Reunion!

Hey, Shun here!

If you ever felt like you are the most miserable person in this whole world, think again. Personally, I'd like to think that there's someone who's more miserable than me out there in the world.

After that, in my head, I would always end up thinking, "Wouldn't it be very pathetic of me to constantly whine and complain about the misgivings I'm having in my life if there's someone out there who have it worse?"

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(Shun's POV)

After separating with the knight platoon and Mr. Kendricks, we headed toward the [Gate Inn], led by the daughter of the inn and the poster girl itself, Martha-chan. In terms of age, she honestly feels like she's a girl of around the same age as Rokuko.

According to the stories of Pochi and Tama, she seems like a great friend to them, often talking to them whenever she is free or whenever she comes by to tend to the horses of the customers of the inn. They once told us that them, along with Liza, their caretaker, often help out with grooming the horses.

Since the [Gate Inn] was just near where the gate entrance into the Seiryuu City, as you could probably tell from its name, it didn't take us too long to reach the location of the inn after a few minutes of walk. Once we arrived there, we were guided by Martha-chan to the inside of the premises, where we were met with a middle aged woman who bares a huge resemblance to Martha-chan.

"Mom! I brought many customers with me! Look!" Like an excited kid who just got a new toy, Martha-chan ran towards her mother before pointing at all of us who just arrived inside the inn. She even puffed her chest up in pride, with a huge smug look on her face.

The inn looks empty, and not a single soul of customer could be seen in sight. I heard from Mr. Kendricks that many people already ran away in a bid of panic during the first time the stars fell so, I think it's safe to assume that many of the customer of this place also went home because of that?

"Sorry about my daughter. Did she drag all of you here? Martha, you, you shouldn't bother people like that, okay?" The landlady didn't even wait for our answer before she got a hand of her child and gave her a soft pat on the back of her head, earning a huge pout from her.

Feeling absolutely wronged, Martha-chan looked at her mother for a brief moment before replying.

"But Mom, they followed me willingly, you know? Aren't you daughter great? Also, they said that they are friends of Pochi and Tama, that's why they followed me!"

At Martha-chan's words, the landlady looked at us as if she wanted to confirm if what Martha has said is true. The one who answered her wasn't me, but Kaede-san.

"That's true, Ms. Landlady. We've been friends with Pochi-chan and Tama-chan for a long time now and we only managed to come here today to visit them."

Seeing the innocent smile on her face, the landlady was assured. It was then that she noticed the wandering gazes of Touka-san, Rinka-san, Yukiko-san, and Ritsu.

"Our customers left the city in a panic when the stars fell…" That was all that we need to know to surmise why Martha-chan was outside looking for customers.

"I was really lucky to see all of you going inside the gates. Lots of people was going out of the gates but not the other way around." Martha-chan explained further.

"You're our first customer since the stars fell…"

"Do you mean the huge balls of fire that dropped from the sky last night, landlady? We were just on our way to this city when that tragedy happened. Two wyverns attacked us right after, making us lose our belongings that are in our carriage."

"That's a disaster, isn't it?"

"Absolutely. Anyway, landlady, we are looking for a place to stay. How much would it cost for us to stay in here?" I asked.

"Our inn charges 1 big copper coin for one night, per person. If you're all fine with sleeping together with other guests in a big room then it'd be 2 copper coin. Meal is served at this bar for one serving. It's the limited service for an accommodation."

After thinking about it for a few seconds, I took out three gold coins from my pocket — which was obtained from the [Dimensional Shop] even before we went into this quest — and handed it over to the landlady. This would make it easier for us to gauge the value of the coins, as well as the exchange rate.

"Then, we would like to stay for 10 days, please."

"That's exactly 12 silvers or 2 gold coins and 2 silvers."

After receiving the money from me, the landlady immediately handed over 2 silvers and five big copper coins. It seems like 5 big copper coins are equal to one silver while five silver coins are equal to one gold coin.

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Whilst I was busy conversing with the landlady who introduced herself as Mosa, a group of four people consisting of three kids and one teenage girl came inside the inn out of excitement and conversed with the girls who were busying themselves looking around the inn at first.

"Kaede-oneechan, Yukiko-oneechan, Ritsu-oneechan, Rinka-oneechan, Touka-oneechan! Everyone is here nanodesu!"

"Elcome~? Waku waku~!"

Pochi and Tama are very much excited as they glomped on the equally excited girls who surrounded both of them and showered them with hugs and kisses. It's actually been a while since they've all seen each other, especially Kaede-san.

Meanwhile, it seems like Pochi and Tama brought with them a curious little friend that I heard them talk about for a few times before. What was her name again? Yuni?

"Pochi-chan, Tama-chan, who are they?"

As for Liza, the girl who's around the same age as me, Kaede-san, and the others, as well as the caretaker of Pochi and Tama, thanked us in a very polite manner. It seems like she hasn't changed ever since we talked to her over the phone.

"It's nice to finally personally meet you all. Thank you for taking care of Kanami and Sorashi…"

For obvious reasons, we couldn't really avoid Pochi and Tama talking about the [Group Chat]. There's also the reason that we didn't really need to avoid talking about it to their current caretaker of all people, Liza.

From what I can see right now after seeing her personally, as well as the scarce interactions that I personally had with her over the phone with Pochi and Tama, she's seems to be a very devoted and trustworthy individual. She shows the qualities of a typical knight that has been talked about in various fantasy novels, books, mangas, and animes.

In short, she's one of those people who are very loyal to whomever they deem as their comrades or superiors or something. As Pochi and Tama were the once who bought her from an illegal slave trader, who surprisingly agreed to do business with a pair of mysterious young children, she's unsurprisingly very loyal to them.

Seeing that they all entered inside the inn, I looked at Ms. Mosa and asked…

"…Would it be alright for them to be inside the inn?" I'm asking this since we're currently inside a city filled with people who are human supremacists.

After looking at the kids and the girls who are happily hugging each other, Ms. Mosa just smiled and shrugged her shoulders off.

"No one can see them inside our inn right now anyway so it's fine for now. Also, I can't really spoil the fun and have them separate with each other now, can I?"

She does have a point there. Only a heartless sack of sh*t would have the heart to ruin such a fun and sweet atmosphere that's currently going on inside this inn's reception room.

"Well, since everyone's already here, uh, Ms. Mosa, could we please order some dishes?"

"If it's something like oatmeal, black bread, or vegetables, then I could get it out right now. And I'm sorry but, meat hasn't appeared in the market, so there's none of that at the moment." Hmm, that's a bit troublesome.

"If that's the case, is it possible for me to borrow your kitchen? It's been a while since I cooked for Pochi and Tama, after all."

Upon hearing my request, Ms. Mosa thought about for a few moments. However, midway through her train of thoughts, she was interrupted by her daughter.

"Just say yes, mom! With this, you could relax for a while. It's been a while since you rested yourself, after all!"

It seems like Martha-chan is the type of person to say what's on her mind? Or is it just her wanting for her mother to take a break or something?

Given how the city's knights, or soldiers if you want to call them that, are recommending them to us, I'd assume they are the go-to inn inside this city. Since I don't see any landlord inside this inn, I'm guessing that this inn is run by only the landlady, Ms. Mosa, and her daughter, Martha.

Ms. Mosa does look really exhausted. The clear marks of exhaustion on her face shows, like how she has bags under her eyelids. I'm honestly amazed at how she still manages to stay professional despite the stress the previous events regarding that starfall incident might have caused her.

"What are you saying, Martha! Don't say that in front of a customer!"

"But Mom, you need to rest! Look, I'm an adult now so I will look after the inn while you take a rest."

An adult? Oh, right, we're in a dimension with customs that are completely different from my own dimension.

After a bit of convincing coming from Martha-chan, who honestly earned my respect for standing her ground and not allowing her mother to work herself until she fainted, Ms. Mosa finally caved in. She apparently haven't slept for like three days now since, before the 'starfall', they were busy looking after a large group of travelers like us who's triple our group's size.

With Ms. Mosa's permission, I got to use the inn's kitchen, while of course being under the supervision of the two, Martha and Ms. Mosa who is yet to sleep. Helping me is Yukiko-san and Touka-san, while Ritsu, Rinka-san, and Kaede-san is having fun catching up with Pochi and Tama.

Surprisingly, Yuni, the little girl who seems to be around the same age a Pochi and Tama, or maybe even a year younger, asked if she could maybe be of help. Apparently, she is yet to eat anything today and was hoping that we could maybe give her a bowl of soup in exchange for her helping out in the kitchen in any way she can.

It was like, wow, this girl sure is working hard to earn her keep. From what I know, she's an orphan and she met Pochi and Tama on the streets while she was doing hard labor, carrying stacks of wood for a strict employer who owns a smithy.

'Even orphans, who are humans, have it rough in this world, eh…' is what I thought when I heard the story.

Of course, I'm not a heartless individual and allowed her to help us out in handing us some ingredients, plates and stuff, some light work that wouldn't really burden the girl. We're only doing this since she insists that she wanted to do something to 'earn' her keep.

She's very stubborn so taking out of it would just be a fruitless endeavor.

"Let's go and carry this to the table over there. Yuni, you carry the bread."

"Yes!"

Unknown to us, the mother-daughter pair of Ms. Mosa and Martha were watching us very closely all throughout our cooking process and all that. It seems like they were mostly focusing on Yuni though.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ End of the chapter. I want to make a few more chapters about their stay at Seiryuu City before going to another place. I have a plan about the [Gate Inn], to be specific, and I have to prep for that.