I turned back to inspect the large inn; refurbished with neat furniture and even fancy glass windows, the place was giving off a high-class vibe, but not overbearing — surely wouldn’t be a cheap place to stay. But what was more, it had a signboard with a drawing of a knight, a sharp lance in hand, facing a dragon along with the words “Knight and Dragon Inn” displayed around the drawing.

That’s odd. I bet that the words were made of strange letters before. Why now in English? My doubt over this matter was naturally attributed to my Vocation. It was good to know that words were translated as well.

“This isn’t some kind of posh inn for nobles, right? Though I don’t mind it at all.” With a big stride, I pushed the door open.

As soon as I got in, I was greeted by a cute, adorable girl with brown hair tied with a ribbon, “Welcome! Big brother! You must be a traveler from afar. Are you looking for a place to stay for the night? Or is it for dinner?”

Perhaps she was a waiter to greet customers at the entrance, or maybe even a barker for attracting customers. Though considering her age, she was too young for this kind of job. Wait, how old is she anyway?

Curiosity overtook me, and I used [Developer Interface] on her.

Name: Tina

Species: Human

Sex: Female

Age: 13 years old

Height: 141 cm

Occupation: Knight and Dragon Inn’s apprentice waiter

Vocation: [Enhanced Memory]

Stats:

STR: F- (5) AGI: F- (4) VIT: F- (4) MAG: F (11) SPR: F- (5)

Accumulation Points: 6 [F]

Finally! This was the first time I discovered a human with lower AP than me. Woo-hoo! But winning over a middle-school girl left me in a state of not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“Big brother?” A voice brought me back to my senses. “Um… I couldn't guarantee that we're cheaper than the others, but we provide an inner bathtub and even tasty food!”

I quickly closed the status screen and was greeted by her upward light-brown puppy eyes. My heart melted like never before, but I quickly calmed myself down and went back to business. I must have looked like an idiot earlier… My piled-up fatigue did bring my head into chaos.

“Oh, sorry. Ahem! Yup, sure.” I nodded.

“Yay!” She lightly jumped and shouted to the back, “Dad! Mom! I brought us a guest!!”

“Hahaha! That’s my daughter for you!” laughed the hearty voice of a man from within.

“Goodness! You’re doing it again! Don’t harass people with your looks. Do you know how worried I am whenever you’re doing that? And didn’t I tell you not to come out this late at night?!” A well-built middle-aged woman walked out from another room and scolded the girl.

“I’m not! I’m just following Big Sis’s guidance, teehee, by standing at the entrance to wait for potential custo— Owie!” The girl was hit on the head by the woman… or in this case, the landlady.

“Be that as it may, you shouldn’t do that! Now stop lollygagging and help your dad in the dinner place!”

“O-Okay, okay!” She scrambled to the other room like a cat that had just gotten its tail stepped. Poor her…

“Anyway, young man. I’m sorry for my daughter’s antics. Though I’ve no complaints if you want to stay here,” said the landlady.

From my estimation, she looked to be in her mid-thirties with a look resembling that of the girl from earlier, Tina — her hair tied sideways with an old ribbon.

“Well, that’s indeed my purpose for coming here…”

“So, you’re planning to stay for the night then? Hmm? You’ve got no other belongings except that strange bag on your back?”

“Nope. I didn’t really bring anything much in my travels.” Still, this backpack had more to it than met the eye.

“Very well. We charge 150 Zernial per night for a private room or 50 Zernial for a communal room. We also give free meals in the morning and night for overnight customers.”

“Sound good to me.” I hoped the food served here could surprise me.

The landlady suggested, “Of course, if you’re a new adventurer, I suggest the communal room, and I’ll put you with other new adventurers so you can make connections. So, what’s your plan?”

Ooh, so that’s the use for a communal room, huh. But the deal-breaker is that I don’t want to share a room with strangers. So yeah, no.

“No, I’m fine. The private room it is. As for how long… seven days is about right.” I was certain I’d at least stay that long in this city and would extend my stay when necessary.

“The total is 1,050 Zernial, no more and no less. Do you want to have dinner now? It’s a bit late, but we still got some leftovers.”

“Er, no, that’s okay. I just had one a moment ago.” I didn’t feel like eating at this time…

“Fine, we won’t charge you for today’s food, so I will cut off fifty Zernial and round up the number to one thousand Zernial instead.”

“Fair enough. Thanks! Here’s the money.” I brought out the coin pouch and fished out ten bluish-colored coins.

Cornelia had explained a tad bit about money, so I was able to pay accordingly. Incidentally, the money was divided into multiples of ten, beginning from the lowest that was worth one Zernial to the highest ten thousand Zernial. Each with a unique color not resembling the coin system of the Middle Ages (gold, silver, and copper) — they had a gray base with a tint of blue to them with higher currencies getting more and more visible.

I sure am loaded, eh. Roughly calculated, the total amount inside the coin pouch reached more than twenty thousand Zernial. If ten Zernial was equal to about a dollar bill, then I had two thousand dollars, and that was just Rowan’s coin pouch I had in hand since the rest were left in the dungeon. Hence, a fifteen-dollar lodging per night was rather cheap overall. Even so, a smart rabbit had three burrows; I should find a more stable source of income than killing invaders.

“Thank you for your patronage. Come on in.” The landlady brought me inside to the reception area and hollered, “Tina! Could you take our guest’s information for the register?”

“Yeees! Of course, Mom!” Tina sprinted back from the other room.

While the landlady went to the dinner place, Tina hurried to the back of the reception counter while holding a logbook in her hand. Her outfit, which I hadn’t had the chance to observe, was actually pretty cute: a black polka dot blouse, a navy skirt, and a patterned knit vest; also, her socks were black and long with leather boots over them.

“Big brother… Can you give your name?”

“It’s Vincent.”

“Vincent it is… Now your age and occupation, please!”

I held myself from telling her that I was an unemployed college student or a serial kil— I mean, a Dungeon Master and stuck with being an adventurer since that would be what I was, starting tomorrow.

“I’m twenty, an adventurer,” I said.

“An adventurer, huh. Noted. Then big brother must be a high-class adventurer, right? A liberator even!” Tina stared at me with cute, sparkling eyes.

Huh? Come again? My outfit portrayed me as high-level obviously, but I didn’t know that it would have that much of an impact. “W-Well, something like that.” I decided to just play along anyway.

“Later, when there’s a chance, please tell me about your adventures, okay!” Her face was sparkling, which conveyed “Tell me!” adamantly.

Seriously? Am I supposed to tell her about adventures I’ve had in RPG games? I grimaced, starting to regret it a bit.

In an attempt to divert the topic, I inquired, “S-Say, Tina, there’s an inner bathtub, correct?” The problem was, where would I get water at this time of the day? I mean, there was magic and stuff, but…

“Yes, there is! It’s all free for people to fetch at the well in the back, but of course, people are free to create water themselves through magic. Ah! I almost forgot!” She handed me a room key and continued, “Here’s the key for your room. It’s located on the second floor, room number eight.”

I pocketed the key while saying “Thank you.” Still, water magic, huh… I am only able to use Geo Elemental Magic, and it’s such a drag to fetch the water myself…

“…Umm, I can use magic to make water.”

“And your intention is?” I tilted my head even though I knew where this was going.

“You can ask for my service!” She held up her five small fingers. “Five Zernial only! A-And the water I create is lukewarm, whereas the water from the well is cold. Since this is your first time, I can give you a discount too.”

“Sounds good. But before that…” I looked around and said in a low voice, “Where’s the toilet?”

I hadn’t relieved myself for hours as doing it in the wild at night while hearing strange noises almost scared me to death. Moreover, my anxious mind more likely than not helped me from diverting my attention. I can’t help it, alright!

By the way, the toilet in this world was still using something akin to garderobes, but I’d prepared wet tissues inside my backpack in case I had to do “number two.” Perhaps I could have Cornelia invent the flush toilet, but that was a story for later; now was not the time yet.

Subsequently, Tina and I headed upstairs to my room… went for a room at the very back.

The moment I used the key on a room with “8” on it, I was greeted with as ordinary of a room as I could imagine. Glass windows made out of greenish glass and layered with wooden shutters… A thick bed on the side, and even a set of table and chairs. There was even a small round wooden bathtub with a towel on the side.

Above the desk was a small lantern, not lit. A shade of barely noticeable gold pervaded the room under the shining moonlight as if giving it a glitter of majesty.

“Golden moon…” I never got the chance to inspect the moon at length, and now that I had, I noticed that it had a tint of gold to it, barely discernible. “Er, what date is today?”

“Why? Now’s the 7th day of the 4th Solarmon in the 784th year of the New Order Calendar. Is anything wrong?”

“Nothing.” Solarmon, huh… Must be an abbreviation of the solar month or similar to that. Then that means that there’s Lunarmon as well. “Uh, About the water…”

“Riiight.” Tina put her index and middle fingers above the wooden bathtub and cast “{Create Warm Water}.” Then, a ball of water converged on the tip of her fingers, flowing down into the bathtub.

“Hydro Elemental Magic?”

“No. It’s just an Elementary Magic — the most basic level of magic.” I see… Wonder what this so-called “Elementary Magic” can achieve.

“So…” She eyed me with puppy eyes, like a girl waiting for a treat.

“Here’s your money.”

“Ten Zernial? Thank you very much, big brother!” Like a mouse that had successfully stolen a cheese, she darted out of the room.

Now alone, I closed the door and tossed my backpack on the bed. Such a long day, trekking more than fifty kilometers through the forest, meeting new people, and socializing… I was sure that I wasn’t such a sociable person, but… the situation forced me to.

It was about midnight when I was drying myself after having a long-awaited relaxing bath. The water was tepid, the kind that was barely enough to hinder me from catching a cold. Needless to say, I brought my other clothes with me, so they served as a change of clothes for tonight.

“Ugh… so tired.” The rather hard cotton bed even worked as a magnet when I laid down upon it. Now was finally the chance for me to think about my next course of action — or maybe even asked myself about my situation.

“Yeah, right… When I got transported, it hadn’t been long since the last time I met my friends, my team — Alfred, Bryan… Wonder what they’re doing now. Also, my family…”

Living alone in an apartment, no one would likely find out I was missing. Although this was the tenth day since I came to this world, maybe someone had noticed. Maybe.

As I looked up at the starry night sky with a shining half-moon a tad larger than the one on Earth while reclining on the bed, my mind began to lose in pondering about going back to my world. And I even thought about staying here… it wasn’t such a backward place, given that there was magic.

“But can I even go back?” No, even if I found my way home, could I live a normal life again in my world? My hands were already covered in blood… though not directly.

Above all, why was I here? Who sent me to this world? Was there a hidden plot behind all this?

“What’s the reason? And most importantly, why me?”

Before I could continue down that train of thought, however, sleepiness got to me…