The Lotus Garden Inn

Getting out of Jid's barber the succubus walked for about a minute before walking into a random alley. Checking that there's no one around she took the pouch and emptied the gold on to the ground, she examined each piece as quickly as possible and put aside those she found suspicious. She also examined the pouch and sensing no magic coming from it, she moved all the cleared coins into the pouch.

She removed the void box from the utility belt on her waist and moved all the coins she found suspicious there before she put it back on her belt again. She wasn't sure what sort of formation those coins had since she didn't have enough time to examine them thoroughly, but if it was a tracking formation the void box should be able to disrupt the signal as long as the formation is of low quality.

Having this done she quickly looked for a general store so she could get a map, the black market has probably noticed her so she would prefer to leave before they could make a move and having a destination to go to is essential.

In the store she went to the maps section and looked for a map with the most details regarding the western area of the Gorgon Domain because she didn't want to go to the interior since she had escaped from there less than 2 months ago. The Gorgon Clan would definitely cover up such a blunder but they would not let it go. She didn't believe that they had no way of identifying her.

With a good map in hand that only cost one gold coin she went to look for an inn that didn't double as a brothel to stay in. This was unsurprisingly a difficult task with all the questionable characters who passed by this town. A place with that much lust going around wasn't a good place for a succubus who wanted to keep her commonsense to stay in, her bloodline would activate making it difficult to think about anything other than sex.

Asking around town she finally found The Lotus Garden Inn at the end of a small street joining to the Town's business district. The Lotus Garden Inn was not only pleasing to the eye but it was more peaceful as it was a bit out of the way. It was quite big at 5 stories tall. The succubus had come to learn that the owner is related to one of the leaders of the black market so people usually avoid causing trouble here.

Entering the Inn she went to the counter to rent a room. Behind the counter sat a blonde middle aged man silently polishing his glasses while glancing at a pile of documents to his left every now and then.

Seeing the succubus who was wearing a cloak and a mask, he put on his glasses and looked at the succubus intently. This was a place where the few proper folks that passed through this town gathered, he couldn't understand how the person in front of him fit into that description.

"Hi, I would like a room for one night," said the succubus calmly as if oblivious to the man's questioning gaze.

The man who seemed to be the innkeeper looked at her for a while before asking, "What type of room are you interested in exactly?"

"A cheap room for one person that is not too secluded but not also not noisy." The way she was dressed might make the innkeeper throw her into a room far away from the other tenants, that would make her an easier target if the black market found her. Therefore she decided to explicitly state that she doesn't want to be secluded from the other customers.

The man turned around to look at the tags on the walls behind him, turning to the succubus he said, "We have some rooms on the first and second floors that aren't too close to the staircase nor the end of the corridor. It can be noisy there because of the proximity to the staircase, but it usually isn't a problem. Does that work for you?"

"The one on the second floor should be good."

"For a night that would be two gold without meals, two gold 10 silver with two meals. If you want a bath that'll be a separate 5 silver with cold water, 10 with warm water, either way comes with a bar of soap." the man said in an disinterested way.

The succubus inwardly grumbled at the extortionate price and instantly understood why this place is still standing even though it had few customers - it didn't cater to the proletariat, the price wouldn't bother the affluent - in other places 10 silver would be enough for a comfortable bed and a good meal. But here it was only worth a meal.

Taking out three silver from her pouch she gave it to the man, "Where can I get that warm bath and when is it mealtime?"

The man took the money and stored it carefully somewhere behind the counter, he turned around and took a pentagon shaped wooden tag giving it to the succubus while moving a crystal ball closer, "Run your mana through the tag and touch it to the crystal ball." Seeing the succubus do as he said he continued, "A bath will be brought to your room anytime you wish. As for the meals, you can get your supper whenever it suits you as long as it's before ten, as for breakfast anytime before nine."

"Can I get that bath now?"

The man placed his hand on the crystal ball in front of him making it glow in a green light and said to the succubus, "Place the tag on the crystal ball."

The succubus did as told and the crystal ball stopped glowing, "The bath shall be delivered to your room soon, you can come here when you need someone to take it away."

"Get I get a meal in my room?"

"No, you are only allowed to eat meals at the dining area."

"Are there private dining rooms."

"Yes, 1 gold."

Hearing that the succubus thanked the man for his most inhospitable service and went to her room.

Her room was the third room from the stairs on the right side of corridor with '2-05' written on the wooden door in large golden numbers. There was an imprint just below the numbers where the succubus placed the tag opening the door.

The bath had already been placed on the left corner of the room just behind the door, the bed was directly facing the door and the left wall had a small built-in closet for those who were going to stay for a while, on the right wall were two medium sized windows. Beside the bed on the right was a small dresser with a small night pearl as a lamp and a larger night pearl hanged from the ceiling.

The succubus checked the room for a bit and seeing nothing suspicious got ready for her bath. She took of her cloak and seeing what she had underneath, she reminded herself to buy some proper clothes tomorrow morning before she left. Untying the alchemical box from her waist she placed it underneath the bed against the wall. She placed the mask on the dresser and everything she was wearing on the bed.

Going to the bath, she kneeled down on floor and washed her hair first, who knows what had collected there for the past three months she spent in the containment floor and then traveling through the wilderness. At the end the bathwater had turned a little murky and the succubus considered going down to ask for it to be replaced but ultimately decided against it because she did not want to deal with the innkeeper.

Submerging her body in the murky water she started to give herself a proper scrub. Some pieces of skin would fall off and her skin became a little itchy. She continued her bath until the water turned so murky that she couldn't continue bathing in it. At that point she got out of the water and dried her body using one of the towels provided with the bath.

With her body dry she put on her clothes including the cloak but didn't put up the hood and left the mask on dresser. Before leaving the room she activated the skin-shift spell which turned her into a blonde young woman with dark brown eyes.

She didn't like using the skin-shift spell because it made her feel uncomfortable and she couldn't keep it for long since it was a mana guzzler.

Going down the stairs she went to the innkeeper and told them she was done with the bath. It took a while for the innkeeper to figure out which tenant she was but when she took out the tag for her room he naturally figured it out. He was surprised for a bit but that quickly passed and he did as the succubus asked.

With that done she went to the dining area to get her first proper meal in almost two months, ever since she'd escaped from Gorgon Castle she had sustained herself on demonbeast blood and some fruits she found in the forest that didn't seem poisonous. So for today she wanted to have a good sized meal with lots of meat.

She found a relatively secluded corner and looked at the menu. There was set menu for those who paid for a standard meal but you could also add whatever you want as long as you had the money. The succubus remembered that she had paid 3 gold instead of the 2 gold 30 silver had to pay. That meant that she had 70 silver worth to use on extra food and maybe other things that interest her.

She asked for mash potatoes, fire-crested hog pork rib, earth bull beef steak and flash thread snakes on top of the standard meal.

The first plate emptied pretty quickly and she asked for a second, when the waiters reported this to the innkeeper he allowed it and she got her food soon after that.

This time she took the time to savour her food which allowed her to overhear the conversation of a nearby table.

".. somehow the Lord of Ocra succeeded in convincing the King of Osera to go to war with the demon lord, they even formed an alliance."

"I don't really get why the King of Osera would agree to such a thing, Ocra wouldn't be affected by the war but Osera would definitely suffer. This is the Domain of the proud Gorgon Clan, the demon Lords aren't stupid, they know not to cause too much trouble or the Gorgon Clan would get involved so some diplomacy would have probably worked. "

"Supposedly, the Gorgon Clan is already involved. They agreed to sell armaments to the alliance. The Lord of Ocra probably used this to convince the King of Osera."

"What are you implying? That the Gorgon Clan is tacitly supporting the war?"

"I'm saying that the Gorgon Clan just decided to start selling more advanced weapons just when some of its allies or more accurately vassal nations are having some sort of problem with the Demon lands close to them. If this doesn't mean that The Gorgon Clan wants war with the demons, I don't know what does."

"..."

"The Gorgon Clan has been having trouble absorbing those nations even though they are recognized as part of the Gorgon Domain. It also had trouble getting rid of the demons last time. Pressuring them to go to war helps weaken both sides, making both tasks much easier to accomplish."

"What's the point of conquering the demon lands? Humans can't even live in them."

"How can the demon lands be conquered if soldiers can't survive a couple of hours there?"

"I heard that Kings stage refiners can survive normally in the demon lands."

"Kings stage refiners? How many of them are there in the world? Why would those old monsters care about such a thing?"

"Guess you're right. Wars are for us hot-blooded youth who hadn't lived for 200 years. The old monsters don't bother themselves unless it's has considerable benefits for them. What are you gonna do?"

"What do you think? I'm going to leave this country as soon as possible. It's not like I have any other choice."

"You had to marry a demonkin?"

"She's a fine woman that I wouldn't mind marrying any day. Besides, demonkin are considered citizens here..."

"But that'll change if there's war with the demons."

"To the humans, she's a demon. To the demons, she's human. We can't really go to either side of this war. And hey, I heard that elves are quite hospitable."

"Like it or not, that's a months long trip. Weren't you telling me that you recently got a brat? That isn't good for the kid."

"You don't need to tell me that but it's not like I have a choice unless I want my kid and wife dead."

"..."

"Let's not talk about these things for now, tonight I'm supposed to be saying goodbye to an old friend."

"Well then let's make this a great night ... Cheers."

"Cheers."

....

'Seems like the Gordon Domain isn't a good place to be human at the moment.' the succubus thought to herself before getting up from the table and going to her room.