The Gourmet Innkeeper: Cooking Monsters in a Fantasy World-Chapter 318: The Communication Center

While people were gaping at the effects of the bathhouse, there were also plenty more interested in the [Communication Center]. For example, there was Glael, Ren’s uncle.

This time, it was Durgan who was the nearest staff member there. When people asked him anything, he really couldn’t answer well because he genuinely had no idea either. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

However, in order not to appear too foolish, he would smile knowingly, saying something like "wait and see".

It seemed like Finn’s random acting lessons for his staff members really came through.

The Communication Center was also a bungalow, but the floor plan was circular, and the ceiling was a bit higher than the others. The roof was shaped into a dome of sorts, one made of glass that allowed all the sunlight inside. There were even open windows at the side, but high above the walls.

They were not sure what it was, and there was also a maximum number of people who could enter, with the slots being only 5 people at a time.

Interestingly, the staff could enter as they wanted, so the curious Durgan went inside to check. This was also in an effort to answer the clients’ next questions well.

The room was a bit bigger than it seemed. The floor, walls, and most surfaces, except the translucent ceiling and fenestrations, were made of stone.

Bordering the circular open space were flat surfaces at the height of counters. It was adjustable in height, too. People would probably use these to write while standing up.

There were shelves hanging on the walls. They came in several layers with a good gap in between, stopping just below the curve of the domes.

On these shelves hanging were some unknown things to the locals. They were small and could fit a person’s palm. In terms of shape, they were geometrical but mimicked the form of some avians.

If Finn were here and not chilling in the Bathhouse, he’d recognize these as origami of sorts, except instead of paper, they seemed to be made from a stone-like material.

Durgan did not know these yet and was just focused on observing the five people there. Among them was Remus and Maria, the newlyweds. Speaking of which, they really got married very quickly. Apparently, they fell in love shortly after the exam, and Maria even got pregnant.

They were now exploring the place, in hopes of finding a way to contact Remus’ family, to check if they got home safely after they attended their wedding.

Remus and Maria looked at the screens in front of them.

[Would you like to send messages or would you like to activate a subscription to receive one?]

They were fascinated as they looked at the options. However, they were also a little disappointed because this meant that, to receive letters here, they had to register.

In the end, they simply registered first, and a sort of pattern appeared on their hands after that. This pattern was faint, and it seemed like it was fading every second until it was invisible.

The payment was one gold per person per month. Unless they paid the annual fee, they would have to come here and renew it every month if they wanted to continue receiving messages.

Curious, the couple decided to test it out. Remus headed outside while Maria remained inside to write the message, which remained a floating option as long as they remained within the building.

Upon clicking the ’sending’ option, one of the origamis descended to one of the writing surfaces there. It unfolded itself. The surface still felt like it was a rock, but also flexible enough to be called paper.

There were specialized pens attached to the writing surfaces, and Maria used them to write on the magic paper. She could apparently write up to 500 words, and the price was the same regardless of whether she wrote one word or a full five hundred.

She wrote ’Love you’ with a giggly smile. She confirmed she was done, and the system made calculations. It seemed to calculate according to distance, and unsurprisingly, the minimum was 1 gold. So even if the recipient was just outside the building, it was one gold.

This seemed expensive until later, when people started testing it out more and more, that the 1 gold could actually reach a hundred kilometers away! This meant that a letter all the way to Lotus Town would only cost a few gold!

They would also find out that it could send letters anywhere in the world, even to the other end!

This was something for later, though, but it was certainly going to be one of the reasons why people flocked to the place.

Anyway, back outside, Remus patiently waited for the message. He was staring at the building so he could see any changes and, soon enough, there really was.

From the opening high above the wall, a little geometrical rock-thing appeared as it flapped its wings, eventually reaching him. It hovered above him, and Remus raised his palms, and the pattern that had once faded appeared again.

The bird landed at this hand, and it unfurled, revealing the short message from his wife.

By this time, everyone was so curious that they had no care for his privacy. They all looked over his shoulder to see the message.

"WOW!"

"That’s so interesting!"

"Gosh! So cheesy!"

Remus chuckled, hugging the bird.

Interestingly, it included a return message as well! And there was a small strip of graphite appearing at the edge of the letter for one to write. The limitation was the remainder of the 500-word cap, so he could write more than 400 words if he wanted it.

After this, the bird would head to the recipient and only then would it return to the shelf on its own.

Maria’s eyes sparkled, not caring for the one gold lost anymore.

This is so fascinating!

...

Finn got out of the Bathhouse around this time, also studying the center.

Remus decided to write a long message, ignoring the hoots and whistles around him, which delayed the show enough for Finn to see and understand what was going on.

He smiled.

With this, he really had no problems with ensuring traffic in his inn complex! Even if people didn’t want to go to the danger zones, if they could make use of this amazing device, they might just go there just for this!