Dan opened his eyes only to almost immediately close them. Honest-to-God daylight pounded down on him and his headache really didn’t appreciate it. After waiting a couple seconds, he reopened his eyes. Unfortunately, Alpha Centauri was still there, peeking around the corner of Tanloff. He debated closing his eyes again and trying to sleep off the brief day, but ultimately decided against it. As far as he could remember, they were stuck in the wastelands, and he didn’t know how the rest of the party had fared in the aftermath of the battle with Ishlar and his cronies.
With a struggle, he pushed the fur blanket that passed for a medieval sleeping bag off of himself and sat up. His headache cranked up its intensity, but at least now Dan had a decent view of his surroundings. They were still in the wasteland, and at some point the rest of the party had arranged their bedding in a circle. Andrea was untouched, but Emily now sported a large blood-stained bandage on her left bicep. Nora didn’t seem to be sporting any real injuries, but she had bags under her eyes and seemed to stare somewhat blankly off into space until she noticed that he was awake.
“Gran doseen bilst!” she shouted excitedly, hurrying over to him. Even her words and actions seemed dull and tired. She put her hand on his shoulder before beginning to speak further. “Stran dar rastoon, jassel ban stallas.”
“I’m sorry, but I lost my helmet,” he replied, miming putting something on his head. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Even speaking a couple sentences hurt. It probably had something to do with the nanites not having enough raw material to completely fix his broken nose, but he couldn’t help but worry that it at least had something to do with aftereffects from the process of ranking up. He sure didn’t remember his arms and legs aching nearly this much before he went under.
She cocked her head and began speaking to him again. Once again it came out as a stream of gibberish. Dan sighed as he tried to recall the basics of learning a new language. He had learned Spanish in highschool, but he hadn’t ever been terribly good at it. His mom had gotten him some “how to learn French” audiobooks back when she was in the middle of one of her attempts to culture him, but he hadn’t gotten more than a couple minutes into them. He barely even knew the nuances of English syntax and grammar. Rather, he just said what sounded right and hoped that he didn’t end up sounding like some sort of back-woods hooligan. In short, he didn’t even know where to begin with learning a new language.
Syntax and basic sentence structure analyzed
Beginning analysis of vocabulary, currently at 2%.
Dan stood up, ignoring generalized ache in his body and the pounding in his skull. At least he had the System to assist him. It didn’t seem like an immediate solution, but it was still better than him accidentally asking someone why they were wearing a cat or insulting their mother’s duck or something of that sort. He reached for his flask, hoping for some water to wash the blood from his face and neck, only to frown when he couldn’t find it. At a minimum, he was going to need food and water so the System could fix his body up. It looked like it was time for him to rely upon his much-maligned charades skills. It wasn’t his fault that everyone at the last holiday party thought that his rendition of a car, a bicycle, and Sean Connery all looked like “an epileptic fit.”
“Do we have any food or something to drink,” he enunciated slowly while miming bringing a spoon to his mouth.
Nora cocked her head at him and blushed. Emily burst out laughing, slapping her knee with her good hand. Dan swore to himself. Maybe he should have taken those community theater classes his Mom had tried to get him into. His charades skills were officially zero for two.
Nora certainly hoped that it was Dan’s head wound that had encouraged him to request a crude sex act on him. If not, she was more than willing to encourage the process along. That sort of “joke” had been a large part of the reason why Ishlar needed to die. Well, that and being a likely agent of a hostile foreign power. The Alliance of Free cities tried to stay out of the eyes of all major powers, and if that meant an agent or spy occasionally disappearing, well, Twilight was a dangerous place. Even if someone put two and two together and realized that adventurers from the major powers had a suspiciously hard time in the lands of the Alliance, they still had plausible deniability. Just like the Alliance couldn’t seize spies from a neighbor on suspicion that they were gathering information, those powers couldn’t complain too loudly when their assets had frequent “accidents.” It was all part of the bloody game the rulers played to maintain the balance of power and keep the peace.
Daniel started speaking again, motioning towards his mouth and making a chewing motion. At least that was fairly straightforward. She opened her pack and handed him a shank of dried and salted monster meat. The stuff didn’t taste all that good, but it kept well. Now that Ishlar’s reserves had been added to their own, the party had more than enough of the somewhat-unpleasant jerky.
She glanced at the pile of rocks where Andrea had made a cairn for Ishlar and his companions. Nora had never taken the other woman for the religious or superstitious type, but as soon as the final member of Ishlar’s party had fallen, she insisted on giving them a proper, if scant, burial. Some people insisted that the unburied bodies of those who died outside of the sanctuary runes would lead to ghosts or spirits, but Nora had never believed. There were enough very real problems with the world without focusing on the unverified and mystical. Between ordinary monsters and the stalkers, gaunts, and behemoths that prowled the night, every story of a spirit sighting had a logical explanation.
Sure, zombies were real, but they were simply the result of a parasite passed through blood and other bodily fluids taking over the nervous system of a dead body. As for the rest? Those were stories told around a campfire and encouraged by the various churches to try to shore up their power. After all, if everyone has the potential to gain enough mana to fight monsters, what need would the average person have for the divine? It was perfectly logical and cynical that the priests would invent a new foe that ignored magic and steel. Supposedly, only holy relics and faith could repel spirits and ghosts. At least, that’s what the priests said while passing around the collection tin.
“Pfak dt ff water?” Daniel croaked out at her, smiling hopefully as he mimed bringing a glass to his mouth.
“This time, it might be water that he wants,” Emily chuckled. Standing next to her, the prudish Andrea scowled.
“Even if his translation runes are broken, he still shouldn’t have mimicked such a crude gesture,” she interjected, blushing again as she glared at Daniel. “Whatever he wanted, there surely was a better hand motion for him to use.”
“Unless, he really did want Nora to–” Emily tried to speak over her sister, only to be shushed once again.
“Despite what we were told, Dan isn’t some sort of monster.” Andrea’s glare transferred to Emily. “He might not have the first clue what he’s doing, and he might have a bit of a bloodlust issue, but he’s been a perfect gentleman to all of us for the entirety of the mission.”
“I don’t know, he’s kinda cute in a skinny and disheveled sort of way,” Emily shrugged. “I just figured that Nora had dibs with the way they’ve been going back and forth. I mean, he’d have to buy me a couple drinks first, but we have a dangerous job. You’ve gotta blow off steam somehow.”
“Emily, you’re absolutely disgusting.” Andrea shook her head while Nora turned bright red. “We haven’t even known the man for a week, and already you’re making a pass at him. At least get to know him and his family first. I’m not ready to be an aunt yet.”
“Oh I don’t know about dating him,” Emily grinned, pointedly ignoring everyone else’s discomfort. “I’m just saying that after a couple drinks, sometimes things happen up against the wall behind the bar. Just a couple of adults having fun.”
“No bar, no alcohol,” Dan was speaking again. Strangely enough his mouth kept moving long after he stopped speaking. Rather than his voice, a strangely neutral and toneless voice spoke for him. “Need water, not copulate.”
“Shit!” This time Emily ended up blushing. “I thought you didn’t speak the language, what in the blazes is going on?”
“Use skill to translate.” His voice was still toneless, despite his rather animated face and hands. “I learn as you speak. Slow, but it works. Please need water. No need copulate. Body hurts; not good idea.”
Everyone stood frozen staring at Daniel as he made another motion of drinking from a cup of water. It was impossible for him to have learned the language. Yet, here he was. Then, she realized the conversation he had intruded upon and blushed further.
“Well,” Emily said slowly, stretching the kinks out of her back. “Now that I’ve accidentally crudely propositioned my boss, I’m going to find a river and walk into it. It’s been good working with all of you. Make sure my gravestone is tasteful. Maybe something about my boundless strength and honor. Preferably no reference to this.”
For the first time in a while, Andrea started laughing. Daniel frantically made another water-drinking motion. Nora shook her head, eyes unfocused. This couldn’t be happening. Everything was supposed to be under control, but this was chaos. If Daniel heard Emily, he might think that she had feelings for him and…
Her thoughts fizzled a bit. It wasn’t like she had any feelings for him. Really, the main reason she was spending time with him was that he was suspicious, and he had potential. Either way, it was her duty to use her charm skill to gain information on him and to see if he could be brought over to the Alliance.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and handed him her water flask. As he drank greedily from it, she reflected on the fact that he had even partially learned the language so quickly. Although it would be for the best if he didn’t understand Emily, no one should have been able to even learn the basics of the language that quickly. She concentrated on ramping up the power of her skill. Daniel had his share of secrets, and she was going to figure out what they were if it was the end of her.
