It stood taller than me and lighter in colour than the already dark environment. If it weren’t for some sixth sense warning me of its presence, I would have bumped into the creature. It seemed to be a large lizard of sorts, no, more like a bipedal dinosaur. I wasn’t sure if it surprised me more having a large carnivorous creature standing in front of me, or whether I should have been able to understand how I knew that in the first place? I wondered if that was the same creature I managed to upset when I first arrived and stumbled across its nest. Did mommy manage to track me down, looking for revenge?
The creature lowered its large angular head in a menacing way, looking directly at me as if waiting for me to do something. Whatever its intention, without a weapon I was next to useless and compared to its size, my little bush knife wasn't a danger to it as much as a minor hindrance and besides, by the time I got to use it in anger, everything would be over for me. After a minute of quietly staring at each other the creature slowly moved towards me and started smelling my shirt. Since the creature’s head was at least the diameter of my chest, even in the dark I could make out its dinosaur-like snout. The whole creature’s skin seemed slightly florescent, that’s why I could see it in the dark. It started sniffing the bottom of my shirt and worked its way upwards, each nostril alternatively taking in air as if it were smelling me in stereo. When I realised it was spending enough time doing high resolution snuffling at my shirt, it focused on my pocket for some reason. I remembered that the only thing I had in my pocket was the cookie Hurihime gave me, and then an understanding dawned on me.
“Really? You’re interested in Haruhime’s cookie?”
What would you have me do in that scenario? Deny the beast the only thing I knew it liked about me? Not a damn. I fished out Haruhime’s cookie and handed it to the creature on my lowered palm as if I were feeding a horse and prayed it didn’t eat my hand in the process. For a while the creature sniffed the cookie as if appreciating its odour and then I felt the pressure of the creature’s snout against my palm as it grabbed the cookie with its lips; like feeding a horse. After a few crunching noises it in turn sniffed my still open palm and my shirt. Discovering nothing more it made a sudden snort, turned it head to look behind it for a while, then quickly walked off in the same direction. As it turned, its lighter silhouette allowed me to appreciate its full size. It was at least three times longer than me and from its foot falls, I deduced it had two strong legs and a long stride, it was big. I got the distinct feeling it wanted more cookies. I decided that not bumping into that creature again was top of my things-to-avoid-in-that-world agenda. To give the creature credit, it didn’t want to eat me or fight me for some reason, something I would be eternally grateful for.
As I rounded the corner for the final straight to the inn, someone else suddenly popped up between the darkened buildings. The plump pungent figure of Mr. Marset carried a lantern while crossing the street not five meters ahead of me. I couldn’t believe he was that ignorant to be running around while that dinosaur creature frolicked in the same neighbourhood. Mr Marset seemed his usual hurried self while mumbling something only he could understand. He draped a heavy bag across his back, and he was labouring quite hard under its weight, I seriously doubted our mayor worked so hard in his life. He couldn’t see me while the miniscule light of his lantern shone into his face, the small light wouldn’t have given much light further than a meter around him. Whatever he was up to in the middle of the dark, it would be up to no good. As much as he piqued my interest, there was far too much going on at night for a small town like Obon and I just wanted to get home after my run in with the local fauna.
Only the inn’s swaying lantern light in the warm breeze helped me find the Screaming Banshee. The inn's sign depicted a creature with its mouth wide open and lots of sharp teeth. Assuming that was a banshee, I certainly hoped that was a mythical creature because the thought of meeting something like that in the dark night made me shudder. My Ferdinand-like dinosaur experience was sufficient horror for me.
Laughing and loud talking from inside the inn’s dining room distracted my thoughts. Inside, Haruhime’s warm voice greeted me from behind the service counter while the hall, bathed in the golden light of surrounding lanterns, made me feel even more welcome. She wore a slightly tattered blue work dress with long sleeves and a white and red patterned apron that protected the front of the dress. Although there were a few old stain marks on her dress, it was nonetheless clean and washed. When she saw me, her eyes lit up.
“Shane, I’m so glad you came back.”
It didn’t matter which world I came from, when a beautiful young woman like that smiled at me, I couldn't help but feel at home. Why did I suddenly feel like a lovesick puppy? I became lost for words, and the dumbest thing I could say was,
“Grenfell sends his regards and says you should visit him again soon.”
“Thanks, I will do. My father is long-time friends with the old guy and keeps in regular touch with him. Unfortunately, the inn keeps me plenty busy so it’s difficult to see him.”
She must have realised I was hungry because she led me to the dining room. The sound of laughter and the bantering increased as we walked through the dining room. Most of the diners looked like adventurer types, but none of seemed familiar to me.
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Haruhime guided me to a smaller, dimly lit table in the corner, suiting my needs perfectly. After all, I just wanted a moment to observe everyone. She seated me onto a backless stool-like chair then she disappeared into the kitchen to prepare some food for me. While I was waiting, I had a good opportunity to look around at the strange assortment of about thirty people noisily enjoying themselves. Some people wore discoloured chain mail or brigandine leather armour, one adventurer had red coloured leather armour, something a little more ostentatious for just an adventurer. As for the weapons, they left them at the door since they were not allowed in the dining room. There were a variety of well-used bladed weapons and bows ordered against the wall like a line-up for a criminal identity parade. If it were possible, I bet those weapons could tell a story. Judging by the lacklustre look of the weapons, I guessed that adventuring wasn't as lucrative a job as compared to trading or smithing. Talking of which, at the table against the wall in front of me sat a couple of lonely merchants minding their own business. Their clothing seemed more refined, although it still looked loose and functional. They wore loose-fitting floppy hats, common to merchants travelling on the road. I discovered later those floppy hats were soft leather shoulder guards with an attached hoodie to protect against rain and chilly weather. While they weren’t using it, they conveniently tied it up like a hat on their heads.
I didn't know it at the time but most of the adventurers sitting there worked as armed escorts for the Shimmerstal travelling merchants. The military from the different estates each patrolled their busiest trade routes, but due to economies of scale, smaller routes became prey to the bandits and intelligent monsters. To have a better chance of surviving, travelling merchants needed armed escorts. Only the most desperate of merchants would hire expensive mercenaries as escorts, instead adventurers were a much better prospect. Adventurers were less flexible with their guild’s conditions, but they were cheaper and yet sufficiently skilled against both bandits and monsters. And even if the guild’s quest conditions tended to be a bit inflexible, at least the merchants knew where they stood with them.
For adventurers, escorting merchants were the bread-and-butter for their industry and although it wouldn't make any adventurer wealthy, it nonetheless supplied a living wage, especially during the many lulls between assignments. Generally, adventurers didn't mix socially with their clients because there was no reason to and becoming familiar with the client didn’t bode well for future relationships. When the time came for tough decisions or situations, it was difficult to make them when the merchants or adventurers were close friends.
If the merchants attitude stayed reserved in Obon, the same couldn’t be said for the groups of adventurers. Judging by the camaraderie between the adventurers, they seemed lively and I could only assume they knew each other well enough.
Haruhime's approaching footsteps on the wooden floorboards interrupted my thoughts as she brought me a bowl of vegetable broth stew. She didn't wait to hear my comments but placed the wooden spoon next to the bowl and headed straight back into the kitchen. I got a surprise when I put the first spoonful of food into my mouth.
“Eh? What is this?”
Again, the food tasted insipid. It lacked salt, any spices whatsoever, and to top it off the meat was tough as blazes. I felt as if I was chewing leather. Haruhime returned and handed me a mug of muddy looking water for drinking. Even though I knew it was boiled water, I still had a tough time but forced myself to drink it because I didn’t want her to feel bad when I knew she would be watching me. Later I would drink some decent water I filtered, up in my room. Transmutation was my BFF.
I was still recovering from my disappointing dinner when one group of adventurers started playing a few musical instruments, a couple of drums, and flutes. The rest of the adventurers roared with approval as the impromptu band played for them. The songs, shorter in length than earthly songs, dealt with a variety of topics like monster antics and misguided love. Some were upbeat tunes which most people seem to already know and soon people jumped in by singing along.
I just sat quietly musing while watching the show with interest. I managed to learn quite a lot about the world from the song’s lyrics. Even the song about how it was not okay to meet girls in a dungeon, made me laugh. I'd watched enough fantasy anime to know dungeons should supply some form of wealth to the neighbouring community, and yet Obon didn't look anything of the sort. Either the Obon dungeon was a death-trap, there was no money in it, or someone was milking it dry. My money was on the latter and I got the distinct feeling our friendly neighbourhood mayor, Mr Marset, was up to his eyeballs in it if his tax-collecting armed goons were anything to go by.
After my meal, I realized that I desperately needed a shower but since I didn’t have anything to wash with, even a rinse was better than nothing. Outside a thick fog had developed but I managed to make my way around the back of the inn without too much fuss. Since there were things with teeth out there roaming around freely, I confess my boyish bravado escaped me, leaving me feeling a little vulnerable. Happy noises from the dining room filtered through, helping me feel a bit more confident.
There were two cubicles under a lantern where a person could stand or sit. Each cubicle had a fresh cold-water bucket with a ladle. There was no door on the cubicles, so I just decided to bare it all and used the ladle to rinse off with. It was cold but refreshing. I must admit that going ‘au natural’ was a bit intimidating but luckily no one was washing at the same time as me. Afterwards I found out that I was supposed to have a large cloth with me. It served as a temporary door cover and then, when a person finished washing, used to dry off with like a towel. At the time though I decided to use my hands to dry off as best I could, but my clothes were still sticking to my body by the time I got to my room. I lay in the darkness on my bed thinking about what events happened to me over the day, and I fell asleep listening to the quiet Obon night, so different from the forest.