I stood near the town’s gate and observed the clamoring people in front of me while my hand still gripping the boy’s hand.

After I step inside the town, a three-meters wide street composed of black stones unfolds on my eyes. Most of the town buildings I saw were built with some kind of orange stone; they give the impression like small versions of an old castle on earth.

Even so, those buildings were stunningly arranged like candy to the eyes for whoever seeing them. The uniformity of material and the serenity sensation from the color choices were flawless.

Besides that, the placement of public buildings was also excellent. A Church, a courthouse, a library, and other civic institutions were located in the center of this town. They’re placed in the safest part of the town. Even so, they still easy to spot with their towering stature, which visible even from the corner of the town. In the center of all this, a towering castle stood tall with its white color – it has different colors and higher than any other building in this town.

The town’s design was planned systematically and will put most cities on earth to shame.

I saw the boy next to me, dazed after seeing this sight. I can’t blame him though, even I who come from earth got surprised by this view. I’m sure the impact was more significant for this kid.

“This town is quite stunning, right kid,” I asked the boy next to me.

After hearing my voice, the boy jolted backward. It seemed he’s still wary with me.

I put my best smile and then said, “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

The boy’s facial expression still tense, and when I look into his eyes, I saw some fears and confusion there. I understood if he didn’t trust me yet. I also understood if he confused about why a person he met earlier help him out of nowhere.

However, his confusion wasn’t caused by that. He acted as though he didn’t understand what I said even though I used Vardandhi Language, the most common language in this world. Even if he was from a hidden tribe, at least he’ll still know a sentence or two and won’t act that what I said was really incomprehensible.

It’s as if he’s not from this world.

‘Wait.’

I hunkered down and then observed his body more carefully, the fear in his face became more apparent when I looked into his eyes.

‘Blood on his body, too much for a child, its someone else blood. He has some shallow wounds; however, every wound was very new – less than a few hours. There no sign of malnourishment; he does not even appear hungry. His clothes tattered, and from its appearance, he already wore it more than a week. His teeth were clean, no, too clean, and too neat…’

I stared at the boy while thoroughly observing his appearance. Many thought flying in my head as I examined him to find proof that supported my assumptions.

“So, it’s like that. You’re also a [Player],” I concluded.

His worn-out appearance gave me the wrong impression and spurious conclusion, I thought he was another victim of war. However, when I inspected him earlier, he was actually in good physical shape to the impossible extent. When your rations were limited, you’ll use it sparsely; you won’t have this kind of physical form.

There were two possible reasons for this. First, this boy was living in a very well off family before got separated from them. It explained why he had an excellent physical shape if his family was very caring about his health. However, it didn’t explain why he didn’t understand my words, its strange for a well off family to not even teach his kid about the most common language of this world.

Second, he’s a player like me. His physical shape could be explained by the orbs in that white rooms which have mysterious healing properties. If that orbs could even regenerate lost limbs, it won’t be a wonder that they could recover people to their peak condition. The kid's inability to comprehend my words also could be explained by it. It’s because he came from the earth and not yet to check the system’s inventory and find out about the beginner pack.

It's a miracle that he survived until now.

I took a deep breath.

“Do you understood what I’m saying now?” I tried to ask in English.

Still no reaction from the boy.

‘Uh, what do I do now?”

For a few moments, I fell quiet.

“Wait, that’s it,” I exclaimed. “You’re the Chinese player before,” I remembered the language choice given by the system earlier, one of them was the Chinese language.

I tried to remember some Chinese words I learned from my grandmother. It’s been long since the last time I need it, so my memory was a bit hazy.

“You. Not. Need. Suspicious. Me. I. Good. Not. Bad. Person,” I said in broken Chinese while using my hand to help me convey the meaning.

The boy stepped back after hearing my words.

‘Okay, that was my fault. Now he becomes even more suspicious of me. I’m sorry grandma, I should listen to your lectures more seriously.’

I sighed while lamenting my past laziness.

‘Well, I just need to try more to convey what I want to say.’

I started to concoct a proper Chinese sentence in my head.

*Plak*

 

However, before I said anything, the boy slapped my hand and then running away from me. For a few seconds, I only observed the boy’s back without doing anything; the event was unexpected, which made my reactions late.

“Wait, stop.”

I immediately shouted after realizing what just happened – a child got thrown into an unfamiliar world; without even understand its language; and without knowing that monsters roamed in the wild. The child can't survive this world. The best scenario was his swift death from a monster hand, while the worst scenario was to become a perverted noble’s slave, became its plaything, and end up dying in an unknown sewer.

“Shit, he’s running even faster. Why people never stop when I said so.”

The boy was in the panic state, there’s no way any of my words will pass through to him. However, if I left him alone, it’s like let him walked to his death.

“I don’t really want to use this now, but…” I murmured while grabbing something on my hand.

I rushed towards the boy and grabbed his hand, luckily, the boy wasn’t fast enough to outrun an adult like me.

“Gotcha,” I yelled while the boy struggling to escape.

I looked like a child predator right now, but whatever. I forcefully opened his palm and put out a rune in his hand. It was the same rune that I used to learn this world language. I wasn’t eager to use it to the kid as I still have some use to it, but after everything said and done, a rune for a chance of life is a worthy exchange.

Others may say that I was foolish for doing this. It was irrational to not save every advantage I can. After all, the more card I had in my sleeve, the bigger the chance I had to survive this game.

Rationally, it’s better to keep the rune for myself in this kind of circumstance, morality will be damned when you were in a life and death situation.

However, I didn’t like that, just that one reason was enough.

After all, my value of what’s right wasn’t based on circumstances.

“Vardhandi. Vardhandi,” I repeated it to the boy while gesturing number one with my index finger.

It’s a gamble whether he’ll understand me or not, but it’s a necessary bet.

The boy looking at the rune in his hand, and then the rune disappeared almost instantly. The boy touched his head as though he was in pain. It seemed he already consumed the rune, but whether he chose what I recommended or not is a different question.

He looked around and found many people look at us. Apparently, he understood that he was creating a ruckus. And then, he looked at my face.

“S- stay away from me…” he yelled in Vardhandi language but then fell silent as though he just did something strange.

More and more people looking at us after his scream.

He became confused and then run again from me. I dumbfounded, he’s running away again? After all of this?

“Seriously?”

It appears that everything that just happened was too much for the boy to comprehend, and his panic state won’t change only because he understood what I said. Wait, when I thought it once more, it’s understandable if he felt more alarmed when he suddenly put in this situation.

‘Well, at least he already understands this world language. His chance of survival increased drastically.’

I took a deep breath and then shouted towards the boy who still running aimlessly.

“Oooi. If you already cool down your head and need any help, search for me.”

I saw the boy stopped for a moment after hearing my voice and then looked at my directions, but not long after, he ran again.

I, the one who saw his back that getting smaller, couldn’t help but worry. However, if I still chase him now, the effect would backfire. People would start to call a guard to arrest me.

“That is the man, officer,” I heard a voice from afar.

“Scratch that, people already call them. Time to run.”

“Wait, stop. Don’t you dare to run,” the guard shouted after he noticed that I wanted to run.

‘Who the hell stupid enough that will stop just because someone said so.’

***

*Huff* *Huff*

I needed to run in a circle across many narrow alleys and change clothes a few times to escape from the guard. It was exhausting, that guard had some kind ability to follow my scent. Note for the future me, never again to involve with the guards.

Luckily, there was only one person that tracked me earlier. If there was more, I doubt I’ll escape like this.

Even though I could explain it to the guard, he still needed to bring me to their office and took my statement. That alone wasn’t so bad, but from what I heard, the justice system in this town was like a sloth, especially after the war broke out. If it wasn’t too important, they’ll put it on hold and put the suspect in confinement until they have time to interview the suspect.

It would take days or even weeks, I didn’t have the leisure to spend my day like that. Therefore, I choose to run.

Well, that’s enough of blaming the system.

The guard probably already gave up catching me.

I observed the building where I was hiding. It’s different from ordinary buildings in the town, actually, scratch that, it’s different from any construction in this town. It was made from woods while the others were created from some kind of stone. The interior color was varied from light to medium brown, which reminded me of mocha latte. There was also some smell similar to cinnamon come from the building’s wall.

The place was relaxing, but that was a matter of course. It’s to increase the functionality of this building. After all, this building was a library. The calming sensation was to make readers not too stressed while reading books.

Also, it seemed this place was usually a place where many nobles gathered. So they made it as comfortable as possible.

That being said, the fee to enter this library also very impressive. It’s two golds to one day reading in the library. It could last two months for living frugally here.

“This is extortion. I miss the internet. I miss the freedom of information,” I sighed while choosing up books from their racks.

“Hmm, History of the World. Yes.”

“The First Great Race War. Uh, this’s a bit thick, but yes.”

“Arcone – The first hero. Uh, I’ll just read the summary.”

“The Second Great Race War. Well, okay, I’ll take it.”

“Introduction of Magic for Dummies. What? Why the heck dummies series exist in this world. Fine then, I’ll read it too.”

The book hunting continued, and not long after, I simply forgot about those two golds. I focused my attention on the books that I already picked up while sitting in a table near the window.

After all is said and done, I genuinely need this information to survive.

I really can’t put too much faith to the plot armor like some hotblooded protagonists.

“I’m still a protagonist wannabe after all.”