Restart Again: Volume 1 by Adam Scott (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📕

away in the crate at the back wall of the basement, covered with a thin bed sheet. Searching through the box, I withdrew and pocketed my coin purse. I took a moment to stare at the rest of my gear. If anybody is looking for me, I’ll be most likely described wearing this gear. With a touch of disappointment, I replaced the sheet and headed back up the stairs.

Lia was already waiting by the front door when I arrived, a large canvas bag slung over one shoulder. She was holding two pieces of bread with a pale orange paste smeared on top, one in each hand. She held one out to me when I approached. “I know you said you don’t like breakfast, but you really seemed to like the asperfruits at dinner last night, so I made you some toast with asperfruit jam!” She seemed very proud of herself, a wide smile on her face.

“That sounds delicious!” I had made a mental note to find out what had been roasted on the skewers, so I was pleasantly surprised with the offering. I found Marten’s cloak hung by the door, a thick, faded green wool with a deep hood. It was much shorter and scratchier than my own cloak, but I wasn’t wearing it for fashion or luxury. I slid it on and took the bread from Lia, taking a quick bite. The savory, buttery flavor I remembered filled my mouth, but this time it was laced with hits of nutmeg and clove, adding a delicious layer of spice. “It’s so good!” I said excitedly between bites, sending a few crumbs flying.

Lia giggled. “I’m glad you like it!” She opened the front door, revealing a beautiful blue sky outside. Hopping outside, she turned and smiled at me. “Let’s go, Lux!”

I followed her out into the cool morning air, finishing the last bite of my toast. Turning left around the corner of the house revealed a rough dirt road, just wide enough for two wagons to pass by one another. The surrounding land was flat, with few trees or ground cover to get in the way, so I was able to see quite a long way in any direction. I could see a concentrated group of houses in the distance, which I assumed was our destination.

“So, this is the town of Tolamar,” Lia began as we walked down the road. “Lots of little towns like this have popped up around Yoria. It’s really expensive to live in the city, so most people like us live just outside, wherever there’s room.” I nodded, enjoying the sun and fresh air as we walked. We seemed to be a good five or ten minutes away from the town center, so I figured it was the perfect time to learn more about the new world I was in.

“I actually had a couple questions for you, if you don’t mind. Being in a new world and all, I figured this would be a good time to clear some things up before I do or say anything too stupid.” I laughed. “I know you’re supposed to be the one asking all the questions, but maybe we could switch it up for the morning.”

“Of course!” Lia was eager, as always. “What do you want to know?”

Let’s get the potentially awkward stuff out of the way first. “Your mother. She’s a demihuman, right? Is that the right word?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. Why do you ask?”

I let out a sigh of relief at not having accidentally used some sort of racial slur. “Two reasons. Firstly, you don’t really look demihuman. How does that sort of thing get passed on?”

Lia shrugged. “It’s random, mostly. Sometimes when a demihuman and a human have a baby, it has the same features as the demihuman. Sometimes, they only get some of the traits, like me. I can see really well in the dark, but that’s basically it.” She looked up at me, curious. “Is that different from the other worlds?”

“A bit. In Alderea, if a demihuman has a child with a human, they always inherit the demihuman traits.” I shrugged, logging the information away as a curiosity. “The other reason I ask is...well, are people nice to demihumans in this world?”

She looked confused. “I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t think people are nicer to demihumans than anybody else.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.” Racism wasn’t a topic I was particularly comfortable talking about. “Other races aren’t hateful towards demihumans just because of the way they’re born, right?”

“I’ve never met anybody like that before.” Her voice sounded sad as she continued. “Did people hate demihumans in your world?”

“In the world I’m from originally, there were no demihumans. Alderea was like it is here, but Hedaat…” I trailed off, considering how much to say. “Humans and demihumans didn’t get along there.” We walked in silence for a while. Hedaat was a shithole, I thought to myself bitterly. “I’m glad things aren’t like that here.”

“Me too!” Lia laughed. “Was there anything else you wanted to know?”

We were approaching the town proper now, and I spotted a small signpost at the side of the road before the houses started. “I can’t read the language here.” I pointed to the sign. “What does that say?”

“It just says ‘Tolamar’.” She perked up. “I can teach you how to read, if you want! We have lots of books at home, I’m sure you can figure it out in no time!”

“That would be great. It’s always tough to go back to square one in that regard.” I thought back to all of the written languages I had learned over the years, all useless now.

“I just thought of something. If you can’t read Kaldanic, how can you speak it? You don’t have a weird accent or anything.”

“That’s a great question. Unfortunately, I have no idea.” The language issue had been something I thought about a lot in Alderea, but with no way to really test it I had just accepted