Chapter 55 – This is the Beginning

The fortress city Babylon was divided into 3 districts.

The military district was located in the upper half of the circle-shaped city. This was where Roxy’s army was stationed at. Apparently, there were also hired mercenaries among them.

‘Mercenary’ referred to those that were stronger than regular warriors. Most of them were born from Holy Knight families, but never acquired the required Holy skill to become a Holy Knight.

Most, if not all of these men held some resentment toward the Holy Knights. Then why did these people even get hired? Of course, it’s because when it came to Gallia, they’ll need all the help they can muster.

If you can fight, then such obstacles will be overlooked. That was the way of the fortress city Babylon.

That said, if you were strong, even if you were just a regular warrior, you would be allowed to go here. Even if you had a bad attitude, nobody would complain if you can kill monsters. You would still be rewarded accordingly.

About Roxy, I wonder if she’d be fine with it…she had that strong sense of righteousness in her after all.

As for me, I’ll be just fine. If anything, it’s a perfect place for me.

Even if one had a skill that was deemed a heresy to God–like Gluttony skill, which allows the user to consume soul of its victim, he/she will still be tolerated. To the extent that as long as their presence here was beneficial for the fortress city, their existence would be permitted.

That’s exactly why I planned to go here. I had to, in preparation for the coming future.

Well, if I had to say so myself, the fortress city Babylon was actually quite large. About the same size as the capital, I guess?

There were lots of soldiers and mercenaries, and there were also a lot of warriors gathering here. So this was the so-called frontline. I could feel a sense of oppression that was quite different from the capital. Somehow, I wonder if I’ll meet those roughnecks again?

After passing through the gate, I walked along the main road where the general areas were spread on its left and right. At the end of main road was the military district.

In general, the commercial district was in the east, while the residential district was in the west. If you wanted to find an inn, that would be in the residential district. To summarize,

?Military district (South): Where the holy knights and soldiers from the kingdom were stationed. Also, local mercenaries can be hired here.

?一General Area (North): This is where merchants and females who wanted to make a quick fortune gathered.

→Commercial District (East): restaurants, weapon shops, taverns, there were plenty of shops here just like at the capital.

→Residential District (West): It’s mostly consisted of high class inns. Mostly because the warriors here earn more money than in other places.

You can’t enter the military district at the moment. See, there are those uncles with scary face standing at the gate. Apparently Roxy had already gone inside.

Well, let’s go to the residential district first, as I need to secure a place to stay.

Every and each on of them seemed to be a luxurious inn. Let’s take a look at one.

As I entered, a good looking man in black suit, invoking the sense of cleanliness, greeted me. He seemed to be the employee of this inn.

[Welcome, looking for a lodging?]

[Yeah]

Even if I’m still wearing the skull mask, he still didn’t fail to smile. I guess, it’s already a fairly normal sight on this city.

[Although I’m wearing this mask, you act like it’s nothing, eh?]

[Why of course, that’s a mask that hinders recognition. There are many who want to hide their feature here, so it’s not a big deal.]

He replied with an answer I had expected. Among these people, some of them were former holy knights a long time ago. They were exiled due to having raised a big problem for the kingdom.

[How much to stay for one night here?]

[Yessir, it’s 5 gold per night including a bath and three meals.]

I was so surprised, my jaw about to touch the floor. That 5 gold is too much of a ripoff.

In comparison, similar accommodation at the capital will only cost 1 gold per night. That means, the pricing here was actually five times of that on the capital.

Looking at me who were upset, the employee then said.

[This seems to be customer’s first visit to the fortress city. So it’s normal to be surprised with the pricing. How about this? There are accommodations with cheaper pricing than this inn if customer go to the more densely populated area further to the west. Why don’t customer try checking there?]

[I appreciate that advice. Anyways, how come you are willing to tell me that info?]

[That’s easy to answer. Although customer can’t stay here due to a lack of money at the moment, customer will eventually gain a lot from monster subjugations. When customer feels like. Or if customer has a secret desire to fulfill. At that time, feel free to return here.]

[I see….]

That’s a quite handy way of thinking.

They still helped even if the person didn’t get to stay, because they were planting a seed of connection for the future. Amazing….the people here seemed to have different style compared to those at the capital.

[Thank you very much for the advice. Later then.]

[Yes, I’ll be waiting for your return.]

I felt gratitude for the now deeply bowing employee for his advice.

As I kept walking, the scenery changed into that of cityscape. The luxurious inns built of new red bricks, was now replaced with buildings made of old white bricks.

It was probably pure white when it was newly built. But now it has darkened a little due to weathering.

It’d take a lot of money to bring the supplies for rebuilding up to the Gallia border. So of course the inns that don’t have enough funds to rebuild won’t be able to keep their appearance.

The further you go, the lower rank the inn will be. It could easily be judged from appearance.

My money on hand had fallen considerably thanks to Myne. At the moment I only had 4 gold and 30 silver…..I’m really broke.

I had more than 50 gold once before. But I wasted it on many things. It almost feels like the gold coins had grown wings and flown out without permission. That’s just great…I needed to be more careful from now on!

While thinking of such thoughts, I came to a section where most of the houses were made of cracked bricks.

Now then, where was the inn? Each one of them looked the same.

[Maybe, are you looking for a lodging?]

I turned toward the energetic voice of a woman. It was a woman seemingly slightly older than me. She approached me as she laughed loudly.

[Yes, but….]

[I thought so. Then, how about this. Stay at my inn. I’ll make it cheap for you.]

[How much?]

[50 silver!]

U~n, the price is five times cheaper, which was not bad. I should be able to raise more funds after killing some monsters, and it’ll be faster, since there was no existence called Myne here.

Moreover, I think I like this innkeeper’s personality.

[Understood. Then please.]

[Ho, you’ve decided even before looking at my inn?]

[That’s not a problem. In exchange, I want to eat something already.]

I said while I looked all the ingredients that woman brought in her hands. It was all fresh.

That was one decisive factor. If she appreciated the ingredients that much, the cooking shouldn’t be bad.

[Yosh, understood. Then, follow me.]

[Let me bring half of it for you]

[You sure? I’ll be imposing on you then. However, I won’t give you any discount for that.]

[I know, I just want to have something to eat a soon as possible.]

[Ahahahah, if that’s the case I’ll use all my skills for the meal today.]

I’ll look forward to it. My stomach can hardly wait any longer; it could growl anytime.

Rather, it’s growling now.

Guuuuuuu…..

[Arara, your stomach is protesting already.]

[Are you that hungry? Here, want to some of this bread first?]

[Is it okay?]

[I’ll get the payment later as separate fee.]

I see what you’re doing there. Well, I’ll just have to pay for it since I have no reason to refuse.

It’s warm….a freshly baked bread. The sweet taste of barley enveloped me when I brought it to my mouth. Somehow, I felt like all the fatigue so far had been washed away.

[This is delicious. It’s the first time I’ve eaten a bread like this.]

[I’m glad that you liked it. That bread was made by my sister and her husband. You can eat it again while staying on our inn. There are several more kinds.]

[That sounds good.]

[We may not be able to compete in appearance to those luxury inns. But I’m quite confident with the inside. Well, please get in. Welcome to my inn!]

Ooh, the outer appearance was like what I expected. Cracked bricks, blurred signboard. Signs of weathering through the long years, a lot of unflattering aspects that made most people unwilling to stay here.

However, that’s only on the outside.

Excitedly, I stepped inside the inn. It’s all because of the taste of this one bread.