Tironde Inn (2)
She pointed at Cloud with eyes full of curiosity.
"He's my brother! The man who saved my very life — and my Hole Brother, for we've each been in and out of the very same hole!"
At the words Hole Brothers, Sophia and everyone else in the dining hall burst into shrieks of laughter.
Cloud glanced around the room, then fixed Sophia with a mildly irritated look.
"Just give me a seat. Quickly."
"Of course, of course. Anyway, welcome to our Tironde Inn, oppa!"
"Tironde? Is that your surname?"
"Yep — Sophia Tironde. Pretty, isn't it?"
Beaming as she answered, she looked nothing like a woman her age — more like a fresh, lively young girl. You'd have believed she was in her mid-twenties.
The moment they found an empty table and sat down, Thor began rubbing his belly and fussing impatiently.
"Sophia! We're starving over here, so bring us something to eat, and quick! We get served first!"
"Yes, yes, I'll have it right out, so just you wait. By the way, Thor — you're staying the night here, aren't you?"
"Of course! Get me a room! And make it separate from my brother here — I plan to have a fresh little wench warming my bed tonight!"
At that, Sophia laughed and turned her gaze on Cloud this time.
"And you'll be staying with us too, won't you, oppa? Fair warning — in festival season like now, there isn't a vacant room to be found anywhere in town."
Cloud gave a quiet nod, and Sophia flashed a sweet smile before disappearing into the kitchen.
Once she was gone, Thor lowered his voice and leaned in.
"So? Cute, isn't she? Doesn't she seem like she'd kill you in bed? One taste of her sweet little charms and you'd melt clean away, I tell you!"
"Don't tell me — price and service aside, you came to this inn because of the owner?"
"Well, honestly, that's part of it. Wahahaha!"
A snort of laughter escaped Cloud despite himself.
He let his gaze wander idly around the room.
Amid the crowd laughing and carrying on, one group stood out sharply. Three figures in green robes, faces and bodies hidden, sat at a corner table eating their meal while practically oozing a suspicious aura.
Their builds were noticeably taller than the average patron's, which made them all the more conspicuous.
But Cloud wasn't in any mood to concern himself with them, and he turned his eyes back to Thor.
"How long has it been since your last visit here?"
"Hmm... a little over two years? About that, I'd say."
"Two years is a long stretch, yet the owner remembered you perfectly. Remembering a man who isn't even a regular."
"Wahahaha! That's because I'm quite the memorable fellow, no? But speaking of which — how about it, brother?"
"About what?"
"Two men sitting together like this ought to talk about women — that's where the fun is!"
"Such as?"
"Sophia, of course!"
"What about Sophia? She's just the innkeeper lady."
"'Innkeeper lady'? Now that's rude. Granted, she's been around the block once, but she's since lost her husband and lives alone with her daughter. A single woman returned to the market is as good as a maiden, no? And as you saw with your own eyes — does she look like an old lady to you?"
"She's an old lady all the same."
"No, no. An older woman she may be, but doesn't the way she talks and carries on remind you of some innocent, wide-eyed girl? She's so adorable in that regard that quite a few men have lined up hoping to marry her. Did she really strike no special charm in you, brother?"
"Well, I'll admit she seemed a little cute... So did you nail her, Thor?"
"What did you say? Wahahaha!"
At Cloud's blunt question, Thor's face flushed red with remarkable speed for a man of his girth.
"Hahaha! You can't just spring a question like that on a man! I'm blushing over here!"
"Judging by that face, I take it you didn't."
"She looks like easy pickings, I grant you, but the woman is an impregnable fortress!"
"Now, now, boys — your food is here!"
The moment Sophia appeared, the two of them clammed up as though nothing at all had been said.
As she set a large tray down on the table and laid out the plates one by one, Thor, who was helping her, struck up conversation.
"Your daughter must be about sixteen by now, yes?"
"She is — how flattering that you remember, Thor."
Sophia turned to Cloud.
"And what might this oppa's name be, sitting there with that sour look on his face? I'm the only one who's introduced myself so far."
"Cloud."
"Cloud, hmm... That sounds like quite a dashing name."
Cloud speared the food on the table with his fork and took a bite.
He chewed a few times, then spoke.
"Your cooking's good too."
At those words, Sophia's face lit up like a flower in bloom; she clapped her hands together and delighted like a child.
"Oh my! Thank you for saying so, Cloud! It makes me so happy when a first-time guest praises my cooking!"
Between the two of them, Thor took a long, hearty swig of beer and slammed his mug down on the table.
"Ahh~! Now that's the stuff! But what is this cozy little exchange you two have going, with me left entirely out of it? Hmm? Don't tell me you've taken a fancy to Sophia too, brother? Wahahaha!"
After that rowdy meal, Cloud paid up front for ten nights' lodging and retired to the room Sophia had shown him to. Thor, apparently not yet done drinking, had already made fast friends with the people at the neighboring table and was still raising a merry ruckus downstairs.
The moment Cloud stepped into the room, he looked around.
"Roomier than I expected. With a woman running the place single-handed, I figured it'd be some shabby little inn — business must be good."
He tossed his belongings carelessly into a corner and dove onto the bed.
The instant he lay down in comfort, all the fatigue he'd stockpiled came crashing over him at once.
"Haaah... Now I can finally settle down..."
Just how long had it been since his last real rest?
After weeks of nothing but sleeping rough, he was genuinely delighted to eat a meal like home cooking and sleep somewhere as comfortable as home, free of any worry about monsters.
"Along with which, my purse has grown considerably lighter..."
Cloud had burned through a full third of the money he'd saved up on ten nights' lodging alone. Prices in the city were truly steep. And thinking of Sophia, the innkeeper, he had to concede that the woman had real talent for making money. Flashing adorable smiles at soft touches like Thor and giving her hips a gentle sway as she fleeced them — if that counted as skill, it was skill indeed, and he found himself half admiring her for it.
"If it weren't for Thor, I'd never have set foot in an inn this expensive. If I'd shopped around, there was bound to be somewhere cheaper. Damn it all."
With the money he carried now spent, a fresh worry — that he would have to earn more — came bubbling up from inside.
So he resolved to think seriously about how he meant to live in Valois from here on.
Sleepy as he was, life's great questions came first.
After all, how was a man supposed to sleep with money troubles breathing down his neck?
He decided he would ponder it diligently tonight.
"Snoooore..."
"Whuh—?"
When he opened his eyes, it was noon of the following day.
He had slept a staggering twenty hours.
Worse, life's great questions or no, he had dropped straight off to sleep the moment he lay down the night before. Thanks to that, he hadn't managed a single thought about how he was going to live from here on, and his willpower was, in a word, garbage.
He couldn't very well spend the whole afternoon cooped up in his room, so he decided to head outside, take a leisurely look around the city, and scout out job openings while he was at it.
To pinch pennies, he had no plans for lunch; instead, he figured he'd stop by the well in the back yard and wash up before setting out. He had just left his room on the second floor and was halfway down the stairs to the ground floor when a strangely familiar voice drifted up to meet him, and his feet stopped dead.
"Tell me — might a man by the name of Cloud be lodging at this inn?"
Cloud, gripping the banister where he stood, felt a cold sweat break out down his back.
That voice was unmistakably Sylvia's.
'Wow, that girl just does not give up!'
Sneaking a look down at Sylvia from his perch on the stairs, Cloud felt a surge of anxiety at the sight of her face — and yet, at the same time, a strange warmth, almost like running into an old friend.
'The grudge of a woman is a truly fearsome thing...'
Sylvia, too, had clearly been through the wringer; her armor, once gleaming pure white, was now scratched all over and dulled beneath a thick layer of dirt. A sorry sight indeed. Watching her stand in the hall speaking with Sophia in such a state, Cloud felt an entirely unnecessary twinge of pity.
"Cloud? There's no one by that name staying at our inn, Sir Knight."
Sophia answered with an easy, practiced smile. Thanks to her, Cloud let out a breath and felt his chest loosen at last. She seemed to understand full well that running an inn meant meeting people with all manner of pasts — and that keeping their secrets was simply part of the trade.
"Then there is a matter I would entrust to you, madam."
"Of course. Anything you need, just say the word."
"I shall be sending someone here every day. Should the man Cloud ever show his face, you are to inform me through him without fail."
'What?'
Gooseflesh crawled all over Cloud's skin.
"Yes. Understood, Sir Knight."
"Should your report lead me to this Cloud, your reward shall be a generous one — ample enough to outstrip five years of this inn's earnings. Am I understood?"
"Forgive my impertinence, but might I ask what business you have with him, that you would offer such a sum?"
At Sophia's question, Sylvia's brow creased ever so slightly.
"You have no need to know that, madam."
"Yes, yes, I'm terribly sorry for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong."
There was nothing to gain from provoking the temper of one's betters, so Sophia bowed her head at once.
Sylvia pressed on.
"I have no intention of lodging. I merely wish to bathe for a short while. What would that cost?"
Sylvia's words threw Cloud into utter disarray.
'What?! She's going to bathe here and then leave?!'