"It's.... quaint." she said with a funny look at the pub.
"Dingy you mean. Yes, the man who runs the place has a constant flow of traffic into and out of it so he rarely gets an opportunity to truly deeply clean without worrying about hitting someone with the scouring charm. Not a pleasant experience I can assure you." I say with a chuckle.
"I hope the accommodations are at least clean." she said not hiding her dislike of how dirty it was after hearing me.
"Not to worry. Those see far less traffic so they maintain regular cleaning schedules. They are simple things however so don't expect extravagance." I said reassuringly as I led the way in.
A few people noticed the door opened and habitually looked to see if it was anyone they knew only to pause. Salem carried herself with royal dignity and her outfit and appearance were all top quality so she was a head turning beauty by any standard. As the first few people stared at her more and more attention came to land on us as the noise of the pub stuttered and choked but the collective quiet of it's patrons. -
Salem took the attention as a matter of course which given her history is not surprising. I led the way to the bar where Old Tom was staring while idly polishing a mug halfheartedly.
"My companion and I require a couple rooms for the night. No need for meals." I say as I put a galleon on the counter.
"Aye lad, looks like you are really moving up in the world eh?" he says after snapping out of it and counting my change and handing it back to me along with a pair of keys marked seven and eight.
"Business is good." I said with a nod. "Have a good night Tom." I added before leading Salem up the stairs as conversation started back up, mostly about her now though.
"I am beginning to doubt my choice to come to this world. Is this truly what a magical society looks like?" she said once out of earshot of the stairs.
I chuckled "It's not actually this poor looking. The clothing is rather old fashioned and innovation is slow but the standard magical household is considerably better than this. As I told you before this world is less technologically advanced than Remnant. Even in the nonmagical side of things where innovation has moved forward steadily over time unlike the magical side that has stagnated." I explained honestly.
"You mentioned that most of the world was controlled by the nonmagical side but I don't understand how. Should it not be the other way around?" she asked as I led her into room eight.
"Oh now that's a complicated question to answer. Logically yes but in reality no. You see the total population of the world on both sides of that census is about seven to eight billion. Of that number however magicals only account for about five percent, give or take. We are woefully outnumbered. Even worse we do not reward competency in almost anyone other than those deemed pure of blood. Those who have multiple generations of wizarding heritage without any nonmagical heritage in sight." I said seriously.
"Then those with pure blood must be in the majority correct?" she asked with a frown.
"No, it's the muggleborn. Those whose magical gift awoke from the nonmagical population, who are the majority. The laws and governing were all designed by the pureblood families to benefit themselves and suppress the muggleborns however and it's led to this wretched state of stagnation." I said frankly.
"Surely someone of your strength could just push down the ruling class if they are so incompetent?" she said confused.
"I take it you've never fought an enemy that not only outnumbers you dramatically but will try absolutely every dirty tricky you can think of and many you wouldn't to kill you. Because that's what would happen if I tried to kick down the current system with force. Even worse there are magicals here who absolutely can match me in power at this moment. Even exceed me as well. " I said helplessly.
"Those people are propping up this order?" she asked frowning as she understood how troublesome this was.
"Yes and no. The main one I am worried about is something of a pacifist. He will fight without hesitation if he's left with no choice but he'll never choose it if he thinks a soft approach might work. And he'll stand against anyone not taking that exact same approach. He also wants to change things but he's not willing to kick down those in the way of this change. He negotiates and makes concessions that inch things forward slower than pitch dropping." I say with a sigh.
"But he's powerful. And they aren't." she said like that simple logic was supposed to be the end of that matter.
It wasn't.
"He is a force of order. He wants change without the chaos that comes with it. A futile idea. Pretty and sweet as honey but ultimately pointless. Not to worry though. I am growing my power so that one day even if he stands in the way he can't stop me from kicking down the current order and building a better one. Unlike him I have several worlds to draw inspiration from for exactly this purpose and have little need to worry about long term chaos." i said confidently.