Chapter 13

A Book of Books

Rance hurried back to the tavern, hoping Beulla had time to get his room ready.

The Tavern was empty when he entered, but he could hear Beulla humming and clanking around in the kitchen.

“Beulla?”

“Be right there.” Came the response. Beulla emerged from the kitchen wiping her hands covered in patches of flour. “Dumplin’s tonight.” She said.

“I was just wondering about my room.” Rance said, as he hitched a thumb towards the stairs. “DId you have time to get it ready?”

“Took care of it right after the rush.” She answered, and reached under the bar and handed Rance a large brass key. “Up the stairs, down the hall, Last room.” she said, before turning and heading back into the kitchen.

“One more question.” Rance called after her

Beulla already through the doorway, made an audible huffing sigh, turned and said, “Ya what now?”

“Is there a place I could bathe?” Rance said “You know, take a bath?”

“Cost you a copper with Loo the Barber.” She said and disappeared to her work.

Rance climbed the stairs to the upper landing. There was a long hallway with doors on either side down it’s considerable length. One thing immediately stood out to Rance. There was a lot more space inside the inn than the ramshackle outside should allow.

“Maybe there is a Time Lord around somewhere.” Rance chuckled out loud as he moved down the hallway to the last door. The door was unlocked so he went inside.

The room itself was a little more spacious than Rance expected. There was a rope bed with a straw matress in one corner. It was covered with a thick quilt. Seeing this Rance tossed everything on it. Looking around he saw a window with shutters that were currently open letting in light and pleasant breeze.

There was a low chest of drawers with a flat top on which sat a pitcher and basin for washing up. There were two rough hand towels folded laying beside them.

There was a small writing desk with a wide drawer across its front. Rance opened the drawer and picked up the small book that was there. “Placed by The Gideons” he read along the bottom of the cover. For some reason that gave Rance a small comfort knowing things like that happened here.

“Maybe I’ll see if they have a Chapel around.” He thought.

There was a small shelf above the desk that held an oil lamp and a striker to light it.

Rance examined the large lock built into the door. The size was impressive, but he was sure it was made just to impress. He figured its large size meant it would be fairly easy for a competent thief to open without too much hassle.

Rance Tossed his things on the bed and picked out a set of clothes. He stuffed them into one of his newb packs. The other things went under the rope bed. Then he grabbed the newb pack and headed for the barber.

“Loo” the barber’s appearance shocked Rance when he walked into the barber shop. The man standing by the chair trimming a customer's beard was straight from a 1930’s barbershop quartet.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He wore a red and white striped shirt with narrow vertical bands of color. Sleeve garters cinched just above his elbows. He had black pants with suspenders, slicked curly black hair and an enormous waxed handlebar mustache.

“Loo?” Rance ventured.

“Aye” the man said looking up at Rance.

“Beulla said I could get a bath down here.”

“Aye”

Rance shifted uncomfortably “Uh do I pay you or…?”

“Course you pay me you dolt! One copper and the tub is through there.” Loo said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder at a pair of batwing door leading into the back room. “Girl heated the water a couple hours ago, should still be good. Three more coppers and she will…help you wash.” He waggled his eyebrows at Rance.

Rance tossed a copper onto the bar behind the chair and said ”just the bath.” He walked through the swinging doors and found a large copper kettle filled with lukewarm water. A stack of folded rough looking towels and a bar of grey soap sitting on a small table by the kettle.

He dipped his hand in the water and almost changed his mind. He obviously wasn’t the first person to use the bath today, but he was feeling gritty and greasy so he quickly stripped down and eased into the water.

The soap was harsh! But it got the job done and soon he felt cleanish. Rance exited the tub splashing water on himself trying to rinse as much of the soap and other people scum off his body as possible. Grabbed a towel and dried off.

Rance enjoyed the feel of his new clothes as he got dressed, and his new boots were over the moon better than the stupid sandals he had been stuck with his first couple days in the game.

He thought about leaving his old garments but then he bundled everything up, including the stupid sandals and stuffed them into his newb pack. This place was rough and Rance decided he would have backups for everything. “Two is one and one is none” he said out loud as he shouldered his pack.

Loo was kicked back in the barber chair watching people through the front window of his shop.

“Thanks Loo” Rance said as he walked out the door. He heard a gruff rumble behind him but couldn’t make out any words.

The day was getting on so Rance decided to catch a meal at the inn and then hang out until bedtime

Beulla had fresh biscuits with some sort of deliciously peppery gravy ladled on top. When Rance asked about it she replied “Squirrel”. It was definitely the best biscuits and squirrel gravy Rance had ever tasted.

The place was starting to fill up as Rance headed up the stairs to his room. He decided to hang out alone for the evening and do a little strategizing on how he wanted to approach his new life.

He leaned his staff within easy reach next to the bed and laid down. It took some squirming and adjustment to get comfortable. He ended up taking a bundle of clothes and putting them under his pillow so that he could sit back and recline instead of laying flat.

Once he was finally comfortable he pulled up his status and looked it over.

“Underwhelming” he said aloud.

“System” he said into the empty room.

“Yes?”

“I have a boon waiting to be used, correct?”

“Yes” came the answer.

Rance had been thinking about the best place to put his boon ever since Buster had told him about it. It didn't make sense to put it where it was limited to only helping one stat so he asked.

“Can I apply the boon to my overall experience?”

“Yes you may.”

“Then that's where I would like to apply it.” He said.

There was a soft chime and then Rance received a notification.

“You have received a boon. You will gain experience at a15 % greater rate than you did previously. This is faster than 90% of all other players in Otherlife.”

“Awesome,” Rance said. “Now about this book thing.”

Rance pulled up his inventory and clicked the book-shaped icon labeled ”Project Gutenberg “.

The icon started spinning like a computer trying to connect to a website. Then a homepage popped up.

When Rance read the header he let out a “Holy Shit!”

“Welcome to Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is a library of over 70,000 free e-books.”

“It's a frickin’ book full of books!” He mumbled in astonishment. “Thank you, thank you, thank you Buster and Uncle Cheatum!”

Rance soon found the search function and typed in “foraging”.

He was rewarded with a book called “Hardtack and Coffee”, written in 1887 about life in the nineteenth century army.

It was chock full of useful information on living rough on the land, while foraging and moving about.

Rance dove deep into the book until sleep took him.