"I used to believe that all supplies to the South had been cut off, but if what Nat is saying is true, then only the official supply channels were severed.
That means the reason why the southern economy hadn't collapsed and was still running smoothly until now...
Was it thanks to the Jacinto Kingdom?
...It's a bit peculiar that the Kingdom with which we are in enmity, with which a war could break out at any moment, is the one that has saved this region from collapse.
But on the other hand, it's even stranger that only that passage is working.
To begin with, I thought that the Anti-Magic barrier was blocking everyone's exit from this place.
That would've explained why none of the people sent to do reconnaissance here came back.
However, that is clearly not the case since people move freely through the illegal immigration channel.
"For now, let's find an inn to stay at," Angie suggested when she saw me still deep in thought.
"Yeah, let's do that first," I responded, realizing that it was useless to keep thinking without enough information.
We asked some people on our way for directions to find out where the Bonfire Inn was.
After only a few minutes of walking, we managed to reach the inn.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary inn that you could find anywhere, except for its sheer size.
We entered through the front door, and we could see a bunch of tables inside with people sitting and eating breakfast.
The building had three floors, the first of which was used for eating and drinking, while the upper floors had rooms.
From how clean and well-decorated the interior was, it could almost be mistaken for a hotel in the capital, whose costs were exuberantly high for living standards.
'This place looks nice,' I thought.
I went with the girls to the application desk.
Luckily, there were only a couple of people lining up, so it didn't take long for it to be our turn.
"Hello, welcome to the Bonfire Inn. How can I help you?"
The receptionist was a beautiful woman who, although she looked older than us, had the attractiveness that only an older woman could offer.
She had long blonde hair and green eyes, as well as an hourglass figure that made it hard to take your eyes off her.
Fortunately, I was a professional, and I wouldn't fall for being caught casting sinful glances at her.
After all, the last time Jess caught me doing something like that, it didn't end well for me, at all.
"Hello, miss, we would like to pay for five rooms for one week."
I requested politely while making eye contact.
The receptionist showed a complicated expression.
"Excuse me, sir, I am sorry to inform you that we only have two rooms available. Lately, there has been a great demand for rooms throughout the city."
The receptionist bowed her head apologetically.
'Hmm, this is a problem.'
"How big are the rooms?"
"Both are double rooms, but they could fit up to three people if you include a child."
The receptionist answered while giving Eva a strange look.
I turned to the girls with a complicated look at what to do.
"We could first take those rooms, just in case, and then look at another inn for another three rooms," Angie suggested.
"Hmm, that's a good idea."
I turned back to the beautiful receptionist.
"We'll take these two double rooms."
"In that case, it will be twenty-eight silver coins for the two double rooms for one week. You can ask to extend the maximum period whenever you like."
"Perfect, thank you very much."
I handed her the money, including an unnecessary high tip.
The beautiful receptionist smiled in response.
'I'm starting to think that the reason guard Eric recommended this place to us was because of her...' I thought, using all my IQ to come up with that answer.
"Okay, guys, I'll go see if we can get more rooms at another inn. Please, wait here for a while."
I wasn't worried about not being able to find rooms; after all, the ones we already had paid for were double rooms, so it was enough to find only one additional room for me in the worst case.
The girls would simply have to divide the rooms in this inn.
I left the inn with a confident look only to return an hour later with a haggard expression.
I'd been running all over the place, going from inn to inn...
But there wasn't a single empty room left no matter where I looked!
Finally resigned, I returned to the inn.
As soon as I entered, I could see the girls sitting at a table drinking juice.
Or so I hoped would happen.
But according to my true expectations, they were drinking beer instead.
'I suppose that in this world, it is much more common to drink alcohol at almost any time...' I thought while shaking my head.
Anyway.
"Oh, Franz is back! Did you bring me something?" Eva responded energetically as always.
'Do you think I went on vacation to be bringing presents or what?'
"Yeah, I bought a couple of cookies at a store."
I had actually bought a few things so that my search wouldn't have been completely in vain.
Eva received them happily from my hands and began to eat them without forgetting to share them with the others.
"How did it go?" Angie asked as she took a cookie out of the package.
"It didn't go well for me. Unbelievable as it may seem, all the inns in this area are overbooked." I let out a breath as I spoke.
When we were discussing what course of action to take.
"I couldn't help but hear that you have problems with the rooms. Why don't some of you come to stay with me instead? I have a double room perfect to receive one more person!"
In front of us, two burly men who wore elegant clothes and looked unexpectedly attractive were offering space for a person to stay with one of them.
In a different situation, I would've been delighted to agree and stay with them for the night.
However, it didn't seem like either of them was even paying attention to me.
Because both of their gazes were focused on the girls sitting around the table.
'Oh, I had forgotten that this could happen.'
Even if Jess, Angie, and Eva were lovely women at first glance, since they were army officers it was unlikely that anyone, either from the army or a civilian, would try to pick them up in their military uniforms in the capital.
However, at this moment, none of
them was wearing the uniform;
instead, they were wearing fancy coats that only make them look better.
Even Nat could be described as a beauty, so the effect generated by the presence of the four of them together was similar to that caused by the light emitted by a lamp in its ability to attract insects at night.
Both men approached the table where we were sitting.
They looked like young men who were probably in their twenties; one of them had blond hair, and the other brown.
"Let me introduce myself, my name is Michael, and my friend next to me is Theo. We couldn't help but notice you guys were in trouble and we felt compelled to help you," Michael said.
"You ladies look quite lovely, why don't you let me buy you lunch?" Theo asked.
Both men continued to completely ignore my presence.
If I'd been a less civilized person and less sensitive to causing trouble for the inn, I would've chosen to directly use violence against this pair of brainless playboys.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, but they are traveling with me. If you have spare space and want to help, why not let me stay with you instead?"
Even if I didn't like the idea of staying with this pair of playboys, I decided to see if they at least had some common sense.
After all, they could at least improve their first impression with the girls a bit if they followed my suggestion.
Unfortunately...
"Huh?"
Theo raised an eyebrow and made an annoyed expression.
"Get lost, can't you see I'm talking to the girls?"
'This idiot.'
"Theo, please don't talk to him like that."
'At least it seems that the other one has a little more intelligence.'
"Don't you see that he's probably the servant of these beautiful ladies? It's impolite to look down on someone else's servant like that."
'I WITHDRAW EVERYTHING SAID ABOVE.'
But when I was about to break his word and resort to violence.
"You are being very rude to Franz. Also, we don't have the problem you are talking about so I would like to ask you to please leave," Jess said.
Although she spoke politely, her expression showed clear hostility.
"Didn't you need room for one more person? We were also in line behind you guys, so I'm sure what I heard," Michael replied.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we don't have any need of your 'help,' after all, Franz only needs to sleep next to one of us to solve the problem," Jess exclaimed boldly.
Not only was the pair of intruders shocked by the statement, but even I and the rest of the girls were equally shocked.
"B-But Jess, don't we just have two rooms that can fit four people at the most?"
"You are wrong. The receptionist said that in the rooms, there is still space for a third person..."
"But she said only someone the size of a child would fit in there!" Eva said without even understanding the situation.
"Cough, cough… Surely she just overreacted and three of us can sleep there," Jess said as she coughed nervously while looking at Eva.
The girls after briefly thinking about their options finally agreed that it was the only feasible solution.
While the girls decided all this without consulting anyone else.
Michael and Theo felt greatly embarrassed that the girls preferred to sleep together with a guy like me instead of them.
Both of them clearly didn't expect to be rejected like that.
While both of them were thinking about what action to take, a group of people came from outside the inn and whispered something in Michael's ear.
"I don't like it, Theo, but we have to go right now."
Michael grabbed Theo by the neck, so he wouldn't resist or ask questions, and thus they both disappeared from the inn.
On the other hand, I was trying to think of some other solution while listening to the girls talking.
However, I wasn't able to think of an alternative other than the one suggested by Jess.
I didn't even notice that the pair of annoying men had already left, and I only managed to snap back to reality when I heard Eva ask the most important question.
"So, which of us is going to share a room with Franz?"