A Degenerate's Tale

The rest of the journey was uneventful.

The gruesome sight of dead bandits shocked Earl for a few hours, but he was able to quickly get over it. As someone who lived an entire lifetime before, such a thing was not capable of having an effect on him for a long time.

They arrived at a small town, their final stop before Dai, the city by the sea. It was also the first town of the Beast Kingdom Earl had seen.

The town appeared simple at first, but there were many strange details when one took a closer look. The houses were all wooden structures that were slightly elevated off the ground. The roofs were tiled or thatched and sliding doors were used in place of walls. These houses were all Japanese houses.

Earl scratched his head. "Is this off-brand Japan?" He thought to himself. He already had a slight hunch the Beast Kingdom was going to be like this from the attire of Sheryl but seeing it in person was a different experience.

"Pretty exotic, right?" Ari laughed at Earl's reaction. "I guess they don't really mention it in books because it's common sense in the Beast Kingdom."

They were standing outside the carriage, preparing to go inside their hotel. Ari looked to Sheryl who appeared to be eager to give an explanation.

"Sheryl probably knows more than me. Why don't you tell Earl some history?" Ari said.

Hearing Ari's words, Sheryl puffed her small chest forward and her pink ears twitched excitedly. "Certainly! It's said that during the Demon Lord Era, when the demon lord was still alive, alongside the Hero King, another group of heroes were summoned from another world! And one of those heroes was the Beast Ancestor, who later found the Beast Kingdom after gathering the oppressed beastkins. The Beast Ancestor personally directed every part of the Kingdom building process, imparting us with these beautiful buildings, clothes, traditions, and more!"

"That's really cool!" Earl smiled and replied childishly. "But I don't understand this part about summoning another group of heroes from another world?"

"That's a good question." Ari took over the conversation. "There are a lot of details to it, but basically, during the process of transferring between worlds, these otherworldly heroes gain immense power. Supposedly, this could range from immense magic power, to even having a unique ability of their own."

Hearing these words, Earl was obviously interested. This was something related to him after all! His eyes lit up and just as he was about to ask more questions, Ari placed a finger over his lips.

"You're curious now, right?" She smiled lovingly and crouched down to his reach height. "Why don't I tell you more tonight? It's not very courteous of us to keep these hotel staffs waiting."

"Okay..." Earl replied in a disheartened voice.

"Now, now." Ari patted his head. "I'll answer all your questions tonight, alright? It's a promise."

Earl showed a joyful expression at Ari's words. From the 7 years of reliving life as a child, acting childish had become second nature, easy as breathing.

The hotel they entered was more of a hot spring resort than anything. Their main highlight was their rejuvenating hot spring, accompanied by cute catgirl receptionists in kimonos and yukatas.

"Welcome to Sai's Hot Spring Resort!" Four cute catgirls greeted them when they entered the building.

"Ohh!!" The Wild Roses all let out impressed voices at the hospitality of Sai's Hot Spring Resort's staff.

Despite this town being a small town, it enjoyed frequent traffic due to being the stop before the city of Dai. As such, this high-end resort with a steep price would only be frequented by nobles.

The Wild Roses, despite being an S-rank group lived a humble lifestyle. Collectively, they were Adventurers for the joy of adventuring, rather than fame or wealth. As such, they did not get to experience this sort of luxury often. However, being an escort to Ari, their housing fees were covered as part of the contract. They were able to tag along to enjoy the experience because of this.

At the reception, the pretty receptionist briefed them on general details regarding their stay. The time for when breakfast would be served, their room numbers, and most importantly...

"And here is your timeslot for your private hot spring." The receptionist pointed at a line on their slip of paper.

The hot spring experience was arranged in such a way that there were two separate ones. There was the public one, available for use at any time, and a private one in which they would have to make arrangements beforehand.

Ari took the slip of paper with details regarding their stay and handed one of them over to Sheryl. Ari and Earl would be staying in one room, and the Wild Roses would be staying in another.

"We get to stay in this nice place after sleeping with mother nature for so many days. How nice~." Paula said in the background.

"Oi. Aren't elves supposed to love nature?" Brenda quipped back.

"Well, it's a nice change of place, y'know?" Paula replied sheepishly.

They were then led by another hotel staff to their room. The lobby was in the front, and the actual hotel resort was in the back. It was built in a way in which the hot springs were in the middle with the building built around it. And outside the building was a beautiful courtyard with beautiful artificial rivers and bamboos.

If looked at from a birds eye's view, the resort hotel building would look like a square doughnut, with the hot springs being the hole of the doughnut.

They walked through the courtyard to get to their rooms. Earl could smell the wonderful fragrance of the woods which refreshed his mind. By his side was his mother, who was holding his hand. Occasionally, he would get whiffs of her womanly fragrance as well, which mixed well with the unique refreshing smell of the resort.

By the time they were in front of their rooms, Ari told the Wild Roses, "I'll be at the private hot spring during our time slot if you guys want to come."

The Wild Roses nodded excitedly. "We'll see you there!"