Chapter 18

Vivian exited the forest and found herself on a dirt road.

 

She looked to her side and saw Luxen City about a mile from where she was standing.

 

"Well, I guess this is it."

 

She suddenly heard a whipping sound from the opposite direction and turned her head.

 

A couple of meters away was a caravan or a group of carriages heading her way.

 

They looked like horse carriages, but the animal pulling it wasn't exactly a horse.

 

If Vivian were to describe the animal, it looked more like a cow but was thicker and covered with long brown fur. Even the hooves were abnormally large.

 

Each carriage had a coachman. One carriage looked like one for traveling, while the other 3 looked like it was used for transporting goods. And among the carriages used for transporting, 2 were loaded with crates and other items. Meanwhile, the remaining one had passengers sitting under a makeshift a tent and were equipped with gear and weapons.

 

Once the caravan started to come closer to where Vivian was standing, they immediately became restless as if they were approaching something dangerous.

 

Fortunately, the coachmen were professionals so they were immediately able to calm the animal down.

 

Vivian stared at the carriages as they continued moving and passed her by.

 

A number of people from the convoy noticed her due to her disheveled appearance but only spared her a quick glance.

 

So it really is a medieval setting…

 

Although this world seems to be a fantasy world, I'm still worried about the personal and public hygiene…

 

An idea suddenly popped inside her head.

 

Right, I don't think I'll be facing any monster anymore…

 

She went to the side and started untying her hair.

 

A part of Vivian's hair was tied into braids and then wrapped together into a knot. And since she didn't know anything about tying hair in that kind of fashion and it seemed to be stable no matter how many sudden 

movements she made, she didn't bother to fix it. However, now that she was no longer in the forest and was about to enter the city, she decided to tidy herself as best as she could.

 

"How the fuck do I untie this?" she muttered under her breath as she found parts of her hair tangled up while she was trying to untie it. In fact, she already pulled out a few strands and was tempted to just chop it off with her broken dagger.

 

A few minutes later…

 

Vivian was covered in sweat and combing her hair. The comb was among the items inside her satchel.

 

I never knew hair could be that tough and complicated…

 

She glanced at the strands of hair on the ground.

 

So my hair is purple…

 

And there's also red...

 

She glanced at the comb on her hand.

 

There were strands of hair stuck.

 

"Is this colored or natural…?"

 

She resumed combing her hair.

 

Once she was done, she began tying her hair into a ponytail and then checked her clothes.

 

Vivian was wearing a sleeveless leather armor with some type of white t-shirt underneath, worn-out green pants, worn-out high-cut leather shoes, and fingerless gloves.

 

Just with the white shirt alone, it was dirty and had cuts on it. As for the rest of her equipment, they too were in poor condition.

 

Even her dagger, her only real weapon, snapped into two.

 

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that and I don't have any extra clothes," she said as she tried to fix her clothes by tapping the dirt away and stretching it.

 

After doing that, she took out her water pouch, took a few sips, removed her gloves and then used the rest of it to wash her face.

 

Splash.

 

"Oh shit, I forgot I don't have a towel and my clothes are dirty…"

 

She wiped her hands with her face to remove the water as best as she could.

 

"Ugh...!"

 

"My God, that smell of leather and sweat is disgusting...!"

 

Spit.

 

Spit.

 

After wiping her face with her hands, she returned the water pouch inside her satchel and wore her gloves back again.

 

She glanced at her stick.

 

"Should I bring it along with me...?"

 

After thinking about it for a minute, she finally got up and then headed to the city's entrance.

 

***

 

Vivian was standing in front of the city's entrance.

 

About 20ft away from the entrance, the road was already paved or cemented.

 

The wall was about 3 stories tall and made of stone, and there were armed men wearing a set of leather armor patrolling on top of it.

 

At the large large entrance, there was an emblem plastered on top of it that Vivian couldn't really understand. All she could see was something like a lion, a shield and other fancy designs.

 

Vivian was never interested in such things to begin with. To her, things were pointless. Moreover, back in her previous world, brand logos had a different style.

 

She glanced at the 2 armed men standing by the gate. They too were wearing a set of leather armor just like the others.

 

Although there were only two, she could see another one, a third one, sitting behind a table inside a booth.

 

This is it...!

 

Vivian took a deep breath and then proceeded to walk.

 

When she got close, one of the guards called her.

 

"You there."

 

Vivian's heart stopped.

 

She stopped walking and turned to the guard.

 

"Yes, sir?"

 

Vivian looked suspicious due to her dirty attire. But when he saw the copper-colored pendant around her neck, his suspicions dropped a bit.

 

"What happened to you?"

 

"I was training in the forests."

 

"Training? Where's your weapon?"

 

"It's a dagger, but it snapped into two and it's inside my bag. Would you like me to show it to you, sir?"

 

"No need."

 

"Okay, sir," Vivian said and then resumed walking.

 

As Vivian entered the city, she swept her gaze around her surroundings.

 

It is a medieval setting indeed…

 

There were people of different skin color walking around and were dressed in medieval aesthetics, even the architecture also had the same style.

 

She also saw the signs and banners but most of them were images than words.

 

Vivian's eyes turned to slits.

 

So there's paint in this world, huh…

 

Or what looks like paint…

 

Although some signs had paint, the quality was poor. Sure, one could argue that maybe due to long exposure to the sun and rain that the quality of the image degraded. However, Vivian could tell that wasn't the case and the colors were also very limited. Most of them were the primary colors.

 

She studied the words on the signs and banners.

 

I really can't read them…

 

However, it's a bit weird…

 

Most of them are images than words…

 

Does this mean the literacy rate of this world is poor…?

 

Back in her original world, although she didn't have that much interest about the medieval period, she heard that during that time, most of the literate people came from royals, nobles, merchants and priests.

 

Wait, where are the demi-humans...?

 

This is a magical fantasy setting so there's got to be one, right…?

 

Her eyes darted from every person she encountered, trying to find demi-human qualities from their horns, ears, tails and whatnot.

 

I don't see any…

 

There's no elves either…

 

Elves have always been depicted as slim and beautiful, so I really wanted to see if it were true here or if the logic applies here too…

 

She shook her head.

 

Now is not the time... 

 

I need to find some lodging first -- No, assuming that I'm an adventurer, I need to find the adventurer's guild first or building or whatever it is called here... 

 

And from there, I could ask for some directions…

 

There was an old lady nearby carrying a basket and Vivian approached her.

 

"Excuse me, ma'am."

 

The old lady stopped and turned to her. When she saw Vivian's sorry appearance, she was startled at first and thought she was a beggar asking for some money. But after seeing the copper-colored pendant around her neck, she relaxed a bit.

 

"Sorry to bother you, but do you know where the adventurer's guild or building is?"

 

"Oh, the Adventurer's Guild? It's --" the old woman said and gave the directions.

 

Vivian thanked the old woman and then immediately to the direction of where the adventurer's guild was located.

 

I need to secure this first…

 

She took out the coin pouch from her satchel and slid it inside her leather armor between her chest.

 

I don't care if this looks stupid…

 

This is my last money, I don't know anything -- not even the basics and I don't know anyone in this world…

 

If all else fails, I think I can at least buy some food and water with this much money…

 

Chapter end