Mercini... it appeared to be quite a lively town, even at this hour.
Some sort of festival must have been taking place as there were people everywhere. The main road leading to the town square was lined with street vendors that catered to all walks of life. There were food vendors serving up regional specialties that would entice any weary traveler, merchants with trinkets and jewelry, and several antique shops that piqued the interest of many.
Several of the stores seemed to be selling antique armour and weaponry with a whole array on display. Kichirou had heard of families passing down these types of antiques as family heirlooms, as well as people who would collect such things as a hobby.
Seeing that many stores were dedicated to these hobbyists meant that this area must be infatuated with medieval armours and the likes. It's not too surprising to see something like this, especially given how certain areas of Japan would have something anime related at every street and every corner.
One shop stood out as the vendor was demonstrating his goods. He held out a small scroll with strange inscriptions and chanted something softly. Then, as if reacting to his voice, the parchment he held lit up, producing a strange series of lights as a creature landed before the vendor.
“Take a look, friends! Here I’ve got the rare and mythical spirit of Pamola from the northern reaches! For only ten gold reins it can be yours, the best deal you’ll find anywhere!”
For a moment, Kichirou thought he was just seeing things, there was no way that the creature could have been real. The closest thing it resembled was a small chicken, but there was something seriously wrong with that chicken, instead of feathers there was only a white sheen along the entire creature, making it semi-transparent. It was as if it was made of ice.
What was that thing? What was the scroll? Could it have been a magic trick? Or could that creature be real and was actually summoned by that scroll somehow. No, it must be some kind of toy or mechanism of some sort for children. But that name, Pamola, could it be what Schnee spoke of earlier?
The spark that lit up Schnee’s eyes suggested that it could be the case.
“I need to get some money from father,” said Schnee, as she picked up the pace down the busy street.
Despite the lovely and charming atmosphere, there was something slightly off about this town, much akin to the entire situation. The roads were paved with smooth stones, and the lamp posts appeared as if the bulbs at the end were floating freely. The only form of transportation in sight were horse-pulled wagons. And the people—their clothing, everything seemed a bit dated. In this day and age, almost everyone would be walking around with their smartphones, yet there was not a single trace of technology in sight.
“Hey Kichirou, is it just me or does this town look like it's straight outta that last MMO we played?” asked Calbi.
“Hah, I guess it does..”
Now that Calbi had mentioned it, it did bear a strong resemblance. Back in their college days, they spent entire weekends playing a fantasy based MMORPG that revolved around the survival of mankind during the middle ages. But that was just a video game. This is real life.
Could this be…? No, all those Isekai animes must be going to my head.
A brilliant explosion of light gathered everyone's attention towards the city square. There, several men stood atop a manor’s balcony with a crowd gathering underneath.
“Announcing, lady Ashel Debouf!” The crowd cheered and roared to the sound of her name.
“Good evening, people of Mercini.”
Her golden hair was enthralled by the soft orange incandescent glow of the street light, giving it an amber appearance. The rest of her features were hidden behind a silver mask, yet her voice alone brought forth an aura that enveloped the dusk with a feeling of warmth.
“Who is she?”
“You guys must be not from around here.” It wasn't Schnee but rather a vendor that spoke: “That's lady Ashel Debouf, the light of Mercini, and the daughter of the Duke Tray Debouf—the one who governs over this town.”
“In the spirit of celebrating the holy day in the name of our Lord, as the heir to the Debouf family, I declare that the week leading to the holy day shall be known as the week of light. And in turn, the usual festivities will be extended for the entire week. We remembered you during the times of hardship, but have not forgotten you, the people, during times of good fortune. There will be a new tax exemption this month, and soon a new public school shall be built, offering free education for all.”
Cheers erupted once more in her name, but one face amongst the crowd remained unmoved.
“What's wrong, Schnee?”
“Nothing, I just need to get home.”
Her faded smile would suggest otherwise. This time it seemed to be more than just that, however, prying any further did not seem appropriate.
“Yea, we should get going too.”
Kichirou and the others followed Schnee away from the crowd, crisscrossing through several narrow alleyways until they ended up on another large street. But this street was completely devoid of life. Compared to the main road earlier, it was as if they were in a different town entirely.
They came to a stop in front of a large two-story building. An old dusty sign hung on the outside, it looked as if it once shined a vibrant gold, but now had a dark yellow tinge covered with the stains of time. It read, The Grand Nemo.
“This is the place. My father should be back.”
“This is your house?” Ryuta asked.
“It's the inn my father runs, we also live here from time to time. Let's go inside.”
Much like the street outside, the interior was just as devoid of people. It was a small shanty of a place with only six tables and a small bar to the side. A small curtain that acted as a divider led to what was most likely the kitchen, and next to it was a shady looking stairway that led upstairs.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The wooden walls were lined with all sorts of dark stains, with origins that were rather difficult to tell as they’ve aged along with the establishment. The whole atmosphere reeked of laziness, much akin to Kichirou’s home on most days in between the monthly cleaning that he did from time to time.
“I’m home! And I brought some guests!”
The curtains were pushed aside revealing a man with short messy brown hair and short sleeves, displaying his well-toned muscles on his thin arms. He wore a friendly and genuine smile that would convey a sense of safety and warmth to just about anyone.
“Welcome home dear, and how can I help you folks? Rooms for the night perhaps?”
“I found them lost out in the field. They were hoping that you could help them. I'm a bit tired, so I’ll head to my room.”
“You go ahead dear, I’ll do what can for these folks.”
Schnee ran up the stairs along with Eralya, and the man’s attention turned to Kichirou and his friends once more.
“The name is Zakin by the way, let's have a seat,” gesturing towards the large round table. He pulled out a chair and sat down. “Now what can I help you folks with?”
Furuya went through a quick set of introductions for formality's sake and then went on to describe their whole ordeal. The story started with the flash, being that this was clearly a different place and era, there was no point in telling him anything detailed about Japan. Other than that, there were no other omissions as there was simply no need to deceive this man. Giving him the whole story would only serve for Zakin to better evaluate their current situation.
“That's rather a strange predicament. I’ve never heard of the island nation of Japan before, it must be a land far beyond the nations I know of. The only island occupied by a human country closeby is the Republic of Magana. There are a few more island countries further out, but little is known of them.”
Human countries, those words lingered on the minds of their entire group, why would he mention it as if there were countries composed of other species.
Ryuta was the one who raised everyone's concern: “What do you mean by human country?”
“Does your country not have any demihumans? That would be very rare in these times, almost every country here has a demi-human problem. They often attack small towns or villages, only in our great kingdom of Reinocha, where we have a standing military to patrol our lands, do our people have the safety of mind. However, to not have any at all, that's unheard of.”
Demi-humans, could he be referring to orcs and goblins? Like in folklores and video games? To live in a world of fantasy, unbound by the realms of reality, could this be possible? The first thing that flashed before Kichirou was a memory of the first MMORPG he had ever played, the endless realms, the adventures and his companions, and…
Then that would mean that spirit before was real.
…
“Are you guys alright?” As Zakin’s words brought him back to reality, he accidentally caught someone’s gaze, and his eyes quickly darted back to Furuya.
The look of realization dawned on almost everyone, the combination of what they saw in town and the new information they had just received must have confirmed everyone's suspicions.
“How the hell did we get here… how is this possible!?!?”
“The only thing I can think of would be a highly ranked teleportation spell.”
“Teleportation spell?” multiple voices exclaimed in unison.
“Yes, teleportation itself is only known by a very few elite spellcasters, but for mass teleportation across... possibly by continents, I’m not sure if that’s even possible.”
Magic, spells, and demi-humans… If Zakin is speaking the truth, then that would mean that this world would be the closest thing to being a better world. Just like an MMORPG. Just like Calbi said. Then, would it be possible for me, someone who entered this new world, to also learn spells…?
Unless… it would require an innate talent from birth. Che, life is just a lottery of luck even in another world.
“I only took one night off... Oh my god, I’m gonna lose my freaking job.”
“How are we gonna get home…? People are gonna notice that we’ve gone missing, my girlfriend is gonna be worried sick.”
To go back home, of course, that would be the reaction for any sensible person, to return back to their lives and normality with friends and family.
What a bore… the constant grind of a day job, just to slave away to further someone else's ambitions. Nothing but a hollow shell, only going through the motions of living… Then again, that would apply to me too, wouldn’t it? Hah, how could I forget?
“That would be beyond my knowledge. But you might be able to find something at the Great Library of Eisene, the capital of Reinocha. Rumour has it that if something exists in the magical realms, there would be records of it there.”
Even if we got there and found this information, it wouldn't do any good without a practitioner of magic. Mmmm Zakin did say only very highly ranked spellcasters could use teleportation. Still, this could be an excellent opportunity.
“Even if we were to find some clues to this spell, who would be able to cast such a thing?” Of course, Furuya was thinking the same thing.
“To find a spell caster of such caliber would be rather difficult, the only world-renowned casters in Reinocha would be Lord Ioe or the Black Dog of Basteil. Lord Ioe is head of the Church of Ballione, and only the King himself or highly ranked members of the church would be able to grant you an audience. A private meeting with him would be out of the question. As for the Black Dog of Basteil, rumour has it that he is no longer in the realms of the living.”
Before Zakin could continue, Ryuta interrupted. “So what you're saying is that we are stuck here and that the only people who can help us are part of high society and won't be helping a bunch of random people that they don't even know?”
“Well if you put it that way, it wouldn’t necessarily be incorrect. So what do you folks plan on doing?”
Hmph, “it's not entirely incorrect.” If such a spell is indeed that rare, all we would have to do is find the proper information and entice those so called spell casters with such information, it would be a win-win situation regardless, still, would any information on such a spell even exist?
Grrururr...
“Ah, how rude of me to not offer our guests some supper. If you’ll excuse me, I'll go prepare something.”
“Um, thank you...” The voices trailed off to the sound of silence as Zakin left the room.
“Is this for real guys? I can't afford to stay here. I need to go home, everything I worked for my entire life would be for nothing if I don't show up to work tomorrow!”
“What do you guys think about what he said, demi humans, spells, and magic? That’s impossible right? They're not real, they can't be real, he has to be a mad man. Guys!?”
“Aoi relax, he didn't have any reason to deceive us with such ludacris information. Think about it, what would he gain from doing that? I’m sure everyone noticed how strange this entire town is. It’s certainly very probable that everything he said is the truth...”
“Kichirou, does your phone have any battery left?” Calbi asked.
All eyes turned to him, each and everyone of them shimmering with hope.
He sighed: “No, it's dead.” His words were like a hail of bullets piercing their hope.
“Then we just need to charge our phones somehow.”
“How do you propose we do that? Did you not see the town? They appear to have nothing more than medieval aged technology. Where the hell are you gonna find a cell phone charger?” Ryuta retorted.
“You don't know that for sure!”
Was he not listening to the same conversation we had just now? This place is not of the world we know, the level of technology is completely different. There's no chance in hell our phones will be of any use even if they had battery. The sooner everyone accepts this reality the better.
“I saw something earlier, one vendor pulled out a scroll and, well, the only way to put it is that he summoned a small bird like creature, I thought it must have been some kind of trick to promote his goods and didn't think much of it, but looking back it must have been the work of a spell.”
“Yea I saw it too, there were some strange symbols on the scroll as it lit up, the creature was called forth,” Miku chimed in.
…
“Well isn't that great, you two can actually agree on something,” said Ryuta.
A familiar sound filled the room for the first time since they arrived, laughter.
For a moment it seemed as if they never left Oma. They were still just sitting there, a group of old friends catching up on life.
… Come to think of it, what happened to Schnee? She wanted that spirit so badly before.
“So then what are we going to do? We're stuck in a strange world with nothing and no way home!”
Wasn't that obvious? Aoi’s always too emotional in these decisive moments.
The man literally gave them the road map, with a very clear X that marked the spot, all they had to do was follow it.
“We need to address the elephant in the room. This is most definitely not our world, but it's not as bad as you guys think. First of all, we can understand the language since everyone seems to be speaking Japanese. Therefore we can probably find ourselves some jobs here to sustain ourselves while we try to find a way back home.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening,” Aoi muttered.
As always, Furuya gets it. If there is no immediate way to return home, then the first order of business is to sustain ourselves with food and shelter, which means we must first find jobs in this unknown world.
But most of them were only adept at office work, what kind of jobs would they even find in this world? Surely even here they could work some type of office job. In this case, it would most likely be for the government or for some noble. However, it’s unlikely that they would get hired without any basic knowledge of this world.
Aoi and Akira could work at some type of restaurant, given their background it should be no problem. Everyone else would most likely start off with some blue collared job. Come to think of it, why was he even worried, everyone here made it after college with a job and a career. The only person he had to worry about was himself.