- Regardless, I'm certain Momonga would be able to cast magic beyond 10th-tier since the guild scouts from Mercenary Magicians would never share misinformation with the rest of the guild, not with their habit of always double-checking their info as many times as possible. And their reports clearly said that Momonga wasn't a multi-class, so with 100 spellcaster levels...yeah, is very likely that Momonga may in fact be this so-called sorcerer emperor.
An emperor that has been reigning for 100 years, his country is close to celebrating its first centenary according to what he heard back in the yuan-ti town.
- So he arrived a century before I did, and I imagine he used his superiority over this world's natives to become emperor.
That appeared to be the short version of it.
- But, did he become an emperor by forcefully demanding devotion from those around him? Or those around him decided to obey him willingly? I was also told that many of the empire's citizens are humans, so I imagine that after 100 years the first members of his country may already be dead, so the current generation may not know how the country actually started, but...maybe there are longer-living races in the empire?
Rhemurus imagines that anything written in the empire's history books could be filled either with sugar-coated tales or outright lies that have nothing to do with reality regarding their emperor and the things he has done.
- Hakuun did tell me that this country and the empire aren't on the most friendly of terms, if I understood him right. So maybe I can find information here instead, accurate and unbiased information, which is what I need in order to have at least a rough idea of what this sorcerer emperor is like.
Even if this emperor is indeed Momonga from the Ainz Ooal Gown guild and decided to take his guild's name for himself, that didn't really change the fact that Rhemurus still didn't know almost anything about this world. A fellow player in this world could sound like a huge deal at first, but now that he was thinking about it, what did it really matter to Tanaka?
- What am I gonna do? Find out where his palace or castle or whatever is, walk up to him, say that I'm also a player and we will magically become best buds then and there? Pfft.
That would be a perfect dream scenario; becoming the BFF of a powerful emperor and being set for life in this magical world. But Rhemurus wasn't naïve, he knew happy endings were only for fairy tales, and this wasn't a fairy tale, happily ever after was nowhere near as important as securing his own survival.
- I can't blindly rely on other players feeling empathy for another player to guarantee my safety. I should also assume that for any player I come across in this world, not only Momonga.
If a player came to this world 100 years before he did, then how can he be certain that there weren't even more players out there who didn't happen to be famous? Players that hid in the shadows rather than making countries with themselves at the top. Because after all, if Rhemurus himself had no current intentions of becoming famous, then it was very likely that other players out there had no intention of making names for themselves, either.
- This Ainz Ooal Gown, or rather, this Momonga guy might indeed be a bit megalomaniac if, of all the things a level 100 spellcaster could do in this world, he chose to be an emperor.
But did he actually choose, though?
- Of course, there's also the possibility that he may have been somewhat forced to be a monarch? I do imagine who or what could really force a max-level player to do something he didn't want to do.
Rhemurus kept making a new hypothetical scenario after the other inside his head, potential events that may or may had not occurred, and even events that could occur in the future, all of them concerning any potential meeting or even paths crossing with the sorcerer emperor Ainz Ooal Gown, and before he knew it, over three hours flew by.
When his mind got exhausted and he decided to snap back into reality to rest his tired brain, he noticed that it was close to becoming nighttime. The sky was getting dark and even a few stars could be seen in the reddish heavens.
His butt felt really sore, and he felt like asking how much time remained before they reached the human city. But after turning his back and looking at how far away was the thri-keen merchant, he instead decided to just wait a bit more. It couldn't be that long left, his gut told him.
And soon enough, roughly 30 minutes later when it was now fully night was when the giant centipedes finally stopped, which could only mean one thing.
Rhemurus took the bag beside him - a bit heavier now because of the added weight of the scimitar and wooden shield - and jumped off the carriage segment.
He ran all the way to the heads of the giant centipedes so he could thank the merchant for taking him here, even if the said merchant was rewarded by the state to do so, Rhemurus still wanted to thank him.
"Thanks a lot, mister!"
"Don't mention it. I should thank you as well, this reward I got for taking you here will help me more than you can imagine."
Rhemurus began to look around, trying to locate the human city, but it appeared he was having some issues at that since all he could see nearby was a strange and quite small mountainous formation with a large rune embedded into one of the relatively tiny mountains.
"So...where's the city?"
"Uh? You never saw a walled city before? It's right there, look." Said the thri-keen merchant pointing one of his insectile fingers into the miniature rocky mountains.
"That's, that's a walled city!?"
"Yes, it is. Their gate is below the Sky Father rune, I believe that at this point they must have already been informed that you will be arriving, so you just need to go there and announce yourself as the refugee."
"I see, that's good to know. Thank you again, and I wish you safe travels!"
"Likewise."
Rhemurus turned around and jogged to the place the merchant told him the city gate was, and the merchant proceeded to go his way to the thri-keen settlement of Ikbrid, a gateway to the actual thri-keen mega underground city that lies below the lands of the council state.
What Rhemurus originally assumed was a miniature mountain range of sorts was in fact manufactured walls surrounding a city, something that now that he thinked about it did make sense, considering how these mountain walls were merely 250 feet tall - a little more than 76 meters tall - while actual naturally-formed mountains were way, way taller than that.
He eventually reached the place just below the so-called Sky Father rune that the thri-keen merchant said the city gate was, but Rhemurus couldn't see any gate, just the same rock that all the walls were made off. The merchant also said that he had to announce his arrival, so he filled his lungs with chilly night air before letting out an audible scream.
"Good evening! I'm the refugee! Thank you for giving me asylum!"
Nobody answered, however.
- This sure does bring back a few sad memories.
"Hello!? I'm the refugee from the capital! The city of Guraxus sent me!"
Still no answer. Could there have been a miscommunication of some sort? Maybe the message of his arrival was delayed? In any case, the best he could do now was wait and see.
Since he was still a little sore from the long journey, he placed his bag on the floor and took the opportunity to stretch his body a bit.
Truth be told, he was a bit anxious. Ever since he had arrived in this world, Rhemurus had never come across a fellow human yet. Now granted, his stay in this new world hadn't been that long, less than half a week so far, and most of that time he spent being unconscious, but he still couldn't help looking forward to meeting other individuals of his own kind.
- If we were to be pedantic about it, the humans that live in this world wouldn't necessarily be the same type of humans that live back on Earth. So, would they be similar to Yggdrasil humans, then? If so, I reckon they would really be my own kind after all.
Stretching his muscles did help him relax, even a little bit. But there was still no open gate anywhere in sight.
- Should...should I try to climb these stone walls?
A good look at the mountainous walls made Rhemurus immediately realize how ridiculous that idea was.
Maybe if he was a higher-level mage, he would have access to the spell [Spider Climb], or [Fly]. And as a higher-level druid, he would also be able to turn his body into unbreakable mineral and climb those huge craggy walls without much effort.
But as he was right now, he couldn't really do anything of the sort.
He needs to find a way to start grinding for EXP asap if he hopes to become stronger, if that was possible in this world, that is.
- I do wonder, though, if killing things is the only way for me to get EXP in this world, or if I'm still held by the rules of the game, somehow. After all, I didn't actually kill the worg myself, I only inflicted some damage to it.
According to Yggdrasil rules, the only way for someone to obtain EXP from a kill without actually scoring the kill itself was if this someone was registered as a party with other players and one of these other players scored the kill. The EXP gained was divided among the party members, to a maximum of six players per party.
- I'm pretty sure that I wasn't registered as a party with Hakuun's minotaur teammate, so why did I get EXP from his kill?
This was yet another thing that he could spend hours giving himself a headache to try and figure out and come up with nothing, so this time he simply gave up on that.
- A forget it, I'm sick of racketing my brain for no reason.
Instead, Rhemurus decided to try something while waiting for a gate to appear, and that was to see if one of his current gut feelings was correct. He reached into his bag and took out his scimitar and light wooden shield, equipping them for the first time without a console interface to facilitate things for him.
His idea was to see if putting lots of effort into doing things would allow him to gain EXP, that way he wouldn't have to become a murderhobo of sorts to grind in this world.
However, just as he was about to practice some blade swings with his weapon, Rhemurus suddenly felt his entire body go stiff.
- Wh-what!? What is this!? I can't move!
Not even his mouth could move an inch, the only parts of Rhemurus' body that still had some freedom were his lungs - thankfully - and his eyes which were haphazardly moving around in an attempt to spot who or what could've caused his current paralysis.
Then, he heard a faint noise coming from the other side of the stone wall, and immediately afterward a large rectangular portion of said wall seemed to detach itself from the rest of the stone and buried itself underground, revealing three vague figures standing at the other side of the newly-made gate.
- So this spot below the rune WAS a gate!
He heard a male voice.
"Well, here I was thinking that Drik-chkit may have brought us some interesting stuff, but he never came here at this time of the night before, and it seems that he only passed near our city to leave a stowaway? Now, this is odd."
The obviously threatening voice was getting clearer as one of the figures began walking towards him. Now that Rhemurus could see the individual up close he was quite shocked at the sight; a human - the first one he had seen in the new world - dressed in colorful clothes embroidered with exotic designs with what appeared to be gold, fair skin, red medium-length hair, and vivid green eyes. His right hand was stretched out towards him, and on his open palm was a tier magic circle.
- This guy, he must've used a spell, most likely [Hold Person] or something like that on me, but...why?
"Arming yourself up right in front of our gate, you weren't seriously thinking about trying to plunder our land or something, right? Heh, hahahahahaha!"
The adult - or at least, Tanaka believed he was an adult - man began to laugh hysterically in quite a mocking tone.
Rhemurus tried to explain the misunderstanding, but he couldn't really do anything in the state he was in.
"I'm sure there are lots of lies and excuses you are dying to spit at me, wannabe thief, but you will have plenty of time for that while you're in our jail."
- What!? No! You got it wrong! I'm not a thief! I'm a refugee! The dragon sage of the capital sent me!
If only he had received some form of documentation himself, maybe this issue could have been avoided, but no such luck.
"Akorian, Ureste, would you help me take this creature to where it belongs?"
The remaining two vague figures began to walk towards him, they too were adult human men with similar fair skin color, different shades of red on their hair, and their eyes likewise were different tones of green. However, what they were wearing was quite different from what the human casting [Hold Person] on Rhemurus was wearing; their bodies were covered in what appeared to be lamellar armor, but instead of metal scales, their lamellar appeared to be made out of leather plates. If it was rawhide or boiled leather, Rhemurus couldn't tell, but he was certain that their armor was lamellar because the plates composing them were laced into horizontal rows. Each one also had a tusk helmet on their head, which was basically a leather base padded with felt which had slivers of beast tusks attached to it in rows.
He could also see what appeared to be the tips of spears on their backs, weapons made out of bronze.
- Bronze equipment, just like in the yuan-ti town.
"Are you certain that this individual isn't actually a refugee, Lord Arioch?" Said one of the men to the individual holding Rhemurus still with his magic.
"If he truly was, how come we weren't informed beforehand? Surely, my father would've told me if a refugee of sorts would be arriving in our city all the way from the capital today, no?"
- That's an excellent point. After all, the merchant did tell me that during these last five hours, someone should've informed whoever is in charge of this city that I was arriving.
"Also, if you didn't have your own suspicions, you wouldn't have called me the moment mister Drik-chkit appeared on the other side of our wall at this hour, would you?"
- Huh? These fellows could see us from their own side? How?
"I, suppose so, Lord Arioch."
"In any case, my spell won't last forever. So if any of you could? I would appreciate it."
One of the men extended his own hand forward and cast a spell called [Body Entangle]. The grass beneath his feet magically grew at super speeds and enveloped Rhemurus' body tight, including his mouth.
- What the fuck was that!? I never heard about a [Body Entangle] spell before!
After that, the man who had cast [Hold Person], Arioch, immediately dispelled his spell with a slight trace of relief on his face.
Rhemurus' body was no longer stiff, but he still couldn't move or speak.
Then the other man cast yet another spell he had never heard about; [Plant to Stone], a spell that made the grown grass enveloping his body turn as solid as rock. As if being immobile wasn't bad enough.
"Alright, this should take care of it. Bring it into the city, let's see what we can learn about this creature." Said Arioch as he turned around and began to bark orders.
One of the men approached Rhemurus and grabbed him with both arms to slightly lift him upwards while the other man took out a bronze axe he had stored somewhere on his armor's back and crunched down to cut the grass below Rhemurus' feet that wasn't transmuted into stone.
Now that he was no longer bound to the ground, the man who had grabbed him with both arms placed him back on the ground and used his right hand to take hold of one of the petrified vines holding Rhemurus, that way the man would be able to drag him around with them.
Meanwhile, the other man took the bag with the studded leather armor inside it, and both proceeded to follow Arioch into the city with Rhemurus as their prisoner.
Once they went through the gate and into the human city of Breizen, Rhemurus was grazed by a sight that, all things considered, could be considered quite mundane in comparison to the magnificent capital he saw earlier that day; plenty of houses as far as his eyes could see, most of them made out of wood and some made out of stone, but all of them were at least two or three stories high, and if Rhemurus were to pay close attention, he would notice that the houses that were built close to the gate had flat roofs, a purposely chosen feature that would give a more stable footing for long-range weapon users in the extreme case of invaders managing to get past their massive wall. The roads themselves - like the one he was currently traversing with his captors - were made out of cobblestone, and near said roads there were plenty of post-light torches that were currently lit, for it was nighttime.
And most likely because it was nighttime, there were no other humans in sight besides the occasional individual with similar armor and weapons to the ones currently dragging Rhemurus around, individuals that he assumed must be city watchmen doing their night patrols.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Said Arioch to Rhemurus without even bothering to turn back and look at him. "I definitely understand why you would want to plunder a city as beautiful as ours, and thus I imagine you would understand why I will never allow anyone to bring harm upon it."
Now granted, this human city obviously wasn't as impressive as Guraxus, but it was definitely far more urbanized than Dethford the yuan-ti town. The latter still left a greater impact on Tanaka mainly because it was a non-human settlement, but the city of Breizen still looked pretty nice, he had to admit.
- Is this the peak of human advancement in this world? Now I wonder what the humans in the sorcerer empire are like.
One thing at a time, he reminded himself, because he still didn't even have a penny to his name, nor even knew what type of currency this world used, either. He should be grateful that he even got the chance to come across these humans, even if his first encounter with them was anything but smooth.
- Why did my first encounter with fellow humans in this world have to be like this? This is quite the poor first impression I'm leaving.
Indeed, the other humans around them were simply looking at the captured Rhemurus with indifferent stares.
He shouldn't have assumed that the people who live in this city would feel sympathetic to him, he should know better than anyone how untrustworthy humans in general are. And the irony of non-human beings having treated him far more nicely so far wasn't lost on Tanaka.
"I'm sure the plant stone is quite uncomfortable, but the jail is quite the distance away in the combat district so you will have to bear it for the time being."
Arioch is quite the chatterbox, Rhemurus was starting to realize.
"If I were you, I would start preparing the best sob story you can come up with to justify your criminal actions. Not that it will help you in the end, though."
Rhemurus simply rolled his eyes. The only good thing about his current situation was the fact that he couldn't say out loud that it couldn't get worst than this, thus avoiding jinxing himself.
Is not like he wasn't bothered by the current state of affairs - he was quite upset, in fact - is just that the mention of 'jail' instead of 'the gallows' somewhat guaranteed the fact that his life wasn't in any immediate danger. If worst came to pass, he hoped that mentioning the name of Seliaxhala out loud could give him some leniency and perhaps help confirm his status as a refugee sent by the great sage of Guraxus.
Then after three or so minutes of being dragged around, Rhemurus saw a human figure come out of nowhere and stand right in front of Arioch with a speed that he never believed possible for a human.
"Hey little Arioch! What you doing here so late?"
- That voice, it's a woman's...!
He couldn't actually see much because Arioch was standing right in the middle between himself and the person who just popped outside the shadow of the night.
"Why do you keep calling me 'little' if you're just two years older than me? I swear, when I become chieftain-"
"But you're not chieftain yet! So I'm gonna call you however I want, little Arioch!"
It was filled with quite the amount of playful cheer, that female voice.
"So anyway, what are you doing here? We were supposed to practice our newly learned spells together."
"I was called because Akorian and Ureste spotted a merchant who proceeded to leave a suspicious human standing right outside our northeastern gate. Though I'm not really sure if this creature is even a human, to begin with."
- Are, are you for real? What do you mean by...oh...right...
Tanaka had all but forgotten until now, what he did when he customized the Yggdrasil avatar that was now his flesh and blood body, and the fact that he hadn't found a single bloody mirror so far to see his face also made him ignore it until now.
When he made the avatar that was now his body, Tanaka gave it quite the peculiar appearance; pure white hair, pale skin - as in, not caucasian skin, but sickly pale skin - orange eyes, and black primal tribe tattoos surrounding his eyes. Back in Yggdrasil, a human with that appearance wouldn't raise any eyebrows, but in this world, he looked anything but like a normal human.
It was also at that moment when Rhemurus remembered that all the non-human individuals he had come across so far had never seen another human before, not even the dragon sage Seliaxhala, hence why his strange appearance wasn't called out until now.
- Wait, that thri-keen merchant interacted with humans before, no? Why didn't he said anything about my appearance?
"Lord Arioch does have a point." Said the man holding Rhemurus' bag. "When we spotted this person, at first I believed he was an undead of sorts."
- Give me a break. An undead? Really? Have you seen an actual undead before?
Rhemurus immediately stopped that train of thought.
- No, wait...is indeed very likely that these folk may have heard about undead beings but have never actually seen one.
Just like it was the case with most of the non-human individuals who had been helping him until now not knowing what humans were before he crossed paths with them, it would be wrong to assume that the people who live in this world know everything about everything, or that they have the same type of knowledge that Tanaka had.
"Oh! An undead!? Let me see!"
The woman moved her head to the side in order to have a better look at the captured Rhemurus, then immediately afterward she once again moved at an inhuman speed which made it seem like she teleported right in front of Rhemurus, giving him a clear look at the first female human he had seen in this new world; she also had fair skin, her hair likewise sported a reddish coloration, and her eyes were also a shade a green - thus Rhemurus concluded that all or most of the people who live in the human city of Breizen most likely share these physical features - but what she was wearing was neither lamellar nor embroidered clothes, but rather a suit of the lightest type of armor known as gambeson.
She was taking a good curious look at him as well, even going as far as playfully touching the edge of the scimitar that was still locked on Rhemurus' trapped hand with her finger.
"Careful, Ommarra, we don't know what this creature's weapon is. It could be coated in poison." Said Arioch out of concern.
"Relaaaaax, I'm good with poisons, remember?" Said the woman - Ommarra - in response while sniffing the finger she used to touch the scimitar. "And this thing doesn't have the scent of any poison in it anyway. But in any case, this doesn't look like an undead to me. Did you at least ask him who he was? Or what his business is?"
"Um, I believe Lord Arioch used his trapping spell the moment this person equipped his shield and strange weapon outside the walls. We haven't actually spoken to him yet."
At hearing that, Ommarra made an 'eh!?' facial expression before turning her gaze towards Arioch.
"Come on, don't look at me like that. This creature said he was a refugee from the capital, how was that not suspicious? Was I supposed to just open the gate and let him in?"
"Wha, a refugee!?" Exclaimed Ommarra with clear surprise. "This guy told you he was a refugee? Are you sure?"
"Yes he did, Lady Ommarra." Responded the one dragging Rhemurus around.
"Arioch, the conversation your father had with an unknown fellow councilor a few hours ago, he told me that they spoke about a refugee!"
That information made everyone around - including Rhemurus - quite surprised.
"That was their conversation about? A refugee!? Why didn't my father tell me?"
"Maybe because you didn't ask, little Arioch? In any case, I'll go inform the chieftain, he's at the transportation platform in the central district so just wait for me a little bit." She said right before blitzing away with her unnatural speed.
"So, do you think we should release this person, Lord Arioch?"
"No. Not until my father gives the order."
- Huh, yet you seemed more than happy to tie me up without your father's orders, didn't you?
Rhemurus was quite happy to be immobile at that moment, since that way he didn't have to put much effort into preventing himself from saying things that would antagonize a seemingly prominent individual in the city. But after 40 seconds or so of waiting later, they were greeted by the presence of an individual who clearly used teleportation magic to appear in front of them, followed then by the return of Ommarra who came back running with her usual speed.
The new figure was an aged man, his face was similar to Arioch's face but with a well-grown mustache and beard that reached to his chest. His clothes were also embroidered with precious materials like Arioch's, but Rhemurus could also spot things that - if he was allowed to guess - were magic items of sorts being worn by the elder human who was most likely an arcane caster of sorts who could at least cast 5th-tier spells. The most eye-catching thing regardless if it was a magic item or not was the exquisite cloak that hung from the chieftain's shoulders and reached all the way to his knees.
"So this is you...the refugee I was told about?"
The chieftain's voice was clearly tempered with the wisdom of an old mage, but Rhemurus could swear that he heard a few tints of surprise in the elder's remark.
"I won't even bother to ask why he's being held immobile, but I will however request that you release him. Now."
Without a moment's hesitation, the one that had cast [Plant to Stone] before used the counter spell [Stone to Plant] in order to revert the rock vines covering Rhemurus' body back into regular vines, allowing him to break free and finally have a proper conversation with the first humans he had ever encountered in the new world, so he wasted no time and began speaking out for himself.
"I was sent to this city by special request of the sage Seliaxhala, my name is Rhemurus."
"Woooo, the great sage of Guraxus? THE Seliaxhala?" Exclaimed Ommarra in almost childish amazement.
"Then you really are." Replied the chieftain. "We were expecting you, although the councilor who informed me didn't specify the means of your arrival, just that you would be arriving today, so we were waiting for any message from the other side of the transportation platform of our city."
"Well...that would be because I don't actually have the means to pay for that fast service, so I was instead taken here by mount."
Now that he remembers, Seliaxhala made the petition of asylum to the grand councilor right before the method of transportation was chosen, so maybe that would explain the slight miscommunication since it seems that the use of that arcane platform to teleport long distances is the standard form of travel between large cities.
- Maybe I should've indeed accepted the use of the platform to arrive here, regardless of the debt I would have had to pay afterward.
But what's done is done, no use regretting stuff like that.
"Or maybe you don't have the means because you're just someone who pretends to be the refugee?"
This Arioch guy was really adamant to paint Rhemurus as the bad guy.
"Now there, Arioch, the fellow councilor left with me the asylum request that was handwritten by the great sage himself, and said request clearly has the name 'Rhemurus' as the name of the refugee in it. It was left in the meeting lodge, you can go read it yourself if you want."
Arioch now had nothing else to say nor object to, so he simply gave his father a respectful bow and walked away. Ommarra soon followed right behind him.
"Ureste, Akorian, you go back to your posts."
"Yes, Lord Erodel." Said both men in unison as they turned back and returned to their posts near the gate.
The bag containing Rhemurus' armor was left on the floor, so he placed his shield and scimitar back inside it before picking it up again.
"So, you came all the way here from the capital by mount? That does explain the long delay."
"I ask your forgiveness, chieftain." Said Rhemurus with clear regret in his voice.
"Huh? And why is that?"
"The great sage was kind enough to offer me the option to pay for the teleportation service later, at my own leisure. But because I didn't want to have a debt at the back of my mind, I refused and took the slowest option instead. Because of that, this misunderstanding took place and-"
"Hey, forget it." Interrupted the chieftain, Erodel. "Is not that big of a deal, you're here now, that's what matters. The councilor I spoke with already told me the relevant details about your situation, and I reckon you must be tired, right?"
"A little bit, yes."
"Follow me."
Chieftain Erodel took out a dark wooden stick from his robe and twisted the middle section of it like a screwdriver, then the stick grew to the size of a staff as tall as the chieftain himself. Arcane runes of some sort could be seen in said staff, confirming that the leader of Breizen was indeed a spellcaster.
"We're currently in the merchant district, I will request an inn to accommodate you."
- And inns cost money, right? Money I don't have. Is was Rhemurus was just about to say out loud, but he successfully prevented himself from saying so. Instead, he said something else.
"I was also thinking, chieftain Erodel, if there are any jobs I could find in your city?"
"So you are looking for a job, eh?"
"Yes. That way I will be able to pay back any expenses you make while giving me asylum."
"Well, I do admire your desire to not be an unwanted burden, young man, but a refugee sent by the capital higher-ups isn't really a burden to us at all."
Rhemurus imagines that, considering how the great sage of Guraxus made the asylum request and a councilor of the entire country arrived in person to deliver said request, perhaps a monetary compensation of sorts would be given to Breizen? Asking such a thing directly to the chieftain could come out as too nosy, however, so he won't do that.
"And regarding your request for employment, that would boil down to what abilities you have, and what we need more of."
"Of course, I do understand that chieftain."
"Alright, we can discuss all of that tomorrow, after you ate a meal and took a good rest."
The two kept walking until they arrived at the district area where the inns were. As it turns out, this specific district of Breizen had inns of varying sizes so they had to find one of the inns made for medium-sized beings, not surprising considering how the chieftain said it was a merchant district where traveling merchants from different parts of the council state would do business and sometimes stay in for the night.
"Just one thing, young man."
"Yes, chieftain?"
"Your shield and your strange blade, you can't be walking around the city with weapons unless you're a member of the watch, so for the time being we will have to confiscate them. I hope you understand."
"I definitely do. So do I give them to you now?"
"You have more than a blade and shield in that bag, yes?"
"My armor. Well, what's left of my armor, it broke during a recent battle."
"Wearing armor doesn't break our civilian rules, but you say it's broken? Must have been quite the intense battle, it's good you survived."
"I'm a druid apprentice, I won't die that easily."
"Oh, a druid you say?"
"Yeah, though I'm curious about the druidic traditions of these lands, they seem quite different from the ones of my homeland."
"Your homeland Midgard, right? The fellow councilor told me, and now I'm also quite curious about your homeland as well."
Rhemurus made himself sure to mention the fact he was a druid in order to make a good impression on the chieftain who was also a spellcaster, that way he would hopefully increase his chances to obtain employment in the human city, and learning that watchmen were the only ones that are allowed to use weapons made him realize that such job may be the one that would allow him to find a way to grind EXP.
- Oh yeah, and having money in this world would also be good, I suppose.
Eventually, they found a suitable inn and Erodel casually opened the doors with Rhemurus following behind, the inn's lobby looked somewhat as one would expect from one, with wooden tables and chairs - proper chairs designed by humans, a sight that refreshed Rhemurus' eyes - lit candles in several parts of the room, and a reception with a female staff worker in it.
"Lord Erodel! At what do we owe your visit?"
"Good evening. Do you have some rooms available?"
"Y-yes! Will you be staying tonight?"
"He will." Erodel said while moving his staff in a way to direct the receptionist's attention to Rhemurus.
"Oh wow, is this one of your famous arcane experiments? We're honored you chose our humble inn!"
"Arcane experiments? What stuff have you heard about me, young lady?"
"Huh? I, we, um."
The young woman was starting to get a bit nervous, afraid that she may have unknowingly offended the chieftain somehow. A feeling that Tanaka could 100% relate to at this point.
"Just kidding! Hehe, I know what type of experiments you're referring to, but this is nothing of the sort."
"Oh! Ah, I see. Haha! So this summoned being will stay at our inn, then. For how long?"
- Summoned being? Is she referring to me...? Of course she is.
"Lass, this person with me is not a being I magically summoned."
"...no...?"
"No, he's a human, like you and me. He just happens to have a peculiar appearance and torn clothes."
- And the mind of an alien from another world, to boot!
"He comes from a faraway land and needs a place to stay for the night. The great sage of the capital advocates for him, so we ought to be good hosts, shouldn't we?"
"Yes, Lord Erodel. I'm so, so sorry."
"It's okay." Rhemurus stepped into the conversation to defend the young woman. "I do tend to give that poor first impression, don't be too harsh on yourself."
After hearing that, the woman showed a relieved but still nervous smile on her face.
"So I assume you can take it from here, Rhemurus?"
"Yeah, thank you for accompanying me."
"Here, this should be good enough for your accommodations for the time being."
Erodel took out five small and flat octagonal pieces of yellowish metal that glittered with the reflected candlelight and placed them on the wooden counter. Gold coins, all things considered.
- How much money is a gold coin, anyways?
Regardless of the exact amount, the young receptionist couldn't help but widen her eyes at the sight of so much money.
"Before I leave, your weapon and shield, if you don't mind."
"Yes, of course."
Rhemurus placed his bag on the floor and took out his scimitar and light wooden shield before handing them to the chieftain.
"Once you feel you have rested enough, you can speak with the marshall in this district's city watch headquarters anytime you wish to contact me. I will go speak with him right now in order to avoid any future misunderstandings, and if you get lost just ask the locals for directions."
"Alright. Thank you once again, chieftain."
"Have a nice evening."
And just like that, Erodel teleported away, leaving Rhemurus by himself.
He took a quick peek at the gold coins on the counter and asked the receptionist a question only a foreigner would make.
"Would it be alright if I ask how much are gold coins worth in these lands?"
"Huh? Oh, well, I'm not really sure how valuable are gold coins in your own native lands sir...Rhemurus, was it?"
"Yeah. And what's your name?"
"I'm Aula."
"Aula, nice to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise. But like I said, I'm afraid I have no context regarding your native lands to make a good comparison."
"Of course, I should've figured that out."
He remained silent for two seconds before making a more fair question.
"In that case, what type of accommodation would five gold pieces give me in this inn?"
"That would depend on the type of accommodation you want, and how long you will be staying."
The receptionist, Aula, proceeded to give Rhemurus a full rundown of the cost of the inn's services and amenities.
Accommodations were divided into three types; basic, common, and good.
Basic accommodation gave you a room with nothing more than a blanket, a pillow, and a hearth. Meals consisted of bread, baked turnips, onions, and water. It cost five bronze coins per day.
Common accommodation gave you a room that had the above plus a bed mattress and chest to store your things in. Meals consisted of pastries, chicken stew, carrots, and watered-down ale. It cost 15 bronze coins - or one silver coin and five bronze coins - per day.
Good accommodation gave you a room with all the amenities of the lower accommodations and several luxuries on top like a soft carpet floor and silk curtains on the windows, as well as exquisite furniture like a wardrobe to store your clothes and a few desks to put personal items. Meals consisted of beef or fish, peas, sweet fruit, soup, and strong ale. It cost 50 bronze coins - or five silver coins - per day.
Also, the inn had a stable service where your mount could rest and be attended by staff workers as well. The cost of the stable service, however, would vary depending on the mount's diet; if the mount ate grass or grain then it would cost 80 bronze coins - or eight silver coins - per day, but if the mount was a carnivore then it would cost 200 bronze coins - or 20 silver coins, or two electrum coins - per day.
To Rhemurus' surprise, the coinage of the Argland Council State was slightly different from the surrounding lands in the sense that it included electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold. And even when compared to other lands that do use electrum coins, the value of an individual electrum coin wasn't half of a gold coin's value, but rather just one-tenth of it.
So basically; one gold coin was worth 10 electrum coins, one electrum coin was worth 10 silver coins, and one silver coin was worth 10 bronze coins.
The usage of bronze instead of copper for the lower coin denomination was yet another aspect where the council state differed from neighboring countries.
- So let's see...with five gold coins I could stay 1,000 days under the basic accommodation, that's more than two and a half years!
He did plan to stay some time in the human city, but spending all the money that was just given to him on inn accommodations didn't sound like a good idea in the long run.
- Five gold coins would also allow me to stay just a little more than a year under the common accommodation, or 100 days which is a little more than three months under the good accommodation.
But that was assuming he did spend all five gold coins in the inn, and there were other things that Rhemurus felt he would need money for, like clothes that weren't torn, and a smith that could fix his armor or sell him a new one. He also didn't know if new city watch recruits were given their equipment by the city, or if they had to have their own gear as a prerequisite to join, so spending all the money he had right now on just inn accommodations was a complete no-no.
- I'll use just one gold coin for my stay in this inn, the common accommodation will be good enough, it will suffice for a little more than two months.
"Thank you very much, Aula. I will be spending one gold coin for a common room, if that's alright."
"Of course! That will suffice for 66 days, your change is 10 bronze coins." Said Aula as she took the gold coin, placed it in a metal box below the counter, and took out 10 circular coins made out of bronze which she gave to Rhemurus.
"I'll give you your room key, give me a moment."
Aula began to browse something from her end of the reception desk and took out a key with strange symbols etched into it, symbols that Rhemurus couldn't tell if were letters or numbers.
"Here's your key, sir. Supper should be ready in 30 minutes, you can rest in your room in the meantime, it's on the second floor, just take the stairs in your right."
"Thank you again." Said Rhemurus as he took the key and gave a good look at the symbols in it.
Even if he couldn't understand them, all he had to do was find a room with matching symbols to know which one was given to him.
Since the clothes he was currently wearing had no pockets, Rhemurus had no choice but to put the 14 coins to his name inside his bag alongside his broken armor, it seemed like miscellaneous items like pouches were among the things he needed to purchase while being here.
And yes, as a player he had access to his item box, but he couldn't just casually make things disappear and reappear in front of other people without raising suspicion, so he had to avoid using his inventory in front of others if he could help it.
"Alright, I'll see you around, Aula."
"I hope you enjoy your stay here, sir."
Aula had a genuine and warm smile on her face while Rhemurus walked up to his room, words couldn't express how glad she was that a patron of the inn she worked at wasn't offended by the mistake she made.
[The marshall's office]
The main office of the city watch headquarters in Breizen's merchant district was compact, not very big but not very small either. The building itself was one of the structures of the district made out of stone, but it was the only one that had its walls and roof enchanted with arcane wards for extra defense.
Currently, the one who occupied the main office, marshall Gellius from the city watch, was in a meeting with a watchman regarding an important issue that had been giving the good marshall no small amount of sleepless nights.