Finally an Adventurer
I had finally become an adventurer in Sargadis, but I still had to wait another three days before I could truly get to work. A proper plate served as both an ID and a license to receive quests through the guild. Until a rookie adventurer received one, they had to pay fifty coppers to the guild and still couldn’t even earn enough for a meal. That’s why country bumpkins who rushed to the city shouting “I saved up fifty coppers, I’m an adventurer now!” often ended up doing odd jobs while starving for those three days.
The source of that information was Professor Brammaton’s book. Every single line in the book my advisor gave me was both interesting and practical. I didn’t even get bored on the ship to Shehir.
Yerna? Never heard of that bitch.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Anyway, with nothing to do for the next five days, I set off to find an inn where I could stay for the time being. I asked the receptionist just one more time where a decent inn might be. The way her face, which had finally relaxed thinking her work was over, stiffened awkwardly made my conscience sting.
Sorry, but it couldn’t be helped.
Professor Brammaton’s book only said that anyone below Bronze Class should avoid good inns anyway and head to places with lots of fellow adventurers or none at all. It was better to ask even if it made me look clueless than to wander around blindly and regret it later. After all, it’s only natural that you can’t rest easy in a place with terrible food or security.
“Thief!! You fucking bastard, stop right there!”
“Bullshit! You look more like the thief!”
“Broken~ one-handed~ sword~ shield~ rusty iron~ buying~.”
“You shitty bastards! Why the hell is it so loud from the crack of dawn!”
This really was an incredibly warm and friendly town.
I sent a pitying look toward the bottom-dwellers of society passing by. The fact that the inn I’d been recommended was in this area felt like an unbelievable level of pettiness. Maybe the receptionist had tried to screw over the annoying newbie adventurer who kept bothering her?
Even while pondering that, I somehow arrived in front of the inn. Spring’s Shelter. It was fairly large and looked clean—about as good as the inns I’d stayed at while exploring ruins with Yerna. However, what greeted me wasn’t a bellboy to carry my luggage or a friendly innkeeper.
—Whoosh!
A massive body flew out of the inn door like a piece of baggage. I jumped in surprise as it hurtled straight toward me.
“Whoa, fuck! It’s a flying Britannian!”
I dodged the heavy body flying at me thanks to the luggage. Thud!
“Guhhh!!”
A bald man whose head was flushed red from alcohol crash-landed exactly where I had been standing. What the hell was going on? Still stunned, I naturally turned my gaze toward the inn door where the body had come from. There, the second and third flying Britannians were already sailing through the air.
—Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
—Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ugh!!”
“Gah!!”
“Krrk!!”
The saying that those who fall have wings was all lies. These flying Britannian people flew without wings, and because they had no wings, they fell. Their flight was powered entirely by one man’s brute strength.
The man standing in front of the inn door had a muscular build that rivaled Professor Brammaton in his prime. He glared at the drunkards who had crashed and barked at them.
“Get the hell out of my shop right now! If I see your faces again, I’ll break every limb so you’ll never work as adventurers again!”
He was the one who had thrown them out of his shop, yet he was telling them to get lost. What kind of logic was that? With that huge scar on his face, no matter how you looked at him, he was a thug through and through.
“Ughhh…”
“Ugh. Big brother, get up…”
The drunk bald man and his lackeys helped each other up and shuffled away in a clump. Their swollen faces made it obvious they had gotten completely hammered on alcohol and then hammered again by this thug.
Time to bounce, fuck.
I tried to blend in with the passing pedestrians, but the thug’s eyes had already locked onto his next target.
“You there. Are you a customer?”
“No.”
“Like hell you aren’t. You’re standing in front of an inn with a huge pile of luggage.”
Goddammit, I was screwed. I had never regretted not being a minimalist more than I did at that moment. I never should have asked the receptionist for an inn recommendation. This was clearly petty revenge.
“What? Did I get it wrong?”
The scarred man had just beaten three people into a pulp and thrown them out, yet his face showed genuine confusion about why I was acting this way. That kind of expression was only possible for someone without the sociopathic mindset that came from being used to violence.
I mentally screamed “fuck” about ten times before answering.
“…Yes, I am a customer. I was momentarily confused.”
There was one thing I had known since living on Earth: there was no point trying to act tough in front of someone who throws punches easily. Gangsters and lowlifes resort to violence without hesitation, so acting arrogant usually ends badly. Just like how, in the back alleys of America, if some thug in shabby designer clothes demands your money, it’s better to hand it over quietly before you get shot.
“Is that so? Then come on in.”
“Yes.”
Step. Step.
I walked inside like a death row inmate being led to the execution ground. Mentioning that the adventurer guild receptionist had recommended this place would be the move of a third-rate traveler. For all I knew, that might be code for “a guy we can bury without consequences” around here. The moment I brought up the recommendation, I might get dragged into the room of truth, stripped naked, buried in the ground, or simply kicked out.
I looked around, searching for an escape route. Like most inns in this world, it operated as a restaurant and tavern with the leftover rooms used for lodging. Surprisingly, the interior was lively, and there were quite a few people who looked ordinary.
“Dorka! Thank you so much!”
At that moment, an old man approached us. So the man who had brought me in was apparently named Dorka.
“Don’t mention it. Chasing out people causing a ruckus in my shop is part of my job.”
“Hehe. Don’t say that. I’ll bring my friends again next time.”
“If you’re going to help with sales, I have no reason to refuse.”
“That’s just like you. Ah, is the person behind you a customer? How rude of me. Please carry on.”
No, you can keep being rude. In fact, I would have been grateful if he had just kicked me out right then, but the old man simply stepped aside.
“…What happened to the people from earlier?”
I asked while carefully watching Dorka’s reaction. Seeing him talk with the old man, he seemed surprisingly reasonable.
“They caused a disturbance in the shop. They picked a fight with a regular, and when my wife tried to stop them, they tried to lay hands on her too. So I beat them and threw them out.”
“I see.”
It was a much more decent reason than I had expected. In fact, it was almost gentlemanly. To think he would let people who touched his family live, despite having that terrifying physique and those scars. Contrary to his appearance, he was surprisingly merciful.
Once I thought of it that way, even his frightening looks felt reassuring. It was like calling a bodyguard and getting a cauliflower-eared giant instead—strangely comforting.
“Anyway, welcome. As you probably heard, I’m Dorka. Our Spring’s Shelter provides meals, lodging, and drinks—anything you need. Is there something you’d like?”
Dorka, who had reached the counter, turned to look at me. Feeling much more at ease, I pointed at the luggage on my back.
“Lodging, please. I came to Sargadis to become an adventurer.”
“I figured as much. Ah, lodging is three coppers per night.”
“Excuse me?”
Fuck, that’s insanely expensive.
I blinked in shock. One copper was the smallest denomination, but it was by no means cheap. There was no such thing as truly low-value currency like in old Joseon; one copper itself was a fairly large sum. The concept of microtransactions didn’t really exist in this other world. Prices weren’t set according to the product—everything was sold based on that one-copper baseline.
A day’s worth of bread was one copper. Two cabbages were one copper. A small roasted chicken was one copper. That sort of thing. Buying a bottle of banana milk for 1,400 won was a modern person’s way of thinking. If they sold banana milk here, I’d have to bring a jar, pay one copper, and walk away with ten thousand won’s worth of the stuff.
But three coppers for one night at an inn?
In the modern world, even a cheap motel might cost twenty or thirty thousand won a night, but inns charging three coppers here weren’t common. Was this like those motels near military bases that charged a hundred thousand won per night? Were they overcharging because I was an adventurer?
“That includes breakfast, and you can leave your belongings in the storage room.”
“Ah, I see.”
Then it was acceptable. As long as breakfast wasn’t just hard bread and water, the price made sense. Adventurers usually carried expensive equipment like armor and weapons, after all. Leaving them in the room only to get robbed would be disastrous, so inns often stored them separately. It was easier to make one sturdy safe than to manage every single room. If someone robbed the safe, the territory’s guards would get involved, so it was trustworthy. As long as the thief guild bastards—who were practically terrorists—didn’t rob it, there shouldn’t be any problems.
“I’ll take three nights for now. I don’t have much money at the moment.”
“You probably just registered today, so that can’t be helped. I understand completely.”
He caught on quick. He might have been an adventurer himself once. I took out a ten-copper coin and handed it over. The funny thing was that while there was no currency for 0.1 copper, there was one for ten coppers. It really showed how little the nobles here cared about the lives of those beneath them.
“Have you eaten? We just got some good pork in today and I made stew.”
Dorka asked while handling a coin larger than a one-copper piece.
“Bread, stew, and stir-fried vegetables for one copper. How about it?”
“Yes. I was just getting hungry, so that’s perfect. I’ll drop off my luggage and come back down, so please prepare it for me.”
No matter how many times I said it, one copper was still a decent amount of money. Even considering that eating out was always expensive, the quality of the food here would decide whether I stayed long-term or not.
If it sucks, I can always move.
A master’s salary was two silver per month. About two million won. Unlike 21st-century Korea, that was in the top fifty percent of wages here. It was also money that would keep coming in until I failed to produce results and became a useless duck egg on the Nakdong River.
…If only my thesis hadn’t been stolen, I could have saved more and just rented a house.
Feeling depressed, I forced myself to think positively. If I had gotten a house, it might have drawn attention and attracted flies trying to steal my money. With my current skills, even a beggar thief with a weapon was as dangerous as a fruit fly. Considering the risk of theft, staying here was better. It wasn’t like I was going to leave my expensive academic books in the room anyway.
“Your room is the last one on the right on the second floor. Here’s the key.”
“Thank you.”
The key looked like the ones given at old countryside guesthouses. A key with a number tag on the end. This really was a world that felt medieval in strange ways and modern in others. With nothing more to say, I climbed the stairs to the second floor.
My room was tucked away in the back, but the hallway was clean.
—Creak.
I entered the room and unpacked. It was a small space with only a bed, a table, and a bathroom. A small box that served as a wardrobe was the only other piece of furniture. It was sparse, but there was no mold on the walls or floor, and the sheets were clean, so I liked it. Still, just to be safe, I should probably sun-dry everything later.
I sat on the bed, unpacked my luggage, and organized it. I couldn’t lose Professor Brammaton’s book since it would be hard to replace, so I’d have to carry it with me. After sorting everything except my wallet, weapons, and armor, I went back down to the first floor.
“Oh, you came down quickly. The food’s all ready.”
Dorka had already set a bowl on one of the tables. As I had requested, the menu was stew, bread, and stir-fried vegetables. The “stir-fried” vegetables looked more like they had been steamed, but they seemed tasty enough.
“Wow, that stew looks really good. Your wife must be an amazing cook.”
I sat down and let out an admiring comment. The red stew was packed with meat and potatoes, stimulating my appetite so much that I didn’t even need to flatter him. However, Dorka, who had been setting down the utensils, gave a bitter smile.
“I made the stew.”
“Pardon?”
“My wife isn’t good at cooking. So I always handle the main dishes. She takes care of everything else.”
Where Dorka pointed, a young woman was busily carrying drinks and food. She must be his wife. I was momentarily stunned before I came back to my senses.
“Ah. I see. Well, as long as it tastes good, it doesn’t matter who cooked it.”
“Right? You know your stuff.”
The innkeeper’s scarred face broke into a wide grin, and it looked incredibly menacing. With a face like that, he could easily be the boss of the local gangsters. Still, the stew was delicious. Delicious enough that I wanted to stay here for the time being.