594 If Comes Down to It
I told the group I wanted to look for an inn for tonight's stay, but.
"Oh you've got plenty of time to find one. C'mon, we're just gonna have a little tea time with old Jido. I'll personally walk you to a nice inn if we end up running late."
"My? You're welcome to stay at our inn. I'll give you a discount. A commemoration for our meeting, if you may."
"That reminds me, we haven't had lunch. Should we get something to eat together?"
Balga, Selram and Kyaro paid no mind to my inner wailing.
It's hard to go away on my own. The way this is going, I just know that I'll bump into them randomly later even if I manage to shake them off here.
I tried to calmly find the right word that'd get me out of this, to no avail.
The three briskly walked together. This hallway is not the off limit personnel-only one.
We were stopped by the guards when we wanted to take that path.
(They wouldn't let us in even though it was fine at the archery coliseum. Guess each arenas has their own rules.)
The hallway split into a crossroad.
The three went and talked to a guard standing by. Then Balga went with him into a different hallway.
"What's wrong? Err, he's gone alone?"
"Ah, Bal is going to go fetch gramps. Let's go on ahead. We need to reserve our seats at the meetup spot."
I'm getting more bad feelings about all this. Won't the topic move on to me again during mealtime?
Balga especially, he'll definitely try to pit me against Ultimate Mage Jido.
That pattern seems the most plausible. Gotta think up excuses to avoid that reality. Lots of excuses.
We arrived at a high class restaurant. The exterior, the interior, and the attires of guest eating inside scream bourgeois. I'm completely out of place here.
Selram seemed to be a frequent patron here, she familiarly asked the clerk if they had a private room open.
"The room is free right now. Let's take it easy there. Oh let me treat you, Saito."
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Selram was in a good mood. She's either taken a liking to me or it's her way to make me feel indebted to her and demand me something in return later.
I resigned myself to my fate knowing I have no way to run now.
"Thank you. It's gonna be a feast."
Dunno how much it's gonna cost. But I can pay a meal or two just fine when it comes down to it. I have no financial issue.
I could just pay her back if she tried to use this debt to get me do her bidding.
Our relationship might crumble if I declined here.
We haven't known each other for long, heck I've just met her today. The slightest gaffe could end it prematurely.
I don't believe she'd make an unreasonable demand right away, but I can't relax just yet.
Gotta keep observing Selram to find out her real intentions.
Is she purely interested to know me better or is she planning to make use of me later. I can't decide which one just from looking at her expressions.
Going with the flow here would be the easiest on the mind.
We went in the private room and Selram made her order with the clerk.
She finished ordering our meal before Balga and Jido got here.
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