“Are you okay?”
“I’m doing better.”
I smiled while watching the auction stage. The auctioneer was almost done giving his opening speech, dropping sly hints about the most valuable items to come.
Since Umara was next to me while Patriarch Tavera gave his encouraging words, she had caught the gist of the situation.
Of course, since the topic had been brought up, my mind drifted to darker places and it ended up dampening my mood, despite the Patriarch’s reassuring words.
I suppose Umara noticed, and so she started to comfort me in her own way.
“The man you killed was a slave trader?”
“Yea.”
“Sometimes I forget those kinds of people even exist. Most people can’t even conceive of the concept.”
“What’s the Kingdom’s history with slave trading?”
I suddenly asked, wondering if it was anything like what I had known on Earth.
Umara gazed off into the distance in thought.
“Before, it was Magi who enslaved the ordinary. In the early days of the Kingdom, there were several major territories that, although united, generally didn’t consider themselves a single entity. And the ruling Duke of those territories would own quite literally everything underneath him. You could say there were entire kingdoms enslaved to their king.”
I supposed it was quite like the feudalism of medieval Europe.
“Wow. And what stopped that?”
“Well, for one, the pressure of the Scourge. This was centuries ago, and the Kingdom was forced to grow as they and the Scourge began to recognize each other as foes and do battle. However, what gave the ordinary people true freedom was the Church.”
“The Church, huh?”
My brows raised as she nodded.
“They led the charge for the abolition of all slavery and slave trading. At first, when the Kingdom first united under threat of the Scourge, they pushed for their most powerful man, the Founding King Abadeiah, to take the throne. And he didn’t like being pressured by the Church, which, while a part of the Kingdom, was a separate governing entity. So he brought together all the Dukes and declared war on the Church in an attempt to fight for complete sovereignty.”
“And how did that end?”
“Not very good, because the Church’s Paladins came in and killed him the day after he declared war.”
“...”
I was shocked, not thinking the Church had the balls to do something like that, let alone the strength. They made it seem like the Kingdom never really had any power at all.
Umara continued.
“Anyway, the entire conflict ended in just a few days and the abolition of slavery as a whole was written into law. This included servitude of any kind, because later on when old slavers tried to enslave through debt, it led the entire Kingdom into such a bad economic depression that the Church once again came in and outlawed things like interest on loans and certain banking practices which had led to the problem in the first place.”
“Interesting.”
“I never really understood the financial side of it, but that was around 170 years ago, and we’re more prosperous now than ever before, so it apparently worked.”
“Apparently.”
I reclined in my chair, thinking about the curious history of this Kingdom.
It seemed like the Church played a major part in its development. They were more of a behemoth than I realized, even though I never heard much about them in my daily life.
Still, it was the dominant, perhaps the only real religion that all of humanity followed in this world. It was no wonder that they wielded vast power rivaling the entire Kingdom.
The more interesting point though was how they didn’t actually take the Kingdom for themselves. I was sure that they installed their own people into positions of political power, but the King was still separate from the Church, at least on paper.
Like the father of a bunch of unruly children who didn’t know better, they came in and whipped them into shape whenever they got out of hand. From everything I've seen, it’s led to vast prosperity across the board, but then again, I didn’t have any experience outside of major cities.
Nonetheless, the monuments were massive and the roads were clean. Gold flowed like a river and food was plentiful.
Sure, this Kingdom probably didn’t have much of a middle class. There were the rich and the poor, with the poor composing the majority. But that was more so due to the lack of skilled labor, or what I would know as some blue and white collar jobs.
There was no industrial revolution, so most people still lived outside the city, probably farming. Or they were in the military fighting.
There wasn’t much helping that. People needed food and water, and a lot of it, so most effort was devoted toward that since there wasn’t any machinery to multiply it. Anybody else was either doing manual labor in something like a mine, or they got lucky enough to become a Magus and enter the skilled labor fields under magic, comprising an extremely small middle class.
It also didn’t help that the nobility was the most powerful group of Magi, giving them rich control over both the economy and the magic sector.
I was able to benefit from the small amount of developed technology there was in the heart of humanity’s only Kingdom. My experience was by no means representative of the majority.
Short of starting an industrial revolution, there was little I could do to help any of that.
All these thoughts pulled my mind away from the dark topics of human trafficking. I had never properly learned about any of this world’s history and found it rather interesting.
Eventually though, the topic shifted to the auction before us.
The beginnings of these auctions were always slow, but the items shown were still interesting. Most of them were trinkets good for nothing other than their obscurity or rarity.
For the first hour, everything was kept under 100 thousand. Each item appeared on a huge screen behind the auctioneer, making sure that everyone could see the item clearly regardless of distance.
“The pelt of an Authority 5 Unique Eagle Beast! Hunted near the frontlines, this extraordinary piece of leather still maintains its inherent fire enchantments! Bidding starts at 40 thousand!”
“The skull of a Colossal Needle Bird! These extraordinary creatures have the longest beaks in the world, and to date, this is the longest one ever hunted! At 12 feet long, it’ll assuredly be a prized part of any hunter’s collection! Bidding starts at 50 thousand!”
“A mysterious blade from a distant land! Its curved body contains no enchantments and indecipherable text unknown to any historian in the Kingdom! It was found on the border of the Kingdom and the Outlands with a small booklet! Its subpar battle characteristics make it unsuited for fighting, but its curved form is sure to fill a unique hole in any collector‘s vault! Bidding starts at 50 thousand!”
“...Wait.”
I suddenly sat up, seeing the blade on display.
Those characters across its body, the curved black blade, the wrapped hilt, and the tassel hanging off it.
How could I not recognize one of the most popularized weapons on Earth, the Japanese Katana?
My heart pounded in my chest as I raised my voice.
“How do I bid?!”
“You need a card. Attendant!”
“Right here, sir.”
After the Patriarch responded and called, a man came rushing over with said card, handing it to me.
I immediately tapped it, sending out a bid.
“New bid of 100 thousand! Can I get 110? 110 thousand for this refined blade of mysterious origin!”
“100 thousand going once!”
“100 thousand going twice!”
*Clack!*
“Sold!”
Once the count was up, my face brightened.
“Nice!”
“What was that? Do you know what that blade is?”
Umara asked as I settled back down. I could feel her growing curiosity, how she normally got when she found something interesting to pry into.
“Maybe.”
My leg bounced as I watched the katana get taken off stage, the next item taking its place.
A few minutes later, two people entered the suite, carrying the package.
I stood and walked over.
“Bidding card, please?”
“Here.”
I handed the card over, and once checked, they handed it back and gave me a box.
“Thank you for your patronage.”
“Mm.”
I nodded and took the box, walking back over to my little table and laying it out.
Umara sat up, observing it curiously as I popped it open.
I could feel all the other curious gazes as well. Though they wouldn’t buy it for themselves, that didn't mean they couldn’t be interested in something novel.
Even Plex walked over, standing over my shoulder.
“What’s that?”
“A sword.”
“No shit. You know what it is?”
“We’re about to find out.”
I spoke while popping the box open, seeing the one sided curved blade.
And seeing the characters up close, although I wanted to doubt my eyes, I knew what I was seeing.
Japanese characters written along the body in red, contrasting against the pitch black blade. It felt like a metal, but not entirely, making me wonder how it was made.
But that was inconsequential. The point was that this was a sword that could only have been made by someone from Earth.
I wasn’t alone.
After staring at the blade for a while, I looked at the tassel and frowned, lifting it with my fingers.
On the high end of the tassel was a small colored piece resembling the Japanese flag, a white backdrop with a big red spot in the center which outright confirmed my guess. But then, below that, was a little fox girl charm from what I could only assume was an anime.
It was so well made that I questioned its purpose. Whoever this was basically strapped a figurine to their sword.
Who’s the weeb that owned this? Show yourself.
I rolled my eyes after a few seconds, setting the sword back down.
This was a Japanese katana, no question. Whoever owned it or created it was from Earth.
I wasn’t the only one, though I started to question the unknown larger purpose for bringing people here from another world.
If whoever did this wanted to save this world, then they surely didn’t bring enough people. And if not, then why bring us at all? Or was this some freak interdimensional accident and at least two people just happened to get caught up in it?
That was unlikely.
Regardless, I had a new goal, which was to try and find the owner of this weapon. It was said to have been discovered on the border of the Kingdom’s territory, near somewhere called the Outlands. I didn’t know what that was, but even Maxwell once told me that the Kingdom was not the last bastion of humanity. There were more out there. We were just cut off from them.
Perhaps that’s where this person came from. As for what happened to them, I couldn’t really assume. I just hoped they weren’t dead. The sword didn’t paint that picture, but I didn’t know the circumstances of its discovery.
I sighed and looked over, finding a small booklet.
When I opened it, I saw nothing but gibberish. It was a combination of Japanese and some other language, perhaps the language of whatever kingdom they had been brought to.
However, there wasn’t only text. There were also some pictures.
After skipping past some of the anime doodles that made my brow twitch, I found some obscure drawings that didn’t quite look like any enchantments or magic spells, but close enough to make me think it was some different kind of magic.
After a while, I just shut it, contemplating and ignoring Plex’s questions.
I had many questions of my own, none of which would be answered anytime soon. It wasn’t like I could search for a Japanese person on my own, not to mention that they probably weren’t within the Kingdom anyway.
I would have to get to the point where I had enough power to find any nations beyond the Kingdom of Dragon Tongue. I needed to explore the Outlands.
But that would only happen years from now at the least. So for now, I just needed to sit tight and train.
Still, knowing that there were other Earthlings in this world made me question my own presence here. Something was going on and it was bigger than anything I alone could dip my toes in.
I was already in over my head in more than a few other areas. I didn’t need to keep poking beyond my pay grade any more than I had to.
After another long stare, I finally closed the box and threw it in my spatial sack, waving the curious Plex away.
Once he was gone, Umara leaned over.
“So?”
“It’s from my homeland.”
“Oh… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”
“I’m not either. Its presence here is a miracle, but what it represents is a lot more important. I thought I had been the only one. Turns out I’m not.”
“Well, from the little you’ve told me, I would assume that it’s at least comforting.”
“...”
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t that concerned about the fact that someone from my home planet was here. I wouldn’t know them and while we might share a common origin to bond over, it wouldn’t change much about what I would continue to do.
I was concerned about what it meant for there to be multiple Earthlings here.
I had already been curious about what it meant for Cold Summoners to be able to summon weapons from other worlds. At the very least, there were three worlds in existence and likely many more. I had seen weapons from Vetsmon’s mother, guns from Earth, and then this world itself.
I had a faint feeling that it was all connected somehow. The ability to summon extra-dimensional weapons, people being swapped between worlds, and most importantly, the Scourge.
The magnitude of each factor could change things for better or worse. That’s why I wasn’t concerned about this unknown kin from Earth. I was concerned about what their, and my own, presence meant.
At some point though I stopped thinking about it. This changed nothing but my personal opinion. My goal remained the same.
Now though, there was just one new thing added to my ever expanding to-do list.
Find a stick, and whack this weeb over the head with it for putting an anime girl on their sword in another world.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m doing better.”
I smiled while watching the auction stage. The auctioneer was almost done giving his opening speech, dropping sly hints about the most valuable items to come.
Since Umara was next to me while Patriarch Tavera gave his encouraging words, she had caught the gist of the situation.
Of course, since the topic had been brought up, my mind drifted to darker places and it ended up dampening my mood, despite the Patriarch’s reassuring words.
I suppose Umara noticed, and so she started to comfort me in her own way.
“The man you killed was a slave trader?”
“Yea.”
“Sometimes I forget those kinds of people even exist. Most people can’t even conceive of the concept.”
“What’s the Kingdom’s history with slave trading?”
I suddenly asked, wondering if it was anything like what I had known on Earth.
Umara gazed off into the distance in thought.
“Before, it was Magi who enslaved the ordinary. In the early days of the Kingdom, there were several major territories that, although united, generally didn’t consider themselves a single entity. And the ruling Duke of those territories would own quite literally everything underneath him. You could say there were entire kingdoms enslaved to their king.”
I supposed it was quite like the feudalism of medieval Europe.
“Wow. And what stopped that?”
“Well, for one, the pressure of the Scourge. This was centuries ago, and the Kingdom was forced to grow as they and the Scourge began to recognize each other as foes and do battle. However, what gave the ordinary people true freedom was the Church.”
“The Church, huh?”
My brows raised as she nodded.
“They led the charge for the abolition of all slavery and slave trading. At first, when the Kingdom first united under threat of the Scourge, they pushed for their most powerful man, the Founding King Abadeiah, to take the throne. And he didn’t like being pressured by the Church, which, while a part of the Kingdom, was a separate governing entity. So he brought together all the Dukes and declared war on the Church in an attempt to fight for complete sovereignty.”
“And how did that end?”
“Not very good, because the Church’s Paladins came in and killed him the day after he declared war.”
“...”
I was shocked, not thinking the Church had the balls to do something like that, let alone the strength. They made it seem like the Kingdom never really had any power at all.
Umara continued.
“Anyway, the entire conflict ended in just a few days and the abolition of slavery as a whole was written into law. This included servitude of any kind, because later on when old slavers tried to enslave through debt, it led the entire Kingdom into such a bad economic depression that the Church once again came in and outlawed things like interest on loans and certain banking practices which had led to the problem in the first place.”
“Interesting.”
“I never really understood the financial side of it, but that was around 170 years ago, and we’re more prosperous now than ever before, so it apparently worked.”
“Apparently.”
I reclined in my chair, thinking about the curious history of this Kingdom.
It seemed like the Church played a major part in its development. They were more of a behemoth than I realized, even though I never heard much about them in my daily life.
Still, it was the dominant, perhaps the only real religion that all of humanity followed in this world. It was no wonder that they wielded vast power rivaling the entire Kingdom.
The more interesting point though was how they didn’t actually take the Kingdom for themselves. I was sure that they installed their own people into positions of political power, but the King was still separate from the Church, at least on paper.
Like the father of a bunch of unruly children who didn’t know better, they came in and whipped them into shape whenever they got out of hand. From everything I've seen, it’s led to vast prosperity across the board, but then again, I didn’t have any experience outside of major cities.
Nonetheless, the monuments were massive and the roads were clean. Gold flowed like a river and food was plentiful.
Sure, this Kingdom probably didn’t have much of a middle class. There were the rich and the poor, with the poor composing the majority. But that was more so due to the lack of skilled labor, or what I would know as some blue and white collar jobs.
There was no industrial revolution, so most people still lived outside the city, probably farming. Or they were in the military fighting.
There wasn’t much helping that. People needed food and water, and a lot of it, so most effort was devoted toward that since there wasn’t any machinery to multiply it. Anybody else was either doing manual labor in something like a mine, or they got lucky enough to become a Magus and enter the skilled labor fields under magic, comprising an extremely small middle class.
It also didn’t help that the nobility was the most powerful group of Magi, giving them rich control over both the economy and the magic sector.
I was able to benefit from the small amount of developed technology there was in the heart of humanity’s only Kingdom. My experience was by no means representative of the majority.
Short of starting an industrial revolution, there was little I could do to help any of that.
All these thoughts pulled my mind away from the dark topics of human trafficking. I had never properly learned about any of this world’s history and found it rather interesting.
Eventually though, the topic shifted to the auction before us.
The beginnings of these auctions were always slow, but the items shown were still interesting. Most of them were trinkets good for nothing other than their obscurity or rarity.
For the first hour, everything was kept under 100 thousand. Each item appeared on a huge screen behind the auctioneer, making sure that everyone could see the item clearly regardless of distance.
“The pelt of an Authority 5 Unique Eagle Beast! Hunted near the frontlines, this extraordinary piece of leather still maintains its inherent fire enchantments! Bidding starts at 40 thousand!”
“The skull of a Colossal Needle Bird! These extraordinary creatures have the longest beaks in the world, and to date, this is the longest one ever hunted! At 12 feet long, it’ll assuredly be a prized part of any hunter’s collection! Bidding starts at 50 thousand!”
“A mysterious blade from a distant land! Its curved body contains no enchantments and indecipherable text unknown to any historian in the Kingdom! It was found on the border of the Kingdom and the Outlands with a small booklet! Its subpar battle characteristics make it unsuited for fighting, but its curved form is sure to fill a unique hole in any collector‘s vault! Bidding starts at 50 thousand!”
“...Wait.”
I suddenly sat up, seeing the blade on display.
Those characters across its body, the curved black blade, the wrapped hilt, and the tassel hanging off it.
How could I not recognize one of the most popularized weapons on Earth, the Japanese Katana?
My heart pounded in my chest as I raised my voice.
“How do I bid?!”
“You need a card. Attendant!”
“Right here, sir.”
After the Patriarch responded and called, a man came rushing over with said card, handing it to me.
I immediately tapped it, sending out a bid.
“New bid of 100 thousand! Can I get 110? 110 thousand for this refined blade of mysterious origin!”
“100 thousand going once!”
“100 thousand going twice!”
*Clack!*
“Sold!”
Once the count was up, my face brightened.
“Nice!”
“What was that? Do you know what that blade is?”
Umara asked as I settled back down. I could feel her growing curiosity, how she normally got when she found something interesting to pry into.
“Maybe.”
My leg bounced as I watched the katana get taken off stage, the next item taking its place.
A few minutes later, two people entered the suite, carrying the package.
I stood and walked over.
“Bidding card, please?”
“Here.”
I handed the card over, and once checked, they handed it back and gave me a box.
“Thank you for your patronage.”
“Mm.”
I nodded and took the box, walking back over to my little table and laying it out.
Umara sat up, observing it curiously as I popped it open.
I could feel all the other curious gazes as well. Though they wouldn’t buy it for themselves, that didn't mean they couldn’t be interested in something novel.
Even Plex walked over, standing over my shoulder.
“What’s that?”
“A sword.”
“No shit. You know what it is?”
“We’re about to find out.”
I spoke while popping the box open, seeing the one sided curved blade.
And seeing the characters up close, although I wanted to doubt my eyes, I knew what I was seeing.
Japanese characters written along the body in red, contrasting against the pitch black blade. It felt like a metal, but not entirely, making me wonder how it was made.
But that was inconsequential. The point was that this was a sword that could only have been made by someone from Earth.
I wasn’t alone.
After staring at the blade for a while, I looked at the tassel and frowned, lifting it with my fingers.
On the high end of the tassel was a small colored piece resembling the Japanese flag, a white backdrop with a big red spot in the center which outright confirmed my guess. But then, below that, was a little fox girl charm from what I could only assume was an anime.
It was so well made that I questioned its purpose. Whoever this was basically strapped a figurine to their sword.
Who’s the weeb that owned this? Show yourself.
I rolled my eyes after a few seconds, setting the sword back down.
This was a Japanese katana, no question. Whoever owned it or created it was from Earth.
I wasn’t the only one, though I started to question the unknown larger purpose for bringing people here from another world.
If whoever did this wanted to save this world, then they surely didn’t bring enough people. And if not, then why bring us at all? Or was this some freak interdimensional accident and at least two people just happened to get caught up in it?
That was unlikely.
Regardless, I had a new goal, which was to try and find the owner of this weapon. It was said to have been discovered on the border of the Kingdom’s territory, near somewhere called the Outlands. I didn’t know what that was, but even Maxwell once told me that the Kingdom was not the last bastion of humanity. There were more out there. We were just cut off from them.
Perhaps that’s where this person came from. As for what happened to them, I couldn’t really assume. I just hoped they weren’t dead. The sword didn’t paint that picture, but I didn’t know the circumstances of its discovery.
I sighed and looked over, finding a small booklet.
When I opened it, I saw nothing but gibberish. It was a combination of Japanese and some other language, perhaps the language of whatever kingdom they had been brought to.
However, there wasn’t only text. There were also some pictures.
After skipping past some of the anime doodles that made my brow twitch, I found some obscure drawings that didn’t quite look like any enchantments or magic spells, but close enough to make me think it was some different kind of magic.
After a while, I just shut it, contemplating and ignoring Plex’s questions.
I had many questions of my own, none of which would be answered anytime soon. It wasn’t like I could search for a Japanese person on my own, not to mention that they probably weren’t within the Kingdom anyway.
I would have to get to the point where I had enough power to find any nations beyond the Kingdom of Dragon Tongue. I needed to explore the Outlands.
But that would only happen years from now at the least. So for now, I just needed to sit tight and train.
Still, knowing that there were other Earthlings in this world made me question my own presence here. Something was going on and it was bigger than anything I alone could dip my toes in.
I was already in over my head in more than a few other areas. I didn’t need to keep poking beyond my pay grade any more than I had to.
After another long stare, I finally closed the box and threw it in my spatial sack, waving the curious Plex away.
Once he was gone, Umara leaned over.
“So?”
“It’s from my homeland.”
“Oh… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”
“I’m not either. Its presence here is a miracle, but what it represents is a lot more important. I thought I had been the only one. Turns out I’m not.”
“Well, from the little you’ve told me, I would assume that it’s at least comforting.”
“...”
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t that concerned about the fact that someone from my home planet was here. I wouldn’t know them and while we might share a common origin to bond over, it wouldn’t change much about what I would continue to do.
I was concerned about what it meant for there to be multiple Earthlings here.
I had already been curious about what it meant for Cold Summoners to be able to summon weapons from other worlds. At the very least, there were three worlds in existence and likely many more. I had seen weapons from Vetsmon’s mother, guns from Earth, and then this world itself.
I had a faint feeling that it was all connected somehow. The ability to summon extra-dimensional weapons, people being swapped between worlds, and most importantly, the Scourge.
The magnitude of each factor could change things for better or worse. That’s why I wasn’t concerned about this unknown kin from Earth. I was concerned about what their, and my own, presence meant.
At some point though I stopped thinking about it. This changed nothing but my personal opinion. My goal remained the same.
Now though, there was just one new thing added to my ever expanding to-do list.
Find a stick, and whack this weeb over the head with it for putting an anime girl on their sword in another world.
