Hey guys! This is the final chapter of the first arc, and there’s plenty more to come. Think of this as an introductory arc, so I’d love to know what you think of the story so far! I'd really appreciate any feedback, and if you're enjoying it, please consider leaving a rating or even a review!

 

 

 

 

Arc I - Beautiful World

Chapter 10 - The Stranger

Day 22 Since the Summoning

Alan looked up at her, very slowly. His eyes were completely empty. His face expressed nothing. "Got it. Then let's just get this over with quickly. I can't take this anymore." He started to stand up.

Kamelia jolted up. "Hold on! ...are you going to let me finish or not?"

Alan didn't sit back down. "Surprise me."

The girl sighed and sat back down. "Basically..." she licked her lips. "Everything happened exactly as you said. There were many cases where the peasants broke your 'quarantine'. They took water from the river, didn't boil it, ate from the same dishes." She folded her hands in front of her. "The guards couldn't keep an eye on everyone. But everyone noticed one interesting thing... where the rules were followed more strictly, the sickness didn't reappear. And that was only two villages." She held up a finger. "On top of that, the sickness didn't spread beyond those six little villages, and the peasants inside them have slowly started to recover." She let out a breath. "So, there you have it."

Alan just stood there, staring. "What does that mean for me?"

Kamelia closed her eyes. "You kept your word. There will be no execution. You... you really stopped the sickness."

Alan blinked. "What?"

Kamelia raised an eyebrow. "Well... exactly what you heard. You are going to live, and continue helping the county... I hope," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Gothwald just stared at her for a solid two minutes, then smiled. It was a crooked smile. Traces of dried blood were visible on his teeth. "Hah... hahah... hahahaha.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kamelia half-stood. "What... what's wrong with you?"

Alan clutched his head, laughing like an absolute maniac. "HAHAHA! I SPENT THESE ENTIRE TWO WEEKS GNAWING MY OWN FINGERS AND LIPS OFF, THINKING I WAS GOING TO GET MY FUCKING HEAD CHOPPED OFF, AND IT TURNS OUT I'M NOT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He dropped back into his chair with a crash. "JESUS CHRIST! I LITERALLY TRIED TO TIE MYSELF A NOOSE MULTIPLE TIMES, BUT DIDN'T HAVE THE GUTS, AND NOW I'M FUCKING SPARED!"

He started choking on his own laughter. "I WAS RIGHT! I FUCKING TOLD YOU I WAS RIGHT! HAHAHA!"

Kamelia rushed over to him, her hands trembling slightly. "Yes... you were right! Just calm down! You're..." she caught herself, then her shoulders slumped and she simply went back to her seat, waiting for the hysteria to pass.

Alan laughed for almost five minutes before dropping his head onto the table, wheezing out the last remnants of his laughter. Ten seconds later, the sound of quiet snoring filled the room.

Kamelia slowly stood up and walked over to him, leaning in slightly to study his face.

She ran a hand through her hair. "What have I reduced this man to..." Kamelia whispered to herself. She straightened up and walked out, closing the doors behind the guards.

Day 23 Since the Summoning

Alan opened his eyes; sunlight was streaming right into them.

He slowly pushed himself up from the bed, holding one hand to his head.

'My head is splitting...'

The guy suddenly looked down at his hand. His fingers were bandaged with white cloth, and a slightly cooled bowl of porridge was already sitting on the table.

Alan stared at it for a second, then pounced on it and started shoveling it in, no bread, no salt, no sauces.

'Finally... I couldn't even force a bite down my throat these past two weeks... real food...'

He took another massive spoonful, practically biting the wooden spoon in half.

'Okay... I'm alive... I'm alive... I solved this whole fucking epidemic problem! I lived to see another day! But... I highly doubt that's it... one problem down, a thousand to go. Whatever. The main thing... is that I proved my worth and backed up my words. Sure... it was messy, clumsy, but I proved it... there's more trust in me now. I survive another day.'

He froze.

'And... what's next?'

Alan shook his head and went back to finishing his porridge.

'Doesn't matter. Next is for later. I need to survive at least my first month in this world... fuck! I need to eat slower, or my stomach is gonna hate me.'

He started eating slower, and after finishing, he got up from the bed.

'Alright... might as well go for a walk.'

He opened the door to his room. A guard was standing in the hallway right outside. "Hero, Her Grace requested your presence in the small throne room once you awoke."

Alan walked down the corridor and opened a door.

Inside was the kitchen, where servants were scrubbing the floors and preparing lunch. Everyone abruptly turned to look at Alan.

The guy blinked.

'Fuck. Wrong door. It's one floor up.'

He shut the kitchen door, headed up the stairs, and opened the door to the small throne room without knocking.

Kamelia was already inside, sitting with a quill and some papers. She looked up. "Good morning."

Alan just nodded and sat down across from her. "So?"

The countess set her quill aside and folded her hands in front of her. "Well, as we discussed yesterday, you handled the sickness. Based on the reports from the villages over the past two days, this 'dysenritia' of yours is almost completely gone."

"Dysentery," Alan corrected. "And what's next?"

Kamelia closed her eyes. "What's next, Alan... next is worse. Pirates, famine, an almost empty treasury. The biggest problems of my domain and my vassals. Take your pick."

Alan leaned back slightly.

'Pirates, famine, empty treasury... okay, let's go in order. The epidemic problem is solved, maybe not permanently, but for now. That leaves three more to keep this county from completely dying out. So... the disease wiping out the peasants is dealt with. Next... the pirates obviously go last. Solve the famine or the empty treasury first?'

Kamelia just sat there, looking out the window, not saying a word.

'Hmm... famine, definitely. Without full stomachs, there won't be any money or soldiers to kick the pirates' asses. Yeah, tackle the famine first. But... then again, I have absolutely no clue why there's a famine in the first place. What's the cause?'

Alan leaned in closer. "Why did the famine start?"

Kamelia turned away from the window. "This isn't the first year we've had this problem. About ten years ago, as far as I remember, everything was fine. But lately... the land seems to be dying. The harvests get smaller and smaller, and some fields have been abandoned altogether."

"Are you using a two-field crop rotation system?" Alan asked.

Kamelia blinked. "What?"

Alan closed his eyes.

'I should be used to this by now.'

"I mean, do you let one field... rest, while you plant on the other, and swap
them like that?"

Kamelia nodded. "Of course."

Gothwald leaned back in his chair. "And... do you plant across three fields?"

The countess shook her head. "No... why, is that better?"

Alan scratched his chin.

'They don't use the three-field system... in my world, they only figured that out in the 9th century, and it was a massive breakthrough... people started eating better, dying less, Europe's population nearly doubled in 400 years. Plus... one peasant could feed way more people, allowing many to leave the fields for other trades... good lord, if I introduce that system here... But that takes time. First, I need to figure out exactly how to feed the peasants here and now.'

Alan placed his hands on the table. "I think I can help with the famine."

Kamelia sat up straight, a slight gleam in her eyes. "Truly? ...when are you ready to start? What else do you need? What do you need to know?"

Gothwald sighed. "I need to know a lot, but let's... do it tomorrow? Seriously, I just want to rest for the rest of today."

Kamelia stopped short. "Ah... yes... of course, no problem."

Alan nodded and stood up.

The girl opened her mouth to say something else, but stayed silent, lowering her head.

The guy got to his room, instantly flopped onto his bed, and almost immediately fell into a soft snore.

? Days Since the Summoning

Alan sat up in bed. Outside the window, everything was dark blue and shrouded in fog, and for some reason he was dressed in his suit.

'Is it morning already? Alright... gotta get to work on those fields.'

He opened the door and instantly froze.

There was no corridor.

Stretching out before him was an endless green plain with perfectly manicured grass. The sky was filled with a blue mist, through which thousands of stars glimmered.

Alan blinked.

He blinked again.

Then he started rubbing his eyes.

'Am I dreaming or something?'

He turned around. The door was gone.

'What the fuck is going on?'

His breathing quickened, but Alan walked forward across the endless plain, his head on a swivel.

Alan wandered for an hour, or two, or maybe three years. Who knew.

"Greetings, Alan Gothwald," a young man's voice called out from behind him.

Alan whipped around, nearly tripping over his own feet. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!!"

Standing before him was a guy.

Young, about Alan's height, with slightly messy, short white hair. He wore a simple brown tunic with rolled-up sleeves, loose brown trousers, and brown sandals. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

His eyes.

His eyes were completely white. Not glowing, just pure white.

He held up a hand. "Take it easy, Alan, I'll explain everything."

Alan was panting, holding his hands up defensively. "Who the hell are you?!"

The guy closed his eyes and smiled faintly. "Well, well, well... a perfectly justified reaction." He opened his white eyes and clasped his hands behind his back again. "You can just call me the Stranger, and... I have a matter to discuss with you, Alan Gothwald."

Alan blinked, and suddenly the Stranger was sitting in an armchair at a table. On the table sat a bottle of wine and two glasses. He silently gestured to the chair across from him.

Alan hesitated for another second, then slowly sat down.

The Stranger opened the wine bottle and started pouring a glass for Alan. "You have a great many questions. Who am I? Where are you? What happened? What's the point of all this? Perfectly natural questions." He filled Alan's glass halfway, then started pouring for himself. "But you are no less interesting to me than I am to you. In fact, that is exactly why I came to your dream." The Stranger corked the bottle and set it aside. "You won't be able to taste it anyway." He shrugged with a slight smile. "It's a dream, after all." He picked up his glass and took a small sip.

Alan narrowed his eyes. "Can we just get to the point?"

The Stranger took another sip. "Mmm..." he smacked his lips. "Yes. Here is the situation, Alan. I haven't seen anything like this in all the time the hero summoning ritual has existed. Every single one of them received powerful magic and an expanded fiolla pool." He pointed a finger at Alan. "But you... you showed up with perfectly ordinary stats. Things like this have happened a few times before, but..." The Stranger shrugged. "But those heroes were quickly sent to the scrap heap. And when you were summoned to this world, without any strong magic..." His hand picked the glass back up. "I expected the typical outcome... but no. Not only did you manage to survive, but you also stopped a localized epidemic." He set the glass down and began to slowly clap his hands. "Bravo. I am impressed."

Alan clenched his fists. "Want me to sign an autograph while I'm at it?"

The Stranger paused for a second. "An auto... haha... alright, fair enough. I strayed a bit far from the point with my admiration." He grabbed his glass again. "Let's be frank, then. I find you extremely interesting, Alan. I've grown so tired of watching Heroes simply degrade as individuals under the sheer weight of their magic, and then suddenly... a Hero with no magic, but with a kick-ass brain. It's fascinating. I can do many things, but I am incredibly happy about the fact that I cannot see the future, and I have no idea how this is all going to end." He stood up, holding his glass and smiling faintly. "However... this world is quite cruel, and even if you devise a flawless plan, you could simply... die from some stupid mistake, and the show would be over." He took a step closer. "That would be incredibly tragic, so... I have a little gift for you."

Silence.

Alan looked up at the Stranger. "Well... what's the gift?"

He shrugged. "You already have it. You'll see when you wake up. For now, it will just help you out occasionally, but in the future... it will shape histry." He leaned in close to Alan, staring right into his eyes with those pure white ones. "I will be watching. Always watching. Sometimes, I might even visit. Our conversations will be very interesting. Best of luck, Alan Gothwald. I am genuinely rooting for you."

Alan violently jolted awake, gasping for air, his entire back slick with sweat.

The room was dark.

He yanked the door open.

It was just the hallway.

Alan let out a slow exhale, quietly closed the door, then sat back on the bed and scratched his head.

'What the fuck was that?'

He froze. The familiar, throbbing pain in his fingers was gone. Gothwald snapped his gaze down to his hands and quickly began unwrapping the bandages.

They were perfectly healed.

Alan froze, then sprinted over to the mirror in the room. His face was completely normal, healthy, his lips fully intact, the only thing remaining were the dark bags under his eyes.

He slowly took a step back from the mirror.

'What the...?'