The secret is out!

The next morning,

Toma wakes up in his room in the inn, light-headed. Not able to remember anything about yesterday. For him, yesterday was just foggy memories in pieces. After some time, he gives up on trying to remember when his gut growls.

He gets ready and comes to Lysa at the counter of the Inn.

He breaks a cube; now only three remain. At this point, he also starts to realise that he should not rely on cubes too much and starts acquiring skills like being able to hold day-to-day conversations in a language people of this world could understand.

“Good morning, Toma! Are you feeling well now?” Lysa greets him in her sweet voice.

“Good morning, Lysa!” Toma also greets her, but it is clear as daylight to Lysa that he is feeling down. She can feel it in his voice.

With concern, she stares at Toma, who sits around a nearby table with his head down.

She approaches her personally and sits in front of him in a chair. “Toma, are you not feeling well? Are you still in pain?”

“I am hungry, and I can’t remember what happened at the bank. Yesterday feels like blurred memories, which I can’t put together.” In a low, dreadful voice, he replies to Lysa.

“I will bring you a special breakfast, which will make you feel better. Cost will be on the house. And about yesterday - ” before Lysa could complete, Elira entered the Inn. “Lysa, Good morning!”

Lysa also greets her, then “About yesterday, Elira will tell you,” she tells Toma. “Elira, sit with Toma. I will bring a special breakfast for both of you.” Elira nods to her, and Lysa walks away.

Elira sits with Toma. “Hey Toma, are you ok ?” she asks him in a gentle tone.

No reply.

“Are you hungry? ” she asks again.

No reply.

“Are you not feeling well ? ” she asked again, a bit annoyed but still holding it behind her smile, but her eyebrow was twitching.

No reply.

“Here, take your Gilden and Silvdens from yesterday,” she says, putting a pouch of coins on the table.

This time, Toma peeked a little just to be sure, and when he saw Gilden and a pouch of Silvdens, life came back in his golden eyes and they sparkled. Toma was again full of energy.

“My Money! At last, I didn’t lose it!” he exclaimed excitedly.

“Toma, you …” Elira said with a fake smile. “What?” Toma asked.

“You really piss me off!” and slams her fist on the table.

“What? Why are you suddenly angry?!” Toma asked in confusion, “You don’t have any idea what you did yesterday?” Elira was getting more and more frustrated.

“Here you go, please enjoy your meal!” Lysa comes to the table with plates of breakfast in both hands.

“This is looking tasty, and even smells so nice! Thank you, Lysa!” Elira’s anger and frustration were gone in an instant. She was looking at dishes like a toddler.

Lysa effectively calmed the situation with breakfast.

“..... so that’s all that happened,” Elira explains everything to Toma while they eat, without losing her mind.

“So, food can solve your anger issue!” Toma muttered under his breath. Elira did hear some mumbling, so she asked him, raising her brow, “Did you say something?”

“No, no.” Toma denied with an awkward smile, and both continued to enjoy the meal.

After a few bites, Toma asked, “So, I was saying…” with hesitation.

“So, you were saying something...” she interrupted.

“Yes, but not here. Come with me.” Toma replied.

“Okay,” she says, and then follows Toma to his room in the inn with her staff.

Toma, make sure no one is in the corridor and close the door. “Why are you closing the door?” Elira grows suspicious. Toma doesn’t bother to answer and then closes the window.

Elira grows even more suspicious. She panics and yells, “Toma, what are you doing? Are you- are you planning to do something bad with me?”

“No, I’m NOT! IDIOT!” Toma yells back, then both calm down. Elira sits in a chair. Toma sits on his bed.

“I want to ask you if you can teach me the language you speak and the magic,” Toma says. He was very serious and determined; in his generally sparkling golden greedy eyes, one can see his resolve. He was damn serious about this.

“No issues, I will teach you, but only to ask this, you went through all these tasks, really? There is definitely more to it.” She was a little annoyed, and she saw through Toma.

“If you don’t tell me, I am not teaching you a single character and forget about magic!” she continued with evil smugness.

“That smug, same as what I saw at the bank. This useless mage. It’s my bad luck that she is the best option that I have! And I only have three cubes left, and they are expensive. And for my goal, I need to tap into magic. What should I do? What should I do?” Toma was gritting his teeth, cursing her and himself, weighing his options.

While he was thinking, “I am leaving. Best of luck!” Elira stands up and acts as if she is walking out of the room.

“Wait! I will tell you the truth!” Toma yells and stops her. After mumbling something under her breath, she turns back and sits again. “Ok, tell me.”

“So, you should already know by now I can’t understand the language of this world, and I use these cubes for temporary translations. One cube lasts for one hour, and I have three left.”

Elira interrupts, “Yes, I remember now. That’s why yesterday you started talking in an unknown language. I thought you were acting, to fool them.”

Toma continues, “Yes, that’s when the effect of the cube wore out. Right now also I am also using one, so I want to keep it short cause of time constraints.”

“So, I want to learn the language so I can get a sustainable, peaceful life, and magic for - ” he paused.

“For ? ” she asked.

Toma takes a deep breath. “Elira, I was teleported here two days back, and I want to go back to my world. After knowing magic exists here, I thought magic was the best shot for me to get back. Hence, I want to learn magic.”

Toma notices that under her staff’s cloth cover, a red glow that blinks every time he says something.

“What is it?” Toma asks with curiosity.

“This means you are telling the truth. I had cast a spell earlier. If you had lied to me, this staff would have told me right away. I am not an idiot to trust you blindly, you know!” she explains calmly with a big smile on her face.

“This useless mage is smart. She is interrogating me. It’s my luck that I chose not to lie.” Toma thought to himself, relieved with a fact that he had chosen the right option.

She continues, “So, you are summoned here?” She was surprised, a little awestruck.

“No, not summoned. It was an accident. I spawned in a forest nearby, a town.” Toma cleared her confusion.

“I prepare study material for you. Three hours will be enough for you to cover the basics if you try hard. Now, I will take my leave. I will come back in the evening,” she says, standing up and turning towards the door.

They both hear a little THUD! On the door.

“Who’s there?” Toma questions in a loud voice.

But no reply. They heard the footsteps echo away.

Toma, without wasting a second, opens the door and looks right and left, but he sees no one.

Toma and Elira both look at each other. They both understand the weight of this situation.

“I will ask Lysa if she saw anyone suspicious. You wait in here. ” Elira leaves the room. Toma closes the door and lies down on the bed, planning out his future actions.

Who was eavesdropping on us? Why? Numerous questions like that start to cloud Toma’s mind.