Chapter 3: Morning AfterDay 2

  I woke up on a bed of straw. Uh oh, quick (alternate) reality check:

  [Ant]

  Yep, I’m still here. Oh, and I have the Hero job, so it’s not just a repeat of yesterday. When living with absurdity, it’s best to avoid assumptions.

  Pretty sore from the fight, but probably more from swinging than getting hit. Just feels like I overdid it at practice. Not bad, considering the circumstances since I probably wouldn’t have survived one direct stab, OP sword or not. I not only survived but got a safe pce to sleep, a promise of a ride to town, and, best of all, cost-free, un-ensved help. The chief obviously wouldn’t have let me take a man or young woman but he jumped at the chance of releasing a widow, just as expected. This could really be a good opportunity for Tuuli too. And if she turns out to be useless, she could just be brought back home — no harm done. Have to admit that things are going pretty well so far.

  Hmm, what I just said sounds a bit off. Suspicious even. I genuinely don’t seem to care why or how I came to this world. How could I possibly be so passive? This ck of existential dread is definitely a bad sign. Have I been brain-washed? Would a brain-washed person worry about being brain-washed? Maybe if it’s incomplete. Meh, whatever. I really shouldn’t worry about not feeling bad and especially not about why I don’t… um, or something like that.

  It’s time to get up. Should be dawn soon. The air is earthy and clean. (Does that horse even know how to shit?) Stepping outside, I feel a cool breeze. Nice out here too so I guess even the blood is gone. I’ll head over to the chief’s house and invite myself to breakfast. Damn, I need to get some shoes.

  They’re awake, of course, this is a farm vilge after all. We exchanged basic greetings and I sat at the table, as if it’s simply routine. Porridge again. It’s hot and really good. I’ll help myself to a few bread rolls for the road. They even got me a small water skin — hadn’t even thought of that. Guess I get to keep the poor-fitting peasant clothes too. My ripped PJs might be considered indecent and the logo on my t-shirt might match some notorious cn.

  The merchant’s cart was already loaded with loot from the Bandits, the prisoner, and what I presume to be goods for trade. The prisoner was all scrunched up in a tiny cage. A bit cruel, but not like I wanted that guy to sit next to me. I guess what happened yesterday ended up ruining his life, but certainly not my fault. Well, maybe I’m partly to bme. Anyway, the guy deserves his fate, assuming that he’s actually guilty.

  Ah, here she comes, suitcase in hand. “Hello Tully.”

  Pointing to herself, she says, “Tuuli”.

  Oh, “Tuli?”

  “Tuuli!” [1]

  Oops, maybe I said something bad. Anyway, pointing to myself, I say “David.”

  Nodding to show that she obviously remembers my name, she repeats, “Taavi”.

  “David.”

  Shrugging, she settles on, “Tavi.” [2]

  Meh, close enough, so I nodded in approval.

  Tuuli sat on the far end so I climbed up to sit on the other side of the merchant. It’s not like she and I have anything to talk about anyway. As we rode away from the vilge, the merchant remained quiet and a bit distant. Can’t tell if he was trying to avoid me specifically or if he’s just more accustomed to being alone. Fine either way since this gave me time to reflect.

  OK, I’m not here by accident. Someone brought me to this world and they presumably did it for a reason. I haven’t been given a duty to save the world so my current best guess is that I’m here as a test subject or simple amusement. Until I hear otherwise, I’ll assume that I’m free to act. So, I could try to:

  Ruin the experiment or game.Carefully follow the script.Just do what feels right.Chaos is fine in a game where you can logoff but it wouldn’t make for a great lifestyle. Maybe I should be angry but seeking revenge against a mysterious foe who’s powerful enough to bring me here would be pointless.

  Following the script should allow me to predict future events to my advantage. Well, I’ve already strayed a bit and I don’t want to simply walk in someone else’s shoes just because it might be easier.

  So, doing whatever the heck I want seems like the way to go. Yeah, I already knew that but it feels good to eliminate the extremes under these insane circumstances. But, what do I actually want? Pns from my old world can be scrapped, so now that I have a few minutes, I should decide what to do with my life.

  Primary goals: survival and security. OK, that’s obvious and I’ll need to start gaining money and strength. I’m not going to try to scam my way into nobility — too tiresome. Crime is repugnant and seems really dangerous, considering the kill-on-sight bel if I mess up. Could try to invent (pgiarize) something useful but without starting capital or contacts, my chances aren’t great. Normal work? Nah, too boring and I’d hate to start lower than my old world. Besides, who’d hire a complete stranger with no past? Well, not for anything I’d like to do. So, risking my life in the byrinths is the safe choice, huh? That’s good enough for now. Could revise this after I’ve been in this world a few days longer.

  Overall, the ride to town was physically uncomfortable but rather peaceful, with only a few stops needed to get rid of minor monsters along the trail. Tuuli seemed to be studying my movements with an intense gaze, which I tried to ignore. The merchant, on the other hand, became friendly and talkative. So, I ended up having less time to think to myself. Probably should have taken the opportunity to learn something useful but it was easier to just let him ramble on about, something or other. I made sure to smile and nod at appropriate intervals and just switched off my brain for a bit.

  We soon reached Vale. The town was basically like I imagined (read) but it’s quite something to actually experience a town of another world in person. I found myself unable to resist gawking at everything like a country bumpkin — so, completely in-character. The town was full of various sorts of humanoids, professions (jobs), and ages ranged from children to the elderly. They were all just going about their business. Nothing like a pce for NPCs to wait for pyer-characters to show up. The only odd thing was how clean the streets were. Well, better than it being grim-dark.

  “David, perhaps you’d like to get some new clothes?”

  “Ah, yes. Thanks, if you wouldn’t mind. I’ll be quick.”

  That was a good call. I’d almost forgotten that these several-sizes-too-small peasant clothes won’t make for a good introduction. The clothing shop didn’t have much my size (which I’d always considered moderate) but a suit that some rich guy never picked up was pretty close. The clerk picked out a modest pair of shoes to match and I was all set. I got a big discount but it was still pretty expensive.

  My new clothes help me look respectable but not quite fancy enough to be carrying a fshy sword like Durandal. Thieves will try to steal it, guards may suspect that I had stolen it, and nobles could demand that I hand it over. Rather than the bother of frequently shifting bonus points to make it pop in and out of reality, all I really needed to do was cover it up. I decided to take care of this at our next stop, which was to sell the Bandit’s swords at the weapon shop.

  “Can you make a scabbard for this sword?”

  “Oh, that’s a very interesting weapon. O soul…”

  “Actually, I do not need it to be appraised. Just take the measurements.”

  “Of course, I was just… um, yes. I have the finest materials on hand but it will take some time to create a scabbard worthy of such a spectacur weapon.”

  “That too will be unnecessary. In fact, I want a very pin, leather scabbard with no special markings. It should be strong and dependable but look no better than average on the outside.”

  “Ah, I get it. You know, no one’s ever asked me to do something like this before.”

  “And I trust that you won’t tell anyone who you made this one for.”

  “Of course. A loss of trust is a loss of business. Could finish it tonight if you leave the sword.”

  “Ha ha. Then I’ll check back in a couple days.”

  No need to ask the price since even at ten times the cost of a standard scabbard, it’ll still be cheap. Getting a custom scabbard did mean that I had to reveal my OP sword to a sword expert but Durandal’s unusual shape would make it hard to use something off the rack.

  Not wanting to take any more of the vilge merchant’s time, I hurried out as soon as the measurements were taken. It was better to leave the finer details to the expert, especially since I’d probably end up revealing my general ignorance.

  The overly patient and polite vilge merchant then took us to the knight’s HQ to turn in the Bandits’ status cards. When we had to prove that we weren’t criminals by showing our own cards, I made sure that the merchant couldn’t see mine. It’d be hard to expin how a mere Vilger did what I did.

  More importantly, I didn’t want to show Durandal in front of the Knight. Since the Knight would see my job, having a holy sword at my waist would be even harder to expin. Before leaving the weapon shop, I had rearranged my bonus points to remove Durandal so the merchant should simply assume I’d left it there for maintenance. This will also allow me to max out my trade cheat.

  The merchant took the vilge’s share and I got over 180k. The Knight’s casual bag toss felt like he was just tipping me for some trivial errand. Hmm, this pce must have a lot of cash on hand… Well, I’ll stay on this side of the w for now. Let’s go sell our sve!

  After a brief discussion at the sve shop’s entrance, our prisoner was taken away. Inside, we met An, the owner and the first person around my height I’ve seen here. In fact, An looks a lot like my te father. Other than us, most people seem to be… oh, yeah, that makes sense. Well, no one else seems to notice so maybe I’m just over-generalizing from the few people I’ve seen so far.

  The merchant handed over a letter from the chief. After a possibly customary “my oh my”, the sver started to ask the merchant for various details, thankfully in the nguage I understand. Most were about me and my heroic exploits. I couldn’t have paid for a better introduction. I tried to act casual enough to suggest that this was well within my abilities but not so flippant as to look like a jerk who’d actually pay for such a story. My nice clothes and overall bearing probably helped to sell it.

  Likely unable to understand much, Tuuli simply sat quietly, if perhaps a bit uncomfortably. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if women generally felt uncomfortable in pces like this. After a while, the servant brought out two small sacks of coins. The patsy, um, bad vilger, netted us a nice 50k. Of course, I used my trade cheat to bump up my share, shameful but useful. The other half is meant for the bandana-thief’s family. At least my interference will mean more for them as well.

  The vilge merchant said something like “goodbye” to Tuuli and I thanked the merchant for all his help. Just as I was getting up to leave as well, Tuuli unexpectedly walked over to the sver. Before really understanding what was going on, An asked me to join them and started some weird chant.

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  [1] In her nguage, David called her Fire instead of Wind (which is a real name).[2] In her nguage, David asks her to call him Teal, which is a type of duck. Yes, the color name comes from the bird.