Exiting the building, I put my left hand on my coin pouch and start walking towards the inn. Carefully navigating the streets with increased foot traffic I make sure to avoid contact with the people around me and dodge people walking towards me. 2 times a kid tried to bump in me, 3 times someone tried to reach for my pouch from behind and once I think I even saw a blade make an appearance to cut it open, but I dodged sideways and continued walking. I definitely have to find something less prone to being snatched to keep my money in. As soon as I have the money to buy such a thing. Ha, is this irony? Needing to safeguard your money in order to save up to buy a thing to safeguard your money? Something I find interesting is the presence of a lot of children for this time of the day, which is strange, but since it doesn’t affect me in any way I don’t dwell on it.
After arriving on a less busy street, the pouch snatching attempts stopped and I was able to walk to my in without further events happening. I ordered a nice meat dish, with plenty of veggies and nice sauce and started eating with vigor. The testing at the Guild was short, but that spar sure opened my appetite. Or am I just turning into a glutton? No, I believe after the first use of Dian Keto, my metabolism has improved and my body needs more energy. Definitely aren’t turning into a glutton. Now, let’s see what we have for desert.
I am on my second spoonful of a desert bowl full with nuts, milk, honey and berries, when a bell sounded through the town. I stopped eating and took a look at my time piece, but it was too early for it to be the 3 o'clock bell. When the second bell rang, I started remembering reading something about this in the Adventurer’s Guild book at the library, when there is an attack on the city, a crystal bell on top of the Adventurer’s Guild is made to ring in order to warn the citizens, guards and adventurers. It does sound like crystal, so it is probably this bell.
Let’s see, one bell is for human army, bandits or other sentient attacking the town. Two bells are for monsters or creatures attacking on foot. Three bells indicate magical creatures or archers, in other words ranged attackers. Four bells are for demonic or zombie attack. Not much are heard with the security in this world. Five bells are for aerial attacks on the city like flying ships, harpies, wyverns and others. Six bells are for giants and other enormous enemies that tower over the walls. And finally, seven bells are sounded when there is an attack of unknown origin and enemy. And then there is the normal evacuation bell that rings if the attack on the town is estimated to breach the walls and the city guard can’t prevent collateral damage.
I exit the inn while counting the bells. They stop at 5, which means aerial attack, so I look to the sky and towards the walls, then turn around in a circle. There are dark forms in the sky to the north, which on closer inspection I recognize as birds, but nothing I can recognize as a species. There is light flashing on their bodies, reflections, which suggest they may even have metal instead of feathers. Not long after sporting the birds I see silhouettes on the North walls of he town that start shooting spells towards the attacking birds. Are they actually attacking or just passing through? Not seeing a need for me to get involved I start walking back in the inn, but as I place my hand on the door handle, I pause. The back of my hand is red with a rash that is starting to itch. This might be the first crisis I suffer in this new world.
Without stopping back at my table I rush to my room and lock the door. My mind immediately jumps to the possibility of a food allergy, But I can’t rule out the possibility of contracting a local disease or even stress related hives, so it is better to consult a specialist. Unrolling the play mat I summon Dian Keto. The portly looking, motherly minor God appears and takes a look at me. I show her my rash and ask her about it.
“Is this floor allergy, symptom of an illness or maybe from stress?” She places her hand over my rash and probably casts some diagnostic spell, before answering me.
“It is indeed an allergic reaction. I can treat the symptoms, but without knowing the source, I can’t prevent you from suffering another one to the same thing.” I nod at the answer and she heals me, then disappears from my room. It looks like I will have to find out to what I am allergic in order to remove that weakness from my body. I wander, can that also be done for poisons? Something else to put on my plate of things to check out. I will have to visit the market and purchase some groceries and test them out. Maybe tomorrow after visiting my Guild supervisor and getting advise where to start training.
With that taken care of, I open a book on monsters from the Guild and start searching for the bird things that were attacking the town. I didn’t take long to find them, Iron Vrana. It has several stages of development from weaker to stronger metals. They are attracted to shiny things and eat metallic objects in order to develop stronger bodies. Aggressive when near humans who hold said metallic objects. Okay, so they were going to attack, seeing as a lot of things in this town are made of metal.
My curiosity quenched, I take the book on Magic alphabet and start leaning the next set of symbols: Fire. As today I have half the day and not just several hours, I may be able to learn another 2 alphabets instead of just 1. Maybe Wind, even though I have the lowest affinity for it.
I continue to study until it is time for dinner, then place the book on the desk and go down to the inn, but before I order anything I speak to the proprietress.
“Excuse me ma’am! I would like to know what the exacts ingredients were in the desert I ordered at lunch. I had an allergic reaction to something and would like to identify what.” She gives me the names of the ingredients and I write them down in the book I bought and wasn’t using as a journal. After that I ordered fish like yesterday, just to be safe from something new I could be allergic to. I have another Dian Keto card, but it is better to keep it in reserve for emergencies if I could help it. Soon my order arrives and I put a small piece in my mouth and test for a reaction. I definitely became lax with my security after entering the town. Didn’t even check my first meal here for fast acting poison, before indulging without a care in the world. What would have happened if someone from the government office was interested in kidnapping an otherworlder and followed me here and bribed the cook to put something in my food? But after checking the food didn’t leave any numbness or any other worrying effect on my body, I indulge in the well prepared meal, letting myself forget about any worries or plans and just enjoy the meal.
After dinner I decided to take a long, relaxing bath and while doing so I notice I am actually pretty stressed and tense. So much so, that the bath alone just couldn’t take care of all of it, so this is another thing I will have to take care of tomorrow.
Back in my room I started earning the Wind alphabet, while laying comfortably on my bed, undressed down to my underwear. It was comfortable and quiet, almost making me forget I am in another world, away from my friends and family. And now I am actually starting to think about it. Fuck. As soon as I lean all 7 alphabets of Magic, which should be another 2 days, and get myself trained a little, I am going back to the dungeon to see if conquering it again will unlock a new Booster Pack. Even if it doesn’t I can get more Weapon Master bracelets and experiment with them. Since I won’t be in a hurry due to risk of starvation, I will also be able to gather a lot more cores, loot and money.
Now that I am done with a rough plan for the future I go back to reading. I finish learning the Fire alphabet, write what happened today in my journal, wait for the Emissaries to disappear and summoned the second ones, then turned off all the lights and went to sleep.
Except I wasn’t sleepy at all, so I just lie in bed and let my thoughts wander. How are my roommates copping with my sudden disappearance? Will they remember to feed my Guinea pig? They will probably have to find a new roommate for the rent payments. Fuck, I will have to find a new place to live when I go back. I wonder, what will happen to all my stuff? Will they sell it? Send it back to my parents? They better not send, use or dispose of my maturation tools if they know what is good for them! Just imagining my mother’s face if she saw some of the things I use gives me goosebumps. At least my internet history doesn’t have anything strange in it, just light novels, Manga, anime and porn. I should have gotten laid more often during the semester, but studying got in the way of that and going to those parties was such a chore. Maybe when I return I will rethink some things, if it happens before the new term resumes and I can continue going to classes. But now I seriously have to sleep.
