Alarmed, Issac cautiously checked his surroundings. There were no sounds, and the bodies on the ground looked like they belonged to separate factions. Three were dressed in noble garbs, while the other four wore dark skin-tight clothing. The one with the skin-tight clothing also wore face masks and hoods of the same color.
The trees on one side had some branches broken, and the grass at their bases stomped on.
“So, whoever it was had gone into the forest or, at least, wants me to think that,” Issac looked around. He couldn’t find anyone else though he didn’t think he would find the one who killed these people. He quickly made his way to the people with nobles’ clothing and searched them for valuables. Even though he felt it was scummy, he couldn’t help but do it. At this point in his life, where he can’t even help himself, trying to help or even respect the dead was out of the question.
Quickly saying his ‘sorry’s, he sifted through their clothes to find anything of value – gold, weapons, or potions. From the three noble people, he got three small pouches of silver coins, he found swords on all three of them, but he only took the short sword out of the three. It was lighter, and he could swing it even if he didn’t know how to do so properly. As for potions, he found none on them.
Just when he was about to check the four dark-clothed men-
“Cough….” He heard a weak cough from inside the forest. Since he heard it, it meant someone was inside the forest, close to the road. Quickly bringing out the goblin sword, he quietly approached the sound. He wanted to yell, ‘who is there’ but that seemed like a terrible idea.
Trying not to make any sound, he crept closer. Just before he saw the limp figure of a man, he quickly hid behind the tree, breaking the man’s line of sight to him.
Despite feeling like he hid in time, the man still barked out weakly, “Who goes there!? Even if I’m near death, I still have enough mana for one last shot! Are you with them?”
While he didn’t really know if the man could do it or not, he didn’t know much to try. So, he quietly poked his head from behind the tree and revealed himself. He now got a proper glimpse of the man in front of him. He was a well-built man in iron armor. He had a head full of ginger hair and a full beard of the matching color. His piercing blue eyes scanned Issac. There was a sword sticking out of the middle of his chest.
Seeing Issac’s face, the man frowned, “A young man…? Which noble’s son are you? Reveal yourself! I am Albert Derune, the Captain of the Second Order Knights of the Sawheim Duchy!”
“That’s a lot of ‘the’s you have there. And no, I’m not any noble’s son.” Issac still didn’t leave the cover of the trees and only allowed his head to show.
“A commoner? Is there anyone else with you?”
“No, I’m walking these roads alone.”
“Alone? No, that doesn’t matter. Take this,” he reached into his armor and took out a sealed letter with his gloved hands. “Give this to Duke Sawheim. He will understand all there needs to be with this letter. And don’t worry, he will reward you well.”
He looked at the letter and back at Albert, “I don’t think letting a stranger handle such an important letter is a good idea.”
“No,” his voice became weaker, “I trust my eyes and yours. They look trustworthy. I wouldn’t have been the Captain of a Knight Order for 25 years without my ability to see through people. I trust that you’ll do the right thing.”
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Issac sighed, “Already a side quest.” “I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you,” Albert nodded with great effort. “Could I ask you another favor?”
“Uh, sure?”
“After you give the letter to the Duke, could you….” he ripped a necklace from around his neck and held it up before Issac. It was a ring with a thread knotted around it, “could you give this to my wife? I’d like her to know that even as I near my death, I’ve died with her in my mind.”
“O-Okay.”
“Now, hurry. Take the letter and the ring and leave this place. I don’t have…much time…remaining,” Albert’s breathing became more laborious and his countenance paler.
Issac finally came out from behind the tree and took both things from the knight’s hands. When he saw Issac’s full body, Albert became morbidly confused, especially about his clothing. In an instant, the pieces clicked.
“You’re an…otherworlder…!” As the last word escaped his lips, so did his last breath. Albert’s head slumped sideways, his body still pinned to the tree behind him with a sword.
Issac quickly decided to ditch his clothes and go for something more medieval. It seemed everyone had knowledge about how otherworlders dress. He returned to the accident site and began to take the noblemen’s clothes. He mixed and matched them, seeing which ones had blood and which ones didn’t. After he wore his relatively blood-less clothes, he stored the letter, the necklace, the bags of silver, the short sword, and his old clothes inside his space pouch. He looked like a lower noble, and that was almost good enough to go anywhere with.
After saying his goodbyes and a small prayer, he made his toward the Genia Marquisate and, by extension, the Sawheim Duchy. “I should try to deliver this letter to the Duchy through the mail system,” although he felt bad about betraying the deceased knight’s trust, he did not want to take any risks.
He felt a little happy that he had one less thing to trace back to his otherworldly origin. It had done nothing but cause problems for it, and he had a feeling it would continue doing so. After walking for a few minutes, he suddenly realized that he had never searched the four dark-clothed men.
“Oh well,” deciding not to cry over spilled milk, he continued his journey. The new clothes felt cumbersome. The fashion sense of this world seemed to be a mix between the French Revolution and the Victorian Era. His black overcoat only had embroideries on the collar and the cuffs. He wore a black vest over a white shirt and dress pants. He wanted to forgo the cravat because it seemed like a hassle, but the thought of ‘not fitting in’ made him wear it. It was a white silk cravat, making his neck very hot. Feeling a little claustrophobic, he loosened a tad bit.
“I finally find civilization, only for it to be dead civilization. Fantastic!” he worried about his future immensely. The remainder of his journey went uneventfully. The same dirt road and the same thick walls of trees on his left and right made him feel like it would never end. He looked forwards and back. He could see the same sight for as far as the eye could see. It was like a trippy liminal space. And it did what liminal spaces do best – make everything eerier than it had to be. The blue sky never instilled the feeling of freedom; it felt fake, like a light blue ceiling – like you’d sometimes see in a kindergarten.
Issac decided not to think about it again and hoped to find a town or a village quicker. When the sun began to set, he decided to head inside the forest. He had already seen where the river went after he crossed the bridge. So, he didn’t have much of a problem finding it again.
“Though with how it’s winding, I have a feeling that the river creates a natural moat around the forest. Is it a moat, or is the entire forest like an island floating on top of a larger water body, and the river is nothing but the cracks in between the island and the mainland?” Issac smiled wryly. This world had made him the master of creating terrifying scenarios. It serves nothing more than overheating his brain or sending shivers down his spine, or both at the same time.
Setting up camp next to the gurgling river once again, he ate a loaf of bread from his pouch. It tasted less sweet than the white bread back on Earth, but it had more of a crisp to it. He wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing to have on bread, but it wasn’t like he had a choice.
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” he wolfed down the bread. Lighting a campfire with magic again, he used his old clothes to make a bed and filled the gaps with leaves from nearby trees. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, he closed his eyes and resigned himself to the dark embrace of sleep.