“Is that really edible...?”
“Calbi, you trust Aoi, don't you? So then just try it first.”
“Well, yea I do... But still, I mean… would you eat this, Hiro?”
“Ummm, well…”
It was a sensible question, Furuya had seen his fair share of strange foods from all over the world but never had he seen something quite like this. The dish resembled simple stewed meat and potatoes and would be considered quite normal if he could just overlook the fact that the sauce had a freakish purple glow.
“Well then what do you think Hiro?”
“It umm... looks great.”
Different words came to mind, but he could not vocalize any of it. Anything he said about it would be considered rude, so it was better not to say anything at all.
Furuya was raised in a strict household and was taught to always be appreciative for what he's given. And given the fact that he didn't even assist in the process of making the food, he had no place to complain.
But Calbi wasn’t the type to beat around the bush. He wasn't buying any of it, and the look he gave confirmed it.
“Damn it, Hiro! Stop lying, it looks radioactive for crying out loud!”
…
Well, you're not wrong...
“You know what? Make your own breakfast then,” Akira retorted.
As if sensing the growing tension, Aoi stepped in: “Don't be like that brother.”
She turned to Calbi with her usual charming smile. “We were just messing around with some ingredients we never saw before, and it happened to turn out this way, okay? Just try it, or do you not trust my cooking anymore?”
Everyone's gaze fell on Calbi, as he took a forkful and reluctantly brought it towards his mouth. And after chewing a few times, his uneager face vanished and was replaced with a look of delightful surprise that melted into a full-hearted smile.
“This—this is delicious!!”
“Of course it is, Aoi and I woke up two hours ago to make this for you guys. What did I say? All you had to do was give it a chance.”
With those words of assurance, everyone followed after Calbi and dug into their breakfast.
The front door swung open, and a man entered.
Aoi was the first to greet him: “Welcome back, Mr. Zakin. Did you find what you needed at the market?”
“Ah yes, I found almost everything we needed to fix this place up. Hmm, are the other two still sleeping?”
The two he was referring to were Kichirou and Miku. Kichirou or “Shiro” always had the tendency to stay up late at night, which resulted in him not being able to wake up in the early hours of the day. And the same could be said about Miku. Those two really needed to wake up. The day was about to begin, and everyone had a long day of renovations ahead of them.
“Yea, sorry about that. I'll go get…” Furuya was interrupted mid-sentence by a pair of footsteps creaking down the stairs. “Speak of the devil.”
Kichirou looked about as lively as ever… with those eternal dark bags beneath his eyes, a lifeless gaze, and the same boring expression he always wore. He wasn't quite the night owl or early bird, but more like the manifestation of a permanently exhausted pigeon. Even in times like this, he was still the same old ne’er-do-well that Furuya had known for all those years.
“Staying up all night with Miku must have been busy huh?”
Almost everyone smiled wryly in response to that.
Even Furuya couldn't help himself but snicker along with everyone else. This was something he just loved about Calbi, his innocent jests always made for a better mood. And the shaken look on Shiro’s face only made him widen his smile even more.
“What!? The hell you guys playing at? I just had a hard time sleeping last night, that's all, nothing more!”
Seizing the opportunity, Calbi seemed to have the urge to tease Kichirou a bit more: “Come on Shiro, no need to lie.”
“God damn it you guys!” Kichirou yelled angrily. He was frazzled, and it was very much evident, but it only made everyone else enjoy the moment even more. Miku, on the other hand, was ice cold with an expression that was unwavering.
Sensing the awkward silence, Furuya cut in: “Alright that's enough guys, come on. Finish up your breakfast so we can get started on this place.”
Everyone simply returned to their breakfast, wolfing it down. All except for the two newcomers, who stared in amazement as they saw what everyone was eating, but eventually they simply shrugged and had their share as well.
After everyone finished up, Aoi volunteered to wash the dishes as everyone else gathered with Zakin for the day's work.
“Well, today we are gonna focus on cleaning up the appearance of the place. I picked up some paint as well as some wood, but for now let's start by cleaning all the grease and stains off the walls. Let's give the inn a new look!"
“Dad, can I go to the market square with Kichirou?”
“Sure Schnee, just be careful okay? And don't take too long, we are gonna need the extra help here.”
“Okie, let's go. Come on Eralya you're coming with us,” Schnee grabbed Kichirou’s hand and rushed out, with Eralya in tow.
Everyone but Zakin had a look of surprise. Kichirou, the one who always went on and on about hating children, could actually be quite good with them.
“Any of you know a thing or two about carpentry?”
“I don't know much, but it shouldn't be too hard right?”
Furuya had seen his father repair their family dojo from time to time, so if Zakin showed him the ropes it shouldn't be too difficult.
“Alright, we'll start with the main dining room first. For that, we can just use hot water. After that, Furuya will help me replace or fix any of the broken spots, and the rest of you can go clean all the rooms upstairs.”
Hot water alone could not rid the neglect that this place had seen for so long. The hardened layers of stains took quite the effort to remove, and the spots with broken or rotting wood were extra troubling. Scrub too lightly and the stains remain, but scrub too hard and the wood might break.
Even for the seven of them, it took over two hours of grueling work to clean it all, so who knows how long the rest of the reparations would take.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Some of these spots look really bad, even the foundation itself looks like it’s rotting, how are we gonna replace it all?”
“Well, to be honest, I didn't expect it to be this bad. I had hoped that we could just replace most of the surface layer. Well, it's a good thing I picked up this,” Zakin pulled out a scroll. “I got this specially made from a friend, it has a spell which allows the user to restore rotting wood like these here.”
In the games Furuya had played with Kichirou in the past, spells were mostly used for combat, very few sandbox games would actually have anything similar to this—goes to show the difference between imagination and reality.
There were probably other utility type spells that could assist in the daily life of this kingdom’s citizens. And the fact that such spells were being developed and made into scrolls would mean that magic and spells played a big part in the advancements of this world.
Just how would this world look in a few hundred years time?
“How does it work?”
“It's hard to explain, but at the same time, it's really simple. This was designed for anyone to use, even someone untrained in the slightest bit of magical arts. As long as you have enough mana, you can use the scroll and all its charges in one go. Here, I'll show you guys.”
Mana…
Everyone watched intently as the text within the scroll lit up. At first, it was hard to tell, but ever so slightly the color of the wood changed. After a few more seconds the difference was quite evident, the rotting black spots changed to a beautiful dark sienna color. The broken wood vanished as well, leaving behind wood so immaculate that it appeared as if it was freshly installed.
“It's real,” someone whispered.
“I can probably activate this just about twice a day, Furuya you wanna give it a try?” Handing the scroll to him.
As soon as he held the scroll in his hand, he had understood what Zakin had meant, there was something about the scroll that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It was just a feeling—a feeling that he knew how to use this scroll.
He focused on the piece of wood before him, and with a mental command the scroll lit up and he felt an energy leaving him. It was different than anything he had experienced before, it was very different than say the way you feel physically depleting after a workout. It just felt like something else that he never knew existed was expended to activate the scroll. Perhaps that is the concept of mana in this world, just another form of existing energy.
Just like before, the piece of wood was restored to its former glory.
“How did you just do that?”
“I’m not too sure, but as soon as I held the scroll, I knew. It was just intuitive after that. Zakin is right, really anyone can use these. Here, give it a try.”
Calbi was the next to try, with his eyes lighting up in amazement as the scroll activated within his hands.
“This is amazing! It's so easy to use!”
“Well, these are the latest products from a friend of mine. They are rather expensive, and most people do not possess a large amount of mana, so the usage is limited.”
“Really? I feel like I can use it a lot more times.”
“My, well, in that case, you might be gifted in that respect.”
“Well, maybe I’ll be the one to find the spell to get us home then.”
“Hah, funny.”
Most people were born with certain gifts. However, that does not equate to them being great at applying it. In a job scenario, someone could be highly intelligent, but the application of their intelligence to acquire promotions or the likes would require many other aspects such as the ability to work with others or leadership skills. In the case of being gifted with a larger pool of mana, it doesn't automatically mean that the person would be gifted with the ability to cast or even learn spells that could make use of the larger mana pool.
The question now was, were we always born with mana? Was it something that existed in the previous world but they did not have knowledge of it? Like ki in Dragon Ball Z, or was it some new property added to them after arriving to this new world? In that case, this world would most certainly be considered a parallel world than anything else. Meaning that their old world had ceased to exist and that their current form was an entirely new existence. If that were truly the case, would returning home even be possible?
Oh god. I gotta stop thinking like this, I'm starting to sound like Shiro.
We are all going to get home...
“Here you guys try this scroll too.”
“AHHHHH—!!” A scream erupted and was suddenly cut short.
Everyone's head perked up and turned towards the door in unison like a pack of meerkats.
“What was that?”
“That sounded like it was really close, I’ll take a look.”
“No, wait. Shhh everyone, keep it down.” The look on Zakin’s face changed, the normally friendly smile vanished out of reflex. The grim expression he wore was probably from the experience of living in this world, he knew what that scream could have meant.
Zakin walked over to the door and took a peek outside, only after not seeing anyone did he venture further out, with Furuya following behind.
The source of the commotion was probably on the further end of the street. There, three people were running down the street towards them, a man and an old woman holding on to the hands of a little girl. As they got closer, they had what seemed like two mounted soldiers chasing them.
“What’s going on over there?”
Zakin quickly returned inside and gestured for Furuya to do the same, but Furuya was too busy staring down the street to have noticed it. His eyes were finally able to make out the absolute look of terror as the man ran with his primal instinct to survive. However, the old woman was not able to keep up with her old age and fell to the ground, with the little girl who was holding on to her almost falling alongside her.
She desperately tried to pull her grandmother up, but it was far too late. As her field of vision was tossed into the air, the last thing that her brain registered was what laid before her sight, her lifeless grandmother who was trampled into the ground.
“What the hell are you doing? Get over here!”
Zakin's firm voice snapped Furuya out of his frozen stare. Before he even knew it, Zakin was pulling on his arm so hard that he thought it might have just been dislocated.
He fell into the inn, unable to keep his footing.
“What happened?!?” Confusion spread across the group as they watched Zakin push a table in front of the door.
Before Zakin could even answer that question, someone slammed against the door and screamed: “ Let me in! Let me in! Oh god, PLEASE LET ME IN!”
“Why are we blocking the door? He sounds like he needs help.”
“It's too late for him, bring me some chairs quickly!”
No one moved, they all stood there watching Zakin panic and Furuya sitting motionless on the floor.
That little girl... how could someone do such a thing?
Furuya couldn't find the answer as he stumbled to grasp what had just occurred. He had seen his fair share of violent acts including the senseless murder at Oma. But for that to happen to a child, nothing in the world could justify that.
“Ahhhhhh!—” Another scream cut short. Then, a man’s voice could be heard as a steel sword crashed through the wooden doors: “Come out, come out wherever you are, we know you’re in there!”
The blade pulled back and crashed again into the wooden door, sending broken pieces flying throughout the dining room.
“What are you guys doing!? Hurry, help me barricade this door!”
Only then did the others realize the severity of the situation, as they quickly moved more furniture in front of the door.
The man on the other side slashed and hacked at the door several more times, with every slash opening up a new hole to the outside, revealing the silver helmet of the assaulter. It was then that Furuya noticed that Zakin had disappeared.
But just as panic engulfed the room, Zakin bolted out from the back with a silver sword in hand.
“We don’t have time for this,” a voice interjected. “The others will take care of them. We are to stay mounted at all times. If the signal comes and you get caught, they won't let you off with a clean death.”
“Che, fine let's go.”
Relief washed over almost everyone as they heard the two men gallop away.
“What the hell is going on!?”
“The town is under attack. And those men, the insignia they bore...they're soldiers from Bereene.”
“What!?”
“There is no time to explain. Schnee is still out there, I'm going to find her and bring her back, you guys just hide and wait it out.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ryuta volunteered.
“In that case, I’ll go too," Furuya joined in.
Kichirou was out there too, this wasn't the time for them to just sit idly by. Besides, if it was the other way around Kichirou would go out and look for him without any hesitation.
“No, Hiro you stay here, one of us needs to stay just in case anything happens.”
He had a point. Earlier, the soldiers mentioned that the others would take care of them, meaning that there were many more of them attacking all over town or there was another wave of attackers meant to kill those hidden in buildings. If any of them found their way in here, there would be no chance that Akira or Calbi would be able to hold their own, not to mention the others.
“No, you aren't coming with me either, it's too dangerous out there. You aren't even armed, if we get spotted it's… just too dangerous.”
“Do you have another one of those?” Ryuta pointed at the sword.
“No I don't, so just stay here.”
“I’ll handle myself just fine, let's go already, we don't have the time for this.”
Zakin stood there with a tired face, still contemplating the correct course of action. This certainly wasn't the time to argue, there was no telling when the knights would attack again. And there was another issue, what if they had started the attack from the other side of town and had just reached this point? That would mean Kichirou and Schnee could have already succumbed to a terrible fate.
“Those men are already gone, let's move the barricade quickly.” Ryuta continued.
“No, keep them in place. We will go through the hidden side door, the rest of you just go hide in the cellar.”
“Where is the cellar? I haven't seen any stairs that lead down.”
Zakin quickly ran behind the bar counter and moved a particular shelf. Then with a click, a mechanism triggered, revealing a trap door and set stairs.
“It's over here, come quickly,” Zakin waved everyone over.
The entrance was dark, and with the poor natural lighting of the dining room, Furuya could only make out the first few steps. But given the dire situation, everyone followed Zakin without any complaints. Furuya had imagined that this was what people must have felt during World War II, hiding in secret bunkers from the enemy bombers.
As he followed Zakin down, he felt a sudden change. There was something chilling in the air that suffocated the living, combine that with the cold stone of the cellar walls, and it was clear that this area should serve as a storage room or dungeon of some sort. Furuya, who had the imagination of a child, imagined this as something like those castle cellars that would go on almost endlessly leading to countless rooms. But surprisingly, it only took about a minute or so to reach the bottom. As his eyes adjusted to the dark and depressing cellar that surrounded him, he noticed the cellar had nothing in particular, just stacks behind stacks of random clutter.
Why would a businessman need a hidden cellar along with hidden doors in their home? Although it could just be that this type of situation was not uncommon in this world, something didn't feel right. Just what could he be hiding? Would most people have emergency precautions such as this? It did come in pretty handy right now that's for sure.
“What are we supposed to do?!?”
“You lot just stay hidden and keep quiet. The handle to open the door is here, just in case anything happens. We will be right back.”
“You two be careful out there.”
“We will.”
With that, the last ray of light vanished as Zakin shut the trap door behind them, leaving Furuya and the others to dwell in the safety of darkness.
“Just what is going on out there…”
“I don't know, I just hope Kichirou and Schnee are still okay…”
“Don't worry, he might not seem like it, but Shiro is good in a pinch. He would have gotten them away from danger. They're going to be okay.” Furuya may have said one thing, but for some reason, his mind couldn't help but trouble over what the other soldier said.