Kingdom of Garlia

"I-I'm going to be sick!" Aki exclaimed, hunching over his backpack, trying to hold in his vomit. "How is this thing so fucking unstable? How is it even holding up with all this random movement?" as he tries to understand the mechanics behind this wagon. 

"HA, HA, HA, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU NEVER RODE A WAGON IN YOUR LIFE!" Brox laughed, amused by Aki's reaction. "Hey, look over there!" he pointed toward the horizon, "You can see the kingdom's wall now!" as flags appeared into view, followed by a large white brick wall. 

The Kingdom's wall stood tall at 35 meters high, with multiple cannons & ballistas placed in every single crenel on top, with a few soldiers looking outward from the watch towers. 

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Garlia," Brox welcomed Aki, with the wagon continuing its journey from a dirt path to a brick-laid path. 

 "Hey, give me your card," Brox requested from Aki as they stopped in front of the Southeast Gate checkpoint. 

"Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, or Discover?" Aki responded subconsciously, suffering from extreme motion sickness. 

"What the hell are you talking about? Brox replied in confusion as he had never heard of those words before in his life. "I need your identification card." 

"I haven't owned a valid driver's license for years now," Aki responded, after spending years as a wanted criminal, and he couldn't exactly apply for a driver's license on Earth. 

"I-I see?" Brox answered back, confused by the weird responses coming from Aki. "Just come over here," he gestured with his right hand.

Aki took a step out of the wagon, missed a step on the wagon, and fell straight onto the brick ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" Brox inquired, lifting Aki from his coat collar. "I'll act as your guarantee this time, but you need to get a card of your own before you leave," grabbing Aki's left hand and placing it firmly on a white stone flat board engraved with a magic circle. 

Suddenly, a transparent window appeared:

Name: Aki
Age: 22 years old
Race: Male Human
Level: 13

"Hm...I don't see any criminal records for you, so that's a good thing,"  Brox muttered, reading the window screen. "HUH?!?! You completed 'The Fallen Brothers' Bounty?" he questioned, pointing at the screen with an alert message. 

Alerts: "The Fallen Brothers" Wanted Bounty Completed

"W-What are you talking about?" Aki answered, confused by the question.

"Look! It says you completed the bounty for them," Brox pointed at the alert text on the window, opening the wanted bounty request with the brother's names & images. 

Aki stood up and looked at the window screen, with the names not ringing any bells, but the hand-drawn pictures matched the morons he had encountered in the forest. "Oh, you mean those morons?" he exclaimed. "So that's what their name was?" 

"You didn't know who they were?!?!? Did you have a death wish?" Brox asked, "These three are former C-Rank & B-Rank adventurers that have been causing havoc for the Kingdom lately." 

"I see," Aki responded, emotionlessly, as he couldn't feel any reason to be happy or proud, as killing a person in the name of good meant nothing to him anymore. "Can I go now?" he inquired.

"No!" Brox yelled, "While we get your arm healed, I'll have you explain the details of their deaths so you can collect their bounties," he added, picking up Aki by his coat collar again and throwing him back into the wobbly wagon.  

"SERIOUSLY, I'M GOING TO BE SICK!!" AKI yelled. 

The wagon began to travel through the different parts of the city: the busy plaza filled with vendors selling food & wares from makeshift wooden stalls, a noble district where shops displayed expensive merchandise in their windows, and a large cathedral. The wagon suddenly made a harsh right turn and entered an empty street district filled with quietness. The streets were poorly lit with damaged magic lamps, the buildings showed signs of disrepair, with wooden planks covering the windows and doors, and a single soul or rodent could not be seen or heard. The wagon continued onward, traveling for another five minutes before arriving at the Northeast Gate station. The station's atmosphere matched the empty street, where the same sense of eeriness filled the quiet and extremely dark area, as large clouds covered the moon, and only a handful of working small lamps struggled to illuminate the large station. 

"FREEDOM!" Aki yelled, jumping out of the stopped wagon, and landed onto the dirt-covered ground. 

"What a giant baby," Brox stated, witnessing a grown man sitting happily on the dirt-covered ground. 

"Oh? You returned three days earlier than expected?" A gentle female voice inquired as the sound of a window cracked open from above, "Did you run into trouble, Captain Brox?" 

"Something along that line, Vice Captain Layla," Brox answered, looking up at the hidden figure above. "I kinda screwed up and need you to heal him," he added, picking Aki up by his collar and pointing at his right arm, wrapped in gauze. 

"ARE WE ATTACKING CIVILIANS NOW, CAPTAIN?" Layla yelled angrily. "DO WE NEED TO LOCK YOU UP TOO?" 

"N-No, it's not like that. He caught me off guard from behind," Brox quickly explained, releasing Aki, who fell back onto the ground. 

"A CIVILIAN CAUGHT YOU, SO YOU ATTACKED HIM?!?!?" Layla yelled, startling Brox as he took a step back, and stepped on Aki's right arm. 

"OW, OW, OW!!" Aki quickly exclaimed, trying to get the Captain's heavy boot from digging into his bruised arm. 

"Sorry about that," Brox apologized, looking down and quickly stepping off of Aki's right arm. Brox picked Aki off from the ground and forced him to stand properly. 

Aki began to look up towards the open window to see only a silhouette in the darkness, looking back down at him. As he attempted to make out the figure, the wind suddenly began to pick up, and the clouds started parting away, allowing moonlight to illuminate the dark army station, revealing the hidden figure.

In the window stood a tall, beautiful woman with long, glossy black hair, as it billowed to one side with the passing gentle breeze. The tall woman was wearing a navy blue blazer that outlined her hourglass figure, while moonlight exposed her light green eyes and her perfect skin complexion. 

"Princess Kaguya," Aki muttered, looking towards the Vice Captain with a loss of words. 

"Huh? I'm not a princess?" Layla frantically answered back, reacting to Aki's comment. "W-Who a-are you calling a princess!"

"Oh? Just ignore me," Aki stated, looking away and beginning to pat down his dirt-covered clothes. "My name is Aki," he introduced himself. 

"My name is Layla, Vice Captain of the Northeast Gate," Layla introduced herself softly. "Let's get your arm treated," pointing towards a wooden door on the side of the building, and backed away from the windowsill. Aki began to walk towards the wooden door, while Brox followed behind, holding Aki's backpack, opening and closing the wooden door.

Meanwhile, the remaining soldiers collapsed onto the dirt ground from exhaustion and slowly drifted off to sleep. 

"THIS IS NOT YOUR BARRACKS! NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO SLEEP IN FRONT OF THE GATE ENTRANCE!" Layla yelled from a distance, sending all the soldiers into alert, standing position, with a few letting out their fluids. 


Inside the single-bed sick bay, Layla finished drying her hands and began to carefully remove the gauze that wrapped Aki's right arm. Once removed, the arm showed immense bruising that had become worse, with the swelling gone. 

"Were you trying to kill him?" Layla inquired, assessed the damage that was done to Aki's arm. "I'm surprised there aren't any broken bones." 

"I told you, he caught me from behind!" Brox answered, sitting nearby. "I didn't even notice him until he was standing next to me and talking. That wasn't a skill or item, was it?" he inquired. 

"Correct, o-ouch!," Aki answered, wincing in pain as Layla began to  gently wipe off the dirt-covered salve with a warm, damp towel, "It's a type of traditional movement called Nanba, from where I am from." 

Nanba, a once traditional walking movement commonly used by samurai in ancient Japan, this movement focuses on the body's center balance to walk more efficiently and prevent excessive arm motion.

Modern walking requires taking long steps, which focus mainly on the bottom of the heel, resulting in excessive swaying motion from your arms.

"Ohhhh...I thought you were an assassin or something," Brox jokingly laughed. 

"W-Well, he isn't wrong in that sense. Namba was also commonly used by ninjas during Edo to help them sneak around." Aki thought to himself. 

"Hey.....can I ask you a question?" Layla asked, stopping in her cleaning, "Are you perhaps lost? " she inquired, staring directly into Aki's grey eyes with a serious look. 

"Lost?" Aki pondered, "In fact, I've been very lost since I saw your beautiful emerald eyes," he responded, grabbing and holding Layla's hand tightly.

Layla quickly shook off Aki's hands with immense force and began to grip tightly onto Aki's bruised right arm in annoyance.  

"OW, OW, OW, I GIVE!!" Aki yelled as Laya's nails began to dig into his bruised arm, causing him to bleed.

"ANSWER ME!!!" Layla demanded, releasing his arm, "The way you said where you are from, it sounds like you aren't from this world, and that name you called me earlier, Princess Kalua, you are a lost aren't you? she interrogated. 

"Busted already?" Aki thought, "Was I acting really obviously, or does she have good intuition?" as he remained silent, looking away from her. 

"I should let you know, Layla is already married to the Vice Captain of the Royal Knights," Brox stated, trying to change the topic a bit. "Layla, you need to do some explaining first before you attempt to interrogate another person's origins," he added, uncrossing his arms, ready to attack and protect if needed. Brox knew the questions that Layla had just asked might reveal something unsavory, and he might need to step in if things went sour. 

"I'm sorry," Layla apologized, looking at the light red water basin, and began to wipe again. "As you notice, my black hair isn't a common color in this world. During the reign of the Demon Lord, black hair was often symbolized as an ominous omen, which led to people being hunted and killed for having black hair," she explained, gesturing towards her black hair.

"Due to this hunt, there are no records of someone being born with black hair for the past hundred years, except for me. In this era, nobody believes that black hair is considered an omen after the Hero's public rejection of that claim during their journey." Layla continued, "I did some research into my family lineage and found a journal written by my great-great-grandfather that stated my great-great-grandmother had black hair. The journal also stated that she wasn't a resident here, but a lost from another place called Napam." 

"Wait, something doesn't add up here. The Goddess stated that she hasn't reincarnated anyone since the previous hero defeated the demon lord, which took place at least a hundred seventy-six years ago." Aki went over the facts inside his head.  "Was her great-great-grandmother the hero at this time? If that's the case, why did she refer to her as a lost instead of a hero?" 

"I think we lost him," Brox declared, waving his right hand in front of Aki's face, before clapping loudly in front of him, bringing him back to this world. 

"What does lost  exactly mean?" Aki questioned. 

"Lost refers to something or someone who isn't from this world," Layla explained. "There are countless records of objects and people appearing from nowhere and speaking a weird language that no one could understand, including my great-great-grandmother." 

"Wait, she couldn't speak the language here?"Aki began to ponder again, "Did she not receive any skills from the Goddess?" 

"Hey, asnw-" Lalya demanded, before being cut off by Brox. 

"Layla, I know you want some answers, but everyone has a few secrets that they like to keep," Brox stated, noticing Aki's face was showing signs of distress. 

'It's alright, Brox." Aki stated, "I can confirm, in a way, I am a lost." 

"Really?!?!" Layla exclaimed, "Would you be able to tell me more about this place called Napam?" 

 "Hold up right there!" Aki exclaimed, trying to calm Layla down, "I honestly cannot tell if I'm actually from the place or even the same world as your great-great-grandmother. The way you are saying Napam is different from the country I'm from, which is Japan," he explained, with Layla's expression darkening. 

"If you have something written by her, I can take a look to see if I can read it," Aki suggested. "If we are from the same world, the grammar should roughly be the same." 

"Really? I'll bring a few journals written by my great-great-grandmother next time we see each other," Layla answered back with excitement. She finished cleaning the salve off, raising both her hands above the bruised arm and softly whispered, *Heal*.  Aki's arm began to glow green, with the purple color slowly receding. "By the way, how long has it been since you arrived in this world?" she inquired. 

"I woke up in the Forest of Taeria a few weeks ago and was ambushed by the shitty Brothers, who were then killed by an Infant Colossal Snake." Aki replied, "I left the forest earlier today, and here I am."

"Brothers? Colossal Snake? " Layla muttered, "Did the Forest Guardian return?" she inquired, turning to Brox for confirmation. 

"Yes, I witnessed Forest Guardian come out of the forest and feed on the corpse of Trolls & Goblins," Brox answered, "I was going to have you help me write a report for the subjugation completion for The Fallen Brothers' bounty after this."

"WAIT!?!? They are dead?" Layla stated in shock, "You killed them?"

"It wasn't me, it was the Forest Guardian." Aki answered," Wait, .......Forest Guardian?" he inquired. 

"Yes, for the Kingdom of Garlia, the Colossal Snake is considered the Forest Guardian of Taeria.  The Guardian helps maintain the forest's ecosystem and prevents any monster from leaving the forest, or at least that's how it's been for the past few decades. " Layla explained, "It was three years ago, when a large herd of dragons was seen ferociously fighting the Forest Guardian. Some of the witnesses from that time had stated the Forest Guardian had died and was seen being carried out of the forest and into the mountain region."

"I see," Aki answered, "This would make sense because my appraisal states that the snake I encountered was an infant."

"All done!" Layla stated, revealing Aki's right arm now fully healed. "Let's do the report tomorrow morning!" she suggested. "For tonight, you can stay in this room and I'll have someone bring you some dinner in a bit, okay?"

"Thank you, Layla!" Aki thanked Layla while swinging his right arm.

"I need to have that report completed first thing in the morning." Brox acknowledged it was later than he expected it. Most importantly, he also needed some time to process the fact that Aki was a lost.

"Yeah, yeah," Aki replied, "I'll be here," standing up and looking for a bathroom to get cleaned up. 

"You can use that room over there to get cleaned up," Brox pointed at a wooden door in the back corner of the sick bay. 

"Yes, sir!" Aki responded with a salute. 

"I'll see you in the morning then," Layla cheerfully stated before they left the room, closing the door shut. 



Later on that night, at the Captain's office, *Knonk* Knonk*, "Captain Brox, it's Layla, may I come in?" she requested. 

"Come in," Brox answered, standing by the open window, gazing at the night sky, while sipping on a glass full of brown hard liquor behind his wooden desk.

"So what's on your mind?" Lalya inquired, staring at Brox's conflicted look. She began to approach the large wooden desk and sat in front of the wooden chair. 

Brox turned around and sat in his captain's chair, placing the glass cup on the desk. 

"Layla, I've been a soldier for twenty-plus years, but today was one of the most terrifying encounters in my life," Brox stated, drinking the rest of the liquor in his glass. "I truly meant it when I said that Aki was caught off guard. I had swung backwards with my left hand instinctively, not intentionally. My body  reacted faster than my mind because it sensed something dangerous next to me."

"Do you not believe he is a lost? Do you believe he is a monster in a human form?" Layla questioned, "Didn't you check his status at the gate?" 

"The identification tool indicates that his race was human, but there are artifacts that can manipulate those results, too." Brox answered, "The Fallen Brothers bounty, huh? All three brothers' fighting skills were considered to be at least on par with a B-rank. For someone who is a lost, defeating them should be considered impossible," he stated, "Lost individuals are considerably physically weaker compare to resident of this world", quoting a phrase from a book before placing it in front of Layla, The Study of Lost Souls 

The book was written by a renowned scholar decades ago, who had spent their entire life documenting their findings regarding lost individuals. The scholar had traveled across the world, trying to locate lost individuals or their descendants, and noted a characteristic they all shared: physical weakness. Lost individuals struggled to complete routine tasks like hunting or collecting firewood as they quickly collapsed from exhaustion. 

"Didn't he say the Forest Guardian defeated them?" Lalya inquired, picking up the book, "I read this study before, but this was decades ago. Maybe Aki is an exception?" attempting to find logic behind Aki's existence. 

"If the Guardian had defeated them, Aki wouldn't have a record of it on his status record," Brox answered. "Only if he had fought them and brought them to a point of death would it be considered his accomplishment." 

Layla sat in silence, trying to understand what kind of person Aki is. From Layla's perspective, Aki felt like her elderly uncle rather than someone who might be a threat to her.  

"All I can say is that Aki is different from any lost individuals from our records," Brox commented, "From my point of view, he is used to fighting and killing, which means you need to always be on guard around him," he instructed, before turning his chair around to watch the moon disappear behind the clouds.