Abilities Average
Chapter 247 One Week Part 2
"Eh, you guys will be going out again?"
Reni said, opening her eyes wide when they told her that they won't be staying longer than a week.
However, she is the daughter of an inn owner. She has been there all her life so no matter how close she gets with the guests, she is used to them leaving.
"I-I-I-I, s-s-see. W-well, the well is also done so taking a bath wouldn't be a problem either and, you guys will be coming back soon again, anyway so……"
But, even though she was used to it, it doesn't make her okay with it.
She could make up her mind the last time they left as she knew they would be leaving soon. Which is also why she was able to stay calm in front of them.
But this time, it was a surprise attack because she had thought they could spend some time together as the girls would be staying for a while. Moreover, no matter how stable of a person Reni was, she was still only 10 years old.
"Yep, this is Mavis and Pauline's motherland and their families are also here and our obligation of working inside the country still has 4 years remaining, after all. So even if we go outside the country time to time, we will probably be coming back here as this is our activity base…… We also registered as hunter from here so that won't let us move away from the capital.
This time-it isn't like we are going away soon after we came back but rather, it's that we are still in the middle of our training trip. If we come back this quick from our training trip, the other hunters will laugh at us…"
They can be exempted from the obligation period if they pay money. And now, Crimson Vow can easily pay that amount of money. It's one thing when they don't have any other choice but for now, they plan on completing their obligation period normally. It would go against everyone's policy to pay back gratitude or duty with money.
Besides, there was one person among them strongly opposing it saying 'At any rate, we don't have any reason nor any plan to move our activity base to other countries in the next 5 years. That would be wasting money, misusing money, I am completely against it!!'.
Moreover, if they paid money to get rid of the obligation period, there is a chance the officials might think that they are planning to move their base and it would turn into something bothersome. To avoid all that, maintaining the present conditions was the best choice.
Reni felt somewhat relieved hearing Mile's explanation.
It is certainly true that the hunters who have gone to training trips till now have returned after half a year at the earliest and after a few years if late. And of course, there were a lot of people who didn't even come back. Are they still continuing their trip? Did they settle down somewhere? Or did they……
No, it wouldn't be weird at all if they had found a partner and are now living in their partner's hometown. That's probably it. There are a ton of reasons for them to not come back here besides that too, like if they accomplished something great and are now of a high rank somewhere, or if they saved a village and married the mayor's daughter. That's probably it.
Thinking that, Reni clinged onto the possibility which even she didn't actually believe to be true. The reality would be too harsh for a 10 year old girl if she doesn't think like that.
"Then, when you come back, you will stay here again, right?!"
"Hmm, I wonder……"
"Eh……"
Naturally, she was expecting Mile to reply with a 'of course!' and so she was left frozen in place.
"Ah, no, it's not that we're not satisfied here, you know? It's just that we might rent a 'home' here……"
"Ah……"
Most of the hunters who come stay for a while and go out again mostly live in the inns while they are in the capital. Even if they rented a room or a house, if they just camp outside or stay at an inn because the amount of days they will be staying is low, then that would be a waste of money.
………That is if they are 'single and have a rough financial condition'.
The married couples obviously rent a house. And the single hunters who do not have a problem with money also do it.
If they have a house, they can leave some of their luggage there when they are going out again and they won't need to take a room at an inn everytime and there also wouldn't be the worry of not finding a place when they return late at night. And so, it was normal for lone hunters to rent a room and hunters in a party to rent a house and call it their 'home'.
"….Are you guys earning a lot?"
"Well, so so……"
"Kuu, is it the storage magic……"
As expected of Reni-although Mile tried to appropriately gloss it over, she saw right through it. She had always carried around souvenirs or their spoils of hunt, so Reni knew that the capacity was really high. And when you're as wise as Reni, you could easily imagine how that makes you overwhelmingly superior.
"B-but then, the attracting customer effect will…"
That's what Reni says but in reality, they weren't having a hard time, at all. After the Crimson Vow went out on their trip, other girl parties came saying that staying here will bode well for them as 'the Crimson Vow stayed here'. And so that's how more girl parties have started using this inn.
And inevitably, their reputation as a place where 'female customers can stay without any worries' grew, which made women, who aren't even hunters, stay there. And as a side effect of 'having a lot of women customers and female parties', male customers also increased. In short, it went exactly as Reni planned at first.
……… Although it might seem that the facts that 'female customers can stay without any worries' and 'male customers coming in for female customers' contradict each other, the male customers who come seriously just want to socialize with the female customers and they don't take violent or compulsive attitude which would make the female customers displeased. Moreover, if there's someone who does something like that, there's that.
The ideal chance.
There's no way the other male customers would let go of a chance to promote themselves in front of the female customers.
The men would come in a group with bloody eyes to be a knight in shining armor for the women. This was almost always the case when something like that happened.
If you were to tease a woman, before you realize, you will be surrounded by 10 or so happy men with a glare…… that is surely scary. And because of this, in this inn, the men were all very gentlemen-like.
The members of Crimson Vow had realized that on the first day after they returned.
"….Hmmm, as I thought, maybe we should make a home immediately…"
Reina also joined in with Mile to tease Reni with a somewhat displeased expression. Being completely treated as a child, Reni was flustered.
"T-that can't be…… But sisters, you are still new, aren't you? Getting a home is being too hasty…"
"That's exactly right!"
"M-ms. Pauline!"
Reinforcements came from an unexpected direction.
"You should only think about getting something luxurious like a home after saving up 80,000 gold coins!"
"R-right! That's right!!"
Gaining an ally, Reni gathered strength.
…… But still, if one needs to save up 80,000 gold coins to make a home, there probably won't be any hunters with a home.
"Well, no use talking about things that far off. When that time comes, we will just need to act and think accordingly with the situation. We don't know how the situation will change, after all."
"T-that's right!"
This time Mile agreed with Reina. She probably realized and felt bad that her words made Reni that flustered.
"Besides, even if we do make a home, we will always be friends with Reni…"
"….I-I understand!"
Saying that, Reni sunk back into the kitchen with her cheeks all red.
Seeing that, Mile thought to herself,
(Tsu-tsundereni……)
While doing this and that, the days went by and the Crimson Vow's short vacation ended. With that, they went on to accept a quest. A quest to escort a merchant party to the Murrain kingdom, which lies east of Tyre kingdom.
Although Tyre kingdom had maintained a friendly and normal political relationship with Mile's—Adele's motherland, Blundell kingdom, which lies to the west of Tyre, they had a very intimate relation with Murrain kingdom which was on the east side.
These two countries were like relatives to each other-marrying off one country's beloved princess to the another country's prince, sending over food supplies even if it meant decreasing own citizen's food to help the other's during the time of drought, sending many soldiers to the other country if they are about to go to war to send the message 'if you are going to attack my friendly nation, we will immediately join'.
And so, naturally, coming and going of goods for trading was also very frequent which made bandits aiming for these more frequent, as well. And even if one goes to the other country by taking on an escort quest, there are also many escort quests over there too, so they can also come back here by earning more without wasting a bit. This makes this route very popular for parties which are good against humans and are unstable in earning by subjugating monsters or hunting.
That's right, a perfect quest for a C rank party which just gained a bit of confidence, a quest which doesn't look unnatural at all for them to take. As such, the receptionist lady, who handled the offer accepting, didn't have any doubt either.
"We already have the license for a round trip outside the country and we just stopped by here as it fell on the way so there's no need to say something again, is there?"
"No, of course not. It would be bad to make the guild master go through unnecessary work, after all."
Mavis just had a wry smile on her face as she saw Reina and Pauline saying that with a bright smile.
"Is it really okay…… Well, even if it's good or bad, I will quietly depart either way…"
"Ahaha…"
On the day of departure.
"I made some pudding and pie for your between meal snacks. Please take it with you…"
While they were saying goodbye to the people of the inn, Reni came out with two packages.
"….This, you made it, Reni?"
"Yes……"
Even though she says pudding, it is different from Japan's pudding. Even at the current state of Earth, the other countries' christmas pudding lasts quite a long time. And for pies, mince-pies also last quite long……… Although, it doesn't really matter for Crimson Vow as they have Mile's item box.
"Thank you! Well then, we'll be back!"
And so, Mile and the others headed towards the meeting place with the merchant party.
At that moment, in Mile's head, a different thought was floating about-not one of departure.
(Pudding and… pie…)
And thinking that, a certain phrase left Mile's mouth without her knowing.
"'Kissed the girls and made them cry'"
And, hearing that, Reina and the others were startled.
"M-mile, you……"
"Eh? Ah, no, this is just a line from a poem……"
"Mile, you… as I thought, to young girls……"
"N-nonono, you're wrong! That's not how it is!"
"Mile………"
"Like I said, that's not it! That's a groundless charge! It's wet clothing!!"
(TL note: The word Mile used there, 濡れ衣, can be both 'groundless charge', unfounded suspicion' or 'wet clothing')
And like this, today as well, the Crimson Vow was operating normally………