Arata wiped down his body in the morning with fresh water, a luxury in his eyes. His nose still stung, but it had healed relatively easily already.
Now washed up, Arata leaves his room when he sees Selena standing outside, waiting for him. She tries to speak up, her voice sounding anxious. Hey… she knows she can take her time, right? Maybe because I am staring at her?
"Hey, sorry about hurting you the other day… I let my emotions get a little out of control. I was thinking, you're new to this country, right?" Selena explains to him.
Huh? How does she know? Is it written on my face? Also, that was definitely my fault. I asked a bad question. Arata's eyes trace all over himself in deep thought.
Selena lets out a slight chuckle, "Well, looking at how badly torn up your clothes were, I thought you were homeless… but the fabric is too high quality, you also didn't have any belongings to carry around. Got unlucky on the road, huh?"
I'll just take that as the story; better that fewer people know I'm from another world, just in case. Her face seems a lot brighter today, though. Did something good happen to her?
"Actually, Selena, there were some places I was curious about, like the dam?" Arata goes on to explain. That thing is massive. I really wanna know now that I have nothing better to do.
Selena puffs her chest out a little, "The old world's dam, it's the pride of not just Basin city but all of New Mundi. A symbol of our ancestors from around five hundred years ago. The thing was constructed under the King of the Lost."
Her face shows some nationalistic pride, and for good reason. Arata and Selena both make their way through the town until they approach the wall itself after some time spent walking.
The dam stands taller than any buildings; it's a similar height to the nearby mountains, yet the man-made Roman-style concrete made the structure seem much more grandiose. It had some stairs to the top as well as a pulley-style lift that would take you several stories above ground.
Damn… it really is a spectacle… you can tell these walls are older than the city just by this concrete; it's distinctly Roman. Crafted to endure for long periods of time.
Arata comments, "That King of the Lost's reign ran back over four hundred years ago… the fact that something of sheer magnitude could be still standing is amazing. Who was the king of the lost?"
Selena ponders his question, "Well, we don't know much ourselves. Five hundred years later, we still don't even understand the makeup of this wall. However, we do know they achieved global domination. Even in the demon lord's territory, there are sites like this."
Vast territory, this concrete… this world's Rome then? Arata replies, "And the name? The King of the Lost sounds really dramatic."
"Well, one day, every person of that empire just vanished, wiped out, no living person remembers the empire. From studying their buildings, we didn't find any signs of resistance either." Selena explains.
Selena continues, "It's crazy considering we still use this dam as a defense… it's hard to tell from down here, but the top of the dam overlooks the ocean. It's an impressive feat that it holds back such dangers."
Ocean? I get it, blocking off a giant body of water without modern technology is impressive. "The- ocean? What do you mean? Like the body of water?" Arata asks.
The water can be scary, sure, but how dangerous is the water? Probably there are some monsters in the ocean, I guess?
Selena illustrates her point better, "The ocean is the most dangerous place in the whole world… It's rumored that at the bottom lies the source of infinite magic. Drinking ocean water is said to be the source of insanity. The creatures coming out of there would make you believe that as well. It was rumored that there once was a being bigger than this whole city that attacked, yet it retreated due to this dam acting as an immovable wall."
Well… yeah, humans haven't even fully discovered what's down there yet… of course, it's terrifying. It already kinda freaked me out in the world without magic. "I see. Any other places you think would be good to visit? I just have some plans for the evening." Arata decides to ask.
The two of them make their way across the sprawling city, the main streets appear marbled, the ones where newcomers would step through to get to many of the major areas, the church, the courthouse, and it extends both inwards and outwards of the inner city gate.
Approaching the outer walls of the city, Arata notes the many stalls he saw the other day, yet as he was less focused on them, he had gotten a glimpse of the grimy poverty tucked away behind the tall buildings and their bell towers.
The metal bells clang together in the middle of the day, before Selena points Arata to a cookshop. She pulls out her wallet to buy some meat pie for the two of them. Arata puts his hand over hers before pulling out the necessary cash.
"Huh, thanks, but you can still just pay for your portion, I'll buy my own," Selena explains.
Despite her words, Arata pays for the two of them, feeling some obligation since the information he got was well worth it. However, he was still full of questions. Thinking he had bothered Selena enough, he remembers
Arata's other world logbook entry #3: New Mundi and Basin City
The first place in this world that I have a definitive name to tie it back to, Selena was great at explaining everything, but I only have more questions now. Ravenna had no information on the King of the Lost either. Even if she's been around long enough to have an answer, she's never been that useful to discern info about this world from.
What's in the water? Why do the cityfolk seem so unhappy? This is also a human settlement. Ravenna told me there was a demon lord. Are there other fantasy races?