Chapter 14: Isekai Life & Rock Candy

I flinched when Ashryn referred to me as “Lord Esche”, and from the corner of my eye, I could see Katriana glancing around the early morning street making sure that nobody was listening. The name probably didn’t mean anything to Voss- being a former guard he probably wasn’t educated in the geopolitical landscape of this world, and besides, was distracted by the elven cleric’s holy fonts.

Ashryn immediately noted our discomfort, though. “Did I say something wrong? You are Lord and La-”

“Ashryn, right?!” Katriana said loudly, stepped forward to shake a confused Ashryn’s hand, “It’s so nice to meet you. Yes, you’ve found the right people. You can call me Katriana, and this is my little brother, Theo. The armoured man here is our friend, Voss, who’s an adventurer just like you and I! Please, forget any formalities- treat us exactly like any other adventurers you’d meet anywhere.”

The elf smiled cheerily. “Of course, milady, I wouldn’t think of doing anything else.”

She even attempted another curtsy before Katriana put a hand on her arm and physically prevented it. I must have winced, because the elf immediately looked alarmed again.

But then, Voss came to save the day.

He smoothly stepped forward, took Ashryn’s hand and kissed it, before smiling up at her. Dropping his voice an octave, he said, “Greetings, sweet lady. I am Voss Durand, and worry not, I will be sure to protect you in our travels.”

Ashryn smiled brightly and said, “Oh! Thank you, but I’m okay! I left my shield and armour at the convent, but I made sure to bring my mace today, just in case!”

She unhooked a small, one-handed flanged mace from her belt and held it up to show everyone, before carefully tapping it on Voss’ chest with an enthusiastic, “Boop!”

Voss’ smile was frozen on his face, the rictus of a man who had taken a mortal wound to his pride.

Despite his wounded pride, Voss did manage to knock Ashryn off the topic of “his and her lordship”, and we were able to set off.

I did have some questions about Ashryn, but they were mostly a case of, if she was conning us, she’d just continue to lie, but if she was telling the truth she might end up calling me Lord Esche again. I could approach the subject of why Mariska had assigned her to us later, when we could explain our situation with some amount of privacy- for now, it seemed best to just distract her with the investigation.

We didn’t really plan for a single-file marching order, but soon the streets filled up with enough people that it became a necessity. As the bulkiest one of us, Voss was in the front, breaking trail (so to speak), and Katriana followed, making sure his wake remained open enough for little old me.

Ashryn ended up behind me, which made a certain amount of sense as the cleric, but it didn’t have to do with tactics or practicality. Instead, it was because she chattered on about everything and for some reason seemed to think I was interested in every little thought in her head.

“Wow! I can’t believe I’m finally on my first adventure ever! And in such a big city, too!”

“Uh,” I replied, “Didn’t you mention something about a convent before?”

“Yes! I was originally trained in a mountain convent somewhere to the northeast of here. We have to be in the mountains and away from the city, you see, because that’s the only way we can see the stars. Astrology is important, you know? But it’s very hard to do in a city unless it’s very late in the night after all the fires have been doused. You can’t be missing the fainter stars just because f a little light pollution drowning them out, you know?”

“You left your shield and armour at a convent way out in the boonies?”

“Oh, no, silly! High Priestess Mariska asked the convent in the city to loan me a cell while we were here. I can’t afford a room at an inn like she does, and she also said it wouldn’t do for a growing girl who’s just an acolyte, like me, to be exposed to the temptations of the big city so soon. I’m only one hundred and eleven years old, you know?”

“Uh, right ... well, at least that’s handy...”

“So you’re a mage, right? That’s great, I’ve never met an arcane magic user before! I’ve only ever met other clerics. They’re nice enough, I guess, but I wanted to meet someone who could conjure fireballs and stuff!”

“Well ... I’m a Transmuter, specifically...”

“Oh, wow, that’s great! I mean, I don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty cool! Don’t worry, though, I won’t get in your way! I mean, I made sure to memorize a cure spell on top of the usual stuff, you know? But I can’t do lightning bolts or fireballs or anything, so we won’t be stepping on each other’s toes, right?”

Wait, if a cure spell is extra, what does “the usual” mean!?

“But it’s so cool finally meeting a real wizard!” she continued, “And I guess some fighters, too? Well, the temple had some guards, but adventurer-fighters are pretty great as well. But they can’t do spells. Anyway, I was hoping- IS THAT MAN MAKING MAGIC CRYSTALS!?”

Her shocked tone of voice brought me out of my agreeable stupor. While Voss was leading us to the temple district, he happened to pass right in front of a confectioner’s shop window as we moved through the more upscale end of the shopping district. A pale-faced, chubby assistant was hanging strings of rock candy on a rack by the window, dyed pink, blue, yellow and purple.