The Yellow Moon was high in the sky. Celeria and Min stayed inside a dimly lit and run-down room in the local inn.
Both girls were naked, Celeria's clothes and belongings sprawled on the bed. The elf presented a stark difference from the more svelte Min. Her body was curvy and yet athletic, toned by years of adventuring.
Celeria sat down, crossing her legs as she picked up her dagger. It was rusty. Her quiver was likewise empty, her pants were full of holes, and her hood was burnt. She let out a long sigh.
"As you can plainly see, I really don't have anything I can lend you," Celeria explained to her destitute companion. "Happy now?"
"It does seem that way. S-sorry I insisted that you strip, I just wanted to be sure…"
It's like the universe wanted to keep Min naked, or maybe the goddess that brought her to this world was a big pervert.
"But then how am I supposed to go questing? My legs turn to jelly just thinking about going outside like this again! I don't think I can't beat even a goblin in the nude."
"It's not like I'm in any condition to go adventuring either. Look at this mess. I won't last a minute against any monster or decently equipped outlaw. By the Sister's Tears, I don't even have enough money to pay for another night here."
"So, what are we going to do?"
"I guess we could take the boring jobs. You know, gathering herbs, running errands, killing rats…"
"Ugh..." Min shivered. That would all have been fine and dandy if only Min had something to cover herself! She sat her slim ass on the bed and grabbed the pillow, squeezing it under her arms.
Performing menial tasks naked around the whole town was not going to do her already shaky reputation any favors. At best, she would be derided as a joke of an adventurer, someone so bad at her job she couldn't even afford pants. At worst, she would become the local pervert.
"It's a shame we can't just take clothes from the townsfolk, huh?" Min absent-mindedly proposed, thinking of all the times she grabbed loot from NPCs homes while playing games back home.
Celeria paused. She dropped the dagger to stare straight at Min's brown eyes. "Why not?"
"Err, because it's stealing? That´s bad ...right?"
"But it's not like we are going to spend that coin for our benefit. We'll buy what we need to slay evil creatures and arrest dangerous criminals. A public service! It's a much better use of that money than whatever the Count does with his levy."
"Well, when you put it like that… It's more like a hero tax?" Huh, so Min wasn't that off the mark when she tried to requisition clothes from that ogre of an innkeeper. Maybe she was on the right track, and she ought to game the system like, well, one of her games!
"Now you are getting it." Celeria began putting back her pants. "Now come on, let's go collect our tithe!"
"W-wait, I still can't go out into the street like this! One streaking session a day is already more than my little heart can handle."
"You don't have anything to worry about. At this hour, everyone's asleep. It will be like taking candy from a baby."
Huh, Celeria was sounding less and less like the high and mighty heroine Min expected.
"It sounds like you've done this before, have you?"
"…maybe." Celeria opened the window, one of her legs propped on the sill to jump out. "It will be fine. Just follow my lead, and everything will be ok!"
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"Sweet, beautiful clothes! How have I missed you!" Min was ecstatic. Her hands ran up and down her torso, hugging at the fabric as if it was her long-lost brother.
After a night of scrounging backyards for valuables, digging at the bottom of barrels, and sneaking into basements, she and Celeria had amassed enough money to purchase the essentials for adventuring.
It had been a bit too easy, to be honest. Celeria was silent as a cat, nimble too. No locks could resist her little lock-picking spell. There were a few close calls here and there, but the duo had always managed to run before they could get into trouble with the townsfolk. All in all, a nice little stealth section to break up the metaphorical gameplay of her brand new life.
Any moral doubts about the ill-gotten source of her coin vanished as soon as Min felt the soft fabric now covering her skin. She now had leather boots, a long gambeson that reached just shy of her thighs, and a little dagger.
Sadly, the money ran out before she could buy pants or underwear, but she would make do for the time being. How hard could it be to find a pair of pants, anyway?
Now properly equipped, Min's adventure could finally begin. The seed of her legend had been planted, all she needed were a few good jobs under her belt to make it sprout into a mighty tree.
Celeria was also looking quite stylish with her new green cloak. Her quiver was full of arrows, and her boots almost shone with her reflection. "Ok, now let's go see if we can find a real job," the elf said with a smile. "I think I remember seeing an interesting bounty in the bulletin board."
"Yes, onward towards the adventuring guild!"
"The what now?"
"The …guild for adventurers? The place where we can find jobs?"
"You aren't from around these parts, aren't you, Nim?"
"It's Min, and ...no. I come from a place very, very far away." Another planet, to be precise, but Celeria didn't need to know that. "I-is it that obvious?"
"Yes, you have a certain exotic air about you, if that makes sense. It's hard to describe. I guess, hmm." Celeria clicked her tongue. "Looking at your face and hair, you must come from the other side of the continent, right? Somewhere by the Dragon Ocean?"
"...Yeeesss???"
"I heard it's pretty chaotic over there, what with all the warring kingdoms. No wonder you left. Although, I'm told that the Azure Moon is quite beautiful. I hope to see it someday."
"Err, sure. It's quite the, erhm, mesmerizing sight?"
Celeria shot a glance at Min as they kept walking the narrow streets. There was something off about the conversation, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what.
"Look, Min, I don't know how this works where you come from, but there aren't enough adventuring folk running around these lands to form a fully-fledged guild."
"What? But then... Who protects the people from bandits and slays the monsters?"
"Usually, that's the job of the local feudal lord. A pompous Knight Order might decide to get involved if the situation gets out of hand. Coincidentally, those are our two main employers most of the time, even if they loathe to accept the help."
"Why wouldn't they want to accept our help?"
"Well, adventurers don't have the best reputation. Most of us are landless nobles at the bottom of the inheritance ladder or former knights who got expelled from their Orders and don't have any other career prospects. Neither group tends to be what you could describe as "well-behaved". I heard some townsfolk even call us wandering murder vagrants, which really sullies the reputation for the few of us who play by the rules."
Min squinted at the elf. So says the adventurer who spent the night robbing the townsfolk of their valuables. And if she is one of the good ones, then… "I guess that kind of person doesn't inspire much confidence. But wait, I heard that adventurers are loaded with cash. How can that be if most of them behave like maniacs and there are only a few jobs available?"
"Well, I mean, to a peasant or a burgher, even the landless noble's meager wealth must look like a Dragon's Hoard. And besides, the top jobs do pay a barony's worth of gold in the loot if you can survive the mission and claim the bounty. Ah, here we are. Speaking of bounties."
The duo had reached an imposing stone tower in front of the town's square. Armed soldiers patrolled in and out of the building, and there was a wooden board by the entrance plastered with different requests, proclamations, and ...were those bounties?
"Remember, you can keep the clothes, but your share of the bounty is mine as payment for rescuing you from the slime."
Celeria ripped a poster from the board and handed it over to Min. Huh, she could understand this world's writing as well.
"Wanted: Liana the renegade mage. 50 silver coins if brought back alive."