Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

"Hello, sir... may I help you with anything?"

Laine pushed the door and walked into a shop selling clothes where an old man with graying hair, dressed in a gray cloak, greeted him from behind the wooden counter.

"Hmm... I'd like two fitting garments, just something ordinary—I can change into them here, right?"

"Of course, please wait a moment."

After sizing up the customer, there was a slight gleam in the shopkeeper's eye. He nodded and stepped out from behind the wooden desk.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

As he searched for the right size clothes that would fit Laine, the old man casually asked.

"Yes, I just arrived in Turingen today. Are you running this shop by yourself, sir?"

Laine didn't conceal the fact that he was an outsider and curved his lips into a smile. It had to be said, Turingen was quite welcoming and hospitable.

"Yes... I didn't think much about it when I was younger, and now it's just me left... Haha, don't mind an old man's complaints."

They chatted casually, and soon, suitable clothes were picked out. Laine wanted them quick and fitting, not custom-made.

He paid for his purchase decisively, exchanged the savings of two unlucky fellows for the robes on his back without hesitation, and left the shop empty-handed.

Following the stream of people aimlessly forward, Laine walked for a while before turning into a secluded alley and stopped after rounding a corner.

Tap tap...

Tap tap tap—

Bang—! Find exclusive stories on empire

He knocked the tracker to the ground without changing his expression. Laine took a look—a burly young man. Was this like a gang member from the olden days?

No matter what it was, he found a purse on the man. Laine weighed it lightly; it looked like quite a sum.

"Indeed, Turingen is quite welcoming and hospitable."

In the cities on the fringes of this era, still only less than a hundred years old, for an ordinary person to live to old age safely, without descendants to help and even able to run a shop... it was only believable if they had some skills; otherwise, no one would buy it.

The old man must have mistaken Laine for a wealthy aristocrat of some sort... but Laine couldn't be bothered to track him down now; he had other things to do.

"The three essentials of reincarnation; now the second one, 'where am I', is halfway done. Aside from my current circumstances, I need to understand what happened in the past."

"Fortunately, Athens is quite progressive in this respect...

They worship Athena as the Principal God, calling her Lady, Queen, Female Overlord—the more formal titles are 'Lord of War and Victory, Monarch of Knowledge and Wisdom', so much so that Athens has always been keen on spreading the Goddess' Faith through the dissemination of knowledge, even once creating what could be seen as the prototype of a 'library' at the behest of the church."

"It's just that the entry barrier is high," kicking the middle-aged man unconscious on the ground, Laine expressed his satisfaction.

He would read while others paid for it; that seemed quite fair.

He didn't finish off the man, not out of kindness, but simply because he didn't feel any Magic Power or Sacred Power from him, proving the man had no connection to beings capable of casting spells.

In such a case, it was natural to let the line out long, hoping for a few more instances like this—so that he wouldn't have to worry about money for a while.

...

Note 1: Because I can't be bothered naming, I simply chose from existing real-world names. Turingen is actually a state in Germany and the Wila River does exist there, but it's just a name, the same applies to Hergolan Bight.

Note 2: Ancient Greece naturally had its own way of addressing strangers, but it would seem strange to readers, so let's just assume it's a translation issue.