They couldn’t get rooms at the first two inns they visited.

Laila, who had never stayed anywhere other than home before, couldn’t grasp what was strange, but Eustar tilted his head with a very puzzled expression at the claim that there were no vacant rooms.

“Strange. There’s no way there could be no rooms available at this time of year.”

He was about to take the clueless Laila into a third inn, but before they could push open the door, the owner ran out waving his hands.

“Oh, customers. Are you looking for a room? There aren’t any, none at all. We’re completely full.”

Eustar asked in a perplexed tone:

“We just heard the same thing at two other inns. What’s going on? Is there some festival happening?”

The inn owner looked at him strangely, as if wondering how he could have come to this town without knowing.

“It’s the fishing festival. By tomorrow, the streets will be so packed with people there won’t be room to set foot. This time of year, the trout coming downstream from the upper Oders River are swarming. It’s half water, half fish. Other fish are plentiful too. So anglers come from far and wide. Every room is packed full.”

Eustar frowned with a serious expression. Indeed, if that was the situation, it was a real problem. If he were alone it would be one thing, but with Laila here, they couldn’t just rough it in someone’s stable.

“This is troublesome. Is there anywhere we might be able to stay? Even a tiny room would be fine.”

“Well, there’s nothing around here, that’s for sure. Every house will be full up to the barns. This village rarely sees money except at times like this.”

The innkeeper, who had been speaking indifferently as if it wasn’t his problem, suddenly grinned so strangely it looked grotesque.

“If you go around back, there’s Mrs. Nolan’s inn. You might try asking there. I’m sure one room must be empty. If you can sleep there, that is.”

Eustar didn’t like the mocking tone spreading across the man’s face, but he nodded calmly.

“It’s better than sleeping outdoors. Thank you.”

As the two turned their backs to leave, the owner called out:

“Who knows, sir! Sleeping outdoors might be much better!”

* * *

Though it was slightly off the main street, inns were packed tightly together in the narrow alley behind. Eustar and Laila walked carefully examining the closed doors just in case, but every one had a sign saying “No Rooms”.

Finding Mrs. Nolan’s inn wasn’t too difficult. It was one of the few with a sign still hanging, though it was rather dilapidated with most of the decorations fallen off.

When the two pushed open the low wooden door and entered, a middle-aged woman who had been wiping a table in the narrow hall glanced at them indifferently.

“No rooms, customers.”

Eustar said:

“Are you Mrs. Nolan?”

“That’s right.”

“We heard at an inn on the main street that if we came here, one room might be empty.”

Mrs. Nolan snorted sharply and said sarcastically:

“Must have been that blabbermouth Glen talking. Well, one place is empty, true. But you can’t sleep there.”

Then Laila asked:

“Why not?”

There was a thud. It was the sound of Mrs. Nolan throwing down the rag she’d been using to wipe the table.

With her hands on her thick waist, she glared at the two with a strange mixture of hostility and anger in her eyes. A hint of fear could also be glimpsed.

“If I say you can’t sleep there, you can’t! I’m sick and tired of clearing out corpses from my house.”

Mrs. Nolan snapped harshly and picked up the rag she had thrown down. But before she could start wiping the table again, Eustar asked another question.

“What do you mean by that, madam?”

Mrs. Nolan was silent. Her hand holding the rag trembled, then… suddenly started moving back and forth violently.

It was more like she was planing wood than wiping the table. Mrs. Nolan repeatedly scrubbed the already spotless surface, again and again, as she spoke through gritted teeth.

“Something strange appears in that room.”

“Something strange?”

Mrs. Nolan continued as if she hadn’t heard Eustar’s words:

“You might think I’m crazy, but it’s true. There’s something… something very evil there. It’s definitely there. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I take guests? Do you know how much I could charge for one room at a time like this with so many people around? I swear by the god Kiron, if it were nothing serious, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

The god Kiron she mentioned was one of the six gods worshipped by the people of Sierrow. The patron of thieves, merchants, traders, and shadows – it made sense that Mrs. Nolan, who made her living from the lodging business, would revere Kiron most highly.

Eustar and Laila’s gazes met in midair. Mrs. Nolan, thinking they had already left, was bent over focusing on wiping the table legs without looking back.

Something strange and evil…

Eustar said:

“Is what appears in that room a ghost? Or some kind of monster? Either way, if we offer to resolve it for you, would you let us rent the room?”

Mrs. Nolan’s eyes widened like a rabbit spotting a wolf. She nearly hit her head on the edge of the table as she tried to stand up too quickly.

Her hand clutching the rag trembled. She switched the rag to her other hand and frantically brushed back her disheveled hair streaked with gray.

“H-how could you possibly…?”

Eustar opened one of the many pockets on his complex jacket and took out a small badge.

A hand with six fingers, and a single eye in the center… It was a strange and eerie emblem, but its flawless golden sheen distracted Mrs. Nolan’s mind.

“Have you heard of the Tentinella Knights?”

Seeing Mrs. Nolan’s eyes bulge to the point of nearly popping out, Eustar smiled with a sense that things would go well. The Tentinella Knights – who hadn’t heard of their fame? Except perhaps in Laila’s village of Rigicus.

“A-are you really? Really… a knight of Tentinella? You’re saying you can get rid of that evil thing?”

Eustar glanced at Laila.

“The young lady beside me is also a member of the order. So what do you think? If you give us that room, we’ll solve the problem for you. Then at least from next year’s festival, you’ll be able to earn more money. And we’ll be able to avoid sleeping outdoors and get a comfortable bed for tonight.”

It was an offer with no room for hesitation. Though she still looked somewhat uneasy, Mrs. Nolan immediately took out a key and started up the stairs. Eustar and Laila followed behind her.

The inn’s stairs were very old, creaking ominously with each step as if screaming. The carpet was so flattened it was practically one with the floor, and even the crude paintings on the walls had faded, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Mrs. Nolan, climbing the narrow stairs ahead of them, said breathlessly:

“You probably don’t want to hear this, but since you’re Tentinella knights, I suppose it’s alright. Three people have already died in that room. The last one was especially horrible. Because of that incident, I almost gave up the inn entirely, but I’ve lived here since I was born. With no other way to make a living, I had no choice but to keep the doors open… But I don’t go anywhere near that room. I’ve kept it completely locked up. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Eustar replied in a relaxed voice:

“Locking the door doesn’t solve the problem. It’s alright, just show us in for now. If it really comes down to it, we can request help from the branch.”

At that moment, Laila realized he was lying. She couldn’t explain how she knew, but it was clear… Once again she was seized by a strange feeling. Not only was she unable to refuse Eustar’s words or reject his proposals, now she even felt like she was starting to know him inside and out.

‘I might be going crazy. Mother said that. Many of the witches eventually went mad. Is that happening to me?’

Laila thought.

As fate would have it, the room in question was on the very top floor.

As Mrs. Nolan had said, a large padlock hung on the doorknob, so big that no one could remove it barehanded no matter who they were. At minimum, a small axe would be needed to even make a dent in it.

The woman was about to insert the key into the padlock when she turned to look at the two once more.

“Are you really going to use this room?”

Eustar nodded immediately.

“Yes, please open it.”

Mrs. Nolan’s broad back shrank for a moment. As she inserted and turned the key, there was a heavy metallic rattle as the lock opened. The woman pushed the door open forcefully, then turned her head away as if she couldn’t bear to look inside.

Eustar peered in first. Apart from the thick dust swirling in an sudden draft, nothing was visible to his eyes.

“Laila, what do you think?”

At his words, Laila carefully looked into the room with her hood down. But she couldn’t see anything either… Just dust. Unless the “evil and strange thing” Mrs. Nolan spoke of was the plump black spider on the ceiling.

Laila quietly shook her head. She thought he would urge her to look more closely, but unexpectedly, Eustar shrugged as if he’d known all along.

“Alright, we’ll stay here tonight. But first we should get some food… Ma’am, I’m sorry, but could you dust the room a bit? And if you could evict that illegal tenant up there, I’d appreciate it.”

He took a gray bill from his pocket and pressed it into Mrs. Nolan’s hand. Seeing the 1 ver note, the woman was too shocked to reply.

That amount could easily rent two of the cleanest, nicest rooms at any inn in this area. Even though it was the countryside, lodging prices tended to spike during peak seasons like this…

Mrs. Nolan looked into the room with an uneasy expression. After hesitating briefly, she stuffed the bill into her stained pocket and said:

“Alright. I’ll clean it thoroughly and bring new bedding to change it out.”