Tatsumi shook his head and mumbled to himself, ‘‘I shouldn’t think too deeply into this. It’s only end up giving me a headache.’’

After deciding to stop thinking too deeply about this matter for now and place it at the back of his mind, Tatsumi looked down at what he was wearing and and thought. 

First thing first, I need to either buy new clothes for myself, or pay someone to wash these old ones for me. 

What he was currently wearing was a long white jacket with a high collar, and a normal white t-shirt underneath it. His pants were normal black jeans, while his shoes were leather black combat boots that were more fitting for fighting. And his weapon sheath was still tied around his waist.  

The reason why the pair of clothes he was currently wearing was different from before, was because throughout those 6 days he traveled to get here, after fighting with human and danger-beasts alike. 

All of his spare clothes that were in his bag were completely dirtying and drenched with blood all over. The one that he was currently wearing was the last pair that hasn’t been dirtying yet. 

Of course he could wash it on his own, but he was too lazy to do so, and also blood was just way too hard to get off. So right now his choice was either to just throw away these dirty clothes that were currently in his bag, and buy new ones altogether or pay someone else to wash it for him. 

Thinking back-and-forth between these two options. Tatsumi thought was more inclined towards paying someone else to wash it for him. Although he had gathered quite a bit of wealth after killing and taking away the bandits' money, he still didn’t want to waste it by buying new clothes.  

Though, in truth. That wasn’t all the reason why he preferred not to buy new clothes for himself. Another reason was because these clothes were given to him by his best friends and uncle before he had left the village, so it held a lot of value to him. 

Ughh!, but just who am I going to ask to wash blood off from my clothes anyway. I mean they would surely freak out after seeing that much bloodstain, wouldn’t they?... Tatsumi scratched his head full of hair with both his hands, and thought with some level of frustration. 

When doing that, Tatsumi could feel a gaze directed at him by the surrounding people, they were giving him a weird look while trying to distance themself away from him. 

‘‘Sis, what's wrong with that person…’’

‘‘Shhh, don’t stare at him. He might be a crazy person.’’

Hearing the many mumble from the people around him, Tatsumi immediately let go of his hair and straightened his back and tried to look as normal as possible. 

Even so, he was inwardly embarrassed at the way people were looking at him, the words that were storming out from their mouths didn’t help with his embarrassment either.

Right after Tatsumi straightened his back and tried to act normal, he immediately moved away from the scene. Few minutes later, after walking away from his original spot, the young man reached an alleyway where only a few people could be seen, and let out a little sigh.

‘‘Ha… just right after arriving at Daiken town, I already make people looking at me in a weird way, heh, seriously.’’ He mocking and joking with himself for a little bit, before shaking his head lightly and deciding to forget about it.

‘‘... since I’m finally in ‘Daiken’ town, maybe I should stay here for a week or two.’’ He said softly with a happy smile, ‘‘after all. What’s the point of traveling to a new place if I am not going to enjoy it to the fullest, right uncle.’’

Making his decision to stay in ‘Daiken’ town for a little while, Tatsumi's expression turned into a thoughtful look. ‘‘But then, where am I going to sleep? It can’t be that I’ll have to sleep on some random street, right?’’

A grimace expression surfaced on the young man's face when thinking about sleeping on the street, where anybody that came by could see him. After all, sleeping in the woods is one thing but sleeping on the street didn’t seem right in his mind. 

As Tatsumi continues to mull over where he should sleep while being in this place; his grimace disappears right after, as an imaginary light bolt seems to light up above his head when an Idea pops into his mind. 

‘‘I could just find an inn, that’s what uncle says that most people do when traveling.’’ Tatsumi thoughtfully said. ‘‘And, as for where I could find an inn, that should be an easy thing to do since I could just ask someone where an inn is located.’’

Knowing what he should do next, Tatsumi wanders around the street and asks people about where he could find an inn. After almost an hour had passed, he found someone who told him the location of the inn and even its name.

Not wasting time, he directly headed over to that inn’s location.

…

In a less crowded part of the town, a two story house could be seen somewhere around there. Above the two story house, a sign board made from brown-colored wood could be seen hanging above the inn, and the three words that the sign board inscribed were…

Ford family inn.

Inside the ford family inn, a woman around her thirties could be seen seated behind a huge counter table, and leaning her head slightly downward while letting her right hand push it up.

The woman had long smooth black hair that was tied into a ponytail; she had red cherry lips, and her wore was a casually simple dress that was dark green. The woman was pertity and exuded mature womanly air to herself. 

The woman's name was Anna Ford, and she was the owner of this inn. She had two children who were around 11 years of age, and as for her husband, he had died five years ago while being out on business, apparently he was killed by mountain bandits when headed back to Daiken town right after he was done with the business. 

It left her devastated and in a state of depression, she was heartbreak and even wanted to committe suicide over the matter. The only thing that kept her from doing so was her two children who were young, and still needed her to be there for them. 

Now five years have passed since then. Anna and her two children have been living in this house that she and her husband used to own, but was now also an inn. Because she had no choice but to turn it into an inn, as that was the only way she could work and earn money while staying everyday and looking after her two children. 

Although the first two years since officially turned her two story house into an inn, the business wasn’t going too well for her. But in her third year since she opened her business, it started to improve as it became more well known across the neighborhood, and more guests came in when they heard about it.

But, as the situation of the inn continues to improve in business, so was the workload. The guest that came in to stay for the night would always demand a better food survince and a better housing to stay in, causing her to be exhausted from just doing all of it. 

Thankfully, when her two children turn’s 10 years of age two years ago, they started to help her around the place and lessen her burden while letting the inn business improve at a smooth pace. 

And today was just like any other day for Anna, her previous guest that had rented the inn for the night had all left, and now she was just waiting for a new customer to come in. A smile was plaster on her face as she waited patiently the entire morning for any customer that could come in. 

As she waited patiently for any new customer, the door to her inn suddenly and was slowly pushed open. It caused her to perk up as she knew that her customer had arrived; she then straightened her back and herself, as her smile widened.

When the door was fully open, a youth of average height could be seen in front of her. The youth had short brown-hair that went in a cowlick, and he was wearing a long white jacket with a high collar and also a white t-shirt underneath it. 

His pants were a normal black jean, and a black leather boots that look to be made for combat. And a weapon sheath tied around his waist. The youth was exactly Tatsumi, who had finally arrived at the Ford family inn after being given the direction of its location by a random stranger he had asked on the road.

He pursed his lips slightly and said with a polite voice, ‘‘hello, ma’am. If your inn is open, I would like to rent it, please.’’  

Seeing that the one who was here to rent a room was just a youth not much older than her kids, Anna looked at him with surprise for a moment, but as someone who has worked as an innkeeper for a few years and sort of a professional at what she does.    

Anna quickly suppressed her surprise and said professionally, ‘‘3 copper for a night without any meals service, but five with three meals a day service.’’ Paused for a second, she added. ‘‘How many day would you be staying, Sir.’’

‘‘2 weeks, and I would like a full meals service too.’’ After saying that, Tatsumi fell in silence while doing a certain math in his head. 

Hmm… three copper for just staying at an inn without any food service, but five copper with all of those. If I want to stay for 2 weeks, it would be a total of 70 copper altogether... which would equal all the way up to 2 silver and 20 copper. 

Tatsumi did some metal calculation of the price in his head and said softly in a low voice. ‘‘The price isn’t too high, nor is it too cheap ethier. It is actually a fair amount for staying at an inn for 2 weeks, and the three meals service a day is only 2 copper.’’ 

Anna gazed at the unknown young man before her with astonment when she heard that, at first she thought that she had heard it wrong. But when seeing him in contemplation and mumble a few words under his breath. Anna knew that she didn’t hear it wrong. 

And that was the reason why it surprised her. After all, you have to know...

In the empire, the currency that people used were copper, silver and gold. And 25 copper would equal exactly 1 silver coin, while 15 silver would amount to 1 gold coin. For most normal people, 2 silver coins and 20 copper was actually a really a fair bit of money, since the average family wage per month is only 2 silver and a few copper at most. 

When you look at it from that perspective, it may seem like a lot when you think of how, just for two weeks her inn was charging over 2 silver and 20 copper. But when you think from a different perspective, a night with full meals service only amounts to 5 copper coins. So the price is pertity fair by that standard. 

The only reason it looked like her inn was charging a lot was simple because, nobody in their right mind would actually rent the place for over 2 weeks, as even something cheap would become a lot when you stack it up too many times.  

While Anna astonment didn’t disappear or lessen, she didn’t forget to tell the young man about the price for staying for two whole weeks. ‘‘That would be 2 silver 20 copper coin, Sir.’’

She said respectfully even though the unknown young man in front of her was really young, and not much older than her kids. So adding ‘Sir’ was kind of awkward for her, but even so she maintains her respectful nature towards her customer.

Tatsumi didn’t hesitate as he grabbed his bag that was hanging from his back, and quickly opened it and rummaged his right hand inside the bag. After rummaging his hand inside the bag, he took out a small gray pouch within it while causal closed the bag.

After, he took out 2 silver and 20 copper coins within the small gray pouch, under the stare of Anna, who just stayed quietly without saying a thing to interrupt him. When taking out the money, he walked over to the huge counter table and placed the 2 silver and 20 copper coins down. 

Anna blankly looks down at the silver and copper coins, she then grabs it and puts it away somewhere in her dress pocket. She stood up from her seat and said with a warm tone, ‘‘thank you sir for renting 2 weeks at the Ford family inn. Now then, please follow me. I’ll show you to your room.’’

After saying that, Anna walks off and Tatsumi follows her. She led him to a stairs that goes up to the upper floor of the inn, and then through the hall before reaching a brown door about 7 to 8 feets in height. 

She takes out a key from one of her pockets, and with a ‘click’ the door is unlocked. She then twists the doorknob soon after, and pushes it open. When it opens Anna moves into the room and waves her hands slightly toward Tatsumi. Asked him to come in. 

Seeing her signal, Tatsumi also entered the room. The first thing he did after he entered the room was to look around since this would be where he would live for the next 2 weeks. As he scanned his gaze around the room he could say the room wasn’t big nor was it small ethier, it was about medium size.

The room was spotless as it seems to be clean on a daily basis, the sheet of the bed was tidy and neat and arranged in an orderly manner. And the two white blankets on the bed were folded neatly. On the side of the bed, a small wooden tea table could be seen.

After looking around the entire room, and funding it to his liking, Tatsumi let out a small satisfied smile. ‘‘I like it, it’s nice and clean.’’

When she heard him, Anna let out a slight relief. Although she didn’t show it. In truth, she was actually quite nervous when the young man before her was looking around the room. After all, he was a big customer and she didn’t want him to be dissatisfied after already paying the full price for staying at this inn for two weeks.

Knowing that her customer was satisfied with the room, and after the relief she felt was over. Anna suddenly remembered something and said to him,

‘‘Sir, your lunch would be in an hour so please come down and eat. And also, everyday one of my sons would come up and clean the room and tidy up the place, as well as everything else too. So you don’t need to be bothered with getting the place messy.’’

‘‘And here is the key to the room,’’ Anna handed him the key and bowed her head slightly. ‘‘Well then, that would be all. I hope you enjoy your stay here, sir.’’

After saying all that and bowing her head, Anna walks out of the room and gently closes the door behind her, leaving Tatsumi to continue to just stand there while playing with the key in his hand. 

As Tatsumi just stands there all alone in this room, a moment soon passes. He put away the key in one of his pockets and put down his bag on top of the small tea table, he then untied the sword sheath around his waist and also placed it down on the small tea table.

Thud…

Right as he put all his stuff down, Tatsumi also took off his boots and moved closer toward the bed. He then lay his back flat on the bed and looked at the grayish ceiling above. 

‘‘I found an inn, so the first thing on the list is done. Now all I need to do left before enjoying my time in this place is to find someone who can wash my clothes for me. If I pay the inn owner, maybe she could wash it for me.’’ Tatsumi mumbled as he thought of the next thing he should do. ‘‘I just hope she won’t refuse or frank out over the blood-stain.’’