“Here we are,” Stefen said as he opened the door to the Gambit Inn.

“It’s much bigger than I expected,” Nina mused.

“Ahh, um, yes, we actually do get quite a few traveling merchants and messengers coming and going as one of the border crossover points is only a handful of miles to the west,” Gabriel shyly responded, blushing slightly.

Nina just smiled at him and nodded her understanding. She then immediately turned toward Clark, smiled, and slightly shook her head, as Clark narrowed his eyes, annoyed at the town guardsmen seemingly trying to flirt with his lover. It couldn’t be helped, her long blonde hair, blue eyes, and toned body from the rigorous training they did at the Academy made her quite easy on the eyes, to put it lightly. Clark knew that he owned her heart but still didn’t like the way other men looked at her, he knew what they were thinking. It wasn’t a problem at the Academy because everyone knew she was taken and who she was taken by, as a result, no one dared act inappropriately toward her. However, out in the world it was a different story. He wished he could make it public knowledge somehow that she was taken, but it was looked down upon for members of the same squad to be in physically intimate relationships with one another, and although nobody in this squad followed that rule, he figured it best not to cause any trouble right out the gate, as they had all just recently graduated from the Academy.

The main entrance to the inn was a large tavern that had about ten total tables, only three being occupied at the moment. The first of them seemed to be a merchant as he was counting silver coins on the table while drinking an oversized glass of beer. The second of them, busy transcribing a letter, gave himself away as being a messenger. The final patron of the inn was intently reading a book, occupation or purpose a mystery. Regardless, all three of them stopped what they were doing and stared at the newcomers as if they were seeing ghosts. The innkeeper, likewise startled, yelled at his wife who was in the kitchen to come out and greet their new guests and ran over as quickly as his out of shape middle aged feet would let him in order to bow before the Holy Knights, his wife joining him seconds later.

“We are honored and humbled to have soldiers of the Kingdom of your caliber requesting to stay at our modest Inn. Please let us know if there is anything you need and we will-”

“Geez, what’s with you people and your formalities? You don’t have to act so formal, and I’d like to get straight to the point. We just plan to rest here for a couple hours, if that is acceptable.” Oliver interjected.

“Umm yes, that should be fine, however, we unfortunately don’t have six rooms available at this very moment,” the innkeeper responded.

“That is fine, we only need three, if that is manageable.”

“Ah, yes, I see. We can have three rooms ready for you in 10 minutes, please wait here.”

“Thank you.”

The innkeeper and his wife hurried off to the upstairs yelling for their son and daughter who had been watching from behind the bar to help them out.

“Three rooms, how bold,” Clark chuckled, “I call getting to sleep next to Oliver.”