After those words, Rivorio made a pipe appear out of nowhere on his right hand, it seemed to have been made from a horn of some animal, carved around the bowl with rhomboid motifs. He put the bit between his wrinkled lips and lit it with what looked like fire magic.

"H-how do you know I'm… well, I'm a hero?" It made me strange to ask this question, I had not yet accepted the fact that I had to be a hero, after all, I did not even consider this my world yet.

"EHH, you are not the first hero to have visited me ... by now I have the callus to recognize you heroes, hmm ... it is Tsinzia who sent you here, right? "

'Tsinzia ?! hmm ... who is he talking about ... ' I probably made a confused face because the old man sighed and added "That old witch ... she never tells anyone her name to anyone ..."

"Oh ..." ' So he's talking about the witch who gave me the clothes and compass, right ?! Hmm, so it's called Tsinzia… but then…' "So you two know each other?"

"Of course we know each other, what a stupid question ..." He replied muttering. This attitude of his was starting to tire me a bit, he seemed to be angry with me for something, but I didn't understand what.

'So that old witch tricked me into going to this place by showing me the location of the inn with the compass to meet this guy ... or maybe it's just a coincidence ...'

"Hmm ... so I'm not the first hero that Tsinzia sent here ... why is she doing it? " I asked doubtfully.

"EHH ?! don't you understand by yourself?! He wants me to train you ..." *Sigh, Rivorio sighed loudly, "same story every time … it's since she found out I live here that she keeps sending you here…"

"Oh ... so I was right ..." I whispered, "But if you don't like that, why haven't you moved somewhere else? I mean ..." I asked curiously.

" EHH ?! Are you insinuating something?! ... Umpf" the old wizard snorted, "it's just that I can't leave this place, I've built this house many years ago, even before the construction of the Bruno Bear inn, and this house is special, do you know why?" He asked me.

"Mmh ..." I tried to think of a reason and the first and only one that came to my mind was: "Why, mmh... does this house keep monsters away?"

The old man snorted some pipe smoke.

"Mmh, then you are not completely stupid ..."

'Oh, so even if his manner is brusque ... after all he is a good person ...' I thought.

For a while both the old man and I were silent. It seemed to me that the old man had lost the thread of the main discourse.

The old man frowned and took a few puffs of his pipe.

"So are you going to train me?" I asked. Not that I wanted to, but if I was really going to live in this world I had to get stronger. 'The dangers here are around every corner'. Rivorio nodded in surprise.

"Right, I will train you, but I don't want to train you without anything in return, so, you will hunt and collect things from the forest that I need and I will teach you some magic in return.… Anyway, are you really convinced that you are becoming a hero?"

I couldn't answer him.

I looked down, I was undecided. The old man, seeing me in this state, sighed loudly, got up from where he was sitting and began to walk around the room.

"You know, your reaction is normal ... besides you, I have met three other heroes, and all three were just arrived in this world ... Mary the salt mage, Samuel the inflamed blade, and Gobert the devourer ... I know that it is not easy to decide whether to be the hero that destiny wants you to be, especially knowing the fate of those before you …" These words of his somehow made me feel a little better.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"For tonight you can sleep here, think about it tomorrow… or maybe even another day, however make sure you won't regret your choice ... " he said the last words in a lower voice.

These were the first kind words I heard from that man. I was relieved to be able to postpone this decision but at the same time a little cowardly.

The old man went to a wall of the room and opened a door that appeared out of nowhere, this led into a room with a stately bed that seemed too comfortable to be real.

I gladly accepted his good gesture and entered the room.

The room, in addition to the bed with clean beige sheets and a blanket made from bear fur, had a dark wood nightstand next to the bed, a small empty two-door wardrobe of dark and shiny wood to my left, and a candlestick which descended from the ceiling with five arms and lighted candles.

These candles illuminated the whole room with soft light. I noticed that the candles did not have wax collectors under them, however, looking more closely, I saw that such candles did not wear out and the wax did not melt at all.

The floor of the room was in light parquet while the walls were white, although the candlelight yellowed them a little.

The only negative point of that room was certainly the lack of windows, which gave me a thread of claustrophobia.

'Now that I think about it ... not even the living room where I was before had windows...'

I took off the shoes, the fur coat and put the sword by the side of the bed, and lay down in bed. I was tired but, even if now I was alone, I still could not relax, The tiredness that I had accumulated all day poured all over my body and I wanted to sleep, however too many thoughts that were agitating me went through my mind at that moment .

After all, I was in a stranger's house and in a world alien to me, where half of the beings who live there want me dead and the other half want me heroic.

On the bedside table to my right appeared a cup with a herbal tea inside and a piece of paper placed on it with the inscription: "If you can't sleep, drink this".

I was a little surprised by this, after all, at first Rivorio seemed to me just a grumpy old man, now, however, he gave me the idea of being a good old grumpy.

I was undecided whether to drink the herbal tea or not, however my desire to relax and finally sleep prevailed. I took a few sips, it tasted like mountain herbs, it was bitter, but it immediately took effect. After the herbal tea, I put the cup on the bedside table again.

I finally relaxed, my eyes narrowed and I fell asleep.

I woke up to the crowing of a rooster. The room where I was was the same in which I had fallen asleep, and no, around me there were no roosters, nor windows had appeared that could let in noises.

'This world...' I yawned, stretched my arms and back and got up.

Strangely, even though I had made a lot of physical effort yesterday, I didn't feel any pain or tired muscles.

"Maybe it's one of the advantages of being a hero ... Uff" I snorted, deep down, I knew that day I would have to decide what to do with my future.

After contemplating nowhere for a few minutes, I decided to put on my fur coat, boots and the belt, scabbard and sword set.

I opened the door of the room, however it did not open to the living room of the house, but to a bathroom.

There was no one in there. I looked around, it was a much more "modern" bathroom than I thought the bathrooms of this world were. After all, if you happen to find yourself in a world that seems to have stopped in the Middle Ages, you would imagine the bathrooms in wood or stone, and above all without comfort, right? Well, apparently I was wrong.

In one corner it even had a shower, sure, it wasn't as functional as the ones in the world I came from, but it was still a metal made shower.

To my left was a sink with the sink made from a stone hollowed out to form a hollow, and to my right a toilet made of wood and metal.

The floor was tiled in gray and white tiles that formed swaying patterns, the floor and ceiling were yellow and the chandelier was shell-shaped.

'This bathroom is probably even better than the one I had in the USA ...'

Then I asked myself how everything could work, after all, I didn't think that in that world they had already found a way to exploit the electric current. Then, I thought about everything that had happened to me yesterday and realized that everything that looked modern in the house I was in, was obviously working thanks to magic.

'What a strange world, a few steps from here there is an inn that seems hundreds of years older than this house … yet this house is older, ah…' understanding this world tired me.

* "Wash yourself and then come to the living room" * A voice poured into the bathroom, it was that of Rivorio. I gladly accepted his proposal, next to the shower there were also two towels, of I don't know what material, white for drying me.

I undressed and went into the shower. Looking at my physique I was baffled, 'Since when have I got abs ?!' I thought.

'Another "help" of this world ...' it seemed that this world was pushing me to become a hero, whether I wanted to or not.

As I took a shower my thoughts slowly faded, the icy water crashing into my shoulders and head seemed to take them away with her.

Dressed, I opened the bathroom door, which led to the living room of the house.

Waiting for me on the wooden table were some muffins with berries and milk, I ate a few and drank a few glasses of milk. Both the muffins and the milk were good, albeit not very flavorful.

I waited a while, walking around the living room, took a book from one of the bookcases, and read a few pages.

'In addition to understanding and speaking the world's languages, it seems I can also read them ...'

The book I took in hand talked about the fauna of the area where I was, they told it as colorful and luxuriant, rich in healing herbs and sweet berries. From what I had seen the previous day it seemed like an old book.

'Probably before the arrival of the Plagues this world was less "gray" than it is now…'

After a while, I got tired of reading, così sono andato a vedere com'era la donna che avevo salvato ieri, era ancora dove Lilya e io l'avevamo lasciata ieri. She was still lying there, but now the color of her skin regained its vitality.

'She looks better ...'

"AHH here you are!" Rivorio said, still with his usual grumpy and sour voice. "I see you've also eaten something, well, that's good ..."

"Oh, yes, thanks for everything ..." I said, lowering my head a little.

"Hmm ... how about you help me create a healing potion?"

'Well, why not ...' "Ok ..."

"MMh ..."

"Ah, right ... how is Marie?"

"Mmh ... in your opinion who are we making this potion for, EHH?!" he said.

'Eh ... Ahhh, here he is again with the rough manners …' I turned to Marie, 'mmh, maybe Marie isn't as well as I thought...'

{TO BE CONTINUED ...}