Arc | Chapter. 7: Learning of the New World (Patreon)

Chapter. 7: Learning of the New World

Ceylon freaked out.

“What do you mean we can’t enter?!” she cried.

The guard remained unflinching as he met her gaze. “Lady, Ranedale is a town that resides at the outer edges of the Black Forest.”

He continued.

“This means we cannot allow everyone to enter, and our protocols have tightened due to the turmoil in the country. We also have strict entry quotas. And unfortunately, today’s has been filled. Unless you have a formal document that would allow us to make an exception, then you cannot enter.”

Ceylon flinched for a moment. “I lost my documents in the fire… Can you please make an exception?”

The guard met her gaze, frowning. “No, it seems you aren’t listening to what I’m saying. Now leave or you will be arrested for being uncooperative.”

“But⁠—” I placed my hand on Ceylon’s shoulder as she turned towards me.

“It’s fine.”

She hesitated but ultimately relinquished with a nod while gritting her teeth. She gave the guard a glare, and just like that we walked away from the road. Ceylon was looking at the ground the entire time, with a somber mood as I finally spoke up.

“If we got into the town, what would we do there?”

Ceylon at that moment shook her head. “Get a place to sleep in, proper food, I’d be able to get a bath and bandage my wounds, maybe hire a priest to heal me…”

“Do you have money?” I asked, raising my brow.

“Of course I have money.” Ceylon sighed, reaching for her back, and soon enough she produced a sack. “I am not clumsy enough to lose the things I carry on my person.”

“Alright, then let’s get into town.”

And Ceylon paused, looking at me with confusion. “What do you mean? Didn’t you hear the guard?”

“Well I heard him.” I shrugged. “I’ll rephrase: let’s break into town.”

“Arc that is…” There was a pause before a sigh came. “Against the law.”

Hearing her, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s only against the law if you get caught.”

I got a dubious look back, but after seeing my smile, Ceylon slowly nodded.

“Okay, how are we going to break in?”

I smiled, extending my hand towards her. “Grab my hand.”

Confusion settled on her face as she raised her brow. “What is grabbing your hand going to do?”

“Just grab it.”

Hearing me, she sighed and placed her palm on mine, lightly flinching in the process.

“This is my first time doing it with another person, so brace yourself.”

She blinked. “Brace myself for what⁠—”

[God Step].

And we vanished in an instant. In the next moment we appeared in between the houses of Ranedale at a random alley. And just like that, we had entered the town. Ceylon fell back, landing on her butt as she looked around with wide eyes.

“What was⁠— ugh.” She covered her mouth. “I can’t⁠—!”

A groan left her as she scrambled elsewhere only for me to hear her… throw up. I did my best to not listen, and after a few seconds of that, she came back. She looked as dignified as she could, meeting my gaze.

“What did you do?!” she cried in a whisper. “This⁠— this skill that you used?! What was it!? You should’ve told me it would’ve made my whole world spin! And⁠— A-And all that!”

Her face was red as I awkwardly scratched my cheek. “It never really felt like that whenever I used it, sorry.”

A loud sigh left her. “Just what kind of skill is that…” Ceylon turned to me clearly tired. “Next time, inform me like you did last time, and I’ll truly brace myself.”

“Yeah…”

Being honest, I felt… bad. Not too much, but I was hoping it’d be a pleasant surprise rather than a mortifying and unpleasant experience. Ceylon continued to mutter things such as: what kind of skill could do this, what was that, why did it feel so terrible⁠— but eventually she moved on after a minute or two as she turned to me.

“We should try and find a place to stay.”

I nodded. “Let’s do that.” And we began to move out of the alley as I spoke again. “By the way, sorry again.”

“It’s… fine.” Ceylon shook her head. “I just thought everyone needed to like at least mutter their skills in order to use them. If I at least heard it, I would’ve been able to actually brace myself.”

“Ah.” I thought for a moment. “Sometimes I do need to call it. It depends on the skill. Most I don’t need to call unless I can’t really focus, I guess.”

“I see.” Ceylon nodded, still clearly bothered as we stepped onto the town’s streets.

There were very few people outside, and we got some weird looks that we attempted to ignore. The buildings looked somewhat dirty, but inside, all of them had a cozy orange tint to them. Something that I found oddly comforting.

Ceylon walked around seemingly looking for something before her eyes landed on a street sign, one that I immediately was able to read: lodging.

“Let’s go find an inn.” She gestured.

I followed after Ceylon, she was… well, getting weird looks throughout and for good reason. There was dried blood all over her body, and her dress was still very much torn. She had done practically nothing to fix herself up in the past two days, or even eaten, something that I found slightly concerning.

But now we were in town, and hopefully Ceylon would be able to fix herself up.

We passed by a few buildings and houses, ignoring most of them until Ceylon paused before one. It was the biggest one so far, not by much but I could tell, and its material looked newer than all the other ones. Ceylon was standing before the door as she murmured to herself.

“This must be it, I think.”

And after a deep breath, she opened the door. What greeted us was a fancy wooden reception with a large pattern filled carpet. I walked in along with Ceylon staring at the chandelier on the ceiling as a single word left me.

“Fancy…”

A person came from a door behind the counter, an older woman with brunette hair and average looks, though her attire was well kept.

“Welcome to the best inn on Ranedale, the town of the Black Forest,” the woman chirped before noticing Ceylon, and at that moment she paused.

Ceylon walked up to the counter basically slamming her hands down. “Do you have a bath?”

“Ah, we do, but it’s costly⁠—”

And she slammed the coin pouch on the counter. “How much?”

“Considering your state.” She then looked at me. “And your companion, for bath, food and staying one night, one gold coin.”

Ceylon immediately produced a golden coin from her pouch, as she basically barked to the lady.

“Bath now.”

I just watched, thinking to myself. Right, Ceylon is a noble after all… She was a bit tyrannic; desperate. Though not like I could blame her.

The lady hurriedly nodded. “Right this way.”

And she walked past the counter and into the reception, immediately heading towards the stairs as Ceylon followed after her grabbing her pouch, and I simply just stood there. At least until Ceylon turned to me, her face gentle.

“I’ll be right back, unless you want to join in for the bath.”

I thought for a moment but shook my head. “It’s fine.”

I’d probably freeze the water anyway.

Ceylon smiled and walked away.

Soon after, another staff member guided me to a room for two, where I was left waiting for Ceylon.

◇ ◇ ◇

I kinda just laid in bed until Ceylon came back

And when she entered, she was wearing what I’d describe as a casual pajama. Long pants and a shirt. Her dress didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight, her hair however was carefully combed, and she herself was free of filth. She turned to me with an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry you had to see me in such a way.”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “I don’t care for appearances.”

A small chuckle left her as she sat on the bed. Looking at me deeply.

“Thank you for helping me Arc, and for saving my life and everything inbetween.”

I awkwardly nodded. “I couldn’t really just stand there and let you die I guess.”

Ceylon laughed for a moment. “Well, I know I haven’t been doing a great job as a guide, so now that we are in a better place, let me start from the beginning.”

I raised my brow. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to ask questions?”

She thought for a moment. “How about I just give you an introduction and you ask questions after, might be better.”

I pondered, before nodding.

“Okay, I’ll start.” Ceylon breathed. “We are in the Kingdom of Draliz, a country. One of many around the world. Here in Draliz nobility is determined by wealth above everything, even the title of King can be earned, hence my ongoing circumstances.”

I nodded as Ceylon continued.

“There are towns with a population of a couple hundreds to a thousand, and there are cities with populations of thousands to tens of thousands. Though I suppose this isn’t too relevant.”

She scratched her cheek before letting out a small breath.

“We are in the Black Forest. It is said to be one of the most dangerous places in Draliz, and its origins are unknown. Monsters are just naturally drawn here by the concentration of mana in the deeper parts.”

I nodded.

“Now moving on to more world things, since you said you didn’t know anything.” She scratched her cheek meeting my gaze. “I assume you’ve experienced floating projections at some point in your life, those are⁠—”

“The System?” I asked, interrupting.

Ceylon nodded. “It can be called that. There are religions centered around it. It grants every being in the world power that otherwise we wouldn’t have. It’s the basis of all magic, it’s the basis of mana.”

“Mana?”

“What you use to make magic, to use your skills. What you feel inside you is mana.” Ceylon explained quickly. “Even though I am in the lowest Tier, I can still feel my mana inside of me.”

I nodded.

“The System grants us classes to be able to fight or achieve in our life. I assume you too have a class.” She nodded.

I did not have a class. My status just said: Hero.

“And well, I guess that’s enough of an introduction?” Ceylon thought. “Though we don’t really get a class until E Tier, so I don't have one.”

I raised my brow. “That’s interesting.”

Ceylon chuckled. “I’m sure you went through it a long time ago so probably forgot. Do you have any questions?”

I pondered. “How does one make money aside from jobs?”

“Ah, about that.” Ceylon coughed. “There is a job for everyone, even the strong.” She gave me a side glance. “Adventurers kill monsters for a living, they sell their parts to foster the economy, etcetera.”

“So you’re saying?”

“I’m saying you should become an adventurer, you also get a free pass to every town and country, and well someone strong like you should get a lot of money and fame. I think you might be able to register in this town if there is a branch of the adventurer’s guild here.”

“Eh.” I leaned back. “Money is nice to have a roof over my head, but I don’t really care for fame, it seems bothersome. Everything else sounds nice though.” I closed my eyes. “I’ll think about it.”

Ceylon nodded. “Yeah, just think about it. I am making a lot of assumptions but after you’re done helping me, you’ll probably need something to do.”

“Yeah.”

She was right. I let out a breath as I stared at the ceiling. After helping, I would be aimless once more. I had to find something⁠—

And our door was knocked as a lady stepped in with a lidded tray. I stared for a moment, as she walked to the middle of a room where a table sat and set it down. After a moment, she lifted the lid, and a pleasant aroma entered my ears as my eyes went wide.

At the table laid two bowls of soup, they looked… amazing.

Meanwhile Ceylon scooted over to one of the chairs next to the table with a weird face. But I didn’t mind as I just stared.

* * * * *

Ceylon sat down at the room’s table and she suppressed a sigh. She hadn’t eaten anything for two days, but this… She looked at the bowl of soup, the broth looked empty for lack of a better word, the vegetables inside looked old and upon touching the meat with the spoon, it was as hard as a rock.

She looked at the soup as the inn staff left, she felt disillusioned, but perhaps she had expected too much. Ranedale, was at the edge of the Black Forest, but very much still inside of it. So perhaps, this was to be expected.

Ceylon was just about to eat before she noticed someone was missing. She turned to look at the beds where she saw Arc staring with wide eyes. Her white hair looked as silky as ever, but her ice-like eyes held nothing but wide surprise.

“Are you not going to eat?” Ceylon asked awkwardly.

Arc blinked and slowly nodded, sitting down somewhat apprehensively and looking at the soup as she clumsily got hold of the spoon. Ceylon understood.

“I know it’s not the best but, it’s the best we can get right now,” she awkwardly reassured. “We should eat now.”

She got yet another awkward nod from Arc, as Ceylon brought the spoon filled soup to her mouth and ate it. She almost frowned. The soup really wasn’t good, and when she turned to stare at Arc, her hand was shaking as she was opening her mouth.

Something seemed off.

Ceylon watched as Arc placed the spoonful in her mouth, and at that moment, her eyes went wide.

And then… she started crying.

Ceylon watched as the aloof and uncaringly strong woman began to audibly sob over eating a spoonful of soup. Ceylon didn’t know what to do, her heart-rate immediately tripled as she scrambled to say something.

“Are you alright?!”

And Arc slowly nodded as she slowly ate another spoonful.

“It’s just…” she choked.

Ceylon prepared herself, and the next words shocked her.

“It’s just so good.”

Ceylon continued to watch as Arc savored every bit of the soup. And all she could do was stare.

Just what kind of life had Arc been living to cry over eating a soup…?

Ceylon looked down at her meal. It looked average to her at best, and its taste wasn’t anything to write home about. But still, she decided to not say anything about it or form opinions as she began to eat as well.

◇ ◇ ◇

And not long after, both of them finished their meal. Ceylon wanted to say something but she didn’t know what to say, meanwhile Arc was looking down at the bowl, until finally she sighed.

“Where I came from, the only source of food were monsters that constantly attacked me, whether I was awake or sleep. There was no fire, the dried wood around was unusable. I never had a proper rest until a day ago. And this is my first real meal in years.”

Arc closed her eyes. She didn’t seem to be crying now, but she definitely was on a weird mood.

“Thank you Ceylon.”

Ceylon blinked. “You’re welcome…”

And with those words, Arc stood up and laid in bed without words. It was clear to her that she was now going to sleep. Meanwhile, she was just left to brood over her thoughts as she thought about the things Arc had just said.

* * * * *

I laid in bed as I closed my eyes.

I never expected to get so emotional eating proper food, but it only made sense. It had been so long since I had experienced a warm meal. It’s taste was incomparable to anything I could remember eating, it had just been… the best.

Right now, I wanted more than ever to experience new things, to see the sights the world had to offer, and to see what I had been missing out on for so long. I needed a way to experience things; I needed money. And something popped into my mind.

To become an adventurer…

I remembered what Ceylon had said, and I made a decision.

Tomorrow I’ll become an adventurer.

And I fell asleep.