Chapter 331:
A Private Dining Room
Ashley took us to a private dining room on the second floor of a restaurant. When we went inside, Guild Master Lish greeted us with a smile.
“Thanks, Ashley. You’re a real trouper,” she said, punching him on the shoulder for some reason.
“Guild Master, please, how many times do I have to tell you that hurts!”
“Awww, you’re such a softie.”
Next to Guild Master Lish stood a man dressed in a watchman’s uniform and another man who greatly resembled Ashley. That was probably his father.
“Er, no, Guild Master, I think you’re just abnormally strong. Remember how many poor young adventurers you’ve made cry over the years? It’s high time you know your own strength and learn to control it. It makes trouble for everyone around you at some point.” The man standing beside Lish, who I assumed was Ashley’s father, gave her a stern talking-to. I was rather impressed by the way he just spoke his mind without hesitation.
“But they’re adventurers, right? They shouldn’t be crying to mommy over a little tap on the shoulder.”
“I’m a watchman, you know,” the other man interjected.
“Don’t you think it’s wrong describing it as a little tap when you could crush a boulder to pieces with just a squeeze? I sure do. One wrong move and you might end some promising young adventurer’s chances of making a name for themselves. When you think about everything, Lish, you really should restrain yourself. Don’t you agree?” he asked, looking at Druid.
“What?!” Druid looked uncomfortable to be suddenly roped into their argument, and I didn’t blame him. What’s more…she could crush a boulder with just a squeeze? Was that true? That might be something I’d actually like to see.
“Lish, Ashley, knock it off. Can’t you see Mr. Druid’s uncomfortable?” The man I assumed was the head watchman stopped them both. Druid’s expression immediately softened in relief.
“Sorry about that. Have a seat. Ashley, wanna join us?”
“Oh, could I, sir?”
“Mr. Druid, Miss Ivy, are you all right with it?” the head watchman asked us.
“Fine with me. How about you, Ivy?” Druid asked.
“Sure.”
“Thanks.”
We sat in the empty chairs, and a waiter came to take our orders.
“Are you folks fine with the restaurant’s most popular items? If there’s anything you’re especially in the mood for, feel free to speak up.”
It was nice for the head watchman to ask, but we didn’t know anything about the restaurant anyway.
“What does this place specialize in?” Druid asked.
I was in awe at how casually he could interact with everybody there. But as a longtime adventurer who had worked his way up through the ranks, it’s not surprising he would be comfortable at a nice restaurant like this. For me, this was the first restaurant I’d ever been in besides taverns and food carts. I hadn’t even known restaurants had private rooms like this until today. That was why my heart had been racing since the moment we first stepped in.
I took a look around the room to try to calm my nerves. Ooh, what beautiful paintings on the walls! And look at that fancy jug over there. It must be expensive. I’d better be careful not to knock anything over while I’m here.
“This restaurant is known for its braised meats. They’re tender and very tasty,” Lish said.
The look on her face made me more interested in the food. I might never have another chance to eat at a nice restaurant like this. I should get the most out of it!
“Are you okay with ordering what Guild Master Lish does, Ivy?” Druid asked.
“Sure.”
If I’m too nervous, I might not even be able to taste the food…and what a waste that would be. Okay, let’s focus on calming down until the food arrives! They were so nice to bring us here, so I’m going to enjoy myself.
“We’ll each have one of your special glur soups.”
Glur? I wonder if that’s a type of meat.
“As you wish, ma’am. Coming right up.”
As soon as the waiter left our room, the head watchman pulled something out of his magic bag. “This item will keep our voices confined to this room. May I turn it on?”
“Yes, please.”
The familiar-looking item turned out to be a noise-canceler. Druid and I had often used similar ones before, so naturally, it looked familiar to me. The head watchman set the canceler down on our table and pressed a button to turn it on.
“Thank you both for taking the time to come see us today. First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Tabulo, head watchman at Hatahi. It is an honor to meet you both.”
So the head watchman’s name was Tabulo. It sounded awfully similar to Tableau. One of the people in my family had that name, too, and I’d met adventurers named Tableau and Tabulo. There were also a lot of Tabs and Tabilos; many of those names sounded alike. Maybe I should ask Druid later if there’s some reason behind that.
“I mentioned her yesterday, but this is Guild Master Lish. I was too distracted by my business at the dump yesterday to notice, but it looks like I wasn’t mistaken, and Miss Ivy here is indeed one of the heroes. And my goodness, what an adorable child she is, too! When I started to make the connection yesterday, I couldn’t believe it.”
I’m not a hero… I wish I could correct him.
“I am Arash, Ashley’s father and assistant to the guild master. Mr. Druid, Miss Ivy, thank you so much for saving my son and granddaughter’s lives. It is because of you, Mr. Druid, that I didn’t have to lose my precious boy, and I feel terribly guilty that I wasn’t able to thank you properly until now.”
Arash bowed directly to Druid. What an upstanding man.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, sir. The village was in chaos back then, so you couldn’t have reached me anyway. Especially since I left to go traveling before things really settled down.”
“Well, I’m grateful to hear you bear no ill will. Last year, you both helped me even more when Miss Ivy saved my granddaughter. Now, I take pride in my work. But when I got the news that she was almost kidnapped and it would have been my fault, well, I was a nervous wreck. If the kidnappers had succeeded, I would have never been able to forgive myself. Truly, I cannot thank you enough.”
This time, Arash turned to me and bowed even deeper than before.
“You’re welcome. Please, you don’t need to bow to me, sir. I’m just glad the kidnappers’ plan never came to fruition. I mean it.”
Arash beamed radiantly at me.
“And thanks to you, Miss Ivy, I was able to identify the enemies within our ranks and sentence them all to slavery,” Tabulo said. “Thank you… It wasn’t much, but I felt like I got to help my daughter just a little. That crime organization was a menace, not only to her but to our entire village.”
I remembered that Tabulo’s daughter had been kidnapped by the crime organization and her whereabouts were still unknown.
“Well, I’m happy I could help, even if it was just a little.”
“But it wasn’t just a little.” Guild Master Lish shook her head at me.
Captain Tabulo nodded slowly and looked into my eyes. “The things you two did for our village were huge. Quite a lot of people travel from the capital to Hatahi for our festival. Lately, more and more of them are nobles, and the crime organization was going to exploit that. Some of their freed victims told us they were going to blackmail the vulnerable aristocrats into giving them riches and passage to the capital.”
Captain Tabulo’s face twisted with anger as he spoke. I could understand why he was so upset: His beloved festival would’ve been defiled.
“We were aware of shady activity in the background, but our investigations didn’t uncover who was behind it all. I never would have dreamed my own comrades were among the enemy. But because of you both, we didn’t have to cancel our festival. I truly cannot thank you enough. And also, I deeply apologize for telling Ashley about you two without your permission.”
Guild Master Lish bowed her head, and Captain Tabulo and Arash followed suit.
“Please, it’s okay! We’ve gotten more than enough thanks!” I yelped frantically.
The trio looked up at me. Thank goodness. It’s really not right for three of the most powerful people in this village to be bowing down to me.
“What?! Nobles are coming to our festival?” Ashley sounded surprised.
Er, didn’t he know?
“That’s right, but that information is top secret. It’s classified intel that the crime organization was reaching out to the nobility, too. Don’t tell anyone about this, Ashley.”
Wait… Am I in the middle of a top-secret scandal yet again?
There was a knock at the door.
“Excuse me…” Captain Tabulo turned off his magic item and stashed it under the table. “What is it?” he said.
“I’ve brought your food.”
“Ah yes, come on in.”
The door opened, and a mellow aroma filled the room, doing away with the strange atmosphere that had been choking the table.
“What a lovely smell. I can never get it out of my mind.”
“Thank you for your continued patronage.” The waiter set the dishes of food in front of each of us. As the smell filled the entire room, my stomach started to growl. “Have a lovely lunch.”
As soon as the waiter left the room, Captain Tabulo said, “Let’s eat up before it gets cold!” and happily brought a spoonful of soup to his mouth. Arash was already eating. I was stunned by their eagerness, but Druid encouraged me to dig in.
“Thanks for lunch!” I said, taking my first bite.
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