The sun had set in the town of shirotsume, all around were scared looking people and scary looking people. All day it had been rather muggy weather, nothing too intense. Yet, when she started to set off for Era she felt the gentle trickle of fresh rainfall. Looking up she saw that the clouds were gray and stormy looking. "This has to be an omen" Aila muttered to herself as she felt the wet drops trickle down from the sky "But that doesn't mean it's a bad omen right? I mean plenty of good stuff happens in the rain...right?" She sighed as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. Unfortunately thanks to the wind the rain still managed to hit her face and aim for her eyes. She picked up the pace, this city was far emptier during rainy days than Hargeon. That was the difference between a town that lives in fear of an oppressive figure like a dark guild, and a town that lives with one of the most respected legal guilds in all of Fiore. For a moment Aila believed that she was bragging, and the thought brought a smile to her face. She didn’t hate her hometown by any means. No it was just a… tough place to live. Although Lamia Scale was rather prominent in that town, their mages rarely came to the slums and when they did it was simply because they were paid to do so. She shook her head before thoughts of home truly began to cloud her way.
She stepped into an Inn to gain some solace from the rain. At the same time a man walked towards her with a ‘closed’ sign held in his hand. He paused and looked her over. “Are you a traveler?” she nodded in response “A mage?” She nodded once more wondering where exactly these questions were taking them. He fumbled through his pockets “I know this is rather last minute, but could you watch the inn for a while? I can pay you, and you can stay for free tonight”
“Is something wrong?” Aila replied, the man appeared rather nervous
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“Ah… It’s just a family emergency. But we can’t afford to turn patrons away, especially so close to the tournament.”
Aila accepted the request. She knew what it was like to need money, and how tough it truly was to deny a customer services due to personal problems.
The day started off simple. She got rather antsy and took it upon herself to clean up a bit. One man entered and requested a room with adequate view of the guild hall. Aila smiled, entering hostess mode, she led the man to a room at the end of the hall and returned to greet an incoming family. The final patrons too appear seemed to be some judges that were on their way to the tournament in Era. They greeted Aila, and talked about the tournament over a cup of tea. Eventually Aila revealed that she was in the tournament herself. They were rather surprised that someone so young had entered. She offered to show them some of her magic, but they declined wishing to save the show for the tournament itself. Ed They wished her the best of luck in the tournament and Aila showed them to their room.
The rest of the day was peaceful. The patrons appeared every once in a while to strike up idle conversation. The dark guild watching man in particular showed up plenty of times and seemed to be rather interested in the girl. Aila put a stopped to that in a joking manner. She didn’t want to lose him as a potential customer, but the rugged appearance of the man wasn’t really her type. She usually opted for cuteness, whether it be in a girlfriend or a boyfriend.
Running an inn was a great icebreaker. Over the course of a single day Aila had managed to meet more people than she usually met in weeks. Sure most of them simply came in to ask for directions, much to the chagrin of a certain mage, but all in all it was a warm feeling to be relied on by so many people. Aila could honestly see herself starting a hotel once she finished with her travels and settled down. Whenever that would be that is, she didn’t foresee herself stopping any time soon. She still hadn’t found a way to prevent death at all. It’s like she was a failure as a Reaper-slayer. She wasn’t too sure whether ‘reaper-slayer’ was an actual term or not. She hoped to one day meet a dragon slayer and compare stories about their origins to see if her beliefs were true.
The owner appeared later and paid her before offering her a room key, which she gladly accepted.
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