Leon roamed the halls of the castle in search of familiarity. ‘I’ve been walking around for god knows how long!’ Gripping his head in frustration. On numerous attempts, Leon tried to get directions. He’d come across a maid at first and spoke to her. The young lady seemed confused at his words, brutally reminding him of the language barrier. From there, he utilized hand gestures to show where he wanted to go.

Leon used gestures like resting his head on his hands to represent sleeping, hoping to be guided to the barracks. This was met with mild anxiety in the young lady’s eyes. Quickly, he attempted to dispel her fear by trying to appear more friendly, forcing out a smile… it didn’t work. The maid took a few steps back and swiftly shuffled her way out before running away entirely.

‘Okay, smiling doesn’t work.’ Leon thought, recognizing that a complete stranger inside the sanctum of their castle who doesn’t speak their language and was frantically doing hand gestures and forcing out a creepy smile wasn’t the best idea.

Unfortunately, with no other plan of action in mind, Leon continued with his strategy. Albeit with different experimental motions. He found another maid and butler. This time, he imitated eating a turkey leg like the one he had eaten earlier.

That was also a shit decision.

Turns out, ripping off invisible meat with your mouth is much scarier than doing a bunch of sleeping gestures. ‘Does everyone here think I’m a scary monster that wants to put them to eternal slumber or eat their limbs or something?’ Acknowledging the nonsensical behavior.

Leon had assumed that the residents of the castle would be informed of the ‘brave warriors’ arriving. It was that or just they feared people from an unknown world… specifically those that look and act like Leon.

This interaction repeated for a while until a native-sounding tongue pierced his ear as he scared off his final victim. “Quite the reputation you’re building.”

With a head held low, Leon turned around to be met with a large bosom. Taking a step back, he looked up to see a familiar woman. With a face as flushed as a tomato, Leon stuttered. “M-miss, Kassandra. I believe?”

She was much taller than he’d thought upon close examination. Leon guessed that she was almost 180 centimeters. The woman wore a friendly smile as she looked him up and down.

“It seems like that bookworm William left you to your own devices. Here, follow me. Can’t have you scaring off any more of the servants.” With that said, she started to walk off in the direction she’d come from originally.

Shaking off his sudden cold feet, he began treading on her heels, “I’m sorry about all the misunderstandings, with the language problem and all, it was hard to get directions and when I tried to -” Abruptly being cut off by laughter. His hysterical over-explanation clearly being an enjoyable display to Kassandra.

Kassandra slowed her pace and stood beside Leon as they walked. “Ah, sorry for laughing. I completely understand the pains you had to overcome. The servants were talking of a vicious otherworlder who was going around terrorizing them.”

Wiping her eye, she continued. “And low and behold, the monster I find is a kid who’s confused and abandoned by his guardian, that being William in this scenario.” She finally took a breath.

Leon was still red with embarrassment but tried his best to act mature… until she called him a kid. “I’m an adult, you know.”

Kassandra’s eyes widened. “Really? How old are you? Wait, never mind. Your world’s sense of time may be different from ours. Does your world also determine days based on the sun rising and setting?”

It was an odd question but Leon saw the pure unadulterated curiosity within her eyes, so he obliged and explained it to her. Of course, he took a moment to tame the exploding red shade overtaking his visage. “We do. We also have 365 days in a year. Assuming that you all use years as well.”

The two continued to discuss calendars and times with each other as they walked. It was a surprisingly fruitful conversation. Leon learned that the world of Thalan had three major seasons. The names were difficult to remember as they were foreign words, but they were essentially similar to Summer, Fall, and Winter. They didn’t have Spring, which was sad, but they categorized it as part of winter for the most part.

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“So, there are 256 days per year here?” Leon said, gaining a nod in response.

The two were approaching another arched doorway. Pulling himself from his train of thought, he looked at the not-so-familiar surroundings. Noticing Leon’s pause in their conversation, Kassandra went on to explain.

“It’d be pretty strange if you return already. I’d even suspect that some of your companions wouldn’t be too keen on sharing a room with someone who has possible ‘side-effects’ from breaking a mysterious orb.”

Leon was impressed by her foresight in such a matter. He hadn’t considered how the others would react to him. This doesn’t even begin to mention the fact that Leon really didn’t want to explain what happened and be the center of attention again. He felt exhausted from his minute of fame and honestly just didn’t want to do useless things.

“Thank you. How long should I stay for?” Leon inquired.

Shuffling through her pocket for a key, Kassandra spoke without looking. “You can stay here for the night. This is my study, by the way. Your current room is temporary, and you’ll probably be getting a new one tomorrow.” Finally finding her key, she unlocked the door and stepped through it.

Leon followed inside, immediately noticing the chaos within. The best way he could describe the area’s current state was a chemistry lab experiment gone horrid. Tables full of glass tubes, liquids, cauldrons, and the like occupied the study. Towers of unsorted papers resided in the corner and if you looked hard enough… you could see the floor. Gizmos and gadgets lay in the wasteland, accompanied by odd stains. Burn marks scorched some of the visible floor, papers, and books.

‘Quite the contrast to the last office.’ Leon profoundly discovered.

“Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, we have fewer days in the year than you.” Kassandra exclaimed, clapping her hands.

Her voice pulled him back from his wandering mind. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on their previous conversation. “Yeah… so that would make me older here, I guess.” The mental calculations were too much for him.

“Oh yes, you did say you were older than you appear. How old are you in your time?” Kassandra asked with a sparkle of curiosity coming back to her.

“Ah… I’m twenty-one this year,” Leon spurted out. Finding it strangely hard to say it. Did he feel embarrassed about the question? As their conversation progressed on the way to the study, Leon realized that it was a kind of childish feeling to want to prove his age and, more importantly, his maturity. He always struggled with the feeling of people undermining him and treating him like a child. This was due to him taking on the mantle of head of the household early on.

It never sat well with him when he thought about all the things he had to give up raising his sister and himself. Things like college and dating flew out the window so, in essence, his young adult life was stripped from him. So, when people treated him like a child, it truly stung. ‘I’ve been through too much shit to be called a kid… but it’s such a childish thing to think,’ realizing the folly in his thought process.

Kassandra took the number in for a moment, “So you’d be almost thirty here. Huh, you truly are older than you say. You’re only three of my years younger than me in our time.”

He was cheerful at the recognition and surprised at the small age gap. ‘She really is young. How did she get such a high position?’ This thought ended early with a resounding thud as Kassandra slammed her hands on a table, shaking the miscellaneous objects in the room.

“So! What age is considered adulthood in your world? Thalan has varying age ranges based on where you grow up but here in the kingdom of Wroven, you are considered an adult at twenty, but I guess that would be like fourteen for your world. Oh, and what is your race? You look human but one can’t always be too sure. What’s the average life expectancy there? Where does -”

Leon was absolutely bombarded with questions and information as Kassandra rambled. She had clearly been holding herself back until now. The sparkle in her eyes became flames the moment they settled into the study. He was honestly thankful for her consideration towards his ears until now.

If anyone looked like a child right now, it was Kassandra.

Expanding his mind as much as possible, Leon attempted to take in as much as he could from her and return her questions. When he started to speak, Kassandra’s lips instantly zipped shut. Her ears seemingly wriggling in anticipation. Leon told her about his country’s legal age, his lesser human status, how long they lived… every question he could remember her asking. They were all general questions for comparison between their worlds. Leon enjoyed the conversation a lot, he'd learned a lot about Kassandra’s world and his own. Perhaps some of Kassandra’s fervent curiosity rubbed off on him. Her passion was contagious.

If Leon were to say he wasn’t beyond exhausted at this point, he would be lying. He couldn’t bring himself to make her stop and a small part of him enjoyed comparing and learning. It reminded him of his time in school and how he missed it, oddly enough.

He knew he had to end it eventually. The conversation was finally slowing down so Leon capitalized on this lull.

“So, Kassandra… where am I supposed to sleep?”