[Ace POV],
"Is there perhaps a problem, Young Sir?" said the elderly man in front of me.
"Young Sir," I muttered subconsciously when I heard his formal title.
"Haha, I may be old, but my eyes don't deceive me, sir," As his eyes moved to my clothes, the old man laughed briefly.
Seeing this, I realized why he used that manner of address with me.
'Seems like even the lowest quality clothes I found in the store made them mistake me for someone with a high background,' I thought as I suddenly remembered that I had just spoken in an unfamiliar language and could even understand the words the old man spoke.
Seeing this, I tried to speak again, following the instinctive sensation that came with speaking in another language.
"I'm sorry, I was a little lost in thought right now," I released a statement, looking at the elderly man in front of me, who stroked his beard when he heard this.
"It appears so," the old man said as he turned to look at Emma before quickly speaking again.
"I apologize for being rude, sir and miss, but please come inside our humble village as we welcome you," he said, motioning to the village gate in front.
When I heard this, I nodded and spoke up.
"True, standing in the sun to converse is not ideal," I remarked as the elderly man smiled and led Emma and me to the village with the other individuals who were at his back earlier.
I noticed a misunderstanding somewhere because of the way the old man addressed me and Emma, but instead of correcting, I slightly changed my way of speaking to take advantage of the identity the man must have assumed we had.
I also believe this is why our conversation was so smooth in the first place, as it did not begin with us being questioned.
As I considered these things, I felt my right sleeve being dragged as I turned to face Emma, who gave me a strange look.
Seeing this, I knew what she wanted, and since we couldn't exactly talk openly in another 'language' for potentially causing some unexpected issues, I dragged Emma close to me and whispered into her ear, telling her to go to the store and buy the basic universal language.
After that, I returned my attention to my surroundings as multiple thoughts raced through my mind.
For one thing, the old man gave me the impression of a genuine human being rather than a bot programmed to say a few words during our brief conversation.
His appearance was obviously human, but the way he spoke and the things I'm seeing now make me wonder if this is reality or an illusion.
This was not my main consideration as it was something else.
If all of this is real, would we truly die if we were killed here?
It seems like an insignificant question, because who would want to die just to find out if dying here was real?
Wasn't it better to simply live and not die?
This was my original goal, and it hasn't changed. This question arose solely as a result of my curiosity.
Then there's the basic universal language I recently acquired from the knowledge sub-option in the store section, which allowed me to understand a foreign language in an instant.
There were also different things in the knowledge I just gained, but I couldn't go through them because there wasn't time.
This will have to wait for another day.
All that matters is that a language in the basic universal language matched the one that the old man was speaking, and unlike the basic alchemy knowledge, which required practice to show its worth, I only had to think of speaking a language and it happened.
I guess it was all down to my memory that I was able to recognize and remember this specific one among the list I first saw when I opened the Knowledge sub-option in the store section for the first time.
When I get rich someday, I'll go back there to expand my knowledge.
Basic alchemy knowledge has proven to be valuable and is now very useful. It's even the cornerstone of my job, thus the utilization of the knowledge sub-option is self-explanatory.
As I was thinking about these things, we finally arrived at the village, and the sounds of various things filled my ears.
There were old-looking buildings made of rock, stones, and mud, with straw roofs and some made of reeds.
I could see some farms here and there, as well as a barnyard and a ranch not far away.
The sounds of animals pouring out of these two buildings helped me identify them.
As I considered these things and observed my surroundings, we eventually arrived at the center of the village, where a well was located, but my attention was elsewhere.
My attention was drawn to something beyond the well.
It was a Manor.
Given the age of the world, the structure, and the fact that it was the biggest in this village among the ones I'd seen, I assumed it was a Manor. It was also made of bricks rather than stone or mud.
Despite the fact that the bricks appeared to be made of clay, the craftsmanship made it clear to anyone that the status of this building was higher than the ones I'd seen around.
As I was thinking about this, the old man who had led us here took us to the manor entrance, where he immediately knocked on the door upon getting there.
Even though I did not know why the old man led us here, I still silently raised my guard which has never been fully dropped ever since I spoke to the old man up to the highest level.
After that, I continued to observe my surroundings as the old man in front of me knocked on the door several times before receiving a response and we heard a click sound from the other side of the door as it slowly opened.
When the door fully opened, a woman in her mid-twenties came out and exclaimed upon seeing the old man as she slightly bowed her head and greeted him and spoke.
"Village head, I wonder what you're doing here," she said.
'A village chief? So that's his identity?' I reflected as I looked at the woman in front of me.
With an above-the-knee black gown and an inner white gown, I could tell she was a maid right away, and all I could think was that the people I thought were stupid for constantly redesigning the maid outfit knew what they were doing.
As I was thinking about these things, the old man in front of me spoke as he responded to the maid who came out of the manor.
"I just came to inform sir that we have some guests," he said as he stepped aside and gestured to Emma and me, and when the maid saw us and our costume, she quickly bowed as she informed the old man who led us here that she would pass the message, and then she ran back into the building as a new maid came to welcome us as she led us in.
Something I noticed between the maid and the old man was that they kept referring to someone as 'Sir' and looking at how the old man received me, I believe that whoever this is is important unlike Emma and I that has to rely on a false background to be referred to as 'Sir' and 'Miss'.
As I was thinking about this, the maid who led us into the building took us to the living room and informed us that someone would be arriving soon to address us before she left, nodding to Emma and me and the old man.
Before we entered the manor, the people who were with the old man had long since left our side.
As I was thinking about this, the maid I initially saw in the beginning returned and informed us that 'Sir Roland' was coming to see us soon as she left after asking if we needed anything, to which we said no.
'Sir Roland,' I thought as I sat in my chair, hands on top of each other, waiting for whoever was coming.
I guess this is the man I need to talk to in order to progress in my quest.
....
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