The Musafir
Fifty Wives and Negotiations
The mantis patted his forehead upon hearing that from the innkeeper. This is the same as the short stories told by scribes, in which male warriors with female warriors had to sleep in one bed because the inn room where they were hitching a ride had run out. Should he experience that too with Chitra Anggini?
Mantingan taste, it absolutely does not have to. He could find another inn in the village.
As if he could read Mantingan's thought, the innkeeper sitting behind the table immediately said, “There is no more lodging. In this Sawahan Village, only we open the inn. Unless you both want to sleep in the diners, with cockroaches and rats.”
Mantingan became worried at that moment. Chitra Anggini. Request opinions. The young woman threw a reassuring look before nodding her head.
***
MANTINGAN exhaled a long breath. He doesn't have much choice right now. It would be very troublesome for him and for Chitra Anggini if he went to another village just to find an inn that still provides empty rooms.
After all, in making plans, they would spend almost all their time together in one room, behind one table, sitting face to face while deliberating. Renting two rooms may provoke suspicion if in the end they will still spend more time in one room only.
“Absolutely you two are not a couple?” The innkeeper asked as he raised his eyebrows. Looks curious.
Less than a blink of an eye after Mantingan opened his mouth to give a rebuttal, Chitra Anggini had snatched first.
“He never thought of me as his partner, Uncle!”
The mantle folded its forehead while looking quickly at the woman. But unfortunately, Chitra Anggini did not bother him.
“While I give him whatever he wants, I also play with him every morning!”
Now Mantingan glared at the woman. Clearly the meaning of that gaze, begging him to stop!
Chitra Anggini while folding her hands also washed her lips. “Tell him to marry me soon, but he gave such cruel terms to me Uncle!”
“What's that requirement?” The innkeeper asked very curiously.
“The requirement is to get married twice, Uncle! He wants to marry another girl after marrying me!”
“Gosh!” The guy patted his forehead. “This wak how? Isn't that common? As long as a man has the ability to support two wives, why not marry twice?”
Now, replace Chitra Anggini who was just stunned. I did not expect that answer at all. Even Mantingan, as a man, also never expected that the answer would be like that!
“Do not be wrong. What makes this inn filled is because of a merchant from the Land of the Roof of Heaven. He brought many wives and mistresses. There are fifties! After my lodging that only provides dozens of rooms, lucky that the merchant was kind enough to leave one room for a passing traveler to rent. Yes, even at a slightly more expensive price, because he had rented the room from me to then rent it back. What a smart merchant, looking for money anywhere and anytime by any means.”
The mantel could only smile bitterly. Not because the price of his room became more expensive due to the ingenuity of the Sky Roofing Country merchant. It was not because the merchant had so many wives and mistresses. Except for the words of Chitra Anggini! It is totally unacceptable.
“Well, you are the merchant's example. He does love many women, but everything is accounted for by him. All the women were given the right kind of affection. Yesterday the day after the merchant's entourage came, I saw his wives and mistresses laughing. They're happy. There was not the slightest hostility between them. Extraordinary.”
The mantan only shook his head in response to that. The business of the merchant is not his business, and it is best not to be his business. He recalled that it was not impossible that Tapa Balian was suffering at this time, while he relaxed like nothing was happening very important.
“What price should I pay to stay one night in that room, Uncle?” Mantingan turned his eyes away from Chitra Anggini. Go back to the innkeeper.
“Fifty silver only,” he replied lightly, as if he had just forgotten all the words of Chitra Anggini earlier. “My price is only forty silver, but this is how the merchant has profited ten silver without bothering at all.”
Mantingan only smiled awkwardly without responding to the person's complaint. He put a piece of gold on the table.
The innkeeper quickly kept the money in his coffers before escorting Mantingan and Chitra Anggini to the reserved room. The room is located on the second floor.
“Happy to enjoy the charm of Sawahan Village from this inn. If need something, please do not hesitate to call me or other workers.” After saying that, the innkeeper turned back. The mantel immediately held him back before the person actually left.
“What is the maintenance cost for my car, Uncle?” ask Mantingan.
“This inn does not charge for the care of animals belonging to its customers. However, it cannot be more than three tails. Everything we provide. Food, drinks, cages, and even baths if the customer has stayed up to five days.”
Mantingan fluttered his arms while smiling nervously. “Uncle, I will pay more, provided that the buffalo care is also overstated. He had a great will to eat, so it was definitely the grass that Uncle had to provide as well a lot. The body was smelly and dirty, but I had not yet had time to bathe it, so bathe the buffalo even though I did not stay here for five days. And do not be too locked up the buffalo, he always wanted to adventure so it would certainly be tortured if Uncle locked him up. Give him a little freedom, do not tie him, I make sure he will not cause the slightest damage and uproar if not provoked his anger.”
Without further ado, Mantingan took out a piece of gold from inside his coffers. Although somewhat astonished, the innkeeper still received the gold piece.
“This me is astonished by you.” The man scratched his head. “Wak loves bad buffalo, dirty, and smelly; rather than the woman next to you who is beautiful not a lie.”
The mantle chokes on its own spit. Coughing hard until the chest hurts. While Chitra Anggini next to him just shrugged his shoulders.
***
The sun has risen until it reaches the central horizon. But even so, the air still feels cool. Some farmers are still seen struggling in swathes of their rice fields.
Mantingan and Chitra Anggini again gathered in their room after cleaning themselves in the small river in the village, and ate on the lower floor of the inn.
It's time they negotiated.
The mantel pulls a table and two benches into the center of the room.
They then sat face to face. Bleeding several times because of feeling awkwardness. There were actually many things that both of them wanted to discuss, but they did not know how to start. Moreover, with the atmosphere that had become so rigid as it was now!
“Maybe, we can start with small discussions first, before entering into larger discussions. Think of me as a true friend. Don't let an awkward atmosphere like this last much longer.” Mantingan revealed everything blatantly. Hoping to provoke the confidence of Chitra Anggini to talk casually with him.
“I've been to kotaraja five times as many,” said Chitra Anggini later. “Every time go there, I always bring interest. So that can be said, I pretty much understand the intricacies of kotaraja. So ask me anything you want to ask.”
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note:
List of bonus episodes before April 30, 2022.
favorite 1370\= 2 episodes [fulfilled]
favorite 1400\= 5 episodes [+3 eps]
vote 950\= 2 episodes [fulfilled]
vote 1000\= 5 episodes
Bonus episode for 950 votes: 1/2
