Today’s Earth date: August 21, 1991

Horcus unlocked a spell called Meteor. Before he could test it in the field, we got called to help fend off a bandit raid down in Taobh. That’s a little village not far from the Capital.

We won, but Horcus killed a few of our soldiers in the process. Meteor was more powerful than he expected, and he botched the aim. The weirdest part is that no one here is upset about it. Our escorts saw it was an accident, and since we’re the Heroes, those kinds of accidents are fine?

Horcus is pretty fucked up about it, though. Rathain, our party ranger, has taken responsibility for looking after and consoling him.

-The Journal of Laszlo the Paladin

***

The first experiment failed before it could start.

When Wayne and Fergus stepped outside the city walls, Goods Storage greyed out. As soon as Wayne stepped back through the gate, across the invisible line separating inside from outside, Goods Storage became usable again. Treating the ability like an infinite RPG inventory was out. If he was dying of poison in the forest and had a stack of cure potions in Storage, he would need to be back in town before he could access them.

Wayne recognized that his disappointment with a physics-defying magic ability was a bit absurd. Even restricted to town-use only, dimensional storage was a hell of a tool to have in his arsenal.

That added a new question to Fergus’ list. In total, the list read:

-Can a living thing survive being inside when Storage closes?

-Is temperature a constant in Storage?

-Does time pass at the same rate for items in Storage?

-What is the ability capable of storing when its description mentions “manufactured goods?”

-Can anyone enter Storage when the door is open, or is it limited to Wayne?

-Does the environment around Storage, such as a narrow hallway, affect the ability?

-Does Storage open the same space in every town, or does each town have its own unit?

The first question was why Fergus currently carried a chicken under his arm.

“You want to put the chicken into Storage?” Wayne asked.

A quick check with the Probe ability showed no one was around this corner of the park to witness a brutal chicken murder, but the act itself gave him pause. Live animal testing was frowned upon in his world, especially if instant death was a potential outcome.

“Correct,” Fergus answered. “Then close it and see what happens.”

“That feels a bit cruel.”

“Would you like to take the chicken’s place?”

No, Wayne would not like to do that. Testing on humans was frowned upon even more, and Wayne frowned upon testing on himself the most, but he needed to know more about how Storage worked before he put it to use. He would have to walk inside eventually. Closing the space with him inside didn't have a practical use he could think of, so he had no need to test how that affected a human specifically. He might, however, want to store a living creature at some point in the future.

Goods Storage.

Fergus tossed the chicken in and said, “Good luck, Penelope.”

“Oh god, Fergus. Don’t name it.”

“Every famous explorer needs a name.”

Wincing, Wayne closed his Storage.

When the portal closed, he heard a pop, like the sharp but small puff of air from a squished circle of bubblewrap. Penelope appeared where the doorway had been and promptly ran into the bushes. Being forcibly relocated in time and space might not be pleasant, even if you survived, Wayne realized.

Neither man was willing to test the same mechanic on themselves, but seeing the chicken live gave them enough confidence to go inside.

The unit seemed to have the same ambient temperature as the park outside, so they made a note to check again at night when it was cooler to see if that changed.

Wayne used Sword of Water to produce two hunks of ice. One went into Storage, and the other sat in the park grass. They had to wait a while, but once the ice outside was visibly melted, they reopened Storage and found that ice to be equally as melted.

That was another way his dimensional storage varied from video games or anime: Most of those systems stopped time. Food wouldn’t spoil if it was inside. In fact, it wouldn’t even lose temperature. A hot meal stored a week ago came out just as hot, as if no time had passed at all.

Items in Wayne’s Good Storage were still subject to decay, it seemed.

As for what could go into Storage, they couldn’t find anything the system rejected, aside from live chickens that is.

Both Wayne and Fergus could walk in and out as if it were any other room, but they learned that Storage didn’t work if the space was too narrow for the doorway itself to fully open. They figured that out by opening it between several trees with varying degrees of separation.

As for the last question, if each town had its own designated storage space or if it was shared, Fergus had a proposal.

“I’ve been thinking about this a good bit,” Fergus said. Wayne noticed his friend wringing his hands like he was nervous. “What if I went with you?”

“To another town?”

“Yes, and the rest of your journey as well.”

Wayne considered his friend, but Fergus spoke again before he could comment.

“I understand not wanting to drag around an old man. I didn’t mean to put you in an uncomfortable position.”

“No, that’s not it,” Wayne assured him. “I’m just surprised is all. You said you liked the simple life.”

“I do. I mean, I did. Or I do, and I don’t. Being friends with you has changed how I see my world, and hearing you talk about your regrets from your previous life has made me take a hard look at the choices I’ve made. For someone who studies the world, I’ve seen relatively little of it.”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“No, no, no,” Fergus said. “It’s the opposite. Because of you, I can see my own life more clearly. Even what we’re doing here in this park… it’s more fun than I think I’ve ever had.”

“What about your work at the Library?”

“Would you believe I’ve never taken a sabbatical? Not once in 40 years. Besides, I already got my budget approved.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Budget for what?” Wayne asked.

“This is a research project, so the Library is willing to cover most of my expenses, and I’ve got a good bit of gold I’ve never had reason to spend. But that all assumes you’re okay with me coming along, and I hate that I’ve become the person inviting themselves to a party.”

“Are you kidding? I’d love to have your company.”

“Really? I won’t slow you down?”

Wayne laughed. “No, but I also want you to slow me down. I have a hard time noticing the little things, and I’m prone to falling back into my old habits and old comforts. I spent half my time in Taobh tutoring for godsakes. Come with me, please.”

“I uhh… I’m… I’m quite moved by your kindness,” Fergus said, trying to hide the sound of him choking up.

“Life here would have been a lot harder with you. This is me trying to repay you in any way I can.”

Fergus hugged Wayne. “Then let’s pack so we can get going.”

***

Since they didn’t know if the same Storage would be accessible in the next town they visited, Wayne and Fergus agreed that using it for necessities was unwise. Anything they were sure they needed should be in their bags.

Fergus had a suggestion for non-necessities: books and wine.

“The problem with libraries is they can’t move,” he said. “All that knowledge, and you can’t get to it from anywhere else. If Storage lets us do that, we could have a whole slew of books on hand if we need them.”

Wayne liked that idea a lot. Limited access to information was one of the hardest parts of adapting to his new life, and a portable library was likely as close as he could get to Wikipedia in this world. Having a stash of wine sounded pretty good too.

Fergus didn’t sleep the night after their Storage experiments. He couldn’t, so he used that time to comb his shelves for useful books and to use the Library’s collection to fill any gaps. He dared someone to complain about him being late to return a book, insisting his seniority made it perfectly fine for him to remove references for an indefinite period of time.

His selection of books covered the following topics:

-World and regional history

-History and commentary on Chosen Heroes

-Atlases and maps

-Several monster bestiaries

-Guides for medicine and healing

-Plant identification manuals

-A layman’s summary of spellcasting

-An overview of developments in magery over the years

He also brought several blank notebooks and several bottles of ink. He put those next to his four cases of wine.

“You’re better at this than I am,” Wayne said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that, or not very quickly at least.”

“We scholars are thinkers, you know that.”

“And drinkers.”

“Aye. If this works, I’ll come home with the best wine collection in the country.”

“A familiar bottle of wine will be a nice reward after all that walking too,” Wayne said.

Fergus laughed. “If you think I’m following the path of the Heroes on foot, you're about as smart as Penelope. There’s a caravan leaving in three days, and I booked us a carriage. The plan still ends with wine. You got that part right.”

Heroes from books and games never traveled in luxury. Even traveling on horseback was uncommon for the party destined to conquer the demon king or to recover the world-saving mythical artifact. Heroes walked everywhere.

For a moment, Wayne had the thought that a comfortable carriage was like cheating, but then he recalled his status screen:

Hero: Wayne the Guy

Level: 4

HP: 101

STR: 14

AGI: 12

VIT: 6

LCK: 18

The system made it clear he was not a Hero. He was a scholar going on a working vacation. He might have to rough it at some point, but there was no benefit to subjecting himself to that if he had better options, like a posh carriage with padded seats and curtains you could close to sleep.

“We’ll see all the same sights as the Heroes,” Fergus continued, “we’ll just be less dirty and better rested doing it.”

That sounded pretty good to Wayne, and the costs didn’t seem to concern Fergus in the slightest.

“You should also know that while you were in Taobh I spent some time researching your Pages of Power–that’s their name now because I say so–and I have a lead for a page in Teagaisg.” Teagaisg was their next destination, a small city to the northeast.

“What? How?”

Fergus smiled. “You would have figured this out eventually, but it occurred to me that many people collect artifacts from the Chosen Heroes. Richfolk love having an interesting decoration that can impress guests, and Hero stuff is pretty good for that.”

Fergus asked an art dealer friend for ideas of where to look for Pages of Power, and she agreed with seeking out collectors. A noble in Teagaisg had one, in fact, and she was there recently to curate a collection of sculptures for that very noble, so he probably still had it.

“Couldn’t ask for a better lead,” Wayne said. “You really did all that while I was gone?”

Fergus waved him away. “It’s my job to think deeply about things. What started with wanting to give a friend a hand turned into my wanting to come along. Time well spent on all fronts.”

Wayne remembered Barry, the boy from Taobh moving to the Capital to attend school. Fergus wouldn’t be around to help him like he said he would be, but Wayne suspected he’d cope just fine.

“I’m glad you’re coming with me,” Wayne said. “We haven’t left, and I’m already enjoying this more than I would have alone.”

“When you can’t swing swords, got to find another way to be useful.”

***

Probe.

Counting the dots on his HUD map was easier than trying to count from the ground. The wagon caravan was long, and people milled about on either side, often disappearing from view.

Wayne counted thirtyfive people, ten wagons, and three carriages. Based on conversations he overheard, ten former soldiers would join the procession as well to provide security for the three-day journey to Teagaisg. The people were in blue, the wagons were in yellow, and the carriages were plain 8-bit gray. The wagons had valuables in them, so that stood to reason that yellow represented just that, valuables.

The carriage Fergus hired was fit for a princess, far fancier than what Wayne needed, but the seats were soft and the pillows were fluffy. With only two of them in the carriage, they’d have plenty of space to stretch out and stay comfortable during the journey.

The other wagons were what he expected: as large as the mules or horses pulling them could manage, packed full with sacks or boxes or some other such goods that could be sold in Teagaisg for a profit.

The only wagon of any real interest to Wayne had two cages in the back. Covered with tarps, they were as tall as he was and barely fit the wagon. Two red dots moved inside. A man checked the tack for the horses that would pull that wagon, so Wayne approached him and asked what he was delivering.

“Hellhounds.”

Wayne asked if that was unusual.

The man shrugged. “You’d be surprised what nobles get into. Are you in the market for an exotic pet? Would be happy to take you on as a client and find you what you want.”

Wayne said thanks but no thanks. As he ventured back to his carriage, he debated ducking into an alley and checking Goods Storage for information on hellhounds. The wagon guards had arrived, however, and the caravan seemed to be departing shortly. He didn’t want to miss his ride.

Back on Earth, Wayne hated to sit and wait for his plane to reach the gate. Knowing he would spend the next several hours crammed into an economy seat, he always passed his time in airports standing and walking. He found that habit resurfacing now as well. Fergus was already in the carriage with a book in his hand and a pillow behind his head, but Wayne waited outside, slowly pacing the length of the carriage and its team of horses.

He stopped at the carriage door when he thought of a question.

“Know anything about hellhounds?”

Fergus scratched his nose. “Pretty common in areas with a lot of volcanic activity.”

“Aggressive?”

“Yes, hellhounds are known to be ornery.”

Wayne mentioned the cages he saw, and Fergus seemed unsurprised. Trading rare creatures was a common hobby in this world, it seemed.

“The ultra-rich buy them directly from dealers,” Fergus explained. “Your average noble buys them from another noble when they get bored.”

They didn’t have hellhounds on Earth, but a similar practice was common with animals like tigers, lions, and snakes. Wayne had assumed that the inherent danger of monsters would deter that in this world, but a tiger was inherently dangerous too. Yet, some dude in the backwoods of Ohio would have one locked in a horse trailer for all of its life.

The longer he spent in this world, the more Wayne realized his greatest moments of shock and surprise didn’t come from discovering what was different. It came from discovering how much was the same.

As the carriage driver climbed up to his seat, he suggested Wayne get settled inside. The front of the caravan was beginning to move, and they would be following shortly.

Fergus was already asleep.