Stray

Ann’s speculation wasn’t not wrong. There weren’t many inns in this small village— In fact, there was only one with many mobile vendors gathered around its entrance. The inn’s building looked very old and only had two floors. Half of the walls were covered with vines, which made it look quite pleasing to the eyes from a distance. Unfortunately, it also made it too hidden that the group had to wander around for a while before discovering it.

The rusty signboard of the inn was exposed outside the thick climbing vines, which made it very inconspicuous. The hanging board was painted with a group of crooked vines that was next to the most common ordinary font.

“Earthsea Orchid.” The female warrior shrugged. “…Doesn’t seem like a Four-Leaf Clover.”

This time their luck couldn’t keep up with them. Unlike when they were at the Four-Leaf Clover, this time, not only were the general bunks not available, even the rooms were fully booked.

“Sorry.” There wasn’t any uniformly dressed, young, and beautiful welcoming employees here. The innkeeper was a woman as large as a barrel. She sat behind a wooden platform with an apologetic face. “Usually this isn’t the case but today there happened to be a large mercenary group staying here… But yesterday’s caravan is about to leave. Would you mind waiting here for a bit? I can make it cheaper for you.”

The environment inside the hotel wasn’t as bad as the female warrior thought. The lobby was clean and tidy, there were no muddy footprints stained with horse dung on the floor, and there wasn’t a sour smell mixed with sweat and rancid cloth in the air. Fresh flowers were placed in a dusty corner and the surrounding walls were covered with exquisite and interesting handmade decorations.

“It’s fine. We don’t have all our people anyways.” Ann pulled a rough wooden stool over and sat down in front of the lobby to wait. There weren’t many people waiting in the lobby right now, or rather more precisely, there was only a father with a little boy. If a caravan was leaving, they shouldn’t need to worry about their rooming issue.

Adrian stood leaning against the wall, while Jesse stood aside with the gray parrot; the bird had collapsed softly with its wings motionless as if it was out of breath.

There was a long silence.