Chores

The next morning you wake up to the sound of water splashing in another room. Orienting yourself you can tell it's very early morning, because there is barely any sunlight coming in from the window. You're a little thirsty and wouldn't mind breakfast, but otherwise you're fully awake. That's unusual for you. Waking up early after going to bed late is something you rarely pull off and when you do it is generally accompanied with being very tired. Now though you're living the dream of a video game character, managing to wake up well-rested.

The splashing sounds stop and doors open and close. Normally you wouldn't mind lying in bed just a little bit longer, but right now it feels like a waste of time and you'd rather do something since you're wide awake anyways. If only this happened to you in real life. You put on your dress and step outside, only to run into Maira immediately. "Morning" she says grumpily, looking like someone who hasn't had their coffee. "Good morning to you too!" you answer, a little surprised about how chipper you sound. Apparently you're a morning person now in addition to being a night owl.

Maira seems slightly annoyed at that but walks past you to Olin's door and opens it without knocking. It was definitely the right choice not to sleep with him. "Olin! Get moving! We have work to do." Olin groans and turns to his side, looking like he won't wake up easily. "Olin!" Maira yells again. You feel a little responsible for the situation since you kept him up last night and step in. "Looks like he is really tired. He probably slept poorly. He seemed really sad and bothered yesterday for some reason." She looks at you insistently, trying to gauge if you know something you shouldn't, but you manage to just smile at her.

"Fine then. You can come with me instead and take over his work." Before you can protest she walks past you down the stairs. Regretting having interfered you close Olin's door and follow Maira down and into the storeroom. She puts two buckets in front of you and leans a wooden beam against the wall, then returns to the storage rumaging around for a moment and comes back out carrying two buckets hanging on either side from another wooden beam on her shoulders. "What are you doing girl? Don't waste time, we have work to do." Seeing that you promised to help out in exchange for food and shelter you sigh and fumble with the beam before managing to balance the buckets off it without dropping them or the beam.

"Normally we would just buy water from the water carriers, but money has been tight and it's not that far." She walks out and motions you to follow her. This is not the morning breakfast you wanted. She closes the front door behind you and you stand on the open street, seeing the city slowly wake up for the second time. This time you don't need to hide and even if guards were to come you're fairly sure Maira would handle it somehow. Looking around though there are much less guards than during the night and unlike before they are standing on street corners, not patrolling. You don't understand the logic to the guards. Maira probably wouldn't know either and might get suspicious, so you ask her something else.

"So, uhm ... where are we going? To the river?" She takes a moment before she answers. "No, we're in civilization here. We have central wells." You're half tempted to tell her that in real civilization people have a tap to get water from and don't need to carry it, but she would not understand and you wouldn't be able to explain. You try to pay attention to the way so you're able to find your way alone if needed and also just to see what the city has to offer. You see the whore house again that you noticed on your first night going through the city. "Is that Mr. Boltone's?" you ask her, then immediately regret it as she gives you a look. "Why? Want to be a whore after all?"

You don't understand why she is so hostile. You're new here and just asking questions. She took you in after all and has at least some responsibility for you since she is technically your boss. "Maybe? Do elf whores get payed?" you answer snippishly, not wanting to just take her attitude any longer. She stares at you in disbelieve and then shakes her head. "I thought you were one of the good ones."
"I am one of the good ones! He invited me to take a look around and I ... I feel like I should do that." You almost misspoke and mentioned your quest. That would have been quite a blunder. You wonder if she would have glanced over you talking about game mechanics or sent you to an asylum for talking crazy. Or have you burned as a witch. Her reply surprises you. "Even if you have a quest to go to the whore house you shouldn't. Next thing you know he'll have you spread your legs for him and his customers."

You stop, staring at her open mouthed before finding the words. "I won't. It's not my style. I just want the Experience."
"We'll see. Edwin is good at what he does." You follow her wordlessly, brooding about how you definitely won't get manipulated into becoming a whore. It's also strange that the characters here ... no, people, are aware that this is a game. It doesn't seem to bother them either. It does sort of make sense since they don't know anything else, just like you accept that sometimes water just falls from the sky, but at the same time from a game design point of view they could have easily gone for more immersion.

The various shops you only really saw the signs of open their shutters and you can glance at collections of weapons, armors and trinkets. It might just be a trick of the light, but some of those swords look like they are glowing. Captivated by the sight you almost lose Maira and have to run to catch up. You pass a big building, much bigger than the tavern but not quite the size of the treasury. There are strange looking people going in and out, all of them more or less armed and armored, sometimes in groups and sometimes alone, but not looking like guards. You feel drawn to that place even more than the shops, but can't quite put your finger on it. "What is that place?"
Maira follows your pointing and takes another moment before she decides to answer. "It's the guild house. It's only for adventurers."

That's what it is! The people here look like adventurers, not citizens! You make a mental note to check this place out too. There is no point telling Maira you're an adventurer, she either wouldn't believe your or disapprove. But maybe this is the way forward, taking on quests, buying better equipment and getting rich and famous in the process. At least it would be better than waiting tables and carrying buckets. Your mood lightens as you feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Though if you spend all day doing chores you won't have time to do any scouting and adventuring. Maybe it's time to ditch Maira? You decide it's too risky to just break your oath and hope the adventuring guild will give an unknown newbie without any gear a quest that pays the bills and lets you level up. If only you had respawned with your gear.

"Say, Maira, what's the plan for today? Will we be carrying water all day?" Looking ahead you see a big well and about ten people standing in a line to use it, filling bucket after bucket with water. Most of them are strong looking men and you feel like this is something Olin would be much better suited for. "No, we'll carry the water back home, then we wash clothes, then we have to go to the market to buy food. Maybe also beer or wine, depending on the prices today." You nod grimly and stand behind her in the line, putting down the beam and buckets. They were getting a little heavy and you're not looking forward to having to carry those back filled with water. Stupid oath enforcement. The game should help you, not hinder you.

Some of the water carriers give Maira and you a disapproving look but she stares daggers right back at them and none of them say a word to you. You assume they aren't happy about you sort of stealing their job and pay. You notice a lot of them being barefoot just like you and Maira mentions that it's tradition for professional water carriers, but she doesn't know why. Soon it's your turn and Maira hooks a bucket onto the well's rope, drops it down into the water and pulls it back up using a winch mounted on top of the well. She repeats it for the second bucket and then turns to you. "Well? Your turn. Don't make people wait." With an exasperated sigh you do what Maira did, attaching the rope, dropping the bucket into the well and then cranking the handle to pull it back up. It takes a lot more strength than you thought. Maira helps you remove the full bucket from the hook but then lets you crank your second bucket up by yourself again and you can hear some people getting impatient behind you as you're starting to sweat.

You manage to pull the heavy bucket up and out of the way to let the next person get their turn. After a brief rest you take some time to fiddle with the wooden beam to position it correctly to not hurt yourself carrying the water. Maira watches you wordlessly and gives you an acknowledging nod when you manage to pull the beam on your back and start walking. It's heavy and makes you stagger, but your new body is surprisingly strong. On the way back you are breathing heavily, trying to keep up and have no mind to be looking around. After a strenuous walk you arrive back at the tavern, put the buckets down and plop down on a seat. Maira brings her buckets into the kitchen and then returns with a cup of water that you drink immediately.

"I changed my mind. I don't think it makes sense to bring you to the market. You'll just follow me, ask silly questions and there won't be anything for you to carry. You do the laundry instead." She picks up one of your buckets and motions you to bring the other, leaving hers in the kitchen and then goes upstairs. "Put it in the bathroom." While you do so she checks on Olin and then joins you to pick up a ribbed board and a rough brush. You consider telling her off, that you don't want to do this sort of work, but no matter how you phrase it in your head it just comes across as childish and breaking your oath.

Maira shows you how to use the brush and board together with soap to wash the clothes, getting them wet in the bucket, then brushing them over with soap and finally pouring some water over it to wash out the soap. It goes relatively quickly, you only need a few minutes per piece of clothing. There are three dresses, pants and shirts each. After instructing you how to do it for the first piece she watches you do the second and half way through she gets up. "I'll go to the market. There is a bucket on the kitchen fire to wash yourself with. When you take it put another one in its place so Olin can get himself clean as well when he wakes up. The third is for dinner later, but you don't need to put that on the fire yet. Once you're done you can take some food from the storeroom." You keep brushing the clothes, unhappy with your lot in this life. "Got it?" You shoot her a glance and say "Yes, Mam", after which she turns to leave.