The following day I woke up early and got out of bed. The stench of body odor filled my nose, and as much as I would love to blame it all on the bed, I knew some of the stink was me. I pulled off my pajamas and put on my normal clothes while going through my mental checklist of what I needed to do today.

Task one. Get more clothes, some weapons, and armor.

Task two. Register for the guild.

Task three. Join the guild.

Task four. Adventure.

I probably skipped some tasks with that, but I had the important stuff on there. Once dressed, I grabbed all my coins and jewelry and stuffed them in my pockets. I also needed to sell the jewelry. I’ll add that to task one. Then I left my room and locked the door behind me. I don’t want anybody stealing my bunny slippers.

Quickly walking down the stairs, I waved bye to Bridget and looked around the mostly empty early morning street. If I were a place that sells clothes, where would I be? Hmmm… I have no clue, so I’ll walk that way. I turned left and walked down the street to the city’s front gates. As I walked, I searched for anything building that had clothes, especially a place that didn’t have pink frilly clothes.

Along the way, I stumbled upon a jewelry shop that had just unlocked its doors. I stopped abruptly, went over to the building, and walked into it. The door hit a bell as it opened, and a short man with fuzzy hair and a monocle turned around and said, “Oh, well, good morning. Welcome to Blizzo’s Jewelry. I am Blizzo. How may I help you today?”

I waved a greeting to him, pulled the jewelry bag from my back pocket, and handed it to him.

Blizzo raised an eyebrow at my actions but took the bag and opened it. His eyes widened, and his heart began to race in his chest. He looked up at me and asked, “What are these for? Are you giving them to me or selling them?”

I signed, “Selling.”

The old man blinked, “Sorry, I don’t know what that means.”

I sigh and start to think about how to explain this to him.

“Might I hedge a guess and say you are trying to sell them? Correct?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Very well, come over here, and I’ll appraise them,” Blizzo said, waving me along. He walked behind a glass case and pulled out a wooden tablet and a small square cloth. I walked to the opposite side of the glass case as he dumped the jewelry on the wooden tablet and pulled out a magnifying glass.

He organized the jewelry from largest to smallest, with three necklaces, five bracelets, and three pairs of earrings. Examining the necklaces with the magnifying glass, he mumbled to himself about the quality of the jewelry. “Needs some repairs, here and … and there, but otherwise is of good quality. And this one needs a good polish … hmm.”

He went on like that for ten minutes before saying, “These are some very good quality jewelry, young miss. Some repairs need to be done to them, which will affect the price. How much are you looking to get out of these pieces?”

I shrugged and waved a hand for him to offer something.

Blizzo cleared his throat and said, “Well, with the repairs needed, I can go as high as ten gold.”

I stayed silent and did nothing but stare at him. His heart rate never increased, so he can definitely go higher.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Clearing his throat, Blizzo said, “Well, clearly, you want something higher than that. Let me think here,” I could hear his heart rate rise just a little, “I can go as high as twenty.”

I tapped my fingers against the glass impatiently.

“Twenty-five?”

My finger tapping grew in pace.

“Look, I can go as high as thirty, but no more. I’m taking a loss at that point,” Blizzo said nervously. I stopped tapping my fingers and thought for a moment. He can go higher, but he wasn’t lying about the loss. I guess thirty gold would be enough. I nod, and Blizzo smiles happily, “Excellent, I’ll get your payment right now.” He then walked to the back of the store and opened a safe with the combination four left, eight right, fifteen left, sixteen right, and twenty-three left. He pulled out the thirty coins and plopped them in my old jewelry bag before returning them to me.

I took the bag of coins happily and nodded to him in thanks before leaving. Now with that done, I just need clothes and armor. I walked up the main street a little further, and a young woman walked out of one of the buildings and yelled, “Hey, miss! Do you need a haircut?”

I turned to her and shrugged. I didn’t know. Having messy hair doesn’t bother me.

“Yes, you do. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” the woman insisted and waved me over.

I thought for a moment more and shrugged again, going to her for a haircut. She sat me down in a chair and put an apron over me, saying, “My gods miss. What happened? You look like someone took a steak knife to your hair.”

I nodded. That was precisely what happened.

The woman rolled her eyes and said, “Dear lords above and below. This is going to be tricky.” For the next ten minutes, the woman looked at my hair and played with it a bit before finally picking up some sheers and cutting my hair. She cut my hair on the sides and back short and did the same with my bangs before she evened out the rest of my hair and quickly rinsed it with some water.

“There you go, darling. You look more like a man now than a young lady, but that’s the best I could do for you. Check it out in the mirror. Let me know what you think,” the woman said, and I turned in my chair to look her in the eyes. And she gasped, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were—”

I waved her off and stood, taking off the apron. I pulled out my coins and looked at her expectantly.

“Oh, um, that will be five copper for the haircut.”

I didn’t have any copper, so I gave her a silver. The woman sighed, walked over to a drawer, and unlocked it with a key around her neck. She put the silver coin in there and began counting fifteen copper coins. She handed them to me, and I put them in my coin bag before leaving.

“Have a good day, miss!” the woman called after me, and I waved goodbye to her. I kept walking up the street until I finally found what I was looking for! A clothes shop. I walked up and into the building. I can’t see clothes, but I know what shape they take on. So, this should be easy to do.

“Hello,” a young man said from across the store, “Welcome to Charles Clothing and Tailer. I’m Charles. How may I help you today?”

I walked down the shop to him and gestured to my clothes and then to the clothes around me.

“You want more clothes like the one’s you’re wearing?”

I nodded.

“Well, follow me, miss,” Charles said, proffering me an arm to hold on to as he walked around the counter. I waved my hand, rejecting his invitation. He nodded politely and just walked over to a rack of clothes. “Over here, miss,” he called out as though I couldn’t see him … well, I see why he’s acting this way now.

I walked over to the clothes rack, and he picked out three sets of clothes, “These are all just like the clothes you’re wearing now. Simple blue and black tunic and trousers. Do you need anything else?”

I happily took the clothes and thought for a moment before motioning to put up a hood, hoping he would understand what I meant. After a minute, Charles gasped and nodded, “Ah, yes. Are you perhaps looking for a cloak?”

I nod excitedly.

“Right this way, miss,” Charles said, leading me down another row of clothes and to another rack. He pulled two cloaks from the rack and said, “These are black and green. I think they would go quite nicely with the other clothes you buy. Will that be all, miss? Or would you like to buy something else?”

I shook my head and took the cloaks from him.

“Very well, miss, that will be five silver,” Charles said, sounding almost disappointed.

I threw the clothes over my shoulder, pulled out my coin bag, and handed him the five silver coins. Leaving me with eight silver coins left. Charles took them gratefully and said, “Come back again soon, my dear. Do you need me to show you to the door?”

I shook my head and walked out of the store. The streets were starting to fill with people at this point, and I had my hands full of fresh clothes. So, I decided to return to my room and drop everything off before searching for an weapons dealer or blacksmith. Plus, I was hungry and wanted something to eat before my stomach digested itself.

***