Vol.1 Ch.1 - A novel tale

“To the world, we are brave. To our loved ones, we are fools. But what are

we to ourselves?”

These are the parting words the famed Grandmaster Adventurer, Schnell

Douglas, left us with in his diary titled ‘The Handy Handbook for a Handful

of Adventurers’. The man behind countless volumes of this book was said to

have acted on complete impulse. A truly extraordinary man who traveled the

world to document his findings, then departed as quickly as he came by.

The best way to describe him would be to compare him to a strong gust of

wind: fast, unpredictable, and most importantly, his presence would make

people feel as if they were standing atop mountains. Although, appearancewise he was in a lot of ways more akin to a boulder, what with his bulky

stature and rugged beard. Said to have traveled from his birthplace of

Meridia, a country located to the south of Cardina, the Western Continent, he

had grown tired of what was widely referred to as the ‘World’s safest place’.

As such, he had one day decided to pack his luggage and leave without so

much as a single word to anyone he had ever known up until that point.

What followed soon after was nothing short of the journey of a lifetime. If we

consider what he said in his books as factual, then he has managed to travel

the entire world in his lifetime, buying out territory that he deemed interesting

with the wealth he’d accumulated during his travels and leaving them as his

legacy for future adventurers to explore. It is nothing more than speculation,

but due to some recent findings, it is believed that even the International

Traveler’s Association was founded by this very man.

Some very important people in the world’s history have personally funded

his endeavors and helped him document their country, and he was said to be

the man around whom the world truly revolved. To put it this way, if the

world was a book, he would most definitely be the main character. That is

just how amazing this Grandmaster Adventurer was.

Of course, what is a main character of a book without a happy ending? After

reaching the age of 37, he had decided to settle down with a woman he met

during his final years of travel and they took to one of their estates, now

known as “Schnell’s Archipelago”, so that they may live out their lives in

complete peace. His descendants are said to still inhabit the land, but it is

unknown whether this is one hundred percent true, as the only people who

are allowed to set foot on the Archipelago are close friends of The Schnells.

It is still regarded as the absolute truth though, as the mere fact that there are

still people who are allowed to visit the islands suggests a Schnell is

definitely inviting them in. Schnell’s journey started in the far-off year of

150AD and ended 21 years later in 171AD.

AD (short for “After Division”, by the way) is a measurement of time that

originates from a monumental event known as the Ever-Division. It is widely

known that the world wasn’t always divided by the Great Ocean and that it

was, in fact, simply a single giant landmass. This of course changed after a

worldwide earthquake of disastrous proportions split the singular landmass

into the world we know today. Everything that occurred before the EverDivision is counted as BD (Before Division), and some scholars believe that

there will once again be a Singularity point in the distant future where all of

the landmasses once again combine, leading to the formation of a new age,

aptly labeled AF (or After Fusion), but that is nothing more than a hypothesis

without any facts to base it off of.

In any case, some believe that Schnell’s actions had a greater purpose behind

them exactly due to this event, as the divide caused a rift in the people. One

could say he managed to unify a divided world singlehandedly, and many

steadfast adventurers took on the world’s challenge in hopes of achieving

similar results. Of course, taking on such a monumental task couldn’t be done

by someone with a tainted heart. One mustn’t have ulterior motives if one

wished to travel the world, and if you did, you’d face the consequences

without fault.

Now, far out in the sticks of a country named Secundis, in a small village

located to the west known only as Whitehood, in the present year of 1016AD,

another legend begins his journey…

***

“Lune, dear! Come down and help your mother set the table!”

The kind yet weak voice of my mother is calling out to me. Wait, is it

dinnertime already? Wasn’t breakfast just a minute ago? Eh?! The Sun’s

already setting! Whoa, time sure flies when I’m reading Schnell’s Handbook,

huh?

“Lune! If you don’t come down here, you’ll make your mother sad!” The

voice could be heard yelling ever louder.

Ah, how is it that she lines up the timing for dinner so perfectly that she

always interrupts me right as I’m getting to the good part? Ugh, I wish I could

just act deaf and zone her out completely, but I’d be a lousy son if I did that to

her, so I’ll get up and go downstairs to help… just after I finish this chapter.

“There you are! I swear, it’s as if you enter a completely different dimension

when you start reading that book! Could I bother the Great Bookworm to help

me set up dinner? Your father will be back from work soon and I have my

hands full with the food.” Mom said whilst taking dinner out of the oven.

“Sure mom, but you gotta understand that this book is the torch to my

dungeon, it really scratches my adventurous itch. And how could I not get

indulged in the story when the main character is so cool!?”

To be honest, I didn’t wanna rile her up any more than I probably already

did, but she offended the sacred texts, so I had to take some measures. I’m

sure Schnell would forgive me for my transgressions if he knew I was

defending him.

“Son, I get you like books, but please don’t make it sound so…weird. Gosh,

and then you wonder why it is that we call you the Great Bookworm…”

This is how it always is in our little house. Please don’t misunderstand, I

love my mother to bits. I’d slay a dragon for her if I could find one, I really

would. These little back-and-forth arguments we’d hold regularly are nothing

if not a show of love, I can guarantee you that.

“Ella, I’m back!” A voice rang out from the front door.

There he was, the man, the legend – father. Busting open the door after

giving it a polite couple of knocks is his signature way of opening any and all

doors. An idiosyncrasy I’d rather not inherit…

“Welcome back, dear! Dinner is on the table, so come in!” My mother went

to greet him with a hug as she took off his coat.

He’s a tall, muscular man with arms the size of over half my body. He’s

sporting a jet black hair color with a sort of slicked-back look to it, which

you’d think looks out of fashion, but it seems to suit him somehow. If there

was any way to define him in one word, it’d be ‘old-fashioned’. Not old, per

se, but many of the things he does is… dated, to say the least. For example,

I’d always hear the same old jokes from him, and he would always have all

these old sayings and traditions that no one but him followed. He’s a man

who’s gotten up there in age though, you can easily tell from a glance that

he’s not in his heyday, but he can still work somehow (he’s 40, by the way).

It’s nice to have a working spirit at this age, but I know if I was 40 I’d

probably already have retired. Makes me wonder…

“Hey dad, when are you gonna retire?” I asked whilst chewing my food.

“Wuh-!?” He choked on the pie mom made for us, “D-Do I really look that

old?”

Aww, now I feel bad! I indirectly hurt his feelings. I didn’t even mean it like

that, honest! Well, I kinda did now that I think about it. But I mean, come on

dude, you’re pushing over 40 and you still don’t wanna lay back a bit? I’d be

bored as hell wasting away at a normal job like his!

“Well then, Lune.” My mom chimed in, “If such a thing were to happen, then

you’d have to get a job to provide for us, wouldn’t you?”

Ugh, she hit me in my weak spot. She knows I’d rather spend my time playing

around and reading books, so she really went in for the kill. The worst part

of all this? I’m losing a battle that I accidentally started! I need to make a

point never to do this again.

“Nice one, honey! I knew you’d have my back! So Lune, if you want, I can

teach you all the things you need to know to take on the Grimheart family

business of butchering! How’s that sound?” He said with a proud tone as if I

had already agreed to it.

“…No thanks. I’d rather do something that I wanna do.” I decided to speak

my mind.

At that moment, they looked at me with a tinge of regret, but the shift in their

facial expressions was barely noticeable, if at all. I’d wager they just want

their son to be like the other kids and take on his parents’ family business

after getting some basic education and nothing more. In all honesty, this way

of living makes me sick to my stomach, as I’d get bored of cutting up animals

for their meat in days – no, hours!

“Well Lune, sooner or later you’re just gonna have to accept that you won’t

be able to play around forever.” My mother said in a quiet voice, “You don’t

want to end up like some bum on the side of the road now, do you?”

“It’s always either “Take up the family business” or “Die on the side of the

road” with you guys! Can’t you see there’s more to the world than just these

two options?” I raised my voice as I refuted their claims.

“And where’d you hear that?” My father’s brown pupils glared at me as he

said the words.

“It’s from that book I gave him, surely. My son would never say such

irresponsible things before, you would always be eager to help out whenever

possible!” She said as she turned towards me.

“Then it’s settled!” My father finished his plate, “I’ll be confiscating that

book until you get serious, young man! And don’t you dare think about

whining or trying to take it back, otherwise, I’ll burn it in the fireplace!”

“No!” I screamed as I jumped from my seat, “You won’t take it away from

me! You can take anything else, but not this!”

Quickly running up the stairs and locking the door, I had only then realized I

had very few hiding places to put the book in, so I had to improvise a bit. I

took out the clothes from my closet and quickly hid it in the back, masking its

visibility by putting the clothes back in. It was seamless! He surely won’t

ever find it!

Just then, a slow disappointed knock could be heard on the door of my room.

I could tell from the pattern that it was my father on the other side of the door,

so I prepared myself for him to bust open the door after the knocks. I didn’t

want to see his face at all right now, so I just shouted “What do you want?!”

and hoped that the fear and anger in my voice would be enough to dissuade

him from breaking open the door.

“Listen Lune, I won’t be taking your book away…” He sighed with a quiet

tone, “Your mother talked me out of it, so be sure to thank her. But I don’t

want to hear you spout such nonsense in front of us ever again, got that?”

“…Okay, I’ll be sure to thank her.” I answered the first statement whilst

ignoring the latter through the keyhole.

And with that, the hero emerged triumphantly against his brainwashed

parents! They’re certainly products of their time, unwilling to change as they

simply embrace the idea of living mediocre lives they don’t enjoy as a matter

of course. Heh, Brown Iros, am I right? Even still, a mother’s love is

something that prevails over anything I guess, so I was thankfully given a

pass for now. Score!

As such, I decided to celebrate by taking out the Handbook from the closet

and reading a few more chapters. From here on, I said, I’ll proudly put this

book on the top shelf for everyone who enters the room to see! It’ll be a

fond way to immortalize this kind act that my mother has done for me.

Before I realized it, night had already set after I read chapter after chapter,

page after page. I just couldn’t stop, no matter how tired I got, but I knew

where my limits lay currently, so I had to call it quits after the night made it

difficult to read anything. As such, I promptly got dressed into my nightshirt

and went to bed. What a day, I thought.