Proofread: CBRRacer

“Um! Sensei? Why are there no men?”

“Iya, Iya sensei. That was rhetorical. I wasn’t actually hoping for an answer from you. Seems like you still have a lot to improve”, I once again mixed some sarcasm but sensei didn't pick it up at all.

Ohhhh. The stiff conversation has begun to change. As expected of the great sage of wisdom. Even though the voice is still that of some mechanical robot.

“Well, that’s cause my old world relies on the information you provide. You are like an all-knowing teacher who can resolve all our problems and questions.”

For a moment, I was dumbfounded hearing the unexpected response. At that instant, I could vividly imagine the appearance of a girl with a smug look on her face, sticking out her pride filled chest. Seriously, what the hell is up with this setting?

I ignored the request for praise and focused on the village before me. There were a number of houses, the walls made of mud while the roofs were made of straws. From what I could I see, I concluded that they were made purely by hand, without the help of any sort of tools. The highly uneven surface of the walls acted as a proof for me. And to make things worse, cracks ran down on the muddy walls, of every single house. A cluster of 16 or 17 of the exact same house, talk about clones. The words ‘poor construction’ immediately popped up in my mind. At least all the housed windows, if I call them as such, that is. It was more like an opening in the wall with a layer of some kind of clothing as cover.  

Through these openings that I will consider as windows, for now, I could feel really strong glares, glares strong enough to pierce through me. I involuntarily gulped down the saliva in my mouth, those glares were that strong. As I thought, I am not welcomed after all. May be I should walk away? No, no, no. The next village is at least a 100kms away. I might not even live to see the next day if I start now.

Making my resolve, I then approached google-sensei. ‘Sensei, what language do these people speak?’, I thought. This mental communication sure is good. Nobody will be willing to shelter to a madman who talks to himself, will they now?

‘Eh? What the hell is with that name, sensei? Why does it feel so despairish?’

For an AI that was born a few hours ago, you sure are knowledgeable. But still, what is this shitty setting? Fallen empire, a village without males, people glaring daggers at me. Damn those, gods. Must be fun watching me struggle eh? Watch for now, but some day I will get back at you shit heads.

Cursing the gods in my mind, I mustered all my courage and took a few steps towards the village. With a not too loud voice, I shouted out towards as to no one, hoping someone might respond.

“Is there a village head here?”, even though it was my own voice, I was fairly surprised. I spoke the foreign language effortlessly and so fluently, I felt goosebumps all over me. In a matter of time, the AI had taught me a new language. I had to spend no effort at all. This power, in a sense, is truly fearsome. While I was contemplating about the power of the AI, my ears were eagerly waiting to pick up a response

But no answer came. Rather than feeling disheartened, I tried again, only this time, a little louder.

“Is the chief here? I am a traveler who wishes to spend a night here.”, I added some information about me, just to let them know what I wanted. They might not believe the words of a complete stranger, but there is no harm in trying.

And again, an eerie silence followed. It was so silent I could literally hear the wind blowing past my ears. At this point, I started to have cold sweats, and my brain was already contemplating on my next course of action, stay or leave. I was seriously thinking about all the options I had, when, from one of the poorly made mud house, a woman in her late fifties stepped out.

She then stared at me as if she was sizing me down. Her gaze traveled from head to toe, before she started slowly walking towards me. Before she covered half the distance between us, she abruptly stopped and the once again stared at me, this time directly into my eyes. I was startled at first, but then calmed myself down. We then engaged in a staring battle, as the two of us tried to dig out the intentions of one another.

My first impression of her was, ‘a maid’. She looked like one from the western dramas of medieval ages, at least that’s what her clothes looked like. This was something entirely new for me, as I have only seen such a style o f dressing in foreign movies. A one piece dress with a skirt that all the way down to her feet. Of course, there was no apron or other things with laces, and the color of the clothing wasn’t even black. If I was asked to pick a color, then I think I will call her clothes, ‘whitish’, perhaps. The sleeves were long enough to cover her elbows, and the dress lacked frills or any sort of design. It was totally plain. And just like her clothes, her face plane too. It had a few wrinkles here and there, which gave me the impression of ‘fifty above lady’. Her reddish-brown hair had already lost its luster and was slowly graying out on some places.

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She was a little skinny, and her originally white clothes were now stained with dirt everywhere, giving it a brown tan. Only the leather belt around her waist appeared dirt free, maybe because it had a dark brown appearance. While her clothes were untidy, I could find a trace of dirt neither on her face nor on her hands. What caught my attention the most was her golden like pupils, which for some reason felt really majestic to me.  

“If you are here for the tax, then go back. There is nothing more to give. Everything we had, you took them from us last week. What more do you need?”, and without notice, she started lashing out at me.

That startled me, I mean, I kinda knew that they didn't like my presence, but did never expect them to suddenly lash out at me. Am I being considered as some sort of envoy of a noble? Do I even look like one? I was lost for a moment, not knowing what to do. But seeing her expression, I knew that I only had limited amount of time to give her an answer and so, I replied politely.

“Um. You have to all wrong, I am not here for the tax or anything, I am not even an envoy. I am really sorry for the intruding, but I suddenly woke up in the grasslands to the south of here. I am a complete stranger to these parts and to make things worse I don't have any of food or water. I have been wandering around since morning, searching for a place to call as shelter and just stumbled upon this settlement.” I gave a vague explanation that only conveyed the necessary information.

For a moment I felt her eyes widen, but the angry expression returned immediately and she once again started lashing out at me.

“So what? You want us to feed and shelter a complete stranger like you? Just because you asked? Not to mention the shortage of food.”

I had a hunch things would turn out like this. A village of women and children was not going to invite a stranger in that easily. Well, she did a good job trying to not give that away. But still, this is going to be troublesome. Is there something I can do?  

‘Sensei anything you can help with?’, and instantly I turned towards my savior. Damn, I am already relying on him too much. But this is not a situation where I can talk my way through.

‘What are you even saying sensei? Information? Keeping aside the fact that they won’t even believe what I say, what use is information to these guys who are having hard time living?’, I almost snapped at sensei’s suggestion.

And again, the prideful arrogant mechanical tone surfaced. What is with this AI? It’s like a totally different character from the time we met. It even started blatantly looking down on me. What is with this shitty setting?

What in the world? You can even do something like that? More like, is there anything you can’t do? That aside, that’s a really huge list of metals. I mean, all of the five metals are enough to develop this small-time village into a major city or something. Not technologically, but more like commercially. Well, for technological advancement, you need to high-level education and all, not to mention man power.

‘But sensei, will they even listen to what I have to say?’

Hm! That seems like a good idea. So my part is to make them believe my words. Yosh, let’s do this!

“I am well aware that a stranger like me is unwelcome. And I understand that you do not have the leeway to spend valuable to resources for a stranger like me. But at the same time, I badly need a shelter for the night. As you can see, I am still a boy and I am not confident enough to traverse these regions in the absence of light. So let’s do this. How about we will make a deal. In exchange for shelter and food, I will provide you something that will prove useful to you?”

I tried to bait her with ‘something useful’, but from her facial expression, it felt like she didn't bite it all. She just kept staring at me without uttering a single word.

“And what might this thing be?”, finally, she responded. As I thought, she didn't believe even one word I uttered. Her tone was filled with sarcasm and disgust.

“An iron mine”, nevertheless, I played my cards. Well, in the end, chances are, her greed might overcome her rational mind set or something. It’s an entire mine I am offering. Some part of her heart would want this talk to be true, or so I am guessing.

“Ha?” came a voice from the lady. Her tone still held a little anger, but most of it had turned into bewilderment. Her shoulders dropped, and eyes widened greatly. Her mouth was making a huge ‘O’ as she stared at me with an expression that can be summed up as, ‘What the hell are you spouting?’

“I know that it might be hard for you to trust my words.How about I show you the way? To make things advantageous for you, you may take me as a hostage. It’s not even that far from here. We can go inspect it and return back real fast.”

Uwaaa. Why did I let them take me as a hostage? Was there no other thing you stupid brain?

The woman hesitated, she was lost in her thoughts for a while and then walked back to the same house from where she had first come out. After a few minutes she exited the house but instead of coming to me, she started visiting all the other houses one by one. Almost half an hour passed before she decided to answer my deal, this time with a boy who was at least in his early twenties.

‘Wait! Sensei, you said there are no men in this village. But, no matter how a look at it, that right there is an adult male?’, seeing the well-built teen, I consulted with sensei, who had initially ruled out the existence of men in this remote village.

What, 17? He is surely taller than me and looks really mature. And just like the elderly woman, he too was glaring at me. What I found really surprising was that the two of them had eyes that were brown with a golden tint.

To be honest, I was kind of scared me, not of his eyes, but of his appearance as a whole. I mean, the guy looked like some kind of warrior or something. Scary!

His facial features were good, not on the level of some models, but not too plain either. I will categorize him in the handsome man level good. His hair was brown and long, almost reaching his shoulders, with no tints of red like that of the elderly woman. As for what he was wearing, it was something that resembled a half sleeve shirt and long trousers, both of which had numerous patches all over. I also noticed that neither of them was wearing anything on their feet. Doesn’t it hurt walking bare footed? Wait, even I don't have anything on my feet.

As I had such stupid and irrelevant thoughts, my eyes suddenly stopped at his hands. A shiver ran down through my spine instantly for in his hands were a rope and a knife-like weapon with an edge that was glittering.

‘Ano! Sensei, Isn’t that dangerous?’, was all my mind could think as my body trembled slightly.