Chapter 3: The Second Day

I blink my eyes a couple of times, looking at my surroundings. With a start, I remember where I am. I look down at my body, holding my arms close and hugging myself tightly. Giggling incessantly, I pull myself out of bed. I can feel the distant soreness in my arms, my brain still recalling the workout I had yesterday with all the fighting. Despite how virtual this world is, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get some proper exercise in? It will probably help me adapt to my new body faster.

With my mind made up, I get dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. They don’t feel as crisp as they did yesterday, but they still feel cleaner than I would have thought, all things considered. I wonder casually if I’ll have to do laundry here, thinking through the logistics of that slowly.

The idea of doing laundry in this world isn’t entirely disheartening, but that might be in part because it gives me an excuse to think about clothes. Normally I hate clothing, but here I have the chance to try whole new types of clothing. I really hope that they have normal clothing stores here alongside the armor stores.

With my old clothes on, my mind harkens back to my most recent gym class. I try to recall the stretches we did, performing them as they come to mind. I start off with some arm rotations, moving on to what I think are lunges? Like, the slow lunges that you do to warm up your legs? I don’t know, I’ve never exactly been a very exercise-minded person. I continue to do some planks, sit ups, toe touches, and that neck roll thing. I probably did them out of order, but I’m not even sure order matters.

I make a new promise to pay attention in the next gym class to our warm up stretches. Now that I’m fully warmed up, I make my way downstairs to go for a run. I inform the tavern owner that I’m heading out for a run and that I’ll be back for my stuff soon. He wishes me luck with a smile before turning back to his other patrons.

Once I get out of the tavern, I look both ways down the street. One direction is the direction I entered town from, and leaves town after a bit. I turn the other direction and begin a light jog further into the city. The sun is barely cresting the horizon and the streets aren’t quite as bustling as they had been last night. As I find myself deeper and deeper into the town, I’m taken by the fantastic sights. Magical lanterns light the streets with soft glows. The streets are cobblestone, and the buildings all look like I expected them too. It looks incredibly rustic and completely magical.

I find myself shyly waving to the few people out and about this morning as they wave to me while I run past. Some are people setting up their shops or carts, and some are people heading out early for shopping. Some are people in uniforms heading out for early shifts wherever they happen to work. The early morning hustle and bustle of the city is kind of a refreshing ambience to get lost in.

Not actually lost though, I make sure to keep my pathing simple so that I can find my way back to the tavern I’m staying in. I’m not one for interacting with people, but this amount of casual interaction as my true self is little enough that it only feels affirming. I’m really a girl, and other people can see it too and that’s wonderful.

I take note of some key landmarks around town as I’m out on my run. I run by a couple of shops that I actually have to jog in place for a second to figure out what the place sells. I find a clothing store, which I double underline on my theoretical mental list. I also find what appears to be a bookstore of some sort, an armory, and finally a post office of some kind. I stop my jog and head into the post office, remembering a mention of a pre-order bonus.

As I enter the post office, I make a mental note that it’s actually open already. I look around, but I’m the only customer in at the moment. “Hello there. How may I help you, miss?” My heart flutters as the man behind the counter calls me miss.

“Oh, um, I was wondering if maybe you had a package for me at all? My name is Astraea Willowtide.” I gulp down some anxiety, my voice still a little shaky as I talk to the man. He gives me a kind smile.

“Well, I can certainly check. Wait one moment please.” The man walks into the back room of the building while I wait out in the front. I shuffle a little in the small lobby, looking around the room. There’s really nothing to look at, so my eyes keep trailing back to the door to the backroom. Eventually, the man comes back carrying a package that’s a bit bigger than a bowling ball.

“You’re in luck, young miss. There is indeed a package for you!” The man sets the package on the counter and I pick it up, feeling the weight. It’s not heavy, but it’s not light either.

“Thank you very much.” I give a little bow, turning around for the exit.

“I hope we see you around, Miss Willowtide. I wish you a good day, and good luck on your adventuring!” the man says. I pause, considering his words.

“You can tell I’m an adventurer?” I ask hesitantly.

“But of course. You have that air about you, I suppose. In addition, that package is from the adventurers guild.” The man tilts his head at the package and I pick the tag up of the package up to read it.

“Oh, uh, yeah. That makes sense… Um, thank you, sir. I hope you have a good day too.” With that, I duck out of the building and begin my jog back.

I make it back to the tavern, the sun having fully crested the horizon by the time I step back into the building. I’m actually surprised that after the jog, I feel a little more refreshed instead of feeling more exhausted. Returning to my room with my new gift, I open the package up.

The first thing that sticks out to me is the armor that’s visible as soon as I open the pack. The armor doesn’t look especially protective, but it looks beautiful. Much different from the starting gear, it’s an outfit that tries to be cosmetic. The outfit is similar in style, being pants and a blouse, with the added additions of a cloak and fingerless gloves. All of the items are a sky blue with silver accents. They don’t look incredibly extravagant, but they do look incredibly nice.

Filled with giddy excitement, I quickly strip off the old adventuring clothes I had been wearing and slip into the new outfit. The quality of the outfit is much nicer, the cloth has an extremely pleasant texture when it’s against my body and every piece of the outfit fits like a glove. Especially the gloves. I pull gently at some of the looser frillier parts of the blouse and the outfit just feels right. I desperately wish I had a mirror, but I make do with just looking down at myself the whole time. I fasten the cloak around my neck and secure my scabbard around my hip like it was yesterday. I put the small bag on my back too, finally ready to head out for the day.

On my way out of the tavern, my nose catches the faint smell of food. My stomach betrays me, reminding me that I still need to take care of this body in terms of nutrition. I pay for a meal, and at the same time I let the tavern owner know that I need to change to a long term room for tonight. The man just smiles and nods, and then I pay for both. Before I can walk away though, the man compliments me on my new garb. I manage to stutter out a thanks, clumsily making my way over to an empty table with a blush and a stupid grin on my face. Admittedly, the food is nothing to write home about once it finally gets there. But it’s cheap, filling, and is sufficient enough for the day I have planned.

From there, I head further into town. I passed several interesting shops on my run; foremost in my mind is the clothes shop, but I ignore them all and walk further in the direction I saw people pushing carts of produce and wares. Eventually, I find exactly what I expect to. What was once a spacious fountain square is filled to the brim with market stalls, vendors, food carts, and all manner of travelling carts. My eyes go wide at the various stalls, mouth watering at some of the smells coming from the food stalls.

I pull up my status, checking my inventory through the quick inventory view tab. I still have one hundred and sixteen copper pieces and I need to pick up more provisions to hold me over while I’m out in the field. With a flimsy promise to keep myself restrained, I walk my way slowly between the market stalls, looking through them with cautious enthusiasm.

The sun creeps towards the middle of the sky; hours pass with me looking between the various vendors the whole time. I look at my considerably more full inventory, wandering my way to a food cart I’d been eyeing. Since it’s practically lunch time already, it won’t hurt to grab something to eat before I head out to practice my fighting against some more rats.

I end up getting some kind of sandwich called an Okiove. I’m not sure what the meat is, but it’s slightly gamey. Surprisingly, it mixes well with the fresh vegetables and the slightly spicy sauce inside it. I savour the taste of every bite, my thoughts floating in the clouds. Some of the vendors even gave me compliments on my outfit while I was browsing. At this point, I don’t even care how the rest of the day goes because there’s no way that this isn’t the best day of my life.

With that thought in mind, I hurry my pace towards the town gate and pick a path out of town, walking down it far enough that I feel I can start looking for more rats to kill. It’s hunting time.