Book 1, Verse 9

Niels was a challenging opponent.

He reminded me a lot of my eleventh-grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Gonzalez; not because the information he was giving me was exceptionally hard to understand, but because everytime I wrote something down that I thought was self-contained, he would bring it up later in his speech and reveal that it was connected to twelve other historically relevant events.

Adding onto that was the fact that he was speaking quickly.

I never misunderstood him; he had very good enunciation, but he was speaking almost faster than I could keep up.

It was like a race, where he was in the lead and I was hot on his heels.

But I had one advantage over him.

He wasn’t the one who got to have a drink every so often.

I watched as his fair skin slowly became tinged with red the longer the lesson went on. His neatly tied-up hair began to come down out of its restraints as he kept reading from his notes.

Nevertheless, despite all the outward signs of being tired that he displayed, he never slowed down.

Initially I thought that having to order a drink of water every once in a while was putting me at a disadvantage, since he didn’t stop even while I was drinking, but I quickly realized that I didn’t drink using my ears. I could keep listening to his lesson even while I drank water.

The advantage it provided of keeping me hydrated proved to be invaluable, as, while the lack of air conditioning was still making me sweat uncomfortably, I was more able to regulate my temperature thanks to the water.

Meanwhile, Niels was only sweating, without getting the chance to replenish his reserves.

He may not have wanted to admit it, but this mental race was going to be close.

“After the third civil war overtook Fizzl, the country fell into ruin and disarray, allowing the newly christened kingdom of Mandl to invade and claim most of the land as its own. This sudden acquisition of land made it so that Ellcoast could no longer challenge Mandl with threats of invasion through Fizzl’s mountains, since the mountains were now patrolled by and in the territory of Mandl. Furthermore–”

If we were racing, then I had slammed into a brick wall at full force.

Christened?

Niels didn’t slow down, and there was no way I was going to be able to focus without getting answers immediately.

As much as I hated to do it, I raised my hand.

“W-wait, Niels, I have a question.” I said, sounding utterly defeated.

Niels stopped, then smiled triumphantly.

“Oh, am I going too fast for you? Need me to slow down, make things a little easier for your poor, uneducated wizarding mind?” He wiped away some sweat that had accumulated on his forehead and swiftly got himself a glass of water.

The drunk woman called for another drink, but this time she was out of money, so Niels took a few moments to escort her out of the building. When he returned, he was still smiling.

“Listen, I–” I was about to argue that I could’ve definitely kept up with him for as long as he could go, but I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole. I hung my head sadly. “Look, I’ll beat you next time, I swear.”

“Sure you will.” He said with a confident grin. “So! What do you need clarified, little man?”

I cringed when he called me that.

Unfortunately, I had made the mistake of thinking that, in a world of magic, I could escape the truth.

I was not very tall.

“Please, don’t call me that.”

“What? Little man?” He said playfully. “It’s true though.”

“Look, that’s not what my question is about!” I waved my hand dismissively. “What I need to know is why you used the word ‘christened.’” I pushed my empty glass of water aside.

He looked slightly incredulous.

“Because it’s the right word for the situation? Why else would I use it?”

“N-no, it’s not that!” I shook my head. “I just… I want to know where that word comes from. What is the history of the word christened?”

“Oh. That’s easy.” He shook his head and raised his hands as if he were shrugging. “But I can understand why you wouldn’t know the word. It was from a time when the church was still a major player in history.”

My stomach tightened.

“All it means is that someone joined the church. They named the process after the most important figure in their religion.” He said matter-of-factly.

When he said the name of the important figure, my face went pale. He watched my reaction and laughed.

“Wow! What, are you scared of the man or something? It’s not like the guy can hurt you. He’s been dead for some thousand years or so.” Niels retrieved my glass and took it to a washbasin near the back of the bar. He spoke up while he rinsed it clean in the water. “Besides, if I remember their doctrine correctly, he wasn’t even in this world. He was supposedly from some other realm.”

I was reeling.

No.

No, there was no way on Earth this was happening.

This was a different world! With its own history! Its own important historical figures!

But as I thought about it, it sort of made sense with what John had told me about his beliefs. There was only one guy who died for everyone, so in a different world, having another guy do the same thing would kind of contradict what he had said.

My head was throbbing now.

“Niels, can I have one more drink please?” I said quickly.

He looked at me, then at where Vivian was sleeping.

“Are you going to be… Ah, you know what, since you were such a good student until that sudden roadblock, I’ll give you something on the house.” He smiled. “It’s been too long since I last had someone actually give me a run for my money with my lessons.”

As he said that, he spared a glance at Vivian and sighed.

“I’ll take something moderately strong, please.”

“Really? Sure you can handle it?” He said as he turned to face me slowly.

“Yes. Better yet, can I have what that other woman was having?”

Niels pursed his lips together.

“I don’t think so, Shinko.” He smiled at the slight rhyme. “I’ll give you an elven mix. Those are good alchemical drinks for people who can’t usually handle that sort of thing.”

I nodded in acceptance.

He walked over towards the middle of the bar, retrieved a stepping stool, then poured some clear sapphire-colored liquid into a tall, thin glass. He stepped off the stool before walking to another one of the barrels and pouring some plain clear liquid into it. He gently took a small spoon and stuck it in the drink, seemingly scooping the sapphire liquid into the clear liquid instead of stirring it normally.

I watched, eager for anything to take my mind off the sudden revelation. I hardly noticed Vivian yawning, then slowly standing up, then walking over to where I was and taking a seat in the barstool next to mine.

“You look tired. Did Niels run you ragged?” She asked with a slight smile.

“Not exactly. Some of the information he gave me hit me out of nowhere.” I said quietly as Niels handed me the drink.

“Is that so? Did you tell him about your theory of magic, Niels?” She said, trying to be playful.

“No, I was…” He looked at Vivian and the smile he was wearing moments ago disappeared. “Why do you care?”

“Niels, I already said that I was sorry! What more do you want me to say?!” She stood up angrily.

As the argument began anew, I took a sip of my drink, then stopped immediately.

If Niels told her that I didn’t know about the history of the church, my cover as a priest would be blown. I quickly swallowed the rest of my sip; it was a very flavorful drink with a slightly floral aroma and–

“Oh dear lord.” I said quietly.

Vivian and Niels both turned to look at me.

“What is it?” Vivian asked.

My eyes began to water and my stomach started churning.

“This drink is way too strong!” I said loudly.

“What? That’s not possible.” Niels said, concern edging into his voice. “You shouldn’t be reacting to any elven mix this strongly unless you haven’t eaten anything for a while.”

My eyes went wide as my chest began to burn.

Vivian turned to look at Niel and grabbed him by the collar.

“Get him a neutralizer! Now!”