Slowly, my eyes open, only to discover myself in an unfamiliar setting.
A room that appears to be a lodge of some sort. An antique wooden chair paired with a medium-sized wood table in the corner of the room, the door opposite of it. The sun shining down brightly on my face through the window in perfect proportion with the table and chair. And me, on a painfully uncomfortable wooden bed, filled with wool sheets.
Everything is still a blur.
I sit up and rub my eyes in an attempt to clear my vision.
Reaching into my memories, I try to make sense of what happened. I remember going into an alleyway and eating a piece of bread... And then there was that man.
Yes, that's right. That piece of shit stabbed me in the back. Typical fucking savage, disguising himself in human skin.
Wait a second...
How am I completely fine?
I look down at my chest, opening my shirt to take a peek at my wound. Gone. Not even a scar.
I stretch my arm towards my back, trying to feel for the wound there. I am pretty flexible and have always gotten above-average scores during the school fitness exams.
Nothing there either.
Just what the hell happened?
I try to scour deeper into my mind. I remember.
There was also a woman. Right before I blacked out, there was a woman by my side.
Did she do this?
Just as I was finishing that thought, the door creaked open. A brunette woman walks through, carrying a tray of food. Looks like a wooden bowl filled with some sort of porridge.
"Oh, you're awake! Thank goodness, it worked!" The woman seems genuinely happy about my recovery.
I don't trust it.
"Are you the one who took care of me?" I question, still in disbelief of the miracle that was performed on my body. How could a fatal wound like that be healed? There's only one answer.
"Yes! Although I had to perform some pretty quick healing magic at that alleyway to stop the bleeding."
I crack a little smile.
I knew it.
Of course, there would be magic in this world.
"Just out of curiosity, how did you heal me back there?" I need to know what the requirements are to activate magic in this world. What are the rules, the limits?
The woman holds her left arm with her right hand, gripping it tightly. "You were hurt pretty badly, so I had to give up my arm to save you, since I didn't have a proper catalyst on me."
I take another look at her.
What the fuck is she talking about? She's touching her arm right now.
"Anyways, you must be pretty hungry right now. I have some soup for you to eat, freshly made," she says, handing me the wooden bowl and giving me a heartfelt smile. Our fingers touch for a brief moment during the exchange. They were soft and delicate.
"Thank you very much," I respond with a grateful face.
I don't trust this tramp. She has to have an ulterior motive. Who just "sacrifices" their "arm" for a stranger? Why did she bother to nurse me back to health? There must be something behind it.
I try to make my suspicions as imperceptible as I can. There are other things that I would like to know as well. This woman could potentially be my insight into this mysterious new world.
"How long was I sleeping for?" I start off slowly so as not to arouse the notion that I'm not from this place.
"About an hour."
This woman is already feeding me lies. One fucking hour to heal my life-threatening wounds? I was right about this witch, I'm not even going to bother questioning her.
But hold on just a second.
It's not entirely impossible. This is a world where magic exists, and there are different races as well, not to mention that I was transported here. Everything that I thought of as common sense is nothing more than rubbish now. The laws of science and physics have no meaning here. It's like my entire perspective of how the world functions was flipped on its axis.
I decide to hear her out. Besides, she doesn't seem to be lying to me, she's kept eye contact with me this entire time, and hasn't shown any symptoms of dishonesty, such as fiddling in some sort of way, or changing her pattern of breathing.
She really is telling the truth.
I continue the conversation in a generous tone. "How did I get here? No offense, but you don't look strong enough to carry me here by yourself." I analyze her body up and down. She has a slim waist with a robust upper body and lean thighs. Covered in a brown wool dress that is a bit roughed up, and although she was wearing that foul dress, her visual appeal had still not diminished.
"I got some of my brothers to help carry you here. It was a bit of a challenge," she responds sweetly in a tender voice, scratching her head.
That clears how I got here, but it doesn't explain how this magic works. What does she mean by "catalyst"? What's all this about "giving" up her arm to save me?
"Enough with the questions for now," she says while gazing beautifully out the window. She turns to me with a smile bright enough to light any man's youthful heart up with a fiery passion. "We should introduce ourselves first. I don't even know your name yet, and I've already saved your life."
I stare at my bowl of porridge.
Should I give my real name? My suspicions of this woman still have not cleared up at all. To go along with that, I don't know the rules of the magic system in this world. There could potentially be an incantation or a spell that binds me to her, or just overall negatively affects me, if she knows my name.
I decided to go with the latter.
"My name is Col. Once again, I thank you very much for saving my life," I respond in a polite manner, bowing my head.
She turns to once again look outside the window.
"My name's Alice!" her face lights up with joy. "It's nice to meet you, Col!"
So fake.
"Not at all! The pleasure is all mine."
We conversed for a bit, making small talk, and it ultimately ended with me asking a question.
"Say, Alice, is there a library somewhere nearby, or someplace where I could access books?"
I need information. My experience talking with Alice has led me to believe that I don't know anything about this world. How does the government work? Are there more kingdoms? What is the social hierarchy?
She ends up telling me that she has an abundance of books in another room that were originally her father's and that she would be more than happy to let me access them.
I thank her, and she leaves the room.
That's exactly what I needed to hear. That's even better than what I had hoped. If there were a library, there would be no telling if I needed money to even gain access to the books, and I don't have money to rent nor purchase any of them.
I quickly devour my porridge and get up from the bed.
Amazing, I truly am completely healed.
I open the door to be met with a small corridor. Three doors right next to each other that appear to be the same-sized rooms as the one that I was just in. I open the first door closest to me.
A pitch black room with absolutely no light, that it seems as if this room went on infinitely.
I open the door a bit more, exposing light into this darkness of a room.
A small wooden table was in the center, with multiple chairs knocked over across the room. Dust in the air so strong that it makes me sneeze a numerous amount of times.
Definitely not this room.
I close the door and open the next one.
A window sat on the far side of the room. Multiple shelves scattered throughout the walls. Books covering them all, it seemed as if there was no end to it.
This is it.
Since I'm actually able to read in this world, this makes things much less painful, and the best way to access information has always been books, which are timeless.
I scanned the shelves and went down my list of things that I need to prioritize getting information on first.
I looked up and grabbed a book that piqued my interest and gave the impression that it would answer all my questions. This was the one.
I dust off the cover and sit down with my back against the bookshelf.
Taking my hand on the cover, I start to turn to the first page...