The Aristocrat's Rescue Party

Now then, about that aristocrat from the other day who I locked in, or rather, who locked himself in.

There's been some progress.

… Unfortunately, they haven't resorted to killing each other yet. Though things are getting pretty tense with their food running low.

The progress wasn't inside the dungeon, but outside of it. A search party has arrived.

Ten of them. I think that's a reasonable number. Or rather, it's an awkward number to comment on.

This self-proclaimed Imperial Guard Knight rescue squad, all wearing matching breastplates, was apparently composed of E-Rank to C-Rank adventurers since they needed to dive into the dungeon. The DP looks good… That's about the only good thing I can find about them, though.

Yeah, these guys had absolutely terrible manners.

 

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When they came to the inn, the first thing they did was surround the counter with all ten of them as if trying to intimidate us.

On the other hand, Ichika at the reception desk was grinning without a care. Like this was nothing at all. She didn't go through a life that ended in slavery for nothing; she's got nerves of steel. If it were me, I might've wet myself.

(According to Ichika, being surrounded by debt collectors is way scarier.)

"Welcome～. Welcome to the [Dancing Doll's Pavilion]～."

"We are the Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order. We shall be borrowing rooms at this inn. Be grateful."

The mere search party captain said this while leaning back arrogantly.

Ichika just let it slide and explained the rates.

"Sure sure～, 50 copper per person, meals separate. I guarantee the food's delicious though～?"

"Haah?! 50 copper per person, and meals are extra?! … We are the Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order!"

"Hmm, so what?"

"Wha—… I said we are the Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order!"

Is this "Leech Family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order" really that impressive? Or had they been running commercials somewhere where saying their name gets you a discount like some kind of coupon?

Of course, it has absolutely no effect at an inn run by us otherworlders.

Good thing we made it prepaid. These guys are definitely the type who'd pay whatever they feel like and skip out if it were postpaid.

"The Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order, huh～. I'll go ask about you at the Adventurer Guild branch right across from us later～."

"Guh… Fine, food at a cheap inn like this would be terrible anyway! We don't need food!"

"Okie dokie, then that's… one, two, three… ten people. That'll be five silver coins."

Ichika kept them in check with the implicit threat of tattling to the Adventurer Guild. Good job.

Since they're adventurers diving into a dungeon regardless of the reason, it was super effective.

Then the search party captain put down four silver coins and 50 copper. How petty.

"That's 50 copper short, yeah～? Third Imperial Guard Knight Order of the Leech family～?"

"Tch, Pavera folk really are greedy…"

He bitterly put down another 50 copper… Doesn't this come out of their travel expenses? The Leech family must be stingy too.

"Hey woman, come to my room later. I'll have some fun with you."

"Ah, we don't offer that kind of service. If it's between guests, I won't stop you, so go ahead～."

"… You do know we're the Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order?"

I seriously don't know that knight order.

No, I'm glad I had a bad feeling and put Ichika on reception. A newbie couldn't have handled this.

Wait, "between guests"… Ichika-san, what are you saying?

Having given up after Ichika brushed off everything he said, he quietly took five keys for double rooms and the knight order went to their rooms. Finally, a break.

Then, after that. When mealtime came.

Despite having said he didn't need food, he showed up in the dining room at mealtime.

Niku was the one who dealt with him.

"Oi, give us food. I paid."

No you didn't!

I almost stood up and retorted on reflex. I'd happened to come to the dining room to eat as well.

Actually, we use a meal ticket system here. Meals are only given in exchange for meal tickets, so there's no way we'd serve food without one.

Same goes if you somehow lost your meal ticket. We explain this clearly when you buy one at reception, and so far nobody has been stupid enough to miss that.

"Do you have a meal ticket? If not, please purchase one at the reception desk."

"You brat! Cheeky for a filthy beastkin!"

The self-proclaimed knight captain lashed out at Niku, who had given the template response exactly as the manual instructed.

Filthy? Niku is way cleaner than any of you. She has this lovely, sweet scent when I hold her as a body pillow while sleeping.

"Come here, I'll educate you!"

"I refuse."

The self-proclaimed knight captain tried to grab Niku's arm, only to be easily dodged. Very uncool.

Apparently realizing how pathetic he looked, he tried again to grab her, only to be gracefully evaded once more.

Her dodging was so splendid that other customers who'd come to eat let out whistles and cheered her on.

"Guh, you'd defy me even though you're just a beastkin?! Do you know who we are?! The Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order?!"

"I do not."

Yeah, I don't know either, so I couldn't tell Niku about them. Could they at least explain how important they are at some point?

"An inn like this, the Leech family could easily crush, you know?"

"Is that so."

I'd told Niku to just ignore whatever they said.

Besides, even if the Leech family could crush the inn, you just work for them. Why is he talking like it's his own power?

"But well… right, you seem reasonably well-groomed, so I suppose that'll do. Rejoice. If you offer yourself to me, I'll spare this inn from being crushed."

What are you saying to a little girl, oi. Have you people no decency?

"I refuse."

"… So you don't care what happens to this inn then?"

… He's starting to become an eyesore. The other customers are getting pretty irritated too.

So I stood up as if to shield Niku and spoke to the self-proclaimed knight captain.

"Hey, you. Knock it off."

"Aaah?! Who the hell are you, listen, we are—-"

"This inn's backer is the A-Rank adventurer, [White-Winged Goddess]. Say anything too careless and it might cause quite a lot of trouble for that Leech family of yours, you know?"

He froze for a moment.

"… I-is that true? [White-Winged Goddess] is backing an inn like this?"

"Yeah, she stays here regularly. It's no lie; if you want, you can ask at the guild right across from us. It's not a secret, so they'll tell you right away… So, you understand that causing problems would be bad, right? Will that Leech family of yours protect you if you make an enemy of an A-Rank adventurer?"

The color drained from his face. The title of A-Rank adventurer really is effective.

"Th-thank you for the information… Ahem, I-I just remembered I have some business to attend to, so I'll be going."

And with that, he quickly withdrew.

I patted Niku's head and returned to my seat, receiving warm but teasing remarks from the other customers like, "Good job," "You should've helped sooner," and "Aren't you embarrassed relying on the goddess～?"

"Goshujin-sama, thank you very much."

"Don't worry about it, it was my job to begin with… Hopefully this will make them behave…"

"Hyah, y-yes… that's right."

As I gently rubbed and petted Niku's dog ears between my fingers, I had a feeling things probably weren't going to work out that way.

 

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… And.

Really, it would have been great if that were the end of it, but since the self-proclaimed knight captain went straight from the dining hall to hole up in his room, his subordinates ran wild doing whatever they pleased.

In particular, they didn't use [Purify] before entering the bath, started swimming in it, made a racket that bothered the other guests, and scattered food all over the post-bath lounge floor.

In the game room, they banged on the slot machines and tried to swipe the playing cards. Just… seriously.

When you're in the service industry, you get people like this, I guess. I could still barely tolerate all of that.

What I couldn't tolerate was what they tried to do on the way out. They attempted to secretly take the futons home without permission.

Something that bulky would obviously get noticed immediately.

But they did put some thought into it, I suppose.

They tried cutting the futons in two and splitting them up to carry out.

Ichika happened to be there cleaning the hallway and stopped them just before they could cut, but these guys, bypassing their self-proclaimed knight captain entirely, tried to force their way through with, "We are the Leech family's Third Imperial Guard Knight Order!"

The self-proclaimed knight captain stopped them with a pale face, but yeah. That's it. They've crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed.

They tried to cut up and steal the futons. There's no forgiving that, right?

So I decided to welcome them into the dungeon.