The next day, I woke up with a strange mixture of excitement and fear.
Fear of what would happen if Decayspire really was radioactive and I ended up walking straight into it completely unprotected.
Fear of someone mistaking my investigation for some kind of forbidden black magic.
...Actually, that second one sounded more likely.
Anyway, there is no need to panic, as right now I have time and I have thought of everything to make it as safe as possible.
And when did I think of this all?
I wasn't able to sleep at all. I've already spent the entire night thinking about how to make this expedition as safe as possible.
It's nearly half past nine now.
Another beautiful morning in Dunford.
The sky is clear, decorated with fluffy white clouds drifting lazily through the blue ocean of sky. A pleasant breeze flows through the streets, carrying the smell of freshly baked bread and cooked food from the nearby inns.
Right now, I'm having breakfast at my favorite inn in town.
It's basically this world's version of a restaurant and hotel combined. There are quite a few scattered around Dunford, but this one serves the best food and happens to be the closest to my house.
After finishing a plate of something called Dosalo, spicy enough to remind me of home and easily my favorite dish in this world . It's finally time to head toward Lyra's mansion.
I went through the bazaar, greeting everyone who greeted me, and even the kids were excited to see me. Of course, I was wearing a mask. To them, I'm the town's hero who saved their lives.
Some kid said, "Mr. Darcy, please remove the mask! I want to see your face. I haven't seen your face before."
Nah, kid, that mask is for your own mental health.
Anyway, I ignored that kid. I simply waved and continued walking while the adults laughed and the children continued trying to convince me to reveal my face.
Eventually, I arrived in front of Lyra's mansion.
It was the second time I was going to her mansion. The first time was quite traumatic for me…. like, really traumatic, so this time I wasn't planning to step inside unless absolutely necessary. I just knocked on the main entrance door that was already huge… wait, did we come last time from the back door? How many entrances does her house even have?
Before I could continue wondering, one of the guards hurried toward the gate.
And asked, "Who are you? What do you need?" in an arrogant manner.
The audacity of this guard!! I'm the hero of the town!! Didn't anyone tell him?
Without saying a word, I slowly removed my mask.
"Holy mother of–" the guard flinched.
"Yup, that's me, your town's–"
"Move back!!" the guard commanded while he pointed his spear at me.
"Calm down!! What's going on?!" I asked panickingly, flinching and jumping two steps back with both hands in the air.
"Our town has already been through a lot! You dare try to spread your curse here? Are you one of that bastard's followers that somehow survived?"
"Brother, I literally killed that bastard!!" I said, taking a step back as he started approaching me. "Help!! Anyone in that mansion who knows me?!"
Hearing all the commotion, the town folks also rushed in to calm the guard, and other guards came out from the mansion.
"Stop it!! He is Mr. Darcy who killed that bastard!" one town folk said.
"Yeah, you forgot our hero is ugly?" another town folk said.
"Lower your spear!" a senior guard yells, rushing toward us. "Did you forget what they say? Our hero has a lot of misfortune in his looks!" He forcefully shoves the menace's spear down.
"Wha–you guys sure?" That menace asked everyone that was present there.
And everyone assured him that I was indeed him.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Darcy. I just never thought that you were that ugly. I mean, I know people were saying you were ugly, but I thought that was just an exaggeration by people that were jealous of you… but looks like the rumors were underestimating your—I mean, I'm sorry."
..
..
"…. Yeah, dude. It happens. I'm alright."
I wore the mask again..not to hide my face, but to cry without everyone seeing it.
I swear I was considered average-looking in my old world….
"…Can you call Lyra? Tell her I'm here," I said after somehow composing myself after the humiliation.
"Just wait here for a minute, Mr. Darcy, I will go right now," a guard said and rushed into the mansion.
Now the crowd also left, and the other guards went back after scolding the menace for his behavior and making him apologize.
Now there were only two of us: the menace and me.
It was incredibly awkward. Neither of us made eye contact. We just looked around at the sky, trying to pretend the other person didn't exist.
Five minutes went by. She didn't arrive.
Ten minutes went by. Still nothing.
Fifteen minutes passed before I finally saw her walking out of the mansion.
"Sorry, Darcy, I was reading the letter that arrived this morning from my mom to my dad."
"It's alright… I don't mind. Your mother's letter is more important, after all, she is coming back after what–a year or so, right?"
"Yes," she said cheerfully.
"Alright, so for–"
"And, I'm sorry, Darcy, I need to go to the imperial capital now. My mom said to come there."
"What? So suddenly? What about the things you were going to help me buy?"
"I'm really sorry, it's urgent, and you can ask your party members, Joey and Jack, for help. They would know all about what you need."
"Alright, so how long would you be gone? Will you come with your mother?"
"Honestly, I don't know. She just said for me to come to the imperial capital but didn't specify if she would come back with me or not. You know the research on Ejorus was a huge thing for the world, so… I don't know, I will know only by going there."
"Then what about the researcher? Who will help her settle down? I'm also going tomorrow or this evening, depending on when I acquire all the things I need."
"Don't worry, I told Mr. Valentine to take care of her if she returned when neither you nor I are available."
"…. So you are going now?"
"Yeah, I need to go to the royal capital of our kingdom to go to the imperial capital using the portal."
The hell. This world has portals? Can I also use one to go to Decayspire? It will save a lot of time.
"Oh, the portals! I completely forgot about them, haha. So, can I also go to Decayspire using one?"
"What are you talking about, Darcy? You know portals are not available in every place of Reya. They are expensive to use and are only used to connect really far distances, or for the closest distance only for imperial orders and emergencies."
"Haha, I knew, I was just joking. So like, what's the path? How would you go?"
"Oh, I will go to the royal capital of our kingdom that's like 360 km away, so it's going to take nearly 6 days, and then I will use the portal available there to the public to go to the imperial capital."
"Haha, I wonder how long would it take to go to the imperial capital on a carriage."
"Oh, the imperial capital is like 2.1k km away from here, so probably months or a year, I don't know."
The fuck!! That's really far!! How did the imperial knights come just the next day of the inci–oh, they must have used the emergency portals.
And why the hell does she keep saying "the imperial capital," "the royal capital of our kingdom"? Doesn't the empire or kingdom have a name? I'm stretching the conversation so that she would slip the names of those, but no.
And, the humiliation was for no reason, huh? In the end, I need the steroid bros….. guess I really can't blame her, as her mother is really coming after so long….
…. I'm missing my family too…. even though my relationships were not that great with mom and dad, they really cared about me… and Grandma… there is no one like her.