Why Not Just Buy the Inn?
“Th-the thing is! I told them I’d be coming with the rest of the party soon… I mean, that’s what I said! They agreed to wait about ten minutes…”
“What are you even doing?”
“Ahem. You suddenly pulled me into a hug, so…”
He had lived as a prince of the empire. There should have been no shortage of women around him. Yet here was Ash, acting like a man with zero resistance to the opposite sex. His ears had flushed crimson all the way to the tips over absolutely nothing.
Well, it was kind of cute. Teasing him every once in a while might be fun.
“Then we’d better hurry. We’re not the only ones looking for rooms.”
“Exactly! What if someone else snatches it? Let’s go, quick! Where’s the inn?”
“That way.”
“Sprint!”
With the single-minded goal of claiming a bed, my party carved through the crowd and charged across the square.
The inn was a short distance from the plaza, but even from afar it screamed luxury. A green sign featured a white stag with silver horns, surrounded by three embedded stars.
“That’s the one! I checked over ten places, and it was the only spot with rooms left.”
“Looks promising.”
It really was an extravagant inn right from the entrance. Intricately carved wooden statues lined the doorway, and the building was easily three times the size of a mid-tier establishment. It resembled one of those grand urban mansions. Just the sign and sculptures were enough to tell me the lodging fees would be eye-watering.
On any normal day this place would be off-limits to regular travelers. It was clearly a high-end inn catering to nobility.
But I was a woman who didn’t cling to money. Besides, I had just come into some free cash. Room fees didn’t scare me.
“Charge!”
“Ooh!”
The only one who matched my excited shout was Chad. We occasionally synced up perfectly on childish antics like this.
Our high spirits didn’t last long.
The moment we stepped inside the inn, we spotted four people blocking the counter. The fact that their numbers matched ours felt extremely ominous. They were in the middle of a heated argument with the clerk.
“This is ridiculous! That person still hasn’t shown up after ten minutes! How long are we supposed to wait? We’ve been standing here the whole time!”
“That’s true, but…”
“Just give us the room! The room! How do you expect to make money running a business like this, huh? How much longer are you going to make us wait? At this point, the first person to pay gets it! We’re exhausted! Those people have probably already found another inn!”
How dare they eye my accommodation!
Fury made me clench both fists. I picked up speed and dashed into the inn.
Then I leaped at the nameless man’s back like a hornet.
I tried to deliver a spinning kick, but ended up dangling helplessly in mid-air. Someone had grabbed me by the collar.
Who else could it be?
Ash had taken up position right behind me.
“Kyaa!”
“Miss Jeanie, you can’t do that.”
“Let go!”
“Just wait a moment. Please.”
Being short really was disadvantageous in so many ways.
I flailed my legs uselessly in the air while Ash sighed, trying to calm me down.
“How about developing the habit of solving things with words first?”
“My fists are faster than words!”
“You’re a Spirit Master!”
“If I use spirit magic they’ll all die, you know?”
Fists still show mercy!
While I remained pinned in Ash’s grip, Chad and Lox rushed to the counter.
“We’re the ones who made the reservation!”
“We’ll take it right now! How much?”
“Ah! You’ve arrived. What a relief. There’s only one room left—a five-person suite. That’ll be one gold and thirty silvers.”
“…Per night?”
“Why is it so expensive!”
“It’s peak season right now, and that room is the best among our five-person options.”
A five-person room meant we’d all have to share one space.
I didn’t particularly mind.
Still dangling by my collar, I scratched my chin. Ash, apparently unaware of that detail, looked rather surprised.
While Lox and Chad hesitated at the steep price, the four travelers boldly seized the counter and shouted.
“If you don’t have the money, get lost! We’ll take it!”
“Your language is rather rude! We never said we wouldn’t pay!”
“We have money too! Ask that woman over there!”
Hello. I may be temporarily restrained in this embarrassing position, but I am in fact the financier of this party.
At Chad’s gesture, I gave a languid wave to all the eyes now turning my way.
I was eventually set back on the floor, but Ash’s hand remained firmly clamped on my collar. He seemed worried I might charge in again. Not that it mattered—by then the fight had already broken out.
“Step aside! We arrived first! So this room belongs to us!”
“Hmph, what nonsense! Strictly speaking, we were here first! You three only showed up later!”
“Our party was the very first to arrive!”
“Oh please! It’s been well past the ten minutes we agreed on!”
“Prospective guests? Since you’re disturbing the other customers, could you take your fight outside? And please let me know once you’ve reached a decision.”
Arguments between tired travelers were common. The inn employee, clearly used to this, dumped the decision on both parties and returned to his duties.
Since Ash still had me by the collar, I could only watch with my arms crossed and a disgruntled expression. As expected, the conflict quickly spiraled in the anticipated direction.
“It’s our room!”
“No, ours!”
“In that case—!”
“Duel!”
Chad raised his sheathed sword high and bellowed loud enough to shake the inn, like some kind of massive ape announcing the start of battle.
“Bring it on!”
I came from the land of knights, so this was all too familiar. In my previous world it would have been unthinkable, but here such things happened all the time.
Strength decided victory far more often than right or wrong. The outcome of a duel was the only real answer.
Duels settled a great many things—including situations exactly like this. I wasn’t surprised.
Just annoyed.
“Looks like those guys are really going to fight.”
“Want to go watch?”
“Sure, why not? We can even bet on who’ll win!”
To everyone else, duels weren’t shocking either. They were closer to an entertaining spectacle. After all, watching a fight was the next best thing to watching a fire. And since the challenge had been issued in front of this huge crowd on festival day, becoming a public attraction was inevitable.
“Ash? I have a good idea…”
“No.”
“Hear me out. It’s really peaceful. Not a single drop of blood will be spilled.”
“What is it?”
Ash narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
It was a huge misunderstanding if he thought I solved every problem by mindlessly killing everything in sight. I may not look it, but I graduated from Drike Academy—the so-called cradle of geniuses—and I was consistently top of my class in the magic department.
“We just buy the entire inn! What do you think?”
“…”
“I’ll pay.”
“Please restrain yourself.”
Tch. It was a good idea, too.
***
We headed for the nearby city wall to find a suitable dueling ground.
The more populous and wealthy a city, the more completely its walls encircled it. That also served as a measure of how prestigious the ruling noble’s domain was. So-called shabby territories usually had cities whose walls were poorly maintained.
Daniz was clearly the former. The walls surrounding it on all sides were impressively tall compared to other cities, and the section facing the mountains—where monsters frequently descended—was doubly fortified. The whole place gave off a strong sense of safety and livability.
“This spot should work.”
We soon reached a massive wall that stretched across a hill.
The area around the wall had been used as a dueling ground for longer than anyone could remember. The kingdom prohibited construction near the walls, partly because poor building techniques made collapses from natural disasters common, and partly because enemies always targeted the walls first during sieges.
In other words, most city walls were surrounded by nice, open spaces perfect for fighting.
“Duel format? Time limit? How many combatants on their side? We have three if we exclude Lox.”
“Two on our side.”
“Only two? Aren’t there four of you?”
“One’s a non-combatant and the other is injured, so two-on-two is the fairest.”
“Then we’ll have to use the consecutive-victory system.”
The consecutive-victory system was exactly what it sounded like—fighters kept battling until they lost. It was commonly used when the numbers were even, since a single win for each side would likely result in a tie.
For example, if Chad fought their first opponent and won, he wouldn’t simply rest after one victory. He’d immediately face the next opponent for a second win. If Chad failed to secure that second victory and lost, then our next fighter would step up to face the person who had beaten him.
The team whose fighter lasted until the end won. That meant careful thought had to go into the order of combatants.
Strategies like saving your strongest fighter as the final anchor, or sending your second-strongest first to rack up as many wins as possible, were essential.
In a two-on-two duel, it would mostly come down to a battle of wits over the lineup.
“You have an injured person on your side, yet you’re not even considering yielding the room?”
“Not at all! We also have a physically weak non-combatant and a foul-tempered personality casualty.”
Was that personality casualty referring to me, by any chance?
Does he have a death wish?
There was no need to limit it to two-on-two. I could just send him straight to the afterlife right now… Oh, right. He was an ally.
What a shame he wasn’t an enemy. Let’s definitely meet as opponents in the next life, Chad.
“On our side, it’ll be me and this friend. What about you?”
“We’ll…”
If they were sending two, it would obviously be Ash and Chad. Lox wasn’t a combatant, and I couldn’t be bothered. Besides, I wasn’t even officially part of Ash’s party.
“Ah, and this friend is a mage, so I’d appreciate it if you matched that.”
Everyone’s eyes—including the spectators who had followed us from the inn—turned to me.
I had just sat down on a rock, ready to watch like it was none of my business, and now I openly displayed my displeasure at the unexpected nomination.
“Why me?”
“You look like a mage too. Are you not?”
“I’m a Spirit Master.”
My outfit definitely leaned toward mage. I carried no metal pieces whatsoever, and my long cloak practically announced to the world that I wasn’t suited for physical labor.
“Same thing.”
“They’re completely different!”
“Anyway, if you have any conscience at all, you’ll make sure that woman fights.”
“Ugh, how annoying. I said we should just buy the place.”
Grumbling, I walked toward the dueling area.
A mage fighting a swordsman was clearly unfair. The conditions heavily favored the swordsman, and the general etiquette for duels was to match similar professions whenever possible.
When I was called out, Chad began offering the other side his deepest condolences.