Chapter 5: The City of Ryubia {Questioning}

-[2 Hours Later]-

Oooh! I see what seems to be that city nearby! The walls are so friggin' tall… Wow. That must have taken forever to build. Oh. And listening to the old man and trying to talk back has allowed me to get [Common Language] to Level 2! I can now speak a bit better.

The old man then said, "Αυτό είναι μέχρι εκεί που πάω. Πρέπει ακόμα να παραδώσω κάποια προϊόντα σε ένα κοντινό χωριό, μόλις μισή μέρα μακριά. Καλή επιτυχία μικρέ! (This is as far as I'm going. I still have to deliver some products to a nearby village, only half a day away. Good luck, little one!)"

I hopped out of the cart and said back to him, "Αντίο! Και σας ευχαριστώ! (Bye! And… thank you!)"

<<Notice. 2 [Common Language] has levelled up! {Lvl → Lvl 3}. You will now be able to understand the language, but not fully speak it!>>

Yes! That's great! Well, it's time to head to the gates so I can get inside of this city! I wonder what the architecture will be like?

There seems to be a line of around 10 people trying to get inside of the city. No time to waste on standing around.

-[In the line]-

8 of the people in the line are humans. There are 2 beast-folk. One… cat type? And one lizard type. Cool.

I overheard two of the humans speaking quietly. They said, "Do you see that? Those fucking demis are acting like they're equals."

It seems like that stereotype is in this world, as well. Welp, I can't go and mope around because of the racial discrimination. It will always exist, no matter the world, universe, or reality.

And, hell. It just adds onto the typical isekai stereotype world! Makes it a little better, in my opinion. Now I can just beef with some random racist prick. Haha, that seems fun.

-[20 Minutes Later]-

I finally made my way up to the man who was checking people into the city. He saw me and started to study my figure. I probably seemed like a lost child to him…

He looked at me and said, "Hey, are you lost?" Yep. There it is.

Should I respond? Probably.

I then replied, "Not know… who me is."

He seemed like he needed to do something. He walked over to a nearby door that was built into the walls, and shouted out for someone to come over.

"I'm on my way!" a woman shouted back.

Out came a woman who looked to be around 22 years of age, and 166cm of height. The man then told her something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(??? POV)

"Hey! Could someone come over here quickly?" Mark shouted out for someone to come over.

I shouted back, "I'm on my way!"

I ran over to the exit door, which is where Mark is, and opened it to see him with a small hooded child. Mark then whispered to me, "This one might be a lost child or something. They can barely speak using common."

Ah, I see. This may be one of the missing children that have popped up over the last few months. But, it would be nearly impossible for such a young child to have survived on their own all this time.

I motioned for the child to walk to me and follow me into here for some questioning.

They were hesitant at first, but they followed along. I get it, they must be suspicious.

I opened the door to the room and said, "Here we are. Could you sit down over there on that chair for me?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Pearl POV)

-[In the Questioning Room]-

I sat down on a chair inside of the room, adjacent to another chair. In between them was a small table. Ah, yes. This looks exactly like what I thought of. It's a questioning room where they will ask me shit like "Who are you?" & "Do you remember what your parents look like?"

The woman then shut the door to the room, and then sat down on the other chair and faced me. She then said, "My name is Madison, a knight for this city. What's your name?"

From the feeling I can gather from her, she doesn't seem to be holding any hostility against me. So, I'll answer her, for now.

I then responded, "Ja- Pearl." Huh? 'Pearl'?

<<You have inherited the name from prior owner of this body. I automatically corrected you when were about to say your name.>>

Oh, okay. New world, new… Me? I guess.

Madison then said, "Okay. Next question, do you know where you are, where you are from?"

I answered her with, "No. I… I not know where from. I woke up in forest. Can't remember… before."

She then nodded her head. Madison then asked, "Do you remember if there was anyone with you in that forest. Or, do you remember if there was anyone taking care of you before? Please, try to remember."

I already had an answer for her, but for the sake of keeping it authentic, I'll pretend I'm trying to remember.

After around 10 seconds, I said, "No… Nothing."

She looked at me with a sort of saddened expression. She then said, "All right. Enough of those questions. Do you know how old you are, Pearl?"

I answered her, "Maybe… 10? Can barely remember."

She nodded her head as a response. Madison then thought, "Now that I have heard this child speak for a bit, I have confirmed that they truly have a hard time speaking using the common language."

Madison then told me, "Now, I'm going to need you to fill this form out."

She brought out a piece of paper and a… quill?

<<That is a magic ink quill. You dip it in and absorbs using magical inscription. Once the used, you do same process until quill eventually breaks.>>

Oh, cool.

Madison then asked me, "Can you read or write?"

I shook my head. She then said, "Okay. I'll ask you these and you will answer them, okay?"

I nodded my head.

She then said, "Full name?"

I answered, "Pearl. No remember... surname."

She wrote it down.

She then asked, "Age is 10, right?"

I nodded my head, and she wrote it down.

Madison then asked, "Sex?"

It would be funny if I said "no experience", right? No? Okay.

I answered, with regret, "Female."

She then wrote down something else alongside my sex.

{Madison had written down "This child has a severe case of amnesia."}

She then asked me, "Are you able to use any kind of weapon?"

I truthfully answered, "Katana… and magic."

She looked down at the paper, and then back at me. She repeated, "Magic? You can use magic?"

I nodded my head. She then said, "Well, then."

She wrote those both down. Madison then told me, "Stand up right there for me, will you?" I did just so. Madison then set down the paper and magic quill, walked over to me, and said, "Time to check your height."

She pulled out what seemed to be something resembling a tape measure from a nearby box. She then said, "Stand tall."

I fixed my posture, and she pulled down my hood for an accurate height. She stopped for a moment. Madison then said, "So, you're a fox lycanthrope?"

I answered, "I guess…?"

She then measured my height and said, "You are 3'7" in height. Quite short for your age." Yeah, yeah, I've heard it too many times.

She then wrote it down on the form, and we exited the room. Madison told me whilst we were walking, "You will probably be living in the city's orphanage while we try to see if anyone here has a daughter with your name and description."

I nodded my head. I then asked her, "Can I… borrow some clothes?" That sentence was hard to say since I can barely grasp speaking this language.

Madison realised from what I had said, and told me that she would arrange some. That is quite reassuring. Now I'll be warmer, at the least.

Madison then said, "Wait here for a moment."

Okay.