Hello! Useless author here! I'm currently trying to rewrite everything, meaning that all the content in the chapters will soon* be completely changed, my desire to bang my head against a wall will increase and the synopsis will certainly get a little face-lift aswel. So if you had previously read the chapters or about to do it, just forget. Thanks for the attention.
*take note that the meaning of the word 'soon' is extremely relative, could be a month, three months, half a year...Dependent on my ability to write something of acceptable quality which is extremely uncertain.
Chapter 3: Shopping, Stroll in the forest and Burly bears.
"Could you..."
"Go away and leave a little girl on her own in the middle of a crowded place? Where is the 'i am going to hold your hand but it is not because i want it but because you would be lost without me pulling you around'?" I responded by mimicking her high pitched voice and continued with a sigh on a more serious tone " I understand. I will take a little stroll around the market. If you need to find me, follow the stares"
And after saying that i turned toward the other side of the place while raising my hand in a 'see ya' motion to the little girl at my back
Now on my own, I first went toward the fountain i previously noticed in the center of the market and took a sip from the crystal-clear water flowing from the modest work of art that was that fountain, quenching the thirst slowly appearing in my throat.
Hmm~ Nice taste, without a spec of pollution and refreshing. As expected from the water flowing directly from the glaciers of the Scion Mountains. A water so clear that you can see your own reflexion on its calm surface.
Wait...This man in the water...
It's me?
Stangely, it was as if i became a bit more handsome.
I don't know, it's like my features were more clear, firm and manly. the few spots i had on my skin were nowhere to be seen and my blue eyes as my brown hair were more bright and dazzling, it looked like the shades flowed.
Is that what happen when you come from a poorly mana concentrated place to a richly one? It's super effective! No need for cosmetics anymore, takes mana shots!
All of this is good but I can see one problem though...
My hair are in a complete mess! I look like Einstein! Fix! Fix! Fix!
I quickly fixed my haircut under the stare of the crowd looking at me like at a circus animal, yeah i'm human get over it already!, using some of the crystal clear water and once satisfied with my look i then continued to journey through the stalls.
There was a big diversity of products from cheese to carpet passing by all the localy cultivated fruits and veggies, monster and other games spoils, souvenirs and even some rare magic items but nothing was to my interest.
There was that fox man who didn't read the mood or simply didn't understood my origins and still tried to sell me a 'magic' musical box playing a calm tune, unfortunately the music box couldn't compete with my phone which its earphones already found their way in my ears.
I had a hard time restraining myself from shoving it into his loose mouth while shouting "Science bitch!" to put an end to the unstoping flow of word escaping his throat but i chose a more pacific solution. The Rascism!
Simply by pointing at my ears he lost his colors and stayed frozen in his pose. Not willing to get into trouble i took it as if our discussion ended and continued my stroll without other interruption.
Atleast until a woman wearing thin clothes next to an oddly coloured tent intercepted me, saying that she was willing to read my fate for free but once she begun to barbling about the end of the world i left and ignored her to continue my morning stroll under the heavy strares in quest of something interesting.
Ten minutes and countless death stare later, i found that interesting thing! I knew that a town this near of a monster den couldn't not possess something like that! A weapon dealer!
There, at the edge of the place where the north-west main street made junction with the center of the city that a store build with stone bricks and devoid of any superflu vegetation was proudly showing a signboard with the picture of shield stacked over a sword!
It was with star in the eyes that i pushed the heavy wooden door open to enter the weapon racks filled room where a big burly man with bear ears was lustring a warhammer behind the counter, staying focused on his work he didn't even lifted an eye to look at the person entering his shop.
I shrugged it thinking that if he don't look at me, he won't kick me out because I'm human and looked at the weapon displayed with the same eyes as a child in the a toy shop.
There was around fifty weapons on display, most of them being in the heavy category, badass axes, badass sledgehammers, badass greatswords, badass halbards, badass owner, nearly everything could get the adjectif 'badass' only judging by the size and pattern of the weapons on the racks. Most of them had the same kind of drawing, engravings and were made of the same blueish grey alloy, most probably meaning that they were crafted by the same blacksmith also judging from the quality of his work this guy know what he do with his hands.
I stayed a good while appraising the exposed articles.
Too bad that I'm not that efficient with badass category weapon... *sigh* that's really too bad.
I can only leave if there isn't anything for me here...
But i really like the tribal design of these weapon and they look to be of first quality too...
...Fuck it, i will ask
"Mister the owner, do you perhaps have something a little bit lighter, like swords or daggers?"
Using the most respectful tone i could muster, i asked the old man behind the counter if he, by chance, had something else than heavy weaponry but he only raised one eye toward me, probably judging my strength, before chuckling a bit.
"Something that could fit a pussy like you? Ha! Good one boy! We don't serve people who didn't proved their strength! you have to be worthy of wielding Uril's fine work! Come back when you will be able to kill a sluth without dying like a slime shit."
Dude you aren't a npc in a rpg, stop giving subjugation quests when i ask you what you have in stock...
Meh, i don't have anything else to do anyway so why not play along?
"What if i could actually beat one?" I asked with a wide grin in the prospect of something interesting i could finally do.
"Don't joke around and go back home, boy..."
His tone wasn't a joking one anymore and grew threatening, but so was mine, serious atleast. As for threatening, how could a one meter eighty five young man look threatening in front of a one meter ninety five man who look to have be given steroid since childhood?
"If i bring you a sluth, will you show me your best wares?"
Immediately after i asked that he finally looked at me right in the eyes and begun to laugh, a deep and very manly laughter.
"Gahahaha you got balls boy, not much would react like you while hearing the word 'sluth'. It's either that you are really confident or completely ignorant but so be it. You can bring me the thing here or at Uril's forge and i will show you something that might fit you, if you survive that is. And now go the fuck out, i will get a bad reputation if the folks see me speaking to a human"
"Still this racism huh? Meh, don't care. see ya old man!"
I turned toward the door waving my hand like i did to Elik, finally having what i wanted, a pastime. It's not funny to be in thrown into a fantasy world without anything to do afterall.
"See ya- hey you brat! I'm not ol-"
And i closed the door, cutting him in the middle of his rebuke
Hmmm~ that's nice to finally have an objective~
Just have to find a kill an overgrown black sloth killing machine able to turn invisible in the forest and tore iron appart with its red claws, only part of his body it is unable to hide...
Easy~
If my memory is right, some of its parts can be processed into tonics.
Steed tonic, if you know what i mean. The old man wasn't that old though, maybe in his early thirty...
Well, other's erection disorders aren't my business.
Now where to go?
*growl*
Oh...I forgot that i was hungry...
I could only save on french toast from the hyenas onslaught afterall.
Seriously do things in harmony with your look, if you look like a delicate woman, be a delicate woman, if you look like a cute child, be dumb and don't question the mob psychology, if you are a big burly man, sell weapon with an uninteressed expression. if you look weak and pathetic, be weak and pathetic. if you are someone who crossed between planes of existence by using the power of a being close to god to fix the shits that happen in its world, go slay something dangerous and save the day... wait that's my situatio-*growl*
Yeah! i know already stomach! So stop cutting me when i introspect while walking on a place filled with xenophobic beastmen staring at me like at some sort of boogeyman going to enslave them!
I suffer as much as you so shut up and let me find something to eat!
Thus my next destination was clearly designated.
Toward food!
Smelling around, i tried to find a food stall but quickly came to two understandings when i finally found one selling white bun dish.
....People hate me and i don't have a penny in the pocket....
This bastard, why didn't he atleast sent me here with some money. You don't send people out of their world without money!
*sigh*
The only thing i can do now is trying to find Elik in this huma.. beastman maze.
Let's first go toward the fountain, with its central position she might be able to notice me with all those heavy stares plundering my back constantly.
Yeah sounds good~
With this thought in mind i came back to the fountain by passing through another section of the market, this part was dedicated to clothes and accessories. Ofcouse nothing was to my taste, i don't have the gender to wear butterfly brooch or green vine patterned extra tight robes afterall.
Still the future festival brought a lot of people, after checking my phone it only was past 8.30 am and the passage between the stalls were already crowded enough to make me slalom my way through, a chance that they try to keep their distance from me.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Seriously guys, stop acting like that. It begins to become really awkward for me.
As i was nearing the fountain, i felt a light pull at my sleeve, looking downward to get a glimpse of the person calling me, my eyes met another pairs of emerald eyes
"Good, i was looking for you"
"Me too, i finished buying everything for today so we can bring the basket back home before going at Moss place, let's go"
She said as she showed me her basket completely full of ingredients.
Looks like their medicine sells well and they aren't in need of anything...so envious.
To think that i had to work twenty hours a weekend to pay for my rent, schoolarship and daily necessities. But it's all over now, if Landar stick to his words that is.
I took the presented basket which must have been heavy for her small frame and once i had everything in hand Elik linked our hand and dragged me, again, through the crowd toward where we came from.
Could you please consider the possibility of me being a capable and responsible adult? please?
I stealthily tried to free my hand but the moment i was beginning to pull she turned my way with a really dark expression giving a 'i'm having fun so don't ruin it, faggot', scary!
Because my last action was not well taken the atmosphere turned akward thus i tried to open the dialogue with the strange sulking organism to improve the mood.
"Moss...Mya mentioned this name before, saying that he helped dragging me but who is he?"
"He is a friend of us and he works as a lumberjack outside the city. Each morning if we don't need to work we go at his place to discuss and have some tea, when Mya don't give me too much work, i sometimes come back in the evening like it was the case yesterday." Judging from the smile which replaced her frown my diplomatic tactic somehow worked.
Because you never change a winning team let's continue with this modus operandi.
"And the other one, Lythe was it?"
When she heard me say 'Lythe' her expression became a bit more complicated, let me guess critical failure at my dice roll of charisma?
"He is my childhood friend, we were together at Moss cabin when we found you but i wouldn't advise you to meet him"
"Why is that?"
"He is a Feliv..."
Ouch! A Feliv!
it's right that Humans and Feliv aren't the best mix as to why i say that.
Earlier, I mentioned the ruling system of this country right? Well the Felivs are one of the dominant clan, they 'own' some part of this forest and a bit some more territory outside.
If they only were a bunch of snob nobles it wouldn't be a problem but they aren't like that. They are a military clan composed of racist battle junkies at the monstuous strengh who hates humans.
They hate human to the point that they hold a kind of convention to speak about their hate, demonstrate their strength on human shaped pinata and show their artistic side with paintings and sculptures themed on human slaughter. Truly an entertainment for the whole family...
Ahem.
In short they are an influent anti-human faction in this country.
Hearing her response i raised a hairbrow and spoke with admiration.
"And you were able to convince a Feliv to help a human? Not bad"
"It really was pain, you know? He couldn't stop complaining and saying things like "if my sister learn of this she will kill me", "are you sure it's safe? He could have diseases or be dangerous" or "i will get banned from my clan if i touch him" but i still got my way with him, you should praise me for that!"
She can be surprisingly childish when time comes, beside with our hands linked and the the way she act we look like siblings coming back home. I never had the occasion to do something like that with my sister who is still on earth. It's refreshing though.
Don't hearing me respond she pulled my arm and spoke with a half pleading half angry tone, pouting slightly
"Hey! Praise me!"
Like seriously? the old man was acting like in a rpg and now this girl is acting like a tsundere in a third-rate dating simulator, Landar are you sure that you dropped me in the good world?
...
Well you have to make the best of things thus i lightly patted the upper part of her head saying "Yeah, Yeah good girl" making her blush slightly and produce a "guehehehehehe" creepy laughter.
Wait...
...This strange laugh remind me of someone, i know but i can't pinpoint who... how unnerving
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We quickly came back at their home and put everything in the reserve before exiting once again but this time to walk toward the outside of the city, in the forest.
After we passed the guards keeping the door who looked intently at me while strengthening their grip on their weapons, ready to cut me in half if i ever breathed wrongly, Elik explained me more accurately where we must go to reach our destination.
Moss place was at some twenty minutes on foot east of the city. Apparently there was sixty lumberjacks working in this area.
For a city this big I'm even surprised that they don't need more hands but if you think about the fact that we are in mid-spring it's normal few people would use firewood to warm themselves with such an enjoying weather, thus only the woodcutter needed by the carpenters are actually working.
To get there we had to follow a wide and well maintained road passing through the forest. It was relatively frequented because we crossed three carriages filled with long logs pulled by tamed malboons, herbivorous quadruped mammals the size of a horse looking like whales with elephant feet that you can meet in savage state in the forest, some peddler with their caravan and an unit of the city scout, like you could expect from them they were really cautious of me, like really, to the point that if Elik hadn't stepped in to explain the circumstances they were going to hunt me like an animal. Making me realize that I will need to buy a cloak and hide my face if i want to somehow to live here.
Elik explained to me that this road linked CaelCirk and Mendel, two of the top fives cities ruling over the external part of the forest. That's why there is a lot of activity and why the road is so well maintained.
Along the stroll i tried multiple times to free my hand that Elik had held since we got out of the house but she wouldn't let go of me no matter what thus i accepted my fate.
If you forget the xenophobics faggots trying to kill me each fifty meters, it was a pleasant stroll. It was so peaceful that i nearly forgot that some five kilometers north there was hell on earth. I don't know why but i feel like i will have to go there for Landar some day. BBBrrrrrr~
After following Elik's lead during twenty five minutes, because her little leg didn't allowed her to walk more quickly, we finally arrived at a wooden cabin with a fair amount of wood piled around it.
The cabin was big enough to have three rooms inside and had a little garden like structure near the entrance where was seated a muscular man with scars all over his face seemingly enjoying a cup of tea at the table in the middle of the garden thing.
Elik finally let go of my hand and waved at the huge figure of the man while shouting "Moss! eh oh!" before she rushing toward him
Me? I was still trying to close my agape mouth which opened herself at the view of this overly manly man showing so much refinement and calm in his drinking posture....
Pretty please! act like you should dammit! The gap is just too big! The man look like he could smash a head like a cranberry with the palm of his hand! He have a face that say 'beware dangerously violent' with all of his scars and his half torn left bear ear! How in the world could someone like that be so much out of context!?
Oh wait!
Burly and bear ears? Is he perhaps a relative of the weapon store owner?
"What are you doing dozing off like that? Come take a seat with us!"
Elik doesn't seeing me reacting came back and dragged my intoughts self closer to the table as well as closer to THE man.
"Greetings lad"
Once i was close enough Moss greeted me politely with his grave voice and extended his hand toward me.
Here we are more in the context, if he had a high pitched voice i don't know what would have happened.
"Ah-eh yes! Good morning mister Moss i presume? It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Zell, the man you rescued yesterday."
Because i was still thinking about how he looked i was slightly surprised when i realised that he waited for my reaction, i still shook hand with him by reflex and clumsily introduced myself meanwhile i tried to come back to reality.
"Pleased to meet you too Zell but i must admit that you surpised me, looking as fine as you are after being diagnosed as crippled Gahahaha! You have quite the vitality, don't you?"
Even the laugh is the same! I would bet my hand that these guys are siblings!
"Yeah, i heal fast"
When i said that, i saw his face grew red. Did i say something to anger him?! I don't want to fight against a muscle mountain like him!
"Gahahahaha! He heal fast he says! Gahahahaha! Elik did you hear him, healing fast! gahahahaha!"
Ow... it's safe! He only find me funny! Phew~
"Guhehehe He said the same thing this morning when i found him cooking us a breakfast as apology for the trouble guhehehe" continued a slightly chuckling Elik
That was the moment when Moss couldn't take it anymore, bright red and the corner of his mouth twitching he bursting in the biggest laughter i ever heard
"Bbbbreakfast gahahahaha! He was near the death door twelve hours ago and he- and he cooked breakfast to thanks you prffffft BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M BEGINNING TO LIKE YOU MATE!"
ARGH !
THIS LAUGH!
IT'S SO DAMN LOUSY THAT I HAVE TO SHOUT IN MY MIND IF I WANT TO HEAR MY THOUGHTS!
AND GUESS WHAT? IT'S FUCKING CONTAGIOUS! AND I'M INFECTED! HALP! SOMEONE SEND ME HALP!
"GAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Haha..ha..hahahaha!"
"Guehehehehehe!"
We laughed like that for a good while.
Seriously what's wrong with the people around me ?
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I NEED YOU :1more: to find the mistakes i left behind because i still hate them!
Don't hesitate to scout them and give me a report in the comments!