Chapter 75 The Orphanage

Jeanne stood over the innkeeper's body, which had been lying on the ground.

In Jeanne's hand was already her big shield.

The shield she held was ready to free fall and hit the innkeeper's neck anytime.

However, before she slammed the neck of the innkeeper, I managed to get close to her and caught her hand. I grasped her hand so that she wouldn't kill the innkeeper.

"You can stop here."

She looked like she was about to throw a tantrum when I stopped her. However, when she turned her head and saw my face, she widened her eyes.

"...Uh. It's you."

It looked like she was still recognizing my face.

"It's good that you recognize me."

"What are you doing? Are you going to defend this guy?"

"No, I'm not. You must realize that you'll get into trouble if you get this commoner maimed or even killed, right?"

She wanted to argue, but I simply told her that there was a child watching her, so she stopped and calmed down again.

"Ugh! Sorry. It's getting harder and harder to hold my temper lately."

She put her shield back on her back.

Jeanne had indeed calmed down, but the innkeeper was still not calm.

The innkeeper stood up and started talking nonsense.

While holding the stomach that Jeanne had kicked, he continued to spout words along with saliva into the empty air.

He complained about the violence he received and he demanded that he receive compensation.

"Alright, before I compensate you. Feel this first."

Pow!

I hit him on the head until he fell to the ground and saliva dripped from his mouth. He passed out miserably.

I rubbed my palms together as if cleaning the dirt off my hands.

Jeanne's eyes looked at me and the innkeeper in turn. Her eyes widened in confusion.

"Didn't you tell me not to hit him?"

"I wasn't sure if you could restrain yourself. So I just substituted you hitting him."

"Then, what solution do you have for this problem?"

"Of course, I will compensate him. Wait here for a moment."

The solution I had was very easy.

I dragged the innkeeper into his inn.

Once inside a room, I woke him up by slapping him continuously. When he came to, I gave him a chest of money.

I had activated the Inventory skill and took out the chest of money. This was all the money I had at the moment. With this money gone, I was back to being poor.

But it's okay. I'll get some more money soon.

As soon as I opened the chest, the light from inside the chest was enough to make the innkeeper, who had previously been in a daze, instantly rise as if feeling a ray of auspicious light.

Before he misunderstood, I told him that I was making him an offer. I wanted him to sell his inn for the money I gave him.

I thought he would grumble and curse at me. But the opposite happened. He showed a reaction of excitement. Even though the total money I gave him would not be enough to buy an inn in a big city like Burgenfield city.

"Hehe, I can finally be free from the misery of managing this inn!"

He suddenly embraced, kissed, and sniffed the chest containing the money I gave him. He seemed to have forgotten the matter about the boy who stole his food earlier.

Not to forget, before he left with the chest of money, he handed me a paper document on the ownership of the inn and the land here. And we both signed the deed of sale of the land and building.

After the exchange was complete, the innkeeper ran off carrying the chest of money. He kept swearing as if the bad luck he had from managing this place was finally over.

Speaking of this inn, his reaction seems to be a natural one.

After I entered this inn, I began to realize that there wasn't a single person renting a room. It was only natural for him to be happy when someone came and bought this inn that had been losing money for who knows how long.

I stood up and put the land and building ownership documents into Inventory.

Not long after, Jeanne and the child who had previously caused trouble arrived.

"Hey, what are you doing, quickly thank him!"

She whispered to the kid hiding behind her, she told the little kid who had previously made the trouble to thank me.

Following her instructions, the little boy bowed 90 degrees, and said, "Thank you, sir" in a small voice.

After the little boy, she now stepped forward and spoke to me.

"Ahahaha. Thank you for stopping me. I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I actually have a little problem controlling my emotions."

She placed one hand on her waist and scratched the back of her head with the other.

She looked shy.

"By the way, I saw the innkeeper running away with a chest. Did it contain the money you gave him?"

"Yes. I just bought this inn."

"Uh, is it because of me? I apologize again for that."

What I did was only buy the inn because I wanted to buy it in the first place, not because of Jeanne and the trouble she brought.

"It's okay. I didn't do it for you."

The main reason why I bought this inn was to prepare a place for the Beastmen I was going to rescue.

In accordance with what Callie ordered, which was to rescue the Beastmen who were made slaves, I bought this inn to serve as a place where they can stay temporarily.

Because I couldn't tell her my reasons, she seemed to misunderstand.

"...You seem like a good person."

While saying that, she scrutinized my face carefully.

At first, she was just rubbing her smooth, pointed chin, as if she was thinking about something while observing me. But then, she suddenly offered a handshake with a faint but bright smile on her face.

"Aren't we acquainted yet? I'm not sure if you already know, but my name is Jeanne. As you might have guessed, I am an Adventurer."

I took the hand that she extended to me. Just like her, I also introduced myself,

"Mesties. I'm also an Adventurer... Rank F."

She was surprised when I told her that I was just a rank F. But she soon shrugged it off as if she didn't care.

"Come with me. Let me offer you a cup of tea. That is if you want, hahaha."

"Sure."

"Don't you want to take your girl?"

"Who do you mean?"

"You know, the staff of the previous adventurer's association."

"Don't get me wrong, she's not my girlfriend."

"Ahaha, I thought you guys were dating because you dared to protect her from the hands of that old butler-"

I frowned slightly as I heard her annoying laughter.

"Oops! My bad."

Without much more talking, I was led by Jeanne to the place she was referring to, where she planned to offer me a cup of tea.

Exiting the inn, we continued to walk together.

While looking at Jeanne's back which was partially covered by the shield, I asked her a question that I had wanted to ask from the start.

"Have you ever met someone named Jullian?"

She stopped midway. While glancing back, she spoke, "Who is Jullian?"

"Huuu. Nop. Just ignore my question."

Looking at the reaction she showed, it seemed that Jeanne had not yet met Jullian.

That meant, Jullian was still contractually bound to stay in his territory so he couldn't go anywhere.

If I'm not mistaken this was the 20th day, 3rd month, and 990th year of the Sovereign calendar.

Unmistakably, by now she should have interacted with Jullian and started unraveling the mysteries of this city together. But that didn't seem to be happening.

Am I allowed to feel relieved?

"By the way, where are we going?"

I changed the subject to keep Jeanne from asking more questions.

"To the orphanage. I hope you don't mind the noise of the kids later, hahaha."

I had guessed that the place Jeanne was going to was the orphanage.

When I had just come to this city, I had actually planned to look for Jeanne in the places that had the highest possibility of where she might be.

In the novel Demon Lord and Hero of Light, Jeanne was told to frequently visit the orphanage in the center of Burgenfield city.

I had originally planned to go there, but instead, I had met her by accident.

As I was thinking about this and that, I almost bumped into Jeanne's back. She suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. It's a good thing I stopped in time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been her soft body that I would have hit, but rather a cold and hard shield.

"Are we there yet?"

"...."

I tried to ask, but there was no answer from her.

I was surprised to see the reaction she showed after standing still all of a sudden.

It was a look of shock at first. In the middle, she rubbed her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. And then, the last expression she had was an expression of extreme anger.

As for the reaction shown by the child beside her, the child's leg seemed to be suddenly deformed, causing him to sit still on the ground, staring in shock without being able to speak.

I tried to look at the same scene that Jeanne and the little boy were looking at. I felt curious as to why they could show such a reaction.

And in the end, I understood after seeing what happened.