Wild Boar Inn

After making her promise, Carolyn said goodbye and left the two children alone in the shack. As soon as she left, Derrick erupted.

"Lety! Why did you say that I would learn hunting from her? Even if she was telling the truth, it's not like there's anything to hunt nearby. It's just a waste of time!"

"The important part isn't the hunting, Brother. It's the training. Despite knowing the area better, she managed to catch up to you. That means she would have been on your trail the entire time, despite being new to the city. You'll need that sort of skill for my plan to work."

"That talk again? When are you gonna tell me what this 'plan' of yours is about?"

"When the time is right, Brother."

"That's not fair! Why do I have to listen to you when you won't even tell me everything?"

"Huh? Then why don't tell me, Brother? How did you meet Carol? Surely, you weren't pick-pocketing again."

"..."

Seeing him go quiet, Lety knew she had won this round, but it would take more than this to convince him. She had already verified her guess when he didn't refute the fact that Carol caught up to him, but it was fairly obvious since there weren't many reasons for him to get involved with someone like her. She seemed naïve, but she certainly wasn't stupid. Even though Lety had tried to appeal to her altruistic ideals by mentioning the other children, Carol easily saw through her. She would have to be on her toes when they met again.

"I think that's enough for today."

"Lety!"

Feeling her limit approaching, Lety laid back on her blanket. With the tension gone, the built up mental fatigue had transformed into a low fever that made it hard to keep her eyes open. She hated her sickly body, but she had also resigned herself to this state.

"Brother, I need to rest. Please don't put yourself in any more danger."

"...I won't. Stay here. I'll get you some water."

"Thanks..."

Elsewhere, Carolyn was on her way out of the slums. She remembered the route to leave the slums area from Benedict's map, as well as how to get to the inn Benedict recommended. She would have been in trouble if his map was old or fake, but Carolyn didn't believe that was the case and her return to the main street proved it.

Now at ease by the sight of the bustling crowd, Carolyn raised her guard to prevent another pick-pocketing incident and headed for the inn she would stay at. Once again, Carolyn had no issue finding her destination. The building was two floors high, with a wide sign at the border between the first and second floor that read, "Wild Boar Inn" with the image of a boar next to it.

Carolyn had never booked a room at an inn nor requested a job at one, so she couldn't escape feeling nervous once she arrived. However, after a moment of thinking, she realised that this was hardly the toughest challenge she had faced up til now, so she could psych herself up. Ready to attempt Benedict's task, Carolyn reached out her hand to open the door, but it opened before she had the chance.

"Can I help you, girlie?"

Holding the door open was a middle-aged woman, both taller and wider than Carolyn was. She seemed tougher than the women Carolyn saw in the villages she had lived in and had an intimidating atmosphere, but Carolyn didn't see her as a scary person because her eyes were softer than her appearance would suggest.

"Ah, yes. My name is Carol. I'm new to the city and I was hoping to get a room to stay in. I'd also like to work here if I could."

"Well, too bad. I'm not running a homeless shelter here. If you want a room, you have to pay for it."

"Naturally, I can pay for the room, but I plan to stay in the city for a while, so I'll eventually need a source of income."

"Hmm, well, if you're a customer, then you can come in."

"Thank you."

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the woman invited Carolyn inside and then closed the door. Carolyn found herself in a small passageway with a door on both ends and a desk and chair on her right. There were three rows of key holders hung on the wall above the chair behind the desk, with each row having a maximum capacity of four keys.

"My name's Margaret, call me what you like, but don't be surprised if I knock you out for it. I can let you have a room for 1 silver every two nights, one night if you want the full package, including food. It might sound like too much since you just came here, but I ain't lowering my prices."

Staying at an inn of this quality would indeed normally cost much less, but considering the entry and exit tax, Carolyn wasn't very surprised to hear the price.

"That's fine. And about my employment?"

"That's a no. Find somewhere else."

"But why?"

"Because I said so. Are you paying or not?"

"...I'll."

Sensing that pushing the issue wouldn't help, Carolyn drew back. Since Benedict would give her a reward for completing it, she thought the task was too easy, but she still felt crestfallen.

"I'll rent a room for seven nights, food included, please."

Carolyn handed seven silver coins to Margaret, who looked them over. For some reason, neither she nor her mother had remembered to carry money with them, so all of her current funds were from Hanson. He had given her the equivalent of a gold coin, 100 Alterna silvers, so she could have paid for more nights if she wished, but she chose to stick to the deadline Benedict gave her.

After confirming the worth of the coins, Margaret took a used book from a compartment of her desk and wrote something in it before returning it to the desk. She then took down one of the keys behind the chair and walked past Carolyn.

"Follow me."

"Okay."

As Margaret climbed up the stairs and Carolyn followed from behind, Carolyn thought about why her request for employment was denied and what she could do to make it accepted. This was her first time trying to get a job, but she had seen similar situations before when youth from one household would help in another and receive some crops or a meal as compensation. With that as the example, she imagined three main reasons why a person wouldn't be hired.

One, they weren't qualified or fit to do the job, whether because of injury or mental illness. Two, there was no work for them to do, or not enough work to justify the cost of hiring them. Three, there was nothing to give as sufficient compensation. Realistically, she could only do something about the first reason, but if there was no work, it would be difficult to prove that she could be useful. Still, once she found a direction for her efforts to take her, Carolyn's mood became much better.