The Last Whisperer

12 | Hospitality And Hostility~

Seren took off her boots. When she rotated them upside down, gallons of mud water came pouring out like a waterfall. "Geez! Don't make a mess out of our entrance!" Poch nagged. "Do you want me to kick you out?!"

Seren hunched her back. "No. Sorry."

The inn was small. Small round tables were scattered everywhere, and a bar was at the far back. On the right wall, where frames of various bottle figurines with ships inside were hung, was a flight of stairs that led up to the second-floor corridor.

Seren's nose caught on something drool worthy. Is that... chicken??? She followed the scent with her eyes closed, until she came face to face with a steaming hot plate of roasted chicken limbs.

Her eyes smiled. Just as she reached for one, her hand was slapped away. It was that darn woman again.

"Where are your manners? You think you can just enter our establishment and eat our food with those dirty hands of yours?".

Seren squinted her eyes at her. Yeah, I'm... gonna stay away from this woman...

She retreated backwards. "Fine. I won't eat your food." She wouldn't want to be chased away again.

"You're not a barbarian. Go use a plate and some eating utensils," the woman shook her head. Seren stared at her. "What are you looking at?"

Seren's eyebrows shot up. "So... you're saying I can eat??"

"Of course."

"... I really can?"

"You deaf? Go eat to your heart's content for all I care. Just look at how famished you are." Her eyes raved down her entire body, lip curling, making Seren flinch back in uneasiness. "Poch, give this girl some dry clothes, for heaven's sake. Didn't your parents ever treat you nicely?"

"Sure, Ruth." Poch disappeared from the back to do as she said.

The corner of Seren's eye twitched. Stars, this woman is really starting to get on my nerves. She held it in because it was disrespectful to cuss at an elderly woman, especially when she was under her roof and good graces.

"My parents," Seren gritted out. "Are somewhere very far away. And stop dawdling at me like I'm some sort of... insatiable slug."

The woman pulled out a chair and started grabbing a plate and other tinkling stuff. She put it down on the table. "Eat."

That isn't poisoned, right? Seren eyed the chicken. It looked delicious.

Her stomach growled in response. Yeah, I would rather die from poisoning than hunger. She rushed to the chair and took off her gloves.

Ignoring the fork and knife, she proceeded to eat with her fingers.

The woman watched her entirely gobble down a plate of food like a hyena. "Goodness, what happened to your hands?" she stared at the prosthetics like it was offending her existence.

Seren didn't answer. How could she, when she had a whole chicken down her throat? Licking off the food from her fingers weren't as good as before. Now she tasted the tangy taste of metal on her tongue. She really hated these new hands. That damn Lord Koi.

"Fine then, keep your secrets." The woman lowered herself on the chair opposite Seren. She sighed. "I'm Ruth, by the way."

"Seren," replied the munching girl.

Poch returned to the inn carrying a stack of folded clothes. "I found these in the back. Girl can wear them." He dropped them on the table beside Seren's plate. Seeing Seren's nearly empty plate, he was amazed. "Wow, girl eats fast."