I finally finish opening up all of the boxes, of course with my luck, the last box I open is the one with the water in it. I almost ripped the waterskin it was in as I pried the box open, but it ended up being fine. I open it up and take a few small sips from it, instantly coughing as the water hits the driest parts. I calm myself, taking another long drink and finally quenching my thirst. I let out a long breath as I finish up about half of the water, stuffing the rest into my inventory.
The headache still remains, so either it wasn't because of dehydration, or my real body has a headache and I just need to get a tall glass of water once I wake up. A creeping anxiety starts to form in my chest and stomach, and I try to ignore it as I let out a sigh. The wolves finish their sniffing of the boxes and gather back to me. I scratch behind their ears then look off to the path to town, remembering that I have a long walk to the closest residence.
At least I know the owner, maybe this dream will let me punch that dick in the face...
That is... if I can stand first, I still can't control my body very well, and I am starting to question if that is because of my real body or not. I try to stand again, falling to a knee once more as I let out a huff. I am starting to get really tired of this. I stand and fall to a tree, slamming against it and causing the bark to crack. I don't feel and pain though, so I guess the tree is just dying or something because I don't think I hit it that hard. I steady myself, a little bit of vertigo worming its way in, making me slightly nauseous.
I start to hear the rattling of a cart in tune with horse hooves, causing the wolves to go on guard. A few moments later, a cart with a closed in canopy rounds a turn in the road from the opposite way of the town, coming into view being drawn by a single horse. The man driving lets out a gasp, stopping the horse and hitting the wall of the cart.
"We got 2 wolves, and a possible injured!" He calls out as I hear the clanking of metal from inside of it.
"Copy!" A man yells out from inside.
After a couple of thumps from behind it vibrating through the ground, two people round the cart. One being a swordswoman in metal plate, and the other a man in leather armor with 2 daggers, presumably a rogue. They run to the front, prepping themselves as they slide to a stop in between the horse and the wolves.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" The rogue asks.
The wolves start to growl as the 2 people take a step forward, causing me to panic a little. I don't think they are hostile, and it seems like they are nice people. Nicer than the last ones at least.
"No, don't fight." I say to the wolves, just above a whisper. They turn and look at me, causing the people to tense up even more. They start to walk forward and I throw my hands up, trying to get them to stop.
"Wait!" I scream out scratchily while falling to the ground, causing everyone to look at me surprised.
"Are you okay, ma'am?"
"Oh um..." I nod.
I didn't realize they were talking to me the first time they said that...
The wolves, and people both look at me confused while I shift into a sitting position. The wolves walk over to me, causing the people to get tense. I pet them as they get close.
"Thank you, for protecting me." I tell them, scratching under their chins. I look up to the 3 people, their mouths wide open. They shake their heads.
"So, um, you are okay, correct?" The swordswoman asks.
"Mhm..." I nod, still petting the wolves.
"Um, so..." They look around, spotting the bodies a little off the trail, their eyes going wide. "The hell happened?" They ask.
"Oh... they um, they tried, to capture me, and the wolves, protected me." I say, voice still a little scratchy and weak.
"Are you sure you are okay?" The rogue asks.
I nod. "Um... Could you, take me to town?"
"I would like to say yes, but we are currently on a escort job..." The rogue says, glancing back at the driver.
"Oh, um, I can pay." I say. "Oh sorry! If that's okay..."
"Let me ask the client." The swordswoman says, turning around. The rogue eyes me up, I guess he is seeing if I am a threat.
A few questions later, and the woman walks back to me. "He says he is fine with it. How much are you willing to pay?"
"Oh... uh..." I pull a gold Lens out, a gold coin with multiple circular carvings radiating out from the center of it. "Would this be enough?"
They both choke up, causing the driver to turn over and choke up as well.
"Oh, um, sorry! I just thought, that would be enough, I can pay more." I mumble, embarrassed. It would have been enough in the game...
"That's enough! That's more than enough!" The driver yells over. "I don't even have enough money to give you change for that!"
"Wait what?" It's just a gold Lens... I have like, hundreds of thousands of that... it's just the basic currency, you get a few just for any old 'slay 5 goblins' quest...
"What do you mean what!?" He yells out, not because of anger or anything, just because some thunder has started in the distance.
"Oh, it's just, I have a lot, of it... So I thought I might, have just showed too little..." I almost whisper.
"What did she say?" The driver calls out.
"Um... let's just get to the cart. We can figure out how the payment will work later." The swordswoman says.
I nod, attempting to stand again before falling to my knees. I am so fucking tired of not being able to walk...
"Hey, are you sure you are okay?" The rogue asks, taking a step forward and causing the wolves to growl. He stops in his place and looks almost scared of them. They are cute though...
"I just... haven't been able to, walk right since I woke up..."
"If you can get them to allow us, we can help you into the back." The swordswoman says, pointing at the wolves.
I nod, getting closer to the wolves, petting them. "It's okay." I whisper to them, they seem to calm down. Do they actually understand me?!
The 2 people try to walk closer again, the wolves going on edge as they get close, but not growling. They get to me, holding out their hands for me. I grab on and start standing. I start to fall towards the rogue, he quickly gets under my shoulder holding me up... at least he tries to.
"Oh fuck!" He exclaims as we start to fall, me starting to fall on top of him. The woman quickly grabs my other arm, pulling on it as I try to balance myself. I fall back the other way, falling onto my tail with a grunt, barely avoiding the swordswoman.
Fucking really!? Again!?
The rogue quickly stands up, dusting himself off. "Holy mother of Lienna, how heavy is that armor? Is that why you can't walk right?"
"Hmm? The armor isn't... heavy though..." I look down at... my breasts, right I can't really see past them easily... at least I didn't max out the slider, I think these were set to just under half... What? I didn't want to go full horny on the character when I made it. The hips and butt was where I spent most of the time customi-... Shit... I feel my face heat up at the realization of it. I didn't make it huge or anything, and I know I didn't make the hips extremely wide... I did make them on the slightly bigger side though because that is what I am into...
"Are you okay?" The swordswoman asks.
"Oh um, yeah." I say, shifting so I can stand up again, trying to get my mind off of it.
She reaches her hand down, I take it and stand up. She quickly gets under my arm to support me, but I have to crouch down for them to actually be able to hold me upright. The rogue follows suit with the other arm. I wobble a little as we get steady.
"Fuck, you are heavy..." The swordswoman says before gasping. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way!"
I tilt my head at her, but decide to just leave it. We get to the back of the cart, the wolves following close behind, causing the driver to become a little tense. What did I do to get you 2 to trust and follow me... They drop down a small door, leaning me against it. I press down, pushing myself up onto the back, crawling to one of the seats as the wood creaks, sitting to the side so my tail is out of the way. The wolves hop up onto it, walking over to me and laying down at my feet.
"Oh, are they coming too?" The driver asks wearily.
"I uh... I guess so. I'll pay extra, if it's an issue."
"No no, what you are paying is fine, I was just asking."
I pull out the Lens again and try to hand it to him, though he seems hesitant to take it.
"Oh, is it really, not enough?" I ask, looking at the coin.
"What do you mean?! That is more than enough really, I just feel like I am ripping you off..."
"Ripping me off, how?"
"That's... *sigh* That's just a lot of money for only a 10 to 15 minute ride. It would make sense if it was a days trip."
"It's not worth, that much though..." I mumble, getting a surprised look from the driver, that quickly becomes something more like pity.
"That's worth a lot more than you think, I don't mean this in a negative or mean way, but did you grow up in nobility?"
"No..." I was living good in real life, didn't grow up that way though... "I used to get 2 to 3 of these, just for killing some goblins..."
"Maybe 100 years ago, but you would be extremely lucky just to get 1 if you killed 50 to 100 goblins."
"Oh..." The fuck do you mean 100 years ago!?
"Mhm."
"Then just, take it as a compensation, for transporting the wolves as well."
He sighs, "Fine..." He takes it, putting it into his pocket. The other two hop into the cart, I guess they were inspecting the area and clearing the road. They wearily sit on the other side of the cart, keeping a close eye on the wolves... well, the swordswoman is, the rogue keeps looking at me. Am I really that untrustworthy..?
I sit back and let out a sigh, adjusting for my tail, closing my eyes as the cart starts to move, rattling forward. I am starting to question if this is a dream, I don't recognize anyone I have seen so far. I don't know if the whole 'can't make new faces in a dream' thing is real, but I think these are just new people. Everything feels so real, and the people seem to act normal, plus, those first two guys are outliers of this whole thing. I am definitely not into shit like that, and I don't want to be on the giving, or receiving end of what they were implying.
"You can lay down if you are tired." I here the swordswoman say. I open my eyes and look over to her.
"Thank you, but I should be fine." I don't think I could fall asleep if I wanted to.
"Alright, just let us know if you need anything." She says with a smile.
I nod, she glances over to the rogue and punches him on the back of the head. The metal clank from her gauntlet high pitched. "She is not something for you to oogle at!" She says sternly.
"Ow!" He yells looking over to her hurt.
"Don't mind my brother, he apparently can't keep his urges in check." She says, giving him a mean side-eye.
"Oh, um. Okay?" Urges? Really?
"I can keep my urges in check, thank you very much!"
"Then why the fuck were you eyeing her up!?" She grabs the back of his neck.
"Ow ow ow! Fine, fine!"
She lets out a huff. "I am very sorry for how he acted towards you." She bows her head.
"Oh, um, thank you for the apology." This is awkward...
She lifts her head and gives me a smile, then turns and shoots an angry gaze at the rogue.
"I get it!" He says before turning away.
Was looking at me really that bad? Well... I guess he was looking at me in the 'sexually attracted' way, but I didn't feel like it was really an issue mainly because I thought he was just being cautious, it was a little weird and uncomfortable though.
"Sorry for not saying sooner, my name is Mia, and this is my little brother, Orion." She gestures to him.
"Oh, um, nice to meet you, I'm..." I hesitate, I guess I should tell her my character's name as my real one doesn't fit someone female at all. "Camaella." The weird pit of anxiety in my chest growing as I say it.
"Nice to meet you too. So what were you doing out here?"
I really just want to rest right now...
"I was trying to get, materials from the enemies, in the Korus Dungeon."
"The stuff from the wolves you have at your feet?" Orion asks.
"Oh, no, the golems further in."
"You would need more than just a few bone wolves to take care of that, are you a tamer?" Mia asks.
"No, I'm a mage."
She tenses up, "Then why are the wolves following you?"
"No clue," I shrug, "one of them tried to attack me, and broke their weapon, I felt bad for it so, I gave it a new one. They have been following me since..." I lean down and pet one of them.
"That's, surprising to say the least." She says, letting out a held breath.
"yeah, I wish I knew why they were so interested in following me, they even killed those 2 guys for me."
"Well, whatever you did, they seem very attached to you." Orion says.
"I don't mind it, they're cute."
They look at me in disbelief for a second then shake their heads. What? it's true.
"You are an anomaly..." Orion says while sitting back and closing his eyes.
Whatever you say I guess, I don't really care, there are enough rumors about my character anyway.
I lean back against the seat again, the armor honestly isn't as uncomfortable as I thought... what's really uncomfortable is this damn tail! I can't sit right without it being in the way, and anything that it touches feels so weird. It's so annoying how often it gets in the damn way.
Whatever, we are almost to town anyway...