The next morning, I got down from the bed with a little bit of muscle pain.
The battle with yesterday's formidable foe brought about this ache.
(My body gets stronger the more I repeat this type of muscle pain.)
Recently, I am concerned that I was just playing around too much and not training my body, but I realized that even without training that as long as I trained during my "play" time, it should be sufficient.
(This is nice. So that I can train my body even more, I have to work even harder than before.)
Increasing my self-motivation to improve myself, I went downstairs to have breakfast.
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Carrying my backpack and strapping my potion bag to my shoulder, I head outside towards the gate.
Getting out of the city is easier compared to when I had to line up to enter it.
I arrive at the meeting point in advance.
There are many males around my age here. Everyone must be waiting for the carriage.
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After waiting for a while, the carriage arrives on time.
It is different from the type of carriage I imagined.
Rather than a horse-drawn carriage, this is more like a bus.
The part where customers are supposed to sit on looks like a bus, or more like a train's passenger seats.
You would think that a carriage of this size is being towed by four horses to make it move, but the ones pulling the carriage are actually horse-shaped golems.
To start with, the golems are huge.
Each one is about the size of a car.
Its height seems to be higher than the roof of a 2-storey truck.
The golems seem to be made out of some sort of metal material dyed black
Seeing these four things pull the carriage, it reminds me of a steam locomotive. But, as one would expect, they don't let out any smoke.
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The carriage leaves as per the schedule.
It's more comfortable than what I thought it would be.
The road is made out of stone with minimal bumps, giving the carriage a smooth ride.
I passed the time by talking with the people in the carriage and exercising a little when we stopped to refill our drinks at a nearby water fountain. Before I knew it, I arrived at the pit-stop town before the evening.
When we stopped by at the water fountain, I began to entertain the thought that it was not necessary for golems to drink water, but then I realized that the passengers needed to drink water.
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「This is a pit-stop town….」
I immediately look around the town but I might have to cut the tour short.
On both sides of the road, there are inns, shops and private houses lined up. The length of the buildings are approximately 200 m each. As expected, there are no brothels around here.
The back of the private houses have an empty field that spreads into the open.
「Well, it would seem that this place is truly only a place to stop by for a short while. Considering the route the carriage has to take, it makes sense for this city to exist though.」
Besides our group, another carriage came to this city as well.
Most likely, this other carriage will be the one traveling from Awoke to Land Barn.
I decided on an inn. It is automatically booked when I reserved a spot in the carriage.
Each person has to pay his or her own fee though.
There is nothing to do outside, so I immediately enter the inn.
「Come on in!」
The middle-aged man greeted me with a strange accent.
Well, no matter where I go in this town, the people I meet are males.
It's not like I was biased towards people's age or gender within this world but… It's my own fault.
When I compiled a list by gender and age, it's just that I was more accustomed to dealing with middle-aged men due to my previous life experience.
Therefore, I tend to call most men "middle-aged men".
Leaving it at that, I checked in.
He gave me an explanation about the hotel while guiding me to my room.
Fortunately, there is a large public bath.
Additionally, it seems that meals are taken to each person's room.
After getting out of the bath, its time for meals. We can also decide the time the meals get sent to our rooms.
At this point in time, the middle-aged man asked me a very nice question.
「Do you want a woman to accompany you whilst you eat?」
(…. Is this the so called service of a maid at an inn who works double as a prostitute?!)
「Yes, please.」
My reply is obvious.
「Do you want it short? or do you want it long?」
Ugh, I don't really understand his question. If you don't know what they say, it's better to ask.
「What do you mean by long?」
「The service will extend until breakfast is served.」
「Then I will go with long.」
I promptly make my decision. There is no room for hesitation.
「I understand.」
As a separate fee, I pay 8 silver coins.
When I asked if a tip was needed, he replied with a smile saying "only if you wish".
Without a doubt, this means that it is necessary to tip.
「Well then, please enjoy your rest.」
I haven't asked the important questions yet but he's making it seem like the conversation is over so I asked another question in a hurry.
「Umm, can I not choose the woman?」
The middle-aged man makes an apologetic face.
「I'm sorry. In our inn, you cannot choose. We will try out utmost to satisfy our customers, but there are limits to the number of employees working here.」
It makes sense, if they let customers choose every single detail in this type of inn, they won't be able to finalize the settlements effectively.
I approach the man quietly and slide a silver coin into his hand.
「Oh what is this? Haha oh my.」
The man seems to be extremely happy. It may have been a little too generous…
「Well, please take care of me.」
I say my part and enter the bath.
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After finishing my bath, I return to my room.
There was some time left before dinner so I lie down on the bed and look to the ceiling.
Then, a thought came to mind.
(Sometimes it may actually be good not to choose.)
I'm with the numberless car faction.
Instead of choosing the license plate number that you like, I quite like the idea of just being given a designated number by the Land Transport Bureau.
Even now, my heart is throbbing.
I even paid the insurance fee.
Perhaps, the top woman working in this inn will make her way to my room.
However, I don't know what type of girl she will be. I am full of both anxiety and expectation.
The sound of a knock on the door resounded followed by a voice saying "your meal has been prepared".
「Yes, please come on in」
I jumped out of the bed in a fluster.
A service woman came into the room. She can also be called a maid.
She isn't young.
Although she isn't young, she is quite beautiful.
She looks kind of tired or maybe a little gaunt. She has this calming atmosphere about her and dark obedient looking eyes coupled with her maid uniform. It's like the seductive charm of a mourning widow.
This is a jackpot. It's a nice job, you did really well old man.
I visually imagined that the old man was standing next to me saying "Amazing right!" whilst giving me a thumbs up.
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The next morning I left the inn and got on the carriage.
Putting my baggage down and slumping down into the seat, I breathed out a small sigh.
I didn't get much sleep last night. I think I'm just going to sleep in the carriage for the rest of the day.
Last night…was a night that made me feel like I just experienced for the first time what it feels like to grow up as an adult.
I told her straight up that I don't have much experience in this department.
Up until now, I have been put on a time restraint, so whenever I get the chance I rush things and greedily devour every moment I get.
However, last night was different, it was slow and gentle. I was taught in great detail.
There was also many things I got surprised about.
Things I had a misunderstanding about, things that I thought I was convinced about and things I thought I was good were in fact not good at all.
I was instructed, I was taught and I began to become enlightened as the tangled knots unraveled one by one.
Thinking back to when I was in Japan, I can see how I was a conceited human being; I couldn't see my surroundings clearly comparable to a naked king.
It's very embarassing. It's my dark history. It's so frustrating that I feel like fainting in agony.
But at the same time, I really appreciate being able to meet my teacher last night.
She didn't laugh nor ridicule me, she taught me until I understood, until I comprehended, over and over again and with patience, she guided me.
Ahh, I cannot even imagine what would happen if I never met her.
I began to think about my parents who are far away in Japan and the people in the company. all of whom I can never meet again.
My father, my mother and everyone else, I just want to tell them that after coming into this new world, I have truly grown as a person. Therefore….Therefore, please, you guys no longer need to worry about me anymore.
I am doing fine. I am living properly in this new world.
A stream of tears flow down quietly on my cheeks.
My consciousness slowly fades as I go down into the abyss of sleep.