The walk back to my new shady ass alley was quiet.
Sable moved like someone who learned to be quiet a long time ago and never stopped being quite.
Even tho she was in full armor, she made less noise than most people do.
She looked over at me as we walked.
"You're not from here," Sable said.
"No."
"Which kingdom?"
"Not one that you would know...."
She left it at that. She was a Knight who just spent three days running from bad cops and was probably not in the mood to grill someone who just hid her behind a fish bin.
A couple minutes later.
We got to the alley. I showed her my hox and looked at it the way someone looks at something they have decided not to make fun of because they still have a little pride left and want to keep it.
"You can....take the box," I told her. "I'll just sit against the wall."
"I'm not taking your box."
"You need some sleep and you need to stay hidden. The box does both I'll be fine."
She looked at me, and then the box, then me again.
"You are so very strange," she said. "For someone with no house."
"Yeah Yeah," I said. "Itss a Long story."
She then took the box and she had to curl up at this really weird angle that looked really uncomfortable, but she didn't really make a fuss about it.
Maybe three minutes go by and her breathing slowed down and she was out like a light.
I sat with my back against the wall, pulled my excuse for a blanket up, and thought.
"Oracle," I said quietly.
"Yes."
"Tell me about this world now! Who runs what, how bad is the Demon Lord thing."
"This will take some time."
"We've got all night,Mr "Oracle"
Oracle went quiet for a second like it was sorting things out.
Then eternal yapping starts.
"The world you're in is called Aethenveil. It's a normal world with magic in it and some gods. Regular people live on one big land mass split into seven kingdoms. The biggest is Velthas, where you are now. Velthas is run by King Aldric the Third, but most people call him Aldric the Adequate because the king before him was really good and Aldric is just... okay."
"Aldric the Adequate??" I said.
"Yes. Fine enough as a ruler. His big mistake was picking people around him who care more about themselves than about him. So the kingdom looks fine on the outside but has a lot of people stealing and cutting corners in the middle."
"Wait wait hold on! Like the relief money Sable mentioned."
"Probably, yes. That money was supposed to be sent from the Kingdom for assistance. That money doesn't seem to have shown up."
"What about the Demon Lord dude."
Oracle's voice changed. Still calm, still clear, but flatter.
"Valgrax the Demon lord was locked away by four big-deal heroes about a thousand years ago. The lock wasn't perfect and let him slowly get stronger over time. He has spent the last thousand years working away at wearing down the walls keeping him trapped. Right now, those walls are breaking. Best guess for when he gets fully free: two to three years."
"Two to three years. WHAT THE FUCK?"
"Yes."
"And I'm supposed to stop this guy?"
"Six different active predictions name you as the most likely person to be the Celestial Hero."
"Most likely, wow thats just so wonderful." I said annoyed.
"There's a seventeen percent chance they mean someone else," Oracle said.
"Thats a pretty big gap for something this important. ISNT IT IMPORTANT?"
"Predictions have never been a perfect thing. The seers are doing what they can."
I leaned my head back against the stone wall and looked up at the sky.
"Oracle." I said
"Yes?"
"TELL ME MY LEVEL? What are my numbers looking like?"
[ PERSONAL STATUS ]
Name: Rymur Kaito
Title: Vagrant (Grade 0) / Unregistered
Level: 1
Class: None (Not yet set)
Strength: 11 | Agility: 14 | Endurance: 12 | Intelligence: 18 | Magic Capacity: 247 (Flagged)
Skills: Drifter's Dominion (Unique) | Gutter Intuition (Passive, A-Rank) | Unclaimed Territory (Passive, A-Rank) | Celestial Beggary Rank Unknown)
Note: Magic Capacity flagged as way too high. Normal for Grade 0 Vagrant: 1 to 8. Current number suggests a lot of hidden potential or skill interference. Needs more study.
I stared at the inside of my own head where all that had just shown up.
"Two hundred and forty seven magic capacity?"
"Yes."
"At level one???"
"That is correct."
I sat with that a second.
"Is that because of the skills I got?"
"Likely. The mix-up that gave you your current skills also changed how the world's magic connects with you. You carry more power than you can reach right now."
"Oracle thinks at your peak your magic capacity would land somewhere between twelve thousand and fifteen thousand. For comparison, the top wizard working for King Aldric the Adequate has eight hundred and is seen as one of the strongest magic users in the kingdom."
I sat with that number for a while.
Twelve to fifteen thousand.
Right now I couldnt cast a single spell even if i tried. I have no idea how magic even works..
I was jus sitting in an alley under a crappy blanket at evel one, wearing a poor excuse for a shirt that probably wasn't mine, with this dented cup and no money at all.
"Fuck! I already hate this world,"
"Growing a lot takes time." Oracle said.
"You should probably rest, you have a long day tomorrow."
"Don't tell me what to do...."
I shut my eyes.
"You better wake me up if anything comes down the alley."
"Got it! Sleep well, Rymur Kaito."
I slept for the first time, in my alley that I owned, while the city around me had no idea who I was yet.
I slept better than I thought I would not gonna lie.