Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – No Really, I’m Not Your Messiah

I gripped my spear and watched the elf approach. Her slight figure was not threatening. Yet, today, absolutely everything had been trying to, or succeeding in, killing me. Taking no chances, I readied myself as she hobbled towards me, her movements limited by chains on her legs and arms. My body tensed. Then, as she drew near, she hurled herself to the ground, kowtowing to me.

While it was by far the best interaction I had today (a very low bar), it was still unnerving. I kept my distance.

“Um... Hello?” I offered.

No response. ‘Right, why would she speak English?’

I tried the language of the people that I had just killed. The elf kept her head pressed against the ground, but unleashed a torrent of words. It wasn’t in Abyssal and sounded like gibberish.

‘Maybe a conversation could initiate a new skill. Let’s try this another way.’

I slowly approached her and very gently placed my hand on her shoulder. Then, I took a step back. She raised her head. I pointed to myself and said “I am Noah.” Then I pointed at her and asked “What's your name?”

She stared at me for a moment, then pointed at herself. “So kee rak te Lydia.”

‘Was that “I am Lyida”?’

Congratulations, You have unlocked the Skill: Delian Common Language.

Delian Common Language: Skill governing the ability to read, write and speak Delian Common. Current Rank (1/10).

Skill detected, “Autodidact,” would you like to transfer 100 experience points to level Delian Common Language? Y/N.

‘Jackpot. Yes. Transfer.’

Congratulations, You have reached level two in Skill: Delian Common Language. Would you like to transfer 500 experience to level this skill? Y/N

One familiar surge of energy later, I knew the language. It was as though I had always understood a bit of Delian Common. However, my grasp of the language was the same as I had of Spanish in highschool--terrible.

I continued purchasing levels in the skill. Each time, the amount of experience required for the next level increased exponentially.

Congratulations, You have reached level five in Skill: Delian Common. Would you like to transfer 50,000 experience to level this skill? Y/N

 

Knowing that killing those 6 soldiers only netted 3000 experience, I stopped leveling and tried to begin a conversation.

“Hello, I’m Noah, what’s your name?” I delivered in perfect Delian

She looked up, her face mixed with adoration and anxiety. “My Lord, I am Lydia.”

I immediately doubted my grasp of Delian. ‘Why would she call me “my Lord”?’ Nothing about the translation felt wrong. I leveled the skill one more time and asked, “Can you repeat what you said?”

“Of course, my Lord. I am Lydia.”

‘Nope, she’s definitely calling me “my Lord.” Why would she think that I’m a noble? Should I correct her? I need more information.’

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Lydia. Why are you kowtowing?”

“What do you mean?”

 

‘Maybe Kowtow doesn’t translate well. I’ll be more direct.’

“Why are you on your knees with your head pressed against the ground?”

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Her expression plunged into fear. “My Lord! Please forgive this one's ignorance. Should I dig into the soil to get my head even lower?!?! How should I greet an emissary of a god?!?!”

‘An emissary of WHAT. Why the hell would she think that? Wait, am I an emissary of God? God, a god at least, did throw me here. But… he doesn’t seem like the “send an emissary type.” I need to be extremely delicate.’

“Calm down child. That was fine. You may stand.” I commanded awkwardly.

‘Why am I speaking like this? “Calm down child.” It sounds like I’m doing an impression of a Jedi.’ I cleared my throat as she rose to her feet.

“How did you know that I was sent by a god?” I asked, holding my breath.

“My Lord, you were the answer to my prayer for freedom, falling from the sky in my hour of need and liberating me from my captors,” Lydia said in an awkwardly formal manner.

‘Okay, It’s good to know that I’m not the only one with no idea how to talk in this situation. Also, she has no fucking clue what's going on, and I should probably correct this before it gets out of hand.’

I abruptly changed my tone. “Listen, Lydia. I’m not the answer to your prayers. I arrived here by chance. I am not the emissary of a God.”

Her expression fell, “You were not sent here by a god?”

“Well, I guess I technically was.” The words left my mouth before I realized what I was saying.

“I KNEW IT,” she shouted and immediately dropped back to the ground. “As I promised, I am yours and will follow you forever, wherever you go, my Lord.”

‘This will end poorly for me.’ I rubbed my forehead ‘Why is dying not the strangest part of my day?’

I sighed. “Listen, I need you to stop calling me my Lord. Call me Noah.”

“Surely that’s not appropriate for a bei-”

I cut her off. “Call me Noah, or I'll leave you behind.”

She thought for a moment, then smiled mischievously. Lydia reminded me of how my students would look when they knew a secret.

“Of course, your presence needs to be a secret. I understand my Lo… Noah.

‘I hate this so much. Whatever, it will have to do for now.’

It suddenly occurred to me that I was standing in the middle of a destroyed military outpost, surrounded by the corpses of soldiers that I had killed. I needed to go before anyone came to investigate.

“How do we get those chains off?”

“The key should be on that one.” Lydia said, pointing towards a body with a crushed skull. I searched it, but found nothing in its pockets.

‘Wait, I think one of those prompts said something about an inventory. Um… display inventory?’

A boxed layout appeared. There were numerous tabs, categorizing different types of items, and a search bar at the top. However, I didn’t need to use any of those as my entire inventory was 21 items: five iron spears, six sets of armor, six magic cores (Rank D), one slave key, one magic core (Rank SSS+), one starter kit, and one tutorial.

I repressed an immediate desire to scream the word tutorial and focused on the task at hand. ‘How do I actually get the key?’ I tried willing it into my hand, and was ecstatic to feel it materialize. ‘SUCCESS!’ Then, caution replaced my jubilation. I pretended to recheck a pocket and “found” the key. I tossed it to the ground near Lydia.

“Free yourself. We should get out of here. Do you know any place we can go?”

Her eyes brightened “I know just the place my… Noah.”

“Great. Lead the way.”

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