Chapter 3: Chapter 2 – The Journey Begins

"Are bards evil people?" she asks Taruk, who had an unfavorable expression on the mention of that class.

Saori couldn't imagine a trumpet player stabbing someone in the chest. The thought of that made her stomach squeal.

"Bards were exclusive to the elf race. It's the only class in this world that has exclusivity to a particular race."

"So, why is that?"

"Well... I'm afraid that I don't know. But, I can tell you how it went extinct in the past years with full confidence."

She nods, eager to hear the story. Saori can hear Taruk saying stories all day from his deep voice.

"Musical instruments were made solely by bards themselves. No blacksmiths, craftsmen, or other professions were involved in the instrument-making process. The instruments can only be played by bards. If anyone else played it, no sound will come out of it. Speaking of instruments, what do you play?"

"The clarinet!" she says with excitement.

He grunts, "Clarinet? I've never heard about that. Maybe the world of bards isn't documented that well. Bards weren't particularly useful in this day and age, and with that, fewer people were becoming bards, eventually becoming a relic class of the past."

"You've never heard about the clarinet...?" Saori feels a bit shamed that her main instrument wasn't really well-known in this world.

"I do know about the hurdy-gurdy."

"Aaah. Just how far behind is this world?!" she cries as she rests her head on the dining table.

Taruk stood up from his chair, "Hey! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine... I just need time to figure out what's going on."

He breathes a sigh of relief, "If you need me, I'll be outside doing my errands."

Taruk waves as he exits the cabin.

Saori is thinking hard about what just happened. The knowledge of the world having medieval instruments—if they even have any, is hard for her to take in. The bards are simply folklore to an average person from what she knows.

Hours passed, and the sun dipped below the horizon. The crickets are now the highlights outside the cabin. Taruk still hasn't returned from his "errand," and that is making Saori concerned about him. What will happen if he isn't here to defend her from the wild animals from the ominous forest?

As she's washing the dishes on this rudimentary sink, there's no observation of any plumbing to the faucet. Water just dispenses from it like nothing. The drain does have piping, and it leads outside of the wooden wall.

"To be washing dishes in this new world, and being fed by an orc..." she mumbles.

She heard a couple of knocks on the door and immediately held a small knife behind her back, preparing for an intruder.

The door opens and saw that the tall figure is Taruk. He has bruises and had a very obvious beating.

"T—Taruk! What happened to you?!" as she quietly places down the knife.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." he walks inside and placed a leather bag on the dining table. He scrounged through it and threw some sorts of clothing at Saori.

"What's this?"

The clothing is a simple red t-shirt and long black pants.

"Your uniform is dirty. This will be temporary."

She looked down to see that her formal military uniform was soiled with dirt and gunk.

Taruk exhales, "You didn't realize? Well, change into that and I will take care of your dirty clothes." he looks at the cleaned dishes behind her and smiles, "Thank you for taking care of it."

"Yeah... no problem!" Saori still doesn't feel comfortable talking to an orc.

He once again leaves the cabin with the leather bag on the table.

Saori was standing around, unsure what to do next. She then went on to respect this body that she has occupied and wear the clothes that Taruk handed out, and placed her dirty uniform neatly on another table. Saori noticed that there was a small mirror on a table, and glimpsed a reflection of her face. The pointy ears that she has definitely said "elf".

"This person could've been someone who would've been married to a rich prince or gentlemen, instead, I'm here in a random cabin owned by an orc," she solemnly admits.

Taruk didn't come back, so Saori went around his cabin, searching for anything that has information about the world. Unfortunately, there's nothing that peeks into her eyes except for the stone that Taruk held in her palms which displayed her status. She won't steal anything; She's just exploring.

A few hours has passed, and Taruk still didn't come back home. It's the middle of the night, and Saori is starting to feel tired from the forest exploration and the hours of doing nothing. She could run away from the cabin, but god knows what kinds of people or animals are out there.

There are two beds in this cabin, one is sized like a normal bed, and on the other side of the cabin, it's quite large. It's obvious to her that it's Taruk's bed. But, who's living in that other bed?

Regardless, Saori went into the normal bed and dozed off.

The bright hues of the morning sunlight embedded the cabin's interior from the windows.

Saori opened her eyes to see an empty bed in front of her. The sounds of crackling from the fireplace are still running.

She looked around and see Taruk in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. Taruk is wearing a red tunic and brown cotton pants for a rather large person.

Saori walked up to Taruk to see what he was cooking.

Taruk grunts, "Oh, you're awake. I already did your uniform and you can wear it again."

"Thank you, Taruk. What is that?" she says with curiosity.

"Hm? I'm cooking scrambled eggs with bacon."

To Saori's eyes, it looks like Taruk is boiling a pot of water.

"Just wait, you will see it."

"See it?" she inquires.

Then, the pot of boiling water puffs into smoke, and two plates of bacon, eggs, and rice suddenly appear on top of the stove.

"Woah..." Saori was fascinated by the weird magic.

Both of them are enjoying breakfast.

Throughout this whole meal, Saori couldn't find any signs of beatings or bruises on Taruk.

"Taruk... what happened to you last night?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" he says with a cold look.

Saori was startled at that sudden stare, "Y—Yes."

He grunts, "Some fellows at the market assumed I stole something. At the time, the sun was still out."

"Why?"

"Because I'm an orc, some humans don't view other races the same. That's the pure reality of this world."

"Humans are the main race of this world?" she says as if she found the solution.

"Yes..." he pauses, "what do you think about me? Take your time."

Saori was put on a pedestal. She knows that she couldn't really say anything wrong, but, what's wrong if she was honest?

"A big person, a bit unnerving for those around."

"Hm. You're an odd noble. Elves are more offensive on orcs than humans themselves. You once held a knife behind yourself when I went back into my cabin—and you placed it back on the table when you saw it was me."

"Ah... so you know..." It felt like she dodged the moment where she was mashed into meat pulp.

She continues, "Oh, Taruk. Why do you have another bed in this cabin?"

He looks at the normal-sized bed and breathes for a moment, "He was a great companion."

Taruk stood up from his chair and walked towards the bed, and pulled up a plank underneath it. He grabbed something in the secret crevice and pulled out a large sword in its scabbard.

"This... is his sword," he says as he unsheathes the sword. Its immaculate polishing on the blade was reflecting the morning rays into the dimly-lit room.

The longsword is fascinating for Saori to look at. It's almost like it's from a fantasy world.

"You're even intrigued by the sword." he chuckles. "It has been a while since I've seen his sword again."

"It does look wonderful from here." she doesn't have any words to say about it.

He takes a seat across from her, "Callum was—one extraordinary adventurer I was with. We embarked across formidable lands throughout Icirus and accomplished challenging quests for the adventurers guild, making a name for ourselves. We both have a good bond. Well... it wasn't forever." In the last few words, Saori could hear him trail off.

"That's all."

"What happened to Callum?" she asks Taruk.

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He slams on the dining table, shaking the utensils and plates, "I said, that's all!" His anger was one of heartache, and she was terrified at that.

He went outside with booming footsteps and bashed the wooden door so hard, that it shook the entire cabin.

Saori was left stunned.

"I could've been mashed into meat pulp..."

After recovering herself from that shock, she hurriedly wore the military uniform that was cleaned up.

"Phew." she breathes a sigh of relief.

It has been a while since Taruk came back into the cabin, and now, she's getting more curious about his past. However, Taruk will only reveal more if he wants to.

"If—I only had my clarinet..." she groans. Music could play away her problems.

A huge screen appears right in front of her. It shows a diagram with a picture of the clarinet.

"Woah..."

She experiments with the screen in front of her. She concludes that it appears to be an instrument selection screen. It can make anything that she desires, from the instrument, material type, and everything!

Her mouth is watering from this, and when she pressed complete, the clarinet of her choice suddenly appeared in front of her.

She rejoices finally touching the clarinet again, and the keys of it feel somehow nostalgic to her.

The door to the cabin opens, and Taruk sees her fondling with a long black stick.

"O—Oh. It's a musical instrument!" she cries as she desperately tries to explain the situation.

He grunts, "Go outside."

As she did, the door to the cabin slammed.

"I guess..." she murmurs.

She went to sit on the wooden stump where Taruk was chopping logs. Saori couldn't really play the clarinet without the other things, so she imagined getting it, and the screen once again pops up in front of her.

Her mouth drools once again at the customizability of such things.

In the sky, there are pleasant mixtures of pinks, reds, and orange sunlight, the harmonious tunes are ringing throughout the grassy landscape and the forest. The one sound is enthralling for someone's ears. An individual could yearn for the source of that music. The true connotation of music. Such melodies are reaching inside Taruk's cabin, and Taruk went outside to see what's occurring.

Taruk was standing beside the door, watching Saori play her clarinet. It was soothing to him. He sees her fingers floating above the keys of the instrument, with such exemplar and finesse.

The notes from her instrument soon fade away, and she's finally finished. To Taruk, it looked as if the goddess herself played an instrument.

He claps, in astonishment at what he heard and saw.

"That sounds charming, Saori."

"That's not much." she chuckles.

"C'mon, just admit it."

She hesitates, "Alright... I did too much."

Taruk grunts, "Nevermind... Saori, help me pack up the cabin."

"Pack up the cabin?" she questions.

As Taruk informs her where to place items, they both hauled heavy and other items in several groups.

Hours passed, and they finally finished it.

Saori takes a rest on the ground, "That was too much!"

"It's better to build up your muscles, you might need to bear a sword, knife, or a recurve bow eventually."

"You didn't even break a sweat, Taruk!" she was ridiculing him for arranging her to most of the heavy objects.

He laughs, "Well, I've been doing this for a long time."

Taruk looks at the various grouped objects in his possession and was thinking for a moment.

Saori then saw that all of his possessions and the cabin vanish. In its place are two horses and a covered wagon.

"What just happened?!" she says with wonder.

"Inventory skill. Seems like they really did erase your memories back there in the forest."

"I get it. I get it, Taruk." she mindlessly wanders.

Taruk grunts, "Well. This is farewell."

"What?" she wistfully says.

"Don't you have others, Saori?"

Hearing that word made Saori's heart feel compressed.

"I—I don't know..."

Taruk sighs, "Hah...? Well, I guess you can follow me on my journey."

"Thank you!" she grins.

Taruk was appreciative of it and made a slight smile.

To Saori, Taruk is the only person she can trust in this fantasy world.

Saori made an instrument case for her clarinet and went into the wagon. Taruk is the wagoner and set forth the two horses of the wagon after moving some of the objects inside.

"Despite being a girl, Saori, you remind me of Callum."

"Really, Taruk?"

"Yes, he is always oblivious of others, and continuously needs care for his needs.

"Isn't that an insult?" she says in a raving attitude.

"Nope, I'm just stating the truth." Upon hearing that, she felt like Taruk was speaking about her past life.

He grunts, "It's been a while since I had another person on this journey."

"I see... where are we going?"

"To Krenstadt, we're going to restock on supplies, and get you into the adventurers guild."

"So why did you bring me and the cabin this time?"

"I’ve done my routine of collecting materials in the Skaerso Forest. Besides, I set up magical defenses to ward off any intruders ever since I left you alone in the cabin." he chuckles.

"You should've told me in the beginning!" she cries.

"Haha. After hearing your music Saori, you could play your clarinet in a stall at Krenstadt. They should give you permission right away since you're a bard, right?" he looks back.

"Ah! I could do that! Thank you for telling me!" she says with sincerity.

"No problem, Saori."

"Is that also the place that hurt y—"

Taruk cuts her off, "I'm afraid so."

"So it is..."

She clenches her fist.

"There are those kinds of people... what kind of town could Krenstadt be like?" she thought.

Ideas and questions rush through Saori's mind, and it ultimately came down to one thing.

Regardless of such people, she must let others know how wonderful the music is in Krenstadt.

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