[The ground feels off to walk on.]

It noticed as they were moving towards the marketplace.

Beowulf was in a hurry to find something to eat and then rent a room at one of the inns; and the best place to procure food was at the Entradel marketplace.

“Spare some alms for the needy, generous one”, a voice rang out.

At their left, under the shade of a house, a man was sitting cross-legged, eating some sort of scraps from a plate. There was a broken pot in front of him filled with a few coins. He was calling out to anyone passing by him, but no one was paying attention. However, judging from the coins in his pot, his efforts weren’t in vain, if they could even be called efforts.

[Why is he asking for coins?]

“He is a beggar, he begs for coins for a living”, Beowulf wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

[Why is he not working for them like the rest of humans? He seems able-bodied.]

Great question.

Passing by the beggar, they could see a vast oval-shaped area in front of them, occupied by stalls of various kinds. Some were offering fruits and vegetables, some were laden with all sorts of meats. And some were heralding about the finest pieces of cloth available in all of Nortaliya.

It was a fairly crowded area, in part due to the upcoming festival and was filled of people of all kinds and ages. The women were gathered around the jewelry and clothing stalls, while the men were busy bargaining for antiques and the sort.

Merriment and music was in the air.

Azlan passed through the crowd looking for a food stall, and he spotted one fairly easily. Circling around the crowd, he approached a corner of the marketplace that wasn’t as crowded for now, the Ghost couldn’t pass through the crowd so instead it took a detour by climbing onto the buildings.

A middle-aged woman was tending the meat stall, busy looking at a brochure of some kind.

Azlan lightly tapped with his fingers on the wooden stall to get her attention.

The woman took her eyes off whatever she was reading and gave Beowulf a glance.

“Sorry, but we’ve already given away th’ scraps an’ all the othe’ alms”, she spoke with a thick accent.

.....What?

[I believe she is calling you a beggar.]

“Why would she think that?” Beowulf asked.

[Have you taken a look at yourself lately?]

He indeed looked nothing short of an impoverished pauper.

“I suppose you’re right”, he agreed.

From the woman’s perspective, it was as if he was talking to himself. She gave him a worried look.

[And now she thinks you are quite possibly deranged as well.]

Azlan ignored its snarky comment and took out a pouch of coin from his satchel.

The woman’s behavior changed for the better after that, she mildly apologized and told him to visit the local bathhouse if he didn’t wish for more misunderstandings.

“What can you offer me for one silver coin?” Azlan inquired about the prices of the items she was offering.

“At one silve’ coin, th’ best I can do is some of my smoked beef strips”, she answered, pointing towards the chunk of meat.

“I’ll have one”, Azlan placed one silver coin at the counter.

“Alrigh’, anything else?” she asked as she took a knife and started to cut a strip off the meat.

Azlan’s gaze fell towards the snow leopard, who had been staring at the meat very rigorously for a while.

“Make that two smoked beef strips”, he added and placed another coin on the counter.

“Alrigh’”, she said as she started to cut another piece.

Azlan took the two beef strips and walked away from the stall, his destination was now the inn. He wanted to get some sleep as soon as possible.

After getting away from the marketplace to the streets, he chewed on the beef strip as he thought about which inn to rent.

He caught the being looking at him intently.

“Oh right”, he thought as he remembered buying one for it too. “Here”, he brought the hand which was holding the other strip closer to its mouth.

He wasn’t sure how the body of these magical creatures worked, but he presumed they needed to eat as well.

The leopard sniffed it slightly, and then lapped it up from Beowulf’s hand.

He observed as it chewed on it for a while, jerking its head in a feline manner.

[It is different than eating raw meat... my tongue is tingling a bit, but it was indeed appetizing.]

It conveyed its thoughts after gulping it down.

[But a small piece like that is not nearly enough.]

“It costs coin, that was all I could spare”, Beowulf said as he strolled, looking for an inn.

[You lie, you have plenty to spare.]

“Those are for repair purposes, if you want to eat, earn your own damn coin”, Beowulf replied without paying much attention.

[How?]

“Head over to the news board near the market place, there should be a few civilian requests posted there. Complete them, and I’ll collect the rewards when I have time, and hand over the coin to you”, Beowulf proposed as he spotted an inn a few meters away. “Or you could carry my bags and gauntlets for the time we’re staying in this town, I will give you a silver coin as a rewa-”.

[I will take the requests.]

It cut Beowulf off before he could finish.

“Alright”, Beowulf came to a halt in front of the inn’s entrance.

A chicken crossed his path, running across the streets.

[Or I could eat that.]

It gazed at the chicken with predatory eyes.

“No, don’t kill the chicken”, Beowulf quickly instructed it.

[Why not?]

“Just don’t, not the chicken”, he opened the inn’s door and headed inside.

The interior was quite simple. Wooden floors and walls decorated with some sort of tapestries. There was a reception desk at the left side of the entrance, a staircase at the right side and a dining hall in front.

A timid looking receptionist girl was sitting at the desk, playing with her braids.

Afraid that the same situation may play out again, he made sure to take out his coin pouch beforehand.

Upon seeing Beowulf enter, she opened up a register in front of her, and put a smile on her face.

“Welcome to Sapphire of Entradel, how may I assist you?” she asked.

“I need a room”, he answered while taking a look around.

“Certainly, that will be 20 silver coins”, it was apparent she was struggling to not stare at Beowulf’s rather raggedy appearance.

The rates here were as high as ever, even though he had chosen a rather average looking inn.

He counted and placed twenty silver coins in front of her. She quickly counted them again to make sure. She probably didn’t care personally; her job likely required her to do that. And it was impressive how fast she counted it.

After she was done counting, she opened one of the drawers, fiddled around for a few instances and produced a key, placing it on the desk.

“Can I have your name please?” She asked politely.

“It’s Azlan”, he replied.

She quickly jotted it down in the register, right next to his room number.

“Do enjoy your stay” She passed him the key.

He faintly nodded, took the key and headed upstairs.

[This is the first time I have seen a human’s abode.]

Azlan was searching for his room number when it spoke up.

The being was quite large, it was surprising how it was managing to follow Beowulf inside the inn, without disturbing anything. Its flexible bones allowed for delicate and precise movements.

The rooms were spacey enough that the snow leopard could fit into a corner, maybe.

Beowulf opened a room with his key and entered.

Inside, in front was a single bed arranged horizontally from his perspective, a side table with a flower vase on it. Beyond the bed was a window, displaying the view from the outside streets.

There was also a wardrobe next to the side table and a chair & study table.

All in all, fairly standard.

Azlan closed the door after the leopard came inside.

He placed his gauntlets on the ground, took off his cloak and leather vest; dropped his bag and satchel on the ground.

And headed straight to bed.

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