章 10: Different world
Stepping out of the outpost was like stepping into a different world. While the center where they had come from was filled with technologic wonders, here everything was dominated by the primitive.
In the center, people would use cars and bikes to move around, here they would use horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. The streets were also filled with pedestrians, some of whom were even pulling hand-drawn carts.
The architecture too was different, since most buildings were made out of wood and clay, instead of steel and glass. Ivan thought that it created a more comfortable atmosphere. A seemingly more relaxed atmosphere. That was if one was able to ignore the dirt. Although there were a canalization and even plumbing, there were no machines cleaning the streets. Thus some would always collect, to be then removed by hand when enough had accumulated to warrant the time and manpower investment.
Jenny didn't show any reaction to the new sight. It seemed that during her time in the military, she had this view seen before. Ivan, on the other hand, felt overwhelmed for a bit. Reading about something and seeing it was something completely different after all. He had read about the way the outer sectors were but he had grown up in the orphanage which in lieu of everything else was a modern building and thus equipped with modern equipment.
He took a deep breath and then started to move towards one of the stands at the side of the street. The first apartment he was planning to look at was at a block that was closer to the city border and walking there would take upwards of one hour. Thus it was better to use one of the larger carriages which drove to different places of the sector. And one of the most visited places were the dungeons at the border of the city. Especially for adventurers, many of whom earned all their money in them.
As such it was easy to find a carriage that would stop close to the targeted city block. It would then continue on to one of the most popular mining dungeons, making the queue for it already quite long, although it would take around five minutes for the next carriage to arrive.
Mentioning dungeons. This was something important to adventurers. They were separate worlds, which would be generated anew for each group of people entering them. They also had an upper limit. Some like the mining dungeons were free for all, while others had additional requirements, such as the one Jenny was supposed to clear.
Mining dungeons were a special type of dungeon, where the focus was on collecting resources and not on fighting monsters. They provided a steady source of income for low-level adventurers since it was possible to acquire rarer materials than those that could be collected by large machines out in the world.
Just by having luck, it was possible to earn tens of CP, even in one of these low-level dungeons just at the city border. That would be enough to last everyone in the group for a long time until they found the next rare resource. All in all, it was a system that was stable and allowed these adventurers to live a steady life and even have some cash reserves.
When the carriage arrived it was soon filled and Ivan and Jenny only barely got a seat. They had to pay two copper for the drive.
The carriage was primitive and if not for the good quality streets, the drive would have been torture.
When they left the carriage, the first thing they did was to stretch.
"The first thing I'll do when I got the money is to buy something to ride or even my own carriage.", Ivan promised to himself. He couldn't stand the close contact inside the carriage.
Behind him, Jenny nodded. She too hadn't enjoyed the drive. The middle-aged man, sitting beside her had stared at her breasts the whole time and she had to hold herself back from making a scene, since she knew that it wasn't a good idea to anger anyone, here without having a backup.
They walked for a short time until they arrived at a five-floor house. Ivan once again checked the address and then nodded. "This should be it."
He then turned towards Jenny and told her, "If you don't like something or have something to say just tell it. After all, we will have to live here together."
As usual, Jenny's face stayed ice-cold, but she nodded.
Together they entered the building. Each floor consisted of a small room with the staircase entrances as well as three apartment doors. According to the info, the one on the ground floor and the left side was the door of the building owner.
Following the instructions he had, Ivan knocked at the door and waited for someone to respond.
They didn't have to wait long, as soon the door was opened by a middle-aged man with a beardy face and a large beer belly. Just at the first look he already seemed likable. But they weren't here to find a likable landlord but a cheap apartment. Thus Ivan greeted him friendly.
"Hello. I'm Ivan and I'm here to take a look at the apartment you have for rent."
The man scratched his beard and looked at the two of them. When his eyes moved over Jenny's body they lit up and it was nearly possible to see him start salivating.
"Of course, of course. If you would follow me, I'll show it to you.", his attitude also got much more friendly all of a sudden.
This sudden change made Ivan feel slightly disgusted but he held it back. After all, the apartment was truly cheap.
The man led them up to the third floor and into the apartment on the left side. They then entered into a hallway, that had four doors going off sideways and one into the living room at the end. There were two bedrooms, which would be perfect for them, as well as a kitchen and bathroom.
Without any furniture, the apartment appeared cold and empty. Even the kitchen and bathroom were completely void of anything.
There wasn't much to look at, so they soon finished inspecting the apartment. It wasn't bad and fulfilled their needs.
It seemed like the man saw that they had no problem with the apartment, since he told them, "So what do you think? The rent will be 10 silver a month and we may even be able to go down a bit."
10 silver a month was reasonable if not cheap. Most apartments would be priced at around 15 silver a month according to the information he had collected before. But they also had furniture in the kitchen and bathroom.
But what intrigued Ivan was the probability of getting it even cheaper. Thus he threw the man a look, making it clear that he was interested.
The man looked at Jenny with a greedy stare and told them, "How about you let your wife have some fun with me and I'll reduce the rent by 2 silver?"
Ivan felt disgusted by that offer. Although he didn't care that much about Jenny, she was his after all and if there was something he was completely unwilling to do was to give up something that he owned. At least not if the price wasn't right.
Without saying anything he directly left. Behind them the man looked at them with a disappointed look, "It was worth the try." The sentence was barely audible but both Jenny and Ivan were able to hear it.
When they were back in the street, Ivan took a deep breath and said to himself, "Let's hope the second option is better."
As before Jenny didn't say anything and just followed behind him, while he walked towards the second option. It wasn't far away, just a bit closer to the border, so it was suitable to walk there.
During the walk he looked around, taking in the bustle in this part of the city. It was so different to the order and discipline he was used to from the orphanage.
There were many stands at the side that sold all kinds of things, the most popular being food by far, followed by clothes. Other things were mostly sold in stores. They saw one which sold furniture and other utensils for living. One that was specialized in serving adventurers and sold all kinds of equipment as well as potions.
There were also stores that were under the control of one group that had bought the rights from the government. They not only sold gas canisters, which were needed for the gas stoves everyone used in their kitchen as well as to heat bathing water and such.
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