Javvok was an important city located in the southwest part of the Griffon Kingdom, only a few hundreds of kiloters from its borders with the Blood desert. Friya had picked it because of its warm climate and abundance of natural resources.
Also, it was far enough away from the borders to not have through customs inspections every ti they needed a gate and dinsional magic could be employed within the city borders. The lack of strict safety asures had allowed the city to grow over ti, making it a blend of old and new architectures.
Unlike most cities of the Kingdom, Javvok wasn’t divided into rims, but into districts. The trading district occupied the center of the city and extended all the way to the four city gates.
Shops and their warehouses were usually adjacent, to allow the rchants to keep an eye on their supplies since dinsional items were a two-edged blade. Contrary to what one could expect, the slum district was right next to the market.
The bustling activity and the constant noise made it a horrible place to live. Yet it also made the housings so cheap that daily workers would manage to easily pay the rent and need only a few steps to reach their workplace, killing two birds with one stone.
The residential area was right past the slums, using parks as a buffer and to further reduce the interaction between social classes. Farrs lived outside the city, near the fields they worked on, and too far away for the stench their cattle made to affect the citizens.
The nurous guards patrolling the walls and the beautiful sight offered by the luscious forest that surrounded Javvok made the outer district the most expensive place to live.
Lith’s hotel, the Golden Dragon, was located in the outer district and occupied an entire twelve floors building. Friya had reserved the last floor of the hotel to enjoy the scenery and have an easier ti moving by flight thanks to the rooftop doorway.
"What the fuck does this an?" Lith said when he noticed that there were only four rooms on the twelfth floor.
"A woman needs so space. You’ll thank once Kamila arrives. Poor girl, I bet you never brought her to a place this nice." Friya scoffed at Lith’s cheapskate attitude.
"I work, she works, and whenever I get a leave, I’ve so much catch up to do that I don’t have ti for this kind of shenanigans. I told you that I don’t go on vacation."
"Good for you. It ans you should have plenty of money since you never got the opportunity to spend it. Now stop whining and pick a room." She said, offering the four numbered keys to him.
Lith actually picked three, giving the other two to Phloria and Quylla, to make sure that Friya would be the further away as possible from him.
"Very mature of you, Lith." Friya said.
’I’ve good news and bad news.’ Solus said while laughing her ass off at Lith’s expense.
’Give the bad news first.’ Lith inwardly moaned.
An image of the hotel’s brochure and its prices appeared in Lith’s mind. The sheer amount of zeroes almost burned through his wallet.
’What about the good news?’ Lith was glad to have managed to sell several of his lesser creations lately. Even though they weren’t made out of Orichalcum, his custom made Skinwalker armor was highly sought after.
’als are included and the whole hotel is covered by an air blocking array. Your key makes so that you’re the only one who can use dinsional magic or flight spells while in your room. It’s enough to satisfy even your levels of paranoia. Also, the walls are soundproof.’
’aning?’
’That once you engage Kamila in battle, you don’t have to worry about collateral damage.’ Solus thought.
Lith blushed at the remark. He already found awkward when Solus played third wheel, but the idea that Quylla, whose room was adjacent to his, could hear sothing had completely escaped his mind.
Not knowing how to reply, he glossed over the matter and entered his room. It looked like a five-room apartnt with a hallway, a living room big enough to host a small party, a dining room, a sauna, a king-sized bedroom, and a bathroom.
The walls were painted sunny yellow and the glass wall provided lots of natural light. The furniture was of simple design but it was elegant and its quality wouldn’t make them look bad even in the Ernas house.
Every room was large, airy, and well-light. It was the first ti Lith was in a classy hotel, so he remained quite surprised noticing that there were small cabinets for toiletries and all the common items provided by the hotel but no wardrobes.
Rich people had no need for them since they would store everything inside their own dinsional amulets. It left plenty of space to decorate the room and made them appear even larger than they were.
’Too bad there’s no kitchen. I bet they aim to milk the custors with the room service.�� Lith thought after touring his room.
He went back to the lobby, finding Quylla waiting alone in front of the floor’s Gate. The hotel had no elevator, it used a short-ranged dinsional device to allow people to move from a floor to another.
"Hey, Lith. How hard is clearing a dungeon?" Quylla asked.
"For , it’s mostly boring. You must forget all the crap about mystical rooms and treasures. It’s just a place infested with monsters. The only traps you’ll find are those the monsters laid, and the only loot you can earn belonged to those who failed to clear the dungeon."
"That’s not what I asked you. I’m not looking for profits or excitent, only for the experience."
"For you, the hardest part will be just not falling for traps, ambushes, and avoiding that your spells hit us as well as the monsters. The good thing of going solo is that you don’t have to worry about anyone but yourself." Lith said.
"Yeah, too bad that one mistake and you’re dead. No companions also an that no one is looking out for you." Quylla replied.
Lith shrugged while instinctively caressing Solus’s ring. He was never really alone.
After the others returned, they went to the roof and took flight, following Friya.
"Rothar caves are a bit far from the city, they are deep inside the Gelugan forest." Friya said in her communication amulet. While flying at high speed it was the only way to keep in touch with others.
"We’ll have ti to enjoy the scenery when we get back, now focus solely on following and morizing the course." She sped up, moving south while avoiding flock of birds and the magical beasts soaring the sky in search for their lunch.
Normally the even green ceiling of the forest would have made it impossible for her to find the caves without a guide, but since there were monsters involved, Friya knew she could count on their help.
It took them just a couple of minutes of high-speed flight to notice a huge bald spot in the middle of the forest. It was exactly what Friya was looking for. Unlike what happened in fairy tales, monsters didn’t draw sustenance from thin air, allowing them to remain holed up in their dungeon 24/7.
They needed to eat, drink, and crap like anyone else which usually ant bad news for the local fauna.
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