When Mitchell opened his eyes, the day had yet to start. Darkness surrounded him, and he had to blink away the bleariness in his eyes to adjust to it. Although he hated waking up so early, his internal clock had long been set in place by the habits of his rather military family.

As Mitchell pulled himself into a steady sitting position, he slowly swept his gaze across the room. Upon realizing that he was in a bedroom of sorts, memories of what seemed like a fantasy came back to him.

'Well shit, there goes the chance of all that being a bizarre fever dream.'

Mitchell sighed before getting to his feet. He retrieved his tactical hunting knife from the trunk at the foot of his bed before attaching it to his waist. After a short glance around the room, he made his way downstairs to hopefully get started on breakfast, whatever that may be—Mitchell figured he could do something nice for Melissa as a thanks for letting him stay.

As the hunter stepped down through the library and into the backroom, he found that it was actually a decently sized kitchen. To his surprise, Melissa was there, already cooking breakfast. She turned to greet him, surprised. "Ah, good morning. You're awake early."

"Good mornin'. It's a habit for me now, I guess," Mitchell replied. He gave the librarian a small smile. "I'll admit I wanted to start early on repayin' ya."

Melissa developed an expression of amusement. "I appreciate your eagerness, but there's really no need to go above and beyond."

Mitchell merely hummed. He stepped up to the kitchen counter. "So, ya want any help? I'll have ya know that I can, in fact, cook."

"I won't say no to a bit of help. If you want, you could get started on the batter." Melissa had a sheepish grin. "I have a craving for pancakes today."

Mitchell's eyes widened. "Oh hell yeah. I'll get right on it." He grabbed the bowl of half-prepared batter and began to work at it.

As they labored diligently, Mitchell decided to make his time a bit more productive by learning about the town. In other words, he asked Melissa some curious questions.

"Uh, if ya don't mind, could you tell me about this town? I'd like to know more about it since I'm gonna be livin' here for the foreseeable future."

"Of course. What would you like to know?" Melissa inquired.

As Mitchell asked his questions, he found himself sufficiently fascinated by the town he'd settled down in. Toulouse, Mitchell learned, was a frontier town in the Order Kingdom of Lescatie where wanderers went to start lives anew. Mitchell thought it was oddly fitting he'd chosen here to settle in.

From what he'd learned from Melissa, the townsfolk had a mostly neutral outlook on the Order, ranging from indifference to distaste. He figured this 'Order' wasn't too great a place if its own citizens felt so negatively-skewed about it. In fact, to Mitchell it sounded like this Order was plagued with internal problems.

In return for Melissa answering his questions, Mitchell shared a bit about his own home. He even shared a little about his friends. The librarian was quite intrigued with what she heard and made no attempt to hide it.

"So your family follows a military tradition?" Melissa inquired curiously.

"Just my dad's side of the family," Mitchell informed. "Let me tell ya, my mom's side were not happy with my mom 'associating with the war nut.'"

Melissa looked concerned. "They didn't approve? This didn't cause any strife in your family did it?"

Mitchell did a so-so gesture. "I mean, I guess in a way it was kinda tense whenever we met up at any gatherings they agreed to come to. When mom died, they stopped associating with us altogether. It's no big loss, trust me."

"Ah," Melissa winced at his casual, matter-of-fact tone. "I'm sorry to hear that. Um, what about the friends you told me about? The ones from the land of Japan? You seem rather close to them."

"Oh, yeah. We had some great times together, that's for sure," Mitchell said, smiling sadly. He closed his eyes, reminiscing. "I wonder what they're doin' now..?"

Melissa seemed to pick up on his somber mood, but said nothing else.

Before they knew it, they had finished making breakfast. Sunlight began to beam through the windows as they sat down to eat. As they started eating, Melissa looked at Mitchell hesitantly. "I was wondering. I heard you were forcefully summoned here from the alderman. Do you mind if I ask what happened?"

Mitchell savored a bite of delicious pancakes before answering. "Nah, I don't mind. I will say it was pretty jarring though."

Omitting nothing, Mitchell shared everything he could recall about his summoning. Melissa listened intently while eating, absorbing all that had happened to her new guest. By the end of his recounting, she had a sympathetic look on her face.

"I see. You've been through a lot, haven't you? To have everything you know taken from you in an instant like that…" The librarian frowned and sighed. "No one should go through that."

Mitchell shrugged. "Well, there isn't much I can do about it now. The only thing I can do is deal with it."

Melissa hummed, but said nothing more, unwilling to bring the mood down further. Breakfast passed quickly, then they got started on their day. As they both entered the library, Melissa sat behind her front counter, and Mitchell spoke.

"Since I can't read, do you have anything around the building ya want fixed or improved on?"

Melissa hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I do have some pretty serious leaks in the second floor roof. And I'm in need of more firewood and food." The librarian looked over at Mitchell. "I was going to get them today, but would you mind picking them up for me? I need to stay by the counter in case I have customers."

"Aight then. I guess I'll go to the carpenter for wood, but whatcha need me to get food-wise?"

"Mainly bread, meat, and vegetables. You can get the bread and vegetables from the town square, but you'll have to visit the butchery for the meat," Melissa replied. She reached under her counter and unlocked a drawer. She pulled out a bag and handed it to Mitchell.

Mitchell looked inside curiously. It was full of silver coins. He whistled. "Damn, Melissa. How'd you get all this?"

"You would be surprised how many people don't return their books on time," Melissa said, rolling her eyes. "Fines can accumulate quickly."

"Oh, I getcha," Mitchell responded. He headed for the door. "I'll be back soon. It might take me a couple of trips to get everythin'."

Melissa nodded and waved goodbye as he left. Mitchell walked out onto the porch and looked around to see people already going about their business. He took a deep breath and made his way down the street, passing people without a care. He decided to get the food first since he had no idea how much wood he needed to get.

The hunter leisurely strode down the street to his destination, taking in the sights of the now bustling town. He noticed a few people giving him curious looks, but he paid them no mind.

As he approached the town square, Mitchell saw Arriet step out of a building adjacent to him. Mitchell watched as she closed her eyes and took a breath. For some inexplicable reason, Mitchell found himself smiling at the sight of her. He enthusiastically stepped forward to greet her.

"Good mornin', Arriet."

Arriet blinked. She noticed him approaching and smiled. "Good morning, Mitchell." To Mitchell's surprise, she looked sheepish and slightly guilty. "I'm sorry for leaving you on your own so abruptly last night. Did you find a place to stay?"

Mitchell was amused at the sight. "Yeah, I did. Miss Springfield was kind enough to let me stay with her. Don't worry about it, Arriet."

"Ah, I see. That's good," the girl said, relieved. She cleared her throat, still feeling a bit embarrassed. "I'm glad I ran into you. I would like your opinion on something."

Mitchell raised a curious brow. "Aight. Fire away."

"Well, I was up rather late last night wondering how best to begin your training," Arriet began. She gave him a sheepish smile. "I will admit I felt I needed to make it up to you for leaving you on your own. So, I was thinking of starting later this evening after my shift. If you're up for it, of course."

Mitchell felt enthusiasm flood his veins at the idea. He couldn't wait to have such a wonderful girl teach him. "I'd be happy to!"

Arriet's smile widened at his eagerness. "Then it's settled! I'll come retrieve you when it's time."

"Aight." Mitchell suddenly remembered Melissa's offer to tutor him. "Actually, can I run somethin' by ya real quick? I'd like your opinion on somethin'."

The girl tilted her head slightly. "What is it?"

"Well, I got an offer to be tutored to read an' write by Miss Springfield," Mitchell informed. "I wanted to run this by ya and see if we couldn't make a schedule for both of y'all."

"It's a good idea," Arriet said almost immediately. She had a thoughtful look on her pretty face. "You stand to gain much from learning our language. If you want, I could talk to her about it. Maybe I can even help you."

Mitchell smiled at first, then frowned thoughtfully. He would absolutely love to have Arriet help him out, but… "Are you sure? I mean, don't get me wrong Arriet, I'd love to have ya help out, but not if it's gettin' in the way of your own time."

Arriet's eyes dimmed slightly. "You're sweet to ask, but don't worry. I don't usually have much to do in my own time. Besides, you need the help and I visit the library a great deal anyway, so why not."

"Aight then. Looks like it's settled," the hunter stated matter-of-factly, shrugging. He remembered they both had things to do, so he reluctantly decided to part ways. "Well, since we got that all sorted out, shall I see ya later? I'm sure you've got a lotta things to do."

The girl hummed. "Yes, I'll see you later."

Mitchell walked past her before a burst of boldness and goofiness hit him. He turned and winked at her. "You take care of yourself till then, ya hear? You have yourself a very merry day."

Arriet smirked in amusement at his antics. "You as well, Mitchell."

With that, the two went their separate ways for the day. Mitchell headed towards the nearby town square with a noticeable pep in his step. He entered the town square and immediately went to work figuring out where to go first.

The hunter saw a row of food stands and figured that was a good place to start. Wasting no time, he headed over and began to browse the numerous foodstuffs.

Mitchell's browsing went without strife until he caught sight of what he assumed to be one of those "mamonos" he'd heard about. He was making his rounds on the town square when Mitchell saw her and halted, blinking in incredulity to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"Korone…?" The hunter gawked incredulously. His eyes were, in fact, not deceiving him. An actual dog-girl was walking arm in arm with a young man as the couple browsed the shop stalls. Seeing a monster girl up close for the first time was surprising, yes, but what truly baffled the American was that the dog-girl looked just like Korone Inugami. Maybe his priorities were a bit skewed…

Mitchell watched as the young man hugged the Korone-lookalike from behind, stopping her from… glomping a store owner in objective despair?

Her mouth moved as tears streamed from her eyes, but at this distance, Mitchell could only catch a few words.

"Oh!" she moaned, "I'm die." She looked at the store owner with teary eyes. "Thank you. Forever."

Mitchell blinked. Seeing this only drove the nail further that he was far from home, and likely not to return if he was being brutally honest with himself. He had absolutely no clue how to get back, and the only one who might've known is dead now.

With that strange diversion out of the way, Mitchell went through the numerous stalls, buying everything that he thought was needed. Now with fresh bread and vegetables in a small hand-pull cart, he purposefully headed over to the butchery.

Ten minutes later, Mitchell arrived at his destination. Luckily, the butcher was a shrewd businessman. Mitchell managed to get a good portion of fresh meat for a fair price. He even managed to cut a deal with the man, promising to bring back anything from his hunts. After he took his own fair share of the kill, of course.

With his first set of errands done, Mitchell hurried back to the library, intent on off-loading the fresh groceries. He made it back to the library remarkably quickly. He brought the food cart around to the back door. The hunter entered the building and called out to Melissa. "Hey, Melissa! I brought the food!"

Melissa poked her head through the kitchen door. "Ah, thank you. Could you sort them out for me? I'm dealing with a customer at the moment."

Mitchell nodded. "Sure thing." With that, he stepped outside to offload and put everything away. With his mind focused on getting everything done, Mitchell had everything put away in less than ten minutes. Curious, he peeked through the kitchen door to see if Melissa was busy and found her speaking to a lovely young woman. The woman said something with what looked like a teasing smirk, and Melissa's face lit up in a blush before she indignantly said something he couldn't hear.

The hunter decided to wait until the woman left so he could ask Melissa about how much wood he needed to collect. Soon after, the woman left, and Mitchell poked his head through the door. "Hey, quick question. How much wood do ya need exactly?"

For some reason, Melissa blushed slightly when she looked at him. She cleared her throat. "A couple of small bundles should suffice. And thank you for waiting, by the way."

"It's all good. Oh, and before I forget, could you show me the places where it's leakin'? I'll see about workin' on it when I get back," Mitchell said.

Melissa checked to see if anyone was coming before getting up. She led Mitchell upstairs and showed him various parts of the roof. From Mitchell's estimate, it would take him most of the day at least.

"Aight, hang tight. I'll be right back."

Melissa smiled sheepishly. "Thank you for doing this. I was afraid I would have to get up there and do it myself."

Mitchell made a face at the thought. "Well we can't have that, now can we? You just focus on what you need to do. I've got this covered."

The hunter patted Melissa on the shoulder as he left, now on a mission. It would keep him busy until Arriet came to retrieve him at least. Mitchell recalled where the carpenter's shop was from where Arriet had showed him the day before. With his new destination in mind, Mitchell hurried down the street, eager to get started on his new assignment.

Once he arrived at the shop, Mitchell put on his game face, expecting to haggle and finagle the goods from the owner. To his surprise, once he name-dropped Melissa, he got everything he could need, provided he brought back the tools he borrowed.

'Huh. Melissa must be well-respected around here. I'm not surprised.' Mitchell mused.

With his easily gotten gains, Mitchell hauled his wood and tools back with a purposeful stride. Once again arriving at the library, Mitchell headed around the back. He immediately began setting the firewood in neat stacks near the backdoor. When finished, he grabbed the ladder he'd borrowed and hauled his tools onto the roof to get started.

From that point, the day passed in a blur for Mitchell. No thoughts of monsters, his situation, or of home. Just the simple feeling of hard work. Melissa brought a pitcher of ice water out for him at some point, which Mitchell was grateful for. He had already shed his shirt due to the heat.

Before Mitchell knew it, the sun was dipping towards the horizon, and he had almost completely refurbished the library roof. He was about to head over to the ladder to descend when he heard a familiar voice speak up.

"O-Oh."

Mitchell turned to see a blushing Arriet looking up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, hey, Arriet. I just got done with this. I'll be with ya in a sec."

Arriet nodded wordlessly as he hurried down the ladder. Mitchell allowed himself a small, proud smirk at the reaction as he threw his shirt back on. He met the girl as he came back around to the front of the building. "Sorry about that. It got very hot today."

"Yes, very," Arriet said, almost in a daze. She shook her head. "A-Anyway, are you ready to go? We'll only have a couple of hours at most today."

"Yeah, I'm good to go. Just let me inform Melissa," Mitchell replied. He stuck his head through the front door. "Hey, Arriet's here to train me. I'll be gone for a couple of hours. Your roof is all set."

Melissa nodded gratefully. "Thank you for your hard work today. I do mean that." She developed a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Have fun~"

Mitchell rolled his eyes as he exited the building. He turned back to the patiently waiting Arriet. He smiled eagerly. "Okay, now I'm good to go."

Arriet's smile was brighter than the sunset. "Excellent! I'll admit I've never taught anyone before and I'm quite excited. Shall we get going?"

"Hell yeah. Lead on."

The girl happily guided the American to the guards' barracks as Mitchell struck up a conversation. "Sooo, how was your day?" He drawled.

"Quite dull, frankly," Arriet replied. "Aside from settling a dispute between two drunkards, it was rather uneventful." To Mitchell's surprise, and slight trepidation, she smirked deviously. "I busied myself with thoughts of how to best begin your training. I have quite a few ideas."

To her surprise, Mitchell met her smirk with one of his own. "You do know that only makes it more excitin', right? As if I wasn't already lookin' forward to this enough."

Arriet laughed. "I'm glad you think so! It's only right that our first time doing this would be memorable, no?"

Mitchell grinned. "I wholeheartedly agree! By the way, Arriet, care to rephrase?"

A beat of silence passed as Arriet blinked, then flushed. "Ah, uh…"

Mitchell burst into laughter. Arriet batted him on the arm, then joined him, despite herself. "Oh, hush you! L-Let's pretend this didn't happen, yes? I don't know how I didn't notice that."

"I dunno if I can do that, Arriet. I think I'll hold this moment close to heart instead."

Arriet pouted, then relented with a good-natured smile. "Oh, fine. I suppose I did have that coming."

Mitchell decided to throw her a bone. "Hey, I was wondering. Do you know when ya might wanna play your harp again? I really wanna hear it."

The girl sighed. "Not for another day or so, unfortunately. There's been talk of the Fourth Born's forces moving closer to the kingdom and Captain Strenger wants me on patrol." She informed him.

"Ah, that is unfortunate, ain't it? Damn. I was hopin' to hear ya," Mitchell replied, frowning.

Arriet's eyes shone with amusement. "Well, that just means I'll have to make it worth your while when I do perform. I'm looking forward to it already."

Mitchell nudged her with his arm. "Hey, now. That's my line."

They both laughed, continuing on in high spirits.

Far sooner than Mitchell wanted, they had arrived at the barracks where Arriet quickly led him to the training area. Several guards looked at them, surprised when they noticed that Arriet was not alone. Mitchell took a look around the training area when they entered. An array of lamps were spread out over the area in the event that anyone crazy enough to entertain the thought of training at night would find themselves here.

After they both equipped themselves with training swords, Mitchell gave Arriet a devil-may-care smirk. "Well, we're here. No sense wastin' any time, right? Wanna get to it, instructor?"

Arriet met his smirk with her own. "Yes. Let's."

They got into their session, and Arriet immediately began correcting his form. When they got into the actual sparring, Mitchell was disillusioned about how utterly outclassed he was. He felt like a toddler haphazardly swinging a styrofoam sword around and sitting before an elegant and efficient sword-dancer. Despite this, after just a couple of hours, he genuinely felt like he was improving, even if only marginally. He made damn sure to take what she said to heart, knowing that all of it was for his improvement.

He acquired a collection of new bruises, but y'know what? He would gladly do it again, even when he knew that he was going to be feeling it the next day. That was fine. It was all worth it to him. After a highly productive couple of hours, the two reluctantly called it a night. They both found the experience enjoyable, and couldn't wait to do it again.

When he returned to the library, Melissa caught sight of his satisfied smile and exhausted physique, and she teased him. He weathered it with experience born from having two close friends who'd teased him relentlessly in the past. After all, he still vividly remembered Arriet's smile throughout the entire training session.

'Yeah,' Mitchell smiled in thought as he bathed, getting ready to hit the bed. 'Definitely worth it.'

Contrary to what Mitchell thought, his aches weren't nearly as bad as he expected them to be. He awoke the same time as the day before, well rested and ready to begin a new day. Hopefully, he and Melissa could get started on his tutoring today, and maybe even learn more about the world he'd been pulled into.

Equipping his knife once again, Mitchell headed downstairs, intent on making breakfast for Melissa. He stepped into the kitchen—only to find Melissa already there again.

"Dang, Melissa. How early do you wake up?" Mitchell asked in slight disbelief.

"Oh, not too much earlier than you, really," Melissa replied. She gave Mitchell a playful smirk. "Trying to beat me to breakfast duty, are we?"

Mitchell raised his hands in mock surrender. "Oh boy, ya caught me." He raised a brow challengingly. "Looks like I'll have to get serious now. I'll cook ya breakfast, Melissa. Mark my words."

Melissa laughed. "I'll look forward to it. In the meantime, care to lend a hand?"

"As you command, Lady Librarian," Mitchell replied in an exaggeratedly pompous tone. Melissa merely snorted.

As they prepared breakfast, Mitchell decided now was the time to ask. "Hey, uh, if you have time today, could we begin my tutoring?"

Melissa hummed. "If we do, it'll have to be in the afternoon. I'll see about setting up a place for us later."

"Now we're talkin'! Thanks," Mitchell replied. He helped carry the food over to the table. "Arriet said she wouldn't mind helpin' too. So I'm lookin' forward to this."

"Oh, she did, did she?" Melissa smirked mischievously, a glint in her eye. "That's nice of her."

Mitchell missed her expression as he dug in. "Yep. Hopefully she can come by later. She said she visits here a lot."

Melissa nodded. "She does." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Between you and me, from all the times I've seen her come here, I believe she's a bit lonely, so having a friend like you might do her some good." She winked.

"Oh, uh, okay. Duly noted," Mitchell blinked, nodding. That was news to him. If that was the case, he wouldn't disappoint.

Breakfast passed quickly as they chatted about whatever came to mind. Once the dishes were washed, Melissa took her place at the front counter and Mitchell chose to help clean up the library.

With his focus on his self-appointed task, Mitchell set about cleaning—dusting the shelves and furniture, sweeping the floor, wiping down the windows, sweeping the front porch, even cleaning and wiping down the kitchen.

After his tasks were complete, Melissa informed Mitchell that she didn't mind him enjoying a day about the town. She even gave him a small bag of silvers, stating that it was payment for all of the magnificent work he'd done. Mitchell tried to refuse, but she would have none of it.

Melissa then kicked him out of the library so he could enjoy his day. Mitchell chose to lurk around the town square and see what there was to do.

As he headed to the square, Mitchell stopped when he noticed the tailor's shop. At that moment, he realized that he had no clothes aside from the ones he was wearing. Without a word, he entered, determined to at least get a new set.

Mitchell's worries proved to be unfounded, as after getting fitted and measured, he managed to buy three sets of clothes for a single silver.

'Jesus, Melissa, how much did you give me?' Mitchell wondered.

The tailor told him to come back tomorrow so he could pick up his freshly made clothes. Mitchell, now a bit relieved he wouldn't have to wear dirty clothes for much longer, headed to the square with a relaxed stride. As he happened to pass by a nondescript alley between two buildings, he heard an odd noise. Mitchell stepped back to check the alley and his eyes went wide at what he saw.

In the slight darkness of the alley, a woman was on her knees aggressively blowing a guard, holding him in place. The guard was fiercely face-fucking the woman—holding on to her head for dear life. The noise Mitchell heard was the guard's pleasured moans and a loud gulping coming from the woman.

Mitchell promptly continued on his way, face aflame and a bit aroused. He made it to the square in record time after that, willing to do anything to take his mind off of what he saw.

The hunter quickly found the stalls worthy of preoccupying his attention. The stalls had a good selection of things to purchase from. There were weapons vendors, jewelry and silk merchants, everything from food to odd knick-knacks.

Mitchell wondered if he should get anything when he noticed Arriet making her rounds in the square. He made his way over, and as he approached, he noticed her eyes surveying her surroundings like a hawk.

"Hey, Arriet, hol' up a sec. I got somethin' I wanna tell ya," Mitchell called.

When she noticed him approaching, her eyes immediately brightened, and a small, subconscious smile tugged at her lips. The girl stepped forward to meet his approach. "Yes? You've caught me at a good moment, but I only have a minute or two to spare."

"That's fine. It'll only take a second anyway," Mitchell informed. He gestured with his hand to emphasize. "I was just lettin' ya know that Miss Springfield is gonna start my tutoring today. So if ya wanna swing by later, you can."

Arriet's eyes brightened further and she smiled in earnest. "Oh! I might do just that. Thank you for telling me."

Mitchell nodded, smiling. "Sure thing. Guess I'll see ya there then. I'll let ya get back to it."

"Mhm. I'll see you then." Arriet nodded back. She turned and walked away, her hips swaying.

And with that, Mitchell's good mood was set in stone. He did an about-face and left to return to the library. It was the afternoon now, so maybe Melissa would want to start early. When he returned to the library, Mitchell found Melissa reading a book.

"I'm back," Mitchell called. He evaluated her. "Well, someone looks bored."

Melissa rolled her eyes a little. "Not anymore now that you're here. Today has been slower than I expected. Do you want to get started? I have a place set up over there." She gestured to a table at the back of the room.

Mitchell nodded. "Absolutely. I'm ready to learn, teach."

Melissa giggled as she got up. She led him over to the table and sat down across from him. "Okay, so I'll begin with you familiarizing our alphabet."

To Mitchell's delight, Arriet came by just as she said she would. He didn't miss the slight smirk on Melissa's face when Arriet sat next to him.

Apparently, Arriet was his lucky charm, as with her help, Mitchell learned what the first page's characters in the book were in comparison to the English alphabet. He felt that was remarkable progress for just one day. At this rate, maybe he could read small, simple sentences within a couple of weeks.

The two women tutored him well into the evening until Arriet had to turn in for the night. Mitchell wasn't bothered though. The simple fact that he'd see them both tomorrow was enough for him. He settled down in his bed, content with how productive his day had been.

Little did he know, a harsh reality would soon come knocking.