“Find him at all costs!” One elven guard with a wiry build shouted. “He can’t be far!”

“Understood!” A party of four elven men with bows and a quiver on their backs shouted in unison. Several blue runes glowed in their limbs as they knelt and kicked the ground, jumping several meters high into the trees.

Lazarus, the man they were looking for, was just looking at them, trying his hardest not to laugh out loud. Though he was still wrapped in the vines, it didn’t really matter too much.

He was close. The elves couldn’t see him. It wasn’t because they were blind but the optic camouflage made him invisible to the naked eye.

“Grrr! How could none of you see him run out!?” An Elven maiden with bodacious curves angrily huffed as she yelled at the guard who had just given the order.

“My apologies, but when we heard your screams and busted the door, it was only you, the archers and the village chief in the room.”

“That’s impossible!” Sylphi ground her teeth. “In any case, he had stolen an Azalea flower. We must find him, and when you do, do not hesitate to capture him and then I’ll deal with him!”

The spectacle only served to make Lazarus grin wildly. Then an idea struck his mind and his grin grew wider.

While still cloaked, Lazarus quietly made his way deeper into the forest.

-’This should be far enough’-

Feeling a childish sense of elation and an uncontrollable urge. Lazarus then put both of hands in-front of his mouth and yelled,

“I’m here you damn elves!! Come on!”

A vein popped in Sylphi’s forehead and she immediately ran to the direction.

“Men! He’s here! Surround him!!” The elven guard shouted at his companions and they jumped from tree to tree with their bows drawn.

“Hmph.. idiots.” Lazarus scoffed as he stomped his military boots and made sure they heard his footsteps, stepping on every grass and every stick on site to make as much sound as possible.

“He’s making fun of us!” Muttered one of the archers, gritting his teeth.

Naturally, the elven warriors weren’t too happy with Lazarus’ taunting.

The elves followed suit and then Lazarus stopped dead on his tracks. The elven warriors already passed by the grinning Lazarus and they continued to chase the non-existent man running away from them.

Quietly tip-toeing to the opposite direction, Lazarus tried his damn hardest to suppress the bubbling sensation to laugh.

When he was far enough already, he began jogging and eventually made it back to the entrance of the forest and continued to jog on the paved path.

He looked back, and as expected, no one was following him. While he did tease them out of spite, he also wanted to make sure to lure the majority of them away from his actual escape path.

Lazarus let out a soft huff. Then glanced down at the vines wrapped around his body.

-’Weren’t these vines supposed to make sure I don’t use magic?’-

Since he was manaless, then it was utterly useless.

Lazarus tried to open his arms, and the vines were stretched and almost about to break and he stopped. -’It really is useless to me.’-

He had thought that maybe in some off chance it might’ve affected the nanites in his body but he already proved it couldn’t and so his strength wasn’t affected in the slightest.

Seeing as it was useful in some way. Several crackling electricity engulfed the mana absorbing vines and it disappeared.

Lazarus eyed a blue screen that popped-up in-front of him with the text [“Successfully stored - Mana absorbing vines in Dimensional storage”]

“So it couldn’t affect the warp-in and warp-out of the D-storage. Well, I shouldn’t expect their anti-magic vines to affect my technology anyway.”

He was just making sure.

“Now then…” Lazarus muttered, glancing at the top right of his vision and saw that he still had a bit of energy in his cloak before he needed to recharge. He could still go further away before he had to de-cloak.

Lazarus looked back to his screen displaying a list of items in his storage. His brows furrowed when his gaze landed on one particular item labeled [“Azalea flower”].

He forgot to leave it with the elves but then again…

-’They were going to imprison me anyway so why should I return it?’-

Lazarus shrugged and continued on his way through the night.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun hung overhead. It was hot.

The grasslands stretched as far as the eye can see. A man wearing military style clothing was walking along a path where the grasses were thinned, mainly due to constant passing by of carriages and horses.

Lazarus had been walking for days, and while he didn’t tire as easily because of the military grade nanites in his body that converted food far more efficiently than a normal stomach, he did get bored out of his skull just walking.

He really didn’t understand why people loved the thought of living in a fantasy world if they had to walk so much.

“Wait… since we were playing in VR, walking was never really tiring. So maybe that’s why?” Lazarus mused, then he shook his head. “Why am I even thinking about this? Haaa-... this is so damn boring…”

Lazarus kept walking for a while and when he noticed something in the distance, he squinted his eyes. He could see small houses in the distance.

“Finally!” Lazarus shouted and made a run for it.

—--------------------------

The village had twenty cruck houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs.

By the riverbank was a girl, washing her clothes. Then there was a couple, planting some crops in the garden beside their house and children running around with sticks and laughing.

It was quite the surreal sight to Lazarus who was pretty used to advanced tech.

Now where to go first? Lazarus had absolutely no idea. There wasn’t any internet where he could just search and find any jobs, or even any information help desk.

-’Fs, where did people usually go in fantasy games to gather information again?’-

-=”Forums.”=-

-’....That’s not what I meant, I mean inside of the game.’-

-=”Taverns.”=-

-’Right…’-

In old movies, people used to go to a bar or a tavern to chat and gather information. The problem was, Lazarus had no money to even buy a drink.

A couple of people passed by Lazarus and he furrowed his brows.

At first it was barely noticeable but the more he saw the people eyeing him, he was convinced.

-’They’re staring at me?’-

He looked at himself and made an ‘Oh’ face.

“The military clothes…”

Of course no one was familiar with it since everyone looked like people dressed in the medieval times. The problem was, that this was the only cloth that fitted with Lazarus and they even came from the dead pilots on the ship. He needed to change out of them first, but to buy new clothes he needed money.

Lazarus sighed. “It’s always money isn’t it?”

He had walked for three days and was already getting hungry. He really needed some money badly.

He looked around for a bit and just saw cruck-houses everywhere he looked and had absolutely no idea how to even get a job.

As a guy was passing by Lazarus, he clenched his stomach and called out with a “Hey.”

The man looked at Lazarus and said, “Can I help you with something?”

“Uhmm… where can I get a job?”

“Oh-... sorry I can’t help you with that. If you want to know, go find the village chief, he might be able to help you.”

“And where can I find the village chief?”

“Over there.” The man pointed to the house at the center of the village surrounded by an uneven and old wooden fence with some parts of it broken and was just covered-up with some sticks.

“Thanks.” Lazarus nodded to the man and headed for the village chief’s house. He took a quick look at the wooden door that looked like it was about to fall off and contemplated whether he should knock on it. Thinking it might just break if he did knock, Lazarus just opted to raise his voice and said,

“Hey! Is anyone there?” He then looked around to the people around him, making sure he didn’t do anything stupid by Valerian standards and seeing as no one seemed to bat an eye, he assumed what he did wasn’t anything wrong and just waited.

After a couple of minutes, the door creaked open and a man with a wrinkled face emerged. He wore a brown robe that had a couple of patches stitched on it and a rope that tightened his robe to his waist.

At first, the old man frowned and looked at Lazarus from head to toe.

“Uhmm… are you the village chief?” Asked Lazarus to which the old man nodded.

“Indeed I am a young man. Why do you ask?”

“I needed to find a job and I was hoping you’d point me in the right direction.”

“Hmm…” The old man hummed as he looked at Lazarus carefully. “You’re not from around here are you?”

“I’m not.”

“Figures, those clothes look kind of strange. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Said the old man with furrowed brows.

It was then that Lazarus’ stomach decided to sing the song of its people, rumbling loudly.

For a moment, Lazarus and the old man stared at one another. Neither moving an inch.

“You haven’t eaten at all have you..?”

“Well, I don’t have money so…” Lazarus looked away, scratching his cheek. Although he didn’t have money, he did have some food stored in his D-storage since he went back to his home forest along the way and stocked-up on some food and water. He just forgot to eat since he was so excited to finally see some form of civilization after walking for days on end.

The old man sighed. “Come inside, I have some leftover soup.”

Lazarus was a bit hesitant as he felt like he was imposing but then again, if he could use that to just have a chat with the village chief, maybe he can learn something about the world of Valeria. Any information would be useful since the things he knew from Valeria were just from picture books made for children.

“Alright, thanks.” Lazarus finally replied and so the old man led him inside.

There really wasn’t much inside other than a simple wooden bed in one of the corners, a wooden table and a couple of chairs that creeked when Lazarus sat down.

The old man turned a corner and after a couple of minutes, emerged with a wooden bowl with something steaming from it.

The old man sat across Lazarus and slid the bowl over.

There was a yellow shaped thing inside, a purple circular thing that seemed to resemble eggplants but the interior was red. The soup smelled of boiled water more than anything else.

“It’s boiled vegetable soup.” Said the old man. “Sorry if it’s not much, but the village didn’t really have a good harvest these past months. That damn baron also took half of our yields!”

Lazarus raised a brow. “Why did he take your yield?”

At first the old man looked at Lazarus strangely, then shook his head and said, “Taxes.”

“Huh..? Why’re you being taxed?”

“Well, this land is owned by Baron Letvus, so we have no choice but to pay taxes…”

“O-oh..I see.” Said Lazarus gazing down at his soup and taking a sip. Yep, and just as he expected, it tasted like boiled water with a slight flavor of something bitter. Why didn’t he put any salt in here? For a moment Lazarus contemplated asking, chalked it up to the village being poor.

The old man kept on complaining about the baron about how it was unfair that taxes were raised this year and that they didn’t even have any protection from the soldiers. And Lazarus just nodded along, just waiting for the old man to finish.

After he finished his tasteless soup, Lazarus interrupted the old man and said, “About that job-...”

“Oohhh right. Sorry lad, I got a bit into it. Unfortunately, no one can pay you anything here. You should go to the town of Celes to find a job.”

Lazarus’ eyes twitched. -’Why didn’t he say that from the start?’-

Maybe the old man just wanted someone to talk to. Maybe he was like his former neighbor who talked too much, Mr.Graham. But then again, wasn’t he an A.I too?

…

“Where’s that?” Lazarus asked, trying to focus on the topic.

“It’s a town south of here. You just need to continue along the road and you should arrive at Celes maybe six days on foot.”

“Six days..? On foot?” Lazarus repeated, incredulous.

The old man nodded.

Lazarus let out a long bemoaning sigh. -’Great… more walking.’-

The village chief just frowned at his strange reaction. Six days wasn’t anything too bad by his standards.

“I see, then I better get going.” Lazarus said, standing up. “Thanks a lot.”

“You’re welcome.” Said the old man.

As Lazarus was halfway through the door, he stopped and looked back. “By the way, do you know what an Azalea flower does?”

“Hmm? An Azalea flower..? Well, it can instantly heal any fatal wounds.”

“Is that all?”

“No, I’m sure there’s more but that’s all I know.”

“I see, thanks.”

Lazarus continued outside and looked towards the road.

“It’s gonna be a long walk again…”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun peeked through the valleys, illuminating the dark sky with a faint golden touch. The gust of wind felt like the touch of cold morning dew on the skin.

Walking along a paved path between the vast grasslands was a man with black hair and eyes as blue as the sky wearing a standard military uniform.

The man looked at the dawn sky, and he could still see the faint glow of stars where the sun’s light hadn't reached.

“It looks different.” He muttered. A yearning, filling his heart of the world he once belonged to. While many back home would argue that this dawn sky was more beautiful, Lazarus himself didn’t think so. After all, he was used to the light pollution, and knowing he was surrounded by technology made him feel at ease. He appreciated the flaws of earth as they were a part of its beauty. Maybe he was one of the very few who thought that way.

With a will, a blue screen appeared in-front of Lazarus, displaying the time [“5:23 AM”].

Luckily enough, Valeria’s rotation was fast which made its day and night quite similar to Earth’s.

Lazarus willed the screen to disappear and it squeezed itself together and disappeared.

“Hmm?” It was then that Lazarus heard a soft rattling. He looked behind him, and sure enough there was an old man riding on a wagon that was being towed by a horse from a distance.

Envying his transportation, Lazarus shook his head and continued his walk. Eventually, the wagon passed by him but stopped a few feet away. The old man lifted his straw hat to look at Lazarus who stopped and stared at him cautiously.

“Hello there boy, are you headed to the town of Celes? Want to take a ride with me ? It’s much less tiring than walking.” The old man smiled gently. Upon closer inspection, he looked so much older than the village chief. He barely had any teeth left and was hunched down. His face was riddled with wrinkles and lines, looking to be maybe around 80 years of age.

“It’s alright, I’m quite used to walking. And I don’t want to trouble you.” Lazarus replied and slowly turned his gaze at the contents of the old man’s wagon. It was an assortment of wheat and a couple of fruits and various other leathers.

The old man chuckled, “Sometimes it’s good to relax and you wouldn’t be troubling me if you came, in fact I’d be much happier with someone to talk to.”

Lazarus thought for a moment. Of course he didn’t want to impose, but at the same time there really was no harm in keeping the old man company. It beats walking for days on-end.

“I’ll take you up on your offer then.” Said Lazarus. The old man patted beside him and Lazarus hopped on before the old man whipped the horse forward. The wagon began rattling.

Hours continue to pass by and the old man never said anything.

-’I thought he wanted someone to talk to?’- Lazarus thought to himself, taking a quick glance at the old man.

*grumble* *grumble* Lazarus' stomach rumbled. He forgot to eat. But now that he was near this old man, he didn’t want to materialize some food and startle him. He hoped that the old man didn’t hear it, but unfortunately, he could see the old man rummaging in his sack and took out a piece of bread.

“Hungry? Here, have some boy.” Said the old man with a smile, handing the bread to Lazarus who was making a strange face.

“I-...don’t have any money.” Said Lazarus, making the old man chuckle softly.

“Why, you’ve already paid me haven’t you?”

“What?” Lazarus looked at the old man with furrowed brows, trying to recall when he ever paid him or if this was some sort of cryptic message of some sort.

“You’ve paid me with your time. Accompanying little old me.”

Lazarus felt a strange sensation and was dumbfounded. Kindness was something he’d never expect from anyone from this world as he was prepared to fend for himself so it did shock him to his core.

Realizing he hadn’t responded, he received the bread and said, “Thank you…”

Most of the journey was just a quiet moment between the two and eventually they arrived at the town of Celes.

Unlike Balur village, Celes was packed with houses and establishments. People were walking along bustling in the streets and some people were shouting about their wares and the meat they were selling.

It was quite a lively place.

Lazarus jumped down from the carriage and looked to the old man and said, “Thanks a lot. You really saved me a lot of time there.”

“Think nothing of it boy, till we meet again.” The old man said with a smile before he whipped his horses forward.

Now that he’s here, it was time to find a job.

It was then that Lazarus noticed the many stares of the people passing him by.

He frowned. He really hated standing out. Maybe the first order of business was to buy some ‘normal’ attire that wouldn’t attract too much attention. But where could he find a job?

Lazarus continued to walk around, sometimes attracting the stares of some people. Eventually he noticed a big wooden board with papers nailed on them. People were also gathering around the board and some were talking about ‘how low the pay was for this kind of job’ and so he hurried over.

When he tried to read some of the posts, he frowned. He couldn’t understand some of the words on them.

Lazarus could understand Valerian perfectly, but he couldn’t fully understand its written form. He only had kid’s picture books in the wagon he brought with him to the forest and so it didn’t help that much in that department.

The problem with Valerian was that it was quite similar to japanese where the entire sentence needed to be said to be fully understood.

“Haa-..” Lazarus couldn’t help but sigh. He continued to look around and when he finally understood one of the posts. He decided to take the job. But… “There’s no address?” he noted.

It was then that one of the man in-front of him took out a piece of paper and said, “I’ll be taking this one.” and flipped the paper over. There was some text in it and a hand-drawn map. It was crude but good enough.

-’So that’s how they take jobs here. Just grab a piece of paper and it’s yours.’-

Lazarus did the same, took the paper but never said anything.

After following the crude drawing, he arrived at a 2 story establishment with a wooden board that had the drawing of a book on it, he thought that maybe it could’ve been a library. He double checked the paper and after confirming that it was indeed the right location he knocked on the door.

“My, you needn’t knock and simply enter, this is a library after all!” A voice came from behind the door and then it opened.

There stood a woman with brown hair with a mix of gray strands, wearing a pink dress and had glasses on. She looked to be in her fifties and reminded Lazarus of his strict English teacher.

At first the woman eyed Lazarus’ clothes making him feel a bit uncomfortable as everyone he met always seemed to stop and stare.

“Who are you young man?”

“I’m Lazarus Hargreave, and I’m here for this job.” Lazarus showed her the job post.

“Hmm, then are you sure you’re up for it? Your clothes seem.... peculiar and expensive, are you going to work in that?”

“Yeah it’s fine.” Said Lazarus and the woman urged him inside.

There were several bookshelves that were neatly aligned but…

“Where are all the books?” He asked.

“We had them all dusted and packed so cleaning will be easier here. I was planning to clean by myself since no one seemed to want to take the job but I don’t blame them. The pay isn’t really good after all.” The woman sagged her shoulders. But then she beamed happily. “That is until you came along! I assume you’ll be starting today?”

“ Yeah. ”

“Then I’ll check up on you this afternoon, I’ll pay depending on how much you finish today. We have a well at the back and you can find the mop and broom in that small cabinet.” The woman pointed to the cabinet in the corner. “ If you do a good job I might throw in a little extra. ” she gave him a wink and then left.

-’Hmmm, where should I start....’- Lazarus thought as he looked at the entire floor.

For some reason, the thought of getting paid somehow gave Lazarus a bit of motivation.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People were gathering on the slope that reached towards the Valheim palace. Both sides were filled with people that were kept at bay by knights in armor.

One adventurer, wearing a simple white shirt with leather straps hanging on both of his arms and had a great sword on his back furrowed his brows.

They were supposed to head to the Azure Kingdom but stopped by the Twilight Kingdom on their way. And when they were about to head out with his party, they noticed the people were gathering on the streets and headed for this slope that led to the Valheim Palace.

He tapped the shoulder of one of the bald headed man in-front of him and asked,

“Is something happening here? Why’s everyone gathered around here?”

“Ya mean ya don’t know??”

“Err..no, I’m not from Assail so I’m not very familiar with the events but it feels like you guys are welcoming the King and Queen.”

“Haa? No way! If it were, then ya wouldn’t see a crowd this large!”

Something about the bald headed man’s words made the adventurer scratch his head. “You mean there’s someone more important than the King and Queen of the Twilight Kingdom?”

“Nawh! Not more important, but she definitely is more popular with the people.”

“Who?”

“The Twilight Princess. Ya haven’t heard?”

Seeing the perplexed expression on the adventurer’s face, the bald man’s brow furrowed deeply.

“Yer kiddin me right?”

“Erhm.. Like I said.”

“So ye really dun know nothing huh..? Well, the Twilight Princess is Reisha Valheart. She won the grand magic tournament at seven! Seven! She even beat Prince Genesis Pendragon in a duel, and bested Prince Clovis and Princess Anastasia!”

The adventurer was taken aback. Those feats sounded like things he’d heard of stories. He just kept listening as the bald man continued his praises.

“Did ya know? Princess Reisha also snuffed out many corrupt nobles and so the people were very grateful for her. Even when she was still ten years old, she repelled a group of bandits and saved a village! How’s that for an achievement!? She is the people’s hero!”

“No wonder why she’s so popular.” The adventurer noted. Now he too was looking forward to seeing the ‘Twilight Princess’ for the first time. People with great achievements were always given titles and it was quite rare for someone so young to get one.

Just the thought of seeing this incredible princess somehow made his heart flutter with excitement. Wanting to know more, the adventurer asked,

“So about th–”

The adventurer was cut-short when trumpets were blown. All heads turned the direction.

Knights in full plate of armor marched their way to the castle, the two front most knights were holding the flag of the Twilight Kingdom up high.

“Yeahh!”

“It’s the Twilight Princess!”

“Reisha! Reisha Reisha!”

The crowds erupted into cheers and praises. The adventurer couldn’t help but stick out his neck just to see better.

And at the center of the parading knights was a white horse with the person in question riding elegantly with a ramrod back.

“The Twilight Princess…” Muttered the Adventurer in amazement of her beauty.

The princess wore a white one piece dress with golden linings underneath iron gauntlets, greaves and a chest plate. Though she wore armor, her curves were still visible. Her dark hair flowed down to her waist while her crystal clear emerald green eyes were showing a hint of longing, which made her even more beautiful.

She looked at the people and smiled gently.

The adventurer felt his heart melt. Never had he seen a beauty that would rival those of the picture perfect angels.

He continued to stare at the Twilight Princess and burned her ever so gentle smile in his eyes.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the Valheim Palace along the castle corridors, the Twilight Princess kept glancing around as she turned from corner to corner.

A maid spotted her and approached, “Princess, shouldn’t you be resting? You just came back from Kratos after settling disputes between the nobles and adventurers.”

Reisha stopped and furrowed her brows. “That doesn’t matter right. In any case, do you happen to know where Falon might be?”

“Sir Falon is in his quarters dealing with some paperwork.” Said the maid to which Reisha nodded and left, leaving the maid furrowing her brows.

After going up a flight of stairs and walking along the corridors of the 2nd floor, Reisha stopped when she arrived at a wooden door with a crest of a shield carved in its frame.

She didn’t bother to knock and simply pushed the door open after applying a bit of mana to unlock the door and said,

“Falon! I’ve completed the final tasks. Now it’s your turn to fulfill your end of the bargain.”

For a moment, Falon stared at Reisha eyeing her. Then he sighed. “Yes it seems you have done quite well, you even exceeded my expectations. You truly are a genius amongst genius. However–”

Reisha frowned.

“-You are aware that he might not be alive anymore. Do you still wish to go there?”

Reisha closed her eyes and put a hand to her chest. Then she slowly opened her eyes and with a very gentle and warm expression she said, “Yes. I wish to see him no matter what.”

Falon snickered. “ Very well, but people are still gathered outside. Let us head out during the night. Until then I suggest you rest, you have been through quite a lot, and our journey won’t be a short one. Are you prepared for the consequences when you meet him? Because if he truly is still alive, then he might no longer be the same as you once remembered him or perhaps you would become manaless after contracting his disease.”

“I’ve never cared about such things…” Said Reisha, giving Falon a stern but gentle gaze. “If I have to trade my prowess for a chance to finally meet him, even if it was just for a brief second, then I would gladly do so.”

“I see..” Falon muttered, lowering his gaze. He was disappointed in her. He at least would’ve thought she’d think things through and be more mindful of her responsibilities as the princess and her duties to her people but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“Then, I’ll see you tonight.” Said Reisha, turning and closing the door behind her.

After walking for a bit, a maid saw her and approached.

“Princess, will you be taking a bath? If so, let us assist you.”

“While I do want to take a bath, I would humbly ask that you leave me alone. I wish to think of some things by myself.”

“Understood, you're highness.” The maid politely bowed and asked, “Would you like us to prepare your nightgown?”

“No, prepare my combat attire.”

“As you wish.”

After the maid gave a bow and left, Reisha gazed outside the window and looked to the Palace gardens with a solemn expression.

Her heartbeat hastened and she could feel butterflies in her stomach as the image of a young black haired boy with sky blue eyes appeared in her mind but at the same time, she could feel a tear in her heart.

Reisha leaned in and put a hand on the window and lowered her gaze.

“You never said goodbye…”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------