I overslept. Technically I could blame a lot of things, the previous day's stress, breaking my routine of going to sleep after sunset, the lack of windows, etc. but the truth was simple, I was simply too comfy and did not want to wake up.

Indeed, after spending the last 3 weeks or so sleeping on branches, with a single exception, even the crude bed consisting of a sheet over a mattress of hay, with a pillow of similar filling was something luxurious.

So for the moment when I got out of the bed and walked towards the hall of the house, the sun was almost at its zenith.

"Good morning, did you rest well?" Angelique's voice took me by surprise, as I did not expect anyone to wait for me. Still, I quickly greeted back.

The girls had made breakfast, and I felt extremely grateful to them. It wasn't anything fancy, a simple vegetable stew with some bread, but... it was real food indeed. And vegetables did not taste bad at all after the weeks of eating unseasoned meat or fish.

"Angelique, do you know if Selby would be free to help me fit some clothes?" I asked.

"Normally she is weaving at this hour, but I doubt she would refuse you"

"I see. Then I will go ask her to do so"

"Mmm... Are you leaving right away?" She suddenly asked

"Well, after I solve the issue with my clothing, as I doubt people dressed in plants will be well received in a town"

Seemingly my attempt for a small joke about my appearance was, again, a miss.

Leaving the now silent Angelique behind, I left the house, walked a few meters, and knocked on the house next door. Which as I remembered from yesterday's explanation was Selby's.

"Yes?" Surprisingly the voice that asked from behind the door wasn't hers, but Kierra's.

"Kierra?" It's me, Lindar. I wanted to ask Selby for help with some clothes"

Hearing this, the door opened and I was allowed inside. The houses were pretty much identical, with the same stone walls, thatched roofs, and earth floors. Still, Selby's hall was almost fully occupied by an entire array of machines and contraptions, as well as a few racks where clothes were hung on.

After greeting both, I quickly asked Selby if she could make me the favor. She immediately agreed, and I passed her the pants and shirt I had already tried on, explaining what did I require.

"I have some leftover black dyed cloth, so it should not take long"

"Thank you"

"None needed. It will still require some time, so could you keep him company?" Selby turned towards Kierra.

"Oh, yes. Lindar, let's go"

Albeit I felt such attention to be unnecessary, I did not see any reason to turn it down anyway, and so left Selby to her work and followed Kierra outside the house.

***

Today Kierra wasn't very talkative, and I did not try to maintain a conversation either, so we spent an hour or so walking around the nearby grasslands, where the sheep of the burg grazed freely.

Suddenly Kierra stopped and asked me while looking into my eyes

"Do you intend to leave today?"

"Yes. You told me that Churg lies less than two hours from here, so I don't see any reason to abuse your hospitality for another day"

"It's no problem for you to stay how much you want" She slightly pouted in response.

"Hahaha, I know that you will not kick me out. But I need to start moving towards the Kingdom. After all, I don't know if anyone from my group survived, and if it was so, then I should reunite with them as soon as possible" Lying to Kierra, and to the others wasn't pretty, and it was something that I would have liked to avoid. Still, I had to maintain the invented backstory, and what would be a better reason for me to quickly leave if not worry about the fate of my companions?

In truth, I wasn't oblivious to the reason why both girls were in such a mood. I had rescued them yesterday, and even though the girls seemed to have recuperated quickly, if not extremely so, there was still the case of hero-worship that always occurred towards a life savior.

"I see. Anyway, you should probably return to Aunt Selby soon. She should be finishing by now" Kierra said and then started walking towards the Burg.

***

"Will you not stay for a meal?" Selby asked.

"Oh no, I had a very late breakfast so I don't think it would be wise for me to eat again so soon" I answered while wearing the clothes she had fit for me.

"How do you feel them?"

"Very good, almost if they were made for me. Thank you"

"Good! Now, try them as well" Selby pointed towards a pair of boots placed near the wall. And preempting my question she added

"They were an order from the Girl's uncle. Regretfully he never had a chance to come for them. I asked Kierra before, and she said that if they fit, you can keep them"

Surprisingly they fit me almost perfectly. I could not know if the boots simply were made to fit a lot of sizes or we shared size with the girls' late uncle, but the result was now on my feet.

"They fit perfectly. I do not want to appear ungrateful, but do you have a pair of socks? or at least some cloth for footwraps?" I did not want to abuse her for more freebies, but it was really important. After all, the boots were made entirely from leather, and however, they fit, walking in them would still be slightly uncomfortable. Not to mention the calluses I would earn.

"Ha, I knew that you would ask!" She broadly smiled and pointed to one of the racks.

After finishing the matter with my clothing, I thanked Selby for everything and walked outside. Only to practically crash into Kierra and Angelique.

"Oh, you two! I was planning of swinging by your house to say my farewells"

"No need" Kierra said right away while Angelique nodded.

And before I could ask what did they mean, I heard Selby's voice, seemingly she had followed right after me.

"Did you girls decide?"

"Yes" Both of them nodded.

"I see, well, it will be a bit lonely without you two around, but we will manage. Your house and we will be always ready to receive you anytime. So..." By the end of the phrase, I noticed that her voice had become slightly raspy, and her eyes were a bit on the wet side.

"Thank you Aunt Selby" Kierra smiled at her.

***

About twenty minutes later, I was leaving the burg...

All of the, now 14, inhabitants had gathered near the passage and wished us a good journey, to which I mechanically nodded, waved, promised to take care, protect the girls, and then turned around and began walking away with two girls following behind.

***

If someone asks me about the details of the route between the 'farms' I had just left and Churg, I can only say that it's walkable. After all, I remember nothing about the entire trajectory that took about two hours. Two hours that I spent trying to dissuade the girls from their decision to follow me.

In the end, I lost. In the same way, I had during the attempt in front of Selby's house. Kierra simply refused to listen to anything, stating that she wanted to see other places and so coincidentally would follow my steps, while Angelique directly resorted to dirty fighting. Well, that's the only words that come to mind to describe the psychological blackmail she used against me.

Mmm, blackmail indeed, I could not find what to answer to her statement that if I did not look after her, she may never turn 13 winters at all.

Anyway, I could only hope that at some point they would understand that it was unwise, possibly dangerous, and simply idiotic to follow a practically unknown man that in fact had no clear idea of where to go or what to do. And I hoped that this would be soon, for example in Churg. After all, it was a place they visited often, had a few acquaintances, knew the surroundings, etc. Meaning that I would not need to worry if they decided to stay there in place of fooling around and following me further.

***

I only turned my attention to the surroundings when the city or town of Churg entered my field of view.

The first thing that I saw was a wall surrounded by what should be a moat. Should be as it was dried up currently. The wall itself wasn't impressive either, with only the lower half, about a meter tall, being made of stone, with the remaining half consisting of what I would call a palisade. Or a bunch of crudely sharpened logs.

In any case, I could judge the fortification based only on what I had seen in tv-series, animes, and video games.

The single entrance to this town was a wooden gate, right now opened, past a makeshift bridge made of a few logs thrown over the moat. Still, whatever I could say about this foolishness, the other details that I could see were pretty decent.

As we approached a pair of guards or militia as the girls had called them before peeked from behind the gate. It was surprising to see that there was no one except us approaching the gate, but I will refrain from any opinion simply because I did not know how it was normally.

"Stop righ' there" One of the guards said while lowering the spear he carried in front of us.

As we stopped, I decided to let the girls make the talking, after all, they were locals. And so, as Kierra exchanged a few words with the guard, who turned out to know the girls, I examined the guards. My status screen did not give me an alert, which meant all of the skills they had were below what I had set up as average. As for their equipment, both guards carried simple iron-tipped wooden spears about 1.5 meters long. They weren't wearing the armor I would have expected guards to, being dressed into what I could call a short-sleeved shirt made of leather. Pants and boots of the same tanned, undyed leather rounded off their attire.

Both of them were about thirty years old, at least from what I could guess, and looked slightly disheveled, if not outright dirty.

With my examination finished, I returned my attention to the dialogue. And I did it in time

"Oh, this is our cousin Lindar. He came to visit us to the farm, and we decided to accompany him here"

"Oh? I see. Well, he's not a resident of the area, so normal toll" The second guard nodded and after sparing me a long glance, during which he mostly looked at my clothes and the knapsack I was carrying, Selby had recommended me to not disclose the fact that I can use magic openly, so...

"How much is the toll?" I asked after remembering that tolls for entering cities were something normal, at least in my reference material.

"Three small coppers" The guard immediately answered.

I sensed that Kierra intended to argue about the toll, but even if I was being ripped off, I did not think it was wise to haggle right now. So I silently took out three of the small copper coins from the bandits, now my pouch, and passed them to the guard.

"Good! Now, I don't doubt that the girls will keep you out of trouble, but do remember to behave. Churg is a free city, but that does not mean you can do everything you want" The guard showed me a grin that was missing a few teeth and motioned for the other one to move out of the way.

***

"Why did you let them scam you? The entrance toll is just a single small copper, and with us saying that you are our relative, you wouldn't even need to pay!" Kierra reprimanded me as soon as we walked a few meters past the guards.

"Hmm, I think the main reason was to avoid making a scene. As well avoid being checked? Selby said that to enter Churg, as well other cities a full check is required, at least if you have no papers or are not a resident. And as you know, my sack is filled with trash, to make the image of me being a traveler" This was true, I simply had none of the 'usual' things travelers would carry. And who would believe that someone has traveled tens, if not hundreds of kilometers without anything like supplies? Indeed, I had filled the sack with some of the trash items like branches that I had gathered before, while the food, weapons, and all of the 'treasures' I had obtained were safely stored in my magical storage.

"Oh, still, Alban simply ripped you off. Two small coppers are enough to have a good meal in the best tavern around here!" Kierra did acknowledge my reason, but she still was angry at my spending.

And speaking of spending, during our two-hour bickering before, I made sure to casually find out about the money system. I didn't reveal the fact that I simply did not know, preferring to indirectly ask about what the two girls planned to do as they followed me and my looted money ran out. They both knew that I was a castaway, and I did not hide the amount I had looted, so they immediately calculated the expenses and everything, and said that I was pretty much safe for a while. As for them, they had some money of their own, probably pooled by Selby, and so they said they will not require anything for a few days either. Here I could only say, what the hell?! They did not intend to leech from me... for now?! Oh, not that I did expect that my future companions, followers, or whatever I could get if I did not die in a ditch before, would not require money to exist, but I simply did not expect companions for now! And more exactly, I did not expect to get two underage girls, well Kierra was an adult by the local standards, as my traveling companions.

But back on topic. The money used in Churg was the Kingdom of Neverc currency. Which consisted of galdens, silver crowns, town coppers, and small coppers. Basically gold, silver, and two types of copper coins. I could not yet form a clear idea to make an equivalent to my more modern standards, but at least I now knew that five small coppers are equal to one town copper, two of the latter are equivalent to a silver crown, and ten silvers are equivalent to a galden.

My current total, counting in the smallest ones would be 109 copper coins. And from what I just learned, coupled with what the girls shared with me previously, that money was enough to travel for a month or so. Obviously without luxury, but even I understood that it should be enough considering that a normal laborer wage was about a town copper per week.

Now, returning to where I had left. A few meters after the wall, which were barren, as I understood because of safety reasons, the town itself began. A single stomped dirt main street that crossed the entire town with a dozen or so smaller streets going to the sides. Seemingly the town had nothing of the noble, rich, etc. districts.

As we walked towards the center of the town, where I would find the only inn of the town, and try my luck with searching for some information, I did not stop turning my head, absorbing everything I saw.

The main street was filled with an assortment of stores, workshops, taverns, and other things I was expecting from a bonafide medieval town. All of the buildings were more-or-less identical, with only slight variances in their age, size, and roof. The first floor of each of them was built of the same brownish stone as the one used for the wall's lowest half, while the second story (in case there was one) was built of unpolished wood boards. The roofs indeed varied, but I was no expert as to determine each material, and so mainly considered them as straw, wooden, and tiled. The latter being the rarest, and seemingly a mark of wealth, as the only 'houses' that I saw with such a roof were the ones in the best shape and the business located on the first floor had the nicest signboards compared to others.

The street wasn't full, but there were enough people for me to feel the activity around. Some carried sacks, crates, and baskets, either working or shopping while others busily walked towards their respective destinations. There were no people idly walking around, albeit I could guess the reason. After all, the number of items and stores was pretty limited, and so there was simply nothing to browse after you got to know the place.

"Kierra, do you know how many people live in Churg?" I asked a question that just crossed my mind

"Uncle once said that the city was a small one, with less than ten thousand people. But I don't know if that's right"

"I see, thanks" I nodded while returning to my observations of the surroundings.

***

The 'Sack of Galdens' inn looked almost identical to most of the buildings I had observed until now. The same brownish stone, wooden planks, and a straw roof. It was slightly larger than the surrounding ones, with four windows and a double door in place of the two or three windows, and a single door that was common for the surrounding houses. Seemingly glass was a rarity, as I had seen none yet, and the windows were simple openings that would be closed with heavy wooden shutters.

Inside the inn did not look any different from the outside, fairly clean and well maintained. A plank-covered floor, three big tables with adjourned benches, and what I assumed to be both the bar and the front desk. Surprisingly the entire hall was empty.

"Hello?" I called out while walking towards the counter.

"Just a moment!" An answer immediately followed from behind a door that I at first did not even notice, so well it was hidden in between the wooden boards that covered the inside walls.

A few moments later a burly man who looked more like a wrestling champion than an innkeeper appeared before us.

"Hello and welcome. I am the owner, Zakhar. How may I help you?" As in contrast with his appearance, the man's voice was warm and cordial.

"I would like to rent a room. No, make it two rooms. One for me and one for these two girls"

"Certainly. How long do you intend to stay?"

"Two nights" I had already discussed the matter with the girls, and even though I hoped they would not follow me afterward, the plan was to use what was left of today and a full day to gather information and make some purchases, before leaving the day after tomorrow.

"Two rooms for two nights, huh? It would be six coppers. Or if you want me to include food then two town coppers for the rooms and four meals"

"Okay" Surprised by the cheapness of the meals, especially as Selby, who had stayed here a pair of times said they were very good, I took out two big coppers and passed them to the man.

"Paying upfront?" The man showed a slightly surprised reaction, which indicated that my actions appeared a bit strange. Not that I knew why.

"Yes, I prefer to know that I can freely spend what I have on me" I quickly threw a carefree smile.

"That's a good thing" The man nodded before indicating the stairs hidden behind the counter.

"There is no one staying here currently as the trading fair has finished just a pair of weeks ago, so you can choose any room. The key should be inside the lock" He explained.

"Thank you" I nodded in turn and then turned towards the girls that had been standing behind me

"You heard the owner, let's go"

***

Choosing a room did not take long, because there were only six of them on the second floor, and only one of them had a single bed.

The room was about three meters from wall to wall and contained a bed, a desk, and a chair. A currently turned-out oil lamp and an opened window complemented the furniture. As a note, I can only add that it was pristinely clean, and a welcome surprise was that the sheets looked plain new.

After leaving my fake luggage inside, giving the girls their own from my storage, I spent a few minutes deciding on what to do before closing the door and leaving the inn.

For plans, curiosity won with an enormous margin and so I decided to spend the remaining part of the day simply exploring the town.

It wasn't like I always wanted to be isekai'ed and visit such a town, or was it?