Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume1 Phase2 (section)

===Part 3===

They had found their lodging for the night.

“Phew.”

Teleria, the blonde girl whose chest had grown quite a lot while her height had not, breathed a soft sigh.

There were not many rooms that fit their needs, so when they finally found the kind of underground inn they wanted, they were stuck with just the one room despite being a mixture of a young boy and two young girls. Plus, the room had just the one single bed. What had that inn’s owner, an old man who looked like he had killed at least three people before, thought as he handed them the key? If they all tried to use the bed, it would be more than just cramped; the slightest movement would probably send someone else tumbling off.

In the narrow, rundown hallway to their room, they had passed by a Bunny Girl practically overflowing with sex appeal and a Bounty Hunter who looked more criminal than any of his targets could possibly be. It pained Teleria to be in the same category as people like that.

Also, this inn was one of the ones next to a brothel rather than a pawnshop.

Everything felt so shady despite being so near the spherical theatre that floated in the air as Wind Castle Town Silphine’s primary landmark. That theatre felt like a perfect match for the moonlit starry sky above. On the other hand, this area of town seemed to be fine with anyone as long as they paid.

But her partner had had this to say with a completely straight face:

“Yes, well, I happen to like brothels more than pawnshops.”

That unbelievable response had earned him a slap, but they had no other choice at the moment. They had escaped the stricter security of Fire Castle Town Flared, but their wanted posters had to be all over the city. Defenselessly wandering the city at night would be a bad idea. Even buying a simple meal of bread made with cheap, third-rate wheat and fish of an unfamiliar species had been a risky endeavor.

Teleria jumped and looked back when she heard a deafening “thud!” and she found Ayato collapsed on the floor. It had happened the instant he had very thoroughly confirmed the room was safe. Today must have been full of far too many surprises even for that Sorcery Hacker.

“Ayato, please don’t fall asleep on the floor! You only just ate, so it’s bad for your health!!”

“Ugh, gweh…”

He must have been under a lot of tension while running around those dangerous areas with no direct weapons and working his mind and body so hard. Still face-down, he moved like an inchworm and pointed in a certain direction. The still-unconscious Dark Elf was sleeping on the one small bed. Even in his exhausted state, he apparently still had the bare minimum of a ladies first mentality.

The blonde girl just about tried to shake him awake, but then something occurred to her.

(Wait, if I let him sleep like this, then I know he won’t try to peep on me in the bath.)

She had never caught him doing that before, but he was a Sorcery Hacker who specialized in clandestine operations. Just because she had never caught him doing it did not mean he did not have some way of doing it that she could not detect. The difference between a spy and a stalker and the difference between a sniper and a peeping tom were paper thin.

Either way, there was a young boy and two young girls in this one small room. There was no privacy for a maiden like her, but fortunately, even this cheap inn had a bathroom for each room. That meant she could secure some alone time. Ayato and Mamilis were not at fault here, but she did not think it was wrong of her to want some space to herself.

(In all seriousness, though, how are the sleeping arrangements going to work tonight?)

She looked down at Ayato on the floor.

At times like this, he generally let Teleria have the bed while he slept on the couch, but now there were three of them in the one room. Plus, this was a cheap inn with almost no furniture. It only seemed to matter that it had walls to keep people from seeing inside. That was not enough. There was not even a couch, so where was she supposed to sleep?

Plus, the space was far too small for a young boy and two young girls. Unlike the balloon bungalow, there were not even any walls and doors to divide things up. If this was a lab rat cage with the sexes improperly separated, there would have been a lot of reproduction going on.

What was she supposed to do?

Seriously, what was she supposed to do?

(Well, it makes sense to let Mamilis have the bed since she’s injured, but that doesn’t tell me what to do. I can’t just wait and see what happens. I have to actively secure the best possible option for myself!)

For one thing, Ayato was a Sorcery Hacker whose sleep schedule was way out of whack. And he had a bad habit of losing himself in his Self-Maintenance work when he had any spare time, which would only cause trouble for everyone else nearby. The worst part was how he saw it as mental work entirely cut off from the outside world. But his mind and his body were much more connected than he thought!! When he was lying there in a daze was the most dangerous time. She had trouble telling whether he was asleep or at work. After what had happened in the balloon bungalow, she knew she could not let her guard down tonight. Whether it was a bed, a sofa, a table, or a desk, she had to find a surface up off the floor to sleep on.

However, her thoughts came to a stop when she started coming up with a concrete plan.

“Uh…”

That was when she heard a groan from the bed.