As Layith led me into the city, it wasn’t any cooler inside the walls than outside. I wasn’t prepared to die and go to a desert. This hoodie is way too hot. I’m going to need to find some new clothes. But that means I need money.

As I contemplated my lack of finances, I noticed all the buildings were nearly uniform squares. Also, all the buildings were made of a single tan stone and not individual bricks, like I expected. There were plenty of windows, but they were all tinted, so nobody could see inside. There were many awnings and umbrellas near doorways and tables. So there is some shade, just not any covering the center roads where we’re walking.

I followed Layith through the streets full of others who looked similar to him, but were not nearly as colorfully dressed. But I also noticed something even stranger. Where are the women? How can there be this many men?

“Hey, Layith.” I poked him in the back.

“Yes?” He didn’t bother to stop or turn around, and kept walking. “Let me guess, you’re wondering where the women are?”

“Ah, yeah. How did you know?”

He chuckled. “Most other species ask that when they first see a city of shaylips.” He waved his hands. “You’re looking at both men and women.” I don’t get it. “We’re what’s called hermaphrodites. Our species doesn’t have these strange habits of dividing into genders either. But we typically use male pronouns for simplicity and the sake of other species that care about that sort of thing.”

“Okay. That’s a bit more than I thought I needed to know.” I shrugged. “But thanks for spelling that out.”

He gave me a thumbs-up. “No problem.”

I could feel the movement in my bowels again. Oh no. Please wait. Please. “How much further? Is there a bathroom nearby?”

He pointed to one of the larger buildings. “Over there.”

Ahead was a large, wide, open square. In the center was a monumental fountain, standing as a centerpiece in the bustling square. At the far end was a large clock tower that had ten numbers on it, not the usual twelve I’m used to.

The area ahead was full of shaylips, as Layith called them, but there were also several others who looked like they didn’t belong. But as I looked around, there wasn’t a single human anywhere. But everyone was talking and busy with something. Some people were manning shopping stalls and food carts with all kinds of odd objects and food.

I finally looked where Layith pointed and saw a sign that read, “Cushin’s Cushions.”

Layith picked up the pace. “He’ll have a bathroom for you to use.”

I almost breathed a sigh of relief. If I relax even a little bit, I’m going to let out another fart in the middle of the street. Then I will learn if I can truly die of embarrassment.

Outside of Cushin’s Cushions, a stall stood. Little bottles of black liquid lined up with bottles of brightly colored liquids of every color of the rainbow were on display. Nobody seemed interested in them, but my curiosity pulled me towards them.

“Hey sir, what’s in these bottles?” I picked up one of the black bottles.

As I swirled the stiff liquid, another man who looked similar to Layith but had solid blue eyes and a bit pudgier body and wore dark brown silks almost squealed. “No!” He snatched the bottle from my hand and slapped my wrist. “No sampling the merchandise.”

I cradled my hand. “But what is it?”

The shaylip performed an over-exaggerated bow. “I, Hectile, am a provider of many alchemical goods, even the rare liquid metal.” He stood up and eyed me. “You don’t look like you can manipulate the metal. Why are you interested in it?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” I pointed to the other bottles. “What’s in those?”

Hectile placed the bottle back where it belonged and pointed to the red bottle. “That is a simple regeneration potion.” He pointed to the orange potion. “This is a powerful acid.” Then he moved to the yellow and continued with each color in rapid succession, from green to blue, indigo, and violet. “We have an energy potion here, a meal-in-a-bottle potion, a mana potion, a sleep potion, and finally a cleansing potion.”

Too bad I don’t have any money. And I have more pressing concerns right now. “Well, I’ve gotta go. So, I’ll see you around, maybe.” I turned and returned to following Layith, who was kind enough to wait for me at the door.

“Stupid tourists,” Hostile grumbled. “She didn’t even try to haggle. Probably didn’t even have any money to buy anything.”

I followed Layith inside. The stone walls were barren of any kind of decoration, yet a wide variety of different species sat around the tables. Still no other humans, though. Everything was clearly lit by the balls of light hanging from the ceiling. And more importantly, I could see a sign that clearly stated toilets on the far side of the building between the stairs and the bar.

I didn’t waste any time and sprinted through the building for the bathroom. Several individuals turned to watch me run past. I made sure not to run into anyone. When I arrived at the first door, I noticed there wasn’t any signage for men’s or women’s rooms. That must mean unisex toilets, right?

I attempted to open the door, but the handle wouldn’t move. “Occupied!”

I moved to the next door and found that one wasn’t locked, so I entered before quickly locking the door behind me. I fought with my pants for a moment and silently thanked whatever deity would take credit for seeing a normal toilet, just without a tank on the back.

I sat down on the toilet just in time. I couldn’t hold it anymore, and what followed would haunt me in my dreams forever. The sounds of my unrestrained farts were relieving at first, but that didn’t last long.

Where is all this gas coming from? And why does it smell like cinnamon, sulfur, and ash? It became painfully obvious that there was no ventilation in the tiny room that had enough room for a toilet and a faucet over a drain. Above the faucet hung a sign that said, “Wash your hands. And we mean all of them!”

My eyes started watering from the horrid smell that was quickly filling the room until the end of the seemingly never-ending stream of flatulence. I hope nobody out there can hear this. This is so disgusting. I don’t think I can ever eat another cookie again. But I’m glad it’s finally over.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But my stomach still felt a bit bloated. Oh, please, no more. I can’t take it. To my surprise, I didn’t fart again. Instead, a loud, deep belch bellowed from me. It went on so long that I was worried that I was going to run out of air. Mercifully, that didn’t become a problem. And after the burp, it finally felt like all the gas in my body was finally gone.

And another small miracle left me with clean underwear too.

I washed my hands and dried them off with the hot air dryer thing next to the door. Then I left the bathroom, only to find everyone staring at me. They heard me, didn’t they?

“Oi, miss.” I turned to see the man behind the counter was not a shaylip. He looked like an elf from a fantasy story, with extremely pale skin and long ears. He was also very overweight and bald. He wore a simple shirt with a heavily stained apron. “You didn’t cause any permanent damage, did you?”

I shook my head.

Layith walked up next to me. “Wow, I’m impressed. Rina, meet Cushin. Cushin, meet Rina.” The heavy-set elf didn’t make any reaction to the introduction. “Rina is new in town, so I believe after such a display in the bathroom, she needs something to earn some money and a place to stay. You said you needed a hand with something earlier today.”

Cushin nodded. “Oi, I did.” He waved for me to come closer. “There’ve been some odd sounds in my cellar all day. It sounds like some rats have found their way in somehow.”

“There are rats in a desert?” I asked.

Cushin nodded again. “Oi. You never know what’ll pop up from below these days. Just go down and deal with the rats, and I’ll let you stay the night.” He lifted the service door to let me behind the bar. “After you come back, we can discuss any more permanent arrangements. If you do a good job, I might throw in a hundred shards too.”

I have no idea if that’s a lot or not. “Well, it seems like you two will get along nicely.” Layith bowed. “I’ve done my good deed for the day, and I’ll be returning to my post. I can’t let Rollow be alone for too long. He has some terrible separation anxiety and will get into trouble.”

Is he like your guard dog or something? This place is making less and less sense.

I dragged my feet to the service door. “Um, do you have any poison or something for me to kill the rats? I don’t have anything on me.”

Cushin frowned. “Here, have this dagger.” I don’t know where he pulled it out from, but he held out a foot-long knife with the handle offered to me. “That’ll take away your hundred credit bonus.”

I took the blade. “That’s fair, I guess.” What am I supposed to do with this? Stab the rats? I guess I’ll put the sharp end in the rat and hope it’s enough.

When he opened the trapdoor at the end of the bar, I saw nothing but darkness.

“You’re going to need a light too, aren’t you?” Cushin sounded a little annoyed.

“Yeah.” I held the dagger even tighter.

The elf sighed, reached below a shelf, and pulled a small metal sphere on a rope. He tapped it, and it lit up like a lamp. “Here, just bring that back.”

I took the strange lamp by the rope and nodded as I took my first steps down the ladder into the cellar.

As I descended the ladder, the air grew mercifully cooler, albeit laced with the scent of alcohol. The cellar came into view as I reached the bottom, and I swept my lamp across the space, illuminating rows of barrels lining the stone walls. On the far side of the cellar, shelves held an assortment of items. Most displayed wine bottles, but one rack stood out. It held potions that I recognized from earlier—black glass vials filled with liquid metal.

Why would he have potions of liquid metal? Oh well, I’ve been sent down here to take care of rats, and I will. I need a place to sleep and money for new clothes, too. It’s something I can ask about later.

I scoured the room for any signs of the elusive rodents and found none. With a frown, I moved on to the next room, where there were even more barrels. They stood stacked from floor to ceiling, and some had spigots protruding out. As I made my way through the room, I heard a peculiar scratching noise from somewhere beyond the next doorway. I tightened my grip on the dagger. The leather on the handle pressed against my palm as my knuckles turned white. I cautiously advanced, my lamp guiding the way.

The scratching grew louder, filling the room with an eerie cacophony until I stood at the threshold, frozen in shock. What I saw before me was not a rat, but a grotesque hybrid of a rodent and a human. Its mangy fur clung to its wiry frame, and its bloodshot eyes locked onto mine. I shrieked and dropped the lamp. The light didn’t go out, but it bounced on the ground before rolling behind me. Instinctively, I turned to head out of the cellar. Before I could get far, the creature pounced on me from behind.

I barely managed to keep my face from slamming into the ground, but in that brief struggle, I noticed that the creature was slightly shorter than me. Sharp claws dug into my back, causing me to scream in pain.

Am I going to die again? Pain radiated from my back. No! Not again. This time, I’m fighting for my life!

I rolled over and swung the dagger at the creature. It fell to the side, its claws shredding more of my back, but my dagger cut its forearm. Freed, I scrambled to my feet away from the creature. When I turned around, I saw it licking the wound I caused.

“Yes. Fight. Make good mate.” Its raspy voice sent a shiver down my bleeding spine. Then I got a good look at it and wished I hadn’t. The creature reminded me of a werewolf from horror movies, except it wasn’t a wolf, but a rat instead. It was also completely naked, allowing me to see it was obviously male, and his statement of a mate made my eye twitch. “Yes, good mate.”

I gagged. Anything but that.

I started backpedaling, keeping the dagger raised and pointed at the creature. He crept on all fours towards me. When I made it to the threshold of the first room, the rat monster leaped, claws outstretched. I swiped the blade across my body while holding it with both hands. The dagger stabbed through one of the creature’s hands, but he still tackled me.

I grunted as I hit the ground. The monster stood over me, pulling the dagger out of his hand. He threw the blade away and grinned at me. I kicked him in the gut and scrambled towards the ladder.

I need to get out of here.

A clawed hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back, throwing me into a shelf full of wine bottles. Also, he gave me four cuts on my shoulder. They rattled as I tried to stay on my feet. The creature held his claws out as he marched up to me. When he got close to me, I grabbed one of the wine bottles by my head and swung for his head.

He leaned back, and my attack missed. As my arm crossed my body, he grabbed my wrist and slashed it with his claws. I dropped the bottle, and it crashed against the stone floor. He took another step towards me and stepped on a shard of glass. He flinched back, and I took the opportunity to shove him even further.

The glass didn’t puncture my shoes as I ran over it to get away from the monster, but he followed me. I grabbed one of the shelves and tried to throw it at the creature, hoping to do some severe damage. The shelves toppled onto the rat monster. Bottles of liquid metal and other wine bottles hammered against him but didn’t do visible damage. They did, however, shatter as they hit the ground, leaving a rather nasty trap of shattered glass surrounding him. He shrugged off the shelves as he narrowed his eyes on me.

Good, that should at least give me the time to run away.

Before I could run, the creature pounced for me again. I ducked underneath, but as I stood up to run after he sailed over me, he pounced again as soon as he hit the ground. He tackled me onto all the broken glass from the shelf.

I felt all the glass stab into every part of my body. My head, my back, arms, and legs. There was nothing I could do but scream. The rat monster didn’t take pity on me as he opened his jaws and bit into my shoulder. I felt his teeth scrape against my bones.

He released me from his bite and crawled off me. “Strong mate survives.” He turned and walked away.

I didn’t pay much attention to what he said as my shoulder burned and my vision blurred. After all that, I’m still going to die. Glimmer was right. I would do something stupid on my first day.

Compatible host. No system found. Sufficient cosmic energy.

What? There was no voice, just a simple message in a small blue box in the center of my vision.

Installing… 1%