"This shall be your home for the time being." Yasri declared while pointing at a large wooden building. This structure was larger than any other building in this village and appeared to be two stories tall. Hanging out in front of the front door, I could see a sign that simply had a crescent moon scribed in. From my time in this world, I have learned that this indicated that the building is an inn.The walls of the inn were coated in a thin layer of green moss. This building must be one of the oldest landmarks in the entire village. Since the sun had almost gone down, we decided that we should go into the inn before we try anything else today.
As we walked towards the entrance, a man that reeked of alcohol burst through the door. His face and clothing is covered in visible stains from a mult.i.tude of different substances, most likely vomit, and his face is a flushed red. This man is the quintessential visage of a drunk person.
"Ah… Sorry about that." He said as he stumbled away.
"Is this… common here?" I asked Yasri.
"Since the disappearances started, some people have been depressed and have turned to drinking."
"Ah, I see…"
Instead of being deterred, I decided to gather myself and walked through the front door. I may have not left a big impression at the adventurer guild, but this time will be different! Now I have my party behind me! Let"s go!
The sound of a creaking floorboard and the sight of old wooden furniture greeted me. There were multiple tables with chairs inside. Many people were sitting down and drinking or eating food. There is a bar counter in the far corner with a man that is polis.h.i.+ng a gla.s.s standing behind it. To the left there is a stairway upwards towards what appears to be rooms. To the right of the bar, there appear to be a small stage. In contrast to the morose exterior, the interior of this building was very lively and jovial. People seemed to enjoy spending their time drinking here.
Taking the initiative, I stepped confidently into the room and approached the bar.
"Good evening! We need lodging."
The man behind the bar just looked lazily towards me for a moment before he sighed and slowly approached me.
"*Sigh…* Alright. How many rooms do you need?" He muttered.
Hey, come on man. Give me some energy!
I turned towards the rest of my party so that we could decide.
"Erana and I will take a room together. Onii-san and the overgrown child can have their own room."
"I agree with Kany."
"Getting called an overgrown child by someone that is an appropriately grown child…"
"Alright. Sounds like a plan then."
I turned back towards the innkeeper once we had decided.
"We need 2 rooms please. 2 beds per room. Can you do that?"
The innkeeper merely let out a defeated sigh.
"Rooms are 20 juns a night." He quickly said.
I reached into my coin pouch and pulled out 10 juns. I handed the money to the innkeeper and turned to Tael.
"Tael, we"re sharing the room so you pay for half."
"Huh? I already bought the sleeping bag! Why do I need to pay for a room now?"
"Do you want to sleep outside?"
"No…"
"Then pay the man." I gave Tael a death glare.
Responding to the pressure of my visage, Tael immediately pulled out 10 juns and handed them to the innkeeper.
"Hm… Fine." The innkeeper said while reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out a rusty metal key with the label of "2" on it.
"Here"s your room key. Room 2." He said as he tossed me the key.
"Alright. Tael and I are going to head up to our room!" I told the girls.
"Got it, Onii-san."
"See you soon, Kenji-san, Tael-san."
Tael and I walked up the stairs and towards the door labeled "2." I placed the key into the keyhole of the door and heard an audible *CLACK* when I twisted. The door had definitely been unlocked.
I opened the door and saw the room. The interior has 2 twin sized beds that are divided by a nightstand. On top of the nightstand is a single candle. Other than the beds and the nightstand, the room is barren. There is no window.
"Aw man, no window…" Tael remarked.
"No, this is better. This means that whatever is taking people isn"t able to sneak into our room while we"re asleep. We"re adventurers after all. We basically have a target painted on our backs."
"O-Oh… I didn"t think of that."
I walked towards the bed that was closest to the door and sat down on it. I let out the fatigue of our journey inside of this room.
"This is my bed. I call it."
"W-What? What if I want that bed?"
"I already sat on it."
"Yeah but what if we rock-paper-scissors for it?"
"How about an arm wrestle? I think that would be as fair as rock-paper-scissors!"
"Gh! O-Okay… I"ll take the far bed."
Tael walked over to his designated bed and laid down on it with an audible *pomf* noise.
"Ugh… I missed having a bed." Tael muttered.
"I feel the same way man." I quietly replied.
Tael and I laid down quietly on our designated beds for a few minutes in silence. We just decided to release a bit of the exhaustion of a day"s worth of travel right now.
"So… Why do you and Kany argue so much?" I asked Tael.
"Me and her? She doesn"t know when to give up so I keep arguing with her. It keeps me on my toes sometimes so I appreciate it. Did she say something when you two were gathering firewood or something?"
"Nah. I asked her why she argues with you so much though. She said that it"s fun so she tries to do it a lot."
"That makes sense… So what about you and Erana?"
"Huh? What about me and her?"
"Well you seemed really nervous around her this morning! I asked you earlier, but you were super nervous! Now that we"re relaxed I bet you"re more willing to talk about what happened."
"N-Nothing happened! Really!"
"Hm, is that so? I don"t believe you, man."
"W-We just… talked! That"s all!"
"Oh? About what?"
"Nothing in particular… We talked about our pasts a bit and I asked her what she would wish for if she had a wish."
"Oh, I think I"ve read about moments like that! It"s the big moment where the couple realizes they like each other!"
"W-We"ve known each other for 5 days man! Even if I liked her I doubt she"d feel the same way after just 5 days!"
"Oh? What was that? So you do like her?"
"N-No! Don"t twist my words!"
"Fufufu! Kenji-kun… Is this you being shy?"
"Huh? No! I subscribe to the belief that if you think a girl likes you then you should take the initiative! I"m just saying that the chances that any development has happened like that are slim at best!"
"Hm… But if she WAS into you, what would you do?"
If Erana liked me that way…? I"m not too sure now that I think about it...
"I"m not really sure how that would work… We"re in a party together and if things turn out poorly then…"
"Man! You"re planning for failure! That"s no way to go about this kind of thing! This is exactly how I thought you"d act though. You worry too much man."
"Y-Yeah but… what if?"
"If you let the "if"s" control your life then you will never experience reality!"
For the first time since I met him, Tael gave me real advice. I was genuinely shocked.
"Well then, what about you and Kany?"
"H-Huh? What about us?"
"Well, I heard that people bully the people they like…"
"What? What she"s doing is NOT bullying. She"s just trying to get on my nerves."
"I don"t really see a difference."
"That"s just because we"re different people. Trust me, I"d know."
"Alright but from the looks of it she"s being a tsundere to you."
"W-What? No way man."
"Well… Back at it to you then. If she WAS into you, then what would you do?"
"H-Huh? If Kany liked me?"
"Yep. That"s what I said."
"W-Well… I would… have to decline her…" Tael said as he s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the ground.
"Huh? "Have to"? What do you mean by that?"
"Don"t worry about it. It"s a… personal thing."
Come to think of it, Tael said he"s had a share of s.h.i.+tty experiences in the past… Maybe this has something to do with that?
"Tell me some other time then, I guess." I decided to let Tael tell me when he was ready. Personal business is not something I want to force my way into.
"Alright. Maybe I will…" Tael said. The room became quiet once more after that until we heard a loud knock on our door.
"Hey! Onii-san, Magic Shop Employee! Let"s get wasted!"
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