All of my limbs were starting to look much better. They weren’t any younger, but some of the age spots had disappeared, the limbs themselves were a little thicker, no longer skeletal. The fingernails were a healthy pink. The toenails were still far from it, but at least they weren’t black. It was easier to move my toes, my grip was stronger, and my knees no longer popped and cracked every time I moved. The left side of my lower back ached in the evenings, but that was something I could live with.
I couldn’t help but admit that the medicines and vitamins the system gave out worked perfectly.
If only I could bend my left arm. Then I’d be able to live and work hassle-free.
Automatically, I ran a hand over my smooth cheek. Yesterday I had decided my face was too stubbly, so I shaved it all off. I didn’t have to, though — there were plenty of bearded goblins and orcs, not to mention zombies and worms, whose faces were usually almost hidden under hair — but I decided to shave. A shaving pill cost two sol. Yes, a shaving pill. A gray pill the size of a huge coin, sold in vending machines. You had to take it into the shower and soak it in water, which would turn it into grayish-blue jelly. Then you slather the jelly wherever you wanted to shave. One pill wasn’t enough to shave your head, but it was more than enough for your face, armpits, and wherever else there was unwanted hair. After a minute, you’d just wash the jelly off along with the hair. That was it.
At the moment, I was a freshly-shaven orc who didn’t reek of sweat. Talk about personal growth!
I asked about haircuts, and was surprised at the answer. The system wouldn’t do it — you had to do it yourself or find a goblin with a pair of scissors to cut your hair as best he could. If you didn’t want to risk that, you could always buy two shaving pills and smear them on your foolish head.
I made sure that Yorka was fully awake and asked:
“What does the system want the half-asleep goblin to do today? What act of service does it require?”
“Damn, it’s surprisingly clean work.”
“Oh, let me guess — deliver twenty blocks from the port to receptacles A, B, С and D?”
“Yeah. You got the same job? I guess that makes sense, since we’re a party. Are you ready to start your day?”
“More or less.”
“Let’s move out, then. We’ll have breakfast on the way. How far do we have to go?”
“Pretty far, more than two miles. We go to intersection 17, then take path 12 to path 29, and that’ll bring us there. Almost an hour of walking.”
“We can do it in thirty minutes,” I disagreed. “Let’s move out.”
We headed down the quiet, deserted hallways. It was creepy, to be honest. I’d only been here a few days, but I was already used to the crowds, the yelling, the noisy eating, the laughing and crying... All the sounds that filled the Outskirts from morning to night. And now it was disturbingly quiet…
As we walked, I taught Yorka how to turn corners the right way. Most people walked right up to the corner and took a sharp turn to save time and energy. I made her stay far from the wall, turning smoothly. It took three or four steps more, but it might save her from being stabbed — this way made it easier to spot an ambush and react in time. My companion, as I had started to call her, was sleepy and annoyed — she hissed and snarled at me, but improved her technique more and more with each corner.
“There’s no one here.” Yorka said in surprise as we approached intersection 17. “Why is everyone asleep? Doing your job this early is way easier! You can sleep or walk or do whatever once you’re done!”
“Why did you sleep at night before you met me?” I answered her with a question.
“Well, nighttime is for sleeping…”
“There’s your answer.”
“Are you saying we’re the only ones doing this?”
“Of course we’re not. Trust me, there’s a lot of clever types who work at night, quietly and discreetly. They just don’t bother to tell anyone else to do it, or convince them of the benefits. Why bother? They came up with the idea themselves, or they stole it from someone else, and just don’t want to share.”
“I see. We’re not trying to convince anyone else, either. You don’t want to share, right?”
I shook my head. “There’s another reason. No good deed goes unpunished.”
“What do you mean?”
