Chapter 11: The Golden Goose and the Bear

Part 1: Bullets in Another World

“I didn’t think you would have a tattoo, Kenji.” Marcellus mentioned, nodding at the symbol Kenji had Aito draw on his arm.

They had stopped for the evening by a stream, and the men were busy taking their time to clean themselves and their bloody and smelly clothes while the others rested in the carriage. Kenji had been getting to know Marcel a bit better.

Kenji laughed at the Rune still on his arm, in the excitement of the day he had forgotten about his half-baked idea to increase his strength with a permanent marker the previous night. “It isn’t a real tattoo, I was doing an experiment with a symbol that was supposed to represent ‘strength’, unfortunately it didn’t work.” He demonstrated by washing off the ink with some water from the stream, only slightly embarrassed.

Marcel smiled “Maybe it was good luck, you performed well for your first battle. I would offer myself for your experiments, but tattoos usually mark criminals, pirates, or slaves. I was surprised to see our rescuer have a colorful past like that”

Kenji was familiar with similar practices from Earth during more ancient times, but it did raise even more concerning questions. “I’m from far away, so this might sound like a foolish question, but is slavery common in this country?”

“Far away indeed.” Marcel seemed to nod slightly. “Only hardened criminals are accepted as slaves throughout the entire Allied Kingdoms, but some kingdoms consider debtors and their family criminals too.” Marcel was frowning as he spoke. “The current Saintess has advocated the ending of debt slavery, but unfortunately the Kings do not feel compelled to obey her.”

“So, is defying the Saintess the same as defying the Goddess?”

The look on Marcellus’s face surprised Kenji. Even during the battle that morning, the guard hadn’t lost his cool, but at that moment he looked angry enough to kick a puppy, or whatever this world’s adorable equivalent of a puppy was. “That is apparently a matter of some debate. Lucia might be able to give you a better answer.”

Kenji had stumbled into asking a controversial question. He should have known to be more tactful. He was reminded that ‘Compelled Service’ had been making a comeback on Earth, and calling it slavery was considered a serious legal accusation.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend with my questions.” Kenji wanted to try and change the topic. “So you said you might be willing to help with a few experiments?”

“What exactly did you have in mind?” Marcel leaned away from Kenji slightly, but his anger had already started to fade.

“After seeing Crisp’s Gift. I've been thinking about Gifts and the limits of what they can do. So, just how good with a sling are you?”

Marcel took that as a challenge, he whipped up his wet shirt into a makeshift sling and picked up a small stone from the stream. After spinning the sling a couple times, he sent the stone flying. It skipped off the top of the water, bounced off a young nearby tree, thumped into another nearby stone high into the air, and then landed neatly in Marcel’s empty hand. He had barely glanced in the direction he shot the stone in before opening his other hand to catch it.

Kenji stood up and practically started cheering. “That was amazing! Do you know how amazing that is?”

Marcel rolled his eyes, he had apparently had this conversation many times before after getting similar reactions. “It’s great for hunting birds, but a Gifted swordsman can cut down an entire tree from a distance. Stones wouldn’t have done anything to the burrowers we fought or most other monsters.”

Kenji wasn’t an expert in medieval warfare, but like most other boys he went to school with, he had paid a little extra attention to topics regarding weapons and ancient battles. It was one of the few topics that aligned with the importance of manga and video games. He remembered that slings played a part in warfare well into the medieval ages on Earth, or at least video games had made it seem that way. “Maybe, but an accurate stone like that could knock out or kill someone as well.”

“What if they are wearing a helmet?” Marcel seemed to predict the question, almost before Kenji finished.

“You could probably hit them in the eye or throat.”

“What if the stone is bigger than the opening in their helmet?” Marcel sounded like he was reciting a script at this point.

“Then you use a smaller stone.”

“If the stone is too small, then it doesn’t fly as far or as accurately, and doesn’t do any real damage even if it hits.” Marcel nodded.

“Then you use a round stone, like a bullet.”

Marcel frowned, Kenji was taking the conversation he had already practiced a thousand times a bit further than others had. “How does a round stone make a difference? A stone is a stone.” As he said it out loud, it sounded like Marcel knew instinctively that it probably would make some difference, but he couldn’t put it into words.

“A perfectly round stone would have minimal air resistance, and wouldn’t lose much speed over longer distances. It also maintains its accuracy.” Kenji noticed that the term ‘air resistance’ did actually translate, but that the meaning was slightly different in this world.

“You are talking about something that archers discuss about their arrows.” Marcel leaned in now, he had clearly spent time wishing he had a gift for the bow instead but didn’t know much about archery.

Kenji took a moment before answering. Aerodynamics, Resistance, Momentum, Force, Mass. While those words were translating in his head, some of the exact meanings were still lost. “Physics.” He mumbled, that word didn’t translate at all. Kenji realized sciences apparently didn’t exist in the same way here he realized. “Chemistry. Nope, Alchemy.” Kenji was starting to get sidetracked by his newfound ability to deduce the technology level of this world by blurting out random scientific terms.

Marcel was staring at Kenji talking to himself now, raising a single eyebrow to an impressive height. Kenji remembered he had been trying to explain projectiles. “Pointy things travel through air easier, but so do round smooth things. The carriage moves fast enough that if it had a round front, you would notice a difference in speed as well.” Kenji gestured at the vehicle.

“It still wouldn’t be as powerful with a smaller stone though.” Marcel was trying not to get his hopes up, but he clearly realized Kenji might be onto something.

“Can’t you spin up a small stone faster to make up for it?”

Marcel frowned and looked down at the rolled-up shirt in his hands. He stepped away for a moment and grabbed his actual sling from his bag. It was a small thin piece of leather. “There is a limit to how fast I can spin a stone with the sling.” He picked up two stones of different sizes and showed Kenji how quickly he could spin the sling with each.

Kenji wasn’t sure what to expect when he saw the sling, but it looked rather small, like a child’s toy. It was probably the same one Marcel grew up with. “Why don’t you use a longer sling?”

“Hunters always use a sling this size. A longer sling would look foolish.”

There it was, Marcel had a vain streak. It didn’t help that he was embarrassed to have a gift unrelated to his mental image of a warrior. “Maybe slings don’t have to all look the same.” Kenji looked around, and picked up a long stick. It seemed durable enough. “Try tying the end of your sling to this, make sure it can still spin around the end.”

Kenji wasn’t an expert, but he remembered seeing depictions of a sling-staff in drawings before, he was pretty sure the Latin word was fustibalus. After a short discussion, Marcel started catching onto what Kenji was trying to describe. This eventually led to Kenji holding the stick himself trying to demonstrate how to spin the stone attached to the sling at the end. When he tried to flick the stick and shoot the stone, it clumsily fell straight into the dirt. The medieval artwork he remembered looking at didn’t actually explain the technique.

Kenji was sure Marcel would burst out laughing at his complete failure, but he instead looked very serious and thoughtful. Kenji’s demonstration had been enough to get the point across, as he walked over and took the stick himself. After loading the next stone himself and giving a cautious swing, something seemed to click and Marcel’s Gift took hold.

Marcel started moving the crude sling-staff like he had been born with one in his hands. After getting the leather strap holding the stone to start spinning, he added a spin of the staff around his body once, and then a second spin with his arms fully extended. Instead of releasing the stone straight into the dirt like Kenji, the stone shot out with incredible speed and force striking the exact same spot of the small tree Marcel had hit in his earlier demonstration.

This time, instead of bouncing off, there was the loud snap of wood as the stone disappeared into the tree, leaving a large hole. Even from a good distance away, Kenji felt small bits of wood shooting back onto his bare chest from the force of the impact. Had he been standing closer, it might have cut him like shrapnel.

The two of them ran over and inspected the tree, finding that the stone had actually pierced completely through and was now lost somewhere in the grass behind it. Kenji gave the tree a gentle push, and the entire thing fell over with a crash. Marcel started whooping and laughing and picked up Kenji into a bear-hug, all the while referring to him as a miracle worker. Kenji was excited that their experiment was successful, but was getting the life squeezed out from him by the muscular man. Marcel was acting like Kenji had just healed an incurable injury.

Luckily, after some time, Marcel let Kenji go before he passed out in the other man’s arms. The two of them happened to notice Lucia was nearby, still wearing the scanner and standing a short distance away. Clearly, she had heard the commotion and came out to make sure everything was okay.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt! Don’t mind me!” Her face turned beet-red at the sight of the two half-naked men hugging each other. She turned around and raced back into the carriage before Kenji or Marcel could respond.

Kenji and Marcel looked at each other and each reflexively jumped away from the other when they realized the misunderstanding. Without looking at each other, they finished getting dressed and returned to the carriage. While they would continue to experiment and discuss the limits of Marcel’s Gift, they swore an unspoken oath to never mention what it apparently looked like to anyone.

However, by the time they returned to the carriage, Aito had already taught Lucia how to rewatch the recording on the scanner any time she wanted. It would be a long time before they realized why she was prone to random bouts of giggling during the journey.

image [https://i.imgur.com/KymUJsl.jpg]

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Part 2: The Negotiator

It was the first night that Kenji had spent since leaving Earth where his sleep had not been interrupted by supernatural dreams. He slept deeply and hardly dreamed at all. He had a vague sense waking up the next morning that something massive had swam by his consciousness while looking for something, but was utterly uninterested in him. When he opened his eyes, he wondered why his alarm clock hadn’t gone off and if his Uncle was going to chastise him for sleeping in.

Trying to collect himself, the memories of the last few days seemed so unreal that it took some time to realize he wasn’t just recalling a dream. What convinced him was waking up outside in a sleeping bag with Marcel busy packing up their small camp. Lucia, Crisp, and Varro had slept inside the carriage. Everyone had allowed Kenji to sleep in while they got things ready for travel. He felt a jolt of worry as he realized he wasn’t sure where Aito was, but he heard a familiar sound coming from within the carriage.

After knocking briefly, he opened the carriage and was greeted by Crispus and Lucia immediately. He noticed Lucia was still wearing the scanner with Aito sitting in her lap. She was reading a book to him out loud, and had been pointing at the words. Aito looked like a small child in her lap, studying the alphabet. Kenji had no doubt that his digital mind would master the written language within minutes of observing Lucia. Aito had apparently already raided the carriage for yet more clothing to add to his outfit, he looked like a little Napoleon Bonaparte ready for adventure.

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image [https://i.imgur.com/ZQB04gg.jpg]

“Good morning Kenji, I am updating my software.” Aito’s familiar voice sounded out from his internal speakers.

“You can talk again!” Kenji was relieved and quickly gave the teddy bear a hug.

“I am fully operational once more.” Aito gave Kenji a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Kenji learned that Lucia was able to coordinate with Aito early that morning to reconnect his loose wires. Since Aito was connected to the scanner she wore, he was able to direct her vision to help with the minor repair. During the repair, they had apparently discussed Lucia showing Aito some written language so he could update both his software as well as the scanner’s. Lucia would improve her ability to use the scanner, and Aito would also improve his ability to communicate.

Kenji felt a pang of jealousy that Aito and Lucia were getting along so well. Aito completely trusted her with his repairs and his scanner, and Kenji had a strange instinct to lecture Aito about stranger-danger. He knew that was foolish since he also trusted Lucia, but was feeling guilty he hadn’t had time to help Aito himself. Anything Aito learned from Lucia could only help Kenji in his quest as well.

Kenji realized there was another person listening in on their conversation, the merchant Varro. He was finally feeling well enough to have changed into a fresh set of clothes. Instead of lying down unconscious, he was sitting up slightly and seemed to be in a good mood. It was remarkable that he was recovering so quickly from his injury, but Kenji realized his own arm was already healing as well. Varro made no secret that he looked forward to talking with Kenji privately.

It was slightly awkward for all four adults to completely rely on young Crispus to drive. It was clear that he was the only one that could operate the ‘horseless carriage’, and so Lucia, Marcel, Aito, and Kenji decided they would all at least keep him as much company as possible by taking turns next to him in the driver’s seat, usually two of them at a time. They had to be careful not to run the young man ragged in his eagerness to be useful.

When they finally got moving, Kenji was the one who got the first turn relaxing in the carriage with Varro. The inside of the carriage had two comfortable sofa-like pieces of furniture on either side, along with a few small windows designed to let in daylight instead of sightseeing. The rear of the carriage was filled with tools and tightly packed trade goods and letters being sent between settlements, the front of the carriage was a door that opened inwards behind the driver’s seat. The rear of the carriage could be opened as well from the outside, but it seemed Varro only used that door to load and unload the trade goods. The carriage was clearly designed to transport a few passengers at a time, along with smaller wares. From the inside, the carriage resembled either an RV or a small passenger car of a train.

Varro spent some time thanking Kenji for rescuing him and his son. Kenji still felt dishonest for not telling them that their lives had been used by their own goddess as bait to get him moving as quickly as possible. Luckily, the topic shifted and they started to chat pleasantly about Crisp.

“I should have realized he had a Gift. He surpassed me quickly after I taught him about driving years ago. I took it for granted that my own son should be naturally good at everything, or that I was an amazing teacher. Sometimes Gifts are like that, hard to tell until the situation is out of the ordinary. Sometimes, you need a stranger to step in and point out the obvious.” Kenji realized that Lucia and Crisp probably told Varro about Kenji’s disbelief that he had a Gift.

After the previous night’s work turning Marcel’s ancient hunting sling into a more medieval-style Fustibalus, Kenji wanted to see if he could upgrade everyone’s Gifts. Aito seemed to be getting ready to teach Lucia something through the scanner. Kenji already had some other ideas for different ancient projectile weapons he wanted Marcel to try out. He even had an idea for a surprise gift he wanted to make for Crisp. However, Kenji wasn’t sure how to improve on what a merchant did though. Spreadsheets? Multiplication tables? Kenji decided to ask, “Was it like that for you? Did you have a natural Gift for being a merchant?”

Varro gave a wide smile at Kenji’s question, “I have several Gifts related to being a merchant, but I’m sure you can understand why I do not advertise the specifics to those who might do business with me, such as yourself.” He gestured at the inside of the carriage, “One hardly needs to have a Gift to know that my carriage is currently worth a fortune, but Lucia warned me that you came from far away and that you might not understand the significance of the sharing of Gifts between friends.”

Varro looked pointedly at Kenji, but didn’t leave him hanging for too long. “My first Gift awoke when I was a little older than Crisp. It was for climbing trees. I could scamper up them faster than a Canopy Screamer.” When Varro saw the oblivious look on Kenji’s face, he added “You might not be familiar with them. Hairy, six-arms and swing from tree to tree throwing stones to catch prey. Usually not too dangerous to Humans, unless they try to hunt them.” He gave a small wink to Kenji as he moved his hands above his head in an ape-like fashion and made a couple ‘Ooph’ noises.

The mental image of the older well-dressed and dignified man climbing trees and swinging from branches like a monkey made Kenji chuckle. That seemed to be the reaction Varro was hoping for.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ROcq2Pk.jpg]

Kenji enjoyed chatting with Varro, something about the man put him at ease, and the conversation naturally turned towards the carriage and possible improvements that could be made. Kenji was eager to share some ideas with Varro, and Varro seemed unsurprised by Kenji’s enthusiasm as he let him ramble. When Varro became confused with Kenji’s descriptions, he provided some handy sheets of paper for Kenji to use. Ballpoint pens apparently hadn’t been invented in this world yet, so Kenji used his trusty marker instead of risking spilling a jar of ink everywhere by using a quill.

Kenji quickly sketched down a design for a rudimentary steering wheel, along with a slightly more complex design for the ‘horseless carriage’. He carefully detailed the section that was interchangeable and sketched a rudimentary mechanism that could cut power to the wheels as a type of brake as well, could even reduce power to a single wheel to initiate a turn, or even reverse. It would simply need a single vocal command to either start or stop. He left that part blank, and indicated that any verbal symbol could be used there.

Kenji thought about it, and imagined that even though he didn’t know the symbols for “drive” or “stop”, he could still use other words to cut power or reverse momentum. It might seem odd to shout ‘crouch’ or ‘tend’ to stop the automobile, but his explanations were clear enough to anyone else that might know more symbols to replicate. He proceeded to the second page and he sketched out an alternative design that utilized vocal commands instead of a steering wheel. He left the vocal commands blank, but added a small list of symbols he knew could be spoken from the farm golem that could slot into those spots.

Afterwards, Kenji looked at his designs and was pleased that they looked as good as they did. He was never much of an artist, but his symbols and runes looked clean, and he was confident they would work. After finishing, he realized that some of the ink from his marker had bled through onto a third page. Paper might be expensive in this world. “I’m sorry Mr. Varro, I think I might have ruined this last page.” He handed Varro the pages he wrote on. “Can you tell me if these make sense?”

Varro’s eyes widened as he stared at Kenji. Varro accepted the papers from him, and while he tried to hide it, Varro’s hands trembled. He stared at the rough blueprints, with the charts and lines clearly explaining the meaning and purpose of each symbol. The instructions were clear enough for even a child to understand, even if that child could barely read. Varro cleared his throat before speaking. “I can’t believe you trusted me enough to show me this.” Varro’s hand went to his eyes and he rubbed them before speaking more.

“Kenji, since you trust me so much, let me tell you about another Gift I have. One of my Gifts as a merchant allows me to estimate value.” He swallowed hard. “I hold in my hand something that cannot be measured with coin. Kings and Queens would respark the Great Wars of generations past to get their hands on these designs. My Gifts are screaming at me to lock you up, break your legs, and force you to design for me a thousand different wonders and terrors.”

He produced an unlit candle and tapped a tiny gem on the base of the candlestick, a small fire popped into existence. Varro held the pages to the flame and held his hand there until the last bit of them burned down to his fingers, undoubtedly scorching himself. He blew out the candle and scattered the ashes out of one of the windows that were broken during the battle with the giant mole-monsters. “You saved my life, and that of my son, but now we are even.”

Kenji was speechless, and Varro wiped the sweat from his brow. “You cannot reveal the extent of your Gift to anyone. The specific knowledge of runes and their exact meanings is divided between the schools of the different Kingdoms. Reproducing or repairing the ancient war machines requires coordination and treaties between rival nations and their Artificers.”

Varro continued after a few silent moments. “I’m sorry, I used my Gifts to put you at ease so that we could discuss the business of this carriage to our mutual benefits, but this is beyond my expectations. If your Gift is what I suspect, then it hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years, since the era of Demons and Heroes.”

Kenji went from speechless to horrified. He hadn’t sensed any unnatural magic swaying his judgment or thoughts. Varro had simply spoken to him naturally and put him at ease. Kenji realized he would have normally been more tactful, but had been excited to talk shop. He didn’t have any supreme magical talent, and his only unexplainable ability was to read and speak the language of this world. The ability to communicate with the locals was something taken for granted in every Manga he had ever read. Thinking it through, what Varro said made sense, and Kenji’s normal judgment had been steered ever so slightly by Varro.

“Are you even from this world Kenji?” Varro whispered.

Kenji was shocked by the question, and didn’t answer. He had been silent since handing over the designs to Varro. Varro was studying Kenji’s face carefully.

Kenji suspected if he tried to lie, that Varro’s Gifts as a merchant would catch him, but refusing to answer would be an admission of its own. Unfortunately, the skilled merchant was already two steps ahead of him. This wasn’t Varro’s first rodeo.

“Damn, you aren’t.” Varro confirmed with another whisper, nodding to himself. “Another world, amazing. Have you told anyone else?”

Kenji shook his head, but technically he hadn’t told Varro either. Varro seemed relieved. “The stories say that your Gift was last seen by travelers from other worlds. Those stories focus on their supernatural strength, magic, and heroics as they fought armies of Demons, but it is said their descendants were the first Artificers.”

“Artificer schools, to my understanding, obscure their designs to prevent them from being stolen. Even something simple is rendered nearly undecipherable to anyone outside of the school they were trained in.” Varro tossed Kenji the candle he magically lit earlier. “Inspect the design at the bottom and tell me what you see.”

Kenji turned the candlestick over in his hands. Sure enough, the small red gem was a tiny shard of a Mana Stone. The bottom was covered in dozens of runes. After inspecting it for a moment, he realized it was a single rune for ‘Fire’ and every other piece of the design was complete gibberish. It was like someone took a single Japanese character and hid it in an all-American bowl of Alphabet Soup.

Surprisingly, as he stared at the random designs surrounding ‘Fire’ a few other symbols started popping out to him too, but they seemed to be inert and drawn on accident. Would he recognize and learn new runes by simply doodling, or staring into a random ball of string while looking for meaning?

It couldn’t even be called a circuit, there weren’t any commands activating it. Just the socket for the gem with a single symbol. However, by imagining the candle lighting while tapping the gem, the intent was enough to trigger the flame. Symbols could be used that way too apparently. Could something so simple create a flaming sword as easily? What would happen if he wrote the symbol for ‘Fire’ on his arm and held a Mana-Stone, would he burst into flames or start shooting fireballs? Kenji wasn’t sure how long he had been staring at the design, but it must have been a few minutes at least. Varro was being patient but at some point started drumming his fingers on the armrest of his sofa and tapping his foot. Kenji cleared his throat “It is a single symbol, connected by a squiggly line to a Mana Stone. Everything else is nonsense.”

Varro laughed, but there was almost a bitter edge to it. “I knew it! And this is one of the simpler ones that regular craftsmen have learned to duplicate! But even then, it fails over half the time.” He shook his head. “If you are willing to trust me a bit further, we need to do something similar to my carriage before we arrive at the next settlement. As it is, this carriage will cause a stir and attract potentially dangerous attention.”

Kenji nodded his head. “I will need to trust someone, but I know now you might just be using a Gift on me. I suppose you wouldn’t have admitted it if I couldn’t trust you”

Varro had a small smile on his face when Kenji said that. “Good, you might make a decent merchant. You should never trust that a Merchant or Royal isn’t using a Gift on you. When we have time, I will try to teach you how to recognize the signs. It takes practice.” Varro held out his hand, and Kenji grasped it. Handshakes were apparently a thing in this world as well.

Part 3: A Work of Art

The rest of that day passed uneventfully. At the speed they could travel, Varro said they could reach the next settlement before sunset, but they intentionally stopped early to update and obscure the circuits on the carriage. Kenji was glad that they weren’t pushing the young Crisp into an 18-hour workday, even though he seemed willing.

Kenji and Aito went over the carriage one last time, but this time they were focused on adding designs that were decorative in nature. It became obvious that Kenji was really bad at adding meaningless symbols and decorations, as he was unintentionally pulling real runes from a well of knowledge that he didn’t realize he had. While this revelation was exciting, it meant that Aito needed to take over. With Marcel’s help and a hammer, they were able to straighten out Aito’s bent-arm enough that he could move it naturally again, Aito said it still felt slightly stiff, but that he could adapt from there. While Aito worked, Kenji started jotting down the new symbols he learned, along with a lot of doodling to try and discover new ones. Kenji was immersed in it enough that he didn’t notice Aito’s designs on the carriage until he was already finished.

If Kenji had to pick a single word to sum up Aito’s artistic style, he would have to go with spicy. Aito had combined the etching of wood with a graffiti and tattoo art style that would look right at home tattooed on the back of a gangster or painted on the side of a flamboyantly decorated Food-Truck. The runes and circuits, which were mostly on the bottom half of the vehicle, were definitely obscured now. To Kenji’s eye, it now resembled a trail of flames with skulls and snakes mixed in. The skulls weren’t human, and it didn’t take long for Kenji to realize he was looking at a variation of Aito’s imagined tattoo design of snakes living in a bear’s skull, except now they were either shooting flames from their mouths, or surfing on a wave of fire.

Kenji smacked his forehead, the only thing the world’s first automobile was missing was a sound system that could blast music, gold rims, and hydraulics to make the whole thing bounce down the road.

Soon, everyone was standing outside the carriage inspecting the design. Varro wasn’t sure what to think about the designs, and just seemed confused before heading back inside to finish recovering from his horse-bite. Marcel and Lucia studied it like it was a piece of modern art in a museum, but were leaning towards appreciating the deeper meaning.

The only one who truly appreciated it was Crisp, who summed it up perfectly with an Earth-word he learned from Aito earlier that day. “Badass!”

End Chapter 11: The Golden Goose and the Bear

Next: Chapter 12: The Butcher’s Toll