“I don’t have even near enough gold to pay that, I am actually about to leave on a dungeon clearing quest tomorrow, so perhaps after I return, we can discuss this further” Asher said while reaching for the dagger, the dwarf who had been holding it slowly handed it back to Asher looking very disappointed. That's when the one who had given Asher the quote smiled and quickly walked over to the rack of miscellaneous weapons and armor, going through the items while Asher watched in confusion. The dwarf took a while but after a few minutes finally settled on an item and brought it back to the anvil. The item was covered in a cloth stopping Asher from figuring out what it was. The dwarf sat it down on top of the anvil and pushed it to Asher motioning for him to grab it, taking the cloth off slowly as he did.
“If you are going dungeon clearing, then you should probably have a good pair of shoes, these are our most popular model of leather boots, these just don’t have any magic enchantments, or defensive spells so they aren't very sought after by adventures, I’ll give you these for five silver, as a memento to our meeting and to future business,” the dwarf said pushing the boots to Asher motioning for him to examine them. Asher picked them up and looked them over, they were made from brown leather with what looked like basic leather stitching. Asher just sighed and brought out the five silver pieces, he knew that boots were something he needed as his feet had begun to hurt from walking around on stones for days on end, but he had been holding out hoping that the system would give him some for free. But if they were going to offer him some for the same price as a naket then who was he to say no.
“Alright I’ll take them, here you go,” Asher said handing the silver over, the dwarf happily took it and with a nod headed back to his work leaving Asher to put his new boots on, while he didn’t like the ideas of putting them on barefoot it was still better than having nothing on, and if he ended up in a cave environment like he was envisioning then having these was better than nothing, he just hoped that he actually got a good deal and not another rip off. With a sigh Asher slipped them on and tightened them using the provided straps.
Asher hopped up once he felt the boots were tight enough and quickly left the smithy, he began looking around for more shops that might provide him with more materials but only managed to find what he thought resembled a general store, it sold basic wears such as rope, dried rations, candles and other basic goods. Asher stocked up on the dried rations, rope and some other basic needs, he spent a total of fifteen silver doing this and finally felt like the boots he had gotten were a decent deal. The rest of the shops he visited were not as good and didn’t sell anything that Asher felt like he couldn’t live without.
It wasn’t until around sunset that Asher eventually found a decent Inn with what looked like a tavern attached to it, the outside of the building was basic, it had tan walls and a pointed shingled roof, outside a sign hung next to the door with a picture of a plate with a knife and a fork next to it. Asher slowly entered into the tavern hoping to blend into the crowd, once inside he could hear loud adventurers singing and having a good time, Asher slowly walked up to what looked like a reception desk and found a young light skinned female with black cat ears and a pitch-black tail standing behind it. Asher tried his best not to stare but had to quickly look away with a blush once the girl smiled back at him, she had a look that felt all knowing.
“I would like a room for the night please,” Asher asked the cat girl after taking a few seconds to find the courage, the girl just smiled at him before pulling out what looked like a massive leather-bound book and opened it to the front page, pulling out a feather along with some ink to go with it.
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“Will you need one or two beds?” The girl said after looking through the first page for a few seconds, Asher could only assume that meant that they had enough rooms to house him for the night, and from her question it seemed like she was trying to figure out more about him than if he could afford a room or not.
“Just one bed please,” Asher said, the girl just nodded at him and began to scribble something onto the first page of the book, it wasn’t until she was finished that she ducked under the counter and pulled out what looked like an ancient key that someone might have dug up from an old temple back on earth. Asher could only sigh and assume that anyone who really wanted could probably break into his room, he would practically sleep with one eye open all night if he didn’t want to get robbed.
“All right then I just need a name for the room and two silver pieces, after that you're all set,” the girl said while tapping the counter with her finger. Asher could only sigh and brought out the two silver pieces from a pouch he now kept at his side. He had decided that it would be easier to have a pouch with very little money in it than having to try to hide pulling things out of his inventory. He placed them down on the counter and before handing them to her racked his brain for a name that wasn’t too conspicuous.
“My name is Greg,” Asher said, sliding the silver to her, she quickly took it and handed him his room key. Asher happily took it and disappeared up a large set of wooden stairs to his right. She had given him a room key that had what looked like numbers etched into it but Asher wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until after searching for over ten minutes of walking up and down the hall like a mad man did he find a room that had the same matching runes on the outside of the door, with a sigh and a lot of hope Asher slid the key into the doors lock and twisted, the lock quickly gave way and with a click Asher knew that his search wasn’t in vain.
The door swung open with little effort, inside was a very small room, all it had was a small twin sized bed tucked into the corner and what looked like a bucket in the other. Asher knew that this world probably didn’t have running water, and that this is what most people considered normal. With a sigh he went over to the bed happy to find a pillow and a blanket laid out for him, he took a little bit to make the bed as it had been a while since he had bothered making a bed the correct way and not just throwing everything on in a hurry. That was one thing that Asher had never understood, why did people bother so much with making their bed every day, they were just going to mess it up again that night.
After he was finished with making his bed he walked back over to the open door, closing it and locking it, he knew that if someone wanted to break in then they probably could, but he hoped that no one would bother, or if they did it would make just enough sound to wake him up. With that taken care of Asher walked back over to his bed, took off his boots and got under his blanket, the next day was going to be long and treacherous and Asher really didn’t feel like tackling that without a good night's rest, that and this was his first chance to sleep in an actual bed for the first time in days, it was strange how quickly he found himself adapting to his new situation.
With another sigh Asher took one last look at his status screen, his quest screen and his inventory, going through everything he had learned over the last few days and trying to make plans for what to come. It wasn’t until a while later that he felt himself begin to drift off, with one last thought passing through his mind he grabbed his boots, his money pouch and his dagger and threw them into his inventory, hoping that if he did somehow sleep through a burglar that they would give up once they couldn’t find anything, and with that Asher slowly drifted off to sleep.