#Episode 25
Suppressing all those thoughts, Todd urged Vasha, pretending nothing was wrong.
“Cover your face. There’s no benefit in people recognizing you.”
Vasha, not understanding Todd’s concern, asked with a bright expression.
“Are you worried about me?”
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s just go.”
Todd scoffed at Vasha’s words, but he couldn’t hide his ears, which were turning red and still visible beneath his hair.
‘He really is shy.’
Worried that if she questioned Todd persistently, Todd might run away in this unfamiliar place.
Vasha smiled slightly and covered her face with a blanket as Todd had wanted. Together, they headed in the noisiest direction.
***
Despite it being midnight, the city was bustling. The voices of drunks, gamblers, touts, and people from the entertainment district mingled. As they approached the main street, the noise grew louder and louder.
Just as they were about to exit the alley, a carriage almost hit them as it sped by.
It was a carriage made of striking mahogany, the kind only a noble would use.
Noticing the carriage coming, Vasha pulled Todd towards her, preventing any injuries.
Instead, the wind pressure from the speeding carriage knocked the blanket that was covering Vasha’s head off.
“Damn it! Are you blind? Watch where you’re going!”
While Vasha was picking up the fallen blanket, Todd cursed at the back of the carriage.
Vasha pulled Todd away, trying to calm him down.
“It’s fine. Even if it hit me, I wouldn’t die.”
“That’s the problem! If you get hit, it’ll be obvious that you’re not human!”
Todd firmly adjusted the blanket around Vasha again.
“So be careful. You got it? This place is dangerous. We must avoid interacting with people as much as possible!”
“Okay, I got it.”
Vasha looked at Todd, who barely reached her chest, and nodded.
It was quite cute to see Todd, only thirteen years old, trying to act like a protector for a centuries-old vampire.
‘Is this the reason others make Familiar contracts?’
When you think about it, whether thirteen or a hundred, it didn’t make much difference to a long-lived vampire. Just like how humans find both a newborn kitten and a five-year-old cat adorable.
Seeing Vasha nod obediently to his words, Todd let out a sigh of relief.
‘This vampire is so scatterbrained, I really need to keep my wits about me….’
However, since this was Todd’s first time in a big city, his head was spinning. Extremely tense, Todd looked around cautiously like a vigilant meerkat.
Bars, theaters, gambling houses… The row of shops in the entertainment district were all lit up even late at night.
As it was an entertainment district, there were inns scattered everywhere.
However, finding a suitable place for them to stay was difficult.
The inns in the vicinity had names like ‘Temptation of Pleasure,’ ‘Endless Night,’ and ‘Fountain of Unstoppable Energy,’ making their purposes rather ambiguous.
While Todd was looking for an inn, Vasha was reminiscing about old memories as she observed the surroundings.
‘Wow, this place hasn’t changed at all….’
Considering that this was the first time Vasha had encountered a place she had seen in her dreams since coming to this world, it was natural for her to feel nostalgic.
While Vasha was comparing the scenery from her dream to reality, Todd found the most suitable inn.
It was an inn with an impressive gold coin sign, called ‘Blessing of the Goddess of Fortune.’
“That place looks good.”
Though it seemed more like a gambling house than an inn, it was relatively decent compared to the other inns in the area.
Vasha nodded immediately.
“Great!”
Vasha headed to the inn without hesitation. The innkeeper, who was soliciting customers at the entrance, warmly welcomed Vasha and Todd, not minding the suspicious-looking guest with a hooded cloak.
“Welcome! Welcome to the ‘Blessing of the Goddess of Fortune!’ Is this your first time in Noctiluca?”
“Uh? Yes.”
Vasha inadvertently answered, overwhelmed by the innkeeper’s enthusiasm.
“Ah, what a good choice to come to our inn on your first day. When you sleep at our inn, luck sticks to you! Our roulette wheel is amazing, and our guests always want to stay longer.”
“Oh… The inn seems very popular?”
“Of course! We rarely have any vacant rooms, but luckily, we have one room available today. You must have the blessing of the goddess of fortune!”
If you thought about it calmly, if the room was so well sought after, the innkeeper wouldn’t need to solicit customers outside.
However, the innkeeper’s passionate sales pitch made it feel like they would miss out if they didn’t take the room immediately.
“How much is it for a night in that room?”
“We don’t overcharge here. Otherwise, the goddess of fortune would leave us. It’s exactly the market rate! Just twenty silver coins will do!”
“Hold on a second.”
Vasha rummaged through the money pouch given by Priest Joseph. However, she couldn’t find any silver coins, only a continuous stream of copper coins.
“With this many copper coins… Wait. Why aren’t there any silver coins?”
“Take your time. There’s no rush.”
The innkeeper kindly smiled and patted Vasha on the back. Despite wrestling with the pouch for a while, no silver coins emerged, so Vasha eventually emptied the entire contents onto the table where the guestbook was kept.
Clink, clink, clatter.
Most of what rolled out were copper coins. Occasionally, a silver coin appeared, but it was clear at a glance that it wasn’t enough to cover the cost of the room.
“………”
“………”
The innkeeper’s smile cracked. Soon, he shouted angrily, as if he had swallowed a train whistle.
“Are you trying to stay at my precious inn with just this money? You bunch of penniless beggars! Bringing people like you in here ruins our business’s luck! You can find a place in the slums that matches your budget!”
The innkeeper, who had been amiable just moments ago, suddenly turned hostile. He grabbed a broom and swept Vasha and Todd out of the inn as if they were dust.
Unexpectedly kicked out of the inn, Vasha blinked in confusion, unable to grasp the situation. Todd looked at Vasha in disbelief and asked,
“I thought you said you had a lot of money.”
“I thought so too.”
Vasha let out a heavy sigh.
She had been showing off with the money she got from Joseph, but when she finally checked, it turned out to be just a few coins.
‘I should have counted it beforehand. Since Joseph was the only priest in the village, I thought he’d have a decent amount of money… but this is just heavy and useless!’
Vasha lamented her lack of preparation and Joseph’s poverty for a long time, but it didn’t change anything.
Todd shrugged his shoulders.
“At least now we know we can afford an inn in the slums with this money.”
So the two of them headed back to the slums they had come from.
Leaving the bright lights of the main street behind, they walked towards the place where the darkness was as thick and sticky as tar, welcoming the familiar dampness.
***
The inn in the slums was old, shabby, and dusty, but at least it didn’t have a ridiculous name.
‘And it only costs one silver coin for a night.’
Vasha lay her head on a straw-filled pillow and stared at the ceiling. She was disappointed that she couldn’t see the moon, but she was satisfied that it would perfectly shield her from the sun during the day.
Vasha glanced over at Todd, who was lying on the adjacent bed. His small, curled-up figure, turned away from Vasha, looked like a bug.
Still, he was admirable. The journey to Noctiluca must have been exhausting, but Todd never once complained.
It seems he had been holding on with sheer willpower until now, but the enchantment of the bed after the hospital was immense. Just seeing how he fell into a deep sleep as soon as he lay down on the bed showed how exhausted Todd was.
