22. In the streets of Twande

Claudia didn’t seem to know about Twande and its customs nor the life of an average townspeople.

After all, beneath that cuteness and a great disguise, she was still just a sheltered daughter of a viscount. She had no idea of how the ordinary townspeople nor people from the countryside acted in the streets. And this was in great contradiction with her disguise as a man from the countryside.

It didn’t exactly help either that Lidia, who by no means wanted to hurt her lady’s feelings, didn’t redirect Claudia at all and just let her wander around the streets. Or perhaps Lidia herself didn’t know a thing about regular people’s lives and customs. Waldina wasn’t quite sure which one it was, but she decided to step from the sidelines and take the place of the leader for now. She may be from a modern world but it was starting to look a lot like she’d manage the steering wheel better than either Claudia or Lidia.

Besides, Waldina had a nasty feeling about the fact that Claudia’s disguise wouldn’t fool anyone at this rate. No one had clearly taught her how to act. Right now she didn’t seem like a man nor like a person from the countryside.

“Umm Kiandra is beginning to sound a lot like she won’t fly another centimeter if she doesn’t get food soon. So how about I lead us to a suitable place for breakfast?” Waldina tried her best to keep her expression neutral, mainly to hide her annoyance and amusement.

“None of these places seem quite right,” Claudia began pouting her lips. Lidia agreed with her without a moment’s hesitation. It started to seem more and more like Lidia was just following the lead of her lady, blindly at that.

“If you put yourself more into the shoes of your role, perhaps you’d find suitable places for us,” Waldina laughed and without waiting for an answer head towards the café closest to them. A crowd of people gathered in front of the café; some queued at the counter, some looked for a suitable place to enjoy their food, and the rest were either sitting at tables or getting ready to leave. The place was lively enough for a guarantee of delicious and reasonably priced food. Just the vibe Waldina was looking for.

Behind her Claudia was muttering objections but she didn’t stop to listen to the complaints. She was content enough with the fact Kiandra was pleased with her choice. Claudia and Lidia most likely wouldn’t want to get left behind nor would they want to argue with Waldina in the middle of the street, in front of all these people. After all that would attract unwanted attention to their group.

The café wasn’t exactly unique compared to all the other cafés in Twande. In front of the café there were a couple of tables and chairs. The café was mainly built from wood and stones. In Waldina’s opinion all Twande’s and Inizio’s cafés and restaurants gave off the vibe of the Middle Ages’ architecture, though more of the simplified countryside version. It was somewhat cute and cozy. Whereas both of these towns had earned their status as towns, Waldina knew from her game knowledge that these were only small rural towns which didn’t yet have the newest technology and knowledge.

That could be seen in the simplistic ways the towns were built, though Waldina herself found comfort in that simplicity. She didn’t wish for glamour, ordinary was more than enough. Thank god she’d ended up summoned in this medieval themed world of Adventurous Online instead of some sci-fi themed futuristic world. Because those, if anything, usually had glamour. A lot.

Behind the café’s wooden door opened a surprisingly large space, filled with tables and chairs. At the very end of the space stood a counter, and an approximately middle-aged woman was busy at work behind the counter. Besides the woman there stood a slightly older bearded man. Even though the café was full of customers, it seemed like the owner couple were the ones in control of the atmosphere in there. The atmosphere was gentle and inviting. It brought a smile to everyone’s faces. Noticing this Waldina was sure that she’d made the right call in coming here. This totally had the vibe she’d wished for.

Waldina ordered from the café owners a delicious dish of scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage. For drink she ordered a cup of tea - coffee wasn’t apparently a choice in the cafés’ of Twande. She also ordered a similar set to Kiandra who was hiding beneath her hair. The dish would be a tad bit too much for the little fairy, but there weren’t delicious sounding kid’s dishes either. Usually Kiandra didn’t shy away from others, but close-contacts caused her the occasional need to hide. Waldina didn’t force her friend to change her habits as she felt Kiandra would surely know better than her about the treatment fairies received in this world. Surely she knew when to hide and when to show up.

Waldina left the counter with Kiandra and searched for a suitable table for them. Claudia and Lidia on the other hand moved to the counter to order their food. As Waldina sat down she turned to look at the confused Claudia who didn’t understand the menu at all. An amused smile rose to Waldina’s lips. Fortunately, Lidia finally acted and saved Claudia from embarrassment, ordering each of them salad and buns with ham, and finally a cup of tea.

“Diaz, did you have a hard time choosing?” Waldina asked as the two sat in front of her and Kiandra.

“Haha, so funny. If you choose a place, you should at the very least help,” Claudia glared at Waldina, displeased.

“Says the person who assured she’d lead the way in Twande’s streets,” Waldina laughed and took a bite of her delicious looking breakfast. It had been a while since she’d enjoyed such a gourmet breakfast. And she clearly wasn’t the only one enjoying it. Kiandra was shining with excited blue light and her eyes shone brighter with every bite. Her slender figure didn’t really give off any hints of her passion for food.

Waldina’s earlier words made Claudia - as Diaz - blush hard. She turned to look at her bun, though she hesitated then.

“I didn’t know it would be that difficult… I’m from close to Inizio and I have been countless of times to both Inizio and Twande,” Claudia defended herself before turning to Lidia: “Could you fetch me a fork and a knife?”

“Tirsk,” Waldina couldn’t hold her laughter within her any longer. Kiandra faced the same problem and specifically stopped eating just to look at Claudia in amusement. Claudia herself wasn’t nearly as amused as them.

“I do think a countryboy like you could eat a bun using just her hands and mouth,” Waldina offered an explanation as Lidia kept glancing around, clearly feeling awkward. “Listen, Diaz, earlier you sounded so confident, but in truth, you’ve just begun your ‘journey’. And you have no prior experience as to how to act like a commoner. I’m right, am I not?”

Claudia put her head down, but her still reddening cheeks and ears confirmed Waldina’s deduction to be correct. Even Lidia didn’t try to deny it, but instead she slightly nodded her head.

“I understand. That itself isn’t wrong, but do let your companions take the lead more often. Overconfidence can be harmful in these sorts of cases,” Waldina continued with a gentle tone. Slowly Claudia lifted her head and nodded.

“Good. Now, Lidia, give Diaz an example of how to finish that bun,” Waldina grinned before finally turning back to her own dish. Claudia’s overconfident side was actually quite adorable, although it could trouble others.

As the four exited the café, Claudia gave a vastly different vibe, seeming more like the countryboy Diaz, her disguise. With Waldina’s tips she managed to avoid the most obvious actions that would show her status as a noblelady instead of a commoner. She walked slightly wider, held her hands in her pockets and the air around her was more carefree. The slightly changed demeanor in Claudia helped Lidia relax as well and act more like her role as countrygirl. She had admitted during the breakfast that she follows Claudia’s lead without disagreeing with her, as that’s how she’s been taught: a person of higher status stands always above her and is thus right. If the person isn’t correct, one better act like they were.

Waldina was content with this change in the two. The atmosphere now felt lighter and she didn’t hesitate in leading the group.

Claudia didn’t have a clear objective in Twande. She had simply informed her father she was traveling around the world and had promised to stop by some close-by towns. That way she’d get to experience the local culture and pretend she was a commoner. Thus she didn’t really mind following Waldina and Kiandra around. She got to experience the town after all.

Waldina was currently aiming to get back to the main street. Lidia had told her that the Adventurer’s guild in Twande was located in the main street. It was quite some way there as Claudia and Lidia had walked them quite some way earlier in search of the ‘perfect’ place, and they’d end up far away in some smaller streets.

The result had luckily been delicious, so Waldina didn’t mind. On top of that Twande was a beautiful place with all of its simplicity and Waldina really didn’t mind the extra strolling around. From time to time she chatted casually with Claudia and Kiandra. Lidia stayed quietly most of the time. She only braved to take part in the conversation a couple of times.

The Adventurers’ guild in Twande was nearly identical to the one in Inizio. The wooden signs adorned the building and in front of the building there were a couple of adventurers hanging around. The morning had already passed by and it was closer to noon as of now, which explained the scarce amount of adventurers hereby. Most of them got their quests early in the morning or right before going to sleep at night.

Waldina looked around at each of the adventurers but she couldn’t recognize a single one of them. She wanted to believe she could tell apart an NPC from the player. Yet she couldn’t see anyone resembling a player, let alone one she was familiar with. Perhaps Oziel had begun his journey from a different place than she. She was sure of the fact that Oziel would be another player. And she hoped there were other players than her around. She didn’t want to be stuck around alone in this new reality.

“Ah,” Waldina yelped as Kiandra shot a water bullet at her. The fairy’s eyes were dark and disapproving: “You went off to your own thought world again.”

“Ah, sorry,” Waldina mumbled and wiped the water falling down her face. Kiandra kept her condemning look on and held her hands on her hips.

“Hmm. Accepted,” Kiandra’s expression softened and she visibly relaxed. “I just wished you wouldn’t look so lonely. I’m not about to leave you alone again. I’m here to stay.”

Waldina lifted her face to look at her friend, slightly confused, but she couldn’t say a word. She just smiled with gratitude. Kiandra was right. It would be nice to meet other players but at least she had Kiandra. And for now Claudia, as well.

“Aight, let’s go,” Waldina stepped into the Adventurer’s guild, Claudia and Lidia following her. Kiandra was back on Waldina’s shoulder, dragging the long ponytail for her cover.

“Hello, I’d like to update my guild card,” Waldina explained after reaching the counter and an officer behind it. Most of the information of her skills updated automatically but her actual Adventurer’s rating didn’t; a guild officer had to update that manually. As the guild card used her mana for the info updating the guild and its officers could check her actual achievements through it. This also meant adventurers couldn’t fool the system - at least not that easily.

“Hmm, it says you’ve defeated Vermell and its underlings all by yourself?” the guild officer let the words out in half-accident and raised her curious eyes at the purple-haired ninja. The ninja nodded nonchalantly, though in reality she was deep in her thoughts, wondering how the stage-exams got recorded in her guild card. She couldn’t quite describe the feeling it caused her, but it wasn’t pleasant.

“In light of this information I’ll raise your rank from F to G. Good work, adventurer and good luck in your future quests,” the officer said without asking more questions. Though the officer’s face was full of all sorts of questions, her mouth stayed shut. Waldina was grateful for this act of decency.