ILIAS VAN PAYNE

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As I wandered around town looking for the twins with mismatched hair, I ran into Hanzo on his knees begging for an adventurer’s help. The adventurer, noticing he was a farmer, scoffed and walked away.

I helped him up. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“This is difficult,” Hanzo sighed. “Every single person I brought back seemed eager to join when Ser Askeladd explained the situation. But they all got angry when he says the only reward we can offer is food.”

“Adventurers are strong and proud. Many of them won’t stoop down so low, especially if they have nothing to gain.”

“You were looking for the twins Ser Askeladd was talking about, right? Did you find them?”

“No, not yet. But I asked around and everyone’s leaving a trail. The common information is that they were headed towards the Rohan building.”

“Are you sure it’s them?”

“I think it’s hard to mistake twins with pink and blue hair for someone else. Come, let’s walk together.”

Hanzo came to my side as we traversed through the busy streets. We were constantly yelled at to either buy merchandise or get out of the way.

“It must’ve been scary,” I said, trying to make small talk. “Being the only one to hear about what’s to come.”

“Yeah, but your situation is even worse than ours. I still find it hard to believe, but I choose to. You’re laying your lives for us after all.”

“Jaime told you?”

“Yeah, she ran her mouth while you were in the privy. She’s very energetic.”

“Agreed. I don’t know where she gets all that energy from.” I pointed to the longbow strapped around him. “How good are you?”

“I only use this to hunt deer in the land around our village. I’m the best, but I’m no marksman. This bow is what caused all of this in the first place. I was trying to figure out where to hunt when the bandits happened to just stroll by.”

“So it’s a lucky charm. I’d suggest not losing it. And don’t downplay your skill.”

Hanzo reverted the conversation back to the previous topic. “Your situation is much worse than ours and you and Jaime are strong enough to pull through.”

“Don’t compare our struggles, they’re different. Protecting your home from a company of bandits trying to kill you and trying to go home with no money are two different things. Jaime and I would struggle if our positions flipped.”

“But still, even with your struggles you still find a way to help us. Everyone back in the village will hate you two because it makes them look weak.”

“That’s fine. We’re helping each other. Jaime and I are strong enough to fight off bandits but we’re in need of food and shelter. Your village can spare food and shelter but isn’t strong enough to fight off a threat. That’s mutualism.”

Hanzo kept to himself for a while. “Tell me, Ilias, and be honest. If you didn’t get teleported here and you had money, would you have helped us?”

“Now that’s a difficult question.” I stared at him. He did ask for the truth. “We would’ve said no and walked away like most of the people you’ve been asking.”

“I see, so you’re just using us.”

“Yeah, we are. And you are getting people to fight for your village for no reward. Not only that, you’re fine with two children dying for you. I’d say it goes both ways.”

Hanzo kept quiet as we walked. “I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“I know. It’s difficult when your lives are on the line. And to most people, it isn’t even worth five minutes. But here’s some advice—don’t antagonize the people who’ve accepted the risk of dying to help.”

“I’m sorry.” He adjusted his bow. “You’re twelve, right? I’m seventeen, but you sound much older and wiser. I’m just a lowly farmer after all.”

We arrived at the Rohan building and found who we were looking for right outside. The twins wore matching armour. The pink-haired one carried a shortsword and the blue-haired one carried a shield. Their equipment and hair colour were the only things differentiating the two.

I approached and found them to be less adventure-y than I thought.

“You dropped our money? Why would you do that?” the pink-haired one argued. “Now we have nothing! Why did you wait this long to tell me?!”

The blue-haired twin defended herself. “Hey, I was scared when that beam of light was going to hit us, so my body went numb. You should be glad we’re alive. I thought we were going to die!”

“But we’re not and all of our money is gone. Because you idiot dropped it. I’d rather be dead.”

I knew exactly what was happening. It was something Salazar, Minerva, and I in my previous life had a lot of.

A sibling fight!

Blue tackled Pink to the ground. “Why do you always blame me for everything!”

Pink, who was clearly the stronger of the two, overpowered her sister, sat on her back, and began pulling her hair.

“Big Sis! Please stop! It’s hurting!” Blue cried. “Wah! Wait, I’m sorry! I yield! I yield!”

A fight usually drew in a crowd, but this commotion was drawing in weird stares instead.

These two have a peculiarly odd relationship.

I used my staff to levitate Pink off of Blue.

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“Uh, hi,” I said.

The twins stared at me and replied in unison. “Hello?”

“By any chance, do you remember me? It’ll make things easier if you do.”

The girls shook their heads and answered unanimously. “No.”

“My friend and I are from Gilead. We were caught up in the beam of light as well.”

“Shut up, we will not be made fun of!” the blue-haired girl scoffed. “You must’ve heard our story and thought of playing along as some sort of prank. It won’t work.”

The pink-haired girl butted in. “You idiot, he was there. I remember you. You’re that kid with the green-haired elf girl.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s me. I’m so glad I found someone else in the same boat as us.”

“Even if I don’t remember you, we should introduce ourselves.” The blue-haired girl got up. “Roxy Mordane.”

“And Roxanne Mordane,” the pink-haired girl said.

They bowed in synchrony. “At your service.”

“Ilias,” I said. “And this is Hanzo.”

The farmer took a long bow before whispering to me. “They said they’re out of money, I think you should ask them.”

I chuckled. “We must confess that we were eavesdropping on your conversation earlier.”

“So you know we’re broke?”

“Actually the elf girl I’m with and I are also broke.”

“That beam of light really screwed us over. Should we beg for money on the streets together?” Roxy said. “Oh, by the way, do you know anything about it?”

Roxanne smacked her over the head. “He was with us and he just said we’re the first people he’s run into. How would he know?”

“Actually,” I said. “I might have a theory.” I handed them my watch. “My full name is Ilias Van Payne, I’m a State Jynxist. I just became one this year.”

“Prince of Dawn?” Roxanne read. “I remember seeing this in the papers. Oh, what’s your theory?”

“You know how mana sometimes gathers and forms into a labyrinth? I think in our case, mana gathered up and instead formed into a beam of light that teleported anyone that was swallowed by it.”

Roxanne gazed in thought. “So, a mana incident? Interesting. And you haven’t run into anyone else from the village?”

“Sadly, no. My Mother and someone else we’re close to was in the village. I just want to know where they are and if they’re safe.”

“I’m sorry, we got teleported together. You’re the first people from Gilead we’ve run into as well.”

“You two were teleported together? Jaime and I weren’t.”

“Yeah, we got teleported a little bit north of here.”

“What did you two do when you got engulfed by the light?”

Roxanne squinted. “We thought it was the end, so we held hands.”

I stroked my chin. “So, if people were in contact, they get teleported together? That’s the only thing we can go by, but it might be the case. There has to be a pattern too. We were close to each other when it happened and we all found ourselves close by.”

Roxy butted into the conversation with a valid question. “Wait, so what does this have to do with being broke?”

The four of us gathered at a cheap tavern, ordering the cheapest thing on the menu so we had the right to sit down. Hanzo explained the situation while I explained the details of our campaign.

“Seven, huh? And there are three of you, but two of you are children?” Roxanne wondered. “We’re in.”

Roxy scratched her blue head. “We are? How come you’re making the decisions? I should get a say too.”

Roxanne pointed at herself. “Big sister.” She pointed to Roxy. “Little sister.”

“We’re twins.”

“Listen, Sis, we’re broke and the kid is right. At least we’ll have a place to stay and we’ll be fed for two months. And I bet the bandits will have riches they’ve plundered. We can split that with everyone. It’s also wise to stick with Ilias and Jaime because we’re in the same boat.”

Hanzo interrupted. “Wait, Ilias, we don’t even know what their skills are. We were instructed to bring them back to Askeladd to be tested.”

I shook my head. “No need. They have rather strong gates and their weapons. I can feel it.”

Roxanne grinned. “You’re good. I mean, you are a State Jynxist.”

“So you two went with alchemy?” I asked. “It takes a lot of talent or years to develop a unique ability. What can you do?”

“When everyone in the group considers each other as a comrade, we can sit around a fire and show off our abilities. Until then, who knows?”

With Roxy and Roxanne recruited, we returned to the inn and found that Askeladd and Jaime had also convinced someone to join. Mondatta—a Familiar User.

I was feeling pretty good myself. Even though I was by myself, I still recruited more than the elves.

Roxy threw a finger at Askeladd. “Roxanne, remember him! He was making fun of us yesterday when we said we got teleported here.”

Askeladd raised his hands in defence. “Please forgive me for my rude attitude. I just found your story hard to believe. But I do now. It was my mistake.”

“Eat shit, asshole! I fight with a shield, but I’ll borrow my sister’s sword and cut you in half. I challenge you to a duel to the death!”

I pulled Jaime and Roxanne outside, leaving Askeladd to tame the wild Roxy while Mondatta watched with a smile.

“Yeah, I definitely recognize her,” Roxanne said, referring to Jaime. “It’s good to know that there’s a good chance no one died from the incident.”

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” I said. “If everyone got teleported, then about forty percent of Gilead is here in the east. They’ll be taken advantage of. Roxanne, I have a proposal.”

“I’m all ears.”

“We’re all headed west. So after we deal with the bandits, I say we stick together and form a party. As we make our way from settlement to settlement, we’ll find people from Gilead who’ve found themselves in worse situations.”

“Actually,” Roxanne interrupted. “This whole teleport incident actually works for us. We were on our way to Roa, so this was very convenient. The only thing that isn’t is that we’re on the other side of the Great Sand Sea and we’re out of money for the fare to cross it.”

“Why Roa?” I asked.

“Family. I just hope there aren’t any major side effects to being transported to the other side of the continent.”

“Can we at least travel to Roa together? We plan on stopping there to join the Adventurer’s Guild so we can make money as we travel.”

“Sure, we can take stick together until there and we’ll help you get settled as adventurers. Now excuse me. I have to go take care of my idiot sister.”

As loud as the scene inside was, the argument seemed like it was only beginning to escalate. Jaime and I were left alone in the alleyway.

“I think the smartest move we can make after the battle is to stick with the others. We’ll see where each of them is headed and ask to tag along with whoever is going the furthest. At least we won’t be alone.”

“Actually, about that. I have great news.” Jaime couldn’t suppress her genuine smile. “Askeladd knew my parents.”

“Are you sure he isn’t trying to trick you?”

“No. He knew their names and the town they were in jurisdiction of. He had a letter from them as well.”

Askeladd seems like a good guy and I don’t think he would lie to her. She just learned the truth two days ago and she can finally know who her parents are.

I put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m happy for you.”

“And take this, he was supposed to be my godfather. But my parents died and I went missing after, so that never went into writing. Speaking of it, who are your godparents?”

“My mother and father aren’t married. I don’t have any godparents.”

“Oh. Anyways, I’ll talk to him about our plans to go home. Hopefully, he can help.”

Askeladd stepped into our conversation with his sword resting on his shoulder. Inside was an unconscious Roxy hugging the floor. “You ready, Jaime?”

“Yup!”

“Going out?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ve been sitting inside the entire day and we need to exercise. You and the others can rest. Jaime and I will walk around town to try and recruit our last sentinel.”