Chapter 25: Cheap Inn and Prostitute (1/2)

TLN: Double chapter today! Make sure you didn’t miss the ~.

I lined up the contents of the bulky coin bag on top of the table of the cheap inn that’s full of holes.

(10…20…28, huh…) (Hikaru)

28 small silver coins.

I try my best to use all the copper coins, so I would say I have around ten of those in a different coin bag.

(I should pay for the cost of next week’s stay, and for the food and everything else, I can barely manage at my current pace, huh…) (Hikaru)

It has been around 10 days since I came to this dungeon city. I have no leeway at all in money.

I am diving into the dungeon everyday for the sake of my livelihood, but even though there are times when I come out with a profit, there’s also times when I come with no profit at all or a minus. It on average is a plus, but for a job that has dangers involved, the returns are low.

I may be selling the equipment of the dead explorers, but it is not like I find those the whole time.

Most of it came from the Spirit Stones that would be dropped there every now and then.

Maybe because the one buying it from me is from the black market, I feel like they are buying them for cheap, but it can’t be helped.

I am still in a state of mind where I can’t proactively interact with others.

(There’s also the option of leaving the inn and renting a room though…) (Hikaru)

That method should be better in the long term.

This is a city of explorers. There should be apartments for explorers.

But even if I were to actually rent one, me staying in an inn right now is most likely helping me omit a lot of extra steps.

For food, there’s as many food carts as needed, but there’s also washing my clothes, preparing the hot water, and furniture. I might have to pay a security deposit first before I can rent a room.

Putting it as an objective sounds like an idea, but it sounds difficult in my current situation. Also, I don’t have a reason to actively pursue living alone.

“More importantly, I have to earn more…” (Hikaru)

In the end, it is all about money.

I can’t survive without money. It would be another story if I could have a self-sufficient life, but I didn’t choose that.

I decided to live in the darkness.

“…Status open.” (Hikaru)

When I say this, a half-transparent window like those of a computer game appeared in front of me.

Since coming to this city, I have only been checking the Status Board once every few days.

Even though I want to forget about Earth.

…No, that’s why I couldn’t go against the desire of knowing whether the real time viewers have decreased.

I could get a variety of information from the Status Board.

A number of entries have increased since the time the isekai transfer started.

[Real Time Viewers: 42,000,000].

[Total Views: 6,280,000,000].

[Favorited: 1,460,000,000].

[Total Crystals Obtained: 49].

[Total Points Obtained: 7].

[Number of Chosen: 723/1,000].

[Crystals in possession: 21].

[Points in possession: 5].

My number of viewers has decreased quite a lot compared to before.

Even so, the number is still really high.

I have spent almost all my time in the darkness for several days, or if I am not, I would just be sleeping in the inn. There has been nothing interesting going on.

…That’s how it should have been.

“Damn it…” (Hikaru)

There’s still 40 million viewers.

It is like this even in real time. I am going over 1 billion views even now on the constant.

It seems like more than 200 of the Chosen have died, so the attention gathering to the ones that are still alive must be increasing because of this.

Just the act of surviving alone is increasing the attention I gather.

I close the window and sigh.

(Well, even with that, there have been results. Let’s do this slowly.) (Hikaru)

No matter how I live, I don’t think my current lifestyle is fine.

So I say, but I can’t find anything to pursue life proactively.

I don’t want to use my points and crystals as much as possible.

I can also exchange points for cash, but I don’t want to do that.

You could say this is a bit of a rebellious spirit towards the God that cornered me into this situation.

(I will sleep for today and think about the future tomorrow.) (Hikaru)

It may be a cheap inn, but a private room is expensive.

There’s the option of sleeping together with others in a cheap big room, but that’s impossible for me.

There’s the side that I am worried about the eyes of others, and there’s also the side of that room being a gathering of rowdy big men. I would rather sleep outdoors than sleep in that big room.

Normally, a private room for an explorer of my level is too soon. Moreover, using a private room by yourself instead of with your party would normally be done by explorers on mid rank, or you would have to be a weirdo.

You could say this is my only luxury in this parallel world and my selfishness.

Even now, I still feel gazes on me when I come out from the dungeon.

I feel as if the laughs resonate from somewhere.

Even so, I still have to survive tomorrow and the day after.

I burrow myself into my bed.

Despite being a cheap inn, it is still a plenty enough comfortable bed.

The mattress is filled up with a mix of cotton-like, hair-like, feather-like, and straw-like stuff. I feel like insects could come out at any moment from this, but I put my confidence in Poison Resistance and Disease Resistance, and decided to not worry about it.

(Let’s wake up at midnight and dive into the dungeon again…) (Hikaru)

I think this with my hazy mind, set the alarm, and close my eyes.

Just when I was at the point where I was going to fall asleep, *knock knock* the sound of knocking interrupted my sleep.

There’s no person who would come ask for me.

If there is, it would be a worker of the inn.

You have to pay in advance, so there should be no issues…

I squeeze out strength to pull myself up, and open the creaking door.

“Oh my~. You are quite cute. Are you alone?”

The one standing there was a red-haired woman with alluring red clothes that I could only call thin.

There was someone like this working at the inn?

“I am alone…” (Hikaru)

“I see. Then, you have a room all for yourself? Hmmm…your body is clean as well. Are you maybe a rich boy from a good household…?”

The woman glares all over my body as if analyzing me, or as if appraising me.

And then, she takes one step closer.

“How about it? One night. You are a new customer, so I will make it cheap.”