Demund parked his bike. The night was dark and bleak. Compared to the view from the top of Rhyne’s window, here was so colorless. So lifeless. So unexciting.

He opened the doors to his small house and closed the door behind him quietly. He hadn’t noticed because the curtains were drawn, but his mother was sitting on the sofa. She hadn’t gone up to sleep yet.

“Hey, Mom,” he said. “You aren’t sleeping yet?”

His Mom turned towards him. She was covered in blankets. She always told him she was cold because of her old age, and the cooling weather had only made it worse.

“No. Where were you?” she asked.

“I told you. At my friend’s to study.”

“You come back so late.”

Demund sighed internally. She always worried too much. He sometimes hated being an only child because of that.

“Mom, everyone does it nowadays. There’s literally nothing to worry about.”

Demund walked over to the stairs and lay his bag down. His mother looked at him with worried eyes. She had seen on the news that a car accident had happened nearby because the victim had failed to notice it when it rushed out the sidewalk. Her son’s cycling around at night was potentially dangerous too.

“Make sure you wear a helmet when you bike. And always watch the sidewalk, okay?”

“Got it, mom.”

That’s what he said, but she had never seen him wear his helmet. He always complained about how his hair got stuck on it or how it made him sweat. This neighborhood was relatively safe, but still. As a mother, she had to worry.

“Demund, please be careful.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll go up first. I’m busy.”

Mrs. Blanner watched her son’s back as he went up the stairs. She should go back to the room too. She had been worried since her son didn’t return at his usual time, but now she could sleep peacefully.

She drank a cup of water and set her blankets down. She soon went up the stairs and took her spot next to her sleeping husband. She was glad that Demund was so diligent about his health and studies, but he seemed to be pushing himself too hard recently. He rarely spoke during dinner too, always finishing his meal quickly and going upstairs to study.

It was good that he seemed healthy. That was all that mattered.

She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

〄 〄 〄

Demund set his bag down next to his small bed. His room felt so cramped. Rhyne’s room had been humongous, and he even had a gaming computer that took up a portion of the room. With two screens and a liquid cooling system.

Demund glanced at his small laptop. He only used it now for school work, but he couldn’t help feeling a little envious. He sat down on his bed. It was smaller and harder. His pillows felt dead compared to the squishy pillows that Rhyne had.

Demund slapped his face lightly. It really didn’t matter. He was content with what he had and watching his friends enjoy more wealth wasn’t going to change that. Besides, he could dream. He held something that no one else did. A trip to the fantasy world.

Demund changed into his old pajamas and went out to the bathroom to brush his teeth. His mom had returned to her room. He knew she was worried about him, but it made it felt like she was treating him like a kid. He really didn’t need to be treated like a baby in both worlds. He gargled and wiped his mouth.

It was time to sleep.

He set the alarm and jumped into his bed. Today had been a tiring day. He would visit the nurse tomorrow to get another shot.

〄 〄 〄

Shaden spent his days in his dream rather uneventfully. He did some simple healing magic on animals that Shidey caught and let them go from time to time. Shidey didn’t seem to mind it. She was just bringing offerings for her master and he looked like he enjoyed her presents. Shaden watched as the days went by, as the sun rose and fell every day.

On one day during the week, he went out with his mother to buy some mana stones. He had quickly gotten up when she called his name. He really didn’t have anything to do, so he gladly followed, allowing his mother to pick him up.

Shidey followed him right behind his back. Melsei didn’t really care that much about the cat, so she let it out of the house to follow them through the streets. Shidey was a good cat. She constantly meowed at Shaden to make sure he was safe. Of that’s what Shaden thought as he waved back at it.

In reality, Shidey was wondering why her master allowed a being weaker than himself carry him. She was the one who brought the food, making her naturally the servant of the house. In the cat’s mind, Shaden was first on the ranking pyramid, followed by herself, the small servant, the big bodyguard, and the food giver. She meowed in curiosity, but her master didn’t seem to mind it. Perhaps the woman was moving in accordance to her master’s orders.

As her master’s personal beast, she had to stick by him to protect him from danger. She instinctively trusted that her master would heal any injuries she suffered as he had done before. In evolutionary terms, staying near her master would allow her the greatest chance of survival.

Shaden looked at the small cat that kept its eyes fixed on him and smiled. He never knew cats were so loyal. But then again, he was in another world and the cat had two tails. Perhaps it was smarter than the ones back at home.

Hoping that the cat wouldn’t get lost, he turned his head towards the front. They were heading in another direction today, more west and closer to the center of the city. Shaden could see the large towers protruding from the middle—they looked like they were made out of concrete like the walls of the city. It probably had to do something with magic arts.

In fact, all the buildings he saw since he started living here looked pretty modern. Almost all the buildings were covered in plaster, and the streets, though layered with cobblestone, was clean and lacked any cracks.

Every building had a window made out of glass. That said a lot about the economy of the city.

He looked to the sky and saw a flying ship rise up in the distance. The ship had wings that flapped slowly as it accelerated upwards. There was no way the wings were the ones that held the ship up. It was probably magic. He really wanted to learn more about this world.

People bustled through the streets as they moved forward. Merchants in colorful attire, noble ladies in frilly dresses, street kids in plain, brown clothes, carriages that squeezed through the small streets. The city was bustling with life. What surprised Shaden the most was that rich-looking people and poor-looking people alike walked through the same road. There was hardly any discrimination present.

He watched in amazement as a noble with a glorious blonde beard and hair tossed a silver coin into a street musician’s cup. The poorly-dressed man raised his hat in thanks and started playing an exciting tune with his stringed instrument. People nearby came to watch the show, leaving as they remembered they had work to do.

Shaden never saw any beggars on the streets.

Melsei finally stopped her foot in front of a shop that displayed blue and purple crystals on the window. It was the mana crystal shop.

There were quite a few shops distributed all around the city. People needed their fuel, and the Adventurer’s Guild provided them. It was a very profitable business, similar to mining oil in the real world.

The door’s bell ranged as Melsei pushed the wooden door open, Shaden in her arms. Shidey, too, quickly followed her master into the shop.

Melsei went around the room until she reached the section that said, ‘Medium-Small’. After letting Shaden down on the ground, she picked out four crystals and put them into her cloth bag. Shaden watched as her mother placed her hand on her chin and thought for a moment. Realizing that the bath heaters was also running low, she went to the section to the right and retrieved one medium-sized crystal.

Houses that were built recently could use any type of mana crystal as fuel. They fit right into the large processer that was present somewhere in the house. However, since the house Shaden lived in was built tens of years ago, each individual system (such as the oven) required a crystal that fit into its processor. Thus, small shops that sold cut-out sized-crystals were less common than the huge ones that sold crystals en masse.

You could buy a bunch of smaller crystals and fit them all together in the processor if the bigger ones were lacking.

Melsei took the crystals to the counter, and a dwarf with a grumpy expression and shaggy beard inspected its contents. His brown, bald head shined in the sunlight.

“One medium-sized and four medium-small sized mana crystals,” he stated with a thick accent. “That will be eleven silver Nomiers.”

Nomier was the name of the currency that the country of Melern used. Other countries had their own names for their coins. For example, Cantaronia to the south used the Esso.

However, the name didn’t matter that much. Saiton the Sage had unified the currencies of all the human nations, making every platinum, gold, silver, and copper coin weigh the same amount. So, besides the name of and the picture on the coin, there was no difference and the currencies could be used interchangeably.

Melsei took out the coins from her coin purse and gave it to the dwarf. He felt the weight of the coins in his hand and took a record of the transaction.

“Thank you for your purchase,” he said. There had been fewer and fewer customers coming recently, so seeing a new face was heartening. He’d have to move sooner or later though.

Melsei beckoned Shaden to follow her and took his hand. They walked out of the shop together, Shidey trailing right behind them. Melsei was glad that Shaden was eager to walk. She hadn’t considered the weight of the crystals when she brought him.

They walked back home through the busy streets, enjoying the sunlight and fresh breeze. Children played tag with each other, and Melsei noticed Shaden watching them. Now that she thought of it, Shaden hadn’t had the chance to make any friends yet.

There was probably a preschool within the neighborhood. It was a big city. If Shaden started going to school, then she could find work too. She disliked letting Garthan do all the work. She was receiving so much from him ever since the first met.

Maybe she could learn more dishes to please her husband. She hummed happily as they strolled peacefully home.