Chapter Sixty — Pretty Dresses
Chapter Sixty — Pretty Dresses Exiting the Exploration Guild building was like dropping a heavy load off my back. Suddenly I went from being scrutinized and under someone’s careful watch to entirely free to do as I wanted in the space of a few steps.“Whaa, that was stressful,” I complained to the open skies. Even the stinky Port Royal air was more welcome than the tension in the Guild.Amaryllis shifted next to me. “That it was,” she agreed. “We should head out. We have a lot of things to buy and only one day to do so.”“Buy?” I repeated. “I was thinking I would go to an inn. There’s a nice one in the East quarter, the owner’s a sort of friend.”“That’s fine, but the day is still young and you need better equipment,” Amaryllis said. “That spear is... usable, but you’re carrying a shovel as a weapon. I don’t think I need to tell you why that isn’t the brightest idea.”“But I like my shovel,” I said. I wanted to grab my shovel and hug it safe, but it was on my back, so instead I hugged Orange who was trying to shuffle her way out of my bandoleer. The poor kitty was already growing too big for the biggest pouch I had.“We can get you a sword, or perhaps a dagger. Though those are traditional Harpy weapons. Humans like heavier blunt weapons, right? Maybe a warhammer? We’ll get you something nice and proper.” She started walking downhill towards the areas that I knew had more shops in them, so hiking up my backpack I jogged after her.“Amaryllis,” I said. “We’re friends right?” I asked.“I... yes, we’re friends,” she said. She didn’t sound completely sure, but I suspected there was a good reason for that. Amaryllis struck me as the sort of girl that had never had that many real friends. Which meant that it was up to me to teach her the joys of friendship!“Amaryllis. Friends don’t make friends do things. Not unless those things are vitally important. I like my shovel, and unless it’s putting me and you at risk, there’s nothing wrong with it.”The harpy slowed to a stop. Her face was blank for a while, then she huffed. “Well, fine, you can keep the shovel I suppose. But that armour of yours...”“It’s been good for me,” I said as I looked down at my gambeson. It looked nice enough.“It’s clean, certainly, but it's got holes and cuts all across it, and I can’t feel a single enchantment on the entire piece.”I blinked. “There’s enchanted clothes? Wait, no, of course there’s enchanted clothes. That’s brilliant! What sort of enchantments are there?”Amaryllis resumed walking, this time with her nose inching up into the air. “That depends entirely on the quality and age of the garb. That and the ability of the craftsman. There are a few good stores even in a backwater like Port Royal that ought to have something serviceable.”I felt a grin growing. Shopping did sound like a good way to get rid of some stress. Plus I could find some totally awesome new stuff to wear while we gossiped. “Is it really a backwater?” I asked as I looked around. Port Royal seemed pretty big and pretty new. The buildings were all well-maintained and the area had a vibrancy to it that made it feel active and alive.“It’s not the worst place. The smell could certainly be improved upon. But compared to the likes of Farseeing or Fort Sylphrot this is a quaint little city. The grenoil truly are trying their best but their culture is still... lesser.”I hummed as I thought about that. It sounded a little... a lot racist. But maybe it wasn’t entirely wrong. Maybe this area was like a third world country compared to the rest of the world and I was just too ignorant to know any better. “I guess it is kind of... old fashioned.”“Yes, I suppose it would be, even to you.”I shook my head at that. “I think you’d be kind of amazed by the sorts of things we have back home,” I said. “I know that I sometimes miss the internet and phones... and toilets.”Amaryllis laughed, high-pitched and birdlike. “I suppose some amenities are missed no matter where you’re from. The Nesting Kingdom has these great big bathhouses that I sorely miss.”“I haven’t taken a bath since I came here,” I said. “Or a shower. I’ve been meaning to but... well, there’s always more adventuring to do.”Amaryllis scoffed. “If we visit my home one day, I’ll show you the bathhouses; you’ll certainly enjoy them. The better ones have professional preeners. It’s excellent. Though I suppose they couldn’t do much for you.”I shrugged. “So, um, back to enchantments.” Conversations were always speeding past the sorts of things I wanted to know.“They’re a way to twist ambient mana into a specific shape. Essentially constantly casting a weak spell,” Amaryllis explained.I touched the collar around my neck. Was there a spirit-kitty summoning spell out there? Was there one for puppies? I had so many important things to learn still.Amaryllis seemed to know where she was going and led us across Central and to a small side street filled with shops laid out in a rough circle around a large fountain appropriately filled with statues of frogs.There were people standing around or sitting on benches, lots of grenoil ladies in big dresses and men in suits carrying canes. I couldn’t help but gawk a little at the people passing by, though I did try to keep it to a minimum.A human lady walking past us pulled up a black and green speckled handkerchief and pressed it to her nose as she strutted past. It wouldn’t have really caught my attention except the pattern on her handkerchief was distinct, and the moment it came to my attention I was suddenly seeing it everywhere. Ascotts and those little puffs of cloth in men’s breast pockets, even the lace of the dresses we passed were made of the same material.Fortunately, I had an Amaryllis to help. “What’s with all those similar clothes?” I asked.“Ah, you noticed that?” Amaryllis said. She lifted her neck a little to look extra haughty. “It’s a product from the city’s dungeon. Some sort of cloth dropped by the monsters that occupy the first floors. The material is pulled out by the cartload every day and the locals have taken to wearing it.”That.. sort of made sense. “Does that happen a lot?”Amaryllis shrugged a shoulder. “It depends on what the dungeon makes. There’s a dungeon in one of the independent cities where the first level monsters drop knives once in a while. Everyone there has the same sort of knife. They’re practically free.”If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.“Huh,” I said. I was from a world where things were always, by necessity, made or grown or at the very least gathered. Things didn’t just... spawn from monsters. I already had some things just like that on me, but I hadn’t thought to connect that to the economic repercussions of easy to obtain and somewhat free... stuff.“Here we are,” Amaryllis said as she stopped before a shop. Unlike the others in the square (was it a square if it was round?) this store didn’t have mannequins in pretty dresses and nice suits, but instead had leather armours and tough-looking but handy clothes on display. There were even heavier things like plate and mail sets within.“I kind of expected a blacksmith for armour-related things,” I said.“Only if you want to be weighted down all the time. Us harpies can’t afford to be lumbering brutes like you humans,” Amaryllis said. “This place has good equipment. Quality stuff.”The shop didn’t exactly look like the kind of place where I would find a good bargain. Still, I followed when Amaryllis stepped in.The inside smelled like leather and oils and a bit like perfume, as if the owner wanted to fight off the city’s stench. There were lanterns hanging over displays, but unlike the stores back home there weren’t that many things on sale compared to the size of the main floor.A pair of grenoil at the back were measuring a customer’s arm length, one of them taking notes while the other worked the tape, and an older grenoil lady wearing an apron over a sundress was manning the counter off to one side. This last was the one to step up when we entered. “Hello and welcome to ze Rising Shield, how can I help you?”“My friend here needs some better equipment,” Amaryllis said.“Oh, and you should get a bandoleer,” I added. “Nearly everyone else at the guild has one.”“Explorers!” the old grenoil lady said. “Excellent. We have all sorts of zings zat will keep you safe, warm and fashionable in any deep dungeon or far off land.”I was already enjoying my shopping experience more than most of the times I’d gone shopping back home.“What do you suggest?” I asked.The grenoil lady looked me up and down. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”“I don’t.”“In zat case. How do you fight, how do you move and what is your position on your team?”“Um. I don’t fight very well. I do have a makeshift weapon proficiency and a lot of Cleaning magic for that undead and such. I move a lot by jumping, it’s one of my best skills. As for my position, I want to be the ranged DPS.”“A what?” Amaryllis asked before her eyes narrowed. “Is that one of the strange things from your... home?”“Yup,” I said.“I zink I see,” the grenoil lady said. With that, she moved back to the counter and opened up a large book, one filled with images. She looked back up to me a few times, then back down to the book.“What is she doing?” I muttered to Amaryllis. I didn’t want to interrupt the lady, but I was starting to get weirded out a little.“She’s creating an outfit,” Amaryllis said. “It’s what good tailors do.”“From scratch?” I asked. “What about all the things on display?”“Zose,” the lady said without so much as looking up. “Are pieces zat are ready for some discerning clients and ze occasional experimental piece. Now, what do you zink of zis?” She turned the book over and revealed a sketch of an outfit.It was simple enough, a leather chest piece over a tight cloth gambeson that flared out at the bottom into a nice skirt. The sleeves were big and poofy and the armour seemed to incorporate a bandoleer already. There was a single pauldron over the left shoulder and a matching steel plate on the right hip. “Whoa,” I said.“Ah, my eye hasn’t failed me yet,” she said. “Zis is a simple enough outfit. Ze skirt makes it a little unusual but some young ladies seem to favour zem. Ze price is for ze unenchanted version.”Price? I looked over the page, then found a number at the bottom right and almost winced. One lesser gold, two pure silver. That was a fair amount of my gold. “How much do the enchantments cost? And what sort can you provide?”“On a piece zat’s so new? It’s not very expensive.”“New?” I repeated.Amaryllis huffed next to me, it was her ‘of course you don’t know’ huff. “The older something is the more resistant it is to magical changes. The harder it is to add something like an enchantment to it.”“Is that why Insight tells me the age of equipment?” I asked.“Yes, actually.”The grenoil lady picked up right where she had left off. “As for enchantments, ze most popular ones are durability and cleanliness. We can also make the cloth fireproof or wick off humidity. Zere are mana absorption enchantments as well. If you want somzing specific you need just ask and we can find an enchanter for a fee.”“I think the fireproofing, durability and mana absorption would be best for you,” Amaryllis said. “No need for the cleanliness enchantments, of course, and the more specialized kinds of enchantments are all rather, well, specialized.”“Ah, okay,” I said. “Can you tell me how much those three would cost?”“Zree enchantments working concurrently, and none zat use ze same spell structure? Zat would be...” She scribbled some notes on a looseleaf, then opened a smaller book and raced through it, occasionally stopping to make a mark on the side. “Zat will be... two lesser gold, and seventeen sil.”“That’s just for the enchantments?” I asked.“Zat’s right.”“Ah, well, I think that I can’t-”“We’ll take it,” Amaryllis said. “But only if you can have it all ready within the next two hours.”I almost choked. “H-hey, I don’t have that kind of money,” I said.Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “I’m well aware. I, on the other hand, am not some poor peasant like you and do have some gold to my name. Consider it a gift for not letting me get kidnapped and ransomed.”“Ah, but it’s too much!” I said.“Don’t be an idiot, this is nothing. And now you’ll at least look like you can stand next to me without being an embarrassment with that torn up armour of yours.”“Well zen miss, all zat’s left is for you to pick ze colour.”
Chapter Sixty-One — Spending the Night Inn
Chapter Sixty-One — Spending the Night Inn I spun to make my new skirt flare out, as one does, and then giggled as I went dizzy for just a moment.It was a very pretty skirt and deserved to be spun a whole lot. The lady in the shop had given me a whole selection of colours, and while some were sensible and even reasonable to wear while out adventuring, I couldn’t help but pick a bright blue. It was the same pale hue as the sky a moment after the sun rose on a cloudless morning and I loved it.“Stop doing that, you idiot, you’re going to run into the path of a cart and you’ll ruin your new dress when you cover it in your bloody remains,” Amaryllis said.I stopped myself in the act of preparing for another spin, then patted down my skirts. “Right!”The armoured cuirass squeezed everything in place while emphasising other things, and the thick cloth armour beneath somehow managed to be fairly loose and flexible and soft. It probably helped that a couple of weeks of running around and fighting for my life and walking for what felt like hundreds of kilometers had done away with the little bit of tummy I had come into the world with.Not that I was vain or anything, but I did now have the beginnings of a six-pack and that was something to be proud of. My friends back on Earth had always told me boys were into that sort of thing, which meant I was putting all of the chances on my side that I’d find a nice husband. Also, I bet I could do so many sit-ups!“So, what’s next?” I asked as I walked next to Amaryllis. “I have some coins left, we could go and grab a bite to eat, or we could buy some more books.”Amaryllis looked up to the skies which were just starting to turn pinkish. “Perhaps it would be best to head back to an inn. I have a bit of research to do and we skipped both breakfast and lunch. I can stand to go a day without eating but I’d really rather not.”We walked past a street vendor who was hawking ‘genuine Brackland beetles’ that were fried in some sort of oil. “I know a nice inn,” I said. “They even make food without bugs in it.”“That is a good selling point,” Amaryllis admitted. “The cuisine in Deepmarsh isn’t awful, but it’s not exactly to my liking.”I looked down both ways of the street, because we were about to cross, then grabbed Amaryllis’ by the talon and pulled her across at a quick trot to avoid a passing trolley. The moment we were on the other side, Amaryllis tore her hand back and shook it. “You humans are all so touch-y feely,” she muttered.“I would have thought that harpies would be the same way,” I said. “What with you all being bird people. Do you have nests and such?”“Only the truly impoverished would sleep in a nest,” Amaryllis said. “Or those incubating an egg the old fashioned way, as some clans still do.”I almost tripped. “You can lay eggs?!” I asked.Amaryllis gave me a flat look. “Of course I can.”“Yeah, but eggs! How does that even work?”A passing group of grenoils in worker’s overalls gave us a look and I noticed the feathers on Amaryllis’ arms poofing a little. Was that her version of a blush? I hadn’t meant to embarrass her.“You idiot,” she said. “That’s... well I suppose it isn’t common knowledge where you’re from.” She coughed to clear her throat. “Traditionally, when a man harpy and a woman harpy get married, they prepare a nest, and when they enter their breeding period they... consummate their relationship. The egg that the woman lays next is fertile and it is incubated until it hatches. If the female harpy isn’t in that sort of relationship, then the egg she lays will be infertile and the clan will dispose of it. It’s all quite civilised I assure you.”“You have a breeding cycle?” I asked. This was way more interesting than that one class in school with the horrible videos.Amaryllis huffed. It was her ‘I’m better than you’ huff. “Unlike you humans who just mate whenever, we actually know that there’s a time and place for such things. Usually in the spring when the winter snows melt away.”“Neat,” I said. “Wait, does that mean that you lay eggs every spring? Can they be eaten?”Amaryllis was giving me a very flat look. “I’ll have you know that eating eggs is extremely taboo. That’s like... offering to eat a still-born human baby because the meat is tender.”“Ah, wow, okay sorry.” I was fortunately quite used to placing my foot in my mouth though. “Are there any other taboo subjects? Just in case?”“Not really,” Amaryllis said. “It’s considered quite rude to bring up certain subjects around strangers though. You don’t talk about eggs with a person that isn’t a close family member, and it’s usually something handled amongst the womenfolk.”“Ah, okay.”“And talking about religion in a public gathering is a faux-pas. Politics and economics and other such contentious subjects are fine.”“You’ll have to show me your home one day,” I said.“I dread the idea of presenting you to my sisters,” Amaryllis said. “They would take a shine to you that I find frankly terrifying.”“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I said. “Oh, that’s the inn!” I pointed to the Rock Inn and Roll Inn just a little ways down the street.“Seems respectable enough,” Amaryllis said. “We should get a room for the both of us. It will save us some money.”I eyed her from the corner of my eye. She had been throwing money around without a care earlier. Sure, her biggest purchase was my awesome new armour, but she had also purchased a new leather jacket with a fur-lined neck similar to her last one, and a thin bandoleer with slips for potions to go underneath.It wouldn’t have surprised me if she was really just a little nervous to sleep in a room alone. She had been through a lot in the last couple of days and I think that she had yet to decompress. Really, what Amaryllis needed was a good hug and some tea and maybe a warm blanket. But if all she wanted was to share a room that was okay too.“It’ll be like a sleepover!” I said.Amaryllis hummed. “One of my sisters was terribly keen on those. She used to drag out the most ridiculous outfits and makeup and make me parade around in them for her amusement.” She sounded cross about it, but was wearing a melancholic smile.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.“Do you miss your family?” I asked.“I hardly left on bad terms,” Amaryllis said. “I just needed some... time to my own.”I didn’t have time to dig into that as we arrived at the inn and slipped in to find a busy floor. Not every table was filled, but it was a near thing. Julien’s inn seemed to attract a lot of upper-crust sort of people, grenoil in nice suits and people with spectacular hats and colourful outfits who seemed okay with the idea of bumping shoulders and sharing a pint.I had the impression that this was a purposeful thing, that Julien wanted people here to let go of some of their social pretensions while in his inn.The fat grenoil in question was talking animatedly to a customer behind the bar, but as soon as he saw us his eyes lit up and he raised both arms as if to hug the air. “Ah, little Broccoli! You made it back.”“Hello Julien!” I said. “I did! We had a few close calls but we made it out alive. This is my friend and partner Amaryllis.”“Hello,” Amaryllis said.“Any friend of Broccoli is a friend of Julien’s. How can I help you ladies?” he asked.“We need a room for the night,” I said. “Um, a room with two beds?”“Something nice would be welcome,” Amaryllis added. “With a desk and some room to think would be preferable.”“I have just ze zing,” Julien said.I nodded. “And food,” I added. “Your food’s the best.”“Oh hoh, zis one knows how to warm an old frog’s heart,” Julien said. A moment later he called over one of the barmaids and gave her some directions to lead us off to a room way off on the other side of the inn. Amaryllis slapped a single gold coin on the bartop and that had Julien’s eyes sparkling in greedy delight.Our room, as it turned out, was a whole lot bigger than the rooms I was used to, with a small washroom, two big beds and a little living room. It reminded me a bit of a modern hotel room, but with a most rustic charm. I could still hear the soft murmur of the bar below and the windows overlooking the street ahead of the inn gave a nice view of Port Royal.“Bed!” I cheered as I jumped into the air and crashed onto one of the beds side first.Orange, who didn’t seem amused by my jump, stood hanging on nothing above the bed before she strutted off to the window and started grooming her little paw-paws in the sunlight.“You idiot,” Amaryllis muttered. She turned to the barmaid that had accompanied us and huffed. “We’ll have our meals as soon as they’re ready,” she said.“You’re supposed to tip!” I called from the fluffy surface of the bed.“Tipping? Really?” Amaryllis asked.“I have some coins if you don’t have any,” I said as I got ready to jump off the bed.Amaryllis grumbled something, but she pulled out a pair of silver coins and gave them to the now-smiling barmaid. “Here you go. Just... get our food. And no bugs.”“Yes ma’am,” the barmaid said before scooting away.“You’re supposed to say ‘thank you,’” I said.“She’s help, you’re supposed to pretend they don’t exist,” Amaryllis said.I supposed that that was one of those cultural differences that I would have a hard time reconciling. Sitting up, I watched as Amaryllis pulled a chair from the table to one side of the room, then pulled a pen and sheet of paper from her ring with a poof. A moment later she scribbled something and they both poofed back.“What’cha doing?” I asked.Amaryllis made a gesture with one talon raised that I suspected meant ‘give me a moment,’ then, with a poof, a small notebook, a pen, and a larger book appeared above the table and fell. “I’ve been meaning to look over known dungeons for a proper second class. Something that will complement my primary class.”“Ohh,” I said as I bounced off the bed. Beds were fun, but shopping for magical classes sounded a lot more fun. I pulled up a bench next to Amaryllis and, with my legs kicking out to bleed off some of my excess energy, waited for her to open up her book.She did so, but not before rolling her eyes. “There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to second classes. Generally, a class will level up for doing things that are in-line with that class’ purpose. A warrior will level from training at arms or from sparring. A chef will level from cooking. Do you follow so far?”“That makes sense, yeah.”“So, as I said, the two major philosophies are split along two ideas. The first suggests that you find a second class that matches your first. A warrior might get a spearman class. A chef a cook class. That way you can continue doing the same sort of training and so on to level both classes up. Since the experience is more or less evenly shared between the two classes, this means that your second class will level far faster.”“Because levels eleven and up take more experience points per level?” I asked.“Experience points?” Amaryllis asked.“Uh. more... experience in general?” I asked. “Experience points are an Earth thing, I guess.”“Yes, I suppose,” she said. “The second school of thought suggests finding a class that’s utterly dissimilar to your first. That way you can practice both separately. It’s both more and less efficient seeing as how the first method, the two similar classes way, tends to spend a long time with their second class at its bottleneck while the first reaches level twenty.”“Oh,” I said. “That’s kind of annoying. But then if you have two entirely different classes you need to spend time training two things?”“Exactly. It’s something of a toss-up as to which is best, and matters for much furious debate in some circles.”“I can imagine,” I said. “So what will you do?”“I don’t know yet,” Amaryllis admitted. “Which is why I have this.” She tapped a talon on the surface of the book.“Midhve’s compendium of Dungeons and Associated Classes,” I read. “Well then, let’s pick you a class!”Amaryllis huffed, but she opened the book all the same.
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