Outside of the Adventurer's Guild—
Syla left from the entrance door and went into the streets again, planning to search for an inn and sleep for the night, seeing as how the sun was about to set in the horizon, the sky gradually turned orange as the last flock of birds flew from one of the house roof.
"Is there an inn nearby the guild?" She said as she looked around.
When she noticed that there were no buildings that resembles an inn, Syla continued her walk to the other part of the streets, she passed by a few adventurers who was injured and had almost all of their equipments tattered, it seems like they just came back from doing a quest, seeing as how they went towards the Guild went Syla turned her head to take a peek.
"I guess they had a rough day.." Syla muffled before facing her head to the front.
It didn't take long for her to find an inn, after turning to the left and right, she followed the street continuously until she finally spots a building with a hanging sign that says 'Sleeping Dragon Inn' in it. The inn itself was quiet spacious, when judging from the outside, it looked to have a set of 2 floors, quite average, however Syla couldn't care less.
'It's not that far from the guild, so i hope they still have a room left, or else i'll have to keep searching..' Syla thought.
She boldly opened the door, ringing the bell that was attached at the top of it while also alerting the inn's owner and everyone inside.
Ring!
Ring!
"Welcome to the Sleeping Dragon Inn, how may i help you." Said the gentleman that was standing behind the counter table, he immediately greeted Syla even though she hadn't approached him yet.
Syla observed the inside of the inn for a few seconds, looking after its customer that seemes to be mostly adventurers, just as she had expected, but there were also a few normal civilians who was there to relax and sip some beer before they went home.
After confirming that there were no one that could potentially be looking for trouble, Syla stepped inside and met with the gentleman that greeted her earlier.
"Is there a room here?" Syla said beneath her hood.
"Do you want to stay? That's not a problem, we still have 2 rooms left– How long do you want to stay?" The gentleman asked with both of his hands on his back.
"How much is one night here?" Syla replied by bouncing the question back.
"...5 Copper, and we'll only provide breakfast, after that you'll have to pay extra." The gentleman calmly responded.
5 coppers a night doesn't sound like a bad deal, but Syla remembered that the Inn at Direwell offers 4 coppers per night instead of 5, although the difference isn't a lot considering copper is the lowest tier currency in the kingdom, it's still an increase regardless.
'Hmm.. 5 coppers isn't that bad, but i could probably find one that offers 4 coppers, the problem is that im too lazy to search for another inn.. Especially at night.' Syla said in her mind, she thought about it for quite some time, and ended up accepting the price at this inn.
"Okay." She said as she grabbed a single gold coin from her satchel.
The gentlemam behind the table was soon startled by the amount of money Syla just gave him, and he couldn't help but ask.
"Umm.. Miss, this is a bit too much.. How long are you planning to stay?!" He said.
"A week should be enough." Syla replied, still keeping her appearance a secret from him.
"I see, staying for a week will be 3 silvers and 5 coppers, let me grab your change." The gentleman said as he opened the drawer beneath the elongated wooden table infront of him.
He took a couple of silvers and coppers, totaling to 6 silvers and 5 coppers before giving it to Syla. Once she received her change and the key to her room, Syla quickly left the counter and went straight to the second floor, where her room was located.
A few seconds later, when Syla had already left the first floor and arrived into her room, the atmosphere at the first floor was tense, none of the customer said anything even though they previously were chatting with each other, it seems like they were curious with Syla, who she was, and why she hid her appearance. It was a common pattern recognition in this world, for an adveturers who lived a life so close with death almost every single day, they will obviously learn a pattern or stereotypes that they wouldn't want to come across.
And one of that pattern recognition, is to not trust anyone wearing full cloak, especially if they didn't reveal their face. Since in the past, many have fallen into their temptation or offer and were manipulated.
"That girl in full cloak, do you think she's suspicious?" One of the adventurer that were sitting at one of the table said.
Beside him was his other friends who were also enjoying their dinner together.
"Oh definitely, i bet she has some secrets.. And that's what makes her scary, people with secrets will always be unpredictable." His friend responded before taking a sip out of his beer.
"Her sword was protruding out of her cloak, so there's a high chance that she's a combatant.. The problem is how strong is she.." The previous adventurer added his assumption to the table.
"This is why i don't like people like her, we can't really take any chances, im not like some idiots who purposefully pick a fight with an unknown enemy.. It'd be nice if she wasn't as strong as we expected, but if she were that strong– Or even exceeding our expectation, then who knows what would happen." The far left adventurer who wears a monocle scoffed.
"It's just like that demon worshipper incident a decade ago in the capital, they're the reason why people nowadays gets cautious when seeing a person in full cloak."
"Don't even talk about that, i actually almost pissed my pants back there when a knight from the capital came over to this town and launched a full search to capture the fleeing cultist that somehow entered here‐Mind you i was 17 at that time, that knight's equipment and weapon was unlike we've ever seen in this backwater place."
"You did? Damn dude.. I didn't know you're such a crybaby."
"Ugh! Shut up.."
.
.
Inside one of the room at the second floor of the Inn—
"A demon worshipper incident?.. A decade ago?, that's when i was 8 right?" Syla was laying on the soft bed when her ears picked up the noises from below her.
Because she doesn't want her blouse or skirt to get wrinkly, Syla decided to change her clothes into the ones that had been prepared by the inn's owner at the wardrobe, it's only a plain tunic and short pants, but let's be real, who wanted to sleep wearing fancy clothes that could get ruined when you woke up. She neatly tidied up her outfits and placed it on the desk beside her bed, along with her swords below as it leaned into it. And once again, Syla accidentally heard the conversation of strangers, it was all thanks to her demihuman trait.
"So an incident like that happened in the capital– Now that i think of it, what's the name of the capital again? I remembered it has something to do with the Went in Widewent.. Surely the capital's name isn't Widewent right? That's the kingdom's name..." Syla talked to herself, she looked at the ceiling and went out of focus.
Her mind wandered freely as her vision gets cloudy, it's as if Syla was flying through an endless library filled with books, but except those books were filled with her memories.
"Huh?.. Where am i?" Syla suddenly regained her focus and realized the strange place that she was in.
Before she could even comprehend what she was looking at or how she got there, Syla was quickly pulled back from her mind world and she opened her eyes to see the wooden ceiling once again.
"What— was that.." She said.