“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?!”

Wow, rude. Pissing yourself in front of a lady is kinda poor manners Quest giver… Not that I did much better my first time.

Orphea just looks confused. Probably from the teleportation more than anything. But it's not like a beefcake of a man screaming like a little girl wasn’t also a bit disconcerting. After a few moments of… Acclimation. Orphea shuffled down, she usually does a thing where she propped herself up a few centipede segments up. And then bowed deeply towards the Quest giver.

“I’m sorry to have surprised you, I am Orphea and I am a.. Companion to this man.”

Giving a soft gesture in my direction the Quest giver turned his horrified visage over towards me. Completely unfair! Don’t pass me the ball in a situation like this!

“Uhh. yeah It sort of happened while I was trying to get that bonus objective you were hinting at. I mean. You can kinda say it worked?”

No. This obviously isn’t an objective reward. But who’s gonna call me out? My sorta-patron looks like he's halfway considering bolting any second.

“Well.. shit. Ya sure she isn’t a monster.. REALLY sure?”

Damn. he actually looks pretty spooked. Even though I got over it, eventually. It’s a fantasy world. Is some centipede looking girl that hard to swallow..? Wait. That’s a subjective qualifier isn’t it? Maybe I was only quick to accept it cause I had no idea what’s possible… Ah well perspectives a bitch.

“You're not a monster right Orphea?”

“I can’t say I am Nerian.”

Quest giver just looked back to her bowing, then back to me, then back to her again. I mean. It’s working. But you know she's playing you right dude? She could absolutely demolish both of us if she wanted. Actually, I'm not sure that she won't decide to do something like that yet, so please hurry up and stop acting suspicious.

“A-alright. If you say so.. But that means you two need to leave.”

Huh?

---

Did I cause this? I mean, my literal decisions led to this point in time where the consequences fucked me over. But how could I have possibly known? It's not like there's a village full of people who could explain the norms of this world.. Or there was. But I was in a rush… Shit. this really is my fault.

But okay. This isn’t the WORST case scenario. I was already gonna have to shuffle down to the next plane soon. Now we just had to do it without a guide and way less equipment, food, and information.

And I do mean WE. Naturally this problem would be solved if Orphea could go her own way. But when it came up… ‘If that's what you wish I’ll do so.’ Ugh. I don’t know how to deal with a puppy dog eyes at all. Plus. Having a super strong party member near the start might turn out to be a huge boon. Actually isn’t that just like picking power at the start of this though…? Dammit. Castel you asshole! I'll prove Potential was the right call!

I'm about a second from going on a mental rant when I feel a tap on the shoulder.

“Huh..?”

“Hey. Fledgie. We gotta talk.”

I mean. There's really no confusion over who it is, Orphea apparently needed to change clothes, and Granny-Cast tutor is helping somehow. So that just leaves the thug himself.

“What’s going on?”

He reached up to rub the back of his neck. Eyes flitting around. He cleared his throat a few times after starting to talk too. Is this really the same dick who made fun of me almost dying?

“Listen, the cast tutor doesn’t want to tell you. But you’ll find out sooner or later. But just… Don’t mess with the Milk king. He must know what he's doing if I got sent here. The other people were the same. Just.. keep calm.”

Milk King? Kinda silly name. But context implies he’s in charge of what's going on here right? With how Mr. Quest giver is talking about it I have a feeling he isn't the nicest dude. Well. I guess I’m flattered Mr Quest giver has such a high opinion of me. But I'm not about to go on a crusade for his sake.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Alright, don’t screw with the Milk king.”

“..Do you really understand?”

“No. Explain it already.”

A rhythmic clicking and shuffling of fabrics dragged my attention away. Naturally it was Cast tutor and Orphea, she was now.. Worse dressed? I mean it definitely looked shoddier. A big rust colored coat that was too thin to be described as a trench coat. Sunbleached loose shirt underneath. And her hair was kinda.. Mussed up into a shaggy mane that wasn’t really masculine or feminine.

“Got the lassy some rags to wear, the seams should hold.. But I can’t say anything for protection.”

Okay, gonna give you a few long moments to explain yourself dude… Okay. whatever. I’ll never learn anything I guess!

“We got some food and weapons. So I guess we’re ready to leave..”

I hoisted up the bag with my good arm. I honestly wasn’t convinced it wasn’t about to fall apart. I’d never seen leather so pale in my life, and from how flaky it felt. That wasn’t just a problem of where it came from. Oh yeah. I still never got my arm fixed. But the quest scroll is gone now. And as for natural healing…

“You're sure we have to leave right away? Can’t even wait till dark?”

“Sorry sonny. There's no telling when the officials will get here.. Best you don’t meet them face to face with Missy Many-Legs here with you.”

“Thank you so much for all your help ma’am! I’ll make sure to take good care of these clothes!”

Ugh. Orphea is doing some peppy bit now. We’re never even gonna see these people again probably. What's the point of buttering them up?

“Well, If we have to go I guess we gotta go. Ready Orphea?”

“Ye-I mean, Of course.”

Looking at you Cast tutor.. No? She literally swapped personas in front of you! Can no one else see this?

Instead the old lady just walked up to me and sort of stared at me up and down. I was in new digs too. But I got the better end of the stick. Most of the villagers were men and most were my size or bigger. So I actually got a decent set of leather boots. Some heavy pants and a wispy white shirt. I looked like a pirate or something. But it probably suited traveling better than Orphea’s set.

“Sonny.. Thank you for everything. Make sure you don’t get yourself killed out there okay? We’ve got a lot of faith in you.”

What was she going on about? I didn’t do anything at all. I just happened to be around for a bit. And it's not like I really saved anyone either…

“I guess. I wasn’t intending on dying or anything. So I’ll just... Keep doing my best.”

Well that's an awkward note to go out on. But I’m really not in the mood for some tense goodbye with a couple assholes who won’t even tell me what was going on. Best to get out of this dry air quickly. My eyes are stinging anyways.

So now. Walking through sand. I guess it sucks. I mean I’ve been through some shit since I got here. Nearly starving. Fighting for my life against weird monster bug things. And then the whole affair of Orphea’s intro sequence. So Idk. Just going on a dry, dry hike didn’t feel too bad.

“If I may ask a question..”

Orphea had been doing a silent treatment for awhile. I mean. I assume she's staying quiet, she must have tons of questions floating around her head. And just waited for a while to make me think she’s some enigma or something.

“Sure, I don’t know if I can really help since I’m basically totally in the dark. But I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Why do you keep doing that?”

Huh? I kinda pause for a second. Am I walking weird? Or doing something with my face? Do I smell..? No. none of that seems weird. Maybe it was some kind of power play to make me ask a followup question..?

“Not sure what you mean.. I’m not really familiar with how stuff works around here. So probably on accident..?”

“You keep pretending to be a fool.. I don’t really understand the point.”

“What about you? You keep changing the way you talk! And for some reason they just went along with it even though it's super obvious.”

Why the hell are you looking at me like I said something surprising? It's pretty obvious isn't it? Honestly. I’m not sure I can put up with someone who has to switch masks all the damn time. I mean. I needed help for now. But once I got better at casting I could probably get summons or something. ‘Cause this already isn’t working out.

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the scope of your…”

She went quiet for a bit, the only sound being the shuffling of many feet trudging through sand for a few blessed seconds.

“Talent.”

Well that's a loaded term isn’t it?

“Whatever. We have more important stuff to worry about anyways.”

“I suppose you're right.”

Well. That's definitely a conversation killer. Why the hell was she jumping down my throat all of a sudden. I can’t help it if I’m a bit slow dealing with a whole other world completely new to me.

Well fuck. I guess she doesn’t know about that either.

“Soo…”

“Yes?”

“About how I’m called ‘otherworlder.’”

Orphea just nods like she’s been waiting for me to bring it up.. Ugh. I’m not great with teambuilding skills in the first place. Please don’t expect me to know what you're thinking too.

“Well this world.. Alius I mean. I don’t come from here. The rifts.. or portals or whatever. Kinda just opened up all around Earth. My world. And I walked in through one.”

“That explains some things.. I was afraid I’m just woefully out of touch.”

That could also be true. I mean. I guess I have literally no idea how long she’s been in that quest. Really gives off vibes of a long, bygone era though. But this is a fantasy world! Who knows how long it's really been.

“Yeah. Anyways there’s so much stuff I’ve just got no clue about. You definitely have a better frame of reference for what's going on around here then I do.”

“I see… I wonder how long its been? If the kin of Alius aren’t acclimated to ‘otherworlders’ it could be an issue for us traveling together.. Another issue that is.”

“Haa.. I’m sure it's gonna cause all kinds of problems. But it's been awhile since people from Earth first came here. The rifts opened up a bit over 10 years ago. I don’t know how many people actually go in and out though.”

“Amazing that people can so easily travel to a place completely separate from Alius so easily…”

“Well.. No. Not really. It would be a bit of a history lesson to go in depth. But for the most part the governments around the world locked down every rift they could find to do experiments. People still got in, ceo’s and test subjects mostly. But things are kinda.. Up in the air now. There's a lot of money you can make with stuff from Alius. And now groups of people who got rich and powerful here are taking over Earth.”

“That.. Sounds important. Is it alright to leave it in a time of turmoil..?”

“Well my situat-What. Is. That.”

I don’t know how else to describe it. It looked like the edge of the world. We just walked over a last dune and suddenly there was nothing at all. It wasn’t a lack of ground. The sand ended. But more importantly. Everything ended. There wasn’t any color. Not even any void. It was like looking into an empty mirror. One that didn’t reflect anything. No sky. No ground. A bug in my vision. Just… empty.

“You’ve never seen a meeting place of planes..? I suppose this is another part of being a ‘otherworlder’”

Yep. Well. Time to get acquainted with local customs.