'Certainly not a place I wanna be in.'
Evan and Eliza thought simultaneously as they quickly moved on, eting the superluxury inns where both the employees and patrons alike oozed high-class snobbery.
'Mostly foreign nobles and politicians, don't really wanna deal with anyone that may recognize .'
They saw restaurant-focused inns that prided themselves on cooking, ones that definitely caught Eliza's attention.
Another one offered live music, with hired bands playing inside, their tones leaking out of the building and prompting Evan and Eliza to join in for a bit.
Eventually, they moved on to another high-class luxury hotel with an apartnt-like style, and after a few minutes of deliberation, they selected it for their stay.
Soft orange light illuminated everything in the lobby—from the flowers that looked like pearls, to the India ink paintings of mountains on the reddish-brown walls.
"Welco to the Mahogany Hotel. How may I help you?"
The female receptionist bowed politely, then lifted her head and gave a nice business smile.
"We'd like to book a two-night stay."
Evan replied while Eliza moved over to go admire the paintings on the wall. The receptionist nodded and prepared the check-in slip, all while wondering why she felt that Evan looked familiar.
Despite that, she did ss up on her duty, informing Evan about the types of available rooms while providing him with a tray for him to place his identification.
The boy filled in his and Eliza's nas, putting 'Adventurer' as their occupation before calling his girlfriend over to bring her Guild card.
"The paintings here are really pretty."
"I agree. Should we get a few similar ones for the Oak Avenue Manor?"
"Sounds like a good idea."
As they spoke, Evan put his hands in his pocket and dropped his identification onto the tray, but when he noticed the receptionist had gone silent, he turned towards her with raised eyebrows.
"Is there a problem?"
"N-no. No p-problem at all, Lord Bourne."
His question snapped her out of her daze as she stamred to reply. Upon hearing her form of Address, Evan looked down at the tray and realised he had pulled out his Noble Badge along with his guild card, allowing her to figure out who he was.
For a hotel in a Station city like Lastham that had foreign guests daily, it was a requirent for employees to be knowledgeable about foreign nobles officials, so as not to accidentally offend anyone important.
Naturally, this ant that they were to know how many Noble Family crests looked, especially from Major World Power nations like the GWE Evan ca from.
Given that the receptionist already found Evan quite familiar looking due to having seen his picture in newspapers, a glance at his crest was all that was needed to jog her mory and make her realise the boy in front of her was one of the Continent's rising stars.
After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she noted sothing on a sheet of paper and handed their identifications back to them before speaking.
"The package you've picked cos with breakfast and dinner, costing a total of 20 gold coins per night.
That'd co down to a total of 40 Gold Coins, Lord Bourne."
The other receptionist beside her who was free heard how she addressed Evan and turned to see, her eyes widening in shock as she instantly recognized the young hero.
Evan ignored the fuss and paid for their room while Eliza inquired about, the paintings on the walls.
"Thank you for choosing to stay with us, and we hope you enjoy your ti here.
A staff mber will guide you to your room in a mont."
The receptionist bowed deeply, causing her glossy black hair to fall over her face as she spoke, standing straight right after and fixing it with practised grace.
"Why do I feel like giving them a five-star rating already...?"
"Funny, I was thinking the sa thing."
Evan replied to Eliza as they followed the staff mber who ca to guide them to their rooms. Coincidentally, the hotel's head of security who was casually patrolling the lobby, inadvertently glanced at Evan and nearly dropped his baton as he saw how much energy was within the boy's body with just a glance.
'Who the heck is this kid?! And the girl too! She's a grandmaster despite looking so young!'
After Evan and Eliza had exited the lobby, he scooted over to the receptionist and asked about the two, finding out that they were the fad 'Irregular' Evan and 'Battle Priestess' Eliza.
'The rumours really didn't do them justice…'
Such were the man's thoughts as he sighed and returned to his patrol duty.
◇ ◇ ◇
After checking out their room and confirming everything, the duo once again left the hotel, and placed their food orders before going to explore the nightlife of Lastham.
They had a little bit over two hours of fun, going from place to place, encountering a few people who recognized them during their tour of the plaza, and having to escape a trio of journalists who wanted to hound them for interviews, accidentally entering the City's Red-Light district in the process of their escape.
They returned to their hotel at around 10 pm and took their baths, and then began feasting on the als which they had ordered for that sa ti.
As a peak master and grandmaster level existences respectively, Evan and Eliza could eat a lot more than the average person, and the ingredients used were all high quality and brimming with magic power.
'A human from Earth V would definitely get superpowers if they ate this.'
Evan had such a random thought as he finished his al, before spending the next ten minutes silently watching Eliza with a smile on his face as she happily made short work of her food.
Full from the sumptuous als, the two relaxed side by side on the two-seater Adirondack chair laid out on the balcony, while admiring the view of the city's skyline.
"So, are you finally going to tell where we're going?"
"Nope."
"Still not telling? You're making really curious."
"Don't worry, you're gonna love it."
"Let's hope I really do."
Eliza replied as she poked Evan's cheeks with her fingers. She then tilted her head to the side in light confusion as she rembered one of the things Evan told her to pack for the trip and asked.
"I assu we're going to swim at a beach or sothing? Given that you told to pack swimwear and all."
"We are going to be swimming, though it would not be at a beach."
"Huh? Then where?"
Instead of answering her question, Evan posed one of his own to her.
"How good is your underwater combat?"
"That's a very odd question, but my underwater combat skills might as well be non-existent.
I've never had to fight underwater before; I certainly can't breathe there."
"I'd take care of that with an item, it'd basically give us the capabilities of soone with the Dive skill on Master level. It can't do anything about the inevitable fact that our clothes would get wet though.
Anyway, we'd take tomorrow as practice. There's a high chance we might have a few underwater battles on our way to the Beta Continent, after all."
"Beta Continent? Why? The other Deadly Sins?"
"Yep. They and the other Heroes there."
Eliza nodded lightly before leaning in on Evan's chest and silently closing her eyes. It didn't take long for her breaths to beco even as she fell asleep,
Evan then picked her up princess-carry style and took her into the room, laying her on the bed and covering her with a duvet before going back out the balcony.
He stared at the city's skyline, turning his gaze towards the direction of the Red-Light District and rembering the presence he felt while he was there earlier.
'They followed us, here, huh?
Oh well…I guess Kayla would get her chance to vent earlier than expected.'
With those thoughts, he went back into the room and closed the doors before joining Eliza on the bed and falling asleep not too long after.
◇ ◇ ◇
Giant Bear Woods
Shelde
Duscon
February 3rd
Year 1053
Early the next morning, Evan and Eliza found themselves walking along the long river that flowed through the Giant Bear Woods, a forest that gained its na from the 'Giant Bear' monsters that had lived in its depths.
These Giant Bears were the de-facto rulers of the forest, with each of them being a powerful Grandmaster-level beast that was very territorial.
Hence, other monsters in the forest always avoided their territories, usually marked by the claw marks on nearby trees and rocks.
"And our destination lies within the territory of one of these Giant Bears?"
"Yep."
Evan replied to Eliza as the two of them casually strolled down the river, snacking on a few at skewers that released a mouth-watering aroma into the area around them.
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