Before Ryuji knew what had happened, he was falling. Then he hit the water and sank to the bottom in a splash. When he came up for air he was spitting and gasping for air. Once he finally realized what was going on he began to swim properly and could tell he was in the river that ran through town. There was a fork in the river ahead so he swam for the branch he was closest to. Once he was past the branch he was swept under a bridge. Just a bit past the bridge the branches of the river converged again. He began looking for a way to get out of the river.
After going with the flow of the water for a minute or so he spotted a set of steps on the far bank of the river. Ryuji turned and started swimming against the current with an angle towards the far bank. It took him a couple minutes to make it across the river because it was pretty strong here. Finally, he made it to the far bank and the steps out were just behind him.
He drifted the last few feet to the steps and crawled out. Ryuji could see that the steps led fairly deep down into the river and there were poles on the side so you could grab them if the current swept you off your feet. He wasn’t sure what this place was for until he spotted a basket of laundry a little further up on the bank. After crawling fully up on the bank he laid down on the sparse cobblestones to catch his breath.
As he was laying with his eyes closed just breathing, he heard someone come up. He opened his eyes and to his horror, it was the three thugs. They looked exhausted and mad. Without a word, the tall one launched a kick to the side of Ryuji’s head. He blacked out for a moment but was brought around by the sudden flare of pain in his ribs. After he came too, he tried to get away but it seemed the big thug was standing on his arm. He put his other arm over his face and the other two thugs kicked him repeatedly.
After a dozen or more kicks to the ribs and shoulders, the thugs stopped and he felt one of them pulling his coin pouches off. The other one was opening his satchel. “Hey, this damn thing is empty! *The middle one was rifling through his satchel so that must mean the tall one was taking his coin pouches* Hey shitface, why ain’t you got no more cash than this? What the hell were you running for you broke-ass bastard?”
After stealing all of his coin pouches and insulting him the three kicked him some more before leaving. Ryuji just lay there for several minutes wincing in pain. Finally, he made up his mind and got off the ground. Several people were looking at him from the shadows of the houses around the area. Most of them were just kids but a few women peeked at him before going back inside.
Ryuji didn’t mind, that was a very Japanese mindset as well. Most people in Japan wouldn’t get involved in somebody else’s disputes and didn’t want to get tangled up in their business. He was used to that and they probably didn’t want to offer any help because they were afraid, he might take advantage of them, it was okay as far as he was concerned.
He was going to be okay for a bit. He had his stash of money in his room and he had already paid for room and board for a week or the local equivalent anyway. He knew that the money he had could hold him for three or four more eightdays of stay. Honestly, he figured that if he asked nicely that Teresa would probably take pity on him and let him stay a little longer even. But he didn’t want to be a burden so he would need to find work within the time that his money lasted.
He was glad that the thugs had at least left him the satchel. They took the full coin pouch and his infinite coin pouch and only left him the empty blue one. Well at the very least he had earned an apprenticeship to the old dwarven wizard so he should be able to make a little money at least. Honestly, things weren’t looking all that bad! Sure he was sore and he was going to be even more so in the morning but he already had a lot going for him.
He also realized that he was lucky the thugs didn’t find his ID pendant. After all, it was silver and gold. Ryuji figured that after finding his coin purses so empty the thugs probably didn’t see any need to look at his pendant. They would never have believed that he was a noble, not that Ryuji really did either. But at least that was still in his possession. Who knows what kind of mischief the thugs could have caused him if they had taken that.
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Ryuji made it back to the inn pretty much without incident. He didn’t know where he was going but he finally found the city wall and followed it till he made it to the entrance and from there he knew his way. When he got back to the inn he went straight upstairs. As soon as his door was closed, he flopped down on his bed. He was intending to relax until it was time for the evening meal but he happened to look over at his drawer and noticed that it was empty.
Suddenly Ryuji jumped to his feet in a panic. He’d been robbed twice today! Realization struck him harder than the thug’s kicks. If he didn’t have his stockpile of coins then he was going to have to find a way to make money sooner than he thought. He didn’t have time to be lying around, he had to get out there and get a paying job. The old dwarf said he would teach Ryuji but he never actually said he would pay him or anything.
He dashed out the door of his room and didn’t bother to close it because he was in such a rush. He stumbled on the stairs and slowed down a bit. Then he looked around till he spotted Teresa on the other side of the dining hall and he made straight for her. He didn’t run because there were other people in the dining room and he didn’t want them to get suspicious.
After he got over to her she smiled at him and he hated to inform her that there was a thief but he had to, even if there was no chance of getting his money back. He got close enough that with his voice pitched low she should be the only one to hear him. “Ms. Teresa, I hate to tell you this but it seems that there is a thief in your inn. I had a small pile of copper in my dresser drawer and it’s gone now! I don’t expect you to reimburse me but I do feel that you might want to look into some of your guests a bit closer.”
As he said this her smile never wavered and he was just starting to get suspicious. Then just as she opened her mouth to reply there was a clatter of wooden bowls from inside the kitchen behind Teresa. Both Teresa and Ryuji turned at the sudden racket and a very flustered Karen came rushing out with the beginnings of tears in her eyes.
As she came skidding around the corner of the kitchen doorway, she looked frantically till she locked eyes with Ryuji, and then she rushed up to him and began wailing in a voice that was sure to draw attention. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for you to get there first. I mean, well, it’s my fault! I’m so sorry, please don’t think that way about the other guests.”
Teresa laid a hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly. “Calm down girl. Just tell him straight and I’m sure he’ll forgive you. But take a breath first!”
As Karen was calming down Teresa reached into her apron and extracted several coins and held them out to the now thoroughly confused Ryuji. When Karen began speaking, she was calmer but she still had tears at the corners of her eyes. “When I was cleaning earlier, I opened your room to clean it and I saw the drawer open and a pile of copper in it. I didn’t think that was safe to keep it that way so I brought it down to the owner to change into larger coins. I was going to catch you before you went to your room and tell you but I guess you got there first and, and…”
Ryuji accepted the coins with a smile and shook his head. In all, there were two small silver coins, six large copper, and three small copper coins. After counting them he looked back at Teresa just as she began to speak again. “You should be more careful, lad. It’s not safe to keep coin lying around, even in a locked room. Fortunately, Karen here is an honest girl but if someone else had wandered into your room and seen that. Well, they say that coin is the enemy of honest men. I suppose that goes for women too but you got lucky it was her is all I can say about that. I certainly couldn’t have paid you back for it if it got stolen, not even out of one of my rooms.”
Ryuji looked at both of them and there was only one thing that seemed to fit the situation. He backed up a few steps and bowed low to each of the women in turn. As Ryuji rose from the bow, he noticed that they both looked bewildered but Karen looked absolutely aghast and was blushing a deep crimson. He couldn’t help himself and had to tease her a little bit so he leaned in and spoke in a very soft tone into her ear. “I can’t thank you enough. I was quite concerned when I discovered the money missing but if I had known it was you, I would gladly have parted with it. I am truly thankful for your honesty though, absolutely grateful from the bottom of my heart.”
He put special emphasis on the last word and sure enough it had the desired effect as Karen had the dreamiest look on her deeply flushed face. He smiled at her again and went back upstairs to his room. The whole time he was in her field of vision and for some moments after Karen just watched Ryuji with that dreamy face. In turn, Teresa watched the young girl with a giant grin on her craggy old face. As much as she had enjoyed the show, they had customers to attend to and chores to be taken care of. As the old innkeeper cleared her throat Karen jumped and looked at her in embarrassment before scurrying off into the kitchen with her head bowed while the old lady just chuckled.