The guard finally stopped in front of a building about seven streets away from the Blood Hall. Not too close, but not too far either.
“You will need the quiet,” the guard said, as he led them into the building.
Upon entering the building, the first thing that Alnea noticed was the staircase leading to the higher floors, separated from the entrance by a corridor that cut across from his left to right. It was a small corridor, far smaller than the corridors in big sis Serena’s mansion, but it had enough room to accommodate all of them without making them feel suffocated. The rooms though…
The corridor was not very long, and yet, there were around three doors on either side of the corridor just to his left. The other half of the corridor was also the same. Twelve rooms on just the first floor… Not to mention the obsessiveness of the city with blood. From the walls to the stairs, and even the doors, everything was painted with a coat of blood. It was as if the building was constantly reminding its inhabitants of the city’s dangers. Only the boxes, about twice as large as his palms, sticking to the right half of the doors, were of a different shade.
“You see the black box on the doors?” the guard said, pointing to the doors closest to them. “If it is blinking with a red light, then it means that the room is occupied. And if it does not blink, then you can take the room for yourself.”
“…All of these rooms are occupied right now?”
“The rooms closer to the ground are often more popular among the Wanderers,” the guard said. “You will understand the reason once you enter these rooms yourself. For now, let us go check the upper floors, and see if there are any empty rooms.”
They followed the guard up the stairs, and checked the second floor. Once again, all its rooms were occupied. The same was the case with the third, and fourth floors. It was only when they reached the fifth floor that they found a couple of empty rooms. They chose to continue climbing though, and did not stop until they found three empty rooms on the seventh floor.
“To open the rooms, you just need to place your Blood Cards against the boxes. After deducting your Blood Coins, it will reserve the room for you. No one else will be able to enter your room, even if they somehow manage to get your Blood Cards, making it the safest place for you to complete your Wanderings, and train your Spirits. However, one Blood Coin can reserve a room for only one day. And the rooms on the first and second floors cost double the coins.”
“What about the mansions that you mentioned?” Cecilia said, staring at the rooms with disgust. Even Alnea felt a little disgruntled from the fact that he might be sharing a building with his potential enemies. Only Yuri remained unfazed by their living arrangements. Or at least, she did not show any dissatisfaction on her face. If they could live in their own separate mansion though, or even just a normal house…
“You have been in the city for a while,” the guard said. “Other than the Blood Hall, did you see any buildings that were different from the one we are in?”
“…Did you not say that we can have anything that we want as long as we had enough Blood Coins?”
“…I am not saying that there no better places to live at,” the guard said after some hesitation. “But there are some requirements that you need to fulfil before you can get access to those places.”
“What are those requirements?”
“You can explore them in the Blood Hall on your own. My job was only to help you register your identities… and inform you of the basic rules of the city. I have already done both of those things.”
“But you did not tell us how to read our Blood Cards,” Yuri said, pointing to the weird symbols on her Blood Card. “I can sense the fluctuations of some unknown Mysteries from these symbols… As if there are some restrictions binding these symbols… and the language they are from. I am assuming that only when we are within the city can we learn this language. And yet, you are acting as if we already know the language… Even if you do not teach us the language, should you not at least explain how or where we should go about learning this language? Is that not what you promised?”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“…I did not promise anything. And what I have told you is already more than what any newcomer knows. If there is anything that you still do not understand, then you can seek your answers at the Blood Hall. Now, if you will excuse me—
“Wait a minute,” Alnea said. “I just have one more question to ask.”
“…What is it?”
“Did you not say that as long as Wanderers can break through to the True Rank, they can advance to the inner city? Then what are you doing in the outer city? Are there things that you have kept from us?”
“…I have told you all that you need to know,” the guard said in a stiff tone. “As for things that you do not need to know, you will not know them even if you spend your entire life in the city.”
“That does not make any sense,” Alnea mumbled, but the guard ignored him, and made his way down the stairs, leaving just him and the girls in the corridor of the seventh floor.
“…What are we going to do now?”
“The guard has already given us the hint,” Yuri said, with the end of her lips curving up in a smile. “For now, let us choose a room, and settle down first. After all, no matter where we are, we cannot neglect our Wanderings and meditations.”
“That’s fine with me,” Alnea said. “Let us meet here in four hours then. That should give us enough time to complete everything and recover our Spirit.”
“It’s decided then,” Cecilia said. “We are meeting again in four hours.”
The only problem was…
“How are we going to choose our rooms?” Alnea said, staring at the three rooms. Two of them were facing the back side of the building, with their windows opening to another building’s back side, while the last one’s window opened up to the street that they had walked into the building from. Or at least, that was how he assumed the rooms were from the way they were placed. Choosing between them…
“It does not matter,” Yuri said, walking up to one of the rooms on the back side of the building, and placing her Blood Card on its black box. Consequently, the box made strange, screeching noises for a few moments, before a red light began blinking at its top right corner, just like the boxes of all the occupied rooms they had seen. Pushing the door of her room open, Yuri turned towards them, and said, “All the rooms are same anyway.”
Before Alnea could say anything in return, Yuri had already walked into her closed her door. And infected from her decisiveness, Cecilia hesitated for only a fraction of a moment, before choosing the room next to hers.
“Let’s meet in four hours,” Cecilia said, as she reserved the room for herself, before walking into the room, and closing its door on his face just as decisively as Yuri had.
“…What was that?”
“Nothing,” Yuri said. “I just felt that wasting time on choosing our rooms would be pointless.”
“…Who are you trying to fool?” Alnea mumbled, but did not pester her again. Turning around to the only unoccupied room, he placed his Blood Card on its black box, and after spending a Blood Coin, reserved it for a day. Once again, the box made some incomprehensible screeching noises, before it made a soft click that only he could hear, signifying that the room had been opened.
Pushing the door open, Alnea walked into the room, allowing the door to close on its own behind his back. But he was so used to doors closing on their own, that the strange action of the door did not bother him. The room though… With the personal bathroom attached to the room separated from the main room by just a simple cased opening, and a blood red curtain, the room was quite unlike any room he had ever seen.
In size, the main room was probably a little bigger than his room back in the inner city of Anneve. In essence though, the room was completely different in every possible way. For one, the interior of the room was once again designed in a theme of blood, which did not surprise Alnea too much. But it did give the room a tangy smell, while introducing a strange chill in the air.
No, it was not just the aura of the room. The room itself was colder than the world without. At the very least, the room was not sizzling hot. Not that it would have made any difference with the robe that he was wearing. Regardless, the room probably had some temperature regulation Glyphs keeping it cool even in the scorching heat.
The dark tinted pane of glass filtering out Enn’s light might also be helping in keeping the room cool, Alnea thought. It was probably also keeping the room private. The room should have some Glyph Arrays preventing other from peeking into the room with their Spirits, but if the window had been a see through one, then he would not have been able to Wander or meditate with ease. Especially since Yuri and Cecilia would also have had similar windows.
The Blood Coin was well spent, Alnea thought, before supressing his useless thoughts at the bottom of his Heart, and walking up to the only piece of furniture in the room, a blood red cushion, just enough for him to sit on it. He had gotten used to sitting on the cold hard floor of the Night Canyons, but since there was luxury to be had, and he had already paid for it, then he might as well enjoy it.