The walls were what I noticed first. A defensive boundary made of stone and mortar that was at least 3-stories tall. I took care when I saw the guard towers raised high up compared to the rest of the fortress-like town, with the exception of a large building tucked near a corner of a more fortified area.
The settlement was decently-sized and cleaner than I honestly expected (and that was a relief), with architecture leaning toward the Romanesque style—including the smaller buildings.
Considering I had no idea what passed for paperwork in this world or if there even was some type identification travelers carried, I never even considered going through the front gate where I saw guards posted. No, instead, I observed a part of the town walls, quickly got the timing of patrol patterns, and sneaked in.
Easy as pie considering it was evening and the guards still didn't have their change of shift yet. The men in leather armor were clearly distracted by the idea of supper after they were off guard-duty.
It made how heavily fortified the place was kind of useless, considering my ease of getting in under the radar, but I suppose not everyone could fly. Anyway, it was to my benefit that it was easy to get into this town without using the gate and being confronted by the local guards.
Keeping my hood up, I glanced around, taking note of the time I arrived.
I needed to figure out where the library was and the best way to get information was visiting the local waterhole—more inconspicuous than asking townspeople randomly, anyway. It's not like this really was a game; most locals were wary of strangers unlike how NPCs were depicted in RPGs.
Going by that logic, I needed to find a tavern. Even if I hadn't had a quick bird's eye view of the town, I would have only needed to follow the noise of boisterous crowds to find the "entertainment" district. And the smell of liquor was another major clue, as I walked onto the road and got a whiff of sour stomach acid and unwashed bodies.
Clearly, some people were already drunk as hell despite the fact it had been less than an hour since sunset.
Seriously, I just wanted to get to some books even though it's probably too late to enter the place openly.
I'm still fairly sure what people usually do in bars is why I ended up in Gaellia. Unfortunately, the familiar cocktail of odors did not even bring back a hint of memory; the evening before I woke up in this new world was still a blank.
"'Ey, you got a copper to spare, lad?"
Pulled away from the distracted contemplation of my memory blank, I looked up at the rough voice that sounded in front of me.
The man, clearly one of the early drunks, seemed to brighten when we met eyes—
"S'rry, lass. Y're a tall one aren't ya."
Oh, good lord. I knew exactly where this was heading.
The man took a slightly tipsy step toward me. "Hey, beauty, why don't we get to know each 'ther?"
"Not interested," I said in my blandest tone.
Wanting to get on with finding the library, I made to just move around the drunkard. Unfortunately, the man who accosted me clearly did not agree and reached to grab my arm.
"'Ey now I—"
I judo flipped the ruffian, clapped my hands clean, before continuing on with a huff of irritation.
It's not exactly the first time I was hit on but I really disliked guys who didn't understand "no" really did mean "no." I lived in a college town along with my baby sister, so it was a sensitive subject for me, even if I knew Victoria had practically gelded people for less. Richie's sister was this tiny Chinese girl who had way too many guys interested in her (though, she was cute), some of which were persistent pests that Richie usually bribed me to shoo off.
(Even if Felicity was enough of a friend I would have done it without the free burritos.)
I stepped forward and spun back, clearly aware the ruffian had gotten up and was going to attack me from behind.
Slapping away his haymaker, I spoke up:
"No—"
Knuckles jabbed at his throat.
"—means NO—"
I bitch-slapped him—
"—Motherfucker!"
—and finished off with a front thrust kick to his torso.
I took a deep inhale as I walked away to try to calm myself down. This is why I hated going out; give me a webnovel update to read any day over dealing with people.
[Nori.]
'What?' I quickly took another inhale, forcing myself to chill out when I heard the tone I used. 'Sorry, what's up?'
[You leveled up again. I managed to finish the HUD and, Nori… this is not Crown City. There is no library here.]
… Where the hell am I, then?