Alice sighed, and her chin sank deeper into her knees. She was sitting underneath a balcony with her arms wrapped around her legs, her knees pressed to her chest. The ground was slick with water, and rain pitter-pattered on the bricks around her. Luckily, she was prepared for an adventure and could use her cloak as a makeshift towel to prevent her butt from getting wet. Alice sighed again and grabbed a piece of jerky out of the pouch on her waist. She bit the end of it, but didn’t bite it off, savoring the taste. It was salty. How did she end up in such a sad position, eating jerky in the cold rain all by herself? It all started when Tafel said, “Let’s go on an adventure!” and it only went downhill from there.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if there was a better plan than cause a ruckus so loud that she wouldn’t be missed. She wasn’t like Vur, a dragon that could breathe fire. And she wasn’t like Tafel either, a demon with horns. If anything, Mary would be in a similar spot as her since they were both relatively normal compared to those two. Alice finished her piece of jerky, but she still felt hungry. However, she didn’t take out another piece. She might be in a town, but her currency was different than the locals, and there was also the problem of a massive language barrier. Tafel and Vur spoke strangely, but they were still understandable. These people? Nope. There was absolutely no way to communicate with them, and if she couldn’t do that, how was she supposed to make a name for herself? She couldn’t exactly go around beating people up, could she? Well, she could, but that would make her feel like a terrible person.

Instead, she had spent the day gathering information. From what she could tell, these people were perfectly normal, and none of them were used magic. All the men wore some sort of hat or turban, and she suspected the size and material had something to do with their status. If she were Vur, she’d find the person with the largest hat, beat him up, and take it from him to claim his position. However, she wasn’t a barbarian, so she refrained from doing that. Also, it might’ve been a little dangerous if she were to do that. There were a few soldiers—or people she assumed to be soldiers—patrolling around with muskets similar to those of the dwarves back on the eastern continent. The civilians also seemed to be on edge. Perhaps she had landed in an occupied city?

“Etvu deck? Yu tig nahgu kliss?”

Alice raised her head. Over the sound of the rain, she hadn’t heard anyone approach. Two men wearing long cloaks were staring at her. The lump jutting out of their backs revealed their status as soldiers with muskets or perhaps just armed civilians. “Sorry,” Alice said. “I have no clue what you’re saying.”

The two men looked at each other. They marched towards her and spread out, standing over her from both sides. Their arms stretched forward and were promptly smacked away by Alice’s hands. They said something else, but of course, Alice couldn’t understand them. She was pretty sure they were agitated though. “Hey now,” she said and raised her arms up. “Let’s discuss this like civilized people even if we can’t understand each other, okay?” She tried to make herself sound as inviting as possible, not realizing it was the same tone she would use to coax her griffin cub into eating.

The two men glared at her, and one of them took off his cloak. He unstrapped his musket and took out a small pouch filled with black powder. Instead of giving him time to ready his weapon, Alice took her miniature shield off her bracelet and stood up. Her shield expanded into a buckler, causing the two men to gasp. With a sharp swing, she knocked the musket out of the man’s hand, and with a downward chop, she put a nice dent into the musket’s barrel, rendering it completely useless. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the two men. “Bad! Don’t do that.” If even a baby griffin could understand her based on the tone of her voice, she had no doubt these two men could figure out what she was saying.

The two men didn’t even hesitate before turning around and running away. One of them slipped on the wet ground, and his head collided into the wall of a nearby building. He collapsed, but his partner didn’t even look back, leaving his fallen companion behind. Alice frowned at the sight and shrank her shield, storing it back onto her bracelet like a watch. Back on the eastern continent, a lot of people were afraid of her because she was just a little bit stronger than they were and had a teensy-tiny anger problem. However, she didn’t even get angry, but those two fools were terrified out of their minds. Maybe starting a ruckus was easier than she thought? All she had to do was expand and shrink her shield a few times.

Alice sighed and approached the fallen man. His head was bleeding, so she took the cloak he left on the ground and tore a long strip of cloth out of it. She lifted his head and wrapped his wound. Then she checked the rest of his body to make sure he didn’t have any other injuries. While she was checking, she found a pouch with some coins—which she took for herself. First aid wasn’t free after all, especially not with her skill as a seasoned adventurer. After claiming her medical fees, Alice picked up her adventuring cloak and headed towards the market for some more reconnaissance—and a meal or two now that she had some money.