Both of them were already in the village and night was approaching. The young man was amazed because the inhabitants of the place were "Semi-Humans", people who have tails and animal ears; there didn't seem to be much population, between a few children who ran from one side to another and who seemed to be working. That was what I observed, as Beatrice received greetings from the people.
"I see, I hadn't thought about it until now that I saw them, but there are other races in this world. Elves surely, fairies, maybe dwarves, I wonder if that is so?" thought the boy looking from one place to another.
While he was deep in thought Beatrice kept hearing, "Hello Miss Beatrice", "How have you been?" or "How is your brother?". She returned each greeting with her hand and a smile.
"You seem to be quite famous here," the young man commented.
"Yes, you could say that my family takes care of these lands, that's why from time to time I come here with my brothers."
"I see..."
"On the other hand, you seem a bit distracted."
"I'm experiencing the ecstasy of geekiness," said the boy using a contemporary language of his world.
The young woman smiled amused to see him so euphoric.
"Wait, we're at the inn," said Beatrice stopping the boy and thought," freaky? What's that?
"Where?
"It's getting dark, I thought it would be best to spend the night here. Don't worry, I've already spent the night in this place, it has good rooms.
"All right..."
In front of the young man's eyes slowly fell a snowflake, yes, the snow was back with him, not so hard luckily.
"I had forgotten about the snow... I hope it doesn't affect people's work! "Beatrice commented a little worried.
"If they have crops, let's hope it's wheat," thought the boy, looking up.
"Let's go in!" exclaimed Beatrice, who was already on the other side of the door.
"She was next to me! At what moment?!" thought the boy, surprised at the twin's stealth.
V
"Hello? Is anybody there?" asked Beatrice at the empty reception desk.
Kaito simply waited behind her with his hands in his pockets.
"Just a moment, I'll be right there!" answered a voice from another part of the second floor.
"Good, if there is someone..." said Beatrice relieved.
"Hey, what station are we at?" asked Kaito.
"Ah... Winter has just started... Why?"
"No, no reason."
At that moment a Semi-human with white hair and purple eyes opened a door behind reception and said:
"Miss Beatrice? How strange to see you without your brother, is Naomi around?"
"No, I come alone this time!" she said, posing proudly like a child after having gone to buy bread alone for the first time.
"And the young man? He has a rather peculiar way of dressing," asked the receptionist looking at Kaito.
The boy stared at Beatrice waiting to hear her answer and thought: "Don't say anything about me, I'm nobody".
"Ah, he is... He is... He is a newly hired butler at the mansion, today I asked him to come casually..." declared Beatrice hesitantly.
"So, she's not coming alone, I thought that was strange."
Beatrice kept her head down, ashamed of her unjustified pride.
"Nice to meet you, young man."
"Nice to meet you, my name is Kaito!" greeted the young man casually.
"What an unusual way for a butler to introduce himself," remarked the receptionist in a reproachful tone as she tidied up the counter.
"He's just learning!" Beatrice exclaimed worriedly.
"If he works for you, he must be an amazing person."
"Yes! Believe it or not, she's as strong as Naomi!"
The boy, not knowing this "Naomi", could immediately realize that this was a vulgar lie.
"Impressive..." said the receptionist in astonishment.
"Excuse me," said the boy calling the receptionist's attention and asked," Is it common that there are no people staying these days?
Indeed, the place was empty, only three of them were present in the place.
"No, there are usually quite a few merchants around here, but it is not unusual for this to happen."
"What's the reason?"
"It is likely that they have spotted bandits on the roads, perhaps beasts, it may also be because of roadblocks, I'm not sure, the capital usually gives many problems with these issues."
"Does that affect them a lot, the little flow?"
"That's why I was asking? You are a very kind young man, but don't worry, the accommodations are maintained by the capital itself, in every registered village or town, the presence of this type of services is mandatory, since the traders need to rest in the long stretches."
"That's good... They even give them jobs."
"Besides discounting the lodging, the rest of the village is guarded by the Novatravel, so we don't usually have problems "he commented while he put away some boxes that looked heavy and added". But obviously not everything is always good.
Just as she had apparently finished tidying up, the receptionist looked out of one of the windows and exclaimed in surprise.
"It's snowing! How strange! Why? Until a while ago it didn't look like the weather was going to change."
The young people were as tense as logs.
"C-c-right? N-n-no? Why is that?" asked Beatrice.
The boy turned around to stifle his laughter again and thought, "What kind of dissimulation is that?"
"I'm going to have to bring the stuff in, I can't let the wood get wet," he commented as he wrapped up and continued," You can check yourselves in, two rooms, right? You can pay as you go... At least this will help the crops."
"Ah... Okay, thank you very much," the twin replied as she watched the receptionist leave.
"It looks like I got the wheat right," thought Kaito relieved and said," Just keep the Katanas in the room, I'll go help the people with the wood.
"Okay, then we can have dinner right here and tomorrow morning we can leave."
VI
Night had already fallen, Kaito and Beatrice sat down to eat a lot of meat, accompanied by drinks with the owner of the lodge and her daughter. The little girl sat close to the boy. Her name was Hanae, a pale, gray-haired, pink-eyed little girl with a super fluffy tail and beautiful ears. She was, simply put, a very cute little girl.
"Thank you, very much young man, for helping the village with the snow," said the receptionist.
"No need to thank me," he said, knowing that he was partly responsible for the problem.
"That's true, now that I think about it, unlike the others you don't seem to have problems with the snow," commented Beatrice.
"Let's just say I'm used to freezing weather.
"You were even playing around with the kids in the cold like it was nothing," said the twin and while she was drinking, she thought," Is that super resistance to the cold the effect of the curse or just a habit?
Yes, we play a lot of games, hide-and-seek and adventures! "Hanae exclaimed happily, wiggling her ears.
"I'm not going to tell you that it was very easy to find them," thought Kaito, the culprit that made it so easy to find the children was their ears and tails.
"How do you play adventure games?" asked Beatrice.
"Apparently we have to act as famous characters of this world, but since I don't know any of them, I had to play the monster," explained the boy, not wanting to admit that someone had taken the role of 'Hero' away from him.
"And who did you play, Hanae?" asked Beatrice looking at the girl.
"I played...! The Queen of Dreams! declared the little half-human proudly."
"Good choice! If I had played, I would have been... Mmm Anas...? No, I would have been Amelia Novatravel!"
"Who is she?" asked the curious boy.
"I'm aware that I know nothing about magic..."
"Neither of the world," the boy interrupted the twin with a comment that hurt himself.
"Hey, don't be like that with me and let me finish!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
The twin closed her eyes, calmed down, took a breath so she could continue with her moment of glory.
"As I was saying I don't know many things, but I do know a lot about our family's history, since we were little, we are taught to know about our ancestors," explained Beatrice to which the boy realized that probably if he wanted to know something about the Novatravel, apparently Beatrice was a better choice than Ross.
"And so... Who is this, Amelia Novatravel?"
"As I was saying, she is an ancestor of my family who during the 1000 years' war was the only one able to face the 4 witch sisters all alone!" He explained in a fantastic way, almost as if he were a bard.
"And who are these witches?"
"I don't know, I have no idea," Beatrice declared, removing all emotion.
"So much for her knowledge... How disappointing," thought the boy with a sigh.
"Besides, it's not good to talk about witches! It's wrong! It's wrong!" she explained while he moved a spoon, and Hanae repeated the same gesture of the twin.
"Hey, shall we continue playing later? asked the pink-eyed girl pulling the young man's shirt.
"Daughter, stop bothering him, you haven't left him or Miss Beatrice's side all day!
"Don't worry, I don't mind," Kaito declared.
"Hehehe! They look like siblings," commented Beatrice.
"You think so?
"Yes! And I'm surprised you're so good with children, I thought you'd rather avoid them than anything else," declared the twin shamelessly.
"What kind of image do you have of me?" she asked sadly and with half-closed eyelids.
"It was just a joke!" said Beatrice, waving her hand in a calming gesture.
Hearing Beatrice's comment, the little girl couldn't help but get caught up in her thoughts and stare at the young man.
After a while the boy and the little girl went to play as they had agreed and while they were walking the little girl hung on his hand.