"Huff! Huff!"
The golden hour of the setting sun gave a fading warmth on Otto's face. His legs were numb and his lungs tightened.
The front door then opened to reveal Master Gerav in casual attire instead of his usual priest robe. "You're back. Heh, not bad for the first day, young man."
What happened to the kind priest attitude? Otto's lip twitched before sighing out and walking past the door.
…
It was a rather peaceful night. Otto studied Yirtam with Gerav and learned about a few facts of the world he's in. He vividly remembered what the priest had taught him.
It was a chilly midnight. The crescent moon cast its light onto the earth—barely lighting up the forest in the distance. Otto looked around his vicinity—he was currently sitting in a change room which Gerav had prepared for him while he was running around the town.
In the top right corner of the room from the door stood a single bed with a green sheet. Beside it was a table and a chair accompanied by a window in front. He glanced at a map below him at the table.
The map showed continents with countries either big or small together with the uncharted sea of the northwest. One of the continents was situated on the lower left of the map. On the right middle side of the continent stood a town that was connected to a river—Venim.
His finger lingered on that tiny mark on an enormous world.
That was not all; the world has divided into two major continents—one on the lower left and one on the upper right—alongside a big island positioned below the upper right continent.
This was his reality now. A world where magic was commonly implemented, together with mysteries and tragedies buried under the land waiting for someone to discover and acknowledge its existence—Valeria.
Beside the map was the storybook Ryatt the merchant had given him right after coming to Venim.
He was able to decipher a few words thanks to Gerav's lessons. As a result, he could now read the first page of the book.
'Once upon a time, there lived five great saviours that descended from Mount Gtoja.'
Mount Gtoja was the tallest mountain ever located in southern Iderila, the nation that Otto was currently in.
'They all went to the land of tranquillity for one same reason: to defeat one of the greatest disasters Valeria had ever faced.'
Below the text revealed a crude sketch of five figures holding different weapons between one another.
As soon as Otto turned to the next page, the text had become gibberish at that point.
'### was called the ##### and it ##### with ####'
Otto sighed in disappointment. He really was looking forward to what that calamity was. But then he was reminded that it was just a fairy tale. He soon steadied himself and clenched his fist with fiery eyes.
I've already made some progress today. Just a little bit of patience, and I will be able to cross the first step into going home. He nodded in enlightenment.
He stared outside the window and turned his gaze onto the town. The breeze was chilling cold, yet the town's lighting gave a warm atmosphere. The sound of crickets chirping and owls hooting filled the silence of the night.
It was indeed a beautiful scenery where one can have a cozy camp while still sitting outside to admire such a view.
Otto closed the curtains and turned the wick of the oil lamp until the fire went out before going straight to hit the sack.
…
Two weeks had passed since Otto trained under Gerav's watch.
The sun was at an all-time high, heating the stone roads of Venim. In the distance, a figure could be seen trotting on an empty street.
His lungs were burning, and his heart was beating profusely. However, he kept his composure and strode forward.
From afar, he saw a market with its door wide open and hurriedly entered. "Good afternoon, Miss Helia."
"My, if it isn't Gerav's kid." A middle-aged woman with an apron was busy watering the plant and took a glance at Otto. "Have you gotten bigger?"
This body can also accelerate my muscle's growth, it seems. Otto didn't reply and took two loaves of bread and handed her eight copper coins. "I'll be going now."
Helia waved from afar right after Otto put the breads in a bag. He then continued to pick up his pace and jogged away. His running form was a lot more refined, and his breathing had become steadier compared to him two weeks ago.
Many passersby were greeting him on the way, and he waved back at them with simple pleasantries.
He turned left at the end of the street and navigated his way to the southern gate later on. However, things were off. He heard a commotion in an alley and halted his pace.
He placed his palm behind his left ear to pay attention to the direction of the sound.
"Help me! Help…!"
Shivers went down his spine as he tried to calm his heart's racing pulse. He immediately turned his gaze towards the source of that plea. His stomach tightened. He could've walked away since this was not his world.
He hesitated before eventually spurted straight into the alley and abandoned his bread bag against the wall.
The dark and cramped alley accompanied by the fleeing rats entered his vision. In the background, a male figure can be seen holding down a woman by the hair. Her clothes were ripped off from her with a couple bruises on her body.
Every scream of 'Stop!' or 'Help!' was eventually muffled by the man's assault.
"Stop struggling."
He let out a malignant smile as his eyes were full of lust. He decided to grab her ragged skirt and pulled it hard. The woman let out tears as she was unable to produce a scream anymore since her throat seemed to give away; only dry rattles sounded out.
"Puh-waak!"
Before the man could rip apart the skirt, he was thrown away into the pile of wooden waste.
She was stunned by what just happened before a pair of legs got in her view.
"Can you stand up?" The owner of those legs still kept his focus on the thug.
The woman stood up and thanked him in a broken voice before fleeing right away. Otto finally looked behind him and sighed in relief. Alright, now I just have to deal with this guy.
The thug rose to his feet and dusted off his shirt. "Che, so much for a wh*re... Wait a minute, heh, you're that old geezer's kid."
Otto remained vigilant. "You know him?"
"Everybody knows that geezer. Even my cousin from Riela's heard of him."
Riela was a city and the main provincial capital that Venim was currently under. Although the term 'province' was rarely used except for the Nox church's members—including Master Gerav.
The thug let out a smirk as he pulled out a pocket knife and aimed it at Otto. The former then dashed towards the latter with full speed ahead.
Otto barely dodged the attack as he quickly struck the thug's abdomen with his knee and snatched the pocket knife and threw it far away into the deep dark of the alley.
The thug was forced to retreat back before he spat on the ground. With a sharp exhale, he bladed his shoulders, tucking his chin behind his forearms like a soldier behind a shield.
Otto examined the opponent first before surging forward like a predator to strike on the left. But at that moment, the thug grabbed his left forearm before he could even touch him. Otto took that as an opening and twisted his upper body to strike the exposed right shoulder.
However, the thug reacted in time and blocked the incoming strike. Now, both of their arms were occupied with one another. Nevertheless, Otto twisted his left arm to break out and gave him an uppercut.
'Puh-week!"
A tooth fell out of the thug's mouth as his vision grew blurry. Both of them continued to clash head-on until they ran out of stamina to continue.
Thud!
Before long, the thug's consciousness faded away before finally collapsing to the ground. His clothes were all ragged up with bruises all over his body, even more gruesome compared to the woman he assaulted a little while ago.
As the fight came to an end, Otto finally dropped down his tension as he kneeled and panted heavily on the ground. His hands shook uncontrollably and his heart beat rapidly from the constant adrenaline.
Did I go too far? He looked over to the unconscious man.
From the beginning, he never wanted to fight this man head on. But after hearing that this person knows so much about his mentor, that made his heart grow uneasy towards that old man's safety, that was enough reason to shut him up.
He stood up and wiped off the blood from his lip. All beaten up with tattered clothes, it was time to head back for dinner. He can barely stabilise himself since his left leg gave off an excruciating pain from every step he took.
Just as he was about to walk away, sounds heavy footsteps grew closer from behind.
Otto turned around impulsively, and his heart was beating out of his chest like a drum.
The thug reached for the knife on the ground—the one Otto threw away—and lunged at Otto with a burst of speed!