After a few more hours of walking towards the east, we finally found a relatively big village.
"Let's go find inn." I said while looking at Kurome who was gasping for air.
"I-I am sorry..." Kurome said with a sad expression.
"It's fine, we are already here anyway." I said with a small smile and patted her shoulder a few times before walking towards the middle part of the village.
After asking a few locals, we were able to find the village's inn.
When we walked in, I immediately noticed a lot of people drinking while sitting at the tables. I lead both Ichika and Kurome to the bar where the woman stood behind the counter, attending to the customers.
"Good evening! What would you like to have? Or are you here to find empty rooms where you can sleep over the night?" The young woman enthusiastically asked us when she noticed us approach the counter.
"Do you know "Babara"? Also, we would like to take 1 room with 3 beds, please" I said with a poker face.
Ichika immediately widened her eyes when she heard the name Babara but she kept quiet. As for the woman behind the counter...she raised her eyebrows in surprise for a second before returning to her cheerful expression.
"I don't know anyone with that name who is staying here, I am truly sorry. As for the room, we have one empty room with 3 beds, do you also want dinner?" She asked with a bright smile while glancing at little Kurome.
"Yes, we will take the dinner as well." I said while secretly glancing around the main hall.
The rooms should be located on the upper floor, there are the stairs...
"That will be 38 silvers! 25 for the room and 13 for the dinner for 3 people." She said with a happy smile for getting more customers.
[GOLD: 2315 -> 2310] I took 5 gold coins from my "pocket" and gestured her to put her hand closer so no one would see.
"Here, just a little tip." I said and winked at her.
"?! ...Thank you, I hope you will be able to find the person you are looking for. You can go take a seat somewhere, I will bring your dinner to you once it will be done." When she saw the amount of money, her expression turned to a serious one for a few seconds before returning to her usual cheerful one. She informed us and even "wished" me luck in finding that person with an unusual tone.
"No...thank you" I said with a smirk before leading the girls to one of the few empty tables.
It's pretty crowded here, most of them look like adventurers, guards or hunters. Therefore, most of the people here are men. It will create another stupid situation...Why does Ichika have to be so busty? I should let her follow me fully clad in cloak hiding her entire body together with her face. Tanned beauties are a pretty rare sight here from what I have seen so far, therefore it also causes most of the men to think like they have to obtain her due to her being different and rare. The human brain sometimes tends to think in a very weird way.
And as I feared, a lot of men immediately stopped talking to look at us, newcomers. But what I definitely didn't expect was that a few women even started to look towards me with curious and naughty expressions. My own expression darkened when I noticed their suggestive stares.
I am a fucking kid...but I guess they don't care about age. They must have judged from my clothes that I am quite rich. But just to be sure...
"Hey Ichika, do I look handsome to you?" I asked with a low voice.
Ichika also noticed the stares but she ignored them, however, when she noticed few women looking at me, she immediately glared at them with a threatening look in her eyes.
"...Yes, the young lord has the noble vibe around him, plus your looks are top in itself, and even if the young lord is just a kid, it doesn't mean that they can't charm you, after all, the young lord already looks like he is at that age where his mind is starting to be influenced by women's charm." Ichika answered with a forced smile and a little blush.
"Huh?" Kurome just listened to us with a confused expression while changing her sight from me to Ichika and back.
"Kurome, I hope you don't mind me renting only 1 room for all 3 of us." I said with a helpless smile.
"Huh? N-no, not at all." She quickly shook her head, making her short twintails hit her face numerous times.
"Heh" Both Ichika and I couldn't help but chuckle when we saw this.
Kurome also realized this so she hanged her head in shame while holding her knees, not daring to look up but I could notice a small smile forming on her face.
---
'I hope big sis has it as easy as me...' Kurome thought but she still didn't know that her training had yet to begin.
---
"Here you go! Enjoy your meal!" The young woman from behind the counter came to our table bringing with her numerous plates with dishes on it. She put everything on our table and left us alone while smiling.
Kurome gulped when she saw the warm dishes on our table, not being able to tear her eyes from them.
"Wait a bit Kurome..." I lightly patted her on the shoulder to calm her down a bit.
I took one soup out of many dishes on our table and sniffed it.
Doesn't seem like it's poisoned, let's try a bit, I should be able to at least recognize if it's poisoned by the taste and at worst I will burn it while it will be still in my throat.
I grabbed a wooden spoon and tried a little bit.
...Nah, it seems like she doesn't plan to get rid of us without letting us meet with that woman.
I thought and gave the soup to Kurome who was looking at it with hungry eyes.
"Be careful, it's still hot" I reminded her when I saw her hungry eyes and gave her the spoon I just used. She looked at it and then back at me with a particular expression before nodding.
I sensed something strange so I glanced towards the counter but I noticed only that young woman who was serving us before.
It looks like she is really here.
I thought and couldn't help but form a small smile.
----Right after Akashi's group paid for the room and dinner----
"Why did you contact me? I am quite busy with training Taeko, I hope it's a good reason." The older woman above her 40s asked with a hollow voice. It was visible that she was greatly annoyed by this.
"There is a customer who is looking for you, miss Babara" The young woman from the counter said with a deep bow and closed eyes to show her respect to the older woman named Babara.
They were currently in the kitchen that was in the room right behind the counter.
"How come? There shouldn't be anyone that knows my location." Babara said with a thoughtful expression.
"I am not aware but he gave me 5 gold coins when I just wanted 38 silvers from him. He said that he is looking for someone named Babara and when I told him that I don't know anyone like that he still gave me so much money saying that it's a tip and winked at me." The young woman answered honestly.
"You foolish woman, wasn't he just charmed by your appearance?!" Babara asked with an annoyed tone but it was visible that it wasn't just because her time was being wasted.
"I-I don't think so because that customer is still a kid around Taeko's age. He is here together with one woman that looks around my age and one female kid." The young woman instantly answered in a panicked voice.
"Oh? You are saying that he is around Taeko's age, yet his actions that you just described are the actions of someone experienced in the field of contacting assassins and acting discreetly. I must admit that you have caught my interest with this...let me see that mysterious kid, hehe" Babara was surprised by the words she just heard so she released a creepy laugh and decided to take a look at Akashi's group.
She discreetly exited the kitchen and hid behind the counter. She completely erased her presence and quickly found Akashi's group eating their meal and started to observe them, especially Akashi.
'?!' She noticed how Akashi's eyelids twitched a little and immediately hid behind the counter when she felt her alarms ringing. Immediately after she hid behind the counter, she felt someone's gaze focused at the counter.
'This kid...he is a bigger monster than Taeko. What kind of intuition is that? I completely erased my presence yet after a few seconds he looked towards me.' Babara thought with an excited and creepy smile.
She once again peeked at them and noticed Akashi eating his dinner with an amused smile that was almost saying "Found-you~"
'Heh, it seems like he is already aware of my presence. Judging by his clothes he must be from the Capital and from one of many noble families. His eyes are also very interesting. Such a bloody red sharp eyes with vertical pupils...Aaah, it's regrettable that I am no longer young and beautiful. I would definitely not mind chasing such an imposing-looking man or kid, haha.' Babara joked inwardly before sneaking back to the kitchen.
"You did a good job by contacting me! Tell this man- I mean kid to come behind the inn at night." Babara said with a satisfied smile.
"*sigh*...Miss Babara, you want me to invite them to the secret hot springs behind the inn?!" The young woman sighed in relief before a shocked expression appeared on her face.
"Yes...Why are you so shocked? His companions will want to take a hot bath so we might as well take good care of our hosts, hehe" Babara said with a poker face before releasing another creepy laugh.
"But that area is just for..." The young woman muttered but she didn't complete her sentence.
"women. Yes, it's a women-only area but he is just a kid so it doesn't matter. Arrange it, I want to meet with that kid face to face and maybe even introduce him to Taeko, depending on what he wants. Don't disappoint me!" Babara said and disappeared by jumping through the window in the kitchen.
"...Yes" The young woman muttered with an absent-minded expression.
'Why is legendary Babara Oarburgh interested in one kid? I mean...he also gave me a mysterious feeling but I am just a lowly person compared to Babara. She shouldn't be impressed so easily. What just happened when she was observing him for those few seconds?!' The young woman thought with a confused expression and she slowly started to think about how should she invite Akashi's group without appearing too suspicious.
----Akashi's POV----
"Are you done?" I asked both Kurome and Ichika who were rubbing their bellies with satisfied expressions.
"Mm!" They both nodded with a happy smile.
"Alright, let's go to our room." I said and stood up from my seat while glancing at the counter with a particular look.
It looks like she already left.
When we were about to climb up stairs leading to the second floor...
"P-please wait a minute!" The young woman who served the food for us called to us.
We stopped and turned at her with curious expressions.
"Would you like to soak your bodies in our hot springs after such a fulfilling dinner?" She asked us in a low voice with a weird smile.
She is really bad at acting but looks like I was able to catch "her" attention, good!
"*Young lord...she is acting weirdly*" Ichika whispered to my ear and I just nodded with a small smile.
"Of course, we wouldn't turn down such an offer! How much is it?" I asked with an amused smile while looking into her eyes.
"W-well, you have already given me such a big tip so it would be outrageous of me to ask for more money, it will be for free." She said in low voice.
"Alright, when do we go in and where are those hot springs?" I asked in a low voice too, watching her hard expression when I was speaking about hot springs with an amused expression.
She must be afraid to talk about them in public which means that those hot springs are the secret location of this inn.
"I should be able to set everything at night so I will come knocking on your door to inform you and lead you there" She said with closed eyes and a forced smile.
"Alright! Thank you very much!" I said and continued climbing up the stairs. The girls also nodded gratefully and quickly followed after me.