Chapter 11: Chapter 8 – Second Day

Avilia looks happy this morning. Me, I feel only a little better than I did when we went to sleep. She woke me up shortly after she got up. I wish I could’ve slept a bit longer, but she didn’t want to go out alone, and she didn’t feel like waiting for me to wake up.

I couldn’t even get mad at her, so I complied. With just a little bit of grumbling.

So what had ruined my sleep? A quick recount of the night is in order!

The bed was fine. A little bit cramped, but fine. Neither of us were noisy sleepers as far as I know, and she didn’t kick me or anything. But. Right as I was at the precipice of falling asleep, I felt something, ever so lightly, touch the bare skin of my back.

A feeling I hadn’t felt in years.

I realized pretty quickly that it was her hands, brushing against me. What could this mean?! I wracked my brain trying to think why she’d do this.

Until, of course, the most obvious reason came to mind. She must’ve fallen asleep and… turned towards me.

And so, I turned my head to make sure.

Yes, I had been completely right. She looked like she was fast asleep. And she looks absolutely adorable.

Thanks to that, though, I was wide awake and falling asleep took ages. Hours, probably.

I’m an idiot. That’s what ruined my sleep!

And so, here we are, prepared for the day, about to exit the room. Ponytail, as it should be. Wearing yesterday’s clothes, with the cloak she gave me as a finishing touch. Obviously I’d rather use clean clothes, but I don’t really have a choice right now.

Avilia forgot to tell me last night thanks to our little fight that there was a reason why she put her clothes in the chest, and it wasn’t because she was afraid someone’d come in to steal her clothing. Apparently, the chest has a rune stone attached that cleans your clothes while you sleep, and then it does the same during the day for your nightwear. Good to know, even if it’s too late for today!

This came up because when I woke up I realized that her clothes were fresh, and they were definitely the same ones she wore yesterday. I hadn’t seen clothes be that fresh before. I don’t know the how, but the results speak for themselves!

I wonder if this is an idea someone from this world came up with, or an Outworlder? Not that it really even matters.

As we step through the door to the corridor, Avilia grabs my hand. We smile at each other. I could get used to this.

“First things first,” she says as we slowly walk down the hallway, “We will need to eat something.”

That’s true! We didn’t eat anything in the evening. I didn’t even realize I was starving.

“Do you think they sell something in the inn?”

“Yes! But in our case, meals are included in the price of the room.”

“Huh. You’d think that’d make it more popular.”

“An inn, in a village next to a haunted ghost town, fair bit away from the capital with almost no protection? I was honestly surprised to find out this village even exists.”

“Wait. Haunted?“

“Yes. If I remember correctly, specters have been seen roaming the streets of that town. There have been more than a few careless scavengers and adventurers who met their demise there.”

I gulp. I feel a bit woozy. Who would’ve thought I came that close to death?

“I had no idea.”

She smiles at me gently. “Sometimes it is better not to know. I am happy you made the right choices.”

We reach the stairs, and we walk them down.

The innkeeper, the elderly lady we met last night, is standing behind the counter, looking just a bit tired. As she notices us, she’s all smiles again. She seemed to take note of the fact that we’re holding hands. The curse of these eyes is that I can easily tell what people look at, even if they try to be sneaky.

“I hope you had a good night!” She says with a chipper voice and a knowing glint to her eyes. What is she insinuating?

Yes, it was fine.” Avilia releases my hand. “Could you go to the table? I will order for us.”

I nod, feeling a bit relieved. “Okay. I’ll just take whatever you’re having.” I wouldn’t know what anything is, anyway.

I walk to the table and take a seat. The tablecloth looks nice. Organic. If my eyes aren’t lying, it's something akin to cotton. Never even seen the real thing before, beyond some pictures.

Oh, it even feels a lot nicer than the stuff I had at home! No surprises there. Seems like they figured that if people don’t know what the original feels like, “synthetic cotton” could feel like anything. Can't help but feel cheated. Just a bit.

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Avilia’s looking at a list of some sort. A menu, I think it’s called? Only read about those in books.

To think that this will be the first time I’ll have actual food instead of the paste. It should be fine, I think. Digestive nanomachines, right? I always wondered why they injected us with those, but right now, I sure am not complaining!

Avilia walks up to the table and takes the seat opposite of me.

“What’d you get?”

“Oh, you know, this and that. I hope you will like it!”

“I’m sure I will. I’m starving!”

We keep up our light conversation until the innkeeper brings us our food. We thank her and she leaves after saying she hopes we enjoy it.

To be honest, without my eyes, I’d have absolutely no idea what any of this is supposed to be. There’s, among other things, salad, scrambled eggs, bacon and a croissant, or so I’m led to believe. And water to drink it all down with, of course.

To be honest, this is a lot more than I expected. Aren’t breakfasts supposed to be on the lighter side? The food looks delicious, but that could just be the hunger talking. Doesn’t look very healthy, but I doubt that’ll matter too much!

“Isn’t this a bit heavy?”

“I thought we could combine breakfast and lunch! I think this is called a ‘brunch’?”

Not a bad idea, actually. I had nothing to eat in the evening, either. I’m really hungry. But wasn’t brunch a fairly modern thing? … Doesn’t matter.

I smile and nod. “Right! Let’s eat!”

I pick up a knife and a fork. I have a vague idea how to use them, but I decide to first observe what Avilia does and mimic her. With the innkeeper watching, I wouldn’t want to embarrass us both!

I adjust my hold of the utensils based on how she holds them.

I try the scrambled eggs first, just like she did.

It tastes…

Good. For the first thing I’ve tasted in this world, this is great. Encouraged by my first taste of real food, I continue enjoying this lavish feast set before me. Of course, following Avilia’s example and not eating too fast, even if I feel the urge. I remember reading somewhere that’s not good for you anyway!

Avilia stops for a second and looks at me. “Do you like it?”

I gulp the food down. “Oh, yes! It’s different to what I’m used to, but that’s definitely a good thing.”

She smiles at me happily.

We continue having a conversation as we eat and agree to have a look around the village after we’ve finished. I couldn’t read the signs anyway so having her around to tell me which place is which is going to be really helpful! And I enjoy her company, but that’s a given.

During the brunch conversation Avilia told me that the literacy rate in the human countries is fairly high. I thought it’d be the opposite, given how things were historically where I came from. Also, it turns out they’ve one shared alphabet among the countries here. A bit like how things started with the Latin alphabet back home, I guess.

The part where things get weird is, they have a couple of different methods of learning how to read and write. One is how it is where I came from, you learn how to read and write your own language, and to learn how to read other languages, you need to learn that language. And this is how most people learn to read and write. People don’t travel a lot, so they only ever learn one language, and there’s no need to learn anything beyond that.

Pretty standard stuff.

The other is that you learn magical script. Somehow, they have managed to create a magical version of their alphabet that allows the reader to read all text written in both the magical and mundane alphabet, but also write text that can be understood by anyone who can read the letters in either alphabet. For all intents and purposes, they look the same for the reader, but one has a lot more utility, even if writing it expends some of your mana as you’re doing it.

I know which I’d rather learn! I just hope the discomfort I felt trying to read earlier doesn’t mean I can’t.

I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to eating in this world. Truth to be told, I had no idea eating could be more than just a chore you do to not starve and wither. It never even crossed my mind you could enjoy the taste of food. Or that it’d be fun to eat with someone.

You live, you learn.

We finish eating around the same time. I hope Avilia didn’t notice that I kept pace with her because I was mimicking her. Or at least that she doesn’t care that I did it.

Either way, for the first time, I feel satisfied after having eaten.

The two of us stand up, thank the innkeeper and walk out of the door. As we exit, Avilia again takes my hand. We may have only met yesterday, but it already feels natural. I doubt it's entirely socially acceptable given how the innkeeper seems to react to us, even though we're paying customers. Thankfully, I don't care.

It's time to explore the village for the first time!

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