Chapter 13: The Human Emperor is the past
Going down a slope with Louise by his side, Leon noticed a few farmers looking their way, and their expressions were a mixture of curiosity and wariness. They exchanged glances between each other, selecting one person to approach Leon, then the man dropped his stuff, sighing, and greeted the pair of the human and fox girl.
Louise's tails slightly bent to point at the sky, lightly exposing her vigilance.
"Hello. I'm Marco! You two are here quite too early… Perhaps, are you lost?" Oblivious to Louise's race and her natural reactions, the farmer displayed a genuine concern and curiosity about the pair of unfamiliar people.
He also had a thought of them getting robbed by bandits, even though Leon and Louise's clothes seemed brand new and fresh.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Leon. Well, you're not quite right. I'm from another world, and I've been blessed to meet this pretty girl. We have been adventuring together ever since then." Leon faintly smiled while his partner's cheeks slightly blushed, for being called pretty out of nowhere surely pulled a surprise on her.
Still, Louise was more shocked by Leon simply revealing his origins.
"Oh… Really?" Marco was taken aback by such honesty. He never met any otherworlder but naturally heard of them since they were so popular with their blessings, and some even rivaled their most talented residents.
As a human, Marco heard of the self-proclaimed Human Emperor, who had spread his tales to every land inhabited by humans, and whose whereabouts were unknown after a mix of talented residents and otherworlders had taken him down. Those were old times now, and Marco didn't know exactly what kind of terror the Human Emperor caused.
His title was still passed down from generation to generation, mainly used by parents of many races to scare off their children, telling them that powerful people would come for them if they misbehaved.
"That's… interesting," Leon replied to the unexpected words, processing the new information while Louise did her best to control her loud and pounding chest. "We'll keep it in mind to not end up like him, then. You see, I've revealed my identity because I believe there are many otherwolders here, which simply makes things easier.
"I have a few things to ask." Leon didn't think he'd done wrong by revealing his origins. He wanted quick and important information about the Freya World and people's customs. Moreover, the undead were not too far from the village, so he believed they would rather deal with the skeletons than him.
Naturally, Leon paid attention to Marco's every reaction, ensuring his and Louise's safety.
Knowing that his farmer buddies would replace him on his farm, Marco nodded and offered help. "That's fine, I'm free now. Ask me anything."
Leon fished a silver coin from his inventory as though performing a magic trick and tossed it up. Though he wasn't a magician, his simple act of showing off his money turned Marco into a reliable source of information, for Leon made sure Marco understood he'd be rewarded with that coin if his answers were satisfactory.
After clenching the coin, keeping his hand high, Leon smiled and gazed at Marco, whose eyes were trained on his fist, his lips dry.
"Why do you display your information status?" Leon asked a casual question to test Marco.
Licking his lips every few sentences, Marco started singing useful stuff. "Basically, to show that we are worthless. With our low levels and farmer skills, we aren't a threat to anyone, so we show it to everyone."
It was mainly against bandits, who often planned their raids by keeping an eye on villages for a few days, if not months. During their investigation, they'd note the villagers' levels, names, and appearances, just to ensure no one from the guilds wasn't hiding in disguise.
'The skeletons revealed their levels to show off. Two different situations, but similar nonetheless.' Leon inwardly inferred, then another term caught his interest. "Guilds?"
He'd seen that in his system information.
Were those guilds the same as in most MMORPG games?
"I know two guilds, sir. The first is a royal guild of our kingdom's royal family, The Silver Wing Guild. Uh, you can think of them as nobilities who leverage the guild system and its features to run the kingdom! I don't like them because they control us too much, for example, we can't teach anyone our farming skills without their approval and can only pass them to the next generation of farmers, and we also have to pay taxes.
"The second is the Guild of Heaven Library! Their guild master is our deity. For her generosity and respect for all hard-working farmers, we built a statue of her beauty in our village and gladly pay our tribute to her guild! If it weren't for her nature magic's revolution and blessing, we would have a harder time on our farms, sir!" Marco explained, his voice carrying the great enthusiasm he didn't show while talking about the royal guild.
He simply liked Heaven Library Guild and their guild master for her research and beauty.
Learning in more depth about guilds allowed Leon to see through their businesses and income gain. He didn't doubt that each guild had at least one person with the system shop. Those were surely one of the fastest ways to become wealthier and stronger, so Leon considered giving his services and strength to a few guilds.
He didn't know his potential yet, though.
"Do you have a smithy in your village?" Leon asked.
Marco smiled and replied, "But of course, sir! We need them to repair our stuff! For that, we can rely on The Silver Wing Guild, for they are notorious for checking everyone's occupations."
And then, Marco started talking about checks, his village's hunters, tourist spots, and more.
"I guess that's enough for now." Leon felt that it was sufficient information, and he saw that Marco started growing nervous as he'd already said a lot and slowly ran out of topics to discuss. It was pretty clear he didn't have more useful stuff after talking about guilds. "Here's your pay. Thanks."
Extending his trembling hands to catch the silver coin, Marco swayed from side to side as the coin tumbled out from his grasp a few times, then once he tightly clenched it, he widely smiled.
"Thank you, sir!" Marco excused himself after those words, running down to his friends. When a few of them were in his earshot, he started screaming, "We are drinking tonight!"
Leon warmly stared at the farmer and his friends, who all cheered in thunder. Those little things in life felt significantly rewarding, and Leon knew that, so he wanted to find himself in the new world as fast as possible.
"It's been a while since I drank." Leon chuckled and turned to Louise, who had been staying up with her eyes sparkling as though someone had put them on fire.
She whispered in an excited tone, "He's down! Someone hurt him and stopped his reign!"
"Serves him right," Leon smirked and slowly started descending the slope.
Louise didn't immediately follow her master. Instead, she gawked at the village, its river, and forests and mountains ahead of them. All of them felt free — she felt the same way!
It was like a new world opened to her.
Although Louise felt like she should focus on leveling up, unlocking her skills, and doing quests to get the first memory crystal from her personal shop, she knew it'd be a bloody and demanding experience, which Leon surely wouldn't be spared from, too.
"I must be with Master, so he doesn't become the Human Emperor!" Louise decided after seeing Leon distancing away and away from her.
Feeling no shackles dragging her to his side, Louise's heart started beating faster for a different reason than it'd initially begun, for if it weren't for Leon's second chance, perhaps she would have never left The Oracle's side.
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