It was kind of like Axel port, but also kind of not. There were WAY too many people here, and the lighting was miles better. Definitely more Westerners than Southerners and a lot of familiar things. Dudes in suits, briefcases and of course… women. No, it wasn’t that I hadn’t seen women outside before. It was just that… these women weren’t wearing much. And they were human women with basically bikini armor, assuming you can even call that armor.
“Umm… Den?” I asked, looking up.
He had quite the conflicted look. I almost laughed looking. “Women in these parts tend to get pretty high body heat, so that’s only way.” He tried to make excuses. That was actually a first how much he struggled to keep a straight face.
“In winter?” I pressed. I kind of liked how he was struggling and wanted to mess with him.
“Just ignore them,” Alastur said. “They’re not doing that because they want to either.”
That said, he pulled us both along a straight line out of that place and we eventually made way into the more normal streets. Normal as in no more lightly dressed women.
So prostitutes? Made sense. No one loved being a prostitute. They probably had their own shit to worry about. As did everyone else. I felt a bit bad about thinking so inconsiderably. Anyway- “So what now? Did you book a place here too?”
“I didn’t actually. I was counting on the ship making it before the morning. But even if it didn’t, I kind of wanted to try going out during the night.”
“You were the one who told me-”
“Well,” he shrugged. “It’s kind of less dangerous around these parts since the guild and local knights regularly hunt fiends.”
Basically, dude wanted to use that excuse, show off and get some money. Of course, I was just pulling that out of my ass but- “I don’t have the energy to actually stay awake tonight.”
Besides, I couldn’t even walk around straight. Even now, the world just swayed left and right, up and down. Kinda fun but also kinda annoying.
“Yeah, me neither.” He chuckled. “Let’s get a place, I guess.”
“I know a place,” Alastur said. “You helped me out in Axel, I wouldn’t mind helping you here.”
“Great!” Den accepted readily.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Something about that though… hmm. Meh. I couldn’t care less. “I’m starving.”
We followed Alastur into a rather rowdy place. The guild. Not the first place that whipped out in my mind, no.
“And don’t come back!” A loud shrill, followed by something crashing into us, or rather into Alastur since he was in front.
Alastur stared, unconcerned, as the man who crashed into him groaned and writhed on the floor. His focus was instead on a woman, who had supposedly thrown the man. He didn’t say anything though.
The woman, assuming she could be called one, was more muscular than any man I’d seen in this world. “Oh? Didn’t think you’d show your face again here,” she smirked and moved away. Holy shit those pecs were big! No wait, those are just boobs.
Meanwhile, Alastur slowly walked forward and although he didn’t really look at anyone, the people here looked at him. No, they glared at him.
“They don’t like him?” I whispered.
“Most people don’t like him,” Den whispered.
“But he’s such a nice guy.”
Den didn’t answer that one. Come to think of it, the dude casually walked out during a bandit invasion and sliced off their heads with ease. Maybe people were afraid of him going berserk? Or maybe he had gone berserk before. Better stay outta his way.
Some moments later, one of the guild ladies came running over to us and took us upstairs. Apparently, the third floor of this building was for lodgings. They were only provided to A rank and up but Alastur made some arrangements and we were in. The lady even said that if I were ever looking for a place to stay, I was welcome to come here and check if there were any vacant rooms. Maybe she was trying to impress Alastur or something.
But the rooms were pretty good. Spacious, fluffy beds and oddly clean; no shit smell detected! People in this world really valued strength, so if you were strong, they respected the hell out of you and treated you way too nicely. But the reverse is also true, I guess.
Without worrying too much, I went to bed, and fell asleep fairly easily. Considering what I’d been through the last few days, it was hardly surprising.
I was woken up sometime later as Den brought me some food. I ate in a half-awake state and went back to bed. I had no idea what I ate or said….
I jerked awake to the ship’s massive anchor as Den beat the living shit out of me while screaming ‘Diz Nuets!’. And then I woke up for real.
I slept like a log. For the first time in days, I had some great sleep. Guess I had to thank Alastur for that. So, after doing my business and getting fresh, I walked out of my room, knocked on Alastur’s door and… he didn’t come out. I knocked on Den’s door and he did come out. “Something happened to him?” I asked.
“Oh, he left.”
“H-he left!”
Wait, what! I thought he was going to stick around till we reached the damn school. I thought he was going to-
“You didn’t expect him to-” Den yawned. “-be with us the whole time, right?”
“Might have.”
“His services cost a lot you know.”
“Yeah, I guess. Compared to lodgings and all other stuff, he wasn’t that expensive though.”
I mean, he only got 7 silvers from the whole guarding the carriage thing; but the ship only cost 5 silvers though, right? Den eyed me, smirked and went inside. I had a feeling, the dude was mocking me but oh well. I went back to my room and for the first time read my damn book.
That one about spirts and monsters and- Den was already knocking at my door. Argh. I put the book away and opened the door.
“Let’s go.”