The hotel in town was doing very poorly.
Or rather, the economic situation across the kingdom wasn’t good right now.
The only industry that was steadily improving was the military industry.
The massive expedition brought with it an almost insatiable demand for arms orders.
The innkeeper was frowning as he calculated how much he would lose this month.
Well, to be fair, the venue was his own property, so he wasn’t exactly at a loss but with the current market, he could barely scrape by for himself.
“Times are tough.”
After recalculating his income again, the innkeeper pondered whether to have porridge or paste for dinner.
Though the two were no different except in pronunciation, still…
“Boss!”
Caught off guard, the innkeeper was startled by the shout.
Looking up, he saw a petite girl carrying a young man covered in blood.
“Don’t, don’t kill me! I’ll give you all my money!” the innkeeper shouted in panic, his hand already fumbling under the counter for the drawer that held the coins.
Given how much he was trembling, it would probably take him a while to muster the resolve to hand over his valuables.
But the girl didn’t want the innkeeper’s money.
She simply stepped up to the counter and placed two silver coins on it with one hand. “One room.”
“This…” The innkeeper hesitated.
It wasn’t that the girl offered too little—it was that she offered too much.
His mind hadn’t caught up yet.
“Not enough?” The girl in the green cloak looked up at the innkeeper, who was much taller than she was.
The innkeeper’s merchant instinct finally overpowered his fear.
He immediately put on a warm smile and said, “Enough, enough!”
Two silver coins—even the best room in his run-down inn wasn’t worth that much.
Figuring the girl wouldn’t stay long in town, he decided to pocket the coins without a guilty conscience.
Of course, he wasn’t completely without a conscience.
He gave her the best room.
“Go straight in. Here’s the key. Room 101,” the innkeeper said, his hand fumbling under the counter for a key, while the other quickly snatched the two silver coins off the counter, afraid the girl would change her mind.
The girl nodded and took the key.
She felt the room number was a bit unlucky, but she couldn’t be bothered to care.
“Give my horse some good fodder,” she said flatly, then walked into the inn without looking back.
The innkeeper felt it was fine.
Even after factoring in the cost of tending the horse, he still came out ahead.
Two silver coins—he could treat himself to something good tonight.
He shuffled out from behind the counter and headed to the hitching post by the door to see what was up.
Meanwhile, the girl struggled to lay the blood-soaked young man on the carpet in the room.
She was really at her limit.
She hadn’t rested well, and after the battle, she had hurried straight to town.
Now, seeing the clean, tidy bed, all she wanted was to sleep.
Yes, the girl was none other than Astraea, whose disguise had been exposed.
After entering the room and locking the door, the little elf dispelled her Disguise Magic.
As the magic ceased, her beautiful features emerged.
Her pointed elven ears, no longer hidden by magic, drooped softly.
And the young man covered in blood on the floor was naturally Luo En, who had previously glowed and cut down the Goblin Chief.
The little elf had planned to use the inn’s bath to clean him, but she couldn’t get past the bed.
The large, soft bed held a special allure for the little elf.
She was certain it would give her a good rest.
As for Luo En?
The inn’s carpet wasn’t bad either.
Besides, it was summer, so the temperature wasn’t cold.
Indoors, he should be fine.
Other issues—like whether Luo En would try to kill her when he woke up, or why there was only one big bed in the room—she ignored.
She just collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
The blessing of the gods—something many wouldn’t dare to dream of in a lifetime.
Yet Luo En had encountered it and he had been blessed by two gods at once.
If the Church’s paladins found out, they’d probably die of jealousy.
But the power of the gods wasn’t something mortals could easily bear.
As a squire, Luo En clearly hadn’t left the realm of ordinary humans.
So Luo En had passed out, and he had been unconscious until now, finally recovering from the overwhelming power of the two gods.
The squire opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
And he was lying on… the carpet?
Luo En was speechless.
They had brought him to a room but just left him on the floor.
Was that intentional or not?
But the one who had taken him from the pile of goblin corpses was, unsurprisingly, Astraea, right?
Luo En got up from the floor.
The gods’ blessings were gone, but the immense power had indeed strengthened his body.
He felt like he had endless energy.
With his current strength, he could probably wield his two-handed longsword like a one-handed sword.
As he stood, the little elf lying asleep without any grace caught his eye.
“Teacher Astraea?”
He tried calling, but the sleeping elf didn’t respond.
The squire relaxed and began admiring the little elf.
He was genuinely captivated by the figure on the bed.
This was the first time Luo En had seen the elf without magic hiding her.
Her already beautiful features were now even more delicate, her skin smoother, and her long ears…
Well, it felt a bit sacrilegious, but Luo En had to admit that he liked the little elf.
What was that saying?
“It’s not that I like elves; it’s just that the girl I like happens to be an elf…”
Admittedly, Astraea’s sleeping posture was hardly elegant.
She still wore her green cloak, and a bit of drool was even seeping from the corner of her mouth.
But with a high enough level of attractiveness, all of that became endearing in Luo En’s eyes.
Even those elven ears—considered blasphemous by the Church of All-Father—captivated him.
‘They twitch… so cute…’
Luo En even felt tempted to touch them and see how they felt.
Well, he already did.
The squire gently grabbed Astraea’s left ear.
The little elf, still dreaming, was completely unaware.
Until Luo En squeezed it.
“No… don’t!” The little elf jolted awake from her dream.
The intense sensation made her body shiver.
“Eek!”
After an experience that took about three hundred words, Luo En realized he had discovered some kind of weakness of elves.
Meanwhile, Astraea felt a surge of intense shame.
Her beautiful face flushed red as she asked, “Pervert! How, how long are you going to keep holding my ear?!”
“Sorry.” Luo En immediately let go.
To be honest, the little elf’s ears felt really nice.
If he could, he’d want to squeeze them a few more times.
“Teacher Astraea, I was just too curious.”
“Curious… Fine. You don’t hate me?” The little elf reluctantly accepted Luo En’s apology.
She was also curious why Luo En hadn’t just killed her with a single sword stroke.
In the state Luo En had been in, killing her would have been easy.
But he didn’t.
That didn’t seem like a human raised in the kingdom.
But then again, Sister Yisiweila hadn’t killed her either, right?
Maybe Luo En had been influenced by the Sister and didn’t hate Heteromorphs that much?
“No, I don’t hate Teacher Astraea. You’re a kind person… elf, I know that,” Luo En said, “Back on the bridge in Port Tils, the piece you played at first was clearly sad, right? But later, when the crowd gathered, you switched to a cheerful piece to make everyone happy.”
“And those valuables you gave to Archbishop Aidan… Even though they weren’t yours, I know the Life and Reincarnation Order has been helping the poor. You knew Archbishop Aidan’s Purification spell wouldn’t work, but you still gave him those valuables.”
“Hold on, Aidan’s charity work with street children was all done in secret. You never interacted with the lower classes—how do you know that?” Astraea asked in surprise.
Luo En was about to call people ‘plebeians’ right in front of her earlier, so how did he suddenly know so much about their affairs?
That didn’t make sense.
“Because of the All-Father’s blessing,” Luo En said.
Now he kind of hated the gods’ blessings.
They changed a person’s personality and even stuffed random knowledge into their head but then again, if he hadn’t received the blessing, he wouldn’t have hated it.
“Teacher Astraea, I want to apologize. I was rude earlier.” Luo En bowed solemnly to the girl who had sat up.
Before, he truly didn’t know what kind of lives those people from the lower classes led.
Now he knew—even that without them, the nobles wouldn’t have a foundation.
Luo En’s opinion of them had completely changed.
While this wasn’t exactly the attitude the little elf had hoped for, at least Luo En was much better than his previous foolish self.
But his current demeanor felt strange to her.
Calm, rational—Luo En seemed to have transformed from a seventeen-year-old into a thirty-year-old mature adult in an instant.
That left the little elf at a loss but then again, she hadn’t really known Luo En that well, had she?
After all, it hadn’t even been a week since they met.
“As for what’s between us… I think we need to talk.” After apologizing, Luo En looked at the bewildered little elf and said.