Chapter 348: Lady Annabeth.
As they reached the gates of the city they came to a halt as a man wearing metal plate armour peered down from the top of a wall.
"Stop right there! State your intentions!" The man shouted out as he pulled up a spear from beside him and pointed it over the edge of the wall towards Haru and Hong Xia who he was holding in his arms.
"Enough. He's with me!" The woman Haru had saved from the forest shouted out to the man which seemed to make him ease up a little as she looked back at Haru and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry about that sir. He is one of the guards my family employs. Please don't take any offence. It's his job to question people he doesn't know." The woman explained and the younger of the two followed her lead and also bowed as an apology.
"It's okay I understand. You don't need to worry so much he is just doing his job." Haru said with a smile but the tone of his voice still sounded arrogant and proud which made them feel uneasy.
The younger of the two looked back up at the older woman for approval but it didn't come as the gates to the city were opened and they stepped inside.
"We have a few inns that you should be able to find a place to stay within our town I can also send my personal physician to tend to your "friend" to make sure that she gets back on her feet in no time." The woman said with a smile as she was still under the assumption that she was Haru's lover.
"Oh, there will be no need to go through so much trouble. It's only a light injury. I'm capable of nursing her back to health myself." Haru said with a friendly smile as the woman saw a hidden meaning in his words and blushed slightly before looking down at the ground.
"If that's what you wish to do then it's none of my business." She said before Haru become concerned about one thing.
"By the way, how does the economy work in this town? Do you trade things with each other or is there a set currency that everyone uses?' Haru asked as he was unsure about how he was going to pay for his stay in the inn when they arrived.
He had no knowledge of the world that he was in other than he was somewhere in the middle realm and the planet seemed to be inhabited by humans. Although he wasn't sure about anything in the world it was like Li Jun had described to him.
The planets in the upper realms were are derived from a feudal society and their technology wasn't that advanced in the places where it should have been like health care and housing since everyone was a cultivator and it was near impossible for them to get sick and there was no need in creating building complexes since it would cause more trouble than it was worth to keep so many cultivators close together.
It was something that he couldn't get over but when he thought back to how earth used to be before industrialisation it made more sense to him since it was nearly exactly the same. The main difference was that space travel was easy because many people were strong enough to survive the vacuum of space without anything protecting them.
"We use Kastron's currency system since they are the ones that own the whole star system. So we have coins like this." The woman said and then pulled out a gold coin engraved with the picture of a whale on it.
Haru inspected it for a few moments from afar before realising that it was made out of a material that he had never seen before. He couldn't quite describe what the difference was between normal gold and the coin that he was seeing now although it looked to be a lot denser than gold found on earth.
'This picture on the coin is what shows that it belongs to the Kastron star alliance. And they happen to be one of the biggest traders in the great star ocean.' The woman explained before putting the coin away again as Haru noticed the town people in the surrounding area would nod their heads every so often as a sign of respect to the woman he was walking beside.
Haru looked around the town to see that it was all centred around a large building that looked to be the main attraction of the town since it was more than eight floors tall and stood above everything else around it.
Haru looked up at it for a few moments as they continued to walk through the city.
"That's our auction house. It's the second biggest one in the whole world. Second only to the Kastron harbour auction house." The woman said with a smile as she stopped for a moment and looked at Haru with a suspicious gaze.
"Excuse me sir, but what am I supposed to call you? I will need to repay you somehow but first I have to make a report to my father about what happened." The woman asked for Haru's name as she explained that she would eventually pay him back for helping her.
But Haru felt undeserving of anything since he didn't do much to help her apart from speaking with her attackers who then ran away. He then thought about it for a moment but since he didn't have any money to pay for the inn it would be a great help if he could get a monetary reward.
"Luo Yang," Haru said in reply to her question as he was done hiding from the demons. Since all the people Haru wanted to keep safe were still on earth he wouldn't feel guilty if a few people died while he fought against the demons.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Luo Yang. My name is Annabeth" She said with a smile before presenting her hand to the young girl beside her.
"And this is my martial sister, Li Xiu," Annabeth said with a smile as she introduced the girl to Haru and then went on to explain a few things about the town they were in.
"This is my family home. We have lived here as the owners of this town for the past nine hundred years and ruled its people fairly and justly. But as you could probably tell there are other people that want to take our territory and they don't care about the consequences of their actions.
They wanted to take Li Xiu away from the town so our master would leave to look for her and they hoped that they would be able to attack the town while he is gone and take over." Annabeth explained as it turned out that the men from before had other reasons for trying to force a young girl to marry their lord.
"Then what about the man they said who wanted to marry her? What's his deal?" Haru asked as he was unsure if there was anything else about the situation that he needed to know.
"Their Lord? He is a sick pervert as well as a conceited asshole. When I was younger he tried to have me kidnapped too.
He a place that he calls a workshop where he keeps young girls and forces them to be naked while he watches them with his rich friends.
He is under protection from one of the leaders of the Kastron star alliance though so no one has been brave enough to take him down yet.
Even my master would have difficulty getting away with killing someone the alliance are protecting." Annabeth explained as Haru nodded his head.
'There are evil people everywhere… Well, they can rest assured that if I ever meat this man he will have a fate worse than death. And the same will happen to those that look for revenge.' Haru thought to himself as they finally approached one of the inns that Annabeth had told him about and they walked inside to see many people have gathered around at tables, drinking alcohol and eating food.
As the door closed behind them all eyes seemed to flicker up towards Annabeth before going to Haru who was holding a girl in his arms.
A few jealous stares came from the drunk men as a woman walked out from behind the bar and greeted them.
"Hello, what can I help you with today?" The woman asked as Annabeth spoke up for all of them.
"I need a room for my friends here and one that is far away from other people if possible. The woman needs a place to recover from her injury." Annabeth explained as the bartender nodded her head and then bowed.
"Yes, lady Annabeth. I will do it right away. Please follow me this way." The bartender said as Annabeth turned back around to the door.
"I will be back after I make a report to my father. I hope you manage to get settled down until then." Annabeth said with a smile as Haru carried Hong Xia up the stairs as he followed the bartender to a room that was at the very end of a large corridor and placed her down on the bed within the room before turning to face the bartender.
"Annabeth said she would pay for the room when she returns. Is it okay if we settle the payment then?" Haru asked as the woman seemed to be waiting for something but she shook her head profusely in response.
"Oh, no there's no need for that sir, I was just wondering if I could get you any food or drinks while you're up here. I recommend our spirit herb soup for people with injuries since it has healing properties within." The bartender said as Haru thought about it for a moment.
'I don't have any money to pay for things like that. I could just say that Annabeth will pay for it again though…' Haru thought as he was willing to take full advantage of the fact that she said she would pay him back.
"It's on the house. Don't worry." The bartender said with a smile as she seemed to have read Haru's mind.
"Then we'll take it," Haru said as the woman bowed her head and backed away slowly.
Although Haru was speaking casually, his voice still demanded respect from those who heard it and the bartender was no exception as she paid her respect and then went to get the soup for Hong Xia.