The dim light of the sky woke me up. When I opened my eyes, it was still somewhat dark, and the sun had yet to rise. With a slight yawn, I could see my breath, and it made me realize that the few clothes I was wearing weren’t completely covering me for the cold of dawn, but with a light blue sky, it was enough for me to get up and get the day going. Once I stepped outside the small structure I used for cover, I was amazed to see that there were already a few people coming and going about on the roads, just as some cars and buses were as well.
What amazed me the most, was a man running on the side of the road—or rather, jogging at a steady speed. At first I wanted to make sure he wasn’t running away from someone, but there was nothing behind him, and his expression was no different than that of knights in training, but… looking at the way he was dressed, I didn’t think it could be knight, for the short pants fluttered with every step, the shoes that were similar to the ones I was wearing, and the very thin shirt on his top, weren’t the kind of things that a knight would use.
He was sweating and kept on going down the road, not minding the world around him or even my gaze. I looked around, and it seemed like nobody cared either. I couldn’t help but wonder why he was doing that, since he didn’t look like a knight or a noble, and commoners would never waste what little energy they had each day by mindlessly running all over the place.
I tried to follow the man’s path, but just then I heard the rumbling of my stomach, reminding me of the need for food. I felt tempted to go over to one of the merchant houses at the sides of the roads and beg for food… but I have hardly met any merchant willing to part with their things for no coins.
I pouted and kept looking around for a way to fix this issue, and while doing so, I saw an older lady at one of those merchant houses looking at me. I stared back at her, unsure of if she was really looking at me until she beckoned me to go over. I looked back behind me, trying to make sure that it wasn’t directed at someone else, but there really wasn’t anyone, so I made my way to her store.
The sweet and fresh smell of bread being cooked hit me when I was just a few steps away from the store, and the hunger within me increased when I imagined how that smell would taste. However, I shook my head and tried my best to remove that idea, since such a nice piece of bread would only be sold and made for nobles and people of higher standings.
Still, I crossed the road and made my way over to the older lady, who gave me a pitying smile.
“What is such a young lady like yourself doing by sleeping in a park like that?” she asked while looking me up and down. “Did you get kicked out of your house?”
A frown crept on my face and I wondered if this old lady called me over just to mock me. I shook my head regardless, since her tone wasn’t one of mocking. “This is a strange city, and I just didn’t know where to go when the night fell.”
“Oh, I see… then I guess that in a way, you did get kicked out of your home, huh.”
I remembered Salrak’s words about how my world was destroyed… “I guess… yeah…”
“Such a terrible thing, to end up in an unknown place after leaving home…” the old lady said with pity. “But the same thing happened to me years ago. I used to live in the fields—far from here too—living off the land, until some people came over with weapons and sent us out of our lands. I remember I had to walk for who-knows-how many days to get here, and I was forced to live on the streets just like you were—even with a couple of kids in my arms.”
Hearing the woman speak made me frown and a desire to rush outside to find the people responsible boiled inside me, since I couldn’t stand by and let evil people do as they please. “What happened to the people that did that? Did your Lord deal with them?”
“Lord?” the old lady chuckled. “I don’t know what happened to them, I don’t care anymore. What was important was being able to survive and do what I can for my children, and thankfully I managed to get this bakery after years of hard work.”
“I see…” I trailed off, thinking about how those evil men were still out there, just like the bandits I took down yesterday.
“But none of that matters. I just saw you over at the park last night and when I saw you wake up there this early, I remembered how it had been for me,” the old lady said before grabbing a bag full of fresh bread and a cup full of some light brown liquid. “I can’t give you a home, but I can at least help you with this.”
She presented the meal to me, but I hesitated to take it. “I’m sorry… I don’t have any coin on me.”
“Oh don’t you worry about that. This is just doing something good for someone that seems like they need it.”
I still hesitated, but took the bag of warm bread and the warm cup. “Thank you… I shall repay this kindness.”
“Don’t worry about that,” the old lady said with a dismissive wave.
I looked at the kindly smiling old lady for a moment, and I just didn’t feel like leaving it as it is, and if I were to find a way to earn coins, then asking her would be a good start. “Do you know somewhere I could earn some coins?”
The old lady thought for a moment, looking at me up and down again. Hopefully, she wouldn’t ask me to do something like selling my body… but I can’t judge yet. She stopped at the Watch on my wrist and her expression turned to surprise.
“Are you one of those mages or superheroes or whatever you get called?”
“I am indeed capable of using magic.”
“Oh, then that’s easy,” she said, pausing for a moment. “I’m amazed you’re not living a life of luxury, but I won’t pry into your past.” She walked past me to look out of the road. “You see that over there?”
I followed her and looked in the direction she was pointing. It was the wall of mountains that stood tall at the east side of this city, cutting the city from north to side. “Yes.”
“If you go that way, you’ll stumble upon the seventh road, a very large road. Once you reach it, walk north for a while, until you see a place called—let me think…” she paused for a moment. “The Magical Labyrinth? I think? Anyway, you’ll probably be able to use your powers in that place and get paid for exploring it. I’ve heard many people with those supernatural powers get a fortune for putting them to use, but…”
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“Is there a problem?”
“Well… it is dangerous, and you could lose your life doing that, so if you can find something safer to do, then I think you should consider it.”
“I see…” I replied, thinking about it for a moment, but before making a decision, I turned to the old lady and bowed deeply. “I thank you for what you have done for me.”
“Oh! Please don’t!” the old lady exclaimed, grabbing me by the shoulders and forcing me to stand up straight. “There’s no need to go that far for so little. Just go on and take care of yourself.”
I smiled and nodded. “I will.”
After that, I started making my way in the direction that the old lady pointed to. I was thinking about that ‘The Magic Labyrinth’, and I remembered that there were Holy Places of Power and Tainted Lands in my world. They were places where the powers of the Holy Gods—or Salrak—had condensed to the point where animals, and even people, were transformed into mindless creatures and monsters.
Every zone that was like that in my world had already been thoroughly cleaned, acquiring as much power, artifacts, and knowledge as I could to prepare myself to fight with Salrak. The Holy Places of Power were ‘trials of the Gods’, while the Tainted Lands were nothing more than Salrak’s mindless monsters… but now that I think about it, they were both exactly the same, only that the shape of the beings would change depending on the place that I went.
Hunger struck me while I was thinking about that, so I took a sip from the liquid that the old lady gave me. I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the taste. It was sweet, not unlike the ice cream I had last night, and the aftertaste would leave a certain bitterness that I couldn’t quite place. It was also warm, so the cold of the morning was slowly fading.
I also carefully opened the bag full of fresh bread, taking a warm one and inspecting it. It was cooked to perfection, from the soft texture and bounciness of the shape to the golden color it displayed. I licked my lips before taking a bite. Again, the taste didn’t disappoint as this piece of bread would compare to even the ones served at royal banquets.
I stopped, stunned for a moment as I tasted both the bread and the sweet-bitter liquid. I turned to look back to the place where the old lady should’ve been, even if I had already walked a few roads away and I couldn’t clearly see it.
“Could it be…?” I whispered to myself. “Is that old woman a royal chef?”
Maybe the short story that she told me was about how she lost her lands and her job as a royal chef, which means that I now really have to repay that old lady for this food, that I wouldn’t let go to waste as I started chomping on the bread and taking sips of the liquid faster while carefully savoring the taste with each bite, until eventually, I was left with neither.
* * *
Reaching the place that the old lady told me about took me some time, as when I reached what I assumed was the seventh road, the sun had already started shining and the amount of cars and buses on the roads were so many that they were hardly moving, making the road into a cacophony of roar-like sounds, high pitched noises that came out of the cars, and people that rushed from one place to another.
It was shocking to see so many people moving. I would think that they were getting ready for a war or something like that, but almost everyone was cleanly dressed and their expressions didn’t reflect any worries for the most part. Just annoyance at being in the spots that they were, or simply boredom.
Among those many people moving were the groups of people in gettups that I could recognize, with swords, shields, bows, and all the kinds of weapons; all matched with appropriate armors. If I ignored the noise of this strange city, then I would think I had reached a Holy Place of Power just like in my world, with pilgrims, adventurers, and fortune-seeking people who rushed into those places for glory, power, or both.
The place where everyone was gathered was in front of a gray box-like building that had its doors made out of glass, allowing me to see the people that were walking in and out of it. There were some people that were simply standing outside the building, talking to each other while their gear and weapons looked like they had gone through a trial.
I decided to follow along the few people that entered the building, passing by a small gate after leaving their weapons to the side of a table while a man moved a stick over their bodies. I did the same, though, I didn’t have any weapons on me, so the man using the stick looked at me with a raised eyebrow while waving the stick over my body.
The process seemed somewhat nonsensical, but I went in without any issue, just like everyone else in here.
I was met with a hall, full of glinting floors and decorations, as well as the groups of people that were either talking to each other—just like the people outside—or were getting themselves ready to go deeper into the building, led by a person wearing a dark suit like that of a noble.
I didn’t know what to do, but I felt like I needed to do something else, so I stopped a young woman dressed in leather armor and carrying a bow.
“Huh?”
“Excuse me… do you know where I… can relieve myself?”
* * *
I sighed after coming out of the ‘women’s bathroom’. The place that the woman had pointed out to me was a room that looked almost exactly like the room I woke up in, the only difference being that this one was much bigger, and the women that came in there all used the bowl that I had tried drinking water from to relieve themselves.
At first I was hesitant to do the same, since I expected something like a bucket in a small room like how it was in noble houses, but the people from this world seemed to like to use perfectly clear water to dispose of their waste. I nearly jumped out of the bowl when, after I was done, the water started to move by itself, taking everything with it into a hole as if it was sentient, but I detected no magic or anyone in there to do anything like that.
All the women also washed their hands with the second bowl after they were done, which left a fairly fragrant scent in my hands after doing exactly as they did.
It was quite an unusual experience, but I can’t say it’s worse than doing it in the middle of a dark forest, a cold field, or a hot desert. I wondered if the one in the room I woke up in was the same, which is something that I’ll have to try once I find that building again.
For now, I had to look for a way to get into the Holy Place of Power, so while standing in the large hall close to the entrance, I took my time to look at what other people were doing. It was easy to see the few people that were coming and going, since some of them would look dirty, tired, or wounded as they left the building, while others looked determined to fight as they entered.
There were some desks, the same as every other building I went into with the computers resting on top of them and people looking at them. But I didn’t feel like interacting with them at the moment—especially after I got a fine for handing my ID over before.
After a few minutes it was easy for me to know where I had to go, since there was a larger hallway at the back where the people would go in heavily armed, or leave heavily tired. The only issue was that they all had to present their IDs to a turnstile before going in and I didn’t know if there would be issues for me. Regardless, I went ahead and tried to pass by.
There were some people that would give me weird looks as I was making my way, probably because I was wearing these soft clothes and had no weapon on me, but judging by the gear of the people here, and the experience that I have dealing with these zones, I think I would be fine by using just my magic. Nobody stopped me and I was able to hesitantly present the ID to the turnstile.
It returned a high pitched sound with a green light and I was able to pass. I looked ahead and started walking into the hall but after a few steps, I was stopped by a woman wearing elegant black clothes, some simple make-up, and an elegant smile.