I open my eyes to see the wooden ceiling above me. I notice a bit of mold, it's green. They've really gotta clean this place better.

Either way, it's a new day. What could go wrong?

'Good morning!'

Right. That could go wrong. I almost forgot about her. For just a moment, I could escape from reality in my dreams... Guess that's a lot harder when I'm awake.

I let out a heavy sigh as I mumbled, "Ugh, good morning."

I stood up as she berated me with more words.

"So, you sleep well?'

On that note, no, I didn't. My back was sore, my eyes were heavy, and that bite from the snake I got a few days ago still hurt. I bandaged it up, but that didn't really stop it from hurting.

"Terribly, thanks for asking. You already know that, right? We feel the same things."

'Fair point... I was just attempting some small talk, I guess.'

I moved over to a table where I dropped some of my stuff on last night. I threw on a coat over my shirt, then, I drew the straps of a bag over my neck, placing it comfortably on my waist. The interesting thing about this bag, it was a magic item. I got it for a gold coin. It cost a lot, but it was definitely worth it. It's enchanted with spacial magic, making it able to hold a whole lot more than it looks like it can. It's useful for a guy like me, seeing how I can't be weighed down by a load of luggage while going to all sorts of places and fighting.

"Save the small talk for a guy who cares, would you?"

Finally, I reached for my sword, attaching the scabbard to my belt.

'Come on, no need to be mean. Besides, we're in this together!'

"Say that one more time and I swear I'm going to jump to my death from this room."

"We're like one floor up from the ground.'

"... We're leaving now."

Damn it, she got me there.

Either way, I made my way out the door. I twisted the handle, it smoothly twisting as the door opened.

My eyes were met with the sight of the hall. It was noticeably clean. I paid a little extra and rented a night at a slightly better inn than usual. Never a bad thing to splurge a little bit every so often. Besides, this latest request I took is giving me a whole ten silver. That could land me a stay in here for at least a week, probably a bit more.

I walked through the hall. there were a pretty good amount of rooms. The inn could probably keep around twenty people, if I were to guess. The owner must make a pretty decent wage off of this place, in that case.

That's beside the point, really. I made my way down a set of stairs. They led me to a large open area, filled with tables to sit. There were a few people here, but these places are usually less busy in the morning.

I noticed the woman from yesterday who gave me the keys to the room I was staying in. She seemed bored as all hell. Can't exactly blame her for that...

'Hey, don't forget to give back the keys!'

I'm not an idiot, you don't have to remind me about things like that.

'Mhm, never bad to make sure, though.'

I rolled my eyes. She was such a pain.

She was right, though. I wasn't staying here again, so I pretty much had to hand back the keys for the room. Otherwise... I could get in a bit of trouble.

I rolled my hand through my hair before taking a few steps toward the girl.

"'Morning." A nice greeting like this always worked out in a situation like this.

"Oh...?" She lifted up her head, her blue eyes staring at me. "Hey, you're the red-headed guy from last night! Nice to see you again, glad I caught you on my shift."

She gave a smirk. She was pretty young, maybe around my age. Her hair was decently long, a bit below the neck. It was a dirty blonde, which was somewhat common around here. Her skin wasn't too tanned either, maybe a bit pale even. She was probably native to Draila.

"Yeah, well... Just returning these." I took the keys from my pants pocket, putting them on the counter in front of me.

"Why, thank you! You know, I had an inkling you'd be a good guy."

What... from me giving back the room keys? Her standards were way too low.

'Gotta agree with you there. Don't settle for her, you can do sooo much better.'

Well, at least we can agree on that... Wait, huh? What the hell's that supposed to mean?

'Hey, everybody needs a good wingman-- wing...woman. You get the picture'

That's not the point! Besides, I'm not even looking for anything like that. You're seriously annoying, you know that?

'Fine, fine. You do you.'

Ugh, I will.

"Uh, yeah. Just doing what anybody else would."

"Well, I'm thankful for that!"

It was silent between the two of us after that. Just me staring at her, and her staring at me. Pretty awkward.

"I'll... be going, then."

"Oh! Um, of course! Have a good day... actually, we're serving breakfast right now! You probably woke up recently, right? Everyone needs some nutrition in the morning to get the day going! What do you say?" She spoke with a certain enthusiasm, it kind of got on my nerves, but it's fine.

Breakfast, huh? Probably not a bad idea. I am pretty hungry. I can go without food for a while, but I ran out of rations yesterday...

"Hm, sure. I've got a bit of time right now anyway."

'Thank god for that! We haven't eaten any actually good food in days. No offence, but the food you brought along was god-awful.'

What? It was just dried meat and stuff. I guess it might not taste the best, but it's the only stuff that lasts a while.

I could hear her sigh. Bit weird hearing somebody breathing in my head.

'That makes sense... still, I'm excited to see what the food here is like!'

Right, you're probably used to completely different food, huh? Well, Draila's got the best food around! Don't know how good this place is, actually, but you can probably expect something good.

'Really? Well, now you've got me excited! You know, it's nice when you're actually friendly for once.'

... Shut up.

"Fantastic! Here, one second." She crouched down below the table, seemingly grabbing something. I couldn't get a look at what she was doing though, Lucia was keeping me in place.

Eventually, she stood back up, a certain item in hand. She passed it over to me.

"There's the menu for you! We've only got one, though, so you'll have to order right here. That okay?"

"Alright, thanks."

It was some decent quality paper. Not like what you'd see in a bigger place like Quendest or the Capital, but still surprising to see in a small village like this. They must of been pretty well off.

I took a seat on a stool right by the counter, reading over the menu.

'So... What're we gonna get? You can choose, since I can't actually read whatever this language is.'

Give me a minute, I haven't even finished reading all the choices... wait, you can't understand it?

'Not a bit! Weird, huh? I mean, I can understand speech and everything, but not anything written down. It's like, my ears translate things, but my eyes can't.'

I guess that is a bit weird. I don't really care, though. Not like it's gonna affect me.

After finally fully reading the menu, I'd decided what I was going to get.

I signed for the girl to approach, whatever her name was.

"Decided?"

"Yeah. I'll have a steak with the yiro sauce, and a salad. Oh, and some water too."

"Whoa, that's gonna be your breakfast? I mean, I won't judge you, but..."

"I'm an Adventurer."

"Ah, that explains it! Makes sense that I haven't seen you around, then. So, where're you from?"

"... No offence, but could I just get my food."

"Oh, right. Sorry." She walked into the back, leaving me there.

'Ouch, that was cold.'

She was getting on my nerves. Besides, I don't even know her. There's no reason for us to be even talking to each other except for just business.

'You could have let her down a bit easier though...'

Don't tell me what to do. Besides, she's fine, it's not like I told her to off herself or anything like that. I just wanted to be done with the conversation.

'Alright, alright. I get it.'

Great, then we're done with this.

A few moments later, it looks like my food finally was ready.

An older-looking woman came out of the back holding a tray of what looked to be my food.

She was probably around middle age, a bit on the bigger side as well. She was probably around as tall as me. Her light chestnut-coloured hair was tied up in a bun, and her eyes were a deep brown. She blended in pretty well with everyone else around here, despite her having a few uncommon features.

She took the dishes off of the tray, placing them in front of me.

She gave me a light smile, "Name's Annora, nice to meet ya. I'm the owner of this place."

'Ooo, see what happens when you aren't nice? Ever heard of a little concept named karma?'

Oh, shut it.

"Yeah?" I replied with just that. I've noticed keeping words to a minimum can help stop conversations in their track.

She merely stared at me for a while, not saying a thing. It was kinda creepy, actually.

"Just wanted to see you for myself. Sorry about Annabelle-- Er, the girl taking your order. She's in that phase, you know..."

I'll be honest. I think I'm a pretty good guy. I can keep my cool, but I was starting to reach my limit. I just want to eat my damn food and get on the road, but for some reason I'm being blocked off from that at every turn. Having said that, I was about to ask this lady: 'Why the hell should I care? Could you just leave me alone?!' but it seems I was stopped by the bane of my existence.

"I'm sorry too, miss. I just didn't want to give her any false hope, considering I won't be here for long. I'm an adventurer, after all. Hope that's no problem." My face twisted into an awkward smile of which I had no power to stop.

For the first time, she took initiative and spoke for me. I'll tell you what, it was weird to have words that weren't mine coming out of my mouth.

Now, what the hell was that?

'Hey, if you wanna be thrown out of here because you're impatient or something, that's on you. But you've gotta think about other people sometimes. So, I'll be taking control for a little bit, kay?'

Ugh, now she's having this random personality change? I thought she was timid or something, damn it! So, what, do I just have to fight her constantly so that I can actually control my own damn body?!

We have equal ability to control this body, you idiot. If anything, I'll easily be able to overpower you if I actually try.

'Oh, sure. Go ahead! As long as you want to cause a whole scene and taint your 'great' reputation.'

...

'Quiet now? I'll give you back full control right after I finish having a nice conversation with this Ms. Annora!'

This is such a damn pain.

Annora spoke again, "An Adventurer, hm? Dangerous field of work, especially for someone as young as you."

Lucia chuckled. "Well, it pays well."

I'll admit, she's good at making things up as she goes.

"It's the same for most, then..."

The conversation went silent, only interrupted by the sound of the clattering of dishes and the voices of others.

"Sorry, my... better half was an adventurer as well. She's not around anymore, so, it's sad to see others who could end up like that. What I'm trying to say is be safe out there. It's an unpredictable time."

Lucia responded by just saying 'Thank you'.

The conversation went on for a while longer, but eventually Annora returned back to... well, the back.

With that said, I finally had control back. So, I went to finally eat my food, and...

"It's... cold."

...

..

.

We're outside, finally. It's a bit warm outside, so I might be overdressed for the weather. Who cares though, I'm willing to suffer for how it looks.

So, we're off to a certain business around here. I've already gotten around to restocking all the supplies we need, which means there's only one thing left to do.

I enter a certain building, met with the unsightly view of a stable. The floor was curiously taken care of quite well, however. This was only where the customer would be standing, however.

Behind a desk was a somewhat short man with coincidentally short hair as well. It was a deep black colour, like that of the void itself. The man's eyes were black as well, barely reflecting any light at all. It was sort of unsettling to meet his gaze.

He was dressed in a distractingly well kept suit, one without an imperfection on it. He was noticeably out of place.

"Good morning to you, there! Approach, and we can begin our business, good sir." His voice was quite deep, with a nice matter-of-fact tone. He seemed like the perfect business man, all things considered.

'Isn't he quite the fancy guy?'

I ignored Lucia, though, she emulated my thoughts quite well.

I moved over to a more manageable distance to him, still staring into his eyes. They were... unblinking. Lot of weird people in this town.

"Welcome to the Traile Corporation! This is one of our many branches throughout Draila, and we offer a number of services. From payed escorts to other villages and cities, renting of carriages and horses, and so much more! All at a steal of a price, might I add. However, we--"

I quickly cut him off before he could waste any more of my time, "I've already been to one of your other places, I've heard the rest."

"... Ah, apologies. Well, sir, you can call me Louis Traile, I'm the manager of this establishment. What can I do for you today?"

I leaned my hand on the desk. "I'll be renting one of your horses. Just to head to The Capital."

"Journing to the Capital, yes? Quite the fair journey. Should take you around a week if you start today. Before we continue, we value our clients health and safety greatly here at Traile. Could I ask if you've prepared the proper provisions of water and food? As well, I'd recommend bringing some sort of portable bed, unless you're fine with sleeping on dirt and rocks. We do provide you enough feed to have your choice of horse working at full capacity, however! No charge at all for you, either."

"I've already got all that."

"Ah, good, good. Could I know where you are keeping it all?"

I pointed to my bag. "It has a spacial enchantment on it. It can fit enough to last the week, and a bit extra."

"I see. Well, then. A journey to the Capital will set you back a measly 8 silver, and, rounded down, 40 copper. I will let you know, we do not operate on a bartering system, the prices are fixed here at Traile."

I nodded, taking some of my silver and copper out and placing it in front of me. He counted it all, and gave back a few copper.

"Your change, sir."

"Keep it."

He smirked, "Thank you dearly, sir. Now, let us choose your stead for this journey!"

Finally, it looks like we're returning back to the capital. I'll finally be able to get some answers to how to reverse this.

I've got a pal there who knows quite a lot about spirit magic. Spirits are somewhat similar to souls, in a way, so I'm sure he'd be able to help.