Hiatus Gifting This Unfortunate Guy With Blessings

"Get outta my inn NOW!" Teyla's angry shouts resounded inside the inn.

"WHY!?" Aqua's confused voice reached my ears as well. She seemed to still reside inside of the kitchen's closet.

"People have complained about you bothering them yesterday and now… WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" 'Souvenirs' left by the mouse squadron seemed to rile up the innkeeper very badly.

People renting out the rooms started peeking their heads out of their rooms sleepily, wondering what caused so much ruckus. Chris and I were among those people. We headed downstairs together to see what was going on.

Well, I knew what was going on but it seemed that my plan caused an 'innocent bystander' to receive the ire of the Innkeeper.

"I have nothing to do with this!" Aqua cried out loudly and she was indeed completely innocent. How a single adventurer could cause an army of rodents to raid the inn's kitchen. That was a really unbelievable scenario.

But it had happened in fact. Just like that.

"Get out, you harbinger of ill-luck! You appeared here only yesterday and suddenly everything goes south!" Teyla's screams towards Aqua continued.

Well, the innkeeper was kinda right but also wrong.

"…" Chris and I finally got close enough to the kitchen's door to see inside and Chris was immediately stunned. My expression was hidden behind the mask but she still looked at me with a glint of suspicion in her eyes.

Chris could be really sharp about certain things. No one besides the mice culprits and I knew about that raid.

Ummmm... and maybe Goddess Eris since I prayed yesterday that no person would spot the mice army out in the street. But the goddess wouldn't sell me out to Chris, right? She must have other things to do.

Well, it's not like I would try to keep it secret from Chris. But being immediately deemed suspicious was weird!

When we were directly in the doorframe Aqua spotted us, rushed towards Chris and cried to her while sniffing.

"Chris, tell her that I am not bringing bad luck! I just went to sleep quietly after having a drink and that woman started shouting at me the first thing in the morning!"

"And who told you to drink that?!" Teyla pointed to the empty bottle left in the closet Aqua was sleeping in.

"That was the payment that I was owed!" Aqua tried to fight her cause.

"You already drank all the payment before the job and you almost slept in because of that. I had to monitor you the entire evening! I am gonna complain to-"

Teyla then spotted me standing in the door frame as well and staggered a little. Using that moment I loudly said:

"This inn was a good place to stay but if that's how the kitchen looks then it's time for me to leave. I will be leaving the key on the counter."

The Innkeeper quickly glanced at Chris standing right next to me with a horrified expression.

"I-I will be leaving today as well."

"Chris-san, please reconsider! I will clean this in a jiffy!" Tayla tried reasoning with Chris but Aqua triumphantly interjected:

"Ha, that's what you get for insulting me! There's no way that my friend Chris would stay in this inn after seeing me being treated like this. Let this teach you how you shouldn't treat very important customers. That masked guy probably also is appalled at how badly you screamed at the innocent me!"

Aqua still didn't remember my Crimson Demon form as her teammate Satou Kazuki?

Teyla looked as if she were about to throw some knives she had under her belt after hearing Aqua's claims, so Chris started ushering Aqua to leave the kitchen before she poured more oil into the fire.

I left my room's key on the counter but Chris said that she needed to gather her things first. I had all my stuff distributed throughout my forms so I left the inn together with Aqua and we waited for Chris to come out.

"So, how do you know Chris, Masked Guy?"

…

Some people walking on the street exclaimed in surprise when a guy magically transformed his outfit to look entirely different, but Aqua seemed to receive the biggest shock.

"It's me." I said kinda tired at this point.

"Kazuki?! How did you do that?!"

Once again I had to explain to her how my power works and she surprisingly stayed silent throughout my explanation. I thought that I finally managed her to get it but when I looked at Aqua I noticed that she was leaning against the wall and dozed off.

This girl!

Chris soon came out with a small bag full of her stuff. Teyla came out together with her, still trying to get Chris to change her mind. Fortunately, my presence made Teyla flinch and she stopped bothering Chris.

Chris nicely thanked for all the hospitality she received with a bow but then turned around and didn't look back. I just nodded my head as a goodbye and Aqua stuck out her tongue while walking away.

I was now homeless. Huh. Well, I was only staying in that inn for some time so it meant that I was only a little bit more homeless.

"Hey Aqua, where do you rent a room?" I asked wondering if she could provide some housing advice.

"I live with Kazuma in the stables." She answered with a straight face.

…

I looked at Chris confusedly and she provided a quick explanation:

"Starting adventurers usually have financial problems so they rent a room in the stables."

Aqua is living together with Kazuma? Is that safe? With his peeping proposition and the looks he was sending Darkness, I imagined him being on the perverted side. Have I judged him wrongly?

I glanced at Aqua and she c.o.c.ked her head to the side probably wondering why I am scrutinizing her.

Aqua seemed like an amazingly beautiful and kind girl but only until she kept her mouth closed to not let that rotten personality out to the world.

Kazuma wouldn't do anything to Aqua. I am 99% sure.

Without getting much information from Aqua we proceeded down the street. The first on our list of things to do was to eat breakfast and then think about other things. Since Aqua was already with us I had to pay for her portion as well because she didn't have any money on her. She didn't meet up with Kazuma since we received yesterday's quest money.

After our stomachs were satisfied Chris mentioned:

"Now we need to find another inn."

"Yeah… sorry about that." I answered honestly pretty embarrassed for making Chris lose her housing on such short notice.

"Don't mention it. I should have stopped renting there over two weeks ago. It's just the innkeeper… asked me to stay every time I tried to leave. And I just… couldn't say no to her until today. I should be thanking you instead."

I was relieved after hearing Chris saying that. The least I wanted is to make problems for her after everything she has done for me.

We left the restaurant and Aqua decided to go find Kazuma "before he does something stupid without her". I internally lit a candle for my teammate. His time of reprieve was nearing the end as the blue menace started looking for him.

Together with Chris, we visited two inns with a good reputation but unfortunately, their rooms were all booked. As we were on the way to the 3rd inn Chris knew we happened to walk by the shop in which I bought my bow and Ranger equipment and an idea struck me.

"Hey, remember that time when Megumin asked if you were the new tenants of her landlady?"

It happened right after Chris tried to run after seeing my face.

"Mhmm, what about it?"

"Can't we ask her if she got any flats for renting?"

Chris thought for a second and answered:

"There was something weird about that lady… but, sure, why not. Good idea."

Chris then looked around and spotted the same building she broke into during her escape. She started walking in its direction but I stopped her and said:

"That old lady should be inside this shop." and pointed at the shop behind me.

"Isn't that…"

"The shop you recommended to me, yes. She runs it herself."

Chris seemed surprised for a second but soon she recovered and we went in together. The bell chimed after Chris opened the door. The inside of the shop was empty of any adventurers and the old lady seemed to be in the back room. Chris started looking around various cases containing some fancy daggers or bows.

Using the occasion I picked up some arrows to complement the ones I sent to the depths of the river lake while trying to lure the monster out on the quest.

After a few more seconds we could hear the chair being moved and an old lady came out from the back door.

"Oh, it's the Arrow Boy!" the old lady exclaimed and started laughing. I cringed a little after hearing my new nickname but I kept the comment inside and just politely greeted Megumin's landlady.

I wasn't the only one getting a nickname that day though.

"And a Scaredy-cat Thief Girl!" The old lady let out another round of laughter.

"Eeeeh?!" Chris didn't seem to be too keen on her new name and gave out a questioning yell.

Our prospect landlady didn't seem to be content with Chris making a little bit red on the face so after her laughter ended she asked:

"Did you manage to settle your differences with the guy that has scared you?"

Surprisingly Chris didn't seem to get more fl.u.s.tered but just quickly and confidently answered:

"Yes. Thank you for your words that day, ma'am. They have helped me see through my mistakes."

"Good to hear that, girl." The old lady erected a wrinkled smile which made her seem a lot of like a nice grandma instead of her usual merchant like self. Soon the mischevious glint came back to her eyes and she said to me:

"But I must say, Arrow Boy, it's unusual for youngsters your age to fancy girls that are so petite. First, you bring here the Explosion Girl, now the Scaredy-cat Thief Girl."

The old lady seemed adamant about trying to make people feel embarrassed…. and she was good at that. I had the mask to hide my face but Chris went tomato red on her face.

"Ahahaha, please excuse this old bat. With age, I seem to be getting more and more foolish. Now, how can I help you?"

Chris kept mumbling something I couldn't understand so I answered the old lady's question.

"We were wondering if you had any flats to rent. Megumin mentioned that you might be looking for tenants."

"Ohoho. You might be in your luck."

The initial response gave me hope but soon she continued:

"I got one last flat, ready to be taken right now." The old lady brought out a key from her sleeve and dangled it in front of our faces.

"It's my fault you are without a place to sleep so it's all yours. I will find myself a room somewhere else." I told Chris with a smile on my face.

"What are you saying, Kazuki. I told you I wanted to leave that inn myself so-" Chris tried changing my mind and let me have that flat for myself.

"Wait, the two of you don't want to rent it together?" The old lady suddenly interjected.

What?

"There are two rooms and a living room, so there's enough space." The old lady said as if that fixed all the problems.

"That wasn't the iss-" I tried voicing my objection but before I could end something that stunned me totally reached my ears.

"Sounds good to me." Chris answered after giving it a quick thought.

Chris-san?!

I looked incredulously towards Chris but she didn't seem to see anything wrong with that idea.

The old lady also ignored my questioning gaze, smiled and put out her hand.

"I need a deposit though. Entire month's rent upfront."

A little bit stunned I took out my money pouch and like the last time it got snatched by the old lady. Its contents were poured into a drawer near the backroom door and the lady threw another bag with coins to me.

Contrary to Megumin, Chris became stunned just like me after seeing this exchange play out but soon the old lady turned around and threw each of us a key. After that, the old lady walked towards the backroom while saying:

"Your flat is right above Explosion Girls'. Remember about paying the rent on time."

And disappeared behind the door.

Chris stood there blankly for a few seconds but soon she collected herself and headed towards the exit.

Wait, was Chris really okay with that? Wasn't that weird?

My mind blanked out and the only sentence that went through my head at that time was:

Thank you Eris-sama for this blessing!!!