Chapter 218: [218] Humble Request
’Tch...’ Eliron hissed internally as his face locked in a scowl. He looked up at the merchant and the man flinched, doing his best to hide his discomfort.
’It looks like I now have even more reason to end the war as quickly as possible.’
Farming was not something that could be delayed for long.
The key to a good harvest was proper timing, if the raining season were to pass, then Artaris would be in for a long, treacherous winter.
Eliron got to his feet, unwilling to waste any more time in the guild.
"I am very disappointed in the outcome of our deal, Joseph." There was no mirth in his voice as he spoke.
Eliron sighed. "But this is not your fault, so there is no reason to blame you for it."
The merchant got up as well and bowed politely. "Thank you Lord Eliron. Once again, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."
The man cleared his throat. "By the way, shall I package your refund?"
"There will be no need for that." Eliron confidently said. "The war will not last for much longer. Just ready yourself for when the time comes."
The merchant was clearly confused, but he nodded. "As you wish."
"And besides...."
Eliron walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. "It looks like my solution has wandered into my grasp."
He suddenly pushed the door open and two people fell backwards, rubbing their aching backs.
The first was a man with messy red hair and a roguish face.
It was clearly Alexander, that much was obvious, at least to Eliron. Not only was Ciera next to him, it was mentioned in the novel that he would often disguise himself to...
Wait!
Come to think of it... Eliron’s eyes narrowed to slits as he stared at the man. Wasn’t this the dude that tried to scam him on his first day?
’Jackal was it?’
"Owww..." the man muttered in pain, a small frown on his face. "Hey, what kind of person pushes a door so forcefully—"
Then when he glanced up, he froze, a wry smile appearing on his lips.
Eliron was staring down at him, an exasperated look on his face and so was everyone else in the room.
"Err—"
"Stalking people is unbefitting of someone of your station..."
"Funny story, would you believe it if I told you I was merely walking through?"
"Get up. We’re leaving."
Eliron left the very confused merchant and found a nice restaurant where they could settle down to have a proper discussion.
They clearly had a lot to talk about...
The restaurant they found was called The Sea Bird on account of their specialty, Seakpins, a sea bird about the size of a large chicken.
They sat at the edge of the restaurants in one of the private stalls.
There were long wooden walls surrounding their table which shielded them from the other customers all for a little extra silver.
After taking their order, the waiter returned with their food, five plates of their specialty.
Eliron was curious as to how the sea would affect the taste of the bird...
But maybe he had gone a little too far with his order, no one told him that the dish was meant to be shared as a group, so there they were, with five whole ’chickens’ on their plates.
"..."
They all stared at the food. Someone cleared their throat.
’Great, now I look like a fool in front of the prince...’
Ariel stared at the food in front of her and blinked, before glancing at Eliron as though to confirm that the food was hers.
She had never eaten something so large in her entire life, honestly, she was scared she would die if she ate everything.
"Ummm... is this entire dish for me?"
Eliron nodded with confidence. "Of course! A warrior should always keep their appetite up. This much was nothing to Yen."
’Well, that was technically not a lie... but Yennefer is hardly a normal person.’
Maybe if she was here, she would be able to single handedly clear all the plates.
Ariel gulped.
She wondered if it was some sort of punishment, a new inventive type of torture... maybe she had wronged by eating all the snacks earlier?
Hesitantly, she grabbed her fork and took a bit of the food.
She had to start somewhere after all. But the moment she took a bite, Ariel lost all doubts about if she would be able to finish it.
She took one more bite, then another, and another... Then she held her puffy cheek, a bright smile appearing on her face.
"Mmm~!"
"Enjoying yourself?" Eliron teased.
"Ehhh! forgive my lack of manners my lord!" She blushed, scrambling for the napkin to wipe the sauce off her lips.
Eliron smiled, seeing how satisfied she was.
Maybe it was because Ariel was the only one that was younger than him in the group, but he felt bad about how lanky she was.
At least, the whole chicken was now a well welcomed mistake.
Now, back to the matters at hand...
"Ariel, can you sound proof our table?" Eliron asked, a polite smile on his face.
The girl nodded and a few chants later, Eliron felt the spell take effect.
’Good, now no one should be able to eavesdrop on us.’
The moment he redirected his gaze to Alexander, his smile vanished, and his lips downturned as he shot him an icy glare.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself."
"Keh—!" Nearly choking on his food, Alex quickly grabbed a cup of water and gulped it down.
"So? Are you going to explain why you were stalking us?"
Alexander scratched his head. "I am more surprised about how you were able to see though through disguise..."
Apart from the hair dye, Alex would also alter his features with magic, so he had not expected Eliron to easily spot him out.
"That much is child’s play for me, Prince Alexander, or should I call you Jackal?"
Eliron cut a piece of meat and stared blackly at Alex as he ate. The prince on the other hand was as white as a piece of paper.
"It looks like scamming visitors is one the Prince of Donia’s favourite pastimes." Eliron made sure to emphasize the ’prince’ part.
Alex nervously laughed, trying to diffuse the tension. ’You were the one who ended up scamming me though!’ He mused.
"That was just a fun little game, you see—owww!" He was speaking when Ciera suddenly grabbed his cheek and dragged it.
"This is no time to make excuses, do you know how little time we have left??"
She got to her feet and bowed. "Forgive us my lord, for both the gambling incident and the r..robbery..."
It seemed even Ciera was particularly embarrassed by that incident.
She cleared her throat and straightened her clothes, perhaps to shake off the nervousness.
"The truth is that my Prince lost something very important in that bet, and we really need it back. That was one of the reasons we came for you today."
’Something important... Oh?’ Eliron raised a brow. ’Is it that item...’ he mused, trying to hide an encroaching smile.
Eliron had not thought the prince would be foolish enough to gamble something so valuable, but if it was truly what he thought it was—
Then maybe he could use this to his advantage...