Chapter 37 - No Humor

Zail laughed as he looked at the frown on Hecathe's face.

"Sir, I was just kidding! Don't take it so seriously. There are no rat tenants here," Zail reassured in between his laughter.

Hecathe sighed as he shook his head, "You have a weird sense of humor.

Zail chuckled as he nodded his head, "That's right and you have no humor at all."

"..."

Why was Hecathe feeling a little offended as he heard this?

"Since our humor doesn't match, let's not make any jokes," Hecathe sighed as he suggested.

Zail chuckled as he noticed that Hecathe had admitted defeat.

"As I have said before, Sir, there are only two other tenants living here. One recently moved in and the other has been living here for a really long time now," Zail abandoned his playful demeanor and answered seriously.

Hecathe nodded as he heard this, "What are the two tenants like?"

"Eh?" Zail was a bit confused to hear this sudden question, "I'm sorry sir, but we don't leak information about our tenants or speak behind their backs."

Hecathe pursed his lips and his eyes narrowed down on the man suspiciously, "Are you sure about that?"

Zail felt cold sweat form on his forehead as he nodded, "I'm being honest, sir. This might not be the best inn out there but we still care a lot about the privacy of our tenants. If you choose to live here, your privacy shall also be protected by us."

Hecathe nodded as he found the answer to be pleasing.

"Are we good, sir?" Zail asked just to be sure.

Hecathe nodded his head as he responded, "As clear as a crystal. But... I would still like to ask you one question."

"What is it, sir?"

"The other two tenants... I hope they are the type to mind their own business?"

Zail chuckled awkwardly as he heard this question. He took a minute to think about it before he nodded his head and responded, "That's right. They are the type to mind their own business so you can rest assured that you won't have to bother with them. The recent tenant doesn't even come back that often and when he does, he usually stays holed up in his room without showing anyone else his face."

Zail stopped for a minute and looked to be secretly contemplating on whether he was supposed to say the next sentence or not and Hecathe clearly noticed this small conflict in the man's expression.

"What is it?" Hecathe asked cautiously as he squinted at the man and waited for him to speak.

"Sir, now that I think about it, you'll be getting along well with our new tenant."

"Eh?" Hecathe frowned as he muttered in confusion.

Zail smiled brightly as he nodded his head and added, "You two are really alike from what I see."

Hecathe didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he heard this. Having somebody else who was really like him live next door was really not something Hecathe was looking forward to.

Zail chuckled as he spoke up, "Sir, I won't be saying much. You'll understand it once you get to see him, but I think you'll have to wait a lot since he rarely shows up."

"That's fine," Hecathe sighed, "I don't want to meet him nor do I have any interest in getting to know him. Once I figure out what I want to do, I'll be out of here so why bother making friends and getting acquainted?"

Zail tilted his head in confusion as he heard this, "You don't want to get to know anyone? Sir, are you perhaps a loner that doesn't enjoy company?"

Hecathe scoffed as he heard this, "What do you think?"

"I think I'm right, Sir."

"..." Hecathe was silent for a minute as he found it a bit embarrassing to straightaway agree and say that the man was indeed right when he thought that way.

Even in his real world, Hecathe was the type to have lesser friends than the fingers on his hand. Azazel was the only friend he really had and if he were to not include that guy then it would only leave his secretary whom he was on friendly terms with. If both of them were to be excluded then Hecathe would really not have any friends.

Hecathe coughed as he responded, "I like enjoying my time alone. Is there a problem with it?"

Zail pursed his lips as he shook his head, "Of course, there's no problem with that, Sir. But... I think it would be better to have someone there. Don't you agree?"

Hecathe had a frown on his face as he replied, "I do not agree."

Zail heard the determination in Hecathe voice and he immediately gave up so as not to get into another argument with this man.

He opened his mouth to say something more but before the words could roll out of his tongue, they suddenly heard a new voice interrupting them.

"Who's there?" It was a female voice and as soon as Zail heard it, he seemed to have recognized it while at the same time, Hecathe looked to have been scared as he suddenly heard the voice that came out of nowhere.

Hecathe's eyes widened in panic as he looked around to pinpoint the direction of the voice but there was nobody else except for them standing here and this made Hecathe feel uneasy.

Zail smiled as he looked at Hecathe and reassured, "Sir, you don't need to be scared. It's my aunt. She's the owner of this inn."

Hecathe gulped as he finally felt a bit relieved. He shook his head as he tried to keep up an unaffected demeanor on the outside as he questioned, "Where is she?"

Before Zail could give a response to him, A face suddenly popped down from above right in front of Hecathe's face and Hecathe flinched in fear as he almost had a heartattack.

"I'm right here," The woman answered as she hung upside down like a bat.

"Damn it!" Hecathe cursed as he faltered back in shock.