The Pungent City of Woodmills – Part 2

We didn’t have to go very far to reach the nearest Adventurer’s Guild—there was one right down the street, where the posh houses gave way to the jumble industrial town.

We could hear a bunch of rowdy adventures loudly talking even before even entering the building. The reception itself was staffed by just one lady, probably being late in the day an all. To the right was the entrance to the mess hall and the source of all the noise.

“Oh, Fianna the Sharp Edge!” The receptionist said. “What brings you here this late?”

“These two are looking for a loan of five Silver,” the elf responded curtly.

Five? Where’s that extra coin coming from? Maybe it’s to pay for the ship repairs…

Seeing as the elf wasn’t looking for casual chitchat, the receptionist shifted to business mode. “Five Silver, I see, Ms. Fianna,” she said as she pulled out a sheet of paper from somewhere and began writing on it. “And what’s the reason for the loan?”

“Paying me for transporting them back to Adaville.”

“T-transportation…?”

The receptionist asked a bunch more questions about this ferry service—something Fianna’s crew didn’t usually do, apparently.

“And what’s the collateral?”

“I’ll be the collateral.”

She’s putting herself on the line for us?

“Huh? A-alright.” The receptionist scribbled a few more things on the form. “How are you two planning on paying it back?”

“Well…”

“They got special permission from the Governor to take on Restoration quests. Takashi, show them the letter.”

“Oh, right.”

I showed the receptionist the letter, which made her eyes bulge out.

“I see. The Governor herself… But you two aren’t registered with us yet, correct? Unfortunately, we can only get you a temporary registration tonight, since the Diviner is closed. Even with the Governor’s word, it’s Guild rules to not allow full membership without an initial Skill Scroll vouching for your skills.”

“That’s fine with us.”

“I will still consider this a high-risk loan, but since Ms. Fianna is collateral, I’ll only require 12% interest.”

“T-twelve percent?!”

That’s a lot. Damn.

“That means your total payment will be seven Silver and ten Bronze.”

My jaw dropped. What do you mean even in a parallel world I’m saddled with debt this large?!

“Don’t worry, you’ll be able to pay it off fairly quickly,” Fianna said. “The Restoration quests do give a lot of money.”

With her assurances, both Chloe and I signed off on the loan, as well as Fianna as collateral.

After that, the receptionist brought out a bunch of coins—the five Silver, and gave them to the elf.

“Thank you for your patronage!”

As we exited the building behind her, Fianna shoved a single Silver coin in my hands.

“Use that to find an inn and get a bath tonight, and pay for the Diviner tomorrow. You can start paying off the debt after that.”

“Oh! So that’s why you added that extra Silver!” Chloe said.

“Obviously. I’m not so cruel I’d leave you without any money in a foreign city.”

“Why are you being so nice to us?” I asked her. “First the ferry, then the Governor, trusting us with the loan, now this…”

Fianna scratched her head. “Aww, fine. I was in a Hero’s party, back in the day.”

“Wait, you were?!”

Now that was a surprise. So Fianna actually got recruited by someone, huh?

“Yes. I know how blessed by the gods you are. If anyone can change this world for the better, it’s you. And I’m not one to stand in the way of that.”

For the first time, I saw the hints of a genuine smile on Fianna; but that was short-lived, and it quickly morphed back into her usual taciturn look.

“Now scram. I need to meet back with my crew to discuss what we’ll do with Tanney. You two take care… though I have a feeling we’ll meet back again soon enough.”

“You too, Fianna. Take care of Tanney for me.”

“...I will.”

With those words and little else, Fianna returned to the dockyard, leaving Chloe and I to make our way to Adaville proper.

* * *

We walked alongside the main street and asked around for where we could find an inn to stay at. Some of the men we approached took that as their way to make a pass at Chloe, even though she was a priestess. Although she responded politely, I could tell her irritation was growing higher and higher.

“Men are all a buncha monkeys, I swear,” she said when no one was listening. “Put on a cutesy act, and they come flyin’ like flies to a carnivorous plant.”

Wait, but doesn’t that mean she’s the carnivorous plant?

Eventually, we came across an inn that didn’t look as seedy as most of them. The price per bed was slightly higher at one Bronze and six copper, but it also offered on-site meals and baths, which Chloe seemed quite excited about.

Now the question is, should we get a single double bedroom? Or two individual rooms?

Each individual room was two Bronze. We barely had enough money to scrape by, but the thought of sleeping in the same room as Yzara made me shudder.

Unfortunately, while I was being indecisive, Chloe made the decision for me.

“We’ll take the double bedroom, right, Takashi?”

“Huh… s-sure.”

We paid for our rooms and immediately went to the inn’s mess hall, where a particular dish stood out to me on the menu.

“Wait, that’s right! They have House’s Stew…!”

“‘Course they do. It would be weirder if they didn’t,” Yzara said. “Why are ya so excited about this?”

It was the cheapest option on the menu—it basically was just perpetual stew, a stew where all sorts of random, cheap ingredients were thrown in and kept boiling forever using Fire Magic. Every inn in the game offered it, and although it had no special effects, it at least filled you up. Every inn had a House’s Stew with a slightly different flavor to it, at least according to the lore.

“I have no idea what it tastes like.”

“Huh, is that so. Don’t ya have it in yer world?”

“Not really, no.”

Unlike the food Fianna gave us before, I had no real-life experience with perpetual stew. It just wasn’t a thing in the real world except in very specific circumstances. I had no idea what it would taste like.

So I really want to try it.

When the waitress—who was way too pretty to be serving tables at this random inn—came around to take our order, I didn’t hesitate.

“One House’s Stew!” I said, way too excitedly. The waitress gave me a look, but still jotted down my order on her notebook.

“Well, I suppose we should be trying to save money. Make that double.”

“Right up!”

The House’s Stew didn’t take long to arrive at all. It consisted of pieces of boiled whatever leftover game meat they managed to put into it that day, as well as big chunks of vegetables, floating in a pale-brown broth.

“Okay, here it goes…”

“Yer the weirdest person sometimes, I swear,” Chloe said, not really bothering to put up with her usual fake priestess voice while no one was listening.

But I ignored her as I let the soup fill my mouth.

“Hmm! It’s great!”

That’s certainly a complex flavor.

The broth was rich with umami from the meat and vegetables, giving it a rich mouthfeel, kinda like ramen. It tasted ever-so-slightly gamey, but I couldn’t pinpoint what sort of meat it came from. The actual meat and vegetable chunks were so thoroughly boiled that they tasted exactly like the broth itself. Obviously I’d get sick of eating this every day, but for now, it would be good enough, flavorwise, and also quite filling.

“Phew. Finally a good meal, eh?” I said after finishing the entire plate. Yzara, for her part, had also polished it thoroughly. “Now what do we do?”

“I wanna take a bath. Been a while since I’ve had a proper one.”

“Alright, feel free to go ahead, then.”

“Yer comin’ with me, obviously,” she said with a grin.

“Excuse me? But why?”

“I have somethin’ important to talk about.”

Her tone was so serious I couldn’t find it in me to retort.