Vol. 1 Chapter 3 – Part 1
Shin walked for 25 minutes after leaving the guild.
Before his eyes, there was a signboard with a bear’s paw painted on it. According to Celica, this should be Bear Point Pavilion.
“There’s no doubt about it, it’s here.”
He confirmed it again and placed his hand on the door. Laughter could be heard which became louder as he slowly opened the door.
Inside the Bear Point Pavilion, there was a counter with seats and a large number of people sitting at seven tables. Five of the tables were filled with adventurers making loud noises while drinking beer.
As Shin surveyed the scene, a shadow appeared in front of him. Something seemed to block the light, and he felt a presence behind his back, so he turned around.
“Hmm?”
An arm which took pride in its thickness, around thrice that of Shin’s, and an apron with embroidered flowers came into sight.
“Welcome, please come in! Is it just one person?”
Hearing the voice from above, Shin lifted his head and saw a person with a rock-like, stern, face smiling viciously.
“Deke…”
He burst out a strange word in reply. Although Shin’s height was 180 cemels, the person in front of him was probably 230 cemels or more. It was a giant.
“What’s wrong, sonny? Are you feeling sick?”
“I’m feeling well! Um, you are?”
The words of the man made him return to his senses. Although the man didn’t answer the way he expected.
“Me? I am the popular boss and shopkeeper of Bear Point Pavilion. I’m Douma Bear.”
“…Boss…you say?”
Shin thought there would be a pretty poster girl in the inn.
“Yeah! People gathered for that popular guy, the popular boss! To some extent, popular boss――”
“That is a poster girl!”
“――nuu” (TL note: ‘看板親父’(kanbanoyaji) is a parody word to match ‘看板娘’(kanbanmusume) which means a poster girl, Shin made a pun out of it.)
Shin retorted after he noticed the pun.
“Umu. Nice rebuttal!”
And then for some reason, the self proclaimed popular boss gave him a thumbs-up.
“Did I enter the wrong shop?…”
“Don’t be shy, young man.”
“No, I’m not shy! I just happen to look like this!”
Somehow, it evolved into a comedy dialogue.
“Good!! Nii-chan!”
“Do it some more!!”
Shin sighed because of all the shouts from the drunken group. It was a conversation livened up by alcohol.
“Haa, another――”
“Hey! What are you doing?!!”
“――one?”
Just as Shin thought about searching for another inn, he heard a female voice resound from the bar.
The voice seemed to come from behind Douma. Shin couldn’t see her because of the gigantic body in front of him.
“Dad? Didn’t I always tell you not to say weird things? What if strange rumors spread?”
The voice said. Even though the voice was calm, it was clear that it was said while suppressing its anger.
“No, it’s this, a form of――”
“Shut up!”
“…Yes”
Even his excuses were rejected right away. Judging from the remarks earlier, it could be said that the voice might belong to Douma’s daughter. Somehow the position was reversed.
“I will take over from here. Dad, go to the kitchen and help Mom.”
“I…I understand.”
Douma went back into the kitchen, feeling disheartened. Somehow, Shin’s impression of him had diminished.
“I’m sorry for the sudden, weird things you saw. Are you here to eat? Or to stay overnight?”
Douma could no longer be seen, as such, Shin could finally see Douma’s daughter after she reprimanded her dad to the kitchen.
It was a girl with a short brown hair. She might have a business smile, but she was still attractive. The word cute suited her more than beautiful.
“Ah, I will be staying. Even so, just now, is it always like that?”
“Though I want you to forget that, yes, it happens sometimes. My dad is in a good mood when he is with adventurers but turns bitter when he is with merchants.
By the way, staying overnight is 2 J silver coins including breakfast and dinner. To enter the bathhouse, you have to request for it. The charges are 4 J copper coins. The breakfast will be provided until 9 bell rings. If that’s okay, you can register at the inn’s registry.”
“Okay.”
Shin was unsure if 2 J silver coin for the inn was expensive or cheap. Since he didn’t have any problem with it for now, he accepted the offer.
“I don’t know how long I will stay, will that be okay?”
“If so, do you want to pay everyday? Or you can pay for a certain number of days and extend it as needed. Just to be sure, you are an adventurer, am I right?”
“Ah, yes, I just registered today. I was recommended by Celica to go here.”
“Celica’s recommendation!? You should have said that sooner. Then, I will offer you 1 J silver coin and 90 J copper coin. For adventurers, I recommend paying in advance. It’s normal to leave the inn for a few days whenever there is a request. Be warned that all personal items inside the room will be disposed of if the bill isn’t paid.”
A long term request was not rare for an adventurer, so the room might be empty for several days. There was also the risk of dying during a dangerous request. If that happens, it would not be possible to pay everyday.
“Then do you want to pay in advance? Or is it fine for now?”
As she said so, Shin took out 1 J gold coin from his Item Box (he pretended it was from his chest pocket) and handed it to her.
“This will be enough for 50 days, what about the change?”
“Can you subtract the fee for using the bathhouse from it?”
“Understood. Then I will let you know when it becomes insufficient. For now, write your name in the inn register. It will cost another 2 J copper coins if you need to write a name on someone else’s behalf.”
“No, it’s alright…will this do?”
“…Yeah, okay. Shin-san, here’s the key, the room number is 201 and its on the second floor. Do you know where the box for valuable things are placed?”
“Box? No, never heard of it.”
When the registration was confirmed, a room key was handed to him.
However, Shin tilted his head as he never heard about the box she mentioned before.
“Then, if you don’t know, that would be a loss. Because an inn with boxes is proof of it being an excellent shop. In other words, the box is something like a safe wherein valuables are kept. The box can only be opened by the person who locked it or the innkeeper. Besides, the box is immune to magic, skills, and physical attacks. Even if the inn is completely destroyed, the contents inside the box will be safe as the box itself is a magic item. How is it? Isn’t that great! Because it’s not possible to find an inn like this in the neighborhood.”
While explaining about the box’s indestructibility, some advertising was added. At least it was certainly better than the surrounding shops. Without the parody going on earlier, it would have been perfect, thought Shin.
He went up to the second floor after he received the key. He didn’t have any luggage, but he wanted to check the room.
Room 201 was the first room on the second floor.
The room was about 10 tatami big. It was a simple room with a single bed and a chair with a desk. If the bed included drawers and so on, it would be enough to live comfortably alone. There was a box for leaving valuable things in the inner part of the room. Besides that, there was nothing inappropriate in that room. (Editor’s note: The size of a tatami is about 15 square meters or 164 square feet.)
There was a toilet in addition to the furniture. It was even had a flush toilet.
Shin was surprised by it.
It’s not really surprising that there was a toilet. In Shin’s case, the circumstances were slightly different.
To begin with, toilets didn’t even exist in THE NEW GATE. Even though the game pursued reality, nobody among the producers wanted to do the excretion act in the game.
It would spoil the mood if one got attacked by a monster in the middle of the act.
Without realizing it, Shin hadn’t seen a toilet for one year after the game turned into a death game. Especially, a flushing toilet.
It could be said that each room had a toilet and that it’s natural due to the quality of Bear Point Pavilion. But Shin got a mixed feeling of surprise and nostalgia from it.
“Believe it or not, just seeing a toilet brings memories from the past…”
Shin was surprised and had an indescribable feeling that no one knew.
◆◆◆◆
After checking the room, Shin locked it with the key and proceeded to go downstairs for the purpose of eating and gathering information. He had not eaten since he had at the guild. Also, it would be a waste if he didn’t go eat the meal, as dinner was included in the room charge.
On the first floor, the adventurers were still making noises. From 【Analyze • Ⅹ】, the average adventurer level was 120.
Subsequently, Shin recalled the level of the knights he saw in Tsuki no Hokora. Though he didn’t see many details, the knights should be around 100 ~ 110. And he wondered about the relationship between adventurers and knights in this country.
Then he found a seat, ordered a dish, and he decided to listen to the surrounding clamors until the dish came. He used 【Noise Cancellation】 so only voices could be heard and 【Listen】 so that voices and sounds from a certain range could be clearly heard. Thanks to the skills, he could even hear the muttering of other parties on remote seats.
It was easy to listen when using it, the menu filtered both voices and sounds alike, so that he could choose what to listen to. Almost none of the conversations were meaningful to listen to.
However, the information to be obtained in this place shouldn’t be taken lightly. Even in the game, unexpected information would become available in this place since there were a lot of conversations going on. Though he didn’t know whether it would be useful in this world, Shin didn’t even have a shred of the common sense of this world in the first place, so he would have to hear it even if it was trifle. And there