The view before him was a sight to behold, or at least, that was what he would have liked to say. It looked very similar to how Dragonsteel city looked, except for maybe the difference in architecture.
Dragonsteel was an ancient city, and it could be seen through the use of materials in its construction. Most of the buildings there were made of wood or stone, and old ones at that. One just needed to see the Serpent Dungeons, a place Kayden had less-than-fond memories of, to see just how run-down everything was. As for the castle, it had maintenance and was constantly undergoing repair, so it was different.
Over here in Solus Academy, nearly every building was made with bricks, which are both cheap, cost-effective, and easily maintained. They also had ceramic tiles for the roof, though that was prevalent in the inner district of Dragonsteel city.
As for the design, well, Kayden wasn't a huge nerd about it, but his first impressions were: Oh! So many colors! And way too many windows… What'd you even need them for?
The old man Simon, who had led him all the way here, said that he had to return to his station at the wall. Kayden guessed that he worked as some kind of guard, but he didn't bother to ask. He had a far more urgent priority right now… which was finding a place to sleep.
A safe place, and he didn't need to stay for long. However, he didn't want to pay much, and he didn't want to beg either; those were his conditions. Call it being picky, but Kayden felt that he shouldn't compromise comfort when such an important exam was just over the horizon.
"Well, I'm completely new here, so guess I'll just ask around…"
The locals were pretty friendly, all things considered, and could understand his situation. Unfortunately, none of them had any plausible solutions for him… Well, except one.
And that brought him to in front of an establishment he thought that he would not have to ever visit in his lifetime. It was a tall, white building with a neon-pink light display at the front. Above the door in large, block letters, it read: Ferabeast Hotel.
It said that it was a hotel, but it was apparently a well-known brothel in these parts. Yup, a place for debauchery and lechery. The person who recommended this to him seemed like the most normal guy in the world, but after coming here, he was beginning to have some serious doubts. Now, he was loitering outside the place like the most suspicious man in the whole world.
"Ugh… I'm here for the room, nothing else. I'm here for the room, nothing else. I'm here for the—"
The door in front of him opened, and a woman who looked to be in her thirties poked her head out through the door. She gave him a quick glance, and Kayden did so for her too.
She was a Beastperson, with large, furry ears that rested on top of her head. Judging by its shape and form, Kayden guessed that she was of the fox sub-race.
The fox lady squinted at him with her deep crimson eyes.
"Are you a customer? You look young…" She tipped her head and sniffed the air, "You smell young too, but I could be mistaken…"
Kayden couldn't be happier that his height was giving him plausible deniability about his age. It was hard to fool a beastperson's nose, but thanks to his long days of travel, his smell was somewhat obscured.
He coughed into his fist and declared his intentions.
"I am indeed a customer, and I'm twenty-one this year. May I come in? I wish to book a room for the night."
The fox lady raised an eyebrow. Kayden could sense a slight hint of danger.
"Just a room?"
"A-ah, no, get me a…" he stuttered, "get me a girl as well."
She looked at him for a while and then gave him a wide smile. Pushing the door wide open, she held the door for him and gestured for him to enter.
"Very well. Come in."
Kayden gingerly stepped inside, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. What the hell was he going to see? He could only imagine all the sinful stuff he was going to see.
"[Heh. Good luck.]"
When he stepped inside, he was met with a world of pink. Pink walls, pink ceiling, pink couch, and fluffy—you guessed it—pink pillows. They were all in different shades of pink, so it wasn't that egregious. Still, Kayden's eyes were starting to hurt from the sheer amount of pink in this room.
It was a reception room of sorts, and it seemed that there were no other customers besides himself. Kayden was just awkwardly standing there alone, wondering if he should take a seat or something. He truly wasn't versed in this kind of matter, let alone have any experience whatsoever. The only thing he could rely on now was his acting.
The fox lady walked to the reception desk, and promptly sat behind it. She placed her elbows on the desk and rested her chin on her hands, still giving Kayden the side eye.
Kayden bravely met her gaze, and as he did so, he noticed a newly-posted sign on the right corner of the desk, the only white color in a sea of pink. It was neatly written, and it read:
Dear all Solus Academy applicants, we do not accept customers under the age of eighteen. No, you cannot just book a room for the night. Thank you for your understanding.
It was then topped off with a pink heart and a kiss mark.
'Huh… Seems like I'm not the only one who thought to come here.'
"Sir…" the fox lady spoke softly, "Any preferences?"
"Ah yes. Just a single room please."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and Kayden quickly realized his mistake.
"Um… I'm cool with anything. Just recommend me one…"
Unfortunately for him, the fox wasn't buying it. She slowly stood up, and approached him with a suspicious look.
"Do you have an ID? Pardon me for doubting you, but we run a legal business here. I'm afraid you'll have to leave if you're not of age."
Kayden put on his calmest face and handed her his Adventurer's Guild card.
"Let's see here… Ezekiel… How do you pronounce this? Shwartz? A C-ranked adventurer."
Kayden gave her a smile, but inside, he was screaming. He had changed everything about his card except the portrait to look identical to Ezekiel's, so if the fox lady asked around at the Adventurer's Guild, at least the person in question exists. However, he still felt guilty and apologized vehemently to his ex-party member internally.
He felt that since Ezekiel was heading back to his home in the Southern Continent, it would be impossible for the fox lady to ask the man herself, making him the best person to commit identity theft to. Louis was an option he considered, but the man had a notorious reputation. A simple background check and Kayden would be outed immediately.
"Is this enough?" Kayden asked calmly.
"Oh yes." The fox lady then pulled out a set of keys. "Here's the key to your room. The girl will be with you shortly."
Kayden thanked her, and after receiving directions, made his way to his room. Once he was out of sight of the fox lady, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now all that was left was for him to deal with the girl that would come up.
"Sigh… Was this really the only way?"
"[Probably not… but if you wanted a comfy room, this is it.]"
Sighing, Kayden unlocked the door to his room and stepped inside. Thankfully, the sea of pink was no more, and the room actually looked quite normal.
He sincerely hoped that this decision of his won't come back to bite him in the ass.
***
"Emma! You have a customer waiting! Go to room sixty-four!" the fox lady, Tami, hollered, knocking on a door as she did so.
"Coming!"
The door then opened to reveal a tall, beastperson with messy, black hair, and on top of it rested equine ears. Yes, she was of the horse sub-race of beastpeople, which wasn't the most common, nor particularly well-known.
"This is new. People don't normally call for me…" Emma flapped her ears, "Is it a repeat customer?"
"Nah. The customer's a newbie. He asked me for a recommendation, and so I chose you."
Emma raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Eh. He didn't tell me anything about his preferences, so I just went with his smell and height. He smelled of horses, and he was pretty tall, so yeah!"
"That's it!?"
Emma nearly collapsed from shock. And here she thought someone actually wanted her, but she got her hopes up for nothing.
"Sigh… Time to disappoint yet another—"
"Oh come on Emma! Hold your head high, stick your chest out!" Tami held her arm and gently pulled her out of her room, "I'm sure it'll be fine. Now go!"
"… Fine…"
Dragging her feet, she made her way up the staircase that led to her customer's room, feeling the eyes on her back from the other beastpeople ladies.
"Good for you, Emma!"
"Do your best!"
She blushed slightly from all the attention she attracted, but nevertheless, made it all the way to the customer's room. Taking in a deep breath, she put on her working smile and slammed the door open.
"Good evening, master! How would you… like… to…" she trailed off when she saw the person that she was talking to.
He was decked out in full adventuring gear, with studded leather armor, a cloak, and a belt full of pouches and knives, and he held his hands out like he was about to throw a punch. Emma was about to scream bloody murder, but the next thing the man did made her pause.
Kayden stepped back in shock.
"Woah! You are tall!"
It wasn't an exaggeration. Emma was so tall that her ears just barely scraped the top of the door frame, and that was all Kayden could focus on.
"What? You're tall, too!"
"Yeah, but… you're taller."
Emma's face flushed red from both embarrassment and anger. Now she was being made fun of, too?
"Screw this… I'm going back down… I'll tell Tami to choose someone else."
"Wait wait wait WAIT!" Kayden dashed and slammed the door close before she could even reach for the door knob. "You look fairly reasonable! I need you to hear me out!"
"What? No! I don't want to talk to you! Let me out!" She reached for the doorknob, but Kayden quickly placed his hand over it, locking the door.
"Let's make a deal, " Kayden proposed. "Allow me to book you for two days! I just… need a place to sleep. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you."
Emma paused. She recalled that due to the Solus Academy entrance exams, hotels all over the city were taken, and many applicants had tried booking rooms in this place, forcing Tami to kick them all out. However, since there were just too many of them, the city's police force was involved, and now there was a notice in the reception to deter all applicants. If the man in front of her was one of those applicants, then…
"Ah wait! I can tell what you're thinking!" Kayden spluttered. "I'm not an examinee! I'm a… relative… of… one."
Emma sniffed the air, and could immediately tell that the man was lying. Although her nose wasn't as sharp as Tami's, it wasn't difficult for her to separate the truths from the lies. In fact, Tami should have known the man was lying, and never let him in. Something was up…
And then, she smelt it. It was Tami's perfume, and it came from just outside her door. That sly fox was standing right outside their door, listening in to their conversation! Emma was sure of it.
Kayden suddenly pulled out a knife, which startled her. He placed a finger to his lips, and whispered,
"There's somebody outside watching us. I'm going to go take care of it—"
"No! Don't do that!" Emma couldn't help but raise her voice.
She didn't want Tami to get hurt because of a misunderstanding. Still, she was surprised that the man could tell. Perhaps he too, had a sensitive nose?
"Why?"
"H-hold on! Let me speak to her!"
Emma pushed Kayden aside and flung the door open, and standing by the doorway was Tami, who had her arms akimbo.
"Emma! You idiot! You should have just kept him talking!"
"Huh? Why are you blaming me? And why are you spying on us?"
Kayden was equally as confused as Emma, but chose to not show it on his face. Instead, he put his knife away, and spoke in a calm demeanor.
"Excuse me Ma'am, but you're interrupting us—"
"Hah! No need to pretend! I've heard everything! You can spit out your true intentions now."
Kayden froze. He really was not expecting to be caught so easily like this.
'Crap… Let's hope they don't hand me over to the guards…'
He still kept his calm facade up, even though it seemed to not work on the beastpeople. Still, keeping outwardly calm helped keep his cool internally. There was no time to panic, now, he needed a way to get out of the situation.
He decided to tell some half-truths. Of course, there was no guarantee that it would fool the noses of beastpeople, but he knew that it wasn't some godly means to tell lies from truth. He had already dealt with a situation similar to this, with the truth-seeing C-ranked adventurer, Erene.
"I'll admit it. I'm an applicant for the entrance exams, but I'm not underage! I mean, do you see how tall I am?"
It was true. Fifteen was the age of adulthood, at least for most of Galio, so his being seventeen made him a full adult. However, things worked differently for Solus Academy, which used the legal age for the Western Continent of eighteen. Thus, he was being truthful, but deceitful at the same time.
The fox lady narrowed her eyes.
"I already knew that! That's not what I meant!"
"You did? Then why did you let me up here?"
"Well, I wanted that thing you carry on you! The smell is just amazing! Are you selling it?"
Kayden was confused. What did he carry that smelt so good to her?
Seeing the perplexed look on his face, Tami rolled her eyes.
"Do I have to spell it out for you? It starts with a D, and ends with a G. Do you get it now?"
It took Kayden a second to understand what she was talking about, and once he did, he was oohing.
"So this is what you're talking about!"
For Emma, the smell assaulted her nostrils before she could even get a glimpse of the item he took out, causing her to reflexively pinch her nose and turn away. The smell was overwhelming, yet the more she smelt it, the less overpowering it felt, and her head started to spin.
"W-what… is this…?" She said, clutching her head with a dazed look.
Sitting on Kayden's palm was an innocent, white bag that held no indication of what was inside. With a dramatic pause, he held up the product and introduced it with passion.
"—Yeah I have no f#cking idea…"