“My, oh my, what should we do now?”

“There aren’t any other inns available, so it can’t be helped . ”

“I-is there really no other choice?”

“Nnnmto, Priscilla doesn’t mind, either way . ”

“Nyaa~”

We are discussing our situation in front the reception desk .

It’s already become too late to search for accommodations and there aren’t any vacancies anywhere . We were finally able to find this inn at last, but it only has a single, four person, room available . The problem is, I’m the only man here! There wouldn’t be any problems if I was only with Mistral and Priscillchan, but from the moral perspective of the shrine maiden, Ruiseine’s, she’ll want to avoid sharing rooms with men as much as possible .

“Oh well . This time, it can’t be helped . Besides, Mistral-san and Priscillchan are also here . The G.o.ddess should be able to overlook this . ”

“Nyaa~”

“Oh my, that’s right, Nymichan is also here . ”

Ruiseine smiles as she compromises with the situation .

I pat my chest in relief . That’s great, looks like I won’t have to find a different inn for myself .

 “Then, all of you want a room for four people including children, correct?”

The salesclerk uncle smiles as he fills in the ledger . Today being a full house seems to have put him in a good mood .

“Your room is the furthest in down the first floor’s corridor . It is down the opposite pa.s.sage leading to the Mitaras.h.i.+ (purifying water in the shrine) . You’ll understand once you see the signs . ”

The uncle gives us a brief explanation while handing us the room key .

“We will pay with this, please . ”

After saying so, Ruiseine takes out a parchment from her purse .

“What’s that?”

No matter how I look at it, it’s not money .  

While Mistral and I tilt our heads, Ruiseine explains .

“This is similar to a promissory note . Written at the bottom is the name of the priest using it . The receiver then fills out the fee . Once it is brought to a temple, the promised money will be delivered . ”

Written on the upper half of the parchment is a guarantee along with the contract’s text .

Mistral says, “Isn’t it faster if you just pay it directly? Wouldn’t it be a disaster if someone committed forgery?”

I also think the same, but the uncle at the inn’s reception desk laughs .

“Do you know of such insolent people who would falsify a temple’s doc.u.ments?”

“Clergyman do not carry much of money with them . If they take too much, their hearts will become filled with greed . ”

Ruiseine smiles as she says so .

I see . They might spend the money if they bringing a lot after all . 　Furthermore, they will hesitate over buying something too expensive with this parchment due to guilt they will follow . 　And since it’s issued by the temple, there probably won’t be any scoundrels appearing who’ll create forgeries .

“It’s true that I have to go to the temple to cash-in this parchment, but isn’t that a good thing to do? I can also pray there when I go, so there’s no problem at all . ”

“The people of the temple also welcome everyone who comes for that reason, so it’s working out as intended . ”

“Hmm, it’s doing well, eh?”

I can pretty much understand it, but it seems like for Mistral who doesn’t come from the human tribe, it’s pretty complicated . Even now, she looks at us strangely while tilting her head . Looks like I should explain religion to her in the future .

“Anyhow, we finally settled down, yeah?”

We wait for Ruiseine and the uncle to fill out the entry form . Afterwards, we head to our room . It’s simple with only has four beds lined up at even s.p.a.ces . Looks like I’ll be sleeping here tonight with two women and a child . For some reason, I feel weirdly nervous .

“Oh, the room is furnished with a bath . ”

“Eh, is that so?”

“Isn’t this quite unusual?”

For some reason, there is a dressing room in the back of the room . Beyond it is a relaxing bath for us .

Since this is not a luxurious inn, having a bath provided with the room is quite surprising . Usually, according to the story books, there are only shared bathrooms . I thought this time would be like that too .

“Ah, well, this is…”

The inn’s old man who carried our luggage gives us a bitter smile .

“This room is for family use only . That’s why it has more beds than the other room plus a bathroom . However, because the fee is more expensive, it was vacant until all of you came . ”

I see, so it’s like that . There’s no one who would promptly choose to stay in a room with a bath if it will be more expensive, after all . Since Ruiseine is the one in charge of the payment, we didn’t think about the cost of this room .

“Ruiseine, is the payment alright?” 

No matter how much the temple will pay for us, I don’t think we should waste it on something useless .

“Fufufu, please don’t worry . This amount is still alright for me . ”

Ohh, Ruiseine is truly generous . Then, I’ll depend upon her benevolence words and relax tonight .

“Nnnmto, Priscilla wants to sleep with onii-chan!”

“Nyan~”

“No, no, there are four beds so you don’t have to sleep with me . ”

“No way~!”

Priscillchan and Nymia immediately rush into the room and squeal loudly .

“Hey now, you two . There are other people staying here, so please be quiet . ”

Thus, those two sulk .

The inn’s old man puts down our luggage . Their antics bring a pleasant smile to his face as he leaves .

“Hm, we finally can relax now, huh?”

I sit on the bed and let out a sigh .

“Are you indirectly blaming me?”

“T-that’s not it . I don’t have such an ulterior motive . ”

I deny Mistral’s cold words in a hurry .

“Fufufu, it was a very exciting afternoon . ”

Ahh, Ruiseine, please don’t add fuel to the fire1!

“Ruiseine, let’s have a thorough discussion later . ”

“My, my, Mistral, I’m a shrine maiden . Violence is no good . ”

“What are you trying to say? Do I come off as someone who speaks with her fist?”

“Oh my, then, is Mistral actually that kind of person?”

“R-Ruiseine, what are you saying?”

I start panicking . Since when did the atmosphere become so risky!? Perhaps, before I was aware of it, these two already had a discord? Even though they had been getting along so well this morning…

Priscillchan and Nymia cling behind me who is moving left and right in confusion between Mistral and Ruiseine . I’m not playing around, Priscillchan……

“Fufufu, we’re just joking . ”

“I see, so Ernekun can be teased like this . ”

These two laugh after seeing my pitiful appearance . Ahhh, so they deceived me! These two are making fun of me, how cruel!!

I sulk and lay down on the bed .

“Nnnnmto, Priscilla wants to take a bath!”

“Nyaa~”

Priscillchan who is sprawling in the bed with me looks at my face and says so .

“Right, since the bath is provided for us, should everyone come in and have a bath?”

“Eh…”

I jump on my feet . Going to have a bath together? Oh my G.o.d, that is……!

“Fufufu . Ernekun suddenly became full of energy . ”

“Ernea, you’re definitely going alone . Why are you thinking of going in with us women?”

Ruiseine smiles at me . As for Mistral, she’s looks down on me with freezing cold eyes .

“Uuuuuh, wasn’t Mistral who said that we should go in together…”

I pout and bulge my face .

“To show my skin to a male is actually a little bit too much for me… . ”

“You should go to the shared bathroom . You’re also prohibited from entering here . ”

“Ehhh…… . !!”

To prohibit me to use the bath in this room, I feel sad, you know…  

Priscillchan is the only one who comforts me who is feeling heartbroken and dropping my shoulders .

“How about taking a bath with Priscilla?”

Priscillchan smiles innocently .

Ah, I’m cured . I returned her smile and gently strokes her hair .

“Is Ernekun a pervert?”

Ruiseine’s expression stiffens as she steps away from me .

“It seems like you’re right . ”

“T-that’s wrong . You misunderstood…”

Mistral, what are you saying? I’m not a pervert at all! Priscillchan is just so cute that I can’t help it .

Mistral and Ruiseine burst into laughter upon seeing me get fl.u.s.tered . Uuuuuhhhh, they’re at it again!

“Come on, let’s keep the joke until here . Is the bath already heated up?”

“I’ll go and take a look . ”

They’re not on bad terms at all, and they even look like they’ve completely open up to each other . I wonder when they started getting along so well . Is it because women have a lot to talk about that they were able to get along so quickly?

“It seems like the water temperature is already good enough . ”

Ruiseine who comes back from the bath reports to us .

“Well then, let’s leave Ernekun behind and enter the bath now . ”

Mistral says so as she embraced Priscillchan .

“Ah!”

I suddenly remember .

We haven’t told Ruiseine about Priscillchan . If she takes off the fluffy hat she’s wearing right now, her long ears are going to be exposed and Ruiseine will discover that she’s from the Long Eared Tribe .

After noticing my worry, Mistral smiles towards me and nods her head .

“I have been getting along with Ruiseine, so I’ll be the one to speak about that . ”

After Mistral says so, she holds Priscillchan and they go inside the dressing room .

“If you peek, you’re going to be in serious trouble . ”

Ruiseine gives me an outrageous warning before also entering the dressing room . Nymia trots along by her feet .

Gosh, I’m being left behind . Seems like I have no choice but to go to the shared bathroom . When I am thinking of something like that, Ruiseine’s slight scream and a seemingly a fun talk resounds from inside .

Seems like Ruiseine has discovered Priscillchan’s true form .

There are bustling and fun voice constantly resounded from the provided bathroom which has turned into women’s bathroom .

Un, hearing such voices isn’t bad at all . It feels nice to hear their excited voices . I stop myself from going to the bath and lay down on the bed to listen .

Ah, I’m not listening to them because I am a pervert, okay! I try to make an excuse for whoever .

Nevertheless, this afternoon has been tiring for me . I think back to what had happened in the afternoon .

After Mistral took down these fake dragon people, we reentered the restaurant and ate our lunch .

Come to think of it, how did Mistral know they were fakes?

Leaving that aside, when we were eating lunch, patrolling soldiers came after hearing the clamor . They are stationed along the highway in order to maintain security .

When they heard about the situation from the pa.s.serby, they approached us . Due to the shrine maiden, Ruiseine, being with us, they wait for us to finish . Mistral, however, quickly turns them away .

However, they have to do their job, after all . They waited for us to leave the restaurant and a big uproar broke out on the highway . They even prepared a carriage .

Ruiseine told Mistral that we should just give an explanation, but she refused to listen .

Well, I don’t think that it can be helped . At any rate, if we want to explain properly, we would have had to prove our circ.u.mstances by saying that Mistral is from the dragon tribe along other various things . It will become a serious matter .

From then on, we ended up playing a game of tag with the patrolling soldiers .

I doubt that we could avoid it all and leave everything a mystery by slipping away either . The soldiers insisted we board the carriage despite the presence of the shrine maiden, Ruiseine . Therefore, we had no choice but to run away .

Well, even if ran away, the even the armored, patrolling, soldiers were definitely not our enemy . We ran away as fast as could and the soldiers franticly chased us, but pulling away was easy . Still, they were persistent . They didn’t give up until late evening . It’s why we had trouble finding an inn for the night .

I’m also grateful to Ruiseine who ran away with us without question .

I think that Mistral is surely explaining properly to her in the bathroom right now .

Perhaps it will be a long bath . That being the case, I won’t be able to go into this one, so let’s go to the shared bathroom .

When I stand up after thinking it’s time to get going, I’m splashed with water by a completely naked Priscillchan who suddenly appears in front of me .

“Wha–”

My eyes bulge out in surprise .

“P-Priscillchan!”

Ruiseine’s screams could be heard from the bathroom .

After that comes a rattling noise and Ruiseine appears from the dressing room .

With that, I saw Ruiseine . A naked Ruiseine…

1 to add fuel to the fire = It’s an idiom, meaning to make things worse; to stir things up . I’m actually conflicted whether to write it in the idiom way or in the translated way, so…