Part 5: My Impressions of the Town
IT was so sunny and warm outside that I wished I had a straw hat. Wandering around wearing my long-sleeved jacket wasn’t helping cool me down, either, but it was better than taking it off and having people start staring at me again. Even though it would have been just fine if I’d been walking around wearing a tank top in my old body. I wonder if there’s a way I can return to my original form?
In any case, a lot of the townspeople were wearing clothes you could have found in the Middle Ages or, you know, in a fantasy setting, which meant I stuck out like a sore thumb. I guess I was destined to attract attention even if I wasn’t walking around half naked. The gazes sent my way made me uneasy. Were they staring at me because of my weird clothes or because of my looks and my race? I had no idea. Maybe I’d discover the answer over time as I settled into life here.
As we walked around, I also got the sense that the standard of living around here wasn’t consistent. I saw well-groomed folks as well as those who looked like they might not make it through the day. It made me wonder if I myself could live a decent life here. If I had to rely on my own abilities to survive, what in the world could I even do? I saw my future self in the hollow-eyed people sitting on the ground in the back alleys, and it made me anxious.
Children, blissfully unaware of my inner turmoil, ran around energetically. At that age, maybe just running around the neighborhood with your friends was fun. But when I tried to think back to my own childhood, all I had left were faint memories. Did I use to play like that too?
The melancholic dream of going back to that time and running around innocently was too on the nose for the middle-aged man I was inside. But on the other hand, I was still too young to smile indulgently and say things like, “Ah, youth.” Maybe I was at just the right age to be sentimental, actually.
A group of boys raced straight in my direction, fast enough to crash into me if I didn’t move. Not wanting to get in the way of their fun, I took a half step to the side. They brushed against my baggy tracksuit as they flew past and I turned around to watch them go. When you’re really caught up in something, you lose awareness of everything around you. I hope no one gets mad if they crash into them.
While I was ruminating on such things, Ralf suddenly grabbed one of the boys’ arms, aggressively. Had he done something to offend him? Considering the way Ralf treated me, I hadn’t thought of him as a particularly violent person.
Then again, he had pointed his sword at me when we’d first met. I’d been trying to forget that memory, to let bygones be bygones and all that. But now that I thought back to our initial meeting, I realized it wouldn’t be totally out of character for him to snap and attack a child out of nowhere. Are adventurers just common street criminals in this world? I sincerely hoped not, because that would mean I was indebted to a dangerous individual.
“Now, now,” I said. “Let him go.” When I mustered up my courage and encouraged Ralf to release the boy, he surprised me with his calm voice.
“Give that back to her,” Ralf told the boy.
“Shit! Screw you, I don’t need this crap anyway!”
Then the boy hurled something at me. I caught it reflexively. He’d been holding a black leather notebook about twice the size of my palm. I only realized it was mine when I flipped through it and saw all my notes from the night before.
The boy angrily shook himself out of Ralf’s hold and disappeared into the crowd.
“Should I have held onto him longer?” Ralf asked.
“No… Thank you very much for getting this back for me.”
I bowed my head in his direction, feeling both apologetic and incredibly grateful. It was the best I could do to convey how I felt, given how bad I was at showing my emotions on my face. Hopefully, it was enough. In the past, I’d unintentionally made new, younger employees cry when my intention had been to teach them gently and they had misunderstood. In that light, I naturally worried about Ralf’s reaction.
Boys running around innocently? Blissfully, foolishly unaware of my presence? Adventurers being common criminals or whatever? Not so much. And the only fool around here was me.
“He probably thought your journal was a wallet, because it’s made out of leather,” Ralf reasoned. “Pockets are definitely useful, but they also make easy targets, so I suggest you be careful.”
I’ll do just that, thanks. I’m sorry for being so ignorant I almost had my most important possession stolen so soon after receiving it.
Feeling both embarrassed and pathetic, I asked Ralf a question, staring in the direction the kids had run off to. “Is it…normal for such young children to be pickpockets?”
“Yes. They generally go after women because chances are high that women will let them get away with it,” Ralf explained matter-of-factly. “Pickpocketing is a valuable source of income for children living on the outskirts of town.”
The surprisingly detailed piece of information gave me possible insight into his own background. Although he looked like a well-put-together man now, he might not have grown up so privileged.
“Maybe I should have punished them a bit,” he went on. “If he and his friends keep stealing like that, they’re bound to get a hand cut off or worse, someone might kill them.”
What a cruel world. It seemed like a peaceful fantasy if all you did was watch the throngs of people pass by without getting involved, but take one step into a shady alley and you could immediately glimpse the harshness of society. Because of my unrealistic transmigration and gender change, I’d felt like I was watching it all through a screen. This was different from the video games I played once in a while, though. All the people I saw here were actually alive.