In the early morning, sunlight spilled into the room from the street-side window.
“Lifa, it’s time to wake up~”
Ron stepped out of the washroom, smoothing out his collar.
“Mmph…”
Lifa woke up from her light sleep in a daze. Seeing her reaction, Ron figured she wanted to sleep a bit longer.
‘That’s quite rare,’ he thought.
A gentle smile played on his lips. Without thinking much of it, Ron turned to organize some of the necessities he had purchased in Gaderade the previous afternoon.
In his memory, Lifa had always been a highly energetic and self-disciplined child.
The fact that she was sleeping in today was clearly because the consecutive days of fighting and exertion had left her overly exhausted.
“I’m going to get some breakfast and bring it back. You don’t need to hurry out of bed, Lifa,” Ron whispered as he walked to the bedside, looking at Lifa, who was wriggling while completely wrapped in her duvet.
“Mm…”
An incoherent response muffled by the blankets drifted out.
“Heh.”
*Clang.*
Once she confirmed that Ron had left and the door was shut, Lifa’s head finally popped out from under the covers.
Her eyes were sleepy, her blonde hair was a mess, and her face still held a flushed glow from being stifled under the blanket.
Ron’s guess was only half right. Part of the reason Lifa was sleeping in was indeed due to the physical toll of continuous combat, but that was only her physical stamina.
A more important factor was the excessive excitement and indecision in her heart regarding her feelings.
‘My favorite teacher is right by my side… I can even hear his breathing as he sleeps.’
‘Teacher is very weak right now. If I were to force myself on him… he probably wouldn’t be able to resist, right?’
‘Ugh~ This is so distressing… Aunt Ruth, Madam Lida, can you help me make a decision?’
Lifa had spent the entire night tossing and turning. At one point, she had even sat up to quietly watch the sleeping Ron, her heart racing with impulse.
But until the break of dawn, Lifa’s progress remained at the starting point. She chose to skip that perfect turn, ending her wild fantasies and managing to force herself to sleep.
“Mmph… Anyway, anyway, there’s still plenty of time…”
Pulling the quilt up to cover her cheeks, Lifa rolled around the bed twice, softly comforting herself. She was referring to both the time remaining this morning and the time she had to spend with her teacher.
***
Meanwhile, Ron had already walked down the stairs, following the fairly old wooden handrail of the inn.
“Good morning, Madam Lida.”
He was the first to greet the landlady, offering a smile to this passionate and still-charming woman.
“Good morning, Mr. Ron.”
Madam Lida took off the half-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose and casually locked the silver coins she had just finished counting into the cabinet behind the bar.
“I wonder if you still provide breakfast here? Or perhaps there is somewhere nearby where I can buy some food…”
Ron leaned against the bar to inquire and was quickly handed a handwritten menu by Madam Lida.
“Hmm — let me see.”
“I’ll have a cup of coffee and a sandwich here, and then please pack a juice and a sandwich to be sent to the room.”
Madam Lida noted down the meal Ron selected and then double-checked it with him.
“I’ll have to trouble you, then.”
Ron signed the slip. This meal charge would be settled along with the room bill upon checkout, or it could be deducted directly from the deposit, which was quite convenient.
“Then I’ll bring the coffee to you first.”
Madam Lida gave a light laugh and a bow, then turned to step behind the curtain of the bar. While waiting, Ron took a moment to appreciate the decorations on the inn’s walls.
“Hmm, it’s quite interesting~”
He had to admit that the inn managed by Madam Lida was excellent.
Although the entire building was only a three-story structure, it came with a spacious backyard and an orchard, which was rare in a city like Gaderade.
Behind the first-floor bar were the kitchen and storage room, while other areas were booths for dining and resting, which meant she was essentially running a restaurant business on the side.
‘The second and third floors are all guest rooms… the profits must be quite good.’
Ron’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the bar counter. The more he thought about it, the more moved and fond of the place he became.
Perhaps once he was completely out of danger and resettled, he could find a city to open an inn like this.
Of course, if he could have a beautiful girl as the landlady, his journey to another world wouldn’t be in vain.
“What are you thinking about, Mr. Ron?”
By the time he snapped back to his senses, Madam Lida had already placed a cup of coffee in front of him.
“Hehe, I bet you and Miss Lifa had a pleasant night together, didn’t you?”
The landlady’s gaze was meaningful.
“It’s nothing like that, Madam Lida,” Ron said with a bitter smile.
“Think I’m being too gossipy? Fine, fine.”
“Our sandwiches are made-to-order and heat-pressed, so it’ll take some time. Why don’t you go sit in the booth over there for a while, Mr. Ron?”
“Alright.”
Ron casually dropped a sugar cube into his coffee cup, picked it up, and walked straight to a seat by the floor-to-ceiling window facing the street.
“Whew.”
Blowing away the mist rising from the hot coffee, Ron’s gaze swept around.
Both the simple, antique decoration of the inn and the pedestrians walking outside gave him a long-lost sense of relaxation and comfort.
Although Gaderade was under martial law, the situation had driven many people from nearby towns into the city, making the streets look quite lively in the morning.
“To think that at this time last week, I was still eating instant noodles in a rented room~”
Ron stirred the coffee with a small spoon, finding it quite amusing to watch the swirling vortex melt the cream.
Thinking carefully, transmigrating into a game world wasn’t so bad after all. The food and drinks tasted great, and his body was much stronger than his previous sub-healthy state.
Lifa was cute, and Madam Lida was charming. Today, he would even get to meet a new character with white hair and red eyes.
If this save file hadn’t originally followed the ‘Galge Blackening Route,’ it would have been Ron’s ideal life in another world.
He took a small, appreciative sip of the coffee, even closing his eyes with deep emotion to carefully savor the dark-roasted, slightly bitter aroma on the tip of his tongue.
However, when he opened his eyes again, he noticed a figure draped in a hooded robe passing by the roadside.
After entering through the main entrance of the inn, the figure did not pause for a moment, heading straight toward his position.
‘Is she the Lady Ash Lifa spoke of?’
Ron set down his coffee cup and looked up. At this moment, Madam Lida was still busy in the kitchen, leaving only him and this purposeful Lady Ash in the inn.
Confirming that the other party was coming for him, Ron guessed that Lifa might have mentioned him, and he prepared to stand up and offer a polite greeting.
And then…
Ron received a hug, and…
A kiss.
The entire process happened in less than two seconds. Afterward, Ron found that he couldn’t break free from the other’s embrace at all.
With no other options for movement, his gaze naturally shifted to the face revealed after the hood had slipped off during the commotion.
Snow-white long hair and skin, a beautiful face, and deep red eyes filled with countless emotions. Everything was identical to Lifa’s description, but!
“Y-You are…”
Ron’s pupils constricted in massive shock. In an instant, the memory of a blonde-haired, black-eyed face with a more youthful and shy expression overlapped perfectly with the person before him.
Isis Cnamennin.
The slave girl he had raised with his own hands and cultivated with all his heart.
The youngest Hero in history appeared before him now, with an aura and appearance that completely overturned his memories.
“Good morning, Master~”