Chapter 54: Gathering information
The group settled in after making the payments for the inn, each person had their own room.
The room was a small room that was furnished with basic furniture and had a private bathroom.
Leon removed his robe and threw it on the bed before going to wash himself; he changed into casual clothes after coming out of the bathroom; this was Rongyu's suggestion; they were to roam the town and gather information this way.
'I guess I'll have to wait till the evening before I can get my payment then' Ivan sighed.
He grabbed his sword before walking out of the room, the others had also changed into simple clothes and arrived not long after him.
"Search the town for any useful information, and report back here in the evening"
Was Rongyu's orders before they left the in.
Since the incident with the beasts and bandits attacks, the people of the Broken Sword Town had normalized carrying things to protect themselves in case of emergencies so Leon didn't seem out of place with the white sword in his hand.
He mostly encountered soldiers on patrol anyway, and most of them only looked at him because of his stunning looks and because of his sword, which was a graded weapon.
Leon walked around the official road for a long time; many of the buildings were closed off, and people glanced at him through their windows. He often encountered buildings with destroyed parts or signs of fighting along the road as he walked. This part of the town that was closest to the gate seemed to have suffered heavily from the recent attacks of the beasts and bandits.
After walking for a long time, Leon felt tired and decided to stop by one of the few shops that dared to open.
It was a two-story pavilion that sold food and drinks on the first floor and weapons on the second floor.
Leon found quite some soldiers and ordinary people resting here and eating.
He entered and casually found an empty table to sit at; a worker immediately noticed him and came to attend to him.
It was a young man who seemed to be around the age of fifteen and had messy brown hair with patches of green.
He wore an old brown shirt and a dirty apron tied around his waist.
"Good day Mr, how can we serve you?" The boy approached Leon and asked politely, he was an ordinary human so he didn't notice that Leon was a martial artist. Since ordinary people usually carried weapons around in the town these days, he didn't think much of the sword that Leon had placed on the table.
"What do you have?" Leon wasn't familiar with the menu that was sold in restaurants here, he had eaten fruits for over two months and wanted to try something else.
The boy went on to list the different types of dishes that were available, ranging from beast meat to vegetables, drinks, and alcohol.
Leon was stunned by the list of available dishes; he hesitated for a while before requesting multiple servings of cooked meat and some drinks; he was currently on duty and wasn't appropriate to drink alcohol; he didn't know what his drinking tolerance was anyway.
"All right, Mr, please wait a while, and I'll be back with your orders." The boy bowed slightly before turning to leave.
Leon nodded his head in satisfaction, the attitude of the workers toward customers in this place was very good.
While he waited for his orders, Leon perked his ears up and began to listen to what the soldiers and others were discussing around their various tables.
"I swear it, I saw them the last time. There were sky beasts as well but they didn't attack!"
"What nonsense are you saying? If skybeats really came to the city, do you think they would simply stay in the sky and watch? Are you saying they were being controlled? "
" I don't know, but I got the feeling that those beasts were no ordinary beasts; they must be ranked beasts!"
A fat man with a chubby face said with agitation, his face trembling and turned red from alcohol.
" I don't know about that, but a level 3 beast appeared on our side during the last attack; it was a mountain bear. It killed a lot of soldiers and only the town chief was able to drive it away, sadly, he wasn't able to kill it; the beast's body was too strong"
A thin man in plate armor and holding a long spear and a big cup of wine in one hand said in a deep voice.
"Damnit, Broken Sword Town used to be a flourishing town but now only a small part of it is lively. More and more people are retreating and this side is almost becoming an abandoned area, yet those bandits decide to pick trouble with us at this moment; shameless, shameless!"
"It can't be helped, they know that our forces are suffering from the invasion of the beasts from the forest and decide to attack at this time; raiding will be easy since we'll be too tired to fight"
"Those cowards, I swear to kill as many the next time they come here. I almost killed one the last time, pity that he survived and I only got an arm"
" Be careful, I hear that they have martial artists supporting them now. The bandits we faced last time had three martial artists with them, we were unable to do anything and watched them rob the town's people"
" Curse those martial artists, how pathetic do they have to be to support bandits? They can just get honest jobs and make a fortune, if I was a martial artist, I would become a blacksmith or alchemist; why would I need to help despicable bandits?"
"It's not so easy, martial artists spend a lot of resources to train and equip themselves. They might resort to unhandled means to make quick money"
While Leon listened, his food arrived. He temporarily turned his attention to the people discussing around him and faced his table.
Three plates of roasted meat, two plates of cooked meat, and a bottle of non-alcoholic wine were placed on the table in front of him.
The mouth-watering aroma of the meat drifted into Leon's nose and made him almost drool uncontrollably that he had to gulp three times, his stomach suddenly growling as if impatient to welcome the meat on the table.
"So, so delicious!" Leon exclaimed in a low voice. This was entering a new world for him, who had been surviving on fruits for months; he immediately threw away all pretense and started to dig in.
He wolfed down the meat like a hungry beast, greasy oil smearing his lips.
In less than three minutes, Leon had washed down everything into his stomach. He rested his back on his chair and patted his slightly bulging stomach, a satisfied expression on his face.
'Amazing, the beast's meat is so delicious, I should buy some more whenever I get the chance in future' Leon thought to himself while licking his lips to savor the lingering taste in his mouth.
He grabbed the bottle of wine and poured it down his throat to wash down the delicious meat; his eyes widened immediately, and the wine made contact with his tongue.
'Sweet!'
The wine was unlike any that Leon had tasted before, the only thing that might be sweeter than it was probably Quin Xuxu's nectar.
"Ah, that was very satisfying." Leon let out a sigh with a pleased smile on his face. The little boy came to clean the table after he noticed that he was done eating.
"Did you enjoy the meal, Mr?" The boy asked politely as he retrieved the plates into his wooden tray.