My Favorite Game Followed Me!

The street rat that Anton chose to be his local guide led him to a nearby inn. The inn looked like one of those that cater to rich merchants, but not high enough level to service nobles. The inn was actually surrounded by a courtyard, and the decorations were good but bordering on being gaudy. There was a “trying too hard” ambiance that probably would attract rich merchants desiring to climb the social ladder.

Anton and the kid went to the receptionist. It was a haughty-looking man who looked like he was trying his best to look down on them since his head was tilted upward. The only thing it did was allow Anton and the kid to view the man’s nostrils.

“Oi you! Street rats! What are you doing here?! You’re not allowed here! Shoo!” The male receptionist said.

The man had an offensive, effeminate voice that grated on Anton’s ears, and it was the first time he encountered something like this type of situation. To be honest, Anton had long expected to encounter something like this because he had read about face-slapping events so much that he wanted to experience it. It almost made him laugh out loud. Instead of getting offended, Anton almost wanted to thank the man.

He knew that he had never experienced these situations because most of the kingdoms and cities that they had passed through when they were in Rendindura had a tinge of panic and fear in the general population’s behavior. Because of that, people would not have the time to focus on trivial matters like thinking that they were better than others.

Since the night was deep already, Anton decided to stay at that inn despite the rude behavior of the receptionist or manager, or whatever job title the effeminate man held.

The first thing Anton did was tell the kid that he could leave, and if he wanted to continue being employed as his guide, he would need to return early morning. He gave the kid a gold coin, who ran away immediately.

Anton thought of how he would deal with the rude man, like maybe showing off a spell, like casting a Fire Ball spell, and let it hover on top of his hands or something like that, but he did not want to cause any commotion. He decided to let gold speak for him. He retrieved a hundred gold coins from his inventory and laid them down on the counter.

The effeminate receptionist’s eyes bulged when he saw the gold coins Anton laid down on the counter.

“I don’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to someone else,” Anton said simply.

“Ranulf! Go tend the horses at the back!” A man who suddenly came from the back appeared and shouted at the effeminate receptionist.

“I’m sorry about Ranulf. He’s one of our stable boys. He’s one of my wife’s many nephews, so I can’t let him go. I needed to handle something in the kitchen, so I asked him to look after the counter for a few minutes while I tended to it. My name’s Ishmael and I’m the innkeeper here. I believe you want to rent a room?” The innkeeper said.

The innkeeper named Ishmael was one of those stereotypical fat innkeepers one would read in fantasy novels. Anton had even read a sentence in one of the most famous fantasy book series about not trusting thin innkeepers.

‘I want to rent one of your best suites. How much is it for a night?” Anton asked.

“Let me show it to you first.”

The innkeeper then led Anton to the third floor, and then they went to what Ishmael said was one of the best rooms in the inn. It was a corner two-room suite, overlooking the harbor, so the one staying there would have a view of the ocean and parts of the city.

“I like this room. How much?” Anton simply asked.

“It’s two gold coins a night, three if breakfast and dinner are included.”

“I don’t need food since I will just use this room to rest. I will attend to my own sustenance. I want to rent this room for fifty days,” Anton gave the 100 gold coins to the innkeeper.

The innkeeper smiled widely and gave Anton the key to the room. Ishmael then told Anton the rules of the inn, which were simple enough since at the gist of it was that he mind his own business. He could enter and leave the inn anytime he wanted. If he wanted to eat despite saying that he did not want to, he could just order food from the kitchen and eat it in the dining room on the first floor.

“Regarding cleaning your room…” The innkeeper started to say, but Anton interrupted him.

“I really don’t want to be disturbed, and I know cleaning spells, so I can clean this room on my own. Do you need to inspect the room once in a while?” Anton asked.

“Yes. Please allow us to inspect the room once every seven days. To make it convenient for you, we will be scheduling the inspection every Sunday.”

Ishamel then led Anton to the bathroom inside the suite and showed him how the bath worked. Anton was a little amazed that there was running water for the bathtub and the toilet. He could even use hot and cold water. The lighting, though, was simple candles and lanterns. Ishmael defended the choice of lighting as some sort of choice for ambiance.

After that, the innkeeper gave the keys of the suite to Anton then Ishmael finally left him alone in his rooms.

The suite had two bedrooms, one living room, and a bathroom with a toilet. Since Anton preferred to be left alone, Ishmael told him that no one would enter his suite without his permission, and that meant that if he wanted the lanterns and the candles to be refreshed, he would need to talk to someone in the inn.

“I’ll just use my own magic lanterns,” Anton said and showed the innkeeper one of his Fire Bolt lanterns.

The innkeeper simply nodded when he saw Anton’s lanterns. Magic lanterns were common enough in rich kingdoms of the Gale Continent, so Anton found it odd that the inn chose candles and lanterns.

Once the innkeeper left, Anton cleaned the whole suite using his Cleaning spell. Even though the rooms looked clean, he did not want any leftover dirt from previous tenants to remain unnoticed inside the suite. Then he placed Fire Bolt lanterns in all the rooms and blew out the candles and lanterns. He also placed one Frozen Orb air conditioner magic item in the room he chose as his bedroom.

After he was done setting up his suite, Anton thought of returning to the Rose Manor, but since he had just returned there a few days ago, he decided to do it the next day instead. He decided to stay in his room and level up his ladder Necromancer since it was already level 90, and just a few more levels, he would reach its maximum level. After that, Anton would not be able to level up a new ladder character since the season would end in a week.

By the time Anton decided to sleep, Anton had reached the ladder Necromancer’s max level. At first, Anton did not know which item he would transfer from inside his Diablo II system to the real world, but he then luckily received a Herald of Zakarum shield. The stats and options of the shield were amazing and perfect for a paladin, so he decided that it was the one he would transfer, then he would give the shield to his father.