Lieren blinked a couple of times, confounded by the sudden crash and resounding destruction of what he regarded as just any ordinary table.
"Um… is that guy dead?"
The owner(?) of the inn caught the black-haired boy at the corner of her eye. A wide smile, more genuine than the young lady's, was plastered on her face. She seemed to be perfectly content with her own circumstances, a rare occurrence in populated cities such as this one, but a possible one nonetheless.
She responded roughly, her grating voice resounding:
"Huh? Oh, yeah, he'll be fine. That guy's gone through worse. I've seen it for myself a couple of times."
Then she laughed jocosely, her voice echoing from the front desk to the entire room that served as the main hall, where paying customers can eat delicious food and make merry while they chat about their wondrous exploits and most recent travelling stories, boisterous with health and vitality. The main hall contained more adventurers than regular customers, if any at all.
A bead of nervous sweat dripped down Lieren's cheek and fell on his shirt, soaking it with perspiration.
'She… she's crazy. A full-on lunatic!'
Indeed. Anybody with half their brains would realized that, through the application of common sense, this was not a place for people like them. A soon-to-be-not-orphan and a Paladin of the Knight's Order is completely out of place amidst the bubble of careless merrymaking and drunken shouts.
If not for the barrels upon barrels of ale filling them with glee, Lieren did not know what would have come of the two of them by now… as well as the fate of those that hypothetically dared to assault them would be.
There were too many questions in the air, baffling the young man's mind. As ahead he was of children his age, though he is not aware of it, he was still just a kid. An innocent, malleable kid.
Harita preferred to keep it like that.
That was the only reason, as far as he knew, that his Aegis had to stop him from doing what he termed as "needless trouble and unnecessary risks."
'If only he'll give me a chance. Just for once.'
Lieren's gaze fell to the wooden floorboards of the Marigold Inn, barely listening as the bustling and merrymaking that naturally resounded in the well-lit room lowered and lowered, as if a field of silence had been cast, separating him from the world once more.
He always hated that part of him. It was nothing but a weakness, a flaw to be exploited by the mighty and the clever, keeping him bound and eliminating his rule… whatever that was.
Ever since the… event, at the core of Karan forest, he has not been feeling well.
More specifically, his curiosity. The one thing he prided himself the most on.
When the first thing that your most trusted confidant practically grips your throat and tells you to "Calm down and think about this," then who wouldn't be scared? He sure would!
…He felt so, at least. Whether he was actually angry, he did not know.
That was when it happened.
Once again, his Aegis subverted his expectations, completely flipping it around like a coin tossed high into the air.
You can only ever guess where it would land. You could only ever guess if it would land.
Turns out, it was heads.
The very thing Lieren was about to blow up as Harita, with a bold glint to his feline green eye, casually walked over to the reception desk, puffing his chest up.
He smiled devilishly.
"So, how much?"
The supposed owner gave the lean man a brief glance, checking the man with a dubious look in her eye. A second passed before she fully turned her round body to him, puffing her chest as well… just in a different way than his.
Harita held his eyes straight into her own.
When she noticed this, she blushed just the slightest bit. It soon disappeared though, as if to humor the man. Then she said, raising her brow and curling the edge of her lips:
"Right, of course. I have a business to run."
She leaned on the counter, flashing her assets for all the world to see. She pointed at herself, then the young lady.
"Fifty for me, eighty for the little lady. Two hundred for both, all services included."
Sanra visibly flushed.
"M-mom! What are you talking about?! There is a child here!"
The older woman mirthfully laughed, holding her sides as her audible chuckles echoed all throughout the first floor, only matched by the cacophony of merry adventurers happily wasting away in cachinnation and glistening alcohol.
Sanra's face was bright red, athwart to her usual sensual disposition. She seemed to be a maiden… or acted like one, at least. For some reason, Lieren couldn't tell whether she was lying or not. Only that she was… embarrassed, maybe even frustrated and concerned.
Meanwhile, Harita just stood there, his eyes never peeling once away from hers, as if stuck to it. There was a glint in his eyes that Lieren did not recognize.
Noticing this, the older woman flinched. Her eyes contained something that Lieren couldn't quite tell, but still noticed the presence of. Just like a thick veil.
"Umm, actually—"
Before she could say anything, Harita spoke first, finally ready to talk. He leaned on the counter so that he was face to face from the owner's face, just a few inches away from the her nose:
"So do I pay upfront or afterwards? Half now and half later will do as well."
At that, the whole inn fell silent.
Lieren just about caught the distant snippets of whispered conversations here and there with his mana-enhanced ears.
"Hey, did he just…"
"No, no, couldn't be…"
"Does he not…"
"Is he insane…"
"He's dead…"
"I don't blame him, Marinn's pretty hot…"
"What are you…"
"Well, at least he tried…"
"Damn, I was gonna go…"
"At least we have entertainment for today…"
"Is nobody going to give me a refill…"
"Respect man, respect…"
"Too bad, Sanra got ahead of me first…"
'Huh. They're pretty unanimous.'
Everybody seemed to agree on one thing.
Lieren's face paled. If what he pieced together was true, then…
Taking hurried steps, he pulled on his Aegis' shirt and looked at him upturned.
"Umm… can we please choose someplace else? This place creeps me out."
This was not technically a lie, Lieren reasoned. Deception and persuasion were two sides of the same coin, but different matters nonetheless.
Also the inn owner's name was apparently Marinn.
Harita glanced at him, his "charismatic" pose frozen. He smiled.
"No, this is the place. We are staying here. No matter what."
All blood seemed to drain from Lieren's face as his mouth hung wide.
'Has… has he been taken by an Accomplice?'
Sanra breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost lost today's catch right then and there. She glanced nervously at the counter, a bead of sweat flowing down her cheek.
If this deal really goes through, then she would…
Harita looked back, swinging his head dramatically in Marinn's direction like some kind of seductive Bard.
"Well, how will it be miss? I am a very open-minded person. Just say the word."
Marrin's throat hung dry of scrutable words, her mouth flapping emptily.
It seemed like even she did not expect such a response.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"
Turning away from this… interaction, Marinn produced two polished bronze keys from under the counter and set it on the desk with her head hung down.
Harita searched for her eyes.
"And these are?"
Marinn just hung her head like a defeated fighter and muttered in the softest voice she could muster:
"…Twenty shells for the first night, ten for every extra day afterwards up to the fifth. Second floor, third room on the left corridor. Four and three-petal engraving, you can't miss it. Please, don't."
A long, awkward silence passed before Harita finally took the keys, beckoning the boy with a hanging jaw to follow him, then heading up the stairs with a victorious grin on his face.
Somebody in the crowd muttered, stupefied:
"Did he just…"
However, before he could finish, Harita poked his head back from the top of the set of stairs.
"Oh, I actually only needed one roo—"
"JUST LEAVE ALREADY!"