Reason #16: Only Troublesome Days Ahead (3)

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At Hensley Inn

Still stuck here

"Typhoon??!!" X2

Prince Leon and I were standing in front of the reception and were getting ready to leave until Hensley gave us the horrible news.

"Uhm, yes. We didn't expect a typhoon to come so early this year as well. The bridge to cross over town has been damaged due to the storm. So many of the guests had no choice but to stay until it dies out."

"But we have to return. Our family might be worried about us."

Ivy feeling concern that her parents might be worried since they did not return home last night.

"No can do, Miss Ivy. Not in this storm. Nobody is going to be out there. It's way too dangerous. It would be best if you stayed put, for now, it usually lasts only but a couple of days. You can stay with us until the storm ends."

"Hmm, but we don't have enough money."

Prince Leon ran away from Father in a rush, so he hasn't bought any money with him, and I spent most of my allowance yesterday at the festival with Gracie. I was afraid of pickpockets, so I only bought enough to enjoy the festival.

"Oh no, I wouldn't dare to take any money from you. I was the one who caused trouble and bought both of you here. Our room may be small, and our food is simple, but I do hope you feel welcome here. So please do not feel bad about it."

"But..."

While Ivy felt bad about accepting Hensley's generous hospitality, the surroundings suddenly got a lot louder when more guests arrived at the Inn.

"Woah, that's a hell of a storm out there! Hey Hensley! The boys and I just bought the goods you wanted."

Three-man, who was drench from the rain, came into the Inn, carrying large sacks of goods and crates.

"Peterson! I didn't expect you were coming here in the storm."

The large man with a knife scar on his left cheek, who apparently named Peterson, immediately placed the wet sack on the ground and made the whole floor drench in water.

"We were already in the middle of our journey here when the storm hit. Let us take shelter here for a while, Hensley."

"But we ran out of rooms because of the festival. If you don't mind three of you sharing, I guess we could.."

"It's fine, Hensley. We are still in the middle of a rush with some orders, so once the storm lifts up a little, we'll head straight out. We just need a place to rest for a while and with plenty of booze. Hehe."

"Not a problem Peterson. I really appreciate you coming to deliver the goods on time. You boys go enjoy yourself. The first round of drinks is on me!"

As the three-man passes by Prince Leon and me, they gave us a strange glance as if they had us analyze from head to toe.

"Robbie!" Hensley yelled, "come here and help me with.."

When Hensley tried to bend down and carry the crates, he suddenly heard a bad sound from his back.

"Oh no... my hip, my hip!"

Robbie came into the hallway and saw Hensley down on his knees.

"Pops!"

"Mr. Hensley!"

All of us rush over to Hensley's side and help him up.

Being a single parent, Mr. Hensley works hard to take care of four children and manage the Inn alone. With his busy schedule, his health was the least of his priorities. So when he broke his hip a couple of months ago, it slowly got worse, and finally, this incident happened.

After Prince Leon carried Mr. Hensley to rest in his room, Mr. Hensley made noises about returning to the reception.

"No, no! I'm fine!!! There is just too much work today! I can go back to work!"

"Pops! What are you saying in that condition?"

Hensley was lying on his stomach with an ice pack on his back while he tried to hide his face in his pillow from showing his agonizing pain.

"But, but, nobody can handle the accounts and the orders and the cash register and the kitchen and the... ouch! Ouch!! "

Hensley's tears slowly fell as he could not stand the pain from his back anymore.

"Won't your children know how to manage the inn?"

Ivy asked Hensley while she helped him wipe off his tears with her handkerchief.

Hensley let out a deep sigh.

"My daughters are beautiful but managing the Inn is not their best strength, and I couldn't trust them with the cash register's money. Robbie may know how to operate it, but he is still young. He won't be able to do it all by himself."

"Then how bout we help out? Leon can supply the manpower that you need. He is pretty good with the knife as well. I can help out serving the guest. I may not look like it, but I do have confidence in my customer service skills. Then Robbie can focus on the cash register and the accounts."

The Prince nodded in agreement while Ivy smiled confidently at them.

"No, we couldn't ask you two to do such a thing... ouch ouch!"

"Pops! We have no other choice. We need help. You know that my sisters can't serve the guest since they are too beautiful, and everyone keeps on eye googling at them and touching their bodies. They can only help out in the kitchen."

Ivy stared at Robbie sternly after hearing his remark.

<So basically, you are saying that I'm not as pretty your sisters, so it won't be a problem for me serving the guest? If it's because of kind father, I would've hit by now. Just wait, cheeky little brat!> Ivy's inner voice.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Ivy and Mr. Leon. This Inn is very dear to me, it has been passed down for generations, and our fathers have always taught us to treat our guests dearly. To ask a guest such as yourself to do something like this makes this old man embarrassed."

"Mr. Hensley, Please don't be too harsh on yourself. We'd be happy to. It will be our way of returning a favor by letting us stay here for a couple of days. So please rest well."

As Hensley nodded, they left the room so that Hensley could peacefully rest on his bed.

After Robbie assigned us to our positions, Leon worked at the back in the kitchen with the three sisters while Robbie and I served the guest at the front.

Although the lunch hour rush was hard, helping and serving customers all seemed like second nature to me. It reminds me a lot about my past life running around and working at many different odd jobs. I love seeing happy customers. Their smiles and compliment made me feel accomplished and satisfied. Experiencing this again makes me want to open my own Inn and restaurant. Perhaps I could discuss that idea with Grandpapa once we get back to the capital.

"Hurry up. What's taking so long?"

Suddenly a loud noise came over the counter area, and there was a long waiting line in front of the cash register.

"I'm sorry the cash register is not functioning well. I'm calculating as fast as I can."

Ivy immediately went over to Robbie's side and checked on the situation.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"The cash register is not working again. It's practically ancient, but Pop always says it's a family heirloom passed down by his fathers, so we never got the chance to change it."

"Can't we still accept the money?"

"Yes, we can, but I'm not very good at math. I always just press the buttons on the cash register like how pops taught me to."

In this world, commoner's children like Robbie do not have proper education like noble children do. They learn their trade through experience, and they only start learning after their coming of age, where they search for a mentor to teach them. Even if Robbie wanted to learn math, he wouldn't know how.

Seeing a young boy like Robbie being in trouble made Ivy's motherly instinct rise up again.

(Author: Ivy is weak against children.)

<It's ok! Let big sister here help you!> Ivy's inner voice.

"I'm pretty good at math, so let me help you. I write it all down so that you can show it to your father later as well."

"Uhm, but..."

Robbie wanted to reject Ivy as he felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to let a stranger handle the Inn's profits, but the rowdy crowd changed his mind.

Robbie let out a long sigh.

"Fine... but please write down all the order details, including money you receive and the change you've given."

Ivy pushes Robbie away from the counter, reassuring him that she can do this well.

"No problem, I memorize the menu and the prices already. If I need any clarification, I will call for you."

When Robbie left Ivy to serve the other guest's orders, he would constantly turn and gaze towards the counter. But before he knew it, the long waiting line had suddenly disappeared, leaving only Ivy smiling and counting money at the counter.

"Did you manage to settle all the customer's bills?"

"Yes, I did, and here are the records for it."

Robbie glanced through the record books. Even though he didn't know math but the food orders and prices are all correct. He was very impressed that this girl could memorize the whole menu in just one short afternoon and handled the cash register as a pro. She is so good that he became suspicious of her.

"Who exactly are you? Why are you so good at this?"

"Huh?"

Ivy panicked a little as she couldn't reveal that she learned her skills from her past life working at odd jobs like fast-food restaurants.

"I'm a merchant's daughter. After all, it's in my blood to serve customers well. Hoho."

She laughs, hoping that he wouldn't see through her lies.

Even though Robbie has his doubts, but since Ivy had help out a lot, he was just grateful for her assistance and did not investigate further.

"By the way," as Ivy turned and looked at the unreasonably huge jar of nuts at the side of the counter.

"May I know why is this thing here? It's kind of in the way."

The jar was much taller and bigger than Ivy, so it blocked Ivy's vision to view the whole restaurant, and it made her anxious, thinking that she might miss a customer's order from the side.

"Ah, those things."

Robbie turn and sigh

"The trader sold this to pops a couple of months ago. He said that these nuts are really popular in the capital. Since the trader has been trading with us for so long, pops just bought it without thinking it through."

"Haha, I can imagine so."

Robbie then took a stool, climbed up to open the jar, and took out a few nuts for Ivy to see.

"These are raw almonds."

"Ya, but it's been a couple of months now, and we haven't sold much of these. No one around here is too keen about raw nuts."

"Haven't you thought about roasting it? Or baking with it?"

"Well, pops isn't much of a culinary expert. So we don't really know how to cook these."

Ivy rolled up her sleeves and smiled brightly at Robbie

"Well, let your big sister here handle it for you."

When Robbie saw Ivy smile, his heart skipped a beat.

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