Day 4 (8)

On the way there, Cain spots a few notices reminding the citizens about the importance of personal hygiene. 'Weird… They shouldn't be aware of this quite yet. It's possible someone from my world, or somewhere similar, crossed over as well. Or perhaps my prediction about their technological advancement is off…' Cain begins to simulate the possible reasons for these notes.

After smoothly walking past the shop the girls went into, Cain is curious as to where the inn is. So far they've just passed shops and restaurants.

"How long until we get to the inn?" Cain asks, with a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"We're almost there." Jacob responds in a calm tone.

"Anything I should know about the inn beforehand?"

"Not really. Actually…" After remembering something, Jacob pulls out his notepad and flips through the pages.

"The inn rents rooms out on a weekly and monthly basis. You are in possession of the room for the amount of time you pay. At the end of the contract you have one day to vacate your belongings.

"This is to provide adventurers a place to live even though they frequently leave the city. I believe the founder of this establishment was the half-son of the Rapidclaw family." Jacob closes his small notepad and tucks into his pocket.

'Interesting… It's like a fast-paced apartment. Does this half-son come from another world as well? Or does he just have ideas not belonging to this era, perhaps influenced by those who crossed over…' Cain begins to think deeply about the origins of the owner while walking up to a courtyard.

Cain inspects the courtyard's walls, estimating how big it is inside. Jacob gestures to Cain to enter.

"Huh? Is this the inn?" Cain asked, visibly confused.

"Yep. Rick Rapidclaw got privileges to build and manage this courtyard for the apartments in exchange for giving up on the succession. It's built in a square shape with each edge housing many rooms. In the center is the residence of the workers, servants, and Rick." Jared responded before briefly heading inside.

'Woah… That's smart… A courtyard this big would need a lot of funds to manage. Not only does he not have to deal with the politics and potential threats to his life, he can even gain a small profit by renting out the extra rooms… I should be careful around him, he sounds crafty.' Cain ponders while walking inside what would normally be gates.

Unlike traditional courtyards, the gateway was actually a doorway to an office like room with a hallway leading to what appeared to be more rooms on the left and right. The office attendant greeted the guests who just walked in.

"Long time no see, Jared, Jacob. How may I help you?" The attendant nods slightly at each name.

"Hey Rick, what are you doing here working by yourself? We're just here to rent out another room for a new addition to our party." Jared walks up and greets Rick. They appear to be casual friends.

"Sadly, some attendants requested the next few days off due to mana exhaustion because of the ceremony that was held not too long ago. I warned them not to overdo it, but oh well… I just wish the church wouldn't be so overbearing about these ceremonies.

"Anyways… who is this new addition?" Rick appeared to be genuinely sad when he mentioned his workers. In an attempt to not stray too deep into politics, he quickly diverted the subject.

Cain walked forward, greeting himself. "Greetings, I am Cain. I'll be joining Horizon for a few months. By any chance, are there any rooms next to them available?" Cain lowers his head a tiny bit, showing his sincerity.

Rick pulled out a leather bound binder from under the desk. Skimming through the dividers, he opened it up and flipped through the pages quickly. "There is one that was emptied out not too long ago next to Victoria and Veronica's room. There is only one bedroom and washroom, is this okay with you?"

"Yep. How much is it to rent for 3 months?" Cain replied swiftly.

"3 months… are you sure? That's longer than most residents rent here." Rick asks, concerned and confused due to Cain's request. Cain confirms his decision with a small nod.

"All right then… let's see.... Normally it's 7 silver per room, per week. If you rent by month it's discounted to 21 silver though. Altogether, it would be 63 silver for your stay. This includes free water and food during your stay.

"10% would be needed to be paid as a deposit, and the rest can be paid at the end of every month. How would you like to pay? In cash or credit?" Rick quickly calculated the costs while speaking.

"Wait… credit?" Cain asks, a little shocked. 'Credit shouldn't exist if the economical and technological level is at medieval levels. Perhaps one of my earlier theories was correct?'

"Ah, we thought you knew since you gave your adventurer card to Veronica earlier. Could you please explain the credit system Rick? Cain just arrived in this country recently." Jared picks up on the source of confusion and swiftly asks Rick to fill Cain in on the missing details.

'Heck… I just did that because I thought using the Dean's name as a guarantor of my debt would solve any issues the vendors might have… I didn't know a system like this existed…' Cain thought while giving an apologetic smile and a small laugh of nervousness.

"Sure. The debt system is employed by the Adventurer's Guild and enforced by the Rapidclaw and Imperial family. Any adventurer can use their id card to incur debt from vendors instead of payment. In this case, the guild will pay the vendor immediately, while charging the adventurer the same amount, but with 2% compound interest.

"Each payment must be paid at the end of the month and be no less than 10% of the total debt. If an adventurer is unable to pay the first month of their debt, they will be charged 2% more interest, for a total of 4%, for the next month.

"After a second month of missed payments, all earnings from quests will be forcibly taken and given to the guild. If any adventurer incurs debt more than 10x of their monthly earnings from quests, and does not pay for three months straight, all of their assets will be forcibly seized and sold by the Rapidclaw family to pay off their debts.

"Earnings from events given out by the guild will deduct the principal amount first, instead of the accumulated monthly interest. This is to encourage adventurers to participate in events handed out by the guild. Roughly 80% of all adventurers are in debt, although 60% of these are in very small quantities."

Rick finishes his explanation then stares at Cain silently. "Any questions?"

---Group Chat: Dresil, Bob, Cain--- (15ms)

Cain: Dresil, can you give me my card real quick? You'll get it back within a few minutes. Bob, I'll need you to teleport it to me and then teleport it back in a few minutes, please.

Bob: Understood.

Dresil: Of course, Master.

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Cain responds swiftly, "Nope, makes sense to me. Please charge me using credit." Cain extends his hand outward, seemingly giving something to Rick, yet nothing was in Cain's hands. Rick stares at Cain in bewilderment.

Just before he was about to speak up, a card dropped onto Cain's hands, who then uses his index and middle fingers to grab the card from his palm and offer it to Rick. Rick extends his hand to a magic circle on the desk.

The circles light up and an additional, identical circle rises and hovers a few decimeters from the desk's surface. Rick inserts the card between two magic circles that shift and rotate for a few seconds before resting on the desk and dimming. He hands the card back to Cain.

"All done."

Cain grabs the card, seconds later it disappears through a portal. "Thanks. Let's head back to the guild now. I'm getting kind of hungry… The blacksmith is right next to it right? I'll stop by before joining you guys for food, the girls are probably there already." Cain turns around to address Jacob and Jared on the side. Jacob gets up from the chair he was sitting on with a little bit of struggle.

"Sure, it's about that time. Are you always hungry or something? I'm surprised you didn't eat any snacks on the way here." Jacob says after he's finally on his feet.

"I ran out…" Cain responds with a dejected look. Jared gives a light pat on his shoulder.

Cain begins to think over the credit system in depth while the group leaves the inn. 'With this system, isn't it possible to force adventurers to fight for them? All they need is to disguise a war as an event, and those who are heavily in debt have choice but to comply…

'Not to mention, since it is enforced by the Imperial and the Rapidclaw families, it's possible they could turn every adventurer in debt into pseudo-slaves if they demand their debt to be paid. Interesting…'

At this point, the group are in front of the shop they hid at. Cain pauses his thinking and questions Jacob. "Are you guys in debt?"

Jacob takes out the small notepad and flips to the finances section. "Nope. Victoria manages all of our finances and makes sure we do not fall into debt, even if it's only one copper."

"That's good…" Cain commented before thinking. 'She's only 17, right? I noticed her observation was abnormal amongst her group, coupled with the fact she manages the parties finances, it's reasonable to assume she's had a decent education.

'This level of education should be fairly expensive during medieval times, so she's probably from a merchant family, powerful group, or hidden clan. Ugh… I'm reminded of those cliche cultivation comics…'

Cain shivers slightly due to the amount of cringe this thought brought. He looks around quickly and discovers they're already in front of the Weapons shop. The group turns left and continues to walk towards the Adventurer's Guild. They continue on their stroll while Cain messages Dresil.

---Dms: Dresil and Cain--- (45ms)

Cain: You guys done shopping?

Dresil: Just about, Master. We're about to enter the guild and grab a table for dinner. Does the Master want anything to eat?

Cain: You know what I like, just hold back some since we're not paying for it.

Dresil: Understood, Master.

Cain: Anything suspicious on your end? The gazes didn't seem to go away.

Dresil: Nothing happened here Master. Are you sure you're not being paranoid?

Cain: It's better to be paranoid than for it to be true. Keep an eye out, my gut tells me something is up.

Dresil: Will do Master. Anything else?

Cain: ...We need snacks…

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This conversation occurred in less than a second. In other words, the group is still turning left, avoiding the crowds here and there.

"Dresil just told me the girls are getting a table for us at the guild. They seem to be done with their shopping." Cain speaks, noticing a suspicious priest.

"Already? They ended early… Did something happen?" Jared asked, a tad bit concerned.

"Nope, they got to the guild with no incidents along the way. I wonder if they stopped short because of my credit… I'm a new adventurer who's yet to get an official rank afterall."

"Perhaps, at least we didn't get dragged in with them." Jacob stated.

"Indeed… Are there any good stores to buy some snacks around here?" Cain asked, trying to keep his mouth from drooling.

"We passed some good food stalls. Veronica likes the meat skewers from the shop up here on the right." Jared gestures to his right at a nearby empty food vendor.

"They close up around this time, so I recommend coming by in the morning or after lunch, their food is affordable too." Jacob adds.

"Oooohhh, I see." Cain nods his head. Then quickly messages Dresil.

---Dms: Dresil and Cain--- (13ms)

Cain: I found a nearby food vendor. According to the boys, their food is good. We should restock our snacks here.

Dresil: No need to worry, Master. I've already asked Veronica about all of the good food stalls and took notes on which ones would be best for our snack storage.

Dresil: I've also taught Bob how to make a dimension that restricts and kills all living things for food storage. According to your memories, this should prevent all microorganisms that cause food to spoil, thus prolonging the life of your snacks.

Dresil: He is busy creating a 25m³ space for snack storage right now. It should be done by the time dinner ends, so he won't be busy by the time you need to talk with Rex and Bob.

---Cain's speedy thoughts--- (25ms)

Cain: test…

Cain: derp

Cain: Sweet, this works. This will be used to organize my thoughts using my subconscious but also storing them for my conscious to look at later.

Cain: It seems with some small amount of mana my thoughts can be processed faster here… perhaps that's due to the fact my subconscious is processing the thoughts and I'm not vocalizing them in my head.

Cain: Both are methods to speed up thought processes… but where does the mana usage come from then? Meh, I'll add it to the Things to Research Later List right now.

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