Lee tugged down on her new skirt. Even though she had stockings underneath, she had never shown off this much skin before. It was physically uncomfortable. The wind was able to reach places that it shouldn’t while walking in a public street. She couldn’t really understand why most girls dressed like this regularly.

Her usual wardrobe consisted of sweats or shorts making her usually look a bit tomboyish. The fashion wasn’t by choice but by availability. Nothing was cheaper than hand-me-downs and she had plenty from her older brother. Since he was a bit on the larger side both width and height wise, he outgrew lots of clothing through his adolescence. This left Lee with an oversized boys wardrobe that usually loosely fit her at best.

Now, she didn’t have that problem nor will she ever have that problem again. She was wearing the most girlish outfit that she had ever put on. Even though it was physically uncomfortable, nothing was as bad as what she was wearing before. Those torn and dirty rags had been bothering her for the past few days. She was relieved to have finally found replacements.

When they trekked into town early in the morning, Lee felt like the center of attention. Even though there weren’t many people out in the streets, every single one of them would stop and stare at a girl in torn up clothing. The skirt she was now wearing helped her blend in much better. She made sure to thank Shellorn when for letting her change at her family’s shop, even though Shellorn’s brother had walked in on her naked when she was trying on clothing. That was quite embarrassing.

Lee looked at Shellorn’s clothing then back at hers. Shellorn wore brown pants. Although they were tight fitting, making them seem a bit more feminine, she couldn’t imagine her wearing a skirt.

“Uh Shell, was this skirt really yours? It doesn’t really seem like your style?”

“Yea, it was a gift from my step-mom. I never wore it, but it looks amazing on you!”

“Oh, thank you.”

Lee decided not to pry any further. The interactions between Shellorn and her brother, Pike, had confirmed her suspicions that family was a touchy subject.

After finding refuge at the shack, Shellorn had let her stay there for a few days before they went into town together. During that short time span, she had made her closest friend. She was also her only friend in her lonely life, both in this world and the one she came from.

She even found herself calling her by the nickname “Shell,” although Lee told herself it was simply due to the efficiency of losing a syllable. She wasn’t the biggest fan of nicknames. This one was a practical nickname, unlike the nickname Shellorn had given her, which is the opposite of practicality and creativity.

Even though she was poor at creating nicknames, Shellorn was a good friend. She took care of Lee and seemed to genuinely enjoy being around her. At first she thought her overly enthusiastic attitude may have been a way of hiding sarcasm, but that was just Lee’s pessimism. Shellorn is truly wholesome and lovely.

She really makes me happy. Shell’s a constant spark of happiness in any situation.

“Watch out Leelee.”

While lost in thought, Lee bumped shoulders with a passerby on the street.

“Oh sorry.”

“No worries,” The stranger slightly bowed his head and continued, “Have a good day!”

His compassionate smile caught Lee off guard as he continued walking by.

“He was really forgiving.”

“That’s just how people are around here. Do that at the capital and you may lose a finger.” Shellorn said while playfully chopping at one of her fingers with her other hand.

Where Lee had come from, an altercation as simple as accidentally bumping into someone could lead to a shanking. This town seemed like an entirely different world. Well it was a different world, she had surmised that a while ago.

Along with growing her friendship with Shellorn, Lee also grew her knowledge of this new world. She tried her best to be sly, but she definitely relied on her amnesia story a bit too heavily. Luckily Shellorn was very trusting… or gullible. She wasn’t quite sure which one it was.

This world had different humanoid races. She met face to face with an elf in the prison she woke up in and apparently there are some dwarves to the north. The races are quite segregated from each other, each living in their own small countries. According to Shellorn, there aren’t any conflicts between the races. They all just are separate from each other.

Another thing that was different about this world was magic. Lee got to see first hand at some magic back when Pike paralyzed his sister with some sort of wand.

From what she was able to get from Shellorn, magic was quite the rarity in this world. It is most commonly found with enchanted trinkets. People gifted with the ability to cast magic were the rarest of the rare and when they did come around, they immediately became either powerful tycoons selling magical items or elite combatants.

Lee had come to terms with being in a different world. The initial shock seemed to have run its course like a river, but now she pushed all of that away and filled her eyes with the wonders of this world.

They walked on a rough cobble street, surrounded by different buildings. Shops, restaurants, inns and such lined the street with almost no room in between each building as if they were all connected. The people fit the crowdedness of the buildings. They were everywhere going every which way.

Everything was colorful. The buildings were constructed with stone being the foundation, but then wood made up the rest of their architectural resources. Even though each building was made of the same materials, the city was still vibrant with colors and personality.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

At first Lee thought they just really liked their paint, but as she looked closer, it became apparent they didn’t use paint at all. The wood seemed to come naturally in these colors, black that seeped in the surrounding light, white that emitted a soft warmth, blue that would entrance the eyes, a musky green that smelled like moss and many more.

I would sure love to see the trees all this colorful wood comes from. I bet a forest filled with them would be jaw dropping.

“Agh!”

Lee fell onto the rough cobble, her ankle was a bit tender.

“Oof, that looked like it hurt. You alright Leelee?”

She grimaced. The dog came over and started licking her face with its slimy tongue. This helped encourage her to pop back up off the ground, her ankle still a bit sore.

“Yea I’m fine. These roads are quite uneven.”

Lee now kept her vision towards the ground, watching her step.

“This is the main shopping district. I think they made it this way to discourage carriages from riding down or whatever.”

“Wouldn’t carriages help business?”

“I dunno, I’m not some sort of fancy merchant.” Shellorn shrugged, continuing her confident stride down the street.

“And Shell, where’re we even going?”

“Running errands.”

“But what kind of errands?”

“Errandy errands.”

Lee rolled her eyes. Getting her to take anything she said seriously was a challenge.

A smile crawled across her face. She was walking around town with her friend. Even though she had no idea what they were doing or where they were going, she was having fun.

Without any notice, Shellorn swiveled right into a store in full stride. After taking a couple steps past the entrance, Lee followed her into the store with the dog following behind.

The strong fragrance of herbs and earthy plants made her scrunch her nose. The inside of the shop seemed a lot messier than the neat and tidy outside alluded to. Vines dangled down from the ceiling all over, plants covered every available surface. This included the counter where the shopkeeper stood.

The man was older, wearing some weird form of overalls. He gave the girls a big smile, revealing a plethora of missing teeth.

“Ohth, why if it ithn’t Thellorn.” The man wiped down his clothes with his hands. It didn’t do anything since his clothes were covered in dirt and dead shrubbery.

“Good day Papsny, I got the good stuff today,” Shellorn took out three small bottles from the pack on her hip. The bottles were filled with herbs crushed to almost a powder consistency. They looked like the same ones she used in the rabbit stew.

“I sthee…”

“Yup,” Shellorn smiled, “I even took the liberty to crush and bottle it. How much are we lookin’ at?”

“thwreehunnid.”

“Uh, yea nice one Papsny. How much, really?”

“thwreehunnid.” The old man was no longer showing his missing teeth with a friendly smile.

“What?!? These should be worth way more! You said a thousand per ounce last month!”

“Sthings change. Huge shipment came in,” He shrugged, “Business.”

“Ergh, well business can go suck it!”

The old man laughed, “Justh be glad I’m not charging you for that,” He pointed behind the girls.

The dog had found a potted plant on the ground. It started gnawing on the leaves.

“Ah, stop that. Dumb dog.”

Lee shooed the dog away from the plants and began tying the rope around its neck. Shellorn had said earlier that it was etiquette to tie animals up outside.

“Sthelly, I’m truly sthorry, but I can’t buy those at last month’s price,” Papsny sullenly said, “It’s the way she goes.”

“The way she goes huh?”

Papsny shrugged in response.

“So by ‘the way she goes’ you mean she’s going and screwing me over huh?”

“Like I sthaid, I’m sthorry Sthelly.”

Shellorn grunted, pivoting around.

“Alright Lee, we’re leaving.”

She had just begun tying the knot around the dog. She was quite slow at this, so it made her happy she didn’t have to finish tying up the dog.

The girls stood against the store looking at the busy streets in silence. Lee hadn’t really seen Shellorn get upset before. It was interesting getting to see another side of her.

Not so much as a moment went by and Shellorn had her usual giddy smile back.

“So we’re completely broke and have no place to stay for the night.”

Her words didn’t match her happy expression.

“Is that… a good thing?”

“No. The opposite actually.” She tilted her head sticking her tongue out at Lee.

“So… back to your shack?”

“Sadly no,” Shellorn pressed her lips together, bringing a hand to her chin, “Although I’m confident in my ability to keep us safe, I don’t think it would be worth the risk of traveling through the forest at night. Especially if we have to pass by that area…”

A long pause hung in the air. Lee could almost hear the gears in Shellorn’s head turning.

“Couldn’t we stay at the shop with your brother?”

“The Board…” Shellorn whispered to herself.

“What?”

“The Board! C’mon, let’s go!”

“What is that?”

Before getting a reply, Shellorn turned around and skipped away. Lee could hear giggles.

“H-hey, wait up!”

Lee took off running after Shellorn with the dog prancing behind both of them.

###

“P-please wait up Shell.”

Although Lee had gained some endurance since coming to this world, Shellorn’s speedy skip outclassed her running pace. Each time she was about to catch up, Shellorn would increase her speed further. It seemed to have turned into a game of keep away.

Her legs were sore, but she kept pushing to catch up. She felt awkward running in a skirt, but weirdly enough it helped increase her stride length. Lee smiled. Even though she was annoyed at Shellorn’s teasing, she was still having fun.

Shellorn’s cloak flurried back behind her, bouncing with each skip. As always, her steps didn’t make a sound.

Even at this speed, huh?

Lee had to run at almost a full sprint, pushing off the ground as hard as she could with each step. How could somebody move at this speed without making a sound? Well, without making a sound with their feet. Shellorn was still giggling at her trying to keep up.

As she pondered that question, Shellorn turned her head back.

“C’mon Leelee, we’re almost- THUD.”

Shellorn was flattened to the ground. Her body sprawled over the cobble. Just as she had turned her head back to speak, a man had walked around a corner directly in front of her. Even though she was moving at a pretty great speed, the man didn’t budge. His physique was burly. He stood well over a foot taller than both Lee and Shellorn. A borderline giant.

Lee quickly caught up, crouching down beside her fallen comrade, begging for forgiveness.

“I’m so sorry sir! Please forgive us! W-we were being stupid!”

The huge man looked down at them. His eyes were filled with intense emotion.