Astolfo looked at the elf lady mumbling his name before turning his eyes towards the books again. He had perked his ears and glued his eyes to get the most of things, and was able to deduce a bit about the language.

Firstly, by comparing the different words and matching their writings with Julie’s pronunciations, he could tell that it wasn’t an ideographic, but an alphabetic language. He had heard of languages that used characters to represent an idea, if this were one of those, hoping to learn it would have been a dream. Luckily, not only was an alphabetic language easier to learn, but he could also recognize some of the letters and their pronunciations.

Furthermore, from what he could tell by comparing the words, the language was mostly phonetic in nature. Sounds were the same as they were written.

Astolfo pushed the book slightly ahead and tapped on the desk. Julie looked at him with slightly widened eyes. “This brat is eager to learn the language, huh… Well, I have never had this experience in all my sixty years. This could be fun.”

Instead of reading the word, she went on a monologue that he could not understand a speck of. “Hey—”

Before he could urge her on. Julie shushed him. She pointed her finger at his chair and then made a gesture of pushing her palm on its seat.

“You want me to wait?” Astolfo asked.

“I don’t understand you.” Julie shrugged her shoulder and tilted her head before waving her hand and walking away.

Astolfo let out a defeated sigh and watched her walk away. It was just like his mother had said, pretty people are troublesome. Just a look at himself would prove her correct.

Soon, Julie returned with a bunch of rolled papers in her hands. Astolfo raised his eyebrow as she opened the scrolls, revealing numerous maps of different places.

Julie looked at Astolfo with a smug smile and spread the maps. She placed the most detailed map at the center and asked Astolfo to look at it. Roughly mapping a forest mass and a few settlements on its ends, this map was likely one of this town and the places nearby.

Astolfo shook his head to indicate that he didn’t recognize the place. With a face that seemed to say ‘of course,’ Julie nodded and pulled up another map. It covered a fairly large area in similar detail to the previous one. Astolfo assumed from the single city and numerous towns that this was the map of the fiefdom he was in.

Once again, Astolfo shook his head and Julie nodded while switching the map with another, then another, and then another.

Astolfo’s eyes lightly trembled and he bit his lips as he shook his head again and again, from the fiefdoms to the regions and now even the whole country. He was sure it was not similar. A bad premonition took over the boy’s mind as Julie heaved an annoyed sigh and brought out the largest map of the lot.

The map showed but a large landmass with the least amount of details. The names of the places written in the foreign script and the lines defining the bounds of all the known places were the only features of the map. As soon as the boy saw it, he slumped his elbows on the table and grabbed the sides of his head.

The Himmel Empire and its vassal states.

The Great Sol Theocracy.

Not only was the well-learned Astolfo familiar with the rough structure of these places, he also spoke both of their languages thanks to his mother.

“Hey, hey, there is no way…” Julie muttered from the side. He couldn’t understand her, but her voice was half tinged in disbelief and half oozing with amusement.

“I am in a different damn continent?!?”

**

As the sun started to set, the more amused than ever Julie lead Astolfo to a clock in the library and repeatedly pointed between the second and third hours before leaving Astolfo alone in the library. Shortly after, the boy felt his stomach rumbling and stepped out of the library as well.

Going back to the restaurant place was… impossible. So, Astolfo looked for the neatest café around. Near the giant buildings at the center of the town was one such café. Around the exquisitely engraved name board were depictions of many moons, the first thing that went through Astolfo’s mind as he pushed the door open was that there was just no possible way the nice, yet thug-like man could have anything to do with this place.

Unfortunately for the boy, today was a bad day for him to guess around with. Standing near the barista was a blonde woman wearing sunglasses and chains with a fur-coat and across her was the familiar bulky man with a glistening scar and terrifying smirk.

The scary face man looked at Astolfo and went ‘ah!’

‘This is baaaad!’ Astolfo thought. ‘Just why is this guy hereeee?’

“You, kid! When did you step out? Are you better now—”

Astolfo immediately switched gears and clasped his hands together in a gesture of prayer. Serenity filled his eyes and he bowed deeply.

‘May God guide these lost lambs.’

Sudden monk Astolfo prayed for the people in the café and nonchalantly opened the door to walk right back from where he came in. Before he could leave, though, the sunglasses lady had come up behind him and grabbed his collar.

“So this is the boy you were talking about… Morris,” the woman said, holding Astolfo in place.

“Yes, this is the child.” The bulky man regarded the woman as he walked up to them.

‘Oh, is Morris his name?’

Morris nodded at the woman and then turned towards Astolfo. He raised his hand in a greeting before awkwardly bringing them together and bowing in the same way the child had.

‘No, that wasn’t my form of a greeting. What are you, an idiot?’

“No, that wasn’t his form of a greeting. What are you, an idiot?”

Morris reeled back at the woman’s remarks. “Then he was just trying to run?”

“Of course,” the owner shrugged. She pulled Astolfo’s head towards her, staring straight at him from within her sunglasses. “For a helpless little brat with nowhere to go, you sure have a lot of cunning, huh?”

Unable to understand a word, Astolfo tilted his head with furrowed brows.

“Hmph. Taking him to the explorer’s guild is the best. He even has a scar on his eye to fit the role.”

“But don’t scars suit mercenaries more? Explorers are meant to be careful…” Morris said.

“Is that so? Well, who cares. Take him with you.” The woman shrugged again and let go of Astolfo’s collar. Morris once again nodded at the woman and patted Astolfo’s back as if asking him to follow while she waved from the back. With no other choice, Astolfo sighed in resignation and followed along.

The sun was nigh but gone and darkness started encroaching upon the town. The stone streets were losing their little heat from the sunlight, making the night colder. Morris would speak up now and then, trying to communicate with Astolfo in a friendly manner, but all he did was scare him more. Their short walk soon ended as they stopped in front of the large establishment that both Morris and the armored lady had entered earlier in the day.

Astolfo hesitated at the entrance, he felt as if he was taking an important step by following the man inside. Morris saw him and smiled while gesturing at him to come along. As he stepped behind Morris nervously, the door opened to a vast space tall enough to accommodate standing giants.

A straight path from the entrance led towards a large reception desk with a giant board filled with paper next to it. On the right were tables and rooms with shelves lined up around them. Maps and books filled the shelves while strangely dressed people occupied some of the tables. They were fully geared with items of a different kind, each person seemingly fit for something only they could do. On the other side were neatly arranged galleries containing equipment and supplies of all kinds. From grappling ropes to tents and even weapons.

“Wahh…” Astolfo let out a voice of admiration while looking around him. They came up to the reception where an old man was sitting alone.

“Oh, Morris,” the old man said. His white hair and white beard were neatly trimmed and combed while the old man’s body looked like that of a young athlete.

“Manager, you are here today?” Morris asked while respectfully bowing his head at the manager.

“Yes boy. I take the reception at closing times, it’s quiet and peaceful. What brings you here at this hour?”

“It’s about this boy…” Morris said as he pointed at Astolfo who was ignoring the conversation.

The old man looked at Astolfo, inspecting him from to bottom. “Hmm,” he urged Morris to continue.

“This child is likely deaf and has also never learned to speak. I don’t know where he came from, but he can hold his own in a fight. No ID, no referrals, there is nothing about the kid.” Morris truthfully disclosed the whole situation to the branch manager.

“So you brought him here to get him registered as an explorer. He’ll be able to keep himself afloat and also get a guarantor for his identity” The manager rested his chin on his hand and closed his eyes. “… Why are you helping him like this? What if he is dangerous?” He lightly opened one eye and looked at Morris.

“…He seems like someone who has suffered a lot,” Morris said.

“If you say so…” The guild manager closed his eye again and nodded with his head still on his palms. “But if he is deaf and can’t speak then the test will be a problem…”

Morris looked at the manager and sighed. “Yes, that’s what I wanted to ask you about.”

From ruins and tombs to uncharted lands and magically created lands, explorers were the brave, heroic souls that explored the unknown and brought it out to the world. From hidden riches to secret blessings, it was the dream of explorers to find what is yet to be found and possess what is yet to be claimed. They were the romance of every child’s dreams.

Of course, since the responsibility and danger of revealing the unknown was so large and daunting, explorers needed to be worth their salt. Conviction without power led to death, aspirations without actions were all but dreams. So, the explorer’s guild took meticulously prepared tests that would check everything an explorer would need, from fighting skills to survival and even communication.

The testing method was, in the end, slightly flawed. Many explorers would end up as simple porters to exclusive fighters, while it made sure everyone had the means to survive, a lot of potential was going to waste due to the tests’ high standards.

“Well boy, there is a way,” the manager said.

“Really?” Morris asked. “What can we do?!”

“Hmm, about eighty years ago, when I was just a fresh little explorer, there was a man who had taken his kid to explorations as an apprentice of his,” the old manager seemed to have slipped into the memories of his younger days as he continued. “When I retired and started working in the guild, I heard there was a system which let people join in as an apprentice. But there are two conditions.”

“There was something like that? What are the conditions that no one knew about this?” Morris asked.

The manager pulled up two fingers as he began. “First, one person can have only one apprentice in their lifetime… And second, to make an apprentice you need to be an explorer in the VIP list. That means a crazy track record.”

Hearing the conditions, Morris sighed. “So that’s why. Everyone in the VIP list only cares about themselves, it’s natural no one has an apprentice.”

“Yup,” the manager nodded.

“Guess it changes today,” Morris remarked.

“Oh?” The manager looked at Morris in surprise before twisting his mouth into a smile. “Well, seems like it does.” He stood up from his seat and stretched his hand and back.

“Come back tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll keep everything prepared for you and your apprentice, VIP Explorer Morris.”