“Looks like a pretty nice place, though on the rowdy side,” said Alissa as she looked around the city’s interior. The three of them were naturally let in without any fuss, as all it would have taken at worst was an [Identify] or [Analysis] before they were allowed to proceed. They skipped all that as Maribel presented a letter from Sir Marsten that stated their identities – if it kept the actual bits like Alissa being the [Hero] and Nadine being a Princess quiet in order to avoid making a fuss – and reason for visiting Clearridge.
“Well, we’re in the southern half of the city, so no surprise. This area pretty much catered almost exclusively to soldiers from Fort Ixlay who were on break, and since most of those wouldn’t really care too much for the finer stuff, they adjusted their offerings to match their customers,” explained Nadine with a nod of her head. The southern part of the city indeed had a rowdy atmosphere, and a pervasive smell of alcohol and smoke that sort of reminded Alissa of cigarette smoke but was more pleasant to the nose.
Drunken brawls were apparently common enough in the southern half of the city – not too surprising given the thousands of off-duty soldiers, many of which had probably lost friends or even family just recently in one place – that Alissa saw two in her first five minutes in the city. Both cases involved off-duty soldiers who were clearly quite a bit into their mugs.
That said, the brawls also resolved themselves peacefully after the people in question vented their emotions, with the victor helping the loser get up and even half-carried them back to the tavern for more drinks, in bost cases. In fact, the brawlers seemed perfectly happy to laugh and joke together with the same person they were beating up just moments ago.
“It’s how it is with career soldiers,” noted Maribel with a smirk on her face. “Many of them are used to venting off their emotions as they fight their enemies, or at least with some physical work. If you put multiple soldiers together with some booze? A brawl is pretty much guaranteed, though rarely would they result in bad blood. That’s just their way of expressing themselves.”
“The brawls are usually not even over anything serious,” said Nadine with an amused smirk on her face. “Sometimes they’d fight over their preference in rations, for example, or because someone boasted of their sister or daughter and another called them overdoing it. It’s just a common occurrence for those types. We just didn’t see it much back in the fort due to the tension with the demons being so close. Once you let these types relax, this is what you get. It’s rarely serious, and the commanders like Sir Marsten consider it a good way to let them get some exercise while on break.”
“I guess soldier types are the same everywhere,” noted Alissa with a nod of her head. “Definitely also explains why they had curtains instead of doors there. Would get expensive if they keep having to fix doors every time some drunk people break it.”
“That’s something they changed to soon after the southern district was remodeled to accommodate the soldiers, I heard,” said Nadine with a giggle. “The story went that it only took three broken doors before people wised up and changed the doors for curtains made from cheap cloth instead. They do still have doors they could close, they just keep it open during operating hours.”
“That’s one way to go about things all right,” replied Alissa with a laugh. “So… is the southern part of this city pretty much just one big entertainment district? I’m seeing a lot of taverns and inns, and from the way some of those barmaids are dressed, I’d bet that they offer other services for their patrons too… Nevermind the ones at the actual brothels.”
“As we said, this part’s for the soldiers, and by that we mean the rank and file,” said Maribel with quite a bit of mirth in her voice. “The higher-ups like the officers and those of high levels like us usually stick to the north side of town, where they mostly cater to people from the academy instead. More examples of fine entertainment there, plays, bards, the like. The library you’re interested in is also on the north side of town.”
“Okay, that’s nice,” noted Alissa.
The three of them kept walking towards the north and it was very noticeable how Clearridge changed around them. Between the northern district and southern district of the city, there was a central district that was more… normal. It was the area aimed towards the city’s regular citizens, instead of towards academics or soldiers like the other districts.
It reminded Alissa a lot of the typical idea of a medieval European city from her history classes, except for one major difference that she was honestly very glad about. The place was much cleaner, as apparently some [Hero] in the past must have introduced the idea of a sewage disposal and sewer system. They had fortunately spread widely enough that larger cities generally had functioning ones.
Would have been far less pleasant a walk if the city turned out to be as filthy as medieval cities were supposed to be. The military fort being less clean on the other hand was something she could understand, as they mostly kept things clean enough to avoid health hazards more than anything. Otherwise things like getting a proper bath was nothing short of a luxury in such places.
When Alissa ran a hand through her hair, she couldn’t help notice how it had become rather tangled and matted. Neither Nadine’s nor Maribel’s hair were any better, and while they had the chance to wash themselves clean in a stream not far from the new fort before they left, that was already the day before yesterday.
At least they didn’t smell so ripe that their stench would drive people away though.
As for the northern district, it was obvious that the place paid more attention to their architecture and decor so as to evoke more of an… upper class feel to the establishments there. Most students at the academy were either children of nobles or otherwise came from rich families, as it was extremely unlikely for the poor to be able to afford the academy’s tuition fees. As such, they expected certain standards in things, and the rest of the district naturally catered to their needs and adjusted as necessary.
Since many of the higher-ups in the military tend to be of the nobility themselves, they naturally gravitated towards the more luxurious establishments of the northern district rather than mingle with their troops in the southern district. Because of that, many of the establishments in that area were also used to dealing with military officers on break.
It was more complicated when it came to fourth tier combatants, however, as those came from every sort of background. Many had been peasants who simply managed to grow into power over time, while others might be of noble heritage. In general they were always a mixed bag, and each person was just set free to choose where they’d prefer to spend their time while on break.
“I know you want to hit your beloved books as soon as you can, but what do you say we wait until tomorrow?” suggested Nadine as they walked closer to the northern district. “We ought to get ourselves some proper food first tonight, and for the love of all the gods, a proper hot bath! I would kill for a tub of hot, soapy water right about now!”
“Not a bad idea, honestly. I think Sir Marsten did say that we’re supposed to meet with the academy’s headmaster first before I could get access to the library, no? It’s already pretty late today so it’d be rude to bother them when they’re likely already off work,” replied Alissa with a nod of agreement. “Tomorrow’s fine with me. You got any place you’d recommend for us to stay in?”
“I don’t, but old Henri suggested a place he preferred and told me to mention his name there,” said Nadine. “He said it would likely fit us better compared to the more… well… opulent places. Those tend to attract clientele that look for more than just a place to rest for the night or good food, if you get what I mean?”
“Oh yeah, I think I can do without listening to some fat bastard moaning through the walls at night. Sometimes having too good hearing can be a curse, I swear,” noted Alissa with a shudder. “Lead the way then? It’s not like I know the way around this place.”
“Sure, right this way.”
Nadine let the small group towards an inn that was situated around the border of the northern and the central district. The place was one of the better ones in the central district, but lacked the more obvious luxury and opulence of its equivalents in the northern district. When she opened the door, though, they were welcomed by a cozy, homey atmosphere and felt comfortable and relaxing.
Most of the clientele seemed like locals that were reasonably well to do, but none seemed particularly rich either. They were likely the better off segment of the populace, but not amongst the wealthiest of the city. Alissa also noticed a larger proportion of old people which made her think about how Sir Inolet was the one that recommended the place.
Sure enough, a quick and discreet swipe of [Analysis] showed her that nearly half of the place’s clientele were old soldiers, mostly in their late third tiers, so they were likely already retired.
Nadine quickly arranged for their rooms, and her request for hot baths was something the inn’s proprietor seemed to have expected. In fact, they were told that the inn had communal baths they could use for free, so the three headed there together. after they left their belongings in their rooms. Fortunately, the baths for men and women were separate.
The bathroom itself was mostly dominated by a large tub built into the floor itself, around the size of a small swimming pool, likely large enough to fit a good ten people in it comfortably. The three girls stripped and washed off the worst of the sweat and dirt that stuck to their bodies over the past couple of days before they went in the tub, which they discovered was kept to a pleasantly hot temperature.
Alissa just sighed and allowed herself to soak in the warmth of the water. The water itself would probably be too hot for her in the past, but the heat felt just right for her current self. It made sense when she considered that there were many high-leveled old soldiers as part of the inn’s clientele, which meant that they might be sturdier than the average person by a good as well and thus had similar preferences.
There was nobody other than the three of them in the women’s bath for most of the time they spent there just lazily soaking in the tub. None of the three even talked as they just allowed their tired bodies to truly relax after a long period of tension. Alissa even thought that she might well have fallen asleep in the bath had some old ladies not entered the bath after some time had passed.
It was easy to tell that the old ladies – they looked to be in their fifties to sixties – were likely retired soldiers themselves, given their still fit, muscular bodies and the scars that they wore almost like a badge of pride. Alissa needed no [Analysis] to infer that much.
The three of them got up and vacated the tub, greeting the old ladies as they went out, which the ladies returned with smiles and nods. After they changed into fresh clothes, Alissa felt almost as if she had been reborn, though it also brought some disturbing memories of the few times she [Respawn]ed already. She shook her head to clear her mind off those thoughts while Maribel went and ordered them some dinner from the inn’s proprietor.
Avitue
If you enjoy this story, please consider leaving a rating or review to help it gain more exposure, thank you! Or help support the author by leaving a tip!
Read ahead on my Patreon! For 5$ a month patrons will gain early access of a week's worth of chapters ahead (3 chapters), or for 10$ a month, gain early access to ALL the available Advance Chapters! (as of the moment of this writing: 25 Chapters ahead.)
Or you can subscribe to all my stories and get a discount on the price!
Join the Discord for silly stuff and chat with us!
“Looks like a pretty nice place, though on the rowdy side,” said Alissa as she looked around the city’s interior. The three of them were naturally let in without any fuss, as all it would have taken at worst was an [Identify] or [Analysis] before they were allowed to proceed. They skipped all that as Maribel presented a letter from Sir Marsten that stated their identities – if it kept the actual bits like Alissa being the [Hero] and Nadine being a Princess quiet in order to avoid making a fuss – and reason for visiting Clearridge.
“Well, we’re in the southern half of the city, so no surprise. This area pretty much catered almost exclusively to soldiers from Fort Ixlay who were on break, and since most of those wouldn’t really care too much for the finer stuff, they adjusted their offerings to match their customers,” explained Nadine with a nod of her head. The southern part of the city indeed had a rowdy atmosphere, and a pervasive smell of alcohol and smoke that sort of reminded Alissa of cigarette smoke but was more pleasant to the nose.
Drunken brawls were apparently common enough in the southern half of the city – not too surprising given the thousands of off-duty soldiers, many of which had probably lost friends or even family just recently in one place – that Alissa saw two in her first five minutes in the city. Both cases involved off-duty soldiers who were clearly quite a bit into their mugs.
That said, the brawls also resolved themselves peacefully after the people in question vented their emotions, with the victor helping the loser get up and even half-carried them back to the tavern for more drinks, in bost cases. In fact, the brawlers seemed perfectly happy to laugh and joke together with the same person they were beating up just moments ago.
“It’s how it is with career soldiers,” noted Maribel with a smirk on her face. “Many of them are used to venting off their emotions as they fight their enemies, or at least with some physical work. If you put multiple soldiers together with some booze? A brawl is pretty much guaranteed, though rarely would they result in bad blood. That’s just their way of expressing themselves.”
“The brawls are usually not even over anything serious,” said Nadine with an amused smirk on her face. “Sometimes they’d fight over their preference in rations, for example, or because someone boasted of their sister or daughter and another called them overdoing it. It’s just a common occurrence for those types. We just didn’t see it much back in the fort due to the tension with the demons being so close. Once you let these types relax, this is what you get. It’s rarely serious, and the commanders like Sir Marsten consider it a good way to let them get some exercise while on break.”
“I guess soldier types are the same everywhere,” noted Alissa with a nod of her head. “Definitely also explains why they had curtains instead of doors there. Would get expensive if they keep having to fix doors every time some drunk people break it.”
“That’s something they changed to soon after the southern district was remodeled to accommodate the soldiers, I heard,” said Nadine with a giggle. “The story went that it only took three broken doors before people wised up and changed the doors for curtains made from cheap cloth instead. They do still have doors they could close, they just keep it open during operating hours.”
“That’s one way to go about things all right,” replied Alissa with a laugh. “So… is the southern part of this city pretty much just one big entertainment district? I’m seeing a lot of taverns and inns, and from the way some of those barmaids are dressed, I’d bet that they offer other services for their patrons too… Nevermind the ones at the actual brothels.”
“As we said, this part’s for the soldiers, and by that we mean the rank and file,” said Maribel with quite a bit of mirth in her voice. “The higher-ups like the officers and those of high levels like us usually stick to the north side of town, where they mostly cater to people from the academy instead. More examples of fine entertainment there, plays, bards, the like. The library you’re interested in is also on the north side of town.”
“Okay, that’s nice,” noted Alissa.
The three of them kept walking towards the north and it was very noticeable how Clearridge changed around them. Between the northern district and southern district of the city, there was a central district that was more… normal. It was the area aimed towards the city’s regular citizens, instead of towards academics or soldiers like the other districts.
It reminded Alissa a lot of the typical idea of a medieval European city from her history classes, except for one major difference that she was honestly very glad about. The place was much cleaner, as apparently some [Hero] in the past must have introduced the idea of a sewage disposal and sewer system. They had fortunately spread widely enough that larger cities generally had functioning ones.
Would have been far less pleasant a walk if the city turned out to be as filthy as medieval cities were supposed to be. The military fort being less clean on the other hand was something she could understand, as they mostly kept things clean enough to avoid health hazards more than anything. Otherwise things like getting a proper bath was nothing short of a luxury in such places.
When Alissa ran a hand through her hair, she couldn’t help notice how it had become rather tangled and matted. Neither Nadine’s nor Maribel’s hair were any better, and while they had the chance to wash themselves clean in a stream not far from the new fort before they left, that was already the day before yesterday.
At least they didn’t smell so ripe that their stench would drive people away though.
As for the northern district, it was obvious that the place paid more attention to their architecture and decor so as to evoke more of an… upper class feel to the establishments there. Most students at the academy were either children of nobles or otherwise came from rich families, as it was extremely unlikely for the poor to be able to afford the academy’s tuition fees. As such, they expected certain standards in things, and the rest of the district naturally catered to their needs and adjusted as necessary.
Since many of the higher-ups in the military tend to be of the nobility themselves, they naturally gravitated towards the more luxurious establishments of the northern district rather than mingle with their troops in the southern district. Because of that, many of the establishments in that area were also used to dealing with military officers on break.
It was more complicated when it came to fourth tier combatants, however, as those came from every sort of background. Many had been peasants who simply managed to grow into power over time, while others might be of noble heritage. In general they were always a mixed bag, and each person was just set free to choose where they’d prefer to spend their time while on break.
“I know you want to hit your beloved books as soon as you can, but what do you say we wait until tomorrow?” suggested Nadine as they walked closer to the northern district. “We ought to get ourselves some proper food first tonight, and for the love of all the gods, a proper hot bath! I would kill for a tub of hot, soapy water right about now!”
“Not a bad idea, honestly. I think Sir Marsten did say that we’re supposed to meet with the academy’s headmaster first before I could get access to the library, no? It’s already pretty late today so it’d be rude to bother them when they’re likely already off work,” replied Alissa with a nod of agreement. “Tomorrow’s fine with me. You got any place you’d recommend for us to stay in?”
“I don’t, but old Henri suggested a place he preferred and told me to mention his name there,” said Nadine. “He said it would likely fit us better compared to the more… well… opulent places. Those tend to attract clientele that look for more than just a place to rest for the night or good food, if you get what I mean?”
“Oh yeah, I think I can do without listening to some fat bastard moaning through the walls at night. Sometimes having too good hearing can be a curse, I swear,” noted Alissa with a shudder. “Lead the way then? It’s not like I know the way around this place.”
“Sure, right this way.”
Nadine let the small group towards an inn that was situated around the border of the northern and the central district. The place was one of the better ones in the central district, but lacked the more obvious luxury and opulence of its equivalents in the northern district. When she opened the door, though, they were welcomed by a cozy, homey atmosphere and felt comfortable and relaxing.
Most of the clientele seemed like locals that were reasonably well to do, but none seemed particularly rich either. They were likely the better off segment of the populace, but not amongst the wealthiest of the city. Alissa also noticed a larger proportion of old people which made her think about how Sir Inolet was the one that recommended the place.
Sure enough, a quick and discreet swipe of [Analysis] showed her that nearly half of the place’s clientele were old soldiers, mostly in their late third tiers, so they were likely already retired.
Nadine quickly arranged for their rooms, and her request for hot baths was something the inn’s proprietor seemed to have expected. In fact, they were told that the inn had communal baths they could use for free, so the three headed there together. after they left their belongings in their rooms. Fortunately, the baths for men and women were separate.
The bathroom itself was mostly dominated by a large tub built into the floor itself, around the size of a small swimming pool, likely large enough to fit a good ten people in it comfortably. The three girls stripped and washed off the worst of the sweat and dirt that stuck to their bodies over the past couple of days before they went in the tub, which they discovered was kept to a pleasantly hot temperature.
Alissa just sighed and allowed herself to soak in the warmth of the water. The water itself would probably be too hot for her in the past, but the heat felt just right for her current self. It made sense when she considered that there were many high-leveled old soldiers as part of the inn’s clientele, which meant that they might be sturdier than the average person by a good as well and thus had similar preferences.
There was nobody other than the three of them in the women’s bath for most of the time they spent there just lazily soaking in the tub. None of the three even talked as they just allowed their tired bodies to truly relax after a long period of tension. Alissa even thought that she might well have fallen asleep in the bath had some old ladies not entered the bath after some time had passed.
It was easy to tell that the old ladies – they looked to be in their fifties to sixties – were likely retired soldiers themselves, given their still fit, muscular bodies and the scars that they wore almost like a badge of pride. Alissa needed no [Analysis] to infer that much.
The three of them got up and vacated the tub, greeting the old ladies as they went out, which the ladies returned with smiles and nods. After they changed into fresh clothes, Alissa felt almost as if she had been reborn, though it also brought some disturbing memories of the few times she [Respawn]ed already. She shook her head to clear her mind off those thoughts while Maribel went and ordered them some dinner from the inn’s proprietor.
Avitue
If you enjoy this story, please consider leaving a rating or review to help it gain more exposure, thank you! Or help support the author by leaving a tip!
Read ahead on my Patreon! For 5$ a month patrons will gain early access of a week's worth of chapters ahead (3 chapters), or for 10$ a month, gain early access to ALL the available Advance Chapters! (as of the moment of this writing: 25 Chapters ahead.)
Or you can subscribe to all my stories and get a discount on the price!
Join the Discord for silly stuff and chat with us!
