Chapter 2 – A Merchant’s Intuition
White Fang by TomatoRoux
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Chapter 2
 
Alex smiled at Willow and me, the younger girl fast asleep with her head on my shoulder, “She's always wanted an older sister.” Turning his attention back to the road ahead, Alex pulled on the reigns, his horses falling into a steady trot. The shaking wagon jostled me enough to irritate my stomach, which made me all the more impressed that Willow remained asleep.
 
“What do you sell?” I asked, looking at dozen barrels sharing space with Willow and me in the back of the wagon.
 
“This is all alcohol,” Alex chuckled. “It was made by some associates of mine. It's good merchandise, people are always willing to buy a good drink. Sadly the journey between the distillers and the city where I unload it is always full of danger, as you saw. Without some good guards to watch your back, it's easy to lose your life on the way.”
 
“There aren't any knight patrols or anything?”
 
“Not these days. The war has everyone's attention, little things like monsters and bandits attacking a small time merchant don't matter to them anymore.”
 
“War?”
 
“Yeah,” Alex snorted in disgust. “Everyone's gone mad, that's the sort of thing you don't want to get involved with. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't get roped into it. As young as you are, I've never seen someone with power like yours. Hell, I've never seen a spellcaster do more than light a candle, those spears of ice you made, that was really something. Where'd you learn to do that?”
 
“Ah... my dad taught me... before he passed.”
 
As a twenty-eight-year-old woman, the last thing I wanted to do was be treated like a kid. I'd already had my childhood and I was very done with it. But with that said, once I pictured what I probably looked like to Alex, acting like a wayward child was the best way forward. It promised me more advantages than detriments, even if it hurt my pride.
 
“Your dad huh? I'm really sorry for your loss.”
 
“I miss him,” a half-truth. I certainly didn't miss the fictional dad Alex was imagining who taught me how to fully utilize my legendary sword. I did however miss my real dad, the small town greengrocer who ran afoul of an armed robber when I was nine. I'd been the one to find his body. Looking back on it, there should have been so much blood, but I couldn't remember any. All I could remember was him laying behind the register, with a pained look on his face.
 
“Do you have any other family? Anyone who might wonder where you are?”
 
“None. Mom died of a plague, and I never met my grandparents.”
 
“Well, I may not be able to measure up to your father, Miss Elizabeth, but you're more than welcome to join our family, if that's something you ever want for yourself. I know Willow would be ecstatic to have a sister like you.”
 
“You'd have to stop calling me miss,” I smiled teasingly.
 
“True, though it pains me not to give respect to the girl who saved my life. No matter your age.”
 
“I didn't save you just to have you rub your head in the dirt in front of me. It's fine, like I said, you can call me Liz if you wanna. That's what Mom and Dad used to call me.”
 
“I'll try. It is a very cute name, worthy of a girl such as yourself.”
 
Seriously the hero worship is worse than being treated like a kid. I smiled wryly, gently petting Willow's brunette hair. Together she and I made quite the pair, her skin was a dark tan, while mine was white to the point of making one question if I'd ever seen sunlight. My hair too, was light silver, it had been all to match my mental image of White Fang's perfect wielder. I'd loved this appearance looking at it through a computer screen, now however I couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious about it.
 
Alex and Willow were the only humans I'd seen so far, and they both had colorations that seemed normal for Earth. If I was the only one that looked like this, it would draw attention, which was not something I wanted. Not until I knew more about this world at least.
 
Let's see, I chewed my lip as I thought back to this character's abilities. Search and Fleet Footed both worked as expected, which meant that all of the skills I'd used in the game were probably usable. I hadn't been able to test out my Healing Aura because everyone who'd been injured was already dead when I arrived. That left...
 
“Light,” I held up my free hand, palm up, causing a grapefruit-sized golden sun to appear.
 
“What is that?!” Alex asked, gazed back at me with a bewildered expression on his face.
 
“A magic torch,” I grinned. “It doesn't create any heat, but it does light a rather large room, and it lasts until I dismiss it.”
 
“I'll be damned, you're one talented spellcaster, Mi– Liz.”
 
“I'm more of a swordswoman than a spellcaster though. I just know a bit of utility magic.”
 
Well... actually let's test that.
 
“I'm going to test something,” I noted carefully laying Willow down on the bench as I stood. “You don't need to stop the horses, or anything. I can run fast enough to catch up.”
 
Hopping off the back of the wagon I utilized another ability of mine, Fall Supression, allowing me to land on my feet outside the wagon without feeling any pain from hoping out while it was still moving. That said, we were going slow enough I couldn't really tell if the ability was needed or not.
 
“Angelic Flight!” I squealed holding up my arm. It was a legendary ability of the heaven-touched, but sadly locked behind a few specific class selections, so my Paladin could never learn it. Despite the class fitting the perfect image for the ability in my mind.
 
Mana surged out of my shoulderblades, two wings of brilliant white light formed, allowing me to take to the skies as easily as walking. “Woah!” I squealed in delight as I flew up beside Alex who was staring at me with an expression of both awe and horror.
 
“L-Liz! W-What are you doing?!”
 
“Flying!” I giggled happily. “Sorry I've been practicing this for years but I could never do it. As we were talking something clicked inside and I just felt like maybe I could pull it off.”
 
This proved it, I could use even abilities the character I now embodied never had. At least those that were tied to her race, the next thing I wanted to try was a bit of high level magic that'd been unavailable to me, but I decided to put that off until later. Alex was already starting to look like he was about to faint just watching me, I didn't want to push my luck with him and make him start to believe I was some kind of deity. I'm sure with the wings of light, he was already starting to form that opinion.
 
Landing on the tarp that served as the wagon's roof, I swung myself onto the driver's bench right beside Alex, my wings vanishing the moment I sat down. “Sorry for startling you.”
 
“Flying is a bit more than utility magic don't you think?” Alex said as he tried to calm himself. “I've never heard of anyone able to do such a thing, and those wings. Liz... no Miss Elizabeth are you a–”
 
“Stop!” I threw up my hands to silence Alex's question. “Umm... girls are always cuter with a bit of mystery aren't they? Please don't ask that... I'm just a normal girl right now, okay? Please keep calling me Liz, I don't want you to be so formal with me.”
 
I didn't want Alex to believe I was some kind of goddess, but I also didn't want to assure him I wasn't. The most important thing for me now, was to remain as neutral of an existence as possible until I knew more about the world I found myself in. Hopefully my answer made him believe it was possible, without outright believing it was true.
 
“What else can you do?” Alex asked, his words tinged with a bit of an churlish tone.
 
“Ah... you've seen almost everything. I can heal wounds, too. But, er, I can't bring back the dead, before you even think about it. I would've helped Allen if it was possible.”
 
“Healing magic... As far as I've heard only the High Priestess can perform such a feat, and I've always believed such a thing to be tall tales by the church to inflate her prestige.”
 
“Wow... magic here is really limited huh?”
 
“You just said here didn't you?” Alex caught me with a side-eyed glare. “I may be a small time merchant, but don't you think a kingdom with magic like yours would dominate our rumor mills? Where exactly are you from Liz?”
 
“Didn't I just say girls are cuter with a bit of mystery?”
 
“You saved my daughter's life, you saved my life, I owe you more than I could ever repay. But if your from a world other than our own, I need to know.”
 
Damn, this guy is sharper than I gave him credit for. “Ugh... It's true, I came from another world. One where powers like mine are extremely common, though... I was still considered strong even there. I didn't come here intentionally, so there's no invasion or anything. Actually I went to bed in my home, and woke up in this forest with no idea how it happened. I haven't outright lied to you though. My dad was killed, he was a merchant kinda like you. My mom got sick a few years later, she collapsed and died during one of my school plays. Not a day goes by that I don't think of them, I've been lonely without them.”
 
“So your strength is not special where you come from?”
 
“No,” On earth it would've been exceptionally special, but this body was from a video game, so I didn't feel like I was lying. “I spent years working on growing stronger though. Especially after my mom died, I sank every free hour I had into grinding out greater levels of power. It was all I had going for me.”
 
“Do you think anyone else from your world has crossed over?”
 
“I certainly hope not. It'd be pretty awesome to be the strongest person alive, don't you think? But you know... this all happened abruptly for me, I have no idea if I'm the only one here, or if thousands of us crossed over.”
 
“How old are you Liz? You look like you couldn't be a day over thirteen, but you don't talk like a kid your age.”
 
“It's rude to ask a lady her age you know?” I puffed out my cheeks. “I'm twenty.” I couldn't help but shave off a few years, I didn't want Alex to think I was too old.
 
“Twenty huh, you're already an adult then?”
 
“Yup. But I still like to celebrate my birthday, I am extremely fond of candy, and I'll permit you to pat my head. So you don't have to treat me like an old maid you know?”
 
“I have to admit, you've completely confounded me. I don't know how to treat you at all.”
 
“Well, do you think other people would believe you if you told them my real age?”
 
“Given how you look? no.”
 
“Then treat me like a kid,” I smiled ruefully. “Being treated like a kid is better than being treated like some kind of living deity. I'm not the most socially adept person, so I'd rather not have to go through painful effort to explain myself to everyone we meet.”
 
“Do people in your world age more slowly than we do?”
 
“I'm done aging,” I laughed sardonically. “Other people age, but my people... we just look like this forever. Pretty funny huh? I'll be a little kid when I'm a hundred.”
 
“That sounds terrible... especially if nobody else like you passed over. I want my daughters to be happy and find love, start families of their own.”
 
“Still willing to treat me like your daughter after learning all that?”
 
“You said you were lonely didn't you? If taking you in as one of my own will make you happy, then I'll do it. I owe it to you to do it, and Willow has always dreamed of having an older sister, so I know this will make her happy too.”
 
“You're one hell of a guy Alex,” I smiled. “It'll take me some time before I'll honestly be okay calling you dad, but you're right... this would make me happy. Losing my family when I was young really left a hole in my heart that I thought would never be filled. Perhaps someday, with enough effort, you and Willow could fill that hole, at least a little bit.”
 
“I'm willing to try. Now then, perhaps we should give you a bit of a cover story. Since you don't want to explain yourself to others?”
 
“Oh! I'd like that! Ah I wish I could use transformation magic, then I could have a secret identity that fights dragons, while still getting to be the cute girl next door at home.”
 
“I certainly hope you never have to fight a dragon.”
 
So much for acting like a wayward child. Well... things might be better this way.
 
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