Free Web NovelChapter 5: Arrival in Valoria
Adam followed Elena and Lyriana as they gradually approached their destination.
As the morning wore on, the road became increasingly busy.
Merchant caravans traveled in both directions.
Armored adventurers returned from missions.
Peasant women hauled goods on carts.
Even a few half-humans appeared from time to time among the travelers.
"Looks like we’re approaching an important city," Adam observed.
"We are," Elena replied with a smile.
Thanks to her full recovery, their progress had been much faster than expected.
They had saved almost a whole day of travel.
Shortly before noon, the road finally left the wilderness.
Then Adam finally saw the walls.
"Wow..."
A vast city rose before them.
Mighty stone ramparts surrounded the entire city.
Tall watchtowers dominated the surrounding area.
Banners bearing the duchy’s emblem fluttered in the wind.
The main gate stood wide open.
A long line of travelers waited to enter.
Armored guards methodically checked each arrival.
And, as was the case almost everywhere in this world, the guards were all women.
"Welcome to Valoria," Elena announced.
Adam stood for a few seconds, admiring the city.
It was the first real city he had seen since his reincarnation.
And it far surpassed anything he had imagined.
As they approached the gates, several guards immediately looked up.
"Lady Elena!"
One of them immediately left her post to come and meet them.
"We received a report of your disappearance!" "I’m fine," Elena replied.
The guards breathed a sigh of relief.
Then their gaze fell on Adam.
"And him?"
Adam felt several suspicious glances turn toward him.
Before he could answer, Lyriana spoke.
"He’s the one who saved Lady Elena."
Silence fell immediately.
The guards’ expressions changed.
"You saved the young duchess?"
"Uh... yes."
The guard stared at him for a few seconds before bowing their heads slightly.
"In that case, the duchy owes you."
After a few questions about the attack, the guards finally let them in.
However, a problem immediately arose.
"Your identification?"
Adam froze.
"I don’t have any."
The guard sighed.
"Just as I thought."
Luckily, Elena intervened immediately.
"I vouch for him."
Lyriana nodded as well.
"Me too."
The guards exchanged a glance.
Then they led Adam to an administrative building located near the gates.
When they arrived at the registration desk near the gates, several guards immediately greeted Elena.
"Lady Elena!" "
The young woman simply nodded before indicating Adam.
"This man must be registered. He has no official documents."
The officer in charge nodded.
"Of course. We will proceed with the status check."
But before she could continue, Elena raised her hand.
"No."
The guard blinked.
"Lady Elena?"
"This procedure will be entirely private."
The young noblewoman’s tone left no room for discussion.
"I do not wish to have any witnesses."
The officer hesitated.
"But the regulations..."
"I take full responsibility for this decision."
Silence fell for a few seconds.
Then the guard bowed.
"As you order."
Elena then looked at Lyriana.
"Can you handle this?" "
The dark elf nodded.
"Of course."
A few minutes later, all the guards had left the room.
Even the officer in charge had left.
The room was now completely empty.
Only Adam, Elena, and Lyriana remained.
In the center of the room stood the Identification Stone.
A massive slab covered in glowing runes.
Adam observed the scene curiously.
"You’re really taking this seriously."
Elena crossed her arms.
"You have no papers."
"Yes."
"You appeared out of nowhere."
"Yes..."
"And you possess several things that I already consider abnormal."
Adam chose not to answer.
Lyriana approached the stone.
"Place your hand here."
Adam did so.
The runes lit up instantly.
A soft light flowed across the stone.
Then several pieces of information began to appear.
Lyriana observed them calmly.
For three seconds.
Then four.
Then five.
Before reading them a second time.
Then a third.
Elena immediately noticed her reaction.
"What is it?"
The dark elf slowly raised her eyes.
"I understand why you wanted to keep this a secret."
Adam felt a bad feeling.
"Is it that serious?"
Lyriana ignored the question.
"A blessing."
"Of course."
"Five skills."
Elena remained silent.
Even though she had already expected it, hearing it confirmed was different.
"Which ones?"
Lyriana continued reading.
"Analysis."
"Definition."
"Dagger Mastery."
"Strong Body."
"Healing."
Silence fell over the room.
Adam coughed slightly.
"Is that a lot?"
The two women looked at him.
"Yes."
The answer was immediate.
"A lot."
Adam grimaced.
"Ah."
Lyriana continued.
Then her eyes narrowed.
"Her stats are even stranger."
Elena approached.
A few seconds later, she too froze.
"Impossible..."
"That’s exactly what I thought."
Adam was beginning to regret agreeing to this test.
"Could someone explain this to me?"
Lyriana pointed at the stone.
"Your stamina is absurd."
"Really?"
"For your level, yes."
Elena nodded.
"Even some experienced adventurers have less than you."
"Not to mention her strength," Lyriana added.
"And her intelligence."
Adam remained silent.
He was beginning to understand why they were reacting this way.
Thankfully...
The system wasn’t showing up anywhere.
Neither the Satisfaction Points.
Nor the Shop.
Nor the Draw.
Not even the Satisfaction Return Talent.
Only his blessing and skills were visible.
After a few moments, Elena sighed deeply.
"Good."
She looked at Lyriana.
"This information stays between us."
"Obviously."
"No one else is supposed to see this."
"I agree."
Adam immediately agreed.
"Excellent idea."
Lyriana then conjured up an administrative tablet.
Then she began filling in the official information.
Since no documents existed for Adam, several fields were created from the available information.
A few minutes later, a metal card appeared thanks to a small magical device connected to the stone.
Lyriana retrieved it before handing it to Adam.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kingdom Identity Card
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Adam
Title: None
Nobility Rank: None
Date of Birth: Officially Estimated
Place of Birth: Valoria
Occupation: Unaffiliated
Guild: None
Titles: None
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adam studied the card.
"Is that all?"
"That’s all you need."
Lyriana nodded.
"During future checks, the guards will only verify your ID and criminal record."
"Won’t my skills be displayed?"
"No."
"My level?"
"No, neither will it."
Adam sighed with relief.
Then he looked up.
Elena and Lyriana were still staring at him.
With the exact same strange expression.
Like two treasure hunters who had just discovered a hidden treasure.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" "
The two women immediately looked away.
"We’re not looking at you," Elena replied.
"Yes, we are."
"Not at all," Lyriana added.
"Yes, we are."
This time, even the dark elf was unable to reply.
And for the first time since arriving in this world, Adam felt as though he had become the target of something far more dangerous than monsters.
Once the formalities were completed, they finally left the administrative office.
This time, Adam could truly explore the city.
And what he saw exceeded all his expectations.
The streets were clean.
The stone buildings seemed solid and well-maintained.
Canals ran through some of the districts.
Fountains were working everywhere.
"This is much more advanced than I expected."
Elena smiled.
"Magic helps a lot."
Adam observed a house equipped with running water.
"Wait... there’s actually running water in houses?"
"Of course."
"How?"
Lyriana then took a small, bluish crystal from her pocket.
"Thanks to monster cores."
Adam immediately recognized the object.
"The cores we collected from the goblins?"
"Exactly."
"I thought they were only used for alchemy."
The two women shook their heads.
"They have a lot of uses."
Elena continued:
"Once enchanted, they can serve as a source of magical energy."
"This one is Water-type."
Lyriana showed the bluish crystal.
"It naturally produces water." "
Adam frowned.
"Does it need to be powered with mana?"
"No."
The dark elf shook her head.
"The core already contains mana."
She rotated the crystal between her fingers.
"After all, it’s a monster’s mana core."
"It acts like a magical battery."
Adam understood immediately.
"So the mana is stored inside?"
"Exactly."
Elena nodded.
"Enchantments aren’t used to provide energy."
"Then what are they used for?"
"For conversion and control."
Seeing his questioning look, she continued:
"A water core naturally contains Water attribute mana."
"Through enchantments, this energy can be used to produce water in a stable and controlled way." "
Adam nodded.
"So the core provides the energy, and the enchantment determines how it’s used."
"That’s exactly right."
Lyriana smiled.
"Without enchantment, the mana would simply dissipate over time."
"Or cause unpredictable elemental phenomena, depending on its quality."
Adam studied the crystal with renewed interest.
"And how long can a core last?"
"It depends on its size, its quality, and the amount of mana it contains."
"A small goblin core can last a few months."
"A core from a powerful monster can power a house for several years."
Adam’s eyes widened.
"Several years?"
"Yes."
Elena gestured toward the neighboring houses.
"Most of the houses have a water core connected to their system." "That’s what allows us to have running water."
Adam looked at the city streets with new eyes.
Since his arrival, he had thought he was in a classic medieval world.
But the more he discovered about magic, the more he realized that some technologies surpassed even those of his old world.
"And when a core is empty?"
"You replace it or recharge it."
"Some professions specialize in this."
Adam immediately memorized this information.
So cores weren’t just hunting trophies.
They were one of the civilization’s most important resources.
"Water cores are the most sought after for housing."
"Fire cores are highly prized by blacksmiths."
"Wind cores are often used in ventilation systems, windmills, or certain magical vehicles." "
"As for earth cores, they are widely used in construction."
Adam immediately thought back to the few kernels he’d scavenged from the goblins.
At the time, he’d seen them as nothing more than simple loot.
Now, he understood that he might be carrying the equivalent of several months’ worth of comfort for an ordinary family.
This world was definitely becoming more and more interesting.
Finally, they left the merchant quarters.
The streets became wider.
The buildings more luxurious.
The guards more numerous.
"The noble district," Elena explained.
Adam looked up.
In the center of the city stood a massive fortified mansion.
More like a small castle than a simple residence.
Dozens of knights stood guard.
Officials were constantly coming and going.
"Is this it?"
"Yes."
A slight smile appeared on Elena’s face.
"Welcome to the Valoria Mansion." "
Then his expression became slightly more nervous.
"And now..."
"Now what?"
"Now I have to explain to my mother how I disappeared for several days before returning with a mysterious man."
Adam stopped abruptly.
"Ah."
For some unknown reason, this prospect suddenly seemed far more dangerous than the goblins from the previous night.
And at that same instant, his Analyze skill activated briefly.
" ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Alert
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Presence detected
Estimated level:
????
Danger:
Very High
Location:
Valoria Manor
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adam felt a bead of sweat trickle down his back.
"I think your mother is going to be scarier than the assassins."
Elena burst out laughing.
Lyriana, however, remained perfectly serious.
"That’s a possibility."
Which was anything but reassuring.
