After running for about half an hour, Edward went back to walking. By now he estimated that he was far away from the wolf`s corpse and to whatever beast had injured it in the first place to be relatively safe. He didn`t know how many beasts were roaming the woods, but he had picked this direction at random and he wanted to assess his situation instead of blindly rushing ahead. At least at the moment, the sun was fully up, if he encountered another beast, he would have better visibility.

　　Ok, now what do I do? I should be safe for now, but there might be other beasts nearby. It`s still morning but knowing that wolves and worst are living in this forest I need to find a shelter before the night, he thought.

　　His stomach grumbled.

　　"Well food would be nice too," he added.

　　He looked around, but he didn`t see anything that looked particularly edible.

　　Even if I found berries or something like that, I won`t even know if there are edible. The plants look the same from afar but they are completely different species than on Earth. If I eat something inedible, I will have diarrhea at best, and at worst I could die&Sounds great&

　　Ok, so plants are off-limits until I learn more. Otherwise, there is meat, but I don`t have any knife nor fire.

　　Edward imagined himself trying to butcher with his bare hands the meat from the wolf he had slain. He shook his head, no, not happening, that`s just gross.

　　Thinking about fire he stopped and tried to look into the sky. He couldn`t see much of it with all the trees in the way. Only some parts were visible, where the trees weren`t too close to each other`s.

　　Fire. Yes, if there are people here, they will need to use fire. The visibility isn`t good from down here, but if I climb a tree, I should be able to see the surrounding area. I can`t continue to walk blindly who knows where in the forest, especially without the ability to gather food. I need to find help or at least to know where I`m going. I don`t even know how large this forest is.

　　Edward walked to the bottom of a tree. Some branches were low enough, so he was able to grab them to start his climb. While he was getting higher in the tree, the branches were thinning and the trunk was moving slightly with the wind. Edward closed his eyes for an instant, don`t get vertigo now, he told himself.

　　He was now high enough to have a clear view around him, his vantage point bringing him above the canopy of the other trees. And then he saw it, there was smoke in the distance. "YES!!", he shouted while pumping a fist. I`m not alone, there are people living there, Edward you won`t die from starvation. His stomach seems to approve of the thought and answered by a low grumble.

　　The smoke was coming from what seemed to be a village although Edawrd couldn`t discern much from this far away. It was situated in what Edward thought as the south. He didn`t have to go back on his steps to go to this village but he would have to change his trajectory from almost nighty degrees to the right. He was glad he had had the idea to stop and climb a tree to look around. If he had just continued to walk straight ahead, he could have passed the village without even knowing it, and he didn`t know if there would be another one further away. Had he proceeded in this choice he could have missed his only chance of survival and died from starvation within a few weeks. If I didn`t get eaten before that. As things are right now, I`m not even sure I can survive a single night in this forest. I was lucky the wolf I encountered was alone and already wounded.

　　Still hanging on the tree, Edward looked behind him. His breath got caught in his chest. He couldn`t see the end of the forest. It just went on and on until the end of the horizon. He was glad he appeared in the peripheral part of the forest and not in the midst of it. It would have taken him days to get out, days he wasn`t sure he would have survived. The trees also seemed to be denser in some areas of the forest compared to their relatively large spacing where he was.

　　Edward appreciated the view for a few minutes before climbing down. He began to walk in the direction of the village.

　　After strolling for a dozen minutes, he finally came out of the woods. He immediately felt better. He usually liked forests, they made him feel more relaxed and it was a nice change from the city. However, after having a close encounter with death in the first forest he encountered in this world his perspective wasn`t the same. He felt a slight sense of oppression from the woods he had just left, the trees appearing ominous, hiding who know which monsters and savage beasts. With such ferocious wolves and other savage beasts living in this area it certainly wasn`t a place to leisurely stroll but rather a place where you had to fight for your life.

　　Without the trees to hide his view, he realized that there wasn`t a single column of smoke but several of them clearly visible in the distance. On his right a few hundred meters away, he even saw a trail made by the passing of pedestrians and carts.

　　He headed towards it. It didn`t deserve the name of a road; it was just a trail of dirt where no plants were growing as they were crushed by regular passage. At least it showed there were some people using it, even though there was no one on it for the moment.

　　Edward was glad it wasn`t raining, walking through mud would have been an additional unpleasant experienced he could live without. He continued to walk while lost in thoughts.

　　There are so many things I don`t know about this world. I need to find shelter in this village. As I am now, I would die within a few days in the wild. I don`t even know if the villagers will accept me, for them I will be a strange foreigner without a single coin. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

　　I wonder if there are others like me, arriving into this world from Earth. If I ever meet one, I should ask for information, I don`t know anything and I don`t want to die because I blurted something I shouldn`t. Cultural differences between foreign countries can already be a lot without even talking about cultural differences between worlds.

　　What should I say to the villagers? Sorry, I`m a lost dimension traveler that stumbled into your world, could you let me in? It sounds crazy even to me, and I`m the one who experienced it.

　　Edward`s mind was wandering while he was walking.

　　I don`t know if there is magic in this world. It would be cool if I could become a wizard, Edward the wizard, that sounds nice.

　　After an hour or two of hiking, Edward finally arrived in front of the village. There was a four meters tall palisade circling the village. Small trenches had even been dug in front it even though there was no water inside. Additionally, there were two watch-towers, one from each side of the door, Edward could see guards manning them. They weren`t the only ones either. Several more of the towers were established at regular intervals all along the walls. However, there were no trenches in front of the entrance, the village probably didn`t have the means to install a drawbridge. That didn`t prevent them, from heavily guarding it, in addition to the guards in the watch-towers, there were also three guards defending the main doors.

　　Edward was impressed. Is there a war or something? he thought. That`s some pretty impressive defenses for a simple village.

　　The front guard was a man in his thirties, he was wearing a leather armor and had a sword resting on his left side. His two acolytes behind him were having spears and were wearing the same kind of leather armor. The front guard looked at him up and down; Edward was having strange clothes covered in blood and dirt.

　　"Who are you and what`s your business?" he asked aggressively while looking at Edward warily.

　　"Uhh& my name is Edward. I`m a simple traveler and I got lost in the woods. I had to flee from some wolves and lost all of my belongings. Could you let me stay in your village? I don`t want to be eaten by wild beasts". Edward answered

　　"Please?" he added with a forced smile.

　　The front guard looked at this poor sod not knowing if he should laugh or cry. Edward didn`t look dangerous and the guard couldn`t sense any aura from him. From the state he was in he definitely needed some help. Still, the guard had to ask a few more questions before letting him in.

　　"You were traveling alone? In the woods? You don`t seem to be a warrior. I can`t sense any aura from you." The guard asked.

　　Edward was stumped by this question.

　　"An aura what is that?" he blurted out confused.

　　The front guard looked surprised "You don`t know what an aura is? Where are you from?"

　　"It`s a bit difficult to explain, I`m from a faraway land" Edward explained while rubbing the back of his head.

　　The guard watched him perplexed before a look of illumination appeared on his face.

　　"Are you one of those coming from another world perhaps?" He asked.

　　Edward tensed "Would that be a problem?" he asked ready to bolt away.

　　"Well, that explained a lot of things" the guard mumbled. "No that won`t be a problem. I haven`t met any, but I have heard about it. People coming from other worlds are not unheard of, although they are unusual. Habitually all that remain of them is a half-eaten corpse wearing strange clothes. They are supposedly weak, and I`m inclined to believe that as you don`t look dangerous, and don`t seem to know what an aura is." He finally answered. "My name is Balin by the way, he pointed behind him, and those are Adrien and Bertrand." He added. "Welcome to Agripin, it`s just a simple village but you will be safe and you will find everything you need." He turned to address a guard by his side. "Bertrand accompany him to the guard station. The captain will want to listen to his story." He ordered.

　　Bertrand brought Edward through the entrance and then to the guard station. On the way Edward was looking at the different buildings forming the village. Most of them were made of wood, they were plain building without a second level. There was no glass for the windows, they consisted of only a square hole in the walls with two binds on each side that could be close for the night.

　　The road was still made of dirt but it was quite large, two carriages could cross each other without getting stuck. People were wandering to their different activities.

　　When they came in the vicinity of the guard station, Edward saw that this building was made of stone and was having a second level, which made it quite distinct from the other buildings. From the state of the village, Edward could see that security was one of their main concerns. Bertrand left him in the station with others guards and told him the captain would come soon. He then went back to his post.

　　After a few minutes, the captain came in, he was a man in his forties with a beard and some impressive scars. He was wearing a chain mail and had a sword by his side. He invited Edward in his office and made him seat on a plain wooden chair before sitting behind his desk opposite to him.

　　"Good morning, you must be Edward, I`m Caspian the captain of this guard. I heard you were a realm traveler. Please tell me your story and how you ended up in our village." He demanded.

　　"Good morning, well I don`t know much about realm travel. I was having this weird dream about a door every night. One night I managed to open it and arrived in a forest. I was almost killed by a wolf, then I saw the smoke of your village from afar and here I am." Edward explained briefly.

　　"Hmm& I see, I haven`t personally met people like you coming from other worlds so I don`t know if what you experienced was the same as them. By the way, this world is named Gifi, if you ever find yourself lost in another world again at least you will know the name of this one" he declared half joking. "Most people haven`t even left this village, and you just came directly from another world&" He complained after a short pause. "You are quite lucky from what I heard most otherworlders end up dead before they manage to meet anyone."

　　He continued, "You have blood on you but you don`t seem injured, could you describe that wolf to me?" He asked with a peculiar glint in his eyes.

　　"It was a black wolf, It-"

　　"A black wolf, and you came back alive!? I must say I`m impressed and surprised. How did you even manage to survive without even having an aura?! Was it alone?" Caspian interrupted him.

　　Edward didn`t know if he should feel pleased or insulted by Caspian`s reaction. "Yes, it was alone and injured. I heard the roar of something else& I think that`s what injured it." Edward answered a little miffed by the way everyone was considering him as weak.

　　"You managed to kill it?" Caspian asked.

　　"Yes, it was limping, one of his legs was hurt, and it was also heavily bleeding. I managed to circle it and kill it," Edward answered.

　　"Good, you were quite lucky, usually black wolves travel in packs, an ordinary adult alone in the wild is the ideal prey for them. We may have a use for you since you managed to kill one. It is proof enough that you have a strong fighting spirit. What do you think about working as a guard?" Caspian said.

　　I need to stay here, I won`t survive in the wilds right now. I need information about this world. I need to learn more and become stronger so that I don`t die to a random beast attacking me.

　　"Ok, as long as you answer my questions and give me information about this world," Edward answered.

　　"Good, then welcome in the guard Edward," Caspian announced with a large smile.