Intermission (2)

Keeping my eyes on the target, my arm wound back, shifting my shoulders in response. My hand adjusted to point the blade at the right spot. I didn’t need to be fast, just calm.

Then, a sharp breath.

“And… thrust!” Rotating my body, I took a step forward. Then, half a beat later, my arm flew straight, heading towards the illusioned Elvira in front of me. My muscles twitched as the recoil ripped through. It wasn’t as bad as stabbing something, but thanks to my noodle arms, it easily elicited a slight twinge of pain.

“Not enough force!” Of course, like in reality, the Elvira in my mind nimbly dodged before scolding my mistakes. I don’t need to hear her in my illusions too! I already have enough trouble dealing with one of them. Two are just evil incarnate.

At the moment, I was taking a break from assembling daggers. Over the last few hours, my skills had steadily improved, with each build looking more dagger-like than the next. Even the latest one was almost perfect, in terms of assembly – everything else still had a long path ahead. Any kind of hammer or chisel work ended with me damaging the part. Plus, if I didn’t pay enough attention, some of the pieces would be permanently stuck to unintended places. The pommel covering the hole I made with the chisel was one such accident.

“Phew… let’s go again.” I muttered to myself. Since I didn’t know when I would use the dagger, I practiced whenever I was in the hotel room. At first, since there were no other dagger-like objects, I used a random stick as my training weapon. However, that turned out to be completely useless. The flat tip and skinniness provided little to no tactile feedback of what was wrong. After all, when everything felt off, how were you supposed to differentiate? An outside observer would fix the issue, but Elvira always dodged with a snide remark. I was hoping this would help me blow off some steam, so why do I feel even angrier?!?

At least with my latest and greatest almost-dagger, I could tell what was wrong, albeit roughly. The slight misalignment of the hilt and the wobbly blade did make it difficult, but it was a billion times better than a stick. Nowhere close to reaching Elvira though. Argh!

Growl…

My stomach called for food as the sun coming in through the window dimmed slightly, indicating it was almost noon. My assembly and weapon practice had kept me occupied, stopping me from grabbing breakfast. Though, to be honest, I was tired of omelets. I never thought I could get sick of eggs, but after eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for four days, I was starting to go insane. My stomach churned at having to digest another one.

The most efficient would be to teach Maeva’s father, the chef of the restaurant hotel, another recipe to make here. But with how busy he was, I wouldn’t be able to teach him until tonight. I could always try another restaurant, but I wanted to spend as little as possible. Elvira tore away my safety net for these pieces of scrap, and I was barely on track to earn the ten thousand reales to escape the city. Who’s to say I wouldn’t be ripped off again? Actually, that sounds pretty likely.

So, the best choice is probably buying some sort of ready-to-eat meal at a grocery store. Something like a meaty sandwich or rice ball sounds pretty good right now.

Speaking of which, where are the grocery stores?

“Seriously?!? You stopped me for something as simple as that?!? Don’t you see how many customers there are?!?” I peeked into the restaurant and caught Maeva as she bused between tables by the entrance. Like the last few days, the dining hall was filled to the brim, this time like a dam barely holding back a tsunami. There was quite literally no space to walk, meaning you had to hop from table to table or head to head to move anywhere. It was a miracle that Maeva noticed me.

“Sorry about–”

“Sorry?!? Do you THINK I want an apology right now?!?” she yelled, obviously stressed, though it only made the lookers cheer louder. “Ugh. Just head left and then take a right at the first intersection. The store’s on the right.”

“Excuse me!” someone called from somewhere.

“Coming!!!” she trilled, giving me a brief, “Get going!” before diving back into the school of fish. Though I wanted to laugh at the absurd sight of her bouncing off heads, I gave a nod of appreciation and headed out.

With how simple the instructions were, it was impossible to get lost. I only had to make a single turn at the light and…

“Wow…” The entire atmosphere shifted as I stepped off the main thoroughfare of the hospitality zone. The bustle of the lunch break had all but vanished, leaving relatively modest foot traffic. Tens of horse-drawn cars hurried down the street lined with rather monotone yet chic two and three story buildings. It almost reminded me of the average city street back in my world, well, barring the horses.

Honestly, I should’ve expected as much. A place made for tourists would be much more lively and unique compared to the everyday business of the city folk. Street performances, random chases, and escapes were definitely not what the common people did. Actually, why did I have to deal with it?

…

…

…that’s a rabbit hole I’d rather not impact.

Now, where’s this grocery store at?

Surprisingly, finding the building was the hardest task. As most of them were uniform, it was hard to tell one place from another. I didn’t notice any signs either. There were some glass panes here and there, but they were nowhere near the plentiful panels in clothing stores. Luckily, it didn’t take too long to find the grocery store among the crowd.

After all, the doors were wide open, providing the entrance to an entirely other world.