Growth Hero

by Brent Tyman

  It even had a golden door handle. Then again, I didn’t know if this world value gold all that highly. It took me a moment to realize it, but there was someone else in the carriage.

  Along one of the seats, lay a woman who looked so pale, I was half sure she’d already passed. Her breathing was terribly shallow and her cheeks were sunken—she appeared to be little more than flesh and bones.

  Could this be the Lady that Doyle had been talking about all this time?

  “If you know the spell, then I will permit you to get close to her,” the woman said, but then she put her fists on her hips and narrowed her eyes at me.

  “But if you dare harm her, well… Doyle and his men will be the least of your worries.”

  That was a threat if ever I had heard one. And from the first woman I had met in this world, no less. What happened to her sad demeanor from before?

  This all felt a little off to me.

  For my first day in this fantasy world, at least there’d been some unique events. Though I would have much preferred just beginning in a starter town, with a quest to hunt the odd boar for experience.

  I told myself to knock it off and focused on the sick woman. With clear and deliberate steps, I closed the distance to the pale woman and kneeled down so that her face was at eye level.

  “What happened to her?” I asked.

  “Some kind of poison or curse did this to her,” the robed woman said from behind me. “We have tried every healing potion and all common healing spells in the city, but none have worked. It’s why we placed so much hope in that book.”

  Doyle chipped in from outside the carriage.

  “The Dynamic Healing spell should cure what ails her. All you need to do, is use it.”

  I looked back to see the woman whirl on Doyle in a rage.

  “Why does he have the dynamic healing spell? What have you done?” she shouted.

  Both of them began to argue about the bandits and recent events, while I turned my attention back to the sickly woman. In all honesty, I had never seen someone so close to death’s door—well, except for that bandit, but I didn’t think he should count. This woman’s life hung by a thread, and I resolved to do all I could to help her.

  It was simply the right thing to do.

  I wanted to ask the robed woman how to use the spell, but she was in a full-blown shouting match with Doyle and seemed indisposed for the immediate future.

  “Right. Just… alright,” I whispered to myself. “Use the spell. Come on Alex… figure it out.”

  How did any of my RPG characters use their spells in my games? Hot bars and keystroke combinations came to mind, but I doubted that would help me here. Some of the fancier VR companies sometimes boasted of full-blown voice recognition in their games. Would that apply to this real-life magical world?

  I tried to see if there were any blue windows I could summon that might just tell me the answer, but the best I got was that when I said ‘Spells’, it displayed the name and brief description of the dynamic healing spell again, with no indication of how to use it.

  Sometimes it felt like this system was trying its best not to help me out…

  Throwing caution to the wind, I spoke the spell’s name out loud.

  “Dynamic Healing.” I whispered.

  Absolutely nothing happened, and I wanted to throw a shoe at both Doyle and the robed woman. They were still arguing over who was responsible for losing that damn book.

  “If you had kept your men in line and left the book in the carriage, none of this would have happened!” the robed woman screeched.

  “The bandits were literally crawling all over us and my men were stretched thin as they were!” Doyle retorted.

  I turned away and shook my head; it looked like I was on my own.

  “I’ll figure it out,” I muttered to the pale woman before me. “I promise.”

  After reviewing the different ways to activate spells in my head from my extensive experience playing a multitude of RPG’s, and casting aside the notion that I wouldn’t be able to do this because of my low stats, I tried again.

  Feeling that intent was most likely the answer, I reached out and laid my hand on the woman’s forehead and simply willed the spell to work. This mostly meant I kept repeating ‘Dynamic Healing’ over and over in my head. I let out a growl of frustration when that produced no results.

  “Dynamic Healing!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  Instantly, the bickering behind me stopped.

  I didn’t even get a moment to appreciate the blessed quiet, when my hand seized up on the woman. It was like someone had activated a powerful magnetic attraction between my hand and her forehead.

  I wasn’t able to move my arm at all.

  A bright green light erupted from my hand and enveloped my sight. Pain lanced up my hand, through my arm, and straight to my head. An electric jolt burned through my body—as if I had just touched a live wire.

  It proved too much for me and my eyes rolled upwards, back into my head. My entire world turned a stark white for a split second. After the blinding light, my vision faded into cold darkness.

  My last waking thought before the black tide overwhelmed me, was that spell books should have some fine print on the cover—warning schmucks like me that healing spells can cause apocalyptic levels of pain to the healer.

  This world really really needed a damn tutorial…

  4

  When I finally woke, I could hear faint echoes of rumbling, as well as what appeared to be the occasional sound of a horse’s whinny. Judging by how my head rattled on the thin seat cushion, I was fairly sure the carriage was on the move.

  The fact that I was able to even piece that together surprised me, since I still felt absolutely terrible. Almost as if I had gone through quite a traumatic experience. Either that, or I had the mother of all hangovers.

  The memory of such pain was not something I ever wanted to revisit, so I settled for prying my eyes open instead. Light shone through and after a few blinks to clear a vaguely blurry image, what I was saw, left me breathless.

  The face of an extremely beautiful woman dominated my vision and I froze to admire her. Her cheekbones were perfectly sculpted, her eyes were a startling, bright shade of emerald green. Heck, even her lips looked like an artist’s painting of exquisitely plush lips.

  Dark brown hair fell from her shoulder and small strands tickled my face as she leaned over me, but I didn’t have the heart to protest. Not that any sane man would, not with this level of beauty in front of them.

  “He’s awake,” she said in a velvety smooth voice, turning her head away for just a moment.

  When her eyes locked back onto mine, she smiled. “How do you feel? Is there any lingering pain?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” I said when I finally got control of myself and closed my mouth. It had been sitting agape this entire time.

  “Uhh… what’s happening? Where am I?”

  If she told me I was in heaven, I wouldn’t have doubted her. Although it would have sucked to have my fantasy adventure cut short, after only a day.

  “We are currently on our way to Tringall. It shouldn’t be much longer until we arrive,” she said.

  Tringall was that city Doyle had mentioned if I recalled. I wish my mind would snap out of its haze.

  The woman lowered a hand to rest it on my shoulder, her fingertips brushing along my cheek.

  “Perhaps we should start with introductions,” she began. “I am Juliana Vos Tasberg, heir to the Tasberg Sovereignty. It is a genuine pleasure to meet my savior. May I have the honor of knowing your name?”

  I blinked at that and tried to process what she’d just said. I shouldn’t have been surprised that this woman was so well spoken, but I wasn’t sure how to respond.

  Usually, RPG’s had pre-written dialogues for me to select so I didn’t screw up initial introductions. I had never paid attention to the standard entry dialogues though, and was now kicking myself for that fact. T
here was one game where I’d even skipped through all the quest information as if I were in a dogged rush to be somewhere.

  I really regretted my haste, now.

  It was probably best I just speak how I normally did and hoped she didn’t take offense, although I wondered what this Tasberg Sovereignty business was all about. Likely some kind of kingdom in this world.

  “Yeah, my name’s Alex. Alex Augere. No fancy titles to add though.”

  Luckily, she laughed at that. Even her laughter was soothing. Man, this woman was something else entirely.

  “I wouldn’t call being an heir a fancy title in the city, but perhaps it is so. Do you feel well enough to sit up?”

  Sit up? What was she talking about?

  I move my head to the side and it suddenly dawned on me that while I was lying down, my head was literally laid across her lap. With a deft quickness, I bolted upwards and flipped my legs off the seat and back onto the floor of the carriage.

  The robed woman who had been shouting foul things at Doyle earlier was sitting across from us. She looked at me with slightly kinder eyes than she had before.

  “Is this the same carriage I was in before?” I asked as I looked around. It must have been, with all that gold trim along its frame.

  “Correct,” the robed woman said. “You have been unconscious for several hours now and it is approaching morning. You may call me Vencia.” She smiled at me. “Thank you for saving my Lady.”

  Oh yeah, that sickly woman from before.

  “Where is she anyway? I hope she’s doing okay with… whatever I did.” Not that I could really put into words what had happened. I didn’t remember much, other than the searing pain that had knocked me out cold.

  Both women look at me with puzzled eyes before Juliana’s grin caught my attention.

  “I am very well, thank you. Far better than I have ever felt before, which is a pleasant surprise after this ordeal,” she said.

  It took a moment before my brain caught up as I examined Juliana’s beautiful face; her features started to match the sickly woman’s, bit by bit.

  “That’s incredible,” I breathed. “You were literally one sneeze away from the end. That Dynamic Healing spell must be an absolute miracle.”

  “It isn’t the only miracle,” Vencia butted in, her soft features hardening. “What were you thinking, casting a spell so far out of your league? You’re lucky you didn’t burn out your ability to cast magic by that stunt, at the least.”

  Her voice gradually became louder, and I suddenly knew how it felt to be in Doyle’s boots.

  “Well, if you mean that my stats aren’t that high for magic casting…” I tried to explain, but she wasn’t done with her tirade.

  “That’s the understatement of the century! You were practically catatonic after casting the spell! Such recklessness is expected for my Lady from the soldiers, but from a stranger?”

  Strangely, she quieted down on her own and simply crossed her arms, frowning at me.

  “Why would you risk your life for my Lady when you clearly didn’t recognize her, and make no mistake, your life was moments away from the abyss.”

  As I’d thought, that pain had been the real deal. I really should have been more careful, in hindsight.

  “Well…” I muttered, not really sure what to say. “She looked like she needed help and I just knew I had to do something, no matter what.”

  There was silence for a moment before I found some soft hands resting on top of my own. I looked over to see Juliana smiling at me.

  “And I felt the same, when I awoke to find Vencia pouring all her magic into a stranger, trying to save you.”

  That was something I hadn’t expected, and my eyes widened as I listened to the women explain exactly what had happened after I’d passed out.

  It turned out that Dynamic Healing was a far more powerful spell than I was led to believe. Even if the description was lackluster, it was renowned as a sort of miracle, the range of ailments it could cure was a dense and long list.

  Heck, there was even a record of it healing someone that had been sliced in half by the hip. I wasn’t entirely sure how that could be healed but that was some power right there.

  I had been knocked out from what was known as Magic Poisoning. Luckily the women were fine with explaining in detail what all this meant. Since my magic stats were the very definition of low, I had overused my magic to such a large extent that the spell had started to eat away at my life force to compensate for a lack of magical power.

  The concept of life force was a bit strange to comprehend, but some RPG’s used the term, so it didn’t come as a total surprise. I just wasn’t sure if it was related to my soul, or simply some kind of vitality modifier.

  Another aspect of this world I’d have to look into at some point.

  After I’d passed out, my body had started wasting away in the carriage bit by bit, and Vencia had poured magical energy into me to stop the spell from consuming me whole.

  They told me it was enough to delay my death, but Vencia only had so much magical energy to give, hence why they had planned to give the book to a senior healer in the city who could draw upon huge amounts of magical power.

  Luckily for me, Juliana was also a mage, with what Vencia described as a terrifying amount of magical power. She poured her own magic into me to save my life.

  I was curious to know what sort of magical stats were needed to quantify for having ‘terrifying’ as a description for magical power. Juliana clearly was a capable mage, but it didn’t take a lot of smarts to know that Vencia was boasting pretty hard for her Lady.

  “You are lucky my Lady is such a renowned mage, else you would not be here today,” Vencia said.

  “Please, Vencia,” Juliana said. “It was the least I could do for my savior.”

  It took a while for all this new information to soak in, but I was well versed in RPG’s, light novels and mangas. The latter two sometimes had some pretty whacky ideas for how fantasy worlds should work, so this wasn’t all that difficult to follow.

  “I guess you’re my savior too, Juliana,” I smiled at her. “We saved each other.”

  She was silent for a moment, a look of astonishment on her face.

  “Yes,” she grinned back, “we did indeed.”

  God, those eyes were absolutely beautiful. Perfect emeralds. Not to mention her dress showed off one of the most shapely pair of breasts I’d ever laid eyes on. What a woman!

  “Uh, hmm,” Vencia coughed, interrupting my gaze. “We have almost arrived at the city, judging by the activity outside.”

  “Ahh, perfect,” Juliana clapped, turning to me. “Would you like to visit the manor with me, Alex. I’m sure…”

  “My lady!” Vencia shouted, then stared daggers at her. “Your father wouldn’t allow a stranger inside the Clan house. It isn’t proper.”

  “My father should be thanking the Gods I survived at all,” Juliana grumped, but she deflated a little with a sigh. “But yes, he would not allow it. At least not while he remains in the city. Once he has gone back to the capital, however…”

  While I wanted to listen in on the two women, outside the window, this carriage had a view of the land outside that was nothing short of breathtaking.

  Before us lay a massive city, the likes of which I had never seen. The walls looked like they were made of pure obsidian, with a black so deep that small swirls of blue magical power occasionally became visible to the eye. I wondered if it was this world’s equivalent to electric fencing, since no one dared approach the walls.

  That was another thing, the amount of people outside was incredible—with a line for carriages on one side and several long lines for regular travelers on foot along the other.

  I sighed in relief. This world was as fantastical as I’d hoped it would be and I couldn’t wait to go exploring. Part of me wanted to just hop out of the carriage, right now, and test to see if that wall worked like an electric fence. If it did, I couldn’t wait to see
what other sorts of solutions magic provided this world.

  “Alex!” Vencia’s sharp voice pierced my ears, and I turned to see her scowling at me.

  “Yes?”

  “My Lady asked if there is anywhere we can drop you off in the city?”

  “Oh, the front gates would be ideal. This is my first time here, so I want to see everything,” I said, turning my attention back to the window.

  “I see,” Juliana’s voice said from behind me. “You did mention that, I recall.”

  While they had explained everything about the Magic Poisoning I had endured, Juliana had been really interested in my origins, so I let spill that I had never been to such a large city. I wasn’t about to admit to something as outrageous as that I was from another world, though.

  I figured it was best to come up with something plausible so as not to attract too much suspicion. I went through a backlog of origin stories from a variety of RPG’s that I could remember off the top of my head and now that I thought about it, what I had come up with was fairly tame.

  The story I went with was a classic. I admitted I’d wanted to travel all my life and had decided to leave my village to seek my fortune in the city. I didn’t go into specifics, such as claiming I was a farmer or anything—since my hands were too soft for that.

  I tried to keep things as vague as possible.

  I hoped they bought my story and didn’t ask too much more. While the women seemed nice, I couldn’t place all my eggs in one basket, just in case things went sideways. Plus, they would think I was crazy if I told them how I had come to be here.

  I wanted to avoid that.

  “Are you sure?” Juliana asked, “I could at least drop you off near the manor, where there aren’t too many people.”

  “Thank you, but the front gates will suffice and then I’ll be off,” I replied.

  I saw a cat girl, as I knew them, in the line of travelers, as well as all manner of races. This was truly incredible to see.

  Since I had played a host of video games, not to mention my avid reading of manga and watching anime, there was a good chance I’d see a lot of races that we didn’t have at home. The best thing about this, was that it would be a wholly different experience, meeting them for real, instead of in a game-world setting.