Life on the road is harsh. I’m good at a number of things, sure, but improving my stamina was never a real priority, so I tire easily. The fights I’ve been in never lasted long enough to need it. Cooking and finding shelter were never things I even had the chance to learn. Hunting is yet another thing I neglected to take up.

To be honest, being bad at things reminds me of… never mind. I was miserable then, too.

I’ve been travelling for three weeks, now. Beyond the fact that I’ve been headed east, I don’t even know what kingdom I’m in at this point. I hope father is taking my disappearance alright. When I left, things were… complicated.

A sudden downpour of rain interrupts my thoughts. The weather has been like this for a few days, all hot and humid and rainy. I can’t help but shiver as the rain soaks into my clothes. Temperatures stopped bothering me a while ago, but I can still catch something from staying drenched for a while. I need to find some shelter very soon.

Seeing as I’m already pretty far from civilization, heading deeper into the forest couldn’t hurt. The shade of the leafy canopy helps a little, but it isn’t going to keep me anywhere near dry. The forest is quiet as I trudge onward.

A ways off the beaten path, I find an old building of cracked stone, overgrown with vines and trees. I’d guess it’s a shrine of some sort. I have no idea to who or what, but it’s a shelter, at least.

The inside is dark, but I can see clear as daylight. There are traces of magic here, the cracked and broken wards having long ago run out of power. After making sure they aren’t dangerous to me, I renew them with a bit of my own inner light. This way, I don’t have to worry about wolves or anything happening upon me.

The rain continues uninterrupted for a few hours. I remember how, when I was very young, I was afraid of thunder. Mother would hold me and tell me that everything would be fine. Things were simpler back then. I’m sorry, mother. I must be such a disappointment to you.

When I awaken, it isn’t where I went to sleep. I’m on the shore of an ice covered lake. Judging by the falling snow, it now seems to be winter. I feel cold for the first time in months. Cold and weak. I can barely even call upon my light. The air is filled with a magic far different than any I’ve encountered before.

Once again, I have to find shelter. Hypothermia is hardly something I’m looking forward to experiencing. I’m not dressed very warmly, having grown reliant on my light to keep me comfortable. On top of that, the sun is setting, meaning it’s about to get a lot colder.

There looks to be a massive, walled off mansion almost on the lakefront. I don’t see any other options, so I have to go with that. It will take me a while to get there, so I should get walking.

I may have underestimated the size of the mansion. It seems to grow and shift as I get closer. The outer walls, dyed red by the setting sun, would be fit for a castle. The mansion itself, from what I can see of it, could also potentially be a castle. There’s something odd about it, though. It looks like a castle one moment and a mansion the next. There must be some very strange magic at work.

Once I get closer, I notice and am noticed by a woman who I presume to be the gatekeeper. She’s a tall, fiery-haired woman in something akin to a green tabard and white pants. While she seems comfortable in this weather, she’s less warmly dressed that I am. Her cool-blue eyes and relaxed posture make her seem non-threatening. Despite that, I’m sure she’s more dangerous than she looks. Guards are rarely for show and the fact that there’s only one means she must be formidable, indeed. She doesn’t have any visible weapons, but some could easily be concealed.

As I approach, she addresses me in a language I don’t understand. It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Seeing my confusion, she switches to another, different language. At least, I think it’s a different language. There are some similarities. Naturally, it doesn’t help in the slightest. She sighs heavily, shaking her head to indicate that she only speaks those two languages.

I think I can try to do something about this. My instructor went over a magical workaround for just this situation, if only in passing. It was a way to understand intent and meaning without actually breaking the language barrier. Even if it doesn’t actually translate things, it’s better than nothing.

When I try to draw from my inner light, I get almost nothing. Even forcing it as much as I can, I only get a small trickle of energy. It’s like trying to lift a mountain. Apart from the tearing feeling in my side, I can barely tell that I’m managing anything. This tiny amount will have to do.

The enchantment brings some warmth back into my freezing ears. It’s a weird prickly-fuzzy feeling, but anything is fine if it takes my mind off the pain. I just wish I had some sort of incantation to go through, if only silently. My instructor laughed at me when I first started making up words to go with my spells. Sure, it’s childish and unnecessary, but she didn’t need to mock me about it.

In any case, I get it to work. The gatekeeper woman waits for me to speak. She seems to have picked up on what sort of enchantment I’ve just put upon myself. Well, sort of. I can’t speak in a way she’ll understand without either casting the enchantment on her or using another enchantment that I never actually learned. Of course, even then, I’d rather not try talking. I haven’t been able to speak for several weeks.

I gesture to her to speak.

“Are you lost?”

I can tell it’s a question from her tone, but not much else. I think she’s asking if I know where I am. I shake my head, honestly having no idea.

“You can understand me now, right?”

Do I… oh, understand! Yes. Sort of. Not really.

The woman sighs. “Close enough. Seeing as you don’t understand a word of Japanese, you must be an outsider.”

I didn’t understand a word of that.

“In any case, I can’t just leave you out in the cold. Come and follow me! My gatehouse is nice and warm.” The woman beckons me forward.

She’s going to let me come in, then. I’m half-tempted not to follow her. If there’s one thing I’m exceedingly bad at, it’s making a good first impression. When it comes to dealing with nobles, that problem gets multiplied by about ten times. The lord of this manor will likely want me gone within minutes of our meeting.

Alternately, I can freeze to death. That seems much more certain. Following it is.

Crossing the threshold gives me a hollow feeling on the inside. It’s that weird sort of vertigo where things are alright but you’re still afraid of what’s to come. It’s possible that it’s an omen that I’m going to meet my doom here or something. Or it might not be. I don’t actually know anything about divining and I’m too cold to care either way.

The gatekeeper is housed in a small building built partway into the wall, just inside of the gate. If I had to pick one word to describe her residence, it would be… well, warm, obviously. The heat comes from a few metallic box things with weird black tails that go into the walls. I don’t know why the fireboxes would need tails, but maybe they work like chimneys.

Once I have my gloves and boots off, to better warm my extremities, I take a proper look around the room. An entire wall is covered in all manner of weapons, most of which look well used. Most of the room is fairly messy, with a few books and assorted cutlery scattered about. There’s a fireplace tucked into a corner, making the fireboxes seem excessive. For someone who can stand out in the cold and be unaffected, the gatekeeper certainly likes to keep her home hot. I wonder why.

While I wait for the feeling to return to my hands and feet, the gatekeeper checks a pot that’s hanging over the fireplace. The smell of cooking meat is positively mouthwatering. I’m suddenly reminded that I last ate at midday, yesterday.

“Here, this should kick the cold out of your bones. It’s a great help on days like this.” She offers me a bowl of some sort of stew.

The fact that the stew has an even higher concentration of magic than my surroundings gives me pause, but hunger wins out. Despite the fact that my own traumatizing attempts at cooking with magic are stuck fresh in my mind, the stew is wonderful. And spicy. Brutally, painfully spicy. It heats my body like liquid fire. I kind of want more.

“Still hungry? The stew isn’t half as filling as you’d think. Kind of a problem, seeing as eating too much of it will cook you alive. I don’t really have anything else on hand at the moment, seeing as I wasn’t expecting a guest. I guess that, if her workload isn’t too high at the moment, Sakuya should be willing to whip something up.”

All I caught of that was that eating more would be a bad idea. The why wasn’t clear, but I figure that there’s something poisonous in the stew that is helpful in small doses.

“Once you’re properly warmed up, the mistress will want to see you. It’s just after nightfall, so she should be in a welcoming enough mood.”

Now I’m to go and meet her lord, then? I’m really not looking forward to this. Still, I don’t have a choice if I want to continue not freezing to death.

The area contained within the outer walls is much larger than the outside would suggest. I find myself looking around at the buildings built into the walls and at the towers spaced evenly throughout the wall. Anything but the looming mansion I’m walking toward.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” The gatekeeper gives me a reassuring pat on the head.

As I work on calming my nerves, the gatekeeper has me wait outside while she goes in. Fortunately, that stew I had earlier makes the cold feel more like a breeze.

The gatekeeper reappears a minute later with another woman. The woman is tall, though less so than the gatekeeper, and has dark blue eyes and braided silver hair. Her clothes identify her as a maid, no doubt one of many who work here. If I had to guess, I’d say that she’s around four years my senior.

The maid’s gaze is slightly unsettling. Her smile doesn’t quite seem genuine. Then again, it isn’t particularly false, either. I can’t read her at all.

“Seeing as you don’t understand a word of Japanese, how about English?”

I didn’t really understand that, either, but I recognize the language, at least. The invaders spoke this language, so I can’t say I like hearing it. Even so, it’s better than nothing.

“You recognize English, but don’t speak it? Do you, perhaps, speak French?”

I do! Well, at the moment, I can’t really speak at all, but I will be able to when I’m feeling better. It’s a relief to know that at least one person speaks the same language I do. It would get very frustrating if no one did.

“Very interesting. I take it you haven’t spoken for a reason.”

I make a point of massaging my throat. It still hurts, of course.

“I see. We don’t often get travelers around here, but the mistress enjoys getting to entertain guests. There’s just one thing before I bring you to her. That sword. I feel it unwise to let you go before milady armed, even if she herself doesn’t care. I ask that you surrender it, fr now.”

Normally, I’d be happy to comply, if only as a gesture of goodwill. The sword itself is unremarkable and doesn’t hold any particular sentimental value. Right now, the problem is that I can’t access my magic, meaning the sword is my only defense. The fact that my hostess is apparently unconcerned about security breaches must mean she believes she has some way of killing me before I can draw my sword. I very much doubt that, myself.

Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I’ve stared death in the face dozens of times in the last year. Every time, I had something I could do to hold it off, if only just.

[] – Surrender the sword.
[] – I think I’ll keep it.

***
Something familiar, yet different. Hopefully, this will be interesting.