Testing My Luck in the New World

               The eastern path the goddess' advised me to take brought me deeper into the forest. The deeper I went, the more I passed various plants and animals I'd never seen or heard of back on Earth. I did consider hunting them, but figured it was best to get my bearings before I really started training.

               Soon, the trees themselves grew bigger, thicker, their leaves blocking out more and more of the sunlight above. Figuring that this would be the perfect time to be ambushed by a hungry predator, I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword and left the sword itself partially drawn to make it easier to fight. While my miniscule sword collection back on Earth might have suggested something more, I had no knowledge of how to actually fight with one of these things, so I tried to keep in mind that if things got rough, I could just throw a bit of fire at anything that stood in my way.

               I did this, but all the animals I passed scurried away before I got close enough to do anything to them in the first place. If I were to think of this area as just the starting spot for a game, then it made sense. Everything here was low level and so was I, but anything outside of the animals' own species must have caused their fight or flight instinct to kick and, naturally, they chose flight.

               Once more, after the third deer-like creature ran off through the trees, I considered hunting them down and power leveling a bit, but what they lacked in power, they more than made up for with speed. Combine that with their greater knowledge of the forest and my lacking ability as a hunter, I didn't stand a chance at even finding them again.

               I quickly gave this up and checked my compass for the umpteenth time to make sure I was still headed in the right direction.

               All things considered, I seemed to have accepted my death and this new world fairly easily. The thought of me already having died should have been depressing enough to leave me bedridden for weeks. But it wasn't. Maybe the Goddess' embrace had something to do with it. Or maybe that was just her way of calming me down before sending me off into this new world. She did mention that most people found death to be incredibly traumatic. Then there was that tea. She probably just wanted me calm if she planned on dropping me in the middle of nowhere so I wouldn't freak out and get myself killed again.

               "Still… I can't believe a woman that crazy beautiful was dressed so scandalously."

               Imagining that beautiful woman and her dangerously curvy body wrapped in that sheer dress, I let myself get distracted and wondered into a clearing within the forest. A wide open plain of grass bordered by trees and shrubbery not too dissimilar to the one I started in spread out before me. I opened the HUD again to check that I was still headed east and that I didn't somehow double-back on myself and saw that I was still facing the correct direction.

               The moment I closed the HUD and let slip a sigh, I heard a bellowing howl and two large wolves jumped out from the bushes in front of me. After carefully walking past so many cute critters that usually chose to run away from me like a tourist walking through a museum or aquarium, only to end up in front of these beasts, it took my brain a moment to kick in and realize the threat they posed. They looked much like the wolves in my old world, but their bodies were noticeably bigger and their claws much sharper.

               "Grrr."

               The one on the left watched me like a hawk while the other growled, hungry drool pooling in its mouth before dripping down to the grass. It almost felt like its growl was meant to tell me to stay still and to just let this happen, that it would be easier for everyone if I didn't fight back.

               Overcome with the fear of dying once more, I scrambled to pull out my sword as fast as I could. That goddess may have sent me to another world, but that didn't mean I was immortal. The fact that she gave me a health potion at the start meant it was very likely that if my health bar dropped to zero, I would actually die again. A death game, of sorts. I highly doubted she'd give me another chance if I messed this up so soon after she helped me.

               The wolves just stood there, growling, eyeing me, as if judging how best to take down their next meal. I grit my teeth, fixed my posture to make me look bigger and met their gaze.

               When I focused on them, a name appeared above both of them labeling them as "White Wolf" and "Grey Wolf." Both were apparently level one. Since these two were the only ones that bothered to reveal themselves, I felt it relatively safe to assume that they were all alone and steeled myself to fight. I doubted that wild animals would give me the chance to run without giving chase and I wasn't about to fall into that horror movie cliché of tripping on a root in the middle of the forest while my soon-to-be killer stalked behind me. I should probably just be thankful they didn't come at me with their entire pack.

               I readied my once sluggish body to fight, feeling a little in awe of myself at how easy it felt to face off against a real threat, but the white wolf was the first to make a move. It lunged straight for me while the grey one circled around. Seeing as how the grey one tried to walk a wide arc to get to my side, I decided the best option was to lunge at the white one since we would collide first anyway. Letting them come at me at the same time would only insure disaster. If I could handle it quickly, I would still have time to turn and face the grey one.

               With a hefty grunt I might have made at the gym lifting weights if I ever went, I ran towards the white wolf. It seemed slightly taken aback by this choice. In its surprise it jumped at me sooner than it must have meant to, because there wasn't all that much power in it. Curiously, I smirked when I saw this.

               It was a simple mistake I saw happen all the time in games and movies. The enemy jumps at the hero to try and deliver the finishing blow. But they, just like this wolf, ruined their chances for success. Now that it was up in the air, it had no way to change the direction it moved.

               Taking into consideration the length of its legs and claws, I waited until the last second to keep it steady and confident before stepping aside to let its claws rend nothing but air. I hit it with a downward slash of my sword the moment its form crossed in front of me. I felt a slight resistance as blade hit fur, but the blade cut through just fine. Almost like chopping a bit of meat for dinner, only there was more of it. My sword stopped when it hit something hard inside its body, likely bone, and ripped the blade back out. Blood splattered the forest floor and the white wolf fell and stopped moving. That left only the grey one, but I had no time to pat myself on the back.

               The grey one came at me exactly as predicted. The savage beast did not stop to mourn the loss of its friend and focused only on attack. However, as if it learned from the white wolf's mistake, it did not jump at me. Instead, it ran full speed, paws kicking up tufts of grass and soil, and bared its fangs for a vicious bite. It was ready to bite into any part of me it could get a hold of, but I guessed a creature this large had to have some experience hunting prey, so it likely knew where to attack to end the fight quickly.

               Somehow, this didn't worry me as much as it did when I was first faced with my possible death at the claws and fangs of these animals. The thought of actually being eaten by this thing still shook me, but having cleared the first hurdle with such ease, I felt some of the tension in my shoulders lessen. Better to fight this way, I guessed.

               Following the wolf's slight zig-zagging, I was able to clearly read where it was going to be, and despite having no previous experience with a sword, struck it with the pommel the moment I could reach it. The bronze sphere at the end of the hilt hit the wolf square in the jaw.

               The blow felt heavy, the grip of my sword vibrated harshly in my palm, but the power of the strike and its own momentum knocked the wolf to the ground. I chased its falling body and, aiming for center mass, stabbed into it with the tip of my sword before it could stand again. Unlike the white wolf, this one yelped in pain for a moment before growing steadily still as its life bar drained away along with the crimson blood staining the grass it laid on. Unlike with the jack rabbit, I felt no guilt.

               Once more, before congratulating myself on not dying, I checked my surroundings to make sure I was alone. Thankfully, I was. So, I sheathed my sword and, out of habit born from slaying hundreds of these beasts in games, checked on the wolves' bodies for valuables. The grey one was still in the middle of bursting into light like the rabbit had, but the white one was already long gone. When the lights faded, where the wolves had died now laid two discarded strips of fur labeled as "White" and "Grey" wolf pelts respectively.

               With a sigh, I let the rest of the tension ease out of my shoulders and put the pelts in my item box, wondering all the while why I only got their fur as a trophy and no meat or other drops. Was RNG a thing here?

               Still, there was a much more pressing question I needed to ask myself before I started wondering about the intricacies of this world.

               "Did that Goddess really lead me into a pair of wolves before teaching me how to fight?"

               Sure, I managed just fine, but that was mainly because I managed to out think a couple wild animals. I was sure that if there was a professional sword fighter of any level watching me duel the beasts, they'd be shaking their heads in disappointment in my performance.

               Complaining to myself, I checked the compass and started east again.

               Regardless of what I found, I was still in the middle of the forest. It was probably just luck that I'd only run into passive animals thus far. For all I knew, something worse could be waiting for me to relax just a little too much before pouncing.

               The thought caused a shudder to run up and down my spine several times before my feet kicked into action again.

               As I headed deeper into the forest, I checked my stats page. The rabbit from earlier gave me 50 EXP, but the wolves each gave me 100. With just three wins under my belt, I was already half way to leveling up my Adventure class and I put a significant dent in the first level of my Swordsman class. The Mage class, of course, didn't move an inch.

               "Still," I said, muttering to myself. "I never had any sword training in the old world. Why was I so sure about my abilities to swing a blade in that fight?... Ah, right."

               I flicked back to the Abilities page and nodded to myself at what I saw there. That sureness I felt must have come from my Increased Confidence trait.

               "The goddess must have given it to me so that I didn't die to the first thing that scared me. I definitely can't imagine my old self facing down two wolves like it was nothing."

               Satisfied and grateful, I quickened my pace through the trees.

               I wasn't particularly looking for another fight, I just wanted to remove myself from this forest before I got attacked again. But even if I was looking to duke it out with the forest's worst, I never managed to find myself in another battle.

               When I reached the edge of the forest and found a long wooden fence blocking my way, I breathed a sigh of relief. Only tall enough to reach my navel, the log fence stretched as far as I could see in either direction down the dirt path on its other side.

               Oh, fence. Proof of civilization at last. How I thank you for your unending watch over this road and for keeping the beasts within the forest at bay.

               Checking that nobody was watching me, I had no idea if the forest or the fence belonged to anybody in particular, I climbed up on top of it to finally rid myself of the forest's confinement and a mixture of awe and glee at the sight before my eyes took hold of my body.

               Just over the sweeping, grassy hills in front of me and past the heavily toiled farmland, I found the sturdy stone walls of what looked like a massive castle that seemed to stretch all the way up to the clouds just on the horizon. For the first time, it dawned on me that I was in a medieval setting. Swords and magic aside, this was the best example of what anybody would expect to see in such a world.

               With thoughts of intrigue and exploration exciting my mind, I hopped off the fence and jogged down the dirt road towards the wall.

               The closer I got to the main road leading to the large gate blocking the entrance, the more people I saw. Immediately, I found myself wondering if they were all just simple NPC's programmed to walk this path every day or if they were real people with thoughts and feelings sharing life with me in this world.

               Feeling it majorly important to figure this question out before I spoke to anyone, I observed them from afar. I wanted to get a general idea of what I was looking at. In video games, NPCs, unless killed, moved along repetitive routes as they went about their daily actions. The player could interrupt them by getting in their way or speaking with them, but after that delay was finished, their artificial intelligence would walk them right back onto their proper pathing. Testing these people's status as NPCs wouldn't be as simple as standing in front of them to see if they stopped or went around me. Any real person could do that too, obviously. So, I tried to think of some other way while observing them.

               A rather sturdy-looking woman carrying a wicker basket filled to the brim with what looked like potatoes accidentally dropped one of the spuds after adjusting her grip. But before she could stop to pick it up, some dirty, frail man in tattered clothes ran up to her at full speed, grabbed the potato and ran away before she could so much as utter a protest. As the man ran away, I saw him stuff the potato straight into his mouth, without care for the dirt it grew in still coating it now mixing with the dirt found on the road.

               "Well, I guess that means hunger is going to be a thing here."

               I didn't get my answer exactly, but I decided my top priority should be to find some food. For all I knew, chasing that man down might start up some unseen quest with a reward at the end waiting for me, but my basic survival instincts, which I learned through movies, told me the first things I needed to do was procure food and water and a place to sleep. But all that meant I needed to get past this wall.

               I already killed a couple of wolves and neither of them dropped any meat, so even if I used my new magic to start a fire, I had nothing to cook over it. And I had no idea which plants in the forest were edible and I really didn't want to test that out without a proper guide, lest I succumb to poisoning or end up in a situation where I could only wish for a proper toilet.

               But inside, just on the other side of this great stone wall that looked like it could take a shelling from a modern-day tank and shrug it off, there was sure to be food stalls, or a restaurant, or even a bar where I could sit down and get something to eat. I'd think of it as a welcome to this world one-man party and splurge a little.

               Most of the people entering the gate were either carrying large baskets, like the potato woman, or sacks likely filled with whatever foods they were growing in the fields nearby. A few looked to be traveling merchants, riding in on horse-drawn carts and carriages with varying amounts of cargo in the bed behind them.

               Each and every one of these people stopped in front of the heavily armored guards at the gate's entrance. Each person took out what looked like a coin from their pocket, bag or, for some of the merchants, a lock box they carried in the backs of their wagons and handed them to the guard before they were let through the gate.

               "Great. There's an entrance tax. This isn't good."

               My item box said that that Goddess started me with only had 100 gold pieces to my name right now and I neither had an idea of what the entrance tax was nor if this world's money system regulated everything down to gold coins, as some games did. There could be other denominations of coin such as silver and copper or maybe those made of some other rare metal new to this world, none of which I had. Just a plain leather purse filled with gold.

               It was a pleasant thought, seeing and knowing I had that much gold on my person, actual, real gold, or so my item box said, but until I knew if I was sitting on a mountain of wealth here or if I was just barely scraping by, I needed to be frugal.

               The amount I carried sounded comparable to the amount of gold game developers often let you start with, which is probably why the Goddess gave these coins to me. She drew upon this knowledge when she looked into my memories… By kissing me.

               A pleasant shudder climbed up my back and prickled my hair at the memory. It wasn't my first kiss, but it had been so long that, now that I had a chance to calm down after my death, I wished I had managed to hold onto the sensation of her lips for just a bit longer.

               I shook these thoughts from my mind to focus on the task at hand. The traffic into and out of the gate seemed to never end, which meant the guards were also on constant vigil.

               "Shit… How am I going to get in then?"

               For a while, I watched the train of people travel up the road, stop by the guards, have a short conversation with them, offer up the tax and move on one after another. It was almost like clockwork how brief their stops were, but I guessed that the guards just didn't want to hold up the line by stopping to chat earnestly. After a few minutes of studying the crowd, I noticed the guards never bothered to check the contents of the carts they let into the city. An incredible oversight on their part, but a possible solution to my problem.

               I jogged down to and stooped behind the chest-high stone wall that led towards the gate. I became concerned that I might look like a suspicious person, which I arguably was, when a few of those walking up the road quickly made to look away from me. Weary of one of them calling me out as a bandit or some such nonsense, I put my sword away into my item box, making sure none of them saw me do so, to both ease their minds and keep my item box a secret. The people and wagons carrying goods proved it at least wasn't a common ability. I didn't want to make it look like I was there for a fight.

               I bided my time as people and carts passed me by, waiting for my chance to strike. The never-ending stream all but insured I could take my time waiting for the right moment to make a move. So, patience was the name of the game.

               Not before long, a wagon with a thin white sheet covering its bed caught my eye. Its driver, a man of maybe fifty years old judging by the amount of grey in his beard, noticed me, gave a brief nod and a smile and continued on. It seemed to be a smile of convenience, but it felt wholly more convincing than whenever I put up one of my own. I had to wonder how he managed it so easily as I chased after his cart while trying to look as inauspicious as possible.

               Thankfully, the wagon had to move somewhat slowly out of consideration for those in front of it. So, I was able to sneak up and lift the sheet covering its cargo and found a bunch of barrels hidden beneath it. Just a bunch of barrels. Thanks again, maybe to my increased luck stat, there was room enough between the barrels for me to squeeze inside. Along with this wagon, there was a lull in the amount of people headed to the gate, so I was sure nobody saw me slip inside under the sheet while praising my confidence boost for helping me make this move.

               I did my best not to make any noise and to not shake the wagon too much, so the driver didn't feel me climb aboard. I didn't know if the entrance tax was based on how many people were traveling in a group or not and didn't want this man to reject me based on if it was.

If anyone happened to have seen me stow myself away, they thankfully said nothing of it. So, there I waited. The sheet let in enough sunlight for me to not be completely left in the dark, but I wasn't able to enjoy watching the clouds float on by while I laid there curled up into a ball, hoping I wasn't caught.

               We hit some kind of a ditch and a handful of what felt like dirt fell on my head. It quickly proved to be anything but dirt, when its scent burned my nostrils. I dusted it out of my hair and noticed that it was a deep red color. I had no idea what it was, but I guessed it was some sort of spice and that the old man was a spice trader.

               The stuff burned my nose hairs and brought tears to my eyes, but with the need to maintain a minimal presence, held my complaints on my tongue, forced my tears to stay put and waited for the cart to reach the gate.

               The waiting and anticipation of being caught was more rough than I had anticipated, as I was the sort that was too skittish to break any sort of law even when I knew no one was looking, but I think my confidence boost seemed to help keep my mind in check and kept my worries from causing me to give up and jump out before I was caught.

               After about three minutes of slow, uneven traveling that caused more of the red spice to drop onto my head, the cart finally stopped. The horses leading the way snorted in thanks for the brief respite from work. I perked my ears to listen in on what happened next.

               "What's yer reason for visiting The Great City of Amoranth?"

               The gruff voice I heard must have come from the guard. His question cleared up a small misunderstanding I had earlier. This wasn't the wall of a castle; it was just a large city. What sort of city would require a wall this big was not something I could imagine, but what I could imagine now that getting caught here would be very bad indeed.

               "Just here to peddle spices, sir knight."

               The driver's voice and polite speech sounded like that of the kind old man I imagined him to be and it made me feel terrible for stowing away in his cart. If I were to get caught, the guards would only assume he was trying to smuggle me in and, through no fault of his own, we would likely both be arrested on the spot.

               "Yea? Then why you got it covered with that sheet?"

               Oh shit…

               Despite my growing fear of being caught and worried that I might have made the wrong choice jumping into the back of this wagon instead of just paying my way, the old man answered the question easily. More importantly, his words sounded practiced, easy.

               "Sir, what I have behind me are spices that have already been ground down into a fine powder. If I do not cover them, the wind will blow them all away, along with all my profits."

               Nice save, old man!

               The guard snorted in understanding.

               "Fine then. The entrance tax is 1 silver piece."

               "Of course, sir. Glad to see the price hasn't changed since the last time I was here."

               I listened as the old man dug a coin out of his purse, but missed any sound of him handing it to the guard. Relief washed over me as well as praise for the old man. That he was able to convince the guard there was no need to check may well have saved my life. It wasn't until then that I noticed each of the barrels next to me were emitting various odors thanks to the spices piled inside of them. Not one of them were covered properly.

               Does this old man not know what a lid is? I was no spice expert or the sort of expert chef capable of naming them based on smell alone, but wouldn't they lose some of their flavoring if not properly contained?

               "Alright, move along."

               The guard seemed to have been satisfied with the old man's coin, but we didn't move.

               "Wait…"

               I watched as a human-shaped shadow appeared behind the sheet at the tail end of the wagon.

               I thought he wasn't going to check?!

               Now nearly panicked, I started to sweat. I had no real idea what a real medieval prison looked like, since the games always just forced a time skip to let you quickly serve out your sentence after committing a crime, but I was sure I didn't want to know.

               "I thought so. Oi, old man," the guard's fingers grabbed the edge of the sheet right before my feet. Even though I was wearing boots, I curled my toes back, anything to hide myself. "Next time tuck this thing properly. Bandits have been seen around these parts recently, and it's best not to show them what you have so they don't want to take it. Ya hear?"

               "Oh, yes, sir. Thank you very much for the warning."

               With that, I stared blankly at the guard's shadow and the gauntleted hand he slipped beneath the sheet as he tucked it under one of the barrels. All that worrying for nothing. Thank you, Luck stat… I guess.

               Now free from the guard, there was nothing stopping us from entering the city proper. Once the wagon started rocking again, I let out a small sigh of relief.

               After leaving the road, when I noticed the large overhanging shadow of the thick stone wall above blotting out the sun, likely because we'd made it under the city wall, I heard the thudding of the horses' hooves against the ground become more of a clopping sound and the ride became much smoother. I guess that the city streets were paved with some kind of stone, rather than dirt.

               It was a shame my first experience in this city, the first I'd visited in this world, had been beneath a sheet that almost completely blocked my line of sight, but I could hear the hustle and bustle of the place just fine. It sounded about as populated as the city I used to live in back on Earth, but the distinct lack of running engines, people yelling at cell phones and police sirens that seemed to never end made everything else sound so much clearer.

               Store owners hollered the greatness of their wares, making them seem oddly interesting without even knowing what they were. Smells of freshly cooked meats and breads whose succulent aromas were just strong enough to make it to my nostrils beneath the spices' prickled odors to tickle at my stomach. A singular hammer pounded away on an anvil somewhere in the distance, but not so far that I couldn't tell it belonged to a blacksmith. A multitude of conversations muddled my attempts to learn anything of the city. And children running around playing, their open laughter as they chased one another suggesting they were without any nagging parental supervision, something I would have loved to have as a kid.

               I wanted to jump out then and there, but I knew we were still too close to the gate. A gate which was likely heavily guarded on both sides. So, I kept to myself and waited for us to make some good distance so I wasn't seen slipping away.

               We traveled the city for quite a way before finally coming to a stop. Putting my all into being patient, I listened to the old man grumble about his backside hurting after his long trip and when grunted with the effort to throw his legs off the driver's perch and his feet finally hit the ground, I made my move.

               Untucking the sheet from where the guard left it under the barrel, I lifted it slightly to peer under and checked the area behind the wagon to make sure I wasn't going to be seen. I slipped off the wagon in the opposite direction of the old man, so I didn't end up colliding with him.

               First mission: Get into the city, completed.

               Now I needed to figure out where to sell the items I found, so that I can make some change and get some good food and a good bed. I was sure there would be no fast food equivalent here, but all the scent my nose caught wind of earlier were so intriguing that I didn't mind waiting for a good meal. At the thought of all those new plants I saw in the forest, just thinking of all the new foods I'd get to try here left me excited.

               Once I set foot on the ground and was no longer hidden, I got a notification. Or at least, it felt like something that would have made your phone buzz like the sort of annoying adds you could never truly escape no matter how many times you told your apps to stop sending you notifications, but all this did was give me a tingling sensation in the back of my head and somehow, I knew to open my menu. When I did and the window opened up, I received a message indicating I acquired a new ability.

               [Ability: Sneak, obtained.]

               Great. Excellent. Hopefully that one can become absurdly overpowered like in the games. Having the ability to fade from existence by merely crouching right in front of someone, with them somehow being unable to see you despite the light of day fully illuminating you would make any combat in my future so much easier to deal with.

               That stealth assassin build was starting to sound more interesting by the second.

               After I brushed what I knew now to be some kind of spice out of my hair by raking my fingers through it, sprinkling the cobblestone road with the red dust, I put my new ability aside and rounded the cart to greet the old man as if I were just walking by to get on with my next objective.

               When I found him, he was still stretching, his hands pressing firmly on his lower back like he was trying to pop something back into place. Since he didn't yet notice me, I thought up a quick, but polite greeting and how I might traverse the conversation into obtaining some information. The man mentioned to the guard how the price hadn't changed since his last visit, so he had to know something about this place.

               However, the moment I opened my mouth to speak, the words I had in mind somehow forgot how to pass through my lips. Wondering where my confidence boost was, I nearly started to panic all over again when the old man finally noticed me. Looking me over out of the corner of his eye, he turned to me with an easy, but cautious smile.

               I need to change. I need to do better.

               Chanting these words to myself, I forced a few words out as my empty stomach churned with the force it took.

               "E-Excuse me. I am, uh, new to this city and I was wondering if you could tell me where I could sell the items I've collected by defeating animals during my journey."

               The old gave a brief, slight chuckle and stretched his tired back again. When he didn't respond immediately, I started to worry if I was the only one able to collect random items from fallen animals. It's not like their bodies stayed around to take anything else, right? Hopefully, he didn't think I was insane, or an idiot.

               "If you mean the general store, it's down that way," he said and pointed down the direction his horses were facing.

               "T-Thank you."

               I turned to leave, but his voice stopped me on the spot.

               "How did you like the ride?"

               My heart thudded, stopped and started again several times in rapid succession.

               "Er, uh… What do you mean?"

               "Relax kid. I know you stowed away in my cart. You don't travel for as many years as I have without being able to notice when your horses start moving slower than usual. And they haven't been walking long enough today to get that tired yet. Plus, I did see you before I got in the city myself. So, there's no way you beat me inside on foot."

               His quick analysis of the situation left me even more dumbstruck than my basement-level confidence did when I first tried to talk to him.

               Guess I was caught the second I tried to be sneaky. Thinking back on it now, the old man was clearly a merchant. He said as much, at least. He must have more brains than the average person around. Of course he would notice such a stupid stunt.

               "… T-Then why didn't you tell the guard? If I was caught, wouldn't you have gotten in trouble?"

               The old man nodded with an easy smile.

               "Because when I got a good look at you, I knew you weren't up to anything bad. You didn't have the look of a trouble maker. If you did, I would have said something to the guards the moment I spotted you hiding behind that wall. I figured you just didn't have enough money to get into the city."

               "W-Well, thank you for that. I didn't."

               While it was a bit of a white lie, probably, I still wasn't sure if the guard would have been able to give change for a gold piece. Or if he would have swindled me the moment he noticed I didn't know what I was giving him by returning to me the incorrect amount of change. Once I get to the general store, I'll need to make sure I figure out how the money conversion system works here.

               "Don't worry about it."

               "Well, as thanks, h-how about I help you unload your spices?"

               "Thanks, but there's no need for that. I'm here to sell, so the owner here will have one of his people come and take them… If they are willing to buy, that is."

               "I see. Then, uh, good luck with that."

               "And good luck to you too."

               Wondering how I managed to not only run into such a nice old man and why he didn't report my crime, I came to the only conclusion that I could. My increased luck stat must have worked on swaying the old man's interpretation of my intentions, rather than on my success at sneaking into his cart. Curious. I'll have to be more careful from now on, since I don't know how or when my luck stat might kick in and affect what happens to me. Assuming it even did anything to begin with. I'd played my fair share of games where, aside from a few weapon and armor sets that scaled in power based on the user's luck stat, luck was usually mostly useless.

               Still, why did I get the Sneak skill if I actually failed at sneaking? Or was the skill just required to be successful in the first place? Questions for later, I guess.

               I forced myself to wave goodbye to the old man, feeling it weirdly awkward to do so, and walked off down the street before anything could prompt the conversation to start up again. My heart was still pounding from the first one and I didn't want to usher in a heart attack before I even spoke to anyone else.

               This was going to be tough, but it was for the best. Or so I told myself.

               Now that I had the chance to actually look around, I noticed all kinds of people walking the streets. Many of them seemed to be regular medieval-type city folk just going about their days, collecting groceries from the local fruit and vegetable stands, the butchers or the bakers. Others looked to be warriors of some sort, the weapons and armor they carried all looked well-worn.

               Others were like those I saw trying to enter the city and were carrying varying amounts of cargo by hand, sweating in the cool spring air as they delivered their goods to the local shops or, and I'm just guessing on this one, brought them straight home to their families.

               The city itself seemed to be a happy, sprawling place. The buildings, made mostly of what looked to be machine-carved stone and wood, looked to be almost entirely shops hawking various goods and foods. It was like I stepped into some great mall, rather than a city. The merchant's district, or so I called it, seemed to stretch for miles, but no matter which direction I looked, I could still see the great stone wall looming in the distance.

               With this many shops and the wall and knights to protect them, and its gaudy name, I guessed that this place was of some significance to the country. Whichever country this was supposed to be.

               The streets were crowded, but not so much that a carriage couldn't pass through the throng of people. Everyone looked to be more than happy to go about their day, walking here and there, only to quietly step aside whenever a carriage or large cart needed through, only to then retake to the streets as soon as they passed. At first, I thought of this as the people just being polite to those trying to make their way through, but when I caught a few sneering at one of the fancier carriages, I guessed it was more likely the local nobility would punish them in some way if they weren't quick to get out of the way. That, or they'd just get run over.

               My body stiffened and forced me to walk at an awkward gate when I passed by a group of ten men dressed in full armor. At first, I thought they were guards here to arrest anyone looking suspicious, but I was too quick to realize that none of their amor matched. I never got a good look at the guards by the gate, but I would assume anyone hired by the city would have been given a uniformed suit of armor, so people knew who they were and what they did for a living. After all, they were sort of like the police of this world, right? I hoped so, at least. If I had just walked into a completely lawless city, it might be best for me to leave as soon as possible.

               Feeling as though I narrowly avoided capture yet again when the armored men disappeared into the crowd, I found the general store when I came up upon the first and possibly only shop whose window displayed a wide range of different items, instead of specializing in any one thing.

               Ready to complete the next mission I set for myself, I hurried inside and started looking around out of curiosity. Aside from it being a medieval store, I was curious what kinds of fantasy-like items I would find there.

               In short, I didn't find much of anything worth mentioning. There were a few daily necessities I knew of from my old world, though more primitive versions of them. There were also a few food stuffs lying about in bins, probably the spares the actual food vendors couldn't carry themselves. There were even a few potions lining the shelves that I made a mental note of, even though none of them seemed all that useful when I focused and learned their names. Apparently, there was a potion to fix stinky feet. Though, why it was you needed to drink a potion for that instead of soap was beyond me.

               Finally, there were a few things that looked alien to me, but I couldn't say what their function was. I picked one of them up and turned it over, looking for answers but found none.

               If this world was based on my memories, shouldn't I know what these things are? Or did the goddess include actual knowledge from the medieval ages back on Earth that was beyond the scope of what I knew? It'd make sense if she did, anyways. I certainly didn't have enough knowledge trapped in my head to build an entire world with a flick of the wrist the way she did.

               "Hello there, dear customer. How may I help you?"

               While I continued looking around, I was greeted by a heavy-set man with a shining bald head and a thick mustache on his lip. He'd sat himself behind the counter in the back of the shop to face the door, so he must have noticed me instantly. He nodded along with his greeting and gave me a piercing smile, as though he thought I had already found something I wasn't sure I wanted to buy just yet and was intent on selling it to me.

               "G-Good afternoon. I was looking to sell these."

               I reached around my back to pretend to pull something out of a satchel or something that wasn't there, took out the antler and pelts out of my item box. I set them on the counter. If the man was upset that I was only there to sell, he carefully didn't show it.

               "How much… How much could I get for all this?"

               Ignoring my stuttering, he picked up the first wolf pelt and looked closely at it, as if examining its quality under an invisible microscope, something I had no control over since it just appeared when the wolf died and because my lacking ability in skinning an animal should have had no bearing on its quality. But he soon straightened back up and put a hand over it.

               "Appraise Item."

               He spoke and without so much as a burst of light, he smiled and nodded, as though he now fully understood what he was holding. He followed this pattern with the next item.

               That skill definitely sounded useful. But more importantly, that means the other people here can also use abilities. That definitely takes me down a peg in terms of strength since I thought I'd be the only one. I don't know how I feel about that on paper, but I had to smile to myself when I thought that everyone having such abilities made me less special.

               The merchant examined each item in turn and when finished, he looked back to me.

               "I see. That will be 3 coppers for the antler, 2 silvers for the grey wolf pelt and 5 for the white one, since it's a bit on the rare. Nice find there, kid."

               "Thank you. May I ask, how did you obtain the Appraise Item skill?"

               "Oh, no, kid. That's not a skill," he said, shaking his head like he was lecturing a child. "That's an ability. Big difference. At your age you ought to know the difference by now. Skills are something anyone can pick up if they work hard enough, but abilities are tied to your class. I have the appraisal skill because I am of the Merchant class, you see?"

               "Ah, yes. Thank you."

               I nodded along, but was still confused. The words "skill" and "ability" seemed interchangeable on paper, but were clearly considered different in this world. That, or he was just messing with me. And I honestly couldn't tell. Part of me wanted to assume he wouldn't risk losing a customer by screwing with him five seconds after meeting him, but I did only come here to sell, so he wasn't making money on me just yet.

               But thinking back on what showed in my menu and how there was an abilities page, but a skills page, maybe they were just dependent on what they did. Such as Fire Ball being an activatable ability, or spell. And conversely, all my Traits seemed to have passive effects, meaning I couldn't turn them off or back on. But even with that in mind, what was a skill considered?

               "Then what do I need to do to become a Merchant?"

               "Eh, sorry but you probably can't," he said, his smile cracking just a bit. Almost like it went against his personal convictions to disappoint a customer. "Once you reach adulthood, your class is chosen for you. It's based on what your parents' classes were, or perhaps a hobby they excelled at. It's chosen at random based on what they were both capable of."

               "Well, that's a shame."

               Having the ability to appraise items would keep me from being ripped off in the future. If the society these people lived in didn't have some way to level the playing field, there was likely nothing stopping the merchants from gouging prices on otherwise unawares customers. Except for, maybe their own honor, or if the customer comes in frequently enough and they wanted their business to continue. So, not being able to get the skill really sucks.

               "That's life, kid," the merchant said with a shrug, unperturbed by why I didn't know this seemingly basic world knowledge. "You can look around while I fetch your coin. If you find anything you like, let me know."

               The large man hefted himself off his stool and left through the back door behind the counter to fetch the money, while I wondered why he didn't just keep it at the counter. Then again, I figured that would just make it easier for thieves to steal, since there didn't appear to be anything like a register here. Not that I was expecting to see one in this time period, though. I chose to ignore it, chalk it up to this just being how he chose to run his shop and looked around again.

               There were several things that looked interesting, but nothing really caught my eye except for a small, box-like pouch that looked like it could be strapped to your belt. After thinking about it for a second or two, I decided to get it. It'd be better if I can reach into a bag to access item box, rather than pull things out of thin air in front of people like I did a moment ago. In hindsight, I actually forgot to check if anyone was behind me before I did that. Plus, if it followed video game logic, equipping it might increase my equip weight or something. Not that I could check if such a stat was a thing, since I was wearing only basic gear and my stats page didn't show any such value.

               When the merchant came back, he was carrying a fancily-designed silver tray topped with a couple small towers of copper and silver coins. He set it down and I quickly moved back to the counter before anyone else could make a grab for it. He smiled politely and gestured for me to wait a second as he propped the back door open.

               "Find anything you like?" he said.

               "Yes. Could you tell me how much this bag is?"

               I handed him the pouch and unlike with the pelts, he glanced at it for only a second, this time without using appraisal.

               "That is a small leather belt pouch, so 10 coppers. Would you like to purchase it?"

               Wait, isn't this the perfect chance to see how the money in this world works? With only the 3 coppers he was about to give me, he would have to instead take the silver and give me back some change. With that, I should be able to work out how many coppers make a silver piece.

               With that in mind more than the need for the pouch, since I had my item box to hold whatever I needed, and the thought that 9 coppers didn't really sound all that pricey considering this pouch looked handmade, I nodded.

               "Yes please."

               "Aright then. That brings what I owe you to 1 silver and 4 coppers."

               Hmm… So, the silver is just worth 10 coppers then? That makes this relatively simple, assuming he wasn't cheating me. On top of this, learning how many silvers made a gold piece might require me to play dumb, which would just open up more chances to get swindled.

               "Thank you."

               He removed a few coins from the tray, letting me watch as he did, then pushed it towards me. I picked the piles off the tray and instead of putting the coins in my item box, I let fall into the pouch first, so he could hear them jingle at the bottom.

               "There anything else I can do for you, kid?"

               I wasn't too sure how I liked being called "kid", even if I asked for my age to be decreased to that of a teenager, but I still had some questions. So, I kept my complaints to myself. I hadn't seen my face yet, so I had no idea if I looked the same as I used to or if I had a new face that just looked younger than I actually was. I could feel that I was more fit from how much energy I still had after my jaunt through the forest, but that was it. Guess I got a little ahead of myself and forgot to look myself over.

               "Yes. Um, could you tell me how many silvers I could get if I traded you a gold piece?"

               Without wasting money and buying something pricier, I had no way to know but to ask. Maybe him seeing me as a kid would lessen the impact of the stupid question.

               However, instead of happily answering my questions like before, he suddenly looked as though I was beginning to annoy him. What, did his hospitality stop once I finished my transaction?

               "Kid… How were you expecting to become a Merchant if you don't even know that much? Are you insulting me?"

               "N-No. I'm sorry, it just that…I'm not from around here, so I didn't know."

               "Not from around here, are ya? Say… You're not from the Dragma Kingdom, are you?"

               There was a glint of anger in his tone when he asked and he leaned over the counter, his gut pushing the silver tray all the way to the edge. He looked me dead in the eye, intent to catch even a the feintest trace of a lie. So, I thought it best to say no, even though I had no idea what kingdom he was talking about.

               I had no idea what the name of this country was either or why the prospects of me being from Dragma pissed him off so much, so I went for the neutral approach.

               "N-No sir. I'm just a traveler. I don't really have a place to call home."

               He continued to eye me up and down after I said this, almost like he was trying to spot some sort of patch on my clothes that said "Hi, I'm from Dragma." Seemingly satisfied with what he didn't find, he closed his eyes and coughed into his fist before apologizing.

               "Sorry, kid. But you can never be too careful. Anyway," he cleared his throat to lower the tension in the room. "Since you asked, 1 gold coin is worth 100 silvers. Regardless of whether or not you are from here, you should know at least that much if you plan on staying in this country for any length of time."

               I thanked the man and elected not to ask for the name of country, lest he start to suspect me again.

               I was about to leave to avoid being questioned again about something else I didn't know, when the reason why he left the back door open became apparent.

               From the back of the building came a cute woman, maybe a year or two older than me, carrying a large box in her hands. However, aside from her general good looks, what struck me the most was not her face, her shapely body and explosively rounded hips and ass, but the rabbit ears standing tall on the top of her head. I hadn't seen anyone that wasn't a human yet, so I couldn't help but stare at her.

               She seemed to not notice my awkward stare as she carried the box to the far side of the room. There, she looked at the top shelf up high above her, to the empty spot waiting to be filled. It was much to high for her, or even for me for that matter. Seeing her pause, I thought she might set the box down and go grab a latter or maybe someone taller, but she didn't. Instead, she just gave a slight squat that made the seams of the tight half-pants she wore bulge with the effort it took to contain her thighs. She wiggled the fluffy little white ball of a tail just above her bottom and jumped high up into the air where she pushed the box into its rightful place and the shelf creaked under its weight, all before gravity reclaimed her.

               When she landed back on her feet, her long ears flopped over her face before she pushed them back as if running a hand through the long, lilac hair surrounding them. After that, she clapped the dust off of her hands and started back into the backroom to finish her work, ignoring me all the while. I couldn't help but stare at her ears and, when she turned her back to me, her tail.

               "She catch your eye or something, kid?"

               The merchant's voice pulled me back to reality and I shook my head on instinct.

               "Er, uh… Is she a, uh, beast-kin?"

               "Oh, yea. She's a rabbit-kin. I bought her to help out with the heavy lifting since I'm getting old and can't do it myself anymore. You know, because beast-kin are so strong. Moving boxes and whatnot is as easy for her as it would be hard on my back. Oh, and don't worry, she won't bite."

               Too old? What, are all merchants in this world old men or something? Now that I look at him, I do see a few wrinkles near his eyes, but he looked to be at most in his mid to late forties. Though, I suppose in this time period, that might actually be considered old.

               Wait, wait, wait… Something he just said didn't add up.

               "You said you bought her, right? Not hired her?"

               The merchant nodded easily at this and turned back to watch her go, surely thinking nothing of the sting I meant for my question to have. It was then that I notice the black collar the bunny girl wore around her neck.

               "That's right kid. There's a slave house in the east quarter of Amoranth. If you're interested, I can give you directions."

               "Wait, is slavery is legal here?"

               The merchant shrugged as though that were obvious.

               "Of course. Always has been. And probably always will be. Is it not allowed where you're from?"

               "But doesn't that mean she was kidnapped before you bought her?"

               "Eh, not necessarily," he said with a shrug, apparently unimpressed that I didn't answer his question. "Most slaves are people who were caught committing a crime and slavery is their punishment. Others were sold into slavery, likely because they or their families were unable to pay off their debts or their taxes."

               Being unable to pay your taxes can get you put into slavery? Doesn't that mean the government essentially takes a cut of your servitude? I had no way to ask that without sounding like I had a problem with that, so I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I asked about something else he mentioned.

               "Did you say that the beast-kin were stronger? What did you mean?"

               "Oh yea. Usually, at least. That's why they make good slaves. The manual labor isn't too hard on them."

               "I see. But if they are so strong, couldn't they just fight back and avoid being enslaved."

               The merchant shook his head and his chins jiggled.

               "Not at all. You see, beast-kin are physically stronger than humans, but they can't use magic. Therefore, they are weak to it. The slave contract they are forced into is actually a magic spell that binds their very soul to a life of servitude. Of course, the spell works on humans as well."

               As he spoke, he gave me a knowing look that practically screamed, "so you better not steal from me."

               While I thought about that, the cute bunny girl came back out with another box in her hands. Now that I let myself look at her, other than her ears and tail, she looked just like any other woman her age. Included in that was her rather slender arms. Although, she had the thighs to back up that jumping ability of hers, her arms seemed far too weak to lift such a heavy-looking box.

               He must have meant that beast-kin are naturally stronger than humans.

               Watching her walk so easily through the room, seeing how she didn't actually seem bothered by her lot in life as I noticed the smile on her lips, I wondered what she did to get herself enslaved and how this merchant came to buy her. That naturally led to me imagining myself with someone like her. The animal-ear fetish was alive and well in my computer's browser history, but I wasn't too sure about actually owning a slave myself. Where I came from, slavery was something long since despised.

               At least meeting a cute beast-kin like her would be nice. Maybe I could make up for my failings with my old jogging neighbor by mustering up that same courage for someone like this girl.

               "You're looking a little apprehensive there, kid," the merchant said, slapping me on the shoulder. "Don't let the idea of owning another person get you too down. On the outside, it can seem like a bad thing, but you gotta keep in mind that most of the slaves, if not all of them, would have been executed for their crimes or for failing to pay their dues. In a way, you're doing them a favor by giving them a good home."

               That much was understandable, even if I didn't completely agree. If that's the case, wouldn't that have meant if I got caught sneaking into the city earlier, the only options waiting for me would have been execution or enslavement? To keep my mind off of and far away from that unfortunate line of thinking, I asked something else.

               "What, uh, are the requirements to buy a slave? Do you have to be a noble or something?"

               "Ha. No. I'm no noble, kid. All you need is the money to buy or rent them, food to feed them and whatever clothes you're willing to dress them in. Although, you should be able to house them as well. No point in buying them just to leave them outside to get sick and die, ya know?"

               "Right… What can they do for you? If you buy one, I mean."

               It still felt incredibly weird talking about buying a person, especially when one such person was on the other side of the room and, going by her foot-long ears, very much able to hear us, but I needed to learn as much as I can about this world while I had the chance and while he was willing to talk.

               "Anything you ask, really. You're an Adventurer, right? That's why you were off fighting wolves? Someone like yourself might like a slave to carry your things for you or keep watch for beasts when you are sleeping in the wild or to even fight besides you on a quest. Or… if you were so inclined, you know…"

               When the bunny girl walked behind the counter again, he leaned back and smacked her on the ass hard enough for it to make a sound. The bunny girl blushed, but did not look all that displeased and continued into the backroom as if nothing had happened. Seeing that she didn't stop to say anything, he must have done those sorts of things pretty regularly. 

               I couldn't help but feel myself get a little heated at the thought of being able to do that myself. Not necessarily to a slave, but any girl, really. That glorious bottom I chased day after day and that led to my death looked so soft to the touch that I very much wanted to do more than that.

               "Easy kid, she's off limits."

               Sensing my thoughts, the merchant chided me with a laugh. I coughed into my hand, mimicking him from when he did it, and calmed myself.

               "A-Anyway, since I'm new to Amoranth could you recommend an inn for me?"

               "Oh, yea sure," he said, pointing straight out his store-front window. "There's one straight down the road from here. Called the Lazy Cat Inn. Foods not very good, but it's cheap. The hostess is an old friend, so if you stop by, tell her Albert sent you."

               "Right. Thanks, uh, Albert. Then I'll be leaving."

               Thinking over all the things I just learned and the fact that I didn't learn the man's name until the conversation was over, I fixed my new pouch to my belt and headed out for the inn to secure a meal and a bed. Next time, I need to be more careful. Regardless of how I feel about the man, I should have been more respectful, since I might be selling to him for the time being.

               I had a terrible habit of not paying attention to people's names. I don't know why, but remembering them was always absurdly difficult for me. After a whole year into working the job I had before I died, there were still several people I met every day whose names I still did not know. Thankfully, if I had the right to be thankful for it, I always managed to work around not using their names, so it never blew up in my face, but whenever I imagined asking someone I'd known for months, if not years, what their name was, I felt a crippling anxiety well up in me, primarily because I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later when I needed their help.

               Though, I guess I at least don't have to worry about those specific people anymore. Still, I should probably make more of a concerted effort to use peoples' names when speaking to them.

               Deciding this for myself, I got another notification the second I stepped out of the general store. Absentmindedly, I opened it without consideration for where I was.

               [Merchant class acquired.]

               Wait, what? Albert said you had to be born into it, didn't he? I looked back, almost like I was expecting to find him laughing at me for falling for his games, even though it didn't look like anyone else around me could see the large window that appeared right in front of my face, so it's not like he knew what just happened. However, he was just waving happily to me, as if hoping for my patronage again in the future. Or, no, he was waving in another customer.

               I shook my head, ignored him and headed for the Lazy Cat Inn.

               Knowing now that nobody else could see it, I went ahead and checked the menu as I walked, I saw that the Merchant class I just got actually gave me the Appraisal ability I was hoping for. Must have been a guaranteed ability everyone gets from acquiring the job. Then again, why didn't the Swordsman or adventurer classes have any special skill attached to them? Maybe each class was just different. Or maybe combat oriented classes required different means to earn their abilities like, crazy as it may sound, fighting. Just like with the Mage class. Maybe this just has something to do with that Easy Class Gain trait I have. Hard to believe, that one, but why not?

               Pondering this, I stopped in front of the inn once I spotted the large wooden sign hanging from a street post with the name "The Lazy Cat." My eyes flitted from the sign to the thin bar holding it aloft which then led to the rest of the building and was completely taken aback.

               The building's architecture made no sense whatsoever. While it looked to be about four stories tall, its stone walls were uneven, misshapen and jutted out further than should be possible for its foundation to support properly. What looked like the balcony stretched over the sidewalk to almost halfway across the street with not a single structural support beneath it.

               I was no architect, but the place looked ready to fall over at any moment. Was it held up by magic somehow?

               Concerned for my safety, I chose to enter the inn anyways once I saw a few people leaving it without issue. There I found a woman maybe ten of fifteen years older than me waiting behind the counter. Her age clearly defined itself in the lines on her face, but she was still pretty good looking, especially considering that she wore a dress that left the cleavage of her giant breasts completely exposed.

               Unlike the goddess, though, she did not take too kindly to my lecherous staring and coughed rather loudly. It didn't take long to see that I had angered her almost instantly.

               "You need a room," she asked briskly.

               "Yes. Uh, Albert suggested I stay at your inn."

               With the mention of the merchant's name, her mood instantly lightened, not that her brows raised enough out of their furrow for her to change her tone.

               "Oh, Albert did, did he? That's kind of him. How long would you like to stay?"

               Considering what the prices of the things I sold just now were, I figured my gold alone was enough to let me stay here for quite a while. I needed time to figure things out, but I decided to be safe.

               "Just one night. And dinner, please."

               "Alright, one room and a meal is 2 silver pieces."

               Oops.

               "Um, I'm sorry ma'am, but could you make change for a gold piece? I only have 1 silver right now."
               She lowered her chin at me, as if looking at in insect. Her eyelids hung half open over her empty pupil and that annoyed expression from a minute ago reappeared. Apparently even in this world, it was taboo to ask for a store clerk to break a large amount of money into something much smaller.

               However, she just slumped her shoulders, sighed and prodded the silver tray she left out on the counter. Briefly thinking back to how Albert handed me what he owed, I put a single gold coin on it.

               "I supposed I can do that. One moment please."

               Begrudgingly, she snatched the tray, not the coin, off the counter and left through the door enclosed behind the counter. I guessed if I ever needed to resort to stealing, I knew to look in the backrooms for their safes. After a couple of minutes, a few more than I felt she needed, she came back, still holding the silver tray, but it was now beset with several towers of silver coins. Seemingly displeased with the weight of it, she then let it slam down on the counter, staring at me the whole while.

               "Here is your change, mister. 98 silver coins."

               Because the towers of coin all fell thanks to her slamming the tray down, leaving behind a mess of silver, I had no idea how to tell how much was actually there. So, I had to risk angering her further to check. And sure enough, when I stuck out my finger to start pulling single coins away from the pile to count them…

               "I'm sorry, mister. Do you not trust my ability to do basic math? I'm no noble, but this much is nothing."

               "N-Not at all. Sorry."

               Immediately backing down from her angry glare, but unwilling to take a loss with what little coin I had, I instead decided to try something else. Using my silent casting ability, I mimed reaching for the coins with my hand and cast my new Appraisal skill. I had no idea if it would work, but it was best to at least try and make sure I wasn't being intimidated by this woman into letting myself get robbed.

               A window appeared above my hand and displayed, much to my surprise, not only the number of coins present, but also where they came from. Apparently, the coins here were minted for the Vierre Kingdom. I wondered if Vierre silver was worth more or less than silver of another country, but since the right amount of coin was there, I thought it best I didn't waste more of her time.

               So, I took what I learned and decided to go with this country's name being Vierre.

               "Thank you," I said, stuffing the coins into my new pouch until it overflowed and stuffed the rest into my pockets while she sneered. Surely, she must have thought I was setting myself up to be robbed by holding so much coin this way, but I planned on stuffing it all into my item box as soon as I could.

               "Good. I will show you to your room. Follow me."

               Her voice sounding more demanding than helpful, she left her spot behind the counter and led me upstairs. Now that the transaction part of my coming here was over, she seemed to have mellowed out a bit. Just a little.

               While we walked, she shared with me various details about the inn. Included in her explanation was that if other guests are causing me problems or if I think they stole anything, to come get her first before doing anything myself and that'd she'd handle any trouble makers herself. She also brought up that the walls of each room were lined with sound-muffling magic, so there is no need to worry about how much noise I might make. Since the establishment values guest privacy, after all.

               I guessed that the same magic that silenced the rooms was the same sort of magic running through the walls and allowing this mess of a building to continue standing. At least, if the building's condition were really as bad as it looked, this place likely would have been condemned.

               That said, the floorboards didn't creak at all as we walked, so it didn't seem too bad. But as for her acting as security for the place…

               I focused on the back of her head while she walked in front of me and a window popped up displaying her name, age, level and occupation. Apparently, she was a level 30 Mage. So, she was likely more than capable of defending this place should the need arise. She might have even been the one to cast the magic in the building.

               "Oh, and if a man claiming to sell magic scrolls knocks on your door, please do slam it in his face," she said, sounding as though she was sneering at the thought. "I don't know how he keeps getting in here, but he slips in from time to time and bothers my guests."

               "What, does he over charge for them?"

               She let out a very dry, very fake laugh.

               "Ha. No. They're just paper. Because scrolls are kept sealed until used, nobody but a merchant with the Appraisal ability or a mage can tell the difference, so fooling fools is easy for him… Here is your room."

               After what felt like an hour of walking with this woman, we stopped on the second floor in front of a room about half way down the hall. A golden number twenty-five was nailed to the door's face. She breathed a sigh and took a key out of her apron pocket and used it to open the door for me. She let me in first, but was right on my tail.

               The room was about as simple as I could expect from an inn working in this time period. Pretty much all there was to it was a medium-sized bed with a thin blanket and a single pillow. A nightstand stood by next to it with only a single candle to light the room. There was a wardrobe taller than me in the corner of the room, but since I had no extra clothes, it was pointless. Along with all of this, was a large treasure-chest-looking box at the foot of the bed with a key sticking out of its keyhole. Other than that, the room was completely blank.

               "Is the room to your liking?" she asked, her tone almost daring me to say otherwise.

               "Y-Yes, this is just fine."

               Not much I could do for accommodations considering. I'd either have to pay extra for more furniture I wasn't even going to use since I had the item box, or wait here for several hundred years until they figured out how gas worked and installed some kind of in-room kitchen. But I certainly wouldn't wait around that long even if I could.

               "Good. You may use the chest to protect your valuables if you wish, but please make sure to return the key before you leave. If that is all, check out time is midday tomorrow."

               She left the key on the nightstand, as opposed to handing it to me directly, and headed back out of the room without waiting to see if I had any more questions. At least, I could say with a sigh of relief, she didn't slam the door in my face.

               After the door was closed behind her, the true silence of the sound canceling room hit me and all other sounds from the outside were cut off as well. Or so it seemed. If the other rooms were blocked with the same magic, then the lack of sound was likely due to being unable to hear them. Someone or multiple someones could be throwing a huge party right next door to my room and I wouldn't even know it. Thinking about it that way, the silence didn't seem so bad.

               For the first time since I arrived in Amoranth, I was completely wrapped in silence. Free of the sounds of the forest. Free the hustle of the city. Free of even the wonders of this new world. And the only thing I could think of was that I wished I had my phone so that I could listen to music.

               Back home, whenever I was out of the house, I was never without my headphones. Not that it makes any sense, but there was just something about all the sounds of the city coming together and becoming like a mind-numbing deafness that bothered me to no end. So much noise that it became impossible to distinguish individual tones and sounds that were very clearly there, but were un-hearable. Thus deafness. I was always incredibly uncomfortable without music or an audio-book to listen to. It just never felt right and would always prove to ruin my day if I had nothing to distract myself.

               But more than anything, I was regretting the lack of being able to plop down in my gaming chair and screw around on my computer to waste away the hours. I knew it was the source of several of my problems, but being forced to give it up cold turkey wasn't exactly easy to do.

               "But I guess I won't be seeing anything like that in this world for the rest of my life, huh?"

               I threw myself onto the bed. While it looked just as rickety and prone to collapsing as did the building's exterior, it like the floorboards did not groan when I put my full weight on it. It was also surprisingly soft, considering how thin the mattress was.

               Based on how much it cost to stay just one night, I figured one of my next goals needed to be securing enough money to buy myself a house with a proper bed somewhere. If that's even possible. Staying here forever might be an unsustainable dream. Not that I wanted to keep around that woman for long.

               From what I knew of this time period, which consisted mainly of knowledge I gleaned from fictional sources, people that owned houses in cities had to pay extra taxes because of the added safety the city walls and guards provided. On the other hand, if I bought a house outside of a city, I would have to worry about it being robbed whenever I was gone. Or worse, when I was there. And I still had no idea how to get a income large enough to secure a living in this place.

               Albert said you were born into your class, which should mean that you were essentially born into your job, right? That was extremely limiting. I had the Adventurer class, meaning that could be my best bet for earning an income, but it was most likely dangerous.

               I wonder if finding a job outside of your class was difficult. Albert did also mention a parent's hobbies could affect what class their kid gets, so maybe you aren't actually tied down to any one thing? Hopefully not. For purely logistical reasons, if familial breeding went even slightly askew, it could lead to any one city to have thousands of farmers, but no merchants, bakers, cooks, craftsmen, guards and so on. That definitely didn't sound sustainable.

               Why did the Goddess design the world this way?

               With a heavy sigh, I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes. I started running through all the information in I had taken in today and trying to work it out into something useful. Thankfully, the Help tab in my menu apparently took notes for me and automatically jotted down the basics of all the conversations I'd had and things I'd seen. So, I was able to quickly skim them once I checked.

               Out of everything, what still stood out to me the most was the concept of owning a slave being legal. If anything good were to come from owning a person, I could use my authority over them to ask any questions I had about the world, while ordering their complete silence so they couldn't tell anyone else where I was from or why I needed to be taught such basic information as an adult. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with people getting mad over my questioning like Albert did, or thinking I was stupid, since that could hurt my image around here.

               I wasn't so vain that that alone would bother me, but I wasn't interested in the idea of ending up a pariah. If I was going to live here, or anywhere in this world, I didn't want to start at the very bottom of society.

               "… Not to mention that bunny girl was really cute."

               I shook my head.

               I needed to be more practical. What should come first is coming up with a way to sustain my current lifestyle, if not improve it.

               While pondering what types of jobs I would be able to do here, after realizing my old desk job did not prepare me for most anything available to me here, I scratched my head and some more of that red dust fell onto my face. A twinge of pain in my nose, caused me to sneeze.

               Apparently, I still had a noticeable amount of that spice in my hair. 

               "Maybe what I should do first is take a bath. Nobody is going to hire me if I stink, right? But how exactly do I do that…?"

               I sat up, remembered that there was no bathroom in this room and lamented that that either meant chamber pots were a thing in this world, or, hopefully, there was an actual bathroom somewhere down the hall.

               For the time being, I reluctantly headed back downstairs and went to ask the innkeeper what my options were. I suppose getting used to talking to people also means talking to those who don't want to talk to you. I guess I might just have to endure her abuse and tell her I'm form some rural village somewhere and that I don't know how city-living works.

               When I reached the ground floor, I found her with her elbow on the counter and her chin in her palm, glaring a hole into the front door as if she were trying to will customers into her abode with just her eyes. My foot hit the last step and her eyes darted to me before her features scrunched up with reproach.

               "… Is there something wrong with your room, mister?"

               "No, it's fine. I-I just wanted to ask where I can take a bath."

               She snorted.

               "Mister, I don't know if you are kidding around, but if it's a bath you are wanting, you're going to have to go ask the nearest nobleman to borrow theirs."

               I screamed inwardly, trying not to let it show on my face. Talking to people was going to take getting used to, but how am I supposed to handle this shit?!

               Still… Great. It's the type of world where only nobles can afford to make enough hot water to take a bath. Or was it just that owning a bathtub was too expensive?

               "However," she continued. "If you wish to wash up, there's a well outback and some buckets. That's where everyone else that stays here does it. I can get you a rag to wipe yourself down and a towel, if you like."

               Without thinking, I nodded and thanked her to end the conversation. Baby steps, right? I just had to hope I wasn't going to be charged for the extra services.

               "Good. Come with me, then. Thank the gods. And here I thought you were going to stain my bed with the scent of spiced berryweed. Did you think it was a hat or something?"

               "N-No. Sorry if my smell offends you. I just… tripped and spilled it on myself in the market earlier."

               Given that she already didn't seem to like me, there was no way I was going to tell her the truth. Didn't want her sicking the guards on me.

               She rolled her eyes in a huff and led me away from the front counter again. At least I learned what the spice clinging to me was. But spiced berryweed? Are berries spicy in this world?

               Unlike before, the innkeeper led me down a hallway beneath the stairs that started right beside the front counter. We walked past what looked and smelled like a kitchen and I got the distinct impression by how she looked at me over her shoulder as we passed it, that she might have wanted to cook me alive since I was already spiced up and I hurried on behind her. So much for hospitality here.

               Without further ado, she opened a door to a garden behind the building that wasn't visible from the front. It was a small, walled off area with an old-fashioned water well, (or rather, current fashion?) in one corner of the yard, as she promised. Various kinds of colorful flowers hugged the wooden walls and gave the garden a pleasant scent, possibly to mask the smell of whatever customers needed to wash off their bodies. At the center of the garden was a slender tree with long, hanging branches that shaded most of the area. Circling around its base like a scarf was a tall, deep green bush and in front of that was a wooden bench with several small buckets stacked atop it.

               And that was it.

               I found the source of water, but there were no bars of soap and worst of all, no curtains or collapsible partitions available. Which meant that if I wanted to bathe, I had to do so standing outside, naked. What happened to valuing your customer's privacy?!

               "Here's your towel and rag. When you're done with them, just leave them on the bench and I will collect them later."

               "W-Wait."

               When she turned to leave, I called out to her, meaning to complain, but once more her annoyed expression was the version of her that faced me.

               "What? Don't tell me you don't know how to wash yourself and want my help. I'm not falling for that again."

               "Again?... N-No, it's just… Never mind. Thank you for letting me stay here."

               She scoffed when I buckled under the weight of her gaze and trod off back inside before I could muster up another attempt to stop her. Not that I would have. I could tell a losing battle when I saw one.

               I guess I should have expected this. In times like this, from what I knew, it seemed that people were relatively used to being naked in public since most villagers and city folk didn't have baths of their own. Washing in the yard may well have been somewhat commonplace, but I had to wonder if she'd just let me take some of the water up to my room. Nah, probably not. She'd no doubt just bitch and moan about the risk of me spilling water everywhere.

               I sighed to myself, something I figured I'd be doing a lot of now, and took one of the provided buckets over to the well.

               At the very least, the hand-crank on the well made extracting the water easy. I did, at least, managed to enjoy the spectacle of actually using a well to collect water. Doing something so mundane as this was oddly exciting in its own way after a lifetime of living with proper plumbing and running water at the twist of a knob. Actually working for my water was… oddly satisfying.

               When the attached bucket came back up filled with water, I transferred it into mine and looked around the yard. There was nobody but myself and my wavering reflection in the water settling in the bucket and, more importantly, nowhere private to go and hide as I washed myself.

               Seeing as how washing the spice out of my hair might make the water in the well dirty, which they probably used for drinking and cooking, I moved my bucket back over to the bench to wash myself. On the way, I thought of trying to just take half of my clothes off at a time, such as taking my shirt off and washing my torso, drying, then putting it back on and repeating the process with my lower half. But doing that would likely just leave me with damp, uncomfortable clothes. Had I stopped to buy another set first, I could have risked that.

               Sensing no route for escape, since the innkeeper would likely notice me immediately if I tried to use my low-level sneak ability to get past her to bring my bucket upstairs, I had to give in and undress where I was.

               Sucking in a deep breath, I stripped off all the clothes I had, save for the pair of loose, patched-up shorts that acted as my underwear. I draped everything over a low-hanging branch, wishing at the same time that my clothes were long enough or that the branches were low enough to act as a curtain. When I looked back to the bucket and rag, I was immediately at an impasse.

               The clothes I had on me were literally all I had. There was no other set waiting for me in my room and nothing in my item box. If I tried to wash myself while keeping on my underwear, they would inevitably get wet and I would either have to go without or just bear with their uncomfortable wetness until they dried on their own. Neither option sounded good. I was a slave to my comfort zone.

               But then again, wasn't I supposed to be breaking free of that?

               I did briefly consider the option of drying them with Fire Ball, but when I remembered what happened to the branch I tested it on, I abandoned the idea instantly.

               I gulped down my fears and checked around me one more time to make sure I was alone. If this was how things were here, then this probably wasn't going to be my last time bathing like this. And next time I might not be alone. So, I quickly yanked my shorts down and something weighty suddenly hit my wrist and then slapped against my thigh. Confused, I looked down between my legs and saw….

               "Holy shit. That thing's huge! Was that there this whole time? How did I not feel it?!"

               Just to make sure it was real, I touched the sleeping flag pole that reached about half-way down my thigh to stare at the grass. Both unremarkably and remarkably, I felt the delicate sensation of flesh-on-flesh contact. Then, again, just to be sure, I shook my hips and watched the thing flop back and forth.

               "My god… No, thank you, Goddess!"

               Emboldened by her gracious, surprising gift, I sat on the bench in a much better mood. I mean, I wasn't really a slouch before, but this thing had to be at least twice as long of my old one! Not to mention it was definitely thicker. Maybe it just looked bigger because, now that I look at it, the rest of my body is almost entirely free of fat.

               My arms were thick, my chest and shoulders broad and my leg strong. And for the first time in my, I had a set of wonderfully sculpted six-pack abs, all completely free of charge. I had absolutely nothing to complain about! Was this a gesture of good will from my Goddess to help me gain some confidence?

               Feeling wholly content with myself, I scooped some of the water out of the bucket with my hands and splashed my face before pouring more over my head. The pleasant sting of the cold water was refreshing, but not what I was expecting to use for a bath. Then again, none of this was. I considered shooting a Fire Ball into the water to heat it up, but thought better of it.

               I dipped the rag in the bucket and used it to wash my hair to the best of my ability. Although, without soap, I wasn't sure how much of the spice I would be able to get out. While doing so, I whistled the tune of a song I had been listening to a lot before I died to pass the time and drain away some of the silence. If I couldn't listen to music, then I could at least do my best to play it for myself.

               After a few minutes of scrubbing and a second trip to the well for more water, my hair was starting to feel like it was about as clean as I could make it without shampoo. So, I lifted the bucket over my head and dumped about half its remaining contents over myself, turning more and more of the grass and soil beneath my feet wet and squishy. Smoothing my hair back, I splashed my body and scrubbed the rug over my new musculature as I whistled.

               "What song is that?"

               I was rocketed out of my happy place and right back to the point of remembering my embarrassing state of undress when I heard the soft, almost sultry voice of a woman. I stopped scrubbing and looked at her, dumbstruck.

               It wasn't because the woman before me was beautiful as she stood there dressed in what looked like the same type of commoner's dress that I saw most other city girls wearing. Nor was it because the fluffy, droopy dog ears draped over her flaxen hair and her thick, bushy tail dusting the air behind her were entirely impossible to miss, but because she was standing about six feet away, smiling at me. Surely, she could see everything. Everything. Especially the new attachment dangling between my thighs.

               "It's an interesting song," she continued casually. "What's it called?"

               "Uh-uh…. It's…"

               I managed to squeak out its name and, naturally, she had no idea what it was. Most people back on Earth probably wouldn't, either. Not that I was one to listen to the sort of underground music most people never heard of, but it was a song from a not-to-well known band and from a genre most people didn't like.

               "Strange. I've never heard that one before. Oh well. You may keep whistling, if you like. I don't mind."

               "O-Okay…"

               I did as she said, trying to cover as much of my manhood as I could with my rag. Only now did I notice how small the damn cloth was.

               Merely for the sake of saving face did I keep whistling. Unfortunately, my whistles came out as weak, stunted versions of what they were a moment ago, unable to carry a proper tune as my embarrassment swelled until I was unable to remember the rest of the song clearly. Then, as if to make it worse, the beautiful dog-eared woman started undressing right where she stood.

               My jaw almost literally hit the floor when she unfastened the string holding the front of her dress in place and the large mounds hidden beneath it settled into a more comfortable, more natural position. She then pulled another string and the hole cut out for her cleavage expanded to twice its original size as it loosened its hold on her.

               What's worse, or dare I say better, was that when she finished untying all the knots holding her tight dress against her body, she reached down to her ankles and grabbed it by the hem. And in one smooth motion, she lifted the dress up over her head and her large, bare breasts bounced to expose themselves to the sunlight. The two pink tips at their center looked to have gone a little rigid after being exposed to the cool air. And seemingly without a single care in the world, she then mimicked me by draping the dress over a branch.

               Thankfully, for the sake of my sanity, her long fluffy tail rested just above a pair of plain white panties.

               Wait, what?

               Why was she wearing panties in a world where they shouldn't exist? Based on my admittedly limited knowledge of medieval clothing, she should be wearing some kind of second, smaller dress beneath that one or at least a pair of shorts like mine. Yet there she was, wearing a pair of plain white panties that hugged her most sensitive places just as tightly as you would expect from a modern-day pair. In fact, they looked like the sort you'd be able to buy cheaply at a discount store.

               As I pondered the strange appearance of some unexpected modernity, she slipped her fingers beneath the waist band of her panties and started to push them down. I immediately stood up.

               "I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to peek. I-I'll just go."

               I scrambled to gather up my things and, in the process, forgot to cover my lower half and frantically tried to do so since this naked beauty was looking right at me due to my sudden outburst. This time her smile looked oddly sympathetic.

               "It's okay," she said, her voice almost breaking into a giggle. "You can stay and finish washing up. I don't mind. Really, I don't."

               With that said, and as if to prove a point, she immediately went back to pulling down her panties. In one fell swoop, they slid across her plump thighs, over her shapely calves and down to her feet. She stepped out of them and set them with her dress on the branch. She then turned to face me fully with a now completely naked body.

               There was a small tuft of hair between her upper thighs that didn't quite cover the most alluring part of her nudity. She clapped her hands together with a "there you have it" sort of smile on her lips.

               "See? I don't mind. Go ahead and wash up so you don't waste the water you drew."

               "R-Right."

               The nameless dog-girl that was so okay with my seeing her naked form walked over to the well to collect her own water with the painted bucket she apparently brought herself. I got the distinct impression that her having her own bucket suggested that she really was just so used to washing herself in public that it no longer bothered her. Assuming it ever did in the first place. Why else would she come prepared?

               I listened to the well wheel squeak as she drew water, then to the sounds of her footsteps across the grass as she came back to the bench. Naturally I wasn't watching her, but when she sat down so nonchalantly and without a single care to cover herself, it was so mind boggling that curiosity force me to look.

               Needless to say, there was a certain reaction going on down below my belt-line that a simple rag couldn't hope to hide. So, I quickly sat down. Trying not to make her uncomfortable, I pinned the dastardly thing between my thighs so that it couldn't spring up on its own.

               Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice this effort of mine and continued about her business.

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

               As her seductive lips formed those words, she paid me no mind when she raised her arms over her head to tie her hair into a knot, probably because she didn't intend to wash it and wanted to keep it from getting wet. Her perky breasts were lifted up with that gentle motion and almost seemed to glisten in the afternoon sun, completely free of even a spec of fiber that should have been there to cover herself. I couldn't help but notice that her nipples really had hardened in the breeze.

               Remembering she'd asked a question, I shook my head and answered.

               "No… No, I'm not. Is it that obvious?"

               She giggled and lifted up her bucket to dump water over her chest. The slick liquid slid down her collar bone and down the pale white breasts that so captivated me, only to then shoot off the pink tips and onto the ground beneath us. Then she looked at me, a smile still on her face.

               "Because you don't seem comfortable around beast-kin like me. I know there are places where my kind aren't common."

               "Y-Yea…"

               That's certainly one way to put it.

               "Well don't be," she said, rubbing her personal rag, a pink embroidered swatch of cloth, over her shoulders. She looked about as satisfied as if she were massaging herself after a long day of work. "We beast-kin aren't as scary as the rumors say."

               "Rumors?"

               "Haven't you heard? Apparently, people from neighboring kingdoms seem to think we are a bunch of vicious monsters that will kill and eat you as soon as look at you. But that is simply not true. Can't you tell?"

               With the naked spectacle of this woman choosing to freely show me her body without any sort of restraint or contempt for my gaze as she naturally moved the rag lower to wipe her breasts, I didn't understand how such a rumor could have ever been started. I did sense a certain wildness from her, but not the sort that one should be scared of. Instead, she somehow seemed attuned with nature. As if she belonged more out here than inside like I did. A serene beauty that belonged in the forests, frolicking with her own kind among the trees.

               "See? I'm not going to hurt you, you know."

               She stopped and suddenly raised a puzzled brow, a faint pink tint to her cheeks. She looked away to continue washing her body.

               "You know, you don't have to try so hard to hide your erection. I know men can't help themselves sometimes."

               Shit!!!

               Without even noticing it, I had stopped washing myself and a certain part of me that most wanted to show that my interest was not in her conversation was already showing its newfound strength and was trying to show itself. She giggled when my hands snapped over my rising manhood.

               "S-Sorry."

               "Don't be. Like I said, I understand. Although, I do have to warn you that my master has ordered that only he is allowed to touch me. If you try anything funny, we will both get punished. And you don't want to anger a level 47 Axe Warrior, would you? He's upstairs waiting for me to wash up."

               She giggled again when I felt the color drain from my face. Naturally, my not-so little friend also retreated to fight another day after hearing that. Even with my cheat abilities, there was no way in hell I was going to fight someone more than forty times my level on my first day in this world.

               I gulped at the thought. She giggled. Then a thought appeared in my mind and on my lips before I could really think it through.

               "Wait, your master touches you? You-You wouldn't happen to mean sexually… right?"

               I asked, thinking that as a slave, she might have been forced into something she disagreed with, but she just nodded at my question, her slight smile unwavering.

               "Uh-huh. That's what he bought me for."

               "B-But how does that work? Aren't you a member of the dog-kin species?"

               I only guessed at the actual name of her people based on the naming scheme of the bunny girl from earlier, but she didn't correct me. Instead, for some reason, her expression turned increasingly sympathetic. I couldn't pin a reason on why, but she looked genuinely sad. Even her tail drooped a bit to show the change in her emotional state.

               Did I offend her by bringing up her race after she tried to tell me she wasn't a bad person?

               "Oh, you poor boy. How long have you been on your own? Didn't your parents tell… Don't you know how it works? Here, let me show you."

               While my fantasies for free-bird women were all screaming at me to focus, this beautiful dog-kin girl lifted her foot onto the bench and turned her body to face me directly. Now not even that small tuft of hair could contain what normally should have been hiding there between her bare thighs.

               Smoothly, naturally, as if it was the most understandable thing to do in this situation, her hand moved over her leg and towards her crotch. She then spread herself with her index and middle fingers as casually as if she were only showing me directions to the convenience store. Now not even the pink inside was hidden.

               "You see, you put your cock in this hole here, same as you would with any human woman. Then you…"

               "I-I know that part!"

               I stopped her so that my heart wouldn't explode from such a sexy woman giving me a visual example of the birds and the bees.

               Seriously! Being free is one thing, but to show someone you just met a full visual of your privates like it was nothing is something else entirely!

               "Oh, then what's the problem?"

               After she questioned me, she set her foot back down on the ground. Not, apparently, out of embarrassment over her misunderstanding, but because it seemed more comfortable.

               "I-I just didn't know beast-kin and humans could… have sex. That's all."

               She giggled again, this time louder, almost approaching a full-on laugh. I felt my cheeks burn. As an after-thought, I only just realized that the beast-kin are probably only as different from humans as the people from my world were different in regards to skin color. That didn't mean the actual anatomy was all that different!

               I'm such an idiot!

               The dog-kin girl quickly calmed herself when she saw me looking all the more embarrassed and apologized.

               "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that, that seemed like something you should know at your age."

               "No… It's my fault for not being clear with what I meant. I'm sorry to have taken advantage of your kindness by seeing something I shouldn't have."

               "Like I said, I don't mind. You can look all you want. You just can't touch… Oh my... That's really big."

               I looked at her, confused by what she meant, and found her taking full advantage of the free-to-look pass she just offered me as she was staring with great interest at my now fully erect member. After such an offer, how else could I respond!

               "S-S-Sorry, but I think I should go."

               I jumped up, now no longer able to cover myself, and gathered my things. She continued looking, but her expression reeled right back to sympathetic.

               "If my looking bothers you, I can just go over to the other side of the bench. You don't have to end your wash early."

               "No… No. It's fine. I think… No, yea. I'm done. Please, enjoy the rest of your bath, miss!"

               I threw on my clothes and boots as fast as I could without stopping to dry myself and ran for the door.

               "Wait," the woman called out again. "I'm sorry if that was too much for you!"

               Embarrassed by her further misunderstanding, I raced back upstairs to my room.