Chapter 3

  A warm bed and a hot meal

  “Okay, and that sounds like a simple matter. I’m sorry for this young man's misfortunes, and I do hope your luck turns my boy, but that doesn’t explain why you neglected your posts and let yourself become completely distracted. If nothing else, you're wasting this young man's time. You also shouldn't laugh or mock someone's misfortune. Matilda and Aaron, you were raised better than that. I know your mothers and fathers. Don’t forget that.”

  The older man paused, and his guards didn’t even try to fight their case. They just bowed their heads and stared at the ground. He watched them for a moment before looking back in my direction.

  “So, was it a place to stay and a meal you were looking for, son? I believe I may be able to help you with that matter.” I just nodded at the man.

  “Follow me. Come on, I don’t have all day, and you two pay attention and stop messing around. Your guards of this town have some self-respect.”

  The guy finished dressing down his people and started walking back into the town. I moved to follow before I lost sight of the man. The guards returned to their previously held positions, not laughing anymore as I was forced to do a bit of a jog to catch up to the guy who was apparently going to huck me up with a place to stay. I kind of felt bad for them. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but this was a whole new world. Maybe the old guy had the right to it, and they were fucking up. I figured he was overreacting a little, but I really didn’t have any frame of reference here.

  When I finally caught up with the man, I fell in step next to him. We walked silently for a few minutes, and I didn’t mind. It was busy looking around at the town. We were walking down a street that led into the town, away from the walls. The buildings were tightly packed and made of stone. They had a material I couldn’t identify used for roofing, but it reminded me of slate.

  They all had windows with glass, which surprised me. Glass was usually a mix of three things: sand, ash, and limestone, and it felt too advanced for the time period. I mean, we got passed by a fucking guy driving a horse-driven cart, and the cart was full of hey, fucking hey. So, seeing so much glass in such nice, thin, transparent sheets weirded me out a bit. I knew it was a stupid thing to focus on, but it was bugging me.

  The only thing that let me move on from the fucking glass was the thought that maybe there was a civilization like the Romans that figured out glass, and these guys were now in their versions of the middle ages but had retained the ability of glass production. That was all that made sense to me. Fuck, the old guy had said something, but I wasn’t paying attention. Come on now, Tom, pull your shit together.

  “What was that? Did you say something?” I asked the man, a bit embarrassed. I had definitely been acting like a country bumpkin on his first visit to a town.

  “I was just saying that I was sorry you found yourself in some trouble today, but you picked a good time to visit Wimington. The harvest just came in, and there will be a festival in two weeks, so if you decide to stick around for a little while, it's a pretty good time.”

  “I plan on only staying the night or at most two days. I should probably get home. I’m sure people are starting to worry about where I am.”

  “I understand. What a shame. It is a fabulous night full of drinking and dancing, and we even build a massive bonfire that we light at sunset. You married Tom?” After the old guy asked me if I was married, he looked at me out of the corner of his eye, gauging my reaction. I coughed and then cleared my throat.

  “No, I’m not, but I have a girlfriend back home. By the way, I don’t think I ever got your name. ” I asked him, but he had a confused look on his face and didn’t seem to hear me ask for his name.

  “Girlfriend? Do you mean betrothed? When are you to marry? Oh, and I’m Branden Tarnington. I am the commander of the town guard here in Wimington. It is my tenth year in the position, if you can imagine it.”

  “Well, nice to meet you, Brandan, and thank you for taking the time to help me personally. I’m sure you're very busy.”

  “Oh no, it's fine, Tom. What kind of representative of the town would I be if I didn’t lend you, a man who had found yourself far from home and in a bit of trouble, a helping hand? That’s just the kind of people we are here in Wimington. Now, come on, let's find you a place to stay for a night and get a hot meal in you.”

  “Thank you so much. I really do appreciate all the help.”

  “Don’t mention it, but about this girlfriend. You seem like a strong young man right in the prime of his life. You should have a wife by now and at least three little ones running about. Why have you not married this girlfriend of yours yet? If you don’t mind me asking, it's just that I have a niece.

  She’s about your age. If this girlfriend of yours doesn't work out, I'll introduce you. She is just a lovely girl. Mature for her age, quite clever, and loves meeting new people. I just know the two of you will get along swimmingly. She’s looking for a husband too. I'll introduce you later this evening. If we can find you a room where I’m hoping I can. Well, stop by, and we can all have dinner together. How does that sound?”

  Fuck, Brandan could really fucking talk. Once I got the guy going, there was no stopping him. He was also very pushy about pimping me out to his niece. I mean, I just met the guy. I barely knew the guy. Was being married in this world that big of a deal. Honestly, I could only hope that young men were a hot commodity. Who didn't love being wanted?

  I eventually agreed to have dinner with him and his niece, and Brandan was overjoyed. I figured it could help to hang out with Brandan and his niece for an evening if it meant having a place to stay and a meal for free. I didn’t have shit for money. Hell, I hadn’t even seen money in this world yet. For all I knew, they used shells or some shit.

  After only a few minutes of walking through the town streets, we made it to a district of the town that seemed to be more for industry rather than residential. I saw what looked like a butcher's shop, a general store, a blacksmith, a few restaurants or taverns, maybe, and what looked like a hotel or, I guess, the medieval equivalent. You’d probably call it an Inn or something. It looked like we were headed towards the hotel-looking building, and I figured that made sense.

  Once we reached the front of the building, we walked up a short set of stairs through some large double doors and found ourselves in what looked somewhat like a hotel lobby. There was a desk with an attendant sitting behind it. To either side of the desk was a set of stairs leading to the upper floors of the building. There was a small sitting area with a few chairs and a hallway past that that led to what looked like a dining room.

  Brandan walked up to the desk, talked to the attendant for a minute, and then beckoned me over.

  “Tom, come over here. Okay, so I got you a room for the week.” I was about to protest, but I didn’t know why I was. Brandan stopped me before I could.

  “I know you don't plan on staying that long, but hang out for a little if you want. Don’t feel like you need to rush off. I also paid for your meals, so there is no need to worry about that. It doesn’t look like you have much coin on you. Don’t worry about paying me back. It wasn’t much, and I considered it my good deed of the week.” Brandon paused to chuckle a bit, then continued speaking.

  “Now, this young lady will show you to your room. Go clean up and meet me down here at six for dinner. I'll have my niece with me. Her name is Maggie, by the way. Did I already mention that? Anyways, go clean up, and we’ll see you soon,” and with that, Brandan turned and headed out.

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  “Please follow me, sir.” As Brandan had said, I turned and found the attendant waiting to take me to my room.

  “After you,” I told the young woman and followed her upstairs to where the rooms were. My room was on the third floor. There were apparently five floors in total. It was a nice room with its own private bathroom. The bathroom had indoor plumbing as well. Don’t think that didn’t send me down a rabbit hole for a while. When hot water came out of the tap, I gave up.

  The bathroom had been pretty basic. There was a small toilet that was basically just a bucket with water in it, but when you pulled a string hanging from the ceiling, the water would flush away. Then there was a bathtub, and that was it, but I figured that was all I really needed. I could wash my hands in the tub if I needed to after I used the toilet.

  Once I was all clean, I opened the bathroom door and found a fresh set of clothing lying on the bed with a note on top that said, “Just something to help you make a good impression.” I shook my head at Brandans boldness. My PJs and shirt had disappeared as well, hopefully to be laundered. I put the clothing on and thought I looked rather dashing in the fit if I did say so myself.

  I don’t know why I was trying to look good anyway. It was not like I was going to marry Brandan's niece. Still, it always feels good to look good. I still had a little while before I had to go down for dinner. There was a small clock on the nightstand next to the bed, and I figured out that it had an alarm feature, so I set it and decided to take a nap for a few hours. I had to mentally focus to try and not overanalyze the whole clock thing.

  I fell asleep quickly. The stress of the last two days had worn me out, and the nap helped more than I expected. I woke to the alarm going off. I got up and tried to flatten out my shirt, as it had got a bit prickly from my nap. I figured I looked fine and splashed some water on my face before heading downstairs to the lobby.

  When I arrived in the lobby, Brandan and his niece hadn't arrived yet, so I sat down in one of the few chairs in the lobby and waited. I had been a little earlier, so I didn’t mind weighting. I was still about to get free food and couldn’t pass on that. The next moment, my belly grumbled. I looked down at my stomach and placed a hand on my navel. I guess I was more hungry than I thought.

  “Sounds like someone’s hungry, a?” I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and I looked up from the chair I was sitting in to see Brandan standing there. I smiled friendly at the man and stood from my chair. As I stood, I noticed the young woman standing next to Brandan.

  She must have been Brandans niece, Maggie. She looked a bit younger than me, maybe twenty-five or so. She had chestnut brown hair with highlights of red popping up here and there. Her face was soft and elegant, while her lips were full and red. She was wearing a simple yet well-fitted sky-blue dress. She looked athletic but still was a bit curvy in all the right places.

  As I let my eyes linger for a second on Maggie, I realized she was beautiful. Brandan was a nice guy, but he wasn’t winning any beauty contests. His niece, however, would have won them all. I was technically single now, right? It wasn’t like Lily and I really broke up, but she pushed me into an interdimensional tentacle monster, and now I’m in another dimension. That was good enough for me. Shit, Brandan had said something. Come on, Tom, pick your jaw up off the floor, you fucking creep.

  “I’m sorry. Did you say something, Brandan?” I asked the man.

  “It was nothing,” Brandan said with a chuckle and a knowing smile before he continued.

  “Let me introduce you to my niece. Maggie, this is Tom. Tom, my niece Maggie. I'll go check on our table and let you get to know each other.” With that, and before I could say anything, Brendan was gone, and Maggie and I were left on our own. After a few moments of awkward silence, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided to try and make some conversation.

  “So…Um, your uncle seems like a nice guy. He’s really helping me out. It's nice to meet you. Maggie, right?” Maggie looked at me for a second as if debating whether it was worth giving me some of her precious time. I guess I passed the test because then she spoke.

  “Yes, it was Tom, right?” It’s nice to meet you. We don’t get many people passing through our small town, so seeing a new face is nice. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Oh fuck I had no idea how to answer that, let's just go with something directional.

  “Oh, I’m from a little village up north, not too far, just a day's ride.” Fuck I hope that sounded like something a person from around her would say.

  “I see, how nice. Village life but be peaceful.”

  “Yeah, it was.” I decided to go for broke and commit to a back story.

  “My father was a shepherd, so I mostly help him with his work.” There, that was awesome. I’m so good at this whole adapting thing.

  “Uh, yes, that does sound nice. I’m sure you miss your family, though. Uncle says that you plan to only stay for a few days. That’s such a shame with the harvest festival coming up.” After she said that last part, Maggie fluttered her eyelashes a bit, then she dropped her head and looked at me through her lashes. I wasn’t sure because it hadn’t happened to me at all, really, on Earth, but I think Maggie was trying to flirt with me. Correction was flirting with me.

  I was being flirted with. This was awesome, but I couldn’t let it go to my head. Maggie and I didn’t get a chance to talk more because, at that moment, Brandan returned.

  “Come on, kids. Our table’s ready. Follow me.” Brandan turned, and I told Maggie, “After you,” and got a smile in return. Then we found our sets. Dinner was nice. We started with a salad followed by the main course, served in a family style. There were carrots, mashed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs for some reason, this boiled cabbage type thing, rolls, and large cuts of some animal that seemed similar to beef. It was just what I needed, and once I was done, I almost immediately felt sleepy.

  Once dinner was cleared, I kind of thought that would be it. After removing our food, we were given coffee, tea, small cakes, and puddings. It was the perfect end to a beautiful night. I almost forgot I was in a new world, far away from home, in some random dimension. After two small cakes and a cup of coffee, we just talked for a little.

  Brandan was actually a nice guy. He had some rough edges for sure, kind of like talking to my grandpa from Earth. The one who said racist shit every once and a while, but we still loved him. Maybe not that bad, but you could tell he was a very no-nonsense guy. Maggie, however, was a bit stuck up for sure, but overall, she seemed friendly and curious. A wonderful treat in a person, if I did say so myself.

  Toward the end of the night was when I fucked up. I was feeling comfortable, more than a bit sleepy, and I hadn’t been watching my words as carefully. I was answering a question from Maggie when I slipped up. We had been talking about the story I had created to explain my presence in their small town.

  “How exactly did you end up falling in the river? How low is your Dexterity?” Maggie's words confused me at first. She had said Dexterity like it was something you could quantify. When Brandan shot Maggie a disapproving look, I figured Maggie was just talking a little trash, and the hint of a smile on her lips almost confirmed it for me.

  “Hey, that river came out of nowhere. I’m plenty dexterous. I’d like to see you text and walk.” I realized that wouldn’t make sense to someone from this world. Judging from Maggie's confusion, I was right. Brandan hadn’t seemed to notice, but Maggie definitely had.

  “Maggie, that’s enough. Don’t pick on the young man. Can’t you see he’s exhausted? We’ll let you get some sleep, and maybe Maggie can show you around the town tomorrow. I’ll be busy, but that doesn't mean you two can’t have a good time. What do you say? Sound like a plan?” I nodded and was glad to move on to a different topic. Maggie was giving me a weird look.

  “Sounds good to me. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then, Maggie.” We all stood from the table, said our goodbyes, and then I headed back to my room. I was so fucking tired. I walked into my room, closed the door, and, fully clothed, face-planted into the bed. It was so soft. It felt wonderful, and I almost fell asleep right then and there, but before sleep took me, I was jolted awake by a knock, knock, knock.

  I groaned. Why now? I was fat and happy. They couldn’t just let me sleep. As I was deciding if I was going to get up or just ignore the knocker, the knocks came again. Still just as insistent. Looked like they weren't gonna go away. Guess that meant I was getting up. I rolled off the bed and stood up. Okay, I was up, even if I was a bit groggy.

  When I opened the door, there was no peephole to see who was there, and it was Maggie. It took me about five and a half seconds to realize this, so when I did, it was like a shot of caffeine, and I was suddenly wide awake. Before I could speak, Maggie did.

  “Can we talk Inside?” I was slightly stunned. I hadn't expected to see Maggie at my door. I just took a few steps back and held my arm out, indicating for her to come in. Maggie gave me a slight nod and walked into my room. Once we were both standing awkwardly in my room, we both eyed each other. Both of us were unsure how to start. I decided I might as well talk first if she wasn’t going to. I began to ask why she was here,

  “So, Maggie, what brings…” but as I spoke, Maggie, I guess, had the same idea and had said,

  “I’m sorry to barge in…” We both stopped speaking abruptly, and Maggie giggled.

  “Sorry, you were saying,” I asked Maggie before the same thing happened again.

  “Ah, yes, thank you, Tom. I was just saying I’m sorry to barge in on you like this at such an hour, but I just needed to ask you something.” Oh my god. Was this happening? Was I about to have random, hot sex with this woman from another dimension? This was epic. And, of course, I must, but only if she insisted. This would be for science!

  “Yeah, anything. What is it?” I would answer whatever she wanted.

  “Okay, here it goes. What's your Dexterity, Tom? I mean, like the actual number, What is it?” Okay, what the fuck was going on? Maggie was looking at me as if she were asking an important and serious question, but clearly, this woman was insane. All hopes for my interdimensional romance down the drain.