” Do you really need to go? ” said a certain brown-haired girl as we were about to leave the shop.
” Erin, don't bother Miss Elizabeth. She and Fiona need to do their job just like we have to do ours. ” said a certain mother toward her daughter as both of them came to say goodbye to us before we could part ourselves.
The only missing person was the younger brother but since he was probably still sleeping we didn't wake him up just for that.
It was somehow heartwarming to have a place where you could return even in this strange world. It didn't matter that we stay here just temporary. The feeling was still there.
” Do not worry, Erin. When we came back I will treat you again with that kebab from yesterday. You and Fio seem to like it quite a lot. ” I said and patted her gently on her head. For an unrelated party, it may look rather weird since I didn't look much older than her on the outside. I was just a bit taller but that was all.
” Okay... I'll wait. ”
” Anyway, we are going to leave now. I'd say goodbye but we'll be back in several days anyway, Sara. ”
” Do not worry about it. Just take care of yourself on the journey. The same goes for you too, Fiona. Take care and came back safely. ”
” Mm. ”
We waved at them and started to head to the east gate. We already got to the guild first thing in the morning to accept the quest and retrieve our tags.
Unfortunately, the receptionist girl from that time wasn't here but we didn't encounter any difficulty. The whole thing moved smoothly since all we had to do was to give the piece of paper we received yesterday as confirmation and they gave us the tags.
We received some information about the wasps too so it wasn't that bad in the end.
The tag was quite simple. All of then were made from cheap metal for the lower F, E, and D ranks. For the higher ones, the tags were made from the three precious metals like copper for C rank, silver for B rank and gold for A rank.
On the front was engraved my name and rank and on the back was the guild branch name. Apparently, I was part of Adventurer's Guild Arian City Branch.
They didn't bother to explain further since it was a waste of time. Even if there was something higher than that, the chances to encounter someone like that were pitifully low anyway.
At least, in this way, we know with who to not mess around by just looking at their tag.
*yawn*
” Are you sure you are alright, Lizza? You yawned the whole morning. ”
” I'm fine, I'm fine... You know that I'm bad at waking up early. ”
” Mm. But this time is even worse than usual. It's because you stayed too much last night. ”
” Ugh... It's fine, it's fine... We won't be able to arrive there today anyway. We'll have to camp at the forest border tonight so all is good. I'll get some rest then. ”
” Mm. ”
I could not deny that I crossed the line just a little last night. Since we decided to use copper instead of silver for the rest of the equation, I suddenly got a lot more options.
It wasn't as good as something enchanted with silver but not worse by much. Since the ratio of silver/copper was around 1:80 I could enchant 80 objects instead of just one.
[Common Iron Sword]
- [Sword type weapon of average quality. The performance was raised from the enchanting process.]
- [Mana conductivity +8%]
- [Dexterity +1]
- [High-Common grade]
[Common Iron Dagger]
- [Dagger type weapon of average quality. The performance was raised from the enchanting process.]
- [Mana conductivity +7%]
- [Dexterity +1]
- [High-Common grade]
...
We could deal with the drop in quality for the moment. At least we got a lot more enchanted equipment and I got some training as well. When my [Apprentice Enchanter] was updated to level 5 I got excited and tried to experiment further.
I used the sword we got from Ron since it was better than the one Fiona was using but somehow I failed to put a stat on it so we let it like that. I enchanted my old bows as well. I tried with an arrow but my skill wasn't high enough so I failed and I continued like that till almost morning.
” Hold up. ”
A guard raised his hand as we were about to leave the city. I saw that they didn't bother with the ones who were leaving so we just walked like the rest.
” Is there a problem? ”
” Where are you two going? This is the east gate. ” he said and pointed his finger at a group of bulky men who just passed around us. One of them just nodded to the guard and walked outside shortly afterward.
’Maybe they were acquaintances...’
” This gate is mainly used for adventurers these days. Where are two young girls going since there's nothing but these giant insects in that direction? ”
If I were to look at the people who were exiting through this gate, they all were looking like adventurers. They were all wearing various pieces of armor and carried with them weapons.
Besides our complete lack of any kind of armor, our weapons we're deposited in my ring as well. We were looking like anything but adventurers.
Was he worried about us? Probably not... Maybe he was just curious.
” We know. We are adventurers too. ”
I had to point my finger at the metallic tag that was hanging around my neck for him to notice it.
” Oh... Seriously? I didn't notice at all. You don't look like one. I thought that the guild suspended all the quest besides the emergency one. Didn't you know? It's very dangerous out there at the moment. ”
” Ah... Yes, we know. We are going for that one after all. ”
” Huh? Are you serious? Are you seriously going to... ”
” Uaah... Just let them go already. If these girls want to die that badly, just let them be. ” the other guard that was lazily resting with his back on the wall intervened in the conversation for the first time. He was quite rude a well.
” You just shut up, Arnold. How can I let two young girls go and die? They probably don't know how dangerous these insects really are. It's not like gathering some herbs or killing a goblin or two. ” he said and smiled at us. Maybe my intuition was wrong this time and he was a good person in the end... Albeit less but there must be good people too.
Sara or even Albert were good people. I was just unlucky to meet bad ones at the beginning.
” Ohh... Come on, not that again. Seeing a pretty face and instantly changing in the chivalrous type. Just let them go already... ”
” Arnold, I'll swear to kill you later. Lying like that just to make me look bad. ”
”...”
*Cough* *Cough*
” Anyway, I still don't think that is appropriate for two young ladies to go to such a dangerous place. ”
’No, no, no. Don't tell me you are going to pretend even after he betrayed you.’
Bad person. Very bad person. Somehow, he managed to climb to the highest peak on my list of bad people. I don't want to deal with someone like that.
” Thank you for the concern but we know what we are doing. If that is all we will leave since we have a long way to go. ”
” Ah... Is that so? Then I wish you good luck. ” he said with a disappointed expression. Maybe my dead stare akin to someone who was looking at living garbage was the reason but I didn't care at all anymore.
” Thanks. ” I said and started to depart from there without wasting not even a second more.
As we took enough distance for a normal human to not hear anymore, things like ’That’s your fault, bastard’ and ’Shut the hell up, you horny pervert’ started to flood in my ears.
Unfortunately for them, my hearing was a lot better that one might think and I was able to listen to their conversation even from such a distance if I concentrate a little.
*Sigh*
” Fio, are all the gate guards around there perverts? If I think about it, the guard from that village said something similar... ”
” Per... verts!? ” she said with a curious voice like she didn't quite understand what I mean.
”...”
” What do you mean, Lizza? Is something wrong? ”
’Ohhh no... This can't be... How can she not be able to recognize... Hmm... No, no... Wait a minute...’
For her maybe that was the norm. Since she was born where she was born maybe people like that should be the norm for her.
Poor Fiona. To be exposed to such bad influences from a small age.
Since there exist legal slavery or bandits plundering and killing people around there, a pervert dude trying to get a young girl must be the last concern for the authorities.
Since the legal marriage age must be lower than my world standard, maybe what this guard was trying to do was actually legal...
” Lizza... Was there something wrong with him? ”
” Of course there was. He's a pervert trying to hit on two young girls. ”
” A pervert trying to hit us? ” she said with yet another confused expression.
” I don't think I understand, Lizza... ”
” How can you not understand what he really wanted... huh!? ”
Actually, that might be the case. Since nobody should be willing to look at her back then due to their horrible racist view about her origin, this is only natural for her to not understand the more subtle allusions.
” Fio, you... ”
” I-Is something wrong with me, Lizza? ” she said while slightly dropping her ears in anxiety. She was looking like someone on the verge of tearing in the next moment.
” Do not worry, Fio. There's nothing wrong with you. I will protect you from any pervert from now on. ”
” Lizza will protect me? ” the light in her eyes seemed to return as she heard my reply. She was so adorable I hardly restrained myself from petting her head.
” Yes. ”
I had to protect Fiona’s innocence at all costs.
” Then, I'll protect Lizza too... ” she said with a resolute expression on her face. The urge to hug her was growing even bigger and I had to turn around to control myself.
” Lizza? ”
” Nothing... It's nothing. ”
” Mm. ”
” Anyway... Listen here, Fio. We must be wary of that kind of men from now on. ”
” Mm, but how? ”
” Ehh... For example, if any of them is trying to approach you or is trying to give you things while being kind to you for no reason, there must be something off with that. ”
” I-Is that so? ”
” Yes, is very possible for them to be perverts. You must be wary of them from now on. ”
” Mm. I understand. I will protect Lizza from them too. ”
” Aaawwww... I can't resist anymore. Come here! ”
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Yes, they are everywhere!!! Votes: 38 11.3%
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No. Fiona will bravely defend her! Votes: 49 14.5%
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5 bucks that this will turn in something funny later on! :))) Votes: 250 74.2%
I'm confused, how old does lizza looks? I can understand the hard refusal of the guy if she looks underage for that society but if not for that I don't think he did much wrong other then shows concern for their well beings, yeah he did that in order to maybe hit on them but is not like he acted rudely or harassed them, thus why is he pictured as one of the worst guy encountered so far from Lizza's point of view?
There are several reasons for it. Let me quickly put down some of them since I decided to clarify the age thing to some extent. It managed to create confusion on several occasions so it's best to do it.
Looking at it as a third party may seem to be classified like that unjustly. He didn't deserve to be put in the same place as Ron and his crowd. And that is actually the truth. He didn't. No matter how you look, you can't put that equal with slavery, murder and so on.
But we need to take into consideration that the classification was made by a person unstable emotional when it comes to that particular aspect.
For someone who was forcefully changed from a man into a woman, with another mentality and in the confusing process of accepting who he/she is now, it is viewed vastly different in comparison with a normal girl.
It doesn't have to be a logical conclusion. The very fact that since she was a woman now and she can be deceived with sweet words for ulterior reasons is a terrifying discovery. Knowing or speculating about a situation is vastly different from confronting it.
-------
And now, regarding how old she looks on the outside and how it actually works... Let me gather whatever I said till now and add some extra (just what I can since some of it is connected with the future plot).
Let's start with how the time measurement is not the same. I already said on several occasions that a day there is longer than one in her previous life. Since it is not a crucial thing I can say there that while the weeks/months arrangement in a year is a little different too, it is still comparable with the one in her previous life.
As a result of it, we can say that one year there is longer than one in her past life. A-one-years old baby there should have a year and several months in her previous life and so on.
Now, coming back to the main point, we already know that Fiona is 14 years old. If we were to take things logically, she should look older than that but the reason for it not being the case is that she is not a human either.
If you remember, I mentioned a little in chapter 29 about how beastkins needs a little longer to hit maturity compared to a human. While the difference is not as drastic as it is for an elf, the difference is enough to make her look like a 13-14 years old human despite her actual age being higher (counted in earth years).
Lizza looks relatively the same age as her, the sole difference being that she is a little taller than her.
I hope that I managed to finally clarify at least to some extent this problem.
@FDSIO oh ok, I don't know why but I always pictured her as older looking, something like 16/17 .
regarding the first topic, yeah I agree that her point of view is biased but so far she did not seem to mind much her gender change so I assumed she was kind of the open-minded one who does not really care about this kind of things.
I guess the trauma is there but well hidden since she has no one yet who she can confess to (and i doubt she will ever confess that ).
@digi9797 Since she's a little taller, you can picture her as a 14-15 too... There's not much of a difference anyway.
Regarding the other topic... Hmmm...
I don't think that being open-minded or not will help too much in this situation. It helps in a normal situation and when she can think calmly but when you are put in a situation that is denying the view and values you guided your life till that moment, you might not think that clear anymore.
It would be strange for it to not be the case, unless the person in cause already has interest in that kind of things beforehand.
@FDSIO i used "open minded" for a lack of Better terms , my english Is not the best but i Hope you get what i meant.
From her reaction She looked pretty cool with It, infact It surprised me how soon she adapted
@FDSIO you do know than have her "first time" before even have her cycle is pretty common in middle age, for the poor ? And they where maried to no more than 14 or 15 years old ? Because to 13 years old, you where already "adulte". The idea of teenager and all that is realy, realy new thing even in our world after all.
Well, the MC herself can totaly be outside the common sens of this world, so it's totaly ok and i like the way she react to it. It's like people who transmigrate but can't let go their common sens before some time. It's logical and human. But the little fluff as literaly grown in a brothel ! No child growing there can be blind to this kind of think. In fact, child of slave AND even more sexe-slave becoming "toy" for client, to a very, very young age (in other words, not even 10) is common if not obvious. It's a way to "train/break" them (yes, this is disgusting and dark, sadly this continu to exist in some country in war, like for the racial-minority in Africa, Middle-Orient, and Asia) She is out because the way they see her, but that not say she as not see other child of human-slave/prostitute be used like that, or the more older but from her age.