“I came from another world. I was given the name Akito at the time of transfer. I don’t know why it’s a Japanese name though.”
As he said that, the royal duo stopped in their tracks. Of course, the story of someone coming from another world was a little hard to digest as anyone might be able to imagine. They both had their mouths wide open by surprise or shock. They stayed silent for a few seconds as he also stopped and faced them, willing to answer as many of their questions and get answers for his own. And then the queen opened her mouth to push forward the conversation.
“I entertained that idea for a little while when we were still at the camp, but I rejected it as that sounded too unlikely. To think that it was the case. But, it does make sense as the legendary hero also had that same family name and was unable to use magic but had tremendous strength just like you do.”
“But, then why was a hero summoned at this time? As I remember, the hero was summoned to put an end to some rampaging demons in the legends. I don’t think there is any such threat right now.”
As Aria also added her two cents, he replied,
“Don’t misunderstand it. I’m not a hero. Nor am I here to fight the demons or whatever. Hell, I don’t even know what you mean by demons. I was sent here for a purpose I don’t want to tell you, but I’ll help you out with your trouble.”
He was a little confused as to why they didn’t doubt his words at all. They just accepted it more easily than he had imagined in his head.
Maybe, they are more easily convinced by this because of the existence of magic.
As he thought that he continued the conversation,
“As I came from another world, I will need your guidance on many things, including the common sense of this world, economy, lifestyle, magic etc. Can I ask you to educate me on those subjects? I don’t want a full semester of lectures, just a little crash course would suffice.”
“Of course, we would gladly help out the hero from another world. It is said to be a great honour to serve the summoned hero, please ask us anything you want.”
As the queen said that, he was annoyed a great deal. And he thought she is a genuine idiot, no wonder the kingdom is in trouble.
“I just said I’m not a hero, are you stupid? No offence. But, I’ll repeat that once more. I’m not a hero and I wasn’t summoned here but sent here. There is a lot of difference. Also, from the perception of heroes people of my old world had, I would prefer not to be called by that name.”
“I’m sorry. I won’t say the same thing again. forgive me for my insolence.”
The queen said and deeply bowed her head, indicating that she was indeed sorry for her words. She didn’t think anyone would be offended by being called a hero.
“It’s okay. Just don’t repeat that and don’t tell anyone about what I just told you. Moving on, I have a single question for now. What are these things? I’m guessing they are some sort of currency. Can you briefly tell me their value if they are coins?”
He took out the coins that he felt in his pockets while he was fighting the wyvern. The number of coins was higher than what physics would allow in a pocket of that size and that too without bulging out. The coins he took out were copper, silver, gold and platinum. 100 pieces each. Most of which he put on the side of the road, stacked on top of each other as he made 4 towers of coins. Kept one of each metal in his hands. The mouths of the duo were wide open in shock as the queen and former princess answered his question.
“I am amazed how you have this much wealth just after arriving in this country.”
“Money all around the world is in the form of coins. The coins are 100 times more valuable than the previous one in the ascending order of copper, silver, gold and platinum. In this country, one copper coin is worth one Ruber. You can eat a decent meal for 7 to 10 Ruber and spend a night in a decent inn for about 50 to 60 Ruber. But that name for currency is only used in legal contracts and official documentation. The general populace just refers to them as copper coin, silver coin etc.”
The queen was still amazed by the amount of money he pulled out from his coat pockets and Aria explained the value of money.
Well, looks like I’m well-equipped to visit a town in terms of money. I have more than the necessary amount of money on my hands. That’s one thing taken care of.
He thought as he thanked the two for the valuable information and urged them to start the journey to the next town again.
After hours passed as they kept running, the gigantic walls about 8 meters high came into view and the time was just around early afternoon. Armed sentries and what looked like magicians were posted on top of the walls every few tens of meters. The gigantic metal gate was manned by many soldiers who were inspecting the luggage and people going in and out of the town and there were lines of people trying to get into town as well as several carriages pulled by some type of four-legged beasts. Unlike horses that were used on Earth before the advent of mechanical engines and such, these beasts were green or red in colour, had humps on their backs like camels and were a little larger than horses. They also had short horns on their heads. The carriages were also larger than the ones he had known on Earth. They did not have anything to absorb the shock like suspension. The tires were entirely made of metal and wood. The top halves were covered with leather on a metal frame. Some were cabins entirely made of metal and wood with small windows too. He assumed the former was for transporting goods and the latter was for the people to travel in. The people in line were wearing similar simple clothing and he and his party was standing out. Women had hair down to their waists but tied in a bun, almost all of them while men were all donning short hairs. Some men were wearing bandanas. The knights on duty were divided into three groups. Some looked like mages and were wearing robes and had big staffs with crystals in their hands. The others were soldiers standing by wearing full chain mails and last was the group actually performing the inspection only wearing minimal leather armour like breastplates and such. They were working hard for their town’s safety. The gigantic walls were made of stone and some sort of mortar. they were not painted to look pretty but entirely for safety purposes. The moat surrounding the wall further enhanced the sense of security inside the town. while he was looking around and observing things, it was their turn. It took about 25 minutes after they got in line.
“Present proofs of your identity and your luggage for inspection.”
The guard on duty asked them to present their Identity proofs and the royal duo obliged. He didn’t as he didn’t have one. And they also told the guard that they did not have any luggage on them except what was in their pockets and a map. The guard checked the two’s ID proofs and gave them back and looked at him to demand one from him.
“I don’t have any proof of identity on me right now because I just came here last evening. Can you tell me Where I can get one?”
The guard looked at him with suspicion and whispered something to the soldier next to him. The guard then told him to follow the soldier and he did as he was told. The royal duo also followed. They were guided to a room adjacent to the main gate and told to take a seat. There was a large rectangular table made of wood and bits of metal in the middle of the room, surrounded by 6 chairs on each side of the table. There was a crystal ball in the middle of the table resting on a triangular platform. They sat down where they were told. Him in the middle and the duo is on either side of him. He was confused why the queen and her daughter weren’t exposed for who they were even after showing their identity proofs but he put that in the back of his mind thinking he will ask them about it later. In a few moments a soldier wearing a little more luxurious armour than the ones he had seen until now entered the room with one more soldier. He sat in the middle and the two soldiers stood behind him.
“I am the captain of the city watch’s southern side, Lott. I will be determining if you have a criminal history or not and checking your identity. Put your hand on this crystal and we will get started with the interrogation. I will use contract magic to bind the two of us in a temporary contract with this crystal as a catalyst. According to the contract, we can’t lie to each other. if we do, then the crystal will turn black and if we don’t the crystal will shine blue. Keep your answers short. Let’s get started.”
The captain said and put his hand on the crystal. Akito did the same and the captain initiated the spell via a short chant and assisting magic circle engraved on the crystal ball. And it began.
“What is your name?”
“Akito.”
The crystal shined blue.
“Where did you come from?”
“Earth.”
The crystal shined blue, but the captain was intrigued by the unknown name of the place. But let it pass because it wasn’t a lie.
“What is your purpose in visiting this town?”
“Rest, education and supplies.”
The crystal shined blue again. And the interrogation went on. He was asked about various things for 15 minutes but there was not a single lie in anything he said. The captain was impressed and decided to let them pass. Of course, he broke the spell first. And he gave him a bit of parting advice,
“You can get proof of identity from any guild or governor’s office. But you should get one from the guild because it’ll also work in other countries too. Welcome to the town of Lunara.”
And they got into town. There was a big main road paved with stones and bustling with people. It was leading straight towards the centre of the town and many small street roads jutted out like branches of a tree on both sides of it. There were children playing on the sides as they went on. After walking a little while, they went left where there was a nice smell of cooked food wafting off. They walked a little bit ignoring the street vendors as they wanted to have a nice meal while talking about their plan going forward. They went inside a nice-looking restaurant and asked for a table for three. They were guided to one by the waitress. He wasn’t sure what to order since he didn’t know anything about the food of that world so he left ordering to the mother and daughter. And then the conversation began, with him starting things off as soon as the waitress left.
“So, why didn’t you tell me about this ID proof?”
“I’m sorry. It slipped my mind. It’s not every day you get to meet someone without proof of identity outside of a town since you can’t leave most places without one.”
Aria replied. He said it was alright since there wasn’t much trouble because of it.
“What are we doing after lunch? Any plans or ideas?”
The queen asked him. He hadn’t told them anything before they were told to follow him.
“First things first, I need some sort of ID and were going to the adventurers guild. By the way, why weren’t the two of you exposed when they checked your ID ?”
“We used adventurer cards for that. There is no mention of status in it even if you are nobility or royalty. When you register with the guild, everybody is the same.”
Aria replied.
“That’s convenient. Anyway, back to the topic. So, I just have to Register and I get an id, right?”
“That’s pretty much it.”
“Nice. Next, I need to learn magic and get some weapons. Can you teach me magic and is the amount of money I showed you earlier enough to buy a decent weapon?”
“You have enough money to buy multiple high-class weapons. The problem is magic. To learn it, you have to first know your aptitudes. If someone can use appraisal magic or has an appraisal skill, you can find that out for yourself but between me and mother, we can’t use it. The next method is to go to the church. They keep an appraisal stone there. you can learn your aptitudes there and then I can teach you magic.”
While she told him that, their food arrived. They dug into the slow-cooked orc meat and minotaur stew with a salad of wild ingredients. The conversation resumed as that happened. Bite-sized skewered wild boar meat was also devoured alongside those.
“Can you tell me more about these attributes? What are they?”
“Well, there are 5 in total. They are more like different magic systems. Creation, Manipulation, Annihilation, Holy and demonic magics. There is currently no user of Annihilation magic but it can apparently erase things out of existence. Creation magic can create things out of mana but mana consumption is very high if you want to materialise things that stay in existence forever but it’s alright to create things temporarily. Manipulation magic can be used to as its name suggests, manipulate things. it’s easier to manipulate things created with magic than naturally existing things. Same as creation magic. It just takes more mana. Holy magic is recovery and healing magic, contract magic etc. Not many people have an aptitude for it. The last is demonic magic. It’s reinforcement magic, summoning magic, etc. Holy and demonic magics are basically magics that manipulate or create life and will in some way or another. Although even if you have an aptitude for demonic magic, you won’t be able to use summoning magic unless you have an aptitude for either creation or manipulation magic. It seems to be a composite magic. But you can make a taming pact with a monster if you only have an aptitude for demonic magic. The most important thing is, not everybody has an aptitude for magic. Some people don’t have an aptitude for any type of magic. Some people have an aptitude but don’t have a large enough mana pool to be able to use magic above a certain limit. Some people can use magic like only one spell a day kind of thing. People who have an aptitude for more than one type of magic and a large mana pool are quite rare.”
“That’s simple enough. What aptitudes do you have?”
“I have an aptitude for creation and manipulation magic.”
Aria said.
“And I can use demonic magic.”
The queen added.
“Nice. Dual aptitudes. You are one of the rare ones, huh? that’s amazing. Now I’m getting excited about what aptitudes I have. And demonic sounds awesome, you can make little monsters your pets.”
“It’s not that awesome, It’s the second most used attribute after manipulation. In terms of rarity, it goes manipulation > demonic > creation > holy> annihilation. But I do have a large mana pool so I did a lot of adventuring in dungeons when I was younger. Never fought a wyvern, though.”
He commented and the queen shared information about her younger days. Then the conversation got derailed and they talked about what kind of dungeons she went to and what type of monsters she had fought as well as what kind of monsters she kept as tamed beasts. And the lively meal continued.
