Chapter 4 : Really?

There’s a lady who walks around just fine with a basket weighing about as much as a sack of cement hanging on her left forearm.

Judging by the way she chops carrots, I’d say she’s trained in mace techniques.

“Looks like Mom really likes you.”

“Maybe it feels like she brought in a stray off the streets to raise.”

“Pfft, no way.”

Her name is Sera Otmari, and she’s the daughter of the lady. I didn’t know before, but the lady’s name is Marta Otmari.

After finishing up organizing the vegetables and sitting at the table to eat, Sera sat down across from me.

Of course, since I was sitting at the desk, it felt more like she was just keeping her spot.

She has dark brown hair and sparkling, round light green eyes.

She keeps making eye contact with me.

I hadn’t realized, but it seems she arrived this morning.

I came crawling in around 1 PM, washed up, and headed out right away, so I didn’t know.

“Sera, did you have lunch?”

“Oh, not yet. Would it be okay if I joined you?”

“Feel free. I’m basically living here now. No need to treat me like a guest.”

“Hmmm… I see….”

Apparently, the repair on the flame-stone magic tool she requested got finished, and since delivery would be expensive, she went to get it herself.

Sera, who came out from behind the desk and sat to my left, continued the conversation.

A flame-stone gets blazing hot when infused with magic, and it’s used to heat the water in a bath.

So that’s why the bathwater was lukewarm.

I thought all inns in this world just used firewood or something.

“Kalax is a dungeon city, you know. It’s fine when you ride with other adventurers in a wagon… but on the way back it was dangerous, so I waited for a caravan.”

“A caravan? What’s that?”

Caravan.

In this world, a caravan is basically a train of merchant wagons that travel counterclockwise around the continent in a loop.

Since people here are often still like 30% beast, highway robbers and professional bandits are incredibly common.

Merchants go from village to village, buying local specialties and selling them in other cities.

Their biggest problem, of course, is bandits and robbers.

Bandits who attack wagons loaded with goods while traveling through forests or plains between cities are basically like natural disasters.

If you’re lucky, they’ll just take your goods and money.

If not, you could be killed—or sold into slavery.

Hiring mercenary guards to protect yourself is expensive, and sometimes those same mercenaries turn into robbers the moment you enter a secluded forest.

So merchants bunch together, increase their numbers, and travel city to city in long lines.

“Oh, so you waited for the caravan from that city to Kalax.”

“Exactly. That’s also why Mom bought so many things at the market today—since the caravan arrived, they had lots of new stock.”

It’s probably cheaper to buy directly from the caravan than to go from the caravan to a produce vendor and then to the inn.

“Anyway, can I ask you something I’ve been curious about?”

“Sure. As long as it’s not my bank account password… actually, you can ask that too.”

“Bank account password..? I wouldn’t know about that. But your eyes—have they always been that color?”

“Oh, these eyes?”

Sera, unlike Ravi, keeps making constant eye contact.

It’s understandable to be curious about the eye color.

“These are cursed eyes. If you keep looking at them, your lifespan shortens.”

“Whaaat!? Give me my lifespan back!”

“Just kidding… Something big happened. They just changed yesterday.”

“Oh wow, really? So originally both were yellow?”

“Nope. Originally, both were black. The yellow one is the changed one.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Sera kept sticking her face between my plate and me, staring directly into my eyes.

Her ponytail looked like it might fall into the food, so I slid my plate a bit to the right.

“I like it.”

“Like what?”

“Your changed eye. It’s kind of… puppy-like.”

“Guh…”

When I choked a bit while listening, Sera jumped up in surprise and hurried to the kitchen to bring me a cup of water.

“Are you okay? You were coughing a lot…”

“Ah, something just caught in my throat. I’m fine. Not sick.”

“Eat slowly.”

Sharp insight.

It’s not quite a puppy—it’s a wolf’s eye, but close enough.

While I cleared my throat, Sera got her own portion and started eating beside me.

“What does the lady like about me that she let me stay here?”

“I haven’t asked her, but… I think I know.”

“You do?”

Now I’m curious.

To me, she’s just an absolute saint.

“Other adventurers are rough. They don’t show any respect! When I walk around, there are so many who look down on me or hit on me. The men, I mean.”

True, if I were strong and capable… I might want to hit on a girl like Sera, too.

She really does stand out—she’s very pretty.

“You should’ve punched them.”

“Oh my, would that be okay?”

“You can do it in the lady’s name.”

Smack!

“Who said you could use my name?”

“Ow, my skull.”

“Puhaha…”

At some point, the lady had snuck up and smacked me in the head with serious strength.

This time, it hurt more—maybe because it was with a metal ladle.

“Come on, lady, now I’ve got soup on my head.”

“What’s a beggar doing complaining? That ladle of soup is worth five fairy coins. Be grateful.”

“Ugh, I don’t think one ladle’s worth quite that much.”

After finishing the meal, I placed a coin marked with the number 50 on the desk.

“What’s this?”

“I haven’t paid everything back yet, but I wanted to give you this after setting aside what I need.”

“…Alright, go and get some sleep. You’ve worked hard coming back.”

“I’ll stay a bit longer. It’s not polite to leave the table before others are done.”

At that, Sera, sitting beside me with her cheeks stuffed with meat, looked over at me.

She’s not a hamster, but her cheeks sure do puff up like one.

“That so-called politeness… it’s not like anyone’s feeding you here.”

“What do you mean? You gave me food because I’m polite, didn’t you?”

“Enough, you brat. If you still have the energy to talk, go dump the food scraps from the bucket into the pit out back before you sleep.”

“Wow, I suddenly feel really tired. I better get to bed.”

I chuckled as I bantered with her, watching Sera as she continued eating.

She focused silently on her meal, emptying her bowl quickly.

She eats well.

If she ate like that three times a day, she wouldn’t be this skinny.

Not that it’s too extreme – she’s just healthily lean.

After Sera finished her meal, I took the food scraps from the slop bucket and dumped them into the pit behind the inn, adding a few leaves like always before closing the lid.

Those leaves are like mint or something – they help suppress the smell as the scraps decompose.

It’s surprising, but they really work.

“Oh! Thank you for your hard work. So, your name is…”

“Yueon. Family name Yu, given name eon.”

At my words, Sera pouted and turned her head sharply.

“Are you teasing me?”

“No, that’s really my name. In my hometown, the family name comes first, then the given name. So, Yueon.”

“Really? It sounds like a lie…”

“Why would I lie about my name? It’s true. Don’t you have a lie detector around here?”

Sera, peeking at me with half-lidded eyes over her shoulder, eventually gave a small nod, as if conceding.

“Alright, I heard you went into the labyrinth? You must be tired.”

“Yeah, I’ll rest a bit and get up again in the evening.”

“I’ll wake you up then. Sleep well.”

“Much appreciated. I’ll be off, then.”

“Not coming back, huh…”

I took a solid nap and woke up in the evening, but my vision was still the same.

Oh well.

Since your sight never really rests while you’re awake, I’ve started to get used to this half-colorblind vision.

But what the heck is this?

“It’s like I’m wearing a night vision scope… only halfway.”

They say some canine species have good night vision, right? The dark hallway on the second floor is only half-lit for me.

Can I even call this bright?

“No, it definitely is bright.”

-Creak-

Footsteps echoed from the old wooden stairs at the end of the hallway.

Judging by the light steps, it’s probably not the innkeeper.

Too light for her.

Must be Sera.

She’s probably bringing one of those sunstone lamps to hang in the hallway, carrying it in her left hand with a small, backless wooden chair in her right.

“Oh, you’re awake? Huh…”

“Sera? What’s wrong?”

“Your eye… or more precisely, your left eye. It’s glowing in the dark.”

“Ah.”

That’s a bit awkward.

When Sera quickly hid the lamp behind her back, my eyes, like those of a wild animal, adjusted instantly to the darkness.

She gasped, covering her mouth in surprise.

“Oh my! Oh my, oh my…”

She stepped closer, peering into my eyes from different angles.

Is it really that strange? Well, if I were in her shoes, I suppose I’d be curious too.

“It’s a bit of a long story. It’s not really a secret, just a bit odd. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Oh, okay… then, could you hang this lamp on that hook over there?”

“Of course. I’ve been doing that for a while now.”

I took the small, birdcage-like metal lamp filled with irregularly shaped, broken stones – sunstones that absorb sunlight during the day and emit a warm glow at night.

I hung the lamp on the hook sticking out of the hallway wall and walked down the stairs with Sera.

“You’re really tall. You didn’t even need the chair.”

“Oh, that’s nothing.”

“Heh…”

I took the small chair from Sera’s hands.

It wasn’t that heavy, but I figured it made sense for me to carry it.

In the evenings, I usually help out around the inn.

The innkeeper took me in and even waived two weeks of lodging fees, but I can’t just sit around feeling like I owe nothing.

After all, the innkeeper is something of a lifesaver for me.

Even if she doesn’t expect payment, it feels right to help out.

So, I kept busy as the evening rush came and went.

“Looks like you’re pretty worn out.”

“Oh, no, not at all.”

“Really?”

Sera’s expression turned a bit sour.

It seems like she’s struggling a bit, trying to help out at the inn after just a month.

She’s too kind to admit she’s tired.

“Then why the long face?”

“It’s just… there seem to be more female guests these days.”

“Hm? Really? I wasn’t around before, so I wouldn’t know.”

What’s that supposed to mean?