Oliver and I arrive at the village entrance.
As we enter the village I see a young girl with short pink hair who doesn't seem to have hit puberty yet, sat by the side of the dirt road, wearing a dress that you'd typically see female innkeepers wearing in fantasy series.
She has pale skin. She looks very Caucasian, I must say.
She looks our way and notices us. She gets up and jogs towards us.
"Uh-um, hello.", she says to me with a small bow.
"Hey.", I reply with a gentle nod of my head.
She turns her attention to Oliver and says to him:
"Oliver, you're late. My father had asked you to get the things from the shed before he left, but he's gone now"
"Damnit", he says frustrated, gripping his fist in the air.
She exhales and says to Oliver:"I guess we'll have to wait till he gets back in 2 days."
"Yea, I guess so.", he replies disheartened.
Suddenly, Oliver's mood changes. He dawns a smile, lifts his head up and says:
"Anyway, I met someone in the forest this afternoon, his name is Chaz.", he says to the girl while gesturing toward me.
"H-hello Chaz.", she says to me.
As I'm about to respond, he interrupts and says:
"Chaz, this is the person I told you about. The one who also has a 'D.' in her name, Sparrow D. Clara"
"Nice to meet you Clara.", I say.
"Likewise.", she responds.
Oliver leans into my ear.
"Don't worry, she's just shy with meeting new people. Once you get to know her, she'll be the devil.", he whispers into my ear.
"By the way, could you please do me a favour, Clara.", he says with a smile.
"What is it?", she asks
"Chaz here doesn't have a place to stay for the night or money, so do you mind letting him stay at the inn?F-for tonight only Though.", he says with a nevous grin.
Hold on, I never told him that I had nowhere to stay. Well, he's not wrong, but I never told him. Phew, I'll just leave them to negotiate and I'll take whatever I get.
Clara glares at Oliver and the air seems to have become thinner and harder to breathe.
I'm nervous. I look toward Oliver and he has nervous sweats all over his face as he takes a big gulp.
Clara turns her eyes to me, giving a frightening side-eye and I grin nervously. She then takes a deep breath and calms down."Phew, ok. Only for tonight. My dad's coming back in 2 days and he'll kill me if he finds out that I let someone lodge at the inn for free." She says.
It appears that I've been gifted somewhere to sleep.
Thank you Mr. Oliver*Imaginary salute*.
"Anyway, I need to head home, it's going to be dark in a few minutes.", Oliver says as he blitzes down the pathway.
"Ok, then. So let's go.", she tells me.
"I'm sorry about that, it's just that my dad is really strict when it comes to our inn's business."
"I understand." I reply.
We walk in silence for a bit before she asks me:
"Where are you from?"
I tell her that that I don't know where I'm from and that only thing I remember is waking up in the forest.
She was quite surprised.
"I see.", she says.
She doesn't say anything else and after a few minutes we arrive at a double-storey building with a board above a set of double doors that has engravings of a cup of beer, a plate of food and a bed.
"Definitely an inn.", I think to myself.
Clara then tells me to follow her.
She leads me across a room that's designed somewhat like a bar, before climbing a flight of stairs.
We arrive at the second floor. There's a hallway with 7 doors on each side with some nice decoration plants.
Clara shows me to my room-which is the last room to the right.Before she leaves, she asks if I want anything to eat and I reply with a "No, thanks. I'm ok.".I don't want to impose anymore than I have.
She leaves, I enter the room with the key that she'd given me and close the door.
It's a simple room with windows covered by some white curtais next to a queen sized bed that had a small drawer next to it with a small reading lamp.
The room is lit by a lamp-like thing on the ceiling with yellowish glass around the flame so it produced light across the entire room. It could be turned off by a switch by the side of the door, it works almost like a gas stove.
I turn off the lights and lay on the bed.
"Ok, time to see what's up with that Useless skill." I think to myself with a sour face. As I think of the skill, a status window appears in front of my eyes. and what's written on it is:
Proficiency threshold reached
[Skill Lvl Up]
Skill
Description
~User can appraise all information about anything as long as it is within his Perception and Wisdom~
"What? How?" I think to myself
[3rd person]
What Chaz hadnt realised was that while he was being chased by the boar, he subconsciously activated the skill and
[1st person]
Calm down Chaz. However this happened, it's a great thing. So let's see what this can do. Is it possible to appraise myself? Let's see.
I take a breath and thing of the skill
A status window appears in front of my eyes.
Name: Roland Chaz
Age: 10
Race: Human
Title: None
[Stats]
HP: 15/15
Str(Strength): 5
Sta(Stamina): 4->8
Agi(Agility): 3->9
Dex(Dexterity): 4
Int(Intelligence): 7
Per(Perception): 10
Wis(Wisdom): 9
[Skills]
Woah, so these are my stats? This is awesome. Now I can keep up with my progress and how I fare against opponents.
...
Let me think about the situation. Right now I'm a 10 year old, 7 years before Luffy sets out on his journey. So I'm the same age as Luffy.
Luffy has already eaten the 'Gomu Gomu no mi' as it was known at this point in time and is training with Ace and Sabo to control his fruit abilities and develop a fighting style.
"I have a great Idea", I think to myself as I grin.
{The Next morning}
I wake up before the sun rises and head downstairs. There's a plate of bread and soup on a table. I pay it no mind and walk past the counter.
I here a loud "Hey!" from behind the counter. I turn and tilt my head up to look above the counter. There's Clara, looking down at me with a neutral face.
"She's up really early", I think to myself.
She points towards the table with food on it and says:
"There's your breakfast, go eat"
I try to reply, saying "I can't pa-", but I feel the air get thin. I notice her looking at me with eyes that show that she'd kill me if I didn't listen.
I immediately sit at the table with a smile on my face.
"How does Oliver withstand that? It's not as bad as my mother's was, but it's still very close" I think to myself.
I come up with a thought to appraise Clara. I then look at her and think
"
A status window pops up next to her.
Name: Sparrow D. Clara
Age: 10
Race: Human
Title: None
[Stats]
HP: 12/12
Str: 4
Sta: 6
Agi: 5
Dex: 5
Int: 8
Per: 7
Wis: 7
[Skills]
Wow, her stats are pretty good. And
Does
I guess they are skills she's adopted from working at this inn. It only makes sense that she'd count money and assist in cooking.
I finish eating and hand her the plate.
I turn and walk toward the doors.
"Where are you going so early?" Clara asks me.
"I'm just going to get some fresh air.", I say as I raise my hand so as to tell her 'bye'.
I walk out of the inn and say to myself:
"I guess it's time to set my plan in motion."