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The two of us made our way through the forest, away from the clearing, but while I was content in the silence, it seemed like Aly wasn't.

"Hey, Link? Where are we going?"

His voice was filled with apprehension.

It showed a good amount of sense, on his part. Even though I showed I wasn't immediately hostile, he still must have seen me as dangerous, and was cautious around me.

I paused mid-step as I registered his words.

It would probably be a good idea to tell him my plans.

...But I really didn't want to talk.

I turned around facing him and picked a stick off the ground, crouching down to write a few scratchy words in the dirt.

I want to take you to a nearby town.

However, as the boy stared down at what I had written, he seemed clueless.

"...Is that writing? I can't read that, I'm sorry…"

I sighed.

So it seemed like although the people in this world spoke english, they used a different written system. That was annoying, but I could deal with it.

"...Town… nearby?"

My voice was quiet and weak, but I tried to get my point across. Talking was still very unpleasant, though.

The boy blinked a few times.

"You want to go to a nearby town? Is that right?"

I shrugged and nodded. Close enough.

But at my response, the boy's face scrunched up and he regained a little of that hostile expression I saw earlier, when I asked about why he was alone.

"Why would you want to do that? You're a demi-human, surely you know the reception you'd get. I'd recommend getting out of this country as soon as possible- trust me, you won't regret it."

I frowned at his words.

It seemed like people were pretty racist around here. -Though to be honest, it wasn't much of a surprise. Even in fantasy land, humans would be human.

But that didn't dissuade me. I needed to get this kid to safety.

To be honest, I was surprised that the boy didn't agree with my idea of going to a town. After all, he was just a child, alone in the woods, who had nearly died. Why didn't he want to get to civilization?

I made eye contact with him and frowned, before pointing towards his chest.

"...What? What do you mean? You mean you want to go to town because of me?"

A light of realization entered his eyes, and he grimaced, shaking his head vigorously.

"You're going to drop me off at a town or something? Don't! I hate it there! I hate this kingdom, please don't do that!"

...What?

He must've seen the confusion on my face, and laughed bitterly.

"I guess this really is your first time here. Good thing you met me before entering a town or city- it would've been a horrible reception…. This kingdom is… horrible. Criminals are richer than everyone else, and the nobles do nothing to help the average people. If you stay here, you'll only get taken advantage of… and…"

He stopped talking partway through the sentence, and choked up. He frantically wiped his eyes, before trying to continue.

"People are powerless. All the humans running this place are evil. Please, if you're going to drop me somewhere, leave this kingdom first."

I frowned.

Whatever this kingdom had done to the boy in front of me, it had scarred him. It was probably the reason he was all alone in the monster-infested wilderness, and I had no doubt that if the corruption was truly that bad, many others had suffered the same.

I felt a presence, humming powerfully, within the Sheikah Slate on my hip.

Turning to make eye contact with Aly, I only saw sincerity in his eyes- serious eyes, that although young, had already experienced too much.

I opened my mouth.

"No."

The boy gaped at my frank answer, and the firmest word he had ever heard me speak, before regaining his composure, and angrily beginning to respond.

"Wha- What do you mean?! You're refusing? You can't deny it! This place is-"

I held up a hand to stop him, and the stern look on my face was enough to cut him off.

"I'll help."

Aly tilted his head in frank confusion, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to reason together what I meant.

I repeated myself, louder.

"I'll help you…. Your people"

His mouth dropped open.

"Why?"

That was a harder question to answer.

Why did I feel the urge to do this so greatly? What was the cause- why did I want to help fix a land that had nothing to do with me?

It was a sudden feeling that had welled up in my chest, one of burning determination to do the right thing- an instinctive feeling.

Probably just one other thing that had come with this body.

A 'sense of justice' or whatever, something that I certainly had never possessed before waking up in the forest just ten minutes ago.

Aly was still looking at me, waiting for some sort of answer, and more frustration had already begun to bleed into his gaze.

Eventually, I simply set my expression hard and stared the boy in the eyes- trying to convey the feelings that were driving me forward.

He faltered for a moment, looking at me questioningly, before the hostility faded.

The boy sighed, and nodded.

"Whatever you say, I guess. I owe you my life, so I can at least fill you in on things, since you're obviously some kind of foreign traveler."

I smiled, grateful he had decided to help.

"It's never going to work out, you know. A non-human trying to change things for the better, when he's never even heard of Re-Estize before?"

He shook his head and sighed again, seemingly exhausted at the very thought, before smiling to himself slightly.

"You saved my life, and nobody around here would have done that, so I have to find some way to repay you. Which means you aren't getting rid of me easily, okay, Link?"

The boy raised his voice with that statement, and I admired the determination in his expression- although I couldn't help but clearly see the discrepancy of his age and the seriousness of his speech.

I wondered what had really happened to this kid to make him so mature.

And then… I decided I didn't need to know.

…

"-So if you've never even heard of the Re-Estize Kingdom before, you must be from really far away, right?"

I nodded slowly. That was true enough.

The two of us had been traveling for close to a few hours, now. Sadly, Aly didn't know where any nearby settlements were, since apparently he really had been living in the wilderness for a month or so now.

To be honest, I was surprised he was still alive.

"Alright, I'll try and tell you what I know. From what my tutors told me, there are three main powers in the area; the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Baharuth Empire, and the Slain Theocracy. We're in the Kingdom, which has bad relations with the Empire, and the two of them fight a battle every year. And the Slain Theocracy is… just the worst. It's all made up of racist humans who want to subjugate everything that isn't human- meaning, you too."

I frowned. That sounded troublesome.

"Yeah. But anyway, you wanted to stay in the Kingdom, right? Well, there are two factions. The Noble faction, who are the really bad guys, and the Royal Faction, who are a little better. The Princess is one of the few people actually trying to do the right thing, and has been trying to pass a lot of acts for the lower classes… She's okay."

Okay. Royal Faction: Good, Noble Faction: Bad.

Seemed simple enough, although I would probably need to check my information, since even though he was smart, Aly was still just a fourteen year old I found in the woods.

…Looking at it subjectively, he really didn't seem like the most reliable source of information.

It had started getting a bit dark, and Aly was beginning to have a hard time seeing through the trees. It felt like my eyesight was much sharper and clearer in Link's body, and I wasn't having as much difficulty as he was.

I put a hand on the boy's shoulder and stopped him from walking. He turned to look at me, and I spoke lowly.

"...Camp."

"You want to set up camp, now? For the night?"

I nodded, and he smiled in relief.

"Ah, thanks… Should I go get firewood or something?"

Shaking my head slightly, I sat down against a tree stump and took out my Sheikah Slate. Luckily, I had plenty of wood and flint in my Inventory.

After tapping the wood on the front of the Slate, blue strings of light began to pour out, filling my hands and solidifying into several chopped logs in a multitude of different sizes.

I turned to look at Aly, who was staring at me in shock.

"...What was that?"

I held up the item with a shrug, and Aly walked closer and inspected it from all sides.

"A magic item?"

I nodded.

"It can store things inside of it, or something? How much space does it have?"

I shrugged.

"That's crazy. I've heard of famous adventurers having stuff like that, but normally it's pouches and backpacks instead of weird stone things."

Another shrug. It made sense they didn't have Sheikah Slates of their own, and what he was describing sounded like a classic magic bag from normal RPG's.

"...How much stuff do you have in there?"

The only response I gave was a smile, and he rolled his eyes.

"Alright, gimme those. I'll make a fire."

I nodded and handed him the large pile of wood in my hands.

He stumbled under the weight, clearly not expecting them to be very heavy after seeing me holding the stack with ease, but managed to stagger over to the center of the small clearing we were in.

After laying them on the ground in a carefully created pyramid, he held his hand out above it and muttered something under his breath.

Suddenly, a crackle resounded through the night and a spark flared into existence, fire roaring to life as the stack began to burn.

My eyes widened.

This kid knew magic?

I could see him smiling at me, his face flickering under the light of the newly-created bonfire. Clearly, he was hoping to surprise me.

And it worked.

"Haha! Normally you're so unemotive and quiet I think you're a statue or something, but now I know for sure you aren't!"

I regained my composure quickly and walked closer to the fire, crouching down across from Aly.

Making eye contact with the boy, I made a 'go on' gesture with my hand.

"You want to know about my magic?"

I nodded vigorously. Magic in Zelda games had always been vague, but it seems like this Kingdom had a lot better grasp on it.

"Well, I'm able to use First Tier spells, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm very good for my age! Normally it takes people, like, many years of studying before they can do it, and I was able to get to this stage in just a few, and I started when I was still very young!"

He had begun to boast about himself.

"Though, to be honest, my parents didn't want me to learn too many combat spells, and said they were dangerous, that I should wait until I was older… Which is the main reason you saw me losing to those goblins. I only know [Magic Arrow] and even then, I don't have good practice with it."

I made a humming sound. There were a lot of terms I didn't understand, but I got the gist of it. Apparently, he was really smart and learnt magic younger than most, but he didn't know a lot of spells for combat.

...Which wasn't great in the current situation, I had to admit.

Although, now that I was here, I supposed he wouldn't have to worry about fighting.

I nodded towards him and opened the Sheikah Slate, hoping to check up on all the items in my Inventory.

Luckily, it seemed like my entire stash from the game had been taken with me, including an enormous amount of precious gems and resources I had collected, along with a ton of food, elixirs, small animals, monster parts, and a whole lotta weapons.

...A whole lotta weapons…

Most of which were probably overkill for the monsters I had seen. Think about it, taking out an Attack Boosted, Savage Lynel Crusher, in order to deal with a Lvl 4 Goblin?

That sounded ridiculous.

"Hey, Link?"

My attention was turned back towards Aly, who was staring into the campfire quietly.

"You must be a good magic caster, too, right? I mean, you healed me from that wound, and I was pretty sure I was… not going to survive that. A normal [Light Healing] or something wouldn't have cut it."

Ah.

How was I supposed to answer that?

Mipha's Grace, was, in the game, a healing ability that could completely restore your life even on the brink of death. It would definitely be considered a pretty high-level healing magic in this place.

But the problem was, I didn't actually know how the magic worked. I wasn't some experienced wizard, I was just a guy who inherited the ability.

So I gave him the best answer I could.

I shrugged.

"...You know that really doesn't answer the question, Link."

Shrugging again, I tried to articulate what I meant.

"...Not… magic."

"Huh? What do you mean? Do you mean you used a potion to heal me instead? ….But I swear I remember some kind of light…"

I shook my head, and activated Mipha's Grace, raising my hands and letting the sea-green light bleed out of them.

Aly's eyes zeroed in on that light, his mouth hanging open.

"Wait, no chant? Can you silently cast?"

I spoke quietly.

"I'm… not, spellcaster. This… is an ability."

His eyes widened in realization.

"It's a Talent? That's crazy- It's gotta be one of the best I've ever seen, if it can heal somebody so close to death!"

A Talent? I had no idea what that meant.

My confusion must have shown on my face, because his brows furrowed.

"You don't know what I mean? You know, a Talent…? Do your people have a different word for it, or something?"

I took the lifeline graciously and nodded, Aly's mouth making an 'O' as he understood.

"Okay, well, a Talent is, you know, something pretty rare that certain people can be born with. I think it's like, a one in two-hundred chance, and it can be any of a ton of unique abilities. Things like predicting the weather, or learning things faster… oh, and I heard there's a guy in E-Rantel who can use any magic item, ignoring the requirements!"

My eyes widened. That sounded exactly like what Mipha's Grace and all the other champion abilities were, which was a nice little coincidence, but that last talent had surprised me.

The ability to use any magic item, no matter the requirements? Did that mean he could use the Master Sword, or the Sheikah Slate?

Well, the Sheikah Slate was all technology, so I doubted this guy's Talent would work on it, but I had no idea about the Master Sword. That was kind of worrying.

Shaking the thought away, I nodded slightly, and Aly smiled.

"Good. That's an incredible talent you have, though. Seriously! How many times could you use it a day, or is it whenever you want?"

I bit my lip and thought about the question.

When I healed Aly, I was surprised by how little energy it had actually taken up. For injuries like the one he had- which was a pretty large spear wound through the leg- I could probably keep on healing people for… a very long time.

I shrugged at the question, to his confusion.

Before he could talk again, I stood up suddenly, surprising him.

I was done with talking, for the night. The kid was starting to annoy me with the constant questions- so if he was just going to keep speaking, I decided we would need to do something else.

Opening the Sheikah Slate, I went to the Hyrule Compendium, and found something interesting. I saw pictures of "Training Swords," which were weapons not available in Breath of the Wild.

Weird, but I would take them.

Selecting two of the pictures in the Hyrule Compendium, I quickly materialized the two wooden swords.

Their edges were blunt and they were made of wood. Of course, they would still hurt if you were hit by one, but they were far from lethal at all.

So I tossed one to Aly, and smiled at him.

The kid was basically my responsibility now, right? And in that case, I was going to need to train him well.

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*Author's Note*

Yeah, Link totally has +500 Karma on his character sheet.

This was more of a downtime chapter without any action, but if you've ever read the Overlord Light Novels you should be used to that sort of thing… Besides that, I'm pretty proud of this chapter! I usually have problems writing chapters longer than 2000 words, but this one's a good length. Honestly, I have no idea how some people on the internet can pump out 10k word chapters like nothing.

Anyways, for the question of "what level is Calamity Ganon" I'd have to say, I can't tell you. That would be kinda directly spoiling how strong Link is, I think. I'll just say that Ganon is definitely strong, in the New World, in Hyrule, and in YGGDRASIL.