As I follow them around we try to communicate a bit more. They like my centipede poncho I think. The brother is called Vehi and the sister Nalu. He’s a ‘Food find’ and she’s a ‘Draw make’ or so they say… The fish was caught in an underground lake a few intersections away, I think. Even recalling the whole conversation I have a hard time understanding it all, yes.

“Home yes!” she’s jumping to get my attention.

“Eat good! Big see!”

How do they even survive the centipedes?

They proceed to both disappear into a wall. Uh? UHH?! Yeah ok, magic and stuff, sure. I ‘confidently’ walk into the wall. It feels like walking through a thin plastic film. I’m on the other side. looking behind me, I’m shocked I didn’t notice the weird wall from the other side. There’s a ton of mana around. Five perfectly round mana crystals in a metal frame are forming a big archway that completely hides the passage from the other side. It’s not just an illusion clearly, it also hides its own mana, and I think it masks sounds coming from inside too. The most surprising part is the thing is completely covered in copper rune threads. That’s the most impressive magical device I’ve seen yet.

“Sister draw!” he’s pointing at the thing. Holy shit, really? Yeah they talk weird but they definitely don’t have a low IQ. It’s easier to imagine them surviving in this hellhole now.

“That’s impressive, yes.”

I feel like my speech pattern has been corrupted.

“Impressive yes!” she proudly parades around, yeah she can brag I won’t have anything to say.

“The fish is impressive too.” here you go big guy, feel good about your work too.

He is a bit more shy to express his joy, they really don’t need much to get going uh. Must be nice living like that.

“Vehi impressive, yes!” see, she agrees too.

I wonder how she can even draw the runes when they talk like that. Interestingly enough these runes look pretty much the same as the ones I’ve seen before, which doesn’t look like the written common language. Runes must be a lost magical language or something like that, I’m curious about it all…

Oh wait she draws runes? They both look at me wondering why I’ve stopped following. It’s somewhere in there, come on, too much crap in this bag already… There! Maybe she can tell me what it does.

I show Nalu the necklace that got teleported with me.

“Do you know what these drawings mean?”

She grabs it from my hand, damn her fur is so soft, like a pup. I want to pet them. That doesn’t sound like a very respectful thing to do. Also I definitely saw small fingers in there, no paws then. She’s very focused on reading the fine copper inscriptions.

“Sun strong! Yes!”

“You get stronger when it's sunny?”

“YES ! YES! Sun STRONG! Yes! Sun person, yes!” she seems really excited about it, but I can only guess what she means… Sun person?

“Wearing it makes me a sun person?”

“Hum hum, sun person yes!”

Ok then. Whatever. I’m putting it back on now to train my crystal with the drain. I’ll test it when I’m outside, this sure explains why it did nothing when I activated it before. It takes me a while to get the backpack back on, taking it off from under the centipede poncho is easy but putting it back on without getting naked first is quite impractical.

“Thank you for the help, by the way, ask me if you need anything.”

“Soft, yes? Help free, yes!”

Sure…One more debt. A small, informal one, but a debt still. We keep walking while talking about cooking fish. Some other passages lead to the same tunnel where's in, who knows how many of these false walls I’ve walked past before finding these guys. We should be closer now, I’d expect to have seen more of them by now but we’re still alone.

Finally a silvery double door covered in runes shows up, there’s two little guys in centipede gear in front of it, visibly unarmed guards. One of them comes here and talks to Nalu.

“Nalu, Vehi, sound no, sleep.” he then looks at me, then back at her “Soft?”

“Soft yes!”

He goes back and both guards work together to activate the runes that open the door. That simple? Either they’re too trusting or Nalu really has a high position. I’d guess both.

“Eat good, sleep, yes.” She looks at me and puts a finger in front of her mouth “Sound no. Yes.” I’m surprised this gesture exists in this world too. Also she still said yes after saying no…

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“No sound, I get it.”

Us three enter the… city? A few tiki torch looking lamp posts with softly glowing gold nuggets on top are spaced through the alley before me, the ceiling is probably about five meters high, and stone houses are carved directly into the walls. There are a lot of plants in planters on the window frames, messy vines all over the ceiling and dropping down, even some small trees growing directly from the stone floor. The air here is very fresh compared to the caves before. They sure have a cozy place for themselves. I’m surprised at the tall and large doors everywhere, even Eviniel wouldn’t have a problem entering any house here, but I’ve yet to see one of these fluffy animal people be taller than my belly button.

I haven’t seen a single glass window yet, only scales or wood curtains. Can’t have everything inside a cave I guess. Or maybe they just don’t need it, we’re already inside after all. We silently walk through the empty streets, it’s clear everyone is sleeping. We’re out of the previous street, in a very small round square with a big tree in the middle. Vehi stops in front of a small house with a second floor, not many of those around, ‘Draw make’ must pay well.

After we all get inside, Vehi runs around lighting every single gold piece around the house, we’re bathing in a nice golden glow. I can only stand awkwardly on the side. Nalu closes the door and comes to me.

“Draw, sound no! Sound yes!” she points to the door and curtains which are all covered in runes. Not hard to guess who lives here. Also that’s a lot of a lot of money’s worth of copper just being used on curtains and furniture… There’s at least twice as many magic items just in this room than there were in the guild’s hidden armory.

“Ok. Do I help for the fish?”

“Help no, Vehi make, eat good yes!”

We both sit on cushions on the floor around a low and round wood table. Vehi is busy gutting the fish on a counter at the side. The whole place is about ten square meters, maybe, the house is round so it’s hard to tell. Ceiling about three meters high. Every wall is covered from top to bottom in cluttered shelves holding various things, ranging from the occasional book to framed fish scales collections. I think the toilets are in a small room behind wood curtains in a corner. There’s runic items sprawled around everywhere, even the stone furnace carved into the back wall has runes on it. It’s kind of a small place for two, even with the second floor, which looked to be even smaller from outside, shaped like a dome. Well, I’m not about to ask them about cavern real estate.

The cushions and carpets are made of fur… Of course they would be.

We share a good meal, Vehi can really cook well, Nalu didn’t lie. I ask about their age at some point, Vehi is 14, Nalu is 26. No clue how they count age or how long the years here are so it’s kind of pointless.

I also asked at what age they become adults but they just looked at me like I used a word they didn't understand… When I asked how old ‘big’ is, the answer I got was ‘Lot hundred ,yes!’...

I’m cleaning up the dishes, the least I can do, they actually have running water in here. Furballs keep blowing my mind. I feel bad for eating so much of the fish but they wouldn’t take anything I gave in exchange, not even the copper wire.

After I’m done Vehi is looking at me expectantly “Sleep yes?”

Uh?

“Yeah I need sleep too.”

“Sleep yes!” he jumps around, grabs my hand and drags me upstairs while wagging his tails left and right.

The second floor is really just a tiny, tiny round room, with books on stone carved shelves, and a big fur mattress. Nalu is already sleeping there, sprawled on her back like a starfish.

Her tails folded over her like a small blanket. Yeah, no, this is gonna be a problem. Sorry little boy, you’re cute animal looking people but you’re people still, besides your sister is already sleeping I’m not going to intrude in her bed. I’ll sleep on the first floor’s cushions. I shake my head to say no, he looks sad. Sorry. Here, come for a hug, they know hugs apparently, good night, kid. I go downstairs and lay on the cushions. The centipede poncho makes it really uncomfortable, but it’s that or being naked.

Never thought I’d end my day like this, I’m happy I’ve made two new friends in these shit caves.

And more importantly.

Yay to my first night of voluntary sleep in this world!

…

"Floor? No no no. Sleep bed, yes."

…

Sunlight shines through the window. I can't see much, too bright. Wait what?

I'm alone on the fur mattress of the second floor, under a warm and thick fur blanket. Naked? The only thing on me is the triangle ‘Sun strong’ pendant. My centipede poncho and backpack are neatly stacked on the side under a shelf.

"Wha-, why, no, ok but… how!?"

How the fuck did I get here, did they join up to drag me up the stairs, and why is there so much light underground? Also did they undress me, or did I get drunk yesterday somehow?

Pushing the wooden curtains to the side answers the lighting question. Gold. A LOT of gold, everywhere. That's an underground civilisation from another world alright. Just found el dorado, the golden city. It wasn't clear at 'night' but there's gold on just about everything. The window and door frames, the street lamps, orbs hanging from the ceiling hidden in the vines, everywhere, all glowing, bathing the whole place in pseudo sunlight. Can’t be only a few of them pushing mana energy into all of that. If they don’t have a profession called ‘Light make’ or something similar I’ll eat my shoes! … My one shoe.

Maybe I should put on my poncho.

I walk down the stairs, Vehi is nowhere to be seen, out to ‘Food find’ perhaps, only Nalu is here, working with a big metal mask and a chitin apron on a weirdly shaped object in a corner. Clearly she’s doing ‘Draw make’ …

"Good morning." that scared her, she literally jumped, her tails went from waving around to being all straight and puffed up like a surprised cat.

"Ah, sorry I scared you. It's just me."

"Hum hum. Good yes." She turns to look at me, taking off her helmet.

"See big, yes! … Ah!" she puts her hands in front of her mouth like a kid that said something wrong.

"Mee… Meet big, yes…?" She's looking at the ground.

You know what, I'm not even gonna bother asking… Nope. I don't even wanna know. Not asking anything. Just meeting some guy named Big, nothing else.

"Let's go meet big alright. Just lead the way when you're ready, you can finish your work first."

"Hum… yes. Nalu lead… yes!"

…

I feel like this is going to be a long day.