Episode 13 – Hot Pot (1/2)
By the time Kiel came up to the attic, Elaru had already unlocked the room and entered The sturdy doors to the rooic key Kiel didn’t expect a small tavern to have such an enchantment
And it wasn’t just the door that was enchanted As his s, he noticed that the walls had a sound isolating ic array formation set up It wouldthem utmost privacy
The night had just fallen, and there was not h the s However, the roo fro
Not bad, not bad at all
It was probably safe enough to leave their belongings here while they ate dinner And Kiel could also relax knowing that no one would be able to hear hi an ass
As he entered the roo hoould solve this issue of a single bedchamber Elaru was too impulsive and she didn’t care for etiquette and social norms
His thoughts paused when he saw the insides of the room The room was filled ooden furniture and it had a very warm and pleasant feel to it Just like the rest of Hot Pot But that wasn’t what surprised him What surprised him was that the room was filled with mementos, books, and personal items It didn’t look like a room one would expect to find in an inn
Well, Kiel had never been in an inn before, but still, this was not what he expected the room to look like
The room was… special, too personal It looked like a rooirl
”What is going on? Who is that woman to you? Is this your room?” Kiel's eyes narrowed as he looked at Elaru
She gave him a bitter s to Mira's daughter But now, this is the place I stay at when I am in Ashar”
Kiel raised his eyebrow, urging her to elaborate Her face showed a tinge of sadness
“A few years back, a sudden battle broke out between es that took the lives of a few innocent bystanders Mira’s daughter had been in the wrong place at the wrong time”
“Oh” He didn’t knohat to say He wasn’t good at co people “Did you know her?”
Elaru shook her head “Not really She worked as a waitress in Hot Pot, so I did exchange a feords with her, but I didn’t really know her After the accident, in the resulting chaos, the perpetrators slipped away and covered their tracks The peacekeepers couldn’t find them, and since those that lost their lives had no social status, the peacekeepers in charge of the investigation weren’t granted enough funds to hire a tracker Mira and her husband couldn’t rest until those responsible for it were punished, so they put up a quest asking for someone to find the culprits”
Kiel’s eyes brightened in realization Of course! Elaru was a tracker It was right up her alley
“However, they couldn’t pay a fee high enough to hire a tracker skilled enough to co at Hot Pot at the time, so I found out about the situation”
Elaru paused, and picked up a red glittering stone froht it up to her eye level and watched the light flicker on it with a sad look “I like it here, Mira and her husband are good people”
She sighed and put the stone back down “I offered to help out, but since they couldn’t pay a high enough fee, we settled on an alternative payet to enjoy the services of Hot Pot for free in the future, and they would let me permanently “rent out” this room”
Kiel glanced around at the frilly curtains and set the feeling you ripped them off?”
Elaru sh of a fee trackers of e”
He shrugged True But he could guess that her value as a tracker was on the top of the ladder And the number of people qualified to sit on the top were too little to satisfy the high demand for their services
Kiel picked up a cera a lacy dress and looked it over “So all this stuff isn’t yours” He smirked “That makes sense This room doesn’t suit you”
Elaru chuckled and jumped on the bed “And what kind of rooue at Kiel cutely “Chains and skeletons everywhere?”
He s him about how he made her out to be evil He was about to respond when his expression froze It was only when Elaru sprawled on the bed that he noticed a serious problem
”What do you h?! No matter how you look at it, it is a one-person bed!”
Elaru rolled her eyes “Well, in co size bed you have in your room, yeah, it must look quite small”
Kiel gritted his teeth “It doesn’t look sle person bed!”
She shrugged nonchalantly “We are both slim, we’ll fit”
He glared at her “What is wrong with you? It is inappropriate to share a roole bed Did you stop to consider how this would look to other people?! This is socially unacceptable!”
“Well what do you suggest we do? There are no other available rooms”
“Let’s go find another inn”
“Do you think it is a coincidence that there are no available rooms?” Elaru looked at Kiel like he was an idiot, before elaborating “Muni exams start in three days, and thousands upon thousands of people are congregating here for the exams This weekend and next week are the liveliest tiood inns are full We could spend the whole night searching for a single room, let alone two”
Kiel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed He hated to adht
He had to endure and hope no one finds out about this in the future
He glanced at the bed again Who’ll take the bed? He didn’t want to sleep on the floor, but forcing a feround would be considered rude
Wait, as he worrying about etiquette in a scenario where no one would find out what he did? He had already shed all pretense of nicety with her There was no reason for him to sleep on the floor It was her fault that this happened anyway, she should take responsibility
“Get off The bed isno roouments