The days had been going by pretty uneventful. Everyday, we’d train with Eidechse and not do much else. They didn’t have anything they wanted us to do. I did spend the rest of my time usefully, however. I read most of the books I’d stolen. Most were stories, though I’m not sure if they’re fictional or not. It’s written in a fictional style and the feats of the protagonists are way off the charts. Even those elite adventurers we had to deal with back in our little war pale in comparison. The characters would instantly blow up areas the size of villages and cut down giant monsters in single cuts.

They seem like typical fantasy novels, but I can’t figure out if that’s all they are. Just a year ago, the creature that I am was nothing but fantasy to me. Let alone the magic I’ve seen and been able to use.

There was one more book left. It was a book the size of my head and by far the heaviest thing in my possession. It had a lime green cover with the golden shape of claw marks. It was an encyclopedia of animals and monsters. The animals were first and by far the most numerous. Some of the animals were dangerous enough to be designated as monsters in my opinion, but I guess that’s not how they had classified them.

Most of the animals on it were the same as in my old world. I hadn’t really thought about it that much since I was born, but it’s surprising to see mostly “normal” animals in a world as fantastical as this one. There were outliers, like the triceratops. Though, it goes by a different name here. N'kyshufraer, which the author describes as a funny name, since it means slow unicorn in Aflish...

I hope most people’s humour isn’t as bland as this.

Aside from the normal animals and animals that were extinct in my old world, there were also animals that were mostly the same as it’s normal version, but with slight...differences. The one that stuck out to me immediately were the bears. They’re a lot like grizzly bears, but have sharp quills growing on their back, which they can shoot out at will. They’re classified as animals, but even the author agrees with me that they should be moved up to monster!

I’d been reading this book practically all night. I skipped out on training, just to get through more of it. As I was halfway through the animals section, the door to my room slammed open. I let out an embarrassing “eek!” as I quickly spun around to see who barged in.

“Oth! How would you like to learn Duengish?”, Eidechse shouted.

“You ever heard of privacy?”, I protested, “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”.

“Privacy?”, Eidechse said, “This is my house!”.

“Yeah, but. Oh, never mind that. What were you saying about Duengish?”.

“You wanna learn it?”.

“Sure, but where is this coming from all of a sudden?”.

“Well, you seem like the type that’s got brains, so I thought you might do well to learn the local language”.

“And what’s in it for you?”.

“Nothing! Why would there need to be something in it for me? When are you gonna start to trust us?”.

I didn’t respond. Instead, I just kept looking at him and let my expression talk for me.

“If it makes you feel any better, you learning the language would make your jobs for us easier. Are you now interested or should I just stop wasting my time?”.

“Yeah, I’ll take you up on it”.

Eidechse pulled out a book that was made to teach Draconic speakers Duengish. I guess me and Vyth aren’t the only ones. Maybe his kind struggles with it as well?

He taught me some of the basics for a good few hours, until the Dwarf showed up. I was ready for her to speak, so I could test out my new knowledge.

“You está lendo uma história para o seu filho antes de dormir?”, she said.

I only understood the first word. It was clear I had a long way to go.

As I beat myself up for it, they exchanged a few more lines. The Dwarf came up to me and slowly spoke out: “Do. You. Want. To. Aprender. Alguma. Coisa. Senão?”

I still only understood half of it. This is going to be a pain. I looked to Eidechse and asked him to translate. She apparently wanted to see if I wanted to learn the art of thievery from her. I would normally be against it. But, the people here would probably treat me poorly and with open hostility if they knew I was a Kobold. Hell, they probably try to kill me. Where’s the morality in that? So I took her up on it.

The next evening all four of us headed out of town. The town seemed to have a ban on travel in and out of it at night, so we had to sneak out. It was easy enough for me and Vyth. I’d gotten used to flying for short distances, so I just flew myself and Vyth over the wall. I stopped on top of the wall and watched the other two.

It was hard to keep track of them. Despite their rather colourful appearance, they managed to blend into the shadows with the help of their clothing. Eidechse covered his gleaming, bronze scales with a navy blue cloth. Only his eye was well visible. Thetara, on the other hand, made full use of her small size. She’d hide in every nook and cranny you could possibly find when someone passed them by. She even reenacted Solid Snake’s famous move where he hides under a box, except she did it with a barrel. It was impressive, to say the least. They made the guards patrolling around and the ones standing in front of the gate look like fools.

They got out in just a few minutes. Once out, they took us into the woods. Maybe a mile away from the town, they brought us to a small hideout hidden behind a few large boulders and trees. There were two horses there, which they took together with a simple wooden cart. We got on and headed...somewhere. They said we were heading to a nearby village, but I still felt a bit uneasy going with them to an unknown location. I said nothing of it, though. It’d be weird complaining about it now. Especially, since I sleep in their home.

The ride took maybe an hour and a half. The whole time Thetara had been napping, while Vyth and Eidechse were chatting. Those two seemed to have become good friends. I still wasn’t fully sold, but I couldn’t exactly say he was a bad guy. Maybe I was just being overly cautious. To spend the time, I pulled out my encyclopedia. I had taken it with me, just in case it could come in handy. It seemed like a good idea to just keep it on whenever I plan to travel outside of town.

To keep me entertained, I began listening to the animal sounds that could be heard at night. Mostly creatures like owls, ravens and the occasional wolf howl. Knowing what could be found, I began looking for any sign of animals, like tracks and scratch marks. Maybe some feathers for the birds. Any I found, I would look up in the book and try to match it to the exact species. Even I realised this was the most nerd thing I’ve done, but there was nothing better to do. I had matched up all the animals I heard, when I found a set of different tracks to the left of the road we were going down. These were larger than the ones I found earlier from black wolves. I began skimming through the pages, looking for the right footprint. I eventually found it, but my smile of satisfaction quickly disappeared once I realised who it belonged to. The southern brown bear, the grizzly bear with quills. It’s tracks we’re pointing to the location we were going. This could only end badly.