[Adelie]

Standing in front of the front gate, he felt an abiding echo of that - like a frost of resentment and reluctance sunk directly into his bones, painting every action he took with an air of I don't want to do that, I don't want to do anything. If he were superstitious, he might have called it an omen.

And yet - it was all ridiculous. All of it.

All this standing around, wasting time as if it would change anything. All this doubt and foreboding and gymnastic justification of why he couldn't move forward. If there had been a time for such thoughts - if he wanted to worry and woebegone - it had been when he was staring at the magic circle, deciding what to do with it.

He could've walked away, then - gone back to his hard-earned job selling artifically-flavored tea to artificially-smiling customers, gone back to his everyday ordinary life. Maybe he would've gotten a promotion, one day; maybe he would have finally earned enough money to go back to school and pursue a real vocation. There would be a nice girl from a good family and a wedding at city hall, there would be a cozy little apartment with flowers on the windowsill and two children.

But instead, he'd jumped at - literally jumped in - the chance to go somewhere else, be someone else. And now he wanted to regret it? Now, after all this time?

[The Front Gate - 16]

[Adelie]

Oh, it was absurd. He was absurd, as he always was.

He thought of himself at six years old, tiptoeing into his mother's bedroom to surprise her - and then he stopped thinking. He thought of long nights staring at the ceiling; he dismissed those unbidden recollections to darkness. No need for memories to tell him what he already knew.

He thought of the first time he'd found himself in another world; that was a memory he wanted so desperately to be fond, but all he could think of was the immense disappointment he had felt. He had expected nothing and gotten everything - and that had only made it all the worse.

That was him, all right. It made him want to laugh, bitter and low, as if he hadn't had enough of acting the fool today. Ridiculous until the end.

[The Front Gate - 17]

[Adelie]

The gate came free easily when he pushed it.

A few chips of ice splintered off the hinges, mostly lost amidst the tiny avalanche of snow that dislodged off its top, but there was little resistance and even less sound. If someone had told him this dilapidated gate received regular maintenance and was oiled just last week, he would've believed them off sound - or really, the lack of sound - alone.

Nothing changed - no sense of impending doom, no dramatic cut. For all he'd had to do to convince himself to open this gate, such an ending was almost anti-climatic, yet totally expected.

It was just a front gate, after all. Opening it was only the beginning.

[The Front Gate - 18]

[Adelie]

Now that the front gate was out of the way, a perfect dividing line of shoveled road on one side and pristine snow on the other stood in front of him, as if daring him to cross it. He hesitated a little - of course he did - and then, as gingerly as if he were stepping around drinks spilled on the floor, he placed one foot down on the snow.

The snow crunched a little under his foot.

He stepped forward once more, placing himself fully inside the gate; in this heavy silence broken only by his footsteps, his actions left him feeling strangely self-conscious. Perhaps out of some misguided conscientiousness, perhaps just to punctuate the surreal finality of his actions, he turned and closed the gate behind him, wincing a little as the ice on it nipped at his fingers. There was no lock nor chain, but the gate slid firmly into place and stood as rigid as he'd seen it first.

"Well, it's done," he told the empty air. "Now what?"

[The Front Gate - 19]

[Adelie]

No one responded, as he expected. It was a rhetorical question, anyways - now that he was in the farm, the obvious answer was to keep exploring.

But explore what? The notion that the path might just end after the gate hadn't even crossed his mind; he'd just assumed that like how the magic circle had dropped him off in front of the gate, there'd be an obvious answer once he passed it.

Instead, he faced three options. On his left, a grove of pine trees cut a sharp silhouette against the sky; they reminded him a bit of the trees he'd seen outside, but their aura was different. More approachable, if he could describe it as that. On his right, a tall red building stood with a neatly stacked bale of hay in front of it. He frowned at that - he was absolutely certain the game prompt had described the farm as long-abandoned.

But more damaging to that assumption was the chimney of the cottage nestled behind the barn - which was most certainly emitting a steady stream of smoke up to the sky. Either a fire had been burning here very politely for a few hundred years, or this place was still inhabited.

Suspicious. Very suspicious.

[The Front Gate - 20]

[Adelie]

Error! The target is out of range.
You've leveled up a skill! Examine lv3 -> Examine lv4

Attempts to Examine the buildings in the distance only filled his vision with little blue notification boxes informing him of his failures. Honestly, he wasn't even sure why he tried at this point, but it was the only skill he had in his decidedly unformidable arsenal and it seemed a waste not to use it. At the very least, the periodic level-up messages brought hope that it might evolve into something slightly more useful.

That left him with only brute intuition to inform his decisions. The grove of trees he immediately eliminated as a possibility; exploring some place - especially somewhere so big and dark - with no clear goal seemed a great way to waste time and potentially get lost. The cottage he dismissed next - if someone truly lived here, in this 'long-abandoned' farm, he didn't want to surprise them with his presence until he learned a little more about his surroundings.

That left the barn, then.

[The Barn - 1]

[Adelie]

With a bit of a sigh, he began to trudge across the field towards the bright red building. Even though he was trying to be careful, his steps kicked up little puffs of powdery white snow that clung to his legs - and suddenly he noticed just how cold it was. As if all this snow and ice hadn't been a dead giveaway.

Truthfully, it wasn't that cold, but the clothes he'd worn to close up shop that day were certainly not suited for the weather. A casual pullover and a pair of dark jeans were poor protection from the chill wind that kicked up occasionally, and should the sky threaten to drop more snow on the landscape - well, he'd better find shelter before that happened, that was for sure.

You have gained a new skill! Cold Resistance lv1 unlocked.

As if on cue, the system pinged him with a new notification - one that once again served to tell him absolutely nothing. He didn't feel anything different - he was still cold - but perhaps, just perhaps, the wind had a little less bite to it.

[The Barn - 2]

[Adelie]

Not that any of it really mattered - he'd finally made it to the barn and there were plenty of incongruous sights to draw his attention.

Most obvious was just how red the barn was. From a distance, he'd noticed that the barn seemed in strangely good condition for an allegedly long-abandoned farm, but he hadn't paid it much heed them. Up close, his previous experience as an itinerant house number-painter told him the barn had been recently painted - at least within the past couple of years.

That wasn't the most recent clue he could identify, though. The bale of hay neatly stacked in front looked like it could only have been harvested this summer - it looked fresh and crisp, and not a single stray grass or moss had taken residence in it.

Someone was definitely still using this barn actively; it was just a question of who.

[The Barn - 3]

[Adelie]

For all his apparent doom and gloom about the idea, it really didn't matter much to him who owned this place; it wasn't like he'd recognize names or figures anyway. He could only hope that they were nice and didn't mind trespassers.

If he were lucky, they might even be able to explain why he had been summoned here and what his purpose was, since he was pretty sure it wasn't talking to himself in front of gates and freezing to death. Or, for that matter, staring blankly at the door of a barn as if expecting it to invite him in - which was exactly what he caught himself doing now.

Like everything else in this farm, it was exactly as it seemed - a perfectly normal door, set in a perfectly normal doorframe, in a perfectly normal barn. The only thing about it that could be considered out of the ordinary was that it was slightly ajar, revealing a thin band of darkness behind it.

[The Barn - 4]

[Adelie]

Most likely the owner of this place had left the door open, either by accident or design; no one would bother to steal a load of hay and animal feed. Or perhaps they hadn't fastened the door properly and one of the freak gusts of wind he was currently experiencing had taken its toll on it.

Just as he'd finished coming up with some suitably plain and reasonable explanations for what was going on, a bloodcurdling shriek issued from within the barn.

You have gained a new skill! Sound Resistance lv1 unlocked.

If he weren't so utterly shocked by what he'd just heard, he might've laughed at the little notification that popped up in response. Instead, he found himself torn - as usual - on what to do next. The shriek he'd heard was definitely human, probably female, and sounded like an obvious cry of distress, but nothing had followed it - no sounds of a struggle or conversation.

His instincts told him he should rush in, see what had happened, save the girl if she needed saving, but he couldn't help but feel wary. This entire place had been setting off alarm bells in his head since he first stepped in, and stepping in might land himself in the midst of something he shouldn't be involved in.

[The Barn - 5]

[Adelie]

Closing his eyes for a moment, he counted backwards from ten to regain his composure - a little trick a former mentor of his had taught him, what felt like a lifetime ago - and pushed open the barn door. His excuse was that the delay gave whatever had happened the chance to sort itself out and lower tensions, but he knew perfectly well just how flimsy that excuse sounded.

Thankfully, the sight that greeted him wasn't some tragedy, but rather - well, he was having a hard time figuring out exactly what it was.

Squinting into the bright light in front of his face, he identified what seemed to be a vague figure amidst bales of hay, one arm outstretched towards him as if to ward him off. He couldn't tell whether the figure was man or woman, young or old, and the system notifications remained stubbornly silent.

"Don't come closer!" came the sudden cry. "I - I have a knife, okay!"

[The Barn - 6]

[Adelie]

A woman, then, and a fairly young one at that - probably the source of the scream he'd heard. Try as he might, he couldn't make out anyone else in the barn beyond the light she'd apparently conjured directly into his eyes.

Perhaps she'd taken a habit of screaming for fun, then. She certainly looked safe and unharmed - in fact, if anyone were in danger here, it seemed to be himself. Her features were hard to make out in this light, but he could see enough of her silhouette to know she hadn't been lying about the knife.

Turning his hands outwards and splaying his fingers to show he was unarmed and not a threat to her, he wracked his brain for how he should introduce himself. Telling the truth - that he was some otherworldly intruder summoned her by forces he didn't quite understand - seemed a one-way ticket to getting stabbed, but playing stupid would likely result in the same ending. Instead, he opted to ask her a question instead. "Um," he began. "Are you the owner of this place?"

[The Barn - 7]

[Adelie]

The girl made some kind of surprised half-squeak, and then lowered her hand so that light no longer shone directly into his eyes. Evidently, his question was so absurd that she considered him too stupid to be a threat. "What kind of question is that?" she sputtered, her tone almost accusatory.

He had no idea how to answer that - from his perspective, he'd asked a perfectly sensible question. Here he was, walking around an obviously inhabited farm; he walked into a building and found a person. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together and surmise that she might live here. "Um, a good one?"

Seeing her glare, he held out his hands in a placating gesture - or at least, what he hoped was a placating gesture. If she was reacting this harshly, there might be some kind of cultural disconnect. "Look, I'm, uh, a little lost. I heard the scream and thought something must've happened. I didn't mean to surprise you, I promise."

[The Barn - 8]

[Adelie]

While she struggled for an adequate response, he took a moment to take in exactly who he was talking to. To be quite honest, she looked the very picture of a supporting character - a young woman with dark skin and exotic, almost elfin features in a face framed by straight black hair. Her height - or rather, lack thereof - made it rather hard to estimate her age, but he'd guess around sixteen or seventeen. Just a little older than himself.

Her clothing looked suitably fantasy adventurer - leather armor with far too many straps and pouches for practical use. At her neck hung a cord with a vial of some compellingly blue liquid; at her side, she carried a small fringed bag that hung slightly open, showing a mix of dried herbs and glass containers.

If he had to guess based on his knowledge of JRPG archetypes, she'd probably be a thief or a ranger. Perhaps a potion-brewer or an alchemist, if he wanted to get niche; possibly a hedge witch of some sort.

Ven lv23
HP: 139/140
MP: 205/225

Skills: ? ? ?
Titles: ? ? ?

One of his attempts to glean information from her appearance must've triggered something, because he found himself staring at a notification box that once again provided almost no information about who she was or what she was doing here. It gave a name, which would only be useful if he wanted to creep her out, and a series of numbers that were effectively meaningless to him without context.

He'd have to try examining himself later. For now, it looked like he had to explain himself to this girl before she started stabbing him for staring into thin air again.

[The Barn - 9]

[Adelie]

"Nothing happened!" exclaimed the girl, sounding more and more flustered with each word. "I - I, uh - look, the cat here scared me, okay?"

Whether that was a lie or not, he wasn't sure. There certainly wasn't any cat in sight, but hay bales littered the barn, leaving plenty of nooks and crannies for a small furry creature to hide.

"I just - I just thought it was going to attack me, okay," she continued, her fluster fading into defensiveness. "Anyways, speaking of attacking, what are you doing here?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "No one would get lost around here, of all places. Are you another treasure hunter?"

[The Barn - 10]