Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
The next morning, my new friends convince me to get actual clothing before turning in my quest to Alexander.
Now that the shock of my new situation has settled, it doesn’t take much to persuade me.
I can’t believe I charged right into a dangerous quest wearing a bra and leggings.
At breakfast, Tara explained to me that my hasty decisions were probably an emotional response to my shock over the situation.
I’m going with that excuse instead of admitting I’m a dumbass.
Now, we’re back in the starter village, walking down a row of merchant stalls lined up against the temple’s stone wall on the right.
The background noise of wordless chatter has risen to a roar as we navigate the dense throng of shoppers and traders.
Once again, I wish I had my noise-canceling headphones or that I could sit somewhere away from it all.
I feel like I might cry as I notice how much more crowded it is up ahead.
On a good day, I struggle with sensory overload, but I’m already overwhelmed by my current situation. How am I going to survive this?
I turn to Sylvia and ask her if there’s a way to control volume levels in the game. Sylvia offers me a sympathetic frown and shakes her pink-haired head.
Guy rushes up to my side. “No, but I can create a small silencing spell.” He taps on his ear before pointing at mine. “May I?”
Normally, I don’t like anyone touching me.
The few exceptions to this are Mom and Doug.
Well, I guess it’s just Mom now because I’d knee my ex-boyfriend in the groin if he came in for a hug now.
This is different, though. I need as much help as I can get if I want to survive this situation.
If that means letting someone touch my ear to shut off the current source of my torture, I won’t complain.
Besides, Guy is pretty hot. So, I nod, and he leans in close.
Guy traces the shell-like curve of my ear, while tapping a few places on his personal UI with his free hand.
His finger tickles pleasantly, sending little tingles along my scalp.
Then he tugs at my earlobe, and suddenly the world is jarringly silent.
I can do more than take shallow, painful breaths now, so I gulp down a deep lungful of air.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“You’re welcome,” he says.
Guy’s voice is so much clearer without the useless babble of NPCs competing for my subconscious attention.
It’s calm and breathy, like a nurse checking on your vitals in the middle of the night.
My pulse slows, no longer at the bidding of my anxiety.
If we ever make it back to the real world, he should make his own ASMR channel on YouTube.
“How can I hear you?” I ask.
“Silencing spells are used to nullify enemy spells in battle but allow party members to speak to each other.”
I tilt my head. “We’re party members?”
“I just put you on my party list in my menu.” Guy licks his bottom lip subtly enough that he could have just been thinking, but it makes something hot coil deep within me. “Hope that’s okay.”
“That’s okay,” I say, more breathless than I intended. I clear my throat. “You’d make a better healer than me.”
That earns a chuckle from Guy. “And give up spitting out icicles from my palms? No way!”
If I were him, I wouldn’t want to make the trade either. There’s nothing badass about wrapping a t-shirt around an ankle.
At last, we make it to our destination. I hadn’t noticed this when we went to the healers in the back the previous day. At first, it looks like any other stall in the market, but then I see that within the tent is a doorway into the temple.
“Why is the shop in the temple?” I ask Guy.
Cait answers before Guy can. “Where else would a cleric get their gear?”
I huff. “Well, why didn’t we go through the temple entrance from the beginning?”
“They’re at prayer on the other side,” she answers.
“Are you actually concerned about interrupting some NPCs during their fake worship?”
“I’m not, but Tara will pitch a fit.” Cait points at our rogue with her thumb. “She’s got this theory that the NPCs have actual emotions, but they can only do and say the same things they’re programmed for.”
“Just hedging my bets is all,” Tara responds. “If the AI suddenly shifts, I don’t want to be targeted as one of the jerks who treated them like garbage.”
Tara nods in Joshua’s direction. He doesn’t notice her as he pulls down a shopper’s pants and laughs. God, he’s a moron sometimes.
We make our way inside, and I see that the shop is a long hallway with a door at the far end. A merchant waves at me and shouts something, but I can’t hear a word thanks to Guy’s silencing spell.
“Oh, great, how am I going to shop if I can’t hear what the shopkeepers are saying to me?”
“I’ll handle it,” Guy answers.
Cait crosses her arms and shakes her head. “She’ll still need to hear Aphrodite, and you can’t add a god to our party.”
At the mention of Aphrodite, a familiar calm washes over me. It feels fuzzy, like what I’d experienced on that first day while I dealt with my sprained ankle. Only this time, it doesn’t sedate me. In fact, I feel invigorated.
“I think maybe it’s different here in the temple,” I tell Guy. “Try removing the silencing spell.”
Guy arches a brow. “You sure?”
Embarrassment floods me. He thinks I’m too weak to know what I can handle.
“She knows her own mind, Guy!” Cait says in a commanding—dare I say Karenish—tone. With her whole Viking look, it comes off as sexy instead of bitchy, though.
Am I…bi? No, I can just appreciate that hot people are hot.
“Turn off the spell and let her handle this!” Cait continues.
Guy’s eyes widen in shock, but after a beat, he responds with a slow nod and taps a few spots on the UI only visible to him.
Suddenly, the world comes back to life. Worshipful chanting on the other side of the wall drifts over to our side.
Their muffled words praise every major god in the pantheon.
When I hear “Aphrodite,” another wave of that delicious fuzziness caresses me.
I may not like being a cleric, but I certainly appreciate that Aphrodite somehow has a hand in easing my anxiety.
My quest log box dings, and I open it up, reading, “Pray to Aphrodite.” I puff out a breath, letting my lips blubber as I do.
“What’s wrong?” Sylvia asks.
“Looks like I’ll need to pause our trip and join worship,” I answer.
Sylvia chuckles. “The temple is always open for players to pray, even when the NPCs have stopped for the day. You have plenty of time to get gear beforehand. Besides, I’m not sure your deity will take kindly to you showing up for service in your current getup.”
I look down at myself. My designated comfy bra has sported sweat stains for years, but now it’s brown from drying harpy blood.
My black leggings are stiff with blood as well.
The image of the harpy’s lifeless body ambushes me.
Mom’s blank stare flashes alongside it. I almost disassociate, but I know I can’t survive if I keep spiraling like this.
So, I shake myself out of it before it can get worse, shoving down that grief as deep as I can force it.
I take a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Who do I talk to about a robe?”
“Robes are with the man on the right who’s wearing yellow,” Sylvia answers, gesturing in his direction.
“Don’t forget your staff,” Guy reminds me. “You’ll need one if you want to cast without having to poke at things in your menu.”
Oh, so that’s why it seemed like they were actually fighting against the harpy, instead of tapping stuff in the air.
Apparently, using gear we’re proficient in can take the place of a menu so a staff would do a lot to help speed up my reaction time.
Well, once I have some proper spells that I can use during combat, that is.
I get to the man wearing yellow and see that he has a simple robe on a mannequin behind him. There are no other garments in sight. Will he magically produce alternative selections out of thin air, or this is the only outfit a cleric can get in the starter village?
“Can I see your robes?” I ask him.
“You may purchase the robe behind me for four copper pieces,” he answers.
Well, that answers that question. I’m a little disappointed.
It’s so ordinary. Also, it’s white. I don’t foresee that staying clean for even a day.
Still, it’s a far cry better than what I’m currently wearing.
Plus Guy said earlier that wearing a robe makes it so that I’m far slower to wear out from spell casting.
Since I haven’t turned in the locket to Alexander yet, I don’t have any coins on me.
Fortunately, Guy promised that morning he would purchase my gear until I could pay him back.
Four copper pieces don’t seem like a lot, but when I look at the details of the locket quest, I see that I’ll only get twelve when I turn it in.
I really hope the staff isn’t a fortune.
The NPC merchant takes the cleric robe off the mannequin and hands it to me. I look around the hallway, hoping there’s a changing room somewhere.
“Look at the top right corner,” Sylvia instructs. “There should be a button there that says gear. Tap it and then tap the button for armor. This isn’t technically armor, but it goes in the same slot.”
I do as I’m told, and suddenly I’m no longer wearing the tatters of an already frumpy outfit. To my surprise, the white robe fits me nicely. It’s a loose chiton made of linen, with a gold chain cinching the waist, creating a flattering drapery. I swear it hadn’t looked like that on the mannequin.
Sylvia presses her hands together below her tilted chin and looks at me the way my mom did whenever I did something cute as a child. “You look so beautiful,” she says.
I scan the faces in my group. “Yeah?”
They all nod with genuine expressions on their faces. Even Joshua looks at me with a smile instead of a pervy smirk. I feel a little better about the sole choice given to me for attire.