Chapter 4: Breakfast and Sally.

Day 2, part 1.

Waking up from a deep and untroubled sleep, I lazily stretch my body on the bed.

After around half an hour of this I finally drag myself up off the bed and walk over to the water basin to try and clean myself off as best I can. At least the water isn't cold, even though it is tepid.

Another half hour later I'm clothed again, or at least as clothed as my partially torn clothes let me be.

‘At Least they're not covered in mud now…’ I muse to myself.

Looking down at myself I frown and decide to make getting new clothes priority nr. 1.

Hearing a knock on the door, I answer with a simple: “Yes?”

“Breakfast is being served.

If you want to be able to choose, well, anything, then you better hurry on down!” Says a familiar voice through the door.

‘Nr. 1 after breakfast, it seems.’ I correct myself.

Chuckling quietly I reply with: “Thanks Kei, I'll be right down.”

Securing my leather money bag to my hip and then putting on and tying my shoes I walk down the stairs.

Pausing at the foot of the stairs for a moment, I regard the surrounding people and observe their movements for a moment.

Most of the people are gathering beside two tables that have been put together.

Walking over to said tables, I am greeted with a variety of different foods. From what looks like bacon and eggs to some kind of rye bread. There are even several varieties of pie and a hearty looking soup to choose from.

Grabbing a wooden tray, a big wooden platter and a wooden bowl for the soup, I start taking a bit of everything.

When I can't fit any more on my platter I grab a tankard and fill it in the provided water barrel next to the buffet table.

Taking my tray, I walk off to the far left side of the inn and search for an open table.

Off in the far left corner, there is a lone table that is shining like gold as the morning light filters in through a window in the ceiling and hits it just right.

Finding it slightly strange that it is left strangely empty, even though the surrounding tables are mostly full and let's not forget the golden light and all.

I hesitate for a moment, but then I shrug and sit down and promptly start digging in. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? It's just a table.

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Totally immersed in savoring the wonderful food, I almost miss the teenage girl in an elaborately decorated white dress standing across from me.

“Sorry?” I say as I look up at her.

Eyebrow twitching slightly, she says: “I said, you're sitting in my spot.”

With medium length, golden blonde hair done up in a ponytail and big bright blue eyes as well as with a decently sized chest, she is most certainly very popular with the men.

Taking a moment to process her statement, I reply ponderously with: “Your spot as in, this table, or as in this chair I'm currently using?”

Stone faced the girl reply to my question with a simple and short: “Both.” before continuing a moment later with: “Now move.”

Sighing quietly I counter with “Isn't it enough if I move to the other side of the table? Surely you can't use this whole table by yourself.”

Freezing for a moment, her face goes red.

After a moment, she seemingly calms herself, sighs and relents. “Fine. But don't talk to me.” she says finally.

“Fine by me” I reply and refocus on savoring the delicious food before me.

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After getting seconds and eating until it feels like my stomach will explode, all the while pointedly ignoring the golden haired cool beauties occasional glance at me.

Dropping my head slightly I sigh quietly ‘ What? Is there something on my face or something? Or is it my clothes? Probably my clothes, right?’ I muse.

‘Ah, screw it. I have better things to be focusing on.’ I decide and carry my tray away to a return cart to the left of the kitchen door and leave it there with a bunch of other trays.

With that finished, I promptly turn and leave, giving a quick glance at my table as I pass by.

The golden haired beauty seems to be pointedly ignoring all the surrounding men's gazes and is instead focusing her attention solely on her food.

‘I guess it's tough being popular too.’ I comment to myself in the passing.

Stepping out of the inns door, I am greeted with glaring sunlight and a warm blast of humid air.

‘Whoa, and it's still early morning too. Can't be more than 6 or 7 in the morning, and It's going to get hotter from here on…’

Hesitating whether I should go back inside or not for a split second, I quickly snap myself out of those thoughts and shake my head.

‘No, I need to get used to living here.’ I remind myself. ‘It's all I have now… ‘ sighing quietly I then slap my cheeks.

“No time to be feeling down, let's go!” I pepp myself up and promptly walk out onto the street proper and promptly start making my way towards the square and Sally's clothes shop.

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Walking in through the door of Sally’s, I am immediately greeted by an elegant looking lady in her later years.

“Welcome to Sally's.” She says and gives me a service smile and continues: “I am Sally, how may I help you?”

She is an old yet stylish woman who looks to be in her 60s, with blue eyes, long white hair done up in a bun and wearing simple yet stylish clothing that fit her figure quite well without being tight-fitting in any sort of way.

I smile back at her and reply: “I’m looking for some new clothes, mine are a little, erm, worn…” I say and smile awkwardly.

Seeing her service smile melt into a genuine smile. ”So I can see” she says with thinly veiled amusement. “So, what kind of clothes are you looking for?” she asks as she returns to business mode.

Pondering the question a moment I decide simple is best. “I would like some simple everyday clothes, something that would not stand out while walking around the city or going about my day.”

Looking down at my clothes I add: “if possible I would also want them to be as tough as possible, while still being reasonably cheap.”

Nodding slowly she taps her finger against the counter, seemingly pondering my request.

“Ah, yes!” She exclaims suddenly, startling me slightly. “I believe I have just what you need. Over here.” She says and walks toward the far right of the store where a lot of mismatched and strangely colored sets of clothes are gathered together.

“I know it's here somewhere…” she mumbles as she stops by a cabinet with a spectacularly colourful mix of clothes inside.

After rummaging through the cabinet for a few more minutes, she finally pulls out a plain, beige medium sized bag.

Giving it a quick look inside she says: “Here it is, let's go over to the counter and I'll show you what I had in mind.”

Nodding once I follow behind her.

Once at the counter she empties the bag's contents on the counter and lays it out so I can get a better idea of how it would look while worn.

It's a set of clothes; with a long armed shirt and leather vest to go over it, a pair of pants and a long cloak with a hood. The base material of the clothes is a cotton like material that resembles the strength and durability of heavy jeans.

To make the outfit even more durable, it has been reinforced at strategic locations, like the knees/elbows etc. with tough leather, which makes the clothes a lot sturdier when things do get rough out in the wilds.

There are also white shiny stones set into the leather, for what purpose I cannot say, perhaps they are simply decorations.

The base colour is beige and the leather parts have been dyed black.

There are also red trims along the seams and at the ends of the sleeves and the pants.

It's a quite simple arrangement, but in my opinion, it is a very elegant and traveler-like look which I quite like.

With it's focus leaning more towards practicality and toughness rather than fashion, it is right up my alley.

“How much is it?” I ask, half fearing the price.

‘It's well made, and only good quality materials are used so it's bound to be costly... ‘

Tapping her finger against the counter a few times while looking at me, she smiles sadly and says: “The one I made this for is no longer with us.”

For a long moment she looks out the window with a faraway look.

The moment pass, and she looks back at me and says: “You remind me of him, for some reason.” conflicting emotions play on her face for a moment. Sighing, continues: “It would be a shame to just let it lay here and rot away, so I'll sell the set to you for 1 Silver.”

Pausing, I ponder the feasibility.

‘1 silver? Then I would only have 3 High Coppers and 6 Coppers left… but…’ looking down at my clothes I sigh. ‘I can't go around like this… and Kal did say they would provide room and board so I should be getting food at least 3 times a day.

...It should be fine, right?’

My mind made up, I take my one silver coin and hand it to Sally.

“I'll take them.” I say.

A moment later, I add: “Could I change here and get a bag for my old clothes?”

I don't want to go around looking like a street rat for longer than I have to, but at the same time don't want to just throw away my only reminder of home.

Perhaps later I can even get them fixed up again.

“No problem” she says and smiles at me. “I hope it will serve you well” she says “Right this way then.”

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Standing outside Sallys I look out at the plaza.

Thankfully no one seems to be paying me or my new clothes much mind.

With clothes shopping done, I move on to my next objective: gathering information about this world and if possible, about magic, abilities, skills etc. whatever exists here.

Perhaps I might find a clue to figuring out my own abilities, if that fire thing is an ability of mine at all.

With my goal in mind, I walk through the plaza, towards the central plaza to the north. That is where the adventurer guild, mercenary guild and the magician guild apparently is.

And where better than there to find information about such things?

Adventurers brave monsters and whatnot for treasure, mercenaries fight for gold and magicians research magic. Makes perfect sense. Right?

Hopefully...

For now, my goal for the rest of the day is to go and check each of the guilds out, as well as see if I can find some insight into this world.

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End of chapter 4.