Chapter 12: The Rival Inn
Mia, acting as the innkeeper, showed us to a room without fleas.
It was three silver coins a night.
Considering the size of the town, that would fall into the cheap category.
Seeing that they had no customers at this price, I thought the room must be incredibly dirty, but that wasn’t the case. Well, it was shabby, but not unclean, just old.
I ran my finger along the window frame, but there was no dust.
I checked the sheets, and they had been properly washed.
“It’s surprisingly well-kept. I wonder why there are no customers.”
I couldn’t figure it out no matter how much I thought about it, so I asked Mia when she came to bring us tea.
“Why isn’t this inn thriving? And why doesn’t your father work?”
Fina tugged at my sleeve at my bluntness, but Mia didn’t seem to mind.
Saying that this was some kind of fate, and also because she had the time, she told us the story.
“As I mentioned a little while ago, The Dawn Fig Inn used to be a reasonably prosperous establishment.”
“There’s no trace of its former glory. Why did it fall from being a popular inn?”
“It’s because of a rival inn that opened nearby.”
“A rival inn?”
“Yes. Did you see a large building on the main street?”
“Ah, yes, I believe I did.”
“That one. It’s true, that large building did make this area rather dark.”
“Yes. The rival inn, The Sun Tree Thicket Inn, violated the town’s established sunshine laws and built a massive building.”
“And that’s why you started getting fewer customers…”
“No, that’s not it. Oh, well, of course, that’s one reason, but it’s not the only one.”
“Meaning?”
“The biggest reason is that they monopolized the hot spring.”
“Monopolized the hot spring?”
“So, they took control of the source, is that it?”
“Yes. There are eight hot spring sources in this town, and they’ve monopolized one of them.”
“The source this inn was using was monopolized by them?”
“To put it simply, yes.”
“Didn’t you protest?” Fina asked.
“…We did. But the town’s hot spring association is in their pocket.”
“So they’ve got the association on their side.”
“Yes. No matter how much we protested, it was useless. And so… my father lost his motivation.”
“And that’s why he became a drunkard.”
“Yes. He used to be the best chef around here.”
“I see, so that’s the story.”
As I summed it up, a heavy silence fell over us.
Fina looked up at me with pleading eyes, as if to ask, Can’t we do something?
“Can’t be helped. I’ll do something about it.”
Hearing those words, Fina hugged me, saying, “I’m so happy.”
Mia’s eyes went wide. “Huh? Huh?”
“U-Um, are you going to help a complete stranger like me?”
“You’re not a stranger. We’re already acquaintances, aren’t we?”
“We only just introduced ourselves. I only know your names, Renas-san, because you wrote them in the guest book.”
“Knowing your name is enough to be friends. And you help your friends. Besides, when my wife says she’s going to help someone, that’s a final decision.”
At those words, Fina puffed out her cheeks.
“Renas, that makes me sound like a scary wife.”
“Nothing wrong with being henpecked, ha ha ha.”
Laughing like that, we decided to formulate a plan.
