Now that we had handed our eighteen horses off to the bayards, the prince and I were free from the extra responsibility of taking care of them.
Even if we had continued journeying with them, we would’ve had to sell them off eventually. Letting the horses live freely in the spirit realm was a far better choice.
So now, we had set our sights on finding a settlement with an inn.
To ensure he didn’t fall ill, it was important to let the prince sleep indoors on a bed now and again. At a place like that, he wouldn’t have to worry about the rain or wind.
Roughing it outdoors for an extended time was tough. We needed to constantly be on the alert in case of a monster attack, and the hard, lumpy earth made it difficult to rest well.
I guess I could’ve just magically manifested a bed from my Pocket Dimension to sleep on, even out in the wild, but a random bed appearing in the great outdoors was so insanely improbable that the sight would definitely blow people’s minds. If a total stranger happened to catch sight of it, they’d probably spin that yarn for decades.
Besides, if word got out about that, the adventurer’s guild would probably find it strange—so strange that they’d investigate. And we needed to avoid being caught at all costs.
So, for now, we focused on passing through the woods to find a settlement.
We eventually did...but unlike Helenna, which had been a large town, we came across a mid-sized farming village.
Green fields of juvenile wheat stretched across the plains. Situated at the center of these fields sat a village surrounded by a wooden wall. Its gates were left wide open; it didn’t seem like they were demanding a toll either.
The plaza in the center of the little village was filled with people and bustling with activity. We must’ve arrived on one of their regular market days.
Wald looked out over the crowd. “Do you think we’ll be able to find an inn with a vacancy?”
A passing woman caught his murmur and called back to us. “You’ll probably be fine!”
This was the last day of the market, so the visitors from neighboring villages would apparently be heading home tonight instead of staying the night. Which meant that even the inn that was smack-dab in the middle of all this activity and had been completely booked would be emptying out by tonight.
“Let’s reserve a room at the inn and then have a look around the market,” I suggested.
The young prince had been looking around the market in fascination. When he heard my suggestion, he flashed me a smile like a blossom coming into full bloom. This must have been the first time His Highness had ever been to a busy market.
Wald grasped one of the straps hanging from the pack on my shoulders and held it tight; he must’ve thought to do that as a precaution against getting separated. It was an adorable choice.
The first inn we stopped at was still booked full for tonight.
We just had to try our luck somewhere else. Despite being a village, this place was busy enough that it had three whole inns. Impressive.
The next inn, which was one grade lower than the previous, had some free rooms for tonight. Apparently, they had both private rooms and shared rooms available.
The larger shared rooms had beds all lined up with utterly no personal space at all. Considering that we were checking out the inns from the best to worst, the remaining inn probably had similar arrangements—or worse.
For the safety of my charge, there wasn’t even a choice. We’d have to take a private room.
For a bed in the shared room, the inn was charging twenty gold per person. But a single private room was seventy. They didn’t provide meals either.
When I asked to book a private room, the inn proprietress followed up with another question.
“Are you looking for a good time? We can arrange for someone to come up.”
“Huh?”
I guess they mediate hookups here...
“Uh, let me think...” I mumbled in understanding as I broke out into a cold sweat.
This was a small village, after all. They wouldn’t have dedicated establishments for prostitution here.
For a one-night stand, it was good enough to take a partner to an inn as an escort. And this particular establishment offered a service to mediate this, cutting down on the time and effort needed to find one yourself. The women probably weren’t professionals—they were likely widows in the village and such. The private rooms here were probably often used for these hookups.
The previous inn we’d tried had been family-oriented, so it probably would’ve been safe enough to stay in the communal room there. But here? If we weren’t careful, there was a chance we’d bump into someone willing to get raunchy, even in a public space.
Explaining that I was with my brother, I refused the innkeeper’s offer and took the key from her. I had the impression that the proprietress was trying to suppress an oddly knowing laugh at my response.
Hmm... Maybe she thought I was too chicken to have fun.
Well, whatever. Better that than having someone barge into our room. As long as I locked the door, I figured everything should be fine.
Placating myself with the thought, I climbed up the dimly lit staircase to our room despite the fact that it was still the middle of the afternoon.
“Hey, um, Wal?”
Once I arrived at the room and unlocked it, I called back to the prince—he’d been following behind me.
“This inn also doubles as a place for casual encounters, so...there’s only one bed in the room.”
I’d said that before I had actually checked the room, talking as I opened the door, but the room was exactly as I’d expected. The bed was a semi-double, which was narrow for two but probably still bigger than the singles that likely occupied a shared room.
“We’ll have to share the bed; it’d be a shame for one of us to sleep on the floor when we paid for a perfectly good bed to use. Getting a good night’s sleep will give us our money’s worth,” I told him.
“O-Okay.”
“I swear once more that I won’t touch you or anything, so you can rest easy. Just so you know, this sort of thing happens even in the shared rooms as well—if a lot of people happen to be staying at the inn, then the beds would have to be split between people as well.”
“I trust you, Kariya.”
“Thanks. And you know, the good thing about sharing a bed is that I only need to reach out to grab hold of you. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor, but if, for some reason, we end up being attacked by an enemy, I’ll be close enough to immediately Jump with you to escape.”
“Thank you...” Wald mumbled.
“That’s nothing to thank me for,” I said with a laugh.
I stepped into the room. First, I opened the window and used a little wind magic to cycle out the air inside. I couldn’t help but feel a little concerned about it, knowing what this room was ordinarily used for.
I set my pack down next to the wall and stripped out of my traveling gear.
The prince did the same next to me, removing his cloak.
Putting only my wallet into my jacket pocket, I suggested that we head to the market now.