Dylan King and His New Roommate Called Goddess Athena [1st Book]

CHAPTER 2

Dylan was stunned when he witnessed something materializing in the lady's fist. Instantly, the reaction became a shock when he realized it was a sword. The lady's helmet and breastplate were most possibly real. Hence, the blade could also be authentic. Based on this assumption, he knew that conducting suspicious movements like suddenly turning around and sprinting away from the room would not be prudent. The lady might think he was someone planning to harass her, that it was not impossible if she decided to pursue and bring him down with the sword. It would be even worse if she remained still and decided to throw the sword instead. Refusing to die a possible ridiculous death, he decided to raise his hands while slowly kneeling on the floor.

The lady began approaching Dylan. She did not stop eyeing him with a glare, making him bow his head to show that he had submitted entirely to the lady. The gesture still did not make the lady lower her guard. She let the pointy tip of her sword touch his head, making him tremble exceedingly. Shutting both of his eyes, he stuttered, "Please don't kill me."

Again, in the foreign language, the lady gave a stern response. Dylan wanted to raise and shake his head, hoping to convey to the lady, 'I don't understand you.' Nevertheless, as the tip of the sword remained still on his head, he decided to stay submissive, hoping the lady would no longer consider him a threat.

Finally lowering her sword, the lady stepped back. But because she did not say anything, Dylan stayed still. However, she suddenly dropped the weapon and moaned in pain; by reflex, he shifted his attention to her. Unexpectedly, she held her head with her hands as if suffering a terrible headache. Dylan promptly raised to his feet. Simultaneously, the lady's legs gave out. Before she bumped on the floor, he managed to embrace her..

Dylan helped the lady to sit on the bed. Seeing her face had turned pale, he rushed out of the room. What was in his head was a cup of hot, sweetened tea to relieve the lady's headache. Nevertheless, realizing he could not guess her nature, he changed his mind. The last thing he wanted was to make the lady regard him as a real threat again just because he served her a hot drink. Therefore, he immediately opened his fridge and took out a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Clueless on communicating with the lady, Dylan just knelt and handed her the soda. The lady opened her eyes and looked at him, but she quickly shifted focus to the bottle he was holding. Touching the neck with her fingertip, her hands instantly recoiled. Curious looks were on her face when she let all her fingers wrap the bottle. After she firmly held it, Dylan beckoned her to try drinking it.

Once again, as he was clueless about conveying his thoughts, he performed the gesture of someone drinking and the motion of someone expressing satisfaction after swallowing something tasty. The lady was still doubtful despite all the gestures. But eventually, she chose to try drinking the soda. (HERE, November 27)

The lady's eyes widened when the liquid entered her throat. Like someone who had just finished exercising, the lady raised her chin even higher and continued drinking the soda until its last drop. She then observed the bottle and seemed to pay attention to the ingredient and nutrition information. But then, as Dylan had expected, she turned bewildered. She looked back at him and started talking again.

Quickly, Dylan held up his hand and shook his head. The lady leaned forward and squeezed her eyes, instantly petrifying him. At the same time, he also wondered whether she considered his gesture as a hostile movement. Fortunately, the lady recoiled, and her expression relaxed despite the sharp stare. She then took in her surroundings until her eyes landed on her helmet Dylan put on the floor the night before.

The lady placed her hands on the bed and got up. She staggered to her feet towards the helmet, but her legs gave out for the second time. Dylan rushed to help her up. Observing her face, he noticed she had gone pale again. Convinced that she needed more than sweetened soda to recover her strength, he brought her out of the room.

"Wait here," Dylan said after she had helped the lady get seated in the dining chair. The lady gave him another sharp stare, but from her breathing rhythm, she was too weak even to speak. Dylan chose to ignore the hostile reaction and promptly walked to the fridge.

Opening the fridge, Dylan grabbed a box of spaghetti and a bar of chocolate. He checked the language identifier apps while waiting for the microwave to reheat the spaghetti. The message displayed on the main page was 'Ancient Greek. Click here to open the translator.

"Ancient Greek?" he muttered. "Is it different from Greek?"

The 'ding' sound of the microwave instantly dispersed Dylan's thought process. He promptly served the heated spaghetti and chocolate to the lady. Her deadly stare still gave him a chill, but he tried to control the fear. Removing the transparent lid of the spaghetti box, he demonstrated how to eat the food with a plastic fork. After the second demonstration, he handed the utensil to the lady and said, "Please eat..."

The lady grasped the fork and started twirling, precisely as Dylan showed her. When she had just chewed the food, her eyes widened. She made the second twirl and chewed it; she repeated this gesture repeatedly, making her look like someone who had not eaten in days or had never tasted spaghetti. Convinced he must be able to converse with her as soon as possible, he opened the Ancient Greek translator.

The translator turned out to be like another online translator. Even worse, the input box was asymmetric with the output box, and the web developer had rendered the page dark brown. He doubted it would help form a well-established conversation with the strange lady. Nevertheless, he suddenly remembered an old English-to-Ancient Greek dictionary in the small storeroom across his room. Immediately, he headed there without saying anything to the lady.

Sliding the storeroom door open, he coughed as soon as he breathed the dust collected inside. It had been over a year since he last opened the storeroom, as Mr. Gafner, the library owner, did not require him to maintain the cleanliness. After letting the air inside circulate, Dylan turned on the lamp switch and walked to the stacks of books on his right side.

Discussing controversial themes and covering knowledge hardly used in society, Mr. Gafner decided not to put these books on the bookshelves for public consumption. While taking a look at them one by one, Dylan found this English-to-Ancient-Greek dictionary. At that time, it did not pique his interest to delve deeper; hence, he returned it to the stacks.

Using his index finger, Dylan browsed the stacks by reading the title written on the spine. Finally, he found the dictionary on the seventh row in the fourth stack. After wiping the dust off the book, he returned to the room.

With a confused look, the lady was studying the fridge inside when Dylan returned to the dining area. First, she was like someone who never ate spaghetti; now, she was like someone who never laid eyes on a fridge. A well-established conversation was undeniably vital to make everything clear. Hoping the dictionary would achieve the goal, Dylan immediately handed it to the lady.

The lady eyed Dylan suspiciously when she noticed the book. Nevertheless, she took it and quickly inspected it. The first few pages were a brief introduction in English; hence, she skipped them all. When she reached the first section of the learning material, she seemed to read it thoroughly. After finishing the third page of the area, she sat back on the chair. She continued moving to the next page, instantly convincing him she could understand the entire translation and grow interested in studying it more profoundly. If she could keep persistent, he believed he would be able to start conversing with her in no time.