Chapter 4 To St. Gabriel

Simon and Kanonno didn't speak to each other during the morning when they walked to the church, they were both drowsy because they were at the bar for most of the night. Simon found out that Kanonno should never be allowed in a bar fearing that she'll suck the place dry. They had to stop at a shop to buy hang over medicine before going to the church.

"Good morning you two." Greeted the priest when the two entered, "I thought you were leaving sister."

"I was going to see him off." Kanonno growled, still feeling the hangover headache.

"I contacted the guild, and they're sending someone right now, he should be here soon." Informed the priest when a someone entered the church.

"Excuse me … I'm looking for an Elijah Herman." Said a young man, he was maybe around Simon's age, maybe a little bit younger, with short dirty blond hair, grey eyes, wearing a red headband across his forehead. He had a jacket on and a pair of black pants on he carried a sword on his hip and an umbrella.

"Yes, I am Father Elijah Herman." Spoke the priest, "Are you the escort from Ad Libitum?"

"Yes sir, My name is Cress Albane." The young man introduced, "Who do you need to be escorted to St. Gabriel?"

"Um … me …" Simon peeped, "you see … I'm a refugee fr-" Cress put his hand up, signaling him to stop talking.

"We get a lot of requests regarding refugees." He explained, " Shall we get going?"

"Not yet." Kanonno interrupted, "Simon, can I talk to you?" Simon nodded.

"When you two are done, I'll be waiting just outside the church." Informed Cress.

"You win." She apologized, Simon laughed "Also here." She handed him the bag of gald.

"What's this?" Simon asked

"Isn't it obvious? It's gald."

"I know but why are you giving this to me?"

"Well, you won, and you're gonna need it a lot more that I do." Said Kanonno, "This should be enough to rent a room at the inn for a week or so. Just get a job and don't eat canned crap everyday."

Simon laughed, "I won't I'll probably learn how to cook or something."

"Also, don't come back to Sakriny." Warned Kanonno, "I don't want you to get killed, so … never come back unless you're in a guild, then they can't really do anything about it."

"Alright, I won't come back to Sakriny." Promised Simon.

"Good, well see ya." Said Kanonno, Simon nodded and exited the church.

"Are you ready to go?" Cress asked, Simon nodded.

The trip to St. Gabriel was one miserable trip, Cress handed Simon the umbrella but the blowing wind sprayed rain on him. The umbrella flipped up getting him more soaked.

"I'm sorry about the umbrella." Apologized Simon.

"Well I think that was pretty beat up anyway." Said Cress, then he froze and drew his sword.

"Is something wrong?" Simon asked.

"Monsters." Cress replied, "You have a sword right? Use it if you have to." Simon had forgotten about the rapier he took with him when he and Kanonno got out of Moslin. Some wolf looking monsters ran at them, Cress took a fighting stance then lunged at the monsters, stabbing one in the head then he sliced another one across its abdomen then followed it up with shouting "Demon Fang!" releasing a light from his sword, killing the monster. Then a third monster ran past him and went for Simon. Simon quickly drew his sword and stuck it in front of him, he closed his eyes and turned his head, and fell to the ground and the monster landed on his rapier.

"Are you all right?" Cress shouted.

"I-I'm fine." Replied Simon, shaken.

"Well, that's probably all, for now, but be on your guard." Reminded Cress as Simon pulled his sword out of the monster's gut.

"Yes sir." Responded Simon sheathing his sword. The trip after that went very smoothly except when they almost got hit by a coming automobile. After a few hours later they arrived in St. Gabriel.

The city looked completely different from Moslin, there weren't any soldiers roaming the streets, but they are in front of the palace and the military base. Some civilians roamed the streets looking for jobs, while others are just trying to make ends meet.

"I guess this is where we part, you'll be fine on your own right?" asked Cress.

"Yeah." Simon nodded.

"Okay, well if you need anything, like a job don't hesitate to ask Ad Libitum." Said Cress giving Simon a slip of paper that said 108 Gates Street. "That is the street address for the guild. See ya." Said Cress.

"Thank you." Said Simon with a bow, then he went to look for the inn when he soon discovered that there's more than one in the city after a conversation with a civilian. "Oh boy…" He muttered to himself. He hustled around the city asking civilians where the nearest inn was, which was the Lylia inn. He asked for directions but some people were rude and refused to give him the directions while others didn't understand them because they spoke a different language. Finally a young man told him to take Ashting street which was a little bit ahead then go right on Wellon road. He followed the directions but he couldn't find the inn until he found out that he actually went left instead of right and turned around. Lylia inn was the building at the end of the street. Though it looked very sketchy.

"Um … hello?" He said peeking his head through the door.

"Yeah?" Said a brunette woman smoking a cigarette, filing her nails.

"I'd like to … get a room …"

"Wait what did you say?" She asked.

"Well, I'd like to get a room and -" He began but she put up her hand silencing him.

"Hold on, you need a room right?" She asked.

"That's what I just sa-"

"u-bu-bu-bu!" She cut off, " Meaning that you're a traveler?"

"Refugee but-" Simon corrected.

"Meaning that you're willing to pay money for an amount of time on a room meaning that we'll finally for the first time since this depression started be able to get … MAINTENANCE FOR THIS DUMP!" She cheered getting up on the desk, screaming, ripping her shirt off, revealing her pink lacy bra, and making some sort battle cry, swinging on one of the hanging planks. The almost cartoonish display left Simon shivering in his boots. He curled his toes in his boots and gripped his fists.

"H …" he began but the racket muted what he would've tried to say, "HOLD ON!" Simon screamed to get the woman's attention, "I just need a room for a week to keep me housed until I get a job."

"Oh …" She said getting off the desk, and putting her shirt back on "I'm sorry you hand to see that, I just get too excited when we get guests. It normally scares them off. Let's see …" She pulled out a price book out from under the desk. "Staying for a week would normally cost for one 700 gald, but since you dealt with my behavior I'll give you 10% off making the total 630 gald."

"Um … should I pay now or pay as I go?" Simon asked, remembering that the inns he and Kanonno stayed in were for a day.

"It's preferable if you pay now." She informed. Simon pulled out the pouch, counted 630 gald and gave it to the woman. She accepted the cash then pulled out a key that read "206." "It's on the second floor, and I would keep that rapier with you at all times, we get roaches."

"Thanks …?" Said Simon raising an eyebrow.

"Oh and if you need anything just ask for me, Lediemn Beak or someone else at the front desk." She informed.

"I'll keep that in mind." Simon quickly said as he almost jogged to his room. Once he got to his room he found a cockroach on the crawling floor next to the bed. He drew his sword and snuck up to the roach and skewered it, possibly puncturing a hole in the floor. He looked at it and made a constipated face as he looked for a place to get rid of the cockroach carcass. He looked to the window, then opened it, he scraped the cockroach off the rapier with the window sill, hoping that it didn't drop onto anyone.

It was almost sundown, and he was starting to feel hungry, he went to the lobby, taking the gald with him.

"Excuse me, do you know of any good places to eat?" He asked, Lediemn.

"Well, you could eat here but we don't have a chef anymore since we haven't had any guests. If you want something cheap but good I would suggest Frederic's they don't serve anything that's canned because of rumored diseases. It's on Julianne street." She suggested.

"Thank you." Said Simon. "Where's Julianne Street?"

"Go down Ashting Street then take a left on Resht Street then take a right on Gate's street, Julianne Street is right next to the guild building, 108 gate street. Frederic's is the place that looks like a run down dump. You can meet guild members that go there." She advised.

"Thank you again." Said Simon, leaving the inn. He followed what Lediemn said with the exceptions of confusing left with right. He eventually found his way to Frederic's when he saw Cress walking out with another young man around his age with long periwinkle hair tied back wearing a brown long coat with patches on the sleeves over a pair of slacks, a button up shirt and some belts. He entered the shack.

"Hello, welcome to Frederic's." Greeted a waitress with magenta hair wearing a pair of trousers, apron, and a blouse. "How many are we serving tonight?"

"Just one." Said Simon.

"Alright, right this way." Gestured the waitress leading him to an empty table with two chairs.

"Thank you." Thanked Simon sitting down.

"Good evening, my name is Rutee Katera and I'll be serving you this evening." Welcomed a waitress, with short black hair, violet eyes and wearing the same neutral outfit the waitress up front wore, giving Simon a menu. "Just give a holler if you need anything." She said placing silverware in front of him. Simon looked at the menu, there were five sections labeled 'Appetizers,' 'Main courses,' 'Desert,' 'Alcohol,' and 'Nonalcoholic beverages.' He had seen a menu before but, all that he ever ate the only time when they went to a restaurant in Medine was whatever Kannono ordered just to save some money. He remembered the previous night that she told him what the five categories had, since his memory was shot and he didn't know about some things about the world. As he looked at he menu he heard someone, probably a regular or a guild member, being greeted with enthusiasm then lead to a table.

"Hey kid, may I take your order?" asked Rutee who's right next to him.

"Um … Mabo curry." Said Simon, quickly.

"Sure thing, would you like a drink with that?" She asked writing down the request.

"Um…" He skimmed over the menu, "I'll have … coffee."

"Would you like that with cream?" She asked.

"...Sure…" He replied.

"Okay, one Mabo Curry and a coffee with cream coming up." Said Rutee. He just sat there alone, looking up at the ceiling. He sighed to himself, it would be nice to talk to someone, even if it was just a stranger. He looked over to a girl with pink hair next to him, a young man with auburn hair with a dirty blond man next to the bar, and a group of teenagers clear across the bar. He turned to the girl next to him, she was younger than he was, her dress and headband resembled a flower though she did seem sort of familiar.

"Um … H-hello…" He said to the girl, catching her attention.

"Hello." She responded back, the two were quiet for a while.

"I'm sorry … I'm not particularly social … I hope I'm not creeping you out." He apologized.

"Not at all, it kind of nice to have some company."

"So …" He began, "Yggdrasil …" He said trying to come up with a topic, "do you think it'll grow back?"

"Maybe …" She shrugged, "if this world lasts long enough to regenerate the tree's mana supply."

"Mana supply?"

"Um … forget it …" Shied the girl, "though … did you hear about the story about the tree maiden in … Sakriny?"

"I don't think so … I think that story is banned in Sakriny …" Said Simon remembering the explanation on how Sakriny became a dystopia.

"Really? It's not a story, it's a rumor from travelers who's seen this maiden, is it a government conspiracy?" The girl asked.

"I don't know … who is the tree maiden anyway?" Simon replied.

"The rumor is that she's the spirit a child that might have lost her life when the tree was chopped down." Shrugged the girl. "Though I've heard that she could be a summon spirit because people can touch her."

"What does the child look like?"

"I haven't heard a thing about what she looks like …" Shrugged the girl.

"I see …" Simon muttered to himself when Rutee came back with his order.

"Well … I have to go … it was nice talking to you um …"

"Simon."

"Well it sure was a pleasure to talk to you Simon." She said leaving some money on the table and exiting the restaurant. Simon was alone munching on the Mabo curry and sipping on his coffee, which made him awfully twitchy. The girl he just talked to left him wondering about one thing, the tree maiden.