DMS Chapter 14

  Flinx saw that the village’s gate opened, and a group of military-looking men came out. At first, he thought that the villagers noticed him and sent the army to subdue him or something, but then, upon double-checking, the behavior of the men indicated that they were out on a regular patrol.

  Even though the village or town looked a little small to him, the patrolling men looked highly dangerous. There were ten of them in the group, and each one of them looked like a veteran soldier with no hint of softness. This brought home the fact to Flinx that it was probably necessary for the citizens of this world, or at least this area, to be hardy to be able to survive the monsters coming out of the forest.

  Flinx realized that traveling empty-handed might be suspicious, so he quickly bought a nondescript brown bag and filled it with the extra t-shirt, socks, and underwear that he had purchased before, since they did come in packs. He also transferred some bread from his inventory to his bag and openly carried his waterskin, which he was using to store water when he was in the dungeon.

  He saw that the patrol was headed his way. To prevent any misunderstanding, he waited for them underneath a tree near the road. Flinx saw that the patrol noticed him and purposedly headed towards him. When one of the patrolmen, possibly their leader, went forward and asked him a question, Flinx realized that one of the problems that he was thinking about had come true. The man was speaking in another language.

  Flinx thought about buying either the spell Comprehend Languages or the Tongue spell. But then again, both spells had a duration of one hour, and it would be problematic if he didn’t know the local language. He could cast the spell immediately once the spell was over, since his spells' cooldowns were extremely short, but then he knew that they could become a crutch that would prevent him from learning the local language as soon as possible, so he decided just to wing it and learn the language like a foreigner who arrived at a foreign land speaking a brand new language. Making the locals teach him.

  He replied to the man who asked him a question in English, and as expected, the man realized that he was speaking in another language. The man who asked him a question talked to the others behind him, and one of them answered him. After a few back and forths, another man went forward and began talking to Flinx.

  He knew that the man probably knew more than one language and was testing those languages to see if they could find one that would allow them to communicate with Flinx. After a few minutes of what sounded like gibberish to Flinx, the men realized that they couldn’t communicate with him. The men started talking to each other again, and finally, one of them gestured to him to follow the man, so Flinx did.

  The rest continued their patrol while riding their horses, but the one who gestured toward him started heading back to the village. The man kept checking if Flinx was following him and was comforted when he saw that Flinx was doing so.

  Then the village gate was opened after the guard knocked on it with some sort of knocking code, which felt ludicrous to Flinx since the guard could see the patrolman. The men guarding the gate asked the man leading Flinx some questions, and the man answered while gesturing towards him.

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  Flinx thought that maybe the guards asked the patrolman why he returned, and the man probably answered, “We found a vagrant idiot outside”, or something along those lines. After a few back-and-forths with the gate guard, the patrolman started leading Flinx again.

  Flinx saw that the village was a regular one upon entering it. It was composed of several houses, but the house placement was a little disorganized in his opinion, creating several that he considered unnecessary alleys. The village was fairly clean, but Flinx could smell a mixture of fresh produce, grains, spices, animals, feces, and body odor. He realized that he had truly arrived at a backwards world.

  At least in the dungeon, there was no smell of feces or body odor because the Prestidigitation spell handled all of that. He still preferred freedom to slavery, stink, and all.

  Most of the houses were built with a combination of wood and stone. The streets were made of cobblestone, but that was only for the main road, which was a single road that crossed the entire village. The other streets or alleys were just dirt.

  They passed through a market, and Flinx was comforted by the noise that the merchants and buyers made, even though he couldn’t understand any of it, because it brought home the fact that even though the villagers’ lives were hard, there was still a sense of normalcy. He saw that the merchants were selling a mixture of meat, fowl, fruits, vegetables, spices, and a lot more. One thing Flinx didn’t see was magic. He didn’t see any hint of any spells or magical items. He knew that there should be magic in this world since there were monsters, because if magic weren’t present, it would truly be unfair for the denizens of this world.

  Then again, when did the multiverse become fair?

  Finally, the patrolman led him to a somewhat quiet corner, and Flinx saw a stone chapel. The patrolman led him into a church. Did he think he was some kind of demon? The patrolman knocked on the church’s door, and an old priest opened the door. The soldier talked to the priest for some time, and after that, the man probably said goodbye to Flinx and left.

  The priest invited him inside the chapel by gesturing for him to come inside, so Flinx followed the old priest. The old priest gestured for him to sit, so he did, and the old priest joined him. The old man started talking to him, and Flinx knew that just like one of the patrolmen, the priest probably knew multiple languages and was trying to communicate with him by using those languages. Of course, Flinx replied in English just to bring home the fact that he didn’t speak any language that would allow the old priest to communicate with him, but he intended to see if the priest would cast a spell that would allow them to talk, but the priest ultimately didn’t, which disappointed him a little.

  Flinx didn’t want the priest to give up and drive him away. Before he arrived at the village, Flinx purchased a 15-kilo pack of iodized white salt for 50 dollars. Flinx then separated the salt into one-kilo paper bags so he could easily trade them away. He knew that the best items that he could use to trade in a backwards world were salt and spices.

  Since he didn’t want the old priest to shoo him away, he gifted the priest one of his one-kilo salt wrapped in paper and gestured at the man that it was something to be eaten. The old priest unwrapped the salt and was startled to see the white salt. The priest tasted the salt, and the old man's eyes grew wide. The old priest quickly wrapped the salt again and hid it inside his clothes.

  Based on the old priest’s reaction, the salt was probably extremely valuable, and it was probably a mistake for Flinx to give a kilo of it to the old man.