"What are you looking at me for?" Although the white-haired female elf was waiting for someone, she still keenly noticed Aaron's gaze.
Ever since entering human territory, she had grown accustomed to all sorts of stares from humans, especially male humans.
But unlike the gazes she had encountered before, which held either overt or veiled passion, Aaron's carried something that made her very uncomfortable. He looked at her as though she were something dead; she actually sensed a disregard for her in his eyes.
"Ah, sorry, I..." Aaron scratched his head, unsure how to begin. His eyes shifted and happened to land on the pretty little horse nearby, and he hurriedly said, "Miss, I came to ask whether your mount needs feeding. Our inn has some excellent fodder."
The female elf frowned. "I'll feed my horse myself. Just have the fodder ready. I'll pay."
"Of course, miss. Sorry for troubling you." Aaron turned back sheepishly. He had originally intended to be more direct, to approach her and ask who she was, ideally getting some information about the current date from her. But just as he was about to speak, he noticed that the elf seemed to have already laid her hand on the magnificent longbow on her back, looking quite ready to draw and shoot at the slightest disagreement.
Aaron thought it over and decided it was best to follow his heart and back down. If he really angered this female elf and caught an arrow for it, that would hardly be worth it.
Aaron had actually misunderstood. Although High Elves were proud, they were not that vicious. This elf was merely a little nervous because this was her first time carrying out a mission alone.
Still, Aaron's caution could hardly be called a mistake. After all, alone in a completely unfamiliar world, it never hurt to be careful, especially when this was a dangerous world where demon invasions, world wars, and the like happened every so often.
Aaron pondered how to coax some information out of the elf in a gentler way. But that sort of thing was rather too difficult for a gaming-obsessed shut-in like him. Merely thinking along those lines gave him a terrible headache.
While bustling around the inn, though, Aaron did notice that the elf was waiting for someone, which made him particularly curious. After all, as far as he knew, Dalaran was still sitting safely on the southern shore of Lake Lordamere, which meant the Undead Scourge had yet to begin.
In Aaron's memory, before Arthas destroyed their homes and families, the High Elves, who had not yet renamed themselves Blood Elves, were a decidedly insular race. An elf waiting for someone within the Kingdom of Lordaeron therefore seemed very strange, making Aaron even more curious about her identity.
That very evening, just as Aaron could no longer contain his curiosity and wanted to find a spare moment to speak to the female elf, something happened in the inn.
At the time, Aaron was helping in the kitchen. To be honest, to Aaron, who came from a nation of food lovers, Nosh's cooking was at best on the level of ordinary home cooking. But Aaron himself was even worse. Aside from instant noodles, he could only make a few simple stir-fries, the sort that would not kill anyone.
While Aaron was assisting Nosh, a commotion suddenly came from outside the kitchen. His curiosity piqued, Aaron said a word to Nosh and darted out to watch the excitement.
Upon reaching the main room, the first person Aaron saw was the innkeeper, who was behind the counter but looked rather uneasy. Following the innkeeper's gaze, Aaron spotted the source of the commotion.
The female elf's face was flushed with anger, her delicate features filled with undisguised fury. She held a dagger in one hand while pinning a visibly drunken local farmer to a table with the other. From her stance, she seemed to be planning to leave the drunk a little souvenir on his body.
Even without asking anyone what had happened, Aaron could guess most of it. It was probably a case of lust bringing disaster upon a man. Unfortunately for him, this female elf was not only beautiful but also quite capable in a fight. The drunk had probably been pinned down before he could do anything; after all, he was only an ordinary farmer.
As it happened, drunken troublemaking was fairly common at this inn, which also served as a tavern. But things very rarely escalated to actual weapons being drawn as they had today. At least, this was the first time Aaron had seen anything like it in his few days working here.
Normally, if anything happened, even leaving aside the drinkers nearby, the innkeeper would certainly be the first to rush out and stop it. After all, he was the one who lost out if the tables and chairs were smashed. But the female elf's identity and the clearly well-crafted dagger gleaming coldly in her hand had plainly frightened him, leaving him afraid to intervene.
As Aaron watched the dagger about to plunge into the drunk's palm, his heart clenched. He instinctively reached toward them and shouted, "Don't!"
Originally, Aaron had not wanted to stand up for this drunk and lecher he did not even know. But faced with a bloody scene about to unfold before his eyes, Aaron, who had never experienced anything like this before, could not hold back a shout. What happened next, however, was completely beyond his expectations.
A streak of golden light flew from Aaron's hand straight onto the drunk, then turned into a thin golden film covering his body.
"Hm?" The female elf was clearly startled by this strange occurrence, but she quickly reacted, her gaze already darting toward Aaron.
Aaron had wanted to simply hide behind the counter, but seeing the faint admiration in the others' eyes, he suddenly felt he could not chicken out like that. He straightened his back and did his utmost to meet the female elf's gaze. The only problem was that she stood more than half a head taller than him. As she approached step by step, Aaron had to tilt his head higher and higher to maintain eye contact, leaving him looking thoroughly unimposing.
But there was nothing he could do about that. Aaron had only cried out in the heat of the moment because, deep down, he did not want to see anything too bloody. As for that golden light, it was completely outside his control. He was still baffled by it.
"Human, are you provoking me?"
"Even if that man was in the wrong, he shouldn't have to pay that kind of price." Since things had already come to this, Aaron had wanted to act a little tougher. But because of the difference in their heights, he kept feeling that he lacked presence. He could only steel himself and keep looking straight at the elf, forcing out a few words. As for what he was saying, he could only say whatever came to mind.
"Fine. I'll remember you." The female elf stepped back twice, looked Aaron over a couple of times, and spoke expressionlessly. Then she turned and left, apparently heading back to her room upstairs.
"Remember me? Do you even know who I am?" Watching her already ascending the stairs, Aaron relaxed and muttered under his breath.
"Your name is Aaron. I heard someone call you that." Unexpectedly, the female elf's airy reply drifted down from the stairs, giving Aaron quite a fright. "And I'm Vereesa. Vereesa Windrunner. You'd better remember that too."
Only once he reckoned she had returned to her room did Aaron breathe a sigh of relief. He had yet to figure out what that ball of light he had thrown out was. If she had become furious enough to exchange blows with him, he really would not have known how to handle it. Fortunately, the elf had not actually attacked.
"Isn't she a ranger? Why does she use a dagger too?" Aaron muttered. But he soon remembered that rangers were not a class that only used bows and crossbows. They were strong in melee too, essentially a combination of hunter and rogue.
But on further thought, Aaron suddenly felt something was off. It was as though the elf had seized the opportunity his intervention offered to find a way out of the situation. But why would that be? Could it be that she had not actually wanted to act?
"Aaron, I never expected you to be a Paladin." Just as Aaron was recalling the female elf's behavior earlier and trying to remember where he had heard the familiar-sounding name she later gave, the innkeeper suddenly approached and spoke to him with a smile.
"A Paladin?" At that, Aaron lowered his head to look at his right hand. That ball of light had come from here, but he still had absolutely no idea what had happened. He could only offer an offhand reply. "I suppose so."
"Then are you undergoing training right now?"
"Yes, yes." Aaron kept agreeing with whatever the innkeeper said, while his mind began pondering that light from earlier. If he had seen correctly, it should have been the Paladins' signature skill from the game: Divine Shield.
Recalling the sensation from earlier, Aaron waved his hand in front of him, only to find that nothing happened at all. It seemed he would have to put in some effort to understand what had happened to him.
While Aaron was distracted, the farce in the inn came to an end. After thanking Aaron, the drunk, who had been scared half to death, left the inn in a daze. It seemed today's experience had given him quite a shock. Presumably, he would not do anything like this again. Aaron only hoped he would not develop a fear of women.
Thinking about that evening's incident, Aaron finished his day's work, tidied up briefly, and returned to the storeroom beneath the kitchen. A couple of wooden planks casually laid together made a makeshift bed, with some straw spread over them. This had been Aaron's place to sleep for the past two days.
Whenever bedtime came these past few nights, Aaron would particularly miss the wooden bed in his little home of less than thirty square meters. Although it only had a mattress laid over it, it was still far more comfortable than this combination of wooden planks and straw.
But Aaron also knew that merely having shelter from the wind and rain was already quite good. The innkeeper had kindly provided him with three meals a day, so naturally Aaron could hardly complain about his living conditions. After all, the inn had operated just fine without him. Giving him this job was already very kind of the innkeeper.
Of course, understanding that in his heart was one thing, while his body being unable to adjust to these bed boards was another. Combined with the unexpected incident that evening, Aaron felt unusually wide awake, without the slightest hint of sleepiness. Yet he could not figure anything out in so little time, leaving him no choice but to toss and turn on his wooden bed while constantly worrying about falling off.