2.9
I arrive at a small park, with a pleasant fountain in the center. And as expected…
"She`s not here, huh?"
Maybe she's late? No, let's be real.
It's not like we even knew each other in the first place, I don't even know her name. And I'm not exactly the kind of person that gives others the feeling of trust. I cannot blame her for deciding not to show up, she was trying to get away from the start and I'm the one who insisted on the idea.
Can I even get myself a party at the guild? From what I saw today at the tavern I have zero confidence. I'll probably try to go solo first, see if I can get any easy quests… Either way, I will have to continue hiding I'm an otherworlder, and get away from here. It would've been nice to have someone I could talk with about my situation.
Well, I always knew I'm unpopular. I mean, the only person that I could really open up to, besides my parents, was my little sister... Which doesn't really count since they're family, I guess… B-but I'm okay by myself, yeah? Just the polite everyday interactions with people from my college and work should suffice… Saying 'good morning', 'hi' and 'see you tomorrow' already counts as a full conversation, right?
So it's all right. It needs to be all right. So of course, it has to be all right…
There's this technique in psychology in which you repress your feelings and occupy yourself with something else in order to forget, so later you can just pretend nothing happened. The famous reverse psychology lol. Funny, right?
Yeah…
…
I should just leave then… But before that…
I head to a bench right in front of the fountain and take a seat.
I feel as if my body is melting in the bench. My legs are aching, and my head is pounding a bit. I haven't taken a rest since before I even got to this isekai. I might not be very athletic but I do tend to walk a lot. But even so, this was way too much. My body feels completely broken.
Let's take a break here first, then I'll look for a place to sleep. I'll have dinner in the guild's tavern and ask around then. I was hungry before, but by now the hunger has already passed and I just feel like I'm fasting. I just hope the food won't be anything too exotic for my tastes.
Maybe now would be a good time to take a look at the book I've received. It seems to be a manual of sorts, so I should read as much as I can before taking on a quest.
…
…
…
THIS. BOOK. IS. AMAAAAZIIINNGGGG!!!!
They show us everything we need to know about adventures in here!
From what to take on your journey, the foods you can get from the wilderness, how to manage your provisions, the precautions you have to take while camping, how to guide yourself using maps, even up to the variety of monsters you might find in each location... Not only that, but it also describes the lore about many locations, tells stories of past heroes and Demon Lords (as one would expect, the four heavenly knights, or elite four if you prefer, are also canon…). There is also info on useful items and equipment to carry in your baggage and how to choose them according to your abilities. All of that added with some colorful drawings, some more professional, while others are more childish in nature… And more!
It has everything in here, or at least way more than what I could have possibly imagined!
The pages have all been written by hand, and you can notice many different types of handwriting, showing different people wrote them. And it`s possible to open the metal circlets that unite the pages, making it seem more like a binder than a book, so one could add new pages to it. That makes me believe that all of the excerpts contained in here were actually written by adventurers who kept on passing the book from generation to generation...
Really, I feel as if I'm holding a cultural heritage from this world.
Is it… Is it really ok for me to receive such an important book? There must be centuries of history in here…
Suddenly, someone's clear voice interrupts my concentration.
"I don't know whether you're really persistent or just an idiot..."
I raise my head, imagining I'll be able to see a scene of a normie being rejected.
What is my surprise to see red hair standing in front of me.
She actually came…? Now I'm even feeling bad for just assuming she wouldn't… But then why is she the one calling me an idiot when she is the one who arrived late?
"What do you mea---"Only mid-sentence do I notice that the sky has already turned completely dark and that the surroundings were illuminated by some sort of artificial lighting… Some light posts had light-yellow stones inside of them and were emanating a pale light… It doesn't seem to be powered by electricity. At the enchanting shop, I couldn't see any of the equipment that worked with mana, but could it be something like this?
Wait…
Huh…?
For how long have I been here reading? I didn't even notice the time going by... And now that I noticed it, man, I'm starving again… Ugh, don`t you just hate that feeling when you`re doing something at the computer at night and suddenly you see through your window that the sun is already shining? Talk about a bad habit… The sun should give us some sort of warning out loud so we could have some time to sleep… It should've warned me it was turning night now too…
"I must say, determination is not a trace I dislike in people. I wonder, did you knew what was going on, and even then waited, or did you wait without knowing anything?"
Definitely the second, since I have absolutely no idea of what she is talking about. I think she might be misunderstanding something.
'Determination'?
Wait… Does she think I've been here all this time simply waiting for her?
Is she being serious right now? Even if that were the case, it wouldn't be some sort of positive "determination" thing. Wouldn`t it normally be considered weird for someone to wait for so long? It's not about persistence or stupidity as she put it. Wouldn't either obsession or desperation be a better fit in that case?
This 'determination' she mentioned sounds more like the kind of trait for positive, kind and trustworthy people you only see in young fiction… I'm probably the last person who should be saying this, so I'm not, I'm keeping it to my thoughts that this isn't how it works on reality.
But well, if by a stroke of luck a misunderstanding has improved her opinion of me, then let's just roll with it, I guess.
Well I did technically wait... But it was an accident, I was just so focused in the book I didn't even notice the time! And then out of nowhere she appears here all nonchalantly and with a condescending tone speaks as if now she decided to cooperate? She might just be as ignorant about personal relationships as me…
"Have you managed to collect any useful information?" She asks, advancing the conversation despite me still being flabbergasted by her shamelessness. I guess that is a dark side of confident people…
Is it abnormal for me to not want to accept this outcome? That now I'm the one who feels like being done with her and want to cut relations? She was planning to ditch me, I'm very certain of it. And now she's back, gives me an odd compliment and tries to move on with her agenda… There's something very weird here, but I can't quite make sense of it right now.
Argh! These are what I'm feeling right now. But I have to admit I might also be hangry. And rationally speaking, isn't this outcome exactly what I wanted from the start?
The book said very explicitly that new adventurers should never (ever!) go out in adventures without a party… Not even experienced adventurers should risk themselves solo in a mission of their same rank.
And let's not forget it would be difficult for me to find someone to form a party with, not only because I'm a newbie, but also because my social skills are… Well, they aren't there. Daily life issues and non-personal contact I can deal with, but once you go a step above…
Besides, as I've said again and again, it should take a while for me to get used to this world, so it would be preferable to connect with someone of a similar culture going through the same.
And here she is, offering a helping hand….
We were off to a bad start, but maybe we can work things out?
She is here, right now, as we agreed. And I lost track of time while reading the book, so there wasn't any harm at all, right?
All is well that ends well. And if Shakespeare wrote that after writing a bunch of people killing each other in revenge stories and tragedies, then I don't see why I would take this personally.
It's completely ok for her to have her own terms for partnering up, since I also have mine.
In the end, I'm the one who is withholding a critical information that might put her in danger… And if she came back because she believes in the good of people's hearts, then she can't be a bad person, right?
She also comes with the bonus of being a cheat character, like the Goddess said. And it would be a good idea to get to actually see her abilities first, before deciding whether we can work as a team. Heck, I don't even know what my own abilities are!
Either way, deciding based on my feelings right now would be a reckless decision. We should probably get to know each other better during dinner first. Now that I stopped focusing on the book, I remembered I am angry, starving, sleepy and very much stressed with this whole isekai thing.
So it would be better to leave any decision for after dinner, or even better, tomorrow.
Ok, I think I'm more stable right now.
"Could we have dinner first? It's been a while since I last ate…" I finally say.
"Agreed. However, about that…"
"What about it?"
"Do you have any food on you? Weren't you holding a cake or something?" She says, plainly.
…
She only came back because she is also hungry, didn't she?