A glimpse of the world

-Annoying.-

He thought as the princess was taking her leave, his shaky hands had to shuffle the deck back and forth once again; he had to take what little control over the situation he could.

He moved to occupy her place, still feeling the warmth of her body and her scent on the chair.

The chair creaked under his weight, yet being bigger and somewhat reinforced for comfort managed not to bend like the previous one.

"Ehi!"

-I wonder, are all their hair so weird?-

He thought looking at that man with the blue hairdo, angrily yelling at him at the room where he worked and probably lived a large slice of his life for all he knew.

"Ehi!"

-I wonder what color is her blood… I want to dissect her and see how she's made inside... -

He thought looking at the girl still lying on the ground; his shaky right hand moved to caress his face, managing to suppress the tremor as he pressed his hand, excluding his right eye, and his vision blurred for a brief time before refocusing again.

"Ehi!"

- I want to die. Why this world? I'll fail oh so miserably! Better yet why not just die and be done with it? -

He sighed finally acknowledging Etgas' attempt to gain his attention as he slammed both his hands on the desk.

"The hell do you want? She still hasn't come to, has she? Don't you have kind of a duty here man?"

He said, his voice deep with angst and barely suppressed anger wondering if his anger and frustration were better focused on Etgas himself.

Etgas backed off, he massaged his head removing his hand from his face, his head pulsated with a ripple of pain as the light went through both of his eyes once again.

His vision distorted once again, taking several moments to get a clear picture once again.

-When was it I last slept? No... I don't want to sleep not yet… why am I so tired?-

" Listen, Thirteen or whatever the princess I can allow, but that here is my chair!

You don't belong here!"

- Ah right what was I ... I was having fun with those NPCs over here. I wonder, are they the characters I will manage to somehow control? -

He smiled, it wouldn't be so annoying after all.

"I kind of expected to have made my point that this whole world is not the place I should be in.

So please, enlighten me, where should I go? "

He had to shuffle his card once again, he was in need to control something, anything; the cards were easy to handle, easier than he remembered.

He even managed a trick with them he couldn't pull back home, no matter how hard he practiced.

"I will have a chair delivered, a new one. Leave my seat, at once. "

"or else?"

He asked Etgas, shuffling his cards, his vision blurred once again, a dull pain echoing through his head.

-no… not … yet … I want to see … where this guy's... buttons are-

"Thirteen listen, stop it, you are pushing it too far.

You want me to be kind of a bridge for you, right?

Like you want trust I want respect, even if symbolically, so give me my chair back.

It's that simple…"

Thirteen smiled at those words.

-Now that's new, a soft way to see if you can influence me with a trade-off?

So there's my kind of people here, the carrot and stick kind of givers, we'll see if you are ready to trade-off too.-

It was painful to rise, he had let his habits get the better of him, but it could change here, it was a new start if a harder one.

-Why not reincarnate, could've escaped this twisted mess of body I'm in … well that would mean HE lost somehow not sending me to a hell hard enough? -

His joint still hurt with the effort it took, it was even harder to stand straight but he managed to wobble to the side of the desk, showing a most gallant gesture to the seat.

Etgas sighed and clapped his hands, having the attendants come in.

"Bring me a chair, salts, slavery chains, and a mana potion."

He sat back on his chair under the eyes of thirteen.

"So, slavery chains it is, I guess after all I don't have your trust ."

Etgas pointed to the girl on the ground

"slavery chains and salts are for her, or would you rather have an uncontrollable beast woman in the room?"

Thirteen smiled slightly.

" I asked for a slave that could die no question asked, did I not?

If I can't make her reason, I will kill her myself; so just don't ask for anything related to slavery magic.

Still … a beast woman? Not a demon?"

Etgas looked at him sighing stopping his attendant in the room.

"And here I thought you didn't want to be an assassin?

Well like you have a say in the matter; in our world either you are ready to kill or you die.

You will have to fight for your life in your role as a hero, better get the feeling right with a girl, kill her while she sleeps.

At least you'll spare her suffering and me the salts.

Here in Cesio a beast-man and a demon are the same, other countries treat them differently. "

Thirteen tilted his head left, feeling his vertebra creaking; he had to stretch more often.

-I kind of expected it, given the element the past hero mentioned, yet why preserve it and not make it go kaboom? -

" That's Cesio for ya… anyway why would I need to be that merciful?

I will have enemies begging me to live, no doubt, so why spare her the pain or the horror?

Did you have your way with her and still feel lingering attachments?"

Etgas laughed, then proceeded to seat to his chair and opened a drawer, pulling out a black velvety cloth wrapped around a spherical object.

He revealed a see-through sphere with a pearly shine about three palms wide at least in comparison to Etgas' hand, before pulling out a wooden stand on which he laid the sphere.

As he placed his hand on the sphere, the item loosed transparency; a greyish smoke appeared within, surrounding a shining light in the middle.

As his hand left the sphere turned back to being transparent, as nothing happened.

"First reason, a suffering unbound person would risk damaging my floor and carpets, you do realize blood is hard to wash off?"

Thirteen burst into laughter having a hard time calming down.

"That was fun Etgas, man. Fine, fine I will make sure she doesn't bleed ok?"

He managed to say wobbling to stay on his feet, why was he so damn tired?

"Another thing I don't wanna do is to carry your sorry ass out of this room since it will be a pain to have enough people here to do so or to wait for you to come around.

So bring us a sturdy chair, the salts, and a mana potion."

He tilted his head as the attendant was leaving the room, looking at Etgas.

"Why a mana potion, for that sphere magical thing? I don't plan using that."

Etgas made a no sign with his head.

"I don't know how you deem a person a criminal where you're from, but we use this thing here.

We have a god of laws, that oversees things from the other side, and looks to give us a result by this magic item.

If it shines white, then you're an upstanding citizen, if it turns black you're a criminal."

He touched the sphere again, producing the same result.

"This is the result you get when you did questionable things in your life, but well while what you did may have been against a law or two it's a minor thing or it wasn't avoidable for you to remain alive and was forgiven.

So this is the second main reason no pointless killing should happen here. "

-that is… interesting, what logic is there within? How do criminals manage to beat this? Well, let's see how it reacts to me-

"may I try it? I might break it thou"

Etgas sighed shrugging in his shoulders

"I don't see how you could get any result at all, getting judged for things you did before coming to this world would be weird, but please go ahead.

They should've tested you at the castle. "

He massaged his head, the headache he was having was getting stronger, but he was kind of used to it so thinking was less a problem to him than for the average Joe in his situation.

"It was a bigger sphere than yours, clad in golden supports on an altar kind of thing, and well that sphere was black already, and I broke that as I touched it.

So why did they not executed me as a criminal back then?"

Etgas sighed caressing his face with his left hand, then waved his hand dismissing his thoughts as the attendants entered, carrying a big chair, a little jeweled box, and a palm-sized bottle, with a weird liquid swirling inside giving a living whitish light in an overall bluish solution.

"You sure hold a death wish, Thirteen, but well that was a magic meter.

It serves to measure the magic potential you have, the fact you broke the one at the castle kind of explains why they won't kill you as easy as you wish.

Magic is a trickier thing than you may think, so to start drink, it will taste like hell but you'll think straighter than now.

Since I am kind of responsible for ya I'll try to hammer the basics into you as you asked the princess."

Thirteen sighed taking the bottle with his left hand, placing his right hand on the glass sphere on the process, to no effect at all.

- I was sure it would become black, or split into two, so it doesn't count the rune?

Well if it got any power it became another entity from me entirely, lore-wise.

I kind of fear that development, being trapped with or into the rune for eternity doesn't sit well with me so I hope for it got no powers like at all.

Anyway, damn this god of Justice thing!

I will be an evil mastermind!

An Evil Overlord!

An Evil Supervillain drafting nefarious schemes with thousands of evil minions, react goddamnit!

Well, I think I can kind of act being evil, but if they capture me and place my hand on this thing then what?

I kind of have to really ... do that... for this thing to notice me and send his law-abiding heralds to hunt me down?-

He sighed abandoning the thoughts swarming his fatigued mind to seat, this time the chair seemed to hold him better, while the attendants left the room at Etgas' signal.

He drank the liquid, it was like he had pure caffeine running through his body for he felt energized once again, but felt almost no taste at all, except for a faint bitter herbal taste.

Well he kind of expected that to happen, he had lost his sense of taste long ago, a thing he attributed to having to take phenothiazines when he was forced into therapy but all things considered, could be a cofactor with the heavy smoking habits he had.

"Well, I'll be damned… the first time I had to chug one of those I had to barf my lunch.

Anyway… better?"

Thirteen nodded looking at the small bottle, his hand barely managing the grip and shaking, making him grimace.

He hated that body.

-well at least they do have coffee here, sort of… blue coffee, but seems coffee nonetheless.

Or should I consider this a blue energy drink? -

"So yeah magic… as I said before there either is or is not magic.

That's the kind of baseline here, as you are born with or without.

There's a limit on how powerful magic you can cast, or how many times you can cast magic at all, which depends on the magnitude of magic you unleash.

I for one can create about twenty slavery collars and chains in a day, but if I had to replicate the magic cast on her my limit is two, maybe three times a day if I drink one of those you just gulped down."

Thirteen raised his hand much to Etgas' surprise at which he awkwardly asked "what is it?"

"Etgas-sensei wouldn't the act of drinking more potions increase the number of spells you can use in a day?"

"I'm not suited to be a teacher" Etgas replied laughing ever so slightly

"To answer simply: Do you have water reservoirs where you're from?"

Thirteen thought a little and then answered

"well, I can understand the base concept go on"

"Then think it like this: a mana potion is something you use to unclog the plumbing, rather than refill the tank.

It can refill a little, of course, but you'll have to drink a water reservoir worth to have back what you lost using magic.

And even if you manage to bear the taste like in your case, it's an unclogging liquid, so it's bad for the plumbing, that is your body.

Not to say it's impractical, first, nobody is born with the same water reservoir to use the same metaphor and second, well there's not exactly a monster that will wait for you chugging barrels of potion or a tactical bush to hide and pee in a battle, is there? "

Thirteen laughed a little nodding

"Then well there's this division amongst users of magic: wizards, sorcerer, and warlock, most of us humans mages are wizards, meaning we channel magic through the study of magic phenomena, symbols, and items like wands or staves or in my case chains.

Then there's your kind, the sorcerer, you can call upon magic based on emotion and mind status even if you have no real idea of the magnitude of magic you're calling.

Usually, sorcerers die by burning through their full magic reservoir the first time they cast magic."

Thirteen sighed shuffling his deck of cards once again.

"I see why she was so eager to get me to the front line then, and not have me killed; if I lost my cool that had better be in enemy territory the closer to the demon lord the better. So what is a warlock?"

Etgas nodded

"You're quick on the uptake that's for sure Thirteen, for warlocks well … they are a complicated bunch, all I know is the church actively hunts for them and not many details are made public as of why.

Every time I heard the world It followed some depiction of destruction or massacre so … well I'm not exactly eager to know."

Thirteen sighed getting back to his feet, he hated not being able to just enjoy being seated but he could not avoid it.

"And I can't be a warlock because? "

Etgas sighed shrugging a little

"Because for all I know if they channel magic it usually ends in destruction, you just channeled magic and we are still here. "

Thirteen sighed a little getting back to Etgas' desk, taking the sphere from the pedestal.

"I guess it means that it still eludes even you; the real reason I am so pissed being here and all the hero stuff…"

-let's test this law thing a little...-

With a great deal of effort, he proceeded to kneel upon the laying girl without actually

dropping the sphere and closed the hands of the girl upon it.

As soon as his hand left the sphere the object shone a pure white light, to which he pointed making an expression as he knew from the beginning.

-… so things stand like this, now let's reap benefits… -

"See I kinda have a full truckload worth of beef against the whole kingdom just for this.

I don't know where the fuck I am supposed to start being angry at so pardon me if I start to cuss like the dickens I may as well be god to ya folk but I feel powerless like a child.

All because a series of unfortunate events brought me here in the first place.

So yeah let me figure things up my way, shuffle my cards posing a question on the situation without telling me, pick ten cards, let's take a peek into your fate shall we?"

He approached Etgas' desk, offering his full deck of cards to him, smiling as evilly as he had taken step upon step to prove in front of a mirror to master to his satisfaction.

Etgas never felt a magic so dreadful all his life, and luckily Thirteen's state of mind seemed to be able to switch to a controlled state like a lamp.

His stomach still churred at the thought of what could have happened had Sinalta not chosen a swift and prompt retreat removing from the room the subject of Thirteen anger.

Etgas saw thousands of men and women in his career and knew the spirit of the human race at his worst very well.

He knew Thirteen was bad news from the first time he saw him walk into his office and now wanted to go straight to his past self and slap him in the face for not refusing straight to have anything to do with his and the princess shenanigans.

The worst execution the princess could conceive was a light punishment face to having to deal with that particular man.

Of course, he realized full well that that very notion was thirteen getting under his skin, rubbing on him the worst way possible.

Merciless, curious, and ready to experiment, Thirteen's mind was sharp fast and seemed devoid of any and all human emotion but blind rage and sheer hatred for each living thing himself included.

Etgas had met several self-harming individuals before, having to deal with the weight of desperation, the loss of everything including freedom.

It was easy to convince them of having a future if ever bleak, for there was some precedent he could use.

Thirteen was another level entirely like he was the very core of self-loathing; too logic-bound and rational in his stance to be rooted only in loss.

Worse, being from another world it was harder on him to draw alluring parallels to a person that knew nothing and actively rationalized death as a mean to solve problems.

No sane person could call that logic or rationality, for it was total uncompromised annihilation that denied all possible salvation that Thirteen openly embraced.

It was like he saw reality as hopeless and secluded himself in a jaded dream far worse than any hell Etgas could imagine; it was as Thirteen was simply existing spectating his own life.

Unexpectedly from his lackluster approach to life, Thirteen somehow seemed like a kid jumping from one thing to the next, with a thirst for sheer knowledge that seemed to imply losing all interest in the previous topic.

No image was farther than the truth for there was no innocence in his quest for knowledge, but the sheer will to be able to weaponize it in the most absolute terms and he demonstrated it fully.

While he was unstable and mad as a hatter by any standard Etgas could think of, Thirteen was coherent and methodical to a fault, he was heavily logic-bound and that, in itself, was a silver lining given there was a way to reason with him if a warped one.

From whatever hell Sinalta managed to summon a man so warped only the gods knew, but he was starting to question if the summoning magic was prohibited not only for the human cost involved but for having pulled such deviants in the past.

If any part of that way of thinking was the result of society and not personal madness there was no hope to be found on another reality, only hellish hopelessness.

Being an otherworldly being by origin Thirteen testings the law sphere was not surprising nor was the result at least for Etgas.

What was surprising in reality was that Thirteen was still not judged at all; if anything even children managed to score a small reaction by selfless acts of virtue like sharing their favorite meal or small acts of infamy like stealing cookies.

Yet he scored nothing even after insulting the princess, calling himself a god, and declaring his intent to destroy the world.

Then there was the matter about his hero's powers, that like the legend told were able to turn even reality upside down.

Etgas was not an expert but that guy was not a wizard, so he had to be a sorcerer; hero or no hero the church would not let a warlock roam free into the capital right?

Well, there was the general pressure he felt by the princess but well, the crown had its limits and so did magic.

Thirteen did seem very serious on not evoking that power of his and if anything could make his hope rise any amount it was that he was not lying.

After all, he was grateful he didn't seem interested in using his power or experimenting with it, whatever the hell that was for that matter.

Be as it may his first conscious use of magic, for sure the last thing Etgas wanted was to put him back in that state of focused anger he seemed in at that time.

Etgas simply had to somewhat comply with that weird request, even if he dreaded that magic item thirteen was carrying in the form of a deck of cards.

Etgas did not come to regret his choice, if anything those moments showed a more intimate fraction of Thirteen character, demeanor, and powers.

Thirteen was a manipulator by how he spoke and choose to spin his arguments, yet he avoided contact to a fault even to the point Etgas could count on the fingers of one hand the times their eyes met by full intention.

Language, etiquette, and knowledge were his biggest limitation and he seemed frustrated to no end to realize by the questions Etgas had to pose.

The old slaver feared what Thirteen could be capable of, had such limitation been removed from him.

He was able to spin him and warp his perception playing him like a fiddle to a hopeless one point using only lexicon a ten-year-old could use, no real knowledge of his world and no practical sense.

He managed to get in that short amount of time information on currency, the standard of living and the values of the society of the world he was in without having to draw comparison out loud for Etgas could comprehend.

Even if he denied it with conviction he was a diviner no doubt, although his technique was very different from any diviner Etgas ever met.

Diviners used magic, for starters.

He didn't, not even once, nor he asked questions as diviners did; he was quite adamant not being revealed anything, not even the question Etgas posed the cards.

Nonetheless, in the time it took to reveal those ten cards Etgas felt doomed to the fate Thirteen predicted with that technique of his.

As thirteen took those ten cards and disposed of them forming a cross with a line to Thirteen's right and proceeded to reveal the weird cards and explain what the depicted drawing on their business side meant, he managed to nail each aspect of the issue Etgas had asked for.

Thirteen had managed to drink two bottles of water in the meantime and discovered the usage of toilets here; he was surprised of course by the presence of a magical source of flowing water but needed to be shown how to use the item by Etgas' attendants.

Etgas dreaded the moment Thirteen would understand the meaning it held to have such a vast reservoir of raw power at his disposal, but it was probably something that mind of his already envisioned.

"So it's like this huh "

Said Thirteen looking at all the cards revealed, raising an eyebrow like he was answered a question of his own by peeking into Etgas' question.

With practiced gestures Thirteen put away the cards, placing the deck into his pockets, and took the salts proceeding to the laying down girl.

"Wait, please answer me this, what you predicted will come true?"

Thirteen laughed softly then looked at him.

" Future is a page we see fully blank until we see it written.

You write somewhat in it each time you look in your past for an answer, and mostly in what you do in each waking moment you have in the present.

Sometimes it is also written by what you can allow or deny other people to write in it, for whatever reason.

Problem is that by the time we see it fully written, the future has changed to the past; a new future coming in its place.

This goes on and on and on, until time itself exists and we perceive it as we do.

If anything my cards rob you of ways in which you could write it, for they warn you of things to come.

You may be able to avoid the future I predicted you if so you wish.

Be warned thou, your active tries to avoid it as I predicted it may as well be what will make it come true as I predicted it.

Such is the cost of asking for answers.

Such is the deal for seeking none.

Ask and keep on asking and you shall receive, seek and keep on seeking and you shall find.

I wonder, when will you realize life is also what happens while we're making plans and requests?"

Etgas pondered a moment before rephrasing what he asked the cards but Thirteen gave him a wicked distorted smile, showing his teeth as he the index finger of his left hand to his nose.

He looked like he was having fun, the literal time of his life.

"I told you: don't ask out loud.

I gave you that answer because it is fair you fully know the rules.

I will tell you what is needed for you to know, whether or not you want to hear that or not."

Thirteen took the smelling salts and proceeded to awaken the beast girl, he either did not know how to do so or didn't care in the slightest about the reaction of the girl herself for he simply shoved the tissue under the nose of the girl.

By his wicked smile to her awakening, coughing and almost vomiting, maybe he did know enough to expose her to such a shocking and painful experience.

What he said afterward only reinforced the notion: he wanted her to suffer.

"Welcome back to this side of the mirror lass, I hope you're enjoying being still alive.

Now, as I kinda promised, you walk free.

At the moment you are free to go outside and die, or to follow me and live a little longer."

Still coughing and recovering the girl looked at thirteen with clear anger, answering him in her language, to which Thirteen laughed, heartily.

Then, pointing at her he watched Etgas asking.

"Oi, is there such a thing?"

Etgas sighed opening his hands

"I don't have a clue, I had imbued her with the same translation magic that has been cast on you. She is speaking in a language I can't understand."

Thirteen sighed and shook his head massaging his left temple with his right hand and proceeded to caress his long beard.

"Well, now that makes for a volume of questions for me.

Like, you've lived here for like fifty, sixty years, right?

In all this time how many beast-men or demons did you deal with?

How is it possible you never got the itch to learn their way?

You can force them to teach you for crying out loud.

And well… how many magic can you pull together exactly?

Anyway, it would be too long and complex to answer some of those questions I guess, and since I am starting to feel hunger I'd rather eat something soon.

That also would answer many a question I have. Anyway, she asked If I wanted to rape her."

Etgas raised an eyebrow to the question he posed, some didn't even require a precise answer, and he posed them anyway; he seemed neutral to the argument itself.

Etgas pondered on how to answer the question, he had posed him and decided to try and answer as plainly and clearly, he could, leaving things for him to conclude and see how he did react.

"And you asked if there's such a thing as people here raping girls like her?

Well, rape does exist here, as you said to the princess, so well I guess I don't have to delve into details on whom gets raped by whom and in what situations, do I, Thirteen? "

Thirteen raised his right hand to his right temple, and at that very motion, even still coughing and crying the girl widened her eyes and raised to her hooves, staggering she tried to run to the window, to escape.

Etgas knew that beast-folk were said to be more sensitive to magic than humans but even he wanted to run for his life now.

That deep churring feeling was crushing his stomach now, even if Thirteen wasn't surrounded by that magic, the tattoo over his right hand glowed with a deep dark crimson and purple light.

It seemed for a terrifying instant the light was extending to his right eye like it was taking hold of him, distorting everything around him into pitch-black darkness.

Then he sighed, simply pushing his right hand away with the left, he puffed his cheek like a hamster looking at the girl.

"Indeed, I guess it's best you don't, I'm not in the mood for pleasant tales.

Anyway, lass… nope I won't be raping ya, I'm not into goats.

Unless you wanna your innards to be minced and boiled into your stomach, that is.

There would be also a need for distilled fermented cereal alcohol."

Thirteen rolled his eyes at how long he felt the translation magic going off to detail a single word he said last, then he scoffed.

"Yeah better avoid, you folk wouldn't have a frigging clue of what you'd be drinking."

As the glow subsided as he talked, so did the fear keeping the girl standing, and she sprawled behind Etgas' desk trying to hide from Thirteen; staring at him mainly, but still reserving hatred-filled stares to him from time to time.

"I am kidding, mostly.

You don't eat demons, am I wrong?"

Etgas sighed trying to pat the head of the girl hiding to calm her, getting bitten in response.

" As you see, demons do try to eat us, and there are those who do wish to return the favor. Those who and get caught, are usually burnt at the stake as heretics."

Said Etgas hitting the girl with a firm kick in the guts without a second thought, a kick strong and precise enough to make her lose her grip in a fit of coughs, but not to move her.

Thirteen didn't beat an eyelash to the scene nor he seemed to go into a fit of rage like before.

"Yeah better stick to grass-eating lass, us humans make for a bad meal.

Anyway, I await your answer, do you choose death or do you follow me?"

The girl, still struggling to keep a bare form of composure answered weakly, to which thirteen smiled evilly.

"Freedom, well ya see it is never absolute.

There are things you can't do, things you won't even consider doing.

Tradition, custom, habits, you name it and they have bound you at least once, shaping how you define freedom.

In a sense the bird of Hermes is my name, I eat my wings to keep me tame.

Well had I his powers this place would be drowning into a sea of blood, wouldn't it? "

Both the released slave and Etgas looked at him so puzzled they made him sigh, and he took his cards back.

He shuffled them almost unconsciously like he had to shuffle them to keep about his talk.

"There was once a guy who had conquered the world. He gave it up for an adventure, he was swindled by a street juggler, he met with the four major mortal powers of his world.

He found love, had to run from it, finding the strength to face a lonely introspection on what he was seeking.

The wheel of fate brought him back to justice, he was hung and met death.

With patience, he negotiated his life, yet as he was free again he indulged himself, bringing destruction all around him for death never really left him.

He wished upon a star to be able to make amends and the sun and the moon passed, and true judgment came.

He was, once again crowned to rule the world he had so messed up to rebuild where he destroyed, to amend where he did wrong."Thirteen smiled at them awaiting a reaction he expected.

Thirteen sighed as he understood from their blank expression they didn't get what he was saying.

-I was an idiot in thinking they could understand a circular myth-

"I guess you will understand, given time.

So, lass what do ya say?

Ya keep get treated an object, hit and killed on a whim or follow me of yer own volition?"

"Kill… me…"

Thirteen smiled widely to the worlds the girl managed to say even crying and coughing and looked at Etgas.

"Well, now we do reason. The lass will come with us."

Etgas sighed and rummaged in his desk once again taking out a small piece of wood no longer than his hand as a whole.

It was finely lathed and decorated in gold and silver, a chain motif that alternated the materials and enveloped the wand for the whole of his length.

A blue gemstone shined embedded into the pommel of the object, shining ever so slightly as it came in touch with Etgas' hand.

"Now that I think about it Thirteen, I still have to demonstrate another thing.

That is how magic is practiced here."

He cleared his voice and waved the wand towards the still coughing girl that appeared quite pissed, and chanted something.

"I offer my mana to the god of magic and understanding.

I call for you, keeper of knowledge lost, give understanding and gift the ability to speak and be understood!"

Golden and silver chains sprout from the wand as Etgas finished his incantation and pointed it towards the girl.

The chains reached for the neck and ears of the girl, a reddish tattoo appeared around her bare neck, extending backward and upwards.

Thirteen instinctively brought his right hand to feel his throat at that scene raising an eyebrow.

"Yes behind that beard of yours you have the same mark.

Relax, you won't feel it and when the magic will be dispelled it will disappear.

Or don't relax, for now, I can understand her and she can understand me again.

Now, a question do you understand why I hit you?"

"You are human."

Was the angry answer.

"Yeah, I am. That is not the answer, you bit me."

Sighed Etgas, the look of someone who had to have that same conversation over and over.

"You tried to hit me!"

" Really?

I think that when I tried to hit you I hit you.

Meaning I acted in a way you couldn't answer to.

I remember explaining quite clearly to you when you were given to me.

I will not treat you fairly, I will reciprocate each and every negative thing you do up a notch since compliance is simpler to gain than trust.

So, resist and you suffer the consequences.

Having or not having the slavery mark only change the kind of consequences you will suffer.

Now this guy here, Thirteen is offering you freedom many of your kind won't get.

Your speech won't be controlled, your actions won't be generally controlled, however you and your position will be controlled.

He can bend rules up to a point.

Stray too far, act too wild and you will be killed no question asked.

You are not seen as equal, your life means nothing to us, call it a whim on his part but it is your best chance of having freedom you'll ever have.

I may not speak your tongue but I guess, given his charming ways, you asked him to kill you.

Be aware, now that I have explained the full terms of the deal, you will die should you still choose to. So, again I will ask, will you follow him or will you die here?"

-Now this man knows how to use his head-

Thirteen slowly and loudly clapped his hands and slowly moved closer to the girl creeping ever closer till she struck a defensive stance and whispered.

"bonus, ye live, ye git to maybe save yer precious demon king"

Then, rising he smugly made a v sign to Etgas and proceeded towards the door of the room.

"Are… are you lying?" Shouted the girl

"Whatever would I gain from lying to ya lass?"

He waved his hand putting the deck of cards back into his pockets and proceeded out of the room, into the big, well-decorated hall that made the commercial floor for nobles and rich merchants alike.

-I wonder how much a slave goes for 'round here. This here is no cattle market like in the good old stories, yet again there was no magic ability to make people obey in the first place. But if I am not wrong you can buy any person if you have influence high enough. -

He massaged his head, without focusing too much on his surroundings he identified an open window in the room and wobbled to it, looking through it down the streets.

The first thing he noticed was the iron bars that formed a classical caged frame that made him chuckle, so they had that much confidence in their magic, or there was still something he missed.

He looked down the streets to the people that were living their daily lives, they were not going out of their way in avoiding the place, mostly.

There were that seemed doing so, but that was only a glance he had from a three-story building, and probably second only to the palace in width so avoiding it was quite unpractical since the building occupied a whole block alone.

There were not many big buildings, except the walls and the castle of which he could catch a glimpse to his right.

The royal carriage was nowhere to be seen on the road, a sign that his summoner had gone back to her daddy at the least.

There were other carriages of course of all sizes the smaller with two, medium-sized with four, and big with six horses, the luxurious carriage of the princess counted eight horses.

Since in a city it wasn't a question of speed, nor acceleration unless you wanted to kill somebody, the number of horses meant also the status of the person carried within probably.

Horses were horses in all the worlds in the end; the costs of caring for one were quite steep, so people in his world that no longer needed them ended not caring properly for their animals on some occasions.

And by what he intended on doing he probably was about to condemn them to a similar fate, if not a worse one since he couldn't tell the future of course.

- She had to listen to bedtime child stories and I've just become that brat's new toy. I guess never wishing to be a kid about something is gonna net me nothing at this point. -

He looked at the black and red tattoo on the back of his hand sighing, it was something he did with the counsel of his friends.

- How many souls were ya fed already?-

There was no answer nor reaction from the tattoo, of course, it was just a tattoo after all, no matter what it could not change, he moved his bristly long beard to see his neck and looked toward the window sash only to discover, much to his dismay that the window was open because it had no glass in his frame.

-Figures, too many stones thrown. I guess they know enough to make glasses but they still have to find how to make tempered glass… that could be a problem in itself… need to factor in my approach. So it's not all sparkles and shines-

He went back to look at the room, which was like being in a history book of a sort, a big candelabra was dangling from the roof, and the room had the feel of ancient medieval, early renaissance maybe.

The room had some kind of art paintings and of course, there were tapestries, less than in Etgas office so they were a sign of power and wealth here, he was not much into the artistic value of things so he couldn't care less but he knew the implications of having or not having art.

There were still no books to be found, so reading was not seen as entertainment as he found it, or maybe they were kept more private since they were precious to the point it was safer to keep them locked than put them on display.

He got pretty much a gist on the level of literacy of people with his little interaction with the princess and the slaver earlier, but maybe it was much worse than he thought.

He finally focused on the fact that there were people alongside him on the floor all along; there were twenty people or so, the room was big enough to accommodate another one hundred maybe before getting cramped, so there was plenty of space to move.

It was pretty clear who were the customers and who were the workers by the mere mannerism, a thing he could pick up faster than anything.

All of the workers had some kind of kinky bracelet and necklace, pretty much on full view, there was no exception.

When he realized that some of the customers wore similar bracelets and necklaces, albeit mostly hidden, he couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation.

- The view may be different, the hair too, but in the end, humans will be humans.-

Most people had blue hair, some silver like the princess and there was of course the occasional blonde guy or girl.

His hand went back to his tarot deck, bringing it out once again, to shuffle it to calm himself deeply breathing as he slanted his eyes in a glare towards the ten or so people in the vast room.

- too many people in this room, why can't I snap my fingers and make like all of them disappear for a change? -

There were no red or dark-haired people, and the skin tone barely differed from one another but had a healthier complexion than his ghastly pale skin that was turning somewhat reddish.

-when was the last time I got in direct sunlight again?-

He sighed wondering if people had remedies for sunburns, then it hit him and he had to look back the window, up the sky.

-well I am in another fucking world alright...-

Weird-shaped creatures were flying in the distance, over the mountains one could see on the horizon from that window. What caught his attention was the big shining arc of solid light that crossed the sky and the relatively big wedge of a greenish moon.

For some moment all he worried about was getting to understand how that world orbit could work and how many satellites it had, or what constellation lighted the sky at night.

Then he sighed, realizing that to get an answer to most of his questions he needed to have a telescope of sort and a night sky; and well not being on Earth he couldn't figure the time of day.

Sighing he went back to look at the room and saw a man entering the room out of which he exited from, with a set of female clothing, he chuckled.

-took her more time than needed to convince the man, but well prejudice is a powerful deterrent in trust. -

He shuffled his tarot deck once again, sighing to himself once more; all his little stunt verified was that magic had to act, and that magic followed logic, so by some twist of it he was what they asked for.

He wondered what the princess wished for, having the first thing asked to him about saving the world and well it couldn't end well.

The only real-life magic he knew was meditation and cartomancy both of which were controversial, to say the least back on earth.

Then there was of course some cheap tricks like the mind-reading witch was very situational, and some minor games with his tarots, but he was never really good at it, yet he was seemingly able to pull some off despite his previous inability.

-So all I got for my life is the ability to make card tricks, huh, well it was worthless, to begin with so getting anything out of it in exchange was by itself great. So all I have is technical knowledge, logic, deduction, and parlor tricks. It will be as fun as hell. -

There was a possibility that that world recognized some fantasy spells he remembered, but it was a far-off chance, and even if it was the case, he was already bound to magic in a sense and needed to verify if that one worked at all.

And he was hungry, so he hoped Etgas and that lamb thing hurried up in doing whatever they were doing and soon enough the two of them made their way into the large room.

The lamb girl was now wearing proper female clothing and appeared to be at least presentable, there were of course many who whispered in disbelief not seeing signs of the slavery contract or the kinky bracelets and collar, but the presence of Etgas with her seemed to ease things enough to avoid a shower of insults.

He didn't wish to talk further, not with so many bystanders on the same floor so he followed them down and further into the building itself, putting the cards back again.

The slave market revealed itself as a cohort house, with heavy security in its inner court that contained two whole buildings and a vast garden, it seemed also the front was somewhat partitioned from the wings and back of the building.

It had also a homely feeling seeing rows of clothing exposed to the sun to dry on the sides, one of the buildings had a big board with some writing in clear display, and had two big humanoids that like the girl featured animal traits.

One was like a muscular bull, with both of his horns broken down and filed to the minimal length possible to make them less dangerous.

The figure of the Minotaur came to Thirteen's mind, but the being had way more human-like traits and like the sheep girl had three big fingered hands an extra articulation in the legs and hooves in the place of feet.

The other had feline features; Thirteen was unsure if he could draw a comparison to an animal he knew from earth since it was like looking at a mixture of traits both humans and feline so it was more like watching a real live version of one of the protagonists from Thundercats.

If he were to be on Earth he would be going to make some compliments to the person for a nice cosplay, but he knew it was not the case so he abstained.

Both their bodies had visible scars and were covered in tattoos not dissimilar to what bound the sheep thing that walked between him and Etgas and of course both were surprised to see the sheep girl free of the bindings that fettered her.

But Etgas simply moved on to the second building, which had a small fenced garden of its own and butlers and guards in it.

"now, Thirteen, I took the liberty of making my servants prepare the bath, and more fitting clothing for you to wear, so go and clean yourself up before eating."

Thirteen raised an eyebrow then he remembered something, but in the end, he didn't particularly care so he nodded and was accompanied quickly to a room where he could undress and then enter the bath itself, with his deck of tarots in hand.

It was a big room with a window to gaze outside, a Japanese-styled bath with a big pool of steaming hot water, and of course a floor with sittings and a pair of pre-prepared water basins.

He placed his tarot deck on the internal balcony of the window and then cleansed his body before entering the pool of water, and as he was finally enjoying the hot water in the pool the lamb girl made her entrance, her body covered only by a long bathrobe.

"now that's… unexpected, what do you want lassie, did they not tell you the bath was occupied?"

The girl nodded and then took out of her bathrobe a table knife, small enough to hide and sharp enough to kill.

"I won't be fooled by your words, I'm gonna save the demon king for sure, by killing you!"

Thirteen couldn't help himself and burst into laughter, clearly netting the girl that shouted

"I AM SERIOUS! Even if it cost me my life, you will die!"