Episode 7: Vita

I stared into My own face, the people here had managed to get their hands on glass, or made it somehow. If someone from my original world had seen me right now they wouldn't recognise me at all. My hair was slightly longer than before and it was a complete mess, it wasn't possible to clean it here from what i could tell.

My body had a new scar, my right shoulder that had been damaged by the piranha's teeth were not healed with mana and so they had left a permanent mark on my body. I placed my hand over the scar, recalling the fights that led up to this point.

A smile creeped onto my face, even though this world was dangerous. Even though I had almost died multiple times already. It was fun. At least my scattered mind thought so.

‘Am I going crazy? Maybe it's best not to think about it…’’

I grabbed the vest I woke up here with and slipped it on. Clothes could not be repaired with mana and so there were now holes in it. However Sofia had let me know that I could get some new clothes in exchange for supplies. Luckily I still had a lot of wood from the oak owl and some food from our trip here.

Unfortunately though Ben had not woken up yet. I wasn't surprised, he had expended a lot of mana and he explained himself what effects that had on the body. I had spent most of my time here waiting for him to wake up, it had now been an entire day since we got here.

Eleanor approached me with a wooden tray in her hand, announcing that it was time for food. The day I had been awake I realised that she didn't really like me, she didn't even seem to like ben. I had tried to get to know her a few times but she completely changed the subject each time. Not just that but she always seemed to be hiding her true emotions and putting on an act whenever she spoke to us.

She seemed to treat Sofia completely differently though. It was very easy to tell just how much respect she had for her just from the tone of her voice. Originally it saddened me but after asking Sofia herself i learned that Eleanor had a deep trauma that she couldn't shake off.

I didn't get the full details and did not pry too far into it. But it seemed like she had trouble with men as a whole. The fact that she still healed me despite this gave me a sense of respect for her. She had pushed down her trauma and did her job, who wouldn't respect that?

***

After eating all of the food that I had been given I stood up from the bed, took in a full breath and then exhaled. The food here was cooked much better than the food I had made on our journey. Controlling the flames was much harder for me than it was for Ben So my food was always burnt or undercooked. Overall the food was still not like that of the surface but i had no right to complain.

I smiled at Eleanor and thanked her for the food. Sofia was sitting on a chair next to Ben's bed but she was completely asleep. Likely because of her magic’s drawbacks.

‘I wonder. Is it normal to have drawbacks for powerful magic? Or is it just Sofia’s case. I'll have to ask her when I come back.’

With my morning finished I opened the door to the small shack-like hospital and stepped out onto a pavement made out of pebbles. The town was much more advanced than I had imagined, each house was made out of wood and some buildings that stood out from the rest had walls made out of stones piled on top of each other instead. Out of these important buildings the hospital was the only one that was made out of wood. However the inside of the building was incredibly cosy.

The building I was heading to now had cobbled it all and a flat roof, yet the inside was not as fancy as the outside, it consisted of multiple clothes racks made from wood and a desk opposite from the door. The room itself was only about 5 metres across in each direction.

Behind the desk there were a few more clothes racks and a door likely leading to where the clothes themselves were made. A young man that was sitting at the desk noticed me and approached me with a smile on his face.

“Ah a customer, how can I help you sir?” His voice was soft, yet his face did not match it. He had a large scar across his eye and his eyes had a certain feeling to them, I couldn't put it into words.

“Yes, actually I need a new set of clothes. As you can see my old ones are ruined.” The man had a good look at my ragged clothes filled with holes.

“The corrals?” I nodded my head.

‘So he's familiar with them, was he one of these travellers I keep hearing about?’

“Well, I can fix up something nice for you, but what can you give me in return?” I took the pouch Ben had lended to me and gave it to him.

“Some wood and I also have some food-”

“Just the wood is fine, you fought an oak owl and came out alive? You're stronger than you look.”

‘He was definitely a traveller then.’

“Oh, about that I killed it with the help of a friend, I didn't really have to do much.” The young man nodded.

“I see, either way I'm more than happy to take this. Oak owls are made of incredibly sturdy wood and are incredibly rare, they are really good for creating fires and have multiple other uses too.”

This young man had some great knowledge, it made me wonder how long he had been a hunter for. I didn't want to pry into his life though and kept my mouth shut.

“Come over here, I'll measure your height first.”

He led me over to a support in the middle of the room, on one of its sides multiple measurements had been carved into the wood. He got me to stand by it and measure exactly how tall I was.

“171.8 centimetres. Not to be rude but you're pretty short. Makes things easier for me.”

‘Not to be rude? I get that everyone else seems to be taller than me but come on… I’m not really that small right?’

“Well that's all I need, I can already figure out the rest myself. I should get the clothes done within a week, you might have to put up with those old ones for a bit.”

“That's fine with me. Thank you.”

The people who lived here each had their own ways of collecting resources. Some set up shops and traded for them, others simply hunted for them and gathered them itself. The people here had essentially made their own economy with resources as its currency.

The only exception was the workers at the hospital and any patients they had, people were able to donate some resources to the hospital after each hunt. Even though it wasn't mandatory, everyone seemed to do it.

***

I did not return to the hospital just yet, I had one more thing left to do on the other side of town. The streets became more crowded the further I went, eventually it seemed like every single person in the town was outside. 

It was around the time for most people to hunt for food and materials. I could see multiple men and women dressed in padded attire, some of it more grand than others. 

My attention was pulled towards a dark and gloomy passage between two houses. I couldn’t see anything but my instincts told me I was being watched. I focused my eyes and the moment I did something moved in the darkness and retreated.

I caught a small glimpse of a hooded figure with a brooch hidden underneath their cloak. I could not make out exactly what it was but a deep purple glow emitted from the brooch, Likely from a jewel.

I decided to ignore it and continued walking down the cobbled path. It had taken much longer to reach my destination due to the crowded paths but they had finally calmed down. Everyone had left the town to go hunting, the streets were now desolate and it felt odd standing in the middle of them.

From where I stood I could see the gate, it was currently closed and even the guards that would usually populate it were out hunting right now. This was technically the most vulnerable time to be in the city, however with the hunters out clearing every monster nearby nothing would come to destroy the town.

I turned my attention to the large building made of stones in front of me. This was likely the biggest building out of all of the ones I had seen. A small sign on it read out the words ‘travellers tavern’.

Sophia had told me about this place, they dealt with the travellers that came into town and gave them a place to stay. This would be where I was staying if Ben was awake but instead I was offered a room at the hospital while I waited for Ben to wake up.

My main reason for being here was to ask around about the person who had saved me. She had left the town already and it was likely that she was a traveller. 

I entered the tavern and was met with a few gazes from the travellers, a few of them were talking with each other and eating food at tables. At the far end of a room a desk with a tired looking woman behind it could be seen. 

The desk looked much more clean and well built compared to the desk at the clothes shop. A few planks on wood and a pen were situated on the desk. Instead of ink the pen had a blade which was used to carve words into the wood. 

“Do you need something?” The tired lady called out to me and beckoned me over to the desk.

“Yeah, I'm currently looking for someone.”