Chapter 114: 114
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Late into the night, Altair was willing to admit that she made a mistake. She couldn't ignore when the proof of her mistake was thrown into her face at nearly every moment. She really messed up with the plan she had. She couldn't believe that what she did would come back and bite her in this way though. She suspected it would be more physical instead.
Once Altair had slinked away from the group of people surrounding her, she returned to the street and looked for the next tavern to eavesdrop on. It wasn't hard with night being in full swing at that point. The raucous environment known to taverns could be heard several streets away, while all of the homes and businesses nearby had gone completely silent and dark. They were, literally, lights at night and were impossible to miss.
She snuck over to the tavern and lifted herself above a window with her threads, then created a platform from the wall with her Shadow Magic that completely concealed her onto the wall of the building. With the help of the inky black cover, she was completely invisible to the Human eye at night.
She listened in on the conversations coming from the tavern and had a hard time filtering through each voice. It was always like this when she was gathering information though. Trying to pick out specific conversations among a jumble of conversations required a lot of concentration, time, and effort.
She heard a lot of local gossip at first. There was some husbands wife who was sleeping around, which caused several of the men to ask for more information. There was one man who, apparently, had a bastard that his wife found out about. Supposedly, wolves had become more common and were threatening livestock, though Altair had no idea how that was possible with the wall surrounding the town.
A lot of the men talked about various feats, attempting to impress the women of the night. There were some who bragged about catching a thief. Others would taut that they had won something called an 'arm wrestling' competition. Some attempted to claim the completely impossible, like managing to insult a noble to their face and getting away with it.
All of this chatter was completely useless to Altair. She had stayed in place for several minutes and didn't get any information about the armies movements or about the Coalition attacks.
Before she could listen any further, a man ran into the tavern and shouted, "There's been a murder! Someone killed four people in an alley after stealing a bunch of coins from people!"
His shouts drew everyone's attention. No one ran out of the tavern or did anything different from what they were doing just before. The only thing that changed was the topic of conversation. Everyone was talking about who they thought had done it or why they had done it.
All of the gossiping became about what Altair had just done and she knew that she would get nothing more from this tavern.
So, Altair left her spot and went on to other taverns. However, by the time she arrived at each one, they were all talking about the same thing: her crimes.
It was at that point that Altair could only look up at the night sky and sigh heavily. She really messed up.
Since she, likely, couldn't collect any valuable information for the rest of the night, Altair chose to find an inn to rest for the evening.
Even at night, however late it was, finding an inn to rest at for the day wasn't an impossible task. It was just annoying when the innkeeper glared at you and overcharged you for the night.
Of course, that was for the lower end inns. Since Altair had come across an idiot who gave her all of their money, she planned to rest at a more expensive inn. She still had to count out the spoils she got from the thieves as well, so she planned to do that once she was in her room.
She just had to find the inn first. In the dark of night, finding a high class inn would be a problem for Humans, but Altair could see just fine so she could make out the decorations on them in the darkness easily. She also knew that, generally, the better inns were located in the center of towns. So, she went in that direction while walking out in the open on the street.
She had no reason to hide as no one could tell she wasn't Human.
'Tomorrow I might as well get the antidote since I'm here,' she thought to herself as she walked down the street. 'I doubt I'll find any information here after what happened last night. I should head to Luksiof and try to get in contact with the Council instead.'
One of the Council of Four maintained a nobleman identity. He was a lord in the city of Luksiof and Altair knew which one he was. She planned to use that information to try and get a message to him.
As Altair made her way to the center of town she was stopped by no less than fourteen guards who all asked her the same question: what she was doing out so late at night.
Altair, in return, gave them all the same reply: she was heading to an inn.
Like that, Altair managed to get to the center of town with several interruptions. As she got closer to the center of town, the buildings and streets became more clean, decorated, and larger. It took her longer than she thought to reach the center due to all of the guards interrupting her.
She looked around and spotted an inn to go to. It had a set of double doors and was four storey's tall. There was still light coming from the window. However, the street was deathly silent. It was as if even a mouse was afraid to make any noise.
Altair walked up to the inn and looked at its name. She immediately frowned as she pushed the door open and entered. The inn took the name "Massacre Queen's Demise". She wondered what they would think if they found out the very person they thought was dead was sleeping in their inn they named after her so-called death.
The insides were, in Altair's opinion, mundane. But, she admitted that she was used to far better décor because of the last couple years.
There was a single fat man sitting behind the counter. He was barely keeping himself awake in his chair as he leaned over the counter with an arm holding his head up. With Altair's entrance, he looked up and quickly shook his head to get rid of his drowsiness.
Altair walked over to the counter he was at and asked, "What rooms do you have available."
The fat man examined her with a critical eye, as if he could tell how much she was worth. Thanks to the clothing she was wearing, he apparently believed her to be someone of importance. He quickly plastered a welcoming smile on his face as he replied, "Welcome, young lady, to our fine establishment. We have several rooms available for the evening. How many beds do you and your parents need?"
"Just one," Altair said tonelessly. "It's just me tonight, my father wants to see how well I can manage a limited budget."
The fat man nodded his head in understanding. Whether he actually understood or not was unknown as he quickly said, "Well, we have several rooms available. Which would you like, the Queen's Garden, or perhaps the Hero's Respite? We also have some… less comfortable rooms available for you to rent as well."
Altair smirked inwardly. 'My garden, huh? Figures Humans would name something after Magic.' She tonelessly replied, "The Queens Garden sounds good. I'll take that room for the night."
The fat man's smile beamed and his face jiggled as he excitedly said, "That will be forty silvers then. Breakfast and lunch comes with it as well."
Altair opened her satchel and pulled out the transparent bag of money. The fat man took a double take on the bag and his expression turned shocked. He had obviously never seen a plastic bag before.
Altair ignored him and pulled out the gold square and placed it on the counter, "Here, give me my change too."
The fat man blinked suddenly as if he realized what he was staring. He then nodded exaggeratedly and said, "Of course, esteemed guest. Of course!" He then gave her the sixty silvers that she promptly placed in the bag and put back into her satchel. Afterwards, she got a key and he said, "The room is the left room on the top floor. Please enjoy your stay, esteemed guest."
Altair gave him a non-committal reply before she made her way upstairs and entered her room without any interruptions. The room was quite luxurious for the standards of her world, but it was nothing compared to the room she was used to.
When she entered she briefly imagined Stacey and Noel in the room, greeting her with their smiles. She also imagined Sarah sitting in the chair near the window with a gentle smile on her face.
Altair shook her head to clear the images away. 'Later. I can see them later.'
She then retired for the night. The bed was alright, but she didn't think it was that great. It was superior to sleeping on the cold ground though.
After she got up in the morning, she heard the cries of some birds outside. She groggily lifted herself from the bed and looked around the room with sleepy eyes. She took another half a minute to realize where she was and she climbed out of the bed and checked her spoils from the night before.
She had gained another 23 copper squares and 38 silver squares. In total, she had 86 copper squares and 115 silver squares. She then packed away her money and got dressed again before she went downstairs.
The inn was now somewhat lively. There was a half dozen well-dressed people in the lobby that sat at tables and ate with refined movements. All of them were men. The only woman in the lobby was the person who was now behind the counter.
Altair's arrival drew the attention of the people in the lobby as they cast a glance over her. However, they immediately shot their gazes back to her with wide eyes as they realized the difference in quality of their clothes. From their perspective, Altair was probably from a royal family or from a wealthy textile merchant. After all, her white shirt was spotless and her beige pants were shockingly clean.
Altair did not know that the clothes she was wearing were covered with nanomachines that would clean them when they were taken off. She had taken her clothes off for the first time last night when she slept in just her camisole and underwear. She also didn't notice the difference when she woke up, so her clothes now looked like they were completely pristine and never touched by even the wind.
White clothing was the most expensive clothing in the Kingdom. It was almost impossible to keep white and the whiter it was the more valuable it was.
Altair ignored them and sat at one of the tables. The woman quickly brought over some breakfast that was prepared earlier. It wasn't anything special, just some eggs, a mug of fruit juice, and some rye bread.
She ate the meager breakfast that was prepared there and found it to be lacking in taste. The best part of the meal was the fruit juice, but it still lacked the sweetness she was to. She sighed mentally after finishing her meal and left the inn to head to the market. Along the way, she ate two cookies to fix the bad taste in her mouth.
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Late into the night, Altair was willing to admit that she made a mistake. She couldn't ignore when the proof of her mistake was thrown into her face at nearly every moment. She really messed up with the plan she had. She couldn't believe that what she did would come back and bite her in this way though. She suspected it would be more physical instead.
Once Altair had slinked away from the group of people surrounding her, she returned to the street and looked for the next tavern to eavesdrop on. It wasn't hard with night being in full swing at that point. The raucous environment known to taverns could be heard several streets away, while all of the homes and businesses nearby had gone completely silent and dark. They were, literally, lights at night and were impossible to miss.
She snuck over to the tavern and lifted herself above a window with her threads, then created a platform from the wall with her Shadow Magic that completely concealed her onto the wall of the building. With the help of the inky black cover, she was completely invisible to the Human eye at night.
She listened in on the conversations coming from the tavern and had a hard time filtering through each voice. It was always like this when she was gathering information though. Trying to pick out specific conversations among a jumble of conversations required a lot of concentration, time, and effort.
She heard a lot of local gossip at first. There was some husbands wife who was sleeping around, which caused several of the men to ask for more information. There was one man who, apparently, had a bastard that his wife found out about. Supposedly, wolves had become more common and were threatening livestock, though Altair had no idea how that was possible with the wall surrounding the town.
A lot of the men talked about various feats, attempting to impress the women of the night. There were some who bragged about catching a thief. Others would taut that they had won something called an 'arm wrestling' competition. Some attempted to claim the completely impossible, like managing to insult a noble to their face and getting away with it.
All of this chatter was completely useless to Altair. She had stayed in place for several minutes and didn't get any information about the armies movements or about the Coalition attacks.
Before she could listen any further, a man ran into the tavern and shouted, "There's been a murder! Someone killed four people in an alley after stealing a bunch of coins from people!"
His shouts drew everyone's attention. No one ran out of the tavern or did anything different from what they were doing just before. The only thing that changed was the topic of conversation. Everyone was talking about who they thought had done it or why they had done it.
All of the gossiping became about what Altair had just done and she knew that she would get nothing more from this tavern.
So, Altair left her spot and went on to other taverns. However, by the time she arrived at each one, they were all talking about the same thing: her crimes.
It was at that point that Altair could only look up at the night sky and sigh heavily. She really messed up.
Since she, likely, couldn't collect any valuable information for the rest of the night, Altair chose to find an inn to rest for the evening.
Even at night, however late it was, finding an inn to rest at for the day wasn't an impossible task. It was just annoying when the innkeeper glared at you and overcharged you for the night.
Of course, that was for the lower end inns. Since Altair had come across an idiot who gave her all of their money, she planned to rest at a more expensive inn. She still had to count out the spoils she got from the thieves as well, so she planned to do that once she was in her room.
She just had to find the inn first. In the dark of night, finding a high class inn would be a problem for Humans, but Altair could see just fine so she could make out the decorations on them in the darkness easily. She also knew that, generally, the better inns were located in the center of towns. So, she went in that direction while walking out in the open on the street.
She had no reason to hide as no one could tell she wasn't Human.
'Tomorrow I might as well get the antidote since I'm here,' she thought to herself as she walked down the street. 'I doubt I'll find any information here after what happened last night. I should head to Luksiof and try to get in contact with the Council instead.'
One of the Council of Four maintained a nobleman identity. He was a lord in the city of Luksiof and Altair knew which one he was. She planned to use that information to try and get a message to him.
As Altair made her way to the center of town she was stopped by no less than fourteen guards who all asked her the same question: what she was doing out so late at night.
Altair, in return, gave them all the same reply: she was heading to an inn.
Like that, Altair managed to get to the center of town with several interruptions. As she got closer to the center of town, the buildings and streets became more clean, decorated, and larger. It took her longer than she thought to reach the center due to all of the guards interrupting her.
She looked around and spotted an inn to go to. It had a set of double doors and was four storey's tall. There was still light coming from the window. However, the street was deathly silent. It was as if even a mouse was afraid to make any noise.
Altair walked up to the inn and looked at its name. She immediately frowned as she pushed the door open and entered. The inn took the name "Massacre Queen's Demise". She wondered what they would think if they found out the very person they thought was dead was sleeping in their inn they named after her so-called death.
The insides were, in Altair's opinion, mundane. But, she admitted that she was used to far better décor because of the last couple years.
There was a single fat man sitting behind the counter. He was barely keeping himself awake in his chair as he leaned over the counter with an arm holding his head up. With Altair's entrance, he looked up and quickly shook his head to get rid of his drowsiness.
Altair walked over to the counter he was at and asked, "What rooms do you have available."
The fat man examined her with a critical eye, as if he could tell how much she was worth. Thanks to the clothing she was wearing, he apparently believed her to be someone of importance. He quickly plastered a welcoming smile on his face as he replied, "Welcome, young lady, to our fine establishment. We have several rooms available for the evening. How many beds do you and your parents need?"
"Just one," Altair said tonelessly. "It's just me tonight, my father wants to see how well I can manage a limited budget."
The fat man nodded his head in understanding. Whether he actually understood or not was unknown as he quickly said, "Well, we have several rooms available. Which would you like, the Queen's Garden, or perhaps the Hero's Respite? We also have some… less comfortable rooms available for you to rent as well."
Altair smirked inwardly. 'My garden, huh? Figures Humans would name something after Magic.' She tonelessly replied, "The Queens Garden sounds good. I'll take that room for the night."
The fat man's smile beamed and his face jiggled as he excitedly said, "That will be forty silvers then. Breakfast and lunch comes with it as well."
Altair opened her satchel and pulled out the transparent bag of money. The fat man took a double take on the bag and his expression turned shocked. He had obviously never seen a plastic bag before.
Altair ignored him and pulled out the gold square and placed it on the counter, "Here, give me my change too."
The fat man blinked suddenly as if he realized what he was staring. He then nodded exaggeratedly and said, "Of course, esteemed guest. Of course!" He then gave her the sixty silvers that she promptly placed in the bag and put back into her satchel. Afterwards, she got a key and he said, "The room is the left room on the top floor. Please enjoy your stay, esteemed guest."
Altair gave him a non-committal reply before she made her way upstairs and entered her room without any interruptions. The room was quite luxurious for the standards of her world, but it was nothing compared to the room she was used to.
When she entered she briefly imagined Stacey and Noel in the room, greeting her with their smiles. She also imagined Sarah sitting in the chair near the window with a gentle smile on her face.
Altair shook her head to clear the images away. 'Later. I can see them later.'
She then retired for the night. The bed was alright, but she didn't think it was that great. It was superior to sleeping on the cold ground though.
After she got up in the morning, she heard the cries of some birds outside. She groggily lifted herself from the bed and looked around the room with sleepy eyes. She took another half a minute to realize where she was and she climbed out of the bed and checked her spoils from the night before.
She had gained another 23 copper squares and 38 silver squares. In total, she had 86 copper squares and 115 silver squares. She then packed away her money and got dressed again before she went downstairs.
The inn was now somewhat lively. There was a half dozen well-dressed people in the lobby that sat at tables and ate with refined movements. All of them were men. The only woman in the lobby was the person who was now behind the counter.
Altair's arrival drew the attention of the people in the lobby as they cast a glance over her. However, they immediately shot their gazes back to her with wide eyes as they realized the difference in quality of their clothes. From their perspective, Altair was probably from a royal family or from a wealthy textile merchant. After all, her white shirt was spotless and her beige pants were shockingly clean.
Altair did not know that the clothes she was wearing were covered with nanomachines that would clean them when they were taken off. She had taken her clothes off for the first time last night when she slept in just her camisole and underwear. She also didn't notice the difference when she woke up, so her clothes now looked like they were completely pristine and never touched by even the wind.
White clothing was the most expensive clothing in the Kingdom. It was almost impossible to keep white and the whiter it was the more valuable it was.
Altair ignored them and sat at one of the tables. The woman quickly brought over some breakfast that was prepared earlier. It wasn't anything special, just some eggs, a mug of fruit juice, and some rye bread.
She ate the meager breakfast that was prepared there and found it to be lacking in taste. The best part of the meal was the fruit juice, but it still lacked the sweetness she was to. She sighed mentally after finishing her meal and left the inn to head to the market. Along the way, she ate two cookies to fix the bad taste in her mouth.
Late into the night, Altair was willing to admit that she made a mistake. She couldn't ignore when the proof of her mistake was thrown into her face at nearly every moment. She really messed up with the plan she had. She couldn't believe that what she did would come back and bite her in this way though. She suspected it would be more physical instead.Once Altair had slinked away from the group of people surrounding her, she returned to the street and looked for the next tavern to eavesdrop on. It wasn't hard with night being in full swing at that point. The raucous environment known to taverns could be heard several streets away, while all of the homes and businesses nearby had gone completely silent and dark. They were, literally, lights at night and were impossible to miss.She snuck over to the tavern and lifted herself above a window with her threads, then created a platform from the wall with her Shadow Magic that completely concealed her onto the wall of the building. With the help of the inky black cover, she was completely invisible to the Human eye at night.She listened in on the conversations coming from the tavern and had a hard time filtering through each voice. It was always like this when she was gathering information though. Trying to pick out specific conversations among a jumble of conversations required a lot of concentration, time, and effort.She heard a lot of local gossip at first. There was some husbands wife who was sleeping around, which caused several of the men to ask for more information. There was one man who, apparently, had a bastard that his wife found out about. Supposedly, wolves had become more common and were threatening livestock, though Altair had no idea how that was possible with the wall surrounding the town.A lot of the men talked about various feats, attempting to impress the women of the night. There were some who bragged about catching a thief. Others would taut that they had won something called an 'arm wrestling' competition. Some attempted to claim the completely impossible, like managing to insult a noble to their face and getting away with it.All of this chatter was completely useless to Altair. She had stayed in place for several minutes and didn't get any information about the armies movements or about the Coalition attacks.Before she could listen any further, a man ran into the tavern and shouted, "There's been a murder! Someone killed four people in an alley after stealing a bunch of coins from people!"His shouts drew everyone's attention. No one ran out of the tavern or did anything different from what they were doing just before. The only thing that changed was the topic of conversation. Everyone was talking about who they thought had done it or why they had done it.All of the gossiping became about what Altair had just done and she knew that she would get nothing more from this tavern.So, Altair left her spot and went on to other taverns. However, by the time she arrived at each one, they were all talking about the same thing: her crimes.It was at that point that Altair could only look up at the night sky and sigh heavily. She really messed up.Since she, likely, couldn't collect any valuable information for the rest of the night, Altair chose to find an inn to rest for the evening.Even at night, however late it was, finding an inn to rest at for the day wasn't an impossible task. It was just annoying when the innkeeper glared at you and overcharged you for the night.Of course, that was for the lower end inns. Since Altair had come across an idiot who gave her all of their money, she planned to rest at a more expensive inn. She still had to count out the spoils she got from the thieves as well, so she planned to do that once she was in her room.She just had to find the inn first. In the dark of night, finding a high class inn would be a problem for Humans, but Altair could see just fine so she could make out the decorations on them in the darkness easily. She also knew that, generally, the better inns were located in the center of towns. So, she went in that direction while walking out in the open on the street.She had no reason to hide as no one could tell she wasn't Human.'Tomorrow I might as well get the antidote since I'm here,' she thought to herself as she walked down the street. 'I doubt I'll find any information here after what happened last night. I should head to Luksiof and try to get in contact with the Council instead.'One of the Council of Four maintained a nobleman identity. He was a lord in the city of Luksiof and Altair knew which one he was. She planned to use that information to try and get a message to him.As Altair made her way to the center of town she was stopped by no less than fourteen guards who all asked her the same question: what she was doing out so late at night.Altair, in return, gave them all the same reply: she was heading to an inn.Like that, Altair managed to get to the center of town with several interruptions. As she got closer to the center of town, the buildings and streets became more clean, decorated, and larger. It took her longer than she thought to reach the center due to all of the guards interrupting her.She looked around and spotted an inn to go to. It had a set of double doors and was four storey's tall. There was still light coming from the window. However, the street was deathly silent. It was as if even a mouse was afraid to make any noise.Altair walked up to the inn and looked at its name. She immediately frowned as she pushed the door open and entered. The inn took the name "Massacre Queen's Demise". She wondered what they would think if they found out the very person they thought was dead was sleeping in their inn they named after her so-called death.The insides were, in Altair's opinion, mundane. But, she admitted that she was used to far better dcor because of the last couple years.There was a single fat man sitting behind the counter. He was barely keeping himself awake in his chair as he leaned over the counter with an arm holding his head up. With Altair's entrance, he looked up and quickly shook his head to get rid of his drowsiness.Altair walked over to the counter he was at and asked, "What rooms do you have available."The fat man examined her with a critical eye, as if he could tell how much she was worth. Thanks to the clothing she was wearing, he apparently believed her to be someone of importance. He quickly plastered a welcoming smile on his face as he replied, "Welcome, young lady, to our fine establishment. We have several rooms available for the evening. How many beds do you and your parents need?""Just one," Altair said tonelessly. "It's just me tonight, my father wants to see how well I can manage a limited budget."The fat man nodded his head in understanding. Whether he actually understood or not was unknown as he quickly said, "Well, we have several rooms available. Which would you like, the Queen's Garden, or perhaps the Hero's Respite? We also have some less comfortable rooms available for you to rent as well."Altair smirked inwardly. 'My garden, huh? Figures Humans would name something after Magic.' She tonelessly replied, "The Queens Garden sounds good. I'll take that room for the night."The fat man's smile beamed and his face jiggled as he excitedly said, "That will be forty silvers then. Breakfast and lunch comes with it as well."Altair opened her satchel and pulled out the transparent bag of money. The fat man took a double take on the bag and his expression turned shocked. He had obviously never seen a plastic bag before.Altair ignored him and pulled out the gold square and placed it on the counter, "Here, give me my change too."The fat man blinked suddenly as if he realized what he was staring. He then nodded exaggeratedly and said, "Of course, esteemed guest. Of course!" He then gave her the sixty silvers that she promptly placed in the bag and put back into her satchel. Afterwards, she got a key and he said, "The room is the left room on the top floor. Please enjoy your stay, esteemed guest."Altair gave him a non-committal reply before she made her way upstairs and entered her room without any interruptions. The room was quite luxurious for the standards of her world, but it was nothing compared to the room she was used to.When she entered she briefly imagined Stacey and Noel in the room, greeting her with their smiles. She also imagined Sarah sitting in the chair near the window with a gentle smile on her face.Altair shook her head to clear the images away. 'Later. I can see them later.'She then retired for the night. The bed was alright, but she didn't think it was that great. It was superior to sleeping on the cold ground though.After she got up in the morning, she heard the cries of some birds outside. She groggily lifted herself from the bed and looked around the room with sleepy eyes. She took another half a minute to realize where she was and she climbed out of the bed and checked her spoils from the night before.She had gained another 23 copper squares and 38 silver squares. In total, she had 86 copper squares and 115 silver squares. She then packed away her money and got dressed again before she went downstairs.The inn was now somewhat lively. There was a half dozen well-dressed people in the lobby that sat at tables and ate with refined movements. All of them were men. The only woman in the lobby was the person who was now behind the counter.Altair's arrival drew the attention of the people in the lobby as they cast a glance over her. However, they immediately shot their gazes back to her with wide eyes as they realized the difference in quality of their clothes. From their perspective, Altair was probably from a royal family or from a wealthy textile merchant. After all, her white shirt was spotless and her beige pants were shockingly clean.Altair did not know that the clothes she was wearing were covered with nanomachines that would clean them when they were taken off. She had taken her clothes off for the first time last night when she slept in just her camisole and underwear. She also didn't notice the difference when she woke up, so her clothes now looked like they were completely pristine and never touched by even the wind.White clothing was the most expensive clothing in the Kingdom. It was almost impossible to keep white and the whiter it was the more valuable it was.Altair ignored them and sat at one of the tables. The woman quickly brought over some breakfast that was prepared earlier. It wasn't anything special, just some eggs, a mug of fruit juice, and some rye bread.She ate the meager breakfast that was prepared there and found it to be lacking in taste. The best part of the meal was the fruit juice, but it still lacked the sweetness she was to. She sighed mentally after finishing her meal and left the inn to head to the market. Along the way, she ate two cookies to fix the bad taste in her mouth.
