“Yes?”
“Good evening. I want to book two rooms for the night.”
Wico intervened from the top of my head.
“Wait, why two? Just book one with a large bed.”
I lifted my head and whispered into her ears.
“One room for you, and one for Selva. I’ll sleep in the carriage. I don’t want anyone to steal from it during the night.”
“As expected of a merchant, it’s good that you don’t trust this inn. I’ll stay with you in the carriage, then.”
“Is that fine?”
“No problem!”
Selva looked at us murmuring with curiosity.
“What is it?”
I explained it to her quietly and she concluded.
“I’ll stay in the carriage too.”
These two women had their faults but weren’t picky about their comfort, at least. And seemed to be dedicated to the job. Maybe.
“All right.”
I turned back to the feline woman who was looking at us oddly and spoke in full voice.
“I’m sorry, let me correct this. We’ll have dinner instead. No rooms but one rental space for the carriage and horses.”
She nodded and calculated for a few seconds.
“That’ll be 18 silvers.”
It was very expensive but I paid without arguing. Compared to the investment made so far, this was but a drop in the ocean.
We took a seat at a random table and food arrived soon after. They had a large pot of beef stew and prepared individual portions from it for the customers to enjoy, together with fresh bread and butter. The money wasn’t completely wasted since it tasted delicious. Selva sat in front of me, eating her meal silently, but Wico didn’t even bother leaving her spot on top of me. She took her bowl from that position and ate like that. When she couldn’t reach something on the table, she would ask me to fetch it for her. She was enjoying her perk as my master to the maximum.
“Master, you never sit on Selva’s shoulders?”
“No, she doesn’t like it if I do. She gets violent. She should learn from her fellow disciple!”
“Who wants to carry such a stupid master? And it’s annoying that you never wear underwear no matter how many times I tell you to.”
“Those are bothersome. I’m 50% weaker when I wear them!
“You’re ridiculous, master.”
At that moment, a small feline woman arrived at our table and smacked the top of it with a hand. She then pointed at me, looking quite unstable and drunk.
“You. You’re not too baad! Come to my room toniight.”
Her speech was slightly slurred but her meaning was clear.
“Sure.”
“Get lost or die.”
My and my master’s reactions were the complete opposite. However, the way we expressed our feelings straightforwardly was similar.
“Huuh?”
The woman looked up at Wico, then down at me, confused. She then looked up again and froze. After a couple of seconds, she walked backward in fear, understanding that she wouldn’t stand any chance against a rank 6 as a rank 3. It seemed she wasn’t smashed enough to make such a mistake, even if her initial flirting attempt was quite something. Trying to get me while I had a rank 6 sorceress on top of my head was bold to the extreme.
Once she was far enough from us, she turned around and ran out of the inn. The bystanders looking at the scene either chuckled or shook their heads. It seemed this sort of event wasn’t unusual here.
Wico looked down at me with a scowl.
“What do you mean, “sure”?”
“You’ve been teasing me the whole way so I’m pent up, master. You just wasted my opportunity to get rid of my virginity.”
“Do you know what feline women do to their partners?”
“…What do they do?”
“If you’re lucky, it’ll stop at claw scratches and teeth bites. If you’re not, well, you’ll need a life mage when they’re done with you.”
“…That’s wild. I guess men can’t even resist?”
“Exactly. Feline women rarely sleep with men higher in rank. Which means, you’re the perfect target, Tila!”
I wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing. There was a moment of silence before Selva spoke.
“I’ve seen you teasing him, master. I’m sure you’ve done more when I was scouting. Why don’t you take responsibility, for once?”
She had a small mocking smile on her lips. It felt like she knew Wico would refuse.
“I’m an eagle who doesn’t care about responsibility! Kahahah!”
“Ha! You’re a terrible master.”
“What about you, then? Why don’t you help your fellow pent-up disciple?”
“Don’t try to pass the responsibility to me. It’s ugly.”
“It’s your chance to try stuff in a safe environment. I know you’ve been curious about it.”
Selva glanced at me and focused back on Wico, another wicked grin on her lips.
“I’ll do it if you start first, master.”
“Hoho! You’re learning how to use your brain now, my disciple. I’m proud!”
“I’m not as brainless as you, master.”
“Kahahah! If you say so!”
We finished eating and headed toward the stables. I took care of the horses until they were comfortable and closed the door to our rental space. It was possible to lock it and I did just so, even if I had no trust whatsoever in such a simple security measure.
Wico and Selva were already settled, having taken out blankets from my camping equipment. Wico was lying on the weapons like earlier in the day while Selva chose to sleep seated on the floor, her back against one of the wheels. I took a blanket for myself and lay down in the driver's seat.
Fortunately, the weather wasn’t too cold even at night, and the blankets would do just fine to keep us warm. Our sleeping positions weren’t the best but that was still much better than losing everything because of a random thief. The two women didn’t utter a single word of complaint and we soon fell asleep one after the other.
This was how my first day of adventure outside of Geola ended.