The Northern Kartz Principality (2)
"Welcome. Are you here on your own?"
I had meant to take a room first and eat afterward, and the moment I stepped into the inn a clerk behind the counter greeted me.
"Yes. Do you happen to have a room left? If I could use the hot spring as well, that would be lovely."
She glanced over the keys, then smiled and nodded.
"The spring is yours as much as you like, so long as you've taken a room. As for vacancies, there's one four-person room and two doubles. Which would you prefer?"
"Hmm... if I take a double, will someone else be put in with me?"
She gave a small shake of her head, still smiling.
"No. Even if you choose a double, you'll have it to yourself — unless we run out of rooms entirely and have to ask guests to share."
"Would it be a problem if I took one, then? I don't have anyone with me, but I'd like a little more space."
"We've rooms to spare just now, and I don't expect many more guests at this hour, so it should be fine. Shall I put you in a double?"
I nodded quietly at her explanation and waited. She soon drew out a key and held it toward me.
"Just the one night?"
"Yes. I'll be setting out in the morning."
"One guest in a double for a night comes to thirty-five silver. And meals? We do serve a simple breakfast here at the inn."
"I'm not sure I'll manage to wake up in time..."
"If you'd like to eat, we'll come and wake you ourselves. How does that sound?"
Being woken was no hardship, and breakfast in this world would be something new besides, so I nodded.
"Breakfast and lodging together, then — thirty-eight silver."
"Ah, one moment..."
I carefully produced a single gold coin and offered it. The clerk stared at the gold for a beat, then counted sixty-two silver back into my hand.
"You don't carry a coin purse, or anything of the sort?"
"Mm... no. I don't have one yet. I suppose I'll have to buy one at a shop before long."
There was nothing fit to hold gold coins, so for the moment I was making do by keeping them in my hand — though it was plainly better to buy at least a small pouch.
This outfit had no pockets, and it wasn't long enough to hide one even if it had. The bodice clung so tightly that my figure showed through completely, and while the stockings at least covered my legs, the hem was just short enough to bare a little of my thighs. That nagged at me.
I'll buy new clothes and change the moment it's light, I told myself, gathering the key and the change before I found the room marked with my number and opened the door.
Creeeak...
The old hinge complained, but the room beyond was decent enough in its own way. Two beds, somewhere between soft and firm; a small desk; a table just large enough for a simple boxed meal, with a vase set upon it. Cozy in a plain, unassuming fashion. Satisfied, I set the gold coins down on the table.
"Hmm... The game had an inventory, and they explained it away as a kind of inventory magic. If I used something like that..."
If I could make it work, I would be free, at least in part, of pouches and packs and every other thing meant for carrying belongings. The thought was worth turning over.
A space that was not the space I occupied — a private storehouse shaped from a pocket of subspace. Magic, in short, that made a place only I could reach into and use, for keeping things.
Unlike Polymorph, simply picturing it was a little harder. As for the form, a tiny portal in empty air would serve, but it would be better still if it drew less notice — if I could, whenever I wished, send away something I was thinking of and call it back again.
Once the design had more or less settled in my head, I touched one gold coin and flicked it into the air as if I were tossing a coin.
"...Storage."
And with that small word, I watched mana erase the coin from existence.
"...Mm. I wonder if taking it back out will be just as easy."
I closed my hand gently, called to mind the coin I had just sent away, and opened my palm — and there it was again, one gold coin resting in it.
It pleased me more than a little that I could work magic so simply, and so easily. Still, it would not do to use it where there were many people. A gold coin appearing in the hand of someone who had been holding nothing was more than enough to draw every eye.
"Hmm... I'll keep the gold in subspace for now, just in case. And now I really ought to go eat."
My stomach, empty for long enough, was insisting it was time.
I rose to leave the inn, turning the question over as I went. Where should I eat? It was an idle enough thought, and yet a slightly anxious one rode alongside it — would anything even be open at this hour?
The safest choice was surely the tavern on the first floor of the guild, where adventurers gathered. They never truly rested, no matter how late the night; each of them simply kept their own hours. And while I was there, I might hear a little of how the world was moving now.
So I settled on it, stepped out of the inn, and started down the cold night street in quiet.
Evening had laid a hush even over a busy thoroughfare, and I rather liked that stillness. Lively streets were pleasant in their own right, but so was this one — Kartz's night sky thick with stars, and a cool wind coming on in little breaths. In truth I still could not quite believe I was in Kartz at all, and the feeling left me strangely buoyant.
"The guild was the other way, if I remember... ah. There it is."
After about five minutes of walking, a building came into view that was still spilling lively song into the gathering dark, and I knew at once it had to be the guild. It looked little changed from the game, and that familiarity was its own comfort, so I crossed the threshold without any particular reluctance.
"Welcome! What brings you in?"
The moment I entered, one of the receptionists offered a greeting — whether she had been watching the door, or was simply quick on the uptake.
"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted a simple meal. I arrived late, and I didn't think any other place would still be open."
"Ah, are you an adventurer? Or... hmm..."
She asked it while looking me over, then tilted her head. The outfit was short in more ways than one, so of course I felt self-conscious — but it was the only thing I had to wear, and there was nothing to be done about it.
"Not an adventurer. Let's just say I'm a traveler passing through. Is it all right if I eat now?"
At that she brought her gaze back to my face, nodded, and smiled.
Whether it was because this was a game world, or simply a kind one, the people here were not stingy with their smiles. The modern world I had lived in was full of people who had lost both kindness and smiles for strangers. There was a warmer, more human feeling to this scene. I answered her smile with one of my own, offered a quiet greeting, and took a seat.
The place was built, as one would expect, around a few large tables, with many people sitting together in their own little groups.
"A young lady like you at a dingy table like this — now that's a miracle."
"Haha... thank you for the welcome."
Even when a complete stranger joined them, no one looked at me askance. They only smiled and made room, and I liked these new experiences.
"What's the best thing here?"
"On a cold day like today, miss, the stew's the specialty. You've no idea how good the beef stew is."
"He's right — the stew's excellent, and the fish fillet's pretty fine too. You fond of fried food, miss?"
"I don't dislike it. I'm not especially picky."
They nodded at that and launched into another round of recommendations from every side.
"How about a beer? Nothing warms you on a day like this quite like one."
"Come now, you'll make the young lady uncomfortable. No one's forcing you, miss, so don't you worry."
If it had been pressure I would have been in a difficult spot, but I didn't sense any such intent, so I smiled, raised a hand, and called a server over.
"Excuse me — could I order a bowl of stew, one fried fish fillet, and a roast chicken?"
"Of course. All together, that's seventy silver."
I handed the server a gold coin and quietly looked around. I wanted to listen while I waited for the food, and gather whatever I could hear — my head full, all at once, of two quite different thoughts: the hope that the meal would come soon, and a careful reckoning of what I ought to hear here, and what I ought to carry away with me.