I really didn’t let Gale’s comment go to my head. Instead, I just urge him to take us to the inn. He didn’t even bother pursuing the topic too because it sounds stupid even for him.

After for a while, we arrive at an inn that… has several floors…carpet are even laid out in the entrance going through the door and eventually… leads to the reception. The door is made of glass too…

I’m looking forward to a high-quality bed.

“Welcome to one of the top tier inns in the city. The Marigold! This inn is a little pricey, though…”

“Un… money is not a problem…”

I got lots of it from Priscilla. This money is supposed to be money to buy a boat but the circumstances changed and I am now using it with my own interest. Good thing this currency of this money is universal too…

As we entered the inn, the girl in the reception greets us.

“Hello, Welcome to the—Oh my! It’s Lady Casablanca and Lady Hibiscus!”

“Ann. Hello!”

“Gale too! Thank you for recommending people at our inn.”

“Ehehe… For you Ann.”

“That’s sweet of you. Oh, who might this one gentleman be?”

“I’m Susanoo… best regards…”

The elf girl in the reception is Ann. She is tall and has a blond hair with emerald eyes. Generic I must say, but nevertheless, a beauty befitting of their race. She is a bit tall. Her height reaches up to my chin. Her hair is neatly rolled up in a side bun. She wears business attire like befitting of her profession.

I probably need to proceeds the talk now on my own.

“So… Ann… give us the best room…”

“Eh? Eh?!”

“What’s…the matter?”

“Well, most of the people who are the first time in our inn ask the price first about the rooms before making any decisions…”

“Is that so? I really don’t mind the price…how about you two?”

I ask the twins about it. They are awfully quiet.

Ah… I see… They are taught not to meddle in adult stuff or do not interrupt a conversation and do not speak anything if they are not being asked to.

“Un. There is no problem for us too, Susanoo.”

“As long as we can sleep, anything is fine.”

“I see… we are going to rent three rooms, how about it?”

“”???””

“Eh??”

“Three?”

“We can sleep in one room with two beds. Casablanca and I usually sleep together.”

“…”

Okay… it’s decided…

“Ann…two rooms please if you may, both only needs one bed.”

“”Eh?!””

I’m fine sleeping in a single room with them. But I have to consider that they are growing children and they should have more awareness to the opposite gender.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Besides… I have already a plan set out, so using a single room for myself is more convenient.

“I understand. The foods are already included, you may choose yourself in you want it to be delivered in your room or you are going to eat in the dining room. Also, since you are using the premium guest room, it already has a bath installed to each of it so you do not need to go the public baths that are used publicly by the other guests here.”

“I see now… so… let me pay now…”

“Un…well… you see… we kind of going to give Lady Casablanca and Lady Hibiscus an exception. Since Lady Hinoki has helped us out so much. I even don’t have to ask the owner of this inn you know. Frankly, it’s an honor to have the Ladies stay at our inn.”

“Un. Understandable. I know where you are getting at, but I want to pay properly so don’t hesitate.”

“I see, that’s commendable of you… but still…”

“Having one premium rooms for free for these two is fine, but I feel like I’m extorting this inn if I don’t pay properly myself. After all, I am just an escort.”

“That’s generous of you…but, still… having the companion of the ladies pay too is…”

Usually… the one who is paying is the one bartering for a lower price and the one giving the service will try to defend or raise the price to a satisfying level.

But this situation…is completely reverse… doing a reverse psychology now wouldn’t work. 

Honestly, I want to pay and experience how good their services are. Then I will say to myself “money spent well” or something like that.

And it’s not like I have a financial problem as I said earlier…

Then I will do it like this…

I reach out to my coat pocket and grab a gold coin and fling it to the reception desk and urge her to guide us… but…

“EH?! EH?!! Wait please!”

“You see… this talk will take a while so I have taken the initiative to pay. Problem?”

“There is a lot problem you kno- I mean yes, there is a problem. This gold coin is too much for us!”

“Hou?”

“The price of the premium guest room is one big silver coin bu—“

“Then I’ll be expecting the change in my room later.”

“U-understood…”

She grovels in defeat. Gale is laughing at the scene. How dare you…

“Hahaha! Then that’s that huh! I shall be taking my leave! Thanks for the laugh!”

And he left.

After that, we are escorted to our rooms. It was on the highest floor, the fourth floor. The twins look like they want to object or say something. I ignore it since it's better this way.

Time passes and sleep time came…

I’m fully awake…the night is my domain. My body is awake at nighttime which is my natural reaction to my environment. 

And fair enough, the bed that I was lying in is comfortable. It’s like I’m sleeping in a bundle of heavenly cotton filled with warmth and glorious fluffiness! It’s so blissful that I reached euphoria!

Money well spent!

After indulging in the bed for a while, I stand up and ready myself.

My objectives for the night are mapping and information gathering as well as cleaning up if there are some suspicious people around.

Moving around is easy because I can just use my mini warp to go place by place.

I think I’ll start at the outer wall of this city.

I bypass the window with the mini warp.

Then I keep using my warp to travel from roof to roof.

I already have the sighting of the gate earlier. There, Gale is on watch together with other guards. What a diligent guy. They seem to be talking about something.

I erase my presence and approach them.

“Good thing Lady Casablanca and Lady Hibiscus are safe.”

“Yeah… the adventurers that they had when they left the city are eerie… I should have stopped them at that time…”

“You can’t do anything about that now Gale. I wonder what happened to those guys, though.”

“You’re right. Well, their new escort looks unreliable.”

“Oh? But you said something earlier.”

“Yes… his presence…how do I say this… it feels like… even if I train for five hundred more years… there is no way to beat him… like presence…”

“Hmm…how do you say so?”

“It’s like, he already bath in battle and blood itself.”

“I see… that’s certainly is scary coming from you…a talented knight who should have been the commander.”

“Speaking of which…how is the commander?”

“The talks with the dwarves seem to have broken down… I am not certain anymore if we can keep this peaceful life…”

“I see… war is inevitable…”

“Shhh… we don’t want any citizens getting a hold of our current predicament in foreign affairs…”

“I see… sorry…”

“By the way have you---“

The talk now became pointless…

A war huh…

There are some questions that rises…but for now… I need more information about it...

I want to check the vicinity of the walls outside…

Creating a mini warp to bypass this thick wall of trees is easy for me…

.

.

.

I feel like a drilled open an invisible hole… barrier?

I wish not…

For now… I can’t do anything about it…

I dash through around the walls…

It’s really just a wall of tree… there is a gate here too… it seems that the gate earlier is the north point gate… this one is the west point gate…

How about deeper in the woods?

I won’t get lost now though… I just have to follow the scent of the familiar people inside the city.

I run through the thick and thin trees. It’s easy for me to see in the darkness... but… my vision is not this clear as I remember… anyway… I have good visibility of the whole forest…

And then… I pick up a multiple scent… scent of blood with hostility and bad intentions…

I follow it stealthily… I sneak through the bushes… I climb the trees and jumps around…

What I saw are…

Dwarves… and some humans, beast kin and demon kin, there’s a lot of them…

What are they doing here?”

Ah…the other races except the dwarves are mercenaries. They look like a group of people who do dirty jobs…

I am no different from them technically…but I am different fundamentally…

They are just here for blood and money…

I can sense their greed and overflowing blood lust…

I attentively listen to the plan they are devising…

“Heh. Those thieving elves, they’ll be up for a s’rprise!”

“What’s the plan Gerid?”

“Plan? W’re planting tis teleportin tool at their northen gates.”

“How?”

“Ya see these hoodlums aight? They’ll be causin havoc and kill people close by in the nort’n gates while we plants tis’ tools.”

“Ahaha! So when the war comes.”

“Zat right! Our army will crush the whole city from both sides!”

“What an evil plan… well… this is for our own benefits”

“Yahaha! W’ve been eyei’n on the elves, resources for quite awhile now!”

“Oh”

“To hell with those damn devils! If can get those spirit energies and stones and use them freely, our techniques with refining weap’n and armors will improve leaps and bounds!”

“And we gunna save the world! The dwarven race who excels at having ti best weap’ns and armors!”

“Yahahaha! So, let’s start tis’ operation! Grab on yar weapons. We will be having a night raid!”

“””OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!”””

This is bad…

From their count… there are about two hundred fifty plus mercenaries backing them and the dwarves are about fifty or something…

This is really bad…

I don’t want to get really sweaty…

I just had a bath too…

Haa…

Let’s get this over with…

A mass murder in the forest will be unnoticed as long as no one escapes… 

[Susanoo’s kill count: 626]