After a few minutes of walking, during which all I could hear were the sounds of the bodyguard’s armor moving with each step, Langford seemed to relax slightly, though he kept his eyes locked on the road ahead of us. I remained silent, and after a moment, he spoke.
“Angevin, I have a question for you. I assume you’re from the east, but the only country I could think of where someone of your, what I can only assume, noble heritage, would be allowed to wander like this would be the Zamunzian Empire, and as exile of sorts. Where do you come from? I’d like to know what country would have such strengths for healing.” He didn’t look towards me, rather his hand was on his chin.
I saw the bodyguard pause for a moment, before continuing his walk a bit slower. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about the empire, most of my life was focused on healing until recently.”
“Perhaps the Grand Duchy then, you simply don’t have the air of a Zamunzian human,” he answered, “I only assumed so because your robe seems be particularly high quality. Such a vibrant white isn’t common, even amongst nobility.”
“My origins aren’t important anymore,” I mused into the air, “It’s not like I can go back.”
“Which god did you say spoke to you, Angevin?” He asked. Ah, I see, he’s suspicious of me. Not all that surprising, I guess. So be it.
“The goddess of life, she asked me to heal and teach to heal. Honestly, she threw me off a bit, hard to not be when some tree woman starts speaking to you and introduces herself as a god,” I sighed, “And it was abrupt too.”
“Ah, the goddess Iara,” I saw his shoulders relax, “Few every meet here, in a dream or otherwise.”
“So it’s common to meet gods?” Now that was weird, and confusing, must be the fact I’m in another world that makes talking of meeting gods such a normal thing for people.
“Not particularly, but it’s not unheard of at all. My own sister talks of a rare god on occasion, the god of dusk Endros,” he chuckled, “Much like you, she got her purpose in a way from him she claims.”
“Interesting,” I said, casting my eyes towards the trees.
“I call him rare, but Endros is the god of the Underworld. He’s in charge of rebirth, the afterlife, and such things. Usually people who hear from him are people with regrets or suffering in their last life, or simply people who visit ancient sites. Of course, that’s usually common sense, but I assume you had a sheltered upbringing,” Langford looked at me, with a raised eyebrow and a slight frown.
“You don’t have to be suspicious,” I rolled my eyes, “I have no plans or assassins hiding nearby. After I treat your bodyguard, I’ll be done here.”
Langford snorted, “My suspicions aren’t because of that. You’re not from Arithia, are you, Doctor?”
I blinked and looked at him through squinted eyes, “So it’s obvious, huh?”
“Quite. Not that I’d say it’s a bad thing, though the lack of knowledge and clothes made it a bit obvious. Your manner of speech is a bit off as well. Not to worry though, people like yourself aren’t particularly rare so it’s safe to say that, in Talis, you won’t have many issues.”
“…Really? People are often brought here from other worlds? Are you serious?” I raised an eyebrow as my face twisted in confusion.
“Ancient texts refer to our world as The Fractured Dredge,” Langford answered, “As far as I can tell, that’s because Arithia commonly collects otherworlders in various ways. Recent history mentions summonings, reincarnation, even stories that claim they simply fell here.”
“And that’s just, normal?”
“Quite, though a small village may never have had it happened. However, in a city like Talis, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were upwards of ten others like you, possibly more. It’s simply the way the world is,” he shrugged slightly.
“That’s just downright odd. This type of thing was nothing more than a story back home.”
Langford remained silently as we continued our walk, leaving me to ruminate this new and bizarre information on my own. Why hadn’t the goddess mentioned any of this? I had been concerned about exposing myself over nothing?
Most of the way into the town of Serrell after that was quiet, we never ended up encountering any further monsters so it seemed like Langford’s party just happened to be unlucky. After we entered the town we made our way to the local tavern to figure out where the local physician lived.
Langford made straight for the counter as I stood near the door and looked around, catching some of the conversations the locals were having.
“What do you think she’s wearing?” the guy at the nearest table asked, “Looks expensive, but she’s with that nobleman? Maybe they’re together?”
“Maybe, but that stuff looks too weird, she might be one of those Otherworlders,” his friend answered.
“Didn’t we get one of those last week? You know, the one with the crazy hair spouting about some weird monster he’d been fighting?”
His friend rolled his eyes, “And you’re surprised? Talis is 16 thocs off after all.”
I turned my attention to another table, catching a snippet of their conversation.
“Did you hear about what happened with Duchess Chauvenne?” the woman said to the other, who I assumed was her friend, across from her.
“Didn’t the Crown Prince break off the engagement?” she answered.
“Not just that, she’s engaged to Prince Ryleigh now!”
“Really? From one prince to another, she’s so lucky,” the friend sighed dreamily.
Frankly I had no idea who any of those people were, but it sounds like noble drama. Probably something to do with the nearby kingdom. Langford had off handedly mentioned that on the way into town after all.
When I turned my attention back towards him, he was headed back towards the door. “The physician lives nearby, but she said he’s a rude one.” He stepped out of the tavern and followed quickly behind.
“So, like the usual ones you know then?” I asked as the bodyguard started following behind us.
“My lord?” the bodyguard spoke, “Can we really get treatment for him?”
“I’ll force the issue with money if I have to, don’t worry Raul, you and your brother are some of my very best and I don’t plan to lose either of you for the future,” Langford turned around and smiled to the man. “And yes, the usual type Doctor.”
“Lovely,” I sighed, “Let’s hope the man respects his job in some fashion at least.”
Langford nodded and kept walking, leading us down the road past several stalls that were selling fruit, meat, and other sorts of things. I turned my eyes to the buildings, the majority were only a single story tall, and the ones that weren’t seemed to be shops of some kind. In one, I caught sight of what seemed to be the fantasy staple.
Potions.
“Langford, we should stop here,” I called out and gestured to the shop. The shop front had little more than a fair-sized window, a wooden sign, and the door was left open. “There might be something I can use. I’d rather we look for something than use whatever a possible crackpot of a healer this world calls a professional would have.”
I caught the end of what sounded like a snort as he nodded. “A wise plan, Doctor. I’ll leave the asking to you, you leave everything else to me.”
“Excellent,” I moved towards the shop.
“Raul, you can wait outside,” Langford called out as he followed behind me.
“Yes sir.”
When I opened the door of the shop I was greeted by the sight of an elf. He seemed to be a bit on in years, based on the whitening of his hair and the touch of wrinkles to his face. “Greetings,” he called out, I noted that his clothes were rough and stained with some form of liquid. They weren't quite white to begin with it looked like.
I made straight for the counter, “I’ll be blunt and quick, I have a patient outside that needs treatment and it’s already been much longer than I’d prefer. I need a potion to help replenish blood, one to prevent infection, and one to help the healing process, if possible. If not that, then if you have any herbs I’d like to see them.”
The elven man blinked, “Right, uh, I have one for blood replenishment and a minor healing potion, but I’m afraid we don’t make anything for infections.”
I sighed, “Where are they? And I’ll need to see your herbs.”
“Second shelf in the front of the store near the window. The other one is to your left at the bottom, I’ll be right back with some of the herbs we use, miss,” the man scurried off into the doorway behind him and I looked back to Langford.
He was looking at the shelf by the window, “Thankfully, these potions seem to be the real thing.”
“Good, grab that one, I’ll grab the other,” I said as I bent down and pulled it the other potion out. It had a thick green hue, almost the same shade as one of those nutritional drinks I’d seen mentioned online. And of course, it was in a flask. Figures.
The elf came back out from the door, “Miss? These are the types of herbs I carry.”
I looked them over and noted that, thankfully, they seemed to be the same as back home. I really don’t understand this world. “I’ll take a bundle of the ginger. Please grind it up, if possible.”
“Of course miss, with the two potions and the herbs, that comes out to 150 ria.”
Langford nodded and handed the elf a handful of coins before we walked out of the store.
“Is that expensive or not?” I asked as we resumed the walk, leaving the shop behind us.
“Not expensive, not, but certainly not cheap,” Langford answered with a look back towards Raul and his brother, “That doesn’t matter however.”
“True, in the face of a life, money doesn’t really mean much,” I said frowning down at the potion in my hand.
Hopefully these things actually work.
