Gun Girl from Another World

Chapter 43

Pay

”... Do you really think I’m fashionable?”

We’re in the little cafe area between the changing rooms and the showers, every customer clad in identical simple robes. Between these and the towels, I’m convinced the proprietress or someone in her employ knows the Cleanse spell, too. There’s no way they do this much laundry by hand.

I stop mid-stride at Ayre’s question and turn to stare at the elf like I doubted my ears. “... You’re kidding, right?”

Ayre’s slow to meet my eyes. “Well, you said it’s how people see me, but your style’s so unique ...”

I blink back at her -- him -- screw it. “My style? I’d like to think I have a good eye, but I literally came here with nothing but my gun to my name. In all of Toleste, I own exactly two sets of clothes, and one of them’s a set of one-size-fits-all robes that the Temple gave all of the Heroes because we spawned in naked as a flock of jaybirds. And my adventuring gear was made for me before I even came looking for it.”

”You really don’t have anything else?”

”Yorin’s bringing us my first real paycheck since I came here. Every other little bit I earn has gone right back into tools and supplies.” I motion around us. “And don’t get me wrong, Dabun’s a really homey place, but I’m not big on fur. If I ever decide to build up a wardrobe, it’ll have to be somewhere else, and I’ll need more cash to get it.”

The elf gives a more understanding nod as we begin heading toward the counter again. “I’m sorry, I keep forgetting that you really don’t have anything.” Those thick eyelashes blink. “Well, except for a big plot of land, a heavenly artifact, hundreds of bars worth of alchemical compounds, a noble’s carriage ...”

”Yeah, yeah,” I sigh, “I’ve kinda ended up in a weird place in that regard ...”

Rather than relenting, Ayre turns toward me fully with narrowed eyes. “Actually, Remmi, the more I think about it, aren’t you really quite materially wealthy?”

”I get it, alright?! I’ll look into buying some new clothes, I promise! I’m still not doing it in Dabun, though!”

This seems to satisfy the fashion-conscious archer, who apparently takes personal offense at travel companions not having a well-populated wardrobe, and we flag down a different woman than the one at the front desk to order our milk.

I turn back to Ayre while she’s getting it. “And yes, I think you’re fashionable. Your sense of style was one of the first things I noticed about you, in fact. It looks like something you could wear in a big Imperial city without looking out of place questing in the wilderness, either.”

Ayre is clearly trying not to blush, and decides to cover it up with another quip at me from behind a smug facade. “Somehow, that carried a lot more weight when I thought you actually dressed yourself. But don’t worry, I’ll use my impeccable fashion sense to help you pick something out!”

Oh-ho, you want to cross swords with me, do you, Ayre?

I smile as the bartender sets the glasses of cold milk before us, and I raise mine up to toast. “Then I’ll be trusting myself to your wisdom.” Once we bump glasses, we each take a drink, and I take my shot. “While we’re at it, we can get you fitted for a bra, so you stop poking through your top.”

The immediate spray of ivory liquid from Ayre’s lips is everything I hoped for as his free arm wraps around his chest protectively, even though these bath robes are deliberately plenty thick enough for concealment.

”They do not poke through,” the elf insists, face red as a tomato. “That’s what the wrap is for!”

”Oh?” I inquire, arching an eyebrow and smirking around my cup. “So they are on the puffy side, then?”

Okay, I lied, now Ayre’s face is as red as a tomato. He’s also sputtering like a gasping fish for anything to say, so I turn and motion to the bartender instead.

”Excuse me, can my friend get another milk? That was my fault.”

* * *

We’re putting our boots back on when the door beside us opens.

”What perfect timing! I was worried you two would still be in the baths!”

I look up from tugging the leather up tight to see Yorin’s smiling face. “Somehow, I don’t believe that for a moment,” I note with sarcasm. “I’m starting to think Priests have some sort of tracking skill.”

”Oh?” she asks as if genuinely intrigued by the idea. “My, how helpful that would be. We could keep at-risk patients under observation without having to be at their bedside. But no, there is no such priest skill, unfortunately.”

Ayre finishes first and gets to his feet. “How did the meeting with the guild master go, Sacred Priestess?”

She holds the door open for us and motions us out with a smile. Once we’re out on the street, she starts walking, giving us no choice but to follow her. “In due time,” the priestess insists. “First, how was the bath house?”

Ayre and I look to each other at the refusal. Or, at least, for me, it’s the refusal. Ayre might be trying to find what to say.

”Refreshing,” I take the initiative. “Way better than I expected of a place in a distant, secluded village like Dabun.”

”Isn’t it?” she agrees readily. “The owner doesn’t like to brag about it, but she has family that owns larger facilities in a couple bigger cities. I’m certain that inspired her to excellence.”

”The milk is a nice touch,” Ayre offers. “I’d never really taken it before. Remmi said it restores the stuff you sweat out in the heat of the bath.”

Yorin nods sagely at that statement. “It also helps your skin look its best and purges impurities.”

Ayre throws me another glance, far more hesitant than I would be to directly contradict her. “Uh ... Remmi said that’s just a myth ...”

Yorin stops dead in her tracks, forcing both of us to jerk short, as well. Her smile doesn’t disappear, but I can feel its tension even though she’s still looking away from us.

After a moment, still in the same sunny tone, she replies, “Remmi should get into the habit of Diagnosing her food and monitoring her Status, instead of assuming that she knows everything.”

An awkward quiet settles over us as we process that we’re being scolded, and I’m left wondering if maybe she’s right. I just assumed milk is milk, and baths are baths. Are there really additional effects without the use of magic?

We’d previously discussed coffee, of course, but the so-called buffs sounded like just the normal benefits of caffeine. Why would I have assumed anything different about milk? It’s already a superfood with plenty of innate benefits without magic being one of them.

... Maybe Yorin just didn’t like her beauty regimen being questioned?

The priestess starts moving again before either of us come up with any sort of response. “Master Kobi received the report on the completion of your quest personally,” she says, moving on to the topic at hand.

”For Remmi’s sake, that is not the normal order of things. As Ayre already knows, such paperwork and their payouts are typically handled by the staff. He also upgraded the reward due to the unexpected risks you faced.”

”That is normal,” Ayre helpfully explains to me, “though you usually have to bring back evidence to get the increase. Between your Cannon skill and the word of a Sacred Priestess, though, I guess that was considered evidence enough.”

I think back to our intended retreat before the System stepped in. “Does that mean we would have needed to bring back evidence of the undead if we’d reported it back to the guild?”

But Ayre gives a shake of the head. “If it’s just reporting, an eyewitness account is plenty. After all, the guild’s next step would have been to send professionals to reassess the situation, which makes any proof we might have brought redundant.”

Yorin gives a soft hum. “Speaking of reassessing, Master Kobi wants both of you retested.”

Ayre balks in a panic. “A retest?! Already?! But I barely did anything! Really, Remmi did all of the work, I was just a glorified guide!”

I scrunch my face in my confusion. “Why do you sound like you’re trying to throw me in front of the cart?”

The archer deflates with a dramatic sigh, arms going slack. “I’m sorry, I just thought I’d actually be able to keep hold of some of my pay for once.”

I scratch at my chin in thought. “They didn’t charge me anything for the first one.”

”They don’t,” Ayre confirms. “First one is free as part of the admissions process. Retesting is the only way to rank up, though, so the higher your rank, the more they charge. And since the pricing assumes you can save up for it and take it on your own time ...”

When the elf sighs and lets that statement hang unfinished, I pick it up for him. “... They feel justified in making it expensive.”

After Ayre nods, though, I tilt my head, considering it. “It makes sense, though. If retesting was cheap, or even free, people could flood them with retest requests, which costs time and resources. Higher ranks would require special proctors, too, who have their own schedules to work around.”

But Ayre just glares flatly back at me. “And that’s fine when it’s your choice! You can set a bit aside from each job until you can cover it!” She sighs again. “We’ll be lucky if we have enough left to live on cabbage soup for training.”

”Oh, that’s not a problem,” I assure my friend. “There’s enough wild food up there to keep us fed. We can just work it into the training! Maybe you can even get Wilderness Survival out of it!”

Ayre opens his mouth again, but Yorin cuts in.

”While I applaud your resourcefulness, Remmi, that is not why it shan't be a problem. Since he is demanding the retest, I convinced him that the guild should be the one covering the fee.” She glances back at us. “He also saw reason in waiting until after you return from culling the bronze dungeon.”

Relief is flooding Ayre’s face, but I’m grinning as I elbow her, anyway. “Hey, that means we really need to up your training! If you can get a free rank out of it, we need to make sure you ace it!”

Ayre rubs the space between ribs where my elbow landed with a small wince. “That’s a long way to go, Remmi. Most people don’t take the Silver test until at least thirty. For you, that kind of power is only 50 Agility away, but I’d have to almost double my level to get there. And if it’s after we get back, I won’t have time to spend my dungeon points, either.”

”You will if we camp out to do it before we head back! It doesn’t sound like there’s anything keeping us from taking our time!”

”You might as well give up, Ayre,” Yorin advises with a subtle smirk, “because the Gunslinger Hero does not appear to know how.”