Chapter 535: Great Ancient Tree Pavilion

Lady Blue was a much more chaotic town than I had imagined. Aside from the main streets, once we entered the back streets, we found ourselves in a maze of narrow streets.

It was also quite easy to get lost in the Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Kranzel, but this one was really just like a maze. However, the image of the town was much different due to the different nuances of the buildings.

Compared to the Mediterranean style of the Kingdom of Kranzel, this one was more like the good old British style, huh? Well, I’ve never been to England, so it was completely subjective.

I feel like this was the kind of atmosphere that was introduced in the Beatles special on TV, such as the downtown area of Liverpool or the country towns in the suburbs.

『Hey, don’t you think we made the same mistake as before?』

「Nn?」

『We got lost off the main street in the Royal Capital of Kranzel back then, right?』

「I smelled something delicious」

「Woof!」

In response to my words, Fran held a waffle-like baked confectionery in her hand. Urushi was chewing on three of them in one gulp.

At first, we were going along the main road as usual. However, Fran smelled something delicious and suddenly veered off the road. It was fine until we found the source of it, a baked pastry store.

『We’re completely lost』

「Nn」

『You asked the old lady at the baked pastry store for directions, right?』

「Yup」

『Then why are we still lost?』

「This way looks more interesting」

『Aaah, is that so?』

「Nn!」

There were paths that she had to lie down to get through, stairs that were so steep and narrow that an old man would get tired on the way, tunnels of greenery made out of plants, and many other places that would tickle the fancy of children.

Fran and Urushi explored the town with great joy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they had gone to get lost themselves.

『Well, we’re not in a hurry, so that’s fine. I’d like to go to the adventurer’s guild for now, but even that was not urgent』

Besides, I’m starting to enjoy exploring a bit more. This area has fewer apartment buildings and more single-family houses, but the gardens of each house were very elaborate and fun to look at.

Then Fran stopped abruptly and pointed ahead.

「Master, that…」

『What’s wrong, Fran?』

「That building is amazing」

Fran pointed to a building with a distinctive appearance a little further down the road. I see, that was certainly amazing.

It was a three-story house, and trees were growing out of its roof. It was not like they were greening the rooftop, huh? No matter how I looked at it, there was a hole in the roof and the top of a huge tree sticking out of it.

When we look closely, I can see branches that seem to belong to the tree sticking out of some of the third-floor and second-floor windows.

But that wasn’t the only thing that surprised us. There was laundry drying in the yard. Apparently, people were living there.

We walked up to the house. Then we made another surprising discovery. A sign saying “Green Ancient Tree Pavilion” was hanging at the entrance of the house.

Apparently, it was an inn.

「Urushi, let’s go!」

「Woof!」

『Ah, wait!』

Fran and Urushi stormed into the inn with bright eyes. Even though they didn’t even know what kind of place this building was!

「Oooh―」

「Woof―」

Fran and the medium-sized Urushi stood side by side in the middle of the garden, looking up at the huge tree. The tree resembled a camphor tree, but its branches and leaves were already wider than the roof of the inn. It was as if the inn had another roof.

After a few moments of looking around, Fran was satisfied and decided to get into the inn. Its door was well-kept but it was a very old wooden door.

「Oooh―」

And then, for I don’t know how many times already, she expressed her admiration.

「There are trees inside too」

『Of course, but well, I can understand your surprise』

The tree trunk was much thicker than I had imagined. The inn was supposed to be quite spacious, but half of it was occupied by the tree trunk. A huge tree sat in the center of the room, and the floor was stretched around its roots like a wooden deck.

The uneven shape of the floorboards around the tree was probably because they were cut into that shape as the roots had continued to grow.

「Oho, a customer?」

「Who?」

「What do you mean by who? You too, who are you?」

「Fran. Adventurer」

「Haha―. I see―」

It was an old, petite female Elf, who spoke to Fran who had stopped at the entrance of the inn.

「I’m the owner of this inn. Are you going to stay?」

「Nn! One night!」

『Oi oi, do you want to stay here?』

(Nn!)

We haven’t found the guild yet though… But she seems to like it a lot already.

Still, this may be the first time I’ve ever seen an old Elf. It was said that elves spend most of their long lives looking youthful, and in the last hundred years or so, they age just like humans do. When that happens, most elves were said to shut themselves away and go into long periods of sleep.

It must be quite rare for an old Elf to still work in a town of people, right?

「That will be 500G with dinner and breakfast」

「Okay」

「Also, I have to warn you about this. I’ll kick you out if you hurt this Daiki-sama. Do you understand?」

(Note: Daiki -> big tree)

Daiki-sama, huh? Was it some kind of special tree? Fran asked and was told that it was inhabited by a spirit. The old woman said that she had made a contract with the spirit.

「She’s a nice person, as long as we don’t do anything wrong to her」

「Spirit, can I see her too?」

「I don’t know. Maybe you’ll see him, or maybe you won’t. Well, if you’re a good kid, maybe you will meet her」

「Okay, I’ll be a good kid」

「Houhou, that’s good then」

The room she was then shown to was more ordinary than I had expected. A clean bed with a simple interior design. Also, there were no tree branches that stretched all over the room as I had worried before.

She said that the tree itself was not inhabited by a spirit, but she can adjust the direction of its growth according to the inn. Because of this, the branches of the tree have not entered the guest rooms.

The roots and other parts of the plant seem to get thicker though.

「Nice room」

「Woof」

『You seem to like it a lot, huh?』

「Nn! It smells like being in the forest」

This inn which was in the middle of the town, remind her of the forest. So, Fran must have thought this was a nice place where she could feel at ease. She then sat down on the bed and took a deep breath.