I can hear all sorts of talking. I’m walking down a busy city street, and I can see all sorts of things unthinkable in my last life. There are carriages being led not by horses, but by giant bipedal flightless birds, and giant lizards. There are also all kinds of different fantasy races around. It’s mostly humans but there are also beastmen everywhere, as well as some people with more than 2 arms, horns and all sorts of different things. Looking closely, you can even make out the occasional elf.

Me and the cute boy are both having the time of our lives, but blood eyes guy doesn’t seem interested in the slightest. Doesn’t anything interest you!? Oh, by the way, I'm walking with blood eyes and the cute boy. We’ve kind of just been walking around not doing anything or talking to each other at all. We talked for a bit after we got thrown out but it’s been all silence after that.

Even if we are getting nowhere, it’s a welcome change of pace from that dreadfully stressful decision in the throne room and what happened right after we had gotten thrown out. Thinking back on it…

><><><><

We’ve just left the castle. The city we’re in is a truly massive one. It looks medieval and I can’t see the edge of where all the buildings end. How many people live here? It could easily be over a million, in fact I think it is. Not that I’d heard that from anywhere, it’s just my guess from how massive the city was. I haven’t heard its name either. I think it’s the capital given the king is here, and the massive castle we just got kicked out of but I’m not even sure about that.

The blood eyes guy and the cute boy are both with me. Now we’re going to go and have to go and figure out how to survive in a city we don’t even know the name of. We can communicate with people, and we were left with a large sum of money at least. Although we were left with 325 silver coins and we have no idea how much that’s worth. There’s also the fact that we don’t know how to read & write and can only communicate through a magic orb that we have no idea how long will last.

“I’m sorry…” I say to the two of them. If I just agreed to study under Iryis I probably could’ve given them so much help, but I turned it down. Everything right now is going to revolve around asking around for information and getting a foundation secured. I can’t do any of that. I could’ve helped them so much, but then I went down the path I knew I was useless at. Why do I have to be so stupid?

“H- hey, are you crying? What’s wrong?” The cute boy walks up to me. I just realized that I had started to cry. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so useless…” 

“Huh? What are you talking about?” I’ve realized that this boy isn’t very intelligent as well. That doesn’t bode well for a possible future relationship with him.

“I turned down Iryis… I could have helped you guys so much if I just said yes, but I didn’t…”

“What about it? I’m glad I’ll be able to spend more time with you.” 

“You… you aren’t angry?” 

“Huh? Why would I be?” 

“I can’t talk to anybody. Whenever I do I get so stressed out and worry that I’m going to say something wrong.”

“You talked with me fine earlier today.” 

“That was different.” 

“Then I’ll do all the talking, OK?” 

“I don’t want to be a burden.” 

“Then we’ll just figure out something you can do. We’re supposed to grow super fast, right? I’m sure there’s something you can do.” Yeah, yeah, right. We’re otherworlders capable of growing super fast compared to everybody else. There is the issue of how magic works, but that’s why I turned Iryis down. Compared to the stress of being in that throne room, surely everything else is fine by comparison? OK, OK, I can do this.

“So we’re going to be looking after each other, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Can I know your name then?” Oh right, we still don’t know each other’s names. We’re going to be travelling with each other for quite a bit, so we really should know each other’s names. 

“Of course, my name is K-”

“Are you guys done? I spent a bit looking around and I think I have an idea of where to go.” The Blood Eyes guy suddenly interrupted us. That’s kind of rude, isn’t it? We’re talking about something super important.

><><><><

So we’ve been walking through the city for quite a while, and none of us have said a word to each other. 

“Hey, I thought you said you knew where to go?” The cute boy voices my concerns. I’m still calling him the cute boy. I really need to know his name, but I’m not sure when to ask. Whenever I’m about to, I get a feeling of nervousness throughout my whole body.

“I said I had an idea of where to go, not that I knew where to go.” 

“Yeah, but we still followed you because we thought you knew what you were doing.” 

“I do know what I’m doing. We’re walking around the market place right now, right? I’m planning on asking where we can find an inn, and just how much our money is worth.” Oh, that’s actually a really good idea. Forget what I said earlier, I trust you now, blood eyes guy. I also need to learn his name, but he seems fairly unapproachable.

“Then why don’t you do it?” 

“It was far livelier than I was expecting. I’m not sure when to butt in.” 

“So we’re looking for inns and how much our money is worth, right?” 

“Yes.” 

“And we have 325 silver coins, right?” 

“Also yes.”

After getting his confirmation, the cute boy just walks up to a random merchant, completely interrupting another conversation. “I’m sorry, but do you happen to know of any inns near here?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah-” and just like that he starts a full on conversation about local inns, quality of the rooms and how much they cost. He also managed to figure out that 325 silver coins will last us a month at one of the average inns around here.

“So, did you guys catch all that, or do I have to explain?” 

“No, don’t bother. I heard that the Triple Rainbow Inn had good quality rooms for the price. Does anybody mind if we head there?” I don’t see anything wrong with the blood eyes guy’s suggestion so I shake my head no. 

“Nope, no prob.” is the cute boy’s cringey reply. After that we follow the merchant’s directions and head to the inn.

><><><><

The inside of the inn is a very large place. It’s a large wooden room with a front desk and tables & chairs scattered around. The wall opposite of the entrance is where the front desk is, as well as a large wooden door, presumably leading to where all the rooms are. Blood eyes guy walks up to the guy at the front desk and begins asking for a room.

“Hello, I need a room for three?” 

“For three? Give me a moment.” The innkeeper pulls a large sheet of paper from underneath the desk. 

“Let’s see, room 08 has three open slots.” 

“Slots?” 

“Yeah, three slots. Room 08 has two beds that can hold 3 people each.” 

“So… we’ll be sharing this room with three other people? And the three of us will be sharing a bed?” 

“Of course. You don’t travel very much, do you?” 

“Sorry, but no. Pardon my ignorance.”

Oh no. Ohh no. I do not like this one bit. Then the blood eyes guy looks back at me. “Is that going to be OK?” 

Huh? What? He’s asking me if I’m going to be fine? Do I… do I look that nervous around people? I mean, he has a point, but the fact that he’s actually worrying about me upsets me. I’d honestly rather not share a room with total strangers but I don’t want to be a burden even more. 

“It’s fine.”

Blood eyes guy looks back at the innkeeper. “We’re looking to stay a week. How much will that be?” 

“Let’s see… 3 slots, 7 days, 21 charges, 2 silvers & 6 coppers per charge, comes out to...57 silvers and 6 coppers!” 

“Oh… will 58 silvers be OK?” 

“Yeah, sure, let me just get your change.” 

“Change? So we’ll be paying up front?” 

“Yes? Is that a problem?” 

“No, not at all.”

With that, the blood eyes guy started counting out 58 silver coins, and was handed two copper coins in exchange. After that we went and found our room. It was a bit like a normal hotel room except the room was quite small and the beds were bigger. There was no desk or anything, just one small room with two large beds.

Whoever else is staying in this room hasn’t left anything behind that’s super valuable. The beds are also made, maybe room service. Anyway, it doesn’t really appear that there’s anybody else staying in this room right now. What’s worrying me is that there is no bathroom. I’m honestly really worried about what this medieval level society considers a bathroom. There’s also another problem that comes along with there being no bathroom.

“Where am I supposed to change?” As soon as I say that, the blood eyes guy and the cute boy suddenly get really worried. Did you two just remember that we have to change clothes every now and then? And that I’m the only girl in this group?

“Um… that’s a good question,” the blood eyes guy begins. “What’s this country’s stance on that kind of thing? Maybe that’s not something you’d bother to hide?” Oh God I hope not. That would just be too much. 

“I mean, I could ask… if that’s the case though what are we supposed to do about her? I mean we’d be fine changing around each other since we’re both guys, but she’s not…” Says the cute boy

Ooh… Imagining the cute boy changing in front of blood eyes guy and saying “we’re both guys, right?” is making me feel a certain sort of way… No! Focus! 

“Please ask.” I say, and just like that cute boy’s out of the room, presumably going to go ask where we’re meant to change. Oh how I envy your ability to ask questions everybody should already know the answer to.

After a bit, he came back. “We’re meant to change in the room. Apparently nudity in this country isn’t a sexual thing at all.” 

And just like that my worst nightmare is confirmed. 

“Um, what are we meant to do about that then? She’s clearly not going to be OK with that.” Blood eyes guy says. 

“I’m sorry, if I only had a bit more confidence this wouldn’t be an issue…”

“That isn’t something you should apologize for.” Blood eyes guy says 

“Yeah, we’ll just leave the room whenever you’re changing. Let’s just hope the other three people we’re sharing the room with don’t get in the way.” the cute boy follows up. I mean, as long as they’re not angry with me, I guess I’ll be fine.

Their opinions aside, this is clearly going to be a problem. This isn’t home, this is a completely different country, different world, even. I’m going to have to get used to the social norms of this country eventually. If I’m really serious about learning magic, I’ll really have to get out of my comfort zone.

Being naked around people makes me really nervous… but exhibitionism is an interest of mine. That doesn’t mean I can just not freak out whenever I’m exposed around other people. It’s probably going to be something like the conversations I’ve been having. Super stressed out before and during, feel all excited and fuzzy inside immediately after. Yeah, thinking of it like that makes all this so much easier.