Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 65: Azel

This is a little awkward and bad. All I had done was find this book on the desk and read a few pages in it. But I hadn't known that was enough to make its owner point their staff at my neck. I don't know if fighting in a guild house is legal in the game, but I need to do something to clear up this misunderstanding. Returning the book should solve this, but...

"I-I'm serious! T-That book is special to me!" The kid threatens me as he slowly thrusts his staff closer to my neck. "G-Give it back!"

Trust me, I'm trying to do that. But him pointing his charged staff at me isn't helping one bit. I don't want to start an unnecessary battle in a friend's territory, let alone destroy another person's property. But just the look on his face made me wonder if I should avoid speaking or just try to reach out to him.

"I-If you don't give it back to me in 3 seconds, I-I'll burn you down to 0!"

Huh?! Isn't that a bit worse?!

"Hang on, hang on, hang on!!!" I call out. "I'm trying to give you this [Signatio] book back, but can you please put your staff down?!"

I don't have time to think about what I just said to that kid, so I prepare myself for the worse. But after a few seconds, he slowly put down his fading glowing staff and stared at me with his widened eyes.

"W-What did you say?"

Huh? Had I said something that caused him to lower his staff?

"T-The book. What did you call it?"

I stare back at the boy in shellshock at his question.

"You mean this?" I answered as I show his book to him. "I called it [Signatio] book since that's what it said in the cover."

Before I can ask, the kid quickly snatches the book from my hands and reads through the cover with his still widened eyes. Don't tell me...

"You read the cover? And without taking a [Race Quest] on the basics of [Signatio's] culture and race?!"

"A [Race Quest]?" I repeat, which I don't even know that type of [Quest] exists in [Isekai]. "I-I'm sorry. I'm a bit confused about what's going on here."

The kid then stares back at me one more time, at which I noticed his fearful look turn into a shocked expression.

"I-If it's okay to ask, w-what kind of [Race] are you?" he asks, much to my surprise.

"My race? I don't know if my appearance is enough, but mine is [Insignis]. You heard of that race, right?"

The kid becomes silent for a few seconds before looking at me and then his book several times until...

"I-I know what it is. Because I'm playing as an [Insignis], too."

...

Excuse me?

An [Insignis]?! He's an [Insignis] too!? I want to ask more about it, but he removes their robe and folds his left sleeve back. To my surprise, he has the same rune-like mark on his shoulder.

"So it's true... You have the same race as me."

I remove my robe and fold my left sleeve to reveal my rune-like mark on my shoulder. It's not the same shape or character as mine, but I can tell it's the real thing.

"This is the first time I've met another [Insignis] player in this game. But how did you know I'm playing as the same race as you?" I asked.

"W-When you mentioned the title of the cover, I know that you're able to read through one of the game's languages in one look. You do notice how the letters transformed into English when you first read it, right?"