POV: Descal

Well, it is finally the day of the escort mission. Since this world has problems with monsters and bandits, trade between villages, cities, and countries occur through caravans, a group of traveling merchants. Because the merchants group up, they can pool their money towards buying some mercenaries, and there is safety in numbers as well. Anyway, Adal told us to get ready, and the meeting spot would be at the front gates around noon. Before I go to the meeting spot, I need to pick up my final weapon from the blacksmith.

I was quite busy while I was waiting for this day. First, I continuously worked on my language skills with Blythe almost every day. As a result, I was able to gain mastery of the common language. I can speak it as well as English minus my accent. Second, I went to the weapon smith to see if there were any weapons that may fit me. The results were unsatisfactory. I sucked at swords, I swing axes like a complete amateur, and I cannot throw anything for the life of me. The bows and arrows may have been possible, but it did not really fit with my fighting style as I was someone who preferred to enter close combat should I encounter an enemy that was really good at dodging.

So I decided to go with my idea with the arm blades. When I presented the idea to the blacksmith, he was surprised, but he accepted the challenge. It turns out that the blacksmith actually was trained at the capital; however, he moved to this village because his daughter was extremely sick. The medicine required to treat his daughter's disease was the cheapest in this village because of the close proximity to the mana water caves so he decided to open a shop here.

The arm blades are extremely cool. The blade is slightly longer than my arm so the scabbard juts out a little bit from my arm. I can also manipulate the blade's length, similar to how you can vary the lengths in a box cutter. The main part of the weapon used to be a gauntlet so it does have some blocking capability. The gauntlet also has a whip feature made from the magical spider skill added to it. I also added in some soft leather to increase the fit and comfort. Sadly, these two things cost me 16 gold coins. Oh, my poor gold. I know I have a lot, but it is still unnerving to see that stack of gold go away. To make matters worse, I also had to spend 24 gold coins for the two new weapons I asked him to make. When I arrived at the blacksmith's store, I saw Rulf standing outside of the shop.

"Thanks for making me these two beauties." (Descal)

"My pleasure. It felt really nice trying to make some new things. Previously, the idea to weaponize arm guards like that was simply astounding. However, I don't understand the concept behind these two requests. Why do you need this pipe with curved grooves running down the inside? Once I finished it last night, I just couldn't understand the concept behind this thing. Oh, and here is the cast that you wanted. The cast is supposed to make these spherical cones, right? I made thirty of them and put them into this sack for you. I hope you remember my basics on melting lead and cooling it down. Remember. Temperature is key…… It was fun working with you. Are you sure you won't stay to help me out with the store? You have a talent in forging." (Rulf)

"Nah. Nah, thanks for the offer, but my place isn't here. Here is the payment, and thank you for making these." (Descal)

"Haha. It was my pleasure. It is nice trying out building new things." (Rulf)

With that, I took the new things, put them into my pack (my dimensional storage), and walked to the front gates. 

"Descal. You came a bit early." (Adal)

"Well, I didn't have anything else to do. By the way, did the alchemist association agree to sell me some of their equipment?" (Descal)

"Yup. Here are the flasks, glass tubes, and the periodic table of elements. The orders finally came. It must have been really expensive." (Adal)

"You have no idea." (Descal)

"Exactly, why did you buy such a large amount of random mixtures and elements? Is it a new formula from the other world? Tell me. Tell me. Tell me." (Adal)

"Adal. Please return to your composed self. Every time these subjects come up you turn really creepy." (Descal)

"Funny. Les told me that yesterday too." (Adal)

“You should probably listen to her. Anyway, tell me when the others arrive. I’ll be sitting on top of that tree.” (Descal)

Adal became convinced that the other worlders were responsible for many of the advancements from the past. He realized this when I visited the alchemy association of the town and helped out an apprentice with a problem he was struggling with. I was kinda slightly depressed and happy at the state of the alchemist association. They have completely degenerated into a researcher of medicines, and they prepared ingredients for magic rituals. In fact, they are still pursuing the knowledge of the Philosopher's stone. Hell, they don’t even completely understand the profound impact of the periodic table. They even misunderstood the damn thing by misinterpreting the numbers and such. In addition, the Alchemist association is underfunded compared to their Mage Association. Not only that, they blacklisted the creations of explosive substances due to bad accidents in the past. Why research dangerous things like that when magic can simply artificially create one? This has resulted in the alchemist association turning into more of a pharmacy for the people. Well, after Adal realized of my extensive knowledge of the alchemic field, he has been pressuring me to tell him some of the knowledge from my world. Like hell, I would. Knowledge is power, and I am not gonna spew knowledge to everyone around me anyway.  

Now, I bought a wide variety of chemicals from the association. I had a couple reasons for this. I wanted to make some compounds myself. In addition, it would prevent people from learning how to make specific compounds from looking over what I have bought. The reason why I am so careful is because I am making gunpowder. Primitive gunpowder AKA black powder is really easy to make. I learned it from my chemistry class. Yeah... my chemistry teacher was fun... exploding sodium and liquid nitrogen... until the firemen told him that he couldn’t do it anymore… Anyway, I digress. I have already prepared a ton of gun powder and stored it in my dimensional storage. The reason for buying nitric acids and sulfuric acids is because I want to make pressure explosives as well like mercury fulminate and nitroglycerin. However, I am still trying to remember how to make them so I ended up having to resort to trial and error. I can't go too far with the tests because I am GOING to blow up something by accident so I need somewhere private to test out my ideas. The inn would be a no go.

So the two "pipes" are actually rifled flintlock pistols. The rifling was rather hard to make, but it was necessary to increase the accuracy. Also, I modeled the two pistols after the Harper’s Ferry Pistol. My dad was a real big gun enthusiast so I know the layout of many guns. It’s hard not to when my dad loved to show them off to me constantly. I also had Rulf make some Minnie balls for me as well as the cast for them. I learned some smithing techniques from him so I should be able to melt lead and mold them into Minnie balls if I ever run out.

I loaded the two pistols and holstered them. Heh. Now I can fight from a distance without using any magic. I am still very hesitant to use any magic right now. Until I can get a leaf from the Bodhi Tree, fairie powder, a unicorn horn, and the golden pearl. These materials are necessary if I am to create a seal and container (other than my flesh) for my mana so it would not go rogue on me like last time. The only problem is that half of the necessary ingredients are extinct. The unicorns and fairies are long extinct. Not only that, the only place in which I can get a golden pearl is heavily guarded by a bunch of mermaids. It will take me forever... if I did not know of a place that had all four of the ingredients. If I remember correctly, I believe that one of the generals from the Dark Squadron loved collecting things. His vault should still be around in his underground fortress. He is dead so he shouldn’t mind me taking those four items. Also, I highly doubt any thieves would have been able to have gotten past his castle’s defense.

“Descal. The others are here. Get down here.” (Adal)

“Yeah. Yeah. I am coming.” (Descal)

“We are assigned to guard the western flank of the caravan. We will be guarding this flank with 4 other teams. For the wagon that we will ride on, we are going to be with the fur trader. That sums it up. Questions?” (Trevor)

“Is the fur trader a nice guy?” (Descal)

“I am unable to answer that right now. If that is all, we should be going.” (Trevor)

We walked to the gate and met up with the caravan. The fur trader that we would be riding with was named Jodok. He was quite chatty and really easy going. Thank god we are riding with someone like him. During one of the chats we had during the journey, t turned out that he used to own a store in a small town to the north, but it was burned down during a war that broke out between the neighboring countries.

It was an uneventful ride throughout the day. I brought some cards so I played with Les, Adal, and Trevor while Blythe was enthusiastically talking about fabrics and clothes with Jodok. Once sundown came, the caravan came to a stop and camped out by the road. Then, dinner was handed out, and while we were eating, Adal would go and pick straws with the other groups that would determine the times that we would have to keep watch. Adal had fantastic luck so we usually got the first or the last watch. This repeated for the next three days until I saw what was for dinner on the fourth day.

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“What in the fuck is this shit?” (Descal)

“Pickled food.” (Trevor)

“If I eat this, I think that I will die from food poisoning.” (Descal)

“I thought that too when I first saw pickled foods. But you’ll get used to it.” (Les)

“What the hell happened to the dinner that we were eating for the past two days?” (Descal)

“We ate them all. Besides, food like that rarely lasts for a long time so the merchants did not really buy a lot. Now shut up and eat.” (Blythe)

“Okay. In my opinion, food is not supposed to smell like this… this is not food. You know what. I am going to eat something else.” (Descal)

“Good luck finding anything else. Do you mind if I take your portion then?” (Trevor)

“Go ahead.” (Descal)

With those words, I headed off into the woods to go find a nice place to hide my food. I immediately opened my secret dimensional stash of food. So far, I have stored about a month’s worth of food in my dimensional storage. If I had known that travel food was going to be this disgusting, I would have made an entire storage solely for traveling. But right now, I think this counts as an emergency so I started digging into my still hot rabbit stew that I got from the innkeeper’s cook a week ago.

As I started to slowly sip on the stew, I began to think of my next steps if once I get to the city of Duran. I am thinking about splitting off from the group. I want to set off for the mountains as soon as I can and get the items as soon as possible. Right now, I am too weak since I cannot use my magic. My greatest strength was utilizing magic, and I don’t feel comfortable living in this world without it. Also, I don’t want to endanger my new companions. They are really kind people. People that this world has a tendency to lack. My identity puts them in danger because I have a feeling that there are a lot of people who would want me dead if anyone found out who I really was. The fact that I met Arachne is proof that the past still hast ties to the present Terr. I don’t want to risk it so I think it would be best if I left the group as soon as possible. Besides, it would also grant me a lot more freedom regarding my choices because I won’t be risking anyone’s lives other than my own.

Once I finished my stew, I began to walk toward my group again. It seemed that some alcohol was handed out while I was gone because the group was quite drunk when I came. I saw Blythe snuggling up with Trevor, and Les jumping all around Adal while Adal was just sitting there with a dazed look in his eyes.

“So Trevor. It seems that you are the only one that can handle your alcohol.” (Descal)

“That is correct. My tribe loved to do weekly alcohol competitions. My father was one of the best in my village.” (Trevor)

“I have always been wondering but what really caused you to leave the desert?” (Descal)

“…. It is a story that I would prefer to keep to myself Descal. It is too painful for me to retell. Forgive me.” (Trevor)

“I understand. I won’t pry…. Les and Adal would make a cute couple, don’t you think? I can definitely tell that Les loves Adal.” (Descal)

“*chuckle* That is so. It is only a pity that Adal seems to be quite dense for he is clueless that he has captured the hearts of two maidens.” (Trevor)

“*COUGH* TWO?” (Descal)

“Why yes. Les and Blythe both love Adal.” (Trevor)

“Then why is Blythe hugging and snuggling with you?” (Descal)

“She does so because Les has already claimed Adal. Blythe is only snuggling up with me so that she can sulk on me. If you had been paying closer attention, right now Blythe is mumbling about Adal and how selfish Les is.” (Trevor)

Sure enough, Trevor wasn’t lying. Blythe really was sulking on Trevor’s side. I see. Well, Adal does seem to be one of the dense guys. Which kinda pisses me off. But hey, I am going to be leaving these guys once we reach our destination so I guess I will stay quiet about it. I only hope that Adal can snap out of it before it is too late.

“Hey, Trevor. Aren’t we supposed to be taking the first watch?” (Descal)

“Yes.” (Trevor)

“How the hell are we supposed to do that with three of our members conked out like this?” (Descal)

“We simply “go with it”. That is what we will do.” (Trevor)

“Sigh. Please give them an earful in the morning.” (Descal)

“Gladly.” (Trevor)

POV: Blythe

Gah. My head. What type of fucking drink was that? I never drank something that strong before. Mother of Gods. This is one of the worst hangovers I have ever gotten before.

“Are you awake?” (Trevor)

“Yeah. Just… Hold on a minute.” (Blythe)

“Here is your breakfast.” (Trevor)

“Yeah. Gimme…. What happened to my jerky?” (Blythe)

“I ate it. It is the least you can do for getting drunk when it was supposed to be our watch.” (Trevor)

“Oh… Sorry about that. Did everything go okay?” (Blythe)

“You were not the only one to get knocked out. Thankfully, I had Descal to help out so it was alright.” (Trevor)

“Do we have any coffee?” (Blythe)

“Les and Adal has already gotten up, and they are getting coffee from Descal right now.” (Trevor)

With that, I got up and went to get some coffee. Once everyone finished breakfast, the caravan started moving again. The journey was smooth until the seventh day when the front of the caravan was attacked by a pack of stun wolves. I was on the wagon minding my own business when I saw Descal who was taking a piss in the bushes a couple meters from the road get pounced on by a yellow blur. Descal somehow managed to dodge; however, he got hit by an electric shock from the wolf and was sent flying into one of the wagons.

“Shit! It’s stun wolves!” (Les)

“Yeah, no shit!” (Blythe)

Jodok immediately jumped off the wagon and went to the center of the caravan to take shelter and warn the other members. Meanwhile, I immediately took aim at the wolf that attacked Descal and shot it through the head. Before I could finish reloading, I got hit by an electric strike from another wolf.

“Blythe!” (Adal)

“I’m alright!” (Blythe)

When I got up and took a look, it was chaos. The other mercenaries heard the commotion and came to support us. Adal was on the wagon with me, and he had used a spell that utilized his staff as a lightning rod, rendering the stun wolves’ signature magic useless. As a result, it was dirty hand to hand combat as the mercenaries desperately tried to keep the pack away from Adal. I saw Les darting around the wagons, sneaking in kills before disappearing somewhere. Trevor was supporting the shield wall that was set up around the wagon Adal was on to prevent the wolves from shredding him to pieces. The other mages were taking potshots with flames and trapping wolves with ground spells. The mercenaries without shields were fighting with their backs to the shield wall to prevent getting surrounded. I began to snipe at whatever targets I could find; however, the wolves were proficient in dodging my arrows. As a result, I began to start using my enchanted arrows to speed up my arrows so that I could get some hits. The ground began to become slick with blood, causing one of the mercenaries in front of the shield wall to slip. Before the wolves could finish them off, a howl reverberated from deep in the forest, and the wolves froze and ran off back to the woods.

With the wolves gone so mysteriously, we kept our guards up until Les gave the report that the wolves were really gone. With that, we quickly moved and got the caravan moving again before the smell of blood attracted something worse. Just when we started to move once more, I heard Descal scream “wait” as he bounded out of the forest with his pants gone and his shirts in shreds. When the fuck did he go into the forest, and does he have no decency nor any mindfulness for his clothes. I helped him pick out those clothes, and they were a real nice piece of work. Yet, he comes back with it all in tatters. Sigh. Sometimes, I don’t understand what Descal does. He sort of has this distance with us. He probably had something to do with why the wolves retreated so mysteriously. Truth be told, I can’t help but feel that Descal is planning on leaving us soon. He doesn’t eat with us, and he keeps too many secrets such as this incident. Although Adal is adamant on trying to include Descal into our group, I don’t think it is working. I pushed these thoughts to the back of my head as Les bounded over to Adal with our share of the magic cores from the stun wolves. I immediately started to move toward those two when I saw Les starting to rub her chest on Adal’s arm. Ever since Trevor made me realize my feelings a couple weeks ago, I was convinced that I would make Adal mine. However, Les was putting up a hard fight as well. Why she kept putting up such a fight, I have no idea. I mean it hasn’t worked for like a couple months so I think I should give it a try. However, I have a hard time with expressing my feelings toward Adal. Every time I come close, I choke up on my words. I guess I have to be satisfied with the status quo for now.

My doubts regarding Descal were confirmed when we were a day away from the city. We were finishing up dinner when we saw Descal come walking over to us with two bottles of wine. Descal have been skipping out on dinner every day since we started to eat from the preserved storages. I was convinced that Descal had been storing food somewhere. I don’t know how or where he has been getting the food though. I know that Descal has the knowledge to use the rare Dimensional Storage spell, but it should not be able to hold too much, and it should not have the ability to keep foods fresh. Every time Les tried to follow Descal to see where he gets his food, Descal always loses her in the forest, and he comes back like nothing happened. Eventually, we gave up and started to take stabs at where he could be getting his dinner if he refuses to eat the preserved foods. Our guesses ranged from technology from another world to eating raw meat. Anyway, while we were enjoying the wine, Descal broke the news to us.

“Hey, guys. I am sorry for the short notice, but I was thinking about going my separate way once we get to our destination. I have somewhere that I want to check, and I need to get there as soon as possible.” (Descal)

“Where are you going? I mean we don’t have to separate so soon. Like we could go with you as soon as I finish up my work at the Alchemist Association.” (Adal)

“It is somewhere private. Some issues regarding my status in this world. You know. I want to travel to some areas to see if there are any clues regarding why I am here and such.” (Descal)

“But is it something you have to do by yourself. I mean will you be okay. I would hate it if you…” (Adal)

“I’ll be fine Adal. Thank you for your concerns. It’s just I have this feeling that…” (Descal)

“Say no more. I understand. The winds will take you where you need to go. I understand that feeling myself.” (Trevor)

“Truth be told, I too felt that this day would come. You always acted so distant toward us. So I have always assumed that you were going to leave us someday.” (Blythe)

“Thank you for understanding. Someday, I will repay all the kindness you guys have shown me.” (Descal)

“I guess there is no changing your mind. Well, if you ever need anything, you should know how to contact me. Just go to the nearest Alchemist Association building, and you will probably hear of my whereabouts there. Oh and if you ever want to tell me some secrets of the other world, you know who to tell first. I’ll cover up for you.” (Adal)

“Pff. Alright, Adal. Jeez. You never do change.” (Descal)

“Since we will arrive at the city tomorrow, tell me where you have been getting your food. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that all this time you have been skipping out on the preserved foods. AND you have not keeled over from hunger. So… what have you been eating?” (Les)

“That is a trade secret. But if you want… I have some food. Would you guys like to have some?” (Descal)

“Please.” (Trevor)

“Well, I have some fresh apples.” (Descal)

“Wait! What!!! Where the hell did you get these apples??? How are they so fresh? Is there an apple tree nearby???” (Les)

“Trade secret.” (Descal)

“I bet a silver coin that it is through technology from the other world.” (Adal)

“Is it a spell?” (Blythe)

“Guys. I am not saying a word. Now, enjoy your apple like what Trevor is doing.” (Descal)

“Please do not rope me into this Descal.” (Trevor)

Once again, Descal continues to surprise me and my friends. I will miss you, and I wish you the best of luck in your travels Descal. May we meet again in the future.