It didn't take us that long to reach the border between the Kingdom of Ingrassia and the Kingdom of Blumund. We flew a little ways into the country before I decided to land and make the rest of the way there on foot.
"We're going the rest of the way on foot, it would be a slight issue to get into the city if I was a dragon, from what I remember, the Holy church is a pretty big religion here, and they hate monsters, much less a dragon."
She nods to me, "Good idea, getting in would take forever. You should wear your sunglasses too, just incase."
"I don't think I'll need them, my adventurer's ID shows my eyes anyways, it also says I'm human."
She nods to me, "Alright, it shouldn't take long to get there, we are only a few hours walk, though it will be night by the time we get there."
I nod and we continue on our way. Like Shizu said, we arrived outside of the gates at sunset. Before we got in line to go inside, she put her mask on and stood next to me, grabbing my hand.
I could tell she was nervous, but I wasn't quite sure why. I squeezed her hand and looked at her, "Why are you so nervous? Is it because you think people will recognize you?"
She looked at me and shook her head, "I'm afraid of what will happen if we can't save the kids. What they will think of me, I said I would save them, but if I can't, they will ha-"
"Enough. I said I would help save them, so they will be fine." I pull her in front of me and lift her mask, "Don't take my words so lightly." I finish my sentence by leaning down, connecting her lips to mine, no lust, no aggression, no forcefulness, just a gentle kiss.
She was half expecting this, and didn't pull away, just leaned into the kiss before pulling away. "Thanks. We need to find a place to stay for the night, then we can meet an old student of mine, Yuuki, and he will let us take the kids away."
I smile wryly at the thought of meeting Yuuki, who I would most likely end up killing later. "Right, we're next. I assume you know a place to stay since you used to live here."
She nodded as she walked up to the window, "I do, there's an inn near the guild headquarters, we can stay there."
When she gave her adventurer's ID, the clerk's eyes open wide and she was about to speak before Shizu put her hand up to her mask in a shushing motion, and the clerk just nodded and handed her ID back while giving her a slight bow.
Shizu than then stepped off to the die, for me to get mine checked. I walked up and handed my ID to the clerk as well, she looked at my ID and here eyes opened wide again, as it is almost impossible to find a special A rank adventurer, outside of heroes.
She quickly shook off her shock and handed my ID back with a smile, bowing to me as well. I thank her and follow Shizu to the inn she was talking about earlier. As we walk through the city, it really is impressive. Compared to Blumund, this city is completely different, it's like looking at a city from my previous world, just with everyone carrying swords, armor and staves.
We finally arrive at the inn, which looks exactly like a nice hotel, and walk in. The biggest difference to most hotels in my old world and this inn, is there's a large area off to the right side when you walk in, that is a bar and a bunch of tables, almost like a tavern, but more modern, and then the left side has registration and stairs that go to the second, third and fourth floors, where the rooms are.
Shizu and I walk to the left and to check into our room first. When we get into the check in line, I ask her, "Hey, are you hungry? We didn't eat all day, I don't have to eat, but you're still part human, so I'm not sure."
"Yeah, I'm still part human, but since I'm part spirit, I can also feed off of the mana from my surroundings, which I did a on the way here. I am starting to get hungry again though, do you mind if we eat some before going to bed?"
"Sure, lets get a room first." She just nods and our turn arrives shortly after.
"One room." I say to the receptionist, she nods finishes our check in.
"That will be 20 silver for one night, 1 gold and 20 silver for a week."
I nod and pull out 1 gold and 20 silvers, and give them to her. She takes them and pulls out two keycard like objects, that have numbers engraved on them. Each one has the number 210 on it. "Here you go, you two will be in room 210, these keycards are good for a week, after the week expires, the magic signature on the keycards will change, and no longer work on your room."
(Btw this is an expensive ass hotel, 1 gold = 1,000 USD, so for one night its like 200 USD)
I nod and thank her, giving one of the keycards to Shizu and lead her into the tavern area. We sit down at an empty table, out of the way of people and a waitress walks over, "What can I get for you two?" I can see her constantly looking at Shizu with an excited expression, like she recognizes her mask. It isn't entirely surprising, the waitress looks like she's in her late thirties, early forties, which makes sense that she would remember Shizu's hero days.
"What do you all have alcohol wise?" I ask her.
"We have wine, beer, sake and mead." She replied respectfully.
"Great, I'll take a mead and as for a meal, whatever you would recommend. I don't really know what you all have, nor am I picky." She gives me a nod with a smile.
I look at Shizu, "Dear?" She looks at the waitress and says only a few words, "A water, and same as him."
The waitress nods and walks away, after she's gone, I look at Shizu and raise my eyebrow. "You're quieter than normal, what's up?"
She tilts her head, "Am I? I don't think I'm being less talkative than normal, just not the same as at home. I'm not really a people person, just you and the others are different."
Our waitress arrives with our drinks and sets them down in front of us. "Your meals should be done soon, it will be 55 silvers total for both meals and your drink." I nod and pull out the silvers, handing them to the waitress and smelling the mead she brought me.
When I smell it, a strong but sweet scent fills my nose, and it makes me smile. Taking a sip, a surprisingly familiar flavor filled my mouth. It tasted like a drink from my old world, called 'Viking's blood', which was my favorite type of mead.
'No wonder the drink was so expensive, that mead was expensive as is in my old world, much less this one where it's probably much harder to make.'
Unknowingly, a small smile forms on my face as I continue to sip my drink, forgetting our earlier conversation. Seeing me enjoying the drink, Shizu spoke up, "Like it?"
"Ahh, yes. It reminds me of a drink I had rather often in my previous life. It was called Viking's Blood, and it was my favorite thing whenever I wanted a good drink."
"Ohh, right, I forgot you were reincarnated here. I don't know why, but I did. I guess that's why I'm so comfortable around you and Scathach, you both come from a different world."
"No, I just think it's because we don't see you as a hero, we see you as a person. That's what I think the difference is. As cringe and generic as it sounds, it's true. Even your students saw you as a hero for wanting to save them."
She was quite, thinking to herself, before she started to giggle, "Yeah maybe you're right, who cares about the reason."
I shake my head and turn to see the waitress approaching with two bowls of food in her hand.
She sets one down in front of each of us, and in it is scalloped potatoes, an asparagus looking vegetables, and beef pieces wrapped in bacon, and it's all cooked in dashi, sake, and soy sauce. It looks similar to a dish called Nikujaga from Japan, with some slight changes that are likely due to the people's tastes in this world.
We enjoy our meal, which was very good, which it had better be since the price was 25 silvers each. While we were eating, I set up a barrier that blocked people from seeing inside, so that Shizu could take her mask off. While I know she can eat with it on, if it were me, that would be uncomfortable.
We could still see out, and everyone was looking over at where the table and people just disappeared behind a large dark purple barrier. A few people panicked, but no one did anything.
We finished our meal in relative peace, the waitress tried to get into the barrier at one point to make sure we were fine, but we ignored her and she went away not long after, though she was looking at the barrier worriedly.
Getting up, Shizu put her mask back on and I dismissed the barrier, everyone who was still there, or had gotten there after it was put up, looked over at us as we walked out. Ignoring them, we made our way to our room amongst the whispers of the surrounding people.
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This was mostly a filler chapter, but I will try to post another chapter tomorrow and another one Sunday. I only posted two chapters last week so I'm gonna try.