After spending all night “exploring” the penthouse and the natural hot spring that was part of the private terrace and outdoor area, the three were in a great mood when they ordered breakfast in their room in the morning.
The suite had several bedrooms, of which only one saw extensive use that night. Overall, it was almost as classy as the Tower Master quarters at Minas Mar, except for the outdoor area they lacked at home.
Although they could have simply spent all day in the hot spring, enjoying each other's company, they came to Spring City to explore, so they appeared in the lobby soon after filling their stomachs and getting dressed.
Fin and Mina had done some research online on Spring City's attractions during their free time, but the three of them decided to ask the receptionist if there were any secret must-haves in the city. Since she was able to get an exclusive invitation, she had to be knowledgeable about the area.
“Good Morning, did you have a good stay?” the elf receptionist greeted the three when they approached the reception after leaving the elevator. her smile was as professional as ever, she properly hid her favoritism toward the the guests from Minas Mar.
“I love the hot spring~” Fin blurted out before Seth could say anything. “ We had a great stay, thank you. We are going to Spring City over the day, do you have any tips for places we should visit?” the blacksmith asked for recommendations.
“Oh, is it your first time in Spring City?” she asked innocently, putting her pointer on her lower lip as she seemingly thought of recommendations. “ You should try the Petal Dew Restaurant, they say they have a craftsman-tier chef there, but they are probably completely booked already... If you would like, i could try and make a reservation in your “name” for you in the early evening?” she suggested.
The name of Minas Mar could open quite a few doors, even if the restaurant was possibly booked out. However, she obviously understood that they didn't want to throw their weight around, at least not in person.
This time, Fin held back, but it was clear she wanted to go. Mina also seemed excited. As for Seth, the blacksmith was looking forward to the foot of someone close to becoming a master chef. Would it be better than Link's meals? Although the gourmet hunter also had a craftsman-tier cooking skill, there had to be a difference when compared to a dedicated chef class, right?
“I would be very thankful if you did so. Anything else?” the bard asked. The invitations the elf had given them yesterday were all evening or nighttime activities, so they were looking for things to do over the day.
“Well, as for attractions, most are quite well known. There is the Temple of the White Snake, the White Scale Bazaar, and ...” she looked at a stand of brochures to her right, before pulling one out. “ If you like nature I recommend the Snake Tour. They visit several secured natural attractions in the area like the Petal Fields and the Great Drop;” she said and handed him the brochure.
It was your typical modern brochure, filled with pictures and descriptions of natural rock formations or scenic places to visit. it also held the schedule and pricing to join the Snake Tour. Technically it was a guided bus tour, where one of the big snake busses would take them to various places outside of Spring City.
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“Oh, this sounds nice, too,” Seth mumbled taking it into consideration for their second day at the tree station. For today, they had already decided to visit the different attractions in Spring City, as well as Senior White in her temple.
After the short talk, they left the resort and leisurely walked down the scenic staircase down to the foot of the mountain. It was quite long and Seth was happy they didn't take this to go up, but he had to admit that the view was exceptional, too.
“Where should we go first? “ Seth asked the two, who had made the rough plan for their stay here.
“Let's visit the White Scale Bazaar first,” Mina suggested. “The website said that it is best to come early, before the more popular stands sell out,” the cat girl announced, obviously speaking about the specialty food sold on the food stalls, not the wares of traders.
Seth had good memories of the bazaar. He and Fin visited a few on their journey all the way back then and he often found fun things he had not expected in those places. the auction house was great if you knew what you were looking for, but the browsing experience was... not the best.
“Oh yeah, and then we can go visit the temple for the noon sermon,” the fairy exclaimed excitedly, mentioning one of the attractions of Spring City. While the temple of Senior White was an attraction in itself, the sermons and rituals organized to happen at different times of the day were another big event for tourists to watch or take part in.
“Good, then we could visit Senior White after that. Depending on how long we stay, we could directly go for dinner at the Petal Dew Restaurant the receptionist mentioned,” the blacksmith added. With that, it seemed like their day was planned through.
They got on the next snake ride and arrived back at the city while it was still quite early in the day. On the way, Fin and Mina explained to Seth about how the White Scale Bazaar was something Senior White had founded as it reminded her of the lively marketplaces of her original home.
Although she was not the governmental head of Spring City, as the guardian instated by Minas Mar and the only accepted religion in Tree Station 7, she still had a lot of power to make changes to the city. Since Minas Mar owned all the land, she could technically build whatever she wanted and manage it as she wished.
not only was the bazaar a vast square for people to set up stalls, but also offered a labyrinth of storefronts and shops that could be rented out for little money, but limited time. This made sure that the whole place was constantly changing and everyone had a chance to claim some of the more profitable locations.
As such, the bazaar quickly became a place of free trading that accepted people of all origins and walks of life, to offer their wares and services. Thanks to this market TS7 was one of the few places still frequented by many off-world merchants, despite Chrona cutting ties with Urth.
As the two talked about the bazaar, Seth quickly realized that Senior White had really put some work into creating an intriguing and magical place on Urth. the bard actually got excited as he listened to the Mina's and Fin's explanation.
They had to change snakes after arriving at Spring City, to get on the snake line to the bazaar, which was situated in the west of the tree station, taking up a big part of the city in that direction. The moment they arrived at the snake stop at the bazaar, Seth realized that this place was even more chaotic than he had imagined.
Since Spring City was currently the only proper vacation goal for people of Urth, this bazaar simply boomed and everyone tried to make the most of the spaces they could rent. With Senior White pushing variation and change within the market, there were a lot of structures and stalls Seth had never seen or imagined before.
Side by side with part-timers who set up small stalls or blankets to sell products or drops from dungeons were actual stores built like reverse towers. Maximizing the space for one slot, they had several stories above, and through the windows , one could actually see that the inside was wider than the outside.
What enchanter had the free time to create something like that? How much would that cost? There were a few of them, but they were actually the tamest, most elegant strategy. People even built temporary structures across several plots that created open platforms where they could sublease their own plots to even more people on several stories.
The White Scale bazaar even outperformed the demon bazaar in Delta's demon district in volumes of chaos and variety. Most of it was stuff for tourists, common items, souvenirs, and food. There were some more serious merchants that had ventures to Urth to sell uncommon weapons and armor, some produced, others were dungeon drops.
Adventurers and other professionals also tried to sell their crafts. The permanent storefront showed a higher quality on average or offered various services from simple tailoring, healing, or haircuts, to facial reconstructions, and magic tattoos as the more uncommon options.
Even if none of the items caught his fancy so far, just walking around seemed like it was going to be greatly entertaining.
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