Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 12: New Experiences I

“What are we supposed to celebrate?” Liz asked while we walked towards the inn.

“Is our meeting not enough cause for celebration?”

“I don’t think people celebrate every time they meet someone new.”

“How about you not being dead?” I asked with a smirk. “Same goes for Mira.”

“That does sound like something worth celebrating.”

“I also managed to register as an adventurer. Thanks a lot for that by the way, really appreciate the heads up you didn’t give me,” I said and poked her cheek.

“What do you mean?” She asked, looking confused.

“Do you remember the registration process?”

“Yeah? You just had to use their device to regis… Oh.” She went silent with an embarrassed look.

“Can you think of any issues I might have had with that? Apart from the fact that I had to have Hanna in the room with me,” I said and squinted.

“... I’m sorry! It’s been so long since I registered so I forgot,” She said sheepishly.

“Okay grandma.” I stuck out my tongue. “How old are you anyway?”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.” She grinned. "I'm twenty.”

“So young.”

“I will be twentyone next week!” she said and puffed out her chest.

“Oh? What do you want as a birthday gift? Fly on my back? An ancient artifact? Maybe a setup of clothes like mine so you can get naked in a flash?” I said teasingly.

“I don’t need anything. We have barely known each other for one day,” She said and looked away.

Don’t think I didn’t see that smile. Lucky she didn't choose the clothes though, don't know how to make them when the user doesn’t know how to use [Inventory].

“Speaking of things that may or may not cost money, could you help me out a little? I don’t really know the value of money.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I got some money for some completed quests but I don’t know if it’s a lot or not. What can I do with one gold coin for example.”

“Oh, you mean like that. A night at the inn costs two silver with food included. You can survive on less than a silver per day if you are frugal but I prefer to pay extra for good food and a fluffy bed.”

“Food, alcohol, comfy bed and nice baths. Everything else is secondary.”

“Exactly! Other than that I guess potions and other provisions depend a lot on quality and location.”

“What about the exchange rate for coins?”

“Eight copper is one silver. Twelve silver is one small gold coin. Ten small gold coins is one large gold coin. There is also a platinum coin which is twelve and a half large gold coins but those aren’t used often.”

“That… That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my entire life and that is saying something coming from me,” I said and rubbed my forehead. "Wait, you aren’t lying, are you?”

“It’s okay when you get used to it.”

What is wrong with a smooth ten for one exchange rate? How am I supposed to remember that junk? I’m going to get scammed out of money for sure.

We arrived at the inn and went inside. The entrance led into a large dining hall filled with tables but somehow it still felt cozy. At the end of the hall was a counter and a window that showed the kitchen behind it. At the counter stood a man that I can only describe as ‘well built’. He looked like a proper lumberjack, not an innkeeper. Maybe he needed those muscles to throw out unruly patrons.

“Welcome to the Blue Stallion. What can I do for ya?” The man said in a loud voice.

“Hello, I would like a room for the night.”

“Which one do ya fancy? We got the normal one for three silver per night. The bigger one is six silver per night and comes with its own bath. Food is included for both.”

“I’ll take the one with the bath!”, I said happily and slid six silver over the counter.

“Do ya have any ID card on ya?”

I took out my guild card and put it down on the counter.

“A gold card…” He said and alternated his look between me and the card. “Not often ya see such a young A rank, how old are ya? If ya don’t mind me asking.”

“I’m eighteen.” I could hear Liz trying to suppress a small laughter behind me.

“Ya must be very talented. Maybe we will see another S rank soon.” He said and gave me back the card along with a room key, "It’s the room at the end of the corridor on the third floor.”

“Thank you very much.” I said and turned around, giving Liz a glare.

“We will start serving food for the evening in a little while, come on down when ya feel hungry.”

I walked up the stairs behind Liz. “Eighteen huh?” She said and gave me a broad grin. 

“I look eighteen, don’t I?” I countered.

She looked at me from top to bottom. “I guess you can pull it off.”

I grinned, “So what now? See if Mira is awake?”

“She should be,” She said and started moving down the hall. "If she is still asleep we can just wake her up.”

Liz knocked on the door and after a few moments a half awake Mira opened. “Is it already time for lunch?” She asked and rubbed her eyes.

“It’s almost evening,” Liz said and bopped Mira on her head.

“Ouch, don't be so rough!” Mira rubbed her head and looked at me, “Oh, Luna. Liz was complaining that you never showed up when we ate breakfast. Glad to see she managed to catch you.”

Liz pushed Mira back into the room, “Less talking, more getting dressed. We are going down to get food when you are done.”

After Liz managed to wrestle some clothes on Mira we went back downstairs. The big guy at the counter had been replaced with a younger looking woman.

“Hello Liz and Mira,” The woman behind the counter said with a chipper voice. “And who is this lovely lady?”

“My name is Luna. I just arrived.”

“Nice to meet you Luna. Are you girls here for dinner?”

“Yes, dinner and some drinks,” I said and smiled. “We are doing a bit of celebrating so it might get rowdy, apologies in advance.”

“Oh? What’s the occasion?” She shot me a curious look.

I looked back at Liz and Mira. Probably a good idea to keep their stuff on the down low. “My promotion to A rank,” I said and flashed my card.

“Oh my, already A rank at such a young age? That is worth celebrating alright,” She said, looking amazed. “For dinner we have three choices. A stew, grilled poultry and steak. The steak option costs an extra four copper coins.”

“Hmm, now how am I supposed to choose between those three? I will just have to take all of them” I said and smiled before sliding five small gold coins across the counter, “Let me know if what we eat and drink tonight goes above that, alright?”

She looked at the coin with wide eyes, “Uhm, you can eat fifty times over for that amount,” She said, not knowing what to do.

“Oh great, that means I don't have to hold back.” I flashed a big smile and turned around, “You heard that you two? I’m paying today.”

Liz looked reluctant to accept. “I can pay for my own drinks.” 

Maybe she is the type that has trouble with acts of kindness. Or does she expect me to call in a favor at a later date? No, then the whole ‘saving her life' thing would hold more weight.

“Hey now, it’s my celebration, remember?” I said and batted my eyelashes.

Liz let out a sigh and accepted, “Fine I guess I will just have to drink until you go bankrupt,” She said and looked over to the woman, “I will take the steak then since Miss senior over here is paying.” 

“Hoho, If you try to compete with me you will quite literally die you know,” I said with a laugh. “What about you Mira?”

She pondered for a bit, “I will take the poultry.”

I turned back towards the woman, “And a few drinks of whatever you recommend.”

“Most certainly, feel free to take a seat at any empty table and I will bring everything over in a moment,” She said and turned around to say something to the overly bulked up man in the kitchen.

Hmm, maybe I should try and ask his name later on? If I just call him Muscles in my mind I might blurt it out without thinking about it. He might just take it as a compliment though. Maybe I should ask Liz about it later. Would be embarrassing if the woman were his daughter and not wife, whatever her name was. Did she even say that? Eh, problems for another day.

We walked over to a table in a corner and sat down. “So, Liz and Mira,” I said while leaning over the table, “How about you tell me about yourselves. It feels like we have been through a lot but I know next to nothing apart from your names.”

Now that was an odd question coming from my lips… But for some reason it feels like I want to know. Most of the people I came into contact with in the past were adventurers and the mortality rate in that job is rather high and humans are ever so fragile. Even if they made it until they retired and died of old age it would still just be a fleeting moment for me… am I lonely? Or is my human side flaring up? I was basically a human in dragon form while I was a youngling but after… that happened, I felt like I became a dragon for real.

What do you want to know?” Liz asked. “I grew up in a small village to the northeast and became an adventurer at the age of seventeen. I mostly hang around Baruda and usually go solo.”

What is this, a job interview? How about what you like doing when you aren’t killing monsters, what your deal is, your three sizes.

“And what do you want to be when you grow up?” I said, trying not to smirk.

She just rolled her eyes and said, “Stronger…”

“Well that one is all work and no play,” I said and turned towards Mira, “What about you?”

“Pretty much the same except I grew up close to the capital and I usually group up. Going solo as a Priestess is not viable.”

Such a serious bunch! Is this how adventurers are nowadays? I really hope they loosen up a bit when they get some alcohol in them otherwise this will be about as bad as if I ever went to a party in my old life.

Our food arrived, and I started to gulp it down like a starved wolf, except for that one skewer I hadn’t eaten in two millennia or so. Not that I need to, but I want to.

“Calm down Luna. It’s like you have never seen food before,” Liz said and laughed.

“Might as well not have, don’t remember the last time I ate a proper meal.”

“So, Luna, what about you?” Mira said and turned to me, “You appeared out of nowhere and saved both me and Liz on the same day before registering at the guild and going straight to A rank. Who are you really? And how did you get so strong at such a young age?”

“Oh, you know, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time,” I said while looking at Liz, asking for help. “I helped the guild with a dungeon so they thought it merited A rank.”

“But how can you be so strong while not being registered with the guild?” Mira pressed the matter.

I stared at Liz but she just shook her head. I sighed and leaned towards Mira, “I'm actually thousands of years old.”

Mira just looked at me and laughed, “I guess it’s fine if you don’t want to tell me. Adventurers tend to keep a lot of secrets after all.”

Liz looked at me, clearly impressed with how I got out of that situation.

“Well, cheers for my promotion… And for not dying,” I held up a mug of ale.

After a few drinks both of them luckily loosened up and we had a nice evening talking about pretty much anything and everything. Mira was annoyed that her gear was stolen and did a whole lot of complaining. She was probably pent up from her whole kidnapped situation. Liz had gotten her staff back from Julius so at least she can continue doing quests. 

I continued ordering more food and alcohol, totaling up to nine courses and probably a keg of ale. Mira was already passed out from all the alcohol.

The food and alcohol in this time period is rather nice. And this is just your average inn, or maybe above average? If I go to some fine dining place in the capital I might be in for a treat.

Liz just looked at me in amazement, “Where do you even put everything,” She said and touched my flat stomach.

“Mana reserves,” I said nonchalantly.

“What, really?” 

“No.”

Liz bopped me on the shoulder in a playful manner. “Please don’t do that.”

“I will think about it.” I giggled as I poked Mira’s cheek. “Maybe we should carry this one back to her room? She doesn’t seem to want to wake up.” 

“That is probably a good idea, would you mind carrying her?”

“Sure, do you want me to carry you too?” I asked as I picked up Mira.

“I’m fine thank you, my legs still work.”

“You look a little wobbly to me,” I said with a laugh and started walking towards the stairs.

“Looks like you are done for the evening. Do you want to settle your bill?” The woman at the bar asked.

“Oh right, I forgot about that,” I said and turned to the counter.

“I'm actually impressed with the amount you managed to put away. Probably enough for four grown men,” She said and looked at a piece of paper, “Your total came up to two small gold coins, seven silver and four copper.”

“Oh, cheaper than I expected,” I said and looked behind her, “Actually would it be possible to get a whole keg of ale to go? It was quite delicious.”

“A whole keg?” She said and looked at me, “That would add up to four small gold coins, nine silver and four copper.”

“That sounds close enough, one keg if you have please.”

She ducked under the bar and lifted up one medium sized keg and placed it in front of me. “Do you need to go and put that one away first? You seem to be needing a few extra hands,” She said and laughed.

“No, that is quite alright,” I said and touched the keg with my left hand, making it sink down into a black void. 

“Wow, I guess you A ranks really are different,” She said with wide eyes, “Just a moment and I will get your change.”

“Keep it,” I said and smiled, “A tip for good service.”

“Thank you very much. Hope you enjoy your stay here,” she said with a big smile.

We walked up the stairs and I did my best not to bump Mira’s head against the wall.

Liz looked back at me, “You are quite generous with your money, aren’t you?” 

“I like to support places with good food. Besides, I still got over half of the money from the quests I completed and tomorrow I will probably get a decent amount from all the monster materials I’m selling to the guild.”

That was only a half truth. I honestly have no idea how much I tipped. Was it twelve copper for a silver and eight silver for a small gold coin? No wait, she said nine silver so it must be the other way around. So I tipped two silver and… four copper? Ugh, who cares. The food was delicious

“Guess money stops being an issue when you get to your level, I’m a bit jealous.”

I let out a small laugh.“Keep in mind that I'm roughly 400 times older than you,” 

“Are you really that old?”

“Hard to say, it’s not so easy to keep track.”

We arrived at Mira’s room and Liz managed to find her room key in one of her pockets. We entered and I put her down on the bed.

“Should we just leave her like this?” I said and gestured at what might as well have been a corpse.

“Yeah, it’s not the first time. She will be fine.”

“So what now? Want to come back to my room? I got some Byzan Empire wine if you are interested.”

Liz, who had been drinking mostly wine the entire evening, was clearly interested in the mention of ancient wine. “Is it good?”

“I think so but I don’t know how it compares to today's wine. I didn’t drink any.”

“I guess I can do a comparison, for future reference.”

“You just can’t be honest, can you?” I smiled and walked out the room.

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