I smiled at my success, though a certain part of me felt a bit of disappointment I wouldn't get to relieve him of his jewels quite yet. I'd need to get more out of Irinda before I could do that. But, once I had evidence, perhaps I could turn him over to the guards.
I grabbed my clothes from the floor. Thankfully, they had dried despite being crumpled up. It was as wrinkled as an old beggar sitting outside a temple, so I shook it out several times before pulling it on. My pants had also dried, as had the belt, so I pulled them on, too, before slipping my feet into my leather boots and lacing them up.
I took stock of all my belongings, laying out the coins and items before me on the table.
I had 16 Gold, 11 Silver, and 12 Copper. There was also the crude iron ring I’d taken off the one thug, as well as the small carving knife. Though, that was still stuck into the wall above the peephole. I tucked the dagger I’d taken off the gang leader—‘Tybor’s Needle,’ the System called it—into my belt. Daggers weren’t my preferred fighting tool, but since I didn’t have anything else at the moment, and the System had given it a proper name, it was probably worth holding onto.
I scooped up the firestarter that Irinda had dropped on the table the night before, too. That might come in handy at some point. Now, what else was there? Oh. I recalled the window from last night, the one that had appeared right before I passed back out. I pictured it in my mind’s eye and suddenly it popped back up in front of me.
Skill Increased: Intimidation +1.
Intimidation, huh? I smiled, thinking back to the look on the bald innkeeper’s face as he struggled to keep his eyes on mine. The anger at exposing myself to such a lesser creature was still present, but now it was less like a roaring flame and more like the smoldering ashes of a bonfire in the morning. It didn't stop me from wanting to walk downstairs and jab my dagger into his groin, though.
As if offering some kind of consolation, another window appeared.
Quest complete: Rest Interrupted.
Reward: A good night's rest.
I stared at the words, unamused and then dismissed the window. I wondered what other skills I might have access to, beyond Intimidation and Lockpicking. The last time I'd seen my information, I'd been distracted, having just witnessed my own death at the [Hero]'s hands.
As if registering my thoughts—which I suppose it had—The System sprouted up a massive window that took up most of my view. This one was unlike any of the others that I’d seen so far.
=User Information=
Name: Aria Grace | Title: Empress of Dragons | Class: Rogue | Subclass: Thief
=Current Status=
Health: 53 / 60 | Mana: 80 / 80 | Stamina: 70 / 70 =Attributes= Vitality: 6 | Endurance: 7 | Strength: 5 (+2) | Dexterity: 7 | Intelligence: 8 | Wisdom: 7
=Abilities=
Swift Strike – Level 1
=Active Skills=
Lockpicking – Level 2 | Sneak – Level 2
=Passive Skills= Dodge – Level 1 | Dual-Blade – Level 1 | Short Blade – Level 2 | Intimidation – Level 1 | Light Armor – Level 2 | People Person – Level 1 | Perception – Level 3 | Physical Power – Level 2 (+2 Levels from item) | Poison Resistance – Level 2 | Shadow Walker – Level 2
I frowned at the number next to my health. I remembered the window from the night before, when the big guy had managed to hit me. I should have recovered from that by now. Usually time healed most wounds, and sleeping meant my body had time to recover. Yet it hadn’t.
I’d need to figure out how to restore my health. If sleeping didn’t do it, then there had to be something else I could do.
Irinda was waiting outside my door when I opened it.
“Oh, good morning,” I said, a little taken aback.
“Good morning, m-milady.”
Oh gods, that wasn’t going to do.
“Just call me Aria,” I told her, shutting the door behind me. “What can I do for you, Irinda?”
Her eyes stuck to the floor like a rat pinned to the ground with an arrow.
“I wanted to see if you needed anything. N-now that I work for you, I want to ensure I provide the best services possible. The master demands it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You keep calling him the master... What does that mean?”
“Master Brin. He owns us.”
“Owns you?” The anger from earlier swelled once more, like a wind in the sails of a warship.
She nodded again. “The master wants to be sure that the rest of your stay at The Slumbering Drake is up to your standards. That your privacy isn’t—”
“Yeah, I understand,” I said, cutting her off with a raised hand. I turned the key in my door and heard it click. There wouldn’t be any way to tell if ‘Master Brin’ decided to go snooping while I was gone, but I had all of my belongings with me, just in case. "How can a man get away with owning someone else? The empire outlawed slavery thousand of years ago."
She let out a soft laugh, more like a scoff than anything. "A man can own his wives, can he not? After all, the dragons don't care about what men do. They don't have time to worry about us."
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My mouth gaped open and she immediately recoiled.
"I'm so sorry! Please don't tell the master. I don't want to get in anymore trouble." Her eyes glossed over, tears forming at the corners.
"I have no interest in telling your 'master' anything." I made a disgusted noise as I said the word.
Her comments tore at me, though. The dragons did not have time to worry about what men did? Everything I had ever done was for humanity.
“Oh,” Irinda said, her voice reaching another octave higher. "Here, the master.. he sent me with these.” She fumbled with something in her pocket and pulled out a set of keys—four of them, to be exact—that hung from a rusted metal ring.
“This is all of them?”
She nodded.
“Okay. Good.” I stuffed the key ring in my pocket and started toward the stairs. Irinda followed me the whole way down, through the main room, and even out into the street.
I stopped, turning to face her. “Are you just going to follow me everywhere?”
She hesitated and then nodded.
I almost laughed. “No. I think that’s a bit much, Irinda.” I rubbed the corner of my eyes, just above my nose, and then looked her over. “I need a few things, okay? Why don’t you take these Silver and go grab me a few tonics? Grab something to help with healing and something to help rejuvenate me.”
I didn’t need the latter, but I figured it would be a good way to test if she was trustworthy or immediately running to her boss about everything I did. I drew out 10 Silver from my coinpurse and handed them over.
“And,” I added just for good measure. “You don’t answer to Master Brin anymore, okay? I ask you to do something, it stays between us. He asks about it, you tell him to talk to me.”
She nodded quickly and stuffed the Silvers in her pocket before starting off. I cringed as she stopped, turned back to me like she’d forgotten something, and then bowed in a low curtsy.
Godsdammit. I glanced around us. I already stuck out like a sore thumb, and while I was happy that someone was actually treating me at least partly how I deserved to be treated, it also meant that others might see me as someone worth robbing.
Luckily, the streets seemed fairly empty this morning. Now, ten Silver poorer, I made my way toward the East Quarter Market.
Calling the gathering of vendors a market was a bit of an exaggeration. There were plenty of people hocking wares, sure, but most of them were cheap, useless trinkets. I meandered through the place, eyes glancing over the different stalls, until I landed on a vendor near the back with some shirts and other clothing items hanging from the cloth cover of her stall.
I stepped up to the place and took it in. It wasn’t much, but it looked like better quality than most of the other merchandise in the market. Still, I wouldn’t have been caught dead in any of it before my awakening. Now, though? Well, I had a pittance of what I should have.
I eyed the clothes, immediately settling on a dark purple shirt that was so dark it was almost black, and a slightly darker cloak that looked like it would fit me perfectly. This form was a bit different than my standard human form, so I could only hope I was taking everything into account. The options for pants were a bit more limited, so I decided on a pair of dark blue breeches that had pockets near the waist, as well as a pair of black leather boots with laces all the way up their tops.
When I placed the items on the counter of the stall, the old, gnarled woman running the place eyed me up and down.
“Lassie like you will need something to protect your middles,” she said, her voice low but not unfriendly. She reached under the counter and pulled out an elaborate-looking jerkin.
I raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I need that?”
The woman eyed me, then placed it on top of the pile of clothes. It matched up pretty well with the outfit, and fit the color theme I’d gone with.
“I know a lot of things, lassie. And you wear your problems too blatantly on your skin. Take this and wear it if you want to keep your insides where they are.” She smiled, a toothless smile, and then leaned against her stall with a wrinkled hand. “Three Gold,” she said when I went to grab the clothes.
I ignored her and pointedly took a look at the jerkin for myself. It was relatively thin, though it did have a slight toughness to it. I shrugged and dug into my coinpurse.
“Two Gold and three Silver,” I returned.
She smiled that toothless smile again. “Tell you what, lassie. My bones aren’t aching as bad today, and I’m feeling generous. Two Gold and it’s yours.”
That caused me to raise an eyebrow. I’d never done much negotiation—I’d never really needed to considering I was essentially the most powerful being this side of the sky—but I was pretty sure you didn’t undercut the price your customer offered.
I eyed the clothing once more, and then, because I really needed to conserve my money, I paid her the two Gold and didn’t make a fuss.
Hey, I was probably overpaying anyway. Clothing from the East Quarter Market? It was probably barely worth ten Silver, let alone two Gold.
I scooped up the clothes and the boots and made my way back toward The Slumbering Drake.
Back in my room, I began to change into the new outfit. I stripped off the old clothes, leaving them to lie on the floor, and began pulling on the new pieces.
The clothes fit me better than I’d expected. The shirt was tight in all the right places, and the pants hugged my hips but didn’t hinder my movement. The belt I already had also fit perfectly with the new outfit, and the cloak was light and easy to manage, despite draping over my shoulders with ease.
Even the boots were easy to slip into, and they felt perfectly snug around my feet. I inspected my new look in the mirror on the wall of my room and offered myself a smile. I was down two Gold and ten Silver, sure. But, at least I finally had a set of clothes that would hopefully help me stand out less.
I brushed the black hair out of my face and, for the first time since arriving at the inn, took a closer look at my face.
I’d already seen it, in the statue in the garden. But looking at a distorted image of your face in a statue’s reflection, and again in a mirror, are two very different things. I traced the wrinkles around my eyes—green eyes that looked like emeralds that had been set into a pale face. A series of freckles ran across my cheeks.
It was a pretty form. Not breathtaking like the previous human form I’d taken, or even my dragon form. But it was… pretty enough.
I smiled at myself again, looking at how my face and mouth twisted with the movement. It looked a bit… evil? No, that wasn’t the right word. Scheming? Yeah, that one fit. It looked like I was scheming something.
Hmm—I supposed that fit, too, considering what I was trying to accomplish now that The System had sent me back in time. I was still inspecting my form when a soft knock sounded from the door.
I crossed the floor in a few steps and swung it open, hand finding the hilt of the dagger in my belt. Irinda stared, eyes wide, her hands holding a small box.
“I—I’m sorry, mila—Aria.” She corrected. “I just wanted to bring the things you ordered.”
I took the box, offered her my scheming little smile, and then closed the door in her face, locking it after.
After a moment of silence, I heard her footsteps recede and the stairs creaked down the hall. Turning from the door, I set the box on the table and opened the top, peering inside.
There were four vials. One was dark green with swirls of silver inside of it. The second vial was dark red, and the final two were a slightly lighter shade of red. I didn’t have much experience with tonics, so it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to turn the woman away when she could have just told me what each one was.
I probably shouldn’t even drink any of the tonics.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed one of the lighter red vials and pulled off the stopper. It smelled faintly of rosemary and a spring day after the rain.
I downed it in one shot.