Unsurprisingly, the next week of traveling proved to be still pretty boring. There weren’t even any random bandit attacks for Catnip to try and probably fail to beat up! Which perhaps was a good thing since they were far from ready to deal with actively harming legit people rather than monsters, but still. Bandit attacks were a traveling classic! Flora was still nice though, and Jacob seemed pretty cool too. Frank was a bit uptight but he was an excellent leader for the group who frequently forced them all to actually be competent and do things when they otherwise might not. The lady in the carriage continued to stay solely in the carriage, the only communication with her being via Frank talking to the butler who occasionally came out to get some food. He never said his name either.
Catnip did get some of their questions answered. They asked about classes and leveling and the world and all that, mostly to Flora since she was fun to talk to, but occasionally to Frank because he “actually knew things.”
Apparently classes could be unlocked by fulfilling certain requirements, generally pretty easy ones that just had to do with the basic nature of the class. By the age of 8 when people usually unlocked their systems in this world, most people had a decent amount of basic classes to choose from simply from their everyday life. Being not from here at all, Catnip had not fulfilled any of those requirements and thus couldn’t select a class yet, although that changed over the week. By continuing to throw rocks at hopefully non-sapient goblinoids and other small monsters they fought, their Throwing gained them the Thrower[Class 0]. It was pretty pathetic so they didn’t take it, but it showed they could unlock things.
Not having a class did cause some problems, like the fact that over the course of the week Catnip ended up barely progressing at all. For a stats based world, that was probably a bad thing. By pushing themself and attempting to use their mana based on extremely vague explanations from Flora, they did gain some small stat boosts and skill level ups but not much. They looked at their status briefly, considering it.
Name: Catnip
Species: Catkin
Gender: ?? egg
Sex: Female
Titles: Otherworlder, Death Defying.
Class: None
Class skills - None
2nd Class: None
Class skills - None
General Skills:
Identify lvl 6/350
Undying lvl 4/100
Pain Resistance lvl 5/100
Throwing lvl 10/150
Stats:
Health: 11/11
Mana: 12/12
Strength: 10
Speed: 11
Mana regeneration: 1.2 per minute
Health regeneration: 4 per minute
Unspent Stat points: 11
Available classes:
Thrower[Rank 0]
They had found that any classes, available classes, and General Skills were all collapsible menus. Presumably the system would provide similar menus for any part of their stat sheet that might get too long. Although Thrower was pretty useless, the description was still somewhat interesting to them.
Thrower[Rank 0]:
- You can throw things 50% faster and more accurately. Congratulations, you have figured out how to throw rocks. Idiot, that’s like the most basic method of ranged attack. A class for losers, like you.
- 1 strength, health, and speed per level, 1 free stat.
The actual interesting bit were the insults of them present in the description. Catnip wondered, were those messages personalized, or did everyone see the same description? And what kind of god ran this world or system or something anyway? They did note that even if the thrower class was “a class for losers,” it could still evolve into something else eventually, potentially making it actually useful. Hopefully that would hold true of all potential classes. That’s what the [Rank 0] was about, skills and classes could be upgraded up a rank once they reached their maximum level, giving a branching path of choices from there according to Flora. She did say though that some classes were simply better starting points than others, and although there was no known limit on the Ranks a class or skill could reach, every rank upwards was slightly harder to achieve. Flora was simply a life saver, though of course they could have simply asked Frank due to his greater knowledge about most things, but she was cooler.
Anyway, after this long period of consideration and looking at stats, Catnip returned to reality, where something was finally happening. They were stopping at an outpost, actual human civilization! Sort of. Did it count as ‘human civilization’ when there were undoubtedly nonhumans present? This particular outpost was just kind of a couple of buildings and a guard tower, but still somewhat populated. Apparently the area they were in was somewhat remote, as Catnip had noticed from the varied terrain they had passed on their journey. The plains had begun to give way to slightly rockier terrain, the road starting to slope upwards, and though there wasn’t really much of a mountain range fully in sight yet, they were reaching this sort of rocky hills area. Catnip had still not bothered to ask exactly where they were heading to with this whole noble escort thing, but it probably didn’t matter since they wouldn’t have understood the context of the place they were heading anyway. All they knew is apparently this was the last outpost until they crossed Alvaria’s eastern border, into… somewhere.
Still, despite the somewhat remoteness of the area, the outpost was well manned enough, and they still had to get checked out or something before they were let into the somewhat small fenced area of the outpost, made with classic wooden stakes. The Lady and her entourage in the carriage would need to be checked as well, so they might actually see them for the first time. According to Flora she had seen the Lady briefly at a previous outpost and once when they were hired for the job, Flora described her as “a kind of elegant lady who seemed pretty cute if you ignored her smug and unemotional face.” Catnip had started to wonder a bit about their rather close relationship with Flora, and the fact that she described a lady as “pretty cute,” but ultimately thought nothing of it. Flora was their gal pal even if Catnip was a fake gal, it was probably nothing. There was no way anyone could like someone like them anyway.
Eventually their carriage reached the outpost and Frank gestured for them all to come forward for inspection.
“Hey, yall gonna open up your carriage or what?” the guard eventually said after looking over them, seeming rather bored.
Frank walked over to the carriage and shoved his head inside, saying something to the people in there. They proceeded to not open the carriage because of course they didn’t, noble privilege or something.
The guard looked to Jacob, who was fidgeting awkwardly.
“Umm… I’m sure it will just take a bit sir. The- The Lady who hired us can be a bit touchy.” he mumbled. He briefly fumbled around with one of his knives, a tic he seemed to have rather frequently. He had a number of absentminded movements actually, they reminded Catnip of their previous inability to keep their legs still. It hadn’t been as much of a problem recently, but that was mostly since they spent a lot of time moving due to travel. The guard seemed to be slightly alarmed by Jacob holding his weapon though, which probably wasn’t good. Flora waved at him and pointed at the guard then at his weapon and he got the memo.
After what sounded like a yelling match between Frank and the butler, the curtains covering the entrance of the carriage opened up and Frank walked out, followed by the butler and then the Lady, flanked by two maids and wearing a somewhat impractical red dress, almost ballgown-like. Very otome isekai, except her hair wasn’t in drills or blonde, instead jet black and flowing down in a cascade of hair that almost went down to her waist, and she wasn’t white like the vast majority of noble-lady characters - instead matching the brownish skin-color common in this area. Both maids were just kinda otome isekai maids plus a different skin tone though, in the most bog standard maid uniforms possible, hair done up with weird bonnet things, etc. Catnip took this chance to glance at the inside of the carriage, Flora of course doing the same, and was surprised to find out that the space inside actually did look bigger than it should. There was like a whole room and a half in there! With a comfy looking bed and even what appeared to be a closet for the Lady’s clothes. Damn.
The maids both then seemed to glare at Catnip and Flora, so they both quickly looked away. Both maids still looked at them like scum though, but whatever. Who cares if they were “unworthy of viewing our Lady’s majesty” or something like that. Or maybe maids just always gave off that vibe, regardless of what they’re thinking.
“May I search your carriage, lady… um -”
“Dacre. Don’t you know the names of your own country’s nobles? And you call yourself a servant of this kingdom” the Lady scoffed.
“Sorry Ma’am - “
“Don’t you Ma’am me!”
“Sorry your M’lady, can we search your carriage?” the guard asked.
“I don’t know, can you?” she retorted.
“Um… May we search your carriage?” he said hesitantly.
“Sure. Just don’t touch any of the cheese.” the Lady Dacre said sharply. Catnip wondered why a lady would have cheese, as well as what Dacre’s first name was. They knew nobles didn’t really use first names much due to formality or something but it still felt weird to them to call someone by a last name.
“Sure okay, whatever lady,” the guard mumbled, calling out for his comrades and heading into the carriage. The search didn’t seem like it would take long, but Catnip felt like the show was over at this point so they tapped Flora on the shoulder, then pointed to the now open gate of the outpost. She got the message and grabbed her hand, dragging them both into the outpost, the remaining guards letting them through.
“Hmm…. Wonder why she has cheese in the carriage,” Catnip talked as they walked hand in hand, looking around the outpost’s buildings. It was actually a larger area than they thought, with some shops for restocking and a stable for horses, as well as some other random buildings that probably meant something to someone.
“Hmmm…” Flora hummed, “I don’t really remember what we talked about at the start of this job, but other than getting the Lady to wherever we’re getting her, but I think someone said something about getting exotic cheeses along the way.”
“Really? Think she’ll let us have some?”
Flora broke into laughter and simply said “What do you think? Did that seem like a woman that likes being cooperative and sharing things?”
“Uhh no. Not really,” Catnip replied. They absentmindedly noted that Flora’s hand was warm.
“Anyway, do you think they have a weapons shop here or anything? I want to look at some sharp things that draw blood, if y’know what I mean,” Flora said, continuing to hold their hand. Catnip was going to ask about that, but on second thought they decided that hand holding between friends was cool. They’d simply never experienced it before as they had no friends.
“I can’t imagine whatever this place has would be very high quality, given that it’s an outpost.”
“True”
“Hey idiots! If you’re just going to wander off like that can you at least stock up our supplies?” Frank yelled from the gate, then turned around back to the carriage which had still not been let through. Jacob stood behind him, seeming like he wanted to head over to them and be anywhere but there, but he turned back too with a sad look. Apparently the show had not quite been over yet.
“Do we have to? Can’t we just run around and look at random things?” Flora complained to them.
“... I think we really should grab some supplies. Maybe they have actual good food or something other than hard tack at least,” Catnip told her, not mentioning how they completely agreed with Flora as they wanted to at least try to be responsible for once. They had always been a rather irresponsible person, being an idiot who was utterly useless, but they should try to do better in this life. Self hatred and depression was no excuse for lazy behavior! And that’s assuming they really were depressed rather than just inherently lazy and incompetent as it is, after all, it’s not like they were ever diagnosed with anything. They’d never had the chance to be diagnosed due to not believing they deserved help and or being scared off by the general social stigma around seeking help for mental problems, but still! If Catnip had had a therapist, they likely wouldn’t have been diagnosed with anything other than chronic slothfulness anyway.
After walking around in a circle and almost bumping into a guy, mumbling an inaudible apology as Flora continued pulling them forward via hand-holding before marriage, they found a store for supplies and headed in the door, looking around at a room full of… Supplies. Although there was also some other guy standing in a corner who almost looked like he was made a stone. Some sort of gargoyle or golem species? They were really running into lots of random guys weren’t they.
They walked up to the counter.
“Hi, can I have some rations or something?” Great, brilliant self.
“What kind of quality and quantity of rations do you want? We got a good variety of them,” the store owner replied tiredly.
Despite Flora chanting in the background about getting ‘actual good food,’ Catnip remembered that they previously were just eating low quality stuff to save money, and ordered a bunch of that. Mostly oatmeal, hardtack, some dried meat even for the really daring. Flora pouted to the side, which while admittedly cute, did not change their mind. They were going to be responsible.
“Hey, what species is that guy in the corner,” Flora said while the shopkeeper loaded up their bags with rations.
“I dunno, isn’t it kind of rude to ask about that and point or whatever?” Catnip replied absentmindedly.
“How else would we know if we never ask?” she objected. “Wouldn’t it be ruder to not know and just make assumptions?”
The store owner finally finished filling their bags, handed it over to them, and Catnip handed them back some money. It was rather odd that the group was so quickly letting them hold onto their money, but it was probably just another part of the party’s naivete. Fortunate for Catnip, but probably rather unwise in a world like this. They’d have to mention to their party later about the dangers of accepting candy from strangers or something.
The shopkeep looked up at them, looked in the corner, and looked a little confused.
“I don’t really know about all that, but there’s no one in that corner over there misses,” he said, looking at them weirdly.
“What? There clearly is? Look at him, he’s right there! You see him too, right Catnip?” Flora cried dramatically.
“Yeah I was kind of talking about him earlier, so yeah. Maybe this is like a special plot point mystery or something,” Catnip commented vaguely
“Plot point? What are you talking about Catnip? Real life isn’t a story, I don’t think plot points and plot armor and all that nonsense exists in the real world.”
“Well I dunno, isn't everyone the main character of their own story or whatever?” Catnip thought they saw that on a poster once or something.
“I think that’s just like a saying to get people to sympathize with others,” Flora said, huffing.
“Look you made your purchase, just shut up already,” the storekeep finally said somewhat angrily.
“Are we really that annoying? Also what about the guy in the corner, he’s still there you know,” Flora continued, turning to Catnip again. “Right?”
“Yeah Mr. Shopkeep there’s still a guy in the corner, he’s like made of stone or something,” Catnip confirmed.
“No there isn’t,” the shopkeep said stubbornly.
“There totally is,” they both replied, but not in sync, instead having their words awkwardly overlap each other.
“Na, look just get the fuck out already, who cares about some nonexistent guy in the corner,” He glared at them.
“Alright alright already” Flora said, raising her arms in surrender, then blatantly whispering to Catnip “hey Catnip lets go talk to the guy in the corner though.” The store owner did not look amused. Catnip did their best to whisper back in a not so blatant manner but utterly failed, saying “yeah, sounds interesting” louder than intended.
They walked over to the corner and stared at the guy who was very clearly there. It even looked like he was breathing, though he wasn’t looking at either of them. In fact his eyes were closed.
“Should we wake him up or something or do you think that would be rude?” Flora asked, still trying to whisper but failing.
“I didn’t know you cared so much about not being rude Flora,” they whispered back.
“Yeah, I do, but only when it’s convenient,” she explained, which well, was fair.
The stone guy in the corner finally opened his eyes, presumably awakened by their chatter. He looked confused.
“Beings of the flesh, why dost thou see me?” he said in a somewhat old timey accent. It was hard to tell if it was genuine or not.
“I dunno, why did you not expect to be seen?” Flora snarked.
“It is an ancient technique of my people, developed over countless years,” he said, opening his eyes slightly wider and staring at them both. “Yes, tis the way of the gargoyle.”
“Huh, I didn’t know gargoyles were a real species,” Flora muttered, Catnip replying quietly that it “actually made sense they’re a real species because this is a typical fantasy world.”
“That is what we have wanted thou to think. It has been many a year since our people have been known, and we will keep it so till the end of time,” the Gargoyle said before Flora could ask what the hell Catnip meant by ‘typical fantasy world.’
“How long have you remained unseen then, personally that is,” Catnip said, Flora still thinking about the fantasy world thing.
“You two are the first outside of my species to see me in 563 years. Intriguing, I do say. I desire that thou tellest no one of thy discovery,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “Else the council will judge your fate.”
“That’s ominous,” Catnip commented, “Hey Flora, I think we should go now.” Prone to wanting to argue against literally everything, Flora almost objected, but thought better of it for their collective well being. They left the shop together, still holding hands of course, but not in a lewd way. It was still before marriage though.
“Y’know I wonder what that whole conversation looked like to the shopkeep, if he couldn’t see the gargoyle,” Catnip eventually said.
“I dunno, probably hilarious, but you’re still not getting out of explaining what you meant by fantasy world,” Flora replied.
‘It’s not important,’ Catnip attempted to say to escape the situation, only to think better of it. Honesty was a virtue.
“By fantasy world, I mean a world that has magic and things that aren’t scientific. So therefore a ‘fantastic world.’ they explained.
Flora looked slightly confused by this. “But like, doesn’t fantasy mean not real, and magic is very much so real, so it isn’t really a fantasy?”
“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Catnip quipped. “Really though, I still don’t want to talk much about it, but I came from a place without magic y’know. This is all pretty fantastic to me.”
“No wonder you have no clue about anything then. I won’t pry,” Flora responded. “Nice joke by the way, I haven’t heard it before.”
“Really? Strange. We should get Jacob and Frank to try to see the gargoyle by the way, it’s kind of weird we were able to.”
“Good idea. Can we look at the weapons first though? Maybe test their sharpness with our fingers? I really want to see some blood,” Flora requested, once again pouting a little to get her point across with proper persuasive power. Despite knowing its purpose, the pout still worked on Catnip anyway.
“I think Frank is right, there really is something seriously wrong with you. Not that it’s a bad thing, or anything. Let's go look at some weapons I guess” And so they went and looked at weapons and stuff for a while, with nothing of note really happening other than Catnip accidentally cutting their finger off and trying to hide that fact while it regenerated. Flora was glad to see the blood though.
Oops