Chapter Two - False
Rosario almost flinched as the guards walked towards her, it was only a quick reminder to herself to stay in character that helped. She had been the perfect maid... or perfect enough maid, on stream for so long that it was engrained now.
"Sorry, ma'am," one of the guards said. "Go on about your day."
"What? Doth thou not believe me? You accuse me through your actions of lying? Heresy! Corruption! Help! Help I say!"
Rosario took a long step back and watched as the two guards carried their prisoner forwards. The prisoner was... a clown.
No, not quite a clown. She was a jester. The woman had a hat with two floppy points tipped with metal bells and a tight corseted top with very poofy sleeves. Her skirts opened up to legs covered in diamond-patterned hose on one leg and red-and-black striped hose on the other. The young woman positively jangled with the number of bells festooned across her costume.
"Stop talking like that," one of the guards said, then they both hoisted the woman up and onto a wooden podium that occupied one side of the town square. It wasn't hard, she only came up to their shoulders.
There was a deafening clack as the top half of a pillory was brought down, then the guards locked it even as the young woman tried to wrestle her way out.
"I shall talk as I please! They call me a fool, but it is you who are fools! Ingrates! Knowers of no art! Potato peeling peasants!"
Rosario refrained from laughing, and instead opted to move on before the jester could accuse her of anything else. Besides, there was a small crowd forming, men and women in simple garb, a few of whom were carrying pails filled with what smelled distinctly like rotting vegetables.
"What's this? What crime do I stand accused of? Having a sense of humour! You will all rue the day you choose to cros--urghlbe!"
The jester shut up as something smacked her right in the mouth, and a good part of the crowd cheered.
Rosario kept moving along. She didn't recognize this place, but she did recognize the river nearby. It ran behind one of the larger, more administrative-looking buildings along the edge of the town square. A solid stone bridge arched over the river towards a collection of thatch-roofed homes on the other side. There was a mill there, as well, with bright green water splashing through its wheel.
That was what gave the location away, the colour of the water. There was some lore about limestone or something, but mostly she remembered that the river, the aptly named Emerald Brook, ran from the mountains near Hellisdalr all the way down to a lake next to Alpta.
The name came from the greenish colour of the water, and from the fact that gems could be panned from the more shallow sections, though actual emeralds were a rare drop.
Rosario took some time to scout the town out. People looked at her, some of them strangely, but no one chose to approach. She supposed that her maid's outfit looked a bit neater than what most of the peasants here wore, but not so much so that it stood out.
She stepped aside as a carriage rolled past, and the people within wore much nicer clothes. Her instincts were quick to focus on the embroidery on jacket hems and the quality of the fabric she noticed.
A side-effect of her [Seamstress] Job? Level 47 wasn't anything too special.
Then again...
Rosario noticed an older gentleman pushing along a cart and used a quick [Inspect] on him.
Thomas Farmer
[Field Farmer] - Level 44
Then she eyed a strapping young man herding a small flock of sheep, he couldn't be any more than thirty or so.
Liam Harney
[Animal Husbandrist] - Level 14
Then she noticed an inn and focused on a young lady within, then the older woman by the counter at the very back.
Olivia Brown
[Waitress] - Level 7
Emma Brown
[Innkeeper] - Level 39
The guards back in the square were in the low twenties, and the majority of the crowd were somewhere between the tens and thirties, with a few outstanding forties and fifties.
With the way levels worked--as far as she knew--most people focused on one class until it reached its advancement stage, then they'd jump to the next. Each Job tier up had a new maximum level 25 levels higher than the last. The fourth and final one was capped at level 100.
So, someone with, say, a [Sword Saint] Job had a total of 250 levels in Jobs centred around that kind of work.
Basically, most of the people she saw were on their second tier Job, at most. So far, she hadn't seen any Job that she'd expect to see from a player either. Interesting.
Her stomach tightened. It didn't gurgle, but she could feel the pinch of hunger gripping her for a moment. She was hungry, and unfortunately, entirely broke.
She considered getting a job for a moment. Maybe there was a local seamstress that would hire her?
A nice, peaceful life, in a quaint little town where everyone knew each other... She snorted. "Nah."
She continued on her way. Most small towns in the game had a few things, and she was hoping that it was the same here. The inn was a good sign, but were there guilds and transportation hubs? For that matter, where was the bank? Would it even have her accounts?
She paused when she circled around the square and discovered a statue. It was five figures, all of them larger than life. She immediately recognized the Jobs, if not the players. A [Knight], a [Mage], a [Tank], a [Cleric], and a [Rogue]. They were standing proudly above a sixth figure, one done as more of a caricature.
The Demon Lord.
She had fought the end-game boss herself, of course. He dropped good loot. But she had also spent a lot of hours next to a twenty-foot tall painting of the man. His curved horns and chiseled features were hard to mistake, as were the markings on his face.
She moved closer to the statue. There was a fountain built around it, an aged one, that had deteriorated a little with time. A small plaque, made of brass, was pressed into the side. Commemorating the Capture of the Demon Lord of Hellisdalr and the Victory of the Heroes.
Rosario swallowed. She didn't know what to think of this just yet, but she supposed that it meant that the history of this world didn't match what she knew, not exactly.
Then she looked up and took in the peasants. They were almost all humans. Almost. A few had some animalistic features, and she noticed a pair of shorter elves. Half-elves? No demons. This area had been full of friendly demon NPCs.
Rosario chose not to question it. Not yet. For all she knew, there were perfectly plausible and reasonable causes for her basic observation.
She needed information, she needed money. "I need lunch," she muttered.
Sighing, she turned and crossed the square again, aiming right for the inn at the far end. The Jester was still in the pillory, looking rather pitiful covered in rotting vegetables, but at least she'd gone quiet.
Rosario ignored her and entered the inn, only pausing long enough to take note of the name above. The Bend Inn Over? She hoped that didn't mean anything. She scanned the space for a moment. It was only around noon, and the inn was far from busy. Still, the [Innkeeper] was busy at the counter washing up when Rosario approached.
"Can I help you, dear?" the woman asked.
"Yes, please," Rosario said. "I'm looking for work at the moment. I've just arrived in... ah..."
"Riverbend," the [Innkeeper] said. "Because we're at the bend of the river."
"Imaginative."
She snorted. "I'd have come up with something better." She finally looked up and took Rosario in. "A [Seamstress], level 47? Impressive. You'd give Martha, our Tailor, a run for her money I bet."
"Only for a while. As I said, I'm looking for work," Rosario said. She smiled slightly and wished that Charisma wasn't her dump stat. "Just enough for a few meals and perhaps a night or two in your fine establishment? I don't intend to stay for very long."
"Where are you heading to?" the [Innkeeper] asked. Rosario [Inspected] her again. Emma Brown. That was damned useful, especially with how much difficulty Rosario had with names.
"The capital. To work as a... maid."
"Without the [Maid] Job?" Emma asked. "No, nevermind, you're an elf, right? Probably have a tier or two down that path." She shook her head and failed to notice Rosario's poleaxed expression.
[Maid] was a Job?
Wait, no, of course it was! The real question was if she could obtain it for herself!
The commentary about her race was also confusing, until she involuntarily twitched her ears. She had picked elf for the looks, really. None of the player character choices with regards to race mattered much beyond starting locations and some weaker [Racial Skills]. It would wreck the game's balance otherwise. She had [Agelessness] and [Elven Affinity] which made her resistant to a very uncommon branch of magic in the game, and gave her an affinity for bows and finesse weapons.
She supposed that kind of thing mattered more outside of the context of a game.
"It is what it is," Rosario said. "So... I can darn socks really well. And I'm not averse to a bit of cleaning. Though I can't cook, even if my life depended on it."
Emma laughed. "Well, why not? Can't pay you too much, but a couple of nights room and board for some help tailoring a few things can't hurt. As long as you're as good as your level suggests. As for extra money, that's a little tougher, but I can maybe spare a few coppers for work well done. Can't have people saying that I'm cheap."
"That would be perfect!" Rosario said.
Enough to give her time to observe and learn, and then figure out just where her levels and strength placed her in this world.
***