The Last High Human

***

Two months later.

Ninsunu patiently and diligently continued to teach the Valor Language to Sam. The woman already knew the human's name, Sam.

Slowly but surely, Sam began to understand Valor Language. Ninsunu taught it well and with great patience, also because Sam's intelligence made the man able to understand a lesson quickly.

In short, the alphabet in this world was the same number as the Latin alphabet; the usage was similar at a glance, but the short length of a letter was quite tricky for Sam.

There are words with long intonations, and there are short ones, both of which have different meanings. That's what made it a bit difficult for Sam to understand the entire Valor language.

"As for your language skills. I'm sure you can already speak fluently with other humans," Ninsunu replied. Only Ninsunu understood the Valor language out of the dwarf tribe.

"I didn't expect to be stranded in another world," Sam explained, speaking Valor.

"The universe works in mysterious ways. Sometimes impossible things can be possible in other places," explained Ninsunu, still talking while sitting cross-legged before Sam.

Sam nodded, still showing a cold face with his eyes fixed forward. Ninsunu smiled when the two exchanged glances for a moment.

The woman's attitude made Sam awkward; she never knew Sam's two hands were full of murderous sins.

"So, there are various races living in this world, huh?" Sam asked.

Ninsunu nodded. Of the thousands of races that settled and lived on planet Zenica, there were only fifteen main races with the largest majority of the population.

Dwarves were one of them, and the short-statured race has a population of 3 million people worldwide. For the race holding the first most significant population was the Red Human race.

Red human was the name of the curse line human race. Not because their skin color was red but because the abstract lines covering the humans' bodies were red.

For people like Sam, who had white skin and no red lines, people referred to him as High Human. The High Human race was a ruling race with high physical abilities and intelligence.

Ninsunu explained that the High Humans became extinct due to their greed, which led to a long civil war. The people of this world called it the tragedy of the High Human's extinction.

"That's right. The only races that look like humans are Red Humans and Elves," Ninsunu replied.

"There's a lot of information you can get from the library in the big city. Still, to go there, you have to disguise yourself," explained Ninsunu, making Sam squint in confusion.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"High Humans are a threat to all races in this world, including dwarves. Luckily, Balashi didn't kill you. If he wanted to, he could have eliminated you," said Ninsunu.

"Then why didn't he do it?"

"Think of it as our gratitude. That thing you call a helicopter has iron that we never knew about. Balashi and the others can use those metals for village construction purposes," Ninsunu replied.

'Even though the iron was charred and became junk. Why would he want to take it?" Sam asked silently.

"My father was very impressed with your iron, especially the black iron in the iron box," replied Ninsunu. Sam widened his eyes to hear that recognition from Ninsunu.

Sam's hands stretched forward, staring at Ninsunu with a sharp gaze as if he were confirming something.

The black iron in the iron box was no mistaking, it was Sam's AWM sniper rifle.

"Where is it?" Sam said firmly.

Seeing both her shoulders grasped tightly by Sam made Ninsunu shocked and frightened.

The woman swallowed her saliva deeply, afraid to answer Sam's question because she knew what Balashi had done with the iron.

"That iron... you'd better look by yourself."

Ninsunu walked Sam to the place where the iron was used. She had seen it many times and was sure that the black iron was the thing Sam was looking for.

The two stepped out of Sam's stone house. Sam continued to walk after Ninsunu, but their steps stopped when they arrived outside Balashi's house.

"What the—"

Shala, so ignorantly, used Sam's AWM rifle as a clothesline pole. From the dust and rust stains, it is certain that Shala used it for a long time.

The muzzle of the AWM was stuck into the ground, a standing position with a wire stretching from pole one to the rifle's hand grip.

Sam hurriedly ran over the wooden fence and pulled the AWM rifle from the ground, looking rusty and dust-filled.

"Eh? What's wrong, Ninsunu?" asked Shala, surprised when she tried to dry her clothes, but Sam snatched the black iron away.

"He said it was a precious thing to him," said Ninsunu.

"Really? I'm sorry. I didn't know it was precious to him," Shala replied, feeling guilty.

Ninsunu nodded, relaying her mother's apology to Sam. Sam was still silent, busy cleaning up the dirt on his rifle.

After everything was clean, Sam lifted the rifle while focusing on the scope. The scope lens looked moldy from the impact of rainwater, which resulted in mold and rust growth.

For a sniper, the scope was everything. Without a scope, he cannot aim at the enemy. However, Sam thought back to his current situation.

No client would use his services, and they might not even know the function of the black iron Sam was using.

'This is useless. No one in this place can change the lens of this scope,' said Sam

"Is there anything we can help you with?" asked Ninsunu, volunteering to help Sam.

Sam looked to the side, then back to the front to look at his rifle. None of the dwarves understood the function of this thing; Sam had to take it to the nearest city in the hope that someone could help him.

"You both won't be able to fix the damage on this thing. I have to take it to the human city," Sam said.

"So, you're leaving now?" asked Ninsunu; Sam cleared his throat softly.

Ninsunu looked sad, but the decision was entirely in Sam's hands. If Sam was going to leave, then Ninsunu couldn't help it.

Ninsunu told Shala about Sam's departure plan. Shala was surprised; she said she would prepare supplies Sam might need while traveling later.

"To go to the nearest city, you need a travel map. I'll provide it for you," Ninsunu replied.

Sam nodded, thanking him with his eyes still focused on the AWM rifle he was still holding.

Ninsunu stepped inside the house to retrieve the map of the Vainthor Kingdom; Sam was still outside, wiping down his rifle.

'There are many new things in this place. I have to learn everything.'

Sam rose from his crouched position, looking up at the sky where two natural satellites of Zenica were in orbit. This was commonplace to the people but something new to Sam.

'Earth must be far away over there. It's okay; I can start a new life here with my skills,' Sam said to himself.

Not long after, Shala and Ninsunu came out of the house simultaneously. Shala came out with a cloth bag containing a food box, while Ninsunu came out with a paper roll. The two of them handed the item in turn to Sam.

"The distance from this village to the nearest city is about a day's walk. This map will help you," said Ninsunu. Sam accepted it well, as did the cloth bag containing food from Shala.

"Thank you," Sam replied. Ninsunu smiled as she delivered Sam's thanks.

"Before you go, I think we should change your appearance," Ninsunu said.

"My appearance?"

"You're a High Human. They'll be suspicious once they see you don't have curse lines," Ninsunu replied.

"I hope you don't mind if we paint a red line on your body," said Ninsunu.

"Fine."