“Look at that gross skin color… ”

"Yes, it is so horrible... Is it a Dark Elf being taken prisoner?"

“But look... Captain Tadar is with him… With it... I wonder what he will be doing? How will that thing be tortured?”

“Wow, what a pleasant reception. It almost makes me feel sad.”

Humor lacking taste or grace permeated Jake's mind, following the same pace as the steps he took through the relatively wide streets of that city, perhaps not as medieval as expected.

On all sides, people walked around carrying straw baskets filled with various strange fruits and other materials for household chores. Women in their simple dresses, though always very colorful, danced among the wooden and cloth stalls of the open market, negotiating prices for items that picked interest.

Everyone always stopped whatever they were doing to stare and gossip a thing or two with the person closest to them regarding that strange figure that accompanied the captain of the Royal Knights.

“Please do ignore them. I know it can be difficult, but people here have never seen humans different from themselves.”

The raising of the armored man's left hand, a few steps ahead, brought the boy who was following him back from his observation of reality, previously focused on acquiring the greatest number of details regarding the exquisite surroundings.

He chose not to answer, though. It didn't matter. He couldn't be bothered with whatever opinion those citizens might have of him.

“But even I have to admit that it's going to be tough living here if this continues.”

Being the focus of attention everywhere was never a critical point in his life, as Jake never bothered with such a thing. His reality could never have been further from a person without much popularity.

"And it wouldn't do much good if I suddenly started to be, but for the wrong reason."

All he saw of those people were disgusted or mocking faces. From the children in the city streets, innocent curiosity was detected — soon transformed into hatred by the actions of the parents, who covered them and pulled closer, talking about how much that person they saw could be dangerous for all of them.

There wasn't a single place where one didn't see such a conjoint construct of anger and prejudice that would fall like a heavy hand on the head of anyone with a slightly weaker heart — or anyone who had one, for that matter.

Oh well. If nothing was going to change, then why not get distracted, right? That's what the tall, dark-skinned boy thought, choosing to focus on a topic that somehow evoked some interest.

“The people of this world seem to have a keener sense of architecture than the humans of my world did in the Middle Ages.”

The urban structure of Calendas was unlike anything seen before in the historical book accounts of his world, though not in structural changes; not necessarily, at least.

“It's more about the urban planning. It seems to be advanced to levels much closer to something considered 'modern'.”

Obviously, there were no buildings with several floors or paved streets, but the structure of the city resembled, at a fundamental level, something close to that used in the current times of his reality.

Calendas had tidy streets, paved with stone bricks in light shades, which varied from pastel salmon to almost complete gray, depending on which street it was, the pavement being composed by irregular parallelepipeds a little smaller than the palm of a hand, creating terrain regular enough to call ‘almost flat’.

They were wide paths, enough for at least three cars to pass, if a main street was to be mentioned. In the case of peripheral ones, such were still made wide enough so that there was no difficulty in reaching sunlight, contrary to what the books said.

“Unlike that time, the people of this world should not suffer so much from illnesses.”

The houses did not resemble the historical accounts of being places with only one or two rooms, and instead, many looked much more comfortable than any furnished apartment, all with their chimneys full of pomp, spitting thin, clear smoke into the air.

But even with all that said, what caught his attention the most in a way that could be considered positive, was the odor.

... Or, to put it better, the lack thereof.

“This place does not smell of excrement or corpses, which leads me to believe that there must be basic sanitation.”

A piece of very good news, as all Jake could catch when sharpening his sense of smell was the mixed odor of various spices, none of them unpleasant at any level close to an open sewer.

"It's a world organized enough for one to live comfortably within the walls of an armed city."

People were clean, without the need for perfume or any tricks to mask bodily carelessness. That, in addition to several other factors, showed that this world was a place different enough from his in cultural aspects that much of the historical knowledge could be discarded.

“Hell, these people even created their own measurement systems for several things. It's just to be expected that anything I know has the potential to become obsolete.”

A whole line of thought built without even mentioning the most important factor in that entire equation: the intrinsic presence and influence of Magic in the very structure and laws of that universe.

Magic — an idiotic and unrealistic concept that has messed with the minds of mankind for centuries, and still does through countless fantasy stories.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Being able to throw flames from your hands, fly or heal people... Thirsty desires for power and greatness that would never see the light of day.

"Turns out it's not the same around here."

The entire world his feet trod on was governed by that fundamental force, and it brought only one logical answer to mind.

“I need to learn how to do that as quickly as possible.”

He couldn't say why, but was absolutely aware that his increased strength was not the result of any Magic. It was something more like...

"... A gift." He reflected. “That power is a gift.”

The unnamed Entity made the point of telling him that it would provide whatever help was in its power, after all.

“We arrived.”

Tadar's call made him stop his steps and guide a gaze to the Royal Knight's confident expression, pointing inside a place that resembled the typical description of a tavern, having signs and a bell at the door, which sounded at the very instant it was opened.

There was no delay in getting in, as...

"Hunger." Jake felt his stomach, contracting on its own under the bombardment of the multiple odors of food.

... ... ...

It didn't take long for the plates to come... Or rather, those clay and wooden bowls molded to represent them.

“Here are the orders, sir Captain and… company.”

The tavern worker was the cutest little thing ever the entire time, all kind and industrious, spreading that sweet scent reminiscent of bodily lotion through the air…

… Until she would be eventually forced to look at Jake for a brief second. When that happened and their gazes met, the woman with short blonde hair and brown eyes contorted her brow voluntarily, in pure disgust.

She, like everyone else there, made sure he would be treated like dirt.

He couldn't be bothered less about having to return the stares, so he just stood there, staring at the window that looked out, ten or twenty people milling around the place from time to time, terrified at what they saw lurking inside their oh-so-safe city.

The wolfskin rested on a chair beside him, as did his back, finally freed from the weight of having to carry that huge thing.

The lull wouldn't last long, however, and the first glance he gave the food would show it.

“Don't you feel hungry? Oh, don't worry. It's on me, and she wouldn't dare do anything to the food."

Tadar's speech didn't make things all that smoother, but in Jake's state, who could care? The fact that he was so empty inside only seemed magnified by the carnal desire of his stomach.

In the bowl, apart from bits of what was clearly some kind of cooked meat, he didn't know any of the other colorful components. There were little round blue grains, cut-outs of something sweet and reddish, diced in little cubes, and a few yellow leaves.

Jake couldn't tell if it was because of hunger, but each of those things was perfectly palatable.

“You don't seem like the type to talk much, huh? It's okay, I understand that. Few words, but always effective ones, right?”

That relative calm provided by the meal did not last long.

“Can you tell me a little more about yourself and how you got here? I got to hear that you helped Enille. For that, again, you have my gratitude... May I know your name?”

Jake slowly swallowed the spoonful of those unfamiliar blue grains. They were strangely rubbery in the mouth, bouncing around like many tiny rubber balls.

“Jake.” A straight answer. “Jake Parker.”

And another spoonful, followed by the explosion of sugar from the “red” he ate. The contact of his psyche with the intense sugary brought the exhausted body back to a more comfortable state.

"I understand. Jake Parker…” The bewildered response was easy to interpret. “I would like you to accept a small compensation from me for all the trouble.”

To the Captain, that boy had already successfully established himself as someone who wouldn't hold a conversation. Perhaps that would change, however, with the addition of a small reward.

“I have here twenty pieces of silver. I know it may not be that much in light of the dangers you faced, but I hope you accept it.”

The small beige cloth bag, tied with a small brown cord, found its way to the center of the table. All around, everyone looked with the most absolute surprise at the gesture that they considered ridiculous.

“Captain Tadar... Paying someone that color with that much money... ”

“I can't believe this... ”

"Impossible! A creature like him cannot earn this small fortune…!”

A knock on the table was all it took for everyone to shut up.

"Let it be clear to everyone here that I will not tolerate any form of disrespect to Jake Parker." He announced firmly. “He is a human, as much as you are. If even a mere fragment of him was not, the magical defenses present on the walls would have already been activated.”

“Magical defenses?”

The topic caught his attention, causing the boy to reflect. If Calendas indeed had magical countermeasures to deal with any non-human who even dared approach its entrance...

“So that can only mean that racial tensions here are a lot worse than I had previously imagined.”

In any case, Tadar's authority seemed to have put at least a little shame on the people there, who began to look with their heads down at the tables they occupied.

“The will of Calendas never fails. If his entry was allowed by its very walls, the city should welcome him with arms just as open! Which one of you cannot understand that?!”

Faint murmurs were all that was heard, all containing variations of "Yes, Captain Tadar...", some in more bitter tones than others.

"Perfectly." He settled down. “Now, returning to what we discussed earlier... ”

No one else dared even look in their direction from that point on.

“Enille can be a nuisance and believe me, I know that more than anyone. The problem is that, anyway, I'm still the father of that nugatory child, and my daughter's life is still a huge object of my interest."

The jovial-looking man took a deep breath, as if he wanted to steal all the air inside the tavern.

“Enille is my responsibility, so it's only fair that I reward the person who brought her home safely... So please accept this humble reward.”

Judging by the way the people in the tavern talked about that amount, Jake could only infer that it was a reasonably large sum, which would make not accepting it a crazy move.

“Then I’ll be crazy for once.”

He had solid reasons not to take it, though.

“Captain Tadar.”

His deep voice hit like thunder in the ears of everyone there. It was a firm, dark tone, as oppressive as the deepest shade of night... And all of that at the same time as it made itself so empty, lifeless.

“I thank you for the meal, but I will not accept the reward. I know I didn't do more than I should have."

Quickly, he rose from his seat, grabbing the huge wolf pelt from the chair beside him, throwing it over his back again.

“Are you really going to deny the reward? Boy, please... I know you want to be moralistic, but think a little better...!”

It wasn't about being moralistic — in fact, the reality regarding his decision lay in a place quite far from that.

“I don't think you're going to get much out of selling this thing. Maybe two or three silver pieces, but it won't be worth any more than that.”

To accept anything more from that man's hands would be like signing a contract with the devil himself.

“Two or three silver pieces? That will be enough. Again, thank you so much for letting me inside the city.”

And before walking out the door, he said one last thing to the captain of the Royal Knights.

"Don’t worry. I'll make a point of putting to good use this thing your daughter killed in a single attack."