As we exited through the back of the inn, a small staircase leading down appeared before us. Torches lit the walls to make the area bright, and a long hallway seemed to extend from the bottom of the staircase.

The old man's cane clacked on the ground repeatedly as I followed by his side. The hall and staircase were only big enough for two people to comfortably stand side by side, so Elena and Amber walked together a little bit behind us.

Since the hallway was a bit long, I decided to use the time to ask about some things that had stood out to me.

"So, Mr..." I began, prompting him to share his name.

"Jackal. Mr. Jackal."

"Mr. Jackal. You said all of your employees were staying off-site? For a big place like the inn, that must be a big blow."

The old man, Mr. Jackal, turned to face me with a slight smile and a glint in his eyes.

"Curious, are we? Well, as I said we've got an event going on soon. Entire place pretty much bought out, and I'm bringing in some... event-specific staff to cover things instead of the usual workers. Today the inn was supposed to be closed as all of the normal staff got everything wrapped up and took off, won't be back until next week. The new staff won't be using up any rooms, so no reason to not let you stay."

"You shut down the inn for a whole day, then? Must be one important event..."

Elena caught on to the fact that I was trying to probe and spoke up as well, but in response the man simply put a finger to his lips.

"Afraid I can't say anything more. Client confidentiality and all that. In any case, I can say with certainty it's nothing you'll be involved in."

I frowned slightly, but brushed it off. Even if there was something a little suspicious going on here, as long as it wasn't something big and life-threatening it wasn't any of my business.

After all, I was all for adventure and new experiences, but that didn't mean I would rush headfirst into metaphorical gunfire for quite literally no reason.

"Well, then... Interesting design here. Tunnel from the inn to the employee housing. Seems like it runs under other areas of the city, too. Pretty far away, at that."

Amber looked at me with an odd expression, as though she were noting how I backed off. But in all honesty, it wasn't like the old man would just tell us what he was hiding even if we pressed him.

"Old city design... not everything in these parts is the same as it used to be. Lots of tunnels and the like under the city, just happened to make use of one for the benefit of the business. Oh, here we are!"

Though the hallway extended longer on, Mr. Jackal stopped us by a heavy wooden door with the symbol of a raven on it. He took out a large metal key that seemed to be quite old and inserted it into the door's lock. After turning it with a grunt, he turned to me with a kindly smile.

"I'm sorry, this old body isn't what it used to be. Would you mind opening up the door for me?"

I nodded acceptingly and opened the heavy door with a bit of force, its hinges squeaking a bit as I did so. As we stepped in through it and climbed a set of stone stairs lined with torches similar to one we'd descended to get here, we came upon a small area with a desk that looked to be a lobby.

We stepped forward on the wooden floor, revealing the rest of the area.

There was a large wooden staircase on the side, leading up a floor. When I peered up from beneath it, I could see that it extended up another floor beyond that A number of rooms were on each floor, making it pretty obvious that it was made to house a number of people at any time.

As the three of us looked around, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Well, I have to be heading back now. Take any of the rooms for yourselves, but try not to get any of them too... dirty."

Mr. Jackal winked at me, leaving me unable to respond with my mouth hanging open. My mouth switched from open to closed several times as I tried to think up something to say, but even my mind was uncertain. To be honest, I was somewhere between "if only..." and "no way that would happen...".

Mr. Jackal laughed a bit as I fumbled with what to say and winked at the girls.

"Well, have fun. But remember to keep it in moderation."

Of course, it was at that point that Amber and Elena understood. Though Elena simply turned a glowing cherry red and looked at the ground, Amber was not so silent.

"W-w-w-what are you talking about?! With him?!"

She pointed at me with a finger as her voice trembled, her face like a tomato in color.

Mr. Jackal's cane clacked against the ground rhythmically as he moved to leave energetically. It was only when the door closed loudly behind him that we all jolted back into action under the warm light of the lamps running on some kind of magic hanging from the walls.

"W-well, then, I suppose we should get set up now?" I asked, looking back at the two girls slightly awkwardly. 

"Y-yes, we should..."

"Mhm"

Though Amber got out a shaky sentence, it seemed like Elena was still flustered by Mr. Jackal's words. I guessed that it made sense for a Princess like her to not be well versed in things like this.

Thinking back, it probably took no small amount of impulse, will, and courage to have kissed me earlier. I suppose that she deserved more recognition for that than I'd given her so far... to be honest, we'd been so busy that I hadn't been able to find the right time to kiss either of them since. Not that I wasn't trying, of course.

I made a mental note of that, and as those thoughts came to mind while looking at Elena I couldn't help but blush a bit.

However, my thoughts were soon interrupted by Amber's correction, no doubt influenced by what Mr. Jackal had said.

"B-but we're definitely staying in different rooms! Elena, come with me!"

Amber grabbed Elena and quickly went up the stairs while I remained downstairs and chose one of the nearby rooms to settle into. I figured if something happened, it was better for me to be closer to the entrances from the tunnel and the front door so I could deal with it before having to worry about Amber and Elena.

I sighed before shouting up the stairs.

"Whatever! Once I'm done setting up, I'll go out and get some dinner from a food stall or something! Then we can talk about Jester's challenge!"

Since Elena could use [water magic] in addition to [fire magic], I figured keeping thing clean shouldn't be an issue. After all, the only reason we remained clean was because of the water-attribute spell [Cleanup] she cast on us daily. I'd thought about learning magic myself after seeing how useful it could be, but so far I hadn't had the opportunity to ask Elena about it.

With nothing else to really do, I quickly headed into one of the nearby rooms and closed the door behind me.