Heyo, at 45k words on Vivian Prologue again.
Word count is like 2400+
Anyway, please join my discord if you wanna talk about this or make suggestions: https://discord.gg/aV9cGRYAtH
________________________________________________________________________________
Charlie's pov:
"Hey, get up." Sammy tapped on my head.
My eyes snapped open, and I sat up.
"Huh? Were you even asleep?" Sammy raised an eyebrow and put a hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head, no. 'I can't sleep.'
She stared at me for a few moments, seemingly trying to read the look in my eyes, then shrugged. "You really shouldn't just lay there with your eyes closed on a wooden bench then, kinda creepy."
I nodded. 'Sorry.' I wasn't using my skill, so my responses fell on deaf brains.
"Charlie, are you awake?" Sarah's head peaked through the door.
I nodded. I had been pretending to sleep all morning to help keep up the act of an otherworlder, who I guessed would probably not naturally wake up at dawn like seemingly medieval farmers.
"Do you need time to get ready to go to the Free Guild?" Sarah was preparing a pair of baskets, and was packing one with a lunch.
I shook my head, then stood up and stretched visibly.
"She says she doesn't." Sammy was still closely inspecting me, something she'd spent far too long doing the previous night already.
I glanced at her and shook my head again. 'Please stop it..'
She frowned and looked away, "Fine fine." She huffed under her breath and took out her notebook again to start writing.
'I'll have to ask where she got that.' I turned to Sarah again.
Sarah was already on her way out the front door, "Well, if you wanna come. You are gonna have to get going."
I nodded and followed along with her. 'I'll need to try to strengthen my barrier.'
As we walked along, I started practicing my control to leak even less magicules. By the time we'd reached the outer gate of the farm, I think I had it.
It made Magic Sense a lot harder to use accurately, no more detailed sight on everything if I didn't really focus on it for a little while.
Sammy started looking at me with a raised eyebrow again, with a weird look of confusion on her face. "Hey yo-" she stopped mid-sentence and looked away.
'What was that about? Can she not see my aura anymore?... Good.' I had been hoping I'd achieve that by the time we'd gotten to the city.
"Ok, Charlie, since you might not wanna frighten anyone with your skill, could you start telling me more about yourself? Like your full name, where you are from, and what year you are from?" Sarah started slowing down to walked beside us.
I nodded and reached out a tiny bit with my aura, before engaging Thought Communication, 'My full name is Charlotte Emily. I am from Hurricane Utah, but I've been all over the south western United States with my father. I am from the year 1984, early in the year.' I was proud I could still remember that much, some of the others couldn't.
Privately I thought, 'Sharing my real story should be fine.. Plus it would be harder to come up with a convincing lie..'
"Alright dear, that is a lot but I think I've got it. Wasn't expecting you to go into that much detail right away though." Sarah shrugged herself and kept walking ahead a bit faster, gaining a lead again.
"Yeah.. That really is a lot. Don't know what most of it means though. Were you preparing to answer questions like those all night?" Sammy glanced at me as she kicked a rock along the road.
I shook my head no, while sealing my aura as much as I could again.
A calm silence settled in as we walked, until eventually, we got to the gates of the city.
Almost twenty feet tall, guarded by stone and wood.
'Imposing!.. But also I think I could blast those open if I really tried.. Is this really gonna keep people safe?' I mentally sighed.
Sarah started talking to the guards.
I was focused on my Find Familiar skill though, it was seriously going off this close to the city. I could almost feel it shaking my mind. I tried to suppress it so I could focus.
"Charlie?" Sarah waved her hand in front of me.
I shook my head and looked at her directly.
"Let's go."
I nodded and followed the woman through the gates.
The moment I passed them though, a pain shot through me. A small itching pain, draining pain. It was over my entire body, but focused on my skin. 'Ow ow ow ow! That hurts!'
I could tell with magic sense, magicules were trying to get yanked off of me. 'Good thing my barrier is keeping them in place..'
"Charlie? You stopped again." Sammy grabbed onto my shoulder again and started yanking me along.
My eyes widened and I started following along again. 'I'll just try to strengthen my barrier more..'
"We'll need to go through the market first, but I we'll get to the free guild in time." Sarah spoke, as she turned down a sidestreet.
________________________________________________________________________________
William's pov:
'Damn voice! Insulting me for hours with some stupid game..' I sighed and looked around as I finally felt I had a body again.
A massive hall with a ceiling set impractically high.
Walking down the hall was a man with a long beard in a flowing robe. Suddenly he stopped, and just stared at me.
'I don't think this is Utah.'
________________________________________________________________________________
Charlie's pov:
"Miss Sarah!" A blond haired girl suddenly stood up from her seat as a nearby table.
"Ah, Eren. How are you, dear?" Sarah smiled happily, and leaned over to hand off the baskets to Sammy.
"We are..." Eren seemed to slouch. "We can't get a job! How did you do it back in the day?!"
'How does an adventurer run out of jobs?.. Sarah said monster parts are really highly valued.' I tilted my head a bit.
"Ah, I am sorry to hear that. I always just went a little above my recommended challenge, and offered to do it for a bit cheaper." Sarah scratched the back of her neck a bit, and looked away.
"You make it sound so easy!.. Well anyway, what are you doing here? Aren't you retired for good now? Oh, does your daughter want to take the adventuring test?!" Eren seemed to get a little giddy. "We can take her into our party if she thinks she is ready!"
"I- I don't think that is a good idea, dear. She might be ready for the test, but I don't think you'd all be ready to take on an extra member." Sarah sweatdropped, and stepped back a bit.
"Nonsense!" A man with blond hair stepped up, "I'm sure we could take on another member. We actually might really need it.."
Sarah took a much more serious face. "Kaval, the answer is no."
'Wonder what that is about?' I tilted my head a bit more.
Sammy coughed and bumped into me, then whispered; "That angle is a bit unnatural."
I frantically correctly my neck and felt I'd be blushing, if that is even possible. 'Ha... Keeping myself human shaped is harder than I remember..'
"Anyway, for your information. We are here because Charlie here is an otherworlder, she broke into our house looking for clothes!" Sarah seemed a little too excited to explain.
"Woah? An otherworlder really? I was gonna ask why the girl was wearing a mask, usually only really strong adventurers wear em." A brown haired man asked from the table, he was still leaning back in a more relaxed position.
'Strong adventurers?'
"She refuses to take it off, no reason to force her." Sarah turned away, "Anyway, I'll see you three around. Gido, make sure Kaval doesn't attack anymore monster nest." Then she started walking to the counter.
The brown haired man did a tired looking salute.
Sammy made a sigh of relief, "Sorry, you guys are real trouble makers."
'I don't think I want to know after what Sarah said..' I turned to follow along with her.
The receptionist perked up at Sarah, "Miss Sarah, it has been some time. I heard your conversation with Eren, you believe you have found an otherworlder?"
"No need to be so formal, Emmy." Sarah chuckled a bit. "Yup, got Charlie here." Sarah pointed back to me.
"I see." Emmy scrambled up the counter for a moment before pulling up a form and a pen, "Can you fill this out? The Guild Master is present, he'd be able to see a new otherworlder shortly. However, he would currently be in a meeting with the Baron."
Sarah sighed. "Velyard huh? Well I guess that isn't any of our business. I'll fill it out. Tell Fuze to take his time." Sarah took the form and started scribbling down incredibly quickly, before turning back to me. "Might be a while dear. How about you go find a place to sit?"
I nodded and turned back to Sammy, then I glanced back to the group of adventurers Sarah had spoken to before.
"I guess they'd be fine, yeah." Sammy turned back around and quickly waddled over to the table, before finally setting down the oversized baskets.
'Maybe I should have helped her?..'
"Oh, Sammy! You came back." Eren reached out to hug her.
Sammy begrudgingly accepted it, then sighed.
I sat nearby, silently.
"Hey uh, why hasn't she said anything?" Kaval peaked over from what he was drinking.
"Oh, Charlie? She is mute." Sammy scooted over to sit next to me, then put a hand on my shoulder.
"How do you know her name then?" Gido raised an eyebrow from across the table.
"Ah, she has a skill to talk in your head. It is super creepy."
'Hey! You didn't complain last night.' I glared softly at her.
Sammy chuckled, "Well-"
The door to a room in the far back of the room opened suddenly, and a man in a really fancy noble suit walked through. Then quickly walked outside.
A group of guards followed behind him.
'Was that the baron guy?'
Eren peaked in front of my vision, "Can you use that skill? I really wanna hear your voice. You look so cute."
'That.. Is something I haven't heard in a long time..' I mentally sighed, before focusing a minute to control my aura very carefully to only let out a tiny tiny bit. Then used Thought Communication. 'Hello Hello! Welcome to your new summer job at Freddy Fazbender's Pepperoneri! Remember our company motto, sweep it under the rug, it is probably fine.'
I chucked internally, 'always wanted to say that.'
Eren sweatdropped, "I uh, am glad to have given you the opportunity?"
Sammy facepalmed, "I have no idea what that means, but for some reason I feel vaguely in danger hearing someone say that."
"What even is a Pepperoneri?" Gido sat up.
"I'm sure it is a very important establishment to be employing people for summer jobs!" Kaval said, unawarely.
I cut off Thought Communication, and pulled in my aura. 'If only you could all know.'
"I got a really eerie feeling when she did that.." Eren shivered a bit.
'Well, I am a ghost.. Technically.'
"Charlie! We can go up to the Guild Master's office now. You can come too, Sammy." Sarah yelled from across the large room.
I nodded in response and stood up, before picking up one of the baskets this time. Then I carefully waddled over to Sarah, being careful not to drop anything without my skills to keep me steady like normal.
"You walk like a bird when you carry stuff yourself, Charlie." Sammy laughed a bit before following Sarah through the door at the end of the room.
I was the last past the guards, and was a little shocked looking forward.
In the center of the room was a large, intricate, circle.
'That has to be magical, right?' I stepped onto it, and it started glowing faintly immediately.
"Hm, you must have some magical aptitude, Charlie." Sarah stepped onto the circle herself.
Sammy was the last.
Then a guard followed up onto the circle, and suddenly we were in another room with a similar layout, but it was more fancy.
'Oh! They can teleport like me. Maybe they need those circles though?' I waved my head back and forth a bit while thinking about it.
Sarah walked up to the larger door, and opened it. She then stood aside and held it open for us.
I followed Sammy inside, who immediately set her basket on a table in the middle of the room before sitting on a couch.
I followed suit, and sat next to her.
"Sarah." A gruff looking man with a scarred face looked up from the form from earlier.
"Hey Fuze, How have you been?" Sarah finally sat across from me.
The man seemed to pause, and move a few things around on his desk. Before just speaking bluntly. "Good enough. That is the girl, right?"
"Yup, little Charlie."
Fuze seemed to get a complicated expression, and looked back and forth between us for a few moments. "You haven't lost you touch?"
Sarah tilted her head and put a hand on her cheek. "What ever do you mean?"
Fuze sighed, "The girl is a majin, or something similar. I could tell the moment she walked through the office's ward."
"Oh, I guessed that already." Sarah giggled a bit. "It was kinda obvious when she started using Thought Communication, and couldn't talk."
I shook a bit. 'You knew the entire time?!' My aura leaked a bit.
"Well, yeah?" Sarah leaned back. "I walked into that room in the first place cause I felt an odd aura."
Sammy seemed to go wide eyed. "W-wait. You knew Charlie was a monster but you let her stay the night anyway?"
"You may not have realized this yet, but your mother was a troublemaker long before that trio downstairs stepped into this building." Fuze sighed, and started rearranging papers again.
"Old habits die hard. So, I think you know why I am here?" Sarah turned to fuze with a devilish smile.
"You are confident she isn't a threat?"
"Wouldn't have brought her here if she was, Fuze. I am not that little girl leading goblins into town anymore!"
Sammy stood up and waved her hands around. "Wait!! Wait! Stop! Explain what is going on!"
'I'd like to know too..' I had already started using Thought Communication.
________________________________________________________________________________
-2407 words-