Vaile’s sinking feeling was only growing. He had walked through the streets of this city, taking full advantage of the fact that he was somehow a normal person once again (albeit a bit taller than he was outside of the game and before he got sent to this new world), but he still had a sense of unease following him closely. He tried to enjoy the fact that he didn’t need to wear his usual outfit and his mask, but he just kept getting this feeling that he was being watched. To his credit, he did look around as much as possible without trying to look like he was on to whomever or whatever was keeping a secret eye on him, but when you have that kind of growing paranoia you start to look fidgety and afraid no matter what you do.

At this point, although he was enjoying the fresh coastal air on his exposed skin, he had developed an unconscious tick. He just couldn’t help himself from looking around, and while he tried to keep a decent expression, he also couldn’t help that his face was beginning to show his growing anxiety. Nothing about this place seemed to be ‘normal’ despite most of it being ‘normal’. Aside from the omnipresent sensation of being both followed and watched, the fact that there was a fog bank locked at a position just a little bit above the rooftops of all the buildings he had come across just was not right.

He could tell that something about this city just was wrong, but he just could not put his finger on what it was. Due to these factors, he had long since decided to get the heck out of Dodge. Unfortunately, he was having a very, very difficult time doing that. He had followed the street that he was on for what he was positive was over 30 miles, and yet he was also sure that he had passed the exact same stores and stalls at least once before.

As if that wasn’t enough to unnerve him, those stalls and shops had the exact same people in them, with the exact same faces, clothing, and other such things as they had the previous time that he had passed them. And, to make matters even more concerning, the street he had been walking down was a single straight line. This street had been perfectly straight, never turning or twisting even once, so it was therefore impossible for him to have gone around in a circle.

As he passed the same person that he had seen prior to this at least twice before, he decided that if that street couldn’t get him out of here then he would use another. Thankfully, there was an intersection up ahead, so once he reached it he took a turn and went down that street instead. Another few hours of walking and running saw him in the same damn predicament as he had been before, as he reached that same intersection that he had used just a while prior.

Now, more than ever, he was feeling discomfort and unease. He had no idea where this city’s limits were, and seeing as he was unable to go anywhere new without eventually somehow looping back to his starting position, he chose to call it a day. However, as he now had a concrete feeling that he was being observed, he chose to use an inn that was on the biggest road. He opened the door, which creaked like it was straight from an old movie filled with every cliché imaginable, and entered the building.

There were people inside already, some of whom appeared on his minimap, and most of them (those on his minimap and not) were busy doing typical fantasy tavern/ inn things. There were a few card and dice games going on, more than a few servers walking about the place and he saw that there was a shadowy figure in the corner, as per tradition. However, he didn’t care if that figure was some random plot hook, and he refused to acknowledge them after he initially spotted them.

If there was some power at play here, then he was for damn sure not going to go along with such obvious railroading and inane cliches. As such, he did the second most cliché thing you could do in a situation like this and merely asked to rent a room for the night. He still had at least a few trillion gold in his wallet from the game, ad he had long since learned that the money from the MMO was just as valid as the newer forms of currency. Hell, in some cases it was even more valuable than regular money, simply because of its rarity.

Wouldn’t those collectors be pissed if he flooded the market with all of his savings? Well, it didn’t matter right now, all he needed to do was rent a room and prepare for the night ahea-.

“Oh, don’t worry about payment, sweetie.”

“Excuse me?” Vaile asked. He had not expected that. But then again, he was expecting to have not expected something, so it didn’t count.

“You just tuck in and have a good night’s rest, alright? Dinner starts in five minutes, so if you want, we can serve you in a bit. I’m sure that you’re hungry and don’t worry, it’s on the house.”

Vaile merely took the key and went upstairs. It was… unusual how people were treating him, and he could not simply explain it by the logic that he was ‘new in town’ and everyone wanted to be nice to a visitor. No, he couldn’t quite express why he felt this way, but he had the distinct impression that he was not going to be any safer in the room he had gotten for free than if he was out on the streets. Likewise, he just had a gut feeling that she shouldn’t eat anything that was served here, let alone drink anything either.

Well, if his gut was as correct as it had been so far, he would make sure that he made ‘Lord Adornable’ proud and decided that it was in his best interest to fortify the absolute shit out of his room. Screw putting a chair to the door, he would bust out everything he could feasibly get away with, if only to make sure that both the door and the windows were utterly impenetrable.

As he sequestered himself in that room, he swore he caught the sight of some weird-ass dog-looking thing inside before him. However, before he could take a good look, the creature, if there ever was one there to begin with, vanished as if pulled into the space between one of the legs of the room’s table and the floor. He checked around to make sure he was not going crazy but found nothing, not even a single paw print. He wasn’t going to pull a move similar to a Bethesda NPC and just act like nothing had happened, but he couldn’t find any evidence that the dog-like thing was there either.

And so, with growing anxiety and the creeping feeling that there was at least one weird, teleporting dog-like thing nearby, Vaile set to work turning the room he had booked into a fortress. It would take a bit of time, but he figured that, by nightfall, he would have everything in place. Thankfully, the windows were able to be closed, locked from the inside, and were at least twenty feet off of the ground. If he with his busted stats couldn’t jump that high, then nobody else could either. Still, he wouldn’t make ‘Lord Adornable’ proud unless he made those things impossible to get through, so that was more work added to the pile.