Chapter 32: Red Peak
The three of us made our way to the northern gate. I walked in the back, still invisible as the orc lead us.
Arriving at the town, our group was greeted by a few guards all dressed in black armour.
"Torg, who is this girl?" One of the guards asked, his voice muffled by his helm.
"Just a human girl who's merchant caravan was attacked. I'm escorting her back to the city."
The guard turned towards Elaina. "Miss, are you a resident here?"
Elaina shook her head. "No, I'm not."
"Then it will be one silver to enter, unless you have a pass."
Elaina fumbled with her belt and handed over a single silver coin. Fortunately, she had the pouch from the previous owner of her body. The elf was actually quite rich, a silver coin was nothing to her.
"Well, I'll be heading back now. Still got work to do," Torg grumbled as he waved as farewell.
"Do you know a place to stay the night?" Elaina asked the guard at the gate after thanking Torg.
"I assume you've never been to Red Peak if you're asking that." After not getting a response he continued, "This town does not have many permanent residents, but instead acts as a way point for people heading to the southern continent or those hunting in the mountains. There are plenty of inns here. While a little on the expensive side, the Golden Swan is probably one of the safest inns in town for humans, especially young human woman. It's just down the main road."
Elaina handed him an extra silver for the advice and passed through the gates. I myself slipped in after her, still invisible. No one suspected a thing and I got in for free.
After entering the town, Elaina continued down the main street to the inn. I went up and snaked my arm around hers so I wouldn't lose her.
"Where are we going?" I whispered. She jumped a little at my voice.
"To the inn he talked about. Now keep quite. People are looking for you."
After being reprimanded, I no longer spoke again. Her words made sense though. Since those three guards were searching for me, Lilith had probably already sent out orders to capture me. Or maybe it was Invidia as this was her territory. Instead of chatting with Elaina, I instead started studying our surroundings.
The town itself was quite lively. Many people walked to and fro across the street and into the shops that littered the sides. Some of them were dressed up in leather or steel armour, and many people were wearing a weapon of some kind on their back or waist. The few that stood out were the guards dressed in their imposing black armour.
Most of the people here were either orcs or some type of demon. However, there were other races such as humans, some lizardmen and even a few elves with grey skin colour. Drow? I even saw a minotaur walking about with a massive warhammer strapped to his back.
In fact, there were more races here than at the auction or the banquet that I had been to previously. Even Lilith's harem wasn't as diverse as this town. Was it because it acted as a border to the southern continent?
Many of the men were giving Elaina disturbing looks and some didn't even bother to hide their intentions. I was personally quite creeped out but Elaina didn't show anything as she walked past them. At the very least, none of them tried anything in broad daylight, probably because of the presence of the guards.
After a minute or two of walking down the crowded street, we eventually arrived at our destination. A three-storied wooden building that looked recently built, at least compared to some of the other more worn down shops. A large sign with the words 'Golden Swan' painted in gold hung above the doorway.
The inside of the inn was also quite cozy. I noticed many of the staff and guests were human. Perhaps this was an inn for humans?
After Elaina paid for a room, I followed her to our room on the second floor.
The room was small with only a single, small bed. There was also a desk and wardrobe present, as well as a window to bring the sunlight in. Had Elaina only paid for a one person room?
I removed the invisibility bracelet after Elaina closed the drapes of the window, shutting off the outside world.
"What should we do now?" I asked, still not quite sure how to proceed.
Our main objective should be to cross the mountains. But that was easier said than done. I wasn;t the best at coming up with a plan so I could only depend on Elaina.
"You stay here while I go explore the town."
"But I want to walk around too. I can wear the invisibility bracelet."
"Too dangerous. Remember, they're hunting for you specifically. While they're also looking for me, it seems I'm more of an extra right now. Besides, I can take the invisibility bracelet for myself if you don't come along."
"Fine," I grumbled as I passed her the bracelet. Her words made sense, but I still wanted to have a look around. Staying in this room reminded me too much of my time being a slave.
"Here, you take this." She tossed me the book about magic on her way out. "You can try to figure a little bit of it when I'm out. Now that you have [Light Magic], maybe it can help."
I smiled. "Okay, I'll do my best."
There was paper and a pen on the desk at the side of the room. As I sat down and began to read, I realized that this was going to be a lot more work than I thought. While I knew the letters, I didn't know moist of the words. Only one word in five was understandable, the rest complete gibberish.
I sighed. Hopefully Elaina was making out better than me.
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