Grand Adventurer Chapter 1

"This seems like someone decided to take Game of Thrones, made all the magical shit possible happen. And then realize that Game of Thrones can't exist in a high magic setting due to all the nobles inevitably getting nuked from some mage in their tower who didn't want to deal with their shit anymore." I said with confusion.

My sponsor wore a wry smile at my words before he said. "It's a typical magic and sword world in most cases. Ye,s it has a higher power ceiling, but it's well with parameters for us to reincarnate into."

I shrugged, and then I asked the more pressing question. "So is this world something I just haven't ever seen before? I mean, from the files, I don't recognize it from any anime or anything."

"Probably because you don't recognize it for a good reason. It doesn't come from any fandom or anything of note obviously... Anyway, you are going into this world with a knowledge boost of rune crafting, enchanting, forging, and resource collection as your cheat."

I raised a hand quickly as my sponsor pulled out a glowing gold orb, and I asked quickly. "Wait! Where were you reincarnated into and what cheat did you have?" 

He blinked and then smiled with nostalgia and said easily. "I also got reincarnated into a world with no prior knowledge of its source or any background knowledge. I think that I turned out for the better for that... And as for my cheat? I had the world's support and a level system I could bend over my knee frankly."

The orb then shot into my chest, making me grunt as foreign knowledge filled my mind even as my sponsor continued. "Though the world you are going to doesn't have a level system. It does have a limit off feature. So the more you train, the more magic you accumulate. The stronger you will become, to say nothing of getting the blessings of certain gods, or snagging artifacts."

I felt a pounding headache as I sagged in place as I felt my body adjusting to also be able to use mana, and all those other goodies. "Do you have any other questions in mind for me?" He asked calmly.

Coughing I asked the most important question. "Are there big titty milfs?" 

My sponsor gave me a long searching look before he nodded. "Yes... Yes there will be. Especially with how common war is. There is plenty of widowed milfs for you to fill their lonely hearts."

Then he just chuckled and said. "Alright then. Goodluck dude." And with that, I was sucked through a portal that formed beneath myself.

Floating through the void for a long while, I was able to sort through the mental download I was given, along with the bits of information left in my mind as to my current status.

First of all, with my body upgrade, I would be capable of using all magical currents and forms, whether it be haki, mana from WoW, or Aura from RWBY. So long as I could figure out the sources of energy, I was capable of using it.

But to be frank, just because I had the potential to do so. That didn't mean at all that I was going to be able to do so without someone guiding me to do so.

Just because I had the potential to cast a blasting curse didn't mean I could flick my fingers to do so after all!

My current vision of a constant kaleidoscope of swirling colors and auroras abruptly cut off as another portal formed in front of my moving form and with a harsh thud.

I was tossed into snow and lightly frozen ground making me cough as I landed on my back and got the air knocked out of me.

"Ughhh. Where the fuck am I?" I grumbled helplessly as I sat up and looked around before my face twitched as I realized I was dropped off in a plainly terrible situation.

I had been dropped off onto a rather smooth piece of semi-frozen ground as the rest of the ground was covered in a light cover of hoar frost.

In the distance was what looked like a larger village that was previously surrounded by a wooden wall that had been mostly destroyed. But the inside of the village was clearly in ruins as thick black smoke of impurities beyond just wood was flying into the air.

'I need to learn where I am, and I need supplies. I just gotta hope there is survivors to tell me where I am and maybe if I am lucky I can find a map to find my way to civilization.' I thought with a sigh as this was a shit start to say the least.

Like, why couldn't I have been summoned here by an evil princess and king or something? At least that way I could at least learn about the world rather than just being dropped off in the middle of bum fuck no where!

I got up and made my way to the destroyed village and I didn't need to be a master tracker or investigator to figure out what had happened... The large wooden door to the village was smashed open as the wooden post that secured it was seemingly sawed in half rather than blasted or broken with pure force.

Either way, the gate was broken in, and looking at the muddy tracks, it looked as though only mounted soldiers and unmounted soldiers pushed into the village.

As for what happened to the citizens... It was readily apparent as I gagged at seeing the elderly were clearly decapitated and their remains left in the mud. 

A loud crash rang out making me jump but it was just one of the small village houses breaking done as the already burnt-out shell gave out under its own weight.

"Where is everyone else then?" I muttered with a frown as I realized that even if all the elderly were killed on site. What happened to everyone else?

Were they carted off in the cart tracks I also caught onto in the outside of the village, or did something else happen?

'I need to find supplies, a way to take care of myself, a weapon... Shit I can't carry everything I want as well.' I thought with a wry smile before I paused as a loud clatter of metal rang out followed by a couple of voices.

"The dogs of the Empire are gone now. We can leave now!" 

I watched as from the smithy, specifically from what looked like where the pile of coal and wood for work was. A hatch had opened up and from said hatch came what looked like some of the survivors.

And as they came out of there, they obviously paused at seeing me, and a large man walked over with a large sledgehammer in hand as he growled out. "Why are you here!?"

I held up my hands in surrender as I said quickly. "I am looking to get to the capital, I am a journeyman smith trying to earn my mastery!"

There was a pause as the man took in my form, and he lowered his hammer but still asked suspiciously. "Where are your tools, then boy?" 

I sighed and said helplessly. "My sponsor threw me out to make a man out of myself... And the supplies I did have were stolen by bandits!"

The man shared a look with the people behind him, and an older man with a long beard sighed and called out. "Relax David, with the Empire invading and our own lax soldiers turning to banditry to fill their stomachs, he is unlikely to be lying and even if he is... What does it matter?"

He stepped forward with the aid of a cane and added helplessly. "He is unarmed, nor does he have the wealth associated with being a mage, and we have little to nothing for him to steal!"

My lips twitched as what looked like the smith of the village scowled before sagging in place at having no answer obviously.

I cleared my throat and asked respectfully. "I understand you guys are... In a terrible position, but is it possible I could at least get access to a map or something? I am completely lost at this point."

The couple of families and the older man shared a look before the smith grunted and said tiredly. "Yeah... Just let us collect what belongings we can. I assume you will be coming with us to the next town over, then?"

I nodded, and the smith grunted before saying. "Good, then go collect anything of use from the remains of the buildings. If you have already lost most of everything, you are going to need something to set yourself up in the next town."

And so that's what I did as I saw the smith's family, and what turned out to be the next family, who were a family of hunters and loggers, get together to put together a push cart and to put whatever belongings they could in there they had stored in the basement.

'So, who or what is this empire? And why did they burn down this village? It fucking sucks not having any information to go off of.' I thought with some frustration as I found what looked like the larger village inn with how it had two stories.

And it seemed that due to it's size, the raiders didn't bother to properly burn it down so although it was scarred and charred in a lot of places. The actual inside was filled with sticky gore and puddles of blood left behind which I did my best to ignore.

"Is there anyone here?" I called out as I carefully checked through the inn, and even as I checked the basement where some stored food was kept. I sadly didn't find anyone else like I hoped.

Not only that, but almost all the food was ransacked as well. Hell even the large ale drums were stabbed and chopped into to spill their contents onto the ground.

However, I did find a bundle of smoked meat in an overturned cabinet so that was something at least. Going back upstairs and checking around the room's I found nothing but more bloodstains, but in the kitchen, I managed to find some carving knives and other kitchen knives I grabbed for myself.

Along with a couple of large cheesecloth bags, I double-layered to before I put away the knives, the smoked meat and a couple of water skins I found.

Then I took some strings I found around the back of the inn which were clearly for repairing clothes and such. And tied it around the cheesecloth bag to make it a bit of a backpack of sorts.

"Well, this is something at least." I muttered as I left the inn as it was the only building that didn't get heavily burnt.

And from how the soldiers who raided this place had cleared out the food, destroying what they didn't want. I wasn't even sure if the well for this village wasn't poisoned.

Hell for all I knew... The soldiers threw all the corpses into the very well itself.

"Well, at least you know how to take care of yourself." The older man spoke with a slight nod before he took a breath, and from a satchel he had at his side, he offered me a large piece of parchment. "Here, its a local map. Do you know how to read it?"

Seeing the map, my face twitched as I could at least read the letters of this world. But I had fucking zero clue as to where we currently were. So I decided to be semi-honest and said. "I am sorry sir, I do not know where we are. Are you descended from nobility or something?" 

As I knew, maps back in the old days were extremely rare, valuable, and often times pieces of strategic knowledge.

The older man huffed and said flatly. "A bastard aye, but I know my letters and such. Either way, here we are on the map even if the location isn't marked. See if we follow the river, we can head deeper into Kosten, and to the direct west is Kosten, while further to the west is Stuven."

He took a deep breath and then added firmly. "While over here to the east is the Sea of Leaves... A fey place with monsters taller than city walls and trees taller than the mountains that hold up the world itself, and is filled with primal and fair folk."

I took in the general map that had a good bit of information of the current area of Kurven at least... But to the north of the countries mentioned was a flat expanse that was just labeled as Norwell, and to the south was a large space that was labeled as Contested Lands, and below that was a large expanse with more details that was labeled the Selariad Empire.

The very empire whose troops seemingly destroyed this village for likely no good reason other than their soldiers' cruelty.

"So there you go boy. Now, if you want, you can follow us if you want. We are heading to the Ebony City to the north west, its city lord is a graduate of the Magcaria colleges, and the Empire won't raid a city that acts as a supplier for the magic capital of the world!"

I slowly nodded as that sounded like the best bet. Although I didn't know much about this world, I knew a so-called 'capital of magic learning' would be far closer to the modern world I was so much more comfortable with.

Either way, I needed somewhere to get my feet underneath me and get the gear to protect and support myself.

"Thank you, my name is Jake Bariss. I never got your name, though?"

The older man chuckled and said easily. "Heh my name is James Blackfish, just another bastard who has lived in his father's shadow. Now let me talk to the other two families, and we can begin the long walk."

He did just that, walking over to the two families and talking with them both, though now with things 'calming down' I took in the families in more detail and saw that they were a rather standard family with a man, wife, and child, with the blacksmith having a younger son.

And the hunter and logger family had a daughter instead, who was a bit cute despite being a clear tomboy as she had two quivers of arrows on her sides along with a bow on her back.

The two families shared a quick discussion with the two men nodded and David, the blacksmith, waved me over, and as I came over, he said bluntly. "The journey to Evony City is going to take three days. You can keep any things you collected on the cart as well, but you need to help us push the cart if you want to travel with us."

I raised an eyebrow at that and, looking at the open cart, I saw that it was mostly filled with several tools, a couple of mattresses, some food and a couple of barrels of hopefully clean water.

"I will pull my own weight, but I won't ask for your food. I will ask for water at the least."

The smith blinked and said with a shake of the head. "We are in a bad way. But we aren't so bad off as John and his daughter are good hunters... Did you collect any money from the inn, though? Getting into Ebony City costs five copper coins."

While checking out the rooms, I did find some coins of which I had two silver coins and a couple of dozen copper coins, so I just nodded with the smith, saying after taking a deep breath. "Then let's get started."

The cart in question was made out of wood and it's wheels were also of wood but thankfully the rim of the wheels had metal rims so I wasn't too worried about the cart's wheels breaking.

With three men in myself, the hunter/woodworker, and David the smith. The cart itself wasn't hard to move with the lower chest height bar we could push together to keep the cart moving.

If anything I was more worried about James the older man, still as we kept moving I broke conversation with the survivors and began to learn more about the world even as I played at being a lost traveler from another village which got destroyed.

Hell I didn't even need to lie as seeing how ignorant I was, they already thought I was from nowhere, and with how I didn't have anything. They clearly thought if I came from the south, then the Empire had obviously destroyed wherever I was from.

"The northern kingdoms of Stuven, Korven, and Koston... We are being invaded to the south by the Empire and to the north we face constant raids from the northern tribes of Norwell. Those damned nobles and royals can't do shite about it either." The hunter said with a thicker accent and I learned his name was Reynald with no last name.

Hell I also realized that all but James who was a bastard born of a noble didn't have any last names at least here in this common area.

Still we kept moving, and it while at the start it was easy. I quickly found pushing the cart was going to be a challenge as although most parts of the road we were on were hardened with frost.

There was spots where water didn't freeze and became muddy messes that made moving the cart much harder.

Thankfully the women and the younger boy would help then we managed to keep the cart moving and going for a few hours.

Finally after half the day had passed and it was well into the afternoon, the smith grunted and said. "That's enough for now. I need a drink and to get something in my stomach."

The three of us moved out of the square where we were pulling the cart and I stretched my sore arms as the women got us a couple wooden cups that were then filled with clear water thankfully.

"Thank you." I said after the hunters daughter gave me the cup.

Though as she leaned on the cart next to me I got her name which was Sarah and I asked curiously. "So what do you normally hunt around here? See any game while we were pulling?"

The girl hummed before she said thoughtfuly. "I definetly caught the usual signs, some deer tracks, plenty of squirrels, and some other small game. But I was paying more attention to the little goblin tracks next to the road."

My hand that brought up the cup to my lips paused and I said slowly. "Goblins huh... Think they will be an issue?" 

Hearing about such a fantasy monster being right in front of us. I was obviously thinking if they could become an issue.

But as though hearing my thoughts, Sarah smiled wryly and said. "I woudn't sleep tonight Jake... They say that goblins can smell the suffering of the weak and with how we just left the wreck of our village? We are a prime target."

And after she said that. I saw how David and Reynald were constantly looking not down the roads for bandits or the Empire... But the treeline, obviously terrified that monsters in the cold frost covered forest would come out for us.