So, It didn't take me a week, like I thought it would. This chapter came relatively easier to me, now that report cards have finally been finished.  Lucky for you guys, huh?

Oh well, treat this as an extra chapter, I suppose.

Enjoy~!

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“Yes~ Coming!” Penelope sang as she sprinted for the reception desk, leaving the trio to follow her with a somewhat slower pace.

The view that greeted them when they arrived at the front desk, they did not expect. A somewhat burly, black bearded man was standing in the hallway, carrying a live cow over his shoulder. Briar couldn’t help but wonder how he had gotten this particular species through the door.

It was one of those long-horned varieties, as big as a buffalo, with somewhat of a goat-like beard. Briar almost snickered when she thought of the fact that it looked like an ancient imperial advisor, fat from his years of palace life.

The cow just looked on at the proceedings calmly.

“Look at this beauty, eh? I found him at a local auction and just had to buy him.” The man said, obviously looking for complements.

“Oh Hades~ He’s beautiful! To think of all the steaks I’ll be able to make off of him~” Penelope said, enamored. The atmosphere about the two suddenly became pink with a lovey-dovey atmosphere.

Briar fell to the ground. No wonder why there was no one there! It didn’t seem like those two love-birds realized this, but showing where the food comes from is not always a good thing!

She could just imagine people coming out from having had a good meal, only to come face to face with the very animal they had eaten. It’s one thing to know that meat comes from a cow. It’s another thing to see it and realize that meat comes from a cow. Did they want to turn everyone into vegetarians?!

Already Laura and Helen’s faces were somewhat green.

Briar stood up with some effort. “Mr. Hades, right?”

The man suddenly realized that there were actual live customers in the building. “What good fortune! Darling, why didn’t you tell me that there were guests! Please forgive me, I’d shake your hands, but my hands happen to be full at the moment.”

Briar nodded. “That’s quite all right, Mr. Hades-”

“Please, call me Dez”

Despite the interruption, Briar continued. “Dez-san, then. We were quite impressed with the inn’s food and cheery atmosphere. I must say, I was surprised that there weren’t more people present a few minutes ago. But, now, I think I understand a bit why they don’t come.”

“WHAT!” (Dez)

“You know why we don’t have many customers!?!!” (Penelope)

“Mooo.” (long-horned cow)

Both figures closed in on Briar to the point where she was surrounded on three sides by faces, if you included the cow.

“Yes. I think I understand why. Do you want to know?” She asked.

““Please!!””

“If you do, I’ll even throw in a free picnic lunch!” Penelope added.

“Then, it seems I must do my best!” Briar chuckled. “First, I wish to confirm something. Dez-san, do you always bring your cows in through the front entrance?”

“Of course!” He nodded. “The front doors are the only one’s large enough for me to bring the cattle through, after all.”

“I thought as much. That’s the reason why you have no customers.” Briar said.

““Huh?””

“Moo?”

“Let me give an example. Say, for instance, that you ran the best breakfast stall in the world. Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, eggs in a basket, eggs benedict-you name it! Any kind of eggs at all, you could cook perfectly to the customer’s satisfaction.”

“Like the way I can cook a good steak!” Penelope said, lifting her right arm.

“Exactly.” Briar said. “Now, say that Dez, here, is the one in charge of supplying you with the eggs-”

“Like how I find all these beautiful cows and steers.” Hades interrupted.

Briar was getting annoyed at the interruptions.“Right…Let’s just say that whenever that happens, every single time you delivered, one of the eggs hatched, revealing a cute, fluffy, yellow chick. The customer sees this cute little chick, and what does he think?”

They both looked blankly.

“They’d say it was cute, right?” Penelope asked, but then realization dawned upon the both of them. 

Seeing such a cute thing after eating, the customers couldn’t help but think of the fact that they had eaten what could have been a fluffy yellow chick. This, in turn, would make them feel upset- especially the women and children.

“What have we been doing all this time?” Penelope fell on her hands and knees.

“I feel so-so foolish!” Hades facepalmed, drawing his hand down his face. 

“In other words, seeing cows and eating cow meat are both fine, but when both happen close together, it can cause the customer to feel upset, and give them a bad experience, regardless of how much other good service there was, right?”

“Right.” Briar nodded. “And that’s why, Des-san, you’ll have to change the way you bring your steers and cows to the inn.” Briar said.

“But, I don’t know any other way to do this, other than by hand!” Dez said. “And the backdoor is too small for the ones I like to bring.”

“Don’t worry! I’ve got just the thing. All I need is a piece of cloth large enough for a cow to stand on with all four feet inside its borders, and some ink dye.” Briar said. After all, it was a shame to waste the efforts of this young couple-even though Briar was younger than them.

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“AHAHAHA! I can’t thank you enough, young magician! You’ve saved our inn, that’s for sure! Whenever you come back in the future, our door will always be open for you, as a savior to our inn.” Dez laughed as he pounded Briar’s back.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“And now, with this, I can transport any number of cows as I want! The sky’s the limit!”

Of course, the thing that Briar gave to them was the ancient cattle transportation spell. It only took half a day to make a portable version that Hades could carry with him on a large canvas tarp wrapped up like a huge scroll.

“Ahahaha, don’t worry about it. Let’s just say that it was for a selfish reason.” Briar replied.

“And? That selfish reason was?” Laura asked, standing right behind her.

“Aesthetics.” Briar replied.

“I call cow excrements. You don’t care at all about aesthetics.” Laura replied.

“Do I seem that crude of an individual? Although I look like this, I really am a member of the nobility. I have my own personal tastes, after all.” Briar replied. Most of them being Japanese, though.

“But, if you want another reason, I guess it’s because I was glad it wasn’t a bit darker of a problem.” Briar added climbing the stairs to their room.

“Darker problem?” Laura asked, following her.

“Well, I was under the impression that Penelope’s steak was so good, that a rather pushy nobleman was trying to recruit her as his chef, resorting to chasing away the customers so that he can force her to come under his house. I somewhat expected the man’s name to be Hades, either way, though.”

“What! Pfft! You got the situation wrong, but the name correct? What kind of weird magic oracle are you?” Laura jabbed at Briar, who had found their door.

“How rude! I’m not an oracle. I just enjoy predicting things based upon what can be expected from a world like this.” Although I was a training monster back at home, I also did some reading in my spare time on the subways and buses. A situation like a barfight or a gang trying to hustle protection money from the innkeeper was a common happening in wuxia novels.

Naturally, Briar couldn’t explain how she knew about the name. She opened the door to their room and immediately shut it again, pushing both Laura and Helen out of the way as a blast of throwing knives embedded themselves in the door.

“RUN!” She shouted.

They all rushed down the stairs past Hades and Penelope.

“Hi, bye! We’ll be back after we deal with a few somewhat persistent enemies, okay?” Briar hurriedly said as they whizzed out the front door, just in time to miss a cloud of throwing knives hitting it.

Hades and Penelope looked up the stairway, confused.

““Huh?””

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Outside, black-cloaked individuals chased after them, bounding from rooftop to rooftop.

“Who are they!?” Laura asked.

“I don’t know!” Briar answered, carrying Helen under her arm.

“Why are they chasing us!?” Laura asked again.

“That’s a really good question! Would you like to go back and ask them?” Briar ducked a knife aimed for her head.

Laura jumped over one aimed at her leg. “Nope! I’m good!”

“That’s what I thought.” Briar sighed and looked ahead of them. 

“Turn left up here! Left, left!” The three ducked down an alleyway before ten knives embedded themselves in the ground where they would have stood.

The cloaked figures flashed by, over a cart filled with hay. Laura, Briar, and Helen peeked their heads out from the hay pile.

“Do you think they’re gone?” Helen asked.

“Who knows?” Laura responded.

“It’s probably best that we lay low for the time being.” Briar said in caution. If it was just her and Laura, she could probably take them on, but not when she had to protect Helen as well.

“Ah, wait a minute. I think this cart is actually-”

The horse-less cart edged its way over the crest of a rather steep downhill slope and started to pick up speed.

“MOVING!” Briar finished, sitting up to take a look at the direction they were heading. The bottom of the hill had a smaller hill at the bottom of it, giving it the appearance of a natural ski slope.

““AAAH!”” Laura and Helen shrieked, clinging onto each other as the cart became faster and faster on the bumpy cobblestone streets.

“Out of the way! Out of the way! RUNAWAY CART! RUNAWAY CART!!” Briar warned the people who were in the middle of the road so that they wouldn’t get squashed. Then she narrowed her eyes at the hill at the bottom.

According to the projected trajectory, speed, and weight….we’re going to end up…

“Oy! Laura, Helen! Find something in the wagon to grab onto!” Briar yelled behind her as the wagon neared the bottom.

““YES!”” Laura grabbed onto the sides of the wagon, while Helen grabbed onto Laura.

Briar clung to the side facing the hill, and turned around to watch the black cloaks chasing after them and trying to throw their daggers, which were falling pitifully short.

“We’re gonna fly over the wall!!” Briar exclaimed, taking a deep breath as the cart ascended to the crest of the smaller hill and left the ground behind.

“““AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!””” The three girls screamed as the cart flew in a beautiful parabola over the fifteen-meter-tall city walls.