Chapter One Hundred and One - The Wizard I stepped into the portal and felt the usual strange, shifting feeling that came from moving into another dimension. It twisted at my gut a little, but I was kind of used to it at this point. Blinking as soon as I was in, I tried to take in the opening room at a glance. It was, unsurprisingly, a cavern. But one filled with water. The cave was shaped a bit like a bowl, with a wall cupping it from behind while one side opened up to what looked very much like an ocean. There was a rocky beach just a dozen steps away, and on that beach were some tables. One was made of long strips of wood, tied together by lengths of corded... seaweed? It was some sort of dried plant-matter. The other table was a plastic-top fold-out table. The kind of thing I'd seen in convention halls, school gymnasiums during bakery sales, and anywhere that needed a temporary table for a few hours. The wooden table was holding onto a few knick-knacks. I looked around some more. The ocean was covered in a thick fog, so I couldn't really see far into it, but the upper end of the fog was startlingly bright, diffusing the sunlight as it was. There seemed to be a path along the shore to one side, just a yard-wide space that ran along the edge of the water. In some places the gentle waves were slipping over the path, leaving it wet. The space smelled like the docks near the edge of Fortress ENE, though not quite as dirty. It was seaweed, stale water, and salt. With nothing threatening-looking in the room, I decided to move over to the tables. The plastic one was uncovered, with nothing on it, though there were a few scratches on the plastic as if something had gouged into it. The other had trinkets. I carefully reached over and picked one up. It was a knife. The handle was a small, slightly-curved tusk, split to fit a hand-long piece of some sort of jagged stone into it, and then wrapped in layers of tine near the top to hold the rock in place. Primitive, but not necessarily ugly or poorly made. Some craftsmanship went into making it, and as I felt the edge of the stone blade with a thumb... yeah, that was sharp enough to cut skin, and the uneven blade would make it an ugly, jagged sort of cut. The point was sharp enough to stab as well. This could kill someone, or be a handy tool for someone who needed to cut things. I looked up as something splashed in the water, then blinked as I found myself staring into big brown eyes. "Hey," I said, keeping my voice low and gentle. I figured this would be a little bit like talking to an animal or something. The selkie sank back down until just her eyes were out of the water. It was actually surprisingly hard to see her, her hair looked like a mat of loose seaweed, which wasn't uncommon, and her skin and eyes blended into the water. "Hey, no no, I'm not gonna hurt you," I said. I carefully laid the knife back down, then took a slow step back, keeping my hands visible and empty. The monster... person stared for a while longer, then shifted closer. When she was on the edge of the shore, she slowly rose up. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novｅlfire.net And... yup, that was a lady selkie alright. She planted her hands on the ground, then did a little hop forwards on her lower waist, which was rather seal-like. Not exactly a mermaid, but not too far from it. I took another small step back, then watched as the selkie moved to the edge of the table with selkie-made things on it. She strained her back to look over it, then reached over and touched the knife. She tapped it on the surface a few times, then looked at me. I wasn't sure what she was trying to say. "You want me to take that?" I asked. She stared, then made a surprisingly high-pitched yipping noise. I noticed that she wasn't entirely naked. There was a belt of sorts around her middle, with pouches, and a sheath for a knife on one hip. She had necklaces too. There were coins, pierced through the middle and run through by a thin leathery cord. Carefully, I walked up and reached for the knife. She yoinked it back, then hissed, brows drawing together. "Okay, okay," I said as I backed up. "No taking the knife, got it." She shook her head, a surprisingly human gesture, then tapped the knife again. This time she pointed to the other table, the plastic one, which was empty, then she started to gesture. It took me a moment to catch on. She wanted me to put something there for me to take the knife. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. I hadn't exactly come equipped with stuff to trade with, but my pockets weren't entirely empty. I moved over to the plastic table and pulled out whatever I had. There was a small microfiber cloth, for cleaning the glass on my helmet, some loose change, and a charging wire for my phone. I set it all down and backed up. The selkie hopped over, knife still clutched in hand. She looked over everything I set down. The cloth didn't impress her, which... yeah, it wouldn't, but the charging cable seemed okay, and she compared the quarters and dimes to the coins on her necklace. She stared at me, looking a little disappointed, as if I hadn't brought anything really worth the trip, then she tossed the knife onto the table and took everything I'd placed and shoved it into a pouch. She screeched at me, and I felt like maybe it had been an admonishment, a sort of 'bring better shit next time,' before she turned and dove into the water. I walked over to the table and picked the knife up. "Guess... man, this is probably worth less than my charging cable. Oi! Fish lady! Your sense of value sucks!" I grumbled, then turned. I wasn't sure what I'd do here, but I'd probably not-- I jumped about three feet into the air, heart almost leaping out of my chest. A man was standing a few paces behind me. Far enough back to not be an immediate threat. He had both hands on a long cane and... was wearing a wizard's hat. Like, a full-on, pointy, wide-brimed wizard's hat. It even had an artful fold in the middle. He had a long coat on, made of dark leather, with some rather normal jeans on beneath. "Who in the fuck are you?" I asked. "Hmm, just a curious old man," he said. He looked twenty-five, at most. "How did you sneak up on me like that?" I asked. I glanced at the portal. There hadn't been any weird reactions to him entering, and the selkie didn't seem to notice either. He shrugged, then gestured towards his feet. Water rose from the ground, covering his boots and muffled them. It was entirely noiseless. Worse, I couldn't feel anything. When Squad B used spells around me, there was always a sort of twist in the air, a shift in the ambient magic. This guy's magic was clean. "I'm just a passing wizard," he replied. "A little concerned for the new locals, you see?" "The selkie?" I asked. "Mhm! When I sensed a little D-ranker lady stepping into the portal, I decided to see if you were here with ill-intent. But it seems like that's not the case. Or is it? I can hardly read minds or souls." He smiled, just his lips with no teeth. "Yeah... I heard about this portal and came to check it out," I said. Fuck, this guy was a C-ranker, at least. I couldn't point out any one thing, and there wasn't that sense of magic around him like there was around Louise, but I was still getting a vibe that he wasn't to be fucked with. B-rank? That was possible, and disturbing. There weren't many of those in Fortress ENE. He nodded along. "I see. That's fair, I suppose. And what will you do about it?" "I mean... my instincts tell me to close it. It'll breach eventually, and a bunch of D-rank tool-users so close to the centre of the city would be a problem. But they also seem... more civilized than, like, orcs or goblins?" "Sometimes it is that way," the wizard said. "Something will have to be done about this portal, I suspect. But it does one good to observe and learn when the opportunity arises. Perhaps not for you, little Regret mage. The water magics of the selkie witches would be lost on you. You don't fear enough." I swallowed. "Yeah, I guess..." "So... I'll skedaddle along?" "Wait a moment," the wizard said. "You're looking for portals to sharpen yourself with?" "In that case, who am I to stand in the way of your progress. Do you have a map service on your phone? Here, take note of this address. There's a small D-rank dungeon there. The inhabitants aren't nearly as kindly as these selkie. They'll make for great opponents for you to sharpen your teeth upon, though you may wish to bring a friend or two along."