16 Into Grasshorn

I fell asleep again. After me and Lilith helped clean Edward's mess, I basically re-read the book Synthia gave me and I just fell asleep from it. What I do remember from reading this book was a map that showed the map of the continent we were in, it was a very rough looking map as well. It was a map that had constant updates to it, so many locations were either scribbled or just moved entirely. But I did see the village we were coming up to that was about thirty miles out in the Cascadia plains. It was called Grasshorn. From what the book said, this place was established as a means of rest for traveling the plains. It had an inn and tavern in it along with a bounty board on it for those who want to make some quick money there.

Speaking of money in this world, I don't think I've ever really touched on that topic since Synthia and Gerald would normally go out and pay for things. I believe Synthia told me during one of our magic studies that the continent used a coin they called Rubee. It was a silver looking coin that didn't have a face, but it has numbers etched into them. I remember she held up a bread at me and told me "This bread is three Rubees. if you had ten Rubees, how much would you have if you bought this bread?" There was pretty basic math in this world, so I easily answered correctly.

Although, I think it would have been funny if I had said something like "twenty one?" And Synthia would've questioned me.

If I remember correctly… I should have a bag of Rubees in this backpack.

"Oy! You two better wake up! We're here!" Derrick was the one that awoke me from my slumber.

Actually, saying he woke me up is an understatement. He yelled at my face with a smile on it.

Lilith was still awake surprisingly when I fell asleep. She was actually reading the creatures and race book I had…

No, she was just looking at the pictures in it.

I should teach her how to read. Maybe write. I'm not the greatest teacher, but I feel like she should know some necessities in the world or else something might happen. What if she needs to write her name? I wouldn't want to look at a bunch of shitty scribbles and say "yeah, good job with that."

Ah, I'll teach her when we find an inn.

I grabbed my backpack and slung it on my back, Lilith already had her backpack on as she was "reading" while walking out of the carriage.

I held my staff in one of my hands and finally, opened the carriage door.

When I walked out the carriage, I was bombarded with the loud noises coming from the tavern that was to the left of us. We seem to have parked our carriage in a designated area as I saw two other carriages here as well.

This seems like a vibrant village. I looked around the village to get a taste of it.

This was a compact village, almost everything that was necessary for travel was here. A shop, a weapons shop, an inn and a tavern. The bounty board was on the outside of the taverns and it was plastered with notes or wanted lists. In the middle of it all was a Somewhat large tree, it was an oak tree. Or at least I'm calling it that. There were two roads that went behind the general shop, they seemed to lead to the deeper parts of the village.

When I looked at the tavern, I noticed that it was made of stone, it was a big rectangle looking building with some small windows that accompanied it. There was a porch that held two tables and a couple of chairs for those who wanted to sit outside and lounge. On the top of the door was a sign.

"Padook's Tavern"

There was a lot of commotion coming from there. Lots of yelling, cheers and laughs.

Seems like everyone there was having a blast.

"Oy Kota, we're gonna check into the inn. Come along." Derrick walked ahead of us. He seemed to be in a hurry for something. Edward followed behind him.

Lilith still kept "reading" the book she had and walked behind me as we headed towards the inn.

The inn itself was also made of stone like the tavern, only the inn seemed like it was painted white some time ago since I could see some parts of the building losing that white touch.

Flower beds were present on only the first floor while the second and third floor didn't have them.

Suddenly, I felt a pull on my cloak.

"Hm?"

"Kota, have you read this novel?" Lilith said behind me. When I turned around, I noticed she held the book against her face.

"The creatures and race book? Yeah, Why?"

"Uh..I've been looking at the pictures…but I don't understand what the words are.." Her eyes peered over the books, I could see she was blushing behind the book.

I did say I would teach her how to read and write, what other perfect time is there to do it then in this inn?

"You want me to teach you how to read? I can do that. But let's get into the inn first." I gave her a smile, I'm starting to feel like a bigger brother to her.

She gave a quick nod to me as we made our way into the inn.

Derrick and Edward held the door open for us as we entered. The inside of this inn was immaculate. There was a maid who tidied up one of the tables as we entered, another that was passing some food to some guest at another table. The walls here were painted white and seemed to have been re-painted unlike the outside of the inn. There was the reception desk that looked tidy as well, a bell was in the middle of the desk along with a guest list and which rooms were taken.

Derrick marched in immediately and slammed that ring bell, something that made one of the maids jump at.

"Oh, Mary! Derrick is here!" He bellowed.

After a few seconds, a little girl with black hair and glasses came out from the back room and hopped onto the reception seat.

Wait. That wasn't a little girl, something was up.

Is this Mary?

"Oh Derrick, settle down! No need to make a ruckus here! Oh, hello Edward." Mary waved at Edward, who returned the wave.

She then looked at me and Lilith, adjusting her glasses before looking at Derrick with a frown.

"What is this, Derrick? You went off and took a few kids with you?"

"Haha, nonsense. These are Gerald's kids. Well one is, the other is the boy's friend."

"I see, Gerald got a kid with Synthia. Pfft-HAH." She burst out in laughter thinking of that thought.

"Now, now, Mary. The boys got a knack for magic."

"Oh, really?" Mary jumped out of her seat and strolled out of the reception desk to face me.

Seeing her closer made me realize something. This girl was really a woman. And she was short.

Like shorter than me.

She kept examining me, looking at my face and then my staff. I think she's waiting for me to greet myself?

"Uh..hello. I'm Kota Detrut." I introduced myself with a Smirk.

She looked at my face when she did that and gave me a disgusted face.

"Ugh, He acts like Gerald! What's with the smirk?" She looked away when she said that.

"Oh, uh…sorry? It's just my natural smirk?"

I tried to apologize to her. But she marched off back into the reception desk and hopped right back on her seat.

"I can't stand looking at that boy, got the looks of her and acts like him. Bad combo! The girl with him though, is very nice. Love that hair." She said to herself.

Derrick kept a smile on as he leaned on the reception desk.

"But what's you think of his magic? I know you can see it, his mana pool. What's it look like?" Derrick questioned.

"Hmph. Alright, you want an answer? It's large. Very large for someone his age…it's abnormal."

"Haha, at least I'm not the only one who's noticed that. No offense to Kota. Listen Mary, mind if we have two rooms here? The kids are heading to Prusha. Me and Edward are their escorts."

Derrick was telling her about us, but I wasn't too focused on that conversation now. I was focused on Lilith.

Lilith was playing with her hair now, I guess she enjoyed the compliment that Mary gave her.

Indeed it was nice hair. It fitted very well with her amber eyes. The definition of Very cute.

I turned back to the reception desk and found that Derrick and Mary had finished bickering. Seems like Derrick managed to get us the two rooms.

We headed up to the second floor with our bags and put our bags in our rooms.

I asked Derrick about Mary while we were heading up to the second floor and he told me that she was the treasurer for their adventure group, but she retired and started a job at the inn. She had some sort of hatred for Gerald. Not to synthia, but she must've seen me as tainted by Gerald's DNA or something.

"Is she a dwarf or something?" I asked bluntly.

"HAH, I wouldn't say that one out loud, kota. Yes she is, but she is very insecure about it. Not many dwarves are amongst us. She's a rare breed, HAHA." He answered.

Once we got to our floor, we separated into our separate rooms. Derrick insisted that me and Lilith share a room. Which I agreed too before realizing his attention. I could've sworn when I entered our room I heard him snicker.

The room was pretty basic, two beds, a single chair and a table. And a basket that was used for laundry. There were also two lamps that we would need to use a fire spell to light them up.

Me and Lilith dropped our bags on the floor and explored the room. Lilith laid on her bed to see if it felt comfortable while I looked at the table.

I should probably help her learn how to read.

"Hey, Lilith. Do you want to learn how to study right now?" I asked.

I heard her mumble as she sank her face into the pillow on her bed.

'Is that a yes or a no? I can't tell."

"Mmm..yes, just let me…feel the pillows…" She snuggled with one of the pillows.

It didn't really seem like she was into reading right now. I glanced at the book.I haven't fully completed it yet. So maybe I'll just read it until I fall asleep. Or until Lilith decides to not smooch her pillow.

I sat down by the table with the chair and just got to reading it.

It's maybe possibly been Four minutes, before I felt someone throw a pillow at me.

"Ok, let's practice." Lilith walked till she was beside me.

"Oh, done smooching the pillow now, Huh?'

"Yes, now teach me how to read!" She plopped herself on my lap.

I would like to say, I've never had a girl do this. My mind is spiraling now. Relax. There's just one chair here. And I'm on it.

Both of us were quiet now, I can even see the book. So I'm guessing she's just waiting for me to tell her how to read. We need to switch spots.

"Ah..uh…erm, you don't need to sit on my lap for this, let's have you sit on the chair. Plus I can't see.." I stumbled on my words.

"Oh…O-ok..sorry." When she hopped off me, I saw she was red all over her face.

I'm not sure what she's red about, there ain't nothing happening down there until I hit that age.

She then plopped on the chair, I'm describing her sitting as plop because it's quite literally the noise it makes. I find it amusing, while she doesn't.

So. We finally made our first stop here in Grasshorn. And Derrick and Edward should be In their rooms tonight.

Except they aren't.

It was about an hour into our reading studies that I heard the door next to us open and close. I could hear Derrick softly chuckle as I'm assuming both him and Edward were going down the stairs.

"Hey, Lilith. Where do you think those two are going?"

"Maybe the tavern?"

No. Something sounded odd to the noises they were making… It was like the sound of carrying something.

I looked out the window and noticed that now it was night time. The moonlight illuminated the ground as only some of the lamps outside were on. I couldn't find these two.

"Wanna go sneak in them?" I heard Lilith ask.

This really isn't a good idea. Going out at night to spy and sneak on those two? I don't know what will happen.

But my curiosity was spiking once I heard them leave.

"Yeah, let's sneak on them." I answered.

Lilith put her cloak on and pulled the hoodie of it up. I did the same with my green cloak. I should take my staff just in case. Wouldn't want to run into some trouble and be defenseless.

"Lilith, bring your short sword. Might be a chance we might run into some trouble. And you can use that cool thing you do with your eye."

"I-uh. I don't know how to do that eye thing, but I'll bring my sword…" she looked disappointed when she buckled the holster for the sword around her waist.

We both quietly opened our door and headed down the stairs.

When we got down to the first floor, no one was there. Not even at the reception desk. So we just headed out the front door.