《Project Terra: Found in a Strange World, I Shall Learn the Magics to Get Back.》


 Odd Findings in a Random Place

    Screech Screech" screeches the Rabbit-like creature, as I try to hunt it down. "God-fucking-dammit, my genetics really fucked me over, I''m struggling to chase down a fucking rabbit-thing, but no time for thinking about how fucked over I''ve been from the start.", I monologue in my head as I keep chasing this rabbit-like creature I found randomly, after which, I manage to grab a hold of via pouncing at it with slightly less than half of my effort.


    <u>AGHH, WHAT THE FUCK!</u>", I yell out viscerally as I look across the room, it reminds me of the interior of those houses in Puerto Rico. "Quiet down", non-chalantly yells out a young woman wearing a pink tunic. I look at her up and down, she has long and curly brown hair with brown eyes, and skin as olive as olive oil, and a body as slender as Cleopatra.


    Why in the everloving fuck did you bring me here forcefully?!?! and how in the actual natural fuck did you casually throw ginormous fucking winds at me?!?! Why does this entire place look different?!?! From the weird animals?!?! to the funky-ass looking trees?!?! What is this place?!?! are you fucking crazy or something?!?! Are you actually just fucking psychotic?!?! Tell me, crazy woman?!?!</u>", I viscerately egg on her. Augusta''s eyes squint at me and goes back to normal, "You''re the one acting crazy and psychotic, you act like you''ve never even seen rune magic, let alone elemental magic, how do you get by in life? And the Wilderness has always been like that, what are you talking about? And I already told you, we''re in New Sulis." replies Augusta. "Nevermind the fact you just said ''magic'', I''ll get to that later, where''s my bag?", I said. "Your belongings are currently being searched by the town''s soldiers, this includes the very clothes you were wearing earlier.", she explains. I look down on myself and realise I am wearing a tunic-like garment, mostly blue with gold-like ends, "Why did they take away my clothes off in the first place!?!", I exclaimed. "The first reason is to inspect all of your belongings, the second reason is, because you were likely a foreigner, and my conversation with you confirmed that you in fact a foreigner, to plant a translation rune onto you, so we could understand one another.", explains Augusta. "Come now, I shall take you to the consul."

 An Unexpected Origin.

    "A consul? What is this place? Am I even on the same planet? Everything looks so vaguely familiar but not similar to know what place I''m in. Am I even supposed to be alive as of now!?!? <u>WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING</u><u>?!?!?!</u>", I scream in my head as I am being escorted across the village by Augusta.


    "Calm down Est¨¢ban, you look extremely distressed, the consul of this town will simply ask you some questions and afterwards you can get your belongings back. Just stay with me.", The slender woman calmly explains to me, as both of us are walking down in the town.


    "What is a ''consul'', Augusta?", I (finally) calmly ask.


    "While other settlements have mayors, the settlements of our culture are independent politically of each other, and a consul is leader elected by popular vote, they handle both foreign and internal affairs, and share power with the local senate, a body of men who are adopted in each seat by the last senator in that seat. That''s usually the power structure in our culture." she explains oddly clear and concise.


    "Alright, that system seems both familiar and different, though even back at home I was disillusioned by it anyways so, meh.", I say to myself.


    As we walk down to the Consul''s quarters, I notice just how immaculate the marble and concrete are, wondering what they remind me of, and if I either went back in time or that this is a different world entirely.


    "Who goes there", an assertive voice echoes in the halls. as if we''ve trespassed someone''s land.


    "Dear consul, we''ve simply found an odd foreigner with equally odd belongs.", bequeathed the young woman.


    I wonder where my belongings are as of this moment. I do remember downloading the entire English-language Wikipedia on my laptop, along with the Wiktionary just for shits-and-giggles. Do I even have my laptop in that backpack? If I do, and that "Rune magic" works on digital stuff, I can explain stuff a whole lot easier.


    "Come here, boy.", declares the consul.


    As I walk up to the consul seems to be a fairly late-middle-aged man, around his 50s, olive-skinned, and instead of a tunic, he seems to be wearing a toga, I''m unsure why, and I''m unsure why he''s even known as the consul. Unless there is some piece of the puzzle I am missing, this doesn''t make sense.


    "In which land do you hail from?", asks the consul in a weary accent.


    "I come from Los Angeles, it''s in California.", I answer, assuming they''ve already gotten to my laptop and logged into it.


    "Where is this ''California'', young sir?", begs the consul.


    As the consul asks that question, a couple of what Augusta called "Legionary soldiers" march into the room. "My liege.", one of the legionaries say to the consul. "We have thoroughly searched the belongings of this foreigner and have discovered several odd pieces of engineering.", the other legionary says.


    "What makes this piece of engineering so unique", says the Consul.


    "Come with us so you can see for yourself.", replies one of the Legionaries. "Alright.", replies the Consul. "Both of you are coming with me.", says the consul to both Augusta and I.


    As the three of us walk down the hallway into the room where they are searching my belongings, I begin to notice the colored sculptures across the rooms. "Are there no sculptures where you hail from?", Augusta asks jokingly to me, noticing I am looking around puzzled.


    "Oh~~ No. It''s just that the sculptures I know of have their color withered away, have pieces broken off, and are in museums.", I reply to her bluntly.


    She looks at me with a mix of "Weirded out" and "Interesting" as she replies with, "That''s Intriguing, Est¨¢ban. I wonder what the arts is like where you hail from.", as she realizes this situation might go deeper than anticipated.


    As we enter the room, I notice my belongings carefully spread out on a wide piece of cloth, my laptop+accessories, my Pixel 6a (with no actual phone components, those parts became damaged at one point so my brother simply took them out and told me to use it as a small tablet), my "survival gear" (a couple of match boxes, a box cutter, and some small pots), my weed-vape, a rubix cube, and a couple bags of Takis.


    As the consul takes a look at my belongings, he turns his head to me and says, "Sorry, we''ve been walking together and I haven''t even properly introduced myself, My name is Publius Crassus, the Consul of New Sulis.", Publius introduces himself.


    That''s an interesting name, although it sounds like it would be adjacent to the names in the histories I look up. The "Consul" title feels familiar, the architecture looks straight out of history books, the names of the people here and what the soldiers are called feels straight out of a history documentary, it feels like I''m back in time somehow but I don''t recall individual settlements having their own consuls, let alone there only being one per town. Was each town independent anyway? I recall the entire region being centered around a single city, though my memory of that specific information is fuzzy at best. Are the other pieces of information also that fuzzy? I also recall there being a time where there was a period where there was a single person who was sole ruler, although I think that was like, the last third or so of its existence, so it likely doesn''t matter. I also recall that near the end of that said period, the majority of the official sole rulers didn''t have real power and the actual power was by the military commander-in-chief, though I could be wrong about that as well, as my memory of that is admittedly, quite bit fuzzy right now as well. Wasn''t the first third of its existence semi-mythological too? Also, if I recall, the last ruler of that period was such an asshole that the bureaucracy was so fed up with his bullshit that they killed the motherfucker and then set themselves up as an oligarchy. Though, once again, my memory is fuzzy as shit right now. Should I ask them for access to my laptop so I can catch up on that info again? I might have to make a deal with them in that they can put in those "Translation runes" on my laptop. Would that then mean I''ll have to "share" my laptop with them? That sounds like a hassle but it might benefit both parties, even if one literally had a soldier(?) incapacitate me a bunch of with wind fuckery, so I''m unsure if it''s worth it, They might even use it first before me if I decide to give them access and permission to use Translation runes, but I might as well if it means I can use it again.


    "Alright, ''Consul'' Publius.", I address. "Would you like me to let your soldiers and yourself access to the item that will gain you the most information about where I come from? It''ll make explaining a lot easier, though you''d have to put a translation rune on it, or several, depending on how that works.", I suggest to Publius.


    "That might be helpful, though you haven''t really told which of your belongings does that.", Publius addresses.


    Oh shit, that''s right. I just explained what it can do but oddly, not what the fuck it actually is. FUUUCCCKKKK. Do I just explain what it is right off the bat? That''ll be quite the trip for ''em. Oh, well, might as well. But, do I explain in a way they understand? I mean if I want them to be semi-computer-literate, sure. Well, why the fuck not? Here it goes.


    "So, right there, the metal slant with 2 letters on it. Where I come from, that''s called a ''computer''", I say, For which I know that in their time, a computer was a Math Wizard-for-hire. "Where I come from, a computer is a machine powered by lighning that can do a lot of calculations at once and even is a tool to make out out of those calculations, and also more stuff to do with those calculations, such as store information, that thing can store a whole library of books.", I explain.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Ah, so an Abacus, a Library of Alexandria, and a canvas, all combined into one item that is powered by lightning. An interesting piece of engineering, the locals here wouldn''t be able to make anything close to that. How do we use this? We can get one of the lightning mages here if it needs it at the moment.", replies Publius.


    "Can we get one of what you call, ''rune mages'' here, please? So your people and you can understand the information on it? That''d be nice.", I respond to Publius.


    "Another thing I want to say, I archived an entire encyclopedia on that laptop and the place where I got the encyclopedia also includes a whole array of literature, and the same authors of that encyclopedia also made what is likely known as a ''lexicon'' to you, but in the society where I come from, is called a dictionary, which I also archived onto that computer.", I note.


    "Yo, Estab¨¤n, is that much information that easy to find where you come from?", Augusta says to me in an enthusiastic tone.


    "Pretty much, though what excites me is the fact that the entirety of what I have there will likely confirm whether what I have been thinking since I saw just a smidge of how you guys talk, how you guys are organised, how you guys dress, how you guys name each other, and stuff like that.", I respond to Augusta.


    As I was saying that, an average height, maybe 5"7,young, armored man with a red tint-ish colored hood over his entire face so that I couldn''t make out what he looked like when I glimpsed at the front of him walked through. Kinda odd in my opinion, what my friends would call, ''a lil sussy'', but I don''t judge. People can people, ain''t no 2 ways about it.


    "So, consul, is this why you brought me here? And who is this scorched-skinned man?", asks the hooded man.


    "This is the foreigner we caught while he was running quite frantically over here. we brought you here because you are our best lightning mage for this scenario, if anything we should be wary of happens, you are the man who solves it the most efficiently. After all, there is a very good reason you are known as the Great Lighter, my dear son.", Consul Publius answers.


    Ah, would you look at that, a mage with high rank also happens to be the son of the Consul of this village, that is one hell of a nepo baby there, no two ways about it. Should I really trust him with my most expensive piece of property? When I bought it, it felt like I was a man buying a house upfront with cash. Hmmmm, Should I step in, or sit back and watch? I really don''t want to face the potential lethality of mother fucking Wind Magic but I guess I should keep my butt clenched as a way to cope with him potentially breaking the damn thing. Or, "suck it up, buttercup", like they say.


    The consul, Publius, then pulled his son into the corner of the room, "Ok, Octavius, whatever you do, DO NOT even TRY for even a SINGLE THOUGHT, to even SLIGHTLY fuck this task up, or else, whether you are my son or not, you will be put on a cross without warning nor mercy. I have done that before to an offspring of mine and I will do it fucking again. Do you understand me, Octavius Publius?.", lectures the Consul to his son.


    "Yes, Consul Publius.", replies Octavius as I overhear that faint conversation and look away as soon as they come back.


    I stand the fuck corrected. The man reminds me of the stories my Grandpa on my mother''s side told about his dad, I would rather just, well.... I can''t really deny that his son is presumably a high ranking officer in some type of military organisation so it likely comes with the job as well. Would not following the consul''s orders count as "treason against the state", so it''s punishable like that? I would not want to get on the bad side of that man the... I wonder how he governs the village in general, seems like an odd mix of oligarchy and representative democracy, not my cup of tea either way. Welp, onto getting the laptop there.


    "Fuck. Father''s been at it again, this time threatening his son with a fucking crucifixion of all fucking things to threaten. Ignorant man.", Augusta says, appearing disgruntled.


    I WAS KNOCKED OUT BY THE LEADER OF THE VILLAGE''S FUCKING DAUGHTER??!?!?!?!?!?!?! And I thought that a high ranking "elemental mage" in the military being the consul''s son was extreme nepotism! Now we have the DAUGHTER being in what I presume to be the military of this village, and they didn''t say this when we met?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?! IS THE CONSUL A MAGE AS WELL?!?!?!?!?! THIS SHIT IS ACTUALLY INSANE!


    "Oh hey, Augusta. Is the consul your father as well? You seem to have implied that.", I respond to Augusta.


    "You are right on the mark, Estab¨¤n. I am a Wind mage, and my Brother, Octavius, is a Lightning mage, as you already know. But father, we know he''s an elemental mage of some kind, as we have records of his magic test results, and records of him in one of the Mage units of navy, so I suspect he is some kind of "weather" type of elemental mage, considering his children are such and he was in the navy after all.", explains Augusta Crassus.


    Hm, it hasn''t even been at least 3 hours and I already know at least 3 people who use Avatar-like magic shit. How did I even get to this region in the first place for fucks sake? I might as well learn some magic myself while I am at it, if I get to retain those powers when I go back home, I might even be able to completely change my surrounding for the better, assuming I don''t get into some real deep shit while here, but I shall take that chance. Speaking of which, how strong is the magic here? Maybe I should learn these magics just in case shit hits the fan back home as well, that will be quite the useful skill or maybe ''skills'' in plural. I shall see if it is worth it later on to be fair.


    "Alright, what''s your name, small man?", Octavius addresses me.


    That''s a smidge odd, I''m only like, 3 to 4 inches shorter than him, that''s rude as fuck, oh well, might as well respond. "My name is Estab¨¤n, and if you want to ask where I come from, I hail from a region known as California, just to get that out of the way now.", I respond to Octavius'' rather rude addressing of myself.


    "Alright, Shall we get to the task at hand?", asks Publius.


    The rest of us nod as the specialized translation rune mage walks through the door. He appears quite the "studious" person, he reminds me of those monks from the middle ages, though I assume he isn''t exactly a christian monk. I''ll see what he can do.


    "Let us get down to business.", says the translation rune mage.


    As I open up the laptop, the people around me stare in awe. Honestly, I wouldn''t blame them, this is a piece of technology whose very first predeccessors we giant machines powered by electricity which didn''t even have one one-septillionth of the capabilities of this laptop, and that was over 70 years ago, within a lifetime. As I log in to said laptop, I give it to the translation rune mage, who then out of nowhere, brings out a shitton of odd lettering in the air akin to those MCU movies, he then appears to channel said lettering inside the laptop while it is on, thereby translating it in their language, or however it works, it looks the same to me oddly, though that''s likely how the magic works here.


    "Well, right now, you guys have the information on there translated in your language, presumably. What exactly is the plan of action right now?", I ask the room.


    "Well, first off, let''s introduce the rune mage who translated this piece of engineering. Estab¨¤n, meet Fulvius, one of the greatest translation rune mages of all time and The top ranking translator of the military.", says Publius.


    "Well, let''s get down to business then with the information. Can Augusta, Octavius, and I get something to eat while you guys dig through there?", I ask Publius.


    "Sure, there''s a dining hall if you walk straight, first intersection you see you turn to the right, and when you see a big room, that''s the dining hall.", explains Publius.


    "Sounds like a plan!", I say.


    As Augusta, Octavius and I eat in said dining hall, I chow down on some Hopper chops, apparently a common yet delicious delicacy in this place. While this is happening, Publius and Fulvius are busy effectively siphoning the information from my laptop into their minds, learning about my world and where I said I come from, this takes about 2-3 hours and is mostly about Geography and history. As we''re done dining, a Legionary asks us to go back to the room where my belongings were held, once we are there, both Publius and Fulvius have a wary look on their faces.


    "So, What''s the news?", I ask Publius.


    "Well, Estab¨¤n, you might want to sit down for this.", replies Publius.


    "Alright.", I respond as I sit down in a criss-cross position.


    "So, have you may have heard of the Legio IX Hispana, correct?", asks Publius.


    "In some sense of the word, yes.", I answer, being wary of what he is about to say next.


    "Our ancestors who were first here are descended from that legion and the women they likely brought with them.", Publius reveals.

 A Beginning for the Ages

    Thinking about it, that actually makes a lot of sense, although I did just remember what the main thing about Legio IX Hispana is, so not that I would''ve came to that conclusion in the first place, so eh. All I wonder is, to procreate, did they just mate with the Brittonic females they captured? If so, would explain how the runes look. I thought runes were Germanic rather than Brittonic though? All I am guessing is that the Legion (or the Legionaries'' descendants) saw the Germanic runes and then subsequently those Celtic symbols and lumped them in to one category, "Runes", and never bothered to correct that. I have so many questions to ask Publius himself right now. Are these "Mayors" actually chieftains that adopted the more Brittonic culture of their ancestry? It''s weird that they were to refer to them as Mayors though, but that''s just a tidbit. If I remember correctly then, the language spoken by the Briton Celts at the time hadn''t split into other languages. I wonder if after I return home, and while I''m here I also get Britons to do a translation rune on me, I''ll be able to speak both Brittonic and Latin back home, that''d be cool in all honesty. But first, I''d have to ask some other pressing questions. As they have already searched that archive, they likely know of the Goths, and the Franks, and the Old English, and the Franks, and the Norse.... I think Publius is a little more than internally slightly pissed. I''ve got a feeling that he''s internally screaming right now. He''s likely even going to talk to his children about this in order to give them an idea of the situation in general in all honesty. Can''t wait to see how that turns out. Fulvius will likely be very suspicious of my computer in general in all honesty. I can''t see that what is going to happen is going to be nice right now... Welp, gotta ask more questions now.


    "Publius, did you get more information about your former people?", I ask, expecting ''yes'' as an answer.


    "Fulvius is on the rest right now, but yes, I know of this ''Romulus Augustulus'', the last of what the people of your era call ''Roman emperors''.", replies Publius begrudgingly.


    "Ah, so will this information become ''classified'' as it''s known where I''m from?", I ask Publius.


    "We inherited the skill of the ciphers so there''s no need, it''s impossible for this information to leave these premises without my willing as of now, however that may change later.", replies Publius.


    As Publius finished that sentence, Fulvius yells in that room, "WHAT THE FUCK IS A GOTH!".


    Does he mean that specific subculture or the Goths, like the ones that took over Roman Hispania? Either way, that is extremely funny. Saying he''s pissed is an understatement right now. Anyway, how long have these people been here anyway? In terms of "Earth measurements", I suppose. I do however wonder, How long did this apparent "cultural splitting" take? Was there a time period of a slow fracture or something? These are interesting peoples'' in general in all honesty.


    "Hey, Estab¨¤n!", Yelled out Augusta.


    Wait, why is she yelling in the first place? I thought she was in the room with us. That''s a bit odd.Welp, gotta respond.


    "Hey, Augusta!", I yell back.


    "What''s the update here?", replies Augusta as she walks in.


    "That''s gonna take some existential perseverance on my part to explain.", says Fulvius.


    Ok, Fulvius seems extremely stressed right now, but maybe Publius can explain better than me by a long shot.


    "Come here, Augusta. This is gonna take a bit of time.", Publius says as he escorts Augusta to the hallway.


    After about 2-3 minutes, they come back in, with Augusta looking like she just got the soul sucked out of her and is now a shadow of her former self, though this look quickly is taken off her after about 3 seconds.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "That fucking sucks.", groans Augusta.


    None of the Breto-Romans in the more ''Roman'' culture seem keen on this news. Honestly, I wouldn''t be happy if I had as much of a connection to traditions as they do. I do wonder how the more Brittonic cultures are here, that would be quite the experience.


    As Publius wallks towards his children and Octavius, he announces, "I will organize a meeting with the senate, Every one of you besides Estab¨¤n will be speaking to the senate, including me".


    Damn. He''s taking this extremely seriously, is the senate gonna be hectic over this? I know for a fact if something similar to this happened in any part of America, each branch of government would be shitting bricks and pissing acid over this. Also, rough;y knowing how the senate was back in rome, I can''t see how this will be civil. Will I see a Roman(-ish) senate shitshow right before my eyes? That''s gonna be a fucking experience.


    "Welp, I guess that''s that. I wanna ask questions to Estab¨¤n about this California, though.", mumbles Augusta to herself.


    As she walks up to me, she says, "Hey, can I see some information about your homeland real quick?".


    "Well, it''s already got a translation ''rune'' on it so go all out.", I say.


    "Thank you!", she replies while walking up to my laptop.


    Interesting, she''ll likely go to other areas of history or culture and language stuff. Hopefully she won''t go fucking insane like those yandere girls from those visual novels I played back home, not even 3 days ago thinking about it, kinda funny when you dwell on it. I have a prediction that I''ll witness less than savory "shenanigans", so I genuinely hope I''m not stuck here and get to venture out. I myself want to see a map of the human-populated settlements that are known, however I also want to learn that magic. Elemental seems easier to learn in all honesty though, I''ll ask her about that later.


    After some time, she comes back with a stoic look on her face, she comes up to me and says, "So You''re technically part roman like us, eh?", in a perplexed tone.


    Technically, she is right to an extent, although I don''t necessarily know how much of my Spanish side is more native Iberian than Roman. I''ll have to research that myself but to know for sure, but I''m going to agree with her to be on her good side, but saying it in a way that it won''t look bad on me if it turns out to not be the case.


    "In all likelihood, most likely.", I reply to Augusta.


    "Oh! So we have much more history in common than I thought!", says Augusta.


    Now is my chance. Don''t fuck it up. Ask for some teaching in some "Elemental magics", especially that wind shit. I need to ask that translation rune mage guy if I can speak the languages that they translation rune''d on me if or when I go back home. Alright, Estab¨¤n, for good measure, once again, don''t fuck it up.


    "Hey, Augusta, can you teach me more about the Elemental magic you guys have? Seems useful.


    "All right, let''s go back to your quarters to explain elemental magic. Before I give you a brief summary of each broad category of elemental magic, let''s start with the basic concept of all elemental magic here. In essence, We are manipulating the spiritual energy of the elements and combining it with our spiritual energy in order to output that to do tasks we want. With wind magic, for example and because I am a wind mage, wind, like everything else here, has spiritual energy, I manipulate the wind''s spirtual energy with my spiritual energy and then direct the wind onto whatever I want it to go, including how strong the wind is to a point. I myself am trained enough in wind magic that if there were settlements like New Sulis that didn''t have any people that knew an elemental magic, I would be able to level the biggest palaces with no effort, but because of runic magic they are quite durable, in equivalence to objects not protected without runic magic, those palaces on an individual level are equal to what your people call, ''Continents'', or ''Tectonic plates''.", explains Augusta.


    Well now I know for a fact she held back a shit ton than I expected. I could have died if she saw me like the border patrol agents of any country then would see me. Hopefully I''ll be good at Elemental magic in general in all honesty. Although I''m not keen on the potential brutality of the consul and senate, also possibly the equivalent of the praetorian guard here. Well considering that Augusta seems hot as fuck in my honest opinion, I do hope that Augusta and her brother wouldn''t be as psychotic as the rulers of this settlement if the Consul and Senate turn out to be on the same moral level as , I''d also want to go out and explore the world, I actually want to see these Brittonic settlements, to see if they I can corroborate Augusta''s explanation of the cultures here. In fact, I wonder how the mages in those settlements fare, as they seem to be elite in this general world. I might even bring my laptop as well to record all of that. But first l have to be safe and learn at least some Elemental magic, though I don''t know how long that''d take.


    "How long does it take to learn the basics of an Elemental magic?", I say to Augusta.


    "Around 1 to 2 days for each, so around 6 to 12 days for all of them in total if you want to learn all of them subsequently, though I''d have to get those other experts here.", she replies.


    "Alright, let''s get to it.", I reply back.