"What a strange old woman!" Ethel commented as she ate a meat skewer. She closed her eyes and savored the juicy flavor.
Currently, they were walking through Amparos after exploring the surroundings of the academy and its structure.
"Yes... although I guess it helped me a lot" Kayla smiled as she ate her own skewer, although hers was fried chicken.
"Yes, you really needed those insults from her! Did you really seriously doubt your ability to enter the academy? It better not be because you lost so miserably to me!" Ethel looked at Kayla reproachfully.
"Haha…" Kayla avoided Ethel's gaze.
"I knew it! If I had known this was going to happen I wouldn't have agreed to fight you!" Ethel screamed in frustration. She had initially agreed to fight Kayla because she thought she would do her good, but apparently, the opposite happened...
"Sigh... I imagine you started comparing yourself to me right?" Ethel looked at Kayla.
"Yeah…" Kayla bit her lip. At some point, she had started to consider herself as strong as Ethel because of all the situations they went through together, but come to think of it, Ethel had always been the one who did most of the work.
It was Ethel who pinned the shadow bear down, giving him the perfect opportunity to kill the bear with a single blow. The same thing also happened with the murderers who were after Ethel.
She was only able to defeat the sword-wielding assassin thanks to Ethel, who was busy dealing with two wizards, incapacitating the assassin long enough for her to kill him. Not to mention that she did most of the work in killing the two remaining mages.
Yes... in those moments I was barely helpful. Kayla's face darkened a little when she thought about that, but her black eyes were still as bright as ever. But I have become stronger! And even if I'm not strong enough yet, I'll make sure I am soon!
Ethel looked at Kayla and smiled. Suddenly though, an idea popped into her head and she smiled slyly. She brought her hand to Kayla's neck while she was distracted and summoned a small ice-blue magic circle.
"Hyaaa!" Kayla jumped hard and looked at Ethel angrily. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Err…" Ethel looked at Kayla confused for a moment, but she quickly returned to normal and laughed. "You deserve it for thinking in that depressing way."
Ethel moved quickly forward while she dodged Kayla, who tried to hit her.
"You!" Kayla chased after her angrily while Ethel laughed.
However, there was one lingering thought in Ethel's mind.
Didn't Kayla react before she cast the spell?…
That doubt lingered for a while in Ethel's mind, but she forgot it after a while to focus on a much more pressing issue...
Get a place to sleep this week.
...
"... Again?" Ethel asked desperately as she watched Kayla return from a three-story building.
"Yes…" "Yes…" Kayla nodded as she sat next to Ethel on a cushion made for quadrupedal races like the centaurs in a small park. "They said they haven't had rooms for a month…"
"Ah... I think at this rate we're going to sleep on the street..." Ethel felt like crying. A high society lady like her shouldn't be going through such difficult times!
Kayla didn't respond and lay back on the cushion that was as big as a bed, watching the starry sky.
Although she had been in this world for a long time, she had never taken the time to observe the sky, whether day or night.
Millions of stars illuminated the dark sky, forming all kinds of constellations that were much more complex than those on Earth.
Not to mention the trio of beautiful sisters in heaven. Three beautiful moons rested above the sky, illuminating everything beneath them.
It still seems incredible to me that they have different colors... Kayla observed with fascination the three moons, one red, one blue, and finally one silver like that of the Earth.
"...I don't think it's so bad to sleep on the street, we have a bed and we can watch the sky whenever we want" Kayla smiled at Ethel who seemed quite depressed.
"...Maybe, but let's keep trying, I think there is one in left that we haven't visited on the map." Ethel checked the map before getting up. "Not to mention that I think sleeping on the street is not allowed."
"Haha, you really hate the idea of sleeping on the street, we could do it secretly!" Kayla got up tiredly. The two had already toured the entire city looking for inns, but they were all full due to the large number of young people who came to attend the registration of the Indomitable Jungle Academy.
At this point, the only thing Kayla wanted was to rest, no matter if it had to be on the street...
However, Ethel thought otherwise. So Kayla followed her discouraged.
They both walked through the beautiful streets of Amparos, which were illuminated by the fruits of some trees that were planted along the streets. Kayla was scared when she first saw the mango-like fruits suddenly light up...
Finally, after walking for an hour, Kayla and Ethel came to a street, not very pretty if you put it mildly...
Although the place had the same buildings as the rest of the city and looked very well maintained, there was something that made the street seem dangerous...
"Hey Ethel, are you sure it's here?" Kayla murmured as she looked at the little fairy, who was no more than a foot tall with a punk hairstyle and several piercings…
"...The map says it's at the end of the street." Ethel also began to doubt, but she didn't want to take out the map. She was afraid of being robbed...
Although she considered herself quite strong, her mana sense told her that someone quite strong was down the alley.
"Anyway, don't worry, the law of this country punishes theft with death, I don't think these guys are brave enough to do something like that…" Ethel whispered to Kayla.
Kayla nodded as she followed Ethel to the end of the street, where there was a building with a wooden sign that said inn, with nothing else.
They both walked down the street carefully, avoiding crossing glances with any of the people there. Never mind that some provoked them by blowing cigarette smoke in their faces.
At one point, Kayla was about to attack them for their provocations, but Ethel quickly stopped her.
"Don't fall into their game. Although there is a death penalty for stealing, this is waived if you rob someone who attacked you first... not to mention that these guys are from a gang, I'm sure there is someone stronger than us waiting for us to react to their provocations." Ethel looked at Kayla sternly, telling her not to do anything.
Kayla nodded, but inside she was screaming in disbelief. What kind of fucking law was that?!
So without wanting to die so young, she resisted all provocation and they arrived at the building with a sign.
"I wish they had rooms haha..." Kayla forced a laugh. It was obvious that inside she was praying that the place would be full too...
"Hopefully" Ethel nodded, although she did hope so in her heart. Ethel nodded, although she sincerely hoped so. I really didn't want to sleep on the street!
Ethel knocked on the door and waited for half a minute for a response, however, no one answered even though muffled voices could be heard behind the doors.
Kayla was going to knock on the door harder, but Ethel preferred to go with a more effective method.
"Hey! We are calling! Opens!" Ethel screamed at the top of her lungs, alerting everyone on the street. The spiky hairstyle fairy even glared at them murderously as she took out a mini knife...
Kayla was stunned to see that, but something she saw with her foresight skill, which she had fully activated since they entered the alley, caught her attention.
"Listen-!" Ethel tried to scream again, but Kayla suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards her. "Hey, what are you doing?!"
Ethel asked in confusion, but her questions were answered quickly.
Bamm!
Suddenly, the door of the inn collapsed as a body flew out of the building, landing hard on the floor.
"Who the hell is calling so insistently?!"
A six-foot overweight man who looked more like a pig than a human walked out of the inn, basically fuming from his mouth.
"He better be a client, otherwise I swear he's dead!" The man looked around angrily and quickly noticed unfamiliar faces on the street.
"Was it you?!" The man pointed his finger at Kayla and Ethel.
However, they were more focused on seeing the poor boy they had thrown out the door.
He was a purple-haired boy with a delicate and pretty face, although you could still tell that he was a man. The boy stood up limping on one foot, but despite that, he quickly returned to the six-foot human's side.
"I'm talking to both of you! Were you the ones who knocked on the door?!" The man shouted again in rage towards the girls.
Although this time they were paying attention to him.
"Why did you throw the child like that?!" Kayla was the first to speak. She was looking at the boy who was barely a little taller than her with pity.
However, the boy quickly raised his head and looked at her with dismay. Child?! Yes, I am taller than you!
"Oh? What do you care?! Do you like it?! If not, tell me if you're a customer or not!" The man frowned at him as he clenched his obese fist, preparing to attack.
A vein protruded from Kayla's forehead and she was about to pull her sword out of her and cut the bastard in front of her, but Ethel stepped forward first.
"Yes, we are clients... although I am hesitant to use your services seeing your attitude." Ethel looked at the man in her eyes, no matter how disgusted she felt at exchanging glances with him pig.
"Oh, so they are customers~" The man, who had previously been screaming hysterically to the point that the fat on his entire body was shaking, now put his hands together and smiled sweetly at them. "Things change a lot like that!"
"And as for why I threw this useless guy away, it's simple. I asked him several times to open the door, but the boy spent his time doing anything but what I told him! TRUE? The obese man looked at the boy with a murderous look, it was obvious what would happen if he didn't answer what he wanted.
The boy just nodded while he trembled...
Kayla was about to yell at the man, but Ethel glared at her, silencing her.
"Oh well, I guess we can't do anything if the boy is disobedient." Ethel smiled graciously.
"Oh well, you can tell that the lady has quite a bit of class. So now that the misunderstandings have been resolved, would she like to rent two rooms?" The man smiled, showing how his cheeks turned into several folds of greasy flesh…
"Nmm… don't you have a room for two people? I am very attached to my friend and I would like to sleep in the same room as her, so just tell me a price" Ethel asked as she felt Kayla's murderous gaze on the back of her neck.
"It would be fifty gold coins!" The man's eyes filled with greed as he looked at Ethel. It was always easy to get money from rich ladies!
However, Ethel's eyelid twitched a little when she heard that. Fifty gold coins?! What does this inn have?! Did the former emperor die here or something?!
Although I was already expecting an exorbitant price, I don't imagine it would be so exaggerated.
Ethel was getting angry at the daylight robbery they were doing to her. Fifty gold coins were enough to buy a D-rank sword!
Not to mention that the other inns only charged one gold coin per day!
However, Ethel knew that the damn fat man wouldn't lower the price. He surely knew that there were no more rooms in the other inns, which is why he said such a price with such confidence...
That was also the reason the fat man didn't care about the attitude he had with them at the beginning. He knew anyway that it was the girls' only option and that no matter what his attitude was, they would have to sleep at his inn.
"Okay... but since we both know that the price is a bit exaggerated, I would like to request that cute boy as a personal servant for this week." Ethel used all her willpower not to curse the damn pig in front of her.
"Oh of course, how could I refuse a request from my dear client?" The man nodded with a disgusting smile as he looked at Ethel. Yeah! He knew that having this useless guy with pretty face would one day make a rich lady fall in love with him!
Ethel felt her patience running out as she felt the pig's gaze on her, but she managed to control herself somehow as they were both led through the inn.
The inn was nothing spectacular, rather, it was quite ugly. Unlike the rest of the fairly modern city, this place seemed like a relic from a bygone era.
The walls and floor were made of wood, like almost everything in the place. But the problem was not the wood, but the terrible condition it was in.
Although Ethel was not very knowledgeable on the subject, she could tell at a glance that the wood was more than fifty years old which it received very little care, so it ended up wearing out and even gaining mold in various parts.
So Ethel wasn't too surprised when she saw that there weren't many customers in the place. Just some old guys drinking in the first-floor bar.
Finally, the man guided them to the third and final floor where he showed them his room.
"Well, here is your place, I hope you enjoy it!" The pig smiled as he showed them a room that barely fit two single beds and a closet. "And as for the boy, I will deliver them to you tomorrow!"
The pig quickly disappeared as he descended the stairs at a speed surprising for his body.
Finally, they both entered the room and Ethel covered her ears with her hands, prepared to...
"What the hell did you do Ethel?!" Kayla, who had been holding back out of respect for her new friend, finally exploded.