|Tom's Farm| 24.03.1178|
It is 5 a.m.
Tom and Naomi have long since fallen asleep.
Only one person remains awake on the farm—Yuki Sato.
Exactly five hours have passed since Yuki lands in this foreign world. Yet he has already achieved his first goal: finding civilization.
He wakes up naked and fully healed from all his previous injuries, lying somewhere on a snowy plain in the Delkan Mountains.
Once he becomes aware of his situation, he formulates a plan—
Well, more like a list of objectives he needs to fulfill as quickly as possible.
The first step is to find civilization. Although it almost costs him his life, he now finds himself in a warm house with enough time to focus on the second important objective:
Acquiring knowledge about this world.
Simply asking a stranger how this world works and admitting he's from another one, Yuki concludes, would be the dumbest thing he could do.
No, he must uncover the knowledge of this world on his own. A huge advantage is that the official language seems to be very close to English.
For Yuki, who speaks the language fluently, this is a definite trump card.
Once Tom—who, for some reason, is extremely tense and slightly trembling before realizing Yuki is a boy—heals him, Yuki already suspects that he will send the girl, Naomi, who saved him, downstairs.
The fact that he tells the girl earlier that she has to take care of the Karabols implies he has some authority over her.
Unfortunately, the term Karabol is unfamiliar to Yuki. Neither in any fantasy novels nor in the thousands of other fictional works he has consumed has he ever heard or read that word.
However, considering the fence he sees when Naomi brings him to the house, the conclusion that it might be some kind of animal doesn't seem far-fetched.
And yet, Yuki knows he can't rely on blind assumptions or intuition alone.
As mentioned, he must gather information himself.
The fact that both Tom and Naomi speak very little to him—even though communication is one of the most basic and essential principles when rescuing someone—shows that this place is not a mountain rescue station.
And yet Tom possesses the right medicine to get him back on his feet within seconds.
What does that imply?
That Tom is a masterful healer and medicine man—or that the medicine in this world, where Yuki now finds himself, is so advanced that healing wounds quickly is considered normal.
From all these thoughts and observations, and by reading various books scattered around the living room, Yuki comes to the following conclusions about this world:
1. This world is called Eldoria by its inhabitants.
2. There seem to be various creatures in this world—for example, the huge snake Yuki sees earlier, and the lizards that almost kill him. But there appear to be main races distinguished by their intelligence and capacity for civilization. These are called Eldorima.
3. These eight Eldorima (apparently, there were nine once) consist of the races: Elves, Humans, Sirens, Demi-humans, Dracos, Angels, Tapamoles, and Pipucar.
4. Scattered throughout Eldoria are various nations that clearly recognize one another, speak the same language, but have different forms of government.
5. Yuki is currently in the Elven Kingdom of Malistia. This country is ruled by the Vi Malistia family, which has governed it since the beginning of recorded history.
6. Nearly 30 years ago, Malistia experiences a violent civil war. The Vi Malistia family attempts increased industrialization and technological advancement. Due to corruption and a mysterious incident still unexplained to this day—known as the "Devil's Night"—the attempt backfires. After a harsh and brutal civil war, Malistia returns to its old traditional and spiritual ways, which causes division within the country.
7. The fact that he is in Malistia, the "land of the elves," but has yet to encounter a single elf—having instead met a demi-human and a human—shows that the term refers only to the majority population being elves, not that only elves inhabit the country.
8. While the human country, Ilyar, is seen as an industrial and innovative nation, very little is known about the Aeth-Lands, the homeland of the demi-humans.
9. As is typical for an isekai situation like Yuki's, there appears to be magic in this world. However, Yuki isn't quite sure how to conceptualize it yet.
Within just a few hours, Yuki already builds up a rough foundational knowledge. Still, he knows that means little. He needs to gain well-rounded knowledge about this world as quickly as possible—and for that, he needs to get to a specific place:
The city library, which Yuki learns about through the Devil's Night documents, holds a wealth of information for him.
The catch? It's in the capital city of Malistia—which, creatively enough, is also called Malistia.
To reach this library, Yuki must focus on the resources he has.
And since he has practically nothing, he has to fully rely on Tom and Naomi.
The bad thing is, though Tom seems very nice and caring toward him, there's a subtle tension in his way of speaking, as if he's afraid of Yuki or something.
And Naomi—well, she seems pretty much annoyed by him.
That means Yuki has to do two things:
First, gain Tom's trust, as he is the one with authority.
Second, stabilize Naomi in some way. She seems to be the most mistrustful. And if she expresses that mistrust to Tom, it could be over for Yuki immediately. He must somehow find a way to earn Tom's trust and ensure Naomi stays quiet about him.
A soft sigh escapes his lips as he leans back on the couch.
>> Wonderful, he thinks to himself, a smile crossing his lips. I must admit, you have me there... But I won't freak out again. Not yet. I will explore this new world that you offer me so 'generously'. <<
>> I should sleep now. <<
He lays down on the couch, exhaustion overtaking him and dragging him into a deep sleep.