Leaving the inn

"I've stopped the bleeding, but you'll need to refrain from any vigorous

activity for at least a week. Otherwise, the wound will open again. It'll hurt, but

you should be fine to walk again starting tomorrow," Kyle explained indifferently

to everyone there. They were barely listening with their jaws dropped in shock.

A silence fell over the room for a moment.

Then — "A-Are you serious...?"

"He healed him with magic?"

"Hey, could he really be a noble?"

"Shit, this is bad. Touching a noble carries a penalty of death."

Instantly, murmurs of fear and unrest spread through the room. Kyle,

however, watched the reactions of those in the room coolly, searching for

anyone who noticed the irregularity in his actions. As a result, he determined no

one had noticed anything strange. Once he had come to that conclusion, he no

longer had any reason to remain in the cafeteria.

"Claire," Kyle called the name of the girl frozen behind the counter. She had

been in the middle of carrying a bucket of water into the room to wash away

the blood. The moment Kyle saw her jump out of her skin and stumble

backwards with her small, frightened body —

"...Sorry. Nevermind. The food was delicious... Thank you for the meal." Kyle

gave a slightly sad smile and returned to his room.

◇◇◇

The next morning, Kyle left the inn before the sun had even risen.

"Thank you very much for healing that injured patron last night. The situation

was contained because of you," Claire's mother said, bowed her head deeply towards

Kyle at the front desk.

"Please don't worry about it. It's not something you should be thanking me

for, ma'am." Kyle shook his head with a forced smile.

"No, it was my fault... I didn't intervene sooner."

"Adventurers fighting in bars is a daily occurrence. You can't afford to break

up each and every one of them. The ones at fault here are the parties

concerned: myself, and the other two men." Kyle defended her so that she

wouldn't feel as guilty.

Last night, She had been the one to bring water and a bucket to Kyle's

room. She had apologized numerous times in that interval, making Kyle feel

quite badly for her. So please, don't let it bother you. I must be going now," Kyle said, trying to

leave as soon as possible.

"Umm, would you like to take a lunchbox with you instead of breakfast?

Please wait here just a moment, I'll go pack it now! I'll also return your room

fees." She took a coin purse from the counter; she had probably prepared

it beforehand. Kyleshook his head in a fluster.

"There's no way I can accept a refund. I've received more than enough service

from this inn."

"Then let me make your lunch, at least. Breakfast is meant to be included in

the fee, after all."

Without waiting for Kyle's reply, She placed the coin purse down on the

counter and made a dash for the kitchen.

She's an honest and good person, but rather than giving off a wise aura, she

seems to be the type to be fooled easily... Kyle noted his impression of her.

He looked towards the kitchen to see Claire and another unknown girl in an

apron watching him back. They hid the moment their gazes met with Kyle's.

Claire... and her little sister? She's young.

Whereas Claire was around ten years old, her sister was clearly much

younger. Having someone that young helping out at the inn provided more than

enough evidence that her mother was struggling.

Is this place being run by three girls? I don't see any sign of a husband. Kyle hadn't seen a proprietor since entering this inn. He had thought that the man

might have been working in the kitchen, but the kitchen was being run by

Claire's mother.

...Well, whatever.

It had nothing to do with him, so Kyle decided not to stick his nose into their

business any further. It was then that She returned with a neatly wrapped

lunchbox.

"Sorry for the wait. I packed it full of breakfast foods and bread. Claire woke

up early to bake it, so I hope you enjoy it.Thank you for going through the trouble. Please let Claire know too —"

"Hey! I'm back!"

Just as Kyle was thanking her with a smile, a drunken man entered the inn. He

spotted Claire'smother and wobbled his way over to her.

"Honey! Don't tell me you're coming back drunk again!"

"Shut up! I can drink whenever I want to!" With a yell, the man suddenly

struck her.

Kyle was surprised, guessing that this was her husband. And judging by how he

was coming home drunk in the early hours of the morning, he probably wasn't a

good one.

An unbearable feeling came over Kyle, but he didn't want to act on it and

complicate their family matters any more than they already were.

"Ugh..."

But he couldn't help but feel helpless as he watched her touch where she

was hit in pain. Kyle sighed and approached her. He feigned chanting a spell, and

manipulated his essence to heal her pain.

"Huh? It... doesn't hurt anymore? T-Thank you!" She made a surprised

face at the pain disappearing, but instantly understood what Kyle had done and

bowed her head in gratitude.

"What? What did he do?" Meanwhile, her husband glared at Kyle doubtfully.

He didn't understand what Kyle had done, and was in a worse mood after seeing

his wife being defended.

"Stop it! That's one of our patrons!" She tried to stand in front of her

husband in a panic.

You'll only get hit again doing that...

Kyle was fed up. He knew she was a woman with a high sense of responsibility,

but this was rather tactless.

Sure enough, her husband's temper flared, and he tried to smack her once

again. With a sigh, Kyle closed the gap between them, neutralized her husband'smovements, and gently touched the man's head.

"Purgo."

Kyle's hand started to faintly glow as he chanted a fake spell once more.

Several seconds passed until the husband regained his senses.

"It's a sobering magic. Do you feel refreshed now?" Kyle asked in a cold tone.

"Huh...? Y-Yeah. Sorry about that," the husband said, perplexed by his

suddenly clear state of mind.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to her," Kyle said in a tired voice,

glancing over at the woman. Her husband turned to the proprietress with a

guilty look on his face.

"Sorry."

While he was a furious drunk, he didn't seem to be unreasonably violent

when sober.

"I-I'm really sorry for the trouble!" She bowed her head at Kyle in extreme

gratitude.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. Thank you for the lunch. Bye now." Kyle chose to say his farewells before things got more complicated, then left the inn.

Well, that didn't really solve anything...

The scene that had happened in the inn just now would most likely occur

again in the future. His actions had been meaningless... A temporary solution at

best. The thought made his morning a bit more gloomy.

Time to get a move on. He decided to leave the city and put his bad mood

behind him as quickly as possible.

After walking east along the road into the forest for a while, Lule checked to

see if anyone was nearby, before deliberately straying off the road. It was still

early in the morning, so the forest fog made everything difficult to see. Kyle

leisurely started to run.