欧洲无人区天空码头IV

He was early, so he just sat by the fountain, contemplating.

The sound of flowing water behind him, and the quiet flutter of people walking added to that sea of tranquility.

He tilted his head backward, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

As the breeze brushed against his hair, his thoughts floated in his mind with little weight.

"Enjoying the evening?"

Mori opened his eyes to look at the person sitting next to him.

"Who are you?"

"Ah, sorry," he gave an embarrassed smile. "I\'m Jeff, captain of the guards stationed here."

"Oh."

An awkward silence settled in. Jeff was wearing full-plate armor, with a longsword attached to his belt. He looked like a typical guard with shinier armor.

"I was told someone had entered my city during a commotion at the gate."

Mori deeply exhaled, "And so you\'re here to arrest me?"

"Oh no. All those procedures are from above. Honestly, I couldn\'t care less. Still, just wanted to make sure you weren\'t a threat. That Succubus did quite a number on our guards, some even lost their lives."

"DiveCore looks like a bigger threat to me."

Jeff awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of his head with his right hand.

"Haha, yeah I can see why it looks that way. We don\'t have the best reputation. Well, you\'re one of us so you\'re free to roam around. Here, take this."

"What\'s this?" asked Mori as he was handed a small bag.

"You came here empty-handed. It\'s easy to tell you\'ve had a rough couple of years, is it your first time reaching a major city? Did you perhaps escape from the north?"

"Something like that."

Opening the bag, there was a sizeable amount of gold in it.

"You\'re just handing out gold?" Mori frowned.

"This amount is really nothing. Should be enough for a month or two in this city. If you truly need more, I\'d suggest heading to the east, the human capital."

Mori was baffled, counting the gold coins in his hand.

"There\'s more than 10 gold coins in there. How can you give me this much yet everyone here is poor?"

"Poverty is indeed an issue, we\'re truly working on it. I\'m trying to make this city better, where everyone can live freely. Once I\'m done, they might even consider moving the capital here! Haha."

Mori studied Jeff\'s face, it seemed genuine. He was brightly smiling, he laughed and stood up.

"Enjoy the city with your slaves, I gotta go!"

Ah true, that\'s what I told the guards.

"Thanks."

He watched as Jeff walked away, joining other guards who were waiting for him.

Maybe humans aren\'t totally lost after all.

"Who was that?"

Mori didn\'t need to turn around to know that was Maya\'s voice.

"Jeff. He runs this place, apparently."

"Huh. Well, we asked around but couldn\'t find this "Ferryman". Still, we took a moment to show Aura the nicer sights in town."

Aura visibly blushed, looking away.

"It\'s fine. You\'re finally out of that mansion, you should profit and see as much as you can."

She smiled, "Thanks, I will!"

The sun was beginning to set, and the sky darkened by the minute.

"Let\'s find an inn to sleep at. That guard just gave me 10 gold coins and a bunch of silvers."

"10?!" said Torryn.

"How?!" asked Maya.

"How much did you guys make in the mines?" asked Mori.

"Not even a fraction of that. What we make per day is counted in copper," said Maya.

"Whatever\'s left at the end of our stay, I\'ll give it to you. I have no use for gold, we\'ll get by just fine. Just use it to start your life in the northern region."

Maya brightly smiled at her brother, as they high-fived each other a few times.

Mori gave the gold to Aura, and after stretching his legs, got up.

They walked around, looking for a place they could eat and sleep at.

A few looked decent, however, the amount of guards in them made the siblings uncomfortable.

"We\'ll find something better, no problem," said Mori.

They progressively got further away from the center of the city.

The night finally came making it harder to see.

After turning another corner, a place with lights showing through the windows shone upon the street.

"\'The wild Boar\'. There\'s nobody inside, let\'s go there."

"Yeah, that\'s perfect," Maya smiled.

The contrast truly hit them as they stepped inside, the warmth of the lobby truly comforting compared to the cold of the night.

"Welcome to the wild boar!"

A young woman greeted them. She was skinny, her face barely had more than bones. The horns on her head were also quite long, compared to the siblings.

"You have rooms available?"

"Yes! How many will you need?" asked the innkeeper.

He looked behind.

"We\'ll stay in the same one," said Maya.

"Alright, then it\'s 3 rooms."

Aura looked like she was about to complain, but ultimately stayed silent.

"Ah, and we\'ll be eating too."

"Oh..."

The innkeeper looked at the ground, uncomfortable.

"Hum, truly sorry sir, you\'ll need to pay in advance."

"Ah, is that it? No problem. How much is it?"

"5 silver coins should cover everything."

"Here\'s 10. Make something for yourself too."

Her eyes opened wide, her hands shook as she approached the coins Aura set on the counter.

She held the coins up to her eyes and made sure they were real.

"That\'s too-" As she was about to politely decline, she quickly stopped mid-sentence. "Thank you. Sit at any table, do you have any special requests?"

"Whatever you prefer."

She brightly smiled. Mori could clearly see tears sliding down her cheeks, every time she blinked, she tried her best to wipe them with her sleeve.

"Okay! I\'ll be a moment. I\'ll go buy the ingredients and I\'ll be back."

She quickly ran out. They watched as she ran past the window.

"Why was she crying?" asked Aura.

Mori shrugged.

"She was clearly upselling the rooms and food. She probably expected you to bring the price down to 1 or 2 silver coins," said Torryn.

They sat at the table, waiting for her to come back.

"You don\'t think she ran away, right?" said Torryn.

"I guess at this time of the night she had to wake someone up to buy ingredients to cook with," said Maya.

Maya and Torryn talked together while waiting, Aura jumped into the conversation, while Mori closed his eyes and sat back in a chair.

The inn smelled of damp wood, but it wasn\'t bad, thought Mori.

The whole place seemed old, and while it didn\'t look like it had any clients recently, there wasn\'t a speck of dust around.

The lamps were lit, the counter was clean, and the tables were spotless.

After a moment, she finally appeared through the window, running in the middle of the street.

"Finally! I was getting hungry," said Torryn.

"We get to keep our bread and cheese for another day," said Maya.

"I\'m back!" She said, out of breath as she entered. "Sit back... I got this... Shouldn\'t be too long."