"Hey, Boss, you know what a meteorite is?" Kyle asked.
"I'm not familiar with that word," Theodor said. "It also doesn't sound like Sandspeak."
"Ah, never mind, then," Kyle said with a grin.
'Wonder if that works,' Kyle thought. 'A natural phenomenon that doesn't exist in this world. I wonder if there is a Fragment for something that doesn't exist.'
"Inheritor," Theodor said. "I've noticed that you have been using words occasionally that don't seem to exist in Sandspeak. From where did you learn these words?"
Kyle had received all his Sandspeak knowledge from the mirror Sulfur had given him.
However, Kyle could only use words that actually existed in Sandspeak.
Because of that, when Kyle referred to something that didn't exist in this world, he automatically used an English word.
Meteorite, smartphones, internet, computer, and so on.
Sandspeak sounded very different from English.
In the past, Theodor had simply ignored these words since he had believed Kyle to be an idiot who frequently made up words.
Yet, as more time passed, Theodor became more suspicious.
Kyle was no longer an idiot.
In fact, the speed at which he learned Spellcasting and understood Fragments actually meant that he had quite a good head on his shoulders.
And yet, he was still using these strange words.
Kyle furrowed his brows.
'I've never told him about my origins. I mean, it feels like I should keep them secret or something bad will happen.'
'Do people not always keep this stuff secret in Anime or stuff like that?'
'But what's the actual harm?'
'I mean, some people might think you're crazy and not believe you.'
Kyle scratched the back of his head.
'Boss and I have been stuck together for almost three years or something like that. I kinda stopped counting.'
'Boss is just a stone in my brain that can't communicate with others.'
'Also, he has a vested interest in keeping me alive.'
'What's the actual harm in telling him?'
"Yeah, about that," Kyle said. "I kinda haven't been honest with my background."
Theodor remained silent for a while.
"I thought as much," he said. "To be honest, your background doesn't make a lot of sense."
"You are a half-dwarf. Yet, you only inherited the positive traits of both sides. That seems too good to be true. Additionally, you didn't know the bare basics of some things while also knowing some scattered but advanced concepts."
"You had a basic understanding of economics, but didn't know what techniques or Cradles were. It makes no sense."
"I've been trying to decipher your background for a while now, but nothing seems to fit."
Kyle snorted. "I would be surprised if you managed to guess my origins. They are literally out-of-this-world."
"You believe I couldn't guess them?" Theodor asked with a snort.
"Yeah, the fact that you didn't react to my carefully chosen words just now tells me as much," Kyle said with a chuckle.
Theodor thought back to Kyle's words.
"Out of this world?" he asked.
"Yep," Kyle said. "I'm not from this world."
Silence.
"You're saying you're from the Winterfire Kingdom?" Theodor asked.
"Nope," Kyle said. "I've spent my first 24 years or so outside of this world, in a completely different world. Like, a place in a different… space and time? Can I phrase it like that? Kinda feels wrong."
Theodor remained silent for a while.
"Explain," he said some seconds later.
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