Chapter 8:
The walk back was pretty silent. Partially because Sapphire had a lot on her mind and wanted time to think, but the other reason was the chances of being overheard. Sound traveled weirdly in the forest, thanks to the canopy above, and it was hard to judge how far it could go. It was best not to chance people overhearing them.
Daniel had a lot on his mind too so he didn’t mind it. There were a lot of things for him to consider, though he couldn’t help but dwell on what she’d told him. The reason she’d apparently been watching him since yesterday, and was then able to keep track of him despite him using Minor Invisibility.
She had a powerful mana sense. It was untrained, as she had no knowledge of magic and had never felt anything back on Earth. But apparently, she had it. It was shown in her status as Innate Mana Sense.
And because of that, when he had started to practice his mana control, she’d noticed. Before he had found time to actually practice spells, he’d been doing exercises while gathering supplies, both in the forest and in the camp. That had drawn her attention and she’d been watching him ever since. It was also why she’d noticed that the two who’d ditched him had come back without him.
So in the end he’d been discovered by pure luck. Or by him being careless, depending on how one looked at it. A good reminder to not assume things and be cautious. Though Daniel didn’t feel too bad about it, as while he had been careless, how could he have possibly guessed that anyone in the camp would have such an ability? It was a rare ability for humans on this world, so the idea that anyone with them could have had it hadn’t even crossed his mind.
He would have thought that it wasn’t even possible until now.
It made him wonder if maybe Earth had actually been as bereft of magic as it seemed. Perhaps if he found a way back instead of just off this world, he’d be able to check.
It took a bit longer than it should have to get back, but that was because they had to take a more circuitous route to the camp. If they went straight there from the corpse, and someone noticed and remembered, it could cause issues once the bloodstains were found.
Still, they got there in the end and quickly separated. Not before Sapphire got him to promise to meet up after dinner to talk some more. Which did not go unnoticed by people.
While Daniel himself wasn’t a very notable figure, in the eyes of everyone else in the camp, Sapphire sure was. Even without her looks, she was still one of the people helping lead everyone. So it was only natural that people noticed her. And with them coming back from the wood together, without anyone else? That was sure to start some rumors.
He cursed himself silently for not thinking about that, and splitting off before they got back. Especially when he saw some of the other guys giving him dirty looks. The jealous idiots.
Then again, perhaps it was for the best. It's not like he was gonna be able to avoid working with Sapphire directly now, and trying to hide that would be annoying. Also, now he had an alibi for where he was, just in case anyone thought Alfred's disappearance was caused by someone.
Still, he really could do without the whispering and stares…
Holding back a sigh, Daniel ignored the gazes and looked around until he found his friend. When he found him, he forced himself forward for a long overdue talk. Since he’d already let one person know, someone who was practically a stranger, he might as well tell his friend too. Sapphire had also said that she was going to confide in a friend of hers, before their meeting after dinner, so at least he’d be able to bring someone with him too.
“Hey Nathan, you got a second?”
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The talk with Nathan was gonna be a lot easier than the one with Sapphire. After all, this one was planned. Nathan also trusted Daniel, so all he needed to do was ask his friend to follow him off to somewhere more private and explain things.
This time though, he was much more cautious of being followed. He made sure no one was trailing along, and even discreetly cast a weak scrying spell to reveal any nearby humans to his eyes. There was only Nathan with him, who was giving him a curious look.
“Ugh… What’s this about, Daniel? Like are you finally gonna tell me what you’ve been up to? Like, even with how weird this situation has been, you’ve been acting even weirder than I thought you’d be. Did something happen while you were in the forest or something—”
Nathan cut off as Daniel cast a quick cantrip in his hand, forming a small ball of fire. It wasn’t an attack spell or anything. Just a simple ball of fire that looked far more impressive than it actually was. Then, since he didn’t want Nathan to have any doubts or think it was some kind of sleight of hand, he cast another spell, a minor illusion of a tiny crude-looking goblin in his hand. The illusion was a bit blurry since he didn’t put much effort into it, but it was fine as just another demonstration.
Daniel didn’t say anything for a moment, just holding up the flame and the illusion. He wanted to let Nathan take it in at his own pace. He only spoke up when Nathan moved his hands towards the flame.
“Careful,” Daniel said. “That’s real fire. Well, real magical fire. There’s a difference, but that doesn’t really matter right now. Just that it will burn you as much as a real fire of this size. The goblin is just an illusion though.”
Nathan’s outstretched hand halted, but he didn’t pull it back. He just held his hand close enough to feel the heat. Then he turned to the illusion and reached out to touch that one with a finger. His finger went through it, and the illusion broke, disappearing as the image fuzzed.
Then, after another long moment, Nathan looked up, wonder and curiosity on his face. “Dude… What the fuck man? How?”
“That’s a bit of a long story,” Daniel said, dispelling the fire with a sigh. “I’ll tell you as much as I can. But first, you have to understand a couple of things. One, we are on a different world. Not in some crazy VR game or anything. Two, I know a lot about this world. Three, magic is real. And finally, I literally can’t tell you how I know all this.”
Nathan took that all in for a moment, then nodded his head. “Ok, then.”
“Okay? That’s it?” Daniel couldn’t help but ask. It was one thing to think his friend would trust him so much. But another to actually have that confirmed. “No disbelief? Especially about the not being able to tell part?”
Nathan shrugged. “Dude, we’ve known each other since forever. I trust you. If you say you can’t, you can’t. Though out of curiosity. Do you mean like you swore not to, or you think it would be too dangerous to say? And how long have you known about this stuff?”
Daniel shook his head. “Like I literally can’t. It’s like a geas. If I try to talk about it, my mouth will lock up. I also can’t answer that last question either.”
“Huh…’ Nathan said, nodding his head. “Makes sense… Well… I mean… Not really? Like okay, it makes sense when you accept that magic makes sense. Though magic kinda doesn't make sense as a rule right? Like it’s magic. Not science.”
Daniel let out a small laugh at his friend's reasoning. It was just so like him. “Well, magic does let you bend reality. But considering magic is apparently part of reality, it’s less that it doesn’t make sense, and more we don’t understand reality.”
Nathan nodded again, rubbing his chin in thought in an exaggerated manner. “Yep. Definitely, kinda made sense. Kinda…”
Then he started laughing, which made Daniel laugh as well.
When they both calmed down, Daniel let out a small sigh. He’d missed this. It had all been a lot simpler back then. When Daniel and a couple of their other friends could just lay around all day talking nonsense.
“Jokes aside, you realize I’m serious right? About everything I just said?” Daniel asked. He didn’t think his friend thought it was all a joke, but he wanted to be sure.
Nathan sobered up a bit and nodded. “Yeah. I get that. And saw the magic. So what now? You’ve been keeping this to yourself for a bit, so there's a reason you're telling me now, right? Is it that you want to train me as your wizard apprentice?”
“Mage is the preferred term,” Daniel corrected. “And I’d be more than happy to teach you, as every one of us brought to this world has the talent for it. But, before that, let me tell you more about our general situation. Also about what happened with Sapphire.”
“Sapphire? Like Sapphire Sapphire? The Streamer? There isn’t another girl around here with that name, right?” Nathan said, looking shocked for the first time in their conversation. Which… showed his priorities were a bit skewed. “What happened? Holy shit, did you hook up with her? You sly dog!”
Daniel shook his head and let out an exasperated laugh. “Yes, that Sapphire. And no I didn’t hook up with her…”
He hesitated for a moment as he thought about his next words. He’d been fine letting Nathan know about everything else, but he’d been hoping to keep what he’d done to Alfred to himself. It’s why he didn’t want to have this talk until Alfred was gone. But since Sapphire already knew, he’d rather Nathan hear it from him.
“Well, you know how I said I knew a lot about this world? Well, I also have some knowledge about the other people here…”
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The rest of the talk went as well as could be expected.
Naturally, Nathan was shocked that Daniel admitted to killing someone. Daniel didn’t go into details, but just simply told him that he knew for a fact, and confirmed, that Alfred was a rapist and a killer. And that he’d killed him. And that Sapphire had caught him in the act, and everything else that had happened after.
Once Daniel was done, Nathan had needed some time to process it all, and Daniel let him. He even asked if Nathan needed time to himself, but his friend had shook his head.
In the end, Nathan only asked why they’d have to kill him, instead of sending him to jail or something.
Daniel then explained that, one, that they were in an extremely dangerous location for them. It may not seem like it at the moment, since the Monsters were scared off from the area by their summoning, but they’d start to return soon. The goblins were only the tip of the iceberg.
Trying to keep a remorseless killer like Alfred around was just asking for trouble. Combined with the fact that they were on another world, and the local kingdom would just execute him anyway if they believed Daniel’s claims, there really was no other choice.
Nathan had accepted it after that. Which… Daniel was very grateful for. That this wouldn’t turn his friend away from him. Because, unlike Daniel, Nathan had not spent the last 10 years on this world. Not gotten used to how cheap life could be here. At least where they’d lived back in America, things like this just weren’t done. But here? It was far too common, for better or worse.
After that, their talk didn’t last too much longer. Nathan had some things he needed to finish helping with, and it was getting close to the agreed time by everyone for dinner. Also, Daniel honestly didn’t want to repeat everything he was gonna explain about their situation and asked Nathan to wait until they met with Sapphire and her friend for more explanations about magic and the world in general.
Before they went back to camp, however, he made Nathan hold back for a moment. He was fairly certain that Sapphire was putting some trust in him now, and wouldn’t be planning on attacking him in some misguided attempt to force him to take them all home. However, it wasn’t guaranteed and he’d already been surprised once today.
He didn’t plan on being surprised again. Not when he could help it.
So he flattened the ground with magic and ritually cast Scrying Eye again. However, unlike the last couple of times he’d cast similar spells, he got a notification from the system.
Ding!
By demonstrating your knowledge of scrying magic, you have unlocked the skill: Basic Scrying
He could feel the effects of the skill immediately. While a lot of it was just knowledge about the basics of scrying, as it was just the basic version of the skill, it did have other effects as well. It made it just a bit easier to process the information he was getting from the eye, and would also make scrying spells just a bit more mana-efficient and easier to cast.
It was definitely a useful skill to have, especially now. With it, he’d potentially be able to stop needing rituals to cast the scrying spells he’d been using so far a lot sooner than otherwise. Of course, he’d probably still ritual cast them since he’d like to keep his mana pool topped-up in case of emergencies, but it was always nice to have options.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Dismissing the notification, Daniel grinned and sent the eye back towards the camp. After making sure there wasn’t an ambush waiting for them, and answering some of Nathan’s questions about the eye, the two of them made their way back to camp.
Daniel felt a bit lighter, finally having told his friend the truth. Part of him still worried that maybe his friend wasn’t as okay with what he’d done as he said, but he forced those thoughts away. They were unconstructive, and Nathan didn’t really show any signs of lying when he said he’d accepted that it had to be done.
He’d just have to trust in his friend to trust in him.
Once back at the camp, Daniel went and joined one of the groups that looked like they could use an extra pair of hands and then spent the rest of the time before dinner working. Mainly on the fence that they were building around their camp, encircling their lean-tos and campfire. Clark had decided to go ahead with Daniel's suggestion about fortifications and got no pushback against it in the aftermath of the attack.
Someone also seemed to notice the lean-tos weren’t set up great for defense, and people worked to turn them all around to be facing inwards toward a circle, as an extra layer of defense against attacks.
It still wasn’t all that great, as everything was made out of foraged sticks and short trees they’d managed to cut down with stone hand axes, instead of larger pieces of wood. But it was better than nothing. And depending on how long they stayed here, they could try to create tougher defenses later.
Before he knew it, it was dinner time. And apparently, Sapphire wasn’t willing to wait any longer for more explanations, as she approached him with another girl, just after he’d gotten a serving of fish and some cooked mushrooms. Apparently, Clark, or whoever else might have been in charge of the testing, had decided to okay the forage food they’d been checking. There was also some herb used in the cooking of the fish, making them extra appetizing.
“I thought you wanted to talk after dinner,” Daniel said, moving the leaf that was acting as a plate between his hands, to prevent himself from getting burned. At the same time, he got a better look at the girl following Sapphire.
She was a short brunette girl, probably around the same age as Sapphire, or maybe even a bit younger like Daniel’s body. She had stylish-looking glasses that covered her bright green eyes, but wore just normal-looking jeans and a sweater, and had a nervous look about her. He also recognized her from the past. Jessy, or Jessica was her name.
If he was remembering correctly, she was very smart. And in fact, had created a very useful bit of magitech that had helped save a lot of people. Just a simple tracking device, but using principles the natives of this world didn’t understand to keep them from noticing it. If Sapphire didn’t end up turning on him and wasn’t about to lead him into an ambush or something, then he should definitely try to work together with the girl.
“I changed my mind,” Sapphire said simply, raising an eyebrow. “Is that going to be an issue?”
“Not really,” Daniel said, shrugging and keeping his voice as quiet as he could while seeming natural. He was very aware of all the looks being sent his way. “Though since you wanted to bring your friend along, I decided to do the same. You don’t mind, do you? I thought it would make sense to talk to you all together, so I didn’t have to repeat too much stuff.”
Sapphire turned her stern gaze towards Nathan, who just gave her a smile and a wave. “Not at all. Let’s go.“
Then, without another word, she spun and walked off towards the river. As if there was no question that the rest of them would follow.
Part of Daniel wanted to see what she’d look like if the two of them held back, and she only noticed after getting far away…
But, annoying the girl wasn’t going to do anything but make it harder to work with her. And considering how easily she got people to follow her lead, working with her, now that she knew the truth, was probably the best way to keep everyone alive.
So he followed behind her as they walked away from the camp, Jessica following her much more closely, while Nathan walked beside him.
Nathan, looking far more giddy than he should be, leaned closer to Daniel and whispered, “Dude. We’re gonna eat dinner with freaking Sapphire. Holy shit.”
Daniel couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. Sure, she was apparently a famous streamer, but was it really that big of a deal? Was Nathan a fan?
“She’s just a person, Nathan. Chill. And you get on my case with how I act around Elizabeth. You look like you're gonna pee yourself. Did you watch her stuff or something?”
“Right, right,” Nathan said, taking a breath to calm himself down. “Just a person… And yeah, I watch her stuff. Don’t you? She's hot as hell and great at games. What’s not to love? Also, you’ve been worse with Elizabeth.”
Daniel sighed at that. Though, from what he could remember, Nathan wasn’t wrong. He’d been pretty bad a times in the past because of his crush. “I guess I just never got into her content. There’s just so many streamers out there. And yeah. I’ve probably been worse with, Elizabeth. But that’s over now. Now come on, looks like she found a spot she likes.”
Sapphire had walked by the stream for a bit, getting them far enough not to be overheard. It was far enough that they could still be seen in the dying daylight, but not much detail could be made out unless the person back at camp had really good eyes. Then, when she finally stopped, she looked around for some dry earth and primly took a seat on the ground, beckoning her friend to join her.
Daniel and Nathan soon joined them, sitting around in a small circle. Daniel made sure to sit in a way that he could still look in the direction of the camp, in case anyone decided to head over.
“So, first things first,” Sapphire said, taking the lead. “I’m Sapphire, in case either of you missed my name. My friend here is Jessy, and if I’m not mistaken, you're Daniel, and you're Nathan.”
She pointed at each of them as she spoke, and both young men nodded when asked.
“Great. Now that that’s out of the way. I’ll start this off by saying I’ve already told Jessy about everything that happened in the forest,” she said, gesturing at the girl in question. Jessy gave a nervous little wave and shied away a bit at Daniel’s return wave. Probably because she knew he’d killed someone. “So there is no need to backtrack much unless your friend needs to be brought up to speed.”
“Alright,” Daniel said, nodding. “And no. I’ve told Nathan everything that has happened as well. I haven't given too much more info about what I know, just cause I didn’t want to have to repeat everything so many times.”
“Understandable,” Sapphire said, nodding before taking a small bite of fish. She didn’t continue until she swallowed. “So how do you want to do this? Are there some important things you want to bring up? Or are you open to me asking questions first?”
“How about I give a general outline about this world, and our situation, and then you can ask any questions you have after that?”
“That’s acceptable.”
“You know,” Nathan said, leaning towards Jessy just a bit. “It’s kinda weird how similar they are. Both super serious.”
Jessy, caught off guard, let out a mix between a snort and a laugh.
Sapphire turned to give her friend an unamused look.
Jessy, despite looking rather timid before, looked undeterred and shrugged. “He’s not wrong.”
Daniel smiled a bit at that, even as he filed away Jessy's behavior. So, not timid in general. Just probably scared or at least wary of him. Made sense given what little she knew about him. Hopefully, he would be able to get her to feel more comfortable around him later, since she was going to be in on the secret.
He didn’t know much about the girl personally and just hoped that she didn’t have any deep-seated beliefs about capital punishment. Then again, the issue might just be his use of what would technically be vigilante justice.
Oh well, a problem for another time. Now was story time.
“Okay, just a super quick recap first: We’re on another world. Magic is real. And I know a lot about this world because of reasons I’m physically unable to talk about. Now, let's start with how we got here. Essentially, our appearance here is an accident. A mistake as far as I know. Far, far from here, on another continent entirely, an Empire enacted some kind of ancient hero summoning ritual. Something went wrong with it, and while they got the heroes they were trying to summon, who are also from Earth, they also just pulled a lot of other people like ourselves into this world, into different places and different groups. I don’t know the actual number, but if I had to guess, probably around 500ish. And they didn’t all appear at the same time either. Some have been here for more than a year now.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Jessy asked, apparently having overcome her some of her nervousness. “Like, were you summoned here before or something?”
Daniel sighed and shook his head. “No. And like I said, I can’t speak about how I know this. Like there's magic keeping me from doing so—”
“So then is —”
“And before you start guessing,” Daniel said, talking over the girl with a serious look on his face. “Know that the reason I can’t talk about it is because it is something very important. In fact, this applies to all of you. Don’t think about it too much. And if you do have to, and come up with ideas, don’t ever mention it aloud. I don’t know if it’s as serious as that, but what I do know is that someone very, very powerful decided it was too dangerous to let people know about it, and I’m inclined to agree. Got it?”
“G-got it,” Jessy said, shrinking in on herself.
That earned him a glare from Sapphire, but he just shrugged. “Look. I’m sorry if that came out as harsh. But this is important. Like, the fate of the world level important. And I know, hearing someone say that makes you probably all want to roll your eyes. But this isn’t Earth anymore. And it’s possible for normal people like us to have to think about the fate of the world.”
Daniel gave the group some time to mull that over, hoping to impart the seriousness of the situation. At the same time, he took a couple of bites of his food.
He honestly wasn’t sure if they actually had to be that cautious, but there had to be a reason the goddess went so far as to put this restriction on him. Maybe she was just paranoid, or thought he was an idiot, or maybe there was more to it. He just didn’t know, but would err on the side of caution.
The invasion hadn’t happened yet, but there were already demons and plenty of cultists on this world. If they somehow got word about him and his knowledge before he could get to one of the Grand Temples of Light, who knows what problems they might cause. At the very least, it would render at least some of his knowledge less useful.
“Okay, now where was I?” Daniel asked, finally breaking the silence and bringing attention back to him. “Right. So that’s how we got here. Now as for this world… I guess the most important part right now is where we are now and then the class system and leveling. Right now, we are far past the southern frontier of the Tarnith Kingdom. Probably two to three days from any frontier town. We’re gonna need to leave soon and head north to get out of here, as these frontier forests are full of Monsters.
“The reason we’ve only had so few encounters with Monsters so far is probably because the pulse of mana from our summoning scared them off. But they will be back, and some Monsters seemed to be drawn to this area because of the summoning. In fact, it’s the reason why that large group of goblins came to our camp. They started pretty far away but made a beeline for us.”
“Five is a large group?” Sapphire asked, sounding unimpressed.
Daniel shook his head, realizing he misspoke. “No. But twenty is. At least for us as we are now. And that was how many had been heading for our camp. I snuck away from camp last night and culled fifteen of them.”
“But let five through?” Sapphire asked, raising an eyebrow. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Wanted to scare the complacency out of people.”
“Yes,” Daniel confirmed. “This is a dangerous world filled with Monsters and we are far from civilization at the moment. If people are too lax, then they’ll die. Better a small scare now with a minor attack, than their first real encounter with Monsters being far more deadly. It also helped that the goblins are very obviously not just wild animals, like the scouting groups thought about the wolves and bear.”
“But what if people had gotten hurt?” Jessy asked, sounding aghast.
“Then it would’ve driven home the point harder,” Daniel said with a shrug, even if he wasn’t as blasé about it as he would like to pretend. After all, he’d been rather unhappy when he’d thought one of the people had been killed. But he needed to come off as an authority here and the risk really had been minor.
“It was just five goblins, and before that, I convinced Clark to find everyone with guns and make sure that at least two of the watch were armed at all times. Goblins might be a lot stronger than their size would indicate, but against two armed gunmen and three other spearmen, not including the rest of the camp? No one was really in all that much danger.”
“But still,” Jessy said, sounding a little indignant. “Why couldn’t you just tell everyone? Instead of all the secrecy?”
Daniel sighed, but it was Sapphire who answered her friend.
“It’s because it would be hard to convince people, Jessy. He can’t explain how he knew, and if he just reveals his magic he’ll just look suspicious and people would think he’s the reason we were all brought here. If that happened, then no one would listen and things would just be worse.” Sapphire turned to Daniel. “That was your reasoning, am I right?”
“Hit the nail on the head,” Daniel said, nodding. “The reason I’m telling you all this now is cause the cat’s already out of the bag. At least for you two. Nathan is the only one I would have told freely, just cause we’ve known each other long enough that he trusts me.”
“And do you even trust him, Sapphire? “ Jessy asked her friend, her voice getting louder. “What if he is just bullshitting, and he is the reason we’re all here. You said he killed someone, Saph! What if he was controlling the guy and the whole thing was just a show for you? What if that Alfred guy was just some innocent man?”
Sapphire sighed and shook her head. “I don’t trust him fully, of course. And I’m gonna take everything he says with a grain of salt, and be ready for betrayal. But what would be the point in a trick like that, Jessy? If he really could control people like that, then why would he even bother with all this? Why would he disarm me and then do nothing? Just let me go when he had every chance to nip things in the bud back then?”
“Maybe it’s his long-term plan,” Jessy said, crossing her arms, though she didn’t sound too convinced of that idea herself. “Or maybe he brainwashed you.
“Well, if that was the case then your extra fucked. But if it isn’t, we are still within sight of the camp. So he can’t do anything to us now. So if you really believe that, we can head over and tell everyone,” Sapphire said, sounding far too nonchalant for what she was suggesting.
“Fine, then let's do that,” Jessy said, jumping to her feet, then sending Daniel a fearful look.
He just sighed and sat back, resting his hands on the ground. He had been doing that a lot lately. Sighing that is.
Then, emboldened by that, Jessy stomped off, Sapphire following her.
Daniel and Nathan just sat there, watching the two of them go.
“Think she’s really gonna just go blab?” Nathan asked, taking a bite of his food.
“Maybe.”
“You don’t sound all that worried?”
“I think this is a test for Jessy to feel better about it. And even if it’s not, Sapphire might convince her not to. She’s pragmatic enough. And hopefully understands that it would be a lot harder directing everyone, and keeping them safe, if they all get paranoid about me or end up chasing us off because they blame me for bringing them here.”
“And if they do blab and everyone comes here as a mob?”
“Then I leave an illusion in our place and we’ll leave while invisible. Maybe come back tomorrow and see if they cooled down, and if not then see if anyone wants to come with us. If not that then fuck it. I want to keep everyone safe and get them to safety because it’s the right thing to do, but I have other concerns. Fate of the world level concerns. If they have to be stubborn about it, then I wish them the best of luck.“
“Alright then. As long as you’ve thought about it. Though maybe people will be more reasonable than that.”
Daniel gave his friend a look.
Nathan just shrugged. “Dude. Magic is real. And you said gods were too. So miracles are possible, right?”