by Funa
Suspicious, unnatural, just a little bit flirty… She’s playing them!
Indeed, the eldest girl’s expression was perfect, her words were perfect, and though no tears were being shed, she dabbed at her eyes with perfect delicacy. She was dangling bait before the men’s eyes—in a way that was clearly premeditated.
“What an actress!” one might say. Or better yet, “How terrifying!”
And yet, no woman or elder would be fooled by this routine. No other woman would be taken in by such a performance, and men past their prime no longer had it in them to be fooled by a little girl’s tricks.
Which would be why the only local customers who ate here were young men.
All the overnight guests were those who had been recommended here by the young male employees at the Hunters’ and Merchants’ Guilds—or they had chosen the place themselves and been charmed enough to find an inn run by three young girls that even the high prices could not force them to relocate…
Finally, the Crimson Vow well and truly understood.
“Mystery solved…” said Mile, as they returned to their room.
The other three nodded.
“Honestly, it was just some stupid gimmick! All the money we spent on lodging and food were a total waste!”
Pauline did not even attempt to hide her discontent. As a merchant’s daughter, she would never dream of running a business in such a manner.
“Is it really so bad if three sisters who’ve lost their parents—some of them still very young—do something a little underhanded to keep their inn and eatery thriving, in spite of being all on their own?” asked Mavis. “They aren’t bothering anyone, and they haven’t told any lies, much less done anything to break the law, have they? Everyone who comes here has knowingly consented to the listed prices, and they come and shell out for the food anyway. When you do something as an act of charity, you start to feel good about yourself, so really, both sides benefit from it, don’t they?
“Plus, I think it makes a lot of sense to get the local hunters on your side, so no weirdos try to set their sights on you. In fact, it sounded like they have been facing some harassment. I really don’t think you can blame them for doing what they do.”
Pauline cringed, lost for words.
It was true that there were no real victims here. Though the girl’s words were a bit manipulative, she could not simply run off to get married and leave her two sisters behind. In reality, it was more than likely that the three of them would all eventually end up marrying someone from this town.
Pauline, however, continued to grumble. She could not accept such practices.
“Still, there’s no reason for them to be charging so much more than usual! With that many customers, the normal prices should be more than enough, shouldn’t they? If they just shelled out to hire a chef, they could have normal food, but no, they cook it themselves, dishing out tiny portions, with ingredients you can tell are garbage at first glance. Just what, pray tell, is the meaning of that?!”
There was no response they could give. There was nothing to be said but, That’s just how they run the place, isn’t it? Plus, no matter what the reason, it was none of the Crimson Vow’s business. If they didn’t like it, they could stay somewhere else. That was all there was to it.
“Anyway, that’s half of our investigation complete! Tomorrow we’ll stay at the other one—the Wild Badger Lodge, right?”
“That’s Wild Bear, Reina…” Mile softly corrected.
***
The next morning, after having breakfast, they left the inn behind.
As all of their luggage was put away in Mile’s storage (read: inventory), they had no need to transport it anywhere, which freed them up to move around.
They’d held out no hope for the quality of breakfast, but it would have been more of a bother to eat elsewhere, and it would be unfortunate to have people think that they skipped breakfast because they were poor. Plus, even if they had embarked on this expedition just for a lark, eating breakfast was still part of their investigation.
With hardly any—or in fact, zero—expectations for what they would be presented with, they placed an order for four breakfasts, and when they saw the plates that were brought over, they were flabbergasted. Honestly and truly, from the bottom of their hearts.
Each plate had two small pieces of bread, a single hard-boiled egg, one quarter of an apple, and half a cup of milk on the side.
This breakfast far surpassed their wildest dreams—in the worst possible way.
“W-well at least they can’t charge us all that much for just this,” said Reina, but Pauline silently pointed to the sign posted up on the wall:
Breakfast6 half-silver per person
“That’s a lot!!!”
***
That evening, after a full day of harvesting birds and jackalopes, as well as hunting a few larger beasts in the nearby forest, the Crimson Vow returned to town.
Given that they did not intend to remain for very long, and since there were no interesting job requests, they busied themselves with the completely average ingredient-gathering jobs that were available. It would have been boring to sit around doing nothing all day, and this town was too small and too rural for there to be any interesting sightseeing.
On the other hand, doing jobs that were boring but required a significant amount of time would be equally bothersome. At times like these, the best jobs were the standing orders for materials, which required no preliminary discussion and allowed them to complete the job however they chose. If they were so inclined, they could always store their spoils in Mile’s inventory and cart them off to sell another day in another town—or eat them themselves, whenever they pleased. That said, they didn’t intend to hold on to them until they found a perfect price…
They headed straight toward the Wild Bear Lodge, not even bothering to make a stop at the outpost.
“So, this is the place.”
As was becoming their custom, Reina stood before the inn, her arms crossed in an imposing stance.
“What do you mean, ‘This is the place?!’” Mile cut in. “It’s right across from the House of the Maiden’s Prayer, where we just stayed last night!”
Mavis quickly clapped a hand over Mile’s mouth. “Shh! What if people inside hear you?! How do you think those three sisters will feel if they heard that we decided to stay at a different inn for the night?”
“Ah…”
No matter how much of a rip-off—er, generous price to benefit the young sisters—they had experienced the night before, there was still no sense in hurting others’ feelings without reason. Mile took a moment to reflect on her words.
“All right, let’s go in.”
And so, Reina opened the door to the second inn, the Wild Bear Lodge, and the four of them stepped inside…
“A bear?”
“A bear?”
“An ursine?”
“B-E-A-R!”
Indeed, they were greeted by a bear.
It had a beard that consumed its face, as well as arms and a chest thick with hair. Its legs were most likely the same. No matter who you asked about this creature, their first thought would have to be…
“A bear.”
“Shut your mouths!”
No matter how bearlike this person was, they were very decidedly a person. Even Mile, usually quick on the draw, did not brandish her sword against him.
“You have to admit, that’s how this seems, isn’t it?! The name of this place is so straightforward…”
“It’s been named that since my parents’ time!”
The man, who seemed to be the owner, shouted at Mile’s assertion, but honestly, he did not appear to be all that angry. This was a place of business, and he was accustomed to hearing this from first-time guests. In fact, it had become part of the expected patter whenever someone entered the establishment.
“Might you have a room for four available?” asked Reina.
Instantly, the man’s expr
ession morphed back into that of an innkeeper, and he replied, “Sure do. The room’ll be one half-gold and two silver. Hot water’s one half-silver for a basin, and you get one towel for free. Extras are four copper each.”
“What normal prices…” the group sighed in relief.
“Lemme guess, you girls stopped over across the street?” the owner said with a grimace.
The girls nodded.
Truthfully, there was much that they wished to ask the man, but they still had yet to officially take a room and pay him his due, and they were each currently burdened with some small item (a canteen or some other light object), as people would think it strange if they kept showing up totally empty-handed. Besides, they were already interrupting an innkeeper, who was probably right in the middle of the evening’s preparations. Forcing him to linger any longer would be rude.
And so, they paid for their room and then began to head upstairs, but they were stopped by the owner, who asked if they needed hot water or towels.
Most likely, he knew that hot water was essential to a young girl’s grooming routine. If he’d really thought about it, though, he would have realized that there was no reason a group with two mages would ever need to pay for such a thing.
“This place seems decent, even if he is a bear.”
“The prices are normal, too, even if he is a bear.”
“Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, even if he is a bear.”
“Well, I mean, we can’t make that judgment for sure until we’ve tried their cooking… Even if he is a bear.”
And so, the four waited until dinnertime.
“Such normal prices.”
The dinner menu had plenty of options, all at standard prices. As always, the party ordered eight diners’ worth of meals.
“There’s a normal amount. The variety of ingredients is normal. The quantity and quality of the meat is as expected, too,” judged Mavis, prodding the soup with a spoon.
“Hm, the main flavor I detect is salt, followed by what’s probably locally grown herbs,” said Reina, sniffing with her face close to the plate of meat and vegetable stir-fry.
“This steak is cooked perfectly rare, just as we ordered it. It’s not overcooked or seared only on the outside with the inside raw. A passing grade!” said Mile, nodding, as she examined a cut of the meat. She was quite fond of rare steak.
“If you factor in that the ingredients are about thirty percent of the cost, as well as firewood and the wear on the cooking tools, the cost of labor, and taxes, these prices are incredibly fair,” said Pauline, assessing things from an economic standpoint.
But then…
“Shut up already! Hurry up and eat it before it gets cold!!!” the Bear raged at them.
Hearing this, the other patrons laughed.
The food had been prepared by the Bear… or rather, the owner, along with the woman who appeared to be his wife—though the fact that such a woman even existed seemed incredible. Each had prepared a separate set of dishes, and each carried out the ones that he or she had cooked. Considering the cost of labor, it was probably more profitable for them to do things that way, even if hiring a waitress would mean a slight increase in general efficiency. During times when business was slower, having additional employees was an unnecessary expense.
At this moment, the owner had just emerged from the kitchen, carrying out another customer’s order.
“And now, the final measure: the taste…”
The four each carried a bite of food to their mouths.
“I…”
“It…”
“It’s…”
“Amazing!!!”
It was absolutely delicious. The food had been made with normal ingredients and normal seasonings, but it was clear that it had been prepared by the hands of an experienced chef.
Even if that chef were a bear.
In any case, having four voices shouted praise for one’s food was never a bad feeling. The owner’s expression slowly began to soften. Until…
“At least after eating that stuff across the street, anyway!”
And there it went.
“The food is delicious, and the prices are normal. I can see why the women and elders favor this place now. But still, all of the young men go to the other place. You’d think that this inn would be swarming with customers, but there don’t seem to be many here at all,” said Mile, perplexed.
Wearily, Reina explained.
“Mile, sometimes I wonder if that thing atop your shoulders is just there for show. Think about it. Locals who aren’t hunters have their own homes, so there’s no reason for them to eat out every single night. Think of the kinds of people who eat out every night in spite of not being a traveler or those who have no homes because they are always on the road sleeping at inns. Who would those people be? Young hunters! I mean, comparatively speaking, there are a lot more male hunters, aren’t there?! Of course, people living in their own homes do eat out every now and then, but for the most part, these would still be young, single men, wouldn’t they? Most women would rather cook for themselves, so they hardly ever eat out.
“In addition, most hunters who are already past their thirties would have gotten married ages ago—men and women alike. They have their own homes, spouses, and maybe even some children, so they have no reason to eat a sad, solitary meal in a place like this!”
For some reason, the mood in the room seemed to darken. Mile swore she could hear quiet sniffles here and there, but it was probably just her imagination—or so she wanted desperately to believe.
That was when the owner barged in.
“What’re you tryin’ to say?! Look at that! Now everyone’s lost their appetites, and no one else is placing any orders! You’re ruining my business!”
With no choice but to take responsibility for this turn of events, the Crimson Vow ordered yet another round of food…
***
After returning to their room, they held a discussion.
“I mean, there isn’t really anything interesting about this place at all.”
“Yeah, like, there aren’t any juicy scandals or creepy conspiracies here or anything. So boring!”
“……”
Mile and Mavis thoroughly agreed with Reina’s assessment, but they found they were not at all in agreement with Pauline’s words, which came immediately after.
And then, Mile quietly asked, “If I recall, over at the Maiden’s Prayer they said they were getting harassed by the Wild Bear, didn’t they? However, as far as I’ve seen, the owner doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would do a thing like that at all… Even if he is a bear.”
“Huh…”
It was impossible to tell what sort of person someone was just from their appearance or from talking to them for a little while. It was normal for a swindler to be attractive in face and manner and to seem completely trustworthy. Nowhere in the world would you meet a con man with the face of a villain. Well, of course it was possible that somewhere out there was a con man who looked like a mustache-twirling hustler and just got by on their wits… At any rate, the owner of this inn did not seem like the type who was very good at concealing his true intentions, and even when he overheard them talking about the House of the Maiden’s Prayer, he had never slipped a bad word in.
“After he’s done cleaning up the kitchen and dining room, and finishes his preparations for tomorrow, let’s ambush him!”
“Yeah!!!”
You shouldn’t go meddling in other people’s affairs, you say?
You shouldn’t poke a bear just to see what will happen?
Don’t worry about it! What’s life if you aren’t living it to the fullest?!
If you always hold back and never do anything that you want to do, then you’ll die with regrets—and for Mile, one time was enough!
***
After killing a bit of time with their usual jibber-jabber, the Crimson Vow moved down to the dining room on the first floor. When they got to the bott
om of the stairs, they found the lights in the dining room low, the washing and tidying complete, and the owner and his wife in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on their preparations for the next day.
“Hm? Can we help you with something?” asked the owner, stepping out of the kitchen.
Mile leapt straight into it, asking, “Um, could we ask you all something about the House of the Maiden’s Prayer?”
“What? Do you all have something to do with those girls? Or did someone put you up to this?”
The owner looked a bit frightened, and his wife, hearing the conversation, came rushing out of the kitchen.
“We’ve nothing to do with them, and no one put us up to this,” said Reina bluntly. “We were merely curious about the situation.”
“Seriously?”
The owner’s shoulders slumped. However, he seemed to realize that if they truly had some ulterior motive, they would not have asked him so directly. Most likely, it was nothing more than childish curiosity. He began to lower his guard.
“It’s not somethin’ to go babbling to outsiders about. You’d best just leave things where they are,” he said.
However, the four would not be deterred so easily.
“If you were to ask us whether we have anything to do with that establishment, we would tell you no, we absolutely do not,” said Pauline. “However, if you were to ask us if we had no stake at all in this situation, nor any reason to require this information, then we would also have to say that you are wrong.”
“What?”
The owner stared at her.
“What I’m saying is, we stayed there for a night and paid exorbitant prices for lodging and food. This matter has affected us, and we have every right to demand an explanation!”
Pauline was fuming now. The owner and his wife grimaced.
Here, Mile stepped in. “We would like to know about the House of the Maiden’s Prayer, but there is something else that we would like to know before that!”
“Wh-what is it?”