It was when Blade Cyclone was doing the remaining clean-up - that is hunting down all the remaining monsters that the crazed gnoll coerced into following him, including notably dangerous creatures like worgs, cockatrices, ankhegs, bullettes, and even arrowhawks somehow - that they noticed that a single worg was trying to escape their perimeter.
"Mmm, we should be close. I can smell the worg's scent much better now."
One of Sleyvo's extraordinary traits was his excellent enhanced senses that were considerably superior to those of the average lizardfolk, a perfect complement to his druid abilities.
And after a few more seconds of running at high speeds, they finally found the worg they were after, and it was also at that very moment that they realized that chasing it was the right choice because just like their leader feared, the worg found itself an unfortunate victim. Identifying the attacked creature would be difficult from a distance because of the tall grass, but there was no time for that right now, that poor fellow could be dead for all they knew.
With a lightning speed reflex, Zagdher took out his hand axe and threw it towards the worg's neck with all his strength, landing a perfect bullseye.
They did it, the last remaining creature in the demented gnoll's monster army is dead, mission accomplished. But what about the unfortunate fellow the worg was about to devour?
Sleyvo wasted no time, he began to use his senses to scout the surrounding area and check the unknown individual's vitals from afar, they couldn't discard the possibility that this individual was dangerous. So with a tone low enough that only his teammates could hear, the druid reported to his leader.
"There are no other creatures nearby, and the wounded individual is bleeding, which means that the heart is still pumping blood."
Hakuun may not have the enhanced senses Sleyvo has, but he's still a powerful ogre mage, so he too could take a good look at the unfortunate almost-prey from a distance thanks to his own monstrous perception.
"Mmm...let's try to save that person. Even if it's a potential enemy, unknown individuals are always more useful alive than dead."
"Duly noted. I'll cast my most powerful healing spell."
The lizardfolk immediately ran towards the bleeding individual, said a few words of comfort, and cast the 4th-tier divine spell [Heal Critical Wounds] right before the unknown individual fell unconscious.
"Alright, the wounds are closed and the bleeding stopped. The spell will also help his body create new blood to replace the lost one, and if the worg was infected with rabies or something like that, I'll cast [Cure Disease]. But we should wait and see."
Now that all danger had passed the adventurers could relax a little bit, but they still didn't drop their guard.
The goblin rogue jumped from the leader's shoulder and approached the fainted individual, taking a good look at all the damage that the worg made to its armor.
"This armor, seems to be boiled leather with some stone studs glued to it. It's so strange, I don't think I've ever seen armor like that made by any renowned blacksmith in our country, and we share the same body type. Have you seen something like this before, Hakuun?"
"No, I haven't. I doubt our body type would actually benefit from such a weird-designed suit of leather, or any body type at all. But who knows, there are still some places in our country that we haven't seen yet."
'Body Type' is the category used by the Argland Council State to differentiate races that are physically different from each other. Because this world has no game interface of any sort, the sapient races that live here don't really know the true mechanical distinction between humanoid, demi-human, or heteromorph.
What everyone does is simply compare other races to their own and make their own race the standard by what other races are measured by, similar to how humans tend to label any non-human creature as 'demi-human' even if they share similar physical traits and belong to the same racial category in Yggdrasil, like dwarves and elves being called demi-humans by the natives of the large human nations even if a player would tell them that they're not.
And thus, because ogres, goblins, and humans are bipedal primates, the three are considered to have the same 'body type'. Other bipedal races like lizardfolk aren't really considered to have the same body type because there are still many considerable differences in physiognomy like the elongated face instead of a flat one. Plus other things like a large tail, scaled skin, and even their leg shape are way too different from a primate's to be considered to have the same body type, similar to how other bipedal races like minotaurs have their own body type separate from lizards and primates.
So in the Blade Cyclone adventurer team, only the ogre Hakuun and the goblin Vak-Mak share the same body type. And as it turns out, the fainted victim from the worg attack also shares the same body type, too.
"If nobody in our country makes standardized equipment like that, then it's safe to say that he or she is a foreigner, right?"
Being a minotaur, Zagdher has a hard time telling 'monkeys' apart from each other, he can't even tell their gender by looking at them up close.
"This is a male, a human male. And while I think you may be right about him being a foreigner, we can't be 100% certain."
Hakuun isn't only a fellow primate who has an easier time identifying human physical features, but as a mage, he also received a considerable amount of academic education which includes knowledge of all the different races that currently inhabit the Argland Council State, and humans are one of them.
"A, human? I think I've heard of them, but I had never actually seen one before."
The truth was that not a single member of Blade Cyclone had ever seen a human with their own eyes before. Hakuun could only tell that this man was a human because the racial encyclopedia he studied had well-drawn pictures in them, but no color, however.
"Most of them live in a city called Breizen, which is a bit southwest of the capital. But from my knowledge, there are also humans living in other countries as well."
Of course, the racial encyclopedia Hakuun studied was mostly related to the races that live in the council state. He only knows that there are humans in other countries because that's what he has heard from traveling connections.
"So a human that may or may not be from some other country almost became collateral damage from the rampage of a doom priest, do you think the grand councilors would be interested in this?"
Blade Cyclone was given the order to report anything that was noteworthy, even if it was only slightly related to their current suppression mission.
"Regardless if he's a foreigner or not, this human was fatally wounded by a weakened worg from the doom priest's horde, so he isn't notoriously strong. His armor doesn't has a single piece of metal and he wasn't even equipped with a weapon, so he isn't a wealthy person. And seeing how he was traveling alone, he's not a politically prominent person nor a famous individual, either."
Hakuun's assessment was spot on. Without even asking the human a single question he correctly deduced that this human was weak, penniless, and had absolutely no connections of any sort in this world.
"So this human must be a regular person, very unlikely the councilors would be interested in him."
"We still mustn't discard the possibility that he is a citizen from the Argland Council State, and our current mission is to protect the citizens that were threatened by the demented gnoll, so we should take this human somewhere else so he can safely rest. Once he makes a full recovery he can either go back to Breizen, or be on his way to wherever it is that he was traveling to."
"Wait!" The goblin rogue interrupted his leader. "What if this human is some sort of spy from one of the other countries you mentioned? And his target is the council state?"
A reasonable assumption, considering the circumstances.
"Then even more reason to bring him with us, that way he will be under our watchful eyes." Replied the lizardfolk druid with confidence.
Hakuun isn't the only sharp guy on the team, spellcasters in general need to be brainy after all.
"So we will bring the human with us to keep him safe until he wakes up. Then we can ask him all relevant questions if he's willing to talk, we all agree?"
The ogre mage may be the leader, but he always wants to make sure that his comrades don't feel obligated to do anything they don't want to do simply because the dragon councilors decided that he should be the one giving the orders. If for some reason or another at least one member of Blade Cyclone doesn't like a decision, Hakuun always tries to reach some form of compromise that all his teammates can agree with.
"Yes, that sounds good to me."
"Sure thing, I will keep my eyes open just in case."
"If it turns out that he's an important person in disguise who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, then we will surely be rewarded!"
It's settled then.
With an assertive nod, Hakuun raised his hand and cast the spell [Lifting Bubble] on the human's body. This spell was built upon the 2nd-tier spell [Air Bubble] which basically creates a stable sphere of breathable air that was commonly used when you needed to travel underwater for prolonged periods. [Lifting Bubble] takes that some steps further, creating a veil of invisible force that surrounds and lifts the designated target, allowing the caster to move whatever is inside the bubble in any omnidirectional way. While the spell is active nothing besides air and light can pass through said veil of invisible force, and only someone much more powerful than the mage who cast the spell can break the veil.
Hakuun usually uses this spell to carry restrained criminals or the corpses of important targets that were ordered to be brought back dead or alive. It's true that both him as an ogre and Zagdher as a minotaur were more than capable of just lifting the relatively light human and carrying him around with them, but that wasn't classy, and they're an elite tactical unit of the Argland Council State after all, so Blade Cyclone must always look the part.
There was also the possibility of the human suddenly waking up and - having just gone through an extremely dangerous and possibly traumatic situation - entering a panicked state at being surrounded by complete strangers much more powerful than he is, so being inside a magical bubble he won't be able to burst was for his own safety.
"Alright, I'll make contact with headquarters to verify if this human is a citizen of the council state, we will remain in the local nearby town for a few days to help them rebuild as we promised we would, then we will go to the capital and give our full report."
With nothing left to do here, Hakuun used [Over Magic] to cast the 6th-tier spell [Mass Teleportation] to take himself, his teammates, and the unconscious human out of there, leaving the tall grass plains in devastated solitude and the dead body of the worg left for scavengers and the vermin who will feast on it.
[60 hours later]
The pounding headache was akin to a wake-up alarm. It seems that his head had been aching forever, but only now that he was slowly waking up he could even notice that the headache was there.
His eyelids felt so heavy, but he had to open them nonetheless because as much as he would love to continue sleeping, the stomachache induced by his tremendous hunger was even stronger than the headache, so he had to get up from bed and look for something to eat.
- Oh right, I already ate the ramen I was saving. Guess I will see if I can go purchase a meal somewhere. But I wanted to spend the entire day gaming, so maybe I can order some food.
Limbs felt heavier than stone, Tanaka can't remember the last time he was so tired. So he first decided to do some stretches while in bed and get that blood pumping. It wasn't after he rose up, released a huge yawn, and rubbed his tired eyes that he noticed something was off.
- Wait, what? This isn't my apartment.
Deep within his mind, Tanaka was kind of expecting everything to have been some sort of bad dream, that he would wake up the next day after Yggdrasil shut down its servers and he would get to enjoy his day off.
Taking a good look at his hands he can now be certain, these aren't his hands, this isn't his apartment, this isn't a dream.
- Uh, well, at least I'm still alive. If I wasn't hallucinating anything, then I was saved by four demi-humans who killed the worg who almost killed me. Then...the lizardfolk cast a spell on me, must've been a healing spell.
Of course, now he remembers, that lizardfolk cast a spell from Yggdrasil. It seems that this world is indeed connected to the game in some way or another, and he can't discard the possibility that those demi-humans were players like him. He still needs to find the answers to his questions, but he can't be certain if those people would be willing to answer them.
But first things first, he should get off this large bed and find something to eat. Now that he notices, the bed that he was sleeping in was quite large indeed, and very round, big and round enough to have a large family sleep on it and would still have some room to spare. A human family, that is, so is very likely that this bed was designed for a species much larger than humans. The only things that seem to be made for human size are the pillow his head was resting in and the sheet that was covering the rest of his body.
- Whoever left me here took a great effort to make sure I was comfortable. How long have I been sleeping here...? Should leave that question for later, my poor stomach is going nuts.
Rhemurus took off the bed sheet and realized that his studded leather armor was gone, the only clothes covering his body seem to be what he believes are the undergarments that are worn beneath armor according to game fluff. Obviously, neither he nor any player actually saw what clothes are worn under armors because all you had to do to equip them was simply click a button in the console interface to make it instantly appear around your body.
A green shirt with short sleeves and dark blue pants held by a leather belt, both pieces of clothing bearing leftover signs of the fangs and claws of the worg that nearly claimed Rhemurus's life. It seems like there should be a pair of footwear to cover his feet but he wasn't currently wearing any, so whoever left him to rest in this oversized bed must've taken them off.
- So even if the ones who left me here weren't humans, they at least knew that we humans don't have the tendency to sleep with our shoes on.
That conclusion was spot on, not because the one who left him here was knowledgeable of human customs specifically, but simply because any sapient species that uses footwear is innately aware that the dirt of the soles would stick on any clean fabric, something that is common sense between said species. Tanaka rationalizing it as 'demi-humans being aware of the customs of regular humans' is an example of subconscious racial narcissism; the belief that everything in the world must always revolve around your own species, because yes.
Tanaka having a few traits of that mindset - even if he himself is not aware of it - isn't really his fault because the world he was born and raised in was a planet where humans were the only sapient species and thus, the undisputed rulers of their world. That being said, subconscious racial narcissism is still prevalent in this world despite so many intelligent races sharing the same planet, mainly because it's only natural for members of the same species to make cultures and nations with each other. Nations like the Argland Council State and the Sorcerer Empire - and even the Sarrukh Theocracy on the other side of the continent - are notable exceptions to the norm.
"Ah forget it, forget it! Let's just find something to eat."
Deciding to finally stop his train of thought for good, Rhemurus dragged his ass all the way to the bed's edge and stepped onto the cold wooden floor. The room he was in was indeed very big, everything from the furniture to the windows, the size of the walls and door was definitely made for creatures larger than him, at least one size category bigger.
And when he was walking towards the door is when he spotted a pair of leather boots left at the doorframe. Whoever left him to rest in this room was a really considerate individual, at the very least he should find this person and give his thanks.
Putting on the boots didn't take that long, so he was now all set to try open the large wooden doors and take a peek at where he could possibly be right now.
- These doors aren't locked, right? It wouldn't surprise me, I'm a stranger after all. But if I am indeed a prisoner at the very least they should feed their criminals. Ha!
To his surprise, the doors weren't locked at all. A single push with enough force was enough to make one of the doors slide open, so well-made were these large doors that they didn't even make a sound while moving, the complete opposite of the squeaky rusty doors that Tanaka had back in his apartment. But before he could open the door any further, Rhemurus didn't see a glimpse of the place outside in the door gap, rather he saw a large reptilian face staring right at him.
Yet again, a normal human from Earth may have been terrified or at least distraught by the sight, but he was anything but.
It took him a split second to realize that this wasn't the face of the lizardfolk that healed him before he fell unconscious who knows how long ago. This face was sleeker and the colors didn't match - the lizardfolk had light green scales and purple eyes, while this larger reptile had yellow scales and blue eyes - plus there was a pair of what seemed to be small horns sprouting out of the reptile's nose tip.
And if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, Rhemurus could swear that this large reptile was also wearing some sort of metal helmet that was customized for said reptile's elongated head.
He wanted to dig into his memory to see if he had some sort of idea about what this reptilian race could be, but he also wanted to break the uncomfortable silence that was making the thick atmosphere ever thicker. Rhemurus had to say something, anything. The reptilian eyes staring at him were NOT the eyes of some unintelligent creature, he was looking at a sapient being just like him, he was certain.
"Hello." Said the large reptile before he even had the chance to speak.
- So this non-human individual, too, can speak my language.
"Uh, h-hi." Nervously replied Rhemurus while slowly lifting his right arm to wave.
"You finally woke up, that's good. The local chief of militia would have some words with you, but you must be hungry, right? It's almost lunchtime for us as well, so we will ask the cook to make some extra food for you. I hope you like chicken meat."
"That, sounds good actually. Thanks!"
"Follow me, I will escort you."
Just like that, the large reptile fully opened the door so Rhemurus could walk out of the room, and that's when he took a good look at the demi-human(?) standing in front of him.
A serpentine head complete with an elongated neck, a torso in the middle of the body that sports a pair of arms, and thick legs to sustain the large body that ends in a long tail. If he had to guess, he would say that this being appears to be a 'snakefolk'. At least that's what Rhemurus thinks, because from what he remembers there wasn't a snakefolk racial class in either the demi-human or heteromorph categories of Yggdrasil that resembled anything close to what he was looking at.
But even more noteworthy, however, was what that snakefolk was wearing; the torso was covered in what seemed to be a bronze plate made specifically for that snakefolk's body. The arms and legs were also covered in plate, but made of iron instead of bronze, and the head was also covered by the iron helmet that Rhemurus spotted before. In contrast, the neck and tail were instead covered in what seemed to be multiple overlapping layers of circular iron plates riveted into each other, obviously designed to not restrict the snakefolk's flexible movements, at least not by much.
And to accompany the well-crafted suit of armor, there was an equally well-crafted bronze spear on the snakefolk's hand that was so polished it reflected light as a mirror.
- Is this a guard? A soldier? There wouldn't be much difference in equipment now that I think about it.
"Alright, lead the way and I'll follow."
The snakefolk began to walk towards a very big hallway that might as well be a normal-sized hallway for large creatures, Rhemurus walked behind like he said he would, and - being so close to the demi-human(?) - he could now understand the size disparity between them even more. So easy it would be for a creature that big to just grab him with the large coiling tail and literally choke the life out of him. And if he were to take a closer look at the walking motions he would also see that the distance a human like him covered in five steps, the snakefolk could cover in just two steps. He had to walk faster than he normally did just to keep up with the snakefolk's normal walking speed, he had 0 chance of running away from a being that big.
And if that wasn't enough, Rhemurus took a peek behind him and saw yet another armored and armed snakefolk whom he didn't noticed until now, walking behind them both.
- It seems that any potential notion I could have of resistance is all but moot. The only option I have now is to just play along with what they tell me to do and hope for the best.
So nervous Rhemurus was that he could feel his appetite slowly fading away, part of him wishes that he had just stayed asleep.
[...]
Nearly three days had passed since the roaming nightmare of the apocalyptic priest was finally put to an end, and the countryside town of Dethford was still celebrating the returning peace brought forth by the national heroes of Blade Cyclone.
There was still work to be done, however, because even if the ones caught in the monster army's rampage could be healed with divine magic, no spell can repair the damage done to the places where people live. So amidst the celebration, there's also reconstruction work that needs to be done, and luckily, they also had support from the state in that regard.
So while the construction golems arrive from the capital to the countryside town, the adamantite adventurers decided to stay in for a few more days and help the townsfolk with the rebuilding effort. The academic knowledge and arcane magic of a mage, the herbal expertise and divine power of a druid, the brute strength and resilience of a barbarian, and the engineering advice of a master trapmaker rogue are all invaluable assets for a rural countryside town like Dethford.
Even the local militia is carrying around wood and making bricks for the new houses, everyone is putting effort to heal their home's wounds.
The sun's position in the sky eventually signaled that it was noon, which meant that it was time for everyone to take a well-deserved break and eat something to replenish their energy. The chief of militia rang the giant bell at the town center to let everyone know it was lunchtime, today the chefs made another dish with the ingredients harvested from the bodies of the monsters slain by Blade Cyclone, the body of a particularly large arrowhawk provided enough bird flesh to make chicken meals for everyone.
The townsfolk definitely enjoyed the abundance of meat they were currently enjoying, arguably the only good thing that came out of the recent attack.
"Hey, these dishes are very good! I've never had food like this in the large cities." Said Vak-Mak as he hungrily devoured the chicken meat with a blissful expression on his green face.
"Never underestimate rural folk, their cuisine has a charm that metropolitan cooks simply can't match."
As a barbarian that grew up in a hunter-gatherer tribe, Zagdher knows perfectly well that you don't need to be 'educated' to know how to make delicious food.
"Don't forget to eat the fruits and vegetables, you have to nourish yourself properly."
Nobody knows the importance of consuming natural produce more than a druid, so Sleyvo always tries to remember his comrades to not waste precious food.
"Yo Hakuun, your meal is getting cold! We can dry up the clay bricks after lunch."
"Ah yes, I'll sit in a minute. I just need to check up on something."
Hakuun was just as hungry as everybody else, but he had a strong sense of duty that always made him put his work before his immediate well-being if he can afford to do so. And today he had a feeling in his gut regarding the mysterious human they came across a few days ago.
Something just doesn't feel right. After they brought the human to Dethford and explained the situation to the locals, not a single one of them had any idea that a human was traveling nearby. In fact, not a single townsfolk had even seen a human or knew what a human was before they saw the unconscious one in Hakuun's magic bubble.
That was an expected response, Hakuun said to himself because at first glance it seemed like the human wasn't actively trying to bring attention to himself while traveling.
But it was when Hakuun used appraisal magic on the human's body that he began to suspect that something very unusual was going on; the human had no traveling equipment of any sort in his person, no water containers, no long-lasting foods, no portable bed stored in any bag of holding, nothing. And they never found any manufactured object of the sort anywhere near the tall grass plains either, so how did a human from a far-off place manage to get all the way to the frontier of the council state without carrying anything? Even the human city of Breizen is quite a distance away from this countryside town.
More unusual still, was when he used [World Message] to make a report to headquarters and informed his superiors about the human. Just like it was done with the gnoll priest, a quick review of the country's records was conducted to verify if the individual was a citizen of the council state, and just like in the case of the gnoll priest, no records of any sort were found about this particular person.
His superiors gave him the order to keep an eye on the human and find out as much as he could about him, and if it turns out that the human is not a threat then he can either go on his way or stay and live in the council state if he wants to.
Hakuun also knows appraisal spells capable of measuring someone's magical aptitude and managed to learn that the human is capable of using 1st-tier spells - which in and of itself was noteworthy because spellcasters in this world were relatively rare - but that also means that the human didn't use teleportation of any sort because such spells needed very powerful mages to be cast, at the very least a 5th-tier spellcaster was required to teleport over vast distances.
- However, that is only if you cast the teleportation spell by yourself. Hakuun began to think. A ritual exists where three 4th-tier casters can combine their power to cast 5th-tier spells, or nine 3rd-tier casters using the same ritual for a similar result. So in theory, 2nd-tier and even 1st-tier casters could also use a ritual like that to cast a 5th-tier spell, but the sheer amount of mages needed would be ridiculous.
Indeed. For that ritual to work, and assuming there were no 4th-tier nor 3rd-tier casters around, it would require 81 mages capable of using 2nd-tier spells to cast a single 5th-tier spell like [Teleportation]. And if only mages capable of using 1st-tier spells were available then the amount needed was even more absurd; 6,561 of said mages would be needed to perform that ritual and cast a single 5th-tier spell. Hakuun wasn't sure if an entire country would even have that many spellcasters in the first place.
So assuming that a much more skilled mage teleported the human to their country, Hakuun still couldn't find a logical reason for anyone doing so. Maybe the actual target was somewhere else, and the human landed in the council state by mistake? Was the human forcefully exiled? He couldn't make heads or tails of it, the only thing he could do was see if the human finally awakened and ask him if he was willing to answer his questions.
The human was weaker than the ogre so he could force him to talk if he wanted to, but Hakuun wouldn't do that, not without a direct order from the dragon councilors at least. A human that weak couldn't possibly be a threat to their country, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal if he doesn't want to tell his story to anyone.
"Oh, sir Hakuun! I reckon you want to know if there's anything new from our guest?"
A militiaman standing guard in the townhall's entrance greeted Hakuun as he did every day since his party first arrived in Dethford. Recently he has been visiting the townhall more frequently in expectation of any update regarding the human's status.
"Yes, is the human still unconscious?"
"It seems that the human woke up some time ago, he's with the chief right now."
"Ah, that's good news. Would it be alright if I joined the chief? It's the protocol for us to report anything out of the ordinary, and the human's testimony might have some value."
"Of course! Please come in."
There was no real need for Hakuun to ask permission considering how an adamantite team like Blade Cyclone holds far more sway in the country than a mere chief of militia in a countryside town, but the ogre believes that being respectful is a virtue.
Walking inside, he knew where the meeting room was so there was no need to escort him. Because he was mentally preparing himself to conduct a passive interrogation, he cast the spell [Sense Vitals] which will come in handy, and when Hakuun reached the door he opened it to find both the chief of militia and the human at a large table normally used for town meetings, but now it functioned as a dining table with both occupants each enjoying a well-cooked meal.
"We were expecting you." Calmly said the chief of militia while wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"Good sir Hakuun of Blade Cyclone, this gentleman is called Rhemurus. He would like to extend his gratitude to you."
As soon as his name was mentioned the human turned around to look at Hakuun and their eyes met.
The human - Rhemurus - showed a beaming smile on his face and raised his hand in salute.
"Nice to meet you! Thank you so much for saving my life."
- So polite, this human. Maybe we can indeed strike up a good long conversation after all.
"Nice to meet you as well, and you're very welcome."
[10 minutes earlier]
- Just how far away is this chief of militia fellow? I feel like we've been walking for half an hour now.
Naturally, any building designed for large-sized creatures is considerably bigger than anything designed to house medium-sized creatures. For instance, the standard floor-to-ceiling height back in Tanaka's world was usually nine feet - almost three meters tall - but the ceiling in this building inhabited by large serpentine beings seems to be around 30 feet tall - a little more than nine meters in height - but Rhemurus thinks that it might as well be bigger.
These demi-humans(?) are ophidian after all, so if they were to extend their neck upwards instead of contract it forwards like they normally do to see in front of them while walking, they would appear much bigger than they seem with a withdrawn neck, so it's only natural for them to make their buildings so huge. Even what passes as 'stairs' in this place are ridiculously big, but he still had to walk down through them anyway because the room he had been sleeping in was on the second floor, and the chief of militia was expecting him on the first floor.
But at last, Rhemurus finally arrived at the place where the chief was expecting him. His two escorts left him there so they could resume their regular posts, so he entered the room alone.
The large room had a massive wooden table in the middle and some furniture near the windows that had large flower pots resting in them, strange alien flowers Tanaka had never seen before. In the ceiling, he also spotted a hanging rope with a metal weight being suspended from it. It would normally pass as a regular meeting room that humans would use just much bigger, but the 'chairs' around the wooden table are clear testaments of their non-human design; instead of a seat on four legs with a back, at first glance, the chairs around the table appeared as disfigured lumps of wood, but since Rhemurus already saw the bodily structure of the snakefolk that live here, he immediately realized that these lumps were carefully designed so that a snakefolk can walk over the lump and leave their entire body weight on top of it to rest their legs - seat, basically.
And his assumption was proven correct when the chief of militia stopped reading some documents and took a seat in one of these non-human chairs.
"Good evening. I hope you slept well, you have been unconscious for a while now."
"Y-yes, I slept well."
"No need to be so nervous, you're not in trouble or anything. My name is Isak'nag, chief of this town, what's your name?"
"My name is...Rhemurus."
He was extremely close to uttering the name he was called by back on Earth, but Tanaka Ito - for some reason - felt that using a name like that could rouse unnecessary suspicion in a world like this. Better use a name that sounds 'fantastical' to better fit in a fantastical world like the one he's currently in.
"Nice to meet you sir Rhemurus."
"Likewise."
Because he was now beginning to relax, Rhemurus took the opportunity to properly thank the snakefolk for letting him sleep in this place.
"Thank you for allowing me to stay in your abode." Said Rhemurus as he respectfully bowed to the snakefolk.
However, Isak'nag began to look at him with a confused expression on his ophidian face, and Rhemurus immediately realized that he could've possibly screwed up.
- Oh wait, what am I doing? Is bowing to show respect even a thing in this world? What if, bowing down is something rude to do here? Didn't I just give him my made-up RPG name to sound less suspicious?
Yet again, the subconscious racial narcissism strikes his mind once more. Pretty much everyone back on Earth knew that bowing to show respect was part of Tanaka's culture, so nobody would have been weirded out by a Japanese man bowing to someone. But not only was this world a different one from Earth, he was also not even interacting with another human to begin with.
"I, um, I'm sorry if I offended you chief Isak'nag. Back in my native land, we do this all the time to show respect, I want to thank you for the kindness you've shown to me."
After hearing that, the snakefolk's confused expression was replaced by one of relief.
"Oh, of course, that's what your motion meant. Do forgive me as well, I'm not well-versed in the customs your species has. I imagine you would find our own customs quite strange."
"Yes, I imagine. Hahahaha!"
Rhemurus left out some loud chuckles in an attempt to lighten the mood. It's a good thing the chief wasn't offended, but he needed to be careful from now on because he was still a weakass low-level human in a world with strong monsters that could kill him in a single strike.
"I'll ask a worker to bring you a seat...oh, my apologies, it seems our seats aren't made for your size.
Should've known that the moment he looked at the human, Isak'nag thought, because the guest is basically a smaller ogre/larger goblin while the snakefolk's house equipment was designed for creatures of the reptilian body type, not the primate body type. The townhall they're in does have a few chairs designed to allow creatures of other body types to seat on them, but they're still too large for the human guest.
"That's okay, I have been asleep for quite a while now so I want to use my legs a bit. Would it be okay if I stand on the chair instead?"
He made sure to ask beforehand this time, standing on furniture that was designed to be seated on could be considered rude in this world after all.
"Yes! Go ahead, that would be perfect. Lunch is almost served after all, and I bet you're hungry."
With his mood switching back and forth from nervous to relieved, Rhemurus' appetite returned in full force. It felt like a nuclear blast just exploded in his stomach after the chief mentioned lunch, so he was more than happy to accept the offer.
"I would appreciate it a lot, thank you."
"Don't mention it, you already went through so much before Blade Cyclone found you."
"...Blade Cyclone?"
"Huh, you really aren't from this lands after all. But in short, Blade Cyclone is the strongest adventurer team in the council state, only the most dangerous threats are assigned to them and all their missions always end in triumph. "
- The council state, uh. I know for certain that Yggdrasil didn't have any council states because all types of in-game nations were monarchies like kingdoms and empires, plus the occasional caliphate or tsardom, but not a single democracy in it.
"So they're the ones who saved me? I wish I could've thanked them as well."
"You still can, Blade Cyclone decided to stay in town for a few days to help us rebuild until the construction golems from the capital arrive."
"Construction golems...that big was the destruction that the worg left behind?"
"Oh, it was far more than just a single worg. It seems you don't have the full picture so I will fill you in if you don't mind."
"Please do."
The chief of militia proceeded to tell Rhemurus the whole story from the beginning. How their town of Dethford was enjoying their peaceful everyday lives until one day - seemingly out of nowhere - a demented canine creature appeared with a monster horde behind him.
As a countryside town, Dethford is quite used to dealing with monsters ever since it was founded, and their military competence was the reason why whoever holds the position of chief of militia was recognized as the town's local governor by the five grand councilors, and still is to this day. However, the gnoll's monster horde was like nothing Dethford had ever seen in its entire history, and amidst their ranks there were monsters that the townsfolk had never encountered before, and thus, their hunters and rangers had no idea how to properly fight against.
Many were wounded, and their local priests were running out of mana to cast healing spells. If it wasn't for Isak'nag making contact with the capital for aid the moment that the monster army appeared and the well-made fortifications built around their walled town, Blade Cyclone would've arrived to find a devastated town with everyone dead.
So concentrated was Isak'nag in telling the story, and so enthralled was Rhemurus by it, that neither of the two paid much attention when the townhall's chef entered the room with two dishes of today's afternoon meal, which could only mean one thing. As the chief of militia, Isak'nag had to put his duty before anything else.
"Forgive me sir Rhemurus, but I must inform everyone that it's lunchtime. Give me a moment."
The chief got up from his chair and used his long tail to reach the rope hanging from the ceiling, it turns out that the rope was connected to a giant bell that was built at the top of the townhall.
- So that's what the rope is for, that's quite convenient.
After ringing the giant bell several times was when the chief took his seat once again. Rhemurus wanted to do the traditional Japanese ritual of giving thanks for the food before digging in, the chicken plus the accompanying fruit and vegetables on the large plate smelled so good that it took his entire willpower to not just grab the food with his hands and shove everything in his mouth, but even back on Earth such lack of table manners was quite rude, and seeing how the plate also has a huge cutlery on one side and an equally big napkin on the other, it meant that table manners were a thing in this world, too.
Rather, he had to wait and see what the chief of militia does; if there was some kind of ritual or prayer that Isak'nag made before eating, then Rhemurus had to do his best to mimic it.
"Thank you for the sustenance, Land Mother." Said the chief while clapping his hands in prayer.
Rhemurus did the exact same thing immediately afterward, and when the chief grabbed the fork with his tail and began to eat he also did the same, trying his best to not devour everything as quickly as possible least he appears as an uncultured and savage creature.
- This…this is so good! To think food could be this delicious.
So different this was to the pastes he was sustained by back on Earth, only the rich and powerful could even dream of enjoying food like this in his original world. He was indulging in the flavor so much that he almost didn't listen when Isak'nag asked him a question.
"So your native land also has adherents of the Heaven and Earth faith? Or were you just mimicking what I did? You don't need to fear cultural intolerance from us, sir Rhemurus."
The Heaven and Earth faith that Isak'nag was referring to was one of the many religions that existed in the Argland Council State. It's only natural for a nation with such racial diversity to have equally varied cultures and religions, but the Heaven and Earth faith in particular was one of the three major religions in the country alongside the Eight Gods of Conquest and the relatively recent church of the Sovereign Host.