Library

Entering the town of Rautel was a chore, not just because Hati was around, but there was a huge line outside the gates to get in already. And then there was a scream when we lined up, too. It was a lot of effort to explain to everyone,

"He's my familiar, he's fine!" As we got closer to the gates, we found, as expected, soldiers in full plate armor stopping us with pointed spears.

"STOP!!"

"Hati, stop for him." When Hati stopped, a soldier drew closer with his spear at the ready.

"Familiar?"

"Yes. He's my familiar. Please confirm my Adventurer's guild card." I handed my guild card over to the soldier.

"Certainly, it says you have a familiar. Is that a great wolf?"

"Yes."

"It's amazing that you were able to tame an A-rank monster."

"Thanks. I think I just got lucky."

"I think it'll be fine since he's your familiar and tame enough you can ride him, but be aware that if something happens, you'll be the one punished as his master. If there is damage to the city, depending on the extent, you could be sentenced to death or be forced into slavery. Be plenty careful of how your familiar acts."

"I understand." I sighed in relief as he let me through. They really drove the point home, but they also let me in relatively easily. 'But still, death or slavery... What the heck? That's super scary!'

Or rather, there really were slaves here. 'There's no concept of human rights here in this other world. Other worlds are scary!'

First, I had to secure a place to sleep. 'Ah, it would have been faster if I asked the soldier at the gates.'

When I went back and asked him for an inn where I could stay with my familiar, he recommended the "Elmira Inn." To get there, I had to go straight down the road from the gates and turn the 3rd corner. Following his directions, I headed over.

There really were a lot of people around, as expected of the biggest city after the capital. There weren't many of them, but I did see, here and there, demi-humans with animal ears and tails. Almost all of them had collars on, so they might have been slaves.

As Hati and I passed by, they were startled for an instant, but didn't raise a fuss. I did hear a whisper of, "Oh, a familiar..." So, maybe there were quite a few adventurers around a town this size with familiars in tow like me.

Reaching the Elmira Inn, I found that the price for a night's stay with accommodations for a familiar was 8 silver. Leaving Hati in the shed for animals, I left in search of a bookstore that I heard about at the inn.

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Entering the bookstore, I found the inside buried in old-fashioned books. I wandered around looking for anything resembling a map, but found nothing.

In seeming consolation for my efforts, I found an interesting-looking book instead. It was titled, 'Beginner-level Magic for Dummies.' 'I think I might want this. I've somehow managed to learn Fireball on my own, but learning other magic too will only increase my options for self-defense... I heard that books are expensive, but I wonder how much this will cost?'

"Excuse me, how much for this book?"

The owner glanced at me and said, "7 gold." 'Woah, expensive. 7 whole gold? Never mind!' I was told I could find a library in this town anyway, so let's just look at magic-related books there instead. It's only the map I was aiming for that I'd buy even if it was pricey.

Speaking of which, when I asked about a map, he told me, "There's no way a mere bookstore would have one." Apparently, only the imperial castle or higher ups in the military would ordinarily have a map.

'Ahh, I see. So maps fall under the category of military secrets; of course I wouldn't be able to get one, in that case.' I tried brainstorming a solution to the map problem while I walked back to the inn. I didn't really need a detailed map. 'As long as I have a general world map that tells me roughly which country is where, I'll be happy.'

I could probably hear about each country's situation from bars where adventurers gather. 'Ah, I might be able to hear from adventurers which country borders which. Adventurers travel all over the place for their jobs, after all.'

If that was the case, would there be an old map in the library somewhere? Even an old one was fine. 'If I could just figure out the general shape of the continent, and ask adventurers for information so I can fill in the spaces myself, I should be able to make a map of roughly what I need.'

'Right, let's do that. I'll head over to the library tomorrow and try to find an old map — ah, and some magic books, too.'

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'Okay, today I plan to hole up in the library the whole time.'

When I told Hati that, he complained heavily about it (mostly about his meals), so I cooked a lot of meat for him in the morning and left him a ton of the sweet breads he seemed to like to hold him over. Well, he should be fine.

There was an inn close to the library, too. Yesterday, I bought a college-ruled notepad for memos and a ballpoint pen. Now then, to the library.

'Let's start from the results.'

There were no maps. Even though I paid 2 gold to get in...*sigh.*

I spent quite a while looking through this and that, but there was nothing approaching a map in any book. I spent quite a while searching, but I finally gave up hope of finding one and moved over to looking for magic books instead. At least on that side, I learned a lot even though I only had a little time left over by then.

What I learned was that everyone had magic power, but if you didn't know how to use it (this is referring to what I did with circulating magic power around my body, I think), then you couldn't activate any magic. The reason why only a certain number of people became mages even though everyone could use magic is because they either couldn't feel the magic in their own bodies, or, even if they could feel it, they couldn't control it (circulate it around their body) well enough.

Fire, water, wind and earth are the basic affinities of magic. There are also special elements like Ice, Lightning, Healing, Sacred, as well as race-specific types such as Plant and Darkness magic. Each person has a different affinity.

However, the special elements like Ice and Lightning didn't even manifest themselves unless one already knew how to use magic.

As for Healing magic, one needed to have the affinity for it and have taken classes from the church for a certain amount of time before becoming able to use it.

Sacred magic was even more special, and only certain jobs like Heroes, Holy Women, and Holy Knights could learn it. Apparently, it had spells like Light Arrow, which shot spears of holy light and had high attack power, and the ultra-effective purifying light, Holy Light.

I stayed hidden, writing notes on what I learned of magic — at least until the librarian caught me. I didn't find the maps I was looking for, but I learned quite a bit about magic, so I guess it's okay.

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"I'm home." When I came back to the inn and greeted Hati, I found him sulking.

"You are late." All the food I left him in the morning had disappeared without a trace.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Hmph. You were so late in returning, I was going crazy with hunger."

"I'll cook now, so cheer up. I'll even go heavy on the meat."

"I want food from your world."

*Sigh*... that? 'But if he eats too much of the food from my world, he'll start overflowing with energy... Still though, I was late. It should be fine if I give him a little.'

I used my skill to buy some yakitori and tonkatsu. Of course, I kept the amount on the lower side. That said, it's lower by Hati's standards.

I took the yakitori off the skewers and put them on a plate, and the tonkatsu on a different plate.

"This will be it for now for food from my world. I'll cook the rest now, so wait."

Hati started murmuring about the amount being small and stuff, but I ignored him and started cooking the meat. The flavoring was the usual steak sauces as well as yakiniku sauce. When I piled the meat on a plate and put it in front of Hati, he chomped down on it greedily.

There was someplace I wanted to go after this as well, so I didn't want him bothering me. Even though I didn't find any maps in the library, I still wanted to at least ask the adventurers about the states of all the different countries.