3. Our first encounter?

Reflet was a weird town. And by this I mean it was a mess of architectural styles. There were tall brick constructions I could see that had more in common with the post-Renaissance period, with painted smooth painted walls and white accented corners. There were also wattle and daub buildings – you know, the one with white plaster and wooden crossposts, so emblematic of medieval fantasy – side-by-side. Yet in a way that was clean and tidy.

The streets were wide made of mostly flat irregularly-shaped stones. There was not much horse traffic, though I suppose most of that happened behind this merchant district, the loading and unloading of goods. This clean, wide thoroughfare was made for walking.

There was a feeling faintly modern… there were no street stalls, no people hawking things on the street. The windows were also plate glass. That used to be expensive. Really, really odd. Even Zanac's clothes had some faintly modern cuts to their styles. There was a lot that implied easy mass production in this other world.

When I mentioned that, Monika replied "Well, who said magic cannot be used for mass production? You've seen Avatar, Aang and Korra, and how bending could be used for industrial purposes. The Fine Nation could slough out large amounts of good steel because they could precisely control temperature. The Earth Kingdoms used planes of smooth polished rock for everything, vastly superior to concrete."

"That just leads to the question of who built the elaborate Air Nomad temples on top of mountains and sheer cliffs. Very likely agreements with Earthbenders, but as a nomadic people I wonder what they traded."

"Well they did have a practical monopoly on air travel with their sky bison. Maybe they just, you know, traded everything."

Ah, the irony of a culture dedicated to pacifism and austerity being filthy, filthy rich. Oh the joys of being in a fully realized fantasy world.

I looked at the people around me. Quite lot of them openly carried weapons. Hmm. Maybe I should carry one as well, if just not to look like an easy mark. "I should have asked for a cloak back at Zanac's place."

"Why?"

"So later I can dramatically reveal the sword underneath. You know, like how gunslingers used ponchos and trench coats to do the same thing."

"Sounds legit."

And then after making a show of thinking about it, "If your bag is under the purse, that would make it harder to snatch, wouldn't it? All those lovely high-tech equipment... even reduce the risk of getting them wet." She nodded and gave me a faintly admiring look that said 'I understand your meaning now'.

Monika I was being serious. I am legally blind. Let me be Batman, pls.

-x-

After walking a little bit further, we heard some noises coming from an alley. Loud, angry noises, like an argument of some kind. One of the voices involved was that of a woman.

Monika said, "Turn right here."

"What? Isn't the inn down this road? We already turned right earlier, do we need to take a shortcut?"

"The path just changed," She showed how the plotted route required that we should turn right straight into the alley. "A more obvious plot hook I've never seen."

I considered it. We could choose NOT to do this, of course, in clear defiance of the plan of whatever power put us here. We could just… ignore it. It was probably none of our business anyway.

It was actually a surprise that Monika was so willing to play along… until I remembered that as a mere digital intelligence in a world without an information network, she couldn't help me directly. She wouldn't be able to do anything but watch me suffer.

The risk factors of going against an unknown being of cosmic power compared to the shenanigans we might find in that alley… well, as we talked about earlier, the GM would be more likely to fudge rolls in our favor if we were good role-players. She would be willing to let her life be ruled by cruel factors beyond her control again rather than see me get hurt.

"Monika…"

"We won't ever really be safe. I accept that. We are all just players in someone's game." She took a deep breath and then put her hands over her heart. "But I'm not alone anymore. As long as we're together, I trust that we'll all turn out all right."

I remembered the words embedded into her file and grinned. "This is our story. It's time to be a fucking hero."

I pivoted to the right and walked into the dim space between four-story buildings. "Both of us."

-x-

As I moved into the alley I saw that my way was blocked by the backs of two burly men. As I followed the wall to look past them, I saw two girls on the other side. It was a dead end. A robbery? Threat of rape? In broad daylight? How despicable!

"That's not what we agreed on earlier! You said you'd buy it for one gold!" It was one of the girls that said this.

Oh shite did we stumble on a drug deal, Monika? Whoever said fantasy cocaine can't be a thing?

But it is odd. Those two girls look oddly adorable. They were around my physical age, maybe younger, and wore mostly matching cute outfits. They had purple shirts with puffy sleeves with a white center in a reverse V down from their neckline, accentuated by vertical pleats. Both had anime bright white hair. They also looked very similar, maybe even twins, if it wasn't for the difference in haircuts – the one with longer hair looked angry, while the one with shorter hair stood by biting her lip uncertainly.

They had green skirts and ties in another surprisingly modern touch. Certainly not the type I figured to be drug dealers, but I guess it takes all kinds?

I mean, there's only one another worse possibility for 'buying it' from cute girls.

"What do ya mean, girlie? I said I'd buy for one gold if it was undamaged, but lookit here! It's scratched! A damaged antler like this is worth one silver at best!" One of the men sneered and threw a silver coin onto the ground. Oh. So that was not actually a weapon. "And that's all we're giving you. Scram!"

"Uuuh! That wasn't there when we gave it to you! You didn't even intend on giving us a fair deal in the first place, didn't you? Give it back!"

"Haaah? What are you talkin' about? It's a fair trade, we already paid ya." He pointed to the ground while the other one threateningly showed off his knife. "We can't be having people back out on a deal, that's just ain't right."

My cheeks twitched. "Okay, this is getting stupid. We're going to have to do something about this."

"Really? I mean, great! Okay, let's go be heros!"

"Seriously, giving up the merchandise without receiving payment first? That's not even how sales work. Everybody here needs to get some practical education!" I walked forward, cracking my knuckles.

"Um…?"

"HELLO PEOPLE MAKING SUSPICIOUS DEALS IN BACK ALLEYS, MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!"

Everyone jerked in surprise, and turned towards me. The men whirled around in a combative crouch, but the two girls seemed confused. Though I did notice that one of the girls, the long-haired-one, was wearing heavy gauntlets now for some reason.

"… who the heck are you and what the frek do you want?"

I pointed at the crystal branch he held in his hands. "Crystal Deer Antler. Interesting, what is it? Is the sort of thing where if you powder it and snort it up your nose you go… owowoohooo?" I made jazz hands to demonstrate.

"What the hell even…" The thug with bandana holding on to the antler scowled in confusion. "Get out of here, you idiot!"

"I think I might be interested in that sort of thing." I reached into my jacket and took out a gold coin. "And incidentally I do happen to have one gold."

"Um… excuse me. Excuse me, sir!"

I craned my neck to look past the thugs to the short-haired girl. She had a hand raised as if in class. "Yeees?"

"Crystal Deer Antler is mainly useful as magical foci. Not…" and here she copied my hand gestures from earlier. "Ooowhoo-ooo."

"These guys were planning on cheating such a cute girl! Beat them up for me, Playa!" Monika shouted.

"Nevertheless. So would you be willing to sell it to me?"

Confusion was replaced with slow realization on the other girl's face. "… sure. Yes!" The long-haired girl raised her metal-clad fists. "It's a deal!"

"HEY! I have the antler!" the thug from earlier complained.

"Art thou a moron? A transaction isn't complete until money changes hands. If you're going to do that, you might as just go ahead and rob them instead of offering a pittance. I mean, if these girls were actually any less moral all it would take is for them to run screaming out of here shouting that you had robbed them." I shook my head sadly. "You paid them one silver? THAT WAS ALWAYS THEIR MONEY, YOU'RE A FILTHY LYING THIEF, YOU THIEF."

Everyone stared at me again. The thug then began to chuckle. "Oh, you're smart. You're real smart, stranger. But you don't know this town. Our word against two little troublemakers? We're real adventurers, man. You don't want to mess with this."

"So really they just wanted to not technically be robbing people? I don't get it." Monika tilted her head to the side and then her expression brightened. "Oh! Maybe Truth spells?!"

"Meh," I said to him, "Possession is nine-tenths of the law – if you can actually keep possession of the thing."

I quickly flicked the gold coin across the distance towards the girls, and as everyone's eyes instinctively turned to follow the treasure, no one else noticed me take my other hand out from my other jacket. And its shoulder holster.

I did mention I LOVED having lots of pockets, right? That I would bring almost everything necessary for my survival on my person just in case ever randomly abducted, transported, or stranded somewhere? Of course that should include implements for self-defense.

Phut. Phut. Phut.

The lead thug got three pepper balls to face. He began screaming instantly. The crystal antler dropped to the ground as he clutched his face, and shattered.

The other one took out a knife and charged at me, screaming in rage. For some reason I felt calm. In my vision, red arrows appeared pointing to right. Like a quicktime event, I stepped to the right. Then another red symbol, and long thin red arrow with blinking explosion graphic at the tip. I adjusted my arm to overlap and pulled the trigger to my little pepper ball thrower.

"Whew. I can't believe that worked!" Monika wheezed. "I helped! I really helped!"

He staggered past me, coughing and wheezing, and collapsed out of the alley. His knife clattered out onto the open street, to the shocked gasps of the curious passers-by hanging around the alley's edge.

I walked over and mercilessly kicked him somewhere around the solar plexus.

"Player what?!"

Those who are willing to stab someone in the gut should be ready to accept getting kicked in the same, all I'm saying.

As he doubled over, the breath driven out of him, and as the mood of the onlookers turned from scandalized to fearful, I shouted out "STOPPING A ROBBERY. NOTHING UNUSUAL HERE. IF THERE ARE OFFICERS OF THE PEACE, PLEASE CALL THEM. ANYONE HAPPEN TO HAVE SOME ROPE? NO?"

"Are you seriously just going to Bavarian Fire Drill your way out of this?"

I shrugged. "WELL NOT MY PROBLEM. WE'RE DONE HERE."

The screaming from inside the alley had stopped, presumably from someone getting knocked the fugg out with heavy metal fists. The girls walked out, with the long-haired one frowning faintly at me. The other shyer one was holding the gold coin. She held it out to me. "Umm. I think you dropped this."

I shook my head. "Keep it. I'm sorry about smashing your Crystal Deer Horn."

"Really? I mean, it would help us out, but…" The long-haired girl turned to look back at the alley. "Getting something for nothing is kind of…"

"Let's talk about that later. FOR NOW, WE SKEDDALE!"

And so we did.

-x-

Monika was still kneeling in the throes of despair as the three of us nonchalantly walked down the streets. The girls were staying a few steps behind, far enough that it might not be obvious we were a group. "Nooo. That wasn't heroic at all. They totally think we robbed those guys!"

"Meh, we've still got good ol' Zanac to vouch for us. A guy with nineteen other gold coins in his bag isn't going to bother with an extra silver or two," I mumbled.

"That's not the problem. What if by doing so we get embroiled in some sort of underground crime syndicate? It's not exactly hard to find someone with a thing on his face. Maybe we should have just beat them up quickly without trash-talking them?"

Monika looked up and stretched her hands out to the crystal heavens. "Engaging with the criminal element implies to the viewers we are not above making use of them our own ends! Oh, crime! Oh villainy! Oh my dreams of a cliché heroic fantasy…!"

Monika, please. Please not my hams. I have only a limited supply of them.

-x-

We found the Silver Moon inn soon enough. I stared up at the inn sign hanging beside the written sign.

"Crescent and star. Crescent and six-pointed star. Woow," I had to mumble. "Seriously, that's a Star of David, upright and everything."

Monika looked up. She took a deep calming breath and began to speak normally to me again.

"I'm guessing that doesn't have the same connotations here as back home, of course. Or… your home, at least," Monika replied evenly. "Well at least it feels somewhat comforting that in one world these symbols coexist in harmony."

"Excuse me, Mister Zah?"

"Nothing, just… idle thoughts. Forgive me, I do a lot of that. Please just ignore me when that happens."

"Or this could be a Croatian Inn, I suppose," Monika added. "The Illyrian coat of arms."

"But I like kebab."

The girls stared at each other doubtfully again, but followed me inside anyway.

The Silver Moon in was a cheerful-looking place, with a raised first floor after a three-stepped stoop with a balustrade. The wall around the doorway was a welcoming canary yellow. Its first floor was made of stone blocks, while the upper floors were wood and plaster the wattle and daub style. It had low sloping barnlike roofs in warm red tile broken here and there by garret windows for its livable attic. All in all it had four floors.

All its windows were plate glass. But it certainly looked like what you'd expect from a fantasy world inn, not a hotel.

So the first thing I asked the innkeeper, "Do you have kebab?"

"Um… what? I'm sorry sir, I don't quite understand…" She stared doubtfully at me, and then her glance slid off the thing on my face because she thought it might be impolite. "Meals or room, that's what we have here."

"Meat and vegetables, usually whole onions and bell peppers, on skewers roasted over an open fire."

"Oh! That! Of course, would you like to order?"

"EXCELLENT. Yes. I am also interested in staying in this inn, it was recommended to me by a friend." Then I turned back to look at the two girls behind me. "If you have somewhere else to go after this, it's fine. But please do allow me to treat you to a meal here for now."

The innkeeper was a young lady in her early 20s with cherry red hair tied up behind her head in a short ponytail. She wore a yellow shirt underneath a ruddy pink apron. She peered around me to look at the two girls, then up at my face again.

"The lady is giving you a judging look. She is totally judging you right now. You playa."

"I guess that would be fine?" said Elze.

-x-

While waiting for the food we sat at an empty table. For some reason the Silver Moon Inn did not have many customers, or any customers at all really.

So, on the way to the inn we had actually managed to at least introduce ourselves to each other. The girls were Elze and Linse Silhoueska. Twins they were.

Elze had long hair silver hair, with long plaits trailing down on either side of her face reaching down to her chest, held together by diamond-shaped purple bands. Linze had neck-length bob cut hair, but also with shorter plaits to just around chin-length jutting out of a broad purple cloth headband. They had brilliant green eyes.

Monika helpfully put aug reality signs over their heads, like character names in an RPG, because while running I had turned back and muttered "Where's Fistpunch and Shyface?" and she totally didn't trust me to not accidentally call them that out loud if I ever forgot their names.

Thank you Monika.

They sat on the other side of the tablet with Elze with her hands on the table laced together, and Linze with her hands on her lap. Their posture was defensive, but their demeanor confident.

"First of all, thank you for following me this far. I realize it's a show of a lot of trust to follow a stranger all the way this place after a different set of strangers just tried to harm you."

The two girls look at each other for a moment, then back at me.

"In twinspeak that probably means 'yeah, we can take him'," Monika helpfully noted. I could not refute that.

"It's all good. Thank you for helping us earlier. It's good to be able to trust each other, neh?" said Elze, with a smile and slight tilt to her head, sending her long silken silver hair fluttering.

"Mm. Next time, don't hand over the merchandise until you're sure you will get paid and it has been understood that it is in undamaged condition. Get their verbal affimation. We have a saying in the business 'if you break it, you buy it.'"

Then I waved to the empty tables beside us. "Also, if you're going to exchange goods… the best place to do so is somewhere out in the open, like an inn like this one. If they are concerned about privacy and willing to pay a whole gold for things, serious buyers should be able to afford renting a room for a few hours."

I paused and touched my headset. "Actually, note to self: Set up a package delivery business. Before there was Amazon, there was Sears and Roebuck."

"Noted. But that requires a robust mail system and safe roads. The Pony Express really only worked because of the ability to keep replacement horses and riders on station in depots."

As I took my hand away from my headset, I saw that the sisters were giving me odd looks. Then Elze placed both hands on the table and bowed. "Thank you for your instruction, teacher!"

"Ahaha… not at all. It's good to trust, just hold something back is all."

"Sis, this is why I said you shouldn't have accepted that request. But… you wouldn't listen to me…" Linze spoke up to more directly chide her sister.

Elze deflated. "So I allowed my greed to get the better of me. It sounded a little suspicious… but it didn't feel right to judge people just by their appearances, you know?"

I gave an amused little 'heh'. "I don't know why but I feel like thanking you again for that."

"Ehehee. Nope, I meant nothing like that at all!" Elze hurriedly spoke up, putting her palms together in apology.

"These are pure children!" Monika declared with a raised fist. "I will protect them!"

"Are you a merchant, sir?" asked Linze.

"No, I'm just a traveler of sorts. No need to call me sir, I'm not that much older than you, I think." I embarrassedly scratched at my cheek. "What about you two? I don't even know what Crystal Deer are, is that something usually traded? Are you hunters?"

"It's a bit of a funny story, actually…" Elze made a small little laugh. "See, we'd just happened to beat a Crystal Deer on our way here. This isn't actually the first time we've sold an antler, so when word got around we thought we might as well sell the other horn for a higher price.

I suppose we'll be accepting requests like that through the Guild from now on. Hopefully we'll get wrapped up in less trouble that way," Elze huffed out and slightly slumped on her seat. "That's why we were headed to this town in the first place."

"Guild? What Guild? Merchant's Guild? Trader's Guild?"

Elze raised an eyebrow and tried very hard not to give me an 'are you stupid?' look. "The Adventurer's Guild."

Fantastic. "I have no idea what that is."

Just one guild for all the occupations a murderhobo could get into into? What is this nonsense, n'wah?

"Um. Excuse me, but… how?" Linze asked. "Adventurers are… I mean, a lot of people are adventurers."

"Just take it that I am from very very far away. I know almost nothing about this country, its people, and its customs."

Linze raised her hand again. I bid her to speak.

"But Reflet is far inland. Um, how could you get here and not know about how things are?"

"Magic," I replied flatly. "Extremely irritating magic. Next question?"

Linze nodded. That sounded perfectly legit. "No questions."

"Then I have one. Adventurers and the Adventurer's Guild… is that the sort of thing where you take missions and get ranked and fight monsters and challenge dungeons?"

She nodded again. "Quite so."

"How exciting! What are the requirements to be an adventurer?"

"They are not very, um, strict, you can start from low ranks with less dangerous work. Deliveries, herb collecting, t-things of that nature.. But a lot of it does need some fighting ability, or magic that will help."

"Mmm. Magic. I really want to know more about that too!" Linze raised her palm up again. I sighed and told her "You don't need to keep doing that either. Just tell me what doesn't make sense to you."

"But... but everyone has magic? Not all of it combat useful magic, but everyone has it."

Interesting, +2. "Full Disclosure, where I'm from, no one has personal magic. We had things that might be considered magical tools, but not any innate magic."

She squinted at me, and then looked away shyly. Clearly the girl didn't quite believe what I was saying, but was too polite to call me a liar.

I tapped at my sealed VR headset. "Case in point, this thing on my face. I am for practical purposes, blind. But this device still allows to me see. In fact, it allows me to see better than human eyes – I have vastly improved distance vision, and can see in almost total darkness."

Monika popped in, wearing the triclops glowing green Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Multivision Goggles. "Yes, this customized VR headset you have is actually very interesting. My camera has an infrared sensor, but it has a distance grade IR illuminator! I'm very impressed, it's very capable for civilian gear."

Linze's eyes widened. "That… sounds useful."

"So I would like to try being an adventurer for a while."

Elze perked up. "Really? But…" You're already rich, she left that unsaid.

"As I am a traveler, I don't exactly have fixed income, you know. I think it's interesting. What do people in this kingdom care about? What do they fear? Helping people and getting paid for it? That's amazing."

"You don't have adventurers where you come from?" Linze asked.

I wiggled my fingers. "Most of what jobs adventurers could do have already been taken over by the state. That just leaves itinerant workers that aren't respected by anybody. The notion that anyone could just walk in and become a legend… that's not something that can happen anymore," I sighed.

"Even in the Wild West, that's not exactly a thing that could happen. People on Earth really could really become famous starting from nothing in only three things – politics, arts, or war."

"Then, why not come sign up with us?!" Elze spoke up excitedly. "We've just only arrived here in this town. We didn't even get to an inn yet, but now we can afford it." She looked around the inn. "We could go at the same time tomorrow!"

"Player, stop. What are you doing?" Monika crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks. "You just got a girl to proposition you. On your first meeting! Youuuuu….! YOU PLAYAH!"

Monika that was not on purpose, I swear.

I'm not that baka or that lucky.

-x-

Soon enough the innkeeper brought out the meal on one large precariously-balanced metal tray, and introduced herself as Micah. "Just call for me if you need anything!"

The food was actually quite good. The kebabs were beef slathered over with some spicy sauce, there was a light potato stew accompanied with some somewhat hard bread, and a salad. I mentioned as such to the girls, and wondered why this place didn't see many customers.

"It's a bit out of the way, isn't it?" Elze replied. "We saw more inns and restaurants along the main road."

"Even so, that only really applies to travelers and people who have an idea what to buy, that's the reason why they're going to the market district in the first place. You shouldn't underestimate people's laziness about not cooking for themselves," I said back. "Hmm."

I rubbed at my chin and asked them, "Have you heard of take-out delivery before?"

The girls looked at each other shook their heads.

I made as if holding a box. "You know, cooked meals delivered to your door? Maybe there's a lot of young workers, and maybe artisans who are too busy with their craft, or guards and laborers who feel peckish can't afford to leave their work site, those too lazy to cook but can't afford to have a maid… I know there's usually a demand for this, I worked delivery for a while."

I even knew some restaurants that even had offsite food cart businesses. I explained why 'time is money' was a truism. You could either spend your time to make money, or spend money so you can spend your time doing what you want.

"… why do you want to be an adventurer, again?" Elze asked dubiously.

"I wonder that myself."

"Can't do business without seed money. And setting up a business is pointless when you're going to have to leave it anyway..." I shrugged.

Linze had a really sad expression on her face. I had no idea what she was imagining about my own situation. Or was it because she was having second thoughts about the freelance violence/harvesting/delivery industry?

-x-

"Please add the costs of the meal to the room charges," I said to Micah after we finished eating.

"We'd like to stay in this inn too," added Elze.

Micah beamed. "Great! That will be two copper a night, meals included with the price. The meal you asked for is one copper, so three copper for you. Oh, if you want to sign in, you'll have to pay up front."

"… I don't have any copper."

The innkeeper's eyes narrowed, until I reached into my purse and took out a gold coin. "So how many nights would this get me?"

"Whada ya mean, how many obviously fif- ahaaaa!" Micah pointed at my face. "Trick question! Obviously minus one copper that's forty-nine nights!"

"Oh! So that would make a copper worth… about one thousand yen? Just kidding, my setting may have been Japanese senior high school but I'm an all-American gal! That would be ten dollars, sirs and madams."

"So ten and ten and ten, coppers to silvers to gold?" I began to tap confusedly at the sides of my head. "Isn't there a coin lower than copper?"

"Bytecoin!" Monika arrogantly declared.

"Iron, of course," Micah sniffed.

"That… makes sense. A smith could try to stamp out coins, capital punishment for counterfeiting aside, but by the time he has done enough iron to be worth anything it would be the price of a good knife or a sword anyway."

"You're not from around here, are you..?" Micah said roguishly. "But whatever! Welcome to Reflet's well-known Silver Moon Inn! Good food, comfy beds, separated male and female wash rooms! How many nights are you staying, sir?"

"A month's worth, I think."

"Hahaha, alrighty! Thank you, we haven't been seen many customers lately so you're kind of a life-saver right now," Then her face lost all cheer. "But I'm out of silver coins right now, so I'll have to give you the change in copper. Is that all right?"

I nodded.

Micah then turned to Elze and Linze. "And how about you? How many days do you want to stay, dears?"

"… about the same." Elze held up another gold coin. "We're here to find work as adventurers."

"Tch," Micah hissed. She then placed a falsely sweet smile on her face and said "Ookay! Excuse me please while I count out your change." Then she ducked under the bar.

Elze and I glanced at each other in confusion. She shrugged.

Micah then emerged with two serving trays and a bag of coins. She opened her palm out, and we obliged by sliding the gold coins across on the wooden countertop. She put the gold coins aside and began counting out the change on each tray.

"And one for you and one for you and one for you and one for you and one for you and five for you…" she mumbled as she dug into the bag of coins.

Then she looked up suddenly with an intense stare on her face. "Do you want separate beds?" she asked.

"Oh-of course!" Elze sputtered out blushing. "Why wouldn't we?!"

She hid her grin behind her hand and made a 'fuh fuh' sound. "I was talking about you and your sister, why whatever could you have been thinking?"

I was starting to understand why this inn might be unpopular if this is the attitude of its hostess.

"And ten, and twenty… and thirty… and forty… ahahahaaa…" Micah moaned. She looked at Elze and myself again. "Are you sure you can't just get together? I could give you a sweet new young lovers discount!"

"Surely not!" Elze retorted.

Micah finally managed to get around to giving each tray sixty coppers. And then with an an outraged cry of "Ah!" she remembered to take one from my pile. I picked up one copper coin and inspected it more closely.

"For a coin worth approximately $10, it's not that big. Approximately 30mm in diameter," Monika noted, using VR measuring apps. "If we assume they're 11-12 grams like antique copper coins, you would have to be carrying from a bit over half a kilogram to over three-quarters of a kilogram."

She slapped her own thicc stockinged thighs. "Even I'm not that heavy."

Ahahaha if I jokingly respond to that I will die. I carefully kept even the merest hint of a smirk from crossing my face or even my eyelids.

"So a month is thirty days here too? Well that's not unexpected." Monika shifted to a less dangerous topic.

Micah ducked under again, and then brought out a thick book and a feather pen and ink bottle set. Both Monika and I immediately latched onto the thought of inventing fountain pens.

"Thank you very much for your patronage. Toilets and baths are here on the first floor, and this room here is for dining. Now if you would just please sign here?" She opened up the hotel register.

I took the quill, dipped it lightly onto the ink, and messily wrote on the space "ZAH PLAYAH VON CHARA".

Micah craned her neck to view, and frowned. "Sir… it has to be legible."

"Unfortunately, I don't know how to write your local script," I had to admit. The only reason I was able to even read things was due to Monika's auto translation app. Unfortunately that didn't work on empty spaces.

"Wait, why can't I just translate English BACK from this fantasy language?" Monika went off to look and fiddle with her options.

"I could just write it down for you," Elze offered.

"Thank you. I am again, Zah Playa Von Chara, you may call me either Playa or Char."

"Which one is your family name?"

"Chara." I tapped the headset covering my face again. "I am a Char."

"You are seriously never letting that go, huh?"

-x-

After Elze had finished writing, Micah handed over the room keys. We found our rooms were on opposite ends of the third floor, the girls had the double-bed room nearest the stairs while I had the furthest room with a good view of the street behind the inn.

I took off my things and placed them all inside the provided closet. I dropped back-first onto the soft fluffy bed.

And I let out a long, shuddering sigh.

"So this is my life now…"

I reached up towards the ceiling. Monika was not visible, until she appeared from the side and sized to proper perspective. She smiled gently down at me. I could almost imagine she really was in the room with me.

"Our life now, I guess," Monika hesitantly placed her hand over my own. I kept my palm splayed open so as not to break the illusion. "I'm still just so happy to be here with you. I won't… I won't ask you to promise to spend the most time with me… I won't make that mistake again..."

"Monika…"

"No, I know my sins. I can't let myself be that monster again. Just promise me you won't leave me behind, okay?"

"I promise."

"Also you should probably take me off now, I won't have you ruining even you remaining sight with eyestrain. It's been a strange strange day… it's always nice to have a nap after a good heavy meal."

So this is what it felt to be wifed by your waifu. Heh. I closed my eyes and sighed.

Kinda nice.

"I'm being serious, if you sleep with this VR set on your face, you will get such a creak in the neck!"

-x-