Side Story 1: Unaccustomed
Chapter 1
We were on a train.
“….”
“…Sigh.”
The train wheels rattled incessantly, *thud-thud, thud-thud,* vibrating through my seat for hours. My backside was aching, forcing me to constantly shift positions.
It was my first time riding in fourth class. No, it was my first time riding a train since our trip to Patroclus.
We usually traveled by Rem, but he had caught a cold yesterday. Luckily, Woo, who was skilled in white magic, had immediately used a healing spell, and Rem had recovered quickly. But I thought it would be best to let him rest for a while, so we opted for the train.
It wouldn’t have been this uncomfortable if we had ridden in first class, like we did in Patroclus, but now that I had to be mindful of our finances, it couldn’t be helped.
“Sue, are you okay?”
Woo, noticing my constant fidgeting as my back started to ache, finally looked up from his book. He closed it and asked with concern.
“Of course, I’m fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes! There’s absolutely no problem at all!”
I tried to hide my discomfort by exaggerating my well-being. Woo stared at me for a moment, then smiled faintly. He wasn’t mocking me, but I still lowered my gaze.
He had told me it would be uncomfortable and suggested we get first-class tickets, or at least second-class. But I had insisted on getting the cheapest, fourth-class tickets.
And now, I was the one suffering, my body aching all over, while he seemed perfectly fine… I felt like I had lost a bet.
“Ah, right, Master Woo, did you know?”
“Know what?”
Woo indulged me as I deliberately changed the subject.
It had been six months since we had left Atlantis. This kind of back-and-forth had become a familiar routine for us.
“I overheard it earlier. The Lokor prince’s coronation is in a few days, right? So they’re having a parade in Gemin to celebrate! Not just the guild fair.”
“Really? A parade to celebrate the coronation? I thought that city was all about money.”
Woo said, surprised.
“Even if it’s a city driven by money, it’s still a moment to celebrate their prince becoming king. The people of Gemin will be happy.”
Gemin was a maritime trading city in the Lokor Kingdom, the final destination of this train, and the reason we hadn’t waited for Rem to fully recover.
…Ah, needless to say, we were currently in the Lokor Kingdom.
After being exiled from Atlantis, I had gone to see my aunt Elizabeth, as promised. And it was she who had suggested the Lokor Kingdom when I couldn’t decide where to go next.
‘It’s relatively open to foreigners. And the language and culture are similar to Atlantis, so it’ll be easy to adapt.’
Woo, who had visited the Lokor Kingdom with his brother before, had agreed with her.
So we had been wandering around the Lokor Kingdom for the past six months. From cities of mages, where every building was a towering magic tower, to small, insignificant villages nestled in mountain valleys. We had even seen the famous Krim Mountain waterfall. It was huge and breathtaking.
Anyway, it had been about halfway through our Lokor tour. We had been in the northernmost region of the kingdom, and we had suddenly decided to head to Gemin, in the southernmost part of the border.
‘Gemin in Lokor, have you heard of it? They hold a huge guild fair there every year. Merchant guilds, mercenary guilds, mage guilds… all kinds of guilds gather. Want to go? You’re still trying to figure out what to do, Sue. It might help you.’
It was all because of Woo.
“…Ah, we’ll be arriving soon.”
Houses started to appear outside the window, replacing the empty fields. I glanced at Woo, and he was also looking out the window. He caught my gaze, and I smiled at him.
“The parade will be fun.”
Woo smiled back.
“Yes.”
His sweet voice reached my ears.
He was still a bit of a mystery to me.
But I didn’t mind the noisy train ride.
***
After getting off the train, I stretched and waited for Woo to bring Rem out of the cargo hold. The air in Gemin was surprisingly fresh.
There were more people on the platform than I had expected. I felt like I would be swept away by the crowd if I wasn’t careful.
Was the “guild fair” that important to all the guilds?
As Woo had said, Gemin held a “guild fair” once a year. Gemin was a maritime trading city with a port. And it was located at the edge of the border. So people from all over the world came to Gemin, hoping to make money.
And the biggest event for those people was the “guild fair.”
For a set period of time, dozens, hundreds of guilds, from merchant guilds to mercenary guilds to mage guilds… all kinds of guilds, gathered in the city of Gemin to exchange information and socialize.
People who weren’t in a guild yet could look for a guild they wanted to join, and those who just needed “goods,” “information,” or “connections” could pay for what they needed.
My purpose here was the latter.
‘Goods,’ ‘information,’ and ‘connections.’
We were just wandering around aimlessly now, but we had to think about what would happen after our travels.
The funds I had brought from the Byron mansion would eventually run out, and we would have to settle down somewhere.
We didn’t know when or where that would be, but it wouldn’t hurt to start thinking about how we were going to make a living.
…Woo, as always, had sensed my unspoken worries.
‘It wouldn’t hurt to think about the future, Sue. You can’t go back to Atlantis anymore.’
I couldn’t refuse his suggestion, even though he had said it so casually.
‘Casually…’
My vision blurred slightly as Woo approached, leading Rem.
“Let’s go, Sue. We need to find an inn quickly, it’s crowded.”
I nodded silently, after checking Rem’s stiff limbs. Woo gently put his arm around my shoulders.
“It’s crowded.”
I nodded awkwardly at his casual remark and held onto his sleeve. Neither of us turned to look at each other.
It had been six months since we had left Atlantis.
It had also been six months since our relationship had become like this.
***
We arrived at the city center and, after five attempts, finally found an inn with a vacant room. I had thought we would have to sleep outside when we saw the large tents lined up around the guild headquarters, but luckily, we had found a place.
“Here are two keys. The rooms aren’t next to each other, so find them yourselves.”
“Thank you.”
A young man, who seemed too young to be an innkeeper, tossed two keys onto the desk. I took them, as Woo was carrying our luggage, and started climbing the stairs, looking for the room numbers written on the keys. One was on the third floor, and the other was on the fourth floor.
When we reached the third-floor room, Woo put my luggage down and said,
“Sue, you take this room. And… it’s good that the inn has a restaurant. Rest for a bit, I’ll come back when it’s dinner time.”
“Okay.”
This kind of situation was quite familiar to me.
Two keys, two rooms. I would take the room closer to the first floor, and he would take the one further away.
“You get some rest too, Master Woo. We’ll be busy tomorrow…”
I saw him off as he was about to leave. He smiled faintly. It wasn’t an emotionless smile anymore.
“….”
The shabby door closed with a creepy creak.
“Phew.”
I had been staring at the door until then. I breathed a sigh of relief as the view outside the room disappeared from sight.
I was exhausted, even though all I had done all day was ride a train.
I changed into comfortable clothes and untied my hair, which had been tied back in a single braid. And then, I dived onto the bed. It was hard as a rock, but it felt like a luxury mattress after the torture I had endured in the fourth-class seats.
The smell of rotten wood filled my senses as I inhaled. Bright sunlight streamed in through the cracked window, which had been taped up. It was still a sunny afternoon. But I couldn’t fight the sudden wave of drowsiness, and I closed my eyes, like a child falling asleep in the middle of the night.
***
“…Gasp!”
I woke up, gasping for breath, as if I had been having a nightmare. The room was dark, and I couldn’t see anything. I blinked a few times, my breathing ragged, and then I saw the stars twinkling outside the window.
“Damn it…!”
I didn’t have time to admire the view. I hurriedly changed my clothes and fixed my hair.
I didn’t know what time it was, but it was definitely much later than “dinner time.”
I didn’t have time for a proper makeup session. I quickly applied some lipstick and opened the door,
“….”
“….”
My eyes met Woo Acrea’s, who was staring at me with a bewildered expression.
“I’m sorry, did you wait long? You could have gone down without me.”
Acrea shook his head.
“I was asleep too. I just came down.”
Were his words true? Probably not. He was probably lying to be considerate of her. He was always like that.
So she couldn’t refute his words and just nodded. It would only lead to an argument if she did. It was better to just go down to the restaurant and eat something.
“Let’s go down then. They said they also serve as a tavern, so they should still be open.”
“Okay.”
The grandfather clock in the hallway was striking 10 p.m.
The restaurant was in the basement, and we quickly went down the stairs. It was late at night, but the restaurant was crowded. Most of the customers seemed to be there for drinks rather than food.
The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, almost making me feel tipsy.
…Was that why?
The moment we entered the restaurant, I heard a woman’s voice, loud and suggestive,
“Oh my, look at that handsome man.”