Chapter 7 - A Long Conversation

As soon as he walked in the door, he realized that the inn was very big. There were about forty-seven tables and wooden benches, big enough to seat an average of eight people at each table. It could be said to be a luxurious inn for this level of civilization. To summarize the inn, it was a long rectangular room, with stairs in the center right edge, a square in the center, half of the square functioning as a cash register and the other half as a bar. There were tables around this square area. The kitchen was on the right, probably under the stairs. He couldn't see the entrance, but all the employees would go under the stairs and then come back with a tray. The whole place was made of wood, but the workmanship and quality of the materials were very good.

At every table, creatures of different races sat side by side, eating, drinking and singing together. Everyone was in good spirits at the inn. The group had already found a seat, while Chester looked around a little more. It was a window seat, third from the left. Three people sat next to each other. Apparently, no one wanted to sit next to Chester. There was no point in forcing it, so Chester sat down on the empty bench opposite them without resistance. Immediately after they sat down, two of the waiters from the inn came to them. They were the same people who had yelled at him when he came down from the tower. Any untoward word from the waiters' mouths could have made things even more complicated.

Both waiters looked at each other. After a brief exchange of glances, they finally turned back to Chester.

"Welcome to the Camliyali Inn, what can I get you?"

Chester was relieved. They had probably promised each other to keep what they saw to themselves. Perhaps they had noticed his cloak and wanted to stay out of trouble. He was waiting for them to order.He didn't know what to eat or what he should eat.

While he had no problem with the strange-looking fruits he had recklessly eaten at the market, his journey could end if he ate something too poisonous for his body to handle.

He remained silent for a while and let Eela make the choice.

"He seems like an ordinary person. I hope it is."

"We'll have a meal for four from the inn's famous wickerpinar."

"Excuse me."

The waiters bowed their heads respectfully and left.

In the next ten minutes, the table was set. But during this time no one had said a word. The atmosphere was tense. If Chester didn't speak, they would probably part ways without learning anything.

He had to start with the basics, questions that wouldn't help him but might draw them into the conversation, and then find answers to his own questions. Or he could just say he was from another planet and hope they believed him. It wasn't the most promising option, but it was one of the shortest ways to get some answers. He would get as much information as he could, and if he felt up to it, he would tell them about the situation he was in when they were about to part ways. He was thinking of using it as a last card. Maybe they would run away from him at full speed, but who wouldn't want to hang out with someone from the stars?

"Since we're all together, why don't we break the ice? What do you say?

I don't think it would hurt to start with a question for each other."

Yigmir, Eela and Rim nodded.

"The person of the highest dignity speaks first, and that would be you."

"All right then, I'll start. Why didn't you say anything to the guards when we were stopped?"

"Killing someone within the city limits is always a problematic process. It takes a lot of time and our deadline is tomorrow at noon."

"They'd probably hold us for two days."

It was a reasonable reason for Chester.

"What exactly do you three do?"

Again they looked at each other strangely.

"That's not a very good question, but since you asked."

"We are busybodies."

They answered as if it was something even a three-year-old would know.

Chester, of course, didn't know what they did.He had to get all the information he could.No matter how strange it seemed, he had to ask.

"So what do busybodies do?"

Once again, instead of looking at each other, they looked at Chester, this time a little disappointed.

"You're not seriously asking, are you?"

Chester shook his head from side to side.

"Wow. You're a member of a guild, and you don't even know what an adventurer is.

It was our turn to ask, but-"

"You seem to have a bit of a problem with the way the environment works. And we still owe you.

So ask what you want to ask, and then we'll have tons of questions to ask you.

For example-"

"Where are you coming from?"

"How can you see through your armor? Your armor looks great, by the way!"

Eela didn't take the interruption very well, but she didn't take any action other than grumbling.

"Busybodies find an interesting ad on the mission board or requests and do whatever the asks them to do."

"They do, or rather we do, dangerous or labor-intensive jobs such as killing troublesome creatures, protection, hunting, gathering and carrying important items even advice."

As Chester understood it, what was called busywork was roughly hired labor. If things went wrong and he was stuck here, he no longer had to worry about which job to do. Chester took turns asking all the answers he needed to know, hiding them in simple and delightful questions.They were now in OkVahrl, the capital of a country called Diomarl.

He understood that there were many races, magic and conflicts of interest in this world. About forty years ago, border expansions had stopped across the continent and, except for major invasions, the countries lived their lives as normal. Until the expansionist policies of the rising Clamor Empire on the other continent caused tensions in other kingdoms. There were three kings ruling the country of Diomarl.Splitstar, ChainGeddon and Chi'Gil'Rolth

Splitstar was a very wise wizard.

It was said that he could cast most Ancient spells without difficulty, and that he ruled the country quite well with his knowledge and intelligence. His spell books in green, blue and black on a leather belt on top of his red robe, his strange wizard's hat that looked like two hats overlapping and having two separate pointed heads, his long white beard and his dead eyes made him look quite frightening, but he was also loved by the people. He was considered the most normal looking king for a demon and a ghoul.

Chi'Gil'Rolth was a demon.

According to the stories, he was also very close friends with Splitstar.

He was the most hated of all the demons, but one day he rescued Splitstar from a forced invasion of the village when he was not even in his twenties, and they became friends. Seeing that Splitstar thought like him, they wanted to build a country where everyone could live together.

They had been friends for about one hundred and sixty years, but sixty years ago Splitstar had died, and his soul had gone to the realm of the dead.

Chi'Gil'Rolth could not bear the loneliness and gave up his wings, which meant everything to a demon, in exchange for taking his soul out of the underworld. 

Although his body now resembled a human, Chi'Gil'Rolth grew stronger over the years. He wore a strange dress of white cloth with gold chains. 

The horns on his head had been completely shaved off and he wore a crown of three golden horns. It no longer has wings, so it looks more like a human, and on its left waist it wields an ominous thin sword that causes black smoke like a fire.They said it was a masterful sword, forged in the fires of hell, made of cursed metal from the mountain of fire that only demons could wield.

Although he was at least as knowledgeable as Splitstar, his cunning, manipulation and analytical skills made him stand out more than other kings. But it was known that Splitstar was in charge of running the country. He was probably better than Chi'Gil'Rolth. They said that Splitstar always thought more thoroughly in the long run. 

He also took care of the infrastructure of his entire kingdom. Although Splitstar was a better ruler, he was said to be the strongest of the three kings in terms of sheer power.

ChainGeddon was a ghoul.

Chaingeddon was once known to be a knight of the fallen kingdom of Raktarr, a master and a ruthless legend of the time. While he was considered one of the most loyal knights known to man, his Queen was not content with that, she ordered him to protect his country with some kind of magic and to kill the enemies of the Kingdom so that he would never leave her command. Later, when the enemies were at the palace gates, he went out and killed two hundred men single-handedly and died in his shattered armor. Years later, after the kingdom was destroyed, the cult of the Rejects resurrected him and began to use him for evil deeds. One day ChainGeddon managed to break free of their will and, after slaughtering everyone in the cult, set out to fulfill his queen's orders. When he learned that his kingdom had been destroyed, he could not believe what he was hearing and tried to reclaim the lands that had previously belonged to the kingdom with his ability to rule over the dead, which he had acquired as a result of his resurrection, causing the deaths of many innocent villagers due to his lack of control over his newly acquired terrible ability.

Chi'Gil'Rolth and Splitstar were later able to stop him, and instead of killing him, they recruited him to their cause in exchange for fighting for a better future.

ChainGeddon was known for his skeletonized body, his full plate armor and his helmet of weathered blue dwarven steel with four horns. He was called ChainGeddon because he wielded two short swords with the aid of thick chains attached to his arms, which he swung skillfully without using his hands. His former name is not recorded, but according to a palace official, he lost part of his memory after his death and could not remember any words except that those close to him called him Chain.

When he wasn't using his weapons, he usually kept his swords chained behind his arm in a way that was impossible for anyone looking from the front to see. 

It was said that all that could be seen were his chained arms on his blue steel armor and the blades of the sword protruding from his arms like an extension.

Because he was dead, the people feared him. But those who knew what kind of king he was were known to greet him with cheers and cheers, their hearts filled with confidence after a few seconds of fear.

Chester learned that he was in a city in a prosperous and war-free kingdom with a complete separation of powers. He thought that was enough general information to get him started.

When he had asked about other sources of information and the best source, the answer he had expected to get, and did get, was books, but the best source of information he could get was some kind of cool looking crystal called Rootstones, as he understood them.

The Stones were said to be a crystal that fed on and copied other people's memories, and had been around almost since the world began.

There was also a rumor that to get information from the stone you had to let it take all your knowledge in return. If so, he could save himself the trouble of asking someone and learn how to get out of here. As for where they were found, he was told that the Rootstones were incredibly rare stones that had been used by many people and then broken so that their secrets would not be discovered. In short, the only person known to have them was Queen Bronilan La Hevdeilet, the absolute ruler of the blood realms.It was said that even if all the masters in the world gathered together, they would not have the power to remove the queen from her throne.When he asked who the masters were, he was told that they were strange extract people who were above even the highest rank in a specialty, who could live for centuries, with one eye positioned vertically. And he understood that you are not made a master, you are born one.

When he asked about the difference between extract people and humans, he was told that thousands of years ago there was a race of people who could not use magic, and then a genocide killed all the people who could not use magic.

They said that the only difference between a human and an extract human was that they had black hair and naturally could not cast spells, and that they could think more complexly than other races. That's why, he said, only humans were killed.

Eela stopped him when he had a few more questions.

More than one strange question in a row had caught their attention.

"It seems we have answered enough of your questions.

We hope you will answer our questions before asking some more."

He had hoped for such an answer.

Chester nodded. After all, their conversation had become less of a warm friendly chat and more of an exchange of information.

"Is Ruby Point an intelligence guild?"

He must have been thinking about the reason for his anonymity. They had prepared the lie for him, he could go on with it.

"There is no guild called Ruby Point."

There was a false pause of a few seconds.

"So you haven't heard."

Yigmir pointed to his helmet.

"Is there any particular reason you kept your helmet on?"

Chester hadn't shown them his face as they sat at the table and talked. Even when he was eating, only his chin was exposed.

And from what he had just said about the extract people, he couldn't remove his helmet. He did not want rumors circulating in the city about the existence of an extinct human species. He felt lucky to have learned such information, even if only by chance.

"Yes, I can't show my face."

Yigmir's gaze sharpened.

"Are you a criminal?"

"If I were a criminal I wouldn't have told you this or bothered to save you, but no, I have nothing against the law. More like guild rules."

"Then why are you running from the guards?"

Chester felt like he was being interrogated.

He shifted to a slightly more threatening and slower language.

"I just killed a dozen men for you. Isn't it normal for me to want to stay away from the guards? I don't understand why you would ask such a question, because I understand you want to stay away too."

Chester made a very good point. It was hard to make a counter-argument.

"Right."

Dodging the incessant questions, Rim managed to ask his question.

"What kind of wizard are you? We've never seen a technique like this before."

His voice became sarcastic and playful.

"I can't tell you that. But I can tell you that if you see my face, I will have to try this technique on you."

What he was saying made no sense. He was just stalling.

Rim was a little disappointed and a little frightened, Eela was still trying to figure out what had happened and Yigmir was looking at Chester with skeptical eyes.

After a series of very strange questions, such as "Are you a cursed blood knight?", they put the questions aside and began to talk about their adventures.

Chester didn't have enough bonds to interrupt them, nor did he have the space to ask another question. After several attempts, he decided to give up and leave it for tomorrow.

Although he wasn't interested in the exaggerated recollections of his adventures, he wouldn't mind hearing the life stories of creatures living on an uncharted planet. To say it wasn't interesting would be a lie.