Chapter 8: Chapter 008: Where am I?
Author: WolfSpatial
Co-Author: Lucifer
[Sometimes your biggest effort will be ignored, but your smallest mistake will be judged.]
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I know it's weird for us to post on a Monday, but given that yesterday was Mother's Day and I'll take any excuse I can not to work, we're posting today. Please enjoy the chapter.
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The ground wasn't quite as hard as I was expecting. As I fell in Erhard's shop, I closed my eyes to brace for the impact. Yet it never came, and I could, instead, feel soft grass under me.
It wasn't until I reached out for my staff and felt nothing that I realized how connected to the staff I really was. Stranger still, I could feel that same connection with the ground beneath my back.
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see a green sky with thin red clouds. A small white sun hung in the sky, providing enough light to see and heat the surface of the planet to a comfortable temperature, but not enough to be blinding.
"Oh, you're awake!" A tiny voice came from just above my chest, my eyes shifting down to stare at the small person with burning orange eyes who stared at me in excitement, "Thank you so much for freeing me, Master. I hope you don't mind me calling you that, I decided that since you released me and brought me to a new place full of spiritual energy that I'd serve you for the rest of your mortal life."
"Who…" I was about to question the little man when a thought hit me, "The Flame Tosser… you were the enchantment?"
"Well, yeah!" He puffed his chest — which was actually kind of cute — and set his hands on his hips, "Of course, a Lesser Ignition Spirit could never have a buff that high. Some jerk bound me to that staff against my will, so I only gave him the minimum amount of power I could."
"Ignition Spirit?" My brow cocked on its own, and I was hoping there would be a lesson on Spirits — and maybe enchanting — headed my way.
"Oh! Alright, let me explain," He sat on his knees with his feet pulled under him as I laid my head back onto the grass, "There are five types of Heat-Based Spirits; Smoke, Ignition, Flame, Lava, and Sun. Sun Spirits are really rare though, so I don't think you'll ever find one. I am a Middling Ignition Spirit, which is much better than those little Smoke Spirits who can only kill people with inhalation and blind them. I can start small fires and set people's clothes on fire. Of course I'd never do that to you."
"Uh, okay. Tell me how you were bound to the staff." It was kind of strange knowing that the little Spirit was on my chest considering I couldn't feel any weight from him, "I want to know more about enchanting."
"Nope." He shook his head vehemently, "Even if it's you, I don't want my Spirit Brothers and Sisters perverted by that world's enchantment system. I'm sorry, but please find another way."
"Tch," I clicked my tongue in annoyance, "What's your name anyway?"
"What do you mean?" He looked at me in confusion, "Only Higher Flame Spirits and up have names. I'm just me, nameless Middling Ignition Spirit."
"Hmm, I'll think of something." Turning my head, I felt some of the blades of grass go into my ear. I didn't mind all that much, it was cool but not too cold. This planet seemed very comfortable. Opening my eyes, I looked at the blue grass and couldn't help but be curious as to why everything was strangely colored.
I was thinking that maybe I'd build a summer home here when a voice that wasn't the Spirit's broke me from my reverie, "Are you okay!?"
The sounds of a horse moving across the grass accompanied the voice as it neared. The horse neighed and the person jumped off, their armored feet impacting with the ground and clashing together as the shock traveled the length of the metal.
I could tell it was a woman by the voice alone, the character sheet only proved that. However, I found it strange that she had no magic. All of her skills were purely physical as well. Even Ren, the Sword Hero, had magic and mana-based abilities.
"Civilian, are you injured?!" She knelt down next to me on my left side, her hair and face hidden by a closed iron helmet. She seemed genuinely worried, though that might've been because of her Knight job class.
The little Ignition Spirit fled from my chest as I sat up and stared past the vertical slits in the girls helmet. She had dim eyes that looked like they had seen the ends of the Earth and come back worse for wear.
She wasn't wearing gauntlets, though her bracers were tied around her palm with an extra section of armor behind her hand. I could see the callouses that had formed from years of swinging the sword that hung on her back.
It was a great sword with a handle wrapped in black leather. The blade had two cross guards, set apart by another section of leather that was bound to the metal. Despite wearing a leather skirt, she had a set of iron greaves that covered her legs to her upper thighs where a set of brown pants was visible.
"Did you hear me?" She asked again, and I wondered if, maybe, just maybe, she was a Valkyrie sent to take me away. She placed the back of her fingers against my forehead as I stared into her eyes. Whilst they seemed to hold no life, the girl had plenty of liveliness to her, "You don't seem to be running a fever, so you're not infected."
"Where am I?" She moved her hand to rest it on her right knee, her weight shifting slightly from her left, which was planted on the ground.
"You're right outside Elgade, do you remember how you got here?" The girl's name was Catheine D'Elgade, which meant she had some connection to the city itself, and she spoke with something akin to a slight French accent. According to her sheet, her father – who was named Lorence – had tried to get her to stay away from the sword when she was younger, which only pushed her to learn without supervision. That caused her to cut her face whilst hitting a dummy, which is why she wears the helmet in public.
My True Vision could be considered an immense invasion of privacy, but I didn't really care as it cemented my supremacy over other beings. Letting out a small sigh, I started to stand up, to which she did the same.
Now, I wasn't super tall – only standing at five-five – but the girl was still shorter than me. Almost adorably so, standing at about the height of my shoulder. I hid my smile by responding to her question, "I, uh, passed out. When I woke up, I was here. I'm not even sure where here is, if I'm being honest."
I scratched the back of my head in a show of embarrassment. She looked up at me, the difference in height not bothering her in the slightest, "Well, we can address that when we get back to the city, you don't want to be stuck outside when night falls."
She started walking toward her horse. As she neared, the large mount got down on its knees to allow her small stature to sit into its saddle. She looked at me expectantly, as if telling me to ride bitch with nothing but her dim gaze, "Why isn't it safe after night fall?"
"You're kidding, right?" Her expression somehow turned even more deadpanned, staring at me with the reins of her steed in hand, "Just get on."
Clicking my tongue, I looked to where I'd be sitting only to find the little Spirit waiting for me. He smiled and patted the horse, I could see the horse's muscles tense for a second before it calmed.
I guessed that animals could interact with Spirits, but Catheine either didn't see him or Spirits were common enough that it didn't matter he was hanging around. My thoughts leaned more towards the former, as she didn't even acknowledge the little guy.
As the discomfort of sitting at the edge of the horse's saddle washed over my butt, I had to wonder why I could see the little Spirit. Looking at my character sheet showed no skill or talent for seeing and interacting with them, in fact it said nothing about being able to break enchantments and free the Spirits from items.
That thought made me think back to Itsuki as I clamped my hands down and on the girl's armored hips, making sure I wouldn't be thrown off at higher speeds.
"Git!" The girl hit the horse with the back of her right boot, which I found was rounded. Probably to prevent hurting the horse.
But I digress. Itsuki's character sheet didn't say anything about his power to always hit his targets in his skills section, so maybe there were things that the sheets didn't know.
Maybe, they couldn't tell what powers someone had before coming to this world. That could be it, but I don't remember being able to see spirits and clear enchantments before being summoned.
Unless I couldn't do that then because Magic and enchanting didn't exist in my old world.
As we rode across the plains astride the large brown horse with white spots along its forward right portion, I leaned forward to speak to Catheine, "I'm Jayce, by the way. What's your name?"
I could come outright and tell her that I already knew her name, talents, how good she was with the sword on her back — which was really good, by the way — but I decided to play it safe since I woke up in the middle of buttfuck nowhere.
"Catheine Dorneget," She lied. I didn't like it when people lied to me. When I lied to them it was fine, but I disliked being lied to.
My lips pursed in mild annoyance and I weighed my options of coming forthright and telling the girl that I knew who she was, but she might take that the wrong way and assume I'm here to kill or kidnap her.
While I could also explain that I have the ability to see people's histories and skill sets, that was probably a conversation best saved for when she trusted me.
I had been gung-ho about the Legendary Heroes, giving them more information than they truly needed but I wouldn't make that mistake here.
Thinking about that, would it be possible to go back? My staff was still there and I was kind of building a rapport with Erhard and Naofumi. Itsuki was also starting to come under my wing and Malty seemed to be trying a new approach to our delicate situation.
"Can you tell me why it's not safe outside after dark?" The sun was beginning to set behind us, meaning I was Eastward from Elgade if their planetary rotation was the same as Earth's.
I had asked the question for two reasons. First, I don't like being alone with my thoughts. Second, she seemed very concerned about whether we'd be outside of her city when that sun hit the horizon.
"I can't believe you don't know," She seemed exasperated, telling the horse to move faster as the city wall approached, "The Knight-Mares and the Shadow Armies come out at night and patrol the land, they kill anything that's not an animal and turn humans into one of them. A desolate soul that yearns for destruction and death."
The city wall was probably around seventy-five to a hundred feet tall and maybe five yards wide all the way around. It was made of a large black stone that I couldn't place and looked like it had been attacked a lot, but never broken through.
"What the hell is a Knight-Mare?" I couldn't hold my tongue, I was curious and new knowledge excited me.
Catheine slowed the horse to a gallop as it panted and the large black gate slid down behind us. She climbed off the horse and looked up at me, "They are the Scourge of Cantria, Rider of the Underdepths, and Generals of Shadow."
"So they're this world's Demons?" I mumbled to myself, climbing down from the tall horse and absentmindedly walked behind Catheine, "Interesting, I'll need to do some research on them."
"What's a Demon? Sounds malevolent." People made way for her as she pulled the horse and we walked through the city. Shops were set up on either side of the main avenue, people peddling wares from a wooden stall or a cloth laid out on the cobblestone sidewalk.
The center of the road was paved in the same black material as the outer wall, and I started to think that maybe I needed to get some of it to experiment with.
"They're just some evil doers where I come from." She seemed to accept my explanation, nodding along with my words.
Up to this point, the little Spirit had been silently sitting atop the horse. He gave me a glance and blew literal smoke from his nostrils in a sigh, "People are looking at you strangely, Master. You need new clothes, maybe something a bit more casual and less ceremonial."
"I can't ruin my image," Moving closer to the Spirit and horse, I spoke just loud enough for him to hear me, "Besides, I like my robes. They're comfortable."
"Do you see anyone else wearing robes?" He gestured around us, making me look at the people sending me strange and curious glances, "The women wear longs dresses and the men wear suits, don't you think you should try and fit in?"
"I've never fit in," I retorted, but it didn't change that he was right. At least in Melromarc Mages and Clergy wore robes. Here, I didn't see any sign of clergy or Magic. I could still feel a connection to the planet, but none of these people contained any Magic whatsoever.
After a couple seconds of silent walking, I asked, "Spirit, you said this place had a lot of Spiritual Power, right?"
"Yeah," He nodded and crossed his arms, looking at me in confusion, "Why?"
"How is Spiritual Power different from Mana?" He looked almost impressed that I could tell the difference, but then gave a shrug as if it was to be expected.
"Spiritual Power is used by Spirits and Spiritualists to control pre-existing sources of natural elements. Mana is used by Mages and the like to create new sources of elements and achieve special effects like sharpening a blade with Mana or creating arrows of pure energy." His explanation was mostly sound, and I was ready to ask another question when he continued, "Spirits themselves are also a small embodiment of their element, so they retain bits of their power no matter where they are. Of course, a Heat-Type Spirit will be stronger in a volcano and a Cold-Type Spirit will be stronger in a tundra."
"Who are you talking to?" Catheine stopped moving and turned to face me.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone