"It really is another world!" The j.a.panese man say so while excitedly looking around.
"I can"t believe it, I thought I was a dead man for sure! But to suddenly arrive here in a magical world, I must be the luckiest man alive!" He excitedly says so in monologue.
The word "dead man" intrigued me. From his words he probably has near death experience right before being summoned here like me. No wonder there are blood splatter all over his shirts, that means the woman probably has similar circ.u.mstance when she was summoned.
As for the old man, only special prisoner will be treated like that, seeing that he was put in human trolley means he was being transported somewhere when he was summoned, execution chamber perhaps? The very thought of him possibly being a psychotic killer makes me wary, but I don"t judge people by appearance alone, let"s see what kind of character he really is first.
"Tell me, where exactly are we? I saw that magic or spells exist, does that mean magical beast and demi-human races exist too?" He asks me while still being excited. What"s with the sudden change of att.i.tude?
I can see that the woman and old man seem pretty interested on that topic too.
"I don"t really know, I was imprisoned underground for several weeks and has just been released an hour ago. What I know is that we were forcefully brought here to be a hero material of some sort."
"Hero material? Is there a demon lord, demon king or something like that? Does that mean we have hero power or cheat abilities?" The j.a.panese guy is suddenly getting even more excited upon hearing the word "hero". He doesn"t seem really perplexed with the whole miraculously-brought-to-other world-thing but is instead really excited for the event.
"Yeah, there was something like that mentioned. But forget it, by the looks of it, you also didn"t get to meet the so called G.o.ddess to receive blessings from her. That"s why those people just ignored and left us like this, they think we are a failed summoned hero again and are only normal people with no special blessings."
"What?! No cheat?! That can"t be! Just like that? Can"t they inspect or appraise our status or something? Are they gonna left us just like this? Can"t they at least give proper explanation first? No information, financial, or other kind of support from the King? We were supposed to be a possible hero, right?" He frantically asks for many things.
"Calm down a bit, man. I don"t know about any status or appraisal you are talking about, but the King has determined that we are a product of failed hero summoning. Not to mention your appearance which reeks of being a criminal. Especially you, missy, you even took the King as hostage." I pointed at the woman.
"Don"t even hope for a good treatment, you all are lucky to be let go just like that, I was imprisoned for weeks because I "accidentally" offended the King when I was summoned. I myself am still surprised that he would let your offense go just like that, just be glad that you are not sent to execution but instead are released as free men right away."
The j.a.panese man seems disappointed on my answer, as for the woman, she only frowns when I said that to her. The old man doesn"t even seem to listen to me and is looking around the scenery. The floating lady is as indifferent as ever, she only silently follows us.
As for myself, I am quite content with how practical things turn out, I was prepared to break away forcefully when things got too hot back then.
Just like that, we continue walking but now the j.a.panese guy has a depressed and disappointed look. On the way out, we walk past a water fountain located in the middle of the garden in front of the Cathedral. They wash the blood on their face and hands with the water from the fountain. The envoy looks like wanting to say something when they did that but in the end he doesn"t say anything.
We ride the tram lift and reach the main island in just a minute. One thing then occurs on my mind, so far these people are still obediently following without making a ruckus, but who knows what will happen if they meet with the jeer from military people from before.
The j.a.panese guy and Latina Woman might ignore such a thing but the old man doesn"t seem to be the patient type. There will be confrontation for sure if we go through that place, especially since these people are wearing conspicuous clothing that is different with the standards of this world, especially this Latina woman, she"s still in her s.e.xy negligee, that would definitely attract too much attention.
"Hey, can you give them a change of clothes? They"ll attract to much attention like this." I ask the envoy who is walking in front of me.
"Clothes? Sure, I"ll get some when we reach the gate post."
"Are we going through the training field again?"
"No, I was ordered to bring you straight to the city area, we"ll go past the district gate, we can find some change of clothes there."
"Okay."
Just like that we follow him toward a big gate with tall walls around it which look like a fortress wall. We walk pa.s.s many huge manors and mansions and meet with some people along the way but they only look from a distance and doesn"t try to interact with us.
Inside the small building by the big gate that looks like a small barrack or guard post for the big gate, the envoy asks a young man there to fetch several set of clothes for us.
While waiting for the clothes, I start a conversation with the envoy, wanting to gather some general information regarding the city. He doesn"t say much but I managed receive some advice on how to start living the city. He told me that since the royal house has decided to cut ties with us, therefore they won"t provide IDs for us, so we must make one ourselves by registering on one of the guilds in the city such as the Adventurer"s Guild, the Merchant Union, Academies, or other organization that has authority to provide an official ID or membership.
He tells us a simple explanation about the kingdom which is really helpful because miss little princess was really secretive about this country and almost didn"t tell me anything, especially about this city. As we"ve seen, the Kingdom ofGloumell Altaireis a country located on an archipelago of floating islands. It"s one of the few countries located in such a high alt.i.tude. The chain of over a thousand islands are differed in term of alt.i.tude and sizes.
Altaire Erebaz, or in definition: Sky Capital, is the name of the capital city where we are right now, is located on the biggest island with around middle-low position within the range of alt.i.tude the archipelago has.
The country has a population of around 13 to 15 million people where around 5 million of them are residing in the royal capital and its nearby island while the rest are scattered in some distant floating island in either higher or lower alt.i.tude.
I"m surprised with that statistic. Not by the number of total population, that number of population is not very big compared to the average number of population the countries in this world have, much less compared to the countries on Earth.
What surprised me is there are around 5 million people living in this city area? That"s on the level of rather big metropolis city on Earth while this island only looks like two or three times the size of Manhattan, not to mention that the city also only occupies half of the island. The buildings look pretty well coordinated and not so crowded so any place that resemble a slum area are nowhere on sight. It really looks like one of those vacation spot cities where everything looks beautiful and wonderful.
The city is also divided into several districts, which in the order of location from the city"s front gate, are Commercial District, Academy District, Residence District, and n.o.ble District. The city shape is not divided like circle within circle formation where the Royals would reside in the innermost part like in cla.s.sic medieval castle city. In here they are coordinated next to each other, like from west to east with n.o.ble District at the Western-most part and Commercial District together with Academy District at the Eastern-most part, right next to the city gate. Residence District is located in the middle and occupy the largest area in the city.
The district we are in right now is the n.o.ble District, it"s the most luxurious area where most n.o.bles live. It"s next to the Royal Palace where the royal family resides. The military base is also located in here so that in times of emergency, they can be quickly deployed to protect the royalties and n.o.bles.
Prioritizing the one in high standing is justifiable in common perspective, I just hope they also put proper security attention to those in the outskirts because according to the little princess from before, it"s in the outskirts of the city and villages away where wild beasts and even monsters from the nearby forest and mountain area would often wander into and cause damages to the locals. Thus making the positioning of the military base very much inefficient most of the time.
The Residence District is located next to the n.o.ble District and occupy around 40% of the area in the Royal Capital. It"s located in the middle part of the city and is split right in the middle by the main road connecting the city"s front gate and the n.o.ble District. This district serves as the main residence area for general populace with some lower n.o.bles mixed in the area near the n.o.ble District. There are several parks and open areas where people can hangout and are often used as a place to hold and events and festivals.
Next is the Commercial District and Academy District. These two districts are located between the Residence District and the city"s Front Gate, and are split by the main road to be the north and south area.
The Commercial District which is in the northern part is the area where markets and commercial businesses are concentrated in. All kind of shop from small one like a roadside grocery store to the major one like international trade firms all located in this district.
The district itself further split into three level, the middle-lower area where the cheaper items and services are offered, middle-upper area for those who have more, and the high-end area where only the best and most extravagant items and services are offered.
According to Mr. Envoy, this type of cla.s.s differences are not made by the government, it just naturally formed by itself. Cheap stores were gathering in one spot of the district while the more expensive shops were gathering in another spot of the district.
The Commercial District is also the home of many big organization"s branch group as mentioned before, the Adventurer"s Guild, Merchant Union, Blacksmith Union, Alchemist a.s.sociation, and many more. While Mr. Envoy"s telling us about this, Mr. j.a.panese Guy is happily shouting "Adventurer"s Guild!!" or "Alchemist a.s.sociation!!! Oh yeaaah!" as soon as he heard about those things mentioned. He looks super excited to this fantasy-like organization. I"m not exactly sure what they are but I can guess a little from their name. This j.a.panese guy seems pretty resourceful in this aspects, I may be able to learn something from him if needed.
As for the Academy District, this is the area where schools and research inst.i.tution are located. They have one national academy and many other private schools here. It seems most of them teach not only the common teaching materials like literature and math calculation, but also magics and other fantasy-like stuffs. I don"t exactly understand those terms but they sound really magical.
One more thing. As expected, modern science like physic, chemistry, or biology are not a huge thing in here, although they exist, they seem really minor and unpopular that Mr. Envoy would not mention them if I didn"t ask him about them.
The main road mentioned before is a straight highway spanning across the city from the city"s Front Gate to the gate of n.o.ble District. It"s so wide that it"s enough for 12 carriages to move side by side safely. The purpose of the main road is not only to allow easier travel between districts in daily activity, but also to be used in times of parades and festivals. People would fill the main road whenever the country hold a grand event like the birth of a new royalties, victory parades, or other grand events. That"s why at the highway in the western Residence District, near the n.o.ble District, part of the road is turned into a very wide circular plaza with a big statue of a giant bird, the symbol of the country, standing proud at the center. This huge central plaza serves as the main gathering place over all the other open area in the city.
I"m really impressed upon hearing the general structure of this city, their civil engineering is rather advanced! Although the buildings don’t look like a modern 21st century with skysc.r.a.pers and whatnot, they have coordinated the city very well by differentiating the residence area from the business/commercial area. This really helps in organizing and controlling business activities in the city. Imagine if it isn"t organized like this, some shady businesses may sprout in every nook and cranny of the humongous residence area, hidden among the home of normal citizens, how hard would it be to eradicate or even detect such malicious factors from growing in the city.
After the city, I ask about the surrounding landscape, about the area outside the city, just general information would suffice and so he tells me so. Right outside the city is the farmland and small villages for farmers. The main road from the city continue a bit outside through the farmlands and end on a wide open area with several buildings in it. This wide open area is aerial transport landing zone and those small buildings are inspection post meant to check the goods and visitors that came from outside the island.
By this time the j.a.panese guy is vigorously cutting the speech, asking whether there are dragons, griffins, and other flying beasts. The envoy looks startled from being questioned with machine gun questions so I flicker my fingers hard onto the too excited j.a.panese guy"s forehead to shut him up. I tell him that I saw a dragon this morning so they do exist. Hearing that, he makes a winning pose while still rubbing his now red forehead with his left hand.
Continuing the story, apparently there is a law to prohibit flying transport to enter the city"s airs.p.a.ce, any flying transport not bearing n.o.ble or royal crest will be shot down upon sight. All visitors and transports through aerial means must land in the landing zone outside the city and enter by feet through the front gate. This is a security measure to prevent possible attack from air.
Now that he mentioned it, I look straight up and realize that there are no other floating island located above the main island. For as far as the eye can see, only clear blue sky exists right above the main island. Other higher floating islands make a chain of island towards a direction away from the main island.
Of course I don"t forget about what kind of weapon do they use to shot down an aerial object and what kind of flying transports is he talking about. To this question, his answer is very simple and short, only "Mana Cannon" and "The usualAerial Transport Beasts". He tells us that these are irrelevant to us for now so I don"t pry on it further. I might as well check it out later myself, flying beasts sound really awesome.
The requested clothes, complete with a pair of shoes and even gloves arrive soon after we finish our question and answer session. It"s in simpler fashion compared to what they gave to me this morning. I decide to change only my shirt because my pant and shoes are the only things left that I have from Earth, not to mention that it holds some sentimental value too so I feel more comfortable wearing it than the pants I was given just now. The eccentric red color with pizza icons and the word Papa Ben"s Pizzeria are not an issue for me, at least for now. I will change it later if it turns out to gather much unneeded attention in the city.
The other three also change their clothes, and of course, in different room for Ms. s.e.xy Negligee. She changes all her clothing and looks like a real local except that she looks really pretty and would appear rather different than the common citizen. She still looks kinda s.e.xy because her shirt is the type with an open back.
The old man wears the given shirt and shoes but keeps the trouser part of his straitjacket that has some loose belts dangling around, he still looks kinda creepy because of that.
The j.a.panese Man changes all his clothing with the given one, he will totally look like a local if not for his Asian face which is really contrast with the local people who mostly look like European. We keep our old and unused clothes in small leather bags that are also prepared for us. Now that we are dressed like normal citizen of the city (except me with my iconic red pants and creepy old man), we are ready to set off into the city.
Right when we"re about to exit the district gate, Mr. Envoy calls me again. He then tosses a small item to me. I catch it nicely and see what it is. It appears to be a beautiful gem-like crystal with an oval shape. The color is purple-amethyst and the size is just enough to be fully held in hand.
I look at him shortly after I inspect the crystal. "It"s a little bit of money from me, a token of grat.i.tude for appreciating and praising the beauty of my country."
This guy is unexpectedly very thoughtful and shy. He just said his thanks while still looking aloof.
"You"re a shy one aren"t you. Thanks for the money, then while we"re still here, do you have any extra? There are four of us here you know." I reply my grat.i.tude and shamelessly ask for more as a joke.
"You"re a really shameless and hopeless one aren"t you. Here take these." He throws a pouch to me and I receive it.
I really didn"t expect him to actually give me more money. Now I feel bad for asking, even as a joke. I can"t just return it and say "It was a joke!" and laugh it off, that would be really awkward.
"That"s some chump change I have in me right now, that"s all I have, don"t ask for more!"
....By the name of every G.o.d on Earth and this world, this is so embarra.s.sing! It looks like I just forced him to surrender all his money down to his meager chump change! I feel like I could dig a hole and bury my face in it. No wonder Little Princess said that my jokes were bad, I think I kinda get what she meant now.
"Now go! Don"t do anything rash out there! Not everybody is as tolerant as me."
Just like that he turns back and walks away before I could say anything. Only now that I realize that I haven"t ask for his name yet. Again, I forgot to ask people"s name. So far the only person whose name I know is that imbecile king, Ramsarast Imbeculle the third... or was it the fifth. Sorry, I know it"s the fifth, but I just realized that the "third" sounds more... fitting.
I also turn back toward the four behind me. The scary old man is only smirking as if he almost laughed at me. Ms. s.e.xy Negligee is only pouting on my action. Ms. Floating Beauty is only observing with cold look as always. Only the j.a.panese guy who understand my action.
"I understand buddy, you only meant it as a joke but he took it seriously." He pats me on the shoulder.
Four Eyes, I misjudged you. You are actually an understanding guy. If I could take back that flick, I would do it right away.
I then open the pouch that I just received. Inside it I can see a number of coin like metals, this doesn"t look like a normal coin we can find on Earth. These coins don"t even look like made from copper, silver, bra.s.s, or gold. They are made from shiny metals too, but their color vary from emerald green, sky blue, and red crimson. I don"t know yet how precious these coins and gems I received, but on appearance alone they already look beautiful, so they should be worth a bit high.
So then we hit the main road. This highway looks even bigger than what the envoy described, I think we can fit at least a dozen car or more side by side in here.
The highway looks like made from white slab of stones that almost looks like painted pure white. These stones are around as big as a coffin each and are joined together in a neat arrangement. I don"t know how they did it but the road looks really level and stable on plain view.
On our left and right, we can see pretty big mansions with their own private land and garden. Although not as big as the one we saw in the n.o.ble District, it"s still an impressive sight. These mansions must be the one that was mentioned as the house of lower n.o.bles.
We continue walking along the highway. Not long after we arrive at the central plaza, this area is really huge! It could probably fit four football fields or more.
It"s crowded with people and carriages busily going around in the plaza. There are a lot of stalls by the road side selling various kind of items and foods, making the place even more crowded with people buying and selling stuffs. Apparently although there is a restriction conduct business activity in the Residence District, the rule doesn"t apply to the highway part of the Residence District, making it a very busy marketplace because not only it"s closer than the Business District, it"s also located right in the heart of Residence District.
The giant bird statue at the center is really huge, almost as tall as other popular landmark likearc de triomphein Paris. This giant bird is said to be the mythical beast who brought the first group of humans to this sky archipelago who later become the founding father of the country. That"s a legend from thousands of cycles ago, where a cycle is a like a year in this world, a complete cycle of four seasons. The said mythical beast has not been seen for a long time and is predicted to have gone extinct a long time ago.
Back to the current issue how will the group act from now own, in fact, will we even stay together or will we go our own separate way.
"Alright, this is it. I"ll ask now, what are you people want to do from now on. I"ll split the money with you all if you want to go your own separate way. Decisions are entirely up to you. I"ll not restrict or forbid you from doing anything." I say that as I hold the pouch of money in front of me, jiggling it a little.
Upon my question, Mr. Understanding is the first to answer. "Are you going to the Adventurer"s Guild first to make and ID?"
"I"m not, and until I know for sure what"s all the function of an ID in this world, I"m not planning to make one."
"Well, that"s too bad, I"m planning to register at adventurer"s guild right away so that means I"m gonna go a separate way. Any of you planning to make an ID too?" He asks the other two after telling us his objective.
"No. I"m not going with any of you men. You all don"t look like a decent man. So just give me my share of money and I"ll be gone." She answers with criticism-like manner. She"s correct though, we didn"t look like decent man at all on our first meeting.
"Alright milady, anything you wish~." I open the pouch and take out some coins for both her and the j.a.panese Guy.
"That knife too, give me that knife, it was mine." She pointed at the knife that I hid under my shirt by the waist.
A knife like this should be pretty common in here and she needs at least one way to protect herself in this foreign city, so I non-hesitantly return the knife to her.
Seeing that, one man looks at me with pleading eyes. "Uum, can I have my gun too?"
"Nope, sorry buddy. This one stays with me." I give him a firm look with one raised eyebrow.
"Oh... okay. Alright. That"s okay... you can keep it..." He looks pretty dejected. This guy, although he looks rather sinister with the bloodied black suit and professional hairstyle before, he turns out to be a pretty timid and normal guy. Not the kind that you would expect to have a gun and looks like to have killed somebody.
"What about you, old man?"
"Explore and enjoy myself." Short and simple, and he speaks with a rather loud voice.
"Okay, I take it you want to go your own way then." I give him the rest of the coins left in the pouch, I only plan to take on the gem or crystal thing. I don"t know the difference in value yet, but this should worth a lot more because the envoy said the coins are worth only chump change. I take only this one because he said this is a personal gift to me and it"s not like I can split the gem anyway, so giving all the coins to the others would be the fairest thing to do.
As they prepare to leave after inspecting the coins I gave them, I ask one last question. "Say, since we are all people of the same origin and fate, would you like to tell me your name, maybe later we might need to find each other. People call me Axl by the way."
I don"t forget to ask for their name this time.
"Axel?" The j.a.panese Man is wondering whether he heard it wrong.
"No, Axl. A-X-L."
"Oh, is that code name? then mine will be Tokyo!" He excitedly claims his code name.
He"s not entirely wrong about it being code name, I just lived with that name for too long that it feels like my actual name. Code name Tokyo huh, that"s fair enough for this occasion.
Following him, the old man with his loud and husky voice says, "Vodka!" while grinning widely.
He immediately claims the code name Vodka for himself. That"s fine by me. Tokyo and Vodka really fit their image anyway, one appears to be a normal j.a.panese city guy and the other is kinda messed up and lunatic like the effect of consuming too much alcohol.
I turn toward the only visible lady in the group.
"I don"t need to know your names and we won"t meet again." Just like that she turns back and walks away.
"Okay then, I"ll call you as Ms. s.e.xy Negligee if we ever meet again." I tease her when she has just walked a few steps from us.
There is no response from her, she completely ignores me.
"Alright then, I guess this is our farewell. Good luck out there." I say that to the other two and we begin walking our separate way.
I walk for a minute following the highway to the east. Then I notice that someone is following me.
It"s the invisible lady. She"s still following me. Now I"m getting more convinced that she"s more likely to be some kind of a ghost or spirit who is haunting me.
I walk to an area with less people then turn myself to face her, "Okay, we"re alone now. So if you want to talk in private, this is your best chance." I folds my hand in front of my chest as I say that to her.
I don"t hate being followed by a beautiful woman like her, but first I need to know her purpose and what she really is.
She just faces away from me and put up an aloof expression. This woman can be a little bit annoying.
"Suit yourself, let"s see how you handle it when I go to the toilet and something like that."
I can see her one of her eye just twitch a little right when I said that, that means she really can hear and understand what I say.
While I"m pondering about what to do with her, a familiar voice calls my name.
"Axl."
I turn toward the source of the voice and see him walking towards me. Tokyo.
"Hmm? What is it? Already feeling lonely being alone in this foreign city, buddy?" My hands are still folded in front of my chest.
".... No, it"s not that...."
"Something wrong? I gave all the coins already, I don"t have anymore with me."
"No, no, it"s not about the money. It"s just..... the language."
"Language?"
"Yeah, everybody around me suddenly starts speaking gibberish soon after I left."
"They speak what?"
"Gibberish, like a totally foreign language that I have never heard before. I was surprised by the sudden change in environment, so I decide to look for you and ask what was that about."
"I was looking for you and was able to notice you from afar because of your wacky pants. Then when I walk closer to you just now, suddenly everybody starts speaking j.a.panese again. Do you know what"s happening?" He asks me with a confused face, surely he"s not joking right now.
Wait a minute, did he just say that everybody started speakingj.a.paneseagain? Could it be...
"Wait, did you just say everybody speaks j.a.panese?" I stopped folding my hand talk with him seriously.
"Huh? What do you... aren"t you yourself speaking j.a.panese right now?"
"No I don"t. I"m speaking with you in complete English."
"No, no, you are speaking j.a.panese right now, a very fluent one, in fact."
Aah, I see. No wonder that somehow everybody even the people of this foreign world speaks English. Looks like some kind of translation mechanism is at work here. Is this one of the G.o.ddess" blessing that Little Princess mentioned before? That must be it. I have noticed that I can understand what the people around me are speaking but I can"t read any written object around me, it probably translates only the spoken language in a certain radius around me, but not the one being written. In conclusion, I can hear and speak the language, but not read and possibly write it.
Then if Tokyo lose the translation effect when he left me, does that mean he doesn"t have his own translation mechanism? Why would that be, we"re all the same summoned people. Is he a more failure result than me that he didn"t even receive the translation blessing? No, I feel like I"m missing something.
Then I soon realize what is it that feels off. I turn my sight toward the invisible lady.
Could it be because of her? She"s the one that"s been around me all this time. No, wait, she wasn"t around before the time of summoning ritual this morning and yet I was already able to understand the language all the way from the time I"m being summoned here.
It"s getting complicated.
"Listen, in my ears, you and everyone else are speaking English. And you said that in your ears, me and all the others are speaking j.a.panese. That means there is probably some kind of translation mechanism working that helps translate all the spoken language around us. Or, as you said, around me."
He nods to hint that he understands what I"m saying so far.
"I don"t know yet why is it only me. It"s probably because we were summoned in different times that you and I have different unknown results like this translation perk."
He makes an expression as if he finally understands the reason why there are no language barrier before and why is it only me that currently have the translation perk.
"If you don"t receive the translation blessing, then the other two probably don"t get it either. They are probably confused by the sudden change of environment too, let"s look for them for now."
I decide to look for the other two to see whether the same thing is happening to them too. As soon as I look around, I notice that the angry s.e.xy lady is standing no so far away from us and is looking on our direction. Looks like she"s in the same situation as Tokyo and was searching for me.
I wave my hand up high on her direction. She realizes that I notice her presence. But instead of coming closer, she hides herself behind a food stall next to her. This woman is really difficult to interact with.
As I plan to come closer to her, a loud commotion occurred on a stall near us.
"You dirty cretin! You dare b.u.mped into me!" A loud yell from a chubby man wearing expensive looking robes and various adorned accessories can be heard clearly.
Me, Tokyo, and Ms. s.e.xy turn our sight toward the source of that annoying sound.
The fat man looks like beating something on the ground with a walking stick in his hand.
After a slightly closer look, I can see that he"s currently swinging his wooden stick onto a crouching little kid who is covering an even smaller kid under her body. There are traces of bluish bruise and even streaks of blood seen on kid"s back, neck, and arms.
I"m really perplexed. A grown man is beating children in public? He looks like a rich person, or even probably a n.o.ble. But still, how could he do something like this so openly and yet it looks like n.o.body is interfering his action. Is he really beating those children only because they happen to b.u.mp into him?
F*ck it. There is no use a.n.a.lyzing the situation now, let"s stop that man first. Thus I run toward the scene. But before I arrive, Ms. s.e.xy Negligee has already reach the scene first.
Indeed she was closer to the scene than me, but I already almost immediately rushed to the scene after seeing it, which mean that she also immediately rushed toward the scene, probably without even trying to a.n.a.lyze the situation first.
She"s covering the kids with her body. Because she suddenly appears like that, the furious man can"t manage to stop his swing and the walking stick hit her back once.
It hit her rather strongly, a thin mark of red line can be seen on her open-back shirt, and yet she doesn"t let out any painful groan. She just silently put her body over the kids, covering them from more harm. Although her face is facing down and her long silky black hair is covering it, I can tell that she is hurt but decide not to show it.
This woman just instinctively rushed there to protect those children without thinking about her own safety, anyone can tell that she was very concerned with those kids and decide to cover for them upon a simple glance of what was happening.
"What"s this?! Who are you?!! Are you their owner?! Their Mother?!" Upon seeing that someone suddenly come and protect the children, the man only surprised for a little before furiously yelling again. He even prepares to swing his walking stick again without waiting for any answer.
I was going through a number of onlookers before I finally I reach the place. It took me several seconds after she arrive on the scene for me to reach the scene too.
I don"t waste this opportunity. As I rush through a number of people, I act like I"m running towards the furious man while being staggered, thus I "accidentally" tackled him down upon exiting the crowds.
"Whoops. Sorry there, I accidentally b.u.mped into you. The sea of crowds and heat makes me dizzy sometimes. Let me get up first." I successfully tackled him till he kissed the ground, and is currently on top of his wide back.
I smoothly act like I try to get up while looking a bit dizzy and staggers a bit, but in fact, I centralize my center of gravity toward my palm, elbows, or knees making them really heavy and pointy. I especially put those pointy weights on his weak part of the body. Knee on his shinbone and elbow on his shoulder blade. But since he"s so fat, that probably doesn"t hurt so much, so lastly I use my palm on the back of his head to support myself in getting up. The man has, again, successfully kissed the ground for the second time today.
The fat man is currently shrieking while still laying on the floor. Suddenly a couple of bulky men appear from the wall of onlookers, "Lord Wazzada!"
"Gaaah! Quickly, help me get up!" They harshly push me back and frantically help the fat man gets up.
They are probably his bodyguards, their feature really fit the usual brawny type bodyguard.
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Aaaaah! How dare you did that to me. Don"t you know who I am!!" He angrily roared so and I notice that one of his front teeth is gone.
"Well sorry there, big man. I didn"t mean to do that, it was all an accident. There was so many people crowding the area and I was swept by the sea of people. I was pushed a bit when right when almost exited the crowds, I think it was one of them who pushed me." I point at one of the bulky men. Of course it was all made up, although there are quite a number of onlookers, it"s not so crowded that it would swept me away like what I just said.
The fat man shortly glares at those bulky men and the two of them strongly shake their head with a scared look, denying my accusation.
"It doesn"t matter, you were the one who b.u.mped into me and even make me lose a tooth!!" He glares back at me while a.n.a.lyzing the damage on his face with his hands.
"Wait a minute, you"d beat up people simply because you accidentally b.u.mped with each other on a crowded street?!" Tokyo who has also arrived on the scene and is standing behind me now speaks up.
"What kind of nonsense logic is that?! Are you a r.e.t.a.r.d?!" Tokyo loudly shout so as if making sure that all the people around can hear him.
"WHAT?! DID YOU JUST CALL ME A RE--" Fatso try to argue back but his speech is being cut midway by Tokyo.
"You"d beat up people so one sided-ly because you are rich? Because you have higher social standing? What the f*ck?!"
"What if a sick person b.u.mped into you because he"s not feeling well? What if a blind man b.u.mped into you because he can"t see? In fact, what would you do if you b.u.mped into a street lamp? Will you raise your stick again and beat up that innocent lamp pole? Seriously!!" Tokyo shout all that while looking really offended like a victim of accusation.
Hearing that, the onlookers all begin to chatter with each other, some even laugh at the rich-looking fat man.
Woah, this guy is really good in misdirecting information. Just like that he slips in some messed up logic or examples and voila! A twisted fact suddenly become acceptable and sensible. I understand that he"s trying to direct the crowd opinion against the fatso and he has done it really well. I can begin to see the crowds begin to jeer at the fat man and his two bodyguards.
"YOU!!! BEAT THEM! BEAT "EM UP RIGHT NOW!!" He roared again, ordering his two bodyguards to attack us while he himself move backwards as if trying to escape the jeer from the crowds.
As the two bulky men approached us with intention to attack, the fatso"s annoying voice can be heard again.
"Aaah! What do you think you are doing!!"
I look behind the approaching bulky men who have also stopped walking toward us upon hearing their master"s cry from behind. There, I can see fatso is down on his b.u.t.t. In front of him is a towering old man with big build that can be seen even from the outside of his clothes. Not to mention that his clothes is a weird one where his pants has a dangling unstrapped belts.
The grim expression on his face suddenly change into and evil smirk while saying, "You just b.u.mped into me."
It"s crazy old Vodka!
He picks up the walking stick that is lying down on the road next to him.
"Here, let me help you get up." He declares so with a very sinister grin on his face.
He then proceeds to raise the walking stick up and swings it down so hard that the sound of splitting wind can be heard.
*PAAK!*
The sound of a hard wood hitting soft fat can be heard clearly.
"GYAAAAH!!" He begins screaming like a girl.
"Oh, I"m sorry. Do you need another help?" One more swing.
*PAAAK!* This time the sound is a little bit louder.
"UWAAAA!" He"s covering his head with his hands and the swing hit his right shoulder this time.
"My lord!"
Awaking from being perplexed, the two bodyguards immediately rushed toward their master. One of them tries to block Vodka from swinging the stick at fatso again but only resulted in him receiving a hard swing to his side. The other helps fatso get up while struggling to hold the pain on his now bruised body.
"TAKE ME AWAY FROM HERE!"
He is then carried by his bodyguard by the shoulder.
"I"LL REMEMBER THIS! YOU WON"T GET AWAY FOR PROTECTING A DEMI AND EVEN HURTING A n.o.bLE!"
Oh, so he really is a n.o.ble, not some normal rich man.
"Anytime, fatso!" I reply back and see him being carried away through the crowd of onlookers.
They are ssoon gone from sight. Some of the onlookers are applauding before slowly dispersing. Some of them even kind enough to approach us and tell us to be careful or say that they are impressed by our courageous feat against a n.o.ble.
I only nod or wave at them shortly before going to check on Ms. Latina and the children"s condition.
"You okay?" I ask her as I check up bruise on her back.
It looks like she"s not hurt really badly, only a thin line of bruise that will probably disappear after a few days.
"I"m okay, but the kids..." She confirms her condition to me and looks more concerned about the kids, I"ve expected her to be like this from seeing her action just now. Inside that previously tough and cold look, she"s probably a very gentle and kind-hearted woman.
The two children seem unconscious. The older one looks like fainted from being hit while the younger one probably from the shock. Really, these poor kids. They look like only around thirteen and eight years old.
As I check on the injury on their body, I realize that something is out of place. There is a pair of bunny ear each on top of their heads.
Upon noticing the weird thing on their heads, Tokyo excitedly say, "It"s a bunny ear! We just saved a bunny ear loli!"
His previously serious expression that can fool simple onlookers is long gone. His usual timid and sometimes excited looks are back. He seems to know something after seeing these extra ears on the children"s head. Does he really know what these are?
"You know what these are?"
"Of course! That fatso just said we protected a demi, he probably meant a demi-human! Like these girls. Demi-human should be a type of human with some mixed features on their body, mostly features from beast or animals!"
"How do you know that?"
"Of course I know, in fact I know a lot! That"s like standard template for every fantasy world!"
"...Okay, we"ll talk about it in detail later, for now let"s get out from here and find a proper place to treat these children."
I opted to bring the unconscious children somewhere for a proper treatment. So we move out from the scene and look for clinic or a place to rest. Of course Ms. Latina tag along with us too. Even old man Vodka unexpectedly appeared and decided to rejoin the group.
I get the gist of their personality now. I think we"ve just understood each other"s character better through this short and unexpected event.
As I said on last chapter"s comment, I was expecting to finish this chapter by last Sunday, only two days after the previous update at last Friday, but the temptation to have fun with friends in the precious weekend took control of my body. I was powerless. So I"m only able to squeeze this chapter out after an agonizing weekdays. At least it"s not over a week from last update, considering the pretty lengthy chapter.
I don"t have the confidence in making promise to squeeze another chapter by this Sunday, but hopefully I"ll be able to do it.
The mystery behind the language perk will be explained next chapter. It"s also the long awaited chapter where the floating beautiful lady finally reveals who she is!
1 Feb 2016 Edit (2 days after original post date): changed the gift crystal color from Reddish-Amethyst to Purple-Amethyst, the reason can be seen in next chapter.