I Opened an Inn Next to a Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 174



Only Noblemtl

Episode 174

Eugene listens to the radio every day these days. It’s been a while since radio became widespread, and there are already quite a few high-quality radio broadcasts.

When it was first installed, there were only promotional broadcasts, but now there are many talk shows that tell interesting stories and informational shows that provide useful information, which are gaining popularity.

Eugene listened to the information broadcasts the most. The broadcasts that Eugene listened to were news broadcasts that reported on big and small issues that occurred around the world, and the quality was quite good.

Now, it seems like there is no need to go to the city to buy a newspaper. Of course, newspapers have their own value, but that doesn’t mean Eugene is lazy about reading them.

Eugene turned on the radio today as well. He tuned to the familiar channel he listened to every day, and the host was speaking fluently.

[This is some surprising news. It has been revealed that the scandal surrounding the Duke of Krain, the subject of a recent uproar, has turned out to be true. Duke of Krain was scheduled to marry the second prince of the Fontana Kingdom in a month, but the subject of the affair is said to be a commoner who runs a flour mill. It is truly surprising… … .]

[Here’s the news. There’s news that a gold mine has been discovered in the Belkers Mountains. Count Belkers has sealed off the mine and issued a control order. Count Belkers announced today that he intends to hire workers on a large scale after determining the size of the mine… … .]

[This is the hottest topic in the magical world right now, right? It’s news about the rapid cooling magic spell formula announced by the Magic Society. They’re saying they’ll be releasing the magic spell formula to the world for free, so this is truly groundbreaking news!]

[As all of you who are interested in magic will know, the newly developed new magic spell formula costs at least a hundred thousand gold! However, the rapid cooling spell is the magic that magic engineers are paying the most attention to these days. According to experts, it costs at least three million gold! And to release it for free! I can only say that it is truly amazing!]

Even if it’s not necessarily an interesting story broadcast, just hearing various news like this is very entertaining.

How dynamic is the world. In this vast world, things happen every day that are so incredible and unbelievable that individuals cannot even dare to imagine. So if this isn’t fun, then what is?

A gold mine is discovered, a precious young lady has an affair with a commoner just a month before her wedding to the prince, and she is clearly making a fortune selling new magic spells and royalties, but she is letting them go for free. There is nothing uninteresting about it.

‘The second prince of the Fontana Kingdom… … Are you talking about that prince who is rumored to be ugly?’

I’ve heard it before. His eyes, nose, and mouth are all over the place, so he got the nickname ‘Orc Prince’.

His face was smashed like an orc’s or something.

Honestly, it’s none of my business, but somehow I feel like defending Eugene.

‘Where is the orc?’

Orcs aren’t that ugly of a race. I wouldn’t say they’re handsome, but they’re a race of men with thick, manly faces.

Anyway, it was obvious why the Duke’s daughter was cheating.

I don’t want to marry an ugly prince. No matter how politically motivated it may be, as a human being, you should at least have some sense. You probably wanted to run away from love.

Well, by the way.

Next news.

Belkus Mountains?

“Where are the Belkers Mountains?”

I’ve heard it a lot somewhere. It’s been a while since I heard it, so I can’t remember it clearly. While Eugene was wondering, Chloe, who was sitting next to him and listening to the radio, told him the answer.

“It’s the mountain to the south of here. It’s the mountain that touches our Delphi Forest.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Eugene clapped his hands. He remembered. It wasn’t far from here. If you went straight south from here, you could get there in a week even if you went slowly. If they said a gold mine had been discovered in that place…

“There’s going to be chaos.”

“Huh? Is it chaos?”

“Yeah. It’s nothing but gold. The merchants won’t go crazy and just accept it?”

“Oh, I guess so.”

Eugene put his hand on his forehead. He tried to brush it off, but when he thought about it, it wasn’t something unrelated to him.

‘Won’t this bring in more customers?’

The Belkus Mountains are south of Delphi Forest. To be exact, it should be south-southeast. It’s slightly to the east.

Now that the gold has been discovered, people will be interested and there will be a lot of money to be made, but the problem is that there are quite a few countries to the northwest.

This Belkus Mountains is quite a remote place even in the human realm. Most humans who want to go here must inevitably choose one of two options.

Either turn around to avoid the Delphi Forest, or go straight.

What does that mean?

It means that you have no choice but to go through the Delphi Forest.

‘Hmm.’

It was ambiguous.

Should I like this or not?

Of course, it is good news that there are more customers. However, isn’t it too much?

Of course, we don’t know yet.

But, you don’t have to see it to know, right? You can tell just by looking at it.

* * *

Somewhere, a monster wave was rising, and somewhere in the shadows of the world where no one was paying attention, demons were writhing and preparing to rise, but the world was still vibrant.

When you think about it, you can’t judge the world by just one aspect. Some cities are in complete chaos right now, with refugees abandoning their homes, but merchants are so blinded by gold that they risk their lives going to dangerous areas.

Should we call this a peaceful world, or a chaotic world where war clouds gather and disasters are about to occur here and there?

I don’t know. I didn’t really want to think about it. The important thing is that we need to prepare in advance for the expected influx of guests.

“Master, have you heard? A gold mine has been discovered in the Belkers Mountains.”

“Oh, I know.”

“As expected, the news is fast. Congratulations. The owner has a lot of customers. I think more customers will come in the future.”

“Thank you. But, I think it’s a bit excessive. This is more than enough.”

The regular customers who were quick to catch up were constantly talking to Eugene and acting cute. Eugene was telling her honest feelings, but the customers gave her some sharp advice, saying that she was talking nonsense.

“Hey, you don’t know. If I may be presumptuous, I’ll say that you should row when the water comes in. When business is going well like this, you should really make money, right? Expand the scale, build more good facilities, hire more employees, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Haha. I thought about it well. That’s what I know now that I’ve lived. You never know what will happen to people. When I was young, I was a big business owner. I had more than 10 businesses under my name. But now I’m just a peddler. I went broke. Why is that? Because I didn’t row when the water came in. I was satisfied with the vague success at the time. But that shouldn’t have happened. I should have kept going. If I had, I wouldn’t have gone down like this.”

While running the store, Eugene always felt that the ‘customers’ were mostly surprisingly excellent people.

Every guest who comes says they are great.

First of all, there were many people like this guest who were once successful businessmen.

Some guests say that they were once very famous knights, while others say that they were warriors who had killed a thousand monsters on their own. There were also those who said that they were actually high-ranking magicians but had lost their magical abilities and now travel around like this, leading horses.

Working at this inn, you’ll often meet people like that.

It’s really amazing. How can such great people gather in such a vast world?

Could it be that the inn has some kind of invisible, magical charm that attracts talented people?

… … That can’t be true, and it’s most likely just the boast of a braggart.

‘It’s an expansion… I guess I’ll have to do it.’

Eugene stood in the middle of the front yard of the inn and gazed blankly at the inn buildings.

At first, it was just a two-story log cabin, but as time passed, it grew into a fairly decent hotel complex.

No, it’s a bit too plain to be called a hotel, so I think it would be similar to a pension complex.

In fact, this is already surprising, but if we expand on it further… … .

How big will it become?

* * *

So, Eugene was given two choices.

Do you regret doing it or not doing it?

If you end up regretting whatever you choose, then it’s better to choose the former.

The former will have less regrets because you at least tried it, but the latter will have a lasting regret in your heart because you never tried it.

‘What the heck, let’s expand.’

So Eugene chose the former.

Even if the current peak season dies down and there are no more customers later, it is right to row while the tide is rising.

But, once I made the decision, I had some concerns.

Since more guests will come, are we just going to build a few more accommodations and hire more employees?

‘That’s a bit boring, isn’t it?’

I’m bored, but I’m so bored.

There is no problem doing that, but it leaves me with an uneasy feeling.

What should I say, the feeling of taking a shit and not wiping it? The feeling of being 2 percent short?

‘If there are only guest rooms, how is that any different from building a matchbox apartment complex?’

Eugene crossed his arms and pondered.

The most important thing is to have enough rooms to accommodate all the guests who come, but what if you can do that?

You’ll need more than just accommodation.

For example, leisure facilities such as zoos, arcades, and hot springs.

‘New leisure facilities are needed to retain guests even after the gold mine issue dies down.’

So, what would be a suitable leisure facility for guests staying at the inn to enjoy?

Eugene, who is accustomed to the civilization of modern Earth, has a lot of facilities in his head, but not many of them are useful.

For example, installing a billiard table, building a foot volleyball court or tennis court, or building an indoor gymnasium all seem pretty good ideas. However, I’ll pass on them because they seem a bit ambiguous.

Otherwise, a training facility for mercenary guests would be nice, but I wonder if they would actually train there. First of all, training is something you don’t want to show off to others, and since there probably wouldn’t be any customers in the first place, I’ll pass on that too.

‘Ah, that’s the best, after all.’

When it comes to the pinnacle of entertainment, it has to be the amusement rides.

Roller coasters, Ferris wheels, carousels, and flume rides!