58 Dead End (2/2)
”You guys remind me of an old movie I saw, it involved a medieval knight and his squire being sent to the end of the 20th century by a wizard. They were so out of place it made for a great comedy, and we're pretty much in a similar situation.”
”Oh really, what's so funny?” Catherine asked, bracing herself for Joshua's antics.
”Simple… Have you looked at your attire? You're all dressed like a bunch of medieval heroes about to enter the lair of a dragon, especially Boris.”
Boris, who was indeed wearing a full plate suit of armor was looking really out of place in this modern-looking living room.
Catherine nodded and replied: ”I see what you mean, just by looking at our clothes, anyone could tell we don't belong here.”
”That's just the beginning of our problems. There is a language barrier. Sure, Catherine and I can use Luna to translate Easan, that is, assuming the language hasn't changed too much from the century-old version we found in the ruins, however, the rest of you can only use Luna while you're near Catherine. If you're out of range and someone talks to you, you'll be helpless.”
The Luna Rune Network was still in a prototype phase, data transfer was possible between client and server runes, but once the client was out of range, the data could no longer be consulted. Developing a system that could remotely download information in a client user's brain was extremely complicated since the data would have to be transferred to the subject's brain safely, it was pointless if the subject would gain a tumor in the process. Something like this couldn't be done the 'quick and dirty' way.
He continued: ”Furthermore, even if we enter the place successfully and ignore the language issue, for now, we completely lack information about the area. Hell, we don't even know what kind of currency they're using and we don't have any of it. Without any funds, we won't get far.”
The Lippi family was wealthy, but they obviously didn't prepare any riches for the expedition. Otherwise, even with a lack of local currency, they could have found a way to sell jewelry or other valuables.
Joshua concluded by saying: ”Those are just the basic issues to avoid being detected within five minutes. There are a lot more of course but if we can't even solve those, we're going nowhere.”
”You sound like you think we should head back for now,” Catherine replied, a bit disappointed.
”Are you kidding? I wanna explore every last corner of this freaking city! I'm just pointing out the most obvious issues doing so,” he told her, sighing.
The room went silent again for a while until Lydia asked:
”Lord Joshua, this is probably very naïve, but thanks to Luna, you're able to manifest a lot of complex objects out of your soul world. If we get our hands on some local currency, could you potentially make more?”
”Hmm, it's not a 'bad' idea in theory,” Joshua stated, ”However, it's probably too risky. There is a range limit on materialized objects. If we buy items and the money disappears as soon as I leave, we're going to attract attention fairly soon. It's also possible stores are equipped with a 'materialized money detector' in order to avoid scams. For the same reason, I won't make clothing for you, people. While the prospect of all you suddenly become naked due to me being out of range or unable to maintain a summoned object sounds like a wonderful gag, it would cause us a myriad of trouble.”
A vague smile appeared on Lydia's face while Catherine facepalmed, the rest just gave Joshua some big eyes.
”Why don't we keep it simple, to begin with?” Boris suggested, ”We can search the nearby farms for some local clothes. And while I don't like stealing, we could even find a bit of money?”
”That's actually a sound idea,” Joshua replied. ”We should start with this place and see what we turn up.”
Everyone agreed, stood up and began exploring the house. Joshua looked at the television post for a moment but decided to explore the rest of the area first before he became addicted to a local soap opera. Since he had already checked the ground floor, he climbed upstairs. Cynthia was there as well, he saw her exiting what appeared to be a bathroom and open the next door. Joshua opened another one and found a two-person bedroom, which he assumed was where the owners slept as several photographs of them were present. The room was well furnished and Joshua headed for the closet, hoping to find some clothes.
Of course, nothing ever goes normally when Joshua's involved. When he opened the door, two corpses fell out of the closet. He let out a 'Whaaa!' and instinctively took a step back, more surprised than scared. He recognized the owers from the photograph, but his attention was quickly moved away from the bodies to a large transparent bag located in the closet. It was full of banknotes.