Finding my Parents in Another World

It was 5am in the morning, and the hen had started it's incessant clucking.

That damn hen every day

Raorka awoke sleepily from his bed and yawned, stretching his limbs. For the past few days he had been staying at the Fritten Inn, every morning had started much like this.

The people of the Inn had been extremely kind and welcoming of this strange foreigner however. Lumina, Lucerne's mother had immediately provided a room on the ground floor to him, and had even assured him that he could help out at the Inn in lieu of payment until he earns some actual currency of the Kingdom.

"The King has ensured only the gold coins bearing his image are used as official currency of Anusuril. You know, you don't want any of the neighboring smaller nations to pump their local currency into our market do you?" Lumina had told him.

Lumina and Lucerne were the only two people staying at and maintaining their inn. It was named after Lucerne's father but he had died a few years back.

"The plague." Lumina had said with a dark look in her eyes. "One of the darkest times in Temuril's history, we didn't even know if any one us would survive. If it wasn't for Mayor Rokar coming into power, I don't even think Lucerne or I would survive. Unfortunately it was too late for my husband."

Over the past few days he had learned a lot more about the Kingdom in general and Temuril in specific. The entire world was still new to him, and there were a lot of mysteries still unknown, but he had some idea of the general system of the world, or rather the Kingdom.

The world of Anexia could be separated broadly into two regions - the North and the South. The Kingdom of Anusuril (or rather the Great Kingdom, Raorka had noticed that the locals were quite offended when he didn't include the Great) lay in the South, on a continent called Breyar.

To the North lay a large swathe of uninhabitable, or rather even unapproachable land. Seemingly before something called the Great War of the Kingdoms, there used to be another Great Kingdom there. Raorka found little information from the townfolk of Temuril about what exactly happened there. The Great War had happened a thousand years back and in a town as small as Temuril there were no libraries which stored books of history.

Maybe information on the same would be in the Capital

Speaking of the Capital, Raorka still remembered the excitement of his first day here when the Mayor came out of his castle for the Royal Selection. He still didn't grasp exactly what the Royal Guard was. Of course from the name it could be assumed that it was a guard for the King, but why were only women selected for the same? Raorka couldn't find a clear answer for that, and he really didn't want to ask anyone for fear that it would was something obvious to the residents of this world and asking the same would immediately out the fact that he was an imposter in their world.

But still he remembered the Mayor most of all. The first thought that came to Raorka's mind when he saw Rokar was of an ugly Santa Claus. The Mayor was extremely fat, so much so that the horse carrying him seemed to be struggling to even walk. His face had a lot of warts and a huge beard that covered almost his entire mouth. Even so there was a jovial quality in his smiling face as he looked at the expectant girls waiting to be drafted into the Royal Guard. Raorka couldn't help but a sense of comfort or rather familiarity when he looked at the Mayor.

"Girls, girls, girls. I know you are all very excited, but unfortunately only one of you can join the Royal Guard today." His voice boomed out. Raorka wondered whether there was some sort of magik strengthening the volume for the voice could be heard throughout the town.

"Dina of Corrobor. Please step forward. Today is your lucky day." He said, and there was a cry of excitement as a girl, seemingly around 19 years old, stepped forward in delight. Raorka couldn't see much of her through the crowd, but from the murmurs of people near him he could surmise that Corrobor seemed to be a house of warriors.

Then the Mayor bowed to the rest of the townfolk and led Dina with him to the castle, and then probably she would go to the capital to join the Royal Guard.

Why only women?

This question had arisen on Raorka's mind on the first day and he had been unable to find a satisfactory answer to it till now. His current hypothesis was that there were already too many male applicants to the Guard to the point where there was simply no space for volunteers from distant towns.

Suddenly he heard the sounds of activity down at the inn and cursed himself. He was so lost in his daydreaming that he had forgotten that it was his turn today to help clean the inn before customers arrived. He hurriedly got our of the bed.

Best not take advantage of the people here.

.XX.

By the time Raorka had gotten dressed and come down, it was already past 6. He still needed time to quickly get dressed in the clothes of this world, but it was much better than his first day where he had taken well over two hours to put on his tunic and hose.

When he got down to the ground floor of the Inn, he saw Lumina already busy in the kitchen while Lucerne was working on cleaning the tables.

"Finally decided to join us after your slumber eh?" Lucerne asked sarcastically, while Lumina just smiled at him.

"A good morning would be nice." Raorka replied back as he took a rag and started cleaning one of the remaining tables.

If only I could control water.

Raorka thought ruefully as he scrubbed one of the tables.

Magik.

Magik had been the source of much frustration for Raorka till now. From what he could see, everyone in the town could use magik to some degree, and it seemed everyone had different specialisations.

"There are five broad categories of magik, everyone falls under them but the special power of each person is unique." Lucerne had told him.

He had badgered and requested and pleaded with Lucerne multiple times to help teach him magik but she was resolute.

"You need an actual mage teacher. I don't have experience in teaching and if I don't teach you well, it could end up killing you." She had said somberly.

And so Raorka had to search for someone who was a mage teacher in Temuril. There were certainly no dearth of such people, especially at the Adventurer's Guild. Raorka had been overwhelmed with the activity and bustle of people the first time Lucerne had taken him there, but it didn't take long for him to get used to the place, and recently he even began enjoying going there.

At the Guild there was a wall which had quests and advertisements pinned. On them were multiple mage tutors boasting of their prowess and promising to turn even the most useless magik user to a proficient master.

There was only one problem. Most of the mage teachers assumed you already knew the basics of magik.

Raorka found this the hard way, when he went to his first teacher - a man called Dharnam. He lived in a small but on the edge of the town and he held regular magik classes everyday in the evening. That day Raorka went about an hour before the class was due to start and immediately introduced himself to Dharnam.

"I am a traveller from a distant land. I want to learn magik from an esteemed tutor like yourself."

"What is your specialization?" Dharnam asked, rocking back on his chair. He was an middle aged man, quite short in stature and with greying hair that made him look much older than what he probably was.

"Water."

"No no, I asked what your specialization is, not your domain."

It quickly became obvious that Raorka had no idea what the hell a specialization was, and Dharnam let out an insulting guffaw.

"I cannot help you child. In fact I doubt anyone can in this town. Go to the whore in the woods, maybe she'll teach you your specialization before she sucks you to death." He said with a malicious glint in his eyes.

Raorka sighed. Lucerne had warned him about the teachers in Temuril, but still he didn't expect the first one he found to be so arrogant.

As he got up to leave, as had become his custom, he took out the photograph of his mother and father out of his pocket and showed the picture Dharnam.

"Have you seen these two? They are my parents." He asked.

Dharnam looked at the picture, briefly at first and then closely, then shook his head.

"I am afraid not. Though your mother is one hot bitch." He said laughing again as he reached out to a pitcher next to him.

Bang.

The sound of the pitcher exploding was as loud as a grenade in that small hut. Dharnam stood dumbfounded, staring at the pieces of broken pottery and the water on the ground.

"Say one word about my mother again and I will kill you with my bare hands." Raorka said quietly.

Dharnam must have noticed the quiet murderous rahe in Raorka's eyes for he laughed nervously and hastily said, "Of course I am only joking my boy. I hope you find them quickly."

Raorka said nothing else, and left the hut, slamming the door as hard as possible. This experience however had soured him forever on magik tutors in the town. If another one disrespected his mother like that, Raorka wasn't sure if he would be able to stop himself from killing him.

Thus there was only one option left to him.

.XX.

"Why is she called a Witch? Don't you all use magik?"

Lucerne sighed as she rubbed a table.

"Witches are people who practise forbidden magik." It was Lumina who answered from the kitchen.

"There are forbidden magiks?" Raorka asked in surprise.

"Of course. The Wizard of Reknown has codified the forbidden forms of magik over a thousand years ago. Foremost among them is immortality. It is said that the Witch of the Woods is five hundred years old but when you see her she doesn't appear a day above 30."

"So then she is exiled?"

Here Lumina paused and it was Lucerne who answered, "The Witch is said to be the lover of King Edofin. He forgave all her transgressions. However he knew that after he died the Kingdom would execute her for her crimes. Thus he exiled her to the Forest of Old Gotuj instead."

Raorka nodded. He was beginning to form a picture of the Witch in his head. A kind of pitiful existence, continuing to live in exile after everything she loved had already ceased to exist.

"But I still strongly urge you to reconsider going to the Witch for help." Lucerne said gravely.

Raorka shook his head. "I am not going to another tutor in this town."

"Dharnam was the worst person you could go to. He is exceedingly arrogant and a pervert to boot."

Raorka still defiantly shook his head, and Lucerne sighed again.

"I'll talk to Dubov." Lumina chipped in from the kitchen.

"Mother!"

"You can't stop him now, Lucerne." Lumina said gently.

"Who is Dubov?"

"He is a friend of mine. His son also is a student of the Witch. I will ask him to take you next time." Lumina answered.

Raorka bowed his head in gratitude. "I don't know how I can thank you enough Lumina."

"Nonsense." Said Lumina waving her hands. "It is my duty to take care of a child separated from their parents as if they were my own." She answered with a smile.

Raorka was overwhelmed with gratitude. The kindness shown by Lumina reminded him of his own mother and the stories of Fritten he had heard reminded him of his father.

I guess parental affection is the same everywhere, even in a different world.

"Well then, the Witch takes her classes at midday per Dubov. Finish up here, I will call his son to pick you up from here."

Raorka nodded and started vigorously scrubbing the table, a newfound enthusiasm in his step.

Finally he was going to actually learn magik.