Exploring the Capital and Understanding the New World

After being expelled from the palace, I continued into the capital.
Here, buildings stood close together, shops of all kinds were open, and the streets were bustling with pedestrians.
"It is just like my old world, as if I am participating in a festival," I said to myself as I looked at the scenery, a familiar sight from my past life.
"I need a new set of clothes, as the attire here is quite different from Japan."
As I walked down the street, I drew a lot of attention from the citizens due to my clothing and my jet-black hair.
"There are quite a few shop signs here. To find a clothing shop..."
"Ah, here it is, a clothing shop. But wait, how can I read the writing?"
I said as I pointed to a shop with a picture of a shirt on its sign.
"Whatever. Perhaps because I was summoned, I was granted the language capability of this place."
I shrugged and walked toward the clothing shop over there, a few dozen paces away.
"Welcome, customer."
Opening the door and stepping inside, I heard the voice of a rather mature woman with a well-proportioned, full figure.
"I would like to buy a new set of clothes. Could you sell me some?"
A cold tone echoed, causing the shopkeeper to look slightly startled, but she calmly replied:
"Yes, what kind of clothes would you like to buy?"
"Just normal ones!"
"Understood."
After a short wait, she brought out a set of clothes quite similar to the style of the people outside.
"This set costs two silver coins."
Slightly confused by the currency, I handed her a gold coin.
"Gold is surely worth more than silver," I thought.
The girl's face showed confusion, and she hurriedly ran inside.
"Here are ninety-eight silver coins in change. Please verify, customer."
I was quite surprised to receive ninety-eight silver coins back, but my face remained expression expressionless, which made the girl slightly fearful.
Stepping out of the shop in a different outfit, my old uniform was neatly folded in my bag.
"Much more comfortable. Now, to find a place to stay."
I walked comfortably, suddenly stopping before a large building.
"Adventurers' Guild? Surely this is the place the king mentioned. If I recall correctly, I have a registration card. Let's step inside to see if there is any information."
I entered the guild. Opening the door, I saw that this floor was like a spacious lounge for discussions, with a reception desk near the entrance. I walked up to it.
"Please present your Guild card."
Seeing that I was a stranger, the receptionist asked for my card.
I presented my adventurer card for her to examine.
"How may I assist you?"
"I would like to find an inn to stay at, as I have just arrived and do not know the area."
"Oh, in that case, you can stay at the Silver Moon Inn, located about one hundred meters north of the Adventurers' Guild."
"Thank you."
Being stared at by everyone during my conversation with unfriendly gazes made me quite uncomfortable, so I ended the conversation.
Only now did I notice that the receptionist had a quite perfect figure, a beautiful face, and particularly full breasts. Truly a beauty of high caliber. No wonder I had been subjected to those gazes. She likely had no small number of admirers.
Following the receptionist's advice, I walked in the designated direction and spotted a fairly large building with a crescent moon sign.
Entering, I walked up to the counter where a woman was looking at me.
"A room, please."
The woman looked at me and said:
"My name is Milinda, a pleasure to meet you. So you wish to rent a room?"
"Yes!"
"The price of a room for one day is two silver coins. If you rent for a month, it will be fifty-five silver coins. Meals are five copper coins for breakfast and dinner."
"I will take a room for a month, and please prepare a meal for me, as I am quite hungry."
Since being summoned in the morning, it was now late afternoon, so I was very hungry.
I pulled sixty silver coins from my bag and placed them on the table. Not knowing the currency made transactions quite difficult.
Milinda took them and returned five silver coins to me.
"Since this is your first time staying here, this meal will be free of charge."
I thanked her and sat down at the prepared dining table.
After finishing my meal, I went up to my designated room on the second floor.
The room was quite large, with a bed in the center. Exhausted after a day of many events, I threw myself onto the bed and fell fast asleep until the next morning.
This morning, I woke up later than usual. Going downstairs, the meal was already prepared.
"Good morning, Sechi-kun. I have set the meal on the table, please eat."
"Thank you."
After eating, I walked over to Milinda.
"Could you tell me if there is a bookstore or library in the capital? I would like to read some books."
"Ah, if you want to read books, there is a library located opposite the Adventurers' Guild."
Hearing Milinda's directions, I headed to the library to learn about this world.
Entering, I walked to a small counter to ask about reading.
"Ah, it will cost five silver coins to enter and read. If the books remain undamaged, four silver coins will be refunded."
I handed her five silver coins and stepped inside.
Books were likely a luxury for the people here as they were quite rare, which was why it cost money to read them.
After spending some time selecting books, I chose one about social life in this world.
About three hours passed, and I closed the book after reading it in its entirety.
"Reading skills are indeed useful."
It turned out the currency was divided as follows:
Ten copper coins = One silver coin
One hundred silver coins = One gold coin
Ten gold coins = One platinum coin
One hundred platinum coins = One imperial gold coin
By estimation, about one copper coin was equivalent to one hundred Japanese Yen, meaning the king had granted me one million Yen—a by no means small amount of money.
An ordinary person here would earn about one to seven gold coins per year. Thus, this money would be enough for me to live normally for about ten years, excluding other expenses.
There were quite a few races living in this world, such as: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Demons, Beastmen...
Humans still made up the majority. The races were also divided into various nations, as they were not entirely unified or harmonious.
After understanding a large part of human society, I began reading the subsequent books and learned a lot of important information, such as:
- Adventurer Ranks: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. Currently, I was at F-rank as a new member.
- Equipment Grades:
+ Common: Very widespread, forged by ordinary blacksmiths or dropped by monsters.
+ Advanced: Quite common in the military, among high-rank Adventurers... Forged by highly skilled blacksmiths or dropped by high-rank monsters.
+ Legendary: Extremely rare equipment, forged by a select few legendary blacksmiths or dropped by dungeon Bosses.
+ Mythical: Extremely rare equipment, created only from the power of the gods. Equipment possessing destructive power capable of slaying gods, like the Holy Sword.
+ Phantasmal: No information available.
Mythical equipment already possessed destructive power capable of slaying gods; I could not imagine what the Phantasmal grade would be like.
There was also the Monster Classification: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. It seemed monster ranks were based on Adventurer ranks.
There were SSS-rank monsters capable of destroying an entire nation in a short time, but they rarely appeared in history, referred to as Great Monsters or Sacred Beasts, as their power was nearly on par with deities. Prominent examples were the Four Great Sacred Beasts guarding the four directions: Bai Hu, Xuan Wu, Zhu Que, and Qing Long.
Suddenly, it was late afternoon, time flying like the wind. I received my four silver coins refund and returned to my room.
After having dinner, I went up to my room.
"The food cooked by Milinda's husband is truly delicious. I should greet him in a few days."
Lying on the bed, I thought about today. My heart still burned with anger when I recalled the passages about heroes.
"Why did life turn out like this?" I asked aimlessly, like a lamentation of my fate.
"Whatever."
I comforted myself, then thought:
"From tomorrow, I shall go to the Adventurers' Guild to take quests and earn money. Even if money piles up like a mountain, it will eventually run out if I keep spending."
"Besides, I have nothing else to do during this time."
I muttered to myself and suddenly fell asleep.
From tomorrow, my life would officially begin.