After getting to about 50 or so meters away from the carriage, the carriage stops, so i stop as well.
Leaving us at a stalemate, up until a man comes out of the carriage, he looked big, burly and well built, what people would call a bodybuilder back on earth.
After that man looked over at me, he hopped off the carriage, and started to walk towards me, luckily that god of travel taught me the language here, otherwise I'd be in a real bind, after listening in, it seemed like he was saying-
"Hey, you over there, what are you doing out here, who are you" the guy shouted with a precarious look on his face
"Hey, I'm an adventurer, I'm out on an herb collection quest, how about you?" I respond with an indifferent look on my face, worried on the inside.
"Oh, sorry about that I didn't know you where also an adventurer, although, usually herb collection is closer to the kingdom, did something happen?" He says much more understandingly than before.
After panicking for a moment, I say "I was attacked by a pack of grey wolves and had to run away, I'm lost right now, do you know where we are by any chance" Hoping that I had enough built enough trust in the guy, I started to walk towards him, surprisingly not only does he not stop me, he gives a validating smile and walks towards me.
Carrying the good emotions forward, I smiled back.
After we where about face to face, he said-
"Yeah I know where we are, but if you can't fend off a couple of grey wolves you can't be that high a rank, I guess that makes sense if you doing herb gathering quests to be fair."
"Yeah, your right."
"Oh well, that's ok, no need to be embarrassed, everyone has to start somewhere."
"It's fine, by the the way what rank are you" I ask, trying to find out if he's at all strong
"Oh, me, nothing much, just iron rank, heh" he says confidently
I take the opportunity and say "hey while I'm at it, It's kinda embarrassing to ask but do you mind refreshing my memory on what all the ranks are?"
"Sure, come into the carriage, we can talk there, I can also drop you off back at the kingdom if you want, I was getting ready to head back anyway."
After thinking about it for a moment, I say "If you don't mind, that would be super helpful"
After walking into the carriage, the first thing I realize is the smell, it smells reminiscent of a sort of beef?
After getting over the smell, my eyes lock onto the two benches on either wall, adjacent to each other, with a brownish red tint on both cushions.
After analyzing the room, I take a seat, and then the man says-
"So you wanted to know the ranks are right."
"The ranks are from the bottom ; Nickel, Copper, Silver, Iron, Ruby, Diamond, Platinum, Orichalcum and finally, palladium."
"What rank are you?" he says curiously.
(I only memorized the first four, so I'll just go for something in the middle)
(authors note, I'm gonna use brackets "()" for when the mc is thinking in the middle of a conversation or interaction, ok back to the story<3)
I'm just copper, but your pretty high huh, I wonder how strong you are then?"
(I shouldn't let him question me too much)
"I'm suuuuuuper strong" he says jokingly
I decide to give the joke a chuckle and move on
"Hey so, what do you like outside of being an adventurer?" I ask, trying to start collecting information
"Oh I'm a pretty average guy, I'm just interested in, cartography, weapons and the basics of magic."
"But to be honest, those kinda just happened because of my job as an adventurer"
I see a chance and say "Oh, I'm trying to get into maps because of my job as well, do you have any maps in here I can look at, if you don't mind?"
"Yeah, you can actually have one, there pretty cheap anyway." He says, giving me a sweet smile while he gives me the map
"Thanks!"
(I was only trying to see the map but this is even better!)
"Your welcome!"
"I'm sure you're a bit tired so you can go to sleep for now, the ride is about six hours long anyway, and I'm probably gonna nap as well" he says
I decide to take him up on that offer, and nap for a couple hours…
...…
While dozed off in my nap, I'm awoken by a repeated light tapping on my shoulder.
After getting up and out of my momentarily groggy state, I look up to see the same guy on the seat opposite to mine.
He says "hey, I woke you up because were About a minute away from the 'Great Alano Kingdom'"
"Alright, sorry to ask but umm, do you mind if I borrow a couple coins? I dropped my pouch while running" I ask awkwardly.
"That sucks for you man, here" As he says that he tosses me 10 gold coins with an empathetic look on his face.
As we got over a hill, I saw the kingdom..
(I guess that's why it's called Great…)
After laying my eyes on the kingdom the first thing I see are towering walls no less than 5 meters tall and that's if i'm being generous, right in front of them stands a large gate 3 meters tall at the least.
After marveling at the entrance for a moment, I look forward to the inside of the kingdom, I spot many tall towers of different shapes on the inside, even though I was in front of some gargantuan walls, they still dwarfed them, making them seem insignificant in terms of height.
After marveling at all the towers, I begin to adjust my eyes at the gate, however just as I was about to look away, I see a monumental, monstrous castle, but not just that, it's on a floating island!!
My mouth starts to gape in shock, but just a moment after, I close my mouth and sharply move my eyes over to the gate, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.
(If I want everyone to think that I'm from here, I can't act surprised at anything like that, it's probably where the royalty live)
After recollecting my thoughts for only a fraction of a second, I start to plan what I'm gonna do when I get into the kingdom…