Little Hero (4)

The Fallen Star Inn in the Fallen Star Village.

It was a place used as a resting place for travelers.

As they entered, a middle-aged man with a mustache welcomed them.

"Welcome! I haven't seen your faces in the village before. Where did you come from?"

"We just came out from the west for a walk and stopped by."

"The west? Did you come from Cohen?"

Reed just smiled without answering, and the mustached middle-aged man nodded as if he understood.

"Anyway, seeing that you brought a young girl here, it seems like you must be hungry."

"Can we have a meal?"

"We have goulash and a piece of bread, but if you pay more, we can make something else for you. What do you think?"

Goulash and a piece of bread.

They had only eaten food prepared by delicate chefs until now, so they were curious about the taste of rustic commoner food.

"I'll have that. Rosaria, is there anything else you want to eat?"

"I want to eat a sandwich."

Her choice was always the same.

"Could you make a sandwich for her? We'll pay extra if needed."

"Of course, I'll make a delicious sandwich for the little lady."

The restaurant owner smiled at Rosaria and went into the kitchen.

A moment later, the food they ordered was served.

For Reed, there was a steaming goulash and a hard piece of bread like hardtack, and for Rosaria, a relatively soft sandwich with lettuce and ham between the slices of bread.

"Let's enjoy our meal."

"Let's enjoy!"

Reed dipped the hard bread into the goulash and took a bite.

'The seasoning is a bit weak, and there are overcooked vegetables. The bread is hard, too.'

Perhaps because he had only been eating high-end cuisine recently, Reed could clearly feel the shortcomings of the goulash and bread.

However, he wasn't disappointed.

'It's not bad.'

It felt as familiar as eating a meal at a local diner.

Reed glanced at Rosaria.

She grabbed the bottom of the bread and took a big bite.

The crunchy sound swirled in her mouth, and soon, she wore a happy expression.

"Is it good?"

"It's delicious."

"You can talk after you finish eating."

"Okay!"

She continued to munch on her sandwich, not wanting to talk anymore.

As Reed watched her with a pleased smile, the middle-aged man approached him and asked.

"Traveler, if you came from Cohen, do you know any news from there?"

"What kind of news are you looking for?"

"Recent political situation or how the wise king is implementing his policies, things like that."

Recent political situation...

Due to the nature of his job as a tower master, he knew everything around the tower, whether he wanted to or not.

Therefore, he knew all about the recent events in Cohen, which was close to the Silent Tower.

"The wise king is still doing a great job managing the people."

The wise king, Morgan Hupper.

With decent city security, low taxes, and policies aimed at providing equal opportunities for the common people, he had earned the nickname of the wise king.

"Is that so?"

The middle-aged man let out a sigh with a displeased expression.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know if I should say this, but it seems that the wise king over there has been doing some strange things to the small villages lately."

"What do you mean by strange things?"

"They're trying to rip us off, who have nothing. A few months ago, someone high-ranking from there came to buy our carrots. They wouldn't even pay the price of a pile of hay?!"

It meant they tried to buy it at an absurdly low price.

"So what did you do?"

"We did receive a promise that the unpaid amount would be compensated with wheat stored in the royal warehouse. But..."

The middle-aged man took a deep breath and calmed his anger.

"We haven't seen any of it yet."

"That's terrible..."

"It seems like we might not have enough food stored in the village warehouse for the winter, and they won't provide any proper solutions, just keeping their mouths shut... I don't know what makes them good or wise kings. No one cares about what happens in small villages like ours, so it's quite frustrating."

The middle-aged man sighed deeply.

Reed wanted to help, but the unfortunate reality was that he couldn't.

'Tower masters should not interfere in matters within the kingdom.'

Respecting their autonomy was part of being a tower master.

He could only watch with a sympathetic face when Rosaria, who was eating her meal, pulled on the middle-aged man's sleeve and said,

"Sir, cheer up!"

Rosaria tried to encourage him with a determined look on her face.

The middle-aged man looked at her with a bewildered expression for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Haha! The little lady knows how to lift one's spirits!"

He lightly patted Rosaria's shoulder and looked down at her with an adoring expression.

Rosaria started eating her sandwich again with a proud face.

"You've got a lovely daughter."

Reed also smiled and replied, "She is a good daughter."

"I have two sons myself. They never listened to me, so I had to discipline them to make them human."

"If it's not rude to ask, where are your children now?"

"One of them became an adventurer, and the other married the daughter of a brewer in the next village and took over the family business."

In other words, they were not here.

"It must be lonely."

"Lonely? Ha! What do you mean? It's such a relief! I couldn't relax a single day because of those troublemakers. Now I can stretch out and sleep in peace!"

Although he spoke roughly, the paternal love that seeped through his tone was undeniable.

'Adventuring and getting married...'

It may not be relevant now, but eventually, Rosaria will become an adult.

What would she be doing as an adult?

No, even if she's not an adult, what kind of person would she be 10 years later, precisely on the day she encounters the final boss of <Disaster7>?

"Uncle."

Rosaria's voice interrupted such thoughts.

"Yes?"

"I'm done eating."

Rosaria, who had been picking up the remaining crumbs on her plate, showed him the empty plate.

"Alright, shall we get up now? How much is it?"

"35 UP, please."

"35 UP..."

'Why is it so cheap?' Reed thought, then recalled the prices when he used to play the game.

'Come to think of it, this is normal.'

Living as a tower master with thousands of Yufis as his basic income, his sense of money had deteriorated.

Reed took out four 10-UP coins from his pocket and handed them to the owner.

"You can keep the change."

"Are you sure?"

"Thank you for talking with us. Please consider the extra 5 UP as a token of gratitude."

"Ah, I should be the one paying you for having a conversation... If you ever have any more questions, feel free to come back. I'll make another sandwich that your daughter loves."

"Haha, thank you."

Could life as an adventurer be like this?

He thought that if he could meet good people and spend time with them, it wouldn't be so bad.

'I never thought I would end up admiring adventurers too.'

The path led by innocence suddenly felt terrifying.

Reed took Rosaria's hand and headed back towards the tower along the path they had taken.

At that moment.

"Isn't the price lower than last time?!"

A man's resentful voice pierced Reed's ears.