As soon as the words left their mouths, both of them froze in shock.

Because David Clark was no longer speaking in that language Laura Smith had never heard before, but in English—a language she was very familiar with, and not just any English, but the British English she knew best.

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Chapter 2 A Passing Laura Smith

"You can speak English?"

"It seems I suddenly can..." David Clark was also puzzled. He tried to think about it and found that he could easily use English, almost as naturally as thinking in his native tongue.

This was definitely not his previous level of English; it was more like he had suddenly acquired the knowledge of the language.

It seemed unbelievable, but as a transmigrator, David Clark didn’t find it strange at all. Having experienced all sorts of wild scenarios in his previous life, he immediately understood what was going on: his cheat had arrived!

Looking at the suddenly-appeared Laura Smith in front of him, he already had some guesses about the nature of his cheat.

Although the cheat came a bit late, making him wait for so many years, it was still better than never!

But why did it appear at this moment? Had something significant changed for him recently?

Could it be that it was set to activate when he turned eighteen? David Clark had joined the pioneer team at sixteen, stayed in this remote place for two years, and had just turned eighteen this year.

Other than that, the biggest change was his status—from an ordinary person to a village chief.

Connecting the sudden appearance of Laura Smith, and the ‘British English’ ability that he must have gained from Laura Smith, he leaned toward the latter possibility.

Transmigration! Even though someone else had come to find him, it wasn’t that unusual.

In his previous life, he’d read plenty of stories about people opening shops, inns, or clinics and attracting all sorts of transmigrators, so now that he was a village chief, it wasn’t all that strange for a transmigrator to appear in his territory.

It wouldn’t be hard to confirm his guess—he just had to see if any more ‘familiar people’ suddenly showed up.

"In that case, I’ll have to keep working as the village chief!"

With this thought in mind, David Clark looked at Laura Smith again, whose face was full of suspicion.

That was normal—no one would immediately believe someone who claimed to have ‘suddenly learned’ a language, especially since Laura Smith had just survived a shipwreck, been knocked out, kidnapped, and hung in a cave. Of course she’d be wary of strangers.

"Although it sounds unbelievable, everything I said is true." David Clark could only emphasize his honesty with a serious and earnest expression.

Laura Smith looked at David Clark carefully, and in the end, was swayed by the overwhelming sense of righteousness radiating from him, deciding to believe his nonsense: "Alright... then, can you tell me where this place is? And who are you?"

Having finished tending to her wounds, Laura Smith felt much better. Though still a bit weak, she was no longer as uncomfortable as before.

Only now did she have the mind to focus on other questions: Where exactly was this place? How had she gotten here? How could she reunite with her companions?

While talking to David Clark just now, she had carefully observed her surroundings.

No matter how she looked at it, this was a plain. How had she gone from the mountain to here in the blink of an eye? And the drastic change in climate—these things left her very confused.

"This is a pioneer camp located in the northwest of the northern plains of the Ironwood Forest. I am the village chief here, David Clark."

"Hello, David Clark, I’m Laura Smith-Croft, an archaeologist. I was separated from my companions after a shipwreck and ended up here by accident." Laura Smith thought the place name sounded quite ordinary, and ‘northern plains’ was even more common. "What is the Ironwood Forest?"

"The Ironwood Forest is to the northwest of Ironwood Fort, which is the most important town in the north of the Tilan Kingdom."

"Ironwood Fort? Tilan Kingdom? Where is the Tilan Kingdom?"

Seeing the confusion on Laura Smith’s face, David Clark continued to explain what he knew: the Tilan Kingdom is a human kingdom located in the north of the continent.

The place they were currently in was a plain even further north than Ironwood Fort, the northern stronghold of the Tilan Kingdom. Because of the barrier of the Tilan Mountains and the elves living in the Ironwood Forest—who had a terrible relationship with the humans of the Tilan Kingdom—the kingdom had never managed to occupy this vast plain, until the pioneer teams were formed and arrived here two years ago.

David Clark’s camp was one of three newly established pioneer camps aiming to cultivate this land. If all went well, it would develop into a new village and bring this territory under the Tilan Kingdom’s rule.

"???"

As David Clark spoke, the question marks above Laura Smith’s head multiplied, almost drowning her, but she forced herself not to interrupt until David Clark finished his explanation. Only then did she say, "You were actually telling a story just now, weren’t you?"

"No." David Clark spread his hands and put on a serious face, indicating that he was telling the truth.

"How is that possible?"

If David Clark’s description was true, it meant that Laura Smith had somehow ended up in another world—David Clark’s account was rough, but from the distance the pioneer team had traveled after leaving Ironwood Fort, it was clear that this couldn’t possibly be some tiny island.