Rupegia Ch. 01: First Day

"Alright, I'll take one."

I pay him and he hands me a sealed scroll made from a roughly textured paper.

He shows a business smile and says with a practiced tone, "Then that's all. Welcome to Rabanara, the great fortress on the shore of the Sea of Trees."

I ask for an inn recommendation within the middle price range, and he tells me to go to the Resting Spring's Inn, then makes a dismissive gesture with his hand.

--

The map is quite crude and lacks beauty, but it gives the location of all the important locations. The Bazaar, the Flea Market, the Farmer's Market, the Guild's Corridors, the Crafter's Corner, the Gambling Den, the Theater, the Carnival Field, the Colosseum, the slums, the commoners' area, the Nobles' quarters, the multitudes of inns, and the brothel district. After some searching, I found the Resting Springs.

As I walk through the streets, I see a large amount of weird-looking people. People with animal ears, tails, claws, snouts, patches of fur, animal looking digitigrade feet, and hands that almost look like paws in any sort of combination imaginable. People with horns, tails, wings, and plenty of other weird body parts. Skin colors of all the colors of the rainbow. Most wearing very revealing clothing, and plenty are floating around or flying slowly. Their clothes go from delicate togas and kimonos, to rough and boring medieval clothes, some even use straight-up animal pelts. A carnival of people with mismatched armor and weapons. With body types ranging from big, burly, and tough, to small, cute, and scrawny.

All those things in combination with the bizarre architecture makes me feel like I'm actually the normal and well-dressed one. I see even a few small animals that look a bit human-like in their behavior. They run around like children, appearing and disappearing out of thin air.

Surprisingly, the town looks clean and doesn't smell. Behind nearly every wagon, there is a floating yellow broom that sweeps the floor by itself without even lifting dust, like it just disappears. Perhaps these are spells that keep the roads clean.

--

The inn is close by. There's still a few hours until sunset but my body and mind are exhausted. All I want is to rest for a little while.

The inn is a large building. It isn't as crooked as the other one, and it's made entirely out of cobblestone. It has three floors and gives off a rustic feeling. There's no spring, though.

Once I enter, a middle-aged man with a small chin, brown hair, and small circle glasses greets me from behind a desk while he writes in a book with an ink quill.

"Welcome to the Resting Springs Inn. Would you like a room?" He asks with a kind tone and a gentle smile.

"Yes, please. What kind of rooms do you have?" I respond.

"We have a few single-bed rooms on the third floor. On the second floor, there's still space in the communal room."

The communal bed might be one cheap room where multiple people sleep together. No, thank you.

"Single bed, please," I ask.

"That'll be one silver a day, would you like to reserve the room for multiple days?"

Uh... my brain is not working properly.

"Ten days..." I guess.

He nods and smiles again. "We also give breakfast and dinner, five copper for each meal. During dinner, the public bathhouse is open, and the bath is included with the meal. You can reserve a room for bathing for ten copper. There's also a magician responsible for the bath that you can rent personally for fifteen copper at any time."

"I would like both meals for each day. Also, what's the exchange rate for silver and copper coins?"

He stares blankly for a moment, likely surprised at my question, then he recomposes himself and answers in his usual gentle tone, "Avgi silver coins are equal to ninety copper coins."

Perhaps this is not something people normally ask him. Also, now that he said "Avgi coins" I notice that there's something written in the coins. It's written in the [Andraste Language], but it's only a few letters and some numbers, so perhaps it's some identification?

I pay the innkeeper and he gives me a key with the number 304 on it, and a smaller black key.

He assumes a practiced tone and says, "Here it is, room four on the third floor. The smaller key opens a safe. Once you leave, give me the room key, but keep the safe key, and don't leave anything valuable outside of the safe. The safe can only be opened by us after your stay ends. Finally, would you like to be called for breakfast and dinner?" He gives me a business smile.

I don't have a watch or an alarm clock. I'll never get up at the right time without them.

"Yes," I awkwardly respond with a nod.

He turns the book around and hands me his ink quill, then points to a blank line. "Please write your name here," he asks.

I start to write my name and my hand just moves by itself. It's a very odd feeling, like I'm doing things by reflex only. I don't really know what I'm writing until it is done and the language skill tells me that I've written "Wolf Ryder." The squished characters are a bit difficult to tell apart, but something tells me that my calligraphy is perfect.

"Thank you for your patronage," he says and bows slightly. I nod and walk towards the stairs.

The inside of the inn is made entirely of light brown wood. It's simple and a little small, but perhaps they just want to maximize the number of rooms. I notice that shining jewels on the ceiling are illuminating the inn; they're basically weak light bulbs.

I enter my room and lock the door, then I take my sword belt, boots, and jacket off. I sigh in relief, then I drop on the bed and fall asleep.

--

I dream of the unpleasant sensation of cutting flesh with my sword.

--

A knock on the door wakes me up.

"The dinner is ready, the bath is hot," says the voice of a young woman.

I don't know what the bed is made of. It's not hard, but it's not really good for my back. I might need to search for a proper bed if I'm going to stay here for a while.

I put my clothes back on and go downstairs.

On the first floor, there's a communal hall with a few square tables and chairs. A small number of commoners are sitting about, waiting for the food, and I see more people are coming down the stairs.

I sit and wait, and soon, a plate comes to me. Vegetable stew, a piece of roasted mutton with spice and herbs, and a piece of fluffy, white bread. It tastes okay, the stew lacks some spice, but the mutton is well done. Perhaps due to the number of woolen clothing sheep are the common staple.

After eating, I go through the back door and reach the baths. Contrary to every single fucking medieval novel, baths aren't that rare. The Romans loved baths, you know, bathhouses were a thing throughout history, you know.

I ask the attendant at the front how it works. It uses the heat of the kitchen, coupled with the help of a mage, to heat the water of the bath, so that's the source of the mist coming out of the doors ahead. It makes me quite happy that I'll be able to get some hot water to sink in, and not just a towel bath.

For four pieces of copper, I'll get a towel, a very small piece of rough soap, and a sponge. The bath is divided into three parts: men, women, and mixed. Using the men or women's costs another piece of copper. Curiosity got the best of me and I enter the mixed, which is free for the patrons of the inn.

Let's say that some light prostitution is going on over there. I immediately leave and pay for the men's bath. I'm not a puritan, but seeing sex live is too stimulating for me right now.

The etiquette is that you first gather a bucket of water, then use it to wash away all the dirt with the sponge and soap, then you're allowed to relax in the pool of hot water.

So I start washing, but I start to feel conscious of my body. Most men here are somewhat handsome. I'm not ugly and I have a cute baby face, but damn, are all the people in this world at least somewhat attractive?

When I get out of the bath, it's already night, and the people are either going to bed or to a tavern to drink. I don't really drink, so I go to bed early today.

I lay down on my not so comfortable bed and spend some time reflecting on what happened today. I got sucked out of my wedding into a painful, dangerous, magical, insane, and ridiculous world. I killed two humanoid beings in a very gory way, I killed a bizarre animal, and I killed a huge bear that almost killed me. If not for [Regeneration], I think I would be dead now.

What kind of god would throw me here at this precise timing? Fuck you, God. Or help me, help me because I want to go home, I want to see my wife, I want to hug her, kiss her, and have sex with her, then have her fall asleep in my arms and wake up seeing her smile. Fuck this world. Or help me, please. God, help me.

I feel something "change" inside of me. I open my "Menu" and see my "Status." My "Piety" increased to two.

I break down and cry myself to sleep.