Side Story 2: Deer Inn

“Aine!”

The mischievous twin sisters, Loti and Rona, well-known troublemakers in the village, spotted me approaching Deer Inn and ran toward me with excitement, throwing themselves into my arms.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“We missed you!”

These little rascals, who used to do nothing but play pranks on me when I was staying here, were now saying such sweet things. Perhaps they were sad when I was gone. I gently patted the tops of their heads.

“I’m fine now. I’ve completely recovered.”

After clearing the SSS-ranked dungeon I had aimed for, my first destination was my hometown, Spring Village. It was an unexpected visit, so I thought they might be surprised, but they welcomed me warmly. The children’s bright, sparkling eyes suddenly turned curious.

“But Aine, you look different.”

“Yeah. Where did you get these clothes? They look nice.”

Unlike the shabby clothes I usually wore, I was now dressed neatly, which seemed to make them suspicious. Since I would have to explain everything to Malri anyway, I decided to take the kids inside the inn.

“Where’s Malri?”

“She’s cleaning the rooms!”

“We’ll go call her!”

The troublemakers noisily stomped up to the second floor. Their endless energy hadn’t changed a bit.

Even though it had only been a few months since I left this place, I found myself feeling nostalgic. The smell of the bread Malri’s husband was baking, the faint tickle of dust in the air, the mischievous twins… All these familiar sights and scents I had lived with for so long welcomed me home.

“Aine!”

Malri, holding a broom, rushed over and hugged me tightly. At moments like this, she acted just like the twins. Though, to be precise, it was the twins who had taken after her.

“Are you really okay now? What about the curse?”

“It’s all gone. I had it purified.”

“The temple took care of it? More importantly, what’s with these clothes? This fabric is of such high quality… where did you even get something like this…?”

Malri was so caught up in admiring the fabric that it took her a while to regain her senses. Eventually, she sat me down on an empty chair in the quiet inn and started interrogating me. I had plenty to tell her anyway.

“…So, you joined the Hero’s party, had your curse purified, and now your level is 51?”

Malri looked utterly bewildered. And I understood why. I had been below level 10, yet now, after meeting the Hero, joining his party, purifying an S-rank rare curse with their help, and surpassing level 50 in such a short time—it was hard to believe even for me.

“Aine… you’re not, by any chance, mentally affected by the curse, are you?”

Malri seemed torn between believing and not believing my words. In the end, she seemed to settle on disbelief and worried about my sanity instead. Did my story really sound that crazy?

“It’s true, Malri.”

Should I show her something? Since Malri hadn’t been to a hunting ground in a long time, I couldn’t exactly demonstrate my monster-slaying skills. But I needed some way to prove my level had increased. What would work?

Just as I was rummaging through my inventory, which had nearly filled up despite its expanded capacity, the inn’s door swung open, and a customer walked in.

“Welcome—oh my!”

They had said they’d give me time to reunite with my friend, but apparently, they couldn’t wait. Without hesitation, they walked in and took seats.

Malri studied the newcomers, instantly sensing they were no ordinary travelers.

“Would you like to place an order? You seem like adventurers. What brings you to such a small village? Well, I suppose it may be small, but it has everything you need. Have you found a place to stay? As it happens, our inn has exactly three rooms left.”

There weren’t three rooms left—this inn only had three guest rooms to begin with. And one of them had been mine… Wait, did that mean Malri had already cleared out my room?

Malri, catching my gaze, winked at me energetically. So she had cleaned it out long ago. It was a reasonable decision for an innkeeper, considering I had been gone for months. Still, the thought that my room, where I had lived for over ten years, had been emptied without my knowing left me feeling a little wistful.

“We’ll take the rooms for the night. Please prepare all three.”

“Of course! But payment is required in advance.”

The price Malri quoted as an advance payment was so outrageous that I couldn’t stay silent.

“Malri. They’re my companions.”

“You won’t find a room around here for that price—wait, what?”

“I told you earlier. I joined the Hero’s party.”

Kelian, the ‘Hero’ himself, looked at me. Or perhaps, he had been looking at me the entire time. As I stepped closer, he wrapped an arm around my waist as if he had been waiting for it. I had noticed it earlier too, but he was being unusually touchy today.

As expected, Malri’s eyes widened so much they nearly fell to the floor. The twin sisters, peeking from the staircase, and Malri’s husband, who had just stepped out of the kitchen, were also stunned. Even Dain clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“So, Malri.”

Noticing my intense gaze telling her to charge a fair price, Malri hesitated before muttering in a defeated voice,

“T-then, as a special exception, I’ll lower the room price…”

Even after the discount, the price was still higher than normal, but Malri seemed unwilling to negotiate further.

My companions, unconcerned, paid for the rooms. However, Malri, now fully intrigued, seized the chance to interrogate them as well, practically forcing them to answer her barrage of questions.

“Then take my daughters with you!”

As expected, Malri, who loved hero stories, couldn’t resist. The moment she confirmed I had truly joined the Hero’s party, she got greedy. Her sudden offer left her daughters in shock, and they clung to her arms, crying out.

“Mom, no! We don’t want to go!”

“I want to stay with Mom!”

Even before considering whether my party would accept them, the twins were so against it that Malri couldn’t push the idea any further. Still, I could see the glint of greed in her eyes as she contemplated how to take advantage of the situation. My friend had always been like this—utterly consistent in her ways.

Meanwhile, Malri’s husband, who had a gentler personality, led us to our rooms on the second floor.

“I’ll come call you when it’s time for dinner.”

Jenin and Dain, Barkrud and Seiris, and then Kelian and me—our group naturally split into three rooms. It made sense, yet at the same time… it felt oddly awkward.

It was both natural and uncomfortable. A strange contradiction, but the only way to describe our current situation.

Kelian, who had been sticking to me closely the entire time, silently sat down on a chair as soon as we were alone in the room. This had been my old room, but in the time I was gone, it had been rearranged, now with two beds instead of one.

“I-I’ll wash up first.”

“Alright.”

Trying not to seem too flustered, I walked out of the room as casually as possible. Just before the door closed, I felt his gaze on my back, but I didn’t dare turn around to confirm it.

Truthfully, at some point, being alone with Kelian had started to feel awkward. Back when we cleared the SSS-ranked dungeon, there had been no strange tension between us at all.

I had some idea why things had changed.

Not long ago, I had been burdened with a rare curse that I couldn’t resolve on my own. It was a tremendous relief when it was finally purified, and I was deeply grateful to Kelian and the rest of the party for their help.

That should have been the end of it.

But now that the curse was gone, so too was the necessity for the… arrangement Kelian and I had during the purification process.

I hadn’t even realized it at first, not while we were focused on clearing the SSS-ranked dungeon. But during our journey back to my hometown, while staying at various inns along the way, the absence of that arrangement became painfully clear.

During the day, he hugged me from behind, lifted me up, held my hand, wrapped his arm around my waist… His touches had become even more frequent than before. Yet, when night fell and we were left alone, it felt as if Kelian was avoiding me.

Realizing this now made my emotions incredibly tangled. To him, our physical closeness had been part of the ritual to purify my rare curse, so it was natural for things to change afterward. But the more time passed, the more I found myself longing for his touch.

But how could I possibly express that?

I was already grateful just to be his lover. Asking for more felt greedy.

Even if he had feelings for me and we were in a relationship, desire and intimacy were separate matters. Kelian might simply not be the kind of person who sought physical closeness beyond necessity.

The more I organized my thoughts, the calmer my mind became. If, to him, our past nights together were only about purifying my curse—though I knew that wasn’t the whole story—then his current behavior made sense.

So, I made a decision.

Even if things stayed this way, even if our relationship remained in this vague, uncertain state, I wouldn’t reveal my feelings and put him in an uncomfortable position. If he didn’t want it, I wouldn’t ask for it.

The bathtub had already been filled with warm water—likely prepared by the twins. I undressed, sank into the tub, and let the heat soothe my body. Once I was fully relaxed, I finished washing up and stepped out.

“Ah.”

The moment I opened the door, I locked eyes with Kelian.

He was leaning against the wall, as if he had been waiting for me the whole time.

“Sorry. Did you wait long?”

“…Not for too long.”

Even as he spoke, his gaze didn’t quite meet mine.

Feeling a bit awkward, I ran a hand through my damp hair before stepping aside to let him enter the bathroom.

“Go ahead and wash up, Kelian.”

I had tried to sound casual, like before, but all I managed to say was ‘wash up.’ And somehow, that only made the atmosphere even more awkward—almost as if we were a married couple exchanging evening pleasantries.

Whether he sensed my thoughts or not, Kelian responded in a low voice, “I will, Aine,” before stepping inside.

Only after the door closed did I let out a deep breath, as if I had been holding it in the entire time.

“…This is difficult.”

I had no intention of revealing my longing for our past nights together. But I did feel the need to ease this strange awkwardness between us.

The problem was, I had no idea how.

How could I bridge this uncomfortable gap? What was Kelian thinking right now?

Just then, Jenin stepped out of her room.

“Aine. Still awake?”

“Oh, Jenin. I just finished washing up.”

“Aren’t you going to talk with your friend some more? I feel like we interrupted earlier.”

“No, it’s fine. We can talk more in the morning.”

“Then that’s a relief. But those little ones are really energetic…”

“Loti and Rona? Yeah, they are. Living with them is absolute chaos.”

Thinking about the twin sisters, who were probably deep in dreamland by now, brought a smile to my lips. But as I chuckled, Jenin, who had been watching me intently, suddenly let out a sigh.

“Aine, if you’re thinking about staying here…”

“Huh?”

“I’m not trying to pressure you, but if you come with us, there’ll be so many fun things to do. We can show you the ocean, like we talked about before. And—oh, I really don’t mean to force you, but, I mean—”

Jenin hesitated for a moment before finally speaking in a firm voice.

“Don’t stay here. Come with us!”

Her voice echoed briefly in the old inn’s hallway. I stared at her, a little stunned, as she grabbed my arm.

“If you want to stay because of those little twins, we can bring them along too. I’ll convince Dain.”

“Jenin, wait, hold on—”

“And if they don’t want to come, we can find other kids somewhere else—”

At this point, I was being painted as someone who couldn’t live without children.

“Jenin, please, just listen to me for a second.”

When I finally managed to calm her down, she looked a little downcast. She had genuinely been worried that I might stay behind. That realization made me happy—overwhelmingly so—but also left me a little flustered.

Because the truth was, I had never even considered staying here.

“I don’t plan on staying. I’ve always wanted to keep adventuring with you and everyone else… Was that not okay?”