After buying the quarterstaff and armor, I walked around the city.
My next destination was the inn.
I called the map from the menu and checked the position.
The recommended inn was not so far away. I started walking down the
cobblestone boulevard.
There were not many people with long ears like Louise. Not to mention that
cat.
There were beastkin with animal ears and tails, but there were not many of
them either. Were they a minority?
The townscape itself resembled medieval Europe, and it seemed that there
were overwhelmingly more stone buildings than wooden buildings like the
Adventurer's Guild.
The fact that there were many stone houses meant that there were not many
earthquakes in the area. Since if it was made of stone, it would be
dangerous when the building collapsed.
How many people lived here? As far as the map was concerned, it's quite
large, and it seemed that a few days might be required for just exploring this
city.
[Hoo…]
When I arrived at the central square of the city, I exclaimed in admiration.
It reminded me of the crowds in Tokyo. Just replace all the vehicles with
horse-drawn carriages.
Looked more like an angry mob than the regular hustle bustle.
For the time being, I didn't want to be run over by a carriage when I'm
stuck in an unfamiliar crowd, so I walked to the corner of the square.
The city of Crossroads was divided into four districts, north, south, east and
west, centered on this central square.
First of all, I'm in the eastern district.
It seems to be a commercial district where adventurer guilds, merchant
guilds, and various shops were gathered.
The north area seemed to be a place where wealthy people lived. The south
district on the other side was a district where ordinary people and the socalled poor people lived.
It seemed that there were churches, government offices, and garrisons of the
Kingdom Army in the west district.
The inn I was heading to was located near the central square in the south
district.
Shortly after, I arrived at the desired inn.
There was no doubt that the bright red anvil sign that read Burning Anvil
Pavilion was meant to be a landmark.
When I went inside, a very short but unusually stiff old man was looking at
something that looked like a lodging book.
In the space that looks like a dining room in the back, I saw what appeared
to be the guest eating.
The old man immediately noticed me and smiled with a smile that anyone
would love.
[Welcome to the Scorching Anvil Pavilion. Looking for accommodations?]
[Oh, I was introduced to the receptionist of the Adventurer's Guild. I want
to get myself a room, but how much is it per night?]
[If you're introduced by the Adventurer's Guild, it'll be two large bronze
coins and five bronze coins per night with breakfast. If you eat at home
during the day and night, you can order plate service.]
I still didn't understand the sense of money in this world.
However, considering the price of weapons and armor, I felt that it wasn't
so expensive.
[I'll book the room for ten days for the time being.]
[That will be two silver coins and five large bronze coins.]
I understand how coins work.
Considering the exchange at the armor store earlier, I deduced that 10
bronze coins = 1 large bronze coin, 10 large bronze coins = 1 silver coin, 10
silver coins = 1 gold coin.
The large silver coin seems to be an intermediate coin, so one large silver
coin = five silver coins.
Should I do some testing?
[Will this be OK.]
[If it's a big silver coin, then here is the change of 2 silver coins and 5 big
bronze coins. I need you to show your Adventurer card, so that I can record
it in the lodge book.]
Apparently my prediction was correct.
After that, I got a good grasp of the economy once I knew the value of one
bronze coin.
And my balance has decreased a lot, so the immediate goal will be
information gathering and making money.
There was already that case with the magic catalyst. If I don't learn the
common sense of this world as soon as possible, I may get into unexpected
troubles.
[Hey, Phina! Guide the customer to his room!]
The old man who had finished recording the receipt and checking the
adventurer card called out to the dining room in the back.
It's a big voice, he might be a dwarf or something, not just a human being,
considering his plump body shape.
[Yes!]
A girl wearing a cute apron ran from the dining room in the back with a
cheerful voice.
She's small, so maybe around 10 years old? She's only as tall as my waist.
[Customer-san, I'll show you to your room. Follow me.]
I climbed the stairs to the second floor while following this girl called
Phina.
The steps were quite low. Was it made to suit the manager to some extent?
The room I was guided to was a room facing the street. It's not sunny now,
but the light still comes in from the window. The beds are clean, and there's
no problem getting up.
Is it about 5 tatami mats wide? It didn't feel that big because there was a
bed.
There was a simple table next to the window facing the street. I think it can
be used to write or something else.
The floor was made of wood, but there is no creaking noise. The boards
were probably thick.
[It's a good room, the beds and the room are beautiful.]
[You can expect good things from our food, because dwarven food is
perfect for Adventurers.]
With that said, Phina smiled.
It's a pleasant smile.
For this presentation, my answer was obvious.
[Well, I wonder if I'll get it right away. Can I still order for lunch?]
[Of course, I will prepare one plate.]
Receiving the key, I stored the quarter staff in storage, and moved
downstairs again.
There were many people dressed like adventurers in the cafeteria, probably
because they were guests.
As far as the equipment is concerned, every adventurer looked much more
veteran than I was.
I felt a little floaty in my brand new equipment.
[Yes, daily set meals. 3 bronze coins.]
I paid three bronze coins to Phina, who put the food on the tray. Then I
started eating my first ever meal in another world.
The menu was cabbage-like vegetables, stir-fried offal, vegetable soup, and
black bread.
The stir-fried food has a taste similar to that of miso stir-fry, and although it
is a little thick, the food goes through rather easily.
The cabbage-like vegetables were chewy, and the offal seemed to be fried
with garlic or something, and the aroma was good.
On the contrary, the soup is light. The black bread is so hard that I had to
dip it a little before I could eat it. It seems that other people are eating like
that as well.
By the way, the one-dish service seems to be this soup.
[Well, what should I do next?]
Do I want to take a rest today or wander around the city?
Thinking about it, the menu hasn't been touched yet, so why don't I go back
to the room and take things slowly?
Then, if I have time, I can go to the Adventurer's Guild again to train the
quarterstaff, or go out and hunt the wild boar.
[Thank you for the meal, I'll take a rest in the room.]
[Yes.]
After calling out to Phina who was working in the kitchen, I returned to my
room.
When I opened the menu, I only realized now that my level went up. Is it
the result of the simulated battle?
The growth of STR, VIT, and AGI is good, probably because of the effect
of strengthening the body. On the contrary, the value of DEX hardly
increased.
The growth of POW is similar to the status of physical strengthening.
My maximum HP was 69 and MP was 164. I think they're related to VIT
and POW, but the increased values were 13 and 17 respectively.
It didn't match the value increased this time. I'm not sure about the
specifications around here.
And although I used my skill points, it increased by 6 points now.
If I focus on one skill, I can get it up to level 3, but I think it is better to
acquire more skills for wider versatility.
Am I being too careful? No, this is fine. I don't seek romance, emphasizing
on efficiency.
I don't want to die.
Let's set the polearm mastery to level 2 so that I can handle the new
quarterstaff well.
With the remaining 3 points, I could acquire magical power enhancement,
magic power recovery, and pure magic at level 1.
MP increased from 164 to 246 at once just by taking level 1 of magic power
enhancement. It's the same as physical strengthening, 1.5 times multiplier.
I wondered if POW would increase, but it turned out that it's only MP that
got increased.
When calculating the recovery speed, it seems that the speed of magic
recovery, which originally required a whole day for complete recovery, has
now increased by 1.5 times.
Currently, 1 MP recovers every 4 minutes… I can't rapid fire magic for a
long time. I have to think of some means of recovery.
It seemed that I could now use the magic arrow at level 1 of pure magic.
When I shot one through the window toward the sky, it seemed to be a
magical arrow with no particular attributes.
The versatility may be high because it had no attributes.
After learning and verifying the skills to some extent, let's play with the
menu interface.
It seems that some items can be displayed at all times by playing with the
options.
For the time being, the bar showing HP and MP, the direction, and the mini
map were always displayed.
I checked the contents of my inventory again.
First of all, the Adventurer set.
There were various tools that could be used for adventures in the knapsack.
Blankets, torches, tinderboxes, knives, ropes for 10 meters.
After that, there were 1 large silver coin, 6 silver coins, 18 large copper
coins, and 17 copper coins.
I also had one small-boar fur, one small-boar flesh, two small-boar corpses,
and one big hornet corpse.
After that, there are three preserved foods packaged with dried meat, dried
fruits, and campan, and one water in a leather water bag.
I don't know how much the inventory can store, but judging from how there
is no weight display, it may not be necessary to consider the weight or size.
If you put things in one bag like the adventurer set, it seems to be
recognized as an item.
Two small-boar corpses are also stacked in one slot. This looks like it's
pretty convenient.
However, considering that a carriage loaded with luggage was running in
the city, this may not be a general ability.
But with this, I won't be needing a wagon to carry my stuff around.
However, it is also necessary to find out how much it is tolerated. Let's take
the item out of the inventory and show it at some store.
It was 3:00 pm when I finally stopped playing around with the menu.
Speaking of collecting items, did you know that the items in the storage of
the tool column can be made to appear at the tip of your hand just by
thinking about it?
Also, I couldn't press the Call God option.
It's okay to mess around as it is, but since it's free time, let's go to the
Adventurer's Guild and see what kind of request there is.
If I can sell corpses, fur, meat, etc., all the better.
No, should I buy some salt to make salted meat instead?
No, will it rot if left in the inventory? Well, I have to experiment a lot.
I greeted the old man and Phina who were preparing dinner then headed for
the adventurer's guild.
MP was at 37, recovering to about the same level as when I first went to the
guild.
=====
[Oh, you're starting to look more like an adventurer, huh?]
As soon as I entered the Adventurer's Guild, I waved to the Ossan at the
reception table and looked at the bulletin board for a request.
It seems safe to go from something like a messenger in the city to
something like a patrol around the city.
Maybe I shouldn't go with something so mundane.
Next, the extermination of vermin and monsters that lived nearby. The risk
level of this was pretty high, but it seemed that the risk was well managed.
After all, the most dangerous kinds were quests to go to a place where you
do not know where and what will attack, collect various items, or subdue
monsters.
When I was looking for a quest that could be done immediately, I found a
quest to procure a small boar.
Apparently, it was required as an ingredient.
The required number is one, what a coincidence.
I removed the request form from the bulletin board and took it to the
receptionist ossan.
[Ossan, I want to accept this request.]
[My name is Woz. Which one? Small-boar procurement? It might be
dangerous if you're not careful.]
[Actually, I already hunted some.]
Saying that, I showed the small-bore corpse I directly took out from
inventory.
[Whoa! The counter will get dirty with blood! Put it over at that special
counter!]
[Sorry.]
I apologized obediently and re-store the small-bore corpse in the inventory.
Old man Woz moved to the other counter dedicated to receiving requested
items, so I followed him and took out the small-boar corpse again.
It was still warm because it was stored immediately after being killed.
Is it still warm? That may mean that there is no time lapse in the storage.
[It's rare to see someone with a treasure box.]
[Treasure box?]
When I asked him back, Woz gave me a strange look.
[You took the corpse out of nothing, right? Isn't it a treasure box?]
[O, oh. So it's called a treasure box. I learned from an old man who taught
me magic in the countryside, but he told me it's called inventory.]
[Hmm. Well, I'm not so familiar with magic anyway.]
Woz inspected the corpse of a small-bore without showing any particular
concern.
I wondered if the inspection was over, since he had another guild staff
member bring the corpse of the small boar to the back.
[Yeah, no problem. The request has been fulfilled.]
Old man Woz stamped the request slip and gave me five large bronze coins
as a reward.
Hmm, it feels good to have a real income.
[I have one more small-bore corpse and one roll of fur. There are also big
hornet corpses. Can I sell them here?]
[Hmm, show me. If it's in good condition, I'll buy it for five large bronze
coins.]
[Excuse me.]
It's a matter of finding a good prey, but with just this, I earned one silver
coin because I had ten large bronze coins.
Isn't it worse than I expected to earn, isn't it an adventurer's business?
[You did pretty good for the first day. I have high expectations.]
Old man Woz grinned and tapped my shoulder as he returned to the
reception counter.
The grinning face of that old man came without any unpleasant
premonitions… I don't know what kind of unreasonable pretense he would
make.
After the short exchanges, I decided to practice with the quarterstaff at the
training ground.
Thrust, lift, swing down, smashing while spinning and kicking backwards,
slamming while diving.
If I combined attack magic to eliminate the gap further… Yeah, this may be
easier to use than I think.
It seems that I can handle spears and any long-handled weapon thanks to
the polearm mastery skill, isn't it a more advantageous skill than sword
mastery?
The bottleneck is that it is difficult to use in a small space.
[Fuh.]
After confirming the movement, I sat down on the bench in the corner of
the training ground and took a break.
Umm, I should've prepared a towel or something.
Now that I think about it, I don't even have any change of clothes. I have to
buy it as soon as possible.
[Excuse me, can I have a minute?]
I heard someone speaking to me while I was thinking with a water bag in
my hand.
Looking up, I saw a girl wearing leather armor standing in front of me.
She has a brown ponytail. Her patchy eyes shone, probably due to curiosity.
Her facial features were well-shaped. She was quite a beautiful woman.
I don't know exactly how old she is because she looked like a westerner,
but probably not even 20 years old yet.
[Can I help you?]
While storing the water bag back in the inventory, I quickly turned around
and followed her line of sight.
Is it about those two suspicious looking people over there?
[That…umm, with me…]
For some reason she's trembling and looking down.
I thought she had an anxiety attack, but I wonder if I think too much.
[Hmm…go on?]
When I said that, she looked up and said out loud,
[Please go out with me !!]
The training ground went silent right after.
Piercing gazes were directed at me.
How did this even happen?