A little while later, Jack walked out of the cemetery to see Aldric, who was dressed in a cleric robe, and Bren waiting for him.
Jack was calm as he managed to control his emotions.
Bren stepped forward. "Jack... Are you alright? I heard from Aldric about it."
Jack lifted his hand to stop him and spoke. "I'm fine." He looked at Aldric. "I accept the housing proposal."
Aldric noticed that the way Jack was speaking changed as he responded, "I already talked to Priest Aldwin about this. The room is all ready."
Jack cleared his throat. "I see." He breathed in before responding, "I will come back later then."
Bren asked Jack, "Where are you going?" Jack answered while tapping on his right side of the stomach, "I have to go to Salvation's Camp."
Bren asked another question. "Do you want us to keep you some company?" Jack waved his hand in a slight and refusing manner. "I will go alone. I'll come back by nightfall at most."
The three of them kept going at it. Jack's lines were constantly starting with 'I,' which gave Bren and Aldric a sense of wrongness. Eventually, after a while, he managed to convince them that he was fine alone.
Jack walked on the road alone. Inside some of the houses, he could see families eating dinner and chatting.
On the tables, he could see that they had a walnut bread with what seemed to be cocoa inside—without a doubt, a local form of dessert eaten on holidays.
He kept walking.
It certainly is a holiday... It's not like I'm not used to spending them alone, but it still hurts.
The streets are almost empty, but the houses are full.
The pressure in his abdomen began to be felt yet again. The sedative that had a painkilling effect began to wane away early in the morning.
From beginning up until now, the day had been bad for Jack. Waking up to the smell of the active decay of his neighbors' corpses, which was rancid and almost made Jack cry by just smelling it.
Due to that, he didn't even eat anything and just left, only for him to come back later for the cup when he met Bren on his way to work and was told about the holiday.
Then after that, he was told the bad news of his house having to be burned down.
Any modern man like Jack, who was born in a developed nation, even low in class, would find this hard to swallow.
Eventually, Jack made his way to the Salvation's Camp, which was nearby the area he was living in.
Due to its proximity, they could easily treat the sick as soon as they were discovered, though it was too late for the people on Faithful Street, who had died around ten days ago, around the same time they were finally allowed to set up camp due to politics.
This was because the Church of Mardrago's officials seriously hampered their arrival in town, letting the disease spread from the slums to the nearby areas.
In that way, Mardrago's Church could be considered as the ones that truly killed the people on Faithful Street. Of course, this was unknown to the local church, who learned of the death of the people days after the matter happened.
Jack eventually entered the main tent where the Bishopess was, finding the blonde woman with blue eyes chatting with a familiar figure.
Victor! What is he doing here?
He looked at the old man with white long hair that now had a white beard that somehow grew in the little time they didn't see each other.
Today he wore a different attire, still not matching the local populace or Jack's expectation of late medieval attire.
He wore a black two-breasted suit with a top hat; he also had a golden watch in one of his pockets as well as his bronze-handled cane.
Before, he could have still been considered in match with current trends if not overly eccentric, but now? He was completely foreign.
Jack couldn't help but smile at the attire. While old, it still reminded him of Earth, of his people and his culture that he didn't believe he would see again, much like the depiction of the observable universe in the Church.
He walked towards them. Approaching the Bishopess, she saw him and stopped her chat and said, "Oh. You are back?"
Victor looked to his side and said while smiling, "Jack! Good to see you! Have you been well?"
The Bishopess was surprised as she spoke. "You know the Lord of Lehatot?" Jack was confused. "Lehatot?"
She responded with Victor's full name. "Victor Vast Lehatot. That is his full name." Jack repeated the name but was stopped by Victor. "There is no need for that. If you need to use my full name, you should also drop the Vast. There is no need to use the title."
"Uhh..." Jack was confused at the last line, but before thinking, he heard Victor fix his confusion. "Vast is the noble title in the North, specifically used by the kingdoms above the Mehatot River Line."
He pointed at the Bishopess and said, "For example, she is Reinette Hall Hardrain. Hall is given to nobles of the rank of Count or Marquis." He cleared his throat before continuing, "Hall as in the Town Hall. Heh. For example, Vast means vast."
Hmm... I think something got lost in the translation. Did Vast already get translated?
Victor stopped his rambling about titles and names and spoke. "So what brings you here?" Reinette, the Bishopess, intruded in his conversation. "He is the one I talked about."
Victor's hazel green eyes looked Jack up and down. He didn't show much surprise at the answer; he just took it as permission to inspect Jack.
He first looked at Jack's abdomen, then at his head, and after that, he observed Jack's right arm from elbow to hand.
Jack felt as if he was being seen through by something as he heard a hum in the air that sounded like a static white noise, a ring akin to tinnitus in the ear, only that it was damp and not sharp.
Reinette as well felt uncomfortable. She folded her arms, covering her stomach while narrowing her eyes.
Soon the feeling faded, and Victor looked Jack in the eyes. "You are probably feeling some pain in your stomach right now?"
"Something like it being twisted or strangely moving in ways you can't explain? Along with a strange pressure?"
Damn. You hit the nail on the head! Jack answered, "Yes."
Victor continued, "Alright, I'm not going to ask more questions about it, but I have a way for you to fix this."
Jack's eyes widened. "Really?" Victor answered, "But what I'm about to teach, you will not be allowed to teach to another."