NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 3: Chapter 2
"No, it doesn't," says Sasuke.
She smiles.
"Let me begin by telling you that what I'm about to tell you is going to seem unreal," Akeno says, standing up with a flourish.
She sets her cup of tea down on a small table beside the chair. Sasuke blinks, because he could've sworn there hadn't been a table there just a second ago.
"I'm listening," Sasuke says.
"Everything you see is brand new," Akeno tells him. "The chair you're sitting in—the stream you woke up beside. You know the old stories of some ancient deity creating a brand new world with a snap of their fingers?"
"I do," says Sasuke.
"This is one of those situations," Akeno says.
"And I'm supposed to just take this based off of your word alone?" Sasuke grunts.
"Why do you think I'm here?" Akeno says. "The original plan was to be a bit more subtle about it, but then again, you've always been a perceptive one."
"I wouldn't know," Sasuke says. "Has this deity also taken my memories, too?"
"Mhm."
"That was rhetorical—"
"And yet my answer wasn't," says Akeno. "You're a special case in this world, as I'm sure you're going to understand soon."
"Why's that?"
"Check your left pocket," chirps Akeno.
Sasuke sets his tea down, also on a table next to his chair that he swore hadn't been there a second before. When he looks in his pocket, he finds something to be in there.
It's a map.
He unfurls it. At the top is 'The Queendom of Riwyth'. It's a plain enough looking nation, with wide plains and stretches of forest, and a sea that guards the eastern border. At the bottom is a mountain range labeled the 'Burris' and beneath it, the map is shrouded in darkness.
Is that unknown territory? Or something else?
"A map," Sasuke says dryly. "Well, that explains everything."
"That's more than just a map," Akeno tells him. "Here, let me show you."
She slinks around the side of his chair, a quaint smile on her pretty lips. She leans over him, her ample bosom pressing against his arm. Akeno places two fingers on the map, her fingernails painted a deep purple. Then she makes a motion.
Sasuke blinks as the map vanishes before his very eyes.
Slowly, the ink begins to fill back in. Even if he had his memories, Sasuke is sure he never would have seen something like it.
The map is different now. Zoomed in. There's a small 'X' by a stream and a patch of forest, and he can't help but ascertain that that's where he is at the moment.
Akeno does the motion again and once more, the map vanishes, only to fill in yet again. It's zoomed in once more, only this time, Sasuke can make out the details of the area around Akeno's cottage. Every tree is penciled in, the contours of the stream clearly defined.
Even Akeno's cottage is present on the map. Albeit with something else in there.
Sasuke squints, and in the center of the cottage, approximately where the two of them are, he can see two small circles. Labeled with their names: Sasuke Uchiha in straight, neat handwriting, and Akeno Himejima in calligraphy. Each circle even has a small sketch of the two of them. Sasuke can see his own face, handsome and smirking. Akeno's is bright and alluring.
His mouth feels dry again.
Akeno has one more card to play, too. She taps his portrait and again the ink fades.
Only this time, something of a character sheet blooms in front of him.
Sasuke Uchiha
Age: 24
Weight: 90 (kilos)
Size: 7"
Level: 0
(At the top of the sheet is a life-size portrait of him. He's smirking in it.)
Sasuke pales.
"Do you believe me now?" she asks, tapping a violet-tipped nail against the parchment.
"What is this? Some kind of game?" Sasuke growls.
"That's one way of putting it," Akeno murmurs.
She rubs her finger in a clockwise swirl on the paper twice and the ink vanishes, to be replaced by the original map of the Queendom again.
"You saw on the sheet it refers to something about a level, correct?" Akeno says.
"I saw it. I have to admit that I have some questions..."
"I'll allow you to ask two," Akeno says, holding up the fingers to emphasize her words.
He holds his breath for a moment, contemplating what it could possibly mean. To him, a 'level' means as if he were on the second story of a house, or something of that nature. He has no idea what 'Level: 0' next to his name means.
And so, his first question is a simple one.
"What does a Level mean in the context of this map?"
Akeno offers him a pleasant smile.
"Your strength and abilities are tied to that Level," she explains. "With every Level you obtain, the further you advance. Level Zero means you're at a base level. Once you obtain Level One and beyond, a whole new range of opportunities are going to open up to you."
She pauses, then adds:
"On top of that, I should also note that you're an anomaly in this world. Riwyth is a Queendom for a reason. In this Queendom, there's no fishermen, only fisherwoman. There's no mankind, only womankind. Do you see what I'm getting at?"