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Leo

After having a satisfying breakfast, Leo and Elaria were relaxing at a table in the inn's eating area. The disappointed human was flipping through his little magical booklet, skipping over full pages that discussed the importance of the words for spell initiation.

He felt like the amount of money spent on it was far from worth it as he passed over dozens of pages. Even all of the more complex information seemed like something he could figure out after a few hours of experimenting.

[ Mana potions can be made by forcing mana out of your body into a pool of water. ]

[ Triggers can be set on spells for traps, complex interactions, or secondary spell input. ]

[ Spells can be augmented by timers. ]

[ Persistent spells need a large initial expenditure of mana, followed by being fed a smaller flow to sustain it for longer. ]

As he neared the end of the guide, he began to notice that there wasn't a single mention of runic magic. ‘Damn basic bitch booklet...’ He thought in frustration, while trying to suppress an eye twitch when he reached the end.

Elaria smirked upon seeing Leo's irritated expression. “What's wrong, is magic still too easy?” She prodded, before eating some of her scrambled eggs.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, not knowing how to properly explain how broken the system actually was. “Yeah, irritatingly so. I'll have to pay you back for the waste of money.” He responded apologetically.

An impish smile played on her lips. “Consider some of that debt paid after what you did to me all afternoon yesterday. You'll just have to work off the rest, after I can walk straight again.” She purred while he faintly blushed as he recalled yesterday's physical activities.

Grinning at the prospect, he admired Elaria with a yearning look. “If that's how I'm repaying you, then I might have to find a way to indebt myself further.” He jokingly teased the alluring woman.

The green scaled selarin chuckled, apparently finding the comment very amusing. “Well, you do need new clothes. No offence, but you look like you work in the fields.” She jabbed playfully.

He slumped back in his chair, and looked down at his clothes with a frown. “None taken, since I've essentially been walking around in my P-jays.” The dejected man sighed a little before taking a gulp from his water filled mug.

“Your what?” She questioned with a cocked head and confusion written across her face.

The human groaned at the question, remembering that not all his words managed to be translated by the necklace. “Er, sleep clothes. Even though I feel fairly comfortable, I need something more durable. I already have a few small holes and tears from my trek through the forest that are widening.” He explained while poking a finger into one of said holes in his shirt.

She seemed lost in thought for a moment before speaking. “I know that I chose to drop the subject, but can you just answer something that's been bothering me about your trade? You don't look like you've ever done much physically demanding work, but the way you carry yourself is like you've seen all that the world has to offer.” She finished as she set her empty plate to the side.

Leo pulled at his short facial hair as he took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Without going into too much detail, what I did involved a lot of world building. That means creating an entire fictional world, fabricating every detail that you could think of. The creatures, races, technology, governments, culture, laws, ethics, conflicts, nature, geography, history, and every other general aspect of the world I had to technically come up with from scratch. And to be able to do all of that, I needed to have a basic understanding of nearly all of those aspects in regard to my own world. So I researched, as well as taking inspiration from other mediums, such as stories, fables, myths and other world builders. All in an effort to make and share it with one another.” He paused to try and come up with a way to explain how a video game was made, but elected to just gloss over that can of worms.

“Besides creating a world, the way I went about sharing it was a little more complex than simply writing in a book. As well as being very irritating… But that side is irrelevant, and would take way too long to explain.” He finished his explanation as he downed the last of his water.

She stared at him, mouth agape and seemingly overwhelmed by the information. “So you essentially play god…” It was not so much asked as stated to him.

It was a pretty spot on analogy, even if he wanted to refute it out of principle. “Well, yeah, I guess. I hope that doesn't seem heretical...” He sheepishly responded while rubbing the back of his neck, but his fears were initially alleviated from his selarin lover barking a laugh.

“As long as you don't tell that to any temple priests I think you'll be fine. You probably have more to worry about from the dragons.” She pointed out, much to his dismay.

“At least they would just imprison me or something.” He remarked dejectedly.

“Nah, they would most likely send an assassin after you.” She corrected.

An amused thought caused him to stifle a laugh. “Oh, that seems much better. Let me guess, they dress in white hooded robes and have a hidden retractable blade.” He uttered jokingly.

“Those Assassins are on your world too then?” She questioned casually, while he thought ‘for fucks sake’ in response.

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“Kind of… Anyway, what's the plan for today. I know I need new clothes, but I would like to ask around for how to start doing runic magic. This book had nothing on the subject, and that other side of my trade is itching to learn. I would also like to experiment somewhere with my magic, preferably away from too many prying eyes.” He inquired while doing his best to finally start chewing through the unseasoned ham slices. It was juicy, but that was all it really had going for it…

She leaned forward onto the table, resting her head on her knuckles. “Then we should start by going to the market to get you something new to wear, maybe some people there know something about runes. Then we can head just outside the wall, the field we crossed the other day would be perfect, as long as you don't mind Glia watching, that's the guard you met on the way in. We don't need to rush though, since we have a full day ahead of us as well as a few weeks of off time, before I need to rejoin the guard.”

He recalled the amount of money spent on the room with a raised brow. “Off time? I thought you were clear for at least two months.”

The reptilaness deflated at his question, folding her arms while slumping her head into them. “I was healed so I have to return, but I have about three weeks off by law. Since it is so expensive to get healed, the very wealthy or very injured are the most likely to buy such a service. This created a situation that said injured soldiers would need time to recover mentally, and the wealthy use it as a vacation.” She explained with mild irritation.

The more he learned about how the selarin military functioned, the more he questioned why there hasn't been some revolution by now. ‘The whole kicking people out naked would cause the army alone to attempt a coup, so the fuck kind of balancing act of power are they managing to be able to keep things together…?’

“I'm guessing you can't just quit then?” He probed, wanting to see if he could help her with a way out.

She sighed. “Not without having a small bounty placed on your head, and slavers having the go ahead to capture you.”

‘Ah...That's one fucked up weight on the scale I guess, turns deserters and bandits into targets.’ He reflected bitterly.

“Or pay a gold coin to leave service.” She continued.

‘And that's one more strike against those with power. The fuck?’ He thought with abject confusion, noting that an out like that would piss off everyone who wasn't rich, which would be a very large portion of the military.

“I assume you don't want to continue service then, I would imagine most people don't like how the military's run.” He questioned, fully inclined to assist in getting her discharged.

“Yeah, and that's an understatement. Most people join to avoid going hungry, or doing exhausting physical labor. Field work, mining, quarries, logging, the work can often kill.” Her visage darkened as she sat up. “Though there are worse situations…”

“Why hasn't there been a rebellion?” He reflexively asked as his irritation with Selaria continued to grow.

Elaria sighed in resignation. “There have been, every few generations one pops up and gets squashed. Whether it's a town that declares independence or a peasant uprising, a few dozen mages from the academy can clean up just about anything. Not to mention the slavers…or mercenaries who see it as a profit.” She ended with a slightly pained expression.

“Oh…” He said, finally finding a very important piece of the puzzle. ‘Control the magic, control the population. Not much someone with a pitch fork can do against a fireball to the face.’ He finally realized.

Now that he had a very important question answered he decided to press her on her willingness to leave the guard. “So what if I managed to pay off your service? I'm sure I can make something out of runic magic to sell, gotta learn ho-” He was cut off when she practically slammed into him, hugging him tightly as she kissed him deeply.

Pulling away from the kiss she leaned in closer to him. “I think if you manage that, then I would have to start paying off said debt for a long time.” She whispered seductively into his ear.

His heart skipped a beat at her words, and an unrestrained smile spread across his face. “Right then, I think I should get started. But before we head out, let me go ask Kesl about the runes used in the inn, it is my first lead.”

“Well hurry up. I don't think I'll be able to walk well on my own for another hour or so, and just like with the ankle it's all your fault.” She jabbed playfully with a wide grin while her tail whipped excitedly.

He rolled his eyes but couldn't suppress a self satisfied smirk as he walked over to Kesl. As he walked over, he noticed that all the eyes of the rest of the inn were solely directed at him, and the intensity was many times what it was previously.

“Morning Kesl. Thanks for helping us out yesterday.” He greeted the large selarin warmly, genuinely grateful for his help the previous morning.

Kesl smiled down at Leo, making him feel a little more at ease around the visually intimidating man, but he still had to suppress a flinch at the teeth. “Morning, Leo, was it? You don't have to thank me for tossing garbage out of my inn. Besides, between the way you looked at her and what you did to her hand, you definitely didn't need my help.”

Leo was going to ask about the inn's showers, but he couldn't shake the feeling he got from the intense stares. “Right, um. I wanted to ask you a question.” He paused to look around at most of the fixated onlookers. “But now I've got two.”

The large innkeeper let out a snort. “Listen, the walls of the inn are dense enough to block out anything. The door though, pretty light wood. The halls can also carry the sound of a yell for quite the distance.” He told him while failing to suppress a smirk.

Leo's face turned red as the information sunk in. He could also start to hear giggling from the tables within earshot, which didn't help his growing embarrassment. ‘Note to self, set up a magical sound barrier next time.’ He mentally engraved into his mind, certain that he wouldn't forget this embarrassing experience again.

“Well, since that's answered... I want to learn runic magic, and I'd like to know who gave you the ones for your inn.” He asked awkwardly while trying his hardest to ignore the lustful stares that were still drilling into the back of his head.

Kesl looked him over. “Hmph, yeah, figured you were a mage. Sorry but I got the work done from a traveling mage, so he could be anywhere on the continent for all I know. But there is someone in town that I pay when one of them stops working, or goes fucky. Don't think she'll be much help though, she's a real stuck up bitch from the academy, expensive too. Now what was her name...” He trailed off, cupping a hand around his chin while he searched his thoughts.

‘Gonna have to fake being a novice, don't want to repeat what happened at the clinic… Wait a min-’

“Allis something, she's a healer that runs the town's clinic.” Kesl remarked casually.

‘Fuck.’

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