Chapter 113: Gauthama's Inn

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6 P.M.

24625 Essence harvested.

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'You know, D, as a peak stage Immortal Grandmaster, that man was disappointing.'

[Why? I harvested 275 Essence from him.]

'By his behaviour. Those with power must help those without. I remember these words from my memories.'

[Let us talk about that later. This is what I found out. This city is called Piscerent, and is a city with extensive sea route connections. The Venus kingdom severed all trade with this city, as this place has a side which repels the 'Be nice to all' notion of the king Aizil. Geographically, This city is about the conjoined size of Lorin and Yeuvis. The major powers of the city are a bunch of clans.]

'You extracted information from that man?'

[Nope, I scanned the whole city. The information was obtained by compiling many pieces of information.]

Lee and An walked hand in hand, as Mia scanned the stalls with sparkling eyes. Ruella walked behind her and was sensin the quality of the vegetation in the stalls. Her face showed discontent as she realised that they are only looking good outside,but rotten inside. She pulled Mia near and conveyed her findings. Ruella's discontent became both of their discontent!

The daylight had receded greatly and the burning torches gave away its warmth and shed its brightness around. The poorly paved streets made the carriage travelling difficult. The building around them varied by its purpose and function.

One thing that caught Lee's curiosity were the nameplates of the shops. The nameplates he came across had a specific redundancy. Though it's been more than half an hour since they entered into the city, the nameplates consistently repeated a few sect names along with the names of the building. The sect names were engraved just below the shop's name. There was a seal next to it, which indicated the engraving's authenticity. The extent to which the sects control the economy of the city was evident to him.

[From the observations, five organisations are controlling the trade here. They are Long Sect, Tycoon Clan, Moon Water Sect, Iron Shadow Clan and the Cultivator's guild. The first four seem more powerful than the last, which only have a few buildings under their control.]

Lee nodded to the information. The details were accurate as Lee himself had evaluated so. Lee glanced at Ruella and Mia over his shoulder, and saw tiredness on their faces. Coincidentally, An yawned, which Lee found amusing. He immediately skimmed over the Map and found an inn very close to them.

"Let us go find a room to rest."

Ruella was hesitating to ask Lee about getting some rest. But her countenance turned bright as he mentioned about finding an inn. Lee picked up pace and they obediently followed him. Unknown to them, the Perrafin and Fero had attracted some greedy eyes!

The perrafin halted as it saw Lee stopping at once and glancing to his right. The beast also looked to where he looked, and saw a door which was small to its size. As it stood there enjoying the bright lights and sceneries around it, a man came next to it and scanned it from top to bottom. Since Lee had commanded it not to hurt anyone, the beast silently tolerated the man's presence. When the person took a step closer, the Perrafin let out a faint growl, which alerted the passersby, and the man. Lee, who was seeing all these through his all-powerful Map, turned his head with a blank expression. Though poker-face, it carried a strange pressure that the man could not comprehend. A fake smile crept up the man's face as he executed his crookedness.

"Good evening, sir. Are you new here? May I help you?"

Acting like a good samaritan, he thought of getting closer to Lee. But to someone who had seen enough men and women with advanced crookedness, Lee found the man repulsive.

"Good evening. I am new here, but that does not bother you in any way. So please."

Lee finished his words and glanced at the street behind him, before bringing the focus back to the man. The man was wise enough to understand the underlying meaning of the gesture. As Lee was straight forward, he too decided not to dilly dally.

"Is this beast for sale?"

Though the human language was incomprehensible to the Perrafin, it can feel the intention from the words. The beast sharpened his stare, but Lee comforted it through his psychic connection. Glancing back at the man after calming down what once was a ferocious predator, he spoke-

"Who told you that this beast is mine?"

"Since it obeys you, I assume that it is yours."

The response came quickly, and a smile appeared on Lee's face. He did not smile because of the quick answer, but by a few red dots in the vicinity. Coming back to reality with a smirk, Lee spoke-

"Your reasoning is good, but the answer was fast. Go back to where you came from."

Without wasting a second, Lee gestured to the women to walk ahead, as he stared at the man with a sharp gaze. The man felt the atmosphere slightly hostile, as the Perrafin joined with Lee. He quickly fled the area, and Lee stepped into the inn. With a single command, Fero and the Perrafin remained outside the door. The attention the beasts grabbed were not small.

The man who was discontent with Lee's attitude, belonged to the Iron Shadow Clan. He quickly fled to the clan and conveyed the news of the appearance of a tamed Perrafin. He also added the case of Lee, but much distorted and in the form of an arrogant bigshot, in the company of three women. The informer also evaluated the females as 'worth the time'. I can swear that if Lee happened to hear this, this man will visit hell's door multiple times!

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Gauthama's Inn.

Lee and his company were welcomed by a little boy, who sat on the reception counter while licking the lollipop in his hand. The boy wore a simple attire consisting of a sleeveless short gown and tattered trousers. He did not notice the presence as they walked in. A quick scan gave a summary of the inn. The insides are relatively old with slight crackings and cobwebs here and there. But the presence of someone who cleans the shop daily, could be perceived from the dustless surfaces and floor. A lantern illuminated the inside with its yellowish white brilliance. The desk had a candy jar, into which the kid poked his hand after quickly gnawing the lollipop. It was then the boy saw the party of four, with an antelope, walking towards the reception desk. He glanced at them and the wooden surface, which usually acted as an alarm for somebody's entrance.

"Uncle, somebody is here!"

The boy shouted out loud, and descended from the desk with care. He disappeared through the next door, and his sound went fading. Lee noticed the door right behind the desk, which had a partially torn curtain. The room inside was dark for naked eyes, but Lee saw the same pattern of the floor they were standing on, extending inside. He deduced that the building is large, from its physical appearance.

Right to the counter was a shelf with an object in it. Lee felt an immense connection with it, as he can swear that he had seen the same object when he was on earth. Lee frowned as he scratched his head and stepped towards it. Since it was placed on a shelf with great care and cleanliness, he did not dare to touch it. As he retracted his thoughts from the object, D sounded his concern.

[Lee, you are really pushing me into an existential crisis. How can there be so many objects of earth origin, here?]

'I don't know. Let's find it out!'

Turning his head back from the object, Mia sounded her doubt. He merely replied that the object seemed familiar. He glanced at it and found nothing familiar, so she left the object alone. Ruella stared at the object and quickly retracted as she felt an immense sense of boundless serenity from it. She considered such a boundless emotion as hostile, be it good or bad. As she opened her mouth to notify Lee, a female voice came from the door into which the boy disappeared. A second later, a female did appear.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Welcome to Gauthama's Inn."

Her slightly tanned complexion was a sight to behold as An, Mia and Ruella got attracted to it. It took them a few seconds to pull themselves out of the beauty. The female was about the age of 27 or 26, but had a face of a young girl. An and Mia began a conversation with her within no time, to which the female gladly responded. Lee had no idea of what was happening, as the trio introduced themselves. Noticing Lee's glance at her, she was about to start a conversation with him. Then, a male voice came from the inside, to which she responded-

"Yes, brother."

Lee observed her departing figure. She wore an attire that was simple and visibly polite. He was immersed in a number of torn and dismembered fragments of memories, when a male appeared from the inside.