Welcome to Pamsteria

At the end of the stone path was the entrance to Pamsteria, the town under jurisdiction of Nea. Due to the decline of Nea's influence, the once crowded and bustling capital had turned into a resting station for travellers going on long journeys between their kingdoms.

From the outside, the town was surrounded by a wall, tall enough to not be climbed easily but also short enough that you could see the towers inside. The entrance did not have a drawbridge as expected, but a simple door, which seemed to be open.

There were no guards at the door or even a sign to greet the visitors, making Poltas feel as if he had overestimated his quest.

His first quest was very simple: Meet and Greet the main icons of Pamsteria.

According to Nea, main icons were people who did not directly lead anyone but had a certain level of influence amongst the people. These people ranged from common workers such as the lead carpenter to mystical entities like the village oracle.

Regardless of his poor first impression, Poltas took resolute steps to enter the town.

Unlike the deserted entrance, the town itself seemed to be very alive. With all sorts of people moving around and about noisily. Some of these people did not seem to be human even, reminding Poltas that he was in a fantasy universe.

Surprisingly, no one paid attention to the peculiar foreigner who had entered the town. Poltas, lacking the courage, did not ask anyone about the way to town hall and simply explored on his own.

The town was full of shops and houses on top of shops. Not a single building could be seen which was less than 2 storeys.

In a way this was quite similar to the modern world, but it was also making Poltas feel a bit suffocated. The absence of cars allowed Poltas to walk around comfortably, as an alternative to cars there were bicycles and carts driven by dwarfs.

But on the bigger streets, Poltas was shocked to see self-driving carriages. This was an advancement that took humans on Earth many years to create, yet in this relatively medieval world they had such a thing.

Upon looking closely at a parked carriage, Poltas noticed that in front of the carriage there was a mysterious glowing crystal in a glass chamber. Assuming this was a magical item, it made sense why self-driving carriages could exist in this era.

In the main roundabouts of the city, there were major establishments such as the post office, clinic and restaurants. And in the middle there were many colourful stalls set up around the fountain. The liquid in the fountain was a light shade of blue, somewhat reminiscent of the chandelier lights in Nea's Hall.

"It's a small town, but we work hard to ensure that it's a happy one."

A small voice from next to him woke Poltas up from his exploration mode. He looked up at the speaker, and felt bewitched. Her magenta eyes were unlike any he had seen before, the shades of colours were mixing in as if he was looking at a lava lamp. His weird analogy broke his stupor.

"It does seem to be a cheerful place."

The stranger smiled at him, before turning to look at the fountain.

"The Oracle told me a traveller from the Guardian Nea will be visiting us soon, I did not expect you to arrive within hours. Pardon my rudeness, I am Brendial Willoms, the temporary keeper of this town. Perhaps in foreign lands this position is known as mayor, but under the instructions of Guardian Nea we do not appoint a leader on our own."

It seemed the Guardian had already arranged a backstory for him, but Poltas felt at a loss on how to reply. He did not know any other places in this world so any further questioning will allow Brendial to see that he is indeed not a traveller.

Taking his silence as a form of acknowledgement, Brendian continued with her explanation.

"I should have greeted you at the entrance, but there were some other tasks that needed to be completed urgently. Now that you are here, I will give you a tour of the town so you can familiarise yourself with everyone."

"Thank you for your offer. I am Poltas Clairwood here on behalf of Guardian Nea."

The keeper did not seem offended by him and politely instructed him to follow.

Now that he had a guide, Poltas took out the metal communication device given to him by Nea. She called the device a Weblet, which sounded like a knock-off tablet, but unlike tablets, this device was very limited in its functioning.

The Weblet he had was Type A Weblet, used by Adventurers to communicate with their guardian and keep track of their quests and activities.

The Weblet had a map feature, which had been updated during his exploration. The parts of town he had been through were marked on the map with major spots and people mentioned. But there were many details missing, denoted by ???. Perhaps to unlock these, interaction with the locations and personnel was required.

His quest had also been updated to 25% completion, indicating his progress.

By the time he looked back up, they had arrived at the first stop, the Oracles Cabin.

"Much like Oracles in other kingdoms, our oracle is also from a clan of elves. But unlike them, he possesses the power of war instead of healing or foresight. In the past it has always been our oracle who saved us from disasters."

Poltas nodded and went over this explanation in his head. It actually made sense for the oracle to have such a power, considering the heroes from Nea were essentially useless in terms of fighting.

"Although everyone in this town respects the oracle greatly, he is not very fond of humans due to his clan's past. I hope you will be willing to forgive him if he steps out of line."

"Okay."

Poltas knew he sounded more like an NPC than the actual residents of this world. He thought of the hated characters from famous games like P*imon, who spoke on behalf of the main character but always said the stupidest things.

A part of him wished he had such a useless side-character accompanying him during these beginner quests.