The interior of the farmhouse was barren, to say the least. The walls were stocked with voids where picture frames had once hung. Scrapes on the wooden floor showing that furniture had once stood there causing slight bumps to form in the flooring over the years.
If felt more as if this was a house just being moved into. He was half expecting to see dozens of opened boxes with all her knickknacks within just waiting to be unpacked.
"I'm," she sniffled "sorry you had to see that," the redhaired woman said as she handed a glass of water to Noah just as he finished wiping his face down with a wetted towel.
While it didn't do much to rid himself of the more deeply inset grime, it did enough to help him look at least less like a bum when looked in the face.
"It's alright," Noah softly smiled to the woman, thankfully taking the glass before downing half of it, quenching this bodies thirst. "It's never good to hold in your tears." A sombre, knowing expression took to him.
He had enough experience with his own tears to know just how true it was. No matter how strong he tried to act, he would only end up breaking down days, weeks maybe even months later. And by then he would only be a depressed wreck were it not for his own supporters getting him out of those tough times.
Liora wiped her nose with the back of her hand while seating herself across from Noah. Her dinning room table being the only amenity in the dinning room apart from a set of glassware, and even then there was only enough for two people.
"If…" She sniffed, "if you don't mind me asking. *sniff* Why do that? I… you don't even know me and yet you comforted me."
Noah tilted his head to the side as he thought about it, soon his lips curled softly. "I don't like seeing women cry."
Liora mouth fell open just slightly, her tired eyes widening a little before she let out a self-deprecating snort, "I'm no woman." She whined, "I'm just an old hag on a dying farm now."
Noah rose his brows, eyeing Liora up and down, not seeing what part of her could be accounted as a 'hag.' If anything, he would call her mature with plump curves with just a bit of fat around her belly add that in with her soft, angled face and plump lips giving her a very mature, and dare he say, attractive atmosphere to her.
"Ma'am, you are far from a hag. Trust me, I've run into enough in my life to know what they look like. You are the furthest thing I've ever seen from a hag. Too pretty, you see." He winked at her.
Liora looked thoroughly dumbfounded. It had been so long since someone called her pretty, and it came from a dirty boy while she was layered in wine and tears with her clothing still stuck to her body.
She wasn't pretty. That's just how she felt.
"Thank you for saying that," she mumbled, "but you don't need to lie to me. No one would find me attractive anymore. Not with my body like this…" she pinched her belly and looked down to her sagging chest. "I'm too old for compliments like that."
"Why would I lie?" Really, he had no reason to, compared to some of the younger girls he'd seen back home, she'd probably be stepping over them on a bad day and they'd separate like the red sea, get on their knees and start chanting her name on a good day.
"I truly do see you as quite the beauty miss. Yes, you may be on the more mature side and pardon my French, but I find that quite sexy. You've got this more experienced feeling to you than others and picking between the two, I'd go for you any day of the week."
Liora once again looked flabbergasted by his wording, albeit, the flabbergasting didn't last long before her pale, freckled skin grew beet red and steam practically burst from her head "S-stop that!" She stuttered raising her hands to cup her cheeks. "I'm not something to be picked by anyone anymore. I've had my time." She'd be lying to herself if she said the compliments from this stranger didn't cause her heart to beat a little faster.
"I've done everything I've dreamed about and more. My time is up." Noah could see the sadness buried deep within her eyes. "Now I've just got to wait until I pass by the old crook road and join my husband in death."
Noah could only frown, "Is that what you really want? To just die?"
Liora lifted her eyes to him, the weakest smile he'd ever seen plastered on her face, "I've got nothing left. I have nothing. In a few months I won't even have a roof over my head. No sane man would marry a used woman like me, not at my age, not when I've already birthed a child. Death is the only thing left for me."
Now he was truly feeling worry for her. All he could feel coming from her was the prelude to a terrible event. One that he'd kick himself for if he ever let happen.
"You still have time don't you? To harvest some of the wheat?" he'd overheard a little of her conversation with that haughty elf girl. Though he didn't have much of the context for what it was about.
Liora shook her head, "I… I can't cut that much, I'm… I'm not a farmer, I barely know how to work a sickle let alone a grind stone… Even… even if I could hire someone, it would take too long. I just can't afford it," the last few words caused Liora to slump into her seat, eyes growing moist once again as tears began to flow freely.
"I can't do it… I never wanted this…" her hands rose to her face and covered her eyes, her paled lips trembling on the verge of weeps. "why did this have to happen? I did everything right. And yet I'm punished like this?" She began to talk to herself, letting her arms fall to her sides staring off through the wooden ceiling into the sky above. "What do I tell Harv?..."
Noah had his own issues, no doubt. And many questions he wanted answered, none more pressing than where he was and who's body he'd found himself controlling. But he could just not let this stand, her before him was a woman on the verge of breaking down completely.
His own issues could take a backseat for once.
"Is there truly nothing you can do to save this place?"
Liora lowered her eyes to him and shook her head, "nothing. This farm's doomed to be destroyed and my husbands legacy with it. I've sold everything of worth just to keep taxes up. The rest my daughter took with her."
Noah's cheek twitched at the mention of her daughter taking their parents money and running off with it. Just what child does that?
A terrible one, that's who
His teeth ground together, he refused to believe that there was nothing to be done for her. He tilted his head to look out the window over the shimmering waves of golden crop that expanded far into the distance. 'There must be something here.'
"Do you know if there are any precious minerals on the land? Things a prospector could dig up and sell to help with the staffing?"
She shrugged, "my husband tried before… all he found was dirt, worms and a spring far that way that he uses… used to water the crops." With a loud sigh, Liora slumped deeper into her seat, "this land is old… It's been picked clean by Harv's parents, grandparents and all those before them. All that's left is fertile soil."
"What about swapping to a different crop? Something fast growing and valuable."
"I can't, I don't have the seeds and the only fast growing crops out there need some special compost to even grow in the time I have left…" she trailed off at the end, looking to Noah with a weak smile. "There's nothing I can do. And there's nothing you can do. Thank you for acting like you care but please… stop… my path down the crook road is already determined. I'm not going to pretend it isn't."
"But-"
Liora shook her head to silence him, "don't. Nothing you say will change anything." Both went silent, Noah still wanting to say something, but finding nothing coming to his lips.
"Let's shift away from this depressing topic, why don't we?" Liora force a smile to her face and forced herself to sit up straight. "Why don't you tell me about yourself? What brought you so far into the boons and left you looking like you decided to tackle a goblin swarm?"
He didn't say anything initially, just taking in Liora's forced happiness before letting out a sigh. "I don't actually know where I am. Can't remember much of these last few weeks," a lie, "Just wandered around before finding myself asleep in your field by a big tree. When I woke up I saw your house in the distance and decided to come see if I could get pointed to the nearest village."
Her head bobbed along with his story, "I see. You were displaced by the war then? I hear things are getting heated on the fronts. Probably why they want the farm so bad…" she added in mumble.
'War? So, this isn't a peaceful time, great.'
"Yeah. It's… it's bad. I… I don't want to talk about it." He acted his best by gripping his arm and squeezing down hard on it, pretending to have actually seen the aftermath of this apparent war going on.
"I understand. Please don't force yourself to remember. I know how terrible it must have been for you." She softly spoke.
He felt like scum for tricking her like this but telling her he's a soul from another planet high jacking some random guys body wasn't an option just yet. He'd rather not have the first person he met think of him as some loon with a screw loose.
"If it is alright with you," she rose her voice, "there are plenty of empty rooms in this house. If you want you can stay in one of them. It may not be for long, but it will at least help you get back on your feet." Inwardly she added, 'and I'll at least have someone to talk to…'
Noah already had his response formed in a blink of an eye, "are you sure? I don' want to intrude."
"Oh, don't be." She waved her hand dismissively, "I may be wasting away. But I can at least take care of someone in need when they find themselves on my doorstep."
'I'm not the one in need.' Noah thought adding in, 'you are,' just after
"Then if it's alright with you. I will be intruding for a while," he bowed his head towards Liora who just grew a soft smile, the tiredness in her eyes never changing even a little.
"It is perfect for me… Right! How rude of me, I never got your name! I'm so sorry." She seemed genuinely distressed about that.
"Ah," Noah exclaimed, realizing his own folly, "Noah, my name is Noah Arcturus."
"Mmm, mmm," Liora hummed whilst nodding along. Her hand raising to pat her chest sending a ripple through her ample chest, "I am Liora Rostrea. It's a pleasure to meet you Noah." She just smiled and kept her squinted eyes looking at him.
"Same, ms. Rostrea."
Liora frowned at the added ms. But said nothing to dissuade him from using it. She was old enough for a boy to be using that on her, even if it made her feel older than she was.
***
Noah sighed as he pushed himself into the bathroom of Liora's house. She had kindly offered to prepare him a bath, even going so far as to refuse him when he said he'd been stuck with the dirt for so long that it could wait a while longer while she got herself cleaned up.
But he quickly sucked those words in when she looked absolutely offended by the notion of letting him stay so dirty in her house while she only had a few stains of her own wine covering her body. Which, he argued, was worse than what was possibly a few weeks' worth of dirt and grime.
And this was her house.
He leaned more to the 'it's her house, she has dibs on the bath,' side of things but when she forced the kicked puppy look on him, he had to relent, there was no way he could argue the fact.
Scratching his new beard, Noah looked around the relatively spacious bathroom. The bath itself over twice his size while there was ample room to walk around outside of the water. On the floor to the side was a small wooden bowl reminding him of something you'd find at an onsen back on his world.
The steam had begun to rise from the water surface, creating a layer of fine steam fog within the room that was slowly escaping through a window at the top of the room that lead outside.
He found it curious how Liora had gotten water in here, he couldn't see any taps or piping, nor any heating elements and yet when he dipped the tips of his fingers in the water, it felt warm to the touch.
Figuring out the technological stage this world was at was going to take a while. They didn't have any electricity from what he saw, so they weren't modern, not by any means. And the horse drawn carriage only furthered that notion.
Lifting the bowl, Noah scooped up water from the bath and poured it over his head, feeling the refreshing warmth coat and wash awy the upper layers of grime. He didn't see any soap either so he was only going to get so clean from pouring water over himself and scrubbing himself down with his hands.
Running a hand through his hair, Noah winced as he pulled against knots. God he wished he had shampoo. He was not going to enjoy such coarse hair.
He may be a man but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate the finer things in life, like a good, herbal conditioner. But hey, who was he to complain. He got a new landlord that ticked all his boxes and was even kind enough to take him in when he didn't even have anything to offer her.
With his body now mostly cleared of the larger chunks of the dirt and sweat--enough so that it wouldn't dirty the water for Liora—he decided it time to finally let his body soak in the warm encompassing waters, slowly lifting his leg over the side of the large tub letting his toes go first before lowering his leg, bringing in the other not long after before letting himself descend into the lukewarm waters.
"Haaa…" he sighed finding his eyes shutting while his head leaned back against the edge of the tub.
He wasn't tire or exhausted, not by any means. But who wouldn't do the same when in such luxurious comfort.
Though that didn't last long as his eyes opened to the ceiling above. 'Just how did this happen?' he found it genuinely curious. Of all the people to find themselves high jacking some blokes body in another, more than likely fantasy world, he found himself to be the last candidate to even be considered, and yet, here he was.
He wasn't killed. He didn't feel like he died. And he most certainly wasn't hit by the most popular form of world travel, a truck.
Snorting to himself he thought, 'yeah, I'm more concerned with the why was I brought here? I wasn't summoned.' He doubted his summoner would have just tossed him to a random field far away from themselves. If they did, they were a true, unadulterated, idiot.
Soon his thoughts came to fall on the event with Liora, her debt and fast approaching deadline by which to pay the exorbitant sum. How utterly hopeless she looked. He wanted to help her, but how could he? He barely knew anything about this world and how money was earned here.
He did have some experience gardening all things considered. Only that was for simple potted plants an entire field the size of a city was another monster in its own right. How Liora's husband had dealt with it, he didn't know.
It didn't seem they had any workers or farmhands. Which he found weird for a farm with a size like this. But then again, from what he heard this was a family run venture, they likely didn't want any outsiders messing about on their land.
Sighing once again he muttered, "no point worrying about it now…" and shut his eyes once again, letting the water open his pores and release the more deeply ingrained dirt that just a simple rinse couldn't get rid of.
He really hoped Liora was going to change the water when it was her turn…