“My, oh my, what should we do now?”
“There aren’t any other inns available, so it can’t be helped.”
“I-is there really no other choice?”
“Nnnmto, Priscilla doesn’t mind, either way.”
“Nyaa~”

We are discussing our situation in front the reception desk.

It’s already become too late to search for accommodations and there aren’t any vacancies anywhere. We were finally able to find this inn at last, but it only has a single, four person, room available. The problem is, I’m the only man here! There wouldn’t be any problems if I was only with Mistral and Priscilla-chan, but from the moral perspective of the shrine maiden, Ruiseine’s, she’ll want to avoid sharing rooms with men as much as possible.

“Oh well. This time, it can’t be helped. Besides, Mistral-san and Priscilla-chan are also here. The goddess should be able to overlook this.”
“Nyaa~”
“Oh my, that’s right, Nymia-chan is also here.”

Ruiseine smiles as she compromises with the situation.
I pat my chest in relief. That’s great, looks like I won’t have to find a different inn for myself.

 “Then, all of you want a room for four people including children, correct?”

The salesclerk uncle smiles as he fills in the ledger. Today being a full house seems to have put him in a good mood.

“Your room is the furthest in down the first floor’s corridor. It is down the opposite passage leading to the Mitarashi (purifying water in the shrine). You’ll understand once you see the signs.”

The uncle gives us a brief explanation while handing us the room key.

“We will pay with this, please.”

After saying so, Ruiseine takes out a parchment from her purse.

“What’s that?”

No matter how I look at it, it’s not money.
While Mistral and I tilt our heads, Ruiseine explains.

“This is similar to a promissory note. Written at the bottom is the name of the priest using it. The receiver then fills out the fee. Once it is brought to a temple, the promised money will be delivered.”

Written on the upper half of the parchment is a guarantee along with the contract’s text.

Mistral says, “Isn’t it faster if you just pay it directly? Wouldn’t it be a disaster if someone committed forgery?”

I also think the same, but the uncle at the inn’s reception desk laughs.

“Do you know of such insolent people who would falsify a temple’s documents?”
“Clergyman do not carry much of money with them. If they take too much, their hearts will become filled with greed.”

Ruiseine smiles as she says so.

I see. They might spend the money if they bringing a lot after all.　Furthermore, they will hesitate over buying something too expensive with this parchment due to guilt they will follow.　And since it’s issued by the temple, there probably won’t be any scoundrels appearing who’ll create forgeries.

“It’s true that I have to go to the temple to cash-in this parchment, but isn’t that a good thing to do? I can also pray there when I go, so there’s no problem at all.”
“The people of the temple also welcome everyone who comes for that reason, so it’s working out as intended.”
“Hmm, it’s doing well, eh?”

I can pretty much understand it, but it seems like for Mistral who doesn’t come from the human tribe, it’s pretty complicated. Even now, she looks at us strangely while tilting her head. Looks like I should explain religion to her in the future.

“Anyhow, we finally settled down, yeah?”

We wait for Ruiseine and the uncle to fill out the entry form. Afterwards, we head to our room. It’s simple with only has four beds lined up at even spaces. Looks like I’ll be sleeping here tonight with two women and a child. For some reason, I feel weirdly nervous.

“Oh, the room is furnished with a bath.”
“Eh, is that so?”
“Isn’t this quite unusual?”

For some reason, there is a dressing room in the back of the room. Beyond it is a relaxing bath for us.

Since this is not a luxurious inn, having a bath provided with the room is quite surprising. Usually, according to the story books, there are only shared bathrooms. I thought this time would be like that too.

“Ah, well, this is…”

The inn’s old man who carried our luggage gives us a bitter smile.

“This room is for family use only. That’s why it has more beds than the other room plus a bathroom. However, because the fee is more expensive, it was vacant until all of you came.”

I see, so it’s like that. There’s no one who would promptly choose to stay in a room with a bath if it will be more expensive, after all. Since Ruiseine is the one in charge of the payment, we didn’t think about the cost of this room.

“Ruiseine, is the payment alright?” 

No matter how much the temple will pay for us, I don’t think we should waste it on something useless.

“Fufufu, please don’t worry. This amount is still alright for me.”

Ohh, Ruiseine is truly generous. Then, I’ll depend upon her benevolence words and relax tonight.

“Nnnmto, Priscilla wants to sleep with onii-chan!”
“Nyan~”
“No, no, there are four beds so you don’t have to sleep with me.”
“No way~!”

Priscilla-chan and Nymia immediately rush into the room and squeal loudly.

“Hey now, you two. There are other people staying here, so please be quiet.”

Thus, those two sulk.
The inn’s old man puts down our luggage. Their antics bring a pleasant smile to his face as he leaves.

“Hm, we finally can relax now, huh?”

I sit on the bed and let out a sigh.

“Are you indirectly blaming me?”
“T-that’s not it. I don’t have such an ulterior motive.”

I deny Mistral’s cold words in a hurry.

“Fufufu, it was a very exciting afternoon.”

Ahh, Ruiseine, please don’t add fuel to the fire¹!

“Ruiseine, let’s have a thorough discussion later.”
“My, my, Mistral, I’m a shrine maiden. Violence is no good.”
“What are you trying to say? Do I come off as someone who speaks with her fist?”
“Oh my, then, is Mistral actually that kind of person?”
“R-Ruiseine, what are you saying?”

I start panicking. Since when did the atmosphere become so risky!? Perhaps, before I was aware of it, these two already had a discord? Even though they had been getting along so well this morning…

Priscilla-chan and Nymia cling behind me who is moving left and right in confusion between Mistral and Ruiseine. I’m not playing around, Priscilla-chan……

“Fufufu, we’re just joking.”
“I see, so Ernea-kun can be teased like this.”

These two laugh after seeing my pitiful appearance. Ahhh, so they deceived me! These two are making fun of me, how cruel!!

I sulk and lay down on the bed.

“Nnnnmto, Priscilla wants to take a bath!”
“Nyaa~”

Priscilla-chan who is sprawling in the bed with me looks at my face and says so.

“Right, since the bath is provided for us, should everyone come in and have a bath?”
“Eh…”

I jump on my feet. Going to have a bath together? Oh my god, that is……!

“Fufufu. Ernea-kun suddenly became full of energy.”
“Ernea, you’re definitely going alone. Why are you thinking of going in with us women?”

Ruiseine smiles at me. As for Mistral, she’s looks down on me with freezing cold eyes.

“Uuuuuh, wasn’t Mistral who said that we should go in together…”

I pout and bulge my face.

“To show my skin to a male is actually a little bit too much for me….”
“You should go to the shared bathroom. You’re also prohibited from entering here.”
“Ehhh…….!!”

To prohibit me to use the bath in this room, I feel sad, you know…  
Priscilla-chan is the only one who comforts me who is feeling heartbroken and dropping my shoulders.

“How about taking a bath with Priscilla?”

Priscilla-chan smiles innocently.
Ah, I’m cured. I returned her smile and gently strokes her hair.

“Is Ernea-kun a pervert?”

Ruiseine’s expression stiffens as she steps away from me.

“It seems like you’re right.”
“T-that’s wrong. You misunderstood…”

Mistral, what are you saying? I’m not a pervert at all! Priscilla-chan is just so cute that I can’t help it.

Mistral and Ruiseine burst into laughter upon seeing me get flustered. Uuuuuhhhh, they’re at it again!

“Come on, let’s keep the joke until here. Is the bath already heated up?”
“I’ll go and take a look.”

They’re not on bad terms at all, and they even look like they’ve completely open up to each other. I wonder when they started getting along so well. Is it because women have a lot to talk about that they were able to get along so quickly?

“It seems like the water temperature is already good enough.”

Ruiseine who comes back from the bath reports to us.

“Well then, let’s leave Ernea-kun behind and enter the bath now.”

Mistral says so as she embraced Priscilla-chan.

“Ah!”

I suddenly remember.

We haven’t told Ruiseine about Priscilla-chan. If she takes off the fluffy hat she’s wearing right now, her long ears are going to be exposed and Ruiseine will discover that she’s from the Long Eared Tribe.

After noticing my worry, Mistral smiles towards me and nods her head.

“I have been getting along with Ruiseine, so I’ll be the one to speak about that.”

After Mistral says so, she holds Priscilla-chan and they go inside the dressing room.

“If you peek, you’re going to be in serious trouble.”

Ruiseine gives me an outrageous warning before also entering the dressing room. Nymia trots along by her feet.

Gosh, I’m being left behind. Seems like I have no choice but to go to the shared bathroom. When I am thinking of something like that, Ruiseine’s slight scream and a seemingly a fun talk resounds from inside.

Seems like Ruiseine has discovered Priscilla-chan’s true form.

There are bustling and fun voice constantly resounded from the provided bathroom which has turned into women’s bathroom.
Un, hearing such voices isn’t bad at all. It feels nice to hear their excited voices. I stop myself from going to the bath and lay down on the bed to listen.

Ah, I’m not listening to them because I am a pervert, okay! I try to make an excuse for whoever.

Nevertheless, this afternoon has been tiring for me. I think back to what had happened in the afternoon.

After Mistral took down these fake dragon people, we reentered the restaurant and ate our lunch.

Come to think of it, how did Mistral know they were fakes?

Leaving that aside, when we were eating lunch, patrolling soldiers came after hearing the clamor. They are stationed along the highway in order to maintain security.

When they heard about the situation from the passerby, they approached us. Due to the shrine maiden, Ruiseine, being with us, they wait for us to finish. Mistral, however, quickly turns them away.

However, they have to do their job, after all. They waited for us to leave the restaurant and a big uproar broke out on the highway. They even prepared a carriage.

Ruiseine told Mistral that we should just give an explanation, but she refused to listen.

Well, I don’t think that it can be helped. At any rate, if we want to explain properly, we would have had to prove our circumstances by saying that Mistral is from the dragon tribe along other various things. It will become a serious matter.

From then on, we ended up playing a game of tag with the patrolling soldiers.

I doubt that we could avoid it all and leave everything a mystery by slipping away either. The soldiers insisted we board the carriage despite the presence of the shrine maiden, Ruiseine. Therefore, we had no choice but to run away.

Well, even if ran away, the even the armored, patrolling, soldiers were definitely not our enemy. We ran away as fast as could and the soldiers franticly chased us, but pulling away was easy. Still, they were persistent. They didn’t give up until late evening. It’s why we had trouble finding an inn for the night.

I’m also grateful to Ruiseine who ran away with us without question.

I think that Mistral is surely explaining properly to her in the bathroom right now.

Perhaps it will be a long bath. That being the case, I won’t be able to go into this one, so let’s go to the shared bathroom.

When I stand up after thinking it’s time to get going, I’m splashed with water by a completely naked Priscilla-chan who suddenly appears in front of me.

“Wha–”

My eyes bulge out in surprise.

“P-Priscilla-chan!”

Ruiseine’s screams could be heard from the bathroom.

After that comes a rattling noise and Ruiseine appears from the dressing room.

With that, I saw Ruiseine. A naked Ruiseine…

---

¹ to add fuel to the fire = It’s an idiom, meaning to make things worse; to stir things up. I’m actually conflicted whether to write it in the idiom way or in the translated way, so…

<33. Mistral is the Dragon Princess
35. Glossy Skin>