(Nox) “Stella, I’m done!”

I snap out of my daze and walk back to Nox.

(Nox) “Hm! W-what's wrong?! Are you hurt? Why are you crying? Should I rush to town and get a doctor? No, wait, I can't leave you here alone. What do I do?!”

Pfft- what is he talking about? I shake my head to tell him that I’m fine before wiping away the tears I didn't know I had.

(Nox) “What does shaking your head mean? Are you telling me even a doctor can't help?! No! We can't give up if there is even the slightest chance of survi- OUCH!!! What was that for!”

You’re usually better at guessing what I’m saying… *Sigh* I pat his head in an attempt to calm him down before slowly turning in a circle to show that I’m fine.

(Nox) “You’re not hurt? Then, what's wrong?”

I shrug and shake my head. I feel frustrated, not sad, so I have no clue why I would start to cry. But your silly panic just now cleared most of my bad feelings away, not that I’ll tell you about it.

I gesture for us to go look for our quest, then I start walking.

(Nox) “H-Hey…”

Let’s just ignore him, I want to finish this quest as soon as possible.

After another half hour of nothing… we find an entire clearing filled with medical plants… I need to ask Layla about this when we get back.

As we walk back to town… the only thing noteworthy is that Nox kept pestering me over whether I was ok. I ignored him.

As soon as we walk through the gate we see a familiar hair color.

(Redhead) “Hey, you’re back! What took you so long?”

(Nox) “We ran into a seriously injured orc on the way there and had to fight.”

(Redhead) “S-seriously?! That's an orc, not a goblin! How did you survive?!”

(Nox) “By killing it.”

(Redhead) “...”

Seeing this conversation lead nowhere, I pull on Nox’s sleeve and point towards the direction of the guild.

(Nox) “We still have to turn our quest in, so see you later.”

(Redhead) “Y-yeah…”

We walk away… Why does he look so depressed? I stare at Nox to try to get the answer out of him.

(Nox) “... What?”

*stare*

(Nox) “You can speak you know.”

*stare*

(Nox) *Sigh* “I don't know why he looked so down, happy?”

I nod.

(Nox) “It's fine if you don't speak but why aren't you even using telepathy?”

I just don't feel like it… but I’m not sure how to ‘say’ that so I shrug and keep walking.

Soon, we are at the guild and looking for Layla. She found us first and lead us to a counter.

(Layla) “So, how was your first quest? Did anything unexpected happen?”

She sounds like she expected something to happen… Well, she’s right though…

(Nox) “How’d you know?

(Layla) “Easy, if something didn't happen it wouldn't be a quest.”

… I’m speechless.

(Nox) “Well, we did run into a badly hurt orc.”

(Layla) “See, this is why you need to be prepared, if you don’t… ORC!?!?!?”

(Nox) “Yep.”

(Layla) “...”

Oh, looks like it's her turn to be speechless. Are orcs strong? Does that mean Nox is strong… I want to say ‘he’s a god so it's not strange’ but… I’m starting to feel like gods are a bit pitiful, if they do something amazing it's as expected but if they fail at something they get blamed… ok, I decided to act like Nox is a protagonist in a light novel instead of a god from now on. As well as reflect on my past judgments, not even gods are perfect.

(Nox) “Layla? Hey, wake up. Not you too Stella.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. :p

(Layla) “W-what did you say?”

(Nox) “Badly hurt orc.”

(Layla) “Hurt by what?”

(Nox) “A wolf.”

(Layla) “...”

Yup, she's speechless again.

(Layla) “An orc is a D-rank monster, are you sure you are new at this? And a wolf? Wolves can become D-rank in a large pack but by itself, it would only be E-rank at best. Did it mutate?”

Mutate? They have something like that here? Does that mean I can catch em all and evolve them to be number 1 of the poke- no, stop this train of thought, it won't happen.

(Nox) “So…”

(Layla) “R-right, do you have its corpse?”

(Nox) “The bag you gave us wouldn't fit everything but I got most of it.”

(Layla) “T-then please follow me to have it inspected.”

(Nox) “We can't do that here?”

(Layla) “It's too big...”

After saying that she got up and lead us to a back room. Let’s just say that this room is big enough to hold a dragon… unless I'm underestimating dragons. But you could put 2 or 3 airplanes in here with room to spare.

(Nox) “I think this room is too big.”

(Layla) “This is the dismantling room. It's made so that a few groups can have their monsters dismantled at the same time. Although unlikely, we are also equipped with the tools to handle a great wyvern as well.”

… So this room is for wyverns… I wonder if a dragon and a great wyvern are the same size? Actually, I haven't heard anything about dragons, I wonder if they stay away from cities or if they have some kind of treaty with this worlds kingdoms. ‘You don't hunt us, we don't hunt you’ or something.

(Layla) “Please take out the orc so we can inspect it.”

(Nox) “Ok, here you go.”

I closed my eyes as fast as I could… I’m afraid my imagination is less scary than what that ork looks like now.

(Layla) “AH-”

I don't know how she stopped herself, but I’m impressed that she could.

(Layla) “YOU- At least warn me!”

(???) “Desk lass, what are ya screechin' about.”

So some people do talk like that… Is it a dwarf or am I playing with stereotypes? I refuse to open my eyes to check.

(Layla) “Ol Vin, help me look at… this.”

(Ol Vin) “What do ya have here lass. Hmmm, nice work, hardly any damage around the cuts… HMM! This is a mutated orc, and what's left of it… 20 silvers, and that's roundin’ up.

(Layla) “M-mutated but they went to Glow Forest, an F-rank forest! Mutated orcs are almost C-rank! I need to report this to the guild master.”

(Ol Vin) “Hold on there lass, give these kids their pay first.”

(Layla) “Right, here’s 20 silver and 5 large copper, you can go shopping or something and we’ll meet up later. Bye.”

Aaaaaand she's gone. The extra coppers are… for the initial quest? I don't remember turning these in but… I guess I’ll leave them here then.

(Nox) “Ol Vin, you need an assistant?”

(Ol Vin) “Only if you're the one who made this piece of work.”

(Nox) “Great, I’ll come by whenever I’m free.”

(Ol Vin) “Truly an adventurer, sigh. Alright, I’ll pay you for the amount you carve but you need to work from the bottom like everyone else.”

(Nox) “That's fine. Stella, why are your eyes closed?”

Because you took out that bloody thing that can even make guild personal scream in fear! I decide to keep my eyes closed for the time being.

(Ol Vin) “I’ll take this mess away so you take that one.”

After I hear him drag something big away, I sigh in relief that I didn't open my eyes till now. Wait, I think that guy called me a mess… is it bad to not want to look at a mutilated body?

(Nox) “Was it that scary?”

I nod my head as exaggeratedly as I could.

(Nox) “Well, you might see something like that often, can you get used to it?”

I shake my head just as intensely as my previous nod. Even if I see it daily, I won't get used to it... It's a mutilated corpse, not a hairy butterfly.

(Nox) “Alright, let's go find an inn and get lunch then.”

We leave the guild to start looking for our new temporary home.

The first place we go,

(Innkeeper) “Sorry, we’re booked.”

The second place,

(Innkeeper) “We have one room but there's only one small bed.”

Third place…

4th place…

… Let's go find redhead and find out what's going on. I get Noxs attention before motioning to something red then at my head.

(Nox) “Do you want that apple- Ouch! Ok let's go find Zack, he might still be around the gate.”

So Zack was his name… Zack, Zack, Zack… Let’s hope I remember it this time.

We look around the gate, there he is. He might be the only one in town with bright red hair… then again Layla has light blue hair and I’ve seen a few people with light green hair… I wonder if it's like the gods where hair color=magic color? Nox has black hair and my hair is blon- why is my hair white?

(Nox) “Zack, we need some help.”

(Redhead/Zack) “What do you need?”

(Nox) “We went to a few inns but they’re booked, why?”

(Zack) “Two reasons, first is that this town is a good resting point for merchants the other is that a legion is passing through right now.”

(Nox) “So the main reason is that legion?”

(Zack) “Pretty much, there's not a lot of brothels in this town so they all ‘sleep’ at the inn”

… I'm not deaf, and I'm not dense or ignorant enough to not know what you're talking about so stop looking at me like I'm a poor child who doesn't understand.

I stare at Nox.

(Nox) “No, you can't hit him. Zack, she's mute, not deaf, blind, or ignorant enough to not understand your words.”

(Zack) “Wait, she's mad about me trying to explain without her understanding and not that I was talking about ‘that’?”

(Nox) “She's mad about being looked at like she's a small child who knows nothing.”

(Zack) “Why would she hit me?”

(Nox) “Because she can't say that she is mad so she can only show it.”

(Zack) “How can you know all that with just a stare?”

(Nox) “Because she is intentionally making all her emotions easy for me to read.”

(Zack) “How does that work?”

I stomp on both their feet and smile at them, can we get back to finding an inn?

(Nox) “Like this. So the inn?”

(Zack) “R-right, I’ll bring you to the inn I'm staying at, it's cheap and the foods good but it looks like it's falling apart on the outside so almost no one goes there.”

Works for me. I try to rush them as much as I can. It's an inn, my first home in another world! I've never been to an inn before… even if I say I’ve been to a motel… let’s not think about it. I doubt I’ll have to run for my safety this time.

As we arrive, my first thought is that redhead made a very accurate description… it looks like it's falling apart.

(???) “Zack, welcome back. Oh, you brought friends, are you eating or staying.”

Inside is a middle age, kind-looking, slightly overweight, aunty like, innkeeper with brown hair and an apron.

(Nox) “We’d like a room with 2 beds and lunch for 3.”

(???) “One night is 10 copper, and a meal is 3. If you want warm water to wash, that's 2 copper.”

(Nox) “Here’s a silver, this is for 9 nights and 3 meals for lunch.”

(???) “Alright, here's a key for room 203, and 1 copper, lunch will be served in the hall shortly. By the way, my name is Barbra, and my husband in the kitchen is called Tim”

When we sit Zack starts asking about the orc while Nox answers. Only after the food arrives does he obtain freedom.

The food is delicious. I can't be entirely sure but in earth terms, we each got a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a plate of beef and vegetable stir-fry, and a small loaf of bread. All of it tastes delicious.

(Zack) “Barbra, tell your husband his cooking got better again! The Taurus stir-fry especially!”

… Is the auto-translator telling me they aren't cows? Should I be worried? Who cares, it tastes good, so it must be fine.

After eating Zack says he has to work and leaves, meanwhile Nox and I go to room 203 to see what it looks like.

2 beds, a window with curtains, 2 treasure chests, and 2 dressers… looks like the toilet is somewhere else… I just realized that I haven't gone to the bathroom since I died.

(Nox) “Lets rest til' dinner then eat before finding Layla and learning how to read.”

I nod my head and lay down on the bed. I think this is the fastest time I’ve ever taken to fall asleep.

Even if it's only a nap, goodnight.