For the past few days, Lilly had been keeping herself locked up in her room, most of her time spent sleeping or staring at her ceiling.

She was sulking in bed when a loud banging came from her door. Lilly groaned, then got up slowly and opened the door, coming face to face with Sherry, the innkeeper.

“What?” Lilly asked annoyed.

“Eat. You haven’t eaten a proper meal in days. Come down and eat.” She said firmly.

Lilly glared at her for a few seconds but found her unwavering, then huffed and followed her downstairs. She took a seat at one of the tables and Sherry slid a meal in front of her, something similar to beef stew, with a tough slice of bread next to it. After she ate a few bites, Sherry sat down across from her and looked at Lilly appraisingly.

“What do you want?” Lilly asked with a mouthful of bread.

“What’s been going on with you lately? You haven’t come out of that room of yours ever since you came back all bloody that first day. Where’s the carefree adventurer that walked in here?” She asked.

Lilly didn’t answer for a few seconds. “I didn’t come here for a therapist.”

“I’m not sure what that is, lassie but I’m not leaving you alone till you speak up.”

Lilly continued to eat in silence for a few minutes.

“I let someone die on my first job.” She said finally.

Sherry gave her a piercing look. “Is that why you’ve been sulking? Because someone died? Who do you think you are, a hero? Here to save us all from our suffering?”

Lilly grit her teeth. “The issue is that she died because...” She trailed off, staring at her bowl.

By that point, she’d finished her food. She got up and headed for the door. “Thanks for the meal.”

***

She stared blankly at the board of requests. Lilly hadn’t been back here since she finished her first three jobs and handed them in. She looked over the board to see if there were any jobs that didn’t seem too complicated. One of the jobs caught her eye, Caravan Guard, which indicated that there’d be multiple groups working together. She pulled the slip and went over to Shannon, who seemed to always be on duty.

She handed her the slip. “Hey, can you tell me more about this job?”

Shannon took the slip and looked it over. Grabbing her notes, she flipped through a few papers. “Hmm, yes, this is a request to guard a caravan on its way to and from Proana. It was posted on both the silver and copper boards, around sixteen adventurers have been requested. Would you like to join?”

Lilly thought for a moment. If she took the job, that meant that she’d be out and about again for probably a few weeks, but this time, she wouldn’t have to bear all the responsibility with other more experienced adventurers taking part.

She made up her mind. “Yeah, I’ll take it, can you give me the time and place?”

“Absolutely! Please hold on for a moment.” She left for a few minutes, then came back with a sheet of paper indicating where and when to meet up. “Here you go. The caravan will provide you transportation, but you are generally expected to provide food for yourself.”

“Thanks.” Lilly smiled weakly, before leaving to prepare for the journey.

***

She went around buying various necessities, like healing potions (which she had found when perusing an apothecary), a new set of leather armor, as well as selling the extra armor she had gotten from the bandits for a several dozen silver. Lilly also bought a new backpack, large enough to fit a few spare sets of clothing, preserved food, a blanket, and some medical supplies. She put a much larger store of food into her inventory, planning to use her backpack as a disguise.

The job was scheduled for tomorrow, so she headed back to the inn. She walked in the door and told Sherry that she would be out for a few weeks.

“About time you got off your ass lassie. This’ll be good for you.” She said happily.

“I hope so.” Lilly went up the stairs and entered her room. She dropped her stuff by her bed and laid down on her back, once again staring at her ceiling. She kept on like that for a couple of hours, before falling asleep for the night.

***

Sunlight shone through her window, landing on her face. Lilly draped her arm over her face and groaned, rolling away from the ray of sunshine. She laid there for a few minutes, before sitting up and rubbed her eyes. She looked around her room slowly, then got up for a stretch. She double-checked that all her belongings were either in her pack or her storage, shouldered her backpack, and left the room. She said bye to Sherry on the way out and headed for the west gate, which the job paper indicated was the rendezvous point.

While she was walking, she looked around at the city that she didn’t really take the time to appreciate during her time here. The smells from various food stalls wafted through the air, pseudo-pigeons perched on top of the runic lamps, adventurers haggled with vendors. It was still a surreal sight for her; she’d spent most of her time on Azalea in the woods. Despite being here for only five weeks, her life on Earth felt like a different lifetime.

Passing through the gate, she found a large gathering of adventurers, three parties of four and one party of three, waiting for the caravan to show up. She activated her cloak, seeing a few people glance her way before she leaned against a tree and waited.

Within a few minutes, a series of wagons left the city and a merchant came up to each group of adventurers, verifying their IDs and checking them off his list.

He walked up to her and looked down at his list. “Name?”

“Lilly Nightingale.” She held up her card towards him.

He looked at it, checked her off his list, and went to the next group. Most of the groups had the classic formation of a warrior, mage, rogue, and healer, though some had bards and rangers. None of their levels went above what her [Identify] could reveal, but they were all higher nonetheless.

Once everyone was accounted for, the caravan set off. There were wagons provided for the adventurer parties, but Lilly elected to walk beside the caravan, welcoming the solitude that accompanied her. After she reached level 15, normal physical activity didn’t tire her anymore. Being level 24, she wasn’t likely to tire even if she walked the entire way to Proana.

They reached their first rest point after a few hours. The merchants tended to their horses (yes, they have horses), and the adventurers scattered to cook lunch. Lilly hopped up into a tree, pulled out some of her dried jerky and chewed silently. The trip itself would take about a week while they traveled north, then they would stay at the destination for a few days while the merchants sold their wares, before taking the trip back. 

Everybody finished up cleaning up with no complications, and they were back on their way. The caravan was traveling in view of the large lake that sat just north of Fressia, the water glistening and clear. Various wildlife like rabbits and birds could be seen watching the caravan. Monsters didn’t show up, their instincts probably keeping them from approaching such a large group of people. After a few hours, the trees became more sparse, as the forest gave way to meadows and farmland. 

It was at their next rest stop in the evening when the party of three approached Lilly. She was sitting in a tree eating her jerky when the warrior called up to her. “Hey, scary rogue, wanna join us for dinner?”

Lilly lazily looked at him, appraising him from above. He was some kind of draconian, with scaly skin, an elongated head, clawed hands and feet. He wore an iron breastplate, gauntlets, grieves, and a single gardbrace on his left shoulder. On his back was a steel kite shield; an axe hung from his hip.

“Sure.” She said, dropping down beside him. She reached out with her hand. “Name’s Lilly.”

He looked at her hand strangely, before grabbing it with his own. “Nice to meet you, Lilly. The name’s John. Anyone ever told you that you look too scary to be a Lilly?”

She smiled and shook his hand. “Anyone ever told you that you look like a talking lizard?”

He looked at her with disbelief, then laughed heartily. “No, no one has. You know, most of my race would kill you for saying so.”

She cocked her head at him, before walking towards his camp. “I’d like to see them try.”