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As I walked while thinking about such things, I arrived at the cheap inn where we stayed.

The large room in the cheap inn we lived in was a room for eight people. We negotiated with the owner so that we could use one room for our party.

Since we wouldn’t be in the same room with other adventurers, the risk of having our belongings and money get stolen wasn’t that high.

However, the door of our room wasn’t locked. So we always have to carry money and valuables with us in the daytime.

It’s possible to change to a safer inn once our income increases, but it’s still too hard for now.

“I’m back.”
“Oh! Triela, welcome back! Look, I earned so much today!”

Rico ran to me when I entered the room.

Ricorice… She was a girl younger than me. With a bright smile, she reported that today’s herb collection income was a little higher than last time.

“You did your best, Rico. Many things happened today, I’m so tired.”
“Is that so? Eh, the thing on your waist…”
“Yeah, this is my income today.”
“Wow, amazing!”
“Rico, shut up!”
“Oi, Ryuu. Stop that.”
“Cain. But she’s…”

Ryuu was also younger than me like Rico. But he’s… He’s pretty stupid; a bootlicker sticking to Cain.

“Stop it already. Welcome back, Triela. You didn’t come to do chores today. What happened? If we don’t earn enough, we will get kicked from this cheap inn, so… Eh, that thing on your waist…”
“Ah, yeah. I have many things to do today so I couldn’t do it. I’m sorry. But I got this sword and brought today’s food. I also gained some other things…”
“Really!? Seriously!? Triela, that sword is real!?”
“Yeah, and…”
“Triela, please! Please give me that sword!”

…How could I say this? His reaction was just as I expected so far. It’s making my blood boil.

“Hey, Cain… You always mock my craftsmanship tour, but now you’re saying that after I get this sword? Are you making a fool of me?”
“No, I didn’t mean that… But I really want a sword! So please! I beg you!”
“Haa… No way! Are you stupid? Earn it yourself, as I did! Steadily!”
“That… But I have many things to do…”

Ah, this guy is really…!

“Idiot! Cain, you’re an idiot! Everyone is busy! And yet Triela did her best to get the sword, so the idiot Cain should also get it on his own! Stupid Cain!”

Oh, Rico got angry. But yeah… Cain’s argument was just plain weird. He wouldn’t realize that, though.

“Hey, kid! What’s with that attitude!”
“Shut up, idiot Ryuu! Ryuu is the most useless among us, no need to sound so haughty! Stupid! Idiot King!”
“What!? This damned kid!!”
“Hey, stop! If you’re too noisy…!”

Maricle, who had been quiet until then, tried to intervene to stop Rico and Ryuu’s argument, but…

Bang!

“These f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g kids, so noisy! Do you want to die!?”

…With the loud noise of wall bang, a swearing voice came from the next room.

“““We’re sorry!”””

…This inn is cheap and the walls were very thin. So if we made a little noise, everyone could hear it all. And being too loud would result in that.

“Watch out, both of you. The walls are thin here.”
“Sorry, Maricle…”
“…My bad.”

Rico and Ryuu obediently apologized, but Cain turned his head away, looking guilty.

“I… No, sorry. I’m also too loud.”
“That’s fine. And about Triela’s sword, what you said is too strange. If you have the sword, then the party leader can be selfish and have anything he wants. That makes no sense.”

“…Yes, I’m sorry.”
“You shouldn’t apologize to me.”
“Triela, sorry.”

…Maricle always had to bear all of this. I think he had a tough personality. That’s also a good thing, though.

“…As long as you understand. Unfortunately, this sword doesn’t mean I made a mutual aid contract, so don’t get me wrong.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. I was lucky enough to meet a kind blacksmith and he gave this to me. I got this meal from him too. But apart from that, he taught me something very useful.”

I’m not going to tell Cain about Ren. Ren wouldn’t want that either, and I don’t want to tell Cain who was bullying Ren.

Cain was good at taking care of the young children at the orphanage, but I wasn’t going to forgive him for bullying Ren.

I understand the reason for Cain’s sudden change in attitude towards Ren after the orphanage’s owner explained it to me, but I wasn’t convinced. Even if he was hiding his embarrassment, I could only think of him as a perverted stupid kid.

“Then, what about my share…”
“None.”
“Forget about Cain’s selfishness. What’s more useful than that?”
“I’ll explain as we eat.”

Cain didn’t care about the sword’s matter anymore after he got told off by Maricle. Though he seemed a little saddened, I honestly didn’t care.

“Wow!?”
“What is this! It’s really delicious!”
“What… What is this white sauce…?”
“Delicious!”

Ren’s sandwich was super delicious. Everyone praised it a lot.

It’s a bit funny to see Arle —who was the same age as me and was interested in cooking— eating with a confused face while c̲o̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g her head. But when I saw Cain eating vigorously, I got a mixed feeling.

…But I couldn’t voice that out, so I explained about the reference room that Ren taught me.

“…In other words, we can get various information for free if we go there.”
“Yeah. I took a peek today and read a few books, but that alone gave me a lot of information about herbs. I think we need more information now.”
“If Triela says so, then I’m sure we should take advantage of it.”
“But Maricle, we can’t read a lot of letters. Besides, we have to make money to stay at this inn. If we don’t work, are we staying in that re… reference room?”
“But maintaining the status quo won’t solve anything, right?”
“That’s right… then what should we do?”
“We need money, and if we don’t earn money, we won’t be able to stay here. For the time being, I think we can keep collecting the herbs for a while. Triela can go to that place alone. She said she learned a lot just by having a light look, so let’s think again depending on her result.”
“I see… It’s bad if we don’t make any money. Then let’s go with that. Triela, you’re fine with that?”
“Yeah. Then let’s sleep now. Make sure the electricity fee won’t be too high.”
“Yeah. Kids, we’re sleeping now.”
“‘Kay!”
“Triela, let’s sleep together~.”

We decided on that for now, but I wonder what would happen… Oh well. Let’s sleep today. It all depends on tomorrow’s results.