New Life

Rasha led me to the door next to the counter. This door opened into a small room with a spiral staircase leading to a door on the upper floor. Behind the staircase, there were two doors next to each other, weathered by time. One had a sign that read "Storage," and the other had a sign that read "Kitchen."

Seeing my confusion, Rasha spoke to me.

"As you may have understood, this is not an inn... it's a bar. That's the storage where I keep the raw materials I use," she said, pointing to the rightmost door in front of us. "The other room here on the ground floor is the kitchen where... well, I cook. And the door up there leads to where I live..." she explained.

Before then, I had never heard the word "bar," and I thought it was a synonym for an inn, a word I had read in a book from the Bensomnert library. So, I thought there were more rooms waiting for us beyond the door we had just entered, but, to my surprise, it wasn't the case.

Rasha approached the spiral staircase, and I followed, forcing myself to focus my gaze on the steps.

"I-is she taking me to her house?" I thought, embarrassed. Some instincts that had been dormant for a long time awoke, and unfortunately, they woke up all too quickly.

Lustful thoughts overwhelmed my reason, leaving me utterly confused. 

'Calm down... calm down…'

I tried to restrain those thoughts, circulating a calming poison in my blood, and, fortunately, this poison calmed me before we entered Rasha's modest but well-kept apartment.

"Well... this is my home, the bathroom is there... I recently took a shower with runic stone water... mmh, well, make yourself at home. I have to go back to the counter," she said with a bright smile and left me there alone.

The solitude allowed me to regain control of my thoughts, although a part of me was a bit disappointed.

"I wonder why I feel a little disappointed," I thought, looking at the clean light wood parquet floor of Rasha's room.

I looked up; Rasha's room was of modest size and comprised five areas with walls and ceiling in canary yellow color.

At that moment, I was in a small living room, softly lit by the sunlight coming in through two small windows overlooking Jewel Street.

The living room was particularly bare, with a table and two chairs near the windows, a small bookshelf almost devoid of books on my right, and a two-seater sofa in the center. Next to the sofa was a single-door cabinet and a round table.

To the left of the living room was a space connected to it by light-colored furniture and some strange tools. I recognized a sink but nothing more.

To my right, there were two doors, one just after the small, almost empty bookshelf, and the other a few meters after that.

"The one farther ahead is the bathroom... while this one... must be her bedroom... I guess... Um..." My curiosity got the better of me, and I opened that door.

To my surprise, what awaited me behind the door was a small corridor with two more doors, one to the right, and one at the end of the corridor.

"Mmh... I should wash up... I might mess up her place otherwise..."

I closed the door and went into the bathroom.

+

+

+

"'Ahh... what a wonderful feeling...' warm water cascaded from the showerhead, embracing my body. It took me a while to understand how a runic stone water shower worked, although it was actually very easy to use; you just had to turn a knob, and poof, water came out of the showerhead.

'This must be runic magic too...' I thought. From what I had experienced so far, Prag seemed much more advanced in the field of magical machinery than the Bensomnert.

After washing, I decided to wash my clothes too— a short-sleeved shirt, underwear, and shorts, all in white, now a little yellowed. These clothes had been given to me by Aracne and had been stained with blood for a long time. Furthermore, they were not in great condition, sporting various cuts and tears.

'Maybe I should change clothes...' However, the idea of parting with them didn't sit well with me.

After washing my clothes, I dried myself by warming my skin with mana a bit, and similarly, I slowly dried my clothes. Then, I got dressed and left Rasha's place.

'And now?' I thought about my future, but nothing specific came to mind.

'First, I should learn a bit about this city, then I need money... and I also need to learn how to talk to people...'

A strange idea came to mind. So, I decided to return to the counter of the bar.

Rasha was there, busy taking orders from a man in his thirties and a wolf-woman of the same age. I waited for them to finish talking and then approached her.

"Oh, Umut, you look like a new person!" Rasha said with a beautiful smile on her face.

That smile made my heart beat a little too fast.

I collected my thoughts.

"Rasha... can I ask you something?"

She looked at me with curious eyes.

"Can I work here?" I asked.

Rasha tilted her head a bit.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

I nodded shyly. She remained silent for a while, studying me with thoughtful eyes.

"Mmh... why not... in fact, I've been running this place alone for a while now... an extra hand would be helpful... but..."

She scrutinized me entirely.

"You'll have to tidy up that hair a bit, and I'll have to buy you some suitable clothes... also, have you ever worked with people before?"

I shook my head.

'Ahh... I guess I'll have to look elsewhere...' I thought disheartened.

"Well, alright... why not..."

To my surprise, Rasha accepted my request.

And so, I found my first job, along with a new home.