Unable to resist, we're brought along by the humans, back toward the Thanifa adventurer's guild. A healer patches up the worst of my injuries, but I'm still barely able to stand, so Master Liina supports most of my weight as we trudge through the empty streets, all the commoners and peasants probably taking cover inside by this point.
Then we reach the guild. The place looks like a bomb went off, people and papers scattered all over still in half-panic after the attack. We're lead into a back room, where Felix is given a seat across a low table from the tall, stoic looking man, while we're dumped on the floor in the corner, a half-dozen adventurers standing around us threateningly.
Settling his hands onto his knees, the man introduces himself. “I am Rothol, the guild master of the Thanifa adventurer's guild. You have my sincerest apologies for everything that has happened.”
Felix sighs. “What I want to know is what the hell just happened? Why am I here? Why are you all trying to kill each other?”
“Certainly. Our world's magic has an unfortunate tendency to pull people here from other worlds. I can assure you, we're able to send you back, there's no need to worry about that.”
“O-oh...” Felix blinks rapidly, like it's only now clicking that he's been brought to another world, and all the implications.
“Normally, we try to get otherworlders like you on their way back home as quickly and painlessly as possible, since being thrust into such a situation must be distressing, but we have failed terribly this time. For that, we apologize. Even though the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of others, I would like to apologize on their behalf.” He turns a hard glare in our direction.
I want to cower under those eyes, but his words ignite some burning heat inside me.
The word leaves my mouth automatically. “Bullshit.”
He hardly has time to react, surprise turning to disbelief before the nearest adventurer slams me in the back of the head with something hard and heavy. I hit the floor, head swimming, while the guild master scoffs. “Don't listen to her, she's a traitor to our people that just helped sack our town.”
“Bullshit,” I spit into the carpet, already cringing in expectation of another blow. But Felix leaps up, stopping the man above me.
“Hey! Leave her alone!” He turns back to Rothol, speaking pointedly. “These two saved my life, and I've seen nothing from your people besides hurting them. That doesn't make you look like the good guys, you know.”
“That's understandable,” the guild master concedes, “but they are our enemies. As I said, they just led a horrible attack on our town, slaughtering our people indiscriminately. Men, women, and children. Every breath they take is an affront to our people, which we only endure to apologize to you for our transgression.”
Felix's mouth falls open. He turns his eyes to us, doubt in them now. This time, I can't call him on it because he's right, as much as I hate to admit it.
“Is that really what happened?” he asks me.
“Yes and no. There's more to it.”
“Like what?”
At his question, I worm my way up off my stomach, to my knees again. Then I look around, taking in the faces of everyone in the room, Master Liina and the guild master included, and take a deep breath.
“I'll start at the beginning.” They quiet a little at my tone, Felix half-kneeling just above me. Turning my attention just on him, I remind myself that his opinion is literally going to determine whether we live or die.
And yet... I want to tell him the truth, how things really are. All the shit I've realized since coming here.
“Do you read web novels? Isekai? System stuff?” I ask. Felix blinks confusedly, but eventually nods.
“Yeah, some,” he mumbles.
“Alright, so here's how things are, real simple. This is basically a fantasy isekai world with some System stuff thrown in. Their magic system is ridiculous and different for each race. Has to do with the sky, but that's not really important now.”
“O-ok...”
In my periphery, I catch the confused faces of the surrounding humans. Even if they know English, none but the guild master are likely that fluent, and of course every bit of Earth culture would be lost on them.
“So the long and short of it is, these guys,” and I point between Master Liina and the guild master, “are basically Israel and Palestine. Endless blood feud level shit.” When I curse, I glance back at Master Liina on reflex, but I don't know how much English she even understands.
“Wait, seriously?” he asks in disbelief.
“Yeah, it took a while to really get it, but it's fucking bad. So when he said that we killed indiscriminately, he was right. As much as I hate it, it did happen.”
Grimacing deeply, Felix asks, “Why?”
I sigh. “So, this is how it works. They,” and I point around to the humans, “are 'humans.'” Here, I use the Panir word for humans, that sounds like 'girensa.' Since Felix doesn't know Panir, it lets me draw a distinction between us and them. “They're basically fantasy world humans. Shorter life spans. Arrogant, racist assholes.”
“Hey!” the guild master finally interrupts. “A blood traitor can't speak of our people like that! She's a beast-lover, of course she's biased!”
With Felix between us, I don't even feel the need to cower under his powerful gaze this time. I have my piece and I'm going to fucking say it. “No, I'm not,” I spit back with venom. “Because these guys,” and I point at Master Liina, “Are altraska. Basically furries, animal-people, beastkin, etcetera. They're properly referred to as altraska, because the 'humans' here call them beasts and animals as racial slurs.”
Felix's mouth hangs open a little, but the guild master just scoffs at my words. Then I go on. “And here's where I'm not biased. The altraska are also racist fucking douchebags. I can say, objectively, that both sides are shit.”
Felix remains quiet for a bit as my words sink in, and even Rothol can't argue after I just insulted the altraska too.
Eventually, he does accusingly ask, “If that's what you think, why did you join the beasts?” Stoic and glaring down at me. Felix looks back and forth between us, then throws a glance at Master Liina. Is he starting to put it all together?
“Because the 'humans' are the bad guys here.” Then I close my eyes and shake my head. That's not right. “Alright no, that's not quite right. I probably would have stayed with them anyway because that's where Master is.”
That catches both men off guard. While Rothol gets this look like he's figured me out, Felix asks, “What to you mean, Master?”
I shrug, trying to stay nonchalant. “She's my master, I'm her slave.” While Felix starts to look shocked, I give a very simple explanation. “I kind of got fucked up by my childhood, long sob story, you don't need to worry about that. Point is, I'm way more comfortable staying with someone who can take care of me and protect me than trying to go off on my own. And she does, with her life, you saw it for yourself. She's a good master, and that's why I stay with her.”
Clearly thinking back on the battle, Felix starts to nod slowly. She literally threw herself on top of us to protect us.
“Anyway, yes, I'd probably stay with the altraska even if both sides of their conflict were equally shit,” I get back on topic, “but they aren't. The humans are the bad guys here.”
“And why do you get to make that determination? Weren't you bred by the beasts to be a slave?” Rothol asks accusingly.
“Hah!” I laugh without meaning to, nearly earning another blow from the adventurers before Felix interposes. “I thought it would be obvious by now. I'm an otherworlder. I'm also from Earth. That's why I can look at your conflict objectively.”
Rothol's eyes pop open at the claim, but Felix just nods. I've already made a number of references to countries back on Earth, web novels, and other stuff from the internet. No one else would get them, but he does.
While Rothol's still sputtering at the reveal, I tell Felix, “What it comes down to is, the 'humans' here live longer lives and think they are more intelligent than the altraska and other races like them, so they're arrogant, look down on those races, and use it as an excuse to be prejudiced, belittle, dehumanize, kill, and enslave them against their will. That is why they're the bad guys here. This whole blood feud is fueled by them basically being Nazis.”
He gulps a little, all the pieces coming together. “The altraska I've seen are racist assholes against 'humans' because of how the 'humans' treat them. But, they've shown that they care more about helping their own people than harming the 'humans' anyway. When we attacked this town earlier, we attacked because for months, the 'humans' here have been picking off groups of traveling altraska and selling them into slavery in this town.”
That earns an immediate glare from Felix at the guild master as I explain. “The altraska had a choice, between attacking this town to do as much damage to the 'humans' here as they could, or rushing straight to the slave market to free their captured people, and they chose to help their people. Their attack wasn't savage or mindless, it was a well planned and neatly executed rescue operation.”
Grimacing a little, I admit once more, “I can't deny the loss of life on the 'human' side that came of it, yes, some of it against civilians, but they did not go out of their way to harm the 'humans,' it was just another domino in the cycle of revenge that these sort of blood feuds cause.”
Finishing my piece, the whole way through this fucked up debacle, I say, “So that's it. Both sides suck, I stay with the altraska so I can stay with my master, and the humans are the cause of the whole shitty situation.” I sink a little closer to the floor now that I'm done. I haven't spoken in English so much in a while.
“So that's it. Wow, that really is a shitty situation. Where do I come into it? Just, wrong place, wrong time?”
I nod. “Yeah, sorry about that. You got pulled over at exactly the wrong moment. You would have been hurt or killed by any of the attacks flying around, and I'd be damned before I let their war kill someone like you, who's completely uninvolved.”
He sighs a little, then nods. Standing back up, Felix turns to Rothol. “I've heard the story, I understand what's going on here now, and it's clear to me that not only have you wronged me, but these people as well. They were willing to put their lives on the line to protect me, a complete stranger, from being harmed by a war your people started, and I've seen nothing of the kind from you.”
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“Sir, you can't honestly believe that woman's tale!” Rothol scoffs. “She's clearly been brainwashed by those beasts. What she didn't tell you is that they breed and raise our people in captivity, raise them like livestock to sell into slavery! She claims to be unbiased, and even made claim of being an otherworlder just to make it sound more believable, but she's really just a slave bred to be a mouthpiece for them.”
His words confirm what I'd already guessed, revealing yet another ugly truth to their whole conflict. But Felix just creases his eyebrows with confusion and disbelief. “No, she's definitely from Earth. Hey, prove it,” he throws the request at me lightly.
So I shrug and just say the first random cultural reference that comes to mind. “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”
“There, exactly.” Felix chuckles, while Rothol is still entirely flummoxed. They clearly don't get Earth culture here. “And you,” he turns his attention toward the guild master again. “You probably don't even notice it, do you?”
“Notice what?” Rothol asks warily, still throwing a few uncertain glances at me, especially after that last reference that must have sounded like utter gibberish to them.
Felix points over Master Liina. “What is she?”
“The beast? She's one of the animals that attacked our city. That was all just explained quite clearly.”
“Alright, but what is she?” Felix asks again.
“She's...” the man's eyebrows crease, staring at her. “I don't understand, what are you getting at?”
“Ding ding ding, you've discovered the shitty politician,” I mutter, just loud enough for Felix to catch it.
“Rothol, Sir. As I'm aware, she is a race called altraska in this world, is that right?” Felix asks.
“Well... yes...” he rumbles uncertainly.
Then Felix puts a point on it. “Call her an altraska.”
“Whu- But, why should I,” Rothol blusters. “I just told you that's what she was.”
“I just want to hear you say it. She. Is. An. altraska.”
“She...” Rothol sits, at a loss for words, before redirecting. “She killed my people. Innocent people!”
“Not what I was asking about.” Felix shakes his head. “Sir, you and your people have a problem, but you can't even see it. It's something I've seen back in my world, so like...” he trails off, turning back to me questioningly.
“Yumi.”
He nods. “So like Yumi said, to outsiders like us, it's immediately obvious. You and your people, as a culture, have convinced yourselves that the people you are dealing with are inferior to you and you refuse to recognize them because you unconsciously believe it would debase you yourself. Bring harm to your own rights somehow.”
With a sigh, Felix explains, “On Earth, at least in the part I come from, we've had multiple wide-scale social movements over the years to break cultural norms like that. From the sound of it, you aren't even working on it here. Unless something changes, your people are doomed to an eternity of fighting. Rather than trying to stamp out an imagined problem, you should try to learn and better yourself. Discover where your own biases lie. If you don't do that, you'll never truly safeguard your people.”
Through his impromptu lecture, Rothol's mouth slowly falls open.
“Heh, philosophy major?” I ask.
“Never imagined it'd be useful like this,” Felix chuckles, shaking his head in dry amusement.
It takes some time for the guild master to consider Felix's words, which on its own, is a good sign. Better than an angry old politician who might just get stubborn and double down on their position.
Finally, he speaks up. “There is wisdom in your words. I will consider them deeply. Then he turns toward me. “And you, Yumi was your name? You claim to be an otherworlder, how did you end up enslaved by those animals?”
“Altraska,” I remind him again, “They didn't enslave me by force, not really,” I say immediately. “I decided to stay and live here on Verilz because I had no life to go back to on Earth. I became an adventurer, but I'm really weak, so I ended up nearly dying and becoming a debt-slave to the healer who saved me. Do you do that here too?”
“Yes. As much as we've tried to avoid it due to the downsides of slave crests, it's the only sure way to avoid having unsavory types running out on their debts.”
“The altraska said the same thing.” Rothol winces a little when I point out the similarity between them.
“I see... But you don't have a collar now, so why do you still call yourself their slave?”
“Her slave,” I point out specifically, since I know I would fall apart in the abuse normally doled out to slaves by other masters. “Because she is the master I've chosen. Master removed my slave crest earlier so I could search the city for the slave market, so we could save the altraskan prisoners.”
The large man sighs at my words, running a hand through his hair. “You willingly serve one of them?”
“Yes. She protects and cares for me. I'm a hopeless mess on my own.”
“Fine.” Letting out a slow, deliberate breath, Rothol looks around. “So, what now?” he wonders aloud, before turning his attention back to Felix, since I guess he's basically calling the shots here.
“Hmm...” Felix looks to be at a loss now too. It sounds like Rothol has reached a point where he might not execute us the second Felix steps aside, but I'm not so sure about that. He's definitely had his world-views challenged and seems to be considering looking into things more, but... how? It's not like convincing one man, even a guild master, that he's wrong, could somehow change the views of an entire race.
How would we even convince him? How do you get a man who never even interacts with the altraska, to realize they aren't mindless animals like he always believed? He seems to be open-minded enough, he's just ignorant. I can see that now. He's a racist asshole because that must be how his parents were, how he was raised. And he was never exposed to any altraska, so his views were never challenged before...
“Ignorance and separation breeds hate,” I say, addressing the guild master. “If you want to figure out what you should really believe, you can't do it here. You have to actually interact with altraska. You can't learn about people if you never interact with them.”
He frowns, clearly displeased by the idea, but nods anyway. “Fair enough. But how? I can't just walk to one of their towns, the beasts-”
“Altraska,” I cut in when he does it again.
“The- the... If I went to their town, they would attack me on sight.”
“Sir, if you want to have any any chance of even trying to interact with them, you have to be able to call them by name,” I sigh.
Flustered, he glances at the adventurers, still hovering, but now somewhat uncertain in what they should be doing. “In any case, that can come after dealing with you two. You have proven that your actions, while far from justified, were enacted for understandable reasons. I also have to take into consideration that we likely only captured you because you focused on protecting an otherworlder over yourselves.”
Rubbing his chin, he keeps looking back and forth between the two of us, with occasional glances at Felix. “Of course that doesn't mean I can let you off, you brought harm to my people and there must be justice. However, responding to hate and revenge with further violence will do us all no good.” He keeps thinking, but it's clear that he isn't coming up with anything.
Thankfully, it sounds like he's not going to kill us, but I have no idea what he will do. I can't even think of a good solution myself. Back on Earth, we'd probably get imprisoned for war crimes, but they don't have laws about war crimes here as far as I know. And given the situation, while I can't argue that our people did no wrong, I certainly didn't harm any civilians. What about Master Liina?
Turning back to her, I speak to her for the first time in a while, somewhat glad that she just left all of this to me, since I'm getting the feeling she doesn't really know English. “Master, did you attack any of the humans during the attack?”
She clearly knows why I'm asking, but speaks plainly anyway. “I injured two adventurers, a ranger and a mage, and mortally wounded one woman who appeared to be a civilian.”
At her admission, Rothol glowers. Felix glances between them before asking, “What is it?” since he couldn't understand our exchange.
“Master killed a civilian during the attack,” I sigh. “So yes, even if we were goaded into attacking, we definitely did wrong, and deserve some sort of punishment for our actions. I don't really know what you should do with us either,” I admit.
“On Earth, that would be a war crime, but...” When he glances my way, I nod.
“Yeah, I don't think they have laws like that here. In the first place, I think civilians get kidnapped and enslaved pretty regularly, so I doubt they would get the same sort of protections here anyway.” Talking about this is a trip. Trying to determine what my own punishment should be.
I guess it's from being a slave, that I expect a suitable punishment when I do things wrong. Like, I know I could try and plead my case, try to get off as lightly as possible, maybe point out that I didn't harm anyone. But if my master is at fault, so am I.
More importantly, I know if I do wrong, I should be punished for it.
We all sit in silence for some time before it's Felix who finally comes up with something.
“How about this? You two need to make up for your crimes, and you need to interact with altraska.” He points at each of us in turn while speaking. “So their punishment could be working for you. Kind of like community service.”
“Huh...” Rothol sits, staring ahead as he considers the suggestion. “That sounds like a good idea...”
Having settled on the method of our punishment, it's little more than a quick talk to hammer out the details. Two months as contract slaves to Rothol, working here at the Thanifa adventurer's guild. It almost seems too light, until I consider that's almost half a year since there are only five months in the year on Verilz, and Master Liina doesn't live as long, based proportionally on her lifespan, it's more like two years worth for her.
Which... still feels light, considering she killed a person. I guess it goes to show that life is just cheaper here. After all, the altraska aren't the only ones with shorter lifespans than I'm used to on Earth.
As for Felix, he watches the contract enslavement process with obvious interest, despite the circumstances. I'm used to it already, and I'm guessing the weaker you are, the easier it is for the magic to take hold, because I feel like absolute shit still, and I can't fight it at all.
Master Liina is a different story. With her incredible physique and stamina by comparison, she's still pretty strong despite the magical beating she took earlier. I try to keep her calm through the process, but she still thrashes around for a while before it's finished.
Once that's done, Felix says that he'll be going home. As fun as his time here was, he's got classes, and a loving family, and this world has way too much bullshit going on for him, as cool as living in a fantasy world may be in theory. He also declines a crest. I point out that it has a built-in translator for this world's language, but hurts like hell the first time you get one, so he just waves it off and says he's fine.
It probably wouldn't do much on Earth anyway, without a celestial to draw power from.
He doesn't refuse the ten gold I ask the guild master to give him. I make sure to point out that it's real, solid gold. “Just google water displacement density or something and you can prove it for yourself,” I advise, “those should be worth about thirty thousand dollars.”
That one gets a surprised cough from him, before he thanks me with an amused shake of his head.
Then the guild master gets a mage, apparently a Class called Bender, with support magic focused on manipulating space, gravity, and time. They're the ones who can send otherworlders back home. With our group up to four, we leave the guild, walking through the crowds of humans.
It's been long enough that they're no longer in stunned shock, instead turning glares and more than a few harsh insults on Master Liina as we all walk through town. Once we arrive back in the right area, it's a bit of a search for the right spot. Felix appeared in the middle of the street, with a battle raging all around, so it's hard to say exactly what spot he was in when it started.
Then I find the place where the ground is all town up from that energy ball spell I barely blocked, no more than a few meters from where I first tackled him. Backtracking a couple steps, we're pretty sure we have the right spot.
With a last round of farewells, the Bender begins his long magic chant to send Felix back to Earth. It's a bit surprising, since most human casters don't need to recite anything. I guess it's because the magic is so complex. I wonder what level he is?
Then I wonder, how do people without crests show up to a Scan?
Probably the same as anyone else, I guess, it's basically like using Status magic on someone else, right?
With those random thoughts, I wave to Felix as the spell completes, and thank him again for helping us bring things to a less lethal conclusion.
With a grin and a wave, the spell completes, and he vanishes into thin air.