Supreme Monarch

Tyler and Nadine left the Merchant Guild building and board their carriage. They had spent a considerable amount of time in the building and it was already quite late in the night. The plaza that had looked as though it would stay busy till dawn when they had first arrived was now almost completely empty. 

Most of the stalls were closed and only a handful were open. This was good for Tyler as he had been uncomfortable with all the stares and glares he had received from the crowd since the moment they entered this city.

He wasn't sure why but every guy that saw her seemed to be attracted to Nadine. They were all immediately captivated and just stared at her with either lust or adoration in their eyes. He was glad he had decided to hide his face for now in case things hadn't gone well. Those adoring and lustful eyes that gawked at her soon turned to piercing gaze that stared daggers at him.

He knew this little girl was pretty cute but he wasn't sure it was enough to warrant this much attention from the guys. Perhaps she was using a skill, racial ability or maybe he had just been spoilt by hanging around so many world class beauties like Liz, Erin and Rain.

They boarded the carriage and headed for an inn in town as recommended by the Merchant Guild Leader. The inn wasn't as fancy as the hotels in Royal borough but it was one of the most luxurious one this borough had for new merchants and Hunters.

On the way Tyler spent most of his time just staring at Nadine's face which seemed to be getting redder and redder. He was curious to how he had ignored it but perhaps he was finally starting to see it. Her was not the enticing beauty of an adult, the charming attraction of a matured lady but it was an adorable and childlike beauty that seem to stir up an innate instinct within a male.

Perhaps some of it was also a racial trait of the beastmen species.

"Er... Lord— lord Ty, is there something on my face."

Tyler looked at her reddened face and shook his head. "No, i was just wondering something."

"Oh, umm sure go ahead, what do you wanna know?"

"Well it's alright if you don't want to tell me... Mmm... Do have any passive skills or abilities?"

"Skills? I'm sorry lord Ty, i don't have any passive skills."

Her head seemed to dropp with her response, she was clearly a little disappointed in herself. 

"I see."

"I'm, sorry if I'm not very useful."

"Huh? oh don't be sorry about that, i don't need you to have any passive skills, and besides, you can always just learn one."

"Oh... Okay."

Her voice was getting even lower and Tyler felt like he had cause it. He couldn't take back what he had said so he simply forged ahead and patted her on the head. "There's no need to feel down, i did pick you to accompany me for a reason." That alone was enough to perk her up so Tyler didn't dare ask another question.

Their trip was short, and they soon arrived in front of a four story building in less than 10 minutes, since they came on a carriage, they had to pay 5 Dc to keep their mount in the inn's stable. That was no longer a problem for them since they now had a sizable sum on their person.

The inn was relatively high class but it was still a popular traditional inn in the plaza were most travellers and mid tier Hunters stayed regularly. Tyler dusted off his boots at the front of the inn and climbed the short stairs to the western-style saloon doors, and opened them with both hands.

It was already late so the windows were closed which made the interior of the inn a little dark since it was only illuminated by a few magic lamps. Tyler had expected to see the same colorful crystals as in the castle but he hadn't seen them even in the Merchant Guild VIP room.

The inside of the building was quite spacious. The first floor was a dining area, with a counter further within. That counter was backed by shelves that contained dozens of bottles of alcohol. The door beside the counter most likely led to a kitchen.

A staircase by the left of the counter, most likely led to the upper floors. According to the male receptionist at the merchant guild, the guest rooms were located on the upper floors. The inn was relatively lively at this hour of the night and one could see the scattered customers within seated around several round tables. Almost all of them were men of different subsidiary races. 

Everyone's attention had switched to Tyler the moment he entered the room. They looked at him as though they were sizing him up. The only person who did not look at him was a woman at the edge of the room who was busy scoffing down several plates of food on her table as her party member watched her in disbelief.

This tavern scene made Tyler furrow his brows under his cloak. He had half expected this but this place was too similar to the inns on the human continent. The only noticable difference was the relatively high quality of the furnitures here and the fact the the place wasn't as filthy as the ones he had been to.

Tyler sighed internally, and looked into the inn.

A well built woman in an apron stood there, her rotund arms protruding from her rolled-up sleeves. They were more ripped than even the arms of the half giant Azar.

Her aura was imposing and her facial features was strangely more feminine than one would have imagined. Her dirt blonde hair was tied to a single pig tail. The woman who looked more like a body builder than an innkeeper sized up the newcomers as she poured a drink for a purple skinned man that sat by the counter.

"A room? for how long." A voice that sounded deep but feminine rang out to them.

"Yes, we would like a room for one night."

The innkeeper stared at him for a while before turning to look at Nadine who was busy staring a everything in the inn like a new born baby experiencing life for the first time.

"...You're new here right, did someone recommend this place to you."

"Yes, the Merchant Guild."

"You just joined them?"

Tyler was a bit annoyed by the string of questions but decided to suck it up and get this over with. "I did."

"...And they sent you here huh, okay, a single room is 5 DC, dinner will be black bread and Kinya soup with hog meat. If you want beef that's an extra coin."

"The food is fine, can we get a double room instead."

"The double rooms are at the top floor and there are no one there at this time, are you sure you want one?"

"Yes, why?"

Tyler thought he heard the lady grunting for a moment.

"There are several high class inn's in town and a few of them are even better than mine, do you know why the Merchant Guild referred you here?"

"I'm assuming you didn't bribe them so could you tell me why?"

The innkeeper furrowed a frown and turned an annoyed look at Tyler.

There was a frightening aura that seemed to suppress everyone in the hall and those that were still staring at them turned rapidly to face their drinks or companions.

"You wanna be a smart arse, or do you wanna try and think about things a little, or is you brain hiding inside a hood just like your face."

Tyler almost laughed out loud from her retort but chose to remained calm, despite the innkeeper's annoyed and flat out insulting retort. If he wanted to go back at her, he was sure there were many things he could say to make this lady blow a fuse but didn't want to be kicked out of the inn this late at night.

The battle with Rain as well as the information gotten from Zomatsu had allowed him to realize how strong he was and those that could actually threaten him were few in between but he still couldn't go about throwing his weight around.

The innkeeper turned her head to look at the girl besides him after not getting a reaction and saw her still staring curiously at the surrounding like some type of puppy.

She sighed audibly and spoke. "Look, it's fine if you want to sleep in a room away from others, but if you don't make any connections with other merchants from various places you'll not go far in this city. The merchant guild may promise connections, but that's usually only for VIP members. They usually leave everyone else to figure things out for themselves. So do you really want to sleep on the top floor?"

"That's fine, and we'll pass on the food."

The innkeeper looked at the cloaked figure disdainfully before snorting. "Fine, that would be 8 Dc upfront."

Tyler placed a single gold coin on the counter and received a single silver coin as change. He then received the room's key from the innkeeper and proceeded to step forward, followed closely by Nadine. The two of them were bathed with the appraising looks of the few people in the hall, with Nadine receiving the usual adoring looks and Tyler the opposite.

As they headed up the stairs. There were whispers of people secretly talking about them but no one bothered to approach them, which was a bit of a let down for Tyler.

Reaching the fifth floor they were easily able to locate their rooms by the symbol drawn on the wooden plate attached to the key and the one on the doors of each room.

••••••••

••••••••

After the two newcomer's silhouette vanished up the stairs, a group of five sitting at the corner of the hall with their comrade still stuffing her face with all sorts of food like there was no tomorrow started a discussion about them.

The group had two males and three females, one of the male had two small horns on his forehead and a pale orange skin. The other was a normal demon but he had what looked like ram horns protruding from the sides of his head. They both wore thick brown cloaks but did not cover their faces with the hoods.

The male demon had short red hair, brown eyes and an attractive facial feature while the ogre had a messy black hair and similar coloured eyes. He also had handsome features but gave off a calm demeanor unlike his partner.

The three females all had the same coloured cloak. The one stuffing her face had long blonde hair that almost seemed white. She had a pale pink skin tone, a pair of demon horns on her head and bat like wings were twitching just above her waist as it revealed her overly sexualized outfit under her cloak.

The girl that sat next to her had short black hair that covered her left eye with sky blue eyes. She had no visible protruding features aside from the thin long tail that extended down her cloak. The last one looked almost exactly the same as her with short white hair that covered her right eye instead, complimented by her black pupils.

All three girls had a pretty face and the other men in the hall had occasionally been stealing glances at them prior to the entrance of those two strangers.

"Hey did you hear that, they're from the merchant guild. I thought for sure they would be a new Hunter team." The male demon spoke first.

"So what." The second male in the group responded.

"So, don't you think they'll be perfect for that?"

"They're just newbies, how can we thrust them with something like that."

"Newbies, did you not see them arrive in the exotic mound earlier? I bet the merchant guild has already made them VIP members."

"You think so?"

"Well I'm not entirely sure, that was just my guess, but with that mound and the sturdy looking carriage, they should be perfect for it right? What do you think Kylyra?"

The seductive girl with long blonde hair that almost seemed white, took a break from eating as she stared at the lesser demon with a perplexed expression.

"I'm still hungry."

"Ah—"

"..."

"..."

"..."

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