The moment we arrived in the city, I made a beeline for the inn.
Of course, within the city walls, I was being carried in Melazophis's arms.
A walking baby would be weird even in a fantasy world.
Not that we weren't already an eye-catching group to begin with.
For starters, Melazophis was dressed entirely in white with a deathly pale face, making him look like some kind of ghost or specter.
He was technically a vampire, so "not entirely wrong" wasn't far off.
And this Melazophis was carrying me—a baby.
That alone was already a dozen kinds of wrong.
Joining this unusual parent-child pair were two beautiful girls.
The number of male gazes directed at Shiori was absolutely ridiculous.
Well, duh!
Even back in our previous lives, this girl stole every guy's attention just by existing.
She was so stunning that it actually created a side effect—even though we supposedly went to a coed school, fewer couples ended up forming.
Why? Because when you have someone that impossibly out of your league right there in your daily life, even the tiniest shred of hope would linger in guys' hearts. They'd let themselves dream—maybe, just maybe, I have a chance.
And even without that, you couldn't help but compare everyone else to her.
Thanks to that, there were poor couples who started dating only to break up almost immediately.
There was even a tragic victim in our class who'd harbored a quiet crush on Shiori, only to be completely ignored.
Though, to be fair, that guy later resorted to petty gossip and little acts of sabotage, so he ended up as more of a perpetrator than a victim—not exactly deserving of sympathy.
Reincarnated into a new world, and her beauty that drives men mad was still going strong.
On top of that, the fact that her eyes were perpetually closed gave her an air of mystery that only amplified the attention.
I'd been around her for days now and still hadn't seen her eyes open once. Why did she always keep them closed?
It bothered me, but she'd never answer even if I asked.
Enduring the curious stares, we finally reached the inn.
When I overheard someone asking, "Which one of those girls is the mother?" I panicked internally.
Neither of them.
Both
Although—wait, in this world, having a kid in your teens might not be that unusual?
Ariel paid the inn's fee.
She handed a single coin to the receptionist.
Just one coin is enough?
I wondered about that, but the receptionist was visibly flustered.
"No change needed!" he'd declared.
From that response, the coin had to be worth quite a bit.
But judging by how panicked the innkeeper was and how casual Ariel was about it, could that coin have been an Aleus gold coin?
Squinting to get a better look, I could make out the figure of a man holding up a book.
That was unmistakably an Aleus gold coin.
It was my first time seeing one in person, but I'd seen illustrations in books back in the study, so I was certain.
Paper currency wasn't well-developed in this world—coins were the primary form of money.
Of those, four types were commonly used: the Aleus coins I just mentioned, the Rengzant coins issued by the Empire, the Saliera coins issued by the Goddess Church, and the Octo coins widely circulated across the Daztorudia Continent.
There were other minor currencies as well, but those coins were generally unusable in regions where they weren't recognized.
As exceptions, Demon race coins and ancient coins could be traded at high values, but virtually no one used them in everyday transactions.
Even among the four main types, some became unusable or dropped significantly in value depending on the region.
Octo coins held little value here on the Kasanagara Continent.
You could exchange them at fair rates in large cities, but in smaller villages, most of them were flat-out rejected.
Conversely, Rengzant coins were highly valued here but apparently lost value on the Daztorudia Continent.
Saliera coins could only be used in Goddess Church territories, and given their recent defeat, their value could very well have plummeted.
Among all these coins, Aleus coins had the widest circulation and, correspondingly, the highest value.
When people simply said "coins" without specifying, they were usually referring to Aleus coins.
The reason was that Aleus coins were issued by the God Word Church.
The God Word Church was widely established among the Human race.
Because of that, its coins were also widely circulated and accepted in nearly every country.
This, in turn, made them more valuable than other currencies.
And an Aleus gold coin? A single one could cover an unlimited stay at an inn like this.
Looking at the posted rates, one night cost one Rengzant silver coin.
A hundred Rengzant silver coins made one gold coin.
The exchange rate between a Rengzant gold coin and an Aleus gold coin was roughly ten to one.
Which meant Ariel had just paid roughly a thousand nights' worth of lodging with that single coin.
Watching the innkeeper bow deeply in a cold sweat, I noticed the hand holding the gold coin was trembling violently.
Self-proclaimed Demon King though she might be, this was someone you'd never expect from her usual carefree demeanor. Jokes aside, she was genuinely extraordinary.
Incidentally, our planned stay in this city was two to three days.
The inn had just hit the jackpot.
More importantly, wasn't Ariel being way too generous?
Could her purse actually handle this?
"No worries, no worries. A little change like that is nothing."
She must have sensed my concern, because she said that with a slightly smug look on her face.
Was I really that easy to read?
And wait—she called that pocket change?
Part of me wanted to ask just how much total wealth Ariel had, but another part was too afraid to find out.