The Flying Emporium

Given what he had just learned, Bandur was in a very excited yet confused state of mind.

The same was true for Severin, who finally shared his biggest secret with someone else.

That said, the latter knew-for a fact, even-he could trust Bandur with this knowledge. Also, he had had more time to mentally prepare himself for this occasion; he wasn’t the one whose whole worldview had just abruptly and fundamentally changed; for him, that experience had already come some months ago when he first woke up in this place.

As such, despite his own excitement and despite the alcohol he had consumed, Severin was by far the more clearheaded of the two.

He had immediately picked up on that term.

Traveler

The fact that it immediately came to Bandur’s mind after hearing Severin’s, at the time, outlandish claim, only made it that much more intriguing.

So much so that he hardly had the patience to answer Bandur’s most burning questions, and instead was intent on interrogating the dwarf in turn.

And now, judging by the dwarf’s reaction, it seemed he actually was on to something.

“What is it?” his heart was pounding hard in his chest as he asked the question.

“It… it’s a collection of several children’s stories. Most people know them.

Well, at least of them.

They are about-” Bandur cut off and simply stared at the human.

“About what, Bandur? Talk to me!”

“Well,” Bandur nervously opened his mouth, moistening his lips and leaving Severin in agonizing suspense, before finally continuing with a raspy voice,

“I think you might not have been the only one to cross over, after all.”

“!!”

So it was as he had suspected. Still, the revelation left Severin momentarily for words.

Luckily, this time around, Bandur didn’t need to be urged to continue,

“Each of its stories is the tale about the deeds and exploits of some otherworldly champion.”

Sadly, though, for the moment, this was all he had to offer.

“So?” Severin asked impatiently. “Don’t leave me hanging. Tell me more!”

“I’m thinking, lad! Despite my looks, I have quite some years under my belt. I’m not the youngest anymore and I’m not in the habit of reading children’s stories, you know.”

Severin rolled his eyes. “You got to remember something. At least tell me what’s a champion? Is it a class?”

‘Because if it is, then there goes the theory,’ he thought to himself but didn’t say the words out loud, since by then Bandur was already answering him.

“Right!” the dwarf exclaimed, but was soon interrupted. “[Champion] is also a class, yes, but that’s not what this refers to. In this context, it simply refers to a god’s chos-”

“Gods?!”

When he first arrived in this world, the thought of divine intervention as the cause of his circumstances, of course, crossed his mind. As did reincarnation or some sort of summoning ritual.

Ever since, however, no indicator for either of those possibilities had revealed themselves to him, and as such, all thoughts of the matter had been discarded.

That was until now.

“Gods,” he repeated, “do they exist!?”

shrug

“Who knows? I certainly don’t. And to be honest, I doubt even their [Priests] do know for certain. Though I’d say chances they do have just increased considerably, no?”

Severin understood where the dwarf was coming from with that last remark, but he wasn’t sure he agreed. If anything, in his mind, the involvement of some god, assuming they even existed, had become less likely, not more; at least if that small tidbit regarding champions was to be trusted. After all, if he was indeed brought over to this world by some deity and was now considered to be their champion, wouldn’t he know about that?And besides.

Where was the obligatory meeting with his patron god in the in-between?

Where was the introduction? The manual?

The purpose?

No, Severin didn’t believe that explanation. Still, this was his one and only lead, and he would be a fool not to follow it.

Either way, Bandur didn’t actually expect an answer to his rhetoric question and instead continued as it seemed some of his childhood memories were slowly coming back to him.

“I’m not sure regarding the specifics, but the general theme of these stories was some champion traveling the continent, spreading their respective god’s teachings and thereby spreading their faith. This, most importantly, was always done through actual work and effort, never just preaching, and changed the lives of everyone around them for the better.

If I remember correctly, it was Lauter’s champion for exampl-”

“Lauter?” came the intermediate question.

“God of charity and compassion,” Bandur explained.

“His champion, wherever he traveled, established community shelters for all kinds of people in need.

Be it children without parents, elderly with no family, disabled people who struggled to cope on their own, and so on. Everyone who was in need of help, really; he created a safe space where they all could live together under one big roof.

Those shelters were set up in such a way that everyone did what they could to help, relying on everyone’s strengths to cover each other’s weaknesses and shortcomings.

The able cared for the unable, the educated taught the uneducated.

The old nourished the young, and the young nursed the old.

That sort of place.”

“Sounds great in theory, b-” Severin hold his tongue just in time to suppress a cynic remark; now wasn’t the time.

Fortunately, Bandur either didn’t catch or simply ignored Severin’s faux pas,

“Indeed. So great, in fact, that wealthy adventurers started donating large amounts of money. In part to help out those of their more unfortunate former companions who had sustained grave injuries-both physical and mental in nature-and now lived in those institutions, but also as some kind of insurance in case they themselves should ever find themselves in a similar situation in the future.”

“The other one I remember, probably the most famous one, concerns Heidel.

God of medicine and wisdom.” Bandur this time clarified before Severin could interrupt him again. “The churches dedicated to her, even to this day, are basically all hospitals, housing associated schools which aim to promote medical knowledge and general skills amongst classbearers and non-classbearers alike.

Long story short, before her champion’s intervention, medicine that could be practiced by non-classbearers wasn’t really a thing; most such healers were either crooks, or, the few with actual skills, didn’t usually impart their knowledge to others.

As for those classbearers with healing capabilities, few of them offered their services for free or for the pittance regular folk could afford, when instead they could work for either a guild or some rich nobles. That’s not to say that those adventurers and nobles were all heartless monsters who would deprive the general populace of healing, but it wasn’t quite as widely accessible as it should have been.

Well, until in Heidel’s name, the first clinics had been established and the previously tightly guarded secrets that allowed even classless people to cure others were publicly taught.

That’s what I remember. Anything more specific than that and you might want to check out Malcos’ library. Shouldn’t be too hard to get your hands on a copy.”