A sudden, cataclysmic clap of thunder, followed by the cry of a departed soul as a concentrated point of magic evaporates into the fabric of the world. Then, an uncontrollable wave of terror grips the souls of many. A veritable titan of the world, the mightiest of living beings, has been struck down in a single terrifying blow. Behind this thunder lingers a fiend of dark hair and dark eyes and a demonic presence of pitch black -the bringer of death-. The piercing gaze of the Couple of Death touches her…
The old woman jolts out of her trance, her heart pounding in her ears. She can't get her bearings right away, and it takes several moments before she can hear the voices calling to her; the people around her witnessing her premonition as the vision smoke fades. She clutches the arm touching her shoulder, trying to grip reality as she does everything she can to steady her breathing.
"...eer. Lady Dawnseer, what is it? What did you see?"
She continues panting, her old body feeling ready to give way and escape what is to come. She swallows hard as her assistant offers her water. She waves it off, still trying to catch her breath.
The King, the one who asked her to clarify the prophetic dreams spreading rumors through the kingdom, asks gently, "Lady Dawnseer?"
She waves her hand, nodding. She takes a breath and calms herself. Though terror still grips her soul, she is able to control her breathing, at least. "I saw… Death… No… Two. A man… and a woman. With… thunder… they struck down a dragon."
The ritual room falls eerily silent as the lords and ladies whispering cease all discussion and speculation of what the wisewoman saw. Magic has been a tool of the kingdom for many years, and with it, come many blessings. However, these same blessings, especially when peering into the future, can sometimes become akin to a curse.
It is the fourth month of the year 1841 of the Third Era -the Age of the Demon Tyrant-. The west has always been an unruly place inhabited by the wild tribes; demons, orcs, goblins, vampires, feralkin, and of course, the dragons. Comprising over 50% of the known world, the territory loosely united under the Demon Tyrant is the largest territory on the continent, and the furthest west one can go before reaching the ocean, with too much sea to sail across to verify what lies on the other side.
King Greydald asks the elderly woman, who specializes in her rather difficult and fairly unique fortune telling -which has proven accurate more times than not-, "Tell me, Lady Dawnseer; what of the war? What of the Empire's demands? What did you see?"
She looks at him with fear in her eyes. "I saw no war, your Majesty. I saw Death incarnate. Terror. Fear. Panic. Not the peak of a war, but an omen of destruction!" She begins coughing as her old body rebels against her fearful passion.
Her assistant hands her water once more, and she drinks it down quickly.
The nobles around the room begin to murmur, and Duke Alros asks urgently, "What does this mean? Do we surrender to the Empire's demands, or do we resist their call for more troops?"
Princess Heralesse, the eldest and Crown Princess, rises from her seat on the right hand side of the throne, "We don't have the resources or troops to spare. The dry season is setting in, and our canals and dikes are in serious need of repair."
Soon, the room is in uproar as the nobles protest the priorities, pushing for their own respective territorial challenges with the threat of lessened manpower.
The King waves his hand, trying to settle the ruckus, and he calls out, "Settle down, please. Settle down. Discord will serve us no better than ignorance."
The room falls quiet again, and Princess Erimaya raises her hand from her seat on the opposite side of the King's left side across the Queen herself. Greydald states, "What is it, Erimaya?"
She stands up eloquently, her petite and youthful form commanding the attention of the whole room. "Please excuse me, but I've read of something recently that has been used in the past by our kingdom for similar dire situations."
The King nods at her, "Speak, Princess."
She clears her throat and nods in turn, "Thank you, your Majesty. It was in an old tome in the library about ancient magic used by our kingdom. It spoke of a ritual that was used in the first era to fend off an invasion of spirit beasts that were destroying the kingdom."
One of the Earls asks in disbelief, "You mean a Divine Summons, your Highness?"
"A divine summons?" asks a Viscountess familiar with the upper houses. "No King has successfully performed a divine summons since that first era."
Erimaya nods respectfully. "Indeed. But, according to a looser interpretation of the text, accounting for how our language has evolved, it seems the First Era peoples were far more spiritual than we are now. That is to say, they seem to have relied on the judgment of the gods to aid them in the summons."
Duke Arlos remarks, "If that is the case, then how are we to know if our situation is dire enough for the intervention of the gods?"
Erimaya bows in deference. "A fair question, My Lord Arlos. It is merely something I read."
The King hums in thought, murmuring, "Regardless, the gods cannot pass judgment if we do not perform the ritual. Thank you, Erimaya. Does anyone have a more creative or sure suggestion?"
The room is quiet. It's clear that there is some doubt in the Princess's suggestion, but it has been held in historical writings of the Kingdom since those many long years ago for this exact reason; an attempt might lead to success. And, success could preserve the kingdom from even the most dire straits.
The king nods confidently. "Very well, then. Perhaps if this threat the Dawnseer sees is worse than the escalating war, the gods will look kindly upon us."
*************
Daniel starts the zero point procedure to reset the CNC mill he's working on to its starting position; X:0.0, Y:0.0, Z:0.0. He just finished a lengthy calibration on the machine for its preventative maintenance schedule. The company he works for makes a lot of specialized parts for niche markets under contract, which makes the CNC one of the most versatile machines they could hope for. Its ability to drill, cut, shape, and weld, depending on which tool head is equipped, allows a wide range of possibilities in the creation of parts.
And, while he's working on them, Daniel is in his own little world, protecting his ears from the constant noise around him with ear muffs to dampen the sound and safety glasses to protect his eyes. His focus is singularly on accomplishing his task, and it can be satisfying work.
But, CNC mills can also be finicky machines, particularly if the operators are careless with operations and don't follow their standard operating procedures.
"Daniel?" The voice sounds like shouting, but it's the foreman of the CNC bay Daniel is currently in calling out over the constant noise of the machines running.
"Yeah?" calls back Daniel, even though they're only a few feet apart. He slides one of his earmuffs off of his ear enough to be able to hear James better.
"Can you come take a look at line fourteen? Mill keeps faulting out."
Daniel sighs. "Again?"
"Yeah."
"I'm on it. What's it doing?" Daniel doesn't express his frustration more than exasperation. He has a few theories already, and James, the current shift's CNC foreman, isn't the one who caused the issue.
"Failing part alignment. We tried zero point checks, but it failed those too."
Daniel groans softly. The turret -the main moving part- is out of alignment. Whatever the cause, he'll likely have to do another full alignment. If the turret is damaged, he'll have to tear half the machine apart, which will take him and the other shifts more than a whole day. Assuming they can get replacement parts.
Daniel puts his earmuffs back on normally and takes a look at the CNC central to line 14. He does his basic checks, checking power, checking settings and the formula for the part they're supposed to be making. He then verifies the zero point, and then attaches the alignment tool, checking the turret's alignment.
Sure enough, it's an uneven spin and motion. He sighs.
He doesn't need to ask. If he asks, he'll get a deflective or dishonest answer. He doesn't need to ask, because there's only one cause for this case. The operator 'crashed' the machine; through careless or inattentive operation, they allowed it to run into another part of the greater structure of the machine, misaligning the servos and bending the turret's aperture.
Daniel leans his head back as he takes a long, slow, deep inhaling breath. He has the impulse to find the nearest sledgehammer, but of course, he suppresses it. His job is to fix it, and though completely destroying the CNC would be a quick route to not having to work on it anymore, it's also a quick route out of a job.
And, all he can do now is start the process.
The rest of his shift is spent performing the alignment, proving that it's a bent turret aperture, and then starting in on disassembling the CNC. He's only just starting when his relief arrives, and he turns over the situation with them. It'll be their problem for the next eight hours, and he'll inherit it again eight hours after that. Most likely, he'll be working on it for most of his shift tomorrow, as well.
Exhausted and apathetic, Daniel heads home. There, he inspects his own, much smaller and simpler CNC mill, which he uses to machine individual components and replacement parts for rifles and pistols. There's a lot of discussion about the dubious nature of 'ghost guns', and the private CNCs that can make them, but Daniel just makes parts. He, of course, knows the components and how to assemble them into a functional firearm, and he has a few disassembled on his work bench presently while he machines custom designs into the upper pieces. Daniel tinkers with his components for a couple hours, and he pulls up one of the technical documents he has on his cell phone for reference. He's never been a full 'prepper', but he does have documents that, if he can find a way to recharge his phone, should the worst happen, he'll be able to survive pretty well post-apocalypse.
He makes a simple dinner of pork chops and air-fried tater tots, sipping an aged spiced rum to cap off the night. He toils on his phone as the hours wane down. When he's feeling creative, he writes, but most of the time, he just watches anime or movies. Life is quiet. Once upon a time, it was depressing always being alone, with no prospects for a family of his own and friends that are always busy or distant. But, he discovered a new outlook that has braced him against the solitude, and he finds peace in the lonely quiet. It's not happiness, per se, but it is peace. He can sleep at night, and his heart doesn't hurt quite as often.
He's just fading off to sleep in his computer chair, feeling relaxed and exhausted. He meant to charge his phone, and he has the charging cable laying on his belly next to his phone.
A strange light catches his eye, and he flutters his eyes open slowly. His brain is still a bit foggy, and while not incoherently drunk, he can tell he's still tipsy from his drink earlier. To his surprise, a strange, moving light is illuminating his otherwise-darkened room. He looks around, trying to find the source. Finding nothing around him or above him, he looks down, grunting in surprise, "What the…?"
Below him and his computer chair is a circular symbol with foreign glyphs unlike anything he's ever seen.
He has just enough time to sit up, but nothing else. The light brightens and whitens out his vision. He can't help but yell, but there's no one to hear him. It feels like several minutes that he is trapped in a white void, unable to see anything. Panic starts to set in; fear that he'll never escape this strange white void.
And then suddenly, the light fades, and a similar circle of light on an unfamiliar floor fades, though this one is much larger and more complex. The floor is made of marbled stone, and Daniel falls out of his chair, scrambling to find his bearings. He's in a completely separate room; it's over five times larger than his bedroom, where he was, and it's made with stone brick, like a room of a castle. And, coos of awe and surprise fill the room; he's surrounded by people.
However, one person is like him; a young man around 20 or so is next to him -and is the person closest to him near the center of the circle-.
Given his appearance, he looks to be of Japanese descent at the very least, and he's wearing black jeans with a light blue tee shirt and a logo for a famous vtuber agency Daniel is familiar with.
The other man is the one to speak first, "Koreha nandesuka? Koko wa doko?"
Daniel is not a highly educated man, but he's familiar enough to know the sound of the language; Japanese. So, he's not just Japanese, he's from Japan itself, apparently.
Daniel fumbles his way through a question, "Eigo… Eigo o… ah… Igirisu?"
The young Japanese man looks at him, shaking his head. "No. No Eengurishu."
Daniel nods in affirmative. "No Japanese. Sumimasen."
The man nods, and they look together at the person approaching them. While Daniel and the Japanese man seem to be from Earth -and the same version at that-, this man looks like he came out of some portion of the middle ages, though from which region, Daniel would be unsure. The man speaks cautiously, but the language is nothing like anything Daniel is familiar with. He knows the sound of most European languages, he's pretty sure, and the basic sound of at least a few of the Asian languages, including Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. He can't say much more than a couple words of any given language other than English, but he's always had an ear for the sound.
This language is almost completely alien to him, but reminds him a little of a cross between Japanese and French for some reason.
Daniel looks at his fellow Earthling, and they mutually shake their heads. The Japanese man speaks to the other man in Japanese, and this causes a "Ahhh,... Coghaeedah. Eefen." The man waves over a few of the many people in the room onlooking, and they jog in close with staves and string-bound tomes similar to books, but flimsier.
The book-holders seem to be either apprentices or assistants, and they hold the books for the man and woman possessing the staves, each with its own unique design. The man seems to be casting a spell on Daniel, while the woman performs the same on the Japanese man.
The staves begin to glow, and Daniel winces a little as he braces for the effect of the spell. He still feels the mild floating feeling in his brain and his heart racing from the shock, but nothing that he would assume is associated with the spell.
The glow brightens briefly, but dims just as quickly, and the mages smile as they back up a step. Still, Daniel doesn't feel any different.
The first man speaks proudly, but it still sounds like an alien language to Daniel.
The Japanese man, however, coos, "Ohhh!" And, surprising Daniel further, he speaks in what sounds like it's the same language as the others.
Daniel winces. "Uh… is-... is it just me that can't understand?"
The extremely pleased leader of the ritual speaks quickly and proudly once more, and the Japanese man replies. What Daniel can pick out is the clear pronunciation of a Japanese name, "Tachibana Rikuto", which he corrects quickly, clarifying that Rikuto is his given name, given the repetition of Rikuto a moment later. Ecstatic, the leading man replies, "Ahhh! Rikuto Tachibana!" He says a few other things, and then all attention turns to Daniel. Able to put context clues together, Daniel states, "Daniel. But, I… don't understand anything you're saying."
The leader speaks at him with his head cocked. Daniel shakes his head, glancing at Rikuto for assistance. He seems confused as well, but he cautiously speaks in their language.
Surprised, the leader seems to object. They have a brief back and forth, with the leader speaking at Daniel with a lecturing tone. Daniel says to Rikuto, "I don't know. No speak." He's starting to worry. Do they think he's faking it?
Rikuto speaks again, and the frustrated leader waves the woman over, and she nods confidently. She and her assistant approach, performing the same spell once more on Daniel.
Oh man. Sorry, other dude. I wasn't trying to get you in trouble.
The woman finishes the same spell, having successfully performed it on Rikuto a moment ago.
However, when the leader speaks this time, Daniel feels his heart tighten. He shakes his head.
This seems to shock everyone in the room, including the woman, who objects more passionately. Rikuto gets their attention, making a cautious suggestion.
The leader nods his head, waving the woman over. She casts a similar spell, focused on Rikuto, but with different wording. This time, Rikuto looks at Daniel, saying, "Eengirishu."
Daniel replies, "I seriously don't know what any of you are saying, other than that. Please tell them I…" He sighs. "I'm kinda hoping this is a drunk dream…"
However, speaking fluent English all of a sudden, Rikuto sighs, "Good, it worked. Daniel, right?"
Daniel nods with surprise.
"Rikuto. Listen, faking ignorance isn't going to do you any favors. Just answer the questions. They don't seem hostile."
Daniel replies, "I'm serious. I don't understand."
"How? They used language magic on you."
"How the hell should I know!? I was half asleep and drunk when I found myself here. I get the gist of what's going on from anime, but it's not like magic existed in my world."
Confused, Rikuto replies, "Mine either. And yet, it worked fine on me."
"I don't know what to tell you. I'd love to understand, truly. Please tell them I'm not being indignant. I just don't understand at all."
With a nod, Rikuto translates, and this seems to stun the large group of people even more. The two mages discuss this with the leader. Daniel whispers, "Rikuto-san, what are they saying?"
"That it should be impossible. Especially since it worked on me. Apparently, whatever spell they did to bring us here should have only brought one of us. Extenuating circumstances, gods…"
Daniel can understand the shoddy translation; after all, they're debating passionately, with a lot of simultaneous talking.
Rikuto adds, "Someone mentioned a demon…"
Daniel turns pale. "Oh god… I'm going to die, aren't I? I didn't even do anything."
"Let me ask."
"Sorry for burdening you…"
"Don't worry about it. We still don't know why we were pulled here."
Rikuto switches to their language, requesting their attention politely. He speaks to them for a long moment, and the leader speaks to him. He asks in English, "Daniel, do you think you can learn the language?"
"I… Doesn't sound like I have a choice. I'll do it. Probably take a few months, though…"
Rikuto nods, speaking on his behalf once more. This causes the leader to ponder, and then, a young girl -around twelve years old-, speaks up from the gathered group of people. She speaks softly and gently, but she commands the attention and respect of the entire room, indicating she's someone of high status. Whatever she says seems to satisfy the leader, who responds to her.
Rikuto whispers, "Ooo… Princess and King, Daniel. I recommend respect."
Daniel nods in agreement. "Of course. Thank you."
The apparent king, the one leading the ritual, speaks to Rikuto, mainly, but it seems meant for both of them. Rikuto translates, "They're going to analyze us with some magic tool in another room. The Princess made it sound like this was something they needed to do anyways. Your language issue was merely a surprise distraction."
Daniel nods thankfully. "Thank you for your trouble."
"No worries. Whatever happens, I hope we can work together."
"Same."
Guards approach, speaking, and Rikuto nods in confirmation. "They'll lead us. Follow the guard in front of you."
As he nods, Daniel jokes, "I don't know. I had a lot of other stuff to do today." He and Rikuto stand up, and Daniel puts his phone and charger into his pocket, which seem to have transported with him. He notices while standing that he's the single tallest person in the room by a rather surprising margin. He was always average in America, and Rikuto seems to be around average for Japanese height, and even he is taller than almost everyone, including the soldiers.
That aside, Daniel asks, "Should I do something about my chair?"
Rikuto shrugs. "Dunno. I was in my car. Must be a size limit on what transports with us."
Daniel nods in agreement, "Makes sense."
They are led down a long ways, as if descending a tower or heading deep underground -perhaps a combination of both.
There, they find a woman in her mid to late twenties wearing glasses and a long gray robe adorned with a metal brooch on her lapel area. It resembles a fox-like creature with a crystal in one paw and a swirl in the other. The King, the princess who spoke, and what can be assumed to be the Queen, another princess, and a much smaller handful of nobles follow Daniel and Rikuto to the lower room. The woman notices them, and she has a small panic attack. The king greets the woman, speaking to her.
She looks at the two who were pulled from their own world, and her eyes go wide with excitement. She squeals excitedly, rushing to them to begin touching their clothes, their skin, their hair, and asking questions.
Rikuto nervously answers, and when he says something, she becomes surprised, looking directly at Daniel. She tugs his shirt's chest to lower him so she can look deep into his eyes for a long time, adjusting her loose-hanging glasses from the strange, net-like hair piece that suspends them in front of her face. It's a strange way of suspending the lenses in front of her face, but maybe it's a decorative thing as much as functional.
Regardless, the jewels in the hair piece indicate she's rather high-status as well, even if the lenses for her glasses were cheap.
She speaks loudly and slowly at Daniel, clearly trying to test his comprehension. Daniel tells Rikuto, "I think I picked out the word they use for magic, given how many times I've heard it today."
Rikuto scoffs, and he explains Daniel's answer to the strange woman. She thinks for a moment, still holding Daniel's shirt. She prods his head a little with her fingers.
It starts to become annoying, and Daniel states, "Please tell her I'm not committed to any prank. This is getting annoying."
Rikuto explains, and she pauses, humming as she finally releases Daniel and turns away.
The King asks something, and she seems to deflect, waving Rikuto over to the device she has in the center of the room. It looks sort of like a religious altar, with various points of swirling artistic structure crowned with a large crystal of varying colors. Lenses in front of the crystals are aimed towards the center, where a polished orb is cradled by the structure.
She has Rikuto approach the orb in the center, and she explains it to him. He places his hand on a smaller orb that's in front of the large central orb. The little orb begins to glow, and sparkles of light begin to appear and swirl around the device. From there, a few of the crystals on the arms begin to glow, and small beams of sparkling light colored like the crystals beams towards the main orb. A multi-colored cloud inside begins to form, and the mages and assistants seem to be taking notes. The magic-scientist woman pages through a book, glancing at the orb several times. She nods, reading the page and summarizing it to Rikuto. He takes his hand off the small orb, and Daniel remarks dryly, "Let me guess. You got 'Divine Hero', and your magic affinity is fire, wind, and earth with massive boosts to your health and attack…"
Rikuto scoffs. "Nothing like that. It seems to be similar to cloud reading; a dubious science, but with reliable results. She says I have affinities for fire and void magic, I guess, and a specific innate skill… Healing magic, apparently? Or curative magic. It's not clear without seeing it in action what she means."
"Nice. Either one of those sound good."
Rikuto gives Daniel a nod, and he gestures for Daniel to step up to the orb, but the woman stops him. She smiles, pointing at one of the guards. She speaks at him, and Rikuto translates with a little surprise, "She's… asking him if he has any affinities or innate skills."
The guard shakes his head, and she waves him over. She has him remove his glove and place his hand on the small orb.
The small orb glows, and the magic sparkles appear in much fewer number with less glow than Rikuto. However, no matter how long he touches the device, none of the beams light up, and the large orb only reflects the light glow of the small orb and the torches in the room. This seems to satisfy the woman, and she shoos the guard away.
The King asks something, which Rikuto fills in, "He's asking what the point of that display was."
The woman replies loudly and boisterously, so that everyone in the room hears, apparently. "She's fascinated. Apparently, what we just saw means that the guard has no talent for magic, and there are no spells he can learn or innate skills granted by the gods for him to rely on. He's simply a soldier." She finally waves Daniel over to the small crystal, and he obeys. She gestures for him to put his hand on the small orb.
He does as instructed, and everyone watches curiously.
Nothing happens.
She inspects his hand from multiple angles, ensuring he's touching the crystal. She seems intrigued, while the others begin gossiping. She grabs Daniel's wrist, lifting it for a moment and placing her own hand on the small orb. Instantly, it begins to glow, and she removes her hand. With it still fading, she places Daniel's hand on the crystal, but the light fades completely out, and the crystal doesn't have even a small amount of glow. She grins up at the nobles watching in surprise.
The King asks, "What does this mean?"
She explains, "This is why he can't use magic. Nor, can magic affect him, apparently. At least not directly."
The nobles and guards gasp, and the woman looks up at Daniel with a smile. "She says you're the first person in the world completely devoid of magic."
Daniel looks at Rikuto, murmuring, "Uhh… That doesn't sound like a good thing."
The woman looks at Rikuto expectantly, and he explains what Daniel said. She immediately takes both of his hands, speaking passionately. "She says it's fascinating. It's unprecedented."
Daniel thinks for a moment, but he replies softly, "I get that it's unprecedented, but I have to wonder…" He looks more specifically at Rikuto again, "What's the practical use of a person without magic in a world of magic? I imagine I'm not immune to fireballs."
When Rikuto explains the concern, the woman grins. She nods in agreement, and she immediately begins casting a spell with her finger, and a small puff of flame bursts out, burning Daniel's skin like a match, and he yelps, pulling his hands free. "Yeowch! That hurt!" She snatches his hands again, studying the burn. It's small, and it'll certainly heal, but it does cause her to frown. It seems she was hoping that he WAS immune to direct magic attacks. She ponders it for a moment, and her shoulders slump. She speaks softly and sincerely, and Rikuto translates, "She believes you're right. While she is fascinated, there isn't much practical use. Too much of their technology, including medicine and warfare, relies on magic."
Daniel nods as he makes sense of what he's being told. "I see. So… uh… what happens now? Do I… go home?"
Rikuto asks, and the scientist woman falls silent, looking to the nobles. Daniel and Rikuto look to the nobles as well, who also seem reluctant to speak.
After a moment, Daniel jokes uneasily, "Haha… I guess the silence means we're both stuck here, huh? Even the useless one."
Rikuto is silent, as well.
The second youngest woman present, the one Daniel believes is also a princess, steps forward. She speaks more maturely and sternly than the younger girl, and she appears to be around 18.
Rikuto whispers, "Another Princess. She suggested you could still serve as a soldier. The King, however, just said that you wouldn't benefit from magic boosts or defensive magic, if what Lady Magic Artisan said is true, whereas… the demon army's offensive magic would still prove deadly."
Daniel is quiet as he absorbs the information.
The younger princess is the one that speaks next, speaking softly and eloquently once more. "She says they should take the blame for your summoning, since you had no control over the gift the gods did or did not give you. At the very least, they want to give you money to survive in town. Apparently, they summoned us to this world for our modern knowledge and the expectation that we would inherit beneficial magic and skills from the gods. Or, whichever one of us was supposed to be summoned."
With a nod, Daniel replies, "I understand. Can you please tell them I'll live frugally in the castle town until I can learn the language, if they can spare that much. Whatever I can learn while I'm there, I will use what I know to help."
Rikuto confirms with a nod, translating. This seems less than satisfactory, but the nobles seem to reluctantly agree, since they don't have much better ideas. Without knowing anything about Daniel, and without him having access to any special abilities, he's more of a liability than an asset. The younger princess bows her head, speaking softly.
Rikuto whispers, "The Princess apologizes."
Daniel replies softly, "Please tell her there's no need. I wish I could do more to help."
Rikuto replies for him, and the Princess nods.
Daniel learns quickly that it's another world. As they escort him to the outside, giving him a pouch of coins and instructions to check in when he needs more money, he sees more of the maids, palace guard, and other people walking around in the daylight, rather than dim torchlight.
There are what appear to be humans -the royal family, many of the nobles, and a hefty portion of those he passes from all classes-. However, there are also peoples with animalistic features, ranging from human forms with dog or cat ears and tails, to full faces of rabbits, dogs, cats, birds, and even beings with feathery wings.
Additionally, there is a fair amount of technology, though somewhere squarely in the middle-ages, compared with Earth, and which relies on magic to perform functions Earth has to do mechanically.
Daniel crosses the drawbridge from the castle proper into the surrounding castle town, which is defended by a large wall surrounding the bulk of the rather large town -arguably a city-.
His first priority, of course, is to figure out how to learn the language. And, to do that, he'll have to also find a way to communicate politely and work to at least try to earn his keep.
*****************