Author’s Note: Another chapter arrives! Please enjoy it.
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Chapter 14
It took ten minutes of Seran embracing me and asking me random questions about my family, without giving me a chance to even respond, before the three of us were kicked out of the commander’s room. I noticed he had a huge smirk on his face as he did so too. Damn bastard must have known this was going to happen once I introduced myself! I’m absolutely going to get revenge on him in some way later. Definitely!
Seran kept hugging me as we walked through the halls and out of the keep. Coa was very unhappy about this state of affairs and wasn’t sure what to do about this large person, well compared to me, suddenly being right on top of her. I was more surprised though, about a certain AI who was grumbling in my ear something about a thieving elf. I hadn’t expected that kind of response from Lynn. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was just being jealous or if there was something else involved though. In light of this, I made Seran release me, which judging by her immediate pout showed she was disappointed. At least she kept out of my personal space for the rest of the trip through the fortress.
There was a slight detour with us swinging by their rooms to get their gear. Seran’s gear included a long bow that definitely looked like what my imagination would picture as an ‘elven bow’. Seran noticed my examination of the bow, and took it for interest and said it was a family heirloom. Gormon’s gear, on the other hand, was a much smaller bow and a pair of swords.
Our destination outside of the keep was the stables. Apparently, because of my addition to this messenger duty, they were getting a horse for me to ride on since they didn’t expect me to be able to keep up with the two of them. I was tempted to show that I could, but that would ruin my cover story so I opted to just go with it. I needed to get another Class eventually that the people of this world could understand so that I can explain my power. Well that’s for further off in the future, but the most likely options would be to go for Warrior or maybe Hunter. Unless I learn of a better Class to get that suits my needs.
Anyway, once they learned I had no idea how to ride a horse, Seran immediately volunteered to ride with me. I looked for some kind of support from Gormon to get out of this, but he was just standing there listlessly as if he wasn’t even paying attention. I sighed and gave up. At least I saved myself a bit by getting to ride behind and hold onto Seran rather than in front of her as she was wanting. Coa didn’t like the horse though. It took some urging for me to get her to calm down once I was astride it.
We were finally underway and heading out of the fortress. Some of the soldiers saluted to our group, at least I assume the fist against their chest was a salute, as we passed by. Seran acknowledged the salutes but Gormon moved alongside the horse just as apathetic as ever. How does a guy like this manage to become a captain? Outside the fortress walls there were a number of soldiers dismantling what they could of the monster carcasses that weren’t totally destroyed by the fire magic the previous evening. I wonder if they eat the meat from the monsters?
Moving around the fortress, there was a small trail or maybe path that showed definite signs of wagons using it. Most likely the supply trains for the fortress.
It was when we were starting to get some distance from the fortress when Seran called out to Gormon. “Hey Gormon, why don’t you take point? I know you’d rather be doing things than meandering along at horse pace.”
Gormon merely nodded, but I noticed that his eyes took on a more serious look and he shed that spiritless state as he ran ahead. What a gigantic change in character! The area around here was still pretty open and clear, so there wasn’t much cover for any kind of monsters to ambush us but I guess it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. He was at least keeping in sight so there wouldn’t be a chance of us getting separated. I was really curious what level the two of them were by how nonchalant they were acting, but I can’t risk using my terminal to scan them like this. Maybe I’ll find a chance later.
“Now that the nuisance is gone, why don’t we have a chat Seri?” Seran spoke up.
Shit. “Sure, what do you want to chat about?”
“How about family? I noticed you didn’t appreciate it when I was asking all those questions so I’m guessing you think I’m wrong about us being related?” She asked.
“I think it’s just a coincidence. I assume it’s based on my name being similar to yours?” I replied.
“That’s definitely part of it but you also said your mother, who was an elf, named you too. That adds more weight to it. Why don’t you tell me your mother’s name, then we’ll know if it’s really a coincidence or not?” Based on her tone of voice, she sounded like she was just humoring me while being confident about her own conclusion.
I know that the naming sense seems to have something to do with ‘S’ names, maybe even more specifically ‘Ser’ names. So I need to make sure my fake mother’s name is definitely something much different than either of our names. I think Lilienne would work? My real mom, or well Aaron’s mom’s name is Leanne, so it’s close enough and sounds more elf like. What if there are other rules than just that though? I don’t know if I should say it or not. Should I consider the positives or negatives to this? I mean Seran doesn’t seem like a bad sort, so would it really be bad if she thinks we’re family? I doubt I’ll meet any of the other family members after I separate from her so it would only be a few days of interaction. Negatives? I’m not sure if there are really any. At most Seran might write a letter to her family about me and my supposed mother. Damn. I really don’t want to deal with these kind of misunderstandings. I really, really need to learn more about the culture and norms of this world so I don’t make more mistakes in the future.
Probably because of how long I was staying silent, Seran spoke up again. “Hey, are you that afraid of just telling me your mother’s name? If you are then I won’t press you.”
She’s giving me an out? Ahh, what the hell, I’ll just say the name I came up with. “My mother’s name is Lilienne.”
Seran nodded. Oh, come on! Give me more reaction than that! Did the name pass it off as a coincidence or not? It was another minute before she finally responded. “Well, I’d say you’re definitely related then. I don’t recognize the name of your mother but she might be a child from one of the clan members that went off to be an adventurer in the past.”
So even a much different name was no good? “How did you arrive at that conclusion? I guess it has something to do with the names but my mother’s name is much different than ours?”
“Oh, every elf clan has their own naming conventions. In our Ashleaf clan, females have names that begin with ‘Li’ or ‘Se’ and males have names that begin with ‘Me’ or ‘To’. Though more specifically a name like yours that starts with ‘Ser’ would mean you’re more closely related to my branch in the clan. Your mother’s name is a bit off for being from my branch though.” She explained. “Well just keep it in mind for whenever you have kids of your own and want to use the naming convention to show their heritage.”
I flinched at the thought of having kids. That’s absolutely never going to happen. Even with the very limited memories I’ve gotten so far from Seri, it’s clear that she was attracted to girls just like Aaron was. So unless there is a magical way, which I’m not going to rule out yet, for girls to get other girls pregnant, there’s no chance of that happening. Well, there were ways for that in certain backstory elements of the game I had been playing, but Lullaby doesn’t have any of that kind of specialized medical equipment. Even if I was interested in pursuing that topic though, which I’m not, it would take a variety of materials that I never stored on the ship anyway.
“Yeah, alright. I’ll keep that in mind.” I replied in a monotone voice.
Seran merely laughed at my reply. “It’s fine, fine! I know how it is to be young, though with what looks like elf and demon blood, you’re not as young as you appear. Always seeing kids as something that would never happen. Well, I’m not one that can preach on that subject though, 212 years old and I still haven’t had one myself.”
I decided to fish a bit for information. “So, it’s not a problem that I’m mixed blood?”
Seran shrugged. “Some clans might see a problem with it but most of us that live here in the empire wouldn’t. There’s always some old geezers that complain about ‘weakening the bloodlines’ and that kind of crap. Just don’t visit the elf kingdom and you’ll be fine. The elves there would probably kill you on sight. Well, they kill basically any non elf on sight, the accursed assholes.” She spoke in a really bitter tone for that last bit and I wondered why. Some personal history maybe? Probably wouldn’t appreciate if I asked about it.
“Where is the elf kingdom then?” I might end up having to go there regardless of the warning if they have what I need to repair Lullaby.
“It’s pretty far off to the south-east. Way beyond empire territory. I visited there once when I was a young adventurer.” Seran answered.
“I’ll make sure to stay away from there then.” I assured her. I decided to take a risk and ask a different question. I wasn’t sure if it existed, but with how game like the world has been so far, I think it’s a fair assumption. “Is there an adventurer’s guild branch in the city we’re heading to? I need to get a replacement ID.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Of course. With how close the Nothar mountains are, not to mention the Forgotten Woods to the north of it, Dawnwater gets good traffic from adventurers.” She replied in the positive, thankfully.
“What is the Forgotten Woods?” I asked, curious.
“It’s a low level dungeon that’s actually managed by the guild. A lot of the new adventurers in the empire head there for practice and early leveling.” She explained.
That was somewhat interesting. Would a level 30 Beastmaster be considered too high level for it? I still wanted to check out a dungeon so I might take a small detour to go see it.
Interrupting my thoughts, Seran continued. “The most popular dungeon in the empire is definitely the Trial in the capital though. Every adventurer wishes to be the one to conquer that dungeon but so far no one has gotten anywhere near managing that. There’s so many rumors about what might be at the end too.”
My interest was diverted. I’d definitely be visiting that capital at some point. “What is special about that dungeon?”
“It’s a tower that reaches up into the sky. The inside of the tower is much larger than the outside would make you expect too. The highest recorded floor conquered is floor 29. No one is sure how many floors there actually are. My record from when I was an adventurer was floor 20. I’m pretty proud of that. Not many can manage to get past floor 15.” She boasted.
I took a moment to glance around at our surroundings. We were currently passing over a small hill and we’re still totally out in an open field. Gormon is also still running around ahead of us, though I think I just saw him shoot something with his bow. Is there anything else I can ask about? Oh, I know a good question that I was wondering about last night. “Why do those monsters attack the fortress? It seems like even they would realize it was a waste of time and go elsewhere. Oh, if it’s not some kind of secret that is.”
“That’s definitely not any kind of secret. I thought just about everyone uses it, though it’s not completely perfect. It’s just an enchantment on the walls. Two of them really. One to draw monsters like a lure and the second to make monsters enraged upon seeing the walls to make sure they attack. Most towns have the opposite kind of enchantments on their walls, ones to ward monsters away and to make them less aggressive. Determined enough monsters can still get through though.” Seran explained.
That’s a pretty creative use of magic. I think I’m growing more interested in the enchantment side of magic than the firepower side. Those status orbs and that oath paper thing are probably enchantments used in some way. That stupid light I never figured out back in the inn was probably just enchanted as well. Yep, I’ve decided. Let’s try to learn enchanting type magic and skip out on the firepower. I wonder what kind of effects I could create if I used it with some of my tech. Would that be possible? <((This series is only officially posted to royalroad.com. If you are reading this series on any other website, then you are doing so without the permission of the author, Xacual. If you have paid money for this story, please file a report and request a refund as it has been stolen and is being sold illegally.))>
While I daydreamed our ride continued. We stopped for a small meal around midday before continuing on. It wasn’t much, just basic travel rations, but I was surprised that the bag that Seran had tied to the horse’s saddle was one of those bags of holding. The bag was nowhere near big enough for what she took out of it. Coa especially didn’t like those travel rations but she had been getting spoiled on my food anyway. Gormon was back to his apathetic self while we ate, though I noticed he had a few rabbits tied to his belt now. Seran seemed fine to let us ride in silence if I didn’t have anything to talk about. Lynn was also totally silent. She probably was going to not say anything until I can actually respond to her again. I was too busy thinking of all the possibilities of magic and tech combined. Well, I was hoping for some amazingly, awesome things to be possible. It might turn out that they’re totally incompatible, which wouldn’t be much fun.
Around sundown, we started making camp. Seran was impressed that I had ridden a horse the whole day my first time riding and was fine. I could only assume this was a result of my stats, though I hadn’t ever pushed myself to see how physically capable and flexible this body was.
I was surprised by the kinds of things coming out of Seran’s small bag. In about ten minutes the camp was fully set up with a tent and everything. I asked about why there was only one tent, but apparently it was because Gormon prefers not lying down to sleep and Seran and I will share the tent, well outside of night watch. I get to sleep the whole night, but Seran and Gormon are going to swap in the middle of the night. The big moment came when Seran created a small fire on her hand and used it to light the campfire. If that wasn’t enough, I watched as she filled some small pots with water as well. I hadn’t expected either of them to use magic with how much they appeared to be more physical based classes, so I decided to take advantage of this development.
“Seran, can you please teach me how to do that? That seems really useful and I’ve never had a chance to learn magic like that.” I pleaded.
Seran looked a bit embarrassed. “I mean I can, but I can’t really do anything much. This is just about my limit. You’d learn a lot more from a proper magic Class like a Sorceress or Witch.”
I took note of the names for the classes. I had seen Sorcerers at the fortress but a Witch was something new. “That’s totally fine! Just the basics like that is good enough.”
“Alright then. I’ll teach you a bit after supper and before bed.” Seran replied.
She turned back to setting up the rabbits over the fire. Gormon had wandered off again at some point but he came back a few minutes later with a bundle of herbs to add to the dinner list. I’d never had roasted rabbit before and it wasn’t too bad. The herbs helped for seasoning. Coa enjoyed having meat rather than more of those bread wafer things we had for lunch.
Finally dinner was over and it was time for instruction. Gormon was leaning against a tree and already asleep since he was going to be taking second watch. Seran and I were sitting facing each other next to the campfire. She still had her bow at hand ready if something should come though.
“So what do you know about magic? Have you ever learned anything or should I start at the beginning?” She asked.
“Please start from the beginning.” I answered.
“Alright. Well, to use magic the first step is to recognize your own inner magic power. After you’ve become able to do that, the next step is to attune it to the ambient magic around us. Usually at this point you would attune it to a specific element to produce the effect you were looking for. For example you would attune to the ambient fire element to produce a fireball. Of course if you have enough inner power you can avoid the need to use the ambient magic and produce it just out of your inner reserves. Most higher level magic users do this. So we’ll start with helping you to find your own magic power. Then afterwards I’ll show you how to attune yourself to fire and water elements. If we finish those two, I’ll show you how to do light as well, but that’s all I know how to use.” Seran explained. She took off her gloves. “Now, take off your own gloves and take my hands. I’ll send a small pulse of magic into you and with that you’ll be able to locate your own magic power. It should react to my energy. It could take a few tries but this is the necessary initial step.”
So there is magic in the air around us going by her explanation. I can’t sense it or anything like I could when I saw magic actually being used. Well, there are ways I can possibly study that later, time for more important things.
I nodded and took my gloves off. I also switched off my shield since if we’re touching skin to skin that would get in the way. I reached out toward her and she took my hands, but she stopped when she saw the markings on them. She looked at me confused but I only gave her a bitter smile hoping she wouldn’t ask. Thankfully, she didn’t. She took my hands, closed her eyes and then a few moments later I felt a weird ripple go through me. It was like an itchy feeling inside that started at my hands and then went to my chest and down to my feet before going back up and stopping at my head before dissipating.
I didn’t feel anything inside me react to it though. Seran repeated the process a few times and it was the same every time. She seemed to be confused about why I wasn’t having any success. I was growing reasonably confident that it might be because I simply don’t have any inner magic power. Afterall I’m not a person from this world, so why was I thinking I’d get to use magic? Was it just because I got the Beastmaster class so easily that I assumed I would be compatible with everything from this new world?
Seran was trying to reassure me that sometimes it was just more difficult for some to grasp this but I wasn’t really listening. I went into the tent and slipped under the blanket feeling pretty dejected.