He studied her carefully, his eyes narrowing slightly in frustration. Still, he seemed to pick his words carefully as he asked, "You haven't been what? I say what? And I promise you, Miss Willows, you are not in a coma."
She opened her mouth to reply when a chuckle slipped out, surprising her. She clamped her hand over her mouth, horrified, but another laugh bubbled up in the back of her throat and she had to let it out or choke on it. In a matter of moments, the clearing was filled with the ringing sound of her laughter.
He just sighed and settled himself more comfortably, a resigned expression on his face. She thought idly that if he was the guardian of the section and in charge of greeting travelers, he was probably used to blatant disbelief, although slightly manic laughter could also be a normal reaction. However, he didn't reprimand her or try to soothe her laughter. Instead, he pulled up a screen, opaque from behind so she couldn't read what it said, and started to appear to scroll through it.
This reminded her of her own screen floating innocuously in front of her and she sighed, her laughter dying away. Chewing on her lip, she ran over recent events in her head, trying to put them together in a logical fashion. To the best of her knowledge, she had gone to bed the night before on Earth after a long day of tracking a promising trend, a new handicraft was creating chatter in several popular chat rooms. She had to bite back another giggle at the fact that she had NOT been studying fiction or Isekai, which would've given her some rather vivid dreams.
Speaking of which...
She pinched herself hard on the wrist, grimacing at the stinging pain. Ok, not asleep or in a coma then. Where did that leave her then?
Glancing at Ward out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was still absorbed by whatever his screen was telling him. He was obviously willing to answer her questions and hadn't made any threats towards her, but she was still putting him in the unknown category.
Shaking her head at herself, she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. The first rule of her life had always been survival. No matter what happened, as long as she survived, everything would be all right in the end. Either her father would rescue her or she would rescue herself. She had never been meek or weak, she had been fighting all of her life and she wasn't about to start giving up now. Not only that, but Charlotte relied on her, depended on her. She wasn't about to let her little sister down now.
She needed two things in order to start understanding this strange situation she had found herself in: Adaptability and information.
Adaptability was easy, she simply had to accept that this was her reality. For now at least. She would find a way back home, if it was the last thing that she ever did, she'd be damned if she would let Charlotte suffer because of her absence for even one moment longer than absolutely necessary.
Confusion abruptly settled and a goal to work towards, Ria turned her attention to the second requirement, information. Resisting the urge to grit her teeth, Ria turned her attention back to the glowing blue screen that still proudly displayed her name and a welcome message. Since he was tapping on it, she decided to treat it like a smartphone.
The welcome message faded quickly to a home screen with a tab menu at the top of the screen. The home screen seemed to display her basic stats.
Name: Allegria Celestina Willows
Age: 28
Race: Human
Skills: ???
Occupation: ?
She frowned at the last two lines. Question marks? What did that mean? Did it mean that there was no equivalent of her skills on this planet or did it mean that she had to choose a path here on wherever here was? Setting the question aside, she quickly tapped on the other tabs on the top. Next to Home was Skills, the page disappointingly blank.
She quickly clicked to the next was one which turned out to be Resources. This tab contained ten little boxes and to her surprise, there were items on this screen. Half of the boxes contained items. A tunic, pants, and boots were each stored neatly in their own boxes. There was also a pack and what appeared to be a coin purse. However, there were no instructions about how to actually access the items.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Sighing, she accessed the next tab. This one was marked Communication and seemed to be a combo of messaging and emails. There were areas for friends/contacts, attachments, and stored messages. All of them contained zeros, leading her to believe that meant that there were no unread messages. Which made sense because she knew absolutely no one in this world. Well, besides the Guardian. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but he was busy typing something into his screen, so she turned back to her perusal.
There were two tabs left, so she clicked on the first one. To her surprise and gratitude, this one simply said Info. However, this was the true treasure trove of the screen. There were four tabs within this screen, clearly marked: Translator, Identify, Dictionary/Glossary, and World Encyclopedia. If these three tabs contained accurate information, she could navigate this world easily.
She couldn't contain her pleased chuckle at this discovery and Ward glanced up and smiled absently at her before turning his attention back to whatever it was that he was doing. She had the feeling that he was monitoring her closer than he let on, but she didn't care and appreciated that he was at least attempting to give her the semblance of privacy. However, she was used to being monitored because of both her father's businesses as well as his paranoia that something would happen to one of his children. Given the fact that she had been kidnapped, it wasn't entirely paranoia, but the lengths he went to did fall under the paranoia heading.
Shaking that thought away for later, she turned her attention to the last tab and tapped on it eagerly. It proved to be a map and she grinned. Yes, this was the final bit that she needed. She noticed absently that it was clearly labeled as Audilandre. That was a point in Ward's favor, at least. There was a small glowing dot and she tapped on it curiously. The map zoomed in until it was centered over a forested area. She checked the key and found that it was listed as Sprinth forest. She tapped again and it zoomed in again even further over what appeared to be a clearing. A clearing that looked suspiciously familiar.
She glanced around and from what she could see, the clearing matched perfectly with the one on the map. That meant that the glowing dot must mean her current location. Good, that would make things much easier in the long run.
She quickly cycled through the tabs to make sure that she hadn't missed anything before hitting the X in the top, right-hand corner of the screen to close it. Once the screen closed, she pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, trying to sort out what to ask or do first.
The moment that she closed her screen, Ward closed his as well and turned his full attention back on her. Seeing her expression, he said kindly, "You probably have questions, most people do when they first arrive here. Maybe I can help sort a bit of the confusion, if you'll allow me?"
Ria heard the uncertainty and questioning in his voice and had to bite back a sigh. Yes, she'd been a little prickly towards him, but it was only to be expected in a situation like this. She had the feeling that it would be quite a while until she truly understood the situation if she ever did. But that was a matter for another day.
Meeting his gaze squarely, she offered him the slightest of smiles. "I acknowledge that you are indeed correct and it appears that I am truly no longer on Earth. However, you must admit that this whole situation is, odd."
If she hadn't been watching him so closely, she would've entirely missed his tiny frown, the expression there and gone so quickly that it barely registered. "I admit, the situation is rather unusual. I've already started some inquiries into the whys and wherefores, hopefully I'll get some answers soon. But let's get you settled first. I'm sure you have questions about the guide."
She perked up at that, "That's what the glowing blue thing is?"
He nodded, "Aye, that's what everyone, local and traveler took to calling them and the name just kinda stuck. It can be navigated with either vocal commands or by tapping, as I noticed you were doing. Do you have any questions about the tabs or various functions?"
She carefully gathered her thoughts before responding. Finally, she answered slowly, "I do, have a few questions, although most of it is self-explanatory. But there are some that I'm a bit of a loss for. For example, the resources tabs. They list clothing and the like, but am I to assume that they are mine? Or is it merely some sort of store option that I can buy from? And if that's the case, where would I get the money, because I doubt that you accept Earth currency here."
He shook his head, "No, afraid not. However, all travelers to Audilandre receive a welcome gift. A sturdy set of clothing suited to the climate where they arrive, a pack with some basic provisions, and a little bit of money to help them get started in their new lives here. The items listed in your resources belong to you, no ifs, and, or buts. The system will not accept stolen goods or illegal items. To access them, all you have to do is touch them and the system will retrieve the item from the subspace where it stored it. Would you like to try it?"
She nodded, already pulling up her menu with an instinctive flick of her fingers. As soon as the blue screen popped up, she reached and tapped the Resources tab. She debated tapping on the pack first, to assess what supplies she had. However, practicality won out and she tapped on the clothes instead. After all, it was very hard to feel confident in front of an armed man when standing in office clothes and no shoes.
Not truly believing that anything would actually happen, shock and surprise flooded her when a bundle of clothes dropped into her hands out of nowhere.