4 [Day 1] (PT-2)

Alex sat down on the opposite side of the village chief and began retelling the story he had fabricated and told the two hunters.

After hearing the story the village chief nodded and began stroking his beard, "We gladly welcome you young Alex. Now, all we have to do is find you a place to stay."

Almost immediately the chief's wife poked her head from the room and smiled, "Why not let him stay with us? This house is too big for the two of us anyway."

The chief smiled but he shook, "No, Clara that wouldn't work out. You know better than anyone that many people come and talk to me about delicate issues. I wouldn't want to ask him to leave every time someone wants to talk privately. The villagers would also try to avoid talking to me here if a stranger is listening to their complaints, and I can't have that."

Clara sighed and then a smile appeared on her face, "Well I hear that little Enri took quite a liking to the young lad, how about we ask Mark to let him stay with them for a bit."

The chief put his hands on his face and grumbled, "Seriously woman you going to play matchmaker right now? You really think that Mark would take in a stranger and risk endangering the three women he cherishes more than anything in the whole world?"

Alex cleared his throat and looked at the village chief, "Would you happen to have any empty houses in the village?"

Clara sat next to her husband, both their expressions seemed bad. Alex quickly tried to fix the situation. "Don't get me wrong I'm not asking for a free house or anything. I have something that I believe might make a good trade for renting the house for a bit until I get my bearings back. After that I might be able to hunt and slowly pay the house, how does that sound?"

'Though I know that spider silk fabric is expensive on earth these people have monsters in their world, for all I know it might not be as valuable as I thought it could be.'

Both the village chief and his wife looked unsure, they looked at each other and then back at Alex, "Well we do have some houses on the edges of the village for anyone who migrates here and is ready to buy a house. Might we know what you are thinking of trading with us, not to offend you lad but you don't seem to have much on you."

Alex smiled and shook his head "Don't worry I'm not offended in the slightest, before we talk about the payment do you think that I could take a look at the house?."

The man shrugged and nodded "Sure, follow me."

After a short walk, he and the chief arrived at a small house that was layered in white stucco. The chief opened the door and entered.

"That door there leads to the bathroom and this one to a bedroom, the kitchen is right there. This house was meant for a couple so even if it's smaller than the rest, I'm sure that you can see that this would be enough space for you alone. Sadly the house doesn't have any furniture since people usually bring their belongings when they move. Once a deal is made I can ask the villagers and see if we can get you anything they no longer use so that it can look more like home. Oh and I nearly forgot outside there are small red flags that show where the property ends, its a 15 ft perimeter giving enough room for any additions you would like to make."

Alex nodded and looked around, the house was a total size of about 400 feet squared. It was a little smaller than the apartment he used to live in but if everything turned out okay then it would belong to him and him alone. With his own place, he could practice his drawing magic without putting himself in danger and risking others finding out about him.

"I think that this is all perfect, could you tell me what you would usually charge for all this?"

The village chief nodded and put up 4 fingers, "the price would be 400 silvers or 4 gold coins. Look lad I mean this with all respect, I would love to let you stay here but it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the villagers. They were the ones who made these houses and I must pay them for their work. Don't worry I'll find you a place to stay, it might not be as grand as this but it will in no way be uncomfortable."

Alex smiled and pulled out a string of gold spider silk and handed it to the chief who looked at it with interest.

"Where did you get this? It's as if it was made out of gold, and it's also strong, not to mention smooth and soft. Is this silk?"

Alex shrugged and scratched his head, "I might have forgotten my identity but not the need for money. While I was out of the woods I kept wondering how I was going to start living in a world I didn't remember. That's when I came across this on the treetops, I cut some same size with a knife that I had and put it inside of my sweater hoping I could get something for it. I take it that this is the first time that you've also seen it?"

The excited chief nodded and continued testing out the web, "I will have to discuss the value of this with the merchant that is coming today. Here, have this back, I want you to make sure that you are ready to meet me when the merchant arrives. In this village, we like to be able to trust each other and if you will be staying here then it means that I have to start earning yours. The discussions of the price of your item will be done in front of you. For now, look around the village or try to get some rest in here, you will be able to tell when the merchant comes by the happy crowd that immediately forms."

Alex nodded, "This is kind of embarrassing but would you happen to know where I can get a change of clothes. The ones that I have now make me stand out and I can't say that I'm comfortable with that."

The chief laughed and nodded, "Sure just go back to my house and ask my wife, I'm sure that she can find something for you to wear after asking around."

Alex smiled and thanked the village chief, "Thanks for everything sir."

He started walking towards the village and stopped when he heard a familiar voice, when he turned around he found Enri waving at him with a group of chickens forming around her.

Alex waved back and smiled as he continued to head to the chief's home. He was tempted to hang out with Enri but getting into something that was normal was important. 'The last thing I need is getting the Merchant to interrogate me on where I'm from and all that because of my clothes.'

When he knocked at the door the old lady opened and invited him in. On the table, he found 2 sets of clothing, a pair of flip flops made out of plant fibers, and a blanket.

Clara saw him look and she smiled, "I asked a young man who used to be about your size if he had any clothes he didn't wear anymore while I looked for my husband earlier. So were you able to make a deal with him?"

"No, not yet, he said that he would have to talk to the merchant to know the value of what I was offering. Until that occurs we have no idea if I'm able to pay the 4 gold."

The old woman nodded, "What exactly did you offer him?"

When he showed her the webs her eyes literally sparkled as she fawned over how beautiful it was. Once she had finally calmed down he asked if he could have some paper, ink, and pen.

She was confused at first but she got his meaning, "Oh you mean Parchment and feather. Sure but I can only give you two pieces of parchment since they are pretty pricey."

Alex was quickly worried and he couldn't help but ask "Is the ink also expensive?"

Clara shook her head as she gave him two sheets of brown parchment, a bottle of ink, and a chicken feather. "Nah, ink is easy to make, we just use soot, water, and glue and mix it all together. It might not be comparable to the ink you can get from a town or a city but it gets the job done."

He thanked her and left with the things she had given him and walked to the house he wanted to buy.

After he was changed into a set of brown pants and a white shirt he went outside to look around. 'The soldiers of the Slane Theocracy have not attacked yet since the Chief mentioned Enri's father earlier. So the question is when are they going to attack?'

As he was walking he found Enri walking away with another bucket of water. He smiled and walked after her, "Let me help you with that."

She turned around and looked at him from head to toe before smiling, "You look a lot different now that you don't have those fancy clothes. Thanks for the help."

"No problem, It feels nice to fit in haha."

After helping her and getting himself more familiar with the layout of the village he returned to the house and prepared to test out his drawing magic. Since parchment was supposedly expensive he decided to use a stick and draw out what he wanted on the ground before he did it on the parchment. The problem was that he couldn't decide what to draw at first, he never considered himself a good drawer and he wanted to make his first one something great.

He slapped himself and sighed, "Stop this nonsense, it doesn't matter what the hell it is or what it looks like as long as I learn how it all works then it's okay."

In the end, he decided to draw a spider since the only other ability that he had came from a spider. His first try failed, he drew it normally hoping that the equipped magic would automatically make the drawing come to life. Sadly that wasn't the case and all that he ended up with was a so-so drawing of a spider.

'The description of the scroll magic said that I had to infuse chakra into the ink so how the hell do I do that?'

He tried several methods until finally after the 30th he felt that the energy he had coursing through his body was going to the feather and infusing with the ink. The thing was that the spider still hadn't popped out of the parchment.

He started drawing another one and couldn't help but think 'Dammit come on little guy just jump out of the damn paper and into my hands.'

As soon as he had finished his thought a baby spider jumped out of the drawing and into the floor where it slowly crawled up his clothes. It traveled to his hand and once it was there it just stood waiting.

Alex tried repeating the process using one of his previous drawings. He imagined the foreign energy traveling into his finger and he touched the drawing of the spider and gave an order," Go to the corner."

The spider jumped out and began to follow the order, since it was so small it took it a while for it to reach the corner.

During his tests, he found that he could control the size of his drawings, and as long as he could clearly visualize the order the spiders would pop out of the drawing and do as they were told.

In the end, he had all 30 something of those spiders on the ground awaiting new orders. He placed the parchment that he had drawn in next to the spiders and gave them an order, "Return".

The spiders began crawling into the parchment and soon all that was left was a sheet of parchment half-filled with drawings of spiders.

"Not bad, looks like I can use the same sheet of parchment for my drawings if all of them get destroyed. I would only need more sheets if I wanted to have drawings drawn in advance. I just need to practice my drawings so that they look better, I should also think more carefully about my orders."

He leaned on the wall thinking about what he should draw next but his thoughts were interrupted by a commotion from outside.

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