CH 160

Episode 160 – Ponpokotei

Now then, what should I do from here?

It had been a while since I was all by myself, so I was feeling a little anxious. Firstly, I wanted to reunite with the [Azure Alliance], but… if they weren’t in the Adventurer’s Guild, then the only place I could think of was the Dungeon, which I couldn’t enter alone.

For now, I’ll look for a place to stay and search for the [Azure Alliance] while I’m at it.

Once that had been decided, I left the Adventurer’s Guild and went in the direction of Main Street. Earlier, I saw some buildings that looked like inns, so I decided to try going there to ask for lodging.

I returned to Main Street, which was lined with unique stores. The stores that were obviously not inns kept on drawing my eyes towards them, but for now my goal was to find an inn. Landaust was a place with good public order, so even if it came down to the worst case scenario where I couldn’t find an inn, I felt like I’d still be able to manage. But I didn’t really want to sleep outdoors, so it was better to find a place to stay. I had a lot of money to spare, and, even if it turned out to be a bit pricier, I would possibly still decide to stay there.

With this in mind, I arrived at the first inn that I spotted. This store had a sign with a picture of a bed at the entrance, so I assumed from a distance that it was an inn… Oh, good.

The signboard clearly had the words ‘Ponpokotei Inn’ written on it. I had come up to this building first because it seemed like the most ordinary-looking one of the inn-like buildings, but, seeing that it was looking pretty good from the exterior even still, it was probably the right choice. All that was left was to see if there were any rooms available… But that was all luck, so there was no use thinking too much about it.

Reaching this conclusion in my mind, I immediately entered the inn. The inn was mostly made of wood and was just as warm and welcoming as the exterior. I took a liking to it at first sight. Perhaps because of the atmosphere at Elf’s Tears, I had grown fond of stores with this kind of natural ambiance.

There was a counter right by the entrance, but I didn’t see any innkeeper. Instead, there was a bell that customers could ring to get the employee’s attention, so I lightly rang the bell.

Right after the bell chimed, I could hear footsteps coming in my direction from behind the counter. It sounded like the person was running, but the light pitter patter of the footsteps made me think that it might be a child. Just as I was thinking this, I saw someone rush out from the room behind the counter.

“Welcome!!”

A girl with a big smile on her face came running out of the room. She was wearing what seemed to be the inn’s uniform, and when I saw her smiling at me, it made me smile too… but there was one thing that caught my eye.

She had a pair of fluffy ears on top of her head and a fluffy tail. I had seen a few of these people here and there in Landaust, but this was probably what they called a demi-human.

“….? What’s wrong?” The girl asked me in a concerned voice when she noticed I was absentmindedly staring at her ears and tail.

“Ah, excuse me. Is this an inn?” (Lewin)

This woman also had the same fluffy ears and tail that were characteristic of demi-humans. She did say that she was going to call her mom over… so this woman that looked like her older sister was probably her mother.

“Ruth, don’t pull so hard! …Ah, excuse me. I’ve shown you something unsightly.” (Beast Race Girl’s Mother)

“Not at all, it’s totally fine.” (Lewin)

“Mom! This is a new customer! He wants to stay here. Is there a room available?” (Ruth)

“So you’re planning to stay with us for a week? Of course, that’s fine!” (Beast Race Girl’s Mother)

“In that case, thank you very much for your hospitality,” I said to the parent and child combo with a smile. The interior of the inn was pleasant, and the parent and child who ran the place gave it a nice atmosphere.

“Yay! It’s been a long time since we had a long-stay guest!” (Beast Race Girl)

“Hey! Don’t fool around in front of a guest!” (Beast Race Girl’s Mother)

I couldn’t hold back a wry smile at this amusing parent and child interaction which reminded me of my own mother who passed away when I was little. As I was guided to the room I would be staying at, I couldn’t help but think about her a little bit.