Adjusting

And that is how, three days later, Dante found himself working himself to death in the dreary heat, repairing the inn.

Carpentry was a steep learning curve for Dante, who had never held a saw or a hammer in his life. Panting and wiping the sweat of his brow, he continued hammering the nail into the plank of wood on the roof.

"Dante, take a break. Lunch is ready." Martha's voice came from inside the inn's kitchen. Dante sighed and began stepping down the creaky wooden ladder. His tender skin was covered in bruises and scratches from the rough work he was not used to.

Back in the inn, Dante's eyes glowed as he found a scrumptious meal of porridge, a hotpot of rabbit meat and two loaves of hard corn bread. On the first day, he was disgusted by this food, but hunger eventually triumphs all, as he began to devour the meal.

"The food in this world is actually quite evolved, but in a vastly different direction to that of earth's gastronomical tastes. The focus seems to be on wild meat and products like bread refined from gathered herbs, instead of agriculture Is this a local feature, or a tradition of this world?" Dante analyzed mentally as he gorged on the meal.

"Madam Innkeeper, do you live here alone?" Dante asked when Martha also joined him for a meal on the table. The inn was empty other than these two, so it wasn't awkward.

"My husband disappeared many years ago. He was an adventurer, who was drafted into the Seolea Kingdom's war as a mercenary. I used to live here with my young son. He is about your age, now." Martha said with a serious look as she spared a glance towards the door of the inn, as if waiting for her husband and her son to return.

"A year ago, my son left on a journey to find his father. I haven't heard of him since. I wait for the two of them to return." Martha spoke with a hidden sadness.

Dante stayed quiet for a while in contemplation, before sincerely speaking up. "Innkeeper, thank you for your generosity. If you didn't offer me food and shelter, I wouldn't know what to do."

Martha shook her head. "I can see that you are working hard. I am simply paying you for your services. From your tender skin and seeing how you struggled to work, I understood that you must be the child of a noble. Isn't it?"

Dante gulped. He wasn't a noble'w child, but Martha's analysis did stun him. He looked at his clothes and realized that they were too exotic for this town. The past couple of days, he had been receiving stares from the other townsfolk. So they thought he was an escaping noble?

Seeing Dante's paling expression Martha's doubts turned into conviction. "You should be more careful about your identity in the future. Lily town is relatively safe, but slavers would go crazy to find and escaped noble born."

Dante could only nod to that, but inwardly he was shocked. Slavery was not prohibited in this world! The safe and gentle nature of Lily town had given him a false sense of security about the rule of law like that on earth, however, he now realized that things weren't so simple!

"Innkeeper, where can I find jobs in the town? I need to earn some money." Dante asked in seriousness.

"There aren't many regular jobs in Lily town. It is a self sustaining town. However, you can find odd jobs like repair work, hunting or gathering at the adventurer's guild. Don't go for any task more difficult than that, you are too weak." Martha warned.

"...Adventurer's guild huh.." Dante murmured. The adventurer's guild was basically a fanciful name for odd labor recruitment and mercenary work and... if fantasy games and novels were any indication, a place where dangerous missions were assigned.

After finishing lunch, Dante excused himself from the inn to visit the adventurer's guild. It was actually a small tavern bang on the central avenue of the town. The tavern seemed relatively empty, with only five circular tables spread around.

Dante ignored the bar and walked towards a counter. Behind the counter a prim lady was quietly sitting and reading a book as she adjusted her pair of glasses.

Dante was surprised. "So there are glasses in this world?" He wondered to himself. Meanwhile, the guild receptionist raised her head to see a young man who looked around seventeen or eighteen looking at her in a daze.

The boy had brown hair, and his skin was extremely tender and white, a clear sign of a rich upbringing. However, his hands seemed to be filled with new scratches..

"A fallen noble in hard times?" The perceptive receptionist immediately sat straight as she thought to herself. "His looks aren't bad, but he seems weak."

"Cough, is there anything you need sir?" The receptionist asked, interrupting Dante's daze. Dante snapped back to reality. He had been wondering about the abnormal setting where glasses had appeared in this fantasy based medieval world.

"Pardon my rudeness, I wish to register as an adventurer." Dante said apologetically.

"Alright, fill this form." The receptionist deftly handed Dante a form and a feather quill which was dipped in an thick black ink. Dante did as he was told and returned to filled out form.

In the past few days, Dante had learned to his surprise, that the Seolea Kingdom in which Lily town was located used English as its main language of communication and commerce.

"I need to learn more about this world." Dante had thought to himself, when he learned about this fact.

The receptionist looked at the details, nodded and began activating a red crystal jewel which sat on a gramophone like device. The device began rotating like a vinyl recording and the jewel began to glow a bright blood red. After some time, a blu ray disk slot like slit opened in the gramophone like device and a card appeared from it.

The receptionist handed the card to Dante. "Add a drop of your blood on the card to bind it to you. This will be your identity as an adventurer. It is accepted all over the continent."