Chapter 5: 5: Milk

“Wakey wakey, Amicia.”

“Only five more minutes, mom,” I grumble.

“I’m not yer mom, kiddo.” Hilda laughs and I open my eyes.

“Oh, Hilda, I’m so sorry.” My face reddens.

“Don’t worry about it, ‘t was pretty cute.” She winks while putting on her black leather jacket.

“How late is it?” I sit upright in bed, chest uncovered by the blanket.

“Around noon, you might want to cover yourself around other people, though.”

I’m confused until I look down, my face almost explodes from shame. “Oh Goddess, I’m so sorry.” I quickly grab hold of the bra I put next to my bed. Hilda respectfully turning herself around.

After a minute of having trouble with the bra clasp, I give up.

“Uhm Hilda, could you help me with my bra?”

“Sure thing, Amicia.” She smirks. “Not used to bras yet?” 

“I-it’s my first time wearing one.” 

She sits down next to me on the bed. 

“I see... Here, let me teach you. Turn around.”

I do as she says.

“Now, you bring back your hands like this” — she gently guided my arms to my back — “to grab the straps. And then bring them together like so, and voila! It’s closed.” She pats my head. “It’s not that hard but it does require some practice.” 

“Thanks, Hilda.”

“No problem. Anyway, you should get ready so we can leave for Ribaquen. I’ll go get some stuff for the trip. Meet you at the bar in 15 minutes?” She gets up and heads towards the door with a small backpack slung over her shoulder.

“Ok, I’ll try.” 

Hilda laughs — “See you in 15” — and closes the door.

I get out of bed and start getting into the rest of my clothes. Even though wiggling my tail through my underwear and briefs isn’t straightforward, it doesn’t take nearly as long to put them on as my bra. Next are my robes, but before I put them on I cast a quick heal, and, like last time, the scorch marks disappear. It’s definitely a useful spell if I can repair things with it as well. Might be able to make some money that way too. I smile to myself as I walk towards the door, but hesitate at the door knob. I’m going to meet my sister like this. In a body I truly feel comfortable with, for once. What will she say? What will I say? ‘Hey sis, I always kinda wanted to be a girl, so, here I am!’ No, that’s dumb. But... I guess I’ll just have to wait and see… I turn the knob and leave the safety of the room.

When I enter the bar, Argus greets me with a smile. “Ah, lass! Had a good night?” 

A smirk spreads across my face. “Yes! Your beds are definitely better than your tables.” 

“Gettin’ a little cheeky, aren’t ya?” 

“Definitely.” 

“Can I get ya somethin’ to drink while yer waiting for Hilda?”

“Do you have milk?”

“Indeed I do.” He ducks below his counter and grabs a big milk jug and starts pouring me a glass. “Farmer Jon brings me a couple of jugs with fresh milk every morning.” He shoves the glass over to me.

“Thanks, Argus.” I put the glass to my lips and — oh, Goddess — just like with the fish yesterday, the taste of milk is ten times better than it used to be. I even like milk already, which results in me drinking so fast that I accidentally spill some on my robes.

“Maybe I should get ya a cat-bowl instead.” Argus snorts.

“Who’s the cheeky one now?” I finish off my milk with a satisfied sigh. “Do you know if Hilda is going to be gone long?”

“Not at all,” Hilda walks in through the pub’s open doors. “What’s going on in here? I could hear Argus laugh from outside.”

“The little miss here spilt some of her milk.” 

“Ah yes, nekote and their milk addiction.”

I start blushing profusely. “A-are there other things that change for people who play nekote?” 

“A few.”

“Any I should know of?”

Hilda thinks for a second before smirking widely. “I’m going to let you find out on yer own, it’s a lot funnier that way.” 

“Meanie!” I pout.

She sits down next to me and rubs one of her hands through my hair. “None of them are dangerous, otherwise I’d tell you. Let’s eat something before we head out.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

“Twice the usual, then?” Argus offers, already heading towards his kitchen.

“Yep, that’ll do.” 

A few minutes pass, and then we have two plates of bacon and eggs in front of us. Hilda starts digging in immediately, and I follow her lead, but, after eating fish and drinking milk in this game, the food was... well... 

“Doesn’t taste as good as the other stuff, does it?” Hilda pokes my side.

“Mhm, yeah… The bacon is okay but the egg…” They tasted kind of dull...

“Yep, that’s another one of those side effects. Sadly enough for you, you are still part-human, so you need other nutrients as well. In real life you could probably take some pills to get those sorted, but this world isn’t that advanced.”

I pout. “Well, it’s not that it tastes bad, so it’s okay. Just a bit disappointing.” 

A short while later we finish our meals. Hilda gets up from her seat and puts a small coin pouch on the counter. “Argus, can we get some dried meat for the trip?” 

“Right away! I’ll throw in some dried fish for the lass too.” He gives me a wink.

As I awkwardly thank him, he fills up a small bag with the meats and holds it out to Hilda with a smile. 

Storing the small bag of dried meat in her backpack, she turns to me. “Ready to head out?”

“Yep. Bye Argus! Thanks for everything.”

“No problem missy. See you later, and try to keep Hilda out of trouble.”

“Haha, just make sure you don’t burn yer inn down while I’m gone.” She laughs, and we wave our goodbyes.

“It’ll be a ten hour trip to Ribaquen, so we’d better get movin’ if we want to be there by dusk,” Hilda says, squinting at her map. We’re currently walking in the middle of the forest, not long after leaving the little town.

“That long? Doesn’t really look that far,” I glance at her map. Darn, she’s almost filled out the entire continent! 

“Well, it would be faster by road, but I try to avoid them because of bandits and highwaymen. And that’s especially important since I’m escorting a newbie.” She pats my shoulder.

“Hey, I did kill a wolf by myself.” 

“True, that’s pretty impressive, but, still, a lone wolf doesn’t compare to a group of bandits.” She winks. “We could probably take them on but I don’t really want to risk it, since you’d spawn back in Cacogonte. Dying also isn’t one of the most pleasant things ever.”

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“Have you died already?” 

“Of course I have, I’m an alpha-tester after all. That includes testing things like dying.” 

“Is it painful?” 

“Hmm, it’s not the same as pain in real life obviously, otherwise no one would play this game. It’s severely dulled down, but, in addition to that, you’re also feeling your entire body go limp, and that is extremely unsettling. Especially the first couple of times…”

“Ouch... H-how many times did you...”

“More than I’d like to admit.” She laughs. 

We actually make good time, even though we go through heavily forested areas. Just like yesterday, I have little issue manoeuvring over branches and other tripping hazards. That ease of movement and the beautiful forest around me thoroughly distract me, making time fly past — I’m quite surprised to find out we’ve already been on the move for over five hours.

“What level are you now, anyway?” Hilda asks while running ahead.

“I actually have no clue, I didn’t check after I spawned…” 

She slowly comes to a halt.

“Want to take a look now, then we can also take a snack while resting.”

“Uh, sure.” I sit down on a nearby fallen tree and open my stat window, Hilda setting herself down next to me.

“Damn, you’re level 5 already? Just from killing one wolf?”

“Is that strange?”

“Wolves are a good source of experience, but not that good.” 

“Oh... Anything else that gives exp?”

“Mapping and quests... but you haven’t really explored much yet so if it was mapping, that would be weird. That lady you saved, though... maybe that was some kind of quest.”

“But I didn’t get any quest window, though.”

“Yeah, that’s how ToD 19 works. Quests are very dynamic and have an unlimited amount of results depending on how you handled the situations. They are really more like events than actual quests.”

“Oh, I see, so that candy I got with it was also part of the reward, then?”

“Probably, although I’ve never heard of NPC’s giving out consumables as rewards before. Might be a new addition, maybe that’s why it was a little bugged.” She shrugs. 

“That does make some sense, I suppose.” 

While Hilda takes some of our supplies from her backpack, I assign some of the stat points I received into faith and intelligence to give my healing and other spells some more oomph.

“Decided what new skills to take yet?” She hands me a piece of dried fish. Ah, fish, my love.

“Not yet, how does it work?” I nom my tasty fish. Sooo goooood.

“You can either upgrade your current skills or take new ones.” Hilda bites into her dried bacon as well. “There are skills people your class get and skills that are specific to you.” 

“Oh, that’s pretty neat.” 

“Indeed it is, makes sure no one is the same.” 

I put a couple of points in my BBOD and my healing ray and I take two more skills: A generic heal over time, and “Shield of Faith”, a skill that casts a shield of blue light on my arm to defend against attacks. 

“Those are definitely some solid picks. You won’t regret picking the shield.” Hilda swallows the last of her dried meat. “Anyway, are you ready to continue our journey, Amicia?” 

With some regret I eat the last of my fish and stand up. “Right behind you.” 

Another few hours pass before the huge, stone walls of Ribaquen loom in front of us.

“Amazing, two hours ahead of schedule!” Hilda comes to a standstill, sighing with relief. “It’s been a while since I made this much ground in that little time, especially together with someone else. Good job, kiddo!”

“Yay, and I’m only slightly out of breath!” 

Hilda pats my back. “Let’s get to the hostel so you can sit down on a decent chair.” She winks.

“That’d be nice.” 

Hilda leads on towards Ribaquen’s main gate, an impressive feat of engineering — just like the wall it’s completely built out of enormous, dark gray, stone slabs. We get inside the city without issue — it looks like Hilda knows these guards pretty well, as, when we walk by, they greet her quite enthusiastically.

“You seem quite popular?”

“Ye, I run some errands for them from time to time and sometimes slip them some wine. It’s a pretty boring job guarding the gates all day long. So I try to lift their morale when I can. NPC’s also have their own lives and emotions, some people tend to forget that…”

“You mean players who murder them?” 

She balls one of her fists. “Yes... some of the brutality I’ve seen, and its consequences…” Her grip releases. “Luckily, it’s been a lot better lately.” 

I wonder what exactly she saw, but on the other hand, I think I should be glad I haven’t seen anything like it yet.

“Are you okay Hilda?” I ask.

“Awh, are you concerned about me?” She grabs me in for a hug. “Thank you for worrying. I’m fine, really. Élise has such a compassionate sister.” 

“N-no problem, I don’t like seeing people being sad...” Why did she say sister though? I mean, I definitely don’t dislike it, and it even makes my heart beat a little faster...

“Anyway, the inn is right around the corner, from there you can also see the city’s cathedral.” She leaves the hug and runs a bit ahead. 

“I can never get enough of this sight... Sadly the city gets so busy at times.”

I round the corner after her and see, in the distance, contrasted against the orangey sky, the amazing cathedral. 

“Wow, it looks a bit like the Notre Dame used to, doesn’t it?” 

“Yep, Ribaquen city is based on Paris, and the Vinanian Empire as a whole on France.” 

We walk towards the hostel’s door and enter the premises, the plaque above telling me it’s called ‘Le Charognard’. 

“Looks like your sister isn’t here yet; want to get something to drink?” 

“Yes, please!” 

We set ourselves down at the bar and Hilda calls for the waiter.

As I’m sipping from my milk I start thinking and my heartbeat increases. I’ll meet my sister soon... what will she say about my avatar? However, my thought process doesn’t go far, getting cut short by a couple of adventurers entering the inn.

“Hey, Hilda! Long time no see!” One of them calls out.

I peek from behind Hilda’s back towards the door. My eye first falls on the human who’s clad completely in Victorian fashion. She has long, pitch black hair, flowing free over her black dress with white accents. But unlike any other human I have seen, she is incredibly pale, like her skin is made of snow, and on top of that, her pupils are a blood red. 

The adventurer to the right, who is waving to Hilda, is a heavily armoured human paladin, longsword to her side and a kiteshield on her back. She has chestnut brown hair tied back into a ponytail. From her face I can immediately tell... she’s my sister.

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