When I got here I only vaguely remembered the manor each player is given at one point in the story line. After a few we’ll placed words to some passerby’s I was able to confirm it.

Most players never used their manor as it was just a staging area for a quest line given early on in the base game. It had very little use for anything other than role play but if you spent real world money you could upgrade your home to have all the crafting stations, resource nodes, and quite a few holiday decorations.

Of course I bought them all.

I must have spent more money on this game then I did rent. It was basically an addition. That happened to be one of the reasons I was adjusting to this world so well. I did often wonder what it would be like to live in this world but I never went so far as to wish to be transported here.

All in all, it wasn’t the worst place I could have been trapped.

If I was going to be living here then I might as well make myself comfortable. What would a mansion be without a staff to maintain it.

Which brings us here, asking some random block head for his daughter in recompense to all his rudeness.

It wasn’t as if I was super mad at this moron. I just wanted to teach him a lesson and I really could use a maid... I mean I really don’t like how this man must be treating his daughter. If he was this rude to me then he could be a nightmare as a father/boss.

“You want to hire my daughter to work for you?” The bartender asked, now trying his hardest to speak clearly and nicely.

“Yeah, I could use an extra hand at my manor and if that doesn’t work she could always just stand around and look pretty.”

The red haired waitress I now knew as Anna fidgeted with her fingers and her face turned bright pink when I said the last bit.

Yeah, I probably had a chance with this girl. If she turned out to be a terrible maid I really could just have her follow me around for a bit of companionship. I wouldn’t dare make a move on her if she worked for me but if she can’t cook or clean, she wouldn’t be working then, would she.

“Don’t you go toying around with my daughter. She may be a bit hysterical when it comes to the opposite sex but that doesn’t mean you can string her along and fill her head with nonsense.” The bartender just said some weird stuff now.

“Miss Anna, would you like to work for me? I won’t force you to come back with me to the city if you don’t want to.”

“Yes.” Anna whispered down at the floor.

“I’m going to need you to be a bit more confident than that if you want me to believe you.”

“Yes, I’ll go with you.” The woman spoke clearly while still looking down at the floor.

“Hmm... That doesn’t really sound all that believable now...”

“Yes! I want to work for you! It would be an honor to work in the city and an even grander honor to serve the great hero Xylia!” She met my eyes and gave me a determined look.

“That works for me. Meet me at the north entrance to town tomorrow a bit after sun rise.”

Anna nodded her head adamantly.

“Pack light. We’re going to be traveling fast and I can buy you new things in the city.”

With those last words I turned and made my way to the door with my bottle of expensive whiskey.

“I may be back for a room tonight but don’t hold your breath.” I called over my shoulder as I left through the door.

Now I need to wast some time and get hammered tonight. Where could a gal go for some fun in a small town like this?

There’s nothing.

I scoured the whole town and couldn’t find a single form of entertainment.

I refuse to sit on the pier and fish.

I won’t bother eating in a restaurant all day.

And I definitely won’t waste my time regurgitating drivel with the small town peasants.

If I remember right there were groups of roaming centaurs to the north. The centaur clans were always at odds with the human populations. It was a long waged war against the human incursion into the unblemished wilds. Or something like that.

I wonder what it would be like to ride a centaur? It might be like those bucking bull games you find at bars.

The afternoon came all too soon. I managed to find a herd of roaming centaur warriors staking out a mining camp like 10 kilometers north of the fishing village but after the first centaur managed to buck me off, they realized they couldn’t even irritate me with their spears and ran away like a bunch of babies.

I couldn’t understand their language but the one I was riding was definitely crying.

After they got away I only spotted one more group but the second they noticed me they ran away shouting something I was sure would have translated into an unfortunate nickname.

All in all it was a good waste of a day. Now it was time to have a good drink and relax for the evening.

I wonder if that mermaid is still hanging around the shore where I left her.

I woke up with a curled up mermaid in my arms somewhere at the bottom of the lake. It’s a good thing I don’t need to breath.

I don’t remember swimming in the lake last night. I started drinking on a bench near the shore in town. I remember a couple of fishermen hitting on me and then realizing I was drinking level 80 whiskey. After that they cheered me on and brought out a could of beers of their own.

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There was something about betting me I couldn’t catch a mermaid when I let slip I was meeting one in the morning but after that it’s a bit of a blur.

At least my body doesn’t get hangovers. If it did then I would probably be hating myself right about now.

The mermaid seemed to be sleeping when I started to pull away from her but quickly woke and clung on to me.

I pointed up to the surface and she nodded reluctantly letting me swim up. She followed and clung to me once more when I breached the water.

Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen a male merfolk. I wonder if they don’t need men to procreate and if they form bonds with each other like this one seems to have bonded with me?

“I need to go on a trip and I won’t be back for a long time, okay. I don’t know if you can understand me but when I come back I’ll come find you and we can swim some more.”

The mermaid nodded like she understood and let me go with a sad expression.

It didn’t stop her from following me back to shore. We had swam pretty far and I was now on the opposite side of the town from where I started.

The sun was well past the horizon and I needed to stretch a bit and wake up.

Wet clothes was an easy fix. My hair however, remained drenched.

To dry off my head I used a bolt of linen from my bank.

The bag I found on my person when I first came to this world contained many treasures. One of which was an item that connected me to my bank inventory at will. Inside my bank vault I had an entire maxed out page full of crafting materials.

I had found many impromptu uses for crafting items that were normally useless in the game. One such being that bolts of varying quality of fabric had a bunch of uses. I used linen to dry my hair on more than one occasion. I used wool sheets to make a simple sleeping mat. I had even found out that the high tier fabrics like spider silk were water proof. They made for great tent building.

I don’t really need to sleep now that I have this unique body but I still do it on most nights to relax.

If I am in a rush to make it to the next city I sometimes keep running all night for several days in a row.

Shit, it’s pretty late in the morning at this point. I may have wasted time trying to let my hair air dry the rest of the way. I can now appreciate hair driers.

Sure enough, Anna is waiting for me at the gate. She doesn’t look so shy standing there talking with some aunties who are out and about. I think this is the first time I’ve seen her smiling like that.

I hope she doesn’t hate me for basically abducting her.

I’m sure life in the city is going to be fun. I could buy her anything she needs to get settled in and I plan on paying her a decent wage.

Wait, I have no idea what a wage is for a live in maid. I don’t even know what it would be back on earth.

I’m going to have to do some research. In the mean time I can pay her whatever she wants. I am in no way strapped for cash.

“Hey, Anna.” I smiled at her as I walked up but the smile on her face changed into something I’m not sure how to describe. “Are you ready to set off? I’m not sure how far the mountains are from here, but we should be able to make it past the mining camp tonight. We might even be able to make it to the guard outpost a bit further past.”

Anna’s face reddened and she focused on the ground at her feet. “I... think that that may be a bit far for one days travel.”

Really? I made it close to the mining camp yesterday in only a couple hours. I figured we were going to take it easy but that seems a bit of an exaggeration. “I think if we jog at a steady pace we could make it to at least the mining camp.” I know I ran there last time but if we jog at a third that pace it doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Anna’s eyes shot up to me and she looked at me like I just threatened her life. “That’s almost 40 miles!”

She stopped whispering again. I wonder if she’s just acting shy around me for some reason?

“So, if we run at a slow jog of 12 minutes a mile for 40 miles we could make it before sunset easy.” After doing some quick math in my head it seemed doable. We have about 8 hours before the sun gets low on the horizon.

“I... I-I don’t think I can run that long...” And now she’s back to whispering.

“Look, I need you to loosen up around me. Don’t worry about upsetting me or something. I don’t get mad easy... under normal circumstances... I think your father just struck a nerve. I promise I won’t mistreat you in any way.” I smiled as brightly as I could at her.

That only caused her to get even more flustered.

“I still don’t think I can run very far. If we get a wagon we could make it to the mining camp tomorrow. But I’m not saying you should buy a wagon on my account. If I chip in... I don’t think I have enough to pay a fair share but if you take it out of my wages...” Anna rambled and I had to cut her off.

“Nope. We don’t need a wagon. I think I can get us there in no time at all. Do you trust me?”

“Trust... I don’t have a reason to not trust you but I don’t know how we could...” I cut her off again.

“Never mind. It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

“Wha... ahhh!” Anna’s response turned into a scream as I scooped her into my arms and made sure she had her luggage still held tightly.

“Off we go!” With that, I started running full sprint into the distance all while Anna held tightly to my chest.

If I’m running like this, we can make it no problem.