Chapter 5- Getting to Know Cagliamola

More Information about Midgard

The city of Cagliamola began to come to life in the morning, men went to work in the fields, merchants opened their shops and prepared to travel, vendors went to their market stalls to carry out the day's business, and the streets were filled with the sound of commerce and the voice of the townspeople, in an inn there were two peculiar guests, a man in strange clothes and an exotic-looking girl.

Alan's POV

You know it's nice to get a good night's sleep, you wake up in a good mood and, you wake up ready to take on the world, or at least that's how I would have felt if I'd gotten a good night's sleep, who knew that a girl as small as Rose could snore so loud, it felt like I had a stuffy-nosed pig next to me, I don't know how she didn't wake up with her snoring, now I'm here looking at the ceiling and regretting my life choices, Rose is moving it looks like she is about to wake up, she rolled from side to side on the bed, covering her head with the pillow trying to block out the street noises, it didn't work very well, soon she got up on the bed stretched and let out a yawn.

"Good Morning." She said to me, don't give me these good morning conversations, while you slept like a rock I had to hear your snores of television static.

"Good Morning." I answered.

We got out of the beds and started to get ready "Here" Rose was returning my coat, after seeing how revealing the dress she was wearing was I thought it best for her to keep wearing it "You know what, keep the coat until we find better clothes for you." She looked at herself for a while, and I saw her face blush a little, it seems she understood what I meant, I took my backpack with Noir and Rubrum inside, I left my bat in the room and we went downstairs.

We sat at a table in the tavern, after ordering our food we started talking while it didn't arrive, it was Rose who started the conversation.

"Alan?"

"Yes?"

"What are we doing today?" Good question Rose, what are we going to do today? I would like to know more about this land, Midgard.

"How about we explore the city? We still have a lot of money, we can do some shopping, and visit interesting places, I, for example, would like to visit a monastery." It's true, I would really like to visit a monastery, but not for tourism but the library of the place, if my memory serves me correctly there were only three places in the middle ages where you could find a library, private ones this was not a possibility I doubt that a nobleman will let me into his library, I am a nobody here, university again I doubt that I will be able to enter a university here, I only have the last option the Monacal libraries developed inside monasteries and abbeys, and I hope that the monks let me in.

"Didn't know you were religious?" Rose looked annoyed, it seems she doesn't like religion.

"And I'm not, just wanted to visit the place, I'd like to make the most of my stay here, by the way, Rose, what can you tell me about Midgard?" I can finally ask about this place without having to threaten anyone.

"Aren't you from Midgard? Where are you from exactly Alan? You dress well, can you read, can you speak well and use complicated words that only nobles would use are you a noble?" I think it was time for her to ask questions, I can't be mad I didn't exactly try to be discreet.

"For starters, I'm not from Midgard, I'm from a land located in the far east known as The Land of the Rising Sun, my clothes are normal where I come from, and the reason I know how to read and my vocabulary, my parents just gave me a good education, I'm not a noble, but my family wasn't exactly poor, now I'm looking for a way to get back home." Hope this is enough, I don't want to reveal too much about myself.

"Looks like the place you come from is a lot better than here, since you answered my questions I'll answer yours, but I don't know much, nobody thought it necessary to educate me, Midgard is divided into Lands, The Land of Sands, Land of Waters, Land of Forests, Land of Mountains, and finally Cathedral City, each of these lands is ruled by a lord except Cathedral City, these lords rule with an iron fist, raising taxes when they mean well, carrying out public torture and executions of people who went against them, and they say that every one of the lords is capable of using magic, that's all I know."

Great, magical lands, evil lords who rule like dictators, and more magic, what an anime! Where did I end up? I think it'll be fine as long as I don't attract the attention of the Lords, we finish our food and head outside.

Alan's POV

The streets were busy today, with so many people coming and going, it's going to be hard to get used to it, but at least its better than the total silence of my apartment, Rose was walking beside me, and she was also looking around curiously.

"Would you like to explore a little?"

"Yes." She answered me with a small smile.

We kept walking until further up I saw a 'Seamstress' sign and it was time to get Rose some new clothes.

"Hey Rose, would you like some new clothes? There's a seamstress right there." Rose looked at where I was pointing, it was a two-story wooden house, with a sign hanging above the door.

"No, I'm fine with what I'm wearing." It was obvious that she wanted a new outfit, but was too embarrassed to ask.

"Come on, I insist, we have a lot of money, don't we? What's the point of having all that if you don't spend it once in a while?" Said while pushing Rose slightly forward, she put her weight back, but it didn't help much, we entered the store, at the bottom there were several rolls of fabric, cloth mannequins to serve as a model, ribbons and needles were on a table in the corner, at the counter there was a woman with her face lying in her arms she was sleeping, an idea popped into my head, I smiled at Rose and put my finger in front of her lips, she didn't understand what I was going to do, but Said nothing.

I tiptoed closer until I was in front of the woman, then opened my arms with open palms and smacked each other, with my increased strength the sound echoed throughout the store.

CLAP!

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The woman fell to the floor, spilling fabric and papers that were on the counter, I started to laugh, and I could see that Rose was using all her strength to hold back the laughter tears were coming out of her eyes, it was good to see her having a little fun.

"What an idea is this! How can you treat a frail lady like that?" It was the woman at the counter her face was red with embarrassment, and I was trying to hold back my laughter.

"Sorry, sorry you were sleeping and I couldn't resist but come to the point, my name is Alan and that's Rose we need a new outfit for her." Rose gave a little wave.

"At least you are customers, my name is Maria by the way." We shake hands, I was careful not to squeeze too hard.

You know when I walked into this store I thought that everything would go smoothly and I would introduce Rose to the seamstress, make her clothes and we would go on our way, what I didn't expect was that Maria, as soon as she laid eyes on Rose, started hugging her as if she were a doll.

"Look at her! She's adorable, so cute! Is she your sister? Can I use her as a model for my clothes?" Maria was holding Rose in her arms and rubbing her cheek against her head, Rose had a blank look on her face, staring at nothing, then she turned to me and said in a whisper.

"Help." I just laughed out loud, it was a villain's laugh that echoed through the city.

"Mary, make yourself comfortable." Rose's eyes widened, and he began to struggle to escape the deadly embrace.

"With pleasure." Maria smiled at me.

Alan's POV

We left the store with Maria at the door waving at us.

"Thank you and come back often!"

"Leave it to me!" I replied.

"And bring Rose with you!"

As soon as Rose heard this she grabbed my hand and started to run pulling me, we got to the town square and sat on a wooden bench, Rose was wearing a white dress, black shoes with white socks and her hair was tied back by a black bow tie, much better than what she was wearing before, and she was still wearing my coat.

"So did you like the clothes?"

"Yes, thank you." She gave me a bright smile.

"You're welcome." I smile back.

As we were seated a group of children, boys and girls approached Rose, and they started to look at her admiringly, and a little girl came and took Rose's hand.

"Hey, pretty lady come play with us." She started to pull Rose's hand, and she looked wide-eyed at me, as if asking what to do, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't worry Rose will play with you, won't you Rose?" I said as I pushed Rose forward, she stumbled a little but managed to get to my feet.

"Let's go Lady." The little girl pulled Rose, Rose looked at me and I just nodded with a smile, then the two of them went to play with the other kids, I sat on the bench just watching.

"Noir what do you think of this place?"

"I have no opinion of these lands Lord Alan I just follow you wherever you go." I figured he'd answer that.

"This land is more alive, people are smiling, birds are singing, there are forests everywhere, it's a much nicer place than Tokyo, the city was practically abandoned with cloudy skies every day."

"Do you wish to live in this place, Lord Alan?"

"Good question, do I want to live here? I wonder, this is a place I would like to live, but there are people I care about back in Tokyo, I wonder how they are."

"No matter what Lord Alan chooses, I will follow him to the end of the world."

"Thank you, Noir."

Rose's POV

When the children called me to play I was worried I had never done this before, for a long time I stood like a statue, but soon I started to get the hang of it, I don't think I've ever had so much fun before, I hope I can continue like this, I stopped and I looked at Alan, he was talking to himself again, what is he thinking? I don't know much about him, on second thought that conversation we had earlier didn't reveal anything about him, and I got evasive answers, you know what I'll worry about it later, one of the kids the little girl was approaching me with something hidden behind her.

"Here for you Lady." She reached out to me it was a flower, I didn't know what to say no one had ever given me a flower before but I was glad I finally got one, I smiled and accepted the flower, petting the little girl on her head.

"Thank you, I loved the flower." The little girl smiled back.

"But It's getting late, I have to go." The smile faded from his face.

"Do you have to go?"

"'Yes, but let's see each other again."

"You promise?"

"I promise." The little girl hugged me and left.

"Goodbye Lady!"

"Goodbye." She waved at me and I waved back.

I walked towards Alan, he was smiling at me "Have you had fun?" he asked "Yes" I smiled back "Are we going back to the inn now?", "No, we have one last stop, the monastery, I need to get into their library." Why does he want to go to a library?

"And where is this monastery?"

"In a more remote part of the city, monasteries are usually built and isolated places, but this is not always the case." He got up and I walked beside him.

"Only a moment." Alan took the flower the little girl gave me and put it in my hair "Better".

I didn't say anything, I just punched his arm "Ouch".

"Stop it, I doubt it hurt you, didn't you want to go to the monastery? So let's go." I walked forward at a pricey pace, that idiot what he was thinking, but I couldn't hide the smile on my face.

Alan's POV

You know monasteries are usually far away from civilization, but this is not always the case, a few minutes walk from Cagliamola was the monastery, we passed through a narrow dirt road in the middle of a dense forest in a clearing was the monastery, it was huge, the monastery buildings formed a square, made of stone two to three stories high, in the distance I could see a bell tower, I stopped in front of the door with Rose by my side, by the look on her face she was impressed, I knocked on the big wooden door, I quickly pulled my hand away when I saw small cracks form on the door, I hope no one notices, a few minutes passed until finally the door was opened by a man he was what you would expect from a generic monk middle ages, brown robes, and bowl-cut hair, he looked at me with a suspicious face "What do you want?" Rude, not even a good afternoon, at least I'm polite.

"Good afternoon my good sir, my name is Alan and this beautiful maiden beside me is called Rose, we came here to humbly ask to use the monastery library if it is not a problem," I said as I bowed slightly, I hope he falls for my Oscar-worthy performance.

"Go away!" The monk said as he tried to close the door, before he could I put my foot in front of the door it hurt a little.

"Wait my good lord, would you by any chance let us use the library if I made a small donation to the monastery?" I said while smiling from ear to ear, I put my hand in my pants pocket and took four gold coins each between my fingers and showed them to the monk, I decided to put some coins in my pocket for convenience, I prefer the others to not know about the four bags full of money in my backpack, and why I carry the backpack full of money with me? Let's just say I don't trust leaving the gold in a place I can't see it.

The monk's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, I still don't quite understand the value of bronze, silver and gold coins here in Midgard, but by the look on his face the amount I offered must be absurd, the monk looked to his left. and right, then looked back inside the monastery "To Hell with my vow of poverty." He accepted the coins "Welcome to our humble monastery." Rose and I entered.

My God I just bribed a monk and the monk accepted the bribe, we're going to Hell by toboggan! But now the monk was being much more polite, surprising how well people treat you when you have money, right?

We walked through the corridors of the monastery, where the monks carried out their daily tasks, they took water from the well in the center of the monastery garden, and passing through some rooms I saw scribes writing incessantly on sheets of paper, in the chapel I could hear the monks praying in sync, Rose looking in all directions curiously, we stopped in front of a large wooden door "This is our library, make yourself comfortable." The monk opened the door for us and then left, inside the library I could see shelves and more shelves full of books and scrolls of parchment, I started to read the titles.

"The Great Cataclysm."

"Midgard Bestiary."

"The Story of Midgard."

"Maps of Midgard and Its Lands."

"The Legend of the Watchers."

"A Study of Dragons."

"Theories about the Old World."

I took all these books I put them on a table and sat down to read "Hey Rose sit next to me, let's read together." I saw a reluctant look on her face; she kept looking at the floor "Rose can you read?", "No." I'm honestly not surprised this is a medieval society, education of the common people is not exactly a priority, "Come here I read to you.", "Really?" she raised her head, I nodded yes, she pulled out a chair and we started reading.

TIMESKIP

I didn't know exactly what to think, Midgard was Europe upside down, to exemplify take the map of Europe turn it upside down, and there you have Midgard, but according to the books it wasn't always like that, more or less a century, in just one night a huge city appeared in the Iberian Peninsula, specifically Portugal, the emergence of the city caused a devastating earthquake that shook the continent, and with that city came all kinds of creatures that only existed in stories, elves, centaurs, golems, fairies, and dragons, amid all the chaos Europe lost the concept of nation and became Midgard, scholars fled to the city that appeared out of nowhere called Cathedral City, named after the giant cathedral in the center of the city. The most accepted theory is that the city came from a place called the Old World; some believe it is the Land of the Gods, scholars started to study magic in Cathedral City, and thanks to this magic they ruled Midgard as tyrants, the current Lords are descendants of these scholars.

One of the strangest things about Midgard is how the ecosystem has changed, Iceland, the UK, and Scotland have become the Land of the Seas full of sea monsters and pirates, their livelihood was maritime trade, and Ukraine, Poland, and Finland have become the Land of Mountains with few places to live thanks to the great cataclysm mountains that did not exist before appeared overnight, there was barely a flat terrain in that place to build a house on.

Italy, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, became the Land of Forests where most of the non-human population lives elves, centaurs, fairies, orcs, and trolls, imagine all these countries taken over by a dense forest with trees of the size of buildings, elves particularly were neutral towards humans, while fairies hate humans, but according to the book, fairies hate anyone who is not a faerie. Czech Republic, Germany, and France have become the Land of Sands a desert full of ruins, life in this land is difficult, with little water and food and it is also the place where the strongest monsters live.

Finally, Spain and Portugal became the Cathedral City, for the most part, it is plain with some towns and cities, which by the way one of them was Caglimola, but in the center of the land, there is a city with strange buildings, a library with books that no one can read and a great gate called the Mercury Gate, according to the book, whoever manages to open this gate will gain great power.

Great power it seems, I've watched enough movies to know what will happen if they open that gate, there must be some world-destroying monster inside, who knows maybe a curse that kills whoever opens the gate, that would be ironic, there might not even be nothing and whoever opens the gate will discover that the real treasure was the friends we made along the way, but I bet on the world-destroying monster or the One Piece I will become Pirate King before Luffy.

The last book I read was about the Watchers, the information was contradictory, they were seen as angels or demons, saviors or destroyers, servants of God or creations of the Devil, they could come in various forms, humanoid, abstract or conceptual, I stopped from reading the books, a lot of conflicting information. "So Rose, what did you think of the reading?" I asked Rose, she hadn't said anything while I was reading to her.

"Thanks for reading to me, I didn't know Midgard was so complicated." She looked happy, glad she had fun. "You and I Rose, you and I, it's getting dark, let's go back to the inn." She nodded.

ALAN'S POV

Finally, we arrived at the inn, there was a commotion in the tavern part, there were several men around a table screaming and cheering, on one side of the table was a huge man easily 2 meters tall, he was a pile of muscle, he was in an arm wrestling match with another smaller man who was losing, he was putting all his strength into it, but the giant wouldn't budge, so the giant man in just one motion smashed the smaller man's hand against the table followed by a scream of the poor man's, some of the men cheered louder, while others screamed in frustration, it seems that there were bets involved, from behind the giant came a short man, but well dressed in a top hat on his head, he started talking while collecting the money from the bets.

"Come on ladies and gentlemen is there no one else to challenge the great Brutus? Is there no real man here? Are you going to arm wrestle Brutus and take the grand prize or are there only cowards here!? " The little man said while swinging a bag full of money, that was the grand prize but I won't get involved, I'd rather not draw attention, I walked towards the stairs to go to my room but stopped abruptly when I heard Rose scream.

"He can!" Rose said as she pointed at me, what the hell was she thinking? I was going to refuse, but I changed my mind when the whole tavern started laughing at me.

"HAHAHAHA!" Laughter echoed throughout the place, the worst was when Brutus opened his mouth "Can this skinny boy beat me? Come on boy, are you scared? Are you afraid I'll break those sticks you call arms?" I took a deep breath trying to calm down, come on Alan count to 10, 1, 2, 3... To Hell with it! Come on!

I passed Rose's side, and heard her whisper the word "Revenge." So it means that this was because of what happened at the seamstress, good to know, good to know, there will be a payback, I sat facing Brutus and extended my left arm, I'm left-handed by the way, he extended his right arm "Look only the little boy has the guts, too bad you'll lose that arm in front of your girl over there, hey girl how about you come with me after I'm done with him? I promise I will take care of you." This pissed me off, I looked at Rose behind me, she just grinned from ear to ear I could see the evil behind that smile, she just told me "Fuck him up." With pleasure Rose, with pleasure.

We grabbed each other's hands and the little man with the top hat started to say "I feel sorry for you boy, but since you accepted the challenge I better explain the rules, the objective is to beat the opponent's hand on the opposite side of the table if you win you take the prize here but I am not responsible for the wounds you will get good luck boy." He said that while waving the bag of money in front of my face, motherfucker, it won't stay like this I want an extra prize.

"Hey shorty, when I win I'll keep your hat."

"What?"

"Your top hat, when I win I'll keep it, understand?" I grinned with all my teeth bared, a smile so big it hurt my face.

"Y-yes, it's a deal, finish him off, Brutus." The short man said as he patted the man's arm, as soon as he started the competition, the people around the tavern started cheering.

"Come on Brutus!"

"Finish this boy!"

Poor people will lose all their money.

"Very well are you two ready? 3,2,1 GO!"

The arm wrestling started and this Brutus guy was really strong, he was moving my arm, I wonder what happens if I put a little more force, I started pushing Brutus' arm, soon our arms were back together starting position, and from the face of Brutus he was struggling, his face was red and with veins popping out, I just smiled, an arrogant smile, I think I'll enjoy the moment.

"C'mon Brutus what's the problem?" It was the little man.

"That's right Brutus, what's the problem? Where's all that bravado? Can't you beat a skinny kid with stick arms? You know what, I'll make it easy for you, you can use your other hand." I'm loving it, and he accepted my proposal, now he was using both hands, and my arm was going down again, I think it's time to get this over with, I put even more strength in my arm, and both Brutus' hands started to get down, the process was slow, I'm not going to lie he's really strong, but I am more.

"No Brutus!"

"Come on!"

"You can't lose, I bet all my money on you!"

But what a sweet melody, this is a joy to my ears, no more joking.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" I slammed Brutus' hand on the table, the force was such that he fell to the floor, I raised both arms in victory.

"NO!" That was the little man, time to take my prize.

"The money!" I stretched out my hand, he was shaking, "And hat!", "The hat, of course, here it is sir." I took the top hat and put it on my head, it fits like a glove to complete my style, now let's help Brutus, I extended my hand to help him up "Here I'll help you." He accepted my hand "It was a good match Brutus, but now I have to go." I said as I walked toward Rose "You are strong boy; I hope to face you again someday." I just nodded. Rose still had that evil grin "So what do you think of the hat? I look more stylish don't I?" I asked while striking a pose "To me, you still look like an idiot." She said while smiling, what a way to end my joy "Come on idiot I'm starving, buy me dinner." Good thing I'm the one who takes care of the money, she has the appetite of a lion.

Alan's POV

We were in our room getting ready for bed when an idea popped into my head "Hey Rose, would you like me to teach you to read and write?" She just stood there for a while but slowly turned to me looking down "Really, are you going?", "Yes."

"Thanks." She said while giving me a nice smile, as it warms my heart, then we went to sleep, at least today we didn't have to worry about anything.

Fool's March

Louis was walking through the streets, with his right arm crooked, apparently medieval medicine wasn't very good at taking care of broken bones, he went through dark alleys and streets until he reached a familiar building, a brothel, he went through the door, the prostitutes of the place as if they already knew what he wanted took him to a room at the back, there he found three men, one with a crooked leg in the knee area, the other with the jaw being held by a cloth tied around the head, and another with his nose crushed, Louis started to speak "Hello gentlemen, it looks like you are in a difficult situation, you were robbed of all your money by a white-haired girl, and beaten by an abnormally strong boy, weren't you?"

"What do you want Louis?" The one with the crooked nose said.

"Gentlemen, I have a proposal for you," Louis said while smiling.

END OF CHAPTER.