"Was that also part of the surprise you planned?" I asked Emilia as we were guided to our room.

Emilia showed me a wide grin, "Ehehehe~ It was worth it, wasn’t it? We got to see you enjoying the sweets too~"

"If I had said I didn’t want their snacks?"

"Oh come on, Boss. Will you say no to sweets?"

She’s got a point...

If they had told me they had free sweets, I would have immediately jumped at the chance of eating it.

The Nekomata staff guiding us took us to a section of the inn that I could only describe as an elevator shaft. There was even a platform within that shaft and a small gate that opened up to let people step on and off the platform.

There’s elevators here?

The staff opened the gate for us to let us step onto the platform.

Looking up, I realised that it really was an elevator shaft, though it was obviously a rather crude version of one where they were using ropes and gears to lift and lower the platform we were standing on.

I was wondering how they powered the gears until I saw the Mana Crystal that was held in a glass container at one corner of the platform.

The staff then stepped onto the platform with us before she pulled a lever that caused the gears above us to come to life.

The platform shook slightly and we started to ascend up the shaft. The speed was surprisingly fast for how it was designed and there wasn’t really much noise either considering how primitive the lift was.

There were no stops in between and the staff pulled on the lever again as we neared the top, prompting the platform to slowly come to a stop right at the top.

She then opened the gate for us to step out onto the corridor which led to a single double door just a short distance away, meaning there was only one room on this entire floor.

"We have arrived, honoured guests," She announced, walking up to the door to unlock it with an ornate looking key.

She pushed the doors open and we were treated to the sight of an especially grand looking living room with a sitting area in the centre that consisted of plush looking couches and a finely decorated tea table.

There were three doors behind the sitting area and the staff guided us to the one on the far left first.

"This is the tea room, honoured guests. All the refreshments are free for all of you to enjoy and we will restock them at your order."

She pulled the sliding door aside, revealing a room that looked more like a study room or even a library with the bookshelves, the reading chairs, the study table and even the additional sliding door that led out to the balcony outside.

From what I can see, the balcony should surround the top floor which means that we could get a good view of the entire city from up here. Especially since this building towered over all the other buildings around it with the only taller building visible being the actual castle meant for the royal family of this kingdom.

The staff then brought us to the room on the far side instead of the middle one to reveal that it was an attached bathroom that had its own private bath.

And from the smell of sulfur... This was not just bathwater but an actual hot spring.

"The room comes with a private onsen bath as well, honoured guests," The staff explained, confirming my thoughts. "The water flows from a piping system that is sent up here from a reservoir below."

"Is there a volcano nearby?" I couldn’t help but ask.

Emilia was the one who answered it, "There’s an underground magma pool and a source of ground water nearby. That’s where we are drawing the water from. We had to dig quite a bit to get to it though but it was worth it~ No one else has claim over it so we’re the sole provider of the hot springs water and all the inns that wish to give visitors hot spring baths have to pay us a fee every month to get it~"

Huh... No wonder she can afford to leave this room empty because even if there aren’t any guests here, they can still sustain on the fees that they earn from the other inns who are using the hot spring water.

Well, I’ll definitely have to soak in that later.

The staff then led us to the final room in the centre and it opened up to another corridor that stretched on to have three more doors with one on the left and right and the final room straight ahead.

Opening them, the two doors at the side led to the expected bedrooms which I suspect was Emilia’s plan to have one room for Katsuki and another room for any guest I might bring along.

And of course, the final door led to the master bedroom and the bed was unsurprisingly huge. Big enough for all of us to sleep on it comfortably and in fact, the bed itself already took up most of the room in the centre.

There was also a door leading to the balcony at the back and I’m quite sure that Lisa had a hand in the design of this room because I see mirrors being positioned around walls of the room that would allow anyone on the bed to see themselves.

No prizes to who guesses why they were arranged in such a way...

That concluded the short tour of the suite that we were given and the staff turned to us, "If there is anything you require, please pull the rope beside the main entrance of the room. That will ring a bell at the reception counter and we will send someone up here to assist you. Is there anything else you require, honoured guests?"

I was about to say no when Lisa appeared beside me with a lewd smile, "Oh I have one~ Where’s the best place around here to have outdoor sex?"

The staff member didn’t even look surprised by the question and answered her without missing a beat, "That will have to depend on what your priority is when you are doing it, honoured guests. If you want comfort, I would suggest the east royal gardens as there are various cushions provided there for such activities. If you would like the best atmosphere, then I would suggest the northern public gardens as there are usually musical performances held there and you can enjoy the music and festivities while you make love there. Or if you are more concerned about the best view, then I might be a little biased and say that the balcony outside your honoured guests’ room would be the best place to do that."

She’s listing them out as if this was not the first time that she had to answer such a question...

I guess this really was considered normal around here...

Lisa gave her a thumbs up, "That’s great! I’ll definitely keep that in mind!"

Odeta then popped up on the other side, "Are there any Dungeons around here?!"

"There are two nearby outside the city, one to the north and one to the west. The one to the north is a C ranked Dungeon and there is another one that is ranked B to the west."

Odeta immediately turned to me, "This is perfect, Sister Aster! We can even go Dungeon diving if we want!"

Well... I have to admit that the knowledge of that did make me a little curious about it considering the fact that we haven’t really been Dungeon diving for a while now... And who knows? Maybe a nice pair of gauntlets might drop for Odeta if we go there too.

I guess we’ll have to see if our schedule allows it...

The staff member then bowed, "If there is nothing else, honoured guests, I shall take my leave first. Please enjoy your stay with us."

She then left for the main door to take the elevator back down, leaving us alone in our room.

The girls immediately split up to check out the place again on their own.

As for me, I went over to the fourth sliding door that the staff member did not point out as it led to the balcony.

Sliding open the door, I found that I was right in assuming that the balcony would wrap around the entire upper part of this ’castle’.

From here, we could see the entire city that wasn’t blocked by the trees that were in between the streets and I must say... It was definitely a sight to behold.

I was still a little biased and believed Crown Capital City still looked better but... This place certainly had its charms.

Just as I was about to return inside, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and I felt something soft push up against my back.

"Oh Aster~" Lisa giggled. "Can’t wait to start, do we?"

Behind her... Were the rest of my girls... All looking at me with anticipation.

...

I knew this would happen...