Isekei chapter 3

Over the next three months, I learned.  That was something that you generally didn’t see.  Whatever world the hero went too, however odd it might be, the hero learned the important bits and everything else was familiar.  Me, I found myself barely able to follow along, and knew that all it would take was one overly inquisitive guard to give me a really bad day.

The charm Lurue had cast on me had worn off when I woke up, and so one of the first things I’d had to learn was how to talk, with periodic applications of magic before I went out.  It got to the point that in a pinch I could generally figure things out so long as the other person talked slow and assumed I was an idiot.

Which was good, because apparently everyone assumed that I, as a felyn, was exactly that.  Descriptions ranged from ‘Savages’ to ‘Animals’ which didn’t give me a lot of hope for the future.  The only felyn allowed in gateway had to be magically bound with special wards that controlled their behavior.  They couldn’t lie, and had to follow every order given to them, even if it hurt or killed them.  Technically I wasn’t even a slave.  Slaves were people.  Slavery was illegal.  No, I was auntie’s pet.

Which was why I could stand on a street holding a jar or magenta olives like I was waiting for my owner to show up and no one questioned it.  They saw the fur and tail.  They saw the collar.  Two plus two equaled felyn slave.  Which meant that I was semi invisible so long as I wasn’t too conspicuous, and could just stand around and listen.

At the moment, I was listening to two men having sex.  Auntie wanted to know when one of them arrived and left, and so I had to stand here looking bored waiting for the moment when they finished.  Why?  No clue.  The Whisperers didn’t explain things.  I was told to do something.  I did the thing, and if anyone asked my why I was standing there or why I was listening or why I was watching... well, I was a stupid felyn pet waiting for my owner.  What further explanation was needed?  I stood there holding a pot like there was some reason to hold a pot underneath this balcony.

Soon enough, one made noises of conversation.  Pillow talk.  There was a brief noise of clothes being donned, then a door closing.  I maintained my position next to the door, looking bored and stupid with my ugly clay pot.  A moment later the door opened and a huge man in golden armor stepped out.

An adventurer.  They were... shiny.  Like little gods.  From the group in Auntie’s tavern to men like this one, they all seemed so much more.  Even without the golden lion motif armor and massive sword twice as long as I was tall, they stood out.  With their gear, they seemed awesome and terrifying all at the same time.  And the only difference between them and me was that they’d gotten their hands on some Soulite and tweaked their souls to let them do dungeons.

And everything in Gateway centered upon dungeons.

“What are you doing, beast?” the huge man demanded.  He has a bristling yellow beard and long blond hair that seemed perfectly cut.

“I’m holding a pot, waiting for my mistress, sir,” I replied as automatically as I could.  Still, I couldn’t help but reach up to my neck, hook my collar, and hold it out for him as if saying ‘See?  Slave.’  He glanced up at the balcony above.  I didn’t know who’s room it was.  I wasn’t sure this world’s rules for two dudes banging.

“You didn’t... Did you...” he grunted as he rubbed his beard.

I resumed staring straight ahead, holding the pot.  “I am holding a pot, waiting for my mistress, sir,” I repeated as monotonally as possible.  He could have swung that sword around and ended me without a problem, and at most be forced to pay auntie a few coins for the inconvenience.

“Right.  Right.  Stupid felyns,” he muttered as he walked off down the street.

I wasted no time.  I dropped the pot.  “Oopse,” I said loudly.  A pair of merchants down the street from me abruptly ended their inane conversation, one walking off, the other loading boxes.  A woman took her laundry off her balcony clothesline.  A dog barked.  Any one of them could have been a reaction from the Whisperers.  Or something else entirely.  I kicked the shards aside and then turned and walked away from the house, my part now done.

That was life as a Whisperer.  There were things going on.  I had no clue what.  You just had to do exactly as you were told, to the letter, with no screw ups.  Do that, and avoid trouble, and I had a paid room and meals at Auntie’s.  Sharing a room with Elisse wasn’t the worst.  She’d helped me figure out girl clothes, which was more of a challenge than I wanted to admit.

But it wasn’t really moving ahead.  Survival was something, but I really didn’t want to spend the rest of my life getting my ass grabbed and doing trivial tasks for the Whisperers.  Since I’d done my bit with the pot, I was free till the evening rush started.  That left me some options.  I wondered if I should head back to Auntie.  Try to visit Sonna in the Darkmarket?  She had wanted to introduce me to her friends.  Or I could see more of Gateway.  Especially the parts where the adventurers hung out.  So long as I didn’t run afoul any guards there was plenty to see.  Or I could take the first step towards becoming an adventurer: I could visit a soul binder.  Getting my soul assayed would tell me my potential as an adventurer.