Chương 57: Surface (3)

As the rest of the party turned around as well, walking away, Rowan heard Lucas mutter something under his breath. He couldn't fully make out what the man was saying, but it was something to do with crying and manliness. He shook his head and chose to ignore the mutterings. Lucas had some problems, and Rowan didn't want to turn them into his own. Still, had the guy been muttering extra loudly to make sure he heard? After a few moments of thought, he decided that Lucas probably hadn't wanted him to hear anything.

After all, it didn't seem like anyone else had heard him. Rowan frowned. Perhaps his stats were enhancing his hearing. He nodded. That was definitely it. By how much, though, he didn't know. Still, it would certainly be a useful skill to have. He was drawn out of his thoughts as Henry began to speak.

"I'm sure you have questions, no?" Rowan nodded.

"Ask away, then." Smiling at the open invitation, Rowan asked something he'd been wondering about for a long, long time, "How long has it been since the Tutorial started? Does anyone even know? I'm sure there are some people with watches, right?" Henry tilted his head.

"It's been a while. Maybe a month and a half? Probably less. I was told a while ago by someone who actually keeps track of the time that it'd been twenty-five days since we were brought here, but I don't know how long it has been since then; just lost track of time, you know?" He thought for a few more moments before continuing.

"It's probably been around thirty-two days, so a bit more than a month.

"People with watches, you said?. Only powerful or stupid people wear them openly, at least around other people. You can tell time without having to rely on the sun if you have one. Makes them pretty valuable, even though they're not actually that useful in most cases." Rowan sighed and looked up at the faraway ball of fire that illuminated the world. It didn't actually hurt his eyes to look at it.

Whether that was because his eyes' ability to handle light had increased or simply that the star wasn't quite as bright as the one back on earth, he didn't know.

"Are there actual days here? Or does the sun just stay suspended there?"

"Oh, days are pretty much the same as they were back on Earth," Henry responded.

"The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, you know? Just like usual." He frowned.

"I guess we just made up the directions based on the sun, huh? East is where the sun rises, and the west is where the sun sets. The tower is west of us, for example."

"Days are slightly shorter than those on Earth, but only by a few minutes, so it's nothing to worry about. As for the nights, well, you'll just have to wait and see." The bearded man smiled mischievously at him. Unsure of how to interpret Henry's expression, Rowan just smiled back. Was there something special about the nights? Was it something he should be worried about? Or was it just a surprise that the man was saving for him? Deciding it was probably the latter, he moved on.

"What about guns? Do people have them? How useful are they on the creatures here?" He'd been wondering about firearms ever since the beginning of the Tutorial, where he'd seen the woman with the pistol. She'd died to the chimera, of course, but still, it had been the only thing to do any actual damage to the creature. Assuming nobody else had grabbed it at one point or another, he might have to fetch it. He wasn't sure how useful it would actually be to him, but it couldn't hurt, could it?

"Hmm… I don't know much about guns. They're not exactly common, you know? I saw a single man with a rifle near the beginning of the Tutorial, but I haven't seen one since then. Eren might know, though. She joined our group more recently, so I'm sure she's seen plenty more than I have." Eren shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know much either, but I have seen someone try to kill a level fourteen beast with some kind of crappy machine gun. All you need to know is that it didn't go well. The creature got injured, and the gunner got killed." She paused for a few moments before continuing.

"Personally, though, I don't think that guns are a great investment. It's only a matter of time until you either run out of bullets or everything and everyone worth killing is too strong for a gun to do anything." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Rowan nodded.

"Makes sense. Some of the stronger guns would probably still be useful, though." The group continued walking in silence, watching Cynthia run circles around them. Rowan yawned. The girl seemed like she had some endless wellspring of energy. He could use some of that right now. He'd technically gotten some 'sleep' when he'd been thrown into the water and knocked unconscious, but that hadn't really rested him. And now, after all of the constant fighting and killing, he was exhausted.

More tired than he'd been in ages. Still, he remained wide awake, forcing himself to stay conscious until they arrived back at the party's camp. After a few more minutes of silent walking, Rowan asked another question.

"So, how does, well… everything work? From what you were saying when we first met, it seems like there are whole new cultures and civilizations here. I don't want to meet any new people or enter some settlement and accidentally break a lot of laws."

"I don't know that much, but just telling you what I do know what take hours. And I assume you don't want that, no?" Henry sighed.

"None of us know much, anyway; we're just a bunch of wanderers. Eren probably knows the most, though." Hearing him, the woman took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Throwing all of the difficult explanations onto me, huh?" When Henry just looked away, pretending not to have heard her, she gave up and looked at Rowan.

"There are some rules that pretty much everyone knows, like not asking people you aren't close with about their abilities and not threatening people. Although there are quite a few people around here who couldn't care less about the whole 'no threatening and killing thing'. Most of the settlements we've been to have pretty similar rules.

Mostly, it's just basic things like 'no killing' and 'no stealing', but some of the larger towns like Outpost have more specific laws and regulations like those that you might find on Earth. If we ever go to any of the settlements we've been to before, we'll let you know any rules that you should know, but most of them tell you about them when you enter, anyway." Rowan nodded. He would just have to be extra careful until he'd figured out all of the societal norms that had developed since the start of the Tutorial.

Seeing that Cynthia looked bored, he asked Eren how far they were.

"We're close," She responded.

"I'd say about ten minutes away at our current pace." Saying a quick thanks, he began to think. He was sure that he and anyone else in the party could cut that down to just a couple of minutes, but then Cynthia wouldn't be able to keep up. Now, not only did Cynthia look bored, but he was also itching for some practice with his [Mana Manipulation]. So, closing his eyes, he concentrated, and mana began to flow from the tip of his finger. His mana was still only about a quarter full, but he could spare a bit.

He continued to manipulate the blue wisps, forming them into the shape of a butterfly. But that was easy. The hard part was making it feel alive. It didn't take him long to get a basic wing flapping motion down, but after that, progress slowed. He kept trying to make it feel more real for the next few minutes, but as he continued to make no progress, Rowan finally stopped. He'd managed to make some minor improvements to how the wings moved, but it still felt… dead. Fake.

He would've liked to spend more time working on it, but Rowan knew that the time before they arrived at the camp was dwindling. So, with a sigh, he hid it behind his back and called out Cynthia's name. Immediately, she stopped whatever she had been doing, running over to him. She opened her mouth to say something before closing it once more and narrowing her eyes.

"What're you hiding?" Internally, Rowan cursed. He'd been trying to be nonchalant about it, putting it behind him and holding it there with [Mana Manipulation] rather than his hand to really sell the idea that he wasn't hiding anything. And yet, she'd seen through him so quickly. It made no sense! What had given it away? Was it the way he was standing? The tone of his voice when he'd called her? With a sigh, he brought the butterfly out from behind him.

"How did you know?" Cynthia giggled and entirely ignored his question.

"You're fun, Uncle Rowan! When I catch other people hiding stuff, they try to pretend that they're not hiding anything and still try to surprise me with it!" There was that 'Uncle Rowan' thing, again. He shook his head. He would have to ask her about it later, once he'd gotten a good sleep. Then, Rowan sent the butterfly flying towards her, doing his best to mimic how the bug would normally have flown. She laughed and tried to grab the mana construct, but it flitted away.

As she continued to chase the butterfly about, Rowan watched with a smile. But then, after a minute, she stopped and walked up to him.

"Can you make it chase me?" He nodded, and as she ran off, he sent the construct flitting after her. But after a few seconds, she came back, looking slightly annoyed.

"That's not what I meant! I want you to make it…to make it attack me!"