Chapter 168: The Sun Is My Enemy?

POV Eliza

We left our inn and headed toward the city wall. I was amazed at how big it was. It was at least 7 or 8 meters high. In the Middle Ages on Earth, cities mainly had city walls to defend themselves against attackers. Was that also the case here?

Speaking of Earth, I remembered the thing about the city walls, but otherwise I didn't remember much else. From the stories about reincarnated people, I knew that they retained all their memories. But that wasn't the case with me. Was that why I wasn't reincarnated? But then what was I? After all, I had memories.

What did the others say? I couldn't remember anything from my past and that I was suffering from amnesia. But was that really true? Another possibility was that I couldn't have any memories of the past in this world because I simply didn't have any. Suppose I was reincarnated and shortly afterwards I was found by the three of them. Then I couldn't have any memories. But why didn't they know anything about my memories of Earth? Hadn't I told them about them? It was very possible that if I mentioned it, I would come across as unbelievable and maybe even crazy. So I wouldn't tell them. I had probably done just that.

“Leo, are you coming?” Betty

”What? Oh, yes, of course. I was just daydreaming.” Eliza

”That’s not good. Is she still thinking about that guy from earlier?” Betty, murmuring quietly

We approached the city gate through which one could enter or leave the city. It could be closed by a sturdy-looking falling gate. At the moment, however, it was completely raised. A wide variety of travelers could be seen on the street. Merchants with carts, travelers on foot and on horseback, but overall, it felt like there were only a few. Apparently, not many people were on the road. Perhaps it was too hot for them, because it was noon and the sun was shining strongly.

We left the small alleyway to our inn and entered the main street. I immediately felt an unpleasant tingling sensation on my skin and stopped abruptly. The others took a few more steps before they noticed that I had fallen behind.

“Leo, what's wrong?” Betty

“The sun is tingling on my skin. It's very uncomfortable.” Eliza

“Let me see, Leo.” Bishop

Bishop stepped closer and looked at my skin.

“I can't see anything, but that's no surprise. Leo's skin is very dark, so you wouldn't be able to see any redness. But I believe you. How long has it been like this?” Bishop

“Only since we entered the main street here.” Eliza

“We should step into the shade first.” Bishop

We walked a few steps to the nearest house wall in the shade. Suddenly, the tingling on my skin stopped. Then he took a closer look at my skin. He also said the words “light healing” and the tingling on my skin disappeared.

“Bishop, what is it? What did you find?” Betty

“I cast a simple healing spell as a precaution. That should make it better. How long have you had these problems?” Bishop

“I don't know...” Eliza

“Bishop, how is Leo supposed to remember? She has memory loss.” Betty

“I know that, Betty. But that's not what I wanted to know. She didn't have these problems while she was with us. Why does she have them now?” Bishop

“You're right. Forgive me.” Betty

“So, Leo, can you think of anything?” Bishop

“No, unfortunately not. And I don't understand it either. The tingling feels like sunburn.” Eliza

“Sunburn?” Betty

“That's what you call a burn on the skin caused by too much sun. It affects people with fair skin in particular.” Bishop

“But Leo has almost black skin.” Betty

“I know, that's why I don't believe it. The sun here is very strong, especially at noon, but there is another possible explanation. I heard about it from another priest. There are rare cases where people are allergic to the sun. The symptoms are tingling, redness, and rashes. They get worse the longer the person stays in the sun.” Bishop

“That doesn't sound good. I'm not interested in getting sunburned or developing an allergy. But if I have it, I'll have to learn to live with it. Tell me, you found me outside the city. What did I look like? Did I have burns or rashes on my skin? Or was it nighttime?” Eliza

“No, it wasn't nighttime. On the contrary, it was broad daylight. However, I don't remember any burns or rashes. Do you?” Betty

“No, I don't.” Bishop

"Me neither, but I don't find that surprising. Your clothes were torn and badly damaged, but you were wearing a hooded cloak. It covered your entire body and you had the hood pulled over your head. I only noticed that you had dark skin when the others pointed it out to me. I couldn't see it from where I was standing." Duke

"You must have been careful not to expose yourself to sunlight. Besides, it was before noon. It's quite possible that you normally traveled at night and only traveled during the day because you were near the city." Bishop

“After that, we took you straight to our accommodation. From then on, we didn't leave the city.” Betty

“You said we spent several weeks together. Was I never outside during the day? Didn't I mention anything about that before?” Eliza

“It was usually daytime. But you always wore a different hooded cloak outside and hid your face. You must know that there are very few elves in this city. You may even be the only one, as we haven't seen any other elves. On the first day, you didn't hide your face and many people here stared at you in the inn. You found these stares uncomfortable, which is why you've been wearing the hooded cloak ever since." Betty

“Since then, we've hardly been to any places where there were many people. We usually trained on the grounds of the mercenary guild or in the labyrinth. We also fought in the Colosseum once, but you wore the cloak there too.” Bishop

“Then I'll do the same in the future. Oh.” Eliza

“Leo, what is it?” Betty

“It would probably be better if I stayed in the city and didn't go out. Outside, I'll be exposed to the sun without protection. I don't want to risk that.” Eliza

“That's right. That's why we have to cancel training outside the city now.” Bishop

“Too bad, I was looking forward to some exercise. What am I going to do now?” Eliza, restless

“We could go back to the mercenary guild's training grounds.” Betty

“Better not. For one thing, we'd have to go back to where we came from, and for another, the others will quickly find out that we're in the mercenary guild. That guy will surely go there to search and ask questions. It's better to avoid anything to do with the guild.” Duke

“That's right, better that way.” Bishop

“But what can I do then? I can't go outside the city because of the sun, and I can't go into the city because of the man. What alternatives do I have?” Eliza

“I have an idea we can try. We should avoid anything to do with the mercenary guild, but there are other guilds in the city. We've talked about this before. The Colosseum is too conspicuous, so it's best to go to the hunters. They also have training grounds in the city, most of which are located on the outskirts. In addition, you can also complete quests that pay. We have to do that because we urgently need to earn money. Our reserves are shrinking noticeably." Duke

“Then we should register there first. We can't do it without it.” Bishop

“Let's go. I'm getting restless.” Eliza

“That's how I know you, Leo. You've been a movement junkie from the start. You even went running without us.” Betty

"Does that still bother you, Betty? Leo, you should know that Betty went running with you at the beginning. As a Beastkin, she has quite a lot of stamina, much more than Duke and I. But she gave up quickly. You wore her out. Your endurance is so great that you easily outran her. By the way, you usually ran early in the morning or late in the evening. We preferred to rest. That's when I really realized that you need less sleep than we do. Maybe that's a racial trait of elves." Bishop

“I'm not bothered, but I'm still amazed. I've always been proud of my ability to run long distances, but Eliza has surpassed me. You not only have muscles, but also endurance.” Betty

“I don't want to complain, Betty, but why do you always mention my muscles? Are you saying I don't have any other good qualities?” Eliza, offended

“No, no, no, you're misunderstanding me completely! That's not what I meant! Oh come on. Betty

“How should I know? I can hardly remember what you said to me previously. Eliza

“Let it go, Betty. We all know you meant something else. But at the moment, we have to assume that we have to teach her everything from scratch. Including mutual trust. Remember the first time after Leo woke up. She knew even less than she does now. ” Bishop

“Now I'm interested. What did I know back then, and what else could I do?” Eliza

"There wasn't much you could tell us. Not your name, not where you came from, not why you were anywhere near the city. But we figured out pretty quickly where you didn't come from. You're not a citizen of Hartdom City, the city we're in. We can also completely rule out the Empire in the north, because there are no elves there who aren't slaves." Duke

“Slaves?” Eliza, startled

"Yes, slaves. Slavery is permitted in the Empire, as long as it doesn't involve humans. But we can also largely rule out the Free United City-States. From what we've learned through inquiries, there are very few elves, if any, in most cities. There are some in the south, but the most likely place you come from is the east. According to the hunters, there are non-human settlements beyond the human cities, including elven ones." Duke

“Are there any relations between the individual empires and the elves? Slavery doesn't sound like it would be positive.” Eliza

"That depends on which empire you're looking at. The city-states where we are trade with the eastern settlements. Especially the cities further east. But there aren't many cities in the east. There are many large prairies there, inhabited mainly by nomadic tribes who breed horses and other animals. To the south, beyond the city-states, there is a kingdom along the sea that is widely considered to be pirate territory. However, I don't know anything about its relations." Duke

“I don't know about that. Do you, Bishop?” Betty

“No. But there's a good way to change that.” Duke, answered instead

“What's that?” Betty

“Go there ourselves.” Duke, dryly

“Easier said than done. But why not? We didn't want to stay here too long and then move on. So why not head east and search for Leo's past there? What do you think?” Bishop

“I wouldn't mind. I'm slowly starting to dislike this city.” Betty

“Then it's decided, because I'm in too. However, we need more reserves first, or a job that takes us east..” Duke

"Thank you, guys. You're doing so much for me, even though you hardly know me. Thank you." Eliza

“You're welcome, Leo. You've been a good companion to us over the last few weeks. Besides, Betty would be unhappy otherwise.” Bishop

“What do you mean by that?” Betty, indignant

“Nothing.” Bishop

“???” Eliza

"Quiet now. Leo needs to get out of the sun. Come on, let's both go back to the inn and let the men do whatever they want." Betty

Betty took me by the hand and together we walked back to the inn. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Duke and Bishop start to grin broadly and then slowly follow.