It has been three weeks since I woke up in this world. After my tragic defeat in the arm wrestling match, Maras had taken me to his office. It took some effort, but with a lot of gesturing, pencil drawings and trial and error, we managed to reach an understanding. He offered me food, drink and a roof over my head if I helped out at the inn. On top of that, during my off hours, he would tutor me in the language of this world. Honestly, it was pretty much the best offer I could’ve gotten in this situation.
While lounging on my bed, I looked at my card again. I still wasn’t completely sure on how exactly these stats work in this world, but I could at least make some sense of it now. Stats were highly influential on how your body operated and felt very much like a role playing game.
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* Strength governs both raw physical strength and encumbrance limits.
* Toughness lessens the amount of damage a person takes from any source. This was the first stat to increase after having both my hands crushed on the table.
* Endurance governs stamina, as well as resistance to status effects, sleep and disease.
* Dexterity governs small motoric functions and nimbleness.
* Speed governs large motoric functions, maximum movement speed and reflexes.
The other two stats, magic power and magic capacity dealt with magic, but Maras told me I wouldn’t have to worry about those for now.
The two numbers behind each stat would specify the persons’ current and their maximum possible value respectively. This explained why everyone was so surprised and worried about me at first. With having zeroes across the board, it would mean I would be the weakest human in existence, with no hope of ever increasing. It’s still a mystery as to why my stats were able to increase above their supposed limit, but I definitely won’t be complaining about that.
There was a knock on my door.
“Novis, get up already! The place is slowly filling up with people, and we need the help.”
“I am coming!”
The language isn’t easy to learn, but it isn’t exactly hard either. Being thrown into the deep end really helped speed up the process though. I’m still struggling and can only speak basic sentences in a terrible accent, but at least I’m generally able to understand what someone else is saying.
I quickly put the card in my pocket, hopped off my bed and opened the door. Greeting me was Michael, the bartender. He was a slightly overweight middle-aged man, and had his dark blonde hair bound in a low ponytail. His round face was adorned with a short beard. He wore the staff’s outfit, but in addition had a stylish waistcoat over his blouse.
“Good morning sleepyhead! How was your nap?”
“Ehh, I did not sleep much.”
“Well, as long as you keep your legs moving and don’t drop every other drink, I’ll be happy.”
“Is one in five dropped drinks ok?”
I replied jokingly. Michael let out his signature bellowing laugh.
“Bwahaha, even when you’re barely able to communicate, you’re still being such a smartass.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Of course you can’t, you’re being trained by us, the damn best staff in the damn best Adventurers Guild in the whole of Landsof!”
“Hmm, maybe Rebecca is on that list, but you I doubt.”
“Tough words coming from you junior! My heart bleeds! Do I need to remind you about your first week here?”
“Please no.”
Michael slapped his hand on my shoulder, while letting out another laugh. His slap caused me to lurch forward and start coughing. Ignoring my coughing fit, he simply smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you junior.”
“I know.” I tried to return his smile in between my coughing.
While the other staff members were all really nice and polite, I’m truly glad Michael took me under his wing. We’re both something you would describe as sarcastic asses, so it felt refreshing to have someone to quip back and forth with. Well, it was mostly him digging into me, but I managed to have a retort or two.
“Aaaand, down you go!”
Michael’s hand on my shoulder suddenly launched me forwards down the stairs. I tried to keep my balance, but on the fifth step I fell over and tumbled down the rest of the way ending at the bottom of the stairs with a loud crash. I could hear his voice booming from the top.
“Ohoho! You got to the fifth step today! You’re really improving! How’s the damage?”
It took me a bit to recover from my dizziness before I could assess myself.
“Nothing’s broken.”
“Any increase?”
Still laying on the ground, I took out my card, but the numbers were still the same.
“No, not this time.”
Michael descended the stairs and helped me get back to my feet.
“Ah, don’t worry about it junior, there’s always next time. Your growth has been exceptionally fast anyway, so there’s bound to be some duds here and there.”
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“I only worry about you killing me by accident.”
“Heh, seems your mouth’s just working fine. Time to get to work junior. Can you bring out a case of Karmelsan wine from out back? Oh, and two large special mead bottles from Khazadur?”
“Yes sir.”
Michael quickly turned to the patrons who were staring at us in surprise.
“Ah dear customers, don’t worry, this is all part of his special training! Now, what can I get for you?”
Leaving Michael to deal with the customers, I quickly made my way to the storeroom. I had quite a few sore spots from ‘special training’, but I didn’t mind it too much. I was pretty happy that the staff was accommodating and Michael was definitely putting in extra effort. Although I did wish his ‘special training’ would be less of a surprise and more on a schedule.
Really though, the people here are so nice.
The first few days starting out were very tough. I first assumed that my body wasn’t moving well because of the hangover, but it became obvious that the real reason was all my stats being zero. I started out helping in the kitchen, but I was regularly dropping plates, running out of breath and unable to lift anything remotely heavy. Still, the staff was patient and friendly throughout the whole ordeal.
Gradually most of my physical stats were increasing with the repeated work I was doing. Except for the ‘toughness’ stat, but that was where Michaels’ ‘special training’ came into play. I’m glad Maras was thoughtful enough to explain to me beforehand, otherwise Michael and I would most likely have a different kind of relationship.
Having arrived at the storeroom, it wasn’t too much trouble to find the case of Karmelsan wine and the Khazadurian bottles. I stacked the bottles on top of the crate but I didn’t get very far after that.
Damn, are you kidding me!? Did these bottles really push me over the weight limit?
Another weird game-like rule in this world was its encumbrance rule. No, weird is actually an understatement, it’s flat out ridiculous. When you go over your weight limit, your movement speed is slowed to a crawl. It didn’t matter if the thing you picked up was as light as a feather, or a heavy crate, as soon as that threshold is breached, you can only move at a snail's pace. No matter how much you try to struggle against it. It’s not even that the items feel heavy. I was able to easily lift the crate with the bottles.
With a defeated sigh, I put down the bottles on the floor. It’s best to just make this trip twice than shuffle around slowly. I started to carry the case of wine back to the bar.
It’s simply bizarre! How would this even work from a place of common sense? I mean, I expected some weirdness, with it being a different world which has magic and all, but this feels like such a weirdly arbitrary rule. If this world has gods, I’d definitely have a few choice words to say to them.
When I returned to the bar with the case of wine, Michael raised an eyebrow. Before he could try to make fun of me, I answered his unspoken question.
“No, I did not forget the bottles, they put me over the weight limit.”
“Bwahaha, it seems I will need to put some extra care in raising your strength stat then!”
“Please do.”
With a short bow, I excused myself from the bar and headed back to the storeroom to pick up the bottles. When I was about halfway, I got intercepted by a small pack of horrors. Well, they’re not actually horrors, but some of the kids that were part of the orphanage. Apparently it is common practice to put orphanages inside the Adventurers Guild compound in this world. Almost every city had an Adventurers Guild, and Temire, the Capital of Novaria was no exception.
When I asked Maras about it, he mentioned that it was the safest place for vulnerable children to be, but I still feel like that explanation didn’t cover the full story.
The kids wasted no time in stating their reason for surrounding me.
“Novis, Novis, will you come play again when you’re done with work today?”
“If Michael allows it.”
“Hehehe, then we’re going to ask him about it ourselves!”
I already knew what his answer was going to be, so I quietly resigned myself to another exhausting evening of taking care of the kids. Michael noted that playing with the kids also was an excellent way of training all my stats. He wasn’t wrong, the little rascals definitely forced me through all kinds of trials and tribulations.
Suddenly I felt a small hand patting me softly on my lower back.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they play nice.”
It was Ella, the little girl who crushed my hands when I first arrived. I had learned she’s actually twelve years old, but was just small for her age. According to the people running the orphanage, she had somehow taken a liking to me. I wasn’t completely sure how I felt about that, since I’ve never been great with kids. I always feel a little uncomfortable dealing with them, but I’m sort of glad that one of them was being friendly. Trying to be nice, I stroked her head and smiled.
“Thank you. I feel much safer.”
“Iiiiiiiihihi~”
She had a happy and proud mix of emotions on her face, and quickly ran after the other’s giggling. Feeling like I did the right thing, I resumed my assigned task of fetching the bottles for Michael with a smile.
When I returned to him, the devilish grin on his face was painfully obvious.
“What evil have you planned for me?”
“Bwahaha, I just had our local gang come up to me asking if I would be so gracious as to let you entertain them after you’re done working.”
“Yeah, and of course you agreed. But why the evil smile?”
“Oh junior, you know I’m not planning anything evil. I’m simply looking out for you! So I had this great idea. You know that the kids like to play make-believe between adventurers and monsters, right?”
Nonono, I know where this is going. Please don’t do this to me Michael. I gave him a silent glare.
“Bwahahaha, I can see you guessed what I suggested to those lovely kids. They get to be the adventurers, and you get to be the monster! Perfect for some extra toughness training, no? Especially since the stairs didn’t seem to pull their weight today.”
I hung my shoulders in defeat. It actually wasn’t such a bad idea on the surface, but these children can go a little overboard. I silently prayed that Ella would watch over me, before immediately feeling a little embarrassed trying to depend on a youngster.
“Yes sir.” I answered dejectedly.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure they won’t break anything. Now, could you take care of this section of tables?”
“Ehh, but those tables are for regulars? I can’t provide good service yet.”
“Again with the worries Junior, you should be a little bit more self confident!”
“Maybe if I had a better teacher.”
“You wound me junior! At any rate, the regulars specifically asked for you.”
“Huh, why?”
“It’s pretty logical, these are adventurers. Of course something interesting and mysterious as you is going to draw their attention! They’ve actually been pestering me about it for the past two weeks, but I can’t keep them away forever.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I was actually being sincere, but I still didn’t know how to properly express myself in their language.
“Ha, I told you I’m looking out for you. Anyway, just do your best, they know a bit about your situation, so they’ll be lenient. Just don’t spend too long answering all their questions!”
Michael ended with another bellowing laugh. His positive attitude was infectious and I found myself in a pretty good mood shortly after. This mood didn’t last long however. Before most of the regulars showed up, a group of people that didn’t seem to fit in arrived at the inn. Well, it would be more proper to say they marched in.