The Throne Under the Starry Sky Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Night of Faramita (2)

Gu Tie thought for a minute, then he turned back, shut down the door, smiled and asked politely, “Could you tell me… who are you?”

“Umm?” the old man almost fell to sleep again and his spittle has already ran from his mouth. “Oh, I’m old daddy. Everyone calls me old daddy.”

“So, is here the Cherry Ferry?”

“Yes, my home.”

“So, the people live in the nearby houses are…”

“Don’t you know? They are my guests.”

“The reason they live in here is…”

“Enjoy the Beef Rice made by me in 15th every month.”

“And?”

“Some people were escaped from battlefield; some people were forced by the people of Colombo; some people are waiting for the boat tickets. They all need a place to sleep. That’s it.”

“So, is here a safe place?”

“Of course. Living in here is an equivalent exchange, a win-win situation.” the old man rubbed his fingers and said, “Safety is a part of our room service. It’s including in the room charge.”

Gu Tie peaked one of his eyebrows and stared at the blind old man. He moved half a foot silently, but the eyes of the old man followed him as if a pair of spotlights.

Gu Tie gave up and asked, “Hey, old daddy, how many defenders are there?”

“No kidding. The n.o.bles of the Empire Bazelaire, the deserters, the people of the Colombo tribe and the wild magic beasts. We have troubles all day. Boy, don’t you think so?”

“So, there are an amount of personal guards in there?”

“No, no, no, old daddy is the only defender. It’s too expensive to maintain an army.” The old man said unashamedly.

Gu Tie resisted the urge to speak out some impolite words. He thought that this was a game world, and he shouldn’t judge a person’s strength by his face – even if he was just an old, weedy and blind man.

He searched the memory about the nameless prophecy, counted, then he asked calmly, “Old daddy, I need a room. I will stay here till April 26. Is there breakfast offered?” He said and touched his pocket – but he only touched his leg.

Gu Tie’s face turned pale. “… Can I pay with my credit card?”

“What is credit card? If it is a kind of gold coin, no problem.” Old daddy used his left hand takes a registration form and held a quill in his right hand.

“…Hey, old daddy. There are dozens of gems and crystals in my handbag. I think some of them should be left after pay for your roadside a.s.sistance, right?”

“I saved you in the woods, not the roadside. I have calculated it. I walked fifteen miles in the night from I heard the sound you hitted on the ground to dragged you back. This costed a lot. You see, I walked back and forth, so you need to pay extra money for me; and it’s a night, so it costed much money. Your gems and crystals just enough, boy!”

A special night rate and the no-occupancy surcharge? Are you a taxi?!

Gu Tie cursed the old man in his heart but smiled on his face. “Old daddy, I have no money. However, I’m an Astrologer. The a.s.sociation will pay for me – if I can find them. Okay, let me see… right, I can work for the town! For example…” He considered what can he do, but he was disappointed to find that the Astrologer’s apprentice was just a feeble boy if he left the Astrology Tower. It was hard to find a work he can do.

“… For example, this!” Gu Tie looked around and thought about something. He got a shine in his eyes and lifted up the staff – which was he used as a crutch just now. “Look!” He said.

“People can earn money by working. This is a generic rule in the world.” The old man said happily, “I like this kind of guests.”

Gu Tie searched the memories about the Star Circles. He felt the structure of the Star Circle on the top of the staff. A complex Star Circle appeared in the ocean of his consciousness.

His memories told him that the Star Circle was made up of some impalpable mithril silk threads and arranged a solid shape inside of the crystal. He tried to touch the string which meant “start”, then he found that a red light slowly lit up inside of the crystal. Gu Tie tries to control the running of the Star Circle; he felt the star line of “Bear” through the void and some free energies of the star line were stored in the crystal. In there, they rolled and radiated light.

The bright yellow light of the Light Star Circle filled the room. Gu Tie lifted up the staff proudly and paid homage to the great Astrology.

Five minutes later, he relaxed his right hand, and the light dimmed immediately. He asked with a complacent tongue, “Old daddy, how about this?”

“Huh?”

The old man looked at Gu Tie with his blind eyes.

“…” Gu Tie hit his head against the wall.

“… I mean, I can provide lighting for the town. Look, old daddy. The night of the Cherry Ferry is as black as a charcoal. It’s too inconvenience and lack of an atmosphere. Image that, if you go to the toilet or have a romantic date in the night, but suddenly you have a fall – or even step on poo – just because your town is lack of lighting – how annoying it is! Image again, if you let me stand on the roof of your room and lift up my staff to provide lighting for the town every night, your town will become more civilized and more healthier and advance to the time of electrical – how convenient it will be! What do you think of it?”

Old daddy smacked his lips, then said, “I didn’t catch the meaning of what you said, but it sounds good.”

“Of course it is! Trust me, you won’t meet too much good opportunity like this!” Gu Tie smiled broadly.

“Okay, there are mages make fire for me, steam puppeteers sail the boat for me, and mathematicians build houses for me, but I still lack an Astrologer to provide lighting for me.”

Old daddy thought for a while, then he threw away the form, took another paper and wrote something on it. He handed over the paper to Gu Tie and said, “I arrange a level A room for you. It’s A52, at the second row of the southeast area. We don’t offer the breakfast, and you need to provide lighting for the town four hours every day after the sunset.”

Gu Tie felt a little touched when he got the pen and paper. How long has it been since the last time he hold a pen? A level A guest room, it sounded not bad. The words looked fine to him, so he wrote his name on the paper – Gu Tie – then he immediately found his mistake. He blacked out his name and wrote again – “D.Jonah.Jr.Astrologer’s Apprentice”.

“Signed?” The old man said with a spurious smile.

“Yes.”

“Have you seen the additional clauses?”

“What?”

Gu Tie turned over the paper – there were about forty lines of small characters in the back of the paper.

“Additional Clause 1 – Description of the Level of the Rooms: Level A room – Anonymous; Level M room – Medium; Level G room – Guest; Level V room – VIP.”

“Eh… old daddy… what is the level A room?”

“The most common room. I can’t even remember the name of the guest who live in there. The details are all in the additional clauses.” old daddy answered.

Gu Tie felt wordless. He decided to continue to read the additional clauses.

“Additional Clause 7: The rights and Duties of the Guest of the Level A Room:

1. The rate the Level A room is 30 silver coins of Saint Boen per day, or other equivalent currencies and work. monthly rental: 10% off; annual rental: 20% off; daily rental: check out at 12 o’clock the next day; monthly rental: check out at 12 o’clock the first day of the next month; charge extra 15 silver coins if the guest over the time.

2. As a tenant of the level A room, we provide Level A safety guarantee to you within your residence data.

3. The basic physiological characteristic (heartbeat) of the tenant is protected by the protector of the Cherry Ferry. Whatever means stop the pounding heart of the level A tenant within 72 hours will be regarded as a direct challenge towards the protector of the Cherry Ferry.

4. Each level A room can only hold six people, and any unrecorded lodge will be regarded as a direct challenge towards the protector of the Cherry Ferry; the tenant can apply for room change for fill the vacancy of other rooms, but can’t move to an empty room. The empty room only opened when there are no rooms for the new tenants. Any room will be repossessed after the death of all the tenants or the lease expires.

5. The protector is not responsible for the natural death of the level A tenants (including die after sustain a non-fatal injury but over 72 hours), die because go out of the range of the Cherry Ferry or die after the lease runs out.

6. The tenant rights are not protected when under some special circ.u.mstances (see Additional Clause 40).
”

Gu Tie finished reading with a befuddled mind. He asked, “That is to say, I need to live in a six beds room, and if others don’t kill me, they can do whatever they want?”

“My guest, you are smart, and I commend you to read Additional Clause 55.”

“Additional Clause 55 – The Only End for the People Who Challenge the Protector of the Cherry Ferry:”

“Die! (an extra large red type)”

Gu Tie stood in the middle of the small room, dragged his broken left leg and looked at that grinned old blind man – he had a mixed feelings.