Inside the tent was bright with the light from windows and floating dim crystals illuminating it.
Almond saw a table near the end and the tent was as big as a room with more doors inside that didn’t match the tent’s size from outside.
On a couch at a side sat a figure covered in a red hood. The figure appeared to be of a woman with her dress highlighting her ample bosom and long dark blue hair cascading down her shoulders.
“Commander, I found this kid in the cavern. He says he doesn’t know how he arrived there.”
The figure behind the table had luxurious blue-white armor, clearly a person of higher status and power than the one that brought Almond inside.
‘These two…’ Almond internally gulped. The hooded figure and the man behind the table felt simply too powerful as he gazed at them.
“You go back,” the man spoke to the soldier, who promptly left before looking at Almond, his eyes glinting behind the helmet. ‘Weak blood, unawakened soul…how did someone like him appear here?’
“Where are you from?”
‘Questions…’ Almond made his move quickly.
“I am from…I can’t remember,” Almond’s eyes shook as appeared to be struggling. “I can’t remember anything.”
He severed his own memory temporarily before answering, making his words truthful. He didn’t want to speak anything of substance. Remaining unknown was best until he figured out this location and his situation because nothing was in his control except for what he chose to reveal about himself to others.
“What’s your name?”
“Almond,” Almond answered. “Almond Crowshade.”
“Haha…”
The woman chuckled softly and stood up.
The commander looked at her, a strange look in his eyes. “Madam, is he perhaps the reason for your visit here?”
‘Huh? That shouldn’t be possible…’ Almond blinked and turned to her, but he couldn’t feel any feedback from her even when using his All-Seeing Eyes. It was the same with the commander.
“Of course not, but I would like you to hand him to me. He is clearly very young and stumbled here unknowingly. Someone like him shouldn’t be here, so I’ll take him back and find out more about him.”
“If that’s what you want, I have no objection. Are you leaving right away?”
“Yes,” the woman began walking towards the exit and glanced at Almond as his eyes met her ruby eyes. “Follow me, kid.”
Almond nodded, his expression confused but calm as he followed her.
The commander narrowed his eyes as he saw them leaving, ‘A boy appearing out of nowhere in the cavern, and her visit here.’
‘Madam Ruby, this is not a coincidence for you, right?’
…
Following the woman, Almond entered a sleek wooden-metal airship with sails and fin-shaped wings she took out with a wave of her hand.
“Sit.”
She sat down at a table on the deck as the ship automatically began flying and gestured for Almond to sit in front of her.
Almond sat down without question and looked at her clearly as she removed her hood.
She appeared to be in her thirties with glossy red lips and dark blue hair, with a perfect figure and height that was a few centimeters taller than him.
“My name is Ruby Cledensic. You may address me as Madam Ruby.”
“Madam Ruby,” Almond nodded. ‘Wait, is that she laughed when hearing my name? Since her name is also based on her eye color.’
“So, Almond. Put a hand on this so I can evaluate you and then decide your worth,” Madam Ruby said with a smile as she took out a strange silver tablet with eccentric markings and patterns.
She put it on the table and slid it a bit towards Almond.
“You are intelligent. You are at a place far away from your home. A place you have deemed very dangerous, which is rightfully so, for you,” Madam Ruby looked straight into his eyes. “You must have questions, and I will give you the right to ask them and give you answers as well.”
“So, put your hand on it, and show me your worth.”
“My worth…” Almond muttered as he looked at the tablet and put his right hand on it without hesitation.
The tablet briefly shone before it sprang with magical blue motes that formed a screen and showed his status. However, he couldn’t understand the symbols and letters it showed.
‘So my current Whispering Knowledge is not enough to translate this…’
“Delightful,” Madam Ruby’s eyes faintly sparkled. ‘Eighteen years old, but packed with latent potential. A gem unearthed, a star waiting to brighten.’
‘Huh?’ Almond looked at Madam Ruby as she had a pleased smile on her face while looking at the screen.
In the next second, the screen vanished along with the tablet from under Almond’s hands while Madam Ruby’s eyes pierced his.
“You are worth my while, Almond. I will answer your questions, but before that, allow me to let you understand your situation.”
Madam Ruby stood up and Almond also stood up against his will by some kind of power.
Both of them flew up and arrived on the balcony, if one could call it that, on top of one of the two wooden pillars on the ship.
“You see that city?”
Almond looked ahead at the big, colorful city with exotic buildings, floating small islands, and flying vehicles, giving both olden and futuristic vibes.
“It’s beautiful,” Almond said with a nod.
“That city is called Crimson Umbrella, and it is mine. I am its ruler. Whatever I say is the final verdict in this city.”
Almond turned to her and saw her looking at him as she smiled and spoke the words that made Almond’s heart tremble.
“And you…belong to me. Your freedom is my whim, and your life is mine to dictate. You are intelligent enough to understand and accept that, right?”
Almond took a deep breath, composing himself as he smiled, albeit weakly, and nodded, “I understand.”
“You do not understand, yet.”
Madam Ruby’s eyes gleamed as they bore into him.
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“You still have ideas that make you think you can leave. I don’t know what powers and abilities you have. I know you are hiding things about yourself.”
“But you will tell me all that soon because your only way out is showing your worth to me and increasing your value,” Madam Ruby patted his head and smiled. “Now, you can ask me anything you want and I will answer. After each question you ask and I answer, I will ask you and you will answer me, truthfully.”
Almond looked at her, feeling her eyes as if they burst out with chains, binding him completely.
‘Well…I certainly fucking did not seek to get dominated by an older woman, so why the fuck am I here?!’
Almond sighed and nodded. “I understand.”
“Good.”
Madam Ruby floated down, taking Almond with her as the ship slowly descended on one of the floating islands above the city that housed a huge fancy crystal-metallic palace.
They arrived at the palace’s door as guards with over 10k in stats as Almond inspected opened it.
To his left in the big garden were ten people, looking young like Almond, as they were training physical sparring.
Upon inspecting them, Almond gulped because all of them also had over 10k in stats. But suddenly, the status that he usually perceived blurred and bent before turning entirely unrecognized.
‘The fuck?’
‘Wait, could it be that the stats and powers perceived here are different than what I’ve been perceiving? That must be why that evaluation tablet showed something, but I couldn’t perceive it. Evaluation means she knows about my stats…and maybe she found more.’
As he entered inside and arrived in the hall, Madam Ruby told him to sit on the couch and she also sat across him comfortably, putting one leg over another with a meter-radius round glass table in the middle on which a servant put two glasses of juice.
“Drink and then ask me your first question.”
The glass juice floated towards him.
Almond grabbed it and chugged it entirely. ‘Orange and pineapple? Nice.’
After finishing the glass, he put it down and cleared his thoughts before opening his mouth.
“So, Madam Ruby, my first question is a series of questions. Where am I? Where is this city? What world is this? Where is this world?” Almond asked. “Yeah, that’s it for the first question. Where exactly am I in the reality?”