CH 142

Chapter 142 : Information Fee

*Knock knock*

「You can come in~」(Celine)

After Celine replied, the door opened and Nei entered the room.

She was wearing an apron when she was working, but now she’s wearing a cute short-sleeve shirt and short pants that match perfectly with her image. She also carried a sling bag on her shoulder.

「Good evening, everyone.」(Nei)

As soon as she entered the room, her eyes met with mine when I was preparing drinks on the table. She then got blushed for some reason and quickly turned her gaze to Celine.

Looks like she is still embarrassed that I saw her crying face.

She doesn’t have to worry about it though…

「W-Well then, let’s get to the point. You want to ask about the merchant named Bian, right?」(Nei)

「Yes. Please tell me what you know about him.」(Celine)

While saying that, Celine pulled an empty chair near the table, telling Nei that she could sit there.

Because Nei’s hip is a bit shorter than the chair, she had to jump a little to sit. She put her bag on the floor and turned to Celine.

By the way, Nicola, Delica and I are sitting on our own bed now.

「First of all, let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? As you know, I’m Nei, a dwarf who is working in this inn’s dining hall. I’m ten years old.」(Nei)

「I’m Celine, an adventurer. My age is a secret~」(Celine)

「My name’s Delica. I’m twelve years old. Nice to meet you, Nei-san.」(Delica)

Delica introduced herself like nothing happened. Looks like she is no longer feeling jealous or anything.

「I’m Mark, eight years old.」(Mark)

「I’m his twin sister, Nicola!」(Nicola)

「Hee, so you two are twins, huh? Certainly, you both have the same hair color, but… To be blunt, you two don’t look alike at all…」(Nei)

Nei looked alternately at me and Nicola and tilted her head.

「Ahaha… Yeah, people say that all the time.」(Mark)

After we were done introducing ourselves to each other, Celine looked at me.

I immediately figured out what she was trying to say and nodded to her.

「Nei-san, have you had dinner?」(Mark)

「I haven’t. I usually have dinner when I get home.」(Nei)

「I see. You can eat it at home then. This is for you.」(Mark)

As I said that, I approached the table, took out a simple lunch box with skewer-grilled meat from my Item Box, and handed it to Nei.

By the way, it’s called “Fatia Town specialty Secard-style skewered meat”. Celine bought quite a lot before we left our town, and before Nei came, she told me to give some to her later as gratitude.

Nei took one skewer and looked at it with interest.

「Whoa. It’s still hot. I don’t recall this kind of food being sold around here…」(Nei)

「Ah, we bought it in our town, Fatia, before we left. It’s still hot because I stored it in my Item Box.」(Mark)

「Really? You can use healing magic, and on top of that, you have an Item Box? You’re amazing…」(Nei)

Nei stared at me with an amazed face.

After a moment, she suddenly changed her expression as if she just remembered something.

「A-Anyway, thank you for this. I’ll consider this as the information fee.」(Nei)

While saying that, Nei put the lunch box in her bag that she left on the floor, and then looked at Celine.

「So… You guys came from Fatia to find out how Bian is doing, right?」(Nei)

「Yup~」(Celine)

「As you know, two months ago, Stone Lizards started appearing in the mine. Bian happened to be near the mine at that time without knowing those monsters were nearby, and then a Stone Lizard came out of the mine and bit his leg. He got a serious injury because of that.」(Nei)

「Eh? Can he still walk?」(Celine)

「Yeah, but he needs to use crutches. He still can go to other towns with a carriage, but as you know, there has been nothing to sell from this town since those monsters appeared and disturbed the miners.」(Nei)

「I see. So that’s what happened.」(Celine)

Celine nodded a couple of times.

「If you don’t mind, can you let us meet Bian-san tomorrow? I want to give him a letter from his business partner in Fatia.」(Celine)

「No problem! I’ll come to pick you guys up tomorrow morning then. Is there anything else you want to ask?」(Nei)

「Hmm, let’s see… It’s not directly related to our request, but can you tell us more about the incident in the mine?」(Celine)

「Okay…. *gulp gulp* Mmm! This is good!」(Nei)

As she replied to Celine, Nei took a sip of the drink I prepared earlier. It was the fruit juice we bought in Fatia.

「Ahem. Sadola mine mainly produces materials for making glass, and that is the main source of income for most people here.」(Nei)

Come to think of it, most of the tableware in the dining hall was made of glass, unlike the tableware in my parent’s dining hall that was mostly made of wood.

「Actually, there are some tunnels where you can dig magic stones in the mining site, but most of the time, you can only get the ones with low quality that can only be used for making small magic tools. Well, you can get the ones with good quality if you’re lucky. *Gulp gulp* Mmm~」(Nei)

Nei took another sip and continued talking.

「I think you’ve heard about this from the landlady, but two months ago, the boss who manages the mine went deep into the magic stone tunnel. When he tried to dig a good quality magic stone, the wall in front of him suddenly collapsed, and apparently, the area beyond the wall was a nest of Stone Lizards. Ah, by the way, do you know Stone Lizards?」(Nei)

「Yeah, I know.」(Celine)

「I don’t. Celine, can you tell me about them?」(Mark)

「They are big lizards whose staple food is stone. Actually, they’re not that ferocious, but they will attack intruders who enter their nest.」(Celine)

「Exactly. They rarely go out of their nest but they are pretty aggressive against the miners, probably because they think that the mine is a part of their nest. That’s why they always get in the way of the people who work there.」(Nei)

「I heard that the miners tried to do something with those lizards on their own.」(Celine)

「Yeah, at first. When the wall collapsed, there were only two Stone Lizards who attacked the miners, so the miners thought that the nest wasn’t that big. However, when the miners tried to attack the nest, they found out that the nest was bigger than they expected, so they decided to just leave this problem to the adventurer guild… *Gulp gulp* Pwaahh~!」(Nei)

When she talked to this point, Nei drank all her fruit juice.

「I’m not working in the mine, so I just told you what I heard from customers, but I think it’s pretty accurate.」(Nei)

「I see. Thank you for telling~」(Celine)

「No problem. Anything else?」(Nei)

Nei looked around at us as she asked, and then we shook our heads at the same time.

「Alright, then. I’m going home now. I’ll come in the morning, so please wake up early, okay? See ya tomorrow!」(Nei)

Right after she said that, she quickly grabbed her bag and left the room.

「Ara~ Looks like she can’t wait to eat the skewered meat. Fufu.」(Celine)

――――――

After Nei left, we had a chat for a while, and then Celine clapped her hands once.

「Alright, it’s time to sleep~ You guys already decided where you want to sleep, right?」(Celine)

「Yup.」(Mark)

We have four beds, one in every corner of the room, and a table and chairs in the center of the room.

Nicola, Delica and I already sat on our respective beds.

「This one is mine then~」(Celine)

When Celine sat on the unoccupied bed, the bed squeaked.

「Ughh… Am I getting fat…?」(Celine)

I looked away, pretending not to see it, and laid down on my bed.