''What does that even mean?''
Alice translates for Theo, adding some explanations too. ''So, those two guys are gonna do some sort of fight over who becomes the next chief?''
"Which one is Navi?"
Alice points at the field, "the blonde one."
Theo wraps his face with his fingers. "They're both blonde and you pointed at the center of the field…"
"Errr… then the one with brown eyes?"
"... Just point again, but properly."
Like, both of them are blonde and they both have brown eyes, I almost laughed my ass off!
But Alice does point properly this time – "I probably should've mentioned their clothing or something instead. Navi is taller than Rimodar, and he's got shorts on, tee-hee~"
But Theo doesn't really listen, or look, as while she's doing that he is devouring some food and drink.
Alice slaps Theo on the back. "Are you even listening?!"
"gulp Why yes of course, Navi is the taller one, he's on the left there, at least from my perspective."
"No, Rimodar is the taller one, dummy!"
What? I swear I kinda heard her say Navi is the taller one… "They haven't even started fighting…"
Alice thinks of something else though – 'Why didn't he answer me?!'
I wanted to make fun of him…
"Oh also, you definitely said Navi is the taller one, but whatever."
Yes!!!
Alice giggles and slaps him on the back again, "I'm just joking with you. You actually listened, tee-hee~!"
You know, not gonna lie, that does kinda hurt. Still, why is she so much more eccentric today compared to yesterday? Not like I mind… ''But, again, why haven't they started fighting or something yet?''
Alice too puts on a curious face, ''I'll go ask the announcer, I'm guessing there's some sort of problem.''
Well yeah, if the match hasn't started, it probably means there is a problem…
Though Alice quickly comes back with an excited face. ''Remember how my parents are in the capital? My dad has been the chief for the past 57 cycles!''
If a cycle is a month, then her dad has been the chief for… 4.75 years?!.. ''I see…''
Now putting on a mischievous face, Alice continues. ''But since my parents don't know the rain ended so quickly, my dad is missing from this month's event…''
How many matches are there anyways?
''So they've only got 7 people…''
Oh alright so we'll be waiting for the 8th person so there's 4 matches then 2 bla bla bla…
''So I signed you up!''
''You did fucking WHAT?!''
''You'll be going against… Jaro!''
Disappointed in Alice, all Theo asks is where Jaro is. ''So he's the last guy on the bench on the right, are they all participants?'' – ''Also, did they just have no problem with a stranger participating?''
Alice laughs with glee. ''Tee-hee~''
Not even answering me, alright I guess.
Theo soon finds himself immersed in the match though, while Alice explains how it works.
''It's much less of a knights duel, and more of a.. funny contest?''
Theo looks truly peculiarly at the stage, ''so they hold each other by the forearm and they-''
''Yes, they spin in a circle, and the one who makes the other fall and move as many grains as possible wins!''
So that's why there's all those seeds! Regardless, that means it's… luck? technique based? I don't know, it looks really funny and fun to do though. Though this Jaro guy looks like he's 190 centimeters while being a solid 100 kilograms… What weight and length unit does this world use anyways?
''When does the match end anyways? They've unironically just been spinning, no one has thrown the other yet..''
Alice smirks. ''Oh you'll see, in fact, this is one of Rimod-''
''HYAHHH!!!-''
In that moment, Rimodar, with a sudden arm movement, manages to throw Navi into the ground, scraping the slightly muddy soil with seeds on top onto the edge of the circle.
Navi raises his hands and smiles – ''Mavarhorp!''
So the crowd erupts in disappointment. "Like always…" says Alice with a curious look on her face – "I wonder why he even does that…"
"Does what?"
''He said that he's forfeiting."
Following that, Alice says another interesting fact – "He does this every single time actually, always forfeiting after just one throw-down."
I mean, I would too in all honesty. "Something wrong with that?"
Alice smiles. "No, I'm just curious why tee-hee~!"
''Uh-huh…''
But soon enough, the second match starts and ends, and so does the third. Theo views various styles of 'fighting' this way, and comes up with his own strategy for his soon to come match.
Confidently, Theo starts talking. ''Alice, I think I've got my strategy down.''
''Yeah? What is it?''
At the moment Theo starts explaining, Alice can't help but wonder – "Are you even planning to win?"
Alice expected Theo to answer seriously, and Theo thought the same thing, 'therefore it is obvious I will not be doing that.' – ''So how do you say dance in your language?''
''what? Regardless, it's 'dance'.''
''...''
Alice quickly realizes though, ''Cenat ot ej nimorp aha.''
''Uhh… nimorp?''
''Cenat.''
''I see.''
''Yeah the word for dance is 'dance' tee-hee~''
'Looks like her translation spell sure works interestingly.' However, Theo was called to the circle – 'Wait, why did I even ask for the translation? They've all got those earrings.'
Walking into the circle though, Theo quickly realizes the true glory of Jaro's physique. 'Who the fuck is this guy supposed to be? a roman gladiator?'
Jaro smirks with a truly glorious expression on his face, absolutely sure he is gonna win. Getting such looks is not what Theo expected, but he has his own plans.
As they interlock arms, the announcer starts counting down, however the crowd seems to believe the fate of this match is already set in stone.
''Irt!''
''cough cough''
''Avd!''
''Up for a.. cenat?''
''Andej!"
thud
The moment the ornamental wooden log dropped… Both Jaro and Theo stood in place, gripping each other's forearms – but it was time to start spinning, and that starts with Jaro.
Tightening his grip, the veins of his arm were clearly visible, and so were Theo's.
However Jaro starts violently walking sideways, with no time to focus on the smaller details.
Theo follows, going the other way to fully begin the spin.
They could see each other face to face, awaiting each other's attack.
But after a short wait, Theo feels his grip getting weaker, considering the thickness of Jaro's forearm – therefore it was time to begin an attack.
"Never heard of any rules disabling me from being a bit outrageous.."
'You know, that's probably because I don't understand the language.'
Theo, using his other hand, pulls Jaro by the waist to him, flabbergasting him. "Ezoc?!"
Using one of his legs to then hook one of Jaro's, sweeping him to the ground.
Jaro, with his obviously stronger grip, pulls Theo to the ground with him – "But you took the most grains with you."
''Tshk…'' Chests touching, Jaro pushes Theo away.
''Ecinsev otyt z sesjen ina…''
As they both stand up, the sun can't help but glint off of the little sweat they have on them. ''Round two?''
Since neither have yet forfeited, it was time to get in position. The second round begins with the drop of the ornamental log again, but with no countdown. Improving his grip technique, once they started spinning, Theo was confident in putting Jaro to the ground again.
'Do I just… repeat what I did? Actually, I'd expect him to adapt…'
'Still, being all eccentric and outrageous or whatever is probably the best (and funniest) strategy.'
With good grip, Theo starts speeding up. Jaro being bigger doesn't necessarily mean being more agile. 'He's honestly still handling this larger speed quite fine, in fact, what if he attacks first?!' – 'But if you think about it, there's no rules against quickly changing direction.. right?'
At this speed, Theo changed direction and kept up the spinning, entirely ignoring Jaro's futile attempt at adaptation to this predicament. 'What if I just kick him in the waist.. no rules against that too I believe?'
Not exactly a martial artist, Theo sloppily performs a kick to the waist, which does cause Jaro to fall. 'Oh fuck isnt this a competition of who makes the other like move the most grain seeds? Well that was useless…'
''Round.. three?''
Jaro stands up immediately, with a rather frustrated look on his face. ''Libed otnet…'' – ''Ujibaz et!''
'Oh he's gripping me real tight now…'
Jaro maybe accepted he needs to change his tactics, whether there were any in the first place. ''Jaro, have you thought of just dancing? or something like that…''
They're spinning, and the crowd always makes various sounds, whether it's small talks, bets, gasps, or similar reactions. Jaro can't hear Theo.
Theo is a bit disappointed. ''Meh…''
'I expected a bit more.' – 'It's pretty fun though.' Theo puts his other hand on Jaro's forearm too, 'this isn't like not allowed right?' and, with a bit of help from momentum, he releases. Jaro falls. 'That worked…?'
Jaro lays there. ''Es mavadzv…''
This time, the announcer throws the ornamental log into the air. ''End of the… match?''
Alice stares at Theo with a terrified look. 'Is she signaling to run?'
thud
At that moment, a few large men from the back of the crowd started approaching a confused Theo, with Alice's terrified look only intensifying.
[ Run you fucking IDIOT! ] – 'What the hell was that?!'
[ Towards my house! ] – 'Actually, it sounds like Alice…'
Theo ran, breaking through the crowd, the men following. Being an intelligent man, Theo doesnt forget to run in the weirdest fucking way possible to confuse them. Whether it was hiding behind various houses, or forms of nature, and even indifferent pedestrians.
Taking a loop for good measure, Theo loses them, and does arrive at Alice's home.
''Johaaa!''
Oh, right, her little brother exists. He's still playing with my slime… wait, why is it bigger now?
Theo smiles. ''Hey big guy!''
Alice's little brother smiles back. ''Alenka ej edk?''
What is he saying? I wonder. Alice doesn't seem to be back… was that 'communication' earlier some type of spell?
The door opens, with a heavily breathing Alice at it. Her dress was slightly muddy on the bottom from running through the wet village, but she still held a smile on her face.
''What even was that earlier?''
Alice puts on a grimace. "... uhh…"
"Maybe I should've told you about the 'unspoken but totally should follow' rules…? tee-hee~..?"
Theo holds his laughter in. ''I honestly probably like don't give a shit really..''
[ In front of him? Really? ]
''I doubt this little guy gives a… either. didn't you swear like yesterday regardless..?''
Alice looked at the sweet summer child brightly looking up at her. ''Whatever I guess…''
Theo sat down at the table. ''So, again… what was that about earlier?''
''The guys chasing you or the messages inside your head?''
''Both, by the way, didn't like, the entire village see me with you? How are you dealing with that?''
Alice too sat down at the table. ''I don't know! tee-hee~''
There was no way to express the irony in the room, all Theo could do was revel in the fact he is probably done for.
''Whatever, explain now.''
''It's magi-''
''Of fucking course it is.'' – ''What about the uh-''
''Some like cultural rules or whate-''
''Right.''
Theo stood up, and tiredly climbed the ladder to the bed he slept in. "I'll just stay here until they don't care about me anymore… would you happen to have a thing called a 'notebook' and 'pen' though?"
''Maybe… if you wait a few days?''
''Uh.. huh? Oh well bring some food and water too…"
Alice couldn't see Theo, only hear him, but she knew his quests for her were outrageous, and that he's probably laughing up there. ''pfft There's both food and water in the cellar.''
''There's food and water fucking WHERE?! all this time we had food and water?''
"tee-hee~"
She swiftly recovers from her skirmishing though, and presents herself at the door with her little brother. "Well I have to go do something, just don't go outside I'm sure you'll survive."
Huh? She's completely fine going outside? I guess she is a 'magician' to be fair…
"Bye bye then…"
When Alice leaves, there's an obvious thought wondered by Theo. 'But where is the cellar like that's the real question'
How polite is it to snoop around someone's home in this world? Regardless, I still have this bag of random flowers and plants and whatever… and the slimes down there I guess.
My old clothes… old as in like a day, but they still feel nostalgic. It's like seeing the aquapark
go by while in a car as a kid even though you were there like a fucking hour ago… I can't say I'd wear this bullshit again though.
I'll go down and see where this cellar is… I'm not really used to not eating like something random basically every hour..
Climbing down, Theo looks all over the place looking for an entrance to the cellar. 'This home sure is intricately designed… very annoying that's for sure.'
You know, this home, at least on the inside, feels quite odd for a village like this… I truly wonder who their parents are…
Theo comes across a library in one of the room's corners. 'Didn't Alice say only she can read, I mean how did they get all these books anyways?'
These titles… I can't read them at all. It's a foreign language, obviously.
Theo randomly pulled books from the library and looked through them, seeing whether any had images in them. 'There totally are images, can't say I'm good at… interpreting them though…'
These images are questionable to say the least. Wouldn't they be capable of drawing better with magic? Still, maybe I should secretly steal one of these…
Theo finds an interesting looking spine of a red book, so interesting that he attempts to pull it out.
click
"No fucking wayyy…"
I mean the book didn't pull out, but did I hear that right? a click? The book is also pulled out halfway, I mean this has to be some lever for something right… Wait, how did they even make such a mechanism?..
Theo tries to move the bookshelf in various ways, but nothing happens. It's stuck in place. Theo knew the click had enabled or unlocked something, so he kept searching around the room, however, in the end, he still ended up at the bookshelf.
Fuckass red book…
As a joke, Theo set his hands on top of the bookshelf, as a way to relax.
''Auh huh?''
Why is it going down? ''I needed to push this shit down of all things? Wouldn't the book block its way down anyways?''
Theo now pushes it intentionally into the ground, revealing a space beneath.
No fucking way this is the cellar…
Somehow getting himself down into the cellar, Theo finds many things. ''Food… and random ass trinkets on the same shelves."
He also discovers the proposed 'water' they drank, within a well type structure, but with water going into it from the top, through some type of canal. "Pretty sure if I drink from this I'll get like 4 or 5 different diseases."
You know at least the food here looks pretty good, they've even got a bag of ground up powder from whatever grain they farm here, though I don't believe I can utilize that.
Where did they get meat from though, when they don't have any animals… it's all cured though, in salt probably. So what am I supposed to eat?
… Did she assume I own a knife? Yeah no no that does make sense. Whatever.
Theo looks around. One of the trinkets is a rusty knife. "Do I…"
"I mean…"
With a rather small amount of hesitation, Theo cuts a piece of meat from the large block of cured 'ham'.
A little sprinkle of iron oxide never hurt anybody. I wonder if there's any bread or something like that I can eat with this…
This house is weird as fuck man.
Theo climbs back up to the ground level, pulling the bookshelf back up with him. "I don't need to know how it works."
Oh, I forgot to take any water.. Should I have even gotten any? Probably not.
Theo went back to his place, rather annoyed with a piece of flesh in his hands. ''I'm definitely not biting the outside but how do I…''
I'll fold it in half and bite it from the middle.
…
This tastes fucking ASS!!
He throws the ham missing its middle out of the window. It soared through the skies, an angel of flesh. Unbeknownst to Theo, it hit a singular flower in a crop field. It died.
I do have this bag of random flowers and fruits and whatnot… I'm not sure if I want to risk eating the fruit raw. Or any of the flowers, though I doubt they have any significant nutritional value…
I want to drink some water to get rid of this taste.
Theo looked at the ceiling in his little corner of the house. ''I still haven't got to use any magic. Fireball anyone?''
I wonder what really is in this capital she spoke of. There's a king ruling or something like that right? Wooden earrings, from the kingdom…
…Am I gonna be a peasant?
Orr or I pretend to be a noble from a far off land with my full made up name. Though that name is really shitty now that I think about it, like, 'De Deus'. Sounds horrendous. Should I change it? Not like I've said it to anyone yet but myself.
Theodore Theodore Theodore what… hmm…
Whatever I can't think of anything when the time comes I'll solve it then.
Soon after saying that, even with the sun outside, Theo fell into deep sleep.
Alice stood with her little brother at the edge of the forest, where the river layed. She came up to the edge of it, and filled her hands with water.
"J-jip!" She said to the boy. She had a teary face, but also an odd expression of disgust. He vigorously drank the water from her hands, with a blank expression himself.
It was now time to return home.
The little brother was cheerful again on the way back, telling Alice about his various adventures in the village.
Alice was relieved.
knock knock knock. The sun was setting, and the two had arrived at their home. "Amod ej?"
Assuming Theo was sleeping, she simply came in. The house was quiet. "Epiyyyyyyy!"
The little brother ran to his room, to his bed, where he slept. At that moment Alice fell to her knees and elbows.
Bleurgh-Cough-COUGH
She had thrown up. She still came to her little brother's room first though, to say goodnight to him and close the room door. There wasn't time for cleaning right now.
What the fuck was that?
I'm not even gonna ask. I'd rather not know.
…
She cleaned it up now. At least that's what I heard.
…
hik-.. hik.
The sun fell, and then it rose yet again. The grains outside were basking in the morning light, and the skies were free of clouds, so it was time to begin the second round of fighting.
Wait, but didn't I get kicked out? "Hey Alice, I technically won against Jaro. Do I have to fight again today?"
I mean, there's no way right.
"Probably."
''What?! Doesn't everyone hate me?''
''Just lose and you'll be fine.''
Theo went down from the slightly dusty place he slept in. Alice looked at him. ''Going somewhere?''
If he is, I should probably give him my earring in case he meets any neighbours, or something like that… is he actually trying to get out of the fight?
"Don't worry about it."
Whatever I guess..
Alice hands Theo her earring, and he ventures outside looking for a place to lay down.
"Eeny meeny miny moe…"
"My spots gonna be in th… I can't rhyme for shit, what am I trying to even do?"
Oh, right, I should put on the earring. How? Like this?
The earring doesn't connect to the ears via a needle, instead it simply connects to the ear lobe.
"Magical things in a magical world, yeah adds up."
"... Lots of laying down these days, maybe I should sit instead for a change?"
Theo sat on the ground covered by grain crops. ''Itchy ass grains.'' The wind also blew right into his face, getting particles into his eyes one by one. ''Wow. It's like, telling me to give up basically.'' At least the sun, covered by clouds at the moment, wasn't a hindrance to Theo's eyes.
I forgot, what did I want to do out here? Was it just chilling? Pondering? I still wonder what my goal is in this world. Not like I can just decide that right now..
It's like when my parents said "What job do you want to do?" When I was 13. I mean, I don't know. Is it really possible to know? Who knows.
That sounded really stupid. Maybe I should ret-
"ARGHH"
'haaaha-haaaha'
bambambambam
'haaaha-haaaha'
bambambambam
'haaaha-haaaha'
bambambambam
Flashes of red-d or blue or- "ARGHH"
It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hur- "Haaaa-haaaa"
There's red on my hand.. from my nosee?. .. eug h.. thud.
…
"Howdy partner.. reckon those varmints are ready?'' Said the first cowboy, eyes filled with determination. The second, buckling his shoes, asked a question before they began. ''Are the elytra ready?'' – A slight smirk appeared on the first cowboys face. ''You bet they are. Ya know how much scratch we spent on upgrading these bad boys?'' The second cowboy stood up.
''Tell me then. What did you prop them up with? Shit, we even sold our hats. No mean feelings meant-, of course. Ain't no engineer.''
''Well then, you better ready your horses. Cuz we aint using them this time, that's for sure. Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Whatever.''
The first cowboy opens a large door revealing two fine elytra, hanged like they're the new rich boy business. ''Now, first I had to hire some pristine artisans to handle those big boys. I can't say I wasn't scared bout them, but you know my contacts in the east are the best of the best. I mean, we got the elytra there anyways, correct? Didn't know I'd step into big ol' bug land when we came there for the first t-''
''Get to the point.''
''Right, right, of course. As you can see, the artisans did a fantastic job – this is fully usable as a gliding tool or simple back protection already. But of course, you can easily see that is not all.''
''Is that…''
''Ya bet it is, almost two thirds of our scratch went into these upgrades. First, we got fuel tanks holdin a bucketload of some of that 'special sauce', whatever that meant. I think the better part is what it's used for.''
''Its those booster isn-''
''Yeah we've got rocket boosters, now I had my doubts when I had these installed for us but let's say I removed them for a sec and put them on a bull you know tried out some stuff…''
''He no longer has horns. Neither do I have my left canine, doubt you noticed though!''
''So yeah, they work. Got some of that magical energy truly, and don't worry - I used my boosters, not yours, so if someone's crashin, it's gonna be me.''
Hearing some fantastic news, the second cowboy goes and tries out his new elytra. ''Snug as a bug… quite literally.''
''I like this.. a lot. Oh this is gonna be perfect.. we might've sold our hats, but at least we got the cattle. n' they sure don't.''
''Time to steal some hats, isn't it?''
Before he let the second cowboy get out of the storage, the first pulled out a premium leather case from behind his elytra – "The artisans also made something special for us (me) from the chipped pieces of the elytra."
He opens the case, revealing two golden revolvers, along two secondary packages under each one. ''What are those for?'' Curiously asked the second – "You know how we had that bag with some random bullshit and doohickeys? They turned that into these. Zero fucking idea what these do, but they did say 'use only in dire circumstances', or something like that."
"Regardless, your task was to survey the camp. How did it go?"
"You know, before the elytra we honestly would've been in dire straits. It's more of a fortress than a simple cam-"
''You know, how many people will we have to kill?''
"At worst or at best?"
"At worst."
The second cowboy sighed. "Everyone."
"..."
''Whatever.'' The first sighed, dreadful look in his eyes. ''Tell me the entire plan on the way?''
''Sure.''