Joshua hired a horse carriage. After traveling on the bumpy road for over two hours, he finally arrived at the fringe of Norland.
With how slow a horse carriage travels, Joshua began to look forward to the magic-induced vehicle from the World Expo becoming widespread.
The horse carriage stopped near the entrance of the Squirrel Street.
“Lord Mage, this is as far as I can bring you. Perhaps you are attracted to this place out of curiosity, but you should still be careful of those aberrations living on that street.”
“Aberrations?”
Joshua pushed open the door to the carriage and walked out. The ordinary-dressed carriage driver gave Joshua a kind-hearted warning. But, when Joshua asked him what he meant by ‘aberrations,’ he had already driven his horse carriage far from Squirrel Street.
Aberrations was not an unfamiliar term to Joshua. When he played Dungeons and Dragons, aberrations were all very dangerous creatures.
If those tentacled aberration monsters were living openly on the streets of Norland, Joshua felt that this city would soon be destroyed.
The Squirrel Street was actually much tidier than Joshua expected. While there were more trash scattered across the street, there were no dark red blood stains or corpses lying around.
The humans walking around this street seemed to all be in a hurry. Only those non-human races would stop and chat with other non-human races.
Joshua walked into the Squirrel Street. The moment he did, he felt the atmosphere change in an instant. He was able to sense multiple eyes fixed onto him the instant he entered.
Feeling those eyes, Ciri immediately raised her spear-like staff.
The sensation of being watched made Ciri recall the nights she spent in the wilderness alone and how there would always be malice-filled creatures watching her from the shadows.
“The architectural style of this place will drive all architectural students insane.”
Joshua examined the buildings on this street. Their main characteristic was... being utterly chaotic. The other regions of Norland were able to keep their buildings appear unanimous. But, this place resembled a scribble of buildings from several different countries, no, several different races.
Soon after entering the Squirrel Street, Joshua found a hotel by the name of ‘Black Dove.’
“We’re spending the night here?” Ciri took a glance at the sky. It was already darkening. Soon, the night will fall.
“If you’re scared, you can sleep together with me,” said Joshua.
“...”
Ciri’s face turned red. She opened her mouth but was unable to say anything. She watched as Joshua entered hotel Black Dove.
Hotel Black Dove’s interior appeared very old and crowded. A strange flowery aroma filled the entire hotel.
Joshua looked around. Soon, his eyes landed on the receiving desk. At the receiving desk, a middle-aged human-looking fellow was currently teaching several non-human children basic magic.
There was even a half-dragon and a gray-cat beastman, two very rare species, among those children.
“This is the rune of energy, this is the rune of flames...”
The moment Joshua walked to the register, the middle-aged man’s explanation came to a sudden halt. He raised his head and saw Joshua. He immediately sent away the non-human children from the reception desk.
“Go upstairs. There are guests...”
He urged the non-human children upstairs. Once they disappeared into the second floor, he turned back around to face Joshua.
“Customers, are the two of you seeking to lodge here for the night?”
The middle-aged man took out a pen and opened an old notebook. He seemed to really be planning to check Joshua in.
Joshua was carefully examining this human-looking middle-aged man. While that man’s expression appeared somewhat stiff, Joshua was able to see through him completely with his innate perception ability.
“I never would’ve expected that I’ll be able to meet a fellow demon here.”
Joshua’s crimson eyes reflected that middle-aged man’s true identity. He was a lump of squirming mirage. There was no human shape to him at all.
The middle-aged man opened his mouth. He seemed to want to refute Joshua. But, after seeing how calm Joshua’s gaze was, he gave up on that thought.
“Don’t worry, Deceiver. I am only here to check out this inn.”
Joshua was able to tell what sort of demon the middle-aged man was. He came from a particular race of demons. They were known as the Faceless Demons or the Deceivers.”
This race of demons was related to the birth of the Chaos Demons. A Deceiver’s true form was a lump of ever-moving gray sphere. But, the Deceivers were able to change their physical appearance however they wanted.
The stronger a Deceiver was, the more forms they could take. The weaker ones could only transform themselves to humans or ordinary demons. But, the powerful ones among them could transform themselves to tiny birds or gigantic Man-eaters.
Unfortunately, while the Deceivers were able to transform themselves to humans, they were unable to change their human appearances. If they could, they would most definitely be the most optimal candidates for movie performers.
Joshua could even have them transform into renowned female star performers of earth such as Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn.
The Deceiver maintained his calm even though his identity was seen through by Joshua. Using a cold voice, he said to Joshua, “This is... not a place for you to be.”
“You seem to know me?”
Joshua was uncertain as to how many demons were wandering through the world outside of the demon realm and not subjected to their rule. This Deceiver before him could very possibly be one of those demons.
“...”
The Deceiver chose to keep quiet at Joshua’s question. That topic broke off at that instant.
Joshua was not planning to make things difficult for this Deceiver either. Even though Joshua was, on the surface, an ordinary person in Norland, he was already renowned for the people paying close attention to ‘Beauty and the Demon,’ or ‘Hearthstone.’
“Do not mind my identity. I am only here as an ordinary guest.”
Joshua took out a sack of gold coins from his suitcase and placed it on the receptionist table. There were roughly a hundred gold coins in there. To a run-down inn like this, it was a major sum of money.
“I need to rent all the rooms in your hotel for one or two months. A group of humans would be active here during that time. Are you willing to accept this business deal of mine?”
The Deceiver quickly took a glance at the gold coins on the desk... It would appear that this demon was not a saint unswayed by money.
On the contrary, he seemed like a fellow who was in deep shortage for money.
This made things much easier.
“This is only the down payment; a tenth of the total payment.”
Joshua does not believe that living in Norland would be easier than living in the Demon Realm. From the atmosphere of the Squirrel Street, Joshua was certain that this place was not a place the well-to-do would be staying in.
