A few days passed as Cloud worked his body to its limit just to earn the money he needed to survive. He got a second job helping a woodcutter in the afternoon, getting paid twelve copper coins after four hours of work. With the income from two jobs he was eating better than before but still could not afford three meals a day. He was also saving a few coins every day. He guessed he would be stuck in this town for a while.

As the days passed he talked with his colleagues and the people he met in town, gaining valuable knowledge concerning the world and its peoples. He was in the Rolum Kingdom, ruled by King Meklas. The town of Greenstone, which he was in, was close to the kingdom's border with another nation called the Tallohan Empire. Cloud gathered that the two nations were not too friendly so a border town was not always the most peaceful of places and neither was it too prosperous. Baron Schroff, who was assigned to this distant town, was a fair ruler but he rarely ventured out of his castle. Cloud thought he would have to check this castle out sometime. Apart from the pure romance of castles, he wanted to get to know the place better.

As a result of his hardworking nature his pay at the first job was raised by three copper coins. Despite knowing how little such an amount was in value, Cloud still cherished the extra coins. They would allow him to plant his own feet on the ground that much sooner.

Two weeks after he found himself in this world, an event occurred that caused much excitement. From what he heard, a party of adventurers had arrived in the town at the request of the Baron.

"Adventurers?" asked Cloud of his colleagues at the pumpkin field.

"Don't you know?" one of them asked. Then he shook his head with a wistful look. "If only I could become one. Think about it. We wouldn't need to toil like this."

From what the men explained, Cloud understood that adventurers were skilled people who undertook special tasks in exchange for payment.

"Why can't you be like them?" Cloud asked. "What kind of skills are required?"

The young men, who thought of him almost as a friend, smiled pitifully at him. "Magic," one of them muttered with a low despondent voice.

Cloud didn't know how to respond to that. Somehow, this was his first time hearing the word in the two weeks he had been here.

"Magic?" he repeated, thinking the other person had not meant what he thought he meant.

"It's a talent that some are born with," another one explained. "When properly cultivated, magic users are able to use incredible abilities that we cannot even imagine. Almost all adventurers are magic users."

Well, well, thought Cloud. So this world has such a thing as well.

He was still in doubt, but it seemed that there were indeed people with skills beyond what ordinary people were capable of. It couldn't be mere tales. Some of these adventurers had even arrived in the town.

"Wait," Cloud said after a while. "You said not all adventurers use magic, so that means you don't necessarily need magic, right?"

He regretted asking that almost immediately.

Turning back to work, the man said, "There is a reason such people are so few. They are exceptional people, not a height we can reach just because we wish it."

As he worked, Cloud thought about adventurers and magic. If young men dreamed of becoming adventurers, then it must really be a life that was worth yearning for. He wondered if he might be able to become one. The income had to be good as well. But the condition that was almost a requirement, being able to use magic, seemed like a hurdle that one couldn't cross in a single lifetime.

At noon Cloud left the fields and went to eat. Earning thirty copper coins a day, he was doing better than when he began. He had bought worn cotton shirt and pants, and a pair of old worn leather boots too. He spend sparingly on food and was losing weight as a result. He had already been on the skinny side of average to begin with, so losing weight constantly could even endanger his health. The situation could get a lot worse for him if he fell sick. After buying the clothes and boots, his savings were also almost depleted. As he sat waiting to order, Cloud made a whimsical decision to eat to his for a change. He ordered meat and vegetable soup, eating till he was satisfied. And just like that, he was once again penniless. 

Some of the customers were talking about the guests in the Baron's castle. Everyone was interested in why they were in the town. Cloud heard some people suggesting that they might be there to hunt a monster. He heard that while there were countless dangerous monsters scattered all over the world, some places did not face danger from them. He could guess Greenstone was one of those places. He had hardly even heard a mention of monsters by people. He also gathered that adventurers were frequently called on to exterminate dangerous creatures that threatened people, and that they were paid handsomely for their services.

One man opined that maybe the Baron had called them for a different reason, perhaps border security issues. This led others to discuss the relations between Rolum Kingdom and Tallohan Empire. It would seem that the two nations had tense relations. The people even spoke of a significant conflict during their parents' generation. Perhaps tensions were brewing again, and the Baron had hired the adventurers due to that.

Leaving the tavern, Cloud rubbed his full belly. Belching loudly, he sighed in satisfaction. He didn't regret his action one bit.

He still had an hour before he had to show up work at the woodcutter's place, so he decided to relax and walk around. As he passed by people he heard talk of the adventurers again. The whole town was focusing on them. Cloud saw the old man he had talked to on the first day.

"Mr. Grimm," Cloud greeted him.

"Ah, how have you been doing, boy?" he replied, sitting on his regular seat.

"I'm managing, sir, thanks to your kind advice."

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Cloud had talked with the old man a few times during the past couple of weeks. What he had learned was invaluable in helping him adapt.

"It seems the Baron's guests have caused some excitement among the people," Cloud said. 

"Oh, yes, true," Grimm responded. "This is quite a remote town, not many people either. So we don't have many adventurers visiting us. Only the Baron has the means to hire them."

"Are their services that costly?" Cloud asked.

"Well, I'd say we are just poor," Grimm said with a laugh. "Besides, there isn't much around here that requires their skills. No wonder the people can't help but gossip and speculate."

"I heard they hunt monsters and fight criminals," Cloud said. He wanted to find out as much as he could. As a stranger in this world, it was only too easy for him to be oblivious to facts that others would take for granted. Such things have a way of coming to bite one's behind when one least expects it.

"That they do. The gifted individuals who choose that path have no shortage of opportunities in the land. Their skills are in demand in every civilized corner of the world."

"So, there are no such people in Greenstone?"

"Not many. Those who do awaken the talent leave quickly in order to learn and earn. Staying here in this forgotten Barony won't do them any good."

"Do you know of any such people, Mr. Grimm?"

At this the old man went silent for a while. "I know of quite a few promising young men who left the town with huge dreams." A mischievous light entered Grimm's eyes. "What many of the younger people don't realize is that there are not a few former adventurers among the people here."

Cloud was suddenly even more interested in his words. Adventurers were mostly people who used magic. So former adventurers would be regular folk who could still use magic. The thought excited him.

"Really? Do you know any of them?"

Grimm grinned. "You are speaking to one."

Wow, Cloud thought. No way.

"You're joking," he accused.

Grimm laughed, slapping his thigh. "It was a long time ago," he said. "I also left this village and traveled towards the heart of the Kingdom, dreaming of one day becoming something big."

It was obvious that things hadn't gone as planned for Grimm, so Cloud waited patiently for him to elaborate.

"I quickly realized that I was only a big frog in a small pond. Not all magic users are equal in strength and ability. Life is good only if you have outstanding skills. And even that is merely the first requirement."

Cloud nodded silently. It appeared that the townspeople had a rather warped idea of the whole thing. He had thought from what people said that merely having the talent for magic secured the future. From Grimm's words he could surmise that even the world of adventurer's was one of survival of the fittest. Some stood at the top while others were at the bottom. For the latter group, that life was more difficult than an ordinary life. Old man Grimm had probably quit that path as a result of that harsh reality.

But if one was bestowed with extraordinary talent then it would be possible to rise high, gaining both fame and wealth. Cloud wondered what kind of people the ones in the Baron's castle were.

"Could you show me?" he asked abruptly.

"Hmm?"

"Your magic."

"..."

"I have never witnessed magic, so I'm very curious. Would it be too much trouble?"

He had a feeling he was crossing a line, but he also knew meeting a former adventurer in a place like this was too good an opportunity to pass. He might regret it if he failed to learn as much as he could when he had the chance.

Grimm looked at him wordlessly for a minute, as if debating with himself. Finally he said, "What the hell," and held out his hand with the palm facing up.

Cloud watched with anticipation. He felt a strange energy as a water droplet formed in Grimm's hand. The droplet grew and became a ball of clear water, about the size of a tennis ball.

"This is water magic, a basic elemental affinity," Grimm explained.

Cloud was fascinated. "That's amazing," he mumbled. The strange feeling that he guessed was caused by Grimm using magic made the hair on the back of his neck stand, as if stimulated.

"Not really," Grimm said as he crushed the water ball in his hand, the water dispersing. "Water magic is unsuited for battle unless the skill grows to a high level. And since there are more water users than any other basic element users, having too low a level makes the path near impossible to tread."

That last part would explain why even a non-combat field was not a choice for Grimm. There really was much depth to magic and the world of adventurers. But magic is magic, thought Cloud. It was fascinating.

As he left for his second job, he thought how he being from a world without such things as magic would naturally be that much more entranced. Thinking of his original world, his memories of life there felt less real that his current life. He wasn't even bothered too much by the fact that he could not recall his own last name.