Shining Moon Inn

After talking with the party about his apparent success in becoming an adventurer, Haru chose to separate from them. He could see how Thes was glancing at him from the moment they arrived at Orario, he understood that he wasn't much liked by him, but he couldn't understand why now Thes seemed so angry.

'First, a place to spend the night.'

Haru was very tired, after the walk with still the fatigue due to what was his work plus a training that although partial was always training, he wanted to find as soon as possible a place to rest. He was going to take lessons tomorrow after all.

'I remember seeing some Inn in our way...'

The previous Haru hadn't focused on one of the most important things, the ability to read and write. Strangely though, Haru could read the signs of the various shops and remembered reading of some place to sleep at night on their way. So, going back the way he had done, Haru found himself in front of what he was looking for.

Without hesitation, Haru entered what was an Inn. He could see how the building was actually on two floors, one for receiving customers with rooms that were probably not for customers, and the second probably for the accommodation. It wasn't small, but it wasn't too big, in short, the construction itself seemed to be rather balanced.

"Welcome to the Shining Moon Inn! What can I do for you-nya?"

Busy observing the interior, Haru hadn't paid much attention to the person who was there to receive him, but as soon as his eyes met those of the woman, Haru was surprised. Encountering the golden eyes of the woman with his own, he could immediately feel an overwhelming calm coming from them, but that wasn't all. Her amethyst hair matched very well with her appearance, further accentuating a beauty he considered almost 'exotic' coming from a world where hair and eyes had totally different colours, but what struck him above all, was the presence of feline ears and tail of the same colour of the hair. Of course, he knew that in this world 'Demi Human' races were present, but he hadn't paid any attention before, so it was the first time he had spoken to anyone who 'wasn't' human, but this slight confusion vanished at the very moment it was formed.

"Good evening. I would like a room, at least for a couple of days."

Approaching the counter, Haru asked the woman if it was possible to have a room while the latter had a small smile on her face. Having seen many people come here so far, she instantly knew he was the formal client, which was obviously appreciated, but it was not so rare here. What really struck her was that while being human, Haru's amber eyes were able to convey a very relaxing calm, but being in the professional field, the woman simply nodded.

"I understand. The accommodation costs 500 Valis a day-nya, you said you wanted to stay at least a couple of days.. So we could do 1,400 Valis for three days, what do you think-nya?"

Haru was immediately struck by the fact that the woman seemed to add a 'nya' at the end of some words or sentences, and the thing obviously intrigued him, but he decided to keep these thoughts for himself since, as the woman had understood to be in a 'professional' environment, even Haru wanted to maintain such an attitude.

The accommodation was quite expensive for ordinary citizens. Although Haru seemed to be special in his own way, the clothes he wore and his rather messy hair were the key to making the woman decide to give him a small discount.

"If it is a discount that is made to everyone then fine, if it is something special for me I thank you for your care, but please take the 1,500 Valis without hesitation"

Haru didn't want to be in debt with anyone else. Already from the previous world he had people to repay, and in this one the blacksmith had done so much for him, he didn't want to be even more indebted to others than he already was, even if he appreciated the gesture.

The woman blinked. Haru had refused an offer for a small discount with a look so serious that the woman could only giggle. From what she understood, this boy seemed to be more innocent than he seemed at a first glance.

"In this case the total is 1,500 Valis, now you can no longer back out!"

With a pleased smile on her face, the woman laughed and while Haru was taking the Valis he had and the woman instead the key to the room she would give him, she didn't hesitate to introduce herself.

"By the way, I am known as Rynsa Seefah-nya, But since it's hard for others to remember my name, I'm called Ryn or Rin, whichever you prefer-nya."

Even her name was what Haru would define as 'exotic' but he didn't see it in negativity, rather he believed that knowing more things he didn't know before could only be beneficial for the future.

After introducing himself as well, Ryn handed him the key to the room where he would stay for three days and while making the stairs to the second floor, Haru rechecked how many Valis he had left. He had enough Valis to spend 10 more nights in this place, and while it wasn't much, the previous Haru had done everything he could to save that amount over the years, So he could only be once again grateful that his past self was so diligent.

---

Slowly opening his eyes, Haru saw that the ceiling was different again. Since yesterday, he had officially left the village, and as much as this thing could be a good progress, he still struggled to quickly get used to the new changes, but was determined to get fully accustomed to what life was like in this new world. It was still less than a week that Haru was here, the perpetuating confusion was only normal for the moment, or at least that was what he thought every morning when he woke up.

'Right, I have to go and take part in the lessons at the guild. After that I could explore the city a bit to memorize the neighbourhood.'

He also wanted to use a portion of the Valis he had to take some pieces of armour, but barely having the Valis to stay here, Haru chose to postpone the purchase of new pieces of armour for when he had more Valis in his pockets.

Changing his pyjama to clean clothes, Haru chose to reuse the wooden basin he had been given later the previous night to wash himself, so that he could also wash his clothes, and the result was that his clothes were clean again, as was his body.

He was assigned one of the rooms closest to the stairs, so Haru was already close to the door leading to the outside, but before he could open it, he was stopped by Ryn.

"I completely forgot yesterday, but it wasn't just the room included. If you turn the corner, you will also be served a breakfast and even dinner is included-nya!"

Her words surprised him and, leaving his grip on the door furniture, Haru saw that just behind him there was indeed a road that led somewhere else, and since he had skipped dinner the day before, his grumbling stomach certainly wouldn't have let him skip breakfast, too.

Doing as Ryn had said, Haru turned the corner that was on the right side of the first floor and once he reached the area where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served, Haru was explained that once he showed them the key to the door where he stayed, he would receive a breakfast or dinner depending on the schedule, and of course this was worth once a day, if he came here again for lunch, Haru would have to pay for the food.

Showing the key where he was staying, Haru had breakfast without anyone bothering him. In fact, he was taken to a room very similar to the one that hotels in his previous world had where it was possible to access a buffet, only that there was no buffet here but just waitresses who brought him a rather plentiful breakfast, which immediately made Haru think he made the best choice to spend his days in the Shining Moon.

As there weren't many other people in the room, the breakfast could be done in a relaxing and pleasant silence, which had put him completely at ease.

'I mustn't miss dinner. '

As this thought made its way into his mind, Haru made the little road that separated the Inn from the guild, and in no time at all he was welcomed by Misha.

"It's a pleasure to find you here so early, Haru-kun! Lessons are about to begin."

She had specified that today there would be the first lessons, and almost forgot to mention the exact time, but she remembered it just before Haru headed out.

Misha was again surprised that he was a little early, But that was not a problem at all, because it was her colleague who had to be on time, adventurers could take part in the lessons whenever they wished.

Nodding to what Misha had said, Haru chose to have a chat with Misha, and so he learned that 'in the next few days' had now officially become 'in two days' as per the official communication of the Hephaestus familia. All blacksmiths were admitted to this event, even those who didn't have a licence as such or the development ability [Blacksmith], from what Misha had speculated, Hephaestus was looking for a blacksmith who could impress her, so much so that she promised to marry anyone who could produce such a masterpiece.

"..Vow?"

Haru was not familiar with the concept of 'Vows'. He knew the meaning of the term itself, but he had no idea what Misha was talking about, and to his visible confusion, Misha explained how it was possible to promise anything without being able to lie with precise conditions, and if such a promise had been broken, a penalty was given, whether it was the choice of the person making the promise or the world itself, this had no relevance, the power of such promises was unique, and it was now not a voice, but a truth, that Hephaestus had proclaimed such a thing at the cost of her own soul, meant that if she hadn't kept his promise, the Goddess Hephaestus could have disappeared from the face not only of the world, but of the cosmos in its interior.

Haru was surprised by Misha's words. He didn't expect there to be anything in this world capable of suppressing even the Gods, figures beyond earthly beings and unattainable to humans in his previous world, yet Haru could only sigh. To impress a Goddess was certainly not simple, nor did he felt able to do such a thing, so he chose to ignore this point. What he most cared about was trying to be admitted as an apprentice, maybe if he had any talent Hephaestus would take him, or at least that was what he hoped, otherwise he would have accepted the offer of the Takemikazuchi familia, even if he would have fewer benefits, it was always better than chasing for too long a familia out of his possibilities.

After their little discussion came to an end, however, it was time to lead Haru to the room where the lessons would be held, and Misha didn't hesitate to accompany him instead of giving him directions. Of course it could be seen as 'privileged' by adventurers, but Misha was trivially being friendly, unlike the other girls, the adventurers knew well her personality, so they let Haru be accompanied by the latter without much fuss.

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(Sorry if I'm late than usual, this chapter was quite hard to write)

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