Granted, most of the crowd consisted of exactly the sort you’d expect to be standing outside an adventurers’ guild: brawny, scary-looking types. So it wasn’t the most comfortable place to stick around.
Thinking about how I’d have to join that crowd tomorrow made me feel a little depressed, but I didn’t let myself dwell on it. Right now, the only priority was getting a room at the hotel.
I passed the Adventurers’ Guild and kept walking for a bit until I reached an old building, which I knew from its distinctive green roof had to be the Shangri La Hotel that Ralph had told me about.
The hotel was a wooden building that must have been several decades old—maybe even several centuries. I’d never seen a place that failed so spectacularly to live up to its name. Maybe it had conjured a sense of paradise when it had first been built, but the years had certainly not been kind to it. It was in a pretty wretched state.
That being said, it was hard to complain after I’d been living in a rock hollow with a bunch of bugs for a month. The hotel was a proper building, at least—and that was more than enough for me.
I pushed open the misaligned door and stepped into the Shangri La Hotel. As much as I would have liked to say it was nicer on the inside...it wasn’t. The hotel’s interior really showed its age too. If I were to put it generously, I’d say it had “character”; if a little less generously, it was basically falling apart.
I walked over to the front desk, glancing around the reception area.
“Looking for a room?” asked a husky voice from behind the desk. It belonged to a woman roughly my mom’s age.
Actually, “husky” was a bit of an understatement. The woman’s voice was so hoarse and rough that, for a second, I’d thought she was a man.
“Yeah. I’ve only just arrived in town, so I’m looking for a place to stay. How much is it for a night?”
“Our standard one-night-two-meals deal is one silver coin. If you don’t want meals, it’s five coppers. Shared dorm, no meals is two coppers.”
“Two coppers? How are you staying afloat, with prices like that?” I asked, incredulous. I couldn’t believe how cheap that was.
If I only had to spend two coppers per night, I could waste away half a year living here with just the money I had on hand. I wouldn’t even have to find any work.
“Mm-hmm. We pride ourselves on being the cheapest hotel in Realzahd, but then, the shared dorms aren’t exactly the lap of luxury. Try squishing into one of those cramped rooms with two other people for a night and you’ll find out pretty quick why they come at such a discount. Ain’t a lick of privacy.”
“Right... I guess not many people would be willing to share a cramped room with two strangers unless the price was right.”
“That bein’ said, if you’ve got friends, then you’re free to book a dorm with them. Most wind up sharing those rooms with strangers, though.”
So that’s the only reason they’re so cheap, huh? I thought. Considering that most of the guests who booked the shared dorms were probably adventurers, there was every chance it might land me in a room with two muscle-headed dudes.
No thanks...
My finances were a little tight at the moment, which made it pretty hard to turn down a two-copper room, but until I found my bearings, it felt like a safer bet to stick with the private room for now. That way, I could get a feel for the hotel and switch to a dorm later if I wanted.
“I’ll take the single room, without any meals.”
“Sure. You’ll be in room 122, then. Here’s your key.”
“Thanks. I’ll book it for six nights, so I’ll pay the three silver coins now,” I said, handing her the money.
After confirming the amount, she told me, “If you decide to stay longer, just come down to the front desk again to pay. The cutoff to book an extra night is 8 p.m., so make sure you get here before then or you’ll get the boot.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
I gave her a little nod and headed off to find my room.
The room out front was number 101, so I followed the hallway to the left, scanning each door’s number until I found mine: 122.
The lock was a little janky, so I had to jostle the key several times to unlock it. Once it finally clicked, I opened the door and entered the room I’d be staying in for the next several nights.
It was a small, square room—very modest, with the only furnishings being a folded up bedroll and a lamp that were set around somewhat haphazardly. The bedroll was strangely discolored, most likely from mold.
“Couldn’t ask for more,” I said to myself.
I probably would have been pretty put off if not for the month I’d spent living in Patia Forest, but that nasty bedroll looked a whole lot better than the bed I’d made for myself out of twigs and leaves. I guess once you’d suffered through something like that, even the bare necessities felt like a luxury.
As soon as I entered the room, I laid out the worn, stiff bedroll and threw myself down on it, then pulled out the book I’d just gotten from the Seven Fortunes.
I knew I ought to be thinking about my plans for tomorrow, but I kind of felt like I deserved a break after everything that had happened today. I’d spent a big chunk of it walking down the highway to get to the city, and then, on my very first day here, I’d been robbed.
I was exhausted and at my limit. My body refused to even let me think.
But I felt like I needed to do something with this time, so I opened the book and started reading.
I used to love immersing myself in the world of books as a kid, pretending that I was the main character. By projecting myself onto all the heroes in the stories I read, I felt like I could achieve things that would never be possible for me in real life.
I was able to immerse myself in the world of The Travel Diaries of Otto the Botanist now too as he recounted his various travels. I found myself so absorbed that all of my other thoughts seemed to just fade into nothingness.
By the light of the small lamp, I turned the pages and imagined myself as Otto as I read about his journey.
His autobiography was unlike any of the other stories I’d read up until now—which had mostly been about defeating dragons and demon kings. The goal of his journey had been to discover new and useful species of plants.
On the surface, it might have seemed like a pretty uncompelling tale, but after all the plants I’d encountered in Patia Forest, it actually felt extremely timely and relevant to my life.
The names and places that were often only vaguely touched on in autobiographies were described clearly and vividly in Otto’s, and since he was a botanist, his rich knowledge of plant life was plainly evident in the entertaining and easily digestible way he wrote about it.
It was also a really interesting glimpse into a time in history, since some of the plants that he described as “new species” were actually well-known in the present day—so much so that even I knew about them.
What fascinated me the most about the book, though, were the mentions of new species that even Otto hadn’t been able to identify. In fact, he wrote about how he encountered even more unknown plants on his journeys than new species he’d been able to identify.
He described the number and distinguishing features of such plants in each area he visited, most of which were dangerous to humans. And by “dangerous,” that meant anything ranging from mildly toxic to deadly poisonous.
Although Otto was confident that these poisonous plants likely contained latent properties that could be extremely useful to humans, their toxicity prevented him from researching them further. That must have pained him deeply, because he noted his bitter regret about it several times.
I’d been thoroughly enjoying immersing myself in Otto’s story and imagining what it would have been like to be in his shoes, but those hiccups in his research tore me straight back into reality.
There were god only knew how many plants out there that even Otto hadn’t been able to identify, and even now, in the present day, we probably had no idea what kind of effects they might have—all because they were poisonous.
If there really were poisonous plants out there that had valuable latent potential like Otto believed, then...maybe I could identify and research them? Maybe I could put my poison resistance to use and unlock some hidden powers with those plants that would blow Claus away?
I’d struggled to find any real legitimate uses for my poison resistance skill before, but now, it felt full of promise. In my mind’s eye, it sparkled like gold.
Unable to contain my excitement, I read the book until the very end. Once I’d turned the final page, I expelled all the pent-up passion that was welling inside of me with a big sigh.
Rays of sunlight were shining through the window; I’d stayed up until dawn finishing Otto’s autobiography.
After the big day I’d had yesterday, I felt like a bit of an idiot for staying up all night reading... But honestly, it felt like my exhaustion and drowsiness had completely vanished—maybe thanks to all the excitement surrounding the newfound hope that the book had given me.
I knew I’d probably pass out later in the day if I didn’t get at least a little sleep, though, so I did my best to slow my racing heartbeat and, in time, drifted off into a shallow sleep.