Chapter Seventeen

I awoke to the feel of a splitting headache. No. I awoke to the feel of armies marching on my brain. No. I awoke to the feel of Thor’s hammer battering against my brain like he was trying to batter down the gates of Valhallah.

I don’t know. It was bad, is what I’m getting at here.

I moaned like a zombie and my stomach rumbled immediately. It felt completely empty, and for a moment I was in a panic. Had it all been a dream? The transport to another world? The guild, the catgirl, the dwarves, goblin, the gnomes? Had I taken drugs? I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet and already I was in a panic. I tried to wiggle ‘it’ and true to my new reality.

It was gone.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked down to find all the girl bits where they should be. I reached up and felt my ears, then behind me and felt the two tails I kept out. ‘It was real…’ I thought, then realized I was naked. My hands flew over my skin, had I been messed with? Had someone done something?!

I wondered if women back home felt this way after drinking. I don’t know, but I sure did right then, and I did not like it to put it mildly.

I looked over to my right, Loysa was in bed with me, wearing gold silk pajamas with the hotel logo on them, what I could only describe as their symbol for ‘credits’. A distant part of me wondered how nobody found it just ‘tacky’ to basically make a money symbol into the logo of the establishment. ‘This world’s taste is very strange.’

But that was nothing compared to wondering if she’d done anything with me.

I reached out to touch her shoulder, but stopped when she said, “It’s not nice to touch sleeping women unless you have to. I’m awake. You kick a lot in your sleep.” She muttered.

“Wait, did I, did we?” I had questions, but she shut that down immediately.

“No.” Said, sat up, and pointed to the far wall. “Your clothes are hanging over there, I had them cleaned, they stank of alcohol and vomit spray, even if you did get most of it into the bucket.”

I had vague memories of seeing that, it was decidedly not pretty. “Sorry.” I mumbled. “I really didn’t know about all that stuff. I thought it was just an ordinary fruit basket.”

“Clearly that is true.” Loysa said with a deadpan expression as she sat up and stretched. “But you know, you really can hold your liquor. It was actually almost impressive.”

“Thanks.” I said sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head with my left hand. I tried to smile, but I don’t know how well that came out. My head was still killing me.

She held her hand out palm up and said, “I normally wouldn’t do this for anyone. But you didn’t get drunk on purpose, and we have to work so…” Loysa mumbled a few words so swiftly that I didn’t even follow what she said, and then there was a blue glow from her palm. It passed from her to me, and my hangover began to lessen.

When it was gone, I slipped out of bed. I wasn’t really all that shy about nudity. I’d used common showers back home when in gym class. Besides, she didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I was a man not forty-eight hours ago, and I didn’t even really know what I wanted anymore. There just wasn’t time to think of it.

You’d think life in a premodern tech world wouldn’t be nearly as hectic, but even so, this one certainly seemed to be.

“By the way,” she said as she slipped out of bed on the other side and went to the tub, I took note of how she put her hand over a small panel and drew her fingers up, going from a blue at the base to a red at the top, “was what you said about things in your world true?”

Steaming hot water began flowing from the brass faucet and into the tub, its thunderous echo of crashing water against metal forced me to raise my voice. “About what?” I asked. I didn’t remember all the details of what I’d said, but I had to assume I’d probably told the truth.

“About those rocker things, the ships that go to space and stuff going out into the stars?” She clarified.

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“Yes, we’ve done that.” I said and grabbed a few towels, I wrapped myself in a robe, self conscious or not it would have been weird to ‘stay’ naked.

“Do yourself a favor and don’t bring that up to anyone.” She said glibly, and I could only frown.

“What? Why not? I’d like to make that a reality here if I can.” I said, and she gave her head a shake.

“There are too many possible dangers out there, what if you brought a space monster back, what if you angered the gods, what if technology doesn’t work the same way here as back home and you destroy the whole planet? Look, your world is really very impressive from what you say. I daresay,” she looked out that the various chaotically built buildings with no regular consistency in quality or design, “we might even be primitive compared to your world. But don’t just dismiss everything we tell you for no reason.” She said, and then frowned for herself.

“Show me your slate, bring up your ‘stated ambition’ in this world.” She thrust her hand out, it definitely wasn’t a request, and I could hardly find a reason to refuse, so I went to where my slate lay and then brought it to her. I brought up what she asked and she read it out loud.

“Build amazing things. Alright, that’s acceptable, if you’re a weasel.” She quipped and handed it back to me. “You’re still thinking about space travel, aren’t you?”

“I mean… kinda.” I admitted, I felt a little sheepish, like I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

“No wonder Kuduru told me to go with you. The first thing you do when you get here and register is lie.” She said, and if she’d said it in a slightly different voice I’d have thought she was angry.

But if anything, she was almost impressed. I think I was starting to grow on her, just a little.

“Listen, just promise you won’t do anything on that ‘now’ alright? Let my Goddess and I guide you.” She urged me, and I nodded along.

“You’re the boss.” I said.

But she denied it. “No, I’m not. That’s you.”

“But aren’t you higher rank than me, shouldn’t you be in charge, I know so little of this world that I accidentally got drunk. I shouldn’t be running anything!” I exclaimed and my tails bristled.

“I’m a Full Gear, so I’m the highest rank in any room that doesn’t have a longer term Full Gear in it already. But,” she raised a finger, “first of all, I’m making sure you can complete quests, that means you’d make decisions anyway. All I can do is advise, you’re free to ignore me and do something else if you like, and I’d have to follow you as far as you lead unless it puts my life at risk. Second,” she raised a second finger, “I’m a priestess, and priests do not lead parties. We act as guides and advisors, but it’s one of the oldest rules of the Guild that First Blood Leads. If you form a party and go out in front of the rest, you’re in charge. You should know that, if we split up after this is all over.”

“So if I joined a party with a knight or a warrior that handles the front line of fighting…?” I asked.

Loysa quickly replied, “Exactly. The one to lead the fight, leads the party, and priests or clerics, that’s not what we do.”

I really was thinking more about what she said a moment ago, ‘If we split up’. It almost sounded like she wouldn’t mind if we didn’t. But that couldn’t be right, if she’s a Full Gear and I’m barely a one tooth, it’d be galling to take orders from me for too long. She’d go her own way when we got back, I’m sure.

“Thank you for the information.” I said and looked down into the tub, it was mostly full and she said…

“You’re welcome, but whether you’re in charge or not, I’m getting the tub first. You may be dirtier, but that just means you’ll dirty the tub more too. Go ahead and order food, you must be starving anyway.” She said, and at that moment my stomach reasserted itself.

She was right. It was angry growling at me.

“That’s fair.” I said, and went over to the panel to order for us both. I made a mental note though, as I watched the slat open and a brass tube become visible through a hole in the wall that opened up beside my palm, to make sure to ask if anything they served had alcohol in it. I didn’t want any of that for a while, and evidently, I couldn’t even trust fruit in this crazy world.

I listened to Loysa sigh as she sank into the hot water. I was starting to get used to her.

And maybe I couldn’t trust fruit. Or food. Or strangers. Or merchants. Or ferries. Or scientists.

But at least I had a party member I could trust.

And that counted for a lot.