Chapter Thirty-Three: I Think of All the Education That I Missed

The rest of the afternoon was a blur. He saw orchards of fruits, stables of actual dragons as well as more mundane animals, and confirmed that there is no air circulation method that can protect your nose from millions of chickens in an enclosed space, not even a magic one.

Finally, Grenn managed to drag Marc back to his home. He tried to get Meservi to join them, but surprisingly the Elf declined, giving an excuse that he had work to do at the Guild Hall. That stuck Marc as highly out of character, but figured there was some reason for it.

It turned out that Grenn, like most of the residents of the city, lived in an apartment, not wholly unlike the ones Marc was familiar with, though they were more like stacked houses. Rows of these structures, three houses high and at least five houses wide, were terraced on a steep hill, allowing each set to have ample sunlight. They were connected by a network of steep stairs that pushed Marc’s stamina to its limit, as Grenn’s apartment was two-thirds of the way up the hill and at the top of his stack.

The house was smaller than Marc had expected, considering that Grenn had a family of four children, the house was a simple three-room layout, only twice as much space as Rynan’s cabin, not including the cellar. It had a main room that served as a kitchen, dining room, and miscellaneous storage. The smallest room was shared by Grenn, his wife Keri, and their youngest son, the two-year-old Safan. The other, slightly larger room was shared by his two girls, Sateem, age 11, and Safil, age 18. There was an older boy, Satru who had already left home and was living in the Guild dorms apparently.

Keri was… Keri was a lot.

She reminded Marc of some of his aunts back in Las Cruces. From the moment he entered the house, she controlled everyone’s every movement. It was somewhat of a shock as it was the mirror opposite of Rynan’s laid-back, calm style. Keri was a tornado of motion, bouncing from one side of the house to the other like a top. Within seconds of entering the house, Marc found himself sitting at the dining table, a cup of warm tea in his hand, with a plate of pastries in front of him. A curious Sateem sat right next to him alternately staring at him and the sweets on the table.

Grenn had disappeared into his room to change his clothes from the travel gear he had been wearing. He emerged a few minutes later in a tunic and short pants, looking every bit the doting father with little Safan crawling around from one shoulder to the other via the top of his head. Keri was cooking up a storm but would swivel her head every time Sateem’s hand reached out toward the plate to cast a warning glare.

After a day of magic elevators, underground farms, and ridable dragons, Marc could almost laugh at how normal everything here was. Keri was a typical busybody housewife, Grenn could have been a neighbor from the trailer park. Sateem could have been like any other annoying kid from the neighborhood, well if it wasn’t for the fact that she looked like she was at least 16. Marc wasn’t confident he would be able to win if they chose to arm wrestle over the pastries. He now had a greater understanding of why Grenn had thought he looked like an early teen.

The elder daughter was part of the Guild patrol, a group that guarded the areas around the wall. She would be out for days at a time, so it looked as though he would miss her this time. He was curious what someone close to his own age looked like, but was also apprehensive. His ego had already been brutalized enough by his short encounter with the Guild intern Mumay.

Once the meal was ready, Keri started into her interrogation in earnest. She peppered Marc with dozens of questions about his background and situation, all while continuously loading the plate in front of him with copious amounts of food.

Grenn and Rynan had prepared Marc for this and the story they had concocted was by now well rehearsed. He was a member of a traveling delegation from another country when their convoy had been attacked by beasts. His parents and their escorts had been killed, and Grenn had recovered him. He took special care to mention that Grenn had not fought any of the beasts, but had arrived after the attack was over. Marc noted a thin line of perspiration making its way down the giant expanse of a forehead on the big, and suddenly silent man.

Grenn had taken the wounded Marc to Rynan for emergency treatment for his injuries, where he had stayed these past months to recuperate. Marc was sickly from youth, which is why he was so underdeveloped for his age. Now with no ties to his family or native country, he was going to stay here until he was old enough to travel back to his native country to reunite with his relatives there.

When Keri heard about his parents she started crying and rushed over and nearly crushed him in a tight embrace. She was built similarly to his aunts as well. Not fat, but stocky, with thick arms and legs, an ample bosom, and upper arm strength that could easily flip his car like a red solo cup.

《Good thing you have enhanced recovery. I think she broke a few ribs.》 Kira quipped.

Marc gasped as she released him and he felt his chest, realizing that Kira might not have been joking.

When the conversation mentioned Rynan, Marc could detect a slight chill in Keri’s demeanor. It was clear that the woman was not a great fan of Grenn’s adoptive mother. Marc took note to avoid that topic around the easily excitable and terrifying strong woman.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“This is perhaps the most normal dinner I have ever had in my entire life. And I am having it in a completely different universe.” Marc reflected on this to Kira while he quickly finished the pie that both Grenn and Sateem were eyeing on his plate.

《This is normal. Not just here, but everywhere. People aren’t that different even in your world right?》

Marc thought about that for a bit, but couldn’t decide if he agreed or disagreed with the interface on that assertion.

After dinner, the family went to the bathhouse. Grenn and Marc still needed to wash off the dirt from traveling. It was a small building that was nestled between several stacks of apartments a short walk away. They walked there as a family and passed a lot of neighbors on the way, Keri stopping occasionally to gossip a bit with someone or another. Eventually, they gave up and Keri stayed behind with Sateem to enter the neighborhood conversations in earnest while Grenn, Safan, and Marc continued to the Bathhouse.

Again, Marc was surprised. At the cabin, Marc had used hot water that was heated over the fire, and magic cleaning spells or showers provided by Rynan to keep clean. Germs were not a great concern, but personal hygiene was cared for in a typical practical manner by the laid-back woman. Marc hadn’t expected much, but the bathhouse was an unexpected but welcome discovery.

Immaculately clean, the facility was luxurious compared to what Marc had experienced, even in his old life. The small building contained two dozen small private stalls, each with a hose with a nozzle at one end that produced instantly warm water. Two dials allowed him to change the temperature and water pressure. There was even a small bench for him to sit on to give him better leverage to wash every angle. This was perhaps the best shower he had ever experienced in his entire life. Both of them. He had to convince Rynan to install something like this back at the cabin. It appeared that there were magic tools involved in both the creation and heating of the water. Marc would need to investigate the design at some point.

There was also a large open bath. Marc realized that the entire facility was unisex. Not only that, but different species mixed freely. He caught a few glimpses of what appeared to be people with characteristics of animals like cats, wolves, and even lizards all lounging in the hot water. Marc decided to forgo the bath and did his best to avert his eyes. Noting the physiques possessed by the locals, Marc didn’t anticipate having the nerve to try the bath for a long time, if ever.

Instead, he waited for the family outside where a number of the neighbors were relaxing in a lounge area open to the evening air. This was a very familiar sight as the older residents would often gather and sit like this in the trailer park on cool evenings. As he sat, an older gentleman offered him a drink from a cup he was filling from a bottle at his side. After declining what felt like twenty or more times, Marc finally relented and took a sip.

The fiery liquid burned like acid down his throat and he was coughing and choking for several seconds while the men in the group laughed raucously and the women chastised the old man for pushing a child to drink. After a minute, Marc had mostly recovered and wiped the tears from his face as he handed the cup back to the smiling geezer, vowing never to trust this particular individual again.

NAME: ROTHLI JUMPER

AGE: 103

BASE LEVEL: 92

RACE: HUMAN

AFFILIATIONS: THE GUILD

STATUS: HEALTHY

Marc took note of the name of the grinning old man. Then sat back and enjoyed the light breeze. He had to admit, the cooling air felt even better after the burning sensation from the noxious drink. He even noticed a status update.

YOU HAVE INGESTED A TONIC: CHA’TRA

INT-1, DEX-1, STR +1 CON +1, SR -0.01/MIN EFFECT LASTS 10 MIN, STACKABLE.

INGREDIENTS: FERMENTED CHAPPET JUICE, WHEAT EXTRACT, MALT, SUGAR, SOJI SEEDS.

Marc blinked as he read the effect of the sip of firewater. He needed to be careful with things like this, noting the debuff.

Grenn and Safan joined him and they sat there until Keri and Sateem had finished their baths. Then they walked back enjoying the warm cool air.

Marc spent the night at Grenn’s home. Sateem squeezed in with her parents and Marc was given the girl’s room since Safil would not be home. Soon he was enjoying the quiet after the manic activity during dinner.

《OK. Enough procrastinating. Hurry up and do it!》

“Huh? Do what?”

《Don’t be an idiot. The Upgrade. DO. IT. NOW.》

Marc groaned. This did not sound like a good idea.

“Maybe we should wait until I get back to the Witch’s Den.” He suggested.

《NO! NOW! You have to do it while we are still in the City. It will increase my ability to gather information. Better to do it here in this place than out in the middle of nowhere.》

“Last time hurt like hell.” He tried, knowing it was only a matter of time before he lost this battle.

《That was because Grenn woke you up before the update finished so I had to rush the last part. Start it now and it should be done long before the house wakes up.》

Marc thought about that. Did the rushed process have something to do with her nasty personality? No, she was like that before she could talk.

《Who has a nasty personality? Remember where I got all this? I’m just a subset of my creator.》

“What about Mary? Didn’t she put stuff in you too?”

《Mostly information and directives. Gotta help you survive and grow and that nonsense. The sarcasm I got all from you sweetheart.》

“If I do this upgrade, what happens? You get smarter?”

《Okay, I don’t know until you do it. Last time I had to figure things out after the upgrade finished. But I know it is important. It’s in those directives from Mary.》

Marc certainly didn’t like the sound of that. But he couldn’t deny that the Interface’s abilities were the key to his survival on this planet. He knew he didn’t really have a choice.

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

《Lie down this time. It should just take a few hours. I don’t think it will hurt like last time.》

As Marc lay down on one of the beds in the cramped room he pulled up the message window he had seen earlier again.

YOUR INTERFACE HAS LEVELED UP!

INTERFACE [2] LEVEL: 10

INTERFACE UPGRADE AVAILABLE

WOULD YOU LIKE TO UPGRADE YOUR INTERFACE TO STAGE 3? YES/NO

He selected YES and relaxed his head on the bed.

“Wait. What do you mean you don’t think it will hurt?”