- VOL 1 – THOSE UNITED BY THE FATE -
Chapter 4: Laying The Foundation (6/9)
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Maybe her skin and hair were clean, but her clothes were covered in mud and dirt. She also sweated a lot from tonight's action.
"What are you looking at? I said thank you, do you want a reward or something?"
Rina got up from the bed and slowly approached the boy in front of her. She wanted to jump into the bathroom when she realized how dirty she looked, but she wasn't going to do that with Shin standing there. When she was in front of the boy, she bent down slightly to pick up the buckets from the floor. But the boy wouldn't let her pick them up and grabbed them himself.
"I can do that much!"
The short woman was angry for some reason, but Shin's words and smile calmed her down.
"Don't push yourself too hard. Even if it doesn't look like much on the outside, hard blows can be even more dangerous than cuts. You won't know how much damage you've taken right away. And since you are not an employee at the inn anymore, count this as one of the buckets you brought to my room."
The boy took quick steps to the corner of the room. The bathtub here was a rather large stone tub. Shin was shocked by what he saw, but he quickly regained his composure and emptied the buckets. Then he turned to the woman waiting next to him.
Her earlier anger was gone and she was very calm. She seemed to be lost in thought, but she woke up when the boy called out to her.
"Ahem. As I said, get a good rest. You won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow anyway..."
"I couldn't hear you, what did you say?"
"I asked if you wanted me to stay and watch, you seemed so curious last time."
The short woman had asked curiously, but the answer made her blush up to her ears and she stormed out, chasing the boy out of the room.
"W-WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU PERVERT!"
The chestnut-haired boy had successfully fled the room without taking any blows. Without waiting for her, he quickly closed the door behind him and left her alone.
"Now... I guess I can eat while I wait for Minato. Would it be too much if I brought some for Rina-san? Maybe I should just request it from a maid."
He did as he thought and went to his room, changed into clean clothes, and went down to the ground floor. He ordered food from a maid. The maid was a little surprised to hear the room number, but she approved without much question.
Shin made his way to the back of the inn. The inn was quite full today, but at least there was no noise pollution like the day before. He found an empty table, but just as he was about to sit down, he heard someone calling him and turned his head.
"Shin! Come and eat with us!"
Dom was sitting at one of the tables with a couple of middle-aged men who looked like they had a lot of life experience. When Dom saw the chestnut-haired boy, he invited him to join them. Shin decided to accept the offer without much thought and headed for that table. There was plenty of food and alcohol ready on the table.
"Thank you Dom-san."
Shin smiled and sat down at the pleasant table and started chatting with the others.
"This boy is quite interesting, gentlemen. I think there is something genuine about him, unlike your stories full of bullshit."
Everyone at the table burst into laughter and one of them said to Dom.
"You, who stays at the inn all day, have some pretty good stories too!"
There was another burst of laughter. Shin scratched his head with his hand while Dom turned to him and smiled gently, then raised the glass in front of him.
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‘Good place to kill time, actually...’
Shin, realizing that he hadn't sat and wasted time chatting or having fun in a while, joined in the cheer of the others at the table.
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"RhaAHrh..."
The chestnut-haired boy yawned a lot. It looked like he had slept the whole day. He couldn't tell because it was dark outside this time, but that's what he thought when he stood up and looked outside. It was quite cloudy and there was hardly anyone outside.
"I wonder how long I slept, my head hurts so bad, I can't remember last night."
Shin thought it would be good to blend in, but he ended up blending in a bit "too much" with the others at the table. At the table he sat, he became one with the group, eating as much as he could and drinking as much alcohol as he could. Even though it was the first time he had drunk alcohol in his life, he quickly adapted to the atmosphere and downed a few mugs.
"Ahh... I was going to do something, but what was it?"
He sat on the bed, still holding his aching head and trying to remember what he had forgotten.
"Oh right, I was supposed to wait for someone."
He closed his eyes and the figure of a thin young man with auburn hair appeared in his mind.
"I need to recover first."
Standing up, he gathered a few things from the room and went to the restroom, thinking that cold water would sober him up.
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"Krunch."
"Mnch."
Shin focused all his attention on his food, trying to forget about his still-aching head. There wasn't much room in his stomach, even after what he'd puked up last night.
‘Where do I find this guy? He probably didn't go out in this weather. It looks like it's going to rain hard.’
As he thought about where he could find Minato, the weather that came to mind depressed him a little. Still, he put it aside, hoping the rain wouldn't last too long.
‘Should I ask Rina? Minato was already staying at this inn. It's unexpectedly early, I'd rather go to him rather than wait for him to show up. Although I don't even know if he came back at night...’
Although he thought Minato would show up eventually, he also doubted that he would be able to lock himself in his room on this day when he couldn't go out. He wasn't sure how he would react after what had happened yesterday.
‘She didn't want to show what happened to Sana-san, but it's going to take some work. I wonder how she is now.’
Apparently, the chestnut-haired boy had planned to use Minato as an excuse to check on Rina. With a curious expression on his face, he stopped eating and stood up.
‘I have no appetite after last night. And I was complaining that the food wasn't enough...’
When he reached the stairs, the reception caught his eye. A few things came to his mind at that moment.
"Wait a minute... Did I not pay for all that stuff?"
He reached into the belt of his pants and picked up the small pouch that was weighing him down without him realizing it.
‘It's still full. I probably went straight to bed after the conversation... Ahh... I haven't even paid for my stay at the inn yet.’
He glanced once more at the reception desk, which was empty, and climbed the stairs with a sigh.
"Zzz..."
What he didn't notice was the auburn-haired man who had practically sprawled across the reception desk and disappeared from sight.
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"Ahh, Sana-san. Good morning."
Shin had met the tall maid again on one of the floors. Strangely, he rarely met her on the ground floor.
"Good morning, Shin-kun. You woke up quite early, where are you going?"
The chestnut-haired boy couldn't lie to her this time. Because right now they were on the second floor, not the first floor where Shin was staying. Maybe he could find an excuse, but he didn't need to. He had already seen the tall woman in the hallway on his way up the stairs and called out to her first.
"I guess I slept early in the evening. That's why I got up so early."
He approached her slowly. She was sweeping the floor.
"You guess?"
"I don't remember what time it was. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It's always good to start the day early. And now, I was on my way to Rina-san's room."
The woman's confusion, however, was quickly replaced by a small laugh.
"Pfft, Hahaha!"
Shin didn't understand what had happened and just looked at her laughing. She laughed even more at the sight of his expression, but she soon calmed herself down.
"Sorry, it's just that Rina doesn't wake up before noon. Not even if you beat a drum next to her."
The servant woman did not lower her smile and continued speaking, looking at the boy in front of her.
"I was curious when you said she wanted something. Normally she doesn't ask for anything unless she's in a pinch, that's her personality. But when I found her, she was already fast asleep. She must have been exhausted."
Remembering yesterday's conversation, Shin was slightly worried, but he didn't show it and continued.
"Well, I'll give it a try. It looks like I'm already stuck in the inn because of the weather. I have nothing better to do."
After these words, he was about to leave, but he thought of the reception desk near the stairs.
"Was the reception desk empty? I was going to pay for the accommodation but there was no one there. Do you mind if I give it to you?"
The tall woman was about to go back to sweeping the floor when she looked at the boy in front of her, puzzled by the question.
"Hmm? No, we assign different people at different times to make sure it’s always operational. Minato should be there right now, in fact, I just saw him earlier. Anyway, you can pay me like you said, no problem."
Shin was also a little surprised to hear that. Although he wondered where Minato had disappeared, he did not change his destination for now. If he came to the inn, that meant the young man had already finished his business and returned safely.
"Here, one silver. Dom-san said the inn fee was seventy copper, and I had some extra food and drink with it, so I forgot to pay for this."
"Thank you, Shin-kun."
The woman put the money in her pocket, smiled widely, and then went back to her work. The chestnut-haired boy also headed for the stairs again and said goodbye to the woman and went up to the third floor.