Penta had spent nearly a week at the Mirage Feast Inn since his arrival in the City.
He spent his mornings hunting small wolves or bone boars in the forest while his evening was spent eating whatever he brought in before ending the day with Celia teaching him to read, write and speak.
Due to Penta's great memory, He managed to finally be able to speak normally, and know how to read and write as well within just one week. Now he could read and learn on his own so the tutoring from Celia came to an end. She was quite shocked at how fast he learned but most shaman apprentices had good heads on them so she just passed it off as him being talented at learning.
Claud also passed him a blood-red crystal and told him to sell it for some cash since it was worth quite a bit in the market. He found out it was from the blood bear and that some more advanced beasts usually had these in their bodies and they were worth quite a bit to shamans and merchants. Experiments and training for the former and profit for the later.
He also managed to get some information on the Shaman tribe that recruited in the surrounding area as well as where the hell he was.
Penta found out he was in a place called Rain country. It was a sizable country with a few major Shaman tribes within its borders and Mirage City had the Storm Shaman Tribe as its protector.
Usually, every Shaman tribe would be located near a city as resources and other conveniences were made easier with this layout. The Storm Shaman Tribe was a tribe that focused more on natural products such as alchemy and healing with a few strong combatants that mostly focused on water, wind, plant, and lightning type energies.
Penta was pretty happy hearing all this information from Celia who had once been an apprentice there as he was basically clueless about Shamans in all aspects. He was excited at the prospect of joining them when he got more familiar with the surroundings.
He also received a major shock when he and Celia had argued for close to an hour about him not being a First-grade Shaman as Celia beat him down relentlessly about how Shaman's don't just grow on trees and such. His ego had deflated very hard that day as he thought the roach emperor was a child prodigy of one but sadly that was not true.
She did make him feel better with a meal so he simply consoled himself saying, he was still the youngest shaman apprentice in the world.
-Mirage Feast Inn- Morning time
"Celia! You busy today?" Penta came down and asked the bright Celia who was, as per usual, wiping the counters before the start of the day.
"Well, I do run an Inn you know Penta?" Celia remarked.
"Yes, yes but it's morning. Don't tell me you don't have any free time!? I need to go to the market and sell this blood crystal from the bear I brought in. I don't want to get ripped off and I need to well, Uhm, buy a... big knife..." Penta murmured that last part.
He was really pissed too when he said it. As for some reason ever since he called a sword a big knife. Both Claud and Celia pranked him by teaching him that a big knife is what they called a sword was in question.
Reason? Penta ended up breaking another butcher knife from Claud when he had secretly tried cooking a meal for himself on late night. He is still waiting on learning how to say it though and is waiting to just get the sword before getting someone to tell him.
"Haha! What did you say, Penta, I couldn't quite hear you?" Celia giggled as she saw a vein popping on Penta's smooth forehead.
"Okay, okay. Stop pouting. Let me finish this and we can go. Grab yourself some breakfast since you just got down. I made some Bear soup for you." Celia finally stopped poking fun at him when she saw his face.
"Bear soup!? Hehe, you're the best." Penta grinned as he strode to get a bowl.
"Don't you forget it," Celia added.
She, her father as well as the workers were quite fond of Penta since his arrival not only has business boomed due to him always bringing in fresh meat but also because the place was somewhat livelier since he got here.
He also never asked for money even though he technically brought in well over what the cost of a meal and a bed here was for a week so they all grew to like his personality. If only they knew this roachy emperor had a vendetta against a pretentious god or that he was from another world or the just the being a roach part.
A little while after having eaten and gotten dressed in the new robe that Celia had brought over for him the other day, he was standing at the door waiting for Celia. She got fed up with him looking like a barbarian after his second night and just got him something nice from the market.
It was a black silk robe with purple trims and a white cloth waistband and white pants.
"You look decent in that. Huh didn't think the barbarian had it in him to wear clothes." Claud remarked snidely.
"I already told you I'm not even a barbarian! Geez, old man, I told you I just lost all my clothes and happened to end up in the forest here." Though only Penta knew he was naked for a whole year and technically never wore anything since he was born in Agara.
As they were bickering, Celia had finally gotten ready and was walking down the stairs near the entrance.
Claud smiled while Penta had a vacant look.
She was wearing a blue sapphire dress with a white silk waistband. The dress matched her clear blue eyes and her blond hair simply accentuate the whole piece making her look like an otherworldly beauty especially with the light make up she wore for the first time. The tattoos were barely visible but they added an ethereal charm.
"Looking beautiful darling" Claud smiled while he smacked Penta for almost drooling.
"Ow, what the hell was that for!?" Penta yelled.
"Stop staring at my daughter, she is out of your league idiot," Claud replied.
"Yeah, whatever, don't you have to go cook or something, shoo shoo." Penta mumbled.
"You ready?" Celia asked as she giggled at their interaction.
"You look, Uhm, really pretty, and yeah let's go," Penta commented before turning around and walking out. He was used to seeing beauties from Earth but for some reason, the style of this place really made her stand out and he couldn't help but really think she was pretty.
Celia smiled brilliantly at the comment before following behind.
"Take your time, we'll be fine here so enjoy yourselves," Claud mentioned as she was walking out which made Celia blush as she started thinking this was a date.
Penta unaware simply waited outside and as Celia came out, they started walking side by side.
"So where should I go for selling this?" Penta asked as he held a blood-red crystal in his hands. He honestly wanted to just munch on the thing but he restrained himself as he needed a decent weapon so that he could collect more of these in the future.
Thinking ahead never hurt, it was something Penta deeply believed in even though everything that happened to him so far was a far cry from being anything he could plan.
"I know a good merchant in the Merchant's Hall that can help you out. I've been meaning to browser the Hall as well since I haven't done much else but work these past few weeks." Celia replied with a smile while waving to a few neighbors of her Inn on their walk.
"Oh, that's good, I didn't want to impose too much on ya either," Penta replied smiling.
As they headed further east Penta noticed more and more shops along the way and eventually the crowds grew bustling and energetic as he heard peddlers, merchants advertising, and people bargaining.
"What a nice atmosphere haha," Penta mentioned as he noticed all the different looking people going to and fro from the Merchant's Hall. The Merchant's Hall wasn't actually a Hall but rather a name was given to the section of the city focused mainly on business and merchandise.
The city was split into four main sections with the City Lord holding the central position. Celia's Inn was located in the east section as well as the Merchant's Hall.
West was workshops for industrial production of all sorts from daily necessities of the city to other products needed by the City.
South was the housing units and also where Penta had originally entered from the City while the North was actually the City's Study Hall which was where the library as well as an academy for the residents.
It was rather well managed from Penta's point of view. He also considered visiting the library but mostly for knowledge on the common beasts in the area as well as any special herbs and minerals that could help him speed up his advancement.
After having realized he wasn't actually a First-Grade Shaman, he was eager to get ahead and start making some progress. From all his otaku knowledge he knew that strength would help him quite a bit in this new world that focused on such things.
As they were making they're way towards a magnificent building three-story building made with materials that looked more opulent than the rest. Penta couldn't help but notice in the corner of his eyes near an alley, two people girls who were begging in the streets.
He had seen a few such things in the city but there was a child that looked to be barely six while the other was an extremely emaciated girl around 16 or 17 that looked to be barely alive. He was about to say something before Celia suddenly dragged him by the arm.
"Ther! I got some business for you!" Celia called out.