Chapter 109 – Fading Traces (I)

Chapter 109

Fading Traces (I)

I already missed just having a certainty of a house on a peak where nobody asked me for any money to stay there, to be honest. But what was I to do? Reject her? No. We needed a place, even if for just a few days.

“Do you take Spirit Stones for payment?” I asked.

“Ho ho, of course. Madame Lu takes all forms of currency. How long do you plan on staying?”

“… we’ll book it for two weeks, to start with.” We’ll probably be long gone before then, but we may as well overpay to be left alone.

“Very well. To rent the entire house for the day is eighty low-tier Spirit Stones. Your total is 1,120 stones. Just for you, however, it’s 1,000.”

I forced a grimace on my face, making it seem as though the steep price hurt.

Naturally, it really didn’t. I had over 200,000 low-tier Stones scattered between the spatial treasures in my possession, and that was just low-tier Stones.

I didn’t hide my spatial satchel–we already marked that we were merchants, and it wasn’t all that impossible for one to have a spatial treasure like the satchel, especially as it appeared quite worn out and old.

Fetching out the 1,000 stones, I ‘reluctantly’ handed them over, prompting the woman to smile rather widely.

“Would you like me to arrange daily meals for you?” I almost instinctively wanted to say ‘No,’ since I wanted to limit all interactions with this woman to a minimum, but I held back.

“Hmm. Just the breakfast, if possible.”

“Of course. Please, settle in. If you need anything, there’s a small bell you’ll find in the bedroom; just ring it, and one of my girls will immediately come. I hope you’ll have a wonderful stay.”

… was it really this easy?

I mean, she didn’t even ask for my name, for crying out loud! Let alone a form of identification!

Haah. Look, I hate regulations back on Earth as much as any traveler–anyone who’s crossed more than six borders in their lifetime knows just how mind-numbingly annoying the bureaucracy can get, especially when the country just doesn’t have any, so you have to resort to bribing everyone and their mother just to figure your way around the place.

But at the very-damned-least, it provided a sense of comfort. It alleged that all people around me were identified and known, at least. Here? Who the hell knows who our neighbors were?

I smiled and nodded, and she departed right after, the sound of her cane hitting the ground the only one we could hear. The hubbub of the town had long since perished, and only the occasional cawing of the crows could be heard.

“Let’s go inside.” None of the kids, however, seemed particularly disturbed. Rather, they were curious–even Light.

This was their first time venturing out, so I couldn’t blame them, but have some sense of self-perseverance, for crying out loud! Or were they just that confident in their strength?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Or, worse yet, that confident in me?

Yikes.

The gates creaked slightly as I pulled them open, quickly crossing the courtyard and entering the house.

You know… it’s not bad, honestly.

It was surprisingly roomy–two bedrooms, one smaller and one slightly larger, the common area, and even an outhouse in the back. No bath or kitchen or anything of the sort, but all things considered… it was overpriced as all hell, mind you, but I was expecting far worse.

In fact, it was probably far roomier than anything we could have gotten in any of the inns along the main road.

We settled inside the common area as I slowly lit up the three oil lamps hanging on the walls, giving some light to the place. There was a round table at the center and six cushions around it, so we all sat down as I took out some snacks and drinks from the rings.

“For the next two days,” I said. “We’ll roam the town and try and find someone who’s been in the Spiritwood Grove before. Just blend in with the others and listen; don’t actively approach or draw attention to yourself.”