Still confused about the situation at hand, I call out to the humans in hopes of gleaning even a sliver of knowledge about why we were running. “I get that those two creatures were big, but why are we running like there’s a blood hungry army behind us?”

“The weasel you described is the floor boss of this area, and the snake was supposed to take its place if it ever died. Essentially a second boss.” Three pieces of information that seemed vitally important. Why? No idea, but if my picture of what a boss was supposed to be in this context it meant that my analogy of an army wasn’t actually that far off.

“I’ll ignore the fact that I don’t understand what you said until we stop running.” I yell back. That was another thing, where were we running to. I’d imagine that it was a safe area, either some sort of metaphorical checkpoint or stronghold. Which if it was, it might not actually be a good idea to follow them, this group seemed friendly enough. But with the initial reactions of the kobolds and later the two human fighters, I doubted they would just let me waltz in.

After several minutes, the group slowed down and came to a stop to catch their breath. Surprisingly, I still had quite a bit of stamina and didn’t feel tired, most likely courtesy of my new body.

Not really trusting them yet, I stay a decent ways back so if they were to do anything I could bolt away. My gesture catches the attention of the fighter I didn’t have the name of, seemingly putting him at a bit more ease than he was before. He seemed like the more practical of the group, and seeing as I already had his attention, I try to ask him a few questions while also answering any he may have.

“I know I didn’t exactly get permission to follow you, but do you mind if I ask where we are heading?” I ask

“Main camp of the kobolds. It’s one of the safer places in the middle floors and our closest sanctuary to where we are right now.”

With our destination now known, I move on to a question that was making itself the center of my attention since a while ago. “Hm, it’s been brought up a few times now but when you say floors, what do you mean? I think of it like the floors of a house, but we’re in a cave system so I’m confused.”

He stares at me in confusion for a moment, his head tilted to the side, before speaking up as if it was the stupidest question he had ever heard. “You don’t know what a crypt is?” I knew the literal word, essentially just an elaborate grave, but we were in a bunch of caves. Did crypt mean something different here? I wouldn’t be surprised, but that didn’t mean I understood.

Not entirely sure how to respond without making it seem like I knew absolutely nothing about this world, I stayed silent and held his stare. To my luck, the one who cast that weird spell that let us understand each other spoke up.

“Crypts are exactly what their name implies, a grave. Usually belonging to someone or something extremely powerful. Over anywhere between a few and hundreds of years, they draw in more and more monsters to their corpse that feed off the residual magic that the corpse lets off. Slowly building up structures and caves, like this one, that are eventually found and then raided.”

A lot of exposition there, but it cleared up a few of my questions and left me enough to fill in the gaps. It also gave me a few guesses as to why I woke up in a random crevice, most of which pointed to something being born or dying there for me to then inhabit the body.

I had pretty much completely crossed off my rebirth as reincarnation. If it was I wouldn’t have been shoved into the last kids, Moravi, body. If anything, it would make more sense if I took over freshly dead bodies instead of being recreated in a brand new one. Either way, it confirmed that at least some parts of this place were artificial.

At this point I was loving how willing they were to humour me, but it put me on edge that they did so casually. Yes they were still somewhat defensive, but they hadn’t shooed me away or tried to kill me, which hopefully meant progress.

“You haven’t tried to attack us yet so I want to ask you again, what's your name?” He continued after giving me a moment to think. Looking between the three of them to try and gauge what they thought of me, I respond after deciding that they were somewhere in the grey towards me.

“Erja. I’ll acknowledge that you’re at least not openly hostile towards me, thank you.” I by no means had any trust towards them, and I doubt I ever would if I decided to stay with them, but I’d prefer if there was an illusion of understanding between us for the time being. My response makes the caster kid light up for a moment before receiving a scowl from the fighter named Malcom that immediately puts him back down. Although they acted the way they did with each other, they seemed to work well together.

“I don’t think I've ever heard of someone named Erja, it’s kinda cool. My name's Rayner, nice to meet you. Sorry about the guy with a stick up his ass, his name’s Atkin.” He points at himself and then the guy who I had asked about our destination.

I wasn’t one to assume, but if my childhood of reading fantasy novels was anything similar to this, I’d guess that Rayner was a mage of some sort while Malcom was either a barbarian or a shield. With the last guy named Atkin a knight, I guessed that last part because of the light plate armour he wore.

“What’s the weapon you’d choose if you had to head out into a battle?” Malcolm asks me while gesturing towards me with the hilt of his sword. “Mal! Why do you have to ask everyone who joins us that. For all we know they might not even be a fighter.” Rayner yells back at him, it seemed like for how well they operated together they did have some internal quarrels.

“Those two like to bicker a lot, don’t mind them. Though I find myself agreeing with Malcom again, what is your weapon of choice if the time to fight arises.” Atkin asks while completely ignoring the other two who had devolved into another argument I didn’t care to follow. “I have experience with axe’s, though I’m not sure if they’re the weapon I'm best with.” I responded.

“So are you a barbarian like me?” Malcolm asks. I didn’t realise he was paying attention to me even while in a war of words with their caster. “I don’t particularly have any experience fighting as something specific. Anytime I have I just went in and killed anything that wanted me dead.”

“Sounds like a barbarian to me! Nice to see another of my class.” He gave me a wide smile while holding back Rayner with one hand as if he was a child. Though with the height difference he might as well be in comparison.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Chuckling at the scene unfolding, Atkin stands up and walks over, offering a handshake to me. “I won’t lie by saying we trust you completely, well, Rayner might. But until we reach Karlik fort, the kobold camp, welcome to the team.” With him standing within arms reach for once, I realise how big I was in comparison to the average person, especially considering that he was well toned and sporting plate armour.

Reaching for his hand, I shake it and appreciate his firm grip, leaving me reassured that I probably won’t die anytime soon… Probably.

“Alright, we’ve rested long enough, let's go!” Atkin says, bringing the other two out of the quarrel and the four kobolds to attention. The kobolds seemed a lot more relaxed than when I tried communicating with them before the humans showed up. Even going so far as to count me in their formation that had them bordering the rest of us.

It didn’t take us much longer to arrive at the aforementioned camp, much to my relief. The entire time Rayner had been asking me questions about where I came from, what I was, and if there were more like me. Pretty much all of which I didn’t know or couldn’t tell him.

Entering the fort was for the most part what I’d expect. Lookouts called out our approach while two kobolds came out and confirmed with the others that they didn’t mean to cause trouble, and whether or not I was dangerous. The last part stung me quite a bit, but it made sense. After the short check, we walked into the half circle wall that was backed by the cave and hollowed out to make space for any extra buildings.

The entire thing somewhat reminded me of that fortress from the battle of helms deep from a book series I read once. Except way smaller, underground, made of wood and full of kobolds. I don’t think the fort had any kobolds in the book, but it had been years since I last read it so I didn’t really know.

Following my new ‘team’, they headed to a building that was fairly front and center of the main path connected to the gate. Most of the surrounding buildings were built to the size of the kobolds, in other words small, while this building and two others beside it were built to the scale of most humans. I had a hunch it was for the exact purpose of situating humans and other sized creatures if they ever needed sanctuary.

Walking into the building, I notice five other people huddled into two groups, one with three people and the other with two. The group of two that were further to the back of the building didn’t notice us at first, the second group on the other hand most definitely saw us because they waved to the humans and then stared at me when they noticed me with wide eyes.

Much to my bewilderment, I noticed that a few of the people sitting around had overly pointed ears as well as a few other abnormal features. If I had to make an educated guess, I’d assume that they weren't humans.

The building looked like a mediaeval tavern, with a handful of tables, a counter in the corner, and a set of stairs leading to its second floor. By this point the kobolds that had followed us had left, making us a group of four, leaving us with plenty of space to sit at a single table.

Malcolm gestures to a person behind the counter before sitting down at a table somewhat in the middle of the room. With the rest of us following suit, we sit down and make ourselves comfortable. Well, I tried to at least. I was fairly certain the chair would break if I sat on it.

“Don’t worry, the seats were designed to be able to support even half orcs. Though they aren't always successful when they get rowdy.” Rayner says.

Feeling at least somewhat reassured, though I didn’t know what the weight of half orcs were, I tentatively sat down just in time for the human from the counter that Malcolm had called over to arrive at our table.

They then ordered some light drinks and a few snacks for themselves before the waiter turns to me. I didn’t know what I could and couldn’t eat, or what they even had. Not to mention no money. “I’ll pass on anything, thank you.” I say.

But the person just startles and throws a glance at the others. Not sure why, I’m saved by the god of over-explaining and information, Rayner. “I only cast the communication spell on us four, so to her it just sounds like what your normal voice is.”

Now understanding why, I feel a little sorry for the woman considering what I sound like. Trying to use universal gestures, I bow my head to say sorry before looking back at her and shaking my head to say I didn’t want anything. Still looking concerned and spooked, she gives me a meagre smile before walking away back to the counter.

“Speaking of the communication spell,” Rayner says, “it should be about to wear off.” Slightly confused as to how he knew that, I felt stupid for asking the second I say it. Of course he’d know when a spell he cast would stop.

“The spell I used lasts for about an hour before it runs out. I still have plenty of magic left so once it runs out I’ll just use it again so don’t worry.” That was good, all of a sudden not being able to speak with each other would be beyond annoying.

“How does it work, do you cast it and then whoever was in the range of the spell can just understand each other regardless?” I ask. My curiosity had been successfully peaked. And whether it was because I spent pretty much the entirety of my last lifes seven months learning, or because I was just that thirsty for new things, I was extremely interested in how the spell worked.

“Not exactly. Everyone in the range of the spell when it's cast that I choose can then understand all of the languages the caster knows. Right now for example, to me you’re speaking my language so I can understand you, but to you it's the opposite. It didn’t actually change what we are saying, it just changed what we hear.”

“Interesting…” I start to space out as my mind wonders what the possible limitations of the spell were, and if it only worked on certain things. Sadly but more practically, I’m pulled from my wondering by Atkin speaking.

“Back to the situation at hand. You seem like you’re lost, or at least very confused by where and why you are, so I propose that we stay as a team for a while. That way Rayner can learn about you, and he can teach you the common language so you won’t have the communication barrier in the future. I’m already fine with it, and I imagine Rayner is as well, so it comes down to you and Malcolm’s decision.”

I liked the idea, I already had the plan to ask to stay in touch for a while, but I didn’t think that they’d not only be the ones to offer first, but to also go so far as to invite me to their team. I somewhat picked up on what this place was like, and I didn't exactly want to be solo for the first half of being here. Later on I’d definitely go out on my own, but with how much I didn’t know it would be a death sentence right now.

“I’m more than okay with that, I was already going to ask something similar.” I responded. Now our attention was turned to Malcolm, I didn’t realise it at the time but I prayed to a non-existent entity that he would agree.

“We’re down a member right now, and I like the idea of having another barbarian on the team. I’m cool with this idea!” Malcolm says, leaning over and putting an arm around my shoulders. I didn’t really care about his friendliness, or more accurately I was too surprised to care. I was not expecting them to let me in, I thought that even if they did they would be more hesitant about it.

“It’s settled then, we can work on the how’s and when’s in a bit, but for now let’s celebrate the arrival of a fourth member!” Rayner says with a smile. I didn’t have much of a connection to these people, but seeing him smile like that reminded me of my friend Martin from my first life.

For the first time in the last few months, through all this chaos, I smile while feeling a sense of conflict at the reminiscence. Regret for leaving, happy that things were looking up for me, and fear that I was doomed to repeat this cycle for years to come.