#Prologue
Noisy commotion filled the interior of the inn. There were guests reeking of blood, having just finished a subjugation, and demons moistening the tips of their tongues in response to that scent. However, they only glared at each other—no blades were drawn.
Why?
Because this is an inn built right on the boundary line between humans and demons. Whether adventurers or demons, they were all just my customers.
Ding-a-ling—
The small bell hanging at the entrance rang faintly. Reflexively lifting my head, I saw a man standing at the door—his lower face hidden by a bushy beard, his brown curly hair covered in snow.
“Kid, how’s business?”
“When has it ever been quiet?”
At my retort, Gilbert rubbed his chin beard and laughed lowly.
“I never thought this dusty inn would be this bustling.”
“…I suppose so.”
Well, looking back, the beginning was truly shabby. In an inn filled with dust and cobwebs, all I could offer was a single bowl of soup and rice.
Just then, ding-a-ling— the bell rang clearly again.
“Welcome to the Inn on the Boundary!”
At my vigorous greeting, the silver-haired man who was about to enter paused for a moment. Soon his noble, sculpture-like face softened, and his blue eyes curved like half-moons, making onlookers hold their breath. However, that smile quickly disappeared. As always, his expression returned to its cold rigidity, and a low voice overlapped.
“Sion, today also with a spell of love.”
“Yes!”
His name was Theorde Valen Hart. The Knight Commander of the Empire, a regular customer of this inn, and a sucker.
“Slurp~ happiness in a bowl of soup and rice, stone pot, do your best! With the power of love, kyung!”
I drew a heart with both hands and infused the soup and rice with a spell. Theorde, watching my performance with familiarity, silently picked up his spoon and took a bite.
After a moment, a faint smile spread across his lips.
“Delicious today as well.”
“Thank you. The additional fee is 1 silver.”
He handed me 1 silver. His face bore a look of satisfaction.
Just then, ding-a-ling, the bell rang clearly again.
As the door opened, a shadow stretched long. Soon, a man with long black hair flowing down his shoulders and deep violet eyes quietly stepped inside.
“Welcome!”
At my bright greeting, the man slowly looked me over and raised the corner of his mouth obliquely.
“I came to receive something other than soup and rice.”
“Today isn’t a day off though?”
“Would it be difficult for you to spare some time this evening?”
At those words, I narrowed my brows in discomfort. However, the man before me simply smiled inscrutably despite my troubled expression.
“Um… I’m busy today….”
“Oh my. I came on the wrong day.”
The man before me was Jeffrey Marches Latour.
The Empire’s Grand Mage and a regular of this establishment. On his days off, he would drop by the inn under the pretext of teaching me knowledge, and those lessons were never free.
At first, there was compensation. Though not anymore, of course.
Whether out of habit or deliberately, Jeffrey was once again kneading my hand.
“Ahaha.”
I finally forced a laugh and pulled my hand away.
Jeffrey usually only came on quiet days at the inn. But lately, he’d been entering as if it were natural even on noisy days like this. What’s his scheme? Though he looked like a young man on the outside, in reality he was a cunning snake who’d lived through ages, making him the most troublesome to deal with.
When I finally took a step back as if on guard, Jeffrey gave an ambiguous smile—whether he’d read my expression or not was unclear—and I turned my head away to avoid his gaze.
And then the bell rang clearly again.
Ding-a-ling—
“Welcome!”
Immediately after, a boy with golden hair and golden eyes—no, more precisely, one standing on the boundary between boy and man—entered. He lifted his chin and spoke irritably.
“You all have no business ethics. To think you arrived before me, who rushed straight here after the imperial council ended.”
The boy’s name was Lionel Edgar Luche Chevalier.
The Crown Prince of the Empire.
Why would a Crown Prince who should be at the imperial palace come to such a cramped inn to eat soup and rice?
I don’t know either. I suppose it means my soup and rice tastes that amazing.
Or maybe… I glanced at Lionel and swallowed. Sensing something strange, Lionel flinched for a moment and stepped back.
Not missing that opening, Jeffrey swept back his hair and raised the corner of his mouth.
“Might it not be that Your Highness’s short stature makes your steps slow?”
The tone was polite, but the intent was blatant mockery. It wasn’t just my thought—Lionel’s face crumpled instantly.
“You seem to have an itch in your mouth if you don’t scratch at others.”
Sparks flew. No, more precisely, they only flew from Lionel’s side. Jeffrey remained composed, so it was only the Crown Prince who ground his teeth and swallowed his rage.
I shrugged my shoulders and set down bowls of soup and rice in front of the two.
“Don’t fight in the inn. It makes the other customers uncomfortable.”
Just as Lionel was about to make a disgruntled face, an unfamiliar voice cut in.
“Exactly. Shows your level.”
Turning my head, I saw a man sitting in the corner smirking. A black hood hung loosely over his dark reddish hair, and beneath it, blood-red eyes glinted. Just by sitting there, the air around him rippled strangely, and when he slightly raised his body, his massive build and beast-like long claws immediately revealed he was not human.
“What are you looking at? Is shouting in a restaurant something to be so proud of that you’re glaring?”
Damian—he was the part-timer here and a demon.
But right now, he was insulting the Empire’s Knight Commander, Crown Prince, and Grand Mage all at once.
As the gazes of the three men clashed with Damian’s red eyes, the atmosphere in the inn instantly became taut.
Even in the midst of this, I glanced at Damian’s claws. They’ve grown long again. I’ll have to trim them after today ends….
What’s more absurd is that I’m thinking about that in this chaotic atmosphere.
But even as time passed, the heavy air showed no signs of clearing. Rather, it became sharper and seeped into the skin. When my breath caught in my lungs and my throat felt stifling, I finally let out a long sigh right in the middle of it all.
“…Just hurry up, eat, and leave.”
Only when the words fell could I breathe a little easier. The three men’s gazes briefly turned toward me, and I slightly hunched my shoulders.
Really, since when did inn work become this bad?
At times like these, I briefly thought it was actually more comfortable when I was just working part-time at an inn. While glancing to the side, my eyes met Gilbert’s, and he was watching me as if looking at something pitiful.
…I didn’t know back then. I thought life would just end with setting out food and handing over spoons, not knowing I’d become so terribly entangled with them later.
“Sion, I want the spell of love too.”
“I’d also like to hear it after so long.”
Lionel and Jeffrey spoke almost simultaneously while looking at me. As their piercing gazes fixed on me, Damian strode over in that gap. The moment he abruptly reached out and fiddled with my apron strings, the eyes of the three men clashed head-on, and invisible sparks flew inside the inn.
Looking at them, I let out another deep breath.
“…Haah.”
To begin this story, we need to go back about half a year.
***
#01. I Possessed the Body of an Innkeeper.
When I opened my eyes, the sight of a kitchen haphazardly cobbled together with wooden planks entered my view. Black soot had seeped into every wall, and dust had settled thickly white on the old shelves. When I breathed in, dust stuck to the inside of my nose and I eventually let out a cough.
“Kup, cough…. What is this.”
A musty smell mixing mold, rusted iron, and water stains also stung my nose. I reflexively tried to cover my mouth, but there was a ladle in my hand.
Looking down, I saw an apron stained here and there with grease tied firmly around my waist. In a daze, I put down the ladle and turned over my palm. Calluses were firmly embedded at every knuckle of my fingertips.
Of course, calluses themselves weren’t unfamiliar. I’d worked two or three part-time jobs a day, so they were actually familiar. But the feeling was different. It was like forcibly wearing someone else’s slippers—a sense of incongruity that didn’t quite fit.
And a ladle out of nowhere?
Did passing out drunk last night carry over into a dream? Or had I somehow woken up and started working a part-time job again?
But the last time I worked at a restaurant was a month ago, and that place wasn’t like this ruin either.
Creak—
The floor made an unpleasant sound with the slightest movement. The walls also had gaps here and there, with wind leaking through the cracks.
Food and Drug Administration inspections aside, this isn’t even fit for human habitation, is it?
“Ugh…. The smell of dust.”
Wiping my nose with my forearm and staggering, I approached a mirror.
There was no particular reason. It was just the only thing that caught my eye, and my appearance wearing an apron felt unfamiliar. The shabby mirror placed forlornly in the corner swayed precariously whenever the wind brushed past. I looked squarely at the face reflected in it and was stunned.
“…What the?”
A stranger was standing in the mirror. Or should I say, an unfamiliar appearance?
Night-colored hair covering the face was curled and tangled, completely covering the eyes. With bangs hanging down this much, how can there even be a field of vision?
Hastily sweeping up the bangs, the facial features finally became visible.
