Chapter 40
“Do you want set A too?”
Seeing the hardened holly, Cahill thought she was having a hard time ordering, so he suggested in a light tone.
“No!”
Holly was horrified and refused.
‘The food isn’t gilded, so why is it so expensive…?’
“When I didn’t know what the menu was, I just ordered the most expensive one.”
Her stomach churned in surprise though he made a groaning noise seeing her.
“I just need one tenderloin steak.”
Holly found affordable food along the way. She had to eat at least some meat in order to withstand Cahill, who attacked her all the time.
“I will prepare it right away.”
The next moment, a blush appeared on the employee’s white cheeks. She looked like she was anxious to tell someone about the special guest who ordered the special menu. Meanwhile, Holly waited for her to walk away with her excited face before speaking again.
“I’m going to hear the rumors tomorrow.”
“About your parents?”
She realized that Cahill was a bit ignorant but not an idiot.
“What about you?”
“Well. Shall I follow you?”
His reply that he would naturally follow her was no surprise.
“I’ll go around and buy anything I need.”
When they could stop by a place where they could buy things, it would be a good idea to stock up on what they needed in advance. So, Holly nodded her head as she mentally organized the plans for the next day.
Cahill just smiled and listened to what she had to say.
“Special set A is coming!”
As they were talking about their next schedule, someone’s voice rang loudly. It wasn’t the voice of the employee who took the order. However, the guests who heard the voice shuddered.
Holly glanced around with worried eyes since she didn’t like to show off a lot of money.
‘Well, because Cahill is strong.’
Nonetheless, she soon changed her mind. After all, they would have always been like this when they weren’t here.
The staff carrying the food was a man with a warm impression. He carried the plate with a slick smile on his face. Steak, omelet, and bread, the table was filled with so many plates that she couldn’t even eat them all.
“You made a good choice. Special A is a literally this precious green. It’s also a very, very special menu that can only be tasted at this historic inn.”
Holly’s eyes were on the most anticipated drink. Two green leaves floated on the transparent water. When Cahill touched the cup, water droplets formed on the surface of the cup.
“What drink is this?”
A glass of this drink was half the price of the set menu. Looking for the right moment to speak, the man whose mouth was twitching opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.
“It is a health drink that comes to mind these days. It is made by squeezing the juice from the fruit of the loprue floating here because this is called the fruit of the gods. If you drink this, your digestive function will be active, and you will lose weight. In addition, it is said to be excellent for removing toxins accumulated in your body without knowing it and recovering from fatigue.”
The man spoke so fast that she couldn’t understand him properly. Holly focused, narrowing her brows so as not to miss a single word.
“Above all, it’s good for men.”
The man, with his eyes narrowed, leaned towards Cahill and whispered. Seeing the man even pretending to hit his waist, she frowned. Until then, Cahill, who had listened to the man’s explanation and nodded his head insincerely with a puzzled face, finally had a sparkle in his eyes at these words.
“It’s like a panacea if you just listen to it.”
From the middle, Holly, who had been listening, leaning her chin, muttered in a low voice.
The man who had been talking with excitement looked at Holly, startled. His, whose expression was hardened by her cool attitude, created a smooth smile again.
“Yes, of course.”
“There is a reason it is expensive. Let’s get you a drink, too, okay?”
When Cahill said it was good for his body, he jumped over and stabbed Holly in the side. The man’s eyes flashed with a kind smile.
Holly straightened her broken posture and lifted her chin at him.
“I didn’t know that loprue fruit had such an effect, but even so, isn’t the price ridiculously expensive?”
The man’s eyes widened, perhaps surprised that Holly, a stranger by all appearances, knew about loprue berries. He probably thought she was easier because she was in Cahill’s group, who looked noble at first glance.
“Yeah, this fruit is hard to find because it hangs on the edge of a steep cliff…”
Even though he tried not to show embarrassment, the man couldn’t help the sweat pouring out.
“It might be the case in other areas, but isn’t it different here? If I took ten steps right from here, it would have been crushed under my feet.”
Holly, who was watching the man wiping the sweat with the back of his hand, glanced over the wall. She had heard from the natives who had visited Halidem that in Lauriue, where all sorts of plants grow, loprue was like a weed.
“Wh, what…!”
The man couldn’t hide his surprised face, as if he didn’t know that the strange-looking guest knew even the ecology of this place. Once as an inn employee, Holly couldn’t stand cheating on guests. And even as a guest, she didn’t want to be outrageously ripped off.
Holly opened her mouth to nail it completely.
“Should I go out and get it right now? Then the boss will pay a very high price, right?”
It was good if he admitted his mistake and asked for the price, and it was better if he knew everything but pretended he didn’t know and bought it at a high price. The man’s tightly pursed lips trembled. Then, his face turned red as if it was about to explode, whether it was anger or shame.
“Oh, no… that…”
Another employee who was hiding in the kitchen and watching the situation walked all over the store to crack down on the customers who were noisy.
As if finally clearing his mind, the man stretched out his arm.
“You are so rude, please leave immediately!”
It wasn’t the direction Holly wanted. She opened her mouth with a disappointed face.
“We are the guests who paid for the room.”
She didn’t want to stay longer at an inn that had scammed them for food, but the money she had already paid was a waste.
The man then went to the counter and returned with a fistful of coins.
“Get out now!”
As he yelled, the man hit the table hard with the force of breaking the table with his fist holding the coin. Holly picked up the coin that had fallen to the floor and stood up.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
In the end, Holly and Cahill were kicked out with coins in their fists. As a lesson from Sharif Kingdom, she didn’t leave her stuff in the room, so she didn’t have anything to pack.
“The thief doing the beating instead.”
[ T/N: Just in case some people might not be familiar with this idiom, it means, ‘the wrongdoer punishes the innocent person.’ ]
Holly grunted with her mouth and counted coins with her hand.
How much did they want to get rid of them, the man threw more money than Cahill paid… She smirked and looked behind. Still, he did not let go of the meat he was holding in his hand. Holly looked puzzled when she saw him munching on a piece of steak.
“Will you leave that?”
Cahill swallowed the rest of the meat in one bite and sucked his sauce-stained finger.
“The meat is too tough. It tastes a bit burnt…”
Seeing him so unconcerned even in this situation, she couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s messed up in many ways.”
Holly stared at the locked door for a moment as the man entered, then turned around.
“You said the building was good, but it was money made by ripping off naive people!”
She recklessly walked away from the inn. Even without talking to her or looking at her, the sound of footsteps beside her put her at ease. It was a night so deep that she couldn’t even see Cahill’s face nearby if it wasn’t for the moonlight.
“Anyway, what now? Do you think there is an inn that will accept us at this hour?”
There were no houses with lights on right away.
‘Did I crash things without thinking too much?’
She regretted it belatedly.
“Should we just stay outdoors?”
Unlike Holly, who was full of worries, Cahill’s face showed little anticipation.
“Let’s look for something like the cave last time, huh?”
Cahill, who was clinging to her side, squeezed Holly’s hand and grabbed it. Holly glared at him. His dark inside was too obvious.
“It was so hard to sleep with both feet stretched out in bed…”
Holly let out a deep sigh. It was then.
“Excuse me…”
A gruff voice came from the darkness.
Holly turned her head in the direction of the sound, startled. Not far away stood a middle-aged man with his head half-bald.
“Are you looking for a place to stay?”
She gazed at him with suspicious eyes, bewitched by the way he spoke as if he knew the situation they were in. The middle-aged man, who received a sharp gaze, waved his hand in surprise.
“Actually, I saw you all in the dining room. I am running a lodging business. It’s not as luxurious as there, but I can give you a bed and food to fill your stomach.”
The middle-aged man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, perhaps he was not used to soliciting customers. Holly looked back at Cahill to see if he agreed. Deeply wanting to sleep outdoors, he looked rather dissatisfied.
“Alright.”
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