Water Please

For a long while there was no change in the sewers until Roko spotted a pair of strangers huddled over a map. They seemed to be in deep discussion over the map, not noticing Roko who kept a careful distance away from them. Roko carefully considered his next actions until one of them looked up, turned around and spotted him.

"Whoa! Hey!" The two of them spun around, stuffing their map back into their backpack, "Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm an adventurer. I'm here to kill giant rats."

"Oh that makes-hey wait a minute! This city doesn't have rat quests!"

"I dunno, there seems to be two of them right in front of me."

"You mocking us?!" One of them, equipped like a knight, yelled at him while angrily brandishing his sword.

"I don't even know who you are."

"We're the Red Wind!" The knight's friend who was dressed as a mage replied while pulling down his hood, "We're the winds, stained with blood, that will bring change!"

"Edgy." Roko smirked, "Ever considered putting that on your resume?"

"Screw you!" The knight jabbed towards Roko with the sword, "I'm not gonna take this from you!"

"Well you're not going to get anything else."

"You're the one in danger here! We're the ones with the power!"

"The power of voodoo?"

"Who do?"

"You do."

"Do what?"

"Remind me of the babe."

…

"What?" The mage looked utterly baffled.

"It's a reference. You wouldn't get it." Roko waved.

"Alright, enough." The knight stepped forward, "You can explain yourself once we've captured you."

"Everybody needs a goal in their life." Roko said as he drew his dagger.

The knight charged at Roko, swinging his sword back behind his head for a large slash.

"Scan."

Roko stepped to the side, dodging the slash that the knight threw at him as information appeared in his mind.

Level: 25

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 15

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 13

Spells: None

"Not very dexterous are you?" Roko thought aloud.

"What are you on about?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself with." Roko shrugged.

"I'm going to beat every secret you're hiding out of you once I get my hands on you!"

The knight charged again, this time making a horizontal slash with both of his hands. Roko moved a step back, letting his attack missing him before stepping forward to swing at his face with the dagger. The knight yelped as Roko's fist connected with his face, knocking him to the ground.

"What the hell?" The knight winced as he got up, "You didn't cut me?"

"If I cut you and you fall into that." Roko pointed towards the sewer water, "You're definitely dead."

"Oh. Yeah I suppose that's true." The mage said, surprised.

"Wait then what's the knife for then?" The knight asked as he got back up and made a wild swing at Roko.

"A couple of reasons." Roko replied as he blocked the sword with his dagger, "For one, this."

The knight pulled his sword back and tried to make another strike only for Roko to dodge around his attack, stepping to the side as Roko switched his dagger to his other hand.

"For another, this."

Roko slashed at the knight, slicing off one of the straps holding his backpack.

The knight tried to spin around to face Roko again but Roko just grabbed his sword arm and knocked out one of the knight's foot from the ground. Unbalanced, Roko spun the knight by the arm, spinning him towards the edge of the waterway platform.

"Ah."

Roko grabbed the backpack and slid it off of the knight's free arm as the knight fell into the sewer water and was carried away by the disgusting rapids.

"Oh god no, it's everywhere!"

The knight's pitiful cries echoed down the open waterway as he was carried further and further away.

"Try to find a doctor once you get to the entrance." Roko said.

Before Roko could turn around, the head of a very dense staff slammed into the back of his head, stunning him as he took careful steps away from the edge of the platform. Turning around, Roko saw the mage preparing a following strike with his staff.

"Scan!"

Roko brought his dagger up to block the attack but the staff smacked his weapon out of his hands and clattered a few feet away from him onto the floor. With a roar, the mage ran into Roko, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him back until he was slammed against the wall.

"I got you!" The mage cried as he dropped his staff and pulled out his own knife.

"Okay." Roko choked as the mage strengthened his grip on his throat, "But before you kill me. Have you heard of Dihydrogen Monoxide?"

"What? What's that?"

"It's called H2O. It makes up 60% of your body."

"Is it some kind of chemical?"

"Close. It starts with W and ends in R."

"...Water? Nowait-"

Too late to even regret his words, the water spell activated, blasting Roko against the wall with immense force. So immense that the mage was thrown off his feet by his own spell and blasted backwards until his spell ended and he dropped right into the sewer water.

"Goddamnit!" The mage cried out in despair as he too was carried off by the much less than crisp waters of the underground.

"And that my friends." Roko coughed as he wiped the water from his eyes, "Is why you learn intentional casting. This message brought to you by Edea."

Roko walked back to his dagger and returned it to his sheath, "Reminder to self. Use scan before engaging next time."

With the knight's backpack, Roko had managed to obtain the map of the sewers they were using as well as a few supplies, including the staff that the mage had abandoned. Slinging the bag across his shoulder using the remaining sash, Roko consulted the map and continued off before the Red Wind members could catch up to him.

The sewers turned out to be much more complex than Roko expected. Dozens of junctions and a collection of bridges made it difficult to navigate the sewers efficiently. While he had a map, it was difficult to discern where he was on it with every corner that he turned. Roko studied the map closely, trying to keep track of where he was until his head hurt and he had to return it to the backpack and continue with only his instincts to guide him. This continued until Roko pulled a watch from his personal backpack.

"6:45. I should be getting back."

Reaching into his backpack again, Roko pulled out a spatial seal. Finding a small alcove to stand in, he placed the seal on the wall and took a few steps back. As the seal glowed, Roko reached into his backpack again and equipped a small bracelet with a special gem embedded in it. Roko waited until the glowing of the seal became stable.

"Let's hope this works." Roko took a deep breath and walked towards the seal.

In the short distance that he walked, the walls of the sewer melted away walking further in the warping world, Roko soon stepped out onto the field outside of Cordis. Turning around, Roko checked the seal he had placed that morning which had stopped glowing after it's use had finished. Walking around the wall, Roko walked up to the city guards who seemed surprised to see him.

"Evening, gentlemen." Roko saluted as he strolled right past them.

"...and then the priest asked if he could be allowed room to expand the church in hopes of spreading the gospel of Vertdail." Corissa said, finishing her report of her day over dinner.

"Hmph. Gospel indeed." The king scoffed, "Lord knows they just want to expand their power."

"I agree." Corissa nodded, "They don't seem to actually have a plan for how to use the space other than decorate it with all sorts of paraphernalia. They really don't seem to acting under Vertdail's teachings."

"I thought the gods abandoned this world." Roko spoke up as he munched on some broccoli, "I believe I heard that somewhere? Is that a sensitive topic? How is there still a church?"

"You heard right, young man." The queen sighed, "The gods as we know them have disappeared though we don't truly know the reason why. However, they aren't dead. You see, magic in all aspects are an invocation of a god's power. Vertdail, for example, was the Goddess of the Earth and as such, Earth magic is simply us using her power. Though, it has become much harder to control our magic since they left."

"That is the only way the church still remains." The king nodded, "The gods may have left us but the fact that their magic remains says their thoughts are still with us. As such, piety and devout dedication is how most people think the gods will return."

"That's not true." Corissa said, "I'd say most people nowadays are followers of the gods' teachings more than their power or authority. Those things are still important and relevant to learn and maintain even if the god that taught them may be gone."

"And yet even with their god gone, the church is trying to seize power?"

"Without a god to look over them, the more crafty and power hungry folk have taken to using religion to try and gather power for themselves." The king sighed, "After all, religion can be a powerful tool. As they say, there are plenty of good people in the church but they're probably always led by someone who couldn't care less about them."

"Can a church really find new followers like this?"

"A church isn't just a place for prayer and choirs and readings, boy. There are many charitable services that they preform. I daresay that is the only reason to keep them around."

"Hmm." Roko carefully considered this new piece of information curiously as he looked down at his yellowtail fillet, "I wonder what god I'm invoking when I use scan."

"So young man." The king said as a maid came over to remove his finished dishes, "How long do you think this connection will take to finish establishing?"

"The seals should be done calibrating the area in a day or two." Roko explained, "The connection will take a bit longer to stabilize properly. In any case, the school intends to send someone to test the connection and send us back in a week."

"So you have a week to explore our good city." The king nodded, "Do you have any plans?"

"Not in particular."

"Then why don't you let us show you around the city?" The queen smiled, "Though we don't exactly have the time to be doing such a thing so..."

"Father, mother, I already offered." Corissa sighed, "Roko just wants to explore the city on his own."

"Is that so?"

"By the way, what did you do today, Roko?" Corissa asked.

"Mostly just scanning people and recording them." Roko said as he finished off the rest of his beef stew.

"That's no way to spend a day!" Corissa cried, "Don't you ever stop studying?"

"Eventually."

"If you keep doing that, I really will have to drag you around the city myself."

"It was only for today."

"Good." Corissa nodded, satisfied.

"Well in any case." The king coughed, "Please let us know if there's anything you need to make your stay more comfortable."

"Actually." Roko said as he finished his fillet, "Can I get a tiramisu and hot chocolate?"

Roko has had a long day. Not only did he have to explore a sewer but he had to take a long shower before dinner in order to wash away the smell. The belt buckle that Zadkiel had given him supposedly kept the smell from attaching to him too easily but Roko still felt like he had to clean himself very thoroughly. Now, if he wanted to actually use the map, he had to figure out his location. So once he was in his room, Roko opened the map and cracked down on recording the bridges and the pattern of their locations between each other. Making short patterns using any given bridge and two or three bridges away from it, Roko intended to figure out his location by backtracking and using that combination of platform and bridges as landmarks to figure out his location. It was tedious work but Roko couldn't really think of another way to find his location. He continued tracing the path between bridges into simple shapes until a knock came on his door.

"Hey." Corissa called from outside the room, "Are you still awake?"

"Of course." Roko hurriedly rolled up the map and threw it and the backpack that he had taken from the knight under the bed, "Come in."

Corissa opened the door and walked in with a smile, "I'm here to pick up your dishes."

"You didn't have to do that."

"It's fine." Corissa said as she picked up the empty cups, "I want to do something for you after you helped me out."

"Take care of yourself first."

"I don't want to be hearing that from you." Corissa smirked, "How long did it take for your arm to heal again?"

"Fine, fine." Roko sighed, "I'll just ask Varis to make sure you're taking it easy."

"That'd be something to see." Corissa laughed as she turned to look at her silent knight, "You hear that Varis? I'll be counting on you."

Varis nodded.

"...By the way." Roko said, "I overheard somebody talking about how expansive the underground waterways of Cordis are. Is that true?"

"Oh yeah." Corissa nodded, "It's actually a modified dockyard."

"A...dockyard?"

"A long time ago Cordis used to be next to a lake but it disappeared after a historically intense war. All that's left of it is the river. Cordis now was built on top of the old dockyard."

"Sounds like it might be more expansive than I thought." Roko said, "Must be easy to get lost in there."

"It is pretty dark." Corissa mused, "Not like anybody would go down there anyway though."

"Of course not."

"Well, I'll just get going now." Corissa smiled, "Have a good night."

"Thanks. Good night."