At least, it was supposed to be until Linkin remembered one frightening and terrifying fact about his current self.
'I... I can't read or write!'
Linkin had a gloomy look on his face as he appeared defeated. In his excitement, he had forgotten that he was unable to read or write the language of this new world.
Being the con artist-... The natural and honest businessman that he was, Linkin understood that one would never reach the greatest of heights in his line of work without knowing how to read or write.
While instinct and experience were important and irreplaceable factors, in the end, there were still some basics that could not be abandoned or ignored. Not only that, but he still did not possess a good enough understanding of how this world's currency worked.
Linkin slowly turned around and walked back into the inn with his head hung in shame.
Lal'Kita's ears perked up as Linkin reentered the inn after just leaving. From the sound of his footsteps, he appeared to be dragging his feet across the floor. She peeked from out of the corner of her eye and suddenly saw that Linkin's head was lying on the countertop in front of her.
"Lal'Kita, forgive this lowly one for his foolish joke. It will never happen again. I'm sorry, forgive meeeee. Waaaah..." Linkin whined with his face resting on the countertop, and his body was slouched over in a lazy manner, making a strange noise. It sounded like the mix between a fake cry and a painful groan.
Lal'Kita shook her head helplessly as she released a small sigh. Seeing Linkin's current state and given that he had apologized, how could she stay upset with him? Plus, she started to become embarrassed and her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink as people were beginning to stare in their direction.
"I've already forgiven you, so there's no need to make such a scene! If you keep it up then I'll get angry, dear customer." Lal'Kita pouted.
Linkin immediately stopped and stood up straight as he reached forward and grabbed ahold of Lal'Kita's hands and took them into his own.
"What are you-" Lal'Kita was surprised when Linkin suddenly grabbed her hands.
Linkin then began to recite a poem in a passionate manner and loud enough for everyone to hear. The words flowed naturally and elegantly from his mouth. It drew in the surrounding individuals and everyone stood frozen in awe as they listened to his words.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ?
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ:
๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐บ,
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ:
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด,
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ'๐ฅ;
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด,
๐๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ'๐ฅ;
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต;
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ'๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ,
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต:
๐๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ,
๐๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ.
When Linkin finished reciting the poem, Lal'Kita stood there speechless at a loss for words. She wanted to say something but had no idea how to respond. Her face was burning red from embarrassment and she felt her heart racing like never before. What was this strange feeling?
There were even some people who teared up after listening to the beautiful poem. They had never heard words spun in such a magical and transcendent way. What a mesmerizing poem!
Some of the women nearby felt their hearts racing as they listened to Linkin's words. There were even some who were jealous that Lal'Kita was the target of those words rather than them.
'Don't worry Shakespeare, you'll be sure to exist in this world. Of course, they don't necessarily have to know that it came from you.'
The poem Linkin recited was William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? and just as he thought, it was well received. If the late poet knew that Linkin was shamelessly claiming his work as his own, he would roll over in his grave!
"I have a very sensitive topic to discuss with you... Would you mind accompanying me so that we can discuss it in private?" Linkin asked.
"Y-yes..." Lal'Kita nodded in response. She was in a trance-like state and agreed without even realizing it herself.
Soon after, Linkin and Lal'Kita headed towards his room as the doors closed behind them. The people at the front of the inn was still in shock. Did he truly just win over a beauty with words alone and even got her to "talk in private"?
The words of the poem were etched into their minds and they would never forget this day!
As Lal'Kita entered into the room with Linkin, it appeared that she finally snapped out of her dazed state and realized what was going on. Did she really just follow him into his room without thinking?
"Now about that private matter..." Linkin said as he moved closer to Lal'Kita, which made her heart pound like someone beating against a drum.
She felt as if it would leap out of her chest at any moment! As Linkin moved closer and closer, Lal'Kita felt herself becoming lightheaded. However, she was frozen in place!
"W-wait, my heart isn't ready yet... W-we've only just met and-..." Lal'Kita spoke in a soft and quiet voice.
However, what Linkin did next left her standing there with a blank expression on her face.
"Can you please teach me how to read and write?!" Linkin got on his hands and knees and bowed down as he shouted out his request.
There was an awkward silence that filled up the entire room until, finally, Lal'Kita broke it with one simple word.
"What...?" Lal'Kita muttered softly.