Chapter 3: The Unknown World (1)

Sett is the name of this remote town, the one where Jiang Zhe currently lives. Though just a small town, it has everything necessary—there are many residents, and the facilities are quite complete. The architectural style of Sett resembles that of Western culture as imagined by Jiang Zhe. The streets, paved with stones, are neatly arranged, flanked by wooden houses with strong Western characteristics. In front of these houses are small gardens, enclosed by shrubs, containing various unknown flowers and plants. Almost every household is like this.

The town square is probably the liveliest place in the town, as there is a tavern there serving drinks similar to beer. Of course, Jiang Zhe has never tried them—firstly, because he hasn’t had the chance, and secondly, because their living conditions are not very good. There is also a blacksmith’s shop in the town, run by a man in his forties with a scar over his left eye. He is quiet and spends his days hammering away in his shop. To be honest, he isn’t very popular, but his business is second only to that of the tavern.

As for the tavern, there’s no need to explain—it’s always busy with people drinking. Some share interesting stories, like someone in the town falling while walking at night, while others complain about their misfortunes, such as losing their wallets… Most of these are townsfolk, but sometimes new faces appear as well. These people usually sit in unobtrusive corners of the tavern, in groups of two or a dozen, drinking silently without talking to others. While drinking, they place their swords, shields, and bows on the table or beside their chairs. The weapons they carry are often old, with notches on the blades, but the dark red stains on them scare away the townsfolk who might try to approach them—clearly, those aren’t stains from wine.

Mercenaries, or simply soldiers for hire, are not uncommon on this unknown continent. Of course, not all customers are like this. At least one person Jiang Zhe saw was a bard, carrying a harp and playing strange tunes, singing praises to obscure figures—it was quite boring… At least that’s what Jiang Zhe thought. The other patrons in the tavern, however, listened intently, and even the silent mercenaries occasionally showed understanding smiles.

He remembered that bard also singing praises of some deity—whose name was rather long. After much thought, Jiang Zhe still couldn’t figure out exactly who he was praising. However, the innkeeper, an overweight old man, often mentioned a name… Dionysus, the God of Wine. Clearly, this was a world where faith existed everywhere; at least the townspeople all had their own beliefs. For example, the man who ran the weapons shop worshipped Hephaestus, the God of Fire, while most of the townspeople believed in Demeter, the Goddess of Harvest… Since gods existed, surely magic also existed in this world? After living in the town for three months, Jiang Zhe finally heard the term “magician,” but sadly, he never got to see one with his own eyes… Set Town was just a small town, located on the edge of the empire, with most of those who came and went being mercenaries. During those three months, Jiang Zhe also got a rough idea of how this world was structured—of course, all this came from one or two drunk mercenaries who would strip off their clothes, point to their scars, and tell their adventure stories, then laugh triumphantly at the astonished gasps of the townspeople. Magic did exist, and so did magicians! Magicians were initially called witches, with female magicians being referred to as witches or sorceresses. Incidentally, in this world, besides humans, there were also some special beings, such as dwarves. He remembered it was a burly mercenary who said he had seen a dwarf in an adventuring party. Jiang Zhe, who was outside the inn window at the time, became very interested, but sadly, the mercenary’s description of the dwarf consisted of just one sentence: “Big beard, very strong, and can drink a lot.” At that moment, Jiang Zhe wished it had been that unknown bard describing the dwarf—at least he could have turned that short sentence into a long song of praise. What the mercenaries talked about the most was still humans themselves, such as the empire. Along with this term came another: the Church! The human factions were divided into two parts—north of them was the empire, which sounded like an absolute monarchy; Set Town was located within its territory. To the south was the Church. It was hard to imagine that a religious belief could form a country, but considering the beliefs of the world’s inhabitants, it wasn’t hard to understand.

As mentioned earlier, Sett Town is located on the edge of the empire. What lies beyond the border? Jiang Zhe doesn’t know, as those mercenaries never mentioned it—or perhaps they didn’t want to. Since the only human nations are the empire and the church, and given the mercenaries’ reticence, Jiang Zhe guessed that they might not be friendly races. Over these three months, risking being discovered by the old man in the tavern, Jiang Zhe finally gathered this information. The only thing that interested him was magic. Unfortunately, aside from magicians, Jiang Zhe had never even seen magic before; the closest thing to magic was the only church in the town… Speaking of the church, Jiang Zhe was furious. During this time, he finally understood why he had been transported here—it was all because of that damned painting in the old church in his past life! But despite his anger, Jiang Zhe wasn’t really regretful for touching that painting. At least he had finally arrived in a world that interested him—a world with magic. Logically, since he was in a world with magic, it would be unreasonable not to learn a few tricks, right? But unfortunately, Jiang Zhe’s situation wasn’t very good right now… To be precise, neither he nor his so-called “sister” were in a good situation… Jiang Zhe guessed correctly that they were indeed orphans. The sister’s name was Nina, and the brother’s was Thos. As for their surnames, the “sister” didn’t mention them, and it was awkward to ask the “brother”… Why awkward? It’s a bit funny—the little boy Jiang Zhe possessed was originally an idiot… Well, calling him an idiot might be an exaggeration. From Jiang Zhe’s attempts to probe, it seemed he had hit his head, resulting in some mental issues. He usually seemed dazed and didn’t like to talk… In short, it was a very troublesome situation. Otherwise, the girl wouldn’t have been so happy when Jiang Zhe first called her Nina. But besides her happiness, she also patiently taught Jiang Zhe to call her “sister.” Jiang Zhe was speechless. He thought to himself, how could he, at twenty, call a seven- or eight-year-old kid “sister”? What a joke! So, Jiang Zhe pretended not to hear it, and over time, Nina stopped bringing it up. Because compared to trivial matters, the fact that the “brother” would listen to her and get close to her was already something that made Nina very happy and relieved. Indeed, it was a form of closeness, but Jiang Zhe wouldn’t get close to his so-called “sister” for no reason. To him, this so-called “sister” remained a stranger, until…

Speaking of which, initially Jiang Zhe had dismissed Nina’s words, “Sis will take care of you,” but as time passed, he truly came to appreciate their meaning. To be honest, as two orphans, it seemed a bit funny for a seven- or eight-year-old girl to say she would take care of a four- or five-year-old brother, but Jiang Zhe couldn’t laugh. Watching Nina hold two cold, bread-like foods and smile at him, along with the bruises still visible on her arms, he simply couldn’t laugh. Especially… One day, Nina rushed back in a panic and hurriedly pulled Jiang Zhe to hide in the town’s church for the night. Jiang Zhe found this somewhat confusing, but Nina said nothing, only staring nervously at the church door. It wasn’t until the next day, when Nina somehow produced two gold coins, that Jiang Zhe suddenly understood. With that realization, his heart grew heavy, as he gradually figured out where Nina’s bruises came from… In the days that followed, Jiang Zhe and his sister Nina lived in the church, though of course, this wasn’t with the approval of the old priest there. Perhaps Nina was truly afraid her brother would get lost again, so she told Jiang Zhe to stay near the church and not go far, but it might also have been for another reason… Because during a festival in the town, Jiang Zhe saw Nina and witnessed certain things, and it seemed Nina also saw her brother—she quickly hid her hands and what they held behind her back, her eyes filled with shame and a hint of tears. It seemed he really had to accept having an older sister now… It was good; at least he wasn’t alone anymore… Jiang Zhe both mocked himself and spoke to himself seriously.