Riena
“This is the inn I’ve been using as my base.”
“Wait… this place? Seriously?”
“Yes, right here.”
Riena pointed confidently at the building in front of us.
“This place—this exact place?”
I pointed at it again, as if double-checking.
“That’s right, here.”
“Okay, but… this is obviously—”
“Hmm?”
“—This is obviously a love hotel, you damn idiot!?”
I couldn’t help raising my voice.
“Love… hotel? I don’t quite understand. Is my language calibration off again?”
“Wait a sec… I’m speaking Japanese, aren’t I? How come we can understand each other?”
“It’s not as strong as the blessing you received, Hero-sama, but I, too, was granted a gift from Goddess Athena—one that smooths out language barriers.”
“I see. Makes sense. I guess you really are that once-in-a-century genius High Priestess.”
She might seem a bit spacey, but Riena was the real deal—a bona fide prodigy.
“Still, since it’s a lower-grade blessing, there are some words I can’t quite grasp. So, what exactly is a ‘love hotel’?”
“A love hotel is… well, basically a place people go to hook up. It’s that kind of inn.”
“Whaaat!? This place is one of those inns!? But it looks like a castle from the outside! It totally screams first-class lodging! Even the name—Hotel Crown Empire—sounds so noble and elegant!”
“Yeah, the name and the fancy exterior are impressive, sure. That’s probably thanks to Japan’s bubble economy days—back when people had more money than sense, and even love hotels got built like castles.”
“Hmm… I’m not sure what bubbles have to do with it, but I guess every world has its own complicated history, huh?”
“Exactly. If that explanation works for you, let’s go with that.”
I’d read online that, globally speaking, Japan’s flashy love hotels are considered a total anomaly.
Some foreigners even come here just to check them out firsthand.
N-Not that I have any particular interest in that kind of thing, okay!?
It’s not like I’ve been doing research just in case I end up going with Hasumin or anything. Seriously.
(Wait, why the hell am I making excuses to myself in my own head?)
“Still, it’s amazing that your world has such luxurious hookup inns. As expected of Hero-sama’s homeland. Truly educational.”
Riena said it with the kind of dead-serious expression you’d expect from someone studying relativity.
As a prodigy who became a High Priestess in her teens, she took everything seriously.
But still—
“I mean, is there really a need to study the history of love hotels…?”
“Life is a lifelong learning experience. Besides, you mentioned all sorts of things during our journey—like the ‘TV’ that transmits images across distances, and the ‘Car,’ a kind of iron carriage. Seeing them for real blew my mind! This world is incredible!”
“Well, Orphermaus was basically like a medieval society by comparison. Seeing things like TVs and cars must’ve been a shock.”
“And the skirts young women wear here are so short! Their underwear is practically visible! Isn’t that dangerous? If someone bad snatched them away, people would say it’s their own fault, wouldn’t they?”
“Japan—I mean, this country—is actually one of the freest and safest places in the world. We haven’t had a war, civil conflict, or coup in over seventy years. It’s famous for being the kind of place where even a lost wallet gets returned with everything still inside.”
“Now that you mention it, I think you said something like that during our travels… Not just technology, but your culture and civilization are advanced, too. It’s a wonderful country.”
“Yeah, I guess it is a pretty good place to live. People don’t usually have to worry about food, clothing, or shelter.”
“That’s an incredible thing, truly.”
Riena said it quietly, her voice filled with awe.
And coming from someone who once casually munched on wild plants when our food ran low during our journey, it really carried weight.
I mean, I’ll be honest—I hated eating those bitter greens.