The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a wooden roof. It didn’t look dank or dilapidated. It was just a simple, nicely cut and placed set of oak wood planks to cover one’s head. It might sound ordinary to most people, but it’s been a long while since I’ve seen this kind of architecture.

“… An unfamiliar ceiling.”

Funny thing is, that wouldn’t be the first time I’ve said that in my life, but I’m obligated to say it anyway.

I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t. I looked down and saw the condition my body was in. I could only see my shirtless abdomen while my legs were covered by a blanket. My entire torso was completely wrapped in long white bandages. My right arm was similarly covered, but my left only had the elbow wrapped in cloth. It wasn’t gauze but since the wounds were treated properly, I couldn’t complain. I’m more surprised that I’m still alive.

“J*rvis, analysis please.”

...

“Sorry. Esme, can you tell me what’s going on?”

... Still no response.

“Initiate Reboot, code 231. Activate general analysis tool.”

... Damn. No system. That’s inconvenient.

I’ll have to make do without it for now. I forced myself to sit up, ignoring the complaints of my body. I turned my stiff neck to get a good grasp of my surroundings.

I was in a pretty rustic styled room. I was laying on a wooden bed with some wool covers and pillow. To my right is a wooden desk, window and chair. On the desk is a green box and a cup. The window is just a wooden frame covered with two planks of wood. To my left is a wooden door with some small engravings of animals. At the foot of my bed is something that looks like a wooden chest. Not the most fire-safe place to be in, but it’s pretty cozy.

The architecture is weird though. It feels kind of familiar.

As I was pondering on my surroundings, the door opened. A young girl holding a wooden tray came in. She looked around 13 or 14 with dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders and striking blue eyes. The thing that caught my attention the most was her clothing.

It was a long white dress that went down to her ankles, and she had this sort of blue vest dress thing over it. She also wore a frilly apron on top of all of that. This manner of dress was really striking to me, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

She noticed that I was awake. Her eyes widened and she shouted outside the room before approaching me in excitement.

“Ծɧ! ԳԾԾԺ ʍԾՐՌɿՌԳ ʍɿՏԵȝՐ!“

“... Pardon?”

“ԹՐȝ ՎԾՄ ԹʅՐɿԳɧԵ? ԺԾȝՏ ԹՌՎԵɧɿՌԳ ɧՄՐԵ?“

“... Hm...” I was honestly baffled. I knew 48 different languages but I had never heard of this one before.

Before I could pontificate on my conundrum however, my head was struck by an immense stinging pain. It felt like something massive was being driven into my skull. A sharp ring reverberated in my head, like a massive titanium bell being sawed in half.

“ɧ-ɧȝՎ!“

My hand clutched my skull hard enough to bruise the skin but I couldn’t feel it. My other hand went to my face that felt like it was on fire. As I touched the bridge of my nose, I felt something sticky. I realized that it was blood, pouring from my eyes.

“!!!”

I heard the girl’s horrified scream. I probably looked like a horror movie ghost right now, but I couldn’t care less. The pain was unbearable.

My vision blacked out, but I didn’t lose consciousness. I just lay limp as I endured the intense pain while feeling like I’m in limbo.

After an unknown amount of time, I regained my vision. At some point, the pain had eased slightly which allowed me to gather my thoughts again. While my head was pounding, I opened my eyes.

“Looks like you’re awake.”

I was startled by the sudden voice. I moved my stiff neck and saw a woman holding a wooden tray. Probably the same one the girl was holding earlier.

“You really gave us a scare there. Especially Lily. You looked just like a ghoul in the books.”

She put the wooden tray on the desk and she gave me a cup from it.

“Drink. You’re gonna need it.”

“... Thank you.” I gratefully accepted it. From the smell and color of the cup, it was probably an herbal drink. Considering the state of my body, just pure water wouldn’t be enough to give my body what it needs so I needed this.

“Urgh...” Even if I was grateful for it, it didn’t help with the taste. It was dreadfully bitter and I honestly think poison would’ve tasted better, but I drank it all nonetheless.

“I’m surprised. Most people tasting that for the first time would either spit it out or vomit, much less drink it all.” Her eyes widened seeing me gulp the cup’s contents like that. It wasn’t much honestly. I even craved more.

I’m not a masochist, I’ve just ingested far worse for much less.

“I’ve tasted worse.”

“Tough guy huh? Well you did survive quite a lot so it makes sense.” She chuckled. “Name’s Amanda.”

“Oliver.”

“Not a man of many words are you?” She picked up a bowl and spoon from the wooden tray. “You hungry? You were out for quite a bit so I assume you’re real famished.”

I nodded slowly before I asked. “How long was I out for?”

“Around a week or so. We honestly thought you were a goner. Doc was pretty shocked that you were still alive two days in. Sorry for the gruesome image, but frankly your body was like a grilled fish that was smashed against a rock. Nothing was where or what it should've been. Your body healed up quick though.”

I believe that should be the work of Ez and the emergency restoration protocol. That’s one thing I should thank Amelia for when I get back. Speaking of which,

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the town of Bergum, to the east of us is the Great Silcham Forest. Right on its fringes. Speaking of which, we found you in there. Or at least the hunter team did. You’re lucky none of the demon beasts got to you first.”

I heard several things that made me want to ask several questions, but the one I wanted to ask most was, “... Demon beasts?”

“Aye. Quite dangerous ones too. Fall’s midway through so now the beasts are becoming more active to find food to last the winter.” She explained. “Kyle says they found you a few miles in, not deep enough for the real threats to come up, but since it is demon season, you never know what could come when attracted by the smell of blood. Most of the time you’ll only find some rabbits though.”

“... I see.” That doesn’t really explain anything, but before I could ask her further, my stomach grumbled in frustration.

“Right, you haven’t eaten in days. You shouldn’t eat hard food after starving for a while so this is some watery porridge that will go down easier. I boiled it in broth so that it will taste decent at least. Can you move those arms?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.” I said as I took the bowl from her. The porridge wasn’t bad despite the watery consistency. It had a savory taste, while still being light enough for a starving person to eat without throwing up. I basically drank the entire bowl’s contents in a few minutes. Each spoon giving me a small bit more strength.

“Hahaha, I’m glad you liked it. If you need something to drink, I’ll put this tray on the table here. Don’t worry, this blue cup here has water in it, but if you want more of the herbal drink, you can drink from this green cup. Get some rest and ring this bell if you need anything. Some guys will want to ask you some questions after you get back some strength. ” She explained as she left the room.

After the door clicked shut, I fell into thought. I can’t use Esme to get a grasp on my location using GPS. I’ve never heard of the Great Silcham Forest, but that’s probably a local name for an actual forest like the Amazon. Neither have I heard of Bergum, but I don’t read maps for a living so that’s only natural.

I looked toward the wooden tray. Seeing the green and blue ceramic cups, I remembered what Amanda said and after thinking for a moment, took the green cup from the tray.

“*gulp gulp* Ugh... *gulp*”

There’s no use in delaying my recovery by hesitating. I’m not a child who complains that the medicine tastes bad. She put this cup here for a reason. After drinking the whole cup, I immediately drank the water to flush the awful taste away.

After about half an hour, while half of me still felt like vomiting, the other half felt slightly better.

Looking at the tray, I remembered the young girl from a while ago. I heard her speak some unknown language. Maybe it’s the local dialect.

But then I paused, when I recalled what she said, I could understand her words. She was asking if I was alright. I then realized that I was speaking to Amanda with words that I had never spoken before, but I could understand them as if I was a native speaker.

Esme had a function to translate languages and allow me to speak those languages fluently, but I didn’t receive a notification for translation. I also don’t remember installing any data for a language like this at all. I did put a language derivation function into Ez(1), but that’s only possible if there’s actually a language closely related to it within the database itself.

Translating languages always caused a minor headache due to the influx of data. Was that why I got that massive headache when I talked to that girl... Lily, was it? The pain usually didn’t go above a certain threshold but maybe that’s because most languages on earth usually had a common ancestor to derive itself from, and the surplus of linguistic data online and my vast knowledge allowed me to avoid having my head implode every time I encountered a foreigner. I assume this headache was caused by the lack of data about the language of this place.

This technology is still in testing after all, so this is actually a fascinating discovery. I’d initially thought that it was ready for the market but I guess not. A brain-crushing headache wouldn’t be very nice in a foreign business exchange after all. Usually there’d be a warning for headaches and a limiter installed but we’re those deactivated too?

Anyway, it’s reassuring that the passive translation is active even if Ez isn’t operating. One less thing to worry about in a foreign land. Now I just need to get a glimpse of the local fauna and flora to understand where I am. Its not my specialty, but I could still make some deductions on my location based on the species.

I can’t do that with the window blinds closed though. Although my upper body is movable, my legs are completely paralysed right now. The window is also too far to reach so I needed some help. I grabbed the bell on the tray and rung it a few times.

*ting ting ting* A pleasant high-pitched sound rang a few times. After a minute or so, the door opened. I stiffened slightly as I saw who opened it.

It was the girl who I previously f rightened with my best impression of a horror movie ghost.

———————

(1) "Ez" is Oliver's nickname for his Artificial Intelligence, Esme. 

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Hey guys. This is my first ever novel(that I publicly publish online anyway) so I hope that it entertains you guys! The first few chapters are gonna be rough since it's sort of slow early on but the action will ramp up soon! Hopefully. The chapters are somewhat short at just around 2k words but I'll be improving the size over time. My posting rate is also really slow right now at 1-2 chapters per week but I'll do my best to make it faster in the future. 

Any feedback is appreciated! Is my use of words too complicated and hard to understand? Do I use explanations way too much? Are my chapters too long and drawn out and boring? Let me know! Have mercy though. Please don't bully me.