Chereads / Resilience of the Abyss / Chapter 24 - When you're in Rome?

Chapter 24 - When you're in Rome?

Jacob let his body fall freely on the old bed in a corner of the small room he had just entered. However he immediately regretted it, the foaming that should have broken his momentum sunnk rapidly downwards, his body took most of the impact on the wooden frame.

"Oww…what the hell…you guys are for sure getting a bad review from me"

Looking around the room, there wasn't much to write home about, it was about what you'd expect from this area. The paintings were peeling, the floors creaked, buckets were placed to catch the leakage in the ceilings. But it was still perfect for Jacob as there weren't any windows and the doors were surprisingly sturdy without any holes and gaps.

"Oh god! What's that smell"

A pungent odor assaulted Jacobs nostrils as he turned his head to the other side of the bed. He immediately got up and began looking around, trying to locate the source of the smell. But after a while of ransacking the room and not finding it he decided to go back to the bed and try to perceive it again.

Before he could even settle in the same position as before, he caught a whiff of it again. This time he seemed to have noticed the source, he immediately jumped off the bed and pulled off the covers.

The sight in front of him made him gag, the supposed foam was all but filled with mold growing in it and maggots claiming territory there.

"Oh god!...What the hell?"

Disgusted, Jacob stepped out of the room hastily, looking about for the bathroom. If it were a normal setting, he would have definitely complained and gotten them to do something about it, maybe even give him a new room and return his payment as an apology. But Jacob knew better than to make his dissatisfaction known to the owner. Especially considering the kind of people he met in the pub downstairs.

"Where the hell is the bathroom, I frickin slept on that thing…ugh it's killing me the more I think about it….happy thoughts Jacob, happy thoughts…on the bright side I've been wanting to have a bath in like forever, a warm shower sure would be nice."

As each room didn't come with its own bathroom. Jacob had trouble finding one in the entire building, eventually after a round of enquiries and struggling he found one, unfortunately it was occupied and coincidentally he wasn't the only one who needed it at the momment.

A line had already formed and even more unfortunate was the fact it seemed they had to pay to use it.

Jacob stared at this in amazement, truthfully he hadn't thought things would be this bad. Obviously he knew the slums wasn't all that great considering where he was coming from, but this was the slums in the capital, surely it had to have some class right?.

After what was almost an hour of waiting, it was eventually Jacobs turn to get in. A lean young man, probably not far from Jacob in age, stood at the entrance with a wild expression.

"Toll?"

Luckily Jacob wasn't so clueless now, he had observed the people who went before him and had seen the amount they paid, 2 copper coins. So he swiftly took two copper coins from the loot he got from the guards he killed and handed it to the man.

The man however didn't accept it, a crooked smile bloomed on his face as he locked eyes with Jacob.

"It's 10 copper coins for newcomers"

He said succinctly

"What?"

"Ya deaf or something, I said it's ten coins for newcomers"

The man seemingly getting as he grabbed the blood caked club behind him. He seemed to be eager on getting physical with Jacob.

Jacob however wasn't buying this, the whole idea of paying to use a bathroom was already bad enough, but now requesting for more because what, he's new?.

It was stupid, this was an inn, different people would come here everyday, the majority of them 'newcomers'. Hell he was sure some that went before him were new as they complained about the weird system here. But it seemed this guy had decided to pick on him for no exact reason. Or was it because of how he dressed? Whatever the case, he wasn't in the mood to get ripped off today.

"I've only got 2 coins, take it or leave it, you won't get more from me"

Jacob threw the coins on the floor and began moving into the bathroom, he heard the sinister laugh of the old man as he walked into the bathroom.

"Hehehe…it seems I'm going to get some action today…hehe…excuse me for a momment"

Than turned to the rest waiting outside and followed Jacob into the bathroom while rubbing his abnormally long tongue against the club in his hands.

"Old ma–

Before the man could finish his sentence, a fist pushed itself into his face, throwing blood and teeth everywhere as his body ricocheted back into the hallway, his consciousness directly slipping away.

"I hope this doesn't cause me problems…then again this is the slums, some display is necessary to keep some annoyances away"

Jacob muttered as he closed the door to the bathroom and inspected the place.

"There's not even a shower, what a rip off...2 copper coins for this…ugh I shouldn't have acted cool and thrown those coins. tch"

Contrary to his expectations of a warm shower, all Jacob got was a bucket of bone chilling water, but naturally he had to make do with what he got.

"What do they say… when you're in Rome, behave like a Roman?"