Inn Management (1)
“By the way… why were you dying? No—before that, what’s your name?”
My immediate questions about my own condition had faded… well, a few still lingered, but I figured even a dragon would have trouble explaining them, so I decided to ask about her first.
“It would be better to show you than try to put it into words.”
With that, she displayed her status window.
Name
Grace Topaz
Job
—
Title
—
Traits
—
Skills
—
“……”
I looked at it, then asked the dragon,
“Why is everything except your name blank?”
“…There’s a lot tied to an embarrassing past, so I hid it. I wasn’t ready yet… Ah, of course, if Master wishes, I can swallow my pride and show you everything.”
“No… that’s fine.”
I was curious, but learning it slowly wouldn’t hurt.
“Grace? Topaz? Which one’s your name?”
“Grace is my name. Topaz is… if I put it in Master’s terms, something like a name inherited from my parents?”
…A family name, then?
“Ah, but it isn’t a surname. My siblings don’t use the name Topaz.”
Among dragons, only one being in any given age is permitted to bear the name Topaz.
“In that sense… it might be better to think of it as a unique title or rank.”
“……”
So Grace was a special dragon even among dragons?
I had contracted with a dragon like that, and it still didn’t feel real.
Her careful explanations for my sake were welcome, but something else nagged at me.
“You… seem to know an awful lot about me—no, about the world I came from before I transferred here.”
She didn’t read my memories or something, did she?
“That’s the effect of the contract. To help us understand each other better, our knowledge was shared.”
Even this maid uniform I’m wearing was made based on the maid outfits in Master’s knowledge.
That was what Grace said.
…I just assumed clothes like that were common in this world. She was wearing them because she took them from my knowledge?
No—more importantly, our knowledge had been shared?
“…So that means…”
“Yes. Master has taken in a certain amount of my knowledge as well.”
Is that so?
I don’t really feel it…
“That part will come to you naturally with time. More importantly, Master…”
Grace’s eyes lit up as she asked,
“How about trying out your skill?”
“…My skill?”
“Yes. The skill called Inn Management.”
Ah, that one?
I didn’t even know how to use it.
“Please try it quickly. I’m not the type who pursues knowledge the way Sister Aquamarine or Sister Peridot do, but I’m still curious about the unique skills of people from other worlds.”
Some rather significant names had just slipped past, but I was curious about my own skill too, so I decided to give it a try.
“Inn Management.”
I spoke the skill name out loud.
Nothing happened.
“……”
“Do you see anything?”
“No…”
I was simply embarrassed.
At least the status window had actually appeared, so the shock had outweighed the shame—but with the skill giving zero reaction, heat rose to my face.
Grace, however, didn’t find anything strange about it.
In this world, is saying a skill’s name out loud the normal way to use it?
“If nothing happened, it must be a skill with conditions attached. Given that it’s Inn Management, I thought simply being inside the inn would be enough… but apparently not…”
“…Conditions, huh…”
Listening to Grace, I had a rough idea of what the condition might be. I stood up from my seat.
“Are you sure you should be getting up?”
“My body still feels heavy… but I’m fine.”
“I’ll support you.”
I didn’t refuse Grace’s help.
Leaning on her, I left the room and went down to the first floor of the inn.
“…Here.”
The first floor held a dining hall that doubled as a tavern.
Naturally, there was also a counter for taking orders and handling payments.
With Grace’s help I stood in front of the counter, and—
“Oh… so this is Master’s ability.”
Just as I’d expected, that had been the condition. A window floated into view before me.
Judging by her reaction, Grace could see the window as well.
Let’s see…
In the most prominent position on the window, the words Inn Level 0 were inscribed.
I had no level of my own, yet the inn did…
And because the inn’s level was zero rather than one, most of the functions appeared to be locked.
Most functions locked
“Master. Let’s start with this.”
Grace quickly scanned the window floating in front of me and pointed to one button.
The button to upgrade the inn.
I had already decided that nothing would happen unless I raised the inn’s level, so I nodded and pressed it.
Rumble…
The inn began to shake.
…Wait a second.
Don’t tell me upgrading the inn means demolishing the old one and building a new one from scratch?
If so, we were in danger.
If we didn’t get out fast, the whole place would collapse—!
“It’s all right.”
Grace was the one who calmed me as I prepared to flee.
“The inn is changing rapidly and the vibrations are strong, but they aren’t affecting us. The building itself will simply improve—it won’t harm any living things inside.”
“…Really?”
“And even if it did affect living things, I’m here, aren’t I?”
From the way she said it, I could feel a blind, absolute affection directed at me.
Does a Dragon’s Contract let you feel not only knowledge but emotions like this as well?
Which would mean Grace can feel my emotions too?
Even the fact that I don’t fully trust her yet?
“It’s only been a few hours since Master and I met… no, from Master’s perspective, not even an hour has passed since you transferred to this world. I understand why you’d be wary.”
“……”
So she could feel it after all.
“But we have plenty of time… so let’s get to know each other slowly.”
I gave a slow nod.
“Ah—come to think of it, you never answered my question.”
“Pardon?”
“How did you end up crashing in front of this inn looking half-dead?”
“Ah…”
Grace’s expression hardened.
…Did I just hit a sore spot?
“It’s fine. It’s embarrassing, but nothing I need to hide.”
Embarrassing?
“Five hero parties came to the lair where I lived.”
So this world has heroes too…
Given that Grace had said I was the first transfer she had ever seen, they probably weren’t summoned from other worlds.
“I lost to those hero parties, took heavy wounds, and had to flee. In the process I had no choice but to run all the way to the Dragon Canyon to ask other dragons for help… but I couldn’t find any, and just as I was dying I sensed a presence that wasn’t a monster.”
So I threw myself toward that presence with everything I had left.
“……”
And that presence belonged to me, huh.
“Honestly… if I’d still been in my prime, I could have driven off any number of hero parties without a single scratch…”
The word “prime” made it sound as though a great deal of time had passed since then, but I decided not to point that out.
What caught my attention instead was—
“What did you say the place name was?”
“Pardon?”
“You said some kind of canyon, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes. The Dragon Canyon. More than half of all the dragons in the world live here. That’s why humans rank it among the most dangerous places on the planet.”
“……”
Spawn-point status, for real?
As if reading my thoughts, Grace spoke in a reassuring tone.
“Ah, don’t worry. I have many dragons I’m close with, so if I persuade them properly, none of them will attack Master.”
“…Uh… right…”
In other words, if I hadn’t saved you and formed a contract, I could have been attacked by other dragons at any moment.
Saving you really was a stroke of divine genius.
My trust in Grace rose another notch.
“Ah, it looks like it’s almost finished.”
While we were talking, the inn’s upgrade was wrapping up.
Starting with the counter where we stood, the floor, walls, and ceiling all transformed into something that looked brand-new.
Of course, “new” only compared to before—there were still a few scuffs and spots that looked like they might creak underfoot.
Probably because the level was still only one.
Even so, it was far better than level zero.
The first-floor dining hall changed a lot too.
Where there had once been old, neglected chairs and tables, there were now chairs and tables that still showed their age but were at least clean.
The rooms on the second floor had probably changed as well.
“Master. Master.”
“Hm?”
“Please do this next.”
I had been looking around the interior when Grace’s words brought my attention back to the inn’s status window.
Several things had unlocked upon reaching level 1.
What Grace wanted me to do was—
“Kitchen upgrade?”
“Yes. Earlier I saw it was covered in dust and cobwebs. I can’t possibly prepare Master’s meals in a place like that. But if Master upgrades the kitchen, it should become spotless, right?”
Hearing that—
Growl…
I realized I hadn’t eaten a single thing since transferring to this world.
I immediately pressed the button to upgrade the kitchen from level 0 to level 1.
One side of the first floor was covered by something like a cloth, and from inside came the sounds of construction.
…So no food until that work is finished?
“Master, don’t focus on that—focus on the status window. It should help you forget your hunger for a little while.”
“I’m not so hungry I can’t stand it.”
Still, as Grace said, a few other options had become available besides the kitchen upgrade.
And the one that caught our attention was—
Checking the details, it wasn’t about summoning employees—it was closer to forming a contract so that other people could use the inn’s functions.
“Master. You know what I’m about to ask, don’t you?”
“You want me to hire you as staff?”
“Yes. From the looks of it, the limit will expand automatically as the inn’s level rises, and you should be able to cancel the contract whenever you like. Besides, right now I’m the only one you can hire, aren’t I? Let’s test what an employee can actually do.”
Her tone made it sound like she’d played this kind of game many times before.
Given that she’d received my knowledge, it made sense.