Arche Eeb Rile Furt was having a rather abnormally good day.
She had amassed almost enough money to pay off her family's debt, excluding interests. As long as they don't purchase other articles of stupidity, a few more jobs would take care of the rest of the loans, way faster than her butler's estimations.
She was some five kilometres from the outskirts of Arwintar, map in hand.
A few days ago, when her little sisters were playing, they discovered a false bottom in one of the cabinets in their estate. In it was a rough location of buried gold inscribed on a small plate.
She took and completed a request near the buried treasure location so it wouldn't be a waste of a journey had the treasures already been taken.
After each step, the grassland transformed into a cluster of trees that barely qualified as a forest. The map mentioned that the trees were deliberately planted to mark the general location of the buried gold.
With a torch and time nearly midnight, she got closer and closer to the marked area, she tied the torch to the tree, while she could produce light with simple magic or invoke night vision, her mana was nearly depleted due to her previous quest, if some creatures emerge, she would need every last bit she can muster to fend it off.
"Magic casters are only as useful as their mana…" She recalled the words of the one professor in the Imperial Magic Academy, her time as a worker proved that to not be quite the case, a human with a stick could still be threatening by default.
Her shovel sunk smoothly to the ground, cleaving through grassroots like butter, excavation continued smoothly…
.
.
A hit,
It could be a rock, could be tree roots, but something tells Arche that it was a wooden chest.
She peeked, at the very tip of the wooden chest, encased in light preservation magic that showed its pristine exterior to the world. There weren't any keyholes in it, so one would assume lifting the cover would be sufficient.
She smiled, taking some steps back to replace the dying touches she had set up.
Loud, deafening noise echoed throughout the area, the torch she had lit had been extinguished by the shockwave, and she have almost sent flying had it not been for her swift reactions.
Smoke surrounded the area as the debris began to settle, the girl's eyes glowed in green as she darted them across the woods.
Only one life signature would be registered, in the middle of the smoke, where the treasure chest used to lie was then a small crater.
The girl's eyes glowed blue, she got a little bit closer and could not believe what she saw.
—-
Chapter 1 : Start
Two years before transition day.
A pair of black eyes slowly opened, and as their retina absorbed light, they noticed a frightened-looking girl. She looked quite adorable with her short blonde hair and blue eyes, though her attire and staff suggested to be some sort of battle gear, like those battle mages in storybooks.
The eyes blinked once, they looked downwards… Pair of hands, and legs, they are movable after all. While the brain of the body would love to try, moving swiftly may frighten the poor girl even more.
"Eollh…? Nod't eb Adercs…" the mouth uttered whilst the rest of the body stayed still.
….
The girl looked even more confused, she took her time deciding what to do before saying,
"Could you repeat that?"
"Eollh. Nod't eb Adercs." (Hello, Don't be scared)
"So she understands me… why is what she's saying not translated?" Arche thought internally
It is well known that spoken languages are translated across the continent regardless of the speaker's race and intelligence, as long as they are sentient, they can communicate. Though the written script wasn't affected by this rule.
"..Can you get up? Sorry, I couldn't understand what you said…" the girl asked,
With an enthusiastic nod, a feminine figure slowly rose to her feet. She sported black hair with a length a bit longer than Arche's style, her skin was in a shade of deep tan, however, her attire was most strange.
She wore a long-sleeved grey-dyed wool tunic, with no decorations like ribbons or medals attached, trousers and belts of the same colours and a pair of boots, reminiscent of noble war attire. all of them not diminished from the impact.
Arche glanced at the women's sides, there was a ceremonial-looking rapier attached, the uncanny shine and white colour resembled those of ivory. The magical signature from it and the odd attire couldn't be less clear.
Magical items that have good combat effects are marked extremely high, even if the effect is not combat-oriented (They do look pretty cool to Arche), selling them all would probably contribute greatly to the Furt-family-out-of-debt funds.
But, Arche wasn't planning any kind of attack, it wasn't because morality alone was holding her back, while she certainly considered herself not evil, she had committed questionable things in fulfilling some requests. If funds enough to secure her and her sisters' future lies before her, she would take it… The problem was.
"What even I'm I seeing…"
Her talent allows her to see what tier can use magic and how much mana they possess. With this, she can gain much information about her opponent's magical prowess before they get a chance to use a single spell.
What she saw was something unbelievable.
She had seen the peak that was Fluder Paradyne. Sixth-tier magic caster, and mana pool to match. However, the mana leaking from the girl before her leaked everywhere and enveloped everything.
Yet, her talent saw absolutely nothing in terms of tiered magic capability. The talent she relied on for the past fifteen years of living registered its subject not even being able to cast zeroth-tier magic.
"Are you… human?" Arche asked, taking some step back, in her mind, she could've cashed out her request, then found more to fulfil or finally be a part of a team. But she couldn't just leave such a figure be, for all she knew, this could be one of the legendary dragon lords.
The one on the ground blinked, her expression filled with curiosity and puzzlement. "Erus? Era uoy?" (Sure? are you?)
Arche shook her head, somewhat calmer than she sensed no aggression. "...Sorry I can't understand you after all… Are you saying you are human?"
The mysterious person nodded enthusiastically. "Lainie!" she said with a smile.
"Lain…?" she muttered whilst deep in thought, it's quite weird that this person's mannerisms and sign languages match those of normal people, are they under some sort of spell? cursed? Hit her head too hard? Countless possibilities flushed Arche's mind.
"Lainie!" 'Lainie' corrected, pointing at herself and repeating the word several times.
"Okay Lainie…? How did you get here…?"
The women made a contemplating look before pointing towards the sky.
"You… fell from the sky….?" she paused, pointing at the sky and repeated "sky…sky."
"This is quite nostalgic… like when my little sisters spoke their first words…"
"Sky…?" Lainie muttered, keeping the pointing up whilst nodding, since she can understand the language, it's probably 'did I say that right' instead of 'is that the word I've said'
"You got it." Arche felt a strange urge to pat Lainie, but steeled herself up, after all, the person is obviously not human in nature from the mana reading. "Can you try to tell me more about yourself… Actually, would you like help coming out of that… crater?"
Glancing over at Lainie, she noticed the treasure chest was surprisingly still intact. Though it had been stuck deep into the ground. Lainie also noticed, thus she tried pulling the top open, the crater was large enough for her to fit whilst not blocking the chest.
…The chest crept open, Arche retrieved the torch and put it up, careful not to drip anything onto Lainie's head. But instead of a glint of gold, there were some taunting scribbles about how they had taken all the 300 gold pieces buried. Since it had been buried pretty close to civilisation, this was to be expected somewhat, Arche knew that yet couldn't help but express some sadness.
"Nod't ryc!" Lainie said, patting Arche on the back after getting herself out of the crater. "Lainie lliw pleh!"
"I think I understand what you are trying to say…" the magic caster's mood seems to brighten a little bit "Do you have any currencies…? Can I see them? Maybe I can help you get a place to stay."
Lainie handed some…smooth papers over, there were four distinct versions of them, each having engraving in an unknown language, though the illustration on the first was a mega city, clouded by dense fog and rain, second looked to be a matriarch in her 30s, sitting on a throne, third is a man wearing some sort of suit, whilst the last would be a young girl, wearing intricate costume, holding a stave. If Arche was able to read the inscriptions, it would read,
'Arcadian Continental Bank promises the owner of this note… 5,10,50,100 Imperial Standards.'
"Um… are these some kind of credit plate you use in your country? I'm sorry but it shouldn't be exchangeable here…"
The Empire utilises cheques as they have a formal banking system, however, they are tedious to use on a normal day-to-day basis, thus they are usually reserved for massive payments, or at least that's what Arche experienced.
"Don't look so down, they are pretty beautiful so I'm certain some collector would like to buy them." Arche pat Lainie on the back, their role seems to be reversed once more. "For now, would you like to come with me?"
Arche is a magic caster, she could fly back Arwintar faster and save precious time, of course, the Empire's air force wouldn't allow unrestricted air movements close to the capital, but bringing along Lainie would be a waste of time, but Arche couldn't simply leave her be.
While thinking, Lainie put the 'papers' into her pockets, whilst doing so she seemed to notice something else and reach deeper into her pockets, with a click, her mana had been reduced to approximately 1/100 of the original from Arche's perspective.
"What… did you do?"
In response to Arche, Lainie pulled out another paper, this time it was folded, expanding it would reveal some illustrations, the magic caster was an academic, yet she knew it was a manual for some sort of contraption but failed to recognise what it does, thus she handed it back.
"Maybe it's for hiding magical signatures… If items like these exist in large numbers my talent would be useless."
The paper reads, 'How to turn on a portable radio for dummies with illustrations'.
"...[Fly]" Arche gently hovered above the ground, slowly ascending as she looked at Lainie.
"EEEEEEEH?! Uoy nac yfl?! Woh?!" (You can fly?! How?) Lainie looked shocked, frantically looking around Arche, circling around her from below even.
"You… Can't fly…?"
—-
.
.
.
.
Two girls marched towards Arwintar.
From height difference and similar hairstyle, one could say it's as if they are sisters, disregarding other features.
Arche wouldn't be surprised if Lainie sprouted wings or suddenly flowed up towards the sky, after all, it was there she fell from. However, the stranger doesn't seem to have such ability, when Arche tried to lift her up and fly, even with spells to lessen the weight, Arche wasn't physically strong enough to accomplish such a feat.
The path they took wasn't the usual main route of any adventurers, but rather the most optimal in terms of distance from Furt family's hidden treasure.
"Aemn?" Lainie muttered the only response would be a confused look, so she tried pointing at herself, "Lainie". She then pointed at Arche. "Aemn?"
"Was she saying 'name'? Could it be that what she's saying is simply rearranged to sound different from our language…? If it is, then there must be a way to reverse it… But she successfully said 'sky', how did she do that…?"
After some moments of silent contemplation…
"You can call me Arche..." she responded to the pouting Lainie, she couldn't help but chuckle at the expression, "Sorry I was just in thought, nice to formally meet you."
Just then, some rattling paused the two right in their tracks. Around the time where Arche [Fly] ran its course.
"Twin Maximised Magic : [Magic Arrow]" Two astral arrows flew towards the noise, whilst opening with meta magic can be costly, the culprit behind the noise was not one normal people can negotiate.
Night Goblin.
Variant capable of casting summoning spells, if they gather in bulk, they can cause serious damage to even Orichalcum ranked group, however, they are known to be reclusive. Arche personally never met one of these, but it was mentioned in one of her classes.
Appearance-wise, it's blue-skinned, holding a staff and clothed like an elder lich, its size would be slightly larger than normal goblins.
Three wolves would be summoned to block the magic arrows, yet the projectiles masterfully evaded and struck true. The goblin winced in pain, but relatively unaffected
"It isn't enough?"
Arche thought of what spell she should use in that situation, the wolves were making their way and the goblin was preparing another spell.
"Lainie could you fight-"
That question should've been asked a long time ago. Why did Arche even accept her companionship so easily, did she remind her of something? Or had she been struck by [Charm Person] at some point? Regardless of what truly happened, the enigmatic figure, Lainie was not there.
Clicking her tongue, she couldn't afford to waste more time looking for the girl, Arche struck her staff to the ground, [Surge].
Lightning travelled from the ground before exploding before the incoming wolves, but that did not stop the final one from tackling her, a block with her staff came in time, but being knocked back made her narrowly evade [Fireball].
"Maximise Magic: [Lightning]"
A bolt of lightning travelled in a straight line towards the night goblin, it pulled its cloak forward, absorbing the blow entirely.
Arche eyes widened, she had wasted the last of her mana attempting that manoeuvre, nowhere in the goblin description does it mention immunity to lightning damage.
In an already unsteady position, one of the summoned wolves easily pinned her down, others slowly rose, [Surge] was not powerful enough of a spell to slay even one of them. The goblin mockingly laughed as it approached closer.
Summoners usually have means to get their summon stronger, they could reinforce it with spells or do so simply by existing, utilising its racial passive or class passive. In the case of the new world, talents could apply. However, the last possibility can be disregarded in this case.
Arche then couldn't move, some sort of spell was put on her, [Paralysis] [Hold Person] or whatever spell doesn't matter, the fact remains that she couldn't move.
She felt something pierced through her delicate flesh, the fang dug deep on her side, light armour defenceless against it.
She wanted to scream, to express her agony by instinct in some way…
But she couldn't move.
She couldn't do a thing.
Vision faded,
Unconsciousness embraced.
—-
Character Sheet
Name : 'Lainie'
Full name : ?
Job: Unemployed
Racial levels:
?
Job levels
?
Total Level : ?
Birthday
Upper Wind Month, 4th day
Hobby: Watch people going on about their days. Make people days better.
Character:
An enigmatic figure, unable to communicate yet understand the languages of the New World. Have an unimaginably massive mana pool, yet seem to be unable to utilise tier magic.
Status:
HP:?
MP:?
PHY ATK:?
PHY DEF:?
AGI:?
MAG. ATK:?
MAG. DEF:?
RES:?
SPECIAL:?
—-
Name: Arche Eeb Rile Furt
Job: Solo Worker
Human Race
Job level:
Wizard: 10 lv
Academic Wizard: 5 lv
Total level: 15
. . .
—-
A/N
Thank you for taking the time to read.
I'm a bit rusty on writing this and I appreciate your patience in making it to the end. Treat the chapters like prologues until Nazarick arrives… Though with my current state of life affairs, I doubt I can pump out chapters like old I could… Imagining things has always been a hobby of mine so I'm glad I can share random thoughts with you, dear readers.
Want to talk to me?
Feel free to PM.
This is my third rendition of this story, both unpublished, the difference is how the story begins and I hope my selection is to your satisfaction. I will go on about those in later A/N
Have you figured out the Lainie transposer?
Here's the rules.
1. In each word of a sentence, if the length is less than 3, reverse it, if it is longer, bring the first vowel to the front then reverse whilst ignoring it, if no syllables exist, disregard.
2. If the word is a human name, ignore it.
3. If there's an apostrophe, exchange the letter before it with the first letter of the sentence ignore the first rule unless the word is more than 5 characters, then reverse it after exchange.
See inconsistencies? Let me know.