The moment the head guard gave the order, the other three rushed at us. Nanya ran to the counter and hid behind the innkeeper in fear. One guard lunged at Midori and reached for her arm, but he never touched her. Midori caught his wrist, twisted it, and kicked the back of his knee.

  “Ahh!” he screamed, kneeling down in pain.

  The other guard moved toward Aoi, but seeing his friend already kneeling, he lost his courage and froze, hand on his sword. Aoi frowned, looking down at him like he was an insect. She pulled her arm back, ready to slap him into the afterlife, and I caught her hand at the last second.

  “Aoi!” I shouted. “Calm down!” I spun to Midori, panic rising. “Midori! Let go of his arm.”

  Neither of them listened. Midori twisted the man’s arm even more, and I could barely hold Aoi’s arm up in the air. The other guard grabbed my arm and started pulling.

  “Wait a damn second!” I shouted. “At least tell us why!”

  They didn’t answer. Aoi was seconds away from killing another man with a single slap. Midori was still twisting the arm of the guard on the floor, close to breaking it. The guard next to me kept pulling me. In the middle of all this chaos, the big guy had his back to us, busy wiping tears from his eyes.

  “Hey, you!” I snapped. “You’re in charge here, right? Turn around and tell us what this nonsense is about!”

  “There’s a report about you,” he said with a sniff as he turned to us. “It says some people started a fight and caused trouble in this inn.”

  "What?!” I shouted, shocked. “We didn’t do anything!”

  He narrowed his eyes, glanced around the room, and let out a sigh. “I don’t see anyone here but you.”

  “He’s right,” the innkeeper said. “These three didn’t do anything wrong. The one who caused the trouble is already gone.”

  “We’ll find out during questioning,” the head guard said, firm and stubborn.

  “What questioning?” I snapped, already on edge. “Didn’t you hear her?”

  “They’re not guilty,” the cat girl muttered from behind the innkeeper. Her voice was barely audible. “He…” She pointed at me. “He saved my life.”

  Hearing that, the guard beside me finally let go of my arm, and the one in front of Aoi slid his sword back into its sheath. Midori released the man she had pinned down. He dropped to the floor, quickly crawling back while holding his arm in pain.

  “Go on,” the head guard said, walking toward the cat girl. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

  “That big man from the army attacked me,” she said as tears started again. “He grabbed my throat. He was going to choke me.” She swallowed hard. “But these person saved me. He scared him away.”

  “Right,” the innkeeper said. “He’s the hero of the day, not some criminal.”

  “Very well,” the guard said, scanning the inn. “But he made quite a mess. He should have called us in the first place. If everyone handles things on their own, this country turns into chaos. We’re arresting him anyway.”

  “What? Arresting him?!” Aoi snapped, stepping forward, her voice sharp.

  “Do you even hear yourself, you muscle head? He’s a lord. A lord. You should be kneeling, not talking about chains.”

  “I understand your anger, milady,” he said, swallowing as if he already regretted what he was going to say. “And I respect your loyalty to your husband. But… calling him a lord doesn’t make him one.”

  “Huh?!” Aoi was about to lose it. She turned to me, furious, and held out her hand. “Give me the card.”

  I placed it in her trembling hand. The moment Aoi grabbed it, she flung it at the man’s face. He barely caught it midair and examined it. Reading my name, disgust crossed his face. Then his eyes widened. He looked at me, then the card, and back at me again.

  “You,” he said, his voice trembling. “Just this morning—”

  “Ah, yeah,” I said, scratching my head. “I only became a lord today.”

  He handed the card back to Aoi, then gave me a slight, unwilling nod and turned away. As he headed for the door, he signaled the other guards to follow.

  “All right. We’re done here,” he muttered. “Looks like it was a false report.”

  “Well,” I said, taking my card back from Aoi and grinning as I looked at it. “I think I’m starting to like this lord thing...”

  “You said you just became a lord,” the cat girl murmured, still hiding behind the innkeeper. “Congratulations.”

  “Congratulations, my lord,” the innkeeper added with a nod.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  “Thanks. And, uh… thank you for standing up for us too.”

  “It still almost didn’t help,” she said. “If you hadn’t shown that shiny lord card, the head guard was ready to arrest you.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I said, my mood dropping. “We didn’t exactly get along this morning.”

  “Ah, so you know each other… That explains his stubbornness,” she said. Then she looked around at her damaged inn, her face tired. “I think we’ll close early today.”

  I looked around. Tables were flipped over, and half eaten meals were left behind by customers who had run off without even paying. That annoyed me. But worse was Midori, stuffing someone else’s leftovers into her mouth like it was a grand feast. I turned to the innkeeper, my face hot with guilt.

  “We are willing to pay for the damage," I said. “All of it. Including the other customers’ meals too—”

  “Oh, no, there’s really no need for that,” she said, waving her hands.

  “Seriously, I don’t even want to argue,” I insisted. “I want to pay, and we have enough money, so don’t worry.”

  The innkeeper opened her mouth, ready to argue, then sighed and gave up. She lowered her head to the order sheets and prices, her fingers moving quickly as she did the rough math.

  “If we count all the tables and the damage…” she said, a bit down. “That comes to thirty-five silver and around fifty copper, and, um… more or less, yes.”

  “But we don’t have any silver.”

  “That’s fine, really. You can just forget it, it’s already a lot and—”

  “No, no, you got me wrong,” I waved my hands. “We're foreigners and we only have gold. Could you tell me how much silver equals one gold? Or better yet, just give me a quick explanation of your currency.”

  “Sure, no problem… one gold equals 100 silver, and one silver equals 100 copper.”

  “So the cost isn’t even one gold, right?”

  “You could say that, yes.”

  “All right,” I said, turning to Aoi and holding out my hand. “Give me one gold then.”

  “Fine, okay,” she huffed, hand going to her chest. After a little clink, she pulled out one gold coin and placed it in my hand.

  “Here,” I said, handing the gold to the innkeeper.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, taking it reluctantly, then started digging through the drawer. “Wait, I’ll give you the change, but… I don’t even have enough silver for that—”

  “No, really, it’s fine,” I said, turning to Midori, who was still stuffing from the tables. “We’ve already caused more than enough damage,” I muttered.

  “Midori,” I called, my patience snapping. Her belly was sticking out, and it was getting on my nerves. “Enough. Stop eating and come over here.”

  “What?” she mumbled, mouth full, then tipped a beer mug over her head and stumbled toward me, half-drunk. “Okay, okay.”

  “Well,” I said, turning to the innkeeper. “Do you happen to have a room for us to stay the night?”

  “Sure, we have a few empty rooms upstairs.”

  “Oh,” I said, looking up. “That’s great. How much is it?”

  “A single room is 15, a double 30 copper, but for you, it’s free. You’ve already paid much more than enough. Which one would you like? Single or double?”

  “Isn’t there a room for three?” I asked, glancing at Midori and Aoi, then back at the innkeeper, my eyes practically begging.

  “No, but if you want, there’s one single and one double available.”

  I paused for a moment. There was no way I could do this. If I took the single room, the other two in the double would start pulling each other’s hair before midnight and blow up the inn by morning. And if I shared a room with one and sent the other alone, that would be an even bigger disaster waiting to happen. I had no other choice, I looked at the innkeeper.

  “Then please, give us the double room only.”

  “All right,” she said, pulling a key from the drawer and tossing it to the cat girl. “Take them to their room. End of the hall, door on the left.”

  We went upstairs and entered the corner room. A double bed, a small desk, and a wooden chair. Their eyes went straight to the bed, mine to the chair. I had already accepted my fate and walked over to the chair, sitting down.

  Aoi threw herself onto the bed. Midori grabbed her midair, pulled her back, and climbed onto the bed herself. Yeah, it was late night, and their fight session was about to start. I rested my chin in my hand, yawned, and just watched.

  “Get off the bed. That’s my spot with the lord,” Aoi snapped, pointing to the corner. “You’re sleeping on the floor tonight. That’s what you deserve.”

  “Shut up, you vulgarian worm! If my place is the floor, then yours is under the ground.”

  “Please, don’t mind me, I’m fine here,” I muttered, waving my hand, already settling into the chair and getting ready to sleep. I think I was starting to build an immunity to their stupidity.

  Aoi got on the bed and yanked Midori, tossing her to the floor. Midori got up and shoved Aoi from the other side, sending her off the bed. Then Aoi got up… and my eyes, tired from everything, just closed.

  The next morning, I woke up and found the bed empty. Then I went downstairs and saw the inn busy again, the innkeeper rushing from table to table. I didn't know she worked as a server too. I waited by the counter, looking around for Aoi and Midori, but they were nowhere. At last, the innkeeper came over, sweating and short of breath.

  “Oh, you’re awake... Good morning."

  “Where is my order?!” someone shouted from a back table.

  “Sorry! Coming right away!” the innkeeper called, then muttered angrily under her breath, “Where is that idiot girl?”

  “Which girl? By the way… Midori and Aoi. Did you see the two women who were with me last night?”

  “Them? They left early this morning.”

  “Whay?! Why didn’t anyone tell me—”

  “Forget it for now,” she said, resting a hand on my shoulder, still gasping. “Can you stay here at the counter for a bit?”

  “Sure, but why?”

  “That stupid cat girl must have overslept,” she said. “I need to run to her house and drag her here, or I’ll end up choking some customers today.”

  “O-okay,” I said, nodding.

  I sat at the counter, stiff and on edge. A few minutes later, the innkeeper rushed back in, her face pale and shaken. She leaned on the counter, took a deep breath, and looked straight at me.

  “Nanya… I couldn’t find her anywhere,” she said, her voice shaking. “Something bad must have happened to her.”

  “What?! How?”

  “Her door was left open,” she said. “And there was blood on the ground…” Her words broke, and her eyes went dark.

  “What… blood?! How… where is she—”.

  Before I could finish, everything shifted. Suddenly, Midori and Aoi stood before me, arms crossed, grinning proudly. I looked around, we were in a massive, luxurious palace-like place. My brain froze for a second.

  “Aoi, what’s going on here? And… what even is this place?”

  “This is our new—”

  “Anywat, forget that,” I said fast, cutting Aoi off as I paced back and forth. “The cat girl is missing. She might even be dead. I need to go back—”

  “Wait, what?!” Midori tensed, glaring.

  “I don’t know! She didn’t come today. And when the innkeeper went to her house, she said there was blood… I have to go back. I think I’ll teleport there—”

  “Wait, calm down,” Aoi said, grabbing my arm. “Why are you going there? Just summon her here.”

  “…What?” I said, frowning. Then I slapped my forehead. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that before?”

  I summoned Nanya the next moment, and she appeared in front of us. But she collapsed onto the floor. Her clothes were torn, her body covered in wounds and stained with blood. She didn’t move at all. She was either already dead or close to it.