Chapter 43

We left the shooting range about 20 minutes after Carter left, and picked up the map that he put on the table in order to go downtown and find suitable yet temporary living conditions.

"The map says that we're about 5 blocks from downtown now, if we make it there in the next 40 minutes we'll be there before the tenants close for the night, and we'll have nowhere to go."

Shinso used the other information that Carter gave him regarding tenants and their housing complications, closing times etc.

"Really now, should we take a public carriage or something? I forgot those exist here."

Shinso thought about that for a few moments before fishing through his pockets for a few moments, and taking out 8 gold Lumin, 3 silver Lumin and 2 bronze Lumin, it was some money that Carter gave us to buy an apartment, the remains of what he had following his grocery run.

"You sure that'll be enough for an apartment, or the carriage ride in total?"

Shinso nodded.

"I suppose so, back in history class I was taught that prices back in the 1600's would make us rich in modern days, what I'm holding could be equivalent to hundreds is not thousands of dollars."

I laughed to myself.

"Damn, I'm so glad I didn't fall asleep in history, and believe me when I say I fall asleep in lots of classes."

He then took a few steps forward and towards the curb, reaching his hand out, poking his thumb up. A carriage was already rumbling down the street, and the driver looked up and stopped it before it could get too far from us.

We both took a step in and the driver looked back at us.

"Where are you going?"

"Downtown, quickly please."

Shinso leaned back against the padded back of the seat, stretching his arms out to pull me in closer to him.

"Sure thing."

The driver relied, before whipping the horses to signal them to start running. And carriage instantly began to move, which caused me and Shinso to stumble forward in the car.

"What about eating?"

I asked Shinso, causing him to turn in my direction.

"There might be some cheap restaurants in this area, if not I guess I'll go back to Carter and steal some of his groceries for us."

Shinso proposed, looking out the carriage windows, progressively watching the buildings and clothing get more and more extravagant and less worn looking, signaling we were getting close to downtown.

"It's funny, you can watch everything change just by looking out the window."

I joked, leaning in closer to Shinso. He looked down at me and smiled softly.

"Yeah, I think we're getting closer to downtown now."

After a good 20 minutes the carriage halted in front of an apartment complex and opened the door.

"Alright, that'll be 2 gold Lumin please."

Shinso nodded, shuffling through his pockets before he pulled out the coins, putting them into the small container in the passenger seat, which he supposed was for the richer nobles or just an assistant driver.

"Thank you, enjoy your evening fella's!"

He winked at us before whipping the horses, and they continued down the street. The sun was starting to set over the mountains and the street lamps flickered to life, which meant our time was even more limited to get an apartment for the night.

"We should move faster."

Shinso quipped, increasing his walking speed along with me. We looked around the richer part of town and saw nothing really our type, but as if our personal preferences mattered at the moment. 

"What about that one?"

Shinso asked, pointing to an apartment in an attempt to relieve our boiling stress. I nodded and looked at him.

"That looks good, let's check in."

We both approached the complex and opened the front doors, and walked over to the counter.

"Hello gentlemen."

The woman at the desk greeted us with a warm smile.

"How may I help you? Are you lost?"

Shinso nodded "no."

"We're simply here to buy an apartment for a few days."

She nodded, pulling out a large scroll from the pile behind her, unraveling it before us.

"Here's our available rooms."

I looked towards Shinso suddenly and asked him;

"Well, what would you say we get? Something more convenient or something we can relax in?"

Shinso pulled out 5 gold Lumin, the rest of our golden coins.

"What can I get for these?"

The woman looked at the Lumin and her eyes widened.

"Well, one of the apartment rooms near the top of the complex is available for 4 gold Lumin, but if you want room service it'll be 2 extra gold Lumin."

Shinso pushed the Lumin further towards the woman.

"We won't want room service, but we'll take the apartment you just recommended."

The woman nodded, dragging the Lumin and putting them inside the bucket behind the counter. She then reached towards the counter and pulled out a room key, handing it to us.

"Thanks."

Shinso nodded, stuffing the key into his pocket before proceeding towards the staircase which led towards a narrow hallway. 

"Let's go."

He looked back at him and we headed up the stairs, the gaslights flickering to light above us as we continued to walk up. Eventually we reached the hallway at the top of the building, looking for room 112, the apartment room that we just purchased.

"There it is." 

I heard Shinso mumble, putting the key into the keyhole before turning it to unlock the door and opening it.

The room was a pretty simple room, with 2 beds next to each other, a gas lamp, a desk by the window, a stove and bookshelf, and a rug in the middle of the room, overall a pretty simple yet comfortable apartment.

"We don't have anything to unpack really, maybe we should head somewhere to eat in the meantime?"

I asked Shinso, he nodded at me before putting the keys back into his pocket.

"Yeah, sounds good."

We both left the apartment about a minute after we entered it, went back down to the lobby, bid the service lady goodbye before pressing down the street.

We took another carriage, because I heard Oboro saying before he was shot that carriage prices tend to lower after dark because their services aren't needed much.

But wouldn't that mean that people would want to use the carriages more, so their prices would be a lot higher than in the daylight hours?

I thought to myself about that as the carriage left the apartment building and took us to a lofty yet comfortable restaurant downtown.