"The old woman came to the girl who had escaped from her stepmother's hands and lived with the dwarfs in the forest, selling apples, and said, 'If you bite into this apple, will your gums bleed?'
And when the girl used the toothbrush she bought from the old woman, she died..."
Mile had never seen snow in his homeland or in this country, so he substituted the heroine's name with that of another fairy tale heroine that fit the situation.
The heroine's name in this story was something like this.
"Die, you little thing."
"And the prince, who is a necrophiliac pervert, kissed the dead woman's corpse..."
The third night.
"The girl who was delivering something to the old woman's house in the forest had a red cloth covering her head, tied under her chin to cover her cheeks.
That's because her tooth hurt."
"Toothache, toothache."
And then, the fourth day.
Finally, they arrived at the capital. The eight-night, nine-day job was finally completed. Although it was a short-term assignment as a bodyguard, it was the first joint mission with another party for the 'Red Oath,' and the first real combat, not a simulation, against human opponents, so there was much to gain. However, despite appearing to have plenty of leeway, the four were quite exhausted, both mentally and physically from the long journey in the carriage.
They visited the shops of the four merchants in turn, and each time, the number of carriages decreased by one, and they parted ways with the merchants. Each time, they took out the cargo from Mile's storage and handed it over, receiving the handling fee.
At the last merchant's shop, they handed over the cargo, received the handling fee for the cargo transport, the certificate of completion of the request, and the report stating that the request was completed, even though 'Dragon Breath' was not present. They then parted ways with the merchant.
"Thank you all very much. Without you, the caravan would have been wiped out, and we probably wouldn't have survived. I will never forget this kindness. Please, accept more requests from us in the future."
The merchant bowed to everyone.
"Mr. Mile, if it's not too much trouble, would you consider taking me in as a foster daughter..."
"Rejected!"
"Rejected!"
"Rejected!"
Before Mile could say anything, Reina, Pauline, and Mavis spoke in succession.
The merchant's shoulders drooped in disappointment.
When they went to the guild, the familiar receptionist raised her voice.
"I heard! That was quite an achievement, wasn't it!"
At her voice, all eyes in the guild focused on them.
(Oh, please...)
Mile made a face, but the other members looked proud. Of course, the three from 'Flame Wolf' as well.
"That was thanks to the five from 'Dragon Breath' and the members of 'Flame Wolf' here."
At Mile's words, Reina and the other three nodded, remembering the setup.
However, the guild staff and other hunters, who had known them for a long time, knew the strength of 'Flame Wolf.' 'Dragon Breath' was indeed a group of skilled hunters, almost at B-rank, but they were not an extraordinary party that could win against forty soldiers without a scratch. Naturally, suspicion fell on the uncertain element, 'Red Oath.' However, prying into a fellow hunter's affairs was forbidden, and in the guild, in front of everyone, no one questioned them.
Then, a loud voice rang out.
"Brett! I heard you did a great job, congratulations! I'm so proud of you as a party member! You must have received a lot of reward money, right? We should celebrate and discuss the party's future direction today!"
When Mile and the others cautiously turned around, they saw two girls standing there, apparently waiting for them.
"Party members? Your party members are those four handsome guys, right? We're just the 'former, ex-members' who were abandoned because we're from the countryside and not cool enough. We're not related now.
If we're going to celebrate, the members who fought with us this time, these girls, are enough. Besides, isn't alcohol bad for the baby?"
Brett, Chuck, and Daryl looked at the girls coldly.
((Oh no...))
Not only Mile and the others, but everyone in the guild looked at the two girls with pity.
The two girls stood frozen for a moment, but when they noticed the countless gazes directed at them, they hurriedly left.
"I hope they don't come back."
"Who knows... But if they do, I don't intend to deal with them, so it doesn't matter."
"Yeah..."
They submitted the proof of completion of the A-rated request and the report on 'Dragon Breath' entrusted by the merchant to the receptionist, and after Mile and the others warned her not to draw too much attention, they received their reward. 96 small gold coins for the four of them. To make it easier to divide, they were given 8 gold coins and 16 small gold coins. The receptionist, who noticed such details, made Mile grumble inwardly.
The soldiers' and thieves' shares had already been received in Amros, so what they received here was only the original request from the merchant. With this, the entire request was finally completed.
"Oh, I have letters for you."
At the receptionist's words, Mavis smiled wryly, and Pauline's shoulders drooped.
They were given two letters each, which they stuffed into their pockets without reading them on the spot.
When Mile and the others were about to return to their inn...
"Hey, how about we celebrate the completion of the mission with a drink?"
In response to Brett's invitation...
"I'll pass."
"When we're in this town, we have to eat at the inn or Rennie will be angry..."
"I can't drink alcohol..."
"I have to count the money..."
"Okay, then!"
Saying this, the four left, leaving the three from 'Flame Wolf' with blank faces.
"We're back."
"Welcome back!"
Rennie, as usual, greeted them from behind the counter.
...But thinking about it, Mile had never seen anyone other than Rennie behind the counter. Could it be that she wasn't just helping out but was actually the main staff?
Mile, though puzzled, took out some dried fish from his item box.
"Here, it's a souvenir."
"Wow, it's fish! Did you go to the seaside? Oh, I should have asked you to get some smoked fish..."
Feeling sorry for Rennie's disappointed look, Mile took out some smoked fish from his item box.
"Oh, oh..."
It seemed she wanted to eat it herself, not serve it to the guests.
As usual, the owner and the innkeeper came out at Rennie's loud call and took the ingredients with thanks.
After dinner, the guests who only came for the meal went home, and the overnight guests returned to their rooms. Then, a showdown began on the first floor of the inn.
"How can you do this! After all we've done for you, this is too much!"
"No, that was a fair deal. We agreed based on mutual benefit."
Rennie's anguished voice was met with Pauline's calm response.
Yes, their stay at the inn was about to end after almost a month, and the prepaid period for the discounted rate in exchange for attracting customers was over.
Mile and the others, who had been timid when they needed to save money and were uncertain about the future, were no longer so. Their pockets were now quite warm.
"Anyway, I'm tired of entertaining other guests. We have enough money now, so we're thinking of moving to an inn with a bath..."
"Such... such..."
Pauline's words left the owner and the innkeeper speechless.
Since 'Red Oath' had started staying at the inn, the inn's profits had steadily increased. The number of overnight guests and meal-only customers had grown. During the nine days they were absent, there were continuous questions about "What happened to those girls?" and the sales had dropped. Just when they had finally returned and things were looking up, the sudden announcement of a change of inn was equivalent to declaring that "We are dissatisfied with this inn and are moving to another one," which was enough to leave them speechless.
"What exactly is your complaint!"
"Well, you've been saying that over and over, that you don't like entertaining, and there's no bath..."
"Then, if we remove the entertainment and charge the regular price..."
"Is there any reason to stay in a place without a bath at the regular price? It would be better to move to an inn with a bath, even if it's a bit more expensive, right?"
Reina and Pauline's words left Rennie speechless.
"Then, if we keep the price as it is and just lower the level of entertainment..."
"But we don't really need the money anymore, so we don't want to entertain!"
"Besides, the current arrangement is expensive for us. We only stayed here for a third of the month, after all. Unlike other hunters, we don't leave our belongings in the room when we're not here, so we realized that the prepaid arrangement is a waste of money..."
Rennie bit her lip, realizing she had been caught.
When Rennie entered the room to clean after 'Red Oath' went on the rock lizard job, she immediately noticed that none of their belongings were left behind. "Hmm? These people don't really need to keep the room reserved, do they?" she thought.
So, even though it seemed like a huge discount, considering the actual number of nights they stayed and the work they did to attract customers, it wasn't that extreme. Moreover, the souvenirs Mile occasionally gave were not insignificant. The rock lizard tails he gave last time, for example, were quite valuable, especially at retail prices. One whole tail was enough to make a lot of profit, whether used in meals, dried, smoked, or resold to other traders. The orc he gave before and the fish this time...
She had to give up on making a profit from their accommodation fees and focus on other added values.
Rennie decided to take a risk. Incidentally, her parents were in the background, acting as if they weren't there.
"Okay, four-person room, meals not included, 6 silver coins per night! The price is only for the nights you stay, and we'll treat you as ordinary guests to the other customers..."
Rennie gritted her teeth and made the offer with a pained expression.
However, it was just a discount. The other conditions were standard for any inn. While the discount rate was quite significant...
Reina and Pauline's cold reaction left Rennie with a look of despair.
If she wanted to focus on added value, she could have made the accommodation free. But Rennie couldn't choose that option.
This was an inn, and it made money by accommodating guests. So, if she accommodated guests at a loss, it wouldn't be an inn anymore. She could offer discounts based on circumstances and accept favors from guests with gratitude. But she couldn't go against the principles of running an inn. Even if she knew that making 'Red Oath' stay for free would bring in more profit, she couldn't choose that method. It was a matter of pride as the daughter of an innkeeper, no matter how much her father, who was standing next to her, was emitting an aura of "Just let them stay for free, it doesn't matter."
"Um..."
In the midst of Rennie's predicament, Mile, who had been silent with Mavis, spoke up.
"If you accept two more of our requests under those conditions, we might consider staying here..."
Reina and Pauline gave him a look that said, "What are you going to ask for?"
"First, we want to remove the condition that we must eat here when we're in the capital. It's not that your food isn't delicious! But we want to try different places and different foods... And we might get invited by friends..."
To avoid offending the owner, who seemed shocked, Mile continued.
"And the second is, we'd like to use part of the courtyard..."
Most inns have a large backyard or courtyard. This is because many of the guests are hunters, soldiers, and travelers or merchants who practice some self-defense, and they often do their daily training in the morning and evening. The courtyard is also used to dry a large amount of laundry during the day. So, this inn had a sufficiently large courtyard, and occupying a corner of it wouldn't be a problem.
'Red Oath' decided to take a few days off after completing their job. They would each have free time to do as they pleased.
During this time, Mile wandered around alone, visiting blacksmiths, lumberyards, and the garbage dump...
One day, the inn's guests noticed that something suspicious had been built in a corner of the courtyard.
"Oh, it's finished?"
Reina, who had come to check, received an enthusiastic response from Mile.