"..."
I stood and stared at her speechlessly, I had the feeling that no matter what I said, she was going to come along.
"If I say no, would you leave" I asked as some form of confirmation
"Not likely so where are we headed to first" the lady said as she somehow snatched the map from my hands
As she took the map, a curious look immediately appeared on her face almost as though she was seeing a place, she wasn't supposed to see.
"What happened?" i asked somewhat concerned
Well i wouldn't say concerned, more worried because she looked like the typical anime female tsundere or something of that nature so if she had a curious look on her face about something then it definitely wasn't a good thing for me who is forced to carry along
"I think it would be better for you to take this" she said as she handed over the map
Collecting the map, i immediately began going through it but everything seemed normal. The capital was as small as expected considering that it would take probably twenty minutes or so to walk across it.
Though the map didn't stop there as it showed and marked all the areas that were safe to visit in the immediate vicinity of the capital.
"You don't know how to read maps?" I asked confused
She was from a medieval world, how does she not know to read a map. It was essential to their lives, then again, she looked like a royal, so it is to be expected.
"I never said i didn't know how… i just said it would be better for you to hold it" The lady said trying to defend herself
"Well to be fair, i don't know how to read maps too, is there any other way to access a map in this city other than the physical one" I asked since with all the technological advancements i was seeing in this city, it wouldn't be a surprise if there was an electronic map
"We do have the temporary skill, Map however do be warned, this is an experiment, and it has yet to be fully tested" the receptionist said as she pulled out a small booklet with a lot of fancy decorations
"His majesty created a skill book?" i asked confused and surprised
"He called it exactly that however, it has yet to be tested so you are required to sign here and here before you can get it" the receptionist said as she materialized what seemed like a contract
I joined the kingdom recently however I have heard enough stories and seen enough to understand that his majesty was omnipotent. His power seemed capable of all, from creating world defying items such as the Aspirin to vanquishing armies of monsters with nothing but a single look or even a snap at times.
However, a skill book was still something that should be reserved for the system, hell, I wasn't even sure if this world had skill books at all but here was one.
Without hesitation, i quickly signed for the book and as usual, i didn't read the contract but i knew that it was definitely one that shifted the responsibility of my death away from the kingdom.
"Thank you, here's your map, don't forget to give us feedback for us to evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the map" the receptionist said with a business smile
"Sure, but exactly how do i use this"
"Just place it on your temple and the book will handle the rest" she replied
"Okay then thanks" i replied as i took the book and left with the royal elf beside me
I have still yet to understand why she was following me, but I don't like the attention it was giving me. She towered over me and worse.
she possessed beauty that could quite literally topple nations. It wasn't a surprise that we would soon become the center of attention in the area.
As soon as we left the main building, i took a deep breath and offered a small prayer before placing the book on my forehead. As soon as i did so, i felt a small cooling energy flow through my body before an alert from the system.
====
Foreign skill identified, do you wish to accept
Yes No
====
"Damn! even the system recognizes it" I said out loud in surprise as i quickly clicked on the [Yes] icon
"What did you say?" the elf lady asked
"Nothing, was just talking to myself" i replied as we continued walking
The lady walked together with the human as he fiddled with the air. Her intentions were the same as always, to observe and try to understand who her new ruler was. She may be doing it personally but what did it matter.
At the moment, her plan was simple and that was simply to understand this new race's alignment. A race's alignment tends to summarize the entire races behaviour and at the moment, it was what all she wanted to find out. If they were evil, then their king was definitely evil and was not to be trusted.
"Exactly where are we going first" she asked
"At the moment, nowhere in particular, we are simply sightseeing" The human answered
"Then i will come along" The Elf lady said as she followed me out of the hotel.
I can't lie, nothing I have seen so far was what i expected for a city that has only existed for about a month. The service at the reception seemed like something that had being in existence for over a year or more now, but the entire thing was born just a month ago.
As we walked out of the hotel, we saw the Elven guards who immediately bowed with their spears or fist to their chest in respect.
I can't really say i understood why they bowed, i was a governor, true but they didn't bow to me when I entered the hotel yesterday.
'Oh, yeah… she's royalty' I thought looking at the towering lady beside me
She simply waved her hand in response as the Elven guard returned back to their previous position, without paying any mind to them, we began our exploration.
The most surprising thing about the capital to me was that fact that it was filled to the brim. I know that the capital was small and all, but the population didn't make sense for a city that had only existed for a single month.
This place should be a village at most not a city. Above all, the capital was too peaceful for a nation that had just conquered four nations.
There was surprisingly no sense of conflict, the atmosphere felt free unlike the many countries i have being to back on Earth.
The natives, I have seen seemed to just simply accept that they have being conquered. It was weird, I didn't know that if this was due to the cultural difference or something but i know that if another human nation attempted to conquer the other or even if it was already conquered, there will still be tensions in the air between the two sides.
"You misunderstand, His majesty didn't conquer us through war, we simply surrendered to his might" the lady suddenly spoke up
"Eh?" I asked surprised
"Wait, did you just read my mind?" I asked in shock
"Yes, is there anything wrong with that?" she asked just as nonchalantly as usual
"Yes, there is something wrong with that, you don't just go about reading people's mind, it's not a nice thing to do" I reprimanded immediately
"I see, your kind is indeed really weird… so you do mean that I shouldn't use one of my strongest abilities just because you don't feel it is nice" the lady asked as she turned to look at me
"Well if you put it that way then"
"No i do hope, you answer me, if you possess the ability to read minds, wouldn't you read mine to figure out what i am thinking?"
"Okay enough of that" I said trying to dismiss it all
What she was saying made sense and i know if maybe reading too much of those comics and watching our normal shows have made me fail to register that this was now reality.
You use what you have, to give yourself an advantage. It was normal, a very simple and understandable survival tactic
"Since you have nowhere in mind, how about we explore the barracks of this city" The lady suddenly suggested
"Why?... waits are you using me as a means to check out the nation's strength" I asked realising what she was doing.
Like she said, they had just surrendered to his majesty's might. I may not know exactly why they had surrendered since the word 'might' here means two things.
One was the king's personal might and the other is the nation's collective might meaning its army and all.
Chapter 134 Tour