The public bath was one of the most popular spots in town. The bath had a natural hot spring as its source of water which made it cheaper than heating water with firewood! As of that, most people used it!
The cost for one person's entry was 5 copper coins, it included both a shower and a hot pool.
"Welcome!"
When Cain and Sofia entered through the door they were greeted by an old woman, she was the owner. The entrance wasn't that wide, just enough to fit two doors and a desk in between them!
On the Right door was written, "Women"
On the left door was written, "Men"
Without waiting, Cain returned the greeting to the old lady and paid her for two people.
"Thank you for having us, Two people please!" Cain was in a hurry and just put a silver coin on the desk in front of the old lady. Quick as the wind he rushed into the men's bath.
The old lady looked at him rushing and then turned toward Sofia.
He he he, the old woman hardy managed to laugh, "You have a unique man at your hands, I have never seen someone with white hair!"
Sofia blushed for a moment as she dropped her head and walked toward the women's bath, "No, he..." The old lady wasn't able to hear what Sofia was mumbling.
Inside the men's bath...
"Ahhh! It feels good to be clean!" Cain was stretching inside the hot tub after showering.
Looking around him Cain noticed that he was getting weird looks from the men there. 'Yeah, It's the 15 charisma!' The stats weren't there just for showing off!
Strength, The raw power of the muscles, dictates your strength and speed!
Dexterity, The raw flexibility of the body, dictates your agility and body control!
Constitution, the raw structural integrity of your body, dictates your endurance and durability!
Intelligence, The raw brain strength, dictates your thought speed and calculative ability!
Wisdom, The raw spirit power, dictates your will strength, and intuition!
Charisma, The raw personality power, dictates your physical beauty and your way with words.
This was just Cain's way of seeing things, but the stat he hated the most was Charisma. Besides just using it for persuasion and intimidation, it is mostly used for seduction!
10 is the average, what most people consider as decent looking. higher is prettier and lower is uglier! usually, only people of the opposite gender can notice the difference between 11 and 12 or 8 and 9!
15 is the second break-point when even people from the same gender will notice you as attractive! Cain now was at that point and it is why he was getting weird looks in the men's bath. That also meant that the reaction from the other gender will be just as strong.
20 is when the thing gets scary and weird, and it's the part when Cain started hating the charisma stat. You become attractive, even to other creatures! It is said that just the sight, for a split second, of a 20cha woman's ankle, will cause a man to go crazy! Just the whispers of a 20cha man will brainwash a woman!
That stat was the main reason monsters like Succubus and Incubus are dangerous as hell, they have 20 charisma!
Of course, other stats also have crazy stories about what 20 in them could achieve.
20 strength and you can bend metals with your bare hands.
20 dexterity and you could survive your neck being twisted.
20 constitution and you could survive an Axe-strike to the head.
20 Intelligence and you could predict the close future
20 Wisdom and you can ignore a 20 charisma seduction!
As he started to feel a bit uncomfortable, Cain decided to get out. It's been just over an hour.
'Now that I think about it, didn't that mage have a 16 Charisma?' Cain thought as he exited the men's bath.
"Took you so long!" The old woman said to him as soon as she spotted him.
"Sorry, I had to make sure I was fully clean!" He replied as he was collecting his dirty clothes.
"It's not about me..." She sighed, "You made the little girl wait!" She said looking at the seats on the other side of the room.
"Little girl?" Cain said in confusion, who? He turned to look at the seats as well.
The only one sitting there, a single girl with emerald green eyes was staring Cain down. Her coal-black hair was tied into a twin tail below her ears. She was wearing a long one-piece robe, tied at the waist with a belt, that looked similar to what Mabel would wear.
Above her head, the system wrote,
Cain was breath-taken for a second before shoving the thought to the back of his head, 'Use that 18 intelligence and actively avoid the thought!' he repeated in his head.
"You still here?" He said asked while actively avoiding looking her in the eyes, those green eyes were just too much for him.
"I haven't thanked you properly yet!" she whispered, looking down and avoiding eye contact.
Hearing that Cain could guess, he walked to her.
"You don't have to thank me, I just helped a fellow adventurer!" He said, trying to make it look like an expected matter.
"No, I will surely..." She stood trying to speak but was interrupted with a loud rumbling, Growwwl! It was coming from inside her, echoing through the entire room.
She fell back on her seat, her face was bright red, small dots of tears in her eyes, almost crying from embarrassment.
"Hehehe! I will take care of your clothes cleaning, it's on the house!" The old woman was the first one to break the silence, "You two should go grab something for lunch!" She told them, looking straight at Cain.
Cain started at the old woman with a menacing look, 'You old hag!' Cain did have more plans ahead so he had neither the time nor money to waste. That thought suddenly cleared, and his mind surrendered to the fact it was his mistake for starting this whole thing!
"She is right!" Cain said and turned toward the old woman, "Thanks, we will leave our clothes in your hands!"
At this time, Sofia was still looking down, her head burning.
"Come on, We still have to return to the guild in the afternoon!" Cain said as he helped Sofia stand up.
The duo headed back to the Inn for lunch, attracting so much attention on their way, that even the Shy Sofia had to point it out.
"We're getting weird looks all around!" She said quietly, sticking closer to Cain.
"Well, we both have 15+ Charisma!" He replied without thinking about it, this sparked interest in Sofia.
'How did he know?' Her intuition started to kick in, even so, she feared to ask him directly.
It didn't take them long to get back to the inn, "Evan, Lunch for two people, please! Put some extra in as well!" Cain called as soon as they sat down at a table and Evan replied "On the way!"
Cain intended to save money for weapons and armors, that is why he lived a full day with a single meal, the two copper coin dinner!
This lunch he ordered cost 3 copper coins, for a total of 6 copper coins.
As they were waiting for the food...
"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, I'm Cain Lisworth a swordsman, you can call me Cain!" Cain was the one who started the conversation.
"Sofia...Sofia Lawrence, you can call me just Sofia!" She replied nervously.
"What a beautiful name, Sofia for wisdom and Lawrence for the bright one. A befitting name for a sage!" Cain replied complimenting her name.
"But I'm a failure who couldn't even use a single spell!" She said, overwhelming sadness in her voice.
'Of course, you wouldn't be able to use it! It's the person who taught you the [Fireball] spell fault, did he expect a level one to be able to use it?' Cain thought, not speaking out loud as it might hurt her feelings.
"You will be able to eventually, don't rush it!" He replied before adding, "Right now I'm staying at this Inn, what about you?" He asked.
She stood silent, not a single word left her mouth. She just looked at the table, frozen in place.
'Probably I shouldn't pry any further?' Cain thought, quickly changing his mind.
"I asked where are staying right now?" He asked again with a firmer voice, 'I have a bad feeling about this
"Here's the food, be careful it's still hot!" Evan said as he put the food on the table, Cain was still staring the silent Sofia in the face.
From her silence, he could guess. He had lived like that for a period when he was starting as an adventurer in his previous life.
"Evan..." Cain said.
"What? Do you need anything else?" Evan replied with a puzzled face.
"Prepare a room, she is moving here!" Cain said. Evan gave him a suspicious look and then nodded in agreement, "I will have it ready by tonight!"
Sofia's silence was the answer, she isn't staying at any place, AKA the streets! Well, that should be expected if she couldn't complete quests.
The start is hard for everyone, F-rank quests don't give a lot of money so newbies have to rely on joining parties to make a living and survive for the first few levels! This is especially true for mages who need to rely on someone to buy them time in fights!
With Sofia not being able to use magic, she was a deadweight for any party she joins.
This is a worrying situation, 'If I left her like this she might die from starvation or cold by the winter' Cain thought, thinking about his past.
"You know you can't keep living like this, right?" Cain asked with a serious tone.
Sofia didn't dare to reply to him. Her face twisted in shame. She just nodded.
"Answer me honestly, otherwise I wouldn't be able to help you get up! How much money do you have left?"
Silently, Sofia pulled a single copper coin from her pocket and put it on the table.
'After paying for her room, dinner, as well as for me. We will be left with only 4 copper coins' Cain thought after instantly calculating the costs.
The room was 1 silver coin, for two it was 2 silver coins
two dinners and lunches, three copper coins each as he can't force Sofia into his hyper-saving regime, a total of 1 silver coin and 2 copper coins a day.
The total cost for their daily life combined was 3 silver coins and 2 copper coins.
Cain thought about it carefully before deciding.
"Can you do me a favor?" Cain asked her, she naturally replied with yes.
"Finish eating quickly, we're returning to the guild!" Cain said.
"For what?" She asked curiously.
"I have a rank-up exam, forming a party, and finishing your toad quest before the day's end!" Cain declared