In the morning I chased the previous day's happenings from my mind and went hunting again. I was hoping for a drop to replace my short sword; its durability was running out. If I could get enough stuff to sell, I could buy myself a new one. It wasn't worth repairing a basic weapon; a new one would cost about the same. So determined to get something I spent the day in the forest killing and looting.
I returned to town just before nightfall. I wasn't going to do any night crawling. That was one of the rules I imposed myself: Never hunt at night. Spirit and undead monsters, reduced vision, and general creepiness are all part of the nighttime menu. There was also the very real possibility of getting lost. I worried that I might try to escape from a creature and take off in the wrong direction, only to end up deeper in the wilderness and not being able to get out. Not my cup of tea, so I stayed away.
"Not staying in town where it's safe, are we?" I heard someone say as I entered the town. I turned to where the comment came from. Karla was leaning against the nearest building, with crossed arms and one foot resting behind her on the wall. "Er, something like that." I said in a matter of fact way. Karla wasn't looking at me, even if her words were clearly in my direction. "Mister goes into the forest to fight and HE doesn't get scolded, n'est-ce pas? Oh! Maybe Mister is the only one who's allowed to complain." She pushed off from the wall and turned to face me. She put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to her right foot. "You know what? If you went up a floor I'm sure you could find some girl that lacks your grand experience, who you can complain to for not staying safe. It must be dull down here not having anyone to yell at. Maybe you should put up an ad. I'm sure tons of people would love to hear you rant." Her tone was both cruel and sarcastic. She looked like she was ready to pick a fight. Oddly, even with a level above hers, it's not a fight I felt I would have won.
I've never been very good at reacting the right way. This time all I did was look at her, then look at my previous destination, then look back at her. If this game was a cartoon I would have had a big question mark over my head. She looked at me and then, just before turning away, made that sound that drives your parents crazy: "Tss." Disinterest and disgust combined and put into a tight little package delivered directly to me. It left me with the equivalent of a bad aftertaste. She then proceeded to walk back towards the center of town.
I watched her go and sighed. Obviously, she was still mad at me and my apology the other day wasn't enough. But why was she still here? Why did she even acknowledge my existence? People don't tend to hang around those that make them mad or sad. But she hadn't left, she didn't ignore me, it was confusing. Maybe, she wanted to troll me and make my life miserable, which would be a little creepy. I would have to take care of this. I imposed my view on someone else with no right to do so and it was going to gnaw at my soul if I didn't clear it up.
I proceeded to the area with the shops so that I could sell the monster drops I had just gotten. I managed to sell some of my stuff to other players, that were trying to raise their crafting skills, and the rest went to NPCs. It had been a good day of hunting and as such the money permitted me to replenish my stock of health potions and get myself a new sword. I would have more choices shopping in Urbus than here. But it was better than nothing. In my real life, I rarely enjoyed shopping; it seemed more like a necessary chore than a useful endeavor. But items in the game were directly usable and getting new stuff always made me feel stronger, more prepared, safer and happier. I wouldn't need to go hunting for the next couple of days, if I wanted.
"There are more important things to take care of."