"Alright everyone, Hollow City is now in view which means we will be arriving in ten minutes. When we land, just stick close to me, I would like to stop by a shop before we head over to that organization I told you all about." the Patriarch shouted from the front of the carriage in a cheerful tone.
"The shop!" Timothy thought as he was pondering over where he could lose the group and escape. According to Master Shi, the streets would still be packed full of individuals and if Timothy just so happened to get lost in the shuffle, he had plenty of gold on hand to rent a room at one of the fancy hotels within Hollow City. With the plan set, all Timothy needed to do now was to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to begin.
Eventually the carriage finally made it to Hollow City and everyone jumped out because carriages were not allowed within due to the population of the city being so high and the streets being crowded at all hours of the night. And so just like in Dusk Village, the Patriarch handed over the entry fee after showing the guard a strange looking badge.
"Now children, stay close to me and my son because we are going to be heading over to the shop right away since it is not very late and have some spare time." the Patriarch told the group as they began walking inside. To Timothy's surprise upon entering, it looked as if building after building were next to each other and stretching out for many miles. Living and remaining in his small township, Timothy was not used to seeing such a sight!
As he planned it out, Timothy followed along the group in the very back. Since it was the first time in the city the Patriarch and his son thought that he was just taking in the brand new atmosphere and had no idea, Timothy was only just shaking nervously because his master saw through their appearances.
Just the thought of the Patriarch returning to the township and acting as if he was recruited by a school made his entire body from cold sweat. Not only that, but in the future, his soon to be younger brother would have possibly gone through the same thing along with other so called promising children.
Before long, Timothy finally found his opportunity to act, because someone recognized the Patriarch's son walking by and suddenly stopped to have a short chat with him. With everyone distracted, Timothy found a gap going the other way of people and so he casually went into that gap and breathed deep breaths several times before heading into what seemed to be a hotel.
"Hello young master, are you looking to rent a room for the night or for an extended stay?" a male attendant dressed in a nice robe asked Timothy the moment he walked into the lobby.
"I would be very interested in renting a room for the night, can you tell me how many gold pieces it would be?" Timothy responded as he began to catch his breath. The Patriarch was still nearby, but for the moment he would be safe as long as he quickly rented a room.
"For the night, it would be ten gold pieces. However, if you choose to rent a room for an entire month, we are willing to rent the room to you for only one hundred gold pieces. The choice is yours young master, but as a reminder on top of the city guard making sure no one would fight, our hotel also has our own experts ready to protect you as well." the male attendant told Timothy, as if he could tell that he was trying to avoid someone from his demeanor.
"I will go ahead and rent a room for an entire month then." Timothy said as he handed over one hundred and five gold pieces. By giving the male attendant a decent tip, Timothy felt that he might possibly be treated somewhat better compared to other tenants.
"Very good young master, then I will have one of our experts escort you personally to your room. It will be on the third floor and the second room. A word of warning, there is a VIP member who is also staying on your floor so you had better not be too noisy as to disturb them. Otherwise, please enjoy your stay and if you need anything, feel free to come down and ask." the male attendant told Timothy as he pulled out a bell and used it.
Suddenly, a Intermediate stage expert appeared and introduced herself to Timothy and let him know that she would be the one protecting him during his stay. Timothy as well as his master was unsure if the male attendant had an Intermediate stage expert present to protect him, or if it was a usual accommodation for a cultivator one stage higher to be in charge of protecting all guests.
After being shown to his room, Timothy dismissed the female expert as he sat on the nicely kept bed in the corner of his new room he had now for an entire month. The room may have been rather small, but it also had a furnace inside for those who practice alchemy, a nice kitchen type area, and of course the bed which Timothy was currently sitting on.
"It's really too bad kid, if you were able to learn alchemy before coming here, you would have been able to use some of those items to craft some elixirs or pills to aid you in increasing your cultivation level. However, you could actually clone everything within this room and sell some of the items while using the additional sheets on your bed to craft black robes so it would be difficult for others to know your identity moving forward." Master Sei told Timothy as a light started to shine once more from the metal ball.
