The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance by Chiara Bullen

An ambitious young scholar is sent to research the mysteries of an adventurer's inn - only to uncover a centuries-old secret in this heart-warming and poignant fantasy.

BEHIND EVERY HERO, THERE'S A HISTORIAN

Mount Vengeance is legendary, a monumental climb with a dragon at its peak.
For most, it's an adventure, or a quest to prove themselves worthy of fame and glory.
For Ainsworth, it's perfect thesis material.

Ainsworth Gladsly, ambitious young scholar, research fellow and up-and-coming historian is finally ready to make his mark on the world. So when his supervisor learns of a rustic inn at the foot of the legendary Mount Vengeance, she sends him to be the first to to document the exploits of the bold adventurers who face the perils of the mountain - and the dragon said to inhabit it.

But the inn is far from the sophisticated city life he's grown to love, and even as he grudgingly warms to its rustic charm - and its lovely innkeeper, Honey - the mystery of the mountain refuses to reveal itself. Worse, Ainsworth can't actually find evidence that anyone has ever undertaken the climb - every adventurer comes to the inn, stays for a single night, and then returns home.

And with Ainsworth's reputation as an academic on the line, it's a mystery he can't allow to remain unsolved - even if he has to push the adventurers up the mountain himself.