Chương 11: Where are You from Again?

The little wooden table Evan and Oliver sat down at was so wobbly, Evan had to take out another mana stone to shove it under one of the table's legs to stabilize it. Meanwhile, Agatha stood in her kitchenette, digging through her cupboards while whistling a song. Evan pulled the orb he'd received as a reward for the quest out of his inventory. It was smaller than the one Agatha had lent him, but floated above his head and followed his movement, just like hers.

Despite that very useful quest reward, Oliver looked a little unhappy.

"Father is going to kill me when he finds out I'm in Agatha's house." Evan looked at the old lady, whistling her song, clearly happy about the company.

"But why? She's just an old woman. A bit brash maybe, but is it really necessary to shun her like this?" Oliver sighed.

"You don't understand. She's not just any old woman. In her prime, she was one of the most powerful mana users of the century." Evan glanced at Agatha. It was hard to imagine the hunchbacked, frail woman as a powerful magical warrior.

"But you said they took away her magic, so how dangerous can she really be?" A thoughtful expression appeared on Oliver's face.

"I don't know. I'm not sure, to be honest. It's just… it's always been like this. As long as I can remember, grown-ups have told me to stay away from old Agatha."

"But look at her. She couldn't even kill the Scrapmaws in her own basement. I don't know anything about your village or Agatha's past, but spitting on her? Is that really necessary?" Oliver let out a sigh.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe… maybe it's just one of the many lies my father has told me. You know, I recently started to question a lot of the things my father says and does recently. Maybe his opinion on Agatha is one of the things that should be questioned too." Agatha returned, carrying a tray filled with bread, cheese, and sliced meat. She put it all down in front of them, fetched three cups and a carafe of red-colored juice, and sat down with them.

"Eat," she told them while pouring them juice.

"It's not poisoned, Oliver, I promise." Evan dug in. He hadn't eaten anything but the sandwiches Oliver had in his inventory since he'd left his house to start his shift at the hospital, and since then he'd survived multiple fights for his life, so his stomach was growling. The bread tasted familiar, but not quite the same as the bread you could buy at the supermarket. The juice tasted nothing like anything he'd ever drunk before, but he liked it and asked for a refill after he'd downed the first cup in one go.

After their first hunger was satiated, Agatha looked at them with a twinkle in her eyes.

"So, where did you two boys get so goddamn dirty? You look like you fought a Mud Golem." Oliver and Evan exchanged a look, and both started grinning.

"Actually, that's exactly what we did," Oliver said with pride in his voice. Agatha scoffed and waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't play an old woman for a fool, Oliver Detreyo."

"But we did! Really. Evan got those leather bracers as a quest reward." Evan held up his arms to show off the bracers and nodded.

"It was a rank 3 mud golem." Lips pinched, Agatha leaned in and inspected the quest reward.

"Hm… and where did you find this Mud Golem?"

"Up in the Celestial Ruins," Oliver explained.

"The Celestial Ruins, huh? Dangerous place for a green rank 1 like you. Did your father know you were going there?" Oliver flushed and lowered his gaze.

"Not exactly. But we've been experiencing this mana blight for weeks now. Someone needed to do something about it, and I'm the only mana user in the village. Unless you count Luther."

"No one counts Luther," Agatha said.

"Don't worry, my boy, I'm not going to scold you for going on a little adventure. Truth is, your father is a miserable spoilsport whose only passion in life is snuffing out his children's spark."

"I wouldn't go that far," Oliver said, looking uncomfortable.

"He's working really hard, you know. He had to look after all of us since Mum died. Raising seven kids isn't easy. And then, when Miles…" He trailed off. Evan assumed Miles was his older brother. The one who died. A painful topic for Oliver, that much was obvious. Even Agatha seemed to realize it and steered the conversation away from Oliver's family.

"I support your adventuring wholeheartedly, but your mission to the Celestial Ruins was misguided. There might've been a Mud Golem there, but that's not what's causing the mana blight. Too far away. A rank 3 monster doesn't have that range." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! Oliver deflated a little.

"It's not? Are you sure?" Evan understood his worry. He'd hoped his father would be lenient about him sneaking away to explore the ruins if he returned successful, but if the golem had never been the issue, it appeared a lot more like a reckless adventure than a heroic mission to save the village.

"I'm sure. The blight is caused by a Scrapmaw queen." Oliver took in a sharp breath.

"A queen?"

"Yes. I saw her burrow out in the fields, near Snaketooth Rock. It's a queen, I'm sure of it. That's why we have so many of these Scrapmaws right now."

"Scrapmaws have queens?" Evan asked. Agatha's eyes narrowed.

"You don't know about monster queens?"

"Uh… maybe we call them something different where I'm from?" The suspicion on Agatha's face remained.

"And where are you from again?" Evan considered lying, but somehow he had the gut feeling the old woman wouldn't buy it anyway. The way her dark blue eyes stared at him was unsettling. Like she was seeing right through him.

"I'm from another world," he said, trying to sound casual, as if it was a completely ordinary answer to that question. Oliver drew a sharp breath, and Evan prepared himself for disbelief or mocking, but Agatha just tilted her head and pursed her lips.

"That explains a few things. Like your strange clothes. And your constantly confused look."

"That's all?" Oliver asked her.

"That's all you have to say? You're not shocked? Or in awe? Because I was when he first told me." Agatha shrugged.

"Eh. It's rare, but not unheard of. I met three, no wait, four world travelers in my lifetime. Your friend here is the fifth. What is your home world called, young man?"

"Earth."

"Hm, can't say I'm familiar with that world. Never heard of it before. How did you get here?"

"I have no idea. Honestly. One moment I was… I think I was about to die, and the next moment I woke up in these ruins up in the mountains, completely unscathed and with this weird interface that you call a ledger." Agatha rubbed her chin, thoughtfully studying Evan.

"Interesting..."

"Do you know more about how I might've gotten here? Do you have any idea how I might get back?" Agatha shook her head.

"Sorry, no. The other world travelers I met could do so willingly, although it took an insane amount of mana." Evan sat up a little straighter, so excited he nearly pushed his light orb off the table with his elbow.

"But there is a way? It's a skill I can learn?" Agatha went quiet for a long moment.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, my boy, I really don't. Maybe, but I wouldn't bank on it. Like I said, people traveling between worlds is very rare, and you got here by accident, so who knows how things work for you. If I were you, I'd prepare myself for staying in this world for a long, long while. Possibly forever." Evan deflated. A strange mix of feelings whirled around in his stomach. Fear was a big part of it. Fear of the unknown. How had his first quest been called again? Stranger in a Strange Land?

Yep, that was him. He was just ordinary Evan, stranded in a world he didn't know and didn't understand, filled to the brim with monsters and magic. He was worried about his father and all the other people he'd left behind in his world. Were they wondering where he was? Worried? Had he disappeared without a trace, or had he actually died in that car accident and been reborn into this new world? A whiff of homesickness was there too when he thought about all the things he no longer had and could no longer do.

No more pizza from Frederico's Pizzeria on the corner of his street, no more watching Marvel movies on his comfortable couch in his tiny apartment, no more cans of Dr Pepper Cherry. His old life and all its comforts were completely gone, and that felt painful. But there was a hint of excitement, too. A whole new world to explore, without being tied down by responsibilities! And he had magic. He could teleport, for God's sake. Only a few feet, but still, pretty damn cool. Immediately, guilt reared its head again.

He shouldn't enjoy this. He wasn't a teenage boy playing video games anymore, he was an adult with adult responsibilities. And every day he spent in this world meant a day his father was without him, all alone and helpless. Oliver put his hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts.

"I'm sorry, man. I hope you find a way back home one day." Agatha scoffed.

"For now, you'd be better served focusing on the present. Like the Scrapmaw queen problem, for example." Evan took a deep breath. He pushed all those feelings tearing at him from the inside down and focused on the present.

"Right. So… a queen?"

"Monsters procreate in two different ways," Oliver explained.

"Some species have a more biological approach. They birth babies or lay eggs. We call those queens. They tend to share some brooding instincts with normal animals. Very protective of their offspring. Then there are kings. They just duplicate when they reach a certain mana threshold, producing fully formed replicas of themselves. We call those kings. Golems, like the Mud Golem we fought, have kings. Scrapmaws have queens."

"Okay, got it," Evan said.

"So if we kill the queen, the Scrapmaws will disappear, and so will the… what did you call it? Mana blight?" Agatha nodded.

"Yes, they will disappear. At least for a while." Evan set down his cup of juice, unable to suppress a smile. Clearing out the root cellar had earned them a few experience points and a handful of mana stones, but he was itching to use his magical abilities in a real battle again. Maybe not quite as challenging as the mud golem, but more exciting than playing vermin exterminator for Agatha.

"Let's do it, Oliver." Agatha raised an eyebrow.

"You sound confident. Do you really think two rank 1 boys can take on the queen?"

"We did defeat a rank 3 Mud Golem," Oliver boasted, sitting up a little straighter, "We can deal with it."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to stop you. These Scrapmaw pests are a pain. They've destroyed half my pantry already."

"Someone has to do it, and from what I gathered, we're the only mana users nearby, right?" Evan said.

"That's right."

"Then we'll do it," he said firmly. Oliver shoved the last piece of bread into his mouth and stood up.

"We'll head out right away. If we work quickly, we can finish the queen and return to Silvercreek before nightfall." Agatha giggled.

"Oh my, you really are confident, aren't you?" Evan rose, too.

"Thank you for the meal, Agatha." She gave him a smile.

"You're a very kind young man, Evan Randall. I can tell you have a good heart. Hm… wait here for a second. I have something for you."

"It's okay. You already paid us for the Scrapmaws."

"Not money," Agatha said, scuttling away.

"You can't fight the Scrapmaw queen with that kitchen knife. You need a proper weapon and I have one I have no use for anymore."