CHAPTER 34 DAY ON THE TOWN
Penny laughed to herself maliciously in her room. She had already cleared her plans with Garrus, he had no problems with her taking Alex for the day. He at least wanted to meet with everyone and get some plans hashed out for the most part, or at least the semblance of something. But otherwise he was perfectly fine with what she had planned for him.
In reality, it wasn’t anything particularly exciting. She just planned on taking him to maybe get some new clothes and get fitted for some actual armor, even if it was only leather. While the group had discovered that his clothes were self-repairing, they didn’t actually provide any defense against attacks.
So he had been going into every single fight without any protection. That didn’t sit well with any of them. With their recent additions to their coin purses; however, they would easily be able to afford armor for Alex.
It wasn’t going to be hard to even get him to come along either, she’d just trap him when they went to meet for breakfast today. Penny wasn’t the greatest fan of shopping herself, but she could understand the necessity at the very least. It also helped that she was going to be spending it with Alex.
Penny wasn't innocent enough of a summer maiden to not recognize how she felt about him. She also understood that maybe her feelings towards him were a bit shallow. They’d only really known each other for a few days short of a week. And yet in that time they’d accomplished so much together it was hard to feel like she hadn’t known him for longer.
Penny very rarely took the time to really worry about her appearance. She usually just gave her hair a quick brush through and tied it up, making sure there weren’t any errant loose strands floating about before going onwards with her day.
But this time she actually took a moment to put her hair up slightly differently, oh it was still in a ponytail, but with a couple of extra flourishes and accessories to make it look nicer. Penny’s hair had always been a deep lush red that had always been eye-catching. So she didn't need to do too much to pretty it up thankfully.
Well, she had spent enough time fiddling about with her look, time to go collect the sorry bastard from his room, get him some proper clothes, and go on a proper date. He was definitely tired of being trapped there anyways, so it’d be good for him to get out and walk around the town for a few hours.
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“We’re going shopping.” Penny said with an almost predatory smile.
I slightly frowned, “Not that I particularly mind, but why? I can’t really think of anything that I need at the moment.”
Garrus raised an eyebrow at my words.
“I’d like to get you a set of armor that you’d be able to wear under your magic skill.”
“Why?” I asked, confused about the need for armor.
“What if someone dispels it? It’s mana based, isn’t it? Besides, it’s not like you can’t just form your skill over the armor we get you. An extra layer never hurts.”
I opened my mouth to argue the point, but Garrus just gave me a look that showed he wasn’t entertained with that idea.
I let out a large sigh, “Fine, fine. I have no plans on going out wearing a full set of plate mail at any point though.” I said, giving a pointed look back at him to which he just laughed.
“Do you see any of us wearing that kind of heavy armor? That stuff is expensive. Even if we all put every last coin we had together, we wouldn’t be able to afford a full suit. Although I wouldn’t be against having a suit myself.” He had a pondering look in his eyes by the end.
George nodded his head in agreement, which made sense to me. They were both front-line melee fighters, the more protection they had, the better.
Penny stood up from her chair, “Come on, let’s get going. We’ve already wasted plenty of time. Hopefully we have enough time to do everything I ne- we need to do.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, recognizing her stuttering for what it was. But in the end I just let out a huff smiling lightly at the situation.
“Sure,” I spared a glance for Garrus, Karif, and George, “I’ll see y’all later then, I guess.”
“Good luck.” Karif said, while George gave me a friendly wave. Garrus was too deep into his food to say anything meaningful.
I walked along next to Penny as she led me to the center of the town. She then suddenly snaked along my arm, reaching for my hand and grabbing it.
I stutter-stepped, giving her the eyebrow raise as I caught myself.
She just looked back at me, “What, you thought this wasn’t a date? If that was the case, the rest of the group would be here. I only see me and you here.” She looked around and gave me a little smirk before quickly hiding it and having a slightly concerned look on her face.
“You don’t mind… Do you?” She asked with slight trepidation.
I had to think about that. Did I care? Did I really mind? Penny was definitely attractive. At the same time, did I really want to tie myself down in a relationship? What if it didn’t work out? I had only been here for a short amount of time. Would it be awkward to stay in the same group if it didn’t pan out? I wasn’t exactly a fan of dating without the intention of taking it further either.
Better yet, what if I found a way home? Would she be willing to come with me? That’s not a choice I’d be willing to have to make myself, so how could I ask her to make it?
It took me a moment to realize I was running in circles and completely jumping to conclusions on everything. Realistically, if I found a way back who’s to say that it’d be a one way trip? Why wouldn’t I be able to go back and forth?
It’s funny how, after nearly dying on several occasions, I still had trouble just dealing with the fact a woman liked me or even just accepting compliments from people.
I just had to start laughing. The entire thing seemed so preposterous in my mind, jumping to illogical thoughts at the first possible moment. So what did any of that stuff matter in the long run? I’d just burn that bridge when I got to it. For now I should just focus on putting one foot in front of the other, rather than trying to change a future I wasn’t even sure would come to pass.
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Penny frowned slightly while I laughed.
“Sorry, sorry.” I said, waving her off, “Just working through something in my mind. No Penny, I don’t mind in the slightest.” I smiled at her.
I think this was definitely something I could enjoy. After all, I might not even find a way back home at all. This world just might have to be where I live out the rest of my life. So why shouldn’t I be happy here in that case? I wasn’t going to stop looking, that's for sure. I definitely missed my family.
But I also wasn’t going to ignore the possibility that it just might not be possible to go back.
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts, I needed to set aside some time for introspection. For now, I needed to focus on what Penny had very clearly pointed out was a date.
“So where are we going first? I’m sure you have a rough idea of how you want this to go, so I’ll play along today.”
Penny gave me a beautiful smile, and if that didn’t do things to my heart.
“Absolutely, come on. We’re gonna start by getting you some clothes. I know how much you like the tunic you’re wearing, but you can’t wear it all day everyday. I’m not the biggest clothes aficionado, but I don’t mind a nicely dressed man either.”
She led me by my hand, taking me down a road with a ton of vendors on either side, hawking their wares to any and everyone. I wasn’t particularly interested in anything they had to sell, more that I was just enjoying the atmosphere of being out and about with Penny.
Since coming here I hadn’t really taken a moment to properly enjoy the world I dropped into. That thought also really helped it to sink in. I kind of had the same epiphany before, during my talk with Illesea, but it drove itself home again. I was in a completely different world from my own.
How are you supposed to reconcile that fact? Over two decades of my life had been spent living life believing that alternate realities were just a part of fiction. Yet here I was. How does one comprehend that at all, let alone properly?
It was such a surreal thought that I didn't really know what to do about it other than just nod my head and move on. I mean, what could I do about it? Absolutely nothing. So I might as well just smile and wave as it passes by.
“Whatcha thinking about?”
Penny’s voice distracted me from getting too engrossed in my own thoughts.
“Not much, more just letting it finally sink in that this is a completely different place than where I come from, but on top of that somehow it still reminds me of home. Maybe it’s just that humanity is the same no matter where you end up.”
She nodded slowly as we navigated the busy street. The vendors slowly gave way to store fronts with signs out in a language I, unfortunately, could not read. That was still something I was going to need to rectify at some point. Hopefully there will be time in the future to sit down and just learn. Literacy is important, afterall.
“So I guess where you were from then isn’t that much different than here?” She asked.
“Yes and no. The behavior of people is familiar, but culturally relatively different. The town here is more reminiscent of something five to maybe eight-hundred years ago. So maybe not culturally different, we’re just at different points in our history. Maybe at some point your society will develop to the point ours did. Although that seems unlikely to happen in the same way since you have magic.”
I tried my best to reign myself in and not just go off on a long tangent. It’s a bad habit I knew I had; if I started talking about something I was even slightly interested in, I ended up rambling into sixteen other things and wouldn’t stop talking for at least an hour.
We idly chatted about unimportant things for the most part. Penny pointed things out to me, certain stores and her favorite food places. This carried on for several streets before we came to a stop in front of a clothing store.
“This is it.” Penny somewhat proudly said before waltzing in.
I would like to say I followed her in, but reality was she yanked me in behind her since she was still holding my hand.
The next few hours passed in a blur. I was never particularly interested in clothes shopping. Fashion had never really been at the forefront of my attention. Strangely enough, the same was true for Penny.
Although she had me try on dozens of outfits, it seemed she derived more enjoyment from seeing me wear different things rather than doing it. She enjoyed the actions of trying on clothes rather than buying them.
Soon enough we had picked out several pairs of clothes along with another pair of boots to wear. It totaled ten silver. I tried to pay for it initially before Penny shut me down with a glare. I just raised my hands in surrender and let her handle it.
“Excellent, now we just need to get you fitted for some armor. That shouldn’t take too long, they’ll take a couple of measurements and it’ll take a day or two to tailor something for you.” She explained as we stepped outside the store.
“Okay, well let's get that taken care of then.”
We had spent several hours looking at various clothes. It had been relatively enjoyable, maybe it was just the fact that I was doing something with Penny but in the end it didn’t really matter. WE both had fun and that was the important part.
Penny led me down past another few stores to an intersection and took me down another street. The stores on this street seemed to delve more into the adventurer type stuff. The previous area had been general consumer goods. Clothes, textiles, and other general housing stuff.
This was more of the weapons, armor,and general dungeon use kind of items. Penny led me down another few store fronts while I idly browsed the items we saw as we passed by. Nothing in particular caught my eye, the weapons looked about as you’d expect. Not cheaply made, but not exactly better than the weapon Illesea had made for me already.
In all honesty though, I didn’t really expect to find something at the upper end of the spectrum just laying around in a town's inventory. Even if there was something like that here, it’s not like any of the normal people walking by would be able to afford it.
Penny finally came to a stop in front of another storefront, “Here we go. Garrus knows the guy who runs this place. I think they used to work together or something. He never really said, but whenever we need armor replacements or something we usually come to him.”
I nodded as she explained before she opened the door and walked in calling out, “Hey shortie! We’re here for an armor fitting!” She yelled in a teasing voice, but her choice of words gave me pause.
‘Shortie’, runs an armor store. Now, my luck is bad, but surely it couldn’t be this bad right? And even if I was right, surely it wouldn’t play out like the same old trope in every other piece of fiction media to ever exist?
I walked in after Penny as she skipped to the back of the store to a counter. The walls were lined with various types of armors, weaponry, and shields. All of them seemed to be decently made, although I didn’t really have an eye for telling if something was poorly or expertly made. To me, they just looked shiny and well-kept. At the end of the day, however, appearances were important.
As I reached the counter with Penny I heard a voice call out through a doorway behind the counter, “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming. Y’all really need to stop calling me that.”
From the doorway all of my concerns were realized as a dwarf wandered through. Once again a very stereotypical representation of what one would expect when they hear the word ‘dwarf’. Short, stout, extremely muscular, shaved head, and a big bushy beard. All he needed to complete the outfit was a mug of beer or a hammer.
The dwarf stopped on seeing me and frowned looking between Penny and myself.
“Why did you bring a knife-ears to my store?”
I sighed.