The Inn Outside the City

When the first ray of morning sunlight streamed into the inn room, Denolan was already awake. He rubbed his eyes, and a sore, swollen sensation traveled from the nerves in his arms straight to his brain.

"You're awake—" A young man of around twenty stood beside Denolan's bed, holding clean water and food. "This morning, I saw you collapsed in an alley by the street. I brought you back without asking for your permission. You're not angry, are you...?"

The young man gave Denolan the most sincere smile.

"No... no... Why would I be angry? You brought me back from the street and saved me. I'm grateful beyond words! How could I be angry?" Perhaps his internal injuries had not fully healed, because Denolan spoke with a slight stammer.

"It's good that you aren't angry. Could you tell me your name?" The young man sat on the edge of Denolan's bed and spoke slowly.

"De... Denolan..."

"That really is a fine name." The young man smiled.

"What's so good about it..." Denolan scratched his head awkwardly.

"In ancient times, that name meant beginning..." The young man set the water and food beside Denolan's bed, then prepared to leave quietly.

"Um... could you tell me your name?" Denolan called out.

"Eliyi—" the young man said slowly. "That is my name now..."

"Eliyi..." Denolan lay on the inn's soft bed. "He seems like a pretty decent person..."

Canfor lay in the southern part of Elrina Forest and consisted mainly of three districts:

The first district was occupied by high-ranking officials, military commanders, important church members, and some wealthy merchants. They possessed the nearby villages and vast stretches of land, including Canfor itself. After Rosa Kevin's curse spread on a large scale, most of them had moved away from Canfor, with only the church and some merchants remaining.

Canfor's second district was inhabited by the middle class, led by small merchants, minor landowners, and small factory owners. They were numerous and were also the group most severely afflicted by Rosa Kevin's curse. Their residences spread outward in a fan shape around the church cathedral. As the buffer between the first and second districts, the church played an indescribably important role.

Canfor's third district was where third-class citizens lived together. Its main structures were handicraft workshops, waterwheels, mills, and vegetable markets.

Leichina led Rosa Kevin from Labi Village, and after walking for about a day, they finally reached Canfor's outer district.

"Hey, hey—hey, hey—Grandma Rosa, can't you walk any faster? I've been waiting here for dozens of minutes already, okay..." Leichina shouted from a hill fifteen feet above Rosa Kevin. "At your pace, I doubt we'll reach Canfor in two or three days..."

"You... you... you servant, don't you know Ben, the Demon Lord, is old... How could I possibly walk quickly..." A few beads of sweat occasionally rolled down Rosa Kevin's deeply wrinkled face. "You servant, can't you carry your master? I'm about to die from exhaustion..."

"If your attitude were a little better, I could consider respecting the elderly..."

"How could that be possible! I am an ancient evil god! How could I submit to a lowly undead creature like you!"

"Fine, then please do your best on your own, Lord Evil God..." Leichina sat atop the slope and called out absentmindedly. "Keep it up... keep it up... Demon Lord, you're the best~"

"You little!!! Smartass... I was wrong." Rosa's newly gathered momentum immediately deflated. "Please demonstrate the traditional virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young. Carry me up... I really can't climb anymore..."

As she spoke, the old woman's legs gave out, and she collapsed halfway up the slope.

"I can't hear you~"

"Hm?! You brat, enough... I've already humbled myself this much! Don't push it too far—"

"Then I'm leaving~" Leichina said airily.

"Fine, I was wrong~ Mr. Leichina, please carry me up... I shouldn't have run my mouth."

"That's more like it..." Leichina walked down from the top of the slope. As a zombie, his endurance and strength far surpassed those of ordinary people. With a gentle lift of one hand, he carried Rosa Kevin onto his back.

"Grandma... you feel pretty heavy..." Leichina said slowly. "Have you ever considered losing weight...?"

"Shut up~ Is an Elder Evil God's fat called fat? It is called weight, it is called foundation! Without the accumulation of several hundred eras, wanting to possess the foundation of beings like us would be nothing but wishful thinking—"

"Uh... so you've been fat for several hundred eras..." Leichina carried Rosa Kevin toward the top of the slope. "That really would be hard to lose..."

"Can you move away from the word 'fat'... I don't like hearing it..."

"Alright, alright—" Leichina said accommodatingly. "Then, Grandma Rosa, let me ask you this. If you regained your divine power, what would you do? Destroy the world?"

"Well... I really haven't thought about that..." Rosa Kevin brushed her white hair behind her back. "Every time I awaken from slumber, countless heroes come to subdue me. I do not know why they come, nor do I know why they die. In most cases, they die, and I continue sleeping... until the next hero arrives."

"Then... does your current state count as sleeping?" Leichina asked.

"No..." Rosa Kevin answered decisively. "I am awake right now. My power has merely been dispersed."

"Your power was dispersed?"

"That's right. This happens twenty or thirty times every era..." Rosa Kevin said slowly. "Either my true body is sealed, imprisoned... or degraded... or..." Rosa Kevin did not finish the rest of her sentence.

"Or... what?" Leichina asked.

"To deal with such unexpected situations, I usually gather a group of subordinates or create a batch of creations and have them serve me until my power fully recovers."

"Uh... you gathered all those strange monsters. No wonder heroes wanted to subdue you... So, did you summon all those monsters to destroy the world?"

"No. I simply wanted to live more comfortably. After all, running around everywhere just to make a living is terribly inelegant."

"Huh!!!"

"What are you going 'huh' for..." Rosa Kevin said dismissively. "If you can eat lying down, who would eat standing up? If you could eat delicacies from the mountains and seas every day, who would want radishes and cabbage..."

"Hm?! You actually have a sense of taste..."

"Hey... isn't that a strange thing to focus on? Besides, I am not one of those lowly monsters. I am an Elder Evil God! How could I not have a sense of taste!"

"Then... those potato... porridges you made before..." Leichina recalled the first thing Rosa Kevin had cooked. Even as a zombie, he shuddered at the thought.

"If you make something yourself, you have to eat it yourself. That is called not wasting food!"

"Mm... as long as you're happy..."

Before they knew it, Leichina had carried Rosa Kevin to Canfor's outer city. The people here lived little differently from the villagers of Labi Village. Most had tumors and pustules on their faces, but fortunately, they were closer to the inner city's church. The holy water distributed for free every week could ease their suffering somewhat.

"Grandma Rosa, we've reached Canfor. What do you plan to do now?" Leichina asked.

"Now?" Rosa Kevin lightly jumped down from Leichina's back. "Of course, find somewhere to eat! I've been hungry for several days."

"Huh? Then where did all the potatoes and corn I gave you go?"

"I ate them all—" Rosa Kevin ran into an inn outside the city without another word.

"My god... You ate all those potatoes? This evil god's appetite is way too huge..."

"I am an evil god. How can you judge me using ordinary logic~"

"That's true..." Leichina followed Rosa Kevin into the inn.

The furnishings were much like those in Leichina's home, though even the chairs and tables were somewhat worse. Many of the people seated in the inn were workers from nearby workshops or vegetable farmers. Since the innkeeper occasionally acquired holy water of relatively high purity, they gathered here to barter for it.

"Innkeeper... please... please let us stay a little longer... My husband has already taken our land deed into the city to sell it. Just... just give us two more days, and we'll have money to pay the room fee..." A woman holding a baby pleaded. "Please... please give us another two days..."

"Another two days?" The innkeeper gave a cold laugh. "Who are you trying to fool? Your husband has been in the city for nearly a week. If he had money from selling the land, would you still be staying here? Get out, get out! Don't disgust me!" With that, the woman, who looked like a burly man, raised her hand to sweep the woman out the door.

"Stop—How much does he owe in lodging? I'll pay it!" Leichina said as he stepped in front of the woman.

"Eh—" Rosa Kevin stared at Leichina in surprise. "You actually have money on you? How did I not know that?"

"You?" The innkeeper glanced at Leichina, then at Rosa Kevin. "Kid, does your grandmother know you're trying to be a hero? I advise you to leave quickly and stop meddling in other people's business!"

"How much does she owe? I—will—pay." Leichina spoke one word at a time.

The innkeeper first smiled contemptuously, then curled her faded lips. "Not much... Food and lodging for one week comes to thirty-five copper coins."

"Here—" Leichina took a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it to the innkeeper. "Keep the rest for our meal!"

"Hmph—" The innkeeper took the coin without much enthusiasm. "I only have potatoes and corn. No bread. If you want meat, your money isn't enough!"

"Then which is cheaper, potatoes or corn?" Rosa Kevin shouted.

"Stewed potatoes are three copper coins a plate," the innkeeper replied. "Roasted corn is five copper coins a plate."

"Then what about raw potatoes?"

"Raw, unpurified potatoes are five for one copper coin. Purified ones are one copper coin each." The innkeeper glanced at Rosa Kevin. "At your age, you still dare to eat food that hasn't been purified..."

"One silver coin equals one hundred copper coins. Five unpurified potatoes for one copper coin... subtract thirty-five, and that leaves seventy-five." Rosa Kevin's mind raced. "Rounding up... I can eat four hundred potatoes!"

"Ah..." The innkeeper backed away repeatedly, frightened as Rosa Kevin pressed close. Her wrinkled face was filled with delight, while her green eyes held an unusual mockery.

"With the way you eat... even if four hundred potatoes aren't poisonous, wouldn't you still burst to death..." the innkeeper stammered.

"I am an evil god! How could poison kill me!" Rosa Kevin shouted.

"Ah~ Another lunatic..." The innkeeper held her forehead and shook her head. "Come with me... I still have plenty of unpurified potatoes. I'll just treat it as getting rid of defective goods..."

"Food... food... food..." Rosa hummed a little tune as she followed.

Outside the inn's back door stood a square warehouse made from wooden boards and an iron roof. It was about the same size as the inn, and most of the food she bought from vegetable farmers outside the city was usually stored there.

When the innkeeper pulled open a small crack in the warehouse door, Rosa saw that the pitch-black warehouse was piled with unpurified corn and potatoes, while pain and wailing came from within.

"Witch, the unpurified food is in there. Eat as much as you want, then get the hell out—" the innkeeper said viciously from outside the warehouse.

"Eat as much as I want..." An ominous green light shone from Rosa Kevin's eyes.

"That's right! Eat as much as you want..." the innkeeper echoed, yet she did not realize that this was a decision she would regret for the rest of her life.

When the innkeeper fully opened the warehouse door, a bolt of black lightning instantly dragged Rosa inside. At the same time, miasma and curses tried to escape from the warehouse. Luckily, the innkeeper's hands were quick enough to shut the door in time, preventing them from succeeding.

Afterward, the broad, stout innkeeper returned to her inn, but the woman who owed rent had already vanished. Leichina had vanished with her.

The innkeeper grabbed one of the waiters in the shop and asked, "Hey—where did that brat go?"

"He was taken away by that crazy old woman."

"Tch—He ran off fast..." The innkeeper snorted coldly and released the waiter.

If you enjoy Ben and do not want to lose it next time, remember to add it to your bookshelf.