Chapter 4 – Relief

After experiencing that heartrending event of being run away from by both bandits and their victim, I stood stock still for a while, but I pulled byself together and decided to have a look at what was inside the bag that was flung at me earlier.
Just as I had guessed from that painful experience earlier, the inside of the bag was stuffed with gold coins.
I don’t know what the currency in this world is worth, but there are quite a lot inside, and I think it might be a fair amount.
…The pain was proportional though.

When I counted the contents more carefully, I found that there were 5 gold coins, 48 silver coins, and 114 copper coins.
To be hit in the face with such a heavy thing, you did well in getting out unscathed, me.
I’m not sure, but it’s probably that the carriage owner from before was just about to beg the bandits for his life with this money.
And then I appeared, and he threw it at me without checking what was inside…
Thinking about it again, I’m really getting a little irritated.
Though it wasn’t intention, I was his saviour, but he threw something at me and ran away, so my anger is justified.

And so, I’ve decided to keep this money as reparations.
It doesn’t seem like I’ll have a chance to give it back after all.
Having tidied this matter up in my mind, I put a few silver and copper coins into the pocket of my robe, and toss the rest into my item box leather bag and all.

Now then, what am I going to do from now on.
From what I saw of the reactions earlier, even if I arrive at a town, I think the possibility of them letting me in is low.
It’s still better if they just get scared and run; if things go badly, I might even get attacked.
But staying away from civilisation like this is impossible.
I don’t have any survival skills, and even if I did, it’s dubious as to whether they would work in this other world.
In the end, I have no choice but to get to a town somehow in order to survive.
Can’t I control these annoying skills somehow…?

Wait, hang on?
The bandits and the carriage owner looked scared after they met eyes with me.
In other words, can’t we say that the fear is limited to the effect of the mystic eyes, and the aura alone doesn’t have that much of an effect?
I accidentally thought of them as a set, but the weakened effect against humans was only written for the Evil God Aura, and it didn’t necessarily affect the Mystic Eyes of Wicked Authority.
If the Evil God Aura doesn’t seem like it’ll be that much of a problem, and only the Mystic Eyes of Wicked Authority are an issue, then there are still ways I can cope.
Since making eye contact is the activation condition, the effect won’t activate if I make it so that our eyes don’t meet.
Fortunately the robe has a hood, so if I pull it down enough that it hides my eyes, I’ll just be a person with a slightly eerie atmosphere… at least I hope that’s how it is.

I can’t deny that there’s a lot of wishful thinking mixed up into there, but given that I don’t have any other choices, I’ve decided to follow my original plan and look for a town.
First of all is the problem of which way I should head for now, but────

“…Let’s go this way.”

I’ve decided to go not in the direction that the carriage escaped in earlier, but to go the opposite way.
I think there should be human settlements in the direction that the carriage came from as well as where it was going, but I don’t know which is closer.
The probability is an even 50:50.
In that case, considering just in case that I meet with that carriage owner again, it seems like it would be nothing but trouble, so let’s go in the opposite direction.

And like that, I once again began to walk.

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I don’t have a watch so I can’t tell the time accurately, but I think after walking for about two hours, the forest ended and I reached a wide grass plain.
If it was the me from before, then I would have been unable to move from the exhaustion long ago, but because of the reinforcement of my physical abilities I’m not even sweating.
The highway stretched out through the plain, and in the far distance I could see a town.
It was surrounded by a wall, and seemed to be quite a big town.
It’s just what I can see, but it seems that I’ll need to walk for another hour to get there.
After looking about the plain and confirming that there weren’t any dangerous looking animals, I headed to the town.

When I got close to the town, I could see that at the end of the highway was a small building set as the entrance, and in front of it stood a few people and their carriages.
I quietly added myself to the end of the line, and listened as best I could for information.
Since I know nothing about this world’s common sense, I don’t even know the procedures of how to get into town after all.
The merchants riding their carriages showed the gate guards a card, and their carriage underwent a check before passing through.
As for those walking on foot, some of them showed a card just like the merchants, and some of them paid money and received a wooden card.
Those cards are probably identification papers of some sort.
But though there seem to be those that don’t have them, in that case it seems that they pay a silver coin before being let through.
I’m worried as to whether this flawed system will be alright, but to me it’s convenient.
While squeezing a silver coin I had in my robe pocket, I waited for my turn to come.

“Next… Just one person?”

“Yes.”

It was my turn now so I walked before the guard.
Inside, my heart was pounding, but I didn’t let it show.
Thankfully, because the hood was pulled down enough to cover my eyes, it seems that they didn’t get scared.

“A woman huh. Do you have ID?”

“I don’t.”

“Then pay a deposit, and we’ll issue you a temporary ID. The deposit is 1 silver coin.”

Not a toll, but a deposit huh?
I wonder if they’ll give it back when I leave.
I took out a silver coin from my robe pocket, and handed it over.

“We have certainly received it. When you leave the city, return the temporary ID and we’ll return the deposit. Even if you get an official ID when you’re in time, don’t throw away your temporary one.”

“Got it… How would I go about getting an official ID?”

“Did you just come from a country village or something? The fastest way should be to register at the Adventurers Guild and get an Adventurers Card. There’s also the church, and the Merchants Guild, but the former is no good unless you’re a resident or a believer. As for the latter, only merchants can enter so it probably doesn’t have anything to do with you, miss.”

Well, no matter how you look at it, I doubt I look like a merchant.
Since our eyes aren’t meeting I don’t know what kind of expression he’s making, but this guard is quite kind.
The Adventurers Guild, the church, and the Merchants Guild; for now I know that the town has at least these establishments.

“Well then, this is your temporary ID. Make sure not to lose it.”

“Yes.”

Putting the wooden card away in my robe pocket, I went through the gate.

The town was mostly round in shape, and the road stretched from the gate I entered, through to the central plaza, then all the way to the gate at the opposite side.
I don’t know what map direction it is, but from the words of the people walking around me, the gate I entered through was the eastern gate, and there were apparently also western and southern gates.
The northern side doesn’t have a gate, but the estate of this town’s────which seems to be named Riemel────governing lord.
The road I’m walking down now, and the one that perpendicularly intersects it at the central plaza seem to be this town’s main roads.
There are stalls and shops lined up along the main roads, and most residences are a little further in from the main roads than the shops are.

While walking I had a peek at the stalls and shops, and checked the value of the currency.
The items in the street stalls didn’t have price tags, and it seems that you need to ask the owner for the price.
On the other hand, the prices in the stores are displayed on wooden tags.

Two of this fruit that’s about the size of my fist is one copper coin.
One piece of bread ranges from one to two copper coins.
The dress-type clothing that’s worn by the people walking around in town is 15 copper coins.
A longsword about a metre long is 1 silver and 50 copper.
Wooden shields are 50 copper, while bronze shields are about 1 silver, marked down to 90 copper.

It seems that 100 copper coins has the same value as 1 silver coin.
Right now I haven’t seen a place that uses gold coins yet, so I don’t know how much it’s worth.
The things at the front of the shops are probably cheap goods, and the more expensive goods that would use a gold coin are probably further in the store.
Just looking at the foods sold, 1 copper coin seems to be worth about 100 Yen, but because the prices are varied, it would probably be better just to avoid thinking about how to simply convert it.

Concluding my price investigation, I entered a clothing shop to buy the things that I needed to buy before anything else.

High waisted panties were 6 coppers each.
Babydoll-like underwear were 10 coppers each.
Low-heeled boots were 9 coppers a pair.

I bought three of each underwear type, and a pair of boots, so in total it was 57 coppers altogether, and when I paid with a silver coin, I got 43 coppers in return.
I couldn’t find a bra.
In order to defend my honour I should say this to let you know, but what I couldn’t find wasn’t just my size, but bras altogether.
Let’s pretend that I didn’t see those bustier-type underwear hanging in the store.
Since I couldn’t put on the underwear in a place like this, I patiently bore with this breezy sensation for a while longer, and put on only the boots.
Between “not wearing them” and “getting found out that I wasn’t wearing them”, which is better I wonder… It’s a hard question, but I’ll go with not being found out.

By the time I left the clothing store, the sun had set a lot, and the beautiful evening sun lit up the town.
The stores in the area were beginning to close up sa well, and people were leaving for the road home.
It seems that this is a town that has an early night.
Thinking about it, there are no street lights, so once the sun sets the town will become dark.
The only places that do business at night are probably only taverns and slightly indecent shops.
I’d better quietly find myself a place to sleep or else.
Having decided that, I began walking down the main road as I searched for an inn.

While I was relying on the pictures on the signboards to search, I found a few inns.
Most of them seemed to have taverns on the first floor and guest rooms on the second, and most of them had a signboard with a bed and a signboard with a mug lined up alongside each other.
Amongst those I… didn’t choose one, and instead decided to try and find an inn without a tavern.
It’s just that taverns and the like just kind of smell of trouble, after all.

“Oh, a guest? Welcome, this is an inn.”

An obasan around 40 years old spoke to me after I opened the dor.
Speaking of which, I haven’t really noticed it up until now, but for some reason it seems that we can understand each other.

“How much is one night?”

“One night is 1 silver, breakfast is 5 coppers, dinner is 10 coppers, and a tub of hot water is 5 coppers.”

Hot water?
Ahh, in place of a bath?
I wonder if getting in the water isn’t mainstream.
It’s a bit of a shock.

“Five nights, with the food and water too please.”

Saying that, I handed over 6 silver coins.

“Got it, your room is on the second floor, the final door on the right. This is the key. Do you want to eat straight away?”

“Yes, if that’s possible.”

“Right away. I’ll prepare it now so wait in whichever seat you’d like.”

After I received the key with a wooden plate attached, I sat in a sat to the side of the dining room and waited for the food to come.

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After I finished eating, I received the tub of hot water, and climbing the stairs, I entered the room they gave me.
By the way, dinner was bread, stew with plenty of vegetables, and fruit for dessert.
It was simple, but delicious.
Opening the door with the key I received, I found that it was a room about 6 tatami, with a bed and a table set.
After entering and locking the door, I placed the hot water tub on the floor, and flopped onto the bed face up.
The ceiling with its wood grain entered my vision, and this unfamiliar sight really drove home that I was in another world.
Because of how desolate I was feeling, tears involuntarily blurred my vision… is not what happened, but it’s a fact that my heart is filled to the brim with anxiety.
It seemed that I would fall into an endless loop of depression, so I got up because I felt like I would fall asleep if I continued lying there, and after checking once more that the door was locked, I took off the robe and dress I was wearing, and placed them on the bed.
I soaked the cloth that I received alongside the tub of water, and then wrang it out, and wiped myself clean starting with my hair, then my upper body, and finally my lower body.
Once I was more or less refreshed, I put on the underwear that I just bought, and put on the dress that I had tossed onto the bed.
I’m about to go to sleep, so it should be fine even if I don’t put the robe on. The blanket is thin and it’s a little cold, so I draped the robe on top though.

It’s an hour where the sun has only just set, but perhaps because lots of things happened and I was tired, my eyelids felt heavy. There’s nothing to do anyway, so I should just hurry up and sleep already. Thinking this, I crawled into bed.

 

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