The Incubus Hides His Kindness #6
The Incubus Hides His Kindness #6
Only an adventurer who had never once spent a single coin on bread could cast a stone at me right now.
How much had I suffered in that cramped room for two whole years?
Even if I indulged in the luxury of moving instead of gearing up, I alone could claim innocence in this.
A better living space!
Finer household goods!
For adventurers in this world, those were the ultimate goals. Every adventurer secretly harbors a comfort-chasing leech in their heart. We all do this to make a living — it's the ones who gear up first who are the abnormal ones.
'And come to think of it, I'm not really being extravagant anyway.'
I was a mage, so changing rooms felt wholly justified.
Conducting magical training in a better environment naturally boosts efficiency.
Even if Rebecca pressed me on it, I was confident I could refute her without breaking a sweat.
After returning to the inn.
I immediately spoke to Brown, who was seated in the lobby.
The innkeeper was guarding the lobby all alone.
"Brown, I was hoping to change rooms."
"You mean vacating your room? Do you have someplace else lined up?"
Brown seemed to have mistaken my intent and thought I was planning to move to a different inn.
But I had no intention of leaving this place just yet.
"I'm not going to another inn. I simply want to move to a better room here."
"If it's a room nicer than your current one, we've got plenty. Still, if you're going to spend the coin, wouldn't it be smarter to just move to an inn with better facilities altogether?"
"I'd rather not switch inns and risk some annoying trouble starting up. Don't you remember? When I first got here and had that fight with the couple next door."
"Ah... I remember."
Brown nodded as if he understood exactly what I meant. As an incubus, changing my residence was no simple matter. Switch inns and I'd surely face all sorts of irritating misunderstandings from the other tenants again. Moving to a better place to live shouldn't have to mean inviting unnecessary stress.
Of course, it's not that I had zero desire to leave this inn.
I could just save up a lump sum later on and buy a whole house outright. Unlike the modern world, home prices in this medieval fantasy land hadn't spiraled into sheer madness.
Until then, I was upgrading rooms so I could live like a proper human being.
"Do you have any rooms you'd recommend?"
"There are premium guest rooms on the third floor. The monthly lodging fee is four silver. Would you like to inspect the third floor yourself?"
"I would. It's better to choose after seeing the place with my own eyes."
I followed Brown up to the inn's third floor.
A hallway decorated with ornaments and such caught my eye — fitting for a floor with premium rooms. Brown showed me the empty rooms on the third floor one by one. For rooms that cost silver coins for lodging, each one was quite spacious for a single occupant.
"The one that looks best is... this one, I think."
I picked the room at the very end of the third-floor hallway.
It was the largest, and it seemed like I'd worry less about noise when training my magic. But for some reason, Brown wore an astonished expression when he saw my choice. I shot a question at that highly suspicious look.
"What is it? Don't tell me the room has some kind of defect?"
"Nope. I swear on my balls the room is problem-free."
A man swearing on his own balls?
That assurance let me solidify my choice with peace of mind.
"Then why are you so surprised?"
"A new tenant is scheduled to arrive tomorrow in the room directly across from this one. They'll be your neighbor."
"There's a new tenant besides me?"
It was a statement I couldn't help but take an interest in. Nothing could be shittier than living next to some prick with a nasty personality. Especially if they hated incubi — I was prepared to move rooms immediately if that were the case.
I asked Brown tensely.
"Who is it? They're not some weirdo, are they?"
"...Not a weirdo! I can guarantee that much."
For some reason, Brown was glancing at me sideways with an embarrassed expression. Was he bullshitting me right now? Was the person moving in next door some kind of psychopath?
"What's their name?"
I casually asked Brown for the guest's name. Knowing the name would let me roughly guess the gender too. As an incubus, having a man next door would be better for me than a woman.
"Re."
"Re?"
It was the moment Brown parted his lips.
Brown's eyes met mine, and he hurriedly averted his gaze as he spoke.
"Re, Reconcelandamia von Alkerk the Third!"
"...What?! Shit, is it a noble?"
"A ma-man of sturdy build! I hear he's come up to the city to prepare to become a knight! Has a bold personality, so he likely won't pay you much mind! Try to be good neighbors to each other! Hohoho!"
A country noble youth who had come up to the city?!
This was a neighbor with a far more tremendous pedigree than I'd expected!
A name long as hell, plenty enough to pressure a pedigree-less incubus like me. Still, having a noble might not necessarily be a bad thing. If we got friendly, maybe I could leech some scraps off him or something?
"Understood. Thank you for the detailed information, Brown."
"Ho, hoho! Aren't you one of my regulars? It's only natural I'd look after you! Go on and move your luggage to the upper floor quickly! I'll hand you the key in the lobby!"
Brown hurriedly dragged me to the lobby and then handed over the room key. Grateful for the swift handling of matters, I settled the lodging fee on the spot.
The monthly fee was four silver, but that posed no real problem.
At this point, I could cover that amount of money by doing a single quest.
"I'll give you the key to my old room later. After I've moved all my luggage to the upper floor."
After finishing my business with Brown, I went up to my room and began moving my things. It was still late afternoon, so there seemed to be plenty of time to move everything by nightfall. I was just moving to a room one floor above, after all.
"Huff."
I carried my luggage piece by piece up the stairs to the third-floor guest room.
Around midnight, having completed the move, I collapsed face-down onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
*
Yesterday, I finished the quest and completed the move without a hitch.
I intended to sleep in lazily all day today, but I was forced to open my eyes early in the morning. Because a racket kept coming from the hallway.
Likely, the person who'd be living next door was moving their own luggage.
"Recon, you son of a bitch."
I buried my face in the pillow and let out a hate-filled groan.
What was the name of that noble youth living next door again?
It was something really long, but nothing stuck in my head except Recon.
A name that brought crispy fried chicken to mind.
Moving luggage since the crack of dawn — did that noble youth have no concept of conscience? Was this him asserting dominance over the neighbors from day one like a true noble? The thumping noises made sleep absolutely impossible.
"What kind of bastard is it?!"
I reluctantly hauled myself out of bed.
I wanted to at least see the face of whoever was causing such a ruckus. As a noble, I couldn't very well treat him carelessly, but I could at least politely make a request, couldn't I?
We'd be seeing each other's faces going forward anyway. No harm in getting a word in early.
Creeeak!
I opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
In that instant, the guest room directly across also swung open and someone burst out.
The moment our eyes met, I could do nothing but gape in shock.
The person who would be my neighbor looked equally floored.
"Re, Rebecca?"
"Luke?!"
Because a familiar red-haired swordswoman was standing in the hallway. The noble youth Recon was nowhere to be found — instead, Rebecca had appeared. With her arms full of sundry items, no less.
I asked Rebecca with a stunned expression.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"W-well, you see."
Rebecca trembled like she'd been caught red-handed doing something bad.
She stared at me with a look of disbelief.
"Why are you here? Your room is on the floor below! Don't tell me you're thieving?"
"I switched rooms yesterday! The hell do you mean thieving! Do I look like that kind of person?"
"O-oh, I see, you moved rooms too."
"Too, you say?"
"Hhk."
Startled, Rebecca clapped her hand over her own mouth. But I could already roughly grasp how things were unfolding from just those two words. I was slowly getting the picture, but there was no need to exhaust my brain forcing a conclusion.
"Hey."
I crooked my finger at Rebecca.
Meaning for her to come into my room.
"As your boyfriend, I'd like to hear how this all came about."
"Haa."
I didn't really hear a reply, but Rebecca let out a sigh and nodded. Then, with her shoulders drooping, she meekly walked into my room.
A moment later.
Kneeling inside the room, Rebecca reported every detail of how it came to this.
Explaining in formal speech, she kept her head bowed deeply like a criminal.
"Uh, beloved Luke. Honestly, from the day we finished the subjugation quest, I had been planning to move into this inn."
"You've been planning to move here since then? Why the hell? No matter how I look at it, the facilities at your old place were better."
I recalled the inn Rebecca had originally been staying at.
The room sizes were similar, but the facilities were far more polished than at my inn. If she wanted to move, wouldn't picking a nicer room within the same inn have been better?
"The facilities are better there, sure. But my boyfriend is here, isn't he."
"Wh-what did you say?"
My heart fluttered for a moment.
Was she saying she'd moved to this inn just for me?
Because she wanted to live in the same place as the person she was dating?
At my shocked reaction, Rebecca shouted with her face turning red.
Her clumsy formal speech broke off right then and there.
"I-it's not that kind of meaning — you and I are a fixed party! Having to visit this place every single time we do a quest was a hassle. If we're going to move together from now on anyway, it's better to just live in the same building. Was I wrong?"
"You're not wrong at all, you insincere Rebecca."
"Urk."
I agreed with her, but I fixed Rebecca with a lukewarm gaze.
Because I knew all too well that she had a personality prone to loneliness.
No matter what she said out loud, deep inside, she'd undoubtedly been missing me.
"D-don't look at me with those eyes!"
"What eyes?"
"Eyes like you're looking at an abandoned pet!"
Still kneeling, Rebecca bristled with irritation. But today, I wasn't the kind of person who'd just sit back and take her anger. I quickly threw a sharp question at Rebecca.
"So why did you hide it from me then? Quite some time has passed since the subjugation quest ended. What exactly is the reason you kept the move a secret from me all this time?"
As I asked, I finally realized what that thing Rebecca had referred to as a 'secret' yesterday actually was. Hadn't she said there was something she absolutely wanted to do with her reward money? As it turned out, that thing was moving inn rooms, just like me.
The moment I realized that fact, my heart felt immensely at ease.
Because I'd realized that our newbie adventurer also had the makings of a creature-comfort-seeker.
So then, just what was the reason she kept the move a secret?
It wasn't really something she needed to hide, was it?
'Was she embarrassed about pursuing comfort?'
Rebecca stammered as she opened her mouth.
"To surprise you."
"That's it? That's everything?"
I stared at her with a look of disbelief.
Rebecca pressed her forehead to the floor and spoke.
"...Yeah!"
She seemed to mean it, by all appearances.
Just how crazy about pranks do you have to be to cook up a scheme like this? I was starting to genuinely worry about Rebecca's character. It was just as I was about to give Rebecca a light piece of advice.
"Oh, right!"
Rebecca snapped her head up.
And then she started rummaging through the pockets of her leather pants. A moment later, what emerged in Rebecca's hand was a small key. A key nearly identical in size to the one Brown had given me.
"H-here, take this."
Rebecca carefully held the key out to me.
Having taken the key on reflex, I couldn't help but question it.
"It's the key to my room. A spare key."
A spare key?
Did she mean a key that could open the room directly across?
To Rebecca's room?
"Holy shiiiiit."
The moment I grasped the meaning of the key, my face flushed burning hot. Because I couldn't stop all manner of lewd fantasies from rushing into my head about the implications of her handing over this key.
Mana charging!
I had essentially just obtained a free pass for mana charging!
"W-what on earth...?"
I opened my mouth with a flustered expression.
Rebecca answered with her cheeks flushed red.
"You can come hang out in my room sometimes! I'll give you permission!"