Chapter 6: [Chapter six] Differences in perception

This town is set up in pretty much a circle, with the ratio of rural to urban increasing the closer you get to its center. It's also a fairly decent size for being in the middle of nowhere, so walking from where I landed us to where we're actually headed to is going to take a while.

While weaving us in and out of the foot traffic, I glance over at my new acquaintance. She hasn't let go of my hand since we landed, and seems to just be blindly relying on me to guide us along while she takes in the cityscape.

...or townscape, I guess.

"This must be pretty different from what you're used to," I say. "What with a thousand years of advancement and all that."

"Even larger cities than this existed before I was sealed away," Yahanaseara replies without even turning my way, "but I only rarely had the opportunity to see them in person."

"...ah."

So instead of suffering from future shock, she's basically just a girl from the boonies who's overwhelmed by the sights of the not-quite-big city.  I have to admit, it's not quite as amusing as my initial assumption.

"Back home, none of our buildings stood higher than a single floor," Yahanaseara says, "and they were never built close to one another."

"So you lived in a small village?" I ask.

"Yes," she nods. "It encompassed a much smaller area than this, and all the residents knew one another."

"Sounds cozy."

"...I suppose that is an accurate way to describe it."

For the first time ever, I feel the urge not to try and peek at her face. Because even imagining what her expression must look like right now is twisting a knot in my chest.

"Do you find living here to be... cozy?" she asks.

"Huh?"

Wait a minute-

"Oh, I don't live here," I shake my head.

"Eh?"

She finally turns to face me.

"I thought you were taking me to your home?"

"Nah, I live faaaaaaar away from here," I laugh. "In a city that makes this one seem even smaller than your village in comparison."

That elicits a cute little gasp.

"...then where are we going?"

"To an inn."

I lift my staff and point it at a large brick building that's not too far off in the distance.

"The best one in town."

"Eh!?"

Yahanaseara pulls away from me and throws her hands in the air.

"S- Savior, there is no need for you to go out of your way for me!" she exclaims.

"I'm not, though?" I shrug.

"...eh?"

That look on her face... it's taking everything I have to fight the urge to tease the hell out of her.

"It's where I stayed before setting out on the expedition that led to me finding you," I say. "So I would've came here regardless."

"Ah," she sighs. "I see."

With that issue settled, we end up closing the rest of the distance to the inn pretty quickly. Upon reaching the door, I open up for the lady and then follow her inside.

Despite being the fanciest place in town, this inn's got the same basic setup as most others- a dining area in the lobby while the lodgings are located on the upper floors. But in stark contrast from how it was the last time I was here, it's actually pretty crowded today.

Pretty much all the tables are filled, most of the barstools are also taken... even the balcony seats are packed.

"What the hell, is there some kind of event going on today?" I mumble to myself while looking around.

And I quickly realize that there is a non-insubstantial number of people staring right back at me.

"...Savior..." Yahanaseara tugs on my sleeve.

Oh.

They're staring at us.

Because I just barged into the most expensive inn in town. With a beautiful, exotic-looking girl at my side.

"...god damn it," I mumble under my breath.

Nope. I am ignoring the ignorant opinions of the ignorant. Worrying about what strangers might think is a fool's errand, and I am no fool.

No sir.

Not me.

Ignoring their infinite stares, I stroll right up to the front counter like the unbothered genius mage that I am.

"Er..."

The middle-aged man behind the counter grimaces at me.

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"One room," I say in my best imitation of my mother's authoritative tone.

"Y- yes, of course," he replies, flinching at my steely gaze. "One room, single bed..."

"Double beds," I correct him before he can write down the wrong thing.

"Oh?"

He takes another look at me, and then at Yahanaseara.

"Y- yes, of course," he nods. "And how many nights will you be paying for?"

"Just one for now," I reply. "I can add on more later if I need them, right?"

"Certainly!"

The nervous clerk quickly jots down our arrangements before running to the wall behind him to fetch our door keys.

"Here you go, room 301!" he says, practically shoving the bronze door keys in my hand. "We appreciate your patronage!"

"One more thing before we go."

"Yes!?"

He damn near jumps a foot straight in the air.

"Do you serve food directly to rooms?" I ask. "It's kind of crowded out here, and we haven't eaten anything all day."

"O- of course!" the clerk exclaims, now visibly sweating. "Would you like a menu?"

"If you don't mind," I reply.

After getting a pair of menus from the clerk, I motion for Yahanaseara to follow me out of the sea of people out here in the lobby and towards the stairwell that leads to the lodgings. From there, we walk up two flights of stairs and down a long hallway until finally reaching our room.

It isn't until the door closes behind me that I let go of all the tension that had been building up since we entered the building.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah........."

I fall face-first onto the bed closest to the window and let out a muffled scream into the mattress.

Because seriously, what the hell was that all about!?

"Er, Savior?" Yahanaseara calls out in a meek tone of voice.

"Mmm?" I respond into the mattress.

"I may be presumptuous in asking, but did you have any enemies among the people down there?"

I flop over onto my back.

"No, why?"

"Well you were releasing a heavy murderous intent almost from the moment we stepped inside."

Eh? Murderous?

"I was?"

I sit up on the bed and face her.

"Yes," she nods. "I am no stranger to conflict, and what I felt from you was no different from a warrior who had stepped into the middle of a battlefield. It was as if you were but a hair's breadth from slaughtering everyone there."

"Uh-"

God damn it I am such an idiot.

"Sorry," I groan. "I wasn't tryi- I mean I didn't mean-"

aaaaagh why am I like this

"You might have noticed," I take a deep breath, "but I'm kind of socially inept."

"Eh?" Yahanaseara's eyes widen. "I find you to be rather charming, though?"

And suddenly my face feels like it's on fire.

"...you're probably the only person outside my family who thinks so," I mumble. "But yeah, I suck at dealing with people. The more there are, the worse I get."

"And that is why you were releasing killing intent?" she asks, clearly puzzled.

"I wasn't trying to," I groan. "I was just trying to be stern. To convince the crowd of people who probably weren't actually staring at us that I didn't care about the assumptions that they probably weren't actually making about us."

"Assumptions?"

"N- never mind about that," I stammer.

There is no way in hell I'm going to actually say it out loud, especially not to HER of all people.

"But I guess I'm just so inept at this that my attempt at imitating my mother's 'I'm don't want any nonsense' atmosphere ended up turning into an 'I'm going to murder everyone here' one."

"It definitely did," she nods.

And here my parents always wondered why I never had any friends.