Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Runaway

Since it is pouring rain like crazy and I am more suited to the terrain, I have the young girl hop on my back between the bone plates and hold on while I take us up the mountain. I can’t go too fast so this is going to take a while. Probably a few hours to make it all the way back. That is if I can find my way back. Running from that creepy ass deer man thing led me down a path I had not gone before. God or Satan if you are listening, please don’t let me run into that monstrosity again.

About an hour of silent travel later, I finally find a singular chicken roaming about in the rain.

Pop! Goes the chicken!

Wow… that is way more efficient than before! And with the chicken dead I have claimed half its Ether. Finally, I can use more magic. Being basically defenseless was nerve wracking. The girl on my back squeaks out as the chicken explodes. Oops, I must have shocked her. I doubt a teen girl like her has much of a stomach for the gory nightmare I just made out of a living creature. “Sorry, I should have warned you.”

She grips tighter onto my body as she quickly reassures me. “I’m fine. I just was not expecting you to take one out in an instant. I am not all that strong myself, I always wanted to be an adventurer though.” I guess I was wrong, maybe fantasy world girls have stronger stomachs. It would make sense if they did now that I think about it.

“If you want to be an adventurer then I wonder what your magic skills are? Oh, I also never asked your name! I am Vorpalia by the way.” I know I am being a bit scatterbrain here, but I am kind of thrown off by the whole situation. I really just want the girl to relax because I can feel her shivering on my back rather roughly.

I feel her lean forwards on my back against the bone plates as she answers. “Hi, it is nice to meet your Vorpalia. My name is Jane. As for the magic… I don’t get it until I turn sixteen.”

“Ah! Sorry, I forgot about that. Nice to meet you Jane.” I can’t see her face right now, but I hope I didn’t make her mood worse by asking that. Thankfully, her voice comes out next a bit more relaxed. “It’s fine. If it weren’t for you I probably would have died out in this storm. You saved me.”

I grunt at that, “I haven’t saved you yet. Once I can get you back to town without worry I will consider you saved.” She leans even deeper into me, wrapping her small arms around my large body. “Thank you Vorpalia.” After that, we walk in silence for quite a while before she speaks up.

“You know, Vorpalia is a bit of a mouthful. So, how about a nickname? What do you think of Vor?” I have to suppress a shudder as I shout back. “Nope! Anything but that! Trust me, that is too close of a term to things you are better off not knowing about.” I turn my head finally to get a good look at the soaked brunette elf, the question marks over her head obvious. Yeah… I am not explaining anything to this innocent child.

Shaking off the question marks, Jane moves to pick a new name. “How about Vee? Or Lia?” While both sound cute, choosing Lia kind of makes it feel too separate from my character name, so Vee it is. “I like Vee, let’s go with that.” I see her smile thinly as she looks me in the eyes. “Okay Vee, where are we going?”

“I got a cave set up with a bunch of protection spells. Should be safe and a place where you can dry off at least. Speaking of which,” I conjure an umbrella of blood above our heads to keep the rain off. I should have made it earlier, but it slipped my mind. I only have half a chicken’s worth of Ether though, so I can’t make too large of an umbrella. The one I conjured just covers the girl on my back enough to keep her from getting any more soaked.

“Wow, that is really amazing! I have never seen a magic construct with so much detail before.” Her eyes are sparkling as she looks up at the umbrella. I made it in the pattern I am used to with the indentations of a normal umbrella’s segments, so I am wasting a bit of energy on the detail for no reason. But, style is important and something I won’t compromise on. “What is it made of? The red is really pretty.” I would have never guessed the girl fascinated by my magic now was crying her eyes out a few hours ago from the way she is acting.

“Uh…” And her good mood makes it hard to answer. “It’s made of blood.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, I have [Blood Magic] as my main skill. It is really useful for all kinds of things. Just uh, try not to think about it too much.” I feel awkward now.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Perhaps sensing this, the elven girl begins to reassure me. “I-It’s fine, just a little strange. Not that I think your magic is bad or anything!” She is not doing the best job, but her feelings are getting through. “I’m not offended. I know [Blood Magic] doesn’t have the best reputation.”

Looking back, I can see a complicated expression on her face. “What’s up?” She purses her lips as she looks at me. “You just seem really different from the monsters I have learned about.” And I can’t help but laugh. “Well, have you heard about the Otherworlders who the Goddess brought over?” Now that sets her off. “You’re an Otherworlder?!”

“Yep, we can become monsters too.” Her look of complete shock is very amusing.

“Woah, I didn’t know that. Though… I heard there are a lot of ‘problematic’ Otherworlders… Not that you are one though!”

“Yeah, I can see there being a lot of troublesome Otherworlders.” I don’t bother with her panic as I just continue the conversation. “There are no limits on who is allowed to come to this world. Here, they are free from the consequences of our own society and can do what they want. I am sure it has led to a lot of issues.” In fact, I have seen on the forums some crazy shit that other people have gotten up to. One country straight up banned Otherworlders from their military ranks after a certain incident involving another nation’s princess and an idiot playing knight. Or more accurately, a knight whose friends were idiots and should never have been trusted.

I decide to tell the story to Jane, and for the first time since I met her she laughs. “Hahahaha! They really thought they could sneak a goat into the princesses chambers?!” I have to wrap a band of blood around her to keep her strapped in as she struggles to contain her laughter.

“Morons got caught halfway, but the fact that they got halfway in the first place was a huge issue. It was a smaller nation so their security was not the best. And well, Otherworlders are quite crafty even when doing stupid things, or maybe especially when doing stupid things.” My comments just set Jane off again.

“Hahahah!” Her giggles last all the way until we reach my cave as we continue chatting.

“Here we are, my great dragon cave! Feast your eyes on the completely invisible entrance and be amazed!” Her face turns deadpan rather quickly before she digests my words. “Wait, you’re a dragon?!”

“Ah, no. However, I plan to become one someday. It is my ultimate goal!” Proudly I puff up my chest as I slowly make my way past all the traps I set up. Her face turns incredulous as she looks at me. “Is that allowed? I don’t know much about the dragons aside from the details of the accords I was taught as a child.”

Oh right, those are a thing. The humans and dragons agreed not to interfere with each other and all that jazz. Apparently a huge war had broken out long ago and nearly killed off everything on the surface, so now humans and dragons keep to themselves. I mention my own understanding to Jane but she doesn’t completely grasp my phrasing. “I am not sure what ‘jazz’ is, but yes. You used to be a human on your old world, right?”

The game explained to the NPCs that humans from another would would be transferring to this one so I can talk about things like this without running into breaks in the conversation where the AI ignores real life stuff. Too many games do that or avoid it in weird ways. Those games feel like the NPC gets into a loop of “I took an arrow to the knee” whenever you bring it up.

“I still am, though the type of human on my world does not exist on yours, and we don’t have any agreements with the dragons.” I am not sure why I am explaining this to the girl, but I don’t really have much else to talk with her about at the moment.

“Huh?! What kind of humans are on your world?” I suppose the idea of a new race like that is strange from her perspective, a world without much entertainment for the masses is likely to lack in fantasy books. I take the time to describe the differences between humans and elves like her as best I can as well as the differences between our world. The whole description just baffles her. “It is a difficult thing to imagine…”

Now inside the cave, I set her down and get a few things prepared for her. She is currently looking excitedly at the magic circles I have on the ground now. I am worried about her safety so I warn her a bit. “Hold that though, I will be right back. Otherworlder thing. Don’t leave the cave!” I make sure to emphasize the last bit. I set up soooo many traps that even the roadrunner from Loony Toons would get caught.

Quickly logging out and then back in, I memorize a heating array on the magic circle forums. The next moment I spread out some blood and draw the new circle while connecting it to the existing sacrificial magic circle. I really am going to burn through that big snake so fast with all the spells I have it powering. Though, I was already planning on finding a new cave after the stupid adventurers found this one.

“Ooooh! That feels a lot better!” Jane shouts in excitement as she huddles close to the circle without me needing to tell her. Though, I do have to remind her to take off her coat and let it dry separately. As she does, I notice she is not carrying much…

Sighing, I open my space cubby. Or maybe I should call it a space closet now? It got about three times larger than it was before so I am not sure what kind of object to compare it to now. I’ll have to think on the name a bit. Taking out the monster jerky I have stored away, I pass it over to the dripping elven girl. “Eat something, it should help you warm up as well.” She smiles awkwardly as she takes the meat strips. She really ran away with nothing on her…