2: Lily
After a moment of hesitation, Eliza looked at her daughter.
“...Lily?” she asked, looking at the girl wearing a rough, brown cloth.
The cloth itself looked like nothing more than a potato sack, being rough, barely fitting her body at all.
Yet, for some reason, Eliza felt like she was the most precious thing in the world like that.
Rather than feeling drunk like she did before, Eliza was now feeling like she had just been hit in the head with a large hammer, as if she was now dealing with a hangover after being drunk.
After a moment, the small girl woke up, her golden eyes almost shining.
“...Momma?” the girl asked. It was clear she had just gotten up from sleeping, and was still quite tired. Eliza gently sat down next to her and inexplicably felt the need to pull her close.
Elias, or Eliza, still wasn’t fully aware of whether this was a dream or reality. Everything felt oddly real, despite the fact that he or she knew that they had just been asleep.
The girl in front of her had pure white hair and yellow eyes, just like the woman she had seen earlier.
Eliza paused.
‘If this is a dream, then my mind is playing messed up tricks on me right now…’ Eliza thought to herself, brushing something out of her face… It was long, white hair, similar to the child in front of her.
Eliza realized from that single glance that her body had changed… and based on further glances, she could tell that she was no longer a man.
[Welcome to Temporal Childcare, Eliza. You may have noticed some unexpected differences in your appearance, but once your objective is complete, they can naturally be removed. You will be spending the next 15 years in charge of ensuring Lily, your new daughter, grows up healthy and happily. Please ensure Lily reaches the fullest potential of her growth. For more information on how to proceed, you may say ‘status check’ or ‘check status’ at your earliest disposal. You may collect your wages through your status, and will be paid approximately for 84 hours a week. For your convenience, you may collect your wages in the currency of the new world you are located in, Atlan.]
Eliza shivered.
Everything right now felt wrong. Far too real to just be a simple dream.
And moreover, the nausea and vertigo she was experiencing weren’t helping the situation, either.
One of the things that ran through Eliza’s head was… This girl, her new daughter, Lily is only four years old, yet is able to string together full sentences. Moreover, it was a clear sentence, and she properly enunciated it. Is that normal? She didn’t know. Eliza had never taken care of a child before. But she did remember her five year old nephew struggling to say almost any word with an ‘s’ sound in it…
And moreover… Lily looks exactly like what she would imagine as the daughter of that woman from before.
The woman who, without a doubt, tricked Eliza into somehow taking care of her child in another world for her.
However, instead of being mad at the woman for tricking her or being mad for taking her away from her normal life… Eliza was instead mad at how the woman seemed to mistreat her daughter. Looking at that girl, Eliza felt nothing but love, making her feel like she needed to be protected on sight, as if she was looking at the most adorable thing in the world. For whatever reason, Lily was like a campfire that warmed her heart, calming her emotions.
That woman left her four year old daughter in a potato sack of all things, and sent someone else from another world to go take care of her instead. That woman was probably a negligent piece of trash, she thought.
Eliza sighed, realizing Lily was looking at her strangely.
“I’m alright, Lily.” Eliza said. Truthfully, she was far from alright with the chaos and her body change, but seeing Lily worried about her made her worries fade. The girl’s face was so small… Eliza thought if anyone in this world had the appearance of an angel, it might be Lily. Regardless of whether or not Lily was her daughter, or whether or not this was a dream, Eliza decided she would take care of her.
Eliza knelt down and reached to hug Lily and then let out a big sigh.
“Are you okay, Lily?” she asked, looking at her daughter. The girl looked exhausted, and Eliza wondered if she was getting proper nutrition.
Lily nodded her head, saying “I’m okay, momma.” she said, rubbing her eyes that were slowly closing. After a moment, Lily fell asleep… And then the reality of the situation hit Eliza all at once.
“This is…” she muttered, looking at Lily resting in her arms. “Too much.
She looked around the house she was in… It was rather small, too. There was only one bed, a counter, a shelf and barely anything else… The house looked like the two of them don’t have very many possessions, with only a few wooden bowls, a bed, a couch, a single pot, and a stove. Not even a mirror to look at herself.
Looking down, Eliza could clearly see some differences in her body, only making her wish even more that she had a mirror to observe herself in. Other than her soft, delicate hands and the two large ‘changes’, she couldn’t even see her toes. Her own body was completely and utterly foreign to her, and she was surprised she wasn’t hyperventilating and panicking.
Eliza realized how fucked up the situation was. She didn’t know anything about herself now, so how was she supposed to connect with Lily, who she knew even less about?
And also… where is she? What is Atlan? And how has no one explained anything to her, just dropped in the middle of nowhere with a daughter?
Eliza was past the point where she could still pretend this was a dream. The pain, the emotions, the sensations, and the warm feeling she got when looking at Lily made it clear. Compared to the drunk feeling she had when she was talking with the unusual woman, now she felt completely sober and completely in control of her mind.
And she hadn’t even had time to contemplate her own personal change. Just a mere moment ago, she was a man with an admittedly less than bright future…
But she had direction. Goals. And now? Her only goal is to try to raise Lily. She still had desires, wants, and more, but now… None of those desires could be achieved. They simply weren’t possible.
Eliza sighed. Right now, if she still smoked, this would be a time where she would smoke a cigarette, even if she knew they were bad for her. If she can even get a cigarette in Altan.
“But really… What even is Atlan?” Eliza asked aloud, realizing she didn’t even know where she lived.
[Atlan is the world you currently reside in. It has four continents, and the continent you currently are on is Tiola, a land with a disconnected series of islands. Tiola excels in sea trade with other countries, and focuses primarily on trading iron and other metals for products such as seasonings, weaponry, and more. Tiola is a continent filled with forests and various mines. There are three countries on Tiola, the kingdom of Erast, the Empire, and the Union. Each of which have different ideals and goals.]
Eliza almost jumped out of her seat, stunned that the ‘system’ had replied to her. At this point, it might be the only thing she had to help her. And with a daughter to take care of, one she doesn’t know how to do anything for, she wanted all the help she can get.
Deftly, she walked outside of her house and looked around. Eliza noted that the area around her was that of a small town. The air was acrid tasting, and the town smelled strangely acidic. As if she now lived in a world where bathing was not commonplace.
Her house was near the end of a small road, with many other houses on the same road.
Other than her own, many of the houses were crammed together, most being made of wood, but occasionally stone or adobe houses were in the area too. However, she noticed one thing. Her own house had no neighbors, no other nearby houses. It was as if the entire street itself deigned to avoid her.
And then she noticed the way the passerbies looked at her. The people in this town all seemed to wear rough cloth, many of which were only slightly better in quality than the potato sack that Lily wore.
Many of them had a peculiar expression on their faces, as if Eliza and Lily were pitiable, or needed protection in some way… and the few that didn’t look at them with pity simply looked at her with disgust. Many of them shared quiet whispers among one another when looking at her.
She felt her head hurt as she walked to the back of her house, wanting to be alone so nobody would assume she’s a maniac for what she was about to try.
“Ah, uh… check status?” she asked, summoning the floating blue screen from before.
[Eliza: Age 24.]
[Physique: 500. Wisdom: 349. Emotions: 795. Creativity: 230.]
[Body: 23. Wisdom: 42. Charm: 15.]
[Eliza’s goals: Find a way to feed your daughter! If purchasing food doesn’t work out, you can ask the system for advice by spending parts of your accrued payment!]
[Advice: An adult will have on average 500 of each stat, Physique, Wisdom, Emotions, and Creativity. Try to ensure that Lily reaches at least this many so she can grow up healthy and strong! You might also want to work on some self improvement as well, too!]
[Payment accrued: 12 dollars, or around 3 silver flints.]
She looked at the status hesitantly…
Rather than excited, or hopeful for the future, Eliza felt sick. It hadn’t even been an hour since she had a whole new set of responsibility placed on her, and she had no idea how to resolve it whatsoever. A flint? Would the system tell her more about the currency if she asked? Could she buy Lily better clothes with that?
She could tell that her own clothes were in no means bad. Even though she was looking at them for the first time, they were clearly quite expensive and durable. She was wearing a green tunic and brown leggings of a peculiar texture. Eliza may not have been the most fashionable man before, but she could tell the clothes were durable and looked decent, even if they may be a bit worn. Thankfully, too, the leggings had pockets stitched onto them, even if they were amateurish compared to modern methods.
Then, she realized something. She had no clothes in her house other than what she was wearing. For neither her nor Lily. But she did have one thing… ‘Silver flints’... Those could likely be exchanged for clothes for the two of them.
Slightly renewed, Eliza stepped back out onto the main street and steadied her breath. Almost every town back in ancient times had a market to share goods right? That meant that there would likely be one here, too.
Eliza walked up to one of her neighbors to ask where the market was, but they all began leaving when she approached them, leaving her stunned and alone to try to find the market on her own.
After walking around and exploring the town where she now lived, she managed to find it after only 20 minutes, thankfully. While wandering, she managed to get a rough estimate of the town in her head, especially helpful since it was most likely the place she was going to be living in for the next 15 years.
It was a rather bustling market, despite the town seemingly only having around 600 to 700 people living inside.
There were several stalls, selling various kinds of foods, ingredients, and more. One stall in particular sold nothing but glass bottles filled with a mysterious liquid, but she noted that each bottle was 50 silver flints, much more than she could afford. Perhaps it was alcohol, she wondered?
She chose not to think about why she could read the signboards on the stalls, chalking it up to the woman who sent her here the bare minimum of abilities to live.
After a bit of looking, she saw 13 stalls in total, though not all had people in them, and two full stores with buildings. It seemed as if a store would always contain the same stock, but the stalls would be rented out by anyone with the money to afford the price of whoever owned them.
“Excuse me, could you sell me any of this grain?” Eliza said, walking up to a stall with a burly, shaggy brown haired man running it. She had just seen the man successfully make a sale to a young fisherman, so she knew he was selling for fair prices, one silver flint for a bag of grain.
The man was wearing a thin, sturdy cloth on top and brown leggings similar to her own… But that was the only similarity he shared with Eliza.
“Get out of here, you wretch! I don’t want to see you at my shop!” the man shouted in a hurried voice.
“Huh?” Eliza asked, stunned at the hostility. “I can pay you, I just want a fair transaction, sir.” Eliza responded.“I have enough money, I assure you!” she tried to assuage him.
“Leave at once! I told you!” The man said with anger on his face… But behind that anger, Eliza could see a hint of something else… Fear? What reason could a strong man like him have to be afraid of Eliza?
Eliza backed away, agitated from the man’s attitude. She could feel the onlookers on the market street looking at her, none of them having quite the pity for her as they did on her living street.
With a bit of patience, she sighed and moved on to the next shop, needing something simple to
But when the young forager who was selling various edible plants looked at her, he panicked immediately and covered all of his product with a large, rough cloth.
“No, you’re not allowed here either!” The young man shouted at her, his face sweating just from her approach. The boy seemed shocked, afraid, even.
Eliza was stunned, not even having a chance to talk to the young man before being shooed away.
She continued on for some time, but it was like this for every stall and store she went to. Each and every one of them turned her away, without giving her even a chance to exchange for goods.
Right after she had been turned away from the final store, without looking, Eliza accidentally bumped into an old lady who was directly to her right. The lady was wearing a beautiful blue dress that appeared to be hand sewed, and she was wearing a beautiful red scarf.
“Oh, dearie me, I apologize, young one. Things…” The lady said, looking Eliza up and down. “Can be hard sometimes. But as long as you live, you’ll find ways around them. You have strength, dearie.” The lady said.
Eliza felt a hand quickly shuffle in her pocket for a moment, and she almost pulled away when she looked down, but when she did, she noticed two rolls in her pocket… the pocket that was almost certainly empty before.
When she looked up to try to thank the old lady, she realized she was already gone and out of the market.
Eliza paused... And then sighed, thankful that at least someone didn't treat her harshly here.
But… On her way back, as she turned a corner to make it back to her road, she saw a crowd of people gathering all around, and the sharp scraping sounds of metal on metal echoed around.
Joining in the crowd, that’s when she saw it.
Sparks flying in the air, two rough swords clashing against each other, as two rough men, one wearing chainmail and the other wearing leather armor.
“You blaggard!” one voice shouted, coming from the leather armored man. Upon first glance, Eliza noticed his most distinctive feature… baldness. “Why must we come to blows over this?” He shouted "Look at the townsfolk, none of them would even care about such an herb! Must we do this in the midst of their town?”
Eliza was confused. The man seemed reasonable enough, so why would they be attacking each other? She wasn’t shocked to see violence, working on an incredibly busy street in a popular city, she had seen all sorts of street fights and brawls on the near daily as people exited the nearby pubs and bars.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t just intend to run away with the herb right when we leave, Blake!” The man, wearing a helmet along with his heavy chainmail shouted.
He lunged forward, swinging his sword, and sparks continued to fly as Blake blocked a strike, but it was clear that Blake was pushed back from this blow.
It seemed like this world wasn’t quite a peaceful and easy place to live, Eliza thought… It might be harder for a child to grow up here than she imagined.
Eliza realized that only means she needs to work all the harder to protect her new daughter, Lily.
