by Brent Tyman
“Naforta? Is that where you are from?” I asked, curious to learn more about her.
She shook her head. “Trukasa is the small village where I was born and Naforta is the capital where I spent most of my childhood, training and learning from the Seers. I’m afraid that the worst destruction of the succession crisis was visited upon that city. It… It is but a shell of what it used to be.”
Jeez…
I had thought the damage the Demons wrought had been fairly bad in Tringall, but it seemed to pale in comparison to what had happened to this Naforta.
One place I had to show her was my favorite restaurant in the city, where I usually went for lunch and enjoyed the tastiest fish I’d ever had. I bought Aurielle a helping of it and she seemed really pleased at its taste, as I hoped she would be. She marveled at how different it was from her usual diet in the south.
Evidently, they mostly ate some creature that resembled a scorpion down there, which happened to be plentiful in the desert dunes. What the heck would that even taste like?
Probably not like chicken, but I suppose I had seen stranger things in this fantasy world.
After I gave her a rundown of the city, complete with directions on how to figure out how to get back to the gates, which simply consisted of finding the main thoroughfare and turning South, we headed to the Windy Wolf.
The inn looked just as cozy as I remembered from the outside, if a bit more run down. We headed inside, where I was surprised to find that it was well and truly packed. There were patrons occupying every single table; all of them looked my way when we entered.
Aurielle seemed to catch most of the attention, but I couldn’t tell if this was due to her exceptional beauty or her flashy and expensive looking armor.
Probably a combination of the two.
I supposed Juliana and Clarissa would also have drawn everyone’s attention, if they’d come with me.
There were patrons stacked up deep across the length of the relatively small bar and orders for drinks were being shouted out in quick succession.
Heck, I’d have to wait to talk to the innkeeper, which was a first. We stood patiently just behind one of the patrons, who turned around with a burp.
“Whoa,” he bellowed. “Aren’t you a right beauty?”
Aurielle ignored his comment as we waited, but the man seemed to be drunk off his rocker.
“Why you ain’t talking to me? Think ya are one of dem fancy adventuring types?”
This guy thought Adventurer’s were ‘fancy’?
“She must be,” another patron said, taking a quick swig from his mug. “Why else would she have that fancy armor?”
“I could take an adventurer! They can’t all be that tough,” the first man said, before burping hard. He eyed me. “This one looks pretty strong, though. You strong?”
“Well, I could show you, if you like,” I offered.
There’d been one occasion, after a rather painful Dungeon run back when I was working to increase my Defense stat, that I had come back to find an arm-wrestling contest going on in the inn. I had been too tired to stick around, but wouldn’t mind giving something like that a go now. Especially with my last boost in Strength.
The man chickened out at that and gave the two of us one last, long look before turning back to his drink, mumbling something about adventurers under his breath.
“This inn is quite noisy,” Aurielle commented, almost having to shout this into my ear, as we waited to speak to the Innkeeper.
“It didn’t use to be like this,” I said. “Honestly, most days it was quiet and only really picked up a bit in the evenings. I wonder how this inn got so popular all of a sudden.”
“Coz of the Demons lad,” the innkeeper said as he finished serving another drink and finally turned to me. “Plenty of homes were destroyed and the city state council are dragging their damn feet on rebuilding. A right wonder it is, seeing your face again.”
“Likewise,” I said, nodding. “Any chance of some rooms for me and my companion?”
The innkeeper shook his head.
“All booked up and you’ll find it the same at every inn on this street. Don’t ya try to talk me into finding a room for ya, there ain’t none to be had.”
“Huh? Wasn’t the Demon attack weeks ago? I didn’t realize they destroyed so much,” I said, a tad confused how that had resulted in the inn being fully booked.
“Not many houses were destroyed,” the innkeeper agreed. “But I’ve had folk come in booking rooms, even if their homes are perfectly fine. Guess they figure there’s safety in numbers, and my coin bag ain’t gonna complain.”
“Yeah,” another patron muttered. “Plus, the Yunissan big shot came into the city as well, bringing all those soldiers with him.”
“Yunissan big shot?” Aurielle asked, confused.
“You know, the Chief Chancellor or what not, of Yunissa.”
“That’s all three nations’ leaders and heirs in one place,” a patron further up the bar added. “Never had that happen in the city before.”
The Chief Chancellor was a familiar title. I had heard it when we’d encountered those Yunissan soldiers in the Dungeon.
I wondered what all of this might mean.
“If there isn’t any room here, got any suggestions on where we can sleep tonight?” I asked.
The innkeeper shrugged. “With that armor of yours,” he nodded at Aurielle, “I reckon you can probably try the inns near the High District. Would cost a pretty coin, though.”
“Thank you,” Aurielle said, formally. “We will do just that. Come, Alex, this will be a good opportunity to see more of the city.”
It seemed my idea of enjoying a nice calm evening in a cozy inn was out the window.
We exited the Windy Wolf, and I groaned softly to myself as we turned towards the High District. I mentally prepared myself for how much more expensive rooms at these inns would cost. We just needed two beds, that was all.
Two nice, cozy beds…
“Don’t worry about the cost,” I said. “I’m sure I can… well, I can probably afford something here for both of us.”
“You are very kind,” Aurielle said. “But fear not. I have some coin in my Clan storage, which I have already traded for the correct currency of this land.”
She must have done so in that previous town she had visited. It seemed Aurielle was at least well prepared.
For the next hour, we visited four different inns, all with very delicate and fancy looking decor inside, but not one of them had a single room available. Suddenly, sneaking a night inside the Academy didn’t seem so bad.
“We have camped in the Dungeon without much effort,” Aurielle said, trying to reassure me. “We can surely camp outside, if necessary.”
“Yeah, but I really want to avoid any more camping, if there’s any way to skip it,” I admitted as we approached the fifth inn. “The stone beds the Beastkin prefer weren’t as comfortable as they made them out to be. I’ll take anything with a mattress at this point.”
Aurielle let out a chuckle at that, and we stopped in front of inn number five.
This one was in the High District itself, while the others had only been near the High District. The street outside this inn was quiet, with only a few people walking along the wide street… well, plus the usual number of guards that seemed to be commonplace in this district.
The streets were clean, and well maintained, with not a single imperfection in sight. That held true for the buildings as well. The inn we stood before was three stories tall, as wide as seven buildings put together, and sported stained glass windows that kept any passersby from taking a gander inside without coming in themselves.
The majority of the walls were made of marble, giving the inn a pristine glow in the lanterns’ flickering light. A single, well maintained wooden sign protruded above the main entrance. Despite me coming from another world, I could read the language of this fantasy world without any trouble at all. That alone was a bit stran
ge, but it had certainly helped me get my bearings here.
Aurielle was from the south deserts, I wondered if they had any trouble reading the language of this particular city.
“Can you read the sign up there, Aurielle?” I asked, pointing.
“Of course, it says the Golden Bear,” she replied.
Yep, that’s what it said for me as well. With a name like that, I knew this place wasn’t going to be cheap… that was a given.
“How come you can read it, if you’re from the south deserts? Do they write in the same language there as here?”
Aurielle shook her head and tapped in chin in thought. “Well… The Seers taught us the language of the north, as you are our closest neighbors. The rest of my people have learned the basics of your language and would be able to converse with those here quite well.”
I suppose by ‘us’, she meant her fellow Chosen.
A sudden thought came to me.
“Wait, can you speak in your… language for me, just a sentence?” I asked.
“Of course,” Aurielle said, smiling. “Thank you very much for showing me around the city.”
“No problem at all,” I replied, as I waited for her to begin.
Aurielle on the other hand, simply stared at me, her eyes wide.
“You know the language of my people? I am very impressed that you took the time to learn it,” she said, and I raised an eyebrow.
“Nope,” I replied. “I just wanted to test something out.”
“But… You are speaking Pralisian, quite fluently as well.”
“Uhh, no I’m not?” I said, although that came out as more a question. “I’m speaking this Pralisian right now?”
Aurielle nodded and I looked away as I tried to think about what was actually happening. Did the Goddess or something give me the ability to speak any language I liked? I can’t even tell the difference, as everyone seemed to be perfectly understandable to me.
I pressed my lips into a thin line as I processed this.
This world really didn’t make any sense at times.
“Let’s go back to speaking…” It just came to me that I didn’t even know what language everyone in Tringall spoke.
“Travisan?” Aurielle prompted and I nodded. That was probably it.
“Yeah,” I replied. I would have thought it would be something related to Tringall, but it was pretty evident everyone from the three nations spoke the same language.
Well, as far as I could tell…
“Do you know any other languages, Aurielle?” I asked curiously and she shook her head.
“I was only taught my native language of Pralisian and the universal north language of Travisan. The three nations have their own languages that I don’t yet possess much understanding on,” she explained.
This was all news to me… This Travisan was the universal language for the north? That did kind of explain why people from different nations didn’t have much issue speaking to each other I suppose.
“Well, let’s give this one a go,” I said, opening the door and motioning for her to precede me. I decided to just put this out of my mind for now. I supposed it didn’t matter if I understood Pralisian, it was all technically a boon right?
A tutorial on all this would have been nice, though.
We stepped into the inn and bright, white light assailed my eyes. I blinked and saw that this was less of an inn and seemed to be set up more like a rather modern hotel. Benches lined the sides of what I could only call a foyer, occupied by a few patrons who didn’t pay us any mind. There were rows upon rows of chandeliers all along the ceiling. At least they didn’t seem to be made of gold.
The Academy still won the award for being the gaudiest place in the city.
Ahead of us there was a desk where two immaculately dressed women stood at attention. They smiled at me when our eyes met and, all of a sudden, this place didn’t seem too pricy for me.
“Welcome to the Golden Bear,” both women said in unison as they bowed slightly from the waist.
They each wore a loose, yet professional, uniform that was a mix of white and red, with golden trim along the seams. It was only when I noticed a dark tail sweeping back and forth behind one of the women, did I realize that the receptionist to my left was a cat girl.
“Thanks, we are looking for two rooms tonight,” I said. I half expected them to start typing on a PC, but then I remembered that this was still a fantasy world.
One without computers like my gaming PC in it, which I still missed from time to time.
“Of course, Nyaa” the cat girl said. She tilted her head to the side in thought before she looked down at the desk, ruffling through some parchments.
“Hmm, we have only one room available tonight, I believe. Would that still be okay, Nyaa?”
My eyes immediately went to Aurielle, who smiled at me.
“I do not mind sharing a room, especially with you, Alex. It would be an honor,” she said.
I wasn’t sure she really thought it would be an honor, but if she was okay with it, then why not?
“Sure, one is fine, uhh…” I was almost afraid to ask. “How much will this cost?”
“Nyaa, its very affordable, Nyaa,” the cat girl said, but then the other woman, who seemed to be human, turned her head sharply.
“Remember to keep your… Nyaa’s to no more than one a sentence,” she admonished her fellow receptionist.
“I’m trying, Nyaa, but it’s so hard, Nyaa,” the cat girl whined, her tail slowing down in its constant motion.
“She can’t say… that, too much here?” I asked curiously, and the woman smiled at me.
“My apologies, she is new here and still very energetic with her… Nyaa’s. She used to say it after almost every other word, which made it extremely difficult to understand her at times.”
“I’m getting better though, Nyaa,” the cat girl smiled. “And to answer your question, it is three silver a night, Nyaa.”
I tried pretty damn hard not to let a groan escape, and while I was mostly successful, a bit of a hiss managed to slip past my lips.
Three silver!
At the Windy Wolf’s rate of thirty-two copper a night, with three silver, I could have stayed there for nearly a week and a half. My first thought was to see if I could send Clarissa a message and ask if we could somehow spend the night in her room, after all.
I mean, her bed was certainly big enough for the three of us…
“That seems perfectly reasonable,” Aurielle said with a smile, and I stared at her.
“It is?” I asked.
She nodded, that beautiful smile clear on her face. “Of course, for such a well appointed establishment, it appears to be quite cheap, no?”
This at least told me that Aurielle was used to something more akin to the lifestyle and luxury favored by the Academy students than my cozier routine. I guess if the Seers sought her out, specifically, to receive great power, then they probably hadn’t just stuffed her in some regular old barracks afterwards, right?
While Aurielle seemed fine with this, I wasn’t so sure.
But I was determined to sleep on a mattress tonight, no matter what. Maybe I could bunk down in one of the barracks in the city. Surely the soldiers had a spare bed, somewhere?
“Are you okay, Alex?” Aurielle asked when I didn’t say anything for a long moment.
“Yeah…” I sighed. “Uhh, does food at least come with the room?” I asked.
“Of course,” the woman said. “Food, entertainment, the hot springs, and all the training facilities are available to our guests.”
I only really cared about the food, and at this price it had better be nothing short of amazing.
It was either stay here, continue wandering around the whole city hoping to find a more affordable inn, or buy a tent and deal with another day of sleeping on the ground.
When I thought about it that way, three silver didn’t seem to be nearly as painful as burning all the gold I could have gotten
from selling the Demon Horn I’d traded in for my armor and sword. And If I remembered correctly, I should still have some change left over from that deal, which would have been sent to Juliana’s mansion.
After slogging through Glower Serpents, Malophas’ and Wolves, one day of rest in a fancy inn didn’t seem to be too extravagant. Plus, we’d be able to make it back easily enough with a quick Dungeon run.
Aurielle seemed to like this place, and heck, it did have a cat girl receptionist.
What was not to like?
“Very well,” I said as I pulled out the coin.
This place better have the comfiest beds ever… Although at this point, I would be satisfied with anything softer than stone.
Anything.
10
There was no other way to describe it. This hotel-like inn was awesome. They really did have a hot spring in the center of the building, which I’m sure Clarissa would definitely approve of.
The cat girl receptionist showed us all the facilities of the inn, including where to find her again, and promised a hearty breakfast before leading us to our room. In terms of size, it reminded me of Clarissa’s room at the Academy. The marble walls were immaculate, and the room featured a giant bed, armoires, chests and a separate bathroom.
The walls were covered in all sorts of decorations, such as paintings, tapestries and various shelves filled with tiny sculptures. All of a sudden, three silver seemed a paltry sum for this much luxury …
“I hope you like your room, Nyaa,” the cat girl beamed. “Please enjoy your stay at the Golden Bear, Nyaa.”
With a quick bow, the cat girl turned away, and that left just me and Aurielle.
“This place is something else,” I said. “At least the bed is big enough for both of us, don’t you think?”
“Quite,” Aurielle murmured. She pulled out her new sword, admiring it once again, and seemed conflicted about setting it aside for the night.
“What do you intend to do tomorrow?” I asked as I made my way to the far side of the bed. When I sat down, my body sank pretty deep into the down filled mattress.
