Chapter 3 – The Land of Midgard

The Land of Midgard is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world, but it wasn't always like that, from the year 1 in the Birth of Jesus Christ until the year 856 Midgard was a land of humans, known as Europa, there were no dungeons and dragons or gathering of magic, only knights and kingdoms warring with each other, until in the year 856 a giant earthquake occurs in the Iberian Peninsula bringing a huge city in one night, along with this city came other beings,elves, goblins, trolls, minotaurs and especially Dragons. This incident shook the world order.

In 9 years a lot happened, dragons destroyed the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish Kingdom monarchy fell apart, and Europe lost all concept of nation and became known only as Midgard.

Amid so much chaos, nobles and intellectuals flee the ancient kingdoms and settle in the city that emerged on the night of the earthquake, this city became known as Cathedral City, where they created the Pythagoras Institute dedicated to studying the Great Cataclysm and the anomalies that arose around the world. For the first time in 10 years, the gates of Cathedral City are opened to the commoners, and the population of the city grows, this only serves to increase the power of the Pythagoras Institute who create an oppressive government for knowing how to use magic and this government continued for years.

Year 993, Midgard

Fool's March City was vibrating with life, people were pouring in and out through its gates, travelers and merchants were everywhere, blacksmiths were making swords and armor for knights, the baker was making morning bread, women were walking through the markets buying food wondering what to prepare for their families while merchants presented them with dresses and jewelry from various parts of the world, men worked in the fields, in church the priest preached the words of God, but the focus is not on this city but the farthest forest.

Amidst trees and bushes, a person was lying on the ground, this person had a strange appearance, wore strange clothes, beside him a strange bag and a strange metal staff, and in front of him, a strange black book floated saying.

"My Lord pleas wakes up; this is not a place for my lord to sleep. If my lord wants to rest let's find a place worthy of your stature."

Alan's POV

Why is everything dark? Who turned off the light? Where are Nier and Yonah? And why does my head hurt so much? These questions were running through my mind, what happened after the fight? All I remember is hearing a song and then...

"My lord."

Then...

"My lor."

Then...

"My lord."

"WHAT!"

I screamed as I opened my eyes and stood up abruptly, and what I saw surprised me, the black book was floating there and talking to me, I looked around. I was in a forest how did I get here? Wasn't I in town a few moments ago? I left those thoughts for later, picked up the bat that was beside me, and pointed to the book, "What happened? Was it you who brought me here? Where are Nier and Yonah?!" I demanded.

"I'm sorry to irritate you My Lord, this servant humbly begs your forgiveness and will accept whatever punishment you see fit, but to answer your questions, you fainted after the fight due to your injuries. No, this humble servant did not bring you here I woke up a little before the Lord. And I do not know who these Nier and Yonah are, I apologize for my incompetence." The book said doing its best to bow.

I put my bat down confused I don't know why the book was being so respectful to me, but it didn't seem to want to hurt me so I started to take my inventory which wasn't much, I had my clothes, bat, backpack the red book with a face. How did it get here? Water, snacks, my cell phone in my pocket and the black book, well there's no use staying here, I would have to find someone, maybe a city or village, any sign of civilization I started to walk on a direction I thought was north.

"Let's go! By the way, what's your name?", "Do you have a name or should I keep calling you a book?" I asked.

"This humble servant is called Grimoire Noir My Lord." he said as he bowed.

"Nice to meet you Noir and please stop calling me Lord, call me Alan."

"As you wish Lord Alan."

I sighed, but apparently, it's no use arguing with this so I just moved on.

Alan's POV

I walked through the forest for quite some time with Noir behind me, all this time he didn't say a single word, it made me uncomfortable so I decided to start a conversation.

"Noir, what you are?" I asked.

"I am a Grimoire, a book made to serve those deemed compatible with MASO and worthy of becoming the original Gestalt, Lord Alan."

"And what is the original Gestalt?"

"I beg your pardon Lord Alan, but I do not have this information, I was created only to serve the original Gestalt until the end of the Gestalt Project, my creators did not feel it necessary to give me all the knowledge for fear of information leakage if the Gestalt original did not collaborate with the project."

"I see, now tell me Noir what do you know about this?" I said as I took the red book out of my backpack. "Lord Alan if I may ask, where did you get this Grimoire?" he asked me with what appeared to be surprised, it was hard to tell as his face couldn't change expression.

"I found it in a pile of the same books that were about to be burned, I was only able to save this one." I answered "If I may say you made a wonderful choice, this book is called Grimoire Rubrum, they were considered flaws for not having great magic power, they couldn't be used in direct combat just for support, but with him, on our side, Lord Alan will be even safer." he said happily.

"Wait magic exists!" I said in surprise, he must be kidding me "But of course Lord Alan, I am capable of using magic in direct combat, but I'm sorry to say that my powers are severely limited, I can only assist you with simple magic." he said sadly.

Stop the conversation right there, it was a lot of information to process, monsters, waking up in the middle of a forest, talking books, the existence of magic I just kept it quiet and kept walking.

Alan's POV

Finally, we left the forest I must have walked for what seemed like hours, in front of me there was a dirt road and from the wheel marks on the ground it looks like people pass by, in the distance I saw a city, finally some sign of life, without thinking twice I went towards the city while walking I saw the silhouette of four people in the distance so I said "Noir get in my backpack!" I said, "But Lord Alan how can I protect you if I'm not by your side?!" he said nervously.

"I believe that talking flying books aren't normal around here and I prefer not to draw attention so get in the backpack!" I said gritting my teeth. "As you wish Lord Alan." He said, he was disappointed as he got into my backpack.

I kept walking until I could see those four silhouettes up close, they were four men, and they were dirty and poorly dressed as they held knives and clubs, great I barely got there and I already encountered problems one of them stepped forward and said.

"What do we have here? A traveler, if you want to get to the city you need to take a toll so give us all you got and we'll let you live." He said while laughing, the other three behind him laughed too "Sorry to disappoint you, but I have nothing of value with me, so would you be so kind as to let me through?" I said hopefully, maybe being polite would work?

"Don't play with us, those clothes of yours are very well made for someone with nothing of value, you must be some nobleman's son, I bet your parents will pay good money for your ransom!" well my education didn't work, time to use ignorance. He came at me with his club raised, without a second thought I swung my bat right at his head, you know I was never a very athletic person, but I wasn't a total slacker either, surviving in the city gave me a little bit of muscle.

So I expected to hit the bandit with considerable force, what I didn't expect was my arms moving at an absurd speed for a normal human being, what I also didn't expect was the bandit's head exploding in a shower of blood with my blow, eyes and brain flew down the road I was paralyzed, I couldn't believe what had happened, I killed a person, not only did I kill, but in a brutal way, not even a face was left to recognize the corpse!

"Boss!" I didn't have time to think the second thug came at me with the knife aimed at my neck weird he seemed to move slower I'll leave that for later I ducked from the blow and when I got up I punched on the thief's chest.

CRACK!

That was the sound of his bones breaking, he started vomiting blood until he fell to the ground and didn't get up anymore, the other two remaining looked at me in fear, I think it's a good time to have my questions answered. "You two there!" I yelled as I pointed at them, they both jumped in fear, dropping their weapons and kneeling on the ground. "Please have mercy on us, if you spare our lives we promise never to steal again, let's live an honest life I swear!" the two were bowing to me. "I will spare your lives if you answer my questions." He said in a serious voice. "We promise to answer your questions!" he said with a look of hope.

Okay, let's start with "Where am I, what's the date, and what's the name of the city just ahead?"

"You are in the land of Midgard, the year is 993 and the name of the city is Fool's March!" he said while sweating, even more, I stared at them for a few seconds then said "Alright you can go." they wasted no time and ran past me.

Midgard?

Year 993?

Where the hell am I.

When the adrenaline wore off I threw up, I had just killed two people, of course, they were trying to rob me but their deaths weren't necessary "Lord Alan, are you all right? Please calm down." It was Noir's voice coming from my backpack. "You shouldn't worry about the death of these useless ones, they were the ones who dared to attack you, but if I may say, we shouldn't stay here, the bodies will draw attention." As much as I hated to admit Noir was right, they attacked me and I had no choice, I defended myself, but enough wasting time I need to move on, I dragged both bodies into the bush beside the road, it wasn't hard thanks to my newfound strength, so with Noir still in my pack I headed towards the city.

Alan's POV

I finally arrived at the Fool's March entrance; to say I was confused was an understatement, a medieval town these days? But what is this? Horse-drawn carts passing through the streets, the clothes of the people, the way they talked, the structure of the buildings, it was all medieval, I was wondering even more, where is Midgard? Year 993? Could it be that I'm in some isolated part of the world trapped in the medieval era? I took a deep breath to calm myself down, it's no use panicking, I passed through the gates mingling with the people coming in and out of the city, and started exploring, and let me tell you, the city is more beautiful on the outside than it is on the inside.

As I walked I could see between the alleys of the houses there were many homeless people, on the edges of the street there were beggars asking for alms, but as I approached the center of the city people started to get better dressed, the appearance of the streets and buildings got better, i saw guards wearing leather armor and holding swords patrolling the streets, the obvious difference between rich and poor here, sometimes i got weird looks from people around me, probably because of the way i am dressed and the tied bat in my backpack but no one stopped me so far, I kept walking until I reached a square with a fountain, I sat on the edge of the fountain and took off my coat, it was really hot here compared to Japan I lived in, this land was full of life compared to my home, I took a bottle of water out of my backpack and drank it and said.

"Noir, where do you think we are?" I asked, "Forgive me Lord Alan, but I don't know, this place is completely new to me." His voice came from inside the backpack. "I imagined." I said while sighing, well there's no use staying here all day better keep walking while walking I passed by several places, this was a medieval city, did I go back in time?

There were tailors, merchants' streets, blacksmiths, taverns, during my walk I passed through darker parts of the city, there were prostitutes who tried to offer me their services, people thrown in the streets probably dead, thieves walked through the alleys, at some point I passed in front of a brothel, and I saw a girl there, she couldn't have been more than 13 years old and she was in a place like this, our eyes met as I walked down the street, she had a strange appearance, pale, white hair and most notably her pink eyes, we didn't say anything to each other, I just kept walking, but I could feel her gaze on my back, I don't know why I ended up looking back, and next to the girl was another one little older and her distinguishing feature being her indigo eyes, without saying anything I looked ahead and kept walking.

TIMESKIP

It was already night, and I ended up facing my biggest problem at the moment, I didn't have money, I wasn't hungry because I had eaten the snacks that were in my backpack, but I had nowhere to sleep until I saw out of town a bridge with an arch big enough under it to fit a person, way better than nothing, I went under the bridge and lay down using my coat as a pillow, as I lay down I heard the voice of noir coming from the backpack beside me he was irritated "Lord Alan you shouldn't stop to sleep in a dirty place like this, the people of this town should be kneeling before your presence, you are worthy to receive the title of Original Gestalt if you will allow me I will personally guarantee the best housing for you even if I have to tear whoever is living there."

I sweated with nervousness, who would have thought that the Grimoire Noir could be so aggressive, I need to keep an eye on him before he takes any rash action "No need for that Noir I'm fine the way I am, let's just sleep and tomorrow we'll figure out what to do.", "As you wish Lord Alan." I close my eyes and start to sleep, or at least I would sleep if it weren't for the noise of a horse across the bridge, as if the damn horse wasn't enough there were also two people running over the bridge, I turned to face On the side, can't you sleep under a bridge in peace? My attention shifted as I started to hear the two people talking.

"Indigo who is this, I thought we were going to run away together?" it was a girl's voice.

"I lied, I just needed your help to carry more gold, it's nothing personal, but now I'm going to have to kill you." the other voice also from a girl replied.

The moment I heard the word KILL I lost all my sleep, without thinking twice I grabbed the bat and got out from under the bridge and walked towards the part facing the city, so I stayed behind the girls and looking forward I could see a man on top of the horse, I gasped and screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, YOU CAN'T SLEEP IN PEACE UNDER THE BRIDGE, TODAY I HAD A TERRIBLE DAY AND NOW YOU SHOW UP WITH THIS TALK OF GOLD AND KILL, ALL I WANT IS A LITTLE SILENCE SO COULD YOU DO IT?!" they all jumped by surprise, it seems it worked.

"Who are you!" I was surprised it was the girls I saw in front of the brothel, the indigo-eyed girl pointed a dagger at me and the pink-eyed girl was there looking at me scared before I could say anything three men came running after me one of them shouted.

"There you are, did you think you could get away with our money?" he yelled at the girls "And you're working with them aren't you, you're the one who told them to steal the gold, aren't you?" he yelled as he pointed at me, I stopped to think for a minute, these two girls stole the gold from these guys, the indigo eyed girl wants to kill the pink-eyed girl, and the guy on the horse across the bridge must be the accomplice, what have I gotten myself into.

Before I could say anything the first guy punched me in the face, amazingly it didn't hurt at all, apparently not only did my strength increase, controlling my strength I punched the man in the jaw, I heard the sound of his jaw breaking, teeth flew out of his mouth and the man fell to the ground unconscious, well at least he's alive, the second and third came soon after, one from my left and one from the right, the one from left tried to punch me in the face.

I bent down and kicked him in the knee, his knee broke and he fell to the ground screaming in pain, the second one kicked me in the chest, just pushed me back a little, I took advantage the moment he regained his balance and I punched him in the nose, the man fell to the ground unconscious and with his nose bleeding.

If I had been more attentive I would have noticed the indigo eyed girl running towards me with a dagger in her hands, but the dagger was stopped a few centimeters from my back, a red barrier stopped the dagger, soon broke it in two and the girl was thrown away, seeing no other option the girl ran towards the man mounted on the horse and the two fled.

Now it was just me and the girl with pink eyes, she looked wide-eyed and trembling with fear, I approached her and asked "Are you okay?" she didn't answer looked like she was in shock so I put my hand on her shoulder she looked at my hand and winced so I asked again "Are you ok?", "Yes," she replied, I took my hand off her shoulder and she went towards the bags on the floor, they were full of gold coins there were four of them, she took two of them and started walking out of town.

"Where are you going?" I asked "Far away from here." she replied, I looked around, after all the mess I've made, I can't stay in the city so I said "I'll go with you." she looked at me suspiciously and said "No, I'd rather travel alone.", "Come on, I won't hurt you, and if you meet bandits along the way, you can't defend yourself, if anything happens I can protect you, you've seen what I'm capable of." I said while pointing to the unconscious men on the floor, she seemed to think for a moment and said "It's ok, but if you betray me you will regret it", "Fine, give me a minute."

I went under the bridge and grabbed my coat and backpack, inside the backpack I could see the red book glowing, must have been the one who stopped the dagger, Noir was there too "Lord Alan are you ok?" Noir asked "Yes Noir I'm fine, good news we're leaving town, and we have a traveling companion so please stay hidden.", "As you wish Lord Alan."

I went back over the bridge and the girl was still there, seeing the bags of gold still on the ground I put them in my backpack, she looked at me suspiciously, put my coat on, put my bat away and started walking with the girl, at least my money problem was settled, I looked at the girl and said "I'm Alan, what's your name?", "Rose." she replied. "Nice to meet you Rose." she didn't give me an answer, just looked straight ahead.

So we headed for the nearest town, loaded with money and with no idea what the future had in store for us, if I only knew how true those words were.

END OF THE CHAPTER