Start Talking: Part 2

Me: "Now that we know that I'm not from here. The real question is; How? For that, I'll not stop as long as I can't find the motive of all this unsettled occasion that's happening to me and I have to find it no matter what."

Jonathan: "Sorry that I have to break it up to you but how exactly are you going to find them?"

Me: "I don't know. That's why I have to move fast. I don't know what it is but something tells me that I got to do something before it's too late."

Noah: "Then we should make it quick. Hearing you said the word 'something' twice makes me uneasy."

Jonathan: "How are you going to do that?"

Noah: "Easy. We bring him to the Capital."

Me: "Capital?"

Jonathan stands up from his seat and slammed his hands on the table carelessly loud.

Jonathan: "No way! It's too risky! The Capital Guard will find out soon if we take him to the Capital. And if they did, they would arrest him as they see him as some kind of werewolf Devilling and kill him at the first sight! Torture him, if he's lucky."

Me: "Y-yeah! There's no way I could agree to that plan."

Noah: "Wait, listen to me first! What if we meet someone who has the answer to your problem there in the Capital? There might be a slight chance that we would find someone who can use magic that can refresh your memory. That would help you to remember how you got here in at least some way."

Magic user? I thought they all got slaughtered under the king's order.

Jonathan: "As if.. Don't you remember? All of the magic wielders in Meruvel were all politely recruited by the king himself and trained professionally, leashed by a bunch of unreasonably strict rules. We will never find someone who can really use magic wandering outside the castle."

So there are some people who can still use magic and is alive... And they have a castle? Like a real castle? Now I need to see that. I wonder what a castle made by humans look like.

Me: "Urm, where is this 'Capital' you're saying exactly?"

Jonathan: "Northeast. One day by carriage, three days by walking. You will get there after you pass Sentua Village. Plus, all the other Devillings that are still lurking inside the forest makes it impossible to get there in less than five days."

Me: "There's more of them? Is there any other way to reduce the travelling time?"

Jonathan: "Ah-ah. It's my turn to ask you a question."

Me: "What? But I didn't even get to ask one!"

Jonathan: "Yes you did. You asked me about how far the Capital is."

He smirked.

Me: "Tch, sneaky human."

I know that he can be smart but didn't know that he can be as cunning. As expected from the village head.

Jonathan: "My next question is, from your world, how many other types of creatures are there living in Agrian? From what I can remember, you said that werewolves don't exist and it's just a myth. I'm here to find the meaning of that statement."

Me: "Ah, I remember that topic and yes. Werewolves are not real. The world in question was inhabited by various beings including elves, vampires, sirens, dwarves, fairies, witches, and beastmen, the one that is right in front of you. But such things as werewolves, the legendary Phoenix, kitsune, Kraken and the likes are out of the question. Though, in terms of the majority by population; elves, vampires and beastmen are supposed to be the most common creatures all over the world."

Jonathan nods along to my explanation with his arms crossed to his chest while putting his fingers on his chin to imitate the overthinking behaviour.

Noah: "Even after you said that I've never heard anything about beastmen before. The first time I met you in the forest, I didn't know what to think of you but as a new type of Devilling. Now that determines the thing about you transferring into another world."

Me: "Seems like it. Aight, my turn."

Jonathan: "Ask away."

Me: "What's up with this Demon Lord and his Devillings?"

Noah then voluntarily raises his hand to the air passionately as his eyes sparkle, full of excitement to answer my question as he jumps on his seat.

Noah: "Oh, oh, let me answer that one! Pleeease?!"

Me: "Hehe, knock yourself out."

Noah: "Yes! Okay, a few years ago, a frightening phenomenon occurred in the kingdom of Mavaruk. A powerful Demon Lord, Kriv Vanduch, emerged from the Underworld and wanted to seize the world from the humans along with his whole army from hell. The first attack was launched in Mavaruk and was brutally taken over by him. The Demon Lord commanded his people and his greatest allies, the Five Generals of Hell, to not leave a single soul of the people of Mavaruk alive including women and children. Weeks later after the carnage, he gave us a message or rather a warning to the whole world that he will take over the land of humans with ten different terrible Waves. He launched the first three Waves upon us a few days later. The First Wave was the Plague; An unknown disease that's been released, infected and killed thousands of people including animals and plants. Fortunately, the healer team from neighbouring kingdom found the solution for the people to bring the Plague to its end by producing a healing potion named 'Red Potion'. The Second Wave was the Devillings, the one we fought yesterday, sent by the Demon Lord to devour humans all over the world. A war had been declared by the three main kingdoms named the Arathal Kingdom, Teleris Kingdom and Meruvel Kingdom. They united and agreed to combine their forces and tried their best to resist the attacks launched by the Demon Lord by sending troops consisting of their best magic users called 'Magic Wielders of Holy Orders'. The battle was so great that it lasted for several months. They finally managed to weaken the opponent, making them retreat and locked themselves in the land of Mavaruk. But this also concludes the retaliation of the battle as the kingdom's 100,000 men had been sent to fight among the Demon Lord's army, only less than 50 men returned from the battlefield. The three famous survivors of the war were the princes and a princess of the three kingdoms; Princess Retalia of Teleris, Prince Zekwind of Arathal and Prince Hashriqq of Meruvel."

Me: "Woah..."

Noah: "The Third Wave which is the latest one, launched months ago was the livestock shortage from the forest. All the remaining Devillings that survived the Three Kings War were instructed to hunt down all of our livestock such as deers, wild sheep, boars and hares. This has made it difficult for the villagers to maintain the optimal number of living stocks prepare for the incoming winter."

Me: "Ahh, so that's why the barn feels empty."

Jonathan: "Mhm".

Noah: "Me! I want to ask something!"

Me: "Hey, slow down, kid. I'm not going anywhere so calm down a little."

Noah: "Your magic. I wanted to ask about your magic. What kind of magic are you using? I've never seen a magic user before but based on the rumours I have heard enough through people, I know that magic can be produced using spiritual energy or a force of some kind called 'mana' based on the seven main elements namely fire, earth, wind, water, lightning, nature and light. But from the experience I had with you for the past two days, your kind of magic seems to be different from the others."

Mana? Now that came straight out from an RPG game. How second rate can this world be?

Me: "Ah, now that's my favourite topic of the day at the least. As a start, the name of my magic is Techno Magic. It is also true that my magic isn't based on the main elements of magic because of my magic based on creating advanced technologies and machinery and not raw elements. From where I came from, mine was considered as an SPN hybrid type of magic. SPN is an acronym for 'supernatural power'. Only twenty-eight(28%) percent of the Agrian population possesses supernatural powers and another twenty-two(22%) percent possesses magic abilities. The other half of the population are just normal civilians."

Their ideology of magic knowledge occurs to be the same as ours. I wonder if they use their spells in this world in the same way as ours.

Noah: "Hold up, isn't magic already considered supernatural? What's the difference between magic and supernatural power?"

Me: "I was about to get there. Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking."

Noah: "Sorry."

Me: "Ehem, as you mentioned before about magic, it could be channelled through mana while mine is called 'aura'. My magic can be produced or chanted by using the aura that is released from, as you said, my spiritual energy within my body. The more aura I use, the more exhausted I get. As for SPN, they basically use the raw energy of their life essence itself. Not like the aura for magic users to cast magic, SPN uses the host's stamina to perform their abilities. Even so, the disadvantage of being an SPN is more dangerous than magic users because their abilities will slowly reduce their lifespan if they exceed their limits."

Noah: "What kind of abilities?"

Me: "I think that's enough coming from me. If you want more, then you should answer my question first."

I winked while pointing out my tongue at him playfully.

Noah: "Aw, come on!"

????: "Now now. You don't want to attract the attention of the public to yourself, do you?"

A cute, long ginger haired waitress from yesterday night abruptly came to our table with trays on her hands to serve our food.

She puts our steaming hot lunch alongside with our drinks properly on our table. The way she put our plates and bowls was remarkably fast but organized and there's not a single drop of food spilling out from its plates nonetheless.

Noah: "Ah, sorry, Rina."

Rina: "No problem. But next time, do keep it down. Your loud chit chat is disturbing the other customers."

She scolded with her hands on her hips.

Rina: "And when I say that, I mean you guys too."

She pointed her index finger at me and Jonathan back and forth continually.

Me/Jonathan: "Sorry?/What?"

Rina: "Yeah, you too, suspicious wolfman."

Me: "....?"

Rina: "Just because you saved our village it doesn't mean that we will easily trust you because most of us don't. So don't ever expect that we will treat you like a prince here."

Me: "Ouch."

For a cute girl, she does have a sharp tongue.

And the way she acts towards us is real different from yesterday!

Rina: "And you."

She turned her gaze as she furrowed her eyes menacingly to Jonathan. The way she looks at him was like she's about to eat him in any second.

Rina: "I know that you're the village head and got over excited about your new friend here but.... Don't just think that you could leave behind your things in my tavern! It's not like you own this place! And it's not the first time either!"

Jonathan: "But I do own the village though."

He muttered dismissively with his eyes averted from hers.

Rina: "What was that!?"

Jonathan: "Nothing!"

He quickly averted his gaze from the woman and turned his face away, pouting in disgrace.

Is it just me or he's getting smaller after getting scolded by his own people?

Minutes later, after receiving a series of blows from the female tyrant, she left our table with a loud huff.

I swear I just saw a puff of steam blowing out from her nose.

I approach my head slowly towards Jonathan who's still pouting.

Jonathan: "BAH! I'm fine! She's always like that! Don't worry! Let's eat before the food gets cold!"

...But I didn't get to say anything yet...

Whatevs. Just glad that he's already bounced back after taking a huge blow like that.

Me: "If you say so."

-15 minutes later-

Me: " Hah, as expected from the tavern! The food was so good!"

Didn't mean to exaggerated but DAMN BOI!

The presentation was plain but the taste of the ham and cheese sandwich was so delicious that it is indescribable.

The sandwich must have been cooked on low heat in order to have them evenly toast the bread as well as melt the cheese inside against the juicy ham in between.

Furthermore, having a tomato soup served as a side dish with sweet pickle was also a great combination.

If not for the fact that they do not have a website, I would have long given them ten out of ten ratings.

Later, I looked at Noah who's frowning hardly at his empty plate like he was expecting something to magically appear on it.

Me: "You're being awfully quiet, Noah. What is it?"

Jonathan who heard me ask the question then raised his eyebrows, took his last meal as he acknowledges his son's passive behaviour and speaks.

Jonathan: "What's wrong, son? Was the food not good enough for you?"

Noah: "No, it's not that. I was just thinking about that... If Bal and I should go to the Capital."

I perk my ears as I heard the word Capital.

Jonathan: "You're still going on about that? I thought we've already ended the discussion about that?"

Me: "Jonathan, please. Listen to him for what he has to say."

Jonathan: "No! This is my son we're talking about! Whenever he wants to talk about adventuring, it always ends up with something bad!"

Wait, why I'm the one that being scolded here?

Jonathan: "And remember the last time I permitted you to go outside the village that you said only want to go to the edge of the forest to collect nuts? You didn't! Instead, you went deep into the forest and look at what happened to you! You ended up hurting yourself! And let's not forget that you almost got eaten by those Devillings that were lurking inside the forest two days ago! Thank the gods that Bal came upon you at the time or who knows what will happen to you and I'll never forgive myself for letting you go that day! How can you be so simple minded and don't think about other people's feelings!?"

His voice boomed inside the tavern as the sound waves vibrate the whole building.

So loud like there was a speaker was being taped at the side of my very ears.

This is the first time I saw him being truly mad about something.

All of the other humble patrons are now looking at us in various ways. It's happening again.

I see Rina is running towards us hastily with a fearful expression engraved on her face, grabbing the lower part of her blouse as she was doing so.

Rina: "Hey, what's going on here, Jonathan!? Can't you see that you're making a scene?!"

Jonathan then angrily stares at Rina as she fearfully flinches away from him and I know that stare isn't meant for her.

He rummaged his hand inside of his little pocket and slammed a couple of copper coins on the table and rashly walked away out of the tavern with rock stomping sounds in every step he made.

Me: "What just happened?"

Rina: "Don't look at me. You're the one who sits with him all this time."

I sigh as I look at Noah sobbing on his chair, shattered as if someone had just brutally smashed his favourite toy in front of him.

Rina tried to comfort him as she telling him not to worry about his father whilst stroking Noah's back gently.

Me: "Hey.. Rina, right? Take care of him while I'm gone, can you?"

Rina turns her head at me and her mouth gaps a little as she was about to tell me something but shuts it back and nods.

I walked towards the crowd that had gathered to watch our little drama and when I was about to cross between them, they had already made a small path for me to go through.

Or they were just avoiding me.

-Moments later-

I explored the village a bit to find out where Jonathan might have been as I walked past series of houses.

Me: "Where is he? He's a big guy. How can he disappear just like that?"

I mumbled to myself.

After that, my ears twitched as I heard soft sobbing from afar.

Me: "Hm?"

I followed the sound of crying full of sadness unhurriedly and arrived in front of a barn.

Me: "He's in there."

I peeked through the crooked door and saw a man in a light brown shirt, leaning as he's crying at the side of the haystacks.

I open the door nonchalantly as I forgot how loud and creepy the door would creak.

The creaking sound echoed inside the cold and hollow barn, filled with only piles of haystacks and a man sobbing sorrowfully.

Jonathan noticed the noise.

Jonathan: "Who's there?"

Me: "Hey, Jonathan. It's just me."

Jonathan: "Ouh....go away. I don't want you to see me like this."

Me: "Wow, that's cold. I just walked through the village under the heat for almost twenty minutes and this is what I get?"

Jonathan: "Appreciate the effort, now go away."

I sigh.

Me: "You're being a big baby. Let's talk this out together, okay? We're brothers in arms, remember?"

He turned his gaze towards me and all I can see were his red eyes with overflowing tears coming out of it.

All he did was stare at me for a moment and averted them from mine.

He gestures his head to the haystack next to him as an invitation for me to lean on to.

I slowly approach him as the soft crunch of hays crackle under my feet as I was walking and gradually leaning my back on the haystack next to him.

He's wipes off the tears from his eyes, cheeks and some under of his nose.

Everything goes silent after that.

God, this is so awkward!

No one makes a sound. No one. Not me. Not him. Just two dudes, hanging out in an empty barn and enjoying their moment to the fullest.

It was as if the time had frozen itself and silenced the whole world for me and him to spend time together.

I move my eyes on him to see his face and that's when I caught him staring at me as he immediately cut off our eye contact.

I blushed.

...

We both are.

I can't let this goes on forever. Somehow, either one of us has to make a conversation or this will be the most awkward fucking moment in my life.

Me: ". . . . . . . ."

Jonathan: ". . . . . . . ."

Come on, Bal! Be a man! Get Jonathan out of this embarrassment!

Me/Jonathan: "So-/I'm-"

We looked at each other...and laughed.

Jonathan: "You first."

Me: "No, no. You first."

Jonathan: "Come on. I'm being a good friend here."

Me: "And I'm being a gentleman. Please, I insist."

He sighs, shaking his head sideways and let out a small chuckle.

Jonathan: "I.... I'm sorry."

Me: "For what?"

Jonathan: "Really? Of course, you would. I was the one who started this mess and you want me to point it out for you? Do you want me to make a list about it? "

Me: "Sure, why not?"

Jonathan: "I'm being sarcastic here."

Me: "I know."

I showed him the most innocent smile I could make at him.

He let out a laugh but not that loud and launches a soft punch at me on my shoulder as I chuckle alongside with him.

Jonathan: "I'm being serious here. I've caused a lot of trouble for you. To Noah. I know I shouldn't have to be angry with him but... I just can't. I've also brought lots of unwanted attention to us in the tavern, troubled the other customers, being mad at Rina, and the most unforgivable thing that I've done was made Noah cry."

Tears started to flow again from the corner of his eyes down to his cheeks like a leaking dam out of guiltiness.

Jonathan: "Since the death of his mother, it's been difficult for us to live on. Especially for Noah. He didn't take it very well on the day of her death. He mourned for months, almost half a year."

Me: "You must love your wife, huh?"

Jonathan: "Very much. She's the only woman I was attracted to back in the day when we were younger despite being gay."

Oh, so he is aware of that.

I don't know what to feel but kinda jealous towards her. To always have a strong and handsome man by her side.

Me: "If you don't mind, can you tell me what happened to her?"

Jonathan: "The Plague. She died because of the Plague. The First Wave of infestation that had been sent by the cruel Demon Lord upon us years ago had cost her life."

Me: "I'm sorry to hear that."

Jonathan: "It's fine. This happened years ago. I also promised her to take care of Noah and protect him from any harm. That's her last wish before her last breath. But..."

I instinctively hug him tightly into my embrace.

Me: "It's not your fault!"

Jonathan: "I know. But it's hard to think it's not because....because...."

I cupped my hands on his cheeks and pulled his face towards me.

Me: "Your anger comes from worrying about your son's safety. You're just scared that something bad might happen to him and I understand that. The fear of losing someone you love when you're not looking."

Jonathan: "But..."

Me: "Listen to me, Jonathan. I've lost someone dearest to me back in my world because I wasn't there by his side and I was devastated by it....but I'm still alive. You know why? Because being sad is not going to bring him back alive. And now you have your son under your care yet you're still mopping around in a barn? That's not a person who loved his son should be doing! He should go out there, back to the tavern and apologize to his son about how bad he treated him just now and make wonderful memories together! That's the real meaning of loving someone who's still alive!"

He lowered his head for a moment and raised it again with a smile shined on his face.

Jonathan: "Yeah, you're right. I should go apologies to him."

Me: "Now that's music to my ear. Let's not make him wait for us any longer, okay."

Noah: "Father?"

As we walked our way to the exit, Noah was already standing by the door.

Jonathan: "Noah?"

Noah: "Father..."

He ran towards his father and wrapped his arms around lovingly only at the level of his father's waist because of the lack of his height plus the excessive height of his father that made it impossible for Noah to reach his father's chest appropriately to hug with.

Jonathan: "Noah, I'm so sorry that I yelled at you. I shouldn't have made you cry."

It's kinda cute to be honest and I know it's not the right time to say this but that looks really funny that I have to restrain myself from letting out a burst of laughter.

Me: "Pffft..."

Their heights are too contrary for each other!

...

...I'm such a terrible person.

Noah: "No, I'm the one who's at fault. I shouldn't have brought up the topic when I knew that you're not going to..."

Jonathan: "Hey, hey, hey. No, it's not your fault. I was wrong too. I should've given you a chance to talk about it but due to this growing fear as a result of the recent incident made me feel scared. Afraid of losing you."

Noah: "I'm sorry."

Jonathan: "I'm sorry too."

Jonathan then knelt on the ground to let Noah hug him properly.

Me: "Ehem! I'm still here you know."

Jonathan: "Oh, Bal. What are you doing here?"

Noah: "Yeah, I didn't notice you there for a second."

Me: "Har har. Real funny guys."

I grumbled at both of them and turned my back on them as I walk straight to the exit.

Jonathan: "Hey, wait! We're just kidding!"

Noah: "Yeah! We're friends, right? Can't friends joke around with each other?"

Me: "Lalalala! I can't hear you!"

Jonathan then wraps his arm around my neck thus dragged me out of the barn together with Noah followed us from behind in laughter.

(5 years ago)

(December 6th, 2025)

It was night.

Where night felt cold due to the incessant rain that's happening outside of the building raging from this morning.

The night when I was waiting for his arrival from his mission on detaining an infamous villain group named 'Ghosts' in the lounge of the academy with Arthur by my side, my lynx friend, sitting together on a soft, warm couch, watching some tv shows displayed on the television.

Arthur: "He's exceptionally late today, isn't he?"

Me: "Yeah, he is. But that's normal I suppose. He's dealing with the most dangerous villains of the top ten most wanted villain organization of the whole continent and you can't expect him to get it done in one day."

Arthur: "But it's your birthday! He promised too."

Me: "I know. But we should just believe in him. Have some faith in him, would you? He's strong. He's the one of the World Wide Hero after all."

Arthur: "It's 2.00 a.m."

Me: "It's my birthday, Arthur. Why are you so worked up about this?"

Arthur: "What? Can't I get excited over my best friend's birthday now?"

Me: "Of course you can.... In the afterlife."

Arthur: "Alright, alright! I'll stop, just stop that!"

Me: "Just kidding~"

Arthur: "Jeez!"

Then, I pressed the button idly on the remote control to switch the channel on television that literally shows nothing but a few recurring drama shows.

A few channels later, we ended up with the news broadcast on a random channel.

A female elf reporter sitting behind an unnecessarily huge desk in front of her in their news broadcast studio featured on television who was talking about an accident that took place in Hazel St. as a result of a match between a hero and a villain just now.

Arthur: "Hazel St.? Isn't that..."

Me: "Shh!"

I shushed loudly at Arthur as I continued concentrating on the news.

Something very wrong could be felt at the pit of my stomach as I kept listening to the news.

The reporter: "...the incident took place at 1.40 a.m. and continued until 2.30 a.m. The incident has confirmed that only public property was severely destroyed. No victi-..."

The reporter unexpectedly took a halt of her talking in halfway as she was listening to something from her one-sided earphone strapped on her right ear.

Her stoic face then turned into an expression that I've never thought a reporter should do on television as she gasped in horror.

The reporter: "Ehem...Uhm... Sorry for the stalemate we've brought to you. I've just received new information from the live reporter that the incident was caused by a deadly match between a World Wide Hero and a member of an infamous villain organisation named Ghosts."

Me: "No...."

Arthur: "Bal..."

Me: "No no no no no no no! NO!"

I picked up the phone from the table next to me and hit the power button as it brought me to the lock screen.

I quickly put my paw on the fingerprint scanner unlocking the phone.

I swiped my finger on the screen hastily to find the 'Contact' icon.

Seconds later, I found the app icon and open it by tapping my finger on it.

I scrolled the screen up and down to find the name...

Me: "Michael!"

I found the name that I was busily searching for and smashed my finger on the name selection as I put the phone next to my ear, waiting for Michael to answer his phone.

Me: "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on! Pick it up, damn it!"

The phone was ringing. His phone was still operating.

Why the hell is he not picking his fucking damn phone up!?

The reporter: "...the victim at the scene has identified that ..... An elf, the World Wide Hero named Wind Shadow(Michael) had been killed by the villain right at the scene."

I gasped hardly for air after hearing Michael's codename spoken out on the television.

The call I made just now then got answered by the other side of the phone right after I heard a click.

Me: "Hello! Michael!? Shit, I heard your name got reported on the news and I got scared that you actually died! Thank gods you actually answered the phone.

????: "............."

Me: "Hello?"

Ghosts: "His time is up."

Me: "Y......YOU BASTARD!!!"