I Opened an Inn Next to a Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 161



Only Noblemtl

Episode 161

The most popular facility at Eugene’s Inn is definitely the hot springs.

It’s nice to have a hot bath that can relieve the fatigue of travelers who have walked a long way, but it’s completely free for inn guests? It’s mind-boggling.

Its popularity is so great that there are even guests who come here specifically to bathe in the hot springs and stay for long periods of time, rather than just visiting merchants on business trips.

Even the hot springs have expanded in size this year, so many more people can bathe in them than before.

This is the ultimate popularity!

The next most popular facility is the zoo.

What can I say? It is truly fascinating to be able to view animals in a safe environment.

Inn guests often took a walk around the zoo after their meal.

After finishing your meal, if you walk along the path in the zoo and look at the animals one by one, your digestion will be quickly resolved.

One drawback is that after going around the zoo, you will soon get hungry and order more food. Some customers suspect that this is a very tricky business tactic. You look around, get hungry, eat, look around again, eat again. Isn’t this an endless cycle?

There are benches installed throughout the zoo, so if your legs get sore from walking, you can sit on a bench and rest.

The World Tree, a huge tree in the center of the zoo, provides a large shade, which is nice as it protects you from the hot sun.

And, there was a facility that was the second most popular after the zoo.

That is the arcade located on the second floor of the annex.

Arcades are significantly less popular than the first two establishments, but that doesn’t mean they’re the third most popular. They’re incredibly popular with a specific demographic.

While hot springs and zoos are popular with people of all ages and genders, arcades are particularly popular with male customers and are relatively less popular with female customers.

In reality, it is a situation where about half of the customers have been abandoned, but there are still so many loyal customers that it can be said that there are always people in the arcade.

Today is another day. A day like any other when there are guests at the inn. The guests who left their horses in the stable, went up to their rooms, unpacked their luggage, had a quick meal, and hurried up to the second floor of the annex. Among them were merchant John and Kulan.

“Hey, John. Wanna bet?”

“bet?”

“Okay. Pay the room fee. How about a one-off?”

“Ha, that’s ridiculous. You think you can beat me? Kulan, you’re no good.”

“Tsk tsk. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been practicing hard all this time. I’m not the same as before.”

John let out a hearty laugh. Who could beat whom? A small-time person who can’t even play games.

“Okay. Let’s make a bet. Sit down.”

Arriving at the arcade, John and Coolan looked around. There were already many customers inside. There were many game machines in the arcade, but some of the popular machines had people lining up at the back, while the unpopular machines were deserted.

‘This game is really amazing.’

Those wizards are truly amazing. How on earth can they create such entertainment artifacts?

When I first saw the radio, it was amazing, but this game console was even more amazing.

“Is there a seat? Oh, there is.”

“Phew. Thank goodness.”

The game John and Coolan played whenever they stopped by the inn was fortunately an unpopular one. They sat down on the empty gaming chairs, cheering.

“I said it was best of three.”

“Yeah. Why, are you scared?”

“Ha, what are you scared of?”

John laughed. He had been to this inn over twenty times. Each time he played this game with Kulan. What was his record?

“Hey. You’ve won 75 out of 75. You’ve lost all 75 games. Do you understand? But you beat me? Don’t say something so ridiculous.”

“That’s how it was until now. But I’m not like I used to be. Just wait and see.”

“Do you know that there is no one scary who tells you to just wait and see?”

Coolan’s expression was grim. John smirked. Are you trying to overcome this body? You can’t even play games?

They held the joystick with serious faces.

The game they play is a fighting action game called ‘King of Warriors’, where you choose three characters to form a team and fight in 1-on-1 duels.

When one person was knocked out, he was replaced by the remaining person, and they continued to fight like that until all the people were knocked out.

John quickly scanned the screen. More than fifty characters were a delight to the eyes. John wondered which character to play, then pressed the ? button in the middle. Then three characters were randomly selected.

“Random choice? Are you crazy? You’re not picking the main character?”

“There is no need to choose a main character against a beginner like you.”

“You’ll regret that.”

“Don’t regret it. Just choose.”

[READY!]

[FIGHT!]

The game started. John’s character was a large, shirtless character, and Kulan’s character was an old man wearing a white uniform.

John snickered. What kind of weird old man did you pick? You’ve never done that before, have you?

It was obvious that he was weak. John immediately moved the joystick. Coolan, that guy is so bad at games. He must have no talent. He could win even if he didn’t use his skills and just used his basics.

John moved the character. He ran towards it, jumped, and tried to deliver a strong kick. But it didn’t work as he had hoped.

“What, aren’t you standing there?”

“Hehehe. I’m not going to stand up.”

“You coward. Stop running away!”

Well, what if you don’t fight like Kulan tells you to and just run away?

He just rolls around vulgarly and runs away, and in between he fires a mana-tan once in a while.

“Hey, hey! Stop blowing that thing!”

“I don’t like it.”

John was on the mend. He didn’t get hit even once. But his stamina was slowly depleting. This was because he was getting hit by Manatan one by one.

Eventually, time ran out and his first character died a heroic death.

“… … Was this what you planned?”

“Hehehe. This is fun.”

“Okay. That’s it.”

John’s expression turned grim. One is dead, but there are two left. This should be enough to win.

Luckily, I won the next round. But I lost the next. In the end, I was left with only one character.

‘We have to win. We have to win.’

But the promise turned out to be meaningless.

“… … .”

The world seemed to turn blue. John squeezed his eyes shut. Then he opened them again. Kulan was looking at him with a proud face.

“Hey! Do it again! I’ll choose the main character!”

“Hey, that was fun. Thanks for paying for the lodging, buddy.”

Coolan stood up. John grabbed the leg of Coolan’s trousers in a hurry.

“Where are you going! Let’s do one more round! 3 rounds, 2 wins! Let’s do 3 rounds, 2 wins!”

“Yeah, I won’t.”

“I’ll pay for your next stay! If you lose the next game, I’ll pay for your next stay!”

“I don’t like it. It lowers my dignity to play with someone who can’t even play games.”

“What, what?”

John’s face turned pale. What the hell is going on with that kid?

“Hey, you can’t even play games? You played 75 rounds and lost 75 of them?”

“I just won, you loser.”

Coolan licked his tongue. John grumbled. Losing one game didn’t mean his 75 wins would disappear. He still prided himself on being better at fighting games than Coolan. So what? You loser?

“Hey, I chose this randomly and lost! If we do it again, I’ll win!”

“What? You’re a slacker? I don’t talk to slackers.”

“Hey, this kid!”

“It’s strange. My ears are ticklish. Where is the dog barking? Who is insulting me?”

Coolan left the arcade, his ears twitching in a sly manner. John followed him, grumbling. The others in the arcade were watching the two and giggling. Eugene was one of them.

‘That customer won’t be able to sleep tonight.’

How can you sleep when you’re so angry? If I were you, I would never be able to sleep.

A man is such an animal. He can tolerate everything else, but he can’t tolerate being told he can’t play games. Eugene cheered the blushing guest on in his heart. Please get a good night’s sleep tonight.

* * *

Carnius walked along the forest path. It was already summer and the sun was a little hot, but this little heat could not invade the dragon’s body. He felt the refreshing feeling all over his body and slowly walked forward.

He is on his way to the inn after leaving Rare. His steps are always lighter when he goes to the inn. It is always fun to go see a friend.

In fact, it’s hard to see my friend’s face these days. It’s because Eugene is busy. Since there are a lot of guests at the inn, Eugene would suddenly run to the inn no matter what he was doing.

Well, that didn’t mean he was upset. He was busy with work, so what could he do? Carnius wanted to respect his friend.

When his friend was busy, he would spend his time as he pleased. Usually, he would stop by Eugene’s house and enjoy some free time while drinking mixed coffee. Every time he drank, he would drink 10 mixed coffees, and Eugene would get angry at him every time. He would tell him not to drink so much or something.

‘Then let’s just drink five today.’

Then it’s a bit bitter. Why do you insist on making it bitter and drinking it? Carnius muttered to himself as he walked. As he walked, he arrived at the inn.

Boom boom boom. It’s getting noisy. I hate the sound of these noisy human voices, but I’m used to it now.

“hmm?”

Suddenly his head tilted. It was because he had discovered something strange.

“Fuck! What the hell!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A human was banging his head against a tree, cursing.

‘Why are you doing that?’

Are you crazy? Do you want to die? Then tell me. I can kill you myself.

“I should have chosen a main character! Aww, I’m so pissed! Damn it!”

I have no idea what he’s talking about. Main character? Carnius quickly lost interest. He didn’t care what humans said or did.

He opened Eugene’s door as usual. Eugene was inside. Carnius waved his hand as usual.

“Open. Was it there?”

“What the hell is ‘yeoh’? Where have you seen that greeting before?”

“I saw the comic book you gave me. The person in it greeted me like this. ‘Hey!’ Like that. He raised his hand like that.”

Carnius nodded, fiddling with his chin. It seemed like a pretty cool greeting. But not to Eugene.

‘I don’t think I should show it carelessly.’

I gave Carnius some comic books because he seemed bored. Of course, they were in Japanese.

Dragon had a cheat key called translation magic, so there was no language barrier anyway. The guy was so excited that he read comic books for days.

That’s why it’s like that. These days, they’ve been doing things that would be considered a black history on Earth. Eugene shook his head.

“Eugene. But I saw something strange outside.”

“Something strange? What is it?”

“There was this one guy banging his forehead against a tree. What did he say? Boom, boom… … Oh, I remembered. He said something like, ‘I should’ve chosen a main character!’ Anyway, he was a strange guy. Do you know why?”

“Oh, that guy?”

Eugene answered with a smirk.

“I lost the game, so that’s why I’m saying this to my friend.”

“Ah. So that’s what it was. Then that could be so.”

Carnius nodded vigorously.

I didn’t ask any more questions. There was no need to. I understood immediately after hearing that. After all, the male race was bound to unite through games.