We continued walking in silence for about 10 minutes before Charlotte finally broke the silence by saying:

“The Hotel that I’m staying at and that you will too, is called The Red Swan. This is a high class hotel, so when you enter to talk to the receptionist, try to mind your manners, Okay?”

“Okay… wait, are you not going in with us?”

“No, I have a few things that I have to take care of in another place. Also, don’t tell anyone that you know me, no matter what. Do you understand?”

“Yes?…”

“Good, once we get close to the hotel, I’ll give you two enough money to pay for a weeks stay. When you walk inside, make sure to ask for one of the most luxurious rooms. That way, we should be on the same floor and I’ll have a good excuse as to why I know the two of you in case something happens.”

At this, I simply nodded my head as the three of us continued the rest of our journey in silence. About 20 minutes later, we could finally see the massive compound that was ‘The Red Swan’.

The entire thing was surrounded by a black fence that was at least 3 meters tall. Inside the fence, was a vast expanse of greenery covered by an intricate and beautiful garden. The bushes had been trimmed in a way that they depicted different animals, while different flowers gave a vibrant and complimenting look to the designs. Passing by this incredible scenery, we finally arrived in front of two large gates that had a red swan motif overlapping them. At the right side of the gates from the inside, there was a small room where a watchman stood guard with a small barred window that seemed as if it was for talking to those on the outside. Before we could arrive in front of the watchman, Charlotte stopped, turned to us, passed us a rather large and heavy purse, and said:

“Alright you two, here is 2,200 renets for you to pay for a room. The cost should be exactly 2,100 for a week, the rest keep in case you need something or something comes up. Alright?”

Holding the incredible amount of coins in my hand, I was left completely dumbfounded as I absentmindedly answered:

“Yes”

“You sure you know what you have to do?”

Shaking my head slightly, I got woke myself back up and responded:

“Yes I know, go to the receptionist, ask for one of the most luxurious rooms, pay 2,100 renets… and that’s it…”

“And make sure you don’t mention me or anything. If anyone asks how you heard about the hotel, just said you’ve heard good words about them from an acquaintance or something. Well with that said, I’ll be leaving the two of you. I won’t be able to talk with you today since I’ll be busy for the rest of the day. As for tomorrow, I’ll be outside for most of the day as well. However, I should be free at night, so make sure to be in your room around then. I don’t care where you go during the day, but make sure that by… hmmm, let me see… yes, make sure that by 8 you’re back in your room. If you can’t tell when that is, just look for a church or a government building, they tend to keep clocks with them. Well, behave you two and don’t cause any trouble. If you do something, or try to run away, I’ll be sure to find out and punish you two~ Anway, have fun.”

With that, Charlotte waved her hand and began walking away from us, not even bothering to give the two of us a second glance. At this, Ailya and I looked at each other before looking back in the direction that the witch had set off to. However, when we looked back, we couldn't find any trace of her, no matter how hard we looked.

Deciding to not worry about this, I approached the watchman who was sitting inside his room and called him out from behind the bars and said:

“Excuse me, we would like to go inside in order to book a room for the week.”

Lifting his head from what appeared to be a newspaper, the man looked at the two of us and lazily asked:

“Do you two have ID?”

“Huh? Uhh no… We weren’t told that we needed any to enter…”

“Do you even have any money”

At this, I took out the purse I had been given by Charlotte and shook it while holding it in front of the man. Seeing my purse and hearing the contents, the man raised his eyebrows as a look of surprise appeared on his face before her straightened up and said:

“Excuse me for my prior behaviour madams, please feel free to enter our establishment, I will open the gates for you now.”

With that, I saw the man push on a button as the gates began to open up by themselves. At this point, I was beginning to question just how medieval this world truly was. Yeah, poor and common people probably didn’t have access to anything like this and lived just like the peasants of my world, but it seemed that the rich at least lived a pretty good life with many of the commodities enjoyed by a more modern society.

If there was anything to learn from this, is that being poor and destitute is not something I want to be. Then again, it’s not something I would have wanted to be back in my world either, but at least I had my parents to take care of me then. I should probably try to look for a job or something, probably check the adventurers guild and see what they have since it’s not like I actually have any useful skills outside of magic for me to find a high paying job in.

Walking through the cobblestone path that lead to the tall building that was the hotel, I was once again amazed by the beauty of the scenery and understood a little about why the price was so disgustingly high for just a weeks stay.

Passing through the glass doors which did not open automatically, the two of us entered the luxurious foyer of the hotel. Although we were both stunned for a second at the impressive sight, the two of us quickly snapped out of it and walked to the receptionist sitting behind the counter. There, a handsome man in his late twenties greeted us with a smile as he said:

“Welcome to The Red Swan, how may we be of service to the two young madams.”

“Uhh, hello… we-we wanted to book a room for the week.”

Without changing his expression as he kept his welcoming smile on him, although I was sure he had some doubts about our ability to pay for a whole week, the man responded to us saying:

“That would not be a problem, do you have a specific room you would like? Some of our higher class rooms can be quite expensive and out of most of our patrons budget.”

Answering his words, I took out the purse I had been given by Charlotte and placed it on the counter. Signaling to the man that it was okay for him to look into it, the man opened the purse and was unable to hide the look of surprise that momentarily appeared on his face. Seeing this, I opened my mouth and said:

“Please give us your most luxurious room, I believe the amount there should be enough to cover it.”

Immediately returning to his usual smile, the man looked at the two of us and said:

“Forgive me for any slight my prior words may have caused, I will immediately look for an available room worthy of the two young madams.”

With this said, the man opened a black book and began pursuing its contents as he traced his finger across the page. Finally stopping at a certain point, the man turned to the two of us and said:

“Room 713 is available to be booked for the whole week. It is on the highest floor of the building and is of the highest class that we have available for our patrons. Would that be acceptable for the two young madams?”

“Yes, please give us this room.”

“Very well then, here is your key. We will carry your bags upstairs for you, and any other luggage you may have. Do you have any other luggage outside?”

At his words, I responded:

“We don’t have any more luggage for now, we plan to buy things as the day pass.”

Not minding my answer, the man simply responded:

“Understood, then let me take these bags up for you.”

Reaching to take the bags in my hand, I panicked a little as I took a step back and said:

“I-I’ll hold on to this bag with me, you can take the rest.”

Halting a little due to my reaction, the man simply continued to smile and said:

“If the madam does not wish to part with her bag that is okay for us. Then allow me to take the rest of your bags to your room.”

With that, the three of us began to make our way up to the seventh floor to reach the room that we would be staying at for the week. Along the way, I held the bag with our old clothes as far away from the man as I could. Hoping, that he would not be able to smell the stench coming out of it…