After traveling for three days, we finally arrived at the village on the bank of the Serpent village. The village looked as big as Calm village. By what Nina heard from Diane, this was the closest village to the village that we were heading to.We still had a four-day journey through the forest ahead of us. Traveling through the forest was more dangerous than traveling through plains. On top of that, we had no idea about the areas suitable for camping in the forest.
We had heard that the villagers here were friendly so we were hoping to find a place to stay for the night.
The journey was hard, especially for Ronald and Nina who were the only ones who could drive a carriage properly. I was also learning how to drive a carriage from Ronald so that I could give them breaks. Resting properly before the journey through the forest was important for them, and all of us.
"h.e.l.lo madam, we are travelers. Is there a place where we could stay for the night in this village?" Ronald asked the old lady who was watering the flowers from the driver"s seat.
"The inn is just up ahead on the right side," replied the old lady pointing towards the direction of the inn.
Ronald said "thank you" and we rode towards the direction she pointed at.
We stopped in front of the inn building. Ronald jumped down from the driver"s seat and knocked at the door. A man with grey hair answered the knock, he was wearing a waiter-like uniform.
"ooh, travelers... welcome, welcome," said the man looking towards the carriage.
"Thank you. Where can we park the carriage? The wagon at the back is also ours." said Ronald.
"Hmm... You must be tired from your journey so I will park them for you."
After the man said that, we got off the carriage carrying our bags of personal belongings. Inside the door, there was a small dining hall. There were no customers there, but we could see a lady inside the kitchen.
"Welcome everyone, please make yourselves comfortable," said the lady who was inside. She also had grey hair and was wearing a housewife-like uniform.
"Thank you. Finally, we will be able to rest properly," said Princess Anna with a smile. She was usually talkative, but the journey was so long and tiring that she didn"t speak much for the first two days. She got used to traveling from the third day and is back to her old self now.
"How much will the stay for nine of us cost?" asked Nina. Discussing this before the stay was important to be safe from being overcharged at the end.
"The cost of dinner and breakfast is 3 coppers per person, and the stay will cost you 8 coppers per room. The parking is free for the customers who are here to stay," replied the lady. The cost of food was the same as the city but the rooms were cheaper. On top of that, the parking which used to cost around 4 copper in the city was free here.
"How many beds are there in each room?" Princess Eliane asked.
"Yes, each room has 2 beds. Usually, four travelers share a room," replied the lady.
Since Princess Anna and Eliane said they were comfortable with sharing a bed, we booked three rooms. Ronald and I got a room for ourselves while the rest decided to share the remaining two rooms. Guys and Girls staying in the same room was considered indecent.
The lady showed us our rooms. The room had two beds and an attached bathroom. We hadn"t taken a bath since we left the city so I threw my bag into the corner and went straight to the bathroom.
"Man, a relaxing bath after a tiring journey is the best thing."
After we finished taking the bath, we went to the dining hall. The man was helping the lady in the kitchen and the lady was preparing the dinner.
"Man, I am so hungry today," said Sistina sitting in the chair.
The man came out of the kitchen when he saw us coming and said, "The dinner is almost ready. If I may ask where are you all traveling to?"
"This is exactly how the waiters used to buy time in my previous world."
I was aware of this trick, but Princess Anna wasn"t so she replied, "We are traveling to the village past the forest."
"Oh... Are you by any chance adventurers? It"s just that, two people from that village stayed in our inn when they were coming back from the city. They said they went to the city to hire adventurers," said the man.
"Yes, we are," replied Sistina.
"Ah. Those villagers are really nice people. They often come to exchange salt for their crops here," said the man.
I thought using this opportunity to ask for more information is a good idea so I asked, "Do you know why they are hiring us?"
"They said that something unusual was happening in the forest. Because of that, the monsters that had always lived inside the forest started attacking their farmland all of a sudden," the man replied.
"Do you know anything about what"s happening in the forest?" asked Ronald.
"No, the river is in between so the monsters from the forest don"t come to this side. The holy stones found at the riverbank of Serpent river are used to make the Moster warding light so the monsters are scared of coming near the river. But, we noticed something unusual some days ago," said the man and stopped there.
"The part about the holy stones at the riverbank being used to make monster warding light is interesting. But, the unusual thing sounds more important here."
The man stopped there so Miss Lilith said, "Unusual?" after which the man continued again. "We found some dead monsters on the riverbank. It looked like they were trying to cross the river."
"I-it could be that they were running away from something. L-like a bigger monster," said Marina in her usual low voice.
"Could be. But it"s still unusual since this is the first time it has ever happened," replied the man.
"It could be a demon. Monsters are afraid of demons," said Miss Lilith. The grin on her face was saying that she was sure of it.
"A demon?!" said the man in a surprised tone.
"Well, then we would just have to beat it and go home," said Arica. She probably thought it was easy since Ronald and I defeated a lesser demon back in the calm village.
"Yeah, if there is a demon then it is all the more reason that we should go there," said Princess Anna.
As we were talking, the lady came outside saying, "Honey, can you help me in bringing the food to the table?"
After that, we stopped our conversation and had dinner. After dinner, we went straight to our beds after saying "good night" to everyone.
The next morning, we woke up early and had our breakfast. Everybody was looking active after a good night"s rest.
When we went to pay the money, Ronald asked, "Do you know any suitable areas for camping in the forest?"
The man replied, "Monsters dislike bamboo so camping in areas covered with bamboo trees is a good idea."
After paying the money, we got back to our carriage and resumed the journey. We stopped at the riverbank for a while to look for any magical-looking stone, but we weren"t lucky enough. Miss Lilith was laughing at us while we were doing that.
There was a wooden bridge over the Serpent river. After crossing the wooden bridge, we got into the forest. The forest became denser as we moved forward.
Next Chapter: The Journey to the Village - Part 3