NOVEL NEXT Chapter 91: Reassurance
Aleksander paced nervously in front of the door to what was supposedly his room, resisting the urge to feel his ears. The past day had been so completely overwhelming that he was still half-sure that he had slipped into some sort of coma and was dreaming.
It really was like he had slipped into a parallel world. Yes, that was literally what had happened, but more in a…metaphorical sense. The house on this side of things contained family photos he recognized from his own home, but…different. In them, his family had their distinctly nonhuman appearance, despite the fact that they had very much been human in those pictures.
His parents had said that they had taken additional photos with some device that pierced the enchantments they had used to hide their true forms. And yet, even with the evidence on his own head, Aleksander couldn’t help but feel like he was being duped somehow. Though his parents had always told him the supernatural was real, he never actually believed. They hadn’t provided any hard evidence and…well, society was past that, or so he had thought.
He was brought back to the real world, if it could even be called that, by the sound of a doorbell ringing. He tentatively opened the door to the room he was in and began down the stairs, already able to catch bits and pieces of a conversation.
“Look how you two have grown!” His mother said in that tone of voice that older adults reserved for children they hadn’t seen in years. “And you’re…a Sarlienne, right?”
“Correct.” A young woman Aleksander couldn’t quite see said. He was still having a slight amount of trouble navigating this new house. “Maven Sarlienne, crown princess of Paumen. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am sorry to intrude, but I am in these two’s party, and they are my transport back, so I need to stick with them for the time being.”
Aleksander finally was able to orient himself and locate the path to the entryway, where he could vaguely make out three young women taking their shoes off. To his surprise, one of them was clearly inhuman, a demon by the looks of it, and… he only actually recognized one of them. “Ellie?” He asked. “Where’s Thomas?”
“That’s me.” One of the girls, a bombshell of a blonde said. “It’s a long story, but I’m going by Tess now.”
Aleksander blinked. “You were trans?”
Tess shrugged. “Not really? But…perhaps I wasn’t attached as I thought? I don’t know, it’s hard to tell. I didn’t choose this, if that’s what you’re thinking. Again, long story, and we’re not here to talk about me right now.”
“That seems like kind of a big deal, though.” Aleksander says. “We can’t just gloss over that, right? I mean…” He paused, forcing his eyes to stop running up and down Tess’s body. It would have been one thing if he…she…Tess was normal-looking, but even in clothes that wouldn’t normally be flattering, she was very clearly incredibly attractive. It was hard to reconcile his memories of Thomas with the girl in front of him, and it was wildly distracting.
“Why don’t you four sit down in the family room first.” Aleksander’s mom instructed. “This isn’t a talk to be had in the entryway.”
Aleksander nodded dumbly, eyes lingering on his mother’s pointy ears as he looked past her and towards the living room. He carefully picked his way over to one of the armchairs, and was followed shortly by the others.
“I’ll get you some refreshments.” His mother said. “And thank you for coming to visit, you guys, I understand you’re a bit busy right now.”
Tess shrugged. “We were doing errands for Gramps anyway, so it wasn’t really too out of our way.”
“Speaking of, please don’t tell anyone we were here.” Ellie added. “We’re trying to keep it on the down-low as much as possible.”
“Is it that big of a deal?” Aleksander asked tentatively. “You were just at home, right?”
Ellie shook her head. “We’re supposed to be a few thousand miles away, on an expedition with the guild. Grandpa is debatably the most powerful magician to ever live, so he was able to teleport us back home to deal with another emergency, and he’ll bring us back after we’re finished.”
Well, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen today; moving through dimensions was apparently possible, so moving through space in one dimension was…probably easier. “Right. Um, so…Tess, about…you. What happened? Is this a normal thing around here?”
Tess shook her head. “Quite uncommon. Certain Classes transform your body to allow you to properly use their Skills. They’ll always warn you beforehand, but I was too hasty and accepted one before I fully thought through the consequences. I was…not in a great place mentally at that moment, and while I don’t regret that decision now, it was one that made my life harder for a little bit. Rest assured that you probably won’t have to deal with a choice like that for a while, if ever, and as long as you think it through you won’t have any trouble.”
“Besides, even if you do end up transforming into something entirely non-humanoid, there are ways around that.” Ellie paused, staring slightly at Aleksander’s ears. “It’s not the end of the world.”
Aleksander reached up and once again felt the point of his ears. “Right, um…I guess I should ask, aside from you, Maven, are either of you…not human?”
Ellie and Tess shared a look. “Sort of?” Tess said. “That transformation made me technically not human, but it doesn’t really…count. You’d only be able to find out if you like…dissected me, and even then, probably only if you were looking.”
“Oh.” Aleksander said awkwardly. For all he had led with that question, he hadn’t actually expected either of them to be inhuman. He had braced himself for that when they had told him they would look different, but then he had assumed they were just referring to Thomas being a girl, especially when Maven had walked in being so…obviously inhuman.
“Well, um, you probably noticed, but I’m…not.” He said lamely. “Human that is.” And then, like a dam had burst, he began to spill everything. “I mean, I just found out about it today! It was like…whoops, you thought you were human your whole life, but it turns out you’re an elf, surprise! How was I supposed to react to that?! They tried to tell me that it’s not a big deal, but it is! I’m not crazy, right? I’m not the only one who thinks that way, yeah?”
“I can see why you’d feel that way.” Maven said soothingly. “It must have been quite a shock. If you don’t mind my asking, is there anything in particular that is distressing you about not being human? I am not trying to judge, of course, I just wish to be able to help as best as possible.”
Aleksander bit his lip. “I…I don’t know. It just feels like…like my life is a lie, you know? Not only is magic real, I’m a mythical creature, and the one thing I could count on, or…at least, would have counted on if I even thought about counting on it, is wrong. I don’t get why they think it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
“I believe that would just be a culture difference.” Maven said. “Here, it is not a big deal in the slightest. The differences between forest elves such as yourself and humans are next to nonexistent, simply whether or not the ears are pointed and a century or two of lifespan. You might as well be the same as far as most people are concerned.”
Aleksander frowned. “A century or two of lifespan seems like a big difference.” He said.
“It’s actually not.” Ellie said. “Leveling up slows aging, and even stops or reverses it once you become high enough level. Anyone with enough time, money, or talent can live however long they want.”
“And overcrowding?” Aleksander asked cautiously.
“We are far from reaching that point.” Maven said. “In actuality, the number of people who become ageless is less than you would believe, and doing so tends to reduce your virility. It is nearly impossible to conceive past level fifty without seeking out powerful artifacts or spells. Assuming no population growth beyond the usual, we don’t anticipate running into any crowding concerns within habited spaces for at least a thousand years, not taking into account the appearance of new planes like Mael or further colonization of the planes of the Outlands the guild doesn’t enforce neutrality in.”
“The guild’s the government in this country, right?” Aleksander asked. “I’m not sure I quite understood when it was explained to me.”
“Yes and no.” Tess said. “The guild…in some ways acts like a government, but only here. They enforce basic laws like those forbidding murder or theft, and give a sort of…certificate of property ownership, but they don’t gather taxes, have a standing army, or any of that. In return, branches are just about everywhere, including other countries, and guild identification is often seen as a form of ID or passport.”
“That’s what I don’t get.” Aleksander said frustratedly. “It doesn’t sound functional. How do they get the money to operate? Why hasn’t this place been conquered by some country or another? Why do the people not care that they’re living in a system with no elected officials or any promise of responsibility to do well by the people? It seems wrong.”
Ellie sighed. “Yeah, it’s weird, I know. But the type of people who live here are the type who value individual autonomy and don’t much care for living under the thumb of another. In their eyes, the guild is the perfect governing body; just hands on enough to prevent complete lawlessness, and hands off enough to feel like it’s not restricting them. Other than that, you really only get organizations like academies that want to remain neutral and purely pursue knowledge, or businesses that appreciate the light hand. It’s not somewhere your ‘normal’ person is going to live.
“As for money, the guild works as a sort of job agency and overseer of dungeons. They provide a place for anyone of any level to find work of almost any level, and are the biggest wholesalers of dungeon products. Anyone who doesn’t want to bother finding a buyer for their monster materials or dungeon loot can sell it to the guild for a bit lower than market price, and the guild in turn sells that stuff to people who want to buy it.”
“I think there are some people who are hired to go get dungeon loot for the guild, too?” Tess said. “I’m not particularly familiar with that side of things, but I think I’ve heard talk of it once or twice?”
“Oh, they’re landlords for dungeons, too.” Ellie said. “At least the ones around here. They’re not gouging anyone or anything, it’s more…providing regulation so people don’t try and intimidate someone out of their housing or unfairly monopolize it or something. That’s not exactly a huge profit, though.”
“I believe the Reshi Suites also has a contract with the guild.” Maven added. “And a myriad of other business ventures. And people have tried to conquer these lands before, there was an inter-planar war some centuries ago, and the guild came out on top.”
“Inter-planar?” Aleksander asked.
“A world war.” Tess translated. “In this world, it is often quality over quantity, and the guild has by far the most strong people of any organization, and in many ways, they help keep other economies running, especially those of more remote settlements, by providing work and resources.”
“And, if my experience is any judge, most rulers live with the understanding that if they become too much of a threat to the guild, or start to threaten the neutrality of the Outlands, the Guildmaster will take it personally, and deal with the situation as he sees fit.” Maven said.
“That’s Mr. Los, right?” Aleksander asked. “I find it hard to believe that big countries would be scared of him. I mean…he’s just one guy.” He paused, glancing at Tess and Ellie. “Uh, no offense, I guess?”
Ellie flashed him a smile. “None taken.” She chuckled. “But remember that Maven is a crown princess, she would know better than anyone what rulers are afraid of.”
Maven nodded. “In many ways, the Guildmaster is the scariest person alive, simply by virtue of being the strongest. He and his party are the single most effective combat unit to ever live, and I do not believe they have been bested in combat even a single time, not since they rose to prominence. Our estimation was that our army would likely be able defeat them given enough time and the unlikely event that they engaged in a straight fight, but the losses would be devastating, and we would be weakened to the point where some of our more opportunistic neighbors would easily conquer us.”
Tess raised an eyebrow. “That’s significantly more cautious than I thought, especially given your dad’s…temperament.” She said.
“Father has little to do with it.” Maven said. “Grandmother and Mother were the ones pushing that line of thought. And I believe you still have not grasped the full extent of the status their party has. You have still yet to see them truly angry or even truly serious, and the displays of raw power and competence they showed during the war were enough to leave the world shaken. Every time some fool with delusions of grandeur tries to pull one over them…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “They don’t last long, if they even get to the point where they have a confrontation with the Titans. But we have gotten off-topic. The point is that most sensible countries have given up on the notion of any serious confrontation with the guild.”
“It’s different, but it works.” Tess said. “You have to take a while to get used to things, but trust me, you will. I can’t pretend I know exactly how you’re feeling, but I went through some changes of my own.” She said, smiling wryly. “The first month or two will likely be hard, but after that you’ll forget anything even changed. Well, at least with regards to your body, I’m sure you’ll find new things to surprise you for quite some time, but even that will become another sort of normal after a time.”
“And if I don’t?” Aleksander asked. “What then?”
“Then you can live on Mael and pretend none of this ever happened.” Ellie said. “But that’s not something you can keep up forever. We’ve been in contact with the Appointed of Life and Death, and she says that the plan is to fully introduce Mael to the other planes in a few decades. Even before then, you might find yourself needing to move before people start wondering why you haven’t aged as much as you should have.”
Aleksander bit his lip, thinking on that for a while. He had entertained that prospect briefly before, but had discarded it. He knew that that, not only would he eventually get too curious to hold himself back, but he would always know in the back of his mind that he was living a lie. And that revelation that the planes would merge or whatever cemented that.
His thoughts were interrupted by his mother coming back into the room. She set a few drinks and a pile of homemade wafers down on the living room table, and flashed the group a smile. “Lembas wafers and milk for you.” She said. “I’ll leave you four to it, okay?” And with that, she retreated back into the house, leaving the group alone once again.
“Thank you, Mrs. Aesal.” Tess said. “We appreciate it.” She reached for one of the wafers and began to nibble on it before speaking up again. “Honestly, my advice to you is to give it a couple of days to settle. Everything is new and different and frightening, but after a bit you’ll realize that…well, everyone is just people, and things may work a little differently, but at the end of the day, life is…life, just more convenient.”
“But…what do I do?” Aleksander asked. “There’s so…much.”
“Level up a few times, go clear Slime Tower.” Ellie advised. “It’s easy, pretty safe, and you’ll get yourself a few Skills and maybe a Class. Even if you don’t end up freelancing, it never hurts to have stuff you can defend yourself with, and magic has applications outside of combat. Then go down to a library and read an encyclopedia or browse the internet or something, just go learn about the world.”
“Do you have any recommendations for good places to start if I’m reading up on things?” Aleksander asked. “That seems like where I’d want to begin.”
“Right, so there’s this one site…”
They ended up chatting a little more, and by the end of it, Aleksander felt…a little better. It wasn’t some magic bullet that made all his worries go away, but at the very least he had an idea of where to start with everything.
