Moving towards the wall’s outer gates and into the short tunnel separating the forest from the city, Alex was unsure of what to do next. The fighting had exhausted him, but the idea of going straight back to Anise’s house was about as appealing as staying to fight more monsters. The realization that Janet had been following him for an unknown amount of time was already troubling, but now she’d up and vanished, leaving before he had the chance to question anything. Sure her exit had been joined by a tail’s impalement, but Alex had little doubt the woman lived. He couldn’t know how true her claim of not being at full strength was, but he remembered the aura he’d felt the day prior; it had been terrifying and the librarian’s was nothing in comparison.
Based on his math Janet’s odds of dying to a level forty beast were about the same as his odds of tutorial survival at the moment, which was to say, low. Meaning her most likely location was back at the house, waiting for him. That or she decided to return to spying at a distance. The thought that made Alex pulse Sixth Sense at twenty mana and the amount of raw information it returned made his head hurt, though none of it suggested he was being watched.
Deciding that trying to find a woman who might not even be nearby, after she’d managed to subtly stalk him all day was a lost cause, Alex’s mind wandered toward how Janet had escaped. In the midst of battle he hadn’t been focused on what happened, but her disappearing act made him think of the skill Hamlin had used in the kitchen that morning. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew he wanted something like it. So far, the system’s integration had done little but throw hopeless situations at him, Alex felt he deserved some magic.
That dragged his thoughts toward the quest rewards he was going to miss out on specifically the Scroll of Copy Skill, and the Scroll of Copy Class. He felt it was safe to assume Janet had some higher rarity class, and if not her than someone in the tutorial had to. If Alex just got his hands on those scrolls, he could too. The notion nearly made him turn around, foolish as it would have been. He only needed nineteen more kills and any class or skill he wanted was his, maybe. Alex wasn’t sure how either item worked, but if the titles were anything to go by those odds of survival would shoot up.
He let the fantasy of somehow managing another one kill, let alone nineteen, fade as the sun began to shine though the other side of the passage. Even only one kill away from Larry’s Lucky Wheel™, whatever that meant, Alex knew not to risk it. He would just have to hope the items would be available again at some point in the future. Perhaps then he’d actually have a chance at getting them. Stepping out and onto the cobblestones of Oudel Alex immediately received two notifications.
***
Quest Complete: Mandatory Quest - Tutorial Quest - Main - Subquest 1.2: Curiosity Killed the Cat
Invading Beasts Defeated (6) + (1) Threshold met modifier.
Total: (7)
Rewards:
Survival
(1) Spin on Larry’s Lucky Wheel™
Quest Complete: Tutorial Quest - Citywide Quest - The King’s Call
Rewards:
20 Gold
***
The reward from the King’s quest was underwhelming, but Alex wasn’t surprised. The challenge was meant for people in the E Grade, and besides his solo kills he couldn’t claim much actual contribution to the battle, especially since the fighting was still ongoing.
The rewards from the mandatory quest were the opposite. He’d killed two jarkit and four twintails for a total of six beasts. While only five had been required for the Survival reward of the quest, he hadn’t really been picking who to fight after the first twintail, the rest just deciding he’d make for easy prey. Now Alex was praising extra beast for volunteering its life since that final kill was the reason he’d been able to receive an actual quest reward.
Alex waited for more as he closed the second prompt, but those two were the only to instantly maximize. Getting a small comment from a guard not to block the road Alex continued walking as he spotted the blinking icon in the top-left of his vision. There were definitely more notifications to go through, but he figured they could wait until he decided what to do next.
If he wanted to stay in Oudel, the arena was the most obvious option. Assuming he agreed to Ralph’s demands, the older man was likely to give him a place to clean up and think, if not somewhere to stay the night. Grave was also there, and while the sudo-golem had proven to be a great help, they were ultimately controlled by Ralph, which could mean anything for Alex. Seeing as he didn’t fancy walking straight into a potential hornet’s nest without protection, he ruled out going back alone, which meant he’d need to speak to Janet at some point.
Her stalking him on their second day of knowing one another had not been healthy for their relationship. The issue more so in the fact that Alex didn’t know what he could and couldn’t lie about rather than some sense of broken trust, but the mental math had spoken. Devil you knew and all that. Plus he didn't feel he’d done anything overly suspicious to the point she’d change her mind about helping, so all should be fine. His newly acquired wealth would have been apparent if she’d seen him purchase anything, but that could go a number of ways.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Alex let out a frustrated sigh, he was trying to be smart about this, as messed up as the situation was, but had no way of knowing what the right choice was. Either way his logic had hit a though loop so it seemed his decision had been made, he just hoped it wouldn’t make his situation even more complicated.
Thoughts wandering as he moved through the city’s poorest district no one had bothered him. A few people looked warily at his state of dress, but none seemed inclined to outwardly show their disgust, his level of cleanliness not uncommon to its inhabitants. As he passed the unmarked border into Mendel, however, the reactions from the public grew more animated. People began to stare, whisper, and one older lady in particular looked ready to add Alex to the pile of bodies in his inventory when she’d glanced over at him. While his clothing might have looked ragged and torn, the combination of fluids had created a smell that was much worse.
Realizing he’d need to do something about his hygiene sooner rather than later Alex made way for an alley. Changing into another set of clothes wasn’t ideal, but it should at least be enough to get him to the house. That proved unnecessary as his few points in luck seemed to be working, an alternate solution presenting itself in the form of a young girl handing out flyers.
“Aunt Anna’s Bathhouse. The best bathhouse in all of Mendel. We have private rooms, traditional onsen, mixed baths and even full spa treatments. Whether it’s for yourself or another Aunt Anna’s Bathhouse is the way to go.”
She repeated the spiel as he approached, the occasional person glancing though with a few moving to grab a flyer from her outstretched hand. Continuing, only pausing momentarily to grab breath, the girl was absorbed in her task she jumped slightly as Alex spoke from behind her. Turning as she took a step back, her eyes darted around taking in his appearance all at once. He could only imagine what he must have looked like to her, but the girl seemed to be used to such interactions because she quickly schooled her features.
“May I help you?”
Her tone was guarded and Alex smiled in an attempt to disarm some of her tension. “Yea I wanted to know where that bathhouse was? As you might be able to tell, I’m in need of one.
His small joke fell flat, but she pushed forward a pamphlet from her stack while telling him how to get to the place from there. “Prices are on the paper, read them first, don’t go if you can't pay.” And with that he was dismissed.
Alex followed the directions, these much more accurate than the ones the boy had given earlier. He was still causing a bit of a stir as he walked, but as he approached the multi-story bathhouse, he let out a sigh of relief. As irritating as it was to others, now that the adrenaline had faded Alex was getting the full brunt of the putrid scent, and he couldn’t wait to be clean.
The businesses lobby was a rather upscale compared to much of what he’d come to associate with Mendel and Alex found himself wondering why they needed someone on the street to promote the place. It wasn’t exactly packed, but he saw people milling about and it was too early to be peak bathing hours. Deliberately stepping to the sides of the path to avoid ruining the plush carpet with his mud-stricken sneakers Alex made his way to the receptionist’s desk.
“Welcome to A-” The words died on the man’s lips as the receptionist took in his frame, but Alex didn’t pay it any mind, instead explaining what he wanted as if he’d asked a question.
He barely got past mention a bath before he was being signed up for a private room. Having already read over the flyer it was the option he’d planned to pick, and Alex let himself be dragged through the conversation until, within minutes he was being led to what would be his room. He had the suite for an hour with the option to extend for up to four, if he paid an additional fee of course. That wasn’t the only surcharge however, as the receptionist had mentioned he’d be forced to pay an extra gold in cleaning fees due to his current condition. The blatant robbery reminded him of earth and Alex just accepted like her would back when he got food delivered. He was then informed that the cleaning fees included any clothing, and Alex stared at the man, letting him know his joke hadn’t been funny. With the receptionist showing no signs of remorse Alex just shrugged and moved on from the topic.
Alex had written the clothes off as unsalvageable during his trip through the city, the many holes making themselves more known as the wind blew, but at this point he didn’t have anything to lose. If magic existed, he didn’t see why his clothes couldn’t be fixed while he bathed. Next, he was sold what was labeled was the shop's best soaps and shampoos, though he guessed that really meant most expensive.
Payment was easy, initially the man asked for his I.D. card, the interaction solidifying Alex’s belief that he needed one, but the receptionist equally willing to take his three gold when he said he didn’t have one. With that, and a reminder to visit the desk on his way out, he was being shooed off toward his room, neither wanting his unique smell to taint the rather nice ambience of the bathhouse lobby.
His stay at the bathhouse lasted nearly two hours, the extra time costing him another fifty silvers when he settled his bill. Alex spent the first twenty minutes vigorously cleaning every inch of his body. He’d scrub and scrub, but new dirt was always seemed to appear until finally, the bottom of the shower looked only slightly tainted. Once the dirt was no longer caked on to his skin, he filled up the room’s version of a jacuzzi with warm water and just soaked. Occasionally eating a snack or two from his storage. Luckily none of them were covered in animal parts that weren’t meant to be there, and Alex praised himself for his foresight. He wasn’t yet in the forest, but being able to eat at the drop of a dime was as useful as any combat ability.
When a worker came to advise him, his hour was nearly over, Alex opted to purchase another, and at some point fell asleep. He awoke to the next set of knocking and forced himself to leave. In addition to what he felt was some much-deserved relaxation time, Alex had planned to go through his notifications. Even with the place only costing fifty silver an hour after the base fee, he’d seen how some of the better items were priced in the city and couldn’t justify the expense when he could do the same thing at the house for free. Dressing in the clothes he’d worn out the house that morning, his outfit from earth, Alex left the room and settled his tab.
It turned out the bathhouse could actually clean the clothes he’d fought in, whatever technique the used leaving the fabric like new. The could not however, or at least did not, repair the items in the slightest. He though back to the wording the receptionist used and supposed it was fair play. A bit of a dick move but, with the service having been included in his mandatory payment, it was nothing to raise an issue about.
Throwing the clothes and a clean flyer into his inventory Alex made his way out of the building. The bathhouse also offered rooms and they were priced at a much cheaper rate than the private bathing ones. Now if he found himself in need of a place to stay, he at least had one in mind. In any case it had felt good to treat himself, and if Alex figured he’d try the spa package if he got the chance to visit again. Clean, and much more relaxed than when he’d entered Alex made his way back to his temporary home.