With the day coming to an end, Sakura and Uehara started looking for an inn. They had tried finding a parchment but the only place that would sell the kind of parchment Uehara needed was currently closed for the day and would only open tomorrow.
Sakura apologised profusely for wasting time, but Uehara shrug it off. Entering the inn, Sakura ignored the gazes that fell upon her and went to a handsome black-haired young man who was handling the reception area.
Her voice was professional as she spoke, almost mimicking Chizuki’s.
“Hello. I would like to book a room for the night.”
Although the young man was gobsmacked by her appearance for a second, he managed to regain his composure and gave a cheery smile.
“A single room for the night will cost three silver taels. Is that fine?”
“Yes.”
The system of currency is as follows:
1 bronze tael= 1 dollar
1 silver tael= 100 bronze taels/100 dollars
1 gold tael= 1000 bronze taels/100 silver taels/1000 dollars
(AN: Taels were not used during the Heian period and only the Chinese “sen” amongst other methods of trade were used. But since taels are the universally acknowledged currency for most novels set in ancient times, I chose to go with them for simplicity’s sake. We’ve all read cultivation novels so hopefully this form of currency will be simple enough to understand.)
The lad’s mouth twitched at her cold attitude, but he bent over to grab a key under the counter.
“Okay young miss. Room number thirteen down the hall on the left will be yours for the night.”
“Thank you.”
She grabbed they key and walked to her room. The lad at the reception looked at her with a curious gaze.
[Is she here for the auction as well?]
…
Entering the lavishly decorated room, Uehara jumped off Sakura’s head and turned to look at her.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Why do you and Chizuki insist on inns? With your level of strength, you can fly back to my island.”
Sakura blushed when he said that.
[Do I tell him that I wanted us to spend some time together?]
As she was pondering how to answer, Uehara detected the scent of faint arousal from her. Without missing a beat, he turned to walk to the open window.
“Nevermind. I’ll come back tomorrow morning. Just remember not to break the bed when you release your urges. Use that receptionist if you have to.”
Sakura was confused.
[Bed? Receptionist?]
Her eyes widened when she realised he misunderstood.
“W-wait! It’s not like that!”
Unfortunately, it was too late. Uehara had jumped out of the window, and he had no intentions of listening to her.
According to Uehara’s logic, Sakura became aroused when he suddenly asked her the question. Coming from an era where girls as young as fifteen lost their virginity, he didn’t find it odd that Sakura, according to him, wanted some sort of stress relief. She hadn’t been in contact with males for quite some time so in order to get the best performance out of her in training, he chose to let her have this moment of stress-relief.
Seeing no signs of Uehara below, Sakura pouted in indignation.
“I’m not a slut!”
Curling up in a fetal position on the bed, she felt like crying.
“Does Aoki-sama think I’m a loose woman? I’m still too young for that.”
Remembering how Chizuki said the both of them didn’t even register as the opposite sex in his eyes, she threw a tantrum.
“Hmph! Hmph! Hmph! Hmph! When I get powerful, Aoki-sama will have to look at me.”
Meanwhile, Uehara was travelling outside the forest bordering the west side of the city. Initially, he intended to stay with Sakura but since she would be busy, he decided to head to the outskirts. Sakura’s scent was able to avert the scent of other humans but since she would be unavailable, the last thing he wanted was to stay within a city full of foul-smelling humans.
Strolling on the forest floor, he reverted back from his cat form to his dragon form.
[This would be a good time to get in some training.]
Sprinting through the forest on his short legs, no beast dared to seek death by hunting him. All the beasts could instinctively sense the sheer danger this little drake running around with its back towards them emitted.
Skillfully dodging the trees in his path, the consistent sound of dead leaves being crushed under him was a testament to how fast he was travelling. Although he was travelling around 60-kilometres per hour, it was the maximum speed he could use while under the drastically increased density of his bones that weighed him down.
Finally reaching a deeper part of the forest, Uehara stopped and transformed into his humanoid form. Conjuring a vine, he tied his long-black hair in a rough ponytail. The small outline of sweat on his skin was wiped away with a simple motion of his hand.
He then summoned fifty shadow-clones that were spread all around him. That vicinity within the forest was littered with five-year-old looking boys with a black long coat and long-black hair tied in a ponytail.
Uehara took off his coat and black shirt. Inscribing a character on them, they both instantly shot up into the sky where they would remain above the clouds until he recalled them.
Channeling chakra in his body, he bulked up, gaining a substantial increase in muscle mass as his muscles expanded.
“Time for daily training. I’ll only use the earth element and my basic abilities.”
Tri-bladed bone chains came out of his palms.
“Let’s begin.”