Ethan felt a bit awkward.
It was like walking into a luxury brand store by mistake, then they let you try something, only to tell you afterward that it costs money. And yet, the money in your pocket is not enough.
At that moment, you would be so embarrassed your toes could dig a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment straight out of the floor.
Just like Ethan right now, completely torn.
So conflicted that his palms were sweating, Ethan looked at his hands, which were still smeared with the Lamp Spider's sticky gastric fluid and something like parasitic spider egg whites.
Very naturally, Ethan wiped his hands on the self-heating fur coat.
All the sticky stuff stuck to the coat, and his hands finally felt a lot cleaner.
And at that moment, Ethan lowered his head and looked at the filthy coat, and suddenly a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.
He suddenly remembered how rich people on TV always reacted when entering a hotel. Wasn't their first move always to hand their coat to a service attendant?
"This is for you."
Ethan decisively took off the coat he was wearing and slapped it over the driver's face, saying, "Driving around outside at night gets cold. Wear more. No need to be polite."
"..."
The driver had not even reacted yet.
Taking advantage of this moment, Ethan quickly walked toward Traveler's Inn.
By the time the driver pulled the coat off his face, Ethan had already pushed open the inn's large wooden door, weathered and scarred by who knows what.
Creak!
The instant the door opened, bright light spilled through the gap, illuminating Ethan's face.
It even stimulated his eyes so much that he had to close them for a moment.
When he opened them again, he was instantly stunned by the scene before him.
———
The werewolf driver held the coat Ethan had given him, completely dumbfounded.
When he finally reacted, and realized that he still had not received any tip, he immediately flew into a rage.
He strode toward the entrance of Traveler's Inn, wanting to fight for the rights he deserved, when…
Crack! Crack! Crack!
On the two stone pillars at the inn's entrance, the two gargoyles twisted their necks at the same time, lowering their heads to look at the werewolf.
Their eyes instantly turned red, and the petrified effect on their bodies gradually faded away.
Seeing this scene, the werewolf immediately stopped, a hint of fear rising in him.
It was not that he was afraid of these little bats. What he feared was disturbing the owner of Traveler's Inn. It was said that, that woman was a real freak.
Annoyed, the werewolf backed up two steps. Only then did the gargoyles twist their heads back, turning once again into stone statues, willingly resuming their role as the inn's gatekeepers.
"ROAR!"
The werewolf beat his chest and let out an angry howl.
He even raised the coat Ethan had thrown to him high up, ready to tear it to shreds.
But right at that moment, his fingers touched the warmth emanating from inside the coat.
It warmed his hands, stiff from the cold wind of the night, making him lower the coat in surprise and touch it again.
That warmth was really coming from inside the coat.
The werewolf driver tried putting the coat on. It was a bit small, but it was truly warm.
At this moment.
The werewolf driver recalled what Ethan had said before leaving, ("Driving around outside at night gets cold. Wear more. No need to be polite.")
'So that is it…'
'That guest was not really too poor to tip.'
'He felt sorry for how hard it is for me to drive around outside at night, so he gave me this coat. And he was afraid the I will feel embarrassed to accept it, so he deliberately said it that way.'
'Really…'
'It really is…'
இwஇ
'Wuwuwu, so touching!'
The werewolf driver tightened the slightly small coat around himself and was so grateful that he could not help wiping the tears from his eyes.
He silently decided that in the morning, he would arrive early at the entrance of Traveler's Inn, wait to pick up this kind-hearted guest, and take him home early.
The werewolf driver looked back again and again at the slowly closing inn door, silently making a wish.
———
And at this moment, Ethan was standing inside the entrance of Traveler's Inn.
He had no idea what the werewolf driver was thinking. His only thought had been how to trick his way past the werewolf without spending a single coin.
If he had known what the werewolf was thinking, he probably would have squeezed some extra benefits out of him.
But now, as he looked at the scene before him, his entire head was buzzing, with absolutely no other thoughts at all.
Originally, he had thought that an inn should be like this—
Case one: a clean, Home Inn–style place. As soon as you enter, there is a big front desk, two reception girls glance up at you and ask, "What kind of room would you like?"
Or case two: a very grand, luxuriously decorated high-end hotel. As soon as you enter, there is a spacious lobby, and deep inside the lobby, a magnificent front desk. And the moment you step inside, a doorman or a receptionist immediately comes over, bows respectfully, and leads you to the front desk to pay and book a room.
Or case three: an ordinary guesthouse style inn. Inside is just a normal living room, the landlady sits in front of the TV cracking sunflower seeds, looks up at you, and asks whether you want an overnight stay or an hourly room.
But what was in front of him now, this so-called Traveler's Inn was none of those.
Because inside, it did not look like an inn at all, but more like stepping into a—
'Street?'
Right now, in front of him, was a long street.
And on both sides of the street were all kinds of shops. Outside those shops was a layer of glass, plastered with all sorts of advertising slogans.
Unfortunately, they were all in writing he could not understand. They looked like English, or maybe some other language.
Anyway, they were all made up of letters.
As for whether it was actually English, who knows. He did not know, and he did not dare ask.
'Anyway, I know all the twenty-six letters, but they do not know me.' [T/N: Lol!]'
'That's that!'
Ethan did not want to dig into it any further. Advertisements are probably always the same things anyway.
How big the discounts are, what new products are out, what goods are being sold.
Anyway, those things, Ethan could roughly get the idea just by looking.
Outside these shops, there were also some small street vendors, just like the stalls outside a pedestrian street. Some simply spread a carpet and casually laid their goods out on the ground.
Others were more thoughtful, setting up a rack, or pitching a strange tent, hanging signs with advertising slogans and the like.
Most of the people running stalls... were dwarves.
The same short people who had played tricks on Ethan back at Magnetic Mountain.
They looked a bit like dwarfs, very short, yet with aged faces. Long, sharp noses, paired with long ears, and pointy chins.
How should one put it, they looked very much like mean-spirited monkeys.
Of course, besides the dwarves, there were also some people in black cloaks running stalls on the street.
And some bald goblins. They wore no hats, exposing their smooth green heads, with only a few sparse hairs, and some of those heads even had large patches of spots.
They looked extremely bizarre.
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