…

Play by her rules, hum. We are going to see about that.

Kael got up from his bed after waking up the next day and went to take a bath before going to the first floor.

There he saw Tasha in the kitchen. Different from yesterday, she wore a white cotton dress with long sleeves.

The young woman had a wooden paddle. At her side, there were small doughs that she put on top of her paddle and slid them into the oven. She murmured a song that Kael had never heard before.

So, she knows how to bake bread too. That’s very useful.

He approached and greeted her. “Good morning, you’re looking lively today.”

Tasha looked behind and noticed Kael there.

“Yeah. I finally had a nice night of sleep after a long time.”

“Oh, me too. For a moment.”

I did sleep here before. But it was right after passing out because of Elin. My body also feels a bit heavier than it did today.

“Great! Vyra wanted me to tell you that we will be training with her later today.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

She finished putting the dough inside the oven and watched as it baked.

I’m excited. I know my first day wasn’t the best. But I’m sure I can do much better.

He then went outside the kitchen on the first floor and saw Vyra sitting at one of the round tables, reading a book. He walked up to her and called.

“Hey! I’m glad that everything worked out with Tasha. She seems very energetic today.”

Without breaking her gaze from the book, she replied, “Yes, Miria isn’t that cruel. The girl also has a lot of uses. Once she told her she could brew beer too, Miria seemed to completely forget that she was even mad.”

“Is Miria an alcoholic?”

Vyra’s eyes widen, staring back at his and whispering. “I know she isn’t here today. But if she catches you saying that, you are going to face a lot of problems.”

“All right,” Kael whispered back.

So, she is an alcoholic.

“Anyway. After Tasha is finished cooking our breakfast, we should start your training. I’ve heard she intends to take you to the capital within 2 weeks, right?”

Kael nodded, taking a seat next to her. “I’m still curious as to how she intends to do this. She told me she’s going alone with you.”

“Alone? And what are you, Elin, and Tasha going to do?” inquired Kael.

“I don’t know about Elin. But Tasha and I are going to stay here. That should be enough time for the Inn to start to brim with people coming from different places. And now that we have Tasha to help with the cooking. We aren’t too far off from having a functional place.”

“An Inn and Tavern. That’s a bit odd; I expected an adventure to have something a bit fancier.”

“You think it’s odd too, don’t you?”

“Yes, what do you say?”

“Remember yesterday when I told you I was suspicious of her? That’s one of the reasons. Before that, we kept sleeping in other places, and in general, we had a lot of flexibility to move around. But now, she picks a place in the middle of nowhere and as far from the capital as she can, to the point that it doesn’t make sense.”

“I see, as an adventurer. It would be far from my first choice, but maybe she’s thinking of settling.”

“Over the past two days, you’ve seen Miria. Do you really believe that?”

Now that I think about it, from the conversation I had last night she seemed completely the opposite of a person wishing to retire anytime soon.

“What about money?”

“The money would be good. But what do you think is easier to get around, strong adventurers or another inn in the middle of nowhere?”

“So, it won’t bring in money?”

“Not what I said, it’s just that. It will take us time to regain what we spent on it. And we have to put a lot of effort into this place to work. Didn’t you see we didn’t even have a cook before a lost girl came out of nowhere looking for a place to stay?”

“Your thinking is sound. Oh, you mentioned yesterday that the underground place had something that blocked the detection of mana outside it.”

“Yes. She personally requested that from me. That alone was more expensive to build than this entire place upstairs.”

“Intriguing. I wish I could help you more. But I have no clue. I don’t know much about it.”

“Yeah. I can see that. I ask you to pay attention to her during the time you are traveling with her. It might be the golden opportunity to actually check what she’s doing.”

“It won’t be that easy,” Kael interjected.

“Hmmm, why do you think so?” Vyra asked.

“She already knows I don’t trust her.” He replied, looking out of the window.

“How is that even possible? You, out of all people? You barely got here… unless.”

“You are thinking the same thing that I’m thinking.”

“The weird magic both of you use, right? Yeah, I found that to be strange, especially because you didn’t even have proper mana yesterday. And you were also familiar.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not magic. It seems to be more like a curse. When I got here, it was the first thing I saw.”

“Curious. I know roughly what it does; is there anything more about it that can tell me?”

“Hmmm, yes. There is.”

It might not be the sharpest idea to tell her, but fuck it. Miria apparently knows about it already. It won’t hurt to share with her.

“So, one of the things it told me as soon as I got here is that… I could free myself from Miria if I did something.”

“And that something is?”

“I don’t know exactly. It just told me to help her with her goals.”

“Does it mention the goal in the singular?”

Kael nodded.

“Peculiar. Miria seemed to be of the ambitious type, but I never would have guessed that after all this time she had a goal in mind. Many, sure, but a single one is strange.”

“Anything you can guess?”

“Nothing that comes to mind, besides her acting strangely. Also, these things of yours seem too strange for a curse.”

“Do you think it’s related to the mark?”

“It might be. But I don’t have it… Wait, didn’t you mention you were from another world, right?”

His eyes widened a bit. “Yes, I did.”

“Could it be possible that this has any relation to it?” Vyra theorized.

“That’s a possibility.”

The sound of the door coming from the kitchen shook, and a voice announced, “The bread is ready!”

“We will finish this talk later,” Vyra murmured to Kael, watching the girl bring a basket with breads and cups. While the other hand carried a jug.