Published: August 10, 2026
One morning in Astarnia.
The innkeeper was going through another uneventful day.
"Every room's empty."
With a distant look in his eyes, he moved the broom in his hand absentmindedly.
His inn had pretty uneven occupancy. Ideally, an inn would stay about eighty percent full on a steady basis, but this place often had long stretches where the guests simply vanished.
It wasn't as if the innkeeper's inn was especially cheap, either.
Plenty of people thought a cheap inn was good enough if they were only staying one night, and the opposite was rare. As a result, long-term guests and regulars made up a large portion of the clientele. And those regulars often didn't come back again for years after their stay ended.
Regulars were certainly appreciated, but he still wanted new customers to use the inn as much as possible.
And if possible, he wanted them to make it their regular inn. He wanted them to use the private rooms to the fullest.
"I should make the private room beds bunk beds or something..."
Honestly, there was more demand for two-person rooms than private rooms.
Still, the private rooms, which weren't often seen elsewhere, were one of the inn's major selling points. Of course, they were a bit overpriced considering the cost, but there was still demand for them, however small. People who came to Astarnia from outside the country, oddly enough, often preferred having their own space.
It wasn't a common sensibility in Astarnia, but the innkeeper didn't mind. After all, long-term private room stays were the best thing for both revenue and daily maintenance.
"If I got rid of the private rooms and those noble customers went to another inn, I'd be devastated..."
Sweeping dust out through the front entrance, which he had left wide open, the innkeeper gave a lonely smile.
Because it was easy to imagine. If Lizel and the others ever came back to Astarnia, surely they would choose his inn again. That had to be true. He believed it. They had promised at parting, too.
And if that happened, what would they say if he told them the private rooms were gone?
"By the way, I got rid of the private rooms."
"Oh, then we'll stay somewhere else."
In his imagination, Lizel had no lingering attachment at all and left with a terribly casual smile.
The innkeeper collapsed.
Because he had collapsed right there in front of the entrance, some boys passing by surrounded him and started heckling him with loud cheers. And, as if that weren't enough, those boys, always starving for a decent stick, even stole his broom.
"When you're done, put it back here! Don't just toss it somewhere!"
When he called out to the boys as they ran off, their answer was full of energy, at least.
The innkeeper stood up.
He decided then and there that he absolutely couldn't get rid of the private rooms after all.
"Still, I feel like those noble customers don't really seem like the private-room type..."
Muttering to himself, he headed back inside the inn.
When Lizel and the others returned to Astarnia, there would probably be four of them next time. He remembered Quattro, who for some reason had once split off from the group without telling anyone their destination.
That had been surprising in all sorts of ways. He just hoped they'd managed to reunite safely.
"Maybe I should go do some soliciting."
If there were no guests, there was nothing to do but sit around bored.
The innkeeper prepared to head out. That said, all he had to do was carry his handmade sign.
The classic place to solicit for an inn was the gate. The standard tactic was to stand there waving a sign with the inn's mark on it at people coming in from outside, shouting, "Stay at our inn today!" as hard as possible. It was a brutal battlefield where you had to compete with rivals who wanted the same spot.
And the opponents fighting for the best position weren't just fellow innkeepers.
There were stable owners shouting, "If you're leaving your horse, leave it with us!" and vendors trying to shove coconuts at travelers with, "If you're thirsty after a long journey, try this!" in full Astarnia style.