Vengeance Upon Fate - Chapter 41

Bending down and clasping his knees, he took a minute to catch his breath until he walked towards the gate in order to talk his way through.

The guards were very similar to the ones at Furren – the same armor padding, dark studded clothing and lighter helmets. However, these guards carried halberds instead of spears, and had a metallic piece attached to their helmets with a thick line in the middle to cover their eyes and provide vision simultaneously.

Kurogane managed to get himself inside without excessive questioning. Upon entering, it became quite noticeable that the city was rather mediocre in their building structure and roadway architecture.

Most of the buildings were made of wood, most standing two stories high with a fair amount being a single storey. A lot of the roads seemed to be nothing but flat dirt with small weeds growing in random areas.

Even the walls weren’t composed of the usual smooth concrete, but rather dull, worn out bricks. The city seemed somewhat smaller than Furren, but had it’s walls wrapped around in an unusual oval-like shape. There were little to no shops around, though people had a lot more stands open for businesses, since there weren’t enough usable buildings in their mildly undeveloped city.

(This place is much of a step down from the others I have been in.)

Kurogane noticed how there were a lot of beggars and poverty stricken families, some pleading on their knees towards other wealthy-looking individuals.

(The poor begging the rich?)

Eventually Kurogane stopped by what appeared to be a popular bar. He took a good look at the large, funky building before going inside.

(Perhaps if I investigate, I can attain some meaningful information.)

The bar was quite crowded with people of all ages and sizes laughing, eating and drinking at their tables.

Kurogane walked over and sat on one of the wooden front stools, which unusually had just a few people, despite the rest of the bar tables being so packed.

The bartender was serving a lady and an elderly man to his left, and eventually came over to Kurogane when she noticed him.

She wasn’t too tall or short, and seemed past her middle ages – roughly sixty years old from a first glance. She wore a buttoned, collared white shirt topped with a full, nearly pitch black body robe.

Her hair was greyish white and was tied into a bun, giving her a wholesome grandma appearance, especially with the noticeable wrinkles that stood out upon warmly greeting the customers.

“Have anything in mind yet?”

“Some apple cider will do”

“How strong do you want it?”

“No alcohol. Just the cider. Thank you.”

“Interesting, if you say so. That’ll be one silver piece.”

Unsure whether he heard her correctly or not, Kurogane raised an eyebrow.

“One entire silver piece for a simple drink?”

“Yea, what’s wrong with that?”

“Isn’t that too much? Where I came from, I would be able to get four large drinks for that much.”

“Ah, so you’re new here. Thing is, we have a tariff going around, and as a result, costs have gotten expensive. If you noticed the poverty levels around here, it’s for the same reason.”

“A tariff? Did the kingdom officials do this?”

“That’s what they claim at least, beats me. Don’t like talking about it a lot.”

“Why would they do such a thing if most of the people are already suffering?” Kurogane thought.

〔Rumors say that they are residing in an area near the city…〕

Reo’s words suddenly struck Kurogane’s mind. This brought about different scenarios and possibilities.

“Hey, so do you still want that drink?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The old lady went over to one of her shelves and began unscrewing a cap from an apple cider bottle.

“Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” said the old lady as she started pouring into a mug.

The two individuals sitting next to Kurogane listened closely as he began asking.

“Are you familiar with a group known as the Orochi Alliance?”

The lady sitting next to him got up and left, and the elderly man turned his head away, pretending he did not hear anything Kurogane said.

The lady finished pouring but didn’t turn around either – rather, she stood still for a moment until she let out a reply in an irritated tone.

“No, I don’t. Why ask such an odd question?”

Kurogane noticed the unusual reactions that took place, deducting instantly that something was wrong.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Please pardon my randomness.”

Upon turning around, her wholesome expression suddenly looked frigid as she placed his drink before him, snatched the silver coin he placed on the counter, and walked over to another fresh customer at the opposite end of the stools without saying a word.

(So the people here definitely know something, but seem to be a lot more paranoid when it comes to this alliance. Maybe they actually are nearby as Reo theorized, which gives them a greater reason to avoid the subject out of fear.)

Kurogane took several gulps then wiped his lips with his knuckle upon finishing. As he got up and left, the old lady glared at him with a darkened expression.

After passing by more than half of the city and exploring a bit, he went back and stopped by what appeared to be an inn located a few minutes from the bar, as it was nearly evening which meant that he needed to find a place to stay.

“Staying outside is far too risky in this area. I’ll rent a room for the night and head out early tomorrow.”

Like most buildings in the city, this one had its structure mostly composed of wood. It stood three storeys high, ideal enough for a decent inn to inhabit a fair amount of travelers.

The front lobby was much better than he anticipated. It was clean and neat, with random framed paintings hung on the walls followed by orange lanterns and waiting stools against the walls.

A mildly short, middle aged man wearing a collarless, buttoned, long sleeved white shirt with a black vest with similar colored pants stood at the counter. He had lengthy white hair to his shoulders and a finely trimmed, bushy mustache with an emotionless, carefree expression that occupied his eyes.

“I’d like a room for myself, please.”

“Ah… you must be new here. Did you pay a visit to the bar earlier by any chance?”

“Um, yes. I did.”

….

“I see.”

After paying the fee, the old man slowly made his way to the hallway.

“Come with me. I’ll lead you to your room.” Wuxiaworld for visiting.

(Why did he ask such a question?) Kurogane thought.

He figured he was being too paranoid, especially around a harmless old man that was just running his business in a funky town.

They took the stairs and went to the second floor, which had much more doors leading to rooms than the first.

“Enjoy your stay,” were his last words before immediately taking off.

He led Kurogane to a room at the end of the hallway. It had no windows, though the twin bed did look comfy with its large, fluffy pillow and thick blanket. In addition, the room had a wide, soft green rug, a medium sized table and nicely lit lanterns on the walls. Quite a relief for the price.

By the time Kurogane took off all of his gear, it was past sunset. He sat on his bed with nothing on aside from his pants.

As he laid down, he embraced the softness of the pillow. He had the urge to squeeze them. There was no reason not to, since it was simply too perfect.

〔Don’t confuse those with something else!〕

It felt almost as if Reo was watching over him in that very moment.

Upon remembering that embarrassing occurrence, he moved his hand away from the pillow, slightly blushed and frowned while taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes for a while.

(I’ll have to use tomorrow wisely and discover as much as I possibly can. Hopefully I can also get to the bottom of this unusual economy as well.)

He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling until falling fast sleep.