Lone: The Wanderer [Rewrite]
Book 1: Chapter 9: Boots and Trust

‘I do patch up my own clothes to save on money, or well, used to, but, hmm… What would be useful for a girl her size that’s also comfy?’ Lone wondered, considering the goblins first and foremost.

Whatever he created, it needed to be light and easy to move in but not eye-catching in the least. ‘Maybe a camo army suit but without the armour or padding?’

Lone only had surface-level information on military and survival tactics of the common day and age. He frowned as he looked down at Soph who was just staring at him curiously with her lifeless eyes.

‘That’s… a little bit creepy. Well, anything’s better than just the jumper, I suppose,’ he thought with a sigh.

Lone then closed his eyes and focused on his magic. He crossed his fingers and hoped he wouldn't overuse his MP again. The pain from doing that the first time wasn’t something he was exactly seeking.

‘Cotton, wool, some synthetic blends of the two, regular stitching and a camo pattern. Fuck. How is clothing dyed? Uh… it’s dipped and bonded with solution or something, right? The dye attaches to the fabric at a really minute scale, giving the dye permanence… Ah, fuck. I hope that’s right. I’m just guessing here,’ Lone prayed as he also free-balled Sophie’s three dimensions, height, arm length, leg length and shoe size. ‘Ah, also, it already exists on Altros. That’s important.’

Without requiring a chant just like the first time he had used the skill, unlike The Summoning Room and Mental Destruction, a system message appeared in his mind.

Many such items exist on Altros.

The host has a great understanding of the item and a basic understanding of its construction. 500 base MP cost. 250 MP has been consumed to compensate for the lack of knowledge.

750 total MP has been consumed to create the items: [Camo Survival Gear [Tailor-made for Sophie Vladimirovich]].

“Fuckin’ oosh!” Lone exclaimed joyfully at having not even come close to using up all of his MP this time.

A second later, a neat pile of folded up clothes appeared in his hands smelling of flower-scented washing powder. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

He wrinkled his nose. ‘That’s not ideal. I’d have preferred a neutral scent for safety reasons. Oh well, gift horses and mouths and whatnot. No headache is a win.’

Lone carefully handed the camo outfit to Sophie who was sniffing carefully at the clothes that had appeared out of nowhere.

He smiled a little and said, "Put these on, please, and take that jumper off. I'll look the other way, so let me know when you're done, okay?"

She nodded her head, though a bit reluctantly. "You swear a lot and I still don’t really get why this is needed but, uh, okay."

Lone turned his back and faced the forest as he began to think up what kind of clothing he would like to wear.

After all, his wardrobe still only consisted of his teaching outfit, a simple white shirt and some formal trousers.

A simple white shirt that was stained with blood and ripped all over the place while his formal trousers were caked in dried sand and brown mud.

At least his shoes were in decent condition though he’d rather not even think about his underwear right now. Swamp-ass was likely the least of his concerns.

'Definitely something cool, but also practical. And, like, 15 pairs of boxers. Fuck, maybe even 30 if they’re cheap MP-wise,” He thought.

He was a hermit outside of work hours back home but that didn’t mean he had no concept of personal hygiene.

The only thing that had even come close to being more disgusting than himself right now since coming here was maybe the corpse of the Goblin still lying a ways away from them on the beach. That or the sounds his flesh made when he healed.

‘I have enough mana for six more outfits, so three for me and two more for Soph if mine use the same amount of MP. That should also leave me with enough mana in case I need it later. After all, we never know when we'll be ambushed by those goblins again... I’ll just make one set for me first though. Boxers come first,' he thought decisively.

"Lone..." a quiet voice called him from behind, so naturally, Lone peered in Sophie's direction.

He turned and said, “Done? Goo- Why are you naked?”

He held his face in his hands and sighed before turning away from her again. “I can guess. No experience with modern clothes, right?”

A soft, “Mmm,” met him in response.

“Got it. Ah, this is gonna be painful…” he said in an exhaustive manner.

“The buckle of your boots of all things…” Lone said emotionlessly as he stared into the ocean.

He was now wearing a full set of survival gear as well. The MP had been a bit more than Sophie’s outfit but not to the point of being a burden.

If anything, Lone felt extremely free now that he was in clean underwear. Fresh boxers really brought with them a new perspective. It was enlightening, almost.

Sophie blushed by his side. “Look, I’ve never seen one with this design before! You refused to turn around too to help! It was hard with just your instructions.”

Lone slowly turned to look at her like a robot, making her flinch.

He deadpan said, “You’re a grown-ass woman. You just look like a kid. Have some modesty, would ya? I’m not in the business of helping people get dressed unless they're my own kids. I’m not gonna help you do something I know you’re perfectly capable of doing yourself with just a little instruction. Really, trying to put your panties on your fucking head of all things…”

“I thought it was a hat!” Sophie yelled in frustration.

She then softly asked, “Y-You have kids? H-how old are you again?”

“No, I was speaking figuratively, and 24,” Lone said.

“That’s a fraction of my age,” Sophie boasted.

Lone shrugged. “And you’ve got a fraction of my maturity.”

“N-No I don’t,” Sophie protested weakly.

Lone smiled a little, the first expression he’d made in over an hour. “Say that again when you don’t use my tails as massive stress balls.”

“S-Stop being so soft and fluffy then,” Sophie replied.

“You’ve got me there,” Lone sighed in defeat.

He flopped down so his back was lying on the sandy beach. He closed his eyes a breathed in deeply. “This is nice, all things considered.”

Sophie nodded a little, “Mmm, it is… uh, nicer than I expected anyway.”

“What’d you expect?” Lone asked.

Sophie frowned. “I don’t know. Y-You’re nice but mean and you swear so much. But it’s fun… I, uh, haven’t spoken to other people besides myself for centuries… It’s hard to expect anything really when you… when you’re me.”

“Sounds rough,” Lone commented. “Can’t have been rougher than what we just went through though,” he chuckled.

Sophie pouted but then smiled. “Thanks. For, uh, helping me and trying to keep me safe… I know I’m a burden on you even though I’m so much older than you.”

Lone waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. We’re in this together. Those shitty fuckers who brought us here made sure of that.”

He then yawned and said, “Sleep?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll, uh, make sure not to fall asleep this time when I need to be looking out for those things.”

“That’d be great,” Lone replied.

Thankfully, neither one of them failed their guard shift duty and they weren’t attacked in the middle of the night nor in the wee hours of the morning.

Lone got out of his teepee and stretched, cracking damn-near every bone in his body. “Ahh, that feels godly…”

His nose was then assaulted by a rotten smell. “That corpse… I need to get rid of that…”

He walked over to the thing, gagging and holding his nose all the while. Maggots had popped out of its stomach and were eating it from the inside out.

Lone quickly used his Dimensional Storage on the monster. It disappeared along with a good chunk of the smell though the maggots, flies and other critters remained.

He backed away before any of them could touch him. He wasn’t afraid of bugs really but he’s just gotten to a decent point of cleanliness with his new clothes. If he could avoid maggots and the like, he would.

He also took the time to store Sophie’s old jumper that was lying next to her teepee. It wouldn’t be getting any use now, after all.

Once that was done, Lone cleaned up the camp and spent the time waiting for Sophie to wake up on making a dagger for her.

She had gone to sleep almost as soon as he had woken up so he had a few hours to tinker.

About three hours later, Lone saw Sophie stumble out of her tent looking like death itself.

“You really don’t do well with power naps, huh?” he asked jokingly.

She didn’t respond and just stumbled her way towards him, collapsing onto his lap and grabbing a tail when she was close enough.

“Haha, a grown-ass woman but you act like a kid when it’s convenient to you, huh?” Lone commented.

“I got you a present, by the way,” Lone said.

Sophie ears perked up a bit though she stayed mostly motionless. “… What present?”

“A knife. A proper knife. Granted, it’s made of wood but it’s pretty damn fuckin’ sharp,” Lone explained as he grabbed the weapon that was lying next to him.

He then passed it to the sleepy Sophie. “Be careful with it, sleepyhead.”

“I’m Soph to you, not sleepyhead…” she said as she inspected the blade. “Nice… dagger.”

“Knife, not dagger, but thank you. It took a lot of thinking to make without draining all of my MP,” Lone said proudly. ‘Feels like it’s not her ideal weapon, huh? This ability of Growth Accelerator’s is weird…’

“Anyway, after a snack to perk you up, I want to do something as a team if you’re willing. Something a bit dangerous,” Lone said seriously.

It was something he’d been considering ever since yesterday’s attempted ambush. It needed to be done, so he figured sooner would be better than later.

He would do what he planned alone if he needed to but if Sophie agreed, it would be a far less difficult endeavour.

She was quite important, after all since her Teleportation power was incredibly powerful if used properly.

“What?” Sophie asked, still incredibly groggy from only having three hours of sleep.

“We need to hunt down some of the goblins,” Lone said seriously. “The quickest way for me to get stronger is by using my skills and by killing stuff. The same goes for you since your levels are tied to mine.”

Sophie scrunched up her brow hesitantly. She slowly got off of his lap but still held onto a tail as she asked, “D-Do we really need to? Can’t we just… I dunno… hide?”

Lone smiled with care. “I’m not forcing you to do anything. If you don’t want to join me, I’m going to have to put you back in The Summoning Room for safety.”

Seeing the fear creep into her eyes upon hearing those words, he winced a little. “I’m, uh, not trying to threaten you or anything. I can make you some candles and matches to lessen the darkness and maybe some paper and a pen to pass the time by writing or drawing? Can you write?”

“I can’t…” Sophie closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. “Y-You’re going to hunt them no matter what?”

Lone nodded. “I have no choice. We have no choice.”

“T-Then I’ll come with you. Anything is better than that place,” Sophie answered.

Lone couldn’t help but admire her courage though her phobia of the dark bothered him a lot, especially since she was blind. ‘I need to get her comfortable with The Summoning Room eventually. It’s the most secure way to protect her. Tossing her in and hoping for the best though seems incredibly unwise… An issue for another time, I guess.’

“Thanks, Soph. I really appreciate it,” he said. “Some boar jerky and coconut water then we go exploring, then.”

“Mmm,” the girl replied.

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