Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. My banging must have alerted my captor and soon I heard footsteps outside the door. The door opened to reveal a hooded figure in brown mage type robes. With the hood pulled over their head I couldn’t tell the gender, but the individual was shorter than me. I was momentarily taken aback but when the person didn’t speak or come into the room, I said what was on my mind.

“Um, thanks for saving me but I’d like to go now. My friends are probably looking for me. Also, I’d like my bag and weapon back if possible. Thanks.” I said, trying to appear non-threatening. I started off by speaking the normal language I talked to the girls in, forgetting that if it is a survivor they might not be able to understand.

When they didn’t reply I swore and muttered “Wrong language huh.” in English and then repeated my statements in old kingdom. “Did you just speak English?” the robed person finally asked in an excited feminine voice. Also replying in English. “Yeah, so you must be from Earth too huh.” I answered, intrigued. “Yes.” She replied pulling back the hood.

It turned out to be a brown-haired girl who looked to be in her teens. I couldn’t say for sure with the robes concealing her figure, but I guessed she was a couple years younger than me at least. She had a pretty face with freckles and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked happy to see me, but I was still wary of the situation.

“My name is Emily, what’s yours?” she asked, sticking out her hand for a handshake. “I’m Matt, it’s nice to meet you.” I replied, shaking her hand. Her hand was soft and smooth in contrast to my rough and callused one. I was guessing she didn’t do much fighting with weapons. “So Emily, how long have you been here and is there anyone else around?” I asked, pulling out the desk chair for her to sit on while I sat on the bed.

“A few years at least, I stopped keeping track. And no there isn’t anybody else. I kept waiting for someone else to be summoned but aside from a few animals there was nothing. What about you?” She replied, taking a seat. “I haven’t been here that long. I was summoned in a city called West Port which was in way worse shape than this place. Luckily, I found a few friendly locals to help me out.” I was about to elaborate but was interrupted by my stomach growling again.

“Oh, sorry. We should get you something to eat. Follow me.” She said getting up and going through the door. I was a little embarrassed but followed her out, interested in seeing the rest of the place. We made some idle chit chat while walking through the wide halls. The castle was lavishly decorated with paintings, statues, and even suits of armor lining the hallways.

It was a little spooky however, with our footsteps echoing off the walls. Thankfully the corridors all had magical lamps keeping the darkness at bay. After passing many closed doors, she led me to a large dining room. The long table had several place settings with each one having a different stuffed animal sitting in front of it. I tried to keep my expression neutral. I had found people fairly quickly, so it was hard to imagine spending years all alone.

She had apparently forgot to put them away and quickly turned a bright shade of red, stammering out an apology. “Don’t worry about it.” I replied, pretending to study a nearby painting. I could tell she was flustered and embarrassed. She quickly moved to put the stuffed animals away. By the time I turned back around they were all gone. I wasn’t sure where she had put them but figured it would be best not to ask.

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“I’m afraid I ate already so I don’t have anything warmed up.” She said, bringing a tray over to the table. “That’s fine.” I replied, smiling while sitting down. Emily’s face was slowly coming back to a normal shade instead of that of a ripe tomato. She took the lid off the tray to reveal several pieces of fruit that reminded me of the kind I had found in West Port. She sat down in her chair and grabbed one of them and bit into it.

I grabbed my own and started eating. After I finished off a couple of them, we started talking again. We both told our stories. As I suspected, mine was a little better than hers. She had been trapped alone in this city since nearly the time she arrived. I felt sorry for her and hoped she would come with us. It would be good for her to meet some new people and start living instead of just surviving.

“So, how did you manage to find me? Thanks again for saving me by the way, however you did it.” I said after a pause in our talk. “It wasn’t too hard with all the flames you were throwing around. I was afraid the city was on fire.” She said chuckling. “As to how I saved you, well I have gotten very good at magic over the years.” She continued, smiling.

“Good thing too. I thought I was a goner after I split up with my party.” I replied. “Speaking of which, I really should be getting back to them so they aren’t worried about me. If you want, you could come meet them.” I continued. “Sure, I would love to!” Emily exclaimed excitedly. I told her the inn we were staying at which she seemed to know.

When we went over our stories, I didn’t go into any details about my party so figured I’d better tell Emily so there would be no surprises. I described each of my party members and told her about my relationship with the girls. I couldn’t help but notice that she frowned when she found out I wasn’t single or maybe it was the fact I was seeing two girls who happened to be sisters. I really hoped she didn’t have a problem with the fantasy like races of this world.

I did tell her our plans for coming to the city and that we would be leaving after a while to go back to our house in Lake City. I also told her that I would have to check with the girls but there was plenty of room in our mansion if she wanted to stay with us. It would be nice to have another earthling around. She seemed excited by the offer and I think just wanted to get out of the empty city and back to some form of civilization.

Before we left, she pulled my items out of seemingly thin air. She saw my shocked expression and pointed at a ring on her finger which was evidently an extremely rare storage ring. I had never seen one but had heard about them from the girls. From what they said only royalty had access to such a thing. I was just happy to have my bag and sword back.

Emily led the way since I only had a vague idea of how to get back to the inn from the castle. Emily had been exploring the city for years so knew the best routes to take without running into trouble like the spiders. I thought she might be a little wary around me after hearing her story about the creep, but the years of isolation must have made her yearn for companionship.

I just hoped she could get along with everyone. The plan was to meet up with my party then relocate ourselves to the castle. Emily indicated that there was some kind of barrier around the castle grounds that kept the monsters out. If that was really the case then it would be perfect. The inn was nice but we still weren’t completely safe there. We were making good time toward the inn. I had to struggle sometimes to keep up with Emily she was moving so fast. She continued to impress and I was glad she was so friendly. Still, I wouldn’t be able to fully relax until we were all back together again.