A strange world

The sleepy Annan opened his eyes.

The sky is not yet completely bright, and the crowing of cocks in the distance causes the barking of dogs.

It was still early, so Annan glanced at Martin, who was resting on a wooden board, then retreated into bed and fell asleep. But not long after, sparse movement woke him up.

Opening his eyes again, Annan saw a butt shaking in front of his eyes.

Martin's plea came from behind.

"Cousin, help me, I feel so uncomfortable..."

What caused Martin's orientation to change so dramatically overnight?

One... one... one... one... one... a rough butt covered with cilia.

The answer is the tiny thorns on the wood.

Martin slept with the board tucked into his pants to bad effect.

"Aunt Susan!" Annan shouted decisively.

Aunt Susan's thick and kind voice sounded along with the heavy footsteps: "Why don't you sleep for a while? The eggs haven't been boiled yet - Martin! What are you doing!!!"

Annan hurriedly stopped Aunt Susan's swing of the broom and saved Martin's butt in time.

Next, Annan was eating in the kitchen, while Martin was lying in the yard being picked on by Aunt Susan. Annan was about to go out, but Martin was still being stabbed in the yard.

I came to the library in a good mood and started cleaning the floor and bookcases. Mr. Victor arrived on time and sat in his sunny corner, waiting for the light to shine into the library.

Who would have thought that this old man who likes to sit in the sun and read books all day long would be called one of the top 100 mage apprentices in the "Kingdom of Rekaner"?

After cleaning up, Annan sat behind the desk, picked up "Mailin's Fairy Tale", and turned to the bookmark on the fifth page from the bottom.

The old man was reading in the sunshine, Annan was reading at the desk, and silence flowed quietly.

This peace is his daily routine these days.

The final story of Mailin's fairy tale is a fable - the door to purgatory is open, demons are walking in the world, the evil god of the void is bewitching the people, and the painful souls are unable to die. However, a king appears in the old continent, wielding a war hammer to cut off the door of disaster and save the world from collapse.

This is more prophecy than allegory.

"Mr. Victor, where is the Old World?"

"south."

Snapped.

Gently close "Mailin's Fairy Tale". As the first book to be read completely, it may be difficult for Annan to forget the contents in the future.

Now that you've finished reading the entire fairy tale, it's time to advance to the next level...

Putting "Mailin's Fairy Tale" back into the gap on the bookshelf, Annan glanced at the books on the bookshelf. These unknown veils were waiting for him to lift——

The Wine Lady's niece then appeared at the door. Annan temporarily stopped selecting, returned to the desk, picked up the quill and prepared to register.

"I won't call you uncle..."

"What?"

In the sunny corner, the hand turning the pages of the book stopped, and an ear slowly appeared on the edge of the chair back.

"I won't call you uncle!" For the first time, the girl in the robe showed an emotion other than calmness.

Annan asked blankly: "What did she say to you?"

"You told me everything...I won't let you into the Winchet family."

The robed girl standing outside the door turned and left. She was not in the mood to do anything today.

With his confused eyes back from the empty doorway, Annan moved next to Mr. Victor and stood in front of the dividing line between sunlight and darkness: "Do you know the Winchet family?"

There was a dull sound of turning books behind the chair, and the old man refused to answer.

At least I know the last names of the wine lady and the mage apprentice...

Annan thought about it, and planned to ask Mr. Fast again in the evening, and continued to ask: "Mr. Victor, I want to know something about the situation in the Kingdom of Rekaner."

Victor raised his cane and passed it over Annan's shoulder.

Annan followed the directions and found a book called "Rekaner Geography (Third Revision)" written by the Royal Academy of Rekaner.

Holding this geography book, I returned to my desk and opened the title page.

["The truly great thing is not the vast world itself, but us who measure the insignificance of the world." - The Great Sage Rhett Rathos Festus]

Annan's desire to explore the world was ignited by this sentence, but was instantly extinguished when he turned to the first page and saw those obscure words.

Annan, who had only three to four hundred words in his vocabulary, found it difficult to read a book full of proper nouns. He had to continue opening the dictionary and read it word for word.

The Kingdom of Rekaner is located in the middle of the western part of the Allen continent, with a medium-sized land area. Annan saw the Kingdom of Ruikanl on the thumbnail map of Allen's continent next to the introduction. It is shaped like a funnel that has lost its upper part. It is wide in the south and narrower toward the north.

The kingdom has 24 counties. Planang's Gift County, where Breeze City is located, is the top of the funnel and the northernmost county in the kingdom. The Kingdom of Faser bordering on the east is just the opposite, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top.

Pinglin Town is too small, and there is no location for Pinglin Town on the map with Ruikaner Kingdom as the unit. However, Annan knew that the town was south of Breeze City and vaguely circled the area with his finger.

Annan watched very slowly, from the subsequent formation of the Wen royal family to alliances and hostility with other countries. Before even looking at the section on population, climate, and agriculture, Victor knocked on his desk.

Dusk creeps in through the window, and it's closing time.

Annan closed the doors and windows, locked the library door, and rushed to the Dawn Tavern, which was already open.

Compared to the quiet library, the tavern filled with the aroma of wine and hustle and bustle is a different atmosphere. Annan put on an apron and helped Martin, who was in a position "like he accidentally pulled his pants down to keep his butt still."

There were not many guests, but the right side of the tavern was strangely busy - because the left side was empty, with only Soruman Bronzebeard sitting there.

This is a human town, and they are destined not to want to see foreigners. I heard that this kind of prejudice increases as you go south.

But if it were an elf, it might be a different story...

The female dwarf returned to the wine cellar with a cold hum.

Annan frequently looked at the empty seat of the wine lady, imagining an encounter in another world...

Although a noble lady is not as attractive as a creature like a succubus, she is still——

"Why do you always look over there?"

Mr. Fast's doubts interrupted Annan's reverie. He hesitated and said: "It's always empty there. I feel a little strange."

"That's the 'special seat' for wine ladies. Everyone here knows it." Fast looked strange.

"It seems like she hasn't been here for a few days."

"Because the wine lady has returned to Breeze City." Fast suddenly approached Annan: "Do you like this kind of mature and charming woman?"

"No! I'm just curious!"

"You can't fool me. This is the reaction of sophistry people." Fast said without turning around and shouted: "Evelin! Why are you always staring here!"

"Yes, yes?" Evelin, who was wiping the counter, suddenly became flustered and hurriedly straightened the bottle, "I didn't stare at Annan all day!"

There was a burst of laughter in the tavern, and the shy Evelin shrank behind the counter.

In any case, the wine lady unexpectedly appeared in Annan's dream where he was worried about gains and losses.

The next day, Annan got 1 silver coin from Mr. Victor, and received his salary from Mr. Fast in the evening.

Now, Annan has four full silver coins.

There is only a paltry 96% left of one kinnar for the qualification test.