7 I'm not Undead!
After Lunch, Mia ordered the group to get back in the same single file line as they had been in before lunch, and the group continued marching to the west through the Ancient Forest. During this time Ethan was curious about what this Kingdom of Vorbei was like so he continued conversing with Hans and Friedrich. This time however, while he did learn several more words, he was mostly focussing on practicing using the words that he had already learned as well as getting the pronunciation and grammar correct. He knew from studying other languages in the past that one shouldn't try to learn too much all at once. For this reason, as much as he wanted to learn more of the vocabulary, he decided to only do so in moderation.
During this time however, Ethan did have an interesting conversation with the twins in which he learned about the Vorbei Kingdom.
"So, does the Vorbei Kingdom have a king?" Ethan asked.
"Yes. His Majesty is named King Karl X. He has been the king for only a year and a half, ever since those murderers from the Western Empire killed our previous king, Karl IX." Friedrich replied.
"That started a big war with the Western Empire which only ended recently. Neither side won; it was a stalemate." Hans added.
In these responses, there were some words that Ethan did not know, but he mostly figured out their meaning from context or from sounding vaguely similar to Dutch or English.
[I guess in this world there are assassinations of world leaders in this world as well.]
"Is the Western Empire a historical* enemy* of the Vorbei Kingdom?"Ethan asked.
In asking this, Ethan did not know the Vorbei words for 'enemy' or 'historical', so he used the Dutch versions for these words which he had learned in high school, changing the pronunciation slightly to sound like other Vorbei words, and added the correct Vorbei endings that regular nouns and adjectives would use in Vorbei hoping that these would sound similar enough to the Vorbei versions to get his question across. While he had been learning Vorbei, he had noticed that a lot of the words sounded very similar to their equivalent in Dutch which he had already studied, so he hoped that it would be the case with these words. It seemed to work as Hans and Friedrich seemed to understand him and answer his question.
"Not really. In fact, we haven't had much dealings with them until about a decade ago when a recent conquest of theirs had let them expand into the region." Hans Said
"Since then, they've been doing everything that they can to to try to conquer the Vorbei Kingdom, which is the last major power in the region other than the Western Empire." Friedrich added.
Ethan once again had already learned most of these words, and the ones that he didn't he understood from context and Dutch and English cognates.
[I guess that this Vorbei Language really is very similar to Dutch. It is good to know that I can, at least in this case, "Vorbeify" Dutch words and Hans and Friedrich can still sort of understand what I am trying to say. Language aside, I really should learn more about this Vorbei Kingdom if I want to survive here.] Ethan thought.
"What are the politics of Vorbei like?" Ethan asked (using a 'Vorbeified' version of the Dutch word for politics).
"It is a feudal system. Low ranked nobles answer to high ranked nobles who in turn answer to the King. Nobles mostly have some autonomy on their own land though." Friedrich said.
"Although, the past few generations of Kings have slowly started to centralize power around the royal family. This has led to a divide in power between the Royalist Faction led by the Vorbei Royal Family and consisting of the nobles who are the most loyal to them like our Captain on one hand, and the Nobles' Faction led by the Von Gelds who resent the fact that the King has acquired more power that used to be reserved for nobility on the other hand." added Hans.
[Good to know. So, I suppose that their politics are very similar to medieval Europe as well. I wonder what the scale of this country is though.] thought Ethan.
"How big is Vorbei?" Ethan asked.
"It is about 700,000 km². We also have a population of more than six million people. We border the Great Sea to the south, The Western Empire to the west, and various tribes in a mountainous region to the north. Most of the eastern half of Vorbei is a part of this Ancient Forest that we are in right now. Not many people live in this forest apart from a few remote villages. There are too many dangerous monsters in here and the soil is not that good for farming." Hans said.
"Of course, the western half of Vorbei makes for great farmland. The land is mostly flat, and the soil is very fertile. We also have rivers running throughout it. Unlike those tribes to the north who live in a mountainous area, we have a lot of arable land in this Kingdom, and can produce more food than we can consume." Friedrich said proudly. "We used to export a lot of it before the Western Empire conquered our neighbors to the west..."
[So, in terms of landmass, Vorbei is about the size of Texas, and their population is comparable to Missouri. I suppose that that is not really a small country, by medieval standards. Anyway, it is good that their people don't starve. I want to know more about what is beyond this Ancient Forest though.] Thought Ethan.
"What is East of the Ancient Forest?" Ethan asked.
Hans and Friedrich both started laughing after Ethan asked this.
"What's so funny?" Ethan asked.
"'What is east of the Ancient Forest?' A fine question indeed." Said Friedrich in between laughs.
"In fact, it was the question that we were just about to ask you, thinking that you might know the answer." Added Hans.
"Huh?" Said Ethan
"Well, with you being an undead and all. No living human has seen the other side of the Ancient Forest and returned to tell about it. As you go deeper inside the forest, the monsters correspondingly get more numerous and stronger. The border of the Vorbei Kingdom is as far east as the toughest adventurers can go and live to tell about it." Said Hans, still grinning.
"Actually, the border of the Vorbei Kingdom is just a couple of kilometers east of that clearing that we fought that Dragon in yesterday. We thought that an undead man like yourself wandering in from the east might tell us how deep into the forest you got before you died." Friedrich added.
[Undead?! I wonder if I translated that right. Though it is true that all the others have been looking at me like I am a monster. It would actually explain a lot if they thought that I was some kind of zombie. But wait a second! Why would they think that?! I may smell bad, but my flesh is not decaying, nor am I shedding body parts, drinking blood, eating brains, or doing anything that one would expect an undead person to do! I'm just a regular living human!] Ethan thought indignantly.
"Why would you think I'm undead?! I'm just a regular man who is alive. I'm not undead! And anyway, why can't you just sail around the Ancient Forest on the Great Sea that is south of you?" Responded Ethan.
"Sailing on the Great Sea has a similar problem to the one you have in the Ancient Forest. The further east or south that one sails, the worse the sea monsters get. People can sail westward, or between ports in the Vorbei Kingdom, but no one has sailed very far south or east of the Vorbei Kingdom and returned. The sailors who live long are the ones who stick close to the coast." Friedrich said.
"And it is true that you do seem to me to be looking and acting like a living human, but the fact remains that you have no mana at all. We can't even sense trace amounts coming off of you. Therefore, you can't be alive." Hans finished.
"No mana? That doesn't mean that I'm dead though. Where I come from, no one has any mana." Ethan argued
"And do the people where you come from also walk around with no head? Perhaps the people of your homeland rip their own hearts out before enjoying some beer with their friends?" Hans jested while chuckling.
"Listen, Ethan. It's a scientific fact that no one can survive without mana. Total mana deficiency means instant death without exceptions. That much is just common sense." added Friedrich while trying to keep himself from laughing.
"Scientific fact? Well then, how do you explain how my heart is beating and my blood is warm despite not having mana?" Said Ethan.
"Well it is true that you do seem to be alive…"said Hans.
"...But if that's the case, what is the trick to surviving mana deficiency?" finished Friedrich.
"There's no trick to it. I just lived my whole live without it, like everyone in my homeland." answered Ethan
"Where is your homeland?" the twins asked simultaneously.
"A place called Earth." Ethan replied.
"Never heard of it" Friedrich said.
"Is this 'Earth' place east of the Ancient Forest?" Asked Hans.
"Well, it is certainly not west of the Ancient Forest." Said Ethan.
