 3 big copper, and 10 small copper coins (I don¡¯t know the values)

    And in my sack:

    A Kettle

    A tinderbox

    5 candles

    3 glass bottles

    4 daggers (3 are horribly rusted)

    2 empty sacks

    2 tins of ¡®lantern oil¡¯, aka kerosene

    1 set of dry clothes

    A repair kit

    A medical kit

    A healing (?) potion

    A (very thin) book about the basics of potions

    Small empty mysterious bag

    Ornate metal Staff

    Guild tag of ¡°of Dolomer¡¯s Wand Guild¡±, belonging to ¡°Oromar Witechere¡±

    To start, I showed him the coins, holding back the silver because it seemed the most valuable, and this weird fish person just shook their round fish face at me. They didn¡¯t seem interested in this currency¡­ I hoped that it would be useful in whatever settlement I found myself in next¡­

    Then I laid out everything from my sack, aside from the kettle, tinderbox, a few candles, and the bag, staff and tag of Oromar Witechere.

    I watched their weird little¡­ okay, big bulgy sideways eyes stare at the items unblinkingly, idly shaking his pole a bit to lure in a fish.

    They then pointed at the one clean dagger, the bottles, and both tins of lantern oil, gurgling something. I couldn¡¯t understand them, but I got the idea enough to put the items he pointed aside for him. Luckily I didn¡¯t need those items too badly, so it was likely to be a good deal for me.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    As I wondered how this bargaining was going to end, they got a bite on their line.

    They turned to the sea again, their gills flaring up as they let out this bizarre groan that sounded like several people gasping for breath and moaning in pain. The flabby arms covered in fish meat and scales bulged as muscles seemed to form out of fat in some sicky tumorous way, their arms bending in a strange angle as they pulled back on the line, struggling against whatever they had caught.

    As I watched this for however many seconds it took, I was just taken aback by what their muscles looked like, they were extremely unnatural. No matter the creature, whatever matter they had acting in the place of muscles, it shouldn¡¯t bulge in such a horrid way, like their inner structure was rapidly and uncontrollably expanding, threatening to rip their skin and burst outwards.

    This creature either had a structure I had never seen before in all the anatomy I¡¯ve studied, or had something horribly wrong with it.

    ¡­ and with a splash, they reeled in a ¡®fish¡¯(?)... if that was even the right word for it. Maybe ¡®monster¡¯ would be more apt.

    Their catch was at least 30cm (1 ft) in length and looked like a leech, a strange multi-headed leech that let out some horrid screeches as the fish person ripped it from their lure with a dextrous yet seemingly uncaring hand. Then, without so much as bothering to kill it, they put a hand on their stomach and pulled the scaly skin apart like a pouch, dropping the still screaming leech hydra thing into said meaty pouch.

    The air was filled with an acrid smell as the meaty pouch opened and I was shocked.

    What did I just see?

    It wasn¡¯t even like a kangaroo¡¯s skin pouch, it was putting that into their body, LIVE! Was that how they ate? Was it just storing it there somehow? How close was it to their internal organs? Didn¡¯t they fear their catch hurting them from the inside!?

    They then turned to look at me, even as I could hear the leech screeching in the open gut pocket, and without breaking eye contact, they reached into the still open pouch and pulled out a mortar and pestle and a piece of rolled up leather.

    They dexterously unfurled the leather with one hand as another dipped into¡­ something, and quickly marked something on the opened leather before rolling it up again and setting it and the mortar and pestle on the ground next to my items, before scooping up the things I set aside for them and tossing them into their gut. With a simple tap of the palm of their moist wet hand, the stomach closed up with a wet slapping down and there wasn¡¯t a mark left, as I just dreamt up their stomach being opened up to act like a meat duffle bag, and at this point I wasn¡¯t sure I hadn¡¯t.

    Jesus, I think I need to puke. They store items INSIDE THEMSELVES!?

    What did I just see? Why did I have to see that? My hands were shaking as I picked my things back up and packed them away. The mortar and pestle and the leather roll smelt horrid, and I had to put the tools into a separate sack.

    I couldn¡¯t even bring myself to look at the leather roll yet, I just needed to leave. I needed to take a moment to figure out what I just saw.

    But when I looked up, the merman hadn¡¯t looked away, one of its bulging unblinking eyes was locked onto me in an eerie way, even as their face was turned towards the sea as if it was focusing on fishing. It spoke something in that unnerving cacophony of gurgles, gasps and moans.

    ¡°T-thank you.¡± I muttered in reply, taking a few steps away as I kept eyes locked with them, before turning and rushing off, my stomach already churning.

    I don¡¯t know how long I had walked before I felt comfortable pausing to take a breath.

    No, I wasn¡¯t comfortable, I was nauseous. I don¡¯t know how other people would react, seeing what I saw, but if I were to explain myself: I am a surgeon. I regularly cut people up to fix the problems on their insides. I know a lot about human anatomy, I think about it every day, almost, and the thought of how that internal structure would play out compared to a human honestly sickened me.

    Everything was wrong. It was just wrong. I swear I could still smell their gastric juices, imagine how their internals worked and how that leech must have just inches away from their digestive system. It reminded me of how I found a 6 metre (20ft) long tapeworm in the gut of one of my patients, but so much worse.

    I thought there was nothing about the human body that would disgust me anymore, but god it turned out I was a lot more delicate than I thought. All it took was an eldritch digestive system in a humanoid creature to set me off.

    When I felt better, I finally opened the leather roll, which had thankfully stopped smelling as horrid as it did. Unfurling it, I had a leather canvas upon which¡­ was a map!

    It was simple hand drawn one, but it showed an island (so I was on an island, not just the coast),

    The island could be roughly split into two parts, an upper and lower one, with a narrower part in the middle dividing the two with what looked like a mountain drawn on it.

    There was a bigger mountain on the upper half, but I couldn¡¯t see it last night and wasn¡¯t close to anything I could climb and peek above the trees.

    There was a small settlement marked on the lower part, and a bigger one in the upper half, which was great news! And I was on the lower part.

    How do I know that? Because of the fishing spot marked on the bottom shore. A clear indicator of where I met the merman¡­ and maybe where I can meet them again.

    Looking at the map closer, If I kept walking west (if they used those directions here), then I¡¯d find a river I could follow upwards, and there¡¯d be a village if I broke away from the river and went east at a certain point. If I followed my original plan I probably would have gotten there, but it was nice to have confirmation.

    And interestingly enough, there were also 3 docks or ports marked on the map. Two larger ones in the upper part, and a small one relatively nearby. I didn¡¯t know how large the island was though, so that could have been hours or days away.

    I just needed to keep walking and then I¡¯d get to a settlement! I could (hopefully) buy food and necessities, learn more about this world, find someone to give Milvarr her rites, find out who¡¯s body I was in and give them a send off too, and maybe even find the priest and monk who tricked Milvarr in the first place!

    I wasn¡¯t seeking revenge on anything, but they did lead to two people dying and might want to kill me if they recognised me as their last mark, so I at least needed to know who they were. If I could bring them to justice somehow on top, that would be good for every-

    And I fucked up, again. I let my mind wander.

    I had my head in the clouds and my nose in the map, my ears disregarded all the sounds around me as just the meaningless buzzing of insects and the scuttering about of other critters.

    That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t notice the quiet slittering or the creeping feeling of dread. It was only thanks to a foreign ¡®sense of imminent danger¡¯ I got from my body and the reflexes drilled into me in training that I noticed a shadow move in the edge of my vision.

    In a nearly involuntary response, I twisted my body in a panic as a snake the size of a large dog just barely missed biting my leg.

    Panicking, I drew my sword, dropping the leather map as I assessed the situation.

    There were two snakes- no, there was one, but it had two heads, and its long tail ended in a blade-like bone that swayed maliciously. It wasn¡¯t anaconda sized, but it was the largest snake I had ever seen outside a zoo. Jesus, if I was half a second off, I might have been dying with a leg full of snake venom right.

    The snake didn¡¯t give me a second longer to assess the situation as it zipped forward!

    I took a quick sidestep to dodge one bite, but the second came instantly, not giving me a moment to even think as I jumped back, almost tripping over the rocky ground.

    The first head came again! I ducked to the side and swung my sword, but I misjudged the length of the sword and barely missed the snake.

    I needed time to think, but the snake was quick to slide on the ground to try and circle around me, both heads ready to strike, just waiting to catch me off guard or off balance.

    Dammit, I wasn¡¯t equipped for this!

    The first head struck, I backstepped, preparing my sword. The second head struck late, throwing me off a bit, but I swung my sword. It would connect this time! And IT DID!

    It was a graze, but I drew some blood. And then the tail came at me, and I wasn¡¯t ready for it.

    The blade-like bone at the end of the snake swung as the momentum pulled it forward, but it quickly curled like a scorpion¡¯s tail, adjusting its angle, and then pierced the blade into my side!

    I must have been lucky, but it got caught in my pouch just before it could pierce my skin, ripping  my shirt and scratching me as it pulled away, my pouch falling to the ground, the coin purse splitting out the many coins that clattered about the ground.

    I couldn¡¯t let this small opening go, and I swung the sword down with my left hand as my right dug into my sack and quickly pulled out a rusty dagger. The reach was far worse than a sword, but it was a tool I was trained in and used to.

    Unfortunately, I only left the snake a shallow cut as well.

    The snake hissed at me with one head, the other looking around shiftily. I didn¡¯t like that. I squeezed the rusty dagger as I kept myself on guard for another twist in the pattern.

    And the attack continued!

    First head lashed out, trying to bite my leg. I twisted on my other leg instead of dodging, keeping myself in place as I swung with the sword.

    The second head was a crafty one, it didn¡¯t leap, instead it was waiting and sprung out to bite my hand as I took that swing, but I had my dagger ready and stabbed at the snake head!

    Because of the weird angle and momentum, the thrust was off, but it cut fairly deep into one of the snake¡¯s necks as my blade pierced it!

    Unfortunately the snake one upped me as well, and the bladed tail came out, stabbing into my thigh as I was too late in moving it away.

    DAMMIT! It hurt like hell!

    The snake dropped back onto the ground as it stared at me, and I stared at it.

    It was injured and bleeding. They weren¡¯t fatal strikes, but my cuts weren¡¯t too shallow either. And I was injured too¡­ looking at the snake, I didn¡¯t believe the tail was venomous, but it had cut fairly deep. I wouldn¡¯t be able to move properly.

    It seemed that this was it, neither me nor the snake would die easily. Whoever won wouldn¡¯t be much for this world¡­ Of all the things that could¡¯ve killed me in this fantastical world, I¡¯d be dying to a stupid double snake? I hated this.

    As I readied myself for another round of strikes, my hands were shaking as I thought about how I was going to die if I was off by even a split second¡­ the snake didn¡¯t attack.

    It just stared for a good few seconds, glancing at me, then itself, before giving me one last glare and then slithered away into the bushes.

    Apparently I wasn¡¯t the only one who could see that there was no good ending to this fight.

    The monsters of this world wanted to live too, it seemed.

    Jesus Christ.

 Chapter 8 - Facing fantasy

    Somehow, I survived.

    I was shaking as I thought about how close I came to dying again, and not from some trap or a maddened adventurer, but from a creature that actively wanted me dead.

    A creature smart enough to vary their attacks, and with enough self preservation to give up on the fight when it saw that dying was too likely to ignore.

    This is already an awful world to live in if that was a common snake here. If I wasn¡¯t combat trained I would have been poisoned in the first few seconds and that would be the end of me¡­ I had no training using a sword, so maybe it was something a trained adventurer would have no issue with, but I wasn¡¯t that and I probably would never be that, if I were being honest with myself.

    The first thing I did was look around to see if I could find any other danger¡­ the snake was likely further away as it had to close its open wounds or risk bleeding to death, and the only other creature I could see were a few disappointed looking ravens perched on a nearby tree. I see this world has those little opportunists too.

    Letting out a sigh, I glanced down at my leg. It was already hurting and I was wobbling before the adrenaline even wore off, it would be crippling when it does.

    My pouch was on the ground, my coins scattered across the rocky floor, and the leather map was stained with blood. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was my blood or the snake¡¯s.

    Knowing I wouldn¡¯t be able to move so freely later, I quickly dropped to my knees and gathered everything I could within a few seconds and stuffed them back in the pouch.

    Then I stood up and painfully hobbled to a nearby rock, almost dragging my leg as I kept adjusting for the pain. The bleeding was significant this time.

    As I plonked my butt on the rock, I kicked something. Looking down I saw that potion of healing¡­ or at least what I thought was a potion of healing.

    How fortunate. And tempting, like some devil was telling me that I could definitely trust this potion with my life.

    The snake¡¯s knife tail had cut into my thigh, and it was both lucky and unlucky. If it was my calf, there would be a high chance of ligament injury, which would have me benched¡­ permanently, if I couldn¡¯t get proper medical help or healing. If the tail blade hit a major artery, of which there are many in the thigh, then my future was likely that of death from blood loss¡­

    I didn¡¯t know the anatomy of snakes in this world, but I felt the likelihood of the bone tail-blade being a stinger seemed low to me. If it was venom, though¡­ there was basically nothing I could do. Not with the lack of tools at my disposal.

    Calming myself a bit I started by treating the injury.

    Removing obstructing clothes, cleaning the wound, wrapping it with a clean bandage and keeping it in a neutral position.

    After that, I just had to wait for it to heal a bit, then move to a safer spot, look for something to disinfect the wound properly.

    My eyes were drawn to the potion again. I had that thin book about potions, and I had nothing else I could do at this moment other than wait and hope nothing else attacked me.

    Understanding that I had to choose between the risk of being off guard or the risk of waiting long enough for something else to find me, I pulled out the book and quickly skimmed over it while on edge that something else might show up.

    And several minutes later, I had a basic idea of everything in the book, if not the details.

    First and most important: from what I could gather¡­ potions are magic.

    That means it won¡¯t even work on me!

    *sigh* I could still drink it to see what it does, but if not even the magical madness dust in the temple worked on me, there was no way this would. It¡¯d be better to save it if I saw someone else who needs help, or to sell it for non-magical medicine for me.

    Other information the book covers:

    Potion application, Potion expiration (healing potions last a while), Potion testing, Proper potion storage, the magic nature of potions, and the recipe of a basic healing potion and a few basic antidotes.

    That last part was especially useful and identified some plants with anti-venom and general anti-poison properties, and wasn¡¯t magical.

    It had been maybe ten minutes, maybe more? From the size of the injury and depth of the wound, my estimate was that the wound would heal enough in about half an hour to the point I might be able to walk with it. The wound wouldn¡¯t thoroughly heal for a few days, but at least I¡¯d be able to safely move without risking bleeding to death.

    I decided to check on how bad the bleeding was at this point. Depending on that, I would try to drink the potion even if there was a 99.9% chance it would do nothing.

    And¡­ the bleeding had stopped. Completely.

    I did notice that I don¡¯t bleed anywhere as much as a normal person and that I stop bleeding rather quickly¡­ but this was a bit abnormal. Not entirely unheard of, but beyond the norm without the help of any medicine.

    I didn¡¯t heal enough that I could safely put pressure on the wound yet, but that was only a matter of time. I just had to hope I didn¡¯t develop an infection.

    It seemed the potion wasn¡¯t needed, which was a good thing, but this also delayed me knowing if potions work on me in the first place. That and if this really was a healing potion.

    Thinking about it for a few more seconds, I opened the bottle and took a small sip of the potion before closing it again. It tasted like weak vinegar and¡­ I felt no difference no matter how long passed, I was just left with a bad taste in my mouth, both literally and figuratively.

    With that, a bit of the potion was wasted, but it seemed to prove that potions didn¡¯t work on me, which was unfortunate. No magic did, it seemed, and potions were sadly magic.

    This probably meant that the acid Milvarr was going to throw at me back then wouldn¡¯t work either¡­ unless it was non-magical acid.

    At least one thing was almost certain: Because of my anti-magic, magical healing will not work on me. I have no reference for how strong my anti-magic truly is, though. Maybe it only stops weaker spells? Maybe it stops everything? Maybe it only has a set percent chance to work and I¡¯ve just been really lucky/unlucky every time so far?

    I needed to be incredibly careful. If I get injured, the only option I have is relying on a non-magical doctor (which is unlikely given that it felt like I had seen more magical things than not so far), or my own knowledge, and there¡¯s no way a surgeon can operate on themselves¡­

    -

    Allow me to skip through the next hour or so. While it was painful, I had forced myself to my feet early and dug through every bush I could find nearby looking for a specific type of berry. I was lucky and I did indeed find a few. They looked like little pebbles and it¡¯d be very easy to not notice it, but I had the help of a good description from the book. They were called ¡®Pebblewarts¡¯

    [Small little grey berries about the size of a fingernail with the texture of stone. Due to their lack of resistance to being popped, some people refer to them as warts. The bushes they grow in are most commonly sighted in regions near sea water.

    They have both disinfectant and anti-venom properties, but it needs to be distilled into a potion to effectively draw either nature out.]

    I squeezed out the juice of several of these berries onto my wound and reapplied the bandage. It was supposed to have a mild disinfectant nature as well as working as an anti-venom agent. Ideally one would make an extract of these and mix them with other agents to make a proper disinfectant or anti-venom, but in a desperate time like this, the raw juice was good enough.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    It didn¡¯t swell and I didn¡¯t die, so it hopefully worked?

    There was a lot of introspection that went nowhere while I healed, then I got properly dressed again and double checked my money.

    I went from

    1 silver, 2 bronze, 3 big copper, and 10 small copper coins

    to

    1 silver, 1 bronze, 6 small copper coins

    I saw another snake and I decided I didn¡¯t care about those coins enough to risk another knife fight. And since then I¡¯ve been walk-limping with the metal staff along the coast eventlessly, sweating under the humid heat that had started to set in as the sun got higher and higher in the sky. It might have been a bit disrespectful to use a fallen warrior¡¯s weapon like this, but I hoped they could forgive me from beyond as I needed to survive to pass this weapon on to his or her next of kin.

    And out came some large and annoying insects to constantly fly around me. I hadn¡¯t been bothered by insects till now, despite this being a jungle, but these ones seem attracted by the scent of blood I was giving off, from how they kept trying to get to my wounded thigh.

    The bugs were green and brown, so they blended in well with the foliage around me, and they moved fast so I couldn¡¯t get a good look at them. The buzzing made me think of mosquitoes, and they probably weren¡¯t too far off from them.

    And then I finally found the river.

    From the map and calculating distances in my head, this river wasn¡¯t very far from where I woke up. It might have just been two hours away at most¡­ but It had probably taken three to four hours for me to get here. Getting injured and slowly limping my way forward had made this take so much longer, and now my clothes were clinging to me as my sweat dripped down my body and into the cloth. I still had filth on my from that disgusting temple, and I was dying to dunk my head in some cool water¡­

    I had two wounds I couldn¡¯t afford to let meet the river water, the one on my right arm and my left thigh, that was a surefire way to get an infection. And without medicine, that was a death sentence.

    It was unfortunate that I didn¡¯t have any waterproof bandages (and I only had another wrapping worth of bandages left in my medical kit).

    Fighting the senseless impulse to jump into the river, I slowly dropped to my knees and looked into the water. It was a small river. It was probably more apt to call it a large stream. The water flowed fast and I couldn¡¯t get much of a reflection in it¡­ it was unfortunate. I knew I was in someone else¡¯s body, but I didn¡¯t know what I looked like yet. Maybe I could see if my sword was cleaner, but it had a layer of grime from the dungeon and snake blood dirtying it.

    I considered cleaning it for a moment, but I honestly couldn¡¯t care less about that at the moment, I could do that the next time I¡¯m safe and resting.

    I let myself be satisfied with just splashing a few handfuls of water on my face, rubbing away the sweat and refreshing myself a bit.

    Letting out a sigh, I stood myself back up, fighting the swarming insects as I straightened my clothes the best I could.

    I needed to follow the river for several hours, then I would find the village nearby.

    But could I walk those several hours right now? Yes, but not very fast. I healed fast, but not that fast. I¡¯d still need a day before I could walk normally again.

    And that led me to another choice, do I push forth ignoring the pain to get to town before nightfall? Or do I try to find a safe place to rest?

    The risk of getting attacked along the way or the risk of getting attacked while I rested and hopefully healed faster¡­ both seemed awful, but since it was just me and I had no one else to help protect me or take guard shifts, was the second option really a choice? The only benefit is that I could gather more plants and attempt to make something with alchemy that could help me¡­ it wasn¡¯t worth it.

    The day was still young, it was likely late morning at this point. I decided to trudge on, pushing through the low branches and leaves that seemed deliberately placed to get in my way. My pace was slowed by the terrain, and even more so as I avoided putting too much weight on my injured leg, pausing to rest any chance I could do so safely.

    There were a few more double snakes around, but they didn¡¯t attack me when I made it clear I could see them and I was ready for a fight. They were frighteningly smart, a lot smarter than monsters I see in most fantasy stories and games where they just mindlessly attack people. These bastards are real opportunists.

    Along the river, I consulted the book of potions a few times, but almost none of the plants, trees, fruits and mushrooms I found were in the book. I was lucky enough to find a certain plant referred to as an ¡®Elight bloom¡¯.

    [A light blue flower with long petals that close and twist shut when under direct sunlight, only blooming when in shade. This wild flower commonly grows along flowing bodies of freshwater.

    The petals of the Elight bloom are mildly poisonous.

    The leaves have a coagulating property.

    The roots absorb mana from the flowing water and have a magical healing potency that can be used as the primary ingredient in a potion of healing.]

    It was a nice find. The leaves would be useful to make staunch for me if I need to control bleeding, and the roots would be good for either trading, or making a healing potion, provided that my anti-magic doesn¡¯t destroy the potion mid mixing?

    I took that as a good sign and pushed forward a bit more and as I sidestepped a nasty looking twisting violet fern that grew as tall as me, I noticed a vaguely familiar form standing in the water ahead.

    There was a large grey-skinned man standing in the middle of the river, holding a spear. At first I thought it was a statue because of the stony skin. He was shirtless, wearing thick leather pants with a large belt. Blue green tattoos marked his back and arms.

    As I stepped closer to take a closer look at this figure, they finally moved, the spear in their hand suddenly bending towards and striking into the water. Pulling it out, there was a fish impaled upon it¡­ that was rather incredible spearfishing form. I had finally met another person!

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I called out to the man, but only got a quiet grunt in reply, as he half turned to look at me, gem-like blue eyes piercing through me, before seemingly losing interest and going back to fishing. Is everyone I meet going to be so weird and taciturn? Or are his grunts another language I don¡¯t know?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I was looking for a settlement! I believe it¡¯s somewhere nearby, but do you know where I can find it?¡± I asked the large man, but he didn¡¯t even acknowledge me, single mindedly focusing on his fishing.

    Maybe he was a mute? Or he didn¡¯t like strangers, or people in general. I¡¯m not a psychologist, so I can only guess that I can¡¯t talk to this man¡­ but I decided to try talking a bit more to see if I got any usable response.

    ¡°It¡¯s no use talking to Rangaar when he¡¯s fishing.¡± I heard a feminine but low voice call out, and looking to the side I noticed a tough-looking human woman leaning against a tree, writing something into a rough looking notebook with a wooden feather-like pen. The first human I¡¯ve seen since I got here!

    I took note of the notebook and pen before anything else. I didn¡¯t have a firm grasp on the level of technology in this world because I had only been in old ruins and a jungle, but the notebook didn¡¯t look like vellum or papyrus. It seemed to be paper, even if it was rough.

    Paper was available even back in the middle ages, but it wasn¡¯t exactly cheap. Based on the price, I could probably tell if we were pre-industrial era or in the industrial era. The use of swords and leather armour made the latter seem unlikely, however.

    And that pen¡­ fountain pens didn¡¯t exist till the start of the industrial era because they¡¯re really difficult to make by hand. They have several small parts that need intense precision, but those were metal pens. Wood pens would mean that they have something inside that contains the ink, like rubber or plastic¡­ The technology didn¡¯t fit what I was seeing.

    The woman herself was a fairly tall and decently-built bronze skinned woman with short red hair wearing a set of sturdy looking leather armour over a red shirt and brown pants, with a spear holstered on her back. It was impossible to believe she existed in the industrial era with everything she was carrying. But her teeth were notably well kept, so they likely had dental knowledge and facilities in this world. She looked like she worked for her money, and didn¡¯t have anything fancy on her, so I ruled out the pen costing a fortune.

    She seemed like a mercenary or adventurer from my guess? Unless she was a guard and it was a small settlement without a uniform?

    Before I could say anything, she closed her book and put it and the pen away, placing a hand by her hip, where a shortsword I didn¡¯t notice was sheathed.

    ¡°You need some help, looks like you had a rough time out there.¡± she asked in a drawling voice that almost made me think of a texan.

    ¡°Oh, hello there.¡± I greeted her with a smile¡­ probably a tired one. ¡°Yes, I have had¡­ a rough time, putting it mildly.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh a bit thinking about everything that happened in what, twenty hours?

    ¡°I¡¯m Armin. Armin Fischer. Do you know where I can find a settlement? I¡­ really need to lie down.¡± I introduced myself, my mouth moving faster than my brain. It was only after I said that that I remembered I was in another person¡¯s body, and that that person likely passed by this village, at the very least¡­

    ¡°Oh I can do you one better, I can take you there.¡± she replied, tapping her armoured side, where the symbol of a shark with a shield was etched into the leather. ¡°I¡¯m a guard for the village of Noffan, I¡¯ll make sure you get there safely.¡± she seemed to not notice or care about what I just said, so maybe the two hadn¡¯t met? Or I didn¡¯t stand out very much.

    Jesus, it was like a dream come true. I felt like I went through a whole arc of my life since I first woke up, but it was finally over. I could go to whatever this village was and just shut down for a day. Then I¡¯d do whatever I could to arrange Milvarr¡¯s rites, find out about my body¡¯s last owner, that priest and monk, whoever they were, and then I just needed a way to earn money and look for a way to get back home!

    Everything was finally lining up, I felt like I finally hit the jackpot!

    If only I were a lucky man.

 Chapter 9 - Translating fantasy

    [POV - Solleny Rodder]

    I knew there was something off about this guy the moment I saw him.

    I¡¯ve been a guard here at Noffan for about two years, and I was a bounty hunter for a few years before that¡­ Nasty business that really jades you to how scum people can be.

    But I¡¯ve learnt a lot of skills over the years, and reading people¡¯s one of em. That, and a nifty spell called [Sense Emotion]. Gives me a sense of what a person I¡¯m looking at¡¯s feeling, it¡¯s really good in combat to know what they¡¯re planning, and it¡¯s a good way to sus out liars.

    It was around a week ago I first saw this guy. Brown hair, blue eyes, expensive sword, shit armour and shittier attitude. A real shifty sort, he was, wouldn¡¯t speak an honest word for the life of him. Said he was from the merchant nation, Lariatne, but he didn¡¯t even know the name of the merchant prince who adventurers get permission from to work in different countries. Heh.

    What did he call himself back then? Millar, no last name to my memory.

    He waltzed into town with that lizard friend of his, rounded up a party, and went off on some adventure.

    I remember a priest, a monk, the lizard, and Millar left. But only the priest returned.

    I wasn¡¯t on duty, but I heard that the monk betrayed the group and the lizard and Millar got killed by traps¡­ but here Millar is, alone, injured and with a new name and look.

    What the hell happened?

    I didn¡¯t even recognise him at first. He was hunched over carrying himself with a mage¡¯s staff, his hair was ash white and one of his blue eyes turned green. He was wearing different clothes, his useless ¡®armour¡¯ nowhere to be seen. But I never forget a face.

    And he still had the fancy sword he seemed so proud of¡­ but unlike how he kept it so spotless it looked more like an ornament than a weapon, it was covered in grime and blood, and even the sheath was crooked. It was like he didn¡¯t give a shit about the sword anymore, like it was just some junk he happened to have, not a weapon.

    And ¡®Armin Fischer¡¯... why come up with a new name? Why did he talk so differently? Why didn¡¯t he change his other blue eye? Why didn¡¯t he cover his face? What was that staff he was using as a crutch? Why was he so injured?

    They aren¡¯t small injuries either.

    What happened that was so intense that he had to change his entire identity?

    And to make things worse, I couldn¡¯t get a read on him with magic anymore. Did he find an item that blocked mentalism magic? His mannerism changed too much too, I didn¡¯t have a baseline to sus him out anymore.

    I didn¡¯t like this. I always felt like this guy was some kind of scamming ¡®Snake in the grass¡¯, but that priest had a lot to answer to.

    [POV - Armin Fischer]

    ¡°People out here call me Solly, nice to meet you, Fischer!¡± the tall woman introduced herself with a boisterous laugh. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you went out that way all alone. It¡¯s pretty dangerous, you know?¡± she asked, and don¡¯t I know it?

    I messed up by telling her my actual name.

    However, I didn¡¯t know the last owner¡¯s name, nor do I have any knowledge about him, period. It¡¯d be impossible to pass myself off as someone I knew absolutely nothing about.

    I had a story, and it was one pretty heavily set in the truth. I¡¯m a doctor who was attacked by a necromancer and woke up in a derelict temple in someone else¡¯s body.

    However, It seemed unbelievable and was full of too many logic holes like:

    Why would a necromancer put me in a random corpse in the middle of nowhere? That¡¯s a lot of effort to go through for no reason.

    How could I prove I wasn¡¯t some kind of body-snatcher? I had anti-magic after all, so they couldn¡¯t check using magic.

    Well, it looked like I needed to add a few lies to make the ¡®truth¡¯ easier to believe.

    Amnesia, a shadowy organisation, maybe a lich or a dragon¡­ damn, I had to write myself a backstory here.

    But first, I turned to regard Solly as we walked. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s a lot of danger, I experienced that firsthand¡­ and I lost a friend. Is there anything the church or temple can do for them?¡±

    I kept my words a little vague on purpose, partially in a fleeting hope that this was the kind of happy go lucky fantasy world where resurrection existed, and partially so I wouldn¡¯t be questioned if I asked for ¡®rites¡¯ and they had a wildly different culture that¡¯s common sense.

    ¡°A friend? That¡¯s unfortunate.¡± Solly replied, her expression tough to read. ¡°Who is it? Are they local to the area? And do you know where the body is?¡± she asked, her voice still a little loud, but subdued as she contemplated something.

    I decided to be as truthful as I could for Milvarr. ¡°A kobold named Milvarr¡­ I don¡¯t know if they''re local. I buried her body outside the ruined temple we were trapped in.¡±

    ¡°A kobold, eh?¡± she asks, before turning to look at me, coming to a stop for a moment. ¡°Wait, what temple? The one hidden underwater?¡± she asked, raising an eyebrow.  ¡°How could you travel that far-¡± she muttered under her breath, before grunting and adjusting her spear as she turned to start walking again. ¡°I don¡¯t know where it is exactly, but I can talk to some people to bring her body back if it¡¯s not in a dangerous location. I¡¯m sorry for asking this so bluntly, but what killed her?¡±

    It might have been flooded, but I don¡¯t believe the temple I was in was this ¡®underwater temple¡¯, so she was thinking of some other place. I don¡¯t know how I managed to, but I clearly heard her mutter ¡®How could you travel that far-¡¯. It implied that she had some kind of estimate in mind of my travels. She focused on how far the distance was, but far from where? Far from the village, maybe? She could have meant that I travelled far from the ¡®underwater temple¡¯, but that¡¯s unlikely. For her to let that phrase slip, she had some knowledge beforehand, perhaps about the timeframe, and thought it was impossible.

    If so, that means she knows more than she let on.

    It was just conjecture, but I was fairly sure now that the last owner of my body came by through the village, and Solly recognised me as him. So she¡¯s just been playing along with me so far like a sly fox instead of confronting me.

    Knowing this, I had 2 options I could take now. I could either just continue telling her what happened with this charade going on, or I could confront her myself. That second option was dangerous because I didn¡¯t know if she was tied to the priest and monk who betrayed us, but to be fair that doesn¡¯t change even if I took the passive approach.

    From what I knew about Solly, I could tell she was organised and the type who never showed her hand and read people till she was certain about any assumptions. With how she pretended to not know me when she thought I was acting like I didn¡¯t recognise her, and how she didn¡¯t even react to Milvarr being mentioned even though she likely met her as well, she seemed to be quite passive with her interrogation style. For a village guard, that skillset was a bit odd, but she might have experience in gathering information from people.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    This might be a stretch, but if she had magic, I was willing to bet she had something that could gather information from people. But if I was right about my anti-magic, that ideally wouldn¡¯t work on me.

    You know what? Screw it, confrontation is faster and if I play my cards right, then I could get her to accept that me lacking any common sense was perfectly normal and directly ask her about the world. I just had to play into the truth and mix in the right kinds of lies.

    ¡° ¡®How could you travel that far?¡¯ ¡± I started by repeating what she said, making her glance at me again. I stared at her with regret, slowly shaking my head. ¡°So, you know the last owner of this body?¡± I asked, letting out a sigh.

    We¡¯ll see how this goes.

    [POV - Solleny Rodder]

    ¡°So, you know the last owner of this body?¡± the man asked in a gloomy voice, looking half dead inside as he stared at me. I swear I felt my skin crawl as those words set in.

    This guy¡­ with a different name, a different walk, a different talk¡­ was he actually not Millar? I almost reached for my weapon, but stopped. I couldn¡¯t just attack someone for saying something strange like that, I needed more information.

    ¡°Last owner?¡± I asked back, clenching my fist as I tried to keep calm. This might have been some kind of lie, or maybe he hit his head too, I couldn¡¯t jump to conclusions just yet.

    ¡°Ah, sorry, that must have sounded confusing¡­¡± he replied, shaking his head. ¡°I don¡¯t fully understand it myself, either. My village was attacked by undead one night, the last thing I remembered seeing was this devil-like coin, then I woke up in this body¡­ a young warrior who died in an arrow trap in a decrepit temple¡­¡±

    I could hear tiredness seep out of the man¡¯s voice as he spoke. I tried using more magic to probe at him, but it was completely pointless, it was like he was cloaked in an unfathomably deep anti-magic. This wasn¡¯t normal, he shouldn¡¯t even know that I¡¯m using this spell, let alone absorb it so thoroughly. The amount of magic you¡¯d need to do that¡­ was inhuman.

    And he was claiming some necromancer attacked him and moved his soul to a new body!?

    He might have been telling the truth, but he was also dangerous.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I asked, trying to fake being calm. I had to push back a bit to get more information, but I had to be careful not to push too hard. I didn¡¯t want to fight someone strong enough to throw up such a potent anti-magic field so casually! ¡°That¡¯s hard to believe¡­ a necromancer took your soul and put you in another body, then left it in a ¡®decrepit temple¡¯? Is there anything more you can tell me?¡±

    ¡°Strictly speaking, he didn¡¯t choose to leave.¡± he replied, idly turning to look away, like he was staring off at a distant place that only he could see. His mouth curved down a bit like he was contemplating something, before slowly curving upwards, like he was remembering something fondly. Just what did he do to the necromancer? I never even heard of one being nearby, so he must have gotten rid of all of the death mage¡¯s undead minions too¡­

    ¡°The temple has a nasty guardian. It¡¯s a tall shadowy figure, a living shadow as dense as obsidian, wielding a long blade that drips shadows from it like blood. It made quick work of the necromancer, then disappeared down into the depths of the temple.¡± he said, describing¡­ a Guardian of Faith.

    I knew what this was. It finally made sense why he keeps mentioning a ¡®temple¡¯. There¡¯s an old ruin hidden less than a day away. Any who enter die, but there have been some who could glimpse into the ruins with divination magic, and they confirmed a Guardian of Faith who patrolled the abandoned halls in intervals, mercilessly slaughtering any living creature that it found on its patrol.

    But how did he know it was a temple? From what I know there are only guesses at it being a temple because of old texts that describe some of the ruins around the island.

    There¡¯s writing on the walls inside, but no one who investigated with divination can read it, and there¡¯s no knowledge beyond the first twenty metres or so.

    It would make sense that it could kill a necromancer without much issue, but this ¡®Armin Fischer¡¯ knew something¡­ a lot more than he let on.

    And he survived the Guardian of Faith¡­ that¡¯s not a light feat¡­

    Just who was this entity before me? I shivered as I realised just how much danger I was in if I screwed up even a bit.

    Looking at him, he didn¡¯t look like too much of a threat, physically. But those immensely deep eyes that spoke of decades or centuries of experience, the terrifying deep mana he must have possessed, and the ability to hide it so perfectly¡­ could this be some devil-lord playing around in a human body to amuse himself? Or maybe an ancient wizard? Or a lich!?

    ¡°I ventured deeper into the temple and found the kobalt Milvarrm, maddened and trapped in a cage. I helped free her.¡± Curing a madness effect was no small feat either. Thoroughly dispelling the magic altering one¡¯s mind, especially that kobald who I knew was barely ¡®stable¡¯ to start with¡­ that¡¯s just insanity.

    ¡°Let¡¯s say you¡¯re telling the truth,¡± I started my questioning¡­ I needed to be careful here. ¡°How was this Milvarr inflicted with madness?¡±

    ¡°The air in the temple is filled with magic that muddles the mind, making you see things and act in extreme ways.¡± he calmly replied. ¡°It¡¯s quite a cruel place.¡± It did sound cruel. And maddening effects have shown up here and there in some ruins across the island, so it seemed to make sense. I couldn¡¯t be sure that he wasn¡¯t lying, but why would he?

    ¡°Why were Milvarr and¡­ the last owner of your body trapped in the ¡®temple¡¯?¡± I asked, remembering the priest¡¯s account. I wondered how true that was.

    ¡°From what she told me, the two of them were led there by a priest and a monk, and then betrayed by them. She told me that the monk attacked them, but she also distrusted the priest to no end as well. She first thought that I was the priest, using some necromantic magic to swap bodies¡­¡± he answered, looking down at the sword at his hip. ¡°She thought that everything happened because the priest and the monk wanted this sword.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know much about that sword, but I could tell it was magical somehow. Maybe reinforced or enchanted, but I at least knew it was worth a pretty penny. However, priests and monks are the last people you¡¯d think would care for monetary value¡­ but some of em are corrupt scum.

    I could see it happening. Evil is just a business model, after all.

    ¡°Hm¡­ I¡¯ll make sure to report all of this and thoroughly investigate it.¡± I replied. I wasn¡¯t sure how much I trusted this entity, but the reports seemed to match what the priest said¡­ but there were many questions they had to answer now. And one burning question I needed to know from this guy.

    ¡°How did Milvarr die?¡± I asked. Given how strong he was, it was hard to see her dying if he tried to protect her¡­ but he was also quite banged up. What kind of danger was hiding so close to town that this monster would get injured and even lose a companion!?

    ¡°That¡­ it was my fault.¡± he said, lowering his head with a regretful smile. I didn¡¯t expect him to just admit that. My mind wandered trying to think about what it could have been. Did he kill her? Why? Or is he blaming himself for being unable to protect her?

    ¡°To leave the temple, there are four statues. You need to stand before the right one and recite a phrase¡­ The true followers wish to retrieve his blessings from the sea.¡± he explained, looking down at his hands. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise it because of my situation, but I broke the puzzle by taking a key from one of the statues. The moment she recited the phrase, that shadow appeared again¡­¡± and he trailed off, as if he was reliving the moment.

    ¡°And¡­ the Guardian of Faith killed her?¡± I asked, a creeping dread in my throat as I realised just how strong that creature must have been to appear before this entity twice. ¡°Yes, it was instantaneous, she didn¡¯t even finish speaking. She didn¡¯t even make a noise¡± he replied, clenching his hands as they trembled.

    Seeing this entity like this¡­ was he scared? Was the Guardian of Faith just that powerful? That he couldn¡¯t do anything even with his intense magic?

    Adjusting my spear, I took a step around to peek at his face and- BLOODY HELL! His face was twisted in what could only be pure hatred! His hands weren¡¯t trembling out of fear, he was holding back a mad rage!

    I couldn¡¯t even ask anymore questions, I was just terrified at that point. I felt like if I said something wrong, I¡¯d be killed right where I stood.

    *Gulp* He must have fought the Guardian of Faith, that¡¯s why he was so injured, and now he was plotting his revenge, wasn¡¯t he!?

    I didn¡¯t want to get involved.

    ¡°Hah¡­¡± He let out a tired laugh as he straightened himself, before turning to look at me with a chillingly neutral expression. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind answering a few odd questions from me?¡± he asked, and I felt sweat drip down my back as I tried to hide any bit of fear I had.

    Whatever the true identity of this entity was in front of me, I had to make sure I wasn¡¯t on his bad side¡­

 Chapter 10 - Answers

    When I remembered how Milvarr died, I couldn¡¯t help but feel fear thinking of how strong that shadowy creature was, that ¡®Guardian of Faith¡¯ as Solly called it. But  more than that, I felt an absolute hatred for myself, for how USELESS I was.

    No. Useless was too high a praise.

    I was less than useless, I actively made things worse by pulling out that damn key!

    If I hadn¡¯t had my head in the clouds, I might have been able to do¡­ something, ANYTHING!

    But no, all I could do was just watch the life drain out of her headless body.

    ¡°Hah¡­¡± But that was the past. I had to be better from here on. If something like that happened again, I needed to make sure I would never let my guard down again.

    After dealing with my burning emotions, I turned to the guard again. I felt like I had told her enough, and I could always answer more questions if she didn¡¯t trust me. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind answering a few odd questions from me?¡± I asked.

    And I swore I saw her flinch a bit. A bug bite maybe? Either that or¡­ it was really difficult to read it, but her poker face faltered for a moment¡­ and I think I saw fear?

    Was she scared of something? Did I tip my hand too much? Does she think I know too much? Is she scared of the priest? I could see someone with a position like a priest having power over a guard¡­ or was it¡­ no, I didn¡¯t know enough to extrapolate further.

    ¡°Not at all! *ahem*, I mean, ask away.¡± she quickly replied, pushing that half railed train of thought away. Let¡¯s test the waters then.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand the currency of this country¡­ What is the value of these coins?¡± I asked, pulling out the 1 silver, 1 bronze, 6 copper coins.

    She narrowed her eyes slightly and nodded as I asked that question, leaving me confused if she found that suspicious or if that confirmed some theory she might have had.

    ¡°We call the currency we use in most of the surface world ¡®marks¡¯. ¡± she started explaining, so it wasn¡¯t a country-specific currency, but a common currency for the entire ¡®surface world¡¯!? That was barely accomplishable even on earth with all our technological advancements! Was it based on the actual value of the coins? But how¡¯s that standardised everywhere?

    ¡°The lowest form of currency is a copper coin, worth a single mark.

    A big copper coin is 10 marks.

    A bronze coin is 30 marks.

    A silver coin is 10 big copper coins, or 100 marks.

    A gold coin is 10 silver coins, or 1,000 marks.

    A platinum coin is 10 gold coins, or 10,000 marks.¡± she explained.

    So I had¡­ 136 marks. Was that a lot, or not much? ¡°How much would a common person spend in a day?¡± I asked. ¡°Around 15 marks, I reckon, if you live like an average commoner.¡±

    So I had 9 days worth of expenses? That was a decent start¡­ ah, I lost about 64 marks then, a whole 4 days of expenses!?

    Whatever, at least I¡¯m alive.

    ¡°Thanks for answering that.¡± I thanked her, letting out a small groan at the money I lost. I contemplated what to ask next¡­ and there were three things that came to mind.

    Identifying the skeleton I found in the temple, finding anything I could about the last owner of this body, and finding out who the priest and monk were.

    ¡°Do you recognise who these belong to?¡± I asked, pulling out the tag and the small empty bag, before holding them out with the staff.

    She hesitantly took the items and looked at them, furrowing her brows as she looked at the tag, then looking at the other items with some visible confusion. As she turned to get a better look at them in the light, her eyes suddenly widened, ever so slightly, before turning back to me.

    ¡°These belong to an adventurer¡­ the bag and staff are both magical items,¡± she started talking, staring at the tag. Huh, I didn¡¯t even know they were magic. Could that small bag be¡­ one of the most iconic fantasy convenience items!? ¡°So that¡¯s a bag of holding then?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask, and she regarded me with a small nod. That would be so nice¡­ if it worked when it was close to me.

    Well, I¡¯ll return it to his family, or sell it if I can¡¯t. I wonder if anything else is inside?

    ¡°It¡¯s empty, though. That¡¯s strange.¡± she muttered. What? Who would steal the contents of a bag of holding, but not the actual bag itself!? This doesn¡¯t make any sense.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what exactly the staff is, but it¡¯s a mage¡¯s staff. If this Oromoar was a mage¡­ I know a mage adventurer passed by the village several months ago. You should report this to the guard house¡­ o-or I could report it myself when we get there. But it would be helpful if you were the one reporting it because you have details I don¡¯t.¡± She stuttered a bit, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel that she was afraid. And I had this nagging suspicion that she was afraid of me¡­ but I didn¡¯t know why.

    She seemed strong, and I had zero doubt she could beat me ten out of ten times¡­ was she scared of something else? Maybe the guard was strict with the rules and she was afraid of breaking them? That was possible.

    ¡°I understand, I¡¯ll report this myself.¡± I replied, taking back the items. They were useless in my hands, but they had a different weight to them now that I knew they were magical items. ¡°And, do you know who the last owner of this body was?¡± I then asked. I knew she had seen him before, I needed to know everything she did.

    ¡°I do, yeah.¡± she replied, a bit slower than normal, as if she was double checking to see if I was lying. ¡°His name was Millar. I don¡¯t remember if he had a last name. He said he came here from the merchant nation Lariatne. He came to the village a bit more than a week ago with that kobold, Milvarr. I don¡¯t remember if she had a last name either.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡± Millar. At least I had a name for the gravestone now. The last thing I needed to know¡­ ¡°The priest and monk who were with him and Milvarr¡­ what happened to them?¡±

    She pursed her lips at that. ¡°I don¡¯t know the whole story, but the priest showed up alone a few days ago. She said that the monk betrayed everyone and you and Milvarr died in traps.¡±

    Huh, interesting. Millar died in a trap, but Milvarr was alive. This priest didn¡¯t check on the bodies then¡­ and the monk just¡­ disappeared?

    ¡°What happened to the monk?¡± I asked. ¡°I dunno.¡± came the honest reply. ¡°I assume he¡¯s dead, but I dunno.¡±

    So I have to be careful of the priest, and the monk might still be around.

    ¡°What¡¯s the priest¡¯s name and what does she look like? Same for the monk.¡± I questioned, I needed this information. ¡°The priest¡¯s name is Soliaras. They¡¯re a visiting priest of Permission, the god of law. They¡¯re a white haired woman in heavy armour, it would be hard to not recognise her¡± she then paused, thinking for a bit.

    ¡°I dunno much about the monk, other than they were probably a human man¡­ somewhere around your height?¡± she said, before shrugging.

    ¡°I see, thank you.¡± I had countless more questions, but it could wait for now.

    I just wanted to get to the village and feel civilized. I had a layer of grime on me that I couldn¡¯t get rid of so far, and I just needed a moment of peace to think¡­ and food. I wasn¡¯t hungry, despite everything, but I needed to eat when I could.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I fell silent and just let Solly lead me to the village.

    ¡­

    The late morning sun beat down on us and annoying insects that looked like rounder mosquitoes constantly tried to pester me as we trudged through the rapidly thinning jungle, walking on a fairly well trodden path.

    Solly said nothing as she led me forward, and I didn¡¯t want to stand around and talk much more either.

    Eventually, we pushed aside our last annoying hanging leaves, before entering a large clearing.

    It seemed to stretch on for ages, all the way to distant mountains. Well, not so distant, they might have been two days away?

    And spotting this vast plain were several brown, green, blue and red houses, with a road leading from the path we were on all the way to a fairly large and dense cluster of buildings, maybe half an hour away. Many patches of the land were broken into brown squares of farmland, but I didn¡¯t see much in the way of crops from where I was.

    By my very rough estimate, there were probably a hundred buildings at least? Villages range from 50 people to 1,000¡­ so assuming this world followed a similar system, this must have counted as an average village with a few hundred people. There were even two churches that I could see.

    While there were plenty of people out and about, it felt rather quiet because of just how wide the plains were, and the absence of any cars or machinery¡­ It was rather peaceful.

    ¡°Welcome to Noffan.¡± Solly spread her arms out, gesturing to the village sprawled out before me. ¡°What do you think of it? Looks pretty good for the middle of nowhere, eh?¡±

    ¡°It seems like a nice place.¡± I replied, admiring the welcome with my sore eyes.

    I had so much to do from here. I had to arrange Milvarr¡¯s rites and look for Millar¡¯s and Oromar Witechere¡¯s next of kin to give them their respective items and the news of their death¡­ I had to make sure that the priest didn¡¯t find me either. If she was responsible for killing Millar and trapping Milvarr, I didn¡¯t want to deal with her.

    Long term, I had two main goals; I had to earn enough money to survive and travel, and I had to learn how I could return home.

    ¡°Do you know where I can find an inn? And the guard house¡­ hm¡­ I don¡¯t think I can report Millar¡¯s death when I¡¯m walking around in his body¡­ ¡± I asked, realising the biggest hurdle with dealing with Millar¡¯s next of kin, the fact that I was in his corpse.

    It felt a bit disgusting to say, but it was my body now.

    ¡°It¡¯s true, that¡¯s a difficult one¡­ I¡¯ll figure out how to report that myself. Don¡¯t mind it for now.¡± she quickly replied, nodding.

    ¡°There¡¯re two inns. One¡¯s near the center, and one¡¯s near the edge of the village¡­ I¡¯d say you should try the one in the center, it¡¯s a nice place called the ¡®Coral Respite¡¯. But it might be full. The other inn¡¯s called ¡®Cat place¡¯, it¡¯s ran by a crazy cat lady. The guard house¡¯s that tall building with the tower and flag.¡±

    For this village to have two inns and one of them full, it must have been on a decently busy route¡­ but then I remember that we were on an island. What?

    ¡°Do you normally get a lot of travellers here? We¡¯re on an island, aren¡¯t we?¡± I asked, I had to know this. But Solly just shrugged and laughed. ¡°Taxes.¡± she said, waving off my question. ¡°You¡¯ll get it if you talk to people¡­ I need to continue my patrol now if you don¡¯t need anything else.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to take more time than I needed, and I didn¡¯t have many more questions that I had to ask her specifically right now.

    ¡°I appreciate your time, I¡¯ll look for you if I need anything.¡± I replied, smiling in appreciation.

    I learnt a lot from her, and I was lucky to have met her of all people.

    She regarded me for a moment, before nodding, then she turned around and walked away.

    Notably, she didn¡¯t walk towards the village, but off into the jungle again.

    That left me alone again, at the edge of this vast clearing, half an hour from the actual village.

    But, I still felt like someone was watching me.

    It was an unnerving feeling, and something I hadn¡¯t felt in years.

    The feeling soon passed, or maybe I just got used to it.

    Either way, I simply started walking. I finally had some safety and I needed to make the most of it.

    ¡­

    Following the road, I finally reached the village, and seeing it up close really made me feel like I had found civilization again¡­ I guess I was weaker than I thought, if a single day could feel like a week long ordeal.

    Like plenty of villages, it was built centered around the main road, with dozens upon dozens of buildings and a few side roads leading to more buildings. To reach the village I had to cross farmlands, and they seemed to be between seasons as there were farmers sowing a new batch of crops.

    Villagers were walking about and doing their business, and I saw quite a mix of species.

    There were humans, lizard-people, humanoids with green and gray skin of several sizes. Ah, and there are a few animal-people. Paul would kill to see one of them in person.

    It really felt like I stepped into a fantasy game¡­ though I could do without the combat or death.

    As I walked down the road I got quite a few stares from the locals. It probably wasn¡¯t every day that someone just waltzes into town injured.

    I ignored them and took in every detail I could make out about the village.

    It was quite large, and easily had 300 or 400 people, the houses were fairly well made, and the people seemed to have decent clothing, which meant that it was connected to the bigger settlement in the north and it was probably a well off place over there.

    I passed by a few stores, hardware, a food place, a herbalist (that could be quite useful if I could find something non-magical or sell my healing potion), and the main inn I was told about.

    ¡®Coral Respite¡¯ was a gaudy building with the wood painted bright colours and coral shapes carved into said wood. I didn¡¯t understand how this was the good one, I feared for what the other place would look like.

    Thinking that, I stepped inside, and was immediately greeted by three cats staring me down. What?

    ¡°Oh ello dearie, how can I elp you?¡± an old human lady asked, suddenly appearing behind the counter. Did I get confused? Surely this was the crazy cat lady, wasn¡¯t it? She even had three cats in her arms.

    ¡°Ah, hello there. Do you have any rooms open?¡± I asked, eying the cats. They were pretty cute, but I¡¯ve always been horribly allergic to them¡­ but I wasn¡¯t having a reaction this time, I was fine.

    However, that only made the dissonance between this body and my old one stand out more and disturbed me. One awful feeling I got around cats was replaced with another¡­ how wonderful.

    ¡°Oh, nae, the room¡¯s are all booked dearie.¡± she apologized, placing a cat on the counter while rubbing the beliefs of the other two in her arms. Well, that couldn¡¯t be helped.

    ¡°I see, thanks then.¡± I quickly thanked her and left.

    There was still so much I needed time to deal with emotionally, so many questions that I couldn¡¯t tell what I really cared about anymore¡­

    Ignoring those welling emotions, I made my way to the other inn I was told about, not bothering with the stares of the locals as I moved. And I eventually found myself in front of a large building that seemed to blend in with the rest quite well.

    A wooden structure that looked like it was made of wood and didn¡¯t have any special shapes or colours, with a simple board in the front that said ¡®Cat place¡¯.

    Feeling a lot more relieved at how this place looked I just assumed Solly got the names mixed up earlier, then opened the door to walk in.

    ¡°Hold it right there Richard! You think you can just walk in like that and hide those evil thoughts!?¡± A woman¡¯s voice called out. At first I thought it was a domestic incident¡­ but then I noticed that it was directed at me, coming from an anthropomorphic cat lady holding a backscratcher like a sword.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s no use trying to hide it. Who sent you!? The embassy? The wizards of Trador? Give it up already, I know your little game¡­ you¡¯re here to take my memories, aren¡¯t you!?¡± she threatened me, waving around the backscratcher¡­ Why did I have to deal with this when all I wanted to do was get a room, curl up into a ball, and just be an emotional wreck?

    ¡°Listen, I just want a room. Is there one available?¡± I asked, sighing.

    She eyed me down for a few seconds, before slowly sidestepping behind the front desk.

    ¡°We have openings¡­ consider yourself lucky, whoever you are. 10 marks for the night, we don¡¯t serve food here, especially to Richards who work for that Trador arse!¡±

    I didn¡¯t have the energy to play around with whatever this game was¡­ it was likely because of a mental illness, but that isn¡¯t my speciality. Otherwise, since this is a fantasy world, everything she¡¯s saying could just be true. There¡¯s no easy way to tell¡­ *sigh*

    ¡°Here, which room¡¯s mine?¡± I just gave her the money and waited as she pulled out a key and slid it at me. ¡°The back left one over there. No funny moves, I¡¯ve got my sword of silence right here¡­ lets see you chant a spell without a head!¡±

    I guess that is one way to silence someone¡­

    I took my key, went over to my room and just collapsed as soon as I got through the door.

    Jesus.

    I will say this, the room was very well kept, and very bland. I prefer that to the other inn.

    Letting out a deep breath, I just wanted to clean up and sleep for a day¡­ ah, but I had to eat first.

    As I thought about this, I stood up and saw¡­ myself?

    There was a mirror, and I was looking right into it, and what I saw was¡­ me.

    I finally saw myself and it looked like a version of me that was a decade younger, but my hair was pure white and my eyes weren¡¯t both green anymore. One of them was blue¡­

    What the hell? This was incredibly uncanny, it must have been some kind of sick joke.

 Chapter 11 - Fast Friends

    Doppelg?nger¡­ a normally unseeable replica of every man, bird, or beast that stalks them from birth to death, a double of their soul, a wraith that stares back at you in the mirror.

    To meet one¡¯s double is a sign that one¡¯s death is imminent.

    I had readied my heart to see a new face in the mirror, one I couldn¡¯t recognise. I was prepared to feel like I had really become a different person.

    But I couldn¡¯t be prepared for this, not to see ¡®myself¡¯ when I looked in the mirror.

    An uncanny copy of myself that was just¡­ wrong. It felt like I was looking at my double in the mirror. This body¡¯s appearance didn¡¯t change when I took over, Solly wouldn¡¯t have recognised it if it had. So Millar looked like me from the start. He was basically my doppelg?nger¡­ no, that¡¯s wrong. I am the doppelg?nger.

    I was fatally injured after the earthquake, I died in the OR¡­ and I showed up here. I was a wraith. And I met my double, and Millar met his doppelg?nger¡­

    To meet one¡¯s double is a sign that one¡¯s death is imminent.

    Was I really put into an already dead corpse, or did Millar die because I replaced him?

    I pushed back these thoughts for a bit as I focused on the present first.

    The room had a medium sized bed that looked¡­ alright. I¡¯ve seen worse. It also had a chair and a table. There was a tiny bathroom attached, and I was shocked to see a toilet with a flush, a little sink, and a tap with a bucket.

    Honestly, it was miles above what I expected, and once again I wondered how they could have such advanced technology but still use swords and leather armour, it made no sense!

    I opened the tap to fill the bucket, I desperately needed to clean up before anything else¡­ and the tap didn¡¯t work. Turning one way or the other did nothing, and I thought it was broken, which was odd because it all looked pretty clean. (I took off my shoes at the room door, just for information.)

    Taking a step back to check the sink, water suddenly started flowing from the tap.

    I reached out for the tap again and it stopped, but started working again when I got far enough away. Of course! Magic! So they replicated some technology with magic, that¡¯s interesting. How did it work?

    Jesus, I didn¡¯t even know the first thing about magic in this world and I was already distracted by the minutiae of how they used it in plumbing¡­

    Letting out a sigh, I double checked the floor and walls, it looked like polished stone, rather than ceramic tiles. It was waterproof enough.

    There was a bucket, a mug, some soap, and a picture of a frog wearing a nun''s habit hanging behind the bathroom door¡­ everything I needed for a basic bath.

    ¡­

    Finally clean, I stepped into the main room with nothing but a towel. I felt like a new man after that¡­ Well, I felt like I wasn¡¯t dying at least. It felt great to wash out my injuries without fearing running out of water or anything!

    Staring at myself in the half-length mirror, I took a moment to finally look at my new body¡­ Millar¡¯s body, in proper lighting. I made sure the window was closed before fully inspecting myself.

    The wound on my upper right arm was already substantially healed, and the wound on my left thigh was properly closed and there wasn¡¯t too much risk of it reopening. That was some remarkable recovery rate.

    And then the smaller differences¡­ I was about 173 cm (5¡¯9¡±), which was a little shorter than I used to be, at 180 cm (6ft). I wasn¡¯t particularly muscular, but I was definitely in shape, with no excess fat. I didn¡¯t have the scars I had on my old body, but I had new scars¡­ as well as a substantial one on my back. I couldn¡¯t see it too well but it didn¡¯t seem recent.

    My shoulders were a bit narrower too, now that I thought about it, and I still had the exact same mole under my mouth to the right that my old body had¡­ huh.

    That was it. Once I learned everything I could, I laid down in the bed and just enjoyed the comfort.

    I mentioned it earlier, but it wasn¡¯t the best bed. However, I slept on the ground last night, so this was a big step up.

    So, this was it, wasn¡¯t it?

    I lost everything¡­ It was just a repeat of all the questions I asked myself barely a day ago when Milvarr died.

    Why did any of this have to happen?

    My mind felt like a sludge of doubt and confusion. I didn¡¯t know what to do¡­ so I just focused on my current goals.

    I wanted to give Milvarr and Millar their rites, and I already told Solly, so she would help with that.

    I wanted to return the staff and bag of holding to Oromar Witechere¡¯s family.

    I wanted to learn more about Millar and find his routes and return his sword to his family.

    I wanted to return home.

    Returning home wasn¡¯t likely a short term thing, if it was possible in the first place.

    I needed to learn more for that, I needed income to sustain me and fund my search¡­ Being alone would make living a secluded scholar easier, but I wasn¡¯t the loner type. It would be nice to find friends who I could rely on for help. Important information tends to be hidden behind big people and needs connections to reach¡­ so I needed to head out and talk to people.

    Step 1, talk to the guards about Oromar¡¯s death and the items.

    Step 2, find a feasible way to make a living in this world.

    Step 3, learn about the merchant nation Lariatne. It¡¯s where Millar¡¯s from.

    Step 4, start learning about magic.

    Step 5, find people I can trust.

    And hanging over all of this right now, I needed to make sure I avoided the Priest of law, Soliaras. It was the monk who attacked Millar and Milvarr, but she was there too and suspect number two in my eyes.

    Milvarr claimed she wanted the sword, and given how sharp she was, I¡¯m inclined to believe her. Coming across the priest now could lead to my death. Antimagic might have saved my life quite a few times, but all it takes is a competent fighter with a sharp stick to kill me.

    And there was the small point of if I could avoid being recognized as Millar¡­ as far as I knew, I still looked like him, and there wasn¡¯t anything I could do unless I just covered my face with a hood, which wasn¡¯t practical.

    I considered leaving the sword behind if it was important to the priest, but I wasn¡¯t sure I could trust a random inn¡¯s security or ethos, especially if this sword was valuable enough to kill two people over.

    Well, there was no point in wasting more time, so I threw on a beige shirt, blue pants, took a brown cloth and wore it like a bandana to cover some of my hair. Then I wrapped Millar¡¯s sword up with a cloth and headed out. I no longer had any spare clothing.

    After crossing paths with the angry cat lady who glared at me on my way out, I beelined towards the guard house.

    I drew a lot fewer eyes as I made my way through the streets, though the fancy staff did draw some interest¡­ there was nothing I could do about it, I just didn¡¯t have the material to hide it.

    Looking around, the people here seemed to have a fairly muted sense of colours, both for clothing and buildings. I¡¯ve heard that bright colours attract wild animals, so that does make sense. Not many people would like to get shanked by a double snake everytime they leave their house.

    And one person who stood out to me amongst all of these mostly regularly dressed people was someone wearing a worn grey hooded cloak. It was drawn forward to cover their face, make them ¡®inconspicuous¡¯... but it really did make them stand out like a sore thumb.

    This person looked suspicious. I need to reiterate, they look like some stereotypical thief with how conspicuously they¡¯re covered up. And that hood.

    I decided to ignore them as they stood there staring at some shop¡­ *grumble* but I could clearly hear their stomach growl in hunger as I walked past them.

    My mind went back to that old man I couldn¡¯t help¡­ I¡¯ve been a fervent believer in charity since then, and it just wasn¡¯t in my nature to leave someone to suffer when I had a chance to help.

    I glanced at the shop she was standing in front of, and it was a bakery.

    ¡°Are you alright? Do you need help?¡± I asked, and the hooded person jumped a bit at that before turning to look at me.

    Despite the shadows, I could see bluish green skin and red eyes staring up at me under the hood. This person was about 152 cm (5¡¯1¡±), and I¡¯m about 80% sure it was a girl.

    ¡°Ah, n-no, don¡¯t worry, I was just moving on¡­¡± she stuttered out, awkwardly turning to step away. Being wary of strangers is good. ¡°You¡¯re hungry, right? Do you want to sit down for lunch with me?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    I didn¡¯t know this woman¡¯s situation, but I can sympathise with how difficult it can be when you can¡¯t afford food. I¡¯ve seen it plenty when I volunteer at the Franziskustreff.

    I understood I wasn¡¯t in the best situation to hand out money without having an income myself, but if putting emotions first makes you stupid, that¡¯s what I am and I accept that.

    ¡°A-are you sure?¡± the figure stopped and asked back. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m horribly lost and need to hear about this place too.¡± Not coming off as a dominant figure was important to ease her nerves, but I couldn¡¯t let myself look like an easy target. Some people can¡¯t help themselves if they see an opportunity.

    It took a few moments to calm her down, but before long we were sitting on a bench in an alley with a few meat buns between us. The total cost was about 6 marks.

    So far, I spent 16 marks for 2 meals and a night stay at an inn.he cost of living was more or less on par with the 15 marks Solly mentioned. It seemed she gave me the estimate for a traveller and not a townsperson who¡¯d have a place to stay and cook a few meals themselves.

    ¡°I¡¯m Armin Fischer. What¡¯s your name?¡± I asked the hooded girl who was already scarfing down a meat bun. Wow, she ate it with so much enthusiasm that it made me hungry.

    ¡°Awh, shovy.¡± she gulped, nearly choking. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ K-kanako. It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Kanako¡­ that¡¯s a nice name.¡± I said. It sounded japanese, but I didn¡¯t have any context for what people were called here. Millar, Milvarr and Soliaras seemed like western names, but none of them were local, and I never heard Solly¡¯s proper name.

    ¡°T-thanks. My mother named me¡­ and are you really okay with this?¡± she asks, having a half eaten bun in her gloved hands. I nodded, and she took another bite of the bun, then just sat there staring at it in silence for a few seconds. ¡°Thank you¡­ um¡­ are you an adventurer or a mercenary?¡± she asked, glancing at the staff and the cloth-covered sword.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m on a bit of an adventure,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, ¡°but no, not exactly. I¡¯m a doctor, and I¡¯m a long way from home now. I found this staff on a corpse and I¡¯m taking it to the guards so it can get to the next of kin.¡±

    ¡°O-oh I see!¡± she replied, though she sounded a bit hesitant. It felt like she was about to ask something, but eventually dropped that thought. ¡°So, you¡¯re new around here? I am too! I just reached the island three days ago, but getting here was such a pain. You weren¡¯t on the same boat, were you? I think I¡¯d recognise you because you have such pretty eyes.¡±

    Well, wasn¡¯t she the chatty sort? This did bring up the question of if I was going to keep the same story as I told Solly or not. Weighing my options, I could dress things up to make conversation easier.

    ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t on the boat.¡± I replied. ¡°I don¡¯t honestly remember how I got here, I just woke up in some ruins. It¡¯s not the weirdest story I¡¯ve heard involving magic, but it is a bit inconvenient.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you¡­ were you kidnapped? Or was it a scroll of teleportation? I¡¯ve heard of people using them by accident and ending up on the other side of the world! Are you alright? Do you know how far from home you are?¡± She asked a dozen questions a minute, but it was refreshing to talk to someone like this again. She reminded me a lot of Anneliese¡­ ah, Anneliese¡­ my girlfriend, soon to be fiance, and another person I might never see again.

    ¡°A-are you alright? I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m asking too many questions, aren¡¯t I?¡± she asked awkwardly. ¡°I just haven¡¯t had a chance to talk to someone so much in a while¡­¡±

    ¡°No no, it¡¯s fine.¡± I replied, waving a hand as if to brush off her worry. ¡°You just reminded me of home for a moment¡­ Honestly, I¡¯m not too sure right now, it¡¯s all a bit of a haze. But don¡¯t worry about that, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll figure something out.¡± I laughed. Honestly, it was a big issue, but I didn¡¯t need to trauma dump on someone I just met.

    ¡°Right now, my first goal is to find a new job. Once I have a bit of security I can look for information on how to get home.¡± I explained. ¡°What about you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡­¡± she hesitated a bit, ¡°I¡¯m looking for a new place to call home. I had some trouble back where I¡¯m from so I¡¯m here now. I¡¯m looking for a job too¡­ my dream is to become an adventurer, but I can¡¯t do that without money, and I don¡¯t have much left so I¡¯m trying to be careful with spending it¡­ ¡± she was being vague, but I couldn¡¯t entirely blame her. I wasn¡¯t being very truthful or any less vague either.

    She didn¡¯t seem to let her guard down even a bit while we were talking, regardless of how emotive she was being. Being vague wasn¡¯t much of a problem, but I felt uncomfortable with how she acted and the dissonance between that and her very suspicious attire.

    ¡®Adventurer¡¯¡­ I¡¯ve been saying it pretty casually so far because it was a very common term in many fantasy stories, but they exist here, don¡¯t they? This basically is a fantasy world. There are people who dive into dungeons that could be filled with traps and monsters, where there are dangers I couldn¡¯t even imagine with what little I knew¡­

    Osomar was an adventurer. Milvarr as well. Millar might have been one too¡­ and all three of them met their end in that filthy temple.

    That was something this woman aspired to be?

    ¡°Adventurers¡­ there weren¡¯t any of those where I¡¯m from. I¡¯ve only heard stories, but what are they exactly?¡± I asked. I wasn¡¯t keen on risking my life for money, but it was an option I needed to look into if it helped me earn money and travel to different places while studying about magic.

    ¡°They don¡¯t have many adventurers in my country yet, but¡­ how do I explain this?¡± she asked, tapping the bench with a finger as she continued eating. ¡°Okay, so there¡¯s this big organisation called the Adventure¡¯s Association. They get a lot of jobs from a lot of places. And then there are guilds that come together to distribute these jobs, and guilds are just permanent groups of adventurers.¡± She explained.

    Concise and easy to understand. So Adventurers form guilds and do work for the Association.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard stories of adventurers hunting monsters and going into dangerous ruins¡­ is that all they do?¡± I asked. This was important, because if it was, then I had no interest in being one.

    ¡°No, they do all sorts of things. They do work like gathering various materials and ingredients, exploring areas, hunting criminals, doing guard duty, investigating things the guards don¡¯t¡­ basically anything. Some adventure guilds also double as mercenary guilds, and there are plenty of adventurers who just get the minimum qualifications and learn other trades with the connections they get.¡± Kanako excitedly explained. ¡°Unless you get tied to a big guild, adventurers can go anywhere!¡±

    ¡°Interesting¡­ I should look into that if I get the chance then.¡± It sounded like it could be ideal. Being a doctor somewhere would tie me down and make it harder to gather information, but being a doctor in a guild would give me a lot more options¡­ ah, but if healing magic exists, then there¡¯s not much use for a doctor, is there?

    ¡°How common is healing magic, by the way? There was almost none of it back home.¡± I asked. ¡°If it¡¯s not someone from a church or temple, it¡¯s pretty rare. Most adventurers just rely on guild doctors. Healing potions are great too, but they aren¡¯t perfect.¡± she replied.

    That was good news for me. I just had to get qualifications, however that was done here, and I¡¯d have a chance. I could also learn more about alchemy and making potions, which could prove very useful.

    ¡°I see, thanks for the information.¡± I finally said, ¡°I was feeling a bit lost, but you¡¯ve given me some direction.¡±

    Kanako turned to look at me and hesitated a bit, before just giving me a smile. ¡°I¡¯m glad I could help somehow¡­ Where are you going from here?¡± she asked.

    I wasn¡¯t sure, honestly¡­ but it was probably¡­ ¡°Lariatne, the merchant nation¡­ I think that¡¯s where I need to go.¡± I answered. There was probably something where Millar came from that could help me. That was my gut feeling, and a gut feeling was better than nothing.

    ¡°That¡¯s where I¡¯m planning on going too!¡± Kanako exclaimed, almost jumping from the bench. What a coincidence¡­ I might have found an interesting travel friend¡­

    As soon as I thought that, my mind flashed back to Milvarr. Her life had come to such a sudden end, just like that, all because of my mistake¡­ if I had another companion, could I even be useful? Could I even be sure that I wouldn¡¯t fuck up so royally!?

    My mind was just filled with these murky thoughts like I was drowning in a swamp.

    In this murky torrent, Kanako¡¯s enthusiasm seemed like a distant glimmer. I genuinely wanted to trust her, she just had that sincerity in her words, but I didn¡¯t want to rush to a decision¡­ I couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Ah, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to get excited like that¡­¡± she said, sitting back down. I didn¡¯t get too good a look at her because of the hood, but I¡¯m fairly sure she¡¯s close to twenty? She¡¯s a pretty cute kid.

    Despite being curious, I decided to not pry much more, because that would draw more questions in return. I¡¯m sure she wanted me to ask questions or bring up travel plans, but I left the topic and just quietly ate alongside her.

    When we finally finished, I stood up, ignoring my aching thigh and arm. ¡°Well, it¡¯s been nice meeting you Kanako.¡± I simply said, ready to leave. ¡°E-excuse me¡­ Fischer¡­ ah, no, I mean Armin. D-do you need someone to travel with? I¡¯m a really good scout.¡±

    A scout¡­ silent movement, information gathering, possible trapping skills¡­ interesting, but they weren¡¯t exactly subtle so far.

    And besides that¡­ ¡°I¡¯m not really much of a fighter, so that doesn¡¯t mean much to me, sorry.¡± I have no context for what that even means.

    ¡°T-that¡¯s fair¡­¡± she replied, deflating a bit. I genuinely felt bad about pushing back like this¡­ I guess I¡¯m a bit of a sucker that way. However, I didn¡¯t want to rush to a decision.

    Unlike sympathy, you can¡¯t be quick to throw around trust. It¡¯s something that has to be earnt.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty suspicious¡­ aren¡¯t I?¡± she asked, letting out a sigh as she looked down at herself.

    ¡°I won¡¯t lie, you are.¡± I answered. I didn¡¯t want to pry, but if she had a reason to cover up like that, I would like to know. ¡°Y-yeah¡­ there¡¯s a reason. I just can¡¯t tell you¡­ yet¡­ sorry.¡±

    *Sigh* She seemed like a good kid from what little I talked to her, but she was too suspicious.

    ¡°Listen, I understand that you want a travel companion, but I don¡¯t even know you yet.¡± I decided to stop being subtle and say what I wanted to say outright.

    ¡°We¡¯re two strangers who just met and have no reason to trust each other. While I would be grateful to have a travel companion, I can¡¯t trust my back so someone I just met. Maybe we could decide on this matter at a later time, if we come to understand each other to some extent?¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah, you¡¯re really trustworthy though¡­¡± she replied after a few seconds.

    Excuse me? I just told her not to trust me? I mean, I did lie a bit to her about where I¡¯m from and my circumstances.

    ¡°A liar doesn¡¯t tell people to not trust them.¡± she pointed out. While that was true, the logic was¡­ underbaked. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve not met a person as nice as you in a while¡­ alright, if you can¡¯t decide on if you want to travel with me yet¡­ can you help me do some work to get money?¡± she asked.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I didn¡¯t get the sudden twist. Was this a scam she was trying to get me in?

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m really suspicious, so I can¡¯t just walk up to people and ask for work. But I¡¯ve been listening around, and the local apothecary wants someone to help find some herbs, but the people she usually hires are up north in the town right now. I want to do the job, b-but I can¡¯t just walk up and talk to them¡­¡± she replied, awkwardly shifting.

    Ah, so she was scared to talk to strangers¡­ but that wasn¡¯t just it. There must have been a reason she couldn¡¯t remove her hood. Either some disfigurement, branding, or unique features that people don¡¯t like. Those were my guesses. I didn¡¯t believe she was a wanted criminal¡­ no, she could have been, but I decided to discount that possibility.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± I could use the money as well, and learning more about herbs would be very helpful if I wanted to pick up alchemy. When I glanced at the potion recipe earlier, it did strike me as very similar to chemistry, which figures, and I learnt quite a bit about pharmacology in the course of my studies and practice, so it shouldn¡¯t be impossible to learn.

    ¡°Alright, that sounds good.¡± I replied. It would also be a good way to learn more about Kanako and if I could trust her. ¡°Really!?¡± she asked, grabbing my hand with both of hers, surprising me. She moved incredibly fast.

    ¡°Thank you so much! I can¡¯t wait, let¡¯s go immediately and-¡± I had to cut her off, ¡°Please wait. Let me drop this off first and finish a few other things. I¡¯ll meet you back here in¡­ an hour, maybe? Or is there a better place to find you?¡± I replied, gesturing at the staff.

    ¡°Ah, sorry. Here¡¯s good. I don¡¯t really have anything I can do around here right now..,¡± she replied. *Sigh* I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d have to deal with a kid so soon after waking up in another world.

    This long day was going to get longer¡­

 Chapter 12 - A Fast Buddy

    The guard house was one of the most surprising buildings so far.

    Unbelievably, it was three stories tall with a belfry-like tower attached to it, flying a green flag with the symbol of a shark holding a shield.

    I¡¯ve seen two story buildings  in town, like with the inns and a few other larger ones, but this was the only three story structure I¡¯ve seen and I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d see something like this in what I thought was a mediaeval era village.

    Once again, I had to question if we were in the industrial era or not.

    Perhaps an expansion was going to happen soon and they were gearing this village to become a town? That didn¡¯t seem too far-fetched, I suppose.

    This part of the village was a lot more densely populated as well, though it probably helped that it was probably noon.

    Even with the fairly wide streets, I still rubbed shoulders with a few people. It was a bit hard to not stare at the non-human humanoids all around me.

    A cat wearing a tunic and standing like a human and just as tall stared at me as I walked past. A tall lizard person gave me the side eye as he sat on a bench carving something. Someone who looked like a werewolf bared her teeth at me with a wink¡­ seeing it just felt like a strange dream¡­

    Opening the front door and stepping into the guard house, I was met by a cat?

    I need to reiterate, a cat. This was not an anthropomorphic cat like the ¡®crazy cat lady¡¯ innkeeper.

    The interior of this building was nothing remarkable. It was exactly what you¡¯d expect of a mundane office in a fantasy story. Wooden floors, walls, a front desk with chairs, and a simple cabinet for documents as well as stairs leading up and down.

    The cat was sitting in front of a book a pen next to him, a few notes to a side and a very thin book to the other side, slightly behind him.

    ¡°Good noon, We¡¯re Garnet. What can we do for ye?¡± the actual cat spoke out loud, sitting at what was probably the front desk. I don¡¯t know why this cat talking is so much harder to accept than an anthropomorphic cat.

    It¡¯s probably because I¡¯ve seen too many furries back home. There¡¯s even a website that paul showed me for furry events around Frankfurt alone.

    ¡°Hello, My name is Armin Fischer, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± It still felt weird how I wasn¡¯t allergic to cats. ¡°I need to make a report¡­ a kobold named Milvarr has died in an abandoned temple nearby, and I¡¯ve found the corpse of an adventurer and brought his possessions for his next of kin.¡± I explained, placing the staff and the adventurer tag on the table in front of the cat, before searching for the little bag.

    ¡°A-alright,¡± the cat stuttered for a moment, before looking up at me properly. ¡°Are the bodies recoverable?¡± he spoke, or at least I believe it was a male voice. It¡¯s a cat, I could be wrong. ¡°Milvarr¡¯s is. The other is inside, and it¡¯s rather dangerous there.¡±

    ¡°Oromar Witechere¡­¡± the cat muttered reading the tag, he probably didn¡¯t remember that name, it has been months since he died, at least, given that he was just a skeleton. ¡°Ah, Dolomer¡¯s Wand Guild! They¡¯re the local guild over in the town, the only C rank guild in Vetus memoria.¡±

    Vetus memoria¡­ I assumed that was the name of this island. In latin, it translated to ancient memory. I could ask Solly or Kanako later, but I didn¡¯t expect to see latin of all things in this new world. I guess I can expect Welsh too, since it¡¯s a mythic language.

    I didn¡¯t know what ¡®C rank¡¯ meant for a guild, but I assumed it was a big deal if there was only one?

    ¡°I see,¡± I replied, pulling out the leather map that the merman gave me and putting it on the table, pointing at the rough spot where the temple was. ¡°There¡¯s a temple here, hidden behind a cave, and I buried Milvarr¡¯s body outside that cave last night.¡±

    ¡°A temple over there¡­¡± the cat tapped the leather map, tilting his head to the side. ¡°C-could you give me more details on the situation, sir?¡± he asked, and it felt like he was getting a bit nervous¡­ I suppose there are cops who never get used to dealing with people dying, be it in this world or earth.

    While I told Solly everything, I decided that I could try explaining things again here, if it would help make things clearer for them and have them bring back Milvarr sooner.

    And so I sat down in a chair and started explaining everything that happened to them again.

    In this version of the story, I avoided mentioning necromancers and being in another person¡¯s body and kept it to a kidnapping or teleportation magic gone awry, saying I wasn¡¯t sure which. Putting a little bit of amnesia in there, because it¡¯s a classic.

    ¡­

    [POV - Garnet]

    Today was supposed to be a right normal day.

    Boring, even.

    And t¡¯was. We was sat at me desk, doing paperwork, as we do.

    Then the logbook poofed open and a message from Solly showed up.

    She even used all 25 words!

    ¡°Estranged traveller reporting death in unknown ruins, returning a deceased''s personal items. White hair human with staff. Treat him with extreme care. Absolutely NO tricks.¡±

    Now imagine that? That on never sends a message less there¡¯s an emergency. Only works once a day after all.

    But why¡¯d this matter so much? Got me all tizzied up and all, we¡¯re a good ol cat and we¡¯re right curious!

    So she says no tricks, but using illusion magic to make a fake guard to talk fer me is fine, right? We managed to pull off that we was an immortal pirate once with this magic, got me to walk right off a pirate ship with a bunch of loot in me old job, hoho.

    And then he walks right in, and we hit im with the good old ¡°Good noon, We¡¯re Garnet. What can we do for ye?¡±

    Now this white hair humey just stare right at me. Not even glancing at the illusion guard, just looking me dead in the eye.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Now that¡¯s absolutely terrifying.

    This gotta be a right scary mage to completely ignore me magic. Then he lay a big staff in front of me and just ripped me magic barrier apart in a second.

    We thought we were gonna die a quick an hopeless death right there.

    At that point, we decided to shut up and just do what Solly said to do.

    ¡­

    [POV - Armin Fischer]

    Talking with Garnet went a lot smoother than I thought.

    I expected more questions or pushback, but he only asked me about the details and told me to drop off Oromar¡¯s items with him. He said that there¡¯d likely be a reward, but they needed to contact the guild first and that I should stop by tomorrow, anytime after noon.

    Having dealt with that, I left the guard house.

    At that point, I took a moment to step aside from the fairly busy street and think.

    A lot had happened in the past day. But when I closed my eyes to organise my thoughts, all I could see was Milvarr¡¯s corpse, her detached head just staring up at me with a judging expression¡­ I felt my shoulder hit a wall, and I realised I had gone weak in the knees.

    It was strange. I¡¯m a doctor, a surgeon. I¡¯ve seen all manner of viscera and studied cadavers. I served in the Bundeswehr for several years, I saw people I called friends die. I had patients die before my very eyes¡­ and then the earthquake¡­ everything felt so hopeless, so many casualties and deaths, people lost loved ones and I- I¡­ I felt a sharp pain in my head and an ache in my heart, like a dagger was being twisted, but I didn¡¯t know why. It was still a muddled and fuzzy mess¡­

    I¡¯ve been such a failure when it really counted.

    I¡¯ve never botched a surgery, but I¡¯ve felt so helpless so many times¡­ a better surgeon could have succeeded in saving more lives, preventing more people from becoming cripples¡­ a better soldier wouldn¡¯t have frozen up and got shot, they¡¯d be able to still save lives on the field¡­ a smarter person wouldn¡¯t have caused Milvarr¡¯s death.

    No, I¡¯m smart enough to have not killed her. I don¡¯t have that excuse, I just didn¡¯t treat everything seriously enough, I didn¡¯t think about the ramifications of taking a puzzle and expecting it to work just fine after removing a piece.

    It just felt so suffocating.

    ¡°Hey buddy, are you doing alright?¡± I vaguely heard someone call out, then came a slap to my back, snapping me back to reality.

    For a second, I thought I saw a human hand, but when I blinked again, I noticed scales on that hand. Straightening up a little, I could see a regular what I thought was a regular human next to me¡­ but he had scales on his skin reminiscent to a snake.

    Was he a snake-kin? Or was it a skin condition?

    To describe him in two words, I saw a ¡®drunk cowboy¡¯.

    Brown hair tied back in a ponytail, dark gray cowboy hat, dark gray leather vest, and grieves over a greyish shirt and black pants. A black bandana tied around his neck¡­ he was very much out of a western flick, just a bit more armoured-looking.

    ¡°You look like you need a drink, pal. Here, have a sip of mine.¡± he cheerily said, holding up a reddish brown bottle with a cork and giving it a shake to show it was full.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay¡­ I don¡¯t drink.¡± I took a deep breath and steadied myself, getting a good whiff of how drunk this cowboy was.

    ¡°Eh, fair enough, more for me then!¡± He readily accepted that answer, popping the cork and taking a swig from it with a loose smile. I wasn¡¯t very good with dealing with alcoholics, Anneliese and my mother were both like that and I could never fight their enthusiasm as natural born happy drunks.

    ¡°Sure¡­ thanks for checking on me.¡± I just replied. It was hard to be too suspicious of a carefree drunk. ¡°I¡¯m Armin, and you are?¡± I asked, figuring knowing more people couldn¡¯t hurt.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m the lone slinger *hick* of the west¡­ no wait, east. And I¡¯m long slinging my way around right now. You *hick* can call me the ¡®One who slings¡¯. ¡± he replied, pulling out a broken slingshot and waving it around.

    ¡°What?¡± I didn¡¯t know how to reply for a second. ¡°Oh, not one for titles, eh? *hick* Fair fair¡­ fine then, call me Vildost. It¡¯s what my friends call me, and I¡¯ll *hick* give you an exception. An exception, alright! Cause you¡¯re not a friend, you¡¯re a buddy. You better respect the buddy system!¡±

    Jesus, he¡¯s just like Anne. ¡°Well, I never said I was against titles, mr ¡®One who slings¡¯, but how much slinging do you do with that broken sling?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but play along.

    ¡°Broken? Broken!?¡± he exclaimed, holding up the sling, ¡°Well, I¡¯ll have you know I used this sling to beat three wolves to submission barely a week ago! It¡¯s in peak condition- oh damn, it¡¯s broken! *hick* ¡± This man was a joy. ¡°Well looks like ol ¡®One who slings¡¯ Vildost¡¯s gone and retired. Anyway, nice to meet you buddy!¡±

    ¡°Do you go up to every random person you meet like this?¡± I asked. He was still a bit suspicious, even if he looked harmless. ¡°Of course! I¡¯d never *hick* turn down the chance to meet a new buddy! What about you? Do you *hick* what¡¯s the word¡­ that, do you double over in a random street often? You need to see a doctor?¡± he replied, actually sounding a bit worried despite how drunk he was. I was worried he¡¯d topple over with how wobbly he was at that last part.

    ¡°Ha¡­ well I am a doctor, so that¡¯s not an issue. I just¡­ a lot¡¯s happened in the past day.¡± I chuckled. I had to laugh or I felt like I might just cry.

    ¡°Ah dang, that¡¯s not good. If you ever *hick* need to lay a load off, your ol buddy Vildost¡¯s always willing to listen?¡± he offered, and honestly¡­ I wanted someone I could talk to. But not now, not him, not like this.

    I needed someone I could trust more, someone who knew more, someone I didn¡¯t have to worry about having to lie to¡­

    ¡°No, I¡¯m good, thanks.¡± I replied. ¡°I got a busy day ahead, I just needed to rest for a moment. Thanks, I appreciate the concern.¡± I added.

    ¡°Kay, if that¡¯s how you feel. *hick* Then good ol Vildost here¡¯s gonna ride off into the sunset and make himself scarce¡­ ah, wait the sun¡¯s up there *hick*. I need a horse that can fly, that¡¯d make slinging so much easier.¡± Mumbling that, he half sauntered half staggered off, taking another swig of whatever was in that bottle.

    And our encounter came to an end.

    There were already so many interesting characters that I¡¯ve come across¡­ in a way I felt blessed that I was still alive. I felt like I didn¡¯t appreciate that enough, but there were too many worries on my plate to celebrate.

    I decided to make one stop before heading to where I promised to meet Kanako.

    I needed a weapon.

    Yes, I had Millar¡¯s sword, but I wasn¡¯t trained in using it. It would take months, at the least, to be able to use this with any competence. Even then, I¡¯d stand no chance against anyone with years of training with a sword.

    If I looked at all of my military training, I could use several types of firearms, of which there were presumably none in this world, or none that I could afford.

    I could use crossbows, but those are somewhat expensive too?

    For melee, I was trained to use bayonets and knives.

    They¡¯re multi-purpose tools with far more uses than just killing enemies. Most modern day bayonets can act as wire cutters, hammers, screwdrivers, bottle and can openers etc.

    I could use throwing knives too, though that was more a ¡®party trick¡¯ I picked up from Paul. If you have a knife, throwing it isn¡¯t a bright idea, especially in a world with bullets.

    But it was a viable option here in a world with no guys¡­ Milvarr used knives made of magic so she wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the extra weight of carrying them around. That was smart.

    Aside from that, I could also use an axe or a shovel as a weapon if need be.

    Honestly, a short spear might be the best weapon, given my training.

    While they range greatly in quality and price, even a simple spear of a half decent quality would be better than a sword I don¡¯t know how to use.

    With that thought in mind, I set out to buy a short spear and a dagger or a knife, then meet Kanako.

    The constant thought of what I had to do next helped push aside all those gnawing thoughts and murky feelings that threatened to consume me.

 Chapter 13 - First Quest

    30 marks.

    The spear cost 30 marks, leaving me at 90 marks¡­ painful, I know.

    Also, a fun fact, it turns out there are quarter copper coins too. I noticed it when another customer bought some random thing. It¡¯s called a penny, and it¡¯s the smallest unit of currency.

    10 pennies make a mark, but they¡¯re not used very often since most shopkeepers like to round up to the nearest mark value. It¡¯s not like a number in a bank account, people actually have to carry pennies around and it¡¯s annoying.

    I heard a long argument between a cat person and a dog person about it. Apparently Lariatne has started using paper currency and that¡¯s slowly spreading.

    Coming from someone who¡¯s used to paper money, that does sound pretty useful. Though I do just imagine a flame trap just burning the money right through an adventurer¡¯s wallet.

    With a sheathed 5 foot long spear in hand (and no dagger, because I couldn''t afford it), I approached the spot we agreed to meet about twenty minutes early? There are sundials placed about the village, which was convenient. I half expected the hourly bell system, but considering the lack of walls, they probably didn¡¯t want to risk attracting monsters with that?

    ¡°Oh, hello Armin! You¡¯re back!¡± Kanako¡¯s voice called out, and I spun around to find her right behind me. How did she get there so quietly!?

    ¡°O-oh hello. You¡¯re here early.¡± I replied, eyeing her warily.

    I didn¡¯t notice the cowboy approach because I was¡­ preoccupied, but her¡­ she was a quiet one. I put a little more stock in her abilities as a ¡®scout¡¯ now.

    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t really have anything else I could do around here¡­ it¡¯s really hard to just ask strangers for work.¡± she awkwardly replied, and I empathised with her. My younger sister had a hard time talking to strangers too, she¡¯s quite the introvert and also autistic so she had a rough time with it.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m done with the things I had to do, so are you ready? It was the apothecary, right?¡± I asked with a chuckle. She nodded enthusiastically, gesturing in the direction.

    Following her, I took note that the village had a decent amount of shops and buildings¡­ A lot of the houses seemed to be made of wood, but there were a few that seemed to be made of stone and bricks. When I asked Kanako if she knew why, she told me that some buildings were built sturdier so they could act as shelters if there was a monster attack or a storm.

    How often does something like that happen? Apparently fairly often. Storms and monster attacks happen every month all over the world, but the severity depends on the season, celestial events, and local ecology.

    So I need to be careful about travelling in times like that.

    ¡°And there¡¯s going to be a storm sometime this week, so that¡¯s why we can¡¯t travel.¡± she added, and that sounded like an immediate concern. Looking up, the sky was rather murky, with the clouds forming a worrying spiral.

    Looking at the vast expanse of the sky and the building tensions within it, I realised that I hadn¡¯t looked at the sky even once today¡­ and thinking back to my life on earth, I rarely ever spend time looking at the sky.

    I didn¡¯t like looking up at the sky. I never really liked how small it make me feel, like I was nothing in the grand scheme of things, just one speck under an unbelievably large mass.

    But, now it felt so¡­ alienating to know that this wasn¡¯t the same sky I had grown up under, that everyone I cared about lived under and saw.

    I was under a completely foreign sky, but I couldn¡¯t even tell the difference. When I closed my eyes I had a vague image of what the sky overhead looked, sometimes cloudy, sometimes bright¡­ but there was nothing specific. It was just ¡®the sky¡¯, but now ¡®the sky¡¯ and ¡®this sky¡¯ were two separate things, and I felt such a bitter regret that I never spent more time interested in it.

    Considering the upcoming storm, this job became a lot more urgent. Gathering funds to stay in the village longer would be invaluable. ¡°I wonder how tough this storm would be if I can¡¯t afford to stay in the inn?¡± I had enough money, but it was still a worrying thought.

    ¡°You can stay in the shelter for free during a storm or monster attack.¡± she replied, and that made me relax a bit. That did make sense.

    We soon reached the apothecary, and I saw a human man. A guy maybe in his fifties with completely gray hair combed back and wild like he was facing the wind, with a big fluffy mustache and a short beard, sporting a pair of round glasses that rested on a slightly red and roundish nose.

    He wore an oversized green button shirt, completely open, with a faded orange t-shirt underneath.

    Looking at his mostly laid back attire and overall look, I took him to be a laid back man. But his expression was rather grim as he paced back and forth in the little store, counting through a sheet of paper in his hand. He didn¡¯t seem to even notice me as I stepped in through the wooden front door of the store.

    At first, I thought it was a glass door with a wooden frame, but the ¡®glass¡¯ seemed to change into wood as I got close enough, which worried me. However, as I made some distance from it it soon returned to being see-through. So it was wood that through some magical mechanism, acted transparently like glass.

    ¡°Oh, hello there! Sorry, I didn¡¯t see you come in!¡± He turned to greet me as I took a few steps away from the door, putting down the sheet of paper before approaching me. ¡°Are you new to the village? Looking for something to help with the sea sickness or keep the bugs away? We¡¯re not stocked on healing potions right now, apologies.¡± He had this semi-jovial way of talking where he sounded like there should be a ¡®ho ho ho¡¯ with half his sentences, but he seemed a bit frantic.

    ¡°Hello, it¡¯s nice to meet you. I¡¯m Armin, and I¡¯m actually here because I heard you need someone to help pick herbs for you?¡± I introduced myself politely, I was curious what knowledge I could get out of a fellow medical professional.

    The man¡¯s eyes lit up as he heard me, taking a half step towards me as he looked quite relieved

    ¡°You have! That¡¯s wonderful!¡± He replied, his shoulders dropping a bit as he let out a sigh. ¡°Okay, first question, do you have experience with herbs?¡± he asked as he walked behind his counter and looked for something amongst his fairly neatly arranged documents.

    ¡°I do,¡± I replied. As part of survival training I learnt a lot about the safe and poisonous plants around germany¡­ though that probably doesn¡¯t apply here. ¡°I¡¯m a trained doctor where I¡¯m from and have experience dealing with herbs, but¡­ I don¡¯t think the ecology is quite the same.¡±

    ¡°Fair, fair. While we do have a few of the most common flora across the world growing here, the ones I want right now are mostly native to the island or just a few places in the world.¡± he said, nodding knowingly. ¡°Are you¡­ registered with the medical guild?¡± he asked, side-eying me.

    So they have a medical guild in this world similar to a medical board. I wonder if it¡¯s country specific or international?

    ¡°No, where I¡¯m from we had a medical board that certified me as a doctor, but I don¡¯t have the papers with me nor do I think it has any influence here.¡± I replied, sprinkling as much truth with vagueness as I could.

    ¡°Huh, that sounds like a rather isolated place there¡­ no, wait, the herbs are more important! Here, I have a basic description and pictures." He veered back to his original topic, thankfully dropping any questions I probably couldn¡¯t answer, and pulled out a paper.

    ¡°Daradin grass, a common herb, Palnia longweed, an uncommon herb, and Pringem blooms, a rare plant.¡± he read out the names as he gave me the sheet. ¡°I¡¯m always in low supply of these three, but I absolutely need Palnia longweed to prepare for the storm. By tonight, if possible.¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Tonight? Is the storm approaching that fast? And what exactly do you use this plant for?¡± I asked, looking over the list.

    The older man seemed a bit frantic, but calmed himself down before gesturing to the shelve of potion bottles behind him.

    ¡°Palnia longweed are used to make healing potions, and we find ourselves needing a lot during storms, especially if it coincides with a wave.¡± He replied.

    A wave¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant, but since I heard about the storms and monster attacks happening monthly, I took a guess that he meant the monster attacks.

    ¡°Is that going to happen this time?¡± I asked, wondering if it was something that could be predicted. ¡°I don¡¯t know, we can¡¯t predict it, but I feel like it will. In my experience, at least.¡±

    You can never discount the wisdom of experience¡­ and this just made me feel a sense of dread for what was coming up.

    ¡°Do we know how long until the storm?¡± I asked, glancing out the ¡®windows¡¯ of the store, though I couldn¡¯t see the sky too well from it¡­ considering that the windows turned to opaque wood when I touched them, I was concerned about what the mechanic for seeing through them was. Was it invisibility? An illusion? Perhaps a change to the property of the material itself?

    ¡°Not exactly, but maybe two or three days? The rain¡¯ll start tomorrow, at least.¡±

    Wonderful.

    ¡°So, if you can, I need 20 Palnia longweeds by tonight. I¡¯ll pay you the base 3 marks each, and an extra 50 marks if you can get it to me in time. I need to start making the potions as soon as possible!¡± he exclaimed, pointing at the list. ¡°Oh, and if you get any of the other two, I¡¯ll pay you normally for them too, they¡¯re always in demand.¡±

    Daradin grass - common, 2 mark per 3 plants.

    Palnia longweed- uncommon, 3 mark per plant

    Pringem bloom - rare, 50 mark per plant

    This was what the list said, as well as having pictures of the flora in question.

    ¡°Is there anything you can tell me about these Palnia longweeds?¡± I enquired, I needed at least a bit more information before I got on my hands and knees and crawled through the forest looking for weeds.

    The man pursed his lips as he looked at me, and I could tell that he was in a rush, but again, he kept himself mostly calm and pulled out a map of the island, laying it on the desk.

    ¡°I only have this copy right now, so I can¡¯t give it to you, but you won¡¯t find any Palnia near the town. If you travel about an hour or so north, you can find the Descensus river. They should grow close to it, but you have to be careful about the monsters there too.¡± He quickly explained.

    Honestly, I wanted to talk to him a lot more about these plants, alchemy in general, and how to apply for the medical guild, but given how urgent things seemed to be, I was fine with talking about all of that later.

    ¡°And no matter what, don¡¯t get into that river unless you¡¯re absolutely prepared!¡± he exclaimed, jabbing a finger into my chest. ¡°In the old texts, that river was called Descensus animarum. It translated to the descent of souls from what we understand, and its claimed many a life of the unprepared.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­ but why exactly is it dangerous?¡± I asked. Every river can be dangerous, but some rivers can be lethal to the unprepared, so I wasn¡¯t too shocked just yet.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡± he let out a sigh, scratching his head as he thought about what to say.

    ¡°Well, the current is awful under the surface, there are many poisonous and carnivorous fish as well as plants that entangle and trap all sorts of things. Other than that, I can''t say much. I¡¯ve been there but I never tried to get in the water myself.¡±

    ¡°Also! You shouldn¡¯t be out at night, that¡¯s when the wyveriks come out¡­ nasty creatures.¡± He added, jabbing at me again. ¡°I¡¯ve seen all kinds of cocky outlanders think it was no big deal and come running back licking their wounds after someone in their party was picked off by the little devils. Do NOT be one of those cocky outlanders, and come back before nightfall!¡±

    I just nodded at that, I couldn¡¯t even say anything with how worried he sounded.

    And after a few small details and confirmations, I left the apothecary to meet Kanako outside. If I thought the day was long and stressful so far, it seemed like it was going to continue for a while longer¡­

    ¡­

    Well, Kanako was ecstatic. A total reward of 110 marks was nothing to scoff at, even if it would be dangerous.

    Also, he told me roughly where to look, so that was fun.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go!¡± Kanako called out, already rushing ahead. I just let out a small chuckle seeing how eager she was as I followed behind.

    I tried to smile, but I had this pit in my stomach as I couldn¡¯t help but imagine the worst happening. Would I be able to protect her if she suddenly got attacked by a monster? What if there¡¯s some kind of magic trap I just never see? b people¡­ were we sure there weren¡¯t people about who¡¯d attack us? How safe was this region?

    And I still felt like I was being watched, like we were being followed. But who? When I turned to look back, there were a fair few people out and about, and more than one or two pairs of eyes looking at us. That made sense given how Kanako was dressed, but it still made me uneasy.

    Jesus, I thought I had my paranoia under control after all these years, but it seemed I still have a long way to go¡­

    She and I walked off into the jungle, and I felt so annoyed that I had to go from a relatively pleasant atmosphere to the humid and miserable jungle. There was just something about this place that made the heat feel so much worse, and the bugs didn¡¯t help.

    The grass subsided and the hexagonal basalt stone was visible again, trees sprouting from the ground with wild vegetation making everything harder to navigate. We returned to the jungle, and I hated it. I felt like one of those damn doublesnakes was going to come at me again.

    ¡°When we gather herbs, we have to leave some behind so they can grow again. I learnt that from this old lady in Sunderthall. She knew a lot about plants and medicine!¡± Kanako chatted with me along the way, and it seemed she knew a little about everything.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Sunderthall?¡± I asked, curious to know more about anything in this world. ¡°It¡¯s this big city in the Sundara desert. Everything looks like it¡¯s made of this sandstone, but it¡¯s actually made of a special brick then covered in sandstone. It makes everything super tough.¡± she replied, and that didn¡¯t help very much.

    Prodding a bit more, the Sundara desert was a region to the east, and a place she had to pass through to reach the port where she boarded a ship to come here.

    Apparently she¡¯s from the far east, a country island called Ame no Tochi. Seemed like the far east was similar to Japan in this world, that¡¯s an interesting coincidence.

    We continued chatting a bit more as we kept walking, double checking that we were on the right path every now and then. I didn¡¯t ask about anything too important because I didn¡¯t want to reveal too much about myself. And Kanako seemed to be doing the same.

    I didn¡¯t realise it till now, but I wasn¡¯t limping anymore. I recovered from my stab wound remarkably fast. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was because my body had an exceptional recovery rate, or if that was a norm in this world.

    I was still injured of course, I wouldn¡¯t be running a marathon anytime soon.

    And as marvelled at that, I faintly heard the sound of something skittering across the stone floor through the buzzing insects.

    I was on full alert and immediately pulled the sheath off the shortspear and held it like I¡¯d been trained to use a bayonet, frantically searching for the source of the sound.

    Seeing me, Kanako stopped and shifted her pose. I couldn¡¯t see what she was doing because of her cloak, and regardless my attention was on the bushes to the side.

    And there I saw something move under the bushes. It looked like the basalt floor shifted slightly through the cracks between the leaves, but I wasn¡¯t taking a risk after everything so far.

    In a fluid motion I took aim and thrust my spear at the moving shape. I hit something, but it was as if I grazed a stone. And what I can only describe as an elongated basalt crayfish was knocked out from the bush and hit the floor only a foot away with a thud.

    This crustacean was 2 feet long and rather than pincers, it had these nasty looking mantis-like hooks and a disgusting deep red proboscis that emerged from its face as it stared at me.

    Before I could even ready my spear again, I saw the glint of metal as Kanako flashed past my eyes and stabbed a dagger right between this creature¡¯s eyes.

    It squirmed for a bit, curling up as its legs spasmed with this creaking noise, and it was dead. It likely died instantly, but I didn¡¯t discount anything at this point.

    I was more impressed by how quickly Kanako reacted and how fast she moved than anything else. If she told me she was an assassin I¡¯d believe her with movements like that.

    It looked a bit awkward given how small the creature was, though, maybe she wasn¡¯t used to fighting creatures that small? I didn¡¯t blame her.

    ¡°That was a good job-¡± ¡°Are there more?¡± she interrupted me, glancing around warrily. Heeding her reminder, I carefully listened for more skittering, but didn¡¯t hear any. It was just the bugs and general jungle sounds.

    She finally relaxed when I shook my head, and I reminded myself to not let my guard down again.

    Millar¡¯s body had good ears and eyes. I had to make the most of that.

    This was my first quest in this new world, and I had to learn as much from it as possible. I couldn¡¯t know for sure, but it felt like this was my ¡®first step¡¯ to a much much greater journey.

    Perhaps that was just the dreamer side of me again?

 Chapter 14 - A hard dayéˆ¥æªš work

    Walking through the humid, sweltering, and buzzing jungle with Kanako, we made nearly no small talk.

    We had a simple formation where we walked side by side, and I kept listening for any monsters that might attack us, and she stood by ready to deal with them.

    Over the next half an hour we were only attacked once more by another one of these crawfish creatures, but we did see a few monsters/wild animals through the foliage, mostly avoiding us.

    I found a few ¡®Daradin grass¡¯ during this time. They were light blades of grass that stood almost perfectly straight, but also twisted like a screw or a drill, and while they felt exactly like normal grass, they had this metallic shine to them which made them interesting, like large screws that were trying to drill into the dirt.

    If they had a smell, I couldn¡¯ tell with the constant smell of the jungle all around.

    ¡°I wonder why they¡¯re called ¡®Daradin¡¯. Is that an old legend or the name of the herbalist who found how they were used?¡± I idly pondered Kanako. She glanced back and me, before turning to regard her surroundings again. ¡°I heard something about Daradin being some dragon I think? There''s an altar or something in the village about it, but I didn¡¯t go in.¡± she replied.

    Even on Earth, there were legends based on dragons and how they shaped the environment or the weather, but it was a bit surprising that this world had stories based on dragons too.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if I thought dragons were a step too far for a world like this, or if I just expected something that wasn¡¯t a part of earth¡¯s myths.

    ¡°Are there many dragons around? I¡¯ve only heard stories of them myself.¡± I replied, trying to be as vague as possible. Kanako thought for a moment before nodding and answering with ¡°I don¡¯t know how many, but there are, yes. Um¡­ they say that my home country was founded by a man known as the dragon-emperor, and that there¡¯re three dragons living in the country that support the three main clans, but I haven¡¯t seen any myself.¡±

    So dragons possibly exist¡­ Honestly, they wouldn¡¯t be the weirdest creature I¡¯ve seen so far, but dragons¡­ I¡¯d love to see one some day, before I return home¡­ if I can return home.

    Maybe dragons can travel to Earth, since there are so many stories about them?

    No, then the lizard people and mermen would be able to travel across worlds too with that logic. I guess I was just grasping at straws¡­

    ¡­

    Time passed as we walked, and I suppose we were lucky, but we weren¡¯t attacked by any monsters for the next hour, letting us finally reach the Descensus river.

    The ground had long shifted from the hexagonal basalt pillars to something approaching regular soil, leaving me so utterly confused on what his island was made of or how this much basalt and regular soil could exist. In the first place, where was the volcano that created this much basalt!?

    I picked up some more Daradin grass during this walk, though it wasn¡¯t as much as I¡¯d have liked, only 12. That was about 8 marks? It was still enough to cover two meals at least, so I couldn¡¯t complain too much.

    We pushed through the dense vegetation assailed by even more bugs than the morning. The afternoon sun blazing down on us mixed with the increasing humidity made me suffer even more. It was probably around 3 in the afternoon, and god I wished it was 6, or at least cloudy.

    As my clothes stuck to my skin, I had to cover my nose because of the smell of rot and shit. It was more overpowering than normal, probably because of the river, which I could hear, though it couldn¡¯t drown out the bugs.

    ¡°I wish I had bug repellant¡­¡± Kanako finally muttered, and I suddenly felt stupid I didn¡¯t think of buying any when we were in the village. I was reminded that I spent the last several years of my life in relative comfort and still didn¡¯t have it in my head how careful I needed to be in this world. It also shifted my attention to her again.

    Kanako wasn¡¯t a tall person, at  152 cm (5¡¯1¡±), she was about the height of an average japanese woman. I do have to say, I¡¯m guessing where the top of her head is, but I¡¯m pretty confident I¡¯m right. I¡¯ve always been good at judging measurements by sight.

    With her worn grey hooded cloak, I couldn¡¯t tell her physique, and it was hard to tell where her gaze is most times, or where her hands and weapons are. For a rogue, they seem a good choice for catching people off guard, but she¡¯s too conspicuous for being in an urban setting. It did worry me how hard it seemed to be for her to talk to strangers, even though she could talk with me just fine.

    I wanted to know more about her, but I pushed that thought aside for a later date and focused ahead instead, looking forward again and making sure I followed the trail.

    And then we saw it. A wide river filled with jagged rocks that seemed to flow at a calm rate. The surface only had a few ripples and enough movement that I could see that it was indeed moving. We were also met by the stink of¡­ ¡®nature¡¯s call¡¯, I suppose would be a good way to call it.

    Of course, since animals frequented the river, it made sense.

    The constant foliage had opened up greatly, and the next tree I could see on the other side of the river was a good 18 metres (60 feet) away, at least.

    The Descensus river was certainly a sight for sore eyes. With the beautiful water, I was almost tempted to jump in¡­ but the apothecary¡¯s warning kept me well away from that idea. I knew how deceptively dangerous rivers could be, and I didn¡¯t want to find out how dangerous it could be in a fantasy world.

    ¡°It¡¯s so pretty¡­¡± Kanako sighed as she approached the river, but I stopped her before she could reach it. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked, confused as she turned to look at me.

    ¡°The river is dangerous, it only looks safe on the surface.¡± I replied.

    She didn¡¯t fight me on that and just nodded, taking a step back. She didn¡¯t seem put off by the smell coming from somewhere nearby¡­ but that made sense, she lived and travelled in this world, while I had lived in a cushy town sanitized by all the powers of modern technology for the past few years.

    ¡°It¡¯s around 3 in the afternoon¡­ does the sun set around 7?¡± I asked, trying to estimate just how long we had.

    ¡°Somewhere between 6 and 7¡± she replied, and I held back a groan. That didn¡¯t give us a lot of time.

    It would take about an hour to get back to town, so we had maybe two and a half hours to find twenty of these uncommon herbs¡­ hopefully they were more plentiful than they sounded.

    This place wasn¡¯t very safe, given that any kind of animal or monster could show up for a drink of water, so the two of us silently decided to stay together and search for the plants.

    Following the river for a bit, I tried to look into its depths but as you¡¯d expect from a jungle, All I could see was a reflection of the sky and not much else.

    The water didn¡¯t look murky or green like the jungle rivers I¡¯ve seen on tv, but it was a beautiful blue instead¡­ Maybe there were blue plants under the surface?

    ¡°There¡¯s something in the water¡­¡± Kanako muttered, making me turn towards her. I didn¡¯t see anything, so what did she notice?

    ¡°You don¡¯t feel it?¡± she asked, confused as she regarded me¡­ was this related to magic?

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t feel anything¡­ if it¡¯s something to do with magic, I have a very bad sense of magic, so could you tell me what you see?¡± I explained, glancing at the river again. What could be there?

    ¡°Okay, I feel a magic item in the river¡­ maybe at the bottom of it.¡± she answered.

    Interesting! A magic item! If I wasn¡¯t told about how dangerous the river was, I might have tried to look for said item, but I had no real way to do so now¡­ sadly, it was something we had to make a note of and hope we could think of something later.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Moving on, we started looking high and low for Palnia longweed, and¡­ after what felt like ages, we finally found one.

    It was a long green plant with very few special features like colour or patterns, blending in perfectly well with all the other random foliage.

    If not for its distinct shape, looking like several long leaves knotted like a braid, I¡¯d have no idea what I was looking for.

    Jesus. It took us nearly half an hour just to find this one, how would we find twenty in another two hours!?

    ¡°We¡¯re failing this job, aren¡¯t we?¡± Kanako asked, and I couldn¡¯t assure her that we weren¡¯t.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just look harder, it should be easier now that we know what we¡¯re looking for.¡± I replied, trying to stay optimistic.

    I was more and more aware of just how much keener my hearing was compared to my old body.

    While hunting through the foliage for these plants, I could make out the sounds and footsteps of approaching monsters well before we could see them, giving us enough time to duck behind cover and back away when we noticed larger animals approaching the river.

    After following this cycle of sneaking, hiding, and praying, we found another two Palnia longweed in the next half an hour. It seemed unlikely that we would find enough before nightfall.

    We also found another 14 Daradin grass, bringing that total up to 26, so we weren¡¯t going to need to worry about food at least? It was also pretty lucky that we hadn¡¯t only seen a few larger animals, but no dangerous monsters in the hour we were here¡­ it was lucky, but it also felt like I was missing something.

    And as if ridiculing my optimism, the sound of footsteps woke me up like a splash of cold water.

    I could immediately tell that these weren¡¯t the sounds of small or large animals, but I didn¡¯t have enough experience to identify if they were humanoid steps or not. At the very least I could tell that they weren¡¯t walking very fast and that there were several of them¡­ three? Maybe four?

    Either way, I silently alerted Kanako with a gesture. We didn¡¯t set up anything complicated, but enough for me to gesture to where the danger was and that we should hide.

    Quickly nodding, she took over and led us into the foliage, trying to be as silent as we could by hunting for the route that would rustle the least leaves¡­ but then I heard a peculiar breathing sound behind us.

    Stopping Kanako, I turned to look behind us, only to find¡­ ¡®fish in a barrel¡¯.

    To be specific, I saw three merfolk, like the one who I met outside those damned ruins, but they were wearing wooden armour that very closely resembled a barrel because of their rotund shapes, holding wooden spears with nasty metal tips that quickly dampened how funny I thought they looked.

    Two of the merfolk pointed their spears at us when the middle one spoke in the haunting chorus of gurgles, burps and screeches that hurt my head to even hear.

    Behind us, another three armed with spears came to a stop. It seemed we were cornered by them¡­ Jesus, I didn¡¯t even think that this place could be the territory of a civilized race! They didn¡¯t have any markers or structures I could see, but I should have at least thought about the possibility!

    ¡°W-what do we do?¡± Kanako asked, lowering herself into what I assumed to be a fighting stance. If I could see her hands under her cloak she was probably holding a weapon now.

    ¡°We¡­ can try talking first,¡± I replied, assessing the situation. Kanako didn¡¯t seem very confident when it came to fighting six spearmen, so I decided to hope that they were amenable like the one I met this morning.

    ¡°Wait! We mean you no harm!¡± I spoke up, holding my hands up to show I wasn¡¯t a danger, setting my spear against the tree next to me. I doubted if I could even do anything if they chose violence. They outnumbered us far too much!

    At this point the merfolk didn¡¯t make a move and seemed to be assessing us, as we were with them. Of the six, five looked like the same scaly blue-grey figures with large bulbous yellow eyes, but one of the group on the river¡¯s side (the group I heard and we had our backs to) was a bit larger, less rotund, and had some red in their scaly skin.

    ¡°State business.¡± they¡­ she(?) spoke in broken meridian, this worlds ¡®common¡¯ language.

    ¡°W-we¡¯re here gathering plants for medicine¡­¡± I quickly replied, slowly turning to see her clearer. This merfolk sounded like a woman¡­ an old woman because of how croaky her voice was, shape-wise she looked very much like the others.

    I suppose this world didn¡¯t have the classic fantasy trope of only one gender of a race looking like humans.

    The red merfolk, certainly the leader, stepped forward, saying something in the gurgling mer tongue to the others, who spread out a bit. One of them said something back to her, this one had a long scar over their right eye, and the leader paused, before turning back to us.

    ¡°White one, Meet one us?¡± she asked in her broken meridian, pausing to gurgle a bit as she tried to recall a word in between. It was very hard to read her facial expression¡­ no, it was impossible, because their head was that of a fish.

    ¡°Yes, I met one of your kind this morning¡­¡± I replied, fishing into my pouch to pull out one of the two items he had given me, the map.

    Scar and the leader looked at each other, before the latter nodded and the former approached, putting their spear to the side and looking at the map, not taking it from my hand. They gurgled a reply back and the leader raised a hand and said something to the group, having them step away to give us some space, though they still had their spears at the ready.

    She then gestured to the riverside, and assuming she meant us, me and Kanako followed, leaving the foliage to go to the riverside. I grabbed my sheathed pike as I did so, because I would rather have my weapon than not. None of the merfolk seemed to react strongly to that so they were probably fine with it?

    ¡°You know them?¡± Kanako whispered, but I could only shrug. ¡°No, but I did meet one of their kind and he helped me?¡± I wondered how they knew¡­ maybe it was the stink, but I had a bath and no one said anything so that can¡¯t be it¡­ right? Or maybe magic?

    ¡­magic doesn¡¯t work around me¡­ I stunk, didn¡¯t I?

    ¡°Plant, show prove.¡± the leader asked, and meeting eyes with Kanako, I saw her nod and I pulled out the gathered plants to show her.

    There was no change in expression, but their group talked to each other before the leader approached.

    ¡°Land, us¡­¡± she gurgled to the group and another merfolk whose bulbous eyes seemed half closed in a squint spoke up in meridian ¡°The land belongs to us.¡± This merfolk, Squinty, spoke much better than the leader, in what sounded like a male voice.

    Interesting¡­ why didn¡¯t they have the one who knew meridian better speak rather than the leader? Was it a matriarchal tradition, or just a rule of the leader?

    Kanako¡¯s shyness didn¡¯t let her speak up, so I decided to continue talking for the two of us.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t mean to trespass, we thought this was a free land.¡± I replied, worried about what to say to make them understand me properly.

    ¡°This land belongs to us, but we give herbs if you trade.¡± he replied. For convenience I wont describe the back and forths between Squinty, Scar, the leader and the other three.

    A trade¡­ surely they didn¡¯t expect two random people gathering herbs to have much worth on them. I didn¡¯t have any more lantern oil or bottles like the last one wanted. ¡°Do you have anything?¡± I whispered to Kanako, but as I expected she just shook her head.

    Thinking about it for a moment, I could make an agreement to bring something from town before the storm?

    But¡­ what exactly? They seemed fully intelligent, at least as much as humans since they could use tools, talk, and understand trading value. They wore primitive wooden armour, but it was manufactured¡­ maybe tools they couldn¡¯t get a hold of normally would work?

    The first merfolk wanted glass bottles, that dagger, and lantern oil, so maybe I could offer them something similar?

    At this point, I had to worry about the price of said things¡­ We¡¯d earn 110 marks from the quest alone, 17 for the daradin grass¡­ that¡¯s about 63 marks each.

    Glassware was probably expensive, so that was ruled out. I noticed the prices at the blacksmith¡­ a pike was 30 marks, and I could get some tools like maybe hammers and nails and a shovel for about that much?

    I briefly explained my idea to Kanako, and she replied with ¡°If we can still earn money without fighting, then that sounds like a good idea¡­ and the storm should hit late tomorrow, so we can come in the morning?¡±

    Fair enough.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have anything with us, but we can return tomorrow morning with tools? A hammer, some nails, a shovel?¡± I suggested, hoping they understood everything.

    After some back and forth between Squinty, Scar and the leader, the latter thought about it for a few more moments before replying ¡°Good.¡±

    After that, we spent a good few minutes balancing out how much tools we¡¯d trade for the herbs. I estimated that we¡¯d have to hand over about 40 marks worth of tools¡­ but that was still less than the 50 mark bonus for getting all 20 longweeds, not to mention the 60 marks from the herbs themselves, so it was still a good profit.

    After coming to an agreement, we happily left the river with 20 longweeds and unstabbed.

    The roughly hour long walk back to the village was stressful, but largely uneventful and thankfully more comfortable as the sun started setting.

    We reached the village roughly half an hour before nightfall, and after all the excitement of our first quest, I found myself thoroughly drained.

    We handed the herbs to the apothecary who gave us the money and quickly shut the shop to work on the potions.

    We then bought the tools, and split the profit from the quest between us¡­ 43 and a half marks each.

    So, risking our lives and doing this quest, we each earned a bit less than 3 days worth of living expenses.

    I was exhausted, and just went back to the inn after that, promising to meet Kanako again in the morning.

    Going into my room and collapsing on the bed, I decided to deal with cleaning up later and just wanted to get the day over with¡­

    ¡°Interesting, do all other-worlders sleep in such uncivilised poses?¡± A stranger¡¯s voice suddenly called out¡­ from within my room.

 Chapter 15 - Seeker

    I felt the world twist around me, one moment I saw the quaint wooden floor and the wallpapered wall of the small inn room, then black spots suddenly appeared and started to spread like stains on a canvas.

    Everything seemed to distort like I was looking through a lens, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand out as I looked around trying to find the source of the voice or what was happening!?

    I quickly rolled off the bed and reached out to grab my pike, before turning to the room¡¯s door¡­ but it was gone.

    No, there was only black in front of me, everything was turning black, but rather than darkness it was like a solid layer of black started covering reality.

    ¡°You can relax, I don¡¯t intend you any harm¡± came that voice again.

    It was a soothing feminine voice that seemed to come from right next to my ears, carrying a trace of arrogance. I couldn¡¯t even tell which direction the voice was coming from, it was like I was wearing earphones, none of this made sense¡­

    ¡°A devil?¡± my voice moved faster than my thoughts. It seemed ridiculous, but this eerie situation matched so many fantasy stories where someone met a devil or demon. A powerful creature that could pull you into their world and coax you into a ¡®deal¡¯, offering something you desperately want at a cost¡­

    ¡°Devil?¡± the voice sounded incredulous, but chuckled as if she found my assumption amusing. ¡°Oh please, do I really look so evil?¡±

    Following those words, the air in front of me rippled with purple light, like a calm lake¡¯s surface after a stone broke the surface.

    And through those ripples, a woman appeared as if she were stepping through a veil¡­ even with the world turned pitch black as if all light had been stolen, I could see her clearly.

    Flawless brown skin, long purple hair, violet-pink eyes that sparkled with a mysterious energy¡­ It was a woman with proportions I¡¯ve only seen in magazines, wearing a tight purple dress shirt with no sleeves and a black skirt that reached down to her ankles, wearing a bounty of gold ornaments and jewellery.

    From her appearance, she certainly looked like a human, but she had an energy to her that was anything but. My personal preferences aside, she was¡­ an otherworldly beauty.

    She had an oppressive energy that made it hard to breathe, but it wasn¡¯t any kind of natural reaction¡­ I hadn¡¯t felt anything like this before, this slightly electrifying feeling like I was brushing against static electricity¡­ Was this¡­ the feeling of magic?

    ¡°W-who are you?¡± I felt myself stutter as I took a half-step back, readying my pike. I wasn¡¯t sure how useful it would be, but it was all I could do to have hope.

    ¡°Hm? Isn¡¯t it basic manners to introduce yourself before asking for another¡¯s name? Is your world so backwards that they don¡¯t even know this?¡± she replied in a mocking tone as she stared at me with a bemused expression, crossing her arms and tilting her head slightly downwards to look down on me¡­ It felt a bit odd considering she was a good 13 cm (five inches) shorter than me, standing at 160 cm (5¡¯4¡±) tall.

    While I wanted to talk back to her for speaking like a ¡®queen bitch¡¯ as Anne would put it, I felt like she had the power to back up that attitude and had to swallow my annoyance.

    ¡°My name is Armin Fischer.¡± I replied, tightening my grip on my pike, taking a step to the side. I hoped that I could try to run away if she showed an opening¡­ I might not be able to see anything around us, but trying something would be better than nothing.

    ¡°You can relax, I don¡¯t intend to hurt you~¡± she said, chuckling as she leisurely sat down on an armchair that appeared from nothing, resting her chin on her palm as she watched me.

    ¡°After all, you¡¯re mine.¡± she said, emphasising each word, the sound of her voice echoing in my head. I could hear her speaking from her lips as well as from right next to my ears and it was disorienting.

    What did she mean? I¡¯m hers? What the fuck!?

    ¡°What do you mean yours? I don¡¯t remember signing away my soul to a devil¡­¡± I questioned her, rooted to the spot. I didn¡¯t know if it was fatigue, fear, or her power, but I felt almost paralyzed.

    ¡°Again with the baseless accusations. Devil this, Demon that¡­ do I really look so fearsome?¡± she asked with a sadistic smile as she seemed to enjoy watching me squirm.

    ¡°Well, you did introduce yourself like a good boy, so I suppose I could do the same.¡± she chuckled, nodding to a second arm chair that suddenly appeared in front of her, a good four steps from me.

    Taking the hint, I slowly approached and reached out to touch the chair¡­ it didn¡¯t fall apart and disappear despite my anti-magic, so it wasn¡¯t just magic, it was a physical object¡­ and despite looking like wood, it had the texture of plastic when I touched it.

    She probably used magic to create the chair from something¡­ that meant that I was powerless against her. if she tried to kill me, my anti-magic would do nothing.

    Letting out an exhausted sigh, I sat down.

    ¡°I don¡¯t plan on repeating myself, so listen well.¡± she arrogantly began, smirking at me. She was starting to piss me off. ¡°I am Starlight Von Aurora, Keeper of the Auroral library, and eternal seeker of knowledge.¡± She introduced herself with a grand title, but I still didn¡¯t know who she was or what she wanted with me.

    ¡°A good introduction usually involves a polite greeting, name, relevant personal link, and expectations moving forward. You¡¯ve only accomplished one of those.¡± I replied, throwing out more sass than I thought I had.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± the other party questioned, rubbing their chin as their smug smile faded for a moment. ¡°Well, yours was lacking, too, but I don¡¯t mind setting a good example.¡± she shrugged, leaning back in her chair as she looked down at me. At that point I realised that her chair was notably taller than mine.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally meet you, otherworlder. You can call me Lady Aurora, I¡¯m basically your boss. And moving forward, I intend to put you to good use¡­ and you will be compensated appropriately, of course.¡± she introduced herself again, before stopping at looking at me with a smug grin.

    Okay, calming down a bit I tried to assess the situation.

    This woman didn¡¯t seem to want to hurt me, though she seemed incredibly arrogant and like she was lording over me.

    I¡¯ve had to work with a power tripping director like her once, or hell even my drill sergeant back in training¡­ though with how she spoke, it was dialed up to eleven¡­ was she a ¡®noble¡¯? I didn¡¯t know about the political structure of this region¡­ but wait¡­

    Everything about this encounter put me so on edge that I didn¡¯t even realize that she called me an otherworlder till now.

    How did she know? How powerful was she that she could bypass my anti-magic? Was she¡­

    ¡°Are you the one who summoned me to this world?¡± I asked, surprised with how steady my voice was as I stared at her.

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    ¡°Oh~ Scary.¡± she giggled, before crossing her legs and clasping her hands together. ¡°But no, I¡¯m not such a terrifying creature that I can reach into another world and just pluck a soul out to bring back.¡± she properly answered, watching me closely.

    But if it wasn¡¯t her¡­ then what did she want with me?

    Other than the anti-magic field around me, I should have nothing of value to her.

    ¡°You¡­ what are you?¡± I asked, but she didn¡¯t reply, just chuckling in return. ¡°Now now, to make our relationship easy to understand from this point on¡­ I¡¯m implementing our first rule: Information for information.¡± she said. ¡°If you want me to give you knowledge, then you have to give me knowledge first.¡±

    Information for information¡­ That sounded fair on the surface, but she had trapped me in here with her, so I couldn¡¯t really refuse. I didn¡¯t feel like it was a very bright idea to attack someone who I couldn¡¯t gauge unless I had no other option¡­ so she had all the cards.

    ¡°Fine¡­ what do you want to know?¡± I replied, wondering what she could even get out of me. Most of my knowledge was related to the medical field, as well as some miscellaneous things and a bit of metal working, carpentry and glassmaking.

    ¡°What¡¯s the name of the world you¡¯re from?¡± she asked, conjuring a thick book out of thin air as well as a fancy pen that looked like a fountain pen shaped like a feather. I noticed that she had opened a page close to the front of the book, but a few pages were already filled in. ¡°Earth.¡± I tersely replied, realising I had no idea what this world was called.

    After noting that down, she put the pen down and waited. It was my turn to ask¡­

    I hesitated for a few moments. I didn¡¯t know how many questions I could ask, so I briefly considered learning more about this new world I found myself in, but then I shook that idea off. This strange woman was a more immediate danger, and if she would answer any question¡­

    I took a glance around at my surroundings, where everything was completely black and I couldn¡¯t see any detail. At the very least, I could learn where I was and how to get out¡­ It was at this point that I finally noticed that not everything was pure black. There was a patch of the ground between where I was and where I backed away from the woman that still looked like the wooden floor of the inn room.

    With my limited knowledge of magic, that spot must have always remained in range of my antimagic field while I moved around¡­ so rather than being transported into a mysterious dark space or confined in a magical barrier, I was still in the inn and she had created some black material around me. She couldn¡¯t make more within my antimagic¡­ but after she creates it, it remains as a physical material.

    That meant that this mysterious woman couldn¡¯t use magic in my antimagic¡­ but it also meant that I couldn¡¯t just remove the barrier by walking into it and hoping it just disappeared like all the other magic I¡¯ve come across so far.

    If I got close enough to the lady then I¡¯d hopefully be able to stop her from using magic, and it would be a pure physical fight¡­ I wasn¡¯t too unconfident with my abilities, but considering this was a ¡®sword and magic¡¯ world, many people are likely to be better trained than me.

    Hiding that bit of knowledge away, I asked her ¡°What is the material you¡¯ve surrounded us with?¡±

    At that question, the woman¡¯s smug smile faltered a bit, though she quickly covered it up. ¡°You are a smart one, aren¡¯t you¡­ It¡¯s a pinnacle of my magical research and alchemical studies. I call it Daunite.¡± she replied, looking quite proud of herself. ¡°It¡¯s incredibly flexible and can be molded to nearly any form, and not to mention it¡¯s not magical in and of itself so unlike most items created with magic, it won¡¯t disappear till I will it to.¡±

    Daunite¡­ from the feeling of the chair I was sitting on, it seemed to feel just like plastic¡­ but plastic didn¡¯t mean that it was fragile, there were many types and many ways to work with it.

    It was possible I could break through the black shell, but it was also possible that it was just too thick.

    ¡°My turn now. What was your profession before you crossed over to this world?¡± she asked, ready to write my answer down¡­ it was frustrating feeling so little control over the situation. ¡°I was a doctor. Specifically, I worked as a surgeon.¡± I answered, and she eagerly wrote down that information. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask more, curiosity clear on her face, but she soon closed her mouth and stayed silent, waiting for my question.

    ¡°What are the weaknesses of Daunite.¡± I blatantly asked. If she was going to force me to play with these rules, I might as well abuse them to the limits. And I immediately saw her expression change from utter arrogance to panic. She looked like she wanted to refuse, but to my surprise, she actually answered.

    ¡°D-daunite completely collapses when exposed to water, or magic power tuned to match its wavelength¡­ a-and it¡¯s not very durable and can be broken with enough force from an average person.¡±

    So¡­ I wasn¡¯t actually trapped? I had a waterskin, and my body wasn¡¯t particularly weak¡­

    Relaxing a bit more, I thought about this situation and this Starlight started looking less intimidating. It wasn¡¯t logical that she exposed the weakness of everything she set up so carefully because she couldn¡¯t lie or was an idiot¡­ so maybe she actually was a devil?

    If this ¡®information for information¡¯ was some kind of devil contract (albeit a simple one), it would make sense that she herself couldn¡¯t break her own contract and had to reply honestly.

    If I had carried on with my original train of thought, I would have learnt very little and still thought myself on the backfoot. But in truth, I was the one who could profit the most from this exchange of questions.

    I pulled out my waterskin, ready to use it to break through the Daunite barrier if I needed to.

    ¡°Wait, I already told you that I don¡¯t intend to hurt you.¡± she said, sounding a bit alarmed and not as arrogant this time as she straightened up in her chair.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± I silently let out a sigh, eying her for any change in expression. ¡°Well then, do you want to keep going with this ¡®information for information¡¯ exchange, or do you want to be more straightforward with me?¡± I asked, finally in control of the situation.

    I had to admit, her act was top notch, but that¡¯s all it seemed to have been. An act.

    Though, if she was actually a strong fighter as well, then I¡¯d be in a bad spot, but I decided to take a bit of a gamble and hope that she wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°I¡­ *sigh* fine.¡± she deflated a bit, shaking her head. ¡°You¡¯re inscrutable, aren¡¯t you?¡± she asked, staring at me with an annoyed expression. ¡°As much as it pains me, I¡¯ll skip the theatrics.¡± her voice still held some arrogance, but at least she wasn¡¯t trying to lord over me with threats.

    ¡°Armin Fischer, become my warlock.¡± she plainly stated.

    ¡°Warlock?¡± I repeated, raising my eyebrow. Was she asking me to serve her and get powers in exchange? I didn¡¯t expect to receive an offer like this on my second day in this new world.

    ¡°Why? Why ask me? Why would I accept?¡± I asked, leaning forward. ¡°And before that, why do you know that I¡¯m from another world? Why are you following me?  Why did you try to trap me? Why do you think you own me?¡±

    Under my barrage of questions, the devil let out an amused chuckle. God, she was insufferable.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple, I own that body you¡¯re so happily milling about in.¡± she replied, making me stop with a jolt. This body¡­ that means Millar was her warlock?

    ¡°You may not like it, but your soul and I are already connected.¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯ll always know where you are, I¡¯ll always be able to reach you no matter where you go, at any time.¡±

    And with that, the fear creeped back in. Was I so confident just because I knew how to deal with one of her magic tricks? If what she said was true¡­ no, it definitely was.

    That means she could just appear before me at any time and even if her magic didn¡¯t work, all she¡¯d need would be a dagger or a crossbow to end me. After all, I¡¯m still a regular human with no special traits, abilities, combat skills, or magic.

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to scare you.¡± she added, after a few seconds of silence. And then she started to explain.

    According to her, she could only have a set number of warlocks at any given moment, and even though Millar died, I replaced him in the same body and so I am one of those warlocks, whether either of us likes it or not.

    And the only way to remove the connection between warlock and patron is through the death of either, or a ¡®ritual of contract breaking¡¯.

    Because of my anti-magic, it¡¯s impossible for her to perform the ritual on me¡­ so I either stay as her warlock or die.

    *Sigh* It¡¯s been a near constant chain of bad luck since I woke up in this world.

    Every time something good happens, it¡¯s immediately followed by something bad that kicks me back to the ground again.

    I just felt so tired.

    ¡°So¡­ what would I have to do as your warlock, and what would you give me?¡± I asked. Regardless of how strong she was, she was still someone who could be a horrible danger to me if I went against her¡­

    ¡°I want you to become my ¡®Seeker¡¯. I want knowledge, and I want you to find as much of it as you can for me!¡± she replied, an enraptured look in her eyes that unsettled me. ¡°In exchange¡­ I can compile, simplify and complete any knowledge you find, and even give you some of my own knowledge.¡±

    ¡°In particular, I can help set you on the path to possibly learn how to break the barriers between worlds.¡±

 Chapter 16 - A pairing of bad luck

    I felt so tired.

    Over the course of two days, I lost everything, nearly died several times in the rotting ruins of some cultish temple, met a fantastical lizard person, watched them die before my very eyes because of my own mistake, made a trade with a merman, struggled through a jungle and nearly died to find a settlement, met some new people and a travel companion, then trudged through the jungle yet again and nearly died, made another deal with another set of merfolk, and came face to face with a devil who made me an offer I couldn¡¯t refuse.

    I wanted to just lay down and forget everything for a few hours, just a little bit of peace¡­ but that was too much to ask for.

    I lay there on the bed just staring at the ceiling in the dim room for what felt like the entire night.

    The barriers between worlds¡­ thinking about those words, I didn¡¯t know if I wanted to laugh or cry.

    I had never really thought about how resilient the human mind actually was till now.

    Soldiers on the battlefield face life and death, watch friends and foes die before their very eyes, have to take lives with their own hands, and all while knowing that they¡¯re just a single part of a war so large that they probably can¡¯t even have the smallest influence on it by themselves.

    Yet many of them can compartmentalise all the fear, the trauma, the pain, so they can live just another day. This suppressed horror comes back in the form of PTSD, but the fact that they can still function after all of that is just incredible.

    Any one of the horrible things that¡¯ve happened to me in the past two days should¡¯ve been enough to haunt me for months if not years, and yet I¡­ I just felt tired. That was it.

    Even after everything, I found it hard to believe that I was in a different world from Earth¡­ that¡¯s another funny thing. Of all the names anyone could have given this world, it was also called Earth.

    How ironic, I¡¯m here on Earth! But it¡¯s just another fucking world with the same name and not much else! I probed the devil for whatever I could, and this world was absolutely not Earth. It wasn¡¯t like I had gone back in time because none of the landmasses looked like the ones on my Earth¡­ but there were too many things that were so similar it was eerie.

    ¡°I can help set you on the path to possibly learn how to break the barriers between worlds.¡±

    The worst thing that kept me awake was that sentence. It was possibly the most temptatious line I¡¯ve ever heard in my life¡­ the possibility of returning home¡­

    It was a promise couched in uncertainty, ¡®help¡¯ to put me on the path ¡®to possibly learn how¡¯ to break the barriers¡­ she didn¡¯t guarantee that it was possible or that she even knew how.

    But at the same time¡­ what choice did I have? I could either accept or have her as an enemy looking to free one of her ¡®warlock slots¡¯ so she could tempt someone else¡­

    Despite all that, I had asked her for time to think, and she accepted that.

    That said, I had no idea if she left or was just lurking around nearby, invisibly watching me.

    I didn¡¯t even know what she was. When I asked her, she only answered with an irritating smirk, it seemed she wasn¡¯t planning on telling me more about herself.

    That was fair, she didn¡¯t strike me as particularly cunning so silence was likely her best option.

    At some point in the restless night, my thoughts became harder to keep track of, everything became hazy, and I vaguely wondered why Milar worked for her.

    ¡­

    Come morning, I was still a bit tired, but I felt surprisingly great otherwise.

    My body didn¡¯t ache, any injuries from yesterday were gone without a trace, and I was filled with energy.

    My mood wasn¡¯t good, though, as the first thing I saw when I woke up was that devil sitting in the chair reading a book. Interestingly, there wasn¡¯t even a hint of the Daunite she made last night anywhere. It was like it was just an illusion.

    ¡°Did you sleep well?¡± she asked, with a tilted smile that I just knew was filled with mockery.

    ¡°Yeah, like a corpse.¡± I replied, remembering that I was still bound to her and had to answer her contract. ¡°That¡¯s quite fitting, given that you are one.¡± she replied with a chuckle, at least she has a sense of humor.

    ¡°Are you planning on just following me for the rest of my life, or don¡¯t you have somewhere better to be?¡± I asked, letting out a sigh as I stood up. It was too early to get angry.

    ¡°The former doesn¡¯t sound so bad, you¡¯re not that hard on the eyes.¡± she jokingly said, raising an eyebrow. *sigh*

    A beautiful woman saying that might have lifted my mood a few years ago, but I¡¯m in a relationship¡­ or was, if I can¡¯t return to my world, I suppose. And not to mention, there wasn¡¯t anything appealing about this woman when it came to her personality or the words that came out of her mouth.

    Overall, she seemed oddly sensual¡­ It made me a bit uncomfortable, but I pushed that aside for now.

    I had a plan for the day, and she seemed to have nothing else to say for now. She was probably waiting for my answer, but I wanted to think about this some more, there might have been a better option, and I was a bit thankful that she didn¡¯t press me for an answer despite everything.

    Leaving her reading in a corner, I got ready for the day with a shower and a change of clothes. I didn¡¯t have any more spare clothes left and needed to deal with laundry later. I didn¡¯t expect that to be something that needed consideration in a fantasy world, but did make sense.

    When I picked up the tools for the trade and left the room, the devil disappeared into thin air, likely following me invisibly?

    [Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m still here~ Oh, and I¡¯ll be keeping in touch like this. You should get used to it.] I heard her voice in my head, startling me for a moment as I involuntarily glanced around looking for her. [Oh, it seems telepathy isn¡¯t something very common in your world?] she asked in a delightful voice.

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    ¡°Jesus, do you have to be so rude? If you could talk into my head, why couldn¡¯t you let me just know beforehand?¡± I asked, feeling a headache coming on from my irritation. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve talked back to someone so much in years.

    [It¡¯s because you have a cute reaction~] she laughed. ¡°That¡¯s pretty creepy.¡± was all I could reply with, shaking my head as I turned to leave again.

    [Just so you know, you can talk with me mentally as well. The distance¡­ because I¡¯m amazing, is halfway across the world.] she smugly boasted¡­ and honestly, that did sound a bit impressive. It wasn¡¯t as impressive as phones, but perhaps that was a bit too high a standard?

    After that, I ignored her and went to meet Kanako.

    It seemed our meeting spot had become that bench, and she was already waiting there, kicking her feet as she sat staring up at the sky.

    Following her gaze, the cloudy gray sky was rich with twists and turns, the oncoming storm clearly telegraphed for all to see.

    [I¡¯m just curious, what do you see the cloaked girl as?] I heard the devil¡¯s voice, and holding back a sigh I decided to answer. ||It¡¯s bluish green|| I replied in my mind, feeling a bit awkward about using telepathy, wondering why she asked that.

    [I see¡­ Well, here¡¯s a fun fact: she¡¯s using magic to disguise her skin colour to be something close to yours and pose as a human. Have fun with that~] she replied with a chuckle and went silent. What?

    Being careful to avoid showing my reaction on my face, I noted this and made sure to be careful about that¡­ there seemed to be plenty of non-human races around, so I wasn¡¯t entirely sure why she was pretending to be human. Maybe because of some prejudice to her race, or because it made it harder for people to identify her?

    Regardless, I approached Kanako and greeted her. She stood up when she saw me and gave me a happy smile. She seemed to still be riding the high of yesterday¡¯s successful job, and that lifted my mood up a bit.

    I didn¡¯t know too much about her yet, but she reminded me of Anne so I had a bit of fondness for her. Paired with how innocent she seemed to be about a lot of things (despite dressing like a suspicious person), it felt like I was helping a junior when I was with her even though I had no adventuring experience myself.

    Our plan for the day was very simple: make our way to the river to deliver the tools, gather a few more herbs, then return and bunker down for the storm.

    It was as simple as 1, 2, 3¡­ but of course, nothing can just be simple, can it?

    It all started well enough. We set out before the heat became insufferable, and Kanako had the wherewithal to buy two cheap wooden umbrellas. By cheap umbrellas I meant that it was essentially several thin pieces of wood tied together with string. They were better than nothing against rain, but their main purpose was to prevent heatstroke, since we might be out in the blazing sun at noon¡­ smart. I split the cost with her, 5 marks for an umbrella. (I now have 128.5 marks, after everything)

    Our first complication was an irate ''Japanese-looking'' warrior standing in our path.

    Standing at 168 cm (5¡¯7¡±), almost as tall as me and fairly tall for a Japanese woman, with long back hair that was tied in a high ponytail. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties¡­ maybe 26 or 27?

    This warrior wore heavy-looking black steel armour over a traditional japanese garb. I didn¡¯t know how to describe it, but she wore those martial artist pants that were very wide at the bottom and looked like a skirt at first glance. I think they¡¯re called hataka pants?

    It was an awkward encounter as she just stood there with an expressionless stare and bags under her eyes, holding a glaive a whole head taller than her, maybe 213 cm (7 ft) tall.

    ¡°You there,¡± she spoke with a firm yet quiet voice, like she was challenging us to a sacred duel. ¡°Have you seen a large elf with bronze skin and red hair?¡± she asked, barely moving as she shifted her gaze between us. We hadn¡¯t, and I said as much, with Kanako moving to hide behind me. I took a few steps forward to make sure my anti-magic didn¡¯t affect her disguise.

    This new lady was fairly intimidating so I understood, just looking at her weapon she probably had years of practice¡­ Though it seemed odd how unhealthy she looked, it was common sense for warriors to take care of their bodies well, no matter the era.

    ¡°Are you two heading for the Descensus river?¡± she asked, and I noticed she had a subtle japanese accent, but spoke like a native-speaker of Merydian.

    I didn¡¯t understand the languages of the world, but I had a vague idea that it was largely ruled by a single language, which was a bit odd considering that she clearly had a different culture to this region, yet had the exact same language?

    ¡°We are¡­ I take it you are too?¡± I replied, not entirely comfortable with this stranger yet, but trying to get a read on her?

    ¡°I am¡­ the elf and I were supposed to go together, but I believe he forgot and left on his own.¡± she replied, looking away with a hint of a disappointed look. ¡°Does your party have space for a third member?¡± she asked, in a rather awkward sounding way.

    [Oh~ her magic¡¯s giving off a bit of a chilling feeling.] I heard the devil chuckle in my head, making me shudder a bit. What could she consider chilling? [Curious?] she asked, and of course I was, she couldn¡¯t just say that and leave it at that!

    [Sigh, don¡¯t get so angry, I think she¡¯s likely cursed. I¡¯d have to see more to say more, so hang around her for a bit, I haven¡¯t seen something like this in a while so I¡¯d love to learn everything about it~]

    Another complication, travelling with a scary warrior who¡¯s probably got some manner of curse on her as a sidequest¡­ I didn¡¯t want to actively hang around danger signs like that, I silently cursed the devil in my heart.

    ¡°What do you think, Kanako?¡± I half turned to ask the cloaked lady behind me. I really wanted to turn this terse warrior down, but didn¡¯t have a good reason other than ¡®the devil lady wants to be with you, so no¡¯. Honestly, I was hoping to use Kanako¡¯s shyness as an excuse, and I apologized to her in my heart for that.

    ¡°I¡­ I think it¡¯d be fine¡­¡± she muttered, dashing my expectations.

    I was shocked she¡¯d be willing to travel with a stranger so easily!

    ¡°Kanako?¡± the warrior woman asked, craning to look past me. ¡°Didn¡¯t we meet on the ship and travel to the town together?¡± she asked, and Kanako replied with a nod¡­ so they knew each other. Great. Now I had no way to reject her.

    With Kanako¡¯s accent and me not having a valid reason to overrule her and decline, we soon started walking towards the river again.

    After some initial awkward silence, the warrior introduced herself. ¡°Pardon, I am Arashi Kurohana. I¡¯m a warrior hailing from the land of Ame no Tochi to the east. I¡¯m on a journey in the search of knowledge.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t known her for long, but she seemed the type to not use more words than she needed to. I am a little curious about how she just called herself a ¡®warrior¡¯ generically instead of a title like ¡®mercenary¡¯, ¡®adventurer¡¯ or ¡®samurai¡¯. Perhaps they don¡¯t have distinctions in Ame no Tochi?

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you, I¡¯m Armin Fischer. I¡¯m a doctor from an isolated region, I¡¯m a little lost at the moment.¡± I politely introduced myself, being as vague as I could without lying. I was a bit worried she¡¯d ask more questions, but she only replied with a nod.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m Kanako¡­ also from Ame no Tochi.¡± Kanako introduced herself even vaguer than either of us, despite both of us knowing her name.

    After that, she only asked a few short questions about our main weapons, how trained we were with them, and precautions we took against monster attacks, then the rest of the walk was done in silence.

    At that point, I realized that I had somehow surrounded myself with a bizarre group¡­ a rogue completely covered from head to toe, a taciturn cursed warrior, a stalker devil that no one else could see¡­ and they were all women. I didn¡¯t like this situation.

    And then came the third complication, when we were about halfway to the river it started raining.

    One moment it was hot and humid, and the next second it was like a light went out in the sky and we had a cold wet blanket dropped on us.

    We didn¡¯t even have a chance to pull out the cheap wooden umbrellas before we were drenched.

    *Sigh*... At that point, I knew that this day wasn¡¯t going to be any easier than the last.

 Chapter 17 - A deal and a deal

    Arashi Kuruhana¡­ this travel companion was very hard to read.

    She was quite stoic and never made idle talk. Her attitude paired with the dark bags under her eyes she gave an unapproachable atmosphere, like the feeling of a drawn blade.

    I¡¯ve known a few veterans who had the same atmosphere as her, always on edge, always ready for something to go wrong¡­ and I couldn¡¯t even say that she was wrong to think like that given that we could get attacked by monsters at any second.

    Kanako was also as jumpy as a rabbit normally, but once she trusted someone she became a lot friendlier and loved to talk. She was fun to listen to as well, but we kept the chatter to a minimum given the danger of ambushes. That said, she still never let her guard down in the slightest, hiding away under her cloak and revealing nothing about her past in her home country. I hadn¡¯t even seen her face properly.

    The rain had thankfully relented a bit after it started, now more like an annoying drizzle rather than the downpour it started as. The wind had not been as nice, and we couldn¡¯t even use the cheap umbrellas for some protection because we¡¯d have to wrestle them to be useful in the slightest¡­ god I hate rain, it¡¯s so depressing.

    I didn¡¯t hear the sounds of animals scampering much through the sound of the rain and wind, and that was likely because they were smarter than us and took shelter when they felt the storm coming.

    At the very least, that meant that we didn¡¯t have to worry about being ambushed like yesterday, so there was a small victory there.

    ¡°It¡¯s really pretty, isn¡¯t it?¡± Kanako asked, looking up at the twirling cloudy sky. I could hear the wonder in her voice, and she seemed genuinely captivated by it¡­ but it didn¡¯t look particularly pretty to me. It was just a cloudy sky.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Arashi muttered in response, nodding, seeming unfazed by the rain. ¡°It reminds me of the blessings of the month of fertility.¡± she added, and I thought I saw a hint of a smile as said that.

    Was I the odd one out here? What was so pretty about the sky that these two saw but I didn¡¯t?

    I didn¡¯t understand, so I just stayed silent as I stared at the sky for a moment, but it just felt like an overwhelming force was just laughing at me. I don¡¯t like it.

    ¡°How dangerous are these storms supposed to be?¡± I asked, wondering just how safe we would be in the village when the storm properly hit.

    ¡°It¡¯s not very dangerous?¡± Kanako replied. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not very dangerous if you¡¯re in a proper settlement. I mean, they¡¯ve been around for years and the storms hit every month so it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Some storms strike harder than others, but the greatest danger is if you¡¯re caught in one while travelling.¡± Arashi added. ¡°And they¡¯re called confluences.¡±

    Confluence? An act or process of merging¡­ Why would they use that word of all things to describe extreme weather effects? Does it have another meaning in this world? Is it a translation quirk? Does it refer to something beyond just the weather?

    And something that confused me. How could the weather be so erratic yet uniform that storms occurred everywhere in the world on a monthly schedule? Do climate zones not exist in this world? Shouldn¡¯t storms be caused by all sorts of reasons that are not bound to any uniformity? Like tornadoes forming because of hot and cold air meeting, but having different categories, travel paths, and durations?

    And ¡®waves¡¯... this isn¡¯t some RPG world, right? Monsters are just animals, and they¡¯re quite smart from what I¡¯ve seen with the dual snake¡­ So why would they coordinate to attack settlements on a monthly schedule?

    There were too many questions I had no answers to¡­ and I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to ask the devil following me.

    ||Hey, about the confluence¡­|| I tried questioning her mentally, but I was cut off before I even finished asking. [I¡¯m not in the habit of giving knowledge out for free, sorry~]

    I couldn¡¯t see her, but I could clearly picture her smug grin.

    [Don¡¯t be so sour, I¡¯m a reasonable woman. I¡¯ll trade with you: knowledge about this world for knowledge of yours] she offered, and in all honesty, learning things that should be basic knowledge for a local inhabitant of this world was a good idea, and I wouldn¡¯t lose anything talking about my Earth¡­ but this wasn¡¯t the best time for that.

    After I told her to set that aside for now, I turned my attention back to the present.

    We had been walking for maybe 30 to 40 minutes, so we weren¡¯t too far from the river, but time felt like it was dragging on having to trudge around in wet clothes through the wind.

    ¡°Do you need help with that?¡± the warrior woman Arashi asked, pointing at the bag of metal tools I had over my shoulder. Honestly, carrying all the metal tools for the trade was starting to get annoying with the bag getting waterlogged.

    There was a part of me that felt reluctant, but the more logical part of me recognised she was already in heavy looking metal armour and carrying around a weapon bigger than me. She was a lot stronger than me, so I ended up handing the bag over thanking her.

    ¡°Why are you taking these tools to the river?¡± she asked, hanging the back over her shoulder, glancing between me and Kanako.

    Kanako opened her mouth as if she was about to explain, before looking back at me to see if it was a good idea. It wasn¡¯t a secret and it would be nice if she¡¯d have someone other than me to talk to, so I nodded.

    Kanako then excitedly started to retell the events of yesterday, but it sounded rather¡­ like a different kind of story?

    ¡°So we were on a journey to find rare herbs to save lives! Cutting through the thick bushes and under the barrage of the jungle¡¯s deadly bugs, when a monstrous creature of the sea burst out from the plants and attacked us!¡± was how Kanako described the journey to the river.

    ¡°And when we had finally reached the river, the air was thick with dread! We didn¡¯t know what kind of monster must have been around to turn the air heavy with fear, but we didn¡¯t back down, we had a mission and lives to save, so we pushed on. But then! We were suddenly surrounded by the barrel-fish! Huge terrifying fish people living in barrels that came at us with spears and shields!¡± was how she described the merfolk surrounding us.

    ¡°Armin was the picture of a western knight, he showed no fear and gallantly pleaded his case. Thanks to him we struck a deal for the sake of the villager¡¯s lives, we¡¯ll bring tools for their survival and we can take the herbs for our survival, and that¡¯s why we¡¯re making our way back with these precious tools now. This is our part of the deal, how we¡¯re saving lives!¡±

    Technically, she didn¡¯t say anything wrong¡­ but for some reason it sounded like someone else¡¯s grand adventure coming out of her mouth. I didn¡¯t think Kanako was a natural bard, given how shy she normally was.

    It seemed that she dropped her ¡®stranger barrier¡¯ against Arashi at this point.

    Arashi, by the way, was listening intently with her eyebrows raised, clearly interested. It was the most expression I¡¯d seen on her, and she even snorted a bit as she tried not to laugh at Kanako describing the merfolk as ¡®barrel-fish¡¯.

    The last bit of the travel to the river was fairly pleasant thanks to that.

    But that¡¯s where we hit our fourth complication?

    Reaching the river, we found a tall bronze-skinned elf with long red hair wearing a red tunic tossing a lasso at a wooden board in the middle of the river that was slowly drifting away. On this board was a familiar snake-featured cowboy, holding a bottle and clearly black out drunk just laying on his back and waving the bottle. ¡°It¡¯s too late for me son *hick*, the river¡¯s calling! Oh, I¡¯m being taken back *hick* by the whale people, I¡¯m going home darling!¡±

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    The elf almost lassoed the cowboy but missed, somehow managing to lasso the bottle and pulling that back. ¡°NO!¡± The elf yelled as he saw the captured bottle land on the ground as he quickly tried to undo the lasso so he could try again. ¡°Just wait! I¡¯ll save you friend!¡±

    The cowboy, on the other hand, just stared at his now empty hand, before reaching down to his belt and pulling out another bottle of alcohol.

    What is this scene?

    How did this happen?

    I seemed to be the only one stunned it seemed, as Arashi quickly walked up to the elf and took the lasso from him, quickly loosening it and preparing it to be used again.

    Then instead of trying to lasso the drunk cowboy, she gave the rope to Kanako who reached out for it as she rushed past her.

    With the nimbleness of a cat, Kanako hopped onto the stones jutting out of the river, skipping from one to the next with an adeptness that shocked me, stopping next to the drunk cowboy¡¯s board and hooking the rope to a corner.

    Then Arashi and the elf pulled the other end of the rope, quickly bringing the drunkard to shore.

    ¡°The whale people *hick*¡­ I knew you¡¯d take me back one day¡­¡± The drunk cowboy slurred, pointing at Arashi, who stared back at him completely deadpan. ¡°Are you calling me fat?¡± she asked tightening her grip on the rope, only getting a ¡°Please don¡¯t *hick* eat me, whale person¡­ I¡¯ll give you heartburn.¡±

    ¡°Friend! You¡¯re safe!¡± The elf grabbed at the drunk cowboy and tried to pull him into a hug, but the cowboy fell off the board barely a second before the elf grabbed it and completely crushed the wet board in a terrifyingly strong hug.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± I could only ask, taking in the antics of this slapstick in front of me.

    ¡­

    Once the aftermath of the drunken cowboy¡¯s misadventure had calmed down, three people stood before me: Kanako, Arashi, and the elf whose name turned out to be Nisha. The drunk cowboy was taking a drunken nap under some shade nearby.

    From the devil¡¯s whispers I found out that he¡¯s also disguised like Kanako, except his disguise was fairly subtle and just hides his snake scales to appear human.

    ¡°Thanks! If you did not help, I¡¯d lose my new friend!¡± The elf Nisha said to the two women in broken Merydian. I wondered what his main language was.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Arashi just stared at Nisha and seemed vaguely annoyed, but before she could say anything else, Kanako popped up between them and excitedly barraged the elf with questions. ¡°Nisha! I looked for you yesterday, but I couldn¡¯t find you anywhere! Where¡¯d you go?¡±

    ¡°Ah, Kanako. I was lost.¡± he replied slowly, chuckling as he smiled down at her.

    It seemed Nisha knew the two of them as well. ¡°Lost!? Lost where? Where¡¯d you go? Were you outside the village? Are you alright!?¡±

    Ignoring the reunion, I checked on the cowboy and he seemed to be fine¡­ aside from being dead drunk. Jesus, how much does one person need to drink?

    I didn¡¯t linger because I didn¡¯t want his disguise to break for long enough that other people would notice it.

    ¡°What were you two doing, to end up like that?¡± I asked as I approached the group. Compared to Arashi¡¯s glaring silence and Kanako¡¯s barrage of questions, Nisha seemed to find my question a lot easier to answer, so he turned my way and happily replied. ¡°We were looking for treasure!¡±

    Treasure? At that point I remembered Kanako mentioning that she felt a magic item in the river, was that it? Or was it something else, more traditional like gold and jewels?

    ¡°You and I were supposed to be looking for that treasure, Nisha.¡± Arashi pointed, and the bronze elf just let out an awkward laugh. ¡°Ah, I could not find you.¡± he replied. ¡°I found Vildost instead, so me and new friend came to wait for you.¡±

    As the three chattered back and forth (or rather, the two, with Arashi only saying a few words now and then), I came to vaguely understand the story of this group.

    Simply put, they were all on the last ship to this island together, then travelled to the village as a group, before splitting up.

    In that short time, Nisha became friends with all three and spent time with each of them, while the others didn¡¯t interact with each other too much.

    ¡°What¡¯s this treasure and how do you know it¡¯s here?¡± I asked Arashi and Nisha, wondering if this was some wild goose chase or if they were actually on the trail of something.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Arashi was surprisingly the first to respond, but then she hesitated. Looking at the elf Nisha, it looked like he had no intention to answer, so my guess was that Arashi was the one interested in the treasure.

    ¡°It¡¯s a magical item. I apologize, but I cannot say any more.¡± she hesitantly said, looking away towards the river. It might have been something personal, which I thought unlikely, or it could be that the item had a malicious nature or a bad reputation?

    I didn¡¯t want to press her on this, I didn¡¯t care that much, I just wanted to get back to the village and out of the rain.

    At that point I realised that the drizzling had mostly stopped, with just the wind harassing us at the moment. The clouds didn¡¯t abate at all, so it was likely to rain again soon, and I didn¡¯t want to be out here when that happened.

    Grabbing the dropped bag of tools, I called out for Kanako to look for the merfolk for the deal, but she seemed a bit distracted. ¡°Huh, okay I¡¯m coming.¡± she replied, but she kept glancing back at the three of them as she walked with me.

    ¡°Are you curious about the item?¡± I asked, wondering what was going through her mind. I had only known her for a day so I could hardly claim to understand this strange young woman.

    ¡°No¡­ nevermind.¡± she replied, shaking her head, sending drops of water flying from her drenched hood. If she wasn¡¯t curious about the item then¡­

    ¡°Ah, you want to help them, don¡¯t you?¡± I asked, and she glanced at me with an awkward expression. I didn¡¯t know if it was because Kanako was friends with Nisha and knew the others, or it was just in her nature to help people, but it was nice to see that she put consideration on the trouble it would bring us if we were delayed and the weather turned bad before we could get to the village.

    I couldn¡¯t rightly deny someone just wanting to help people, especially as the elder here. I could put up with some trouble if it meant letting a younger person develop in a good direction.

    ¡°If you want to help them, that¡¯s fine. A little more rain¡¯s not going to hurt us.¡± I replied to the answer she didn¡¯t give, chuckling a bit. I couldn¡¯t see her face, but I could tell that she perked up at that.

    With that decided, we came to the same spot we negotiated with the merfolk previously and waited.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how long it would be till they noticed us, but since they didn¡¯t tell us about how to call them, this part of the river must be under constant surveillance from them.

    We only had to wait for about five minutes before the familiar fish people in barrels appeared again.

    This time, I saw Squinty, Scar, and two other merfolk who I didn¡¯t interact with.

    Squinty stepped forward and raised his hand to greet us. ¡°Greeting, we¡¯re happy you held your end of the bargain.¡± he immediately said¡­ smiling? As his face was fish, I had no idea what his facial expression was, but it¡¯s the emotion I heard in his voice at least?

    ¡°A promise is a promise¡± I replied, opening the bag to show him the metal tools. ¡°Where¡¯s your leader?¡± I asked, glancing to see if they were also present but didn¡¯t step forward for safety?

    ¡°Busy with the war against the Living Ruin.¡± Squinty answered, shaking his head.

    ¡°A war?¡± I had to ask, it was never pleasant hearing about a war, though a part of me did wonder if these Merfolk had the same concept of war as we did¡­ or rather, the same concept as me.

    ¡°T-the Living Ruin are here, too?¡± Kanako questioned, making me wonder if it was common knowledge. The Living Ruin sounded like a formidable name, and it probably was probably a large group if they existed in other places than just this island.

    ¡°Yes¡± Squinty simply answered both questions, giving no further explanation. Instead, he stepped forward and taking the bag of metal tools, Squinty rummaged through them before squinting at the two of us. He had a quiet back and forth with Scar in their gargle-y merfolk tongue, before the latter handed the former a small pouch.

    Squinty then held out the small pouch to us. ¡°We value good faith.¡± he said, before adding something in his eldritch sounding language that I couldn¡¯t understand in the slightest.

    I wasn¡¯t one to turn down good will, so I took the pouch and glanced inside, seeing a few more Palnia Longweed and some Daradin grass inside. That was a pleasant surprise.

    ¡°T-thank you!¡± Kanako thanked the merfolk while I was still looking into the bag, reminding me to thank them as well.

    I¡¯ve had two trades with merfolk so far, and they¡¯ve had nothing but good faith in either deal. I¡¯ve got a lot of respect for this group of them at least.

    With that, our little meeting came to a close and we went our separate ways.

    Even with the storm inching closer and closer, we decided to try helping with the ¡®treasure hunt¡¯.

    [Oh by the way~] I was in a good mood till hearing the devil¡¯s voice in my head soured it again. [Stick around with that warrior lady more, she¡¯s got the scent of necromantic magic on her and I want to know more. Why don¡¯t you try to learn more about her for me~ ?]

    Jesus, I absolutely don¡¯t want any part of that now¡­ why do I have to deal with a necromancer? As if she wasn¡¯t intimidating enough.

    [Of course, I¡¯m not asking you to do that for free.] the sweet venom dripped from her words. [Would you be interested in where to find the research of a wizard who tried to cross between words~ ?]

    ¡®Beware the false glimmer the devil offers in your darkest moment.¡¯ I remembered one of my mother¡¯s preachings. Here in this new world, so far away from the light of my life, the glimmer offered by this devil was so unbelievably tempting¡­

 Chapter 18 - A plan

    I¡¯ve never considered myself a very pious believer.

    I pray, I go to mass, I tithe, I try to help people when I can and donate to charity, but I don¡¯t have any firm attachment to the scripture.

    I¡¯ve never believed in the afterlife or heaven, nor have I ever thought my faith was better than any other.

    I never thought ¡®the devil¡¯s temptations¡¯ were anything worth thinking about, that they were more than just the base urges of humans that we had to overcome to be a proper society.

    Yet, here I am, whisked away by forces unknown after my death, and an invisible devil so cheerfully whispers deals into my ear.

    The temptation this devil offered¡­ I¡¯m not pious enough to fight. I would do anything if it meant going back home to my family.

    The most I could do was utter a silent prayer before accepting. ||I just need to learn about her past, right?|| I took the bait hook, line and sinker.

    Kanako chatted about the merfolk as we made our way back to where we left the three treasure hunters, but I couldn¡¯t hear everything she said. I was mired in my own thoughts, rethinking my life, wondering how my mother would see my actions.

    She¡¯s a lovely woman, a firm believer and deeply into many occult things like fortune telling. Clashing with that is that she¡¯s a bit of an alcoholic and writes murder mystery books.

    She¡¯s definitely a woman with character.

    A part of me thinks that she¡¯d be disappointed in me, that she¡¯d ask how I sunk so low to sign a deal with a devil in just two days, where my backbone was¡­ but another part of me knows that she¡¯d tell me that she understood.

    Am I in denial?

    After everything I¡¯ve been through, am I still not taking my situation seriously?

    Can I even think objectively anymore? Is two days enough time to separate myself from my entire life, or not enough time to even overcome the shock?

    Am I in shock? I don¡¯t know.

    ||Hey¡­|| as much as I hated it, the only person I could talk to was this devil. ||You¡¯ve been following me for a while now, haven¡¯t you?||

    [I have, yes. I won¡¯t tell you how long, though, that¡¯s something you need to guess~] came the irritating reply.

    ||Am I taking things seriously?|| I asked.

    There was no reply for a few moments and I wondered what was going through the devil¡¯s mind? Would she see this as a sign of weakness and strike? Would she try to manipulate me? I¡­ just felt tired and wanted a straight answer.

    [Yes.] she simply replied, and shockingly, she didn¡¯t have any of that smugness nor did she laugh.

    There was no sophistry, no words of encouragement or mockery, no clarifications, no explanation, just a straightforward answer¡­ even if she was a devil, that helped settle my heart a bit.

    I¡¯d keep taking things seriously, I wouldn¡¯t let down my guard anymore, and I¡¯d find a definite answer one way or the other if I could return home and how.

    Before long, we reached the treasure-hunters.

    Thankfully, we weren¡¯t met with as crazy a scene as last time.

    Specifically, we met Nisha and a dozing Vildost. The two were apparently waiting here while Arashi went looking up-river.

    ¡°What exactly are you looking for?¡± I asked Nisha, still having no answer there. I understood it was something to do with Arashi and she didn¡¯t want to tell us the details, but nothing else.

    ¡°A ship crash.¡± he replied, gesturing towards the rotten wooden board that Vidost was floating away on when we found them. So the ¡®treasure¡¯ was on a ship and that¡¯s how it ended up here in the river¡­ but there was no guarantee that it was even here anymore. It could have been washed away or looted.

    But if it was a magic item, it was likely that it was the item Kanako felt in the river yesterday?

    Turning to Kanako I asked her about it in a low voice and she nodded and gestured a bit downstream. That was curious.

    ||Can you feel the presence of magic items too?|| I quietly asked Starlight. [Of course, it¡¯s a basic task for any infernal.]

    ||Infernal?|| I questioned. ||Is this a skill unique to infernals? Or is-|| [I¡¯m not about to give away knowledge like that for free. Do you want to trade for it, or would you rather become my warlock? Think about it, I can offer a lot more services than just a bit of knowledge ~]

    I didn¡¯t have the time to have a back and forth with her, so I brushed off her words and focused on the people around me instead.

    First, I checked with Kanako to see if she wanted to hide that she could feel magic items, and she said it was fine.

    Given that the item was likely at the bottom of the river downstream, I decided to leave Kanako with the elf Nisha and move upstream to find Arashi, leaving two able-bodied people in either group.

    I found her after a few minutes crouched by the river staring intently into the water.

    ¡°Can you see anything through the water?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask, I couldn¡¯t see anything but the reflection of the jungle canopy overhead.

    Without saying a word, she just shook her head, slowly standing up as she drew her glaive, making me take a step back and clutch my pike a bit tighter. Logically, I didn¡¯t expect her to attack me, she had no reason to and showed no hostility till now¡­ but that simple movement had so thoroughly intimidated me.

    The scene of Milvarr being killed so effortlessly flashed before my eyes.

    ¡°My apologies for startling you, that was not my intent.¡± she simply said as she stared at me, giving a small nod as she looked away, half turning so she was clearly looking towards the river and not me.

    I finally relaxed when I saw her prodding the water¡¯s surface with her polearm and realised that the hand holding my own weapon was shaking.

    I felt as much fear in that moment where she stared at me with her drawn weapon as I did when the guardian of faith stood before me. This woman was dangerous.

    No, even Kanako could kill me if she tried, it wasn¡¯t just fear of how strong Arashi was, it was something deeper, more instinctual¡­ she seemed like more of a threat.

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    I couldn¡¯t tell her about Kanako and the item she might have found for a moment. I just watched Arashi stare into the river as she stabbed her glaive into it.

    At first it looked like she was trying to feel for how deep it was or if there was an object in the way¡­ but she didn¡¯t move the glaive after that, she just held it still.

    And before long, the water around the glaive started to whirl and bubble, as if some invisible force under the surface was pushing and pulling the water like a jacuzzi.

    After a moment, she pulled her glaive out of the river and a rotten wooden board came out of the water with it, plopping onto the shore with a wet squeak.

    Was that her magic? Did she grab the board with an invisible limb? No, that wouldn¡¯t explain the water moving. It must have been a magic that pulled everything in a certain area towards her to move the water in such a way.

    ¡°Kanako might have found the magical item you mentioned, it¡¯s a lot further downstream.¡± I finally spoke, ashamed at how irrationally I had gotten scared. The warrior turned to regard me, having already poked her weapon into the water again, before withdrawing it and straightening her pose, clearing her throat with an awkward cough.

    ¡°That¡¯s good news, thank you.¡± she muttered a reply and hurriedly started walking towards the others.

    Was her plan to blindly fish out every bit of debris she could find till she came across the item?

    I already guessed that Kanako was talented at finding magical items, since all three of the others missed the item, but surely there must have been some other way?

    Before long, we met up again and the cowboy Vildost was up and chatting with the two.

    ¡°Okayy, so here¡¯s the plan. I go into teh water and you, big guy, have a rope around me and pull me up when I find the treasure!¡± He was even blabbering out a ridiculous plan. How was the elf supposed to know when he was ready to be pulled? What about the poisonous fish?

    Well, it wasn¡¯t a completely insane plan at least, just dangerous.

    After a few (emphasis on few) words between Arashi, Kanako, Nisha and Vildost (who didn¡¯t seem to be on the same page), there were 3 plans that had little to do with working together.

    Arashi wanted to use her magic to pull the treasure out, with no way of knowing if it was even possible. Kanako wanted to try to fish out the treasure with a hook. Vildost wanted to dive into the river.

    There was no effort to combine skills or anything, and aside from Nisha it seemed the others weren¡¯t even keen on interacting with each other.

    No, that was wrong, Vildost was happy to interact, but was too drunk to have a proper back and forth. And Nisha was a man happy to go with any of the plans, but didn¡¯t suggest anything himself.

    *Sigh* I decided to try and figure out more about the group and see if I could get a plan working.

    ¡°Before anything else, what are we doing with the ¡®treasure¡¯ if we do get it out?¡± I asked about the thing everyone seemed to want to avoid thinking about, the profit split.

    I knew most of this group didn¡¯t consider each other friends. While Kanako wanted to just help, the fact that clear terms weren¡¯t decided beforehand showed that everyone here was new to adventuring.

    In truth, Armin had no experience himself, but he had enough life experience to know that helping with work that lead to profit needs to have clear expectations or it can only lead to a fallout later.

    ¡°I myself don¡¯t particularly want a split of whatever we find, but I want to know more about the item and how it got here.¡± I decided to clearly state what I wanted so there weren¡¯t any concerns about my motive for helping. After all, I was only here because Kanako wanted to help¡­ and because that devil offered a deal so lucrative I couldn¡¯t refuse.

    ¡°Oh, Well, I don¡¯t mind. I want help, because it is good.¡± Nisha readily replied, chuckling with a smile.

    ¡°I just want to help too¡­ I¡¯m also curious about the treasure and want to see it.¡± Kanako responded as well.

    ¡°Aw dang, I want to be treated to ah good drink and a story.¡± Vildost slurred, as he turned his bottle upside down and gave it a disappointed look as nothing came out. ¡°Maybe two drinks?¡± he added.

    Out of the five of us, four of us didn¡¯t actively seek a cut of the treasure¡­ that was impressive. I couldn¡¯t be sure if it was because these were a group of young adventurers who cared more about an adventure than treasure¡­ or if it was because everyone could intuitively tell that this was something personal to Arashi.

    She was hard to read and I found her incredibly intimidating.

    However¡­ these three seemed to have an easier time than me understanding her¡­ though Vildost might just be too drunk to think straight.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Arashi hesitated as she tried to say something, looking at each of us, before lowering her head. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    And with that decided, the first thing I did was ask everyone what their abilities were. If they weren¡¯t going to actively figure out how to work together, it fell on me to.

    Arashi¡¯s answer was, ¡°I can use gravity magic to push, pull or lighten things.¡± other than being a trained fighter.

    Kanako¡¯s was ¡°I can make illusions, jump really far with magic¡­ and I can sense mana.¡± other than being a rogue good at sneaking around.

    Nisha¡¯s was ¡°I uh, I have little fire, I can keep warm¡­ if thing is warm, I can find thing, and¡­ Fire does not hurt me.¡± in addition to just being strong.

    Vildost¡­ answered too? It¡¯s difficult to translate ¡°I can go all swoosh real good and when I reach out for things I can go vavavaa! Alsoooo I poke real well, like a master masser¡­ maseur? The guy who does tha *hick* massage thing.¡± and he¡¯s apparently got really good balance?

    I worry about this drunkard, he¡¯s taking things to an unhealthy amount if he¡¯s always drunk like this¡­ though I can¡¯t really say anything since I¡¯m not his doctor nor do I know him well enough.

    Lastly, I had to introduce myself. ¡°I¡¯m a doctor¡­ though my license doesn¡¯t apply this far from home. As for magic, I have none. Rather, I cancel magic if it¡¯s within a metre or so.¡±

    As much as I¡¯d like to keep hiding details on my anti-magic, in the end it would be too dangerous if someone stepped into my antimagic and their magic suddenly stopped.

    ¡°I see, that¡¯s a useful skill.¡± Arashi simply nodded in appreciation. Nisha agreed with her, but I doubted if he understood what exactly I said. Vildost went ¡°uh-huh, that¡¯s pretty neat stuff. Doesss it only work for spells or other stuff?¡±, raising a question I didn¡¯t know the answer to exactly. But even he seemed pretty chill.

    Kanako was the only one who stared wide-eyed hearing about my anti-magic.

    ¡°You can use such a high level Apotropaic magic¡­¡± she muttered, stunned.

    ¡°Is anti-magic that powerful?¡± Arashi asked, clearly more on the martial side than magic, making me realise that magic was quite common, but knowledge on it seemed uneven.

    Given that both Arashi and Kanako came from the same country and both used magic, it was odd that there was such a wide difference in knowledge.

    Kanako seemed more comfortable talking to Arashi as she briefly explained that Apotropaic magic was the school of magic that dealt with defensive and protective magic, as well as anti-magic, though the latter was fairly high level.

    There was a bit of back and forth between Arashi and Kanako, with Nisha attempting to contribute and Vildost tying a rope around his waist to start his insane diving plan.

    Seeing that, I decided to step in again, getting everyone to stop and sit down with a plan.

    I didn¡¯t know how well we could work together, so I decided to make the plan have as few steps as possible:

    -Kanako makes an illusion exactly over the magic items¡¯ location.

    -Nisha uses a rope to hold a floating plank (the same one Vildost used) steady over the spot.

    -Arashi uses gravity magic to pull up said item.

    -Vildost is on stand-by to support Arashi however he can.

    I verified what Vildost can do, and he¡¯s able to grab and move things within 2 or 3 metres, so he can either grab Arashi if she stumbles or the magic item if she can¡¯t pull it onto the plank.

    Vildost, btw, would be on one of those rocks in the middle of the river close to the item.

    He claimed he can do it, and as worrying as his drinking was, I decided to believe him.

    There was an odd deliberateness to every single action he made, and I wasn¡¯t sure if he was properly in control or simply that skilled that even being drunk didn¡¯t hinder his movements too much.

    Arashi gave me an odd stare as I explained the plan, and nodded at the end. ¡°Do you have experience in leadership?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I do, but as a doctor, not an adventurer.¡± I truthfully replied. ¡°I see.¡± was all she said, before going over to test the plank she was to stand on.

    I still can¡¯t read her in the slightest.

    I couldn¡¯t tell if she was completely indifferent or just socially awkward.

    Either way, I had to get closer to her for my own reasons. Because of that, learning about this item and why she wanted it was the first thing I had to do.