The Gourmet Innkeeper: Cooking Monsters in a Fantasy World

While he was frantically looking around, his visual-focused brain ended up absorbing as much of the townscape anyway. He might not be much of a reader, but he had a good memory when it came to images.

In terms of appearance, the buildings in Lotus Town were similar to late medieval town architecture he had seen in movie sets, with some differences.

For example, the horses looked different and almost murderous; there were people who were carrying weapons of different forms, some of which looked really unusual.

There were people with long ears, stout bodies, and there were also little goblins here and there, though they were mostly doing servile roles.

At first glance, it really seemed like the different races were meshed together well. However, as someone who was used to observing the subtleties in emotions and expressions, there was still a layer of distaste in people's eyes, particularly when looking at 'lower' races.

The beastkins were also looked down on despite being part of the 'major' races. Even if they were strong, their numbers were not that big, and they were seen as savages with small brains.

Basically, humans and elves seemed to have a feeling of superiority over others, even if not everyone expressed it. Sometimes, it was minor, like subtle looks and a few laughs behind other races' backs; other times, it was more blatant.

There were also those who bullied others outright, though only nobles could really do that with minimal repercussions due to various laws.

After walking around for an hour, he looked at the mission, and there was still no change in the mission panel. He forced himself to calm down, though he was pulled back at some point.

"Wait," Marcus said, looking in front of him. Leiah then handed him a coat to wear.

Finn blinked, wondering what this was about, and looked ahead. He then saw an extremely dense cluster of wooden houses built haphazardly. There were also tents that were set up closely, right next to each other.

Ah, it was obvious where they were now, and why they asked him to cover up with a robe. They were entering the slums.

"We can skip these parts, if you want," Marcus said. "I doubt your sister is here."

Finn's jaw clenched. He didn't want to think his sister could be here, but he couldn't let a stone go unturned.

In the end, they passed through the slums, but they used a hurried pace. "Just act like you belong," Marcus said as they passed through the slums. "It could get a bit rough, but don't mind them."

There were a lot of people in the slums, and there were also stronger ones who would've been able to afford to at least rent a proper house there if they weren't into gambling and things like that.

The Slums were actually quite a fascinating place to people-watch if one was strong enough. Right now, though, Finn's mind was focused on a single goal, so he barely noticed much.

There were a lot of halflings, halfkins, and goblins in the slums, too. Anyone could imagine why. This was especially true since Lotus Town was in the region dominated by humans.

There was even a large halfkin carrying a beast carcass on his shoulder, ready to trade everything to the butchers. Because he passed by them, Finn had no choice but to pause his steps and look at him.

He was really big and buff, and his hair reminded him of a lion's mane.

"Hmn, that guy could afford to rent a good house, but the sellers would always raise the price so he couldn't," Marcus said when he noticed him looking at the halfkin.

This wasn't an uncommon practice. Most inns were made for humans, and halfkins and beastkins were too large, perhaps even destroyed too much, even without meaning to.

Even if they charged a lot to earn a profit, sometimes it wasn't worth it, and sometimes the beastkin couldn't afford it. Due to their simple minds, they were usually underpaid, scammed, and generally wouldn't be able to hold a large amount of money.

Finn shook his head and moved on, looking at the mission panel every couple of meters. The walk was a bit tense, and there were a few scuffles here and there, but fortunately not in the specific streets they traversed.

Although the guards prohibited fighting, they weren't everywhere, and they didn't care about the slums. Even if they were nearby, the damage and the fight would've already started, and someone would've already been injured, so there was no point using precious human resources there.

Fortunately, he was with relatively strong adventurers, and people in the slums were generally dormant-level and awakened-level at best, with few exceptions (like the halfkin from before), so even if the fight headed their way, Marcus could literally just kick them out of the way.

Anyway, ignoring the looks, they soon passed by safely, and they continued to traverse the territory, block by block, hoping not to miss anything.

More than an hour later, they reached the edge of the town square, which was about as big as two basketball courts.

It was now filled with stalls and shops. The weekend market was currently ongoing at this time, and the plaza was particularly lively because of it.

The stalls were filled with various items that, if he had been here any other time, he'd have loved to explore.

Anyway, they went through a few more blocks around the plaza, and it was only then that something changed in his mission.

Ding!

[Proximity Alert: Presence detected within a hundred-meter radius.]

His feet paused, and his eyes widened.

"Finn?" Leiah asked when he stopped moving.

"Here… somewhere here…" he whispered, looking around. "It should be within a hundred-meter radius in this direction."

Because they had gone through certain areas, he could naturally use the process of elimination to pinpoint a direction. He realized he was looking at a 3-meter wall, however.

At this, Leiah and Marcus looked awkwardly at each other before staring at Finn.

"But… Finn… we're in the Lord's Palace."