GOLD TRIAL

Norihiko slowly regained consciousness; he found himself in a bed that was not his and a room he had never seen before.

“Where am I?” Norihiko tried to recall what got him there.

Without warning, he felt a sharp but brief pain in his head as the entire conversation he had with the goddess came to him.

The door to the room opened as Astrea entered the room holding two cups of water.

“You are finally awake.” Astrea said as she sat on the bed where Norihiko lay, “I was afraid you would never wake up.”

“How long was I out for?” 'Norihiko?' asked.

Astrea counted her fingers before replying, “About six days.”

“Six days – it’s no wonder I feel so rested.” Norihiko said as he lifted his head up, “So this place…?”

“Yes, you are not on earth anymore.” Astrea said

Norihiko sat up on the bed; he checked the bed’s headboard, but it was not there. “Where is my bag?”

“It’s over there.” Astrea pointed to the corner of the room where Norihiko’s bag lay resting on the wall. “When you fell unconscious, it took me an hour to separate it from you. Your hold on it was very strong, so I figure it must be very important to you.”

“Yeah… you didn’t open it, did you?” Norihiko asked.

“No, I didn’t.” Astrea said, “I am curious to know what is inside, though.”

Norihiko stood up from the bed; he did some stretches before getting his bag in the corner. He brought out the photo he had kept in.

“I guess that is your mother,” Astrea said, taking a glimpse at the photo.

Norihiko kept the photo back in his bag, put on his jacket and wore his shoes. “First order of business, I am going to need a change of clothes and a bath.”

“About that situation,” Astrea said.

“What about it?”

“I am dead broke.”

“You mean you did not even consider our finances?”

“I just planned that you will take care of it.”

“Then how did you afford this place?”

“This is actually a run-down old house; I used my magic to fix it up a little.”

“Magic?”

“Did I forget to mention? In this world, magic actually exists.”

Norihiko thought about what Astrea had said for a while.

“I am going to take a look outside,” Norihiko said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Hey, don’t just leave me here,” Astrea said, chasing after him.

Norihiko got outside to see different things he had never thought he’d see. There was a man simply levitating items with hand gestures, fire coming from the hands of another, and many other different scenarios. The street looked quiet with no one walking along it; everyone in the town stared at him with wandering eyes.

“This clothing is too conspicuous; I need to blend in.” Nirihiko said, touching the jacket he wore, “Maybe I can sell it for a high price.” He had on a jacket and trousers made from vicuña wool, the most expensive clothing material in the world.

“I actually know a place for that.”

Norihiko looked at her in disbelief.

“W-what’s wrong?”

“I just never thought you would be even the least bit useful.”

“Just what do you take me for? I have the upper hand in the fact that I know this world better than you.

Or so she said. Norihiko walked the streets with Astrea, who was going from store to store. “We have been working for three hours at least. Are you sure you know where we are heading?”

“Sure, I’m sure it’s just…” Astrea said, 'Entering yet another store.'

Norihiko turned back and walked up to a man behind him who moved back a bit as Norihiko approached him.

“I may be wrong, but haven’t you been sticking quite a bit close to me for the past hour?”

The man had a short build, but he is not as short as Norihiko; he has blue hair with brown eyes and a mature aura.

“Oh, I am sorry; I didn’t think you would notice me. I did not mean to follow you. You see, I am actually a collector, and I just thought your clothes are quite exquisite. I mean, I have never seen anything like it.”

“I’m glad to hear you like it; I am actually putting it up for sale. You want it.”

Before he could reply, Astrea ran up to Norihiko. She stopped in front of him, panting, with her hands on her knees. “Told you I’d find it; it’s that shop over there,” she said, pointing to a shop whose sign read “Fiz collections”.

“That’s actually my shop,” the blue-haired man said. “Sorry for the late introduction; you can call me Fiz. I am a merchant and collector.”

“I’m Norihiko,” Norihiko said, holding out his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Fiz said, taking his hand. “All right, Norihiko, let’s talk business.”

The man led the way back to his shop. Norihiko was about to follow when Astrea held him back by his hand. Norihiko looked back.

“You shouldn’t be so trusting of just anyone in this world. Did you already forget what I told you? This world has more crooks than most.” Astrea said.

“Did you really forget who it is you are talking to?”

Norihiko turned back. “Besides, he is one of the few people I have talked to who had no falsehood in their words.”

Astrea let go of his hand as she stood up, having finally regained all her stamina. “Suit yourself, but I am coming for insurance.”

Norihiko and Astrea entered the store, which was filled with many different items for sale. There was stuff that Norihiko had never seen before, like different wands and potions, even mediaeval weapons. Fiz was at the counter arranging some documents.

It looks just like a supermarket. “You work here alone?” 'Norihiko,' he said as he approached the counter.

“Yeah, I also run this store alone,” Fiz said. “But never mind that; you can wear anything else from this store while I appraise your clothes.”

Norihiko picked a T-shirt and trousers and got changed. He handed his previous clothes to Fiz, who placed them on the counter and kept his hand over them as the clothes' outline glowed blue.

“It’s like nothing I have ever seen before.” Fiz said, clearly astonished, “Where did you get this?”

“From a foreign country,” Norihiko lied fluently, believing that going around telling people he is not from this world would not be the best idea.

“That explains it; your name also sounded weird. I have never heard a name like that before.”

Weird? Norihiko was slightly pissed by his remark but remained smiling. “So how much is it worth?”

“I will give you twenty gold coins for it.”

Norihiko is visibly surprised; he had no idea how much ten gold pieces is, but he is sure of one thing: “Just now, you didn’t lie about the value.”

“Was I supposed to?”

“You’d expect a trader to lie about prices often, that’s all,” Norihiko replied, “but you are an honest one.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Guess I will be seeing you often then. My business sense is never wrong, and it tells me,” Fiz pointed to Norihiko. “You are going to be very profitable.”

Fiz gave Norihiko the payment upfront. “You can keep the clothes; take it as compensation for being spied on.”

“Twenty gold pieces, not bad?” Norihiko was so engrossed in his conversation with Fiz that he forgot he had a plus one who is now carrying so much stuff.

“What is all that meant to be?”

“It’s some of the things you’ll need to get used to this world, errr, I mean country. I figured I might as well get them while we are here.”

Astrea set the stuff on the counter.

“That would be a gold coin and twenty silver coins,” Fiz said.

Norihiko paid for the stuff she had requested.

“Well, she’ll see you next time then,” Fiz said as he handed Norihiko four bags with the things he had brought.

“One more thing, isn’t it dangerous to run a store like this one on your own without protection?” 'Norihiko?' asked.

“Well—”

The door is suddenly kicked open as five men carrying swords and other weapons walk in.

“This place is filled with a kind of treasure; what do you say we take our pick or just take them all?” the man in front said.

“No objections here,” another replied.

“I guess you would find thugs in every world,” Norihiko remarked.

“Perfect timing; it’d be faster if I just showed you,” Fiz said. He stepped out of the counter and walked up to the men at the entrance. The tallest man was at least two times Fiz’s height, but he didn’t flinch as he stood in front of them.

“What’s up, little man? You want a piece of us?” The tallest man swung his sword at Fiz, but with a touch of his finger, the sword shimmered and shattered to pieces. Visibly shocked, the man decided to throw a fist instead, but Fiz parried it and punched him in the face, which made him fall on his back unconscious.

The other men decided to charge at him all at once, but they were stopped in their tracks as their entire lower body was covered in ice with a flick of Fiz’s finger. The men cowered in fear, their faces saying they had come to a realisation.

“It—it’s the ice dragon,” one of them said as the other three started begging for forgiveness.

“Tell your friends to not cause trouble for me or any other shop merchant if they don’t want to be frozen for all eternity.” The four men nodded many times in agreement as Fiz dispelled his spell. They carried their unconscious buddy and ran away.

“It seems I was wrong to worry,” Norihiko said to himself.

“He is quite strong indeed,” Astrea continued.

Norihiko and Astrea left the store with newly found funds and stuff.

“I never knew magic could look so cool,” Norihiko said as he turned to Astrea. “Can you do anything that cool?”

“I’ve told you already, because of the state of the world, my power is weakening. I don’t have nearly as much strength as I’m supposed to.” Astrea said, “Well anyway, now that you have seen it in action, I suppose you can learn it.”

“You mean I can use it?”

“The magic circle that teleported you to this world also changed your genetics to allow mana inflow and outflow, so yes, you can use magic,” Astrea said. “So as I was saying, you want to learn it?”

Norihiko smiled, a new power. “Do you have to ask?”