Author’s Note: I feel like these chapters take me longer and longer to write. I’m really jealous of the authors that can sit down and write a chapter in one session, while I struggle to write a page or two a day.
Also in other, very happy news, my story has reached the top five on the Active Top 50 list! All I can say is that I’m thankful for every one of you readers that has voted for my story and rated it so highly. So thank you very much everyone! Please enjoy this new chapter. PS. Please forgive me for any tense or comma mistakes, this chapter hadn’t been PR’d yet, but I wanted to get it posted today anyway.
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Chapter 20
In the end, I just decided to allow the maid Myura help me wash up. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it, after all. Her small hands running along my body felt very nice. I think Seri’s body might have a higher libido than my male body did, or maybe it’s just because I’m still not used to having a girl body. It’s not like it’s unmanageable or anything, but it seems to me that I do not think as clearly as I should when in contact with pretty girls. I guess Seran’s case also qualifies here since I never even considered the idea that she could have been a spy even though it was such an obvious possibility. This might be something I need to be a lot more careful about in the future. Especially since it’s very likely this Myura could be a spy too. She seems way too enthusiastic. The only thing I can pick up from her mind is that she wants to do a great job serving me which is kind of annoying.
Myura was quite impressed with the shampoo and conditioner bottle that I pulled out of my bag. She wanted to know where I had acquired such high quality soap. I just used the easy excuse that it was something an apothecary made for me back home. It even has the benefit of actually being kind of true I suppose. It might have been dumb to take out a bottle that is so different than their own products, but I don’t think a bottle is that big of a deal. Myura reacted more to the contents than to the packaging anyway.
The worst part about the bath was that because of Myura, and I guess Seran in the other room, I couldn’t use my hair dryer and it seems like this world hadn’t thought of making a magic tool for such a use. It really makes me regret my hair’s long length. As I was sitting here letting Myura dry it, I wondered if I should consider getting it cut. I mean my hair going down just past my butt might be too long. It’s easy to deal with when I have access to the shower in Lullaby, but I don’t have access to that right now and probably won’t have access to it most of the time I’m on this planet.
Actually now that I think about it, I really haven’t seen any women with hair anywhere near my length. The longest I’ve seen were the noble and rich ladies last night, and none of them were really much past mid back length. I believe longer hair has usually been seen as an indicator of wealth or power so it might be a good thing I’ve been keeping my hair mostly hidden back under my cloak when walking around. I’d probably be mistaken for nobility a lot more often if I had it freely visible. Even with this logic that boils down to it being probably a good idea to cut it, the idea of cutting it makes me feel horrible. I suppose this is an effect from Seri’s memories building up? I don’t really remember any dreams about my hair or why I want it to be long though. Just the thought of cutting my long hair really bothers me. I sighed mentally. Well, if I can’t cut it, I’ll just need to make sure to take care of it.
“My lady, I’ve finished drying your hair.” Myura brought me out of my thoughts. “Would you like me to help you style it in anyway?”
“I would prefer not.” I replied. I stood up and walked over to my bag and pulled out a clean set of clothes.
“Please my lady, let me help you!” Myura rushed to take my clothes from me.
I held up a hand, “Calm down Myura. I’m quite able to get dressed on my own. Why don’t you go acquire breakfast for me while I do that?”
Myura was horror struck at my remark. She immediately curtsied and hung her head, “My humblest apologies, my lady! I forgot to tell you that I came with breakfast for you when I arrived! It’s likely cold now so I will rectify my grievous mistake by getting you some fresh food!” With that she shot out of the bathroom in a flash. A moment later I heard the door to the room open and shut as well.
That girl could really stand to relax a little. I finished dressing and picked up Coa who was still sleeping despite all the fuss that Myura had raised and left the bathroom. Seran was now fully dressed in her leather armor and sitting there eating what was left of the food that had been brought. I walked over there and swiped a piece of what looked like ham that she had been reaching for. I tossed it in my mouth. Even if a bit cold, it was not bad at all.
“Hey, I was eating that. I even left it for last.” Seran complained.
I didn’t bother responding right away. I moved back to the small couch and sat down. “So, you look ready to go. Going to head out already?”
Seran nodded. “Yep, I was really just waiting for you to finish your bath to tell you and say farewell and all that. You took quite a while to finish.”
“That was the maid’s fault. She wanted to make sure I was ‘immaculate’ as she put it. She seems a bit high strung.” I replied.
Seran laughed. “You should have seen her face when she arrived with breakfast and I told her you were in the bath alone. It was amazing.”
“I bet. Anyway, I really wish you hadn’t told her it was okay for her to serve me.” I complained.
“Just let her do harmless tasks for you. Maybe use her as a guide around town. It’s not a big deal.” Seran waved off my complaint.
“It’s not a big deal to you since you’re not the one troubled by it, but I don’t think she’ll take no for an answer. She seems to have her heart set on being my personal handmaiden or some nonsense.” I said.
“Well, if I remember right from what you said before, you don’t plan on being in town that long so you only have to deal with her a few days.” Seran
“That’s true. I’m sure she’ll at least be moderately useful in some ways, even if she’ll be a major pain in others. I already have an idea to get away from her for the rest of the day at least.” I sighed. “That’s enough about her, though. So this is farewell then?”
Seran nodded. “Yep, it’s probably time I got out of here. Thanks for the treat staying here. If you get a chance you should visit Ashleaf Town, it’s where our clan lives, and before you say it, yes I know the town name isn’t very original. It’s because the town kind of just built up around our clan’s original village. Regardless I’m sure my baby twin siblings would love to meet you and hear about any stories you could tell them. They’re still only about a hundred years old so they haven’t really ever left home yet.”
“I’ll think about it, I suppose.” I replied. I honestly wasn’t sure if I would bother or not, but visiting a clan of elves might be interesting too. I’ll see how things go in the future. Well if I find out Seran was really a spy then I’ll definitely avoid her family, though I have no idea for sure how I’d accomplish that.
Seran got up and then walked toward the door. I followed her and when she opened it Gormon was already standing there outside the door waiting. She turned back toward me and said “Well I guess this is farewell Seri. Stay safe.”
“You too Seran, stay safe.” I looked toward Gormon. “Gormon, stay safe too alright?” As usual he only nodded in response. “Thanks again to both of you for the escort.”
“That was just us doing our duty. Bye Seri.” Seran moved forward and hugged me which I lightly returned. Seran stepped back after a minute and I was kind of surprised that she looked like she had some tears in her eyes, but she quickly turned around preventing me from seeing her face. “We have a decent amount of travel ahead of us, so we’ll be off now.” With that Seran walked off down the hall. Gormon gave me another nod before he too followed her.
I guess that could be considered my first party experience on this world completed. I kind of felt a bit melancholic about it. I went back into the room closing the door behind me. I moved over and sat down on the small sofa and relaxed. I could sneak off now with the maid gone, but I’m hungry and I really don’t feel like looking for a place to eat in town. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait all that long.
Only a few minutes after I had sat down, Myura burst into the room carrying a large tray of dishes. “I’m back with your breakfast, my lady!” There was bread, ham, sausages and were those dishes cooked fish? She even brought a glass of wine to go with it. Perfect! Lynn also didn’t miss that glass and was grumbling in my ear about it being too early for alcohol. The freshly cooked smell of the food also woke up my little glutton of a dragon who immediately let me know that she was hungry too. Myura sat the tray on the small table in front of me and then pulled out silverware and a long linen which I assumed would serve as a napkin.
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I wanted to dig in immediately, but that would be poor manners for a noble lady. My prank on the old hag comes back to bite me, too. Instead I ate with all the grace I could muster as Myura stood back and let me eat in silence. Occasionally, I would cut small pieces to give to Coa, primarily from the fish, since I wasn’t really a fan of fish for eating. The food was all delicious though, maybe just as good as the food that I have stored away in my bag. The bread was white and there was butter to spread on it! It was definitely a good choice to stay here.
As I finished up my meal and let Coa drift back off into dream land, I turned my attention to the maid that had been silently waiting for me. Time to enact my perfect plan to get her to leave. “That was an exquisite meal. By the way, Myura, you were one serving me the wine last night, were you not?”
Myura started shivering before responding. “I’m honored that my lady took note of my humble self!”
That was about the response I expected. I continued, “Do you possess knowledge of wines, then? There was a particular red wine served that had a very sweet, fruity taste.”
Myura was silent for a moment before answering. “I believe my lady is referring to the wine produced by the Monastery of Saint Exan’s. Did my lady take a fancy to this wine? If so, there is a fine store in town that sells wine that I can visit to procure some bottles.”
Excellent! She’s even offering to do what I was just about to suggest. “Yes, that sounds like a superb idea. What would you anticipate the price for two bottles to be?” I reached into my bag and pulled out my coin pouch. I don’t think the cost would be more than a few golds at most and it will get the maid out of the way.
“I have confidence that I can acquire two bottles of Saint Exan’s for only five gold, my lady. It is a very popular wine, but I know the merchant that runs that store well.” Myura spoke proudly.
“My, then Myura, I will count on you to run this errand for me.” I pulled out the five gold coins and held them out to her.
She took the coins and the clasped them to her chest before saying. “Do not worry, my lady. I will absolutely not fail your trust!” And with that, she left the room.
Ahhhh, I immediately relaxed and stretched out on the sofa. Noble lady mode is exhausting. I can’t relax too long though, I need to take advantage of her absence to leave. I got up and stretched and then picked up my pack.
I was going to head to the door, but surprisingly Lynn interrupted. “Mistress, you’re not going to drink all that wine right away are you?”
“No, of course not. That was just an excuse to get the maid to leave, Lynn.” I replied, talking quietly so as not be overheard outside the room.
“I’m not sure I completely believe you. You were very enthusiastic about drinking last night.” Lynn scolded.
“It’s not like it’s a problem or anything. Actually on the subject of wines, I noticed something very confusing back at the ship. I know I drank a lot during my breakdown and I destroyed some of my wine bottles too, but I should have still had twenty to thirty bottles left in the wine storage. Yet for some reason when I went to look there, they were all missing. Do you know what happened to my alcohol, Lynn?” I asked.
“I have no idea what Mistress is talking about. You must have miscounted.” Lynn answered calmly.
Of course, she wouldn’t admit it. She never liked how much I drank. “If you say so, but I’m going to be doing a thorough inspection of the ship when I get back so I hope my alcohol turns up. Moving on to another related subject. You didn’t pack any sweets in the pack! How could you leave out the most important food group?” I complained.
“Mistress, sweets are not a food group. I packed based on ensuring you would have nutritional food for over a month.” Lynn replied.
“That’s too serious, Lynn! Some sweets wouldn’t have hurt anything. You can only act like this because you’ve never tasted sweets or alcohol.” I said.
“That is the truth. I’ve only simulated tastes after all.” Lynn answered.
After she said that, I had a bit of a brain wave. It might be an interesting possibility. “Hey Lynn, I just had a random, crazy idea.”
“And what would that be?” Lynn replied, sounding cautious.
“Well, you know Lynn, occasionally in stories with magic, it is possible to create something called homunculi which are magically created humans.” I said.
“And how does that relate to your idea, Mistress?” Lynn asked.
“I was just thinking if it was possible to do here, then I don’t see any reason I couldn’t learn how and then use magic to create a body for you. It would probably take a lot of work to get it working right since I’d also have to make it so you could control it like your android body, but just think, you’d have a real flesh and blood body!” I started laughing. “Then once you had a body like that, I could get you addicted to alcohol and sweets and you’d never be able to complain about me again!”
Lynn sighed. “Mistress, your true intentions are leaking out.”
“Oh come on, Lynn. Doesn’t it sound interesting to have a real, living body? You can’t tell me you never considered what that would be like.” I stated.
Lynn was quiet for a while before mumbling a bit. I couldn’t even hear what she said so she must have intentionally blocked it from transmitting clearly. “... maybe. It might be nice?”
“Lynn, is something wrong about the idea? Like I said it was just kind of a random and crazy one and I’m not even sure if it’s possible or not.” I said.
“Ahh no, or I don’t know!” Lynn sounded confused. “Ohh, an emergency in the, umm, ship storage area! I need to go deal with that urgently. Please forgive me Mistress.”
“Lynn?” She didn’t reply. Did she just run away from the conversation? Was the idea that bad? Well, if she doesn’t want to respond, I can’t force her. I made my way out of the room and locked it behind me. I walked down the hall and then the stairs. I was back acting like a lady, since I didn’t know when I’d run into a servant or one of the other guests.
At the reception in the lobby, I was amused by the attitude of the old hag. “Good morning, my lady. Was your stay satisfactory?”
“Yes, it was quite enjoyable. I’m very pleased with your hospitality, so I have decided to stay a few more nights.” I said.
The old hag went pale for a brief moment before answering. “That is no trouble, my lady. Would you like to stay in that same room? If so, the price would be one gold coin for four nights.”
I affected shock. “Such a change in amount! Is there something wrong?”
“No, no my lady. There are no problems. That price last night was just because you were an unknown guest.” She was sweating a bit. Don’t want to admit that you just charged a bunch to make us go away? She’s also probably offering a reduced rate now if I remember what Seran said about rooms here costing half a gold or so a night.
“Well, I will gladly stay for a few more nights at that fee.” I pulled out the gold coin and sat it on the counter. “Oh, and Myura is out running an errand for me. I hope that is not any trouble.”
“That is no trouble at all. After all she has been assigned to you during your stay, my lady. Feel free to use her in any way you may wish.” The old hag said.
Oh, I had a brief, naughty thought about that last line. I shouldn’t think of doing that kind of thing. That would definitely cause issues. “Well now, I have my own errands to undertake, so I will be returning later in the evening.”
“Have a pleasant day, my lady.” The old hag inclined her head slightly.
And with that, I’m free to leave. I left the inn and back out into the town. First things, first. I need to go get my Adventurer’s Card and maybe pick up some requests or something. I think today is going to be busy, but at least I’ll be able to stretch my abilities a bit. I smiled and headed to the guild.