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Chapter 8: This Is Quite Lovely I

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In what looks like the middle of nowhere, a small simple town could be seen. It seemed to be made mostly of stones and wood.

The small town was but a tiny stop in the middle of a vast expanse of snow and ice, so vast it extends as far as the eye can see.

The only thing painting the white expanse in its color is the numerous crimson trees, the signature sign of the northern continent. The trees have slightly dark trunks, with their leaves being divinely crimson.

Its buildings were fairly well made, with a sense of medieval architecture though as Val noticed from the previous host's memories and from the prison he was in, there are some fairly advanced things in this world.

An example of that would be light which appears to be quite available as he noticed many lanterns in prison and all around the town, some brighter than others.

Another example would be the temperature device which seems to function as an air conditioner though he knows their manufacturing methods are vastly different from that of his previous world.

If Val had to describe the style of housing in this place then he'd say it's a combination of Tudor and gothic styles, quite an elegant style.

The town was protected by a high stone wall nearly fifteen meters in height which is remarkable considering it's just a small town, but it's necessary in such a world.

In the middle of the town was a large manor which appears to be the most well-made building in the town, with another wall surrounding it, it's the town mayor's house.

Most buildings in the town have chimneys on them that are more often than not active, always keeping the residents warm. The ones that don't have them have a better alternative.

The town was small, that's for sure, but that's by Val's previous life's standards.

The town was by no means small, with a population of nearly a three hundred thousand residents. It even still has enough space to accommodate more than double that number.

This world was also incredibly massive, and it can even be said that it has too much free space for people to fill, despite the particularities of this world.

One of those particularities is the lifespan of humans within which can even reach two hundred years, and that's for normal people. Seekers have the chance to surpass that by far.

However, as they say, God is generous thus he not only granted humans that gift but went further and blessed all things. Among those things are creatures that take humans for food thus no that many people get to live that entire time span.

Not far from the manor was another less stylistic building. It was quite simplistic with a wall a bit lower than the manors, that building is the town's prison.

From that prison walked a very noticeable person. He appears to be a mature man in his twenties with a bit of facial hair.

His pitch-black hair was hidden beneath a blue hat with a red lion symbol on it, that and the uniform he's wearing made it apparent that he's one of the town's guards.

The blue uniform was the agreed-upon uniform of the whole Nathalian kingdom with only a few changes.

The symbol on the hat depends entirely on the territory of the guards. The red lion is the Helious family's symbol.

It's however mandatory to put on another symbol on the uniform's chest area, A simplistic blue leaf with a sword-like rune inscribed on it.

"Hm, This is lovely." Val hummed to himself as he walked aimlessly throughout the alleys of the town.

'I'm really in another world, a wonderful world.' Val couldn't help but let out a sigh of satisfaction, 'Can my life even get any more entertaining at this point?'

"Yeah, this is indeed lovely though my uncleanness is taking a lot from this loveliness... I really need to take a shower."

Val muttered to himself, uncaring about the glances of the people around him or their disgust with his absolutely horrible scent. In fact, he shares their sentiments. After all, he has been locked up in solitary confinement for more than nine months.

So after asking around for a bit, he made his way to the closest inn though he didn't forget to accidentally pickpocket a few pedestrians along the way to get a bit of money.

He did get a bit of money from the two unfortunate guards, but it was very little, so he had to roam among the friendly towns' people to see who's charitable enough to accidentally give him a bit of money.

It was early in the morning at that point, so he didn't find a lot of people around but still got 28 Solus which was more than enough for multiple nights, even more depending on the Inn.

Solus is the currency of this world, interestingly, it's the currency of the entire world, an agreed-upon currency that is used throughout the continents.

'Solus huh, one of the ancient gods... The word god doesn't seem to be a distant word in this world as it should... Here, Seekers can create miracles as if it's nothing, so the world's sight must naturally be broader. Well, to Seekers, it's but an everyday occurrence.'

Val thought to himself as he looked at the grey coin in his hand with a vague elderly face inscribed on it, the number I engraved right below it.

The previous host was to a certain extent a nobility, he was even a grade above it, son to one of the most powerful people in the kingdom.

As such, he naturally learned many things about ethics and history. Among such information was the vague ancient history of the world, especially the beings known as the ancient gods.

It's said that they could freely travel through the void and even have the power to destroy worlds though whether that's true or not is unknown.

It's however known that Solus was the god of this world, so he obviously left an irreplaceable mark on it, especially after considering that the Seekers are still following the ways of the ancient with no improvement whatsoever.

The path of Ether Seeking is perfected by the ancient gods to a point where even after an extremely long time, it's still the same as it was.

Val didn't forget to buy some clothes on his way to the inn, two sets of clothes to be exact, one he changed to directly and got rid of the guards' clothes, the other set, he'll change to later.

The guards shouldn't be after him for a while, a few hours at least before they notice the absence of their fellow guards or patrol the area.

He soon reached his destination, a large gothic building that seems to be built mostly by white stones and dark wood, the same wood that's extremely available all around.

Val though could see another type of wood which some parts of the inn seemed to be made by, it's called luminescent azure wood.

Its source is the luminescent azure trees, one of the trees that surpass the grandeur of crimson-leaved trees. They're incredibly grand as they shine brightly even in the day, illuminating their surroundings with their captivating azure light.

The wood seemed to be perfectly cut in thin long lines and built with the inn to show a picture of well-structured glowing lines all over its exteriors. It was truly a sight to behold.

'Well, I didn't expect any less from the best Inn in the town.' Remarked Val in his mind.

The Inn was the closest of its kind to the mayor's manor which was the central point of the town, so naturally, it has the most attraction.

He also noticed no chimney anywhere on the Inn's roof yet as he entered, he found himself welcomed by a warm embrace.

Even with the temperature device in the prison, it was still a bit cold as it only added a bit of warmness, alleviating the cold. Here on the other hand...

'I love cold weather but I really missed such warmness.' Val let out a small content smile and viewed the warm Inn interior, faintly lit by a warm comfortable yellowish light.

"Welcome to Neroise Inn, may I know whether you seek lodging or lunch?"

He was brought out of his voice by the comforting voice of a brunette lady who appears to be in her thirties and who's obviously the Inn's shopkeeper or one of them.

Her job was simply to welcome potential guests with absolutely no care of how they look or smell like, so she simply ignored his suspicious appearance and gave the best smile she possibly could.

Val nodded to himself, still with that same content smile, "This is indeed quite lovely. And lodging please, I need to clean myself up first as you might've noticed."

The Innkeeper didn't show it but she let out a sigh of relief in her mind, knowing it's not someone here just to cause trouble, and so, she stayed courteous, "I noticed no such thing, and please follow me."

She then took him to the counter where she pulled out a small book. She opened it and looked at it for a moment before asking, "How long would you like to stay?"

"First, how much for the night?" "Twelve Solus for one night but the price goes down to eleven Solus for multiple nights."

"Hmm, I'll stay for two nights then." Said Val as he handed 22 Solus to her, barely hiding his desire to take a long hot shower and just relax.

The Innkeeper nodded before she wrote something on the book and said, "Please follow me." She then led him to his room.