>

The electronic voice announced through Kalden’s phone speakers.

“There. That should give you access to all functions the webstore has to offer.” Redgrave cheered.

It had taken a lot of bargaining and arguments, but they finally came to an agreement. At first, Kalden wanted the ability to summon anything he wanted, including people, that would be loyal to him and him only.

But as Redgraved informed, such a power was too great, and breached the limitations he was allowed to grant to otherworlders such as Kalden. So, after much discussion, they settled on a ‘webstore’ system.

Kalden’s would now be able to summon his phone at will, and through it purchase items from the webstore. Anything and everything was for sale on it, fictional or otherwise. An option for personnel was even available if he could afford the initial and subsequent upkeep cost.

The only exception was magic, potions and anything else deemed as supernatural in nature as to put it in Redgrave’s words, the store only sells items that have a sense of reality to them otherwise it could cause more problems than solutions for everyone, including the gods.

“Thanks. But… now what?”

“Now?” Redgrave exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear, “Why, now is the time to go out! To have fun! Explore the world and all it can offer,” as he talked in that annoying sing-song voice of his, his body was doing dramatic twirls and dance around the room, his excitement unrestrained.

He was in the middle of a third twirl when he suddenly stopped himself.

“Blast.” he exclaimed, followed shortly by both his hands slapping his cheeks, “It seems I have forgotten some very important things.

“Clearly,” Kalden muttered, below his breath. “Especially in the maturity department.”

“For starters, let's get you out of that suit.” Redgrave pointed.

“What’s wrong with my suit? I’ll have you know this is a 10 thousand dollar suit from Huntsman Tailors.”

Redgrave crocked an eyebrow at this, his expression part amused, part unimpressed.

“Must be an exceptional suit, does it erm…” he sniffed, waving a circle his finger,

“Normally come with that shade of red in the middle?”

“Red? This a black and white- Ah.”

Kalden’s eyes widened, not so much shock, but more of quiet dismay. Besides costing the eye-boggling amount of 10 thousand pounds, making it the most expensive suit he had in his wardrobe, it was also his favourite.

And it had been ruined, by the patch of dried blood, his blood. Both the jacket and his once dry cleaned; pristine white shirt underneath now had a large crusty maroon-ish red stain patch on it. The small bullet hole in the middle of the patch was just an additional insult.

“Damn it.” Kalden cursed, as he began tearing off the jacket.

“I thought as much,” Redgrave smirked, no doubt feeling smug about this whole thing. “Don’t worry, leave it here and I’ll have it dry cleaned and repaired for future use. Just wear these for now.” A set of neatly pressed and folded clothes materialized on the table as he said that.

Kalden was about to reach over and grab a piece when he remembered the fact someone was in the room with him.

“Would you mind?” he asked.

“Oh no, please, do continue,” Redgrave replied, flashing a cheeky smile. “I’ll just be reading my book.”

It was a simple outfit, a white tunic, slightly baggy pants and a leather belt. The only notable thing was a pair of black tactical looking Kevlar gloves, it looked like the ones he used back in the military, it even included the harden knuckle strip, but it looked a lot more stripped out of padding, thinner. It felt comfortable, snug in his hands, but at the same time, they felt civilian, trying to be something it wasn’t. He’s not sure why he was given it, but he put it on nonetheless.

“Do you have a-”

Redgrave, without even looking up pointed towards the far-right corner of the room, where a full body mirror Kalden previously had not noticed, was placed. He took a moment to inspect his new look. His lean body frame, wild, brown hair combined with the clothes provided, made him look like he was about to go back to the Berlin night-club. All he needs is a leather jacket and some makeup, and the look would be complete.

“Aww. You look absolutely handsome, you.” Redgrave cooed, suddenly appearing behind him, his hands running down Kalden’s back, moving dangerously close towards a particular part of his body.

“Hands,” Kalden growled in warning.

“Yeah, yeah. Got it, you alpha male.” Redgrave chuckled, withdrawing his hand but not before giving Kalden a small smack on the rear.

Kalden rolled his eyes at this but said nothing more on the matter. “I need a pair of new shoes. Dress shoes don’t work well with casual clothing.”

“Of course,” Redgrave replied, giving a dramatic bow, and a shoebox appeared in his hands.

It was a pair of black, heavy-duty combat boots, Kalden almost blanched at his. Memories of boot camp came resurfacing almost immediately. The leather in the boots was so tough back then to make them pliable and fit their feet well. They would piss into it and then wear them laced up tight until they dried, so they moulded to the foot.

The thought, however, of having to wear piss-soaked boots for hours, almost sent him towards a melt-down during his first day. Until his comrades, kindly, with a bunch of expletives and nudging attached, told him of the cleaner alternative of soaking his boots overnight in a bucket of water.

“I’m not sure what kind of expression you are doing right now, but I can assure you these boots will not eat you,” said Redgrave, handing the box over to Kalden.

“Can I have a different set of shoes? Boots are not my thing.” Kalden said, pushing away the box.

“Why not? These boots are sturdy, waterproof, go everywhere, and you can kick the shit out of someone with this and don’t even have to worry about your own feet getting hurt. Stylish too.”

“Yeah… but I hate breaking new leather boots. I have enough walking with blisters on my feet.”

“You don’t have to worry about this one! It will fit perfectly, no blisters, I swear. God’s promise.”

Kalden looked at Redgrave suspiciously, scanning his face for any sign of a lie. There was none, only unbridled excitement and almost child-like joy, which could be considered suspicious.

“Fine. I’ll take your word for it. For now.”

Gingerly, he took the boots, securing tightly, over his feet.

God. that feeling. Can’t say I miss this.

“Is it good?”

“I guess? We shall see. If I club you over the head with it, it's a failure. So, anything else I need?”

“A few more.” Redgrave hummed. “I’ve been trying to think up a few ways to assist you in your adventure without violating the rules imposed on me.”

“I assume you have an idea now?”

“Kinda.” Redgrave shrugged, “kinda proud of it, though.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Redgrave produced a black wristwatch, “I noticed how people from your world seem to like using these, ‘smartwatches’ as a way to monitor their health, or do what they usually do on the phone, so I gathered, why not get you one too?”

“No. You did not.” Kalden breathed, his eyes widened in surprise as he slowly picked up the watch. On the surface, it looked like an ordinary digital smartwatch, but the faint orange glow and logo of a white phoenix said otherwise. This was a replica of the exact watch worn by the player character in his favourite third-person shooter ‘lost division.’

Kalden felt like a kid receiving the gift he always wanted on Christmas. The smile on his face had been stretched to the absolute limit, yet it still wanted to grow wider.

“How did you know? I have been trying to get a replica just like this for so long!”

“I’m a god. It’s what I do.” Redgrave boasted. “This is not all of course, besides monitoring your health, the watch works in tandem with your phone to act as a guide, download the smartwatch app from the app store later, there should only be one, it syncs up with your phone to allow the use of its various functions without having to take your phone out.

“This is one nifty piece of kit.” Kalden quipped as he strapped it securely onto his wrist with an almost childish glee.

“Now, on to our second item, to prevent you from getting stabbed the moment you step out of here, I would like to give you this.” A black cotton hooded jacket appeared in Kalden’s hands.

“A jacket?”

This was a significant downgrade from the watch, but it would be a useful piece of clothing, nonetheless.

“It's not any ordinary jacket.” Redgrave huffed, “you should know that by now. This is a jacket specially enchanted by me. Stab-proof, fireproof, waterproof, bullet-proof too, rated level II, stops anything up to .357 magnum rounds. Needless to say, still quite painful when hit. Does not protect you from internal bleeding, so do watch out.

Also, despite its thin look, is climate controlled, it can keep your body warm at -50 degrees environments but at the same time cool in 50-degree weather, of course, you still have to dress appropriately, the jacket only covers your body, not the entire body.

Next up, this one is rather simple, a pair of wireless earpieces, you don’t have to worry about charging them, it runs off the latent mana in the air. It acts as earplugs too automatically. So You can hear people and soft sounds no problem.”

“Last two items on the list. Nothing special. You should recognize them easily. Just something to get you started.”

A pistol holster and a knife in a sheath.

“An Hk Mk23, with all its attachments, and an S&W M9 bayonet. Hm.” Kalden nodded with approval. “This will work wonderfully.”

“Glad you like it. With that, I think we are pretty much done… Oh yes, one more thing. I need your phone for a moment.”

“What for?” Kalden asked, handing it over.

“My number, should you run into any trouble,” Redgrave explained, punching in the numbers into the phone. “Here, I will try to help as much as possible without angering the others. Good luck!”

“Thanks. But I have to ask, why? Why me? I mean sure it’s nice to have a new life, and this sweet ability, but I’m not like those protagonists in those stories, I don’t have a motivation, a goal to work towards.”

Redgrave smiled at that, “It’s natural not having motivation, just live your new life, explore the place, I’m sure you will find something or someone to work towards.” He paused, “Ah, yes, I almost forgot.”

Two thick envelopes appeared on the table, and Redgrave slid it towards Kalden.

“What is this?”

“5,000 denarius. The Remulan Kingdom’s local currency and your wallet.” Redgrave explained, tapping on the first envelope. “Should last you for a while, while you sort out what you want to do.” he opened the second one, revealing a stamped metal card with Kalden’s new face on it, as well as a small booklet with some papers sandwiched in between.

“Of course, a new life means new identity papers, to prove you are a Romulan citizen. You’re going to need an ID for practically everything here, if you lose any of these items, feel free to give me a call, I can whip up a replacement, for a fee of course.”

“And how much would that be?”

“2,000 denarius for each article. Steep I know, but that’s what you get for losing your papers. Anyway… A new identity and a hefty sum of money, the dream for every spy ain't it?”

“Quite. But I’m no spy, just an officer.” Kalden grinned slightly as he palmed the notes, stuffing them into his jacket pocket. “Anything else before I leave?”

“No… not really…”

“Are you sure?”

“Well… there’s just one thing, more of a suggestion than anything else.”

“Which is?”

“For a man of your skills, a relatively fast way to make money is to sign up in the adventurer’s guild hall.

“Adventurer’s guild… Thanks, I’ll keep a look out.”

“Good. Well, run along now, just step out of that door, and you can begin your adventure.” Redgrave gestured to the door behind him.

“Right. See you later?”

“Of course.” Redgrave beamed, “Have fun now! Don't hesitate to call me if you run into any trouble!”

“Yeah…” Kalden muttered softly, still not too sure about that as he stepped out, into a dark alleyway. That’s when he remembered something important, he turned around to head back inside, but he was too late, he watched as the door slowly disappeared, replaced with dirty stone bricks.

Shit. Now how I’m, I supposed to get to the adventurer’s guild?

Kalden wondered, stepping out of the alley to join the crowd in the main avenue. His eyes caught sight of his solution almost immediately. The large neoclassical marble building is just directly opposite from him.

The words “Remulus Imperial tourism board.” Were chiselled out into the base of the steps of the building.

Well, that was convenient.