Sam and Kita reached the inn after a few minutes of walking. It had three floors and as any other building had a lot of amplers with different hanging plants that coloured the walls beautifully. It’s main entry was a double door, they looked heavy and Sam could guess that on hot summer days they kept them open to air out the inn.

They entered through the doors and came into a hall with a floor made of the same heavy wood as the door. Three meters in was a small reception disk with a bell. Kita rang the bell and a few moments later a middle aged woman with a weighty body came through one of the doors.

“Welcome to The Evening Lantern! Oh if it isn’t Kita, been a while! To the new one, I am Maria, the landlady of this fine establishment!”

Sam saw Kita nodded as a greeting to Maria.

“Sam” Said Sam as he reached out his hand for a handshake, Maria shaked his hand with a wonderful smile.

“Maria, we need two single rooms for a few days. Has the rate changed since last?” Kita asked as she watched the two shake hands.

Sam wondered what the rate was for two rooms, how much of a debt he would end up having to Kita.

“No, same rate, same rate. We have rooms available, will you pay now or credit? If you pay tomorrow no extra will be added for the credit.” Sam thought that was a great deal as he just remembered that Kita only had one big copper coin left as two went to pay the gate toll.

“Mm, I take the credit, I haven't been to the guild yet and I need a bath, meal and sleep before I do anything! Ah, and the same for Sam, I pay for both.” Kita said.

The last part made Maria glare at Sam, who in return put his hands up in surrender. Kita shakes her head slightly and walks to one of the doors.

“I owe him a bit, so it’s me that is paying my debt. Show him where he can clean himself, Maria.” She said as she disappeared behind the door.

“Come then!” Maria said and began going towards another door. Sam followed her to the door. She opened the door for him and he went inside.

The room Sam found himself in, had a nice smooth wooden floor, made to be barefoot. A few tubs with a blue crystal on it. Eskil had taught him about mana crystals and how they worked, but he had never tried one before.

‘Before I do anything I better take off my makeshift sandals.’ He had made them on the first day he had arrived. He took them off and looked at them. They had been useful, but after all the walking and running they had started breaking down.

He then activated Dragon’s Soul that made it easier to control his mana. He poured a small amount of his mana into the crystal and it activated two runes that it was connected to. These created water into the tub and heated it to acceptable bath temperature.

It was Sam’s first real meeting with practical magic of the form of enchantment. Eskil had taught him about it, but in the dream he couldn’t try it out and alone he had not been able to try it out.

As he poured mana slowly into the runes, he began to take off the short sword and then the clothes he had taken from one of the brothers. He had no underwear, just heavy leather pants and a thick shirt.

‘I am gonna need you clothes and footwear! And for that I need money, to get money I need a job asap!’

He washed away much of the dirt with a rough towel he had soaked in water before he went into the bath. There was some kind of soap, but it wasn’t as good as what he was used to from earth. It did it’s job however and he could feel himself become clean. He had only been able to bathe in a stream in the woods, so he hadn’t got the opportunity to really clean himself up for around two weeks.

As he laid in the tub, the door opened and two men walked in. They nodded to him and then took off their clothes and cleaned themselves with a towel just as he had done. They filled a tub each and Sam could hear how they relaxed as they entered the warm water. No one said anything first, only the pleasure of the warm water was important.

When Sam was about to leave as he remembered that a real dinner was promised, he began to push himself into his dirty traveling clothes.

“Hey you, those clothes are a bit dirty. I can’t let you go to the dinner room with them!” One of the men said to Sam. Sam felt the same, but what choice did he have? He didn’t own any other clothes.

“I don't have any other clothes, I've been living alone for weeks near the northern forest and just came to town.”

“Ha! Well good on you to survive. But I still think those clothes are too dirty.” The man said, he made a pause and had a thoughtful expression.

He continued after he seemed to come up with an idea. “Tell you what, I will clean them up for you for a big copper coin. That is a good price, you know.”

Sam had no idea if the price was good or bad and it didn’t matter as he had no money at all.

“I told you, I've been living in the woods. I have no money.” Sam tried to explain.

“Well you can work it off, right?” The man who offered to clean his cloth said and turned to the other man that had stayed quiet for the time being.

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“I am the owner of this inn, together with my wife Maria. We may need an extra hand in the kitchen, can you cook?” The man didn’t even glance at Sam when he spoke.

‘Lucky! I can get a job already! But I have no idea what kind of salary I should ask for.’ Sam thought to himself.

He had done some work in restaurants back on earth and thought himself to be adequate. He was for sure no master chef, far from, but your regular kitchen staff he could do. He even had gotten something kind to a cooking skill after he came to this world, even made it to level 3.

“Okay, I can cook, but for how many days and for what salary?” Sam asked as he looked between the two.

“I don’t know your skill or anything about you, so the first day will be only to pay for the cost of cleaning your clothes. If you are up to the level, you can stay for free and I will pay you three big copper coins a day. I know how you people work though, so the contract will be for no set amount of days. But I expect a day or two of warning before you leave.”

‘Free lodging and though I have no idea if the pay is okay I can pay Kita back fast. Besides new clothes and shoes I will not have any expenses either. So those three big copper coins I can do more or less anything with. Wonder what clothes and shoes cost’ Sam thought it sounded pretty good at first, he didn’t know what things cost though.

Three big copper coins did sound less when the gate toll of one big copper coin popped up in his mind. But then again he had no idea if the toll was expensive or not.

“I want to change a bit of the deal.” Sam said as he tried to get a read on the innkeeper.

“Ohh, so how would you want to change it?” He answered, he didn’t move at all, not even a glance.

“I want the first day to pay for this night and for the washing of my clothes. About the rest, I need to consult my friend first.” Sam did try to make it out like he was thinking that he knew at least a little about what salary to expect.

The question was if the innkeeper saw through it or not. The only grace for Sam was that the innkeeper had no idea that Sam had next to no knowledge about salaries. He could have said three small copper coins and Sam would have been in the same position either way.

“Sure, I can agree to that.” The man said without even a moment’s thought. “You begin tomorrow morning at six and you will be working until ten in the evening. If you can prep the kitchen fast enough, you may have time for longer breaks before rush hours. You get three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Sam thought that was insane working hours, but then remembered that he heard that such working hours had existed some centuries ago, back in his old country on earth. He wasn’t sure how it was here and needed to ask Kita about it. Well it was just for tomorrow either way.

“Sure for tomorrow that sounds okay, if I have work at six. I need to get to bed.”

The innkeeper nodded at the other man and the man reached out his hand. Sam could feel the man’s mana charge a bit and then his clothes glowed a bit. When his clothes stopped glowing the dirt and stains were gone from them. On the floor lay a small pile of dirt, it had fallen off his clothes as they glowed.

‘So the other guy is some sort of magician, huh? Will I have to clean that from the floor?’ As he was thinking about what he should do with the dirt the innkeeper guessed his thoughts and told him that a char would take care of it.

Sam left the men’s bath and went to the dinner room. There was room for maybe fifty to sixty guests at the tables and then fifteen more at the bar. There was a double door that stood open that went outside to an inner courtyard where there were some more tables. It was lively even though some chairs were empty.

There were a few barmaids running around serving drinks as well as light food. It was quite late so most had already eaten, so most just drank. Behind the bar stood a middle aged man, he looked to be the boss over the bar.

Sam looked for Kita and found her waving from a table near a wall. He walked up to her table and sat down, he got a few glances from some drunk patrons. He guessed that a bit of envy was the reason as Kita was quite charming. She had been scouting for almost a week before he met her and the brothers, so neither had been that clean.

They both had become tired by the two days they were traveling together. So he had not really thought about how she looked. Her figure had been covered up by her leather armor too, she had taken it off when they made camp though. Sam's only thought about her was that she had a nice face, he was too tired to care at the moment otherwise.

“You took your sweet time in the bath. I haven’t eaten yet, as I waited on you.” She had only a mug of what Sam guessed was ale.

He smiled at her and waved at a barmaid to signal that he wanted to order. The barmaid arrived a moment later, she greeted Kita by name and then asked what they wanted to order. Kita ordered for both of them, a meat soup with black bread and ale to drink. Kita had almost emptied her first mug, so she asked for another.

‘Seems Kita is well known at this inn. She might be the perfect referee to ask about the job.’ Sam thought as he remembered Maria had also greeted Kita by name.

“Kita, uh, why I was late from the bath was because the innkeeper gave me a proposal for work.” She looked at him and then emptied the last of her mug.

He told her about the deal, both the working hours as well as the salary and benefits. She pointed out that three big copper coins was a small amount but acceptable considering the benefits. The working hours could be discussed, she believed.

The barmaid came with their food and drinks after a little while. The meat soup was good with a lot of vegetables, the soup was made with some kind of herb base. The bread was a normal rye bread, Sam had baked something similar at home back on earth. The ale was a bit sour and the taste of alcohol was prominent which made Sam think that it was probably quite strong.

Sam made their discussion flow to what he owed her. He had eaten parts of her rations while they traveled, she had paid for the gate toll too. Even helped him through guiding him to a town.

“Hey! It is more I who owe you!” Kita pressed at him.

Kita pointed quietly out that her party attacked him and then he had helped her to get away when she had hurt her foot. So if anyone owed someone it was she who owed him! Sam thought that he didn’t do anything, but she pointed out that monsters could have come and he had no obligation to carry her in the beginning. He could just have left her there and she probably would have died there by a monster or the brothers had found her.

She could fight, though not reliably against anything stronger than goblins alone. Sam thought back to when they met, it was as she said. He had done it without thinking about it, but it was true that she had in a way been responsible for him getting attacked.

No wonder she was willing to pay for the gate toll and the inn as well as sharing some rations. Now she wouldn’t even need to pay for the inn either. He smiled wryly at himself, but Kita seemed to him as a nice girl so he was happy how it all turned out in the end.

After they had eaten, both of them left for their rooms. There was a floor clock standing behind the bar. It seemed this world counted time as on earth. He hadn’t asked Kita about how many hours a day had. As that would be something most should know at his age. Through the clock he could conclude that time was mostly the same at least. The floor clock stood at eleven. So he would get almost seven hours of sleep, before his first day of work began.