Chapter 3

Day 7

It has been a few days since I sat down to write about my time here. I had made my way to a small village. It looks to be Riverwood from what I can remember of the game. I booked a room with gold to spare as tavern rooms where cheap. The man called this the Sleeping Giant Inn. I knew for a fact then that this place was Riverwood as this is where Delphine the Blade made her base of operations. I hadn't seen her anywhere though so I wondered exactly when in time I was, as the people here did look familiar. So that meant I was at least close to the time of the Dragonborn.

I had been lucky enough to find some gold pieces in the area I had woken up in. But it now it seems that I am running low due to staying at the Sleeping Giant inn. I also was running out of food so instead of keeping to myself and staying in the room. I ventured out into the large area of the inn.

"I'm looking for work. Is there anything around here I can do?" I asked the innkeeper. I thought it would be a good idea to think of lines from the game, as most of them didn't seem too rude to use. But I also had to try and get it into my head that this was not the game and it was now reality for me. I would have to interact with people more politely than I would with the people back in my world. You never know when someone might be ready to put a knife in your back.

"Let me think." The gruff looking nord pondered as he scratched his chin. "I can think of a few things that can be done around here. I know Alvor the blacksmith was looking for an apprentice. We could always use more firewood here if you want some quick gold. I also think that the guards are looking for fresh recruits."

"What do I get for firewood?" I asked. I knew it would be harder work to split the logs in real life than in the game but it seemed like that would get me a fair amount of gold in a short time. I was low on food and water and the prices at the inn just went up.

"I'd pay you about five gold per log." He said while folding his arms.

"Sounds fair enough for me. Is there an ax out there I can use?"

"Yes. Out by the log piles in the back." After saying I'll be back I went outside and shielded myself from the sunlight. It had been almost two days that I had last gone outside. I had stumbled into town and quickly rented at the inn. I had wanted to just stay holed up in my room, denying that this was happening. Sadly the need for food and gold to keep the room led me back to my new reality.

It took a few minutes with stumbling in the robes and trying to get behind the inn to the woodpile but I managed to get the ax and start chopping. It was much harder than I had first anticipated.

It was two hours of pain to get the firewood. It took me a long time to not miss the log I was trying to split and there had been a few times when I almost swung the ax down on myself. Don't ask me how, I'm not really sure exactly.

I practically dragged myself back into the inn with the amount of wood I had cut. After taking two trips to bring in the measly amount I had been able to cut, I showed the innkeeper what I had done.

"Hm. Took you that long to chop so few? Not cut out for physical labor are you?" The man laughed as he counted out the pile. I just groaned in response as my arms felt like they weighed a ton. Though the sun was still high in the sky I knew that once he paid me I would go to my room and call it a day.

"Looks like twelve. Sixty gold sounds right." I did the math in my head as he went over to the counter and began to count the coins into a small pouch. It sounded right for five gold a log.

"Just keep ten of those for my room tonight." I mentioned as he was finishing counting. He sighed as he had already counted them then took the payment.

With the sun still in the sky, I closed my door and collapsed onto the bed to sleep. This day was not exciting in any way but I was okay with that. This was life after all and not just some game. I needed to figure things out and try to find my way back home. My body was not cut out for this kind of labor as I had come from an age of cell phones and laptops. I closed my eyes in hopes that the answer might just come to me in a dream.