Chapter 4 Part 1: Magic and Pets

Holding in the Demonic power was second nature at this point. It felt awkward when I wasn’t holding it back from leaking out of me at this point. I could only be thankful for this, as watching people melt wasn’t a good thing to get used to.

Once I gained a stable view on my surroundings, I noticed I was in a small, but thick forest. I was placed right on the edge of it, and while I had no idea which direction was ‘North’ I had a feeling that I needed to leave the forest as fast as possible.

Walking through the dead leaves covering the forest floor made loud crunching noises that gave away my location, and I could tell immediately that something was following me. I had been here for all of ten seconds and already was facing danger. I didn’t like it, but a little action to spice things up was always good.

I cleared the treeline and noticed I was on a well-maintained and well-walked path. The path was easily wide enough for five people to walk side by side. I could easily make this assumption as I saw five people walking on the path a few hundred meters down a small hill to my right.

With no time to even think about whether the people wearing fantasy looking armor were going to be hostile to me or not, I ran towards them. I checked over my shoulder as I exited the forest only to see a massive lizard following me. It almost looked like a chameleon, but its long tongue was dripping a purple liquid.

Its skin was a brown-ish green color, as if it was trying to blend in with the trees it was following me through. I was scared as it lunged for me with its tongue extended as if trying to use it to coil around me. Letting out a shout as I dove under the reaching tongue, it managed to draw the attention of the five people wandering ahead on the path.

They spotted the lizard creature and unsheathed various weapons, with one guy just grabbing a smaller girl and putting her under his arm as they ran towards me. They ran fast, faster than I had ever run even under massive bursts of adrenaline.

One of the five was using a bow and fired an arrow just as the lizard was about to lick me with its long tongue. The arrow seemed to harmlessly bounce off of the scales of the lizard, but the archer had managed to pull its attention away from me with just a single arrow.

Using the chance, I immediately got up and ran towards the group, they wordlessly let me past as they focused completely on the lizard that had attacked me. I turned around to see the large man throwing the small girl at the monster. I had to say, I was a bit confused at the decision until I saw the glint of daggers in the small girl’s hands.

The small girl easily mounts the lizard with the daggers and starts going to town on the thing’s back. Blood was flying everywhere; it was like the blades of a blender wreaking havoc after escaping the container. The bow user never once stopped firing arrows and easily dodged the incoming tongue any time that it went for her.

One man was using a very long two-handed sword and was attacking the monster whenever there was a clear opening, drawing blood every time he landed an attack. The fifth and final member was a man in a hooded robe standing off to the side holding a staff. He wasn’t doing anything, and despite the large hood, his face was still easy to see, so it wasn’t mysterious or anything.

The large man starts to punch the monster as it finally begins to slow down. The Lizard was dying, and at this point would bleed out even if the left it alone. The two-handed sword guy swings one last time at the monster’s head and beheads it. The red blood slowly oozed onto the ground as all that remained was the sound of heavy breathing.

“Good hunt.” The large man speaks in a commanding tone, his deep voice easily letting it carry.

“I thought it was slow for such a low ranked monster.” The two-handed sword guy sheathes his weapon, the sheath making the weapon somehow look smaller than it was when he used it.

“My arrows still bounce off its skin even when it’s this low ranked. I wonder if they even do any damage.” The archer sighed as she spoke. Their appearance was very androgynous, so until they spoke, it was hard to tell what gender they were.

“Who’s this guy?” I felt a small weight on my shoulders. The small girl was standing on top of me, and while I would normally panic and back away, she didn’t seem to want to hurt me, but I didn’t even notice she was there until she spoke.

“My name is Logan, thank you for saving me.” I thanked them; they had saved me quite a lot of trouble fighting against something completely unknown.

“Logan? What were you doing in the forest? I see you have a weapon, but you didn’t once unsheathe it.” The large man walks over to me and collects the small girl from my shoulders.

“I lost my arm not too long ago and I still struggle to use my ax properly. I have better odds running away from something unknown to me than trying to fight it with lacking skills.” I explain my reasoning to the large man. It was the truth, I just left out a few details.

“That was a relatively common monster, you grow up under a rock? Logan, if that even is your name, I am going to be honest with you here. I can’t trust a thing you are saying. You have a weapon and that means someone trained you, meaning they would have taught you about the world, including that monster.

However, you clearly lack the skill to harm any of us, so we’ll drag you to the nearest town and drop you there. You cause any problems for me or my friends here, I’ll kill you.” He turns around and walks back towards his group.

“Thank you.” I lower my head. It was an embarrassing moment for me. For him to not trust me or my story in the slightest, but still have the confidence to show me his back and bring me along was demoralizing.

I followed silently behind the group all the way to town. I didn’t bother them, and they didn’t bother me. I was worried that I would be harassed for the whole journey, so they could provoke me into doing something stupid as a pretense, but they all seemed to be nice.

“Psst, Logan” I hear someone whisper to me as we walk through the town gate. I look to my side and see that it is the man with the hood. The rest of his group was still walking ahead while he stayed behind and waited for me to acknowledge him.

“How may I help you?” I ask him in a polite tone.

“Take this, the leader is a good guy once you can befriend him, just a little harsh before that.” The guy tries to hand me a silver looking coin, but against everything telling me to take the coin, I refused to take it.

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I’ll earn some money here somehow. I’m already used to sleeping outside when ends don’t meet.” I started walking away, realizing that the sun was already setting, the days seemed short here, though I wasn’t sure exactly what time I arrived here.

I heard the man chuckle as he jogged to catch up to his group. I immediately forgot about them as I set my sights on anything that could be done to make some of this world’s money so I could sleep with a roof over my head.

There was a bunch of closed stalls, shuttered windows and locked up doors. I was most likely going to have to wait until morning if I wanted to try and get some sort of job. Only problem with that was that I also needed to keep moving to find the Demon and whatever corruption they decide to spread.

This world was going to be a bit of a hassle. I liked the previous one where there wasn’t anyone around that I had to worry about. It was straight to the point. I learned a lot about how to do things in that one, this one was going to show me how complex it was probably going to be in the future.

Well then, let’s look around and see what my options are. There has to be something open later than sunset in a city like this, it was a fantasy style town that even looked to have oil lamps to light the streets. There was going to be some kind of pub or something like that open this late.

So, I wandered around looking for anything that might be considered a pub or a diner, they always want someone to do menial tasks, and I will take food and a bed for payment instead of money for tonight. That was probably about the best I could get. I wonder if anyone will even hire me since I am missing an arm.

I come across a sign with a picture of a sword and a large glass of what looks to be beer. I have no idea what could be in here, as the people wandering in and out seemed to be all types. The lights were still on and the amount of traffic in and out was a lot even for a pub, it must be some other kind of business as well.

Entering the building, the strong smell of alcohol assaulted my nose and eyes. It clearly wasn’t just beer that they were serving here, and a lot of the patrons of this raggedy looking establishment didn’t seem to have the best grips on what they were drinking.

There were people shouting all over the place, and I honestly didn’t even look out of place with a large ax on my back and an arm missing. People were missing various fingers, feet, legs, arms. It seemed to be almost commonplace in this room right now. Not a single person gave me a second glance as I walked to the counter on the other side of the room.

“What can I do ya for?” The man who I assumes to be a bartender wipes off the counter in front of me, ready to whip up whatever I ask for.

“I’m looking for work, got anything? I just want food and a place to sleep.” I explain what I want and what I’m looking for, hoping it gets me somewhere.

“Hm.” The man looks at me and does a quick look over me. “Alright, how good’s the remaining arm?”

“Good enough to swing this thing around every now and then.” I point to the ax on my back.

“Margret!” The man shouts loudly and a large, bulky women slams open a door.

“What!”

“We got a worker!”

“Send them back already then!” She storms back through the door, and the man just tilts his head in the direction of the door and goes back to tending to the customers.

I decided it would be best if I just walked to where the large lady went to. She seemed like the kind of person who would beat their workers for going even a little slow. That’s the kind of person I work best with though, as I know they’ll probably work hard too.

“You’ve got a bit of meat on you, but it ain’t much. We got some firewood in the back that needs chopping, use your own ax or use ours. If you use yours and do a good job, we’ll even get it sharpened for you.”

“Thank you.”

“That door there, there’s a lamp already on back there, so chop for as long as you want. Fifty logs for a meal, eighty for a place to sleep and a meal. Chop ‘em into quarters about as even as you can make ‘em.” She pointed to a rusty looking metal door, and I just shrugged my shoulders.

Walking out the door I see a few hundred small logs piled up and a clear place for them to go. A single lamp was lit in the middle of a small courtyard and a large stump perfect for cutting logs on was just beside it. A simple setup for a simple job.

I grabbed the ax that was leaning against the wall to compare its weight to mine, and it was actually heavier. What is my ax even made from that even though it was longer and larger than this ax; it was lighter and incredibly strong.

I unsheathed my ax and got to work. I kicked over a bunch of logs and got to chopping. It took longer than I wanted it to with only one arm, thank goodness I was flexible enough to use my legs in place of an arm on occasion. My ax also cleaved through these logs like they were made of warm butter.

The ax was in amazingly good condition considering what it has been through. There were only a few small scratches on it and the edge felt as sharp as it had always been. I got this thing on floor sixteen, I wonder if it would be possible to explore the floors again during the down phases when I return to the floors.

I guess in the end it is up to Titan if he wants to let me go back, those floors are his creation. Or are they my idea from another time… I don’t know. Either way, I would need his permission to go back to those floors as the way back and the elevators ceased to exist on the final floor.

I chopped a total of one hundred logs into quarters, so I hope that was enough to earn some place nice to sleep and a good amount of food. I walked back into the kitchen area to see that Margret was nowhere to be seen.

Had a been scammed, told to cut logs, only for them to go to sleep while I was distracted and then leave me with nothing. No, I could still hear the noise of people out in the main room, so I wasn’t alone, maybe I just came back in at an awkward moment.

Walking back into the main room, I see Margret manning the bar with the other man nowhere to be seen. I wonder if he was taking a break or something. None of my business. Margret spotted me before I even made it to her and motioned for me to come over.

“I finished cutting some logs.” I talk to her once I get close enough.

“How many ya’d cut? I’d guess maybe fifty.” Margret laughs and so do a few of the other people at the bar counter.

“One hundred, I had a good system going, would have kept going all night if I wasn’t starving.” I laughed merrily, but Margret looked unbelieving. Shocked almost.

“You, with only one arm? I’d believe you more if you had both arms functioning.”

“We can go check them if you want, just look at all the freshly cut ones, you should see that I did my job properly, all cut into quarters just like you asked me to.”

“Alright, I will go check. If any of you steal anything, I’m going to track you down and rip your balls off.” She points to the other patrons, even the women. I don’t even want to know.

I followed Margret through the kitchen and into the back lot. There were small wood chips from the cutting process still left all over the place, but the area I stood and the chopping block itself were still clean. I figured that if I left it that way, they’d deal with it one way or another.

“Well, I’ll be, it really is a hundred freshly cut logs. How’d you do it with one arm, can I see you cut a few? Otherwise, I’ll think you got a friend hopping this here fence tryna mess with me.” Margret was impressed, but still skeptical.

I could understand it, so I grabbed a few logs and set myself up in the same way I cut them before. Swung my ax through them with easy and rotated the log with my foot while managing to keep both halves on the cutting block.

“There you have it, how to cut logs with one arm, flexibility required.”

“Were you a Rider before you lost your arm? Not many others even bother to become that flexible or dextrous with an ax. Either that or you’re a Contract Mercenary.”

“Nothing of the sort, it was standard in the village I came from before I was kicked out because I lost my arm.” I tried to make up a more believable story that hopefully fit this world. I could guess what a Contract Mercenary was, but a Rider was something I couldn’t guess at all.

“Fine, I believe you now. We’ll get you some food and a place to sleep.” Margret sighs as we return back to the main room.

Once we arrive in the main room, she tells me to wait for a bit for the man, who’s name was Dallas, to come back from his quick rest. She could leave the room for a short time to check on things, but any longer than that and people would definitely start to steal things, so not enough time to make any food worth talking about.

Once Dallas returned, Margret left to the kitchen to make something with meat for me. It seemed like meat was something that people not often ate in this world for some reason. I wondered why until it came out of the kitchen on a plate.

The meat itself was not a normal meat color, it might have been the lighting, but I swear the meat was green and purple. That was green with purple spots, and it looked delicious to me anyways. In the previous world, all I ate was grass that I could find on the ground and drank water from anywhere it was available.

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I was given a small knife and a two-pronged fork to eat the meat. To go along with the weird meat was a steaming dinner roll and some various vegetables that vaguely looked like asparagus and carrots. It seemed like a well-rounded meal, yet I was hesitant to eat the meat, so I started with the veggies.

I finally cut off a piece of the meat and tried it. It was chewy and tough, but the flavour was alright. Nothing to write home about. The flavor was a mix between grass and iron. Normally something people avoid, but not the worst thing ever. I shrugged my shoulders and ate the food. It was something to eat that had some flavor complexity to it, but I somehow couldn’t escape the grass flavor after all.

“You really ate it.” Margret made an almost proud expression.

“It was good to finally eat some food.” I complimented her, not wanting to share my true thoughts on the meat.

“Heh, I give it five minutes ‘til the lad shits his pants.” One of the other customers starts to laugh.

“Ten, he looks to be made of tougher stuff than the normal suckers that come through.” The lady beside him slaps a small coin on the table that looks to be made of copper.

“You got yourself a bet.” The man slaps the same coin down beside hers and I glare at Margret.

“What did you feed me?”

“That was the meat of a rare monster called a Poison Hide. They’re pretty common around these parts so we sometimes get the meat in abundance, but unless you’ve built a resistance to it, it is a laxative that will clear a man out like nothing else.” Margret explains between laughs.

“God dammit, all I wanted was a meal after cutting logs for you, I’ll just go sleep on the streets then.” I sigh as I stand from the wooden stool at the bar and attempt to walk out.

“Hey, kid. Stick around for a bit so we can see who wins the bet.” One man shouted at me; his speech was slurred more than I realized before. I wanted to beat the shit out of him but starting a fight would be to my detriment. Some guards would probably take these guys’ sides as they technically didn’t do anything wrong, and I was the fool.

I stood there, staring angrily at anyone who locked eyes with me. Five minutes, ten minutes, thirty minutes and nothing happened. Dallas came over and tried to hand me a coin of sorts, but I couldn’t trust this place at all. I flipped him off, told him to go fuck himself and left the building.

I could probably thank me being a Demon for the lack of supposed symptoms, but I was still angry. The sky was completely dark, and I would have to actually sleep on the street. Save for my weapon, I really did look homeless now. My clothes were covered in woodchips that I couldn’t dust off and worn down from heavy use. I also smelled pretty bad from working hard.

I found a dark corner of the city with low amounts of foot traffic and was dimly lit to sleep in. I found an alley that looked rarely used and laid on the dirt. I held my ax tightly in my hand while I slept, it was the only thing of any value here. I’d try my luck in the morning, I had to gather information starting tomorrow too.

…

I woke to the sound of people walking in the street, taking passing glances at me. I still had my ax, and I still had all my clothes. That’s all that mattered, and all that I had. The anger inside me still boiled, I was tempted to head back to that pub and take a few good swings into Margret and Dallas, when my thoughts were interrupted by a man in full armor walking down the alley that I was in.

I was ready for a big scuffle, was I on private property, were they going to throw me in jail? If they tried, I might actually have to hurt them and escape the town, I had a demon to go search for. However, once the man got close, he took off his helmet to greet me.

“Hello. My name is Finn, I work with the Guard division in this city. Is there a reason a fine gentleman like yourself is sleeping here on the street?”

“I’m sorry, I tried to get a place to sleep, but they fed me Poison Hide meat when I just came into town, so the offer to stay in one of their rooms didn’t appeal to me, so I chose a secluded alley for some sleep. I apologize if this was private property, I was just about to leave.”

“You say they fed you Poison Hide meat; did you pay money for it?” he asks me with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I chopped one hundred logs for them, the deal was they would give me a meal and a place to sleep for eighty chopped logs, so I went a little extra.” I try to explain everything in detail.

“I think I know the establishment that has done this then. Do you mind telling me the names of the owners if you learned them?” He lets out a sigh into his armored hand.

“Dallas and Margret.”

“Sir, what is your name, and how would you like to…” He checks his surroundings quickly to make sure there isn’t anyone listening attentively, “be used as evidence.”

“I’m all for it, and my name is Logan. Why me though?”

“Honestly, we’ve been looking to shut them down for a while, it’s a real den for scumbags and we’ve been struggling to nail them with anything concrete for a while. Just so the story lines up when it goes to my superiors, you ate the Poison Hide meat and were so affected by it that you nearly died in this alley until I saved you.”

“Works for me. Need me to act really sick, or just have a raspy voice like I’m dehydrated.” I talk in a fake voice that hopefully sounds convincing.

“The raspy voice works, just tone it down a notch like you’ve had some water in the last year. Follow me then, Logan. We’ve got a business to shut down.” Finn puts his helmet back on and walks out of the alley with me limply following behind him. I was trying to mimic the sluggishness that came with dehydration.

I felt like I was doing a pretty good job as I got looks of pity from a few of the passerby on our way to the pub that still had people in and out of it. I was amazed that it was still so busy, but maybe it doubled as a restaurant during the day.

Walking inside, I could tell that was the case as it was a lot more orderly. Behind the bar was a younger woman that looked almost like Margret, but not overly round. Perhaps this was her daughter or something. They looked surprised to see Finn walking in.

“Go get Dallas and Margret, tell them that The Guard is here on criminal charges.” Finn orders the small woman behind the counter.

She panics and runs quickly into a door on the other side of the bar from the kitchen. In assumed that was where they were probably sleeping. I heard clattering and shouting, but nothing that I could discern, it seems that they were potentially arguing on why a guard was here to incriminate them.

I barely managed to hold back a smile as Margret emerged without Dallas showing up at all. He was probably hiding shady stuff in the back or doing his best to escape out the back or something using Margret as a way to buy some time.

“Sir Guard, what could possibly be the matter, we made sure to pay our taxes to the Lord this time.” Margret is already saying some sketchy shit right out of the gate, and Finn takes off his helmet to comfortably talk. Should he really be doing that in front of someone who is a potential criminal though?

“Misses Margret, I humbly ask you to shut down the restaurant and remove all of the customers currently in the building, sleeping or otherwise. You have finally violated standard healthy business practice, and you will be losing your business license effective immediately.”

“Wha-” Margret starts to complain when she locks eyes with me. I looked like shit, and I knew it. I looked like I haven’t had a good sleep in a few years, I was beat up and had scars and cuts with bruises all over. Wood bits and stuff still stuck in my clothes.

She grits her teeth and begins to kick everyone out and makes her maybe daughter wake everyone up and kick them out too, despite all the complaints from the ex-customers. Once everyone was out, we all sat at a table, and I made sure to act the part of someone struggling to stay alive. The awkward stumble and raspy breathing.

“Now then, I found Mister Logan here in an alley…” Finn listed off everything we discussed, and Margret made a darker and darker expression until she finally snapped and lunged for my throat with a shout.

“You’ll die for this!” She was a large woman who appeared to be quite muscular. I could have easily unsheathed my ax and killed her, but I let everything play out. Finn had his hand on his waist where there was presumably a weapon, but I couldn’t see it. Finn was also waiting for Margret to actually hurt me in some noticeable way.

As soon as her hands dug around my throat, I smiled, nom longer able to hold it back. I don’t know why she went for such a violent option, but everything that happened from this moment forward was now in our favor. Finn’s waist shone brightly for a split second as he seemingly unsheathed a bright blue light.

Finn cut off one of Margret’s hands, immediately freeing me. Scarily though, there wasn’t any blood that came out of the wound at all. I rolled away, still with the act of being sluggish and injured, the smile already wiped from my face now that I was in view of people again.

My throat felt sore from the nails that were starting to dig into it, and raising a hand to my neck, I felt a small amount of blood. The wounds were shallow and would probably stop bleeding in a few seconds if they hadn’t stopped already. Margret was clutching her arm and holding back a scream.

Suddenly, four men in armor rush through the door of the building and notice the scene. It was completely under control. One of the men who rushed into the building had Dallas with his arms tied with rope behind his back. How did Finn organize all of this when I hadn’t seen him talk to anyone at any point?

“Good work, Finn.” A woman in shinier and more decorative armor walks over and pats Finn on the back.

“Thank you, Captain. Anything to help the city.” Finn laughs proudly as a guard ties Margret’s arms behind her back, making sure to account for the now missing hand by making the rope tight above her elbow.

“We got everything we need already on the recording device. Logan, was it? Let me just ask you a few questions under a truth spell, and we’ll have this all sorted out.” The ‘Captain’ smiles at me and I weakly smile back, keeping up the act. Finn looks anxious, but I’m not.

“Of course.” I ready myself as she places a small red crystal on the table, it was an elongated diamond shape, and reminded me of a certain currency from a game with a green fairy boy.

“Logan, is that your full name?”

“My full name is Logan Rivers.” I felt compelled to answer the truth, but it felt like a mental effect and could easily be resisted, not that I needed to yet.

“Then, did you feel pressured to chop those logs, as your last resort for rest and food?”

“Yes, I was given no other option but to chop one hundred logs.”

“Were you at any point informed of the Poison Hide meat before you ate it?”

“Not once before.”

“Did you suffer adverse effects from eating the meat.”

“Yes, I felt like I was going to die roughly thirty minutes after eating the meat. I was forced to find an alley to sleep in and when I woke up, Finn was there to help me.” I didn’t lie, I felt like I was going to die from holding in my rage as a direct effect from eating the meat.

“Were you not offered a room even after being subjected to eating Poison Hide meat, despite it being part of the agreed upon terms for your services?”

“I left of my own volition after discovering I was fed Poison Hide meat. I figured that if they treated me this way to my face, I thought my meager belongings would be stolen during the night if I stayed here, so I left before the offer was even available.”

“One final question. Logan, did you, at any point, collude with out guards to frame the individuals suspected of these crimes, Dallas and Margret?” It was a pointed question that required me to tell the truth and it was a simple yes or no. I could see Finn start to sweat, I ignored the truth compulsion and answered with a lie.

“No, I had no reason to.” The stone didn’t react, and I felt no ill effects from ignoring the stone. The Captain also didn’t react and nodded satisfactorily, as if she had everything she needed.

“Thank you for your time, you are free to go. Come visit the guard station in a few days and we may have some compensation for you.” She stood up and quickly left the building. Finn walks over to me, sweating bullets.

“You lied to the truth spell. Ballsy, very few can get away with it. I have to say though; I’m impressed.” Finn pats me on the back.

“Should a guard really be telling me that?”

“No, but can you tell me how you did it? So that we can stop it from happening in the future. As convenient as it was, I would hate to have someone actually bad get away with it when it could be easily prevented.” Finn hits me with solid reasoning.

I thought about telling him the truth, there was nothing wrong with it as long as I keep me being a Demon, the floors and all that crazy stuff secret still. I wonder if I could actually use this situation to my benefit as well.

“I’ll tell you, but there is something I want in return. I need information on some things that I won’t talk about in a public setting.”

“Alright, follow me then.” Finn puts his helmet back on and leads me to a discreet location.

It was probably a guard building of some kind based on how many guards were in and out of the building. Upon entering the building, I was forced to give them my ax. We wandered down a hallway until we went into and office-like room. I wonder if it was some kind of secure office, but it was empty save for a desk and two chairs. It seems like this was almost like an interrogation room.

“You should be able to speak freely here. I wasn’t sure what kind of information you were going to ask about, but feel free to ask it as long as it doesn’t involve the nation’s secrets and or related to ongoing criminal activity.” Finn clearly laid out the terms of our deal.

“That works for me. I’ll start with the truth thingy. It was simple to resist it because the truth ‘spell’ was more of a heavy compulsion and a mental effect. I have a lot of experience dealing with and resisting them, so it was trivial.”

“Huh, what kind of environment would facilitate that? Did you grow up near a whole bunch of old magic users? Never mind, I won’t ask any more than that. What is it that you wanted to know about?”

“Has there been any reports of sudden environmental changes. Like a forest suddenly disappearing or a desert appearing where there wasn’t one before?”

“I’ll have to look around, but I haven’t heard of anything like that at all. What are you even doing here if you’re looking for things of that scale? Also, it’s not that I don’t trust you either, it just seems odd to be looking for something like terrain changes, are you some kind of mage?”

“We can go with that, but I don’t know how to use magic and today was my first time really interacting with magic. I lived in a village filled with nomads, magic was never used there at all.”

“Several things don’t add up, but who am I to complain? I’ll look into what you asked for, as long as it isn’t somehow a national secret, I can guarantee information on it or a direct no in a few days. How long do you plan to stay in town?”

“As long as I need to. With you looking into that information for me, it really frees up some time for me. I won’t bore you with details, but I need a way to make some money so I can achieve my goals here.”

“Hm, you are missing an arm, but your other one appears to be making up for the slack. You trained how to use that ax you had on you?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to join the guards, if it turns out that there are those sudden changes in the environment, I need to keep moving.”

“No, I wasn’t going to suggest the Guards. I was going to suggest applying to become a Rider, I can even write you a letter of recommendation as a thanks for helping me get rid of a thorn in my side.” I thought about this carefully. I didn’t know what a Rider was other than the basic guess that they ‘ride’ something, horses maybe, but this was a completely different world than my original one.

“I’ll gladly take it, but is it okay to forge a document like this?”

“Of course it is, The Captain and a few others owe me favors, so it’s fine if I get caught. Go to the front and get your weapon back from the check-in. I’ll bring the letter to the front once I’m done writing it.”

I nodded my head and gave a simple thanks as I left the room. I had to get my weapon, I felt naked without it. I was already hesitant handing it over to the check-in, but I didn’t want to break any laws since they were so helpful.

I walked to the check-in counter and requested my weapon back. I got worried when it took the guy more than five minutes to collect my weapon. Finn had even come out of the office and handed me the recommendation letter for the Riders. He wished me luck and said he had to get back to his patrol.

Five more minutes and I was starting to get annoyed. Was it really that hard to get my weapon back from wherever they put it? I was about to start complaining to someone when the man at the check-in counter came back drenched in sweat and point to an office at the end of a hallway.

“The Captain wants to see you, she has your weapon.”

I was tempted just to release the demonic power and sentence them all to a painful death. This was more of a hassle than it needed to be, and I could just get information in the next town over. If she was going to do something stupid like try to keep my weapon, I am not above killing her. It is my weapon.

I opened the door to the office and saw my weapon sitting on The Captain’s desk. She was inspecting it carefully, but she didn’t look like she was going to take it from me. I immediately relaxed and untensed. I wasn’t beyond killing her, but the less people I kill while saving the world, the better.

“Logan, was it? Please have a seat.” She gestures to the chair across from her that was pushed right up against the desk.

“Is there something wrong?” I ask, completely back in my act from earlier.

“Ah, just cut the act will you. The truth spell may not have worked, but anyone with the mental age over ten could tell you were colluding with Soldier Finn. The man couldn’t lie to save his life even without the truth spell.”

“Am I going to be in trouble?” I asked in a normal voice completely relaxed.

“Heaven’s no. I don’t care what lies are told to get legitimate criminals locked away where they’re supposed to. I was just going to let you go on your merry way until I heard about the weapon you brought in. What is this thing?”

“I’ve had it for a long time. It has saved my life more times than I would care to admit, and I can and would kill anyone that tries to take it from me.” I make no attempt to hide my intentions.

“I wouldn’t dare take a companion from someone. Shame on you for even suggesting such a thing.” She looked offended that I had even thought of such an outcome. Even go so far as to call the weapon a companion.

“Then what appears to be the issue?”

“I’ll ask you again, purely out of my own curiosity, what is this thing? I can tell it isn’t a metal from around here, it’s too hard without being brittle for that to be the case. Was it one of the old mages that made it for you? Is it enchanted? I can feel a faint power coming from it, but it barely feels magical.”

What? That puts a few things together in my mind, but it makes sense if it was enchanted somehow. A secret room on a super dangerous floor full of mysterious weapons. If it was magical, I wouldn’t even think twice about agreeing.

“I found it while exploring some deep ruins. I have no idea what it actually is, and if you have any hints as to what it is I would be glad to hear them to sate my own curiosity.”

“I have a friend that might know something, but…”

“I refuse to let anyone hold my weapon without me there.”

“I figured. Anyways, sorry for keeping you when you seem to be a busy man. My name is Jessica, I can contact my friend to see if they have time to look at your weapon. They are pretty far away though, are you a Rider, or an ex-Rider?”

“No, I was about to sign up, or apply I guess to become one. Finn gave me a letter of recommendation.”

“Could I see it?” Captain Jessica holds out her armored hand.

“Only if you can answer a question for me.”

“Sure, why not.”

“Have there been any sudden changes in environment. Like a forest disappearing, or a desert suddenly spreading out of nowhere?”

“Interesting, I haven’t heard anything about it in this area. I can look into it, but if you’re asking about this just to lead me off your trail though, you’re sorely underestimating my team here.”

“Not trying to lead you off my trail, I asked Finn to look into it too. It is an important matter for me, but I’d appreciate it if you kept it on the down low who is looking for that, if I say any more than that it could potentially get dangerous for both of us. Oh, I forgot to give Finn that warning.”

“You’re a mysterious person Logan. If my instincts weren’t telling me how dangerous you were, I’d love to just write you off as a crazed homeless man who stole a weapon from someone important. Now, show me the letter.” I handed her the letter Finn gave me.

She writes a few things on the bottom, signs it, then stamps it. She also grabs an envelope and puts a wax seal on it. It looked much more intimidating with the wax seal on the envelope. The emblem on the seal looked like two shields and a sword rising through the center.

“It’s the emblem of the Guards. They should take it a bit more seriously now. I just wrote my honest first impression. At a first glance you look like a ragged young adult, but upon closer inspection, you can see something a bit more… menacing. Your left arm there is proof that you’ve trained for a decent amount of time with a single arm. I can’t place this odd feeling when I look at you though.”

Did she really get an odd feeling from me, I wasn’t unintentionally releasing any demonic power, was I? I checked and it didn’t seem like it. This woman had sharp instincts; I wonder if she could resist the effect of the demonic energy. I had no desire to test it and find out she was, only to kill me.

“I can see thoughts tumbling around in your head.”

“I’m debating on whether I should ask a few more things or just shut my big mouth.”

“Ask away, worst I’ll do is imprison you.” Jessica smiles wickedly. I wasn’t sure if she was joking, or if she was taunting me into asking anyways.

“Have you ever felt this odd feeling when encountering someone else?” I ask a dangerous question. If she was the demon, this would be when a fight would start. However, after a widened smile from Jessica made me ready myself for a fight, nothing happened.

“No, but don’t go thinking you’re special. Odd things happen all the time.”

“That’s all I’m going to ask. If you ever get the same feeling when you encounter someone else, don’t do anything other than inform me, they won’t, or shouldn’t know that I’m here. I’ll be on my way out now though if you don’t mind. I am hoping that becoming a Rider gets me some food and water.”

“Hm.” Jessica hums but makes no further statement as she pushes my ax towards me. I gladly take it, nod my head and leave.

That was an interesting encounter, to say the least. I thought that without me leaking any demonic power, no one would be able to tell that I was different from a normal person. I guess trained instincts over a lifetime are stronger than some idiot mostly guessing at what he was doing.

Now, I just have to find this building with the ‘Riders’. I could always ask someone, but… no it was better to ask and look like an idiot than wander around and waste time. Once I had final left the Guard building, I walked over to the first person who wasn’t a guard and asked them for directions.

I was, of course, called an idiot and scoffed at, but was given proper directions and ended up finding the building. The building itself was on the edge of town, but it was the opposite side from where I had been before, so I never passed it. Attached to a building that looked very ‘guild’-like was some stables, and inside was various lizard-type creatures.

I guess a Rider would ride lizards… hm. This world was looking to be pretty fun. I had other people looking into the corruption for me, so I could focus my attention on growing stronger. Problem was that even if I did use a lizard here, I wouldn’t be able to bring it to other worlds easily, or even at all really. At best it would be a temporary power up. I would take it though.

Walking into the building was odd. I could immediately feel a lot of people look at me, look at various parts of me, then go back to what they were doing. A few of the more intimidating men looked at me quizzically, but they all decided to not bother, they figured I wouldn’t get in most likely. I was kind of hoping to get hazed.

I walked up to the counter that had only one person working it, even with all of the people sitting at various tables. There was no food or drinks on any of them, so they might be more for meetings than for the pub like atmosphere.

“I’d like to register please.” I say while putting the enveloped on the counter. The receptionist raises a single eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. She stares at the envelope before her eyes going wide.

“Wait right here, Sir.” She seems to panic and runs through a door that was behind the counter. The quick glimpse I caught of the back showed a hall that went both left and right. This building didn’t seem that large from the outside. I wonder if magic is involved.

It takes less than a minute for the receptionist to come back with a tall man in light leather armor. He seems very professional as the receptionist gestures to the envelope I placed on the counter. He nods his head and pats her on the back with words whispered so quietly I couldn’t hear them.

“Sorry for the wait, Sir.” She sits back down at the counter and carefully opens the letter by peeling the wax stamp, doing her absolute best to keep it intact.

I can see her start to sweat nervously as she reads the two letters of recommendation, and then hands it to the man standing behind her. He gives it a once over and nods his head, handing the letter back to the receptionist and heading back into the hallway, leaving the receptionist. The room had quieted down a bit since when I entered, it seems like everyone here was nosy and wanted to know what was going on.

“Sir Logan. We’d be honored to have you join us as a Rider. We’ll skip you right past the Recruit, Junior, and Advanced stages and set you up with some other Captain Riders to show you the ropes. This means you’ll be given a lizard of your choosing within a week so long as you pass the provisional trials.”

“Sounds amazing, thank you.” I nod my head, but it sounds like their ranking system is a mess. It felt all over the place with recruit, junior and advanced, followed by captain. Who made such a weird system for labelling things? Just use numbers or precious metals like everyone else.

“Please follow me, and we’ll begin by finding some Captains to take care of you and show you what’s what.” The receptionist leads me through the hallway that was much larger than it had any right being.

We arrived at an alternate are that looked nearly identical to the first area with tables and chairs, but the people here were clearly big shots. Just looking at them you could tell that they were well trained individuals. Did I really belong here?

“Sir Logan, this is Sir Isaac, and Madam Lugg.” The receptionist pairs me up with two of the biggest looking people in the entire room. They had muscles on their muscles, and to be honest, I was intimidated.

“A pleasure to meat you two.” I hold out my hand for a handshake, and Madam Lugg is the first to grab my hand. Her grip is firm, but not crushing. Sir Isaac shakes my hand next and does the same. I was expecting to lose my only good hand.

“A new Captain Rider? I thought no one was close to being promoted yet.” Madam Lugg’s voice sure matched the name. Deep and gruff.

“Sir Logan was recommended by a soldier and a captain of the guard. He is instantly being promoted to Captain, please make sure to teach him from the basics. Time: one week before lizard selection. Make sure Sir Logan understands everything he needs to know. Double the standard rate, and extra rewards for a job well done.” The receptionist fired off everything they needed to know, blowing away the unprofessional attitude I saw earlier.

“Done deal.” Madam Lugg nods her head. The receptionist takes that as her queue to leave and disappears faster than I would expect from someone in her position. I could only speculate why, and I could tell the next week was going to be fun… maybe.

“Sir Logan, let’s drop the sir and madam first of all.” Isaac suggested and I immediately agreed. It felt like something unnecessary.

“Logan, how much training you have?” Lugg asks me while staring me up and down.

“Not a whole lot unfortunately.” I honestly admit it.

“I like an honest man. Isaac, you up for something fun?” Lugg looks to Isaac, and he just smiles, a sinister smile. These two were planning something nefarious, but it should be to my benefit, so why not just let it happen.

“I may not look it, but I can take quite a beating. I’m tougher than I look.” I smugly say, hoping to incite something more fruitful out of them.

“Oh, you sure do look tough.” Lugg licks her lips and shyly laughs.

Uh oh.

…

One week went by faster than I could have ever imagined.