Shannon was sitting in a dimly lit tavern when an older man next to her said, “Oh, is this fate?”
“Hmm?” Shannon looked around, but there were no other customers in the place. It seemed like the man was either speaking to her or just monologuing.
Earlier that day, Shannon had been on her way to the next town when she decided to stop over in this village and rest for just one night. She was renting a cheap room and had come to the desolate tavern in search of dinner.
The village was pretty lifeless. Everyone on the street kept their head down, taking no notice of the robe-clad mage who walked among them. In Shannon’s experience, when she came to a new place, people usually showed at least a little bit of interest in her and someone often approached and spoke to her, but none of that had happened here. Well, some villages were like this. She wasn’t about to complain, anyway; it could get tiring to be fussed over.
Having surmised that she would be left to her own devices during her stay, she was surprised to hear the older man speak. He had a different air about him than the villagers, though. She figured he wasn’t a local.
The man swirled the glass in his hand and narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. “I feel like I’ve met you somewhere before.” He stroked his beard, inspecting her thoroughly from top to bottom as if getting a taste of her.
“Fate, huh? Well, aren’t you a smooth talker?” Shannon said. “I may be pretty, but that line you’re using is ancient.” In her thousands of years in this world, that one had never been abandoned.
Her skin was firm, her hair was smooth, and she didn’t have a single wrinkle on her face. Time, in some ways, had stopped for her; her immortality meant that she lived on a different timeline than everyone else. She should have been heading toward the future that all humans inevitably faced, but in reality, she was the only one not moving at all.
Women all over the world yearned for eternal beauty like hers. It was true that the goal of her journey was to find a quick end to her long life, but her agelessness also benefited her in some ways. Because she was physically young, guys often reached out and treated her to meals.
This man, however, became upset. “I-It’s not like that! Don’t assume I’m some perverted old man! I’m a gentleman—a gentleman!”
“Oh, so you weren’t about to cop a feel?”
“’C-Course not! What are you thinking?!”
“Well, that’s the only reason I can imagine an older man in a tavern wanting to—”
“Your perspective is terribly narrow,” the man protested. “No, no, no—I’m not a smooth talker. I really do think I met you before, a long time ago... But no, you couldn’t have been there. That girl was about the same age as me, and she...she died there.” He laughed heartily and took a gulp of ale. “I must be drunker than I thought.”
He must have been confused. If the girl he was thinking of had died, then she certainly hadn’t been Shannon. Shannon was alive unwillingly, after all.
She put her chin in her hands and let out a small sigh. “Honestly, you’re already drunk enough to be mixing up your memories? You look old enough to know better. If you don’t pull yourself together, you’ll dig yourself an early grave. I’m jealous.”
“It’s nothing to be jealous of! I’m the one who’s jealous of you, for being so young. Besides, I’m not about to die yet. There’s something I need to do first.”
He curled his arm, flexing his bicep. He might have been nearing old age, but he was solidly built, and his muscles and general demeanor gave her the impression that he knew his way around a battlefield. Even the equipment he wore was meant for combat; it was clear his occupation involved fighting.
“Oh, neat! Are you a soldier, mister?”
“You can tell?” He grinned. “Well, times have changed, but back in the day, I was a soldier. Now I’m an adventurer. Name’s Rowe. White-Haired Rowe. What have you heard about me?” He flashed her a cool smile, leaning his chin on his hand.
“Don’t think I’ve heard of you at all.”
Rowe’s elbow slipped off the table and he lost his balance as if he were doing a bit. “O-Oh... And here I thought I was a pretty famous person. I guess I still have a ways to go.”
“The only famous adventurer who comes to mind is...um...King? If someone’s not as famous as him, I don’t know them,” Shannon explained.
“K-King is at a whole different level! Don’t compare him to someone like me!” Rowe insisted. “Honestly, you younglings these days are a few bricks short of a load. King is a living legend.”
Adventurers were people who explored the remaining blank spaces on the world’s maps. Sometimes they battled monsters, and sometimes they explored mysterious dungeons. They made a living by selling the treasures and resources they found.
In every era Shannon had lived through, the masses envied adventurers for their strength and their knowledge of the world’s unknowns. Children thought of them as heroes. The world still had lots of mysteries in it, and even Shannon, who had been exploring it for thousands of years, didn’t understand it all.
“So, girl,” Rowe continued, “that robe and wand mean you’re a mage, right?”
“You know that?”
“Don’t patronize me; of course I know. Not knowing would be discourteous to you, considering how you’re dressed. I’d be more surprised if you said you weren’t a mage.”
Realizing how true that was, she laughed. “I’m Shannon. I’m traveling all over the world.”
“Oh, a traveling mage? That’s incredible. The last time I saw a mage was in the depths of a dungeon, where they were suffocating to death from their own flames. Using fire in such a small space took up all the oxygen.” He tutted and stroked his white beard.
“That was more of a failure of their education,” Shannon said. “There have been mage schools around for a while. Someone should have taught them that.”
“The way you say that makes it sound like you were self-taught.”
“Nope, I had a master, but he died a long time ago. I learned some pretty unique magic from him, though, so I’m kind of a rare mage.”
“Hmm. Way I see it, all mages are rare. But that might not be the case in this village.”
“What do you mean?” Shannon tilted her head inquisitively.
“The villagers didn’t really talk to you, did they? Don’t you think it’s a bit less lively than the other places you’ve visited?”
“That’s exactly what I thought.”
“Well, it’s no wonder you did. Everyone here has dead eyes.”
“Huh? Dead eyes?” So she wasn’t the only one to have picked up on the village’s vibes.