75 Epilogue: An Odd Inn
The boat swayed. We were out at sea, Lin and I. It'd been three months since then.
When I first reached the woods, Lin was already done packing. She was going to set off a few days prior but somehow Xerec and the others had convinced her to stay till I got back. Our farewell was pretty simple. Lyra just kicked me out of the woods, literally. You'd think birthing her fourth pup would mellow her down a little but, nope.
Couldn't she be a little gentle? I was traveling literally all month at this point!
Sigh. Anyway, the two of us took the local ports and somehow made it to the Northern point of Ayun empire and made way for Shirushi port. Around this time, I heard some peculiar rumors. One of them were how there was a templar knight on our tail or something like that. But that wasn't surprising. The surprising one was simple… it had something to do with a particular letter from an acquaintance. I was really hoping Sol would write to us, but he probably forgot? Calling her an acquaintance would have been an understatement though. We almost had a thing going. Almost.
Apparently, my boy made a move on her and she had to brutally reject the kid; my kid had taste that was for sure. But the rejection became fuel for the kid as he soon awakened new passion for training and hard work. Right now, he was working for a church and the library and earning a good amount of money too! But not just that, he apparently awakened magic somehow? How the hell? I wasn't keen on being skeptical but I clearly remember the boy having no talent in magic whatsoever, actually, he didn't even have much mana if any!
I told Lin about the boy, minus the whole bold proposal. She was ecstatic. I hadn't seen her jump around like that since… well, forever. Lately, she'd been so mellow it was almost frightening. Like she could let loose any day now and murder all the sailors on board. But I was glad to see that she really loved the kid.
We traveled through the northern woods and mountains and eventually made it to Shirushi port from where we took a cruise ship to travel continents.
Right now, it wasn't safe on either of the two central continents. We had to move to the land of demons instead. Which was the plan and the journey should have only taken three weeks.
But I'd been a whole month since then but we were still at sea.
"It's calm," Lin said.
Another morning. Two of us stared at the calm seas. Reminded me of that time when me and Sol went on a little journey of our own.
"Yeah. Hopefully it'll stay like this and we'll get there in time."
"When does these things ever reach in time?" She shrugged. "Come, we need to practice."
What's worse than boredom on a cruise ship?
Training on a cruise ship of course. Especially when you had to spar with a literal brute! She only ever used a knife yet she overpowered the heck out of me. Like what the hell! How could women even have that kind of physical strength? She was definitely screwing my manly pride that was for sure! And she was actually getting stronger by the day!
Would Sol grow up to pass me too- My thoughts staggered. Would the boy even have the chance to grow up? I didn't doubt his potential. And if he'd awakened some sort of magic, whatever it was, he had a shot at living a decent life. However… would the world really let him live?
Eventually we'd be caught. And the church would probably trace the threads straight to him. His life would eventually… crumble.
No, then let's just not get caught!
"You seem excited for once," Lin sneered, dangling the dagger like I was a cat waiting to be fed.
Sigh, I had to first survive this woman though. If I propose, won't I have to keep doing this-
Lin caught me off-guard, slammed me on the damn floor, and beat the shit out of me. Sometimes I wondered whether this woman had a literal grudge on me or something!
***
We landed on Moon Port in the evening of our 35th day at sea. This place was different from what I was used to. First of all, the ground was brown. Not green. Not chocolate.
Brown.
Reddish brown to be specific. IT was a clear sign that this place wasn't fertile at all. And even without setting a foot in, I could tell, this would be hot. And it's not even summer yet.
No walls, just a tidy irregular city with odd shaped houses. Some were rectangular, some were just round, while others had warped shapes and floors. How were the buildings even standing? Magic?
I saw more Westerners than Demons. People around these parts wore Turbans and white shawls and even their clothes were white. I suppose that served more than just as a fashion statement.
"We need to buy a lot of supplies," Lin said.
Even here, in this demon continent, Lin turned heads. Out of ten people, at least 8 turned to get a second look at her face. Not only was she a beauty, she also had a nice figure which attracted attention everywhere and people hit on her despite be being around. Apparently, I was seen as either her little brother or just a side kick.
Aren't I technically older though?
"First we need to get our currency exchanged."
"The guild then."
"Yeah."
We went to the guild. Both of us were adventurers in our early days. I, in particular was a B ranked adventurer. While Lin, C; she'd climbed to B rank with our recent jobs. With the party name White Crow, we took jobs here and there on our way here to make it seem like we were just a typical band of old adventurer buddies who recently started adventuring again. But I'm sure that wouldn't be enough and we'd have to keep on moving.
With our money exchanged for the local coin, we started searching for a place to settle down for the night. Shopping would have to wait for the next day.
"I have some Southern bread, so if you can't eat the local food, we can eat that," Lin said.
We walked past the crowd, and the street vendors. I had my hands over my pockets and I always kept an eye on the bags and the surroundings. You could never be too careful, especially in port cities were pickpockets run amok.
"I thought we ate all that?"
"You ate your portion, I saved most of mine."
A commendable approach. When moving to a new location, particularly a faraway land, you had to take your time to get adjusted to the local food. If you moved too fast and immediately made the switch, your body was going to screw you over seven-fold. But I wasn't expecting something like that from Lin. "Well, that saves us some trouble."
Most of the Inns around the city's entrance were booked. Strange, considering Demon continent wasn't necessary that popular of a tourist spot. OH well, we kept on going deeper.
After a point, Westerners became scarce and demons became plenty. They didn't stare at us with open hostility but they were weren't glad to see us that was for sure.
"Considering what we're doing to them, not surprising," I said.
"The situation could very well have been reversed," Lin said. "We could have been like this instead."
She was right. In war there was no right and wrong. As long as you won, you were right. And we won, we were right. If we'd lost, we'd have been treated pretty much the same like these people.
"True."
With most of the Inns closed, we had no choice but to seek out a rather shabby one. It looked like James' shack. Probably a little worse.
"We're going to sleep in that?" Lin said, a little disgusted.
I could understand but it was better than sleeping on the streets.
We prayed the door wouldn't break down and somehow entered the building. The inside meanwhile… was clean? No, not just clean. It was spotless and dustless. A white interior with metallic chairs and tables and doors? They had white ceiling lights and an actual ceiling.
And wait, I thought for sure this place was just a single floor with two rooms but, there were four large staircases leading up which were moving automatically and hundreds of visible rooms? What was going on?
"Welcome," someone came to greet us in really pristine clothes. "To the Inn of another world!"
The what?
