Sleeping on a bed was something John underestimated the value of. His time in this world began with the hard and uneven ground, an unforgiving surface. Thankfully, he upgraded to a poorly sized cot courtesy of Vulgad. His frame was tall by Human standards, so a dwarf proportioned cot was really just a place to put his back as the rest of him hung off.

Here though, in the house of Nifriden, John once again experienced a pleasure lost to him. The soft confines of the bed were pure bliss. It made the next events all that much worse.

*kaBOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!*

An explosion rocked through the head of the nearly conscious man. In a heartbeat, John was up and prepared to do… something. As he was, it would have been unwise to meet any sort of emergency in his underclothes.

‘What the hell! Are we being attacked? Oh… well first…’

John looked down and only saw this world’s equivalent of underwear. He quickly shuffled around in his pack.

Quickly pulling on his clothing, he flew out the door and down the stairs barefoot. The sitting room was the first location he checked.

‘Empty.’

Still riled up and concerned about the source of the explosion, he then went to the next room. The kitchen revealed no information either. The dining room, unsurprisingly, was unoccupied.

‘Wait, the servant’s quarters!’

Through the stone-floored kitchen, John’s feet slapped against the ground. Coming to the door, he paid little heed to knocking. Flinging open the door, he finally found someone.

He was happy when he finally found someone.

Recia was, quite oppositely, displeased with the intruder.

The focused, slight relief on John’s face morphed. His eyes widened, jaw dropped, and muscles turned to stone.

The displeasure and shock on Recia’s face remained as she tried her best to cover her naked form.

“O-oh, Recia! I swear, I-”

“Ge-get out.”

“I-I didn’t know, I di-didn’t mean to-”

“I SAID GET OUT!”

The shout was enough to jolt John into action. But he still didn’t leave quick enough to avoid the shoe that connected with his head, though it did make him move all that much faster.

The door slammed shut behind him. He leaned against it, panting. His mind was just a tad overwhelmed by the scene he walked in on.

‘Well, I didn’t expect that!’

He remembered the reason he walked in on her in the first place. He needed to find out about the explosion he heard.

‘She didn’t seem all that panicked though. Maybe its just something normal around here?’

John left the kitchen and wandered around the house. This time, he had much less panic. The effort could only be considered half-hearted now.

“-hn-”

‘What was that?’

“-ohn!”

‘There it was again. Is someone calling me?’

“John!”

It was Nifriden. The Elf had been looking for him.

“Nifriden! I’m in the sitting room!”

A moment later, the Elf swung around the corner.

“Ah, there you are John. I wanted to tell you not to be alarmed. The loud sound was not a reason to panic.

“But, it seems I was a tad too late for that…”

“I’d say so! What was that? I thought a bomb had gone off!”

“It was just one of my experiments that went awry. It was more noise than carnage. The protective wards did their job.”

“What kind of experiments are you doing? And where were you doing it?”

“I guess I should explain. Come, let's take a seat. You need a moment to calm down it seems.”

John nodded in agreement. No matter what he’d experienced so far. Being woken up by the magical equivalent of an artillery shell was not in his wheelhouse so to speak.

Once seated and an appropriate heart rate was achieved, Nifriden began to speak.

“I apologize for the rude awakening, but distilling gerkudia venom can be a bit, volatile.”

“And what’s a gerkudia?”

“Oh, it’s a rather unique monster that is capable of igniting its venom. Their habitats tend to be rather devoid of flammable material, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

“Can you tell me why you were doing that in your house?! With people in said house?!”

John’s voice gained an edge to it. It was quite traumatic for him after all.

“I can assure you, John, my basement is constructed of the best materials and enchanted to contain any type of the more exciting experiments. Its where we’ll be testing out your abilities too. If you can see mana like it seems, you’ll see just how safe it is!”

“I hope you are correct. Being woken by explosions is not a great way to experience my first morning in an unfamiliar place.”

“Yes, yes. My apologies, but now that you are awake, you can begin to make it into a familiar place. Vulgad’s letter said your intelligence was rank 3. You’ll know the twists and turns of Lumis in no time.

“Speaking of knowing its twists and turns, where is Recia? I told her to be prepared to take you on a tour today.”

The statement pierced right through a metaphorical gap in John’s mental armor.

‘Oh crap! I don’t want to seem like I was perving on his servant! Think John, think! I gotta give him a story before she tells him something that makes me look awful.’

His mind was racing. He couldn’t make it look like he was bothering the Elf’s servant. That was a surefire way to get himself kicked to the curb.

“Sorry I’m late master Thalith. I seemed to have misplaced some articles of clothing. Getting ready this morning took longer than it should have. I can only blame myself.”

The monotone voice of Recia jabbed at John. It seemed to convey more emotion than it should have. Maybe it was just the guilt john felt.

The master of the house waved away the words of Recia.

“I am sure it was just an honest mistake on your part dear. It is water under the bridge, you do far too much for me to ever warrant my ire.”

“Yes master.”

“Ever so humble Recia. I swear, you must go out and have some fun one of these days!”

“Yes master.”

The Elf sighed. He contrasted heavily with the woman’s stoic personality. He was a font of energy and talkativeness; she had the social presence of a boulder, impossible not to notice, and an obstacle for anyone who wanted to speak around her.

“Anyway, I need to get back to some of my experiments. Less explosive ones at that.

“John, you should get prepared. Recia will be your guide to Lumis today. You can only see so much in a day, but you need to at least know the area around here my home if you are to stay here.”

“I agree. Just let me get ready, say, ten minutes? Recia?”

‘Maybe she understands that it was an honest mistake?’

“That is acceptable.”

The Wolfkin’s gaze was cold like steel. Even more than that, in John’s opinion that steel was razor-sharp.

‘I do not think she has forgiven me…’

She had not, in fact, forgiven him. He would eventually be made aware of that.

***

Stepping out of Nifriden’s house. John and Recia wasted no time in distancing themselves from the atrocious paint job the building wore.

Curious about it, John ventured to ask Recia.

“So, what is with that house, why is it so ugly.”

She answered as they walked down the cobbled streets.

“It was a joke played by some locals. Master thought it was humorous. Now, years later, he insists that he finds it ‘charming’.”

Her voice didn’t drop the monotone quality, but he could have sworn that a hint of sarcasm was in the word charming.

“Figures he would decide something like that I guess.

“Anyway, where are we going to go today? And what can you tell me about Lumis?”

“Originally, I was going to treat you like I would a regular tourist.”

“And, now…?”

“After your shameful act this morning, I decided it would be better to show you what Lumis is really like. You seem like the type who wants to see the more intimate side of things.”

“Look, I really didn’t mean to-”

“I know you didn’t, I understand that. You still saw me in my most private state. For that, I hold animosity against you.

“Accompany me in some of my business through some of the more unsavory parts of the city. If you behave yourself, master won’t hear any complaint from me about the actions of his guest, and, I may consider forgiving you.”

John studied the woman he walked beside. Her wolf ears gave her a dignified look as they framed her face in their stiff, straight up, way. Coupled with her expression, Recia looked more like a queen than the servant she was.

‘And she wants me to escort her into some shady business. I guess its only fair… I would much rather have her forgive me. I don’t need to be at odds with her, especially when she might get me kicked out of Nefriden’s.’

“Alright then, lead the way to the underworld fair lady.”

She scoffed at his actions. John didn’t like completely feeling forced into situations, the humor was his way to make it seem like a magnanimous choice on his part.

They picked up their pace then. Twist after twist after turn, they went deep into the streets of the city. Remembering streets and directions were within the capabilities of John. If they weren't, he would have been much more nervous being led into the maze of a city by a woman holding a grudge against him.

How those without a high intelligence attribute got around was actually quite interesting. He started to notice on the corners, men dressed in a specific uniform. They were not everywhere, but easily within a few minutes of each other. He asked Recia about them.

“They are the directors. They are paid by their guild to give directions to those who ask. Their guild holds quite a bit of sway as they also deal in information sale and make profits that way.”

‘That is genius!’

It was like some of the organizations John knew from his time on Earth. They paid homeless on commission for providing juicy bits of information which was then refined and combined so it could be provided to a customer who paid handsomely enough.

Aside from the directors, the streets didn’t hold all that many interesting things. The area they were in was purely residential with a few small goods stores sprinkled in every so often.

“So Recia, where are we going?”

“We are first going to pick up some exotic ingredients for one of master’s experiments.”

“Its not gerkudia venom is it?”

She grimaced.

“Thankfully, it is not. Master himself goes and purchases that particular reagent.

“The market we are going to tends to deal in the sale of less than legal materials. Remain calm and don’t cause any commotion, it may anger the wrong types.”

‘Huh, so first stop is the local black market? Some things don’t change between cultures…’

A little later, Recia stopped in front of a small and unassuming building. Its only uniqueness came from its blandness. It was a perfect cover for something described as ‘less than legal’.

The inside spoke to the same idea. There were no markings of what its purpose may be. It was a basic room with one piece of furniture and one occupant.

Behind a large and impressive looking counter, stood a diminutive woman with a fake smile. He knew it was insincere from the broadness. It was too wide to be from anything else happening in the dull environment. It was a salesman’s smile. He understood that from memory more than intuition.

“Good day sir. Good day lady. How may I help you?”

Recia answered without missing a beat in her stoic manner.

“We seek all goods under the sun, and those hidden from its rays as well.”

‘A passphrase then? The criminal underworld here is quite established then.’

Things like passphrases and dedicated attendants spoke to a level of sophistication enjoyed by a higher tier of illegal activities.

‘I wonder just how big this is? Some ‘shining city’ I’ve found myself in…’

The attendant responded.

“Ah, a valued customer! What pavilions would you like to peruse today miss?”

“I would like access to the reagent and curio pavilions.”

“Excellent choices! That will be ten silver.”

Recia quickly provided the funds and was in turn given two passes. They contained magic of some sort. John could faintly see runes woven into the structure of the metal plates. The meaning was unknown to John.

‘Identify’

Access Pass

Provides access to something.

‘Well, that was helpful.’

The identify skill often did this to John. Most things he used it on were just vague descriptors that he could have thought of himself. Why the jinga bush was different, he didn’t know.

The attendant spoke again.

“Thank you for working with the Shaded Glen company! We value your business!”

With that capitalistic phrase, the attendant sent a pulse of mana visible to John. It really only consisted of one composite rune —a rune made from shorthand of other runes—. He could discern it as roughly meaning ‘trigger’ from his memories.

The mana traveled into the wall where it activated something else that was significantly more complex. The wall in that location silently moved backwards and to the side. It had been a seamless fit.

‘Now that. Is cool.’

Recia was unfazed. She coolly walked down the now revealed corridor, John followed closely behind. The temporarily displaced section of the wall returned to its original location behind them. The corridor was lit with magical torches. Runes that presumably meant light floated in his vision.

“That was cool!”

The neatness of the situation left its impact on John, to Recia’s unenthused nod.

“We will use these passes to enter the corresponding pavilions at the junction up ahead. You will stay by my side at all times. Being found with no pass in a pavilion is grounds for forced ejection, usually as a corpse.”

John could feel a few stray drops of sweat make their way down his back.

‘Like most black markets, these guys don’t play.’

“Ok, and what are we buying?”

“Master has a list of reagents that if present I should buy. In the curio pavilion, I am to buy anything of unknown or interesting origin at my discretion.”

“Do you usually find anything good when you look?”

“Occasionally I will find some odd creation, such as unique enchantments, inventions, and unidentified materials. Most of what I bring back is redundant to master, but there will rarely be something he hasn’t seen before.”

“Yeah, Nifriden seems like a pretty knowledgeable guy. What’s his back story?”

“I don’t truly know; he doesn’t speak of his past much. He speaks of the past, just not his past. Though he is among the older generations of Elves, I do know that much.”

Seeing that Recia was in a mood to talk, John capitalized on it.

“And how old would that make him?”

“Most likely his mid to late hundreds.”

“Wait! He’s almost two hundred years old?”

Recia glanced at John oddly. It was the first expression she had given him their entire trip. His question must have elicited quite the response to warrant such reaction from the emotionless boulder.

“You misunderstand Mr. Cribb. When I say mid to late hundreds, I mean in the range of six to nine hundred years old.”

That floored him.

“Holy crap! That isn’t even old, that’s ancient!”

“Have you never learned about Elves Mr. Cribb?”

“Ah, no… I am from a land quite far away. We don’t have Elves there.”

A pause started to form between the two. The only sound was their footsteps on the ground of the long corridor. John decided it would be better to break the silence with a question.

“How long do Elves usually live to?”

“It is odd you don’t know…

“Nearly every young child is taught about Elves. They are great allies of Tyrshal. They usually live until twelve or thirteen hundred years old. Some of the priests of their deity, Greenguard, are known to have lived for up to two thousand or even more.”

“That is sooo long! I wonder how they don’t just die of boredom?”

“Many Elves throw themselves into their passions. Elves often end up as masters in many crafts by the time they pass. It makes up for their low birthrate to have multitalented citizens.”

“Their birthrate is low?”

“Yes, because they can achieve so much and live so long, the Land Mother limited their ability to have children. It is considered very rare to have met an Elven child. They are usually well protected and incredibly well sequestered from danger.”

“I suppose that makes what happened in Altharic all that much worse then?”

“You don’t know the basics, but you know about current events?”

A lone eyebrow rose on her face. John must be quite a shock to her.

She sighed.

“It is as you guess. It will take thousands of years for Elves to regain what they lost. The legions of Gharabis were quite ruthless in their attack.”

“Gharabis? Is that where those Humans are from? I only really knew about Altharic from Nifriden’s friend, Vulgad.”

“Your lack of education is appalling”

There was no emotion in that sentence. It somehow struck as an even worse insult because of it.

“I would appreciate it if you educated me.”

“Perhaps I will. That will have to be in the future though.

“We have arrived at the market.”

“Oh.”

‘Well, I rather feel like a hen in the fox house now…’

The leering faces of armed guards lurked in poorly lit corners. They were positioned around a number of doors in the circular chamber. John guessed the pavilions lied behind them.

‘Death is only one mistake away in this sort of place.’