Chapter 9: The inn's inspection, and a rumor
Late that evening, I checked with the management head, an undead advisor (that's its race), and discovered that in just the one day, we made a profit of over 63 gold coins, as well as gaining 1200 DP more than was spent on the items given out and the booze consumed, just from the occupants of the inn, specifically, their activities and emotions. Considering that the inn isn't even 10% full, I shudder to think about my profits then. Of course, the next day I went to the merchant's guild and reported my first day's profits, handed them the ledger of income and expenses, the items and food listed as bought for cheap, by the way, and brought someone to look over the inn. Along the way, we passed over Mirus's carriage, around the time the guild staff member stopped screaming at the speed of the pegascythe's flight. Two hours of leading the guild member around, and we finally reached the ominous door leading to the core room and the one leading to the reward room.
"So... why are these doors different than the rest?" (Guild staff)
"The ornate door leads to the reward room, the intentionally ominous one to my private rooms, such as my bedroom, the prize storage, and the supply route's secrets are also hidden there. As no customer will ever enter this area without sneaking or breaking in, I am not required to show it to you, correct?" (Hope)
"Correct. The reward room, on the other hand, I would like to inspect" (Guild staff)
"Just be careful of the rules. You can leave with the item from one chest, if you open just the one chest. You can open two chests, but leave with the contents of neither. Or, you can open all three, and leave with less than you came in with, getting teleported out with just the clothes on your body, leaving everything else behind. It's all written in the rules, and on the wall inside the room, just to make doubly sure that people know the rules and can't say they never knew that that would happen" (Hope)
The staff member smiled, then spoke in a condescending tone.
"Unless they are illiterate" (Guild staff)
"In which case, they will have still received a verbal explanation of the rules before they have a chance to earn a key, when they sign the contract, and also when they do get a key, they are asked if they want to hear an explanation of the rules and risks of using it. I thought of all possible legal loopholes, I think" (Hope)
"Kingdom law, section 3, paragraph 11? Section 7, paragraph 2? Area 37 law, sec-" (Guild staff)
"I'm outside the border of the barony, so area 37 law doesn't apply to me. I'm in the territory managed by the crown, or rather, not managed, between the nobles' territories. As such, it'd be area 1 law, which only has laws regarding banditry and such, not businesses. As for the kingdom law, I scoured the entire book, so unless more laws have been added since the publication of the copy I read, which was published in 837 KE, I think it's safe to assume that I am fine" (Hope)
"Well, if it was published last year, the only new law is one regarding taxation limits for villages with fewer than 150 working age residents" (Guild staff)
"Don't forget the abolishment of any area laws entirely prohibiting the sale or production of alcohol" (Hope)
"Well, that's... you know your stuff" (Guild staff)
"I know about it because of my supplier of alcohol, that's it" (Hope)
With that, I pulled out a key, let the guild staff member enter the reward room, and... the idiot opened all three chests. I grabbed his notebook and other items from the storeroom, then handed them back to him.
"I told you not to open all three" (Hope)
"Shut up. I figured I'd be fine if I didn't touch any of the contents" (Guild staff)
"I told you that you wouldn't be. Now, I'd recommend we leave quickly, because people are going to want to laugh at you for losing your stuff, and I don't want to have there be a known precedent for me giving things lost that way back to the people who lost it" (Hope)
"Uh... right... yeah, I think I've seen enough. This seems like a fine establishment, and I'll submit my report to the guild. Oh... can we not fly back? Just... take a normal horse? Do you have those? Please?" (Guild staff)
"The closest I have is Blue Death, who's a soul eater. If you don't mind him being translucent, he's basically a normal horse... kinda?" (Hope)
Just then, someone pushed open the door to the inn, someone I recognised.
"Ah, Mirus! Oh, sorry, guildmaster! It's a pleasure to have you grace my humble- OW!" (Hope)
When I was being overdramatic in my welcome to Mirus, he delivered a quick chop to my head, as a means to interrupt me so he could speak.
"Enough with that, I'm tired from having to rush. Do you have a room for four? Also, where are the stables, and where should we put the carriage? My men are currently outside tending to the horses, but-" (Mirus)
"Number 12, could you and, uh, Number 43 show the guests to the stables and carriage stalls, while I handle the reception desk? Thank you. One four-person room is five copper, a deluxe four-person room is 10, but be warned, the comfort comes at a cost of being bone themed. The craftsman I got the furniture from seems to think bones are a mark of things of better quality or something. His best works are all things like the bone bed, ribcage bench, and so on, but... well, it's your choice" (Hope)
"I'll check with my men first, then. However, why're the workers just named using numbers? That's not-" (Mirus)
I sighed, then answered.
"To monsters, especially undead, a name is a sacred thing. It symbolizes recognition of their soul's quality, and thus they won't accept a name if they don't feel like their soul bears as many achievements as they would like it to have. As such, numbers. Otherwise, I'd just be saying 'you there' and 'that one' all the time" (Hope)
"Ah... so, what about- what about undead who bear memories of their time as a living being?" (Mirus)
"Some keep their previous name, some cast it aside. It all depends on the individual. Currently, I only have two named undead working for me here, Shortgi and Brewston, the best Shogi player and the bartender, neither of whom were once a living being, but are undead I created" (Hope)
"What happened to Blue Death? He's a named undead, right?" (Guild staff)
"He doesn't work here. He and Han, a former dullahan, are the two named undead I keep with me. Speaking of Blue Death though, I'll bring you back once I finish checking in Mi- the adventurer's guildmaster" (Hope)
A few minutes later, two women and a man entered to talk with Mirus, and after a bit of discussion, he requested the deluxe room for the four of them. I asked, and the man was the coachman as well as Mirus's assistant, and a retired B rank adventurer, while the women were both active A ranked adventurers, same as me. Unlike me, however, their names were not getting put up for promotion to S rank. After I showed them to their room, I took the man from the merchant's guild back to town, and got my business officially registered. I teleported back to the inn, and listened to a traveling merchant while plying him with drinks, to see if I could get any news he was keeping secret, and wow, did it pay off. I learned that the hero summoning that was being done by the Erushian Empire had succeeded, and better than they'd hoped, having summoned three heroes. However, one of them, the most promising one, was just a willful little girl named Nene. She left immediately after the summoning and wanted nothing to do with the Empire, and had all she needed to live for a while, seeing as she was summoned while wearing dragonscale armor. Her class was unknown. The other two summons, twin brother and sister, were respectively a Hero and a True Saintess, and were being raised with all the resources the Empire could muster. The other girl, Nene, seemingly vanished, but you still hear rumors of her solving problems here and there, all across the Empire, seemingly as though she has some teleportation magic. As such, her class is speculated to be Grand Archsage. Dragon sightings are getting more common in the Empire, though they don't attack anyone like they usually do. This has people scared, and wondering what is going on to make them act unnaturally, or rather, who is behind it.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
CaTastrophy
CaTastrophy Sorry about going AWOL for so long, and the short chapter. My motivation to write, and my time to do so, have both plummeted recently. It doesn't help that my writing doesn't help pay the bills at all, and no, I'm not going to set up a patreon or other donation method, that'd make me feel pressured to write more, which would just stress me and make writing feel like work, instead of something I do to relax and give back to the community.
Next up, Nene's side story. Half written, but... ETA is sometime in 2025?
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