The village street emitted a strange warmth and homesick feeling to the group.
They never really visit villages like this besides going on missions or genocide.
Children ran around happily, people gossiping at the corner of a small general goods store with all smiles, playfully scolding the children.
Vexely had a proper trade route with Visteria, the capital city, so it was filled with merchants.
One of those merchants pulled his two weak-looking female horses carrying goods way beyond their capabilities, struggling to breathe, and moving stumbingly, which earned the frowns of many young people.
Johan and Kirin's eyes narrowed through the black hood covering their faces, Johan quietly patted the horses healing them, while a stare from Kirin made the merchant almost piss himself.
Both Johan and Sebastian wore black robes over their eye-catching outfits. While Kirin didn't bother with it, her outfit was the most eyecatching—but no one dared make eye contact with her.
Sebastian walked like an average old man, guided by his children.
Their eyes were instantly drawn to the majestic-looking dark tree with black wood, that looked like it was burned to a crisp on how black it was, weirdly enough, leaves still hung from it, their colour normal, green.
It was at the center of the village, but due to its size, it was still visible to them a few kilometers away.
"Fish! Fish! Fish! Salted Fish, made specially with my original spices!! You wouldn't want to miss this boss. Just for the fair price of ten copper coins," a black haired young boy started shouting towards the group, enthusiastically waving his hand.
Johan frowned, but shook his head, declining promptly. But then, Kirin nudged her elbow in his stomach.
Seeing Kirin's elbow, a sharp grin appeared on the vendor's face, becoming adamant again.
Johan sighed.
He only had seven golden pounds on him, both Kirin and Sebastian weren't the type of people to carry any money, so they had to survive on the pocket change of Johan or do labour jobs.
But thankfully seven pounds were more than enough in the commoner realm.
But using them was whole different thing.
Johan was pretty sure, if he uses a golden pound to pay for a salted fish, every last crook in this town would be after them, increasing the chances of someone finding out.
'It's like using a 1000$ bill to pay for a ice cream from a street vendor.' But then, a evil smile took over his face.
"I don't want to repeat myself." Johan's voice was calm on the face, but the threat hidden beneath was enough to make even a veteran piss his pants.
Kirin's eyes drooped, but she didn't say much.
Barely a teenager, the poor boy shivered all over, his eyes staring down to not accidentally look in the sharp blue eyes hidden under a black mask.
Johan glanced towards Sebastian.
Sebastian's face darkened, but he nodded with a smile.
They walked away from the dazed street vendor, closer towards the direction of the dark tree, holding salted fishes in their hands—Johan, and Sebastian one, while Kirin three.
'Haha, gravity magic is awesome!' Johan grinned shamelessly while taking a bite out of the salty yet sour and sweet fish.
"Mater—" Just as Sebastian was to say something, Johan cut him off.
"Just call me and Kirin by our names from now on, it will be suspicious otherwise!' Johan said with a smile.
Sebastian nodded awkwardly then continued in a whisper, "Ma… Johan, we should find an inn first, there we can disguise ourselves, now we can't fight without exposing ourselves to the enemy."
Johan and Kirin nodded in approval, as they both considered Sebastian a father.
Johan replied in a casual tone, "Let's just ask someone, it's already 4 p.m."
They had walked quite the distance, now in a plain grass field, the black wood of the dark tree fully visible.
Their eyes immediately wandered towards a white haired old man holding a black cane, staring dreamily at the cloudy blue sky, under the shade of the branches of the dark tree.
"Gentelman! Could you maybe help us a bit, we are looking for a place to stay the night." Johan approached the man with a polite smile, followed by greeting nod of Sebastian and Kirin's sharp eyes.
The man turned his brown eyes towards the suspicious man, an invisible frown forming when he looked at the people behind him.
This was the start of a staring contest between the three and the old man.
'Status open.' Johan felt a bit suspicious of the old man, since he was staring, and was so close to the God Tree, wondering if he found an important character.
'He isn't a threat probably, since the way he's holding the cane, his right leg most likely doesn't work. And as he is not a noble with an aether core, old age is also taking an effect.
But the way his eyes move… the look in the eyes… definitely a man who had killed before.' Johan analyzed the man standing with his back straight straight, still staring dreamily.
But Johan still couldn't take any chances, he was now the most wanted man in this world.
The white text instantly appeared on the blue screen.
[Status Window]
Name: Marino Haven
Rank: Stage 3
Occupation: Martial artist
Title: pawn
HP: 36/40
MP: 20/20
[Physical Stats]
Strength: 9
Stamina: 18
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 110
Senses: 9
[Skills]
Passive Skills: None
Active Skills: None
(As Marino Haven is not an Aetherborn)
'A veteran soldier?' Johan instantly made the connection.
It only makes sense, an average man's strength is 1-2, if he hits gym, 4-5.
But… his intelligence is fairly high for a commoner.' Johan unconsciously made racist remarks, nodding thoughtfully.
"I own an inn, wanna stay there?" The man spoke casually, finally ending the staring competition.
"Why not?" Johan replied, all smiles, nodding softly.
With that simple conversation, the group followed the man, reaching the bustling market, then taking a few turn.
They finally arrived at a two story building.
It was entirely made with white and black bricks, mixed with high quality blackwood.
The building's design was brilliant, even for Johan and the group, who had lived their whole life in the higher realm, surrounded by beautiful palaces that took centuries to be build.
They walked inside, strong smell of perfumes entered their nostrills, as the man opening the two wooden doors softly with one hand.
The atmosphere felt warm yet peaceful.
"This is a kall rated inn, so it is pricy, specially for wealthy merchants, or nobles sightseeing, around twenty silvers." Marino introduced calmly.
Kall is a huge merchant organization, that also rate foods, clothes, and inns with their rating to show they're the best, basically equivalent to a five star hotel.
'200$' Johan frowned a little, but then smiled, "No worries."
As the man who once held billions of Golden pounds, budgeting little change he had must be hard..
But it wasn't that man, it was James, and now with 7000$.
He and his sister could live for years with that much money, he was even prepared to sleep in an abandoned house or something, if they ran out of money.
Johan quickly paid the money to the beautiful woman sitting at the receptionist.
"What's your full name mister?" The blonde haired woman asked softly with a smile.
"...James Merlin," Johan said hesitantly, a dazed expression taking over. He couldn't really use Johan Von Matilda, but his heart trembled a bit, remembering how much has happened in just a few hours of his transmigration.
'Where is my time skip of growing up with a loving family?' Johan hazzily complained to the author of his life, always rushing things, never letting him take a breather.
"Nice name!" Her lips curled up in a polite smile, writing it down.
She instantly passed an iron, heavy key to Johan, it's black leather keychain saying 13 in white colour.
Johan nodded softly, taking it with a dry smile.
He and Kirin walked upstairs, following the numerical order rooms were given numbers to find theirs. The inn wasn't big so they found it in seconds.
Click.. Clack!
The room door swung open, a cozzy sight greeting them.
The room was simple yet calming, two king sized beds, one coffee table, and a few chairs.
A wooden door stood at the side of the right bed, probably leading to the bathroom, right beside a small closet.
A white haired old man walked inside with a serious expression, locking the door he entered from properly.
"Did you find the hair dye and lenses Sebastian?" Johan asked, removing the black hood, letting his expensive bluish—white robe be exposed.
Kirin mimicked the action, but also removing the black mask covering her head, letting her messy white hair free.
"I found the hair dye, and brought some common clothes, but unfortunately no lenses… I am sorry," Sebastian spoke with a helpless, apologetic face.
"No, it's fine, the dye was the most important." Johan smiled, nodding towards Kirin who had her arms crossed.
"You go first, I am getting a wrong feeling from the villiage…" Kirin ran a hand through her white hair, combing them roughly with her eyes narrowed.
Johan frowned, 'No, no, no one should have been able to keep up with the speed we travelled, and Kirin would've definitely known if Radhaan or any other divine generals were following us…
Is it the God tree?' he completely trusted the gut feeling of Kirin, since in this world, the stronger someone is, the sharper their instinct.
It's like they can see the future or something.
Johan chose this place for a reason, the now known as Dark tree is one of the most important things in this world, necessary for the survival of the entire world.
Johan also travelled here to make sure Leor couldn't guess his location. Because no sane transmigrator would hide at the location of the third arc of the game, so he did just that.
He took a deep breath.
A strange excitement about the upcoming events took over his bones. As a born gambler, this kind of uncertainty just gives him thrills, just like how he gambled by placing a sex toy in his high school principal's office desk—
Just to see if he will get caught and suspended or survive, and he did survive that time.
So what makes today any different?
He shook open the bathroom door, locking it properly behind, leaving everything to a war criminal sister, and a psycopathic old man.
He instantly sat on the throne—the toilet.
"System! Can I use 1,00,000 points for one spin to increase my chances?" Johan muttered hurriedly to himself.
A blue screen appeared, white text slowly typing itself across it.
[Yes Host's luck and probability will be improved significantly.]
"Good, let's Gamble!"
Author's note: I fucked up you all, this chapter was scheduled for yesterday, but due to Webnovel following Bejing time, I put one day ahead then the actual date, I am now manually doing it, I know I know, should've been more careful. Anyway, I shall give you 2 now, does it even things? :(