Chapter 5
“Welcome. Are you by yourself?”
I planned to get a room at the inn before finding something to eat, so when I stepped inside, an attendant at the counter greeted me.
“Yes. Do you happen to have any rooms available? It’d be nice if I could enjoy the hot springs too~”
At my question, the attendant glanced over the keys, then smiled and nodded.
“You can use the hot springs as much as you like once you’ve booked a room~ We have one four-person room and two two-person rooms left. Which would you like?”
“Hmm... If I choose a two-person room, will someone else be put in with me?”
The attendant gave a small shake of the head and smiled at my question.
“No. Even if you choose a two-person room, you’ll probably have it to yourself unless we run out of rooms and have to ask you to share~”
“Hmm... Would it be a problem if I took a two-person room? I don’t have anyone with me, but I’d like a little more space.”
“We have rooms available right now, and I don’t think any more guests will arrive at this hour, so it should be fine. Would you like the two-person room?”
I quietly nodded at the attendant’s explanation and looked at them. They soon took out a key and held it out to me.
“Will you be staying for one night?”
“Yes, I’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
“Then that’s one person in a two-person room for one night, 35 silver in total~ Would you like a meal as well? Our inn provides a simple breakfast~”
“Hmm... I’m not sure I’ll be able to wake up in the morning...”
“If you’d like breakfast, we can come wake you up ourselves~ How does that sound?”
Since being woken up didn’t sound bad, and having breakfast in this world would be a new experience too, I nodded.
“Then the lodging and breakfast come to 38 silver~”
“Ah, just a moment...”
I carefully took out a gold coin and handed it over. The attendant stared at it, then gave me 62 silver in change.
“You don’t carry a money pouch or anything?”
“Um... no, I don’t have one yet. I guess I’ll have to buy one at a shop in a bit.”
Since I didn’t have a pouch to hold my gold coins, I’d been managing to carry them in my hand, but it seemed best to buy at least a small bag.
These clothes didn’t have pockets, and they weren’t long enough to look as though there was room for any, either.
The top clung tightly to my body, revealing my figure completely, while my stockings at least covered my legs...
Still, it bothered me that the oddly short hem left some of my thighs exposed.
Thinking I should buy some new clothes and change into them as soon as it was light tomorrow, I took the key and my change and headed for the room marked with its number. Then I opened the door.
Creeeak...
The room beyond the door, which opened with the creak of old hinges, was decent enough.
Two beds with a feel somewhere between soft and firm, and a small desk.
There was also a table large enough to hold a simple boxed meal, with a vase on top.
Satisfied with the room’s cozy yet modest atmosphere, I set the gold coins down on the table.
“Hmm... Come to think of it, the game had an inventory, and they explained it as a kind of magic called inventory magic. If I used that...”
If I succeeded, I could be less reliant on things like pouches or backpacks to store my belongings, so I considered the idea.
I’d create my own storage space by making use of an extradimensional space, separate from the one I currently occupied.
Simply put, it was magic that created a space only I could reach into and use to store things.
Unlike Polymorph, it was a little harder to picture, but...
It’d probably be better to make a small portal in the air—or, less conspicuously, to send things I wanted to store somewhere and retrieve them whenever I wished.
With the design mostly worked out in my head, I quietly picked up a gold coin and flicked it into the air as if tossing it.
“...Storage.”
As my tiny voice rang out, I watched the mana make the gold coin disappear.
“...Hmm... I wonder if I can take it out just as easily?”
Shff—
I gently closed my hand, pictured the coin I’d sent away earlier, and opened it. A gold coin reappeared in my palm.
I felt pretty good about being able to use such a simple, convenient spell, though it probably wasn’t wise to use it somewhere crowded.
After all, seeing a gold coin appear in the hand of someone who hadn’t been holding anything would be enough to draw people’s attention.
“Hmm... I’ll put the gold coins in the extradimensional space, just in case... Now I should go get something to eat~”
It was about time I filled my stomach, which was starting to growl.
As I got up to leave the inn, I wondered where I should go to eat.
It was a rather leisurely thing to think about, but I was also a little worried that nowhere would still be open at this hour.
The safest option would probably be to eat at the tavern on the first floor of the guild, where adventurers often gathered.
Adventurers kept different schedules, after all, and stayed active at all hours, even at night.
Besides, while I was there, I might be able to hear a little about how things were going in the world right now.
Having settled on the idea, I left the inn and quietly began walking down the cold night street.
Even though it was a bustling district, I quite liked the evening quiet that had settled over it.
Of course, lively streets were nice too, but I also liked the street at this hour, beneath Karts’s star-filled night sky and with a cool breeze blowing now and then.
And honestly, I was still strangely excited because I couldn’t quite believe I was actually in Karts.
“Hmm... If I remember right, the guild was in the opposite direction... Ah, there it is.”
After walking for about five minutes, I spotted a building with lively singing spilling out of it despite the late hour, and instinctively knew it was the guild.
The building looked much the same as it had in the game, which made it feel familiar.
Without much hesitation, I headed over and entered the guild building.
“Welcome~ What brings you here~?”
As soon as I entered, one of the receptionists greeted me, as if they’d been watching the entrance—or perhaps they were simply observant.
“Ah, I just... wanted to get something simple to eat. I arrived late, so I figured there probably wouldn’t be any other restaurants open~”
“Oh, are you an adventurer? Or... hmm...”
As they asked, the receptionist glanced at my outfit and tilted their head a little.
Since my clothes were rather short, I felt even more self-conscious, but they were all I had, so there wasn’t much I could do.
“I’m not an adventurer... Just call me a traveler. Would it be possible to get a meal right now?”
At my question, the receptionist quickly shifted their gaze to my face, nodded, and smiled.
Maybe it was because this was the world of a game, or maybe this was simply a kind world, but people here didn’t seem stingy with their smiles.
In the modern world I used to live in, quite a lot of people went through life having lost their kindness and smiles toward strangers.
I smiled quietly at this warmer, more welcoming scene, exchanged greetings, and took a seat at a table.
As expected, the place had a few large tables, with lots of people gathered around them.
“A young lady like you sitting at a table full of gloomy fellows like us? What a miracle~”
“Ahaha... Thank you for welcoming me.”
Even when a stranger joined their table, no one looked at me strangely. Everyone welcomed me with smiles.
I liked these new experiences.
“What’s the best thing to eat here?”
“On a cold day like today, stew is our specialty, miss~ You have no idea how good the beef stew is~”
“Yeah, like that gentleman said, stew’s good, and the fish fillet’s pretty tasty too~ Miss, do you like fried food?”
“Hmm... I don’t dislike it. I’m not particularly picky about food~”
At my answer, they nodded and started recommending all sorts of things again.
“How about beer? There’s nothing better than a beer to warm you up on a day like this~”
“Hey now, aren’t you making the young lady uncomfortable~ Don’t worry, I’m not trying to pressure you~”
I would have been uncomfortable if they were pressuring me, of course, but they didn’t seem to mean it that way, so I smiled and raised my hand to call over an attendant.
“Excuse me, would it be all right if I ordered a bowl of stew, a fried fish fillet, and a roast chicken?”
“Certainly~ That’ll be 70 silver in total~”
I handed a gold coin to the attendant, then quietly looked around.
I wanted to pick up whatever information I could by chatting while I waited for the food.
My head was full of two very different thoughts: eagerly hoping the food would arrive soon, while carefully calculating what I should listen for and learn here.