CChapter 2 – A Guide of a Different Kind

With the doziness finally dissipating, I was able to examine the people around me, and as if to prove that I got my bearings back, a screen appeared in front of my face.

Questline

Unknown monsters have been inhibiting and attacking the town of Aethfield.

– Kill all the monsters (Incomplete).

– Rewards available after quest completion.

What a great paradise; I am here to kill monsters. I knew we were getting fed nonsense, but the disparity between the truth and the lies was quite incredible.

I focused away from the monsters and the questline which, even if I wanted to, couldn't help since I am locked up. First on my list was examining the people locked up with me here and then figuring out how I would get out of this cell, everything else came after.

There were four men and three women, each in a separate cell. I took a brief look at each one, and although I couldn’t see all their faces clearly since most of them were lying down, I recognized their attire. Most were undoubtedly also from Earth, like me. The bearded man to my left wore a black suit, a woman to my right seemingly in her mid-20s wore a tracksuit, a dark-skinned buff man with tank top and sweatpants was next to the bearded man. Opposite to my cell was a fiery-red-haired woman, different from all of us; she wore brown leather armor.

When I looked at her, the woman snapped her head towards me. “The hell you looking at?”

Well, her temper matched her hair. Before I could talk back, the door to the prison opened up, and a man donning a chainmail armor came in; at his waist, a sword was fastened to his right, and keys were attached to his left.

He unattached the key from his waist and announced, “You’re all free to go. You were all innocent after all.”

“I told you that from the start, but you people had to be hard asses about it,” the fiery lady responded.

The man didn’t seem to be happy about her comment as he scoffed. Also, her comment led her to be the last one let out. In the few moments the man and red-haired woman argued, all of the people held here got up one by one, and well, they were distraught to say the least.

Getting out of her cell, the red-haired lady didn’t seem to be bothered by being last. She just asked the man who let us out, “Where is my sword?”

He pointed to a table at the side, placed on it, a long sword in a plain scabbard. He then turned his back and headed towards the door. Before he went through it, he said, “The mayor is waiting for you outside so hurry up.”

As the man left, I could feel the confusion and nervousness in the air, as most of the people around fidgeted and sporadically turned their heads left and right trying to take in where they were.

I turned towards the group and took a chance to observe the last two that I wasn’t able to see clearly. The two were teenagers. One was a short-haired girl with a pair of jeans and a hoodie. The other was a boy, he had a Greek nose and wore a pair of shorts and a plain T-shirt.

“Stop looking around like damn chickens,” the red hair shouted. “I know you are shocked that this isn’t paradise, but now is really not the time to be all over the place.”

“This isn’t paradise? Are you sure?” Asked the teenage boy nervously.

“Look around. Does this look like paradise to you?”

“Maybe…” interjected the woman in a tracksuit.

“Stop. I hate this already.” The red-haired woman cut her off. “The longer you stay here, the more you’ll realize that this is no paradise. I give it two days for it to sink in. There’s no point in arguing with me if you can witness it with your own eyes.”

Walking in front and facing all of us, she raised her voice a bit and announced, “For now, I want you to listen up, newbies. I don’t want anyone of you talking when we get out. If you do, I assure you will regret it.”

Glancing around, nobody seemed to outrightly consent, yet surprisingly no one also retorted back. It seemed I was transported with a group of perceptive people. The red-haired female grunted and went through the door. Not waiting to be invited, all of us followed right behind her.

Finally, we were outside, beholding the setting sun, stepping on hard soil, and breathing fresh air. Waiting for us right outside the door was the guy with the chain armor, an old man with white hair and a hunched back, and lastly, a blonde man wearing plate armor, with a shield and sword both strapped to his back, in other words, he was a knight.

“Welcome, Otherworlders,” the old man greeted with a smile. “I apologize for our first rude encounter, but as most of you might know, our town is passing through a very hard time, so we have to be vigilant about everything. I comprehend that there’s some type of quest you need to fulfill in this town, and I am thankful you’re here to help, however, such help is not needed. Out of hospitality, you’re welcome to stay for the night so you can adjust to the new world. But more than that, unfortunately, we can’t welcome that.”

“Have you gone senile, Old Man? What do you mean you don’t want help? If you actually didn’t, we wouldn’t have been transported here in the first place.” The fiery lady cut right into the argument.

“I meant what I said; we don’t require your assistance; it’s not welcomed here. We had many Otherworlders come here before. Not only were they unable to solve our problem, but they made things worse. I’m sorry, but we can’t afford any more losses.” The mayor gestured towards the chainmail guy. “Bern here will take you to our inn. All food and lodging will be on us until tomorrow, when you are expected to leave. Now, if you will excuse me.”

The lady, surprisingly, didn’t argue further and just let the old mayor go with a snort. I guess first impressions do matter. I thought at first she had a loose temper.

There were no more conversations and we let Bern led us through the town towards the outskirts where he said the inn was located. From the brief look I had as we headed towards the inn, the town was very small, almost bordering a village in nature. However, what really intrigued me was that most houses were built out of bricks. I guess bricks aren’t expensive in this world.

As we walked that intriguingness was further stimulated by the peculiarities I found. Although the infrastructure clearly pointed at this place being a small town, the population didn’t match that at all; it was even smaller. Speaking of infrastructure, even though the town's current situation was strange, I could attribute that to a variety of logical reasons. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was the prison or the dungeon they kept us in. Usually, these structures were built underground. It doesn’t matter if it was in a different world or a different country; logic dictated these structures be built underground for better security and secrecy, and from the looks of things around, the culture here wasn’t that different from the middle ages. Which brings me back to my question why were the cells above ground?

My thoughts halted as the whole group stopped. Bern pointed at a building to the right. “This is the inn you will be staying at. Please, don’t make yourself comfortable.” With that, he turned his back and left.

The inn was quite big despite the town having such a low population. The inn seemed to be made of timber frames and stones in-between. It consisted of two floors, had a chimney rising from the middle, and an empty stable at the side. Above the wooden door at the front was a plaque, written on it, The Esurient fatty.

When we went inside the inn, an almost empty hall greeted us. There were Oak chairs and tables, a wooden bar at the end of the room, a door to the left of the bar and a staircase to the right, and lit sconces decorating the walls. But there wasn’t any guest in sight, only what I presume to be the innkeeper and perhaps his pregnant wife standing behind the bar.

“Welcome, welcome, please, come inside, make yourself at home.” The keeper greeted.

We slowly made our way in, and some of us took a chair to sit on while the others kept standing. The red-haired woman went up to the pair behind the bar. “I would like for both of you to give my companions and me a few minutes in private if you don’t mind.”

The keeper answered, “Of course, of course.” He then led his wife by hand as they went through a door behind the bar.

The woman turned towards us. “I know most of you are confused about what’s happening, but here’s the deal, there is no paradise here whatsoever. Since all of you come from Earth, that means you have been fed borderline nonsense. No, It’s absolute nonsense. You can gain inconceivable powers and opportunities here that's for sure, but the danger is just as proportionate if not riskier. Propaganda about paradise being here, plainly, is the most moronic thing they could do on earth.” Being a bit agitated, she stopped for a few seconds to calm down then continued.

“Let’s back up a little bit. Let me first introduce myself. I am Cathelyn Kent. And in summary, the reason I am here is to help and guide you. Not like the guide you all met; I am sent by much earlier Otherworlders who have built their bases in deeper layers. I can explain all of this later when we have time, for now, let’s focus on the questline. All of you must have gotten a prompt in some shape or form about what is going in this town, monsters, rewards, and all of that. We need to figure out what to do before they kick us out of this town.”

“Why should we help them? The people seemed very adamant about not receiving any. Also, why do we need to complete the quest? Can’t we just leave?” Asked the bearded man.

“Two reasons, for both questions,” Cathelyn answered. “One, they can refuse all they want, the fact is, questlines don’t formulate unless the situation has a very low possibility of it being resolved without outside interference. Two, we need the rewards of the questline. One of the reasons many lifeforms leave their origin worlds and become Otherworlders through the guide is for the questline rewards. Having come here and not earning some power to protect yourself with, will certainly have you lose your life. Also, you can scratch the first reason if it’s not up to your taste. The questline said to kill the monsters, not help the town.”

“I am interested in how low the possibility has to be for a questline to form?” Inquired the teenage girl.

“I don’t know. Do I look like a data analyst?” Cathelyn answered. “Anyone wants to ask anything more that relates to the questline?”

"There were mentioned rewards after completion. What kind of rewards are we talking about?" asked the dark-skinned buff guy.

"They are mostly terms you're unfamiliar with," she answered. "But in this layer, if you complete the questline, you would be offered a choice between mana arts, a core, equipment, or an awakening. Any more questions?"

When no one raised any more questions, Cathelyn continued. “Alright. I realized that we first need to organize ourselves before moving any forward with planning, so, I need you all to introduce your names, core, and types. By the way, I have sword core, duelist type. But different from you all, I have all my traits manifested. So, let’s start with you.” She pointed at me.