Shapeless Hero

41 - Waters

Kella ends my shift with a clap on my back and a "Good job, your're done for today." When I close my eyes, fleeting images of letters, numbers and signatures float in my vision. 

The sun is about to touch the horizon, as the commander and I leave the guild house. I was able to acquire a white tunic for the bath house visit, so I can skip the painful process of switching outfits with my skill. I'm looking forward to expanding my catalog of creatures. I'll stay in the bath as long as I need to, if it means I don't have to experience the painful outfit changes.

"How did you convince her to let me go outside?", I ask the commander, as we follow the turn of another serpentine road.

"You'll have to leave the premises as a quest assistant anyway. I just asked her to add a few extra permissions for errands to the contract, while pointing the former out." She smiles. "Clint also vouched for you."

My brows rise a bit. "He only knew me for a few days, right?"

"Seems, like you've won him over with your willingness to put your life on the line with both the personas."

"I mean, I'm glad and all, but wasn't that just me doing my job?"

"That might be true, but remember that he knows you as a noble. A noble, and yet you didn't complain about serving a commoner. You also didn't complain about using seemingly valuable resources like your supposed ally to aid him. You subverted their expectations quite a bit."

I glance to the side. "I suppose so..." Now a part of me wants to see an average noble in action, just out of curiosity.

"That said, it's also your biggest weakness.", the commander continues in a lower voice. "You're opening up too much. Kella was already smelling an opportunity, when she heard about your mana vision. And now, she'll do anything in her power to delay our departure from Ryelope, whenever that is."

Her tone was calm, but the warning is not lost on me. "I know. I'm sorry, but it's hard not to get involved.", I say to the commander.

"I thought that would be easier for a stranger to these lands."

After a few moments of consideration, I answer: "Remember, what I told you about my life before I met you? That invisible barrier between me and everyone else? My own body malfunctioning too much for anything meaningful to bear fruit? I'm not part of Ryelope, but neither was I part of my old world. But unlike back then, I can now move, talk, eat and travel."

She hums in thought. "Dried up in the desert, one is tempted to drink from the first well in reach—or something along the lines?"

I chuckle. "I think that works. Kind of. I fear, I won't get another chance after Ryelope."

About half an hour later, we arrive at a bigger building, three storeys high with steam rising from the top of it. Besides the hanging sign, the marble frame of the entrance is the only feature, which makes it stand out from the other stone- and plaster buildings along the road. Ryelope's geography doesn't leave much room for decorations and architectural experiments outdoors. The only time, we've seen businesses put up stands or tables, was on the occasional piazza on the way here.

What money couldn't be spent on the outdoors, must have been spent on the indoor design of the foyer. Bright and dark marble creates pleasant patterns on the interior pillars, round arches and floors. The walls are painted with idyllic scenes of various bodies of water and people bathing in them. The variety in race and species on those painting catches my eyes, reminding me of my human-only origin.

"Good evening!", comes the voice of a woman. I turn my head to the back end of the foyer. There, thirty yards away behind a marble counter, a dark elf smiles at us. She could be somewhere in her forties—by human standards.