Chương 11: Chapter 10: Part 1 : The Guide

The morning light filtered through the curtains, drawing a pale line across the wall before fading at the foot of the bed. For a few seconds, Aldric remained lying still, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as the sounds of the hotel gradually returned around him. A door slammed somewhere in the hallway. Footsteps descended the staircase, accompanied by the uneven rumble of a rolling suitcase. Farther away, a pipe vibrated inside the wall before water began running in a neighboring room.

No alarm echoed through the building. No soldier pounded on his door. No messenger waited with an urgent order. The war had not resumed while he slept. The Demon King had not risen again, and no army had invaded this kingdom during the night. The silence was still so unfamiliar that Aldric spent several minutes simply listening to it, as though he feared it would vanish the moment he left the bed. His gaze drifted toward his sword, still resting against the wall.

The morning light reflected from the pommel, making one of the sunstones set into the guard shimmer. The weapon remained exactly where he had left it. No one had tried to steal it. No one had forced the door. Aldric pushed back the blanket and set his feet on the floor. The carpet muffled his footsteps as he stood. His body felt lighter than it had the day before. His level-up had eased the pain in his ribs, and the demonic contamination had almost completely disappeared.

A faint stiffness lingered in his left shoulder where the Demon King's claws had pierced the metal. He rolled his shoulder once before opening his status window. △ STATUS △ Name: Aldric de Valdor Level: 102 Health: 91% Mana: 37% Stamina: 84% Current Effects Minor Fatigue Residual Demonic Contamination: 1% The last traces of demonic blood would probably be gone before noon. Aldric closed the window and headed into the bathroom. He turned the hot water handle.

The rumble inside the pipes already felt almost familiar, even though he still had no idea how the hotel produced so much water without mages, servants, or any visible reservoir. He washed quickly, then cleaned the wounds that had not yet fully healed. After several minutes, he left the bathroom, pulled on his tunic, and began putting his armor back on. One plate locked into place after another. The straps tightened around his arms and chest as the familiar weight of the metal settled naturally onto his shoulders.

Some of the black blood had washed away beneath the hot water, but dark stains still clung deep within the grooves. At last, he strapped his sword across his back. Even in a city where no one seemed to carry a weapon, Aldric could not imagine leaving it behind. It was his protection, his history, and the last tangible proof that his former world had truly existed.

Without it, he would have been nothing more than a stranger with no identification, no money, and no home, telling the story of a war that no one believed had ever been real. △ MAIN QUEST △ Acquire a Home Objective Obtain a Permanent Residence Requirements • Legal Accommodation • Personal Access • Minimum Duration: 30 Days Current Progress: 0% Suggested Method Contact a Housing Provider The main quest had become more specific.

He no longer had to simply find shelter for a single night, but secure a place where he could stay for at least thirty days. In his world, that would have meant requesting a lord's hospitality, renting a room at an inn, or receiving land in exchange for a service. Here, Samir had asked for forty-five euros for a single night in the hotel's smallest room. Even if he agreed to move furniture every day, Aldric doubted the hotel contained enough wardrobes to pay for an entire month.

He placed a hand on the doorknob, then stopped when another window appeared beneath the first. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. △ NEW SIDE OBJECTIVE △ Learn How Housing Works Reward: Modern Society Knowledge +1 Aldric nodded slowly. Before he could secure a home, he first had to understand the rules for obtaining one. The logic was no different from preparing to capture a fortress.

No general attempted to seize a stronghold without first studying its walls, entrances, supplies, and the surrounding terrain. He would need to identify the people responsible for providing housing, learn what conditions they required, and discover how to convince them to grant him a place where he could establish his headquarters. He left the room and walked downstairs. Several guests were gathered near the reception desk, some pulling small rolling suitcases behind them.

A woman returned her key to Samir before placing a card on the counter. The device emitted a short beep, then she collected her receipt and left. Aldric watched the exchange carefully. No metal changed hands. No pouch of coins was weighed. The woman had simply held a card against a machine, and Samir now considered her debt settled. When the line grew shorter, Aldric stepped forward. Samir looked up from his screen.

"Do you really sleep with that thing right next to you?"

"Yes."

"I was almost hoping you'd be wearing normal clothes this morning."

"These are my normal clothes."

"Right," he muttered. Aldric placed the key to room forty-two on the counter.

"Thank you for the room. Your establishment provided me with excellent rest."

"Glad to hear it. And thanks again for moving the furniture. The owner stopped by this morning. He thought I was lying when I told him everything was already in the basement."

"It was a simple task."

"Not for everyone." Samir hung the key back on the rack before leaning against the counter.

"So where are you headed now?"

"I must secure a permanent home."

"A permanent home," Samir repeated.

"A residence where I can remain for a minimum of thirty days," Aldric clarified.

"Found a job yet?"

"Not yet."

"A bank account?"

"No."

"Any ID?"

"No."

"Any income?" Aldric rested a hand on the pouch hanging from his belt.

"Thirty-seven gold coins, twelve silver coins, and several copper coins."

"So... no."

"My gold has genuine value."

"I'm not saying it doesn't, but nobody's going to rent you an apartment when you're walking around with medieval coins and a giant sword."

"Why not?"

"Because you need paperwork."

"What kind of paperwork?" Samir reached toward a stack of papers lying beside the monitor.

"Documents. ID, proof of income, pay stubs, sometimes a guarantor, a bank statement, and an employment contract." Aldric committed every term to memory, even though several of them remained incomprehensible.

"Are these things difficult to obtain?"

"For someone in your situation? Yes."

"Is there another way?" Samir pulled a small notepad from a drawer. He wrote a few words on a page, tore it out, and handed it to Aldric.

"Start with a real estate agency. They'll explain what you need and show you the available listings." Aldric accepted the paper. An address was written beneath the name of a company, followed by several lines of text and a phone number.

"A real estate agency," he repeated.

"It's where people rent and sell apartments."

"So they are responsible for distributing the city's dwellings."

"They don't distribute them. They offer them in exchange for money."

"Like a merchants' guild that specializes in fortresses. »"If that helps you make sense of it, sure." Aldric folded the paper and slipped it beneath his breastplate.

"Will this guild be able to grant me a residence despite my lack of the documents you mentioned?"

"Honestly? I doubt it. »"Then why send me there?"

"Because they'll probably do a better job than I can of explaining why it's impossible." Aldric studied Samir. The man seemed sincere, yet his answer struck him as strange. In his world, no one went to a guild simply to learn why a quest couldn't be completed. You went there to receive quests, gather information, or negotiate a reward.

"I will find a solution," he said.

"I'm starting to believe you will." Aldric placed his fist over his chest in thanks, then left the hotel. The cool morning air greeted him, carrying the scents of coffee, yesterday's rain, and fuel. The street was already crowded. People hurried along the sidewalks, giving Aldric a wide berth without truly stopping. Some raised their phones. Others merely glanced at his sword before quickening their pace. He waited for the green signal to appear, crossed the street, and took out the address Samir had given him.

The paper listed a street several kilometers away. Without a proper map, Aldric had to ask several pedestrians for directions. The first woman took a step back when she saw his armor, but still pointed him toward a metro station. Aldric refused to use the underground tunnels before he understood how they worked. The second passerby pointed him in a different direction, then walked away laughing.

An older man checked his phone and explained that he would need to walk for about forty minutes, cross two major avenues, and continue to a square surrounded by cafés. Aldric memorized the route and set off. The city gradually changed as he walked. The broad avenues gave way to quieter streets lined with trees and pale stone buildings. Small street signs were mounted on every corner.

Shops occupied the ground floors: pharmacies, restaurants, banks, clothing stores, and shops filled with objects whose purpose he still did not understand. Thanks to Money Knowledge, prices appeared more clearly in his field of vision, but the skill still could not explain how people could spend so much on such ordinary things. He passed a storefront displaying several properties. Photographs showed empty rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and balconies. Beneath each picture were prices, some exceeding a thousand euros.

Aldric slowed down. A small room with a bed and a window cost nine hundred euros per month. A larger residence with two bedrooms cost over two thousand. A house outside Paris was listed for a sum he could not immediately compare to the wealth of his own world. His gaze rose to the sign above the entrance. Real Estate Agency. Aldric stopped in front of the glass door. Beyond it, several desks filled a bright office. Posters covered the walls, advertising apartments, houses, and entire buildings.

A woman spoke on the phone near a window. Farther inside, a man typed on a keyboard without taking his eyes off a screen. Near the entrance, a young woman with chestnut hair sat behind a desk piled with folders. A cup of coffee rested beside her hand as she frowned slightly while reading through several documents. Aldric studied the place. No guards stood watch at the entrance. No banner displayed the guild's allegiance.

Yet the dozens of homes showcased behind the windows proved that these merchants controlled access to a significant portion of the city's housing. He checked his sword, adjusted his cloak, and pushed open the door. A small bell chimed overhead. The young woman looked up. Her gaze settled first on Aldric's face, then drifted down to the armor stained with black marks. Next, she noticed the hilt of the sword rising over his shoulder. For a moment, her expression didn't change.

Then she quietly closed the file in front of her as a thought crossed her mind with the weary resignation of someone who had already dealt with too many difficult clients before noon.