“Oohhh~! Not bad.” [Ryner]

Ryner exclaimed as he looked at the huge city spread before him. After getting the information he wanted from the bandit as well as receiving his money pouch with a “Thanks for the info… Now give me your money”, he then ran to the capital, Sakael, becoming a blur and creating small craters with dust clouds for every step he took.

The city was surrounded by ramparts over thirty meters high and two tall gates were wide open for people to enter. A line of people and carts were waiting for their turn as everyone needed to be checked by a group of guards before getting entry. Ryner made his way to the back of the line and checked the money he just acquired. There were copper and silver coins, all with a bird in flight and two swords crossed behind it imprinted on them.

“For once luck’s on my side”, he thought in his mind. Different worlds sometimes had similarities, whether it’d be the races, the cultures, or the currencies. Luckily for him, he hoarded a ton of money in another world, the result of him pulling off suicidal missions when he worked as a top ranked adventurer. This got him the king’s attention which caused him to receive even more outrageous requests with more grand rewards. But, back then, he always went on impossible missions out of curiosity… and because it was fun.

“(Let’s see, if it’s the same for this place, then it should be 100 copper coins for 1 silver coin and 100 silver coins for 1 gold coin. My stash of cash has… Yeah, I’m good.)” [Ryner]

After checking the currency of this world and the pile of coins he had amassed in his pocket dimension, it was finally his turn in line. After a quick checkup of who he was and what his business was, he was allowed access.

“Security is really lacking”, Ryner thought, considering they let into their walls a being with enough strength to blow away their city. He then took a look around as the streets were buzzing with people. The houses were made of bricks and the stalls were selling various types of items and food. Some people had armor and weapons on them.

It looked like the medieval time, only cleaner and less smelly. There were even a few manholes here and there which suggested that the people here had a sewer system. Walking around for a while, he came to a large, round plaza were four streets intersected. There, a platform made of wood with people standing on top came into his view.

Slaves. Men and women with collars on their necks stood there while looking down as a man next to them yelled to the crowd, asking them to come and take a look. Seeing this, Ryner looked from afar for a while before leaving, gritting his teeth as memories from his past threatened to swallow him. He didn’t come here to help anyone, he’s on vacation.

Furthermore, as a self-proclaimed top class monster, saving others was not part of his nature. Switching gears, he then decided to look for a place to stay first. Although the sun was still up, he wanted to find a place right away since he wanted to sleep in a bed on his first day in this world.

So, looking for an inn, he wandered around the city, exploring the place, looking at the stalls and people going by, haggling or window shopping with their dates. Although it was enjoyable at first, he started to feel suffocated as he didn’t like crowded places, unless he was trying to lose some stalkers.

‘Mu, too many people’, he groaned internally before passing by a deserted alley to his left. He went in to get away from the crowd for a bit, but then went deeper to see if he could use it as a shortcut. More alleys appeared at intersections, turning right or left; it was like a maze, a perfect place to lose pursuers.

Unfortunately, people kept away from the alleys because it was where thugs, thieves and murderers operated. Soon enough, three men appeared from the corners, one in front and two behind. He was trapped in this narrow passage.

“Well, well. Look what we have here fellas. A lost child…” [Thug]

The bearded man in front spoke out loud in a mocking tone, prompting his two allies to laugh. Ryner had the body of a twenty years old. Furthermore, he was of average height, looked slim and had an unimpressive face, an easy target to underestimate.

“Kid, these streets belong to us. Our gang rules this place, not the king! So if you want to pass, then you got to pay up. Hand over your money now or we’ll beat it out of you.” [Thug]

The one in front threatened Ryner while the other two slammed their fists in their palms to intimidate him. Listening to his orders, Ryner took out the pouch he got from a similar encounter and showed it to the mugger.

‘Too easy’, the man smirk after seeing the pouch as he took a step forward to get it and beat the scrawny guy to show his superiority. But, he stopped after two steps as Ryner took out a single copper coin and flipped it in the air with his thumb. The coin flew up while spinning, catching the attention of everyone, except for Ryner who readied his thumb and middle finger in a flicking position, aiming at the man in front of him. The coin then landed right on his middle finger and Ryner flicked the coin towards the thug, hitting him on the forehead.

“Arrgh!” [Thug]

He screamed from the intense pain as he fell to his knees and held his forehead as a red imprint of the coin was visible there. Ryner then turned around and flicked two more coins at the other thugs, making them screamed and hold their foreheads as well.

“Here’s your money, your majesty.” [Ryner]

 The sleepy looking monster said as he stared at his opponent with half closed eyes.

“You-you bastard!”[Thug]

The one in front tried to get up and take revenge, but Ryner just flicked another coin before he could react and hit his head again. The same scene happened multiple times as a thug tried to get up before getting knocked down again by a flying coin. Eventually, everyone was writhing on the floor with a bit of blood flowing out from all the forehead shots. Their easy target then walked toward the guy in front who wasn’t getting back up and dropped the last coin in the pouch in front of him.

“Here you go your majesty, please buy yourself some medicine with this… and soap.” [Ryner]

He then walked over him and continued on as if nothing happened.

“Urgh… You think you’ll get away with this?! We’ll find you! And when we do, we’ll cut your limbs off and feed them to the dogs! You hear me!?“ [Thug]

Ignoring his shouts, he made it out to the main streets again and finally found an inn after a while: The Sleeping Duck. When he went inside, he could see people sitting around tables, eating or drinking. A slightly chubby middle aged woman with dirty blonde hair tied in a bun was walking around with trays of food in both hands.

“Excuse me, I’d liked to stay at the inn for the night.” [Ryner]

Ryner approached and asked. The woman then looked at him from top to bottom before answering with a smile.

“Welcome, you can get a room at the counter over there. Honey! We got a customer!” [Inn lady]

“Yes! I’m on it! Dad, take care of this for me.” [???]

A voice rang out as a cute eighteen years old girl showed up behind a door next to the counter. She had dirty blonde hair that reached her middle back, a dress with a white apron in front and a nice figure. The moment she appeared, all the men’s eyes turned towards her. From the looks of it, she was the poster girl of this place. Ryner moved to the counter where she was and asked for a room again.

“Welcome to the Sleeping Duck! One night with meals included will be 4 silver coins please. If you’re interested, we have a nice bath that you can rent out, 1 silver coin for 15 minutes.” [Inn lady’s daughter]

She told him with a professional smile. Ryner then reached into his pouch that he refilled with the money in his pocket dimension and pulled out 28 silver coins. He decided to stay here for a week. He was then handed a key before being pointed to the stairs on the side that lead to the rooms on the second floor.

Once he found his room, he opened the door and checked inside. There was a simple bed, a drawer, a desk, a chair and a modern looking lamp. On the side was another door. Opening it, he was surprised at what was inside. There was a mirror, a sink and a shiny white toilet. This medieval inn had a modern bathroom!

“Is the room to your liking sir?” [Inn lady’s daughter]

Going back downstairs, the poster girl asked him while carrying a tray of food.

“It’s amazing!” [Ryner]

Seeing the cheerful reply of the sleepy looking man made her feel proud, but then the next words left her baffled.

“There’s a toilet!” [Ryner]

“…” [Inn lady’s daughter]

“A nice looking toilet” [Ryner]

“… Ye-yes there is…” [Inn lady’s daughter]

“A toilet! Amazing!” [Ryner]

“U-umm…” [Inn lady’s daughter]

“This place is awesome!” [Ryner]

Ryner left while saying that, leaving behind a troubled poster girl and a group of customers that all gave him weird looks. He then wandered around town again, going deeper towards the large castle that stood in the middle of the city. As he got closer, the buildings were built bigger and there were more people dressed in expensive looking clothes.

He was in the rich district where the richer commoners lived. Finally, he arrived at the noble district since he could see the top of mansions behind a brick wall with two armored guards guarding the entrance. When he got close, the guards barred his path with their spears.

“Halt! This is the noble district. Only those permitted may enter. What is your business here?” [Guard]

“Sorry, I didn’t know. I’m a tourist. Where can I get a tourist permit to sightsee?” [Ryner]

“A tour-?! Ohhh, real funny smart guy. You’re not allowed to enter.” [Guard]

“Thanks, not to brag or anything but I am pretty smart. But seriously there’s no tourist permit?” [Ryner]

“Get lost! Your kind isn’t welcomed here!” [Guard]

“If you want to stay, then we’ll remove you by force if necessary!” [Other guard]

The two guards were feeling more and more irritated at this joker, but the perpetrator still talked to them casually.

“Eeeehh~ come on! I was just joking with you two... The permits are at the travel agency right?” [Ryner]

“Get lost! NOW!” [Guard]

Just as the guards were about to point their spears at him, four more figures showed up.

“What is going on here?” [???]

A woman’s voice asked them, but it was deep and powerful. The one who spoke up was a girl with long blond hair tied in a ponytail. She was in her early twenties and wore easy to move in clothes which consist of shorts, long boots, a shirt and a jacket.

 She was a pale skin beauty with sharp blue eyes and walked with an assured gait. On her back was a huge sword that she easily carried. Ryner could feel a faint power emanating from it.

“(A holy attribute sword... and these guys… So the people here do know about magic.)” [Ryner]

Ryner hadn’t seen anyone use magic so far, but seeing these magic weapons and feeling the waves of mana that the other three armored men were releasing at him, he came to this obvious conclusion. The three companions of the woman were all dressed in knight’s armor with a red cape around their shoulders. They were trying to intimidate the commoner that was causing trouble.

“P-princess Leila! We were just telling this man to leave!” [Guard]

The guard answered with a stutter while bowing. The new arrivals saw what was happening from afar so the question was more to announce her presence. The princess walked in front of Ryner and gave him a stern look.

“This is the noble district. Commoners can’t enter for no reason. You are to leave now.” [Leila]

Just as they thought, the impudent man couldn’t mess with the princess as he simply bowed and left quietly. Once he was out of sight, the princess turned towards the guards to ask them about him.

“Who was that man anyway, and what did he want?” [Leila]

“He didn’t tell us his name, but he said he was a tourist and he wanted to sightsee.” [Guard]

The guard answered right away, before realizing what he said sounded ridiculous.

“A tourist? Here to sightsee? So a punk actually had the guts to come here to mess around.” [Leila]

Leila thought that the guards had been played for fools, but the man with brown hair that came with her had a different opinion.

“I don’t think he’s just a punk, princess.” [Knight]

“What do you mean, knight commander Klauss?” [Leila]

Leila turned towards her martial arts teacher, Klauss Regand. The man was in his forties, with short dark brown hair combed to the back of his head and a scar on his right cheek. One could tell that underneath that heavy plated armor, he had a well-trained body that was forged in many battles.

“We tried to scare him away with mana pressure, but he didn’t react at all. Or rather it looked like he noticed what we were doing, but he treated it like the wind passing by. The only way he’s not affected is because he’s got a lot of guts, or he’s stronger than he looks.” [Klauss]

The commander said with a serious expression, but the princess thought he was just thinking too much.

“You can’t possibly mean that that man is a match for you, the kingdom’s strongest knight?” [Leila]

Leila asked jokingly, but his next words caused her to pause and think.

“Maybe. Just now, he left peacefully, but I didn’t see any respect or fear in those eyes of his… And I’ve seen them before, when I fought against the best warriors from the other races. He had the eyes of the strong, the confidence that no matter what he will not lose against us.” [Klauss]

“… And when you fought against them… These strongest warriors… Did you win?” [Leila]

At this question, the battle veteran frowned while recalling bitter memories before answering his student.

“I didn’t win. WE won. Me and many other powerful men... We won… But we lost nearly half of us to take one down.” [Klauss]

Ryner was walking back to the inn, having left the gates to the noble district.

“Whoa, that was close.” [Ryner]

He said to himself while sighing in relief.

“(That was royalty. I can deal with nobility but not royalty. They’re way more annoying. The whole country will turn against you just ‘cause you didn’t freaking bow to the king! And what’s that princess doing walking around in the noble district instead of the castle!? Shouldn’t she be hauled up in a tower with a dragon for a guard?! That was a bad plan, should’ve stayed away. Don’t have time to destroy a kingdom. )”

While he was ranting in his mind, prejudiced towards royalty because of the many bad experiences he previously had, he made some new plans for the rest of the day.

“(Alright! I’ll go back to the inn, relax in my room until dinner and then leave again at night.)” [Ryner]

He planned on going to the only sightseeing spot that the bandit from before knew and told him about.

“(Let’s check out the red light district.)” [Ryner]