"Rebecca-san, have you heard of the 'Nightmare Race'? It's for my Guidance. It says I need to meet one."

"Hmmm? I've never heard of them. But if it's a Guidance, I suppose it means there’s one somewhere in Lucraella?"

Even the knowledgeable Rebecca-san doesn't know, huh.

"Diana, how about you?"

"Nightmare race...? Doesn't ring a bell, nodesu. Perhaps they are an exceptionally rare race?"

No luck there either. Well, Diana’s knowledge was pretty biased to begin with.

I went ahead and asked Marina, Etowa, and Elepipi too, but none of them knew. It seemed to be a very minor race.

Well, I suppose if it were a major race, it wouldn't be much of a Guidance task. If it had just been “Meet the Dwarves”, that would've been easy...

Oh well... If it's impossible, I don't need to force the Guidance forward. I have plenty of Spirit Stones anyway.

Now then. Guidance is all well and good, but first, we need our inn. I’ve already made reservations through the Guild, so I haven’t missed a beat.

We walked together down the main street of Lucraella. The inn I booked was apparently a short walk down the main road.

As for this trip, including myself, all of us were visiting Lucraella for the first time. Even Rebecca-san, who is relatively used to traveling, had never been here. It’s essentially just a mining town; unless you have business here, there’s no reason to visit.

For the rest of the group, this was their first time ever "sightseeing"—just traveling for fun. Perhaps things would be different if there were a custom of pilgrimage, but otherwise, travel is considered the height of luxury. Well... in Diana’s case, she was with me because of "Guidance", so you could say she’d been on a long journey already.

That Diana was walking beside me, wearing a gray hooded robe pulled low over her face. With her hair, ears, and tattoos all exposed, she would stand out far too much otherwise.

She was clearly fascinated by the unfamiliar town, excitedly asking Rebecca-san questions like, "What’s that?" and "What's this?" Elepipi, Marina, and Etowa are pretty much the same.

The sight of us walking down the road chatting and making a fuss was enough to draw eyes on its own. After all, it was a group of girls with me as the only man. If we added a tattooed elf without a hood into the mix, it’d turn into a full-blown parade. You could even call us a traveling band.

Under normal circumstances, being surrounded by girls might just make people envious, but with an Elf in tow, people would be like: "Who is that?! Who is that gentleman! He must be some rich lord! A gold for us! Hurray! Hurray!" I really wanted to avoid that.

For the record, even in Erische, Diana usually hides her appearance with a robe. Erische is relatively safe, so kidnappings aren't common, but drawing unnecessary attention tends to attract bad things.

And given that we'd already been attacked by bandits once, it was better to avoid trouble where possible.

So, I think it's best to avoid that as much as possible. We've already been attacked by bandits once, after all.

Now then, back to the main topic.

Lucraella is a mining town built entirely around the mines, which means almost everyone who lives here works in them—a somewhat specialized community. And people who work in mines are usually rugged, burly men.

It is a town of manual laborers. It's a place where you can work regardless of your Vocation, and there are plenty of jobs. Apparently, many people who fall into "Labor Slavery" end up serving their time here.

The town itself is clean, so I imagine the local government is putting in effort, but because the primary industry is what it is, many of the facilities give off a "worker's town" vibe.

For starters, the side streets are lined with cheap inns that I could tell at a glance were different from the one I booked. "Flophouse" would be a more accurate term than "cheap inn". You can tell they’re inns because they have signs, but otherwise, they'd be indistinguishable from regular houses.

Then there are the taverns. These taverns also serve as inns, and of course, you can stay there. I’m not sure if they’re cheaper or more expensive than the flophouses, but according to Rebecca-san, they mostly have shared rooms and the hygiene is quite questionable. The taverns open at midday; they serve alcohol, but they primarily operate as diners.

It was currently early afternoon—an awkward time for dinner—but middle-aged men were already swarming out of nowhere and being sucked into the taverns. Well, in this world, the default is to go to bed once it gets dark. For people doing manual labor since dawn, this might be their normal sense of time. Even if it's only 2:00 PM.

Hmm...? That is...?

"Rebecca-san, are those the 'Labor Slaves' you mentioned before?"

I asked while watching several men with slave marks engraved on their necks and wrists enter a diner. A slave mark is engraved on the slave's body when a contract is made; it consists of crescent-shaped tattoos (or patterns) on the neck and both wrists.

Diana and Marina have the same marks. It’s proof of slavery that anyone can see. I’m not sure if it's necessary to have such a visual label, but that's just how it works in this world.

According to Priestess-chan, the spirit magic performed by priests is governed by strict regulations; they can't just do whatever they want. 'Blessings start at age ten!', 'Slave contracts must include the slave mark!' There are all sorts of rules.

"Looks like it. They're only with other slaves, so that’s probably the case. Though, if they’re allowed that much freedom, they must be 'Model Slaves.'"

Model slaves! Another phrase I've never heard before...

"Are non-model slaves... bad?"

Well, obviously they would be, but...

"Basically, they're properly monitored."

Labor slavery is like a prison sentence in this world—penal labor imposed on those who have committed crimes. In other words, instead of being sent to a dungeon, they are made into slaves; once they have worked for the designated number of years, the contract is dissolved, and they are free.

However, this is a measure for relatively light crimes. Murderers are usually executed or have their arms cut off. For example, with the bandits who attacked me before, the leader was beheaded and the subordinates had their arms cut off because they had priors. Meanwhile, the man who committed fraud by selling cheap lace as Elven-made was made a labor slave for a few years since it was a "light" crime.

Well, if they have the leisure to drink at a tavern, labor slavery doesn't seem as harsh a punishment as the term implies.

"What happens if they run away?"

They were casually eating together—it looked like they could escape at any time.

Since breaking the contract only means losing your Blessing, I figured there would be "free-spirited" people who would say, "I hate working, I'm out of here!"

"If a labor slave escapes their duties, I believe they 'get scorched' after about a week. It might depend on the contract specifics, though..."

"Get scorched?"

Does a bolt of lightning fall from the sky like divine punishment? And then they turn into a black crisp like an old anime character...? Slave contracts are terrifying...

"'Getting scorched' is slang for when, in addition to the slave crest, a 『Prison Crest』 for contract violation is carved. Once that happens, it's over. No one is stupid enough to do that. It's different from just losing your Blessing."

"H-How is it different...?"

"There's a bounty of one gold coin on anyone with a Prison Crest. I've heard it’s a curse that significantly lowers your physical abilities, so you're as good as finished. You can't live a normal life anymore, and even if you hide in the mountains, it’s hard to survive with diminished strength."

Uhee... I thought losing a Blessing just made you a regular person, so it wouldn't be a big deal, but it seems it's not that simple.

Apparently, this "Prison Crest" doesn't appear for normal spirit contract violations, so you rarely see a "Scorched" individual. Since they're essentially escaped convicts, it makes sense.

"...What does this Prison Crest look like?"

"I hear black markings cover the entire body, and the eyes turn red."

Whoa. That’d stand out.

It must be a truly ominous sight, quite different from Diana’s festive-looking tattoos.

Though I suppose being able to identify fugitives at a glance was convenient. Still, running into one in the mountains would be scarier than meeting a bear.

“…By the way, Rebecca-san.”

I shifted my gaze slightly behind us. Rebecca-san must have noticed too.Yeah. We’re being followed."

"I thought so. But... that's a kid, right?"

Actually, I had been checking for a while now by pretending to talk to Elepipi and Etowa behind me. It seemed some middle school-aged boy had been clumsily, obviously tailing us.

He looked poor, with ragged clothes. Even though it was getting colder, he was wearing sandals and thin hemp clothes. However, he looked tanned and sturdy, and I could feel a sort of vitality in him—the sense of someone who has stubbornly survived in this town.

It looks like we've attracted another weirdo. Whether he's following us because there are so many girls, or if he's planning something more malicious, I don't know. In any case, kids often don't know their limits. I'd rather not get involved with someone troublesome.

"...Well, if he's just following us, it's fine. He probably won't come into the inn."

Unlike the flophouses, the place I booked costs one silver coin per night. I doubted that boy could even step into the lobby. Expensive inns have solid security, always with bodyguards on standby.

In the end, the boy followed us all the way to the entrance of our reserved inn. If he's still hanging around tomorrow, I might have to catch him and interrogate him. I doubt it'll be for anything good, though.

The inn we had reserved was located near the foot of Mount Lucraella, in the liveliest part of town, and it looked far more upscale than I had imagined.

Perhaps because we'd been walking past cheap lodging houses along the way, it looked especially impressive by comparison. In Erische, it would probably be considered an average inn, though.

We entered through the stone entrance to the front desk.

In this world, the line between an inn and a tavern is often blurred, so finding a proper lodging-only establishment like this is actually quite a relief.

That said, places run exclusively as inns like this were apparently meant for fairly wealthy customers, and it wasn’t common for a youngster like me to casually stay at one. By this world's standards, it was probably quite a luxury.

Still, I absolutely refused to sleep on a filthy bed, and I'd be in a real spot if I forced my companions into a shared room with strangers—especially since they’re almost all girls.

With Rebecca-san being a former mercenary, I doubt anything bad would happen even in a worst-case scenario, but as the organizer of the trip, I must ensure everything is perfect.

Money is a means, not an end.

You should use it boldly when needed.

The innkeeper was a pleasant-looking middle-aged man.

He wore a clean cotton shirt, had a well-groomed mustache, and was slightly chubby. He looked exactly like the type of NPC who would say, "The night was a delight, wasn't it?" as you were checking out.

It would be fine if I actually was having a "delightful" time, but that’s not happening this trip.

I spoke to him.

“Hello. My name is Jirou Ayase. I believe there should be a reservation under my name through the guild. Could you confirm that for me?”

“Oh! Yes indeed. Ayase-sama, correct? We have your reservation. We’ve been expecting you. A two-night stay, is that correct?”

"Yes, that's fine. The payment was after checkout, right? If it’s upfront, I can pay now.”

“Post-payment is perfectly fine.”

After that exchange, we were shown to our room.

Unlike booking via phone or the internet yourself, this was done through the Guild, so I’d actually been a bit anxious about whether the reservation truly existed.

I wonder how the Guild even manages it... Do they secretly have phones or something? Even if they did, I wouldn't be surprised. That organization has all sorts of mysterious high-tech stuff, like the Guild Cards.

The room the bellboy led us to was quite large. It was likely the biggest room in the inn. In a bedroom roughly the size of twelve tatami mats, six beds had been squeezed in. They had probably been carried in from other rooms just for this reservation.

As you might have guessed from the "large room" setup, I didn't bother getting separate rooms for men and women, nor did I split us into a polite three-on-three.

Now, look, it's not because I'm full of ulterior motives and dreaming of a harem lifestyle or anything, okay? If we were in separate rooms, it would just be lonely.

What is a lone man supposed to do in an otherworldly inn at night? There's no internet. Not only that, but the only light at night (without Diana’s spirit magic) is candlelight. I’d ruin my eyes just trying to read a book.

As for the three-and-three idea... I did consider it. Briefly.

I did consider it, but it reeked too strongly of eros—or rather, had an unmistakably indecent vibe—and I didn't have the guts to propose that with a straight face.

Alternatively, there was the option of rooming with just Etowa, in a situation without that sort of atmosphere. A kitten would be fine. Yes, totally safe. Heck, even sleeping together would undoubtedly be perfectly safe.

Realistically, I truly, honestly, without any lies, feel no lust towards Etowa. I could even bathe with her and scrub her all over without a problem. Man, it's a shame I don't have any "furry" tendencies.

So, for all those reasons, nobody will be saying "the night was a delight" to me. At least not this time... Though, part of me kind of wants someone to say it for real once. I wouldn't know what face to make if they did, though.

We entered the room and set down our luggage. I didn't take anything out of my Inventory, but even just the hand luggage I brought was quite substantial. I might have been a bit too "fired up" for the trip.

They say the more experienced a traveler is, the less luggage they carry... I might have been outed as a travel novice. Not that it matters if I was outed; the reality is that I’m just a NEET at heart, so it can't be helped.

I had Diana and Marina carry their own things. Marina had offered to carry Diana's luggage too, but I turned her down. Marina brought a literal halberd, for crying out loud. That's a heavy load on its own.

Though, to be fair, I made sure to bring my Magic Sword at my hip. Rebecca-san only had the knife she always carries; apparently, that sword she wore with her formal dress is strictly for parties. It’s a cool sword, though. Well, since I’m making swords for the Knight Order soon anyway, it doesn't matter. Everyone else was unarmed.

As we were settling in, the innkeeper came by.

"Would you like to use the bath, sir? It will be an additional charge, however—"

High-class inns have baths.

That's common sense in this world.

High-class inns have a mysterious magic called a "Water Jar" that can produce an infinite supply of water. Thus, inns with a Water Jar always have a bath to make use of it. The inn I stayed at before, the one favored by trader Efta, had one too. Actually, I had specifically requested an inn with a bath when I made the reservation. For a Japanese person, a trip without a bath is unthinkable.

Easy to forget, but half the purpose of this trip was employee welfare.

"Of course we’ll use it. Please arrange it."

"Understood. Thank you very much."

The usage fee was one white copper coin per person, so about 1,000 yen? It's on the expensive side, but I think they could just include it in the lodging fee from the start. Well, there are probably quite a few guests who don't need baths...

"U-Um, Boss. Is it okay for me to have a bath as well?"

Etowa asked timidly.

"Sure, why not?"

Is it a racial issue or something?

Well, she's a cat. Cats are supposed to hate baths, aren't they?

Or maybe she’s worried about fur clogging the drain...? That’s actually a realistic concern, but I doubt the inn would refuse her for that. If they were going to, they would have said so at the start.

"If you want, shall we go in together? I'll wash your back."

"Wha—!? Nya-nya-nya, I couldn't possibly let you do something like that-nya!"

"You’re speaking cat language now!"

Going in with the whole girl group would be embarrassingly fatal, but I felt like it would be "safe" with Etowa. She's basically an extension of a pet, and at the risk of sounding repetitive, I don't have a kemonomimi fetish.

"Ah! Marina shall wash Master-dono's back de-arimasu! I have been waiting for this opportunity de-arimasu!"

Marina suddenly declared.

You were waiting for that!?

...Now that I think about it, she did say that a few times back at the mansion when I was heading for the bath. I usually brushed it off with something like, "Stop it, you're making me blush."

"That sounds nice. We should all go in together," Rebecca-san added.

"...If it's a spacious bath, that sounds good," said Elepipi.

"I shall allow you to wash my back as well, Marina," said Diana.

"I do that all the time de-arimasu," said Marina... Oh, you do?

But man, these girls... they don't have a shred of hesitation about going in with me. Even Etowa didn't seem to mind bathing together, aside from being washed.

Which meant... maybe I was the weird one for overthinking it?

If I just slipped in naturally, acting casual, maybe it’d work out perfectly normally—bam, mixed bathing achieved!

I originally planned to go in alone, but you know what? This is another world!

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'.

They say at mixed-gender hot springs, you should just bathe without getting all worked up, and being overly self-conscious is actually bad manners—or so I recall reading in a magazine my dad used to read.

"But Goshujin-sama has a philosophy of bathing alone nodesu, right?"

"Huh?"

I do? Did I? Am I a philosopher of solitary bathing?

Diana stated this as an absolute fact with a smile...

"You said that when I invited you, didn’t you? Goshujin-sama."

"E-Eh? Ah, yes..."

I was completely overwhelmed by Diana’s mysterious pressure.

I remember now.

A few nights after the mansion was completed, Marina offered to scrub my back, and Diana said something about joining in.

But at the time, I brushed it off, saying something like:

"When a man bathes, he must be free, undisturbed, and at peace... alone, quiet, and fulfilled..."

Damn it!

The atmosphere now makes it impossible to admit that was just a joke to hide my embarrassment!

—In the end, I bathed alone.

Free, undisturbed, at peace, alone, quiet, and fulfilled...

A large bath all to myself!

...Yeah, I’m not that happy about it. Just when I’d been getting myself mentally ready, too! Still, no need to panic yet. The night is still young, and there's always tomorrow.

No. More importantly, that wasn't the purpose of this trip to begin with!

Getting cozy on a trip... that's not something you do in a town full of middle-aged men where you can almost hear mining songs, right? Snap out of it!

* * *

Bath time was over for everyone.

The reason Etowa was concerned about the bath earlier was because Canaan people are often banned from public baths due to how much fur floats to the surface. And indeed, a lot really did float up. I had to leave a generous tip for the bath attendant.

After that, we ate dinner, brushed our teeth, and decided to call it a night.

Since Diana is here, we could use spirit magic to keep a light on, but doing that in an inn would be weird. We have an early start tomorrow too, so let's just sleep. Everyone's probably exhausted after that long day of travel anyway.

All six of us lay down in our respective beds.

In RPGs, when you stay at an inn, you often see situations like this where everyone sleeps in beds lined up like this, and the situation is somewhat similar.

I'd had a bit to drink, so I felt like I’d sleep well.

We could have stayed up talking like it was a school field trip, but Etowa had already curled up like a kitten and fallen asleep, so we couldn't be too noisy.

Speaking of light, the room was dim, lit only by a single candle.

Night falls quickly in this world. Once the sun goes down, there’s nothing to do but sleep. Trying to do work in the dark is inefficient and bad for the eyes.

As I was rolling around, just about to drift off, I noticed Rebecca-san in the bed next to me staring intently at me.

Maybe because she drank quite a bit at dinner, her cheeks were faintly flushed. She seemed to be the type who sleeps in light clothing, and the sight of her slightly disheveled neckline was... distractingly alluring.

For the record, the bed order was:

Etowa ⇒ Marina ⇒ Diana ⇒ Me ⇒ Rebecca-san ⇒ Elepipi.

Diana exerted some mysterious partitioning power to decide this. I didn't care either way, so I just followed along, but...

"...Hey, Jirou."

Rebecca-san whispered.

Her moist, cherry-pink lips were incredibly alluring, and it's a problem.

"...Um... well... aren't you... going to... do it...?"

Eh?

Do what, exactly?