We alternately ran and walked for almost an hour watching the duke suns slowly decend towards the horizon. After creating one last hill I finally laid my eyes on my first pocket of civilisation in this world.
Before me lay a compact settlement surrounded by wooden walls of at least 3m in height, a gentle river passes by on the villages east side. Around the settlement and outside of the walls are acres of farmland, currently left unatended as the day begins to turn to night. Wanting some more info about this place I turn to my trust tour guild *cought* friend and ask. "Hey Kana how many people live here when you said village I was thinking it would be a couple hundred people at most but this looks big enough to be a town?"
To this Kana only laughs. "Yeah most people think that, they named the place years ago and even though it has outgrown a classical village the decided to keep the name for whatever reason."
Blinking at that rediculous logic I can only shake my head and move on. "Got any more nuggets of info you can share with me about it?" I instead ask as we continue down towards the 'village'.
"Well it's mainly a adventuring town given its location right next to the Tenbre Forrest. Plenty of monsters to hunt in the Forrest, well at least when not near you I suppose." She finishes with a laugh. "Never thought I'd be able to just take a casual stroll through that death trap before I met you!"
Slightly shocked at that statement I ask. "Wait is that place really so dangerous? I only ever got attacked once and that was by a couple of goblins!? I thought it was a pretty safe place otherwise?" Seeing my genuine confusion causes Kana to laugh all over again.
"Yeah under normal circumstances you can expect to be attacked every couple hours, don't know what it is about you but monsters seem content to avoid you. It's really quite odd."
I stare at her slightly dumbfounded at this revelation, but I do come to a conclusion relatively quickly. "Oh it must be because of my Nature affinity right? You said how rare it is and given that most monsters in that Forrest must be nature attuned I guess they ignore me?"
"I mean that's as good an explanation as I can come up with. But regardless, I think you should shift your dress to it's more conservative form, hate to say it but you are just way too eye catching right now, you can shift it back once we are inside but best not give the guards a heart attack eh?"
I grumble at that but do as she asks, changing my dress into its 'formal' mode but deciding to do away with the vine mesh gloves. My dress slowly extends down past my knees to end just above my ankle with a split going up its right side starting my mid thigh to still allow for ease of movement. My back becomes covered and the deep cleavage on show becomes mostly covered by a vine mesh.
Spinning around playfully I ask Kana. "So how do I look?" Whilst giving her puppy eyes.
Her face heats up and she nearly manages to speak clearly. "Y-you look lovely!" As her face heats up and she turns away from me slightly. This causes me to laugh and shake my head.
It is not too much longer till we manage to make it to the gates which thankfully are still open and are guarded by 2 figures one being femal and the other male. They wear simple leather armour with an emblem of a tree within a shield embossed on their chest. They call out to us when we get close.
"Hold! Please state your business." The male one states.
I look at Kana and she steps forward and answers. "We are adventures back from the Forrest, looking to get a room in an inn." She succinctly explains.
"Entrance is 5 copper per person." The woman this time says. Nodding at this Kana reaches into her pouch and hands over a single iron coin.
The currency in this world follows the same principles as the Ranks of this world going from Copper as the base rate all the way up to Diamond, each time being separated by a delineation of 10-1 so 1 iron coin is equivalent to 10 copper coins.
Accepting the coin the 2 guards step back and the woman again speaks up. "Welcome to Tenebre Village." Nodding at her Kana gestures for me to follow and we both head in through the gate.
Walking in for the first time I am welcomed by a wide street which is full of various people of a wide variety of different races. I can see beastfolk of all kinds from catfolk and wolfkin. Humans do make up the majority maybe 5 out of ever 10 is Human but the variety of species is truly a sight to behold.
Seeing me free in place with wonder in my eyes Kana chuckles and grabs my hand pulling me forward. "Can imagine this might be a lot to take in given this is your first time seeing some of these races but no need to stand their gawking!" She explains with a laugh. Blushing slightly at her words as I imagine I must have looked like a tourist by just standing there looking around like an idiot.
"So where are we going first" I ask?
"Well I think we should find an inn get some food and call it for the night. We can go to the adventure guild tomorrow to get you signed up if you want?" Kana replies.
Nodding at that. "Well I could do with some good food. Don't get me wrong I enjoy meat skewers but after only eating that and some berries I would love for something else right about now haha!"
Walking down the street we attracted quite a few looks, their was a split between the lustfull and appreciative gazes of the ones that found us attractive and the ones that looked at Kana with a level of distain for her mixed heritage. The first set of gazes I could accept however the second set annoyed me something quite fierce so I made sure to glare got back at any that lingered too long. Thankfully for the most part people didn't give us a second look so it seemed like it was more of a vocal minority that were bigoted I decided.
The architecture was a delightful mix of rustic and that classical fantasy, with a general aesthetic of the ground floor being made of stone and then any additional floors predominately being made from wood, a mix of stone and wooden tiles addorned the roofs from what I could see. Shops adviertised themselves with stylistic signs that clearly displayed their trade, from a anvil for a blacksmith I saw down one side street, to a needle and thread for a tailor. This seemed to indicate that maybe not everyone was fully literate seeing as I didn't spot a single sign or post with any words on it. As a matter of fact I don't even know if I could be considered literate in this world as I have no idea if I know the written language. I really hoped that the system had placed that knowledge in my head though.
After around 5 minutes we arrived at a tall and wide building showcasing a sign of a overflowing beer mug with horns at top its rim, with Kana turning us in that direction. Entering through the doors we are met with a lively but thankfully not too rowdy atmosphere, a long bar along one side is staffed by a young pretty catkin and an older looking demon woman. There are several tables spread around the room with around 30 people of various races spread out around the place.
Making our way to the bar it is the catkin that heads our way and greets us with a smile. "Evening ladies, what can I get you for?" She asks of us.
"Looking for a room for the night along with some food and drink for now." Kana states with a small smile. Meanwhile I am finding it hard to not stare at the catkins ears that flop around on top of her head everytime she moves.
"We can do that for ya, 1 or 2 rooms?"
"Just 1 will do please." I say with a smile
Looking me over I see a flash of confusion in her eyes but she shakes it off and continues. "Not to worry." She says with a smile. "A room for the night along with food and drink will run you 11 copper." Handing over the money the catkin says with a smile. "We shall bring your food over to you in a moment, and your room will be number 7 on the top floor." Noding at her we make our way over to one of the open tables along a wall and sink down into them.
Thankfully the food doesn't take too long to arrive and we are greated by a hearty stew and a chunk of bread each, shortly followed by a mug of something brown and frothy. Which after a tentative sip turns out to be actually be a quite decent ale to my delight. The stew is also lovely with a delightful mix of flavours that I have no reference for past meat and vegetables. We make idle chatter with Kana telling me some more about the town, however it doesn't take long for me to feel quite drowsy so we end up retiring to bed fairly early.
Making it up to the room we are greeted by a basic but functional room that will fit the bill quite nicely, with light much thought I dismiss my dress and flop face first into the bed with a groan of delight. "Oh how iv missed a nice bed!" I mumble out with my face smothered by the bedding.
Hearing a chuckle behind me I turn my head in time to see Kana taking the last of her clothes off too and sauntering her way over to me. "Well I'm glad your enjoying yourself but who was it that said she couldn't wait to have sex in a bed?" She states with a dazzling smile. I can only nod my head as she lays down beside me and pulls me into a deep kiss…
After a short but intense session we soon pass out in each others arms looking forward to what the next day will bring.
———
First look at civilisation and off to the adventure go we go tomorrow!