Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 42: Night at the Inn

It was getting dark.

The inn was almost silent now; the few customers had already left to prepare the wagons for their morning departure.

The two guards remained seated at the counter. Only a few lanterns illuminated the large hall, creating long shadows on the wooden walls.

Yukihime sat at the counter between the two guards, but she didn’t look at them or at the innkeeper who was cleaning glasses behind the counter. She was turned completely towards the entrance door, her fox ears erect and alert, as if she could make someone appear with sheer willpower.

She constantly looked at the door.

Waiting.

But no one entered.

The innkeeper placed another clean glass on the shelf, picked up another from the dirty pile, and commented something simple while cleaning without looking at anyone in particular.

"Adventurers usually don’t take this long in a small dungeon."

The silence that followed was heavy.

The veteran guard exchanged a glance with the younger one, neither of them wanting to say what they were thinking in front of Yukihime. The innkeeper continued slowly cleaning the glass, but then added something with a more serious tone:

"If Miss Valtherion dies down there..." he paused, choosing his words carefully, "...her family won’t be happy. And when the Valtherions aren’t happy, entire cities feel it."

The guards looked at him seriously, the veteran especially, because he knew exactly what that meant. It wasn’t an empty threat, it was a historical fact. House Valtherion had resources, influence, and a long memory.

If something happened to the Baron’s direct heir, Ashvale would become an example of what happens when nobility fails to be protected.

"We know," the veteran guard said softly, his voice heavy. "That’s why we’re still here."

The innkeeper nodded, placed the clean glass on the shelf, and didn’t bring up the subject again.

Yukihime continued looking at the door, her legs dangling slowly without reaching the ground, when she saw movement outside through the window next to the entrance.

A man was walking down the street, talking to his young daughter, holding her hand with both of her little hands as she spoke excitedly about something Yukihime couldn’t hear from there.

The father stopped for a second, knelt down to her level, and touched his daughter’s head with obvious affection, smoothing her disheveled hair while smiling in that way fathers do when they are caring for something precious.

Protects. Cares.

Yukihime watched this with complete attention, something tightening in her chest.

She remembered the first time Haru had touched her.

It had been in the forest. She was scared, confused, alone, and when he had reached out his hand she had expected the explosion that always came when someone touched her. She had closed her eyes tightly expecting the pain, the light, the loud sound, everything that always happened.

But nothing came.

Only the warm touch of his hand, gentle and firm at the same time, and his voice.

She had learned early on not to let anyone get close, to move away when someone reached out their hand, because contact meant death and pain.

In her simple and direct logic, Yukihime had concluded something very clear at that moment:

"If he can touch me... then he protects me."

That’s why she called him Papa. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

It wasn’t biological. It wasn’t because she thought he was her real father. It was because protection had a form, it had the touch on the head, it had the hand holding hers, it had someone who could be close without her destroying everything. And if he protected her, then he was her father. It was that simple.

She looked back at the inn door, hoping to see that figure come through and touch her head again, saying that everything was alright.

But the door remained closed.

And the night continued to darken outside.

The innkeeper grabbed another glass, but before he started cleaning it, he stopped and looked at the two guards with an expression that mixed genuine curiosity and something akin to gentle judgment.

"You always let the boy handle everything alone?"

The guards exchanged an uncomfortable glance, neither wanting to admit it aloud but both noticing something that bothered them. The younger guard began to answer.

"It’s not quite like that..." he began without much conviction.

"No?" the innkeeper tilted his head. "Because from what I’ve seen since you arrived here: he was the one who faced Vandris, he was the one who went down to the dungeon first. And you...?"

The veteran guard squeezed the beer mug he was holding, looking at the liquid inside without drinking. He knew the guy was right.

Haru had carried the group from the beginning, through the fights, the decisions, the risks. They followed, helped when they could, but in the end, when things got really dangerous, it was always Haru who was in front taking the brunt.

"He is... stronger than us," the veteran admitted quietly, as if that were excuse enough.

"Being strong doesn’t mean you have to do everything alone," the innkeeper replied simply, returning to cleaning his glass.

Yukihime stepped down from the bar stool without making a sound and walked slowly to the door. The guards noticed but didn’t try to stop her, only watched as she approached and stood in front of the door looking at the dark road outside.

The road was empty.

Only darkness, a few distant lanterns in the houses that still had people awake, and the cold night wind blowing dust along the dirt road.

No one was coming.

She stood there for almost a whole minute just looking, her little fox ears lowered, and then murmured softly:

"Papa still hasn’t come back..."

She gripped the sleeve of her own clothes with both hands, squeezing the fabric nervously, that worry growing in her chest that children feel when something is wrong but can’t quite explain what it is.

A bad feeling. Heavy. As if something had happened that she didn’t want to imagine.Virou levemente pra trás olhando pros guardas com aqueles olhos vermelhos grandes cheios de medo genuíno.

"Could something... have happened?"

The guards didn’t answer, because they didn’t know what to say that wasn’t a lie or disguised concern.

Yukihime looked back at the door, expecting to see it open at any moment.

But the door was still closed.