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Chapter : 4
I woke up at the crack of dawn and was busy hammering wooden planks onto the wall.
A bit of wind still slipped through, and the unevenly nailed boards looked ridiculous, but it was still much better than having the terrace completely collapsed.
The sight of crude wooden planks pitifully attached to the old wooden building with amateur craftsmanship was honestly pretty awful.
Someone might mistake it for a haunted house, so I hung up another large sign that read [OPEN].
“…Does this make it even more suspicious?”
No matter how you looked at it, it resembled a haunted house pretending to be open for business.
The atmosphere was so eerie it felt like ghosts might be summoned at any moment, but I didn’t have the money to repair the inn properly right now.
The lady had carefully explained which nearby shops I could ask for help depending on the situation, but I pulled out the memo she left me and read it once more.
“Repair… shop… Hans… beware, he overcharges….”
…Let’s not.
Sighing, I looked at the now somewhat tragic-looking building.
It had only been a few short months living in this romance fantasy world, but even I found it absurd that I had gone from being a villainess noble lady to getting chased out as a commoner, becoming an innkeeper, and now hammering nails into walls.
“I wonder if any customers will even come like this.”
The lady insisted that at least enough customers would come to keep food on the table, but…
…Well.
“Maybe it’s because this is fantasy.”
In fantasy stories, do shabby inns attract unexpected guests?
Thinking such meaningless thoughts, I opened the door beside the collapsed wall and entered the inn.
For a moment, the thought crossed my mind that this was all pointless anyway, but I forcefully pushed it away to keep my spirits up.
“I hope we get some normal customers today!”
Saying that, I lifted the broom.
CRASH—!
The moment I struck a fighting pose, the wall beside me—the one I had just repaired—collapsed, and several rough-looking men rolled into the room.
“……”
The day had begun.
“Haha! Not bad for someone so pathetic!”
“Ghk, you bastard…!”
“Get out! Get out already!”
I was hiding behind the shield the lady left me, screaming my lungs out.
Though at this point, it was closer to hurling curses than screaming. If I lifted my head, I might get hit by one of the knives those lunatics were throwing!
Last time it was someone’s parents’ murderer appearing out of nowhere, and this time it seemed to be some destined duel rival.
Judging by all the “You’re pretty good yourself!” and “Likewise!” I heard, it was probably one of those rivals who normally avoided duels but finally got into a fight or something. Damn romance fantasy world!
An innkeeper’s life was surprisingly worthless.
Because this was a romance fantasy novel, I could easily die due to some unknown plot convenience.
And the moment I died, the one who looked slightly more righteous among the two would probably say:
‘No matter how much you enjoy fighting, taking an innocent life…!’
And then awaken to some new power or realization. I absolutely refused to be part of that.
The two men punched and kicked each other as though they held some deep grudge, while I hid behind the shield screaming, and as usual, the people outside simply watched the chaos from a safe distance.
Everything was functioning perfectly terribly.
Tears almost welled up in my eyes.
Jingle—
I heard the small bell hanging from the door ring.
‘The entire side wall is collapsed anyway, so who’s bothering to use the door?’
I carefully peeked to the side to assess the situation, and saw three men in rough armor entering the inn with familiar expressions.
Among them, a black-haired man with a stern face sighed and lifted the sword hanging at his waist—still inside its sheath.
Several heavy thuds echoed from the area hidden by my shield, and then—thump. Something heavy hit the floor.
“Bell! You can come out now.”
Bell? The lady’s name?
I slowly raised my head and looked toward the man who had spoken.
The man and his companions blinked in surprise before pointing at me.
“Huh?”
“…Where’s… Bell?”
“…Um,”
“She received a divine revelation and entrusted the inn to me.”
After tossing the two intruders outside, the three men listened to the full story and burst into hearty laughter.
They ordered food from me and started chatting cheerfully among themselves.
“Hahaha! Bell trusts people way too easily!”
I felt the same way, but for the lady’s honor, I kept my mouth shut.
“Bell’s son, wasn’t it? The one who said he wanted to become a merchant or something…”
“I remember hearing about him. Caused quite a bit of trouble.”
“So we’re cleaning up his mess again, Captain?”
…The lady seriously needed to stop trusting people so much.
As I prepared simple soup and pies in the kitchen, I secretly listened to the men’s conversation drifting over.
Compared to earlier, when I had been crouched under a shield worrying about getting stabbed by flying knives, this peaceful moment felt almost enjoyable.
The sizzling sound of bacon cooking.
The delicious smell of meat pies baking.
The sharp crackling sound when eggs hit the frying pan.
It made my mood strangely lighter.
Maybe because I was cooking happily, but the food almost seemed to sparkle a little.
Besides the ordered soup and meat pies, I also served bacon, eggs, and bread on the side.
This is the Ha○ breakfast special, fantasy medieval people.
“○oul… your food is ready!”
“Oh, thanks!”
The largest man among the three thanked me after seeing the meal.
The way they widened their eyes and tilted their heads at the neatly arranged dishes they hadn’t ordered was awkward enough to seem cute.
“You helped me earlier. It’s on the house.”
“Wow, this is my first time getting free service here.”
“Miss, you’re a great addition to this place!”
“Please call me Eileen!”
Since they seemed like regular customers, it would be better to leave a good first impression!
The man took a huge bite of the thick, juicy bacon and smiled happily.
With bacon still hanging from his mouth, he stuffed bread into it and mumbled:
“Whoa, what’s this? This tastes better than Bell’s cooking.”
“The lady would get angry if she heard you say that.”
How dare this brat insult the lady in front of a K-Confucian girl.
“Come on, let it slide, Eileen.”
“…This really is delicious.”
“The ingredients look the same as usual, but it tastes amazing.”
The three men began shoving food into their mouths while muttering among themselves.
“Why is it so good?”
“It’s the same ingredients, right?”
“This tastes completely different.”
“Are you the god of cooking or something?”
Soon, they even started stealing food from each other.
“That’s my meat!”
“Spit out the pie in your mouth before you say that!”
“Stop fighting.”
“Captain, you just stole my eggs too!”
The three burly men bickered fiercely while devouring their food, but after surviving a morning indoors with knives flying around, this level of fighting felt downright sweet.
This is barely even a quarrel. Haha. Keep going! Your tantrums are adorable!
Maybe I had finally lost my mind a little.
“You look like some noble young lady, but you’re pretty good at cooking!”
The red-haired mercenary said with a grin, his mouth stuffed full of pie.
He probably spoke without thinking, but at those casual words, my entire body froze.
Slowly turning my head with creaking stiffness, I carefully asked:
“…I look like a noble lady?”
“Yeah, obviously. Nobody around here speaks that politely.”
I got found out instantly? Just like that? Even cheap B-grade movie villains don’t get exposed this fast!
That was a mistake.
How did other people talk again?
Recalling the speech and behavior of the shopkeepers I’d met while grocery shopping, I realized I had been acting far too refined.
Maybe because I had briefly lived as a noble lady, traces of cautious elegance still lingered in my behavior.
‘I finally gained freedom in life, so there’s no reason to keep acting like that.’
I decided to behave more naturally from now on.
…Though even if they found out I used to be a noble, wouldn’t the worst outcome just be getting cursed at a bit by commoners who hated nobles?
If I said I was from a fallen noble family, they’d probably just pity me.
“Oh, speaking of noble ladies, I heard a noble lost their status recently?”
