Chapter 9: Chapter 6 – To Civilization

Avilia tugs my hand as we get closer to the village, making me stare at her more intently than I had already been. I wonder what she wants?

 “Welcome to Polur,” she says, smiling at me. “Populated by humans. There are around a hundred of them, I think? Main exports, dairy products. Produces an excess of grain, too. An entirely unremarkable village just far enough from the capital to not really be supported by it. Its unusual features are that it supposedly has a well-equipped inn for travelers. Oh, and that it has an unusually large and ornate church!”

I grin at her. Sounds like trivia she learned from a brochure!

“You’ve never been here before, have you?”

She blushes again, but not quite as much as before. She's probably starting to get somewhat used to my teasing. That was fast!

“… No, but does that matter?”

The grin changes to a smile. “Not really, no. It’s very helpful that you learned about the place beforehand.”

“Anyway, before we enter,” she says as she pulls up her hood with her free hand, “You should pull your hood up as well. Who knows what kind of people are active at this hour?”

I nod and do as she asks. “So, I take it we’re beelining straight to the inn here?”

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea. It should be close to the entrance to the village. It should have rooms, too. Tourists do not really come here.”

I sigh in relief. “Lucky for us, then! I can’t wait to get to sleep.”

And with that, we finally walk off the main road and onto the gravel road that extends from the village to it. There is a sign beside it. No idea what it says, their alphabet remains as inscrutable to me as ever. I’m going to assume that it’s just a generic sign welcoming visitors to the village. She’d tell me if it was the opposite… Right?

The road feels strange under my boots, forcing me to be a bit more aware of my steps than I’d like. My legs may be artificial, but I can feel them. I’ve always wondered how they managed to make the feeling so similar to how my real legs felt. Outside the pain, of course. I usually keep the pain reception low or off. The alerts are quite enough, thank you very much!

I hope Avilia doesn’t notice my discomfort.

The village doesn’t look like much to write home about. As expected of some small, sleepy village in the middle of nowhere, I guess. It’s nowhere near as well lit as the main road, but at least there are lit up sconces on the walls of the houses, giving off some illumination. I can’t really see any people around, excluding one bored looking guard who looks like he came out from a fantasy novel, patrolling the streets. The sort who would incessantly complain about their post and life if given the opportunity.

Just as he passes us, he gives us a shallow nod without stopping. Makes sense, given that we probably don’t look particularly menacing. Nor interesting. Giving me this cloak was definitely the right call. Thanks, Avilia!

She again tugs at my hand, this time to direct me to the building just ahead on the righthand side. She wasn’t lying about it being close to the entrance, it was the third house from there. Not that it looks like any building in the village proper would be particularly far from the entrance!

“I think that is it,” she whispers as she looks at the sign lazily swaying above the door.

I nod at her, and she releases my hand. I take a couple of steps to get to the door ahead of her and open it. The door opens towards the outside, and a bell attached to the door chimes quite loudly. Instead of just going in myself, I decide to hold the door open for her.

She looks at me with a slightly confused expression on her face. Hasn’t anyone held the door open for her before or something?

“After you.” I smile innocently.

“… Thank you,” she says awkwardly, and walks inside.

I step inside after her, closing the door behind me. These old timey doors don’t close themselves!

That’s one loud bell.

As I enter, I pull down my hood and a feeling of warmth comes over me. The floorboards creak under my feet. It isn’t dark inside per-se, but there’s just a few candles here and there, and a fireplace roaring in the back of what I assume is the lobby. There’s a couple of tables with chairs around them to the left of us, a counter ahead and stairs to the right. The tables have white tablecloths on them, and a single candle on top of that to give off some light.

Mood lighting, if I ever saw any.

A simple, dark brown carpet lies in front of the counter and Avilia is standing on top of it, looking at a door behind the counter. The counter has a thick, closed book with a pen of some kind on top of it. For signing in guests, maybe? Either way, I can only assume she expects the proprietor of the inn to come from the door. That’d make a lot of sense.

Just as I walked next to her and started to wonder if they’re even accepting guests at this hour, the door opened. Silly idle thoughts. They probably wouldn’t have the door to the place unlocked if they were closed.

Now, behind the counter, is an elderly woman who went from looking grumpy to having her best customer service smile in record time. Her white hair is in a bun, and she’s wearing a long, brownish to red dress. Looks positively medieval, like in those old-timey drawings in the history books.

Not that it’s a terrible look, mind you.

“I'm sorry, I wasn’t expecting travellers at this hour!” The old woman says with a smile, placing her hands on the counter. “How may I help you?”

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“Well,” I start, absent-mindedly opening my shoulder bag underneath my cloak, “We need a room. Probably for multiple nights. How much do they cost?”

“Let’s see.” She opens the book and grabs the pen. “We have a selection of rooms available. The most expensive one goes for three gold coins a day, and the cheapest goes for 50 silver a day.”

Three gold coins? I’m going to assume those are the golden coins that I got. Silver coins are, well, probably the silver ones. I have absolutely no frame of reference as I’ve never gone to a hotel or the like. Not much point since you could go from one side of the dome to the other in an instant. All I know is that renting is cheaper than staying at a hotel.

Let’s start with the basics. I have my assumptions, but it’s better to be absolutely certain instead of making a fool of myself.

I lean towards Avilia, and whisper. “How many silver coins is a gold coin?”

“A hundred,” she whispers back. “Just like one silver coin is a hundred copper coins, and one mythril coin is a hundred gold coins.”

Huh. Pretty much exactly as I expected. Nice and standard. I do wonder if the one weird looking coin is the mythril type? I can’t be entirely sure, and I doubt it’d be a good idea to just casually drop it on the counter...

I turn my face back towards the proprietor.

“We’re running on a bit of a budget.” I fumble around in my bag, making sure I pick three of the gold coins from there. “I think we’ll pay for the cheapest room for six days.”

“Are you sure…?” She gives me the side eye. Without breaking her smile.

I’m undeterred. I might seem like a cheapskate, but I’m tired and I’m not going to spend all my money on lodging to start off with!

“Yes.” I place three gold coins on the counter, beside the book.

She nods. “Very well.” She scribbles something in the book. “Six days for three gold coins.”

She closes the book, takes the money and crouches down with unexpected ease. As she comes back up, she presents me a key and a lit candle on a candleholder, which I promptly give to Avilia. She can be our light bearer!

“Your room is the last one on the left. I hope you enjoy your stay!”

Sleeping space, acquired! But what about bathing?

“Before we go, I’d want to ask about cleaning ourselves…?”

“Oh, there’s a tub for it in every room,” she responds, still smiling while her eyes tell of a desperate desire to go to sleep, “You’re free to use it!”

I nod. Okay, I’m sold!

We turn away from the counter and proceed to walk up the stairs. I hear a door hastily open and close downstairs. The proprietor sure didn’t waste any time. Did we look that trustworthy, or is she just that trusting? I don’t think she even took our names.

No matter!

I take Avilia’s hand without thinking. It startles her a little, but she squeezes my hand.

I smile at her, visibly excited. “I’ve never been in a place like this before!”

“… This is the first time for me as well,” she mutters with a slight frown, “Maybe it would not have hurt to have spent more money on our first inn experience?”

Her words wound me, I can’t help but feel a little bit embarrassed. Of course, that would’ve been nice, too. But we also need to conserve our money, right?

“Either way, we have a place to sleep in, and that’s the important part, right?”

I mentally sigh in relief as we reach the door she told us to take. Today’s been a bit too much. The monsters in the forest still have me rattled. Just a little bit, though. Meeting Avilia helped considerably.

I unlock the door and open it.

… Oh. Well, this could be a problem!

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