[Leela] Chapter 6: Capital of the Xalaster Orthodoxy, Olodeen, City of Saints

[Throndir]

"This is the Golden Wing Inn... That is correct." She said smiling. "I understand your confusion... Most buildings in the city is dedicated to the Goddess of Light, this may not seem like an Inn, but it is. My name is Aidia, I'm the Innkeeper of the Golden Wing. If you've chosen this one, then the goddess indeed smiles upon you. The Golden Wing is perhaps one of the most comfortable Inns in the city."

"Are you booking a room? Separate rooms for your two companions behind you?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"I see." Leela replied, looking around the room once more.

Satisfied that they would not be put in some sort of church dormitory, Leela pulled out the writ that the bishop had given to her. She held it out for Aidia to look at.

"I am Princess Leela Steading of the great country of America. Bishop Mateo provided me with this writ and recommended the Golden Wing. My maid servant shall be staying with me. I would like an adjoining room for my knight."

[Throndir]

"This looks correct... From the church of the East Gate, and Father Mateo's signature." She bowed her head. "I was not aware an esteemed guest fro ma different country would be visiting, but we have the quarters prepared." She then reached into a cabinet and pulled out some keys. "Let me show you the rooms."

With that the nun began to move to a nearby staircase that headed up.

"Have you had dinner yet? Or plan to have it in the city? Meals are covered, and we can bring it up to your room if you'd like as well. We have a communal bath, a dining room, and a relaxation room here in the Golden Wing, feel free to make use of any of the facilities for as long as you stay here. We have demihumans to clean the premise through the day." Aida explained as she continued to lead the way.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Unfortunately, I was unable to send a messenger to announce my arrival." She was getting tired of having to repeat that. She understood that her appearance was sudden and unannounced, but for it to be brought up by literally every person she had talked to from this city so far was annoying. Surely it would end at some point. After she had met with enough 'important' people.

Leela followed the nun, making sure her companions were following. She debated on whether she should have Zephyrus stay in her room or with Efrit. Ideally, he would keep Efrit in line so he would not burn stuff up. But Efrit could not see or hear Zephyrus and could only feel the spirit if Zephyrus concentrated. Considering the wind spirit already learned how amusing it was to poke fun at the ifrit, it might be safer just to have him stay with her. No one could see him anyways, so at least if someone showed up, they would not freak out about a man being in her room. That was assuming they cared about those sorts of things. She wondered if they did, considering the outfit this 'nun' wore. Perhaps she was not actually a nun, just a simple innkeeper of a high class in who found it appropriate to dress similar to a nun in honor of her goddess? She was not going to bother asking.

"We are all weary from our travels, but have not yet had dinner. It would be appreciated if you could have someone bring food up to our rooms. The bath is communal? It is not co-ed, is it?" She asked with a worried tone. She had hoped they offered baths so that she could wash all the dust of the road off. Although she was used to camping every summer, she was not used to riding horses on a dirt road where it would be kicked up. A communal bath, though... They had them in Japan, but she was not sure she would be willing to bath in a room that had other people, especially if it was co-ed.

At the mention of them having demihumans to clean, Leela perked up. So they called the animal people demihumans like they did in many of the books and games from her world. She decided to pretend she did not know what they were. "Demihumans? Are those like the animal people I saw working on the wall?"

[Throndir]

"Heaven's no!" Aida replied quickly. "There is one reserved for men, and one for women." At the question with demihumans, Aida nodded.

"Yes, of course. They are not quite human, but not quite like animals either. There's many of them in the city, and it's due to the goddess guidance that they lead such fruitful lives. Anyways, here's our room, my lady." Aida said as she opened up one of the rooms. Inside was a large and well-furnished room. It looked just like one of the expensive castle rooms you knew from stories. A large bed with a canopy, extravagant tables, and furniture. It was clean and splendid.

The innkeeper then turned towards Efrit and handed him another set of keys, then pointed to the next door down.

"Sir, your room is the next one over." Aida said. Efrit himself had a confused look upon his face, but he managed to figure out what was being said, and took the keys. He grinned as he waved a hand at you, and a moment later trotted off to his own room.

Abi was completely wide-eyed as she stared at everything. She was silent for much the entire trip, perhaps thankfully as well, but even now, her jaw was slowly dropping taking everything in. A slight breeze of wind told you that Zephyrus was nearby as well, though, had not yet taken his 'physical' but invisible form.

"Your dinners will be out promptly within the next 30 minutes. Please make yourself comfortable. Is there anything else I can help before I go back down, my lady?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Good." Even if she might have to share a bath with other women, at least she did not have to share with the men.

"Are they refugees from after your country shifted into this world or were there demihumans in your original world, too?"

"It is beautiful, thank you." Leela accepted the key to her room, peering inside. It certainly was luxurious. When Aidia gave Efrit keys for his room and told him it was the next room over, she checked to see if there was a door inside her room that connected to his. As he trotted over to his door, she called out after him.

"Erik, when you've dropped your things off in your room, please join us for dinner."

Leela turned back to Aidia as the woman let her know when to expect their food and nodded. "Where may we find the bath and do you offer clothing cleaning services?"

[Throndir]

"There were demihumans in our world too, though, there weren't many of them. Here in this world is much more bountiful of demihumans. Have you heard of Lantosia? They just recently appeared here too, and are full of demihumans. The Felencorp United Alliance employs many of them as well for soldiers, workers, and gatherers."

When you looked for a door between the two rooms, there was one, though it too was locked, and covered behind a curtain. When Aidia noticed she spoke up.

"Would you like access to this door? Normally it is locked, but we I can give you the key as well when you dinner comes up later. The bath and other amenities are on the first floor, through the church pews, and down the hallway. There are signs throughout the building which will point you to each place but I can show you if you'd like. We also offer cleaning services, taxi services for any place in the city, catering services from any restaurant in the city, along with shipment of any letters or parcels you may like to send. All covered and free of charge of course."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Demihumans only exist in my world as a made-up race in stories. My people would be fascinated to see one in real life."

"Yes, I would like the key for that door." Leela nodded. Having the door unlocked would be best. She worried, remembering Efrit's comment about 'accidentally' burning up his clothes in his sleep. From what she had seen so far, he only used fire abilities. If he started a fire in his room by accident, she wanted to be able to respond as quickly as possible to put it out. Having to exit her room to the hallway and then try to get into his room from there would be extra time wasted.

"Thank you, Aidia. That is all I need for now." She dismissed the innkeeper. Since she was not sure how things would go and did not want to risk losing any of her belongings in the event that she had to rush out of the city, Leela decided to wait on having her clothes cleaned until she knew how long they would be there. That also in mind, she decided to keep all of her belongings on her at all times as well.

Once Aidia was gone and the bedroom door had been closed, Leela spoke to her companions. "Zephyrus, since we do not know exactly when they will be here, please stay in your current form until after they have brought dinner. Feel free to explore a little until then. If you do leave the room, please return for dinner. I plan to talk with everyone."

"Abi, thank you for staying silent so far. It might be best if you continue to stay silent when others are around." She was not sure if they knew what the demon language sounded like. She supposed she could pretend anything Abi said was a child's garble, but she decided not to risk it. Leela made a mental note to mention that to Efrit as well.

With that settled, the young woman turned her full attention to the room. Now this was what she had expected her room at Roshandan to be like before she had actually seen it. She tested the bed, flopping down onto it, belly down, and just laying there for a few moments. 'Ahhhh.' She felt like she could nap right there, but knew she should not. Instead, she moved off the bed and went to sit in one of the chairs.

[Throndir]

"I'll explore the city... I've been here once before, but I'd like to see if anything has changed." Zephyrus voice whispered to you from the air around you.

"Leelasama, Leelasama! Did you see the ones with the ears? This place is huge. This place is big. There's so many humans. I don't like all humans. I don't understand what anyone is saying." Abi said excitedly. Her eyes grew wide a moment later after a realization struck her.

"I smelled lots of yummy things! Leelasama can we eat? Do they have bread? I really really really like bread. We only had a tiny bite before!"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela jumped a little at Zephyrus' voice. She had not expected him to speak to her while in his current form. "Oh, I did not know you had been here before. I suppose it makes sense. Since you're going out anyways, please also try to find out where they are keeping Ashaki. Also, you may stay in this room or Efrit's, but if you choose to stay with Efrit, do not pick on him. I don't want him damaging things out of frustration. Stay safe, Zephyrus." She said, bidding the wind spirit farewell for the time being.

It seemed Abi had gone from awe struck to excited chatter, and said excited chatter forced Leela's attention back onto the imp. She sat back in her chair and watched the imp bounce around. "Yes, the ones with animal ears are called demihumans. And I'm sure they would not be able to understand what you are saying."

"I am sure that they have bread. They will be bringing dinner up for us soon; I am sure it will be the best meal you have ever had. Do not forget that we agreed to eat together and you should eat slow so you can fully enjoy the flavors and textures of the food." She worried that Abi would get so excited about the good food when it arrived that she would gobble it all up in a flash and then they would have to order up more food.

"Actually, I would like to take the opportunity of our visit here to teach you more about flavors and textures. You remember our conversation about that before, right?" The more Abi learned about flavors and textures, the more useful she would be in describing how a food was to Leela so Leela could better determine if she wanted to eat it or not.

[Throndir]

Abi's eyes were positively glowing. She began to drool as well.

"Leelasama, Leelasama! I'm so excited! I'm so happy! I'm so glad I met you. I really like you Leelasama. I really like bread! What will the flavors be like? Textures can be yummy!"

It was at this moment a new notification appeared.

You have gained a new title 『Liked』
You have gained +1 CHA

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela was not sure how she felt about bread being liked as much as she was liked by her personal assistant. She supposed it was okay... Considering bread was the best thing Abi ever ate so far. At least she was getting titles for being liked. She doubted bread was getting titles. If it was, she needed to have a word with however was granting these titles.

"Since I am not sure what food they will be bringing us, I do not know what the flavors and textures will be like. But Abi, as the personal maid servant of a princess, you need to make sure you keep your drooling in check. We must always maintain our appearances in a place like this."

[Throndir]

Abi nodded. "I will make sure not to drool!"


Location: Olodeen City - Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 6:30 PM

Soon enough, a knock was heard at the door, and a voice was heard.

"Excuse me miss? Your food is here."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Abi, go sit at the table." Leela told the imp as she quickly rose from her chair and moved to open the door so they could bring the food in.

[Throndir]

A demihuman greeted you when you opened the door. She was dressed plainly in what you assumed to be a uniform of some sort. She had her head lowered as she pushed the cart through, and eventually started placing the foods on the table.

"This is our basic dinner that we provide, we rotate it daily, but if you have any requests or any specific dishes, please let any of the staff know." The demihuman said as she continued her work. There was all sorts of foods. Meats, pastries, and of course, loaves of bread.

Abi's eyes were wide as she took in the sight. Even though she was told not to, she involuntarily began to drool. Thankfully, she caught it just in time, and covered her mouth with her sleeve.

"We have another cart to bring to your companion next door as well." The demihuman said as she finished putting everything down. There was more than enough food for everyone, and you seriously doubted you could finish even a quarter of it all.