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Chapter Two Alfred
Hmm...
Ouch! Where am I?
I don't think I'm in the library anymore.
ITALY!! IF YOU'RE THERE, ANSWER ME!!
Oh, boy... I can't find that book I got.
Anyway, I'll see if I can find someone.
I'd never seen this place before... I don't think this is my country.
Huh? There's something on the ground.
It's a gun! It's an old model, and it's a little wet, but if I dry it, I think I can still use it.
America obtained Shotgun!
If there's a gun, that must mean there are people around here. I have to ask them where I am.
[Shotgun] A gun used for hunting. It has an old-fashioned design.
[Oblivious Idiot] Hurts the enemy with unthoughtful words.
[Favorite Gun] America's favorite gun. Since it has been remodelled, even the bullets are custom-made.
[Usual Jacket] America's favorite jacket.
[Glasses] Texas. Whether they're prescription glasses, it's a mystery.
America [Hero] A nation that wound up in a parallel world when he opened a book. Self-proclaimed hero of the world.
*sigh* I'm so screwed...
OHHHHHHH!!! GH-GHOOOOOST!!!
Aaaaargh!
You scared me! Can you actually see me, by any chance?!
Um... dude... are you okay? Just calm down.
Scary, scary! Scary... sgah!
Huh? Aren't you going to do anything? Aren't you going to swoop down on me all of a sudden while I'm unprepared?
I'm not going to do anything like that! Don't worry!
Anyway, I'm glad that someone who can see me has finally showed up! I was beginning to get worried.
I'm Alfred F. Jones! I had plans to become a hero! What about you?!
I'm America. What do you mean... you had plans to become a hero?
It was my dream to become a hero. But as you can see, now I'm a ghost, so it didn't come true.
So you really are a ghost! What the heck happened to you? I don't see your body anywhere. Did you drown in the river or something?
I can explain. It happened two days ago...
I got enough firewood. If I go now, I'll get there in time.
(That girl is being attacked by a monster!)
(If I help her, I'll get one step closer to being a hero! All right, then...)
Hey, you monster! Get away from the lady!
Grrrrrr...!
I did it! It was weaker than I thought.
Are you okay, miss?
Thank you for saving me.
What's a girl like you doing in a forest like this, anyway? Don't you know it's dangerous, with the monsters that have been showing up here lately?
I have some business in Elgnand... Am I on the right path?
I don't know where you came from, but Elgnand is exactly on the other side of the continent. Don't you have a map?
I have this...
Oh... Miss, this map is upside down.
Oh? No wonder I could never get there.
What business do you have in Elgnand? Are you going to study magic or something?
Something like that. I want to meet the Head Wizard.
Hmm...
(Either way, she won't be able to get into Elgnand... But I don't want to disappoint her, so I'll keep quiet.)
By the way, I heard that the Head Wizard has brothers-in-law, but do you know how many? It's just that I wanted to bring them some souvenirs.
Uh...
He has just one, actually. Man, it must be a pain to be that guy's brother-in-law! I mean, sheesh.
Yes... Just one.
Good-bye, Alfred Williams.
What?! Wait a minute!
My gun...! What are you doing?!
You may have dodged that, but you won't be so lucky next time.
***... Why are you...?
I have no time to chat, you know. If you want to blame someone, blame the Head Wizard...
Matthew, Peter... I don't think I can get out of this one...
And that's what happened! My body was taken away, too, and this really sucks!
You lost to a girl? Laaame.
Look, I know it sounds bad, but she was impossibly strong!
By the way, didn't you say your name was Jones? Sucks that she mistook you for someone else.
No, that's me, all right. Williams is my former name; now I go by Jones.
Hmm. By the way, where are we? I hate to admit it, but I'm lost.
We're in a forest east of Aricema. Is your map upside down, too?
I do have a map, but I'd never heard of Aricema or Elgnand.
... What's this map? I'd never seen one like this.
Hmm, then I'm in trouble...
Aaaaaargh!! What's that creature?!
It's one of those monsters that started appearing lately! Don't you have a weapon or something?!
A weapon?!
Oh, yeah! I have my gun!
You have a gun?! How...?
Well, it's a pretty common thing to have, isn't it?
... Well, whatever. All right, then... Take this!
Wait, what? Don't tell me... I'm out of ammo?
It's totally useless! I did find it weird that you had a gun!
Oh, that reminds me, I found a gun on the riverside! Maybe I can use it!
Yep, I can use it!
Hey, that's--
All right, now I'm gonna kill you!
:DDDDDDDDD!! I win!
Um... that's my gun, you know?
It was yours? You were using a pretty old model.
... What are you talking about? Guns are the newest weapon in this country.
Only two of them have been made - mine and that of the lord of Zeldwintsar - so yours is the strange one here.
... I see.
What you just said has finally convinced me of something.
What?
I'm in a different world. In the world I was before, there are guns all over the world, and there aren't any of those weird creatures.
Besides, I could never see ghosts. Especially not one who looks just like me.
So you noticed it, too. That we're identical, I mean.
Oh! By the way, those creatures have only started appearing lately; they aren't actually normal!
Well, anyway, welcome, parallel world person. So it's really possible to come and go from a parallel world...
Do you know how to go from one world to another? I think some kind of book was involved.
Oh... I'm sorry, but I don't know the details. Maybe that man would know...
Is there someone who knows?
... Maybe. But I'll take you to him on one condition.
What is it?
I want you to give my nephew his birthday present.
His birthday was yesterday, but since I died, I couldn't give it to him.
I see.
Oh, right!
What?
Have you seen my glasses anywhere around here? If they were taken along with my body, it's going to be a real bother...
Glasses, glasses... Um, aren't you wearing them?
Can you wear ghost glasses? Cool.
My bad. Oh, is it these, by any chance?
Yeah, that's right! Thank God! It'd be a pain to get where my nephew lives without those.
America obtained Alfred's Glasses!
A present, huh? Regardless of whether or not I'd get any information, I could never refuse a request like that.
Because unlike you, I'm a real hero!
HAHAHA. You're an ***. Nice to meet you, America.
Nice to meet you, Alfred!
Anyway, I want to tell you some stuff, so let's get out of this forest. I feel uneasy in a place where a monster could come out at any moment, right?
Okay!
The village where I live, Aricema, is right to the west!
Ooh, what kind of village is it?
Well... It's a farming village that ships meat and milk to several cities.
I see. (I bet they don't beat my country in terms of meat!)
If you have the chance to go shopping in other cities, check out where they were produced!
I'll think about it.
[Favorite Gun] America's favorite gun. Since it has been remodelled, even the bullets are custom-made. Since it has no bullets, it can't be used for now.
[Alfred's Glasses] The glasses that Alfred had been wearing. They are not prescription glasses.
This is the village of Aricema... Oh, Alfred! Welcome back.
Ooh, Alfred! What took you so long? I was worried.
Oh, Alfred. Thanks for helping me the other day.
I know you want to go to another town eventually, but I wish you would always be the hero of Aricema. It'd make my husband and my daughter happy, too.
It's a report. This year's harvest quantity is written in details.
Our king is wonderful. He comes to inspect even a village in the countryside like this.
Hey, Alfred! How are you doing? I hope you'll help me again later.
To tell the truth... Until I met you, I thought all people from Elgnand were strange and closed off.
But ever since you came to this village, I realized I was wrong. You were no different from us.
Moo.
America obtained Milk!
[Milk] Delicious milk produced in Aricema.
... All the villagers I met thought I was you. Shouldn't I explain to them they're mistaken?
Hmm. I was going to leave Aricema and go to another town soon, but I wouldn't disappear all of a sudden...
To leave naturally, I'd have to tell them good-bye and pack my stuff.
... Could you pretend to be me for a while, at least in front of the villagers? Tell the village chief, the one who was in the field, that when you come back from Elgnand, you'll leave this village.
I guess I have no choice. Since I'm a hero and all, I can't refuse a favor!
Thank you! I really appreciate it!
So, where does your nephew live? And while we're at it, I want you to tell me what he's like.
My nephew Peter is both the luckiest and the unluckiest guy in the world.
...? Umm, what's that supposed to mean?
It means he's lucky to be my sister's son, yet he's unlucky to be that man's son.
"That man," as in that man you mentioned in the forest?
Yes. But my sister died right after giving birth to Peter, so he's actually more on the unlucky side.
I don't really get it, but poor kid...
Peter lives in a wizard village in Elgnand. By the way, my real home is in that village, too.
Elgnand is all the way to the west from here, right after you go through a deep forest. Isn't there a world map under the table?
You mean this one?
... This clearly isn't a world map. It looks strangely cut off. Isn't there more?
As far as I'm concerned, my world only goes this far. A map with other continents would be of no use to me.
This is where we are right now - Aricema. It's near the biggest lake in this continent.
Elgnand is here! It's the wizards' area in the Kingdom of Âge!
So, this country is called Âge? Aren't there any other countries?
The Kingdom of Âge is the only country in the Avenir continent. Elgnand used to be its own nation a long time ago, but nowadays it's under Âge's control.
Hmm, anyway, I know where I have to go now. A village where wizards live... This feels more and more like a parallel world!
Actually, the forest that leads to Elgnand has a spell so that people who aren't from Elgnand can't easily get in.
What?!
The forest is like a labyrinth and you can never reach Elgnand. It's the most annoying thing ever!
But then that means I can't go in! Unlike you, I have nothing to do with Elgnand.
I'm not allowed to get in, either, so you're no different from me. Don't worry!
You're not allowed to get in... You know, that doesn't reassure me at all.
How can I get in Elgnand? There must be a way, right?
Of course! The key to it is my glasses, which you have with you!
These glasses? They look so ordinary, though...
Theses glasses have the power to make you immune to certain spells! That seems like a real hero's item, doesn't it?!
So that's why you asked about the glasses in the forest.
I was wondering, why are you not allowed to get in there? Did you do something wrong?
An aspiring hero like me would never do such a thing!
Actually, I was forbidden to leave Elgnand a long time ago.
There was a spell to keep me from getting close to the forest, which is different from the spell that keeps intruders out.
So rather, that means that once you leave the forest, you can't go back in. That's what I meant when I said I'm not allowed to get in!
But, well, if you have the glasses, that doesn't matter!
So, does that mean you could never leave Elgnand? That's awful.
It wasn't just me. My twin brother and Peter were also under that spell. If it weren't for those glasses, I think I'd still be in Elgnand.
Who the hell came up with that annoying spell, anyway? What an idiot.
It was that man... my brother-in-law.
He's Peter's father, but as you said, he's an idiot. That's why I left Elgnand.
When my sister died, we were still little and had to obey him without question, but things are different now.
I didn't want him to interfere with my life just because I was her brother and I didn't want to have my freedom taken from me, so I changed my surname and became like really independent from him.
You had a pretty hard time, too.
... I've been wondering, we just met, and yet you've been telling me too much about yourself, don't you think? You should be more careful with personal information!
I could tell you anything! You don't feel like someone else, you know...?
I had plans to become a hero someday and go get my brother and Peter out of Elgnand. I decided that, until then, I'd only go back for their birthdays...
But now I can't do that any more...
I'm sure I became a ghost because I had that thought in mind. That must be why I couldn't move on after I died!
Do you think you'll go to Heaven if I give your nephew his present?
I guess that'd be good enough for me. I'm counting on you, America!
Okay, you can count on me! Where's that present?
It's in the treasure chest in the room way in the back. While you're at it, you can take the coin pouch on the table in that same room.
Okay, I'm off to get the present and the coins!
America searched the table!
America obtained Coin Pouch!
Use it wisely!
America obtained Present!
What's in it?
That's a secret! And it's a present, so please don't open it, okay?
[Present] A present that Alfred got for his nephew.
America searched inside the closet!
America obtained Ten-Gallon Hat!
Hey, what are you doing?!
Aww, come on, let me borrow it!
[Ten-Gallon Hat] A familiar cowboy hat.
Hello, this is a curio shop.
Thank you. Have a nice day.
You're going to the forest again, Alfred? Please don't take too long this time. When you didn't come back for two days, everyone got really worried about you.
I'm sorry. Actually, there's something I have to tell you.
What is it? You look unusually serious.
I'm going to Elgnand to give my nephew his birthday present, but...
That's great. Have a safe trip.
... When I come back from Elgnand, I'm going to leave this village.
... I see. I figured this day would come.
It's been three years since you came to this village. I still remember the day you arrived.
When you'd just come from Elgnand, we were very cold to you, and yet you held your head high and helped us with our work.
Chief...
I'll put your house in order while you go to Elgnand. I'll also tell the villagers.
It's your dream to become the hero of the world, right? But you were enough of a hero in this village. Good luck in your next town.
Thanks! I'll come greet you again when I come back from Elgnand.
Elgnand is to the west, on the other side of the continent! Good luck.