Chapter 783
Chapter 783
Anton did not immediately go to the recruitment center to sign up for the fight against the Undead Coalition. He wanted to check out the city of Nermador first. He had to admit that Nermador was as large as the Ormunda and as beautiful, but different. Since Amendora bordered a desert wilderness, the theme of the kingdom, particularly its capital city, resembled that of Lut Gholein in Diablo II, wherein Ormunda was a typical western kingdom.
The architecture of the buildings in Nermador consisted of domes, minarets, and limestone-colored buildings reminiscent of a bustling middle-eastern kingdoms back on Earth, like ancient Persia, the city of Agrabah in the animated film, Aladdin, and any generic but beautiful Arabic kingdoms in stories.
The clothing of the people was almost the same as the clothing worn by the people from Ancient Middle Eastern countries, old Southeast kingdoms, and Turkish fashions, as Anton had seen in movies and television shows that depicted such places. The color palettes of the clothes were mostly dominated by earthy, neutral tones like brown, beige, and cream.
Wandering in the streets of Nermador, despite Oswald saying that the population had dwindled and most of the mundane people had left, it was still surprisingly bustling. There were still a lot of people walking in the bazaars and stalls, searching for the things they wanted to buy.
There were also still a lot of street rats hiding in the alleyways, and their clothes truly resembled those of Aladdin. Anton could determine who was foreign and who was local simply by the clothes. Most foreigners were wearing clothes that were extremely different from what the locals were wearing, just like Anton. His clothes marked him as a foreigner. The almost funny part was that the foreigners were not being bothered by the local street rats simply because the only foreigners left in Nermador were the powerful wizards and warriors who intentionally went to the capital city of Amendora to fight with the Undead Coalition.
Even Anton, who looked his age, which was not past twenty years old, was not approached by the local mundane thugs and street rats. In Anton’s experience, upon arriving in a new city, he would almost always be approached by a youth offering his or her services as a guide, but here, none approached him. Most of them were even looking warily at him. After walking for a few more minutes, he understood why the local mundane population was extremely wary of foreign wizards. The foreigners were lording it over every normal person they saw, since more than likely, in the minds of those wizards, they were there to do good service to the people of the world, so they deserved to be respected wherever they went.
Still, Anton was glad that those foreign wizards, even though they were a little harsh, and some might say a little crueler, did not step over the bottom line. The harshest thing they did was cruel words. It was a little understandable because powerful people who cared enough to defend the land against the undead were mostly just and kind people. Those who were powerful but opportunistic and evil wizards had long fled to somewhere safe.
After touring the streets for a couple of hours, the afternoon had started to deepen, so Anton searched for an inn where he could stay. He did not look for anyone to ask and simply continued walking the streets until finally, he stumbled into a quaint little establishment tucked between a park and a bookstore that only sells regular books.
Upon entering the inn, Anton expected to see very few people, since the inn was somewhere that had little foot traffic, and he was right. The common room had a couple of people drinking some sort of beverage, listening to a minstrel playing a lute near the fireplace that was not lit. Anton knew that since Nermador was located near the desert, the day was hot while the nights were cold, and that meant that fireplaces would only be lit during nighttime.
Anton approached the counter opposite the main door. It was manned by a heavyset man.
“Good afternoon, sir. Do you need something?” The man on the counter asked.
“Do you have a room I can rent? I want to rent it for a night.”
Anton planned to rest at that inn for the night since he was almost certain that once he joined the forces that fought against the coalition, he would be assigned somewhere to sleep, which was probably the resting place of the group of people he would be assigned to join.
The man on the counter told Anton the price of a room, and when he paid, he was led to a room on the second floor. The inn room was just an average room, but it had its own bathroom, which was why it was a little costly. Before the man left, he started a fire in the fireplace because the night had arrived and the temperature was already dropping quickly.
Once the inn staff left, Anton tested the bed and found it agreeable enough. Still, he made sure that bugs would not accompany him once he decided to retire, so he cast the most well-used spell that he had that did not come from his Diablo II system, which was the Cleaning spell.
At first, Anton thought to retrieve a Fire Wall stove and activate it, but decided against it, since he found that the fireplace was enough to heat up the room. Once every inch of the room was clean, Anton went downstairs to sample the local food.
While listening to the minstrel, Anton was served by some sort of stew and flat bread. They were delicious enough, but nothing to write home about. The minstrel had a good singing voice, though, so he threw a few coins into the hat that the minstrel had placed in front of him. The minstrel looked at him appreciatively and returned to entertaining the few people in the common room.
At first, Anton had the intention of ordering a lot of food to store in his inventory, but held off in doing so because he did not find the food that agreeable. After he finished eating, he stayed to listen to the minstrel for a couple more songs, then he returned to his room to rest. He wanted to rest early since he was a little exhausted from his recent journey and wanted to be fully rested when he went to the recruitment center the next day.
Anton still spent a couple of hours leveling up his Diablo II ladder character before finally sleeping. He woke up early the next day and, after attending to his personal hygiene, he left the inn to go to the recruitment center. When he arrived there, he was glad that it was already open because while he was walking, he was worried that it would still be closed since it was only six in the morning. Even if it was close, Anton just planned to walk around until the office opened.
Upon entering the establishment, he approached a table manned by a wizard.
“Good morning. I just arrived in the city. I wanted to join the fight against the Coalition. What do you need from me?” Anton asked the man behind the table.
“Good morning. My name is Isaiah. I’m an archmage rank wizard. Please fill out this paper,” The man said while indicating that he could do so while seated on the chair in front of the table.
Anton assumed that he was allowed to remain at the table since there were no other people behind him.