The Inn was very easy to find. After walking for a bit we noticed on our right, the huge sign of the Lion's Den inn. They even had a cartoonish lion drawn on the side.
"Guess this is the place then huh?" Emma spoke out sarcastically.
I smiled at her words and pushed the doors open to the Inn. Upon entering I saw the receptionist desk right at the front with two doors on both sides of the room. From one of them, I could hear loud noises coming out so I'm guessing that's most likely the dining hall.
There was no one at the counter but there was a little call bell at the desk. Emma and rang the bell and before long a young girl about the age of 14 came out from one of the doors. She was fairly short, slim with short hair and two animal-like ears on top of her head with a tail coming out from behind. That's right, she was a beast-man. I can't tell for sure by her looks but based on the name of this place pretty sure she is a lion beast-man.
Her eyes lighted up when she saw us and hurriedly turned around towards the door before yelling out,
"Mom! New customers!!"
"Coming!!" A woman's voice came out from the back then soon after a middle-aged lady walked put wearing an apron with the cartoonish lion from outside and walked behind the receptionist's desk. Though she's a human.
"Hi there, my name is Alma, I'm the manager here. What can I do for you today?"
"Hello, I'm Emma and this is Lilith. We were recommended here by receptionist Mary?"
"Ah Mary, it's been a while since I've last seen her. I wonder how that girl is doing these days. So, you girls here to stay for a bit?"
"Oh yeah. Can we know how much is the cost for one night?"
"Regularly it costs 3 silvers for one full day with 3 meals and use of the bathhouse but since you guys are here 'cause of Mary...how about 2 silvers?"
They have a bathhouse. Good...that's good.
"Thank you very much. That's good. I will stay here for 2 weeks then. How about you Lilith?" Emma turns to me to ask.
"Then I would also go for 2 weeks now." I had gotten about 50 silver coins and 500 copper coins from that merchant and I spent 5 silver coins to enter the city. Now I'm paying 28 silver coins in total so that leaves me with 17 more silver coins without using the copper coins.
I just realized that the entrance fee is kind of really high. It only costs 2 silvers for the inn so that's 200 copper coins but it costs 5 silvers in other words 500 copper coins. Is it to prevent citizens from migrating? Wait, do I have to pay 5 silvers every time I enter the town? I will have to ask Emma about that later.
I hand over the money and Manager Alma gives me a receipt.
"Would you like to have lunch now?"
"Yes, please. We haven't eaten anything since we woke up in the morning."
○●●○
Nag Kooris. A 55 years old man.
The Guildmaster of the Transmere city Adventurers' Guild branch. He was once known throughout the Capital as one of the strongest knights around but that's something of the past now. After he retired he decided to spend his time at Transmere, which is his birthplace.
After the previous Guildmaster passed away from a rare disease, Nag stepped up to fulfill the role. The whole town knew who he was and supported him. With his abilities from his Knight days, he was more than qualified for the job. He's been the Guildmaster for 5 years now and improved the Guild in many ways. He was well-respected throughout the town and everyone knew how just he was.
At the moment Nag's in his office at the Guild, going over all his paperwork. One thing he doesn't like about being the Guildmaster is all the paperwork he has to do.
While he was focused on his work, a lady walked into his office with several papers on her hand. She was a mature beauty, wearing official clothing and an aura that made it seem difficult to approach her. Agne Burnstein, she was the Guildmaster's secretary. She always does her work diligently and obeys all the rules very strictly.
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"Sir, various shop owners have reported that their supplier merchant who is supposed to arrive days ago hasn't arrived yet and they are afraid that he was attacked by bandits or even monsters. They put up a request to investigate this matter but the Adventurers couldn't find anything." Agne reported straightforwardly.
"What about the town the merchant was coming from? Did they go there to investigate?" Nag asked curiously.
"Yes. The merchant supposedly hired several Adventurers to escort him but they are also missing." Agne said glancing over the papers on her hand.
"Did anyone else besides the regulars from this town enter after the merchant left the previous town?"
She looked the papers again before answering, "Um...so far the only people to enter are two women and one of them just registered for the Guild."
"Just registered? How old were they?"
"One of them was 25, but we don't know about the other person. She seemed to be in her late 20s or early 30s"
"Keep an eye on those two for now. I will try to investigate what happened with those merchants and Adventurers." Nag sat up straight in his seat and replied in a commanding tone.
"Understood, Sir." Agne nodded flipping through the papers on her hand. "There's also news from the Capital."
"From the Capital?" Nag was a bit surprised, usually, when there's any news from the Capital it's most likely because the situation there is an emergency, rarely ever is there any 'good' news.
"Yes, apparently Heroes were summoned by the Goddess."
"'Heroes' more than one?" In the past when the Hero was summoned, it was written that it was only one person so it was right to be surprised about that.
"Yes there are 20 people but only one of them has the 'Hero' class. The rest has classes like 'Sage', 'Holy Knight', 'Light Magician' and etc. Almost all of them have the power to use Light Magic."
"What?! Seriously? In the past, only the Hero had the ability to use Light Magic but almost 20 people now...Wait! Do we know why they were summoned in the first place? The War with the Devils has been going on for a long time now but What's the purpose of summoning so many Heroes so suddenly?"
It's true that the war with the Devils was going on for centuries but both sides were in a stalemate being equal in terms of power so neither sides made any major advances for years. Also the Goddess summoning Heroes? No such thing happened for millenniums so why so suddenly?
"According to the Church, the ancient Devil-Queen has reappeared and the Heroes were summoned to defeat her before she gets too powerful. With the current Devil-Queen and the Ancient Devil-Queen, we wouldn't stand a chance by ourselves."
"The Ancient Devil-Queen? I thought that was only a myth. Who would've thought that was real. But if that's true then....even though the current Devil-Queen holds the title only in name she's still very powerful and with someone who we only know from myths...." Nag pauses without wanting to finish the sentence but Agne continues,
"The situation can be disastrous."
Nag let out a tired sigh saying, "How's the Capital handling the situation?"
"For the time being, the Heroes are going to be trained in the Capital. They will probably be used to make advances in the war. By now the news about the Heroes have spread all over but only the Guildmasters know about the situation about the Ancient Devil-Queen."
"Okay, I understand. This town is known for the Demon's Nest forest so the Heroes may be coming here to investigate the forest after they finish their training and everything. Keep the Guild's staff notified about the situation so they can be ready when the time comes. Don't mention anything about The Ancient Devil-Queen, I will be dealing with that matter later on."
"Yes, I understand Sir."