Game Master in Another World

After dropping off the sealed letter to Lady Evelyn, we bought some overpriced street food for lunch. We had the option of a free, gourmet meal back at our inn, but it felt entirely wrong to eat so lavishly while the rest of the city was starving.

The next day, Juliana and Toby headed out to one of the poorer districts. The cobblestone streets were filthy, lined with hollow-eyed, hungry beggars. Juliana approached a young woman huddled against a cold stone wall. She was clutching a frail, crying baby to her chest, her own eyes dark and sunken.

“Would you like some food?” Juliana asked gently.

The woman looked up, her voice barely a whisper. “Yes, please.”

Juliana cast her familiar druidic spell, manifesting glowing berries in her palm. She plucked one and passed it to the shivering woman.

“Here you go. This will fill your belly for the entire day,” Juliana said with a warm smile.

The woman took the berry cautiously and placed it in her mouth. Almost immediately, the tension drained from her body, replaced by a profound sense of relief.

“Thank you. You must be an angel sent to help us in these dire times.”

Juliana beamed. “If by angel you mean a messenger from my Lord, then yes.”

Again with this, I groaned internally. She was actively trying to form a religion around my existence, and it was getting incredibly uncomfortable.

“What is your god’s name, so I may pay my respects?” the woman asked.

I aggressively seized control of our body. “I am sorry, but I cannot give you His name. For now, you should just pay your respects to the Solvarn,” I insisted, forcing a polite, painfully stiff smile onto our face.

We left the grateful woman and continued down the street. I relinquished control, and Juliana stopped for the most desperate-looking citizens, producing more berries until her magical reserves were completely exhausted. Even then, we barely made a dent in the problem. There were simply too many starving people, and a single druid could not feed them all.

The rest of the day was spent safely back at the inn, teaching Toby how to read. As a proper page, literacy was going to be a strict requirement. Juliana had borrowed a few beginner-friendly books from the Mage Tower library, covering subjects like The History of the Nhalyri and Faie’s Guide to Illusions.

The following day was much the same: venturing out to feed the poorest citizens until our magic ran dry, and then returning to teach Toby his letters. I successfully managed to keep my own name out of the public consciousness, but our charity had unintended consequences. Juliana rapidly developed a fierce reputation as a divine savior, resulting in desperate crowds actually beginning to worship her instead.

In the afternoon, we collected our new clothing. Toby’s everyday outfit was incredibly sturdy and practically designed. He let out a massive sigh of relief as he pulled it on, clearly thrilled by the newfound comfort it afforded him.

Juliana, however, seemed distinctly miserable in her new red dress. For the first time since I met her, her face finally lost that unnerving, permanent smile. She stared longingly at the folded pile of her simple druidic robes sitting in the corner.

Despite her internal agony, glancing in the full-length mirror, she looked absolutely stunning. The deep crimson fabric fit her tall Nhalyri frame perfectly, and the cut complemented her flawless features. The dressmaker stood back, nodding with deep, professional satisfaction.

“Thank you for your hard work on these garments. You’ve done a phenomenal job,” I said, taking control to compliment the woman.

“You are most welcome. I believe you show off the shop's craftsmanship quite well. If you wouldn’t mind, when people ask, please tell them you purchased it here,” the dressmaker replied proudly.

I released control back to Juliana. She nodded politely, though her face remained unusually flat. “I will endeavor to promote your shop for you.”

The dressmaker bowed deeply.

We left the store in our new outfits, Juliana entirely devoid of her divine cheer. It was fascinating; it seemed there was finally something in this world that could break her absolute, unrelenting happiness.

She garnered a massive amount of attention on the short walk back to the inn. Several pedestrians practically tripped over themselves staring at her as she walked by. One man in particular stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth hanging completely open without even trying to hide it.

The second we returned to our room, Juliana sat down heavily in a wooden chair and let out a long, weary sigh.

“I much prefer to draw attention because of who I am, rather than what I look like,” she remarked quietly.

Toby, on the other hand, had a giant grin on his face. “I hope to never need to wear those stuffy clothes again,” he declared, unceremoniously tossing his expensive tailored suit onto the floor.

Juliana was miraculously quick to change back into her druidic clothes, letting out a genuine, profound sigh of relief as she felt the familiar, coarse fabric against her skin.

The next day, Juliana set out early, once again leaving Toby behind despite his loud protests. Today was going to be entirely too dangerous to have him anywhere near us.

As we walked out through the main gate, the early morning sun was just kissing the horizon. The road was quiet. We didn't bother to conjure any concealing fog this time; our approach today was going to be loud and abrupt.

Approaching the village limits, we quickly spotted two guards at the entrance. Both were leaning heavily on their spears, barely alert in the morning chill.

As we closed the distance, the first guard finally spotted us. He immediately snapped to attention, rousing the other guard in the process. He seemed genuinely startled by the sight of a lone Nhalyri woman casually strolling toward a military blockade.

Juliana approached calmly, her serene, unwavering smile fixed perfectly on her face.

Once we were close enough, the first guard brandished his weapon and shouted, “HALT!”

Juliana kept walking.

He continued to shout, “No closer, or you’ll be killed!”

Again, Juliana completely ignored him.

We stepped within five meters of him, and he lowered his spear, leveling the iron tip at our chest.

Juliana simply flicked her wrist. She cast her entangling spell, and thick roots burst from the earth, violently binding the guard in place.

The soldier immediately started panicking, dropping his weapon. “No, no, no! Please, don’t kill me!”

Seeing the magic, the second soldier dropped his spear and sprinted back into the village in absolute terror.

“I am sorry, but I must kill you to save the innocent children in the city,” Juliana said sweetly. “Do not worry, I will make this exceptionally quick.”

With one fluid slash of her scimitar, his head was removed. The magical vines released, and his lifeless body fell to the dirt like a dropped sack of potatoes.

From my passenger seat in our mind, I still found the visceral violence ugly to watch. But this brutal world had quickly helped me realize that it was, in fact, entirely necessary.

“Now then. I suspect his friends should be arriving any moment,” Juliana murmured to herself.

She looked up at the clear sky and began chanting another incantation. Dark, heavy storm clouds rapidly boiled into existence directly overhead. The deafening crack of thunder erupted across the sky, and freezing rain began to fall in massive, heavy droplets.

Just as she predicted, twenty more soldiers poured out from the village buildings, charging toward us. Several of them wore noticeably higher-quality armor.

Juliana fixed her gaze on the outermost men. Blinding bolts of white-hot lightning struck down from the unnatural storm in rapid succession. Crack-crack-crack! Ten men dropped instantly, their armor smoking.

The remaining soldiers began to waver, skidding to a halt in the mud, but their heavily armored leader shouted over the storm. “We just need to get close to her! Keep charging!”

Again, more bolts of lightning rained down. The continuous, deafening roar of the thunder was so close it physically hurt our ears, and the flash-blinding light illuminated the slaughter.

Soon, only the unit leader stood before us. Letting out a war cry, he lunged, trying to run us through with his heavy broadsword.

“You devil! I’ll take you down right here!” he roared.

We dodged his heavy, predictable swing easily. Juliana pointed a finger at his chest and called down a bolt of lightning straight through him.

He ground to a halt, groaning loudly as the massive surge of electricity arced over his metal plating. But shockingly, his high stats prevailed, and he managed to regain his footing, breathing heavily.

“Do you think that is enough to take me down, devil?!” the leader spat, raising his sword again.

Juliana tilted her head. “I see. I apologize, this will not be a quick death for you, then.”

She raised her hand and mercilessly called down ten consecutive bolts of lightning directly onto his head. By the fifth strike, he had collapsed completely to the ground, the remaining five strikes relentlessly charring his blackened body into ash.

She looked down at the smoking remains. “I am sorry for your pain. But rest well now, knowing that your death helps aid the good people of the city.”

Juliana scanned the perimeter. Two surviving soldiers were watching the massacre from a distance. The moment she locked eyes with them, they dropped their weapons and turned to flee. A precision lightning bolt struck each of them in the back, causing both to collapse into the mud, motionless.

Juliana casually walked through the rest of the village, the heavy rain washing the blood from the road. We saw no more signs of any living soldiers. With a wave of her hand, she dismissed her spell.

Just as quickly as the dark clouds had appeared, they dissipated, revealing a perfectly peaceful blue sky once more. The only remaining evidence of the slaughter was the sharp, metallic smell of ozone in the air, and the quiet village streets, partially flooded with rainwater and corpses.

After five minutes of waiting in the quiet, damp village, we spotted a massive caravan of carts approaching from the north, escorted by several riders on horseback. The slow-moving line of wagons snaked completely out of sight, disappearing into the distant treeline of a giant forest.

After another fifteen minutes, the head of the caravan finally reached us. It was Captain Grisham.

“Hail there, Lady Juliana. I take it you had success today?”

Juliana nodded her head. “Indeed I did. I managed to remove the blockade without much trouble.”

Juliana’s unnerving, unblinking smile seemed to make Captain Grisham slightly uncomfortable, and he quickly looked away.

“Well, that is good news. Have you moved the corpses off the road so the wagons can progress?”

Of course, I groaned internally. We had just spent the last twenty minutes standing around doing absolutely nothing. We should have cleared the path. In a video game, bodies simply despawned. Here, they were fleshy, armored roadblocks.

“No, I am sorry. It did not cross my mind,” Juliana responded cheerfully.

“That is fine. My men can handle it for you.” Captain Grisham motioned two of his vanguard forward, sending them into the village with grim orders to drag the charred remains out of the mud.

Once the path was clear, the carts began to slowly flow through the village. The sheer number of them was staggering, and each one was heavily laden with vital food and supplies. I could see now exactly why Charon said it was going to take a full four hours to get the entire convoy through this chokepoint.

Watching them roll past, I had absolutely no idea how we were going to safely send all these empty carts and vulnerable drivers back out of the city later. But then I remembered the grim timeline proposed by Minister Darius. With the Forlinth army set to launch a massive, full-scale siege on the city in less than five days, it likely wouldn’t matter. These carts, and everyone driving them, were going to be trapped in the city for a while.

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