"What the...? Hey, Olya, where are ya', bud?" I called out to him in vain, "Shit, we must've gotten separated...!"
Looking around the place a bit more, I could immediately ascertain a few things without issue. First off, I was definitely in Simpleton. The dusty atmosphere, the slightly warmer temperature, and then when we look at the cabin's architecture, the ridges of the pillars become the final nail in the coffin. Yep, this squiggly-ness is something only a Simpleton could create.
"Well, that clears that up, but it still doesn't change the fact I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere." I thought about entering the cabin while I was here, "Olya must be in the Library, I would assume. Geez, I guess I wasn't thinkin' about that location in particular when we jumped through the portal. My mistake, heh."
But really, what is up with this cabin? It's shabby, in the middle of nowhere, and looks pretty worn on the outside, but despite appearances, it feels rather homely. Like someone is still living here... Oh, I know! This is that cliché, right? The one where the moment I assume I'm not alone, a random person barges into the house, believing me to be some burglar! Hehee, well you won't fool me, World! I already saw right through you!
"Merde..." A random guy clicked open the door as soon as I finished my thought, "Je déteste les tempêtes de sable... Eh?!"
"Come on, stick 'em up, bitch!" I pointed the nearby kitchen knife I took from the pantry straight at him, "You thought I came in peace, but I'm actually here to cut ya' up!"
"Hmn..." The guy looked completely unamused by my act as he closed one Eye and stuck his tongue out at me.
"Oi! You mockin' me, huh!?" I got understandably mad at him for that, only for the guy to all of a sudden disappear right before my very Eyes, "Ah!?"
"Non non non, monsieur cambrioleur." His quiet voice could be heard whispering into my ear right behind me, "Si vous voulez de l'argent facile, vous auriez dû aller pour une ville ou quelque chose comme ça."
What the hell is wrong with this guy!? What is he saying, I can't speak Simpletonese, dammit! Shit, ain't no way a person can be this fast... Shit, I was just joking, goddammit! I gotta clear this situation up before he starts using that ungodly speed of his offensively!
"A-Ahh...! Je suis...!" I stumbled back as I tried desperately to recall what little I knew of the language, "J-Je suis... peace! In peace, got it!"
"Hn?" His Eyes flashed Gray as he at least backed off enough to hear me out, "Paix?"
"Y-Yeah, that!" I snapped my fingers at him, "I-It was just a, a... uhh, how do you say "joke" in Simpletonese...? Ah screw it, a pleasantry!"
"Ahh, une plaisanterie!" He nodded with understanding.
No fucking shot that worked. Huh, maybe I am good at Simpletonese after all? That, or the languages are just similar enough that we just barely found common ground. Hard to say really, but who cares as long as he's not gonna beat me up.
"Alors, pourquoi êtes-vous ici, alors?" He asked a question, I think.
"Wo ist die..." I now spoke way more confidently.
"C'est Aurolian, monsier cambrioleur." He chuckled.
"Oh shit, it is." I looked around the room to use as a prop for my little mime act, "Okay then... Book! See here, book! I need... book place!"
"Une bibliothèque?" He tilted his head, "Ah, la bibliothèque aux mille passages!"
"Uh huh." I nodded, "I heard passages, so I think that's right."
"Hmm... 20 kilomètres au nord." He pointed to the direction.
"North?" I double checked, "Hold on, 20 kilometers!?"
"Haha, vous êtes assez loin, monsieur cambrioleur." He laughed and laughed, "Now get out."
"Eh!? You can speak Entropic!?" I stood there surprised before he kicked me out of his house.
"Just that one line." He smiled, "Now get out."
Ain't no way... This guy's weird, so I should definitely listen to his advice and leave as soon as possible. But that speed... For him to be so fast that my Eyes couldn't even keep track of him, and then there's the fact he lives such a hermit lifestyle out here in no man's land... Yeah, fuck that, I ain't associating with him for even a second more.
"Then, thanks a bunch!" I waved back at him, but was only met with a shut door, "Yeesh, could've at least waved back..."
So this is my first impression of Simpleton, huh? A desert wasteland with only one super dangerous and scary guy whose physical prowess seems too good to be true. What a World we live in... Oh, but I guess that's the entire point of my journey - To see all the different and unconventional people that exist out in the World. Then, let's just be glad I didn't get killed and move on with our lives, shall we? Goes without saying, but if I told Olya what had transpired in that cabin, he'd probably mock me for just as long as he would chew me out, so I'll keep the details to a minimum just in case.
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"Ah shit..." I groaned in between breaths as I saw the tip of the giant-ass building in the far off distance, "There it is! Fuh, ack, stupid ass dust storms..!"
I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't even all that happy or elated to see my second ever World Wonder. True, the architecture is sublime, and the tower in the distance that looks to be a gazillion stories tall is equally as impressive, but just having one diamond in all this rubble won't really make it shine as much. If there was like a town or at least a village or something here, then I would understand, I guess, but this is just too jarring of a difference.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Olya should be around here somewhere." I said as I approached the person at the front entrance, "Hey, do you speak Entropic?"
"Hm?" He noticed from my speech pattern that I was foreign, "Ah, s'il vous plaît attendez là."
I guess that means to sit tight... Well, guess I'll check out whatever book he was reading that he so haphazardly left on the table... Mn? An Entropic dictionary? Hold on, if this dude was learning Entropic, then why the hell didn't he answer me? Huh, must be shy about it. I guess such people exist who are either unconfident about their grammar or uncertain of their pronunciation. Either way, I don't think I look like someone easily offended about it.
"Huh!?" The fat man suddenly made an appearance as the worker brought him over, "Schnell, you ass! Where've you been!? I've been looking all over for you!"
"Oh, spare me." I sighed in relief as I put the dictionary down, "I got separated, so I had to walk 20 kilometers to this damned place."
"Serves you right." He snickered, "Maybe next time you'll actually think about the right destination, idiot."
"It's your fault for holdin' onto all the teleporters back to the lair!" I pointed to his pockets, "If you had given me some, I could've at least recalled and tried again, but nooo you just had to hog 'em all, didn't you!?"
"A-Ah, monsieur!" The scaredy librarian whimpered, "Restez silencieux pendant que vous êtes à la bibliothèque."
"The fuck does this guy want?" I pointed to him as I asked Olya.
"Sigh, he said to be quiet." He then turned to apologize to the guy in my stead, "Désolé, nous allons partir maintenant."
"Huh? You can speak Simpletonese?" I tilted my head.
"Oh yeah." He revealed, "I forgot to mention that I made myself fluent in all five languages. Helps a ton if you're gonna travel the World, y'know?"
"You absolute jackass!" I shook him up as I yelled in the library, "Why'd ya' leave me out, then! I almost died to some random hermit because of the language barrier!"
"Huh? You did?" He then furrowed his brows, "Or did you perhaps try one of your "jokes" and got yourself into needless troubles?"
"Urk! Uhh, I guess I might've tried one little joke to lighten the mood..." I recalled me threatening the poor bastard with his own kitchen knife, "B-But that's unimportant! Look, I've had enough of this damned place, so let's just go back the lair now that we've both touched the World Wonder."
"Actually, we didn't." He chuckled.
"What?"
"Yeah, the actual "Wonder" part comes from the name, it seems." He explained, "It's the Library of a "Thousand" Passages. In other words, we have to get to the very top of the Library for it to actually count. Trust me, I actually went up to the tenth floor and I still didn't see that Green light indicating I checked it off the list."
"Whaaat?" I slumped forward, on the very verge of throwing a childish tantrum, "You're saying we have to go... All the way up there!?"
"I'm afraid so." He then pointed to his new librarian friend, "But for us to gain access there, you're gonna need to get yourself a library card. Hanque can get that settled for you."
"Ugh, fine..." I then turned to the squeamish librarian dude, "Ayo, Hank. Gimme a library card, and make it snappy!"
"Hm?" He looked completely lost, "Library, library... Library?"
"Bibliothèque." Olya whispered.
"Ah! Une carte de bibliothèque!" He raised his voice before the dude's coworker scolded him, "P-Pardon..."
That being said, the dude seemed alright, all things considered. He's kind of awkward and weird, but if anything, that just seems to make him look more harmless. He's willing to give it his all to help too, so it's not like I'm gonna bash him about it. I could definitely see now why Olya and him got to become friends with each other. Hell, I would too probably if I could understand a lick of what he was saying. The entire process was straightforward enough - They had me write my name and current country of residence, which I guess would be Sibirus? In any case, after that they just told me that the card expires in a year and after that I had to redo it, but I probably won't be needing to use it after this anymore anyways, so who cares. Of course, it was largely thanks to Olya serving as our translator that we even managed to get this far into the conversation. For that, I guess I should at least be thankful.
"Well, now that that's done..." Olya patted me on the back as I inspected the small stiff card they gave me, "Let's go to the top, bud!"
"Haha, finally!" I shoved the card in my pocket as I started rushing to the stairs, "First one to the top gets-!"
"Schnell!" He kind of angrily whispered, "You're in a library! You know the rules, right? No running and no yelling!"
"W-What?" I chuckled as I glanced at all the people staring at me, "O-Oh, okay..."
"Guess it can't be helped." Olya laughed a bit as he slowly made his way to where I was on the stairs, "Let's enjoy this place while we can. Who knows, we might even find some interesting books that'll help us on our travels."
"Sigh, you think?" I kind of gave up as I tiredly followed closely behind, "Man, going this slow is actually more painful than running at top speed..."
"You're such a child." He mocked me from atop the first flight of stairs, "A man baby is what you are!"
"Okay, that's it!" I started speedwalking up the stairs to catch him, "Now you're gettin' it, fatso!"
"Ack, shiet!" He jolted before increasing his speed as well, "Oi, don't go running in the library, man!"
"I'll stop when I beat the shit outta' ya'!" I laughed as I turned my speedwalk into a slow run.
"Fuck!" He quietly shouted, "I just wanna read, man!"