After a minute, they arrived in front of the village. A small wooden sign near the gate read: Teniya.
"Whoa… I can read it," Raia said, eyes wide.
"It's written in our language. Of course you can read it," Kor Zero replied.
She shot him an annoyed glare.
[ Expression: Annoyed ]
Raia took three steps forward before two guards blocked her path. They wore clunky armor, like medieval cosplay mixed with sci-fi. Each carried giant weapons on their backs.
"Halt, travelers!" one declared. "State your name and purpose!"
Ack! Wait! is this the part where I get chased again? I swear I didn't touch anything this time!
Raia blinked. "Whoa. Okay. Wow. Dramatic."
She raised her hand. "Hello to you too. My name's Raia. And this guy—" she pointed to Kor Zero, then paused. "...is my totally normal companion. His name is Zero."
"Greetings. My desig—"
"Ha! He's shy," Raia interrupted.
"What is your purpose?" the guard asked.
"Eh… We're travelers. Obviously. We want to travel to this village too... I think?"
The guards stared, unimpressed.
"We request a temporary stay. No harm intended," Kor Zero said.
"Pfft… hahaha." Raia couldn't help but laugh at how robotic he sounded.
"You're laughing? This isn't a joke," said the mustached guard, eyeing her like she just insulted his grandma.
Kor Zero stood tall. "No joke. We mean no harm."
The second guard, the one with the giant sword, grunted. "Fine. You're not criminals. But you're definitely weird. Get in. Just don't cause trouble."
"Thanks!" Raia beamed. "See? I knew you were good for something, Kor. You're cooler than a cucumber." She shot him a thumbs-up.
This world was not Earth, but surprisingly similar. Aside from the outfits, buildings, and floating water… The vibe was peaceful.
The village was simple. Rows of houses, stalls with fruit and trinkets, kids playing tag, adults chatting, and old people playing a board game.
The sky was blue with soft clouds. The breeze is just strong enough to scatter the leaves.
It was… serene.
Raia smiled as she took it all in, this quiet village in a strange world she stumbled into.
"You can rarely see something this lively on Earth…"
Kor Zero stood silently behind her, watching her as she soaked in the moment.
…
While wandering the village, they saw a lot of sort magic within a specific place of the village.
Someone's cutting potatoes without touching the knife. Others are making shapes out of the mud. And one is controlling the movement of a doll without touching it, making the kids excited.
It seems to have a festival around there where a lot of entertainment can be seen.
Raia came closer to one citizen "Greetings, good sir! What festival are we celebrating right now? You see, we're travelers" she said with a tone of respect.
"Today is the day we got free from the invaders of this village.. for almost 3 years in the far past. We were saved by a certain someone whose existence is unknown. We thank them by celebrating this Festival every year" the tall old man said, obviously proud. "We call this day The Ashen Rise Festival"
"Wow, that's really wholesome! Many thanks, sir"
As they wander through the festival in Teniya, a specific stall gets Raia's attention.
BRGGGGG.. her stomach rumbled in hunger, she looked at her companion looking clueless and gave him an awkward smile.
"I see, you're hungry?"
"Hehe"
….
They asked several people how they can obtain money which they call Nyra in this world.. There are a lot of different responses but two things caught Raia's interest.
One was to accept a commission at the shop called The Ember's Quarter. The second option was to trade something valuable at a shop called Value Trades.
"Right now, let's pick the second option and trade this.." she pulled something in her bag "This strange bottle, I hope it's valuable.."
"I hope you're aware you're still under observation. That strange bottle is not yours. You must first ask the owner before doing so," Kor Zero said, making her even more annoyed, especially now that she was starving.
"Aw come on, mr. Zero, please please please. It's not like someone owns this, it was in a literal isolated cave! (not really THAT isolated) And I'm really hungry! And even if someone does own it, we can't exactly return it, can we? They're on Earth. We are here, at the Festival of Teniya, in RALAXIA!"
She paused, then gave him puppy eyes. "...Sorry. Pleashh?"
Kor Zero, who supposedly had no emotions, felt something strange stir. Was it annoyance? Curiosity? Hunger by proxy?
"Understood. What you've said is… quite reasonable. It is up to you now."
"Righttt right!!"