Astrid followed the man onto the second floor in the back of the tavern.
"The name's Kenta, I'm the owner of this place."
"Astrid. Astrid Atsuko."
Kenta leads Astrid into a bedroom. It was quite plain, only having a small, white rug as decoration. Astrid sat down on the bed, which was surprisingly comfy.
"Can I really stay here? For free?" It was too good to be true.
Kenta smiled innocently. "Unfortunately not. One night is only for the price of 5 gold coins."
She frowns and hangs her head. Not only did she not have a place to stay, she also didn't have a change of clothes.
"I guess I'll go then..."
She stood up to leave, but was stopped by Kenta.
"Oh? Can't pay?" He chuckled,"I guess you'll have to pay with something else."
He grabbed Astrid's arm and threw her back onto her bed. He then walked up to her and began to take off her shirt. This was not good. The more Astrid resisted him, the more force her would use.
Suddenly, A large, sturdy man bursted into the room.
"Help me!" She screamed.
The large man mumbled something and a huge wave of fire shot out of his hand. This fire engulfed Kenta and revealed his true form: a slime. The man proceeded to crush the slime's heart crystal, and all the bits of the slime evaporated into the air.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"No worries! That bastard had been trying to take over this place for a while. You finally lured him out. I guess I can thank you for that."
Astrid suddenly realised that a slime had just evaporated in the room.
"Wait, hold on. That was a slime!!! And how the hell did fire come out your hands!?! Who are you anyways?"
The man chuckled. "I'm the actual Kenta, nice to meet you. It seems like you're not from this country or something. Monster's and magic has been a necessity in this society for a while."
Astrid's jaw dropped. "Magic? Monsters? I need an explanation."
"That's a hassle to do. I'll give you a book later to inform you on that. Heck, maybe I might teach you a few skills. But for now, take a change of clothes in the wardrobe, and come down to the main cafe."
"You're letting me stay?"
"If you work here, of course you can stay."
***
Astrid walked into the cafe. She took a good look at the tavern. It was quite big and filled with many bottles of liquor. Afterwards, she walked up to the front desk and began to take orders and prepare them. There was a sense of nostalgia, as Astrid really enjoyed being a bartender in her previous life. She worked for a few hours, before taking a break in her room.
When she got there, she picked up a book off her bed that read:
•Magic, Monsters, and How to Defeat Them•
There was another book that was just called •History• and she decided to read that first.
In this world, there are two main sections: The City, and The Towns. The City is where the most people live, led by a strong unknown king, but it's full of rich snobs and wealthy nobles. There are many magic schools there, and Arenas: A battle dome where people fight for fame and money. In The City, there is also a concerning amount of slaves, most of them elves, which is why most poor people (or people with no magic) move to the Towns.
The Towns are a few villages surrounding the City, and they don't have much to offer. They are seen as the outcasts, and monsters can easily get to them because they dont have much defense up. There are no magic schools or arenas either. The reason this place is hated so much is because most people cant use magic.
Astrid closed the book and placed the two on her table. She lay in bed and processed all that happened.
'So I'm in a town. Great. Slimes. Magic. Slaves. This is so unreal.'
Her mind was filled with so many thoughts, but her body was too tired to keep thinking. She went to bed that night, hoping for a new start tomorrow.
***
She woke up the next morning, ready to try to learn magic. Kenta led her to a small training ground.
"Alright, Astrid, so the first thing you need to do is open your mana core. You know how to, right? I'm sure you read the book I gave you."
Astrid looked at him guilty. "N-No...I fell asleep..."
Kenta grinned and gave her a small chop on her head. "You rascal. Well, let's do this," He put his hand on Astrids back, like he was channelling something into her, "Close your eyes. Can you see those little balls of light?"
She nods.
"Those are mana balls. I want you to try bunch those balls together to make a bigger one."
Astrid imagined a hand reaching out to the balls, and dragged them together to make a bigger ball.
"Now what number can you see on the ball?"
"I see a three."
Kenta leaped back, shocked. "A three!?!"
"What's wrong?"
"That is a tier 3 mana core! The highest! It means you have a lot of mana and can cast very strong, incantationless spells! The outcasters only have tier one magic, or none at all!"
Astrid got pretty surprised when she heard this, and stood up to continue the session.
"So what now?"
"Now, we need to assess your affinity: type of magic. For example, i've got fire, as you saw yesterday. You need to close your eyes again and tell me what you see surrounding your mana core."
"I see colours: red, yellow, green, blue, black, grey and white."
Kenta nearly passed out after hearing this.
"You are an incredible strong woman. You have many affinities, and strong ones as well. Unfortunately, there is no more I can teach you. Go read the book, that'll give you some information."
Astrid nodded and goes back to her room.
'Incredibly strong, huh? Hehehe...This is going to be fun...'