Tianyin City

I soon arrived at the gates of Tianyin City.

I opened my System and put away my dagger. Surprisingly enough, its durability had barely gone down despite how much I used it just now. That blacksmith, Ming Yi, sure crafted some good weapons. It was well worth the 50 gold coins.

It was a little past 8 right now, so luckily the city gates had not closed yet. With any luck, I would be able to secure myself a decent lodging and some food. The guards at the gate stopped me when I tried to enter, however.

"Halt. Name, business, and profession?" one of them said.

"Uh... Igarashi Kaze. I'm a newcomer that just arrived here. The people at Xiyang Village told me I would be able to find out more information about the world here, so..."

"Ah, a newcomer... I see. Since you came from that direction, there's no doubt you are one. I apologize for being suspicious. I just wasn't completely sure because I never expected someone new here to be able to make it to the gates of Tianyin from Xiyang."

"Why, because of the hostile sickleboars?"

"So you've encountered them?

I nodded. "Fought them too, actually."

The guard sighed. "Yes... they are stronger than the average sickleboar. We've been sending out hunting parties during the daytime to kill some of them in order to make the passage between Tianyin and Xiyang safe again, but they always repopulate again by the time night falls. It's annoying, really."

Hm... wait, if they repopulate that quickly... doesn't that mean I could technically come here every night to farm XP? I would have to test it out to be sure.

"I see... thanks," I said after some thought.

"No problem. Head on in - most of the restaurants will close up soon, so if you're looking for a warm meal, better hurry."

I nodded in gratitude and hurried inside the door that he opened for me. That guard was nicer than expected, despite his rough tone. It immediately softened after making sure I was from Xiyang, though. The two places must have quite the friendly relationship.

Or, it's just the guard himself that has a close tie with Xiyang. Either way, it didn't matter to me.

The first thing that I noticed upon entering Tianyin City was how populated it was. Despite it already being 8 at night, there were still plenty of people out and about. Xiyang was just as lively, but there were certainly fewer people.

"Hm...now then, where can I find a restaurant?" I murmured to myself, before opening my System with a quick swiping gesture in the air.

After obtaining the 'Crafter' and 'Traveller' skills, I now had two more tabs on my System - 'Crafting' and 'Map' respectively. I selected the Map one, since that was what I needed right now. I would check out the Crafting mechanism later.

"Let's see..." I looked over the minimap that appeared on my hologram, which I could zoom in, out, and pan around to my will. I could also switch between 2D view and 3D view. It was quite detailed, actually. I never thought a basic skill would be this intricate.

Several places of interest were marked on my map. First off, my current position was marked by a bright yellow chevron pointing in the direction I was currently facing. A little distance away, a blue icon with a black crescent moon drawn on it rested atop what seemed to be a building. I assumed that was an inn.

Next to it was a similarly structured building with a purple icon with a wine bottle drawn over it - I assumed this to be a tavern of some kind. Across the street from these two buildings was a general shop, marked with a red icon that had a little shopping bag drawn on top of it.

I then decided to switch to 3D view, just to see what it was like. The map zoomed in, and the perspective had immediately changed from 2D to 3D. I could now see what the inn, tavern, and shop looked like respectively, by panning the view around with my fingers.

In 3D view, my current location was marked with a bright yellow arrow pointing downwards. The icons marking inns, taverns, and such still remained the same.

I panned the map a little further away from me. The road seemed to have stairs leading downwards every few dozen meters. I recalled that both Xiyang and Tianyin were built on a mountain, Mount Valgan. So, these descending stairs made sense, as they had to match the slope of the mountain in order to minimize construction and material costs. Tianyin was also quite a small city compared to cities back in the Earthen reality plane, but when you consider it was built on a mountain with little free space to begin with, it kind of made sense.

Still, even if it was a small city... having to climb all these stairs every day to get around? I can't imagine how strong the legs of the citizens living here must be.

I continued exploring further down the city with my map until I reached the eastern gate, which would be my exit if I were to keep heading down the mountain.

There were several other inns, shops, taverns, and restaurants I would pass by if I went that way, but overall, this city was a pretty simple place. It wasn't like a maze or anything - in fact, the whole city had just one central road, slowly decreasing in elevation via the stairs.

First things first, I decided to head for a restaurant. I discovered that I could mark waypoints by double-pressing on the map, so I did that with the nearest restaurant, marked with a light brown icon with a chicken drumstick drawn on it.

Even after I closed off the map, I could still see a faint yellow trail highlighting the ground in front of me, telling me exactly where I needed to go in order to reach the waypoint I had set. Basically, a GPS system, but for walking.

I received some glances as people passed me by, probably due to the weird stuff I was wearing. I looked only a little better than a mistreated medieval prisoner, in all honesty. The only thing I was missing was chains.

However, none of the passersby actually said anything. They didn't even whisper to each other, gossiping about me. I concluded that this city was a pretty nice place, even if that was only on the surface.

Besides, there were other players wearing the same stuff as me amongst the passengers, some of which were talking to one another. Friends from real life back on Earth, probably.

Upon reaching the restaurant, I headed inside. There were only a few customers left, since, like the guard said, it was about to close.

"Welcome, sir," a waitress walked over, smiling happily at receiving a new customer, despite what I looked like. "Just sit wherever you would like - there's tons of free space, and not many people are going to be coming in now anyway."

I nodded and took a seat in the corner. I've always liked corners. I didn't know why, but it made me feel secure. The waitress then placed a menu in front of me.

"What would you like to eat?" she asked, notepad and pen at the ready.

"Hm..." I flipped open the menu, to find that I could read everything perfectly fine.

It seems that not only was I able to understand what the natives of this Reality Plane said, I was also able to read the language - it was just like Japanese from the Earthen Plane. I could also communicate with others perfectly fine.

The chances of another Reality Plane having the exact same language as Japan from the Earthern Reality Plane were extremely slim. I concluded that it must be part of my status as a player - in other words, A.R.X.A. gave me these abilities.

That being said... yes, I could read what the words say, but I didn't actually understand the words.

"Sickleboar stew...? Lissard steak...?" I murmured to myself. Sickleboars I knew. But if the lissards here were the same as lizards from my old reality plane...

... Ugh. I'm getting sick just imagining it.

In the end, I ordered the only thing that looked remotely close to a dish back in Earth: Curry Chiken.

The food came soon after. It tasted just like normal curry chicken. It seemed this world's 'chikens' weren't all that different from Earth's 'chickens'. But if I were to apply that same theory to 'lissards', then... oh god.

I quickly finished eating, paid the bill of 10 gold coins, and left the restaurant. I checked the time using my System real quick, and saw that it was quarter to 9. I decided to head to an inn to get a room and check-in.

Heading to the closest one, I walked inside. I had 40 gold left, which should be enough to book a simple room for one night.

However, when I entered... I heard a familiar male voice, loud and arrogant.

"Huh? What are you talking about? 30 damn gold for one night at this crappy place?"

"No way... that voice... is that who I think it is?" I whispered under my breath. I couldn't see who it was from my current position because apparently, you needed to turn left before actually entering the inn, so I hurriedly walked forward and peeked around the corner.

And - indeed, it was who I thought it was, quite unfortunately:

Mazami Ichigo.