A Beaten Path

by Krosrodes

Never did he thought that a world seen through a screen would be so terrifying when experienced first-hand. But heroes arise from their lowest points to conquer the highest peaks, being from simple survival, emperors making the world bend to their will or themselves. Will our hero emerge victorious with a defining howl, claiming his prize? Or will he succumb to the road ahead? (SI)

2. Chapter 2 - The Good and Bad of Life

Darkness, darkness everywhere. No matter how much I tried to move, I couldn't. No matter how much I tried to scan my surroundings with my eyes to spot any rays of light, I only saw darkness.

So, what was the point of having them open?

I didn't know how long I was and still am in this limbo.

When did this start?

Ah, with the old man Alexander, he brought me to the bridge railing and started to spout nonsense about something, suddenly gave me an item that was still in my hand and then I started to fall.

Wait, was I still falling?

I can no longer tell the difference. I probably still was, but I couldn't confirm it.

Suddenly, I could feel something brushing against my face.

What was that? Wind?

When I tried to move around, I felt something akin to the ground on my back. There was a tiny light of hope burning in me and got ever so stronger with each passing second.

When I have decided it was time to open my eyes….

"Gah, shit! Goddamn sun!" I shouted and immediately shut my eyes to welcome the darkness again.

Well, that certainly escalated quickly.

I was currently laying on my side but after falling for who knows how long I thought I wanted to enjoy the feeling of standing on my legs. I pushed myself up from my laying position, taking my sweet time because my legs felt sore, and stared at the view before me.

The field I was currently looking at was filled with wheat, barley, foxtail millet, and whatnot giving it an interesting contrast of green and yellow color. They bellowed in the wind, making them look like waves in a sea while at the edges of the field were either countryside or forests.

When I turned around and looked at the place I was sleeping, I found three things, my bag, the item Alexander gave me wrapped in some old leather, and a lone apple tree in the middle of this field.

Now, I was not someone who wouldn't appreciate the symbolism, but this was a little too much honestly. A young man sleeping under a lone tree in the middle of a field? That sounded like a start to a bad romance novel.

I shook my head from that thought because I wouldn't be able to get anywhere like that. I started by checking my bag for my phone to see if it will have any signal. It didn't take long to get my phone, but I found something inside it that wasn't there when I left my house.

It was a small satchel and when I picked it up, I could hear the sound of coins inside. When I opened it and checked the coins, they didn't look like any currency I knew. There were also coins of a different color, most of them were copper, but I could spot several gold and silver coins among them as well.

Throwing the satchel away would be a waste, so I didn't question as to why it was in my bag in the first place.

I turned to my phone in the hopes that I will find some sort of signal so I could call someone to help me out here but when I tried to turn it on, it didn't.

So, its battery ran out. Well, I had just the solution, my sun-powered power bank, but when I tried to find it in the bag, it wasn't there. I also couldn't find most of my things there, only my sweatshirt, water, napkins, those snacks, and for some reason, a bedroll.

"What the hell?" I asked nobody. So, I found things that shouldn't be inside my bag, but not my important stuff.

Just, great.

Somebody had to take it out, I guess. My only possible vote went to Alexander, he probably took out those things when I was looking away. It irritated me that Alexander took my things, so much so that I would consider punching once I meet him again.

I still haven't even gotten to the item he left me with. With the leather obscuring it from the outside world, I began to remove it, and what was inside shocked me a little.

It was a sword with a sheathe.

"Why would I need this?" I asked myself in bewilderment. I remembered his words when he gave it to me so why would I need a goddamn sword, where I was going? Or I currently was right now?

Sword itself looks more ornamental than practical. It resembled a long sword with a silver guard with hints of gold and a handle wrapped in red leather, however, the blade looked odd, to say the least.

Normally a sword's blade should have the classic iron or steel color, but not this one. It has a very pale blue tinge to the steel color, reminiscent of ice. When I put my hand on the blade, it was cold to the touch and when I tried out its sharpness by poking the edge slightly with my finger, it came out bloodied.

"Ow, damn this thing is sharp." I winced slightly, but it was nothing to worry about. I sucked my index finger and then cleaned it up with my napkin, something that wasn't taken out of my bag.

I located the sheathe and put the sword inside. The sheathe also looked a little too ornamental. Red leather, gold trimmings, and surprisingly, a name written on the sheathe in the same color as the blade itself.

Hielobjerg.

"Hie-lob-jerg? No, that does not sound right. Hie-lo-bjerg? Yeah, that might be it, I hope." I tried to pronounce the name of the sword, but I had no idea if I pronounced it right. Maybe someone could help me with it, but since my phone died and I had no way of communicating with others, my only option was to search for said people.

Honestly, I was quite surprised that I wasn't freaking out right now, since I was somewhere unknown, but I knew that wouldn't help me in any shape or form. Also, the novelty of being anywhere was kind of lost to me since I was able to witness birds be suspended in the air and me being stuck in a falling limbo.

Well, with that sorted and the sword strapped to my hip under my coat and a useless phone back inside my bag, I picked a random direction and head off to find any form of civilization.

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

This search felt like a never-ending staircase, it looked the same and just kept going on forever.

The sun was starting to set, meaning it had been several hours since I have woken up, my legs felt like jelly and my stamina was starting to dwindle.

I was inside a forest that looked the same as all the other forests I passed by. I had no idea where I was going, and I was hoping I would find any sort of road to lead me somewhere, but I had no such luck yet.

With the way things were going right now, I will probably have to camp outside. I was not opposed to the idea of camping, but I didn't have a tent, only a bedroll and making a makeshift roof over my head using only branches and leaves wasn't something I had proficiency at.

Since it was getting dark and I had no way of knowing if I was getting closer to any settlement, I opted to call it a day and stopped my search.

Making a campfire would be the best, even though I had little experience in survival, there are still things I could make out on my own.

Even though it looked like the night won't be cold, being warm enough during your sleep was important and having a little makeshift heater was something I could get behind. Gathering wood was however quite difficult, the wood and kindling I found was oftentimes wet or too large.

Seemed like this place was quite humid, which would also explain why I was sweating so much.

Now we came to a bigger hurdle, how to start the fire.

Since I didn't know if I could find any flints here, I gave up before even starting. Not only I didn't know what I should be looking for but the visibility was getting poorer by the second.

I had a hard enough time finding the wood and kindling so I won't bother with that. Maybe if Alexander did put random stuff in my bag, a lighter could be one of them.

So, I rummaged through my bag a second time today and found many different things that weren't there.

Rations are one of them. Dried meat, fruits, and different preserved stuff wrapped in leather. This could probably last me for at least three days alongside the snacks I had.

The second was the bedroll, it wasn't big and was pretty thin and old, but I will take this over the ground on any day of the week. I put the bedroll aside and checked what other things I will find inside my bag.

Another thing was a book.

When I tried to read the book, not only I couldn't but also the writing is all over the place. Some characters looked like runes while others are more like ink stains and scratches. If you would dunk your cat's paws into some ink and put her on an empty slate, you would get this writing.

Although it was in the middle of the night and I would be able to get something from it when I would have sunlight, but right now it was pretty much illegible. There was also a note inside the book, and it said with ink that glowed slightly.

"Touch the text to get any results."

Did it mean literally? Well, I didn't touch it because I was afraid, I would get ink stains on myself and that is something I didn't need right now.

I refrained from touching them and try to search a little harder. I turned my bag upside down to see if I missed anything that resembled a lighter but found nothing.

So, where do we go from here? I don't have a way to start the fire and rubbing wood against each other is a hassle that probably won't have any meaningful results for me, so now what? I looked back to the book and gave it a mean stare, but since I had nothing better to try, I relented and picked up the book.

The script still was illegible, but the note said to literally touch the text and so I did.

At first, nothing happened, I could only hear crickets in the night and a light breeze pass by me, but after a few seconds, I got a slight jolt from the book itself. I yelped slightly and immediately pulled my right hand away from the book, but still holding it with my left.

The text seemed to shift into something, but it got dark quicker than I thought, and couldn't read it, but almost as if the book read my mind the text started to glow just like the note in the same hue and I was finally able to read the book.

And here was the time when the book would tell me I was a chosen hero to save the world from a great peri., With the knowledge of knowing the future, I would choose the correct path to take and make sure the story gets its happy ending.

No, none of that, I still couldn't read the text, even though it arranged itself into something resembling a script.

I tried to touch the book once more and I experienced the same jolt, but this time it lingered on my finger like a small spark. Hm, from glowing texts to sparks being on my fingertips.

What has my life come to?

Hmm, maybe I could use the spark to light the fire.

I closed the book and got close to the piled-up kindling and put my finger inside it and lo and behold I could see the kindling lighting up.

I pulled away from my finger from the kindling since it was getting hot and waited to see the small branches caught on fire and then the bigger logs of wood and after some time, I got myself a campfire.

Now I could see a lot better and inspect the book again. The cover was sturdy and looked quite battered, probably from usage and the color of it was pale blue, resembling ice again. It also has a symbol of an ice pillar surrounded by a flame.

When I opened the book again, I brushed my hand against the paper and sparks start to form around my hand, but I didn't feel a whole lot. It visually looked painful like your hand was getting multiple jolts of electricity, but it wasn't painful at all.

The sparks on my hand started to form a singular entity: a small fire.

I was mesmerized by the fact I had a small fire in my hand and surprised it didn't burn me, it actually felt quite pleasant.

Did I get into a world where magic was a real thing?

It would explain why I could suddenly conjure a small fire. The air here also felt a bit different. At first, I ruled it out as me being groggy, but now, I could sense it. The air felt fuller, cleaner and I was slightly more energized. With the heat of the campfire comforting me and the sound of nature, this felt like straight out of a fairy tale.

Anyway, I put the fire out in my hand by blowing into it and it did the job. I pulled out my bedroll, roll it out, put my bag and sword inside, and then made myself comfortable.

I was surprised that I welcomed the feeling of falling asleep after what happened to me, but I guess there is a difference between being stuck in limbo and sleeping.

Oh well, I will worry about this stuff later, now I just wanted to regain some of my energy.

This went for three days straight, walk for who knows how long until I couldn't, make a campfire for the night, sleep, and the routine repeated itself.

There was nothing noteworthy to say about the travel, I didn't think I needed to say anything about what rations I ate for three days or how every tree looked the same.

However, today I was lucky enough to find something resembling a road. Finally, I had a small lead in any form of civilization. So, I followed the road, but it still took at least four hours to find any form of a settlement, but I did in the end.

Now, I should be overjoyed to find a small town, but a problem I had right now is that the town looked old, like being stuck in the medieval age-old.

The houses were either made from wood or stone, the wall protecting the village was also made from the same material and there are only two entrances, meaning I will have to probably pass some sort of guard before I could enter the town. I hoped they could speak any language I could speak as well. That situation could get extremely awkward.

When I got closer to the town, I could see that the guards weren't your typical police. They looked more like typical soldiers from a medieval period, with armor to cover the chest, wrists, legs, abdomen, and head and a spear or a lance in their possession.

Now I was quite worried that if they won't like me, they could skewer me with their weapons, so I needed to look as harmless as possible, but the sword at my hip didn't help it. I still marched on to the town because it was tempting to finally rest in a bed rather than on the ground.

After all, my back was starting to feel sore.

"Halt, who goes there!" Exclaimed a guard who was perched on a small tower on the wall. He spoke English, thank god I was quite lucky indeed.

Well, time for some sort of cover story.

"I am just a traveler looking for temporary shelter," I responded to the guard who started to walk down from the tower to probably inspect me. After a few moments of waiting, he appeared right in front of me and started to scrutinize me with his brown eyes.

"Set all weapons here on the table for inspection and the coin for the inn." Commanded the guard and since I didn't want any trouble, I complied and set my sword on the table, the book that helped me light the fire. I didn't think they would want me to run around with a book that allowed you to conjure fire out of the blue and the coin satchel.

All things that were given to me by Alexander.

The guard inspected all three items with a critical eye and after a few minutes he responded "Seems everything is in order, just be careful with the tome, we don't want another incident with a fire going out of control, this town was attacked by bandits this morning.".

"Oh, well, you have my sympathies then." I tried to continue the conversation and the guard only looked at me with a small smile and responded "No, it's not necessary, the attack was quelled by our prince and fortunately nobody died during the attack, the only thing that was damaged were the buildings.".

"Well, good for you then. So, can I go inside the town, or do I have to wait for something else?" I asked the guard which he shook his head.

"No, you can take your positions. Welcome to Southtown, traveler." He responded and I flinched at the name of the town.

Surely there was no way...

No, probably just a name coincidence, but I didn't want to be left in the dark.

"What is the name of the prince? I just got here quite recently, and I have little to no knowledge about this place." I asked the guard who scoffed at me, but in a way that a parent does to their child when they didn't do their homework.

"You don't know? Our prince is named Chrom, brother to the Exalt Emmeryn. He leads the Shepherds to help us common folk in many ways, getting rid of bandits is one of them." He replied and I felt like I had frozen on the spot.

Did I hear him right? He said it with such a straight face that there was no way he was lying and with the town named Southtown….

"You okay there, sir? You look like you have seen a ghost." The guard said a little worriedly and I snapped out of my trance but still shaken up by this revelation.

"No, I mean yes. Yes, I am fine, thank you for your concern, sir. I'll be on my way." I bid the guard farewell, picking up my stuff, and made my way towards the town faster than I knew was possible and then everything hit me like a goddamn truck.

How in the holy mother of all fucks did I get here!? Fire Emblem was a fictional story inside of a game! I was royally screwed!

"Ok, calm down, deep breaths. In… and… out. Everything will be fine, it's not like you know how the story will progress, you don't have to survive pretty much three wars in one life span. I'm good, I'm good, just peachy." After my little outburst, I started to rationally think again and addressed my current situation, although I was still shaken up by that.

Since I knew where I was now, I needed to make some sort of plan, but I needed to accommodate myself first inside of an inn so went to find the town square.

After politely asking a few people who gave me directions towards the town square and an inn, I found my destination. The square was filled with people living their daily lives, merchants, and buyers trying to haggle a respectable or profitable price for either party. I could also see a church from here and it was your typical medieval church made of stone and mosaics.

The people around here looked normal, even though the color of their hair can be extremely weird, the town didn't. I could see the remnants of the bandit attack, burned houses and food stalls, and leftover ash still permeated the ground.

There was also a small bridge over the river that led towards the church that was damaged, but right now I needed to find the inn. I have also noticed that people gave me awkward stares, probably because of my outfit. I looked quite out of place since the clothing I had wasn't cheap back where I came from.

Coats were only common among the nobility in the medieval ages so seeing a young man wearing one must be either a runaway noble or was way too rich for his own good. I was also a prime target for pickpocketing, so I got to stay sharp, even if the sword could be enough to turn people off.

The inn I found was nothing special, it's just a two-storied house with extra rooms for lodging with the ground floor working as the pub. Since the sun wasn't setting yet, I still had time before it got completely dark.

So, I walked inside the inn and I was immediately bombarded by the smell of sweat, smoke, and alcohol. People filled most of the stools and tables, which were filled with used mugs, plates full or empty of food, and were enjoying their afternoon after a hard day's work.

It looked like there were still things that didn't change from world to world.

Sometimes people just like to unwind and if it is with company or alcohol, who cares. I made my way towards the bar and sat on the only stool that was available and called for the large burly bartender with a bald head and a respectable brown beard.

"Hello sir, I would like to rent one room for a single person for a night. Are there any rooms free?" I tried to be as polite as possible because the man looked like he could pick me up from the ground with just one hand.

"I'm no sir, and yes, we do have a room for ye, lad. It'll be two silver coins." I didn't know if it was a respectable price or not since I had no idea of the economy here.

I fished out my satchel with my money and picked up two silver coins and handed it to the bartender who nodded and took the money from me.

"Say lad, what does a noble kid like ye doin' in this ransacked town like this one? News travel quickly in this little town, and seein' someone new around here, especially with clothes ye got, is rare." He asked me to strike up a conversation, probably because nobody was sober enough to hold a meaningful one.

"First of all, I am not a noble. I am rough around the edges and I have a way with words not a lot of people like. Second, I just needed a place to sleep after three days of camping in the woods." I explained my situation in the shortest way possible and the bartender seemed satisfied with my answer.

"How much for a mug of your best ale?" I suddenly asked to the surprise of the bartender as he looked at me with a shocked expression, but then he burst into hearty laughter "Sure, but can ye handle one whole mug lad? Ye don't look like someone who can pull his weight!".

I mocked a hurt expression, but smirking the whole way "That hurts my pride, but ok then, let's make a bet. You prepare a mug of ale and if I drink it in one go, I won't have to pay for it but if I don't, I'll pay double the price of one mug. Sounds good?".

"Hah, I like ye already! Hey boys, we got a feisty one over here! Start the bets. Can this scrawny little lad drink a whole mug in one go!?" he prompted the entire pub to watch me drink a whole mug.

Well, that went totally in a different direction than I anticipated, but I didn't mind. You have no idea how many drinking buddies you could find in a single pub back in Czechia, I was in my element.

"Him!? Not even halfway! Fifty copper on that!" Shouted one of the patrons.

"Please, not even that, he probably never touched this stuff in his stuffy mansion! One silver!" Another joined the conversation, and the betting wars began.

I was a little surprised to see that most of the patrons have agreed to think I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Oh, how wrong they were, they have never met a Czech mate like me.

Well, it was a checkmate for me.

Heh.

"Here ye go lad. Bottoms up!" The bartender handed me a classic wooden mug filled with his finest ale. I could already tell this was going to be easy.

The color of the beer was quite pale, meaning this will be like drinking everyday water. I took a small sip to taste it and I was spot on; it was quite weak compared to what I normally drink. This will be a walk in the park.

"What, ye don't like the taste. Hah, that will be half a silver for…me?" he said but probably had a baffled face on him right now since I couldn't see him through the mug.

I drank the mug one big gulp at a time, and another and another while the whole pub fell silent. After a few seconds of me drinking the whole mug, I hit it against the table with adequate force, signaling the mug was empty of its contents.

"Man, if you call this stuff beer or ale, then I have seen sharks breathe fire and pigs grow wings and started to fly." I boasted.

Seriously I came from a background where our whole country prides itself on having probably the best beer in the world, with an average of a pint a day for a single person in a year, they have quite the competition.

The bar fell eerie silent at my little stunt but then burst into loud cheers.

"Well lad, that sure was surprisin'. I guess that one was on the house then. Want another?" he asked me with bemusement and I complied by giving him my now empty mug.

I missed this, loud people just enjoying the gift of alcohol and company. I stroke up a conversation with some of the patrons and all were quite nice.

After seeing my stunt, they asked me how and why and all sorts of other questions while me being sober the entire evening and eventually night. I did get some important information as well.

Most of them were simple like where is Ylisstol, if the ones who saved the town were the Shepherds and where is the library, since if magic was real then I want to take full advantage of it.

With the night getting ever so closer, I think I was done for today. I was able to unwind a little with people I had never met, but hey the company was good.

I came to the bar and called the bartender to show me my room. He instead gave me a key to the room with a wooden badge telling me which room was mine.

"Just go upstairs and ye will find your room eventually, I need to make sure these idiots don't break anythin'. Breakfast is served durin' the first ray of light." He said with a small frown, but I was pretty sure he was just happy to have a business and such a colorful and drunken company.

"Alright, I'll be on my way then." I bid the bartender farewell and I started to go upstairs to find my room and the first room was the room he assigned me, so I didn't have to search for it. I slotted the key inside the keyhole and with a twist, I heard a satisfying click, signaling the door has been opened.

However, I was met with the most generic room ever. One bed, one shelf, one table, one chair, and enough space for one person, that was it. I kind of expected that, but I honestly didn't care, a bed was a bed, and my spine will sing a happy tune after tonight's sleep.

I closed the door, locked it, and set aside my things on the table while lighting up the candle by brushing my fingers against the tome and small sparks started to form and I touched the wick of the candle and it lit up like a charm.

This book was quite functional, but whenever I use it, I feel very slightly drained like something was sucking my energy away, probably it used something in my body as fuel. I will read about it soon enough when I get to the library.

I took off my coat which honestly smelled horrible, after three-plus days of straight use this thing needs some sort of a clean-up and I am not going to even mention my other stuff.

After taking off my extremely smelly clothes and boots and blowing the candle, I opted to lay on the bed and oh my god mattress I missed you so much. Even if it was hard, it still was a form of a mattress. I plopped on the bed and after a quick minute of thinking about my future actions, I fell to blissful sleep.

But morning just had to come early this time.

After I woke up, I looked from the only window in this room and I saw that the sun wasn't even coming out yet, so I will use this time to check if there is a way to clean myself up.

I put on my shirt with my jeans, opened the door, and looked around if I find any form of a bathroom.

I found it after a couple of minutes of walking around and my thoughts on the bathroom were mixed. I get that this is a period where plumbing barely started to be a thing, but this was Spartan.

Just a giant bucket filled with water that will be thrown out once somebody bathes in it and a simple restroom. Well, but a bath was a bath and I needed one immediately.

I guessed I was just going to have to bear it.

If I won't find a way to get back home then I was going to invent a shower, it is more efficient.

Huh, now I felt kind of turned off by my recent thoughts. Not finding a way back home. Man, my mother must be beside herself.

"No, now is not the time to think about that. Think about the immediate future, you will find a way to get back home eventually." I said to myself while taking the bath and using a provided scrubber to get rid of sweat and grime. I felt refreshed and renewed and I threw away the water outside.

After my bath, using my sweatshirt as an improvised towel, and getting all my stuff ready, I exited my room and locked it using the provided key.

At least the clothes didn't smell as bad as yesterday although it was slightly disgusting to wear something over four days straight.

I could see the breakfast was ready because I could see people eating a set of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a loaf of bread. I sat on top of a stool next to the bar and called for the bartender again and he nodded and after a minute came with a wooden plate with the aforementioned food and a mug of weak mead.

"I have to say lad, ye were the star last night. All of us had little expectations from ye, but ye blew it out of the water. Still, I can't believe you were able to down that mug in one go. That was one of my stronger ales too." He said with a face portraying nothing in particular.

"If you ever tasted anything from where I come from, then you would classify your strongest ale as a cider at best," I said in a manner of fact tone with a small smirk as well. That bet was so easy for me to win it wasn't even funny, I even won a few silver coins thanks to it, but this breakfast was waiting for me and it smelled delicious. I could kiss this bartender for the fresh food right now, eating rations for a few days does that to you.

"Heh, coming from ye lad, I would dare to believe that. Not only ye drank it in one go, but ye handled your alcohol the best as well. Ye have to tell us yer secret sometime." He prompted me to tell him the best way to stay sober during a drinking fest.

"Maybe another time, can't show all of my trump cards now, can I? Now, this breakfast is getting cold so can I have a little me-time?" I politely dismissed the bartender who complied but before he moved on to another customer he said "Diluc.".

"Radko," I replied and started to eat my breakfast and after I finished, I took my leave and bid Diluc farewell.

Since I had asked where the library was or should I say the bookstore, since this place didn't need a library, I headed that way next. I was going to need to learn everything about magic since I want to know at least something about what I will be using in the future.

The bookstore was labeled by a sign near it. Honestly, if the sign wasn't there you would think it's just another normal house. When I opened the door, a small noise came from the bell that was attached close to it and I was met with a young woman with red hair behind the counter wearing some yellow leather clothing.

I have to admit, she looked pretty.

"Hello sir, what can I do for you?" She asked as well as bowed slightly.

"Hello, I would like to buy anything related to magic studies, if you have any of course," I asked the lady who nodded, indicating they have something for me.

"We do, can you please wait here for a minute? I'll be back shortly." She left the counter and went to find my books in need. Since I had some time to kill, I looked around the bookstore and saw that it was quite clean and organized. Although it was quite small, there were still a few shelves filled with books about heroic adventures, history, or in some cases trashy romance novels.

Heh, now I knew where Sumia and Cordelia got their books.

"I am back, now there weren't a lot of books about magic theory sadly, I was only able to find these two." I walked back to the counter and checked the titles of the books. One of them said 'Basic knowledge to Magic theory' and the other 'Elements of the World'.

Thankfully, the script was nearly identical to the English script, meaning I wasn't illiterate, it had a little more flourish to it. I felt I was being lucky with a lot of things lately; something told me that all this luck was going to bite me the least I expected to.

"I will take both of them, do you also have any supplies for writing?" I asked the shopkeeper, to which she nodded and scrambled a box from somewhere and showed me a selection of quills, each having a distinct style and varying sizes.

Since the style wasn't important nor the size, I chose the smallest one possible for convenience. I then also chose a diary to write on. I was not going to use it as a typical diary but more of as a holder for paper and lastly an ink bottle.

Man, buying all these supplies made me feel fancy.

"Will that be everything, sir?" She asked me in a neutral tone, and I nodded. She then started to calculate the price of all the items I wanted to buy.

"That will be twenty-five silver and sixty-five copper coins." She stated her price, and I took out the amount she called for and since I used up most of my coppers in the inn last night, I felt generous enough to give it to the shopkeeper, so I handed her twenty-six silver instead and then added "Keep the rest, have a nice day.".

I took my newly acquired items, put them inside my bag and I walked out of the shop. I didn't look at the expression of her since I thought it wasn't necessary. You must probably question the size of my bag right now since it was able to fit a whole bedroll inside, so what's the deal with it? My bag was efficient, with many side pockets and a large one where the bedroll fitted just fine, this bag strapped on my left shoulder lasted me my entire high school and the rest of the university before all of this happened.

Anyway, the last thing I needed to take care of was supplies for the trip. From what I have heard it takes roughly a week to get to Ylisstol from here so I was going to need more supplies than normal, but if I follow the main road, there is a smaller village where I could restock.

I went to the town square and visited the main merchant and food stalls and tried my best to haggle my way to the best possible prices I could manage. I wasn't going to bother with the details, but there were a lot of people who tried to rip me off with ridiculous prices. They probably thought I was easy money, well never argue with someone from Czechia, stubborn was our middle name.

I was able to acquire supplies for four days if I wouldn't ration them. If I would then it would last me for the whole trip, but growing thin wasn't something I wanted. I hoped I will find the town on my way towards Ylisstol or hitchhike some caravan that aimed for said city.

I checked the position of the sun and it looked like it was barely noon, so might as well be on my way. I headed towards one of the gates and to my surprise, I found the same guard that inspected me yesterday. I might have seen him in the pub during the night, but I would be lying if I said I knew.

"Ah, it's you, traveler. How you liked the town?" he asked me with a little hint of pride. No wonder, even though the city got attacked yesterday, it felt like it was just brushing away everyday problems.

"Your people are quite sturdy, being able to hop back on your feet after a bandit attack so quickly is impressive. I can't say the same about your alcohol tolerance." I said in a bemused tone to which the guard chuckled slightly and then straightened his posture.

"We thank you for your visit and hope to see you again. Be careful during your travels. Going out there alone can be dangerous. May Naga watch over you." He bid me farewell with a nod and I replied "Farewell." and got on my way towards my destination.

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

Damn, this whole 'walking to your destination' thing was just tedious. I took public transport for granted, they say when you lose something, you then realize the importance of it.

What a paradox.

I was sticking to the road most of the time, but when it came to sleeping, I always opted for the forest, I felt safer in there.

I was on my third day of travel and thankfully I still had enough supplies for two days, the sun was starting to set again and I aimed for the forest and found a decent spot for today's campfire.

After a little search for the spot, finding enough firewood, and making myself comfortable I sit on my bedroll and continue to read the first book I bought back in the bookstore.

I was able to learn quite a lot from the book. First of all, I wanted to know what source magic uses as fuel. The book said that every living being has something called magic veins. These magic veins vary in power and capacity, both can be strengthened to some degree like a muscle, by constantly putting these magic veins under stress by casting strong spells one at a time for power or a smaller spell being kept for a long time for capacity.

You can of course overuse this muscle, but instead of feeling the muscle being in pain, you will start to feel drained and if magic is used in this state, there is a high chance you could fry your magic veins. While not lethal, it is extremely painful from what I could tell from the book and there is a high chance it will prohibit you from using magic ever again.

Second, there are two types of tomes, one that is expendable, and the second is a personal tome.

The former is most of the time used as training wheels for new mages, for people with weak magic veins, or in a military unit because they are cheap and easily mass-produced. They also hold only one spell that can be used multiple times according to how many pages the tome has left.

The personal tomes are different, instead of the pages disappearing after use, mages use some sort of binding spell to connect themselves to a tome and then write incantations in the tome using a complicated method of infusing ink with magic and then writing by following some sort of magical ley lines, they can also hold more than one spell at a time.

These tomes are made when a mage is skillful enough to handle the process as well as having enough knowledge about magic itself and after the process is done those books can only be used by the mage who bonded themselves with set tomes.

However, the process is hard to accomplish so there aren't many people who have personal tomes, they are also more dangerous.

That begs the question, what is the tome Alexander gave me? I could use it, but the pages didn't seem to disappear whenever I tried to cast something. I guess I will have to figure that out in due time.

And last but not least, how to properly cast using a tome.

The whole process is about controlling the flow of your magic veins into the tome you are using. Disposable tomes work like this, you need to 'sing' the incantation out loud for it to do anything with a little amount of magic flowing into it. The incantation is like a condition for it to work, the pages are the fuel, and the magic flow is the trigger.

The personal tome doesn't work like that. If you connected to a personal tome, it is more like an extension, not a crutch. You can control it with the flow of magic, and you don't need to shout the incantation, sometimes you just need to brush your hand against the tome to activate it or you just will any spell into existence, which just sounds ridiculous.

The problem is being able to control your magic veins, the tome is like a vacuum that spits out the spell you wanted to cast. You can easily overload the spell if you can't control how much mana you put into it.

Physical contact with the tome is the easiest way to activate that vacuum and also the easiest way to deactivate it. Being the most preferred way of casting when using a personal tome, it is also the safest.

If you would contact the tome via a magic flow link and not a physical one, it can take no more than five seconds before a mage would be completely drained of all his magic veins power and the tome doesn't know when to stop which would lead towards complete mana depletion and sometimes even death like the tome would suck your life away.

Now I began to think the tome I had, bore greater risk than reward, but I didn't think I had a choice in the matter. If war was coming, then it would be the survival of the fittest and smartest and I was going to need every advantage I could get.

Speaking of every advantage I could get, the sword that Alexander gave me. During my travels, I sometimes tried to swing Hielobjerg for practice and the blade fitted nicely in my arms, although it is too heavy for me to swing it with one hand, even if it is a long sword and not a great sword.

I remembered going to some kendo practice when I was in high school, but once I started college, I didn't have time to participate anymore, but there are several routines that my master drilled into me that I used to this day to keep myself fit.

I just wasn't using a real sword but a one made from bamboo and had protective armor on. With this thing being sharp, I worried that I could easily injure myself.

By the way, vulneraries are a real thing here, you drink them, and they work as an all-purpose medicine for cuts and bruises but not for something like broken bones, internal organ damage, or illness.

They were also pretty expensive, ten silver for a bottle so I got two, just in case.

I had to also check the status of my allowance and I was still in the clear. I spent slightly over a gold coin and I still have several of them inside my satchel, but in due time I will have to find a way to make money and I didn't have any idea how.

I was supposed to be a programmer, not someone who would do labor-intensive work.

With me explaining how to cast magic and my 'training' aside, I closed the book since it was getting dark and I arranged the logs to be ready for the campfire. Since I wanted to get better at casting magic, instead of just using the sparks to light up the kindling, I opted to try and fire a small fireball at the logs.

I picked up my tome and found the page where the fire spell was. It didn't have many pages, only about ten, and two already had markings on them.

The fire spell was the second one, or at least I thought.

I touched the text and I immediately felt the effect of the tome, trying to suck all my mana I thought I never had, but after a fraction of a second, I pulled my right hand away from the tome.

Sparks flew across my hand, trying to form the fire I needed to light up the camp, but instead of the fireball I got last time, the sparks formed into something different.

It took a few seconds, and then I had a small ice shard floating in my hand the size of a pen, but trice the thickness. I was slightly taken back, but this was the exact opposite of what I needed, I would have to read the other book soon since I didn't remember if ice magic was in Awakening or not.

Since this thing couldn't be snuffed out like the fire, I took aim at a nearby tree and made a motion with my hand to launch the shard. With a loud bang, the arrow plunged itself inside the tree trunk halfway through.

Holy crap, that would kill someone if it hit anywhere vital, that was pretty much on par with a shotgun shell, not with speed, but how much damage it would do.

After I inspected the amount of damage I dealt with just one spell, I flipped the page to the spell that was the fire spell, so again I touched the text, and sparks formed in my hand, and then they formed into a fireball twice the size of a tennis ball.

After just two spells I could already feel drained and if I wanted to cast a third spell, I would be pushing it. I carefully aimed my fireball at the campfire and launched it. The fireball created a small explosion of flame before settling on the logs that caught on fire.

Although the logs caught on fire instantly, I was too close to the explosion and it probably singed my eyebrows.

Next time I'll just use the sparks instead.

I was starting to feel lightheaded after using just two spells. I guess I will have to work on that. Probably with the capacity, since two spells weren't nearly enough for one skirmish let alone a big battle.

I settled myself inside my bedroll that got smellier with each passing day, but as I said before I will take this over the ground on any day.

I put my stuff inside and fell asleep yet again.

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

It was the fifth day of my trip, night before the sunrise and I was starting to get used to walking.

After just a week of pure travel, my legs felt like they could hall thrice my body weight and then some. But this constant walking was boring and tedious, I even tried to swing Hielobjerg around when I was inside the forest so that my arms wouldn't look flimsy in comparison to my legs.

Since it was pretty much night, I also found out a good way to train my magic capacity by having a small ball of fire flying in front of me for me to see better in the darkness.

I thought about the idea of willing the spells into existence sounding completely ridiculous, but once I summoned a fireball, I just had to silently tell it to move in front of me.

I was honestly surprised that it worked just like that. Although I could feel this small fireball taking a little amount of mana as well as some of my concentration. If I would forget about the fireball it would just disappear or it would snuff itself out.

I was walking inside the forest because I thought it would be weird seeing a guy swing his sword around like a maniac while having a fireball fly around him like being ready to burn anyone who he won't like. I did meet quite a few people during my travels when I was on the road, but most of them weren't noteworthy.

There was one situation, where I was passing by one of these people and he accidentally bumped into me and once he saw me with the blade strapped to my hip, he immediately started apologizing, like I would cut him down for staining my coat with his mere presence or something.

I would have laughed at the guy, but he looked like he could have lost it there, so I helped him up, said that nothing was wrong and for good measure, gave him a few copper coins.

But right now, that wasn't something I wanted to talk about. I walked through the forest that still looked the same as ever, however, I could see the light of torches in front of me.

I immediately snuffed out my fireball and tried to find a respectable position where I will be able to observe what was going on in front of me.

After getting ever so closer I realized that this will either be my first fight or an attempt at an escape depending on the situation.

I just had to stay calm.

"Damn that prince! Can't even pillage a village when he is nearby! Now because of him, our boss is dead!" shouted one burly-looking man. He looked like your stereotypical bandit from Fire Emblem, large arms, burly face, unclean, and probably had a smelly breath too. He was comforted by one of his pals, although he didn't look too pleased either.

"Don't worry pal, I 've heard the prince has already headed towards Ylisstol, we can attack the village nearby and get some good coin from there." He reassured his bandit pal.

The squad consisted of four of them, two wielding an ax, one a bow, and the last one a sword. I was able to visit the village they were probably mentioning and even though there are only four of them, they would be able to pillage the village without an issue. I didn't register a large militia nor any guards of sorts there and it was a settlement with only ten houses so it wouldn't even count as a village back home.

What should I do?

If I won't stop then here then they will put the village to the torch. But I had a clear escape route, where I won't diverge from my way towards Ylisstol.

But the people were nice and humble. I gave them a decent amount of money for the supplies they could get me, and they even let me sleep in one of their unused rooms and they didn't even want compensation for it.

Damn it!

"No, I don't want to do this. I'm not ready…" I begged to myself. My mother had taught me to never make any debts and I was starting to see why. It's either me running away and living another day, or risking my life. If I win, I will have blood on my hands, but save people who wouldn't be able to defend themselves.

Why, why is this so hard!? I should just run away and be done with it, but the guilt forming in me would be too much to bear if I let the village get attacked.

"Fine!" I shouted in my head and began with getting my tome ready, brushing my hand against the text where my ice shard was and readied two of them. The hardest part of these spells is the initial cast, keeping them going is easy enough for me now that I can have two spells at a time with each hovering over my shoulders.

I closed the distance, just outside of their vision range. Usually, when you have a torch in the night, your vision worsens, and you can't see far. Thanks to it, I was able to sneak behind them, plus, their banter was quite loud, and they weren't able to hear me getting closer.

I need to kill the sword fighter and the archer first. Range was the name of the game, if you had a longer reach than your opponent, it allowed you to make the first move. The element of surprise also played a big role too.

I took a deep quiet breath and put on a mask of indifference, I can deal with the trauma later when there will be nobody trying to kill me. When I saw the opportunity, I launched my ice shards at the archer and sword fighter as both shards hit my designated targets.

The archer was impaled in his head, killing him instantly and he ungracefully slumped to the ground. The sword fighter was struck in his spine, he yelled in pain and paralyzed him on the spot and he too soon met the ground on his back. He was still twitching, trying to regain his footing, but couldn't.

"What the hell!? Where did that come from?!" shouted one of the bandits, looking around frantically to spot someone who attacked his two companions and both of them brandished their axes. They circled each other, looking around to spot me and I couldn't find a good timing to attack them nor could I create an ice shard, so I revealed myself to the bandits.

I got a better look at the two. One of them was much larger than the other, the first was the definition of a brute with more muscle than necessary and an exposed hairy chest. The other was much leaner but wasn't looking any better than his companion. With unkempt hair and visible rotten teeth, they looked disgusting.

"There he is! You will pay for that, you noble brat!" The brute shouted and the leaner bandit turned around to face me. They carefully shortened the gap between us while I brandished Hielobjerg for them to see while taking a stance I was most familiar with during my kendo practice.

"Hmm, that blade sure looks expensive, I think we just hit gold with him." Whispered the leaner one to the brute, but I was able to hear them clearly through the silence of the forest. The brute hummed his response, and they were ready to attack me. With the muscle head charging at me with an overhead swing, while the other was using his agility to circle me from behind.

I took a deep breath and let the memories of my kendo practice resurface.

I parried his attack to the surprise of the brute and immediately went on the offensive, lunging straight at him with the tip of my blade. Surprised by my sudden attack, he was barely able to avoid my lunge, earning a long cut on his right cheek, and backed off just in time.

It gave me enough leniency to look around for the other bandit. As if on cue I spotted him while doing a jumping attack from my right side, thinking it was the most effective way to kill me.

Never losing your footing in a fight was important, jumping attacks were a quick way to let yourself be wide open to your opponent because of the predictable movement.

His attack was easily read by me like an open book and I sidestepped, making him hit nothing. The look of horror on his face was almost too much for me, but I steeled myself for the next part.

I had the opportunity to end his life and through great reluctance, I took it.

Hielobjerg sailed through the air and cut through the bandit's neck like a hot knife through butter. The head of the bandit plopped on the ground with a soft thud, while blood was pouring from both the head and the body as it was unceremoniously brought down like the two bandits before.

I looked at the last standing brute with my blank stare that will shatter with time, but the bandit didn't back down. He bellowed a war-cry filled with a vengeance for his fellow accomplice while rushing at me, weapon held high.

With my weapon hung close into a defensive stance to meet the ax of the brute, he started his assault with a fury. I parried or deflected his predictable attacks, akin to a new student inside my master's dojo.

The wooden shaft of the ax started to crack from all of the forceful attacks from the brute, or the muscle head didn't check his weapon's condition. After a strike I deflected, I saw an opportunity and instead of aiming for a chance to kill him, I attacked the shaft of the ax and it shattered.

The blade went flying, cutting my left hand, but I didn't feel anything as the adrenaline numbed my senses. The now disarmed bandit eyes went wide and without missing a beat I stabbed him, biting Hielobjerg into his heart. No screams came from the brute and after pulling back the blade, he fell to the ground motionless.

And just like that, I was able to kill four people in less than a few minutes.

In minutes...

Why was it so easy to kill someone when they have their backs turned, and why does it take so little to end someone's life!? The mask fell, the dam broke, and I started to cry.

I dropped to my knees with my sword and I started to wail, like a child lost in a supermarket. I didn't know for how long I cried, but it became so loud it was a scream and I let it all out for nature to hear as well as for the now rising sun, signaling the start of a day with its rays of light shining on the place of the battle, like it was glorifying the heinous act I had just committed.

"I never wanted this…" I said weakly after my outbreak. This… was not right. I didn't want to do it, but I had to! They would have attacked the village, I had to stop them!

"I guess… that's two of us…" I turned around to see who was talking to me and it was the swordfighter I attacked from behind and managed to paralyze him. Please don't make things harder than they already are.

"Damn… I guess under all that façade is just a weak scrawny kid trying to survive…." He said in his dying breath, I closed the distance while picking up my sword. When I had a better look at him, he looked like someone close to my age, with brown hair and green eyes. It just made the next thing harder to do, putting him out of his misery.

"Just do it, you've bested us, so reap the rewards. Survival of the fittest and all that..." His breath became more ragged and forced each passing second and I didn't want him to suffer anymore, so I readied my sword to finish him off. I was shivering, the sword's blade was shaking from side to side.

I started to lower the blade and before I did, I whispered weakly "I am so sorry for this." as I finished the deed and plunged my sword through his heart as he laid on his puddle of blood. I started to cry again, life was so unfair sometimes and this was a perfect example.

Sometimes there is no right choice.

I cannot give them a proper burial, it would sadly take too much time and since they are now dead, I will take some of their possessions, mostly just money. It took me much longer than I would have liked, but after checking all the bodies and one puking session later, I made my way towards Ylisstol with a burden I didn't know how long I could carry alone.

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

I was still shaken up by my act just two days ago. My thoughts were a jumbled mess from 'I did the right thing.' to 'I should have just run away.'. I didn't remember what I did these past two days, they were just a blur to me. I wasn't feeling it with the reading, training, or trying to get myself out of these train of thoughts, I guess I was just trying to survive.

After one week and a first taste of what was to come in the future, I was finally able to see Ylisstol on the horizon, or I thought it was Ylisstol, but if that giant castle made from white marble wasn't a dead giveaway, then I didn't know what was.

Being built on a hill, the castle was surrounded by many buildings and homes for people to live in, and depending on how high some buildings are, their status probably rose as well, while the probable slums are at the bottom, surrounded by a giant wall protecting everything.

It was an hour's walk before I was met with the giant gate with a small entrance for people to walk through. I was met with a guard who did the same thing as the guard back in Southtown, he inspected my weapons, coins and needed to know what the purpose of my travel was, to which I replied that I was just a traveler, but after I was inside Ylisstol, it got me thinking.

What was my goal? Stop the war? No, that was inevitable. If Gangrel is as mad as the game portraits him then, there was no hope there. Same with the whole Valm thing and Grima was Grima.

It was not like a single person like me would be able to do anything about it anyway, nobody would believe some random guy in a coat stating he knew the future.

This thought process was getting me nowhere.

I instead looked around the streets and my first impression of the slums was surprising, to say the least. They were clean, I didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, and people around here looked normal with no problems whatsoever.

I always had the impression of slums being this filthy place for people with no money and trying their best to survive, but this place was none of those things. When I reached the main square, it was the same just like Southtown except on a much grander scale. This city just looked and felt peaceful, no matter where you were.

"Look, the Exalt has come to see us." Exclaimed an old man using a cane and I immediately thought that was Alexander, but I shut down that thought immediately because when I looked at the old man one more time, I could tell it wasn't him. I clenched my fist in frustration and desperately needed to vent some of my anger. Alexander will face my wrath when I will find him for putting me through all of this.

When I turned around to see where the old man was pointing, all of that pent-up anger seemed to seep away as I spotted Emmeryn, the Exalt. She was walking around with just some form of an honor guard down here at the lowest possible level of the city. Now I could see why she was so beloved by her people if she treated the 'slums' of this city like this, no wonder they looked so clean.

As for Emmeryn herself, she wore a golden and green robe with a white dress underneath and a golden halo circlet. With blond hair, blue eyes, and a serene expression on her face, she was the definition of a benevolent ruler who tries her best for her people.

Now that I thought about it, this scene felt familiar. This was the place where the Avatar found out about Chrom's and Lissa's heritage, and it brought a smile to my face, remembering the scene. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it did its job right.

I guess right now, my goal should be to shadow the Shepherds, but how would I get into their ranks? Through merit won't work; I was a nobody after all with no spectacular talent under my belt, but there might be a way for me to get recruited. It was a long shot, but it would be better than nothing.

Since I knew they have probably faced the Risen by now, they will go to Regna Ferox to secure an alliance with Khan Flavia and there might be the opportunity to join there, although I will have to read a bit on how the actual tournament worked. The game was extremely vague when it came to a lot of intricacies about culture and whatnot, forcing me to do some research.

God, I wish google was a thing here.

I will need to find lodging for the time being and even if this part of the city looks prosperous enough, I will indulge myself in some higher standard inn than usual, I need to clean myself up and my clothes. After all, I reeked so bad I needed to get rid of this smell.

After half an hour of walking, and passing a set of guards, I was on the second level of the city. It wasn't too different from the lowest one, but there were slight differences that made it look more prosperous. People wore slightly different attires with a little more flare and instead of food or merchant stalls, you have normal shops inside of buildings just like the bookstore back in Southtown.

From what I have heard it was forbidden to conduct any form of trade in the city streets and everything needed to be done inside the shops, I have even seen a few soldiers passed by to make sure no business was being made.

I didn't know why, but I guessed it had something to do with merchants yelling at each other during the day, which was understandable, it can get annoying rather quickly.

I asked a few people where the nearest inn was and they pointed me to a nice-looking house, at least for the medieval period. It was pretty much a knockoff of Diluc's inn, except when I walked in, I wasn't bombarded by the sweat and smoke, just alcohol. The pub was currently empty except for the bartender since it was too early for people to get drunk.

"Hello sir, I would like to rent a room for one person. Are there any rooms available?" I asked when I got to the bar. The man behind the bar turned around to look at me and instead pointed me towards an actual reception this time without saying anything. This guy probably wasn't one for conversation. I voiced a quick "Thank you.", before moving to the reception and I met a woman that was most likely the manager of the inn.

"Greetings sir. What can I do for you?" she asked me in a neutral tone, waiting for my request.

"Hello, I would like to rent a room for a few nights. I don't know how long I will stay here yet." I said to the receptionist, so I could hopefully have a flexible way to leave the inn when it will be necessary.

"I am sorry sir, but unless you tell us for how long you will stay, then I would like you to kindly leave this inn. We sadly have a bad experience with people like you, trying to change the number of days they will stay here on the fly." She stated with a frown. Fine, that was understandable.

So, how many days would I need? Probably just one, that would give me enough time to get some information around these parts as well as get fresh supplies.

"All right then, I will stay here for one night, I will leave in the morning," I stated and her expression changed from a frown to a small smile, probably happy that her words didn't deter me from staying here and got to work on my lodging. After a minute she came back with a key to the room.

"It will be ten silver, for a room for one night, which includes breakfast and dinner, with access to the bathroom. You can also leave your clothes in a box, which you can give to us and we will wash your clothes for a fee, depending on how many clothes you need to wash. The number to your room is shown on the key itself." She stated and I couldn't be happier with my choice, not only I didn't have to worry about food but also, they could wash these clothes from grime and sweat.

Oh, the power of having money, it never got old. I gave the receptionist the amount she asked for and I would be on my way, but she stopped me by warning me "I would like to also mention this place is popular during the night and it can get a little noisy, but if you are a heavy sleeper, you should be fine.".

Please, I have slept through many things, a loud pub wasn't a problem for me, but since I was going to give them my clothes, might as well ask for the price.

"Thank you for warning me. I am thinking about giving you my clothes for a wash, how much should I be expecting to pay?"

"Usually, it is around one to two silver, but with that coat of yours and everything below it, I would prepare three just in case. Have a nice stay." She answered.

"Thank you," I replied and with a nod, I headed towards the first floor to find my designated room. I could already tell this was going to be much more relaxing than in Diluc's inn.

Now, I wasn't trying to downplay Diluc, but the more money you spent the better the accommodation will be. It was the sad truth but that's just how the world works, people with money have the power to choose and increase their standards. I was just lucky this pouch of money suddenly appeared in my bag. If I didn't have it then I would have been in a bind.

I found my room and after a few minutes of getting acquainted with it, I found the box where I could put my clothes for washing. I stripped myself from my smelly clothing and put them inside the box. I just hope they won't find my clothes too foreign to be afraid of damaging them.

I made my way towards the public bathroom with only a towel covering my midsection while I dropped the box on the designated spot and put three silver coins on the side as my payment.

Once I was in the bathroom, I was pleasantly surprised to see that showers do exist here, although they were relatively primitive, it was a shower nonetheless. With soap that was thankfully provided to me, I began to get rid of everything on me, but I winced when the soap touched my left arm, making me bring up my arm for inspection and I spotted a small gash on the back of my hand.

Damn, I forgot to treat it. I hope it hasn't gotten infected or something. I bought vulneraries for a reason but then completely forgot to use them when they were needed. Now that I thought about it, no one pointed it out, maybe my coat sleeves hid it well enough.

I hate how that scar reminded me of everything that happened that night/morning, but I guess this brought a whole new meaning of bearing consequences. Their blood was on my hands and I had to justify it by saying I did it to defend a village of people ill-equipped to defend themselves.

The idea made me want to vomit, honestly.

I thought I knew myself well enough but then the fight with bandits happened and I felt like that wasn't me for some reason. However, I won't dwell on it, because I might discover something that might be better if it stayed buried.

With that bad train of thought aside and my shower done, I went back to check if my clothes were ready for pick up, but they weren't there yet. I guess it would take more time to wash anything if you didn't have a washing machine, I took a lot of things for granted back home.

I got inside my room and treated my cut first, I opened the cork of the vulnerary and took a big swig of the concoction and it was chunky and extremely bitter, almost forcing me to spit it out, but I stayed strong and swallowed it.

The effect was instant, and I felt my skin starting to stitch itself back together in the part I was cut. The sight was honestly disgusting and unpleasant to boot, the skin was stretching to repair itself like you would pinch your skin back together.

After that unsavory display, I put on my sweatshirt at least so I wouldn't be inside my room walking half-naked and sat on the only chair available and picked my book and started to read until I will have my clothes back.

It didn't take long before a maid came with my box of clothes, but once I looked through a window, it seemed I got quite engrossed in the book because the sun was setting. I will explain what I learned later and it was interesting, at least for me, but now the pub called me.

I opened the box to see all my clothes neatly folded and they smelled incredible. When I changed into my normal attire, I could tell the difference and it felt so good to be clean again, but I couldn't tarry here for long. Dinner was coming soon, with the pub being open as well and pubs were a great way to gain any information and good gossip to boot. I left my room and locked it using my key, but I took my tome just in case, you can never be too careful honestly and it gave a sense of security.

I went down to the pub and there were already people enjoying dinner, and I found a spot for myself as well. I took a seat at one of the corner tables because I liked to have enough space for myself when I eat and a stool didn't provide that. It also allowed anyone who would want to strike up a conversation with me to do so, but I had no company, yet.

I called the bartender, and I waggled my key around to inform him I was here for dinner, but it didn't seem he got the message since he came to me and waited for my order while being silent the entire time. I had no idea what was wrong with him and just said that I was here for dinner while showing my key again.

He got the message this time and went inside the kitchen and after a short minute, he came back with a plate filled with cheese, smoked or cooked ham, and bread. I asked for a mug of beer, which he brought soon after while asking for a small fee. So, he could talk, he just probably preferred to focus on his job rather than people.

I enjoyed my dinner in relative silence if I didn't count the banter that was going on in the pub. I half-listened to it, but before I ate the plate of food that was given to me, I wasn't able to concentrate on any of the conversations and most of them weren't even interesting anyway.

After I finished my dinner and asked for another mug of ale, I started to eavesdrop on some of the more interesting conversations. People were mostly talking about the now emerged Risen, but nothing out of the ordinary, but at least we were getting somewhere.

Before I was able to listen to another conversation, the doors to the pub suddenly burst open with a bang and everyone fell silent, myself included. We turned to see who kicked down the door, while I had my tome at the ready, but instead of using the tome against said people, I stared at them slack-jawed.

"All right! Time to celebrate the newcomers!" shouted a shirtless, muscular, and spiky blond-haired man as he entered the pub with his crew behind him.

Well, this night will certainly be interesting, if not terrifying.

---

AN: So, welcome everyone to the story - A Beaten Path. We follow the journey of Radko, a student who got, you guessed it, isekai'd into the universe of Fire Emblem Awakening.

If any of you read my profile, then y'all know that this is my first story. I have no idea what I am doing, so this will be a journey both for me and you. I will try my best to maintain a regular upload schedule, but no promises.

Shout out to the people in the FanFiction Treehouse Discord Server for helping me to make this story at least somewhat readable.

If you want to join the server, here is a link: gg/9XG3U7a

Thank you all for taking the time to read this chapter and I hope to see you the next Sunday and merry Christmas.

I do not own anything related to Fire Emblem, except for my OC. All rights are reserved for IS and Nintendo.